Possessing the mind of Christ (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] Your prayerful attention to the epistle to the Philippians, the second chapter and verses 5 to 7.

[0:11] The second chapter in the Philippians, verses 5 to 7. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

[0:47] As the Lord helps us, we shall no doubt continue with the other verses that follow it this afternoon. But the Lord help us this morning, by his Spirit, to dwell upon these three verses.

[1:04] Let this mind be in you. He is speaking to the church at Philippi. And it's wonderful, you know, that we have the background to these epistles that were written.

[1:21] We only have to read through the Acts of the Apostles, and we find the Apostle going here and there, and establishing these churches.

[1:36] And no doubt we all remember that account in the 16th of Acts, where he was led by the Spirit.

[1:49] You will find it recorded in that 16th of Acts that they were forbidden to go in a certain place, but they had to go to Philippi. And when they came there, they came to that place where they were worshipping God by the riverside.

[2:10] They had no building, but they were by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. And there was one woman there, who is spoken of as a certain woman.

[2:25] I like that in Scripture, where we read of these certain characters. And her name was Lydia. And the Lord opened her heart.

[2:36] Friends, that's what we need this morning. We need our hearts open to receive the Word. We need our hearts to be so favoured with preparation, like the soil when the seed is sown, that that seed may enter in.

[2:56] And we are evidently shown concerning Lydia that her heart was prepared. Because we read these words there, whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things that were spoken by the apostles.

[3:14] You see, it was the Lord's work, and it's still the Lord's work, to open the heart, whose heart the Lord opened. And because she received the Word into her heart, she were like those on the day of Pentecost when we read this.

[3:32] They that gladly received his Word were baptised. And there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. What a mercy, friends, if you and I this morning know what it is to have our hearts open to receive God's Word.

[3:50] But we don't only read of dear Lydia in that chapter. We read of the jailer. Two different cases altogether. One, no doubt, a quiet person.

[4:05] The other, a rough man. And yet, both were brought to the same place. I believe both were brought to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[4:18] And both were brought to realise their need of mercy that we've just been singing of. I'm sure that both of those characters, friends, could echo the words of the publican, God be merciful to me, a sinner.

[4:34] For that jailer, when the earthquake had taken place, he is brought to that point when he says, what must I do to be saved? He realises that he has a soul to be saved.

[4:50] And the answer is given, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they should be saved. Well, you see, that is the nucleus, shall we say, of this church at Philippi.

[5:04] Philippi, when you come to read the opening of this epistle, you see how much it's grown. You look at the opening of this epistle, friends, that we read.

[5:16] Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints, to all the saints. It's grown so much since that day, when the apostle went there by the riverside.

[5:30] And now we have all the saints mentioned in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. And this man, the apostle, friends, had such a wonderful love to this church.

[5:46] I'm sure he had a special love for these people, because of what he says. In verses 3 and 4, in chapter 1, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy.

[6:07] You know, it's wonderful for a pastor when he feels like that concerning his people. And he feels every time he thinks of them, he can pray for them.

[6:18] And he makes that same request that the apostle made. And he is given the same confidence that the apostle had, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.

[6:39] Well then, it is to these people that he is writing these words of our text. And I want to come down now to the end of chapter 1, because you will find that he is beginning to speak quite a lot about the mind.

[6:57] You look at verse 27 in chapter 1, and you will find he begins to speak about the mind of the Lord's people.

[7:09] What does he say in verse 27? Only let your conversation be as it becometh, the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see your house be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, one mind.

[7:32] That's to have the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you. It will bring a oneness about among the Lord's people. There will be a desire to strive together for the faith of the gospel.

[7:49] I love to see a people, you know, where there's that working together, where there is that desire to be one in heart and mind.

[7:59] That's the first time he uses this word mind then, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind. Now when you come into the second chapter, he uses it again in verse 2.

[8:17] The same word, and what does he say? This is what he says in verse 1 of chapter 2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowers and mercies, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like-minded.

[8:41] Like-minded. He is coming back to the same thing again. Oneness of mind. Like-minded. Oh, and surely we can see here the mind of Christ again.

[8:57] To be like-minded with Christ. And like-minded with one another. It's a real oneness, isn't it? That ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[9:17] There's nothing like this on earth to my mind, to my mind, friends, when we feel that we are one in Christ, and we are one together.

[9:28] Of one accord. You know, it's like it was on the day of Pentecost. What do we read there? In Acts 2, they were in one place and in one accord.

[9:40] They were really one in their hearts. and how wonderful this is when we are like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

[9:52] And then he goes on in verse 3, and he says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. No, if we have this oneness of mind, we shall want all the strife to be taken away.

