September 5, 2023 • 45 mins
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Kimber Kauffman (00:00):
Philippians chapter two. Let's read this
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passage together. starting withverse one, and going down
through verse eight Philippianschapter two starting with verse
one. If you have anyencouragement from being united
with Christ, if any comfort fromhis love, if any fellowship with
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the Spirit, if any tendernessand compassion, then make my joy
complete, by being like minded,having the same love, being one
in spirit and purpose, Donothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. But inhumility, consider others better
than yourselves. Each of youshould look not only to your own
interest, but also to theinterest of others. Your
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attitude should be the same asthat of Christ Jesus who been in
the very nature, God did notconsider equality with God
something to be grasped, butmade himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, beingmade in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as aman, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to death, evendeath on a cross, we know that
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it's right to say things likethis. Keep your eyes on Jesus,
don't look at men, or lookingunder Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, or on andon we can go we know that it's
right to say that we know thatChristianity is keeping your
focus on Jesus and followinghim. However, this passage has
amazed me because this is thekey to unity, to getting along
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with people, at home, at work inchurch, wherever you are, in any
situation of life, one of thekeys who would have guessed
this, I certainly wouldn't havethought it up. But one of the
keys to really be able to getalong, is viewing the doctrine
of Christ, viewing the doctrineof salvation, understanding who
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Christ is, who he was, before hecame to Earth, what he was and
what he became when he came toEarth. And considering what he
did when he was here on Earthand how he humbled himself. In
fact, this verse says, as Paulwas writing to them concerning
unity and getting along, it saysthis, here's the attitude you're
supposed to have. You'resupposed to have this attitude,
what are you the same attitudeJesus had loyalty to Jesus have?
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Well, he had these types ofattitudes. He said this, in
regard to getting along withothers have this attitude that
Jesus had verse six, who he wasbefore he came to Earth. Let's
look at verse six, and see whatit says again, a quick review,
who being in very nature, Goddid not consider equality with
God something to be grasped herehe was, he was God. And he gave
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up willingly, he didn't grab onto the majestic Majesty in the
glory of heaven, He willinglygave that up to come to Earth.
And it says next, verse seven,consider what he became when he
said or what he became when hecame to earth. What did he
become? Look at this, He emptiedHimself, verse seven, or he made
himself nothing, taking the verynature of a servant being made
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in human likeness. Well, ifwe're supposed to have the same
attitude, we're supposed tounderstand this. He started off
as God. And He humbled Himselfand took on the human nature
became a man. And he not onlybecame a man himself, he became
a servant, a menial, one whowould, who could be walked on
one who would could easily bemissed or unnoticed. You didn't
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try to come as as King Kong oryou didn't come as as Arnold
Schwarzenegger, or anybody. Hecame as somebody that could be
walked over just just a servant,a mere man tech people despised
and rejected him. Is this thecarpenter son, they thought
nothing about him. Considerthis, you're supposed to think
about what it must have beenlike for him to empty Himself.
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Remember, when he emptiedhimself, that doesn't mean that
he gave up being God. He was100% God, he can rebuke the
winds and the waves. And yet hewas 100%. Man, he needed sleep,
he was hungry, he grew, he grewtired. And he left willingly all
the glories of heaven. And letus let me remind you something
we touched on last week andregards to submission. There is
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a tremendous movement today,especially among women, I must
say that somehow submission isnot necessary, or it's not
really right or so now. itdemeans you? Well, I want to
make sure you understand this.
We're supposed to have anattitude that Christ had Christ
attitude, was submissive, andwas submissive to the will of
the Father, even to the point ofthe most humiliating death that
could ever be had. Jesuswillingly submit himself to
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that, remember something when itcomes to throw do submission?
Women I particularly say thisnormally, in Baptist churches,
the women get pounded in the menget right Oh, once delivered, I
don't want to I think we foundout the men enough, but I want
to make sure you understand thisone more time function does not
equal value. Please listen tome, when it comes to submission
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function does not equal value.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Jesus was as much God as God theFather, and yet he submitted
Himself and for you To submityourselves to your husbands as
the Scripture clearlyunmistakably teaches, then
you've got to understandsomething, it has nothing to do
with you being less human. Ithas to do with the order in the
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creative purpose of God. In thiscase, in the redemptive purpose
of God, Jesus had to submithimself in order for the whole
tribe, Trinity, to work, theirpurpose of salvation, and so on.
This is an attitude that we'resupposed to have. That's a
little side note that's, thatwon't cost you anything. But
notice this, we start off asrebellious sinners, he started
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off as God, what do we do? Westarted off as rebellious
sinners, but what do we do? Wedemand our rights, we demand to
be honored. What happens ifsomeone doesn't notice you? Oh,
you know, you really want to letthem have it? What happens if
someone doesn't go your way? Andwe're mad all the time. What did
Jesus do? He sought humiliation,he submits to the Father, even
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to the point of death, he madehimself nothing he took on the
form of a servant. And guesswhat, this is the attitude
you're supposed to have. You'resupposed to have a Christ like
attitude. What is that seekinghumiliation? I'm telling you,
there is incredible freedom hascome into my life in the last
two weeks thinking about this.
Do you know why? Because insteadof people in Greco Roman Church,
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where I'm important, I'm goingto make sure people knows we are
going to mention, it's great tohave the attitude of Christ.
Seek humiliation, let god bringyou the honor. The point is, if
we will submit to God's will, ifwe will submit to doing things
God's way. If we will saywhatever it costs are, I will do
things your way, I will have anattitude of humiliation,
everybody, please look down toverse nine. Therefore, God
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exalted him to the place, youtry to exalt yourself, you will
never be able to do it. You tryto say, I'm gonna make it my
way, you'll never be able to doit. But you do it God's way.
Seek humiliation, God will exaltyou. But that's next week's
message. I'm getting ahead of myplace. We're just going to Verse
eight, this week. So what's thisattitude? Listen, I can just
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hear some of you is this. Seekhumiliation. Realize that Jesus
made himself nothing. So makeyourselves nothing. become
servants. Jesus said I did notcome to be served but to serve.
Lower yourself. Don't try toesteem yourself and exalt
yourself as the world says andput yourself first but lower
yourself. This is the attitudethat Christ had. And guess what?
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You think now? Okay, stop, stop.
That's enough. That's enough.
You know what? We can't stop. Wehaven't hit bottom yet. Verse
eight, takes us to the bottom.
Look at the depths ofhumiliation to which he went.
We're going to just stay now onverse eight, and squeeze the
life right out of it. You can'tdo it out of the Bible. It
continues to live. But we'regoing to squeeze verse eight, to
learn more about what it has tosay concerning the attitude that
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Jesus had. Look at this, verseeight, says and being, excuse
me, Verse eight says, And beingfound in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself, and becameobedient to death, even death on
the cross, first off the firstphrase, and in fashion been
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found. That's the way it'swritten the Greek and in
fashion, being found inappearance, he was found not as
the God man, but he was found asa man. What I mean to say by
that is this, if you saw JesusChrist, walking on the earth,
the carpenter son, whose motherwas marry, and whose stepfather
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was Joseph, you would say, he'scompletely human. He did not
come. appearing with a haloabove his head. It wasn't as the
Apocrypha says, where Jesus wasplaying with his friends, and
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they didn't do what he wants todo. So we turn them into donkeys
as a little boy. He was justcompletely human. When you saw
him were that what is sostaggering is this when you saw
Jesus, he was absolutelycompletely human. Remember?
Isn't this the carpenter son? Oreven when Peter who who two men
say that I am? Or some sayyou're this, some say, Peter,
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who do you say that I am? I say,You're Jesus, the Son of the
living God. And what did? Whatdid Christ say to him, Peter,
flesh and blood did not revealthis unto thee. In other words,
naturally just by your flesh andblood by the natural instincts,
you did not notice that Jesuswas the God man, you just
noticed that he was a man. Butmy father wishes in heaven
revealed the son of theoutwardly considered he was not
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different from any other man, hewas totally human in every way.
That's what it means when itsays in being found, or being
found in appearance as a man,but please get the main idea
here and that's right there. Inthe middle of verse eight.
He humbled Himself He became aman, He humbled Himself. Listen
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to old man says it's veryinteresting. Cry He was not
humbled by others. Rather, hehumbled himself. It involves a
voluntary submission of hiswill, to the directive will of
the Father in the agony of Gus70. Do you remember in
Gethsemane, this is a picture ofhis entire life. He said this,
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knowing he was about to becomesin, Christ pray to remember the
Matthew, Mark and Luke talkabout how with with the most
strongest terms of the Greek youpossibly can about the stress
that he was under about theemotions that he was under,
about the the turmoil that hewas in. And he says this father,
if it's any other way possiblethat I don't have to become sin
and die a horrible, humiliatingdeath on the cross? May it
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happen, nevertheless, not mywill. But your will be done. He
humbled Himself. He loweredhimself. He he made himself like
that you realize friends, haveyou ever been accused of
something when you haven't beenguilty? Come on. I have been
accused of things which I wasabsolutely innocent of now 98%
Of what I'm accused of that'susually right. All right. But
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there have been times when I'vebeen accused of things that I
was innocent of, do you know theanger and the self justification
that goes on in my heart? Ithink, Oh, come on. Well, how
would you like to have beenJesus? He was God. He comes to
this earth. He humbles himself.
