Nathan Lewis - The Mind of Christ - Class 1: Exhortation - The Promise of the Spiritual Mind

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill It was holy law, through the world through the strength.

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   It was holy law, through the world through the strength. Amen. Amen. Amen. Friends and applause. Brothers and sisters, to form a basis of our brother Nathan Lewis's words of exhortation, I now call forward our brother Peter Gill to read for us 1 Corinthians 2, verses 9-16. Reading with you 1 Corinthians 2, commencing at verse 9.

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   But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him?

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   Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

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   But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual, judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, that we have the mind of Christ.

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   We now look forward to the words of exaltation by our brother Nathan, continuing his consideration of the mind of Christ. With a consideration this morning on the promise, the spiritual mind. Well, thanks brother Mike, and good morning my very dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ. And our brother Colin and sister Judy, we love you and our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time.

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   You will remember, hopefully from last night, that we looked at the problem that faces each one of us. As we attempt to have the mind of Christ in us. This awful, selfish, destructive way of thinking. That is indirect enmity with God. The carnal mind. What brother Thomas calls a hideous deformity. And you'll remember we looked at the three parts of our human brain in a rather, well a somewhat simplistic, rudimentary way.

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   But hopefully in a way that was helpful to see how our brains work. As they really hijack our thinking. We react instinctively, often long before we actually think. In fact, a scary 95% of the time. Almost instantly, our instinctive brain is able to monopolize all the oxygen and nutrients. And our thinking brain can't work even if it wants to.

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   This is our problem. A brain or a mind which is naturally, totally obsessed about itself. Self-preservation. Self-gratification. Self-enjoyment. And it takes over our thinking almost instantaneously. Self-preservation. Self-preservation. Now I hope that towards the end of last night, you were starting to feel pretty awful. To the point where you were able to exclaim with the Apostle Paul, Oh, wretched man that I am.

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    Who is able to deliver me from this body of death? Who is able to take away this reptilian way of thinking? But I hope from what we looked at last night, you didn't think, as we said last night, that the carnal mind is just a physiological or anatomical thing. That if we concentrate on thinking a little more, on exercising this top part of our brain, we can dominate, conquer, cure the carnal mind.

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    The carnal mind is not just a physical thing. It is not just the wrong chemicals in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brother Thomas puts it this way in Alpes Israel in page 89. Let me read it to you. In the absence of this law and testimony, the moral sentiments are as incapable of directing a man a right as though he were all intellect or propensities.

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    By a right direction, I mean according to the mind of God. The sentiments are as blind as the propensities when intellect is unenlightened by divine revelation. All three parts of the human brain are carnal. All three parts can be equally empty of spiritual thinking. All three parts can be equally useless at directing our paths.

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    The spiritual mind is not the analytical brain. It's true that the mind of Christ cannot inhabit any other part of our mind. It's true that when the mind of Christ dwells in us richly through faith, that it lives in this thinking part of our mind. But see the important part? Divine revelation. The law and the testimony.

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    The entering in of the mind of God. The spiritual mind is the mind of God inhabiting our thinking. And it's only this combination of both that is able to at least in part have victory over the carnal mind. Now we were in Genesis last night, but I'd like to start again in Genesis chapter 3 this morning and look at the carnal mind again and see this time not just physiologically how it works, but morally how it defiles.

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    How does sin happen in our minds? And as we know, Eve is the prototype of how sin develops in our minds. Let's just read these verses once more that we know so well in Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

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    And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

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    And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened.

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    And they knew that they were naked. Now look at this process. The first thing we want to note is that a changed way of thinking always starts with a question. See verse 1? Hath God said? The serpent introduces doubt into the mind of Eve. Do you know Eve, in verse 3, is confident in what God has said.

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    God hath said. But the serpent introduces doubt. Remember what we said last night from 1 Corinthians 11? You might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The serpent introduces doubt. And look what the serpent did. I want you to consider the three parts of our brain. Do you know there are three reasons for why we will do anything?

