[0:00] Hebrews chapter 3 will be our text for this morning, verses 1-6.
[0:19] If you're there, would you please stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word together.! You four holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.
[0:44] For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
[0:59] Now Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house.
[1:12] If indeed we hold fast our confession and our boasting in our hope. May God add a blessing to the reading of his Word. Would you please be seated? Behind the center field wall of Yankee Stadium is a place called Monument Park.
[1:30] And while I'm not a Yankees fan, you can't deny the rich history that they have. And that's why they have a Monument Park.
[1:43] Memorializing some of the greatest baseball players who ever played the game. Jolton Joe DiMaggio, the Commerce Comet, Mickey Mantle, the Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig, and the Sultan of Swat, the King of Crash, the Colossus of Clout, the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth.
[2:11] While DiMaggio and Mantle and Gehrig did some things on the baseball field that were better than Babe Ruth, when you compile all of their stats and all the championships that they won, it's hard to make the argument against Babe Ruth not only being the greatest Yankees player of all time, but the greatest baseball player of all time.
[2:34] In Hebrews chapter 11, it's kind of like the Monument Park of the Bible. In that chapter, the author recounts the great faith that has been demonstrated by men and women of God in the past.
[2:52] Their lives are memorialized in the Old Testament of our Bibles. They were the heroes of God's people, the Jews. But among them all, Moses was like their Babe Ruth.
[3:06] Amongst the Jewish people, Moses held the highest regard and esteem. And if you know Scripture, you understand why. God had miraculously protected him as a baby, and then later God personally provided for his burial.
[3:25] And in between those two points of Moses' life is miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. He was the one who delivered Israel from their Egyptian captivity by parting the Red Sea.
[3:39] He was inspired by God to write the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, which contained additional laws that governed the Jewish people, and became something that they treasured and had great confidence in.
[3:56] In fact, they often referred to the law as the law of Moses. Moses delivered God's instruction for the dimensions and the construction of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant.
[4:11] God spoke to the prophets in visions, but to Moses, God spoke face to face. He spoke to him first in the burning bush.
[4:22] He spoke to him out of heaven. He spoke to him on Mount Sinai and wrote the Ten Commandments with a finger of fire. And he permitted Moses to see his glory.
[4:36] A glory that reflected on Moses' own face for a brief period of time. And I could add more, but I think that is sufficient for us all to understand.
[4:48] That in the eyes of the Jewish people, above all others, Moses was God's man. But in this passage and in all of the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit calls on God's people then, as he does now, to consider Jesus above all.
[5:10] Moses was great, but Jesus is far greater. In these verses, the Holy Spirit not only calls us to consider Jesus' superiority to Moses, but to consider the greatness of Jesus in all things and at all times.
[5:28] And that's the main idea for this morning's sermon. In all things and at all times, consider Jesus. Consider Jesus. That's what preaching is all about.
[5:42] That's what worship is all about. This is what Sunday school and community groups and Bible study and children's church and VBS and youth group and everything that we do as a church is all about.
[5:55] Considering Jesus. And so my hope is that this series of sermons that we've been going through on typology has encouraged you to consider Jesus more, especially when you read the Bible.
[6:10] Because all of it concerns him. All of it points to him. All of it is about him. And there will still be a few more sermons on this series to go.
[6:22] But today, especially since we looked at Moses and Exodus last Sunday, I want to pause for a moment to look at this text and its encouragement that we consider Jesus in all things and at all times.
[6:39] Now, as a believer, you might hear that and be thinking, isn't considering Jesus something that I've already done? Isn't it the unbeliever who truly is the one who needs to consider Jesus?
[6:53] Well, yes, but this passage is written specifically and addresses specifically believers. And it ends with an encouragement for them to hold fast to their confidence and their hope that comes from constant consideration of Jesus.
[7:12] And so I ask you this morning, do you feel confident? Do you feel hopeful? You know, there's so many things in this world that divert our eyes from Jesus and tempt us to drift away from him.
[7:31] That was a problem with these Christians that the book of Hebrews was written to. There's a warning in chapter 2, verse 1 for them. Therefore, we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
[7:46] Maybe this morning you're kind of like Peter who walked out on the water to Jesus and he was doing just fine until he started noticing everything else around him and he took his eyes off of our Lord.
[7:58] It's the winds and the waves, the chaos of the world maybe has taken your gaze off of the one who has overcome it. And you feel maybe this morning like you're treading water or you're sinking or you're drowning in fear and despair.
