Jesus' Superiority to Moses

Date:: May 18, 2014

Psalm:: 77

Text:: Hebrews 3:1–6 ¹Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ²who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. ³For 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.) ⁵Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶but 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. ^ESV

Intro

Consider Jesus to the end that you might have confidence and boasting in your hope.
1. Hebrews 12:12 ¹²Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ^ESV
2. Revelation 21:8 ⁸But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” ^{Those who lack this quality are not bound for heaven but for the lake of fire}
3. The impossible job of the preacher.
Jesus' faithfulness compared to Moses' ^{Note on angels}
Argument 1: Builder vs House
1. He that builds the house has more honor than the house.
2. Christ built the house, and Moses was only of the house, or a part of it: and therefore Christ has more glory than Moses
Argument 2: Servant vs Son
1. A son over his own house is of more honour than a servant in the house of another.
2. Therefore Christ as a son over his own house has more glory than Moses who was a servant in the house of another.
A description of the house
1. The house of God is one that holds fast to confidence and ^{boasting/rejoicing in} hope

Faithfulness

We begin as our verse does with the faithfulness of Moses (Jesus was faithful just as Moses)
^{Let us consider} Moses' faithfulness ^{to God and in God's church}
1. We are at a disadvantage to the Jews here. They stood in awe of Moses' faithfulness in a way that we do not.
  1. Hebrews 6:12 ^{tells us to be} imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. ^{Such was Moses}
  2. Hebrews 11:24–25 ²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ^ESV
  3. Hebrews 13:7 ⁷Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ^ESV
  4. How have you complied with the command to imitate the faith of Moses?
2. This passage is built on the assumption that you know the life of Moses, that he is a hero of the faith to you. That way Jesus looks wonderful in comparison to Moses.
  1. One of the goals of this sermon is to lift up the glorious faithfulness of Moses, so that we can see the surpassing glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Look at the church of the OT and the church of the NT. When does the church do exactly what God tells it to do?
  1. Abraham is given the covenant and tries to enact it with his wife's servant Hagar.
  2. When Isaac is born God makes it clear the blessing that will be on Jacob but Isaac prefers and shows favoritism to Esau.
  3. Jacob is a conniver and a swindler many of his days
  4. Of Jacob's sons, his first-born loses his birth-right because he; "lay with Bilhah his father's concubine"
  5. Simeon and Levi, the 2nd and 3rd children of Jacob, lose their birth-right over their misuse of the sign of the covenant.
  6. The sons together come to an agreement to sell their brother Joseph into slavery and lie to their father about it.
  7. Fast forward 400 years to when the Jews are being redeemed by God from the hand of the Egyptians. They complain and rebel every step of the way, to where the entire first generation is killed in the desert through plagues, pestilence, and even by the ground opening its mouth to swallow men alive.
  8. Time would fail us to talk of the atrocities of the tribes during the times of the judges, which are only made worse during the times of the kings.
    1. All of this can be summarized in the book of Hosea which compares God to a faithful husband and God's people to a faithless whore.
    2. Hosea 5:4 ⁴Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the LORD. ^ESV
    3. Let us pause here to remember who our God is. In the midst of unspeakable unfaithfulness, our God yet remains faithful.
    4. Hosea 11:8–9 ⁸How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. ⁹I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. ^ESV
    5. Hosea 2:14–15a ¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. ¹⁵And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. ^ESV
  9. When the people finally fill the measure of wickedness that God allots to them he takes them away into captivity.
  10. When they return it is under a mixed bag of obedience and disobedience.
  11. 400 years of silence of silence ensues before the coming of the most wicked generation of God's people who proceed to put the Son of God himself to death.
  12. Nor does universal desire for holy living ensue upon the advent of the post messianic age. We read in the Epistles that, though many churches were full of obedience and godliness, many others were full of wickedness and disobedience. Such as the churches of Ephesus who had lost their first love, Corinth who were getting drunk at communion, and Laodicea which was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm, called: wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
  13. And history since has been full of the same.
  14. When have the people of God simply done what God told them to do? When have we stood upright before God full of obedience and faithfulness? The rarity of this in the Bible and in church history is staggering to consider.
  15. One such time was the construction of the tabernacle under Moses.
4. Exodus 40 "As the LORD commanded Moses"
  1. All of this culminating with God's glory descending on the tabernacle. What higher stamp of approval can be imagined of a ministry than for the presence of the Lord to descend in such a way?
5. Moses did all that the Lord commanded him.
Faithfulness in an office
1. It is a thing very glorious, to be faithful in an office committed to us of God
  1. Matthew 25:21 ²¹His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ^ESV
2. It is not office and ministry itself wherein Moses was thus honored, but faithfulness in his office.
  1. Moses was worthy of honour, not because he was employed, but because he was “faithful” in his trust and employment.
  2. Caleb Joshua and the 10 other spies
  3. Better never be employed in the work of God, than deal unfaithfully in it ^{more to me than to anyone else}
  4. Luke 9:62 ⁶²Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” ^ESV
  5. Hebrews 10:38 ³⁸but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” ^ESV
Moses not unfaithful
1. Moses did not shrink back. He faithfully held his difficult office in the midst of what God calls a stiff-necked and rebellious people.
2. Of such faithful ministers, God says that those who honor me, I will honor
  1. 1 Samuel 2:30b ... those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ^ESV
3. Every one who is employed in the service of God in his house, and is faithful in the discharge of his work and trust therein, is counted worthy of honour
  1. Hebrews 6:10 ¹⁰For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. ^ESV
4. Greater honour never had any save Christ alone.
5. Numbers 12:6–8 ^{God says of Moses} “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. ⁷Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. ⁸With 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?” ^ESV
6. God declares Moses to be a faithful servant in all of his house. Paul echoes these words putting as it were this glorious epitaph on his grave, “Moses, a faithful servant of the Lord in his whole house.”
Jesus' faithfulness is greater than Moses

