Jesus is Greater Than Moses

If you would, take your Bibles and open with me to Hebrews chapter 3.!

As we turn our attention there, who is the GOAT, the greatest of all time?

It's a debate that rages. Someone already said Michael Jordan, I heard them. Is it Jordan? Is it LeBron? Is Tom Brady in the mix?

Elon Musk? If you were here on Sunday, our pastor, Michael Staton, started his sermon by asking, who is the most influential person you know?

And I don't know exactly who it was, but a middle schooler behind me said, Elon Musk. So someone knows Elon personally, which is impressive. Muhammad Ali, an old boxer, one time said, I am the greatest of all time.

Richard Sherman was a corner for the Seahawks, made a game-winning play one time. A reporter asked him about that play and he said, that's what you get when you're messing with the best.

He called himself the greatest of all time. Who is the greatest of all time? And just for your information, if you have to say that you're the greatest of all time, you're probably not, just for what it's worth.

When it comes to the Old Testament, who is the greatest? When it comes to the entire story of the Old Testament, who would the Jews look up to more than anyone else throughout all of their history?

Moses. And when you think about his story, he was miraculously protected as a newborn from Pharaoh's wrath.

And in his death, he was buried by God himself. No man knowing the location of his burial. And in between those two miraculous divine interventions was Moses' experience of miracle miracle after miracle after miracle.

He saw way more miracles than any other Old Testament figure had the privilege of seeing. The Ten Commandments themselves were given to Israel through Moses.

And not just the Ten Commandments, but the first five books of the Bible are written by Moses. Who could possibly be greater than Moses?

And so far in our study of Hebrews, this preacher has been showing that Jesus is greater than everything and everyone. And in chapters 1 and 2, we've watched his argument develop in him saying that Jesus is greater than angels.

And now in chapter 3, he declares that Jesus is greater than Moses. Jesus is greater than Moses.

And again, that kind of seems obvious to us, right? Like when we talked about Jesus being greater than angels, in our context, we're like, yeah, we get that. That's easy. And same thing with Moses.

Like, yeah, Moses was a guy in the Old Testament and Jesus is God. Like, obviously Jesus is greater. But when you think about the history and how the Jews revered the Old Testament, they loved Moses.

And in this particular time in history, these Jews have converted to Christ and are now being persecuted for it.

If they go back to the law of Moses, if they go back just to the teaching of Moses, they'll be safe. They'll be welcomed back into their family. They'll have an easy life.

And the author of Hebrews is saying Jesus is greater than what you had in Moses. Jesus offers you more than Moses ever could have.

And he starts off this argument. We'll break it down into two passages, two points, excuse me. Number one is Jesus is greater than Moses. If you have an ESV, this is the heading above verse 1.

But I'll read verses 1 and 2 for us. Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who is faithful to him who appointed him, that is God, just as Moses was also faithful in all God's house.

And he starts off this section by saying, therefore, and what we looked at at the end of last week was Jesus' work as king and as priest. Jesus becoming man so that he could die in man's place and that we could receive salvation and glory that we don't deserve.

Therefore, we must consider Jesus. In light of this great salvation, we must consider Jesus. And notice what he calls them.

He calls them holy brothers who share in the heavenly calling. And if you remember last week in chapter 2, verse 11, the author of Hebrews says that Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers.

And how is it that we as sinners can become holy? Do we become holy by offering ourselves to God, by presenting our best to him? Do we become holy by just trying harder and trying not to sin like we used to?

The only way we can become holy is if someone else gives us their holiness. And so the author of Hebrews is calling his readers holy brothers, those who have received the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus and are now as holy as Jesus is in God's eyes.

We do not transform ourselves into holiness. God makes us holy. And he says, consider Jesus.

This is the first command of this book. We have read two chapters and the author of Hebrews has not told us a command yet. This is the first words we need to take action on.

Consider Jesus. Let's meditate on him. Think about him. Look to him. Believe in him. But we need to remember that this thinking of him, this meditating on him, has to be governed by what we read about him in the Bible.

There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that they believe in Jesus. There are a lot of people who will tell you that this is what Jesus wants for your life and what they will speak are lies.

