- Review: The first pillar of
Judaism: Angels
Heb
3:1-4 (ESV) 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.)
- Second pillar of
Judaism: Moses
- Moses seems like a stepdown
from angels (and chapter two would support that), but Moses has a
special standing in scripture
- The name Moses appears
_______ times in the OT and 85 times in the NT -- more than any other
name other than Jesus and David
- Moses was not a patriarch
but for a first century Jew was held in more _______ than angels or the
patriarchs
- … and as you will see in a
little bit, Moses was a man who waited a long time for his opportunity
to make an impact …
- What do we
learn about the audience? (verse 1)
- They are __________
brothers
- They ________ in the
heavenly calling
- They __________ Jesus as
their Apostle and High Priest
- Key word:
"consider" (Grk: katanoeo, NT:2657)
- "to give proper and decisive thought about something -
'to consider carefully, to be concerned about.' " (from
Greek-English Lexicon)
- To consider carefully or to
fix one's eyes or mind upon (from Thayer's)
- APPLICATION: __________
Jesus is the key to the Christian life and to a walking faith
- Why call
Jesus "our apostle?"
- He is like Moses. He carried a _________ from God to the
people
- In this case, he is the
message
- Also, Moses brought the
Mosaic Covenant and Law
John 1:17 (ESV) — 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ.
- Jesus brought the New
Covenant and Grace
Revelation 15:3 (ESV) — 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of
God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
- Why a high
priest?
- A high priest _____________
men to God
- Hebrews is the ____ _____
in the NT where Jesus is called an Apostle and a high Priest
- What does
it mean when it says that Moses was faithful in all God's house? (Num 12:7)
- The house is the house of
Israel (more clear in vs 6). The
context is Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses leadership, partly
because he had married a Cushite wife
- Num 12:1-11 (ESV) Miriam
and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had
married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, "Has
the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us
also?" And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek,
more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly
the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, "Come out, you
three, to the tent of meeting." And the three of them came out. 5
And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance
of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6
And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I
the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a
dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he
beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak
against my servant Moses?" 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against them, and he departed.
10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam
was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she
was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, do not
punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.
- Yet was Moses always
faithful?
- Moses destroyed the first
ten commandments (a point which God reminds him)
- Moses disobeyed God at
Meribah (and lost his chance to enter the promised land)
- Why is
Jesus better than Moses?
- Because Jesus is the
_________ of everything (the designer or creator is always greater than
the user)
- Application:
- One, you can be called
faithful without being perfect
- Two, you can confess Jesus,
but you need to go farther than a public confession. Knowing Jesus needs be the central
thought and direction of our life
- Three, implied warning --
not to speak against God's house. It is easy to be critical of the
church and of the leadership. And I do believe there is a way to
approach that, but it should never be a common conversation
Heb
3:5-6 (ESV) 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.
- How are Moses and Jesus
differentiated in these verses?
- Moses was only a servant in
the house
- Jesus is over the whole
house (note: we are the house)
- Jesus is a son
- Why the phrase "if we
hold on?"
- Mark of a true believer is
that we hold on
- The
point is that continuance in faith is evidence that a person actually
believed. Lack of continuance in faith does not
mean the person is not saved; it only means that the person does not
have the evidence that faith exists (Fructenbaum, 2005)
Heb
3:7-11 (ESV) 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 10 for forty years.
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.'
- When you think of the phrase
"harden your hearts," who or whom do you usually think about?
- Heart of Pharaoh -- Yet
this passage is referring to?
- Israel (or the Exodus
generation)
- Note: The Exodus
generation (20 and over who left Egypt)
- Note: The Wilderness
generation (those under 20 and born during the 40 years in the
wilderness)
- Read quotation from OT
Ps 95:7-11 (ESV)
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear
his voice,
8 do not harden
your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof,
though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years
I loathed that generation
and said, "They are a people who go astray in their
heart,
and they have not known
my ways."
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
"They shall not enter my rest."
- Ps 95:8. Note: Meribah means ____________;
Massah means ___________
- Also the first half of Ps
95 emphasizes what?
- He is our God (deserving
of our worship)
- We are his people
- His pasture (his
__________)
- His sheep (his
___________)
- The second half refers to
what?
- Forty years he
"loathed" the generation
- The exodus generation were
a people …
- Who were going _____ in
the heart (hearts were focused on other things)
- Who did not _______ his
ways (we were weak in their knowledge of him)
- God swore (promised) that
"his people" (verse 7) would not see his _______
- Sin as a result of
disobedience forfeited blessings
- The Massah & Meribah
incident occurs very early in the desert
- Ex 17:1-7
(ESV) All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the
wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord,
and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Therefore the people quarreled
with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said
to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the
Lord?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people
grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of
Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"
4 So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people?
They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the Lord said to Moses,
"Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of
Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile,
and go. 6 Behold, I will stand
before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock,
and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And
Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the
name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the
people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying,
"Is the Lord among us or not?"
- What is the real issue here?
