Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter
3. If I had a title, it would be Considering
Christ. considering Christ. And you can
see that very clearly from the text. Let's read this verse together. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him that
appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house."
Consider Him. Now, the Apostle Paul says, wherefore? Therefore, wherefore, when these
words are used, it's usually in reference to what has been
said before. The Apostle Paul, having previously
shown the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ, Godhead, and humanity
of His person to these Believers, these Jewish believers, and remember
the time in which this was written, there were many Hebrew believers
who were under the temptation of returning, going back to the
law, going back to the customs of the law. Their families had
cast them out. They were rejects from the society
of the Jews. They were under great persecution
for their faith in Christ. And so Paul, in this gospel,
sets forth the beauty and the glory. First of all, the beauty
and the glory of the person of Christ, of his deity and his
humanity. And he does this for the purpose
of encouragement. So if you want to know of an
encouraging letter, this is the encouraging letter. Are you tempted
to draw away from the things of Christ? Are you tempted to
return as the turmoils of life and the flesh drawing you away? This is a book that is intended
to encourage you in the faith. And it does, those who are true
believers, this book is an encouraging book, one that moves you to cast
off the world and to cling to Christ, even more tightly now
than you did before. I want us by considering Christ
this morning, by considering His offices, Considering his
person, considering what he's done, may this is the intent
that we should draw closer to him. And so Paul's setting forth
first of all the person of Christ, that Jesus is better. Now if you want a word for this
book, that's a good word, better. Christ is better than blank. Anything. Christ is better than
the angels. I mean, He goes from the top
down. He starts as high as God. He says, Wherefore God at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in these times past by the prophets
in these last days has spoken to us by His Son. who being the
brightness of his glory and the express image of his person upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand..." See where
it begins? It begins at the top. He said, this is the one I'm
going to speak of, the Son of God who is, who bears the very
image of God and of necessity Him being God. He must be better
than the angels. He said that in verse 4. He said,
"...being made much better than the angels, he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent ministry than they." And so, this is due to His person,
that He, who He is. For the Scriptures reveal Him
to be God, very God, and man, very man. One-of-a-kind You know
there is none like him none like him This man Jesus whom we profess
to believe to be our Savior is God Manifest in the flesh. That's what he said in verse
7 of chapter 1 thy throne. Oh God The Lord hath laid the foundation
of the earth, and one day this great God, who sat on the throne
of glory, condescended and took upon Him the form, the nature
of a servant. Paul says, wherefore, because
of His person, this person in scope, that's why we should consider
Him. Is that not a reason to consider
Him? Considering that He is God, that He condescended to become
man so as to save His people, us, we should consider Him. Let us see His beauty and wonder
at His majesty that God robed Himself in flesh, dwelt among
us. No wonder The psalmist said,
What is man that thou art mindful of him? And listen, the son of man that
thou visitest him. Now David didn't have a clue
what he was writing there, that he would actually visit us in
flesh. Our Savior, whom we worship,
was forever higher than the angels, but for our sakes was made poor. He was made, verse 9 of chapter
2, a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. Now listen, who is every
man? It's revealed in the next verse,
chapter 2 and verse 10, "...for it became Him, for whom are all
things, and by whom are all things, in bringing," listen, "...many
sons to glory." That's who He came for. That's who He tasted
death for, His sons, that He might bring them to glory. Wherefore, because of his person,
God, very God, and man, very man, that he through his sufferings
might bring his sons to glory. Is that not cause to consider
him? Paul says, wherefore, because
of who he is. Because of what he purposed to
do. Because of his great condescension. Wherefore, consider him. Consider him. Now then, in this text, we are
not given that everyone is called to consider him. Paul is not
talking to everyone. How can you consider somebody
you don't know? If you are lost this morning
and you're without Christ and without faith, you do not consider
Him because you do not know Him. Only those who know Christ can
consider Christ. So then this people, this holy
brethren, he says, wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the
heavenly calling. He said, you consider Him. You consider Him. This is talking
to the church. This is talking to those who
are believers in Jesus Christ. They that believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ as their God and Savior. I want you to know that
you are the church. Now listen, we are building a
building, but that building has nothing to do with the church.
