FAITHFUL - HEBREWS 11:23-26

BIG IDEA: FAITHFUL FAMILIES LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR FAITHFUL CHILDREN.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 11

23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.

OUR HISTORICAL HERO FOR TODAY IS MOSES. BORN TO AMRAM AND JOCHEBED…BORN AS A CAPTIVE OF EGYPT AMIST PARTIAL GENOCIDE OF ALL HEBREW BORN BOYS...

AND YET, WHILE LIVING AS A CAPTIVE - IN A FOREIGN LAND - MOSES’ PARENTS CHOSE TO BE FAITHFUL...

ARE YOU CHOOSING TO BE FAITHFUL IN YOUR DIFFICULTY?

ARE YOU CHOOSING GOD’S WAY OVER YOUR WAY OR THE WORLD’S WAY?

ARE YOU MAKING A DECISION TO WEIGH THE COSTS, AND CHOOSING THE WEIGHTIER MATTERS OF FAITH OVER THE LIGHTER MATTERS OF CONVENIENCE?

MOSES WAS BORN INTO A FAITHFUL FAMILY, WHO EXERCISED “CRAZY FAITH,” AND WHO LAID A FOUNDATION FOR HIM TO RESPOND TO GOD (WATCH THIS) BY FAITH! BY FAITH...

MAMA, DADDY, GRANDPARENTS, AUNTS, UNCLES, GUARDIANS - WE ARE CALLED TO BE “FAITHFUL,” SO THAT OUR FAITHFUL RESPONSE TO LIFE WILL BE “CAUGHT” & “SOUGHT” BY THOSE WHO FOLLOW US…FAITHFUL!

IS THERE ANYBODY IN THE HOUSE WHO GREW UP IN A FAITHFUL HOME? AND LIKE PAUL SAID, “I’M REMINDED OF YOUR SINCERE FAITH, WHICH FIRST LIVED IN YOUR GRANDMOTHER LOIS, AND IN YOUR MOTHER EUNICE, AND I AM PERSUADED, NOW LIVES IN YOU ALSO.” - FAITHFUL!!! FAITHFUL...

TODAY’S PASSAGE IS EXTRACTED FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVE FOUND IN EXODUS 2: 1 Now a man from the family of Levi married a Levite woman. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son; when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. 4 Then his sister stood at a distance in order to see what would happen to him.

5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds, sent her slave girl, took it, 6 opened it, and saw him, the child—and there he was, a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a Hebrew woman who is nursing to nurse the boy for you?”

8 “Go,” Pharaoh’s daughter told her. So the girl went and called the boy’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the boy and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, “Because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

SOOOOO, WE’VE GOT A BEAUTIFUL BOY, BORN UNDER THE THREAT OF DEATH, AND ULTIMATELY DESTINED TO DELIVER!

HOW DO YOU GET WHAT’S IN YOUR CHILD OUT OF YOUR CHILD, WHEN THERE’S A BOUNTY UPON YOUR CHILD? BY BEING FAITHFUL....

LET ME PAUSE FOR JUST A MOMENT TO GET YOUR ATTENTION FAMILY: THERE’S STILL A BOUNTY UPON THE HEADS OF OUR CHILDREN! THE ENEMY AND RULERS OF THIS WORLD ARE HELL-BENT UPON DESTROYING OUR BABIES BEFORE THEY’VE HAD A CHANCE TO LIVE! AND WHILE WE’RE LIVING OUR BEST LIVES, THE ENEMY IS SUCKING THE VERY LIFE OUT OF OUR CHILDREN’S LIVES...

**PAY ATTENTION TO OUR CHILDREN**

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 11

23 By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict.

I’VE GOT TWO MAIN POINTS TODAY. FIRST:

MOSES CAME TO FAITH BECAUSE OF A FAITHFUL FAMILY!

THE TEXT SAYS “BY FAITH MOSES - WAS HIDDEN...” THIS VERB IS PASSIVE, MEANING SOMETHING WAS DONE TO MOSES. MOSES DIDN’T DO IT. IT WAS DONE TO HIM....

(FAITH WAS DONE TO MOSES)!

MOSES WAS HIDDEN…THE FAITHFULNESS OF HIS PARENTS CAUSED THEM TO EXERCISE FAITH ON BEHALF OF THEIR SON…FAITH WAS DONE TO MOSES!

