Sorry, I kind of messing everything up tonight. I'm glad to be here with you this morning and to be able to open the Word of God and to look at it, see what God has to say. I invite you to turn your Bibles to Philippians 2, Philippians 2, while you're there. Just briefly update you.
Thank you for praying for us. We returned from Peru a week and a half ago. We had a good time, a good visit there. We just have a very brief highlight.
We went down, part of the reason is every summer. This is a Peruvian summer right now, it's in the Southern Hemisphere. We spent two weeks with the local assemblies get together and we had a little Bible school and so I was participating in that for two weeks. Then we had a week where we went and visited a number of different people, made connections, people we hadn't seen for quite a while, encouraging people, counseling, just a lot of different things.
Then the following week, our last week there, we were helping out in at EVBS. They started off with 80 children the first day and then there was 100 kids and just a great time to be able to spend time with these young people and share the Word of God with them. Then we flew to Miami. I know you had a great day going to Miami but just to put in context, we left 45 degree weather and we got to Orlando was 21.
We were freezing. Then we went there mainly to be able to visit some of the Spanish assemblies. Lord has opened an opportunity for me to help out with everyday publications. You may be familiar with the Mayis Bible courses.
The old testament is from everyday publications. The same one of the founders for the Mayis was a gentleman who started every day. One of the reasons he did that is because most of the world do not like to read. I know it's hard to believe but most countries do not like to read.
He developed a course that was used in very basic English and his wife was a linguist translated into Swahili and a number of other languages. We're helping out just developing different courses and books and in my case I'm helping out with the Spanish. Lord willing as I mentioned we'll be going to Bolivia a week and a half and helping out there doing some Bible teaching last time I was there was Connet. That's what I was going there for and a second day young fellow would like to go with us to the prison.
I had no idea what I was getting into. The prison I think, let's put it this way, it was meant to hold 150. There's at least 300 people there. Nothing to do and we were the only show in town.
So all these guys come out to listen and got the chance to preach the word of God to him. So you're never quite sure what's going to happen when you go visiting but we would appreciate your prayers as we travel to believe in a week and a half. Now this morning what I'd like to do is I'd like to take begin in Philippians chapter 2 and I want to read verse 5, begin in verse 5 and then kind of use this as a jumping off point. So it says in Philippians chapter 2 verse 5 it says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Being the form of God did not consider robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and come to the likeness of man and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the cross. Let's just bow and ask that God would guide us as we look into his word. God has a message from his word for you today and he wants you to hear it. And so as I pray I invite you to ask God today to help you to listen to hear that message.
It may not be something great, maybe something you already know but the point is it's from him to you. And so let's pray and ask God that he would be able through his Holy Spirit through his word to communicate the truth of his word to you today. Lord God we are thankful for the opportunity we have to have your word in our hand. We're thankful, O God, that you fought about us a creation, Lord, that had rebelled against you and gone our own way and yet you would send your own wonderful son to come into this world to be the Savior of the world.
O Father as we look at your word today and read it, help us to hear it, to understand it and then Father to apply it in our own lives. O God guide us, we pray into the truth and we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. I'd like to ask you a question. So we read that we have this mind, it says, have this mind which was also in Christ Jesus.
And so kind of where I'd like to start off with this is, is this possible today to live like Jesus did? Back in 1896 there was a guy named Charles Sheldon, he wrote a book and it's called In His Steps. And the whole premise of the book was, it was a novel, but the premise of the book was that these young people as I read the word of God, they took the decision they were going to live like Jesus did. With the idea that whatever they did, they were going to think what would Jesus do?
And so that kind of became the premise of the book. And so my question is as we read this about Jesus and it tells us the humility in the character of the Lord Jesus, is it possible today to live like that, to have that attitude of humility like Jesus did? Is that possible? Does it work?
In the dog eat, dog world? Can we live like that and not get destroyed? And I want you to think about that because that's important because a lot of times when we read these things, the Bible we say, yeah, but you don't understand I live here and it's different here. Or that's what it was like then, it's different today.
