I invite you to turn back with
me to the book of Hebrews. I want to look at these first
seven verses of Hebrews chapter three. The title of the message
this morning is Consider This. The more I study and read the
word of God, the more interested I get in words. I hated English
when I was in school. I just didn't like it. But now
I have an interest in it. I have an interest in it. What
does it mean to consider? The dictionary said it means
to deliberate upon. As a jury takes in the facts
and they go back in the back and they deliberate. They think
on what they've heard. They reason concerning what they
heard. It means to examine, to examine,
to regard or think about, to take into account, to make allowance for, and to
pay close attention. We're about to reason about something. And if I'm left to my own reasoning,
God's not gonna reason with me. And this is what Paul's telling
his kinsmen. They've been lied to. They've taken to themselves because
of their tradition. They've just accepted things
that their forefathers had told them that just weren't so. And
this is how they reasoned. This is how they reasoned about
the Christ. This is how they reasoned about
salvation. This is how they reasoned about
eternity. It was that old reasoning that
they'd had their whole lives. And then consider this. Who is the apostle writing to?
He's writing to the Hebrews. He's writing to his brethren,
his kinsmen, according to the flesh. These were a people rich
in the history of God, God's word. Who had God's word? The Jews. Nobody else. The Jews. They had God's covenants, God's
promises, God's prophets. Paul said they had a great advantage
over the rest of the world, Romans 3, 2. by many things, but cheaply
because unto them were committed the oracles of God. What in the world is an oracle? It's the place of utterance.
It's the place where God will commune with men. It was called
the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament. Let me read you something
here out of Exodus 25, verse 21. Thou shalt put the mercy seat
above the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony
that I shalt give thee. And there I will meet with thee,
I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between
the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all
things which I will give thee, in commandment unto the children
of Israel or the children of Jacob. It's the place where God will
commune with men. Where did he commune with men
in the Old Testament? Above that ark in the Holy of
Holies and through the priest, through the priest. In the New Testament, the word
oracles has to do with the spoken word. The spoken word. The Hebrews were a people unto
whom was given the spoken word of God in a place of God's own
design. And the greatest means of the
spoken word is Jesus Christ, which first began to be spoken
by our Lord. That's what it said in Hebrews
2. talking about this, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by our Lord. They had prophets, they had apostles,
and their words without controversy came from God. You know how you
knew a man was a prophet? This is what he told them in
the law. This is how you'll know if this man's my prophet. If
anything this man says don't come to pass, take him out and
stone him. He ain't my prophet. There's no controversy. Without
controversy, these prophets and apostles spoke the word of God
and they wrote the word of God. They had the prophets, they had
the apostles, and they had their words, which without controversy
were inspired of God. All scripture given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for doctrine, and for reproof, and
for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. But these Jews interpreted all
these things by human reasoning. Paul works his way down there
in Romans chapter three, and he said, what then? Are we better
than they? Are we better than these Gentiles
who only had the light of conscience and creation? We've got this
great advantage. Are we better than them? No,
he said, not in any wise. I had before proved that both
are all unseen. They interpreted all that they
heard and all that they read by human reasoning and logic. They reasoned that the Christ
would have an earthly father as did Moses and Abraham and
Elijah. They reasoned that the Christ
would be recognized by them and seek their approval. And so they
got together a committee. They called them the Sanhedrin.
Their job was to look for the Christ. They reasoned that he would not
lead his disciples to transgress their traditions. When the Christ
came, he would make his disciples follow their traditions. One
of the questions they asked our Lord, why do your disciples transgress
our traditions? They reasoned that he would not
associate himself with sinners. What made them reason these things? Natural superstitious logic. Paul said, before we prove, they're
all under sin. All under sin, none righteous.
Now listen, none that understandeth None that seeketh after God.
