But God I pray that you would take what we do preach from this chapter and please just use it in our hearts and lives and let these sayings sink down into our ears and in Jesus name I pray, amen.
Now we saw last week in the book of Philippians, let me give you a little bit of background of course on the book of Philippians, this is written by the Apostle Paul from a jail cell.
He's writing it to a local church at the city of Philippi which he was in fact the founder of this local church in Philippi.
And in chapter one there seemed to be a pervading theme of boldness.
He's constantly preaching about the subject of not living in fear but having a life that's characterized by boldness.
And that was the main theme that we saw in chapter number one.
Now in chapter two, at the end of chapter one he ends up talking about the sufferings that we're going to endure as Christians.
He says God has a plan for your life. Number one was to believe on him, we saw in verse twenty-nine.
And number two was to suffer for his sake.
Those are the two things that God has ordained for all of us as Christians.
Number one, be saved. Number two, suffer for Jesus Christ.
Then in chapter number two verse one he starts out by saying, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ.
So the consolation is referring to the fact that yes we suffer as we saw in verse number twenty-nine.
But he's saying there's a consolation in Christ. This is the consolation.
If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies.
Now look at verse number two, he enters a new subject.
Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind.
Now if you look at verse number four, I'm going to skip ahead, I'm going to come back to this, but look at verse number four.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Now in verse number two he's telling us basically to be unified as a church.
He's saying I want you all to have the same love, I want you to be of one accord, and I want you to be of one mind.
Now he's not talking to all Christians everywhere.
He's talking to this church of Philippi, he says in your local church, I don't want there to be division, I want there to be unity.
In what way? Well I want you all to have the same love, the same love for a lost and dying world.
That means I want everybody to be involved in reaching the lost.
He says I want you to be of one accord, I want you to be of one mind.
Now how is this going to be achieved?
There are all kinds of different personalities in this room, there are all kinds of different personalities of people who come on Sunday and so forth.
How are we going to be unified? How are we going to have the same love?
How are we going to have the same mind if we're all different, we all have our own different opinions?
Well the answer is very simple, and the answer is found in Philippians chapter three.
Look over the page at verse number fifteen and sixteen.
Chapter three verse number fifteen and sixteen, the Bible says here,
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, watch this latter portion, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
So what God is saying here, the only way you're going to be unified as a church,
the only way you're going to be in one accord, as seemed to be the common denominator in the early chapters of the book of Acts
when they were seeing all those thousands of people saved, they were in one accord, in one place.
The only way that we're going to have the same mind is if we're walking by the same rule, which is this book right here.
This is the book that decides what the rules are, so to speak.
This is the book that tells us the things that we need to mind.
You've heard, I've only heard, you know, maybe my grandmother say this kind of terminology,
but now, you know, now Stephen, you need to mind.
You know, they say mind, it means obey, right?
And so I think that's what God's talking about here.
He says we need to walk by the same rule, and we need to mind the same thing.
We need to mind this book.
Now, the question, and this is what I want to bring up about these two verses,
and I'm going to spend a little bit of time on these two verses.
We probably won't get to the end of the chapter, but a lot of what I'm going to show you has so much to do with the rest of the chapter anyway
in understanding Philippians chapter 2.
But if we're going to have the same mind, if we're going to be unified as a church,
we all have to have this be the rule.
Now, let me ask you something.
If we have this right here as the rule, are we going to be unified?
No.
Are we going to be unified?
Are we going to have the same mind, one accord, striving together for the faith of the gospel
if we have five rules, five minds?
Absolutely not.
Now, let me show you something.
Brother McCoy, I want you to be my volunteer, even though I'm volunteering you.
I want you to come up here and have a seat right here, Brother McCoy, right where everybody can see you.
You're going to be the liberal today.
You're going to have the NIV.
You brought that to church today.
I'll partake of your heresy, and I'll use the living Bible right here in a minute.
All right, so let's see if we have the same mind.
Let's see if we all mind the same thing.
Let's turn in our Bibles.
So we're going to have a preaching service.
I'm going to demonstrate this.
Let's all turn our Bibles to Jude 22.
Jude 22, and you can go ahead and turn there also.
Brother McCoy here, in his ignorance, is turning in his Bible, and I'm going to turn in my phony Bible here, all right?
This is the living Bible by Ken Taylor.
This is the NIV, and this is the King James Bible.
And so we're going to turn to Jude chapter 22, because we're going to have some unity.
All right, now I'm going to read this, of course, first in the King James Bible.
Jude chapter, I'm sorry, Jude verse 22.
The Bible says here in Jude 22, and of some have compassion, making a difference.
Let me tell you something.
When you drive by that area that you may not necessarily be too keen on going there,
when you drive by and see people that are maybe not your desirable friends that you would want to have over to your home,
why don't you have some compassion and get those people saved?
This talks about in verse 23.
Now, Brother McCoy, what are you reading in your Bible there, sir, Jude 22?
Be merciful to those who doubt.
Oh, wait, just verse 22.
Is it kind of goofy the way they laid it out?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, they got it.
Okay, be merciful to those that doubt, okay, of some have compassion, making a difference.
Now, does the Bible say anything about people doubting?
Not at all.
Look at your Bible. Does it say anything about doubting?
Does it say anything about being merciful to people who are doubting?
Or does it tell you to have compassion about the people that you're going to get saved in verse number 23?
