Now for a short time we shall consider words which we will find in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1. Hebrews 3 verse 1. Following on with the apostles arguments for the new covenant and the initiation and implementation of it, we have briefly considered four points relating to the preparation and fulfillment of the terms of this covenant. We considered last time we spoke from this epistle divine high priest, Jesus Christ, the faithful high priest, the self-sacrifice of the divine son of God, He has made atonement once and for all. He paid the price for our sins because he became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. Yet without any taint of sin, but became sin by giving himself wholly into the hands of wicked men who nailed him to the cross. Now in chapter 3 verse 1 we have a very important word set before us, the word consider. Consider. This means that we have a responsibility We have a brain connected to our souls. We are to learn. We are to understand the scriptures. We are to search the scriptures. We are not to sit back and put our feet up and just sit there and wait. We are to search the scriptures. And this word, consider, is there for us to focus upon the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Now we keep going back to chapter one and the first two or three verses. God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory in the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Now lots of people get upset reading Hebrews because it's full of warnings and exhortations and there are many words said and they seem to be threats. but God's banner over his people is a banner of love. And he has given gifts unto the church and to every single one of his people, he has bestowed gifts. We all have the capacity to learn, some greater than others, but nevertheless, we have a responsibility with the capacities we have to search the scriptures. For in them we know if we have life. And there are certain things in the scriptures which we need to know. We need to know our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider the apostle and high priest of our calling, Jesus Christ the righteous. What better exercise can man do than think upon Jesus Christ? For there is no greater person than ever trod this world in Jesus Christ, for he is God. He is the Son of God. And Jesus Christ made all things. God made all things through Jesus Christ. And now all power in heaven and in earth is committed to him. He is in control. He knows what's happening. There is nothing outside his control. This world is unsettled. Why? Because of sin. Because the wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness. And we are here to conform to his revealed will and to do his bidding. This exhortation to consider is an encouragement. It is an encouragement for one or two reasons. Because if we don't think and if we don't apply the word of God, how are we going to understand? There is a problem in the church today and that problem is a lack of spirituality. And how has that come about? because we're not familiar with the word of God. We do not apply ourselves to the study of scripture. We do not give time to meditation and consideration of the word of God. We need to apply the truth to ourselves, but we need to know the truth. And the only way we can know the truth is by searching the scriptures. And this word, consider, is placed very significantly at the beginning of the third chapter. And the apostle, whoever he was, was very wise because he was challenging the Jewish Christians who were being tempted to turn their backs upon Jesus Christ and the commitment which they had made to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were apostatizing from the gospel. But this apostle is at pains to discover to them the wrongness of their actions. He is encouraging them, encouraging them to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, to remember the Lord Jesus Christ, to remember the rock from which they have been hewn. Because Jesus Christ did not die in vain. Jesus Christ did not give his life as a ransom for sinners, willy-nilly, but for a purpose and a reason. He knew whom he was redeeming. And these initial converts from the Jewish community, they were being tempted because of discouragement and because of persecution, because of hardship, to go back to the old way of life, to the old routines, which were just shadows of the things which were to come. Now the shadows of the things which were to come hath come. God who at sundry times and in diverse manners speak in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. That is an enormous privilege for each one of us. The word of God has come to us by the mouth of Jesus Christ the son of God. who humbled himself and made himself of no reputation, that we have a personal saviour who has personally and individually selected his people. And they come to him by grace. By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Not of what's, lest any man should boast. And we have got the scriptures and there are words placed all over the scriptures, which are very, very potent, very meaningful and loaded with meaning. Consider, think upon, meditate upon, look to Jesus Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul. Romans chapter 12, one and two, I've often quoted it. Guess what? I'm going to quote it again because it is so important. It is important for every single Christian. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is a reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. We are to present our bodies. Our bodies don't belong to us. If we are Christians, we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the saviour of sinners, set before us in the word of God. This is not a fable. This is a fact. This is a reality. This is the reality of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have his word before us. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. Where are you going? What is your purpose in this life? You're going to heaven. You're going to a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. We have to read the scriptures to find out why. And what are the means by which we go there? It is through Jesus Christ. It is by the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is profitable for all things for Christians. And we need it and we need to apply it to ourselves. It is easy to sit in front of the television and to be absorbed by the things of the world. It is easy to take it easy and to think everything is just wonderful. And all the time we're neglecting our souls. And in the midst of neglecting our souls, what else are we doing? We are grieving the Holy Spirit. For every Christian, without exception, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. are going around in the world and we have Christians, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He is our companion. He is the one who guides us. He takes of the things of Christ to reveal them to us. That's why we are to think and to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, to know him and to know the power of his resurrection to realise what power is in Christ and what power he has given unto us to be changed in our lives, to walk in newness of life. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, each and every single Christian died with him there. And when a man or a woman is converted, comes to a knowledge of salvation in Christ, the realization that he is a born again Christian, the realization that his sins were paid for by the suffering of Jesus Christ. Imagine what Jesus Christ felt like on the cross of Calvary. What does it mean? to hang on a cross. Cursed is everyone that hangeth upon a tree to die. The sinless and the perfect and the pure Son of God was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. and he has given us life. He has given us this gift of faith, this power which is working in us that we should become a new creature in Christ Jesus. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And we are to follow the word of God. We are to get into a habit of reading the word of God. and meditating upon the word of God. If I may say something of my own experience in the past, when I was ill, my memory was partially taken away and I had known many epistles and I knew them off by heart. And when I came back from my illness, that memory and that account of what I had stored away in my memory had gone. And it was difficult to go back to it and to retain it, because the concentration, the ability to concentrate had been taken away also. It is a hardship of great pain, I can assure you. But God's grace enables us to do many things, to overcome the difficulties of life, the life which we have been given, and the trials which have been bestowed upon us for our benefit. we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we are to put on the new man. We are to remember that we are no longer our own, we are bought with a price, that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus, created for good works. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the calling, heavenly calling, consider the Apostle, and Jesus Christ is the Apostle, the highest Apostle, and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ, who was faithful to him that appointed him, that is God the Father. And as we will later consider, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. There is amazing knowledge in the scripture. Hebrews is full of it. And Hebrews is full of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. That is the one that we need to know about. That is the one that we read Hebrews to find out about. Because without the fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ, we wander around hopeless and in darkness. He is our light. He is the apple of the eye, our beloved, who comes to us bearing gifts at all times. There are lots of things that we have to consider in this study of Hebrews. It is full of the Old Testament, and it is pointing out that we have to be very careful how we consider how to behave ourselves and how to live in this life. There are lots of things. we have got to know the doctrines of God's word and to realise why we need the doctrines of God's word. For we are to grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And there are complementary epistles like for instance, 2 Peter. chapter one where we have a whole catalogue of processes which we go through. Add to your faith knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance godliness and so on. That is what is talked about when we come to the end of that epistle at the end of the chapter. Peter's last words to his people was to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, to search the scriptures, to search the scriptures, to know the truth. It is a privilege which is given to us and which we must accept. We have to realise that the church is under God's judgement today. It is because we are so complacent And we are so idle and neglectful of our souls. We are so unaware and ignorant of whose we are. Christ should be dwelling in our hearts by faith. We should be alive to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to myself at the same time. It is my duty. It is my privilege. It is my responsibility to follow Jesus Christ, to walk closely to him and by him. We have to wait with patience upon the Lord that we may be enabled to live in a way which is pleasing to him because We have a purpose. There is an end to our calling. There is a place to which we now belong and we've been invited to. A new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And it is not possible in this life for us to consider these things to their fullest possibilities. The only one that was privileged to do that was the Apostle Paul, where he was lifted up to the highest heavens and he saw and heard things that are not lawful to be spoken about. But there is such a place which we are to prepare ourselves for. and we are to delight ourselves in the word of God and to prepare ourselves through the reading of God's word and meditation of it. We are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Well, that is the way, the Word of God through the Word of God, through the preaching of God's Word. These are the blessings and the privileges that we have and have to expose ourselves to and to begin to understand God has made provision for us. This is the way, walking in it. true knowledge and understanding of our Saviour Jesus Christ. So we need to speak, to seek, ye shall seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be open unto you. We need patience, perseverance, determination to follow on to know the Lord. And he says, him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out. Now there are other things, there's lots of other things that we can preach about and follow on through these things and we will, if we're spared and well, come to them eventually. So I'll leave it at that for just now. And we will close singing to praise God's in Psalm 37 again. At verse 29. 29 to 37. The just inherit shall the land and ever in it dwell. The just man's mouth doth wisdom speak. His tongue doth judgment tell. His heart the law is of his God. His steps slide not away. The wicked man doth watch the just and seek them to slay. 29. the just inherit shall the land. They just inherit each other like a neighbor in it could. The just has left all wisdom weak. It's come, the judgment tell. It's heard, the law is on his door. His death's like note away. Awake, ye men of watch, let us all sing and lift to slain. Yet then, thou, Lord, thou love for sin, nor leave it in his hands. The righteous will he not condemn, When he in judgment stands. We told the Lord and came His way, and the Exalt shall be here to inherit when called. the wicked eye shall see. I saw the wicked great in power spread like a green bay tree. He parched, it was not in my soul. but found he could not be. Mark thou the perfect and behold the man of uprightness. He knows that surely of this man the latter and this man