Come back to Hebrews, Hebrews
chapter 3. The title of the message, The Faithful
Son. The Faithful Son. The writer of Hebrews calls upon
the church especially his Hebrew brethren here, to consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, of our confession, he says, Christ Jesus. And if
you'll notice what he calls the brethren here, the church, he
calls them holy Holy brethren, I'm looking at holy brethren.
If this is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are holy
brethren. This describes the church as
it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Holy brethren. In the scriptures,
we're also called saints. Years ago, talking to a young
lady, this has been years ago, and she's telling me, we are
not saints until we die. Not until we die and then you
enter heaven, then we are saints. No. We are saints now. Saint is just short for sanctified. It's a short version of sanctified.
That's what you are. Saints. Sanctified. Set apart
and made holy. Holy brethren. And that even
applies to the church of Corinthians. You know, Paul at one time called
them carnal. But then he also goes on to say,
but you are washed. But you are sanctified. You are
made holy. Holy. Not only are you holy brethren,
you are partakers. You know, to partake of something
is to join in. You are partakers of the heavenly
calling. He is saying you are participants.
You brethren who believe the gospel, you are participants
in God's purpose of redemption in Christ. You are participants
in it, partakers of it. You are partakers, he says here,
of the heavenly calling. True Christianity is a heavenly
calling. It is a heavenly calling, and
it is something that we experience. I should say someone we experience,
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an earthly calling.
It is a calling from heaven, and it leads to heaven. It leads
to heaven. There is nothing earthly about
this heavenly calling, nothing earthly about it. And it is an
effectual call. It is a call from darkness to
light. It is a call from sin to righteousness. It is a call from self to Christ.
It is a call to faith and repentance, repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And with this calling, with these
privileges, comes great responsibility. Great responsibility. The Scripture says you are bought,
we are bought with a price you are not your own. Christ owns us, lock, stock and
barrel. He owns us completely. Completely. Now, therefore, see, we are partakers
of the heavenly calling. We have been effectually called
by the Spirit of God. Consider. Consider. Here's one of the meanings of
this word, consider. It means to meditate, to meditate
upon so as to arrive at a fuller knowledge of." Consider, don't
just give a thought to it and then go on about something else.
But he is saying to these Hebrews and to us, sit down, get by yourself,
and consider the apostle and high priest of our confession. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ
who is first the apostle. I thought, well, there was twelve
apostles. You know, everybody says Paul was the chief apostle. Christ, Christ is the chief apostle. He is. There is not an office
in the church where Christ is not the preeminence, where he
does not hold the preeminence. Consider the apostle. Now, an
apostle was one sent of God with a message. And here our Lord is called an
apostle, and he's called an apostle because he is the messenger sent
of God with a message of salvation. He came and revealed the Father.
He came and preached righteousness to the great congregation. That's
what he says over in the psalm. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. He's the messenger. And he's
the message. He's the message. So consider
him. Meditate upon him. Come to a
fuller understanding of him. That's what he's saying, of him.
You know, over in Hebrews 12, 3, it says this, it tells us
this, consider him, it's the same word, meditate, think upon,
ponder, consider him who endured such contradiction from sinners
against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged and faint
in your minds. They were under a lot of stress,
these Hebrews here, these Hebrew men, these Hebrew men and women,
brethren, they were being persecuted heavily. You see, they had confessed
Christ. They were kicked out, out of
the family, out of the synagogue. They were run out, run out of
town. And Paul says, when you come under such stress, such
heavy trials, meditate on Him. Consider Him who is holy, who
is the Son of God, consider what He suffered against Himself.
When you're having it tough, you think about Him and what
He went through. He suffered the wrath of God. Think about
Him. That's the same word. Consider.
Dwell upon this matter. That's what He's saying. Dwell
upon this matter. One writer said this. Dwell upon
it as to obtain more enlightenment, more comfort. More strength. Meditate upon it. Consider Him. You know, when we come here Sunday
nights, you know, Sunday mornings and Wednesdays, we hear the Word
preached, we read the Word. Go home and meditate on what
you heard. Think upon what you heard. Consider
Him. Consider Him. Not only is He
the Apostle, But he's also the high priest of our confession. You know, the high priest was
pretty much the ruler of the nation of Israel. The high priest, pretty much,
he was pretty much the ruler of the nation. Pretty much what
he said, that's what went, the high priest. And he's saying
here, meditate, consider him who is the apostle and high priest
of our confession. He is. He is the One. This is the One who represents
us before God Almighty. You know, if someone's going
to represent you before someone, I mean someone important, court,
you want the best. And you want to know something
about this One who's going to represent you. Don't you want
to know that? I was watching a program just
before we came over here, these seven men. It was a documentary
on seven men who had been released from prison, who had been in
prison. They were innocent. One was in there for 22 years.
