Here is our subject this morning,
Life's Most Important Subject. Now, that's a big title, isn't
it? I think I can make good on it, Life's Most Important Subject. And our text is found in the
third chapter of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 3, verse 1. Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider Consider
the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Consider Christ Jesus. That's life's most important
subject. Consider Christ Jesus. Now, the individual who would
know the living God, and our Lord said eternal life is to
know thee, the true and living God. And the individual who would
know the true and living God will make no progress whatsoever
in that quest till he meets Jesus Christ. For he that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. That's what Christ said. And
he that hath seen me hath seen my Father also, and he that hath
the Son hath the Father. That's pretty clear. I and my
Father are one. So the individual who would know
the living God will make no progress whatsoever till he meets Christ. for God is revealed in Christ
Jesus. The individual who would know
the forgiveness of sin, and I think there are some people listening
to this program who are interested in that subject, I am very much,
and the individual who would know the forgiveness of sin,
all sin, will make no progress toward that goal until he meets
Jesus Christ. For the apostles were sent forth
to preach repentance and remission of sins in his name, forgiveness
in his name. And Paul wrote in Ephesians,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus
Christ. All right. The individual thirdly,
who would be holy and sanctified in God's presence. And this is
what's important in God's presence. be holy in God's presence, will
make no progress toward that perfect righteousness till he
meets Christ. For Christ was made to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." We are made righteous in Christ. Outside of Christ,
there's no righteousness. So we've got to meet Christ.
And then the individual who would live forever, and I know there's
some folks interested in that, who would live forever in glory.
will make no progress toward that inheritance till he meets
Christ. But the Scripture says, he hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in
Christ. And it pleased God that in him,
that is in Christ, should all fullness dwell. So consider Christ
Jesus. That's the subject. That's the
theme. The songwriter said Christ is
the theme. Christ is supreme. The sweeter
he grows, his glory bestows. Bright as the sun, ever he glows. Christ is the theme. Eternal
theme. And I can give you no greater
challenge than consider Christ Jesus. And I can give you no
better counsel than consider Christ Jesus. Now this is my
favorite subject. I ought not have any trouble
at all this morning with this subject. Consider Christ Jesus. And I shall divide this message
into seven parts, and I'm going to speak briefly on each one.
Consider Christ Jesus. First of all, let's consider
the creating Christ. In John 1, verse 1 through 3,
it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by him.
And without him was not anything made that was made. You say,
who is this word? It's Christ Jesus. But on down
in verse 14, it says, the word was made flesh. So in the beginning
was the word, Christ Jesus. And all things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. He's the
creating Christ. And then in Colossians 1.16,
Paul wrote, for by him were all things created that are in heaven
and that are in the earth. Visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Christ. And for Him they were created,
and He's before all things, and by Him all things consist. That
is, they are sustained. They're kept in operation. They're
kept under control. You see, everything is in Christ.
In Him we live and move and have our being. Jesus Christ, my friends,
is not just a man, a prophet, a good man, a healer, a preacher,
all these things. He's God. God was in Christ. He's the creating Christ. He
prayed in Gethsemane's garden, Father, glorify me with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. And the Scripture
says that we beheld him and in him the express image of the
Father. He's the creating Christ. And
then in Hebrews 1, verse 1 and 2, it says, God hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir
of all things, and by whom he made the world. Christ Jesus
is the Creator. Our blessed Lord created the
angels. Our blessed Lord put the stars
in place. The hymn writer said he hung
the stars in space. And he spread out the valleys
and lifted up the mountains and filled up the oceans and the
seas and then he made man in his own image and he said it's
good. He made it all. Consider. Consider
the creating Christ. And no wonder, no wonder our
Lord used the things of this world in his parables and in
his sermons. He talked about the birds. He
said not a sparrow falls to the ground without your father. He
talked about the lilies of the field in their beauty, and they
toil not, neither do they spend. And he talked about trees, and
he talked about fish, and he talked about the pears and the
wheat, and he talked about the mountains. No wonder he made
these things. He made them all. In Revelation
4, 11 says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy
pleasure, for Thy pleasure they are and were created. I challenge
you, I counsel you, and advise you to consider Christ Jesus,
the creating Christ. And then secondly, I would have
you consider the incarnate Christ. Incarnate means God became a
man. God became a man. Over in Isaiah,
it says, the Lord himself will give you a sign. A virgin shall
conceive and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel, which is interpreted God with us. The Word was made
flesh. Astounding, but true. Miracle,
yes, a miracle, the miracle of miracles, but true. Astonishing,
but true. Galatians 5.4, in the fullness
of time, when God's good time and good pleasure rolled around,
God sent forth his Son into the world, made of a woman, made
under the law. In Luke 2 verse 11 and 12, the
angels declared to the shepherds, unto you is born this day in
the city of David a savior who is none other than Christ the
Lord. And you'll find the baby wrapped
in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Oh, miracle of miracles. Oh, astounding of all facts.
