So his sermon passage for today is Hebrews chapter 3, verses 1 through 6.
! Hebrews 3, 1 through 6.
I'll read this aloud.
Please follow along, and then I encourage you to keep God's word open in front of you
as you can follow and hear what Pastor Brett preaches to us.
I'll read this trusting it's God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient, powerful word for you and me, his church.
Hebrews 3, 1 through 6.
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and the high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
who was faithful to him, who appointed him as Moses was also faithful in all his house.
For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.
For every house is built by someone, and he who built all things is God.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward.
But Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast, the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated.
Oh God, we thank you for how you have stooped down so low to make a covenant with your creatures, with men and women lost in our sin,
but in Jesus Christ brought into your house.
We thank you that your house, Lord, is the place where we get to meet with you, to commune with you,
and for how our Lord Jesus Christ lives for this ministry.
Lord, we pray that today, by the preaching of your word through your servant,
that you'll help us to receive your great love, to see how great your love is for the church.
That we can receive this by faith, Lord.
We pray that even as Pastor Brett preaches Christ to us, that you'll strengthen our faith,
that you'll grow our faith in Christ, Lord, where we're weak.
That you'll help us to behold our Lord Jesus.
And as we do, you'll settle our lives into the order that's pleasing to you.
We ask all of this for your glory, for our good, and for Christ's sake we pray.
Amen.
One of the great themes of the book of Hebrews is to hold fast.
To hold fast to Christ.
To remain in Him.
And here in our passage, we're called to remain in Christ by considering Him.
To consider Jesus.
To consider all that He is and all that He has done for the church.
So that we would hold fast to Christ.
And in fact, the letter to Hebrews is a sermon.
In chapter 13, 22, it's called a word of exhortation.
And it's a brief word.
If you read through the book of Hebrews, it would be about 45 minutes.
A brief sermon to the people of God.
So that they would hold fast to Christ.
The church in the first century was tempted to forsake Christ.
To turn away from Him and the truths of the gospel.
And to go back to Judaism.
They wanted the tangible.
They wanted a tangible priesthood.
A tangible temple.
With a physical sacrifice before their eyes.
So the author of Hebrews is exhorting them to hold fast to Christ.
To see that He is the fulfillment of all of those promises and prophecies.
So that they would look to Him and Him alone.
Therefore, in chapter 1, we are to consider how Jesus is superior to the old covenant prophets.
Even from the beginning of the exhortation.
Jesus is the final and fullest revelation of God given to the church.
He's greater than the prophets.
He is superior to the angels.
Because He's not a mere messenger.
He's the eternal Son of God who took on flesh.
He is the creator of all things who rules the world.
The unchangeable God who came down to us.
He is superior as the Son as you go into chapter 2.
Because He rules over all His enemies.
He took on our flesh so that He might sit on His throne.
And all things are being put under His feet.
He's ruling.
And He's ruling for the sake of His church.
His people.
We are called to consider Jesus in His incarnation in chapter 2.
As He is the mediator and Savior.
He became one of us.
Took on our flesh.
Flesh and blood.
In order to redeem us.
To redeem His church.
And to gather them as one through Him.
We're to consider Jesus, therefore, in His person, His work, in offices.
So that we would hold fast to Christ.
So my hope this morning, brothers and sisters, as we consider this text.
Is that the Lord would preserve you as a church.
As He has called you and gathered you out of darkness into one church, one people.
That you would see that Christ is at work on your behalf.
For your good as His church, His house.
Which we are if we hold fast to Christ.
But how often do we lose sight of the glory of Jesus?
How often do we think of Him?
Or how little do we think of Him?
The world often lures us away.
Or we get so preoccupied with this age.
And our minds are flooded with the consideration of so many temporary things.
That we think little of Jesus.
That we consider Him little.
We are often so much affected by this age.
That we think little of unseen and eternal realities.
And so Hebrews is calling us to consider Christ.
To not get so bogged down with this age and this world.
You think of those Hebrews.
They wanted something that they could hold on to in this age.
And He's saying your glory is found in the age to come where Christ is.
Consider Him.
Consider who Christ is.
We're called to consider Christ so that we would hold fast to Him.
To love Him and adore Him for who He is.
As the Savior of the church.
Charles Spurgeon, the great Reformed Baptist pastor in London.
In 1855 he preaches his first sermon at the age of 20.
