Sunday Morning Service 8:30AM-Jesus: BetterThan Moses - Hebrews 3:1-6 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

Good morning, church family. We're glad you're here. It's good to see everybody. If you guys want to go ahead and stand with us, we'll pray and we'll get started.

Father, we come before you this morning. We just thank you for another day. Thank you for allowing us to be here, Father, and just ask your blessing upon this time, Lord. Help us to lavish praise upon you, Lord, because you are worthy of all of our praise, God. You're worthy of all honor and glory. And so, Lord, just help us to give you that this morning. Lord, help us to glorify you.

And may your word go out with power in Jesus' name. Amen.

Make it all things new. Your bleak's a bad word. Have a seat if you like. Great is your love. I'm ashamed. Burying my fields of grace. You called me out. Lifting me up. How great is your love. Gave your life. And changed by the power.

And Father God, we just praise you and we thank you for how great your love is, Father. We just thank you again for allowing us to be here. And we just want to praise your holy name this morning.

Worship. Sing the song of ages to the Lamb.

And all who win the song of ages to the Lamb.

Is the highest your name. Is the greatest your name. Stands above all powers. And positions your name. You guys want to stand with us for the last one?

And as I see the stars. I hear the wings. My soul.

And hear the birds. Sing sweetly in the trees. When I see mountain grandeur. And hear the brook. And feel the gentle breeze.

Send him to death. With shouting. Of acclamation. And take me. Shall fill my. Then shall I. Nation. And their brook. Then sings my.

God, as we sing. As we sing this song, Lord God. I just can't help but think how great you truly are. Lord, that you, the God of all the universe. The God that created everything that we know and see. The God that created us. Would leave your throne in heaven. Would leave just what amounts to perfection. Would leave your glory. And step down. To live among us.

And to take my rightful place on that cross, Lord God. How great you truly are. How wonderful and how marvelous you are, Lord. And God, we just can't help but give you praise. We can't help but give you glory and honor. Father, we thank you. And we love you so much. And now as Pastor Ryan comes to bring the word, I just pray that you would use him mightily.

Lord, let your Holy Spirit move mightily in this place this morning, God. And give us a soft and receptive heart to receive that word. God, we love you and we praise you. And all God's people said. Amen. Let's take some time and have some fellowship.

Good morning. If you could begin to locate your seat. Grab a bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletin. Well, mainly just two. The things on the left-hand side that go on throughout the week. Make sure you have a spot to get plugged into. And then over in the middle section, a reminder that we have our March Madness event coming up March the 21st.

Who's making? Oh, there you are. Okay. And I'm going to have Joe Palmer come up and share about that.

So I'm going to back up just a second. So this March Madness fundraiser. This March Madness fundraiser is for our Guatemala missions trip, which we are going to serve in Guatemala with God Said Go Ministries. If you're not familiar with God Said Go, they're doing some really awesome work in Guatemala. Their vision is to take care of the medical and spiritual needs of mostly rural areas in Guatemala.

So we're excited to be going on that trip and serving with them to help raise some money for God Said Go and for this missions trip. We have the March Madness fundraiser is coming up on March 21st. It's going to be at the rec center here in town in the big gym in the evening, five to eight. It's going to be a chili cook-off. So looking forward to that. There are sign-ups in the hallway out there for the various things that you can help with from making chili to bringing some chips and other things like that.

We're also doing a. Bake sale, so we're going to auction off some specialty baked goods, and also I hear that there are going to be some kids doing some artwork to auction off also, and the canvases for that artwork will be available starting next Sunday, so they can get a head start on some of their artwork. Other needs that we have. We are planning a basketball game.

I mean, it's March Madness. We have to have a basketball game. So we are looking for. Adult, preferably, probably I'll say 18 and older men here at the church that can just put on a good show and have some fun playing basketball. So if you're interested in playing, you can let me know. See, I think that is about it. Yeah, the Guatemala missions trip is July 28th.

Through August 3rd. I missed that date, but I think I got about everything else. If you're interested in playing basketball. Please let me know. If you're interested in the Guatemala missions trip, please let Ross or Jana Lumbert know. Thanks. Yes. Give that man a hand.

Joe Palmer, everyone. All right. So, yeah, we have fun doing this every year. I don't actually play basketball, and I don't even think they would let me on the floor right now. I've never been too happy for an injury in my life that won't allow me to do that. Otherwise, you'd have seen a show, but it is what it is. But I will be there. Probably announcing and trying to say funny things the whole time.

All right. So for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 52. Psalm 52. Look at the New American Standard. You need a copy of the New American Standard. There should be one in a row around you. If not, it's time to borrow a friend. And as you are turning to Psalm 52, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's word.

I will read the odd verses if you will follow along with Pastor Allen. And the even verses. Psalm 52 for the choir director. A massacre with David when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech. Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The loving kindness of God endures all day long. Your tongue devises destruction like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.

