Far Superior to Moses

[0:00] Our lesson tonight begins in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1 through verse 6 with these words,! Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.

[0:30] 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.

[0:48] Verse 3 verse 3 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.

[1:04] for every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all 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.

[1:27] And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

[1:40] It is interesting that the author of the book of Hebrews speaks in terms of the glory of Moses and the glory of Jesus.

[1:52] A number of years ago in the nation of Israel, there was a canvassing done on the streets of the nation, but also people went door to door.

[2:10] And the question, there was really only one question, and they wrote down the answers, and the question was, who's the greatest Jew that ever lived?

[2:23] And a number of names made the potential list of candidates. In addition to Moses, there was Joshua, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David, Solomon, and there were others.

[2:47] Moses won by a landslide of the most popular Jew that ever lived. I think if I had been guessing, I would have said Abraham.

[3:01] Founded the nation, and I don't know. I just... But Moses was by far the winner, and he was especially popular in the Orthodox neighborhoods of the Jewish nation.

[3:18] And even to this day, Moses is regarded as the greatest Jew who ever lived. From the beginning of his life to the end, God made some very special provisions for Moses.

[3:42] As a baby, he was protected from death supernaturally at the hands of the Egyptian pharaoh. At the end of his life, God served as the undertaker for his funeral.

[3:59] Buried him. And in between these events, we see a number of miracles concerning Moses. Let me relate to you a few of them. Moses spoke face to face with God, and he lived to tell about the experience.

[4:18] He not only saw the glory of God, but that glory reflected back on the face of Moses. Remember how he shone and people wanted to wear a veil.

[4:30] They didn't want to look at him. He led the nation of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. God so trusted Moses that he gave him the law to pass on to the Hebrews, and even today it's often called the law of Moses.

[4:54] Moses brought the tablets of the Ten Commandments to the Jews directly from God. Moses authored the Pentateuch.

[5:06] That's the first five books of the Holy Bible. Moses laid out the Levitical laws that governed everything the Hebrews did.

[5:18] Moses gave the plans for the construction of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. You can learn about that in the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[5:31] Moses was regarded And Moses to this day is regarded as a great prophet in Christianity, in Judaism, and in Islam.

[5:45] Even the Muslims believe Moses to be a great prophet. Now with all of this and much that I left out, it should not be surprising that Moses was regarded by the Jews as greater than angels.

[6:06] And they put a lot of stock in angels. We studied some of that before we took our lengthy break. As it pertains to speaking directly to God, consider these facts.

[6:19] God spoke to the prophets in visions, but to Moses God spoke face to face. God spoke to Moses from a burning bush.

[6:33] God spoke to Moses from heaven. God met with Moses and spoke to him from Mount Sinai. That's in Saudi Arabia, by the way, and it's also called the Mountain of Moses.

[6:47] God wrote the tablets of the law with his own fingers and then handed them directly to Moses to bring down the mountain to the people.

[7:01] Moses was and still is considered to be God's unique man. But in Hebrews chapter 3, the Holy Spirit, the ultimate author of this book, implores the Jews to realize that Jesus is far superior to Moses in all things.

[7:30] There's no comparison. Jesus is superior to Moses in his office, in his works, and in his person.

[7:43] In his office, Jesus was considered both the apostle and high priest. In his works, the Lord is the great builder of the house of God, and we'll define that here in a little bit.

[7:59] In his person, Jesus is the very son of God and God himself in human flesh. So the first thing we look at is Jesus in his superior office.

[8:13] in verse 1 again, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

[8:30] Now we have to put this inspired passage in the context of why it is being made.

[8:43] These Hebrew Christians in this congregation were looking at Jesus out of one eye, but at the same time, they're looking back at the Jewish roots that they had with the other eye.

[9:01] They couldn't let the two go. They couldn't move on to Jesus from Judaism and from Moses. And the author of Hebrews wants this Jewish congregation to look at Jesus and fix their minds on Jesus.

[9:25] And he wants them to come to an understanding as to who Jesus really is. Very important in their life.

[9:38] So who is Jesus? Well, he was the one sent to recover man's destiny that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

[9:52] And it was prophesied that he would. Genesis 3.15. Talking about the seed or the woman and the seed that led to Christ.

[10:04] He is our substitute in the atonement. Jesus is the very author of our salvation. He is our sanctifier.

[10:18] Jesus is our Satan conqueror. He is our sympathizer. He is the supreme apostle that ever lived. He is the sent one from God.

[10:32] And he is the perfect high priest. And anytime I refer to Jesus as high priest, I am capitalizing on paper and in my mind the H and the P.

[10:47] Every Jewish convert in this Hebrew congregation located, we think, somewhere outside of Israel, probably in the area of Greece.

[10:59] But every Jewish convert that has come to Christ should think of Jesus in this manner just as we should. here in the 21st century.

[11:12] He is absolutely sufficient in all things. And he is all anyone will ever meet, will ever need.

[11:23] Whether you're a first century Jew or a Christian living in the West as we are in 20, what is this, 2023? 21st century? The Lord Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession.

[11:41] In your prayer time, do you ever confess Jesus as the apostle and the high priest? That the Lord is both of these things makes him superior to Moses.

[11:57] Moses. It was essential that these Jewish converts in this Hebrew congregation understood this fact.

