Sermon# 63 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: "Consider Him"
Text: Hebrews 12:3-4
Subject: Perseverance
Readings:
Date:
Tape:
Introduction:
When the Hebrew Christians were suffering dire persecution, the apostle could suggest no better support to their faith than this: "Consider Him." He urged them to look to Jesus and compare their case with that of their Lord. Such sweet consolations would prove a sovereign balm to their distressed minds. A Consideration of our Lord and Master is the best conceivable stay and support during affliction. Let us, for a little while, consider Jesus, that we may be sustained in the time of affliction and suffering.
Go to dark Gethsemane,
Ye that feel the tempter’s power;
Your Redeemer’s conflict see,
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away,
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
Follow to the judgment hall,
View the Lord of life arraigned;
O the wormwood and the gall!
O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss,
Learn of Him to bear the cross.
Calvary’s mournful mountain climb,
There, adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of time,
God’s own sacrifice complete;
"It is finished," hear Him cry,
Learn of Jesus Christ to die.
Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid His breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom,
Who hath taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes,
Savior teach us to rise.
The more we endeavor to emulate the example which our Lord Jesus has left us, the more we will be opposed by the men of this world. The more closely we follow Him the greater will be the enmity of our fellow men against us. Our lives will condemn theirs, our ways will be a perpetual rebuke to them, and they will do all they can to discourage and hinder, provoke and oppose. It is the tendency of such persecution to dishearten us, tempt us to compromise, to murmur and complain. Because of this the blessed Spirit of God bids us to "Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." He would have us to let the experience through which Christ passed be the subject of our daily contemplation. The record of His unparalleled temptations and trials, His endurance and victory, is to be the grand source of our instruction, comfort, and encouragement. If we become faith and weary in our minds, it is because we fail properly to "consider Him."
Proposition:
A proper consideration of the sufferings which our Lord endured for us will induce steadfastness in His suffering people.
Divisions:
1. The proposed consideration.
2. The purposed comfort.
3. The persuasive challenge.
I. The proposed consideration.
Here the apostle addresses himself to the distressed Hebrew Christians and offers them a means whereby they may overcome their downcast spirits, "Consider Him." A. The consideration – 1. What are we to consider about Him? a. We should consider His holy Person.b. We should consider His sinless humanity.
c. We should consider His mission.
He came into this world for the singular purpose of saving men. He had no other aim. d. We should especially remember and consider His patient endurance of sufferings. (1.) He was opposed by His own people according to the flesh (John 7:5).(2.) He was opposed by the very ones to whom he ministered in infinite grace and loving kindness.
That opposition began at His birth, when there was no room for Him in the inn. He was not wanted. It was seen again in His infancy, when Herod sought to lay Him, and His parents were forced to flee with Him into Egypt. There is very little else known about His childhood, but there is a messianic prophesy in Psalm 88:15, which shows that even then He suffered. From the commencement of his ministry until its end He endured the unbroken, relentless, "contradiction of sinners against Himself." (3.) He endured Satan’s temptations.(a.) The wilderness
(b.) Gethsemane
(4.) He endured the betrayal of a friend.
(5.) He endured the mockery and slander of Pilate’s judgment hall.
(6.) He endured the horror of Calvary.
NOTE: Christ felt keenly that contradiction, for He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (Psa. 69:20). NOTE: In the midst of all this suffering, any man might be expected to collapse, but the God man set His face as a flint, until the work was done (Lk. 9:51; Isa. 50:7). 2. How are we to consider Him? a. Through the Scriptures (John 5:39; Eph. 6:12-13).b. Through prayer.
c. Through experience (Phil. 3:8).
B. The contrast – 1. We must suffer (John 15:20; Heb. 5:8).2. Our sufferings fade into insignificance when we consider Him.
3. Through much tribulation we shall enter the Kingdom of God (1 Pet. 4:13).
II. The purposed comfort –
If we properly consider Christ it will prevent us from being wearied and fainting. A. In the world we have tribulation, but faint not, Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33). B. We must be constantly exercising faith in Christ and His promises if we would not grow weary (Rom. 8:18; 1 Cor. 4:16-18). C. If we faint not, Christ must be – 1. The Object of our faith.2. The Food of our faith.
3. The Supporter of our faith (Phil. 2:5).
Now, look at verse 4, and you will see that this contrast between our Lord’s suffering and ours is, indeed, what the Holy Spirit intends for us to bear in mind. "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Our trials, temptations, and troubles, our conflicts against sin, the enemies of grace and trials of life have cost us very little. We have not resisted to the shedding of our blood. Our Lord did, and so did! Let us ever calculate and count the cost (Luke 14:28). And, counting the cost, as we "consider him," we will run with patience the race that is set before us. And soon, we will win the prize (Gal. 6:9). (Galatians 6:9) "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Romans 8:18) "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." We are in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil (Gal. 5:17; Rom. 7). Let us be willing to pay with our lives, as our Lord was and as Paul was (Acts 20:24; 21:13). (Acts 20:24) "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts 21:13) "Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." If you cannot stand now what will you do in the swelling of Jordan? (Jer. 12:5).Awake our souls, away our fears,
Let every trembling thought be gone;
Awake and run the heavenly race,
And put a cheerful courage on.
True tis a strait and thorny road,
And mortal spirits tire and faint;
But they forget the Mighty God,
Who is the strength of every saint.
Swift as an eagle cuts the air,
We’ll mount aloft to Thine abode;
On wings of love our souls shall fly,
Then we shall be at home with God!