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Hebrews 3     Such a Great Confession       
                          Rev. Tim Muse, BPC 3/17/02 (Faithfulness; Testing)

Introduction

I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Hebrews, chapter 3, as we continue in our sermon series entitled:  Hebrews – New Confidence for the New Order, Responding in Faith to Such a Great Salvation.  I remind you that two weeks ago we looked at the superiority and divinity of Christ in Hebrews, chapter 1.  Last week we looked at the suffering and humanity of Christ in Hebrews, chapter 2.  This morning, we want to consider not only the nature and honor of Christ, but our confession and holding to Christ, as well, as we come now to Hebrews, chapter 3.  Let me ask you to stand in honor of the one, whose word we read.

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 3.

“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. ²He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. ⁶But 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.

⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, ⁸do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,⁹where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. ¹⁰  That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,  and they have not known my ways.’  ¹¹So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ “   ¹²See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. ¹⁵As has just been said:  “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

        ¹⁶Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? ¹⁷And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? ¹⁸And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

Here ends the reading of Word of the Living God, (v. 12) See to it … that NONE OF YOU has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from Him!  You may be seated.

Sermon

WHO can you trust?  WHO can you trust?  Have you ever heard that question before?    Most of us have at one time or another, perhaps at the voting booth, or with building a home and needing a good contractor, with selecting a baby sitter, or perhaps when selecting a heart specialist. 

That question – “WHO can you trust?” may one day become one of the identifying markers of our generation.  Think about it with me … the youth of our day, once referred to as Generation X, (now Y, etc.) tell us they can’t trust their parents because they are too interested in making a name for themselves, so they don’t know who they can trust, though many of them have found answers as well as affection from their grandparents.  As a nation, due to the escalation of terrorism, our security forces and justice system are battling over the issue of racial profiling, because in our nation we are trying to discern and identify who we can trust.  Our news and news talk shows now no longer have one anchorman, but have but have both a conservative as well as a liberal spokesman/woman, so that we can decide “WHO we can trust?”  In the field of religion, as we consider the demise of pluralism, the immorality among the Catholic clergy, etc., we are left to answer the question “WHO can we trust?”  … and you know, on one level, this question is not just true of our day, but of all generations, isn’t it?

As we come to Hebrews 3, we find the scripture answers that question for us.  In v. 1, we read “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, FIX YOUR THOUGHTS on JESUS, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.”  The  phrase “fix your thoughts” comes from a Greek word meaning to “seriously consider, understand, contemplate, etc.”  …meaning we are being asked not just to profess, but to seriously consider and contemplate Jesus.  That’s what I want us to do today!  You may ask though – “Isn’t that what we do every Sunday?”  The answer is:  Yes, but even more-so today as we consider HOW MUCH attention we should give to and place upon Jesus.

Note:  verse one comes in response to chapter two, which concludes with these words “because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is ABLE to help those who are being tempted.”  Heb 3:1  “Therefore, holy brothers, … fix your thoughts on Jesus…”  The truth is that the hardest question we often have to answer is not “CAN a person help us?”, but “WILL a person help us?”  We saw in ch. 1 on the divinity and superiority of Christ, as well as in ch. 2 on the humanity and suffering of Christ, that Christ is ABLE to help us… but the greater question remains … WILL he help us?  And can we count on him to help us in times of trial, trouble, temptation, and tribulation?

In Hebrews 3, we find THREE REASONS why we must PAY ATTENTION and BE OBEDIENT to JESUS CHRIST.

Let me tell you where we are headed.  This morning, I show you that we must pay attention & obey Jesus because (1) He WAS Faithful; (2) He IS Faithful; and (3) in doing so We Prove Ourselves to Be the Faithful.