It is not the church. The church is not even a denomination. It's not an organization. It's
not an institution. Now, people can file for a 501c3
and call themselves a church. That does not make them a church. A church is made up of believers
in Christ. The church is the body of Christ. The body of Christ. Those, all
those who rest their eternal soul on the person and work of
Jesus Christ alone. You are the church. You are the church. You are his
body. Not those that just profess Christ. Some profess Christ, believe
in Christ, plus their works. Matter of fact, that is the whole
of modern religion, is to profess Christ plus something. That Christ His sufferings and
offerings were not sufficient without my will or works to make
it effectual." That is the church, so-called, of modern religion. And it is no church at all. Matter
of fact, John calls them anti-Christ. I'll go over there and read it. I'm not going to spend much time
here. But 1 John chapter 2 and verse
22, "...who is a liar, but he that
denieth that Jesus is the Christ." Well, preacher, I don't deny
Jesus is the Christ. You do if you add one thing to
it. Why? Because the Christ had to
fulfill Scripture, and what does the Scripture say? He shall not
fail nor be discouraged. Now, is your Christ a failure
to save all those He wants to? Then He is not the Christ, and
you are anti-Christ. To believe that Jesus is the
Christ is to believe that He was victorious in His work. that he actually accomplished
redemption for his people. And Paul says, though we are
an angel from heaven, preach another gospel unto you. Let
them be accursed who preach another gospel. than the successful redemption
of Jesus Christ. That all God chose, Christ actually
redeemed. And all He redeemed, the Spirit
of God will effectually call, and they will all believe, and
none of them shall be lost. Any other Christ is not Christ,
but antichrist. Not the true church. So then
all who put, believe in Christ, plus their baptism, plus their
circumcision, plus their church membership, plus their will,
plus their obedience to the law, you pay attention, they are anti-Christ. They are against Christ. I've heard this even from well-meaning
believers. Well, pastor, they're just confused. No, they're Antichrist. Well, they just mean well. No, they're Antichrist. I want you to let that sink in
because that is very personal to most all of us here. We have
family members in religion. We do. That's like people of Galatia
saying to Paul, well, Paul, that's just them out there circumcised.
That don't mean anything. Paul said, yes, it does. It meant so much that when Peter
put away that ham sandwich, he chastened him because No. It is the difference between
the church of God and the synagogue of Satan. That's a difference. Salvation by the finished work
of Jesus Christ, listen to this word, alone. Alone. These are the ones Paul is called.
He said, Holy brethren, Church of God, believers resting on
Christ's sufferings and blood and righteousness, for all our
acceptance with God, all the Church of God who profess with
the hymn writer, we sing, my hope is built on nothing less,
nothing more and nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
praise. But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Jesus is our hope. You know what that word means?
Confidence. How can you be so confident you'll
stand before God? Because Jesus is my confidence.
And the only way for me not to be accepted is He not be accepted. You see why I have confidence?
You see why you should have confidence? Because of Him. Now listen, I
want you to see what title He gives you. You who are the church,
you who are all called to consider Him, don't you know this, that
you are holy brethren? Holy brethren. Now listen, you and I both know
this to be true as Paul did, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Jesus said, that which is born
of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Never the twain shall enter in
together. They will not co-mingle together.
They will always be in opposition together, against one another.
And so we as believers have this understanding that our flesh,
being flesh, will never get better. Never get better. In fact, the more we grow in
understanding and grace of God, we understand more of our depravity. Not that it grew, we just grew
in understanding of it. We just, like somebody cut the
light on and said, oh, look at that, oh no. That was there all
the time? Yep. Now, which is born of flesh.
