Consider Jesus (and He will transform you)

Hebrews 3:1-19

Consider Jesus (Jesus is greater than Moses) vs 1-6

Why Moses?
Jewish thought correctly placed Moses at the apex of their faith.
Remember the transfiguration of Jesus? Who appeared there with him in glory?
Moses signified the law, which was the instruction set for Israel.

Jesus as apostle and high priest signals he represents the Father to us on earth AND he represents us in the presence of the Father!

Care For Your Own Heart

Make a good confession
Romans 10:9-11 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."

1 Timothy 6:12 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Hebrews 4:14-15 14 ¶ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 10:23-25 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hold fast your confidence by 'considering Christ'.

Boast in the hope of salvation. Let it be like a helmet that covers your whole mind. Let all your thoughts be hopeful, righteousness and joy!

Invite God's Spirit to convict you of sin and of righteousness in your life.

Set aside time daily to put everything on the altar
This means your hopes
This means your dreams
This means your all

The Lord's prayer teaches us to ask for forgiveness daily while clearing ourselves of any unforgiveness within us.

Why does all of this matter?
What are the consequences if we harden our hearts?

Read FF Bruce's quote
Israel was judged.
Rejection of Jesus is more serious than the rejection of Moses
Jesus is God himself.

Psalm 95:1-11 ESV Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest."


The story of Meribah is recorded for us in

Exodus 17:1-7 ESV Exodus 17:1 ¶ All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

On top of that, Aaron was not able to enter into the promised land, which was symbolic of his priesthood being unable to lead people into the true promised land (eternity in Christ).

Numbers 20:24-29 24 "Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there." 27 Moses did as the LORD commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Moses again later was disqualified at Meribah because of the way he performed the miracle of water coming from the rock.

Numbers 20:10-13 10 ¶ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." 13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.

That symbolized the fact that Moses and his ministry was unable to bring Israel into the promised land.

The one who took over for Moses was named Joshua which is Jesus in the original language. Of course that is also symbolic of Jesus Christ who alone is able to lead us into the promised land of eternal life, peace and rest in God.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 ESV 1 Corinthians 10:1 ¶ For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 ¶ Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Learn from the OT stories to follow Christ more sincerely than Israel followed Moses.

Encourage each other daily.
it's not the pastors job.
It's your job.

Keep short accounts....especially with those you see the most frequently. Ask for forgiveness. Ask if you have offended.

Hear His voice
Yes God speaks to His people through the word of God and directly still.
Willingness to obey enables us to hear. Unwillingness to obey disables our hearing.