I.   WE MUST SERIOUSLY CONSIDER AND OBEY CHRIST BECAUSE HE WAS FAITHFUL

This weekend I watched an ESPN show called “The Last Word” where three reporters were being interviews and asked to make comments concerning the recent basketball player who killed his limousine drive.  I was pleasantly surprised that they did not take the crime lightly, but responded that the event was unsatisfactory and needed to be severely dealt with, for a man was dead.”  But it was another comment that grabbed my attention.  One reporter made a comment to the other reporters that the ultimate outcome of this was that in the future, no matter what this basketball player says, they will never be able to believe him, because he lied to them.  As a Christian, who believes in regeneration, and sanctification in Christ, I thought that’s the view of the world and it’s kind of stiff.  But I also realized the point he was making… that if a person has been unfaithful in the past, he may not be trustworthy in the future… or put positively … if a person proved faithful in the past, then he gives reason to at least listen to his word in the future. 

Look at v. 2 “He (Jesus) WAS FAITHFUL to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.” 

To the 1^st century Jew, saying Jesus was faithful “just as Moses” was faithful was no small compliment.  But you might ask, “Wasn’t Moses the one who was rebuked by God and not allowed to enter the promised land because of his unfaithfulness.”  The context helps us understand this.  In v. 5, we read “Moses was faithful as a servant TESTIFYING to what would be said in the future.”  If you go to Numbers 12, where we find God’s testimony concerning Moses as it was spoken in the presence of Miriam and Aaron, you will see this more clearly.  Miriam and Aaron were doing a little racial profiling of their own, for you see they argued against the position Moses held because he had married a Cushite wife.  They argued, saying “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?”  Then, God called Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to come to him at the Tent of Meeting.  After summoning Aaron and Miriam to come forward, he says in v. 6ff  “… ‘Listen to my words:  When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.  But this is not true of my servant Moses:  HE IS FAITHFUL in all my house.  With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; He sees the form of the Lord.’”  … meaning that GOD HIMSELF testified to Moses’ faithfulness.  HE says that Moses communicated truth (concerning His salvation) and was trustworthy.  In this context, now look at v. 2 “{JESUS) was faithful … just as Moses was faithful…”  The extent of this faithfulness is found in the object of his allegiance (the one to whom he was faithful, and the one whose standard of trustworthiness he met in communicating and fulfilling his message of salvation), for you see it is not just my standard or yours that he met, but we read “He was faithful TO THE ONE WHO APPOINTED HIM” (i.e. GOD)  In what capacity did he do this?  Answer – as an “apostle” (messenger and ambassador of God) and as a “high priest” (who represented God to his people, and his people to God, communicating His message of salvation, and offering himself as an acceptable sacrifice).

The point is this:  Because of his personal nature as well as the nature of his past service to God, you and I can and should TRUST JESUS!

Do you?  Do you consider Christ and his Word reliable enough to rest your eternal salvation?  Daily, do you consider him reliable enough to follow as a guide, or do you choose to live by your own wisdom when it differs from his?  Have you in the past refused to accept Christ, his testimony, his counsel? 

You and I should SERIOUSLY CONSIDER his track record, and we will find to be WORTHY of our trust!

II.  WE MUST SERIOUSLY CONSIDER AND OBEY CHRIST BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL

In v. 2, we read “He WAS faithful.”  In v. 6, we read “But Christ IS faithful.”  The former referring to his ministry on earth (note the name Jesus, referring to his humanity and earthly ministry); the latter referring to his present and future reign and ministry in heaven (note the name Christ, referring to him as resurrected Messiah)

What’s interesting is … whereas before the writer of Hebrews used a COMPARISON of Jesus and Moses (BOTH are faithful); he now moves to DISTINGUISH between the two.  In vv. 3-6 we read “Jesus has been found worthy OF GREATER HONOR than Moses, just as the builder of a house has GREATER HONOR than the house itself.  For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.  Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 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.” 

One aspect of this distinction is that Jesus is worthy of greater honor than Moses because he is not a part of the house (church) like Moses, but the Master Builder of the house (church).  In the same way, you and I may “ooh and ahhh” when we look at the beauty of a nice house or mansion. But as Dr. Simon Kistemaker puts it we “reserve tribute and honor for  the architect and builder [and owner] of the house.”