He teaches people the way of GodHe does nothing but good all his
days, he could say which one ofyou convicted me of sin, no one
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could convict him of sin. Andyet part of this humiliation and
part of this humbling of himselfwas an unjust trial. markings.
Skirt jeans. stripped naked, infront of the entire city of
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Jerusalem, paraded around havingbeen beaten 40 lashes save one.
mocked, criticized, cussed atspit upon, laughed at scorned
and he was absolutely innocent.
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If any of that happened to us,we would all say, Well, I partly
deserve it because I'm a sinner.
But Jesus humbled Himself, Heemptied Himself. He lowered
himself he esteemed othersbetter than himself. Now listen.
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Consider that with Christianministers and ministries today
who just think of this. What doyou see today? Well, just in our
last few years, we've seen thisair conditioned dog houses gold
plated bathroom fixtures. Thetelevision coverage has
resembled an extended episode ofdynasty, focusing on Christian
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celebrities be decked inexpensive jewelry, palatial
estates, Mercedes limousines.
The result is an extraordinarypresentation has been to
stereotype all Christians asflamboyant frauds. That's what
Christianity is. Jesus humbledHimself. Listen to what one man
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said. The whole time of thesoldier and on Earth was a time
of self humiliation. He wasbeing humiliated in the base
instead of commanding and ruinand power and majesty and occupy
a place of honor and authorityand preeminence among men. From
the manger to the cross, hetried a path of humiliation
which culminated in the miseryand suffering and reproach of a
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shameful death on a tree.
Obedience in the gardensurrender and submission to the
will of God was maintained byhim into the end, and the
profoundness degree ofhumiliation was reached, in that
his death was not to be naturalor an honorable one. It was the
painful and accursed death of across. He humbled Himself. But
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notice something humiliationcoincided with something else.
Look at verse eight, and it saysthis And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbledHimself and I get this and
became obedient to death.
Humiliation coincided withobedience. He continually said,
I seek not my will, but the willof the Father, that please get
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this to have the attitude Christhad is one of loneliness and
humiliation crossed withsubmissiveness to the Father's
will, no matter what, please getthat. It's a cross of you want
to be able to get along withpeople. You want to be able to
have a good marriage and onceyou can get along then you know
what you need to seekhumiliation. You need to seek
loneliness. You don't need todemand your rights in the man
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your ways to say you deserve tobe somebody. You deserve
nothing. Christ is our example.
He went from God to the mosthumiliating death ever. If you
don't think this way, myfriends, I just got one word
that word for it, you're notthinking Christian. This is
Christian, it may sound radical,it may sound against How to Win
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Friends and Influence People. Itmay seem different than what we
are taught today. But this isChristianity, I want to press it
upon you till you don't miss it.
Because I know this, if you getit, you're going to start
thinking the way God wants youto think. And it will lead to
joy and contentment in yourlife. When you start submitting
to God's way. It's gonna be alittle rough is going but it's
worth it. No matter what, heobeyed God. Now, let me press
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upon you one more another way,Jesus said this, if you love me,
you will keep My commandments.
Ellison don't run from that.
Jesus gives you a clear test forwhether or not you love him or
not. If a man says, I know him,but keeps not his commandments,
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he is a liar. The proof is notin what you say. The proof is
not that you saying I love Jesusthis morning, the proof is what
you do. I'm not trying to addsome burden to you, or as your
pastor or a minister of thegospel tries to tell you the
truth here. But the truth is howyou behave. How you live. I have
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heard many people say concerningthe clear violation of
Scripture, listen, not somethingdebatable, like whether or not
you know the color of theirclothes were proper. That's not
what I'm talking about. I'mtalking about this concerning
clear moral violations ofScripture. I've heard people
rationalize obedience away bysaying things like this. But
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doesn't God want me to be happy?
Do you know why I bring this up,I bring it up. Because some of
you are going to be saying thatin the next few years, because
the devil is so clever. He willget you this whole thing screwed
around in your mind to where youthink that's really what is most
important that you're happy bysaying that doesn't God want me
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to be happy, and so I can't obeyGod's will. Because if I do obey
God's will, I will not be happy.
You are clearly making anaccusation against God's word,
by saying that somehow byfollowing God's word, it would
not be best for you.
Here's another one I've heard. Itell you, I say this, it makes
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me want to cry when I say it.
And I'll tell you why. Because Ihave heard it and heard it and
heard it from members of thischurch. I've only got two
choices in regards to mymarriage. Stay in a bad
marriage, or get a divorce. Bothare bad. So I might as well
choose the bad one. It's alittle shorter, I'll get the
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divorce and we'll be over with Iwon't have to prolong. We just
say this. If that is true, ifthere is no clear cut obedience,
but you've only got two badchoices, then again, you're
accusing God of somethinghorrible. You're saying that God
has put you into temptation inyour path. And the Bible says,
Let no man say when he istempted, I'm tempted of God. But
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make sure when you understandthat you're tempted, you're
tempted by being drawn away byyour own evil, lust and enticed.
And it's going to lead to death,James 113, through 15. Something
else, the Bible says Notemptation has taken you but
that which is common man, andGod is faithful to provide a way
out, there's always an obedient,it's sometimes creative, but
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creative, obedient. opportunityin marriage, I use that as a
platform as an illustration,because of how much attack there
seems to be going on these daysin the area of marriage. And
people rationalize and saying,oh, it's alright, you know, it's
okay to disobey in this area. Ifyou only knew how bad I had it,
you will understand that it'salright to disobey. And just
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want to give a quick side note,if you are here and you are
divorced, I'm not trying to addsome heaping guilt upon your
life. That's not what I'msaying. I'm basically talking to
people that are married here.
Please, friends, please don'trationalize this away. You can
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obey. Jesus obeyed you see, butit's so hard if you only knew
how bad my marriage was, I wantto tell you this, Jesus obey to
the point of death. It's notgoing to kill you. Even Listen,
even to death on a cross. Butit's so humiliating to be in my
circle says, hey, it was totallyhumiliating for the Son of God.
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One thing that I desire in mylife very badly is this balance.
I want balance. And everyone'scriticized, for instance,
formalism and casual as much asthat. So if you've gone to
churches where everything wasvery formal, and you sort of
hate it, and then you can alwaysfind a church that's totally
casual. And I really think thatthere is a balance between the
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two What about this legalism?
And antinomianism? Some of youhave gone to churches in the
past, where you were told youhad to do this, this, this, this
and this need to be there allthe services you had do all
these things, otherwise you areno good. But you know what
happens then? Sometimes you cometo this church and you think,
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Oh, it doesn't matter if you goto church here, or no. See, you
can just do there. My point isthis brands, there's always a
balance, we seem to want to runto the extremes go from one side
to the other. Or how about thiselection and free will. We know
it's all here, it's all here.
And we and we startstraightening the rope and
missing the balance. Or you'rein chapter two. Let me show you
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an illustration aboutsanctification. Go down with me,
diverse 12 of that chapter.
Here's just one moreillustration of balanced look
what it says. Therefore, my dearfriends, as you have always
obeyed not only in my presence,but now much more in my absence.
Continue to work out yoursalvation with fear and
trembling. Look at that you'resupposed to work it out. But
look at verse 13. For his Godwho works in you too willing to
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act according to His goodpurpose. Do you see my point?
Here in verse 12, the command isyou work out your salvation.
Here in verse 13. The Scriptureteaches God's going to work in
you. The point is, I hear somepeople they say, Oh, let go and
let God you're not supposed todo anything. They're just taking
verse 13. Then I know somepeople I've been one of them in
the past that has just takenverse 12. It's all up to you.
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The point is, there's a finebalance. But you wonder why in
the world am I getting at? I'mgetting something here. You need
no balance when it comes toobedience. Always obey. Take it
to the limit, stretch it as faras it'll go. You'll never be out
of balance. If you obey God'sword. I will tell you, and I'll
tell you, I've taken grief andflak and criticism and all kinds
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of things. And I'm not gripingand complaining about it. It's a
badge of honor as far as I'mconcerned. But I have taken it
you know why? Because I saylisten, obey God's word, no
matter what. obey God's word, nomatter what you understand, obey
God's word, I will tell youalways you will never be sorry
for obeying God's word. Thepoint is this sink, humiliation
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and be obedient. Even if it costeverything you have obey God's
Word. We are so comfortable andso easy upon ourselves these
days. You don't have to worryabout being out of balance, when
it comes to this area. Let meshow you something here. Here
you have here you are going downthe path of your life TDD TDD
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TDD earlier, okay. You come upto a decision that you must make
there is a wrong decision. Andthere is a right decision. Let
me explain something to youabout this. The wrong decision
will be easy at first. It alwaysis. To go the way of the flesh
is always the easiest. But asyou go down the road, it's going
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to become harder because theBible says the way of the
Transgressor is hard. Althoughit's easy at first, and first
the Christian has been bottledup and head over restraints on
them, and all of a suddenthey're free for you. It seems
like you're free. This lesbian,I feel so good. But just watch
what happens. It leads tohopelessness. Is that clear back
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there not? Because it leads tohopelessness and despair. But
look at this the right way. It'shard at first, you know why?
