Let's open our Bibles again to
Hebrews chapter 3. I was watching part, anyway,
of a documentary this week where a poor woman was being interviewed
who grew up in a cult. Watching that interview, I had
an outline in mind for a message this morning. It made me change
my message this morning. My heart just broke as I watched
her being interviewed. She said as a little girl, her
parents were very devoted to this cult and because they were,
she was too. And she said something about
that cult that caught my attention. She said that they kept everybody
so busy doing different jobs and so busy with all their religious
activity that nobody had time to think about what they're being
told. Nobody had time to think. They
just accepted everything that the elders told them. Now, I'll
quote our brother James. Brethren, these things ought
not so to be. I don't want that for us. I don't want you to just
blindly accept. Faith is not blind. Faith sees,
doesn't it? Don't blindly accept these things.
I want us this morning to take some time and consider some gospel
truths, consider some things that God's word tells us to consider.
I want us to think about these things, to think about what we're
doing. So we worship God both willingly
and with knowledge. So we worship him with thought
and purpose. You know, this was God's charge
to Israel. They just got going through the
motions of religion. And Isaiah told him the ox knows
his owner, to ask his master's crib, but my people doth not
know. Why don't they know? because
they do not consider. They don't consider. I want us
to consider these things. That's what the writer tells
us here in Hebrews 3 verse 1. Consider. Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. I want us this morning
to consider nine spiritual gospel truths. And I want us to consider
these things and consider all things in light of what he tells
us here, in light of Christ our Savior, the Apostle and High
Priest of our calling. So look back first at Deuteronomy
chapter 4. We're going to take these things
as they are in order in God's Word. Deuteronomy chapter 4.
The first thing I want us to consider is this, that God is
the only God. There's just one God, the true
and living God, the God of this book. Deuteronomy 4. Verse 39, know therefore this day and consider
it in thine heart that the Lord, he is God and heaven above and
upon earth beneath, there is none else. And God made sure
to tell his people, he's the only God. Look back up at verse
35. Under thee it was showed that
thou mightest know that the Lord, he is God. There's none else
beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to
hear his voice, that he might instruct thee. And upon earth
he showed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his words out
of the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers,
therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee
out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt, to drive
out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou
art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance,
as it is this day. So you know and consider in your
heart that the Lord, He is God. There's just one God. He's clothed
with honor and majesty. He dwells in a life that no man
can approach unto. Now consider Him. Consider who
He is. God is to be approached with
great care. He's to be approached the way
He said come unto Him and only the way He said to come unto
Him in Christ. God is to be bowed to. God is
to be worshipped. We are to surrender to him because
he's God. There isn't another God to be
worshipped. There's not another one. There
is none else. So consider this now. Worship, that's not worshipping
this God. God alone is idolatry. Oh, may God be pleased to cause
us to worship him. We can only worship him in Christ.
And consider that God is the creator. God rules creation. He rules heaven above and earth
beneath. He's sovereign over everything that happens in his
creation. Nothing happens in his creation that is not his
will. If it was against his will, it
wouldn't happen. Heaven is his dwelling place and earth is his
footstool. So consider, consider who he
is. When we consider Him, we're going
to know we don't decide to let the Sovereign save us, do we?
No. No, we beg Him to. Consider Him. Consider who He is. What's your
only option? To fall at His feet and beg Him
for mercy. There isn't another God who can
save us. This is the only one. So bow
to Him and beg Him to save you. And consider this, in all of
your dealings with God, Just don't be too quick to talk back
to him. Don't be too quick to question
what he's doing when something he does hurts your flesh. Because
remember this. Consider who he is. God's in
heaven. We're on earth. Let our words
be few. Consider this. That is the right
reverence of the only God. All right, number two, Deuteronomy
chapter 32. Consider. God's election of a people to
save. Deuteronomy 32, verse 7. Remember the days of old. Consider
the years of many generations. Ask thy father and he will show
thee. Ask your elders and they will tell thee. Now consider
How? God never changes. So consider
how God has done things throughout all of the ages. And if you want
to know, ask people who know. He says here, ask your fathers,
ask your elders. It's fair of you if you want
to know, how is it that God does things? It's fair of you to ask
God's word. It's fair to ask God's word some
questions. And you know what it'll tell
you? You know what your elders will tell you, what your fathers
will tell you? They'll tell you this. that God elected a sinful
people to save, a people who were not worthy of the least
of his mercies. God chose those people. He separated them out
of the lump of fallen humanity. And he took them in his hand
and he led them. He protected them. He preserved
them all their life long because he made them his people. His
glory is at stake in this. He made them his people. Look
at verse eight here, Deuteronomy 32. Here's what they'll tell you
if you ask them. How is it that God does things?
