The Faith of Moses

Introduction

Good morning Exodus Church. It is my joy to be preaching the word today. The last time I preached at Exodus was over a year and half ago, and Wow so much has changed. In that time frame my family has undergone 3 career changes, we bought our first house, moved to our first house, experienced the strange world of working night shift, went through the joys of pregnancy and finally we joyfully welcomed our daughter into the world. A lot has happened in a year and half but the faithfulness of God has remained constant. And more specifically the faithfulness of God as seen through the Bride of Christ has been an enduring and regular reminder of God’s love to us and has shown the presence of Christ in the midst of chaos. From prayers, to meals, to counseling, to advice from other fathers in the church, to encouragement to my wife as a new mother, Exodus Church has shown us the faithfulness of God and for that I say thank you.

For us the constancy of this church was something solid for us to settle into as everything else around us was in a state of turmoil. We felt like sailors who were lost at sea. The waves were crashing into the ship, the wind breaking down our sails, and the clouds covering the sky so we didn’t even know where we were going. But finally we catch a glimpse of the north star and we can settle. We know where we are, and we know where we are going. This is what Christ’s body was to us during this time of our life, a constant that would not change. And this is the story we often see in the bible. That through the midst of turmoil and change God is faithful through it all.

This morning we will be in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith. This brief history of God’s people shows how our ancestors lived their lives according to faith. In fact faith in YHWH is the driving force for everyone in the Bible, from Able to Abraham, Samson to Samuel, and Joseph to well Joseph the husband of Mary. Faith is the driving force.

And today we will examine the faith of Moses. The faith we see exhibited from the beginning to the end of Moses’ life. From his tumultuous birth, to his lavish upbringing, his own personal Exodus, and then finally his total trust in YAHWEH as the angel of the Lord swept through Egypt.

Let's look at what Hebrews has to say about Moses. Hebrews 11:23 says

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.

By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith - this is the life of Moses. A life lived by faith. And just so we don’t get confused over what faith means the author of Hebrews sets it up for us at the beginning of the chapter.

11 verse 1 says

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Verse 2

For by it the people of old received their commendation.

This faith we are examining then is the absolute trust and belief that YHWH will do what he says. That no matter the circumstances, no matter what is staring you in the face God will be faithful to his promises.

By faith, Moses was hidden for three months by his parents. Moses, born of Hebrew slaves, a group of people that were beginning to grow larger than the people that they served. Previously the Egyptians and Israelites had lived in harmony under the rule of Joseph. But this new Pharaoh did not know Joseph, and he desired power. Power over the foreigners who served under him. A power that was so ravenous that he decreed all male Hebrew children born were to be killed, so that the Israelites would not outnumber the Egyptians and some day revolt.

And this is where Moses’ parents took a stand. They stood against the wicked king. For three months they hid their beautiful baby boy. And why did they do this? Because they did not fear the order of the Pharaoh. When the line was drawn, Moses' parents chose to place their faith in God rather than a king. With this faith Moses parents were fearless despite risking their own lives to protect Moses.

This is a powerful faith. This is the same kind of faith we see in World War II when Christians would hide Jews from the death camps knowing that they would face an equal fate as the Jews if caught. This is a faith that sees men and women outside pleading with mothers about to murder their children at abortion mills. A faith that defies wicked tyrants because there is no fear.

Now what's so interesting about the faith we see here is that the author of Hebrews is not afraid to attribute this faith to Moses. By faith Moses was hidden by his parents. And this is an odd phrasing but let's think about the role of a parent.

By faith my daughter is being raised in a Christian home. By faith we have volunteers working in the back of the building to share the gospel with young children. By faith parents in Exodus are catechising, baptizing, praying over and with their children. By faith we teach our children the Lord’s prayer. By faith we raise up our children to have the scriptures in their very bones. By faith parents offer their children to God like Hannah did with Samuel, as an arrow for his kingdom. Add more

This is theme that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians when he says:

For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. iOtherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Scripture is full of commands for parents to raise their children in the faith. We are told to raise our children the way they should go. We are told to raise up our children with discipline and instruction. We are told to teach our children’s God commandments when we sit, walk, lie down, and wake up. And we are commanded by Jesus himself to let our children come to him.

And we see this play out. Parents, and especially fathers, the examples you set for your children will shape and mold them more than you can ever know. We are seeing a mass exodus of youth leaving the faith when they reach adulthood and can we complain when we have made a faith that is a personal relationship rather than an all encompassing submission to our Creator.

