It's so good to see everyone.
Before I get in the message, I want to thank Brother Don and
Shelby and this church for your labor of love. And some of you
have been here the whole 40 years putting this conference on. And
I pray as he's met with us in the past that he would meet with
us this weekend. To think that what I'm getting
ready to do is what God has ordained. for the salvation of sinners
and the comfort of his people. Who in the world is sufficient
for these things? No man by himself, but God is
able. I'm glad he gathered us here.
I pray he speaks to us. Open your Bible to Hebrews chapter
11. I want to read several verses. Hebrews 11 verse 32. His brother Don was talking about
God's people facing trials, testings. And we have a list here of some
of the things that some of God's saints went through down through
the years. Says, what shall I more say for the time would fail me
to tell of Gideon and Barak of Samson and Jephthah and David?
Also in Samuel and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of the fire, escaped the edge
of the sword, out of weakness were made strong. waxed valiant
and flat, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received
their dead, raised to life again, and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance that they might obtain above the resurrection.
Others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, moreover of bonds
and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sewn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and
caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise, for
God having provided some better thing for us, that they without
us should not be made perfect. And wherefore, because of what
I've just read, seeing that we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight
in the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and the 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. And in
verse 3, for consider him. that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and fain in your
minds and just want to give up. You've not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Lord
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, they are your bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we've had fathers of our flesh which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But he does
it for our profit. that we might be partakers of
his holiness. Now no chastening for the present
seems to be joyous, but grievous. But nevertheless, afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and to them
which are exercised thereby. Paul here, by the spirit of God,
he sets forth our life. He describes it's like running
a race. In running a race, we must lay aside a lot of things
that would hinder us. Our biggest hindrance is ourself,
our unbelief. And as we run this race, there's
many things we must endure. You must face opposition, persecution,
and as we read here, we need patience as we run this race,
looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. So here from verse three, the
title of the message, let's consider him. Just for a few minutes. May God enable us to consider
his son. This word consider, I thought
this was kind of ironic. It's a mathematical term. It means to analyze, to form
a just and accurate estimation of what we are considering. Consider what he suffered. His whole life was one of suffering. It says here, consider him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
you be wearied and faint in your mind. Someone said he endured
from sinners such bitter hostility. Now you think about the hostility
that was against himself. He endured it. It began at his
birth, when there was no place for him in the end. They had
no room for him, and men still by nature have no room for him.
He suffered. He suffered. Herod sought to slay him, and
Mary and Joseph had to get him And you can imagine, we don't
know how old he was when they went to Egypt, but you imagine
taking a little child, a man and his wife, taking a child
to Egypt. Where are we going to live? Where are we going to
stay? Well, all these things going through their mind. He's
going through these things. He endured them as a man. You know, we know very little
about his, before he's 30 years old. We know he lived in Nazareth,
that hated place. But you know, as I studied the
message, there's a psalm that makes reference to this. It speaks
of his suffering even as a child. In Psalms chapter 88, verse 15,
now listen to this verse. I am afflicted and ready to die
from my youth up. While I suffer thy terrors, I
am distracted. Did our Lord say those things
when he lived upon this earth? No matter where he lived, they
hated him, they despised him. You know, they did even as a
child. We don't know, we just speculate. But he suffered his
whole life. And then after he started his
ministry, he endured one unbroken, relentless contradiction of sinners
against himself. Consider what he endured. As
I've already mentioned, he came out of Nazareth. Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? You know, it must have been a
pretty bad place to live. It had a name for there must not
have been much there, and that's where he lived. Well then, and
I looked it up again there in Luke chapter four, his ministry
just has begun, and he's gone out and doing miracles, and well
then he comes back to his hometown, to Nazareth, and you would think
those people would receive him, he was raised with them, but
they still didn't understand who he was, so they ask him to
stand up and read the scriptures. So he stands up and he reads
Isaiah, and he says, today this scripture's fulfilled in your
ears, and he sat down. But it says they rejoiced in
the glorious things he said then. But then he told them about election.