Self Denial may be involved? Sayno to what you really want. But
it's easier as you go down thepath. Jesus said, If you know
these things, Happy are ye ifyou do them. Blessing is the man
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who obeys God's Word, theScripture says, eventually, it
leads to joy and peace.
Obedience is so important. Andyet people are the most mixed up
people in the world that I knowof the press people in the world
are Christians who are goingdown the wrong path and somehow
saying, but I thought this wasgonna be I felt so good when I
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got started.
I want to show you again, I mayhave showed you some of this in
the past, but I want to show youhere's something concerning
enemies of obedience.
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Mysticism, mysticism is this.
Obedience is apart from the willand the intellect. In other
words, I've heard this and I'veheard this and I've heard this
and I don't ever want you to sayit. But you probably will. I
know I've done this in the past.
It's this, but I don't feelconvicted about what I decided
to do. Here you are clearlyviolating the Scriptures. And
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yet you're a mystic. Because yousaid, Oh, because I don't feel
something. It must be alright.
How about this? pragmatism?
Pragmatism is this obedience isdone as long as it works for me.
Remember, it's harder at firstto obey. And it's difficult
times oh, but it just doesn'tseem like it's working for me.
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Maybe that works for somebodyelse, but it's just not right
for me as if what if it works isdependent or not upon whether or
not you're supposed to obey? Howabout this one? You know, I'd
have to throw this one in here,did you? Psychology? Obedience
is good. Only when I figured outmy past with his hangups, I'm
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going to read you a littlearticle by Chuck Swindoll. On
this point, listen carefully.
This is amazing. During thevisit to an Australian Parisian
prison in November of 1986, Imet a young man due to be
released the next week. Are yougoing to stay out? I ask. Yes,
the prison. Are you going tostay out of prison? Listen, he
smiled, rolled his eyes andsaid, Well, it all depends on
how they treat me out theirsurprise. I asked who they were,
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you know, mate, the people onthe outside? I mean, why did
they take care of me or not ajob a place to stay and all that
sort of thing? Do you mean thatyou're letting other people
decide for you what happens inyour life? I ask that you're not
man enough to make your owndecisions about what you're
going to do next? The prisonerbristled. And then he relaxed
and shrugged. Well, how am Isupposed to make it on the
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outside if somebody doesn't helpme? I explained that there are
plenty of Christians to help.
But I continue. You have to wantto do it on your own, and
realize that what happens to youis the result of your own
decisions, not somebody else's.
I explained that there areplenty Excuse me. Clearly, such
thoughts have never crossed hismind. Sadly, I've seen the same
attitude in every prison Ivisited. Many prisoners simply
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don't believe they'reresponsible for their actions.
For years, experts have toldthem the crime results from
poverty, from discriminationfrom unemployment. So their
reasoning goes society, not theindividuals that fall and must
be changed. This enlightenedview has perpetrated delusion
that makes rehabilitationimpossible. Did you hear me? My
friends, you may think these areprisoners though. This isn't us.
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I'm a white collar worker. Hey,listen, you've been buying into
it. It's your parents fault theway you are. It's somebody
else's fault the way you are itbecause of this because that I'm
really not responsible becauseof what these people have done
to me. Let me tell you somethingyou bought into a two prisoners
like everyone else must firstrealize that they are
responsible for their ownbehavior before they can change
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and they must understand thatthey need to change. Because of
this, the counseling of prisonerdemands compassionate
confrontation, including theclear instruction from right and
wrong. Listen, he says thechurch is the only thing that
can do that, by the way. Thenhere's another little article
this this just this a short one.
In their book, the criminalpersonality, Stanton seminar and
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Samuel Hogen, or something likethat. describe their careful
study and you get this of 250habitual criminals. When they
began seminar on you, Halstonheld the conventional view that
criminals were victims of abuseand deprivation, they were
looking for the social,psychological or economic
factors that could be said tocause crime. To their surprise,
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they couldn't find any. They didfind one thing, get this that
additional law breakers had incommon, given a choice. They
chose to break the law. The onlything they could find in common
to one or two the prisoners theydid a study on. Now listen.
Another one we go down is thisrationalization. Obedience must
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make sense. Or it's easy toexcuse. disobedience, isn't it?
We can excuse it all. In mycase, it's gonna be all right.
Or how about this comparison andblame shifting? Obedience does
not seem necessary for others.
So why should I now quickly, butwe're doing pretty good on time.
Today, I'm happy to say let'smove over to the First Samuel
keep one finger there inPhilippians. And go to First
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Samuel, I want you to seesomething illustrated in the
life of King Saul. First Samuelchapter 15. Now in First Samuel
chapter 15. What had happenedquickly is this. The Lord came
to Samuel and said, Go tell Saulto wipe out the animal guides,
every one of them, don't leaveanything, just wipe them out
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continually. And to tell you thestory real quickly. What
happened was this. Saul went andsoundly defeated the MO guides,
but he kept King egg egg aliveand he kept the best of the
sheep and the Ox. You got menow. He was supposed to obey and
the obedience met wiping outcompletely, but instead he kept
the king you know why? Becauseby parading around the king of
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Babylon honor to Saul, he wasmarching through the streets,
usually naked and tied up andbeaten. And so this is the king
Look at, look how strong I am. Idefeated this king, and also
they kept the best of the sheep.
Well, look what happens becauseof that. Look at the Lord's
view, verse 11. actually startedverse 10. Then the word of the
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Lord came to Samuel, I amgrieved that I have made Saul
king, because he is turned awayfrom me and is not carried out
my instructions. Samuel wastroubled and cried to the Lord
all night. So there we have twothings. I am grieved. In Samuels
view, the man of God he's cryingout to the Lord all night. And
by the way, years ago, I used topreach on this a lot in college,
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this passage and I remember thatthe Lord was greed that actually
means to breathe rough breathe,to breathe, roughly. And it
means this. The Lord was greed.
The Lord don't like this aboutSaul. That's what means the Lord
did. Saul is not following mycommand. Samuel was so upset.
He's all up all night. Butnotice what Saul's do was
rationalization. Look at verse12. It says, early in the
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morning, Samuel got up and wentto meet Saul, but he was told
Saul has gone to Carmel. Therehe is sort of a monument in his
own honor. Here was so clearlyviolating the Word of God and
guess what happened? He won thebattle, you see, so he
rationalized Allah. I didn'tcompletely obey. But like we won
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the battle. Obviously, I'm rightwith God. Here's a minute in my
honor. You know that if youstudy this guy's out, you'll
find out he's putting out a bigparade. He's going around
showing off King a gag. Butnotice this pragmatism, verse
13, he says, When Samuel reachedhim, Saul said, The Lord bless
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you, I have carried out theLord's instructions. Again, he's
thinking this look, I follow theLord. You know, basically, I
almost did everything. You know,I mean, there's a few things I
left undone, but basically, Ididn't look at look at the
blessing. Then the famousstatement, what then is the
bleeding of the sheep in myears? And lastly, blame shifting
Look at Verse 15. So answered,the soldiers brought them from
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the animal kites, and they spearthe best of the sheep, and the
cattle to sacrifice to the Lord,your God, oh, it's the soldiers.
I won't name the soldiers. Yousay, not facing up to our
disobedience. By the way, we'renot done with this passage, I
want you to see something. Threeimportant points. Look at me to
verse 22. And I want you to seesomething, to obey. Please get
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this to obey is better than allsorts of sacrificial activities.
Get all kinds of sacrifice. It'sbetter to obey than all types of
going to church a million timesover obey. How about this?
Please get this powerful stuffhere. Look at this rebellion or
disobedience. Look at verse 23,is similar to involving yourself
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and determinism. But see some ofyou here today that are
disobeying God, that couldn't beyou? Could it? It is you. That's
what I want you to see. You foolaround. You're fooling around
you don't why? Who show norespect for the word of the Lord
Satan and the demons of hell?
Who absolutely hate hiscommands. Satan, and the demons
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from hell. And so when you writeoff God's clear word and say,
I'm not gonna have anything todo with it, guess who you're
aligning yourself with? Thedemons of hell. My friends is a
serious because there'sarrogance is the culprit and you
are actually committing idolatrywhen you disobey. Listen, I know
this sounds strange to you. Someof you probably. I'm not saying
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this so I can keep you friendsthat I do. I love you. I want to
stay friends with you believeme, I got enough struggles by
myself. That's to have anenemies I do. But my point is
this. I'm not trying to beat youdown. I'm trying to tell you we
have so lowered our standards towhat pleases God that we're
missing it. Jesus Christ issupposed to be the example. His
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attitude was this I will obeyeven unto death, I will obey
into the most horrible, shamefuldeath possible. Let me remind
you of something. The writer ofHebrews says in the 12th
chapter, as you're consideringhim, and looking into Jesus, the
author of finish your day, thisis this, you have not resisted
to the point of shedding bloodin your struggle against sin.
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You think you've got to toughentrying to live an obedient life?
