Our Authority
Notes
Transcript
Scripture:
Scripture:
Hebrews 3
Theme
Theme
The people of the world need to consider Jesus as their savior.
Introduction
Introduction
The book of Hebrews was written to three or different audiences, all of the Jewish.
Those who believed but still held onto the Jewish Religion.
Those who understood but had not trusted in Jesus.
(Those who are being persecuted)
Those who denied Jesus and lived under the law.
If you will remember the structure of the book, you’ll remember that the author is going through a list of things and people that Jesus is “greater than.”
In chapter 1, the author writes that Jesus is greater than all created things.
At the end of chapter 1 and all through chapter 2, the author writes to prove that Jesus is greater than the angels.
Here, in chapter 3, the author is going to portray Jesus as greater than Moses. He is going to declare that Jesus is the High Priest and the Apostle of God. (v.1)
A. Apostle
A. Apostle
Apostle means “sent one.” [It describes someone that has been commissioned to perform a task on behalf of someone who is credentialed]
This description was used for Moses in the Old Testament.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses was sent on behalf of God to speak with Pharoah and to rescue the people from slavery.
When we were in Genesis 11, we discovered typology. A “type” of something is an Old Testament event that pictured a future event.
Moses pictured Jesus, the One Who sets us free from slavery…and just as we can worship the picture and not the real thing, the Hebrews were worshipping Moses as their savior and not the true savior, Jesus. They were worshipping a type and not the fulfillment.
Like Moses, Jesus was sent on behalf of God to declare His truth. (God thought it, Jesus bought it, the devil fought it, the Holy Spirit wrought it, and thank God I’ve got it!)
The 12 Apostles were sent by Jesus to establish His church. They were credentialed because of Jesus.
And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,
as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel:
If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well,
let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole.
The writer is comparing the two apostles. He is comparing Moses and Jesus in their commission, to show that Moses was great, but Jesus is greater.
B. High Priest
B. High Priest
A high priest serves as a representative and mediator between the people and God. The high priest is the chief priest at a location of worship.
The role of the high priest is described in more detail in the book of Hebrews that in any other New Testament book. Jesus is being described as High Priest here against Moses, will be described that way in comparison to Aaron in chapters 4-5, and is very much described as a priest in Hebrews 7-10
1. Old Testament High Priest
1. Old Testament High Priest
The Old Testament High Priests were there to serve as a represntative between the people an Yahweh (God). The office was established with the brother of Moses, Aaron, and it was their responsibility to ensure that the covenant between the people and God was enforced on the human side. They were there to direct the people to complete the duties of the temple and to complete the law of Moses.
They regularly handled sacrifices and offerings, they were responsible for blessing the people, and they were responsible with atoning for the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement.
All of these things are a foreshadow of the perfect priesthood that culminated in the death, burial, ressurection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, at which point He became our heavenly mediator with God, so that we no longer need an earthly mediator.
1. New Testament High Priest
1. New Testament High Priest
There are three mentioned in the New Testament. Caiaphas, Annas, Ananias.
These men held authority in the theocratic Jerusalem, and they questioned Jesus’s authority the same as the questioned the authority of the Apostles, asking, “By what authority do you do these things?”
When we get to Hebrews 5, we are going to see that Jesus is described as the “incomparable high priest” who can fulfill the duties that no other priest in Israel’s past was able to do.
That is, He was able to fulfill the duties of representing the people and also serving as the mediator between God and humanity. The He does not have to offer repeated sacrifices because He was not a sinner like the other high priests. And that, His sacrifice of Himself was sufficient for all sins for all of time.
Since we know the author of this book is addressing the Jewish believers who held onto the law, the Jews who didn’t fully believe in the Lord Jesus as God’s Son, and the Jews that just didn’t believe at all, it helps us understand why the author is comparing Jesus with these others using the offices of Apostle and High Priest.
There are three things that the author writes about Jesus here to describe Him as the Apostle and High Priest.
I. The House He Built
I. The House He Built
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
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.
For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
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.
Very simply, he is saying that Moses was simply a servant in the house of God and that Jesus is the builder of the house, and he gives some evidence here.
A. A House of Confession
A. A House of Confession
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
In v.1, he implores them as God’s chosen people to consider the Apostleship and the Priestly ministry of Christ Jesus. But he uses the word there “confession” (profession).
Confession means to speak the same thing as another.
That is, we agree with God about our sin, about His word (The Bible), and about His Son. What we do is we “confess” Jesus Christ with our mouth for salvation.
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
So, we are a confessional people that have confessed, we have agreed with God, that we have sinned, that we were wrong, and that Jesus is our Lord.
B. A House For His Honor
B. A House For His Honor
who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
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.
This is the worship of the picture and not the Person. They wanted to worship the servant in the house when they should have been worshipping the builder of the house.
He does not deny that Moses was faithful to God.
Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.
But what the writer is doing is preparing the ground work to tell the Jews that, as good as Moses was, Jesus is greater. That Jesus did not simply serve in the house, but that Jesus built the house, owned the house, and is to be honored because of the house.
