As we go through the book of
Hebrews, we will see that there is absolutely none, no one, even
compared to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is so far above all of creation,
anyone who's ever walked on this earth, You take the most godly
person that we can think of, even in the scriptures, they
can't even be compared to this man, this man, Jesus Christ. He's above all the prophets,
he's above all the angels, and now he's going to show us that
he is above Moses because they probably didn't think of anyone
any more highly Then they did Moses. They said, Moses gave
us bread in the wilderness. What are you going to give us?
Show us a sign. And they compared him to Moses. And our Lord said,
Moses didn't give you that bread from heaven. My Father giveth
you the true bread from heaven. That's how highly they thought
of Moses. The apostle here would have us to set our hearts on
the Lord Jesus Christ at all times. I wish I could think upon
him more than I do. I do. I wish I could meditate
upon him more than I do. I wish I could be, and I mean
this, obsessed, obsessed with him more than I am. Christ is
our aim. Christ is our mark. He's our
mark. Jesus Christ, He is our goal. Paul said, Oh, to be what? Found
in Him. That's the goal. You know, the
believer's ambition. The believer has an ambition,
and here it is. To be found in Him. Not having
my own righteousness. That's our ambition. We lose
our ambition of this world. But our ambition is to be found
in Christ. And here's another one. For me
to live is Christ. That should be my ambition. For
me to live, my existence to be Christ. We live for Him, for
His glory. And to die is gain. To die is
gain. I want to be able to come up,
by the grace of God, I want to be able to come up to the time
of my Departing. I started to say death, but that's
not the right word. To the believer, it's not death,
it's just sleep. It's being transferred from here to glory. But I hope
by the grace of God, I can come up to that time, and I can look
at my departing as nothing but gain. Gain, if you know anything
about business, it has the business sense about it. You know, if
you take your P&L, you have your loss, your profit and loss sheet,
you have your loss column, you have your gain, your profit.
For me, to live, Paul said, is Christ, and to die is profit. It's all profit. There's no loss
in it. There's no loss in it. You know,
if you go ahead and lose everything, as Paul said, he did, he said,
I've suffered the loss of all things. If we go ahead in our
hearts now, in our hearts, and I know I'm getting off subject
here, but in our hearts and in our minds, if we can, if we,
in this life, count everything as a loss, then when it comes
time to go, we won't really be letting go, will we? We've already
done it. We've already let it go. And
it's nothing but pure gain, pure profit. Spiritual profit is what
it is. So Christ is our aim, He's our
mark. The sinner who sets his or her
heart on Jesus Christ will not be disappointed. Everything else
in this life, sooner or later, will disappoint you. Guaranteed,
sooner or later. At some time or another, it will
disappoint you. But those who find Christ and
whose heart is set on Jesus Christ, when this life is over, will
not be disappointed. In Isaiah 26.3, and brethren,
we need to listen to the Word of God. We need to digest it. We need to eat it like our daily
food. Listen, thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind
is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. You want peace? Set your mind, your heart. That's
what Paul said in Philippians, set your heart on things above.
Set your heart, your mind on things above. And it says we
have a promise here of God. Thou will keep him in perfect
peace whose mind, whose heart is stayed on thee. If one is to grow in grace and
in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, one must think upon Him. You must study Him and seek Him
at all times. You know, we have a promise in
the Word of God. The promise is this, He that
seeks me with all his heart shall find me. Do we believe God? That's a promise. If I seek Him
with all my heart, He said, you'll find me. And there's no greater
treasure than to find God. To be able to have fellowship
with God, to know God. Wow. But note what the apostle
calls the believers here, starting out in this verse. He calls them
holy brethren. This describes all of God's children
in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not feel holy, but I'm not
saved by what I feel. I'm holy. And you, you who believe
God, you are holy. You are holy brethren. Listen,
in Christ you're as holy as God. That's a bold statement. That's
a bold statement, but that's so. In Jesus Christ, we are as
holy as God. If not, He couldn't accept us.
It has to be perfect to be accepted, it says. It has to be. All God's children are
holy in Christ. Believers are called saints, which is short for sanctified.
But that's a short version of sanctifying. Set apart and made
holy. Made holy. And you're partakers
of the heavenly calling. You are partakers of something.