God clothed in human flesh. The ancient of days became an
infant of days. He who made man became a man. He who made woman born of woman. He who created the angels made
a little lower than the angels. He who was before Abraham was
born 2,000 years after Abraham. He who was David's Lord became
David's son. He who was rich became poor.
Consider the incarnate Christ. Who is this man? Who is this
man? Jesus Christ. When did Jesus
Christ become a man in the fullness of time? How did Jesus Christ
become a man made of a woman? Why did Jesus Christ become a
man to redeem those that were born of woman and born under
the law? Yes, sir, I know it's impossible
for a human mind to comprehend that the holy, immaculate, infinite,
eternal, immutable, sovereign, almighty God should confine himself
to human flesh and live on this earth, tested, tried, tempted
in all points as we are, yet without sin, and then even submit
to the death of Calvary's cross, to death, even the death of the
cross, the only way a man can believe that is to have it revealed
to his heart by the Holy Spirit. But I would have you consider
the incarnate Christ. And then I would have you consider
the prophet Christ Jesus. Moses wrote, God will raise up
from among you, speaking of Israel, he shall raise up from among
you a prophet and him you shall hear. And when Jesus Christ was
raised up from Israel's nation, a root out of the dry ground
of the house and lineage of David, the scripture says the father
spake from heaven and said, this is he, this is my beloved son,
hear ye him. And men come to preachers today,
and they say, show us God. Teach us about God. Put us in
touch with God. Well, if you come to me with
those demands, you know what I'll say to you? Show me God. Teach me about God. Reveal the
things of God. I'd say, consider Christ Jesus. Consider Christ Jesus. He is
the Word. God communicates to us through
Christ. One day, one of the disciples
said, Lord, show us the Father. And we'll be satisfied. And Christ
shook his head and said, Philip, have I been so long time with
you, and yet you don't know me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? Christ reveals the Father. I and my Father are one, he said.
You can't separate the Father and the Son. They're one. He
reveals the Father's purpose. He said the works that I do,
they're not my works, they're the works of him that sent me.
He reveals the Father's message. He said, the words that I speak
are not my words, the words of him that sent me. He reveals
the Father's will. He said, I came not to do my
will, but the will of him that sent me. He reveals the Father's
works. They said, what shall we do that
we might work the works of God? He said, this is the work of
God, that you believe on him whom God has sent. Christ the
prophet. Consider Christ the prophet.
Christ the creating. one, Christ the incarnate one,
and Christ the one of whom God spake in every prophecy of Old
Testament times. He's that prophet, that priest,
and that king. And then I would have you consider
the rejected Christ. He was despised. Isaiah, writing
about him, said he was despised and rejected of men. A man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief, great as he is, despised. Holy as he is, despised. Merciful as he is, despised. Precious as he is, despised. He came unto his own, and even
his own received him not. He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not. They called
him a blasphemer. They said he blasphemed. He said,
many good works have I done among you. For which of these do you
stone me? We're not stoning you for good work. We're stoning
you because you're blaspheming. You being a man, say that you're
God. You're a blasphemer. They called
him a winebibber and a gluttonous man. They accused him of being
a liar. They said, your record's not
true. They accused him of keeping bad company. They said, he's
going to be the guest of a man that's a sinner. Why does your
master associate with publicans and sinners? They charged him
with insanity. They said this man's beside himself.
