2020, I was in the middle of finding out about Finley, Ohio, and Trinity Baptist Church.
And of course, 2020 was a weird year, who agrees with me?
That was a very strange year.
And I walked down into our basement and we had about a hundred-year-old home in Canton,
Ohio, that's where we lived at the time, Canton.
And the house that we lived in was about a hundred years old.
It had a basement, and the basement was mostly finished downstairs.
We had a second kitchen.
For some reason, they had put a kitchen in, and they had put it in a long time ago because
the kitchen that was down there was, let's just say it was pretty clear it was from the
60s.
It was all metal.
It was a color that I think the last time anybody painted that color was in the 60s.
Ever seen what I'm talking about?
Some kind of weird color.
I think it's some kind of weird green.
I can't remember what it was.
But you know, some of you were there.
Amen.
And so, I went downstairs and there was kind of a weird smell.
And worst thing that could happen to a homeowner is there's just a mess with the plumbing downstairs.
It was not good.
And of course, this is like we're thinking we may end up moving to Finley, and God did
that for us.
But in the meantime, there was a major problem.
And so, we had insurance and all the things and contractors.
I don't know anything about fixing anything, basically.
I'm not very good at fixing things.
I married a woman who is very good at fixing things.
She's very handy.
It's always good to have a woman that's handy, amen.
And so, I have that.
And so, we had the people come down and they cleaned it out and did all kinds of things.
And then they fixed our home.
And of course, we had lived there for six and a half, almost seven years.
And the basement was finished, but it never was quite that nice.
And then they got it all fixed.
And I saw a transformation.
How many of you guys have ever been in a situation where you've seen construction and remodeling?
And it goes from, oh, you ever been there?
Isn't that awesome to watch?
There's whole channels on TV dedicated to that whole idea, just to watch it go from
not that great to great.
Transformation was awesome.
And we were so lucky.
It got done right the day before we needed to put it on the market.
We did it, put it on the market.
That basement was awesome, and we never got to use it.
But it's okay.
It's okay.
The house sold in record time.
And God is here.
And we got a nice house, a nice place here.
So praise the Lord for that.
I love seeing transformation.
Don't you?
Seeing things change for the better is an amazing, amazing thing.
And it's kind of rare.
I don't know if you've noticed that transformation.
I want to talk to you today about transformation.
In that situation in my home in the basement, a crisis called for transformation.
Something really bad happened.
And so the pain of not letting it go, the pain of letting it go made it to the point where
we got to do something with this basement.
And so it took this crisis to spur us on to experience in that basement that transformation.
Today I want to talk to you about that.
But not with houses, I want to talk to you about how people change.
Transformation seems to come more easily with things than it does with people.
Have you noticed?
Transformation can happen a lot more easily sometimes it feels like with things than with
people.
The tendency that people have, if you're a people, you'll feel this.
If you're a person, I know.
It's hard to change.
Do you have something in your life that you want to have changed?
Yeah?
Anybody here tired of sin?
I'm tired of it.
Sometimes, sometimes I'm not tired with it like I should be.
Our tendency is to stay the same.
One of the things that I've noticed in ministry is that often crisis is what spurs people to
even look at change in their lives.
The pain of not changing has to outpace the pain of transformation.
We certainly notice transformation when it happens.
We notice it because it's so rare, right?
When that actually happens, when somebody changes, that stands out to us.
Here's what I want you to feel this morning.
I want you to feel this on a cold, snowy Sunday morning.
You need change.
So do I.
We need transformation in our lives.
In some area of your life, there needs to be an overhaul.
The Bible's word for this is this word, ready?
Sanctification.
That's the Bible word for it.
So that's the word we like to use.
And sanctification means to set apart or to make holy.
This happens when we get saved.
When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, and if you don't know what that means, hold
on, we'll make sure we explain it today.
When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, when you put your faith and trust in Jesus,
God sets you apart.
He sanctifies you.
Theologians call that positional sanctification.
You go from not believing to believing.
You go from unholy to holy.
We spent 20-something weeks going through the book of Ephesians, which told us what
our identity was in Christ, where we said, this is who you are because when you're saved,
all these things happen to you.
You're blameless and holy, and God seals you with this Holy Spirit, and all these things
happen.
That happens positionally.
When you get saved, God sets you apart.
You are already that, right?
Isn't that cool?