[8:15] And my prayer for you and for us all this morning is that the Lord will lift our faces and cause us to take heart and be people of good courage and be confident in him because he's our anchor.
[8:30] And as you consider how great a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is that you have, I pray that that's what will happen today. If you're an unbeliever this morning, we're glad that you're here.
[8:42] God's desire, God has put you here to hear this word in the hopes that you will consider Jesus and be saved.
[8:53] And so from our text this morning, there's three considerations of Jesus' greatness that we need to be thinking about, focusing on at all times and in all things.
[9:04] The first is that we need to consider Jesus' position. We need to consider Jesus' position. Look again with me at the beginning of verse 1. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.
[9:21] So before the author of Hebrews directs his readers to consider Jesus' position, he reminds them of the position that they have in Christ using the adjective holy.
[9:36] Holy. Is that an adjective that you would use to describe yourself? If you were meeting someone for the first time and they asked you, you know, tell me something about yourself, would you say, well, to begin with, I'm holy?
[9:54] Probably not. Because it's usually those who act like they are holy who are the least holy of all. But as believers, it's vital to understand that in Christ, you are made holy through his finished work, offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross to die in your place and for your sins.
[10:16] You can't make yourself holy. You are made holy by Christ, being in Christ. And this is important because the Bible says that holiness is not only a possibility for Christians, it's a requirement.
[10:32] As we read later in Hebrews 12, 14, Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Unlike us, God is inherently holy.
[10:45] He doesn't need to be made holy, but we do. And the Bible says that God is the one who does it for us. Ephesians 1, 3 through 4 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
[11:11] So as believers, we are in Christ, who is, as we looked at last week, our Passover lamb, the one whose blood has covered our sins, who placed his righteousness over us.
[11:28] By enduring God's wrath on the cross for the sins that we've committed against him, that by faith in him, we are reconciled to the Father through Christ.
[11:40] And we have eternal life being set free from sin. And while that is the position that we have inherited in Christ, it's truly after our salvation that our pursuit of holiness begins.
[11:59] Are you confused? We're holy, but we need to pursue holiness. Well, let me share an illustration that maybe can help. About six years ago, I came in view of call to this church to become your pastor and a vote was taken and I received that call, but I still had a house.
[12:20] I still had things back in Kansas. There were things that I had to get in order and take care of so that I could come and truly be your pastor.
[12:31] So in a sense, I was, but I wasn't yet. And so in the Bible, we're always hearing this language of already, but not yet. We're already made holy.
[12:41] We're already holy by being in Christ, but we are in the process of being made holy as well. And that's called sanctification. It ends in glorification when we go to be with the Lord.
[12:53] There is a positional holiness, again, that we have when we're called by God, when we are saved by him. And then again, there's this practical holiness that we are to spend the rest of our lives pursuing.
[13:06] 1 Peter 1, 14 through 16 says, As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all of your conduct, since it is written, you shall be holy, for I am holy.
[13:24] Now, cultivating a lifestyle of holiness does not mean that you draft a list of do's and do nots to live by. Being in Christ means being indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
[13:37] And when you understand the grace of God that you've received, that saved you from your sin and the eternal consequences of it by giving you a new life in Jesus Christ, there is a new desire within you to live a life surrendered to him, knowing that one day in heaven, you will be free from sin and all of its effects.
[14:02] Until that time, we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, the perfecter of our faith. We consider him, who he is, what he has done, and our heavenly calling, and the joy that awaits us there.
[14:16] Philippians 3, 20 through 21 tells us, but our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
[14:34] So we are to consider the position that we have in Christ, and we are to live in pursuit of that heavenly calling, our heavenly home.
[14:45] And this is important because, again, there are so many things that can happen to us, that happen to us, in this life that cause us to lose sight of Christ and can trip us up.
[15:00] And in thinking about that, it made me think of my son's baseball team. You know, in baseball, you hit one to the gap. Whether you're the guy who hit it or the guy on base, you can't be looking over your shoulders to see where the ball is at.
[15:17] Because if you do, one, it will slow you down, and secondly, you might get tripped up on your own feet. And what could have been a run now maybe can end in and out. And so what we teach them to do is once the ball is hit, once you're rounding the bases, look at the third base coach.
[15:33] He's the one who sees the entire field. He's the one who, in seeing the entire field, will tell you whether it's safe to advance to the next base, whether you need to stay, whether you need to slide.
[15:44] His job is to get you safely home. And so it is with Christ. He will get us home, but in order to run well in this life, we must fix our eyes on Him all the time.
