Christ: Superior To Moses

[0:00] Those of you who are sticking around, please open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3. Up to this point in the book of Hebrews, we have seen that Jesus is superior, or is the superior revelation of God.

[0:21] The Bible, the Word of God, teaches us that God has chosen to reveal Himself to His creation, mankind. And that revelation has taken place many times and in many forms over the years.

[0:35] The ultimate revelation of God came in the form of Jesus, God Himself, taking on human flesh. He dwelt among men and took the penalty of sin on the cross.

[0:49] We've also seen that Jesus is superior to the angels. Angels were seen as the agents of God who delivered the law to His people. Thus, they were highly revered in the eyes of the Jews.

[1:03] And as cool as angels are, and they are really neat and really cool to study and learn about in Scripture, they are still only creatures. They are God's servants.

[1:15] They are not to be exalted in worship. And they are certainly not to be placed above Jesus, who was made only for a little while lower than the angels, according to Hebrews 2.7.

[1:27] And so we keep these things in mind and remember that this book, written to the Jewish audience, early church period, like I was having a conversation with an individual even just this morning, because we're getting into Hebrews 3.

[1:47] We're going to look at verses 1 through 6, and where the writer of Hebrews presents the case that Christ is superior to Moses. And the question came up was, is that really an issue? Maybe not to us here and now, but certainly in the early church to the early converts who were Jewish, who came to Christ, it was a big deal.

[2:12] It was a huge deal in Jewish culture how big Moses is. And I'll even kind of tip, because I don't think I actually have this written as an application in this sermon, is that Moses, as big of a deal as he was to the Jews, we also have people in our lives and in our society even today that we could almost revere to the same level.

[2:37] good people, pastors of major, big churches who are a major influence on evangelical Christianity, people we would say are good to listen to, solid Bible teachers.

[2:52] I think of guys like John MacArthur, folks listen to Adrian Rogers, one we were mentioning earlier, Charles Stanley. I mean, all these different preachers of the word that are highly revered in evangelical society, we need to remember that as good and as helpful as they can be, they also are not Jesus, and they're not at that level.

[3:19] And we need to remember to keep Jesus in his place. So I guess I'm kind of giving the application before we actually dig into the text, but that's something to kind of be thinking about as we look at Moses, and we look at Jesus.

[3:32] And that's what we're going to do, is we're going to look at, I wish I had time to put it on slides for you to have a visual. If you want to write it as a chart, maybe that would be helpful, like just write a T and put Moses on one side, Jesus on the other.

[3:45] That's how we're going to deal it. We're going to look at who is Moses and who is Jesus, and see from the text what we gain from that, and ultimately what it can mean for our lives today.

[3:58] So Hebrews 3 and verses 1 through 6. Therefore, 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.

[4:22] 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.

[4:38] 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.

[5:00] Father, thank you for your word. Please give guidance and direction in our understanding. Amen. So as I mentioned, we're dealing with two individuals, Moses and Jesus.

[5:13] So we're going to start off with who was Moses? What can we gain from just the text we're looking at? We can spend weeks and weeks going through the Old Testament, tracking the life of Moses and what he did and how God used him.

[5:29] And it would be a fun study. I think it would be interesting at times. But I want to stick specifically to this text and what we can gain from it.

[5:40] The first thing that we can gain about Moses, according to verse 2, is that he was faithful in all God's house.

[5:52] He was faithful in all God's house. So hearkening back to the account of Numbers 12, so if you want to put a finger here in Hebrews 3 and go back to Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam, though they worked with Moses at this point in Numbers 12, were a little irritated with him and spoke against Moses because of the wife that he had taken.

[6:21] Now we're not going to get into why they were speaking against him about the wife and so on. That's really not the issue in this text at this time for us now. But what is important is that God spoke to Miriam and Aaron on Moses' behalf.

[6:39] So I'd like to look at Numbers 12, verses 6 through 8, to see what God says. Numbers 12, verses 6 through 8.

[6:50] Numbers 12, verses 6 through 8. And he said, So God takes up the case as the defense lawyer for Moses against Miriam and Aaron.

[7:43] And he's saying, Look, when there's a prophet among you, I reveal myself to him through visions and dreams. I use riddles.

[7:53] I use things that are not easily comprehended. But Moses is not like that. He says, I speak to him mouth-to-mouth or face-to-face.