Who's excited about that?
Yeah.
But then there's, when God does that, He sanctifies us.
He justifies us positionally.
He looks at us and declares us as righteous, and then treats us as righteous because of
what Jesus did on the cross.
But then God's desire for your life, Pastor Ben, I want to know what God's will for my
life is.
You know what it is?
He wants you to grow.
He wants you to become like Jesus.
Because if you become the version of Jesus, the version of you that's the most like Jesus,
God will get you where He wants to get you and use you how He wants to use you.
And that's what we all want, right?
I hope it is.
And so, God's desirable for your life is to become more sanctified.
And theologians call this progressive sanctification.
There's a positional sanctification.
I'm already set apart as holy by God.
I'm justified.
I'm sanctified.
But also, I'm growing to be more like Jesus every day.
Who here is not as much like Jesus as they want to be?
Yeah, right.
We all are there, right?
This is called progressive sanctification.
Okay, if you want transformation in your life, it happens just like it happens to me in that
basement.
For that kind of transformation to happen, it took the right people with the right tools.
It wouldn't have been me.
I didn't have the tools for it.
I needed someone to help me.
It's the same thing with us becoming like Jesus.
We need Him to do it because we can't do it on our own.
Anybody here try to clean themselves up?
How long did that last?
That's super long.
Jesus is the one that has to do it and He has the right tools.
In Hebrews chapter 3, we are presented with Jesus as an owner and as a builder.
He is a transformer.
And here's why you need to listen to me today, not because of me, but because of this particular
passage.
You're going to hear about Moses.
You're going to hear about Christ.
You're going to hear me explain the details of this passage that you can understand what's
being said.
But there's a practical reason for you to listen to me today.
No matter who you are or where you are today, you need transformation.
You need to be more like Jesus.
God's will for your life is to be more and more like Him.
And I want you to walk away understanding that Jesus is incredible at transformation.
That's what He specializes in, making people different, giving them life and helping them
to live out His life and then.
He has the right tools for the job.
The way He is shown to be great at transformation in this particular passage is by being compared
with Moses.
The author of Hebrews is talking here to a Jewish audience and they would have held
like Jews do today.
They would have held Moses in really, really high esteem.
Moses was a major league hero for the Jews.
And so the author of Hebrews tells us, and here's the summary of the sermon today, that
Jesus is greater at transformation.
Jesus is greater.
The whole point of the book of Hebrews is He's better.
Better.
We have a better thing going.
Jesus is better.
How?
He's better at transformation.
He's better at seeing how He's greater than Moses here in Hebrews chapter 3 verses 1 through
6.
Here's the first way that Jesus is greater than Moses and how it will impact our lives
in transformation.
Are you ready?
He has a greater identity.
Jesus has a greater identity than Moses.
That's what I'm trying to tell you.
And you're like, okay, I kind of already knew that.
I'm like, okay, good.
Let's talk about it.
Think of verse 1, wherefore holy brethren.
Now that gives us two things we got to consider.
One, when someone says wherefore, they're alluding to what they've already said.
Because of what I've said, listen up.
He also says holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.
Now let's talk about what Jesus said.
He says partakers of the heavenly calling and he talks about holy brethren.
This is because he said in the last couple of chapters, chapters 1 and chapter 2, stay
with me, this is going to get good.
Jesus is greater in every way.
That's what he's been trying to tell us.
That he is a greater revelation of God who's revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
Do you remember what it said in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1?
God who at sundry times and in diverse manners, spake in times past according to the prophets.
Hathen Lee's last days spoken unto us by his, you guys remember?
Son.
He used to speak by the prophets.
Now he spoke to us by Jesus, by whom he created the worlds.
Jesus is greater than creation because he made it.
Jesus made everything.
Isn't that awesome?
So he's a greater revelation.
He is greater than creation.
He says he's greater than the angels, right?
The Hebrews, the Jews held angels in high esteem.
He says they're greater than the angels.
He says that he made Jesus the heir of all things.
So not only does Jesus greater and created all things, but he owns it all.
It's all his, right?
And he's seated on the right hand of God.
And we learned in chapter 2 that he's made, he was made a man.
He was made a little lower than angels.
Why?
He was made lower than the angels by being made a man so that he could suffer and die,
right?
So that God can make him perfect through sufferings, it says.
So Jesus could die for us on the cross.
