Faith

Could we look in Hebrews chapter 11, please? The book of Hebrews, and chapter 11, and verse 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the King's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, assained to do, were drowned." This morning we were hearing about the power of God that is available to the believer, that is so necessary if we're going to do what God wants us to do. Here we see this man Moses, a man who God used to do amazing things, and yet we see what unleashed that power, if I can use that expression. We read again and again here in these verses, it was by faith.

The power of God is available to any of us, and so is this that we take so for granted, and maybe wonder what it's all about, the simple thing called faith. Again and again we read here, it's by faith Moses did this, or Moses did that. Brother, sister, without faith we wouldn't have been saved of course, but in the Christian life we don't walk by say, by sight, we walk by faith.

Just the importance of trusting God in the big things, in the little things, in everything. And perspective can make so much difference. Things can seem so black and difficult, we can seem so weak and helpless, and yet when we get our eyes on the Almighty God and lay hold of God's Word, and that's really what faith is.

Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Just taking God at His Word, it can unleash in maybe very ordinary ways the power of God in our lives. You know Moses was likely the one of the greatest figures in world history, not just in the Bible, but in world history.

I mean it would be a household name in many parts of the world, Moses. But what made Moses the man he was? Now there could be different answers, but here in Hebrews 11, it's just this simple thing, faith. So let's look at the importance of faith in the life of Moses, and then we can apply it, the importance of faith in your life, brother, sister.

God has saved you. We've been hearing about this. God has saved you for a reason, to do something, to represent Him in this world in a way that nobody else can do.

God doesn't use a cookie cutter, and no matter what our past may or may not have been, He wants to use us. Here we are, we're breathing. We're in Christ, and the Lord wants you and me, the little time that we have, to represent Him, to live for Him, the One who died for us.

First of all, we read that in verse 23 that there was preserving in Moses' life, and it was on the principle of faith. And it wasn't Moses' faith, it was his parents. They hid him three months.

Now think of what it would have been like when the edict goes out from the king, from Pharaoh, that the baby boys were to be thrown in the Nile River with the crocodiles. Difficult times. So, Amram and Jacobad, Moses' parents, they had a choice.

Are they going to let their son be put in the world's mold, or seek to allow God's purposes to be fulfilled in his life? And you know, as parents today, we have the same options. God has a plan, has a purpose for our children, but so does Satan. I mean, Pharaoh wanted these baby boys killed.

Satan has a purpose for our children as well, but it was by faith. Now, I don't know whether God spoke to Moses' parents, we're not told, but somehow they understood God had a purpose for him, and so they weren't afraid of the consequences of what might happen. They just did what they had to do.

They preserved him. They hid him. Now, I don't have to tell you that we need to preserve our children as much as we can from the influence of the world, from the mold that the world would try to put our kids in.

And there might be many answers, how do we do this? To me, one thing that is so important is just reality. You know, kids not only just hear what we say, and watch what we do, they absorb where we're at, what's real to us, and they can smell hypocrisy. I mean, if we're just going through the motions, you know, going to meetings Sunday morning, and then live another way the rest of the week, maybe that'll fool somebody, but it's not going to fool our kids.

They live under our roof. They see us 24-7. The importance of reality.

If we can't be anything else, may the Lord help us to be real, there's reading and praying with them. The importance of reading the Scriptures with our kids. Now, I know when kids get up in their teens, and they're in their own orbit, they're working, going to school, it's not always easy to do, and maybe can't be done.

I know we reached a point in our lives when the girls, it just wasn't feasible. But when the kids are young, is the Bible important? Is praying with them important? And, you know, on this subject of reading the Bible with them, you know, you don't have to spend an hour trying to understand Ezekiel chapter 1. My suggestion would be, keep it at the kids level. Keep it short, just a few things, maybe ask a few questions.

I mean, it's not supposed to be and punishment. I would say there needs to be restraint as well in what, as parents, we allow in our own lives. The TV, the internet, movies, because often kids will take it one step further than what we allow in our own lives.

And if kids see us maybe looking at or being involved in questionable things, what kind of message does that send to them? Now, you could go on. Let me just mention one more. I was going to have three hours here, but this is four.

Reasonableness, reasonableness. As Christians, there should be reasonableness to us. I think of some assembly, some assemblies, and there are shepherds, we've been hearing about shepherds.

And to me, one thing that gives them such weight and such an influence for good on the Christians is that they are reasonable, reasonable. Not spiritual wimps, they can stand for the truth when it's necessary, but they're reasonable. And you know, sometimes as parents, we can be unreasonable, can't we? Now, we need to preserve our children.

But notice, and this was pointed out to me by a sister, I had never seen this before. Moses' parents couldn't preserve him forever. They couldn't hide him in the house forever.