That was as true of the Jews as it was of the Gentiles. They reasoned that Christ would
reason like they do. Doesn't religion do that? They reasoned that salvation
was by works of righteousness. and according to their obedience
to the law. So contrary was their reasoning
to the Son of God that they accused him of having a devil. That's
how contrary, this is the Son of God, this is the truth, this
is the eternal word and he's standing before him and they
said this man has a devil. Huh? So contrary to these things. And Paul knew their way of thinking
and their way of reasoning and so he writes to them and he says
in Hebrews 3.1, wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
are you a Jew and has God called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light? Then quit thinking like those
who are not. You see where he's going with
this? Wherefore, holy brethren, partaker
of the heavenly calling, consider, let this enter into your reasoning. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. He's not just an apostle, he
is the apostle. When you look in the scriptures,
if it don't begin with the word, you're not gonna find that word
apostle capitalized very many times, but here it is. Christ
is the apostle and the high priest. Set aside all your thoughts and
reasoning, set aside all your principles and traditional understanding,
and consider everything in the light of him. Jesus Christ is
God come into the flesh. He is the eternal word through
whom God speaks. God has in these last days spoken
unto us by his son. The way that literally reads,
God has spoken to us in son. In son. That's how he speaks. That's how he communicates through
his son. Are you struggling to know the
truth? He is the truth. He is the truth. Anything you
wanna consider about the truth, consider it through Christ. He
is the truth. Are you struggling to know the
way? He said, I am the way. Are you struggling to understand
spiritual truth? We know, John said, that the
Son of God hath come and given to us an understanding. that
we may know Him that is true, that we're in Him that's true,
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Pause and consider. Both the
prophet David and the prophet Habakkuk, they're the only two
in all the Old Testament that use this word, selah. I'm told
that it's a musical term, and it means to pause. David was
the sweet psalmist of Israel, so I'll buy into that. This word is a musical term.
It means to pause, but it means much more than pause and consider. It means pause and consider him
who is the end. Who he's singing about? Who he's
prophesying about? Why is these Psalms being preserved? What are they saying? What do
the Proverbs teach? What's going on here? Pause and
consider him who is the end. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He's life everlasting, Russell.
He's all things. Christ is all. Don't consider
anything apart from Him. There's no understanding apart
from Christ. He is the Word. He is the Apostle and the High Priest. He's the
Evangelist. He's the Preacher. He's the Oracle
of God. Consider Him in all your reasoning. And several things here I want
us to see. First of all, we are to consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession. The apostle had
to do with the word of God being spoken to the people. The high
priest had to do with the demonstration of it. There's nothing to do with salvation
which was not demonstrated by the priest in the Old Testament.
He tells us that later on in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews
chapter nine details it. Details it. And I wanna show
you that as it's stated over in Romans chapter three. These
are verses that you know very well. I quote them all the time.
But in Romans 3, 24, it says, being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. When
did he set him forth as a propitiation? Way back yonder in the garden.
I killed that lamb, offered that blood. Way back yonder at Abel's
offering, he offered the lamb, offered the blood. All down through,
there was no communion with God, there was no forgiveness of sins,
there was no reconciliation apart from the blood of the lamb. God
sent him forth as the propitiation. through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation
through faith in his blood, that is, confidence that his death
is sufficient to put away your sin. And to declare by his death his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. That ain't
talking about your past sins. I'm talking about sins of Old
Testament believers back when God set this thing forth. They
saw Christ as the propitiation. And they saw God's righteousness
in the remission of their sins. Talking about the sins of men
freely justified in Old Testament times by the redemption set forth
by the high priest. And then turn with me to Hebrews
9. Let's look at a few things over here. Hebrews 9 and verse
6. He's talking about the old priesthood.
He's talking about the types, the figures. And he says in Hebrews
9, 6, when these things were thus ordained, the priest went
always into the first tabernacle, that is, into the first portion
of it. This is the portion where the
common priest could enter in and do daily service to God. They had to show bread, they
had to candlestick, they had to put oil in it, they had to
do all these things. There was service offered there
every day. These things were thus ordained.
