Hebrews 3:1-6, Consider Jesus

we're gonna continue our study in the book of Hebrews and we find ourselves in the third chapter of Hebrews and we're going to be looking at the first six verses Hebrews chapter three verses one through six the writer says therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high priest of our confession Christ Jesus who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all of his house for this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house for every house is built by someone but he who built all things as God and Moses indeed was faithful in all of 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 when my grandfather Geraci died my father asked me that all-important question which religion is right my Sicilian father having been born and spent the early part of his life and Sicily was exposed to Roman Catholicism his father and his father before him growing up in that Roman Catholic tradition and the writer of Hebrews is writing to Hebrew Jewish believers who are struggling under the pressures of persecution and there considering abandoning faith in Jesus Christ and worship we saying I have decided to follow Jesus and many of the Hebrew Christians had made the decision to follow Jesus but some were deciding turning back the pain and the persecution the rejection and the isolation was starting to get to them if you've grown up in a world where your family and your friends and your background is in a particular faith tradition if you've identified yourself with your family and your friends and they begin to cut you off there are people who decide not to follow Jesus because the pain or the pressure becomes too great or the passion becomes too pronounced and they they want what they want and they make excuses and they decide that maybe Jesus isn't for them and the writer of this book believes that Christianity is superior to Judaism because Christ is superior to Moses so why in the world would these people want to go back to Judaism why would they want to return to a place of empty religious ritual where in order to have a right relationship with God it isn't just simply trusting Jesus by grace alone through faith alone but it is in the sum and the substance of all of the things that we think we need in order to have a right relationship with God why in the world would they want to go back to Judaism when the offer of Christ is greater in every way when John wrote his gospel he said that the law came by Moses but grace and truth comes from Jesus Christ and that's what Jesus has to offer the writer in the book of Hebrews has already declared that Jesus is superior to the prophets chapter one verses one through three Jesus is superior to the Angels in chapter 1 verse four all the way to chapter 2 verse 18 and now the rider says not only is Jesus superior to the prophets and angels but he's also superior to Moses and in this chapter the writer will emphasize that Jesus is greater in his office in verses 1 & 2 in his ministry in verses 3 & 6 and that the all-important rest that his promised can only come through Jesus in verses 7 through 19 at the end of the chapter true Moses was God's servant but Jesus is God's Son Moses is called by God and Jesus is sent by God Moses sinned and Jesus is sinless and Moses ministered using types and shadows and symbols but Jesus becomes the sum and the substance the fulfillment of all of those things at the heart of Judaism is Moses as the giver of freedom from slavery Moses is the the great lawgiver the the laws that would govern Israel and Moses is the great nation builder and he is called the friend of God so you can imagine that in the eyes of the Jewish people Moses has been appointed by God faithful to God and no one is greater than Moses but the author invites us to consider Jesus and so in verse 1 it says therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high priest of our confession consider Christ Jesus and that expression consider means to observe with an attention to detail the Greek word is kata no AO there's a prefix and a suffix kata means down but in compounds it has this intensive or perfective force we might think of this as as put on your thinking cap the idea being use all of your mental faculties to carefully consider and to weigh the truth about Christ that's what he's asking you to do but before we do that look what the text itself says we look briefly at the description of the readers they're called holy therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling remember this book Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians and many of them were immature perhaps even a bit unstable like I said they were wavering in their loyalty to Christ they were thinking of returning to the law of Moses and Judaism the word therefore holy brethren that word therefore invites the reader to consider all that we've talked about in Chapter 1 and chapter 2 they are holy brethren in the first two chapters remember what we've already learned the writer has said Jesus is the fullness of the revelation of God Jesus is true deity Jesus is victorious humanity and because he's true deity and victorious humanity you should consider him and so when the readers are called holy brethren that means that they're set apart that means that God was calling them calling them away from a life of rebellion and disobedience calling them to a life of worship and service to the Lord they're called brethren and that means either they're they're members of the nation which is called is or they're members of God's family they're partakers of the heavenly calling that is they're invited to participate in the blessings of the Messianic Kingdom and the world that Jesus promises to establish in the future and so as he speaks to them he reminds them I need you to remember who you are you are men and women who have been called out of a dark world into light you've been called out of a world of rebellion and disobedience into faithful friendship and relationship with God you've been called to be his constant companion think about this for just a moment when he says consider brethren holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling certain people are called to live a heavenly life you probably know people in your family who think that their whole life is this world their whole life is this world their whole life is surrounded by the things that are going on politically or in the news or in this or in that their whole world is around eating and drinking about around partying and about satisfying themselves but when the Lord Jesus called you he invited you to live a different life a heavenly calling one which has its beginning here but its end in heaven certain people are called to live their life not simply here but simply with all of your resources focus on what's going to happen there and you've heard me say this over and over again each person that you come in contact with you are pushing them towards that heavenly calling or you're hindering them in heavenly calling but if that's you if that's you what the rider is doing is he's asking you to consider the faithfulness of Jesus and so here the rider is basically encouraging us to ask the text this question they're called holy brethren they're called partakers of a heavenly kingdom who are they are these believers or are these make believers are these people who have really experienced the fullness of a right relationship with God or have they fallen short of salvation are these Christians who are living a life disconnected from true victory are these people who are saved by faith in Christ but who are now being asked to be loyal to Jesus who saved them but they're contemplating being disloyal just like you you have a right relationship with the Lord or you don't have a right relationship with the Lord you'll be loyal or you won't be loyal but that's exactly what's happening here are these people saved by faith in Christ are they being asked to be loyal to Jesus because Jesus has been loyal to them he invites these readers to consider Jesus and the writer calls him an apostle and by the way this is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is called apostle the verb form means to be sent forth or to be sent and Jesus is the one who has been sent by God the Father the title was used to describe someone who was sent with authority that is a person who's been given the authority to make offers or to to provide explanation or to extend invitation on behalf of God and so when Jesus made the remarkable statement in John chapter 20 verse 21 Shalom peace to you as the father has sent me so I also send you the implication being that when God sent Jesus to the earth and he made the the offer and the invitations ed guess what God loves you and guess what he's willing to forgive you your sin and guess what if you will trust God's message and God's messenger if you will trust the sacrifice of Jesus guess what you can be saved now I want you to think about this the Lord entrusts the message of the gospel to Jesus and he is in fact the gospel and then Jesus entrusts the message to his disciples the implication again being that when you extend and offer in Jesus name concerning the gospel for sinners who want to turn from their sin or receive forgiveness and hope it's real this is why you can say to your mom your dad your brothers and your sisters your family and your friends you can say to them guess what if you'll trust Christ guess what he'll forgive your sin he'll come into your heart in your life and he'll transform you Jesus is called the Apostle the one who is sent but he's also called the high priest of our confession and remember a priest represents one party to another party in this instance Jesus represents us to God and so in a very real sense Jesus occupies both offices of Moses as prophet of Aaron as priest in Latin the word priestess Pontifex in the Latin language the root word is a bridge and so it came to mean a bridge builder and even in the Jewish culture the high priest was the one who offered sacrifices on behalf of the people in order to make them acceptable to God and so the priest served in the function of the bridge builder and that's exactly what Jesus is he's the one who builds the bridge he is himself the bridge between heaven and earth in the Old Testament when Jacob is running for his life away from his brother and he comes to Bethel and he is tired from his journey and he lays down on a pillow of rocks and he has a dream and he sees a ladder that's let down from heaven and he sees angels ascending and descending on that ladder it was a portal if you will and a ladder that extended from the earth to the heaven and it became a type and a picture of Jesus who gives us the ability to make it to heaven Jesus unites the offices of prophet and priest and by the way Jesus is not the sinner's high priest you see the sinner has to face Jesus is the judge until the sinner has received Jesus as the Savior Jesus must be the judge Jesus can't serve as priest and intercessor until the sinner first stops at Calvary's cross Jesus did all that he could for sinners on the cross Jesus died for sinners and sinners must come to Jesus as their substitute and their Savior in John chapter 17 verse 9 Jesus said I pray for them that's believers I pray not for the world but for them which you have given me for they are thine in order to come to Christ the sinner has to receive him as Savior and recognize the sacrifice that's been made Jesus prays for his own that they'll be sanctified and that they'll be fruitful he's the faithful Savior and we're called to be faithful to him in our service and in our walk and so the faithfulness of Christ served as one of the motives to be faithful to him and that's what the writers considering and asking you to do as the reader so when he's writing to the Hebrews who are contemplating not following Jesus but walking away from Jesus he's saying why would you do that he's been faithful to you maybe you know men and women in their marriage where one partner has been less than faithful to the other partner and you know how devastating that can be but the writer here says has Jesus ever been unfaithful to you has he ever left you with any implication that he is willing to or wanting