Abraham, and then you have all of the
history from Genesis through
the Old Testament showing how God was
using Abraham to bring the Israelites.
And then the Israelites to bring about all
this prophecy preparing
the world for Christ. This law that
prepared the world for knowing how bad sin
was,
so that one day they could recognize how
great their Lord was.
You have this Old Testament that is
bringing man ready to where he
can see the Christ, he can know the
Christ.
And then you have Matthew.
Where we get to see our Lord is born.
He comes to this world. John starts
preaching,
repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.
Christ preaches the same message.
You have this entire buildup through
thousands of years coming to
the point of Christ preaching salvation.
And then you have Acts chapter two where
the church is established.
Christ has died on the cross. Acts chapter
two now says that men can repent
and be baptized for the remission of sins.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Mankind is
able to be saved and follow this
new law rather than following the old law.
And now we have the book of Hebrews.
Now, for reasons we won’t look into today,
~ it’s thought that Hebrews was written
around sixty-three AD or so.
Now we don’t know who the writer was,
but we can tell that it seems as though it
was written before
The destruction of Jerusalem, which
occurred in AD seventy,
because it refers to so many things about
the old law,
about the Old Testament, about the
priesthood.
It shows so many things that say,
hey, look at what the old law was and
compare it to what the new law is,
how good God’s way is. So you have Hebrews
building up to this point where
the gospel has been preached, and now you
have Jews who are part of that old law,
who have become part of the new law.
They have become Christians.
But now they are facing something.
A right after Acts chapter two,
you begin having the seeds of persecution
grow.
And that persecution is going to become
more and more severe.
It’s first not the Romans who do it,
but the Jews. They’re the ones who are
bringing the apostles to the court.
They are the ones saying, Preach no more
in this name.
And this is going to not just be something
that happens to the apostles,
this happens to all the brethren.
You have Saul who is persecuting the
Christians and they were scattered abroad
everywhere. This persecution has built up
and it is severe.
And just because Saul decided to convert
didn’t mean that all
of that persecution stopped. The Jews were
still hurting their bret hurting
the Christians. They were still
persecuting them as though they were
heretics.
And now you come to the book of Hebrews.
Now, with all of that, they’re wanting to
go back to the old law.
You’ve had this thousands of years where
they look back and they say,
This was the way we were to follow.
And then Christ comes and he changes all
of their reality by saying,
Listen, now the old law is fulfilled,
you follow this now. And then you have old
you have Jews who do not want
to go toward it. In fact, they tell
Christians,
if you try to go toward this, you’re going
to be persecuted.
You are going you are going to be
suppressed for what you’ve decided to do.
So there were Jews that were there were
Christians who were tempted to
go back to the old law.
They were tempted to go back to what they
knew beforehand.
And because of that, you have the book of
Hebrews that shows the fact that
we can look toward the new law and see how
much better it is than the old.
Now, the what we want to focus on today is
going to be the fact that Christ,
with all the things He is, He He is so
much better in so many facets.
But tonight we’re going to focus on the
idea of Him being
the better lawgiver compared to Moses
himself.
Now before that we’re going to prove what
we’ve talked about with
the fact that Christ he is the focus from
the very beginning of this book.
Starting in Hebrews chapter one verse one,
God, who at sundry times and in diverse
manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
and by whom he made the worlds.
Who, being the brightness of his glory in
the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of
his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins,
sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high.
We already get to learn so many things
about Christ in these three verses.
It says, God spoke through Christ.
He spoke through the prophets beforehand.
Remember that Old Testament that we
referenced,
where it was preparing the world for
Christ.
But now the Lord speaks through Christ.
God tells us what we need to do through
Christ,
and then Christ, He speaks with His own
words,
the words that are written and read that
we all know and love.
But also He spoke through His apostles.
He told them, Whatever you bind on earth
will have been bound in heaven.
Whatever you loose on earth will have been
loosed in heaven.