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the
people according to the number of the children of Israel. God
did everything he did in all the earth for the children of
Israel. For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot
of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land
and in the waste, howling wilderness, and he led him about. He instructed
him. He kept him as the apple of his
eye. As the eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her
young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them and bareth them on
her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him. And there was no
strange God with him. Now you consider the truth of
God's election of a people. Hold your place there because
we're coming back there. Look over in John chapter 15. You consider
God's election of a people. You can't honestly read the Word
of God and deny God's electing love. There are too many of those
verses to go through and read them all to try to prove that
to you, and I don't think I need to do that to anybody here. Let
me give you one verse of Scripture that will bride this thing to
the wall. Brother Henry told me about preaching. Take your
point, whatever point it is, and bride it to the wall with
a Scripture. Here it is, John 15, verse 16. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall
ask of the father in my name, he may give it to you. There
you go. You didn't choose me. I chose you. God elected a people
to say, and he chose the worst of the worst to say one day he
unhorsed all soft horses and revealed himself to him. And
Paul said he's a pattern of those who would be saved after. Why
would the Lord save Saul of Tarsus? You know what he told Ananias? He's a chosen vessel unto me.
That's why I saved him. That's why I called him. That's
why I revealed myself to him. I chose him. Now, if you know
the Lord, you consider this. Did you choose him first or did
he choose you first? Which one is it? I know you love
Him, but did you love Him first or He love you first? It's one
or the other, which is it? Did you choose to accept Jesus
as your personal Savior or did He give you faith to believe
Him? If He hadn't given you faith to believe Him, you never would
have. Which is it? It's one or the other. The Lord
acted first. Salvation is always the Lord
acting first and it's us reacting. to his electing love and his
sovereign grace. The Lord chose a people. Now
I know the flesh will always rebel against God's election
of a people and it will rebel against it because it's dead.
If you find something in you rebelling against God's sovereign
election of a people and passing by whom he will, I can tell you
where that comes from. That rebellion comes from. It
comes from the flesh. The flesh is dead. It will always
hate that truth. It will never bow to God. But
the sinner saved by God's grace, will rejoice in God's electing
love. Deuteronomy 32 verse 2. My doctrine,
all the teaching of the gospel, all the teaching of Christ, my
doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the
dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers
upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord.
Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is our rock. His work is perfect and all His
ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is He. And that's what God's people
say concerning His election of a people. God is truth and without
iniquity, He's just and He's right in everything He does.
All right, number three, 1 Samuel chapter 12. Consider this. Consider what
great things God has done for His people. Well, I'll take some
time on it. Consider all those things. 1 Samuel 12, verse 24. This is Samuel coming and giving
his instruction to all of Israel. And he says, only fear the Lord
and serve Him in truth with all your heart. Give it all you've
got. For consider how great things He had done for you." Oh, consider
what great things God has done for you. What has He done for
you? Everything. He'd done everything. And they're all great things. Oh, what great thing that God
would set His love on a sinful people to save them. Oh, what
a great thing. I think it's great that Janet
loves me. It just surprises me sometimes.