So we have to look at this and say, is this something that was culturally that worked there? That was okay then, but it's different today. Or does it work today? Did Jesus know what he was talking about?
Did God know what he was talking about when he gave us this? So what I'd like to do is I'd like to look at a few verses and to see what God has given to us for instructions. And I want you to turn to, first of all, we're going to be turning a bit here and there, to John chapter 13, John chapter 13. And in John chapter 13 verse 15, we learned this about Jesus.
He had just watched the disciples feet. I'm going to give you a few different verses like this. It says there, John 13 verse 15, after he watched the disciples feet, listen what he says, I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. So Jesus says to him, I did this as an example for you to follow.
Then over in 1 Peter chapter two, listen what he said, Peter says there, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse Peter chapter 2 and verse 21, listen to what it says there, talking about the struggles that people go through, the sufferings. And then verse 21, he says this, for to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. So once again, and we could look at other verses that are similar, kind of idea, that we are to follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he did and we are to follow in that.
Okay, so we're putting that kind of as a baseline as we begin to look through the Word of God. Now, with that in mind, turn back to John chapter three. So the Lord Jesus has left as an example that we are to follow. We are to look at him, the Word of God says, and we are to follow his example.
And now in the Gospel of John, we find various times that it's mentioned and verse 17, it says it's John 3, 17, for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. I want to focus on that part. It says it several times, Sir John, God sent his son, God sent his son into the world. And the express purpose of God sending his son into the world is to save you and I from our sin, to provide a means of deliverance from our sins.
See, I just want to be clear with this upfront. There are two groups of people and only two in this world. There are those people who have not trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, they are trusting in something else, they believe in something else that will get them ultimately to be with God or they say, I don't care. There are people who say, I don't care, I never want to be with God.
And so this is one group. And then the second group is those who have believed what God says about them and their sins and they have acknowledged, yes, I'm a sinner and I trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is my savior. And so God sent his son into the world. And now the question is why did God send his son into the world?
What's interesting is, as you begin to look through the book of John, one of the things you begin to discover is then one of the things we need to understand, even before we'll come to God is who is God? What is God like? How can I know God? And so what did God do?
God sent his son into the world so that we could look at his son and say that's what God is like. See, it's one thing for God to be, as we're way up there and we know God is everywhere, but we kind of think I'm there in heaven and we're down here and there's a long ways between us, right? What did God do? Well, God says, I want to come down here and I want to live with you.
I want to walk with you. I want to sit with you. I want to eat with you. I want you to see what it would be like for me to live right with you.
How would I respond to the circumstances you're facing? And so what did you do? He sent his son and we see Jesus living out what it would be like to have God living right here with us. And so you see Jesus in many different circumstances, sorry I'm not in front of the camera again.
So what happens? You see him at a wedding. You see him at a funeral. And then understand what God is like with what purpose so that we'll come to him.
So God sent his son into the world so that we can know him and ultimately John 17 verse three says this is life eternal. Listen this is eternal life to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom now was sent. So life eternal is to know God in the Lord Jesus Christ. All wrapped up in that.
So God sent his son so that as we look at his son, we begin to know what God is like. Now just turn to Hebrews chapter one and it kind of will reinforce what I just said. Hebrews chapter one and verse three. So God had spoken through the Old Testament in different pieces and different times through the prophets.
But ultimately he says he spoke to us through his son and it says in verse three it says who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. So when we look at Jesus what this is saying is that when we look at Jesus we are seeing the very character very he is God. It's like God's way up here to father's up there in Jesus kind of like 10 steps below him. No, when we look at Jesus we are seeing God.
Philip would say to Jesus, John chapter 14 he says to Jesus just before Jesus is going to the cross. He says, Jesus, you know, and you can understand, you can see Philip's head turn. He says, you know what Jesus, if you could just show us the father, that would be enough. That's all we're asking for.
I wonder Jesus went, oh man, Philip, if you've seen me, now get this. If you've seen me, you've seen the father. That's what Jesus said. In looking at me, you're looking at the father, you're seeing what the father is like.
