Jesus: Greater Than Moses (Hebrews 3-4)

Kootenai Church

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If you're not there already, will you please turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 3. Let us pray together before we begin.

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Our Lord, we ask you to do for us what we can never do on our own and by ourselves. If you had not given us your word and revealed to us the truth, we would never have it.

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And if you do not illuminate our hearts and our minds to understand the truth, then we could never understand it. And if you do not empower us to obey it, we will never be able to obey it.

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As we pray that you would send your spirit to be our teacher and our guide to that end that we may not only have, but understand your word and not just understand it, but joyfully obey it.

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We pray that you would sanctify us by the truth, for the glory of Christ our King, in whose name we pray.

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Amen. Several years ago, our family went on a cross -country road trip over to the

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East Coast. And one of the sites that we visited, among others, was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And that, for me, was the highlight of the trip, because it was surreal to stand right in front of Independence Hall on the cobblestone streets where George Washington and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and all of those men walked themselves.

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And then to step inside of Independence Hall and to see where the Declaration of Independence was signed, to stand in that very room and see the very furniture that was there, that was surreal.

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One of the other places that we got to visit was the place where the Declaration of Independence was drafted, where it was written. And you would think, you might think, that that was

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Independence Hall, but it wasn't. That's where the Declaration was signed and then publicly read for the first time.

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And we got to stand underneath the balcony where it was publicly read for the very first time. That was pretty cool as well. But it was drafted in what is today called the

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Gaff House, and it's several blocks from Independence Square. And back in the days of Thomas Jefferson, the

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Gaff House was on the other end of Philadelphia. Today, it's just on the other side of Starbucks in downtown

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Philadelphia. It's not that far away. It's just several blocks. We walked there from Independence Hall that day. And the

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Gaff House is a narrow, little three -story brick building. It looks, in the pictures, and being there, it looks like it's maybe 20 feet wide at the most, maybe 40 feet long.

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It's three stories. And on the third floor of that is where Thomas Jefferson rented a room from a lady whom

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I'm assuming her last name was Gaff. And he rented that room from the Gaffs when he was there in Philadelphia during the summer months.

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And that's where he drafted the Declaration of Independence. So we got to see that building. And what was quite striking about the building itself was that it sat on the corner of a very busy intersection in downtown

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Philadelphia. On one street was four lanes, and people were standing there waiting for the bus. And this building looked like a bubble of the past surrounded by modernity.

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And all of the buildings that were around it were far more modern and far larger than this little, tiny, three -story

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Gaff House. And as I stood there and watched all the people standing there walking by with their briefcases and riding by on their bikes and driving by in their cars,

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I thought to myself, the people who are surrounding this little, tiny house have no idea as to the significance of that house.

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They seem oblivious to it. And yet, if it weren't for that building and what happened there in the summer months of 1776, the lives of all of these people would be radically different than it is today.

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And they seemed oblivious to that as they walked by it and drove by it. And this just was, to them, another little old, quaint brick building on the corner of an intersection inside of Philadelphia.

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It is impossible, and it occurred to me that day, it is impossible for us as Americans to explain or to understand life as we know it today, or the last 250 years of our national life, apart from what was done on the top floor of the

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Gaff House in downtown Philadelphia. It's impossible. It is likewise impossible for us to understand or to explain

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American history or the writing of the Declaration of Independence or the writing of the Constitution or even the

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Revolutionary War apart from George Washington. Imagine trying to explain American history without ever mentioning

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George Washington. Would you be able to do that? Well, of course you could. You couldn't do it in an honest fashion. But it is done inside of schools and universities all across our country each and every day.

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But in no honest fashion could you explain the history of the United States without referencing George Washington.

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Now, I give all of that not as some slobbering tribute or homage to the founding fathers of our nation, but by way of analogy.

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Just as it is impossible for us to explain or understand American history and life as we know it today apart from Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, so it would have been impossible for a first -century

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Jew to understand or conceive of the nation of Israel apart from reference to Moses and to Joshua.

