The Incredible Mind of Jesus Christ

As you can see from the announcement bulletin, the title of today's sermon is The Incredible Mind of God. The Incredible Mind of Christ, being they are one and the same. But I want to like you to go to a scripture that tells us about the mind of Christ in Philippians 2 and verse 5. Philippians 2 and verse 5.

Philippians 2 and verse 5. Actually, I'd like to go to 4. Paul is instructing this incredible church, like ours here. He said, "...let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others." Okay? Then he said, "...let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." So, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ.

Let's look today at that incredible mind as we prepare for the spring holy days, as we prepare to take part in the Passover, which is a rededication of ourselves to this walk of life and to Jesus Christ recognizing Him as our Savior.

But I thought this was a very nice scripture for us. Because it says that we are supposed to have the mind of Christ. What went through that mind during His last 48 hours of His life? What went through that mind? What must He have been thinking at that time? Maybe it was a successful culmination of 33 years in a physical body. That had never been done before. Right? Perhaps He thought, wait a minute, a perfect life that was actually lived. The only perfect life, the only sinless life that has ever been lived. And now in less than 48 hours, I am going to have to die a horrendous death.

And I will be dying for the sake of those who are killing me. What must that do to your mind? Perhaps it was mind-numbing thoughts. What would you be thinking? And I bring that up because this week, matter of fact, my wife came in on her computer and I was trying to print this picture of this drawing done by a Frenchman of a drawing that he had made of this man's travel to the Hawaiian Islands back in the 1800s.

It actually showed two or three men holding another man down and one taking a club and getting ready to crush in his skull as it was a sacrifice to their gods. Now, this Washington Post actually had the story about sacrifice. So I want you to think about all the stories down through the ages about little children who were sacrificed, virgins who were sacrificed, human beings who were sacrificed by the hundreds and hundreds, sacrificed to their God.

But isn't it interesting that we have one event where a God is sacrificed for his people? And that's what Jesus Christ did. Christ stood there hours before his death. He stood before Pilate. You read the story in John 18. He stood before Pilate and Pilate said, say, you're a king. And he said, for that purpose I was born. But not only that purpose, he is the king of kings. But he did not come only for that because there was something that had to be done before. And that was living a perfect life as an example to us. God wouldn't have it any other way.

But then being sacrificed, putting himself out, just like we read in Philippians 2 and verse 4, let each of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others. It's a mindset that Christ had. It's a mindset that God had. It's incredible love of what he was wanting to do for others. It's that mind, that incredible mind that we need to adapt. That he's asking us to do this. You see, God's plan was from the foundations of the world. Because I think it's Revelation 13, verse 8, that actually says Christ was slain from the foundations of the world. This was a plan. It just didn't happen.

Oh, well, here Christ lived 33 years in the span of time. He died. That's it. No. This was God's plan and Jesus Christ's plan from the very beginning. And they wanted to do it for us. And you might say it's why the Holy Days are so important. Because the Holy Days lay out the plan of God. Not only do we worship on the seventh day, the Sabbath, but we also have seven annual Holy Days.

It's all part of God's plan. It's all what Jesus Christ kept. It's all what the first century church kept. It's part of a grand plan, brethren. That's why Passover is so special. It's why the Days of Unleavened Bread, where we actually picture putting sin out of our lives. It's this exercise that I talked about last week.

It's an incredible exercise that we're able to do to help us to remind us that we want to keep our minds and our hearts on being like Jesus Christ. Putting sin out of our lives. Eating that leavened bread helped us remember that we're flat, spiritually speaking. We're not puffed up. And by keeping this, it's amazing because God had this plan that He knew humans needed to be reminded.

And, you know, it's about six months since the Feast of Tabernacles, the highlight of most of our lives these years when we go to the Feast of Tabernacles. We're both empowered physically and spiritually. But now six months have gone by, and now we need to be renewed. And He gives us this time.

So I want to go today in the little time I have left. And I want to start since we are instructed to let this mind be in you. It's also in Christ Jesus. And I'd like to take you back. I'd like to go back in time. I'd like you to go back because this was a unique event. Never will happen again.

I'd like you to go back and imagine Jesus Christ as a child.

Imagine Him as a child with that little mind seeing and feeling for the very first time limits.

Limits.

You ever thought about that? That was a new experience for Him.

A finite body that had to be so strange.

For millions of years, He had...what?

He was infinite.

Now a finite body. And a God trapped inside of a human body because He was limited by the physical. Because He came...had to come as physical. Even though He had the mind of God and the Spirit of God in Him, He was still flesh.

