Greater Than Moses

Have your Bibles with you. Turn with me if you would to Hebrews chapter 3.

We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 6. As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence in our boasting in our hope. Bow with me as we go to our Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we lift up our sick to you today. We pray for Jeremy Carriker and Jim Belk and Brenda Torrance. We pray for Nicole Lohse and Wanda Abercrombie and Kim Udi. Father, we pray for Sarah and Audrey Alleygood and Gwen and Esther Carroll in their grieving. Lord, minister peace and healing to their bodies and souls.

Lord, we pray for salvation for our lost loved ones. Heavenly Father, today's passage shows a compassion or a comparison, Lord, of Moses to Jesus. It's had to be extremely convicting to this young Jewish church. All their lives they've been taught to look to Moses. Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt and prepared them for the promised land. Moses received the law and watched God engrave the Ten Commandments on the two stone tablets. Moses' faith was so great that it was as if he could see the invisible God. Orthodox Jews were touting Moses as being greater than Christ.

The writer of Hebrews says, wake up. Jesus is greater than the prophets, greater than the priest, greater than the law and greater than the angels. He is greater than Moses. Jesus is the son of man. He's also the son of God. When Moses on the mount saw the glory of God, he was seeing Jesus. Lord, help us to see Jesus too. There is none like Christ, for it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Hebrews chapter three is a chapter that deals with Moses. The writer of Hebrews is writing specifically to Jewish people. And if the Jewish people have a hero, you can bet your bottom dollar that hero is Moses. He was their deliverer.

He was their champion. The Hebrews or the Jews, they boasted on David. They bragged on Joshua. They extolled Elijah, but they adored Moses.

So in essence, the writer of Hebrews is saying this. Do you think what Moses did was special? If you think that, then let me tell you about Jesus. Do you think Moses was a godly man? Well then buckle up your pew belts because Jesus was not just a godly man. Jesus is God himself.

And there is no comparison between the two. I got four points that I want to share with you today. Number one is consider Jesus. Look with me if you would at verse one. Therefore holy brothers, you who share in the heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. He starts off with a therefore. And what does that tell us? It tells us to go back to what he has just said. What had he said in chapters one and two?

He has said this. Jesus is the heir of all things. Jesus is the creator of heaven and earth. Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. Jesus is the son of man. He is also the son of God. Jesus is greater than everything.

He's greater than the prophets, greater than the priest, greater than the law, greater than the angels. So, do not drift away from your faith. For how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? In the light of that, he says, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling. He is saying, guys, you Christians are in the family of God. Jesus is not just your savior.

He's also your elder brother. And you have a heavenly calling. What does that mean? That means that your calling didn't just come from the local pastor down at the church down the road. Your calling came from heaven, which means that your calling came from God himself. So, he calls these people holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. In other words, don't take your Christianity lightly. You have been made holy by God.

You have a divine call on your life. Now, in the light of that, he says, consider. That word consider is found 14 times in our New Testament. Four times it is used in the book of Hebrews.

And what does it mean? It means that you are to think deeply, that you are to perceive, that you are to ponder so stringently and diligently that you will come to a full understanding of the subject. Folks, Jesus used that word twice in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, consider the lilies and consider the ravens. Peter used it when he was describing the great white sheath that came down from heaven with all the animals in it. And Peter said this, he said, I saw and considered the four-footed animals. So, the writer of Hebrews is saying, take the time to think, to ponder.

To ponder on what? The apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. What is an apostle? The word apostle comes from the word sent. He was one who was sent with a special mission from God the Father.

He was one who knew exactly what mission he had. It was a prophetic ministry. It was a position of great authority. How many times have we heard that term apostolic authority?

Well, we need to remember this. Jesus isn't just called an apostle here. He is called the apostle. Now, if you go through the book of Hebrews, none of the other apostles are even mentioned. And not even Paul. Only Jesus.

This is important. It's like the writer of Hebrews wants his readers to take their focus off of the servants of Christ, no matter how dedicated and how godly they may have been. Take your eyes off of them so you can put your full attention on Christ. Secondly, we are to consider Jesus as the high priest of our confession. Now, when he spoke of Jesus as the apostle, he was talking about the prophetic ministry of Jesus. What did Jesus do when he came? He preached, he taught, he shared doctrine, and he foretold events that would take place in the future.

That was prophecy. The prophetic office has to do with hearing from God the Father and then relating those truths to us. But his priestly office was an office of mediation, where Jesus sees us in our need and he goes to the Father and intercedes for us, asking the Heavenly Father to take care of our needs. Jesus is our mediator.