They accused him of being in league with Satan. They said
he cast out devils by the power of the devil. They gathered together
their false witnesses and taped them off and charged him with
treason. Man of sorrows. Man of sorrows. He is despised and rejected of
men. A man of sorrows. Acquainted
with grief. Man of solace, what a name! What
a name for the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Bearing
shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned by God, condemned
by men, and condemned even by justice. In my place condemned
He stood, but He sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah, what
a Savior! Consider Christ Jesus. the rejected
Christ. And then I would have you in
the fifth place consider the crucified Christ. It says in
Luke 23 verse 33, and when they were come to a place which is
called Calvary, there on Calvary they crucified him. They crucified
him. Now, I don't think anyone today,
anyone listening to my voice, I know I don't and can't. Imagine what a cross meant 1,900
years ago. What a cross meant, and death
on a cross. You know, the scripture says,
let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, and took on himself the form of a servant,
and became obedient unto death, even, even the death of the cross. Became obedient unto death, even. the death of the cross. Now I'm
going to say something, and I want you to listen to it. Death by
hanging, death by sword, death by fire, was an act of mercy
compared to death by crucifixion. That's exactly right. Hours upon
the cross. Hours. Sometimes they said days
upon that cross. But there are two things, and
this is so important to every believer, There are two things
that attended death on a cross, great suffering and great shame. And don't miss the second part,
great suffering and great shame. And our Lord's suffering was
twofold. His body suffered. He was marred. His visage was
marred so that he didn't even look like a man. He suffered
as no man has ever suffered physically, but he made his soul an offering
for sin. You see, our sins were laid on
him, and he was numbered with the transgressors. And that agony,
that soul agony, began before those nails were ever driven
in his hand. In fact, in the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord
prayed to the Father, if it be thy will, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. My soul, he said, is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death, right now. You can't imagine that our
Lord was praying to escape the cross. He said, for this cause
I came out of this hour. Our Lord is a lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. There's no way that God can pray
against God. There's no way that the Son can
pray against the will of the Father. There's no way that the
Son can try to avoid that which he purposed and planned himself. What he was praying about in
that garden was he's dying right there. He knew his physical body,
he knew his physical human makeup could not bear, could not bear
the suffering of the soul through which he was going, knowing in
his infinite knowledge what it meant to bear the wrath of God
for sin, what it meant to go to hell for sin. Our Lord was,
his whole nature was crying out against what was going on in
his heart and mind. and what was ahead of him, because
his blood was coming out of the pores of his body. Men get in
anxiety and have heart attacks. Their heart stops. Men get under
great tension and pressure, and they die under that pressure.
And our Lord Jesus was saying right there, he's saying, my
soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death. But nevertheless, I'll
take this, whatever your will is, my father. But the angels
came and ministered to him. His prayer was answered. But
I'll tell you, their suffering, when we look at the physical
sufferings of the Son of God, they're nothing compared to the
soul agony and nothing compared to the shame, shame, shame of
that cross. Associated with a cross, great
suffering, untold agony and shame. In the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I see several things. I stand back with that crowd
and look at him there. I see the love of God for sinners,
God's soul love that he gave his son, his soul love. And I see the wrath of God against
sin. If you want to see the true wrath
of God against sin, don't go to Noah's ark or even to Sodom's
fire or even to the firstborn in Egypt and the death thereof. if God spared not his own son,
who bore sin as a representative, imputed sin, not personal sin,
if he'll do that in his justice and righteousness to his son,
how shall we, so ungodly, escape his anger and his wrath? I see
the wrath of God against sin at Calvary, not only his love,
but his wrath. I see his law honored at Calvary,
honored and his justice satisfied. And I see the debt for my sins
all paid, all paid. Counsel, my debts counseled. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owed. Sin left a crimson stain, but
he washed it white as snow. Now in the sixth place. Let's
consider Christ Jesus, the risen Christ, the risen Christ. Thank God our message doesn't
end there. If our message ended there, our hope would end there.
If our message ended there, our assurance would end there. If
our message ended there, our gospel would end there. But Christ
was buried, but that's not the end. They took him down from
that tree. and they put his body in a grave, and they rolled a
stone in front of that sepulchre, and they put the Roman seal upon
that stone, and they stationed soldiers out here in front of
the stone in case his disciples should come during the night
and steal it away, the body, that is. Well, on that first
day of the week, early Sunday morning, when the women came
to the tomb to anoint the body, they were asking the question
among themselves, who's going to roll away the stone for us?