Don’t Honor the Picture
Don’t Honor the Picture
We can very easily fall into this trap of worshipping the servants of God and not God Himself. We can very easily fall into the trap of worshipping the buildings dedicated to the expansion of God’s Kingdom and not God Himself.
There is nothing wrong with taking care of things, but when things and when people stand in the way of honoring God, then what you have is idolatry.
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
Those things spoken afterward was the death, burial, ressurection, ascension, and priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus.
C. A House of Possession
C. A House of Possession
but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence
“whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence.”
We will be confused in this book if we don’t get something sorted right now.
Our confidence is that Jesus will bring us back from the dead.
if we hold to that confidence, we can know that we are of the house of God.
Therefore, in the book of Hebrews, it is not going to say that we can be saved and lose our salvation.
The concern in your life is not whether you can retain salvation, the concern is if you possess salvation.
The bottom line is that if we could lose our salvation we would lose it.
So, the security of the believer is not questioned here. What he is speaking of is possession.
We have been purchased by God.
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
We are indwelled with the Spirit of God.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
That we belong to God as His Possession.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
We are a people that have confessed Christ, honor Him and Him alone, and are possessed by Him as His property…yet we have reason for praise.
D. A House of Praise
D. A House of Praise
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.
If you are ever going to appropriate worship God in praise, then you are going to need to be confident in Him.
This is where our rejoicing comes from!
In the hard times, in the darkness, in the insecurity, in the hopelessness, there is a reason for praise. There is a reason that Paul and Silas were able to sing and rejoice in prison. There is a reason that James was able to tell us to count it all joy when we experience persecutions.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
That is our reason for praise…that Jesus is going to bring us to glory. That we are, even now in this broken life, a fellow member in His house. Not merely walking as servants of God, but walking as sons and daughters of God with all the spoil of heaven available to us.
That’s why the House of God, this house of faith, is a house of praise!
II. The Salvation He Produces
II. The Salvation He Produces
A. Salvation through Faith
A. Salvation through Faith
We can think that we produce faith or that we capture faith, but God is the one Who produces faith in us.
This is in part why we go through challenges and hard seasons, because God is teaching us to trust Him.
God is not going to give you a roadmap, what He’s going to do is He is going to give you one step at a time. It’s so that we can learn to trust Him.
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
There is a temptation when we are being persecuted or when we are experiencing a hard season, for us to say, “I tried all that God stuff, and it just didn’t work for me.” But the writer is giving them a warning to test their own hearts, so that they can say, “I will never abandon the promises of God.”
God promises us in His word that we can trust Him, and we would do well to stay the course and run the race with endurance, even when we cannot see. That is called Faith.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
But to clarify the text, when the writer says, “Evil heart of unbelief” he is not trying say that when you are expressing grief to God that it is evil. He is speaking of those Jews who have an unbelieving heart, not those who are experiencing times of doubt.
Doubting is a human condition for which there is grace. Refusing to believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus is a sin condemnable by death.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
B. Salvation Through Encouragement
B. Salvation Through Encouragement
but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
He is telling these to exhort and to encourage one another to fully trust in the Lord Jesus.
Just as the heart applies to both, this does too. That we must encourage those who are down to continue believing that God is going to work out their life in a way that is meaningful and unexepected.
At the same time, we must encourage those who are unbelieving or almost believing that Jesus is the Son of God so that they may be saved.
We cannot give up on people who are almost there, we must encourage them!
C. Salvation by Grace
C. Salvation by Grace
For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Since we are here with a Jewish audience, we must consider that they are still trying to earn their salvation by keeping the law.
This is not uncommon even for us. If you practice any evangelism at all, you’re going to find that people will say, “I am a good person so I am going to Heaven.”
The writer says, “Salvation comes through faith, encourage those who are unbelieving to follow Jesus, and tell them to accept His grace.”
v. 15 describes the negative response to our exhortations…it describes people who plainly hear the Word of God and then reject the Word, resulting in the hardening of the heart.
“as in the rebellion”. What he is doing is pointing them back to Numbers 13, which was a defining point in the life of Israel, where they, as a congregation, rebelled against the commands of God and forfeited the covenant to enter into the Promised Land.
As bad as that was, the stakes are much higher because they are going to be denied entry into Heaven. Therefore, the writer exhorts them not to harden their hearts but to receive the grace of God.
III. The Rest He Offers
III. The Rest He Offers
What prevents us from keeping in His rest?
A. Hard-Heartedness
A. Hard-Heartedness
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
B. Sin
B. Sin
Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
All sin boils down to rebellion against God’s authority.
C. Disobedience
C. Disobedience
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
That phrase “did not obey” means that they did not allow themselves to be persuaded that God is worthy of obeying. That God will keep His promises. As a result, they could never enter into His rest.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is Apostle and High Priest, and He alone deserves our worship.
He built the house of God and receives all honor.
He produces everything that is good and that is highlighted in the salvation of mankind.
He offers the world rest, and yet we allow our hearts to become hard, we allow sin to entangle us again, and we live in disobedience to God.