And because he was God, he could do it without sin and become a high priest, someone who
goes to God on our behalf, having dealt with all the things we deal with.
Who's pumped about that?
Isn't that cool that Jesus did that for us?
And so because of that, God, he did it without sin and because he comes a high priest, the
Bible says that he is not ashamed to call us brethren.
We're brothers and sisters with Jesus, and God has called us his sons and daughters.
We have a family relationship with the God of the universe when we accept Christ as our
Savior.
That's awesome.
They get to stay at my house.
What do we just sing?
Him of heaven.
When we get to be family, guess where we get to go?
You guys are not excited about it.
Have you heard of heaven?
Did you hear about it?
Because the gold is the pavement.
There's no hunger in heaven.
All the food doesn't taste like vegetables.
I made that up.
The food's going to be awesome, right?
And more importantly, God's there.
Jesus is there.
We're going to live forever.
Are you excited about heaven?
We get to go be with them.
That's amazing.
Right?
So this is a big deal.
And this is what God has done for us.
And so He says, Hebrews chapter 3 verse 1, you are partakers of the heavenly calling,
the calling to salvation.
You get to calling to a family.
You get to calling to being a part of God's sons and daughters and Jesus' brothers and
sisters and we're together with them.
But He says, think about this.
I want you to consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.
Now that's interesting.
He calls Jesus an apostle.
The word apostle means one who is sent.
Have you heard about sending lately?
Right?
Later, I'm not going to dismiss you.
We're going to be sent, right?
Jesus was sent.
Jesus said, as the Father has sent me, so send I, you, right?
So Jesus was sent on a mission.
He accomplished his mission.
He was made perfect through sufferings and through obedience.
And so He came to us on behalf of God who agrees.
This is really cool.
He's an apostle.
He is a sent one.
And out of His authority, He sends us, go into all the world, make disciples of all nations,
preach, teach all nations, baptizing the name of the Father, Son, the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever.
I've commanded you and lo, I'm with you always.
He's told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
That's what He's told us to do.
And so He is a sent one.
And it also says here, consider the apostle and what?
High priest.
A high priest, he came to us to rescue us, sent from God, and then he went back to God
and sits on the right hand of the Father and ever lives to make intercession for us.
God Jesus Christ goes to God on our behalf.
Who's excited about that?
That's pretty cool, right?
He mediates between us and God.
So what an incredible thing He is and what an incredible thing He does.
And that's the apostle, the high priest of our profession.
Isn't that cool that it's our profession?
That's how we get, we're saved because we put our faith in Jesus.
He makes us this.
Christ Jesus.
And it says this about Him.
Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him.
Who appointed Jesus?
God the Father.
Was Jesus faithful in every way?
We'll talk about that in a minute.
But then He makes this comparison.
He was faithful to Him that appointed Him as Moses was faithful in all His house.
Now remember the book of Hebrews was written to what kind of people?
Hebrews, Jewish people, some believing, some not.
And it says here, Moses was faithful in all His house.
I want to explain that to you.
I want you to think about the identity of Moses this morning.
Moses is not as big a deal to us like he was in the days of the Jews to whom this letter
was written.
Moses was the greatest hero of the Jewish faith, one of the greatest ones.
I mean, he's definitely one of the most important that ever lived.
Everything about Moses was wonderful to the Jewish people.
Remember his miraculous preservation at his birth?
The Pharaoh decided he was going to kill all the...
What's with leaders wanting to kill babies?
It's like it stuck around for a long time, okay?
Happened it there, it happened at Jesus' birth.
It's still going on.
Get your baby bottle.
That was free.
When Moses' mama had this baby, she was supposed to kill all the sons.
And so he put them in a basket filled with pitch, put them on the Nile River.
And God and His sovereignty brought that basket right to the princess of Egypt who picked
him up out of the water and named him, drawn out of the water.
Moses means drawn out of the water.
And so even his name, rescued God.
The princess didn't rescue him.
God did, right?
And then he had this unique ability because of his upbringing, because God did that, to
be both Jewish and Egyptian.
That's exactly what God was going to use him to do, to be sent.
Remember he...
You guys remember the story, right?
He grows up, he sees an Egyptian killing a Jewish person.
The Jews were there in Egypt because God preserved them through Joseph to get them to Egypt so
that they could continue to live.
