Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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I’m going to say something this morning that I’ve intentionally kept from saying because I think it’s often said too much by preachers. If it’s said to often, it can begin to lose its meaning and impact, but I’m convinced that it’s true of the message God has laid on my heart for this morning. This message can change your life.

I’ve heard it said in many different ways. Some preachers have said it this way, “This is the most important message I’ve ever preached.” Then the next week, they began their sermon by saying, “This is the most important message I’ve ever preached.” Maybe I need to start saying it every week, too. Because if we truly grasp the Scripture and apply it to our life, it will change our lives. Perhaps every sermon I preach ought to be the most important sermon of my life. I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case, but I can say that this morning’s message is so important because I want to urge all of us to consider Jesus.

One of the greatest barriers to faith in Jesus is simply not stopping to consider who He is. There are always a million pressing needs to attend to. Work needs to get done. Bills need to get paid. Our lives sometimes keep us so busy that we don’t have time to think about some of the most important issues of life. So it’s easier to simply accept the common view of who Jesus was: a good man, a radical teacher, but not the Son of God. But if we stop to consider who Jesus is, we must conclude that He is the Son of God, God Himself, and worthy of all praise.

Read Hebrews 3:1-6

One of the reoccurring themes in Hebrews is to show how Jesus Christ is greater than everything. In this passage, we read that Jesus is greater than Moses. Think about some of the things that Moses was known for. Moses spoke with God at the burning bush. Moses delivered Israel out of slavery in Egypt. Moses parted the Sea. Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt. Sinai.

The text says that Moses was faithful (v. 2, 5). Now, we know that Moses wasn’t perfect. Yet he was honored for his devotion to God. We ought all have that desire, to hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” But notice how Moses was faithful (v. 5). He was faithful as a servant. Moses knew, most of the time, that he was not the important one. He served God, and he urged the people to honor God.

Moses did this “to testify to the things that were to be spoken of later.” The main work of Moses wasn’t to deliver Israel. It wasn’t to part the water or even to carry the tablets of stone down from the mountain. The main work of Moses was to testify about Christ. Moses wrote about Jesus (John 5:46). Moses’s whole life was to point us to Jesus. Often we think, “I wish I had it all together like so and so.” But as long as we have our eyes focused on others, we’re holding ourselves back. Get your eyes off of people, and onto Jesus. Only consider people as far as they reflect Christ. That’s what Paul encouraged us to do. Imitate him as he imitated Christ. And that’s what the writer of Hebrews is telling us to do here. He wasn’t downplaying Moses. Moses was great. Moses was awesome. But Jesus is awesomer.

So who is this Jesus who is far greater than the greatest man in the history of the Jews? Many say that He was simply another man. After all, He was faithful just as Moses was (v. 2). But read on (v. 3). Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses. Why? Because Moses was a great prophet in God’s house. But Christ built God’s house! Not only that, but Moses is a part of God’s house. So Christ made Moses! And Christ isn’t faithful as a mere servant, but as a son (v. 6a). The son has ownership of the house. The son has authority over the house.

What’s truly humbling about all this is that we’re never called Moses’s brothers. But we are called Christ’s brothers (v. 1). We’re called holy. We’re not holy! Yet Christ makes us holy. It tells us we share in a heavenly calling. This is a call from Heaven. And it’s a summoning to Heaven. This call comes through Christ. Christ is our apostle. He brings us the message of Himself. Christ is our high priest. He offers up Himself as our sacrifice.

But in order to know Jesus in this way, we must do what verse 1 tells us to do: consider Jesus. This is a call for all people. We might think of it as merely as something we urge unbelievers to do. And certainly we should urge unbelievers to consider Jesus. To consider and embrace Jesus is the most important decision of our lives. But considering Jesus isn’t just for the lost. We must all consider Jesus. Christ is infinitely more glorious that we often realize. Give careful attention to Christ. To what Christ has said. To what the Bible says about Him. Jesus is worthy of our thoughts. Jesus is far greater than we can imagine. He’s more powerful than we can imagine. He’s more glorious than we can imagine. He’s more loving than we can imagine. He’s more wise. More perfect. More humble. He’s more gracious. More good. More awesome. He’s more holy. More righteous. More just. He’s more majestic. More sovereign. More beautiful. Jesus is much more true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy than we can possibly imagine. Consider Jesus because He is worthy.

As you consider Jesus, what conclusions do you come to? If you embrace Christ, then you are a part of the house of God (v. 6). It describes those who know Christ in two ways. You find your confidence firmly in Christ. You have hope in Christ that you can boast about. Our confidence isn’t in ourselves or our abilities, but in Christ. In both this life and the life to come, we have assurance in Christ.

But if you do not embrace Christ, the reality is that you are lost. You don’t have that confidence and hope that Christ provides. You try to find those things in yourself, or in the future, or in social justice, or in your work. But those things never satisfy. Wherever you go, there you are. And even if you are reasonably content with those things for now, they won’t last for eternity.

Consider Jesus. Find your confidence and hope not in yourself, but in Jesus.