Jesus is Better - Hebrews
The writer of Hebrews has come to settle this undebatable debate: Who is better, Moses or Jesus?
This week's message focuses on a life being built by Christ. It all begins with accepting that Jesus is a better builder. Do you rank Jesus as number one in your life?
Hebrews
3:1-19
Jesus Greater Than
Moses
Therefore, holy
brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and
high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him,
just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been
counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a
house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by
someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all
God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken
later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his
house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
A Rest for the
People of God
7 Therefore, as the
Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as
in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your fathers
put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was
provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter
my rest.’”
12 Take care,
brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you
to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long
as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original
confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were
those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by
Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those
who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear
that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we
see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 3:1-19.
Study
Notes
WEEK 3 NOTES:
Hebrews 3:1-19
For people who have
grown up reading the Bible and hearing Bible stories it can be tempting to make
heroes out of our most beloved biblical figures. We all want to be like David
who slayed Goliath. We want to be like Abraham who had great faith. We want to
be like Joshua who led the people to the promised land. When we consider these
heroes of the faith though, they all pale in comparison to one figure, Jesus
Christ.
All other
characters point to the main character, Jesus. In the case of Hebrews 3, the
author uses Moses as an example. Moses is great, but Jesus is better. To
illustrate this point he says Jesus is as much greater than Moses as a builder
of the house is greater than the house itself. Jesus is the main character of
the story, because He is the builder of every story.
If Jesus is a
builder, then we need to determine how to build our life on Him. We do that by
taking the advice of the author of Hebrews.
Do Not
Harden Your Heart.
The dominant theme
from Hebrews 3 is a warning for believers to not harden their hearts. To build
our life on God we need to make a habit of listening to Him and doing what He
says! It can be very easy to think it’s not a big deal to ignore what God has to
say, especially about something that is seemingly small. However, every time we
ignore what God has to say to us we make a practice of hardening our hearts.
The deadly thing about hardening your heart is that every time you do so, it
makes hardening your heart the next time even easier.
The author of
Hebrews implores us, “Don’t harden your heart.” Instead, Christians are to
soften up, listen up, and straighten up as they seek to hear from the Lord and
do what He says.
Seek to
Rest in Christ.
Instead of
hardening our hearts, we are called to rest in Christ. The author of Hebrews
says unbelief kept the children of Israel from entering into rest. If we want
to enter into God’s rest we will do so by faith. However, we have an advantage
the people of Israel didn’t have. The people of Israel were called to believe
and have faith in the fact God would take care of them. They had to believe God
was going to take care of them, even though they didn’t have any evidence He
was going to provide for them or protect them. For modern Christians, we do not
have to wonder if God will provide for us and protect us. He already has
provided us with
all we need and
secured our eternal protection from death in the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. As Christians our goal is to seek to believe in who Jesus is
and what Jesus has done and rest in that reality.
Want to build your life
on God? Rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, listen to what He has to
say, and do exactly as He says.
QUESTIONS
FOR DISCUSSION
How do you
practically rest in the finished work of Christ instead of striving to save
yourself?
How do you protect
against hardening your heart?
Of all the biblical
characters outside of Christ, which is your favorite? How is Christ better than
that character?
How is delayed
obedience a form of hardening your heart?
What are practical
ways that we can seek to build our life on Christ every day?
Bottom Line:
God is
good, even when life is not.
END
