In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the concept of the "canosis" as mentioned in Philippians chapter 2. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having the same mindset as Christ, who humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross. The speaker also highlights that Jesus began his work on earth but continues to work through the church, as seen in the book of Acts. The sermon also touches on the physical suffering Jesus endured during his crucifixion and the power he had to escape that situation, but chose to die for our salvation.

Can I? That's the sign? Good. Well, let's turn to the book of Philippians, chapter 2. Philippians, chapter 2, and our theme is the spiritual life, and I want to speak with you this morning on the kenosis, and I'll explain that fancy term in a moment. I just throw these terms around to impress you. But Brother Tom McMahon did make reference yesterday to the fact that Jesus did what He did by the Spirit, and we're going to look at a few more scriptures along that line. But let's first begin in Philippians, chapter 2, and let's read verses 1 through 11. Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now if you look at verse 7, he made himself of no reputation. He made himself of no reputation. The Greek word there for no reputation is the word kenosis. And that word means emptied himself. And so kenosis refers to the emptying. And you say well what does that have to do with the Holy Spirit? Well stick around and you'll see for a moment. But this is a very important subject as far as I understand it in terms of the baptism of the Spirit. Because those who do not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate experience from salvation, generally hold a different view on the kenosis. Hold a different view on who and what Jesus was when he walked on the earth. Now we all agree that he was 100% God and 100% man. There's no disagreement on that. The problem is to what extent was he man and to what extent was he God? 100% but 100% but is he operating as man or is he operating as God? That really is the question. Now those who see the baptism of the Holy Spirit and they don't make this connection generally by the way. But that connection is a very real connection. Those who don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a separate experience, tend to focus on Jesus as performing the miracles that he did and living his life really as God in the flesh. Now we believe he was God in the flesh. There's no difference on that. Jesus was 100% God, 100% man or very God and very man. But when he lived as a man, was he really God? And we speak about God in the flesh, but was he God in the flesh and was it God who was empowering him to do the things or was he being God in the flesh? Now I think I've lost you there for a moment. But what they say, let me give you their side of the story. What they say is that Jesus performed the miracles because he was God. He performed the miracles because he was God. In other words, when Jesus opened the blind eyes, this was God, Jesus as God, opening the blind eyes. You say, well, I don't understand the problem. Well, here's the thing. If Jesus was 100% like me, am I God? No. And so Jesus then cannot be 100% man. He cannot be like me if he is God doing these things. So let me go right back and then I'll come back here and we'll see if we can pick it back up again. What we understand by the empty? You remember in John's gospel, it speaks about the upper room. John chapter 11, I think it is. John chapter 13. And maybe let's just go there and we'll see this in operation. Jesus is in the upper room and somebody has to wash the feet and the disciples are too proud to do this. And so Jesus does it. And so John chapter 13 verse 4. So Jesus walks into the upper room and who is Jesus as far as the disciples are concerned? He is their teacher. He is their rabbi. He is the master. But they don't want to wash the feet so he washes the feet. So he takes his garments and he puts them to one side. So he has stripped himself and he's not naked. He's really talking about his outer garments. So he takes his outer garments, puts them to one side. He has now set aside his role, his authority as the teacher. And he takes a towel and he girds himself about with a towel. What has he now done? He has taken on the role of a servant. And he washes their feet. He washes their feet as a servant. Now is he still the teacher? Yes he is still the teacher. But is he using his power as the teacher? No. What does his power as the teacher, his authority as the teacher give him? As far as washing the feet is concerned. Hey you, wash the feet. Does he have that authority? Yes he has. He is their teacher. He is their master. But he doesn't use that. He sets that aside. He puts on the towel and he becomes the servant and he washes his feet. And then later on in verse 12. So when he had washed their feet, taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them. So he's finished washing the feet. He presumably takes off the towel. It doesn't say so, but presumably he takes off the towel and he puts his garments back on again. Who is he now? He is the teacher again. Now in that is a picture then of how Jesus came. Jesus was God. He is born in human form. But he becomes 100% human. Now he is still God. The same way Jesus was still the teacher. But he sets aside his divine power and his divine authority. And here's the key. That's