Would you turn back to Hebrews
chapter three? And I would like for us, with
the help of the Lord, to focus on this word, consider. Consider. It means to perceive,
to observe. to understand, to fix the mind
on, to consider attentively, wouldn't it be a blessing if
you and I, by the grace of God, are enabled by His Spirit to
consider? That's what we're to do every
time we meet together, to consider. And he says, wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now what I want us to think about
first is who is it that is called upon to consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession. This is absolutely necessary
for me to be enabled to consider him. I'm gonna have to be, by
the grace of God, made a holy brethren. I'm going to have to
be a partaker of the heavenly calling. God's gonna have to
call me to do this. And I'm gonna have to have a
profession. That word's very important. I'm
going to have to have a profession. The word profession is the same
word translated confession in other places. Somebody says,
well, why do they call it profession one time and confession another
time? Well, there is a reason. A profession
has to do with the public nature of what we confess when we confess
the same thing. Confession has more to do with
what comes from our heart, like we confess our sins. We agree
with what God says with regard to our sins. But for someone
to truly consider the apostle and high priest of our profession,
that's Christ Jesus. He's the apostle. He's the sent
one. We're going to spend more time on that, Lord willing, next
week, what that means, the apostle of our profession, the high priest
of our profession. He's the one who represents us
to God. But for me to be enabled to truly
consider him, I must, by the grace of God, be made a holy
brother and a partaker of the heavenly calling. And I must
enter into this thing of Now these terms describe the believer. Somebody says, well, I'm afraid
I'm not a believer. Therefore, I don't need to listen.
Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. This is important
for everybody to hear. But I also want to say this,
an unbeliever lacks the spiritual ability to consider him. Let me show you this in the scripture.
Would you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2? Pray that the Lord will give
you the grace to consider Him. Everybody, by the grace of God,
make that prayer. Boys, girls, men, women. Ask the Lord to give you the
grace to consider, to fix your mind. Now look in verse 14 of
1 Corinthians chapter 2, but the natural man. Somebody says,
what's a natural man? It's the way you were born. That
simple, the way you were born. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. He doesn't have the ability to
know them. I would expect for a monkey to
understand calculus as quickly as I would for a natural man
to really understand the gospel. It's impossible. I have to be
given a spiritual mind to discern the things of the Spirit of God.
If I don't have a spiritual nature, I'm talking about being born
again, born from above, being given a new heart. I cannot possibly
understand the things of God, the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him,
neither indeed can he know them because they are spiritually
discerned. I have to have a spirit. Remember
Adam's spirit died in the garden, didn't it? In the day you eat
thereof, you'll surely die. He doesn't have a spirit. Only
someone who's born of the Spirit has this spiritual nature to
be able to consider, to understand the things of God. Verse 15.
But he that is spiritual judges or discerns all things. It's only the spiritual man that's
been born of the spirit that discerns what is being said. Yet he himself is discerned of
no man. No natural man understands a
spiritual man. They don't get it. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we,
every believer, we have the mind of Christ. Now this is what is
needed to be able to consider, as the apostle says, the high
priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. In John chapter eight,
the Lord said, why do you not understand my speech? Listen
to his answer. Even because you cannot, you
lack the ability to hear my word. He went on to say, he that's
of God, heareth God's words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. Listen to this scripture. First
Corinthians chapter one, verse 18, the preaching of the cross.
The message of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the gospel.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness. Foolishness. But unto them which
are saved, it's the power of God. Paul said we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block.
Unto the religious fellows, When they hear the gospel, they stumble
at it. They say, well, all that is is
a license to sin. If your works don't have anything
to do with your salvation, well, you're saying anything goes.