Have you shed any blood? Youknow what the writer there is
clearly referring to Philippianstwo, eight, and Jesus died on
the cross. Jesus obey to thepoint of death. It is a
rebellious, arrogant thing tosay I will not obey you. My
friends, I'll tell you. It putsa little bit of fear in your
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heart. If you start to seeclearly the lines are being
drawn. Good because that's whatI've been praying for. Let's go
back to Philippians and to thesecond chapter. And the next
verse says this even death onthe cross,
hey, do you know where we getthe word excruciating? Guess
where we get the wordexcruciating? X out of
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crucifixion, out of crucifixionis where we get the word
excruciating. He became sin. Hewas separated from the Father,
all the horrors of disseminateall the horrors, the only time
Jesus ever called God God wasthere on the Cross are really
tiny. He called him father. Butbut there was a separation
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between the Trinity we can'teven our minds are too frail to
imagine all this, but thehorrors that Jesus went through,
but you know what? I've alwaysbeen one like this, I must admit
to you, I've always been onethat certainly in all this stuff
about Jesus physically dying,that isn't the point. And I've
seen that clearly. And in mystudies the Scriptures, the
real, most horrible sacrifice,the the most horrible pain, the
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toughest part of all of going tothe cross for Jesus was this, my
friends, it was that he wasgoing to become sin, the sinless
Son of God was going to be madesin according to second
Corinthians 521. That was goingto be awful. But you know what
I've been wrong. Talk aboutbalance. Because the scriptures
also indicate big sections ofMatthew talking about the
crucifixion. And also here, itsays this even death on a cross.
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The B, C, being God becoming sinwas so deplorable. But being man
dying on the cross was sodeplorable. I must refer to you
to our Georgia Sunday schoolclass, I would say here, if you
want something that will soberyou up and help you live a
better Christian life, get hisfirst message is on tape, you
can order it back here for $1.
And then you get your dollarback when you turn your tape on
(35:59):
or something like that. However,they do it, but you can get it
for free. He explains he takes145 minute message, and he
explains what it meant to bescourged. And he shows it from
the New England Journal ofMedicine, and many other places.
And I'm telling you, if youdon't have a strong stomach,
you've got to realize a lot ofpeople die just from the
scourging and humiliation, andthe horrors of going to death on
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the cross. And my friends, Jesussaid this thought, do you think
Jesus wants to do that? Youthink Jesus sorry, I guess it's
time for the crucifixion. Let'sgo with the party. Now. It
wasn't, it was deplorable andhard. And if you would have
said, Are you living theabundant Christian life, Jesus,
if you could have heard him cryin the garden, and plead with
the father that this cup maypass for me, you would have
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realized that part of realChristian living is
excruciatingly difficult timesbecause that's what happens when
you obey you say, but how couldI ever really do it? It seems so
impossible. How can I everreally obey in this area it just
Jesus did, even to the point ofdeath. You don't have an excuse.
I know that they bristle you upa little bit it bristles me up
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if someone were telling that tome, because I want to be
comfortable with myrationalizations. I want to be
able to say in defiance, I justcan't do that. But Jesus said,
obey no matter what, even to thepoint of death, always obey
Jesus example, have thisattitude that Jesus had. You
know what? AW Tozer said this.
(37:30):
To his congregation, pray that Iwill not come to a weird end.
And exhausted, tired oldpreacher interested only in
finding the place to roost. Praythat I will let my Christian
standards and he didn't meanstandards in the bad sense. But
come up to the Word of God costme something right down to my
last gasp. The cost ofobedience, the cost of
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sacrificing the cost of beinguncomfortable in order to obey
God. I'll tell you, I think thatthis church needs to hear this
message. You know what it is?
It's too much for me to considersacrifice. I need to be home
with my family. I can't reallygo to church. I can't ask
someone to make a commitment.
You're asking me to sacrifice.
We've approached people to workin the nursery and they are
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appalled. Husband, either themor they're beneath them. Or it's
something I don't know what howit is. But there's something
wrong with it. We've, we'vetalked about getting involved
and sacrifice and everyone wantsto sit back and be comfortable
and just give me a Christianityit makes me feel a little good.
And make sure that my financesare up to date, and I'll keep
serving. Listen, God has calledus to sacrifice. And we need to
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understand this in this church,that the balance is gonna be
that we understand it the mindthat we're supposed to have in a
church attitude, the mind thatwe're supposed to have at a home
attitude, the mind we'resupposed to have at work or
whatever is this an attitudethat says I lower myself before
others, and I obey the Word ofGod no matter what, no excuses.
But the friends, listen. Itdoesn't end with just some
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determination of the will. Andthat's it. There is a motivation
Given right here in thischapter. Look at verse nine.
Therefore, God exalted him oncetherefore, therefore, therefore
is therefore the refer back toverse eight. Because Jesus
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lowered himself because heobeyed. The point is in the
future, there will be greatreward. Paul said this, I have
fought a good fight, I have keptthe faith I have finished the
course Henceforth there is laidup for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lordthe righteous judge will give
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you that day. Oh, Paul, you'reso unspiritual you were looking
for rewards? Well, I do it justbecause I love God. Well, if you
know just because you love Godand you're unbiblical and you're
thinking again, because rewardsis a key constant theme
throughout the scriptures. It'ssomething that you're to strive
for. In other words, you say,but it's so painful now it's so
excruciating. It seems likeothers can get away with it. How
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come I can't you obey God nowthere's a day coming when you'll
be rewarded about the use ofyour money just for an
illustration, Luke chapter 16.
Hey, there was a steward, yousee a manager of a rich man, and
he found out he was gettingfired. So we went to a guy says,
Oh, you're a master 1000bushels? Make it 800. Oh, you
(40:30):
will so much oil, cut the billin half. He did all that.
Because in those days, after hegot fired, he could go live six
months with that guy until hiswhat he saved him was up, he go
to the oil man and live anotheryear, do you go around and live
with those people? In otherwords, he is commended by Jesus
because he took care of himselfin the future. And the point is,
he says so Jesus turns aroundsays so you use your money. So
(40:54):
that in eternity, you willreceive a rich welcome. And
that's just one illustration ofthis. What's that rich welcome.
Well, this as you givesacrificially now, and maybe
sacrifice a few things, so thatyou can give sacrificially, now
what happens? You may not get itnecessarily back. Now. Maybe you
will. Maybe one of the bigteaching today on channel 40, is
you get it all back. Now. Youmay or you may not, but the
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point is in heaven, you'll berichly rewarded. All through the
scriptures. There's this area ofrewards. I tell you, Kim Kaufman
is so bad at this, I need to seethis. You need to be more than
that. We're in next week'ssermon already. Okay, so you
don't even come back next week.
All right. But the point isthis. I shouldn't have said that
one. All right. Got that off thetape. Anyway, the point is this.
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If we, if we keep this in mind,Kim Kaufman looks around, he
tries to serve the Lord. Hethinks he's doing a good job. He
feels sorry for himself becausepeople don't appreciate him like
he should. And he's seen this.
You know, what, if you obey withall your heart and say, I Yeah,
other people are all that Godjudge them, I don't need to
judge them. I don't quiteunderstand why they're doing
(42:00):
what they're doing. But I'mgonna follow God with all my
heart, I'm gonna obey. And guesswhat, there'll be a day when you
will be richly rewarded. That'sthe promise over and over. I
challenge you, even though whereyou work. Colossians chapter
three. The Bible says don't workwith a service. That guy can
just reward you with a paycheck,you work because you can be
rewarded by God Almighty. What'she talking about? In the future?
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Even in the way you work? Ineverything you do, we obey God,
because there's gonna be a greatreward coming. Now, last thing
I've done. So, those being ourgoals, let me say this to you.
If you had to break downobedience to the most bottom
level, what is it? Love God withall your heart, soul, mind and
strength? Will Love yourneighbor as yourself. Right? You
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know what that is? Unity. What'sthe theme of the passage? Unity?
If you had to say, but thereseems like there's so many
things for me to obey, probably,you're listening to the dark
side, because the First Johnsays, His commandments are not
burdensome. But if we love Godwith all of our heart, and love
(43:09):
our neighbor as ourself, we'refollowing the example of Jesus,
of lowering ourself and becomingobedient at all cost. Let's
pray. Oh, Father, would you helpus? Help me? To keep this I'm so
(43:29):
afraid that a few weeks fromnow, I'm going to forget the
series on Philippians, two, fivethrough 11. I'm afraid I'm going
to drop back into the syndromethat Kim coffin often has of
exalting myself demanding myrights and my ways. In thinking
of how to exalt myself, insteadof seeking humiliation and
(43:51):
lowering myself. We need yourhelp this, this is beyond us. We
want to do all that we can inour own strength to follow you.
But at the same time, weabsolutely must have your Holy
Spirit to lead us and to guideus and help us to do this. And I
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would pray that Christians thatare here this morning that are
living in disobedience would beconvicted by your Holy Spirit. I
know I can't bring it upon them.
I pray that you would convictthem.
You know the hearts of all men?
I certainly don't you knowexactly what needs to be prodded
and worked on not me. And Ibeseech you, in my own life, and
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in the life of the people thatare listening right now. That
you would cause a desire to obeyno matter what even to the point
of shedding blood. We pray thisin Jesus name, Amen.
