In the passage of Scripture I
just read, the writer to the Hebrews says, Consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
own mind. He's warning us about becoming
weary. and fainting. And the word is
literally loosening our grip, becoming loose, becoming lax. Now, the book of Hebrews is a
book filled with warnings. Let me show you some of them.
Warnings that I need to hear and I need to heed. The writer says, therefore, we
ought to give them more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Literally, let
them leak out. It scares me. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape? if we neglect so great salvation. What do you do when you neglect
something? You just don't do anything. You leave it alone. Look in chapter 3, verse 14.
For we are made partakers of Christ if We hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Chapter 4, verse 1. He says, Let us therefore fear,
lest a promise being left to us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. Verse 11, let us
labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief. Look in chapter 5, verse 11. Of whom we have many things to
say, speaking of Melchizedek, and hard to be uttered, seeing
you are dull of hearing. For when for the time you ought
to be teachers, you have neither one teach you again, which be
the first principles of the oracles of God. and are become such as
have need of milk, not of strong meat. Chapter 6, verse 11. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full shirts of hope unto
the end that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit Look in chapter 10, verse 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful to the And 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
one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Look in verse 29 of this same
chapter, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace. For we know
him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense,
saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. Look in verse 38 of this same
chapter. Now, the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. And then in our text, he speaks
of becoming weary and fainting, losing heart in your mind. To become weary, faint, to loosen
up, to loosen your grip. The Hebrews were under constant
attack for their faith in Christ. Look in chapter 10, verse 34.
For you had compassion of me in my bonds and took joyfully
the spoiling of your goods. They had authorities come and
confiscate their goods. What if you went home tonight?
And the authorities came and took away your car and took away
your property because you came to church here tonight. They
dealt with things like that. For you had compassion of me
and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
yourselves that you have in heaven a better and a more enduring
substance, cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great
respect of reward. And he bids them to consider
what Christ endured in the flesh. Now, would to God that you and
I would be enabled truly to consider him. Now, we're going to come
back to this verse at the end, but I want us to see what all
we're called upon to consider in considering him. Would you
turn to Hebrews chapter seven? Verse four. Now, consider how great this
man was. You'll notice the word was is
in italics put there by the translators. But this man is not a was, he's
an is. This is speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, This is a pre-incarnate appearance
of Christ, and I have no doubt that Melchizedek is the Lord
Jesus himself, because he brought bread and wine to Abraham, prefiguring
the Lord's table. Look in verse 1 of chapter 7,
it is Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God,
who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and
blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all. First,
being by interpretation, King of Righteousness. Who's the only
one that can be described as the King of Righteousness? The
Lord Jesus Christ. That goes to no man but Him. He is the King of Righteousness.
And after that, also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. He's the Prince of Peace. He made our peace with God. Now look at this description.
Without father. Without mother. Without descent. Having neither beginning of days. Nor end of life. but made like
unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." He's still
a priest. Now, you consider how great this
man. Turn to Hebrews 1. Now, lest you be weary, lest
you feel like giving up and fainting. You know, Paul said, be not weary
in well-doing. Lest you be weary, consider how
great He is. Look in Hebrews 1, verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days, been last days ever since
then, ever since the resurrection of our Lord, we've been living
in the last days. Now these last days have lasted
2,000 years, I realize that. That seems like a lot, but it's
not a drop in the bucket. These are the last days, and
our Lord soon will return. Now in these last days, he's
spoken to us by his Son. Now look at this description
of the Son of God, whom he hath appointed heir of all things. He's the heir. Everything is
going to him. By whom also he made the worlds. Jesus Christ is the creator.
He's the one who said, Light be, and light was. He's the one
who spake this world into existence. You know what that means? He's
God. What it says next. Who, verse
3, being the brightness of God's glory, and the express image
of His person. Now, this is how great Christ
is. All you're ever going to see
of God is Jesus Christ. He is the brightness of God's
glory, the sparkling of deity, the express image of the very
person of God. That's how great He is. Look
what it says next. And upholding all things, by
the word of His power. You know the reason you breathed
just now? It's because He willed it. And when it's His will, you're
going to stop breathing. You're in His hands right now. Everything is upheld by the Word
of His power. There's not a germ anywhere.
There's not anything that happens that He's not in complete control
of. He's sovereign because He's God. That's who He is. He upholds
all things by the Word of His power. You and I are in His hands
right now. He can do with us whatever He's
pleased to do. Is that a good place to be? He
upholds all things. By the word of His power, look
what it says next, and when He had by Himself, no aid, no preacher
aid, no help from me or you, when He had by Himself made the
purging of our sins possible, if we do something? No. When He had by Himself purged
our sins. Gone. When He said it is finished,
the salvation of the elect was accomplished. Salvation accomplished. Isn't that glorious? When He
by Himself, no help from us, purged our sins. Put them away! What did He do? He sat down because
His work was finished. Seated at the right hand of God. The place of all authority. Now,
you become weary. You become faint in your mind.
