Hebrews 3:1-6 (Greater Than Moses- Jeff Kliewer)

Darkness we are waiting, without hope, without light.

From heaven you came running, there was mercy in your eyes.

To fulfill the law and promise, to a virgin came the

Word. From a throne of endless glory, to a cradle in the dirt.

Praise the Father, praise the

Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.

God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the

King of kings. To reveal the kingdom coming, and to reconcile the lost.

To redeem the whole creation, you did not despise the cost.

For even in your suffering, you sought to the other side.

Knowing this was our salvation, Jesus for our sake you died.

Praise the Father, praise the

Son, praise the Spirit, three in one.

God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the

King of kings. In the morning that you rose, all of heaven held its breath.

Till the stone was moved for good, for the Lamb had conquered death.

And the blood was slung to the tomb, and the angels stood in awe.

For the souls of all who'd come, to the Father was restored.

At the church of Christ was born, and the Spirit lit the flame.

Now the gospel truth of all, shall not kneel and shall not faint.

God in blood, in His name, in His freedom

I am free. For the love of Jesus Christ, who has resurrected me.

Praise the Father, praise the

Son, praise the Spirit. God of glory, majesty, praise forever to the

King of kings. Praise forever to the

King of kings. In 1

Chronicles 16, we read, give thanks to the Lord, our God and King.

His love endures forever. Let's continue to sing about His faithfulness.

Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King. His love endures forever.

For He is good, He is above all things. His love endures forever.

Sing praise, sing praise.

At an outstretched arm, His love endures forever. For the heart that is high, has been reborn.

His love endures forever. Sing praise, sing praise.

Sing praise, sing praise.

Forever, God is faithful. Forever, God is strong.

Forever, God is faithful. Forever, God is strong.

Forever, His love endures forever.

By the grace of God, we will carry on forever.

Sing praise, sing praise.

Sing praise, sing praise.

Forever, God is faithful. Forever, God is strong.

Forever, God is faithful.

Lord, You are the Lord that we sing to, not just because we're commanded to, but because we love

You, and we want to show honor and glory to Your name. It's the overflow of our heart,

Lord Jesus, to sing praises to Your name. Lord, there's nothing that we can do but thank

You. We are humbled by Your love and Your sacrifice to us.

We are thankful every day in everything that we do. We sing hallelujah to You.

When I see the beauty of a sunset's glory, amazing artistry across the evening sky.

When I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy, it awes and humbles me to be loved by a

God so high. What can I do but thank

You? What can I do but give my life to You? Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but praise You every day, make everything

I do? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

When I hear the story of a God of mercy who shared in humanity and suffered by our side.

Of the cost they nailed you to that could not hold you.

Now you're making all things new by the power of Your risen life.

What can I do but thank You? What can I do but give my life to You?

Hallelujah, hallelujah. What can

I do but praise You every day, make everything

I do? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but thank You? What can

I do but give my life to You? Hallelujah, hallelujah.

What can I do but praise You every day,

Hallelujah, hallelujah. What can I do but thank

You? What can I do but praise

You every day, make everything I do? Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

You may be seated. All right,

Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews 3, we'll do 1 to 6. If you need a

Bible, you can just lift your hand. We have a couple in the back. We can get you one. I think

Eric is on that task. I just appointed him. Hebrews chapter 3, verses 1 to 6.

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all

God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now, Moses was faithful in all

God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.

And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning aware that we do not stand by our own faithfulness.

It is your faithfulness to us that keeps us. You are able to make us stand.

We thank you that you keep us from stumbling, and yet you do call us to be faithful and we desire that,

Lord, and we ask that you would give us all that we need for this life and godliness. We pray that this morning you would teach us faithfulness by your

Holy Spirit, by your word. Lord, you have always been faithful.

Every promise that you've ever made to us has been yes and amen. You are a faithful God, and if we are faithless, you remain faithful, for you cannot disown yourself.

We thank you, God, that you are true and you are faithful, and we pray that you would change us this morning to be more like you, less like our old nature.

In Jesus' name, amen. We as Americans and probably all around the world, people love the discussion of the

GOAT. The GOAT is the discussion of who is the greatest of all time, the

GOAT. So this discussion can be had in football and basketball. I even hear guys talking about it regarding chess.

Apparently there was a guy named Kasparov who dominated the chess world from like the 1980s till the early 2000s.