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In fact, it would have been even more so. The homage that a first -century Jew gave to Moses was unparalleled.

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And therefore, it is necessary for the author of Hebrews in making the case for the supremacy and preeminence of Jesus Christ to remind his readers and establish for his readers that Jesus is greater than Moses.

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Jesus is greater than the Old Testament revelation. We got that. Jesus is greater than angels. We got that.

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Now, the author needs to say to these first -century Jews that Jesus is even greater than Moses.

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And as much as we might revere and honor and think kindly of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and those men because of what they did and what they established and what they have handed off to us, so it is that a first -century

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Jew would have viewed Moses. Trying to explain the history of the nation of Israel apart from Moses, it absolutely cannot be done.

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And the reverence that they afforded to Moses was unlike anything that we afford to any And so, the author now is going to switch his attention from the one comparison of Jesus to the angels to now this next comparison of Jesus to Moses.

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And that was necessary for him to do in order to establish, again, the preeminence of Jesus over all of the

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Old Testament and all of the Old Covenant and all of the fixtures and features and people that were part of the

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Old Covenant. One of the ways that it helps us to think in terms of the book of Hebrews is to remember that it is a book of comparisons.

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We've noticed this. We've already looked at two comparisons. We're starting the third today. Those two comparisons, first, that the revelation that is in Jesus is greater and more complete and brighter and better and fuller than anything that was given to us under the

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Old Covenant, including what was given to us by Moses. You see, there's an intentional contrast even there. When the author says, in previous times,

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God spoke in many ways and diverse patterns under the Old Covenant, but now in these last days,

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He has spoken to us in His Son. He is establishing that the Son is a greater and better and clearer and more complete revelation than anything that the

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Old Testament gave us. It's not that the Old Testament was inaccurate. It is that the Old Testament is incomplete. Without the Son being manifested in the flesh, the

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Old Testament revelation remains incomplete. The final chapters have not been written. The final pages have not been turned.

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But it is in Christ now that that Old Testament revelation finds its fulfillment and its completion and its culmination.

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It's in Christ. He's better. He's better than the Old Testament revelation. The second comparison that we saw is that Jesus is better than the angels.

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And we spent the last, I don't know, 19 months, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, hammering that out in these first two chapters, because that occupies the bulk of these first two chapters.

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Chapter 1 verse 5 all the way through to the end of chapter 2, that's all about the comparison between Jesus and Him being greater than the angels.

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And now we turn to this third comparison. It is that Jesus is greater than Moses. He's greater than the Old Testament revelation.

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He is greater than angels. And now in chapters 3 and 4, He is greater than Moses. You see this in the first six verses.

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Read these with me as you see that Jesus is compared to Moses. Beginning in chapter 3 verse 1,

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Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

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He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses was in all his house. Now notice He is drawing comparisons here between Moses and Jesus.

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Verse 3, For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

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For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later.

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But Christ was faithful as a son over His house, whose house we are if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

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Now notice that He is drawing analogies or similarities between Jesus and Moses. Moses was faithful.

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Jesus was faithful. Moses was called. Jesus is called. But there is something about Jesus that makes Him greater than Moses.

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So the similarities are there. Jesus is clearly greater than Moses because He is worthy of more glory.

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Moses served faithfully as a servant. Jesus has done what He has been faithful to as a son.

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Now who's greater, the servant or the son? The son of the house is greater than the servant in the house. He's the heir of the house.

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And so this is the point that He is making in these first six verses. And then if you look down at chapter 4 verse 8, you'll notice reference to Joshua.

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If Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. And of course, if you're familiar with your

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Old Testament, you know the connection between Moses and Joshua. Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness.

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Joshua led the children of Israel out of the wilderness and into the promised land. And there is an incident there in the wilderness that becomes the backdrop of all of the warning passage and everything in chapters 3 and 4.

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And you'll notice in chapter 3 that it is referenced in verses 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. That is a quotation from Psalm 95 that describes the rebellion in Kadesh Barnea.