Consider how great He is. And how glorious that He has
been pleased to make Himself known to you. Isn't that amazing? And to be weary and faint in
walking with him. Look in Second Timothy, chapter
two. Paul says to Timothy. In verse
seven. Consider what I say. Now you
consider this. You give earnest thought to this. Think about it. Consider what
I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
I like the way Paul says this. Now, you can consider, but you
can't figure out and you can't understand it unless the Lord
gives you understanding. Now, this is true with regard to all
divine truth. We don't understand anything.
unless he makes himself known. And when he makes himself known,
we understand that. But he says, you consider the
Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember, verse eight,
that Jesus Christ of the seed of David. Now, Jesus Christ is
God. He's also man of the seed of
David. The God man, Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead. according to my
gospel. Now, that tells me that the son
of David died. Why did he die? Now, I want us
to always remember this. There's only one reason for death.
Sin. He died because sin was on him. And he died because he was guilty. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. That's the Word of God. My sin
became His sin. And He died. But He didn't stay dead. Because of the greatness and
excellency and dignity of His person, The Son of God made complete
satisfaction for sin. The sins of all who believed
became His. He was guilty of them. God's
wrath came down upon Him. But remember, hell is eternal because nobody
ever satisfies God. It's never enough of a payment.
I said this not long ago. If somebody murdered my daughter,
and said, well, here's a million dollars. Will that give you satisfaction?
No. Here's ten million dollars. Will that give you satisfaction?
No. I can never be satisfied unless she's raised from the
dead. Now, when Christ was raised from the dead, God said, I'm
satisfied with this sin payment. I'm completely satisfied. I need
nothing else. Remember, consider what I say.
Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead
according to my gospel. Now, this is my gospel. It's
God's gospel. It's the true gospel, but it's
my gospel. It's the gospel that's gospel
to me. This is good news to me, that Christ Jesus was raised
from the dead according to my gospel. Verse 9, wherein I suffer
trouble as an evildoer, even under bonds. You see, the world
has never been a friend of the gospel. The world has never had
any love for the gospel. Paul says, I'm suffering because
of what I stand for. He was always thrown into prison,
beat, ran from one place to another. But the word of God is not bound.
Isn't that glorious? You may bind me, Paul says, but
you can't bind the word of God. It's living and powerful and
sharper than any two edged sword, and it will do whatever God is
pleased for it to accomplish. Therefore, he says in verse 10,
I endure all things for the elect's sake. That they also may obtain
the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It's
a faithful saying that you consider this is a faithful saying. For
if we'd be dead with him. We shall also live with him.
Now, when Christ died, somebody else died. I did. I died with Him. I was in Him. I died with Him. But when He
was raised from the dead, somebody else was raised from the dead.
Every single one of His people. We shall also live with Him if
we suffer. We shall also reign with Him
if we deny Him. He also will deny us. And this is us, if we believe
not, yet he abides faithful. He cannot deny himself. You see, if I live with him,
that means I'm in him. If I died with him, I'm in him. If I was raised with him, I'm
in him. That means I'm one with him. That means when I falter under
my unbelief and my doubts and my weakness and my sinfulness,
He can't deny me. You know why? Because for Him
to deny me would be for Him to deny Himself. Because I'm one
with Him. And that's not going to happen.
If we believe not, He abides faithful. He looks at me and
he says, that's myself. That's every believer united
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand this. No, believe
it all together. Now, a consideration of the gospel. Loosen our grip on such a glorious
gospel. Becoming weary of it. Hebrews chapter three. Verse 1. Wherefore, holy brethren. That describes every believer.
I'm looking at some holy brethren. And I mean holy as God would
call holy. Not what men would call holy.
But what God would call holy. Partakers. of the heavenly calling. Consider, consider the apostle
and the high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now the apostle
simply means sent one. God sent him. Now consider this. God sent him. Why did he send
him? He said in John chapter 6 verse
38, I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. But raising up at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son." Now, what does it mean to see
the Son? I know this, you see that the
only reason God will look at you in favor is because of Him. You see that, you don't have
any question about that. You see Him as your salvation. Everyone that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him, half everlasting life, and
I'll raise him up at the last day." Now, that's what he was
sent to do. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save
his people from their sins. That's what he came to do, and
that's what he did. He's the apostle, and he's the
high priest of our confession. Now, what's a priest? Well, a priest is someone who
represents men to God. Now, he's the apostle and high
priest of our confession, or our profession. It's the same
word, profession, confession. What's our confession? What is
it that we confess? Hold your finger there, Hebrews
3, and turn back to Romans chapter 10. But what saitheth the word is
nigh thee, even in thy heart, thy mouth, and in thy heart that
is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
For with the heart man believeth under righteousness, with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation." Now, I'm confessing,
I'm confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's not an empty
title. That's not me just saying something
religious. That means he's the dictator. That means he's the
controller. That means me and you are in
his hands. That means our eternal destiny is not up to us. It's
up to him. I confess He's Lord, and He's
Lord of my life. I don't hate Him as Savior. No,
He's the Lord of my life. He's my Master. He's my Lord.