The time came when they put him in the river with the crocodiles by faith. You know, we can't put our kids in a cocoon, we can't put them in a bubble, preserve them from the world, from everything. We can train them, we can do whatever we can when they're young.

But the time comes when, little by little, we have to let out the reins by faith. We can trust God. We see faith preserving, but we see faith choosing as well.

In verses 24, 25, and 26, Moses now, and to me, there's the big influence of his parents, preserved him. When he was growing, he made some difficult choices. We all have choices to make in life.

First of all, in 24, we read when he was growing, when he was coming to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. You think of all that he could have been there, a name, fame, position, but he refused to be put in the world's mold. Now, I don't know everybody here, maybe there's some young people, maybe there's some young married couples, and choices to be made here.

Moses realized God had a higher purpose for him than all that he could have been in Pharaoh's court. As the son of Pharaoh's daughter, God had a higher purpose. Now, somebody might say, well, does that mean that, you know, I mean, I could climb the ladder in our company, and I could do well, that means I supposed to quit and maybe, well, whatever kind of job, sweep, whatever.

To me, the important thing seems to be, what are we living for? Who are we living for? I mean, we think of people in the Bible like Joseph in the Old Testament. I mean, second in command to the Pharaoh. We think of David, the king of Israel.

Daniel, the position he had in Babylon. These were men that had important jobs, but they weren't living for that job, they were serving the Lord in that job. So again, the balance that's needed.

He was able to refuse the pull of the world and all that could have been his if he just put God in second place, but he didn't. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Notice, he could do that because of the choice that he made.

We read about that in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. As a Christian, sooner or later, a person is going to have that choice to make. There's the pleasures of sin, the people of God.

Where are we going to gravitate to? You know, the pleasures of sin are certainly for a season, and the devil can make them seem so appealing, and yet they're so temporary. We read here about suffering affliction, being mistreated with the people of God. If we're going to associate with the people of God, yeah, we'll be mistreated.

People won't understand. Nothing grand and glorious about being associated with the assembly here in Heightsville, or any other assembly for that matter, and when we try to just live in obedience to the Word of God, yeah, we'll be mistreated. There's affliction, but it's temporary.

It's only for a little while. Choices to be made. In verse 26, how could Moses make such a choice to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season? While the word here in the King James is esteeming, he weighed things up.

He counted it. On the one hand, the reproach of Christ. On the other hand, the treasures in Egypt.

The treasures in Egypt. Things. The things he could have had against the reproach of Christ.

Being treated like the Lord Jesus. What's more important to you? Rarely a conference goes by when we don't hear some reference to materialism and the effect it has upon all of us. The treasures in Egypt are being treated like the Lord Jesus.

You know, there is reproach connected with being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there's no way to get around that. In Hebrews 13, verse 13, we read, let us go forth therefore unto him outside the camp bearing his reproach. And there's many church groups that have tried to do away with that reproach and have just watered things down.

There's reproach because the Lord Jesus suffered reproach when he was here on earth. But Moses weighed it up, and he talked about the greater riches being connected with the Lord Jesus Christ. Then at the end of verse 26, it says, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

Literally, it just means he was looking to the reward. You see, Moses saw the big picture. And again, perspective is so important here.

He wasn't just looking at the temporary. And it says he didn't fear the wrath of the king. Now, that's interesting because back in verse 23, his parents weren't afraid of the king's commandment either.

Why? Because their perspective, they were looking at the one who is the king of kings. You know, the subject of perspective. Notice in verse 23, it says that Moses' parents, they saw that he was a proper child.

They saw God's purposes for Moses. Then down in verse 26, we read, he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. In other words, he saw God's reward.

But then we get down to verse 27, seeing him who is invisible. So Moses' parents saw God's purposes. Moses saw God's reward, but he also saw him who is invisible.

And that brings us down to verse 27, because not only did Moses by faith make choices, but it says in verse 27, he forsook Egypt. He turned his back. He turned his back on Egypt.

You know, sometimes we sing that hymn, have you counted the cost? Have you counted the cost? Does it say ye warriors of the cross? Are we willing to turn our back on all that the world might want to give us and lift us up to and everything else? To take our place with the people of God, to be identified with the Lord Jesus Christ, and to live for him, the one who died for us. He turned his back on Egypt. He says, not fearing the wrath of the king.

Now Moses' parents weren't afraid of what the king said. Moses wasn't afraid of the consequences, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. You know, this enduring is an important component of the Christian life.

It's by faith that Moses persevered. He endured. I mean, he turned his back on all the glory and glitz in Egypt.