But now there's a guy named Magnus Carlsen who might be the GOAT. He might supplant this

Kasparov. Of course, we've all heard of Bobby Fischer. He's got to be in the conversation of the greatest of all time chess players.

And then, of course, there is the great discussion of who is the greatest baker. Is it

Buddy or Duff? Anybody watch that on the Food Network? No, you guys don't watch that.

Buddy and Duff, these are these two bakers. They make big cakes. And one of the guys, his head is bigger than the cakes he makes.

That would be Buddy. So, you know, everybody has this discussion of who is the greatest of all time.

We were even on vacation one time. We turned on the TV. There was nothing to watch in the hotel room. So we started watching a foosball tournament.

No, I did not say football. I said foosball, where you spin the little players. And it was the championship.

And finally, this guy named Speedamon won. And the commentators went crazy like they just won the

Super Bowl. Speedamon is the greatest of all time. He's the GOAT. They were all excited about this.

We love to talk about who is the GOAT. But for all of the greatness of humanity, and for every realm of human endeavor, there is a

GOAT. For all of this discussion, humans are not that great after all.

There was a forest stranger in Yosemite National Park who was asked why it is that the trash bins are so hard to design.

They can never come up with a trash bin that keeps the bears out. And why is this so hard?

I mean, it's the year 2020. You think you could come up with a trash can that keeps the bears out. Well, the forest ranger said wittily, there is a considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.

And I can attest that's true. We were up in the Smoky Mountains and I was the one who took the trash from our little ice cream and hot dog meal that we had up on top of Anakista.

And I found this trash can and it took me a good minute or two to figure out how do I even open this thing?

So I was one of the dumbest tourists. So humanity is not that great after all. Now, humanity at its peak, you have guys that go to the moon.

You know Buzz Aldrin actually took communion before setting foot on the moon when Neil Armstrong and them went up there back in the 1960s?

Before he got off of that shuttle, he took communion. Pretty cool fact. That's just for free on the side.

But the point is, humanity is capable of greatness and we love this idea of who is the greatest.

And the main idea today is that Jesus is the greatest.

I know I'm gonna get an amen on that. Jesus is the greatest and he's categorically greater than any other man.

We'll see why this is important as we get into the discussion of Moses and Jesus. So where are we in Hebrews as we get into the third chapter?

Well, the point of the book is to consider Jesus. Those two words, consider

Jesus, that's what Hebrews is about. The book is all about Jesus, about his greatness.

And the author is presenting to us an argument that Jesus is greater. Because the

Hebrew background believers, these Israelites who had come to faith in Christ, are being tempted to go back to Judaism.

They're tempted to leave Christianity behind because Judaism is a state -sanctioned religion.

They won't be persecuted in the Roman Empire and persecution has broken out upon the church.

So now you have the temptation to leave Christ for the old system, for Moses and the law and the old covenant.

So they're being tempted in that way and the author of Hebrews writes this book to say don't drift away, don't go back, don't trample underfoot the sacrifice that was made for you.

Consider Jesus. He's greater. And so the first comparison is he's greater than angels.

Angels are winds and fires. They're amazing beings but they exist to worship

Jesus and they serve the saints. Chapter 1, verse 14. Well, man is made for a little while lower than the angels.

So how does that factor in? Psalm chapter 8. Man was made a little while lower. If Jesus is a man, isn't he lower than angels?

So in chapter 2 we learn well actually man was made to be exalted over the creation.

To have dominion on the earth and where man fell into sin Jesus is the new Adam who does rule and reign and all glory and honor is given to him.

He fulfills for humanity what the rest of us failed to do. That's Hebrews chapter 2. He's not ashamed to call us brothers because he brings us with him into that rain and so Psalm 8 is fulfilled in him.

And that brings us to chapter 3. We've talked about Jesus now greater than angels. Here the point is

Jesus is greater than Moses. And you need to understand Moses is esteemed by the

Jews not as just one among many great prophets. Moses is in a category all by himself.

We'll see that as we get into the text. So Jesus is greater than Moses. Therefore holy brothers you who share in a heavenly calling consider

Jesus. There it is. That's the theme of the book. Consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

Think about Jesus. He was the one that God sent. Apostle means sent one. He's the high priest.

