Hebrews 12:3 – Consider Him – Bible study

Hebrews 12:3 Consider Him The writer of this book is writing to a group of Jews who are struggling. They are being persecuted for their faith, brutally so. Because of the arrests, beatings, confiscations, imprisonments, and deaths, some are considering recanting Jesus, going back to their old religion, Judaism, which was safe and accepted by Rome. The writer of the book does not tell them to do any of the standard spiritual, strengthen building exercises: read the Bibles, pray, or assembly for worship. The command that he gives them is simpler than all of that. He tells them to "Consider Him." Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Lets consider considering Him. I. \#Heb 3:1\ There is a command, Consider Him. A. What does consider mean? 1. It does not mean to simply look at, but to LOOK, UNDERSTAND and LEARN! (LUL) 2. The command is given on numerous occasions, and it is used In the same way, (i.e. look, understand, learn). Lu 12:24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? Lu 12:27 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. 3 The command means more than to glance at someone or something. a. It means to look, understand, and learn something. b. To put it a different way, to consider means to conduct a focused, concentrated examination with the expectation of something of worth in return. B. Notice: we are not to just consider things, but to consider Him. 1. The Him is none other than Jesus Christ. 2. Sadly, even when we are pursuing spiritual things, we often are not pursuing HIM but things of much lesser value than Christ. a. How often do we spend most of prayer time speaking of needs and problems? b. How much of our worship time is consumed with announcements and the business of the church? c. How much devotional time is consumed by thoughts of the day? d. I am not saying anything is wrong with these, just that when we are considering things, we are NOT considering Him! 3. To consider Him, there must be focused, concentrated examination of Jesus and Jesus alone. a. To consider Him is NOT to consider us, other, our needs, or our wants. b. To consider Him is NOT to consider matters of business or pleasure. c. To consider Him is NOT to consider future, past, or present events. d. To focus on Him is NOT to consider other things at all. e. It is to think on Jesus and Jesus alone. C. As this is a command, we ought to obey it. D. Lets attempt to shut out every other person and every other things and obey it now. II. There are considerations. A. The command is to consider Him, but in what way? how? where should we direct our thoughts? B. The same Bible writer who wrote the command, also gave us some suggestions to get us started. Hebrew 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 1. \#Heb 3:1\ We should consider Him as the Apostle. a. The Greek word for "apostle" is the same as "angel." (1) Both means "messenger" or "sent one." (2) All angels and apostles are messengers of God. (a) Some may be fleshly messengers. (b) Some may be spiritual messengers, but they are all sent by God with a message. (3) Notice that our King James capitalizes the word Apostle. (a) The translators did that because they considered that the reference was to Jesus, to God. i. I believe they are right. ii. This whole book is about Jesus and the context certainly argues for it. (b) Out of respect and reverence for the names of God, they are capitalized. b. So lets consider Jesus as THE Messenger. (1) He is the Messenger above all messengers. (2) Why? Both because of who He is and because of the message He brought. (a) Jesus is God. i. In this case, Jesus did not just send a message. ii. He brought one, personally! (b) And what a message He brought! i. Do you realize every unanswerable question that plagued mans existence, Jesus either answered or completed the answer? aa. Where did we come from? bb. Where are we going? cc. Is there life after death? dd. What is the purpose of life? ee. Why do bad things happen? ff. What is the meaning of it all? ii. He brought us the message that God loves us. aa. That was not clearly revealed in the Old Testament. bb. In fact, God appears to be quite angry in the Old Testament. iii. He brought us the message that we can be saved, forgiven, and changed. (We did not get that message AT ALL in the Old Testament.) iv. He brought us the message of heaven and life after death. (Even this message was not clearly given.) (c) You can beat your head against the rock of life trying to find answers to the unanswerable questions if you want, but I suggest you just consider the Apostle! (d) By the way, you will find that your time would be much better spent learning what to do with Jesus message instead of trying to find someone else! (e) I think you will learn that you need to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and live for Him! 2. Consider Him as our High Priest. a. Our standing before God has changed because of Him. b. God has gone from being our Judge & Executioner to being our Redeemer and Advocate. c. And we have gone from sinners, the enemies of God, under the condemnation of sin and death to become the sons and daughters of God! d. How has that happened? (1) Jesus our High Priest, went/goes before the Father to apply His blood and plead our case. (2) Jesus is our Advocate. He defends us. (a) He can do such a good job because He knows we are innocent. (b) How does He know that? (c) Because He paid the price. i. He carries the proof of our innocence with Him, the BLOOD. ii. The fact that He defend us and paid the price for us has a double-effect on the Judge of the case! (3) Now: (a) The One who once condemned us now commends us. (b) The One who once damned us now defends us. (c) The One who once slew us now saves