He delegates to them authority that says,
What I tell what you say
Is what I want you to say. They are going
to be inspired,
as is shown in his discussion with them,
starting in John chapter 13. The Christ is
now the one through whom
God lets us know what it is we must do.
And this in and of itself is one reason he
is our lawgiver.
A lawgiver is one who tells you what you
must do.
Now, with that, Christ is also the one by
whom God made the world.
He appointed him heir of all things.
He is the one who possesses all things,
and he is the one through whom the worlds
were made.
He is the designer. He is also the owner.
And throughout the rest of this book of
Hebrews,
it’s going to show that he is better than
Moses,
as we will focus on. He is a better high
priest.
He is a better sacrifice. Christ is better
than everything they could have turned
back to, than everything they could have
looked at and said,
you know what, I want this instead.
Christ was what was better.
Now, with that laid before us,
let’s look at Moses himself. Or let’s
let’s look more into Christ being better
than Moses. First, with the Old Testament,
as we have said, it shows that the fact
that Christ was better.
Looking at Hebrews chapter one,
verses four, verse four, and then through
chapter two through eighteen shows that
Christ is better than the angels.
Remember, we’ve talked about the fact that
the Old Testament shows how much
we can look at Christ and say,
Look at how great He is. Look at how
magnificent He is.
Hebrews chapter one, verse four,
being made so much better than the angels,
as he hath by inheritance obtained a more
excellent name than they.
Christ, it it’s not that he was
It’s not that he was made and then now you
are greater than the angels.
Christ was and is and shall always be.
But Christ, after he was willing to suffer
what he wa did,
and even before that, he was greater than
the angels.
He was greater than the ones who were made
to serve the Lord.
And it’s going to show more of why he was
greater throughout the rest
of this chapter. But we’ve just we’ve
established that Christ,
we can better understand the glory of
Christ by these angels.
But also they allow us to understand the
humility of Christ.
Remember with Moses, how is he described?
He was the meekest man to walk the earth
during his time.
Now what is Christ going to be?
Verse 8, Thou hast put all things in
subjection under his feet,
thou being the Father. For in that he put
all in subjection under him,
he left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we see not yet all things are put
under him.
But we see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels,
for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honor,
that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man.
For it became him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through suffering.
Angels were amazing, weren’t they?
You have a hundred and eighty-five
thousand enemies against the Israelites,
who were slain in one night by an angel.
Christ is greater than the angels.
But also Christ, not only is he greater,
he was willing to be made a little lower
than the angels.
He was willing to come down to this earth,
literally be lower and on this earth,
not in heaven, with mankind. You have God
the Father who is above all.
You have the angels who are below him.
You have man down here. And Christ decided
that while he was still fully God,
he was also going to be fully man.
He decided to humble himself by taking the
form of a man so that
he could suffer death for us. It says,
for the suffering of death.
But we see Jesus who is made a little
lower than the angels for
the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor,
that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man.
He came down to this earth, being made a
little lower than the angels,
so that he could f face death for us.
You see, a spirit cannot face death,
not in a physical way. They can certainly
face spiritual death,
but Christ could not be our sacrifice
without coming to this earth.
He was greater than the angels,
more powerful.
more eternal than they ever were.
And then Christ was willing to be lower
than the angels.
Now, Moses was the meekest man on the
earth,
but then you have Christ, who was God
himself,
but he was willing to be made lower than
the part of his creation,
and then be made equal with a part of his
creation,
mankind, so that he could serve them.
Now Christ was still God. Christ was fully
God and fully man the entire time.
And if we deny either the fact he was
fully man or fully God,
We deny who he called himself.
He was both the Son of God and He was the
Son of Man.
John chap John is going the book of John
affirms the fact that Christ
was with God and that he was God.
We do not want to take away from that
fact.
But also Christ was willing to be humble,
to be meek, to come down to this earth for
the purpose of not just living among us,
but dying for us. The Old Testament
prepares us for seeing how great Christ
is.