He is our go-between. Also notice that Jesus is called the apostle and high priest of our confession. I think he wants us to emphasize the confession here because he's talking to Christians who are going through a difficult time. These Christians, these young Hebrew Christians are being persecuted unmercifully. Some of them have been put in prison. Some of them have lost their property, have it stolen away from them.

Some of them had their property vandalized and some of them were even killed. And some of the weaker Christians are now saying, maybe we ought to just be secret disciples. Maybe that's the best thing that we can do. Just keep our mouth shut and we can still be pure in our heart. We can still have Jesus in our heart. We just won't talk about him or we won't witness anymore and that way we'll be fine. The writer of Hebrews is saying this to those people.

No. If you're going to stand, if you're going to be a Christian, then you stand for Christ. Do not compromise. You understand who you are and you understand what your calling is. 2 Timothy 2.11, Paul says, For if we be dead with Christ, then we shall also live with him. If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, then he will deny us. You know, being a secret disciple is not total denial, is it?

But it's close. It is saying he's not worth the persecution and I don't want to have to suffer for his sake. Folks, listen to this carefully. God uses our persecution to bring him glory. God uses our persecution to open the eyes of the unbelievers. It was persecution that went on in the early church that brought conviction to the unbelievers. They saw these Christians who were being put in prison, who had their property vandalized, who were being killed and yet they would not back off. And they said, what those guys have is real.

It's real and that's what I want for my life. Alright, let's look at Acts 4, 1 through 4 to back all that up. And it says, and as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000. And Acts 5, 40 through 6, 1. And when they called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Christ. Now in these days, the disciples were increasing in number.

You know, it would seem that the world would do the exact opposite of that, wouldn't it? It would seem that the persecution would scare the world away. Let me tell you what the persecution did. It drove the hypocrites out, but it drew the sincere and the true believers into the body. What is happening to compromising churches in America that have gone woke? Let me tell you what's happening.

They're either dying or they are already dead. So the writer of Hebrews is encouraging this strong confession. He said, do not be a secret disciple.

Why not? Because it will kill your testimony and it will destroy your joy. Before I move on, I want to answer a question that someone's asking about the Orthodox Jews in that day and time and why they were so tough on these Hebrew Christians that had become, these Hebrews that had become Christians. Why were they so harsh?

Why were they so adamant? Let me give you an example. Let's say I've got an 18-year-old daughter. And that 18-year-old daughter comes to me and she says, Daddy, I've decided to convert to Mormonism. I've met a young man.

I've fallen in love with him. He's a Mormon. We're going to move to, get married and move to Utah and I'm going to be a Mormon. I have read the Book of Mormon. I've read the Pearl of Great Price. And I like their strong emphasis on family and clean living.

And this idea that when I die, I'm going to be a god, that's very appealing to me. What do you think Doug would do in that situation? If that happened to me, I would just throw an all-out, no-holds-barred hissy fit. And I would say, No, you're not doing this.

Absolutely not. I said, Mormonism is a cult. And if you get into this, you will die and you will go to hell. Don't do that. Turn from that. Turn away from it.

Turn away from it. It's an absolute cult and it will destroy you. And folks, I think the Orthodox, and I would be right in doing that.

I would be absolutely right. But the Orthodox Jews believe that Christianity was a cult. And what's the writer of Hebrews doing?

He is telling them, Listen carefully. Christianity is not a cult. Christianity is the blossoming out flower, the blossoming out flower of Old Testament Judaism. Jesus is not a false prophet. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is God.

And he is the one that you have been looking for. Alright, point two. I want you to consider Moses. Look at verse two. Who was faithful to him, who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in God's house. Jesus was faithful to him, who appointed him, who appointed him, God the Father did. And the writer of Hebrews first makes a favorable comparison to Moses and Jesus. And remember, Moses is the Jews' hero. For Jews to be like Moses was a real plus in the Jewish mind. He says that he was like him in faithfulness. Was Moses faithful? You better believe he was. Go over to the book of Hebrews chapter 11, the greatest chapter in the Bible on the subject of faith, and you will see some very great words spoken about Moses.

Let me share some of these with you. Hebrews 11, 24 through 27. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured at seeing him who is impossible.

Why don't you listen to what John MacArthur said? He said it beautifully. Moses was esteemed by the Jews far above any other Jew who ever lived. God had miraculously protected him as a baby and personally provided for his burial.