I can't even begin to compare your love to his. Oh, what a
great thing that he would set his love on a sinful people and
that he would save those people through the righteousness and
through the sacrifice of his son. That he would send his very
spirit into the hearts of his people to give them life and
faith. That God, those people, oh, they're going to stumble
and bumble and do so many dumb things. And God's going to keep
them. He's going to preserve them all
of the way. He's going to feed those people
with his gospel so that they grow and are strengthened. So
they're brought closer to him. He's not going to leave them
to themselves. He's going to lead them every step of their lives. And he's going to comfort their
heart in every trial. And eventually he'll deliver
them from every one of them. And he's going to bring them from
that waste howling wilderness all the way to glory, and you're
going to look around and there won't be one missing. And in
the meantime, as if that wasn't enough, God's going to provide
for all their physical needs, all their fleshly needs. He's
going to give them the ability to go out and get a job. He's
going to give them wives. He's going to give them husbands
and families. He's going to give them children. He's going to
give them food to eat. He's going to give them clothes
to wear. He's going to give them houses to live in. Oh, how good God
is to His people. We are a rich people. Oh, how rich we are. Materially,
we don't want for anything. I mean, come on, what do you
want for? We don't want for one thing. Spiritually, consider
what great things God's done for you. He's given you everything.
Everything. Made you perfect in Him. So in
light of that, consider these truths in your heart. Did you earn those things, or
God gave them to you freely? God gave them to you freely,
didn't He? Then how should we react to that? Let me give you
about three things. Number one, consider what great
things God's done for you, and don't you turn away from Him.
Don't you quit following Him. Verse 20, go back up a few verses
here. Verse 20, Samuel said unto the
people, fear not. You have done all this wickedness,
yet turn not aside from following the Lord. but you serve the Lord
with all your heart and turn ye not aside. If you turn aside,
he's the only God, if you turn aside from him, where are you
going to go? You're going to go to idolatry. Turn not aside,
for then you're going to go after vain things, which cannot profit
nor deliver, for they are vain. The Lord will not forsake his
people for his great namesake, because it pleased the Lord to
make you his people. You consider what great things
God's in all your sin, he'd never forsaken you. Don't you forsake
him. Number two, considering what
great things God's done for you, don't sin against the Lord and
forgetting to pray for his people, not caring for his people. Verse
23, moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I'll teach you the good
and the right way. Number three, considering all
the great things God's done for you, you reverence Him out of
a thankful heart. Verse 24, only fear the Lord
and serve Him in truth with all your heart. When you consider
what great things He's done for you, what else can you give? All right, fourthly, look at
Psalm 50. Consider this. There's no other Savior. Oh,
God's given a Savior of his people, but there's no other. Psalm 50
verse 22. Oh, how important this is for
us. Now consider this. Consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Now there is one Savior. Peter
said, neither is there salvation in any other. For there's none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. There's one Savior and He is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And there's just one gospel that
declares Him. There's just one. There aren't many different gospels.
There aren't many different variations of the gospel that, yeah, they
have differing doctrines. They disagree in doctrine, but
they're all saying the same thing. No, no, no, no. The Apostle Paul,
when he talked about other messages being preached and other Gospels,
he was careful to say, which is not another, not another,
because there's just one. I think it was in last week's
bulletin, there was an article by Brother Henry. We can't all
be right. When there's differences in doctrine,
somebody's wrong. There's just one Gospel. There
can only be one Gospel because there's just one Savior and that
Gospel declares Him. Now consider that. Consider the
truth. There's just one gospel. There's
just one message. There's just one Savior. How should I react to
that? I should be here to hear preached,
all the while praying, God give me faith to believe it. That's
how I should react to it. I need the Savior. I need to believe Him. I need
to be here to hear and pray, God give me faith to believe
it. Because there's just one way of salvation. There's just
one delivery. Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
way to God. He's not a way. He's the way
to God. There aren't many different ways
to the same place. There are not many different
ways to heaven. I know men love to say that. Well, you know,
you go your way and I'll go my way and we'll all meet in heaven.
Well, that sounds really sweet, doesn't it? Except what did God
say? They're one way. They're one way. Now consider
that. Then what should I do? Ask God
to put me in it. Seek to be in it. This is the
one way. It's the narrow way. It's the
straight way. It's the way of salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now don't be discouraged when
I say it's a narrow way. The way of salvation in Christ
is wide. Wide. It's wide enough for any
sinner who will come to God naked. It's wide enough for any sinner
to come to God bringing nothing with them to help God save them.