They stumble at that. To the Jews, it's a stumbling
block. Unto the Greeks, it's foolishness. How can this help
my life? How can this help me make the
world a better place? Just this message of Christ crucified,
being saved by what somebody else did. Why, that's foolishness. That's not helping me any. But
unto them which are called, there's the difference. But to them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
Christ, the wisdom of God. Now, I pray that God enables
each person here by saving grace to consider what's being said. And if he doesn't do that for
you, you will find this message either offensive or something
you're not interested in or do not understand. But I pray that
everybody here might be given ears to hear. If any man have ears to hear,
let him hear. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession. Now I'm not going to say much
about this because I'm going to spend a whole message on the
apostle of our profession and another message on the high priest
of our profession. Those things are so important,
but apostle means sent one. sent one. Who sent him? God did. Who is it that was sent? The Son of God. Why did he send
him? To be the high priest of our
profession. You need someone to represent
you before God. If someone doesn't represent
you before God, you're in trouble. I do. I have to have someone
taking my interest before the Father. I can't come on my own. Christ is that priest sent by
God for that purpose. But what I'd like you to do right
now is turn to Acts chapter seven. I've got a few things that the
scripture uses this word consider. Acts chapter seven. This comes from Stephen's message,
and he's talking about so many things that took place in the
Old Testament. But he says in Acts 7, verse 31. Let's back up to verse 30. And when
40 years were expired, There appeared to him, Moses,
in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, an angel of the Lord in a flame
of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he wondered
at the sight. What is this? A bush burning. and not being consumed. The flame
just kept going and going and going. Maybe he looked at it
for several hours and thought, what is this? Look what the scripture
says. And as he drew near to behold
it, that is the word consider, same word. As he drew near to
behold and consider it, the voice of the Lord came unto him." Now,
I want us, as the grace of God enables us to, to consider this
bush that burned with fire and was not consumed. God has called
in Deuteronomy 33 16, Him that dwelt in the midst of the bush. That gives us some idea of the
significance of this bush that kept burning and could not be
consumed. Now, in this simple, simple,
why would I call it simple? I don't know, it's glorious,
mysterious, I can't give a physical explanation for it. But in this
bush, we had a fire that kept burning and didn't need the energy
of the wood to keep the flame going. This speaks of something that's
independent of anything else. Who does that describe? The Lord Jesus Christ is God
independent. He has no needs outside of himself. And let me say real plainly what
that means. He doesn't need you. And do you
hear that? He does not need you. You need him. That fire did not need the energy
of that wood to keep the flame going. Consider that. Jesus Christ is
God independent. Me and you are completely dependent
on an independent God. He's God independent. That can
only describe God. He has no needs outside. Think
of how dependent you are for the next breath. Food, water,
shelter, people. We're dependent, all such dependent
beings. He's independent. And not only
is he God independent, that bush, could not be consumed by that
fire. What's that mean? Independent
God, Jesus Christ, could not be consumed by the wrath of God.
He consumed the wrath. He swallowed the wrath. Oh, what
to consider? I think of when fire came down
from heaven to consume the offering that Elijah offered up. Remember the scripture says the
fire came down and it consumed the ox that licked up the water,
the dust, the stones. After that fire fell down, nothing
was left. When the fire of God's wrath
fell down upon Christ, Christ wasn't consumed. He consumed
the fire. Consider this bush, is this Savior
able to save you? The one who is independent, who
has no needs, he's God Almighty, the one who actually consumed
the fire, so that God said, there's no fury in me. Is he able to save you? Consider. Turn to Luke 12. Verse 24. Let's back up to verse 22. And
he said unto his disciples, therefore I say unto you, take no thought
for your life, what you shall eat, neither for
the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat and
the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap,
which neither have storehouse nor barn. And God feeds them. How much more are you better
than fowls? Which of you, by worrying, can
add to his stature one cubit, can add one minute to his life.
Do you know if the time of your death's already been determined? You worry. What good does it
do? Everything's determined. Somebody
says that's fatalism. No, it's not, it's faith. It's
faith. We're not trusting fate, we're
trusting him who controls all things. Nothing to worry about. What about the Ravens? Are they
worrying? Are they trying to figure out
how to cover all their bases by building more barns and storehouses? No. God takes care of them. Are you not much better than
they? The consideration of the ravens
makes worrying both sinful and unreasonable. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Let's stay in that passage of
scripture, verse 27. Consider the lilies. How'd they
grow? They told not. Neither did they spin, trying
to make themselves a covering. They told not. Neither do they
spin. Yet I say unto you that Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed, was not clothed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass
which today is in the field and tomorrow's cast in the oven,
how much more will he not clothe you, O ye of little faith? Consider the lilies, how they
grow. They don't read self-help books
to figure out how to grow, do they? They grow by the power
and grace of God. They toil not, neither do they
spin. They don't try and produce their own clothing or covering,
and the Lord says, yet say I unto you that Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed, clothed like one of these. A man-made garment
can never clothe you like the garment of his making. The righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ. Wedding garment, spoken of in
Revelation 19, eight, fine and clean, that white garment, the
righteousness of the saints. What is the righteousness of
the saints? The righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's my righteousness. And I would think something that
I could make could equal his. You remember that parable in
Matthew chapter 22? the parable of the marriage feast
for the king's son. And at the end, the king comes
in and he spots a man there that didn't have a wedding garment
on. You see, the only wedding garment, the only way you can
get into heaven is through the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
being your personal righteousness before God. And the only way
you're gonna have his righteousness is if he gives it to you. And
if he gives it to you, you will. Here's how you're gonna know
he gave it to you. You're gonna rely on his righteousness as
the only righteousness you possess. Any righteousness that you could
work out It's no good. It's just no good. That man who
had his own wedding garment on, he was cast into outer darkness. Consider the lilies. Solemn in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these, and they didn't
work for their covering. God clothed them. On the cross, Christ made everybody
he died for perfectly righteous. Acts 10, or Acts 11. These are all things that you
and I should give the greatest consideration to. Now Peter is talking about the vision
that he had in Acts chapter 10. And he's telling the people,
the Jews, about what took place because they were upset with
him because he'd gone into the house of one who had been uncircumcised. He'd never been circumcised and
they were upset with him. And Peter says, upon the witch
when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered and saw four-footed
beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and
fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto
me, arise, Peter, slay and eat. But I said, not so, Lord, for
nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered my mouth.