what I believe. Others believe no, he did not set that aside. He still had and used his divine power. No, Jesus did not use his divine power. He became a man just like you and just like me. And so was he still God? Yes, he was God. But did he use his divine power to do anything? No, he did not. Because otherwise he was not like us. And the whole purpose of the incarnation is then invalidated. Because then he's not like us. Now another illustration to try and illustrate this is, maybe you're familiar with the program, I've forgotten the name of the thing, Undercover Boss. Undercover Boss. And you know how that works. The guy is the chief executive of the company, or the president of the company, and he takes a job in the company flipping burgers, let's say. And so there he is, a grill hand, and he's flipping burgers. Now, is he the president of the company? Yes, he's the president. But at that moment, is he using his powers and his authority as the president? No, he's not. He's being messed around and bossed around by the store manager. And he has problems. Does he pick up his cell phone and call head office and say, let me fix this problem, let me fire this bad supervisor that I have here. No, he can't do that. Because he has willingly limited himself and said, I'm going to be undercover. And he cannot blow his cover. And so Jesus comes and he lives just like us. Yes, he has, as it were, in his pocket the cell phone. That will give him access to all his divine powers and prerogatives and authority. And that's exactly where the temptation lies, and I'll come back to that in a moment. But the problem is that if Jesus for one moment reached out and used his divine authority, he would not be like us. And so for him to tell me to live in a particular way, well, that would be unrighteous. Because how can I live like he lived when he had resources that I don't have? Now, this translates, and let me just take a sidebar here, just so that you get the whole picture. This translates into two areas in our lives in practice. The one has to do with us doing the work of God, but the other area has to do with temptation. Now, those who hold a different view of the kenosis then, say that Jesus could not sin. He was tempted. Now, we're all agreed that he did not sin. There's no disagreement on that. But the question is, did he have the potential to sin? Could Jesus sin? And those who hold the other view tend to say, and they're not all agreed on that, but they tend to say, Jesus could not sin. It was impossible for him to sin. And their argument is basically that if he did sin, then God would self-destruct. Because now God in the flesh has sinned, and God would cease to exist, and that's impossible. Now, that sounds like a great theory, but the scripture says nothing on that. What the scripture tells me is that he was tempted in every point like as we are, yet without sin. Now, just by the way, it does not mean that Jesus was necessarily tempted in every kind of human sin. I've heard people say that, and I just don't believe that that is true. I don't believe that Jesus was necessarily tempted with drugs, or with alcohol, or with sex, or with whatever the temptations are that we are tempted with. The point here is simply that it doesn't matter what your temptation is. All temptation is essentially the same. We all have the same struggle. Some of us struggle in this area, and others struggle in that area. And so maybe I'm not an alcoholic, but I understand the problem and the struggle the alcoholic has, because I have struggles in other areas. And the struggle is just as intense, and the temptation is just as intense. So Jesus did not have to necessarily be tempted in every category of human sin. And I don't believe that he was tempted in any of those categories, because he did not have a sinful nature the way we have. But Jesus' temptation is just as real. And all temptation boils down to two issues. The one is to not do what we ought to do, and the other is to do what we ought not to do. That's all temptation comes down to those two things, sins of omission and sins of commission. Sins of disobeying God, not doing what he wants us to do, and sins, those are the two areas, not doing what we should be doing, and doing what we should not be doing. And so Jesus is tempted in those areas. But now if Jesus then could not sin, well then he's not like me. If he had a safety net that somehow would protect him from stepping over the edge, well then what's the point of temptation? If temptation cannot lead to sin, it's not temptation by definition. Temptation must have the potential of sin. And so you can see where we have these problems. Alright, so here's Jesus then, he comes and he lives as a human being. We said yesterday that Luke says that he had the Holy Spirit upon him from his mother's womb. But one of the important things to notice is that Jesus does not perform any miracles until the Holy Spirit comes upon him at the baptism of John. Now that's very important. Catholic teaching, and remember that Brother Tom made reference yesterday to the very close connection between Reformed teaching and Roman Catholic teaching. Roman Catholic teaching says that Jesus performed miracles while he was a child. One of those miracles was that he made little pigeons or doves out of clay and he blew into them breath and they flew away. Now I'm glad you're laughing because that's what it is, it's laughable. There is no scripture for