Philippians chapter two. Let's read this
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passage together. starting withverse one, and going down
through verse eight Philippianschapter two starting with verse
one. If you have anyencouragement from being united
with Christ, if any comfort fromhis love, if any fellowship with
(00:23):
the Spirit, if any tendernessand compassion, then make my joy
complete, by being like minded,having the same love, being one
in spirit and purpose, Donothing out of selfish ambition
or vain conceit. But inhumility, consider others better
than yourselves. Each of youshould look not only to your own
interest, but also to theinterest of others. Your
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attitude should be the same asthat of Christ Jesus who been in
the very nature, God did notconsider equality with God
something to be grasped, butmade himself nothing, taking the
very nature of a servant, beingmade in human likeness. And
being found in appearance as aman, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to death, evendeath on a cross, we know that
(01:09):
it's right to say things likethis. Keep your eyes on Jesus,
don't look at men, or lookingunder Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, or on andon we can go we know that it's
right to say that we know thatChristianity is keeping your
focus on Jesus and followinghim. However, this passage has
amazed me because this is thekey to unity, to getting along
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with people, at home, at work inchurch, wherever you are, in any
situation of life, one of thekeys who would have guessed
this, I certainly wouldn't havethought it up. But one of the
keys to really be able to getalong, is viewing the doctrine
of Christ, viewing the doctrineof salvation, understanding who
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Christ is, who he was, before hecame to Earth, what he was and
what he became when he came toEarth. And considering what he
did when he was here on Earthand how he humbled himself. In
fact, this verse says, as Paulwas writing to them concerning
unity and getting along, it saysthis, here's the attitude you're
supposed to have. You'resupposed to have this attitude,
what are you the same attitudeJesus had loyalty to Jesus have?
(02:14):
Well, he had these types ofattitudes. He said this, in
regard to getting along withothers have this attitude that
Jesus had verse six, who he wasbefore he came to Earth. Let's
look at verse six, and see whatit says again, a quick review,
who being in very nature, Goddid not consider equality with
God something to be grasped herehe was, he was God. And he gave
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up willingly, he didn't grab onto the majestic Majesty in the
glory of heaven, He willinglygave that up to come to Earth.
And it says next, verse seven,consider what he became when he
said or what he became when hecame to earth. What did he
become? Look at this, He emptiedHimself, verse seven, or he made
himself nothing, taking the verynature of a servant being made
(02:56):
in human likeness. Well, ifwe're supposed to have the same
attitude, we're supposed tounderstand this. He started off
as God. And He humbled Himselfand took on the human nature
became a man. And he not onlybecame a man himself, he became
a servant, a menial, one whowould, who could be walked on
one who would could easily bemissed or unnoticed. You didn't
(03:20):
try to come as as King Kong oryou didn't come as as Arnold
Schwarzenegger, or anybody. Hecame as somebody that could be
walked over just just a servant,a mere man tech people despised
and rejected him. Is this thecarpenter son, they thought
nothing about him. Considerthis, you're supposed to think
about what it must have beenlike for him to empty Himself.
(03:40):
Remember, when he emptiedhimself, that doesn't mean that
he gave up being God. He was100% God, he can rebuke the
winds and the waves. And yet hewas 100%. Man, he needed sleep,
he was hungry, he grew, he grewtired. And he left willingly all
the glories of heaven. And letus let me remind you something
we touched on last week andregards to submission. There is
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a tremendous movement today,especially among women, I must
say that somehow submission isnot necessary, or it's not
really right or so now. itdemeans you? Well, I want to
make sure you understand this.
We're supposed to have anattitude that Christ had Christ
attitude, was submissive, andwas submissive to the will of
the Father, even to the point ofthe most humiliating death that
could ever be had. Jesuswillingly submit himself to
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that, remember something when itcomes to throw do submission?
Women I particularly say thisnormally, in Baptist churches,
the women get pounded in the menget right Oh, once delivered, I
don't want to I think we foundout the men enough, but I want
to make sure you understand thisone more time function does not
equal value. Please listen tome, when it comes to submission
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function does not equal value.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Jesus was as much God as God theFather, and yet he submitted
Himself and for you To submityourselves to your husbands as
the Scripture clearlyunmistakably teaches, then
you've got to understandsomething, it has nothing to do
with you being less human. Ithas to do with the order in the
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creative purpose of God. In thiscase, in the redemptive purpose
of God, Jesus had to submithimself in order for the whole
tribe, Trinity, to work, theirpurpose of salvation, and so on.
This is an attitude that we'resupposed to have. That's a
little side note that's, thatwon't cost you anything. But
notice this, we start off asrebellious sinners, he started
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off as God, what do we do? Westarted off as rebellious
sinners, but what do we do? Wedemand our rights, we demand to
be honored. What happens ifsomeone doesn't notice you? Oh,
you know, you really want to letthem have it? What happens if
someone doesn't go your way? Andwe're mad all the time. What did
Jesus do? He sought humiliation,he submits to the Father, even
(05:53):
to the point of death, he madehimself nothing he took on the
form of a servant. And guesswhat, this is the attitude
you're supposed to have. You'resupposed to have a Christ like
attitude. What is that seekinghumiliation? I'm telling you,
there is incredible freedom hascome into my life in the last
two weeks thinking about this.
Do you know why? Because insteadof people in Greco Roman Church,
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where I'm important, I'm goingto make sure people knows we are
going to mention, it's great tohave the attitude of Christ.
Seek humiliation, let god bringyou the honor. The point is, if
we will submit to God's will, ifwe will submit to doing things
God's way. If we will saywhatever it costs are, I will do
things your way, I will have anattitude of humiliation,
everybody, please look down toverse nine. Therefore, God
(06:38):
exalted him to the place, youtry to exalt yourself, you will
never be able to do it. You tryto say, I'm gonna make it my
way, you'll never be able to doit. But you do it God's way.
Seek humiliation, God will exaltyou. But that's next week's
message. I'm getting ahead of myplace. We're just going to Verse
eight, this week. So what's thisattitude? Listen, I can just
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hear some of you is this. Seekhumiliation. Realize that Jesus
made himself nothing. So makeyourselves nothing. become
servants. Jesus said I did notcome to be served but to serve.
Lower yourself. Don't try toesteem yourself and exalt
yourself as the world says andput yourself first but lower
yourself. This is the attitudethat Christ had. And guess what?
(07:23):
You think now? Okay, stop, stop.
That's enough. That's enough.
You know what? We can't stop. Wehaven't hit bottom yet. Verse
eight, takes us to the bottom.
Look at the depths ofhumiliation to which he went.
We're going to just stay now onverse eight, and squeeze the
life right out of it. You can'tdo it out of the Bible. It
continues to live. But we'regoing to squeeze verse eight, to
learn more about what it has tosay concerning the attitude that
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Jesus had. Look at this, verseeight, says and being, excuse
me, Verse eight says, And beingfound in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself, and becameobedient to death, even death on
the cross, first off the firstphrase, and in fashion been
(08:10):
found. That's the way it'swritten the Greek and in
fashion, being found inappearance, he was found not as
the God man, but he was found asa man. What I mean to say by
that is this, if you saw JesusChrist, walking on the earth,
the carpenter son, whose motherwas marry, and whose stepfather
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was Joseph, you would say, he'scompletely human. He did not
come. appearing with a haloabove his head. It wasn't as the
Apocrypha says, where Jesus wasplaying with his friends, and
(08:52):
they didn't do what he wants todo. So we turn them into donkeys
as a little boy. He was justcompletely human. When you saw
him were that what is sostaggering is this when you saw
Jesus, he was absolutelycompletely human. Remember?
Isn't this the carpenter son? Oreven when Peter who who two men
say that I am? Or some sayyou're this, some say, Peter,
(09:14):
who do you say that I am? I say,You're Jesus, the Son of the
living God. And what did? Whatdid Christ say to him, Peter,
flesh and blood did not revealthis unto thee. In other words,
naturally just by your flesh andblood by the natural instincts,
you did not notice that Jesuswas the God man, you just
noticed that he was a man. Butmy father wishes in heaven
revealed the son of theoutwardly considered he was not
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different from any other man, hewas totally human in every way.
That's what it means when itsays in being found, or being
found in appearance as a man,but please get the main idea
here and that's right there. Inthe middle of verse eight.
He humbled Himself He became aman, He humbled Himself. Listen
(09:57):
to old man says it's veryinteresting. Cry He was not
humbled by others. Rather, hehumbled himself. It involves a
voluntary submission of hiswill, to the directive will of
the Father in the agony of Gus70. Do you remember in
Gethsemane, this is a picture ofhis entire life. He said this,
(10:18):
knowing he was about to becomesin, Christ pray to remember the
Matthew, Mark and Luke talkabout how with with the most
strongest terms of the Greek youpossibly can about the stress
that he was under about theemotions that he was under,
about the the turmoil that hewas in. And he says this father,
if it's any other way possiblethat I don't have to become sin
and die a horrible, humiliatingdeath on the cross? May it
(10:40):
happen, nevertheless, not mywill. But your will be done. He
humbled Himself. He loweredhimself. He he made himself like
that you realize friends, haveyou ever been accused of
something when you haven't beenguilty? Come on. I have been
accused of things which I wasabsolutely innocent of now 98%
Of what I'm accused of that'susually right. All right. But
(11:02):
there have been times when I'vebeen accused of things that I
was innocent of, do you know theanger and the self justification
that goes on in my heart? Ithink, Oh, come on. Well, how
would you like to have beenJesus? He was God. He comes to
this earth. He humbles himself.