It also prepares us for seeing how humble
he was willing to be,
and why did he do that? For it became him
for whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, and bringing
many sons unto glory to make
the captain of their salvation perfect
through sufferings.
Christ is the captain of our salvation,
and he was made complete through
suffering.
There’s things that we get we can learn
when it comes to suffering.
But Christ was willing to learn by
experience what it was like to suffer,
so that He can make our salvation sure.
You have all of this in the Old Testament
with angels preparing us.
And then after that, you have Moses
himself.
We’ve seen the glory of Christ affirmed by
the Old Testament,
the humility of Christ affirmed by the Old
Testament.
And now it is going to affirm his
authority.
And for this we want to turn to Hebrews
chapter three.
I said we talk about Moses at some point.
We finally made it. Hebrews chapter three.
Starting in verse one, wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly
calling,
consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession,
Jesus Christ, who is faithful to him that
appointed him,
as also Moses was faithful in all his
house.
For this man was counted worthy of more
glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who hath built the house,
hath more honor than the house.
With Moses he was one who
God appeared to him in a burning bush,
and the Lord said, You’re going to go
deliver my people.
This is one who God worked miracles
through him.
He led potentially two million people
through the wilderness.
We had six hundred thousand men.
If you put an equal number of women with
that,
and then you have children, it grows and
grows.
He led a multitude through the wilderness.
He had the Lord speak to him directly.
He is the one that the Lord said,
He is my when the Bible describes him,
it says, Moses spoke to the Lord face to
face as a man speaks with his friend.
The Lord is going to defend Moses later on
against Aaron and Miriam,
who come against him because of who he had
married.
They don’t agree with it being a
Phoenician woman,
if I remember correctly. And it looks more
like
also in their rebuttal against Moses,
they didn’t like the fact that he was the
authority.
They go against Moses and the Lord is
going to say,
When I speak to this when I speak to this
world,
and I do it through a prophet,
I do it through dreams and visions.
But this Moses, I speak with him face to
face.
And you’re going to speak against him.
You’re going to think that you can come up
and speak against my servant,
also the one who is o who is called in
scripture my friend.
Moses was one who was amazing and he had
authority because he simply spoke what
God wanted to be spoken. Now that’s
something for us as Christians to keep in
mind.
It’s not that we have an authority,
we have a greatness over anyone else,
but we do have a message that is
authoritative to give to those around us,
to give to those who need to hear the word
of God.
If we make sure that what we say is what
God has shown to us,
we can be like Moses in that we show the
law.
That God wants to be given. No,
we are not lawgivers like Moses or a
lawgiver like Jesus was,
but we do show the law that God has given
if we speak what has been spoken
to us like Moses did. You have Moses who
is this great,
he was this amazing, and but the Hebrews
writer is going to show that Christ
is greater. First, while Moses served in
the house,
while he served and he served faithfully,
Christ built it.
As we read before, verse two, Moses,
who was faithful to him that appointed
him.
Verse two, who was faithful to him that
appointed him,
as also Moses was faithful in all his
house.
For this man was counted worthy of more
glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who hath builded the house
hath more more honor than the house.
You see a mansion and you see all those
beautiful,
those hedged bushes, those trend bushes,
you see every flower that is ornate,
and then you look and you see that
structure itself.
You see those window panes that are clear
and crisp.
You see all the different other aspects of
that house.
So you even realize they didn’t go cheap
on the gutters.
The gutters even look good. It’s like even
today you look at a nice house
and it’s like, you guys did the gutters on
that house cheap.
But you look at this one and no,
they did it right. They did it well.
Every aspect of that house, you look at it
and think,
that’s impressive. I’m happy for them.
I’m glad that they get to live there.
But then you think, you know, someone
designed that house.
Someone built that house. Now,
what’s more impressive? The fact that the
house is there or the person
who built the house? Well, the fact that
that house is there is great,
but that house didn’t have any muscles or
brain to put itself where it was.
There was a person who went to school.
