Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Following Footsteps
The scene you may be thinking of, two sets of footprints in the sand and then there is only one set, is a great example; but not the one Jeremy has in mind in this lesson. Today is about seeing the one set of footprints that walked this earth perfectly and learning how to walk the same way that He did in His humanity. Jesus showed us how to do it.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today, the full lesson from Jeremy Thomas. Here's a hint of what's to come.
Speaker 2:Why does Paul do this? He does this elsewhere too. He does it in Romans 8. He does it several other places. Why, I mean, why, is Christianity tied up with very complicated thinking? I think that the answer is because it's what energizes us. It's the only thing that motivates us. Someone saying, you know, you should be more humble and you should love others and you should obey, or whatever you know. That just doesn't do it. You can tell people that over and over and over, but what happens is you just get tired. Tired of trying to live up to this standard. What you need is you need something much deeper.
Speaker 1:It's not a lesson that you or I naturally want to hear that we need to set aside ourselves, think of others more, have an honest evaluation of ourselves, to look deeply into ourselves and understand who we are, what we are, where we are, how God created us, what our purpose is.
Speaker 1:We tend to have grandiose plans how we're going to impact others, what we're going to do, what we're going to achieve. Now, you may achieve great and wonderful things in your life, but if the goal is that to acquire recognition for yourself, then you've missed the point. You see, christ didn't have that goal in mind. He had obedience to the Father in mind, and in the midst of being obedient to his Father, to our Father, he actually achieved the greatest thing, but he did it by following the Father's lead, obeying him, listening to him, following his plan and putting himself in a proper subordinate position. In other words, he had a mind of humility and in doing this, he achieved the greatest thing. He achieved our salvation because he achieved perfect obedience to the Father. Now, let that mind be in us.
Speaker 2:Okay. So last week was the kenosis right when I just dealt with the doctrine of kenosis. This week I want to do the kenosis applied. So I want to look at how we can apply the doctrine of kenosis to our own Christian lives, what this means for us. You'll notice, as we've gone from the Old Testament and those events and doctrines into the New Testament, that it seems like it's a lot more difficult.
Speaker 2:The doctrines I mean we've been talking about the hypostatic union. The doctrines I mean you know we've been talking about the hypostatic union. You've got, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ, who's one person, right, but he has a. He's 100% humanity and he's 100% deity, and it's complicated to try to understand how he's just one person and not two persons. That's because I mean, ultimately he's incomprehensible. I mean we can understand in part but we cannot understand totality, right? And then, of course, we've talked about Trinity. And you know I just mentioned the hostages, israel's hostages, and the nation as a whole. See, that's, we talked about the Trinity, the one and the many, right, we talked about this problem of the one and the many. Which is more important, the one, the single, the individual or the whole, the nation, let's say, in this case, I mean well, you've got this answered by the Trinity itself. You've got the oneness of God. There's only one God, but you've got three individuals in the Trinity Father, you've got the oneness of God, there's only one God, but you've got three individuals in the Trinity Father, son and Spirit. And there's a perfect balance that is met in the Trinity, so there's not an overemphasis on the one and an underemphasis on the many. There's an equal balance. So, when you try to resolve problems like what to do about the hostages versus what to do with the nation as a whole, see how the one in the mini is behind this whole problem that they're facing right now and that was my point is to really show you how complicated doctrines like the Trinity are super practical.
Speaker 2:And so when we come to another one like kenosis which again you know, most of the church, most christians, have never even heard the word that's because the church, after world war ii, decided to retract from culture and become relevant. What happened is the church became irrelevant. Irrelevant because they left all the complicated, wonderful doctrines that are the energy of our faith. They left them on the shelf, and so all we have now is do good, be good walk. You know what would Jesus do. Okay, you fill in the blank. I mean it's nothing. I mean it is just really nothing, it's just so watered down.
Speaker 2:So the key passage for the kenosis as we go into the life of the king, in these doctrines, which next we'll look at impeccability. There's another one, I'm not sure. I mean when I was in third grade I was a good speller and my teacher wrote 100 impeccable. You know it was a spelling test. So she put impeccable up there. I was like, well, I got to know what this word means. Uh, so I learned what it meant third grade. But you know that was only because I got 100 on a test and I looked it up. Um, but we'll look at that doctrine. And then, of course, infallibility, which is a more common word. But we've got to deal with all these doctrines.