[16:05] So now that we've considered our position in Christ, the author of Hebrews directs us to consider His position as the apostle and high priest of our confession.
[16:17] Jesus is our apostle, and He is our high priest. Apostle means sent one. It was a title used of an ambassador. And you know, an ambassador, they speak on behalf and with the authority of the one who sends them.
[16:32] Moses isn't called an ambassador in the Bible, but in the Old Testament, that's kind of what he did. He brought God's law to God's people. He was God's ambassador to Pharaoh and delivered them from their slavery in Egypt.
[16:50] Like Moses, Jesus came to fulfill the law, though, and institute a new covenant based on grace, not on works. Through His sinless life, His sacrificial death, His victorious resurrection, He delivers God's people from their spiritual Egypt, their spiritual bondage and slavery to sin, something that He accomplished for us as high priest.
[17:19] Now, Pastor Tyler is going to speak more about the function of the high priest next Sunday, but what I want you to consider this Sunday and understand about Jesus' position as high priest is that He is our mediator.
[17:36] He is the one who, by His sacrifice, cleanses our sin with His own blood, and He is the one who brings us into right relationship with God the Father.
[17:47] See, today, you don't need a priest to do any of those things for you. Jesus has done it for you already. And as a result of Jesus being our high priest, your mediator, in Christ, you have full access to God the Father.
[18:05] Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 says, Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
[18:28] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. As apostle, Jesus is the final word of God, and as high priest, Jesus is the only way to God.
[18:44] He is also a Savior who sympathizes with His people and loves His people. If you're in Christ, understand that there's nothing that you need to do to earn God's love.
[19:01] You don't need rituals, you don't need ceremonies, you don't need a checklist or any other person to serve as your mediator. Jesus is in position to do that, and if you're in Jesus, please understand, He loves you.
[19:20] He loves you. So we consider Jesus' position. Next, we're called to consider Jesus' rank, His rank. In verse 2, we're introduced here to a comparison between Moses and Jesus before those two are contrasted in verses 3 through 6.
[19:41] These Jewish Christians back then needed to see Jesus in a new way, in the right way, in a way that would strengthen their hope and confidence in Him.
[19:52] And so first, we see the comparison in verse 2. Who was faithful to Him, who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all of God's house.
[20:03] Now God's house here, as it's used in other places, is a metaphor for God's people. The author of Hebrews points out that Moses was faithful in the household of God, and he was.
[20:16] That's the testimony of the Bible in Numbers 12, 6 through 7. And he said, Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.
[20:27] I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. Moses was faithful to God in many ways.
[20:39] Again, he obeyed God's command to return to Egypt, even though he was a fugitive of that land. He led God's people out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea in order for them to walk through safely.
[20:52] He endured the stubbornness and at times rebelliousness of God's people as he led them in the wilderness for 40 years. But Moses was not perfect.
[21:04] He made mistakes. He had a bit of a temper and we'll see even more so in a couple of weeks when we go over the life of David and how he served as a type of Christ, how gracious God is to those who mess up.
[21:20] You know, here in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 2, Moses is called a faithful servant. All of his blunders, all of his mistakes, they're not mentioned here.
[21:31] All of his sins, they're not mentioned here. And we should be encouraged by that because this is what God does for us. He separates our sin from us as far as the East is from the West.
[21:44] Isn't that refreshing to think about as sinners who often blunder, especially in this age of cancel culture where people spend their time digging up past mistakes in order to ruin a person's present reputation?
[22:03] God doesn't do that. Aren't you glad? I know I am. Moses is praised here for his faithfulness to God in verse 2. He was a great man, but as great as he was, he wasn't nearly as great as Jesus.
[22:21] Verses 3 through 4 again say, For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
[22:32] For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. This comparison between Jesus and Moses isn't intended to put Moses down, but to simply state that Jesus, compared to anyone, is far greater and far superior.
[22:50] He outranks everyone. He is worthy of more glory. Makes me think of the Olympics. You know, there's three that get a medal.
[23:02] Third place, second place, first place. And once they get their medal, they stand on different levels on the podium, right? You get the bronze medal, you're third place, you get a spot just a little bit higher on the ground.
[23:16] And look, bronze is great because a lot of people go to the Olympics and they compete and they don't go home with anything. But then, a little higher up, you have the silver medalist, right?
[23:28] And there's more glory, there's more honor in receiving the silver medal than the bronze, but the one who receives the most attention and the most honor and the most praise and the most interviews and the most whatever opportunities for endorsements and be put on a Wheaties box is the one who wins the gold medal.