We need to meditate on Jesus as he's presented in God's word. Consider Jesus from the Bible.

And the world wants us to consider literally anything else. The world wants you to put your attention on anything other than Christ. They want you to pursue money, getting rich, being an influencer.

They want you to focus on girls or guys because there's only two genders if you're confused. My nephew, he was three and at the doctor.

And the doctor said, Are you a little boy or a little girl? And he said, I'm Spider-Man. That was not in my notes, but okay. So, the world wants you to focus on anything other than Christ.

Instagram. Fortnite. Sports. School. And I'm not saying that you go to school tomorrow and like, Hey, I don't have to do homework anymore.

I need to think about Jesus, teacher. That would be nice, but you can't, unfortunately. But we must keep our eyes on Christ. We must remain focused on him and who he is.

And we get a description of him. This book has been rich with descriptions, but here's another one. The apostle and high priest of our confession. The word apostle literally means one who is sent.

So, sent one. So, the twelve apostles are the ones that Jesus sent out on his mission. And Jesus is an apostle of God. He is the one that God has sent.

He is the one the father has sent in his love to die in the place of his people. And he's now the high priest of our confession. He intercedes for us after he's offered the sacrifice.

And in verse two, it says that Jesus was faithful to God who appointed him. Meaning, Jesus accomplished everything the father sent him to do.

Jesus perfectly paid for the sins of his people, not losing any one of his sheep. He was faithful, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

This is a description that comes from Numbers chapter 12, where Moses is described as being faithful in the house of Israel. Faithful in the midst of God's people.

Faithful as one that God has commissioned to lead the Israelites in the wilderness and ultimately into the promised land. But in verses three through six, the comparison is now over and it's only contrast.

Jesus and Moses were both faithful, but he's about to show us why Jesus is so much greater even than Moses. Verse three, 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. If you're like me, you like to look at Christmas lights, but your neighborhood's a little ghetto, so you go to nicer neighborhoods.

And you go to these big houses and you pull up to a nice big house. Anyone ever think like, man, this house is so smart. Like, look at the design of this house.

How incredible. No. Who built this? The person who built this is the mind behind this. The person that built this is worthy of more honor even than this house is.

And so what the author of Hebrews is saying, Moses was faithful in God's house. Jesus built God's house. Moses was faithful as a leader of God's people, but Jesus is the one who created God's people as the builder.

And so Jesus is worthy of far more glory than any covenant leader, even as Moses was. Verse four, for every house is built by someone, obvious.

But the builder of all things is God. Hold on. I thought he said Jesus is the builder of the house. And now he says that God is the builder of all things.

Jesus is God. Jesus is the creator of his people. He's the builder of the Lord's house. Verse five, 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. If Moses was worthy of honor by being a servant in God's house, how much honor does Jesus deserve as being the builder of that house?

If Moses was worthy of honor and respect and fame for being a servant in God's house, how much more honor and glory does Jesus deserve by being the son in that house?

Sonhood is better than servanthood. Being a son is better than being a servant.

And why did Moses exist? Verse five, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

These Hebrew Christians were abandoning Christ. Some of them were. And all of these Christians were tempted to do this.

They were tempted to abandon Christ and go back to Moses. Why did Moses write? Why did Moses exist? Moses was pointing forward.

Moses was preparing the way for Christ to come. And so they're abandoning Christ, the one to whom Moses pointed, and returning back to Moses. And the author of Hebrews is saying, Moses existed to point towards this time when you can believe in Christ.

Do not fall away from Christ. Stick with him. This is why Moses wrote, this is the one about whom he was talking to us about. But, verse six, we are his house.

The house that Jesus is faithful over, the house that Jesus has built, is the house that he has built by shedding his blood. The house that he built is not a physical structure.

The house that he builds is the people of God. We know it as the church. Jesus was not only creating and saving a people out of Egypt, Jesus continues to build his church.

Jesus is building God's house as a son. And so as the son of the house, and as the builder of the house, he is worthy of far more glory than Moses ever was.

And we are brought together, brick by brick, as individuals believe the gospel and are saved. God is building his church.

Jesus is faithful over God's house as a son. And he says, we are his house. We've been built together, but there's one condition.