He teaches people the way of GodHe does nothing but good all his
days, he could say which one ofyou convicted me of sin, no one
(11:25):
could convict him of sin. Andyet part of this humiliation and
part of this humbling of himselfwas an unjust trial. markings.
Skirt jeans. stripped naked, infront of the entire city of
(11:48):
Jerusalem, paraded around havingbeen beaten 40 lashes save one.
mocked, criticized, cussed atspit upon, laughed at scorned
and he was absolutely innocent.
(12:10):
If any of that happened to us,we would all say, Well, I partly
deserve it because I'm a sinner.
But Jesus humbled Himself, Heemptied Himself. He lowered
himself he esteemed othersbetter than himself. Now listen.
(12:32):
Consider that with Christianministers and ministries today
who just think of this. What doyou see today? Well, just in our
last few years, we've seen thisair conditioned dog houses gold
plated bathroom fixtures. Thetelevision coverage has
resembled an extended episode ofdynasty, focusing on Christian
(12:56):
celebrities be decked inexpensive jewelry, palatial
estates, Mercedes limousines.
The result is an extraordinarypresentation has been to
stereotype all Christians asflamboyant frauds. That's what
Christianity is. Jesus humbledHimself. Listen to what one man
(13:18):
said. The whole time of thesoldier and on Earth was a time
of self humiliation. He wasbeing humiliated in the base
instead of commanding and ruinand power and majesty and occupy
a place of honor and authorityand preeminence among men. From
the manger to the cross, hetried a path of humiliation
which culminated in the miseryand suffering and reproach of a
(13:40):
shameful death on a tree.
Obedience in the gardensurrender and submission to the
will of God was maintained byhim into the end, and the
profoundness degree ofhumiliation was reached, in that
his death was not to be naturalor an honorable one. It was the
painful and accursed death of across. He humbled Himself. But
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notice something humiliationcoincided with something else.
Look at verse eight, and it saysthis And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbledHimself and I get this and
became obedient to death.
Humiliation coincided withobedience. He continually said,
I seek not my will, but the willof the Father, that please get
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this to have the attitude Christhad is one of loneliness and
humiliation crossed withsubmissiveness to the Father's
will, no matter what, please getthat. It's a cross of you want
to be able to get along withpeople. You want to be able to
have a good marriage and onceyou can get along then you know
what you need to seekhumiliation. You need to seek
loneliness. You don't need todemand your rights in the man
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your ways to say you deserve tobe somebody. You deserve
nothing. Christ is our example.
He went from God to the mosthumiliating death ever. If you
don't think this way, myfriends, I just got one word
that word for it, you're notthinking Christian. This is
Christian, it may sound radical,it may sound against How to Win
(15:06):
Friends and Influence People. Itmay seem different than what we
are taught today. But this isChristianity, I want to press it
upon you till you don't miss it.
Because I know this, if you getit, you're going to start
thinking the way God wants youto think. And it will lead to
joy and contentment in yourlife. When you start submitting
to God's way. It's gonna be alittle rough is going but it's
worth it. No matter what, heobeyed God. Now, let me press
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upon you one more another way,Jesus said this, if you love me,
you will keep My commandments.
Ellison don't run from that.
Jesus gives you a clear test forwhether or not you love him or
not. If a man says, I know him,but keeps not his commandments,
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he is a liar. The proof is notin what you say. The proof is
not that you saying I love Jesusthis morning, the proof is what
you do. I'm not trying to addsome burden to you, or as your
pastor or a minister of thegospel tries to tell you the
truth here. But the truth is howyou behave. How you live. I have
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heard many people say concerningthe clear violation of
Scripture, listen, not somethingdebatable, like whether or not
you know the color of theirclothes were proper. That's not
what I'm talking about. I'mtalking about this concerning
clear moral violations ofScripture. I've heard people
rationalize obedience away bysaying things like this. But
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doesn't God want me to be happy?
Do you know why I bring this up,I bring it up. Because some of
you are going to be saying thatin the next few years, because
the devil is so clever. He willget you this whole thing screwed
around in your mind to where youthink that's really what is most
important that you're happy bysaying that doesn't God want me
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to be happy, and so I can't obeyGod's will. Because if I do obey
God's will, I will not be happy.
You are clearly making anaccusation against God's word,
by saying that somehow byfollowing God's word, it would
not be best for you.
Here's another one I've heard. Itell you, I say this, it makes
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me want to cry when I say it.
And I'll tell you why. Because Ihave heard it and heard it and
heard it from members of thischurch. I've only got two
choices in regards to mymarriage. Stay in a bad
marriage, or get a divorce. Bothare bad. So I might as well
choose the bad one. It's alittle shorter, I'll get the
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divorce and we'll be over with Iwon't have to prolong. We just
say this. If that is true, ifthere is no clear cut obedience,
but you've only got two badchoices, then again, you're
accusing God of somethinghorrible. You're saying that God
has put you into temptation inyour path. And the Bible says,
Let no man say when he istempted, I'm tempted of God. But
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make sure when you understandthat you're tempted, you're
tempted by being drawn away byyour own evil, lust and enticed.
And it's going to lead to death,James 113, through 15. Something
else, the Bible says Notemptation has taken you but
that which is common man, andGod is faithful to provide a way
out, there's always an obedient,it's sometimes creative, but
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creative, obedient. opportunityin marriage, I use that as a
platform as an illustration,because of how much attack there
seems to be going on these daysin the area of marriage. And
people rationalize and saying,oh, it's alright, you know, it's
okay to disobey in this area. Ifyou only knew how bad I had it,
you will understand that it'salright to disobey. And just
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want to give a quick side note,if you are here and you are
divorced, I'm not trying to addsome heaping guilt upon your
life. That's not what I'msaying. I'm basically talking to
people that are married here.
Please, friends, please don'trationalize this away. You can
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obey. Jesus obeyed you see, butit's so hard if you only knew
how bad my marriage was, I wantto tell you this, Jesus obey to
the point of death. It's notgoing to kill you. Even Listen,
even to death on a cross. Butit's so humiliating to be in my
circle says, hey, it was totallyhumiliating for the Son of God.
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One thing that I desire in mylife very badly is this balance.
I want balance. And everyone'scriticized, for instance,
formalism and casual as much asthat. So if you've gone to
churches where everything wasvery formal, and you sort of
hate it, and then you can alwaysfind a church that's totally
casual. And I really think thatthere is a balance between the
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two What about this legalism?
And antinomianism? Some of youhave gone to churches in the
past, where you were told youhad to do this, this, this, this
and this need to be there allthe services you had do all
these things, otherwise you areno good. But you know what
happens then? Sometimes you cometo this church and you think,
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Oh, it doesn't matter if you goto church here, or no. See, you
can just do there. My point isthis brands, there's always a
balance, we seem to want to runto the extremes go from one side
to the other. Or how about thiselection and free will. We know
it's all here, it's all here.
And we and we startstraightening the rope and
missing the balance. Or you'rein chapter two. Let me show you
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an illustration aboutsanctification. Go down with me,
diverse 12 of that chapter.
Here's just one moreillustration of balanced look
what it says. Therefore, my dearfriends, as you have always
obeyed not only in my presence,but now much more in my absence.
Continue to work out yoursalvation with fear and
trembling. Look at that you'resupposed to work it out. But
look at verse 13. For his Godwho works in you too willing to
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act according to His goodpurpose. Do you see my point?
Here in verse 12, the command isyou work out your salvation.
Here in verse 13. The Scriptureteaches God's going to work in
you. The point is, I hear somepeople they say, Oh, let go and
let God you're not supposed todo anything. They're just taking
verse 13. Then I know somepeople I've been one of them in
the past that has just takenverse 12. It's all up to you.
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The point is, there's a finebalance. But you wonder why in
the world am I getting at? I'mgetting something here. You need
no balance when it comes toobedience. Always obey. Take it
to the limit, stretch it as faras it'll go. You'll never be out
of balance. If you obey God'sword. I will tell you, and I'll
tell you, I've taken grief andflak and criticism and all kinds
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of things. And I'm not gripingand complaining about it. It's a
badge of honor as far as I'mconcerned. But I have taken it
you know why? Because I saylisten, obey God's word, no
matter what. obey God's word, nomatter what you understand, obey
God's word, I will tell youalways you will never be sorry
for obeying God's word. Thepoint is this sink, humiliation
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and be obedient. Even if it costeverything you have obey God's
Word. We are so comfortable andso easy upon ourselves these
days. You don't have to worryabout being out of balance, when
it comes to this area. Let meshow you something here. Here
you have here you are going downthe path of your life TDD TDD
(22:29):
TDD earlier, okay. You come upto a decision that you must make
there is a wrong decision. Andthere is a right decision. Let
me explain something to youabout this. The wrong decision
will be easy at first. It alwaysis. To go the way of the flesh
is always the easiest. But asyou go down the road, it's going
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to become harder because theBible says the way of the
Transgressor is hard. Althoughit's easy at first, and first
the Christian has been bottledup and head over restraints on
them, and all of a suddenthey're free for you. It seems
like you're free. This lesbian,I feel so good. But just watch
what happens. It leads tohopelessness. Is that clear back
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there not? Because it leads tohopelessness and despair. But
look at this the right way. It'shard at first, you know why?