[12:09] And it's essential for the church in the 21st century to understand this fact. And by the way, the word apostle means sent one.

[12:22] And there could be no doubt Jesus was sent by the Father himself. In that regard, Moses was an apostle because God sent him on a very special mission to deliver the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt.

[12:43] They'd been in bondage over 400 years. Moses could be considered a type of an apostle though the Old Testament scriptures never actually employ that title.

[12:59] But Moses was never a priest. He wasn't qualified. He was never a priest and he especially was never the high priest.

[13:13] Jesus is superior to Moses because he held both of these offices. an apostle is sent and therefore a type of an ambassador.

[13:28] You know, even an American ambassador is one sent to represent the president in a foreign country. And we have a lot of them. The apostle has the rights, power, and authority of the ruler who sent him to serve.

[13:50] Well, God the Father sent the Lord Jesus. He came with God's grace, God's love, God's mercy, God's justice, and he came with God's power.

[14:07] Jesus had this to say in John's gospel chapter 12 verse 49, For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment of what to say and what to speak.

[14:27] Jesus was a perfect ambassador, a perfect apostle sent from God the Father. God's and the Lord Jesus was also our high priest.

[14:40] And this is very important anytime we study the book of Hebrews or the book of Leviticus or Numbers or some of the other books. Jesus was our great high priest.

[14:54] Jesus will always be our great high priest. Now we're going to deal with the Lord Jesus as high priest throughout our study of Hebrews but especially when we get to Hebrews chapters 4 and 5 so we're going to defer most of our conversation on his role as high priest till then.

[15:21] So we see that Jesus is superior to Moses in his office as an apostle and as high priest. Further Jesus is also superior to his works as a builder.

[15:40] Hebrews 3 verses 2 to 4 He was faithful to him who appointed him just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house 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 there can be no question that Moses was faithful the Old Testament confirms that Moses carried out God's plan as it had been given to him by God Moses was faithful to God but Jesus was infinitely more faithful to the

[16:45] Father there can be no comparison to their respective levels of faithfulness there's no comparison now God the Trinity is building the house or a house when we share the gospel we participate at that but in a much smaller role it is God who builds the house and will continue to do so even down to our day the builder is also superior to any of his tools including human tools to do the building Moses was merely a tool that God used to build but Jesus in reality is the builder when someone is legitimately saved in the church today another brick is added to the house of God which will stand for eternity it will stand forever

[18:00] God is still in the business of adding worshipers to his building and God is going to continue that work until the last worshipper enters in and then the end and we also see that Jesus is a superior person to Moses because Jesus is the son he is the very son of God Moses could never claim that title verse 5 and 6 now Moses was faithful in all 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 if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope that is really the very climax of the opening words of

[19:14] Hebrews chapter 3 now in this passage just read we see Moses as a servant we see the Lord Jesus Christ as the son of God common sense tells us that there is a significant difference between a servant and a son John 8 35 the slave does not remain in the house forever the son remains forever that's how they did things back in the middle east they still do when you're going to have a son they'd build rooms on to the house and that's not just limited to Israel the Arab world the Indian world I don't know how many y'all knew Vasu had his son Dr.

[20:00] Vasudevan when Dr. Vasudevan got married and they started having kids Vasudevan built onto his house and Dr. Vasudevan moved into that portion this all is a way of saying that servants come and go but the son remains forever Moses was a servant he understood that and he conducted himself as a servant now the word for servant used in the Greek language was a title of one who conducted himself with dignity and freedom Moses was a high ranking servant probably the highest ranking servant ever in the history of Israel but he was still a servant we see Moses as one who was faithful obedient caring and ministering as a servant everything he was was caught up in the fact he was a servant over and over in the

[21:16] Old Testament the inspired passages speak of the faithfulness of Moses Moses was obedient and everything God required of him but Moses was not a son he was never a son that's reserved for the Lord Jesus Christ now we know from the testimony of scripture that Moses was faithful his faithfulness stands as a testimony down to our day as to things that have transpired all these millennia the Old Testament was never wrong the Old Testament was incomplete the Old Testament wasn't completed until Christ came Judaism in our day is incomplete without

[22:23] Christ and they haven't figured that out it is merely a shadow but without the substance now we're going to learn about all that when we get to Hebrews chapter 10 and spend a considerable amount of time there but Hebrews 10 1 starts out this way for since the law was but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near of course we all know the Jews had a sacrificial system it was it was I don't think Henry Ford invented anything I think he read the Old Testament without the substance and that would be Christ the shadow is worthless it is merely a shadow

[23:25] Jesus spoke of receiving the shadow and the substance John 5 46 for if you believed Moses you would believe me why did Jesus say that he goes on to tell us Jesus says for he wrote of me he he's writing in the Pentateuch about Christ and they couldn't lock on to that to this day they haven't locked on to it he was writing about Jesus the house of God today is not the building that houses a church this is brick and mortar guys I've often said God forbid if a tornado knocks us down or a fire takes us out we'll have church Sunday somewhere come to my pasture

[24:27] I don't have any hay burned up we can do church out there there's plenty of churches that we can I'll guarantee I don't know for any Baptist churches but I guarantee you that Joe Colal let us have First Wesleyan I promise you that he's done it before not us but other churches but this this is not the building the house that belongs to Jesus is believers true believers we're the house Jesus is the son over his own house over all believers