And he spoke of the necessity of considering Jesus Christ from all Scripture.
Spurgeon said,
I take my text and I make my confession at once.
I have nothing to tell you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He is the all glorious person who is the content of our confession.
Christ is the great theme of the whole of Scripture.
He is the highest intellectualism.
He is the grandest philosophy to which my mind can attain.
He's the pinnacle that rises loftier than my highest aspirations.
And deeper this great truth of God I could ever fathom.
That is what we're to consider.
From all of Scripture we are to consider Christ as the content of our confession.
And to hold fast to our confession of faith without wavering.
Jesus is the loftiest intellectualism.
The greatest philosophy.
It's all found in Christ as the full revelation of God to us.
So we are to consider Christ and how He is superior.
Superior as the one who came down to us to reveal God to us.
To redeem us as His house.
And to keep us as His people.
And so in our text this morning we are to consider how Christ is superior to Moses.
As He is the faithful Son over the house of God.
And it's Christ's faithfulness that is the very ground of our salvation.
It's Christ's faithfulness that's the ground of the church by which we're being built upon as His house.
And so Christ is the faithful Son who is building His people even now.
Through the preaching of the Word of God.
And so again my hope is that by beholding the glory of Christ, by considering Him, the Lord might not only keep us.
Keep you.
But that He would give you a greater love for Christ.
A greater trust in all.
In Him.
In Him alone.
In all of His sufficiency for His people.
And so we're going to consider this.
This is our main point this morning.
Because Jesus is greater than Moses and the old covenant.
As the Son who accomplished our redemption in order to build the house.
We must hold fast to Christ.
And to submit to Him in all things.
Because He's greater.
Because He accomplished redemption in His building, His church.
We must trust Him and obey Him in all things.
We'll consider this under three points.
First, we are to consider the nature and offices of Christ.
We are to consider who He is.
And what He's been tasked to do.
And so the author of Hebrews exhorts us here to consider Jesus.
In chapter 2, He already exhorted the church to pay closer attention to what we have heard.
He already told them to pay close attention to the gospel.
Lest you not enter by unbelief as those Israelites did in the wilderness.
He wants us to pay close attention to the gospel.
When we tend to consider something, it's often just a passing thought.
That's how we use the language at times.
Well, I considered it.
And even now, you might be considering what you're going to have for lunch.
Right?
You consider what you're going to do in the afternoon.
You consider something.
It comes into your mind and it goes away.
This is more than just a passing thought.
The word for consider is to diligently apply your mind to it.
To give serious, prolonged, and careful attention to Jesus.
He's the object of our consideration.
To apply all of our mind to the highest intellectualism of Jesus Christ.
To see that He is the one who would fill our hearts and minds with all that we need.
And so the author of Hebrews is, he does this throughout the whole book.
He's telling us to consider Christ.
To see Him.
To look upon Him.
In chapter 2, he says, although we don't see all things in subjection to Jesus.
He says, you look around.
You see all this chaos going around the world.
All the enemies are not under His feet as of yet.
The author of Hebrews says, but you do see Jesus.
You see Christ high and lifted up, reigning and ruling now.
Well, how do we see Him?
How do we consider Him?
It's by faith.
By faith we behold Him in His word that He is reigning and ruling over His church.
So he says in chapter 12, in verse 2, to look upon Jesus.
And so faith is a type of sight.
It's the beholding of the soul through a knowledge, a sense, and trust in Jesus.
It's a beholding of the soul of the truths of Jesus Christ.
We are called to behold Him.
To consider Him by faith.
Jesus says in John 6, verse 40, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life.
That's a promise.
If you look upon Jesus, you'll have life in His name.
How do you look upon Him?
How do you consider Him?
By faith.
By faith we see Jesus.
It's what John the Baptist said.
He said, Behold the Lamb, look upon Him.
Many people saw Jesus.
They looked upon Him, which is the eyes of sight.
But they didn't behold His glory.
They weren't transformed by it.
They didn't see Him for who He was.
They didn't have the eyes of faith.
So Hebrews says to consider Jesus by looking upon Him by faith.
Exercising your faith in Jesus.
And this is why He calls us holy brethren.
The church are those who are made up of those who are brothers of Christ.
We have been sanctified.
We're holy.
We have a holy and heavenly calling because we are united to Christ by faith.
What a wonderful identity that He calls the church here.
He calls you His brother.
In fact, in chapter 2 He says He's not ashamed to call us His brother.