The distinction I want to focus on is found in vv. 5-6.  Here we find parallel verses.
       v. 5  “Moses was faithful AS A SERVANT  IN all God’s house.
       v. 6  “But Christ is faithful AS A SON OVER God’s house.”

Let’s look first at the PREPOSITION.   We read in v. 5 that Moses was faithful  “IN” God’s house, whereas in v. 6 Christ is faithful as a son “OVER” God’s house.   Question – At the same time, BOTH are trustworthy, WHO deserves the GREATER hearing?  For illustration purposes, if you were applying for a substantial loan this week at the local bank, whose word or handshake would you rather have, the jr. loan officer or the CEO?  The point being that if Moses, whose person, and example, and words, deserved to be taken notice of, HOW MUCH MORE CHRIST, who doesn’t just ascend the mountain of the Lord, but resides and sits enthroned on the mountain of the Lord, in heaven above?

Let’s also look at the OFFICE.  In v. 5, Moses was faithful as a SERVANT in all God’s house; whereas in v.6 “Christ is faithful as a SON over God’s house.”  Note:  This is no put down on Moses, for the word slave here is not the common word “doulos”, but in the only place it is found in the New Testament, Moses is referred to as being faithful as a “therapon”, aone who serves out of the honor of his heart, one who served one who is superior and who “solicitously regards his interests and looks after his affairs.”  But even this title cannot compare with the faithfulness of a SON who is put over God’s house and all his affairs.  To illustrate this, if a local restaurant had a great day time supervisor, who served not because he had to but because we wanted to, and at the same time had an owner/manager who was beyond reproach as well, who would deserve the greater honor?  The owner of course!   If Moses, in his capacity as leader of Israel (wherein he remained a part of Israel) deserved the attention of Israel, the HOW MUCH MORE CHRIST (to whom Moses’ life and honor pointed to)? 

You and I should keep the faith because Christ IS faithful!  If Moses’ words, which in v. 5 pointed to what would be said in the future (testifying to our unrighteousness, our waywardness, our need for a Savior, our need to quit depending on ourselves and look to God, etc.); then HOW MUCH Attention (weight) do you believe you ought to put on Christ (who is the fulfillment of all that which Moses referred to)?  Is he worth giving your all?  Is he worth giving up all else?  To what degree of obedience ought you to render to him if indeed he is over God’s house?  And if so, how much attention should you give to his word, and are you?

III. WE MUST SERIOUSLY CONSIDER AND OBEY CHRIST BECAUSE IN DOING SO WE PROVE OURSELVES TO BE THE FAITHFUL

v. 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.”

Here’s the most CRUCIAL PART of this entire matter … when it says “…if we HOLD ON…”

This phrase comes from two words meaning “we should hold” and “firm, or firmly”.  The truth is it’s EASY to profess the faith and hold firm to our faith when times are easy; but it’s a different matter when times of testing, and trial, and temptation come!

In vv. 7-11, the writer quotes Psalm 95:7-11.  There we read “’…Today, if you hear his voice, do not HARDEN your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers TESTED and tried me, though they had seen what I did.  For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.”  So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.’” 

The WARNING the Writer is Giving is this:  There have been others who have gone before us who, though they outwardly experienced deliverance from God and were a part of his people, FAILED to receive and enter in to God’s rest because rather than HOLDING ON to their confession, they ABANDONED it in the time of testing and even incurred the judgment or discipline of God.

Simply put – Here, we find discussion of the wilderness experience of the people of Israel, between their deliverance from Egypt and their entering the Canaan (the promised land).  Egypt represents the time of bondage (similar to your and my being under the bondage of sin – prior to being “saved”), and Canaan represents the promised inheritance for God’s people (Not Only:  heaven; but as also the Earthy portion of our inheritance … not land, but the spiritual blessing promised to God’s people)  (Note:  In Num 14:20, God’s people who committed apostasy were forgiven, but still did not get to enter the lord’s rest (permanent dwelling) on earth.)