Builder vs House

Moses is counted worthy of glory^{Rom 9:4}, the Lord Christ is counted much more worthy of glory^{2Cor 3:7}.
1. Romans 9:4 ⁴They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ^ESV
2. 2 Corinthians 3:7–9 ⁷Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? ⁹For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. ^ESV
Christ's glory
1. Christ built the church, or the house of God and because of this is worthy of supreme glory and honour.
2. To see this, we will consider how a house is built. We will compare the house of God to the construction of the tabernacle.
3. It is first designed by some architect or engineer. Then material is gather and construction ensues. Lastly, the residents move in and the house is used for its intended purpose. In all of these areas, the glory of Jesus surpasses that of Moses.
  1. Design
    1. The design of the tabernacle was wonderful because it was a copy of a heavenly design.
      1. Exodus 25:9 ⁹Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. ^ESV
      2. Hebrews 8:5 ⁵They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” ^ESV
    2. The design of the church is not a copy but the thing itself. All the glory of the house that Moses built is in where it adhered unto the house of Christ.
  2. Construction
    1. The Holy Spirit gifted men to labor to build the tabernacle and provided the materials for its being built by blessing men's hearts so to give
      1. Exodus 25:2 ²“Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. ^ESV
      2. Exodus 35:30–31 ³⁰Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; ³¹and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, ^ESV
    2. Jesus builds his house himself. By his own work
      1. The material for the house of God are living stones which are made made alive though they were dead. This he accomplished by himself. The material is more excellent material, the gathering of that material is more excellent, and the framing of the material together into a house is more excellent.
      2. Matthew 16:18 ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ^ESV
      3. The height of this difference can be seen in the consecration of the house.
      4. That the house so built and compacted might be a habitation unto God, it was necessary that an atonement should be made for it by sacrifice, and that it should be purified and sanctified with the blood thereof. This our apostle declares,
        
        Hebrews 9:19–21 ¹⁹For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ^ESV
        See the difference in the glory. Moses sacrificed the blood of goats and bulls. Jesus by his own sacrifice makes his house a fit dwelling place for God.
  3. Habitation
    1. Unto the completing of this house for a habitation to the Lord, the glorious entrance of his presence into it was required.
    2. Exodus 40:34–35 ³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ³⁵And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ^ESV
    3. 1 Kings 8:27 ²⁷“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ^ESV
    4. 2 Chronicles 2:5–6 ⁵The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. ⁶But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him? ^ESV
    5. We are this house for God
      1. 1 Corinthians 3:16 ¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ^ESV
      2. Ephesians 2:22 ²²In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. ^ESV
      3. 1 Peter 2:5 ⁵you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ^ESV
      4. We are what the tabernacle could not be a fit dwelling place for his name to dwell forever. This is our honor and privilege.
      5. Because we are this house of God, it becometh us to “hold fast our confidence unto the end.
        
        And this, on many accounts, was a greater work than that of the creation of all things out of nothing.
      6. This is the glory of Jesus building the house of God.
    6. But now this hath Christ done; he hath built a house for God to dwell in for ever.
      1. Jesus has accomplished that which Moses and Solomon could merely point to. He has built a place for God's name to dwell.