He's the one that can help us. We're all tempted here. None of us has conquered the flesh entirely.

We now have risen above and we're perfectly sanctified and no longer subject to covetousness or pride.

All of us still struggle with sin. We're tempted. But look at the previous verse. Chapter 2 verse 18.

He himself has suffered when tempted. He's able to help those who are being tempted. Therefore consider

Jesus. Now brothers and sisters this is the key to life.

This is the path to greatness. The key to life and the path to greatness is to look at Jesus.

Whatever we try to do in the flesh will ultimately amount to nothing. But if we'll follow the path of the

Greeks of John chapter 5 we will be honored. If you want to turn there you can but I just want to read a couple verses

I'm sorry, from John chapter 12. John 12 verses 20 to 26. To summarize the story there were some

Greeks who came looking for Jesus and they found Philip. And they said,

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. Now as I say that I'm reminded of my little pulpit here.

You guys see this? I have affixed that verse on my pulpit. It's a reminder to me.

The most important thing is Jesus. And my job as a preacher, Sir? Preacher?

We want to see Jesus. That's you talking to me every Sunday. You remind me. Sir, we want to see

Jesus. And I'm reminded my job as a preacher is to tell you about Christ. I need to bring

Christ into every sermon. Exalt Him, His work, His sacrifice, His resurrection. Sir, we want to see

Jesus. This comes from John chapter 12. Sir, we want to see Jesus. Well, Philip goes and gets

Andrew. And Andrew and Philip go to Jesus. And Jesus gives an interesting answer. He says, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit.

He goes on to say, in the same way, you must lose your life to find it. If anybody wants to follow me, he says, you have to lose your life to find it.

And then Jesus said, and I will honor him. Point being, this is the key to life.

This is the path to greatness. Sir, we want to see

Jesus. When you begin to look at Jesus Christ, you set your eyes on Him, you see

His glory, you begin to follow Him. And in looking at Him, He makes you like Him.

As you follow in His steps, you turn away from your old life, you follow Him, you become like Him, and in the end, this is how

He will honor you. I learned that from John chapter 12, verse 20 through 26.

In verse 26 it says, if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Honor Him. That's true greatness. The path to greatness is to look at Jesus and become like Him by seeing

Him. We are ultimately changed not by stifling our desires, but by being captured by a higher desire.

As we see Christ for who He is, and we behold His glory, we're being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another.

Our faces become unveiled and we look to Him and He makes us like Him. So really this verse, chapter 3, verse 1, is the key to the book of Hebrews.

It's consider Jesus. You're not going to resist temptation without Him. You're not going to overcome the devil, overcome your anxieties, your fear of death, without Him.

The key to the Christian life is consider Jesus. So what then is the definition of greatness?

What does God regard as greatness? Well, in a word, faithfulness. Look at what made

Moses great and what makes Jesus great in this comparison. Chapter 3, verse 2. Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed

Him, just as Moses also was faithful in all

God's house. Key word, faithful. This passage exhorts us to be faithful.

We'll see that in the 6th verse. But the point of it here is Jesus is faithful like Moses is faithful.

So the comparison is not going to be like a put -down party. Have you guys ever seen one of those where it's like some guy sits in the middle and everybody sits around and makes fun of him for an hour?

It's like on their 21st birthday or something. Terrible thing to do, by the way. But that's not what this is.

This is not a put -down party against Moses. Moses is regarded as a great example.

Only Jesus is something super great. Even better. Way better. That's what we're getting at.

But what made Moses great? In a word, faithfulness. The word in the

Greek is piston. Piston. First of all,

I'll give you the Webster kind of dictionary first and then I'll give you the biblical definition. If you look online for a definition of faithfulness, you'll get things like this.

True to one's word. If somebody's faithful, they're true to their word. Steady in allegiance.

Steady in affection. A faithful person is steady, true to their word. We think of a faithful spouse.

A faithful spouse is someone who doesn't break their marriage vows. What they pledge to do, they do.

In sickness and in health. In the better and the worse. And by the way, you never test faithfulness until you get the worse and the sickness, right?

It's the hard times that test whether you'll be a faithful spouse or not. Faithfulness.

But see, biblically, it comes from the word pistone, which has the same root as faith.

Pistis in the Greek. So biblically, being faithful is not just being true to whatever you pledged.

