The Law And Disbelief Series

Hebrews: Chapter 3

September 14, 2008

The Law and Disbelief

I want to start off this morning with a little interaction. What I want to know is who are your heroes? Who are those people you really look up to? Who are those people you really respect? Anyone willing to share with us one of their heroes? (Give some time to answer) Everybody has heroes. When you a child your heroes are superman, batman, the lone ranger, or maybe Barbie if you’re a girl. We all have these people that we look up to and to some degree wish we could be like. When you are a child you often imagine that you are one of those heroes. You pretend to go on adventures and to do the things they can do. As you get older your heroes go from being people you imagine yourself being to people that you just really respect. At least most of the time…some of us may still imagine ourselves as superman flying around.

Imagine you are a Jew. Not just any Jew, a first century Jew. What makes you special? What sets you apart from everyone else around you? You were chosen by God to be His people. God picked you. Out all the nations in the world and out of all the people He picked you! That is really cool. How do you know you were chosen by God? What really sets you apart? The law. The law of God sets you apart from all the other nations. It is what makes you different. It is what makes you special. So naturally you love the law because the law sets you apart. The law keeps you from being just like everyone else. The law gives you purpose. The law gives you meaning. So with all this love for the law, how would you feel about the guy who gave it to you? Talk about your heroes. Naturally Moses is your home boy. He is the superman of Jewish heritage. We all have heroes. If you were a first century Jew Moses would be one of your greatest heroes. If you were a Jew Moses is probably in the top three heroes of all time.

If you have your bibles would you open them to Hebrews chapter 3. Now in our study of Hebrews our author has already shown us that Jesus is greater than that angels and that he is greater than the law. Keeping with this theme of Jesus is greater than here in chapter 3 we see another superiority of Jesus comparison. Our author is going to compare Jesus to Moses. In this we see the brilliance of our author. Remember the audience here. These are Christians who are considering walking away from the faith. They are considering letting go. Basically we have a group of Christians who are thinking about going back to Judaism. So what does author do? He shows them the superiority of Christ in relation to the major aspects of Judaism. So how does the Son of God stack up in comparison to one of the greatest Jewish heroes? Let’s find out.

Heb 3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. Heb 3:2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Heb 3:3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. Heb 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Heb 3:5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. Heb 3:6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

What I want to do today is to compare Moses and Jesus to see how they relate. In one corner we have Moses. He was a Hebrew raised by the daughter of Pharaoh. He fled Egypt because he was a murderer. When he had grown up he saw an Egyptian slaver beating a Hebrew and he killed the Egyptian slaver. He thought it had gone unnoticed but later he discovered that at least someone had seen him do this. So he ran. Once he fled Egypt he began to tend the flocks of Jethro. While he was tending the flock he saw a burning bush where God called him to go deliver Israel from the Egyptians.

So we see our first significant aspect of Moses as a leader. He is the deliverer of God’s people. God sends Moses to Egypt to demand the release of the people of Israel. When Pharaoh refuses God strikes Egypt with 10 plagues. After the tenth plague the people are let go and Moses leads them away from their captivity. Moses delivered God’s people from the slavery in Egypt. How does Jesus stack up to that? Jesus left heaven to come to earth to be put to death as a sacrifice for us. His death pays the price for our sin. Moses is sent to Egypt, Jesus is sent to the world. Moses delivers the people of Israel from slavery to a country. Jesus delivers all of God’s people from slavery to sin. Moses and Jesus are both deliverers but Jesus delivery is far greater than Moses’.