It's plenty wide enough for any sinner who needs Christ only. But it's too narrow for a sinner
to come bringing anything with them to God. Anything they can
contribute to their salvation, it's too narrow for that. So
just come as you are, naked and empty handed. The way is plenty
wide for a sinner who will come that way. Now consider this. How do we react to this gospel
truth? There's just one Savior. Well, we should be begging Him
to save us, shouldn't we? He said He's going to save His
people from their sin. Then we should be begging Him, Lord,
save me. I should be like that Syrophoenician
woman, come to His feet, and begging and refuse to leave that
place at His feet. Because He's the only Savior.
He's the only hope. He's the only deliverer. And
if we leave Him, David said, you consider this if you leave
Him. You consider this if you forget Him. there's no more offering
for sin. There's not another way for our
sin to be put away other than the blood of this Savior, the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. If my plea is, Lord save me,
Lord wash me. All right, fifth, look at Haggai. Haggai chapter one. It's right
before the book of Zechariah. If you got the authorized version,
it's page 1167. Actually, it's right before the
book of Zephaniah, but Zephaniah is so short, you might pass it
over. Haggai chapter one, right after the... I don't know here,
I've done it. Got in the wrong place. It is right before Zechariah.
Haggai chapter one, verse five. Number five, consider your ways. Don't just go about this and
never consider what you're doing, consider your ways. Haggai one,
verse five. Now therefore, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You've sown much and bring
in little. You eat, but you have not enough.
You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but
there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put it in a bag with holes. Now thus saith the Lord
of hosts, consider your ways. Now you and I need a Savior.
Now you consider your ways and see if that's true. We need a
Savior. Consider all the different ways
you tried to earn salvation. Consider all the different things
that you've done to try to put your soul at peace. Did they
work? No, they didn't, did they? Haggai
here says you sold much, but you brought in little. You eat,
but you're not filled. That's the motions of man's religion.
You went out there and sold a lot of seed money like the false
prophet told you to do. Made him rich. but you found
no salvation for your soul. You found no peace for your heart.
You went out and sold a lot of good works. You did a lot of
religious activity. You gave up a bunch of worldly
activity trying not to look like the people of the world, but
your nature is still like them. You find no peace for your heart.
You find no salvation for your soul. You eat a lot. You just eat up everything that
preacher tells you. But you're eating the husk of
man's religion. You're trying to go about to establish your
own righteousness, And man's religion and man's righteousness
will never give life to the soul or peace to the heart. So consider
your ways. This just irritates me to death.
People going about their life, making an utter ruin of their
life. And I want to shake them and say, wait a minute, stop. Consider this. Your way's not
working, is it? Then do something else. Your
way of salvation and peace to the heart didn't work, did it?
Then seek Christ. the bread of life and you'll
be full. You'll find salvation for your
soul, peace for your heart. Then Haggai says you drink, but
you're not filled with drink. You drink, but your thirst is
not quenched. And I can tell you why. Because you drink iniquity
like water. It never quenches your thirst.
So you're so thirsty, you go looking for religion. And religion
gives you a bunch of stuff to do. Religion gives you a bunch
of stuff to drink. You drink everything they tell you. Like
that poor woman in that cult is drinking everything the elders
told her. But she's still thirsty. Her soul wasn't satisfied. Now
consider your ways. Your way didn't work, did it?
Then what should you do? Run to Christ. Hold your finger
there and look over at John chapter 7. Run to Christ. Believing Christ is all it takes
to save your sorry soul, will satisfy your every longing. Believing
Him will quench your thirst. John chapter 7 verse 37. In that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Now, what on earth
does that mean? If I'm thirsty, let me come to
Christ and drink. It simply means this. Believing. It means believing. See, that's
not what he says. Verse 38. He that believeth on
me, as the scripture sayeth, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. Believing Christ is drinking
of him. And if you believe Christ, your
soul never thirst again. You'll never want for anything
that God requires. Then Haggai says, you clothe
you, but you're not warm. Now man knows inherently he's
spiritually naked. We know we need a covering. We
know we need a righteousness. And so what do we do? Well, we
try to make one, don't we? We try to make one of our own
obedience. And we try to cover our sin with all of our works.