Faithfulness is being true to what He says. Because faith is taking

God at His word. Flip a few pages to Hebrews 11, the famous hall of faith.

If not a definition of faith, we get at least a strong description of what faith is.

Hebrews 11, 1 and 2. Now faith, pistis, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

For by it, the people of old receive their commendation. This is what pleases God. Without faith, you cannot please

God. So what is faith? It's to take God at His word. It's to be sure of what you hope for.

So the kids in the room, there's probably some Christmas gift that you hope for, right?

But you're not sure you're gonna get it. You hope that you get it. Faith is like a sure, convicted kind of hope.

You know that you're going to get it. You've been promised it and you trust the promise. It's a conviction of things not seen.

You don't yet have the promise, but you're convicted that you will have it.

Here's an example of Moses having faith and therefore he lives as a faithful man.

11, 24. Follow the page a little farther to Hebrews 11, 24.

It says, by faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

That's faithful. He's willing to suffer for what's right. He's gonna be faithful even in a harder situation.

Why? Verse 26. He considered the reproach of Christ. Time out.

Was Christ even around yet in the time of Moses? No, but he's looking what?

Forward to the promised Christ, Messiah. He's looking to the promise of Christ.

He considered that greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward.

See that? Faith is looking forward to the promise and a faithful person is willing to suffer for that.

There's something that you're willing to give up in the here and now to faithfully trust in a promise of something bigger and better.

So faithfulness is willing to suffer, to be obedient, because you're looking forward to what was promised to you.

So it requires faith. Faith is at the root of faithfulness. Now, so that's what it is.

Chapter 3, verse 2. That's what makes Moses great. So let's consider

Moses in verses 3 and 4. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

How much glory does Moses have? How great is

Moses? I said earlier, Moses was considered not just a little better, but on a whole different level than any other prophet.

The Jews held Moses to the highest esteem. He was top among all of the prophets, ahead of all of them by far.

What was so great about Moses? I'll say it was his faithfulness. Moses was faithful.

He was willing to leave the treasures of Egypt to go and be identified with the

Hebrews. That was a sacrifice on his part, but he was faithful to it.

An early and great example of Moses' faithfulness, well, he was really 80 years old when this happened, but he went to the burning bush and he saw this strange sight, how the bush was on fire, but it wasn't consumed.

And standing on holy ground, God speaks to him and says, Moses, throw it down. Throw down your staff.

And when he did, his staff became a snake. Now God spoke.

And he said, pick it up, Moses. Faithfulness required him to obey the promise, to believe

God, rather than what he sees with his eyes. And I don't know about you, but I would be very scared to grab that snake by the tail.

It would be so hard to force my flesh to do it because everything in me would say, no, don't grab that tail.

That's the one thing you don't do to a snake. Maybe grab it by the head just back here because then you can control it, right?

But don't grab it by its tail because you're gonna get hit. But in faith and in faithfulness, he grabbed it and up he lifted it and it became a staff in his hand.

And he went to Egypt and he stood before the most powerful man on earth and he declared, let my people go at risk of his life.

And then God sent the plagues of blood and gnats and frogs and flies and darkness and cattle dying and boils all over people's bodies.

Finally, the death of the firstborn and Moses faithfully slayed the lambs and they marked the doorposts and the angel of death passed over and they were set free from their bondage in Egypt and so they came to the

Red Sea. And there he saw the armies of Egypt closing in on him and his own people ready to kill him.

What have you done to us? They're gonna run us over. Pressure from the outside and from within. And he held up that staff and he said, be still and see the salvation of our

God. He stood strong, faithful, even in trial. And he lifted up that staff and the

Red Sea split and they walked through on dry ground. A faithful man.

And they grumbled again and again, didn't they? 10 times they tested him. But never did Moses stop interceding for them.

There were times when God himself said, I am done with these people. I'm gonna kill them and start a whole new nation with you,

Moses. And Moses interceded and said, no, that will dishonor your name. The peoples of the nations will see it.

And so he interceded for them and God mercifully relented. Right?

Moses was faithful in all of these things. Faithful as an 80 year old until 120 year old, wandering for 40 years.

Never gave up hope, never stopped obeying the voice of God, built the tabernacle, built the

Ark of the Covenant, brought manna from heaven, water from a rock.

Moses, the most faithful of all men. But who is the greatest of all time?