If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. You must endure to the end.

And the author of Hebrews is not saying that you have to endure to the end in order to earn your salvation. What he's saying is if you abandon Christ, there is no hope of salvation for you.

If you have known Christ, if you have heard of him and reject the gospel, you have no hope of life. You must stay faithful to the end.

And if you are a part of God's house, God will preserve you. But there are people who fall away. There are people who once claimed to walk with Christ who have now abandoned the faith.

They did not endure. And this endurance isn't easy. These Christians were facing persecution and affliction. They lost their families and their friends.

But Jesus is better than what they left behind. Jesus is better than what is in their past.

Jesus is greater than Moses. And Jesus is the prophet predicted by Moses. Jesus is greater than Moses. And do you know what Moses said about Jesus?

In Deuteronomy 18.15, Moses said, there's a prophet coming who is greater than I. Listen to him.

Listen to him. And as Hebrews 1 starts out, Jesus is the final word of God that we must listen to. And so point number two is listen to Jesus.

Listen to Jesus. Jesus is greater than Moses and so we must listen to him. And what we're about to start, verses 7 through 19, is a warning passage.

And it's actually the second warning passage. The first one was in chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. And Hebrews has five total warning passages in it. And a question we ask as we come to these warning passages is what are these warning passages for?

What are these warning passages doing? They seem threatening and kind of grisly. What function are they serving? Well again, these Christians were tempted to abandon Christianity.

And so these warning passages are chilling reminders of God's wrath, showing them the consequence of what will happen to them if they abandon Christ.

It's a warning intended to keep them on the narrow path. The author of Hebrews is showing them that Jesus is over everything and commanding that they do not fall away.

Jesus is over everything, so do not fall away from him. These warning passages are intended to keep them safe. I had the privilege of going to the Grand Canyon when I was on a passion trip actually, Lacey and I's senior year.

And you know, we're at the Grand Canyon. Anyone been to the Grand Canyon before? Just curious. Okay. It's a magnificent sight, a beautiful place in God's creation. And we're there kind of on the edge, you know, as close as you can get with the fence.

And I'm like looking down, and you know, this intrusive thought flashes through my head. It would kind of be fun to jump. Jump. These are the struggles I have. But, you know, you kind of just like, it would be fun to jump.

And yeah, jumping would be fun, landing not so much, but the jumping part would be exhilarating. And there are all kinds of signs that basically say, do not jump. They say it in more words, but do not jump.

If you jump, you will die. Now, by putting that sign up, do they want me to die? Maybe. Maybe. But no, probably not. They're putting the sign up, intending me to consider the consequences of my actions so that I'll make a wise choice.

And that's what the author of Hebrews is doing. He's showing them the consequences of abandoning Jesus in these warning passages and saying, if you do not endure with Christ, you will suffer under his wrath.

The author doesn't want that to be the case for us. He doesn't want that to be the case for this early Jewish Christian church, but he is showing them the consequences of abandoning Christ so they also will make a wise choice.

These warning passages want us to keep following Jesus by looking at the consequences of alternatives. And he starts this section with a story.

And it's a story of how Israel fell under God's wrath. This is not a good bedtime story. This is dark and grisly and sad.

And this is a quote from Psalm 95. I'll read it for you starting in verse 7. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years.

Therefore, I was provoked with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart. They have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Good night. So this is a quote from Psalm 95. And the author introduces it by saying, therefore, as the Holy Spirit says.

David wrote Psalm 95. The author of Hebrews is saying the Holy Spirit is the ultimate author. God is the one who speaks through Scripture. When Scripture speaks, God speaks.

Anytime you hear, read, study, memorize Scripture, God is speaking to you. And notice how he describes this speech. the Holy Spirit says.

Not said in the past. This is what the Holy Spirit continually says through this passage. Today, if you hear his voice, and his voice is found in Scripture, these are living words.

And for all of you, today, you have heard God's voice. you have heard the reading of God's word. You have heard God's voice. And you will either walk with him, or you will step away from him.

But you will not stand still. If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

This was ultimately the Israelites' problem. They had seen God's work in the wilderness. They had literally walked through the Red Sea. That is wild. They had seen God provide them manna and water over and over again, and yet they refused to trust him.