And that's what Hebrews chapter one and verse three is telling us that he is the very brightness of the father's glory. When we look at him, we're seeing what God is like. We need to understand that. Jesus says he who has seen me has seen the father.
Now I want to take a lateral leap here because if you go now to John chapter twenty one or sorry, John chapter twenty and verse twenty one, John chapter twenty and verse twenty one. Listen to what Jesus says. Now Jesus has died and he's risen again and now listen to what he says here in John chapter twenty verse twenty one. So Jesus said to them to his disciples, peace to you.
Now look at this next part. As the father has sent me, we already saw that. Look at this last part. So also I send you.
The father sent the son into the world. Why did he send the son into the world so that we could know what he's like. Now what is Jesus saying here? What is he telling us?
He's saying I'm sending you into the world. But why? Well his purpose is that through you, you and me, we will show to the world what Jesus is like. That's his purpose.
Just as he showed the world what the father was like. Now we are to go into the world and show the world what Jesus is like. We are to reflect that glory into a dark world. Just like he shone the light of his father's glory into a dark world.
So we are being sent into the world just as Jesus was sent into the world. And just as he reflected his father's glory, he showed the world what his father's like. We are to show the world what Jesus is like. Now I don't know about you, but when I hear that and I think about that, that's overwhelming.
That's big. I've been commissioned to go into the world and show this world what Jesus is like. Well if we're going to talk about that, we need to actually be back up a bit. We need to talk about whose will is being done.
And so we'll start with Jesus again. If you turn to Psalm 40 verse 8, we're going to come back here again a little later. Psalm 40 verse 8 is the prophecy of the Lord Jesus. And it says this Psalm 40 verse 8.
It talks about in verse 7 it says, Behold I come in the scroll of the book, it is written of me. Now listen to verse 8. I delight to do your will, oh my God, and your law is within my heart. So Jesus could say, I delight my delight, I enjoy my pleasure is to do your will, oh God.
So we see Jesus came to reveal the Father and his desire, his delight was to do the Father's will. And in fact, he would say, remember in Luke chapter 22 verse 42, when he was in the garden and he was praying there. Remember what he would say there? Even though it says he was in agony and so much agony at the thought of going to the cross for your sin in mind.
If you ever, you know, we take very lightly and I'm talking, I've got the fingers pointing at myself. So I'm not pointing just at you, but often we take very lightly our sin, very casually. Well, yeah, I messed up. Okay.
But Jesus, I'm thinking about going to the cross and it says that he bore our sins in his body. He took our sins on the cross and there in the garden, we get a little, you know, God very graciously closed the curtain on the cross. We don't know the suffering Jesus went through. We know the physical part, but what he suffered internally, we don't know.
But in the garden, we get a little snapshot and there you see the Lord Jesus on his knees before the Father and it says, as he was praying earnestly, he was in such an agony that blood begins to come out as sweat. That's the agony, the distress he was under as he thought about going to the cross and yet what did he say? What did he say? He says, not my will, but yours.
The Son of God became a man and he would perfectly do all the Father's will. In every aspect of his life, he would perfectly fulfill his Father's will, even though he would be in such an agony at the very thought of what he was going through. So we can hardly imagine the agony he would go through on the cross as he suffered for your sin in mind. Sin is awful expensive.
It's the most expensive thing in all the world because it cost the life of the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how much it costs. There's nothing as expensive as sin. Don't ever ever take it lightly.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ came and he would say in John chapter 5 and verse 30, listen to what he says, I can do nothing on my own. I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me, the Lord Jesus came to do the Father's will. And he would always please the Father. John 829, he says, for I always do those things that are pleasing to him.
And in fact, as you look at the life of the Lord Jesus, you see at the beginning of his ministry when he was baptized by John, what happened? Well, everyone else, when they were baptized by John, they would go down in the water and they would come out confessing their sins. They would announce their sins. That was part of this baptism of repentance.
You proclaim publicly your sin. Imagine that. What happened with the Lord Jesus? He goes down the water.
Remember, John says, no, no, I need to be baptized by you. And Jesus says, no, just permit it to be so to complete all the righteousness that was planned. And so there he goes and he's baptized and he comes up with the water and I wonder if everybody was listening, what's he going to say? What's he going to announce as a sin?