He said, I had the worst lawyer. He said, I had the worst lawyer
in the world. He said, I never saw him. He said, I rarely saw
the man. Well, it would be wise to consider
him and find out about him. That's why he's saying, brethren,
consider him who is the apostle and the high priest. He's the
one. He's the one mediator between
God and men. He's the one who represents us
before God Almighty. He's the one. And what he's saying here is
that this man, this man, Jesus Christ, is the ruler and the
leader of those who believe the gospel. He's the head of it. He has the preeminence. Now consider
him. Meditate upon him. Know him. Paul said this, or that I might
know him. Paul had a burning, a burning
desire. He had a craving to know more
of Christ. He was never satisfied. He was
satisfied with Christ, but he was never satisfied with his
knowledge of Christ. He knew. that this man was so
unique that he speaks of the riches that are in Christ Jesus.
He knew that there was such rich treasure in this man that it
could never be exhausted. Have I been that impressed with
him? I ask that myself. You ask yourself, have I been
that, am I that impressed with this man? Let's notice here now his faithfulness.
Who was faithful, he says, to him that appointed him, as also
Moses was faithful in all his house. The scripture says it
is required in a steward that he be faithful. And he says here
that the Lord Jesus Christ was faithful to him, that is, to
God the Father, Because he's the one who appointed him. He's
the one who appointed him. He was faithful. He accomplished
everything he was sent to do. Father, I have finished the work,
he said in John 17, I have finished the work that you gave me to
do. Not one jot, not one tittle has
been left undone. I finished it. Faithfully. He faithfully obeyed every demand
of the law. He faithfully obeyed it. He faithfully
provided the sacrifice that was demanded. Himself. Himself. And he faithfully provided
the blood necessary to make atonement. His blood. His blood. It says, he was faithful to him
that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. Now here's the wisdom of the
writer of Hebrews. He knows how much the Hebrews
thought of Moses. Moses gave us this. Moses gave
us that. Moses, and he knew this. And
so he speaks very highly of Moses. And he says, Moses was faithful
in all his house. He did everything that God required
him to do. You know, God told Moses, you
do, you make it exactly as I gave it to you. Paraphrasing, you
make it just like I gave it to you. And he did. He did. Look over in Numbers chapter
12. What God says here of Moses. Numbers
chapter 12. And Miriam, I'll start reading
verse 1. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses. because
of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married
an Ethiopian woman. And it's evident they were a
little prejudiced and they didn't like it. Well, you see what God
says here. And they said, Hath the Lord
indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?
And the Lord heard it. Another place, he says, the Lord
heareth your murmurings." The Lord hears everything, every
word, every thought, and the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses
was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the
earth. He was the meekest man living. And the Lord spake suddenly unto
Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out, ye three, into
the tabernacle of the congregation. Here's what he's saying. Get
over here. This is what he's saying. He heard this, this argument
going on here. And the Lord, this is the Lord
Jesus Christ here. He comes down in appearance here.
This is his pre-incarnate appearance here. And he says, Get over here.
That's basically what he's saying to them. And he says, Come out,
ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they
three came out. And the Lord came down in the pillar of the
cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and no doubt
this is the Lord Jesus Christ, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forth. And
he 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 mine house. With him will I speak mouth to
mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude
of the Lord shall he behold. Were you not afraid to speak? Why were you not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was
kindled against them, and he departed. And of course, Miriam
becomes leprous. You can read the rest of that
story later, but he says Moses was faithful in all his household
because God said he was. God said he was. See, they thought
very highly of Moses. Moses gave them the law. Moses
gave them the ceremonies. Their whole worship service was
built around what Moses gave them. Look over in John chapter
10. We're in John chapter 10. Listen to
this. This is how highly they thought
of Moses. John chapter 10. Well, let me see if I wrote it
down right. Verse 31. I think I wrote it
wrong. Let me see. Let me go back to
John chapter 6. I may not. There it is. I get scriptures on my mind and
they're reading, and I'm getting bad about just transposing numbers,
and you can tell that by my preaching anymore. But listen here, in
John chapter 6 and verse 31, Our fathers did eat manna in
the desert, as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven
to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Moses didn't give you that bread. Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my father gave you
the true bread from heaven. They're saying Moses gave us
this manna, the bread from heaven. What could you do greater than
Moses? And this is what he's going to prove, or this is what
he's setting forth here in Hebrew chapter three, how much greater
this man, Jesus Christ, is compared to Moses. I tell you, they thought
Moses was everything. Their whole religion was built
around what Moses had given them. So Moses was faithful to the
trust that God gave him over the house of Israel at that time.