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    And maybe, unsurprisingly now, they correlate to the three parts of our brains. Firstly, we can be driven by lusts. That's our instincts. That's this back part of our brain, the reptilian part that we talked about last night. Our basic default setting. It's how we are hardwired. We want, so we take. But then we can be motivated secondarily by fear.

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    That's our emotions, the middle part of our brain. And fear is more powerful than lust. You can desperately lust after something, but you won't touch it if you're scared stiff you'll be caught. That's Eve. That's what she says. We can't even touch it. This is how dictators rule. Fear. It's an extremely powerful driver for behavior.

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    It's how the Roman Catholics controlled the masses in the middle part of the Middle Ages. Fear of not going to heaven will make you avoid lusts. But you see, there is a third and far more potent driver for our behavior. And it's called love. And perfect love can cast out fear. It's stronger than fear.

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    You can overcome temptation or lust by fear of the consequences, but nothing will overcome doing the wrong thing more than loving the right thing. Now see how the serpent and his thinking unravels and sabotages Eve's thinking. Because don't forget, in verses 2 and 3, she tells the truth, doesn't she, by and large?

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    She tells what God had said. How does she become deceived? Well, firstly, in verse 4, the serpent is going to remove Eve's fear. Ye shall not surely die? Possibly, the serpent was chewing on the fruit himself as he said this. We don't know, but remember, he was not morally accountable to God's law.

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    Don't be afraid, he says, it's not as you think. It's safe. God doesn't really mean what he says. The consequences aren't what you think at all. Look at me, I'm touching the fruit. You won't die. And he contradicted God with impunity. He removed Eve's fear of the consequences. And secondly, in verse 5, he removed Eve's love for God.

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    God doesn't actually care about you the way that you think. He doesn't want you to eat the fruit because he doesn't want you to be equal to him. He's not telling you everything. He's actually deceiving you to keep you in your place. He doesn't want to share immortality. He's not to be trusted as you thought.

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    Go on. Go on. Not only is it not bad, it's going to be amazing. You're missing out. You deserve it. Now, the serpent clearly didn't say out loud any of these things. But we know, don't we, that Eve is saying all of these things in her mind unconsciously, instantaneously. Two milliseconds and her thinking brain is being hijacked.

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    And so we can clearly see what happened to Eve with her love for God removed and her fear of the consequences removed. She simply fell victim to lust. The carnal mind. The three lusts of the first of John 2 that we know so well. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

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    They're all there as we know in verse 6. It was all that was left in the mind of Eve. And she ate and Adam ate as well. She lost her love and her trust in God. Essentially, she lost her faith. And so we learn that the carnal mind is characterized by an absence of or a loss of faith.

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    That's why Hebrews 11 verse 6 says without faith it is impossible to please Him. And Romans 8 verse 3 says they that are in the flesh cannot please Him because the thinking of the flesh is the absence of faith. It's us losing trust in God and Eve catastrophically lost her faith in God.

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    And so the thinking of the spirit, the spiritual mind is all about the presence of faith. It's all about restoring our love, our trust in Him. It's all about Him. In fact, it's got nothing to do with us. Nothing to do with our intellectual brilliance whereby we might conquer our own carnal minds and achieve in our own strength a spiritual mind.

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    No, it's all about Him. Nothing to do with our willpower. Nothing to do with our strength. But before we get to this, let's just look at the result of the fall. Sin was going to bring into the world what we know from the New Testament as a defiled conscience. Look at verses 9 and 10.

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    And the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.

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    The carnal mind is characterized by these three things. Fear, shame, and concealment. I was afraid. I hid myself because I was naked. Where these three things are, there is a defiled conscience. This is the inevitable result of the carnal mind. It defiles. Now in Alpes Israel, Brother Thomas goes on to say these words and I'll read them again to you.

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    The reader, by contemplating Adam and Eve in their innocency and afterwards in their guilt, will perceive in the facts of their case the nature of a good conscience and an evil one. When they rejoiced in the answer of a good conscience, they were destitute of shame and fear. They could stand naked in God's presence, unabashed, and instead of trembling at his voice, they rejoiced to hear it as the harbinger of good things.

