Hebrews 11:23-27 MOSES Choosing Faith Over Fear

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SPEAKER_01: 0:10

All right, Hebrews chapter 11. Uh verse 23 is where we'll start. We'll recap. You know we are in the hall of faith, taking a little break from our usual going through a book until uh well we're done with this, and maybe if God puts something on your heart, let me know what you're thinking you'd like to go through. We can always consider that. Um, but in the meantime, we're in no rust. We're going through Hebrews chapter 11. It's known as the Hall of Faith, and it's really just uh a demonstration of people who have lived by faith. Um, the direct purpose of the book of Hebrews is kind of good to keep in our mind every so often that the author is writing to a group, a group of Hebrew believers uh who are being tempted to go back to the law. Uh they're being tempted to depart from salvation by grace through faith and go back to the law of doing all the right things. And that's where salvation comes from. Now that's never been the case, and that's really what the author is showing us in the book uh chapter 11 here. This hall of faith is that those who have loved God and lived for God have always lived by faith, all the way back to Abel. We saw Abel, a guy who lived by faith and worshiped by faith. We saw Enoch, a guy who walked with God. We saw Noah, uh, who by faith stepped out and and and built the ark. Um, we spent a little bit of time considering Abraham, uh, the father of the faithful, who really lived his life by faith. That's what made him great. Um and and we've considered this that the life of faith is something that you can do. You can live by faith, a trust in who God is and what he's like, living your life on those things. You can do that, and it's absolutely worth it. I think that's really the message behind all of these. Now, here we find ourselves in verse 23. Um, we've gone from the book of Genesis to the book of Exodus, and we have jumped right into the life of Moses. Moses, right? Uh uh big in in the Hebrew faith. Uh Moses. Uh, the law that he gave us, God gave the law through Moses, is oftentimes called the law of Moses, right? And and so this is a big player in in the Hebrew mind. And the author wants us to know that the bottom line is he also lived by faith, not by the law, but he was saved by faith. Now, faith is simple trust, and it comes out in our life through the way we live. And of course, that's what we'll see again today, in a different perspective, in a different way. Let's look at verse 23 and we'll read to verse 27. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's command. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the riches of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. We'll stop there. Moses. Now, here we read by faith Moses. Uh uh, actually, we don't read that. Yeah, I know we do. Moses, when he was born, but we're really talking about Moses' parents, aren't we? Uh Exodus chapter 6, verse 20, we got names for him. It's Amram and Jacobed. And you know the story. As the time came, uh the people of Israel were in Egypt, and there arose a king who did not know Joseph. And that king was paranoid. He was quite paranoid and was worried that the Hebrews would begin to overpower the Egyptians and become too numerous. So he devises this plan to thin them out a little bit. Um, there he makes the command: all baby boys are to be thrown into the river. Infanticide, right? And and you know the story, it's resistance. Moses's parents resist that command of the king. They put him in a basket, they let him go. Moses washes up near Pharaoh's daughter as she's bathing down by the river. She collects him. Exodus chapter 2 says that when she opened the basket, he cried. And who can who can resist a cute little baby like that? And and she took him into her own house, Pharaoh's daughter. She's smitten. Now, read the whole story. Um, but but you know how it goes. Pharaoh's daughter releases Moses to be nursed by what she thinks is just one of the Hebrew mothers. Uh, but it's actually Moses' own mom, as you read the story, raises and nurses the child Moses until a pretty decent age. Most will say this process of raising him could have been to age five or at latest age 13. So what a cool thing, right? Here, this thing of faith where Moses' parents release him into uh the river and God takes care of Moses. And Jochebed ends up raising her child for a good part of his life. Um now notice a couple things here. Verse 23. Um Moses was hidden three months by his parents. We read about that in Exodus. They saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's command. Also, if you would notice, verse 27 about Moses, by faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. So here we have Moses and his parents. Um, what do they show us? They weren't afraid. Now, that's what we read here. Um, but was that true? Likely not, as far as uh Moses' parents go. Uh, they were human beings. I'm sure when the king said, throw your child into the river or your dead meat, I'm sure they got nervous. I'm sure the conversation at night was was uh pretty heavy. But let's talk about Moses here for a second and this issue of fear. Uh hold your place here in Exodus and turn, I mean, sorry, in Hebrews and turn to Exodus chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2. It's the beginning of this whole account, life of Moses. My pages are sticking together.