Speaker 2:The kenosis, from the word kanao in in Philippians 2.7, which is translated in most versions as emptied right. So let's look at it. Philippians 2. Here's another one of those doctrines that's super complicated, but the interesting thing about it is that it's in a very practical passage. Look how practical it is in verse 3.
Speaker 2:Here's what Paul's saying to the Philippians. He says do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but, with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. He's saying just real, practical stuff. So, for the interests of others, he's saying just real, practical stuff. Right, put other people ahead of yourself, think about others, don't just think about yourself. And he says this requires humility of mind. And so it's super practical. And then he drops this bomb of kenosis on us.
Speaker 2:He says in verse 5, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. What attitude? Well, the same attitude he's talking about in verse 3, humility of mind. In fact, it's the same exact Greek word phrono. Okay, so have this attitude, which is humility of mind, in yourselves.
Speaker 2:Now, this word, this is an interesting word. This word means to carefully think about something in order to develop an attitude. It means careful thought that leads to an attitude, careful thought that leads to an attitude. So he's saying I really want you to think about this so you can have a specific attitude, an attitude which was in Christ Jesus, right Verse 5. So what we're going to do is he's going to force us to think about the Lord, jesus Christ. We're supposed to have the mind of Christ right, which means to think like Christ. Well, how did Christ think? Well, he's about to describe it, and it's to describe his humiliation and his humility, his humbleness. So let's look at it, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus who, although he existed, and actually it's a present tense, so he exists.
Speaker 2:Who, although he existed, and actually it's a present tense, so he exists, it's not a past, he exists in the form of God, meaning exact representation, as we said last week, exact representation of God. He is God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That word grasped should be translated something like utilized or asserted. Be translated something like utilized or asserted, he's God, okay, but he did not regard equality with God a thing to be utilized in his earthly life. In other words, he didn't just go out there and, just you know, overcome his temptations by saying well, I'm God, God can't be tempted. Therefore, I'm not tempted, you know. No, he had to function out of his humanity, right, in fact, the temptations were that he would use his deity. All three of the temptations are for him to use his deity to overcome. But he did not succumb to that temptation. But he maintained what verse 6 is describing as not utilizing or asserting his divine attributes.
Speaker 2:But it says, verse 7, emptied. He emptied himself. And the question is emptied himself of what? That's always the big question. And we said it doesn't mean he emptied himself of his divine attributes. Present tense, verse 6, he exists in the form of God, in the exact representation of God.
Speaker 2:He is God. He never emptied himself of being God or any of the attributes of God. But what he did was he gave up the independent use of his divine attributes, meaning that he only used them under the condition that the Father approved of him to use his divine attributes. So he always had them, but he didn't always use him unless the father so approved. And being made in the likeness of men, he's a true human too, but without sin, right being found in appearance as a man.
Speaker 2:He humbled himself there. It is Okay. Now you have to. This is the God of the universe. This is the God of the universe who did this. He came down here, he put on true humanity. He walked around in the filth I mean he's God in the flesh and I mean this world is filthy and he walked down in here and he dealt with it. He lived like you, he lived like me. He had to go through this. We're going to see. This is very practical. A had to go through this. We're going to see. This is very practical, a lot of application for us.
Speaker 2:And it says he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, which is a horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible way to die, even death on a cross. And then the results verse 9, 10, 11, this exaltation. See this exaltation. He will hold the highest place. He will sit at the helm of the universe as Lord of lords, right as king of kings. So this is the key passage on the kenosis and basically what it's saying is that inside the hapistatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's God, he's man, but he did not exert his deity independently of the Father's permission at any point. He says I always do the will of my Father and he says not my will, but thy will be done. So he's taking on a specific role in the hypostatic union in his life and he's setting out an example for us.
Speaker 2:Now I showed you several other kenosis passages. I showed you Isaiah 50, where it predicts that he would be trained by his father every morning, so he would have a tongue of disciples, so he'd be able to exhort and encourage one with a single word. So he had to learn. In his humanity he had to learn. You know, deity doesn't learn. Deity already knows everything. But in his humanity he had to learn. I showed you Matthew 24, 36, where he says no one knows the day or the hour, not even the Son of man, nobody even. He says, as the Son of man, I don't even know the day of the second coming, my own second coming. I don't know the date. So he must be speaking out of his humanity there, right, because deity knows everything, it doesn't falter.
