The Faith of Moses

Intro

So last week we took a break from our study in Hebrews 11, titled By Faith. We took a break as Pastor Garth walked us through Matthew 6:5-8 and showed us how we can pray like Jesus.

I’ve been praying that you guys have been as impacted by that message as I was. And I just wanted to mention last week as a way to keep reminding you to take your prayer life seriously. I know I’ve been lacking in it as of late…and I don’t want to. And I don’t want you guys to as well. So, just an encouragement to take the time and continue seeking what it looks like in your life to pray like Jesus…to pray: secretly, simply, and sincerely.

So with that reminder given…let’s dive back into our series in Hebrews 11. We’ve been going through this chapter, person by person…and the reason that we are going through it person by person is because the author of Hebrews says in the first verse of chapter 12

Hebrews 12:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

So, since we are surrounded…since we are reminded of all these people who came before us, let us run the race with endurance.

So with all of these people in mind, let us be encouraged and strengthened to press on in the race of our faith.

Now, note…we are not looking at them because we want to replicate what they had…because we want to be great and mighty…or be blessed beyond measure…but rather, we are looking at them because we want to learn what their lives…their witness to the things of God…means for our own faith.

Time and time again we see this term used “by faith”. And that statement is usually followed by something that was accomplished because of the faith of the individual.

By faith…abel offered a sacrifice, enoch pleased God, noah built the ark, abraham left his home, sarah conceived a child…and other examples as well.

By faith these things happened. Which means…that there is something that can be learned about Faith…or re-emphasized about faith in each one of these examples.

By way of reminder, here’s our running definition of what faith means taken straight from the first verse of Hebrews 11.

Hebrews Slide

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

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

So, that’s where we are at in this series on faith. We’ve covered several OT saints, and today…we get into one of the most famous of them all.

Moses.

Tonight, and next week, we look at the faith of Moses’. Well…and the faith of his parents as you’re about to see in the passage, but we will get to that in just a second.

Alright, so Moses…what do you know about him? My assumption is quite a bit, because his story is top 5 most famous stories in scripture. Especially the parting of the Red Sea.

Countless movies have been made about it.

Have any of you seen this one?

Prince of Egypt Picture

This is a popular telling of the story of Moses. It’s not all accurate, they definitely take some liberties with Moses and the way some of the story played out. They change a few things around…but overall, this is one of the ways people think of the story of Moses.

Title Slide

The whole reason I’m starting with this tonight is because I want you to just muster everything you can remember about the story of Moses, because we aren’t going to get a chance to read all of it…because it spans several chapters of scripture, and we simply just don’t have the time.

Tonight we are going to stay pretty rooted in the scripture in Hebrews, and just reference the OT story as we go. And if you need further clarity on the story of Moses, come find me afterwards and I’ll walk you through the whole thing. Or, you can start reading the book of Exodus and find all of it there. So, let’s get into it shall we?

Hebrews 11:23–29 ESV

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.

So I’m excited tonight because this passage contains new things about faith that we haven’t discussed yet. It contains some new things that Faith causes in our lives…that faith caused in the life of Moses and his parents, in order to bring him through the exodus…and in order to cause us to grow in our faith by turning towards Christ.

We learn some new things about faith…and here’s the first one.

Faith defends good and godly things. (v. 23a, 24)

Let me show you where I’m drawing this from. Look at the first part of verse 23 again. It says..

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents…” what did Mose’s parents do by faith? They hid him for three months. Why? It says it there in the next sentence, look again… “because they saw that the child was beautiful...” So, BY FAITH, the Parents hid Moses. And they did it, because they saw the child was beautiful…meaning, that if faith is the vehicle that caused this action...then their faith is the reason they saw that he was beautiful.

Now…I’m guessing you’re thinking this sounds weird, right? Like…they chose to save a child because he was beautiful?

I agree with you...it does sound odd…and shallow…and a little wrong.

But, there’s a few things you need to know to get the full picture.

First, in this time Hebrew sons were suppose to be killed. This was commanded by Pharoah.

Exodus Slide

Exodus 1:8–16 (ESV)

8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. 13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

The murder of innocent children just because the pharoah was afraid of the hebrews rising up against him. It’s a tragedy, it’s barbaric…it’s literal genocide…it’s wrong. To murder any human is wrong. It violates the sanctity of life.

This is the Egyptians way of selective abortion. Literally, choosing to end the life of a child based on its gender. You better believe, if the technology had been in place back then to end the life of the child in the womb after doing a gender test…that is what they would have done.

The Egyptians wanted to cause the Israelite Nation to grow weak…and become extinct. No males to carry on the bloodline. It’s sick. It’s gross. It’s wrong.

Point Slide Again

And yet…it doesn’t say Moses’ parents saved him because they valued the sanctity of life....or does it? The text says they saved him because he was “beautiful”. See it there in verse 23? He was hidden “because they saw the child was beautiful.”

So on the surface, it looks like you’re telling me that Moses’ parents, would be okay to murder their son if he was ugly? They’d be alright with that? Is it the handsomeness of Moses that saved him?