You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking what is right. Say law. You love all words that devour. O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever. He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent and uproot you from the land of the living. Say law. The righteous will see and fear and will laugh at him. Say. Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the loving kindness of God. Forever and ever. And read verse 9 with me. I will give you thanks forever because you have done it. And I will wait on your name for it is good in the presence of your godly ones. And so, Father, as we are here this morning, we do wait on you because we need to hear from you.

And so, Lord, I pray that the words that come from my mouth would be the words that are from your heart, Lord, that are spoken here this morning. And so, bless me with your gift of teaching and, Lord, bless all of us as your people, Lord, with the gift of hearing. And may we. Consider you this morning. In Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews chapter 3. As a reminder, we've given an overarching theme to Hebrews called, But We See Jesus. But really, many of the sections of Hebrews are about how Jesus is so much better than, in particular, aspects of the old covenant. Or aspects of things that the. Old Testament Jews would have believed in. And so, the first couple of chapters, we saw that Jesus was so much better than the angels, both in his divinity and in his humanity.

And as we come to chapter 3, we see that Jesus is better than Moses. Now, because of our Western culture mindset, we probably wouldn't really understand why this is such a big deal. So, I want to paint for you the picture of why this is such a big deal for the writer to the Hebrews to let these Hebrew people know that Jesus is so much better than Moses. Because.

Moses was the greatest hero of the Old Testament as far as the Jewish people were concerned. As a matter of fact, many in Jewish tradition considered Moses to be just one step above the angels. So, because of everything that he did, he was a fantastic man. And what we'll find is that the writer to the Hebrews does not denigrate Moses at all. He just restores Moses to the place where he's supposed to be.

But there's a handful of reasons why the Jewish people viewed Moses the way that they did. The first reason is because Moses was a. Chosen vessel to be used by God. Matter of fact, there was a really miraculous beginning to Moses' life. If you remember, when Moses was born, Pharaoh was trying to destroy all of the newborns. Because he felt like the male population of the Jews had gotten to be too great.

And so, he was afraid of an uprising. So, he basically began an aspect of infanticide in putting to death all of the newborn babies. And so, as Moses' mother had this beautiful baby boy. She tried to protect him. As long as she could. Three months, she hid him. But eventually, she couldn't hide him any longer. And so, she came up with this plan. And the plan was, I'm going to put him in a basket in the bulrushes.

And I'm going to protect him from judgment. I really don't know what plan B was at this point in time. I really don't know what the thought was once she put him in the water. I saw this great picture yesterday. It was a meme. And it showed a baby with this super surprised look on his face. And it said, Moses, when his mom put him in the bulrushes, hoping for the best.

So, I don't really know what she thought was going to happen. But she puts him in a basket. She sends him down the river. And miraculously, Pharaoh's daughter is the one that finds Moses. And wants to keep him as her own. And said, oh my gosh, a beautiful Hebrew baby boy. I want to raise him as my own. Well, it just happened to be that Moses' sister Miriam was sitting right nearby.

And watching the whole thing take place. And she said, would you like me to go get a nurse to take care of the baby for you? She said, that's a fantastic idea. Do you know of someone? She goes, oh, I know of someone. All right. And she goes and she finds Moses' mother. And Moses has this incredibly miraculous. Beginning where he is preserved by God. Because he is chosen by God.

And of course, when he was chosen to be used by God. God appeared to him in the wilderness. In the burning bush. And God actually revealed himself to Moses through that burning bush. And spoke to him. And so he was chosen by God. And he heard from God unlike anybody else. The second reason why he was viewed the way that he was. Is because he was viewed as Israel's deliverer.

The children of Israel had come to a place where they were in great bondage. There in the land of Egypt. And they cried out for a deliverer. And were told that God. Saw their condition. And God heard their cry. And so God sought out Moses. And he found Moses. And he said, I want you to go. And I want you to be the deliverer for my people. And so throughout the Old Testament history.

The salvation of the children of Israel in the Old Testament. Was their being set free from slavery in Egypt. As a matter of fact. Everything in the Old Testament. Continued to look back to the fact that God was the God. Who set them free from Egypt. And he did it through the hand of Moses. So Moses was known as. The deliverer of the people. So not only was he chosen by God.

He was Israel's deliverer. But he was also the prophet. For the first time. The children of Israel had somebody that. Would receive a word directly from God. That would then deliver that word to the people. Moses was the one who sort of mediated. Between God and man in a lot of ways. He would stand at the edge of the camp. It said. And the people would go to Moses at the edge of the camp.

To hear what God's word was for them. And so he was ultimately. He was ultimately the the prophet for the people. But he was also the law giver. Remember Moses went up on top of the mountain. God God spoke from the cloud and and the people said that's great. But that's scary Moses you go talk to God let us know what he said. Bring it back and so Moses goes up on the mountain and he comes back with the two stone tablets twice.

By the way we do it nice because we do it twice brought back to stone tablets that were covered in the law of God. And he declared what the law was to the people as a matter of fact it was always referred to as the. Mosaic law or the law of Moses and that law revealed the holiness and the character and the nature of God. But not only was he the law giver he was also the historian.