Speaker 2:So all these passages show and some of them, the Luke passage at the end, shows both that on one hand it shows his divine attributes, on another it shows his human limitations. So in the doctrine of kenosis, what you're trying to do is not dilute the deity of Christ one ounce right, but you're also trying to give the emphasis on the humanity of Christ that he had In Philippians. It shows us how they are balanced and work out. So that's how we came up with just this definition. This is just review that Jesus Christ gave up the independent use of his divine attributes. He had them all the time. He just didn't use them unless he had the Father's approval. He always did what pleased the Father. Now we want to go to some of the outworking of this Again. Notice what we just saw Very practical passage about not putting your interests ahead of others but thinking about others.
Speaker 2:Humbling yourself, having a proper attitude toward others where they're more important than you are okay, and treating people that way, right. And then he drops this huge bomb of complicated ideas about the second person of the Trinity on us. Why does Paul do this? He does this elsewhere too. He does it in Romans 8. He does it several other places.
Speaker 2:Why, I mean why, is Christianity tied up with very complicated thinking? I think that the answer is because it's what energizes us. It's the only thing that motivates us. Someone saying you know you should be more humble and you should love others and you should obey, or whatever you know that just doesn't do it. You can tell people that over and over and over, but what happens is you just get tired tired of trying to live up to this standard. What you need is you need something much deeper. Okay, this is why, at this church, I challenge you to think. I know that is offensive to modern people, I know that it's not going to win big crowds. I know that I'm not doing what Joel Osteen is doing. Okay, oh, that's one of the best amens I ever got. You know you come in here and I'm not here to like, entertain you and to just, you know, give you some kind of motivation that'll last till tomorrow morning at 7 am when you've forgotten everything.
Speaker 2:What we're trying to do is have a change in our thinking, okay, develop the mindset of Christ and friend, like the word phrenale means. I mean, it means you have to actually think about it, which means you have to stop doing everything else so you can concentrate on the ideas here, for example, with the kenosis, because Paul seems to insist that if we're ever going to put other people ahead of ourselves and not just be looking out for ourselves, we have to have this mindset of Christ, who, I mean as the God of the universe, humbled himself and came down here in our shoes. Okay, I mean, he went through it and was victorious and he laid down his life for us. You think this, but you really have to think about it. So that's what we're going to do. Okay, because this is the only way you get it in your mindset and that's the only thing that changes your life. Ok, a few do's and don'ts don't do it for you. Ok, if you tell me not to do something, probably the first thing I think of is like how could I do that? You know that's how people function, but if your mindset has changed, then you have changed and then your life changes. Okay, so this is the kenosis.
Speaker 2:Now I want to go into the three points of kenosis applied so we can see how it relates to us and why this is an important doctrine. The first point of this doctrine is that humility is the chief or foundational Christian virtue. In the ancient world, all the philosophers, so Socrates, plato, aristotle, epictetus, so forth, and the Stoics who followed Zeno they had a list or list of virtues. Here are some of them and I listed them in order. Bravery, or courageousness, was usually considered one of the top virtues. Sometimes love, temperate someone who's temperate, generous, truthful, wittiness or friendliness was considered virtue. Guess what None of the lists have humility.
Speaker 2:Humility was considered to be something you don't want, but in the bible, the chief or the foundational virtue of everything in your life as a christian is humility. So what is humility? So what is humility? Humility to Pino Sufrenas, it's a right evaluation of yourself. You have a proper evaluation of yourself. Now this all starts with the very first truth we learned in this whole class when we started the framework a ways ways back in this whole class, when we started the framework, ways ways back. And that truth is he is the creator and you are a creature. If you don't have that, you can't have humility, you cannot have a proper evaluation of yourself. But if you are consciously thinking of yourself as a creature, how can you be arrogant? You can't, you cannot be arrogant if you're just thinking I'm just a creature and he's my creator. I mean it's immediately humbling. What happened with job in Job, chapter 38? After you know 36 chapters of you know his four friends Well maybe you did this.
Speaker 2:Job, maybe you did that. And Job started to think you know, maybe my friends have a point. And God, just he literally just comes right on the scene and he says hey, job, were you there when I created the foundations of the earth? Do you know the foundations of the earth? Do you know the depths of the oceans? Do you know this? Do you know? I mean, before you start thinking that you know something here and you speak out of turn job, let me cut all that off and remind you that you're just a creature. You don't know anything. You're an idiot, okay, and I'm the creator. I know everything you don't know. He asked him like 50 questions and Job didn't know any of them. And by the end of it he says okay, I repent, you know like, okay, I get the point. The point is is that we can start to think that we're something you know, I'm something in this world, I'm really special. This world can't live without me. Let me take you to a passage that says if you start thinking this way, you're in big trouble.