to sever the relationship and so when the author uses that term therefore holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and high priest of our confession when the author uses the term confession homo legaia it means to - it means the same word and so here I think that the confession probably either means the daily testimony we make regarding our faith and confidence and love of Jesus it means at least one of two things or maybe even both things it's what you say about Jesus in your everyday life not just simply what you say about Jesus but how you live your life before a watching world or it can mean the doctrinal content of all that Christianity contains when it comes to the essentials of faith that means that you're a sinner in need of a savior and that Jesus Christ is that that Savior and so the idea is that the confession is your faith your confidence your love and whatever else it means it means that you with the way that you live and the way that you act you are identifying him in your life it's his identity his mission his sacrifice his resurrection and so the confession if it means the content of Christian doctrine it must also I'm gonna suggest to you mean what you say and what you do concerning Jesus and so he says consider him and then consider his faithfulness and verse 2 look what it says who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all of his house were invited to consider Christ's faithfulness that is that Jesus faithfully discharges all of the duties to which he was entrusted so what does Jesus done he comes from heaven to the earth he's entrusted with the task of living the perfect life that you could never live he's entrusted with the task of dying for your sin does he accomplish everything that God asks him to do on your behalf the answer is yes again what did God want him to do in John chapter 14 verse 31 it says but so that the world may know that I love the father I do exactly as the father commanded me and so when the writer of Hebrews says who was faithful to him who appointed him and by the way the text doesn't disparage Moses it says who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses also was faithful in all his house the point that the writer is making Jesus is faithful to the Jewish person reading this book they might ask the question well wasn't Moses faithful as well and the answer is yes he was faithful in all his house well what does that mean how was Moses faithful in all of his house does the reference to the house refer to the community of the Jews who comprised the offspring of Jacob so when it says Moses was faithful in all of his houses are they making reference to the collective community of Jewish people who are coming out of Egypt possibly what's another possible meaning it could refer to the sanctuary remember Moses is given instruction of how to build the tabernacle in the wilderness and and if that's the case in numbers chapter 12 verse 7 you'll remember that Moses is outside the tabernacle and Aaron and Miriam confront Moses before the tabernacle and the Lord rebukes them and afflicts them with leprosy and then reminds them that Moses has carefully and faithfully carried out all that God has told Moses to do concerning his house that is the tabernacle that is to build a place where God's presence could dwell and that he could receive instruction and revelation but by the way in that instruction and revelation the people were still left imperfect no one was ever saved by the law no one was ever justified by the law the law was powerless to save according to Hebrews chapter 9 verse 9 and later in chapter 10 verse 4 I suspect it means that Moses was faithful in the entire sphere to which Moses was entrusted with God's interests and then the writer says to consider Christ the Builder and Moses the resident so it says in verse 3 for this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house for this one that is Jesus Jesus is the founder of the household Jesus is the creator of all things Jesus is the maker and as the maker he has to be create he has to be greater than the things that's made and so the writer of Hebrews is saying Jesus is the creator and because Jesus is the creator and Moses is the creation that means because he's the maker of all things he has the honor in all things Moses serves in the house in what house in the congregation of those who identify themselves with the Lord but Jesus is the lord of the house again think about what's being said Moses is a great prophet according to Deuteronomy chapter 18 verse 15 in Acts chapter 3 verse 22 Moses is a prophet and Moses functions in part in the role of a priest but the Lord is the builder of the house and of Moses as a part of that house he says in verse 4 for every house is built by someone but he who built all things as God in the Bible Israel is God's earthly household in the Bible those who come into a right relationship with God in Christ are God's spiritual household I want you to think about the argument that the riders making number one Jesus is more worthy than Moses because he's the Builder of the house number two Jesus is greater because he's that is he built everything is God Jesus built all things Jesus is God this is yet another argument that is given in the in the book of Hebrews and so when you have family and friends who go I don't believe that Jesus is God when I was in Jerusalem I'm in a taxi and I'm speaking to a Jewish man and he goes you're a Christian and I go yeah he goes I'm a Jew I only believe in one God I said I'm a Christian and I only believe in one God no you believe that Jesus is God yeah that's exactly right how could he possibly be God I go Jesus this is one person with two natures he is completely human and he's completely God Jesus is a forgiver of sin only God can forgive sin and so Jesus is greater because Jesus is God's Son that's the third thing that he's going to argue in verse five so the writer of Hebrews is seeking to convince the reader that Moses is a servant but the work of Moses is a work of preparation that everything that Moses has was doing and continued to do was in preparation to receive