Matter of fact he chronicled the history of the nation of Israel from Genesis through Deuteronomy. And everybody knew what the beginning not only of the nation of Israel was but we know what the beginning of humanity is. Because of the historical work that Moses did by copying down the history of humanity. Yeah. Moses was an amazing man and because of this the children of Israel oftentimes viewed him in a light that he was never intended to be.

They oftentimes put him on a pedestal that that he never belonged on a pedestal that really only God deserved to be on. And because of that the writer to the Hebrews had to correct a misconception. Because remember these Hebrew believers who had left the comfort of what they knew in the religion of Judaism. And had now converted to being Christians were being persecuted.

For their Christianity and their temptation was to go back to the comfort and the bondage that they knew rather than stick with the persecution and the difficulty that they weren't sure of. So he writes to them to remind him Jesus is better than Moses. So this is what he says chapter 3 verse 1. Therefore holy brethren partakers of a heavenly calling consider Jesus the apostle and the high priest of our confession.

He was faithful to him. Who appointed him as Moses was in all his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. But just so much as the builder of the house has much more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all of his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.

But Christ was faithful as a son over his house. Whose house? His own house. And he was faithful to him. For he was faithful to him. And he was faithful to him. And he was faithful to him. For he was faithful to him. And he was faithful to him. And he was faithful to him. So there's two things the writer to the Hebrews is going to do. Writer to the Hebrews is going to do for us.

He's going to tell us to consider Jesus. And then tell us that he is worthy of more glory than Moses. So again looking at verse 1. He starts off by saying therefore. And every time you read the word therefore you need to look backwards. And so he's going to tie everything that he said in chapters 1 and 2 together in what he's about to say in chapter 3. And he does it with two phrases.

He says therefore in light of who Jesus is in his divinity. In light of who Jesus is in his humanity. He says therefore holy brethren and partakers of a heavenly calling. Now I find it interesting that as he begins to tell them about Jesus being better than Moses. He refers to them as two things that again remind us of what he said in chapter 2. The first thing he refers to them as is holy brethren.

And if you were to look back at chapter or verse 11 of chapter 2. I want you to notice what it says. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one father. For which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. Why does he take the time to do this? Well because these believers are finding themselves pulled away from the faith. And so they need to be reminded of the roots that they have in Jesus.

They need to be reminded of the position that they have in Jesus. And so in so doing he reminds them you are holy brethren. Jesus has called you one of his brothers. Jesus has called you his family. And so don't forget your position. Therefore in light of the fact that Jesus who is completely God. Also became completely man. And he calls you one of his brethren.

That you are holy and set apart unto him. As one of his own dear family members. And then he refers to them as the second thing. He refers to them as partakers of a heavenly calling. Notice what it says in verse 10 of chapter 2. Fitting for him. For whom are all things. And through whom are all things. In bringing many sons to glory. That's the heavenly calling.

I'll remind you that there are three tenses of salvation that we are given in scripture. There is the past tense. We call it justification. You have been saved. That's what took place in the moment that you put your faith in Jesus. You didn't really know what you were doing at that point. You just knew you needed a savior. So you cried out to the Lord. And God saved you.

And you were justified. You have been saved. Justified. But now you're in the process of being saved. That's that process of becoming who you are. Becoming practically who you are positionally. We call it sanctification. But there is a future tense of salvation. You will be saved. We call that glorification. That's the day that you shed this present body that is still subject to sin.

And you have a brand new body. A house made without hands. Eternal. Eternal in the heavens. We call that glorification. That's the future tense of salvation that we're all looking forward to. So he says, You are holy brethren and you are partakers of a heavenly calling. The calling that one day of who you will be. And he reminds them of their position so that they can stand strong in their position and who they are in Christ.

When everything in the world wants to pull them away from that position of who they are in Christ. Maybe that's you this morning. Maybe, and we'll deal with this again at the end of the message. But I feel like I need to hit it twice. Maybe this morning something is wanting to pull you away from the faith. Maybe this morning something is wanting to tell you,

Listen, it would be a lot easier if you didn't try to follow Jesus. It would be a lot easier if you just go along with the world. It would be a lot easier if you just quit trying so hard and just leave all that behind. Just give in to everything else that the world has to say. You won't have as much of a battle to fight. And I'm here to tell you right now, that's not who you are.

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, you're holy and you're set apart. You're set apart unto God. You are his brethren because he has called you his brethren. And you have a heavenly calling. You have a future and a hope. Listen, don't give up now. Don't give up now. Again, we'll deal with this more at the end. But I feel like somebody here needs to hear that this morning.

That today is not the day to give up. Today is the day to lock in. And that's what he tells us to do. He says, Therefore, brethren, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, listen, consider Jesus. That word consider is a fantastic word. It means to consider attentively and thoughtfully. It goes on. More definitions are to fix one's eyes and mind upon.

It's interesting because in as many chapters, he has now said to fix your eyes on Jesus. Remember in chapter two, he said, but we see Jesus. And in chapter three, he says, consider Jesus. It's almost like the entire point of this book is to put our eyes back on Jesus. And we should have given it a sweet title like, but we see Jesus. Oh, we did. Isn't that great?