And from there, they became not just a family, but a nation.
A Pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph, who delivered them.
And so they had this nation that was growing up in the Egyptians.
The Egyptians decided, hey, we got to kill the babies.
We got to make all of them slaves because they're going to take over.
So God gives this baby.
God does that too sometimes.
To the nation, he grows up being part Egyptian, part Jewish, and culturally.
And he's all Jewish.
He sees this Egyptian getting killed, or getting beaten, or so, I'm mixed up, sorry.
He sees a Jew getting beaten by an Egyptian and he ends up slaying the Egyptian.
Then he sees a couple of Jewish people later arguing with each other.
He tries to stop them.
They're like, are you going to kill us too?
And he realizes, I'm not the only one that knows this.
And so what does he do?
He goes into the wilderness.
And while he's there in the wilderness, God shows up.
He sees a burning bush.
Do you guys remember this?
And it's burning hot but not consumed.
He's like, how is that on fire?
But it's staying on fire.
It's not going away.
And he gets there and this voice comes out and says, hey, take off your shoes.
And he says, who's, and he starts talking to them.
And what did God say through this bush?
Go to Egypt.
Tell them to let my people go.
He tells them to take off your shoes where you're staying.
He's in the presence of God.
And what does the bush, God, do with Moses?
Go, what does he do?
Did you get it?
Everybody say what he did.
What did he do?
He sent him.
Interesting.
Sent him to do what?
Deliver the people of God from bondage.
And they got out of Egypt.
It took a while, there's 10 plagues, but they got it.
They went through the water.
That's interesting.
The Bible talks about that.
And then they come to the other side and God gives Moses his law.
He writes it down.
And sometimes God, Moses is like a prophet going to the people, hey, this is what God
says.
Sometimes he's going to God on behalf of the people.
Don't kill him, Lord.
Right?
And he's, he's mediating between, it's kind of a similar ministry.
He understands this.
Right?
And what did Moses do?
What was, and we'll talk about this more in the next point, but what did Moses end up
doing?
Because of Moses, they got the law.
Who wrote the law?
God did.
The Holy Spirit gave it to him.
More on that tonight.
But Moses was a human instrumentality to do what he did in terms of giving him the law.
It was in that, that they also got the tabernacle, right?
The tabernacle was this thing that later on was the temple where God came and actually
and dwelt in the temple and his presence was there and they would do sacrifices and all
of those things.
This was Moses.
And it says here about Moses that he was found faithful in all his house.
I hope that I'm faithful like that.
I want to be faithful.
Who wants to be faithful?
Yeah.
But at best Moses was just a human being with normal frailties and failures like we have.
Moses messed up at times, but the Lord Jesus Christ was the eternal become, the eternal
God becoming a man walking on this earth.
In every detail and in every degree, the Lord Jesus Christ was totally faithful.
He 100% of the time did the will of the heavenly, of our heavenly Father.
Jesus is faithful.
He will never let you down.
He also is one that has majesty.
Look at verse three.
It says for this man, Jesus was counted worthy of more glory than Moses in as much as he
who has built of the house has more honor than the house.
You remember talking about the glory of Jesus being greater than Moses.
What story does that make you think of?
Jesus in Matthew 17 goes up to the mount and he takes Peter, James and John with them up
on that mountain.
You guys are, some of you are shaking your head.
You know where I'm headed.
And he gets up on that mountain and the Bible says that in one moment, a couple of things
happened.
One, the radiance of Jesus' glory shows in a way it wasn't shown before.
Right?
His humanity, I don't know how it happened.
It's a mystery.
We don't know how it happened.
It's a miracle.
Who agrees it's a miracle?
But it was pulled back and the radiance of his glory was shown.
He was identified in a way that was incredible.
But then at the same time, there's two Old Testament people that show up.
Moses and Elijah.
I'm not the first one to say that's like the law and the prophets.
Moses, did you know Moses wrote Genesis through Deuteronomy?
God did it through him.
And then Elijah is an Old Testament prophet and it kind of represents both things.
Remember what Peter did?
Peter was there.
One thing you do sometimes when you disciple people is you take them and let them experience
things.
And Peter, was there any experience?
This incredible moment.
In 17.3, this isn't on the screen, but here's what it says.
Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with them.
Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If thou wilt, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.
I love this next phrase.
While he yet spake.