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And then in verses 16, for who provoked him when they heard, indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?

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And with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

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And to whom did he swear that he would not enter his rest? But to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

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And so between Moses and Joshua, you have this incident in the wilderness that becomes the backdrop for chapter 3 and chapter 4.

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So here's what we're going to do today. Switching from Jesus is greater than the angels to Jesus is greater than Moses gives us the opportunity to sort of pause for a moment, to back up, to zoom out and to catch where we're at in the flow of the book of Hebrews and to sort of get an understanding of what's going to be awaiting us in the next two chapters of the book of Hebrews chapter 3 and 4.

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Because the comparison between Jesus and Moses, that occupies the next two chapters of Hebrews, chapter 3 and chapter 4.

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So we're not going to move forward at all in the book of Hebrews today. In fact, last night I was talking with Dave Rich and he said, what are you preaching on tomorrow?

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And I explained what we're going to do. We're going to get an overview of chapters 3 and 4 and kind of introduce that. And then that's it.

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And he said, so you're not advancing at all in the book of Hebrews, not moving forward even the least little bit.

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I said, no. I mean, that's one way of looking at it. They're not actually advancing.

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But here's another way of looking at it. Today's sermon might be a little bit shorter than other sermons. And so that's the sort of the silver lining.

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So if you're a glass is half empty type person, then yeah, we're not moving forward in the book of Hebrews. If you're a glass is half full type person, then today's sermon is going to be a little bit shorter as we kind of introduce these next two chapters.

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So at least you'll be able to say, though Jim didn't go anywhere in Hebrews today, it took him a lot less time to go nowhere than it normally does.

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So let's take a fly over here of these first two chapters, these next two chapters in the book of Hebrews chapter three and four.

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You'll notice the comparison with Moses. And we're going to return to this here shortly in just a second. That's verses one through six.

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Beginning at verse seven and following is the second of the six, sorry, five warning passages in the book of Hebrews.

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There are five warning passages. The most commonly known, the most popular, well -known one is the one in Hebrews chapter six.

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We have looked at one warning passage already, chapter two, verses one to four. And this is the second beginning at chapter three, verse seven and going through the end of chapter four, verse 13.

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It's quite a lengthy warning passage. And it is based and comes out of that Old Testament example from Kadesh Barnea that we're going to talk about here in just a second.

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And so that's this, that occupies most of chapter three and the remainder or the first part.

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And in fact, almost all of chapter four is that warning passage. So you'll notice in chapter three, verse six, a phrase that is repeated three times in these two chapters, chapter three at the end of verse six says, we are his house if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

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Notice that phrase holding fast our confidence firm until the end. Look at chapter three, verse 14.

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For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.

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Look at chapter four, verse 14. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens,

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Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. You notice repeated three times and notice that it is at the beginning and in the middle and at the end of this long warning passage.

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He begins the warning passage by saying, let us hold fast our assurance or our confession.

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He says in the middle, let us hold fast our confession. And then at the end, he says, therefore, since we have

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Jesus as a high priest, let us hold fast our confession. So that's repeated three times, that idea of holding something fast, of firmly gripping and not letting go of it.

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Now, for the special today, they sang a song that says, he will hold me fast. So which is it?

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Does he hold me fast or do I hold him fast? Wherein does my assurance rest or lie?

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In my grip on him or his grip on me? There's no contradiction between these two. In fact, these two things go together quite well.

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You see, we are commanded to hold fast to him. But what enables me to hold fast to him? The fact that he is holding fast to me.

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In fact, the fact that he is holding fast to me is the assurance that I have that I will hold fast unto him until the very end.

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He actually strengthens me to hold fast to him, which is how he holds fast to me.

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So he will not let me go, which assures that I will never let him go. And the one who does let him go was never held by him to begin with.

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So this is divine sovereignty and human responsibility. These two things go together always in scripture. They work out perfectly.

