Look and Listen to Jesus

About 10 years ago the Discovery Channel aired a program where a man was planning on walking a grand total of 1 quarter of a mile… Maybe you’re confused as to why that would be worth highlighting with a special program and how long exactly it would take this person to walk a quarter of a mile. On a nice track it would take an olympic athlete about 45 seconds to run this distance. For the average adult, this might take 2-4 minutes. But it took this man almost 23 minutes! What on earth was he doing and where was he walking? Nik Wallenda found himself walking across a 1400 foot cable wire placed near the Grand Canyon over 1500 feet above the the ground! Anyone want to sign up to attempt that walk? Wallenda wasn’t strapped in even though he was at a height above the ground that was taller than the Empire State Building in New York City… all he had was a weighted bar to help him balance. Wallenda battled 20 mile per hour wind gusts at several points and even had to crouch down on the wire at times, but 22 minutes and 54 seconds after he started, he completed his journey across this cable. We’re not going to ask the question of why he would do this because I’m not sure anyone knows, but how on earth was this man able to do this? Throughout his journey he was praying to God and quoting Scripture. He was audibly thanking God for providing for him across this journey and for calming the wind each time it sped up. Along this heart dropping walk, Wallenda kept his eyes on the other side of the canyon. Even when the wind blew harder and whenever he’d take each next step, his eyes didn’t look down - they were looking ahead. As long as his eyes were fixed forward, he knew where he was going and he had already done the training mentally and physically for the task at hand. The only thing in the moment he needed to do was keep looking at the finish line.

Isn’t this a metaphor for the Christian life, church? If you have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, you have the blessed assurance that you belong to Jesus and that you are going to spend eternity with Him in glory! We know where our destination is! But, how should we walk in this life between here and there. If we know where we’re going and we know that we can’t turn around and go back, what must we do? We keep marching forward. But what about whenever the wind picks up? What about when someone says something that tempts us to turn to one side or the other? The problem that we often face in this life, as Christians and non-Christians alike, is that we take our eyes off of Jesus. We lose focus on the end goal - the finish line - and we allow ourselves to give into temptation one way or the other.

How can we guard against this? How can we continue to press on and do the things that God wants us to do? How can we keep our eyes on the finish line each step of the way and not look down or to the side? The only way is to remind ourselves of what Jesus Christ has done and to consider what Jesus Christ commands us to do. See, friends, Jesus is faithful! He has saved us from the penalty of our sin, and each day He helps save us from the power of our sin, and one day He will save us from the presence of sin. But until that day becomes our reality, we are called to hold on and keep our eyes on Jesus as we remember that He is the One who holds on to us. Let’s study from Hebrews 3:1-6 as we remind ourselves to look and listen to Jesus, even in the storms that this life sends our way.

Hebrews 3:1–6 CSB

1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

The NIV says to “Fix your eyes on Jesus” instead of “consider Jesus” - church, this is what we desire to do each time we gather and this should be what we do each day of our lives… We fix our eyes on Jesus and as we do this, we listen to His Word and we allow His Word to change the way we think, talk, and act. Let’s fix our eyes on Jesus this morning and ask Him to guide us as we seek to apply His Word.

Consider Jesus (1)

Y’all will get sick of this in 20 years if you’re not already sick of it, but our text of Scripture begins with a therefore - so what do we have to do every time therefore shows up in Scripture? Back up to see what it is there for! Last week we looked specifically at Hebrews 2:14-18 and dug into what it means that Jesus Christ shared in flesh and blood and suffered for sinners like you and I on the cross. We were reminded that Jesus wasn’t just a baby boy who was born in Bethlehem, but that the boy grew up and became a man who came to seek and serve the lost and to save His people from their sins! He suffered greatly and He was tempted to give into sin, yet He never did… He was the perfect sacrifice for sinners. Therefore, because of what He has done, we must consider Jesus. We must pay attention to what the Bible tells us about Jesus and we must see what Scripture says about Who Jesus is. Look at verse 1, Jesus is said to be our apostle and high priest.