They refused to believe in him. They rebelled against him. them. They expected God to meet all of their needs. They expected God to meet all of their desires. They wanted a genie to fulfill every request they had.

And when they did not feel their needs were met, when they didn't feel that their desires were being fulfilled, they grumbled and complained against God.

And grumbling and complaining is a sign of unbelief. And I want you to just think again about everything they saw. They saw Egypt, the mightiest army in the world, crumble before them even though they were slaves.

They walked through the Red Sea while Pharaoh and his army were drowned in it. And yet they did not believe. unbelief is not because of a lack of evidence.

They had all the evidence they needed to trust God. And so if you're talking to a friend trying to share the gospel with them and they say, you know, if God would just show himself to me, if God would just do this, then I would believe.

It's not true. evidence would not save them. Evidence would not soften their heart. They need a miracle to take place. They need God to intervene in their lives.

They do not need more evidence. The Israelites had all of the evidence and still put God to the test. And look at what he says in verse 10.

They always go astray in their heart. This was not just a one-time mess up. This characterized them. This was how they lived their life. They constantly went astray from him. They constantly disobeyed and rebelled against him.

And because of that, God swears an oath in his anger that they shall not enter my rest. The rest available to them was entering the promised land, was coming to the land that was promised to Abraham and dwelling at peace there before God.

They did not enter the promised land because of unbelief. And now in verses 12-19 the author of Hebrews is applying this story to the life of his people, to the current situation that these Hebrews are in.

And he is saying just like God did with Israel, he will do with you if you abandon Christ. If you do not listen to God, you will die on the wrong side of this rest.

The Israelites died on the wrong side of the Jordan, you will die on the wrong side of heaven if you ignore the message coming through Jesus. So he says, verse 12, take care, brothers, or watch out.

No one is exempt from this. This lack of trust that can spring up in our hearts. Israel sinned because of unbelief. It says, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God.

We must check our hearts. We must watch out in order that we don't fall into this hard-hearted unbelief. And this falling away from the living God is not temporary.

It's not for a short amount of time. This is eternity in hell. Away from God's presence. So how do we combat these unbelieving hearts?

How do we prevent ourselves from becoming hard-hearted? Verse 13, exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Exhort one another every day. If you want to make sure that you endure to the end, if you want to make sure you stay faithful to Christ, be connected to the church.

Surround yourself with fellow believers who are striving to be faithful to Christ and encourage each other, challenge each other, confront each other when you see sin in your lives.

This is how we overcome a hard heart. This is how we prevent ourselves from falling away from the living God is being enmeshed with God's people every day.

everyone needs this encouragement. So don't think, guys, this is mostly at us, don't think like, I don't need encouragement, I don't need anyone's help, I can do this on my own.

The Bible says you can't. You need the fellowship of believers to help you along the journey to this rest that awaits Christ's people.

This means we need to know each other and be involved in each other's lives. relationships. We need to have deep relationships. And he says we need to exhort one another as long as it is called today.

And how did Psalm 95 begin in that quote? Today. And so the Holy Spirit is continuously speaking through God's living word and every time this promise is uttered it is called today.

God's word is living and active. It's never yesterday. It is always today so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Sin is not passive. Sin will deceive you. Sin will tempt you. Sin will tangle you up so that you cannot escape. Sin will completely lie to you.

Sin will blind you and you'll think you're safe when you're on the edge of destruction. And you think about Adam and Eve in the garden Satan tempting them tempting Eve and her thinking she's safe the whole time until she's sent out of God's presence and out of his rest.

We need encouragement. We need correction. It helps us see clearly and we must go to war with all of our sin. There are certain sins in our life that we're like yeah I know I need to get rid of that.

I know I need to get that out of my life but this one this one's not so bad like it's not it's not as bad as the others. You must be at war with your sin or you are liable to receiving this hardened heart that the Israelites fell because of.

In verse 14 for we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

And again this doesn't mean you can't know that you're saved until the very end of time but it does mean that if someone walks away from the faith if someone abandons Christ they were never a part of his people they were never a part of his house they did not truly belong to Christ and endurance is a true sign of salvation.

