Jesus greater than Moses

Thank you.

In the book, Thomas talks about when he left his hometown, moved away.

While he was gone, he wrote a book about his hometown with all the blemish. And guess what he did? He moved back to his hometown.

What do you think of the cows people thought about him? And so his response was, you can't go home again. Well, I don't know how that has to be the opposite for myself.

I grew up in a little river town on the Lasso River, the earth of Albany. And when I left for college in Florida, I never really came back, except for his relatives, until 30 years later, when I accepted the call to be a record of the church just 10 miles from where I was born.

Some of those kids I ran around with in high school were in my parish. They remembered Mr. Wildman. I couldn't go home again.

And I did. The lesson we're going to be looking at today is from Hebrews chapter 3. It talks about God's house.

And the question is, have we ever gone home again? Or are we stuck in a permanent rut? Let's look about that.

It says, we are God's house, or home, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and will be in our hope.

So, Hebrews chapter 3, and I'll page it down to the, uh, what was that? 11.88.

11.88. Thank you. I'm going to see if I can find one of those black diamonds. Oh, thank you. Okay. I'll go through that in a minute. What happens is that before we look at the content, we always want to look at the context.

What was the environment in which this was written? And we believe that this letter was written by Paul. Although, he doesn't claim in the writing that it's his.

But it sure sounds like it. And we believe it was written in the early 60s, before the 10th day rumbling down in Jerusalem.

Because he talks about sacrifices in the present. After the whole thing came tumbling down in the 60s, there were no animal sacrifices ever again.

So we believe it was written in the 60s, which is fairly early. We believe it was written to a bunch of Jewish Christians along the north of what's today called Turkey.

In those days, it was called Asia. And we believe that, we'll say Paul wrote it. So we believe Paul wrote it to further convince these Jewish Christians that Jesus is the way of salvation and not Moses.

Okay, so that's the context. So now we turn over there and look at the content. And so I'm going to find Hebrews. I'm looking. Look at the time.

There's a stream of the other. I'm getting closer. Jude, I went too far. Okay, Hebrews. And we're going to chapter 3.

And so it's a short passage. But it's actively being. So, Paul, talking to the Jewish Christians there. Therefore, holy brothers, you and what's all a Jewish Christian?

Yes. You were a strong Jew before he believed in Jesus. So he could identify with them as he's speaking to the holy brothers.

And that brothers, of course, in English means brothers and sisters. It's a common way of speaking them. You share in a heavenly calling.

Now he gets to the point. Consider Jesus. The apostle in high degrees of our confession. Have you ever heard of Jesus called an apostle?

How many apostles did Jesus have? Twelve. And he was about one. So, Paul's using that word. It is more generic.

It means one cent. So, we remember in our mind, God the Father sent God the Son to redeem the world through God the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is one cent. He is the apostle to us to bring us salvation. And high priests. Okay, now. We don't have any high priests. We have some priests who think they're going to be high.

Now, we don't have any high priests. But the Jewish people had high priests. The high priests, as you remember, could only go into the Holy of Holies in the temple.

How long? Once a year. To offer a company for the people. He was the mediator between the God and the people.

And so, Paul said, Jesus is the high priest. Which is curious, because Jesus was not of the tribe of high priests.

So, this is a breakthrough from very traditional religion. That believed you have to be in the right tribe to do the right job. And Jesus wasn't that.

But he was the high priest. Jesus, who was faithful to him, who pointed him out of the God of God. Now he brings in Moses. Just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

So, he's not saying, big up Moses and Judah. He's saying, he is to be respected. But, verse 3.

Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. As much more glory as the builder of a house. Who has more honor than the house itself.

Okay? And then he gets into the house. For every house is built by someone. But the builder of all things is God. Now, Paul says, Moses is faithful in all God's house as a what?

As a servant. To testify to the things that we need to be so related. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.

And we are his house if we need to hold that our confidence and our hope sleep in his hope. Okay, so, the bottom line is to the Jewish Christians.

Who saw Moses as the life giver, the savior, the law giver. And he was saying, it's because he was such a blessing.

But, worship, Jesus. Now, what in the world does that have to do without? How many Jewish Christians do we have in the room? Okay.

So, it must have something to do with us in another way. And how? That has to do with how we see Jesus and Moses.

You know, they do have some similarities, didn't they? They both had threats to their lives when they were infants, right? Remember? Moses sent in the bull rush of the little thing out there in the water.

So, that Pharaoh couldn't kill him. And she did. Father and mother take him off from another land. So, that pirate couldn't kill him.

That's the first similarity. Another similarity is, and I was a miracle. But, the second similarity is in various ways that Moe came out of Egypt, didn't they?

Moses came out when he was threatened with being killed for murdering an Egyptian. And then he brought the people out of Egypt.

It was American itself. And Jesus came out of Egypt. When his parents took him to Egypt, they didn't go there to migrate. It was a brother. They took him there until it was saved and bringing back.

I mean, prior to God. And so, he was brought out of Egypt, as Moses was. And the process of salvation could continue on. That's the second miracle.

Third miracle. They both brought their people out of slavery. Moses brought the Israel out of slavery to the Egyptians. Jesus brought us out of slavery to sin.

And another one was, and there's also. Another one was, they both brought covenant. The attorney here will tell you that a covenant is a solemn agreement.

A solemn agreement. Moses brought a solemn agreement. A covenant from God to the people. The covenant was, I'm your God.

You're my people. I'll take care of you. You obey me. Signed in the bottom line. But hopefully with a notary standing. Well, they didn't fulfill that whole covenant.