that. Jesus performed no miracles until he began his ministry. Jesus lived exactly like we are. The scripture is specific that he was subject to his parents. He obeyed his parents. He fetched the water, he made the fire, he washed the dishes, whatever was required. He worked as an apprentice in Joseph's carpenter's shop, swept the floor, began to learn to do things in the carpenter's shop, served his clients, made whatever things he made. He lived exactly like we are with no extraordinary powers. Now people say, well what about when he was 12 years old? And you remember when he was 12 years old he was there in the temple and he's disputing with the rabbis and he has extraordinary insight into the scriptures. Well you don't have to have divine omniscience, God's all knowingness to be able to be at that level. What you just need to do is apply yourself in studying the scriptures. And Jesus applies himself it seems as a young boy in reading and understanding and learning the scriptures, learning from the rabbis, learning at the synagogue. And so when he's 12 years old he has tremendous insight. Not because he is God but because he has applied himself as a man, as a boy, in learning the scriptures. And I think that that's important because sometimes we say, well you know, I don't have a gift. No, sometimes we just haven't applied ourselves. And so Jesus then lives and then he is baptized with the spirit and so let's go to the book of Luke and I think Brother Tom or was it Brother Gary looked at some of these scriptures yesterday. I want to go through them again quickly. Luke chapter 1 and verse 15. Luke chapter 1 and verse 15. He will be great, this is the prophecy before the birth of Jesus, he will be great in the sight of the Lord and he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the spirit even from his mother's womb. Now that is John but the same thing then applies to Jesus. Now Luke chapter 3 and verse 21. When all the people were baptized it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized and while he prayed the heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him and a voice came from heaven which said you are my beloved son and you I am well pleased. And then if you go to chapter 4 you find that he is driven by the spirit. Verse 1. Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And so here is the first time you now see Jesus beginning to be led by the Spirit. He does not go to the wilderness because he is God knowing that that's what he has to do. The Spirit leads him. Now again the point here is that Jesus is living just like we live or like we ought to live rather. We ought to be led by the Spirit. And so Jesus goes to the wilderness not because he is God and he knows instinctively because he is God this is what he has to do. He has all the same limitations as we have. And we say but Jesus didn't have this. He did have the same limitations. Remember when he speaks about the second coming. And remember he says nobody knows the day nor the hour not even the Son of Man. So Jesus in that statement clearly says I don't know. I don't know even one of the most fundamental things about the future. And really the return of the Lord Jesus the date is really a very important thing around which everything at the end time revolves. Everything revolves around that one point. And then from that point certain things come forward and certain things flow behind that. And Jesus doesn't even know that. So you can see that he does not have knowledge more than you and I have. But the Spirit leads him. Goes into the wilderness. He's tempted. And you can go through the book of Acts especially the book of Luke and you'll find over and over these various references to how that Jesus then is led by the Spirit. Now I want to go to Luke chapter 4 and I'm skipping over all of the details. You can go through these for yourself. And I think the scripture was also referred to yesterday. Luke chapter 4 and verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's reading from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue. And it says in chapter 53 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives the recovery of the sight of the blind set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Close the book. Give it back to the attendant and he begins to teach. He says today this scripture has been fulfilled. And so Jesus' statement is I am God I have come to live amongst you and I'm now going to set at liberty the captives and preach the gospel. Is that what he says? No. The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to do these things. So he's making a very specific statement. I'm not doing these things because I am God. I'm doing these things because God has anointed me. Now I know you're saying this is really splitting heads. This is what theologians do. No, it's not splitting heads. It's a very important cardinal issue that we have to determine in our own hearts and minds. Because what Jesus is doing is he's setting an example. Remember that's not the primary thing that Jesus came for. Those of the social gospel say well that's where Jesus came. He came to set us an example. And so what would Jesus do? And so let me just live and do the things that Jesus did. Now that was not the primary purpose of his coming. We understand that. He primarily came to die upon the cross to pay for our sins and to redeem us. But in the process he also sets an example. And so he lives