Speaker 2:John, chapter 5. John, chapter 5. Why is it that you know? People don't believe. We have a lot of people out there who won't believe. They don't want to believe the gospel. I've tried to talk to them about it. I hope you have. You know better. You know better outcomes than the ones that I've been having lately. John 5, 39. Well, let's just read 37 and 38. So we have this.
Speaker 2:And the Father who sent me, he has testified of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his form. You do not have his word abiding in you. Now he's talking like the Pharisees. Okay, he says you do not have his word abiding in you. Now, wait, I thought they memorized it. Well, they did, but that doesn't mean it's abiding in you. It doesn't mean they really understood the intent of the text. He says you don't have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him, whom he sent, and you don't believe me, and he sent me and you don't believe me. You don't believe my words. So you obviously don't know or understand his words.
Speaker 2:From the Old Testament that you supposedly memorized, from Nehi to a grasshopper, verse 39, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. It is these scriptures that testify about me, he says, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. What does it mean to come to him? It means to believe in him. They were not believing in him.
Speaker 2:Verse 41, I do not receive glory from men. Did you hear that Jesus Christ just said I do not receive glory from men. But I know, you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Speaker 2:How can you believe? How can you believe when you receive glory from others, see, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. See, this is people. This could be Christians, could be you. You want other people to give you glory and praise. Why do you want that? Because you want to feel like God. That's why you want that. Because you want to feel like god. That's why you want it. You want to feel like a god. But when you do that, are you being humble? Are you being arrogant? You're being arrogant. It's all about you. It's all about your ego. It's all about your own self-interest. You're being arrogant. But here's the interesting thing about it Arrogance cuts off belief. It blocks it. It's a block. You can't believe in another if you're thinking you're the best thing since sliced bread, you can't, and that's what he's telling them. He says your problem, guys, is arrogance, because you want everybody else to give you glory, you want everybody to look at you and give you praise. And he's saying that's why you can't believe. Now, those of us who have already believed, how are we supposed to live now that we believe by faith? So see, this will knock that out too. You can't live by faith in his promises if you're only concerned about yourself and exalting yourself and getting glory from other people. So we go on. Do not think verse 45, that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you've set your hope. I mean, they love Moses, right? No, no, they didn't love Moses. They memorized Moses, but they didn't love Moses. They memorized Moses, but they didn't love Moses. He says if you believe Moses, you would believe me because he wrote about me, but if you do not believe his writings, how will you ever believe my word? No, they weren't interested in God's word, they were interested in themselves. It's a total joke. The Pharisees are a total joke in the gospels. So humiliation is a right evaluation of yourself, you. You cannot have the attitude that I need approval from other people. You should only be interested in whose approval god's. That's verse 41 or verse 44. You do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God. See, he's the only one whose opinion really matters. I mean, I can worry about what you think about me or what I teach up here, but that's really me doing what Seeking approval, your approval, and not seeking whose approval, his approval, see, and do I get caught in it? Yeah, I get caught in it. Okay, I forget, okay, but you have to constantly come back and humble yourself, right, humble yourself.
Speaker 2:Humility is the foundational Christian virtue. So, point point four, the kenosis model of christ, is a picture of what humility looks like. He is the epitome of humility. Now, a lot of people think humility is weakness. I don't want to be weak. Is humility? Is it weak?
Speaker 2:Um, was Jesus Christ courageous? How many of us would have gone through what he went through if we were God and we could have stopped it all. Right, then he could have stopped anything. They said well, if you're really him, take yourself off the cross. Could he have taken himself off the cross? No problem, I mean he showed he had all the power.
Speaker 2:Right, here comes Judas, here comes the high priest, here come the Roman soldiers, 600 of them, a cohort 600. And they say we are come for Jesus of Nazareth. And he said I am. What happened to those soldiers? Every one of them fell back on the ground. 600 soldiers fell back and now their swords are laying everywhere. They're trying to get their gear back on and stand back up to arrest the King of Glory. I mean it's a total joke, right? I mean can you imagine standing there seeing this scene? I mean he didn't have to let them arrest him. I mean it's pretty obvious, he was in charge. But he did see, he had humility because he was going to be obedient to the Father, even at the point of death on a cross. So he's the model of humility.