He says, consider Jesus. Fix your eyes and your mind upon him. And the idea of this fixing of the eyes and the mind carries with the idea of to look and to learn and to understand. It's not just looking for the purpose of observing. It's looking for the purpose of learning and understanding. You see, there's a greater intensity in the consideration here. And what does he tell us to consider?

He tells us to consider Jesus. Why? Because I don't know what your problem is, but Jesus is the answer. I don't know what situation it is that you're dealing with in your life right now. But again, this is something I'll share more at the end. But if I've learned anything over the last 20 some years of my life is that if I have a problem, yo, he'll solve it.

Check out the hook and let Jesus resolve it. That's right. I'll be here all day. But that's what we got to do. We got to put our eyes back on Jesus because he ultimately is the one who solves the problem. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is.

Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. Whatever it is. What God calls for us to do. And that's to consider Jesus. Because we are always having our eyes on other things. I have a question for you. What occupies the most of your time? What occupies the most of your focus?

Because I would tell you what occupies the most of your focus is actually the most important thing to you. And we live in such a distracted world right now that's pulling us away from all of the things that we need to focus on. And it's causing us to be a little bit stressed out. Have you ever decided that you're going to sit down to pray? What happens? You get distracted in your mind.

You get 17 phone calls. You get three text messages. I mean, everything. Everything happens the minute that you sit down to pray. Why? Because the world is vying for your attention. And Jesus wants 100% of your attention. That's not to say that we can't do other things in life. That's to say that everything else that we do in life has to have the centrality of the focus on Jesus.

But not only does it require focus, it requires time. It requires time. You know what the one commodity in the world that once it's spent you don't get back is? It's time. You know, we spend a lot of time worrying about how we budget our money, right? If the government shut down again, do we keep it open? We're always worried about whether or not the government's going to shut down, right?

Why? Because they can't figure out how to budget their money. We always worry about whether or not their taxes are going to go up. Why? Because they can't budget their money. You're always worried about whether or not you're going to be able to. You're always worried about whether or not you're going to be able to pay your bills. Why? Because you've got to budget your money.

And we spend all this time and all of this energy and all of this focus trying to figure out how we're going to budget our money, forgetting that the most valuable commodity that we all own is time. And yet we waste it at a level that is shocking. I would tell you to do something. I think you should treat your time as if it's a bank account. And you should take a month and you should figure out where do I spend most of my time?

Where do I spend most of my time in my life? Maybe you don't take a month. Maybe you take two weeks. And you figure out where you spend most of your time in your life. And the other thing you should include on that, don't just write down all of the things that you do. Take a look at your phone and look at your screen time. And I know some of you are like, yeah, but part of that's reading my Bible.

Is it? Is that really most of your screen time? I'm going to say it's probably not. Take a look at your screen time and find out just how much time you spend. And then figure out how do you budget your time better? You see, your focus and your time are so important. Because those are the only two things that you can give to God. That once you give them to him, he actually multiplies it in other areas of your life.

It's almost a mysterious thing. That when you give of those things first to the Lord, he makes everything else possible in your life. I told the story this morning about, remember the story of Mary and Martha? Right? Too many of us are Marthas running around in the world. Like everything's got to be right. Right? So Jesus goes over to Mary and Martha's house.

For dinner. Lazarus is there too. And Martha's making sure that everything's correct. And Martha gets a little bit of a bad rap here. But in this instance, it's probably important to pay attention to. Martha's running around making sure that everything's right. She's making sure that all the cups match each other. All the napkins are folded the way they're supposed to.

That the roast is done exactly as it's supposed to be done. And that the house is clean. And the turlets are clean. And all these things are taken care of. Right? She's running around doing all this stuff. And she's got herself completely stressed out. Hair's a mess. Flour all over her face. Why she's making roast, I don't know. But flour's all over her face.

And she's completely stressed out. And she looks in the living room. And as she looks in the living room, sitting on the floor in front of Jesus, is Mary and Lazarus. And Martha goes, Jesus! Hey, tell Mary to come give me a hand. There's a lot that needs to be done. And I can imagine. This doesn't say this in Scripture. But I picture this in Scripture. That Jesus kind of gets up and he puts his arm around Mary.

And she goes, or Martha. He says, hey. Mary's doing a really good thing here. And I'm not going to take it from her. She has chosen the better thing. And too many of us are like Martha running around. We've got all kinds of things we've got to do. We've got all kinds of distractions. I've got to get this done. I've got to get this done. I've got to get this done.

Meanwhile, Jesus is like, but you missed the most important thing. Because you missed the most important thing. You can't get everything else done. I don't remember who it was. I think it was Jonathan Edwards. But it might be wrong on this. Who said, I have. I've got so much to do today that I need at least two hours in prayer. How many of us view it like that?

That I've got so much to do that I need to make sure I give Jesus plenty of time. But he says, consider Jesus. And then he describes Jesus in two ways. As the apostle and the high priest of our confession. It's interesting because this is one of the only times, if not the only time, in Scripture where Jesus is referred to as an apostle. Apostle is an interesting word.

