Christ Jesus is presented as superior to Moses and Joshua, not only in His worthiness of glory but also in the perfection of His work as Savior and High Priest. While Moses was a faithful servant in God's house and Joshua led Israel into earthly rest, Christ, as the Son, is the builder of God's house and leads believers into eternal heavenly possessions and rest. As our sympathetic High Priest, who has experienced temptation yet is without sin, Jesus enables us to boldly approach the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find help in our time of need. Therefore, believers are encouraged to frequently and confidently come to God through Christ, trusting in His perfect timing and sufficiency.
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Well, we sang about glory, and Mr. Gilbert made a comment about glory, and our special music was about glory. Now let's read about it. In Hebrews chapter three, Mr. Gilbert also mentioned Moses and glory. So we read about Moses and glory in Hebrews three. you'll recall that we divided this letter into two parts. The first nine and a half chapters have to do with the person of Christ and the last three and a half have to do with the practice of Christianity.
The Lord Jesus, we've suggested, is presented to us in a threefold way, first of all as a revelation of God. And as such, He is superior to the prophets and superior to the angels. Now we have him presented as a savior from God, and as such he is pointed out as being superior to Moses and to Joshua. By the time we come to the end of chapter four, he is introduced to us as a high priest before God. And I wanted to get to that introduction tonight, and I hope we will.
But let us read from these few verses. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. Now there you have both of them together. Inasmuch as he who have built the house have more honor than the house. For every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God.
And Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. but Christ, as a son over his own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Now verse eight of chapter four. For if Jesus, and of course this is Joshua, the history has gone before, and the reference to some of the things that happened under his leadership.
It says, If Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own work, as God did from His. This morning we talked about an insertion of four verses into the section about the prophets and the angels. Now tomorrow we'll be talking about another one, if the Lord will.
The first one began like this. Wherefore or therefore he's. Tomorrow's will begin, therefore, fear. The following day, an insertion that begins, therefore, labor. And the last one for Friday morning, therefore, go on. And I suggested that God expects our attention, God expects our devotion, God expects our occupation, and God expects our progression. So those are our discussions, or rather topics for the morning sessions.
Now here, very quickly, there's a comparison between the Lord Jesus and Moses, who was a Savior in his own right. There is a little comparison also with Joshua, whose name means Savior, and who also was a Savior. in his own right. Now, in the first place, as we look at the comparison with Moses and how much better the Lord Jesus was than Moses, we have brought before us the superiority of his worth. He was worthy of more glory than Moses.
And when we come to the comparison with Joshua, we find the superiority of his work. Now I'm going to pass very quickly over these. I was going to talk about Moses and some of the things in his life, but they're so familiar to you. Let me just point out two or three things from our reading here at the beginning of chapter three. The comparison which shows the Lord Jesus to be better goes like this. Moses was faithful in all his house. And that, of course, is a reference to Israel. There's a divine compliment given to Moses here.
Moses was faithful. And it's underlined a little further down when a second or an increased compliment is paid to Moses, where it says Moses verily was faithful. Moses was a faithful man. But Moses had his faults and his problems. And as we reminded ourselves this morning, he didn't get away with disobeying God and so was kept from leading the children of Israel into the promised land. But Moses, it says, was faithful in all his house.
That is, in the house of Israel. But it says Christ. was faithful. In his house, whose house are we? And there's the Lord Jesus being spoken of as being faithful in the house of God. He's better than Moses. It goes on to tell us that Moses was faithful as a member of the house. But of the Lord Jesus, it says, he was faithful... as the maker of the house. And then we read that Moses was faithful as a servant in the house, while the Lord Jesus was faithful as a son over the house.
It's very easy to see from these few verses that the Lord Jesus is better than Moses, and this is the reason why we read he is worthy of more glory than Moses. You remember Moses' glory, physical glory passed away and so he covered his face so that the people would not see it fading. But the glory of the Lord Jesus is an eternal glory that will never change and praise God that one day we're going to share. That then is the superiority of the worth of the Lord Jesus.
Summed up in that little word, he is worthy. of more glory than Moses. Now when we come to Joshua, you know enough about Joshua for me just to remind you, as we are thinking of the work of being a Savior and the superiority of that work as far as the Lord Jesus is concerned, for you will remember that Joshua brought the people of God into earthly possession. Sometimes they had to struggle to keep them. Sometimes they had to fight to get them. But the Lord Jesus is better than Joshua.
He has brought us as the Lord's people into heavenly possessions that are put beyond the reach of any who would destroy or anything that could corrupt or undermine those possessions. Joshua, you will remember, led the people of God into numerous battles. But the Lord Jesus has led his people into peace. That's why we sing peace, perfect peace. In this dark world of sin, the blood of Jesus whispers, peace with it.