God didn't wait for the words to get out of Peter's mouth.
Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said,
this is my beloved son.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Here ye him.
Under honor our text here in Hebrews, the Bible refers to Moses as a servant, but Jesus
as a son.
Jesus is greater than Moses.
Jesus is greater than Moses in his identity.
Verse five, it says that Moses was faithful as a servant.
The word servant there is a different word.
It doesn't mean a slave.
Mean as a slave.
It means someone who gave personal service freely at a great cost.
So Jesus was much more than a servant.
In verse six it says, but Christ is a son over his own house.
Moses was a servant, but Christ was a son.
He was God's son.
When God got ready to send a savior into the world, he didn't just send a servant, he sent
his son.
That ought to move us so much.
We are calling these verses to this understanding of the identity of Jesus.
He has a greater identity.
Number two, he has a greater ministry.
A greater ministry.
Look at verse three.
For this man, Jesus was counted more worthy of more glory than Moses, and as much as he
who has built the house, has more honor than the house.
For every house is built by some man, but he that built with all things is God.
Moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant.
Here it is for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
What was Moses' ministry?
I'm still talking about transformation.
Just hold on.
We're going to get there.
Moses' ministry, like Jesus, he was sent.
He was sent to deliver.
He led God's people out of Egypt.
He wrote the law through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the first five books of the
Old Testament.
The law included God's instruction about the tabernacle.
That was a precursor to the temple.
We'll talk more about that later.
Moses acted at times as a priest.
We talked about that going to God on behalf of the people.
Of course, Moses was faithful, but he was not perfect.
He didn't do everything right.
He messed up at times.
Moses had an incredible ministry, but his ministry was really a testimony, a picture
of pointing to the full and final ministry of Jesus.
Look at what he says at the end of verse number five.
Of Moses, he was faithful in his house as a servant for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken after.
A testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
So many of the things that instituted in the law were a picture of what Jesus was going
to do fully and finally in his ministry.
Look at what Jesus said in John 5.46.
Eric, wherever you are, he used this verse earlier.
For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me.
For he, who's he?
Moses wrote of, who's he talking about?
Moses was just writing about what was going on.
He was picturing something that was coming.
Who received instruction about the sacrificial system and instituted that.
Moses, what did John say?
Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
The sacrificial system was a way of pointing to the Jesus, the Messiah, the Lamb of God
who would take on the wrath of God as a substitutionary atonement for you and for me.
Who agrees with me?
When Moses wrote about Abraham going to Mount Moriah sacrificing his one and only son and
getting a substitute ram in place of what was he writing about?
He was writing about Jesus.
That's what he was writing about.
Jesus had a greater ministry by definition because the ministry that Moses did pointed
to Jesus.
God can't save us.
Every religion in the world says you become something by doing enough good things.
You become accepted by God by doing enough right things.
And what Jesus comes in and says is you're messed up.
You can't do enough good.
I'll be good for you.
And I'll give you my righteousness.
And I'll transform you.
What's the offer?
Jesus has a better, who agrees?
He has a better ministry than Moses.
Number three, we might get out of here early.
He has a greater house.
Jesus has a greater house than Moses.
The Hebrew word for house is used six times in this passage.
It's used seven times in English.
It speaks here this word house.
You see here a house that Moses worked in and a house that Jesus built.
Look at verse three.
For this man was kind of worthy and more glorious than Moses.
And as much as he who has built the house has more honor than the house.
The law was God's idea.
The tabernacle was God's idea, God's design.
God gave Moses the instructions on how the tabernacle was to be built down to the smallest
detail.
And Moses built the house just the way God told him to build it.
When it was completed, God came down and dwelt that house.
Do you remember what they called the place where the Ark of the Covenant was?
It was called the Holy of Holies, right?
And that's where God's manifest presence was there in that place.
When it was completed, the glory cloud hovered over that tabernacle in the wilderness and
God came down and dwelt in earth among his people.
By the time of the Lord Jesus Christ, Moses house, the tabernacle had been superseded by
a larger, more elaborate house that was known as the temple.
It was built basically on the same design as the tabernacle, just bigger and even more
ornate.
When the temple was built, God came down in the glory cloud and dwelt there.
The building was God's dwelling place on earth.
Now, there's two houses that are talked about here.
And I believe it's not just talking about the tabernacle and the temple, but definitely
includes it.