He was faithful to it. However, one greater than Moses
is here. As our Lord said one time, one
greater than Solomon is here. One greater than Moses is here.
One greater than Moses has come. And he was given a greater trust. And his trust is over the whole
Israel of God. Not a picture, not a type, which
Israel was a picture and a type of the church in the Old Testament.
This one is truly over the whole spiritual Israel of God. Now he's going to give the difference
here between Moses and Christ. For this man, let me get back
to Hebrews here. Here, verse 3. For this man,
you see that's in italics? In the original, it's like, for
this, this. They didn't know what to call it. Remember the
angel said that holy thing? which shall be born, shall be
called the Son of the Highest, the Son of God. And here it says,
for this, and the translator put man, for this man was counted
worthy of more glory than Moses, so much more, and as much more,
and as much as he who hath built the house hath more honor than
the house. There's no comparison. That's
what he's saying. He's saying there's really no comparison
between Christ, the man, and Moses. He said there's really
no, there's no real comparison. You know, it's just like you
see a beautiful house built and you think, oh, that house is
beautiful. But who has the glory? The man who built it or the house?
Did the house give itself beauty? I ain't never seen a house give
itself anything. It's the person building it.
It's the architect. It's the one who came up with
it. And it's the one who put it together. And there stands
a beautiful building. A beautiful building. And here's
what he said. Moses was a part of the building.
He was faithful in the house. Christ is faithful. He's the
one who built the house. He's faithful over the house.
He's taken care of the whole house. The whole house belongs
to Him. It all belongs to him. The house that Moses was faithful
over was only a picture. It was only a type, although
there were some saved in it. There was some Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, others, you know, we don't even know, were saved. But Israel
as a nation, as a whole, was a picture, a type of the true
Israel of God, the true elect of God, the true believers. The house that Christ is over
is the house made of living stones. It's a lively house. It's a spiritual
Israel. It's all of God's redeemed. He's
over that house. You see, one, Moses, was over
the house as a member of the house. as we will see, as a servant,
the other as the creator. The other is the creator. Christ
is the creator of the house. You see, Moses didn't choose
the people that he led, did he? When God told him to go down
to Israel, he said, I can't talk. Don't send me. I'm slow at speech. He didn't choose the people that
he led. Christ chose everyone whom he
leads. Did he say, you have not chosen,
I chose you, you didn't choose me, I chose you. He said that. And then Moses was only a man,
a man, a sinful man at that, just
like the rest of them, a sinner. But Christ is both God and man
in one person. Where there's no comparison,
really, it's what he's saying. There's really no comparison.
He's not he's not putting down Moses. Moses was a great he's
probably one of the greatest servants of God. But he said
in comparison to this man, there is no comparison. There is no
comparison. For in verse four, for every
house and really you can take this word house and turn into
family or dynasty. You see, every house, and that's
what, you know, the house of Aaron, the house of Israel, it's
talking about a family. For every house, every family
is built by some man. Every house, every family, every
dynasty has a fountain. It has a source. It started from
one point. It started from one person. It's
amazing. You take the picture of my grandparents,
just my grandparents, and their kids and their grandkids And
just my family, my dad's mom's family, it was seven of us, and
our kids, that's amazing. It's huge. It's huge. And he said, every house is built
by some man. You can trace your lineage back
to some man. This house, the house of God,
the church, is built by some man alright, the man Christ Jesus. He's the builder of it. He's
the architect. He's the one who's putting it
together. For every man, every house is built by some man. Now listen here, because He's
going to set forth the deity of this man. He's going to set
forth His deity. But He that built all things
is God. Now over in chapter 1, He said,
"...by whom also He made the words." Speaking of that man,
Jesus Christ. Over in Colossians 1, it says,
"...all things were made by Him and for Him." He made all things. So here the deity is ascribed
to Christ. That's what He's doing. He's
ascribing to Him this. He's God. This man is God. You see, He started out with
this man. Now he's moved up. This man is God. This man is
Almighty God in the flesh. That's why he's teaching these
Hebrews. You see, the connection is made with Christ being greater
because of this. He's God. He is God manifested
in the flesh. He's not only the master of the
house, he's the maker of the house. Someone wrote this, I thought
this was good. He said, it can be read like this. He that built
all things, that is Christ, is God. Is God. And Moses, verse 5, and Moses
verily was faithful in all his house, truly. You know, use that
word verily, it's emphasis. He said, Truly, and I recognize
this, Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant. So he's
going to move now to Moses being a servant as for a testimony
for those things which were to be spoken after. You see, Moses
before belonged to the household, whereas Christ built the house.