Dead silence. Not a word. And instead who spoke? His father spoke from heaven.
What did his father say? He said, this, this is my beloved son. Now, get the rest of it in whom I am well, please, God look at him and said, I am perfectly pleased with this man. 30 years, 30 years.
And we don't hear hardly anything from those 30 years. But at the end of the God says, I am pleased with this man. First time we hear God say that. I'm well pleased with this man.
And so that was his testimony up to then. But then what happened? Well, again, up in the mountain transfiguration, Jesus was up there. And again, God says that.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Again, after those years of ministry, God said again. And so Jesus, we could say with the authority of the scriptures that Jesus life, every act that he committed, everything he did was the will of the Father. And listen to this, it pleased the Father.
See if he did God's will, then it would obviously please the Father. So you see the Lord Jesus will was subjected to the Father's. We read that at the beginning there, flipping chapter two, where it says that he humbled himself and was obedient to the point of death, even to the death of the cross. The Lord Jesus in every way fulfilled the will of the Father.
Now, when we come to us, what about our will? Just turn to me to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. And look what it says there, Ephesians chapter six and verse six. Talking about servants there.
And he says there to them, he says not, they were to serve not with eye service as men pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ. Look at this, doing the will of God from the heart. They were to be serving God from their heart. And then Paul would say, listen to the second Corinthians chapter eight verse five of them.
He says, speaking of these people, he says not only they'd obey them, but not as we hope. But listen, if they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God, they gave themselves to the Lord. And that's why we read in Romans chapter 12 verse one and two, he says, I beseech you there for brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, what? A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
So I am giving to God my body. And if you go back to the book of Leviticus, one thing you learned from the book of Leviticus, that anything that was devoted to God was holy. It was never to be taken back again. It was God's.
And so when we offer ourselves to God, we are then God's and we are God's to do his will. And so Ephesians chapter five, you're still there, just look back at Ephesians chapter five verse 17 and listen to what Paul says, he says there therefore Ephesians 5 17 do not be unwise, but listen to this, understand what the will of the Lord is. So we need to understand what is the will of the Lord. If I'm going to do God's will, I need to know what it is.
I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes. How can we do the will of God? What does it look like for us to do the will of God? And so what happens then folks, if we look first at Jesus, we see that everything he did, every act he did, he did by the will of God.
He says, whatever I say and whatever I do, I've received from my father. So then I can rightfully say, because he was our example, everything I say and everything I do should be the will of God. There are no neutral acts in the life of a Christian. Every act that you and I commit is meant to be by the will of father.
My, my, Kim and I were reading this week, a little book, just a really short little chapter. And he had touched on this and he was saying, talking about the Lord Jesus and relating to John, chapter, chapter nine there, where he was healed of blind men. He says it was part of God's will for Jesus to spit on the ground. Imagine that.
Like, I mean, he spoke all these wonderful things and yeah, God, God's will was at that moment, spit on the ground, make some clay and put it on his eyes. I don't know why, but he did it. But the point is this is that every act he did was God's will. How would your day, how would my day look different?
If it was always being measured by that, everything that I did, looking back and saying, was this done? Well, was this attitude, was this thing I said, was this thing I did, was that God's will, or was that Mark the Jagger talking acting or was that an attitude for Mark the Jagger? And unfortunately, too many times, it's me. But God's purpose is that we always do his will that we are that living sacrifice doing God's will.
But what gets in the way? Well, it's me. It's my pride. Yeah, but I got my rights.
Like, I'm allowed, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, and that's what we're all about. Like we live in a country. We've got our rights, you know, we got to stand up for what I got to stand up for myself because nobody else will. And that's the mentality that we're ingrained with and you need to understand folks.
We are living, if you're a believer in Lord Jesus Christ, you are living in enemy territory. You're not unfriendly ground. You're in the enemy's territory. Satan is the God of this world.