SPEAKER_00: 8:13

What do you do when your hands have no moisture? Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 8:16

Alright, Exodus chapter 2, verse 11. We read a little bit more about this issue with Moses. Now it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown. So time has gone on. We're talking about Moses. This is 40 years later. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and he looked that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. And he said to the one who did the wrong, Why are you striking your companion? And he said, Who made you a prince and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Notice, so Moses feared and said, Surely this thing is known. The jig is up. Uh when Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. So we read here the honest truth, as Moses himself writes it down in the book of Exodus. Moses was scared when he heard that the thing was known, that this murder of his was known to the people, but obviously to Pharaoh, it says he feared and fled. So not only was he scared, but he acted upon that fear and he fled. He left the country for 40 more years and lived in the uh land of Midian. But here's the thing we want to realize the people in the Hall of Faith are human. That's something we forget about Bible characters. They were human. Moses' parents, human. They faced threats and uh the uh the threat to kill their son and they resisted it. But man, I'm guessing as human beings, they were scared. They were fearful. Um, fear is in many ways involuntary. Just to talk about fear for a second. Um, we feel fear, and I think it's built into us for safety, isn't it? Uh when I was in sixth grade, we went to a camp and uh stumbled as I was out hiking. Uh, I stumbled upon a rattlesnake, a real honest-to-goodness rattlesnake coiled up and doing his little thing with the tail. I don't like snakes to begin with, but he was ready. You know what I mean? I was not. I didn't have to think about what I would do next. I ran. I just kept running and running and running. And I got all the way back to the camp before I stopped. But that fear was, I think, built into me to get out of there, right? And it did a good job, right? Fear is not necessarily a bad thing, it's an involuntary reaction. Um, and many times it's for safety. Fear is an emotion, but sometimes we embrace it and we live in it. And honestly, embracing fear and living in fear is sin like anything else. A little later in the book of Joshua, we find Joshua, who's a guy that had a reason to be afraid, right? He was a general, so he had been through a lot, but he was leading an entire nation of people there in the book of Joshua. He was leading them into the promised land. There were battles. And God tells him in chapter 1, Joshua 1, 8, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and have good success. Check this out in verse 9. Have I not commanded you, be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. So, straightforwardly here, God tells Joshua, I've commanded you, do not be afraid. Now, God tells you not to be afraid, and you don't do it. What is that? It's sin, right? Now, let's be fair. Fear, like any emotion, is so many times involuntary, and it's part of who we are as human beings. It's part of our flesh, right? You could just as easily go down the list. Anger. Anger is a natural feeling. Um, Paul, quoting Psalm 4, 4, says in Ephesians 4, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. So the honest truth is we can feel angry when we see injustice or when someone has wronged us. We can feel angry, but if we hold on to it, then well, we've got bitterness or resentment. We start thinking about retribution. Some even led to murder when they hold on to their anger. Um, physire is a natural thing. God created physical desire for marriage. It's healthy to keep a marriage strong. But outside of marriage, those feelings of attraction and lust can be used for sin outside of God's plan. The feeling is not necessarily the sin, but the holding on to it and living with it and acting on it is sin. So all these things you can go down a huge list: bitterness, uh, regret, all these things. They're natural feelings in our flesh and emotions in our heart, but when we hold on to them, they can become sin. Here's some scriptures that deal with fear, because that's what's at hand here. Uh, just let them kind of wash on you. All right. Isaiah 41 10. Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Second Timothy one, seven. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and of love and a sound mind. Romans 8, 12 through 15. Therefore, brethren, now listen, therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if the spirit, if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God, for you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. So all these emotions of fear, they're realistic, right? They're part of being human. But we don't want to let them hijack our lives. Um fear is like a a poison that can get in our blood. Um, and what do we do? Well, that's what we want to find out here in Hebrews chapter 11. What's the remedy to all these things? Um, Hebrews chapter 11, it's faith. We don't even need to look hard to find that in this this list in Hebrews chapter 11. It's faith. Faith and trust in God will counteract fear and the other issues of the flesh. So let's look at the details of faith that are spelled out for us here. Uh, number one, it's an example of Moses' parents. Uh, they saw godly potential in their child. They saw notice that he was beautiful. Now, this is a tricky word, isn't it? Because there aren't too many parents who don't look at their kid and say, beautiful, that's my child, beautiful, right? Um, and and certainly uh that was true. Now, here's something ironic to find out. Who really wrote down Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy? Moses. It's actually stated there that Moses was a beautiful child. And who wrote it down? Moses. I like that. He was also the humblest guy that ever lived, according to Moses, right? So, anyways, a little tricky, right? Uh, Moses was beautiful. What does that word mean? It could mean proper. King James says he was proper, he was eloquent. Some traditions actually state that Moses had a sort of glow about him. I don't think