He never set aside His divinity. Otherwise, when He was killed, He would not have been God. And lay aside Him. So I want you to think about the unlimited being limited because that's what Christ was finding out.

A deity. A supreme being crawling on the floor as a baby.

What that must have felt like to Him. To everyone else, just a little baby boy.

Travel and space limited to less than 20-25 miles an hour. The fastest horse is the only way He could travel as a human at that time.

When this being was used to what?

Traveling at the speed of thought. Godspeed. So much faster than the speed of light.

But now, limited.

What went through that little mind as a baby and as a little child? And while growing up, He was being exposed to the evil and the wickedness of the flesh.

At 5, 6, 7, where your mind is taking in all these, your eyes and your mind, they're taking in everything that's going on around you.

He was experiencing the depths of depravity firsthand. Firsthand for the very first time. Oh yes, He had seen everything.

Set above the universe.

But He also got to see the cruelty of one human being to another.

What must that have been like? And still try to have the innessy of a child.

The lying, the stealing, the blasphemy and malice, all on display, not only from people but from the religious leaders of the day. The people who are supposed to teach you how to live and point you to God were as corrupt as even the worst people on earth at the time.

How would your mind go into that? And sometimes we see today either athletes or famous people who have a, as they say, fall from grace and people are so disappointed in them.

You know, that had to be so strange because for millions of years Christ had lived in a perfect, holy and righteous environment. And then He was cast into this sinful, perverted world. What must that have been like? What a mind it required to stay focused on why you were here. Why you were put here. Similar to us today, right?

We look at this world and what happens?

Pulls us away.

Pulls us away from God.

And sometimes we forget why we're here.

Our destiny. That's why we have a booklet called, What is Your Destiny?

There is a bigger purpose than the three score and ten here. Christ had to keep that in His mind of why He was here and what He was having to do. And sometimes we may feel a little strange because we cannot be like the rest of the world.

Brethren, we're having the mind of Christ at that time.

So picture, if you will, the innocence of a 12-year-old boy. Sitting in the temple. I'd like you to go with me, if you will, to Luke 2. Let's go to Luke 2.

We get to view this.

As Dr. Luke is telling us.

Luke 2. Verse 46.

And so it was after three days they found him in the temple. Sitting in the midst of teachers. Both listening and asking them questions. He was listening to them and asking them questions. This was a 12-year-old boy.

You think teachers found that a little strange? A little different? That this 12-year-old wanted to know more?

That he was probably confounding them? And as it says in verse 47, And all who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his what? Answers. So you see, he was not only confounding the teachers, he was expounding in all reality, even their understanding of his law.

This is the same law that he gave to puny humans thousands of years before.

There was nothing at that time he could not answer. Can you understand that at 12 years of age? You know, a lot of us at 12 years of age, we thought we knew all the answers. The only thing was, we didn't.

Sad part is, sometimes we get to be 72 and we still think we have all the answers and we don't. But here was a 12-year-old boy. Here, all the teachers, because they just had Holy Days. They'd all been teaching, but all of a sudden, here is this boy. Youth.

Why I find that unique is, that's why I wanted to take you into that mind. Imagine trying to balance your divinity and your flesh at that moment, at 12 years of age. Imagine that. These teachers who had studied and they were so well thought of and, you know, could have been 60, 50, 60, 70 years of age and had studied the law and knew how to speak Hebrew and Aramaic and maybe even some Latin and Greek. And you knew. You knew before they even gave you the answers what the answers were.

But you couldn't. You couldn't.

Do what human nature told you to do. Let me tell you about that. Let me tell you about that. Let me show you what this is. Let me tell you what I told Moses when he came to me when I was in the burning bush that day.

How many 12-year-olds would do that? This one would have.

I'd have been like, sit down, dad. Let me tell you how it's done.

You see, even at the age of 12, he had to have, as I call it, the mind of Christ. Well, Philippians 2. Let's go back there, if you will, again.

Philippians 2.

And verse 6.

It says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider a robbery to be equal to God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of men. Looked just like a man.

Died just like a man.

But verse 8, it said, And being found out, or being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and came obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. What that's telling us is, when you actually see it, he was being found out in the appearance. People were able to see him from this little child to this six-year-old, to this eight-year-old, to this 12-year-old, to this 25-year-old, to this 30-year-old. They saw him growing up.

They recognized he was human. It's one of the reasons his own town, his own village had a problem with.

Who's this? We saw it, and he's the... No.