the son and so he says consider Christ the Son in God's house and Moses the servant in that house and so in verse 5 it says and Moses indeed was faithful in all of his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken by afterward what things the things spoken by Jesus and Moses was indeed faithful in all of his house as a servant for a testimony what is a testimony it's the acknowledgement of the things that have been received of those things which would be spoken afterward here's what the writer is arguing in Moses and the law there are types and shad in Christ there's the true light shining in all of its strength imagine you have a relationship with someone and someone says well tell me about your husband tell me about your wife tell me about your children tell me about your grandchildren and you do what my wife does she pulls out her iPad and she starts showing you all of her grandchildren now if you were to ask my wife choose between a picture of your grandchildren and your grandchildren which do you suppose she's gonna choose she'll ditch the picture and go with the children that's what she's doing right at this very moment she's going I'm going out there I need a grandchild fix I'm gonna go be with my grandchildren now imagine a person said oh you know I love my wife I love my husband I love my children and I'm content to be in love with their picture so you pull out the picture and you go oh I just love you so much you I care about you so much and there they are you don't have a relationship with a picture you have a relationship with a person and so Moses gives a picture a type a shadow and Jesus is the fulfillment of those things so the writer is trying to convince the reader that returning to Judaism is returning to the shadows and that's what it means in verse 5 when it says an moses indeed was faithful for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward by Jesus and so in verse 6 look what it says 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 if you look at this you might be tempted to miss read it because on the first consideration as you look at it but Christ as a son over his own house whose ho-how we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope form to the end might lead you to believe that you're saved not just simply by grace through faith but also by perseverance that you are saved if you somehow make it to the end but that's not what the text is saying Jesus is faithful over God's house as God's son not servant and in this case son means equality with God over his own house when it says but as Christ as a son over his own house we're the dwelling place of God we are God's house and note he says if we hold fast that is when it when it says if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope this is the New Testament doctrine of perseverance that is those who are truly saved those who have been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit with the presence of Christ in their lives are truly saved so perseverance doesn't save you saved people persevere that's the point saved people people who are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit who have entered into a right relationship with God in Christ continue to go forward we don't become God's house by our faithfulness but rather we are his house because we continue and we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope for him to the end and so this is endurance or perseverance and so the writer is making the argument that endurance or perseverance is proof of reality and John will bring this up in first John when he says they went out from among us because they weren't really of us endurance is the proof of reality those who lose confidence in Christ and in his promises and return to the rituals and the ceremonies show that they were never born again and so for the person says I'm going back to Roman Catholicism I'm going back to ritualism I'm back to Judaism I'm going back to the religion that I grew up and I was born a Mormon and I'm gonna die a Mormon I was born in Jehovah's Witness and I'm gonna die a Joe of his witness when people return to religion and they abandoned Christ it's pretty good proof that they were never born again that they never experienced a grace and mercy and forgiveness and hope because who who would substitute light for darkness who would exchange truth for alive charlie peacock used to sing a song he said I almost threw it all away traded truth for a lie diamonds for clay who in their right mind if you gave him a lump of dirt would exchange Machane jad Ayman for a lump of dirt who would say hey look I have this wonderful beautiful priceless jewel and I'll I'll take it for that piece of dirt that you have in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 22 and or 23 and 24 says now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus hear the spirit and the soul and the body aren't simply a reference to the parts of the body but it's a reference to the whole body and later the writer of Hebrews in chapter 10 verse 36 will say you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised there's a reason why you remain faithful it's because you walk with a faithful God and a faithful Christ someone once said in the confrontation between the stream and the rock the stream always wins not through strength but through perseverance trying times are no time to quit trying it was V Raymond Edmond who's used to say it's always too soon to quit and remember what he's saying he's speaking to a group of people who are holding on for dear life and they're wondering whether or not they should give up on God and they should give up on Christ and they should give up on the gospel and by the way the expression the confidence and then the expression the rejoicing literally means a boast it's a kind of courageous exaltation of the Hope firm to the end it's his way of saying he's been so faithful to you won't you be faithful to him this is not the time to quit on Christ a little thing is a little thing but faithfulness and little things becomes a very great thing and that's what Christianity in part is it isn't just simply