Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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?

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.