Apostle can mean either a messenger or an ambassador. We usually read of the 12 apostles. And of course, they had an apostolic authority that you and I don't. But in a less authoritative way, we are apostles because we are messengers. We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. But really, if you think about it, Jesus was the first apostle. He was the first ambassador for God.

Because remember what it said in John chapter 1 when he says, He says, Because you see, Jesus, as the apostle, became the representative of God to man. The ambassador of God to man. To where when we want to know what God would have done in certain situations, when we want to know what God actually meant, we want to know how God would act. We want to know what moves the heart of God.

We love God. We look and see what moved the heart of Jesus. We look and see how Jesus acted. Because he was the apostle. He was the ambassador of our confession because he represented God to man. And so he says, Consider Jesus. Turn your eyes on Jesus because he is our ambassador revealing God to us. But not only is he the apostle of our confession, but he is the high priest of our confession.

Remember the high priest had a very important job because he mediated, mediated between God and man. He was the one who offered the sacrifices to the Lord. He was the one, especially on that day of atonement, the only one allowed into the most holy place to make the atoning sacrifice for the people. Because while the apostle represented God to man, a high priest represents man to God.

And so he says, I want you to consider Jesus who is the apostle and the high priest of our confession. Why does he say that? Well, because in the Old Testament, who was the apostle and the high priest for the nation of Israel? It was Moses. He was the one that represented God to man. And he was the one who represented man to God. So he says, I want you to consider Jesus because he says he was faithful.

Verse two to him who appointed him as Moses was in all of his house. I love this because again, he doesn't denigrate Moses. He doesn't degrade Moses. He maintains the, the faithfulness that Moses showed. And I think it's important that we do know that Moses was an incredibly faithful man in the household of God. We'll deal with that in just a minute. And so he goes on to say,

but Jesus is more word is worthy of more glory than Moses. Notice what it says in verse three, for he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. I didn't go really creative on that point. But by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house for every house, is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. So he tells us that Jesus has more glory than Moses.

First of all, because Jesus is the builder of the house. The question should come into your mind. What house is he talking about? Well, in one sense, he's talking about the house of the nation of Israel, but in a larger sense, he's talking about the household of faith that those of the faith within the nation of Israel, including Moses were a part of. He says the builder has more glory than the house is glorious.

There's a household of faith. Is even more glorious as the builder because he is the architect, the designer, the builder and the sustainer of the house. I was reading about some different house builders in one of the commentaries, and I don't know a lot about a lot of home builders, but but it recognized one of the names that he mentioned. It's Frank Lloyd Wright.

If you ever heard of a Frank Lloyd Wright house and and they said that that guy wanted to make sure everybody knew that he was the one who designed and built the house, which is why everybody knows those houses as wait for it. Frank Lloyd Wright houses, right? Everybody knows why? Because the builder has more honor than house because he was the one who designed it, and then he was the one that built it.

Nobody looks and goes, oh, what a beautiful house. They say, what a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright house, more honor than the builder. Well, who is the builder of the house of faith? Every house has a builder. The builder of all things is God. And may I say this is another one of those statements of the deity of Jesus Christ. In the New Testament because he just said the builder of all things is God and Jesus is worthy of more honor because he is the builder.

Therefore, Jesus is gone. Another statement of the deity of Jesus Christ here in the Old Testament in the New Testament. He goes on from there to say now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things, which were to be spoken later. Moses was faithful in all. His house as a servant. The word for servant. Here's an interesting word because it's the only time it's used in the New Testament.

It's a very strong word for servant, but it carries with it the idea of the highest level of a servant. The word slave is not at all involved. Here's the household manager of a servant. And so this is a very respectable word that's used. But when we think about the faithfulness of Moses as a servant in the house of the Lord, we think back to just how faithful he was and all of the things that he did.

I want you to think back on some of the stories of Moses. And what Moses did within the house of the Lord. And what Moses did for the nation of Israel. The fact that he continually went before Pharaoh and got rejected by Pharaoh. And ultimately oftentimes rejected by the nation of Israel. We think about how often he dealt with the complaining of the children of Israel.

That they complained over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Right? And we think about the fact one mistake that dude made. Right? That guy made one mistake when he struck the rock. When he wasn't. He wasn't supposed to. Listen, if I was Moses, I would have hit every rock in sight every day of my life.

I would have never been allowed in the promised land. Why is he hitting the rock? Well, did you have the children of Israel again? Oh, that's right. And I used to teach Bible at Arc City Christian Academy. And I took him through the book of Numbers. And when I took him through the book of Numbers, I'd have him do these scripture summary sheets. And so we would take a chapter that we would cover and I would have them put a creative title on it.

As long as it was appropriate. I always enjoyed the creative titles. They had to put a key verse. Something that represented the entire chapter that you give summary of the chapter and personal application of the chapter. And I remember somebody put the title of one of the chapters in the book of Numbers. The children of Israel complained dot dot dot dot dot all the way across the page.