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    They were then pure and undefiled, being devoid of all conscience of sin. But mark the change that afterward came over them. When they lost their good conscience, terror seized upon them at the voice of God and shame possessed their souls and they sought to get out of his sight and to remove as far from him as possible.

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    Now what was the cause of this? There is but one answer that can be given and that is sin. Up as Israel, page 85 to 86. And so entered the carnal mind into the history of the world. It was not just the victory of our instincts and emotion over the thinking brain. it was now a morally defiled and corrupt conscience.

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    That's a much bigger problem. What was the answer? Well, Brother Thomas says it's obvious. If sin is the morbid principle of an evil conscience, what is the obvious indication to be fulfilled in its removal? The answer is blot out the sin and the conscience of the patient will be cured. The morbid phenomenon will disappear and the answer of a good conscience will remain.

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    If sin brings an evil conscience or the carnal mind, then forgiveness by God can only have one result, a good conscience, a spiritual mind. It was simple, wasn't it? So simple. So obvious. Just forgive the sin.

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    Well, the only problem was that forgiveness could only be brought about, as we know, in God's righteousness by an undefiled perfect sacrifice. A mind that in itself had never sinned, never given in to the thinking of the carnal mind. And so the story of the scriptures is all about that search for one man.

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    God's solution was obvious and simple, forgive, but the perfect sacrifice to bring about that forgiveness was very difficult to find. So allow me to introduce to you an interesting theme in the scriptures, which you can look up and look into in your own time. We don't have time to explore it today, but it's called the no-man prophecies.

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    As God searched the world for a righteous offering to take away sin, he could find no man. Just to whet your appetite, here's a couple to get you started. Psalm 142 in verse 4, no man would know me. No man cared for my soul. It's right through Isaiah's servant songs, 41 in verse 28, there was no man, no counselor.

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    Isaiah 50 verse 2, there was no man, none to answer. Isaiah 59 verse 16, no man, no intercessor. And finally, we come to Revelation 5 verse 3, no man could open the book. The no-man prophecies are all about God's search for a Savior, and that Savior is Christ.

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    Now, I want to touch down in the presence of Christ, and I want you to come to Mark chapter 5, because in the story of Legion, we have a no-man prophecy. And I think you're going to find that Mark chapter 5, and the story of Legion, is an extremely insightful parable into the way that our Lord deals with and replaces the carnal mind.

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    You remember last night, we looked, didn't we, at the story of the epileptic boy as a parable of the carnal mind. Remember that? He cast himself into the fire, and the water, he was intent on destroying himself. And if there is a better parable to illustrate the carnal mind than the epileptic boy, it's right here in Mark chapter 5, and the story of Legion.

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    Just look how Legion perfectly demonstrates the carnal mind. We read in verse 1, and they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him, one out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit.

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    The very first information we get about Legion is he's out of the tombs. He's associated with death, graves, dead bodies. Literally the word means memorials. These are burial monuments. This man's living in the past. There's no present. There's no future. He's surrounded by and intimately related with. Verse 3 says he's living amongst death.

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    He's got an unclean spirit. Verse 2 The Greek word is akathato. It means without purity. This man is defiled. Defiled. And verse 3 says no man. No man could bind him. There's our no man prophecy. He was unrestrainable. He's looking for a savior but there's no man. even chains could not keep this man in check.

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    He is absolutely without restraint. Uncontrollable. This is the carnal mind. Sometimes in verse 4 the lid goes on for a little time but the fetters and chains are useless and he breaks free. We find at the end of verse 4 neither could any man tame him. It's different from verse 3. No man could bind him.

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    Now it's no man can tame him. It's the Greek word dematso. It means to domesticate. No man could cure him. No one could integrate him back into society. He could not be rehabilitated. This is the carnal mind. Untameable. Wild. Verse 5 says he's always night and day in the mountains. You get the sense don't you that there's no relief for this poor man.

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    It's always night and day. No break. This man is afflicted. He's tormented verse 7. He cannot escape his condition. He carries it with him in his mind. And he's in the mountains. Do you remember our first attribute from the portrait of the carnal mind last night? Ephesians 4 verse 18. Alienated. Colossians 1 verse 21.