So some people think the flesh gets better. These people, speaking
of progressive sanctification, they think the flesh is getting
more holy. Now, what I want you to understand,
as you are believers in Christ, I understand this. As you grow
in the grace and knowledge of Christ, surely we are not engaged
in those lusts and sins that we once were. I know that. So
in that outward sense, yes, we strive to be without sin. We do. We are constantly putting
off the old man and putting on the new. Constantly by faith,
trusting, believing in Christ. We are ever wanting to rid ourselves
of this old man. And in that sense, yes, in the
eyes of men you may appear to be better. But what is in your
own heart? What do you know about your own
self? You know that I am not getting better. that this place doesn't get better
my hope is in christ who has given me a new nature holy believer we are not seeking to
sanctify ourselves because we are already sanctified matter of fact you know that's
what that word saying sanctified That's why a Catholic church
spends so much time trying to distinguish between regular folk
and saints. Because they think that you get
to a certain holy level and you become a saint. No! Only those who are in Christ
are saints. Only those who are holy are saints. Sanctified ones. We were chosen to be holy. You got that? You were purposed
to be holy. God said that according as he
had chosen us in Christ. Why? That you should be holy
and without blame before God. You know that God is looking
upon you And all He sees is holy. How can that be? I tell you how
it can be, because He willed it to be. He decreed it to be. Not by your merits, but by Jesus
Christ. That's how you should be holy,
by Him. by Him. And so Christ, He came and performed
this holiness. He made us holy by His work of
redemption and then this holiness that He has performed is now
imputed to my charge. It's mine. It's my holiness. And I didn't earn a single bit
of it. He did. Every stitch of this holy garment
is of His making. But it's mine. We like to sing
that song. We bless Thee for the glorious
fruits Thine incarnation gives, the righteousness which grace
imputes and faith alone receives. In Him we have a righteousness
by God Himself approved, our rock, our sure foundation, this
that can never be moved. thy blood, for the ransom by
thy death was paid for all thy people given. Thy law thou perfectly
obeyed, that they might enter heaven." We as believers in Christ have
the imputed righteousness, but not only that, we have the imparted
righteousness of Christ by the new nature. That new created
being, God says that is put on the new man, which is after God,
listen, created. Now, you understand how something
is created. It's created out of nothing.
And when God creates, He needs no material. He speaks and it
appears. That is exactly how our new natures
were made. By creation of the Holy Spirit. And now this Spirit of God dwells
in us. Now ponder the wonder of this
grace that He should take a rebel like you and a sinner like me
and make us holy. He did it without our merit and
He did it without our consent. Praise God! Now listen, I'm consenting. I am glad now. After it was done,
I'm glad. Before it was done, I had no
desire for it. But now, I do. Because He had
done this work in us. And all spiritual blessings only
belong to those that are holy. Therefore, we can say this, with
his spotless garments on, I am as holy as the Holy One." That's
why Paul said, holy brethren, because he made you holy. Now
secondly, he said, you're called brethren. Now this has to do
with sonship. This has to do with adoption.