But the voice answered me again from heaven, what God hath cleansed,
that call not thou common. And this was done three times,
and all were drawn up into heaven. Now, he said, I considered this.
I considered this, a sheep let down from heaven. And in that
sheet, there were all kinds of things that the law said, don't
eat. They're unclean. They're unclean. And then God
says, rise, Peter, kill them, eat them. Peter, not so. I've never eaten anything common
or unclean, and then the Lord made this statement, and this
is what I want us to consider. What God has cleansed, what God has cleansed, you know,
he never fails at what he does, does he? What God has cleansed,
don't you call common. Now, the two things that I want
us to consider All fleshly distinctions are gone. The Jews were upset
that he went in with the Gentiles. Let me remind you of this. Romans
chapter three, verse 23 says there's no difference. There's
no difference between me and you. There's no difference between
Jew and Gentile. There's no difference between
bond and free. There's no difference between male and female. There's
no difference between educated and uneducated. There's no difference
between black and white. No difference. Do you hear that? No difference. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. All fleshly distinctions
that any man makes, they're gone. They never were in the first
place. They're gone. Listen to this, what God has
cleansed, if he cleans you, you're clean. If you will, you can make me
clean, I will be thou clean. What God has cleansed, don't
you dare call, call him. Romans 4. That's something to consider,
isn't it? All fleshly distinctions, they're gone. There are none. There's no difference. Do you believe that? There's
no difference. And what God has cleansed, don't
you dare call common. Romans chapter 4, verse 19. It said of Abraham, being not
weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. Here's what he didn't consider,
himself. Now, there's all kinds of things
you can consider about yourself. I'm sinful, I'm under the, in the thing of faith, don't
consider yourself. You consider his ability. Just forget about
yourself. Don't think about yourself right
now. Don't, well, what about my experience? What about it?
Forget it. Ever think about yourself, forget
it. He considered not his own body,
now dead when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb, her inability to produce life. He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised,
he was able also to perform. Now there's what I'm to consider. His ability to save. Just forget about yourself. What
about His ability? That same One who spake the universe
into existence can speak life into your heart and give you
the grace to look to Christ only. Don't consider yourself. You're
not worth considering. I'm not worth considering. We're
all of us vanity and its best date. That's what we are. I love
that scripture in Psalm 62, men of low degree or vanity, men
of high degree. They're a lie to lay them both
together in the balances. They're all together, lighter
than vanity. That covers everybody in this room. Don't look at yourself. Carrick covers everybody outside
of this room too. Don't look at yourself. His ability. James chapter 1, consider his
ability. James chapter 1, verse 22. But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only. deceiving your own selves. If
I'm a hearer only, all I've done is deceive myself. What does
he mean by being a doer of the word? For if any man be a hearer of
the word and not a doer, he's like unto a man beholding his
natural face in a mirror. Don't miss that word natural.