- Note the two main passages
(Ps 95 and Ex 17)
- Psalm 95:9 " … put me to the
proof, though they had seen my work."
- Numbers 17:7 " … they tested
the Lord by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
- [START VIDEO]
- Explain my story
- A staff doctor on the team
once got Sharon aside and told her to stop bothering the staff because
her son was going to die of pneumonia at some point (he had six
pneumonias that first year) -- relate story of praying during a
pneumonia
- Israel
- They had just seen the
tremendous miracles
- Faith was not whether God
could do it or not, but rather would he? Sure he cared about the big
picture of the nation, but did he care about "me, my family, my
struggles"
- When we pray, we all
struggle with when and how God will answer -- water in a desert is the
perfect issue -- the prayer has to be answered soon!
- The issue is NOT
- … God's __________
- … God's __________
- The issue in the mind of
the Exodus generation … DOES GOD CARE FOR ME, MY FAMILY, MY LIVELIHOOD …
- How does God define faith?
Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) — 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) —
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would
draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
seek him.
- In other words, He deeply
cares about us
- Let's look
at Israel. What is the result of Israel's sin at Kadesh Barnea?
Num 14:19-23 (ESV) Please pardon the iniquity of this
people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have
forgiven this people, from Egypt until now."
20 Then the Lord said, "I have pardoned, according
to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled
with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of
the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the
wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not
obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land
that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall
see it
- Note that the people
repented and God forgave them (Num 14:20). They didn't lose their salvation but they forfeited God's blessing
- What is it that the writer of Hebrews is
warning the believers against?
- Refusal to ______ by _____
in obedience to God results in missing out on God's rest
- What is the rest?
- Observations about Rest
- The offer of entering
still stands
- You can fall short of it
(they were not maturing …"they ought to be teachers by now")
- You can believe (live by
faith) and enter it
- 3 Types of Rest
- Caanan Rest: rest based on work; here and now rest
that is a result of obedience and faith (faith / life rest)
- Creation Rest: God rested from all His creation work
(for us, might refer to our inheritance)
- Sabbath Rest: rest a believer experiences
spiritually as he matures
- Which rest is the author
challenging the readers to enter?
- They are
already believers (Heb 3:1), the warning is not about the rest of
Heaven, but the faith / life rest that God offers all believers and
that comes as a result of maturity in their faith
- Which is why there is a
lot of discussion in Hebrews on the importance of maturity
- Application:
- Jewish believers were at
the same point. Saved, but now a
big decision is before them. They
were in danger of committing the same mistake the Exodus generation made
- What is God calling us to
do?
- Are we continuing in
faith? Or are we just treading
water?
Heb
3:12-15 (ESV) 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 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."
- In light
of what we just read, what is a sinful, unbelieving heart?
- The problem with the Exodus
generation was their faith
- But it was not in the
power of God (miracles, Red sea, two pillars, manna, …)
- It was in the care and
concern of God
- Water was a
time-sensitive need, and they pushed the button -- does God really
care about me?
- Disciples (Story of asleep
in boat is in Matt 8 and Luke 8)
Mark 4:37–41 (ESV) — 37
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so
that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the
stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do
you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and
rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are
you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were
filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even
the wind and the sea obey him?”
- Faith is believing that God
knows and cares about my situation
- How do we
protect ourselves?
- Encouragement (we need
___________)
- Staying away from sin (we
need to _________ to God)
- Application:
- Faith is believing
- God _______ about me
- God completely _________
me
- God is working my
___________
- Circumstances may be
against me, but God can use bad circumstances for our good
- The OPPOSITE of real faith
is believing …
- If I believe something
hard enough, God will do it
- My life should always have
good things
Phil
2:25-30 (ESV) I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my
brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister
to my need, 26 for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed
because you heard that he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, near to death. But
God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have
sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you
may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. 29 So receive
him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, 30 for he nearly died for
the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your
service to me.
- Faith is not believing in
something hard enough such that it happens. Faith is believing that God
knows and cares and what happens or doesn't happen is for my best
- Rom 8:28 says the very same
thing
Heb
3:16-19 (ESV) 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.
- Five rhetorical
questions: really only 3, because
2 answer the previously question
- Who heard and
rebelled?
- Were they all those Moses
led out of Egypt? Yes, by
implication a physically redeemed people
- And with whom was he angry
for forty years?
- Was it not those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
Yes, the Exodus generation
- And to whom did God swear
that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
- Some did not enter his rest,
which in this case is the promised land.
We should note that Moses, Aaron, and Miriam did not enter
- Therefore, it is not a
spiritual (in the sense of Heaven), but a physical/spiritual rest
- What is this rest? (read the next passage)
- Add end story [show VIDEO]
- In the midst of suffering,
I never liked the ending of Job
- But the ending is more than
an "ever-after happy ending," because Job still lost 10
children
Job 42:12–17 (ESV) — 12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more
than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen,
and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and
three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter
Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third
Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so
beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among
their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his
sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job
died, an old man, and full of days.
- God answered our prayers,
but it will never take away the feeling of pain we endured