You know, when Jesus Christ returns, he sets up his kingdom, and he will have kings and priests. The royal priesthood is fulfilled. There's going to be people looking and going, What? Maurice? Lavender?

Chris Revere? What?

This is what Jesus Christ went through, and his mind stayed focused because he had the mind of Christ. Our minds must stay focused.

How do you Shed His Mind? We all go through puberty.

Your voice cracks.

Remember mine? I couldn't figure it out. I'd say something.

Going through these odd, emotional things when you're 13, 12, 13, 14 years old. You know, we all battle these things, and all of a sudden, sometimes you might even start crying. You don't know why, and it's just like, What in the world? What's wrong with me?

But you know, that's nothing compared to the mental gymnastics going on in Christ's mind. As he realizes at a very young age, that Psalm 22 was His destiny. It was about Him. It would be, in another 15 to 20 years, He would be going through this.

What must have entered His mind? Let's go back, and for a moment, I'd like to take you back to Psalm 22. And I'd like you to think about yourself as a teenager, 14 or 15 years of age.

Psalm 22. He knew these words. They were not only taught to Him, but He inspired them to be written. And the mind of God knew this. But as a young teenager, going through this emotional changes that happened, and all of a sudden, this flashes in your mind, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from helping me? And the words of My groaning, Oh, My God, I cry in the daytime, and you do not hear. And in the night season, and I'm not silent. As you can bet, even as a child, He was praying to His Father in heaven. He had that communication. He always knew God was there, helping Him through these times, just like we should. We have the mind of Christ.

But you are holy who inhabit the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in you. They trusted and they delivered. And you delivered them. They cried to you, and you were delivered. They trusted in you, and were not ashamed. But I am a worm. I am a worm and no man. A reproach of men despised of the people. All those who see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip. They stick out their tongue, basically. They shake their heads saying, He trusted in the Lord. Let Him rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him. Since He delights in Him, the mocking.

But you are He who took me out of the womb. You made me trust when I was on my mother's breast. I cast upon you from the birth. From my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is none to help me. Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bechann have encircled me. They gape at me with their mouths as a raging, roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It has melted within me. My strength is dried up like a pot-shirt, and my tongue clings to my jaws. You have brought me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I can count on my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And my clothing they cast for locks. But you, O Lord, do not be far from me. Strengthen me. Help me!

How would you have handled that as a teenager? Knowing that's in your future.

Knowing you are going to have to go through.

You know, it's one thing to drive down the road, and be in a car accident.

And be killed right then and there.

And that is sad, and that is bad.

It's another if you knew somebody was going to kill you.

Like the sacrifice I talked about in the Hawaiian Islands.

You, when they took you out there, or held you for a day, as they were preparing you to be sacrificed. Imagine the racking of your mind as you're trying to escape. You're trying to do anything to get away from it. Imagine the torture of knowing that they were going to, because you'd seen it before, they were going to take this huge club and hit you right in the face so many times that it splatters your entire face.

And you have to endure that. Now imagine understanding that you were going to be beaten until a pulp tortured as much as anyone was tortured. And you've known this since you were a child.

What kind of mind must you have? To endure that, you're going to need the mind of Christ.

There's a story, a true story. If you ever get to Nashville, Tennessee, about 15 or 20 minutes outside the city, there is a town called Smyrna, like one of the church's seven churches in Revelation. Small town, but it is also the home of Sam Davis' home.

Sam Davis' home is a plantation from the mid-1800s, big white columns and so forth. The thing that's unique, in fact, there's Sam Davis Road, isn't there? Sam Davis' G Road. You can't miss that. I actually not only had the opportunity to go through the property, because there's a huge plantation there that they preserved, I actually was able to work on the house and talk to the people who are there, because they actually give you tours through this home. And they kind of tell you what it was like at that time, at the Civil War. And they tell you about, and they're in one of the main rooms, is this room dedicated to the boy, Sam Davis. His parents owned the home. They were pretty wealthy people. But when the Civil War broke out, 18-year-old Sam Davis decided to enlist in the Confederacy.

He was very young, very small, child-like in his looks. You can see the look. You can go on the Internet and read the same story. Basically, most that's on the Internet is true.

But when young Sam was 18, he decided he wanted to go help and fight the war.

He went to Shiloh and got shot, recovered. He went to another battle and recovered after being injured in both those battles. And then at age 21, about age 20, really, he was recruited because he looked still so young, even though he'd already gone through part of the war. And he was asked to be a part of what was called Coleman's couriers. Actually, they were Captain Coleman, actually recruited young guys. And their job was to, because there weren't cell phones back then, there wasn't anything else. So between generals, you had men who ran orders, plans, and top secret papers had to go between enemy lines, go over here and try to slide through. And so word could get through. And this was what Sam Davis was recruited for. And he was very good at it. Until one day, just before his 21st birthday, he was caught riding. And they took him because they didn't believe he was just some local boy, because he had a nice looking horse.