Between these two points in his life are miracle after miracle after miracle. He was the man to whom God spoke face to face. He had seen the very glory of God and in fact even had the glory reflected in his own face for a brief while after he came down from Sinai, the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with God. He was the one who led Israel out of Egypt. As Paul stresses in Romans 2, Jews had great confidence in the law. The Old Testament commandments and rituals were their supreme priorities and to them, Moses and the law were synonymous. The New Testament often refers to the commands of God as the law of Moses. Moses not only brought the Ten Commandments but he also wrote the entire Pentateuch which lays out the Levitical and other laws that govern everything the Jews did.

Moses gave the plans for the tabernacle in the Ark of the Covenant. Some Jews believe that Moses was greater than angels. God spoke to the prophets in vision but to Moses, he spoke face to face. He spoke to him in a burning bush. He spoke to him out of heaven. He spoke to him on Sinai and wrote the commandments with the finger of fire. He was above all others, God's man. Was Moses faithful?

Boy, you better believe he was. You know, he could have been the next Pharaoh of Egypt. He could have been the greatest king on the face of the earth at that time. He could have been the richest man in the world but he turned it all down so that he could stand with the Jewish slaves. I think of Moses going into the palace to speak to the Pharaoh time after time, getting in the Pharaoh's face and saying, Thus saith the Lord God, Let my people go.

He did that time and time again and every time he did that, he was putting his life at risk. I think of Moses leading the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt and he led them out to the Red Sea. He stopped at the Red Sea. The Red Sea was right before them, two mountain ranges on the side. And then back behind them, they saw coming like a whirlwind the entire Egyptian army. Moses prayed. God sent a pillar of fire right down between them so that Egypt couldn't get to them.

Moses stood right in front of the Red Sea. He held his rod out over the Red Sea and said, Be still and see the salvation of the Lord. And all of a sudden the waters parted and it provided a dry path that they could walk across. The children of Israel walked across, got all the way on the other side and then God lifted up the pillar of fire. The Egyptian came flying down through those two walls of water and then all of a sudden their chariot wheels began to fall off the chariots.

And then God released the power of that water and it came crushing down, killing and destroying the entire Egyptian army. Looks then for 40 years, Moses faithfully put up with these murmuring, complaining, whining Jews. And then he raises up a new generation that will go in and take the promised land. Yes, Moses was faithful. In fact, one of the statements of faith about him, to me I think is one of the greatest statements of faith in the Bible, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 27, that says Moses' faith was so great that it was as if he could see the invisible God.

So the rite of Hebrews compares the faith of Jesus to Moses, the Jewish hero. What about Jesus' faith? Jesus' faith was the only perfect faith that's ever been. He obeyed perfectly.

He trusted perfectly. God gave him a mission to come to this earth, to live a perfectly sinless, righteous life and then to die as a substitutionary atonement for the sins of his people. And he did it all perfectly. Moses was faithful, but there were times when his faith faltered. He had a bad temper. And that was one situation where he took his rod and he struck the rock that represented Christ. And the result was that God would not allow him at that time to go into the promised land. He did not allow him while he lived on this earth to go into the promised land that he looked so forward to see. So Moses had great faith, but not like Jesus.

Jesus' faith wasn't just great, it was absolutely perfect. All right, point three, compare Moses to Jesus, verses four through six A. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. In verse four, the word house is better translated as household.

He's not talking about a building here, he's talking about people. Verse three says, this one, that is Christ, this one is more glorious than Moses. He who built the household, the people of God, is greater than one who is just part of the household, the people of God.

Moses was only a member of the people of God. Jesus is the one who created it. Jesus created Israel. Jesus created the church. Jesus is our creator.

This is exactly what John was talking about in John chapter one. When he said in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. He is saying here, Moses was a godly man, but don't put Moses on a pedestal.

He said if a carpenter builds a beautiful bookshelf, you don't praise the hammer, you praise the carpenter for building it. And folks, Moses was a tool in the hand of Jesus. Moses is by person the servant, Jesus is by person the son. There's a great difference between a servant and a son. In John chapter eight verse 35, Jesus said, the slave does not remain in the house forever, the son does remain forever. All right, point four, is eternal security a true doctrine? Look at verses 6b.

And we are his house, if we indeed hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope. This is one of those verses that those that are of the Armenian persuasion like to use as a proof text to say that a genuine Christian can lose his salvation. That a person can be genuinely born again and then he can stray off and get into spiritual death and lose his salvation.