Fathers when your children see you commit yourself to the church. When they see you pleading with your Heavenly Father in prayer. When your joy is so contagious because your heart overflows with the fruit of the spirit. When you stand against a culture that hates you. When you do all these things by faith, this is how your children learn to walk with the Lord.

This is what Moses’s parents did, by faith they stood against a wicked king and trusted that YHWH would provide and that faith was copied by their child. Moses saw this faith and made it his own and became a man who by faith served God rather than the king.

Hebrews 11:24-26 tell us

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, srefused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 tchoosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy uthe fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 vHe considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to wthe reward.

By faith Moses chose rags over riches. To Moses the covenant God of Israel was more important than anything else in his life. As a boy Moses was raised in a life of luxury. The Israelite slave turned Egyptian prince and he threw it all away..for what? To be chased out of Egypt and be a shepherd. To return to his homeland to ridicule and the grumbling of God’s people. To be chased out of Egypt with an army chasing them. To have to plead with God not to kill all his people again and again and again.By faith, Moses knew that Christ was more. The same faith that was seen in his parents is seen now as a faith willing to turn aside luxury, ease, and power to wander in a desert with the assurance that God will be faithful.

And the author of Hebrews is very clear here that Moses chose Christ over riches. Which makes us ask how could Moses, born over a thousand years before Jesus of Nazareth, have placed his allegiance in Christ? How could Moses have known who this Christ was?

Church remember that your Bible is a story with a single central theme. The story of the Messiah. The Old Testament points us towards him, the Gospels tell us who he is, and the rest of the New Testament comments on him. Every single page of our Bible is pointing to Christ. From Levitical laws, to Davidic Poetry, to the apocalypse of John, Christ is central. Moses know his messiah was coming. The faith of hope and assurance knew that faith in the anointed one was far greater than any riches the world had to offer. So Moses chose Christ over what the world was offering him.

John Bunyan shows this story very well in Pilgrim’s Progress. In the House of the Interpreter Pilgrim is shown two boys Patience and Passion. Both boy’s governess decides to give them good gifts but Passion cannot wait, he wants his toys now. So he gets them, and he quickly breaks all the toys and wears them down until he has nothing but rags. Meanwhile Patience lives up to his name and watches Passion play with his toys knowing that his reward is coming.

Church like passion we so quickly rush to take a reward that Christ has not yet given to us. We get so excited at the promises of new toys we forget the indescribable riches of Christ that are offered if we wait for his timing. Instead of waiting on God we take hold of the cheap alternative the world waves in our face.

In every single situation we face, Christ is better than any alternative that the world can offer. Men, the riches Christ offers you in being a strong leader in your family far outshine the effeminate coward the world wants you to be. Women, submitting to your husband and taking on the task of glorifying your home far outshines any of the shallow promises that feminism whispers in your ears. Singles, faithfully seeking the Lord for marriage or a life of celibacy far outshine the cheap hook up culture that is seen on tv, billboards, or the radio. And Church, unity in Christ, submitting to your pastor and elders, and making community with the body of Christ, disagreeing in unity as iron sharpens iron far outshines the riches of autonomy, independence, and self-knowledge that man has been chasing since the fall. Church Christ outshines it all.

Christ is better. Colossians 1 tells us that Christ is the firstborn from the dead in order that he might have preeminence. Over everything else Christ would be first. This is what Moses knew when rejected the title of son of Pharaoh's daughter. This is what Moses knew when he chose to be a member of the Israelites, rejecting an Egyptian bloodline of power and luxury. That Christ is better.

HIs eyes were always on Christ. This is told us again in v27

By faith he xleft Egypt, ynot being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured zas seeing him who is invisible.

After rejecting the title of being the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Moses did something even worse to the Egyptian family he had known. He killed a man. At 40 years old Moses sided with his own people and while protecting some Hebrew slaves, he took the life of an Egyptian. But instead of his people accepting him, they grumbled against him. Moses was an outcast, both by Egyptians and by his own people. And now there was blood on his hands.

So Moses fled. He left, not out of fear but in faith. Moses standing against the wicked treatment of the Isrealites did not fear the King. Just like his parents before him, Moses was willing to do what was right, his faith lead him to leave Egypt, alone and aimless. But not fully alone, Moses went following where God was sending him.