But it doesn't work. It doesn't cover our nakedness
any more than Adam's fig leaves did. You know, Adam fell and
He and Eve saw they were naked, so they sold them aprons and
fig leaves to put on. But it didn't work. They still
felt naked. Their flesh was covered, but
they still felt naked, didn't they? That's why they hid in
the bushes when God came walking in the garden. Because they knew
they had no righteousness. There was no covering. They still
were full of sin. Their fig leaves may have covered
their flesh, but didn't cover their sin. And no matter how
many good religious things we do, We're still going to feel
naked. We're still going to know I've
got to do more. I don't have time to rest. So
consider your ways. Your way didn't work. So what
should you do? Run to Christ to be clothed in
His righteousness. And Christ's righteousness, Brother
Scott Richardson used to tell us, is not a pasted on righteousness. It's not a robe that just we
put on that still covers all the filth and shame of sin that's
still there. The robe's just hiding it. No,
Christ's righteousness makes His people not naked by taking
away all of their sin that caused the shame in the first place.
See, that's how they're not naked, by having their sin taken away.
They're made righteous in Christ. And if you run to Christ, you
beg Him to clothe you in His righteousness, you're not going
to be ashamed anymore. That's because you've got nothing to
be shamed of. He took your sin away. That's the covering. Oh,
now I can rest. Because Christ took my sin. What
a joy to rest in Him. Then Haggai says this, you earned
wages, but you're still broke. Because you earned those wages,
you put them in a bag, it's got a hole in it. You put them in a bucket,
it doesn't have any bottom in it. Oh, you're working, working, working,
working, working, working, working, working. No matter how much work
you do, no matter how much man's religion gives you to keep the
law and keep their brand of rules and regulations, you know, you're
still broke. You've got nothing to show for
it. There's no peace in your heart. There's no salvation for
your soul, no rest for your soul. And I can tell you exactly why
that's true. Our works can't give peace to all. Because our
works are sinful works. Oh, we're earning wages all right.
But what is the wages of sin? We're not earning life, we're
earning death. And listen, if we don't change our way, God's
going to pay that wage to the penny. He'll never short anybody. So consider your ways. Your way's
not working. Then what should you do? Come
to Christ. Can I tell you one more time?
Run to Christ. Flee to Him. He's already earned
salvation for His people. You don't have to earn anything
from Him. He gives it to you freely. For the wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now run to Him. If you run to
Him, you find Him, you'll have peace in your heart. You'll have
rest for your soul because you'll see there's no more work left
to do. And these other verses around this one tell us, consider
your ways regarding the worship of the Lord. Consider your time. They'd gone
back to Israel to rebuild the temple. You know what they did?
They rebuilt their house. And then they built them a vacation
house. And they hadn't rebuilt the temple
yet. And what the prophet's saying here is consider your time. Worship
the Lord with your time first. Then with whatever time you've
got left over, do what else you need to do. Consider your money. Give to the Lord first. Then
do whatever else you need to do with the rest of it. You build
the house of the Lord, for you build your own. That's just right. It's God's way. And that'll be
the way of happiness. All right, six, look at Matthew.
Chapter 20 or chapter six, Matthew chapter six. This is one of my Daughter Savannah's
very favorite verses, something she considers often. Consider
the lilies. Consider how the Lord provides.
Matthew 6, verse 28. Which of you by taking thought
can add one cubit to stature? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not,
neither do they spin. Yet I say unto you that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Why doesn't that just strike
your heart? Because we spend a whole lot of time considering,
what am I going to eat? What am I going to wear? Don't
we consider that? Now, listen to me. You've got
to be prudent. You've got to be prudent. Trusting
the Lord, believing the Lord doesn't mean you act like a fool.