The people of God are who he's talking about, some that were Moses and some that are Christ.
As we read this passage this morning, we have to keep in mind that the first readers of
this book of Hebrews were Jewish Christians who were steeped in Old Testament terminology.
They understood the house that Moses built because that's where the sacrifices would
take place.
That's where the Jews worship.
That's where the priests did all that they did.
That's where they rooted and grounded and embedded in that house.
All of that, that was all rooted in the house that Moses built.
Then one day on a hill outside of Jerusalem, the one named of the Lord Jesus Christ was
hanging on the cross.
And on that cross, he said one word in Aramaic, Tetelestai, it is finished.
And what happened?
When Jesus said that, the Bible says that the veil in the temple was torn into from
top to bottom.
God's presence isn't just in a place then.
We can go to the holy, holy.
On that day, Moses' house was rendered obsolete.
Read the last two verses with me.
And Moses was fairly, 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.
Why are you not yelling and excitement right now?
Where the house?
If we hold fast the confidence in the rejoicing hope, hope for them to the earth, it's at
the end.
He's saying those who are transformed will be transformed and they won't, God's going
to hold them to the end.
Versics gives us insight into the house that Jesus is building.
Who is the house?
Where the house?
The holy brethren who profess Jesus as Lord, apostle and high priest of our profession.
God does not just inhabit a place, now God inhabits a people.
He inhabits us.
Just a few weeks ago, Sunday school, we studied a passage about this woman at the well, the
Samaritan woman.
Remember that?
And Jesus connects with her, he talks to her, which is weird because Jewish men didn't talk
to even Jewish women, much less Samaritan women.
The half breeds the one that disagree with us theologically and historically and all
these other things.
Most Jews wouldn't even go into their part of the world.
And she's coming at noon to the well, there's no other women around.
She's been ostracized by her own community, these Samaritans, because she's had five husbands
and she doesn't know that Jesus would know this.
Here's this Jewish man sitting on a well.
The Samaritan comes up, woman comes up and she says, and Jesus says, hey, can I have
some water?
She's like, you're talking to me?
Why are you talking to me?
You're not supposed to talk to me.
He's like, oh, you don't even, yeah, there's a whole conversation.
But at one point in the conversation, Jesus says this, verse 16, Jesus said to her, go
call thy husband and come hither.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband.
Wouldn't someone that was ashamed of their past answer that way?
I don't have a husband.
Technically true.
That's what Jesus said.
Now as well said, I have no husbands for the house had five husbands and he, the now has,
is not that house, my husband and this house says truly.
The woman said it then to him, sir, I perceive that that were the profit.
You know things you should not know.
This is before the internet, right?
Now I'd be like, did you see my Facebook?
Yeah.
I perceive you're a prophet.
Then what does she say?
Check it out.
Our fathers, the Samaritans, our fathers worshiped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship.
Now I think she brings this question up because she's perceiving that he's a prophet.
Yours profits come from who?
God.
So she's like, you're from God, but you're Jewish.
So I've got this theological question.
If you're a prophet, I need to know.
I got someone here that's truly representing God.
The people that have been teaching me say I have to go to the mountain, but the people
that seem to be aligned with you are telling me we got to go to Jerusalem.
What does Jesus say?
Woman, believe, now that woman wasn't like a woman.
It's a term of endearment.
Woman, believe me, the hour comes when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at
Jerusalem worship the Father.
He's not saying that you can't worship in those places.
He's saying the worship isn't confined to those places.
What does he say?
You worship, you know not what.
We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.
By the way, worship and truth are connected.
So what he's saying is the Samaritans were wrong theologically.
And to worship, you got to be right theologically, right?
You can't worship God and ignore his son.
You can't get Jesus wrong and rightly worship God.
Do you get it?
Not all worship is equal worship.
But she says you worship, you know not what, you know what we worship for salvation is
of the Jews.
But the hour comes and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
What was Jesus saying?
Because of Jesus Christ worship doesn't happen at any one particular place.
We don't call this room right here a sanctuary in the sense that this is a special dwelling
place.
This is brick and mortar.
That's wood.
And if we left today and this place blew up, the church would still be here because the
church isn't a building.
It's us.
And you can't be the church on your own because the church means assembly.
You can't assemble by yourself.
So if all you're doing is watching online, I love you, glad you're watching.
