Hebrews chapter 3, I do want
to refer back to chapter 2 to help us understand how the flow
of the book of Hebrews carries this theme through it to convince
those to whom it was written and to us also because it wasn't
just written for them, it was written for us obviously. to
see how the flow of the argument goes through this book in order
to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone in all of
our salvation. I've entitled this message, Christ
Better Than Moses. I hope you know something about
Moses from the Old Testament. We're going to be summarizing
some of that today. It's not possible for me in this
one sermon to give you a clear and full account of Moses and
his life and how God used him and called him and used him,
but I would encourage you to begin at Exodus chapter one and
just read through. It's quite amazing. what God
did with that man, and then turn to Hebrews 11 and read a summary
of it, Acts chapter seven, and other places where he's mentioned.
We want to look at some of these places today. He was used tremendously
by God, but Christ is better, and that's what we want to see.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would
understand truly how great the Lord Jesus Christ is, and in
comparison to these men that You raised up and mightily used
throughout history, recorded for us in Scripture, You've shown
to us that He is much, much better, so much better that we cannot
even measure or comprehend how much greater He is. But help
us to be attached to him only in our confidence, in our hope,
in our love, and that we would understand why you raise these
others up to teach us about him. Thank you for your word. Guide
us, we pray, and by your spirit, we pray that you would take your
word and make it alive, make us alive in hearing and believing
you, and give us this grace to walk with you day by day. In
Jesus' name we pray, amen. The book of Hebrews sets Christ
in comparison to the prophets of old at the beginning of the
book. In chapter one, if you recall, it says, God, who at
sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past to the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son. And we saw, when we looked at that, how the message God
gave the prophets is consistent with the message he gave to us,
but is far more authoritative. because the one who has spoken
to us in these last days is the Son. And it's more complete,
because it is the Son, it's complete and final. And so we saw that. And then he spoke of the Lord
Jesus in comparison to angels. And we saw how that God spoke
his law at Sinai to Moses, but through the administration of
angels. So that the law that was given to Moses came to Israel,
came to us in scripture through the ministry of angels. But in
these last days, God is convincing us that even though that was
done then, and we have this sense that angels are greater and mightier
than we are, and they are in this present condition that we're
in, yet God has destined his people to actually be higher
than angels. And so that the Lord Jesus himself
has a name better than angels. He's not just a man, he's the
son. And the son, God never spoke
to the angels as his son. And so this is spoken of in chapter
one as well. And the angels were created by
the Lord Jesus Christ and they're commanded to worship him. So
we don't hold to the message given to us by angels, but to
the message given to us by Christ, the son. And God has destined
this world to be put in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ as man
and God and with his people, and with his people to rule over
all things, even over angels. We will judge the angels. This
is what scripture teaches us. So he's set in contrast and in
comparison to the angels and his people with him as the captain
of our salvation. He was made lower than angels,
both in time and by degree, because He was made like us, took our
nature, and in the likeness of a sinful flesh He came. Now,
in chapter 2, what we see is that God is building up to the
spirit of God by the writer to the Hebrews is building up to
convince those to whom he writes that the Lord Jesus Christ is
greater than Moses. Now this is a great accomplishment
here because the Jews, we don't have any real sense in our daily
lives of just how great Moses was to the Jews. But he was a
tremendously great man. And I want you to think about
it just for a little bit, how God used Moses from the day he
was born. At that time in the history of
the nation of Israel, they were in Egypt, and they were under
bondage. The king of Egypt, whose title
was Pharaoh, was concerned that the Israelite people were growing
faster than the Egyptians, and they were more numerous, and
they wouldn't be able to control them. And so he commanded that
the Hebrew children, the sons, when they were born, would be
killed. And there were midwives who were
assigned to the duty of helping the Hebrew women deliver their
children. And so the king, Pharaoh, he told those Hebrew midwives
to kill the boys when they were born. But the midwives didn't
listen to Pharaoh because they feared God more than they feared
Pharaoh. And they preserved those young
children, those young boys, alive. And Pharaoh then was stymied
in that attempt to destroy the boys. So he told his people,
I want you to cast all the Hebrew boys into the river. And you
remember that Moses' mother and father, when Moses was born,
they hid him. They put him in what we think
of as a bassinet made out of reeds and mud, and they put him
in there and they hid him. for three months, and finally,
after three months time, they put him in this, and they put
him in this floating thing in the river, and lo and behold,
Pharaoh's daughter was by the river and saw that, and she had
her servants bring that basket to her, and there was Moses in
the basket, and she had compassion on him, and she took him to be
her own son. I don't know if she had a husband,
but she took Moses to be her own son. That's quite amazing.