He was not ashamed to take on our flesh to come to save the children of Abraham.
He wasn't ashamed to call you His brother.
He actually took on our flesh so that we might be united to Him.
And so as we consider Jesus, we consider Him as our brother.
That is, as the eternal Son of God who became man in order to save us.
We must consider that He is perfect God and perfect man who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven.
And that we are by faith united to Christ.
He identified with us in our weak humanity in order to redeem our humanity.
We must consider Jesus.
He came to take away our sins.
That is, in His humanity.
One born of Mary, born of the Virgin.
In order to save sinners.
But more than that, He's also given us a heavenly calling.
He is the one who came down from heaven.
And that He pours out the Spirit from heaven so that we might be born from above.
As Jesus Himself had a heavenly calling, He has given us that same calling.
Hebrews will go on to call Jesus the forerunner of our faith.
He is the one who has actually entered into heaven already as our brother in heaven.
And so as He has entered into the Holy of Holies for us, as our great high priest,
we too are given this heavenly calling.
And so what is this heavenly calling?
It's the fact that, brothers and sisters, the church lives as pilgrims in this age.
We're just passing through.
Again, we get so bogged down with all that goes on with this age.
But we're made for the age to come.
We have a heavenly and holy calling with Jesus.
We're set on this new trajectory to live for Christ.
And so the church must not lose sight of this glorious and heavenly calling.
That is, we must fix our eyes upon Jesus.
We're to look at things that are above where Christ is seated.
That's what Hebrews is saying.
And continually, by faith, look upon Christ and see that you're set on this trajectory.
To heaven with Him.
That the church consists of those who've been born from above.
We are holy brethren who are made for another world.
For the new creation.
What He began here will He not complete in glory.
But we're also to consider the offices of Christ.
Look at what it speaks about who Jesus is.
Jesus is the apostle and high priest of our confession.
As our mediator, He took on our flesh that He might fulfill His office as mediator.
As prophet, priest, and king.
And here, as the apostle who's been sent from God.
Now we're used to the language of Christ's high priestly work.
We are alienated from God in our sin.
So how can we be restored?
We need a priest.
We need Jesus to offer the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
As we already read, as we confessed our sins.
He who knew no sin became sin for us.
So offer Himself for us.
He's the priest.
He's the priest who ever lives as a resurrected Lord in the presence of God to make intercession for you.
So our salvation is founded upon His once for all priestly sacrifice.
Giving us an eternal hope with God.
But this is the only place where Jesus is called an apostle.
We're familiar with the twelve apostles.
Those who are called by Christ and commissioned to go preach the gospel.
Paul as well is one who's untimely born.
He's called later as an apostle.
He says, I'm the least of the apostles.
So they were called by Christ and commissioned.
But what about Jesus?
Jesus was called by His Father from all eternity.
The Son of God who would take on our flesh.
And He was commissioned.
The Son of God willingly taking on that commission.
Willingly going from heaven to earth to come down to us.
He's an apostle sent out with a task.
This is the language of the eternal covenant of redemption.
Read chapter 8, paragraph 1 of our confession.
It says that the Father made a covenant with the Son to redeem sinners.
He was sent to us.
Think of all those places in the Gospels.
We read the Gospel of John and see how He's sent.
He's the sent one.
God so loved the world that He gave.
He gave His Son.
He sent Him.
He was sent to destroy the work of Satan.
He was sent from heaven to us.
As our great apostle.
And so why was He sent?
He was sent in order to fulfill the covenant that the Father gave Him.
He was sent to save all of the elect.
All of those the Father gave Him from all eternity.
He must gather in.
That's what He prays in John 17.
As He's the apostle sent out.
He must do the will of His Father.
So He says in Hebrews 10,
I've come to do your will, O God, to fulfill that task.
And so we must consider Jesus.
We must consider what He came to do for us as the priest and apostle in order to save sinners.
But holy brethren, consider Christ.
Consider Jesus.
Consider Him often.
Apply all of your mind and heart to the person and work of Jesus.
We get so anxious about all the things going on in this life.
We need to stop and just consider Him.
He's already gone before us into glory.
He's already given us the victory.
And where He is, we will be with Him also.
We must consider what He came to do.
To fulfill it all.
To fulfill our redemption.
And so as you go read the book of Hebrews,
Hebrews is going to expand on this idea that He's the high priest and apostle
who fulfilled the covenant for us.