and he is anointed by the Holy Spirit and he begins to perform these things. Now if we go to John chapter 14 and there are literally dozens and dozens of scriptures especially in the gospel of John. Now here's one of the problems we have. The theological training that I have and I don't have much but the bit I have teaches me that John reveals Jesus as divine. Reveals Jesus as God. Now I've been teaching through the gospel of John in our Sunday school for the last two years and I'm only at about chapter 12 right now. But in that process I have learned many things. And as I have examined the gospel of John verse by verse thought about it taught these verses it has become abundantly evident that John does not reveal Jesus as God. But it reveals Jesus as the anointed of God. Jesus, the question is not who are you? As much as who sent you? On whose authority are you operating? And John reveals that Jesus operates as the anointed the Messiah, the Christ the emissary of God. That he represents God. And over and over Jesus is not saying to them I am God, look at me. But what does he say? Look at me and you'll see the Father. I'm showing you the Father. I'm not speaking on my behalf I'm speaking on His behalf. Very important. Jesus does not say here I am, I am God hear what I say because I am God. He is saying no, I have come and I'm speaking on His behalf. And so Jesus is living as a man. Remember and don't go away and say that I said that Jesus was not God. Jesus never ceased to be God. But He had willingly set aside His divine power and authority and He was living simply as a man and as a man He is representing the Father. And He's representing Him 100% with a true facsimile of the Father's thoughts, the Father's words the Father's actions. And so that's what you see as you go through the Gospel of John. And so John chapter 14 and I've really just picked out a couple of verses there are literally as I said dozens of these verses. John chapter 14 and verse 10. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority. Did Jesus have His own authority as God? As the Word, as the second person of the Trinity? Yes He had authority. He spoke the worlds into being. God the Father has committed to Him all authority, has committed to Him all judgment. So He has authority but He says I have not spoken on my own authority. But the Father who dwells in me does the works. The Father who is in me does the works. And here's the problem we're really looking at a very complex situation. Because here's Jesus, He's a man but inside of Him is the Godhead. But He is saying I as a man am not doing anything. But it is God doing them through me. So the question is is He operating as God or is He operating as a man? He's operating as a man. He has willingly set aside His divine power. If we go to John chapter 8 in verse 28. John chapter 8 verse 28. And Jesus said to them when you lift up the Son of Man then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself but as my Father taught me I speak these things. As the Father taught me I speak these things. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2 and verse 22. Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles. Notice a man attested by God confirmed or recognized by God by miracles, wonders and signs which God did through Him. Not which He did as God but God did through Him. Acts chapter 10. And verse 38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with Him. It can't get clearer than that. If you did not understand if you did not know that we're speaking about God in the flesh and we're just speaking about another man let's say we're talking about Peter can you see that that scripture can apply to Peter or to John or to anyone else? Let's read it again. How God anointed Peter with the Holy Spirit and with power and Peter went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Would that be true? Yes, it could be true. So you can see that the scripture is not giving Jesus anything extra over what any other man potentially could have. And that's really very important for us to grasp. Now let me get to the temptation because what this does is that it really puts the whole thing together for us and I know that we're a little bit on a sidebar here and I'm going to come back to the central issue in a moment. So in what regard is Jesus tempted? In what respect is he tempted? What is it that Jesus is tempted in? Now if you don't understand everything I've said up to now you're really going to struggle to understand what the temptation is really about. But the temptation really for Jesus is about one issue. And that issue is to use his divine power. That's the temptation. To use his divine power other than God anointing him for a specific job or a specific task. So if you go to the temptations in the wilderness and I know that you can analyze those temptations in many ways and they represent many, many different things. But the first temptation is to turn the stones into bread. Now why was that a problem? Because didn't Jesus make bread later on? Yes he did. So why was it a problem then? Now remember the temptations as far as I understand them have very little to do with Jesus' physical needs. Jesus was at the 40th day of his fast. He knew he was going to eat pretty soon. In fact the body at that point no longer wants food. So he is not ravenously hungry any longer. And clearly the issue is not about Jesus feeding his flesh. But the temptation is a symbolic one