Welcome to our program. Today
I'll be preaching from the book of Hebrews, chapter 3. And in
this chapter, the Apostle Paul, the writer of the book of Hebrews,
begins a new section which falls right in line with the theme
of this whole epistle, the book of Hebrews, concerning the exceeding
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ above everything that comes before
him in the Old Covenant Remember, the apostle had already shown
how Christ is greater, exceeds in glory, than the prophets. A prophet is one who preaches
and speaks the Word of God. But Christ himself is the Word
of God. And he is the full revelation
of God. The book of Colossians chapter
2 and verse 9 says that in him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And then He is the Word of God.
He is the living Word of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's referring
to Christ Himself, the second person of the Trinity, the Son
of God. And that Word, John 1.14, was
made flesh and dwelt among us, the incarnate Word. That's who
Christ is, the living Word, the incarnate Word. The Word made
flesh, tabernacling among us. That's what the Scripture means
there in John 1.14. The written Word, the Bible, is about Christ. This is the Word of Christ. It's
the revelation of Christ. You don't understand this Scripture,
any of these verses of Scripture, without seeing Christ in each
Word. Because this book is about Him.
It speaks of Him whom to know is life eternal. And then the
preached word, the uttered word, is the preaching of Christ in
him crucified. So he exceeds the prophets. And
then he went on to show how Christ exceeds in glory the angels,
the angels who were ministers of the Old Covenant, ministering
spirits who had a special place, a special job to do in that Old
Covenant. But Christ is greater than the
angels. He's greater in His deity. Obviously,
He created the angels. But He's also greater than the
angels in His humanity. For the angels worship Him as
God-man. And then Paul had issued two
warnings here concerning those who hear the gospel. Just like
you, you're hearing the gospel preached. And he said, don't
drift on by, don't neglect it. And then he comes into this section
here of chapter 3, where he talks about how Christ is greater than
Moses. Now, Moses was the mediator of
the Old Covenant. You remember Moses, he's the
leading figure of the Jews. He's the giver of the law. God
gave Moses the law on Mount Sinai. And God commissioned Moses and
empowered Moses to go into Egypt and to bring the children of
Israel, the Hebrew children, out from under Pharaoh's bondage,
the Egyptian bondage, and lead them to the Promised Land. Well,
Moses was a great man. He was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. There was nothing in Moses himself
to recommend him unto God. Just like Abraham before him,
Isaac and Jacob, and all the Old Testament patriarchs, Moses
was a sinner saved by grace. Christ said this of Moses in
John chapter 5. He said, Moses wrote of me. You
know, the Pharisees were trusting in the law. Moses represents
the law. And the Pharisees were trusting
in the law. And Christ said, you trust in
Moses, but you have one who will accuse you, and expose you, and
condemn you, and that's Moses. In other words, you trust in
the law, and the law will condemn you, because if you're trusting
in the law, you must have the righteousness of the law, the
holiness of the law, and none of us by nature had it. Then
he said this, he said, Moses wrote of me. Moses believed in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses looked forward to the coming
of the Messiah. So here in chapter 3, he begins
to show how Christ is greater than Moses. And he begins in
verse 1 by addressing these people, these believers here. And he
identifies them in several ways. He begins with wherefore. In
other words, for this reason. And what he's talking about there
is this, based upon everything that he had said before concerning
Christ in his humanity, in his high priestly office. He's our
high priest. He's our substitute. He's the
redeemer of sinners. He far exceeds the prophets and
the angels. He is the great high priest who
went into the holiest of all for his people. For this reason,
he says, Holy Brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider
the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus. Consider Christ Jesus. Now I
want us to take a moment this morning just to consider Christ
Jesus. Consider is an act of the mind
and the understanding whereby we perceive who Christ is. what he's done, what he's accomplished,
why he did it, and where he is now. This is a lifelong thing
for the child of God. And there's no greater joy and
glory for the child of God than simply to consider Christ Jesus. To consider Him is to believe
in Him. To consider Him is to trust Him.
To consider Him is to worship Him. To consider him is to follow
him. And it's not just an act of the
mind now. It involves the mind. It's a
consideration of the understanding, the enlightened understanding.
The understanding enlightened by the Spirit of God, but it
comes from the heart. It's an act of the whole person.
