Anyway, I asked him to do that on Israel, the modern history of Israel and so forth, because it's so critical to understand the Palestinian propaganda idea, and he did a really good job of showing that. I listened to it as I was driving through Seattle on Highway 5. So I listened to the whole thing. I listened to you too, Glenn. And both good. But I had him do that because, and I don't know if people realize the significance prophetically, there's possible prophetic implications for some of the things that are transpiring. Of course, I pay attention to the war every day. In fact, when I was over there on the other side of the country, somebody sent me something saying, you know, they've been listening for years, and they said, do you know that in 2009 you were teaching the book of Amos? And there's a section in Amos 1 on Gaza. And he said, you gave the whole history of the Philistines traced back to Genesis chapter 10. And then when you got to like minute 41, you spent a lot of time talking about Hamas and the conflict that happened in 2008. And the guy who listened, and he's got a Bible study group, there's like six different families that listen, said it sounded like you were talking about what was happening today. And that was in 2009, because it's the same story over and over. If they have the opportunity to do this again, they're gonna use this as the opportunity to do it again and again and again and again. Because the plan is very simple, exterminate Israel, destroy Israel, wipe them off the planet. Why this is important prophetically, though, what's happening now in 2023, this conflict, is basically related to the fact that Israel has come to recognize that they're not secure. I mean, you have to imagine, you have, as Israel's a nation, is profoundly elite when it comes to technology and security. They have Mossad, of course their army, everybody goes into the army at a certain age and you serve your two years. So everybody in the nation is basically trained and has a patriotic interest in the current state of Israel. So you have this whole country, and they didn't know about this at all. Hamas had been planning this for more than two years. So it's amazing that they didn't pick up on anything, any intelligence that this was gonna transpire. Hamas was using like landlines, you remember those? You know the cord thing? You're walking around the kitchen and the bowl knocks over, you know? And they used things like gliders to take out Israeli security towers along the border. and so forth, so they were not picked up by radar. It was a lot of what we might call primitive type technology used to undermine and keep this all secret until the last moment. But what Israel came to recognize through that is that we're not secure. Despite how much we understand and know and our advances, we didn't know this was gonna happen. So, they're coming to realize we cannot live with terrorists on all sides, on all of our borders. Now, if you'll turn to Ezekiel 38 real quick, I just want to show you that, prophetically, in the book of Ezekiel, these things that are happening in the mid-30s to the end of the book, all happen right in preparation for the Messianic Kingdom that starts in chapter 40. But you have to have the conditions of Ezekiel 38, verse 8 at some point in history. And these conditions that are described here are not conditions, I think, that Israel has today. They don't have these conditions. But these conditions have to be met. After many days, Ezekiel 38, 8, after many days you will be summoned." Now he's talking about various troops from various countries that he lists in verse 3, Gog who's the ruler of Rosh, which is Russia, Meshach and Tubal will go into these, there's like Turkey. Verse 5, Persia, which is Iran, Ethiopia, which is Sudan, and Put, which is Libya. All of them with shield and helmet, Gomer, which most people think is somewhere related to Germany, but I think it's a little different. With all its troops, Beth Togerma. Okay, so all these countries, okay, he says in verse eight, after many days you will be summoned. In the latter years, you will come into the land that is restored from the sword. That's, now it's talking about the land of Israel, but it's talking about a time when the land of Israel is restored from the sword. So it's after conflict, right? and the land is in a good condition after the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel." So this is the restoration of the Jewish people to the land. With the diaspora, the diaspora Jew is the Jew who lives outside the land, but they've been returning to the land since the 1800s. And in mass since 1948, they've been returning to the land. And so, you know, there's more Jews every year that, you know, do what is called Aliyah, which means to go up, to go up to the land. They return. to their ancient homeland. And so they've been gathered, they're living there in Israel, a land which it describes as having been a continual waste, but its people were brought out from the nations and they are living securely, all of them. Israel has not been living securely since 1948 in the land. I mean, from their point of view, it's continual war. I mean, we break it up. You've got the 56 War. You've got the 67 War. You've got the 73 War. Then you've got the Intifada and all the Palestinians' suicide bomber attacks and that type of thing. From their point of view, this is just continual war, but this condition has not been met. where Israel has returned to the land, they're living securely. Other passages in here say, verse 11, these nations will say, I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. Can that be said, or does Israel have walls? I've been there. I've seen the walls between, like for example, Israel and the land. And when you go into Bethlehem, you have to go through security. This isn't just like a fence. It's like a wall. It's an unscalable wall because it's got an undercut to it. You can't get over it. you have to go through the actual gate, which means you've got to go through Israeli Defense Force security. So this is not, I'm just saying this is not the condition that they are experiencing today, but this is a condition that they have to at some point step into. The question is, how do they ever get to this position? Well, I'm going to tell you right now, it can't be with terrorist states on all four of their borders. It can't. And they're recognizing that. And there's a lot of pressure on them right now, right, to not eliminate Hamas. I mean, which is, you do know how crazy this is, right? I mean, this is absolute craziness. We know what happened on October 7th. It only took 31 days in the war for the world to start turning and saying, this never happened. Or Israeli defense forces killed their own people. It took several decades for people to deny the Holocaust. It took 31 days for people to start denying what happened on October 7th. So, what is it, Israel's really in a pickle. They realize they have to destroy all the terrorists. On the north, you've got Hezbollah, right, which is an Iranian proxy