Heb 11:29 The Outcome of Obedience
Notes
Transcript
23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
Today we will be studying v29 where we see three different people responding in three different ways to God. Before we dive into let’s have a brief review of the context of this passage.
We are approaching the end of chapter 11 of Hebrews. The famous chapter of faith, where we have been encouraged and challenged by the examples of so many who have gone before us and are lifelong examples of people who trusted God in the most difficult situations.
Last time we were encouraged and challenged by Moses’ true identity as a follower of the true God. We saw that who we are does not depend on where we are born or what our job is, but our true identity will be revealed by what we refuse, what we choose, what we treasure, and what we separate from. All these things will point to the reality of our identity whether it is covered by the blood of Jesus or not. We all know that are living in times when it is crucial to be covered by the blood of Jesus.
Today we continue our journey in v29 where we will see Moses, the people, and the Egyptians responding to God. As we look in-depth into this verse we will see three different outcomes of obedience.
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
29 By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
Before we dive into the three results of faith in this verse, we should take a little moment to consider the context of the passage. In this section of Scripture, the author of Hebrews has been pointing to Moses and his faith. It started in v23 with his parents (Amram and Jochebed) faith, and how this obscure couple's faith led to the salvation of one baby boy in Egypt, and as we see in this verse, ultimately the salvation of the entire nation of Israel.
In verses 24 through 28, the focus shifted to Moses and how his faith was revealed by his actions as an adult. Now we come to v29 where we see how Moses’ faith impacted the whole nation of Israel to walk in faith and see God’s faithful protection.
1. Obedience + Personal Faith = Moses
Without knowing the background and the story in Exodus at first reading of this verse we will not see that the driving force, the driving faith was actually Moses’ faith.
Moses has been obedient to God in so many ways until this point. There was one moment in the desert later on when Moses’ obedience was not exemplary. When God commanded Moses to speak to the rock so water would come out, Moses was so mad and angry at the people for their complaining that Moses struck the rock. It was because Moses didn’t fully obey God at that moment that Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land with the Israelites.
Back to Moses’ obedience at the Red Sea. Moses was very obedient and ready to do what God had asked him to do. He was reluctant at first when God called him, but because Moses believed in God, and had a Personal faithin God, he was obedient from the heart.
This is the example that we should follow. We all need to be obedient not only to external appearances but from the heart, from a relationship with our Creator. It is only the personal faith and obedience from the heart that will fully please the Lord.
Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments”. (John 14:15) Yes God cares deeply about our obedience, but it is much more than external obedience it has to come from a personal faith, a personal love for our Redeemer.
The question for us today is: are you being like Moses? Are you acting in obedience from a personal faith, out of love for the one who loved us first?
God sees our hearts, our motives, our thoughts, our love. The question for us is: what God is seeing in you is it pleasing Him or making Him sad? If we rely on our strength and ability we will not meet the perfect standard of God, we have to cry out and depend on the strength, wisdom, and ability that only Christ provides. That is the only way for us to be more and more like Moses.
I cannot even imagine what God would do in our church if all of us would live like Moses in obedience and personal faith. It was one obscure couple, Amram and Jochebed’s personal faith that led to the salvation of Moses. It was Moses’s obedience and personal faith that led to the salvation and deliverance of a whole nation. If we act in obedience and faith like Moses we should expect what it says in Eph 3:20
“20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
We see that this personal faith leads to obedience, to boldness, to courage to do what God calls us to do. This personal faith will affect and impact those around us as well, just like Moses’ faith impacted the people toward obedience.
SO what was the faith of the Israelites at the Red Sea? It was a secondhand faith. If you go into a room when someone else is smoking you get exposed to secondhand smoke. When you are exposed to secondhand smoke you are in a sense smoking, even though it is not your personal smoke, it is someone else’s cigarette.
In the same manner, the Israelites did not have a personal faith, they had a secondhand faith as they were exposed by Moses’ personal faith.
2. Obedience + Secondhand Faith = Israelites
The driving force for the people’s faith wasn’t their own, but it was Moses’s influence and leadership. Why do I say this? Turn your Bibles to Exodus 14:11,12. This is what the people said when they saw the Egyptians pursuing them:
“11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Here you can hear the desperation in their voices. They are in a sense screaming we are going to die…ahhhhh…. But notice who they are crying to. They are not crying out to God but to Moses. In a sense, they have not been following God, but they have been following Moses trusting in his personal faith.
Here we see this generation’s true colors, or lack of faith despite having just watched God reveal Himself through the plagues. In fact, if we fast forward some years, you will see this same lack of faith showcased as they elected not to believe the report of Joshua and Caleb and instead believed the other 10 spies.
