Well, good morning to everyone. 

Beautiful sunny morning. It's getting to be that time of year where the Sun shines behind us here. It's beautiful on the farm this morning. I had a little piglets running around. They're getting to the age where they get out from under the fence and run around, and we have lambs coming, brand new baby lambs. It's so nice to go out on a farm on a spring morning and see all those things. 

We're continuing our study in the book of Hebrews. For those of you who are guests, we at Living Hope Church have a firm conviction to preach through the word, verse by verse, book by book. So we don't do any special programs for holidays or anything like that, and we find ourselves in Hebrews 3. We’re looking at a passage that explains that Jesus is better than Moses. 

The primary concern of the book of Hebrews, of the author, is really what we're going to address in this text this morning, and that is for those who knew the name of Christ, who understood the gospel, who had come up to the point of faith, who maybe were involved in the fellowship but hadn't believed Jesus, that they would go on to perfection. They would go on to believe and become saved in Christ. 

He was also concerned for the believers in that place because there was a lot of pressure from the Jewish community for them to go back to the temple, back to the Old Covenant, and to forsake Jesus and go back to the pictures and the shadows of that sacrificial system. So these are the concerns of the author as he writes, and we're working through the book. 

We're going to look at chapter 3. This is a book that shows us the superiority of Christ and the new covenant in his blood to the Old Covenant law. We saw in the first two chapters that Jesus is better than the prophets of old, that God now speaks solely through his Son Jesus. We also saw that Jesus is better than angels. Angels were the mediators of the Old Covenant, as Paul affirms in Galatians 3 and Stephen in Acts 7. 

Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant, and we saw that Jesus has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name, and that name is Son. His name is Savior. His name is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is Son. Angels are created beings. They are servants; they are ministers to Jesus, who will worship him as well. 

Thus, since Jesus is so much better and He is the mediator of the new covenant, then the author's contention is that the new covenant is better than the old. That's the message of this book. He's writing to a Hebrew community, a fellowship made up of believers, and as I said, those who perhaps have come up to the point of faith, made an intellectual assent to the claims of Christ but have not placed their faith in him. 

This is such an appropriate thing for us in our world today. We'll talk about that a little later in the world of Christendom today, those who are involved in the church who have heard the gospel, but maybe they haven't come to faith. Well, they're in danger, he says, of turning back, of not going on to faith, going back to the symbols of all that Jesus has fulfilled. 

So as we study, we want to keep in mind the audience, the intent of the author, the context, and the flow of the text as we come to our passage this morning in chapter 3. This is a passage that's a bit delicate for the author because the Jews highly regarded Moses. Moses was held in highest esteem. He was the one who received the law, who instituted the sacrificial system, and led Israel out of Egypt into the desert for 40 years. Moses was the one who brought the covenant. He presided over the children of Israel in wisdom and led them, and he's most specifically associated with the law that they valued so much. 

So this could be a stumbling point for many of the people who would read this letter in this Hebrew community to which he writes. But we'll see that the author tactfully, masterfully lays out the truth that although Moses was faithful, although he was a great man used of God and was tremendous as a leader of Israel, Jesus is so much better. 

The main exhortation of the text is found in verse 1, and it's a very thing that we will strive to do this morning in our message, and that is to consider Jesus. The word consider means to observe fully, to look intently upon. It's similar to the word that we saw back at the beginning of chapter 2, to hold fast to, to set our minds to, or as the Apostle John describes at the beginning of his first epistle when he writes, we beheld—we looked intently upon Jesus. 

The word means to study, to look intently upon, to observe fully, to have focus, to give full attention to. And this is the exhortation before us this morning: to consider Jesus, who He is, and what He has done. 

Let's look at our text in Hebrews 3:1, please. "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. 

But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." 

I've given you four points on your outline. First, we're going to consider the Apostle and High Priest. Second, we're going to consider the Creator. Third, consider the Son, and fourth, consider our Savior, our salvation in Jesus Christ. 

Well, the author specifically addresses the believers here in this first section of chapter 3, saying, "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." He uses terms here that refer to those Hebrews who had come to faith in Christ, had become partakers of the heavenly calling, responding in faith. He appeals to them. He exhorts them to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. 

The language he chooses is very specific and interesting. First, we see the word Apostle, and this word literally means sent one. It refers to one sent or given a commission and given the credentials or authority to carry out that commission. Moses was an Apostle in this sense; he was called and sent by God on a specific mission with a specific purpose, and God promised, you remember, to equip him, giving him the authority to accomplish this mission. 

We'll see that he was faithful in his calling. But Jesus is also an Apostle. He's called by God, sent with a specific purpose and given authority, fully equipped to accomplish that mission. The mission of Moses was to lead God's people out of bondage in Egypt, lead the people of Israel, and institute the Law Covenant. What was the mission of Jesus? Why did God send Jesus? 