No. It’s not.

Actually, It was the faith of Moses’ parents that saved him. Not his good looks.

Let me explain..

Beautiful here…doesn’t not mean beautiful in appearance. Well, I mean…Moses could have certainly been beautiful…there’s nothing to say he wasn’t…but…there is something to say that this beauty was deeper than the skin. Deeper than his features. And that evidence is actually found in the book of Acts.

You don’t have to turn there, I’ll read it to you. But in the 7th chapter of Acts…we see Stephen who is about to be the first man murdered for the sake of the gospel, the first martyr…we see him giving a speech to the high priest of the jews…in it he goes into this beautiful explanation of God’s work throughout his people in history, and in verse 17 he get’s to Egypt and moses. He says...

Acts verse

Acts 7:17–20 (ESV)

17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight...

Meaning, as other translations say as well…Moses wasn’t just beautiful. But he was beautiful. to. God. He was beautiful in God’s sight.

And what Hebrews tells us, is that, BY FAITH, Moses’ parents recognized that. Their faith gave them the eyes to see that Moses’ was precious to God. Their faith gave them the faith to see that Moses’ was beautiful in God’s sight (as all children are) and their faith gave them the strength to fight. Look back at our passage.

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents…” meaning…by faith they had the strength and courage to fight against the wicked law of their time…and save this child who was beautiful in God’s sight…as it says... “because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

We are going to get more on the lack of fear that they had later on…but do you see? Do you see that because they had faith, they were able to see what was good and Godly, that is they saw...the precious life of this baby, and they were willing to fight for it.

They saw what God valued…the life of this child. They say it was Good and Godly…and they defended it.

Faith defends what’s good and Godly. (v. 23a, 24)

And what we learn from this…is that as we turn our eyes towards Christ…as we try to run our race of faith with endurance...as we to have faith that causes us to act…so to should our faith call us to defend what is good and what is Godly.

So the question of application remains…do you do that?

Does your faith cause you to defend what is Good and Godly? Or do you sit on the sidelines as evil envelops the things of God. As the world distorts reality. Have you let yourself become so influenced by culture and the need to appease it that you’ve given up the defense of Godly things?

Do you defend the millions of innocent children that are being murdered for the sake of convenience every year through abortion? Or do you sit idly by as lawmakers pass laws and permit freedoms that should be given to no man.

Do you fight for the homeless? Do you care for the widow and for the orphan?

Do you stand for the things of God? Or for fear of offending the world do you take a backseat to culture? Do you allow the things of sin in this world to be celebrated in order to “keep the peace”.

Even worse. Do you choose to treasure the things of the world…elevating them to the place of God? Worshipping them alongside God or as God?

I could talk all day about the obvious ones like abortion. But tonight I’d rather talk about the things that slowly creep into our culture…the things that slowly take over our mindset. I want to talk about the things that our culture is so steeped in that we can’t help but ponder…am I right in this? Am I getting something wrong? Am I not being loving enough? Is it that I just don’t understand my fellow man? Am I not being compassionate enough?

Tonight I want to talk about the things that are infiltrating the church. The things that creep in so subtly…that they put on the appearance of compassion and Godliness…but couldn’t be further from it.

Lots of choices to choose from in this…but I went with just one that is just an example of the things ya’ll are fighting every day on your campuses and in the workplace.

Tonight, I want to take a minute and talk about this.

Hold up Beyonce Mass Flyer

This is an event happening next month at Augustana College. Check out this video and then we’ll talk about it.

Play Video

Faith defends...

So…I didn’t even show you the entire video because there’s language in it. So I showed you about 4/5 of it. But I just want to point us some things that were said…and I want to point them out to show you just how deceptive they are...

First of all...The title of this video on YouTube…the video that Augie is using to promote this event is called... “the church service that worships beyonce”.

Let’s put that in plainer words…get to the simplest definition.

It’s the gathering of Christ’s believers to come and worship a celebrity instead of Christ. That’s the definition of statement.

If you just thought they mislabeled the video...within the first minute, the host of the video says and this is a direct quote...

“For anyone who happens to sing praises to the Goddess herself…beyonce.”

So, this church service. This “mass”. And mind you, the history of the word “mass” comes from the latin definition for the church’s mission of “go”. So mass signifies the church’s mission to gather and then go into the world to be on mission…this “mass” is dedicated to the mission of Beyonce. Not God.

In fact. This mass is far from God’s word and his mission. Here’s a few more quotes.

The priest in this video says...“we do have a community that is youthful and loving to the world as a partner, not as an enemy…and I hope that that’s good news for you, Go d actually loves you.”

So just to clarify this thinking....this quote is implying that seeing the world as a partner in the gospel, and not as an enemy, is what is going to allow you to feel and see the love of God.

Oftentimes, if you want to see the truth behind a statement…inverse it and see what the opposite says.

So, What’s the inverse of that statement?

The inverse of that statement is: if you treat the world as an enemy…as something that opposes the gospel, then you will not be able show or feel the love of God.

Nevermind the countless scriptures that command the exact opposite. Here’s just one example. Jesus says this.

