Well, if you would, open your
Bibles. We're going to begin Hebrews chapter 3. We'll look
at a number of scriptures this evening. I titled the message,
Consider These Things. Consider These Things. Let me,
before I get started, tell you, I got carried away talking to
Tom about how thankful I am to be here. Your friendship and
fellowship over the years has been something I greatly appreciate
and treasure. I'm humbled and honored to be
asked to come and preach the gospel of God's free and sovereign
grace to his people. I pray the Lord will bless us.
And as I said, I want us to consider these things. I want us to take
the time this evening to consider some gospel truths. I don't want us to just think,
yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard that before, and go out those
doors and forget what we've heard before we hit the street. I want
us to be, by God's grace, be able to consider these things
in our heart, to take them with us and consider the great truths
of the gospel, the great truths of salvation in our Lord Jesus
Christ, that it might cause us to fall at his feet in worship.
I don't want us to just blindly accept the things that we hear
preached. I want us to consider these things and think about
what we're doing so we worship God willingly and we worship
him with some God-given faith and some God-given understanding.
Consider these things. Now, that was God's charge against
Israel. In Isaiah chapter one, verse three, the ox knoweth his
owner, and they asked his master's crib, but my people doth not
know. They do not consider. So I don't
want us to be guilty of that. I want us to consider eight gospel
truths this evening. I want us to consider these things
and consider all things in the light of Christ our Savior. The
apostle or the writer here in Hebrews 3 says, wherefore, holy
brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider. Consider the
apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus. I want us to consider these things
in the light of who Christ is. And we're gonna take these in
the order that they're presented in scripture. So look first at
Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter four. Consider that God is the
only God. There's just one God, one true
and living God. Deuteronomy chapter four, verse
39. Know therefore this day, and
consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God. In heaven
above and upon the earth beneath, there is none else." And God
made sure to tell His people, He's the only God. And look what
He's done for His people. Go back up to verse 35. Unto
thee it was showed, that thou mightest know, that the Lord,
he is God. There is none else beside him.
Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might
instruct thee. And upon earth he showed thee
his great fire, and thou heardest his words out of the midst of
the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose
their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his
mighty power out of Egypt. to drive out the nations from
before thee, greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee
in, to give thee their land for an inheritance as it is this
day. Now, know therefore this day,
consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, he is God. He is God
alone. There's one God. He's clothed
with honor and majesty. Now consider him. Consider who
he is in his glory. God is to be approached with
great care, with great care. We come in prayer, we come before
our heavenly Father, but don't ever forget, we're coming before
the God of the universe. God, he's to be approached carefully,
reverently. He's to be approached the way
he said to come to him in the Lord Jesus Christ, only pleading
his merit. God must be bowed to and worshiped
because he's God. God's to be worshiped. There
is no other object of worship anywhere, because there's just
one God. He's the sole object of our worship. Now consider this. Worship, going
through the motions of religion, that is not the worship of Almighty
God, it's idolatry. Now that's how serious this matter
is. Consider this. Oh, may God be pleased to cause
us to worship him, to give us a heart of worship. And then
consider God's the creator. He rules heaven above and earth
beneath. He is sovereign over all things.
He does as He pleases in His creation. And it's just right
that He does, isn't it? Because He's God. He owns it.
He's the creator. Heaven is His dwelling place
and earth is His footstool. Now consider Him. Consider who
He is. We don't decide to let that God
do anything, do we? We don't decide to let him save
us. No, he's the sovereign. Consider who he is. If he's the
sovereign, where does that leave you and me? Begging him for mercy,
begging him to save us. And consider this, since there
isn't any other God, there isn't anyone else who can save us. So we must come to him and beg
him to save us. And then consider this, in all
your dealings with God, remember this. Don't be too quick to talk
back to him and question him when he does something that hurts
our flesh, because he will. He will. We won't understand
it, but he's gonna do it, and it's gonna be right. We need
to remember this. God's in heaven, and we're upon
the earth. Let our words be few, let them
be few. That is the only right reference
we'll have if we consider that God is the only God. All right,
secondly, look at Deuteronomy chapter 32. Consider God's election
of a people to save. I love to preach about, I love
to think about, I love to talk about, I love to sing about God's
electing love. Deuteronomy 32 verse seven. Remember the days of old. Consider
the years of many generations. Ask thy father and he will show
thee, thy elders and they will tell thee. Now you just consider
how God has done things throughout all of the ages. How is it that
God has always saved his people? Well, we'd be wise to ask somebody
who knows, wouldn't we? Somebody older and wiser than
us, ask them. Ask this pastor, ask him. How
is it God saves sinners? Ask God's Word. Do you know it's
fair to ask questions of God's Word? How is it that God saves
sinners? If God's got, He's gonna tell us, this is how He's gonna
do it. This is God's Word? Ask God's Word. How is it God
saves sinners? Want me to tell you what it'll
tell you? God elected a sinful people to save. A people who
did not deserve the least of His mercies, but God chose to
save those people anyway. He chose them. He reached down,
he separated them out of the lump of Adam's fallen humanity.
