Hebrews 3. We'll be looking at
verses 1-6 this morning. And the title of the message
is, Christ Greater Than Moses. Christ Greater Than Moses. The Apostle says, Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, Consider the
Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who
was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful
in all his house." As we've seen this before in this first verse,
the Apostle is addressing this exhortation to a certain group
of people. Now listen, the gospel is always
addressed to a certain group of people. It is addressed to
believers. It is addressed to sinners in
need of salvation. And here the apostle specifies
that these to whom he is speaking are called holy brethren. Holy, holy brethren. Those who are made holy, not
those who are holy by nature. There's no man holy by nature,
but these that are made holy according to the eternal purpose
of God, according as the Scripture has said, He has chosen us in
Christ Jesus before the world began, that we should be, what? Holy. This is the purpose of
God is that you, believer, should be holy. Holy. And how is it that He purposed
you should be holy? Not by your works, not by your
obedience, but by Christ. That's how you should be made
holy. He is speaking to those who are
made holy by Christ as our surety. What is a surety? It's a guarantee. It's a guarantee. It's one who
took the responsibility of the salvation of the elect. Christ took the responsibility
in the covenant of eternal grace and said, I will make them holy. And if I do not make them holy,
I will bear the blame. Now we know this, Christ is not
going to lose any. Not going to lose any. Why? Because
His salvation that was purposed, He has already accomplished. We know this is a done deal. God has already purposed it.
That's good. But not only has He purposed
it, we live in such a time as it's been accomplished. The work
has been finished. Christ has come into the world,
obtained eternal redemption and eternal righteousness. for us. And this is our confession. What
is the confession of holy brethren? The confession of holy brethren
is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That's my confession. Though I am made holy, my confession
is this, in my flesh. When the Lord Jesus Christ saved
us, when He called us holy brethren, did He change the old nature? Did He change the old man in
any way? No! You know, if you were melancholy-type
personality before you were saved, after you're saved, you're still
the same melancholy-type personality. If you were bubbly and joyful,
you were bubbly and joyful after. Why? Because that didn't change
anything. Our salvation didn't change our character or nature
of the old man. He's still just as vile. Now
what he did is he implanted a new nature that now rules over the
old. Now we have a new nature that
reigns in us so as that we desire to be as holy as he made us to
be. And so what do we do then? We
mortify the deeds of this body. We don't like this body. We don't
like this flesh. We loathe it and desire to be
rid of it. And so, therefore, we desire
to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. And so we confess in that old
nature there's no holiness at all. And by that old nature,
as corrupt and vile, we can by no means merit or earn holiness. By nature we were children of
wrath, haters of God even as others, but God. Isn't that the
only reason? Isn't this the only reason that
we believe that we are sanctified and redeemed is but God? But God chose us, God purposed
us to be holy, Christ made us holy by obtaining redemption
for us, and the Spirit of God quickened us from the dead, gave
us that new nature which Paul says is created after God in
true holiness. Well, you know, pastor, I just
don't feel holy. You won't. You won't. Being holy has nothing to do
with your feelings about being holy. I want to explore this maybe
in the next message more, but I want you to know this. How
you see things is not how things really are. How God sees things
is exactly how things really are. And what does God say? Holy brethren, Well, should that
not settle our minds and hearts concerning this matter of being
accepted with God? If we are holy, we are accepted. And it is this new man, this
new nature by which we are able to understand and listen. He says these holy brethren,
they are partakers of a heavenly calling. It is by this new nature
that we are able to hear the heavenly calling. It is by this we are able to
obey the heavenly calling. What is this heavenly calling?
Is it not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the heavenly
calling. But I tell you, to believe is
not a matter of will. Well, it is a matter of will,
just not yours. It's a matter of God's will. The Scripture says, "...as many
as received Him." Have you received Christ? What is it to receive
Him? It is to believe. It is to trust. It is to rest solely on Christ
alone. It is to disregard everything
else for meriting our righteousness before God, and it is to trust
Christ. That's what it is to receive Him. And as many as received
Him, to them gave He the power, the right to become the sons
of God, which were born, not of the will, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Scripture, does it not totally
then destroy all free will salvation? I have many more, but this one
completely, absolutely destroys all free will salvation, and
yet men still will not believe it. Why? Because they cannot. They even prove the point of
the Scripture. But this calling is never apart
from God's means. How then is this heavenly calling
delivered to you? You that have received. How is
it that you have received this holiness, this nature, this calling? Is it not by the means of preaching?
