Its been several weeks ago now, but Matt preached about the great contradiction.  It was a word in due season for me.  I know myself and several others are encountered some contradictions in their life.  Its powerful how the Father sees what you need, when you need it, and comes and give you a prophetic word, to speak comfortably to you, and serve you with the nutrients you need to be able to endure the contradictions in this world.  

We are going to encounter stuff in this world.  I don’t like it anymore than you.  Things are going to come across our paths that are contrary to life and all that is good.  We will face contradictions in the way people treat us.  There will be things that stand opposed to our reputation, our honor, our name.  There will be things that try and contradict the knowledge that GOD is with us, even in us, upholding our lives.  There will be things that try and contradict that we have everything we need for life and godliness.  

But be of good cheer.  Theres a place of comfort in the midst of our afflictions.  Theres rest for our souls.  Theres a grace that gives us the strength we need to be able to endure.  Our hearts can be filled with the abundance of Gods life, and be kept from fear, in the midst of afflictions.  

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of the 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.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

The way we run the race that is set before us is by continuously beholding the faith that was revealed in Jesus.  Hebrews says look unto Jesus, consider Jesus.  Fix your mind on the substance of what you see in Jesus.  Turn your eyes away from every other thing, and the afflictions you are surrounded by, and fix them with undivided attention on what is revealed in Jesus, in his death and resurrection.  Consider Jesus, and what it is that strengthened him to endure the contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.  

The author of Hebrews is saying … Listen, as you are walking in this world, you will encounter afflictions and contradictions.  I dont want you to be overwhelmed with discouragement, thinking your life is being overcome, and feeling as if God doesn’t care.  I don’t want you to be moved from the hope of the gospel, and the certainty of life.  I dont want you left in the place where the strength, or rather the weakness you see in your flesh, and in the world is lifted up in your heart.  Consider the one who resisted sin unto blood.  Consider Jesus.  This guy Jesus found comfort in the midst of the cross.  Consider him, and what it is that served him with comfort.  

Jesus is the beginning and of the faith that will help you in your time of need.  He is the beginning and end of the faith that will supply you with grace, and comfort you when you encounter things that are contrary to life.  Consider Jesus, who found help in his time of need.  Don’t just think well this guy found help when he was on the cross, but consider the faith that was in his heart, that served him with comfort, filling him with patience in the midst of the contradiction of the cross, so you can find the same help in your time of need that he found, and you can be comforted with same comfort he was comforted with.  

Act 3:12  And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, You men of Israel, why marvel at this? or why look you so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Act 3:13  The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
Act 3:14  But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15  And killed the Prince of life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Psa 22:12  says Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
Psa 22:13  They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
Psa 22:16  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Psa 22:17  I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
Psa 22:18  They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

The contradiction of sinners Jesus endured against himself is he came to his own but they received him not.  They rejected him.  They denied he was the Son of God.  They denied that God was his Father.  They denied that he was the Lord from heaven come to save them from their sin.  And because they stood opposed to him they crucified him unto his death.  

Can you imagine the contradiction Jesus felt in that moment?  He gave life and breath to all people, and everything that exists.  Can you imagine him who gave life and breath to everyone being rejected by the very people he gave life and breath to?

The scripture says he who knew no sin took upon himself the wages of sin.  Jesus had no fellowship with sin or death or lack.  He is eternal life.  His only fellowship was with light and life.  Can you imagine someone in whom is no sin or darkness.  Someone in whom is only light and life.  Can you imagine the contradiction of that person now partaking of flesh and blood, and taking into themselves the fulness of all sin and death and darkness.  Can you imagine the contradiction of him who is eternal life, now being clothed upon in the fulness of sin and death and darkness? 

In the midst of the contradiction Jesus suffered against himself, He thought of the glory of the Father.  He considered the glory he shared with the Father from the beginning.  He considered the life he shared with the Father from the beginning, and how it would be unto the glorification of his dying body.  Jesus saw the resurrection, and that resurrection contradicted the death of the cross in his heart.  It contradicted the idea that he was separated from the Father’s love.  It contradicted the idea he was separated from what he needed for life and godliness.  It comforted him in the midst of his affliction.  Its like what the apostle Paul says about Abraham, Jesus didnt consider the death of the cross, or the deadness he saw in himself.  His mind wasnt twisting on those who set themselves against his life and against his name.  He considered the Father, and the life He shared with the Father from the beginning, and how it brought forth life out of dust, and can make dead bones so alive, it is no longer possible for those bones to ever taste death again.  And Jesus received strength from that faith.  It spoke comfortably to him.  It pampered his dying flesh.  It comforted his flesh from the pain of the cross.  The scripture says the faith he considered disesteemed the shame of the cross in his heart.  It cast down the death of the cross in his sight, and lifted up the life he shared with the Father from the beginning.

The resurrection of Jesus gives us eyes to see what Jesus saw in his heart, and what it is he considered, as he was suffering the death of the cross.  The afflictions we encounter in this world can feel like the strong bulls of bashan compassing us about, devouring us like a roaring lion.  They are contrary to us.  They are contrary to life and godliness.  They can make us feel wearied in our minds.  They war against our minds, trying to fill us with discouragement.  When you encounter contradictions against yourselves and your lives in this world, what you are needing is a plate full of life.  The thing you are in need of is for your eyes to be set on the table of life the Father has prepared for you in Jesus.  You are in need of considering Jesus, and the glory that is revealed in him, that is dwelling in you right now.  There’s comfort for you in Jesus.  There’s strength for you in Jesus.  There’s rest for your souls and your flesh in seeing the life that manifested in the resurrection of Jesus, and seeing that life is in you and you are in that life.  The Father is in you, and you are in the Father.  In Him is a life that makes all things straight that are crooked.  In Him is a life that raises the dead, that makes whole, that heals from fear.   Don’t fix your eye and your mind on the affliction you see.  Consider Him and His life, the life that manifested in Jesus. 

God contradicted death in the resurrection of Jesus.  He gave us something that can contradict the death and the afflictions that surround us in the world.  He raised Jesus from the dead so the afflictions we encounter in this world can be disesteemed in our hearts.  He gave us the resurrected Jesus to cast our afflictions down in our hearts; to cause us to think little or nothing of them.  Just as the apostle Pauls calls the afflictions he encountered in the world light in comparison to the glory that is in us now and shall be made manifest in our physical bodies.  

Prayer