He's like a man looking at himself in a mirror, seeing his natural
face in the mirror of the word of God. Now, if I look at my
face, my natural face in the mirror of the word of God, what
am I going to see? This is what I'm going to see
about myself. that every imagination of the
thoughts of my heart is only evil continually. That's what
I see if I see in the mirror of the word. Now, if I'm not
looking in the mirror of the word, I might not see that, but this is what
the word of God declares with regard to me. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. The heart is desperately
wicked, deceitful above all things. Who can know it? That's what
the mirror word shows me about my natural man. Amen. That's the truth. Now, let's
go and read. If any man be a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he's like a man beholding his natural face
in a glass, for he beholdeth himself and goes his way and
straightway forgets what manner of man he was. Now that one who
hears the word but doesn't do, he looks at his reflection in
the word and he goes his way and forgets. He forgets. You remember what
manner of man you are, you won't have anywhere to look but Christ,
but if you forget. But, verse 25, whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, oh, the gospel, and what continues
therein. He being not a forgetful here,
but a doer of the work, what is the work? This is the work of God. John
chapter six, verse 29. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. That's a doer of the work. He believes on him whom he hath
sent. He being not a forgetful hearer,
he didn't forget about what manner of man he was. He's a doer of
the work. He believes only on Christ. This
man shall be blessed in his deed. Matthew chapter seven. I've got
two more things that the Lord tells us to consider. Matthew
chapter seven. This passage of scripture may
be the most well-known verse in the Bible. Many people use
this thought. Judge not, don't you judge me.
Don't judge me. Judge not. I like what Tim James
once said. He said, what if your child was
engaging in some wicked legal activity and you confronted them
about it? And they said, judge not, won't
work well. That's not the way to use judge
not, but let's see what he means. Chapter seven, verse one, judge
not that you be not judged. If you judge somebody, you know
what they're gonna do? They're gonna judge you in return,
and they're gonna see every fault you have, and they'll even be
looking for more. If somebody is not judgmental
toward you, you'll like them. When they start judging you,
you see every fault, every flaw, and it's easy to see. But you
just overlook it. If they're not judging you, if
they have a merciful attitude toward you, if they're kind and
gracious toward you, they may have all kinds of things about
them. You just overlook it. They're fine. They don't judge
me. They're good guys. Judge not that you be not judged.
That's not saying if you judge someone, God's going to judge
you, because if that's the case, all of us will be in hell. I'm
looking at a bunch of real judgmental people, me beginning. So we shouldn't
be, but we are. And look what the Lord says,
for with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And with
what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the moat,
the little splinter that's in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not, there's the word, considerest not the beam, the log that's
in your own eye. If I would consider the log in
my eye, I wouldn't be worried about the splinter in yours,
would I? If I would consider the beam that's in my own eye, Well, I finally got rid of all
my beams, now I can see your splinters. Oh, no, you're just
blind as a bat if you think that. Actually, I heard a preacher
say the reason most Christians have a hard time confronting
other Christians about the sin in their lives is because they
feel unqualified because they have such sin in their lives.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I guess this preacher
thought he didn't have any, now I can help you out, no. Consider the beam in your own
eye, right now, right now. I love what Paul said in Romans
chapter two, verse one. He said, therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges, for you that judges doest. the same things. Now preacher, I'm not doing those
things. Do you expect me to believe God
or you? God says you are. God says you are. And for me to sit in judgment,
not considering the beam and moan I, But to sit in judgment
on somebody else is pure hypocrisy. Consider the beam in your eye. And if you can't see it, ask
the Lord to open your eyes so you can, because it's there.
It's there. Finally, Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 24, and let us consider one another. Let us consider one another. How? Let us consider one another
to provoke unto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting,
encouraging one another. And so much the more, as you
see the day approaching, consider one another to provoke unto love. Now let me tell you what that
means. That means the way I treat you, I ought to treat you in
a way when you know I'm not manipulating you to get something out of you.
I'm not being judgmental of you and harsh toward you. I'm giving
you the benefit of the doubt. I'm treating you in a loving
and gracious, non-manipulative, non-judgmental, merciful, kind,
gracious way. You know what you're gonna do?
You're gonna love me. Provoke to love and good works. Consider one
another to provoke that person to love you by the kind, non-judgmental,
non-manipulative, as soon as I think you're manipulating me
to get something out of me, to try to get me to do what you
want me to do, I'm going to pull back. I'm not going to like that. to treat you in such a way as
it provokes you to love me. Consider one another, to provoke,
to love, and to good works. Now, consider, consider that
bush that could not be consumed and had no need of the energy. Consider Christ Jesus, our Savior, Consider the ravens. They're
not working and God takes care of them. They have no need to
worry. Consider the lilies, how they're
clothed by the very righteousness and merits of Christ. Consider
what God has cleansed. It's not common. Don't consider your dead body. Don't forget but consider what
the mirror of the word says about your natural face. Don't fail to consider the beam
in your own eye at all times. And consider one another to provoke
to love and to good works. Consider. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that by your grace you would give us the grace to consider the apostle and the high priest
of our profession. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.