We are participants. That's what he said. We are participants
of the heavenly calling. True Christianity is a heavenly
calling. It's God calling you to His Son. It's from above. Believers are
participants in God's purpose of redemption. We are participants
in it. And it's not an earthly calling,
it's a heavenly calling, which means there is nothing earthly
in any way, shape, or form about your heavenly calling. It's of
God. God Almighty, Jehovah has called
you. I'm not just my voice, but God
Himself speaks to the heart. He speaks to the heart. By His
Spirit, with His Word, He calls, He speaks. And when He does that,
I tell you what, a sinner hears and a sinner responds and a sinner
comes. Because it's an effectual call. It's a call from darkness
to light. It's a call from sin to righteousness. It's a call to faith and repentance,
and listen, it's a call to God. Come to me. Christ said, come
unto me. All you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. That call, that goes out. And
every now and then, every once in a while, one here will hear
it. God will make someone to know and understand their sins.
He'll make them to labor under the guilt of sin. And when they
hear that, they come to Christ. Lord, you said, he that comes
to me, I'll know why he's cast out. You said, come to me, all
you that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Lord, I come.
I come. It's an effectual call. And then
he says here, he gives us something to do, tells us something to
do. Consider, A.W. Pink said this, concerning what
this word considered means. A.W. Pink said, This means to
meditate upon so as to arrive at a fuller knowledge of. It means to meditate upon so
as to arrive at a fuller knowledge of Christ. It's not a glance. It's not just a quick thought.
It is literally to meditate upon Him so as to arrive at a fuller
knowledge of Him. is to come to know Him more and
more and more. Now he says, Consider the apostle
and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus
Christ is called an apostle because He's the messenger sent from
God. He's the messenger sent from God to deliver a message,
and the message is the message of salvation. He's called the
messenger of the covenant. And he's called an apostle also
here because, and I thought about this today and I added this into
my notes, there's no office in the church that the Lord Jesus
Christ does not hold and is not the head of. Whatever office
it is, he's the head of it, he holds it first. That's why he's
called the apostle and high priest of our profession. And it's called
here, he's the high priest. The high priest was the mediator
between God and men. If you and I are going to do
business with God, we are going to do business with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in mercy. If we're going to do
business with God in mercy and in grace, we're going to do it
through His Son. Apart from that, we are going
to meet a consuming fire, because God's still a consuming fire
outside of Christ. Our Lord offered up the sacrifice,
or the high priest offered up the sacrifice for the people,
and this is what our Lord did. He offered up Himself as a sacrifice
for every one of His people, which are nothing more than sinners.
That's all they are. A bunch of no good, none good,
no, not one sinner. None good, no, not one. That's
who they are. And the high priest would intercede
for the people, and that's what our Lord does. He intercedes
for us. You know, God wouldn't hear a
thing I had to say apart from Jesus Christ. Apart from Him,
He's not going to hear a thing I had to say. And the high priest represents
the people before God, and I tell you what, he also represents
God. He's the go-between. The high
priest is. You dare not. In the Old Testament,
it was set up early. You dared not approach God apart
from a sacrifice, blood, and the high priest. You'd be in
trouble if you tried that. But notice what he's going to
point out here is his faithfulness. His faithfulness. He says, verse
2, Who was faithful to him that appointed him? Jesus Christ was
appointed of God. He didn't take this upon Himself.
