Hall of Faith - Faith to Choose What Lasts

Isn't it good to be together? And we're into the final week of our series in Hebrews 11, and we've been working through over the last four weeks these incredible stories of people of faith, people who the writer of Hebrews Christ calls us to look to as examples of how we should live the Christian life. We're gonna look this morning at Moses. And so if you have your Bibles handy, we're gonna be in Hebrews 11, and we'll be in verses 23 to 29 this morning. And as you're turning there this week, I was reflecting on the idea of choices, the choices that we make, because that's been an idea that's come through this series.

A bit of a theme that's been there is about choosing to live lives of faith. I did some research this week and I found, which was a bit overwhelming when I read it, that every single day, the average person. So if you're average, just average this morning, that's you. Makes 33,000 to 35,000 decisions every single day. Isn't that crazy?

There's multiple bits of research that put that. Now, fortunately for us, 95% of those decisions happen in our subconscious. So these are the things that we just do without thinking about it. So for me, that's getting dressed. I just kind of throw on clothes.

I don't really think about it. Cindy makes lots of decisions every morning about what I should wear.

221 of those decisions are related to food. And so if this sermon goes long, you might start making some of those decisions towards the back end of this sermon. What are we going to have for lunch? 221 of them, I reckon probably a few thousand of them relate to clothes or maybe shopping choices. But there's 122 of that 33,000 decisions that we make, which are called informed choices.

Informed choices. 122 of them. And those are the ones that require us to actually think more intentionally about. We might stop and we consider the options and we think about them deeply. And I'd suggest to you this morning that within that 122, there's a couple that are actually really, really significant.

There's a couple of decisions that we make every day that are what I would call future shaping choices. These decisions that help define the direction of our lives. And I know some of you recently have had to make some of those key decisions. And those decisions that we make, those future defining decisions, are informed by our worldview. And our worldview is the way that we see the world.

It's how we think things work in the world around us. It's defined by our understanding of who God is and what God has called us to do. That's our worldview. And our worldview helps define our choices. And that idea of choices has been a theme of this series.

And we're going to see it today again in the life of Moses, because we'll see Moses has some choices, he has some decisions to make, and he makes some choices that are led by, not by fear, but by faith. And so my hope is that as we work our way through this story, we too might be encouraged, that we would be people who are making choices in faith of who God is and what he's called you and I to do. And so we're going to start in Hebrews 11:23. And as we open God's Word together, let us pray. Our God, we thank youk for your word as we come to it.

Now we pray, Holy Spirit, that yout would give us soft hearts, that we might hear from you this morning, that we might receive what it is that you want to say to us, that your Word would be living and active in our lives, that it would be shaping and changing who we are more and more into the likeness of Christ, we pray. Amen. And so Hebrews 11:23 says this. It was by faith that Moses parents hid him for three months. When he was born, they saw that God had given them an unusual child and they were not afraid to disobey the king's command.

Now you might recognize as we've been working through Hebrews 11, the sections start with it was by faith. And this faith that we have at the start of Moses story isn't actually Moses faith. Did you notice that? It's his parents faith. And this comes to us from Exodus 1:2.

And if you're not familiar with that story, I encourage you can read it this week. But let me summarise it for you really quickly. Last week we were looking at the life of Joseph. That's where we finished. This takes us now a couple hundred years down the line.

The Israelites are still in Egypt. Joseph and all of his brothers have died. There's a new Pharaoh in place. And it tells us in Exodus 1 and 2 that the Israelites had grown so prolifically that the Pharaoh becomes concerned. He becomes concerned because the Israelites now outnumber the Egyptians.

And he thinks if they rise up against us, we won't be able to stop them. And so what he does in response to that is that he makes them slaves. He makes the Israelites their Egyptian slaves. And he oppresses them terribly. They're treated really, really badly.

But he discovers that that doesn't slow down their rate of growth. And so he declares, then the Pharaoh declares that all babies, baby males born to them, will be put to death. And so it's into that scene that Moses is born. He's born there. And Hebrews 11 tells us that Moses parents recognize that God had given them an unusual child.

Now, I'd encourage you at the end of the service, don't go and tell someone that they have an unusual child. I recognize that you have an unusual child. It's not the nicest thing to say, but here in Hebrews 11, it's not a criticism. Like, we would see that as a criticism here. It's not the word here that's translated for unusual is in some versions, and perhaps the version you've got translated as beautiful.