that's true, but that's some of the tradition, right? Beautiful. There was something his parents looked at and said, There's something special about this child. Now, interesting. That was true. Of course, God has a plan for every single person, I think. Moses had a special plan, and and his parents saw that. Seeing godly potential is a great thing as a parent to see that in our kids. But what I think was interesting here is realize this what Jacobed, Moses' mom, did after uh Moses was in her care. I believe she shared the word with him, she shared truth with him because it came around later in his life. These are God's people. These are my people. Uh, obviously, she whispered that truth to her baby. It matters. Um, I've always appreciated with my wife that she has tried to do this, I think, in the lives of our kids. Sometimes she's a little crafty about it. Uh, it's in the form of songs, Bible songs. Those are classic, those are great. Giving truth to our kids that way, but it's bringing God into every part of our life. Um, she obviously told him the truth about things, but I think it's also good to see she lived it. And an interesting way that we find that she lived it is really about how she took care of them in the first place. You remember, throw all the baby boys into the river. Well, Jacobed's idea is to put them in a basket, to put tar and pitch in that basket. Interesting, Moses uses the word ark, the same word that he uses back in Noah's day for the ark, which was a structure coated with tar and pitch on the inside that preserved the people through the flood, preserved Noah and his family through the flood. Moses uses the same word. And that word is nowhere else in the Bible. That Hebrew word is used nowhere else. Ark. And so here's what I see. I see Jacobed going, we've got a problem. We got to throw this kid into the water, right? Well, what should I do? Well, God preserved people through the water. He had them build an ark, he covered it with pitch on the inside and on the outside. It floated and it preserved them. And she goes, I'm gonna take God's word and I'm gonna use it for my baby. And she lived it. She lived it in a very simple way. And that, of course, is one of the best ways that we can inspire faith in our kids, our grandkids, and the people that are in our life is just to live it, to take it seriously. God, you said it, and I'm gonna trust it. And she lived it. And that faith, I think, stuck with Moses. And when he was faced with a fearful situation, Moses knew. I mean, how else did he write down the first five books of the Bible, especially the book of Genesis, if he hadn't heard about it? Um, he faced a fearful situation and he faced it with faith. Notice some more examples here of this faith and how it affected Moses' life in verse 24. When he became of age, we're gonna say that happened around 40, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. So Moses, of course, was adopted by uh Pharaoh's daughter. And in that, he had all the privileges of royalty. I mean, we just kind of put it out there like, yeah, Moses was part of the royal family. But you know that the Egyptians thought their kings were gods on earth. They were literally gods on earth. What goes along with that? Every royal privilege that you could imagine, if the king or the royal family said it, it was gonna happen. So Moses was afforded a very pleasant life, I would say. He was raised in it, he was educated to it. No work, just enjoying. And yet he took that word, I believe, that his mother put into his life and he started to compare it with what he had. Um, it grew in his life. Now, take this to heart. Whether it's our kids or somebody that we have an opportunity to be in their life, um, we don't always see the growth of God's word in their life. Uh, that was one of the hard parts about youth ministry. You know, you do it for years, and you know, you have one or two people that you're like, well, I really feel like that person's getting it. And then they fall off, you know, the truck, you know, and you're like, okay, does anybody care? And there are remnants in the room, right? Uh, but you know, you look and you go, are these kids getting it? Are my kids getting it? Um, and here's the thing Paul says uh to the Corinthians, I planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. And we trust that. Uh, Moses' mom, 40 years, I don't even know if she lived to see it. 40 years, um, that word was just kind of growing in Moses' heart, and then one day there's a fruit of it. He desired to be um uh one to take care of God's people. It's the word growing like a seed in our hearts, and and um and again, that's the encouragement to us. Give the word to the people around you and trust that God's gonna bring the spiritual growth. It happened, though, when he became of age, and again, we realize that's when he was about 40 years old. He saw an Egyptian beating uh a Jew, and he looked one way and he looked the other way, and he killed the Egyptian. Now, we're just gonna say that the way he went about God's will was not the way that God had desired, I don't think, because the result was he had to run for it. Uh, but he still did it, right? And here again, we we read that it affected the way he lived. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Um, he laid that down. Notice also, um verse 25, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people God, people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Uh, we see here that Moses began to have like a realistic view on the value of sin. Sin, as we read here, includes pleasure. That's why it's tempting, right? Sin generally includes some kind of pleasure, whether it's lust or greed or bitterness. Uh it somehow ministers to our flesh, doesn't it? Think about bitterness. Isn't that one of the strangest ones? The sin of being bitter at people. Somebody does you wrong, and you begin to think about it. You think about it all the time, and you mull it over, and you turn it upside down and you bring it back, and you just you sit there and you meditate on it, and it's the worst feeling, isn't it? Isn't resentment and bitterness, unforgiveness, just the worst feeling? But it's my feeling, right? You know what I mean? I just, you know, you walk away from you, go, I'm not gonna feel this