Jesus is Better Than Moses Hebrews 3:1-6

- We are going to see in our study of Chapter 3 that Jesus is better than the one who brought the first Covenant, Moses. - The Jewish audience held Moses in high esteem: o High above any other Jew that has ever lived. o He was the man whom God spoke to and through directly. o He saw the glory of God with his own eyes (Exodus 33-34). o He was the one who led their ancestors out of Egypt. o He was the one who gave them the law. - But as great as Moses was, the writer of Hebrews calls us to “Consider Jesus!” - In Hebrews 3:1-6, he gives us 3 reasons why Jesus is better than Moses. - I. His Position (vs.1) - II. His Performance (vs.2-4) - III. His Person (vs.5-6) - Jesus is better than Moses because of… I. His Position (vs.1) (We looked at this last week.) - Vs.1 – “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,” - “Therefore” means that the reason we should consider Jesus is based on all that the writer has just said about Him. - As the writer of Hebrews is instructing and encouraging the believers to look to Jesus, He states that Jesus’ position is above what Moses held. - “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus” - Jesus is both “the Apostle and High Priest”, Moses was just an apostle at best. - “Apostle” means ‘one sent from God’, ‘ambassador’ - Moses was sent from God as an ambassador, a representative. - But he was not a high priest, his brother Aaron was. - Therefore, Jesus is better than Moses because He is both!!! - The word “priest” in Latin means “bridge-builder”. - The Apostle = representing God before men - The High Priest = representing man before God - There is no other person who could have bridged the two together. - Not only is Jesus better than Moses because of His position, He’s also better because of… II. His Performance (vs.2-4) - “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.” - We need to recognize the important role Moses played in the Old Testament. - Everything connected with God, in a Jew’s mind, is connected with Moses. - Out of respect for that, the writer of Hebrews doesn’t just start with how Jesus is better than Moses. - Instead, he shows how they are similar. - Vs.2 – “[Jesus] who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” - Both Jesus and Moses were faithful to the God who sent them. - John 6:38 – “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” - John 7:18 – “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.” - John 8:29 – “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”” - John 17:4 – “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.” - Numbers 12:6-8 – “6 Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”” - “Jesus was faithful to Him who appointed Him… in all His house.” - Who is Jesus’ house? - Ephesians 2:19 – “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” - Jesus’ house is the church, true born-again believers. - 1 Peter 2:4-5 – “4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” - You could refer to the believers of the Old Testament as belonging to the House of Moses. - And the believers of the New Testament belong to the House of Jesus. - But then you realize that both houses were built by Jesus. - Just as Moses was faithful to an earthly household, Jesus was faithful to a Heavenly household. - We too are called to be faithful stewards in the house with the gifts we’ve been given. - Both Jesus and Moses were faithful to the God who sent them but the contrast comes in vs.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.” - Moses was faithful, but Moses was a piece of the house. - Jesus built the house! - Moses was faithful to the house of Israel. - Jesus created the House of Israel. - John 1:1-3 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” - Vs.4 – “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.” - Who built all things? Jesus. Then Jesus is God. - Jesus is better than Moses because of His Position as “the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”, because of His Performance as “He who built the house”, and because of… III. His Person (vs.5-6) - “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.” - The distinction that is being made here is that Moses by person is a servant in God’s house and Jesus by person is the Son in God’s house. - John 8:35 – “And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.” - “5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant” - Moses was faithful as a servant “for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward.” - Moses is not the end of the story. - He was a shadow of what was to come. - Hebrews 10:1 – “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.” - The law was never intended to redeem. - John 5:46 – “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” - To accept Moses without accepting Jesus, is not really accepting Moses. - Luke 24:27 – “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” - Acts 3:22 – “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.” - Paul used the teachings of Moses to share the Gospel with Jewish leaders in Acts 28:23 – “So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.” - “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.” - The writer confirms who Jesus’ house is by stating it is those who “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.” - The evidence of truly being a part of Jesus’ house is holding on to the end. - Continuance is proof of reality! - This does not mean that holding on till the end saves you, but it does mean that if you are truly saved you will hold on till the end. - Therefore, the one who falls away reveals they were not truly part of the house. - 1 John 2:19 – “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” - The true saints of God, the real members of the house will persevere to the end. - John 8:31 – “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” - It’s the difference between profession and possession. - Colossians 1:21-23 - 2 John 9 – “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” - Hebrews 10:38 – “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”” - The writer of Hebrews is simply saying, “Perseverance provides evidence that you are truly of the House of Jesus Christ. - Becoming a part of the House is through believing in the person of Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the salvation only He offers and if you truly believe, you will endure!

Family Discussion Questions: 1. Why did Jesus need to be both the Apostle and the High Priest? (vs.1) 2. Why was it important for the writer of Hebrews to show the similarities of Moses and Jesus before contrasting them? (vs.2) 3. List some ways Moses was “a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward”. How did Moses and the Law point to Christ? 4. If perseverance provides evidence of true salvation, then what role could persecution and trials play? 5. Discuss the effects (positive/negative) that the pandemic has had upon “The Church”.