The End of Moses' Ministry

vs 5: Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later
In his ministry he was a testimony, or by what he did in the service of the house he gave testimony. Whereunto? To the things that were afterwards to be spoken, namely, in the fulness of time, the appointed season, by the Messiah,—that is, the things of the gospel. And this, indeed, was the proper end of all that Moses did or ordered in the house of God.
This is the importance of the words, and this was the true and proper end of the whole ministry of Moses, wherein his faithfulness was tried and manifested. He ordered all things by God’s direction in the typical worship of the house, so as that it might be a pledge and testimony of what God would afterwards reveal and exhibit in the gospel
1 Peter 1:12 ¹²It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. ^ESV
Hebrews 11:39–40 ³⁹And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. ^ESV

Servant vs Son

Moreover, this ministry of Moses was done as a servant in the house of another, Jesus ministry was done as a Son in his own house. This renders him more glory. (vs 5 & 6)
A son over his own house is of more honour than a servant in the house of another.
Christ is a son over his own house; Moses was only a servant in another’s house:
The greatest and most honourable of the sons of men that are employed in the work of God in his house are but servants, and parts of the house itself

A Difficulty

We have been comparing the construction of the tabernacle to the construction of the house of God and thus comparing Moses as builder to Christ as builder. But this is not the emphasis of our verses today. (vs 3)
Paul is not comparing Moses as master craftsman of the tabernacle to Jesus master craftsman of the church. But is comparing Moses, living stone in the church, to Jesus as builder of that church. Why?
To rephrase the question:
1. It would seem that, Moses was a principal builder of the house of God under the Old Covenant, and we would expect perhaps to see that in these verses. But we don't.
2. Moses in these verses is not the builder of the house of God, but only a part of it (vs 3), and a servant to it (vs 5)
One last rephrase
1. In the midst of all the faithfulness of Moses to God, Moses' glory as a part of God's church is what is compared to Jesus glory as a builder of that church.
There is no higher honor than to be a Christian.
1. Even in consideration of all Moses' faithfulness, and there is no one faithful like Moses save Christ alone, even in consideration of this, Moses' highest honor and glory is not as a faithful servant, but as a living stone in the house of God.
2. Why do I say this? Why do I say that Moses' glory of being in the church or a part of the church is more glorious than his building the tabernacle which pointed forward to the church?
3. As Christians, we get to walk with Jesus Christ. We get to know God and to be his friend. There is no higher honor than this. My claim is that the glory of the most faithful pastor in all existence pales in comparison to the glory that man has as a Christian.
4. I would rather be a Christian than anything else in the world!
5. Luke 17:7–10 ⁷“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? ⁸Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? ⁹Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’ ” ^ESV
6. Psalm 16:2–3 ²I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” ³As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. ^ESV
  1. God shares his glory with no one, yet he shares his glory with the church.
  2. If I were to say, I am going to put all my delight in something that is not God and yet have it not be idolatry ... what can fulfill that.
7. 1 Peter 5:1 ¹So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: ^ESV
8. John 17:9 ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ^ESV
9. 1 Corinthians 3:21–23 ²¹So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, ²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. ^ESV

Jesus: Master Builder

Moses, for all his faithfulness was not a builder of this church. He did build a tabernacle, but this was a pointer to the church not the thing itself.
Of the church itself Moses was a member, a solitary brick in that wonderful structure, just like you and I are.
But Jesus is the builder of the structure itself.
Jesus takes care to shepherd, guide, and teach his church perfectly. That we may know the way of salvation.
Jesus by his own blood makes way for us to return to right fellowship with God.
Jesus not only clothes us with righteousness but furnishes us with power that we may not stumble or go headlong. Even if we are fools we will not go astray, for he is the captain of our salvation.
Jesus lives above in heaven interceding for us, pleading his own blood on our behalf that we may be remembered before God.
And as Moses carefully put together the tabernacle making sure every measurement fit exactly God's plan for it. The candles had to be just so, the bread and the table to exact specification, the altar and the bronze sea according to the blueprint provided him, so our greater Moses, our Jesus acts on our behalf not as a servant, but as the only begotten Son of God, reigning in power and authority, our just King who ordains every atom in existence to be in the exact proper place according to the blueprint and specification laid out by his Father who has planned all things perfectly.
Thus Jesus is our prophet our priest and our king.
We must be very bold in light of all of this. We must rejoice in our hope for it is very great, and not only rejoice but boast in our great hope for he will not fail us. Not as prophet, not as priest and not as king.
Jesus as prophet priest and king is building his church perfectly.
Therefore, hold fast your confidence and your boasting in your hope. For, Jesus is more faithful than even Moses. Therefore consider him, keep your eyes on Jesus. You will not go astray under his care and his watchful eye.