[23:52] But as these verses point out, there is another kind of rank and there is another kind of glory that is greater than any of that.
[24:07] Jesus has been counted as more worthy than Moses in the same way that a builder has more honor than the house itself, the house that they've built.
[24:18] In my seventh grade art class, I was exposed for the first time to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. As a matter of fact, in Kansas City, we have the Nelson Art Museum and there's all kinds of, you know, priceless works of art in that huge building and downstairs, on exhibit, behind some ropes are some chairs that Frank Lloyd Wright made.
[24:48] And I loved looking at those chairs and really wanting to sit down in one of those chairs, right? But I couldn't. So imagine my surprise in coming to Bartlesville and being toured around the city by the, you know, the pulpit committee and being told that that building, the Price Tower, its architect is Frank Lloyd Wright.
[25:16] And so whenever Danny and I have friends or family come in town and we give them a tour of Bartlesville, we take them downtown, we see the Price Tower, and we say, hey, that building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
[25:31] And we don't have to answer them, maybe you don't know, but a lot of people do, they just know. Oh, Frank Lloyd Wright. I know who Frank Lloyd Wright is. What is his building doing in Bartlesville is the question we normally get.
[25:44] Moses, as great as he was, is like the best manager that the Price Tower has ever had. Jesus, on the other hand, is what Frank Lloyd Wright is to the Price Tower, the creator, but on an infinitely greater scale because Jesus created Frank Lloyd Wright.
[26:08] Frank Lloyd Wright did not create the manager of the Price Tower, but Jesus did create both of them and Moses and all of us. And so he outranks every single one of us.
[26:21] The Bible says he's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That's something worthy of our consideration and obedience. But the author of Hebrews has more for us to consider about Jesus.
[26:32] In verse 5 he says, now Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. Now, now pause here for a moment.
[26:43] The Old Testament without the New Testament is incomplete. It's like a foundation without a house or a bicycle without wheels or an ice cream cone without any ice cream.
[26:59] It's like watching Rocky 2 and turning the movie off just before Rocky steps into the ring to knock out Apollo Creed. If you're teaching from the Old Testament and have not connected it to Jesus Christ in some way, then you have not rightly handled God's will.
[27:19] If you're teaching any part of Scripture for that matter and not connecting it to Jesus Christ in some way, then you've not been faithful to the task. And you can't unhitch the Old Testament from the New Testament because the Old Testament explains to us more of who God is, how we got here, how sin came into this world and the progressive revelation of what God has done to rescue sinners from their sin and give them eternal life ultimately by sending Jesus Christ, his son, who all of the Old Testament speaks about and foreshadows the one who would come and overcome sin and Satan and death.
[28:01] Then in verse 6 we read, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son and we are his house. The church of Jesus Christ is the house of God today which means that this morning, not just back in Moses' day, not just back in the day of the original audience who received this letter, Jesus still has been, is now, and will always be maker, owner, ruler, provider, savior.
[28:33] He's the son of God. We are the servants of God. We are the household of God. Moses is one with us in the household and he was great in all that the Lord called him to do, but Jesus is the master, the ruler, the owner of the house.
[28:52] We need to consider that always. And then thirdly now, consider your confidence in Jesus. Considered his position, we've considered his rank, now consider your confidence in Jesus.
[29:03] And finally, verse 6 ends with these words, if indeed, we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. The evidence that we are part of the household of God is that we don't throw away our hope.
[29:19] We don't drift into unbelief. Becoming a Christian and being a Christian happen in the same way by hoping in Jesus.
[29:31] And so I ask you this morning, what are you hoping in? And where is your confidence? When I was a young boy, I received some bad theology from a friend of mine.
[29:45] I was saved. And for some reason, we were spending the night at one of their houses and we decided that, you know what would be fun? Let's confess our sins to one another.
[29:56] And so we did that. And I don't remember, there was one that I was really struggling with, whether it was, you know, making fun of my sister or lying, you know, it could have been a lot of different things.
[30:11] But it was something. And I remember telling my friend that, you know, I've asked God for forgiveness a lot of different times over the sin that I just seem to be continuing to commit.
[30:22] And he looked at me with like disgust. And he said to me, well, do you really expect that God is just going to continue to forgive you for that?
[30:35] You've got to do something. And so I thought, I do need to do something. And I tried doing something. And for a while that went fine.
[30:46] But eventually, I realized that, no, I mean, you know what I'm saying? I can't be the one whom I have confidence in in order to earn God's love or gain God's favor.
[30:58] That's not how it works when you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your sins past, present, and future have been completely forgiven.