But beautiful perhaps doesn't capture it either. Because what probably represents it more clearly is that Moses parents noticed that he was remarkable or there was something out of the ordinary about him. Now every parent thinks their child is remarkable, don't they? I remember when Grace was first born. Like, we just thought the simplest things were so clever.

Like, the moment she learned how to roll over, we're like, she's a genius. And it's no surprise, you know, look at Cindy. You know, she's going to be a genius. But Moses parents actually see something prophetic here. They see something prophetic.

God had given them supernatural insight, that he had a plan and a purpose for Moses life, that there was something significant. And so at great risk to themselves, what they do is they hide Moses. They managed to hide a newborn for three months. Like, that's amazing. These are pretty good parents.

But they hide him for three months, and then they place him in a waterproof basket and they put him in the Nile. And they watch on as Pharaoh's daughter finds the baby Moses there and spares his life and adopts him as her own. You see, Moses's parents, faith, which is where we start, wasn't a feeling. I mean, maybe it was a feeling of faith. They were filled with faith.

But you meet lots of people who are filled with faith who do nothing with it. Their faith led them to a choice. They weren't passive. They didn't just wait for something to happen. Say, hey, God's given us a remarkable child.

He'll just, like, protect them, it'll all be okay. Instead, they do something with us. They recognize that God had given their baby Moses a special purpose which gave them the strength to act even when it was dangerous. And then we turn to verses 24 to 26, and it takes us now to a grown up. Moses says this.

It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to. To his great reward. Moses faith starts with something that sounds really simple, that's almost easy for us to skip over.

His faith starts by choosing to reject a title of Egyptian power. He's there in the palace. He's the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. Josephus, the Jewish historian, actually says that Pharaoh had no male heirs. And so Moses was in effect, the crown prince of Egypt.

But he doesn't choose that. Instead, he chooses the suffering or the oppression of God's people. It's quite remarkable, isn't it? Like when we actually think about the choice that Moses had to make. He had all of the wealth and all of the power available to him.

He had all the pleasures and the status of an Egyptian prince. And yet he rejects that. And he aligns himself with God's people, even though God's people are a nation of slaves. It's a logic that's upside down. Like, I don't know how many of us would make that choice because earthly wisdom tells us not to do that.

Like, take the power, take the wealth, take the comfort, take the status. Don't swap those things for slavery, for oppression, for rejection. But Moses demonstrates this incredible faith in God. And Hebrews gives us insight into why he demonstrates this. He thought it better, it says, to suffer for the sake of Christ than to have all of the treasures of Egypt because he's looking ahead to a greater reward.

Our context is very different. I mean, I don't know all of you super well, but I'm guessing that none of us are like crown princes or princesses here this morning. So our context is different. But I would suggest to you that we actually face the same choice. Some of us face it.

Often we face the choice to either align ourselves with this world, to chase after the things that this world offers to us, that instant gratification, comfort, wealth, status. And that's the message that we constantly hear from this world. Success is about all that you can gather. Success is about how comfortable you are, how independent you are success is about how much pleasure or happiness you can grab. Now.

Now, we can choose to live like that, or we can make the same choice that Moses did and align ourselves with Christ. Now, I found it interesting this week as I was examining this passage, that Moses, the writer of Hebrews, connects Moses with Christ, even though Christ was born a thousand years, or over a thousand, well over a thousand years after Moses. But the writer of Hebrews, I think, is connecting us to a truth, and it's the same truth that Paul actually speaks about. We saw this in Philippians, in our last series together as we worked through that letter. In Philippians 3:10, Paul writes, I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.

I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another, I will experience the resurrection from the dead. You see, Paul understood what Moses saw, that the privilege of suffering for God far outweighs the fleeting pleasures of this world. Now, Hebrews, I find it interesting, and it's real. Hebrews doesn't say that sin doesn't give you pleasure, that the things that this world offer doesn't give you pleasure. I mean, if it didn't give you pleasure, we wouldn't have any issues with sinning, would we?

Because if sin was felt terrible at the time, then maybe we would not do it. But instead it says that pleasure is fleeting, it doesn't last. And it compares it, it contrasts it with the greater victory that is found in Christ, that in God you will find a joy that surpasses anything that this world offers to you. And so Moses and Paul, they recognize the same thing, that the path of suffering leads to a far greater reward, that there is power in Christ's resurrection and the eternal joy that comes with sharing in that. And then we get to verse 27, and it says this.

It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt. Not fearing the king's anger, he kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons. And so here we jump forward again in Moses life. And there's also something small here I want us to notice.