And everything about this world, he uses as propaganda to, to make us think his way, to make us live his way and to think that way. And so we need to remember this, that, that we are being bombarded every day by the enemy and with his way of thinking. So we need to continually be coming back to the Word of God and looking at what does the Word of God say. But one of the root causes of our problems and our difficulties to obey God, well, you know, what about me?
It's all about me. And if you go back to the beginning, you see that Satan would fall from the elevated position God gave him. He was the covering chair. He was, you could say, the highest angel.
What happened? Pride came in. He said, I will be like the most high. Pride came in.
And then you follow the progression. You go to Genesis chapter 3 and what happens. He comes along the Adam and Eve and he says, you know what? You too can be like God.
You, yeah, you can do what you want. You can be what you want. If you listen to the world's philosophy today, it's all about you, you, you, you, you. No, you don't have to listen to anybody else.
What does it mean to you? What do you want? How would you like this to be? What do you think?
Look deep inside and find truth. But what's the problem? Well, the Bible tells us that my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I start looking there.
I'm going to see only wickedness and lies and deceit. I need to look where I know I find truth. And where do I find that? I find then the Word of God.
And so Satan says, you know what? You can be like God. And he still tells us that today. We cannot listen to lies of the world.
That's why the Word of God is so important in the life of a Christian that we're listening to. And I know what God says and not what the lies of the world are. Remember James chapter four and verse six, it says that God resists the proud. God resists the proud.
And that's not like the idea of that is this. If you've ever watched, I don't know if you ever watched rugby. I knew nothing but rugby. My daughter decided in 10th grade, she's going to get into rugby.
And it's like it was a whole new world for me. And you see these guys, like especially the girls are amazing anyway. But I saw the guys and huge guys and they get down in these these rocks and they get arms around each other. And then there's another set of guys doing that on the other side.
And then they come together and they walk together. And it's like a bunch of bulls pushing against each other. Well, here's the idea. That's kind of the idea.
We're getting down in our pride because I want my way. And God says that's the way it's going to be. I'm going to resist you. I'm on the other side going against you.
Who do you think is going to win? Ultimately he will win. One day, if we read a little further than Philippians chapter two, the passage finishes by saying, one day every knee will bow. Everyone will confess.
In spite of their pride, in spite of thinking that they are God, one day every knee will bow and they will say, Jesus Christ is Lord. Now, unfortunately, for many people, it will be too late to ever enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Why? Because they won't be doing it willingly.
They'll be doing it because it's an irresistible truth that they have to acknowledge and they will fall before him, but they'll be forever condemned to be apart from him. I hope that's not you today. I hope today you acknowledge your sin and that you have sinned against the Lord Jesus Christ and he is the only Savior of mankind. He's our only hope and that you're trusting in him.
Well, God resists the proud. And unfortunately, as a Christian, we bring our pride into Christianity. And we say, God says, well, this is what I want you to do. God, I can't do that.
Like, that's too degrading for someone like me. I shouldn't have to do that. It's like there's a book called The Man Called Norman. If you've ever read the book, it's an interesting story.
And this Norman was a bit of a simple man and the guy up the street was a believer. And he saw a norm and he started helping Norman. And one day, he came to the point where Norman's toilet had problems. And this guy was in ministry now and still trying to help Norman.
And it came to the point where here he was, he said, the only way I could fix it was my arms wrapped around this toilet reaching around the back. And he's thinking, like, why do I have to do this? And that's a lot of the way we think like me. Why do I have to humble myself like this?
Because pride goes against that. Pride is all about me having the upper place. But we find that God resists the proud. It says in Proverbs 813 that God hates pride in the evil way.
Now, when we look at the life of the Lord Jesus, one thing we do not find ever in his life is pride. Of all people he could have stood up and said, I am. And he did. But he would say, I am in pride.
But you never find him saying. You only see him speaking the truth of who he was and how he came always to say and to do his Father's will and to speak his Father's words. And so when we look at the Lord Jesus, we read that of how he would humble himself and become obedient to the point of death in the death of the cross. Matthew 11 verse 28, Jesus would say, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
And then how does he describe himself? He describes himself as meek and lowly of heart. Unfortunately, most of us as Christians, that would be a real stretch to say we're meek and lowly of heart. I don't know.