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It is his holding fast of us that strengthens us to hold fast to him. Our holding fast to him is the means by which he holds fast to us.

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And so we are commanded three times in this warning passage, the beginning, the middle and the end, to hold fast or to hold firmly to Jesus.

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Now, there's also sort of a chapters three and four, kind of a parenthetical treatment of a subject, if you will.

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I want you to notice the end of chapter two. Do you remember what we ended with last week? Read verse 17 and 18 with me.

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Chapter two, verse 17. Therefore, he had to be made like his brethren in all things so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

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So we have there a reference to the fact that Jesus was incarnated, the fact that he died for us and he made propitiation for our sins, and he is a faithful high priest.

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Verse 18, for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

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So we have a sympathetic and compassionate high priest. That's how chapter two ends. Then chapter three, verse one begins with another reference to Christ being our high priest.

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Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.

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Now skip to the end of chapter four. Pick it up at verse 14. Therefore, since we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens,

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Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

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Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

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You see what the author is doing there? At the end of chapter two, Jesus is our high priest incarnated. He sympathizes with us. He's compassionate.

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He's sympathetic. He knows our weaknesses. He was tempted as we are, yet he is without sin. Then beginning in chapter three, he is our high priest.

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Now here he's compared to Moses, and you have the warning passage kind of all laid out, this incident between Moses and with Joshua in the wilderness.

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And then we get to the very end, and what does he return to? He's our faithful high priest. It's almost as if the warning passage and the comparison with Moses is something of a parentheses in here, as if he does what

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I do when typically I'm speaking. Like I start off on something. I say, okay, hold on a second. I need to go back. There was something else

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I meant to slip in right here, but my mind slipped and it wasn't even in my notes, but it should go in right here. And then I kind of make a parenthetical reference.

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You've heard me do that all too often. It is as if the author does that, but he's inspired when he does it.

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I'm just an idiot when I do it. So there's a big difference there. So it is sort of a parenthetical reference, this comparison with Moses and the warning passage.

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On both ends of that is this reminder that tempted to abandon Christ, tempted in our suffering, tempted to turn and go back to what might be easier for us.

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There is this reference to the children of Israel in the wilderness. And what did they do? What did they want? To go back to Egypt, right?

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Where life was easier. To get out from underneath the oppression. To escape the difficulties. And the author is warning his readers, just as the children of Israel were tempted and they disobeyed.

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God was angry with them. You may be tempted to turn back, but don't turn back. Because Christ is a faithful and sympathetic high priest.

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And he is able to sympathize and he will strengthen you, draw near to his throne. So that is kind of the larger context there.

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Chapter three, verse one speaks of Jesus being the high priest. And so then that transitions into this comparison with Moses.

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And then it serves, all that stuff in the middle serves as the warning passage to remind us that we have a sympathetic high priest and we can go to him in times of temptation.

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Now, what is it that the original readers would have been tempted to do? That is to turn back.

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And so the author is reminding them, if you turn back, you're just like the children of Israel, who did not want to go into the promised land.

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Instead, they wanted to go back to the land of Israel. And so he says to them three times in the passage, hold fast, hold fast, hold fast.

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You are the people whom God has led out of sin. In times of difficulty and trial and temptation, you hold fast to him, do not turn back.

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Now let's look a little bit deeper at this warning passage. The intention, beginning in chapter three, the intention seems, the reason that he brings up the comparison with Moses seems intended to sort of preface or introduce the larger warning passage.

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And so the comparisons with Moses are here to not only draw the similarities between Moses and Jesus, but there are a number of differences between Moses and Jesus that form the basis of the warning passage.

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The first, this is the second, as I said, of five warning passages. The first one is chapter two, verses one to four. And what was that?

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That highlighted the danger of drifting, the danger of drifting. There's a danger in, you remember the analogy of a sailor who just drifts by the safe haven of God's protection against the wrath of God.

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And if you do nothing and you just continue to drift by while you watch the offer of salvation right in your sight and within your grasp, simply go by while you do nothing, you are in danger of a sure judgment.