Why did God, Eternal God, the Son of God, take on flesh and become a man? Why did God send Him into the world? Well, some will tell you He was a good example. Some will say He's a good teacher. Some just say a prophet, like so many others sent by God. But what does the scripture say? What does God say? What was the mission of Jesus Christ? 

Matthew 1:21 says, "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Luke 9:56, "For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." John 12:27, "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say, 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour." 

John 12:47, "I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." That passage we love so much in John 3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." 

He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus came into the world, took on flesh. He became a man. He died on the cross, was buried, and He rose again the third day for the express purpose of saving the lost, of redeeming the man in Adam, of bringing eternal life to every man who will turn to Him, trust Him, believe Him. 

My friends, this is why God sent Jesus, and this is why Jesus is set apart from Moses. Not only was He a better apostle because He was faithful in all that God called Him to do in total perfection and He was given a higher calling, but He is better because He is the High Priest. He’s the one who brings man to God and God to man, who makes intercession for us and is, in fact, the very sacrifice Himself who accomplishes our salvation. You remember chapter 1; he said Jesus by Himself purged our sins. Moses was an apostle in that he was sent by God on a mission, a calling. Jesus was an apostle sent by God to carry out a mission of salvation. 

We also see in our text that Jesus is High Priest. That might not mean much to us Gentiles sitting here in the north woods of Wisconsin, but this is highly significant, especially to the Jewish mind and culture. The high priest was the one who brought men to God. He was a mediator between God and man, making sacrifice for their sins. Moses was an apostle but not a high priest. 

And we're going to see something similar in our coming texts in Hebrews concerning the truth that Jesus is King and Priest. We see throughout the history of Israel that the King, the leader of Israel, was not to interfere in the sacrificial offerings in the sanctuary. He was not a priest. 

Turn back to 1st Samuel 13:8 with me, please, if you have your Bible. This is a story about Saul, the king of Israel, who was in a battle with the Philistines, and he was waiting on Samuel the prophet. 

1st Samuel 13:8 says, "Then he waited seven days according to the time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. So Saul said, 'Bring a burnt offering and peace offering here to me.' And he offered the burnt offering. Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him that he might greet him. And Samuel said, 'What have you done?' Saul said, 'When I saw that the people were scattered from me and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore, I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering.' And Samuel said to Saul, 'You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.'" 

Saul was king of Israel. He was called by God appointed to be the leader of Israel, much like Moses, but he was not the priest of God. He was not the high priest of Israel, and he went in and he offered a sacrifice, assuming the role of prophet and priest, and it cost him his kingdom. 

In the Jewish mind, king and priest were clearly separated, serving different roles as servants of God. In Jeremiah 33:17, it says, "For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor shall the priests, the Levites lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings and sacrifice continually." 

In the Old Covenant, there were kings from the tribe of Judah in the lineage of David, and there were priests in the tribe of Levi in the line of Aaron, but never was there a king priest under the Law Covenant. But the Messiah would be king and priest. This is pictured, as we will see in coming text, in a man named Melchizedek in the book of Genesis. 

I'm just laying a little groundwork for you here for our future studies. Genesis 14:18, "Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was the priest of the Most High God." Psalm 110:4, speaking of the Messiah, says, "The Lord has sworn and I will not relent, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." 

In Hebrews 5:6, we'll see, speaking of Jesus, it says, "As He also says in another place, you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." So I want you to see that when the author writes in verse 1 of our text, "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus," he's saying a mouthful to these Hebrews to whom he writes. 

He's saying that Jesus is Messiah. He's saying that He is an Apostle, a sent one, as was Moses, the leader of the people of Israel. But He's also High Priest, unlike Moses, who had Aaron as high priest over Israel mediating, bringing men to God. But you see, Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. He brings men to God and God to men, and He is also King. He was sent as Savior, as mediator, but He sits as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

He will reign on David's throne in the coming kingdom, as we've already seen in chapter 1. Moses was a sent one, an Apostle, but Jesus was a better Apostle, giving a more full revelation of God than the old covenant law brought by Moses. Furthermore, He's a High Priest—the High Priest of God, the very sacrifice that accomplished salvation for every man who will believe. 

And therefore, this is the author's point: he is much better than Moses. Notice verse 2. It says, "Who was faithful to Him who appointed Him," speaking of Jesus, "as Moses also was faithful in all his house." Well, the word "house" or "household" here refers to people—the household of Israel in the Old Testament and the household of God in the New Covenant, the church. 