We must consider Him that we would confess Him.
Is He not the content of our confession of faith?
Is He not what a heart loves?
Do you have a love for Christ?
The more that we consider Him in His word,
the more we will love Him and confess Him openly before the world.
We must believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.
He was raised from the dead.
We must confess Him, believe Him, trust in Him.
So that's the first thing He calls us to do.
Consider Jesus, His person and His offices.
But also consider Christ's faithfulness.
As you read this text, this is what we see.
We see a comparison between Moses and His faithfulness
and that of Jesus and His faithfulness.
That Christ is superior to Moses as the new covenant is superior to the old.
Because Jesus was not faithful as a servant alone,
but as a son.
As the son who's been sent to redeem and to build this house.
Think about Moses for a moment.
Moses was one of the greatest Old Testament prophets and priests.
He was a mediator of the old covenant
who served to represent the old covenant.
And so as these Hebrews were tempted to go back to the old covenant,
to the Levitical laws,
they're tempted to go back to Moses.
We have Moses.
Why do we need Jesus?
So this is the comparison
so that they would see how great Jesus is in the new covenant.
Moses was set apart in a special way in Numbers 12, 6.
We're told he was not like the other prophets
whom God spoke in dreams.
No, but God spoke with him mouth to mouth.
For he was faithful in all my house.
And he beholds the form of the Lord.
It was a special calling in Numbers chapter 12.
He had a distinct calling in the old covenant
in a unique relationship to God as the mediator.
And Numbers says he was faithful in the house of God.
He served the people of God as a mouthpiece of the old covenant.
But he did so as a servant.
How does a servant serve?
Well, he serves by his obligation to fulfill the law.
He serves as one who's under the master,
who's faithful in the house of God
because he's been put there as a servant of that house.
But consider Jesus.
Jesus at times is called the servant of the Lord.
He came to not just to be served, but to serve.
But here the contrast is the fact that he wasn't just a servant.
He's a son.
And as the son, he's the one who builds the house,
not just serves in the house.
In other words, he has more glory than Moses.
Moses was a servant in the house.
But Jesus is the one who actually builds the house
and reigns over that house.
You see the continuity there.
They both served God and there was one house.
I'll get into more in a moment what that fullness of that house is,
but really it's just the church.
It's the people of God.
They both served unto that same end,
and yet Jesus is the builder of the house
as all things are built by God.
And so which one is worthy of more honor?
Which one is greater, the architect or the building?
The creator or the creature?
Which is greater, the pyramids themselves or the one who built them?
Right?
The honor goes to the builder of the house
so that no one thinks the house then is superior to the one who designed it
and who rules over it.
Moses.
And that is Christ.
Now you might say,
well, how could he tell the Hebrews that Moses was faithful?
Moses didn't even get to enter into the promised land.
He didn't enter into Canaan
because he wasn't completely faithful.
And that's the point is,
as much as he was faithful to the covenant,
he could not actually build the house.
He was a sinner just like us, and he failed.
But consider the son.
Consider Jesus' faithfulness.
Moses was faithful only as a servant
because he testified to Jesus.
That's what Hebrews says.
Moses comes as one who is a witness of Christ.
In fact, in Deuteronomy 18.15,
Moses says that there is a prophet like him that is going to come.
You must listen to him.
Who are you going to listen to, Moses?
Or the one that Moses testified to?
Do you listen to Christ?
Or the Pharisees in John 5 and verse 45,
they thought they were obedient to Moses.
We don't need to listen to Jesus.
We have Moses.
Jesus says,
Do not think I will accuse you to the Father.
There is one who accuses you,
Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me.
For he wrote about me.
And so what was Moses' ministry in the house of God?
What was the role of the law that Moses gave in the house of God?
All of it was to testify of Christ.
Paul says in Romans 10.4 that Christ is the end of the law for all who believe.
And so the law of God in Moses' ministry was meant to drive us to Christ.
It's just a tutor.
It's a teacher leading us to Jesus.
That's how Moses served in the house of God.
God gave the law as a tutor to lead us to Christ.
To see all of his faithfulness.
And so the Son of God came to fulfill the task the Father gave him.
He was faithful over the house.
Where Moses failed, Jesus fulfilled.
But even more so, think of other sons in the Old Testament.
Think of Adam in the garden who was called to obey the covenant.
He's called God's son.
But what did he do?