I think I'm being honest with you. You're probably shouldn't say it because it wouldn't be true. But many times we are not meek and lowly. I guess I'll say that I'm not.
But Jesus could say that and he lived it out day by day. And I'll give you an example. If you back up Matthew 11, 28, if you go back to the previous verses, you know what Jesus said, no one knows the Son but the Father and no one knows the Father but the Son. But then he doesn't stop there.
You know what he says afterwards? And to the one, the Son will reveal it. And who did Jesus come to reveal it to? Well then he says to me, come to me all.
Amazing. This the Son of God even always rejected. He says, I want to tell you about my Father. I want to tell you how one of my Father is.
And so we see the Lord Jesus meek and lowly of heart. And then if you were to look further, you can look in Isaiah 42, it talks about the Lord Jesus there as well, the servant of the Lord. But now going back to the verse we started from in Philippians chapter 2, it tells us this, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. This is not a normal mindset, folks.
And this, I believe, takes a conscientious effort on your part in mind is to take the attitude and the mindset of the Lord Jesus and to leave behind the mindset of the world. We're going to talk him in about how it's possible we could ever do this. But the purpose is that day by day, I take the mind of the Lord Jesus and live that out. It was said to disciples, I think it's Acts chapter 4 that the rulers of the Jews, when they were listening to their watching, they said, we can tell you guys have been with Jesus.
So there's part of the secret right there. As we spend time with the Lord Jesus, what happens? We begin to talk like him. We begin to sound like him.
I lived in Tennessee for a number of years, doing an undergraduate degree. And it was amazing to me. So Tennessee, they talk with the Southern accent, a real twang. They take one, they take a one-siddle word and they make it into three syllables.
Like somebody's name, Chris. It's Korea. And people will go down with us from Canada. And within no time, they're starting to adopt the twang and the slang of the Southern states.
And I asked my roommate, I said, you ever think all sounds like the Southern? He says, no, you're hopeless. But the point is, as we spend time with Jesus, the idea is that we'll begin to look like him. We'll begin to sound like him.
We'll begin to act like him. That's God's purpose for us. Because we're to have this mind, the mind of the Lord Jesus. And you'll notice the context of this verse, Philippians 2.
It's talking about having that humble mind, acting out that meekness that you melody it we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, that's one of the areas I would say that we struggle with the most is to live that out. But Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15, I would say is one of my favorite verse and gives me the most hope. It says this, Isaiah 57 verse 15 says, therefore thus says, the high and lofty one, who inhabit eternity, whose name is holy.
I dwell in the high and holy place with him was a contract and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrary ones. God wants to live with the humble. And the amazing thing is the world says the way up is fighting, screaming and kicking. We have to fight for everything we get.
And yet, according to what it says here, the way up is down. As I humble myself, it says that God who is high and lofty dwells with the humble and the contrite heart. And this is what we need to begin, folks. Is my heart reflecting the heart of the Lord Jesus?
Where is my heart reflecting the heart of Marty Jagger? Because Marty Jagger, the old flesh of mark is pretty proud. We have the same for all the Dutch. If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much.
Just tends to reflect the attitude of the Dutch. I try to avoid that as much possible. But anyway, that's part of our heritage. And so to humble ourselves, but now I'd like to take the last time minutes here.
And I'd like to look at whom we are to rely upon and who gives us the resources to live this out. Because if I were to leave you with this, you go, okay, well, I'm supposed to live like Jesus and I'm supposed to show the world that Jesus is about how? That's the question. How?
First, I want you to show you this, that we can rely on God. As He instructs me what to do, I can trust Him that if He tells me what to do, it will be right. So I'll give you an example. I've been working on the Rubik's Cube for a while.
I learned how to do the 3x3. Now I'm working on the 4x4. And I got most of it down pat, but there's a couple of times you get to this place and you need these extra steps to get it right. And so I've learned, I've got all of it down except for two little steps.