God the Father appointed God the Son to be the High Priest,
to be the sacrifice, to be the atonement, to be absolutely everything
you and I need to stand in His presence. He's appointed to this. Who was faithful to Him that
appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house,
Now the scripture tells us it is required in a steward that
he be found faithful. I'm a steward. You are a steward
of where God has put you. You're a steward. I'm a steward
standing here in this pulpit of the gospel. God has entrusted
me with the gospel and God has entrusted this body of believers
here with the gospel. And we are to be faithful in
preaching it faithfully and getting it out into the community to
be faithful to it. Jesus Christ, he's pointing out
here, Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus, was faithful to God in
every way. He was faithful to the one who
appointed him, God. He kept every precept of the
law. He's the only one that ever did, and he did. He believed
God perfectly. He loved God perfectly. He provided the sacrifice God
required Himself, a perfect sacrifice. And He provided the blood necessary
for atonement so that you and I could be saved, that you and
I could approach God, that you and I could be here tonight with
His Word open, preaching, singing His praises, all that is accepted
through the Lord Jesus Christ, through His blood, His righteousness,
His person, all that is accepted tonight. Now, the apostle uses
wisdom here in speaking highly of Moses because the people thought
so highly of him, and they should have. They should have. Give
honor to whom honors do. That's what the Scripture says,
to give honor to whom honor is due. But you can carry that too
far in human relationships. You can carry it a little too
far. We don't carry that to the point of worship. Now, we can
never carry that too far toward Christ. We can never worship
Him too much. Nobody will ever be guilty of
that. Never. You'll never be guilty of singing
too many, too much praises, giving too much honor, and worshiping
Him too much. You and I will never be guilty
of that. But we can't give too much of it to each other. We
can't do that. But Moses was a unique person.
You remember his birth, and Pharaoh was going to have all those,
what was it, two years old? He's going to have all of them
put to death. His mother put him in a basket, put him in the
river. He goes floating down the river.
Pharaoh's daughter sees him. She goes down and just falls
in love with that little baby, picks him up. And guess who's
watching? His sister. And then she says,
find me somebody to take care of this baby, you know, a wet
nurse, what she's looking for. And she goes back and gets Moses'
mother. And she gets to raise him up while he's just a little
baby. You can imagine some of the instructions she was giving
him early. But anyway, his birth was just amazing. His person,
it is said that he was the meekest man on earth. In that sense, he's like Christ,
wasn't he? It is written that he was the meekest man on earth.
Then his education, he was educated in Egypt and he had an education
at the backside of a desert. You know, for 40 years he became
somebody, then it took another 40 years to strip him down and
make him realize he was nobody. He was 80 years old. Joe Terrell
told me, he said, you got 19 years on Moses when I came here. He is 80 years old when God finally
used him to lead Israel out of Egypt. God made Moses to understand,
Moses, I'm your strength. I'm your strength. He didn't
do it when he was young and he was strong and he had all these
wits about him. No, he took him to the backside
of the desert and aged him another four years. I want to say like
fine wine. He just aged him another 40 years.
And then he used him. And he used him. And the law, as I said, he was
a unique person. The law was given to him on Mount
Sinai, and he gave it to Israel. God used this man to bring all
those plagues on Egypt. He used this man in parting the
Red Sea. And when he died, no one knew
where his body was. You remember Satan disputing
with the archangel over the body of Moses? They didn't know where it was.
He was a great man to the Jews. And Moses, it says here, was
truly faithful over the house of Israel. He was a faithful
man. He was a faithful man. He was a great man, a user of
God. Look over in Numbers. I can read it to you, but Numbers
12. I've got it marked. But go ahead and turn if you
want to, and I will read the first seven verses here. In Numbers chapter 12, if you've
got a Cambridge Bible like mine, it's page 205. Because I know most of you did
buy ones like mine. But anyway, it says here in Numbers
chapter 12, And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of
the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. For he had married an
Ethiopian woman. And they were prejudiced and
they didn't like it. And they said, Hath the Lord
indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?
And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And
the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto
Mariam, Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle." If I can paraphrase
this, it's like, get over here. That's what He's saying. Get
over here, now. God's going to deal with this.
Come out ye three into the tabernacle of the congregation. And they
three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the
cloud. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. and stood in the door
of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both
came forth. And God said, Hear now My words. If there be a prophet among you,
I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will
speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who
is faithful in all My house. With him will I speak mouth to
mouth." This is how great Moses was. even apparently, and not
in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Wherefore then, were ye not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?" If you go on down and read this,
he gave Mary leprosy. And then Moses prayed for her,
and then after seven days she was laid whole again. But now
the Lord turned her into a leper. were murmuring and speaking against
Moses, whom the Lord said, He's faithful in all my house. He's
not like the other prophets. The other prophets, I'll speak
to them in a vision. Moses, I'll speak mouth to mouth. I'll speak
directly to him. And that's how great Moses was.