Why would an Egyptian, even the daughter of Pharaoh, take this
boy, who the king had commanded to kill, a Hebrew? He would obviously
be recognized as a Hebrew. They looked entirely different
to be her own son, but she did. And Moses' older sister Miriam
saw this event, and she offered the services of her mother. to
nurse Moses, and so she did for Pharaoh's daughter. And Moses
then grew up in the house of the Egyptians. He was learned,
it says in Acts chapter seven, he was learned in all the wisdom
of Egypt. And he was mighty, a mighty man
in wisdom and authority. And he was obviously chosen by
God to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage. And so when he was 40
years old, according to scripture, it came to him to visit his brethren. And the words visit his brethren
doesn't just mean to go see how they're doing, but actually go
be with his brethren. He knew he was a Hebrew. Obviously,
he was recognized as a Hebrew. But he was dressed and had been
taught as an Egyptian. So he went out to see his brother
and he saw two men. One was an Egyptian striving
with a Hebrew. And he intervened and he killed
the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. And the next day
he went out again. And that day he saw two Hebrews
striving together and he spoke to the one who was doing the
wrong against his brother. He said, why are you doing this?
And that man said to him, and who made you a prince and a judge
over us? Now that typified the fact that
the Lord Jesus Christ would come and his people would reject him
and ask him who made you a prince and a ruler over us. That's by
explanation in Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter seven. But the
point is, you see here how God guided Moses through this period
of his life, all the way from his birth and into his 40 years
of age. when he went out to see this.
Now, because he killed this Egyptian and hid him, he thought that
because of this other Hebrew man that he separated, and he
was doing his brother wrong, since he knew it, that others
knew it too. And so he fled Egypt. He fled from the wrath of Pharaoh. And he ended up in a place called
Midian. And when he came there, he watered
the sheep of Jethro, and he was given the daughter of Jethro,
Zipporah, to be his wife, and they had a son, Gershom, and
so on. But Moses was with Jethro and
his wife in the wilderness for 40 years. And at the age of 80
now, at the age of 80, God appeared to Moses in the Mount Horeb,
which is Mount Sinai, in a bush, a flaming bush, that was not
consumed by the fire because the Lord was in the bush. And
God spoke to Moses out of the bush. And the whole account of
that is riveting if you want to read about it in Exodus chapter
one through three and beyond. But God told Moses, I'm going
to send you to Pharaoh. And I'm going to send you to
Pharaoh to tell him to deliver, to give Israel their freedom,
to deliver them out of Egyptian bondage. And God told him that
Pharaoh won't listen to you. And so God would bring plagues
on Pharaoh And Pharaoh, even though he exerted his strong
authority and power as the Egyptian king, God would overthrow him.
It's that simple. Gods can overthrow Pharaoh. In
fact, God said, I raised him up in order to show my power
in him. And God sent Moses to do this.
And Moses was completely intimidated by this call. He made every excuse
possible. And it seemed like he was going
to flatly refuse. And God's anger was kindled with
him at the last, because Moses, like all of us, naturally, he
thought that he would be able to deliver Israel only, from
Pharaoh, only if he were capable. And he saw himself as completely
incapable. I can't speak. Who am I to go
to Pharaoh? So in that 40 years time in the
wilderness, he had been humbled by God. But he still had this
unbelief, and God had to overcome that and send him. So you see
the struggle between Moses' call and his own reluctance to it.
It was a sinful unbelief. And we see in that that Moses
was a man, a sinful man. And yet God raised him up and
used him. And if you think about how God used Moses, you see that
without a fight, The Israelites didn't fight. In fact, they were
absolutely helpless, held captive by their captors and helpless
before them. They couldn't deliver themselves. And Moses didn't
fight. He didn't have a sword or a spear.
He didn't have any armor on. He just walked into Pharaoh with
his brother Aaron. And he said, thus saith the Lord,
let my people go, that they may serve me. And Pharaoh mocked
him. He says, who's the Lord? I tell
you what you do, you go tell the people to go build the bricks
and make those cities without straw. And the tail of bricks,
the tally, will not be diminished at all. And he beat the Hebrew
masters over the slaves, the Hebrews who were the managers
over the slaves, he beat them in order to get the same number
of bricks. And Moses kept going back. And he did the signs that
God gave him to do. He threw down his rod. It became
a serpent. And Pharaoh's magicians threw
down their rods. They became serpents. And Moses'
serpents swallowed up their rod, and so on. So they're serpents. So you see this great drama throughout
the book of Exodus. Moses, one man. Well, with his
brother Aaron, because Moses, he said, I can't talk. I can't.
I'm not good. I'm not good at speaking. So
God. God teaches us so much through Moses. You see this in 1 Corinthians
1. It's not many wise, not many
noble, not many mighty are called. But God has chosen the weak things
of this world, the things that are base, the things that are
nothing, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that
no flesh might glory in his presence. And you see that in Moses preeminently.