Two examples. And you know what they did? Now
listen, in Luke chapter 4, verse 28. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose
up and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow
of the hill whereon that city was built. And they would cast
him headlong. They wanted to cast him head
first off the cliff. They hated him. And he endured it. He endured
it. As I thought about this, and
I could be wrong, but I can't remember another place where
he went back to Nazareth. Imagine not being able to go
back home. Can't go back to Mary's house. Can't go back anymore. Why? They hate him. They hate
him. Despise him. Because he ate and
drank with sinners, they called him a wino. He's a winebibber. He cast out demons and they said
he does it by the spirit of Beelzebub. He was accused of deceiving the
people. Because he showed acts of kindness
and mercy on the Sabbath, they charged him with breaking the
law. He was a man of sorrows. and
acquainted with grief. Listen to Isaiah 53, verse three. He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. You notice there where it said
he endured such contradiction that were contradictions, such
contradictions, someone said it was so bitter, so severe,
so malicious, that everything which evil men and Satan could
invent, could even imagine, was cast upon him. Now consider him. Consider him
perfect, spotless, harmless, undefiled. And here's what's
amazing to me, he endured this contradiction of sinners against
himself and he opened not his mouth. Woulda said, hold on now,
you've gone too far. Not him. When he was reviled,
he reviled not again. He endured it. After he suffered his whole life, Now he will give himself over
to their wills and will allow them to do whatever they see
fit. In Luke chapter 23, verse 23,
and Pilate released unto them him that for sedition and murder
was cast into prison, Barabbas, whom they had desired. That's
who we would always desire. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. You wanna see what man's free
will is? There it is. Barnard said one
time, if God hadn't restrained them, they would have ate him.
That's exactly right. We're gonna do exactly what God
decreed to be done. We're gonna do exactly what we
want to do. And that's what they did. And
he endured it. his whole life, one of suffering,
but now consider him on the cross. It says there that looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. And while he was on the cross,
being made sin for us, he never wavered, he never murmured, and
he never complained. He endured it with such courage,
bravery of mind, and what patience he endured it. They came up and he's hanging
there and they said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. And they were saying the truth.
You know why he didn't save himself? To save us. If he be the king of Israel,
let him come down from the cross and we will believe him. No,
they wouldn't have. Then it says he's despising the shame. Let
me just read to you what Mr. Pink said on this. He said, we
seldom think of associating the word despising with the meek
and lowly Jesus. It's an ugly term, yet there
are things which deserve to be despised. Christ viewed these
things in their proper perspective. He saw things as they really
are. He said he regarded hardship, persecution, sufferings from
men as if it was nothing. He said he shamed the shame. Despising the shame. We can't even begin to imagine
the shame of the cross. Crucified between two thieves,
numbered with their transgressors. And it's not so much physical
sufferings. The scripture said he made his
soul an offering for sin. All we know is sin. He never sinned. And now he's
made sin. He's made sin. Explain that to
me. He was made sin. and endured it. The shame that
comes with sin, the guilt that comes with sin, the separation
from God that comes with sin, he endured it. He's the only one that could. And he did it all for the joy that was set before him. And when he had endured it all,
He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. He endured
it all, conquered death, hell, and the grave. He put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. And watch this in Hebrews 10
verse 12. But this man, this God man, this perfect man, after
he had offered one sacrifice, four sins, four ever, sat down
on the right hand of the throne of God. He finished it. He endured
it. He endured it. He endured it. If we have, as
we've tried to consider our Lord and all that he endured for the
salvation of his people. Now let me take a few minutes
and talk about our race. He said, unless you be wearied,
and faint in your mind, we need to consider Him. This is the life you live upon
this earth. The text speaks of growing weary
and growing faint. Do you ever feel that way? Oh,
yeah. We can even grow impatient. Compared
to what our Lord suffered, we ain't suffered much. I haven't,
and you may have. As I read there in the last part
of chapter 11, those people suffered. Most people were martyred. He
said, you've not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. It says in 2 Corinthians 4.17,
for our light afflictions, which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. Our afflictions
are light, and they are just for a moment. He won't leave his children alone.