It's not just intellectual agreement to a system of doctrine, though
truth and doctrine are involved. But it's a living relationship. a spiritual, vital relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We love Him. We know Him. We
trust Him and worship Him. Therefore, we consider Him. And
there's no greater joy and peace and comfort for the child of
God. Well, now, who's he talking about here? Who's he talking
to here? Well, he says, wherefore, holy brethren. Now, that phrase,
holy brethren, is referring to sinners saved by grace. When
I read that, I look at that and I say, how in the world could
anyone consider me holy? I know who I am. I know what
I am. And I know every child of God, every sinner saved by
grace would look at that and would say, well, I would call
myself anything but holy. But you see, we need to understand
how God works in His grace and in His mercy. In the Bible, there's
always two ways of looking at things when it comes to the child
of God and our relationship with God. First, there's how I am
in myself. I am a sinner, a sinner saved
by grace. Somebody said there's only two
types of people in this world. There are sinners lost in their
sins. And there are sinners saved by
the grace of God. But we're all sinners. And in
myself I'm a sinner. The Apostle Paul described that
in Romans chapter 7, when he was talking about from verse
14 on how he was carnal, sold under sin. He's talking about
how he is in himself. In myself dwelleth no good thing,
in my flesh that is. The believer has two natures,
a sinful nature, And then he has a spiritual, vital nature,
a holy nature of the Holy Spirit, the new life, you see, the new
heart. And there's a battle, it's called the flesh and the
spirit, there's a battle waging within. And that battle is so
real, it's not just mysticism, it's the experience of every
child of God. And that battle, listen, the
flesh that dwells in us keeps us from keeping the law of God
perfectly. Paul said, it keeps me from doing
that which I desire to do, and that is to glorify God in every
way, to obey Him perfectly, to be conformed to the image of
Christ. So that's how I am in myself. I'm a sinner, though
I'm a sinner saved by grace, though I'm a sinner who cannot
be condemned because God does not hold my sins against me.
And what I mean by that is what the Book of Romans says when
it says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It's God that justified me. Who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died, yea rather is risen again and seated at the right
hand of the Father. There is therefore now no condemnation
in Christ to those who are in Christ who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Because, you see, God does not
charge us with our sins because He charged them to Christ. Now,
the second way that we must look at ourselves in Christ, and I'm
talking about believers here, those who know Christ now, is
how God sees us. And that's the key to this right
here. This is how we are called holy brethren. We're brethren
in the faith. Brethren in Christ, to the family
of God, by election. by redemption. Christ redeemed
us. God chose us. Christ redeemed
us. We're brethren by adoption. God adopted us into his family. We're brethren by the new birth,
born into this family because of Christ, and made holy, not
in ourselves by our works, but we're holy as we are considered
in Christ. Now that's our holiness. Christ
is our holiness. That verse of scripture over
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 30 says that Christ is
of God made unto us wisdom, righteousness, holiness or sanctification and
redemption. Christ is my wisdom. I have no
wisdom of my own, but I have Christ and he is my wisdom. Christ is my righteousness. I
have no righteousness of my own. in my works and in my doings,
in my law keeping, but I have Christ and He is my righteousness. My sins were imputed to Him,
charged to Him, and His righteousness is imputed to me, charged to
me. He was made sin, Christ who knew no sin, that I might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Yes, I can say honestly
that I have a righteousness, not my own. It's Christ. It's
mine, but He's the one who gave it to me. He's the one who worked
it out, and He gave it to me. And then holiness or sanctification. I have no holiness of my own,
but I have Christ, and He is my holiness. And redemption.
I have nothing to pay God for any of my sins, but I have Christ,
and He is my redemption. So when He says, Holy Brethren,
Understand, now this word holy, it can mean set apart and it
can mean actually washed clean from all my sins. Well, I'm set
apart by God in electing grace in Christ and I'm washed clean
from all my sins legally by the blood of Christ. One day, one
day I will be holy in myself when I'm free from the presence
of sin, but not until I leave this life and go to be with the
Lord and I'm conformed to his enemy. So, holy brethren in Christ. Next he says, partakers of the
heavenly calling. That means we who are holy brethren
believe the same gospel. We've had the same calling. This
calling here is the calling of Christ's sheep by the preaching
of the gospel in the power of the Spirit. And that word partakers
means we're fellowshippers. were participants in this heavenly
calling. God has chosen us, Christ has
redeemed us, And God in His providence brought us under the preaching
of the gospel of His grace, His free and sovereign grace in Christ
Jesus. And by the power of His Spirit,
He gives us life and gives us ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts
and minds to understand and love Christ and to believe in Him.