Now, let me pull out my living Bible and let's see what it says.
Try to help those who argue against you.
Now, look, does that have anything to do with what we just read?
No.
Then it goes on.
It has two sentences.
I don't even know where they got that first sentence.
And then it says, be merciful to those who doubt.
So try to help those who argue against you.
Be merciful to those who doubt.
He's got just the be merciful to those who doubt.
I've got having compassion, making a difference,
and the living Bible's telling me to help people that argue with me.
He can't help you.
So what if this was what I preached from, the living Bible?
And I said, listen, when people argue with you, you've got to help them.
And he's scratching his head like, what in the world?
Now, how much unity do you think we're going to have in this church?
Like, about zero unity.
Okay, turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy.
I'm sorry, 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 16.
1 Timothy 3, 16.
Got to turn there in a couple of Bibles here.
1 Timothy 3, 16.
Now, this thing, as you've seen so far, is a real piece of work.
And you're going to continue to see that in the next few examples.
All right, I'm preaching this evening.
This is service number two.
I'm preaching this evening on 1 Timothy 3, 16.
And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh.
Hallelujah.
Jesus Christ is God, I'm preaching to you tonight,
because God was manifested in the flesh,
and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
as it says in John 1, 14.
What does yours say?
1 Timothy 3, 16.
The mystery of godliness is great.
Keep going.
There's one more phrase in verse 16.
I know it's laid out weird.
It's right here.
You've got to read the first line.
He appeared in a body.
Now, he appeared in a body.
Mine says God was manifest in the flesh.
His says he appeared in a body.
Who is what I want to know.
And number two, I don't remember Jesus appearing.
It seems like he was born.
I don't think he appeared.
There he was, in a body.
Whoever he was.
There's no antecedent here.
But the easy-to-understand NIV has left us scratching our heads,
saying, who is this?
Who are we talking about?
Now let's get out this piece of work, the Living Bible.
Let's see what this thing says.
It is quite true that the way to live a godly life is not an easy matter.
But the answer lies in Christ, who came to earth as a man.
That's not even in the ballpark.
You couldn't even recognize what verse they're talking about here.
I think it's the dead Bible.
So we've got the dead Bible over here.
Now, is this unity that we're experiencing?
Can you imagine?
Which sermon sounds better?
God was manifest in the flesh?
I'm preaching tonight on the subject, he appeared in a body.
It doesn't have the same power, does it?
I don't think so.
Let's look at one more.
I don't want to belabor this too much.
Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 522.
1 Thessalonians 522.
I'm trying to hurry through this, but it's pretty important to see this.
1 Thessalonians 522, service number three.
King James Bible preaching, Pastor Anderson gets up with his Bible and says,
1 Thessalonians 522, abstain from all appearance of evil.
Everybody catch that?
Abstain, that means don't participate in whatsoever, all appearance of evil.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about the way you dress.
You walk down the street looking like some kind of gang banger with your pants hanging down
and you got your M&M T-shirt on and you say,
Well, I'm not a gang banger.
Then why do you look like one?
You say, Well, I'm not a hippie.
I'm a Jesus freak.
Well, then why don't you take a bath, sir, and abstain from appearance of evil?
Get a haircut, sir.
Look like a Baptist preacher and don't look like some kind of a worldly reprobate.
All right, now let's see what he's got.
Avoid every kind of evil.
Okay, so a couple things here.
Number one, the appearance is gone.
So, hey, look, I can live with my girlfriend because we sleep in separate bedrooms.
No, because it's appearance of evil, sir.
Oh, yeah, your Bible doesn't say that.
Every kind of evil.
So that's just saying to stay away from evil in general,
not necessarily just stay away from things that appear to be evil,
because that could cause somebody to have some kind of a stumbling block
if they see you doing something that's an appearance of evil.
Not only that, but his just says to avoid it.
Now, avoid and abstain means you're not doing it.
Avoid means, Well, I try to watch out for it whenever I can,
but sometimes I just find myself there.
I mean, I avoid it.
I try not to, but every once in a while I find myself in a situation
where I just have to take part in a little bit of evil.
Now, it's a totally different meaning.
How are we going to walk by the same rule, Brother McCoy,
until you finally will realize that this is the right Bible?
I'm serious.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just messing with you.
And you say, But...
Well, I'm just kidding.
Now, you say, Let me get this thing out of your hand before you get too attached to it.
Stay there, though.
And so, you say, Well, I don't use the living Bible.
Come on, I know that I don't need to help people that argue with me and stuff like that.
And I don't use the NIV.
I just use the New King James.
I mean, it's still King James Bible.
Good night.
You're so narrow-minded, Pastor Anderson.
What, everybody just has to be exactly like you or something?
Okay, look, here's the New King James.
This is a Gideon Bible.
I stole this from a motel.
No, I'm just kidding.
I didn't do it.
All right, let's get out the New King James.
I mean, maybe we can have some unity.
I mean, we've got three out of four words on the cover, all right?
King James Version, New King James Version.
So, maybe we can have some kind of semblance of unity.
Let's find out.
Actually, you know what?
I need...
I put the list.
I wasn't thinking straight.
You're going to be Mr. King James on this one.
Is that all right?
Hey!
All right.
So, let's look at Matthew 7-14.
Perfect example.
First book in the New Testament, Matthew 7-14.