They will all be taught of him. That's why I read that part about
chastisement. He teaches his children. Those
that are not his children, he just leaves them alone. But if
you're his child, he won't leave you alone. He will teach you
to trust him. He will teach you patience. He's
the only one that can. He sends these things for our
profit. So I want us to look just for
a few minutes. I want to use an illustration from the Old
Testament. I want you to turn to Joshua chapter six. While you're turning, I'll read
Hebrews 11 verse 30. By faith, the walls of Jericho
fell down after they were concomitant about for seven days. We have here in Joshua six a
picture of us taking the gospel into all the world. Joshua, their
Jesus, has led them into Canaan. Moses could not take them in.
The law could not take them in. And God raises up Joshua to lead
them into the promised land, the promised rest that was given
unto them. But in Canaan, it's going to
be a constant battle. Is that not your life? He sent
us into this world to preach the gospel to every creature.
So here in Jericho in Joshua chapter 6 verses 1 and 2, now
watch this. Now Jericho was straightly shut
up. That means it was they shut themselves
up and then they are being shut up. By shutting themselves up,
they are their own prisoners. Think about that. Being in religion
and so shut up, there's no way of escape. There's no way out. It is straightly shut up because
of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua,
God the Father said to the son, see, I have given into thine
hand three things. I've given into thy hand Jericho. I've given into thy hand the
king and the mighty men of valor in that city. I've given it into
your hands." And that's what he did. It's all in Christ's
hands. It is. There's no question of
the outcome here. Is this city gonna fall? It's
gonna fall because God the Father gave it to his son. When Christ
died, he earned the right over all things. He's Lord. He's king. So that's behold him as king.
Now look in verse three. The Lord is going to instruct
Joshua how to conquer Jericho. How to conquer this city that
is shut up? He said, and you shall come past
the city, all ye men of war. You shall go about it, the city,
once. Thou shalt do six days. And seven priests shall bear
before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh
day you shall come past the city seven times. And the priest shall
blow with the trumpet, and it shall come to pass that when
you make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear
the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a
great shout, and the walls of the city shall fall down flat,
and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. He instructs Joshua. And then
Joshua is going to instruct the people. Now think with me for
a minute. When the children of Israel had crossed Jordan, God
brought them in through that river. They burned every bridge
behind them. There's no going back. There's
no fortress in which they can find shelter. There's no house
from which they can retire. They are now in enemy territory,
completely exposed to the enemy. And their Joshua, their king,
their leader, their savior, instructs them about what they're to do.
You can imagine, what are we going to do? How are we going
to conquer this city? He's going to tell them. Now
watch this, verse 6. And Joshua the son of Nun called
the priest. And he said unto them, take up
the ark of the covenant, God's presence, let seven priests bear
seven trumpets of ram's horn before the ark of the Lord, going
before it, preaching, proclaiming the gospel. And he said unto
the people, pass on, and come past the city, and let him that
is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it shall come
to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven
priests, bearing the seven trumpets of ram's horn, passed on before
the Lord. And they blew with the trumpet,
and the ark of the covenant followed them. And the armed men went
before the priest that blew the trumpet, and the rearward came
after the ark, and the priest going on and blowing with the
trumpet." Now watch this. And Joshua had commanded the
people, saying, you shall not shout, nor make any noise with
your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth
until the day that I bid you to shout. Then you shall shout. This sounding of the trumpet,
and you picture When I think somebody estimated one time when
they came out of Egypt, they were probably about two million
people. And I checked one time, there's not two million people
in the whole state of West Virginia. And you imagine, they're all
going to march around the city. You've got your priest blowing
the trumpet, you've got the priest carrying the ark, and all the
other people are marching right behind them. Marching. And they can't utter a word.
This blowing of the trumpet, you know what it's doing? What
about those people in Jericho? This is going to strike terror.
Then why have they got the city shut up? They're terrified. Rahab
said, we've heard about your God. We've heard what your God
did to Pharaoh. We've heard what he done to the
kings on the other side of the river. We've heard of your God,
and we're terrified. The gospel strikes terror in
men's hearts when they're under the wrath and judgment of God.
They're terrified and they're shut up, no way out. But it strikes
comfort in the hearts of God's people. It's a savor of life
unto life to you. What does it sound to Rahab?