Answer, Jesus. Some will argue is LeBron or MJ, the greatest basketball player.

Answer, Jesus made LeBron and Jesus made MJ. Jesus made

Brady and Manning. Jesus made Speedamon, the foosball player. Jesus made

Moses. As the builder of the house is greater than the house he built, so Jesus is categorically greater.

See, Moses is only a reference point. The greatest of all men who ever lived, let's just say, because he was the most faithful.

He was so willing to suffer and be a servant to God's people, to give up all the comforts that were afforded to him, and he did all this and brought

God's people out, the greatest of all men. There's your reference point to say as great as he is,

Jesus is categorically higher and greater that Moses can't lift a candle to him.

Moses, ask him the question. Moses, when you threw down the staff and it became a snake, and when you picked it up and it became a staff, how did you do that?

You know what he says? I don't know. Because it was

Jesus who had the power to transform one thing into another. The same power that changed this dead, sinful man into a living, beating heart that loves the

Lord. He had the power to change this heart of stone to a heart of flesh. He can change a staff back and forth.

When Moses stood at the Red Sea and he lifted up his staff and the water split,

Moses, how did you do it? How did you split the Red Sea? I don't know.

I held up a stick. But Jesus, to whom the wind and the waves give deference.

The wind and waves obey him. He had the power to speak to the

Red Sea and split it. I don't know where he was pre -incarnate before he took on flesh, but I picture him standing in the middle of the

Red Sea saying, Depart. He was the power that held back the waters that day.

And when Moses heard the people grumbling and God sent manna, it was

Jesus who blew with his mouth. And thousands of tons of manna appeared on the ground every morning.

And Jesus is that bread. And that rock that split and water came out to feed two million

Jews in the wilderness. I mean, to give water to two million Jews in the wilderness. It was

Jesus who was that rock and he was that water. He was the one accomplishing these great things.

He was the power. He was the builder. Moses was just a servant in God's house.

The best place to see this distinction between Moses and other prophets and other great men and women is

Numbers chapter 12. In Numbers chapter 12, you have Moses' own brother and sister who were great in and of themselves by their own right.

Moses' brother Aaron and his sister Miriam One day, they got to talking to each other like, why does

Moses think he's above us? Doesn't God speak to us just like he speaks to Moses?

And so they started grumbling and complaining. Finally, God said, meet me at the tent.

Now that's like when the dad says we're going behind the woodshed. This is not gonna be good for you.

And God speaks to Aaron and Miriam and he says, why were you not afraid to speak like this about Moses?

Moses is the meekest man on the earth. Interesting. If any of you have arguments in your home about who's the humblest, which is a funny conversation, funny banter,

Moses actually was. He was the meekest in all the earth. And God goes on to say, when

I give a vision to another prophet, to other prophets, let's say Zechariah or Ezekiel or Isaiah, they see things in types and they see images and visions.

Not so with Moses. When I speak to Moses, I speak to him face to face.

Mouth to mouth. Moses saw God. He saw his glory pass by him.

And the point was, Moses was faithful in all God's house. Actually, if you look at chapter three, verse two, where it says in all

God's house, that comes from Numbers chapter 12. As Moses is the most humble,

God is saying he's the most faithful in all God's house. There's nobody else that compares.

He's on a whole different level than the rest of humanity. So the point in Hebrews three, three and four, is

Moses is at this whole other level, but Jesus is greater, like the builder is greater than the house he builds.

You see how high Jesus is being exalted in this? We want to explain how great.

He's the goat. Moses is the goat. He's greater than any of us. Far more faithful.

But Jesus is greater than Moses, categorically, by far.

No comparison. In fact, in verse four, you have what's called a syllogism, or in mathematical terms, this would be the transitive property of equality.

Remember that from eighth grade, ninth grade math? A equals B, B equals C, therefore,

A equals C, right? Remember that? You're like, why are we doing math right now?

In verses three and four, you have the builder of the house has more honor than the house, right?

So what's greater? The builder is greater than the house. Verse four, every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is

God. So if Jesus is the builder, A equals

B, and the builder is God, B equals

C, A equals C, Jesus is God!

And there's many people that say, well, the Bible never directly says that Jesus is God. You don't need a rocket scientist to hear what this is saying.

The builder of all things is God. Jesus is the builder of Moses, the builder of all things.