BUT IF WE STACK THE EXODUS NARRATIVE, WE CAN ADD, NOT ONLY DO WE DISCOVER THAT MOSES WAS HIDDEN…BUT WE ALSO DISCOVER THAT MOSES ((WAS PLACED)) - 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with asphalt and pitch. She placed the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

AND IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, UNDER THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD, MOSES WAS FOUND - SAVED - AND ULTIMATELY RETURNED TO HIS MOTHER FOR NURSING AND CARE...

Y’ALL WHEN WE FUNCTION FAITHFULLY, WE’LL DISCOVER SOME UNUSUAL BLESSINGS ATTACHED...

WHEN WE PARENT IN A GOD-HONORING MANNER, WE’LL DISCOVER SOME GRACE-GIFTS THAT ARE UNIMAGINABLE.

HOW DO YOU PLACE YOUR CHILD ON THE NILE, AND STILL NURSE HIM BY NIGHTFALL? BY FAITH...

MOSES CAME TO FAITH BECAUSE OF A FAITHFUL FAMILY!

LOOK AT YOUR TEXT: VS. 23: “BY FAITH MOSES, AFTER HE WS BORN, WAS HIDDEN BY HIS PARENT FOR THREE MONTHS, BECAUSE THEY SAW THAT THE CHILD WAS BEAUTIFUL, AND THEY DIDN’T FEAR THE KING’S EDICT.”

MOSES’ PARENTS ((SAW BEYOND WHAT THEY SAW))! FAITH! HEBREWS 11:1 - Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

HE WAS BEAUTIFUL - HEALTHY - WHOLE.

MOSES’ PARENTS SAW BEYOND HIS BEAUTY, AND CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF HIS DESTINY!

MAMA, DADDY, GRANDPARENTS, AUNTS, UNCLES & GUARDIANS - WE MUST SEE OUR CHILDREN (THEIR BEAUTY), AND WE MUST ALSO PEEK INTO THEIR DESTINY! AND WE MUST IMPART FAITH INTO THEIR LIVES, SO THAT THEY CAN EVENTUALLY SEE IT!!!

MOSES’ PARENT SAW SOMETHING IN HIM THAT COMPELLED THEM TO REBEL!

STILL IN VS. 23 - AND THEY DIDN’T FEAR THE KING’S EDICT...

THEY SAW BEYOND WHAT THEY SAW...

THEY STOOD AGAINST EVIL BASED UPON THEIR FAITH!!!

WHAT YOU SCARED OF? WHY (AS PARENTS) HAVE WE BECOME SO PASSIVE - PERMISSIVE? (((EVEN THE WORLD HAS A MANTRA: SEE SOMETHING. SAY SOMETHING)))!

DON’T YOU ALLOW THE EVIL OF THE CULTURE OR THE FEAR OF RETRIBUTION KEEP YOU FROM PARENTING YOUR CHILD FAITHFULLY....

MOSES’ PARENTS FACED CERTAIN DEATH! YET, THE TEXT SAYS: THEY DIDN’T FEAR THE KING’S EDICT...

(((FAITH ENABLES YOU TO STAND)))!

YOU GONE TURN ME OFF NOW, BUT I’VE GOT TO SAY IT: WHEN WE FAIL TO STAND WHEN THEY’RE BABIES, WE WON’T BE ABLE TO STAND WHEN THEY’RE ADULTS!

OUR VOICE WILL HAVE NO WEIGHT. OUR WITNESS WILL HAVE NO POWER. OUR PRESENCE WILL HAVE LITTLE IMPACT.

MOSES CAME TO FAITH BECAUSE OF A FAITHFUL FAMILY!

THEY SAW BEYOND WHAT THEY SAW...

THEY STOOD AGAINST EVIL BASED UPON THEIR FAITH!!!

MOSES CHOSE FAITH OVER FORTUNE!

MOSES SAW THE MESSIAH COMING, AND CHOSE TO BE FAITHFUL FOR THE GLORY OF GOD!

HEBREWS 11: 24 - By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. 26 For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.

BY FAITH, MOSES REFUSED....AND CHOSE TO SUFFER...

THE HEBREW WRITER MAINTAINS HIS THEME OF OUR FAITHFUL FATHERS SEEING BEYOND…CHOOSING TO FAITH IN THE PROMISED ONE, OVER THE PLEASURES RIGHT NOW.

WATCH THIS:

MOSES CHOSE TO SUFFER! GAVE UP THE NAME, WHICH MEANT PRIVILEGE AND ACCESS…CHOSE TO WALK WITH HIS PEOLE...

MOSES CHOSE CHRIST! SINCE MOSES LOOKED TO CHRIST (PROMISED MESSIAH), HIS CHOICES IN THE PRESENT MEAN REPROACH (SUFFERING)