He brings us to faith in Christ. and repentance of our works,
our dead works, and our idolatry. So we believe the same gospel.
You see, they're not these different denominations that believe different
gospels. That's not what it's talking
about here. These holy brethren, made holy by the grace of God
in Christ, forgiven of all their sins, washed in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness, they're partakers of the same calling.
It's a heavenly calling because it's of God. Now, he says these
holy brethren, Partakers of the heavenly calling, here's what
we're to do. Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
Christ Jesus. Now that word Apostle, Christ
is the Apostle. You know the Apostles, there
were 12 Apostles. An Apostle just simply means
a messenger of God. Well, these men were messengers
of God. They were called to be ambassadors of Christ. It's like
ministers, evangelists, pastors, teachers today who preach the
gospel. But Christ is the apostle. He's called in Deuteronomy 18,
that prophet of whom Moses spoke. He is the messenger of God. He
is the main messenger and all messengers are under him. And
he is the message. So he's the apostle of our profession. And then he's our high priest.
Now last time we talked about up in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
17 how Christ was made like unto his brethren in the flesh without
sin that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. The
high priest of Israel, you remember that, how he went into the tabernacle
or the temple on the day of atonement and on that one day he went into
the holiest of all with the blood of the Lamb. And he offered that
blood for himself and for the people on the mercy seat for
an atonement, for a reconciliation, a propitiation. The high priest
is the mediator between God and sinners. And the Bible says there
is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He is our high priest. He is
the believer's representative. He's the believer's substitute.
He's the believer's sin offering. He is the believer's altar. Now
you consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession,
our confession. What do we profess to believe?
That Christ is our salvation. Salvation of the Lord. That we
are sinners, totally depraved, wretched and rotten, born in
Adam. We have no hope of salvation but in Christ and Him crucified. Christ who finished the work.
of satisfying law and justice on our behalf. Now, he goes to
verse 2. He says, This Christ Jesus, whom
we are to consider, he was faithful, who was faithful, to him that
appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Christ Jesus was faithful to
him who appointed him. Now, who appointed Christ Jesus?
God the Father. Now this is what we call covenant
language. A covenant is an agreement. And
this is the everlasting covenant of grace. The preaching of the
gospel, it can be described many ways, the gospel, but one way
is that it's the preaching of the terms of this covenant. What
are the terms? Well, God chose a people, and
who were they? Sinners. Sinners who deserve
nothing but wrath. And God purpose to save such
sinners for His glory. But in order to save them, His
law and His justice must be satisfied. God is holy and He must remain
holy. He's just and He must remain
just. The soul that sinneth, it must
surely die. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. There's no forgiveness. Therefore,
God conditioned all of the salvation of His sheep, His church, upon
Christ. And Christ agreed in that covenant
to do all that was required to secure their eternal salvation.
Now, in order to do that, he had to become man. He had to
become incarnate so that he could die. He had to keep the law perfectly
for his people. He had to suffer, bleed, and
die on the cross of Calvary to satisfy justice and pay the debt. of their sins. He was buried
and rose again the third day for their justification, for
our justification, and he was faithful in all that God the
Father sent him to do." You see, salvation, listen to me, salvation
is not based upon our faithfulness, it's based upon Christ's faithfulness
to do his work. And Christ was faithful to the
Father just as Moses was faithful in all his house. Now, who is
this house of Moses that's spoken of? It's the Hebrew children.
These Hebrew children were entrusted to Moses' care as their mediator. And Moses was called of God,
he was equipped of God, and Moses was faithful to do what God told
him to do. You see, he went down to Egypt,
he spoke to Pharaoh, and all the plagues that God brought
on Egypt, he brought the children of Israel out, He went up on
Mount Sinai and received the law and brought it back down.
And you remember the story how he found the golden calf there.
He separated the people of God when he said, everybody that's
on the Lord's side, stand with me. And he led them through the
wilderness to the promised land. Now, Moses was faithful in all
his house, but Christ was faithful too. But look at verse 3 now. Now, here's the exceeding glory
of Christ over Moses. For this man, that is Christ,
was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. He's worthy of more glory than
Moses. He's worthy of more esteem than Moses. You see, we don't
look to Moses for our salvation. We look to Christ. Moses looked
to Christ for his salvation. We don't look to the law. You
see, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus
Christ. Moses wrote of Christ. So this
man, this Christ, is counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than
the house. Now that's a very simple illustration
of the point here. If somebody is a master builder,
a carpenter, a plumber, an electrician, a brickmason, all that it takes
to put a house together, And that person has a plan and gets
the materials and builds a beautiful house. Everybody that comes by
will admire the beauty of the house. But who is honored? The
house or the builder of the house? Well, you see, Christ is worthy
of more glory than Moses in the same way. Moses was part of the
house. He's just a brick in the house.