They didn't obey. So, Jesus brought the new solemn agreement. The new covenant. But the signature was in blood.

His blood. It was an eternal covenant. So, they both brought the covenant. And then, the last thing that they had in common is, they both brought a Passover lamb, didn't they?

So, when the angel of death was coming upon all the houses to do in the firstborn, Moses got the people to kill the lamb, put the blood on the door, right?

And the angel of death would see the blood on the door, right? And the angel of death would see the blood and pass over. That's why he called the Passover lamb. Jesus was the Passover lamb.

He was sacrificed for us on the cross. So, you can see how that all works. Respect Moses. Respect the religion that we've used.

Worship Jesus. Don't ever worship a religion. And that's where this is going. That's the theology behind it. So, what do we do with that?

So, we get to the point where we say, what does that mean? Well, what it means depends on how you view Jesus, doesn't it? You know, there are kind of things out there about who Jesus is.

One that's been popular for years now is that Jesus was a really great teacher. He had good stuff to teach us. But unfortunately, he died.

He got murdered for his good teaching. We're sorry about that. But that's the way it is. And if you dig far enough for his DNA, you'll find Jesus' DNA in the ground in Palestine.

That's a belief, too. Well, we don't believe that. That's what's called heroin. Now, there's another belief that's really growing in popularity called progressive Christianity.

It's called progressive Christianity. Now, they believe that we do not have original sin.

We don't believe in Satan. We are perfect as God has built us. The reason we think about Jesus is he gives us good teachers.

Not the behind. Yes, he does. But what he did was bring out the concept of love. Everybody likes love, right? Especially when it's spelled L-U-V.

Literally. Well, all right. Here we go with that. That's a difference. Now, the third, which is very, it's probably the truth, but it's a little harsh, is that God, a wrathful God, is hacked off at us for safety.

But he does want us in his kingdom. So he does a legal transaction with the devil. He gives his son as a substitute for us that we can live.

Now, that's not livable. It's not very romantic. It's not the whole truth. It's nothing but the truth.

But a lot of people believe that in some denominations. But what I want to say is that Anglicans, and I'm not being arrogant here, Anglicans have figured this out.

We figured it out a long time ago. And a lot of parachurch college groups have figured it out. They call it the four spiritual laws.

We call it the Bible. It's a four-step thing. God loves us. Has it planned for each person's life? One. Two.

We sin. Separate ourselves from God because we are kind of rebellious teenagers. Two. We are stuck in original sin. There's no way out.

We're lost. Three. God loves us. Doesn't want to keep us in that situation. He provides a way through.

Two. He becomes a man. Walks with us. Teaches us. Lives with us. Dies for us. Rises that we can rise. And we'll have salvation.

Three. And four. We receive him into our hearts as Lord and Savior. Jesus. That's the only plan of salvation.

And that's who we believe Jesus is. Fully God. Fully man. God is showing his love for us. And if you don't. I have this.

Can. I've got it set for 30 seconds. If I have a touch in 30 seconds. What happens? Go start. I've got to do my stupid password. So I just can't get it.

Alright. So I'm moving to the last point. We're going to be done with this sermon in about three more hours. So there's no concern. Alright. Let's talk about that house.

That we are a part of. Through Jesus. God in the corner. We need to do that by first talking about this house. This building.

Some of you remember when we bought this building. It was kind of a piece of junk. The ceiling was like that.

Kind of falling apart. There were offices here. Insurance offices. Downstairs. Kind of a run down the bank or call. And. We started working on it.

A lot of volunteer labor went into it. Some professional work. We do the heavy lifting. Pews suddenly showed up.

The floor. The floor was made beautiful. The downstairs. We worshipped downstairs for about eight or nine months.

We couldn't worship on here yet. But eventually. This became. A house for God. And it was actually.

Not so much. The house. To me. That was beautiful. It was the congregation. Through fifth. And fifth.

Continued. The march. To build this beautiful house. The church. Well that's the way it is. For us. As we. Do our house.

Our church. We are. The house of God. We are. The church. We're called. To labor. For his glory. As those who built.

This house. Labor. For his glory. One of the greatest things. We can do. Is honor. God. And that's what we're called to do. That's what the church has been doing.

For about 2,000 years. Building. For the glory of God. Sometimes the church has been stupid. Sometimes the church has been brilliant.

But the Holy Spirit has been using the church. Sometimes in spite of itself. To bring glory. To Jesus Christ. And that's where. You can go home again.

Hey. That's where I'm coming to the conclusion. I mentioned that you can go home again. In my mind. You're saying. I think he's getting finished here. Okay. So I know.

The way you come home again. Is you. Crawl up. Into the arms of Jesus.

Right now. Every morning. In your mind's eye. Crawl into his lap. Let him hug you.

And he's telling you. He does the rest. He does hug you. He does say.

Come home. Don't get caught up in intellectual controversies. Don't get caught up in sexual wars. Just.

Just. Just. Let him hug you. Now. I understand. The biblical truth. Don't get you wrong. Let Jesus. Just. Love you.

Let him. Packed up the house. Like this. Just. Packed up. Let him. Redecorate your room. Let him. Be involved. In your life.

You can. Go home again. Let us pray. God. I love you. That's my computer. And I.

Thank you. That. We are all. Called. To love you. To come home. To you. Today. To holy communion. And. Every way. As we. Walk with you. We ask.

For a blessing. On us. That we. May. Be. The. As I. This. And. The. The. The. The. The.