Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Hebrews chapter 12 and reading
for our text verse 3. Hebrews 12 and verse 3. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. Hebrews 12 and verse 3. The Lord has seen fit in the holy
sacred word to set before us the Lord Jesus Christ in his
sufferings and in his death, and in such a way as to be a
help and a strength to his people when they come into places of
distress, of trouble, not just in a physical way, but in their
minds. Our text speaks of being wearied
and faint in your minds. We know what it is to be weary
of body, and to be very tired through exertion, physical exertion. But here is that which is spoken
of being wearied and faint in our minds. And the remedy, and
this is spoken really as a text speaking of a preventative that
we are to consider or think deeply over our Lord Jesus Christ, what
He endured, not just for a short time, but for a long time, right
through His life here on earth, and then in His death, what He
went through, patiently went through. That contradiction,
that is, when He said one thing, He who was spotless and without
sin had those that were sinners contradicting and saying the
opposite. And it was not just what he was
saying or setting forth before them, but they actually contradicted
against himself. Things that he said about himself
They were saying we're not true. And they were going opposite
to what He was saying. And what is set before us is
that we are to think carefully and really consider the Lord
Jesus Christ in this way, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds. In other words, it's a preventative
so that we don't get wearied and faint in our minds. But when
we are, surely in the same considerations, same thoughts, is a remedy for
us. So I wanted to look this morning
firstly at a people directed to consider him, People that
are prone to being wearied and faint in their minds, or perhaps
already are. And then secondly, the person
to be considered, that is Jesus, the Lord Jesus. In verse 2, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God, for
consider Him, Jesus. Then thirdly, what we are to
consider about Jesus. Our minds are to be focused here
in our text of a specific thing, that which He endured. the contradiction
of sinners against himself, and it is to be considered in that
specific way as to be an encouragement and a hell to us when we are
liable to be very wearied and faint in our minds. So firstly, I want to think of
a people directed to consider Him. Well surely I hope it is
that we are directed in that way. The people of God and those
that seek salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, those that
will be walking in Christ's way, those who have a hope or desire
a hope beyond the grave, this is directed to us is directed
to the Church of God. But thinking of those that are
already wearied and faint in their minds, and I'd like to
take you through some of those in the Scriptures, the Old Testament,
because this chapter, it follows on from chapter 11, where we
have a list of those that lived and died by faith and it speaks
of their trials and the things that they went through and the
hallmark is that they triumph through faith and it was this
faith of what the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of in verse
2 as being the author and finisher of and he is the subject of the
faith of those who've gone before. To the Church of God now, is
to be strengthened and helped against being wearied and faint
in their minds from considering the Lord, the church that had
gone before us, that cloud of witnesses looking forward, and
to the types and shadows, they were also to be strengthened
and encouraged in that same way. So we think of Rebecca, That
is Isaac's wife. And how it was with her at first,
she could not have children, and then she conceived, and unknown
to her there was twins in her womb, and they struggled within
her. Then she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? She knew that the seed that she
would bear was to be the promise seed, it was to be the line to
the promised Christ. But first there was the trial,
she couldn't have children, and now there was this trouble and
wrestlings in her womb. What was going on? And so quite
apart from what was going on, there was that which was troubling
her mind, troubling her concerning these things. And we read that
she took it to the Lord. It's a good principle for us. Those things that we cannot understand
that seem to be happening that go contrary to promises, contrary
to expectations, and to take it to the Lord. And the Lord
told her that there was two nations in her womb. The elder should
serve the younger. There was Jacob, there was Esau,
and in due time she bore twins. And then it was clear as to why
there was the struggling, but the Lord had told her something
more about the seed that she was to bear. We think then with
Jacob later on, And when Joseph was in Egypt and he didn't know,
he'd already lost Joseph. And then his sons kept coming
back and Simeon was left at Egypt and they wanted to take Benjamin
as well. And Jacob, he said, all these
things are against me. He stalled and stalled. He didn't
want to let Benjamin go. And he must have had many things
going on in his mind. Joseph's dreams, we read Jacob,
he laid them up, he thought on them and what had happened to
them. Many things that were happening
that he couldn't work out and really summed up what was going
on in his mind. His verdict was all these things
are against me. Well, in due time in Providence,
he was to prove that they weren't, but he had to let Benjamin go. They had to go to Egypt for him
to see this and to know this. And it was in proceeding, it
was in just going on as Providence was shepherding in that way,
that eventually he was able to see how all these things were
working for good. But at this particular time,
he was wearied, he was faint in his mind, many things had
been going on. Maybe you can go along, I can
go along with Jacob this morning, wearied, faint in our minds. You think of Gideon, the children
of Israel were under the Midianites' hand, they came filled the country,