And I have on my phone the steps. And so what I do is I bring the steps up and I know if I do, you know, right back, back, to do, to turn it off. And it looks like I'm messing the whole thing up. But I know if I fall the instructions, exactly guess what?
I get it right. If it turns out wrong, whose fault is it? The instructions are me. It's me.
And so if I fall the instructions, it'll be right. If I don't, it'll be wrong. Well, folks, if I do God's will, right, it'll come out right. That's the point.
You look at the life of the Lord Jesus and you look at the way He lived and you and I would say, how is that ever going to glorify God? And yet now when we remember Him, we look back and see what He did and we say, look at what God has done. This is amazing. God's work isn't God wonderful.
If you and I had a planet, we would have never planned it that way. But God did and God was glorified even though you see all the different people fighting against Him. Yeah, God was glorified. And so the point is this and this is important.
We understand it is that God's work is right. So first Peter chapter two and verse 23 tells us that Jesus always did the will of His Father. I'm just going to read it to you here. First Peter chapter two and verse 23.
It says this. Who when he was reviled, when they reviled just means to speak evil about. They remember all the evil they said about Jesus. So when they spoke evil on him, he didn't speak evil of them in return.
He could have, but he didn't. It says when he suffered, he didn't threaten, but he committed himself to him who judges righteously. Jesus perfectly did his father's will and he committed himself trusting in God that God would bring it all out and he did. So that's the example that Jesus left behind that the example.
And so in the same way, I am to trust God as I do his work that he knows how it's going to turn out in the end. Elizabeth Elliott said this. I don't need to know the way I only need to trust the guide. Trusting the guide is what it's all about.
I read the story about this missionary. He was picked up one night. He was in this harbor and he'd never been there before. He got picked up by this guy and the guy said, we've got to go up the mountain a bit.
Okay. So it was pitch dark and there's no lights in the path like pitch dark. So he starts falling the guy and the guy is walking on this path and then the guy's okay. You're going to fall behind me.
And he said, now, right here, he says, I want you to just make it easier. You should put your hands on my shoulder and you can barely see my foot step. Just put your feet where my feet are. They went a little longer.
And a few things like that happened. And later the next day they're returning and he looked where he'd gone. And one of those places where he put his hands on the guy's shoulder and walk behind him, it was just long across his ravine. And when he got there, he got down his hands and he's in his shinny to cross like this.
What happened? The night before he trusted his guide and his guide got him there safely. Well, God is the one who is guiding us. He's the one who tells us what to do, guides us on the way and we are to do his will.
And so Proverbs three, five, and six in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. So God is the one who will guide us in the right way. We are to do his will. I want to finish up with this.
And this is the, I think the key to it all is what are the resources. And we need to understand when I do God's will, this is not some hairy fairy like I'm waiting so, okay, yeah, I got to go do this. We start with the word of God. We need to know what God is like.
You know, I've had people come up to me. God told me to do this. Well, right away my first thought is this. Does that agree with what the word of God says?
Because this is the basis. This is how we know God through his word. So we start with the word of God and then we go out from there because in there we find God's will. Jesus would say the one that loves me is the one who keeps my commandments.
So we're going to be talking to John 14. And so if we say we love him, we should keep his commandments. Now, I'm going to keep his commandments. What do I have to do?
I need to know them. Where do I go to know them? The word of God. So folks, if you're not in the word of God, you are not going to be able to do God's will.
We need to start with the word of God. So a quick question for you. You don't need to answer, but I want you to answer to yourself. Are you reading the word of God first of all?
And I don't mean once a week. I mean, you all look fairly robust here. Like most of you look pretty healthy. Maybe a little, little overweight of you.
Why is that? Because you eat regularly and you eat plantifully, right? Are you eating the word of God? Are you eating good, healthy, solid food?
Are you in the word of God? And this is for you. You need to read the word of God. Yes, all those devotions, all those other things.
I'm not saying they're not good, but you need the word of God because God wants to communicate to you. Need to learn to hear the voice of God through his word. That's where it starts. Get in the word of God because this is where God begins to communicate his will to us.