And in little words, it says again. Like that had to have been how Moses felt. Like if Moses was writing the chapter, he's like the people complain.

Again. Right? And every time. He interceded for the people. Remember, remember all the times when God was like, listen, I'm just going to wipe them out. I'm gonna start over with you. Mo. You seem like a good guy. I really like you. You got a great beard. Feels like feels like you. I'm going to start over with you. And Moses is like, God, you don't mean that.

Now, let's let's think rationally here. Course. God was just testing Moses. Okay, we see to know that God was bringing out the intercessor in Moses. And most of this intercedes for the people to the point where he said, Lord, if you don't go with us, then blot me out of your book. Like, this is the kind of faithful guy he was, but he was faithful as a pay attention servant.

He was faithful as a servant. And if I may bring a couple of quick points of personal application here to that statement. Can I just say that the greatest testimony we each one should want for our lives is to simply be known as as a faithful servant of God. I like as far as humanity. That's like the greatest thing that can ever be said about you. That guy was a servant and he was faithful at it.

And that's what I want to be known as. But but may I draw one more little personal application out of this? We have to make sure that the people that are in high positions in churches are simply viewed as faithful servants of God. We have come to a place in the church today where we have created a cult of personality out of pastors and worship leaders. And because of it, we have put them on pedestals that they never deserve to be on.

And so when they fall off of them, the fall is great. It hurts my heart to see pastors falling in sin, but I also know they are just human beings. They are just human beings. I believe was John Corson who said at our best. We are men, but we are men at best. It's all that there is to it at the end of the day. We're all just people in the people in these high positions.

They're just people and we have to remember that we can't put them in places where they don't deserve to be it. Only God can be in that place. It's enough for us to simply be known as faithful servants. He says Moses was a faithful servant in the household of God. But notice what it says. Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.

He was a servant who gave a testimony of things that were to be spoken later. He did it in two ways. First of all, because he gave the law. Obviously the law came from God, but he was the one that recorded it and gave it out to the people and the law testifies of a coming Savior. Because the law reveals the Holy nature of God. The law reveals the the greatness of who God is the holiness of who God is and and as we see the holiness of God and the greatness of God in comparison to who we are.

We realize the distinct need that we have for a Savior and in that way Moses pointed to. The coming of Jesus I I'm working on a message right now for a camp and it's out of Isaiah chapter 6 and Isaiah chapter 6 is such a great passage because it starts off by saying in the in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple with glory and and the angels were around him singing and they're singing shook the foundations of the building and the smoke of his glory filled the temple and as he sees this amazing revelation of the Holy awesome nature of God.

He says woe is me for I am undone the word undone means to be broken or destroyed woe is me for I am destroyed because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. You see that's what Moses did for us Moses gave us the law which reveals that Holy God and his holy standard and the job of the law is to close the mouth of every person and say I'm undone. I'm destroyed because I am a broken. I'm a sinner who is in need of a Savior.

That's what he means when he says that for a testimony of those things which will be spoken of later. But not only did he give us the law but he prophesied of the coming of Jesus go with me in your Bibles. Hold your finger here put a bookmark there and go to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18 Deuteronomy 18. I want you to look at verse 15. If you can't get there, that's okay.

Just might write that down Deuteronomy 18 15 says. The Lord your God. This is Moses speaking by the way. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you from your countrymen and you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in horror of in the day of the assembly saying let me not hear the voice of the Lord my God.

Let me not see this great fire anymore. I will die and the Lord said they've spoken. Well, I will raise up a prophet from among them like you and I will put my hand on your face. Put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him. You see that's Moses's prophecy of the coming of Jesus one who would be raised up from among them who would be a prophet like him and he would speak the words of God to the people see Moses was faithful as a servant in his house because not only did he declare the law which revealed the holiness of God and the need for a savior but he also prophesied of the coming Jesus and if you don't believe that go with me to the book of John back over to the New Testament.

Last of the gospel accounts. I want you to look at John chapter 5. Jesus is in a debate with the religious leaders head over to verse 44. Jesus is in a debate with the religious leaders involving his witness because he has witness to himself as the son of God and he says this starting in verse 44 of John chapter 5.

He said how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God do not think that I will accuse you before the father the one who accuses you is Moses in whom you have set your hope for if you believe Moses you would have believed me for he wrote about me see Moses was a faithful servant not only in the way he acted but in the message that he declared about the coming Savior. See Moses was a faithful servant not only in the way he acted but in the message that he declared about the coming Savior. And so that brings us go back to Hebrews chapter 3 that brings us now back to Jesus if Moses was a faithful servant in the house of God.

Verse 6 it says Christ was faithful as a son over his house whose we are if we hold fast our confidence in the boast of our hope firm until the end you see Moses was a faithful servant Jesus was a faithful son. He was a faithful son. And that means two things. Number one it means he had a better position. You see the position of the son in the house and the position of a servant in the house are two very different things.