Moses trusted that God would keep him. He endured through the Pharaoh wanting him dead. Not once, or twice, but three times. First as a newborn baby boy, then as the man who killed an egyptian, and then finally as a man who is leading the Israelites out of Egypt. He endured being run out of his homeland by the ruler of the Land. He endured having nowhere to go and no family to be with. Why? Because his eyes were fixed on him, who is invisible. And if we go back to our definition of faith from Hebrews 11:1 we see that faith is a conviction of things not seen. Moses fled in faith knowing that the God who was not seen was there. He fled knowing that his hope in Christ would lead him.

This is the same kind of faith we see in The Chronicles of Narnia book, Prince Caspian. When the youngest girl of the group sees Aslan, she tries to convince the rest of her group to follow after the lion that is invisible to everyone but Lucy. Finally Lucy comes to realize that she must follow after the lion even if no one else follows her. This is the faith that Moses had. Leaving the only land he had ever known at the spry age of 40 years old. Moses left without friends, family, or even a true destination in mind.

Exodus Church, this is the faith we must have. We must chase after the invisible, even if like Lucy, no one will follow after us. Jesus tells us this is Matthew chapter 10.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Church following after Christ will cost you something. All around the world we see brothers and sisters in Christ who are enduring the cost of following Jesus. Like Moses we see people losing their families. Like the apostles we see Christians who lose their life. Christians who are thrown in prisons to rot. We see mockery, derision, loss of jobs,in this very church we have seen people stand firm in their faith and lose everything. All the while their eyes are fixed on Him who is invisible.

But let me make a promise, anything lost for the gain of Christ is no loss at all. In fact we are to rejoice when we suffer for Christ because our reward in Heaven is far greater than any gain we have in this life. The Bible is full of stories of men and women who lost everything in the pursuit of God. The apostles went out rejoicing after being whipped because their reward was far greater than any punishment that could be inflicted.

Does that mean it doesn’t hurt? No, of course not. Go to Job and see the unbridled expression of pain when this righteous man Job lost everything. But then see the promise that Job has, that “though you slay me, I will still follow you.” That through the pain we suffer our joy is in something greater because our eyes are fixed upon something greater.

By faith in Christ we can stand without fear against all that the devil and this world have to throw against us. In the midst of darkness we are not shaken because we have faith in the one who conquered darkness, death, and the devil.

And this is what happened to Moses. Without fear he fled. His faith holding onto the one who was going with him. And by his faith he received his commendation. The Lord provided riches to a homeless, wandering Hebrew. He is provided with a wife, a wise father-in-law, a son, a job as a shepherd, and most importantly Moses himself is brought into the very presence of God. He followed after Him who was invisible. And God was with him every step of the way.

You see when Moses had his eyes on him who was invisible, he was trusting that God would act. Moses knew that his faith was in a God who is faithful to his people. This is the same faith we see in the next part of Hebrews. Trust that God would act and keep the promise he made to his people.

Look with me at the Hebrews 11:28

28 By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

This is a big deal. This is the culmination of a life of faith, the life of Moses.We’ve seen how faith has weaved through his life from birth, to fleeing his hometown, to refusing to be called part of pharaoh's household, and if we go back and the read the story we see how by faith Moses returns to Egypt. He becomes the spokesperson for the Israelites and goes toe to toe with Pharaoh and his magicians. We see faith leading to amazing miracles such as turning water to blood, or a snake battle between magicians. But now God has spoken. This is the end of the plagues. God will take the firstborn of every single household in the land of Egypt. God is taking what is rightfully his, and parents can either give up their children willingly or attempt to hold onto their firstborn. But this is not the power hungry decree like the Pharaohs, this is God taking what is rightfully his.

What’s fascinating about this is that for those who are willing to offer up their first born God is gracious. He tells the people that the firstborn’s life will be spared but there is a condition. They must sprinkle the blood of the lamb on their door frame. And I want us to really stop and think about this for a moment. The all powerful, all knowing God is saying that with a little bit of blood he will pass over their house and not take the life of their child.

This doesn’t feel right to us. Think back to the exodus story and remember the vast outpouring of power we have seen YHWH show through his servant. The sky has turned black, locusts attack the land, the death of livestock, or hail the size of minivans. Then the biggest show of power is about to come, and how will the Israelites remain safe? With a little bit of blood. It says a sprinkle of blood.

See I think sometimes we think that God is above or more Holy than the elements of this earth. How is a little bit of blood from a lamb we ate for dinner last night going to save? Could God really use the blood of the lamb? Even better could God use a man like Moses who has a stutter? Think even more could God really use a cross, a Roman execution tool? Could God use some water to enter his children into his covenant? Could God use a piece of bread and a mouthful of wine to pour grace upon His people?

