In his letter to the church at Philippi the apostle Paul urged: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus", (2:5). And to the church at Corinth he wrote: "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we HAVE the mind of Christ", (I Cor. 2:16).
    To possess, and be possessed by, "the mind of Christ" is to have His thoughts, desires and yearnings expressed through our own faculties by the dynamic agency of the Holy Spirit. And there is a way whereby we may test ourselves -- determining whether His mind is operative in our lives. We may put our own thinking to the WORD test. In the New Testament may be found a very clear expression of "the mind of Christ". We may examine it and find what He loves and hates, the principles on which He acts, the purpose that He persistently moves to fulfil and the instrument through which He works to effect that high and holy purpose.
    Jesus LOVED the Father and devoted Himself to the fulfilling of the Father's perfect will. He loved mankind (even sinners) and "tasted death" that every man might have an opportunity to be saved. He loved

the church, valuing it as a "pearl of great price"; selling all that he had, He purchased it with His own precious blood.
    Jesus HATED sin in its various forms -- pride, hypocrisy, envy, strife, sensuality, idolatry, jealousy, murder, drunkenness and wasteful living -- and will one day bring it all to judgment.
    Jesus' whole earthly life was characterized by total yieldedness to the Father's will and a surpassing desire for the Father's glory.
    His ultimate goal was to fulfill the Father's eternal purpose -- to establish on earth a righteous Kingdom wherein He might share His glory with such instruments of His grace as gladly yielded themselves to the zealous doing of His will. And it was His purpose to use the church that He set in order (during His own personal ministry) to call out from among the Gentiles "a people for His name", (Acts 15:14-17).
    Now, let us be practical. Do YOU love the Father? and are you concerned to do His will? Do YOU love sinners, so as to be actively engaged in pointing them to the Saviour? Do YOU love the church, so highly valued by your Lord? And are you faithfully functioning as a member of such a local body as is

   In some circles there seems to be some difficulty in spelling the word "grace". Some try to spell it T-U-L-I-P. The letters T-U-L-I-P stand for each of the five points of Calvinism.
    T - total depravity of man
    U - unconditional election
    L - limited atonement
    I - irresistible grace
    P - perseverance of the saints.
   Now anyone knows you do not spell grace, T-U-L-I-P. The first lesson needed in this case is in spelling. Here is how you spell "grace".
   God possesses supreme rulership. This sovereignty is absolute. God in no way under no circumstance or condition, can be brought under external restraint or influence. God, in absolute sovereignty, carries out His own will.
   "I will do all my pleasure", (Isa. 46,10).

    "I have purposed it, I will also do it", (Isa. 46:11). "He doeth according to his will", (Dan. 4:35). "-- called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28). "-- predestinated according to his purpose", (Eph. 1:11) "-- saved us -- according to his purpose", (2 Tim. 1:9). God does not suffer defeat -- He is sovereign and will carry out His purpose.
    God created man in His own image. Man was to have dominion over all the works of God. Man, as God created him, possessed intellectual facilities and a holy moral nature. God gave man freedom of will and held him responsible for his actions.
    God laid down one restriction in the garden. Man was thus placed on probation. This was a time that he was subject to a PARTICULAR test to determine whether he was willingly to obey or disobey God. The results were that he was to continue in the favor of God or the penalty of death was to be imposed for disobedience, (Gen. 2:16-17).
    Man, by his own choice in the exercise of his own will, chose to sin, (Gen. 3:6). As a result Adam and Eve died spiritually the moment they disobeyed God and their nature was contaminated with sin. The Bible describes the sinner as dead spiritually, (Eph. 2:17).
    The only nature that Adam and Eve could pass on to their posterity was the sinful one that they themselves now possessed. All men are sinners and resting under condemnation, (Rom. 5:12, 18). The only nature which the sinner possesses is that which is in open