Jesus is God. He's God in flesh. A whole different level.

Verse five now. What about Moses? Now, Moses was faithful. There's that word again, pestone.

He was faithful in all God's house as a servant. Interesting. What makes him great is that he's serving.

He's dying to himself. He's interceding for others. He's serving others to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

In John chapter five, the Pharisees didn't get this. They thought

Moses was the goat and that's all they needed. And so they're like, well, we don't care about this

Jesus. He doesn't fit what we're expecting. But Jesus points out that he's testified to by the signs that he does.

You should believe the miracles that he does. He walks on water. He stills the storm.

He raises Lazarus. Blind eyes are being opened. The deaf hear. Lazarus has risen from the dead and you can go talk to him, right?

These signs testify that Jesus is God. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to hear

John the Baptist. So finally Jesus says, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life.

But these are they that testify of me. And in John chapter five, verse 45 to 47, he says this,

Do not think that I will accuse you to the father. There is one who accuses you,

Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed

Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?

Well, that corresponds perfectly with Hebrews 3 .5. Moses was faithful as a servant.

What does he do? What's the main thing that Moses was sent to do? To testify to the things that were to be spoken later.

And so he writes in Deuteronomy 18 .15 that there's coming a prophet like me, says

Moses, and you must listen to everything he has to say. This is how you'll know him.

What he says comes to pass. And if anything he says doesn't come to pass, he has spoken presumptuously and he's a false prophet.

That's why when Joseph Smith comes and says, the temple will be rebuilt here in Missouri, and to this day it's just a grass field.

Presumptuous prophet, don't be afraid of him, don't listen to him. When Muhammad called the year that Constantinople would fall, and it didn't.

False prophet, presumptuous, don't listen to him. But when Jesus said that not one stone will be left upon another in the temple, but every one would be thrown down.

And just less than 40 years later, exactly what he said came true. You know he's a true prophet.

And when he said, this gospel shall be preached to all the nations, and then the end will come.

True prophet, it's happening in our day. Jesus is a true prophet. He's the greater Moses.

Deuteronomy 34, Moses wrote, another one would come. Who does the signs and wonders?

Well here's Jesus doing the signs and wonders. Greater signs, greater wonders than what even

Moses did. So Moses testified of Christ. Lastly, the attention of the verse is turned from this comparison between Moses and Jesus to us.

Because guess what? The author of Hebrews really wants us not just to hear, but to make application to our lives.

And here's where it happens in verse six. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

This is a call to faithfulness. You who prayed the prayer when you were young, and you're still sitting here 40, 50 years later, that faithfulness testifies to the truth of the prayer that you prayed.

It wasn't the prayer that saved you, but nowadays, you know, in 2020, American evangelicalism, you have many people that will tell you that if you pray the prayer and you sign your name in the

Bible, you're saved. I had someone tell me the other day he knows of a guy who's like a, someone who prayed the prayer 20 years ago, but now he's like a homosexual

Buddhist guy or something. And some other guy is saying, well, he's still saved.

He prayed the prayer. So he's gotta be saved. Not according to this verse.

You see it? We are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

I want you to notice the tense of these verbs. We are his house.

Is that something future or present? Present.

It doesn't say we will be his house if we hold fast the confidence we had at first.

It doesn't say will be, future. It says we are. We already are. We are born again.

We're a new creation in Christ. We're sealed with the Holy Spirit. We belong to him. We're kept. We're genuine, true.

Well, how do you know that? If. You see, the if is the proving forth of what exists.

It's the fruit that proves the root. So it says here, if we indeed hold fast.

You hold fast what? Your confidence. That's another word for faith. Assure faith.

Hebrews 11 .1. It's a conviction, a certainty of things that you're believing and are boasting in our hope.

Not boasting in yourself. You're boasting in the promise of the gospel. And that hope is Christ. So the one who's genuinely saved will continue in the faith.

Continue. Colossians 1 .23 says the same thing. If we continue.

If we're steadfast. We're actually gonna see it in a few verses. Chapter 3 verse 14 says the same thing.

If indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. How do you know that somebody was not genuinely converted?

First John tells us, they go out from us. Why do they go out from us?

They were never of us. Had they been of us, they would have remained with us. So the teaching here is that faithfulness proves.