[10:11] But then he comes back to the mind, you see, in verse 3, and he says, in lowliness of mind, lowliness of mind. This is the mind of Christ.

[10:22] Let this mind be in you, our text says. It's a lowliness of mind. Why do I say that the mind of Christ is lowliness of mind?

[10:32] Because he was lowly. What did he say in Matthew 11, friends? Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest under your souls.

[10:47] This is lowliness of mind. When you see the Lord Jesus Christ, you see one who was lowly.

[10:59] We think of that word in Zechariah, when the prophecy was made about him riding into Jerusalem on the cold.

[11:10] And we think of what it says there. He was lowly and riding upon an ass, the colt, the fold of an ass. Lowliness of mind.

[11:23] In lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. That's good, you know, when you see that in a church. When you see everyone wanting to be in the background, as it were, and esteeming other people better than yourselves.

[11:40] That's the opposite to nature, you know. You see around, you all of us do today, friend, no doubt, those who want to be someone. They want to be above someone else.

[11:53] You see it on the roads, friends, when you're travelling along. You see people want to be in front. You see them wanting to get by all the time. It's the very nature of man.

[12:06] But this is the mind of Christ. Oh, esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

[12:22] Let this mind be in you. Oh, how does the Apostle speak of it in the first of Corinthians?

[12:34] He shows in the opening of the first epistle that he writes to the Corinthians that we have the mind of Christ in the second chapter, first of Corinthians, in the last verse.

[12:52] This is what he writes there, who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? He is saying how much greater the mind of the Lord is than ours.

[13:06] And we realize that more and more as we go on that we are nothing in comparison to him. But then he says we have the mind of Christ.

[13:19] But we have the mind of Christ, he says. Oh, and you can see the mind of Christ when he goes into the next chapter. He is speaking king of himself as one of the Lord's servants who desires to be more like his Lord.

[13:41] Let this mind be in you. This is a personal word you see to each one of us, friends. It's you. I like it when the word of God comes right home to me personally and let it come home to us today, friends.

[13:58] This word, let this mind be new. You. Oh, how the apostle too in the 8th of Romans, you know, he speaks there of this same mind of Christ in that beautiful chapter which is full of sacred truth.

[14:22] And this is what he says in verse 6 of the 8th of Romans, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

[14:36] To have the mind of Christ is to have a spiritual mind, is to desire spiritual things. And he goes on to say that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God.

[14:57] It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. There's such a difference, isn't there, between the carnal mind of man and the spiritual mind the Lord gives to his people when they're born again.

[15:12] They have different desires. They have heavenly desires. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

[15:23] Oh, to be more spiritually minded, friends, and to have this mind of Christ. Oh, we also think of Peter, and I believe he desired this himself.

[15:40] He wanted the mind of Christ. But when he wrote his first epistle, in the beginning of his fourth chapter of that first epistle, he says this to us, For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind, the same mind of Christ.

[16:05] He had to suffer, we have to suffer, because we're in a world of sin, and if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him.

[16:20] Arm yourselves likewise, he says, with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Then I want to give you an example, friends, in the scriptures, of one particular person spoken of who had this mind of Christ.

[16:44] Let this mind be in you. I'm thinking now of the mad gathering. I'm thinking of what is recorded in the fifth chapter of Mark, when the Lord Jesus came over the Sea of Galilee, and he saw this particular man, and I believe, friends, we have in this man a type of sin.

[17:11] Last Sunday, we saw in the wilderness a type of sin in the serpents, the fiery serpents, sent to bite them, our hymn writer says, lively type of deadly guilt.

[17:26] Now you have in these characters in the New Testament, in the Gospels, types, and this man, it seems to me, is a type of a sinner.

[17:39] He comes over that Sea of Galilee then, and when he comes out of the ship, in verse 2 we read, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.

[17:52] We all, friends, have this uncleanness about us. We're all sinners, as we've seen in our hymn this morning. We all need repentance. We're all like the leper, that we need to read of in another place.

[18:08] But here is this man, he meets the Lord Jesus Christ, and he had his dwelling among the tombs, no man could bind him, no, not with chains.

[18:23] He was in a terrible condition, just as we all are by nature, friends, we're in bondage. It was brought before us recently, friends, that two things have come to us because of sin.

[18:40] Two particular things, and those two things are this, bondage and blindness. We've all been bound by sin, and we've all been blinded by sin, and we need the Lord Jesus Christ to liberate us from that bondage, and we need him to open our eyes and give us light.

[19:06] Now, what happened to this poor man then, who was in such a state? He'd been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces.

[19:21] Neither could any man tame him. And how true that is spiritually, friends, no one can do anything for a poor sinner but the Lord himself. No, when they're in that terrible condition of sin, because they're born in sin and shapen in iniquity, and no one can do anything for them but the Lord himself.