That's how great he was. He was a unique person. But now
listen, and this is the point that he's making to these Hebrews.
Remember, he's writing to the Hebrews. He's saying here that
not even Moses can be compared to Jesus Christ. Moses, as great
as he was, was born with a sinful nature and was a sinful man.
Remember one time God told him to circumcise his boy and he
didn't do it and God was going to kill him. God stopped him
and God was going to kill him. That's why he said he's going
to kill him. And after he did what the Lord said, he went and
circumcised that boy, and his wife got all upset about it.
She said, you're a bloody husband. But Moses had a sinful nature, just
like you and I have. But now Jesus Christ, the man
Jesus Christ, he knew no sin. He knew no sin. Moses led the
people of Israel, the children of Israel, he led them through
the wilderness. But now listen. Christ leads
God's people to glory. Moses led them through the wilderness, but Jesus Christ leads us to
glory. That's where he's leading us
to, to paradise. That's what he said to that thief
on the cross, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise. When
Moses died, he didn't say that to anybody. He didn't say that
to anyone. Moses was a man. He was a man. He was a man of God, but he was
just a man. Jesus Christ is the God-man. That's who He is. He's the living
God in human flesh. And Jesus Christ holds the office
of prophet, priest, and king in one person, and nobody else
did that. Nobody else did that. Now it says in Hebrews 3, 3.
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath builted the house hath more honor than the house."
The glory of Jesus Christ is so far above Moses as the glory
of the carpenter, the master carpenter who builds a beautiful
home, has more glory than the home that was built. That's what
he's saying. No house ever built itself. It is evident that the builder
of a house has more honor than the house, and that's what he's
saying. In this respect, Christ has way more honor than Moses. The house Moses guided was one
of flesh. It was a type, it was a picture,
although there were some in that house that were saved. Joshua,
Caleb. And there was some in there that
was saved, but for the most part, that was a type of the church. But Moses was a guide over a
house that was flesh. The house Christ is over is made
up of living stones. It's spiritual. It's a spiritual
house. And it's the only house... Now
listen. The house that Christ is building is the only house
God will ever live in. David was going to build God
a house, and God says, are you going to build me a house? Ain't
no house that contain me. Everything lives and moves and
has its being in God, and you're going to build me a house of
wood, hay, and stubble? No, my son's going to build me
a house that's a spiritual house, and I'm going to dwell in that
house. And you and I are the house. It's amazing. Moses guided the house as a servant. Christ is over the house as the
builder and the owner. Moses didn't choose his house.
Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ chose his house. He chose every
stone in that house. Every brick that will be laid
in that house, every stone. That's why they're called stones,
living stones. He chose every one of them. and
He placed them one by one in each generation. This is where
you're going to be in this generation, this is where you're going to
be in the body of Christ, this is where you're going to be in the house. He did that. Moses
didn't do that. In verse 4, For every house is
built or built by some man, but he that built all things is God.
Every house has a builder. No house, as I said, builds itself.
Here, listen, a deity is ascribed to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you'll remember back in Hebrews 1.2, by whom He made the world. All things it says in Colossians
1.16, for by Him, by Jesus Christ, were all things created that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, all
things were created by Him and for Him. And He's before all
things, and by Him all things will consist, or are held together.
The connection is made with Christ being greater because of this.
He's God. That's why He's greater than
Moses. He's God. If He's not God, He's not any
greater than Moses. But He's God. He's God. He is
not only Master, but Maker of the house. Here's what he's saying,
"...he that built all things, that is Christ, is God." And
in verse 5, "...and Moses verily was faithful in all his house
as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to
be spoken after." The apostle changes now to Moses being a
servant in the house. He's a servant in the house.
Moses was the Lord's servant without doubt, we know that.
He served God with his heart, he served God willingly, and
he did exactly as he was shown in the mount. Everything that
God showed to Moses, every type, every picture, everything God
gave him, he did it exactly. He did it exactly. And he did
it exactly and the purpose of it, now listen, the purpose of
it was for a testimony. of those things which were to
be spoken after." The things that were to be revealed in Christ. These things pointed to Jesus
Christ. They were just a testimony pointing to Christ. He says,
"...which after which were to be spoken of after." That's what
I'm doing now. That's what I'm doing now. I'm speaking of those things.
