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.
Let’s 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. Let’s 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 let’s 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 man’s 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 can’t 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 author’s stated point in giving the
command. (I mention it first because it is the
purpose of the author’s 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 God’s 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.
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