You are brethren because God is your Father. How can that
be? God being your Father. Jesus
plainly told us not everybody has God as their Father. God
is their Creator, yes, but not God as their Father. He told
those Jews, He said, you are of your father, the devil. But Jesus said of His people,
I go unto my Father and your Father. My God and your God. He is the link that brings us
into the family of God by His adoption price. And so then he,
Paul says in chapter 2 and verse 11, he says, for both he that
sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, all of one. In other words, because of our
union with Christ, Christ sanctified us. And we are the ones sanctified
because we are in union with Him. For which cause He is not
ashamed to call them our brothers. You know He's not ashamed to
call me His brother. Jesus Christ will declare before all creation
and say, This is my brother! I'm His brother! We are holy brethren. Thirdly,
we are partakers of the heavenly calling. Listen, there are two
types of calling. Two types. General call and effectual. This morning, I would say this
to every one of you. Listen, pay attention. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Who did not hear that? You didn't
hear it, you weren't paying attention. This general call goes out to
everyone. It goes out to anyone who will
pay attention. Believe and you shall be saved. Trust in Him. Deny yourself and
believe on Him and He will save you from your sins. He will justify
you before God. That is a general call. Go you
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But listen, unless God makes
this effectual to you, you won't hear it. You won't believe. The
effectual call is God taking the general call and applying
it to the heart and making it your own, personal. So when I
say sinner, you're not thinking about somebody else. Can we all
do that? We were self-righteous in the
church, we heard, we knew everything. When the preacher said, sinner,
he said, oh yeah, that other person, I wish they were here
to hear that. But now we say, sinner, and we raise our heads. And God applies this effectual
call by the receiving of Christ. Isn't that right? As many as
received Him. Have you received Him? Now what
is it to receive Him? It is to believe on Him. Completely. and wholly resting
on Christ. It is like to take a glass of
water and to receive it into your mouth, into your body. And as that water comes in and
it starts to affect the whole... It is the same with Christ. We
receive Him wholly. You know, once you drink it,
you can't get it back. It's gone. It's in. You've committed
to whatever's in that cup. You've committed to it. I've
fully committed to this. And I'm not turning back. That's
what it is to receive Christ. It is to believe on Him with
all your soul. You have become the sons of God. Now, do you get any glory for
the receiving? Absolutely not. God willed it
so. God gave you life to receive
it. And so this is the partaking, the partakers of the heavenly
calling. I like the way that Paul mentions
it in Timothy, 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9. Listen to this
order. He said who God saved us, and
listen, and called us with a heavenly calling. Which was first? The
saving or the calling? He saved me when Christ died.
Then, because He saved me, listen, He called me. He called me with
a heavenly calling. not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but now is made manifest
by the appearing of Christ Jesus our Savior, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light." Listen,
through the gospel. That's how I heard it. That's
how I believed it. It was effectual to me. Now listen, have you been
made partakers of this heavenly calling? Have you been saved
by the grace of God? Now then, let us consider Him.
That's who He's talking to. Holy brethren. Holy brethren
partakers of the heavenly calling. So what are we to consider? There's
a couple of things here. Look at this. First of all, this
word, consider, he said, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. This word, consider, means diligent
discovery. This consideration is no haphazard
passing by, skimming the surface, but a diligent discovery. It
means attentively beholding. As one would take careful notice
of a diamond, you would take that and you would put it to
the light, and you would examine the different colors and aspects
of that perfect gem. That's exactly what he means
by considering him. to hold him up to the light of
Scripture and examine him diligently, considering Christ, these truths. It is like digging for treasure. If I were to have told you out
in our yard over there, we've got some treasure. And the deeper
you dig, the more the treasure. I'm sure that you might find
a few gems on the top. But if you dig, you'll find much
more treasure. Would you use a garden hoe? Or
would you try to rent a backhoe? You want to dig. That's what
he means, considering Christ. What is we to consider? His office. That's what we're considering
this morning. We already considered somewhat His person. That's a
glorious person and His condescension. Something to consider. Now they
consider His office as the apostle. Another word for this is prophet. Let us consider his office of
prophet, his proclaimer of the new covenant. Isn't that what
God told Moses? He said this, he said, I'm going
to raise up a prophet like unto me, like unto me, and you should
hear him. Now, what was the situation?
What was the reference? Go back to Deuteronomy. I want
you to read this, because I want you to see the situation. Remember,
they'd been given that law. He was reminding them what happened
when they were given the law. Let's see, Deuteronomy 18, verse
15. Deuteronomy 18, and verse 15. He said, "...the Lord thy God
will raise up unto thee a prophet." from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren like unto me, unto him you shall hearken, according
to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb in
the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice
of the Lord my God. Neither let me see this great
fire any more, that I die not. You remember God gave that law
and they could not bear the sound. They could not hear it. Why? Because the law was by no
means a way to God. And so God here tells them, I'm
going to give you a message that you can hear. I'm going to send
my prophet to preach to you a message better than that of the law.