[19:45] No man could tame this man. Night and day he was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But it's wonderful to me, friends, that when this mad gathering first saw the Lord Jesus, a long way off, mind you, he sees him a long way off and he runs towards him.

[20:08] He's attracted to the Lord Jesus Christ in this awful condition. He has a legion of devils within him, just as we have, friends, a legion of sins within us by nature.

[20:23] All the sins we have within us. and he's attracted to this glorious person. And he ran and worshipped him.

[20:34] Think of it. This man, they couldn't do anything with him. He runs toward the Lord Jesus and he worships him. And he cries with a loud voice, what have I to do with thee?

[20:46] This is no doubt the devil's within him, friends, crying out, Jesus, thou son of the most high God. See, the devils believe and tremble. They knew Jesus.

[20:59] I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. Now he says, Jesus says, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, what is thy name?

[21:12] And he answered, saying, my name is Legion. That very name, friends, spells what it is, what sort of a state we're in by nature.

[21:25] We have a legion of sin within us. Sins of every name dwell within us by nature. And we need the Lord to do for us what he did for this poor man.

[21:40] You know how he commanded those devils to go and they went into the swine. But see the condition of this man afterwards, friends.

[21:51] he was given the mind of Christ, I believe. They come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting.

[22:03] Sitting, first of all we read, before he'd been roaming about all other places. And that's the change that comes to the Lord's people, you know. How by nature we are like this man roaming about.

[22:19] when the Lord appears for us, we are only too glad to sit at his feet. Only too glad to be like Mary and Bethany friends, who was often found in that home of Bethany, sitting at the feet of Christ, listening to his voice.

[22:38] The dear man sitting, first of all, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and clothed, yes, secondly he was clothed, and we've been singing about the robe of righteousness this morning, we need clothing in the robe of righteousness.

[22:59] He was sitting and he was clothed, but he was also in his right mind. He was in his right mind. He was given the mind of Christ.

[23:10] Let this mind be in you. Oh, friends, he was in his right mind. What a change had been wrought in this man. And you think of the same in regard to Saul of Tarsus, friends.

[23:26] What a change was wrought in that man on that Damascus road. He was brought in a similar place. He was brought into his right mind on that Damascus road.

[23:39] He was brought to realize love to the Lord Jesus Christ. And after that he wanted to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. He was changed, you see, like this man.

[23:52] Have we known the change? Do we have that desire to be found sitting and clothed and in our right mind? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

[24:09] others. Now this is a mind of humility. This mind, friends, it's a humble mind. Oh, we find James speaking to us about this humility.

[24:25] In his epistle he says, humble yourselves therefore in the sight of God and he shall lift you up. Humble yourselves in the sight of God.

[24:38] You see, we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. He was humbled and then he was highly exalted, as it says here in the ninth verse. But he was humbled.

[24:49] Oh, the humiliation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We think of those words in Corinthians where the Apostle says, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, rich in eternity passed with his heavenly Father from all eternity.

[25:11] But for your sakes he became poor, poor, poverty. He had nowhere to lay his head. He said, the foxes have holes, the birds of the air of nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay his head.

[25:26] He was brought into poverty. What a contrast, friends, what a change. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

[25:40] Who being in the form of God, this person, friends, who came to this earth, he was in the form of God.

[25:54] He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, equal with the Father, equal with the Holy Spirit. And let me take you to a chapter where you will see this so clearly, that he was not only man, but God.

[26:14] Thought it not robbery to be equal with God? I'm thinking of the first chapter to the Hebrews. And in the first chapter to the Hebrews, friends, it's so evident that Jesus was who he said he was, one with the Father.

[26:33] You look at verse three in Hebrews one and you see this, who being the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.

[26:52] Jesus Christ, the express image of his Father's person. Didn't he say when he was here on earth, I am my Father one. The express image of his Father's person, upholding all things, he'd already created them.

[27:10] We read in John 1, don't we, the word was God, and then we read after that, all things were made by him, and without anything, without him was not anything made that was made.

[27:24] He was the divine creator, and he is the one that upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, and through the rest of the chapter, friends, he shows how the Lord Jesus was better than the angels, or higher than the angels, much higher than the angels.