Preaching. Preaching is the means by which
the gospel is conveyed and used of the Spirit to give life. And
we live in such a wicked, self-exalting, religious generation whose whole
gospel is set against the revealed will of God, the revealed Word
of God. And no matter how plainly the
Word of God declares something, this generation is so set in
objection, set against God's Word. And what does it interject?
their feelings, their opinions, their traditions, and they put
them into the Word of God. But in doing so, they do not
change the Word of God. You get that? No matter what
men believe that is against the Word of God, no matter how many
books they write, no matter how many sermons they preach, they
do nothing to impact this Book. This Book has not changed. It is the immutable, unchangeable
Word of God. The only thing they do is rest
the Scriptures to their own destruction. They twist them. Have you ever spoken to somebody
and just declared the gospel to them? And then they interject,
well, I feel like, or I imagine that, or I think, who cares? Who cares? They say something contrary to
God's Word. They interject. I imagine that
it's like this. And if that's opposed to God's
Word, that's not right. They're twisting the Scriptures.
And though the Scriptures plainly declare things like election,
like this. I've told you this before, but
our friend, Brother Don, in seminary school, They totally would not
allow the students to say predestination or election. And Brother Don
stood up to read the Scriptures and he picked out all the places
where it was election and predestination and he bleeped it. He said, the
bleep according to the foreknowledge of God having bleeped us unto
the adoption of children. See, you would have to delete
those completely from the Scriptures. Election is in the Word of God. And though it plainly tells us
God chose some men before the foundation of the world, the
wist-wicked generation twists election to think that God based
His election on something He would see them or foresaw that
they should do. Now that's how they think, that's
how they imagine because they have no Scripture for their thoughts. I read a whole thing against
Brother Henry Mahan online and how he was horrible and how he
didn't have the truth. And you know what? That man did
not quote one Scripture because he cannot. He cannot. The Scripture says that the children
not yet being born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to bleep might stand, election might stand. It is said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Twist that if you will. It is
a plain revealed Word of God. Though the Scriptures plainly
teach of Christ's victorious and perfect redemption only for
the elect of God, in Isaiah 53 He says, for the transgression
of My people, specific people, was He stricken. Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that
He obtained eternal redemption. He didn't make salvation possible,
He obtained it. attained redemption. In Hebrews
chapter 10 and verse 14, it says, "...He hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified." These are not ambiguous Scriptures. These are plain revelations,
and yet men would twist the Scriptures to say that Christ died for all
men without exception. That He died for all of the sins
of all men without exception. and that salvation then is conditional
upon the will of man, or salvation is somehow a mixture of Christ's
work and their own obedience. Though the Scriptures plainly
teach the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit to give life
to whomsoever He will, the wind bloweth where it listeth. You
can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell where it's coming
and where it's going. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God." And you got that? The Sovereign Spirit moves
like the wind where He wills. So then if salvation is dependent
upon my will, then the wind would have to move where I said to.
The wind would be then obligated to come to me. And so then I
would know where it would be because I would be the determiner
of where the Spirit... That's not Scripture. That is
man's twisted view of the Holy Spirit and His work. The Spirit is not trying to save,
He saves. That's just the plain Word of
God. And though the Scriptures teach that preaching is the only
means by which God calls His elect, yet they rest this to
teach that men are so enlightened in our generation, so evolved,
so educated, They suppose that men may believe by looking at
nature or by self-education, plays, musical or entertainment,
are equal or above preaching." Why do you think the usual sermon
in a false church is only about 10 or 15 minutes? Services last a whole hour usually.