No. You go out and work. You get a job and you go out
and work it every day, and you do a good job at it. You work
hard at it. Whatever it is your occupation is, whatever it is
you do in the office, in the field, in the plant, whatever
it is, you'd be the best one there. If you're one of God's
children, you'd be the best one there. And you earn a living. Don't you expect them to give
it to you. You earn it. Don't expect the Lord to provide
your food and your clothing and your shelter if you don't go
work. Now, if men don't work, don't they mean? That's what
Scripture says. But the Lord will provide. You go out and
work, you do what you're supposed to do, and you trust the Lord
will provide. That's his very name, Jehovah
Jireh. The Lord will provide. The Lord
provides food for the ravens. Aren't you better than a bird?
He gonna feed you. The Lord clothes the lilies of
the field, makes them more beautiful than Solomon in all of his glory. The Lord gonna clothe you? He
will. Now consider the lilies. How
should we conduct ourselves in this life? We consider that the
Lord provides for even the lilies of the field. Well, this is how
we should conduct ourselves by not putting excessive worry and
excessive thought into these things. You have to think about
these things. You have to take care of them. What the Lord's
teaching here is don't put excessive worry. Don't let it eat you up
with worry. Verse 30, Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of
the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast to the other,
shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore
take no thought, no anxious thought, saying, What shall we eat, or
what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father
knoweth ye have need of all these things. He knows everything,
he knows. So seek ye first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Consider these things that you
need, food and clothing and shelter, consider them in their proper
place. Remembering that we need spiritual
food and spiritual covering, clothing and spiritual shelter.
Those things are a whole lot more important We need God to
save us. A whole lot more than we need
in a car. We need God to forgive our sins.
A whole lot more than we need new clothes. So seek Christ first. With everything you've got, in
every situation you can think of, seek Christ first. Seek salvation
in Him first. Seek the forgiveness of your
sin in Christ first. Seek peace with God in Christ
first. And Lord, take care of the rest
of these things. If you can trust your eternal soul, your eternal
soul, soul is going to live forever somewhere. If you can trust that
to God, can you trust this temporary flesh to Him too? If you consider
who He is and who we are, we can. That's what we should do,
isn't it? All right, 7th John chapter 11. Consider how we need a substitute. John chapter 11, verse 47. Then gather the chief priests
and the Pharisees, the council, and said, what do we? For this
man doeth many miracles, and if we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him. And the Romans shall come and
take away both our place and our nation. See, all they're
concerned about is what directly affects them. I've got this place.
and society carved out my religion, and I can't lose it. I can't
do anything to lose it. I can't admit the truth, you know, if
it caused me to lose it. In verse 49, one of them named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them,
You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people, and that the
whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself,
but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus
should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but
that also he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. Caiaphas didn't know what he
was saying any more than Balaam's ass knew what he was saying.
But boy, he preached the gospel message right there, what Caiaphas
did. Consider this. Now consider it. Don't just follow
man's religion. Don't think that salvation is
your decision. Don't think salvation is in all
the ceremonies of religion. Don't think that salvation is
in that you attend the right place where the gospel is preached.
It's expedient for us. It's absolutely necessary for
us that a substitute die in our place. That's what Caiaphas is
saying. Now consider this. We're sinners. Our nature is a sin nature. And
with that nature, whatever comes from that nature, we cannot please
God. But can I earn a righteousness? Now, if you'll be honest, honest,
and consider yourself, you'll come to this conclusion. I need
a substitute. I need a substitute to die for
me and pay the sin death that I cannot pay. All right, then
consider this. That substitute can only be the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only suitable sacrifice. We need a man to be our representative,
don't we? We need a man to be our substitute.
A lamb can't do it. A ram can't do it. A bullet can't
do it. I need a man to be my substitute. But the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only perfect man. He has perfect, pure blood to
shed His payment for sin. My defiled blood can't pay for
Him. But the blood of Christ is pure,
sinless. That's what enables His blood
to cleanse us from all sin. And He's man, but He's also God. He's the God-man. Only Christ
the God-man can take His blood into the holiest of all and offer
it on the mercy seat before the Father as our High Priest. That's
what I need. That's the salvation that I need.