A message of grace. A message that you can receive. He was going to send Christ.
And he said, And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken
that which they have spoken. I will raise up a prophet from
among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in
his mouth. And he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. Now what did Christ speak? When
he came as the prophet of God, what did he speak? Go to Luke
chapter 4. Let's read. He heard the law. The law cannot be endured. It's not a sound of melody, it's
a sound of destruction. Look at Luke chapter 4 and verse
18. Here's Christ speaking. He said,
"...the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed
me to preach the Gospel. He hath anointed me to be what?
The Apostle. The Apostle. The Prophet of God
to speak the Gospel. And what did He speak? He was
sent with the authority of God to speak these words to the poor. To those who have no means to
pay the justice of God. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
preach deliverance to the captive, recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. You see, that's the problem,
isn't it? Man needs to be accepted. I need an acceptable year. The
acceptable year of the Lord is when Christ came to preach the
gospel, to heal the broken... Are you brokenhearted over sin? Well see, I've got a message
from an apostle. One sin of God to preach to you.
He said, I came to heal the broken heart. Are you in captives to
sin? Are you enslaved to it? It's
guilt? Jesus said, I came to set at
liberty them that are captive. Consider the graciousness of
this message, that He came to preach a gospel of acceptance
and not of rejection. The law preaches rejection. Christ
preaches acceptance. Now, there's only one way, through
Him. Faith in Him. There is no other
way to be accepted. Come, you sinners, poor and needy. Lost and hopeless, ruined by
the fall. If you tear it till you're better,
what? You'll never come at all. If
you're waiting for a more acceptable message, you'll never come. Now listen, you that have not
come, why are you waiting? Answer! Why are you waiting?
What are you waiting for? Are you waiting to get better?
You won't do it. You'll never come. You should
come now. That's the message of Christ.
Sinners is to whom He preaches. I came not to call the righteous,
but what? Sinners to repentance. This is the message of our Apostle
Jesus Christ. And it's a message of authority.
In other words, God sent Him with that message. And you could
take that message because it is true. It is right. It is good. It is the best message. It's an authoritative message. Behold the message of the great
exchange, your sin for His righteousness, your worthlessness for His worth.
You come to Christ and you find rest. Rest from your labors,
rest from your work, rest from your trying. Anybody trying to
be a Christian, stop it. Just come and rest. Just lay down. Lay down on Christ. What authority have I to lay
down on Christ? The Apostle said to lay down
on Christ. The Apostle of God. Consider,
that was his office to tell you what God said. How should you
know to do that except the Apostle? Come, the great Apostle. Come and tell you that by the
death of His cross He has satisfied God's justice forever. Now consider
the second office, a high priest. A high priest is one that mediates
between God and men and things pertaining to God. Offering sacrifices
for sin. That's what a high priest did.
Now listen, if you come to God on your own, you're your own
high priest. If you're bringing your own sacrifices
to God, you are your own high priest, and you shall be damned. That is so. You will be damned
if you bring your own offerings. If you have you for a high priest,
you have a worthless high priest. And even worse is your worthless
offerings. But consider this great wonder
that there's one that stands between us, holy brethren, and
God, one that mediates things of a better covenant, a high
priest that offered not one year after year, but offered one sacrifice
forever and sat down. Finish the work. Consider. Stop and dig down. Right now,
you holy brethren, I want you to dig down deep in this. It
is finished. What's finished? Everything. Everything's done. What's left to do? Nothing. Jesus Christ has accomplished
everything God required of you. You know, I come to worship not
to be accepted. I come to worship because I am
accepted. Big difference, isn't it? One's
a burden and one's a pleasure. I come to consider Him not to
be accepted. I consider Him because I am accepted. in the beloved. By His one offering
as our High Priest, He made peace forever, sanctified us forever,
perfected us forever. Joanne, you are absolutely perfect. Just so. Your High Priest made
it so. Done. So then regardless of how I feel
or what I think, it matters not. Can you imagine one outside of
the great day of atonement standing there in his sin, in his guilt,
weeping over his, lamenting his sin? There goes his high priest. There goes the blood. And he
enters in the veil. I can't see what's going on in
there. How do I know he's accepted this
offering for my sin? The only way they knew is what?