[27:52] God, the dear apostle, quotes from various psalms, and he says this, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, I will be to him a father, he shall be to me a son, and let all the angels of God worship him, and then you come to this verse, quoted from one of the psalms, unto the son he saith, thy throne, O God, unto the son, unto the Lord Jesus Christ, these words are spoken, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness, is a scepter of thy kingdom, O thou Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, the heavens of the works of thy hands, you see, you can see plainly from that chapter that the words of our text are true, where we read here, let this mind be in you, which was also in

[28:58] Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be with God, he was God, as well as man, and then what do we have here, we have this fact, that this one who was God, made himself of no reputation, he became man, he humbled himself, and whereas in chapter one in the Hebrews, you have him as the eternal God, man, in the second chapter, you have him as man, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, in the first chapter, you see, he points say that he was much higher than the angels, as God, but in the second chapter, he points say that he was made a little lower than the angels, he came down to this earth, we see

[30:12] Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, that's why he came, that's why he humbled himself, that he might go to Calvary, we were looking at those words in John 12, last Lord's Day, where he said, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw man unto me, he knew exactly what kind of death he would die, he knew he would be lifted up on a cross, it was all known from all eternity, it was he who said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, perish, but have everlasting life, and when you think of those

[31:13] Israelites in the wilderness, and Moses lifting up that serpent of brass, what a type of Jesus Christ, he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, he being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself, yes, he made himself, it was his own will and purpose, what does the hymn writer say friends, how willing was Jesus to die, that we poor sinners might live the life they could not take away, how willing was Jesus to give, he made himself, his father sent him, he was willing to come to this sin cursed earth, he made himself of no reputation, oh we do like a good reputation don't we, we like people to think well of us, but the

[32:16] Lord Jesus himself made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, so in this second epistle, a second chapter rather of the epistle of the Hebrews, you have the Lord Jesus Christ spoken of, and again he's quoting from the Psalms, and this time it's the eighth Psalm, when he says, one in a certain place testified saying, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him, thou madeest him a little lower than the angels, thou crownest him with glory, and honour, and the same can be said of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see, as man, as he humbled himself, and towards the end of that second chapter you find this recorded, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, he became flesh, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, he became flesh, he became man, that through death, what a mercy, through death, through that death on the cross, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, oh friends, what a mercy has destroyed

[33:49] Satan, Satan is a conquered foe, because the Lord Jesus Christ went to that cross in order that he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage, and you can see he sums it up like this, he says, for verily he took not on him the nature of angels, no, but he took on him the seed of Abraham, he was born of the virgin Mary, who was of the seed of Abraham, and that word in the garden, that wonderful promise was fulfilled, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, he took on him the seed of Abraham, and so he is a sympathetic high priest, he has been here to this earth, he can sympathise with us in all our temptations, because he was tempted in the wilderness, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, the form of a servant, oh I like that little passage you know in Isaiah chapter 42, it's speaking of this same person, we have those wonderful words there, where we read this, behold my servant, this is the father speaking, in the words of the prophet, and I often say to my own people, when you see this word behold in the scripture, there's always something following it that's worthy of beholding, something special to behold, and we can only behold it by faith really, behold my servant, says the father, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighted,

[36:14] I have put my spirit upon him, when was that spirit manifestly placed upon the Lord Jesus, when he was baptized, and the dove came down, and the spirit of the Lord was put upon him, I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles, and this is true concerning Jesus, he shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street, a bruised reed, do you feel sometimes like a bruised reed, do you feel battered and bruised because of what you have to pass through sometimes, your own sin, oh he won't break, the poor bruised reed, do you sometimes feel like a smoking flex, almost extinguished, at your wits end, come to the end of everything perhaps sometimes, no, the smoking flax shall he not quench, and he shall bring forth judgment unto truth, he shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth, and the isle shall wait for his law, there we see him as the servant, and what did he say friends to his disciples when he gathered them around the table, he said

[37:39] I am among you as one that serveth, he was handing out the bread to them and the cup, and he says I am among you as one that serveth, he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many, he made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, yes in the likeness friends of you and me, sin accepted, that was the difference friends, there was no sin in him whatsoever, he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, he was made in the likeness of men, well I see the time's gone again, the Lord bless the word and help us to continue with it this afternoon, if it be his will, Amen.

[38:37] Amen. Amen. of our salvation, may we know thy nature, then more bells of compassion, we to thy dear saints shall show, may the grace that hath been parted in relieving our compassion, make us kind, and tender hearted, the feeders of thy saints, in number two hundred and fifty-eight.

[39:34] T compraza hundred thou sun gather reached love Nature, may we now, by nature now, Name above it, like a special wizard, Thine yet sanctified.

[40:47] There to the great of gladness, Father, in which living hath the place, Name above it, like a special wizard, versing upstream to the field.

[41:33] He bless ourrianions. The End Now we are noted, tempted from the tempted tariff feet.

[42:43] The End The End The End

[44:13] The End The End The End

[45:43] The End The End The End The End

[46:44] The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End The End Thank you.

[47:56] Thank you.