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    Alienated. Ezekiel 23 verse 17. Alienated in our minds. This man cannot be domesticated. He cannot be bound. He must be banished. Isolated from everyone else. Alone. This is what the carnal mind does to us. Again in verse 5. He's in the tombs. In fact we're told that three times aren't we? In the tombs.

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    In the tombs. In the tombs. Associated with death. Death. Death. He's crying in verse 5. He's desperate for a solution. He knows his plight is horrible but what can he do? He's got absolutely no idea of what the solution might be. He's beside himself. He's insane. Verse 5 says he's cutting himself with stones.

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    He's hurting himself. What does this but the carnal mind? Doesn't it remind you of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? This is unreasonable, irrational, destructive behavior. He's intent on destroying himself.

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    Do you know Luke 8 in verse 27 adds he was naked. He's uncovered. He's clearly insane. Matthew chapter 8 verse 28 adds that he was fierce. He's hostile. He's angry. He wants to fight. He will defend his territory. He's combative and dangerous. This is the reptilian brain in action. It's all about preserving self.

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    And back in Mark chapter 5 verse 6 says Jesus is far off. He knows doesn't he that he's separated from godly things. And he runs up obviously distressed in verse 7 and he cries with a loud voice and says what have I to do with thee Jesus thou son of the most high God.

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    I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not. He admits in verse 7 that he has absolutely nothing in common with Jesus Christ. They're poles apart completely different. This is the carnal mind coming face to face with the mind of Christ. And there's absolutely no common ground whatsoever. This is an amazing parable.

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    But you see as horrific as he was as unclean as he was as desperately tormented as he was it seems pretty obvious from the record that Legion had watched from his mountain cave the unbelievable miracle of the stilling of the storm at the end of Mark chapter 4. And he knew there was something incredibly powerful about this man that had arrived on the beach this man Jesus Christ.

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    He'd watched in Mark chapter 4 in verse 37 a great storm a mega storm become in verse 39 a great calm a great calm maybe he wondered in his own tortured mind could this man calm the violent storm happening inside my head do you know Psalm 65 in verse 7 describes the power of God and it says which stilleth the noise of the sea the noise of the waves and the tumult of the people if Christ could still the waves in the storm if even the wind verse 41 and the sea obey him could he bring calm and peace and tranquility to Legion's tortured mind seems likely doesn't it that Legion at least knew something because in chapter 5 in verse 6 he did what all of us with the carnal mind need to do he came and he saw Jesus afar off and he ran and worshipped literally it means he prostrated himself he knew he was in the words of Ephesians 2 verse 12 that we read last night afar off but he desperately wanted to be nigh to be near to be close to be accepted despite his insanity he had what we saw last night a spiritual hunger an inner yearning for something better he knew that the solution was not inside himself he desperately needed Christ do you know it's interesting in this story Legion was powerless to help or to save himself and do you know what as we read Mark chapter 5 it is just so obvious isn't it we look at Legion he's cutting himself he's irrational he's unclean he can't be tamed no human doctor can

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    relieve his suffering he's running wild in the mountains it's obvious he can't save himself but look at the stories just before and just after Legion in Mark chapter 4 in verse 38 in the storm do you know the disciples were just as powerless to save themselves just as powerless as Legion and in the story just after Legion we've got the woman in chapter 5 in verse 26 who's likewise suffered many things of many physicians and can't be cured but it's getting worse and worse progressively corrupted of the truth and she is powerless to cure herself do you know we are all the same it was just far more obvious with Legion he's naked he's cutting himself he's crying amongst the graves but the disciples well they seem perfectly sane and respectable they go to the synagogue on Sunday and they come dressed up in suits and ties they look perfectly respectable but all of them brothers and sisters disciples Legion and the woman we are all just as helpless as each other we all desperately need Christ and so he threw himself at Christ's feet and what does Christ do verse 13 and forthwith Jesus gave them leave and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea they were about 2000 and were choked in the sea what does he do why he takes the animal the reptilian brain and he gives it to the animals and what did it produce in them death he put the carnal mind animal like thinking to death it wasn't cured it wasn't changed it was