At times we want God to stand above his creation, we don’t want a God who is willing to get his hands dirty and more importantly calls us to dirty our hands. We want a god who sits upon his spiritual throne and only sees his creation as an annoyance. We are uncomfortable with the God of the Bible who gets on his hands and knees and tears apart the earth to bring forth man. The God who breathed into man’s lungs so he can live. We are uncomfortable with the God of Abraham who walks in between the ripped apart carcasses of animals. We are uncomfortable with the God of Noah who places his own weapon, a bow, in the sky and says “Yes this will do, that way I never forget my promise to you.”

And now a God who says if there is blood from a creature that you killed and ate I will save you. A God who called Moses to slaughter a lamb, eat the lamb, and then paint the blood on the door post as a statement that we trust in YHWH.

I think I have seen a good example of this in parenting. Before my daughter was born, I read all kinds of books of theories on sleep training, or raising children in the faith, or how to continue with a good marriage. All these books were good, no doubt about it. But then I also had an experienced father say to me at breakfast one morning that the best parenting advice he had was to buy a good pair of soundproof headphones.

Which one of those do you think I remembered the first night we brought my daughter home and she wouldn’t stop crying the entire night.

Church, we serve the same God that Moses did. The God who acts through the mundane and ordinary to achieve extraordinary results. We see this in our very church, as a jumbled collection of sinners are sanctified and glorified into the very bride of Christ.

And there’s one more point we should touch on with the sprinkling of the blood. What’s fascinating about the sprinkling of the blood is that it wasn’t for Moses or the Israelites.The amount of faith or fear that went into sprinkling the blood wasn’t what was important to the destroyer as he passed by. And I’m sure we can picture two different households that night. One household we can see sitting calmly together as a family, a fire crackling in the background. The children asleep are not even fully aware of what’s going on and the parent’s calmly talking about what it will be like to finally leave Egypt. And another household is full of turmoil. A baby screams as parents who also want to scream attempt to comfort the child. Hearts are racing and they dare not make a sound in case they might attract the attention of the Angel of death. But even in the midst of this chaos, Christ is present.

And as much as we want to root for the first family, both families are saved because they both put blood on their doorposts. Even if the second family is peeking out the door every 5 minutes to make sure the blood is still up there, both families are saved. They both followed God’s instructions and by faith called upon God to remember his promise.

God was the actor in this story. By painting the blood on the doorposts, Moses and the rest of the Israelites were calling upon God to remember his promise to them, that their children would be safe. One of the prevailing themes of the Bible is that God is the actor in the story of the scriptures.

The story of Noah, God puts the rainbow in the sky so that he would remember. The promise that is made to David is kept by God even though the kings of Judah are wicked and quickly depart from following after the Lord. But God remembers his promise. The very story of Jesus is one of God remembering his promise to Adam, that the seed of the woman would one day crush the serpent’s head. Finally, we do this every single Sunday. When we take communion, we are following Christ’s words to do this as a memorial to him. To call upon God to remember his promise of the new covenant, because we cannot keep the covenant. God remembers his promises.

From the angel of death with Moses to us today God remembers his promises. And he invites us to call on him to remember his promises to us. We can faithfully go to God in prayer and ask him to remember his promise to never leave or forsake us. We can call on God to remember his promise that his yoke is easy and light. We can call on God to remember his promise that he is the God of us as well as our children. We can call on God to remember his promise that the work he has started in us will not be left undone.

Exodus Church, God remembers his promises. And when we look back at the life of Moses we see that God is faithful. From birth, to exile, to staring death directly in the face, Moses was a man who lived by faith. Faith in a God who was present through every moment of the life of Moses. And a God who is present in every moment of our lives.

May we follow the example of Moses and keep our eyes on him who is Invisible and remember that the riches of Christ far exceed any riches the world may offer. May we be a church who is spoken of like Moses. A church whose eyes are on Christ and always following after this riches.

This is my prayer for Exodus Church.

Let us pray:

Father, we thank you for the faith that you have instilled in us. We pray that we would faithfully walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us. That our lives would be an example of trusting You and your deliverance. I pray that we would stand strong to your word, and that when faced with pain, persecution, or derision we would not fear.

We thank you for the examples you have given us in your scripture of how to hold to a hope and conviction even when all the odds are against us.

I pray that Exodus Church would be a church known for its faith in all circumstances.

We thank you for how you act in our lives most importantly for the work done on the cross by your Son. We pray that you would remember your covenant that you have made with your people and continue to pour your grace upon us.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.