Come back.
Assemble with the assembly.
We are his house.
What can happen in spirit and in truth wherever someone is because the temple is not in the
place now we're the temple.
First Corinthians says this chapter 6 verse 19.
What know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you
have of God you're not your own.
You're bought with a price.
What was the price?
The precious blood of Jesus.
You're bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which
are God's.
This is incredible news.
This is exactly what Jesus promised.
When we get saved, when we accept Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and lives inside
of us.
This is exactly what Jesus told his disciples in John 14.
Get this.
Man get excited.
Can you get excited?
Let's do it.
Come on.
John 14.12.
Verily, verily I said unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.
And greater works in these shall he do because I go to the Father.
He's like, I'm going back and you're going to do greater works than I did.
What?
How is that possible?
What's there for you to ask in my name that will I do?
That the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you shall ask anything in my name I'll do it.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father and he shall give you another capital C, Comforter.
The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
That he may abide with you forever, forever.
Once he gets in he doesn't get out.
That's why Paul says, don't grieve the Holy Spirit again.
Why is he grieved?
Because I keep messing up.
Sinning, going against his will and he's in me and he can't leave me.
Because it's, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it sees them
not, neither knoweth him.
But ye know him for he, what is it?
For he, what?
Dwelleth in you and shall be in you.
This is exactly what's happened.
Jesus did send his Holy Spirit to live inside of those who know him.
This is why Jesus is incredible at transformation.
I couldn't get to him.
He had to get to me.
Finley Ohio couldn't get to him.
He had to get to Finley Ohio.
How did he do it?
He indwelt the people that he saved there in the disciples and he sent those people
out who told people, who told people, who were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who told
people, who got indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who told people.
Here we are in Finley Ohio with a trail of people that Jesus has changed and transformed.
And he's still doing it.
He's still doing it.
It's amazing.
So that means this, just a few points.
Put them in your bulletin.
Here they go.
If you're saved, he is in you.
It's a simple statement.
Not a lot of flowery words.
But if you're saved, you have the third person of the Trinity living inside of you.
Rome is eight, nine, but ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit.
If so, be that the spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Are you with me?
I went to a concert one time at a charismatic church.
It was a Friday night.
I didn't have much to do.
So this concert, I went there and they were upbeat.
Good music as it was biblical, some of it.
But then this guy got up and preached after the concert and he said, we need to be, we
need to put a target for the Holy Spirit to come get more of the Holy Spirit in us.
And he talked about the Holy Spirit, almost like it was a liquid.
Like you don't have enough of the spirit.
You need more of the spirit.
Are you with me?
That is the wrong way to think about the spirit.
Either have them or you don't.
It's like pregnancy.
You're either pregnant or you're not.
You can't be kind of pregnant.
That's how the Holy Spirit works.
If you have them, you're saved.
If you're saved, you have them.
If you're not saved, you don't have them.
If you don't have them, the only way, the only shot you got it, transformation is like,
ah!
Ah!
Human effort.
Being more disciplined.
May work for a while, but it does not transform.
Who transforms us?
Jesus Christ is the Holy Spirit.
He's in you.
And if he's in you, then he's with you.
He's with you.
Remember what Jesus said to the disciples?
All powers given to me in heaven and in earth go ye therefore.
Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost.
Teaching them to deserve all things, what's in our command of you.
And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
He sends us and he goes with us.
That's pretty cool.
You say, Pastor Ben, that sounds really like theological and spiritual and it preaches well,
but practically what does that mean?
That literally means that God wrote a book and you can hear what he has to say and he
can bring through his spirit, he can bring the word of God to your heart and mind and
convict you and lead you and do all these other things.
Who here makes decisions on a daily basis?
You just decided not to raise your hand.
I win.
Everybody makes decisions.
And your decisions need to be informed by the word of God and convicted on your heart
by the spirit of God.
You need that every day.
And as God does that in your heart and mind every day, as you spend time with him as we're
going to see in a minute, he begins to change your choices and change your thinking.
You're renewed by the spirit.
A Romans 12, 1, and 2.
This is a bad time to try to quote a verse and I can't remember it.
I beseech you therefore, brother, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies of living
sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable of service.
Right?
Are you with me?
So that's what he does.
He's with you.
He's in you.
Number three, he'll empower you.
He'll empower you.
