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Sermon Outline
Hebrews 3:1-19: Consider Jesus
A. Jesus Greater than Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6)
(1) 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.
1. Therefore….looks back to all that has been said about the Son
2. …holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling,
1. “holy brothers” –brothers of Jesus and of each other who are set apart
3. Consider Jesus… the apostle and high priest of our confession…
a. Jesus is both an apostle and a high priest.
b. He represents God to man and man to God
4. Like Moses, Jesus was faithful. But Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house, Jesus has been faithful as a Son, presiding over the household.
5. And we are his house…
6. … if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope
B. Today If You Hear His Voice(Hebrews 3:7-11)
(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 (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.’”
1. This quotation, of the Spirit, is from Psalm 95, the part we usually don’t read!
2. The second part of Psalm 95 refers back to Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness – specifically to that rebellion described in Exodus 17 and Numbers 14.
3. Because of their unbelief and failure to trust, they were not able to enter the land
4. But there is always “today,” a new day, a new day to trust, for this Hebrew church and for us, and “today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
5. “Today” is the day of opportunity to trust and obey
6. To harden one’s heart is to persist in rebellious unbelief and refusal to trust
C. Take Care Brothers (Hebrews 3:12-14)
(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 share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
1, Take care, brothers….be watchful, vigilant, awake, focused, conscientious
2. ….lest there be in any of you…
a. Remember this small group of Christians is sitting on the fence as to Christ
b. They are tempted, and considering, going back to Egypt, so to speak…
3. An evil unbelieving heart is speaking about an apostate heart, a heart that, after all is said and done, rejects Jesus in His fullness, and thus rejects His word.
4. Part of this “taking care” involves not just self analysis but mutual watchfulness and mutual encouragement/exhortation, for each other
5. We need this because sin and unbelief is sneaky, and deceitful, and others often see it developing in us when we don’t see it. It is often dressed up as something appealing, even spiritually appealing. We need each other to stay the course.
6. …..We share in Christ….in communion with him, and in common hope with him
7. If… indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
a. A similar thing was said at the end of verse 6: A saving faith is a persevering faith
b. This exemplifies the classic teaching about the perseverance of the saints.
D. No Rest for the Rebellious and Unbelieving (Hebrews 3:15-19)
(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.
1. So, the “Today” of Psalm 95 remains active, and will remain until Jesus returns
2. As you hear his voice, revealed primarily in His word, do not dismiss it, neglect it, ignore it, deflect it, push it aside, waffle, prevaricate, resist, or in any other way fail to receive it, for such is a sign of a heart on a pathway of hardening.
3. For the ones who died in the wilderness had heard the word, had seen God act, and yet had provoked him in unbelief and distrust for forty years.
4. Let us make sure that we are not like them!
5. Consider Jesus, remember Jesus, cling to Jesus, follow Jesus, love Jesus!
E. Rest, and the Promise of It
1. The rest of God, then, was represented by life in the land, free of enemies
2. It further meant peace, wholeness, fullness, and blessing
3. For us today “rest” means rest in Christ, and rest in everlasting peace and wholeness and goodness and blessing with Christ in his kingdom.
4. This passage speaks in words of challenge. In Matthew Jesus says the same thing in words of invitation. Go unreservedly to Jesus and you will find true rest. |
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