army. You can't say Iran is not involved. Iran is not on the border, but Iran is involved. They have a proxy army on the north. We know what missiles and rockets are being shot out of Gaza, and we know that a lot of them are remaining supplied. So it's not like they're not involved, they're involved. You've got on Syria and ISIS, they're kind of involved in their own kind of civil war thing right now, so who knows what's gonna happen there. And of course you've got Jordan, Jordan tries to keep the peace. You know who the King Abdullah is, right? He is considered by many Muslims to be the descendant of Muhammad, the direct lineal descendant of Muhammad. King Abdul. And then you've got Egypt, where it's the source of Muslim brotherhood. Over in Jordan, you've got several terrorist groups, you know, as well in the West Bank and so forth. But here's the point, here's the point. How can you live in this little tiny space? You've got to see the space. Bill showed you some pictures. You're surrounded by 13 Arab nations that are immensely larger than tiny little Israel. And what do they want? They don't want another state. They want to destroy Israel. But how do you get to this condition? Well, I think that what has to happen, Israel has to get rid of those terrorists on their borders. They just have to. But if they do that, can you imagine world opinion? Everybody is already turning against Israel. I'm listening this morning to the reports and basically what the Minister of Defense is saying is that if USA wasn't on our side, We wouldn't be able to continue this war because they consider U.S. support like the most important thing that they have. And that's why what's happening in the Biden administration now is they're kind of really pressuring them to have a ceasefire so that we can start to deal with the hostage issue. The problem is, is that this will just allow Hamas to regroup. I mean, I hate to say what I'm going to say next, but I have to say it. There's about 240 or so hostages, right? If Israel, if Israel capitulates and lets this go on, this will happen again and more people will be taken hostage. I hate to say that what they really have to do is just eliminate the threat and not worry about the hostage situation, but I say that they really should not worry about the hostage situation because if they do worry about it, more people are gonna be killed, more Israelis than those 240. That's the big problem. Somehow the world can't see this, but I'm telling you right now, if the terrorists were in Kirtland, how would you feel? You know, like this is no joke, right? That's right next door to us. And you just can't live with people that close to you who all they want to do is exterminate you. So what I think is eventually going to happen, and I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet, but they're going to have to eliminate the terrorist threats right on their border. That can bring you into a condition of verse 8 and verse 11. But there's another passage that has to get brought in, and that passage is Daniel 9, 27. So turn to it real quick. It's right after Ezekiel. If Israel's realizing they can't secure themselves, they might turn to someone else for their security. You know what? The Bible actually predicts that will happen. Daniel 9, verse 27. He, that is the prince who is to come, will make a firm covenant with the many, that is the many, the leadership of the nation Israel, for one week, or one seven, one seven of years, what most people call the tribulation, but it's just, we know it as the 70th week of Daniel. But in the middle of the week, he, that is the one who makes this firm covenant with the nation Israel for one week, will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate. And we know this guy is the Antichrist, right? But he's going to rise to power, Daniel 7, Daniel 11, and he's rapidly going to rise to power. And he's going to come into a position where he is powerful enough to make a contract or treaty with the mini, that is the leadership of Israel, for one week. And he's going to promise them security. And so that's the only, those are the two passages that come to mind as far as related to the current situation. I'm telling you, like I've watched this for over 20 years. And even when all the Iran crisis was going on in 2008 and people were writing books and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, prophecy. I did not see it as clearly as what I'm seeing now because this situation has to be set up where they're secure. And when they are, it's apparent that the Antichrist is already in league with them. What does that mean about the rapture? It's really, really, really, really soon. So will this happen? I don't know, but I just know that Israel knows they cannot tolerate their current situation. And if they do something about it, world opinion will turn against them, and the whole world would be against them, and the only one who would come to their aid would be the Antichrist. He can make this treaty, and then this war that's described in this chapter, Ezekiel 38, could transpire, the rest of the chapter. But anyway, okay, so that's what I have to say about that. So just be praying about the whole situation. Of course, living always in light of his coming, right? But I mean, I really don't think we're gonna make it to the end of our days. And I've never said that from the pulpit in 20 years of teaching the Bible, never said it. But I really don't think we're gonna make it. That's a good thing, right? That's a good thing. I mean, who wants to, who wants to just, I just wanna go be with the Lord, let's do that. Okay, let's have a word of prayer. I'm going to give everybody an opportunity to get in fellowship with the Lord. And if you don't need to, just pray for this hour for the teaching of the word to be accurate and truthful and glorifying God. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the so great salvation we have in Christ. And we pray, like 1 Thessalonians 5 says, that we would, as children and sons of light, we would live as if we were in the light, so our lives would be different from the world around us. So it would be a testimony to those who are in darkness, so that they may come to enjoy the so great salvation that we have enjoyed, purely by your grace, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And we ask, Lord, that you would bless the teaching of this hour as we focus on your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in hypostatic union and what this means in his kenosis as he gave up the independent use of his divine attributes so that he could live in his humanity and be the test pilot for the Christian life and show us that it's truly possible. to live the Christian life and to see the great exaltation which he will receive by reward for doing so and being faithful to you as his father. So help us to learn these great and permeating truths. May they really be thought about by us so that we can really consider these things and it will change our lives. And we ask all this in Jesus' precious