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He says, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was first spoken by the Lord, it was confirmed by those who heard him, they bore witness with signs and wonders.

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If you think that you are going to escape when the path of salvation and the means of God's grace has been so clearly laid out and presented before you, you will not escape.

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That was the first warning passage. Now, this is the second warning passage. It's considerably longer than the first warning passage.

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And it could be argued that this is the longest of all five of the warning passages. Some tried to suggest that the warning passages themselves are evidence that we can lose our salvation.

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That is not my approach to the warning passages. I do not believe that one who is genuinely saved, who has been born again by the

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Spirit of God, because they have been born again by the Spirit of God, because they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. I do not believe that such a one for whom atonement has been made, for whom the payment of their sin has been secured, that such one can ultimately be lost.

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I don't believe that. Instead, I think if you understand the warning passages in the book of Hebrews, inside their context of everything else that's said in the book of Hebrews, it becomes apparent that those who do drift away, those who are in danger of drifting by, are the professors, people who profess to have eternal life, not people who teach college classes, but people who profess to have eternal life, but really do not possess themselves eternal life.

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And they have all of the outward accoutrements of salvation. They are among the people of God. They have seen and experienced some of the blessings of being amongst the people of God, but they are not genuine believers.

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Those are the ones who are able to drift by and to not take hold of eternal life. In the book of Hebrews, the argument of the book of Hebrews is that those who are in Jesus Christ are absolutely secure, because for them, he has made a once for all sacrifice that has completely satisfied the wrath of God on their behalf.

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He has made atonement for their sin, and now he stands in heaven making intercession for all of those whom he has saved.

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And so those who are saved, who are part of that family and part of that people, they are secure because they are in Christ and because of what he has done.

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That is the argument of the book of Hebrews. But then there is an awareness on the author's, on behalf of the author, that there are some amongst his congregation who were not true and genuine believers at all.

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They were mere professors that they had eternal life, not possessors of eternal life. And so he is warning them.

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He doesn't know who they are, but he is warning them. You need to lay hold of, you need to take hold of, you need to hold fast to Christ.

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So there is this strongly worded emphasis, and that is what the intention of the warning passages are.

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I want you to look at a few phrases out of the warning passage. Look at verse 12 of chapter three. Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living

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God. Chapter three, verse 16. Who provoked him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

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Look how he describes them in verse 19. So we see that they were not able to enter. That is the land because of unbelief.

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This evil and unbelieving heart is also characterized as disobedience. Look at chapter four, verse two.

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Indeed, we have had good news preached to us just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

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The opposite of faith is unbelief. And that is what he is encouraging his readers to avoid, is that unbelief.

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Look at chapter four, verse six. Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter, why?

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Because of disobedience. It is this evil and unbelieving heart that disobeys and fails to enter into that rest.

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Chapter four, verse 11. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience.

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So what is he warning them against? The backdrop is the children of Israel who came out of Egypt and he is repeating a warning to them that they were marked by disobedience and lack of faith and lack of obedience.

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That is what characterized them an evil and unbelieving heart. And so they resisted God, even though they saw all of his signs in the wilderness.

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For all of those years, they still remained hard -hearted and unbelieving. And he is pushing his readers to not be like them.

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And the example that he gives that you see there in chapter three, it's described in verses seven through 11, is the example that comes out of Numbers chapter 13 and 14.

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It's the children of Israel in Kadesh Barnea. And do you remember the story there? If you're familiar with your

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Old Testament, then you remember the story. There were 12 men who went to spy on Canaan. 10 were bad and two were good.

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You say, what did they see when they spied on Canaan? Well, remember that 10 were bad and two were good. So some saw giants tough and tall.

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Some saw grapes and clusters fall. And two saw that God was in it all. Why? Because 10 were bad and two were good.

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That's the example that's being described there. And the two that were good are Caleb and Joshua.