Or learned as a tradesman the ability to
build that structure,
~ multiple men realistically, who learned
the trade to build that structure
and then they made it together.
And they are the ones that are impressive.
That house, it’s just material.
It’s just components that were put
together.
The people who made it, that’s who are
impressive.
Whether we talk about automobiles,
we talk about houses, or whether we’re
talking about something that
is such so spiritual as the people of God.
The designer is greater than what is
designed.
This world we live in is designed.
Christ made the world as we described
earlier,
by whom he he appointed heir of all
things,
and by whom he made the worlds.
That’s what we read in Hebrews chapter
one.
Christ is the maker of all things.
And he’s going to be the maker of what
Moses was over.
Now what are some things that we recognize
when we see a house?
We first recognized as we described that
there was a designer.
Somebody laid out the blueprints for that.
Somebody made sure that when they went and
built it,
they had what they needed to build it.
They knew how to put together what they
had.
They had the plumbing, they had the
electrical,
they had the a the ventilation,
they had all of it set up to where they
knew how it was going to go together.
There was a designer. But a designer is
not enough.
You can have all of the plans in the
world.
But if you’re not willing to carry them
through,
or if you don’t have the power to carry
them through,
they’re not going to do much good.
You have the Galatians who they had many
things that they lay laid up to do,
but then they didn’t follow through.
Now they had the power to do it,
but they decided not to, or they just let
it fall by the wayside.
Our Lord was both the designer of what
Moses was over,
but he was also the builder. Now,
as the builder,
Something interesting about builders
today.
Usually when you see a house built by
someone,
is he going to live in it or someone else?
Someone else is usually going to live in
it.
It belongs to someone else. He’s building
it under a contract.
Our Lord didn’t make this world under a
contract.
Now he has given us the opportunity to be
stewards of it,
but it’s his. And the same is true over
what Moses was over.
Now what was the house Moses served in?
Moses was over the Israelites.
He was over, and this is important,
the people of God. Revelation is going to
speak of that woman who
was trying the dragon was trying to
consume.
And there are those who want to say,
Well, this is the Israelites, or no,
this is the church. Well, if we just step
back and say,
no, this is the people of God,
it all makes sense. This is the people of
God throughout time.
Moses was over the people of God here.
He was faithful in all his house.
Now this house could be his as in it’s
Moses’ house,
or he was over stewarding it. Or it can be
Moses,
he was over the father’s house.
He was over the house that was given to
him to serve in by God.
Now, as we described earlier,
everything was built by someone.
As we described with that house,
all things were built by God.
This house, it says
Everything every house is builded by some
man,
but he that built all things is God.
Now turn back to Hebrews chapter one
verses five through eight,
making sure that we don’t make any
assumptions,
but we pull what this is from the text.
Chapter one starting in verse five,
for unto which of the angels said he,
the Father, at any time, thou art my son,
this day have I begotten thee,
and again I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son.
And again, when he bringeth in the first
begotten into the world,
he saith, And let all the angels of God
worship him.
And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his
angels spirits,
and his ministers a flame of fire?
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of
righteousness is the scepter
of thy kingdom. So we’ve established the
fact that a house is built by somebody,
whether it’s a physical house or it’s the
people of God.
A house is built by someone. Now,
and then also he that built all things is
who?
It’s God. God is the one who has built all
things.
But also what we’ve just read,
the Father looked at the Son and said,
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The Father, the one who has all authority,
looked at the Son. He looked at Christ and
said,
Thy throne is
is forever and ever. God Himself affirmed
that Jesus was God,
right here in the book of Hebrews.
And as we described earlier, it’s done in
the book of John.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, distinct from
the Father,
but also the Word was God. It was part of
deity as well.
The Lord the Father in heaven calls Jesus
God Himself.
God the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost are the Godhead.
Now, with this idea, turn to Matthew
chapter 3,
verses 16 and 17, just for a brief review
of this idea.
Matthew chapter 3, verses 16 and 17.