And they took him and they found in the saddlebags actual plans for the Northern Army, where all their strategic places were around southern Tennessee.

So they held him, then they actually found in his boot top secrets. So he was a spy. And he was brought in as a spy, and he was kept in this place where they had other prisoners, the North, been keeping prisoners there. And so because he was a spy and they needed that information, and one thing they wanted to know was, what did Captain Coleman look like? Because they knew he was the leader, and they needed to stop him.

And just what were the plans? And how would we get this Captain Coleman, who was an older guy? Because he would have so much information, it would really help them.

Which you can actually read the transcripts that the Colonel at the time told him, son, if you'll just give us that information, we will put you on your horse and we will send you back. And he said, I can't do that.

They said, if you do not tell us this, we have no choice than to execute you as a spy. And his famous words were, I would die a thousand deaths than to betray my friend.

So they said, well, tomorrow morning, which is your 21st birthday, you will be hung.

That night, he joined the chaplain from the Northern Army, and they sang songs.

Religious songs that night. And all the men, even the other prisoners in the South and even the officers, Armstrong was one of them, Captain Armstrong, admired this young man's mindset because he didn't, wasn't crying, wasn't upset.

He was so mature, but yet they looked at him just like he was a little boy.

And so he went to bed that night.

And as he got up in the morning, here they had the wagon that they put him on. And he sat on top of the wagon, but he also sat on top of his casket. They had a wood casket, so he was going to ride to this place where they were going to hang him. And he rode there, and many men stood alongside because they so admired, because they'd seen many men released who decided to save their own life. But this young boy, how amazing part was, his parents were very wealthy.

He didn't want them buying him out.

So as they, he rode by, they actually said he looked as they were preparing to walk him up to where they were going to hang him. And they still, at that time, they asked him, if you will just tell us what he looks like, where he might be at, you won't have to die.

And said one of the guys that was actually holding the noose was an older guy that this, Sam Davis reminded him of his child, his kid. And he had tears rolling down his face. And he said, son, I don't want to do this. And which Sam Davis said, sir, I'm doing, I've done my duty. It's time to do yours. Amazing strength.

But I guess the biggest part was they were still hoping he would tell because they did not put the knot to hang him on the side of his neck. They didn't do that to spies because they were still hoping you would give them information. So they put it on in the back of your head. Where you do not, it does not snap your neck, but it chokes you to death. A terrible, terrible way to die. But they're hoping somewhere between the last gasp of your breath, you will actually say, okay, I'll speak.

He didn't do it.

He did not do it. He died a hero, as they say. As they say.

I'd like you to go with me to Romans 5.

Romans 5, verse 6.

Romans 5 verse 6, For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly, died for everybody. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die.

But God demonstrates His own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You know, the end of that story, you will see, of Sam Davis was by the colonel who had sentenced him to death and watched him die.

And he wrote later, I think, in about 1887, 1888, in some of his memoirs. Now, what impressed him the most was that weeks later, they did find, they did find, Captain Coleman. He was in the prison all along with Sam Davis and the rest of the men.

He would not give up.

God had a plan that He wouldn't give up on us, no matter what our sins were, no matter where we came from. There was going to be a way to be reconciled back to God. And this was to have the Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ, die for you and He died for you.

And the only way He was able to do it is the same way, the only way we're going to be in His Kingdom with Him is to have the mind of Christ. We feed that mind, because that mind is empowered by God's Holy Spirit, the Spirit given to you, a free gift.

And the more you empower it, the closer you become to walking this earth as Christ walked this earth.

Imagine as a man in his early 20s, Jesus Christ at the time, working carpentry. Many of you, I know Neil has. Bruce has. Many of you, that Louis has, works in carpentry, did a lot of work in his place.

Imagine Christ as a carpenter, and He is having this piece of wood, and He's taking these spikes, these nails, and He's driving them into this piece of wood as He's 20-something years of age, and all of a sudden it strikes Him, because He knows His future. So, let the space between the wood and the spike will be filled with His flesh.

What must that do to you, man?

As you know, that spike will just be driven through your quivering flesh, and even though they talk about the hands, a lot of times the Romans actually drove it through your wrist, because your hands could actually be pulled through, and you could fall out, or people actually pulled themselves off. So many times they would actually drive it. Have you ever hit your wrist right there? Just hit it? Can you imagine them driving a nail through those tendons?