And I don't know exactly when this is talking about, but I know he was there in the wilderness after he left Egypt. He was there for 40 years. You don't think that required endurance, perseverance? And it seems to me to be very surprising if the devil wouldn't say, well, look, Moses, turning your back on Egypt, look where it got you.

I had that happen to me when I was first saved. And maybe you have too. You know, the devil would just try to put the knife in and say, well, this is where your Christianity has got you.

Look what's happening. He persevered. He endured.

Was it worth it? You know, it's often been pointed out that if Moses had a state in Egypt, the son of Pharaoh's daughter, you know, there might be a few lines of hieroglyphics somewhere. Maybe he's buried in some, you know, mummified state in a pyramid, but he turned his back on Egypt. And he's known as a man of greatness, a man of God.

But he wasn't always on the mountaintop. Those 40 years, taking care of those animals in the wilderness, not too illustrious. It looked like he'd made a mistake.

And, you know, maybe there's some here today and you're wondering, you know, I could have been, I can be, but wondering, is it worth it all? Well, how about Moses? Was it worth it for him? It says, Moses endured as seeing him who is invisible. We've never seen him yet, have we, the Lord Jesus? Oh, there's lots of stuff we can see, a lot of stuff we shouldn't see. But seeing him who is invisible, the one who is the King of Kings, the one whom having not seen, we love.

Brother, sister, we're going to see him one day. This one who is invisible, this one who encourages that mother on a, maybe Monday afternoon after the baby, keeping her up all night, Sunday night, and she's not feeling well and just trying to live for the Lord there in that home. Diapers are changing, everything else, or the brother in the factory.

And maybe the guys are giving you a rough time, or the student at school as seeing, enduring as seeing whom? Him who is invisible. The world doesn't see him. We see him through the eye of faith.

But I'll tell you, every one of us here today, don't we just long for that day when we're going to see him, see him as he is, and all his beauty. But let me just mention a couple more things before I sit down. In verse 28, we read of through faith, and it's the same, it's by faith again, he kept the Passover.

Why did Moses keep the Passover? Because God told him to. By faith, he was obedient. And this is what God is looking for in our life.

We've been hearing about that, simple obedience to the Word of God. Now, it's a wonderful thing to be saved, but let me ask, is there anybody here this afternoon, and you've never been baptized yet? And maybe you're not an assembly fellowship. You know, one thing that spoke to me was, before I came into assembly fellowship, was that the Lord said, do this in remembrance of me.

Remember me, he said. And when I came around the assembly and started observing how things were done, I realized that that was one of the privileges of being in assembly fellowship, was remembering the Lord and the breaking of bread. By faith, Moses obeyed.

Simple. God said it, and so he was willing to submit to that. And notice it says here in verse 27, verse 28, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

There's a great preservative, of course, when they kept the Passover, when they put the blood on the doorposts and so on, but I'd like to apply it in this way. There's a great preservative in being obedient to the Word of God. There's a great preservative of being in assembly fellowship and remembering the Lord on the first day of the week.

And you know, it's so easy, I think, especially for young people and maybe growing up in the assembly context, to take it all for granted. Some of us know what it's like to be in other places, and I know there are godly people out there, and I'm not putting anybody down, but I'll tell you, and I've said this many times, I'm so thankful that the Lord ever brought me to a New Testament assembly to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Tremendous privilege.

It's been a great preservative in my life. But just one more thing. In verse 29, we see faith overcoming.

It says, by faith they, now I know it's not just Moses, but he was there, he was among them, and what an influence he had on all the Israelites. It says, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land. So we've been looking at faith preserving with Moses' parents.

They hid him until they couldn't hide him anymore. Faith choosing. Moses refused, and he made a choice, and he counted the cost.

We read that faith endured in verse 27, faith obeyed in verse 28, but here we see faith overcoming. And what a tremendous lesson this is for us. There the Israelites are, they've come out of Egypt, and they see the armies of Egypt coming at them, and of course the Red Sea in front of them, soon after they came out of Egypt.

And it wouldn't surprise me if this happens often, when a person is first saved, I know it did to me, where there's that tremendous pull by whatever means to pull you back into the world, can't take away salvation, but to pull you back in the world, but you know, it just seems impossible. And Satan comes in like a flood, and it's almost more than you can bear, but it's a bit of a test. What are you going to do? You're going to go back into the world, that God has saved Yadav, called Yadav, and yet going ahead, they're just, it seems to be impossible, because your own weakness, you, well they couldn't get through the Red Sea on their own either.

But what did they do? They just trusted God, and that way that seems so impossible, just opened up, the waters parted, and they went through as on dry ground. Brother, sister, this is what the Lord wants to do for us. His power manifested in our lives, but it hinges on our simply trusting Him.

This little thing called faith, what an effect it had in Moses' life, it can have the same effect in your life and mine.