The Bible is extremely clear as to Who Jesus is. Let’s look quickly at a couple of passages of Scripture to see what the Bible says about Jesus

John 14:6 CSB

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:12 CSB

12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”

John 10:11 CSB

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 15:5 CSB

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.

So, Who exactly is Jesus? He is fully God and full man. Hebrews to this point has been explaining that Jesus is better than the Old Testament prophets, better than the Angels, and he’s also better than the priests. He’s better because He is fully-God as Hebrews 1:1-3 told us that He spoke the world into existence. He is also fully man as Hebrews 2:14-18 reminded us that he suffered on the cross, had flesh and blood, and died for sinners as our substitute. The Bible is clear as to Who Jesus is but we’re not always super clear in our communication, are we?

This is true for younger parents with kids. Parents have you ever had a miscommunication problem with your kids? Maybe like the mom who is with her son at the park and the son is having a fun time playing with his friends but then the playing starts to turn into playing tag. The mom looks for her son amid all of the kids and finds him running straight toward a walkway just a couple feet above the ground with his head to the side looking at his friend who is chasing him. The mom see’s the accident before it happens and yells and points, “Jonathan duck!” Now, why on earth did this phrase become mainstream in our culture? Whenever you hear duck, what do you almost always do? You perk your head up like a prairie dog coming up out of his hole. Jonathan see’s and hears his mom and he thinks that there’s actually a duck in front of him and he turns his head expecting to see a yellow duck only to bang his head on the metal piece of playground equipment and you could say that he quacked his head. Kids and parents aren’t the only people who struggle with miscommunication, though. Adults, have you ever sent a text message to someone and gotten back a question mark because the message you thought in your head wasn’t at all the one that you typed out? It’s so easy for us to miscommunicate and misunderstand other people, even when we try really hard not to! Aren’t you thankful that the Bible makes the most important thing extremely clear? We are all sinners in need of a Savior!

The fact of the matter is that whenever the Bible is clear, we have to be as well. We have to be extremely clear about Who Jesus Christ is. Hebrews 3:1 tells us that He is our apostle and high priest - what exactly does this mean? This is the only time that Jesus is called an apostle in the Bible and that literally means that Jesus is a “sent one.” Who sends Jesus? We read in the Bible that this is the Father’s plan to send His Son in John 3:16

John 3:16 CSB

16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

He is a sent one who serves as our high priest. What was the purpose for sending Jesus? To live a perfect life and die a criminals death in our place for our sins. To serve as our great high priest and to make a way for us to be forgiven and redeemed! See, God doesn’t ever miscommunicate. We might not always understand everything that He’s doing - but His Word is straightforward. We’re all sinners and we all need a Savior, it’s black and white, church! Therefore, we must consider Jesus.

Who do you consider Jesus to be? 3/4 people believe that Jesus was a nice guy and I agree, but He was and is so much more than just that! What you believe about Jesus impacts everything about you. Even though many people might be a little confused as to who Jesus is, we must not get Him wrong. We must consider what the Bible tells us. We must remember that He isn’t ashamed to call us brothers and sisters, if you have been saved by Jesus Christ, you’ve already been adopted into His family. This is why the preacher of Hebrews calls his audience holy brothers and sisters because they’ve already been washed clean by Jesus’ blood. But we still must consider Him and all that He’s done. If you’re here and you simply think that Jesus is a nice guy who wants to help you live your best life now, the Bible shares so much more about Who He truly is. He is the son of God who came to seek and save the lost and to serve rather than be served. He is the only way that we can be saved and we must consider what He’s done today.