But there's many things in Moses' life that we see here. And so
when we read this in Hebrews chapter two and three, we need
to think back about how important that Moses was to the Hebrews,
and why he was so important, and how, in this short section
of scripture, God teaches us that Christ is way better, way
better than Moses. And so we see it leading up to
this when we study this in Hebrews chapter 2. We see in kind of
a preview, we see what God is going to do in chapter 3 to convince
us that Christ is better than Moses. Look at verse 10, Hebrews
chapter 2. It became him, God the Father,
for whom are all things and by whom are all things in bringing
many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings. Now Moses, he wasn't a captain
of an army, but he was a captain, wasn't he? And how was he a captain? Well, he marched right into Pharaoh's
throne room. I often wonder, why did Pharaoh
even put up with this guy? You know, he's just a shepherd.
Who knows how he was dressed. He's old, 80-year-old guy, comes
in there. He starts talking to them as
if he's the head of the entire nation. His march is right in
there. Thus saith the Lord, let my people
go, that they may serve me. And so he was a captain in that
sense, wasn't he? And then look at the next verse
in Hebrews 2. For both he that sanctifyeth and they who are
sanctified are all of one. To sanctify means to set apart.
And Moses was distinguishing the entire nation of Israel from
the Egyptians. He said, these are God's people.
They're the children of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And God
has called them his people. And since they're God's people,
they're set apart for God. And I'm going to take them out
and set them apart to God for his service. They're going to
be separated from the Egyptians. And so in that sense, Moses was
like is what is said here. He was a sanctifier. And think
about what it would have looked like in those days. An entire
nation of a million or maybe more than a million people march
out of Egypt in one day. Can you see what that would look
like? A million people leaving a country like that. Who are
these people? Those are the sanctified. Those
are the ones God called out to be his people, you see. And Moses
is at the head. He's leading them out. The captain,
the sanctifier, setting them apart for God's service to be
his people. And then notice he says in Hebrews
2.11, for which cause he's not ashamed to be called their brethren,
their brethren. And so you see this also in Hebrews
chapter 11. Listen to what it says there.
He says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24, by faith Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
or regarding, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches
than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect to the recompense
of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. You see how Moses identified
with his brethren? He was on, essentially on the
throne, because he was Pharaoh's daughter, I mean son, Pharaoh's
daughter's son. He could have, it seems, been
in the line to sit on the throne of Egypt, but he didn't. He chose
rather to identify. He was not ashamed to be called
their brethren. He was made like them in every
way. And so he was glad to suffer affliction for their sakes. He
returned to Egypt. He was free. He could have lived
out there in the wilderness just going around taking care of a
few sheep. But he went back to take care
of God's sheep in Egypt and deliver them. So in that you see Moses
there also. And so you see this throughout
what is spoken here of Christ. And look at verse 14. For as
much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, this is speaking of Christ, that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil. Well, what did Moses do? He went
into Pharaoh's place and said, let my people go. God says to
you, let my people go. He basically spoiled Egypt of
the Israelites. He took out the people who were
captives. He approached the captor and
he commanded him to let go God's people, to deliver God's people
from Egypt. And this is what the Lord Jesus
Christ did here, only in a much greater way. He delivered his
people from the devil. He destroyed the devil and the
works of the devil and delivered them from death and from the
fear of death. And then he goes on in verse
16, for verily he took not on angels, but he took on the seed
of Abraham. And this is what Moses did. He led out those who
were the physical descendants of Abraham. though Christ did
the spiritual ones. And verse 17, wherefore in all
things it behooved him to be made like to his brethren, that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And
this is exactly what Moses did. He was a priest. He offered. Remember what it says in Hebrews
later, that he sprinkled, Moses took the blood and he sprinkled
both the book and all the people when he made that covenant. between
them and God, that old covenant, that covenant of works. And so
in all these things we see Moses, and look at verse 18, for in
that he himself has suffered being tempted, he's able to come
to the aid or to help those who are tempted. Now, we see this
fulfilled in Christ, but we see it typified beforehand in Moses. And now, when we read chapter
3, it will make more sense to us how this is building up to. Because what we read in the last
part of chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 2, is it sounds like an exodus,
doesn't it? People being led out. from a
captor who were captives and helpless, and under the bondage,
it says in verse 14 here, the bondage of fear to the devil,
led them out. This is what Moses did. And so
he's comparing Christ to Moses without first mentioning Moses,
but when he gets to chapter 3 and verse 1, then he brings it directly,
explicitly to light. He's building up to, in order
to show that Christ, through these things, and what follows
in the next, actually the rest of the book, that Christ is better
than Moses. So he says here in chapter 3
and verse 1, wherefore holy brethren, how are these brethren holy?