And he led them everywhere they went. He protected them and preserved
them everywhere they went, all their lives long, because he
was pleased to make them his people. Look up here at verse
eight, or next verse, down at verse eight, chapter 32 of Deuteronomy. When the Most High divided to
the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of
Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number
of the children of Israel. For the Lord's portion is his
people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in
a desert land, in a waste-howling wilderness. He led him about,
he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an
eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord
alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him."
That's what God's done for his people. He chose them, and he
called them out, preserved them, and protected them, and brought
them to his Son. Now consider the truth of God's
election of a people. I defy anyone to read this book
and deny the truth of election. It can't be done. There are too
many scripture references for us to read tonight, but let me
give you one. Hold your place here. Look over
at John chapter 15. I'm going to give you one that will bribe
this point to the wall. Brother Henry told me one time
in preaching, take every point you've got and bribe it to the
wall with a scripture. Here it is. John 15 verse 16.
You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you. And ordains you that
you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should
remain. That whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name,
he may give it to you. You've not chosen me, I've chosen
you. That puts an end to the discussion,
doesn't it? Why is it, and I'll give you an illustration of that.
Why is it that the Lord saved Saul of Tarsus? One reason. He said, you go down there to
him. He's a chosen vessel unto me. That's why he saved him.
Now, if you know the Lord, you consider this. Why do you know
him? Why do you know the Lord? Did
you choose him or did he choose you first? Which is it? Now,
I know every one of God's people, I do. I choose the Lord, I do. But Romans, because he chose
me first. I do, I love him. Now, who loved who first? I do,
I love him. Oh, I love him. I wish I loved
him like I should. Wish I loved him like he's worthy.
I do love him, but it's only because he loved me first. See,
salvation always begins with the Lord acting first and us
reacting to his sovereign, electing, saving grace. No, we did not
choose Jesus as our personal savior. He gave us faith to believe
him, didn't we? So then now we can't not believe
him. That's God's saving grace. That's God saving us against
our will with our full consent. That's exactly what that is.
And I know the flesh is always gonna rebel against that. The
flesh always will. The flesh cannot believe God.
The flesh will not believe God. The flesh will not bow to God.
But the sinner, saved by God's electing grace, will love it. Look at verse two here, Deuteronomy
32. God's people will say, this is
right. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall
distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and
as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish the name
of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto our God, He is the rock. His work is perfect. For all
His ways are judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity. Just and right is He. That's what God's people say
when they consider this great truth of God's electing love.
Just and right is He. All right, thirdly, look at 1
Samuel chapter 12. I want us to consider what great
things God has done for his people. 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 24. Only fear the Lord and serve
him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things
he hath done for you. Oh, consider what great things
God's done for you. Well, what is it that God's done
for his people? Absolutely everything. He'd done it all. God set his
love on those people in eternity. He chose to save them. And then
he sent his son and he saved them. He determined to do it
in eternity and he sent his son to accomplish it in time by his
righteousness, by the sacrifice of his son. Then God, the Holy
Spirit comes to those people and he gives them faith. He gives
them life in the new birth. And God keeps them and preserves
them. God feeds his people with his
gospel. He doesn't leave them alone.
He leads them every step of their lives. And when he sends trial
and heartache and trouble their way, he's the one who's there
in every trial and every heartache and every trouble to comfort
the hearts of his people and eventually to deliver them. And
God will bring them all the way to glory and never lose one. Oh, what great things God's done
for his people. And this matter of glorification
is so sure, when the apostle Paul wrote about it in Romans
chapter eight, he wrote about in the past tense, didn't he?
