True saints of the Biblical God have the very FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST living and operating within them. Many in professing Christendom have faith in Him, but extremely few allow Him to place His own faith within their heart (mind) (Mat. 7:13,14). To embrace Christ’s faith gives the believer the same faith Jesus used as He walked the earth as a human being. But Christ’s faith is not all God promises the honest seeker of Truth. In Philippians 2:5 we find the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saying: “Let this MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS (when He was a man).” Notice the words “let” and “this.” “Let” indicates man’s power to choose which mind he wants–Christ’s or man’s. “This” mind indicates the exact same mind that was in Christ. Paul goes on to explain that the Word–the God Who was with God (Jn. 1:1-4,14)–“made Himself of no reputation”–He divested Himself of His Godly traits, powers, abilities, etc., and humbled Himself. Incredibly, a God became a man exactly like the men among whom He lived. Paul then speaks to those who deliberately, with aforethought, choose to die to self (the “old man”-Rom. 6:6) and surrender their lives to Him: “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16). In 3:1-3 Paul then describes those in the church who were still operating on man’s level, calling them babies, carnal milk drinkers who had created divisions (denominations) in the church, who walk like unregenerated men. He told them, and us, that TRUE GOD-SEEKERS ARE OFFERED THE SAME FAITH AND MIND JESUS USED TO OVERCOME SATAN AND QUALIFY TO BE THE LORD’S MESSIAH. We must embrace and use that same faith and mind in order to overcome that same Satan and sit with that same Jesus on His throne in His Father’s kingdom (Rev. 3:21). The professing church rejects this plainly-written Truth because it destroys her excuse for sinning. She rejects the opportunity to “walk as Jesus walked” (1 Jn. 2:6), claiming that this command from God is impossible to obey due to having her spiritual DNA infected by Adam’s sin. See Human Nature. God does not treat different men differently–He is “no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). Jesus was a person–a man like all other men (Phil. 2:5-8). We are persons–men. What God did for the man Jesus He will do for each of us. What He gave to Jesus (His mind, faith, power, etc.) He will give to us. What He did through Jesus He will do through us, and will do even greater things (Jn. 14:12). THUS SAYS THE LORD WHO CANNOT LIE (Titus 1:2/Heb. 6:18).

In order to sit with Jesus on His throne in the kingdom one must have freely, by personal choice, received the same mind and faith He received from His Father upon becoming a man. This is what true conversion is about. Recall that the human being Jesus “learned obedience (to God) by the things that He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Note it: BECAUSE HE WAS A MAN LIKE ALL OTHER MEN, JESUS OF NAZARETH HAD TO LEARN TO OBEY GOD. Learning to obey God and to set self aside is what Jesus meant when He said that to be His disciple one must “take up his cross and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23). This is another choice on the part of man. Due to the total sacrifice of self required for true discipleship, we are told to “count the cost” of following Him (Lk. 14:28). The cost is the cross on which self must die daily (1 Cor. 15:31). Satan has deceived mankind, including Catholics and Protestants, into believing that such Scriptural commands are impossible to obey, that knowing this, Jesus obeyed them in their stead, that faith in His grace is all that is necessary to reserve one’s heavenly mansion, and that those who believe, speak and write otherwise are anathema–heretics–separated from God. To be continued. L.J.