The Lord made them holy. Didn't we read that in verse
11? He that sanctifyeth who makes holy. And those who are made
holy, sanctified, are all of one. They're all of one family,
one father. Christ is their elder brother.
He sanctifies them. Therefore, they are holy. How
are they made holy? By his blood, Hebrews 10.10.
And I'll read this to you. I keep referencing it. Sometimes
I need to read it. He says in verse 10, by the witch
will, by the will of God the Father, in Christ offering himself,
as a sacrifice, because sacrifices of animal could never please
God, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We are sanctified, made
holy, by Christ's shed blood. And that's repeated in a couple
more places in Hebrews. So we're holy by what Christ
did. That's the message here. God's
people are holy because Christ shed his blood for them. Wherefore, he's going to speak
to us now, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. This
is not a call, an earthly calling. This is a heavenly calling. And
who gives that calling? God himself. And how does he
give it? Through the gospel. but not just
the bare gospel by his spirit. He comes to us. In Galatians
1, 15 and 16, Paul said, when it pleased God, who called me
from my mother's womb and made known to reveal his son in me. So God's people are called, 1
Corinthians 1, verse 1 and 2, he says, to the saints, the called
of Jesus Christ, who also call on Jesus Christ, the name of
Jesus Christ. God's people are called by God, and that call
is effectual. It gets done what God intends
by it. Isaiah 55, 11, God's word will
not return to him void. It will accomplish the work he
intends. And so our call results in us being brought. And so he
says here, wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
the calling by Christ. Let me read this verse to you
in 2 Timothy chapter one. In 2 Timothy chapter one, the
same thing is, the call is also spoken of there. He says, In
verse 8, Paul writing to Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Expect to suffer for the gospel's
sake. Verse 9, who has saved us, Christ
did that, didn't he? And called us with a holy calling. not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel." So it's a holy calling, and it's not according to our
works. It's according to His purpose and grace. He says in
Titus, which is in my Bible just across the page from Hebrews,
He says this, We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, Titus
3, 3. We ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. This
is a description of us. in our nature when God called
us, when he saved us. We were like everyone else. Just
like the Israelites in Egypt, they were in bondage to Pharaoh,
they were in anguish of spirit, they were sorrowing, we were
under the same thing. We were under the dominion of
sin, and sin reigned unto death. And the death that we were under
was eternal death, the sentence of God's judgment. And the devil
held us in fear and in bondage to that, to that death we deserve
from God. So it's just like the Israelites,
only in a spiritual way. But listen, verse 4, Titus 3,
4. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Like Moses, he
showed up on the scene, but not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, but according to his mercy. He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's the
call, the call of God, not by works of righteousness, but by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. And so we have it. We're called.
We're called by God. That call gives us new life by
the Spirit of God so that we realize our justification in
Christ and realize that we're called to an eternal inheritance
in Him. And so he says, they're holy
brethren. And then he goes on in Hebrews chapter three, he
says, you, holy brethren, you who have received this call,
consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ
Jesus. What is our profession? It's
the gospel, isn't it? Christ is my all. I'm a great
sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all at all.
Isn't that our profession? That's what God teaches us in
our very heart, so that we are convinced of it, our conscience,
We might not be fully aware of it at all times, but whenever
trouble comes, especially when the trouble of recognizing our
own corruptions in our own selves and our unbelief, and we flee
to Christ again, then we realize our profession is that we are
sinners, and we're saved by God's grace because of what He did
and thinks of Christ alone. And He's all of our salvation,
and therefore we have this eternal hope because God has chosen to
look, provide, and look to Him for everything from us. And so
we rejoice in this. We rejoice in this hope, even
though in ourselves we're nothing. He says to us, you consider.
Consider the Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle and high priest of
our profession. The apostle means sent. Moses
was sent by God to Pharaoh to deliver Egypt. He was sent by
God to lead them like a captain out of Egypt. He was their deliverer,
Moses was, out of Egypt from Pharaoh and bondage. And he was
their leader who led them out of Egypt, set them apart from
God. He was their mediator, their
intercessor. He pleaded with God for them.
He led them through the Red Sea. He led them through the wilderness.
And he was their lawgiver. You see all those things in Moses?
Redeemer, captain, their intercessor and mediator, and also their
lawgiver. Now, consider the apostle and
high priest of our profession. What is an apostle? He's sent
by God to us. He comes to us from God to bring
God's word. We would never have known it
if he hadn't brought it. He is the Apostle. Notice in
the book of Hebrews, the Apostle here is used, spoken of Christ
as the Apostle. When we say Apostles, we usually
think of Peter, James, John, the Apostle Paul, and so on.