I confess that. And I confess that God raised
Him from the dead. That's not just talking about
believing that it happened. That means believing that God
raised Him from the dead because we really believe God's satisfied
with what He did. And we're satisfied with the
same thing God's satisfied with. Exactly. God's satisfied with
Christ. I am too. That's my confession. I confess with my mouth, the
Lord Jesus. I believe with my heart. He is
my righteousness before God. Now, that's our confession. And
Christ Jesus is the apostle. He's the sent one who gave us
what to believe, to confess. And he's the high priest of our
confession. And I love to think of the Lord
as being my high priest. Right now in heaven, he's representing
me. 1 John chapter 2, verse 1. Since these things have I written
unto you, that you sin not." Now what does he mean by that?
Exactly what he said. Make it, oh may I say this, may
it be the very desire of my heart, make it your ambition and your
goal and your purpose to never sin again. Sin is such a hateful
thing. It's against God. Make it your
purpose and your ambition to never sin again. To be perfectly obedient in all
things. These things have I written unto
you that you sin not. When you do. When you do. We have an advocate
with the Father. Our great high priest. He was my advocate before the
sin. He was my advocate during the
sin. And he's my advocate after the
sin. He never has stopped being my
advocate. He represents me before the Father. What a high priest he is. I ought not ever sin again. You
ought not ever sin again. When you do, we have this advocate
before the Father. And this lawyer, this priest,
whatever you want to call him, I love the fact that he's a lawyer
who does not do things like human lawyers, He makes all of his
clients plead guilty. And every single one of them
are justified. What a glorious lawyer he is. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. What a priest he is. Wherefore,
he's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Now, listen, you have this priest and you're always welcome to
him. You know, sometimes when we see him, we think, oh, well,
we can't go. Yeah, you can right now. We always
have this advocate. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
now loosen your grip of him. You consider how great he is,
the apostle and the high priest of our confession. Turn to Luke
chapter 12. You know, when we loosen our
grip of him, it's because we got too tight a grip of something
else. Isn't that so? Too tight a grip of something
else. We care about things that we really don't need to much
care for. Look in Luke chapter 12. Beginning in verse 27. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus, and he says, Consider. Consider. Now you think about
this. Consider the lilies. How they grow. They toil not. They spin not. And yet I say unto you that Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. You think
of their glorious clothing. If in God so clothed the grass
which today is and in the field and tomorrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall
eat or what ye shall drink, neither ye be ye of a doubtful Mind,
a mind of careful suspense, for all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. But your father knoweth that
you have need of these things, but rather seek ye the kingdom
of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear
not, little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give
you the kingdom. And that's the father's good
pleasure. Now, you consider the lilies, how they grow. You consider the ravens. Look up in verse 24. 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? Now, here's the point. Consider
his provision. Consider his provision. You have Christ as your food. You eat the living bread. You have Christ as your righteousness,
as your clothing, as your covering. You consider his provision. You
consider his provision materially. Has he ever let you down? No. You're going to have what
you need. But more gloriously, You have Christ as your food.
You have Christ as your clothing. Becoming weary and fainting when
we have such sure provision? You know, I always eat of Him,
and He always causes me to. And I always enclose with His
righteousness. Let me give you something not
to consider. Turn to Romans chapter 4. Now, God made a promise to Abraham. Abraham didn't have any children.
Sarah was barren, had already gone through menopause. It was
impossible for her and him to have children together. And God
promised, you're going to have descendants like the stars of
heaven and like the sand of the seashore. Now that's a promise
God made to him in Genesis chapter 15. Now let's pick up reading
in verse 19 of Romans. Now let's look in verse 18. Who
against hope believed in hope that he might become the father
of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall
thy seed be. And being not weak in faith,
he considered not his own body Now dead, when he was about 100
years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb, he didn't consider
himself. He didn't consider his weakness,
he didn't consider his old age, he didn't consider his inability.
Now, God tells me, don't consider yourself. You're not in this
equation. Don't consider your weakness,
don't consider your inability, don't consider your sinfulness.
He considered not his own body. Verse 20, he staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised,
he was able also to perform. I'm persuaded. I'm convinced. that all God has promised he's
able to I don't have anything to do with this, it doesn't have
anything to do with my deadness. It's his word. It's his promise. I'm
persuaded that he's able. I'm persuaded of him. I turn
to Hebrews chapter 10. Two more verses of scripture. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 23, here's some other people
to consider. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 23.