name, amen. Okay, so last week was the kenosis, right? when I just dealt with the doctrine of kenosis. This week I want to do the kenosis applied. So I want to look at how we can apply the doctrine of kenosis to our own Christian lives, what this means for us. You'll notice as we've gone from the Old Testament and those events and doctrines into the New Testament that it seems like it's a lot more difficult. The doctrines, we've been talking about the hypostatic union, you've got the Lord Jesus Christ who's one person, but he's 100% humanity and he's 100% deity. And it's complicated to try to understand how he's just one person and not two persons. That's because, I mean, ultimately he's incomprehensible. I mean, we can understand in part, but we cannot understand totality, right? And then, of course, we talked about Trinity. And, you know, I just mentioned the hostages, Israel's hostages. and the nation as a whole. See, we talked about the Trinity, the one and the many, right? We talked about this problem of the one and the many. Which is more important, the one, the single, the individual, or the whole, the nation, let's say in this case? I mean, you have to, well, you've got this answered by the Trinity itself. You've got the one, oneness of God, there's only one God, but you've got three individuals in the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. And there's a perfect balance that is met in the Trinity. So there's not an overemphasis on the one, and an under-emphasis on the many, there's an equal balance. So when you try to resolve problems like what to do about the hostages versus what to do with the nation as a whole, See how the one in the many is behind this whole problem that they're facing right now? And that was my point, is to really show you how complicated doctrines like the Trinity are super practical. And so when we come to another one like kenosis, which again, you know, most of the church, most Christians have never even heard the word, that's because the church, after World War II, decided to retract from culture and become relevant. What happened is the church became irrelevant because they left all the complicated, wonderful doctrines that are the energy of our faith. They left them on the shelf. And so all we have now is do good, be good, walk, you know, what would Jesus do? Okay. You fill in the blank. I mean, it's nothing. I mean, it is just really nothing. It's just so watered down. So the key passage for the kenosis As we go into the life of the king in these doctrines, which next we'll look at impeccability. There's another one. I'm not sure. I mean, when I was in third grade, I was a good speller and my teacher wrote 100 impeccable, you know, as a spelling test. So she put impeccable up there. I was like, well, I got to know what this word means. So I learned what it meant in third grade. But, you know, that was only because I got 100 on a test and I looked it up. But we'll look at that doctrine and then, of course, infallibility, which is a more common word, but we've got to deal with all these doctrines. The kenosis from the word kenao in Philippians 2.7, which is translated in most versions as emptied, right? So let's look at it, Philippians 2. Here's another one of those doctrines that's super complicated, but the interesting thing about it is that it's in a very practical passage. Look how practical it is in verse 3. Here's what Paul's saying to the Philippians. He says, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. He's saying, just real practical stuff, right? Put other people ahead of yourself. Think about others. Don't just think about yourself. And he says, this requires humility of mind. And so it's super practical. And then he drops this bomb of kenosis on us. He says in verse five, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. What attitude? Well, the same attitude he's talking about in verse three, humility of mind. In fact, it's the same exact Greek word for nail. OK, so have this attitude, which is humility of mind in yourselves. Now, this word, this is an interesting word. This word means to carefully think about something in order to develop an attitude. It means careful thought that leads to an attitude. So he's saying, I really want you to think about this so you can have a specific attitude, an attitude which was in Christ Jesus, right? Verse five. So what we're gonna do is he's gonna force us to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. We're supposed to have the mind of Christ, right? which means to think like Christ. Well, how did Christ think? Well, he's about to describe it, and it's to describe his humiliation and his humility, his humbleness. So let's look at it. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. who although he existed, and actually it's a present tense, so he exists, it's not a past, he exists in the form of God, meaning exact representation, as we said last week, exact representation of God, he is God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That word grasped should be translated something like utilized or asserted. He's God, okay, but he did not regard equality with God a thing to be utilized in his, earthly life. In other words, he didn't just go out there and just, you know, overcome his temptations by saying, well, I'm God. God can't be tempted, therefore I'm not tempted. No, he had to function out of his humanity, right? In fact, the temptations were that he would use his deity All three of the temptations are for him to use his deity, to overcome. But he did not succumb to that temptation, but he maintained what verse 5 or 6 is describing as not utilizing or asserting his divine attributes. But it says verse 7, emptied, he emptied himself. And the question is, emptied himself of what? That's always the big question. And we said, it doesn't mean he emptied himself of his divine attributes. Present tense, verse six, he exists in the form of God and the exact representation of God. He is God. He never emptied himself of being God or any of the attributes of God. But what he did was he gave up the independent use of his divine attributes, meaning that he only used them under the condition that the father approved of him to use his divine attributes. So he always had them, but he didn't always use them, unless the father so approved. And being made in the likeness of men, he's a true human too, without sin, right? Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. There it is, okay? This is the God of the universe. This is the God of the universe who did this. He came down here. put on true humanity. He walked around in the filth. I mean, he's God in the flesh. And I mean, this world is filthy. And he walked down in here. And he dealt with it. He lived like you. He lived like me. He had to go through this. We're going to see this is very practical, a lot of application for us. And it says he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, which is a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible way to die. Even death on a cross. And then the results, verse 9, 10, 11, this exaltation, see? This exaltation. He will hold the highest place. He will sit at the helm of the universe as Lord of Lords, right? As King of Kings. So this is the key passage on the kenosis. Basically, what it's saying is that inside the hypostatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's God, he's man, but he did not exert his deity independently of the Father's permission at any point. He says, I'll always do the will of my Father. And he says, not my will, but thy will be done. So he's taking on a specific role in the hypostatic union in his life And he's setting out an example for us. Now I showed you several other kenosis passages. I showed you Isaiah 50 where it predicts that he would be trained by his father every morning, so he would have a tongue of disciples, so he'd be able to exhort and encourage one with a single word. So he had to learn in his humanity. He had to learn. You know, deity doesn't learn. Deity already knows everything. But in his humanity, he had to learn. I showed you Matthew 24, 36, where he says, no one knows the day or the hour, not even the Son of Man. He says, as the Son of Man, I don't even know the day of the second coming. My own second coming, I don't know the date. So he must be speaking out of his humanity there, right? Because deity knows everything, it doesn't falter. So all these passages show, and some of them, the Luke passage at the end shows both, that on one hand it shows his divine attributes, on another it shows his human limitations. So in the doctrine of kenosis, what you're trying to do is not dilute the deity of Christ one ounce, right? But you're also trying to give the emphasis on the humanity of Christ that he had. And Philippians shows us how they are balanced and work out. So that's how we came up with just this definition, this is just review, that Jesus Christ gave up the independent use of his divine attributes. He had them all the time, he just didn't use them unless he had the Father's approval. He always did what pleased the Father. Now we want to go to some of the outworking of this. Again, notice what we just saw. Very practical passage about, you know, not putting your interests ahead of others, but thinking about others, humbling yourself, having a proper attitude toward others, where they're more important than you are. Okay, and treating people that way, right? And then he drops this huge bomb of complicated ideas about the second person of the Trinity on us. Why does Paul do this? He does this elsewhere, too. He does it in Romans 8. He does it several other places. Why? I mean, why is Christianity tied up with very complicated thinking? I think that the answer is because it's what energizes us. It's the only thing that motivates us. Someone saying, you know, you should be more humble and you should love others and you should obey or whatever, you know, that just doesn't do it. You can tell people that over and over and over, but what happens is you just get tired, tired of trying to live up to this standard. What you need is you need something much deeper Okay, this is why, okay, at this church, I challenge you to think. I know that is offensive to modern people. I know that it's not going to win big crowds. I know that I'm not doing what Joel Osteen is doing, okay? Oh. That's one of the best amens I ever got. You know, you come in here, and I'm not here to like entertain you and to just, you know, give you some kind of motivation that'll last till tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. when you've forgotten everything. What we're trying to do is be, have a change in our thinking, okay? Develop the mindset of Christ. And friend, like the word fresnel means, I mean, it means you have to actually think about it, which means you have to stop doing everything else so you can concentrate on the ideas here, for example, with the kenosis. Because Paul seems to insist that if we're ever gonna put other people ahead of ourselves and not just be looking out for ourselves, we have to have this mindset of Christ who, I mean, as the God of the universe, humbled himself and came down here and walked in our shoes. I mean, he went through it and was victorious. And he laid down his life for us. But you really have to think about it. So that's what we're gonna do. Because this is the only way you get it in your mindset. And that's the only thing that changes your life. A few do's and don'ts don't do it for you. If you tell me not to do something, probably the first thing I'm going to think of is like, how could I do that? That's how people function. But if your mindset has changed, then you have changed. And then your life changes. So this is the kenosis. Now I want to go into the three points of kenosis applied so we can see how it relates to us and why this is an important doctrine. The first point of this doctrine is that humility is the chief or foundational Christian virtue. In the ancient world, all the philosophers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, the Stoics who followed Zeno – they had a list of virtues. Here are some of them, and I listed them in order. Bravery or courageousness was usually considered one of the top virtues. Sometimes love, temperate, someone who's temperate, generous, truthful. Wittiness or friendliness was considered a virtue. Guess what? None of the lists have humility. Humility was considered to be something you don't want. But in the Bible, the chief or the foundational virtue of everything in your life as a Christian is humility. So what is humility? Humility, to Pinos Zufrin, it's a right evaluation of yourself. You have a proper evaluation of yourself. Now, this all starts with the very first truth we learned in this whole class when we started the framework a ways, ways back. And that truth is he is the creator and you are a creature. If you don't have that, you can't have humility. You cannot have a proper evaluation of yourself. But if you are consciously thinking of yourself as a creature, how can you be arrogant? You can't. You cannot be arrogant if you're just thinking, I'm just a creature and he's my creator. I mean, it's immediately humbling. What happened with Job? And Job chapter 38, after 36 chapters of his four friends, well, maybe you did this, Job, maybe you did that. And Job started to think, you know, maybe my friends have a point. And God just, he literally just comes right on the scene and he says, hey, Job, were you there when I created the foundations of the earth? Do you know the depths of the oceans? Do you know this? Do you know? I mean, before you start thinking that you know something here and you speak out of turn, Job, Let me cut all that off and remind you that you're just a creature. You don't know anything. You're an idiot. And I'm the creator. I know everything. He asked him like 50 questions, and Job didn't know any of them. And by the end of it, he says, OK, I repent. OK, I get the point. The point is that we can start to think that we're something. I'm something in this world. I'm really special. This world