Matthew chapter 7, verse number 14.
Now, before you look at your Bible, look up here at me and let me ask you something.
Is it easy to be saved or is it hard to be saved?
It's easy, right?
Hey, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine
heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
How many of you kids are saved?
Okay.
Boy, it must be easy if these kids can all be saved, right?
And they know they're saved.
Well, let me ask you something.
How hard is it to believe the Bible, especially if you're a child?
How hard is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved?
Pretty easy, right?
But let me ask you something.
Is it hard to live a perfect life and never sin?
Yeah, in fact, it's impossible, which is what some people would teach that, you know, you
have to do to go to heaven.
Or is it hard to live by all the commandments and read your Bible every day and pray and
fast and every night?
Yeah, it's hard.
Is it hard to repent of all your sins and say, I'm not going to sin anymore?
Yeah, that's hard because good night.
There's a lot of sin.
There's a lot of stuff that we probably don't even know about because the Bible's a pretty
big book.
So we all pretty much agree that it's easy to be saved.
You have to put all your faith that you have to just admit you're a sinner.
God, I know I'm a sinner.
I deserve to go to hell, but I believe that you died on the cross for me, and I believe
you rose again from the dead, and I'm trusting you and you alone to save me and forgive my
sins and take me to heaven.
Boy, that's easy.
Jesus said that you've got to have a faith like a little child to be saved.
He compared it to drinking a glass of water.
He compared it to eating a piece of bread.
They compared it to walking through a door.
He said, I'm the door.
If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved.
Now, you read the good old King James Bible, Matthew 7, 14.
Let's see what it says.
Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there
that find it.
Okay, so he just read the Bible, and the Bible says that the way to salvation is straight
and narrow.
Now, notice that word straight, common misconception, is spelled S-T-R-A-I-T.
Now, has anybody ever heard of the bearing straights?
This is up by, I believe it's the one up by Alaska.
Between Alaska and Russia, straight means narrow.
That's what it means.
God here is, the Bible has kind of an internal dictionary, and God's defining, he's saying
it's straight and it's narrow.
He's basically using two words to say that it's narrow, because the word straight means
it's small or narrow.
So, the Bible is saying it's a straight and narrow way, and few there be that find it.
Let's read the good old New King James, and let's see if we can have some unity.
Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life.
Did you catch that?
Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life.
Yeah, if you believe that you have to work your way to heaven, then I guess it would
be difficult.
But if you're trusting Jesus Christ and the finished work on the cross, but that's the
burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ to get you to heaven, it's quite easy, my friend.
It was hard for him.
It's easy for us.
We just have to receive the gift of eternal life.
Difficult?
I don't think so.
But, let's turn to the next one.
Let's look at Revelation, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 1.18.
Let's go in chronological order here.
1 Corinthians 1.18.
And I want to read to you, you read the King James Bible there, 1 Corinthians 1.18.
So the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are
saved it is the power of God.
Amen.
Boy, isn't that a great verse?
But the preaching, I love that word, preaching, of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
The world thinks it's foolish.
But unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Amen.
Man, that's good.
Can you finish the lesson tonight?
You're on fire.
That was a great verse.
But, let's see, so the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which are saved it's the power of God.
Now let's see what the new King James says.
Let's see what this guy says.
Okay.
For the message of the cross.
Now right away that bothers me.
That irritates me right away.
Because where's the preaching, man?
Where's the jumping up and down and screaming and yelling and beating the pulpit?
It's God.
It's just the message of the cross.
But listen to this.
But the message of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are
being saved it is the power of God.
So in Matthew 7 14 we saw that the Bible says, yes, it's a narrow way to salvation.
Few there be to find it.
And then in the new King James it said it's a difficult way to salvation.
Boy, getting saved is not difficult.
Now they're saying here in the King James Bible God's saying to us that are saved,
past tense, D on the end there, we're saved.
Like it's already done.
Like it already happened when I was six years old.
And I got saved.
Those of us who are saved it's the power of God.
Here it says those of us who are being saved.
Because we're trying, right?
We're living a good life.
We're going to church.
We've been baptized.
We're trying to live right.
And I'm being saved, I hope.
If you die today do you know for sure you go to heaven?
Well, I hope so.
I'm trying.
I wonder what, maybe they got it from this thing.
Could be, right?
Let's look at just one more because we're running out of time.
Revelation 19 verse 18.
I actually just, I'm sorry, Revelation 19 verse 8.
Revelation 19, 8.
And I just discovered this one actually today.
This was a discovery that I made.
Revelation 19, 8.
And you can go ahead and read that in the King James Bible, Brother McCoy.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white.
For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
Now let me give you a little background about what this verse is talking about.
This is talking about the second coming of Jesus Christ.
When, and it's talking about the bride of Christ, which is the church the Bible says.
And it's talking about, you know, the saved people that are there.
And it says that they were arrayed in fine white linen.
I mean just pure white linen.
Now God tells us right away what this white linen represents.
He says these white robes, this white linen that they are arrayed in,
represents the righteousness of the saints.
Now let's read this, the New King James Version.
I mean it's the same, right? It just takes out the these and the those, right?
Okay, let's see.
It says here,
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright.
For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
Now you say, well, what's the difference?
The righteousness of the saints, the righteous acts of the saints.