[8:05] They have a conversation, is basically what God is saying. He even says that he beholds the form of the Lord. So Moses has a very unique experience in that he has that face-to-face conversation with God.

[8:21] And can I say something? That is really, really cool. I mean, for Moses to have that experience to, and I think it would probably be frightening at the same time, right?

[8:33] You know, to stand before God, have face-to-face conversations, and God revealing to him his law, his expectations for his people, how he's going to judge his people when they are disobedient.

[8:46] And Moses, I'm telling you right now, if you don't get down there, they're going to be squashed. You better hurry up because I'm getting angry. And I don't know what it would be like in the presence of God as he's getting angry.

[8:57] That would be... I can't even... I shudder to think. But the fact is, Moses had a relationship with God that was unique and like none other.

[9:09] Moses is a pretty important guy that is worthy to be given granted or granted much respect by the Jews. And he was faithful.

[9:24] Turn back, flip back to the left to Exodus 33. Page 117 in my Bible. I don't know which one in yours. But Exodus 33, verses 7 through 11.

[9:41] Now Moses, Exodus 33, 7. Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.

[9:53] And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up and each would stand at his tent door and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent.

[10:10] When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent and the Lord would speak with Moses.

[10:23] And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend.

[10:39] When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. And so this is just a little more in-depth explanation as to what exactly was going on.

[10:54] So Moses would go out to the tent of meeting, people would rise up, they'd watch him, and then the pillar of cloud, which is representative of the presence of God, would descend on the tent of meeting and be at the entrance door.

[11:06] Moses and God would talk face to face and notice everyone else stayed at their own tent. They didn't have that privilege or opportunity and probably didn't want it because we see that on Mount Sinai, when God speaks, the people shudder and they're scared because of that experience.

[11:27] And so Moses is pretty unique in his relationship with God. Going back to Hebrews 3.

[11:39] So Moses was, he was a faithful. He was faithful in all of God's house and had a unique relationship with God because of that. Hebrews 3.3 tells us that Moses was worthy of glory.

[11:53] Moses was worthy of glory. Now it doesn't say directly that Moses receives glory, but it does say Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

[12:04] So my deductive reasoning says if he is deserving of more glory than Moses, that must mean Moses has received some glory somehow.

[12:15] That word translated glory could also be translated honor. And so if you were to put the word honor in there, it might make a little more sense rather than glory. So if you're like me, you think of glory, you think of God alone receiving, of having glory.

[12:31] But Moses, you know, so if we put honor in there, it would make sense to say that Jesus has been counted worthy of more honor than Moses. Moses is worthy of honor. He was a leader of the nation of Israel.

[12:44] He is a very important person in their history. And consider the circumstances in Moses' life that led to his leadership position in Israel, or that was part of it.

[12:56] First, in Exodus 2, God spared his life at the time of his birth. There was an edict put out by Pharaoh. All male Hebrew children cut him off.

[13:09] Ladies, girls, go ahead and let him survive, but the males take him out. And Moses was spared at that time. In Exodus 3, God specially called Moses from a bush.

[13:23] The burning bush experience. Interesting read to see the details in that. But God spoke to Moses through this bush. In Exodus 4-12, God worked miracles through Moses.

[13:39] Exodus 14, God used Moses to lead the people across the Red Sea. And Exodus 18, God used Moses to judge the people.

[13:49] Exodus 20, God gives the law to the people through Moses. In Numbers 14 and following, God used Moses to lead the people in the wilderness. And finally, in Deuteronomy 34, just as the birth and his being preserved at birth was miraculous, in Deuteronomy 34, we see that God personally buried Moses and never revealed the details to where he was specifically buried.

[14:19] In fact, if you read in Deuteronomy 34, they'll say, we have no idea where the body is. But God took care of it. All these things, when all these things are considered about the life of Moses, and you take into account that he is credited as having penned a super majority of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, it becomes obvious why he was held in such high regard in the estimation of the Jewish people.

[14:47] He was a major player in their early history. So Moses was worthy of glory or honor.

[14:58] And the third point here about Moses in verse 5 of Hebrews 3, that he was faithful as a servant. And we already got that he was faithful in God's house.

[15:10] But now it's specifically mentioned that he's faithful as a servant. All the great stuff that Moses accomplished and how highly revered he is in Jewish culture.

[15:23] Verse 5 puts things back in perspective. He was still a servant of God. In Exodus 14, verse 31, Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians.