can't live without me. Let me take you to a passage that says if you start thinking this way, you're in big trouble. John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Why is it that people don't believe? We have a lot of people out there who won't believe. They don't want to believe the gospel. I've tried to talk to them about it. I hope you have better outcomes than the ones that I've been having lately. John 5, 39. Well, let's just read 37 and 38 so we have this. And the father who sent me, he has testified of me, you have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. You do not have his word abiding in you. Now he's talking like the Pharisees, okay? He says, you do not have his word abiding in you. Now wait, I thought they memorized it. Well, they did. But that doesn't mean it's abiding in you. It doesn't mean they really understood the intent of the text. He says, you don't have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he sent. And you don't believe me. And he sent me. And you don't believe me. You don't believe my words. So you obviously don't know or understand his words from the Old Testament that you supposedly memorized from Nehi to a grasshopper. Verse 39, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these scriptures that testify about me, he says. And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. What does it mean to come to him? It means to believe in him. They were not believing in him. Verse 41, I do not receive glory from men. Did you hear that? Jesus Christ just said, I do not receive glory from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe? How can you believe when you receive glory from others, see, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? See, this is people, this could be Christians, it could be you. You want other people to give you glory and praise. Why do you want that? Because you want to feel like God. That's why you want it. You want to feel like a God. But when you do that, are you being humble or are you being arrogant? You're being arrogant. It's all about you. It's all about your ego. It's all about your own self-interest. You're being arrogant, but here's the interesting thing about it. Arrogance cuts off belief. It blocks it. It's a block. You can't believe in another if you're thinking you're the best thing since sliced bread. You can't. And that's what he's telling them. He says, your problem, guys, is arrogance, because you want everybody else to give you glory. You want everybody to look at you and give you praise. And he's saying that's why you can't believe. Now, those of us already believed, how are we supposed to live now that we believe? By faith. So see, this will knock that out, too. You can't live by faith in his promises if you're only concerned about yourself and exalting yourself and getting glory from other people. So we go on. Do not think, verse 45, that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you set your hope. I mean, they love Moses, right? No. No. They didn't love Moses. They memorized Moses, but they didn't love Moses. He says, if you believe Moses, you would believe me because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, How will you ever believe my words? See? No, they weren't interested in God's word. They were interested in themselves. It's a total joke. The Pharisees are a total joke in the Gospels. So humiliation's a right evaluation of yourself. You cannot have the attitude that I need approval from other people. You should only be interested in who's approval. Gods, that's verse 41 or verse 44. You do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. See, he's the only one whose opinion really matters. I mean, I can worry about what you think about me or what I teach up here, but that's really me doing what? Seeking approval, your approval, and not seeking whose approval? His approval. See, and do I get caught in it? Yeah, I get caught in it, okay? I forget. But you have to constantly come back and humble yourself, right? Humble yourself. Humility is the foundational Christian virtue. So, point four, the kenosis model of Christ is a picture of what humility looks like. He is the epitome of humility. Now, a lot of people think humility is weakness. I don't want to be weak. Is humility, is it weak? Was Jesus Christ courageous? How many of us would have gone through what he went through if we were God? And we could have stopped it all right then. He could have stopped anything. They said, well, if you're really him, take yourself off the cross. Could he have taken himself off the cross? No problem. I mean, he showed he had all the power, right? Here comes Judas. Here comes the high priest. Here come the Roman soldiers. 600 of them, a cohort. 600. And they say, we are come for Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And what happened to those soldiers? Every one of them fell back on the ground. 600 soldiers fell back and now their swords are laying everywhere, they're trying to get their gear back on and stand back up to arrest the King of Glory. I mean, it's a total joke, right? I mean, can you imagine standing there seeing this scene? I mean, he didn't have to let them arrest him. I mean, it's pretty obvious who was in charge. But he did, see? He had humility because he was going to be obedient to the Father, even at the point of death on a cross. So he's the model of humility. Was he a real man? When I say, is he a man's kind of man? Absolutely. Absolutely. Jesus was tough. He went right in the temple. But don't remove the doves. Total control. Get rid of the injustice, but he was in control of the situation, right? It was a controlled anger, what we call a righteous anger. He was a true man. He's not going to stand up for that stuff in his father's house. So he stood up. He's courageous. He's a real man, okay, but was he humble? Absolutely. Absolutely 100%. See, humility is not the opposite of being courageous. In fact, if you're humble, I mean, you're basically unstoppable. that you want this more than anything. I know right now you think in your mind, no, no, no, I really kind of want to stand out and have the glory of men and have the approval and all that stuff. You'll never get there unless you get this. He exalts in due time. See, exaltation is the business God's in, not us. We don't exalt ourselves. We humble ourselves. And he's the one who does the exalting at the proper time and the proper place. So that's point four. Point five, humility is a pattern of life where you're not exalting yourself. Okay, I said that. But you are following God's plan for your life as a creature. Look at Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. Verse 10, for it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Remember we talked a little bit about this last week. This is the Father, right? From whom are all things, to whom are all things. Perfecting the author of our salvation, that is the Son. Now obviously deity can't be perfected, so it's not talking about Jesus Christ's deity. It's talking about perfecting Him in His humanity, which is a word for bringing Him to maturity. The maturity. Through what? Through sufferings. Do you suffer? Do you have sufferings? Yes. What do you think he's doing? He's refining. He's bringing you to maturity. It's true, no pain, no gain. I mean, you're not gonna become this super wonderful Christian who knows how to apply all the promises of God in every circumstance in life, relaxed mental attitude in all circumstances no matter what happens, unless you go through sufferings. Is there track to get there? The same thing for athletics. You are not gonna be the greatest football player in the world unless you work your butt off. You're just not. You're gonna be last string. You're not even gonna see the field. Why? Because you have to go through pain. You have to suffer. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brethren. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. In other words, this exaltation, see. this exaltation, this praise that would be given to believers for undergoing suffering. Why? Because they followed the same path that the Lord Jesus Christ followed, and they suffered, and they matured. And so in their end, right, there's exaltation. Let's look at Matthew 18, one through six. This is one of the most interesting conversations in the Gospels. Matthew 18, one through six. He's already been rejected by the nation and he's taken his disciples aside and he's training them for their future ministry. And look at these guys, okay, the disciples, verse one. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and they said, who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? You know, who's gonna be the greatest? This is all they care about, you know, like I wanna be the greatest, you know. They have this discussion elsewhere, right? Seen this discussion. Because everybody wants to be great, right? He called a child to himself and he set him before them, set the child there. And he said, truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not even enter the kingdom of heaven. So the first thing is, you know, you've got to become like a child to enter it. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, there it is. He is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What do you have to have? What is the chief Christian virtue? The foundational Christian virtue? It's humbleness. It's humility. Because humility is what leads to exaltation. Whereas the opposite of humility, which is arrogance or pride, cometh before the fall. See? This is the one characteristic that underlies every other, the fruit of the spirit that we're supposed to manifest as we walk by the spirit. This one underlies all of them. And that's why we call it the chief or foundational Christian virtue. And Jesus is the humblest person who ever lived, ever. And he always will be. No one will ever have been more humble than him. And that's why he'll be what? The greatest. That's why he's exalted above everything. That's why he sits at the helm of the universe and not me or you. Number six, humility is a pattern of life where you are able to not grow weary and not lose heart. Hebrews chapter 12, verse three. Boy, you know, I have to go through these two like y'all. You know, this one just hit me right between the horns this week. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 3. My wife's the one who has to hear all my complaining. Poor thing, I'm glad she's gracious when I teach sermons like this and she's thinking, yeah, yeah, you know. I'm sure she's thinking that stuff. Yeah, I fail, okay, I fail. I'm glad the Lord Jesus didn't. Hebrews 12, verse 3. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." I mean, go look at the hostility that the Lord Jesus Christ endured. Go look at it. And then maybe you will not grow weary and you will not lose heart. But see, it takes reflection. We have to go through this and deeply think about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he endured so that we can endure and not grow weary. See, it's not just like, hey, just wake up and live the Christian life. Come on, what's wrong with you? That's not going to work. You have to have this depth of doctrine about the Lord Jesus Christ in your soul because that's what energizes you to keep going, to not grow weary, to keep doing good. But a lot of people don't want to take the time to think this through, to really process what transpired. Number seven, humility is a pattern of life where you're able to endure hostility by entrusting yourself to him. Let's go to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. Let's just turn to the right. Turn to the right. 1 Peter 2, 20 to 24. 1 Peter 2.20. What credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and you suffer for doing what is right, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. And isn't he the one we're supposed to be seeking to please and not other people? See, and when we're seeking to try to please Him and not other people, we're having humility, we're being humble. Verse 21, for you have been called for this purpose. This is why you are here, folks. This is why you are here. You caught that, right? People wonder, what am I doing here? This is it. Since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. He already walked, The steps. Somebody said yesterday, if you go out in the woods and the snow, you can see where the footprints of the animals are. You can see the footprints that Christ has already laid ahead of us in his suffering, right? And we do what? We step in those footprints and we follow him. Verse 22, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. I mean, can you imagine? Remember, they're mocking him and did he lash out? I guarantee you, I was not the one up there. I mean, at some point I would have just said, that's it, I'm done with these folks. I'm the God of the universe. Boom! You're done. Toast. Now y'all believe in me? Did y'all see that? Okay. And while being reviled, he did not revile in return. See, while suffering, he uttered no threats. But he kept doing what? He didn't just do it one time, but he kept entrusting himself to him who judges righteously. Meaning he kept entrusting himself to his father, right? He kept on. He kept on through this whole process. Which, I mean, you're the God of the universe. You created these people. And you would let them talk that way to you? You would let it go? Yeah, but why did he do it? because he was humbling himself under the father to do only the father's will. He had the father's plan in mind, not my will, but thy will be done. I'm here for that purpose, to do your will. Why are you here, see? You're here for the same reason I'm here, to do his will. What if people get hostile toward that? We do it anyway, why? Because we don't care about their approval We only care about what God thinks. We only want his approval. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ did it, and he already put the footsteps down, so all we have to do is just walk in those same footsteps, see? Now, here's just a quote. If you really grasp Christian doctrine, like the kenosis, the trinity, the hypostatic union, the world will strike you as astonishingly trivial. I don't know if you're there yet, but this is a true statement. The world will appear amazingly trivial to you, and people will appear to you as extremely shallow, even though they're very valuable, so valuable that Christ came and gave his life for them. This is, I'm gonna read a quote from a guy named Richard Baxter. He was a Puritan. I don't agree with everything the Puritans wrote, but that's okay. These were some tough people. In the United States of America, the Puritans have basically been bashed by the political agenda of some, I don't know, people who kill witches or something. They don't have the slightest of who these people were. If these people had not come to the United States of America and employed Christian doctrine, America never would have seen the prosperity that we have. America is built on the backs of the Puritans. These people worked. They didn't believe in the government giving people money. Okay. Silly stuff like that. Like, that's a dumb idea. It is. It's a stupid idea. In fact, the number of decisions that have been made in this country over the last 30 years, if you were to systematically make that many stupid mistakes, you would consider yourself stupid. There is no way to escape the stupidity of this nation in the last 30 years. It is an absolute track record of stupidity. How could you make that many bad mistakes? The Puritans were remarkable people. They were powerful people. They were a courageous people, and they were the most humble people that our country has probably ever seen. So I'm gonna read a quote by a pastor, Richard Baxter. And he's writing to other pastors. And he's writing to these pastors about how they should take care of their flocks, take care of their people. And notice how he's gonna root it in who Christ is. He says, oh, then let us hear those arguments of Christ whenever we feel ourselves growing dull and lifeless. Can you hear Christ saying, Did I die for those people? And will you then refuse to look after them? Were they worthy of my blood? And they're not worthy of your labor? Did I come down from heaven to seek and to save that which was lost? And will you refuse to go next door or to the next street? or village to seek them? How small is your labor or condescension compared to mine? I debased myself to do this. But it is your honor to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation? And will you refuse that little that lies upon your hand? After you read that, you might feel like you just got run over by a 10-ton truck. And you know what? You should. I am dead serious. You should feel it. Because if you don't, you don't know what our Savior did for you. You don't have the strength. People are what matters. That's why Paul says at the end of 1 Thessalonians 2, he says, who is our joy or our crown of exaltation? Is it not you? Who's worried about rewards and all that? Getting some crowns, you know, stick on your little temple. It's the people that you invest in that matter. It's the people. He came to die for people. We should give our lives to people. Next point, that's humility. Chief foundation virtue of the Christian life. If you can get anything, get humility. It's the only thing you need. Second one, subordination in human relationships. Look, if Christ submitted to the Father, did he submit to the Father in all things? at all points, at all times, then obviously we should submit to the authoritative structures that God has given us. You know, there's structures like wives to husbands, children to parents, employees to bosses. I mean, these are relationships that have a subordinator and a subordinate. Now, do we have a problem with authority in our society? Why do we have a problem, you know, people are like, go after the police, you know, and like defund the police and all this stuff. Why are people so anti-authoritarian? Number one reason, they do not know who Jesus Christ is and how he submitted to the Father. Because that's the substructure for this whole concept in the world. If you don't have that, if you don't know who Christ is and you don't know who the Father is, you can never get to these authoritative structures that should be honored and respected. Now, the great lie that most of our society believes is that if there's any subordination, or let's just use a curse word here, submission, if there's any of that, well, that means that the person who's submitting is less in essence than the person they're submitting to. That's the great lie. It's a myth. Is the Lord Jesus Christ less than the Father? No, he's equal to the father. It's a subordination of role. He took on a role in an authority structure to fulfill a certain purpose. Is it deprecating for a wife to submit to her husband? Does it deprecate the wife? What's the wife saying when she doesn't submit to the husband? She's saying, I want to be the authority. I don't want to be independent and autonomous. I don't want to function in this structure. I don't like this structure. The Lord Jesus Christ functioned in this structure. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 11. It didn't mean he was less than God. It was like he recognized he had a role. And in that role, a purpose to fulfill. And he did it gladly. He did it gladly because he knew this was what was the right way. Verse three, but I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. There it is, God is the head of Christ, which is a reference to the Father. Every time you see God by itself, it's just a reference to the Father. See the subordination in those relationships? Why is there subordination in human relationships? Because there's subordination in the Trinity. Has that subordination always been there? Yes. It's eternal subordination. In other words, there's always been a Father, and a Son, and a Spirit. There's always been a first person, a second person, and a third person in the Trinity. Because those first, second, third numbers are reflecting the order of subordination. So they've been there for eternity. Now, somehow Jesus Christ feel like, you know, man, I wish I was the father. Did he have that attitude? Or did he fully embrace being the son and fulfilling his purpose and role? He fully embraced it. He humbled himself to fulfill it. He was always in submission to the father. It had nothing to do with him being inferior in essence. It was simply a different role in an authority structure that fulfilled a purpose. So see how this whole concept is rooted in the concept of the kenosis. And you really can't get there by just telling people this is the authority structure. At some point people say, why? Why do I have to obey my parents? Are kids less than adults? No, they're equally people. But God set up an authority structure, right? He said, this is the way it is. It says, children, obey your parents, for this is right. That structure is there because God has subordination within his own essence. And so it is reflected in his creation. And it is for our good. Third