Well, if you study your Bible, you'll find in Philippians chapter 3,
where we're going to be next week, in chapter 3 of Philippians,
not having, well let's back up a little bit.
This is what the Apostle Paul is saying.
He says,
For I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.
He says,
He says, I don't have my own righteousness.
He says, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Look, I don't have any righteousness.
The Bible says there's none righteous, no, not one.
The Bible says, but we are all an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
So I don't have any righteousness.
I don't have any, so,
if you study this out, you realize that those garments that they're wearing
represent salvation.
If you read the book of Revelation,
it says that he took away their dirty, defiled garments,
and he gave them a white, clean garment,
which represents their salvation,
which represents the righteousness of the saints.
Oh, you mean their righteousness?
No, the righteousness of Jesus Christ
that was imputed unto them when they got saved.
The Bible says that our sins,
I'm sorry, let's see, 2 Corinthians chapter 6,
where the Bible says,
For he hath made him to be sin, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
When Jesus died on the cross,
all of our sins were put to the record of Jesus.
When we get saved, all of our sins were put on Jesus' record.
He already died for them on the cross.
But not only that, that's not the great thing about salvation only,
is that our sins were put on Jesus.
Here's the great thing about it.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ.
You say, why did Jesus live for 33 years?
Why didn't he just come and die on the cross and leave?
Why was he here for 33 years?
Because not only do you have to have no sin to go to heaven,
but you also have to have righteousness to go to heaven according to the Bible.
And what happened is, Jesus Christ came and he lived a perfect righteous life,
which is imputed to us when we get saved.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ goes on our record.
And then our sins go on his record.
You see the exchange that takes place.
Now, that fine linen is not the righteous act to the saints
that they did to get them to heaven,
because they worked so hard and they did so many good deeds.
You know, some of the saints don't have very many righteous acts.
Some of the saints, they're saved, they're born again.
They're a saint, as we learned a few weeks ago,
because they've been sanctified through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
as we saw in Hebrews chapter 12,
but they don't necessarily have righteous acts.
If every saint has righteous acts, good night.
This world would be a much different place, wouldn't it?
A lot more people would be getting saved.
Every good fundamental church would be jam-packed
because of all the righteous acts of the saints.
They'd be out soul winning.
They'd be out preaching the gospel.
They'd be dressed right.
They'd be living right.
They'd be living a clean and honest and godly moral life.
But, sad to say, many people are saved and not living for God.
But, praise God, everyone who has ever believed on Jesus Christ,
on that day, Revelation chapter 19,
is going to be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Hallelujah.
This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.
When Adam and Eve sinned,
they tried to make their own apron out of leaves.
Now, try making an apron out of leaves.
It's probably not the best covering.
And probably an apron is not what I would recommend you wearing either.
It's not really an ensemble.
It's not really a complete outfit, is it?
They said, well, you know,
and that's how stupid we are when we say,
well, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person.
You look like you're wearing an apron made out of leaves.
It's a little bit revealing.
Now, not only that,
but the Bible says that God took an animal,
a lamb,
and he slew that animal and he put skins, coats of skin.
Now, coat covers up a little more.
He put a coat of skins upon them.
What was that coat of skins
that represented putting on the righteousness of Jesus Christ
as a covering for our sinful flesh?
And that's exactly what this talked about.
Oh, you got the right one.
What is this?
Now, let me ask you something.
You say, well, great, you showed us three things.
I could show you a lot more,
but the point is you want a Bible with three times
that's telling you to work your way to heaven three times?
I don't want some piece of junk Bible
because how do I know that I say,
oh man, this is my favorite verse
and it's the one that's wrong?
Wouldn't that be a little bit depressing?
It's my favorite verse
and it's from the devil.
It's not from God.
We don't need a new King James Bible.
Instead of rewriting,
why don't we do a little rereading?
That's what I would recommend.
But anyway, off that subject,
we went through all these,
so we'll stack these up
and I want to give you a few quick information
before I get off this subject.
It's such a vital subject,
but the New King James Bible,
you can go ahead and have a seat, brother McCoy.
Thank you a lot for your help there.
Don't let me catch you with that thing again.
Just kidding, of course.
All right, New King James.
The word Lord is omitted 66 times.
The word God is omitted 51 times.
The word heaven is left out 50 times.
The word repent is left out 44 times.
The word blood is left out 23 times.
The word hell is left out 22 times.
And the word Jehovah, the name Jehovah,
which appears exactly seven times in your King James Bible,
God's perfect number of perfection,
seven times the name of God, Jehovah,
is listed in this Bible,
never mentioned in the New King James one time.
Totally left out.
Also, the phrase New Testament,
totally left out of the New King James,
used many times as we saw in the book of Hebrews
in the King James Bible.
You know, I could go on and on.
I don't want to spend the whole sermon on that subject,
but I want to get back into the book of Philippians
if you could turn there to Philippians 2.
But the point of all that,
in Philippians 2 the Bible says here
that God wanted us in order to fulfill his joy.
God is pleased is what he's saying.
God has joy.
He's pleased when we all are like-minded.
We all agree.
How are we going to all agree?
Well, if we all say this is the final authority
and we're all reading it,
we're all going to come to the same conclusion.
We all have the same Holy Spirit living inside of us
who's supposedly teaching us the Bible, right?
Well, then we should all come to the same conclusion.
We have the same Holy Spirit, the same book,
the same rule, the same thing, the Bible says.
