Hebrews 3:1-6

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Hebrews 3:1-6

5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;

6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Servant and a Son...

- These brethren were acknowledged to be “holy” and “partakers of the heavenly calling”

- The solution to their deficiency was to “consider” Jesus...

- Our “confession” of Jesus as the Christ requires that we not be ashamed of Him in His various roles.

- The leadership of both Christ and Moses was characterized by faithfulness.

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Servant and a Son...

- Moses’ glory as a great “apostle” in the O. T. house of God was eclipsed by the glory of Christ as the “builder” of that house.

- God’s accomplishments far outshine those of any man who might be honored for his service.

- Moses’ faithful work resulted in the initiation of many O. T. things that would serve as a “testimony” of things “to come” through Jesus in the church.

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Servant and a Son...

- The Son rules over His own house.

Hebrews 3:7-19

7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice,

8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years.

10 “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’;

11 As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Hebrews 3:7-19

12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”

Hebrews 3:7-19

16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

17 And with whom was He angry 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 not able to enter because of unbelief.

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Lesson from the Past...

- A serious warning for the recipients is drawn from Psalm 95:7-11.

- God’s patience with Israel was exhausted when it became obvious that forty years of proving them through numerous miracles and chastisements was inadequate to convince them of His righteous intentions toward them.

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Lesson from the Past...

- The reason for the repeated failures of the Jews to trust in God’s wisdom was simply that they “have not known my ways.”

- The extent of the Jews’ O.T. disobedience is characterized in Numbers 14:22 as having tested God “ten times” in the wilderness in spite of His “glory and signs.”

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Lesson from the Past...

- No wonder God’s wrath was aroused against Israel, and He swore,”They shall not enter My rest.”

- Just as the Jews’ hearts turned from belief to unbelief in Moses, God’s apostle to them for physical deliverance, our hearts can commit the same fatal error about Jesus, God’s apostle to us for spiritual deliverance.

- Spiritual Israel must learn the lessons not learned by physical Israel:

HebrewsLesson 4

• A Lesson from the Past...

- “Partaking of Christ” occurs “in His house” (vs.6, 14) as we hold fast our confidence and hope to the end.

- How widespread is the danger of rebelling against God?

- Unbelief in our apostle will as surely keep us out of our spiritual rest in heaven as unbelief in their apostle prevented the Jews from entering into physical rest in a land of promise.