But here, the writer says, no, consider Christ the one sent.
And he says, the high priest. We know that in the book of Hebrews,
this is going to be expanded. So we won't spend too much time
on that. But the high priest is the one, the apostle comes
to God with God's word to us. The high priest goes to God with
our sin to make atonement for our sins to God and to bring
God's blessings now to us. So you can see here, the one
who is the apostle and high priest, he comes from God. and brings
God's word to us, the gospel. And he takes our needs and brings
us to God by his sin atoning blood. That's Christ. Verse two,
consider Christ as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful
to him that appointed him as also Moses was faithful in all
his house. Moses was faithful. The writer
to the Hebrews doesn't speak against Moses here. He actually
gives Moses credit for being faithful. God appointed him.
God chose him. God sent him. And he acted as
a priest. He made intercession for the
people of God and he offered for them. And so he was faithful. But notice he says, as Moses
also was faithful in all his house. See that word house? Let's read it further in verse
3. For this man, Christ, the apostle
and high priest of our profession, was counted worthy of more glory
than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more
honor than the house. So you probably know of some
architects who build fancy houses or big things like the Golden
Gate Bridge. There's architects. Frank Lloyd
Wright comes to mind. These guys who are recognized
throughout history as being famous architects. Who is the guy who
designed the pyramids? I don't know. The pyramids seem
like they're an engineering marvel, so we look at that. But the one
who designed them, according to this scripture, was greater
than the pyramids. Like the man who designed the
bridge and built the bridge was greater than the bridge or the
house. But he's not talking here about a physical house. Look
at the next verse. For every house is built by some
man, but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after. But Christ as a
son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Now, here we see something about this word house. Moses was a
servant in his house. Christ is a son over his house. Moses is a servant in the house. Christ is son over his house.
Denise and I have been watching this series about this aristocracy in England. And in this aristocracy, they've
got these people who are called lords and various titles. And the ladies are called some
fancy name. And then they have all these
servants. running around, taking care of them, fixing their food,
cleaning their house, starting their fire, making them warm
at night, doing all these things. They just constantly, all they
do is take care of these few people in this huge house. But
the people who are the royals in this house, they're the ones
who have the inheritance. And so they call them by these
fancy names, like Milady, and Milord, and so on. Lord this,
Lord that. They're the heir because they
had their sons and their sons were born to them and the whole
estate is passed down to them and these servants just serve
them. Moses was just a servant. Christ is the son in the house,
you see. But what is this house? Is it
a mansion somewhere in England? No. Was it a big temple somewhere
in Israel? No. When Moses marched into Pharaoh,
what was the house? Well, in scripture, it's spoken
of like this. And you'll recognize these as
soon as I mention them. He says this in Exodus 16, verse
31. He says, and the house of Israel
called the name thereof, Manna. So God is referring to when the
people of Israel first ate the bread from heaven, they called
it manna. And he refers to those people
as the house of Israel. What does he mean? The entire
nation, all the people who were born to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
they're the house of Israel. It says in Psalm 135, 19, bless
the Lord, O house of Israel. Bless the Lord, O house of Aaron. So you see, those people who
were the descendants of Israel, the descendants of Aaron. And
in another place it says this, in 2 Samuel 3, 6, it came to
pass while there was war between the house of Saul and the house
of David. And Abner made himself strong
for the house of Saul. So you can see how God uses this
word house to refer to the people who were born to, the descendants
of, in the family of, the household of, that one person named there,
the house of Israel, all the people who were the descendants
of Israel. When we look at this verse here,
it says that Moses was faithful in all his house. What was Moses'
house? All those born to Jacob, whose
name was Israel. He says he was faithful in his
house, but Christ was counted worthy of more glory than Moses
inasmuch as he who hath built the house hath more honor than
the house. What is Christ's house? It's
not the people born to Jacob, named Israel. It's not the physical
descendants that Moses led out of Egypt. It's a different people.
And in fact, he describes it. Verse 6, Christ as a son over
his own house. Those who belong to Christ are
his house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. In other words,
believers belong to Christ and they're called his house, just
like we read in chapter 2. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. They're all of one father, you
see. Now Christ is a son over his
own house, but Moses was only a servant in his house, the house
of the physical descendants of Israel. So now we see in this
that Moses is being compared to Christ, and the conclusion
here is that Christ is worthy of much, much more glory and
honor than Moses. By comparison, there's really,
it's an infinitely higher level of glory that Christ is worthy
of because he's the son in the house and over the house. These are his people. They're
his by their same birth to his father, the birth of the Spirit
of God. That's why they believe him. But look at this further. He says, Moses was faithful in
all his house. How was Moses faithful? What
did he do? How did God use him? Now, there's
many things that God shows us about Christ through Moses, but
I want you to consider some. First of all, Moses was called
a king. Not very often, but he was called
a king, he was called a priest, and he was called a prophet in
scripture. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
just that to his people. When Moses came and wanted to
separate those two Hebrews, one of them was doing wrong to his
brother, that one who was doing wrong said, who made you a prince? and a judge over us, remember?