believing the right thing at the right time it's faithfulness and the little things it's being faithful in the little things over and over and over again and the Hebrew Christians are in danger they're in danger because they were hated and they were despised they were hated and despised by the fellow Jews and and they they were seen as something less than Jewish people and when I was in Israel this last time I went to a messianic congregation and it grieved my heart because so many Messianic Jews were committing small compromises embracing the laws and the rituals of Judaism to make their testimony more appealing to save them from criticism or to save them from persecution you would think that for some people the most important thing about Jesus is that he was a Jew and clearly he wasn't you but the most important thing about Jesus isn't his Judy isn't the fact simply that he's a Jew it's a fact that he's sent by God in order to be the savior of all of humanity Judaism served as a means to their growth and limit their maturity and slip back into legalism and remain in spiritual infancy and Peter warned this very thing to the Jewish believers in first Peter chapter 4 verse 12 beloved do not think it's strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing has happened to you but rejoice to the extent that you partake in Christ's sufferings that when the glory is revealed you will be exceedingly glad part of the challenge was we don't want to be persecuted we we want to be treated with respect and with dignity Mr DeHaan wrote quote look ahead to the glory and up to Jesus and you won't go down and defeat dongha goes on and he says Christ's faithfulness and saving us Costume his life and our faithfulness to him also means paying a price remember therefore our salvation depends on his faithfulness but our rewards are dependent upon our faithfulness in holding fast our confidence and rejoicing and hope for him to the end it's not persevering that saves you it's because you're saved you persevere so where is the place where God's glory dwells in the Old Testament Tabernacle in Solomon's Temple in the New Testament temple where is God's dwelling place and according to the New Testament the new believer who has received Jesus has the indwelling presence of God and so this is what the writer is arguing where is the tabernacle where's the presence of God in you inside of you and so the writer is appealing to the Christian who has lost their joy or lost their confidence or lost their hope and are tempted tempted tempted to return to some sort of religious game have the tests and the temptations and the failures caused you to doubt your own salvation or your commitment to Christ you ever wonder do you ever wake up do you ever wake up and ask yourself this question is my salvation real if you're discouraged or disappointment because of the small gains or the little progress that's made in your walk and you're wondering you're wondering you're wondering well wait a minute wait a minute what role does my faithfulness play in what God has done and I got to tell you something it's Christ's faithfulness that has saved you it's Christ's faithfulness that has brought the presence of the Holy Spirit inside of you it's Christ's faithfulness that makes your faithfulness possible that's where the Bible means when it says it's Jesus in you the hope of glory both Moses and Jesus were faithful to God so the writer says Moses is a servant Jesus is a son Moses serves in the house Jesus is the lord of the house in Moses we remain in the shadows and Christ we get to come out of the shadows and into the light and so that's the invitation it isn't to find meaning and significance in religiosity but rather in Christ you know now is a good time to look back to Calvary and consider the cost it was to redeem you maybe now is a good time to look up and see this Jesus interceding for you assuring you that his forgiveness is real and that his forgiveness is greater than your failure and that all the failures are nothing compared to the sufficient grace for every trial every test every temptation and you need to be able to say that that His grace is sufficient not simply to save me but to negotiate through every difficulty and maybe now is also a good time to stop looking at yourself and to consider Jesus consider him as the one who's been sent by God consider him that he's the high priest able to make intercession for you again v Raymond Edmund used to say faith makes the up look good and the out look bright and the in look favorable and the future glorious and so I invite you to consider Jesus but he's the beginning and he's the end he's the first he's the last he's the some he's the substance and that if you have Christ you have everything let's pray Heavenly Father for each and every person who's tempted to turn back for each person who chokes on the words I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back no turning back when they live in a constant state of either apathy or indifference or they find themselves going back that it isn't the cross before them but it's it's the world in front of them with it's a temptations and it's invitations but Heavenly Father again we pray we pray we pray that with complete confidence and real integrity we would consider Jesus and that for those people who are in midst of the struggle they're constantly trying to figure out whether or not Jesus is right for them Lord we pray that you would remind them that the true sinner who understands the depth of their wickedness and the profound need for forgiveness how could we ever how could we ever how could we ever abandon our Savior and so Heavenly Father we thank you for Jesus's faithfulness because we know that it's his faithfulness that gives us even the chance to be faithful in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary South Denver

Views: 13,425

Rating: 4.84127 out of 5

Keywords: Calvary Chapel, Gino Geraci, Christianity, Bible Study, Jesus Christ (Deity), Epistle To The Hebrews (Religious Text)

Id: avWM4qE9crA

Length: 45min 54sec (2754 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 30 2014