But when they got there, the stone had already been rolled
away. And an angel stood there and said to them, why do you
seek the living among the dead? He's not here. He's risen. Go and tell his disciples. Christ
is risen. Up from the grave he arose with
a mighty, a mighty conqueror over his foes. Christ arose a
victor over the dark domain, and he lives forever with his
saints to reign. He arose. And Paul emphasizes
the importance of that resurrection. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says,
if Christ be not risen, you're yet in your sin. If Christ be
not risen, there is no resurrection. If Christ be not risen, we're
false witnesses of God. If Christ be not risen, we're
of all men most miserable. But he is risen. And that's the
glad message. That was the message by which
the disciples were most persecuted. Did you know that? Go through
the book of Acts, and while you go through, take a pencil and
mark where it talks about resurrection of the dead, resurrection of
the dead, resurrection of the dead. That's what the Pharisees
and Sadducees thought more than any other doctrine. They knew
Christ died. They knew Christ was buried,
but they insisted he could not rise. For if he's risen from
the tomb, he is everything he says he is. if he's risen from
the tomb. See, that's why they hated the
resurrection of the dead. They despised that doctrine.
They wanted to blot out that doctrine. They didn't want to
hear of that doctrine if he'd be risen. He's King. He's Lord. He's the Savior. He's the Messiah.
He's the Christ. And it's evident from his resurrection
that the Father has accepted his sacrifice. And it's evident
from his resurrection that all who are in him by faith shall
rise also. Because he said, destroy this
temple. And in three days, I'll raise
it up." They remembered those words, and they said, he can't
be risen. We won't have it. We insist we
won't have it. We'll pay the soldiers. We'll
do anything. Tell them the disciples stole
his body. Tell the governor anything. We'll
back you up. We'll lie for you. These preachers said, you lie
and we'll swear to it. Anything. to keep from preaching
this man's risen. He must not be risen, because
that is the very promise of his gospel, and that's the seal of
his gospel, and that's assurance of his gospel. Because I live,
he said, ye shall live also. Ye shall live also. You see,
it starts way back there in eternity past. We were chosen in Christ. Christ was our surety. We were
in him in suretyship and representation. Christ we obeyed the law in Christ
with crucified with Christ in Him we're risen in Him we are
ascended and in him we're seated and That's the whole makeup of
this thing of redemption. That's the body of redemption
It's all in Christ and if we can keep him in the grave See
if this generation can keep him in the grave and deny his resurrection
then they can keep him from being the Savior, the Christ, the Messiah,
the Redeemer. But he arose. Now here's the
sixth, the seventh thing. Consider Christ Jesus. The creating
Christ, the incarnate Christ, Christ the prophet, the rejected
Christ, the crucified Christ, the risen Christ, and now consider
the coming Christ. The coming Christ. My friends,
I shall not be guilty, as many are, of going from the tomb to
the second advent. There's something in between.
There's something in between. And that is the interceding Christ. The interceding Christ. I want
you to think a little bit about this. The scripture says there's
one mediator between God and men, and that's the man Christ
Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
great high priest. We have a high priest. We have
a high priest. Every believer is a priest, but
he has a high priest. Every believer has an advocate.
Every believer has a mediator. Every believer has an intercessor.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And his blood puts away our sins,
and his righteousness covers us with holiness. And his presence
in the heavenlies at the right hand of the Father permits and
enables us to have fellowship with God and to come to God.
No man cometh to the Father but by me. He prays for us. He makes
our prayers acceptable. He makes our worship acceptable.
He makes our works acceptable. He makes us acceptable, for we
are accepted in the Beloved. He's the mediator. Consider Christ
the interceder, but consider the coming Christ. He said to
his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I'll come again. I'll come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. And then when our Lord arose
from the tomb, he appeared to the disciples and different ones
on different occasions. He led them out yonder to the
Mount of Olives. And while he spake to them, the
Scripture said a cloud received him up into heaven. And as he
went away, the angels appeared to the disciples. The angels
had announced his coming. And the angels announced his
second coming. The angels said to the shepherds, unto you is
born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ
the Lord. And when the Lord went back to heaven, the angels announced
his return. They said, ye men of Galilee,
why do you stand here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like
manner as you've seen him go. And my friends, I don't know
when he's coming. I don't have the slightest idea. And nobody
else, only the Father. And I don't know what's going
to happen when he does come. I've got some ideas, some speculation,
but I wouldn't put it off on you. I just know he's coming.
He went away, but not to stay. He's coming back again. I don't
know when. I know for whom. And I know how
he will come. This same Jesus will come again
in like manner as you've seen him go. And I know for whom he's
coming. He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I'll come again and receive you unto myself.
That's why I am there, you may be also.