Join us in this episode as we delve into Hebrews Chapter 3, exploring the themes of faithfulness and the supremacy of Jesus over Moses. Through reflections taken from personal Bible-reading journals, we discuss the dangers of a hardened heart and the importance of holding fast to our original confidence in Christ. Discover how these ancient texts provide timeless lessons applicable to our daily journey of faith.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Allen J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.
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Today we are in Hebrews chapter 3. In Hebrews chapter 1, we learned that Jesus was superior to angels. In chapter 2, we learned about the great salvation. Here in chapter 3, we’re going to learn that Jesus is greater than Moses. Let’s listen in to Faith Comes By Hearing’s reading of Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews 3
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Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. and we are His house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope.
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Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. therefore i was provoked with that generation and said they always go astray in their heart they have not known my ways as i swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest
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Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said,
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Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
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For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So, we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
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In 1993, at 38 years old, I read Hebrews 3 and 4 on the same day, and I wrote, Jesus is our apostle and high priest, superior to Moses and Aaron. He was a son, not a servant. Unbelief kept people out of the promised land, Canaan. It will also keep us out of the promised land too, heaven, a believer’s rest. In 2005, at 50 years old, I was still in Thailand. I made a note about the city, Ubon Ratchathani. I read Hebrews chapter 3 that day and I wrote, Jesus, higher than the lawgiver Moses. People rebelled against God and Moses, so the warning is, don’t do the same thing with Jesus. Next I wrote, And I was referring to Hebrews 4.12. In 2013, at 58 years old, I read Hebrews from Nashville, Tennessee, on some Gideon assignment there. And I wrote that day, Consider Jesus over Moses, because Jesus was before Moses. Moses was a servant of God, but Jesus is family, the Son of God. Even if Moses was a big deal, the people rebelled against him and were punished by not getting to enter the Promised Land. Don’t rebel against Jesus with an evil, unbelieving heart or you too will fall away from God. Do not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Unbelief will keep us out of heaven. That ends my journal entries on Hebrews chapter 3, so let’s take a look at this chapter. In the first verse, the author reminds his audience to consider Jesus. As he considers elevating Jesus above Moses, it appears that this might be a Hebrew or Israeli audience. He says in verse 3, To a Jew, that would be almost blasphemy. He describes why we should do this in verse 5. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. So Moses was a servant of God, but Jesus Christ is the Son of God. By saying that, the author might have caused a little rebellious spirit in the hearts of those hearing this message. So he warns them not to do that like their forefathers did. He reminds them of a passage out of Psalm 95, verses 7 through 11. He tells them, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of the testing in the wilderness. And in verse 12, he gives them another warning. He’s saying, as we consider Jesus, Don’t get a hardened heart. Why would he be giving us this kind of warning? Because in his day and in ours, those who do consider Jesus oftentimes rebel and have a hardened, deceitful, unbelieving heart. They end up rejecting the great salvation we read about in chapter 2. So where is your heart when it comes to considering Jesus? If you have a soft heart, knock and it will be open to you. Seek and you will find. But if you have an evil, unbelieving heart, it will lead you to fall away from the living God. The author tells us in verse 13, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We are to share Christ, if indeed we hold out our original confidence firm to the end. As a practical application, I think this reminds us to be careful of our hearts each and every day. It’s easy for our hearts to fall in the deceitfulness of sin. Even as you’re listening to this recording in AdBible, verse 15 reminds you, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. You may or may not know the stories of the Old Testament, but those who rebelled against Moses, those who rebelled against God in the wilderness, died in the wilderness. They died because of a rebellious heart. They were not allowed to enter the promised land. The author is tying that event with our event of entering heaven. He’s saying a rebellious heart caused them not to enter the promised land, and a rebellious heart will cause us not to be able to reach heaven. The concluding verse of this chapter says, so we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Chapter 3 of Hebrews is a stern warning against an evil, unbelieving, rebellious, deceitful heart. Those listening who have one will not enter the promised land, will not enter the pearly gates of heaven. So what’s our practical application? Soften your heart toward the message of the book of Hebrews and exhort others every day as long as it is called today that none may have a hardened heart by the deceitfulness of sin. Thank you for the reminder, Lord, though this is harsh, that we all once had a deceitful, rebellious heart. Holy Spirit, thank you for softening my heart. Thank you for softening many of the hearts of those listening today so that we could receive you as our personal Lord and Savior. May we do what your word says here and exhort others to not have a rebellious, deceitful heart. But if any are listening and still have a hard, evil, deceitful heart, Soften it today. Lord Jesus, open their heart to the gospel, the great salvation we discussed in the last chapter. And may all of us hear this word, but not only hear it, be doers of it. May we not just listen to the words we’ve heard in chapter 3, but act accordingly. In Jesus’ name, amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. I love passages like this because they impact my life. I don’t read for information. I read the Bible for transformation. In other words, I can read or listen to a scripture passage, like it, set it aside, and move on with my day. I got information. The Bible offers so much more. After I read the passage for information, I read it again for transformation. I want to personalize what I read, so I get out my daily Bible reading journal and record my thoughts from the passage. What did I read? What does it mean to me in my life right now? What do I need to do to apply it to my day, my week, my life? After I read the passage a second time and journal, then I pray. What I read ignites my prayer as I pray through the concepts of the passage. After that, I pray for other matters on my daily prayer list. If you want to watch me demonstrate my personal quiet time, visit EzraProject.net and watch the Quiet Time How-To Video. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting AdBible by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all Add Bible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire Day by Day through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible. Just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages, so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it. a New Testament schedule, an Old Testament schedule. But if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the TRIO Bible reading journal. The cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. 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Join us in this episode as we delve into Hebrews Chapter 3, exploring the themes of faithfulness and the supremacy of Jesus over Moses. Through reflections taken from personal Bible-reading journals, we discuss the dangers of a hardened heart and the importance of holding fast to our original confidence in Christ. Discover how these ancient texts provide timeless lessons applicable to our daily journey of faith.
