The Faithfulness Of Christ Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: July 23, 2008

Date Preached: June 29, 2008

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: A Journey Thru Hebrews

Sermon Title: The Faithfulness of Christ

Sermon Text: Hebrews 3:1-6

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 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. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 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.

Introduction:

What does it mean to be ‘faithful’?

The dictionary reveals to us that being faithful can mean…

one who is reliable or trustworthy… such as “Joe sure is a faithful employee.”

one who is devoted to an entity or person… such as “Joe sure is faithful to his wife OR Joe sure is faithful to his alma mater”

something is genuine… such as “the copy of this portrait is faithful to the original print”

someone is devoted to a cause, religion or faith… such as “Joe is so faithful to his walk in Christ”

The dictionary also describes the term ‘faithful’ as being one who is FULL of faith…

When walking the path that God laid out for Him, how did Jesus fare when we put these characteristics of being ‘faithful’?

We can see that Jesus walked a path that was surely the most reliable and trustworthy person to ever walk the earth, HE came seeking the lost to bring redemption and salvation…and He delivered. God gave Him a task and Jesus was reliable and trustworthy to complete that task…and on the Cross we find Jesus saying, ‘It is finished!’

We can see that the path Jesus walked revealed that Jesus was devoted to doing the will of the Father, so much so that He put the will of the Father over His own fears and doubts in the Garden of Gethsemane…when He said, ‘…not My will but Yours be done…’

In looking at Jesus’ walk here on this world we can see that it reveals that Jesus was genuine in His life, His mission and what He accomplished. Jesus never wavered from His mission here on earth, and was willing to die for that mission… which was to provide an avenue for humanity to be reconciled back to God. Never failed or faltered in the plan and purpose of the Father!

Finally we can see that the path Jesus took revealed His devotion to following the will of God as He willingly placed Himself on the Cross of Calvary… not for a religion, not for a cause, and not for His faith… but out of obedience to God’s will in the knowledge that He did it so we may know eternal life! This is why we see Jesus teaching in John 5:30, “I can of Myself do nothing…I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me…”

In our passage this morning we find the Bible sharing how faithful Jesus was in respect to Moses! The Jews highly regarded Moses and Abraham as the 2 most faithful witnesses of God. And when we look at Scripture we know that Moses was faithful to God and the plans and purposes God put forward to Moses.

And from Scripture we know that Moses WAS faithful in his words and in his actions!

We can see that Moses accepted his calling from God and went to Egypt to secure the release of the Hebrew nation.

We can also see that Moses acted on God call by doing what God called Him to do… Moses meted out God’s wrath in the form of 10 plagues on the Egyptian nation as per God’s plans…

Finally we find that regardless of the complaining and bickering by the Hebrews, Moses was faithful and always submitted to God’s plan and leadership and because of this he was able to lead the people across the Red Sea to the brink of the Promised Land!

Moses was trustworthy, Moses was devoted to God and to the nation of Israel, Moses was genuine and trustworthy, and Moses was obedient to God’s calling on his life.

However, we know that Moses failed God in the wilderness and disobeyed God when he struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock as God had instructed him. For this Moses was prevented from taking the children into the Promised La nd.