Exodus tells us that when Moses first fled Egypt 40 years before that, he fled in fear. He became aware, you might remember the story after killing an Egyptian, he became aware that Pharaoh had found out. And now Pharaoh wanted to Kill Moses. And so Moses flees, afraid for his life.

But 40 years later, after spending a season in the wilderness, after the burning bush, after God's word to him, he returns to Egypt and he prepares to lead the Egyptians out of Egypt. And this time, he doesn't leave, afraid. This time, Hebrews tells us why. He keeps his eyes fixed on the one who is invisible. He keeps his eyes fixed on the one who is invisible.

What Moses had discovered in his season in the wilderness is that no ruler or power can stand in the way of God's promises. No ruler or power can stand in the way of God's promises. And then Hebrews takes us to Moses. Final moments in Egypt. Perhaps you know the story.

There was a stack of plagues. And the final plague, after Pharaoh keeps refusing to let God's people go. The final plague is that Pharaoh is warned. If you don't let go, God's people go. All of the firstborns from all the families in the land will be killed that night.

And God instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless lamb and to paint the blood of the lamb over the doorframe of their houses so that their firstborn would be spared. I want you to imagine, if you can, being an Israelite parent that night, you've gathered your family there, you're eating the first Passover meal together, you've spread a bit of blood over the door frame of your house. You know that Moses and God are not mucking around. In fact, everything that Moses had warned Pharaoh had all happened. There had been flies and locusts and boils and hail and the waters of the Nile had turned to blood.

And now there's a warning that the firstborn will die unless there is blood of the spotless lamb on the doorframe. I wonder how you'd feel like. I couldn't help but be nervous that night. I'd be hugging my firstborn really tight. I'd be saying, God, please, please let there be enough blood.

Please spare my child. And this is what I want us to see this morning. By any normal logic, it seems foolish to think that some blood from a spotless lamb are going to stop death from coming to your home that night. It seems foolish to think that, that that's enough. But this is what God is developing in his people.

After generations of slavery in Egypt, he's reminding them, put your trust in me. Put your trust in me. It's a prophetic moment that looks forward to Jesus. You see, Israel's firstborn were just as liable to God's judgment. But instead, God gave them a substitute, a spotless lamb that would be their way of salvation and rescue.

And all they needed to have was a little bit of faith to paint the door frame. All they needed was a little bit of faith that the blood from the lamb would be sufficient.

It reminds me of Paul's words as he writes to the believers at Corinth in 1 Corinthians, he says to them, christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us.

All we have to do is the same as the Israelites did on that first passover, is just have a little bit of faith that the blood of the lamb is enough. That the blood of the lamb is the substitute, is the rescue for us. Then Hebrews speaks of another incredible rescue. Here in verse 29 says this. It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground.

But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned. So the writer of Hebrews takes us now to this moment in Exodus chapter 13 and 14, as the Israelites leave Egypt, we read actually, which I thought was incredible, the Israelites leave. The new leaving translation says, as an army going to war, this is the boldness. They are leaving in boldness. And we see that God has moved mightily, that they're full of faith.

But it doesn't take long for their faith to waver. Not long after they leave, Pharaoh decides, hang on a minute. Maybe making like letting all my slaves go would wasn't a good idea. And so he chases after them. And we find in Exodus 14 that the Israelites are then stuck between the Red Sea and an advancing Egyptian army.

And then we see their response. Their faith wavers and they demonstrate what becomes a common trait for them. As soon as things get a bit difficult, as soon as they face an obstacle, as soon as things didn't go as they they thought it was going to, or as they thought they deserved, what do they do? They turn and they blame the preacher. Now I can empathize with Moses.

He experiences it, that it's his fault. Moses, why did you lead us out here? Like they actually say, were there not enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us here so that we would die in the wilderness? Would prefer slavery than being stuck here. They've only just left Egypt and now they're saying, we want to go back.

We made a mistake, Moses, why did you lead us? Why did you convince us to come? And Moses gives them a Response. In Exodus 14, verse 13, he says this to them. Don't be afraid.

Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you. From today. The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.

What can Moses see that the people can't? What can Moses see that the people can't? Nothing. He doesn't see anything different. He sees the Egyptians that are coming after them, the greatest army of the day.

He sees the mountains to their sides preventing an escape. He sees the Red Sea behind him that is blocking their way. He looks at the people. He doesn't even have an army. He's got a nation of slaves who are turning against him.

He looks at his hands. He doesn't even have a sword. He has a wooden staff. But still Moses says to the people, don't be afraid. Just stand still.