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And Caleb and Joshua were older men, in my opinion. Well, no, they're my age.

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So they were younger men when they went in to spy out the land and they believed that God would give them the land that God had promised to them.

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They heard God say, I will bring you out of Egypt. I will bring you into the land. I will destroy all your enemies before you.

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The land that is mine, I will give it to you. Just obey. Just believe. Just go in and I'll do all the work for you.

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It's yours. Just take it. And they went in to spy it out. And 10 of them said, no, no, we don't.

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That's a big order. It's a big ask. And Joshua and Caleb said, no, this is not a big ask. God has promised.

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So he will fulfill his word. And it's not that they believed anything about their own might or their own ability.

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It's that those two men believed something about God's might and God's ability and God's word. God has said that he would see them safely through.

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If they disobey at this juncture, they are not believing then in God's word, that God will fulfill what it is that God said that he would do.

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That's all faith is. It's just simply looking to God and saying, you have said to do this and I will do this and trust you for the results.

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10 were unwilling to do that and two were willing to do that. And Joshua and Caleb then entered the land and they entered into that rest.

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But ultimately that rest of walking into the land was not the ultimate rest and that's the argument of chapter four.

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So both Moses and Joshua, Joshua is mentioned in chapter four verse eight, were alive for this incident of rebellion in Kadesh Barnea.

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The quotation from verses seven through 11 comes from Psalm 95. Psalm 95 describes the events of Numbers 13 and 14.

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So when we get to verse seven, we're gonna look back at Psalm 95, but Psalm 95 is referencing Numbers 13 and 14.

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So we're gonna be studying Numbers 13 and 14 and eventually Psalm 95 because understanding what happened there and the backdrop of that, which every

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Jew would have understood. We don't necessarily remember all the fine details of that, but every Jew would have known it like we do our bedtime stories.

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They would have known it with that type of familiarity. It is necessary that we understand it the same way that they understood it so that we can know exactly what point it is that the author of Hebrews is drawing from that because we don't wanna mistakenly think, mistake what it is that he's saying and thus come up with a wrong interpretation or understanding of the warning passage.

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The warning passage that is before us in chapter three and verse four, chapter three and chapter four is similar to the other warning passages in this respect that the author seems to take a break from one subject in order to parenthetically address the warning.

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Do you remember chapter two, he did this with verses one through four. He's describing Jesus being better than the angels and then almost as a parentheses, he pauses in the middle of that and strongly warns his readers not to drift by the salvation that is offered by so great a savior.

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And the same thing happens here discussing the high priesthood of Jesus and the comparison of Jesus with Moses and then as if he pauses and says, now listen, don't be unbelieving.

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And then he returns again to that subject of the high priesthood of Jesus at the end of chapter four. And then by the way, all of chapter five, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10 have to do with Jesus' work as our high priest and what that has accomplished and the security that we enjoy as a result of that.

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And he does the same thing later on in chapter five when he is talking about the Melchizedekian priesthood, the priesthood of Melchizedek and how

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Jesus is greater than Aaron and Jesus is greater than Melchizedek. When he is making that point, he stops and gives us the warning passage that begins in chapter five and goes into chapter six.

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So this is the author's pattern. In talking about one thing, he will stop and take a break and kind of go off on a rabbit trail to warn his people.

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And so if he does that, then she didn't feel too bad about doing the exact same thing. Now look, let me give the outline for the warning passage.

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Chapter three, verses seven to the end of the chapter, verse 19, there is a warning. And this is how it would be simply stated.

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A warning against following the example of the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness. A warning against following their disobedient example.

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Then in chapter four, verses one through 11, there is an exhortation to enter that rest. And again, the backdrop is the children of Israel entering into the promised land.

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So there is a strong exhortation to enter into the rest that God is offering to us. And then in chapter four, verses 12 to 13, there is this reminder of the judgment that will come upon those who are disobedient.

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So let's look in verses one to six at this comparison of Jesus to Moses. And this is just going to introduce us and kind of transition us into the message for next week, where we'll look at these similarities in greater detail.