There are two references made here. 
First, in v. 8 we read the words “rebellion” and “testing”.  In the Septuagint, the same words are translated “Meribah” and “Massah” in Ps 95:8.   These were the names Moses gave the place where when there was no water, God’s delivered people argued and complained against him.  Ex 17:7  “And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’”

Second, the ultimate rebellion and curse came in Numbers 14, where God’s people opposed obedience to the Lord to go in and take the promised land because of fear of those who currently resided in the land.  When the spies came back and reported to Moses and the people, the people said “we can’t go up… they’re stronger than us”  They raised their voices and wept aloud.  They grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said “If only we had died in Egypt… WHY is the Lord letting us down?  It would be better to go back to Egypt”  … so they suggested choosing another leader to lead them back [my paraphrase]  But, before we get to tough on this people, let us consider that you and I do the same thing!  How often do we know the will of God, but refuse to do it?  Have you ever known you needed to forgive someone, but put it off?  Have you ever grumbled asking “Why is God letting me down?”  Have you ever turned from God’s ways because you felt there’s no way he can or will bring about a victory in doing this or that?  Have you ever decided to make yourself your own leader and do it your way instead of his way?  The truth is when our needs and desires are not met to our own satisfaction, when our enemies seem too powerful, … do we remain faithful and follow the Lord?  Do we speak boldly and confidently concerning the hope we are to have?  When we find ourselves in tough situations, in a tight spot, do we hold on to the faith?  Or, do we want to turn and run, … to cry and complain and grumble against the leaders the Lord has set over us?

v. 10  God says “That is why I was ANGRY with that generation.  And I said: Their HEARTS are ALWAYS GOING ASTRAY.”

How solidly do you stand on Christ and his promises? …enough to stand firm and to hold firmly even when times are tough?

  v. 11  God says “So I declared on oath in my anger ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”  (Even though they were forgiven, they did not get to enjoy his rest here on earth.)

What’s the PROBLEM?  In v. 12, we read “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”   Note:  “turns away” is found in the middle of a “sinful unbelieving heart” and the “living God.”  The point is this:  Apostasy (turning away, being unfaithful/disobedient) results when we doubt!  … when we fail to trust, believe, and depend upon the living God.  For example, when we say or think things like “He must not really care”; “He must not be willing to help me”;  “I can’t count on him to be faithful in this one”; “I’m going to have to handle this one myself, according to my wisdom and ways”.

We find two emphases here.  First, “See to it…”  It’s a DUTY!  Second, it’s a comprehensive and corporate command, for twice we read “none of you..”  We MUST be concerned not only about ourselves but our brothers and sisters in Christ as well.

What is the SOLUTION?  v. 13  “But ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER DAILY…”  When my father used to send my brother off to college, he used to say “Stay out of trouble!”  I thought to myself that that is good, but can be improved upon with the positive by saying “Be GOOD” or better “Be HOLY!”  Here, the writer of Hebrews is saying similarly you and I can make an eternal difference by encouraging one another with our words.  Here’s the way we do it.  Daily, we remind one another that WHEN TESTED, KEEP THE FAITH BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL!   You see, you and I CAN make a difference!

You may say – “This doesn’t apply to me.  I’m saved!”  My answer would be “Look at the rhetorical questions found in vv. 16-17.”  These instructions were written to those holy brothers who had been delivered (v. 16 led out of Egypt), but also to those who had seen the works of the Lord but angered him for 40 yrs through disobedience (they had witnessed God’s grace over and over, but still turned from him in times of testing.)  You and I are NOT IMMUNE!

In v. 14, we read “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly TIL THE END the confidence we had at first. Today, if YOU hear his voice, do not harden YOUR hearts …”

Exhortation: WHEN TESTED, BE FAITHFUL BECAUSE HE IS FAITHFUL!  Fix your thoughts on JESUS, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.  Heb 2:18  “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Prayer

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