The priest went always into the first tabernacle, the first portion,
accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went
the high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself in the heirs of the people. Now watch
this. The Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing, which was a figure, a likeness. for the time then
present, a way to demonstrate clearly the work of redemption
which the coming Redeemer would accomplish. And then he tells us back in
Romans 3 verse 26, he said, not only did he declare it to them,
but to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that
he might be just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Preaching The gospel, Paul said,
is in demonstration of the spirit and of power. It is to teach
these things clearly set before us in the scriptures. We compare
spiritual things with spiritual. And then secondly, consider the
apostle and high priest of our profession. What profession? What profession? What we profess
to believe. what we profess to believe. We're
built, Ephesians 2.20, upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
and our profession is that which our mind and heart believes and
our tongue confesses. It's what we've heard, what we've
heard. How are you going to call on
Him in whom you have not believed? How are you going to believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? It's that which brings confidence
to the mind and joy to the heart and peace to the soul. Our profession
is that which moves us and inspires us and keeps us going. It is the basis of our fellowship
and confession of a conscience cleared before God. Our profession,
that's what we're talking about. And the heart of our profession
is a person. He's an apostle and he's a priest. It's not a what, it's a whom. What do you believe? Be ready
always to give a reason for the hope that's in you. What do you
believe? I believe Christ. I believe on him, I believe in
him, I rest in him, he's all. Why should God save you? My hopes are in Christ. If I'm
not one for whom he came and lived and died and was raised
and intercedes in glory, I'm gone. I don't have any hope except
him. Except him. And this name is
a compound name. The heart of our profession is
a person, Christ Jesus. And this compound name describes
him. He is the Christ. He's the promised
redeemer. He's the seed of the woman. He's
a prophet like Moses. He's the righteous branch. He's
the root of Jesse. He's the seed of David. To him, it says, give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sin. And the name Jesus is
that of the person who came as was promised. He is the Christ. This is what these early apostles
preached to the Jews. They preached the virgin born.
Son of God, God come into the flesh, that eternal provision
promised of God. When he came, Daniel prophesied,
he'll finish the transgression. He'll make an end of sins. He'll
make reconciliation for the iniquity, and he'll bring in everlasting
righteousness, and he'll seal up the vision and the prophecy. There's nothing else to be seen.
Well, we don't need a new chapter in the Word of God. God said
it all. He said it all. When Christ came,
he finished up the vision. People talking about visions.
I got a vision. 100,000 of you send me $10,000
each. Uh-huh. Christ filled up the
vision. There's no vision. And he predestinated
that we be conformed to the image of his son. That image is not
talking about the image of a man or the image of a person. That
image is our image, how we think about God. That's what they're
talking about. And all that he predestinated,
he predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. We're
gonna know him as God has set him forth. That's what they're
talking about. He's not talking about you duplicating your life
after his life. You couldn't live his life. He's
the son of God. My soul, I can't have a single
thought without sin. This man did no sin. He's not
talking about you duplicating his life. He's talking about
you being conformed to that life that was manifested in Him, hoping
in Him, hanging on to Him, resting in Him. And you'll see it, He'll finish
the transgression and He'll make an end of sins and He'll make
reconciliation for iniquity and He'll bring in everlasting righteousness. Have you got a righteousness
apart from Christ? No way, no way. Jesus of Nazareth put away all
the sins of his people, every sin, every thought. Everything they ever said or
did, he put away. He presented them to his Father,
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight. He made an end
of sins. And sin still dwells in these
bodies, but Paul said in Romans 6-6, knowing this, our old man
is crucified with him. It's crucified with him. God
put him to death. He's already judged him. He's
already punished him. And he's already put him in the
grave. Knowing this, our old man was crucified with him. Jesus of Nazareth came as the
federal head and representative of his people, and he married
himself to our flesh, and he lived for us and died for us,
was raised for our justification, and we're seated with him right
now in heavenly places. He made reconciliation for iniquity. That is, he dealt with it as
only God can deal with it. He demanded a full satisfaction
for our sins in Jesus. Faded off. Isn't that what that
hymn writer wrote? Oh, what a subject to think about,
huh? Jesus faded off. What's that
mean? All to him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Sin must be righteously judged
and justice fully satisfied. We're reconciled, Colossians
121, in the body of his flesh through death. Why does God welcome
us into his presence? Why are we allowed, when nobody
else is, to boldly come into the presence of God himself? Because we've been reconciled.