And then later in Deuteronomy, I think it was chapter 35, it
says that Moses was king in Jeshurun, or another name for Israel. So
Moses was called a king. I'll give you the reference to
that if you're interested, if I can find it. It's in Deuteronomy
I'll read it to you. Deuteronomy 33, actually, verses
4 and 5. He says, Moses commanded us a
law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. So
Moses commanded the law to those who were of the congregation
of Jacob. Congregation is another name
for the church. In fact, that's what the church
means, the gathered out congregation. But in this case, Moses was over
the house of Jacob. And it says in verse 5 of Deuteronomy
33, Deuteronomy 33 verse 5, And he was king in Jashurin, when
the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered
together. He was king. He was king over them. In fact,
God said to Moses, I have made you a god. to Pharaoh in Exodus
chapter 7, I think that is, verse 1, I made you a God to Pharaoh.
In fact, he even said, I've made you a God to Aaron. I made you
a God to him, and he's going to be to you instead of a mouth,
and you're going to be to him instead of God. And that term, God, is used in
scripture as a ruler. So Moses was a ruler over Pharaoh
and over Aaron. For Aaron's sake it was for his
good, but for Pharaoh it was for his destruction. So as a
king, the Lord Jesus Christ is a ruler for his people. God speaks
to us only through him. We only know God by knowing him.
We can only come to God through him. He's the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. And so he is the son of God, and in his nature, he is
God himself. But he is God to us. No man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten son, which
is in the bosom of the father, he has made him known, declared
him. So we only know God and see God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We only hear from God in him.
And so he was king in Jeshurun, Moses was, and so the Lord Jesus
Christ is king. He's the king of glory, the king
of his people. That's what Christ means. He
was the son of David, the king. And he's not just a king in a
physical sense, but he's king over his people spiritually.
So in this household here, in Hebrews chapter 3, we see that
the Lord Jesus Christ is a king, a priest, and a prophet to his
people who are his own. But here he says here, he that
has builted the house has more honor than the house. How are
God's people builted? Well, God in the nation of Israel,
in their case, He built them up by giving birth through Israel
to the twelve sons, and they gave birth to all their children.
They were born to Him. How does the Lord Jesus Christ
build His church? And this is an amazing thing,
and I can't really give you all of the verses on this, but look
at a few. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, talking about being built
up. God's people being built up as
Christ's house. He says in 1 Peter 2, verse 5,
you also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. But look at verse four, 1 Peter
2, verse four. To whom coming to Christ as unto
a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and
precious. And so we're also living stones. Christ is the chief cornerstone,
chosen, precious, elect. And he is to us the foundation,
on which we're built, but we're the living stones in that house,
that spiritual house. If you look on in verse 6 of
1 Peter chapter 2, Verse Peter 2.6, Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, he that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. All believers are living stones,
unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them
which be disobedient The stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word
being disobedient, whereunto they were appointed. But you,
you who believe Christ, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show for the
praises of him who hath called you. out of darkness unto his
marvelous light. You see how God describes the
spiritual activity of the word of God in the gospel concerning
Christ coming to us and adding us into this building and building
us up, establishing us in this house, this spiritual house of
which Christ is the foundation and the cornerstone. And we're
put there as living stones, not as dead stones, but living stones.
And we're a chosen generation, like Israel. And we're a holy. nation and that we should show
forth the praises of him who's called us. But look also at 1
Corinthians continuing on this being built up. 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. The spiritual house that we are because
Christ built us. He says in 1 Corinthians 3, I'll
just read through this. I, brethren, could not speak
to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto
babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and
not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are you able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you
not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of
Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, servants? by whom
you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted,
Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither
he that planteth is anything, neither he that watereth, but
God gives the increase." He's describing something here, it
sounds like a plant growing up, right? Now, he that planteth
and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together
with God, you are God's husbandry. That sounds like a farm, doesn't
it? You are God's building. It's interesting. When have you
seen corn growing up into a house or vegetables and things? Because
he's describing the church as a building and as a crop planted
through the gospel. The seed of the gospel comes
to us and the Spirit of God gives fruit to it. We're growing up,
but into a building. Verse 10, according to the grace
of God which is given to me as a wise master builder, I have
laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every
man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Paul laid
the foundation, Jesus Christ in him crucified. And every man
who preaches the gospel is either building on Christ or he's not. Verse 12, now, if any man build
upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, which would
correspond to the spiritual house, the living stones, wood, hay,
stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day
shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and
the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. When
the gospel is preached, those who hear it and believe it by
the Spirit of God are built into this house. And they're growing. They're living stones. But the
gospel is not always preached. Some preach a false gospel. And so what do they produce?
