Consider Jesus Week 2
Consider Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Good morning and welcome to Living Faith Church. I am so excited to be able to worship Jesus Christ with you on this amazing Sunday. If you are a guest today, extra special welcome to you, my name is Aaron. My wife Stella and I are honored to be able to serve on the Pastoral team at LFC. Today we are we are continuing this series that Pastor K- launched last week, Consider Jesus.
Today, I want you to as yourself a question, a question that many don’t consider until much later in life, so today, we are practicing some forethought. What will be your final words? That’s right, what will be your final words. Often, people consider their final words to be their most important words.
Winston Churchills final words on January 15 1965 to his son-in-law were
“I am bored with it all”
Benjamin Franklins final words were:
“A dying man can do nothing easy.”
John Wesley’s final words were:
The best of all is, God is with us
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
As we ponder on this passage there is one critical matter that we cannot overlook. The book of Hebrews was written to men walking through some of the most difficult days the church has walked through.
These were not comfortable Christians living in a culture that applauded their convictions. These were men and women under pressure—pressure from the outside and pressure from within. Many had come out of Judaism and now found themselves paying a steep price for their allegiance to Jesus Christ. Some were publicly reproached. Some suffered loss. Some were ostracized. Some were tempted to go back to what was familiar, safer, and more socially acceptable.
If Hebrews was written in the 60s, then these believers were living in the shadow of rising first-century persecution—not yet the later empire-wide horrors under Diocletian, but in a very real season of hostility against followers of Jesus. They knew what it meant to be shamed for Christ, rejected for Christ, and pressured to walk away from Christ.
And into that pressure, the author of Hebrews speaks one resounding message: Consider Jesus.
So the author opens this letter with these words:
1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways,
2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
Verse One says that God spoke “long ago…”, but verse two says “In these last days…”
We must note what is happening here, right at the opening of this book of Hebrews. The author is dividing our Biblical history in two. The first division is marked by the absence of the incarnate Son, the second division is marked by the presence of the incarnate Son.
The first thing that our author denotes is Long Ago vs. In these Last Days. The begining of time is marked by the important words of God in Genesis 1 verse 3
Genesis 1:3
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
And this is the presence of God that radically marked the Old Testament. It was the light of God that illuminated the path before the nation of Israel as the journeyed the desert. It was the light of God that illuminated the sins of Adam and Eve, and the sins of the nation of Israel.
Our New Testament Epistle 1 John says:
1 John 1:5
5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Yet later he concludes:
1 John 4:8
8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Should we not note to ourselves the order in which these two statements arrive at us. While the nature of God through out the Old Testament is primarily one light, the nature of Jesus through out the New Testament is primarily one of Love.
God so loved the world…. John 3:16
How did He interact with the Woman at the well in John 4
How did so patiently with love work with Judas
How did He so lovingly heal the leper, weep over Lazarus, and restore Peter?
Secondly our author gives us a comparison, not only of ages past and present, but also of the messenger. Through the Old Testament, the Word of God came through the prophets of old:
Noah
Moses
Samuel
Isaiah
Jeremiah
The author says that God spoke to the prophets “in many portions and in many ways“
The word portions is the greek word Polymeros which means many parts. Saying that God sent His message, or His light, through various prophets, not one giving all the message. Rather it is various prophets, each giving a little.
Our author also uses the word “Ways” or GK Polyropos. This word is literally defined as manners. The word came for to us as:
Spoken
Displayed
Written
Enacted
But He says: “Now we have Jesus!”
in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
True to Hebrews theme, the greater manifestation of the WORD.
3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
A message and messenger that is greater than the prophets, greater than angels - it is complete. There is no new revelation!
15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Now, the question we have to ask ourselves today is — what did this mean to the audience reading the Hebrews exhortation, and what does this mean for us today. In response to this, I find it necessary once again to think about our last words. For often ones last words are their most important words. Meaning, that Jesus last words before His death upon the cross, may be some of His most important words.
What did Jesus say that no other prophet of old could have said? I find this to be critical for the original audience of Hebrews because the Jewish men and women lived and died by the words of the prophets of old, and yet often cared nothing for, if not rejected the words of Jesus. This audience who at one time was fervent for Jesus, was now at risk of leaving Jesus behind and returning to their practice of Judaism.
So, what did Jesus say that no other prophet could ever say? What did our author urge these readers to consider, that no other prophet could offer them? The answer to that question is found in Jesus finial words on the cross: “It is finished.”