And we know what it is to have peace with God, peace from God, and indeed the peace of God ruling in our hearts. The people joined Joshua in the fighting, but not the Lord Jesus. He was the conqueror. He fought the battle. He won the fight. And so the Bible says that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Tomorrow we'll just look at something about the rest. that we are mentioning here. Joshua brought the people of God into blessing temporarily, but you'll remember that though they were brought into the Promised Land, eventually the Northern Kingdom was carried away into captivity, and then a little later the Southern Kingdom followed them.
So they lost their blessing. For the Lord Jesus has brought us into blessings that are eternal. Read again that lovely epistle to the Ephesians where we are reminded of so many of these. Do you know why we can speak of the rest that the Lord Jesus gives like this? Because it says, He that hath this peace hath ceased from His own word. We don't have to struggle in order to enjoy these blessings. We certainly haven't had to struggle in order to get them.
We owe them all to the person of the Lord Jesus. Now turn, please, to the end of chapter four, where we have the Lord Jesus introduced as a high priest. And this, of course, is the third presentation. of the Christ of God in these nine and a half chapters. And it goes from the fourteenth verse of chapter four all the way through to the eighteenth verse of chapter ten. And as the Lord Jesus is presented as a high priest and a better high priest than any that have gone before him, it's because he is the supplier of the of a better covenant and a better sanctuary and a better sacrifice and so on.
We're going to study those, some of them before Friday I trust. But now let's read these last three verses in chapter four. Seeing then that we have a great high priest but is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like us we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help, in time of need.
Now here is the better priesthood. It goes along with the covenant and sacrifice and sanctuary that I just mentioned. The better priesthood. I think that there are three relevant questions that we ought to ask ourselves to make sure we know where we are when we think about the priesthood. someone is going to ask what is a priest if you look at the dictionary that I consulted you'll find it says erroneously a clergyman now the fact is you know that a priest a Bible priest is one divinely appointed that is he has divine credentials one who is capable of intercession and one fitted for sacrifice.
That's a Bible priest and the function of the Bible priesthood. But now you ask, what is a high priest? Now the high priest was a representative of the whole congregation. He was the only one who was allowed to enter into the holiest of all. And by the way, he could only do it once a year. And even then he couldn't do it without shedding blood. And tradition tells us it was such a very solemn thing for the high priest to go into the holiest of all to commune with God, that when he went in, he went in with a rope tied around his waist that trailed out from the holiest of all into the holy place, so that should he presume in the presence of God and be struck dead, no one would have to trespass to remove his carcass.
Only one allowed to go in under the old economy to the holiest of all. He was a mediator for the people, and this man was ceremonially pure and holy. That was the high priest. Now who, here's a third question, who are New Testament priests? Since you know what the function of the priesthood is, who are New Testament priests? If that word clergyman was not sufficient to fill the bill, what do we understand that the New Testament teaches about priesthood?
New Testament priests. Simply this, that all believers are priests. You're a priest, I'm a priest, those neighbors of yours who are saved by the grace of God, they are priests. Peter tells us we're a special kind of priesthood and holy priesthood, he says, in order that we can offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. Now that's the God-would function of the New Testament priest to offer up And then he says, we're a royal priesthood. And it's our function to show forth.
And that, of course, is a manward function. This, then, is what we have in mind and what God has in mind when he writes and we read about the priesthood in the New Testament. Now the high priest. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched. with a feeling of our infirmities. But the previous verse says, We have an high priest. Now there are three verses here, and I want you to notice three things. There is, first of all, in verse fourteen, a definite statement.
For we, seeing then that we have a great high priest. Now it couldn't be any clearer than that. The statement is made, we have a high priest. In verse fifteen we have a qualifying experience. He was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. When we come to verse sixteen we have a logical expectation. Let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Let's analyze the statement here. We have a high priest. And there is another word here. We have a great high priest. He has passed into the heavens, our verse says. That is, through the firmament. And it says, He is Jesus, the Son of God. So we are the priests, and we have a high priest who has passed through the firmament, and He is Jesus, the Son of God. If you will read the history of the high priest, you'll find that they didn't always behave like high priests should be.
you will find that their lives sometimes were a detriment to the things of God. And you will find in the area of the passion of the Lord Jesus, a confrontation with a high priest who deliberately disobeyed the Lord. But we have a high priest who is a great high priest who has passed into the heavens Jesus, the Son of God, and our high priest will never be charged with coming short. Now why is he able to be our high priest?
Verse fifteen. We have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. I like that word touched. Now, like the original word, it's the word sompathio. Can you think of an English word that sounds like that? Sympathy, of course. And that's exactly the thought here. We have a sympathetic high priest. The negative is used here just to emphasize it. We do not have an high priest who cannot be touched. with the feeling of our infirmities.