destroyed all their crops. The Lord then appears to Gideon
and he commends him as a man of valour. And the Lord is with
thee, thou mighty man of valour. And he immediately has this objection
and it shows what had been going on in his mind. He says, if the
Lord be with us then why are these things also in Judges 6
and verse 13, Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be
with us, why then is all this befallen us? Where be all his
miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord
bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken
us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. The
Lord looked upon him and said, go in this thy mind, thou shalt
save Israel from the hand of the Midianites, have not I sent
thee. And, you know, he then says that
he is poor in Manasseh. Who was he to do this? But you get a little picture
of what was going on in his mind, looking at all that was happening
in the nation. and seems so contrary, how could
the Lord be with them? How could he? And when the Lord
appeared, he brings all this before the Lord. These things,
he's not weary physically, he's mentally, he's in his mind. We
think of Hannah, in the first book of Samuel,
and in chapter one, before Samuel was born, his mother Hannah,
two wives that Elkanah had, Penina and Hannah. And she had many
children, but Hannah had not got children.
The Lord had shut up her womb. And we read, and her adversary
also provoked her sore. for to make her fret because
the Lord had shut up her womb. A situation where you see one
so close, in this case the same husband, they've got children,
they've got a full house, we've got an empty house, no children. Why? Surely, surely the Lord
is against us and the adversary no doubt benign herself was an
adversary but satan would have made good work of this as to
what the reason was much searchings of heart much troubles of mind
what weariness of mind did year by year and every time that they
went up annually to worship at Shiloh, to offer there. It was
a time that her husband gave portions to all the children,
but she hadn't got any children. And he gave her a worthy portion,
trying to make up, he couldn't make up. And you know, there's
those times that we may go to things, we may go to the Lord's
house, and what we see in the Lord's house, It flares up all
what is going on in our minds. We might go to a wedding, and
that flares everything up. We might go to a funeral, and
that brings up all the situation in our mind and the troubles
in our mind. And Hannah had to have this year
by year. And then we know how that she
came and poured out her heart to the Lord. Eli mistook her. She says, no, I am not a woman
that is drunk with wine, but I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit,
wearied and faint in your minds. That's how she described herself,
a woman of a sorrowful spirit. And she poured out her heart
to the Lord. Well, the Lord gave her a wonderful
answer to prayer, Samuel, and then gave her other children
as well. to follow on after, and how greatly
Samuel was used in Israel. We think of the two on the way
to Emmaus. You know, they had seen all that
had happened, and the Jews were looking on, all that the Jews
had said and accused and done to our Lord, and they said, but
we trusted It should have been He that should have redeemed
Israel. Beside all this, today is the
third day. And very often the Church of
God, what she goes through is in the full view of all of the
world, of all the adversaries, and individual churches as well,
what they go through is not hidden. Others are looking and speaking
and saying, And the reproach is before all, the children of
Israel, through the wilderness, all the Lord's dealings with
them. And then when they were in Canaan, all of his chastening,
when they went into Babylon, the world was looking on, this
is the people of the Lord. And they'd gone forth out of
their land. And those that are godly, they greatly feel this. They required of them in Babylon
a song. How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted? Within
me, that is the psalmist crying out. We think of dear Job in all of
his great sorrows. At first, tremendous loss physically. But write through their book
such deep exercise of soul, O that I knew where I might find him. Miserable comforters, he says
of his friends, are ye all, laying on him grievous charges, false
charges, false reasons for all the things that had happened
upon him. And all his utterances show how wearied, how faint he
was. Know that I knew where I might
find him. In the midst of it, though, he
had those strengths. I know that my Redeemer liveth. He was looking, looking to the
Redeemer, the Saviour, and so was not crushed under it all. We think of Mary at the grave. They've taken away my Lord. I
know not where they've laid him. It's not weariness of body, but
of mind, of troubles, of struggling in the mind of what has happened. You think of the sentence in
the days of Esther, the sentence of death of all the Jews. The
city of Shushan was perplexed. The people of God can get very,
very perplexed. What is here is those wearied
and faint in their minds, things that continue on And later on
we have in this chapter the chastening of the Lord, the dealing of the
Lord with his people, correcting them, not in anger but in love. And the exhortation is there
that they lift up the hands which hang down the feeble knees. Those things are so discouraged
and so perplexed. The promise is to those that
even though it be a bitter path, a grievous path, yet when there
is the exercise in it, that there will be a peaceable fruit of
righteousness at the end. So there are those we may walk
with, and those whose utterances it describes something of the
weariness, the faintness, that which goes on in the mind. Yes,
not detached from what is happening around us and what things we're
going through, but certainly not a physical weariness, but
in our minds. The spirit of a man will sustain
his infirmity, but a wounded spirit, who can bear? We can
have many, many physical trials, physical weariness, trials outside,
but if our minds are strong, then we can get through them.
