Hebrews 3
Mike Barnett,
Hebrews 3:1-18 (pg, 847) says:
1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly
calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we
confess. 2He was faithful to the one who appointed him,
just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3Jesus
has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a
house has greater honor than the house itself. 4For
every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house,
testifying to what would be said in the future. 6But
Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold
on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
7So,
as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going
astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "[a]
12See to it,
brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from
the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as
long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's
deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we
hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As
has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."[b]
16Who were
they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of
Lessons learned from
Hebrews 3:
1. A Christian is __________________ (declared)
to be ________________(Holy) because of who Christ is in them – they are
declared to ____________________(brothers) because of the Heavenly family they
have been _______________(adopted) into. V. 1
2. To walk in this God
Given righteousness on a daily basis, a Christian must continually __________(fix)
their ___________________(thoughts) on ___________________(Jesus) – this a good
method for “praying without ceasing”. V.
1
·
We have
allowed the thought patterns of this fallen world we live in to spill over onto
us.
·
Our minds/conscious
have been severed and scared by the selfish and sinful thoughts of the world we
live in.
·
To fix means:
a:To make firm, stable, or fast b: to
give a permanent or final form to. To make the image of. 2: To hold or direct
steadily. 3. To set or place definitely 4: To set in order: adjust 5: to get
ready: PREPARE 6a: REPAIR, MEND b: RESTORE, CURE. Webster’s Dictionary
·
Fix by
definition means to repair and make firm.
·
We need to
repair our thoughts and make them firm by thinking about Jesus and what he has
done for us.
·
Otherwise we
will be the “double-minded man that is unstable in all his ways” that James
speaks of.
·
Sharing in
verse two and following, the writer compares the faithfulness of Moses to the
greatest Old Testament leader of God’s people.
3) We are included God’s __________________(household)
- As Christians we are not only brothers and sisters of one another in Christ,
we are brothers and sisters of ______________(Christ). Vs. 2-6
·
To be Jesus’
brother or sister means that we are holy _______________________(positionally)
and we are exhorted to be Holy ______________________(experientially). Vs. 1-3
·
To be holy, the
writer urges Christians to “________________(FIX) THEIR _________________(THOUGHTS)
ON JESUS. Hebrews 3:1
·
Jesus was
faithful and was therefore appointed to be our _______________
_______________(high priest) because he lived as the faithful One here on
earth, in the same circumstances in which we live, not in the ideal conditions
of heaven. THEREFORE JESUS HAS BEEN FOUND WORTHY OF GREATER ____________________(HONOR)
THAN MOSES! V. 3
·
Moses let his
temper get the best of him and fell short of God’s perfect standard, yet He was
still worthy of honor because he was ordained by God.
·
·
In Numbers
12:6-8, God rebukes Aaron and Miriam for not honoring Moses as the through whom
God has uniquely revealed himself.
·
They should
have deferred to Moses because he had seen the glory of The Lord.
Numbers 12:6-8 says:
6 he said, "Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among
you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
7 But this
is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I
speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?"
·
Jesus is the
actual ___________________(builder) of the house, whereas Moses was simply a ________________(part)
of it. Vs. 3-6
John
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[a] who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.
·
Moses fell
short and let his anger get the best of him, but Jesus never did.
·
Therefore,
The Son of God is “worthy of greater honor than Moses. V. 6
·
The preacher
points out this God revealed himself finally and completely in His Son.
·
Thus it
behooves us to give the Son greater honor than he deserves by an obedience more
faithful and diligent than any ever shown to Moses.
4. GOD IS THE _____________________(BUILDER)
OF ___________________________(EVERYTHING) INCLUDING OUR MARRIAGE, OUR FAMILY
AND OUR CHURCH FAMILY V. 4
·
Just as God
has created established His people through the Son, so he also created the
world through the son.
·
The Son is
more worthy of more honor than Moses to the degree that the Creator is worthy
of more honor than what he has created.
·
Whereas Moses
was faithful as a servant in all God’s house.
·
Christ is
faithful as a son over God’s house.
·
MOSES WAS
FAITHFUL, BUT CHRIST IS FAITHFUL! V. 5
·
The Preacher
is primarily concerned about Christ’s faithfulness as a human being when He was
on earth.
·
The one who
is faithful on earth is now faithful in Heaven to save us.
·
A servant, no
matter how high in responsibility, is merely part of the household. But the Son is over just as the father is.
5. WE ARE GOD’S ________________(HOUSE)
– HE LIVES IN THE _____________(LIVE’S) OF BELIEVERS. V. 6
·
You and every
believer in Christ is the _______________
(House) where God __________________(lives) through the power of the ________________
_______________(Holy Spirit).
1 Cor.
16Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple
and that God's Spirit lives in you?
1 Cor.
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your
own;
John 14:10-21 (pg. 764) says:
10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that
the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is
the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe
me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least
believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I
tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son
may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for
anything in my name, and I will do it.
15"If
you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and
will be[a] in you. 18I will not
leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long,
the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you
also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am
in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever
has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me
will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to
him."
6. Christians are encouraged
to hold on to their courage and hope – in other words to be
________________(gritty) and ___________________(persevere) to the
_______________(end). V.6
·
Keep on
keeping on…Do not give in…Do not give up!
QUESTION: If we are God’s
house and he lives in us, then why do we need to just hold on ? ……ANSWER:
Because our position into God’s household is not seen with the physical eyes –
it must be received by ___________________(faith) which is contingent up our
___________________(choice) to ___________________(believe) God’s
___________________(promises).
·
The preacher
is anxious that his hearers remain a part of the people of God, so he adds: If
we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
·
The preacher
is also concerned that they hold onto the assured hope of living in God’s
presence forever.
·
God’s people
are not ashamed of this future hope. On the contrary, they boast about it.
7. It is not a sin to
__________________(boast) about what God has done for in you in Christ Jesus.
V. 6
1 Corinthians
31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts
boast in the Lord."[a]
2 Corinthians
17But, "Let him who boasts boast in the
Lord."[a]
·
It is only a
sin to boast about our own achievements apart from the Lord.
·
In Hebrews
3:7, the writer, who has been thinking about the faithfulness of Moses in
Hebrews 3:1-6, now turns to the unfaithfulness of the people Moses lead.
·
The preacher of
Hebrews sees a close parallel in the lives of his hearers.
·
They, too
faced opposition if they were going to continue to be faithful to God.