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THINK OF CHRIST!

by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles,
Saturday Evening, November 5, 2011

“Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3).


Three words need to be clarified to understand this verse. “Consider” means “think on,” or think about (Henry Alford, New Testament for English Readers, Baker Book House, 1983 reprint, volume 4, p. 1570). “Contradiction” means “opposition” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary, Hendrickson, 2008, volume 3, p. 573). “Wearied” means “tired.” Therefore we can say:

“[Think of] him that endured such [opposition] of sinners against himself, lest ye be [tired] and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3).

I. First, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired of the opposition of the world.

Constant opposition from the world can make you feel tired and depressed. Opposition may come from your family or friends. They may say that you do not spend enough time with them. They may yell at you, “You’re always in that church.” But sinners said much worse things about Christ. He was opposed by the world in everything that He did.

“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber”
      (Matthew 11:19).

Jesus told the crowd that he was the Good Shepherd Who lay down His life for the sheep. They replied,

“He hath a devil, and is [insane]; why hear ye him?”
       (John 10:20).

Jesus offered them eternal life. In return, they called Him a demon possessed, insane madman. Jesus endured many false accusations from those sinners. Do not be wearied then by the things they say about you. It is a small thing that we should suffer such light criticisms from those who are lost.

Maybe you receive more than just opposition. They may have seen you read your Bible and pray over your food at work or at school. They know that you are a follower of Christ. They may even be mean or rude to you. You may even feel that they hate you. Don’t be surprised. Jesus said,

“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

Jesus never did anything to make people hate Him. He said, “They hated me without a cause” (John 15:25) – for no reason at all!

Christians are not always good. Maybe there is something wrong in our character. This may cause the world to dislike us. Maybe we don’t really love sinners as much as we should. There may even be some that we don’t love at all. Perhaps we argue and justify ourselves when we are really wrong. But Jesus is not a sinner like us. He is the sinless Son of God. Yet, He went through great suffering at the hand of sinners. Isaiah said,

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

No one ever loved sinners as much as Christ did. Yet there has never been anyone who was rejected as much as He was! We should not be weary then when we experience a little rejection from the world. Jesus said,

“The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

Jesus told us to expect persecution. Then, we should not be surprised when persecution comes. Instead, we should think of Jesus. We should compare our small persecution with His great suffering.

Jesus said,

“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11, 12).

Brothers and sisters, let us get this right! We should not be weary and faint under persecution. Rather, we should “Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is [our] reward in Heaven.” We are following our Saviour! The world opposed Him! Let the world oppose us as well! We are more than conquerors through Christ!

“Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds”
       (Hebrews 12:3).

II. Second, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired in prayer.

We have to pray or we cannot live a victorious Christian life! But we often grow tired in prayer and stop praying before the answer comes. Also, sometimes our prayers become mechanical and lifeless. This can even be true of our group prayers at church. And this can be true of our own private prayers.

Let us think of Jesus who is our great example. He was constantly in prayer to His Father in Heaven. He prayed with His disciples when He taught them the Lord’s Prayer. But most of the time, He prayed alone. The Bible says,

“He withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed”
       (Luke 5:16).

He prayed every morning,

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed”
       (Mark 1:35).

He prayed through the night,

“And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God”
       (Luke 6:12).

He prayed with great seriousness,

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Consider the example of Christ! He who prayed so much and so often. Christ is our example. If we pray like He did, we will not be weary and faint. This is what will strengthen and encourage us. Let us pray more often! Let us pray with faith! Let us pray until the answer comes! Let us pray, let us pray, let us pray!

III. Third, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired of doing evangelism.

Many of you are faithful in going out on evangelism. You go out every Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. You may even come Wednesday night, and also bring names from personal evangelism. But many times you grow tired of evangelism. You have thoughts that it does little good. You grow tired and faint. And you forget that this “tiredness” is from the Devil himself!

The Devil will flee when you think about Christ!

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

That was the great purpose of Christ coming to this earth. It was to “seek and to save that which was lost.” That was His mission and goal. And that should also be your mission and goal as well. You have been called by Christ Himself to win souls.

But you say, “I’m tired, because I have talked to so many people, and no one comes in and stays.” But it is said of Jesus,

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not”
       (John 1:11).

The nation’s rejection of Him never affected Christ’s zeal. He always worked zealously for the salvation of lost souls. He never grew weary and faint, even though most of the Jewish people rejected Him. Christ said,

“I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

Christ always had great zeal in winning souls. And He maintained this zeal knowing that soon “He [would] be delivered into the hands of sinful men,” and be crucified. He paid for our sin by suffering and dying on the Cross. His whole life was devoted to evangelism. We should follow His example and be zealous in our evangelism.

Shall we grow weary and faint? Is the Christian life too difficult for us? What about those faithful Christians in North Africa, in Muslim lands, and in China? They undergo great persecution. Yet they faithfully continue to evangelize the lost at the risk of their lives.

If you are tired now with such light work, how will you feel if the work load is increased? How shall you ever reign with Christ? Oh, the answer is Christ Himself! Think of Christ! Think of Christ! Think of Christ!

“Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds”
       (Hebrews 12:3).

(END OF SERMON)
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THE OUTLINE OF

THINK OF CHRIST!

by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan

“Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3).

I.   First, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired
of the opposition of the world, Matthew 11:19; John 10:20;
John 15:18, 25; Isaiah 53:3; John 15:20; Matthew 5:11, 12.

II.  Second, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired
in prayer, Luke 5:16; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12; 22:44

III. Third, consider Christ, think of Him, when you are weary and tired
of doing evangelism, Luke 19:10; John 1:11; 9:4; Philippians 2:5.