Hebrews 3 GREATER THAN MOSES // INTRO Thus far in our study through the book of Hebrews, we’ve spent some time examining The Supremacy of Jesus Christ in Chapter 1 And in chapter 2, we encountered a strong admonition from the author of this text, telling us that we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it And when we look around and survey the culture and people around us, it sure seems like many Christians, and even many churches are drifting away from the moorings of the One true Faith The Sunday before last, we compared and contrasted several the cults who claim Jesus as their own The outcome of that was the realization that there are MANY false beliefs and false religions in the world today, leading people astray from the One True and Living God and His Word But as we move into Chapter 3, we’re going to be dealing with Jesus’ standing So what do I mean by that? I’m pointing to the fact that He is greater than anything in existence, or even your wildest imagination on your best day! He is the one and only Son of God, and as such, there is none who can compare to Him It makes me think about the life to come in the Presence of the Trinity, and that got me to thinking about many good experiences I’ve had over the course of my life here on earth The greatest one was the day I put my faith firmly and forever in Jesus The next one behind that one was the day I married my Bride My kids come in at #3 When Jen and I got married, we were living in Georgia, so naturally, we honeymooned in Florida! We had a great wedding with family and friends, and we immediately stepped into a situation where we were sharing a house with another person, and we were learning to deal with having to live with someone we didn’t really know It would have been hard enough just learning how to live with a new spouse But little did we know that we were on the cusp of learning how to learn how to live with our first baby (honeymoon surprise!) We grew so much! We both had to adjust to another person who had wants and needs Unfortunately, those wants and needs don’t always align with your spouses wants and needs, and so prayer becomes the thing that we go to as our first resort We both had our preferences, but over the years, we’ve learned to give up our preferences for the sake of others (though I’m pretty sure I don’t do it perfectly - it took me longer to adjust and to give up myself for the sake of harmony) Jen, on the other hand, just took life as it came to her, and made the best of it (and she continues to do so, giving me hope for my stubbornness and strong preferences!) Our love and excitement about being married in those early days were greater than the circumstances we were experiencing, so it took me a long time to see those preferences in myself What I’m saying is that marriage can be a steep learning curve for people (especially me, cause I’m slow) I had to discover that marriage (and just living with someone you love) takes effort, but the outcome of perseverance is far GREATER THAN if I had stayed single, and a slave to my preferences Oh, and our honeymoon was great, by the way - we got a Noah out of that deal! (and more kids after that!) But all of that to say, Jesus wants what is best for us, but the way that He brings it to us isn’t always according to our preferences in the flesh And this was a similar paradigm that God was teaching national Israel at that time in history, and using someone flawed and imperfect, like Moses And we know that God often operates in a way that we can’t always see the bigger picture Yes, He’s working, but sometimes behind the scenes, and sometimes out in front with the big miracles! But whatever Jesus does, we know that it is for our ultimate good because we are in Christ Jesus There are things that are GREATER in the moment, and then fade And there are things that are GREATER, but take more time for us to see clearly and appreciate The truth is that Jesus wants good for you and me, and for those who have put their faith in Him, because He is GREATER than all! It was the late Dr. Walter Martin, the founder of the Christian Research Institute and author of the best-selling book Kingdom of the Cults, who put it beautifully and succinctly, “...the Book of Hebrews was written by a Hebrew to other Hebrews telling the Hebrews to stop acting like Hebrews.” And you’ll see this as we go forward Now the immediate context of this letter was that many of the early Jewish believers in Christ were slipping back into the rites and rituals of Judaism in an effort to avoid persecution for being Christians. So this letter we call “Hebrews” as an exhortation for persecuted brother and sisters to persevere in the love and grace of Christ. And with that, let’s jump into the text this morning… // TEXT & EXPOSITION [1] Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, [2] who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. [3] For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. [4] (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) In the Scriptures, a house is often used as a metaphor for God’s people, the church We see that in 1 Timothy 3:14–15: [14] I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, [15] if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. The church includes both old covenant and new covenant believers. As mediator of the old covenant, Moses represents the house itself He has great honor as God’s faithful servant over that house But in the end, he is only a servant. One could say that he is only the house. But Jesus is the builder of the