[15:37] So the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. Deuteronomy 34, 5, the chapter that talks about his burial and death.

[15:48] So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. He was known as the servant of the Lord. Joshua 1, 2, when the Lord is speaking to Joshua, Moses, my servant is dead.

[16:02] Now therefore arise, go over the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Psalm 105, verse 26, he sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen, and so on and so forth.

[16:17] Many, many passages in Scripture that refer to Moses as the servant of God. And while he enjoyed special privileges in his service to God, he was still only a servant.

[16:31] He was not an heir to the heavenly things as a son would be. Now that brings us to the other individual mentioned in Hebrews 3, Jesus.

[16:45] Who is Jesus? I'm going to stick with the text, because obviously we can just open up the Old and New Testament and spend years. So in verse 1 of chapter 3 of Hebrews, who is Jesus?

[16:59] Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession. He's the apostle and high priest of our confession. The word apostle, apostolos in Greek, literally means sent one.

[17:13] It is the title for ambassadors. So Moses, in a sense, was God's apostle in that he brought the law and covenant to his people. But while Moses was an apostle of God, he was not and could not be a high priest to God.

[17:28] So Jesus is both apostle and high priest. And we talked about the high priest, Jesus, last week. He's the apostle of a better covenant.

[17:42] He brought a new covenant to God's people, which was made effective through his own sacrifice on the cross. And he is, as high priest, the mediator between God and men of that covenant.

[17:57] And we're going to look more at Jesus the high priest in chapters 4 and 5 of Hebrews. I'm not going to even expound on that right now. But the writer of Hebrews, he's not merely making a simple point about who Jesus is either.

[18:13] Yes, he's the apostle of a new covenant. He brought something new to his people, a better covenant. And yes, he's the high priest. But if you want, if you look down at Hebrews 3.1, he says, therefore, holy brothers, you who share in heavenly calling, consider Jesus.

[18:35] The word consider carries the meaning to contemplate or give careful consideration or understand completely. I'm glad they didn't translate it that way.

[18:48] Understand completely Jesus. Talk about tasks that are impossible. So consider, contemplate, give careful consideration, understand Jesus.

[19:02] Why? Because he is the apostle and high priest of our confession. When life gets rough and problems seem to have no solution and everything goes bad and disappointment and depression become normal and temptation seem impossible to resist, put your gaze on Jesus and keep it there intently until he begins to unfold before your very eyes in all his glorious power.

[19:28] You get to see who Jesus is, the apostle of our confession. He is the high priest of our confession. He is God in the flesh. Spurgeon says, if you think, if you think little of your leader, you will live but poor lives.

[19:45] Speaking of Jesus. If you think little of Jesus, you will live but poor lives. Consider him. Often think of him. Try to copy him. With such a leader, what manner of people ought we to be?

[19:58] And that is the question, the question Spurgeon asks as it relates to this. Consider Jesus. Look at the life he lived. What were the words he said? What are the things he did?

[20:10] And what did he tell us to do? And with considering his life of sacrifice and service and love, how should we also be living?

[20:20] Or how should we choose to live? Well, as Paul says in Corinthians, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. And Paul's pointing people to Jesus.

[20:32] We need to imitate Jesus. Consider Jesus because he is the apostle and high priest of our confession. Verse 2.

[20:43] Jesus was faithful to him who appointed him. I did everything in my power to hold back the last like four weeks of Wednesday Bible study in John.

[20:55] As we have gone through John and we have seen how Jesus has been sent by God and what that means and how that plays out in the Gospel of John.

[21:07] I just want to just pour it all in there and just say, all right, we're going to take a couple weeks and go through that. I encourage you, read through the Gospel of John and you see it over and over and over again. Jesus refers to the one who sent me.

[21:21] It's a very important, very important thing. So from the time he was a child, Jesus was always focused on going about the father's business. Think about in Luke 2, verse 49.

[21:33] So they had gone down to the temple. They were on their way back. Joseph and Mary realized, we're missing somebody. His name's Jesus. Has anybody seen him? And they went back, looking for him.

[21:45] They found him in the temple and he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? He was always going about the father's business.

[22:00] John chapter 4, verse 34. I knew I'd throw a few in there, by the way. Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. John 7, verse 18.

[22:14] The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

[22:25] So just a way that Jesus is referring to himself. He's saying, look, I'm seeking the glory of the one who sent me, and I'm not lying. John 17, verses 4 and 5.