and last thing, we don't have much time for it, but here, Christ can sympathize with us as our high priest. Back to Hebrews chapter two, verse 17. This one's really, really, well, it's a little bit hairy, to try to explain, but Hebrews 2, we have a high priest who represents us, Hebrews 2, verse 17, and what this means is that he can empathize with you. This one's super personal. I mean, if there was no kenosis and he didn't function out of his humanity, how could he ever empathize with you? You wouldn't know what you were going through, right? Hebrews chapter two, verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things. In how many things? In all things, he had to be made like us in all things. Why? So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. See, he couldn't be a merciful high priest for us. if he didn't know what we were going through. See, as the scriptures say, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, right? We're about to celebrate that here at Christmas, right? The word become flesh and it dwelt among us. See, did Allah ever come down here, incarnate himself and walk through this mess? No. Did Allah ever face pain Like you face pain. Did Allah ever suffer like you suffer? No. Can he empathize? Can Allah empathize with us? No, he's never been down here and gone through what we go through. But Jesus Christ did. The God of the Bible came down here. And he was made like us in all things. The startling thing about it is, you know, me and you, we don't have a choice. I mean, you're going to go through what you're going to go through. There's going to be suffering. There's going to be pain. The thing about him is he could have avoided it. He's the God of the universe. He could have stopped it all, see? But he didn't, see? He didn't. Thank God he didn't, right? Thank God he didn't. Because if he had, there wouldn't be any salvation. There wouldn't have been any salvation. Last part of the verse, right? To make propitiation for the sins of the people. For he said, since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he's able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. We're going to talk about this in the impeccability. This is the next doctrine that's coming, impeccability. The issue of whether, how Jesus Christ, if he's God, could be tempted. Since God can't be tempted to sin, right? So this would be the complicated doctrine there, too. But look, look, look, look, he knows what you're going through. I think a lot of times we don't we think nobody really knows what I'm going through. I'm all alone. No, you're not. You know, Jesus Christ knows exactly what you're going through. Because he already came down here and he went through it all. Most human experience is basically the same. We all share the same experiences. You don't have a unique experience. That's arrogance. If you think you do have unique experiences, you're being arrogant. Okay? You're saying, this has only happened to me ever in the history of the world. Woe is me. No, we basically all share the same types of experiences, okay? So you're not unique in that sense. You're unique in an important person, yes, of course. But he knows exactly what you went through. So that means that when you go to him, he's empathetic. which means he actually cares. He really cares about what you're going through and you express your feelings and sufferings and sorrows to him. And guess what? He senses the same things you sense that are going on inside of you. And so he knows how to meet your need. He knows how to meet your need when someone comes to you. You know, we also go through suffering so we can comfort others, right? Second Corinthians one, three through 11, those verses. It equips us. When someone comes to you and they're suffering, they're expressing some sorrow, some frustration, some stress in life, you're supposed to do what? Just comfort them. Try to let them know that it's difficult what they're going through. and that you can identify with them or you want to identify with them if you've never been through it or wish you could. But you're recognizing that their humanity and the weaknesses that we all face, and you're putting yourself down on their level. You're not saying, well, I mean, my goodness, what's wrong with you? Don't you know I did this and I did that? I had to do all this to do, and now you're over there weeping and whining about that. That's not empathizing. That's hitting people in the head, saying, get over it. But what you need, of course, is someone like the Lord Jesus Christ who's gonna come alongside and comfort. See, we're supposed to do that because we recognize that that's what he does for us. And that's what we want him to do for us. We want him to understand what we're going through. And he does. And that's why we can go straight to him. So those are your three things. Humility, basic, most fundamental, Christian virtue. If you can get that, please get that. Get that. Get that. That's what you need more than anything. You're not here to prove anything to anybody. Who cares about what people think, right? The only one that matters is that you're approved by God, right? and God has a plan for your life, you're to function in that plan. Second, subordination, that's fine. There are subordination structures in society, but they first were in God. So is it such a difficult thing to submit to your boss? Is it such a difficult thing to obey your parents? Is it such a difficult thing to submit to your husband? Now, don't forget, the scriptures go on both sides, right? Every time they instruct the wives, they instruct the husbands, love your wives. Every time they instruct the children, they instruct the fathers to do not exasperate your children. Every time it instructs the employees, it also instructs the bosses and says, now don't threaten. There's a way to live in these structures that God has designed. It's a good way to live. It's the only way to really live. And lastly, he knows where you're going. He can sympathize with you. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much, Lord, that you give us this wonderful doctrine of the kenosis that he did not, though he's fully God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be exerted or asserted independent of you. And by doing so, he showed us his condescension. And we should really think about this as we walk in the world around other people. and we jockey for position or whatever, that really what we're here to do is think about other's self-interests and put their interests ahead of our own, not get what we want, but get what is needed for the people around us to serve. We serve because he first served us. And that this is really the only way to find approval with God. And we thank you that in the end, there's this tremendous exaltation. As the Lord Jesus Christ is exalted and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. So those who humble themselves will also be exalted in due time. And this is the model. This is the plan. So teach us to live within it. We ask this in Jesus precious name. Amen.