of course to tempt him to build his kingdom on bread. On the felt needs of people. But in order to do that what would he have to do? He would have to be God. He would have to exit his... He would have to break cover. If we can use that term. He would have to break cover. And he would have to operate as God because the Father was not going to anoint him through the Spirit to turn stones into bread because that was not what the Father wanted at that point. So you can see that the temptation has got nothing much to do with bread. It has to do with what power he is going to use when. And you can translate that to every one of the other two temptations. But then you remember that at the end of those temptations it says that the devil left him alone to come back at him at another better time, more convenient time. When does the devil come back to him? Well, it's in the garden of Gethsemane. It's in the garden of Gethsemane. What is the issue in Gethsemane? My will and his will. Can you see the two? Not me as God. Me as a man. And within Jesus is the same problem that we have. We have God within us. We have the Holy Spirit within us as we saw yesterday. If we are born again we have the Holy Spirit within us. And the Holy Spirit is saying do this. But my flesh, my humanity says do that. And for Jesus the issue is the Spirit says go to the cross. But his humanness says no. I don't want to go to the cross. Now that is not sin in itself. That's just being human. Jesus wasn't a masochist or something like that who took pleasure in suffering. He doesn't want to go to the cross. And so here's the issue. And here's where his temptation becomes real to me. Because now it's an issue of do I do what I want to do or do I do his will. And of course what we do is we give in to the flesh most of the time. And we just do. But the writer to the Hebrews says that you have not yet resisted unto blood. A verse that we struggle to understand but maybe it will help you a little bit this morning. We have not yet resisted unto blood or the shedding of blood. In striving against sin. And so the struggle for Jesus becomes so intense that the blood vessels on his forehead burst. He is under such intense pressure because of these two forces if you like. His humanness and the divine will. And he says not my will but your will be done. Could Jesus have failed at that point? I believe he could have. Because otherwise why is the struggle so intense? Now this goes even further and I'm just going to go over this very very quickly introduce these ideas to you and I know that you probably need a lot more explanation on them but let me just plant these seeds with you. The first is that Jesus is tempted at the whipping post. And one of the things that happens in the garden of Gethsemane is that he was heard because of his godly fear. What did Jesus fear? Now normally we say well he feared God. I don't think that that's what it's saying. I believe that if you look carefully at the last days or last hours of Jesus' life what he fears is the flesh. And that's the problem is we don't fear the flesh. We have no respect for the flesh. And you say well I've never heard that I must fear the flesh, I must fear God. Well here's exactly the problem. That's why many times as Christians we're in the mess that we are because we have no respect for the flesh. For the power of the flesh. That's why young people are a danger on the road. Because they have no fear. They have no respect for the dangerous situation in which they find themselves inside of a motor car. And so Jesus understands what is waiting for him. And so he is brought to that whipping post and he is beaten to the point of death. And remember that Jesus is not given 39 stripes. Did we deal with this yesterday? I think we touched on this. I don't remember. He's not given 39 stripes under Jewish law. Sorry, no this was last Sunday. You missed that one. He doesn't receive 39 stripes which is a beating under Hebrew law, under the Old Testament which limited it to 40 but they cut it down to 39. That's not what he gets. Of course there's this whole teaching. I'm sorry I'm going off on a tangent here but I'll come back. There's this whole teaching about divine healing based on the 39 stripes of Jesus and so by his stripes we are healed. There are 39 major categories of sickness and so Jesus gets one strike for every one of those major sicknesses. Well apart from anything else it just falls down on this issue and that is that he didn't get 39 strokes. He was beaten under Roman law. And there was no limit. There was no limit. And that beating was a death sentence in itself. Now I don't want to get over dramatic but I want for you to try and understand what Jesus is struggling with. Because as they tear the flesh off his back every fiber of his human being is crying out for release. Just like we would. And the problem is that if we were in that situation we would have no means of escape. But Jesus has a means of escape. He is God bottled up, locked up inside of him. It is divine power. And with one thought, literally one thought he can translate himself out of that situation back into glory. With one thought he can choose to die. He says I have that power to lay down my life. Take it up again. And you don't think that Jesus was pushed to the very limit of being tempted to say I've had enough. No more. Let me just die. Or let me just return to the Father. That's the temptation. And that's what he