So in verse 2 it says,
that you be like-minded,
having the same love being of one accord,
of one mind.
Unity in the house of God is what we're talking about.
Then look at verse number 3, it says,
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory,
but in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other better than themselves.
Lowliness of mind.
What God's talking about here is humility.
Humility.
I'm a little bit warm.
Is it all right if I open this door?
Are other people a little bit warm?
Ah, that's better.
Let me get a glass of water here.
Lowliness of mind.
What he's talking about here,
the opposite of this would be high-minded,
as the Bible talks about.
Prideful, arrogant, conceited,
you think you're wonderful.
Lowliness of mind.
What is it to be humble?
Does it mean that I just walk around like this and say,
I don't even think I can be your pastor.
I don't think I can make it in the ministry,
because I have no talent.
I have nothing going for me.
Okay, is that humility?
That's like being down on yourself.
You run into people who are always fishing for compliments.
Oh, I'm ugly, my hair looks terrible today.
No, it looks wonderful.
And so, that's not humility.
What is humility?
Well, the reality is that humility has nothing to do
with your attitude toward yourself,
as far as how you feel about how good or how bad you are.
Look at what he says here.
He says, in lowliness of mind,
let each esteem other, better than yourself.
So what God is saying here is,
humility, lowliness of mind,
is when you assume that the other guy is better than you.
You treat people as if they're better than you are.
Now, it's not saying that you're terrible and down
and you don't have anything going for you.
It's just saying that I have an attitude
that other people come first.
That's why it says in the next verse,
look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
Well, it's interesting to note in verse number three here
that the word esteem is used.
Now, have you ever heard the phrase self-esteem?
You know, it's like cassettes that you get at the library,
the self-help section and how to build your self-esteem,
how to have self-esteem once again.
Well, do a search in the Bible on self-esteem,
and this is the only verse you're going to find
that says anything about self-esteem.
And here's what it says.
Let each esteem other, better than themself.
Don't sit around trying to work up some kind of self-esteem.
Why don't you start thinking about others
and esteeming others better than yourself?
You know, we live in a day of psychology,
psychiatry, psychobabble, being exalted, even in churches.
You go to some churches.
I mean, I've sat in sermons,
and I felt like maybe I should just lay down.
Maybe I should lay on the couch.
The average church today, they should just have rows of couches,
and you just come in and lay on the couch,
and Pastor Shrink is going to get up,
and he's going to tell you about how it's all your mother and your father,
and this is what you're feeling inside.
Let's do a 26-week series on dealing with depression.
Let's do a five-week series on eating disorders.
Let's do a four-week series on anxiety disorders and panic attacks.
And you think I'm kidding, but I'm dead serious.
This is what's taught in churches nowadays.
Now, I don't buy it for a minute.
I don't subscribe to it for ten seconds.
Psychology and psychiatry came from the minds of perverts like Sigmund Freud,
ungodly atheists who wanted nothing to do with God.
It's the wisdom of the world which is foolishness with God.
Self-esteem, self-help, self-motivation, the power of positive thinking.
How about the power of others' thinking?
How about the power of, instead of sitting around thinking about yourself,
thinking about somebody else?
This psychology is all based on it's everybody else's fault.
You know, oh, well, tell me about when you were a kid.
Oh, your dad was so mean to you as a kid.
Oh, you poor thing.
That's why you have these issues, because your dad was so mean.
He spanked you with the wooden spoon, and now you only eat with forks.
You eat your Cheerios with a fork,
and you can't get any of the milk in your mouth, and it's gross.
Okay, look, it's stupid.
And you say, well, why was your dad such a mean, aggressive tyrant?
Well, it was because of his dad, and his dad, and his dad.
Well, let's just go all the way back to Adam, because Adam was a sinner,
and that's the original sin.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
So maybe there's something to this.
But anyway, it does go back to Adam. It does go back to Papa.
But let me tell you something.
This psychology and psychobabble is garbage.
I'll tell you why you're depressed.
I'll tell you why you don't have self-esteem, so to speak.
I'll tell you why you have all these panic attacks, and you're depressed,
and you can't have any joy in your life.
I'll tell you why. Let's go down the list.
How about the rock music that you're listening to that's all down and depressing,
and it's all about the country-western music you're listening to
that's all about how your dog died, and your girlfriend ran off, and whatever.
Your truck broke down, and you broke down halfway between Tennessee and Arkansas,
and you only had enough money to, I don't know, whatever.
Look, maybe that's why you're so depressed.
Why don't you sing the songs in this book?
Why don't you take this book home with you, soul-storing songs and hymns,
and get this book out when you're driving down the road,
and turn off the stupid radio, and turn off the worldly garbage, and say,
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
You're not going to be depressed like that.
How are you going to be depressed singing that song?
How are you going to be depressing?
God be the glory, great things He hath done,
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son.
Now, look, this music is not depressing.
This music isn't this down, sultry, down-in-the-dump kind of music.
You'll notice in the Bible, many stories about music in the Bible,
but Elisha, for example, he was down and depressed.
Music put him in a different kind of a mood.
King Saul, same thing, his mood was affected by music.
But, of course, King Saul relied on music as a surrogate
for a good relationship with God.
He had an evil spirit from the Lord.
He said, Oh, I'm going to put on my feel-good Christian music and listen to it.
Come here, David, play the music.