John Verse

John 15:19 (ESV)

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

So this Beyonce mass is promoting the idea of the world and the church becoming partners, working alongside one another, supporting one another, working for each other’s good....and yet Jesus says that if you belong to him, that’s what it means that Jesus chose you…if you belong to him then the world is going to hate you.

FYI...You can’t be partners with someone that is meant to hate you. You cannot value what the world values, you cannot love what the world loves…you cannot promote what the world promotes…and love Jesus.

John Verse

1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Here’s the problem with things like the Beyonce mass and the organizations and people that promote them... they are confusing love for people with love of the world. They are promoting that we must love the things of the world in order to love the people that belong to it…but that’s not true whatsoever.

point slide

I don’t need to love cocaine and value it in order to love the person who has succomb to it.

I don’t need to promote and value and encourage homosexuality in order to love the person who struggles with it.

I don’t need to promote and encourage transgenderism in order to reach the person who struggles with their own identity and finds this world difficult to navigate.

I don’t have to love it. I don’t have to promote it. and in fact…the most loving thing I can possibly do is to defend what is Good and Godly…speak the truth IN LOVE, act according to God’s word...and trust the Holy Spirit to work in them the way that he has worked in me.

And my faith is what allows me to do that. Your faith is what allows you to do that. And we need to trust God…that faith is what will cause those who struggle with these things to see and do that.

It’s BY FAITH that we are able to defend what is good and godly. And guys…we need to ask for the faith to defend the good and godly on our campuses and in our work places.

Guys…we can let our desire for Godly things…like the idea that everyone should be treated fairly and precious as a creation of God…we can take that desire and let that desire become married to the world’s desire to have creation as they desire it. To have the power of God. To elevate and celebrate the sins of homosexuality and the sins of man-centeredness worship.

In our defense of the Good and Godly, we can’t not also defend the Evil and Sinful.

We cannot, in our desire to see all people treated as precious and equal before God, promote the idolization and sin of homosexuality and transgenderism.

We cannot, in our desire to see all people treated as precious and equal, elevate the voice of a celebrity singer over the voice of the God of creation.

Now, notice I’m not talking about quarreling. Bickering. Arguing. Those in themselves are evil too...I’m talking about standing for what’s right and taking the actions that will promote the things of God.

And I’m telling you…many of you or people your age are going to go about it the wrong way.

You see we have this mindset that we just need to be present in the midst of their sin in order to reach the lost. We have this idea that we should go to things like this Beyonce mass in order to speak truth, reach the lost, and “build relationship”…but that’s going about it all the wrong way.

And you don’t need to look any further than Jesus.

Jesus ate among prostitutes and tax collectors. He dined with them. He lived with them. He built relationship with them. But you know what he didn’t do?

He didn’t go and keep the prostitute company while she was performing her services. He didn’t sit in the tax booth along with Matthew as he robbed the people of God. He didn’t drink alongside the drunkard to escape his reality...

No. Jesus was able to build relationship and yet still stand defend what is Good and Godly in the world.

What does that look like in today’s world?

It means building relationships with the ungodly by eating lunch or dinner with them, getting coffee with them, playing a sport, going on a walk, sitting in the library together…all those things that can build relationship and show you care. But it also means taking a stand where it’s needed.

Like not attending this Beyonce Mass on Augie’s campus. And like voting for laws that honor God. And having difficult conversations…or refusing to submit to tyranny.

Just like Mose’s parents did. Look at what it says about them back in verse 23.

“they were not afraid of the King’s edict”. They did not bow to tyranny. They did not bow to the things of the world. They stood for what is good and Godly.

And so did moses himself. Look at verse 24 right after that.

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter...” (v. 24)

Moses stood for what is good and Godly as well. He knew his people were the chosen people of God. He knew where he belonged, and he was not going to compromise the calling upon his life in order to appease the Pharaoh. In order, to appease the culture he was living in.

He literally lived among the world…lived among the ungodly…lived among the unchosen. Ate their food, slept in their beds, washed in their water…and yet he defended what was Good and what was Godly. The Hebrew nation. His people. God’s people.

You have to imagine that was difficult. That caused tension and turmoil. But it was right to do. And Moses’ faith gave him the strength to do it. See there at the beginning of verse 24?

By faith… he did that.

And his parents in 23?

By faith…they did that.

Guys…we will end here tonight. But before we do…we are going to pray for the faith to defend what is Good and Godly. We are going to pray that, by faith, we are able to run this race with endurance.

But in this passage…we see something else on top of defending what is Good and Godly. We learn something else about faith…and that is...

Faith fuels the fight against sin. (v. 25-26)

So moses refused to be called the son of the Pharoah’s daughter...

“choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (v.25-26)

By changing our perspective.

“He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt”

By giving us hope.

“for he was looking to the reward”

Faith overcomes fear. (v. 27)

“and they were not afraid of the King’s edict” (v.23b)

By giving us impossible courage and conviction. “for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

Faith produces obedience. (v. 28)

“By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”

Faith builds trust in God’s promises.

“By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.”