HEBREWS SERMON 4/ii: HEBREWS 3.1-6
RESPONDING TO GRACE:
FIX YOUR EYES ON JESUS NOT
MOSES, GRACE NOT LAW…
• "What do they know of cricket who only
cricket know?"
(West-Indian cricket-writer, journalist, and
Marxist: CLR James… Beyond a Boundary,
Preface)
• Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the
heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we
acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was
faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was
faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of
greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house
has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is
built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5
“Moses was faithful as a servant [therapon] in all God’s
house,” [= Numbers 12.7] bearing witness to what would be
spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the
Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we
hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we
glory. (Hebrews 3.1-6)
• I have established that the writer offers three
contrasts between Moses and Jesus that show
that Jesus is the one we should be looking to
for guidance on how to live in God’s
House(hold); Jesus’ Word is the most relevant
and up-to-date Word from the Father who
makes the rules.
• Those three contrasts were:
1. Both were faithful
2. Jesus is greater
3. Moses was faithful “in” but Jesus “over” the
household
Comparisons . . .
Comparison 1
Jesus
Faithful
Moses
Faithful
Comparison 2
Comparison 3
Son
Over house (Rular)
House-servant
Within house
(Therapon)
• “Compare him with illustrious persons, for this
affords grounds for amplification, and is noble,
if he can be proved to be better than men if
worth.”
• "Two households, both alike in dignity, / In fair
Verona, where we lay our scene, / From
ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where
civil blood makes civil hands unclean"
Christianity
Jesus
Judaism
Moses
Grace
Freedom
Law
Slavery
• “Christ…and…”
• “Christ … but…”
• “Nature, free-will, virtue and law, these strictly
defined and made independent of the notion
of God - were the catch-words of Pelagianism:
self-acquired virtue is the supreme good which
is followed by reward. Religion and morality lie
in the sphere of the free spirit; they are at any
moment by man's own effort.”
1. They "deny original sin".
2. They "say that the grace of God whereby we
are justified is not given freely, but
according to our merit".
3. They "say that in mortal man . . . there is so
great righteousness that even after the
washing of regeneration, until he finishes
this life of his, forgiveness of sins is not
necessary to him".
Paul
Augustine
1st
5th
Judaizers
Pelagius
Luther
Puritans
16th
17th
Late-med Catholic
Latitudinarians
i. THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN
GOSPEL & LAW
• "Hence, whoever knows well this art of distinguishing
between Law and Gospel, him place at the head and
call him a doctor of Holy Scripture." -- Dr. Martin
Luthers Sämmtliche Schriften, St. Louis ed. (St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), vol. 9, col. 802.
• The ‘Solid Declaration’ of the Formula of Concord says
in Section V "Law and Gospel"...
• Anything that preaches concerning our sins and God's
wrath, … that is all a preaching of the Law. Again, the
Gospel is such a preaching as shows and gives nothing else
than grace and forgiveness in Christ, although … the
apostles and preachers of the Gospel (as Christ Himself also
did) confirm the preaching of the Law, and begin it with
those who do not yet acknowledge their sins nor are
terrified at [by the sense of] God's wrath; … But as long as
all this preaches God's wrath and terrifies men, it is not yet
the preaching of the Gospel nor Christ's own preaching, but
that of Moses and the Law against the impenitent. For the
Gospel and Christ were never ordained and given for the
purpose of terrifying and condemning, but of comforting
and cheering those who are terrified and timid.
Four main contrasts between
Gospel and Law....
1. Rules versus a model/character
• If my step has turned aside from the way and my heart
has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my
hands… (Job 31.7)
• “Holy brothers and sisters [of Jesus and each other], who
share in the heavenly calling [the inheritance of the
household]” (Hebrews 3.1)
• But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the
angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he
suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might
taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2.9)
2. Fearing Death not Loving life
• Jesus is “now crowned with glory and honour
because he suffered death” (Hebrews 2.9)
• to “free those who all their lives were held in
slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2.15)
• In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be
cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness. (Hebrews 9.22)
3. Slavery (external rule) versus
Freedom (internal rule)
• But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry, since the covenant
that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises. ...
I will put my laws in their minds and I will inscribe them on their
hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. 11 “And
there will be no need at all for each one to teach his countryman or
each one to teach his brother saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ since they will
all know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 “For I will be merciful
toward their evil deeds, and their sins I will remember no longer.” 13
When he speaks of a new covenant, he makes the first obsolete.
Now what is growing obsolete and aging is about to disappear.
(Hebrews 8.6, 10-13)
Four main contrasts between Gospel and Law
• Legalism – overly legal living
• Antinomianism – freedom from restraint/law
A. LEGALISM
B. LAWLESSNESS
Four main contrasts between
Gospel and Law
• "What do they know of cricket who only
cricket know?" (West-Indian cricket-writer,
journalist, and Marxist: CLR James… Beyond a
Boundary, Preface)
• “Dissimulation is the refuge of the slave.” ―
C.L.R. James
• “…an England unconquered by the Industrial
Revolution. It travelled by saddle and carriage.
Whenever it could it ate and drank
prodigiously. It was not finicky in morals. It
enjoyed life. It prized the virtues of frankness,
independence, individuality, conviviality.” (208209)
Four main contrasts between Gospel and Law
Errors
Disposition
Truth
Emotional need
Legalism
Religious
I’m right
Safe certainty
Unreligious
Grace
Safe uncertainty
Irreligious
Nothing is right
Unsafe uncertainty
Antinomianism
4. A Punishing or demanding God
versus merciful God
ii. THE CONTRASTS BETWEEN PRESENT & FUTURE
• There are three of these in the main:
1) A Time of Angels, Law, and death versus a time
of Kingdom-Sonship (Inheritance)
2) Faith versus religion
3) Grace versus self-help
• But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not
those who are healthy who need a physician,
but those who are sick. 13"But go and learn
what this means: 'I DESIRE MERCY [GRACE],
AND NOT SACRIFICE,' for I did not come to call
the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9.12-13)
• Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who
share in the heavenly calling, fix your gaze on
Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle
and high priest. (Hebrews 6.1)