Wood, hay, and stubble. And the day of judgment will
reveal whether those who were joined to this outwardly are
truly part of it. Because within the church of
God, the physical church of God, there are those who are both
true and untrue stones. Verse 14. If any man's work abide
which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. In
other words, you'll be very happy. You'll be able to rejoice with
the angels and with the Father and with the Son and all of the
congregation in heaven over one sinner that repents. Verse 15,
if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he
himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. And I understand
that to mean that if a man preaches and doesn't preach the truth,
and there are those who are entering into the kingdom of God, at least
they look like they are, but aren't truly, then his work as
a minister of the gospel will be lost. But if he's a true believer,
then he will be saved. Verse 16, know ye not that you
are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwells in you? Now, this is the house. We are
the temple, the household, a living body in which, by what every
joint supplies, the whole body is built up. The whole temple
is framed by the work of God. The spirit of God dwells in each
stone in this temple. If any man defile the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become
a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world
is foolishness with God, for it is written, he takes the wise
in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the
ways, the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore,
let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. Why? Because you're in the household
of Christ. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life,
or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours,
and you are Christ's. You're his household, his temple,
his body, his husbandry. And you're Christ, and Christ
is God's. We could go on and on with this. So back to Hebrews
chapter 2. But do you see the glory of it?
Moses was the leader and the captain over a physical nation
of people who were physically born to Jacob. But Christ is the captain of
our eternal salvation, who is leading us not to Canaan, but
to glory. So there's these comparisons
that are made in the life of Moses that teach us about Christ. Who is Pharaoh? There's like
a drama, and there's roles that different people play in this
drama. Who is Pharaoh in this drama? Who is the nation of Israel? Who is Moses? Well, you see that
Pharaoh corresponds to the devil, to Satan. And Egypt corresponds
to idolatry, because that's what the people there did. They served
idols. And even the Israelites themselves, before they were
delivered, were idol worshipers. They worshiped the idols of the
Egyptians. And so Egypt and Pharaoh represent, spiritually, the devil
and our bondage to sin. and are sentenced of death under
the sentence of God for our sins. Okay, so what does Moses play?
What role does he play? He plays the role, or he prefigures
the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent him, and he came to
Pharaoh. Christ came into this world.
He took our nature, and in that nature, he did combat with the
devil. Remember the devil tempted him?
What did he first tell him? Jesus was driven by the spirit
into the wilderness. And while he was there, he had
fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. The devil came to him and said,
if you be the son of God, then turn these stones to bread. But
the Lord Jesus Christ had already made himself of no reputation.
He had already taken on the form of a servant and was made in
the likeness of men. He came and was made under the
law, made of a woman, made under the law. So why was Satan trying
to say, if you be the Son of God? He was trying to get the
Lord Jesus Christ to assert his place as Son of God at the behest
of Satan and so obey Satan and take his place again as Son of
God in order to serve himself. He's right to do that. The son
of God can do all that he does for himself, because that's the
only right that he does it. But he didn't come for that.
He had laid aside his reputation as the son of God and took on
the form of a servant. And so he answered Satan with
this answer. He says, it is written, man. shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. And
so the Lord Jesus Christ did combat with Satan, and he did
it as the last and second Adam. So that what he did in overcoming
Satan, he did for us. So Moses corresponds to Christ
who came, he did combat with Satan, and he overcame him. Jesus
said in Luke chapter 11, verses 20 through 22, when a strong
man, armed, keeps his goods in his palace, he's safe, he's fine,
he's at peace. But when a stronger than he comes
and binds a strong man and then takes away his goods, that's
our Lord Jesus. Just like Moses came to Pharaoh,
let my people go, the Lord Jesus Christ comes and in the book
of Jude he says, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Even the Lord,
which has, I can't remember the next word, but it's something
like has chosen Israel or redeemed his people. So the Lord Jesus
Christ came and he redeemed his people, just like Moses came
and delivered his people, the Israelites, from Egypt. But who are these Israelites?