house, and as such, He deserves the greater honor!! Now, there are two reasons why Jesus can be called the builder of the house. The first of these is that the Messiah builds God’s house (Zech. 6:12), and Jesus is that Messiah. Second, Jesus is called the Builder of the house because He is God Himself. Hebrews 3:4 makes this clear. At first it seems to suggest that Jesus is not really God because the text seems to distinguish between the builder of a house and the builder of all things, but what the verse actually affirms is the truth that God is supreme as the Architect and Creator of all things, both in the physical world and in His Church. This fact does not undermine nor deny the deity of Christ, but rather strongly supports the fact that designated builder of the house in v3:3, is really God Himself. We ought to be speaking to holy brothers and sisters who share in Christ’s heavenly calling. We do this on Sunday, but do you have fellowship with like-minded believers the rest of the week? I pray that you do! An entire week is too long to live without camaraderie and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ! The text in v1 tells us to “Consider Jesus…” Do you? Do you do it regularly? How did that relationship with the Son of God come about? I’d love to hear your story, if I haven’t had the opportunity yet I was born into family that had nominal backgrounds in the Church (my mom and dad both), but they weren’t actively seeking, going, or inquiring about spiritual realities. It wasn’t until the Lord put weight on some pressure points that my parents began to think more intently about Jesus. My journey of faith has some of those elements as well. Others have different stories. And I think that one of the things that is going to be so glorious will be to meet people and hear their stories of how Jesus came to them and saved them, and also to make the connections that the Holy Spirit made with others in our lives on earth But getting back to the text, Moses was THE Prophet in the OT He was faithful as God’s servant But we find in the New Testament that Jesus is GREATER THAN Moses, and counted more worthy! Let me offer an illustration I dabble with wood working, but I’m still a NOOB My skills are not honed yet But that doesn't keep me from being in awe of guys who can build a house from the ground up, knowing the ins and outs of what has to be done, in a particular way, at the right time, so that it all comes together to be a strong dwelling for someone! And yet, it is in precisely this way that we look at what Jesus has done in the world, and then step back and consider Jesus Himself! How much more glory and honor and majesty belongs to Him, as opposed to the things He has done? And that rhetorical question is meant to draw us to explore who He is and what He’s done for us! He is the originator of what has been made, and all the good things in the world come from Him. James 1:16–18 [16] Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. [17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. [18] Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate Heavenly Carpenter And all that He builds lasts forever. Therefore, He is counted more worthy than Moses, because the Builder has greater glory than the object that was built This same paradigm is true with buildings, statues, or anything that can be built. The one who made the thing is always going to be greater than the thing itself. Why? Because it didn't just pop into existence suddenly, all by itself! It didn’t create itself! It was made by someone - a mind was behind it, not random processes. And as an addendum, this is why Evolution is so dumb! (even Theistic Evolution) To believe that all we can see came from nothing is a scientific impossibility. Every building has a builder. Nothing has ever built itself. So the Builder is greater than the building. Every design has a designer - same concept! (and someone will stop me at some point and tell me about A.I. being able to create and “think”, and I’m simply going to ask the question, “Who made that A.I.? ”) God is the only One who can speak a Word, and make it come about… So Brothers and Sisters, we share in a Heavenly calling! Consider Jesus, our Apostle and High Priest, who, like Moses, was faithful in God’s House! So the text is showing us definitively that Jesus had/has greater glory than Moses. Moses was a servant whom God used Jesus is the Son, as we read here… [5] Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, [6] but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. So right away we see a contrast again between Moses and Jesus Whereas they both were religious “Leaders,”one of them led the Israelites in the Old Covenant. But now, Jesus leads us in the NEW Covenant! Both were faithful in this regard. How was Moses faithful? In what ways? He spoke to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, meaning for us, not the Jews. While Moses was created, Jesus is the Creator (Hebrews 3:3) Moses was faithful as a servant in God's house, but Jesus is faithful as God's Son. Moses gave glimpses of what was to come, but Jesus actually fulfilled those promises. So Jesus is Greater Than Moses. There is likely no Old Testament prophet more respected than Moses. He was the lawgiver, the emancipator of Israel. He was a worker of miracles. And Moses had the unique privilege of speaking to God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” Exodus 33:11 Before he died, Moses commanded the Israelites to watch for the coming of another Prophet who would bear some resemblance