Speaker 2:Was he a real man when I say, is he a man's kind of man? Absolutely, absolutely. Jesus was tough. He went right in the temple, but don't remove the dove. Total control, get rid of the injustice. But you, you, you. He was in control of the situation. Right, it was a controlled anger, a righteous, what we call a righteous anger. He was a true man. He's not going to stand up for that stuff in his father's house. So he stood up.
Speaker 2:He's courageous, he's a real man, okay, but was he humble? Absolutely, absolutely 100. See, humility is is not the opposite of being courageous. In fact, if you're, if you're humble, I mean you're basically unstoppable that you want this more than anything. I know right now you think in your mind no, I really kind of want to stand stand out and have the glory of men and have the approval and all that stuff. You'll never get there unless you get this. He exalts in due time. See, exaltation is the business God's in, not us. We don't exalt ourselves, we humble ourselves, and he's the one who does the exalting At the proper time and the proper place. So that's point four. Point five humility is a pattern of life where you're not exalting yourself. Okay, I said that, but you are following God's plan for your life as a creature.
Speaker 2:Look at Hebrews, chapter two, verse 10. Hebrews, chapter two, verse 10. Verse 10, for it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, and bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through suffering. Remember, we talked a little bit about this last week. This is the father right from whom are all things, to whom are all things perfecting the author of our salvation, that is the son. Now, obviously, deity can't be perfected, so it's not talking about Jesus Christ's deity, it's talking about perfecting him in his humanity, which is a word for bringing him to maturity.
Speaker 2:The maturity Through what? Through sufferings, through suffering, do you suffer? Do you have suffering? Yes, what do you think he's doing? He's refining, he's bringing you to maturity. It's true, no pain, no gain. I mean, you're not going to become this super wonderful Christian who knows how to apply all the promises of God in every circumstance in life. Relaxed mental attitude in all circumstances, no matter what happens, unless you go through suffering. There's a track to get there. Same thing for athletics you are not going to be the greatest football player in the world unless you work your butt off. You're just not. You're going to be last string. You're not even going to see the field. Why? Because you have to go through pain, you have to suffer. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered.
Speaker 2:Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father, for which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying I will proclaim your name to my brethren In the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise, in other words, this exaltation. See this exaltation, this praise that will be given to believers for undergoing suffering. Why? Because they followed the same path that the Lord Jesus Christ followed, and they suffered and they matured. And so in their end, right, there's exaltation. And they matured, and so, in their end, right, there's exaltation.
Speaker 2:Let's look at Matthew 18, 1 through 6. This is one of the most interesting conversations in the Gospels Matthew 18, 1 through 6. He's already been rejected by the nation and he's taken his disciples aside. He's training them for their future ministry. And and look at these guys, okay, the disciples, verse one.
Speaker 2:At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and they said who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? You know who's going to be the greatest? This is all they care about. You know, like I want to be the greatest. You know they have this discussion elsewhere. Right, seeing this discussion, because everybody wants to be great. Right? He called a child to himself and he set him before them, set the child there, and he said truly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not even enter the kingdom of heaven. So the first thing is you know, you got to become like a child to enter it. Whoever then humbles himself as this child there it is he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He's the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Speaker 2:What do you have to have? What is the chief christian virtue, the, the foundational Christian virtue? It's humbleness, it's humility, because humility is what leads to exaltation, whereas the opposite of humility, which is arrogance or pride, cometh before the fall. See, this is the one characteristic that underlies every other, the fruit of the Spirit that we're supposed to manifest as we walk by the Spirit. This one underlies all of them, and that's why we call it the chief, or foundational Christian virtue. And Jesus is the humblest person who ever lived, ever, and he always will be. No one will ever have been more humble than him, and that's why he'll be what the greatest. That's why he's exalted above everything. That's why he sits at the helm of the universe, and not me or you. Number six, humility is a pattern of life where you are able to not grow weary and not lose heart.
Speaker 2:Hebrews, chapter 12, verse three. Boy, you know I have to go through these too, like y'all. You know, this one just hit me right between the horns this week. Hebrews, chapter 12, verse three. My wife's the one who has to hear all my complaining. Poor thing, I'm glad she's gracious when I teach sermons like this and she's thinking, yeah, yeah, you know, I'm sure she's thinking that stuff. Yeah, I fail, okay, I fail. I'm glad the Lord Jesus didn't. Hebrews 12, verse 3.