The veins, through all that?

Realizing that, if you've ever hit your thumb with the hammer, how that must have felt. Christ must have done that many times as a carpenter. It just happens, because not your fault, the nail will be bent, or the nail will go off to the side, and you hit it. Can you imagine Him looking at that and going, and going, nothing like what I'm going to see in the future?

What a focused mind it would take. The future pain that must be endured, like you go with me, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, I wonder if this Scripture entered Christ's mind. Isaiah 53, verse 3.

This Messiah, He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, rather not His, ours. He was bruised for our iniquities, not His. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

To say we all, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to His own way. And the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And I so think of Sam Davis having the opportunity to walk away. He could have even given false information since He actually knew that Coleman was in the prison. He could have given some plans and drawn it all out since He knew the land. They would have set Him free, and He could have...they wouldn't have gotten. Jesus Christ standing before Pilate. Pilate said, I have the power. I have the power to let you go. You're free. I can...do you realize that? Remember what Christ said? You have no power but that that's given by My Father. He was going to fulfill this plan.

He was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before His shearer is silent. So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare His generation? He was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of My people, He was stricken. That's us. But I wonder if... Because He knew and inspired this in chapter 53, if He would have thought about chapter 52, where He said His appearance was marred more than any man. Hmm. How would you wrap your mind around that?

As Christ, you are fighting Satan, the demons and evil forces, every day.

Done that since you were a child, and as you become older and older, and as you're nearing the age of 30, Satan is wanting to take you out. You are fighting the so-called religious leaders of the day who are relentless in the pursuit of your demise, all through your three and a half year ministry. Even your own family is shamed and embarrassed by your ministry.

You're embarrassed by your walk of life. They're embarrassed to even be seen with you.

You're doing God's work.

Now, as the years pass, you must fight the nightmares of your destiny, all because you're human, and all because you and your father's plans to share the gift of love and eternity with all mankind is at the forefront of your mind.

There's something bigger planned. Brethren, so just saying, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, is not just about acting Christ-like, but it also includes understanding the Spirit-led mind.

You know, before I can truly understand the gravity of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is the fulfillment of the true Passover Lamb come Thursday night, April 21st in this room, I must try to inculcate in my brain the mindset of Jesus Christ.

Just a couple more scriptures if you will go with me at John. John 15, we will read this the night of the Passover.

John 15, one verse, verse 13. What's it say? Greater love has no one than this, and today lay down one's life for his friends.

We are his friends. Well, we're more than that. We're his family, bonded together by the Holy Spirit and by the calling of God. 1 John 3, verse 16. 1 John 3, verse 16.

He said, By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for what? The brethren.

Are you ready to lay down your life for each other? I hope. I hope there's not people in here that don't get along. How much or less are you going to die or even not die, but live for other people? Live to serve them. Sometimes that's very hard to do.

Verse 17. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? It's going to show when we have the mind of Christ and we have God working in our hearts. We can't let things go. We are there to do something for others. In verse 18. My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. Let us act like Christ. If we have the mind of Christ, we will act like Christ. We will be like Christ and everyone will see that. And that's the time that they will know that it's not us, it's God in us. And the people closest to you will see that. They will see it front and center.

Incredible mind of Christ. A mind from birth to his death focused on others.

We understand that? That that's what the mind is about others? If Christ can die for us, can we not live for him? That's what he asked us to do. You might even say it was his last request. Let's go to the last scripture here. Go back to John 17. Last scripture, brethren. For me, it's very empowering. I'll also read this and I'll pass over. John 17. I hope you will read verse 20-25. But in verse 26, it says, I have declared to them your name. And will declare it that the love with which you love me be in them. Is it? Can we do that again? I have declared to them your name. And will declare it that the love with which you love me may be in them and I in them.

Do we have the love of God in our hearts? Do we have the mind of Christ?

Because there's a plan as old as the foundations of the world.

It's about a father. It's about his son, our Savior, and our reaffirmation on Pass overnight. You're in this room. This gray matter that's in our brain should push us to not only understand the mind of Christ, but to have the belief that propels us vehemently and passionately. To have the incredible mind of Christ in here and in here. And if it's in here and if it's in here, it can't help but show. Are we going to be perfect? Absolutely not.

But with the mind of Christ, we are working towards perfection. We see it. We know it's achievable because God said, Become you perfect as my Father and heaven is perfect. It's a process.

Brethren, let this mind, this incredible mind of Christ be in you.