That Passover lamb, that's Jesus Christ. Christ, our Passover,
is sacrificed for us. Everything Moses did in type
and picture was a testimony to Jesus Christ, His person and
work. It says in John 5.46, "'For had you believed Moses, you would
have believed Me, for he wrote of Me.'" I'm the message he wrote
about. In Luke 24.27, "'And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself.'" But now listen, verse 6, but
Christ, as a Son, not a servant, but as a Son, not in the house,
but over His own house, He owns it, it belongs to Him. God's
turned everything over to Him. Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
it's His house, it's a spiritual house for God to dwell in. It
is written in 1 Peter 2.5, "...Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, whose house,"
he says, "...are we. We are the house of God." When
we talk about people say, you going to the house of God? No,
we are the house of God. This is just a building, brick,
block, I'm looking at the house of God. God's house is not made of wood,
hay, and stubble. Turn over to Ephesians 2. I'll wind this up. Ephesians 2. Let me see where I want to start.
Look at verse 19. ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together
for an habitation of God through the Spirit." That's what's going
on. A house is being built. And you and I are part of it.
We're part of that house. And when God has laid that last
stone, then He'll put an end to all this. Now, last of all, a word of warning. And He'll give us warnings through
these next few verses, but I'm not going to go that far. Listen,
whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope firm unto the end? And I know that people have twisted
this and made it to mean what it does not mean, that we could
be lost again after being saved. No. No, it can't be. No, He's
not going to reach up and take a block out of the house and
just replace it with something else. No. He's not going to do
that. But the Apostle is warning us
not to make the same mistake Israel of old made. I read that
to you, and we'll look at it, Lord willing, next week. They
believed they were God's children because of their connection to
Abraham. That's what they believed. Not their connection to Christ,
but to Abraham. But they did not believe God.
They did not believe God. They did not see Christ in the
types and the pictures. The most of them, some of them
did, but for the most part they didn't do it. And they did not
believe God. How many times, when you go back
and read in the Exodus, how many times did they say, I wish we'd
have died in Egypt? We don't have any water. I wish I'd have
died in Egypt. Don't have any food. Wish we'd have died in
Egypt. Man, I tell you what, Moses led
a stiff neck. I'm glad you people aren't like
that. That would be tough to be like them. They were fussing
and fighting. If they got a little hungry,
They were upset and fussing at Moses. Why did you bring us out
here in the wilderness? Now, let's be careful not to
fall into that same attitude now. When God sends trials and
puts us under trials, let's not have that same attitude. And they perished in the wilderness
because of their unbelief. Listen, the apostle knew that
the pressure of trials would make some want to quit and go
back. Paul said, we're not of them who quit and go back, but
we are of them who believe to the saving of their soul. Let's not give up the future
for the present. Well, that's a powerful statement.
Don't give up the future for the present. Don't give that
up for present comfort. There's no hope for those who
draw back. Look in verse 12, and let me read that verse 12.
Well, let me get back to Hebrews first. "'Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing.'" I
wouldn't do that. Oh, could I ever do that? If He lets you, you will. I'm
telling you, if God doesn't keep us by His grace, we will. Now listen, the Word of God never
allows us to presume upon the grace of God. Never. Peter said in Peter 1.10, Wherefore,
the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. Give diligence
to it. And last of all here, closing.
What are we told to hold fast to? if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." Here's what
he's saying. You believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, don't lose that confidence. Don't lose it. You believe He's able to save
you through His blood and righteousness, don't lose that confidence. Don't lose it. Listen, don't
lose the rejoicing of the hope. You lose that. You keep that,
he says, firm to the end. You hope to be saved when you
die. Don't lose that hope. And don't lose the rejoicing
of it. Even though you and I may go through some difficult trials,
let's not lose the rejoicing of the hope that this is all
going to be over. And we shall be saved through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's why he's saying it.
The same confidence and hope you began with, you end with
it. You end with it. You end with
it. Well, our Lord, there's none
compared to Him, is there? There's just none compared to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that God would help us,
enable us, what little time we got left, to be totally obsessed
with knowing Him.