We begin to see what God is like, how God act the Old Testament. We see what he did with David and we say, ah, that's what he did with David and we understand what that's lived out day by day. Are you reading the word of God? But as you read it, you need to pray and say, okay, God, teach me what you're like through your word.
And then we watch the life of the Lord Jesus and we see it in action and we begin to see what God is like. And so then as we go into the day, then we remember the word of God and we begin to evaluate, is this something that reflects what God is like with this spring, glory to God? Would this be something God is a, yeah, I'm pleased with that. Or would God look at that and God, I don't think so.
This is important folks. The world God in his grace has used us to be likes in this world. We're the face of Jesus in a dark world. The question is, can the world see Jesus in us?
Are my words, my actions, reflecting the Lord Jesus Christ? And so we start with the word of God, but we don't just read it. We have to start thinking about it. What is he saying?
What does this mean? And that's where coming and hearing the word of God is important because it helps to give us context. Sometimes we get off in the wrong direction and pull it back. Oh, no, no, no, not that way, this way.
Sometimes we listen to much of the internet. Be careful of the internet. I'm just going to warn you this folks. There's a lot of people who are teaching a lot of wrong things out there.
If I could give you a piece of advice, if you're doing a lot of that, I would talk to my elders and say, is this guy a good guy to listen to? Or give me a suggestion, something to listen to because there's a lot of people out there teaching a lot of wrong things. We've got a lot of Christians living, things that are not meant to be lived. We need to be in the word of God, stuck to the word of God.
This is our foundation. Okay, so I'm in the word of God and I'm reading it. Then God hasn't left us alone. In fact, I don't know about you, but I remember thinking before, you know, it would have been so nice to sit down with Jesus and listen to him teach.
And to hear him teach him, you ever thought that? Then all of a sudden it hits me. Guess who lives inside of me? God's own spirit.
Guess who's my teacher? He's always with me. So I remember one brother saying this. He says, sometimes I get to a passage.
I don't understand. He says, I put it down in my bed and I get down in my knees by my bed and I pray in God, you know, help me to understand this. And sometimes it doesn't happen right away. But I keep praying and I keep reading and God keeps teaching us because we have the best teacher in the world, the very best.
And he came into this. He's coming to live in dwellers to not only teach us the truth, the word of God, but to guide us into truth. What does it look like to live this out? So folks, when Jesus says, I'm sending you into the world to live this out.
It's not like he sent us out and says, good luck. I hope you're okay. No, he gave us everything we need. You ever watch a soldier and they've got these backpacks on and stuff stuck all around me and you think, man, they're loaded down.
Why? They got to be ready. Well, he sent us fully armed, fully equipped to go into the battle. You have everything you need, folks, to live out today and reflect to the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, to finish off, one last verse and then we're done. I want you to turn to me to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 3. This is his purpose in you and me. 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
This is God's purpose for you and for me through his word and by the Holy Spirit. It says this. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16, or 18, sorry. But we all with unveil face, beholden as an amare, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image.
So this is the image of the Lord Jesus. We're being transformed. That's God's purpose is to take you and me and make us look just like Jesus. But who's doing the work?
It says, just as by the spirit of the Lord. It's God's spirit taking that and bringing it home into my life and changing me. And so as I live out day by day, the Word of God and the truth of God, the Spirit of God will then show the world, the Lord Jesus Christ in me. And so folks, we have everything we need to live this out.
The question is this, just like the Lord Jesus came and he showed us what the Father's like, are you, am I, showing the world the Lord Jesus Christ? Because that's what he saved us for. I pray that you'll go home and you'll reflect on this. Maybe chew on it a bit and then look up some more verses and then ultimately live it out, shall we pray?
Lord God, we are so thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful that he in coming into the world would show us who you are. Oh God, he showed us your heart. He showed us that indeed you are a holy righteous God, but that you're a God of grace and mercy who would pardon sin but at a great cost.
Oh Lord, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. I pray now as we go into this week that you would grant us grace each day to live out the life of the Lord Jesus, to reflect in the dark world what he is like so that the world can see for the Lord Jesus Christ through us. Father, we pray this now in his lovely name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Thank you.