Brethren, it's done. What great things God has done
for us. And as if that weren't enough,
in the meantime, God provides for all the physical, material
needs of his people. He gives them the ability to
go out and get them a job. He gives them families, husbands
and wives and children. He gives them food to eat, clothes
to wear and shelter to live in. Oh, how good God is to his people. Hadn't he just blessed us just
wildly, richly how he blessed his people. All right, now consider
these things in your heart. Did you earn those things or
did God give them to you freely? He gave to you freely, didn't
he? Just because he would. Well, that being true, then consider,
how is it that we should react? How is it we should live our
lives considering what great things God's done for us? Well,
look back at verse 20. Here's what we should do. Don't
turn away from the Lord. Don't quit following him. Don't
give up your steadfastness. Verse 20, and Samuel said unto
the people, fear not. Ye have done all this wickedness,
yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord
with all your heart. And turn ye not aside, for then
should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver,
for they're vain. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great namesake. It's not because we're so good,
but because of his great namesake, he'll not forget his people,
because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. When
I consider it's pleased the Lord to make me His child, I'm determined
I'm not going to turn away from Him. I'm going to keep following
Him, serving Him. Secondly, we consider what great
things God's done for us. Let's not sin against the Lord
and not care for His people. Verse 23. Moreover, as for me,
God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to
pray for you, but I'll teach you the good and the right way. That's a sin against God to not
care for his people, to not pray for them. God forbid we do that.
After everything he's done for us, how can we not love his people?
And then thirdly, considering what great things God's done
for us. Let's live in fear of the Lord, in reverence of the
Lord, and serve him out of a thankful heart. Verse 24, only fear the
Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart. Why? For consider
how great things he hath done for you. Oh, what great things
God's done for his people. All right, fourthly, look at
Psalm 50. Consider this. There is no other savior. There's
no other savior, Psalm 50, verse 22. Now consider this, ye that forget
God, lest I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver. Acts four, verse 12 says, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, just one name.
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's just one Savior, and
there's just one gospel that declares that Savior, just one. If there's only one Savior, there
can only be one gospel. There are many different gospels.
There are not many different variations that all say the same
thing, no. When the Apostle Paul talked
about these other messages, these other gospels, he said, which
is not another. It's not another. There can't
be any other gospel. Recently in our bulletin, I put
an article by Brother Henry that said we can't all be right. Can't
be. I mean, when there's these differences
in doctrine, brethren, somebody's wrong. Somebody's wrong. Now we can disagree over little
minor things. I'm talking here about the pillars
of the gospel, the pillars of salvation. We all can't be right. So consider this. How is it we
should react to this truth, that there's just one gospel? I can
tell you how we should react. Be where it's preached. Be where
it's preached. And listen, be there prayerfully. Be there asking God to give us
faith to believe it. It's too important to miss. It's
too important to miss. I need to hear it. I need to
believe it because I need Christ. And the only way I want to hear
of him is through the preaching of this gospel. Because there's
just one way of salvation. There's just one gospel, there's
just one way of salvation. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the way to God. Just like there are not many
different Gospels, there are not many different ways to the
same place. There are not many different
ways to heaven. I used to work with a man, and
it was right before I was leaving there at that warehouse to go
be the pastor. Everybody found out I was leaving
to be the pastor. You wouldn't believe the religious
conversations I had in my office. And I was the guy, you know,
taking care of all the money and different things. And that's
all that was discussed in my office for all the years until
they found out, oh, Frank's a preacher. He came to him. We had customers
from all over the world, people who immigrated to this country.
They'd start up convenience stores. Just every different country
you can think of. We had Arabs and Russians and just, I mean,
everybody. And he said, you know, all these
customers we got all got these different religions, but we're
all gonna go and meet in the same place. Cause just what I'm
saying here, he said, there are many different ways, many different
roads to the same place to heaven. I said, no, they're not. And
I quoted scripture to him. That's the last conversation
I ever had with that man. Last one. Brethren, there's just one way,
but thank God there's a way. Thank God there's a way. This
way of salvation, it's a narrow way. It's a straight way, but
it's wide enough for any sinner. He'll come to God naked. It's
plenty wide enough if you're a sinner and need saving. It's
wide. Come to God in Christ. Come to
God naked. Come to Him without anything
you're bringing to make Him happy with you. Come in Christ alone,
and the way's plenty wide. But that way is too narrow for
any sinner to come bringing something to help God save me. Too narrow
for that, you won't fit. Now consider this. How is it
we should react to this gospel truth? There's just one Savior.