I can tell you what we'll do if we'll consider, I need Christ
to be my sacrifice. You know what we'll do? run to
him for salvation. All right. Hey, look at Galatians
chapter six. Consider that we should not be
judgmental of each other. We've got to make certain judgments
about what's right and what's wrong, what we should do, what
we shouldn't do. But we don't consider this. We should not
be critical of one another. Galatians 6 verse 1. Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fall, ye which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Believers are still in this flesh.
We still have that old nature, sinful nature that we're born
with, so we're very prone to sin. We're not going to be surprised
when we've fallen to sin, be overtaken in a fall. Now what
should we do when a brother does that? Falls into some sort of
sin or bad attitude or bad conduct? What should we do? Don't consider
him. The Word of God says consider
yourself. Consider yourself. Consider we
have the same sin nature. Consider we're guilty of the
same sin. And if we're guilty of the exact
same sin, we don't have room to look down our nose at him.
I can't say, I wouldn't do that when I've already done it. Consider
yourself. And considering ourselves, and
considering what Christ has done for us, considering what great
things God has done for you, will make us forgiving, will
make us understanding, will make us loving, and will enable us
to promote peace in the church. We're brothers overtaking in
the fall? Well, let's go to it. and say, let's look to Christ
together. Let's worship Him together. That
will fix our wagon. All right, then lastly, Hebrews
chapter 13. Well, the rain finally quit.
I thought I was going to get to preach for another 30, 45 minutes. As
long as it was raining, nobody was going to leave. But since
it quit, this will be our last point. Consider the gospel. that you
hear preached. Consider it. Think on it. See
if these things be so. Hebrews 13 verse 7. Remember
them which have the rule over you, who has spoken unto you
the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of
their conversation, the goal of their conversation. Now, the
pastor has the rule of the church, and that doesn't mean he's the
one making up the rules and enforcing the rules, make everybody follow
the rules. The word means leader. He's a leader. like a sergeant
leading his troops into battle under the direction of the captain,
under the direction of Christ, the captain of our salvation. And I say this as much as I can, not being self-serving. Remember your pastor. He needs
you. You pray for him. He needs your
prayers. And follow him as he follows Christ. Listen to his
message. Consider his message. Go to the
word of God and see if it be so and then believe it. Believe
the gospel and consider it. Think about it through the week.
Consider it prayerfully. I'm telling you, put some effort
into this thing. Why? Why is that so important? Because
this is the goal of our preaching. I can tell you this is the goal
of my preaching. I care nothing about making a
name for myself. I care nothing about getting
a following for myself. My heart's desire is that you
know Christ, that you believe Him, that you come to Him, that
you find everything you need in Him. The goal of our preaching
is you know and believe Christ. That's what the writer tells
us. This is the end. The goal of our conversation
is Jesus Christ. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. And that you be not carried about
with diverse, different, and strange doctrines, for it's a
good thing. that the heart be established
with grace. Not with meats, not with the ceremonies of religion,
not with touch not, taste not, handle not, which has not profited
them which have been occupied therein. But it'll profit us
if we know and we trust and we believe and we rest in Jesus
Christ. Was resting in Christ good enough
for Abraham? Was it good enough for David? Was it good enough
for Enoch? Then it'd be good enough for
you and me, because he's the same. yesterday, today, and forever. Let's bow together in prayer.
Our Father, how we thank you for your word. We're so thankful
that you haven't left us to our own devices, our own imagination,
but you've given us your very word to read and to study, to
consider. Father, we've looked into your
word this morning, seeking a word from you, seeking understanding,
seeking a blessing for our souls. Father, I pray you'd bless it.
Bless your word. Don't let your word return unto
you void, but we pray it would accomplish a purpose of mercy
and grace in the building up of your people that we consider
these things, that we consider Christ the apostle, the high
priest of our profession, and run to him to see his glory,
to see his sufficiency, to see his majesty, and to rest in him. Father, it's in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory, we ask that you bless your word.