Next thing you know, he's listening to the Christian music
while he's throwing a spear at David,
because music is not the answer.
Being right with God is the answer.
But singing these songs, I'm not talking about listening to music at all.
I'm talking about singing the praises of God.
Praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever.
Not pop in the praise CD, but, oh, let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
That's what I'm talking about.
If you would be praising the Lord instead of listening to your country western
and your rock music and your R&B and rap music
and whatever you want to call it, or whatever, classical, anything.
And I'm saying, if you're listening, not listening to anything,
singing these songs right here, boy, your attitude would be changed.
Just try it.
I'm not telling you what to do.
Just try it and find out if you're still depressed.
Why don't you see what happens?
How about the dope that you're on?
You say, what dope?
How about the antidepressants?
How about the muscle relaxers that are the same chemical as antidepressants?
How about the Ritalin that you're feeding your kids?
Maybe that's why you're so depressed.
How about the alcohol?
Did you know that alcohol is classified as a depressant?
That's what it's called.
That's the technical term for it.
Boy, you get in this book.
You read this book.
The Bible says the joy of the Lord is your strength.
You get in this book.
You read this book.
You pray.
You sing the praises of God.
You have the praises of God on your lips continually,
and you will not be depressed.
If you get off the drugs, you get off the rock music,
you get off the sleeping pills and all the dope that you're taking,
and you open this book and say,
this is going to be my necessary food.
I'll tell you what.
You won't be depressed anymore.
You won't need the psychiatrist.
You won't need the psychobabble.
ADD, ADHD, bipolar.
Hey, listen.
None of it exists.
It's all a hoax.
It's called kids disobeying their parents.
And this is the cure for ADD.
This is the actual thing that I was spanked with as a child.
And this is what you do with ADD.
You open the lid.
First you read it.
It says here, administer three times daily or as often as necessary,
whichever is more.
And you're not just kidding.
But it says right here, it says,
warning, could be hazardous if mixed with alcohol.
You take it and you just.
And it's amazing how ADD is gone.
It's gone.
ADHD is gone.
But if you don't use the old ADD remedy,
the mama's home ADD remedy,
then you've got to go get a bunch of dope.
And then you see these kids.
They walk around.
And I see them all the time.
And I can spot them a mile away.
This kid is on Ritalin.
This kid is on anti-depressant.
Some of them are just like,
hey, how you doing, buddy?
Hey.
Because they're so numb.
They don't even know what's going on.
And it's sad.
It's terrible.
I have more respect for a stinking dope dealer
in the ghetto than I have for these pharmaceutical companies
who sell these bottles of pills of Ritalin for 800 bucks a bottle
and mess up kids for life.
But anyway, that's what I feel about self-esteem.
What you need is others' esteem.
If you'd stop worrying about yourself.
This is the last.
Get rid of the drugs, the music, the dope.
Spank your kids.
Read the Bible.
Sing the hymn book.
And then start thinking about others.
And you'll stop focusing so much on your own problems,
your own situation,
if you esteem others better than yourself.
Look at verse number five.
I'm going to hurry.
I'm not going to get through the whole chapter.
I'm not even trying.
Don't worry.
We're not going to go at this pace through all 30 verses
and be here until 1130 tonight.
Verse number five says,
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Now, this whole next section
is still talking about the subject of humility.
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, though He was God,
it says,
He, and He thought of not robbery to be equal with God,
but made Himself of no reputation.
He said, I don't care about my reputation.
I don't care what people think about me.
He says, and took upon Him the form of a servant
and was made in the likeness of men.
So, basically, Jesus Christ,
He said, I don't care about my reputation.
I don't care what people think about me.
I'm going to serve others.
Do you see the common thread through this whole chapter?
It's all about others, all the way down the list.
Unity. Why?
Because your opinion is not what matters.
What this book says is what matters.
We all need to be unified around this book.
Verse three, it says,
Don't do anything for your glory.
Have lowliness of mind.
Esteve others better than yourself.
Number four, don't worry about your things.
Worry about other people's things.
Verse number five, be like Jesus Christ.
Why?
Verse number six, because He was in the form of God.
Verse number seven, He made Himself of no reputation
and took upon Him the form of a servant.
See how just the consistency of God's word.
This great theme of this chapter is humility, humbling yourself.
And the Bible says in verse number eight,
And being found in fashion as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Why did Jesus Christ obey the Heavenly Father,
even to death, even the death of the cross?
Why did He obey?
Because He was humble.
So what we can learn here is that,
what's the problem with disobedience?
Pride.
What's the problem with children who don't obey their parents?
Pride.
What's the problem with wives who won't obey their husband?
Pride.
What's the problem with the employee who will not obey the boss
and the owner of the company?
Pride.
What's the problem with every authority figure that is not honored,
that is not obeyed and respected?
Pride.
Arrogancy on the part of the follower.
Jesus Christ, God in the flesh,
said, I'm going to humble myself
for the reason that I'm going to obey the authority
because I've willingly put myself in a position as a man
and I've willingly put myself under the subjection of the Heavenly Father
for the purpose of fulfilling the gospel on the cross.
I have to excuse me, I'm getting over kind of a sinus infection.
But anyway, let's move on quickly.
The Bible says here,
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him.
Look, if you will humble yourself,
God will exalt you.