But Christ is the builder of the house. And his house is his
church. He's the builder of the church.
The church is founded upon him. He is the rock of the church. He's the foundation. He's the
cornerstone. He's the head of the church.
The church is called his bride. He's the husband. He took all
the responsibility. for loving, caring for, redeeming,
preserving, and providing for the church. So Christ is worthy
of more glory than Moses. Moses is a sinner saved by grace.
Christ is the Savior. Moses needed redemption from
his sins. Christ is the Redeemer. Moses
needed a high priest to enter the holiest of all for him. Christ
is the high priest who entered the holiest Look at verse 4,
it says, For every house is built by some man, but he that built
all things is God. Now, he brings it right down
to where all the glory goes to. It goes to God. Salvation is
of the Lord. Building the house refers to
the salvation of God's people, the church. Well, all things
are of God. He built the house. God chose
us. Christ redeemed us. The Holy Spirit calls us, gives
us life, and in Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead body,
the fullness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In
verse 5 he says this, he says, And Moses verily was faithful
in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken afterward. Now Moses was faithful to do
what God chose him and equipped him and appointed him to do with
the Hebrew children. But Moses was just a servant
here. Now, he says Moses here is a
servant for this reason, for a testimony of those things which
were to be spoken after. In other words, Moses and all
that he was called to do, all that he was equipped to do, was
merely a testimony of something better to come, something after. Now, what is that something?
That someone, Christ. You see that? Moses was a servant,
he was faithful, and he did all that God commanded him to do
in that sense, but all of his service, all that he did, was
pointing to something better to come. Now, what is that? Well,
look at verse 6. He says, but Christ, as a son
over his own house. Remember, he said Moses was a
servant in his house. But Christ is a son over his
own house. In other words, Moses was a mere
servant in the household. But Christ is a son. He's the
son of God by nature. He's the son of God by his incarnation. You remember he said in John
chapter 8, if the Son therefore make you free, you shall be free
indeed. You see, Christ is the Son of
God. Now, there are times in the Bible
where Christ calls himself a servant, but he's also a son. There are
times when we're called sons, we who know him are sons, but
we're not sons by nature. We're sons by redemption. Sons by grace, by adoption. But
Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He deserves more glory.
He's the son of his father. He's the son over his own house.
He's the heir. And he says here, whose house
are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end? Now what he's saying here is
this. We who profess to know Christ, we are members of his
household if we hold fast. That is, if we persevere firmly
holding fast, the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope
firm unto the end. Now this if here, here's another
if statement in scripture, and you know a lot of people take
these ifs and they'll make them conditional. In other words,
they say, well, now you're only a member of his household if
you meet the condition of perseverance or continuing. But that's not
what it's saying at all. It's not a conditional if, it
is evidence. And always remember that. A person
says, well, I'm a child of God. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm a safe center. What is the evidence of that?
Well, those who are members of his household, they will hold
fast the confidence. What is our confidence? Not in
ourselves, but our confidence is in Christ. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So they will hold
fast their confidence in Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, and the rejoicing of the hope. What
is our hope? It is the certain expectation
of being glorified together with Christ in heaven because of Him. It's not because of our perseverance. It's not based upon our goodness.
It's not based upon our works. It's based upon what Christ has
already finished as the builder of the house, as the Son of God
over His own house. And those who are members of
His household will evidence that By holding fast their confidence
in Him, rejoicing in Him, firm unto the end." In other words,
what he's saying is this, very simply. Those who are members
of the household and family of God in Christ will evidence their
membership in that family by the adoption of grace, by persevering. They will continue to the end.
That's the evidence. That's not a condition they must
meet in order to attain final glory. That's the evidence that
is brought about through their lives that shows that they will
attain final glory through Christ. So you see, consider Him. Consider
Christ Jesus. That's the whole issue here.
As you look to Him for salvation, As you persevere in the faith,
as you continue, as you seek to be conformed to his image,
consider Christ Jesus.