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The point here is to show that Jesus was greater than Moses. You and I have no problem understanding or acknowledging that Jesus is greater than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

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But you put the word Moses in front of a Jew and you ask them who is greater than Moses that would be a short list.

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Maybe Abraham, but Abraham only because all Jews could go back to Abraham. The number of people that they would view as greater and superior and more preeminent than Moses, it was a short list.

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So he has to make the case that Jesus in whom they are trusting is greater than the one who gave them the law.

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If the one who gave them the new covenant is greater than the one who gave them the old covenant, then what does that say about the new covenant as opposed to the old covenant?

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It would say that the new covenant is therefore greater than the old covenant. And if the one who gave them all of the sacrifices and all of the festivals and the feasts of the old testament, if he is less than Jesus, then that would mean that what

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Jesus did in his sacrifice is what? It is greater than all of the sacrifices and the feasts and the festivals of the old covenant.

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So that is the purpose of this whole comparison. Now there are a number of similarities between Moses and Jesus. I'm gonna list a few of them that we'll get into more of them next week.

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Here are a couple of them. Both Moses and Jesus were divinely appointed leaders in a sense. First Peter chapter one,

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I believe it is, refers to Jesus as the chosen one. Jesus of Nazareth was the chosen one. He is the divinely appointed and forloved son who is the elect one who is sent to lead his people out of the bondage to sin.

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Both Moses and Jesus are God's representatives to his people. Both of them are instruments of revelation.

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And of course we saw back in chapter one at the beginning of that chapter that the revelation in Christ is greater than the revelation that Moses gave people.

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All of Moses's visions, and listen, even Moses speaking face -to -face with God in the burning bush is not as great and is not as clear as God manifested in the flesh.

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That's hard to grasp, isn't it? Speaking to God face -to -face, going up, remember in Exodus chapter 33 when

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Moses was up there and he said, show me your glory. And God said, you can't handle that. You would just go poof.

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You would disappear. You cannot handle that. And Moses wanted to see God's glory and God hid him in the cleft of the rock and covered it with his hand and passed by.

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And what was the result of that? Moses's face shined with light. That is not as great as seeing

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Jesus Christ manifest in the flesh. That revelation is not as clear. To see

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Christ and to behold him in the gospels and in the pages of scripture is greater by far than anything

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Moses got, anything Moses enjoyed in terms of fellowship or communion with God.

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It's greater. What we have in Christ is greater. What we have in the revelation of him is greater than anything Moses had.

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Both Moses and Jesus were instruments of initiating a covenant with the people of God. That's another similarity.

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Moses was there to help initiate or begin the old covenant and all of his terms and conditions that was binding upon the people.

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And they saw God's glory. They saw his works and they affirmed, we will obey this. And God made them his people and said, you will be my people and I will be your

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God. And that was the covenant that they made, the old covenant. Well, Jesus has initiated a far better covenant. And if Jesus is greater than Moses, then the covenant that he has made is greater than the covenant that Moses made with the children of Israel.

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Moses gave the law. Jesus Christ brought truth and grace. Both of them interceded for his people, for their people.

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You can assume when you look at the example of Moses from Numbers 13 and 14 that God wanted to destroy the entire nation at Caspiania because of their disobedience.

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And what did Moses do? He stepped in and interceded. He stood between the people and God. He said, no, don't destroy them. Remember your covenant.

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Remember your word. This is your people. Not my people, your people. You brought them out of Egypt. And so now fulfill your word to them.

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And he interceded for the people who stood between the wrath of God. That is exactly what Jesus does for us. In fact, there's a whole chapter devoted later on in the book of Hebrews.

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This is Jesus intercedes for us. So just as Moses was an intercessor for his people and stood representing the people to God and God to the people.

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So Jesus does the same thing for those who are his. But Jesus does this obviously in a far greater way than Moses ever did for his people.