I'm glad the Lord Jesus is a sympathetic Lord Jesus. It's a very wonderful thing when you have trouble to have a shoulder to cry on. It's a very wonderful thing to have a soft voice speak comfort into your ears. Now the Lord Jesus is qualified to be our high priest, because he is a sympathetic high priest. Not only is it true that he cannot be touched, or that he can be touched, we have not a high priest that cannot be touched, he can be touched.
He also was tempted, tested, like as we are. Now this may be a little puzzling to you. We were discussing this briefly around the table today, not because my wife or her sister knew it was coming into the study this evening, but the question was raised about the Lord Jesus being tempted in all points like as we are. There is not an area of testing. Now you might think of specific testings in your life and say, oh, the Lord Jesus was never tested that way, or the Lord Jesus was never tested that way, but he was.
In all of the areas of testing, the Lord Jesus was tested. So much so that we read, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Now that is not suggesting that there was ever a time in the life of the Lord Jesus when he was not obedient, but the Spirit of God is saying he learned the cost of obedience by the things which he suffered, and he learned it so that he might be able to sympathize with you, so that he might be compassionate towards you, so that he might understand and his heart go out to you when...
with your human frailty you tumble and you fall flat on your face we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmity but he was in all points tempted like as we are but without sin now if it is true that we as priests have a high priest our representative the one who is constantly in the presence of the Father for us, the one who has known our temptations and testings, the one who sympathizes with us when the tears flow and the heart is breaking, who has made available to us all of his resources, is it not a logical expectation that we should take advantage of them?
how often we go to other places to find solace and to other people to find help. And it isn't until we have our back to the wall that we fly to the Lord Jesus. That's an indictment, you know. That says something very sad about us. Let us therefore come boldly. That doesn't mean with familiarity, for familiarity breeds contempt. That means that since we come in the person of the Lord Jesus, there is no fear in our coming into the holiest of all.
Basically, the holy place is also the holiest of all today. When the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, there was no longer... a holy place. It became with the square area the holiest of all. And we come into God's immediate presence. We don't have to assume any strange posture. We don't have to dress in any distinctive garb. We don't have to take the time to go through ceremonial washing. In an instant we have an audience with the King of Kings.
It's certainly logical that we should take advantage of that. And yet we all of us, the speakers certainly, and I feel the hearers will agree too, we all of us feel very much ashamed when in our hearts we face up to the fact that we don't touch the throne of grace anywhere near as often as we should. We don't come into the presence of God as often as we should. Basically, even when we pray, we don't pray perhaps hard enough, long enough, or in the right condition to enjoy our praying.
How many times do we pray out of a sense of duty, and I'm speaking to my heart, Oh, that's better than not praying at all. But you know, you have to pay a price to enjoy the presence of God, that kind of praying. We come boldly because we are bidden, so to come. And we come in the person of the Lord Jesus. And we come into the immediate presence of God without any fear. We come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. and find grace to help in time of need.
The Lord Jesus is our intercessor. The Lord Jesus who places before us that reservoir of sufficiency, that is He Himself, expects us to be allowed to function as our high priest. And He expects us to come to the throne of grace. He expects us to come boldly to the throne of grace. He expects us to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may find and that we may find grace to help in time of need. That last expression again in examining, in investigating it all a while ago now, I discovered that it means find grace, mercy and find grace to help in the nick of time.
I think it's Rotherm who translates it that way, the nick of time. How many times have you, like me, sat waiting impatiently for God to do something, and it wasn't the right time? So God held back. You know, I think of Enoch. It says that Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. Now walking with God is an art. It isn't something you can do casually. It's certainly not something that you can do carelessly. When Enoch walked with God, it means when God took a little step, Enoch took a little step.
When God took a stride, Enoch took a stride. When it says that Enoch walked with God, it means he didn't drag behind God, which speaks of being unwilling. and he didn't run ahead of God, which speaks of being willful. He learned to wait in God's time. God's help will come. God has promised that his help will come. It'll come in the nick of time. Just at the right moment, how ashamed we'll be of ourselves when...
The pressure was great, and impatiently we were looking to God to move. We were praying that He might move, and He didn't seem to be moving. And then just at the critical moment, He brought deliverance, and we looked back and said, Why did I doubt Him? Why did I think for a second that He had not heard me? or that he was going to be too late. God's never before his time. He's never behind his time. He's our high priest, and he expects to be allowed to function.
Therefore let us come, boldly and fine, but let us come. And let us come often. Let us come in the good times as well as in the bad times let us come when we scarcely have a sense of our need but let us keep coming shall we pray our father our hearts are joyous when we realize that in the Lord Jesus we have a perfect high priest we have one who at this present moment is interceding for us before the Father's face.
We remember that he said to Peter, I have prayed for thee. And he could take the same words upon his lips tonight about every one of us. I have prayed for thee. Lord, help us to appreciate more his function as I priest so that we might take advantage of it. and in doing so bring great joy and pleasure to his heart. We ask it in his