fears. Because he's just like us. But hidden behind that is his power as God. But he does not use that. Now you see if you go to the cross you find exactly this. If you are, save yourself and us. The same temptation. And so you can begin to see why this doctrine is important because it flows through the very work of what Jesus came to do. And so Jesus was tempted in every point like as we are and he understands this intensity of our temptation. And so when he asks us to overcome he's not asking us to do what he did not do. Or what he had extraordinary power to do and I don't have that kind of power. He's asking us to do exactly what he did with exactly the same tools and the same wherewithal that he had. And so there's where those two things the two areas in which this plays out. Now let's get back to Jesus' miracles. So Jesus performs the miracles not because he is God but because he is anointed by the Holy Spirit. And he does only what the Father anoints him to do. Yes he can do over and above that. Remember he goes into the pool of Bethesda and there's a multitude. I've often tried to figure out how many a multitude is. All I know is that's more than ten. And it's probably like a hundred or more than a hundred. But there's a multitude of sick people. Now do you think that Jesus being compassionate as he was did not want to heal everybody in that place? I believe he wanted to heal everyone. But how many does he heal? The one man. Why does he just heal the one man? He says I do nothing that I don't see my Father do. And so the Father in his wisdom tells Jesus heal that man. And Jesus touches the one man and he walks out and he leaves all the others. Now from a human point of view we would say well surely he had the power. Why didn't he just do that? No, he is illustrating to us a very important principle and that is that he is living by the leading of the Holy Spirit. And he is only doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do. He's not doing what he can do. He's not doing what he wants to do. He's doing what the Holy Spirit tells him to do. And so if we then go to the various miracles of the Lord Jesus I believe that in them you can see seven of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now let me just step back here for one moment. When we speak about the gifts of the Holy Spirit right now I'm referring to the nine that are listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. But remember that's not the only list. Tom has read from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 where we have five other gifts. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. There's essentially no big difference Well there are differences but they are all gifts of the Holy Spirit. And when you add all of those lists together 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 5, you come to a list of 22 or 27. It depends how you count. There's overlap over some of them. There's gifts like administrations which may be the same as a deacon. And so we can argue until the counts come home how many exactly there are. But there's between 20 and 30 different gifts listed in the New Testament. And Jesus demonstrates most of those gifts. Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our faith. Jesus is a greater prophet than Moses. Jesus is the prime evangelist as he preaches the gospel. The very scripture we read in Luke chapter 4 The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings, to preach the gospel. Jesus is the great shepherd, the great pastor. He is the teacher of God. So he illustrates all five of those ministries. Apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. He's a prime example of those five ministries. But when we get to the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit that are listed in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the only two I don't see in operation in Jesus' life and probably because he has a level of communication which is a little bit different to us. He is walking closer to God than we tend to walk to God. But he doesn't speak in tongues as far as I see it. And he doesn't interpret those tongues. Now we can speak about that and try and analyze that for whatever it means. I don't think that that's the point here. The point is that the other seven, at least seven of the nine gifts. And remember that none of us have seven of nine gifts. It doesn't matter how gifted you are. No one has all seven of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. We may have one or two or three at the very best. But Jesus has all seven. So Jesus demonstrates all seven. The gift of healings. So he doesn't heal people because he is God. He heals people because he has the gift of healings. He does not perform miracles because he is God, but because the Holy Spirit has anointed him to operate in the gift of miracles. He knows what people think, not because he knows everything, but because God gives him a word of knowledge and a word of wisdom. He is able to discern people's hearts and minds, not because he is God, but because the Holy Spirit has given him the discerning of spirits. Now which one have I missed out? Prophecy. Well, good. It's obvious what he's operating as, as a prophet. Not only in the office of the prophet, but in the gift of prophecy. When Jesus speaks, it is anointed speaking. He is speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. In fact, all of Jesus' words are prophecy. Jesus almost says nothing