Jesus has come to full age, and he is
desiring,
as he tells John,
To fulfill all righteousness. Now the
purpose of baptism for
the whole of man was for remission of
sins.
Even under John’s baptism, they were to b
be baptized in repentance.
And then when Christ came, when there was
that baptism that was under
the authority of Christ rather than the
baptism that is called John’s,
it is still for the remission of sins.
Well, Christ didn’t have any sins to be
remitted,
but he still decided to be baptized.
To to do this, to fulfill all
righteousness,
to be an example of what must be done,
verse fifteen. Now, verse sixteen,
and Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straight away out of the water.
And lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove,
and lighting upon him. And lo,
a voice from heaven saying, This is my
beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. You have the
Son who is being baptized.
You have the voice from heaven saying,
This is my son, therefore that voice is
the Father.
And then you have the Spirit of God
descending like a dove,
Father, Son, and Spirit. You have three
distinct personalities here,
three distinct beings occur doing what is
occurring here.
Now, does that mean that we have three
different gods?
Certainly not. Scripture itself tells us
that we have one God.
Deuteronomy six verse four. Deuteronomy
six four.
It’s a short verse, but ever important.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God,
is one Lord. We have one God.
And yet this one God decides to show
himself as the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit. Now all the
aspects of how the Godhead work
no man can fully explain, and surely not
the immature one standing here before you.
But what we do need to know, and what we
can know is the fact that our Lord
is one Lord. And for whatever reasons he
has chosen,
he has shown himself to us as the Father,
the Son, and the Spirit. We can be sure
that Christ Himself is God.
He is not just a God, He is God.
Just like the Father is God, just like the
Spirit is God.
Every house is built by someone.
As the Hebrews writer says, every house is
built by some man,
and then he that built all things is God.
And also as the Hebrews writer says,
Christ himself is God. Looking back at
Hebrews chapter 1,
verse 2, it says, Christ is the one by
whom he made the worlds.
Throughout this book, it’s go it shows the
fact that Christ is the
one through whom the worlds were made.
He is God himself. In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth.
Well, if God created the heavens and the
earth,
and Christ created the heavens of the
earth and the earth,
therefore Christ is God Himself.
If A equal if A equals B and B equals C,
then A equals C. Throughout Scripture it
affirms this.
Now we’re going to have those who are out
in this world who they don’t like
to read the book of Hebrews. They like to
say that Christ is not God.
They want to say that he was a created
being.
Instead of looking at what Scripture has
to say.
And we must keep in mind that if we fail
to see the fact that our Lord is
the Son of God, and He also is God,
we lose the key to what we believe.
We are Christians. We follow Christianity.
If we lose the Christ out of Christianity,
then we have nothing that we follow.
Let us keep ever in the forefront of our
minds that our Lord,
the one who made the worlds,
Christ is God, and He is the one who is
over us.
Since he is God, and since he built all
things,
he built the house over which Moses
stewarded.
The people of Israel, they were under
Moses’ delegation,
under his authority. But got God in Christ
built that house.
He was the one who made this people.
It then follows that Christ is in charge
of those people,
and he is in charge of anything that he
makes.
He is the designer, as we described
earlier.
He’s also the builder.
Well, if someone is the designer and the
builder,
they get to decide how it works.
Moses was over the children of Israel,
but Christ had built all things,
therefore is the creator of the
Israelites.
They were Christ’s house. But you have the
Israelites there,
as has been described. But what do you
have today?
You have the church that has been made.
Matthew 16, 18. Christ is going to say,
Upon this rock, upon the confession of
Christ being Lord,
I will build.
my church. Christ is going Christ has
built a new house.
That isn’t the people of Israel.
It is the people that are now Christians.
Now, as we described earlier, we can see
this as the people of God throughout time.
But we today are part of something
special,
something that cr God was preparing us for
since the foundation of the world,
and that is the church. Now, what are the
implications?
What do we need to take home from the fact
that Christ built the church?