It seemed pretty obvious to me we ought to come to Him begging
Him, Lord, save me. You said you saved sinners. Would
you save me? You said you saved the chief
of sinners. I qualify. Will you save me?
Would you save me? We should follow at his feet
and never leave his feet because there's not another place. There's
no hope found any place else. If we would leave Christ, there's
no more offering for sin. There isn't any other way for
our sin to be washed away other than the blood of Christ. Then
God help us to stay at his feet, begging him to save us. All right,
fifthly, look at Haggai chapter one. If you've got the authorized
version, as Brother Charlie Payne used to say, it's page 1167.
It's right before the book of Zechariah. Fifthly, consider your ways. Consider your ways. Haggai one,
verse five. Now therefore, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. You've sown much and you
bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough.
You drink, but you're not filled with drink. You clothe you, but
there's none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth
wages to put it in a bag with holes. Now thus saith the Lord
of hosts, consider your ways. Now you and I need a savior.
Now everybody, everywhere knows that's true. Every, I mean, it's
just in the nature of man to know I'm separated from God and
something's gotta be done to reconcile me to him. You and
I need a savior. Now consider your ways and see
if that's not true. Consider all the ways that you
tried to earn salvation. Consider all the ways that you
tried to put your soul at peace. Did they work? No, they did not. Hey, guy says you sowed much.
but you brought in little. You eat, but you're not filled.
You sowed a lot of seed money, like that false prophet told
you to do. You made him rich, but you got no peace. You got
no salvation. You got no rest for your soul.
You went out and sowed a lot of good works. You went through
a whole lot of religious activity. And you gave up a whole lot of
worldly activities. So you didn't look like the world.
You thought if you give up the pleasures of the sinful flesh,
somehow you'll find peace for your soul, and it didn't work.
because it couldn't save you. Eating the husk of man's religion,
going about trying to earn righteousness by our works will not give life
to the soul and it won't give peace to the heart. Now consider
your ways. Your way didn't work, did it?
Then what should you do? Seek Christ, the bread of life.
He'll fill you. He'll fill you. You come to him,
believe him, and you'll be full. You'll have salvation for your
soul. You'll have peace for your heart. Then Haggai says you drank,
but you're not filled with drink. You drank, but your thirst is
not quenched. And I'll tell you why our thirst is not quenched.
It's because we drink iniquity like water, and it can't satisfy
us. The more we drink of that, the
more thirsty we get. The more you look to your religion,
the more you try to drink in man's religion, the thirstier
you'll get, just like drinking salt water. Your soul cannot
be satisfied. Your thirst can't be quenched.
Well, now consider your ways. Your way didn't work, did it?
Then what should you do? Run to Christ as fast as you
can. flee to Christ, believing that
Christ is all it takes to save your sorry soul and your thirst
to be quenched. And I can make good, hold your
place there, look at John chapter seven, I can make good on that.
John chapter seven, verse 37. I didn't get thirsty,
so I talked about that water, Tom, and I got thirsty. Look here, John 7, verse 37. In that last day, that great
day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Now what does the
Savior mean when he says, come unto me and drink? I mean, that
seems odd. How are we going to drink? Drinking,
Christ, is believing him. Verse 38, that's what he says.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. If you come and drink
Christ, you come believe on him, you'll never thirst again. You
have the living water springing up in you, you'll never thirst
again. You know, when we thirst, our bodies thirst, it's because
our body recognizes there's a lack of something in us that we need.
That's why we get thirsty. Well, spiritually, we're thirsty,
because in us, we know just inherently in us, there's no righteousness,
there's no goodness, there's no salvation, there's no life,
and that's why we thirst for it. But once you believe Christ,
you have life, you have righteousness, you have forgiveness, and you'll
never thirst for it again. Then Haggai says here that you
clothe you, but you're not warm. Now, you know you're spiritually
naked, you know you need a covering, you know you need a righteousness,
So what do we do? Naturally, we try to make one
with our own obedience, don't we? You try to cover your sin
with your works, but it didn't work, did it? It didn't work
any better than Adam's fig leaves worked. There he was in the garden,
he sinned against God, and he and Eve, they got right to work,
didn't they? They were shamed, they were naked,
and they covered their bodies with their fig leaves. And their
fig leaves didn't take away their shame, did they? I know they
didn't, because they had their fig leaves on. What'd they do
when God came walking in the cool of the day? They hid in
the bushes. They were still ashamed, because their works couldn't
take away their shame. And the same thing's true to
this day. I don't care how many good religious
things that you do, you still feel naked. You still know you
need more, and you can never rest. Now consider your ways. Your ways didn't work, did they?