But if our minds start to fail, and we get so low, so discouraged,
so despondent, then that is a very, very difficult path. And so here
in our text is a preventative, lest we get wearied and faint
in our minds, And when we are, that we are to look to this way
too. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. Dear friends, if we are in this
path, know we're not alone. God's dear people have been there
before us. They've walked this path. The
Lord's seen the need for a remedy. He's provided a remedy. He's
directed us not to look to those who have gone before us, though
that may be a help, and certainly we have this long cloud of witnesses,
but to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I want to look
then in the second place, the person to be considered that
is Jesus. for consider him. And so I want
to take just a few moments to consider him, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And especially in this respect,
we know that Jesus is the eternal son of God. If you have seen
me, you've seen my father also. I and my father are one. This
is the true God and eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
second person of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
one God in three persons. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
God manifest in the flesh. He's also a true man, sinless,
spotless, but a real man. And I feel we must Consider this,
that he was, he is a real man. He is now in heaven above, a
man that is a real man. There's the hymn writer, with
wounds still gaping wide. What we can do, we can do in
a subconscious way almost. We can say, well, because he
was sinless, And because he was the God-man, then the trials
that he had were not the same as ours. The physical pains that
he felt were not the same as ours. The nails, the thorns,
they were not the same as the pain that we felt. The things
that he endured, the mocking, the scorning, the forsaking,
He doesn't feel that like we do, because he's God as well
as man, and he doesn't feel it the same. Dear friends, when we consider,
and especially in the context of the verse before us here,
may we impress upon ourselves that the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus Christ He endured were as a man. He had a body just
like we have when he rose from the dead. He ate, he drank before
them, he said when they were terrified and affrighted that
they'd seen a spirit. He says a spirit hath not flesh
and bones as ye see me have in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
It is spoken in the bread. This bread is my broken body. Ye do show forth the Lord's death
till he come. A body hath thou prepared him,
a real man. And his brethren and the Jews,
they testified of this. Is not this Jesus, the son of
Joseph? They looked upon him and they
viewed him as a man just like them. That was one of the things
that they threw at him, that we as believers, as a church,
also must remember he was really man, and that he had a soul,
a reasonable soul, the same as what we have, and a mind, the
same as we have. He thought he went over things. We are to remember this, instead
of just discounting all of what the Lord went through, just saying,
well, he was a super being, and he had an ability that we have
not got, and he had helps that we haven't got. We are to consider
him, and this is why I wanted this as a separate point to really
reinforce what we do believe. We set forth in our articles,
we truly believe that the Lord was made flesh and dwelt among
us. We beheld his glory, the glory
as of only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. but
a real man. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but of the seed of Abraham. And he took it so that
he might suffer, and in the place of his people, and the righteousness
that he was to work out, he was to work out for his people. That is, very often, it is not
the things that happen to us, They are not laid to our charge
and our sin, but it's how we react to it. You may say the
Lord Jesus Christ, as He went through this life, He had just
the same or much more things thrown at Him. But the way that
He reacted to them was never in a sinful way, never in a wrong
way. But those things that he bore
were just as real as what you and I bear. He was a real man,
he is a real man in heaven. And so we need to really remember
that, bear that in mind when we consider him. And in our third
point, what we are to consider about him. And that is that he
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. That
is what we are to consider. It was what sinners, what men