If you will make yourself of no reputation and say,
I don't care what people think about me,
I don't have to defend myself every time I'm defamed,
I don't have to go around promoting myself,
telling everybody how wonderful I am,
if I will humble myself and take upon me the form of a servant
and serve others and care about others,
God will highly exalt me.
The Bible says,
He that exalteth himself shall be abased,
but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
And so Jesus Christ is setting up the example of humbling himself
and letting the Heavenly Father take care of any kind of exaltation,
any kind of credit that he needs to get,
any kind of a raise at the job.
Look, if you don't get credit for it at the job, what you did,
let God promote you.
The Bible says promotion cometh from the north,
and promotion comes from God.
God will promote you.
If you don't promote yourself, promote other people.
Don't badmouth the other guy on the job.
Don't badmouth the other person that you work with
and every time they do something wrong, you'll tell the boss.
Why don't you tell the boss about something good that they did
that nobody else knows about?
And maybe they didn't get any recognition that they deserve
and say, you know what, I noticed so-and-so over there
who's my peer, who's probably, you know, both of us are in for the promotion,
I'm going to tell the boss about how well he's doing.
I'm going to tell the boss about how much great success
they're having in their field, and God will exalt me.
And if he doesn't exalt me, then fine.
But I'm going to be like Jesus Christ and exalt others.
Others, others, others.
Let me find my place here.
Verse number 9, wherefore God also hath highly exalted him
and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Now what is the name that is above every other name?
I said it right here. What is the name that's above every other name?
Jesus is the name that's above every other name.
Now there's, of course, a false religion called the Jehovah's Witnesses,
and they will say, God only has one name, and his name is Jehovah,
and that's his only name, and Jesus was created by God,
and Jesus is not God.
Well, let me show you where this false teaching comes from,
and I'll show you how erroneous it is.
Turn in your Bible to Psalm 83, 18.
Psalm 83, 18.
And it's amazing because you'll be at the door.
You'll be knocking on doors, and you'll be soul winning,
and you'll be trying to win some Jehovah's Witness to the Lord,
and you'll be trying to tell them, you know, we're all sinners,
but Jesus Christ loves us, and you're showing them the verses,
and he died on the cross for us,
and if you believe on him, he'll give you everlasting life.
That means you get saved just one time,
and you've got everlasting life.
You're going through the whole thing, right?
All these different subjects, you're showing them about how we're all sinners,
and we all deserve to go to hell, but Jesus loves us,
and he died for us, he was buried, he rose again.
You're going through the whole thing, and then here's what they'll say.
They're not responding to anything that you just told them.
It's like you just went woo in one ear and out the other,
and they say, yeah, but let me show you Psalm 83, 18.
Okay, I've probably been shown this verse by like a hundred Jehovah's Witnesses, literally.
Let me show you. Turn to your Bible to Psalm 83, 18, and it's what they say.
It says here that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah,
art the most high over all that, and they say, see, see,
and I'm like, that's not even what I was talking to you about.
I was talking about being saved.
They're like, no, but see, his only name is Jehovah.
Okay, well, let's follow the same logic.
Let's turn to Psalm 148.
Flip your Bible forward to Psalm 148, verse 13.
Remember it said his name alone is Jehovah.
That's his only name is Jehovah.
Look at 148, 13.
Psalm 148, 13.
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is excellent.
Now look, it's the same thing.
It's the exact same phrase, the exact same wording.
His name alone is Jehovah. His name alone is excellent.
Look, it's not saying that his only name is Jehovah.
It means he's the only one who's named Jehovah.
His name alone is Jehovah. My name's not Jehovah.
Your name's not Jehovah. His name alone is Jehovah.
He is the only Jehovah.
His name alone is excellent.
He's the only one who has an excellent name.
It's not saying his only name is excellent.
If you call him anything except excellent, you're now right with God.
Dear excellent, thank you for this service.
Okay, that's not what it's saying, is it?
And it's the same exact wording, it's the same exact grammar,
it's the same exact sentence.
His name alone is Jehovah. His name alone is excellent.
It's saying he's the only one who has an excellent name,
and he's the only one named Jehovah.
When was the last time you met somebody who said,
oh, it's a boy, and we named him Jehovah?
When was the last time that happened?
Now, our Hispanic friends named their kids Jesus,
but they don't name their kids Jehovah.
There's nobody named Jehovah except there's only one Jehovah.
That's all it's saying.
So, that's of course an erroneous teaching.
The name that's above every name is Jesus Christ.
When I got saved, I didn't say, save me, Jehovah.
I said, dear Jesus, save me.
Because the Bible says there is none other name given,
I'm sorry, there is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved.
What name? Jesus Christ.
You can only be saved through the name of Jesus Christ.
You say, well, this guy in Africa, he never heard the name of Jesus,
and he looked up at the sky and said, God, whoever you are, save me.
And he's going to heaven, right? No.
He's got to hear the Gospel.
The Bible says faith coming by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
How then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach except they be sent?
God's saying, how can they call on somebody that they don't believe in?
And how can they believe in somebody that they've never heard of?
And how can they hear without a preacher?
And how can they preach except they be sent?
Pretty simple, isn't it?
And so Jesus Christ is the name under heaven
whereby anyone must be saved by the name of Jesus Christ.
The name that's exalted above every name.
Above Jehovah? Yes.
Because that's what the Bible says.