us. (4) Yet, the Prosecuting Attorney still harasses us. (a) The Prosecuting Attorney, the devil, and his star witness, US, come before US to accuse us. (b) He cannot accuse us before the Father for that case has already been tried and we have been found not-guilty. (c) But he makes us feel shame, regret, remorse, disgrace, and humiliation as he accuses us to us. (5) What should we do? (a) If we are saved and those sins are under the blood, we should grab the devil by his labels (so he cant get away) and consider our High Priest, openly and loudly! (b) We should brag on Jesus until the devil starts to feel ashamed, regret, and remorse over ever bringing up our past to begin with! (c) Brad the devil down! 3. Consider Him who was faithful Heb 3:2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. a. These people were thinking about quitting. b. Jesus was given the most difficult tasks. (1) He was to leave behind all the powers that marked the Divine. (He kept His nature and His character, but He left the power.) (2) He was to be locked into a body of flesh forever. (3) He was to walk among sinners. (4) He was to walk as a lowly servant. (5) He was to teach the unteachable, love the unlovable, and care for the uncareable. (6) He was do all of this without succumbing to sin or falling to the attacks of the devil. (7) After doing all of this, He was to take sin of all mankind upon Him. (8) Then He was to die the most cruel death man has ever invented. c. He did all of these things and so much more! d. Consider Him who gave up so much more than we ever could but never quit, never faltered, never stumbled. e. Consider Him when life gets tough because He certainly considered us. Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. III. There are causes, reasons why we need to consider Him. A. Remember, part of the purpose of considering Him is the expectation of something worthy in return. 1. If we give of ourselves to considering Him, it is reasonable to expect that He should give Himself to us. 2. The definition of consider: to conduct a focused, concentrated examination WITH THE EXPECTATION OF SOMETHING OF WORTH IN RETURN. B. What? What are the reasons for considering Him? 1. Considering Him gives strength. Heb 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. a. This was the authors stated point in giving the command. (I mention it first because it is the purpose of the authors writing.) b. Some of these Hebrews, many of whom had professed Jesus as their Savior, were becoming weak in their faith and resolve. c. Some were abandoning Christ and going back to their former religions. d. What is the cure? Consider Him! (1) Look at Him! (2) Understand Him! (3) Learn of Him! (4) Doing so, will strengthen your faith and faithfulness. (5) Considering Jesus then becomes a spiritual- exercise program. e. Let me tell you a secret: (1) Church is not the end. It is the means to the end. (a) What is the end? (b) To get you to consider Him (2) The mind and spirit connected directly to the Holy Spirit can soak up infinitely more than his ears and eyes ever will during a sermon. (3) This is why private devotions are so important. (4) Devotions are the Biblical tool for keeping the child of God focused and fired up! f. Peter did not use the word "consider" in his command; but in\#2Peter 1:5-8\, he used equivalent of it when he commanded the believer to take what spiritual grace God has given to him and to add to it the graces of virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, kindness, and love. Then he said: 2Peter 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. g. The Psalmist himself was weakening under the pressures and injustices of this world. (1) He wrote: Psalm 73:2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped. (2) But then he went into Gods house. Psalm 73:17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God (a) You do not have to be along to consider Him. (b) You can do it in a group, a congregation. (c) Indeed, that is the purpose or every church service. (d) There, the preaching, teaching, and singing focused his eyes back on his God and Savior, and immediately, there was a change. Psalm 73:17 then understood I their end. Psalm 73:21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. 22 So foolish was I, and ignorant Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. h. All through the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, by a variety of writers, we are told, when we consider Him, we are made stronger in the Lord! 2. Considering Him creates gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving. Psalm 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. a. The Psalm continues, but you see what happened, b. When one considers Him, one becomes moved with sentiments (emotions) of thanksgiving. (1) But I did noticed that as I wrote down the things that I have seen considering Christ do, that some of them seemed to be similar. (2) For example, gratitude, praise, and thanksgiving. (3) No doubt, this is why the Bible gives the often repeated command to sing praises to the Lord and to be thankful. (4) God expects us to consider His Son and be moved to this natural inclination. c. Songs and hymns are wonderful tools to create a heart of praise and thanksgiving, IF WE CONSIDER HIM while we sing. d. If not, they are mere, meaningless, mechanic movements, but when we consider Him, our hearts will be filled with praise, gratitude, and worship. There is more! Determination, humility, joy, conviction, and the list continues. It comes from considering Him. In truth, all the preaching and singing of the worship hour is just the tools God uses to get us to consider Him. Regardless of where you are in life, you cannot go wrong by looking, understanding, and learning from Jesus.