A bunch of songs and entertainment and testimony. Why? Because they
have no message. They have no message. No, God said by the foolishness
of preaching, He has chosen to save them that belief. Paul said,
I came not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. I'll read
it to you from 1 Corinthians. I was going to quote it, but
it slipped. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel. Not with the wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ be made of none effect. For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God. It pleased God,
verse 21, by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. So what is the means of this? Preaching the gospel.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save us who believe. You remember that passage in Romans chapter 10. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's beautiful,
isn't it? But how shall they call on Him
in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Do you not see God's order? Is
that not plain? It's plain. This is the means
God has chosen by which to call His holy brethren. Preaching. And if you want to
see all that I've just said to you summed up in two verses,
you want to see it? 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Everything I've just said. I
love the gospel. It's so so plain. I pray not
to ever muddle it up make it Unclear and so I'm gonna just
I'm gonna read this to you and it'll clear everything up right
right right quick Second Thessalonians chapter 2 in verse 13 We are
bound to give thanks all way to God for you brethren Beloved. Holy brethren. Isn't that who
we're talking about? Holy brethren. Beloved of the
Lord. You holy brethren, you listen,
you are beloved of God. Because this is the reason God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. You get that? There's election,
isn't it? And who's the Savior? Christ the Savior has accomplished
that salvation. And notice the experience of
it that you and I have experienced through sanctification of the
Spirit. That's not sanctification of
your flesh, sanctification of your will, sanctification of
the Holy Spirit. And notice, when the Spirit sanctifies
us with this heavenly calling, what is the result? And belief
of the truth. Belief in Christ. And how was
this conveyed? Verse 14, whereunto He called
you, how? By our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Is that not the whole
thing? There it is. Now then, you holy brethren,
speaking to you, you should consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider
His apostleship, that He was sent of God to declare what God
had already ordained, what God had already manifest by the mouths
of His prophets, by all the types and shadows and pictures and
thousands of years before God had foreordained His coming. And then comes the Apostle, the
Christ. He comes to preach the Gospel,
to declare the Gospel. That's what it is to be an Apostle,
one cent. Now, he was sent of God to preach.
And he did. He declared that he himself was
the Christ. They said, if you be the Christ,
tell us plainly. He said, I've told you. How many times do I
need to tell you? I am the Shepherd. I am divine. All of those were pictures in
the Old Testament. He's telling them. And they would
not believe. He showed them by many signs
and wonders and miracles that he was Christ. And they would
not believe. But this prophet came not just
to testify of himself, but also to finish the work, which he
did. How? As our high priest. Consider the Lord our high priest
has now accomplished the work. What's the work of a high priest? Sacrifices. To represent the people in the
things concerning God. God said, the only place you
should meet with Me is in the Ark of the Covenant, in that
Holy of Holies. But you know what? You can't
go in. I will anoint one who can go
in, even the high priest. And the high priest is going
to make the sacrifices. What are you to do? Where's your
part in the great day of atonement? You have no part. The priest is to offer the sacrifices,
he is to enter in with the blood of the sacrifice, he is to offer
it as an atonement for sin, and then he is to come out and tell
you, it's done. God has accepted. How do I know,
high priest, that it was done? Look, I'm alive. That's how you
know it was done. If it wasn't done, I'd be dead.
Isn't this exactly what Christ did as our High Priest? He Himself
came and as the perfect, spotless, not only the offerer, but the
sacrifice itself. He Himself entered into the Holy
of Holies, not with the blood of bulls and goats that couldn't
take away sin, but with His own blood and hath obtained eternal
redemption for us as our High Priest. How do I know He was
successful? He's alive. God raised Him from the dead.
That's how we know our High Priest is acceptable. Our high priest, the Lord Jesus
Christ, has obtained redemption, eternal redemption for us. Now,
look back at your text. Move on now. In verse 2, he says,
who was faithful? To Him that appointed Him. Who appointed Him? God did. Who
was Christ faithful to? God. And notice his comparison. "...as also Moses was faithful
in all his house." Consider this. I know we are Gentiles. We are
so far removed from Hebrew law and tradition. But these people
to whom he was writing highly regarded Moses. They highly regarded
Moses. They held Moses in high regard
as the faithful prophet of God. And you listen, he was. The apostle
here does not diminish Moses in the least. He puts Moses in
his proper place. This is a good thing for us to
learn because we have men that we admire. Don't we? Do we not have God's men that
we admire? We do. What should we do with these
men? You should not worship them by no means. But you should esteem
them for their office sake, for their faithfulness. You should
esteem them. But you should not esteem them
so high. You should put them in their
proper place. Moses had a proper place. So
does every preacher of the gospel have a proper place. What are
we? Paul says, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. Moses was a faithful servant.
Do you realize he wrote 185 chapters? Five books of the Bible, 185
chapters, and do you realize what great honor God gave him?
That Genesis, in Genesis, is the seed plot for everything. Every doctrine, every prophecy,
everything that has happened and will happen is found in Genesis. You can find it. And God gave
that to him to write. He should be honored for that.