Jesus Christ is the name that's exalted above every name.
Jesus.
Because Jesus is God, of course.
And so this is another one of his names.
Jehovah Jesus.
Now, back to our passage here in Philippians chapter 2.
I get so excited while I'm preaching I totally lose my place.
But that's why I like Wednesday nights
because we're going verse by verse through the chapters
so I can just jump right back in where I was.
And the Bible says that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow
of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Wherefore, my beloved, is ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Now you say, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Now what is the outer working of our salvation?
How do we work out?
Now, first of all, it's something that we have to do.
We have to work out our salvation
and then God, the Bible says in the next verse,
will work in and through us.
Now, does this say, work so that you can be saved?
That's not what it says.
It says, work out your salvation.
So whose salvation are we working out?
Ours.
So that means we already have it.
It means we already got it when we believed on Jesus Christ
and he gave us salvation.
He gave us eternal life.
So now I've got my salvation that I got it when I was six years old.
I've still got it, my salvation,
and now God says, okay, you got your salvation?
You got it?
Yes, I've got it.
I've got it right here.
Okay, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
He said, I don't want it to just be this,
well, you know, for me it's just kind of an inward thing.
You know, I mean, I've got my own faith.
I've got my own belief.
And I don't really talk to people and try to,
I just let other people believe what they believe and I've got my belief.
He says, no, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
He says, your salvation should not just be an inward thing
that you have the Holy Spirit inside of you,
you're going to heaven, you're saved.
No, it should be something that works itself out in your life
so that everybody can see that you're saved
and so that some kind of a work can get done.
W-O-R-K, work.
What work?
Is reading my Bible work?
No.
Is praying work?
No.
Work.
Well, here's the first thing I think of.
I think of the Father saying to us as his children in the book of Matthew,
go work today in my vineyard.
Go work today in my vineyard, God commands all of us.
What's the vineyard?
The vineyard is where things are growing.
It's where there's a crop, it's where it's been planted,
the seed of the word of God, it's where it's being watered,
it's where we reap the souls that we win to the Lord.
That is the work of a Christian is getting people saved,
preaching the gospel to every creature, reaping the great harvest.
Jesus said the fields are widened to harvest, but the labors are few.
Pray, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that he was sent for the laborers, workers,
people who work, they labor, they sweat, they get their hands dirty,
and they work and they harvest the great harvest of souls that's out there.
Go work today in my vineyard.
And you know what the first son that he said that to said?
He said, go work today in my vineyard, son.
And he said, I will not.
That's what he said in the story.
And then the next guy said, I will.
And so that's the two answers.
Well, I kind of work in the vineyard.
No.
Go work today in my vineyard.
There's only two answers.
I will or I will not.
Which one are you?
Are you an I will or an I will not?
Are you an I will not?
You never win anybody to the Lord, never preach the gospel,
never open your mouth and give the gospel to someone,
then you're an I will not kind of a Christian.
You're an I will not kind of a son.
Or you can be an I will.
Now, go work today in my vineyard.
It says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
It reminds me of Ephesians chapter 2, verse number 10.
8 and 9 is the often quoted.
For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For it is God which worketh in you, exactly what we desire.
It said, is God which worketh.
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
I'm quoting this verse.
That's why it's so similar.
But it says, not of works, lest any man should boast,
for we are his workmanship, verse number 10,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
So when we're in Christ Jesus, what's the purpose?
Unto good works.
Not saved by works, saved unto good works.
Now, let me ask you a question.
If God here is telling us, look,
when I was around, you guys worked.
Now that I'm gone, I still want you to work even more.
If God's telling us, I want you to work out your own salvation,
does this mean that every single Christian works out their own salvation?
No, because if everybody just automatically did it,
then I guess he wouldn't have to tell us to do it,
because we'd already be doing it.
But God is saying, you make the choice,
I will or I will not work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
You say, well, this guy, he's not the perfect fundamental Baptist,
so he must not be saved.
He did this wrong, and he doesn't go to church three times a week,
and so I don't think he's really saved.
If he was really saved, like he could be really saved.
But if he was really saved, he wouldn't do that.
Well, you know, God's commanded us, and we got the choice,
whether to work it out or whether to be a loser is the honest truth.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
I'm almost done here.
He's saying all things without murmurings and disputings,
that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation
among whom ye shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
What's God saying here?
He's saying, look, you're in the middle of a crooked and perverse nation.
That's not true of our nation today in 2006,
just as it was true in Philippi here in Asia Minor.
But we're living in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.
What are we supposed to do?
We are supposed to be without rebuke.
That means clean up your life, get rid of the sin, get rid of the garbage.
And he says, hold forth the word of life.
Hold forth the word of life.
That's the same thing we've been seeing in this whole passage.
Humble yourself.
I must increase, John the Baptist said, I must decrease.
He must increase.
He said, I must decrease.
Humble yourself in lowliness of mind.
Esteem others better than yourself.
Put yourself down.
Make yourself of no reputation.
Have the mind of Jesus Christ.
Go out into that crooked and perverse nation, and what can you do?
But hold forth the word of life.
Holding forth the word of life.
This is the power of God.
This is where the salvation is.
This is where the power is to win people to Christ, to make a difference.
But we live in a crooked and perverse nation.
God says, if you'll hold forth that word of life,
we're going to get something done in this crooked nation.
Many people will be saved.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.