said to him, did to him, the reception that he received from
them, how they reacted to him and to his claims. And so I want
to look at this then in our third point. What we are to consider
about Jesus. He endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself. And what is the difference between
considering what those dear saints of God went through that we've
already mentioned, and what the Lord went through? What the Lord
went through, He went through on our behalf. The righteousness
that He was to work out is to be imputed to us. And that obedience that He was
obedient to His Father was unto death, even the death of the
cross. We view what the Lord did as
being meritorious for us, and that through viewing what He
did, that it is through that there's to be strength and help
in us, because through Christ and His sufferings, His death,
His life is life for us. Later on, we read that we are
in verse 24, come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. And so you have a comparison. Here is the blood of Abel that
Cain slew, and Abel was offering a good sacrifice, one that God
was pleased with. But his own brother wasn't pleased
with him, hated him for it, slew him for it. But there's no merit
to you and I. There's no saving grace in what
happened to Abel. But there is what our Lord Jesus
Christ did. Abel's offering, Abel's shedding
of his blood was not willing. His life was taken from him.
He was a sinner. He had no power to redeem his
own soul. His salvation was by faith in
The sacrifice that He had offered is pointing to Christ. But when
we consider the Lord, we consider God's gift, God's beloved Son,
and what He has done for us, and what He endured for us, that
He might bring in an everlasting righteousness. One of the things
that our Lord was charged with the most often was being the
master of the devils, Beelzebub. The very miracles that he performed
and did that were to glorify his father, to show his true
Godhead, to set forth his authority, they ascribed to being from the
devils. and that he did these things
by the prince of devils. Not just once, but again and
again. They said this, they contradicted
him. He said, I do these things by
my father. These things, they glorify me,
my father glorifies me, I glorify him. They said, no, you're just
doing these things by the devil, by his power. What a contradiction. What a complete opposite. What
a travesty to take those wonderful deeds and things that should
have made men truly wonder. Well, the man that had been born
blind, he did. He said, why, hearing is a wonderful
thing. Was it ever heard from the beginning
of the world that one could make one that was born blind to see?
If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. that they
cast that dear man out of the temple for standing up, as it
were, to our Lord. But what contradictions our Lord
endured in that way. How would we be if we were sent
by someone? If we were in a position that
we were doing things with a valid, a right authority, But men refused
that authority and said that we were doing it by our own authority. That was another thing they cast
at him. They said, by what authority? Doest thou things? These things. Who gave thee this authority?
They undermined that authority. They didn't allow it. They said,
thou bearest witness of thyself. Thy witness is not true. This
was the eternal Son of God, and this is sinners. And they were
saying, what you're saying is not true. You don't have that
authority. You shouldn't be doing these
things. And this is what they were saying to the Lord. They accused Him of being a gluttonous
man, a wine-bibber. When he went with the publicans
and the sinners, they accused him again. And they said, a friend
of publicans and sinners, his company that he kept, they cast
and they threw that at him. Do we have that? The company
that we keep, those that we're friends with, thrown at us? Is our authority questioned? Is the position that we hold
undermined by men? We read again that they tried
to entangle him in his talk. They brought specific questions,
things that they thought, how could he answer this? And they
brought it with specific reason to entangle them. Do we know
what that is? And people come to us and they
speak things and it is so that we will gradually get entangled. One question, then another question,
then a loaded question. And if you've answered those
first two questions like this, now you're trapped, now you're
entangled. They try to do that with our
Lord. Our Lord who spoke in such a way, He silenced them all.