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    not rehabilitated it wasn't fixed it got drowned Legion has all the hallmarks of the carnal mind an evil or defiled conscience and what did brother Thomas say the obvious indication was blot out forgive the sin and the conscience of the patient will be cured and so what Christ did is he took all of Legion's sins and in the words of Micah chapter 7 in verse 19 he cast them into the depths of the sea literally drowned forgiven Legion was free and look at the result verse 15 and they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed that was possessed with the demon and had the Legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid it was the power of Christ that could forgive and free and release Legion from an evil conscience the carnal mind to a good conscience a spiritual right mind it was the power of Christ that could reverse Genesis 3 and verse 10 sin had entered with Adam and Eve and with it the telltale signs in our lives we've all felt them brothers and sisters fear shame and concealment how true it is and now Christ is going to replace concealment with openness he's not hiding in caves he's sitting out in the open he replaces nakedness and shame with clothing the covering of Christ and the torment of fear with confidence and peace a right mind Mark chapter 5 and verse 15 is the reversal of Genesis 3 verse 10 this is God's promise to replace our carnal mind with a spiritual one actually it's the mind of Christ in us and how did it

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    come look at verse 19 how be it Jesus suffered him not but said unto him go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion on thee our Lord understands us brothers and sisters remarkably he could identify with every affliction of legion's troubled mind and so it is that with compassion he orchestrates a replacement he gave legion a right mind and when in verse 15 the people come to see Jesus it says they saw legion he had put on Christ his mind had been changed they came to see Jesus and they saw a man who had put on Jesus he had a spiritual mind in type offered to all those who prostrate themselves at Christ's feet desperate for help and healing and freedom brothers and sisters if we can't see our need we will never be healed if we can't see that we are desperately sick then we're in the wrong place right here we must all come to a point in our lives when we realize that even though we look like the completely normal sane respectable disciples that we are actually legion afflicted tormented by a mind we cannot escape and it's destroying our lives and we come to fall prostrate before him this morning to approach this table and to say we desperately need him we choose just to be near we choose to draw nigh to beg to be set free and you know that choice that we each have is right here in the story see how Mark chapter five divides people into two groups the presence of our

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    Lord Jesus Christ divides us into two groups legion is transformed no more fear no more shame no more concealment but look at the people who despite the miracle couldn't see their need verse 15 they're afraid verse 16 they're still ashamed about their swine and verse 17 they want to hide themselves by pushing Christ away they're unchanged they're unaffected they are unforgiven how thankful can we be brothers and sisters that we can see the lesson and know our true state and need before this beautiful man of compassion so what is the lesson from our story today we all have a hideous deformity the carnal mind and evil conscience but what legion is able to show us is that this is not God's will for us do you know Deuteronomy 5 and verse 29 puts it this way in the revised standard version oh that they had such a mind as this to fear me and to keep my commandments that it might go well with them and with their children forever and God pleads with the nation oh that it might be that they had a mind such as this it's God's desire that we abandon our carnal minds that we throw ourselves at Christ's feet and his promise is that if we do he will cast our tortured evil conscience the result of our sins into the depths of the sea and give us a right mind a spiritual mind the mind of Christ we all have a mind that cannot be rehabilitated but here's the marvelous thing we're just like legion we can't earn a spiritual mind we can't develop it ourselves by our

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    own strength we are the problem not the solution remember I looked and there was no man none of us can bring about in ourselves and of ourselves a spiritual mind it is Christ in us it doesn't matter how much hard work or study we put in although these are absolutely necessary we can't try harder to get it the mind of Christ the spiritual mind is quite simply a magnificent !

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    gift! gift! I want you just to think for a moment about the prodigal son remember there were two boys in that story the eldest son where he thought he could earn salvation I've worked on the farm all these years you never gave me a party I deserve it I've earned the right for my father to give me something and do you know what the youngest son does he's done terrible things he's been afflicted by the carnal mind he comes to himself there's a moment of reflection he comes to himself and he decides he's going to go back to his father he decides he's going to say to his father I'm no more worthy to be called thy son make me one of thy hired servants and he gets his speech !