Contrast Jesus (2-6a)

As we consider what He has done, we quickly realize that Jesus has done something greater than anything we could do ourselves. Jesus is contrasted with Moses in the coming verses of Scripture and that might seem strange to us in 2022. Obviously we know that Jesus, the Son of God, is greater than Moses, a sinful man. Because of this, it’s so important for us to understand how the audience of Hebrews would have understood this argument. In the Old Testament you have a lot of stories of heroes doing great things for the Kingdom of God. During our Wednesday night Bible study we’ve been looking at some of these heroes and the covenants or promises that God made with them. Think of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, and others! There are lots of good options for people to look up to. As a child growing up and falling in love with Cardinals baseball in the early 2000s there were a lot of good players to root for. You had your older players like a Mark McGwire and younger players like Albert Pujols. As years went by the team added more talented players like a Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Yadier Molina. You had lots of good players on the same team and my mom and dad and I each had our own individual favorite player that we would root for even though we loved the same team. It’s kind of the same way with some of these Old Testament figures, we love them all because they’re in Scripture and play a role in God’s plan, but it’s easy to have a favorite of sorts. For many in the 1st century world, though, their favorite and most important Old Testament figure wasn’t up for debate. It was clearly Moses! He led the people out of slavery and helped guide them to the promised land. He set up the worship of God in the tabernacle and helped deliver the law. He wrote the first 5 books of the Bible. Moses was THE guy! Yet, Moses isn’t the Messiah. He was a faithful servant. He did a good job leading God’s people, but he was also a sinner like you and me. Moses, like you and I, was a member of God’s house but He didn’t build the house. Moses and Jesus on the same team, but there’s no comparison that Jesus is greater!

The preacher of Hebrews is highlighting a faithful servant of God and giving him respect for faithfully following God’s command on his life and he is emphasizing that Jesus is even greater and more worthy of worship and respect than Moses. Take the best person that you know, the most loyal Christian person you know, the best Sunday school teacher you’ve had… Jesus is worthy of so much more glory and honor than that person, as good as they might be! This isn’t to say that God doesn’t care how we do our jobs, he does! Moses is commended in Hebrews 11 for being a person of faith in God - yet Jesus is even greater.

Moses was a man | Jesus is the God-man

Moses was a sinner and was judged for his sins | Jesus is sinless and judged for the sins of His people

Moses turned water into blood | Jesus turned water into wine

Moses led the Israelites out of slavery but failed to lead them into the promised land | Jesus leads His people out of slavery and into eternal rest

Jesus is the true and better deliverer - He is the true and better Moses!

So often we’re tempted to elevate something higher than it should actually be. We’re tempted to do this with activities and we’re also tempted to do it with people. We’re tempted to get things a little out of order. We’re tempted to give a bit too much credit to the created instead of the Creator and whenever we do this it leads to problems. Consider what Jesus has done: He was sent from the Father to the earth to be our great high priest and to sacrifice Himself on the cross - He’s fully man and He suffered and died… Yet, in this same passage in verse 4 the Bible tells su that Jesus is the builder of the house and the One who builds the house is God. So who is Jesus? He’s the God-man, fully God and fully man! Of course He’s greater!

Numbers 12:7 CSB

7 Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my household.

Moses was faithful in God’s household and serves it well

Acts 4:11–12 CSB

11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

Jesus is the builder and cornerstone of the house itself!

Moses back in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 promised that a prophet would come and that God’s people must listen to Him and that if they failed to listen to this coming prophet, they would be held accountable! Look around our world and we see a billion problems and we wonder why, the answer is right before us: People aren’t listening to Jesus. We’ll listen to ourselves. We’ll listen to our heroes. We’ll listen to the people who think the same way that we do. But so often we fail to listen to Jesus and apply His Word faithfully in our lives and whenever we do this we will fall woefully short. Church, He is faithful! You know that the word house and household here is in reference to His church, don’t you? The Bible is saying this: Jesus built His church and is faithful to His church. He shed His blood for His church. He will return for His church.

Is your hope build on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness?

Is your hope placed in Jesus Christ today?