Man, that's good news. You know, she don't know how
this is all gonna play out and they don't know either. They
don't know either. Now listen, the Lord had given
Joshua assurance that the city of Jericho was given into his
hands and the walls would fall down. Yet when Joshua instructs
the priest and the mighty men, now watch this, did you notice
no mention was made of how many times they'd march around the
walls? They're just commanded to march and not speak. He never
told them. Why? Just like us, we have to
trust him. Remember, they asked our Lord
one day, said, when are you coming back? He said, there's nothing
for you to know. He knows. Consider him, as long
as he knows, everything's fine. What do we do? We just march. You imagine if I told you, and
if you knew beforehand, well, you're going to march one time
a day for six days. That's six times. And then on
the seventh day, you're going to do six more times, and then
one more time. That's 13 all together. You'd
have probably said, I march that many times? But he told them. He instructed them. Verse 11. So the ark of the Lord can pass
the city going about it once. And they came into the count.
and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the
morning. And the priest took up the ark of the Lord. And the
seven priests, bearing seven trumpets of ram's horns, before
the ark of the Lord, went on continually, and they blew with
the trumpets. And the army went before them,
but the rearward came after the ark, and the Lord and the priests
going on, and blowing with the trumpet. And the second day they
come past the city once and return to the camp. So they did six
days. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that they rose early about the dawning of the day. They're
not laying in the bed. They get up. We've been doing
this for six days. What about seven? We're getting
up early. But at the dawning of the day,
and they can pass the city after the same manner seven times.
Only on that day they can pass the city seven times. And it
came to pass on the seventh time when a priest blew the trumpet.
Joshua said unto the people, shout, and the Lord had given you the
city. Never fired a shot, never tried
to conquer the city, never tried to go against it, just marched,
just marched. And in verse 20, so the people
shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets, And it came
to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and
the people shouted with a great shout that the walls fell down
flat so that the people went up into the city. Everyone ran
straightway before him and took the city. Do you not picture
them marching around the city? This was their race to run. They
must look to Joshua. and consider him in all things. They trusted him. Lest they go
weary and faint. This was a trial of their faith,
for them to march with no other orders, but to march one time
a day and go back into the camp. They are subject to like passions
as well. If they were just like you, for
six days they apparently made fools of themselves before the
eyes of the Canaanites. I can see them going, what are
them idiots doing? What are they doing? What are
they doing blowing them trumpets for? Don't you know about the
seventh day? It's about to drive them crazy.
They're confused. Listen. And they did so without
making a sound. That's amazing. I said, when
are we going to do something else? Listen, now listen, six days
they did the same thing, repeating the same process, yet without
any divine intervention or the slightest outward sign of success. You see what I'm saying? That's
the thing. Outwardly, they didn't see anything. We want to see
something. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him. Had the walls come down, it said, by faith,
the walls came down. The walls are as firm as ever
they were. What was the use of making still
another journey around him when 12 times had produced no tangible
results? But they made no complaint. Nor
did they say it was a waste of time. Instead, they carried out their
orders. Here's what Mr. Pink said, and
it's blessed my heart. He said, this is the most remarkable
example of united obedience recorded in the scripture. If there was
that many people, that many me, and nobody opened their mouth, that's amazing. And what that
was, that was trust. What are you doing? Why are you doing that? That's
what the Lord told me to do. What's that man blowing that
trumpet? Well, that's what God told him to do. God said, go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. What's he told us to do? We know
what we're supposed to do. Preach the gospel. We'll leave this weekend. We'll
go back to our churches. You know what we'll do? Preach the
gospel. And if you can't preach, you support the man who does. The Lord was teaching Israel
to trust him and not the arm of the flesh. When he said, shout, the walls
fell flat. They didn't shout after the walls
fell. They shouted before. Someone
said it was faith's shout of conquest. Lord, give us grace to run the
race that is set before us. Looking unto you, the author
and the finisher of our faith, enable us to consider you. The
next time we get tired of marching and see nothing happening, consider
him. If you're here tonight and you
don't know him, I urge you to consider him. Amen.