He is over
What we are now a part of. If Christ built
it,
then he was able to design the door.
We have a world who wants to say,
you can go into the church this way or
that way.
You can be sprinkled, you can have water
poured on you.
You can just say this is how you you just
say this little prayer.
You we call the sinner’s prayer.
No, you can’t find it in Scripture,
but just roll with it anyway. They want to
say that that’s the way in,
that that’s the door. Well, Christ says
that he is the door,
and he himself said
If any man come after me, let him deny
himself,
take up his cross, and come after me.
And part of that denying self is being
willing to do what the Lord has said,
and one of the things he’s told us to do,
Acts two thirty eight, repent and be
baptized,
every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ,
for the remission of sins. If we are going
to go through the door that Christ
designed for us, we must ensure that we’re
not following anything that a man made,
but instead what Christ made, since he is
the one who designed the house.
If Christ built it, then who laid the
foundation of it?
Men or Christ? When you build a house,
you need to lay a foundation to it.
Christ, he laid the foundation.
He said, Upon this rock I will build my
church.
And he says, Upon this rock I will build
my church,
after Peter says, Thou art Christ,
the Son of God. Christ built the church on
his identity,
on confession of who he was.
As we described earlier, we must keep ever
in the forefront of our minds that Christ
is God. He is the one who created the
world.
He’s not a created being, he is part of
God Himself.
If we forget that, then we have lost the
foundation of the church.
We have lost the foundation of what Christ
has built,
and what we follow means nothing.
If Christ built it, he got to design the
door.
If he built it, he laid the foundation of
it.
And guess what? It was him himself.
And then
If Christ built it, who chooses how large
it is or what it encompasses?
Christ got to decide the borders of the
house.
No one gets to say, you know what,
the house is going to be this much bigger.
We’re going to expand onto it.
We’re going to make this denomination that
has some different rules when
you come into this house. That’s not it.
There is one house that follows one set of
rules.
You have houses that, you know,
they have rules, you know, if you’re in
this house,
we love each other. We’re going to hug,
we’re going to say I’m sorry.
Well Christ has rules on his house,
the house that he built, and he gives
those rules to us in his word.
If we follow those, we get to be in his
house.
If we don’t follow them, there’s no extra
house on the side that we get to be in.
We must follow his word, otherwise we are
not in his house.
We are not in what he has designed.
Christ is the better lawgiver because he
built the house.
But also he is the better lawgiver because
Because he is the man of the house.
Continuing forward, verse four says,
For every house is built by some man,
but he that built all things is God.
And Moses was verily faithful in all his
house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were
to be spoken after.
But Christ as a son over his own house,
whose house are we, if we hold fast to the
confidence and the rejoicing of the hope,
firm
To the end. Now, Moses, as we described
earlier,
he had a special relationship with God.
There was no man like him, as described in
Deuteronomy thirty four,
verse ten. But Jesus had a relationship
with the Father,
not even Moses did. Moses was a servant,
but Christ was a son. Verse six,
but Christ as a son over his own house.
You have fathers who they they go and they
build their income,
they build their wealth, and then they
they might even give a son to the
a house to their children if they have got
ha gained that ability,
if they have that blessing. And if they
give that house to their
son or their daughter, that house belongs
to them.
Now, is it still the same thing if that
person,
if that father gives a house to a servant?
no, that servant’s just taking care of it.
That servant, maybe he’s making sure it’s
dusted,
it’s mopped, it’s cleaned.
But a son, he takes care of the house,
but also it belongs to him. As we
described earlier,
the fact that he built the house makes it
his.
But also not only did he build it,
it is his because the Father gave it to
him.
Verse six Christ as a son over his own
house.
Christ has authority, he has possession of
this house.
Whose house are we if we hold fast to the
confidence of the hope,
firm
unto the end. Christ has authority over
his own house.
And also it shows who are part of his
house.
An idea we will look at more momentarily.
At the moment, turn to Matthew twenty
eight verses eighteen through twenty.