If your answer is no, like some of these 1st century Jews were tempted to reject Jesus and answer differently, then I beg of you today to remember what Jesus has done - look to Scripture and be reminded of His saving power and listen to His Word. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re fine just the way that you are… we all need help, we all need a Savior. This is why Jesus came! Therefore, we all need to, finally

Commit Yourself to Jesus (6b)

Jesus being the greater messenger, sacrifice, priest, king, and deliverer is a comfort and also a challenge for His followers. What a comfort to know that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice who doesn’t cover up our sins but truly forgives us of them once and for all. It is a comfort to know that Jesus is our great high priest who gives us access to our God. It is a comfort to know that Jesus is the King of Kings who rules with justice and who has no rival. It is a comfort to know that Jesus is the great deliverer of His people and that we don’t have to worry about being snatched out of His hand or Him letting us down! Friends, Jesus is faithful and He is faithful to a completely different level than we can even imagine. We live in a world where people lie, cheat, break promises, and don’t show up when they say they will. In this world, even the most faithful and dependable of things break down. Whether it be a person, truck, machine, or phone, eventually the things of this world will stop working at some point. In this broken, fallen world, it’s so easy to project that brokenness onto Jesus… But the Bible shares with us that Jesus isn’t like the brokenness around us. He is different. He is good. He comes through. He is faithful to the end. He is faithful over His household - meaning this, if you’re a Christian, if you’ve been adopted into God’s forever family then He is faithful on your behalf even whenever you are faithless.

How do we know that we are in this family, though? Can we lose our standing in this family? Can God kick us out? Verse 6 tells us that if we endure and hold onto our confidence and hope, we demonstrate that we belong to His house. If we don’t endure, we demonstrate that we don’t belong to His house. Understand this church family, your works can never save you in the first place - you aren’t that powerful… likewise, as a Christian, your works can never un-save because you aren’t that powerful. Once you are saved into God’s forever family, the Bible shares with us that you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. This doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly perfect or ever will be, but it does mean that you are now in Christ and Romans 8:1 promises us this

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

How? Because of what Jesus has done for His brothers and sisters

Hebrews 10:14 CSB

14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are sanctified.

Jesus took your sins on the cross and saves His people forever - there is assurance in the blood of the lamb. Our response to His work is to keep our hope in Christ and to remember that our salvation is not based on our grip on Him but His grip upon us. He will hold us fast! We keep our hope in Jesus’ work and His work is sufficient enough to keep us. He is our hope and He doesn’t fail. He is faithful!

What about whenever we mess up? What about whenever we are tempted to lose our hope and our hold? A pastor several weeks ago shared a timely story about some thieves who walked into the National Gallery in London with a can of tomato soup and they walked up to an 1888 painting entitled Sunflowers by Van Gough - where do you think that can of tomato soup went? It splattered all on this painting that was valued at 83 million dollars. The activists glued themselves to the wall in a publicity stunt and people were furious that these two people destroyed such a valuable piece of artwork. Several hours later, the National Gallery issued a statement and shared that, “There is some minor damage to the frame… but the painting was unharmed.” The National Gallery prepared for a situation just like this one and they had a small glaze of glass placed on top of the painting that you can’t even see with the naked eye and that can of tomato soup couldn’t do anything to that priceless painting. Church, do you see what our God has done through Christ? The law reminds us daily of our shortcomings and our sinful nature loves to try and splatter itself across the frame of our lives - but the saving work of Jesus Christ is greater than anything our enemy can do because no condemnation can stick whenever Jesus has sealed you with His Spirit.

We will fall short - but those who persevere and keep their eyes fixed on Jesus demonstrate that they belong to God’s eternal household not because they keep themselves, but because they have been changed from the inside out by Jesus Christ. Is that your story today?

Application

The law says do, the Gospel says done - Today we must look and listen to Jesus because He changes the story of our lives… He doesn’t do this because we deserve it, He does it because we never could earn it ourselves. He is faithful for faithless sinners like you and me and He calls on us to follow after Him and place our hope in Him and in Him alone. Let’s apply that truth to our lives today in 4 ways:

If you think that you’re great - consider Jesus, He is greater

This is a shot to our systems in a very individualistic culture… but it’s the truth. The preacher of Hebrews chooses Moses as this comparison to make a point: As good a leader and hero as you can be, you’ll never be the main hero. Jesus is always going to be greater! This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about the way we live our lives, but it does mean that each step along the journey we have an obligation to consider Jesus and what He did rather than what our feelings tell us to do.