What do they correspond? What role does that nation correspond
to? To the elect of God out of the
world. When you look from a satellite
down on Egypt, when a million people walked out of that nation,
you see, look at that. Look at all the, what is that,
ants? People moving out of that nation. And when God in his eternal,
when he unfolds his eternal purpose and work in this world, he's
gonna show, you see all these people? They're being drawn out. They're being brought out of
many tongue, kindred, nation and people out of every one of
those. They're being brought out of
every family and kindred and tribe on the earth. Those are
my people. Being delivered out of the kingdom of Satan and brought
into the kingdom of his dear son. That's the kingdom of Christ. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
and look at verse six here in Hebrews chapter two. Christ is
a son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast
the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Who are these elect people? How do we know them? They hold
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
What did Moses do after he brought Israel out of Egypt? They just
hang out? No, they went through the Red
Sea. And it was in the Red Sea that God destroyed the Egyptians
and Pharaoh with them, But he also, it was the Red Sea that
was actually their deliverance from their enemies. Because once
the Red Sea closed up, the Egyptians couldn't get at them anymore.
And so the judgment of God fell upon the Egyptians and their
king, just as God's judgment fell upon Satan and his kingdom
when Christ went to the cross. Jesus said in John chapter 12
verse 31, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince
of this world shall be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up, shall
draw all men unto me, meaning his elect people. And so those
who hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm to the end are those saved by the Lord. It's not our faith
or our holding fast or our rejoicing that make us Christ's household,
but that's the evidence that we are. Jesus said in John chapter
8 verse 31, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed. We weren't just delivered once,
but our life is going through this deliverance, this wilderness
journey in which we feed upon Christ daily as they fed upon
the manna. And Moses struck the rock and
the water flowed out of it, meaning the law of God smoked Christ
and out of that substitutionary death That sacrifice Christ made
of himself for his people, water from God, the everlasting love
of God and grace of God flow to us in everlasting life because
of him. And we live upon him. But in
the world we live in, in the body we live in, the body of
sin, and all the troubles we experience, that's going through
the wilderness. Where are we going? The captain of our salvation
is bringing many sons to glory. And you see this, this comparison. Moses and the children of Israel,
they lived that life all their time, and history was just an
example, a figure for our sake to teach us what we have spiritually
in Christ, our Redeemer. the one who conquered Satan and
brings us to glory, who sanctifies us, who is our high priest, who
is merciful and faithful, and he knows our temptations and
he's able to deliver us out of them. And those who made it to
Canaan were those who believed, who were given this grace of
faith. And those who fell in the wilderness fell because of
unbelief. And so it's a great warning and a great encouragement. We don't become the household
of Christ on our own. God gives us faith. And faith
identifies us as that. And faith is not a one-time thing,
although it's often represented as that in the religion today. You've got to get saved. Once
you're saved, you're fine. Don't worry about it. Just live
your life. Go on. I know you lived your
life like hell, but at the end of your life, we knew that you
were saved because back then when you were 12 years old, you
made a decision so that you're good to go. That's not at all
what scripture represents our salvation. You were saved from
so great a death. You're being saved, and you shall
yet be saved in 2 Corinthians 1.10. who has saved us from so
great a death, who yet shall save us, who is even now saving
us. Our salvation is a salvation
in which we're being saved. And yet it's a salvation that
Christ has accomplished. And our captain has entered heaven
and taken possession of our inheritance. And what do we do? We live in
the wilderness of this world, in the body of this death, looking
to Christ. confident and rejoicing in him.
And that is the evidence that we're the Lord's, that we're
his disciples. Let's pray. Father, we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ is so infinitely greater than Moses. And we're
thankful that even though Moses was a man, our Lord Jesus Christ
is a sinless man. And he's God himself, son over
his own house. And he shall bring us to glory.
He shall not fail. And Moses had to die, couldn't
enter Canaan because he was a sinner. But the Lord Jesus Christ brings
us into eternal rest. We thank you that your word,
that the gift of your son and all that you said is true and
cannot fail. Help us, Lord, give us this grace,
we pray, above all things, make us the household of the Lord
Jesus Christ, so that we might show forth the praises of him
who has called us out of this world, out of sin, out of the
bondage of Satan, to show forth the glorious light of the gospel
in our lives with our words and everything that we do. And we
pray, Lord, that you would deliver us from the the temptations that
we face, the evil of this world, that you would bring us through
it. Not take us out, but bring us through it out of the weakness
of ourselves, bringing us by the strength of our Lord Jesus
Christ, our Captain. and our Savior. Help us to look
always to Him. He ran the race, and He's finished
His race, and He's entered into glory, and therefore we know
we shall be there with Him because we're His. All things are ours.
Death and life, this present world, things past and things
future, all are ours because we're Christ. And we know this,
Lord, because You've convinced us that Jesus Christ alone is
the one to whom you look for us and we trust him that you
would receive us for his sake according to your word and promises
that you wouldn't cast us out because we come to him to be
saved by him and brought to you in Jesus name we pray, amen.