Speaker 2:For consider him, who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. I mean, go look at the hostility that the Lord Jesus Christ endured. Go look at it and then maybe you will not grow weary and you will not lose heart. But see, it takes reflection. We have to go through this and deeply think about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he endured, so that we can endure and not grow weary. See, it's not just like, hey, just wake up and live the Christian life, come on, what's wrong with you? That's not going to work. You have to have this depth of doctrine about the Lord Jesus Christ in your soul, because that's what energizes you to keep going, to not grow weary, to keep doing good. But a lot of people don't want to take the time to think this through, to really process what transpired.
Speaker 2:Number seven humility is a pattern of life where you're able to endure hostility by entrusting yourself to him. Let's go to 1 Peter 2,. 1 Peter 2, 20 to 24. 1 Peter 2, 20. What credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience, but if, when you do what is right and you suffer for doing what is right, you patiently endure it? This finds favor with God. And isn't he the one we're supposed to be seeking to please and not other people? And when we're seeking to try to please him and not other people, we're having humility, we're being humble.
Speaker 2:Verse 21,. For you have been called for this purpose. This is why you are here, folk. This is why you are here. You caught that right. People wonder what am I doing here? This is it, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. He already walked the steps Somebody said yesterday. If you go out in the woods and the snow and see where the footprints of the animals are, you can see the footprints that Christ has already laid ahead of us on his, in his suffering right. And we do what, we step in those footprints and we follow him.
Speaker 2:Verse 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. I mean, can you imagine he never remember they're mocking him? And did he? Did he lash out? Well, I, I was not the one up there. I mean, at some point I would have just said that's it. I'm done with these folks. I'm the God of the universe. You're done, toast. Now we all believe in me. Did y'all see that?
Speaker 2:Okay, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return, see, while suffering, he uttered no threats, but he kept doing what. He didn't just do it one time, but he kept entrusting himself to him. Who judges righteously, meaning, he kept entrusting himself to his father. Right, he kept on. He kept on through this whole process, which I mean, you're the God of the universe. You created these people and you would let them talk that way to you. You would let it go. Yeah, but why did he do it? Because he was humbling himself under the Father to do only the Father's will. He had the Father's plan in mind, not my will, but thy will be done. I'm here for that purpose, to do your will. Why are you here. See, you're here for the same reason. I'm here to do his will.
Speaker 2:What if people get hostile toward that? We do it anyway. Why? Because we don't care about their approval. We only care about what God thinks. We only want his approval. That's why the Lord, jesus Christ, did it, and he already put the footsteps down. So all we have to do is just walk in those same footsteps. See.
Speaker 2:Now here's just a quote. If you really grasp christian doctrine, like the kenosis, the trinity, the hypostatic union, the world will strike you as astonishingly trivial. I don't know if you're there yet, but this is a true statement. The world will be appear amazingly trivial to you, and people will appear to you as extremely shallow, even though they're very valuable, so valuable that Christ came and gave his life for them. I'm going to read a quote from a guy named Richard Baxter. He was a Puritan. I don't agree with everything the Puritans wrote, but that's okay. These were some tough people.
Speaker 2:In the United States of America, the Puritans have basically been bashed by the political agenda of some I don't know people who kill witches or something. They don't have the slightest of who these people were. If these people had not come to the United States of America and employed Christian doctrine, america never would have seen the prosperity that we have. America is built on the backs of the Puritans. These people worked. They didn't believe in the government giving people money Okay, silly stuff like that. Like that's a dumb idea. It is. It's a stupid idea. In fact, the number of decisions that have been made in this country over the last 30 years if you were to systematically make that many stupid mistakes, you would consider yourself stupid. There is no way to escape the stupidity of this nation in the last 30 years. It's an absolute track record of stupidity. How could you make that many bad mistakes? The Puritans were remarkable people. They were powerful people, they were a courageous people and they were the most humble people that our country has probably ever seen.
Speaker 2:So I'm going to read a quote by a pastor, richard Baxter, and he's writing to other pastors. And he's writing to these pastors about how they should take care of their flocks, take care of their people, and notice how he's going to root it in who Christ is. He says oh then, let us hear those arguments of Christ whenever we feel ourselves growing dull and lifeless. Can you hear Christ saying did I die for those people and will you then refuse to look after them? Were they worthy of my blood? And they're not worthy of your labor? Did I come down from heaven to seek and to save that which was lost? And will you refuse to go next door or to the next street or village to seek them? How small is your labor or condescension compared to mine? I debased myself to do this, but it is your honor to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation and will you refuse that little that lies upon your hand?