way, but I love it so much. Um, but yet it's passing pleasure, even in that sense, it's it has consequences, it doesn't last forever. It's all passing, it can't be sustained. Um, sin, it's a great illustration, I think. Sin is like a pancake for me. You know what I mean? Right? Does anyone else love pancakes? I love pancakes. And let's think about it right now as lunch is coming up. Melting butter on top of a fluffy pancake. You put some real maple syrup, the real deal. You put maple syrup on it, and you take a bite and you go, oh, that's so good. And two minutes later, you feel like you're gonna die. What is it? Like, I can't move. What happened? I ate a pancake, you know? And it's like that's sin. You're just like, I mean, it ministers to me. Um, you know, that's sin. You go, oh, this is gonna be so good, and then you just feel like trash, you feel like utter trash, and you can't even get away from it, and that's the consequence. Sin is passing pleasure. By the way, use yogurt in your pancakes, and that'll help a lot. I'm just saying. Now, Moses looked at it and he said, It's a passing thing. All that Egypt has to offer me, it'll be passing. We can know that in our head, but to really believe that in our heart is where it comes down. That's where faith really comes into action. Notice verse 26. He esteemed the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, and he looked for the reward. So, Moses, as he thought these things through, he esteemed the reproach of Christ's greater riches and the treasures of Egypt. Egypt had a lot of treasures. Somebody pointed out when they found the tomb of King Tut, you know, the famous tomb of King Tut, it took nine months to get all the treasure out of there. And I'm sure they worked hard to do it. It was a lot of treasure. And yet, as Moses kind of put it in the balance, that's what this word esteemed is, as he put it in the balance, he's like the treasures of Egypt and reproach with God's people. He said, treasures of Egypt are not worth as much as being reproached with God's people. Uh, that's the real value of things. That's where Paul in Philippians chapter 3 gets toward the end of his life and he says, What do I want? I want to know him. I want to know Jesus. I want to know him, uh, the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. And and Paul would agree, it is worth more to suffer with God's people and do God's will than all the treasures of earth. Now, we believe that, but it's a whole eternal perspective on life, that the things of God are worth more. Now, look at verse 26. Um, he looked to the reward. Um, as you look at the Old Testament, it's interesting. There's not a whole lot of talk about heaven in the Old Testament. We talk a lot about heaven, like one day I'm going to glory. I can't wait. And I can't, right? But the Old Testament, there's not a whole lot of talk until you get to David, when he loses a child and he says, I can't, uh, he can't come to me, but I will go to him. And you go, David had an understanding. There was more to life than what we see on this earth. However, I think Moses had time to think about it as he heard all the stories from his mother. We considered, he wrote it down in Genesis chapter 5, Enoch, a man who walked with God and then was not, for God took him. Well, where did God take him? We're gonna say he took him to heaven, wherever God was, is where he took him. And Moses wrote those words. Also, Job, Job, about the time of Abraham most would say, wrote this, Job 19, verse 26. After my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. Oh, my heart yearns within me. So there was this idea. Life is more than what we see. There is eternal life available and promised to those that trust God. So check it out. Moses lived his life in light of that reward. He looked forward to that reward. Verse 27 quickly, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Moses endured in this life. Now you look at it, and Moses had some challenges, right? He faced off with Pharaoh, pretty stubborn guy. He uh, you know, he faced off with the people, even at a certain point, saying, God, you know what? Just kill me. I've had enough of these people. Uh Moses faced uh a lot of things, but he endured. He persisted, he patiently went through life. Why? Last thing, because he saw him who was invisible. And this is faith. He saw the one that was invisible. God is invisible. No one has seen God personally. Now, sometimes in the Bible we see these kind of visions of the person of God, but uh John, we read that no one has seen God at any time. Um, and and and yet Moses did. He saw the invisible God, and that was faith. He looked around at the world and he said, I see creation, I see a creator. He may be invisible, but he's real in my heart. Um, this is what faith does. It takes the truth of the invisible, the truth of the invisible, and it makes it reality in our life. Um, it's not just wishful thinking, it's the honest truth of who God is and what he does. And Moses lived his life on that faith. And in verse 5, again, you can look back, but that kind of faith pleases God. Moses pleased God. So a good opportunity, though, I think. The issue of fear. Fear is a real thing. We can feel fear. Um, but not to let it rule our life, but to instead hold on to faith. Maybe it's one of those other things, other issues of the flesh. Maybe it's anger in your life or bitterness. My goodness, it's been bitterness in my life for a long time sometimes. Um, regret. Maybe it's something else, but faith counteracts that and looks forward to rest all that you are on God. God, um, we all struggle. We all struggle with things like fear and regret, lust, anger, bitterness, all these things. It's our flesh. And these emotions come and start to strangle us. But God, we don't want to live by fear or any of those things or the flesh, but God, we want to live by faith. God, we would actually see you and realize that you're worth so much more than the passion pleasures of sin.

SPEAKER_00: 33:49

God, it's one thing to say it and intend it, but it's another thing to do it. We realize we need your spirit, we need your help, your strength, to crucify the flesh, to let go of the flesh. God help us this week to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. In Jesus' name we pray.