to Moses: “You must listen to him!” (Deuteronomy 18:15) This was all pointing to the New Covenant Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17), and set us free from sin and death (Romans 8:2) Jesus did many miracles to attest to WHO He was! (Acts 2:22). Hebrews 3:3 says that “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses.” Jesus was and is faithful over God’s House as a Son. Jesus is the better Prophet. And we are His house, if we hold fast to our confidence and our boasting in our hope (heaven which awaits us). Both had a Prophetic Role. In Deuteronomy 18:15, the text states the words of Moses: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.” This promise finds ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, in Acts 3:22 Both Moses and Jesus served as prophets who spoke the very words of God. Moses was the forerunner. Jesus was the fullness. Both Moses and Jesus were deliverers from Bondage The Hebrews were slaves to Egypt in the Old Covenant But all Mankind are slaves to sin under the New Covenant. Both Moses and Jesus are Mediators of God’s Covenant Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, receiving the Law on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:3–6) But Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant through His death and resurrection (Luke 22:2) Moses’ role involved the revelation of the Ten Commandments and the sacrificial system, while Jesus fulfilled that Law, and introduced the once-for-all sacrifice of Himself. Ancient manuscripts confirm the consistency of these covenantal themes throughout the Pentateuch and the Gospels, reinforcing the parallel of the two covenants and the two mediators. To speed this along, both were rejected: Moses rejected by the Israelites, and Jesus by the Jews, and especially the religious leaders Moses is famously known as the Lawgiver who presented the Torah - the Law of God which came down from Sinai Jesus, identified in Matthew 5:17 as the One who came to fulfill the Law, echoes Moses’ teaching but takes it even further He emphasized the heart’s intent and the spirit behind each commandment In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus often quotes Moses’ Law, and then intensifies or clarifies its meaning (Matthew 5:21–22, 27–28) Both were authoritative teachers Both were intercessors Moses interceded for Israel multiple times, pleading for God’s mercy after their sins We see that in Exodus 32 and Numbers 14 And Jesus serves as the ultimate Intercessor, who ever lives to advocate for Believers before the Father according to Hebrews 7:25 Both men stepped into the gap on behalf of their people Both reinforced the understanding that God works through chosen mediators to extend grace and forgiveness The list goes on, but allow me to expedite this process Both men were leaders with Divine Authority Both men served in humility Both spoke prophecy and it’s fulfillment And in this way, Moses foreshadows Jesus Christ….their birth narratives Moses was preserved amid a threat to kill Hebrew infants Jesus likewise escaped Herod’s massacre of the children The both had a role in revealing God’s plan on a mountain Moses on Sinai, and Jesus at the Transfiguration I’m sure there are more…but we must move on [7] Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, [8] do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, [9] where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. [10] Therefore I was provoked with that generation,and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ [11] As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” So we infer that there is a rest for the people of God that is coming “Today, if you hear his voice… Ps 95:7-11 This is a gracious warning (God doesn’t have to warn us at all, but does!) Ps 95:7-11 [7] For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, [8] do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, [9] when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. [10] For forty years I loathed that generation and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.” [11] Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They shall not enter my rest.” The message is, “Do not harden your hearts!” Don’t put the Lord to the test! Even now in the Age of Grace If you are His own by faith, He can and will still discipline you, it will hurt! And not only that, but don’t make the same mistake that your forefather made before you! Learn from those who have come before and walked with the Lord! [12] Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. [14] For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. [15] As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” The writer of Hebrews is warning us about how we live in the world And that warning is that if anyone has an evil, unbelieving heart, and that one does not repent and align with Jesus and His Word, then that person is on the wrong path It is a path that will ultimately lead to falling away from the faith Another term for this is APOSTASY It comes from the Greek: Apostasia, which is defined as, “rebellion, defection, falling away” defection, apostasy, revolt The concept of apostasy in the Old Testament is often related to the Hebrew word meshubah, meaning "backsliding" or "turning away" We can see this in passages like Jeremiah 3:6–10 [6] The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? [7] And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. [8] She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. [9] Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. [10] Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD.” But