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And of course, Jesus is not just a representative of God to us in the way that Moses was representative of God to his people.

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He is greater than that and better than that. From Hebrews chapter one, the description of Jesus where he is called

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God, he is called Yahweh. The father says of him, your throne, oh God is forever and ever.

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We see that the nature of Jesus is that he is the divine son and he is fully God and he is one with the father and eternal and he is complete

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Yahweh and enjoys fully all of the nature that is God. If that is true, then to whom was

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Moses speaking in the burning bush? It was Jesus. John chapter one says, it is the son who is the revealer of the father.

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All of the appearances in the Old Testament of God, all of those theophanies, the

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God appearances in the Old Testament, that is all the pre -incarnate son speaking and addressing his people.

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I cannot think of one appearance of God in the Old Testament that was not Jesus himself. In fact, in John chapter 12, you remember that John says of Jesus that Isaiah saw him in the temple.

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Isaiah chapter six where Isaiah saw God, Yahweh high and lifted up and the glory of his robe filled the temple and there was smoke and he heard, holy, holy, holy is the

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Lord of hosts, the God almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. That great anthem that Isaiah got to hear.

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John says in John chapter 12, that Isaiah saw Jesus and spoke of his glory. All of the appearances in the

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Old Testament are Jesus pre -incarnate Christ, the pre -incarnate Christ, the divine son, revealing the nature of God.

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To whom was Moses speaking in the wilderness? He was speaking to the Christ, the divine son, the second person.

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It was the pre -incarnate son who was speaking to Moses. Now who's greater? The one speaking through the burning bush, giving instructions to commands to Moses or Moses?

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He has already in chapter one, laid out the case. Jesus is greater than Moses because he's the one that told

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Moses, go and deliver my people in the land of Egypt. He's the greater one. Now, if there was a punishment in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land, for those who were disobedient, who heard the voice of God on Mount Sinai, who saw the smoke, who received the law, who saw the face of Moses shining, and they knew that God had spoken with him.

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If they who were disobedient were destroyed by God and perished in their unbelief and did not enter the rest and were judged, how much greater will be the accountability and the judgment of those who behold the son and hear and understand the terms of the new covenant and turn and walk away from that?

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See, this is an argument from the lesser to the greater. That's what the warning passage is. It's an argument from the lesser to the greater.

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God was angry with the Israelites who saw what happened through Moses and they turned and walked away and they were disobedient and God destroyed them and he was angry with them and said, they will not enter my wrath.

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How much more the one who spoke to Moses in the burning bush? If you turn and walk away from that one, how much greater will be your judgment?

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That's the argument of the warning passage. And that is an overview of these next two chapters.

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So next week, we will start back in verse one and we'll look in more detail at this comparison between Moses and the

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Lord Jesus. Let's bow our heads. Father, you are so gracious and kind to us beyond what we deserve and certainly beyond what we have earned in ourselves and by ourselves.

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We have earned nothing but your wrath and your displeasure. We were disobedient, just like the children of Israel in the wilderness.

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We had walked by on numerous and countless occasions the grace that you have offered in the person of Christ. And yet that time came for you to lay hold of us.

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And we thank you that you have done that. We thank you that you changed our hard hearts from disobedient and unbelieving to believing and obedient.

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And that we, by your grace and by you laying hold of us, that we obeyed the gospel and believed upon the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that we have to thank you for, everything that we enjoy, every blessing and benefit is the gift of your grace and is from your hand.

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And we thank you for it. We thank you for your mercy and if there are any seated here today who have never trusted

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Jesus Christ for salvation, it is our prayer that you would convict their hearts to know, to hear the truth and to respond to it in the way the scripture commands them to respond, to repent and to believe.

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May you do this work in the hearts of those who are your sheep, who have not yet come to the shepherd, that Christ may receive the full reward for his suffering, that he may be honored and glorified by gathering together all those for whom he has died and made atonement.

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And we pray that by your grace, you would sanctify us fully in the Lord Jesus Christ and by your word.