He failed.
He wasn't faithful in the house.
You think of Israel as they're brought into the land of Canaan.
In Exodus 4, they're referred to as a son of God.
They too were faithless.
They failed to build the house.
But brothers and sisters, holy brethren, consider Jesus.
He is perfectly faithful.
All that the Father gave him to do, he fulfills.
He was faithful in the house of God.
In fact, he could pray in John 17.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
He is the faithful son who would build the house of God.
In fact, in 2 Samuel 7, David wanted to be that faithful son.
David asked the Lord and says, I want to build you a house, a temple.
What did the Lord tell David?
It's not you who are going to build the house.
I will build the house for you.
I'm the one who's going to build it.
And how will he do that?
By sending his son.
By Jesus Christ taking on our flesh to be the faithful son who would actually build the house of God.
He would gather his people from the ends of the earth.
And so we must see that Jesus is the faithful son.
In other words, brethren, our salvation is founded not upon our own faithfulness,
but upon the faithfulness of Christ.
He's the one who obeyed the covenant on our behalf,
that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
That his righteousness would be imputed to us.
Through one man's disobedience to Adam,
the many were made unrighteous, condemned.
But through the one man's righteousness,
through his obedience,
he could justify many.
And so our salvation is founded not upon how faithful we are in the house.
We all fail.
It's founded upon Jesus.
Consider him and what he did for us.
Consider his active obedience that he obeyed the law on our behalf.
That is what will give us hope.
In fact, it was Gretchen Mation on his deathbed.
He writes a letter to a friend.
He was president of Westminster Theological Seminary.
He writes to a friend as he's dying.
He says,
I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ.
Christ's faithfulness to the law.
He said,
There's no hope without it.
What will give you comfort in life and in death?
That we belong to Jesus.
That we've been united to him as holy brethren,
and he fulfilled the covenant for us.
It's Christ's faithfulness that is the foundation, then,
of the church, of our salvation.
So Hebrews says,
Consider him and all that he is and all that he has done.
And then finally for us this morning,
he tells us to consider Christ's house.
Consider the offices of Christ.
Consider his faithfulness in the house of God.
But also consider the house.
He says,
What is this house?
Well, in the Old Testament,
the word for house was used in a few different ways.
One, it's the temple and tabernacle of God.
You can see that even in the language in Psalm 27.
Or 2 Samuel 7.
God promised David he would build the house.
He would build him a temple.
But that language of temple and tabernacle
actually expands in the Old Testament
to include all of God's people.
So not only was he going to build a temple for David,
he was going to build a dynasty for David.
And one of his sons was going to sit on his throne,
and he was going to gather a people
through the son of David.
In other words,
the language of a house speaks of God's presence there.
It's where God dwells.
As he dwelled in the tabernacle,
dwelled in the temple,
he dwells with the people of God.
That is why they were his house.
But think what Hebrews is saying now.
He's saying the church is the house of God.
That's what Paul says in the letter of Timothy,
in 1 Timothy,
that we will learn how to behave in the household of God.
We are his house,
his church where God dwells.
And so the temple and the tabernacle
and the Israel of old
were only types pointing us
to the fulfillment of that same house.
One people of God throughout history
united through faith in Christ.
And so the language of house is not just temple.
In fact, it's the church.
It's the fulfillment of what God promised to Adam
in the garden,
that God, Adam, was to extend that house
to the ends of the earth.
What Adam failed to do,
Jesus Christ is fulfilling.
So what we need to see
in that in the Old and New Testaments,
there is only ever one true spiritual people of God.
Moses served in the house,
and so did Jesus over the house.
There's one true spiritual people of God,
one plan of God,
one salvation of God
in the Old and New Testaments.
Moses was looking forward to it,
and Christ has fulfilled it.
And so what was promised of old
is fulfilled in Christ
as we are gathered from the ends of the earth
as the house of God.
That's why Peter can refer to the church
as a holy nation
or a true temple.
That's what Paul says in Ephesians 2.21.
He says,
The church is the house of God,
which we are told grows
into a holy temple in the Lord.
In him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
And so, again, brothers and sisters,
what makes you a church?
It's because God dwells there.
In Revelation,
it's because Christ walks amongst his lampstands.
He's there.
It's because he gathers you
as his holy people,
visible saints,
to be in the very presence of God.
You've been brought into his house
to enjoy communion with God forever.