Don't consider yourself, consider him, consider his greatness,
consider him, don't consider yourself, that won't do anything
but discourage you. Verse 23, let us hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
to promise, and let us consider one another. And I love the language
to provoke unto love and to good works. And when I think of provoking,
if you provoke me, you know what that means? That means you're
getting on my nerves. That means you've done something
to offend me. That means you made me mad when
you provoked me. That's what you've done something
and that action has provoked, elicited a certain response from
me. That's the way we generally think of when we think of this
word. But he said, let's provoke one another, not to irritation,
but to love. What's that mean? I'm to treat
you in such a way that it provokes you to love me. Consider one another to provoke
unto love and to good works. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. You know, when he's talking about
leaving the gospel here, he's not just talking about missing
church every now and then. He's talking about leaving the
gospel, forsaking the assembly of the saints. I tell you, when we miss, The Lord's here,
and it's discouraging for people to see people who miss. It's
just discouraging. Because the Lord's here, don't
you care any more than that? The Lord's here. Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together. Well, it doesn't matter. Yeah,
it does. Yeah, it does. You know, I think it's, you know,
I don't stay home, ever. Somebody says, you're the preacher.
So what? So what? You've got just as much reason
to be here as I do, don't you? Not forsaking, dissembling yourselves
together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another,
encouraging one another and so on, being an encouragement. Hebrews
chapter 12, our text, this is the last scripture we'll look
at. He talked about verse 2, looking
unto Jesus. We considered that last week,
looking unto Jesus. The author, the source and the
finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before him. The joy of doing his father's
will, the joy of glorifying his father, the joy of saving his
people. For that joy that was set before
him, he endured the cross. And you look what he endured.
He endured the cross. Despising the shame, and that
lets us know something about what the cross means. He was
ashamed on the cross. My sin so truly became his sin
that he was ashamed of it. He was ashamed before his father.
That's so beyond our comprehension. He was ashamed. What my Lord
endured for me. He took the shame of my sin and
they became his and he bore the shame and the guilt and the humiliation
of them before his father. For the joy that was set before
him. The joy of doing his father's will, the joy of saving me. And he sat down on the right
hand of the throne of God, for consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself. You know, I think of
the constant slander he dealt with. You know, they called the
Lord a gluttonous man and a wine vipper, a drunk, the friend of
publicans and sinners. constant persecution throughout
his life. He would provoke the rage of
his audience by what he said. He said, if they hated me, they'll
hate you. Turn with me for a moment to
John 15. I want you to see this, John 15. Verse 17, these things I command
you, that you love one another. If the world hate you, You know
that it hated me before it hated you. John 15, verse 19. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you're not of the
world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant's
not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they'll
also persecute you. And if they've kept my saying,
they'll keep yours also. But all these things will they
do unto you for my name's sake, because they have not They don't
know him that sent me. Now, you think of what he endured.
Should you endure any less? The world hated him. Why should
you expect the love of the world? If you confess him, you won't
have it. The question that comes to my
mind, he says, you consider him that endured such contradiction,
sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint and
lose heart in your mind. And then he says, you haven't
resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You should, but
you haven't. I don't see anybody in here that
has. In other words, I should. Scares me to say this, but I
ought to choose death over sin. I'd choose to be put to death
rather than to sin against my God. He said, none of you fellows
have done that. You've not resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. But here's the question I'm asking. In considering of the Lord, in
consideration of the Lord Jesus Christ, how is it possible that
you and I can grow weary and faint regarding him? I can answer that question. The
Lord went into the garden of Gethsemane, and He brought James
and John and Peter with Him. And He said, Pray that you enter
not into temptation. Come with Me in this My hour.
And He withdrew from them and began to pray. And you know that
prayer, Father, if it be My will, let this cup pass from Me. And
He comes back to Peter and James and John. You know what they
were doing? They were asleep. You know, that's I always remember
that whenever I watch somebody sleeping while I'm preaching,
that's always an encouragement to me because they slept at the
Lord. So what makes me think they won't
sleep when I'm preaching? Don't take yourself too seriously. He said, what? Couldn't you watch
one hour with me? He goes back again and prays,
comes back again. They fall asleep again. You know
what the Lord said? The spirit is willing. The flesh
is weak. And we have something called
weak flesh that grows weary and faints. What keeps us from it? Considering Him. May the Lord enable us not only
to look to Him. That's enough. But also to consider
him. Let's be we be weary and faint
in our own minds, and I tell you, you consider. You consider how great this man
is and he made himself known to you. You consider him as the apostle
and the high priest of your confession. You consider his salvation. You
consider his gospel. And in doing that, although you
have this flesh that will grow weary, it won't in considering
him. May God enable us to do that.
Let's pray together.