Self Denial may be involved? Sayno to what you really want. But
it's easier as you go down thepath. Jesus said, If you know
these things, Happy are ye ifyou do them. Blessing is the man
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who obeys God's Word, theScripture says, eventually, it
leads to joy and peace.
Obedience is so important. Andyet people are the most mixed up
people in the world that I knowof the press people in the world
are Christians who are goingdown the wrong path and somehow
saying, but I thought this wasgonna be I felt so good when I
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got started.
I want to show you again, I mayhave showed you some of this in
the past, but I want to show youhere's something concerning
enemies of obedience.
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Mysticism, mysticism is this.
Obedience is apart from the willand the intellect. In other
words, I've heard this and I'veheard this and I've heard this
and I don't ever want you to sayit. But you probably will. I
know I've done this in the past.
It's this, but I don't feelconvicted about what I decided
to do. Here you are clearlyviolating the Scriptures. And
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yet you're a mystic. Because yousaid, Oh, because I don't feel
something. It must be alright.
How about this? pragmatism?
Pragmatism is this obedience isdone as long as it works for me.
Remember, it's harder at firstto obey. And it's difficult
times oh, but it just doesn'tseem like it's working for me.
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Maybe that works for somebodyelse, but it's just not right
for me as if what if it works isdependent or not upon whether or
not you're supposed to obey? Howabout this one? You know, I'd
have to throw this one in here,did you? Psychology? Obedience
is good. Only when I figured outmy past with his hangups, I'm
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going to read you a littlearticle by Chuck Swindoll. On
this point, listen carefully.
This is amazing. During thevisit to an Australian Parisian
prison in November of 1986, Imet a young man due to be
released the next week. Are yougoing to stay out? I ask. Yes,
the prison. Are you going tostay out of prison? Listen, he
smiled, rolled his eyes andsaid, Well, it all depends on
how they treat me out theirsurprise. I asked who they were,
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you know, mate, the people onthe outside? I mean, why did
they take care of me or not ajob a place to stay and all that
sort of thing? Do you mean thatyou're letting other people
decide for you what happens inyour life? I ask that you're not
man enough to make your owndecisions about what you're
going to do next? The prisonerbristled. And then he relaxed
and shrugged. Well, how am Isupposed to make it on the
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outside if somebody doesn't helpme? I explained that there are
plenty of Christians to help.
But I continue. You have to wantto do it on your own, and
realize that what happens to youis the result of your own
decisions, not somebody else's.
I explained that there areplenty Excuse me. Clearly, such
thoughts have never crossed hismind. Sadly, I've seen the same
attitude in every prison Ivisited. Many prisoners simply
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don't believe they'reresponsible for their actions.
For years, experts have toldthem the crime results from
poverty, from discriminationfrom unemployment. So their
reasoning goes society, not theindividuals that fall and must
be changed. This enlightenedview has perpetrated delusion
that makes rehabilitationimpossible. Did you hear me? My
friends, you may think these areprisoners though. This isn't us.
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I'm a white collar worker. Hey,listen, you've been buying into
it. It's your parents fault theway you are. It's somebody
else's fault the way you are itbecause of this because that I'm
really not responsible becauseof what these people have done
to me. Let me tell you somethingyou bought into a two prisoners
like everyone else must firstrealize that they are
responsible for their ownbehavior before they can change
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and they must understand thatthey need to change. Because of
this, the counseling of prisonerdemands compassionate
confrontation, including theclear instruction from right and
wrong. Listen, he says thechurch is the only thing that
can do that, by the way. Thenhere's another little article
this this just this a short one.
In their book, the criminalpersonality, Stanton seminar and
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Samuel Hogen, or something likethat. describe their careful
study and you get this of 250habitual criminals. When they
began seminar on you, Halstonheld the conventional view that
criminals were victims of abuseand deprivation, they were
looking for the social,psychological or economic
factors that could be said tocause crime. To their surprise,
(27:56):
they couldn't find any. They didfind one thing, get this that
additional law breakers had incommon, given a choice. They
chose to break the law. The onlything they could find in common
to one or two the prisoners theydid a study on. Now listen.
Another one we go down is thisrationalization. Obedience must
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make sense. Or it's easy toexcuse. disobedience, isn't it?
We can excuse it all. In mycase, it's gonna be all right.
Or how about this comparison andblame shifting? Obedience does
not seem necessary for others.
So why should I now quickly, butwe're doing pretty good on time.
Today, I'm happy to say let'smove over to the First Samuel
keep one finger there inPhilippians. And go to First
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Samuel, I want you to seesomething illustrated in the
life of King Saul. First Samuelchapter 15. Now in First Samuel
chapter 15. What had happenedquickly is this. The Lord came
to Samuel and said, Go tell Saulto wipe out the animal guides,
every one of them, don't leaveanything, just wipe them out
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continually. And to tell you thestory real quickly. What
happened was this. Saul went andsoundly defeated the MO guides,
but he kept King egg egg aliveand he kept the best of the
sheep and the Ox. You got menow. He was supposed to obey and
the obedience met wiping outcompletely, but instead he kept
the king you know why? Becauseby parading around the king of
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Babylon honor to Saul, he wasmarching through the streets,
usually naked and tied up andbeaten. And so this is the king
Look at, look how strong I am. Idefeated this king, and also
they kept the best of the sheep.
Well, look what happens becauseof that. Look at the Lord's
view, verse 11. actually startedverse 10. Then the word of the
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Lord came to Samuel, I amgrieved that I have made Saul
king, because he is turned awayfrom me and is not carried out
my instructions. Samuel wastroubled and cried to the Lord
all night. So there we have twothings. I am grieved. In Samuels
view, the man of God he's cryingout to the Lord all night. And
by the way, years ago, I used topreach on this a lot in college,
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this passage and I remember thatthe Lord was greed that actually
means to breathe rough breathe,to breathe, roughly. And it
means this. The Lord was greed.
The Lord don't like this aboutSaul. That's what means the Lord
did. Saul is not following mycommand. Samuel was so upset.
He's all up all night. Butnotice what Saul's do was
rationalization. Look at verse12. It says, early in the
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morning, Samuel got up and wentto meet Saul, but he was told
Saul has gone to Carmel. Therehe is sort of a monument in his
own honor. Here was so clearlyviolating the Word of God and
guess what happened? He won thebattle, you see, so he
rationalized Allah. I didn'tcompletely obey. But like we won
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the battle. Obviously, I'm rightwith God. Here's a minute in my
honor. You know that if youstudy this guy's out, you'll
find out he's putting out a bigparade. He's going around
showing off King a gag. Butnotice this pragmatism, verse
13, he says, When Samuel reachedhim, Saul said, The Lord bless
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you, I have carried out theLord's instructions. Again, he's
thinking this look, I follow theLord. You know, basically, I
almost did everything. You know,I mean, there's a few things I
left undone, but basically, Ididn't look at look at the
blessing. Then the famousstatement, what then is the
bleeding of the sheep in myears? And lastly, blame shifting
Look at Verse 15. So answered,the soldiers brought them from
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the animal kites, and they spearthe best of the sheep, and the
cattle to sacrifice to the Lord,your God, oh, it's the soldiers.
I won't name the soldiers. Yousay, not facing up to our
disobedience. By the way, we'renot done with this passage, I
want you to see something. Threeimportant points. Look at me to
verse 22. And I want you to seesomething, to obey. Please get
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this to obey is better than allsorts of sacrificial activities.
Get all kinds of sacrifice. It'sbetter to obey than all types of
going to church a million timesover obey. How about this?
Please get this powerful stuffhere. Look at this rebellion or
disobedience. Look at verse 23,is similar to involving yourself
(32:18):
and determinism. But see some ofyou here today that are
disobeying God, that couldn't beyou? Could it? It is you. That's
what I want you to see. You foolaround. You're fooling around
you don't why? Who show norespect for the word of the Lord
Satan and the demons of hell?
Who absolutely hate hiscommands. Satan, and the demons
(32:42):
from hell. And so when you writeoff God's clear word and say,
I'm not gonna have anything todo with it, guess who you're
aligning yourself with? Thedemons of hell. My friends is a
serious because there'sarrogance is the culprit and you
are actually committing idolatrywhen you disobey. Listen, I know
this sounds strange to you. Someof you probably. I'm not saying
(33:05):
this so I can keep you friendsthat I do. I love you. I want to
stay friends with you believeme, I got enough struggles by
myself. That's to have anenemies I do. But my point is
this. I'm not trying to beat youdown. I'm trying to tell you we
have so lowered our standards towhat pleases God that we're
missing it. Jesus Christ issupposed to be the example. His
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attitude was this I will obeyeven unto death, I will obey
into the most horrible, shamefuldeath possible. Let me remind
you of something. The writer ofHebrews says in the 12th
chapter, as you're consideringhim, and looking into Jesus, the
author of finish your day, thisis this, you have not resisted
to the point of shedding bloodin your struggle against sin.
(33:45):
You think you've got to toughentrying to live an obedient life?