Then what should you do? Find out what God's word says
and do that. Janet used to have, it was hung there on a, she had
a magnet on the refrigerator, hung there. All the time the
girls were growing up until I knocked it off and broke it just a couple
weeks ago. It said, if at first you don't
succeed, do it the way your mother told you. Well, consider your
ways. If they don't work, what should
you do? Find out what God's word says and do that. Run to Christ,
run to him. In your shame and your filth
and your nakedness, run to Christ to be clothed in his righteousness.
And the righteousness of Christ is not something that's just
pasted on. It's not a robe that we put on, but still all the
filth and the shame is still there. You just got a robe hiding
it. The righteousness of Christ is much, much, much better than
that. I mean, if I was filthy dirty
and I just put on a white shirt and a clean coat, you know, I'd
still feel gross. I mean, you might not be able
to tell exactly I was dirty. Maybe you got close enough you'd
be able to smell it, but I mean, you wouldn't be able to tell.
But I'd feel it, I'd know it, I'd feel just ugh. Christ's righteousness
is not something pasted on, just covering our filth and our shame,
it's still there. Christ's righteousness makes
his people Not guilty. He takes their sin away. So there's
no reason to feel shame. He took that sin away. That's
the covering that makes us not ashamed. If we're righteous in
Christ, we're not ashamed because there's nothing to be ashamed
of. Oh, now I can rest. Now, isn't that a joy? Better
rest in Christ. Then Haggai says you earn wages
but you're still broke. You put them in a bag with a
hole in it and you're still broke. You've got nothing to show for
it. After all your work, you've got nothing to show for it. Now
that's man's religion if I've ever heard it. Man's religion
puts you to work keeping the law, puts you to work doing all
these good works. And after you do all that work
they give you to do, you still are broke. You still can't rest,
because you gotta keep working. You can't quit. And I can tell
you why that's true. Because no matter how many works
we do, it cannot give peace to the heart, because the wages
we earn are death. Everything we do is sinful, and
the wages of sin is death. Now consider your ways. They
didn't work, did they? Then what should you do? Run
to Christ, run to him. He's already earned salvation
for his people. You don't have to come to God
and earn something from him. You come and receive it freely
as a beggar, receiving it freely. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ, our Lord. You come to Him believing Him.
You come believing. You don't have to do anything
else because Christ is all you need and you'll have peace in
your heart because there's nothing left to do. All right, Matthew
chapter six. Sixthly, consider the lilies. Consider the lilies. Consider
how the Lord always provides. Matthew six, verse 28. And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not,
neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Now we spend
a whole lot of time considering what we're going to eat and what
we're going to wear, don't we? We spend a lot of time considering
that. Now listen to me, be prudent. Be prudent. Trusting the Lord
doesn't mean you go out and act like a fool. You've got to get
up in the morning, go to work, to earn a living. Don't expect
the Lord to provide you food, clothing, and shelter if you
don't go to work. That'd just be being foolish. But this is
still yet true. The Lord will provide. The Lord
will provide. How many times I look back over
our 31 years of marriage, And often, I had no idea what we're
gonna do two days from now. The Lord always provided. He
always, with his name as Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide.
The Lord provides food for the ravens. You reckon you're more
important than a bird, a raven? He'll feed ya, he'll feed ya.
The Lord clothes the lilies of the field and makes them beautiful,
more beautiful than Solomon. Now consider the lilies. How
should we conduct ourselves in this life when we consider how
the Lord provides even for the lilies of the field? Well, we
ought to conduct ourselves by not putting excessive worry into
these things. Consider them, but don't put
excessive worry into these things, which is exactly what the Lord's
teaching here, verse 30. Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow's cast into the
oven, Shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, no anxious thought, saying, What
shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we
be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,
and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore
no thought for the morrow, for the morrow should take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient under the day is the
evil thereof. Now consider food and clothing
and shelter and things you need in this life. Consider them in
their proper place. Remembering that spiritual food
and spiritual clothing and spiritual shelter is much more important. We need to remember this. We
need salvation. Salvation for our souls, a whole
lot more than we need a new car. There's gonna be a time come
you have to go buy a new car, but we need salvation a whole
lot more, don't we? We need the forgiveness of our
sin a whole lot more than we need a bigger house. Seek Christ
first. Seek salvation in Him first.