Once a son became of age once he became an adult he had all the rights of the owner of the home. And so he was in a position of authority. And that's what this speaks of this this authoritative position that the son is in over the household of faith. And we've already said that the household of faith is not only the nation of Israel but also all who are children of faith.

And so he says the son, Jesus, had a better position because he was the son over the house. But we're also reminded that as we have talked about sonship in the book of Hebrews, we know that that phrase creates equality with God. He wasn't the servant over the house. He made himself a servant, but he was not the servant over the house. He is the son over the house because he has authority over the house,

which makes him so much better than Moses. And so as he builds his case here for the authority of Jesus over Moses, he closes with an exhortation. I want to spend our last few minutes looking at this exhortation because I feel like this exhortation is so key for our lives today. Let's look at verse 6 again. It says, but Christ was faithful as a son over his house.

Whose house we are if we hold fast. Our confidence in the boast of our hope, firm until the end. Whose house we are if we hold fast. Let me first tell you what he's not saying there. What he's not saying is that your salvation, either its start or its consummation, is dependent upon your works. You don't keep yourself saved by your works. That's what the entire book of Galatians is about.

Salvation and your standing in Christ has nothing to do with your works. But I'll remind you again who he's talking to right now. He is talking to believers in Jesus Christ who are wanting to leave behind the faith to go back to a system of works that they're comfortable with. And so he tells them that you need to hold fast. You need to stand strong in the faith that you have.

And so he says, if we hold fast, our confidence in the boast of our hope, firm until the end. That phrase, to hold fast, means to maintain. Maintain the course. Maintain the course. Its usage in other places in the New Testament indicate a ship that is being tossed by the waves that needs to maintain its course to arrive at its destination. In other words, just because you're being tossed about doesn't mean you can abandon the course.

You need to hold fast. Maintain the course. And I'm reminded of how important it is to simply, hold on. Sometimes you just have to hold on. And what does he say that we need to hold on to? He says we need to hold on to our confidence. That word confidence is an interesting word. It comes from two words that literally when they come together means freedom of speech.

In other words, you have a certain freedom, a certain confidence to speak freely as a child of God. And so what he says is, hold on tight to your confidence in Christ. And can I tell you, brothers and sisters, I've had to learn this lesson. The last year of my life has created a lot of reflection in me. So forgive me if I share some things over and over again, but I can't help it.

They've just been what's on my mind. And all I can do is share with you what's on my mind and what God is doing in me. But as I've looked over the last 10 years of ministry, if I could describe it in one word, it would be hard. Not just because ministry is hard, but because life, life has been hard. Now listen, I don't want you to misunderstand me. Life is hard whether you follow Jesus or not.

Because all of the things that I've been through in the last 10 years, other people who aren't saved have been through too, but they didn't have Jesus. I want you to know that. Following Jesus doesn't automatically make your life harder. It just means that you have Jesus to go through the hard with. Like life is hard whether you're saved or not. Choose your heart.

So you got to decide what you're going to do. You're going to go through all the garbage with Jesus or you're going to go through all the garbage on your own. I choose Jesus every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Because he's my only hope. And I guess that's what I want to get to is, is I have looked at the last 10 years of my life and I've really reflected over the last 10 years of my life.

There's been a few times where I've gone, dude, I don't even know how I made it through that. Because there's just been a lot. There's been a lot of things, whether it be the deaths that I have experienced of loved ones, whether it be the challenges of trying to pastor a church through COVID and trying to figure out what that's all about, whether it be trying to, um, um, navigate a church through the loss of a pastor while I'm taking over and also trying to be the youth pastor and a school teacher at the same time. Whatever it is, there's been just, there's been hard.

And I'm going to be real honest with you. If it weren't for Jesus, my confidence would have massively been shaken. Because there's been a few times in the midst of all of it where my confidence kind of was shaken. And I found myself going forward. I don't know what to do next. You're going to have to figure this one out for me. And I have always come back to the same thing.

I just, I just had to hold on tight to Jesus because he was my only hope through all of the things that, that I go through in life. I think my last week was a pretty good cross section of what I mean. Let me tell you about my last week. So not this last Friday, but the Friday before I get the call about doc sellers. I just got back from a basketball game and I get to call about doc.

And I'm like, oh, that's hard. I'm going to miss that guy's loud voice. Right. And so I'm going to miss that guy. Well, that exact same week, I got the, I got the call that my great aunt had passed away. And so I was going to be doing that service. And so, and so kind of, kind of just hard going through the weekend. Plus it's just been really busy. And then,

and then Sunday afternoon, I get the call from somebody who I care about dearly about the loss of their father and their family means a lot to me. And so, so it was hard navigated that family through some other stuff too. And so, so it's hard to, to hear that news. My heart broke for them and, and I get up Monday morning and I was kind of stressed about life and work and everything else because, you know, two jobs is a lot.

And so, so I was just kind of, I was kind of stressed about some things. And so, so I was like, I'm just going to, I'm going to go work out and I'm just going to hit it hard today because I just got to let it all go. That's my place where I let go of everything. Right. More than I thought. That's, that's my place where I can just, I deal with, I deal with all of the things of my mind.