When he came out. And when Jesus came out, you
know what? He didn't just leave the veil there. He read it. He
tore it in twain so I could see everything. That I myself can
enter in now into the presence of God because of His one sacrifice. Consider that. As the waves of your guilt throw
over your soul, consider your high It's done. Accomplished. And God is forever
satisfied. Now, as we consider him, I want
us to see that this is not academic, but surely it is most encouraging in a very practical sense, isn't
it? This consideration of Him as
our authority. When I speak the Word of God,
when you speak the Word of God, you have authority to speak that
Word because of our Apostle, Jesus Christ. You have the authority
by which to find comfort and rest for your soul, seeing He
is our great High Priest, and now has entered into heaven,
and not only our High Priest, He is our king. What does that
mean? That he has the authority to
apply that which he bought to our hearts and keep us. He's
our prophet, our priest, our king, and this moves us. When
a man is content, contents themselves with the notion, just the bare
notion of spiritual things. Without endeavoring to express
their power and efficiency in the practical conformity of our
minds and souls to them, it proves that that man doesn't know Him
at all. Because this message don't move your soul to Christ,
to adore Him. There's something wrong with
your profession. I know at times we are cold and
indifferent. I've been there. But the only
thing that breaks that heart is what? Considering Him. Now
listen, you go back and you start trying to do this and do this
and trying to make up for all, that won't break your heart,
that'll make it harder. The only thing that'll break
your heart is considering Him. Doesn't that move you to consider
Him? It does. The Holy Brethren, Those who
are partakers of the heavenly calling, as we consider Christ,
we are moved by these truths and encouraged to continue in
the faith. Isn't that right? You know what?
That encourages me to continue in the faith. Not to abandon
it. Why? Because He's my Apostle
and High Priest. If He is my Apostle, my Authority,
my Word, and my High Priest, why should I move? Why should
I leave Him? No. It only encourages me to
draw closer to Him. Draw closer to Him. And so how
then, in practical ways, how do we consider Him? We've just
done it by the hearing of the Gospel. Isn't this a practical
way by which we consider Him? Do you suppose you would do this
driving along, doing your job? No. You may consider Him in passing. But how many of you sit for forty
minutes or more and just consider Him? No! This is why God provides this
means, so that you might consider Him. It's very practical. Forsake
not the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some
it. Why? Because this is how you consider
Him. Reading the Scripture is how
you consider Him, isn't it? How can you consider Him if you
never consider What the Apostle spoke. You can't. You can't diligently consider
Him if we do not read this book. Another way we consider Him is
witnessing. When you are engaged and the
Lord opens the opportunity to witness, what do you have to
do? You have to consider Him. You have to think of His Word
and His work. You have to consider His person,
His work, and the success. You have to consider what He's
done for you in order to be able to express it to someone else.
Very practical application of considering Him, isn't it? I
pray that God give us such opportunity. And may we use the opportunities
to consider Him that we have, which is this. And the more you consider Him,
friends, the more glorious He becomes. Not that He becomes
more glorious, the more glorious He appears to you to be. You
now see how glorious He is, how wonderful His work is. May God
give us such grace to consider His work and what He's done for
us. Holy Brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the Apostle and High Priest of your profession, who? Jesus Christ,
who was faithful in all His house. May God bless this to your souls.
Let's be dismissed in prayer. Stand and be dismissed in prayer.