Reconciled. We're reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death that we might be holy and unblameable. In total harmony with the character
of God and all of our sins put away. And Daniel also said that
this promised redeemer would bring in, he'd usher in everlasting
righteousness. My righteousness, if I'm a believer,
is a righteousness wrought out for me by my Savior. Of God, now listen to this, 1
Corinthians 1.30. Of him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, what? Righteousness. righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Paul said when he brings us,
there in Romans 3, he said when he brings us to the end of ourselves
and we sit there without any recourse, silent before God,
guilty before God, He said, now, he said, the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, his faithfulness, not yours, his faithfulness. And it's unto all and it's upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference between Jew
or Gentile, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. And the coming of Christ sealed
up the vision and prophecy. He's the object of it. To him
give all the prophets witness. When he came, he sealed up the
vision. What reason is there for another
vision? If you need more than what God
testified in this world, you don't know God. That is so. He is the prophet, he's the head
over all the church and he's the priest who entered into heaven
itself and obtained eternal redemption for us. Years ago I heard a story,
I can't remember who was preaching it, it might have been David
Edmondson, I can't remember, but he told a story about a very
wealthy man who had an only son. His wife had died, he was left
with his son and he raised him from a tiny boy. And he was a
collector of fine art. He was a wealthy man. Can't imagine how much money
this man had. And he'd go all over the world
and take his son with him and he'd buy up these Rembrandts
and Passerios and Picassos and all these famous artists. He'd buy up all these paintings.
And he and his son, they traveled all over the world collecting
these pieces of art. And then came the Vietnam conflict. And his son was of age and volunteered
for duty. And being valiant in his service,
he gave his life to save a fellow soldier. And the father mourned
the loss of his son. Oh, a long period of time went
by. He just mourned for his son.
He loved his son so. One day he heard a knock on the
door. When he opened it, there was a soldier standing out front
in uniform. He invited him in and sat down
with the grieving father and began to tell him something about
his son. Your son and I were dear friends,
and we'd talk often about your interest in art, and he had an
interest in art, and he said, and so do I. And we'd become
quick friends. And he'd talk often of him. And
I too liked to paint. He said, I like to paint. I love
art. And I know it's not much, but here's a painting that I
did of your son And I thought you might like to have it. And he took the canvas away that
it was covered with and old man looked at the sun and that was
him. Oh, he could see him. He could see him. Just brought
back memories. Well, after the man left, He
took down his most valuable painting, it was hanging over the fireplace,
he took it down and put up the sun. That was the title of the
painting, the sun. They put him up there to occupy
the best position in the house for his painting. And every day he'd walk in there
and he'd look at it. Years passed and the old man
finally died. The state was closed up, put
up for auction. And dealers from around the world,
hearing that he was dead and that they were going to have
an auction for this state, they all gathered there, paid tribute
to him and bought some of his paintings. And as the auction
began, the auctioneer took down the painting of his son first
and called for a bid. And he got nothing. Nobody in the house had any interest
in the painting except the old servant who'd taken care of his
son and took care of him. Finally, the servant said, I
have $10. He said, that's all I have. But
he said, I'll bid $10 on the painting. Nobody raised the bid. Slammed down the gavel. He said,
the painting's yours. And then he just gathered all
his papers up and he put them aside. After handing the painting over
to the servant, he said, well, this concludes the auction. And
everybody said, what? We traveled halfway around the
world to bid on these paintings. He said, I know. They said, what's
going on here? Something ain't right. Well, here's how the will is
written. He that gets the sun gets it
all. He gets it all. That's what Paul's
telling them here. You consider this. Don't you
be like your forefathers back there in the wilderness. Don't
you think you're gonna take God for granted? Don't you do this. If you hear today, if you hear
the Holy Ghost speaking, oh, bow down and listen. Bow down
and listen. Because he that gets the son,
he gets it all.