[22:38] In the high priestly prayer, Jesus says, I glorified you. Jesus talking to the father. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now, father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

[22:57] Yeah, let's spend a few weeks on those verses alone, right? What is he talking about? What's he praying for? Well, the fact is, he's saying, I glorified you. You sent me to do a work, and I've done it.

[23:11] And over and over and over again in the Gospel of John, he talks about the one who sent him. If you believe the one who sent me, you would believe me. Jesus was a true apostle because he did not seek his own glory, but sought to give glory to the father.

[23:28] And he was faithful to the work that he was appointed to do. And just as Jesus was given a purpose by the father, which he was faithful to carry out, the Christian life, it's a sacred trust given to us by God to which we must be faithful.

[23:48] Think about that. Anybody in this room who refers to themselves as a Christian, a Christ follower, and claims they are born again and are in Christ, do you realize that the title of Christian is not just, oh, because you come and you sit in the pew on Sunday morning, you throw a few dollars in the offering plate, you sit and try to stay awake and listen to me for 30 to 45 minutes each Sunday.

[24:13] No, like, that in itself is not Christian duty. Okay? That in itself is not what it means to be a Christian. What it means to be a Christian literally means to be a little Christ in the world that we live in.

[24:31] It's to take what this book, I forgot what the 12th thing is, I'm sorry, if I was so good I'd remember. But it was something along the lines of this, is that this book gives us instructions on how we ought to live our life.

[24:46] And we follow the instructions so that when the command is given and the direction is given we know where to go and how to follow. That is what it is to be a Christian.

[24:58] And that's why it is a sacred trust given to us. Yes, we are saved. Yes, we are bound for heaven. But even more than that we are to take what we know and live it and share it and show it.

[25:16] And he's equipped us to carry out the work of ministry. He's given us people to teach us and build us up. By the way, that is why we gather together on Sunday morning. It's the building up of the saints for the work of service.

[25:30] Ephesians 4, 12, I think. That's why we gather. That's why we have teachers and preachers and that's why we have evangelists and that's why we have pastor teachers to help us out, to build us up and equip us to go and do the work of service.

[25:46] Not to listen and know, that's good, but know and do, that is better. And we must keep in mind that like Jesus, a true servant of God is one who does not seek out his own fame or fortune.

[26:00] Rather, he seeks to give all glory to God because he realizes that apart from God, he is and can accomplish nothing. Do you know that? John 15.

[26:12] Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. apart from him, we can do nothing. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 2 says, Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

[26:28] We have a stewardship from God. We have a responsibility from God. We have a message from God. Are we faithful with it? 2 Corinthians 5, 9 says, Whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

[26:47] Is it your aim to please God? Jesus showed that. He was faithful to the one who appointed him. Are we?

[27:00] Alright, Hebrews 3, 3. Next point, 3 or 4 about Jesus. Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses. That's the verse I used to say that Moses was worthy of glory or honor.

[27:14] And, well, that verse says that Jesus is worthy of more than Moses. Moses, as we've touched on, was considered worthy of the honor he had received by the Jews. However, Jesus was considered worthy of more than Moses.

[27:28] Why? Well, because while Moses was a servant in the house of God, Jesus, being God, is the builder of that very house. That's exactly the terminology that's used here.

[27:40] And that may be a little confusing. Why are we talking about Jesus, Moses, and houses? Like, Moses wasn't a carpenter. Jesus, I can get that, right? But, like, what is going on here?

[27:53] It's metaphoric. But it teaches the truth. It's a very simple truth. See, the builder of the house is the one who receives the greater honor for the work that he's done.

[28:05] not the one staying in the house who keeps it neat and tidy. Not the servant in the house. The builder.

[28:17] You know, like, you come in like, oh, what a beautiful home. Oh, this is really nice, nice construction. You know, and, like, I don't know what you'd look for in houses. I'm stupid to those things. I just like it to be a place to go and sit and relax.

[28:31] But you can, like, wow, how magnificent and awesome. Oh, who built this? Oh, so-and-so. Oh, man, they do a great work. Oh, yeah, they did this house and this house and this house. Oh, yeah, it looks so great.

[28:44] It's the builder that gets the recognition of the greater honor, not the servant. Thus, why Jesus, as God, is the one who receives the greater honor because he is the builder of the house.

