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’.
Their journey from Egypt was not an easy one. They had been delivered from captivity but their problems were not over. They had a long way yet to travel but the Israelites were cared for by God Himself. They ate manna and quail in the wilderness where there was no food. The Israelites began to complain when they were thirsty because there was no water and where there was no water God instructed Moses to strike a rock and water came forth from it. So God continually provided for Israel.
It was three months after the Israelites had escaped from Egypt. They had made it to the desert of Sinai where they camped in front of the mountain. In Exodus 20 we see God descends on Mount Sinai in fire and the mountain is covered in smoke. God then spoke to Moses out of this dense cloud. It was here in this dense cloud on Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the law. Moses then brings the law down the mountain to the people. This law that is so revered by the Jews was given to them by Moses. Moses was the man that led them to become the children of God. He was their leader that helped set them apart by the law. The law of God came through Moses which makes him a hero of the Jewish faith. What about Jesus? Moses brings the law. Jesus brings grace. As John 1:17 tells us “For the law was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” The law makes us aware of our sin, life comes from the grace of God. So while Moses brings the law which is the power of sin Jesus brings us grace and life. Moses brings us the old covenant, which is a covenant of sacrifice and death. Jesus brings us the new covenant, which is a covenant of grace and life. Again we see that Jesus is greater than Moses.
Next let us look at Exodus 32. Moses is still up on Mount Sinai. He has been up there for some time now. The people of Israel not knowing what had happened to Moses began to make a golden calf to worship. They built this golden calf and began to bow down and worship this calf offering sacrifices to it and saying: “these are the gods who brought us out of Egypt.” These people had just been delivered from captivity and their leader was up on the Mountain getting the law from God so that they could be set apart and already they have turned away. They have begun to worship others gods of their own making. God sends Moses away so that His anger can burn against these people and He can destroy them. God wants to destroy these people and promises to make Moses a great nation in their stead. Moses however intercedes on their behalf. God spares these people because Moses mediates for them. Moses again is a shadow of Jesus. Jesus comes to earth and He does not just mediate a single wrong action. Jesus comes and mediates on our behalf for all of our sins. Moses was willing to pay the price for the sins of Israel so that God would forgive them. Jesus pays the price of our sins so that we may be forgiven. On the cross He gives a greater intercession and a greater sacrifice than Moses would ever be capable of making. He gave His life to turn God’s wrath away from us so that we could be spared. Jesus as a perfect sacrifice intercedes on our behalf so that we will not face the consequences of our sin.
Moses leads the people out of Egypt, he led them through the wilderness, he led them in the desert and all the way to the land that God had promised them. Moses led Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses however could not lead the people into the Promised Land. He was not even allowed to set foot in the Promised Land himself for despite God’s provision in taking care of Israel they rebelled against Him. Moses got them to the Promised Land but he could not even get them into the Promised Land. Moses could not lead the people to God’s Sabbath rest. Jesus however will complete what Moses could not do. Jesus is greater than Moses. He brings a salvation that is greater than Moses. He brings us to a Sabbath that Moses could not give us. He leads us into the Promised Land that Moses was not able to.
So for all the things that Moses was, Jesus is greater than Moses in every way. This is said not to dishonor Moses but to show the true glory of Jesus. Jesus has greater responsibility and greater ability that Moses and is thus worthy of greater honor. So do you remember who this book is written to? It is written to Christians most of which were converts from Judaism. These Christians that the author is addressing are considering walking away, turning their backs and letting go of their Christian beliefs. What then are they turning back to? If they stop being Christians what would they be? Jews. These are people who are considering going leaving the Christian faith and going back to the Judaism. So the author here writes to show them that Jesus is better than Judaism. Jesus is greater and as such Christianity is greater than the Jewish faith. Jesus is the creator, Moses is the created. Jesus is the Son Moses is the servant. Jesus is greater than Moses. What our author is encouraging these people to do is to fix their eyes on Jesus. He is encouraging them to keep the faith, to endure, to press on. He is encouraging them not to revert back to their old way of life because that way does not lead to the life that only Christ can bring.
What does Hebrews 3 teach us today? We do not really struggle with turning back to our Jewish ways. We do not over emphasize Moses and the law nor are we in danger of walking away because we want to follow a bunch of rules. The Hebrews were in danger of reverting back to Judaism so the author gives them warnings not to. We are not in danger of reverting to Judaism but if we can learn from the principles of Hebrews 3 we can see that there are some similarities. The Hebrew people were in danger of going back to their old way of life. That is the very thing that threatens us in the church today. Our old way of life is different than theirs but the problem is the same. When life gets hard and when we face trials and hardships we are tempted to turn back to our life before we became a Christian. We are tempted to give in to our worldly desires.
When we apply Hebrews 3 to our lives we find ourselves better able to endure the hardships of this world and better able to resist the temptation to sin. Look at verse 14 of chapter 3:
Heb 3:14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. Heb 3:15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Heb 3:16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? Heb 3:17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? Heb 3:18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed ? Heb 3:19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Now I want to be clear. Sin is not just doing some evil thing that hurts someone else. Sin is disobedience to God. We like to put sin in a box so we don’t have to worry about it too much. Sin is just lying, cheating, drinking, drugs, pre-marital sex, stealing, you things like that. While those are sins; sin is much bigger. Sin is more than just doing the wrong thing it is not doing the right thing. Sin is more than just walking away from God it is not walking toward God. When life gets hard and we get become weary we are tempted to sin which is not always by going back to evil but sometimes simply by going back to our old way of life. You are not an unbeliever any more. You heard the message, you saw the truth. You know now that there is more to this life and you have seen the power of God. If you turn from what you have seen how will you escape punishment? Difficulty is no excuse for turning away from the truth.
The danger is different for each of us because each of left a different life to follow Christ. For me the danger is depression. Before I really encountered God I was manic depressant and wanted kill myself. My old way of life was not really harmful to others. I avoided people and sat around all the time in self-loathing. Everything upset me. I lived in a cloud of darkness. I ignored God’s instruction. I ignored His calling. I disobeyed Him by not living the life His Son had given me and that was sin. That was the danger. When life gets hard now, when things get overwhelming that is what I tempted to go back to. I know it doesn’t satisfy. I know it doesn’t have the answers. I remember why I left that way of life. But still when things get rough that is what I turn to. Difficulty comes my way and when it gets to0 much I consider turning back and collapsing in on myself like a dying star. I consider hiding away, locking myself in the house and doing nothing that really matters because if I don’t care it doesn’t hurt when it goes bad. That is the danger I face in turning away from Christ.
What is the danger you face? What were you before you became a Christian? What are struggles? What are sins? When life gets hard what are you tempted to go back to? Where do you turn? There are many things that people turn to when life gets hard. There are many escapes from the pain that the world will offer. Only one will actually give you rest. So what do you turn to? What is it you want to go back to? What is it that keeps you from truly following Christ? Your job? Your family? Your friends? Your wallet? Your pride, selfishness, anger, lust, depression, music, food, games? What is it that you are drawn to when life gets hard? Where do you seek your rest? We live in world that teaches us that life is most enjoyable when you maximize your own gratification. Get as much pleasure and have as much fun as you can. The only way to be happy is to indulge your every desire. That is true happiness. That is the lie. When life gets hard for us we are tempted to turn to some of pleasure that we find in this world. The danger is different for each of us but the problem is the same. When life gets hard we focus on something. Whatever it is we focus on is what we are drawn to. Our author here tells us that when life is hard there is answer: fix your eyes on Jesus. Focus on Him. Spend time with Him. Invest in your relationship with Him. Jesus can give you the rest that you need and only He can offer eternal life.