He was used to lead over two million people out of bondage
across the Red Sea. He was used of God to deliver
His holy law and establish the covenant of Abraham with His
people. Moses was allowed to see the
pre-incarnate Christ and even see the glory of God in its hinder
parts. He saw great things. He was a
blessed man. He should be esteemed. He was
a faithful man, a meek man. He loved his people. Can you
not read that when you read Moses, that he loved his people? How
many times did Moses intercede when God said, move out of the
way Moses, I'll kill them and I'll make of you a nation. Moses
said, no, please. He interceded for them. He loved
them. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
those Jews who profess to be followers of Moses, if you believe
Moses, you would have believed me. Why? He wrote of me. So who's the greater? The one
who writes or the one he writes of? I'll tell you, in Moses' eyes,
you know it. By Moses' writing, you understand
that Moses understood his place. I am the servant. He is the master. He is the master. Moses was faithful. But consider how much more faithful
was Jesus Christ, our mediator and surety and prophet of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ was faithful
to represent His chosen race, faithful to accomplish our salvation,
which Moses could not do. You got that? Which preacher
that you admire can save you? Not one. Not one. Which prophet
do you admire that could save you? Not one. But He who can
save you is who we should admire. We should look to Him. Moses
could not save. You see, Moses was a picture,
a type. He was to picture the law. That's
his purpose. As a servant of God, he was to
picture and be a type of the law that cannot save. In Romans 3, it says, "...by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight."
In Galatians 2, Paul says, we know that no flesh will be justified
by the deeds of the law. In Galatians 3, he said, no flesh
shall be justified by the deeds of the law. In Galatians 5, he
says the same thing over and over again. So we're sure of
this. We're sure of this. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now the law, is it not good?
Who of you oppose the law? The law is good. The law is holy and just. But
as Moses failed to speak to the rock. You remember that? That
was his failing, right? That's why he could not enter
into the land of Canaan, the promised land. Because he failed
to speak to the rock. He struck the rock alright at
the first, but he struck it again. Why? Because that's all the law
can do is strike the rock. All the law can do is strike.
All the law can do is condemn. All the law can do is show you
your sin. It cannot speak comfort to your
soul. cannot commend us to God. Therefore,
Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan, even so shall no flesh
be justified by the deeds of the law. No flesh will enter
in spiritual Canaan by the deeds of the law. Therefore, Paul says
in Galatians 5, those who would mix their works with Christ,
their obedience to Christ, Christ shall profit you nothing. You
got that? You put Moses equal with Christ
and Christ will profit you nothing. They are not equal. If you be circumcised, Christ
shall profit you nothing. But our hope, holy brethren,
our hope and confidence and faith rest in one greater than Moses.
This is the one that Moses longed to see and wrote of in the Scriptures. Now let's see what Moses says
of him. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 18.
Let's see what Moses says of this one who is greater than
Moses. Deuteronomy 18, verse 15. I want you to see how perfect
this is because this was some 3,000 plus years before the Lord
Jesus Christ came. The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me. Unto him shall you hearken. according to all that thou desirest
of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of thy assembly, saying,
Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let
me see the great fire any more that I die not." The Lord Jesus
Christ is who is speaking of that prophet that the Lord will
raise up in the midst of thee. And listen because of the reason,
the reason He's going to send this prophet. because they desired
something. Look what they desired. Let me
not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see
the great fire anymore, that I die not. This is always the experience
of one who is made to see the law as it is. Made to see their sin and exposed
before the holiness of God. Let me see it no more lest I
die. That's the only thing the law
can do, is generate fear. This is the purpose of the law,
to expose sin and bring us to Christ. But notice the Lord's response
is not one of rebuke nor of comfort, but rather, of affirmation. Look what he says. And the Lord
said unto me, they have well spoken. Listen, you fear the
law? You should. You should. That's right, he says. If you
come near to me clothed in your own works, your own goodness,
your own obedience, you will without doubt die. That's good. That's what God
says. He spoke in Matthew 22 of the
prophecy, of the parable of the wedding feast. You remember he
said that those that made excuses, they were denied, those are the
ones who followed Moses. Then he said, go out to the Gentiles,
those maimed, those blind, those halt, and bring them in, call
them in. And you remember at the end,
the Lord was walking through His wedding feast, and He noticed
that one fellow that had on not on a wedding garment, And he said, friend, how are
you come hither, not having a wedding garment? And the man was speechless. What is that wedding garment?
That's the holiness of Christ. That's the righteousness of Christ.