The church is a temple,
not just individually,
but corporately,
as Christ dwells with us.
This is why the particular Baptist,
Benjamin Keech,
could say
that the beauty and glory
of which each congregation does consist
in there being all converted persons,
lively stones,
being by the Holy Spirit united to Jesus,
the precious cornerstone
and only foundation
of every Christian
as well as every particular congregation.
What's the beauty and glory of the church?
It consists of believers
who are united to Christ
upon the cornerstone.
It consists of those
who've been called out of darkness
into the kingdom of light.
And so every particular congregation
is founded upon Jesus Christ.
And we are being built up as lively stones
into this glorious house of God.
That's what God is doing amongst you.
He's calling you out of the world.
He's called you together as his people
to dwell in his midst,
to glorify him,
to see other sinners saved
as lively stones built up
as a glorious temple
fit for worship,
the worship of our glorious God.
But did you notice here in our text,
who is it that builds this house?
Who builds the church?
Who's the builder?
Here it says it's God.
And Hebrews' point is that
Jesus is the Son of God
who came to build the house.
He has more glory
because he's God, the builder.
And so we must come to see
that the church
is divinely instituted
and divinely built.
Yes, we're to labor.
We're to be faithful servants.
But the church is not built
by our ingenuity,
strength, wisdom, or merit.
It's built upon none of that.
It's built upon Jesus Christ.
That's what he promised to Peter,
did he not,
to Matthew 16,
that he would build the church.
He would build his house.
And the gates of hell
would not stand against her.
Herman Boving put it this way.
Says,
The church, therefore,
is not a human institution
or social structure.
It's a creation of God's grace.
A community formed
through the preaching of the gospel
by the working of the Holy Spirit
and called into fellowship
with the triune God.
The church is a creature of grace.
That we've been saved by grace
to be gathered as his people.
God called us out of the world
to be one body
and to join ourselves
to particular congregations.
So your church is founded
upon the Lord Jesus.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.11,
For no one can lay a foundation
other than that which was laid,
which is Jesus Christ.
So the church is not built up
nor founded upon the preacher,
upon men,
upon celebrities.
It's built up upon Christ
and his word faithfully proclaimed.
It's built by Jesus Christ.
The weight of the church
cannot be held upon
the shoulders of men.
It will crumble.
It cannot be found upon our wisdom.
That's but foolishness.
The church is not built
because of our faithfulness even,
but upon Christ.
He's the builder of the house.
Unless the Lord builds the house,
we labor in vain.
Holy brethren,
do you believe that here in Parker?
Do you believe that's what the Lord
is doing amongst you?
That he is building his church?
That he is the one who's promised
to do so to save his elect?
Do we believe that he will gather his people
from the ends of the earth
and to care for his people?
That's why he came
as the apostle and high priest
of our profession.
That's why he loved us
and gave himself for us,
his brides.
And he must receive all of his people.
That's why he was the faithful son,
so that he would build
and receive his church.
And so our faithfulness,
while it's not the ground of the church
or the ground of our salvation,
brothers and sisters,
it is the proper response
to God's grace.
If we truly are creatures of God's grace
who've been united to Christ,
then if Christ was faithful over the house,
how should we live?
We too ought to be faithful servants
in the house of God.
We are called out of the world
to be faithful in his house,
to serve Christ,
not from the outside looking in,
but to join ourselves
to particular congregations
to live faithful in that house of God.
That is what Christ is doing.
And so our faithfulness
is but a response of gratitude
to the glorious gospel of Christ.
Therefore, we must labor and strive,
knowing that our labor is not in vain,
for Christ is risen,
and he's at the right hand of God.
We are to labor for the souls of men,
to persuade others of the truth of the gospel,
knowing that we cannot save anyone,
but Christ can.
We are to labor for the edification
of the brethren in our common good.
We are to be found faithful in God's house.
One of the ways that we respond to the gospel
is to be faithful churchmen,
to love the church that Christ has united you to,
and God's providence he's brought you here.
Will we seek to be faithful in his house?
Will we respond to the faithfulness of Christ
by using our gifts and graces and resources
to strive unto the end
that Christ will be glorified in the household of God?
Let us be found faithful to Christ.
But finally, this also means, brothers and sisters,
that as Christ is over the house of God,
we must also submit to him in all things.
In other words, Christ is the one
who sets the rules, the agenda in his house.
If I go over to your house,
you might have a lot of different house rules.