there is still hope: “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Basically, this is Jesus’ way (OT and NT) to warn His people in every age and location down through history to be chaste and pure with your devotion to Christ It’s not “Jesus +” It is Jesus Christ alone, or nothing And this is a big deal the last several years, with a globalized, connected world Now the clamor is not only for a one-world government (and it is in the works, I assure you), but a one-world currency, AND a one-world RELIGION!! That’s coming online quickly as well But none of this can take place until the Church is out of the way Maybe you didn’t know this, but Jesus, in His Word calls us (collectively) “The Retrainer” Because we have the Holy Spirit IN us (the 3rd Person of the Trinity), we are actually restraining Him from going forward with His agenda for the world and the end of days It’s coming!! [16] For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? [17] And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? [18] And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? [19] So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Unbelief is not merely ignorance, but instead it is willfully refusing God’s free gift of forgiveness of sin—including the sin of unbelief! When God offers to forgive a person’s sin if he or she believes on Jesus, that person cannot say,, “No, I refuse to believe in You, but forgive my sins anyway.” That’s not how it works Forgiveness is a conditional offer If the required condition is met (faith in Jesus), then the promised result occurs (forgiveness for sins) So then, faith in Christ is how people rightly respond to God’s offer of salvation And speaking personally, we all know people who do not have a saving relationship with Christ I spent FRI and SAT helping Jen with the ladies’ retreat, and on my final drive yesterday, I cut over in Bellingham and came down Chuckanut Drive I stopped along the way and as I was looking out at the water, a guy struck up a conversation with me We talked for about 15 min, and he told me some of his story, and I was so glad to have chatted with Him and talked about spiritual things along the way I gave him a gospel tract, and I hope he’ll visit Emmaus sometime And all that to say, be obedient to what Jesus has called us to The days are growing dark, and Jesus is coming soon There’s one thing you can’t do in Heaven, and that is leading someone to Christ! We need to do that now, while we’re here, so that they can be where we are, with the Lord Jesus in glory! // APPLICATION As we wrap up, let me paint a picture for you Mine and Jen’s wedding and honeymoon was such a blessing, and we loved every moment of it all, even the torrential downpour that hit us as we were going into a cafe, and even with the air conditioner going full tilt The births of our children (even the ones who didn’t make it in this world) were incredible moments for us, and we worshipped the Lord and gave them the names that the Lord have spoken to us Seeing college students consider Jesus, and some coming to faith, was an awesome experience in our campus ministry days as we served at the University of Georgia When it comes the Jesus and His Kingdom, we have had some incredible (and some harrowing) experiences And what we’ve come to, over all these years, is simply this: We are servants Jesus and stewards of all that He entrusts to us My life with my wife is BETTER THAN it was at our nuptials It is better than it was when Noah, Ethan, and Abigayle were born And it’s going to be BETTER when we see Jesus face-to-face He is greater than Moses He was the lawgiver and a worker of miracles Moses had the unique privilege of speaking to God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” Before he died, Moses commanded the Israelites to watch for the coming of another Prophet who would bear some resemblance to Moses “You must listen to him” (Deuteronomy 18:15) That ONE was Jesus and He fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17) He emancipated us from sin and death (Romans 8:2), and He was a worker of miracles (Acts 2:22) As we’ve already read, Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses This letter of Hebrews, from an unknown human author, makes it crystal clear that only one Person deserves the primary place in our lives Even as we busy with our agendas, climbing the corporate ladder, putting our hope in our children, and idolizing the things around, Jesus is patiently standing by, offering us a better Priest, a better Covenant, a better Hope, and a better sacrificepeopl Only when we give Jesus His proper place in our lives will everything else align as it should Remember that Passover in 2025 begins at sundown on Saturday, April 12th, and ends at nightfall on Sunday, April 20 It is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and is celebrated with family gatherings and special rituals, including the Seder meal If any of you are thinking about doing a Seder meal, please let me know In the meantime, keep looking up Our redemption is drawing near! // PRAY // SING // GO Jesus is the greater Moses and He is leading us out of our preferences, out of our deep ruts in life, and He’s bringing us into a new Promised Land Not one flowing with milk and honey, but a Promised land where sin is no more, and we live with God forever I don’t know about you, but I’m longing for that! Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Maranatha! Emmaus Road Church, YOU ARE SENT!!