Matthew twenty eight eighteen through
twenty.
Christ has given the great commission to
his apostles,
or is giving the great commission to his
apostles.
And he tells them, All power is given unto
me in heaven
and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach
all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even unto
the end the day.
of the world. That first verse that we
read,
all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth.
The Father had given all authority to the
Son.
He was now king, he was now head over his
people,
or he would be very soon. And the apostles
were therefore to go
and teach all nations. Christ has been
given authority,
He’s been given authority over his house,
as he says in Matthew twenty eight
eighteen.
And we bring that to Hebrews chapter 3,
verse 6. Christ is the Son over his own
house.
He has been given all power and authority
in heaven and in earth,
and certainly in the church. Now,
as we described earlier, if Christ built
the house,
does he not get to lay the design out for
it?
But also if Christ, he not only built it,
he owns it. Well, if Christ owns it,
what does he get to decide? Christ’s
If Christ owns it, whose name should be on
it?
If Christ built the house, should it be
named after Calvin?
Should it be named after Luther?
Should it be named anything else besides
Christ himself?
Now there is not a scripture that says
thou shalt have a church that
is called the Church of Christ.
There are sound congregations in other
countries where they follow God’s word
and they don’t call themselves they don’t
have on their sign Church of Christ.
But they follow His will. They follow His
way.
But then you also have congregations that
have the name Church of Christ
on the outside, but they don’t follow
God’s way.
They have gone to the right or they’ve
gone to the left.
But do we ensure that God’s authority is
written on us in everything that we do?
If it’s not written on the name outside
because that’s just not the name used
in that particular country, do we ensure
that God’s name is written when
it comes to what we follow, when it comes
to the authority that we base
our actions upon? We are the church of
Christ because we belong to Christ.
His name is what is on it, whether that’s
what’s on the sign outside or not,
when we follow his will and his way and
his alone.
Now Christ, as we described earlier,
if he is the owner of the house,
he gets to decide the rules for entering
it,
and no one else can change that.
And also he gets to decide the rules for
how to stay in it.
Verse six, but Christ as a son over his
own house,
whose house are we, if we hold fast and
The confidence and the rejoicing of the
hope firm unto the end.
Now, when we were building up the context
of the book of Hebrews,
what is it that the Hebrews the Hebrew
Christians were wanting to do?
They were wanting to go back to Judaism.
They were being persecuted, and you know
what?
This was discouraging. You know,
if we just go back to Judaism,
we have the temple, we have an entire law
that we’ve been following for generations,
we have an incredible history of.
The fact that we’re even here,
even though the Romans have come,
now we’re under the Romans, but we don’t
like to talk about that.
But we’re still here, even though the
Romans have come and have subdued us,
they could go back and they could be proud
of what they were a part of,
but they could be a part of something
better.
They were a part of something better,
but if they held fast to the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope,
firm and to the end. The condition that
the Hebrews writer shows is
we must hold fast to our confidence,
otherwise
We will not be a part of the house.
Now it’s not the case that if we have a
moment where we struggle,
that it’s immediately, nope, you’re not
going to be a part of the house anymore.
But we must decide that we are going to
hold to it even if we’re struggling,
that his will comes before ours,
his way comes before anything of the world
if we desire to be in his house.
The Hebrews writer is then going to show.
What happens when his will is not
followed,
when God’s will is not followed.
Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith,
Today if ye will hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as in the day of
provocation,
in the day of temptation in the
wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years. Skipping to
verse twelve,
take heed, brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief.
The Hebrews were tempted to do what?
They were tempted to turn back to the old
law.
They were tempted to turn back from
Christ’s way.
And the way that’s going to be described
is their hearts were hardened.
And how does the Hebrews writer apply it?
How does he say, You know what,
now that you’ve looked at this,
what should you do? He says, Don’t you be
turned away by a heart of unbelief too.
Even if we looked at God’s word and say,
You know that’s right, but I want to go to
something easier,
that is unbelief in itself.