But you know, we haven't that wisdom ourselves, and we know
what it is to have that same entrapment and same contradiction
of sinners, and it wearies the mind in this, when we feel our
poverty, our inability to really be able to set forth the truths
of God. They tempted him. They sought
a sign from heaven. Hadn't they seen enough signs,
the miracles? But then that was what Satan
did as well. If thou be the son of God, do
this, do that. Do we know what that is? If you're
a minister, explain that text. Explain that passage. Show us
what that means. How can you be a minister if
you don't know that? How can you be a child of God
if you're not able to explain these things? Men, not just the wicked, not
just those that hate the things of God, but those that have a
profession of religion. We're warned against not making
a man an offender for a word, but how easy we do. and how that can so make one
so wearied and faint in our minds, as it were a mental warfare,
mental torment. Another thing that they did very
often was watch him concerning the Sabbath day. Would he heal
on the Sabbath day? Would he allow his disciples
to take of the corn and eat on the Sabbath day. Many times he
had to endure that. Do we know what that is? And
in our walk to think all the time, men, women, they're watching
us. They're speaking behind our backs.
They're judging what we're saying, what we're doing all the time. And the more we think about that
and mindful of it. You know, with dear Jeremiah,
it was said to him, that they were speaking of him behind his
back. The Lord said, they receive your
words as a sweet voice, a sweet melody, but they will not do
them. He knew what it was to walk that
path that our Lord was to walk. When our Lord taught that you
cannot serve God a mammoth Those that were covetous, the scribes,
the Pharisees, how did they react? They just derided Him. Eternal
Son of God being derided. Do we know what that is? To be
held in derision. Derided for the things that we've
said. Poured scorn upon. Made out we're
some kind of a fool, an idiot. Spoken foolish things. Now Lord,
They derided him. Then they charged him with deceiving
the people. He was telling the truth. He
was setting forth the truth. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The truth is in Jesus, Paul says
and tells the Ephesians. But they said, no, he's deceiving
the people. Have we been accused of that?
Have we walked that path that we have this searching of heart? Are we really deceiving them?
Have we spoken the truth? Have we been clear? Is our motive
right? Is it wrong? Satan coming and
flaring it all up. Our Lord was accused of that
very same thing. Things were thrown at the Lord. They accused Him of blasphemy
because He said that God was His Father. They said that now,
being a man, make us thyself equal to God. They accused Him
of blasphemy. All of these things, sinners,
men, were casting at Him. It wasn't wearing Him in a physical
way, you might say. but in a mental way, and especially
that with his own people. He came unto his own, his own
received him not. When Pilate spoke to our Lord,
aren't thou a king then? Our Lord asked him, sayest thou
this thing of thyself? Or have another told it thee? He said, am I a Jew? Thine own
nation, thine own nation. hath delivered thee unto me. How keenly that must have cut! Judas, one of his own twelve,
lifted up his heel against him, to be betrayed by one so close. Then they all forsook him and
fled. Now these paths later on, We
have those like the Apostle Paul speaking of, he said that Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil. He knew what it was to walk in
that path. Diaphronies, casting out people
from the church. The disciples, they walked this
path. There was a need for such a word
as this. If we believe that Paul was the
author of the Penman of Hebrews, he writes of things, he has walked
in that way, he had much opposition. Many that said his speech was
contemptible, his letters were weighty and powerful, but his
bodily presence, well that was weak and he was despised. if we are walking in the footsteps
of the flock. These verses, this our text,
we will need it. Don't be surprised if we are
not considering the Lord, our thoughts are not on Him, that
then we do get weary and faint in our minds and we do begin
to really bow and faint and wonder where the scene will end and
join with Jacob, all these things are against me. So Lord help
us this morning to walk the path of this text and consider him,
consider the true real God man, a real man, but God. Consider him that had it right
to the cross be mocked And yet on that very cross, praying
for those that Father forgive them, they know not what they
do. And in that hour, putting away
the sin of all his dear people, we are to consider what it costs
the Lord as a real man. And if we are to follow him,
the Lord said, if they have done these things in a green tree,
what shall be done in the dry? If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have received my word,
then will they receive your word. If they have called the master
of the house Beelzebub, what shall they then say to they of
his household? The Lord bless this word to us. May those wearied and faint in
our minds be strengthened thereby, encouraged thereby, helped in
the way. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sin as against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. And especially we think of the
verse as following you have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin. That is something that will so
often make us wearied and faint in our minds, a daily battle
with sin. and the daily corruption within,
for the Lord came to bear the sin of many, to make intercession
for the transgressors, and to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. May we view him as bearing our
sins in his body on the tree. The Lord bless the word. Amen.