[31:28] Completely forgiven. And that doesn't give excuse to think that, well, I can just do whatever I want.
[31:41] Because if you really know Jesus, if you know what he endured for you, if you've experienced that love and that grace that you know you didn't deserve, you can't help but live differently.
[32:02] And place your confidence in him. I read this, I came across a strange quote from Martin Luther this week and I really like it. He said, when Satan tells me I am a sinner, he comforts me immeasurably since Christ died for sinners.
[32:21] I like that. Let me add also, it's hard to consider Christ and the hope that you have in him if you're not regularly in his word.
[32:34] John 8, 31 through 32, Jesus says to us, as he said to the Jews then who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
[32:50] Abiding in God's word means reading God's word, studying God's word, memorizing God's word, meditating on God's word, living God's word, and considering Jesus at all times whenever it is that you read it.
[33:07] He's the hero of this book. He's the hero of our lives. You and I, we're not David who, you know, we just have to do more and get more courage in order to defeat Goliath.
[33:20] No, we're the scared people up on the hillside afraid to engage in the battle until Jesus Christ comes and vanquishes the giant, sin, death, Satan, and then we're the one who charged down the hill behind our conquering king and lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
[33:41] And so I ask you, how much are you considering him? When you have a decision to make, are you first considering Jesus, what he wants, what he desires?
[33:59] Do you go to his word in order to find out what that is if you may be unsure? But, maybe you do know what he says and it's clear in his word and you think, well, I'll just wait for maybe some kind of special revelation is going to come my way and then I can do what I truly want to do.
[34:22] And I'm saying this to you in love. Waiting in that case for some other kind of word is disobedience. obedience. But with obedience to the Lord comes blessing.
[34:41] And it might be hard. Jesus asks us to do hard things. But his promise is that he'll never leave us or forsake us and he'll see us through whatever it is he calls us to.
[34:53] It's in considering Jesus and saying saying yes to Jesus that your confidence and your hope in him will grow and will intensify. And so the main application for this sermon is this.
[35:06] Increased confidence and hope come from considering Jesus. They come from considering Jesus. And so again, I think sometimes the lie, the temptation we can believe, exchange the truth for is that when we've messed up, when we've blundered, when we've made mistakes, we think, I can clean it up myself, I can do it myself, I need to do it myself in order for God to love me, in order for God to forgive me.
[35:34] Let me tell you, that's not the gospel. This is more a picture of what the gospel is like because we're sinners, yes, we're declared holy, we're pursuing holiness, the sin nature still remains.
[35:45] It reminds me of like my kids when they were younger and Danny and I might be in different places in the house and we would hear a crash and then crying and then it was a race, right?
[35:58] It was a race between Danny and I and whatever kid it was who was hurt to find one another and when we found one another, what was it? It was an embrace, are you okay?
[36:10] It was holding and being tender until they were soothed and they felt better. That's the kind of God Jesus is, that's the kind of Savior that He is.
[36:24] He's not waiting for you to clean up your own mess. He's coming towards you. You go towards Him. Consider the kind of Savior that He is. He is a good and gracious King and if you don't know Him today, man, I hope that you would.
[36:44] I hope that you will. There's nothing like having Jesus and there's no greater hope and there's nothing better than knowing that you are safely and securely in Him.
[36:58] It gives life meaning, it gives it purpose and always gives us reason to hope. Question of application for you all to look at today, perhaps later this week.
[37:10] What are some of the most prominent things the world urges you to consider instead of Jesus? And what are some helpful ways you can learn to consider Jesus more frequently and correctly?
[37:22] What are some helpful ways you can learn to consider Jesus more frequently and correctly? Let's pray. Lord, we, God, confess to you that oftentimes in our Christian life we become distracted by things in this world that cause us to take our eyes off of you, cause us to lose focus of you.
[37:48] and Lord, we're just so thankful for you and the ways that you work to lift our face to make eye contact with us and to be gracious and tender with us when you do that.
[38:03] God, I pray that all of us, we would be obedient to what we've heard in your word this morning that we'll consider you in everything. Whatever decision we have to make, Lord, that first we would take it to you for your consideration.
[38:16] God, in whatever it is we come across in our day-to-day lives that we would consider how would my Lord want me to respond? How would my Lord, what would he want me to say in this moment?
[38:27] Lord, that we would all just be so focused on you and a desire to obey you, to be like you. Lord, I pray that for all of us that you would be glorified in our lives because you are worthy as the master, the builder, the architect of the house to which we belong.
[38:49] Thank you for making us a part of it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.