That's the salvation of Christ. And this man, this man brought
his own righteousness. He brought his own works into
the wedding feast. You see, he wanted Christ, but
he also wanted Moses. He also wanted his works. And
if any man come in that fashion, he will be bound hand and foot
and cast out into outer darkness forever. Jude says, we who are holy brethren,
we even hate these spotted garments of the flesh. We have no desire
to be found in mine own righteousness. You know what Paul said? He said,
I have no desire to be found in my own righteousness, but
the righteousness of Christ alone. You see, all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. All our goodnesses, one preacher
said, are worthless as a warm bucket of spit. Yet hope for sinners is given
by God through Moses. Look what God says, they've well
spoken. Yet I will raise them up a prophet from among their
brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth,
and he shall speak unto them all that I have commanded him. And listen to this prophet. Didn't
Moses tell you to listen to this prophet? What did this prophet
say? I am He that come down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all
He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. Now that's that prophet. That's
that prophet that Moses spoke of. Behold the confidence of
Christ, the certainty of Christ, the conviction of Christ's words. Because they were the words of
God. And so, who are these given to Him to redeem by His offering
and perfect offering forever? They are all that seeth the Son
and believeth on Him. All who see their vile nature
and can by no means save themselves are forced to flee to Christ. When you saw your sin, could
you go anywhere else? You were shut up. That's the
most blessed day in the world when a man is shut up to himself,
when he has no place else Only then will you come to Christ. Only then. That's our experience
of grace. And therefore, we forsake all
things, family and friends, anyone that would oppose Christ. We
gladly forsake our own life to be found in Him. Is this so with
you? Do we not freely cast off salvation
by law and gladly embrace salvation by grace? Do we not rejoice that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it?
Therefore, His disciples follow Him and we follow Him freely. I tell you, I love Moses. I love
the law of God. But I love it because Christ
has fulfilled it. On my behalf, he satisfied the
law. And all be warned, if you suppose
to bring your works and finish the obedience of Christ by the
law, you will be forever cast out. Look again at your text. We'll
finish this quickly. Look again at Hebrews 3. Verse
3, it says, For this man was counted worthy of more glory
than Moses, insomuch as he that hath built the house is more
honored than the house. For every house is built of some
man, but he that built all things is God. He's saying, look, Moses
is like a house. He has His place. And I'll tell
you, if you see a beautiful house, you say, man, that's a pretty
house. But who are you actually glorifying, the house or the
builder? You know, if the builder was standing there and you said,
man, that's a beautiful house, the builder would say, well,
thank you. The house would not say thank you. The house did
nothing. Moses did nothing. God made Moses. God put Moses there. And so it
is with all the stones of His house. Are we not all living
stones built up a spiritual house? That's what Peter says. We're
living stones. And who then does the living
stones praise? We give glory to God who is the
builder. He is the builder. And therefore,
we are to give Him all the glory. Moses, he says, is the servant.
Verse 6, verse 5, For Moses verily was faithful in all his house
as a servant for testimony of those things which were to be
spoken of after, but Christ as a son over his own house. Who
is worthy of more? The son or the servant? The son. The son is worthy of more praise. Are you of the household of Christ?
Have you been redeemed by the blood of Christ? It's all together
important. Is there anything else more important? Well, you are if this is true. Verse 6, if we hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm until the end. Now, Paul is not saying that
this is conditional, that our sonship is conditional. Nor does
it indicate that the sons of God are capable of departing
from Christ. But this is meant to make a distinction
between true and false sons. You see, true sons will always
continue. If you continue, it's a manifestation
that you were a true son. Why? Because all true sons continue
in the faith. All true sons continue. Matthew
15, 13, our Lord says, Every plant which my heavenly Father
hath not planted shall be rooted up. Behold then Christ, who is
greater than Moses, for Moses testified of Christ. And Christ,
being faithful to His house, has obtained our salvation, and
He who is faithful will also bring us home." If you have any doubt As to Christ
bringing you home, it's because you're not looking to Christ.
You're looking to something else. He has not left the keeping of
our salvation to us. But by the Spirit of God, we
are kept in the faith, rooted and built up, firm until the
end. You know, I'm sure to endure
to the end, trusting in Christ, because God in sovereign grace
chose me. Christ in sovereign mercy redeemed
me. The Spirit in sovereign mercy
called me and keeps me. That's why we shall endure to
the end. But what if someone doesn't?
All that proves is that they were never in the house to begin
with. It just manifests what they really
were, lost. So you believers, may God give
us the grace to keep. I have an illustration about
this. When Audrey was much younger, I used to swing her more. I can't do it now, she's too
big. I used to swing her. I used to grab ahold of my hands
and she would swing between my legs and throw her up in the
air. And she would grab on so tight to my hands. She would
cling and she would laugh, but she was clinging so tight. But I tell you this, it wasn't
her strength holding her. It was mine. It was mine. Believer, cling ever so tightly
to the hand of God by faith. Hold on with all your strength. But take courage in this. It's
not your strength holding Him. It's His strength holding you. Is that not worthy of more praise
than Moses? You bet. May Christ be honored.