Ephesians 2:19 says, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." 1 Peter 2, "...coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 

You see, the author recognizes that Moses was faithful. God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and in the wilderness to bring the Law of Covenant, and Moses was faithful. But He called Jesus to save the world from their sins, to be the final one-time sacrifice, to satisfy the wrath of God for the sins of men, and to build His house, the church. The New Covenant is a better covenant built on better promises because the mediator is a better mediator. 

So we see that Jesus is Apostle, but He's also High Priest. My friends, we must consider Him. We must look intently at Him, set our minds toward Him, and meditate on these truths that He is the sent one of God, that He is our great High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us. This is in the present tense. He's making intercession for us. 

Well, next, the author asks us to consider Jesus as the Creator of His house. Look at verse 3 with me, please. "For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and as much as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which will be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm to the end." 

Well, again, the author affirms the faithfulness of Moses and the calling which God gave him concerning His household, Israel. But Jesus is worthy of more honor than Moses because He was more than a servant in His household. Jesus is the Creator. He's the builder of His household. 

You'll recall that the writer of the book of Hebrews in chapter 1 told us that Jesus created all things. He is the Creator of all things, just as it says in our text that God created all things. Moses was a servant in His house among the people of Israel, but Christ is the Son. That's a big difference, isn't it? 

If a man owns a house or an estate and he has servants, a servant might be faithful in his house, but it's different to be His Son, to be the heir, to be the one ruling over the house. This is truly a fascinating point because not only is Jesus God—the Creator of all things—but in a specific way, He created the church. He brought the church into being by the very act of His sacrifice on the cross and His subsequent resurrection from the dead. 

He brought the new covenant in His blood on the cross. He fulfilled and brought to pass the new covenant promises we see back in Ezekiel and Jeremiah of a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ living in us, regeneration, permanent indwelling, and life-producing power in each member of this household of God. These were all new covenant truths, promises brought to fulfillment in His sacrifice and resurrection from the dead. 

Jesus, in this sense, creates, builds His church. I want you to turn over to Matthew 16 with me, please, and see a promise here. Matthew 16 at verse 15: He's speaking to the Apostles here. He asks them, who do men say that I am? He gives them a few examples. And in verse 15, He says, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." 

Peter here confesses Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. He makes a profession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior that they've waited for for so long. And then Jesus says, "You are Peter." The Greek word here is petros, and it means a small stone. He continues and said, "And on this rock, petra, a rock bed foundation." 

You see, Jesus uses a play on words here with Peter's name. It's not on Peter that Christ will build the church, but on the confession, the profession of faith in Jesus that Peter made, that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of Savior and Messiah, the sacrifice for our sins. 

Then this wonderful promise: "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." I will build my church. Jesus is the Creator, the builder of His house, and He is the Son over His house. Moses was a servant. He was a steward. He was faithful—a great servant of God—but He was a servant within His house. 

Jesus is Son over His house. He is the heir. He is the Son. He is the Creator and the owner of the household of God. Ephesians 5:23 says, "For the husband is the head of the wife, as also Christ is the head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body." 

Do you see how great Jesus is compared to Moses? Do you see how much better the new covenant is than the old? This is the message the author is trying to convey. You know, all over the world today, those who claim the name of Christ, those who fall under the umbrella that we call Christianity, are celebrating a holy day. 

As you look around at churches full of people on this one day, when you look at the pomp and circumstance of liturgical systems, when you look at all the rites and rituals they go through, the pageants and parties they throw, let me ask you this question: What or who are they considering? What is it they are focused on? 

So many are focused on a pretty dress and a ham dinner. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm just challenging our thinking. What are we focused on? What are we considering? Many will say, "Well, it's resurrection day here. We're considering Jesus and His resurrection." But I say, what Jesus? Is it the Jesus of the Bible? The Son through whom God speaks? 

Is it the Jesus that is the perfect sacrifice for our sins, fully accomplishing our salvation in His one-time death on the cross? Or is there something more? Is there something else necessary for our salvation from sin and death and hell? Must we add works to grace for our salvation? 

What about religious rites or rituals or sacraments? Are these necessary for salvation? Is Jesus lacking somehow in His sacrifice that we must add to His work with our own to get to heaven? My friends, there are some severe warnings in this book of Hebrews about coming short of faith, of perfection in Christ. 

The author is very, very concerned that we consider Jesus, that we study intently, that we observe Him fully, that we know who He is and what He has done according to His Word, and that we choose to forsake all that we have trusted, all of our own righteousness and religion and works, and that we turn to Him in faith alone. 

Turn over to Philippians 3. I want you to see Paul, the Apostle's testimony. Philippians 3, his warning, followed by his testimony. 

Philippians 3:2, he's speaking of the Jews here, the legalistic Jews who would be putting pressure on these Hebrews to which Paul wrote this letter we're studying. Philippians 3:2, "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." 