Folks, that cannot be. That cannot be because scripture cannot be broken. It cannot contradict itself. The Bible is the word of God and it can't say one thing in one verse and then contradict it in the other. It can't say one thing in one passage of scripture and then say something that contradicts that in another passage of scripture. There can be tension between doctrine.

There can never be contradiction. Think of the golden chain of salvation, Romans chapter eight verses 29 through 30. And Paul said, for whom he did for know, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Wherever whom he did predestinate, then he called, and whom he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he also glorified.

Do you hear what's being said there? In this passage, we are told that the one who God foreknew and predestined and called will be justified and will one day be glorified. Folks, that means that if God did those things for you, he is not going to allow you to perish without him. Go down a few verses later in that same chapter and you get down to verses 38 and 39 and he talks about assurance.

Listen to what he says. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor powers nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. Being confident of this very thing and he who hath begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. John chapter 6 verse 37.

Jesus said, All that the Father gives to me will come to me and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out. In John chapter 10 verse 28, Jesus said, And I give unto them eternal life and they will never perish neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. Those are just a few verses but there are some great verses to assure you that our salvation is permanent, that it is eternal, that a true believer cannot lose his salvation. If that is so, then why does the writer of Hebrews make this scary statement about our need to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end? This is why the Reformers call the doctrine of eternal security the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

It can be stated this way. If by the grace of God you have been truly saved, then by that same grace of God you will persevere to the end. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 19, John spoke of a group of people who did not hold firmly unto the end and this is what he said.

They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. The holding on and the persevering in the faith the continuing to serve and love the Lord is not the cause of your salvation. It is the fruit of your salvation.

That's important. Folks, if you're truly saved then you will persevere. If you don't persevere, the problem is not that you lost your salvation.

The problem is that you have been deceived by indwelling sin and you've never been saved to begin with. I want you to turn back with me to John 6 for just a minute and remember that the apostle John not only wrote the Gospel of John he also wrote the letters of John and Revelation but in the letters of John that I shared with you from 1 John chapter 1 verse 19 a moment ago I think what John has given us here in John chapter 6 I think in 1 John chapter 2 verse 9 he's telling us about what he saw as he was following Jesus in John chapter 6 and I think he's talking about that same group of people in John chapter 6 verse 63 through 66 Jesus said this It is the Spirit who gives life the flesh is no help at all the words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life but there are some of you who do not believe for Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him and he said this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted by my Father. After this many of the disciples turned back and they no longer walked with him. Folks these were people who had been cheering Jesus when he did miracles they've been cheering Jesus when he put the Pharisees in their place but all of a sudden Jesus has said them things they don't like and they're mad about it and the scripture says that they walk away and they return to him no more. Seems to me that the Lord's comment in verse 65 was a straw that broke the camel's back and they said to Jesus we don't like what you're saying we don't like what you're saying we don't like all this talk about eating your flesh and drinking your blood and we don't like what you had to say about God's sovereignty over our salvation. So they walked away from him never to return. What did they do? Did they lose their salvation?

No. They just proved that they never had it to begin with. This is exactly who John's talking about in 1 John 2 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not of us. So if the writer of Hebrews is not telling us if there's a possibility of us losing our salvation then what is he saying? He is warning us not to be deceived by indwelling sin thinking that we're saved when we're really not so that we are to do what? We're to strive. We're to fight. We're to continue. We are to persevere.

If God truly saved us he'll put that desire in our heart. Oh yeah there'll be some ups and downs. There'll be some tough times.

There'll be some hard decisions but you'll persevere. Folks if God told us to do that then you can rest assured he will put the desire in our heart for us to get it done. If any generation of Christians has needed this truth I think it is ours. The apostle Paul warned us that the day was coming and talked about it in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12 about a time that is going to happen sometime in their future might be in our future may be happening some right now but he said this, And for this reason God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Let me ask you something. Why is our culture so confused? Why is our culture in a situation where they will believe such crazy nonsense? Why?

Because God has sent them strong delusion and they have believed Satan's lie. The result of that is that persecution of Christians is probably going to get tougher and tougher and tougher. In the light of that what should we do? Here's my advice and I get it straight from God's Word. Persevere. Don't quit. Don't give up.

Why? Jesus is worth it all. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, the earthly church needed this warning.

So do we. Help us to persevere. Help us to refuse to compromise. Help us to appreciate the prophets, the priests, the law, the angels and Moses. Most of all, help us to worship Jesus and surrender to him as Lord. It is in Jesus' holy, precious name that I pray. In the precious name that I pray. Amen.