Speaker 2:After you read that, you might feel like you just got run over by a 10-ton truck and you know what you should. I am dead serious. You should feel it, because if you don't, you don't know what our Savior did for you. You don't have the strength. People are what matters. That's why Paul says at the end of 1 Thessalonians 2, he says who is our joy or our crown of exaltation? Is it not you who's worried about rewards and all that Getting some crowns? You know, stick on your little temple. It's the people that you invest in that matter. It's the people. He came to die for people. We should give our lives to people. Next point. That's humility, chief foundation virtue of the Christian life. If you can get anything, get humility, it's the only thing you need.
Speaker 2:Second one subordination in human relationships. Look, if Christ submitted to the Father, did he submit to the Father in all things, at all points, at all times? Then obviously we should submit to the authoritative structures that God has given us. You know there's structures like wives to husbands, children to parents, employees to bosses. I mean, these are relationships that have a subordinator and a subordinate.
Speaker 2:Now, do we have a problem with authority in our society? Why do we have a problem with authority in our society? Why do we have a problem? You know, people are like go after the police, you know, and like defund the police and all this stuff. Why are people so anti-authoritarian? Number one reason they do not know who Jesus Christ is and how he submitted to the Father. Because that's the substructure for this whole concept in the world. If you don't have that, if you don't know who Christ is and you don't know who the Father is, you can never get to these authoritative structures that should be honored and respected.
Speaker 2:Now, the great lie that most of our society believes is that if there's any subordination or let's just use a curse word here submission. If there's any of that, well, that means that the person who's submitting is less in essence than the person they're submitting to. That's the great lie. It's a myth. Is the Lord Jesus Christ less than the Father? No, he's equal to the Father. It's a subordination of role. He took on a role in an authority structure to fulfill a certain purpose. Is it deprecating for a wife to submit to her husband? Does it deprecate the wife? What's the wife saying when she wife to submit to her husband? Does it deprecate the wife? What's the wife saying when she doesn't submit to the husband? She's saying I want to be the authority, I want to be independent and autonomous. I don't want to function in this structure. I don't like this structure. The Lord Jesus Christ functioned in this structure.
Speaker 2:1 Corinthians, chapter 11. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 11. It didn't mean he was less than God. It was like he recognized he had a role and, in that role, a purpose to fulfill, and he did it gladly. He did it gladly because he knew this was what was the right way. Verse 3,.
Speaker 2:But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, the man is the head of a woman and God is the head of Christ. There it is. God is the head of Christ, which is a reference to the Father. Every time you see God by itself it's just a reference to the Father. See the subordination in those relationships. Why is there subordination in human relationships? Because there's subordination in human relationships, because there's subordination in the Trinity. Has that subordination always been there? Yes, it's eternal subordination. In other words, there's always been a Father and a Son and a Spirit. There's always been a first person, a second person and a third person in the Trinity, because those first, second and third numbers are reflecting the order of subordination. So they've been there for eternity.
Speaker 2:Now, somehow Jesus Christ feel like you know, man, I wish I was the father. Did he have that attitude? Or did he fully embrace being the son and fulfilling his purpose and role? He fully embraced it. He humbled himself to fulfill it. He was always in submission to the Father. It had nothing to do with him being inferior. In essence, it was simply a different role in an authority structure that fulfilled a purpose.
Speaker 2:So see how this whole concept is rooted in the concept of the kenosis. And you really can't get there by just telling people. This is the authority structure. At some point people say why, why do I have to obey my parents? Are kids less than adults? No, they're equally people. But God set up an authority structure, right. He said this is the way it is. It says children, obey your parents. For this is right. That structure is there because God has subordination within his own essence and so it is reflected in his creation and it is for our good. Third and last thing we don't have much time for it, but here Christ can sympathize with us as our high priest.
Speaker 2:Back to Hebrews 2, verse 17. This one's really really well, it's a little bit hairy, but to try to explain. But Hebrews 2, we have a high priest who represents us. Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 17. And what this means is that he can empathize with you. This one's super personal. I mean, if there was no kenosis and he didn't function out of his humanity, how could he ever empathize with you? You wouldn't know what you were going through, right? Hebrews 2, verse 17,.