antagonism to and at enmity with God and which therefore justly merits God's abiding wrath. Through sin, man has become the recipient of a depraved nature, of which depravity of character and conduct is the inevitable expression. Unredeemed men are in helpless captivity to sin and Satan and are regarded as children of the devil, (Eccl. 7:20; Rom. 3:9-12; I Jn.1:10; Rom. 3:23).
    Man; as a completely corrupted sinner, will not, on his own, come to God. The Scriptures teach that man is DEAD in trespasses and sins and cannot come to God. Man, left alone, will never seek after God, (Rom. 3:11; Jn. 6:44-45; 5:40).
    God created man with a freedom of will. When man sinned that will was brought into the slavery of sin. Man, as a sinner, will not come to God. He will never, by his own choice, come to God.
    Man, as a completely corrupted sinner will not on his own, come to God. But God, by His grace makes it possible for ALL MEN to come. God accomplishes this in sovereign grace by drawing all men to himself (Jn. 12:32; 1:9; 1:7). By God's grace the completely corrupted sinner is drawn unto Christ. By the supernatural intervention of God all sinners are attracted to Christ. Man, on his own, will not come, so God draws him, making it possible for ALL to come. All the invitations to salvation can thus be received by fallen man. Every "whosoever will" is a GENUINE invitation to which any man can respond, (Rom. 1:16; John 6:40; Matt. 11:28; Acts 13:39; Rom. 3:22; 9:30; 10:11,

13; Rev. 22:17; Jn. 5:24; 6:47; 11:26; 20:31; 10:9; I Jn. 5:1). God gives the invitation for all to believe and makes it possible for all to believe.
    There is a sense that Christ tasted death for all men and thus made atonement for all men, (Jn. 1: 29; I Tim. 2:5-6; John 4:42;. I Jn. 4:14). The Scripture says that Christ "tasted death for every man". It is an obvious fact that there is a sense that the atonement was for all men, believer and unbeliever.
    The Bible does not teach that all men shall be saved. In what capacity could the death of Christ have been for all men and yet all men not be saved? Does God execute double judgment? Look again at the Scriptures. By the sin of Adam, sin and judgment came upon all men to CONDEMNATION, (Rom. 5:10). By one man, Adam, sin was introduced into all of mankind and all men became sinners by inherited nature, Thus, by one man judgment came upon all to condemnation. The same verse tells us that by one man, Jesus Christ, "the free gift came upon all men to justification of life". In the manner that the sin of Adam touched every man so the effects of the death of Christ touched all men. By one, Jesus Christ, the condemnation inherited from Adam was lifted from all men. Every man was freed from the penalty he had inherited. In this capacity Christ died for the whole world and is the Saviour of all men. Every man stands before God responsible for only those sins he deliberately chooses to commit. Each man is

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given a new probation and opportunity of salvation. The inherited sinful nature of man causes each to sin but he does it deliberately, knowingly, and responsibly.
    Because Christ paid the inherited sin-debt for all men, all babies and incompetents from birth are safe.
    When man reaches the time of responsibility he will again choose to sin. The atonement for these is limited in that it is only effective to those who believe, (I Tim. 4:10).
    There is no doctrine in the Bible that excludes any sinner from coming to Christ -- not even election.
    The word predestinated is used

four times in the Bible, (Eph.1:5; 1:11; Rom. 5:29; Rom. 8:30). Summing these verses up they teach that the split instant that a sinner BELIEVES God has predestinated him to eternal life and he can never again be lost.
    We are predestinated unto the adoption of children, to be conformed to the image of His Son, to the praise of His glory. All this will happen at the Second Coming of Christ. The believer could not, by himself, even stay a believer so God in sovereign grace predestinated that every believer would make it all the way -- to the praise of God's glory. The believer is just as certain for heaven as if he were already there.         All of this -- from eternity to eternity -- is by the grace of a sovereign God.
        G - God is sovereign
        R - ruin of man
        A - access for all
        C - complete atonement
        E - eternal security.
    THAT'S HOW YOU SPELL GRACE!

"THE MIND OF CHRIST" . . . Continued
reflecting His glory and grace in the community where you live? Do you so hate sin as to abstain from the very appearance of evil? And is your whole being yielded to the service of God -- under the direction of the Holy Spirit -- as you "seek ... first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness"?
    Is there any evidence that "the mind of Christ" is REALLY active in YOUR life-experience? E.G.