If we decide to turn to something easier,
if we decide to try to justify it,
to try to rationalize it, that is still a
heart of unbelief toward what
God has said. The belief that Scripture
shows,
pistis is a belief that says,
I believe this to the point I’m going to
invest my actions into it.
I’m going to invest my life in this.
We can be a part of this house if we hold
fast to this confidence,
to this hope.
Firm unto the end, but only if we do that.
We have a world where we might not know
what happens tomorrow.
So far in our country we have had the
freedom to worship our Lord,
but if that freedom is taken away,
will we still be willing to preach God’s
word to follow his way,
even if it means danger for us?
Now there are times where wisdom must be
used.
The Christians scattered abroad because it
wasn’t wise for them to just stay
in Jerusalem and to be massacred.
There was also a time where in our own
country there was a disease going around
and elders had to decide, you know what,
we need to do what’s wise. And so many
decided we’re not going to
be meeting right now. But when it comes to
following God’s way,
to being a part of His will, to doing His
will,
are we going to be willing to stand up to
persecution?
We don’t have to stay and try to be
slaughtered by the opposition that comes,
but we certainly cannot back down from the
truth given to us.
We can use prudence, but we cannot forsake
the way God has given us.
There is a difference between being wise
and worshiping where one needs to worship,
and also deciding not to worship because
it’s what is convenient for
me or because it’s too dangerous to do it.
Take heed, my brethren, lest there be in
any of you an evil heart
of unbelief in departing from the living
God.
If we desire to be in Christ’s house,
Christ, who is the better lawgiver,
we must recognize that He built the house,
that He is the owner of the house,
and He has decided that the way we stay in
the house is we hold fast to Him.
And as we have described, Christ is the
way into the house.
The Hebrews wanted to go where?
They wanted to go and enter the land of
rest.
But God is going to swear that they would
not enter into his rest.
Verse 18. But with whom was he grieved
forty years?
Was it not with them that had sinned,
whose carcass carcasses fell in the
wilderness?
And to whom swear he that they should not
enter into his rest,
but to them that believe not. The they
could not enter into rest because they
did not believe what God had said.
And in the same way, if we decide to go
against what God has shown us,
if we decide not to follow
What he has given to us, then we will not
be able to enter rest either.
Now, we aren’t going to try to enter the
land of Canaan,
but we do want to cross Jordan and see
heaven on the other side.
But we must hold fast to what God has
shown us.
Now, there’s an encouragement in that,
a beauty in that. What they could not have
within them was a heart of unbelief.
Now, when God commands us to do something,
is it ever impossible for us to do it?
If God commands us to do something,
that means we can do it. And God has
commanded us to believe.
Well, if God, who has never given us
anything we can’t do,
has told us that we can believe,
then we can go to His Word and be
confident that there is evidence in it
for what we are to believe. Remember that
this pistuo,
this piste, this is a belief that invests
itself into what is believed.
And we can be sure in
Scripture itself. As we looked at already,
Scripture all throughout it shows the fact
that Christ is God.
It is all consistent and shows that fact.
It also shows in its inerrancy.
It shows in the accuracy that even when
the historians say,
No, this isn’t the case, then Scripture
comes and says it is,
and after a hundred years, they dig up
something and they realize,
you know what? The Bible was right.
Of course, just saying that it has all of
the information doesn’t make
it have all the information. But if we
dig,
if we look, which all of us should be
doing,
if we dig and we look at Scripture,
we can be sure what God has given,
so that we need not have an heart of
unbelief,
but a firm foundation of belief in Christ.
Christ is a better lawgiver because he
built the house,
because he is the owner of the house,
and because he is the way into it.
And he has shown us that that way is
believing in him to the point
of submitting to what he has given,
with a firm hope in what he has allowed us
to follow.
Our decision, our question is if we are
going to follow it so that we can
be a part of that house, seeking the
evidence so that we can believe
and one day enter into that rest.
Thank you for your time, plus thirty
seconds.