Their hearts did not change, despite watching Moses and his faith and seeing God reveal Himself over and over. We must be careful, that we too don’t fall into this trap. Are you simply following the faith of someone else, perhaps a parent or a pastor? Or have you elected to develop/foster/establish your own faith in God? Are you more of a Caleb, Joshua, and Moses or are you like the remaining Israelites?
When we look at the obedience of Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea, we might not see any difference, but I think there was a big difference in their hearts. In troubled times, they wanted their lives back when God was not in them, and they did not turn to God, as Moses did at that exact moment. First Moses answers the people by saying:
“13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
Then the next verse God answers Moses “Why do you cry to me?” right after or as Moses answered the people he was crying out to God, because he knew he couldn’t do anything, God had to act. That is what personal faith will do, you will not want a life without God and you cry out to Him at all times.
Then God provided their salvation and Moses acted in faith by stretching his hands over the Red Sea, and the Lord sent the strong east wind and Israel passed through the sea as if on dry land.
Here we see Moses’ obedience from a personal faith. We also see the Israelites now in obedience walking through the sea as if on dry land. The Israelites at that moment didn’t have many options. They could go back and surrender to the Egyptians and hope that they would not kill them, or they could risk their life and walk through the bottom of the sea on dry land.
As they walked through the sea on dry land, they had huge walls of water beside them, these walls of water could at any moment fall on them so their focus had to be on God. The only true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses through whom they had seen all the signs in Egypt and all the plagues, including the death of every firstborn in Egypt.
The question for you is: is your obedience coming from a secondhand faith? Or is it your personal faith? What if you are alone and you have to act in obedience by yourself? Are you going to obey or are you going to choose the easy path like the Israelites and want the easy of a life when you feel like you are in control? The reality is that the longer you follow Jesus on your own personal faith God will show you that He is in charge of your life and He will test your obedience to Him. Why does God ask the absurd sometimes? So our faith and trust in Him grows more and more.
Lastly, in this verse, we have the Egyptians. You might have been wondering how obedience and faith go with Egyptians. Here is for those of you who love math, and the word no works in the same manner as a negative, thus we are adding a negative which results in a negative.
3. Obedience + NO Faith = Egyptians
The Egyptians saw the Israelites walking across the Red Sea, and they thought they too could go across, but without faith. What we learn from this is that a personal Faith or secondhand faith is never private it affects everything you do and say. When we act in obedience to God in everything that we do, those around us will hear, see, and know that there is something different about us.
They might think that we are just a crazy bunch of people crossing the Red Sea. Or God might open their eyes and hearts to see what was all along right there in their faces, but they could not see, because they were blinded:
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. (2 Cor 4:4-5)
I am not saying that the Egyptians trying to cross the Red Sea was an act of obedience. They just saw the others doing it, thus they assumed it was safe for them to do the same, or that they were okay just by doing what the Israelites were doing.
This is how many people act today. Just like the Egyptians, they look at your lives and think I can do “that” too. I can be a good worker. I can do good for society. I can give to those in need, or do good deeds. I can parent my children like they are. I will be okay in life too.
What they fail to see is the faith behind your actions. Or maybe they hear you talk of your faith, but do not realize that without faith they are just like the Egyptians walking through the Red Sea on dry land and thought that they too would be safe … until they were about halfway and the walls of God’s judgment came tumbling down when they were not expecting.
You can be like an Egyptian as well and come to church, doing all the right things, externally appearing to have a personal or secondhand faith. However, at your heart, there is no faith, just a heart of stone. Your confidence is in what you do, and you believe just like the world that you are a good person, because of what you do.
The biggest lie that most people believe today is that everyone is born good, and the environment and the choices are what can change us into bad people. While Scripture is very clear. There are many places we could go, but Rom 3 gives the summary “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
The repetition, no, not one, not even one, is because we need to be reminded of the truth of who we are apart from Jesus. The people around us often only hear the lies of the world. You might be the only person in their lives who will tell them the truth, speaking God’s word into their lives.
True followers of Christ have to be the humblest people on the earth. Because we know that what we truly deserve is Hell. That there is nothing in our hands we can boast. (Gal 6:14) “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Where is your faith? Are you more like the Egyptians who had no faith and refused to repent and reach for the Living water? Are you more like the Israelites who had a secondhand faith and obeyed because others were as well? Or are you like Moses, who knows personally your savior, and because you love Jesus you obey His commandments from your heart and your boast is the cross of Jesus. And you count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