And for us God will complete this work. God is the one who preserves his people to the end. And you know there's a there are a lot of people that get saved in the summer it seems at church camps and church camps and people will say what a great thing God's doing look at all these people that got saved.

Yeah we'll see time will tell. I pray they're genuinely saved I pray they've repented of their sins and are following Christ but time will tell. Six months from now are they going to be faithful to the church?

Six months from now will they be concerned about the things of Christ? Time will reveal that to us. We must strive for this endurance to the end and God will preserve his people.

In verse 15 as it is said today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. And now in verses 16 through 18 the author of Hebrews is continuing to show us that Jesus is greater than Moses and he's looking at these people who died in the wilderness these people who suffered under God's wrath because the thinking for us is like yeah people who don't belong to church who have never heard of Christ like yes they will die apart from him but what about people who had heard the gospel just hadn't believed it?

What about people who were connected loosely to the church? They had family members who were Christians their dad was you know a Baptist preacher all this stuff what about them?

And the author of Hebrews says who was it that died in the wilderness? Look at this verse 16 who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

Wasn't it those who were following Moses? And with whom was God provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned? Whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient?

Jesus is greater than Moses because not everyone connected to Moses actually made it to the end.

These people were led out of slavery by Moses. Moses in a sense liberated them. God was doing the work but Moses was the leader. He's the one who led them out of their slavery but they did not enter rest.

But all of those that Jesus redeems from slavery will obtain that rest. All those whom Christ has saved will make it to heaven.

Not because we are righteous, not because we are strong enough to endure but because he is a faithful shepherd and he holds us in his hand and will carry us to the end. And we will remain faithful because of his work.

Jesus is greater than Moses. And here's a summary statement of this generation of Israelites, verse 19, so we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Because of unbelief. You think about all of the sins that Israel committed in the wilderness. They were unfaithful to God. They grumbled against Moses. They tested God.

They were angry with Moses and Aaron. They hated the leaders that God had given them. But there was one sin that kept them out of the promised land.

Unbelief. There was one sin that trumped all of them and it was a failure to trust God. And without faith, without belief, it is impossible to obey God and impossible to enter the promised land.

And we see here as elsewhere in the Bible, the Bible is constantly connecting faith and obedience. obedience. If you want to obey God, you have to believe what he says.

And if you have never obeyed him, that means you do not believe him. Faith and obedience go hand in hand. The Israelites did not believe God's promises and so they rebelled against him.

And there's a similar scenario before us today. There's a sin that will prevent you from entering heaven. There's a sin that will keep you from obtaining God's promises.

Unbelief. Unbelief. And look at chapter 4, verse 1 with me. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

this promised rest of God is still available today. Not just in the promised land, but in the new heavens and the new earth.

What works do you have to do to get there? You can't earn your way. What can you do to be acceptable in God's sight? Nothing. We are sinners. sinners. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

That whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. Do not fail to enter God's rest. Do not die short of heaven having failed to believe in Jesus.

God's final word turning away from Jesus is not just a poor choice. Turning away from Jesus is falling away from the living God. And God has sent his son to die in the place of sinners.

So through belief we can obtain all of God's promises. We can enter the rest that he has promised. But if you fail to believe in him, if you refuse to believe in him, and if you think what happened to the Israelites is bad, and that they failed to enter his earthly rest, how much worse will it be for you if you fail to enter his heavenly rest?

Do not neglect Christ. Do not reject him. Believe in him and tell of him to others as well.

Father, we praise you once again for allowing us to gather together to worship you through song and through study of your word. I pray we would be cut to the heart by these statements we read in Hebrews 3.

I pray that we would examine ourselves and watch out and take care lest we should succumb to an evil, unbelieving heart like the Israelites did.

And Father, help us as a youth ministry, as a church, to be involved in each other's lives and to exhort and encourage and confront each other so that we can make sure we are pursuing the rest that still stands available to sinners today through faith in your son Jesus Christ, who is greater than Moses, who is greater than angels, who is greater than our sin, who is greater than everything.

We pray we'd walk in a manner worthy of him. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.