Have you shed any blood? Youknow what the writer there is
clearly referring to Philippianstwo, eight, and Jesus died on
the cross. Jesus obey to thepoint of death. It is a
rebellious, arrogant thing tosay I will not obey you. My
friends, I'll tell you. It putsa little bit of fear in your
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heart. If you start to seeclearly the lines are being
drawn. Good because that's whatI've been praying for. Let's go
back to Philippians and to thesecond chapter. And the next
verse says this even death onthe cross,
hey, do you know where we getthe word excruciating? Guess
where we get the wordexcruciating? X out of
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crucifixion, out of crucifixionis where we get the word
excruciating. He became sin. Hewas separated from the Father,
all the horrors of disseminateall the horrors, the only time
Jesus ever called God God wasthere on the Cross are really
tiny. He called him father. Butbut there was a separation
(34:52):
between the Trinity we can'teven our minds are too frail to
imagine all this, but thehorrors that Jesus went through,
but you know what? I've alwaysbeen one like this, I must admit
to you, I've always been onethat certainly in all this stuff
about Jesus physically dying,that isn't the point. And I've
seen that clearly. And in mystudies the Scriptures, the
real, most horrible sacrifice,the the most horrible pain, the
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toughest part of all of going tothe cross for Jesus was this, my
friends, it was that he wasgoing to become sin, the sinless
Son of God was going to be madesin according to second
Corinthians 521. That was goingto be awful. But you know what
I've been wrong. Talk aboutbalance. Because the scriptures
also indicate big sections ofMatthew talking about the
crucifixion. And also here, itsays this even death on a cross.
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The B, C, being God becoming sinwas so deplorable. But being man
dying on the cross was sodeplorable. I must refer to you
to our Georgia Sunday schoolclass, I would say here, if you
want something that will soberyou up and help you live a
better Christian life, get hisfirst message is on tape, you
can order it back here for $1.
And then you get your dollarback when you turn your tape on
(35:59):
or something like that. However,they do it, but you can get it
for free. He explains he takes145 minute message, and he
explains what it meant to bescourged. And he shows it from
the New England Journal ofMedicine, and many other places.
And I'm telling you, if youdon't have a strong stomach,
you've got to realize a lot ofpeople die just from the
scourging and humiliation, andthe horrors of going to death on
(36:21):
the cross. And my friends, Jesussaid this thought, do you think
Jesus wants to do that? Youthink Jesus sorry, I guess it's
time for the crucifixion. Let'sgo with the party. Now. It
wasn't, it was deplorable andhard. And if you would have
said, Are you living theabundant Christian life, Jesus,
if you could have heard him cryin the garden, and plead with
the father that this cup maypass for me, you would have
(36:43):
realized that part of realChristian living is
excruciatingly difficult timesbecause that's what happens when
you obey you say, but how couldI ever really do it? It seems so
impossible. How can I everreally obey in this area it just
Jesus did, even to the point ofdeath. You don't have an excuse.
I know that they bristle you upa little bit it bristles me up
(37:04):
if someone were telling that tome, because I want to be
comfortable with myrationalizations. I want to be
able to say in defiance, I justcan't do that. But Jesus said,
obey no matter what, even to thepoint of death, always obey
Jesus example, have thisattitude that Jesus had. You
know what? AW Tozer said this.
(37:30):
To his congregation, pray that Iwill not come to a weird end.
And exhausted, tired oldpreacher interested only in
finding the place to roost. Praythat I will let my Christian
standards and he didn't meanstandards in the bad sense. But
come up to the Word of God costme something right down to my
last gasp. The cost ofobedience, the cost of
(37:55):
sacrificing the cost of beinguncomfortable in order to obey
God. I'll tell you, I think thatthis church needs to hear this
message. You know what it is?
It's too much for me to considersacrifice. I need to be home
with my family. I can't reallygo to church. I can't ask
someone to make a commitment.
You're asking me to sacrifice.
We've approached people to workin the nursery and they are
(38:18):
appalled. Husband, either themor they're beneath them. Or it's
something I don't know what howit is. But there's something
wrong with it. We've, we'vetalked about getting involved
and sacrifice and everyone wantsto sit back and be comfortable
and just give me a Christianityit makes me feel a little good.
And make sure that my financesare up to date, and I'll keep
serving. Listen, God has calledus to sacrifice. And we need to
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understand this in this church,that the balance is gonna be
that we understand it the mindthat we're supposed to have in a
church attitude, the mind thatwe're supposed to have at a home
attitude, the mind we'resupposed to have at work or
whatever is this an attitudethat says I lower myself before
others, and I obey the Word ofGod no matter what, no excuses.
But the friends, listen. Itdoesn't end with just some
(39:06):
determination of the will. Andthat's it. There is a motivation
Given right here in thischapter. Look at verse nine.
Therefore, God exalted him oncetherefore, therefore, therefore
is therefore the refer back toverse eight. Because Jesus
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lowered himself because heobeyed. The point is in the
future, there will be greatreward. Paul said this, I have
fought a good fight, I have keptthe faith I have finished the
course Henceforth there is laidup for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lordthe righteous judge will give
(39:46):
you that day. Oh, Paul, you'reso unspiritual you were looking
for rewards? Well, I do it justbecause I love God. Well, if you
know just because you love Godand you're unbiblical and you're
thinking again, because rewardsis a key constant theme
throughout the scriptures. It'ssomething that you're to strive
for. In other words, you say,but it's so painful now it's so
excruciating. It seems likeothers can get away with it. How
(40:08):
come I can't you obey God nowthere's a day coming when you'll
be rewarded about the use ofyour money just for an
illustration, Luke chapter 16.
Hey, there was a steward, yousee a manager of a rich man, and
he found out he was gettingfired. So we went to a guy says,
Oh, you're a master 1000bushels? Make it 800. Oh, you
(40:30):
will so much oil, cut the billin half. He did all that.
Because in those days, after hegot fired, he could go live six
months with that guy until hiswhat he saved him was up, he go
to the oil man and live anotheryear, do you go around and live
with those people? In otherwords, he is commended by Jesus
because he took care of himselfin the future. And the point is,
he says so Jesus turns aroundsays so you use your money. So
(40:54):
that in eternity, you willreceive a rich welcome. And
that's just one illustration ofthis. What's that rich welcome.
Well, this as you givesacrificially now, and maybe
sacrifice a few things, so thatyou can give sacrificially, now
what happens? You may not get itnecessarily back. Now. Maybe you
will. Maybe one of the bigteaching today on channel 40, is
you get it all back. Now. Youmay or you may not, but the
(41:17):
point is in heaven, you'll berichly rewarded. All through the
scriptures. There's this area ofrewards. I tell you, Kim Kaufman
is so bad at this, I need to seethis. You need to be more than
that. We're in next week'ssermon already. Okay, so you
don't even come back next week.
All right. But the point isthis. I shouldn't have said that
one. All right. Got that off thetape. Anyway, the point is this.
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If we, if we keep this in mind,Kim Kaufman looks around, he
tries to serve the Lord. Hethinks he's doing a good job. He
feels sorry for himself becausepeople don't appreciate him like
he should. And he's seen this.
You know, what, if you obey withall your heart and say, I Yeah,
other people are all that Godjudge them, I don't need to
judge them. I don't quiteunderstand why they're doing
(42:00):
what they're doing. But I'mgonna follow God with all my
heart, I'm gonna obey. And guesswhat, there'll be a day when you
will be richly rewarded. That'sthe promise over and over. I
challenge you, even though whereyou work. Colossians chapter
three. The Bible says don't workwith a service. That guy can
just reward you with a paycheck,you work because you can be
rewarded by God Almighty. What'she talking about? In the future?
(42:23):
Even in the way you work? Ineverything you do, we obey God,
because there's gonna be a greatreward coming. Now, last thing
I've done. So, those being ourgoals, let me say this to you.
If you had to break downobedience to the most bottom
level, what is it? Love God withall your heart, soul, mind and
strength? Will Love yourneighbor as yourself. Right? You
(42:47):
know what that is? Unity. What'sthe theme of the passage? Unity?
If you had to say, but thereseems like there's so many
things for me to obey, probably,you're listening to the dark
side, because the First Johnsays, His commandments are not
burdensome. But if we love Godwith all of our heart, and love
(43:09):
our neighbor as ourself, we'refollowing the example of Jesus,
of lowering ourself and becomingobedient at all cost. Let's
pray. Oh, Father, would you helpus? Help me? To keep this I'm so
(43:29):
afraid that a few weeks fromnow, I'm going to forget the
series on Philippians, two, fivethrough 11. I'm afraid I'm going
to drop back into the syndromethat Kim coffin often has of
exalting myself demanding myrights and my ways. In thinking
of how to exalt myself, insteadof seeking humiliation and
(43:51):
lowering myself. We need yourhelp this, this is beyond us. We
want to do all that we can inour own strength to follow you.
But at the same time, weabsolutely must have your Holy
Spirit to lead us and to guideus and help us to do this. And I
(44:12):
would pray that Christians thatare here this morning that are
living in disobedience would beconvicted by your Holy Spirit. I
know I can't bring it upon them.
I pray that you would convictthem.
You know the hearts of all men?
I certainly don't you knowexactly what needs to be prodded
and worked on not me. And Ibeseech you, in my own life, and
(44:34):
in the life of the people thatare listening right now. That
you would cause a desire to obeyno matter what even to the point
of shedding blood. We pray thisin Jesus name, Amen.
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