Sermons by Ed Recentered Group

The first episode of season two where Ed preaches through the book of Hebrews. This is an overview of the book, focusing on the message: Jesus is Better!

This epistle was written to every believer who is thinking, “My life would have been better if I had never met Jesus. It’s just too hard to follow Him!” The writer of Hebrews exposes the lie of that conclusion by reminding us of the greatness of Jesus and what’s at stake if we turn from Him. He is better than any alternative, and turning away from Him always brings loss to Christians. Not loss of salvation, but the forfeiture of all that your redeemed heart longs for.

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Please join Special Guest Pastor Dave Anderson from Church of the Open Door as he shares this message with us this week. 

“But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.”  (Hebrews 3:6)
First Century Jews held Moses up as the greatest of men. When intense persecution tempted those who had trusted in Christ to abandon following Him, they undoubtedly viewed past times when they were devoted to Moses and His covenant with nostalgic euphoria. Countering any decision to return to Judaism, the writer of Hebrews proves that Jesus is superior to Moses. 
The author has already demonstrated that Christ has become a merciful and faithful high priest (2:17-18). Appealing to their esteem for Moses, the writer affirms that Moses, like Christ, was faithful to God. However, Christ is responsible for so much more. Jesus is not merely God’s servant; He is God’s Son. And as Son, He is the possessor of all things. 
As Hebrew Christians, these readers were familiar with the story of the faithfulness of the Levites when the rest of Israel lost its priestly privileges by trying to return to their old life in Egypt (Exodus 19:6; 32:26-29; Numbers 3:12-13). He exhorts his readers to hold firmly to their confidence and hope in God’s faithful Son to avoid losing their priestly privileges in Christ’s household (see also, 1 Peter 2:5):
Jesus is better than Moses.
Follow Moses’ example of faithfulness in your privilege as Jesus’ followers. 
Moses was great, but Jesus is greater. Take note of Christ, and be faithful to Him.
I. Be faithful to Christ because you value your priestly privileges in His household (3:1-6).
A.The Comparison: Though both were faithful to God, Jesus the Son is greater than Moses the servant (1-5).
1.Concentrate on Jesus, the merciful and faithful high priest, who, like Moses is faithful as the one sent (apostle) to administer God’s “house” (stewardship, or assignment from God, 1-2).
2.But Jesus deserves greater glory because the builder deserves more honor than the building (3).
3.Jesus, as God, built everything. Moses was God’s faithful servant in the “household” of the Old Covenant community, but Jesus is God’s faithful Son in the “household” of the New Covenant community—including the world to come (the entire system of worship Jesus inaugurated as the faithful Son, 4-6a).
Note: The Law was given to a redeemed people. It was not used to earn relationship with God, but to nurture and deepen a people’s relationship with God. This is the backdrop to the Law and the warning passages of Hebrews. This redeemed “household” was the Old Testament community Moses led.
Abraham was saved by faith. And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Israel was saved by faith. So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses… The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 14:30-31, 15:2)
The Exodus is the great act of salvation of the Israelites where they believed in God. The Exodus is the saving faith as the cross is for the New Testament.
B.The Point: Hold firmly to your confidence and hope in Jesus if you want to keep your privileges in Christ’s household (6b).
1.The writer is moving toward a stern warning against turning away from the living God by returning to Judaism (3:12).  
2.This is a “pre-warning” against losing their priestly privileges in the Son’s priestly house. I believe this includes intimacy in and significance in Christ’s household and Christ’s people. This is precisely what happened to all of Israel except the Levites when they tried to return to the comforts of Egypt rather than following the Living God (Exodus 19:6; 32:26-29; Numbers 3:12-13). 
“When we withdraw from the exercise of our priestl

Study Notes
Ed Underwood
Hebrews 3:7-19
Second Warning: The Danger of Disbelief
“Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”  (Hebrews 3:8)
Every Jewish Christian was familiar with the warning of Psalm 95 against losing the rest God offers to His people. The backdrop of Numbers 13-14 was equally known. The generation encamped at Kadesh refused to believe God, and God refused them entrance into the rest of Canaan.
What they weren’t aware of is that the same warning applies to Christians. When the tests of life come, we must trust God instead of the messages of the dissidents. If we fail to believe God’s promises, we too will lose our “rest”—that deepest experience of eternal life reserved for faithful followers of Christ. 
There are serious consequences when believers decide that God isn’t good enough or powerful enough to take care of them. Dissidents are all around us, and they will turn our doubts into unbelief and rebellion. God’s response will be the same—we will forfeit our rest:
Invitation to Rest: Stop listening to dissidents; keep trusting God’s Word.
“The comparison between Christ and Moses (3:1-7) leads to one between their followers.” (Morris) There is a direct correlation between the Kadesh generation and Christians. We need to trust God enough to follow Christ, or we will lose our rest in Him.
I. Don’t fail your Kadesh Barnea test: Stop listening to dissidents; keep trusting God’s Word (3:7-19).
A.The Quote: Psalm 95:7b-11 is a solemn review of God’s response to the Exodus generation’s refusal to trust Him enough to enter the rest God wanted to give them (7-11, see Number 13-14).
1.In the liturgy of 1st Century synagogues, Psalm 95 served as the preamble to Friday evening and Sabbath morning services.
2.The Exodus generation not only lost their priestly privileges (3:1-6) they failed to enter the rest God wanted to give them in the promised land because they did not listen to God’s promises to give them victory.
Note: David Anderson and I define this rest as, “the rest of the full experience of eternal life offered to those who are faithful—both in this world and the world to come.”
B.The Point: Do not refuse to believe God, or you too will forfeit your rest in Christ (12-19, see Numbers 13-14).
Note: “No believer today, Jew or Gentile, could go back into the Mosaic legal system since the temple is gone and there is no priesthood. But every believer is tempted to give up his or her confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage.” (Warren Weirsbe)
1.The writer looks beyond Psalm 95 to the root cause of the failure at Kadesh Barnea—unbelief  (3:12). The word “unbelief” does not occur in Psalm 95, but it is clearly stated as the reason God judged that generation (Numbers 14:11). This is obviously a warning to Christians, so there is something for a Christian to lose here. Not eternal life, but the rest of the deepest experience of eternal life that God promises to His faithful children. Notice also the progression: Unbelief in what God has said leads to rebellion against God (3:12).
2.The writer encourages the community to grasp all the privileges of a partner with Christ by clinging to their confidence in God (3:13).
3.Again citing the urgency of the command (today), the writer reminds them that an entire generation succumbed to unbelief in the promises of God in spite of forty years of signs and wonders (15-19).
 
II. Christ, Kadesh Barnea, and You! I see four practical warnings for all of us in this passage. 
 
A.Don’t listen to dissidents! Israel failed to enter the rest because they listened to the dissidents—those who doubted God’s goodness and guidance, rather than trusting the Word of God. Life is full of people, both Christian and non-Christian, who will tell you it’s foolish to keep following Jesus during tough times.
B.Don’t neglect community! We need one another to