[28:56] also, you know, consider the position Jesus has in relation to the house, the body. Ephesians 5, Jesus is the head, we are the body, we function through him.

[29:10] John 15, as I mentioned, Jesus is the vine, we are the branches, we live and grow through him. Ephesians 2 and 1 Peter 2, Jesus is the cornerstone and we are the living stones of the house of God.

[29:21] John 10, Jesus is the good shepherd and we are the sheep. Because of this, Christ is worthy of more glory and honor than Moses. Finally, Hebrews 3, 6, fourth point about Jesus, is faithful, Jesus is faithful over God's house as a son.

[29:45] See, Moses' faithfulness had an important and special reason. It was to be a testimony of the things which were to be spoken of later. That's Hebrews 3, 5. Moses was, his life was a testimony of things to come.

[30:00] It was a shadow. Moses was a shadow of the perfect substance that was to come. And if you reject the substance, the shadow's worthless. On the other hand, if a person truly accepted the shadow, he would also accept the substance when it became known.

[30:17] So that's why Jesus says, in John 5, 46, if you believed Moses, you would believe me for he wrote of me. The people were quick to receive and believe the shadow which is Moses, but when the substance of that came, of that shadow came, that is Jesus, they weren't as readily to accept it.

[30:37] He's saying, look, if you believe Moses, you're going to believe me. She wrote of me. Moses, he was a faithful servant. There are 22 references to Moses' faithfulness to God in Exodus 35 to 40 alone.

[30:49] In Exodus 40, eight times refers to Moses' obedience in everything God commanded him. He's a faithful guy. But still, servants come and go, but sons are sons for life.

[31:05] In John 8, 35, Jesus said, the slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever. Because of Christ's position as son and his faithfulness over God's house, we have a faithful savior and high priest who remains over us as a deliverer and intercessor on our behalf.

[31:30] And as such, is the one who deserves preeminence over all things and over all people in our lives. So I want to share with you this conclusion.

[31:46] In the 1924 Olympics, Eric Little of Scotland refused to run in Olympic trials when the trial came on Sunday. This committed Christian, the favorite in the race, thus sacrificed his opportunity to win a medal.

[32:02] He did participate in other events when trials were not on Sunday and eventually won the gold medal. Returning home to Britain, he found himself a national hero, admired for winning the medal and for maintaining his convictions.

[32:14] Less than a year later, Little went to China as a missionary. He taught science at a college in Tintin for some years, then he committed himself to the more demanding task of rural evangelism, traveling many miles in rugged conditions on foot or by bicycle.

[32:31] When the Japanese invaded China during World War II, they captured Little and sent him to a prison camp in August 1943. One of 1,800 prisoners packed into a tiny facility, he met the physical and spiritual needs of the camp.

[32:45] He organized athletic meets, taught hymns, and led Bible studies. On February 21, 1945, just a month before liberation, Little died of a brain tumor.

[32:58] You can see that Little consistently organized his life around his commitment to serve Christ. He could have remained in Britain and enjoyed acclaim as a national hero.

[33:11] He could have enjoyed the relatively peaceful task of teaching in a Chinese college. He could have left China before Japan invaded. Each time, he followed the priority he had set as a young man.

[33:22] He chose to follow the will of God. And when you do as Hebrews 3.1 tells you to do, consider Jesus.

[33:33] You see the sacrifice that Jesus made on behalf of others over and over and over again, ultimately culminating on a cross where he died and gave his life for the forgiveness of our sin and transgression.

[33:49] So let us consider Jesus as we seek to live our lives in the view of his superiority in all things, especially as he's superior to Moses and other heroes of our faith.

[34:00] Let's pray. Gracious Father, I thank you for this time in your word. I thank you for making this text understandable. I thank you, Lord, for heroes of the faith that stand out to us.

[34:16] Moses and Elijah, David, Gideon, Lord, folks that we see and marvel at and are impressed by, maybe even preachers of our day.

[34:34] We thank you for guys like Pastor MacArthur and Adrian Rogers. Lord, we thank you for folks who are faithful to your word. But more importantly and above all them, we thank you for Jesus who is the apostle and high priest of our confession.

[34:52] and we thank you, Lord, for all you've done, the example you set for us. And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to live in our lives in such a way that we would honor you and that we'd put others before ourselves.

[35:10] We'd live sacrificially showing your love and grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.