Acts 1, 7, and 8 says, and he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times of the
seasons which the Father has put in his own power, but ye shall receive power after that
the Holy Ghost has come upon you.
And ye'll be witnesses unto me and Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the most part of the earth.
Ephesians, I got time.
Ephesians chapter one.
You want to talk about being empowered?
Wherefore I also, 115, wherefore I also after I heard of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ
and love unto all the saints, sayest not to give thanks for you, making mention of you
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto
you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him.
I pray that you would know Jesus, that you would know what you have.
The eyes of your understanding be enlightening.
Enlighten that you may know what is the hope of his calling.
Who's excited about the hope of Jesus' calling?
We're going to heaven, right?
And what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints and what is the
exceeding greatness power to usward?
Who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when
he raised him from the dead?
The power to overcome sin in your life is not yours.
It's Christ.
It's the Holy Spirit in you.
That will do it.
He'll empower you.
And when he does, you'll bear fruit.
You'll bear fruit.
He'll bear fruit through you.
Now here's where we get to the practical point.
You're saying, Pastor Ben, this has been very, I see it.
I see it in the text.
I see what you're talking about.
Jesus transforms.
He comes and he indwells.
And when he indwells, he transforms.
How do I change?
I'm still struggling with sin.
I'm still struggling with thinking the right thing and doing the right.
Did you ever hear struggle?
I still struggle with doing the right thing and being the right person.
How does it happen?
Jesus spoke to that.
This is amazing.
If you will study this and apply this to your life, to me this is the secret of what's
God's going to do in our church.
If God does anything in the next 20, 30 years and beyond with our churches because we claim
the promises He gives us right here.
Jesus said in John 15, one, I am the true vine and my father's the husband man.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he takeeth away.
And every branch that beareth fruit, he purges it that it may not bring, that it may bring
forth more fruit.
Now you are cleaned through with which I have spoken unto you.
Here it is.
Abide in me and I in you.
Know what abide means?
Remain.
Stay.
Spend time with.
Rest in.
Be with.
As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it be in the vine, no more can ye accept ye
abide in me.
There's two options to change.
For Jesus transforming you, you getting your nutrition from the vine.
He wrote a book.
The author of the book, he sent to live in us.
We're the temple.
Not because we deserve it, but because of his grace.
I'm the vine.
He is more than a branch.
He that abides in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.
For without me ye can do a little bit.
No, nothing.
If a man abideth not in me, he cast forth as a branch and his withered and men gathered
them and cast them into fire and they were burned.
If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will and it shall be
done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit.
How do you want to glorify God?
Bear fruit.
How do you bear fruit?
Abide in the vine.
That's how you be, what did you say?
My disciples.
There's an old Sunday school song.
Read your Bible.
Pray every day.
I chose the wrong key.
Read your Bible.
Pray every day and you'll grow, grow, grow.
You stay with Jesus.
You're like, just read it?
No, not just read it.
Actually read it to understand it.
Actually read it to obey it.
Listen to God as he speaks to you through his word.
And then talk to him.
You know why you can talk to God?
Because Jesus is right there on the right hand of the Father going to God on your behalf
because the Spirit of God is in you and he says the things you don't even know what to
say.
He utters the words you don't even know what to utter on our behalf.
And it's not just, I don't mean read your Bible.
Pray every day so you can academically grow in knowledge.
Read your Bible.
Pray every day.
Abide in Jesus so that he can supernaturally change you from the inside out.
Because he's in there.
He's in there.
Stop fighting him.
Stop cooperating with him.
Because his will for your life is to grow.
He wants to transform you from the inside out.
I've tried to change from the outside in.
It does not work.
It doesn't.
So this means if you're not saved, you have no shot at this kind of transformation.
If you're not saved, you haven't put your faith and trust in Jesus and that means you're
not going to be in heaven.
God doesn't dwell in you.
But the good news is you can be.
He can come live inside of you.
He can positionally sanctify you.
He can set you apart.
He can make you one of his kids.
Jesus can be your big brother.
You can have eternal life and be changed.
He can do it.
He wants to do it.
He who comes to me, he said, I will in no wise cast out.
Jesus will change and transform your life when you cooperate with him to do it.
He's got a greater identity than Moses, a greater ministry than Moses.
He's building a better house than Moses.
Who's this house?
Where is his house?
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes and be this morning?