And, and I'm like, I'm getting it today. I'm going after it today. Now, listen, I'm not 25 anymore. Right. I know it doesn't show, but I'm not. And apparently you have to live differently when you're not 25 anymore. So I was hitting it hard. And then tore a muscle. And I just, I used to just watch the surveillance video of it in between the girl that goes first service works at the Rexner.

She showed me the surveillance video. I looked even worse on video. So thank you, Jesus. And so I spend all afternoon Monday in the emergency room because I also fell on my melon because I passed out. And I'm just like, Lord, I don't get it. What's going on? And all I knew to do is just hold on tight to Jesus. And that little week right there has been a cross section of the last 10 years of my life.

And I'm not telling you that to feel bad for me. I'm telling you that because I know that's the cross section of some of you all's last 10 years of your life or the last five years of your life. And you're like, my goodness, life is hard. And sometimes when the hard comes, you're like, I just want to quit. I don't want to keep going. I want to be done. I don't want to deal with the garbage of this world anymore.

I don't want to deal with the, how, how difficult it is to walk with Jesus anymore. I just want to forget about all of it. Put my pajamas on, turn the TV on and pretend like the rest of the world doesn't exist. You can't do that. You got to hold fast. You got to hold tight to your confidence. Because if I can confidently tell you that the last 10 years of my life has been hard,

I can also confidently tell you this. The last 10 years of my life, God has been good. And I have watched the faithfulness of God. Show up over and over and over again in my life. And I've watched him show up in some of your lives as well. Because part of God's faithfulness to me is me seeing him be faithful to you. And so I tell you, wherever you sit with your faith right now,

hold on tight, hold fast, maintain the course, because now is not the time to quit. Now is the time to lock in. You've got to lock into your faith. You have to lock into Jesus. For some of you, that means that you need to come to Jesus for the very first time. You need to show up and say, Lord, I know what he's talking about. And life has been hard. And I just need you.

I need you to be my savior now, because I don't know what else to do. And he's got to cry out to Jesus. You don't need to know the right words. You don't need to know the right phrases. You don't have to understand the theology. You just have to know, Lord, help. And he always answers that prayer. And in that moment, you become born again and you become one of his kids.

You are one of the brethren. Now, if that's what he wants for you, and for those of you that have been walking with Jesus for years, I'm here to tell you, just keep holding fast. Just keep holding on. Don't give up now. Lock in. Lock into your time in the word. Lock into your time in prayer. Lock into that relationship with Jesus, because that's what's going to carry you through.

He says, hold fast to your confidence. Hold fast to our confidence and the boast of our heart. Our hope in Jesus, I added in Jesus, but that's what he means. Our hope in Jesus, when? Until the end. All right, and how long do I hang on? Until you can't hang on no more. Until there's, until you're home with Jesus. That's how long you hold on. See, that's the testimony of somebody

that walks with Jesus their entire life, is they held on to Jesus until the very end. And anybody that's walked with Jesus for any amount of time, knows that that's what it requires. I'll go back to one of my favorite stories about a great Bible teacher named Alan Redpath. Alan Redpath was teaching at a, lecturing at a seminary and they opened up a time for Q&A.

And Alan Redpath is an amazing, amazing theologian. And they opened up for questions. And one of the kids raises his hand. Yes, young man. I want to know what the greatest thing you've learned in all of your life is. And all of your years of study are. So Alan Redpath stood there and he thought for a minute. And he looked up at the young man and he said, Jesus loves me.

Yes, I know. The Bible tells me so. Brothers and sisters, the greatest thing that you can know is hold on to Jesus because he loves you more than you can imagine. Amen? Let's all stand.

And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come before you, Lord. And I thank you that you are the God of all salvation. I thank you that you are the God of all hope. Lord, that you are the God of our confidence. And so, Lord, I pray for each person that's here this morning, each person that's watching online that needs their confidence to be restored in you. Lord, that needs to just hold on fast

to stay the course because everything's wanting to pull them away. Lord, I pray that they would, that they would fix their eyes on you, the author and the finisher of our faith. And Lord, that you would reveal yourself to them in new ways. Father, I lift up those here this morning that are on the edge of faith, but they've never made that decision. Lord, their heart's beating a little bit faster

and they're not sure why I'm talking to them, even though I have no idea that I am. But Lord, they need to make that decision today. And so, Lord, I pray that, I pray that your spirit would not let them go that you would continue to pursue them until they finally give themselves over to you. Lord, that they could know the freedom that there is in Christ. And Lord, for each of us here,

I pray that you would keep us close to you. So, Father, do your work in our hearts and lives, the work that only your Holy Spirit can do. And we just pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I love you all. Be blessed. Be blessed.

And Father God, we just thank you for the day. Thank you for allowing us to be here, Lord. Thank you for who you are, for how great you are. We just give you praise because you're worthy of all of our praise. We give you honor because you're worthy.

As we leave here today, I just pray a blessing on each and every one of us.

God bless you guys.