that is not prophetic. So we've got them all. So there's Jesus, just like us. We're not denying that he's God. The divine aspect is there within him, but he has set it aside. As he washes the disciples' feet at any moment, he can say, I'm done. He gets to Judas and he says, I'm not washing Judas' feet. Ever considered that he washed Judas' feet? But he did. He said, I'm not washing Judas' feet. Take his towel off, put his garment back on. He could do that. And at any stage, Jesus could break cover, but he doesn't. He lives like us, he is anointed by the Holy Spirit, and he does wonderful things. But in all that process, what is he doing? He is revealing the Father. And what is our function? Our function is to reveal God, is to reveal the Father, to point to the Lord Jesus, never to speak of ourselves. And Jesus does not speak on his own authority, but he speaks on behalf of the Father. Now, in Acts chapter 1, then, and I'm going to get to some kind of close soon. Acts chapter 1, verse 1. The former account I made of Theophilus, the former account of the book of Luke, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Now I'm sure that this is familiar territory for you. All that Jesus did and taught. Is that what it says? No. No. He began. He began to do and teach. So if he began, what is it saying? He started. Does it mean he finished it? No, exactly. He began, but he didn't finish. In L.A. where we live, many people, it's really a car city. People love their cars, vintage cars, all sorts of cars. People love to restore old motor cars. Every second garage has some kind of power V8 muscle car that was begun 20 years ago. And it was never finished. Beginning does not mean finishing. Jesus began to do, but he didn't finish. Now we understand he's not talking about the work of salvation. He cried it is finished. He did the job. He paid the price and so on. But here he's speaking about his ministry on earth. Remember where we began in Luke. The spirit of the Lord has anointed me to do these things. So he began to do them. Clearly he didn't finish them. Now what is Luke saying? He began, but he is still continuing to work. But how is he working now? And that's the point of the book of Acts. Through the church. So he began the work in the three years or three and a half years of his earthly ministry. That was the beginning of the work. The work has continued for 2,000 years. And he is still working. Because the church is his body. And so the work continues. And if the work continues, it must surely continue the way it began. How did it begin? What was the empowering force to do it at the beginning? The Holy Spirit. And therefore the Holy Spirit will continue to empower his body to finish the work. Until that last soul is saved and the number of the Gentiles is completed. And so all that Jesus began to do and to teach. Now let's go to John chapter 14. Now I'm sure that this is familiar for you, but some folk really struggle with these ideas. John chapter 14 and verse 12. Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do. Because I go to my Father. Now let me just jump ahead very, very quickly. He says, when I did, you're going to do. And greater. Why? Because I go to my Father. What does going to the Father have to do with any of this? Well, he's not going to leave it behind, but he says, I'm going to pray the Father. And he will send you the Spirit. If I don't go, the Spirit will not come. So when Jesus says, because I'm going to the Father. It's really a shorthand for saying, I'm going to the Father and he'll send you the Spirit. Now, we really need more time, and I've painted myself into a corner in terms of my time. But if you examine these next two chapters of John, you'll see that what I'm saying is true. And that is that there's this connection between what Jesus is saying, going to the Father, and sending the Spirit. And so when Jesus says, the works that I do, you're going to do. And greater, because I go to the Father. You can really say, and very legitimately say, the works that I do, you're going to do. And greater, because the Father is going to send the Spirit. That's really the context of John. Now, remember that he is giving this promise to who? To all of us. I just had a dispute with somebody two weeks ago. We said, no, this is to the apostles. This is not to us. All right? Well, that's fine. But in the same breath, Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place, I'm going to come and receive you to myself. In the same breath, in the same statement. So if Jesus is saying to the apostles, you're going to do these works, and greater, well then, I've got good news for you. He's not coming back for you. He's not coming back for me, because this is for the apostles. No, we believe that he's speaking to the apostles, and they are representative of all believers and of the church. And that Jesus is going away, and he's preparing a place, not for the apostles, but for the church, for his bride. And he's going to come back, and he's going to receive us to himself. And if that applies to the body of Christ, to the church, to his bride, then the statement that we will do the same things that he did, applies to the church, not just to the twelve. I mean, that's logical. It's not so hard. So what is Jesus saying? Now, again, let me just bring a little bit of balance, and I think that Tom will probably touch on this later on, is that when it says that the same works that I've done, you