In Philippians 3 he shows you his boast. You say, "How confident!" Here I am Christ's gain, and I have Him before me as my gain. Persons may say, "That is too strong." "No;" he says, "I will show you One (Phil. 2) not like myself, but who walked this path with a whole heart perfectly — the One I am following." He passed right down to the cross. But who has placed Him in heaven, rewarding Him for all He has done? "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him," etc. He puts Him into a place as Man there. How came Jesus there? He came from the home of the Father — from the throne eternal, to show God's character on earth, and He did it perfectly. If I am following Paul, I find myself perfectly free. I often feel myself called upon to see how Paul carries out his doctrine — he failed, I always see, on the side that people do not fail upon now. He was devoted beyond discretion, sometimes — a devotedness that was not always quite discreet. He spoke to the people from the stairs! Nowadays, people look well before they put their foot down on the mud, or on a flint, even in the path they ought to follow. The blessed Lord was perfect. He was the Man with one idea, one thought — "Lo, I come to do thy will." His meat, to do His Father's will, and He did it perfectly. I see in Him two things — the spirit of obedience and dependence.
What a marvelous person a Christian is, if he be really dependent on Christ! Paul's heart was stolen away by Christ. Are your hearts dependent on that living Person? A Christian is a wonderful person if dependent on Christ; he knows he has nothing down here to do but to be dependent on Him. He tells me His own mind, I tell Him mine. The Lord and I understand each other well. He knows how to minister that for which I am dependent on Him. Are you dependent in spirit? And then is there this obedience of spirit that takes notice of what God Himself is, stooping down as He does? In highest light, which no man has seen, or can see, yet goes down into the depths, and tells us all that He has done for us! The glory came out from downstooping, in which He presented His moral glory.