Seek forgiveness in Him first. Seek peace with God in Christ
first. And the Lord will take care of all those other things
too. You know, if we can trust our
eternal souls to the Lord, you reckon we can trust our temporary
flesh to Him too? I think we can. I really do.
Consider the lilies. All right, seventh. John chapter
11, consider how desperately we need a substitute. John chapter
11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests
and the Pharisees a council and said, what do we? For this man
doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him. And the Romans shall come and
take away both our place and our nation." Now notice how the
truth of the gospel, the truth of God's salvation has got nothing
to do with this. All it's got to do with is the
Romans are going to come and take away our place. That's all
they're concerned with. Verse 49, and one of them named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them,
You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people, and that the
whole nation perish not. Now this spake he, not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation. and not for that nation only,
but that also he should gather together in one the children
of God that were scattered abroad." Now, don't just follow man's
religion. Don't just go seek religion and
trust the salvation of your soul to their ceremonies, to their
rules and regulations or your decision to accept Jesus. That's
what these men were doing. Caiaphas had no idea what he
was saying, but he sure preached a good gospel message, didn't
he? It's expedient for us. It's necessary that a substitute
die for our sin. It's so necessary. It's so expedient
that if Christ does not die in our sins, we're gonna be damned
because we'll die in our sins. Now consider this. You and I
are sinners. Our nature is a sin nature. So
there's nothing we can do to please a holy God. There's nothing
we can do in our sin to earn a righteousness before God. So
if you're honest with yourself and you consider this, you have
to come to this conclusion. I need a substitute to die in
my place and pay my sin debt that I cannot pay. That's what
we need. Now consider this. That substitute
can only be the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only suitable sacrifice. He's the only holy man to ever
live. The Lord Jesus is God who took on him flesh. See, God
can't be my substitute. I don't have the same nature
as him. So God became a man. to be the representative of his
people, to be the substitute of his people, and the Lord Jesus
Christ is the only perfect man to ever live. That makes him
the only suitable sacrifice. Blood must be shed. Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission. Well, only Christ
had pure, perfect, sinless blood to shed as payment for that sin. And only Christ, consider the
apostle and the high priest of our profession, only Christ can
take that blood and go into the holiest of all and offer it before
the Father to make his people accepted. Now what will we do
if we consider that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only substitute
who can save me? I must have a substitute and
he's the only one who can save me. Can I say it one more time? Run to him. Run to him as fast
as you can without moving a muscle. Right where you sit, run to Christ. Run to him. All right, lastly,
Hebrews chapter 13. Consider. Consider the gospel
that you hear preached. I wish I could drive this point home as strongly to your heart as it is in mine, probably my
greatest fear. I live in fear of this constantly. Tom, I've heard the gospel as
long as I've understood language. Do I believe it? Will I continue? Huh? Will I turn my back? I will if God lifts his finger
off of me, I know that. Now consider, oh, what blessed
privilege this congregation has to hear the gospel preached week
after week, after week, after week, after year, after year,
after year. Now consider it, consider it. Hebrews 13 verse seven. Remember
them, which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you
the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of
their conversation. Now, the pastor has the rule
in the church, and that word means he's the leader. Now, it
doesn't mean he makes up the rules everybody has to follow.
It means this. He's like the sergeant, leading
the troops under the direction of Christ, the captain of our
salvation. And I would encourage you to
remember your pastor. Pray for him. Pray for him. He
needs it. And you follow him. As he follows
Christ, you follow him. And you consider his message.
And by considering his message, I mean this. You believe it.
You believe the gospel. You take the messages that you
hear. and go home and consider them. Think about them through
the week. Carefully consider it. Carefully,
prayerfully come to the surface and put some effort into this
thing. Why? Why is that so important? Because
here's the goal of our preaching. The goal of our preaching is
very single. There's one goal. That you know
Christ and that you believe him. That's my goal in preaching to
you, that you know Christ, that you come to Him and you do it
right now, right now. That's the goal of our preaching.
Verse eight, this is the end of their conversation, the goal
of their preaching. Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday
and today and forever. and be not carried about with
diverse and strange doctrines, for it's a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with means which have not
profited them, but which have been occupied therein. Don't
be carried about with these diverse and strange things. Well, how
am I gonna do that? How will those things not just
carry me off into some wild tangent? By considering the gospel, considering
it in our heart and believing it, praying that God give us
faith. to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Well, that'll
be a blessing to you.