will do, and greater, does not give us permission to conjure up all sorts of crazy new things. The same things that I have done, what I have done, not different stuff. What did Jesus do? Preach the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, set the captive free. Those are the things that we're going to do. It doesn't give us permission to begin to do all sorts of other crazy stuff. And again, you've got to be careful, because people say, well, you know, because we can do these things, and greater, it means it's unlimited. It's unlimited what we can do. No, we are limited to doing what he can do. Let me deal with and greater. Now, in the tradition in which I grew up, the and greater is interpreted to mean, really, that we can do bigger stuff, bigger miracles than Jesus did. Because that's our modern understanding of the word greater. You know, you have the same problem with Herod the Great. Most people say, well, you know, he was Herod the Great because he was great. No, he was called Herod the Great because of the great works that he did, the many building projects that he tackled. Great does not always mean in size. It means also in quantity. And so when Jesus is saying, you will do the same works and you will do greater, he's really saying you will do more. And that's very easy to understand, isn't it? Jesus worked for how many years? Three and a half years. How long has the body of Christ been working? 2,000 years. So I think that we can expect to achieve a little bit more in 2,000 years than he did in three and a half years, just in terms of preaching the gospel and doing those kinds of things. Jesus was one. We are many. Now, I agree that our many is not really high quality many. We don't all have the anointing that Jesus had. We ought to have. So the greater has nothing to do with bigger stuff. There's nothing greater than raising the dead. Now, I've heard people say, well, you know, the greater thing is to lead people to Christ, bring about the new birth. Well, that's true. But really, is that something we're doing? Are we causing people to be born again? No. We cannot, you know, unfortunately it's one of the delusions that some preachers have, that they can make people be born again. No, we can't. We can only preach the gospel. It's God who has to cause people to be born again. So we're not even causing people to be born again. We're just preaching the gospel. But here's the point, and here's the bottom line, and I'm going to close on this. The fact is that we look at Jesus and we say, well, you know, that was Jesus. And here I am, and I'm just not Jesus. No. Jesus had the Holy Spirit equipping him and anointing him. And you and I ought to have, we may not have, but we ought to have, the same Holy Spirit equipping us and anointing us. Now, we understand, we don't all do the same stuff. We don't all preach the gospel, in the sense that we're not all evangelists. Not everyone is used in healing. Not everybody is used in miracles or in a word of knowledge or in prophecy. Each one has his different gift. But it doesn't mean that I have to, that the church needs to be weak. But the church is weak. Because just like the temptation was for Jesus to use his divine power, our temptation is to use our human power. And so we use psychology and philosophy and men's wisdom and marketing techniques and all these kinds of things, and we're reverting to a power, which really is no power, instead of finding the power of God within us in operation. And so I believe that this promise is real. I don't believe that it is his will for us to be weak and to be anemic, and for his church to be defeated. Because the same power that worked in Jesus is at work in us. The Holy Spirit has not lost its power or his power. He is still the omniscient and omnipotent God. He is still the one who has all power. And he's willing to give that power to us. He wants to give us that power. Didn't Jesus say, the scripture that we've come back to again and again, Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses, Jerusalem, Judea and to the outermost parts of the earth. Now we've gone a long way this morning. But I think that the bottom line in the message is really very, very simple. And that was that Jesus was just like you. And just like me. But because God empowered him, he was able to do great things. And God wants to empower us to do the same things that Jesus did. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you above all for the Lord Jesus who came to represent you, but also to be like us. And Father, we thank you for the reality and the truth that he was just like us. That he was not special in the sense that he had different abilities that we don't have. That he did not have the weaknesses and the limitations and the issues that we struggle with so many times. But Lord, that he was a man, lived as a man, but empowered by you and by your spirit. And so Lord, we pray that you would help us to not hide behind the excuse that we just are not the same. And Lord, we understand we are not Jesus. We are not little gods. We don't go there. But at the same time, Lord, we are human, but we have within us this power of the spirit. And Lord, we pray that that power may be revealed in us as we decrease and as he increases. We ask this in Jesus' name. Bless our fellowship together as we break now, Lord. And bless our next session as we come together again. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.