But now he changes to Moses being the servant and Christ the son.
Moses being the servant of the Son. You see, Moses as a servant,
that's what he was. He was not the Lord. Jesus Christ
is the Lord of the house. And the things that Moses wrote, here's what he's telling these
Hebrews. If you were a Hebrew back then, you'd be getting it.
Because he's saying here, the things that Moses wrote were
a testimony. They were a testimony to the
gospel as a witness to the Lord Jesus Christ, this man. Now I
want you to turn over to John chapter 5. John chapter 5 verse 46. For had ye believed
Moses, You would have believed me for he wrote of me. He testifies of me. Now turn
over to Luke chapter 24. Luke 24. Look at verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." Listen. And Moses verily was
faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of
those things which were to be spoken after. And those are the
things that we are speaking of right now, the gospel, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ now, listen, see,
Moses was a servant, but Christ as a son over His own house. His own house. Whose house are
we? We are the house. The church. The church of the living God.
The church is the house. If we hold fast to confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. This house which
Christ is over is a spiritual house made up of believers in
Christ And it's his house. Moses didn't make up Israel.
Moses did not make that nation that he was over, that he led
out in the wilderness. He didn't make that people. God
made them. God pulled that nation together.
But the nation of believers, the nation of believers that's
going to come out of this world, is made by Christ. He's the creator
of it. This is his house. Whose house
are we? And he says this for encouragement
to those Hebrews. Many of the Hebrews were driven
from their homes, from their families, from their jobs, and
he writes this to their comfort, to comfort them. We have a family,
we have a family that's never going to be separated one day.
It's never going to be, it's going to be pulled together.
The house is going to be complete. The family is going to be complete
and it'll never be separated. We have a family of which Christ
is the maker of and the heir of and over and taken care of. He's the head of it. But then
he gives them a warning here. He gives them a warning. I'll
close. If we hold fast to confidence and the rejoicing of the hope,
firm unto the end. You remember, we'll see this
as we go along. The children of Israel could
not enter into the promised land, to the land of rest, because
of unbelief. Because of unbelief. It was only
two out of that original group that came out of Egypt that went
into the promised land, Joshua and Caleb, only two. You would
have never thought that, would you? You would have never thought. The writer knew that the Hebrews
were always in danger through trials. Now listen, I want you
to get a hold of this. He knew they were always in danger
through trials of giving up the future for present comfort. He said, don't do it. It's not
worth it. Not worth it. There is no hope. He's telling
them for them to draw back. The Word of God never allows,
the Word of God never allows presumption. Never allows presumption. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. That's what it says. Another
one says this, make your calling and election sure. I know this
and you know this. Everyone for whom Christ died
shall be saved. But you know Paul said, I keep my body under subjection. That's when I preach Christ,
I myself have been cast away. He strove to know
more of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I've not yet arrived.
It's not as though I've already apprehended. That's what he says
over in Philippians chapter 3. But he said, I press, I press. This is the Apostle Paul. I press
toward the mark. And that's what he's saying here.
He's saying, don't take this for granted now. You just keep
pressing. You just keep going. There will always be many who
profess to be saved who are not. They're not. And he warns, he
warns, don't take this for granted. Don't take it for granted. You
keep looking to him, you keep pressing to him, and you keep
that confidence and that hope firm, firm to the end. What are we to hold fast to here,
not quit? The way he says, the confidence
and the hope. What is our confidence? Our confidence
is this, that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. He's the
Messiah. His blood is the blood of atonement.
His righteousness is our righteousness. He's the righteousness in which
God's people are accepted. He is my confidence. You know,
you come up to the end or you come up to some heavy trial and
you start to doubt Him. You think, oh. He said, don't lose that
confidence. Don't lose it. or that hope. You know what hope is? It is the expectation that God will do all that he
promised. Don't lose it, he said. You keep
a firm confidence and hope until the end. You keep a firm conviction
of the truth as it is in Christ and don't waver. Don't waver. The Lord is faithful. He'll do
just what he said he'll do.