It's an evidence. It's a fruit that someone has been converted. Now don't put your faith in faith.

And don't put your faith in faithfulness. Be faithful.

Keep your faith and your hope and your boast in him. If we are faithless, meaning we stumble, he remains faithful.

And he will not disown himself. So it's Christ that's keeping you. Jude 24 and 25.

He can keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before his throne with great joy. It's him that's doing the work of keeping you.

Well then what's my part? Well this is a bit of a, I don't know what the term is, but it's kind of two things that coexist.

I need Rick Thompson here to give me the English word for it. But two things that are both true at the same time in a different sense.

Philippians 2, 12 and 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

That's one thing. That's faithfulness. You need to work out your salvation. And you should do it with fear and trembling.

This is before a holy God. You need to be serious and respectful and devout about how you work out your salvation.

Second thing. For it is God who works in you to will and to do according to his good purpose.

Somehow those two things are not at odds with one another. They're two things that are true at the same time.

We must remain faithful till the end. If these Jews apostatize and go back to Judaism and trample underfoot the sacrifice that was made for them by Christ, they're lost.

They're not just saved people that have wandered. If they reject Christ and their confidence and they think

Moses is enough, forget about Jesus, they're lost. They must remain faithful.

And so that's the call here in Hebrews 3, 1 to 6. So in closing then, this is now turned on us.

This is a call for us to be faithful. And that will really be borne out when things get hard.

When you're tempted, will you be obedient? When your friends start making fun of you for your faith, will you still hold your confidence and will you boast not ashamed of the gospel?

That's when faithfulness is proven. Not when things are easy, but when things are hard. In sickness and in health.

Make it your goal in life to be found faithful. Yes, it's good to desire to be the greatest at what you do.

Be the greatest insurance salesman in New Jersey. Go for it. Nothing wrong with that.

But make it the ambition of your life to be found faithful.

Faithfulness is the charge here. And so in closing, we remember the faithfulness of Moses and the greatness of Christ.

Moses was faithful by grabbing that snake by the tail. Moses actually rescued seven women from shepherds.

These were probably burly dudes. And he fought them off so that she could get water. Moses stood on holy ground and spoke to God.

Whereas other prophets had learned that he's God, he's Adonai, Moses heard his name,

Yahweh. Moses held up his staff and the

Nile was turned to blood. Frogs, gnats, flies, livestock die. Boils, hail, locusts, darkness, the firstborn.

Moses defeated Amalek by holding up his hands with his friends helping him. Moses went to Mount Sinai as the people feared and even the mountain trembled.

Moses received the Ten Commandments. Moses fasted for 40 days. Moses received instructions, the law.

He built the Ark of the Covenant. He built the tabernacle. Can you think of all of this? He averted judgment by interceding.

He ground the golden calf and made them drink it. Moses' face shined with glory from spending time in the presence of God.

Moses spoke face to face with God. God himself buried him.

This is a faithful man. But as great as he is, it was

Jesus who built Moses. Jesus was the power of Moses' faithfulness.

And Jesus was the object in whom Moses trusted. So, let's remember

Jesus. Risen from the dead, offspring of David. Let's set our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

Amen. Let's pray. So, God, we thank you so much for this comparison.

It's so good for us to think about the faithfulness of Moses. The world would call him the goat when it comes to faithfulness.

And yet Moses himself would testify to his own weakness. Moses struck the rock in anger and was not allowed to go into the promised land.

And likewise, many times in our lives, we are faithless, Lord, and we confess that. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

But, Lord, this day we pray that you would fortify your people, make us faithful, men and women, children.

Lord, our desire is to be found faithful on that day. Like the virgins who had the oil, like the steward who returned faithfully ten talents, though he was only given five.

Like the ones who fed the hungry, visited the prisoners, and did it for you.

Lord, we pray that we would be found faithful. We pray that you would forgive us,

Lord. We thank you for your grace. We know it's your grace that's keeping us.

It's not our faithfulness that's keeping us faithful. But today we consider

Jesus. Help us to see him, follow him, be like him, and so be honored with him in glory one day.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. As we finish with one last song, will you please stand?

Finishing 1 Chronicles 16, verse 36. Praise the Lord who lives from everlasting to everlasting.

And all the people shouted amen and praise the Lord. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him all creatures here below.

Praise him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise him all creatures here below.

Praise him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.