Speaker 2:Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things. In how many things? In all things he had to be made like us in all things. Why? So that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God. See, he couldn't be a merciful high priest for us if he didn't know what we were going through.
Speaker 2:See, as the Scriptures say, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Right, we're about to celebrate that here at Christmas. Right, the word becomes flesh and it dwelt among us. See, did Allah ever come down here, incarnate himself and walk through this mess? No, did Allah ever face pain Like you face pain? Did Allah ever suffer Like you suffer? No, can he empathize? Can Allah empathize with us? No, he's never been down here and gone through what we go through.
Speaker 2:But Jesus Christ did, the God of the Bible came down here and he was made like us in all things. And the startling thing about it is me and you. We don't have a choice. I mean, you're going to go through what you're going to go through. You're going to be suffering, there's going to be pain. The thing about him is he could have avoided it. He's the God of the universe. He could have stopped it all, see, but he didn't see. He didn't. Thank God, he didn't right. Thank God he didn't see. He didn't. Thank God he didn't right. Thank God he didn't, because if he had, there wouldn't be any salvation, wouldn't have been any salvation.
Speaker 2:Last part of the verse right To make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since he himself was tempted, in that which he has suffered, he's able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. We're going to talk about this in the impeccability. This he's able to come to the aid of those who are tempted. We're going to talk about this in the impeccability. This is the next doctrine that's coming. Impeccability, the issue of how Jesus Christ, if he's God, could be tempted, since God can't be tempted to sin. Right, so this will be the complicated doctrine there too. But look, he knows what you're going through. I think a lot of times we think nobody really knows what I'm going through, I'm all alone. No, you're not. You know, jesus Christ knows exactly what you're going through because he already came down here and he went through it all.
Speaker 2:Most human experience is basically the same. We all share the same experiences. You don't have a unique experience. That's arrogance. If you think you do have unique experiences, you're being arrogant. You're saying this has only happened to me ever in the history of the world. Woe is me. No, we basically all share the same types of experiences, so you're not unique in that sense. You're unique in an important person.
Speaker 2:Yes, of course, but he knows exactly what you went through. So that means that when you go to him he's empathetic, which means he actually cares. He really cares about what you're going through and you express your feelings and sufferings and sorrows to Him and guess what he senses? The same things you sense that are going on inside of you, and so he knows how to meet your need. He knows how to meet your need when someone comes to you. You know we also go through suffering so we can comfort others. Right.
Speaker 2:2 Corinthians 1, 3 through 11, those verses it equips us. When someone comes to you and they're suffering, they're expressing some sorrow, some frustration, some stress in life. You're supposed to do what? Just comfort them. Try to let them know it's difficult, what they're going through and I, and that you can identify with them or you want to identify with them. If you've never been through that, through it or wish you could you know, but recognize, you're recognizing that their humanity and the weaknesses that we all face, and and you're putting yourself down on their level, you're not saying, well, I, I mean, my goodness, what's wrong with you, don't you know? I did this and I did that. I had to do all this to do and now you're over there weeping and whining about that. That's not empathizing, that's hitting people on the head saying get over it. But what you need, of course, is someone like the Lord, jesus Christ, who's going to come alongside and comfort. We're supposed to do that because we recognize that that's what he does for us and that's what we want him to do for us. We want him to understand what we're going through and he does, and that's why we can go straight to him. So those are your three things Humility, basic, most fundamental Christian virtue. If you can get that, please get that, get that, get that. That's what you need more than anything. You're not here to prove anything to anybody. Who cares about what people think right. The only one that matters is that you're approved by God, right, and God has a plan for your life. You're to function in that plan.
Speaker 2:Second, subordination that's fine. There are subordination structures in society, but they first were in God. So is it such a difficult thing to submit to your boss? Is it such a difficult thing to obey your parents? Is it such a difficult thing to submit to your boss? Is it such a difficult thing to obey your parents? Is it such a difficult thing to submit to your husband. Now, don't forget the scriptures. Go on both sides right. Every time they instruct the wives, they instruct the husbands love your wives. Every time they instruct the children, they instruct the fathers to do not exasperate your children. Every time it instructs the employees, it also instructs the bosses and says now, don't threaten. Okay, there's a way to live in these structures that God has designed. It's a good way to live. It's the only way to really live. And, lastly, he knows where you're going. He can sympathize.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.