You set the rules in your own house.
We have a lot of house rules
for all the games I play with our children.
We get to set the rules.
These are the Shah's rules in their house.
Who gets to set the agenda,
the rules in Christ's house?
Who gets to order and structure and design
and guide the house of God?
It's Christ.
He's the ruler of the house.
And so the church is to submit to Christ in all things.
We are to submit to Christ
knowing that it has been designed
and structured by Christ who made the rules.
Or Thomas Goodwin states,
as it is God's house,
he hath not left it unto man
to frame this building
to what proportion he pleases.
In fact, we read from Exodus 40
where Moses didn't get to do that either.
He got to design everything
that was designed in the old covenant
was according to the pattern above,
something already given to him from God.
So your pastor here,
your elders here,
the church here
has no right to pattern this church
however you feel.
It's not according to your own wisdom.
It's according to the pattern of Christ
in his word.
His order,
his discipline,
his structure.
And so our whole ecclesiology,
the doctrine of the church
and how we govern it,
our polity,
is founded upon Christ
and his word.
How are we to live together
as the people of God?
We must learn how to do so
according to the word of God.
John Cotton said,
no one has power
to erect any other church frame
than as his master builder
has left us,
a pattern thereof
in the gospel.
You think of many churches today
who just think we could structure
however we want
according to our own wisdom.
What we want to do
as Christians,
as a church,
is just submit to Christ,
to his authority
and his word
as he rules over
the household of God.
The elders
and the brethren together
are to strive
to use all of our gifts
for the good of this house.
Which means we need to be careful
how we plant,
how we build,
and how we water our churches.
that it's all done
according to the pattern
of the gospel
in the word of God.
In fact,
the greatest privilege
as Christians in the church,
the greatest authority
that we have in the church
is nothing other
than to obey Jesus Christ.
That's the power
and authority he's given
to your elders
and to the brethren.
It's nothing but obeying Jesus.
I need to submit to him.
And so as we're persuaded
according to the truth
of God's word,
as your elders
take that word
to persuade you of truth,
you submit to Jesus Christ
in his church.
So Christ is
not only the foundation
of the church,
whose faithfulness
is what builds us up,
he is the one
who rules over his house
and we must submit
to him.
And so may you here
in Parker,
may you as holy brethren
continue to consider Jesus.
Never lose sight of him,
of who he is,
the eternal son of God
who took on our flesh,
of what he came to do
as the prophet
and apostle
of our confession,
as the faithful son
whose righteousness
has been imputed to us,
who we've been clothed
with his righteousness
in the gospel.
Never lose sight
of his person
or his work.
But don't lose sight
of the accomplishment
of his work,
which was to build a house,
to build a glorious temple
unto God,
to call you together
as a particular church
and house
to worship
and glorify his name.
Continue to consider Christ.
Week in and week out
as he's preached
from this pulpit unto you,
receive him with great joy.
See him,
behold his glory by faith
that you would continue
to hold fast to Christ
with great hope.
And so it is Christ's faithfulness
that is the foundation,
not our own.
And so may we cling to Christ
and who he is in the gospel,
even as he builds this house
amongst you.
And so brothers and sisters,
I praise God for you.
Praise God for the work
that he's doing here.
You're a testimony of his grace
that this church
has been divinely instituted
and called.
You are a creature of his grace,
built by Christ for his glory.
Continue to submit to him.
Let us all learn
what that means
to submit to Christ
who rules over this house.
Amen.
Let's pray.
Our gracious God and Father,
we thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one you sent
to redeem sinners.
We thank you
for the eternal son
and his faithfulness
to that covenant
that he might be
the faithful son
who would build the house,
which indeed we are
if we hold fast to Christ.
Thank you for the work
that you're doing here, Lord,
and how you're building them up
for your glory.
Give them much grace, O God,
through the means of grace
to continue to build them
as lively stones,
a temple fit for you,
so that you would be glorified
in their midst.
And as they continue to learn
what it is to submit to Christ,
to obey him,
may you be honored
and glorified by them
as they structure and order
and govern their church
according to your word.
May Christ receive all the glory
as head and ruler of his house.
So we thank you, Lord,
that we could consider Christ this day.
May your spirit stir us up
for the rest of the Lord's Day,
for this week,
to continue to consider Christ
and all of his glory
and who he is
and what he came to do.
We thank you for Christ.
It's in his name we pray.
Amen.