The Lord will rescue you. So what's the difference? The difference is Moses trusted the promises of God. Moses trusted in the promises of God. I love the fact that this response from Moses comes in Exodus 14.

Even before God tells Moses how the rescue will come. Even before God says that, I'm going to part the waters of the Red Sea so that you can walk through that. I am going to destroy the Egyptian army. Even before that, Moses declares, just stand still. Just watch God rescue you.

You see, Moses trusted in the promises of God. And what did God use? He used the thing that Moses had in his hand, the wooden staff.

And so that brings us to the end of this section today. It brings us to the end of our time in Hebrews 11. There are other stories there that you can read and look into yourself. But I want to finish with these two reflections, these two thoughts that kind of bring this story to a close. But also, we've seen the threads of these throughout this series.

The first one here is a Choice, and my encouragement to you is to choose to keep trusting Jesus, no matter the cost. Choose to keep trusting Jesus, no matter the cost. You see, the Hebrew Christians who first received this letter were facing relentless temptation to turn back. They had left behind everything they had to follow the unseen Christ. But now they're facing persecution, they're facing hardship.

And because of these things, they're being pulled back to the security of the old temple system. The things that they can see, they're being pulled back to the old rituals, to the sacrifices, to the temple, to the old faith that had been passed down for generations. And yet, following Jesus meant embracing something completely different, something they couldn't touch or fully grasp. It meant standing firm in their faith in even when it costs them their place in society and their relationships. The writer of Hebrews speaks directly to this struggle, urging them, don't go back.

Don't go back. And that's why in Hebrews 11, he's pointed to person after person after person, and he said, look at these people who are not perfect. But what they did do was they chose to look forward to the promises of God. And this morning, the writer has reminded us again of Moses. Moses had every reason to stay in Egypt.

He was positioned to inherit wealth and power. But instead, he chose to walk away from the visible pleasures of this world to follow the invisible God.

And you know what? He wasn't disappointed. He gave up power and wealth and position for the promises of the invisible God.

But in the end, it was worth it. In the end, it was worth it. So the challenge to the Hebrew Christians and the challenge to you and me today is clear. If Moses could regard suffering for Christ as of greater value than all of the treasures in Egypt, will you do the same? Will you consider suffering for Christ better than all of the treasures that this world has to offer?

And that's the story of these saints of old in Hebrews 11 is that they didn't look back. They didn't look back. They kept moving forward. They kept fixing their eyes on the promises of God, not on what they left behind. And so that's the choice that you and I have today as well.

Will we keep trusting Jesus no matter the cost? And then the second question for you is, will you choose to live with a generational faith? I want us to notice something really important. The great figures of faith in Hebrews 11, all of them lived with a generational faith. Each one of them looked ahead to God's promises and made sure that these promises were passed on.

Made sure that the promises were passed on. And I want us to see this in Moses life. His parents, they trusted God for his life. Moses, in the way he followed God and the way he led the people, it wasn't just for him. He demonstrated and passed on God's blessing, God's promises and faith to those who followed.

Because what God does in us is not the only story. It's also what God does through us.

And that's what excites me about our new church vision. Hopefully, you know it. Our new church vision is Jesus for generations, because it's a vision that's rooted in the very heart of scripture. We don't follow Jesus just for ourselves, because we know that when one person comes to know Christ, the impact of that ripples through families.

If we look back at some of the people here, Joseph and Isaac and Jacob and Abraham and Noah, each of them lived not just with a vision of the here and now, but also made sure that they passed on God's promises, that they spoke about them, that they shared them, and they passed on God's blessing. And that's what I love about this church, is we're never about looking inward, we're always about looking outward. And so let's make sure that we don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that our faith is just about us. Us. That our faith is just about us.

Let's take the baton from these figures of faith. That's what the writer of Hebrews is telling the Hebrew Christians to do. Live like this, show this faith. Consider suffering for Christ better than the pleasures of this world. And so let's keep passing on the blessing of the knowing Christ so that the generations to come know that same reality in their own life.

Let's pray. Our God, we come to you now having spent the last four weeks examining and studying this section of Hebrews 11. Oh, God, we are so grateful for your word. And we pray that as we examine these stories that we. We wouldn't just think of them as these perfect superhero Christians, but instead God.

In them we would see broken, ordinary people who sinned and failed and made bad choices, but put their hope and their trust in a great, perfect and loving God. Lord, help us to do the same. That we would be people that make choices, full of faith, not of fear, Lord, that we would be willing to hand over the fleeting pleasures of this world in exchange for knowing Christ and being found in him. And so we ask you this in your precious son's name. Amen.

Sam.