My hope must be in the Creator - not creation

These Jewish Christians were tempted to reject Jesus and go back to Judaism. They were tempted to place their hope in their traditions rather than in their Creator. We are all tempted to place our hope in the things around us and in our hobbies and find our identity there rather than in our God but this won’t work. We are commanded to hold onto our confidence in Christ and that means that we must find our hope in Him above all else and spend intentional time seeking His will.

My hope must be in my Savior - not myself

There is never been a person so good that they don’t need Jesus and there has never been a person so bad that Jesus can’t save them. Paul called himself the “least of sinners” for a reason - to demonstrate that there is no one too far gone for God’s grace! Our hope must be in Jesus and His goodness rather than in ourselves and our last name or our actions.

My hope must be in God’s provision - not my perfection

The God of the Bible provides. He has provided in the past, He is providing today, and He will provide tomorrow! God doesn’t just provide for the people that we think are perfect, either. We read in Scripture that He died for sinners. The God of the Bible has made a way for broken people to be redeemed and restored and it’s not by working harder and doing more stuff. It’s not by becoming smarter or by being nicer. It’s through God’s provision of sending His Son to die in our place on the cross. May we never lose sight of Jesus in this life. Let’s be a people who look and listen to Jesus every step that we take, in the good and in the bad, not because it’s easy, but because whenever we keep our eyes on Jesus and align ourselves with His will, everything else falls into its rightful place.

Lord’s Supper

What is the Lord’s Supper?

Every quarter it is a blessing to be able to pause and observe the Lord’s Supper with our church family. The Lord’s Supper is a time where we remember what our Lord and Savior did for sinners like you and me 2,000 years ago as He bore our sin and shame upon the cross. As we partake of these elements, we not only remember His sacrifice but we celebrate His victory and anticipate His return. In the book of Acts, Christians would have a full meal and maybe that sounds more of your speed as a Baptist, but shortly thereafter it changed to a ritual involving the bread and wine. We partake of this because it is the model given to us in Scripture from Jesus.

Why do we observe the Lord’s Supper?

We observe the Lord’s Supper because it is commanded of us by Jesus Christ. This is a right for all baptized believers - members of FBC Salem and those of you who might not be members here but you have been Scripturally baptized - and it is something that forces us evaluate ourselves spiritually before we participate.

This morning, we’re going to do 4 things and we must do 2 before we do the last 2. We must remember and we must rejoice. Only after we do those 2 things can we eat and drink. The Bible tells us that we must take the Lord’s Supper in a worthy manner. Part of this means that we must examine our hearts and lives today to see if there is something in the way between ourselves and God. We know that Jesus makes a way, but we also read in the Bible that we are to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us.

1 Corinthians 11:27–28 CSB

27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup.

Please take a few minutes this morning to ask God to reveal any sin that you might be aware or unaware of and ask Him to forgive you for that.

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Pray

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Now, let’s take a minute to pray once again to rejoice for the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us and the victory that He won for His bride. Give God thanks for the promises that He gives to you as His child.

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We’ve remembered and we’re rejoiced, now it’s time in this gathering of God’s children to eat and drink.

Paul and some early Christians years after Jesus ascended back to heaven were partaking of the Lord’s Supper and they followed the teaching of Jesus as we do today. 1 Corinthians 11 tells us this

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 CSB

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

What a mighty God we serve! Today we remember, rejoice, eat, and drink. It’s all because of what Jesus has done for us! He has secured our place and given us peace with God and lavished joy and grace upon each one of us. Walk in that grace and rejoice in His promise today.

Possibly include Apostle’s Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

Born of the Virgin Mary;

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into Hades;

The third day he rose from the dead;

He ascended into heaven;

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit;

the holy catholic Church;

the communion of saints;

the forgiveness of sins;

the resurrection of the body;

and the life everlasting. Amen.

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