I want to conclude our time today by offering three practical applications to Jesus words It is finished, as I believe that they would apply to the readers of the exhortation to the audience of the book of Hebrews.
1. “It is finished” means your salvation does not hang on your performance
1. “It is finished” means your salvation does not hang on your performance
This is the first and strongest application. The Jewish believers in Hebrews were being tempted to go back to a system of shadows:
temple
sacrifice
ritual
priesthood
external religion
And the writer says, in effect:
Why would you go back to a system that could never finish what Jesus already finished? And I ask you the same question? Yes, it’s true, we don’t offer sacrifices, feasts, some of the rituals of old. Yet often we lean heavily on religious performances, such as:
The food we eat—or refuse to eat.
The drinks we consume—or avoid.
The Bible translation we carry.
Whether we fasted this week.
“I’ve been a Christian for 30 years.”
How much we’ve given financially.
None of those things are bad. In fact, many are commanded or deeply beneficial. The danger is when they become the basis of our confidence before God instead of the fruit of our confidence in Christ.
16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”
The Jews were tempted to trust the temple. We are tempted to trust our performance. Different expressions. Same temptation. Hebrews calls us away from both and says, “Consider Jesus.”
2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
It is finished Means:
Your standing before God is not secured by your religious effort, rather It is secured by the finished work of Jesus Christ.
2. “It is finished” means don’t interpret your earthly battle as a heavenly defeat
2. “It is finished” means don’t interpret your earthly battle as a heavenly defeat
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was declaring that the work necessary to secure our redemption had been fully accomplished. But the outworking of that victory is still being lived out in a fallen world. Just because the battle is still raging on earth does not mean Christ lost in heaven.
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
You may still be grieving
still fighting temptation
still dealing with family opposition
still walking through sickness
still carrying heartbreak
still praying through fear
still standing in the middle of rejection
But none of that changes what Christ accomplished. This is why our author exhorts us strongly to Consider Jesus!
The cross did not fail because your week was hard.
The resurrection is not weakened because your battle is real.
Your suffering does not mean Christ’s work was insufficient.
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Our author of Hebrews is telling us - you have your eyes so fixed on your persecution that you cannot see Jesus. This life is only a shadow of the eternal life. The matters of the Spirit are more real than the matters of the flesh. We don’t look at our circumstances to asses our faith, we look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
3. “It is finished” means my strength to persevere is found in Him
3. “It is finished” means my strength to persevere is found in Him
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
When Jesus declared, “It is finished,” He was not saying there would be no more battles. He was declaring that everything necessary for your redemption had been accomplished. Because redemption is secure, you now have the confidence to endure. Because heaven is secure, you can faithfully walk through earth. Because Christ finished the work, you don’t have to live in fear that your suffering will undo what He accomplished.
Notice that Hebrews 10:23 doesn’t say: Hold fast because you are strong, you’ve got it all together, everything in life is working out right. It says: Hold fast because He is faithful!
Our author returns to the theme of considering Jesus in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 3
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
If you came today needing renewed strength in the middle of a battle, if you have been tempted to go back to an old lifestyle, if you are shaken and need peace, my friend, there is enough faith in this room to lift you up today.
Call Forward For Prayer
Maybe you do not have a personal relationship with God; maybe you are still carrying the anxiety, guilt, and pressure that sin induces in your life. Maybe you are stressed out by trying to navigate life all on your own. Can I assure you; today all of that can end, and you can walk out of this room with hope in your heart? The Bible tells us:
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 11
Romans 10:9 NASB95
Many people have told me, I don’t want to become a Christian because I can’t keep up that goodie lifestyle. But this verse says nothing about your lifestyle. God is more interested with your heart. If He can get to your heart, He will deal with your actions later.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 11
Romans 6:23 NASB95.
We know that sin leads to death – you’ve felt the sting, and pain of sin. The good news is this, Paul calls God’s gift of life a “free gift”. I want to pray with you right now to receive this gift. If you would say, I want God’s forgiveness, I want to accept this gift of life, I want Jesus to live in my heart, raise your hand so I know who I am praying for.
KEEP YOUR HANDS RAISED HIGH - I HAVE A PRAYER PARTNER COMING TO PRAY WITH YOU
“Heavenly Father, I trust You to save me through Your Son, Jesus. Forgive me for all of my sins. Make me brand new. Because You died for me, I want to live for You. Fill me with Your Spirit, so I could follow You. Jesus, You’re now my Lord and the Savior of my life. Take my life. It is Yours. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”