This was Paul's life. Now look what he says in verse 7: "But what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." 

Listen to these words, please: "Not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." 

God asks us to consider Jesus. And having considered Him and how great He is and how great the promises of the new covenant are, the salvation He alone provides, He calls on us to utterly forsake the old, the law, the works, the religion that we may have once held dear, and to go on to perfection in Jesus Christ. 

And this is the dividing line, my friends, between those who profess the name of Christ and those who possess eternal life in Him. Grace or works, due or done, faith or my own righteousness. It's a line between heaven and hell. Either Jesus has accomplished our salvation by His one-time death on the cross or He has not.

I love that song we sang this morning: "It's enough for me that Jesus died." It's enough. There is no more. He has, my friends, accomplished our salvation, and God showed that He was satisfied with His sacrifice by raising Him from the dead. 

Oh, that all the churches that meet this morning could understand that truth! God is satisfied, and God tells us that we can receive His righteousness by faith. Every man has a choice to seek to establish his own righteousness by works, by religion, by sacraments, by sufferings, or to receive Jesus’ righteousness by faith. 

Turn over to Romans 9:30 with me, please. Again, speaking of Israel, such a clear passage. 

Romans 9:30, Paul says, "What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Why did they not attain righteousness? Here's the answer: Because they did not seek it by faith but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'" 

"Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." 

There's all kinds of religious people in this world that have a zeal, but it must be according to truth. It must be according to knowledge. Who do you think the most zealous religious man is that you can think of? Osama bin Laden comes to mind, doesn't he? Guess what? His zeal was not according to knowledge. 

Verse 3: "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." 

My friends, we can seek to establish our own righteousness by the works of the law. We can seek to be good enough, but there's no hope. It's not possible. We've all broken the law. We all deserve the punishment. Or we can choose to believe Jesus and accept His gift of righteousness through faith because of what He already accomplished on the cross. 

I have to ask you to turn to one more wonderfully clear scripture, Romans 4. The pastor was in Romans 4 this morning, a tremendous verse. Let's look at the first part of that chapter, verse 1. This is after Paul explains the gospel so clearly at the end of chapter 3. He says, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" 

Look at verse 4: "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." 

God justifies the ungodly. What's that mean? The man who knows that he's ungodly. They're all ungodly, but the man who knows he needs a Savior and turns to him in faith, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." 

Not by righteous works which we have done, by His mercy, He saved us. And we must consider this salvation, this great Savior that God has provided, Jesus the Christ. We must look intently at Him. We must study Him, know Him through His Word, the truth found only in the Bible. 

And we must evaluate men by the message that they preach. We must evaluate churches by the doctrines that they teach. Do they teach the truth about salvation, about the Jesus of the Bible, or do they, as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11:3, preach another Jesus—an insufficient Jesus, one who cannot save? 

We must consider Jesus and this great salvation He provides. This is the exhortation of our text, and it presents each man with a choice. What will you do with Jesus? 

Well, the next verses in chapter 3 following our text are a warning against rejecting Jesus. In verse 7, it says, "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation and said that they always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" 

Now look at His warning here: "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." 

Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to turn to Jesus and believe Him. If you're trusting in anything other than Jesus, if you're trusting in something plus Jesus, turn from those things and place your faith in Him alone and what He did on the cross in His death for your sins and mine, and His glorious resurrection from the dead. Consider Jesus. He's the only way to life. 

But I want you to remember that our scripture started this morning with these words: "My holy brethren, partakers of the holy calling," the heavenly calling. 

The exhortation to consider, to set our minds on Jesus is given primarily here to those who already believe. Jesus is the only way to life; this is true. But, my friends, Jesus is the only way of life as well. We as believers in Jesus Christ must consider Him. We must set our minds on Him. We must give our attention fully to Him and who He is and what He has done every day. 

We come to life; we are saved by grace through faith, but we also live each day, one day at a time, by God's grace through faith in Jesus. For believers, this is a choice each day. It's an act of our will to be faithful, to look to, to consider Jesus—not earthly things, not the things of the world, not my feelings, not my emotions, not myself and my performance, but Jesus. 

When we look to Him, we are never disappointed, my brothers and sisters. When we look to Him and set our minds on Him and His truth, we are fruitful. We bring glory to Him. We're faithful witnesses. We hold fast to Him. 

This is what the author is calling on us to do when he writes, "My holy brethren, consider Jesus." 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for Your truth, Your word again, and how You faithfully teach us and guide us. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth—for Jesus, our salvation. And Father, I just pray that You would help us to look to Him, to consider Him as the way to life, the way of life, just to abide in Him one day at a time, Lord, for Your glory. In Jesus' name.