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    ready and he goes back home and his father sees him coming far off and he says father I'm no more worthy to be called thy son but before he can say make me one of thy hired servants his father interrupts and he says bring forth the robe kill the fatted calf bring forth let us rejoice !

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    son you can't be a hired servant and earn what I'm going to give you it is a gift I'd like you to come to Ephesians chapter one the gift of our heavenly father is something we can never earn verse 17 to 19 of Ephesians 1 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that ye may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power the enlightenment of our eyes this amazing calling to Christ's mind in us is God giving to us the spirit of wisdom it's a gift brothers and sisters it's a gift do you know first of John 5 in verse 20 says this in Young's literal translation and we know and we know that the Son of God has come and hath given given us a mind to know him that is true what a gift he's given us a mind to know him that is true indescribable sitting clothed and in his right mind was a gift from the Son of God received by Legion and refused by others I'd like you to come to our reading this morning 1st of Corinthians in chapter 2 it's the quintessential reading I suppose on the mind of Christ it's the verse in the Bible where the mind of Christ occurs and we read in 1st

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    of Corinthians 2 verse 9 these words but as it is written I hath not seen nor e'er heard neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him this is my favorite verse in the whole of the Bible this is God's purpose for us his will for us to give us something that's indescribable you remember last night we referred to Isaiah 55 when we said my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts for as high as the heavens are above the earth so are my ways and thoughts higher than yours God's character and his plans are beyond us we cannot ever hope to comprehend them and Legion couldn't even comprehend what a spiritual mind looked like he couldn't imagine what life would be like without torment being in his right mind he couldn't even comprehend !

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    that he just desperately knew that he needed something and he prostrated himself before Christ begging for help we've got to be like him brothers and sisters we need to have what Mark 10 in verse 15 describes as the humility of a little child to just receive the kingdom you know when you give a present or a gift to a little child they don't ever say how can I pay you back or how can I make this up to you no they receive it as a gift but we have to have humility we can't earn it it's freely given verse 10 but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit for the spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man it's a no man prophecy but the spirit of God now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the holy spirit teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God the crowds couldn't receive what legion received for they it's foolishness unto them neither can they know them because they are spiritually discerned but we at the end of verse 16 have the mind of Christ the gift brothers and sisters has already been given it's on the

70. 48:56

    table before us this morning and the question that we each need to ask is are we meek enough to receive it because it's all about whether we can receive it or not not whether we earn it but whether we receive it you know James 1 in verse 21 says that if we receive with meekness the engrafted word it can save our souls but 2nd Thessalonians 2 verse 10 says that the wicked will not be saved because they receive not the love of the truth it's just that simple simply receiving this gift is the difference between life and death what a calling we have to be humble enough to accept God's gift this is how brother Thomas finishes to surrender unconditionally with the humility and teachableness of a child to receive with open heart and grateful feelings whatever in the wisdom and justice and benevolence of God he may condescend to prescribe this brothers and sisters is how we overcome our desperate sickness we open our hearts to receive God's medicine the gift of a new mind I'd like you to come in conclusion to Hebrews in chapter 8 as we draw our attention to the emblems before us Hebrews chapter 8 in verse 10 for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people do you know brothers and sisters our God was prepared to sacrifice to crucify his son to get this into our

71. 51:28

    minds and look what it says in the margin I will give not put I will give my law into their minds this is God's promise to give us a spiritual mind to give his law into our minds as a gift to share with us the mind of his son what an amazing thing what an amazing thing how grateful ought we to be brothers and sisters that our heavenly father has the answer to our carnal minds our evil consciences he desperately wants us to be sitting clothed and in our right mind this is his solution this is his promise his offer we come here to this table to reflect on this offer graciously renewed for another week and all we have to do brothers and sisters as we break bread and drink wine to remember his promise this day is to throw ourselves at his feet and to say we desperately need him to ask him to forgive our foolish ways to re-clothe us in our rightful mind to have the simple trust to let our strivings cease and to let our newly ordered lives confess the beauty of his peace do