CHILDREN’S STORY – Years ago, there was a very bad King in Egypt who hated the Israelites. In fact, he hated them so much that he commanded that all their baby boys should be thrown into the river and drowned. He was a bad king. But there was a mother who loved her baby very much and she hid him from the King as long as she could. And when she couldn’t hide him anymore, she made a basket and placed him in it … and put it in the river near where the King’s daughter would come to wash herself. When the King’s daughter came to river, she heard the baby cry, and immediately loved him and wanted to make him her her own little boy. She named him Moses. Well, it just so happened that Moses’ sister Miriam was watching over her brother, and when she saw that the King’s daughter loved Moses, she asked the King’s daughter if she wanted someone to take care of her new child. “Yes,” she responded. And Miriam went and got Moses’ mother to be his nurse.
SCRIPTURE
PRAYER
SERMON: Henry Ward Beecher was a well known preacher and evangelist during the 2nd Great Awakening – a religious revival in the early 1800s that shaped America’s morality for decades.
They say that when Beecher was a boy, one of his teachers asked one of the other students in the class a question. The student stood and answered but the teacher became angry and said he was wrong… then commanded the boy to “Sit down!” Shocked, the boy sat down. Several students were asked the same question – they all gave the same answer and were rebuked in the same way. Then the teacher called on Beecher … and the boy stood up and gave exactly the same answer as the other children had gotten. When the teacher shouted at him to “Sit Down!” Beecher said “NO, I am not going sit down” and insisted he was right. Even when the teacher kept criticizing and even shouting at him, Beecher held his ground and insisted his answer was correct.
Finally, the teacher smiled and said: “Well, boys, you were all correct. But Beecher was the only one sure enough to stand up for it.”
Henry Ward Beecher said “NO!” ... to a teacher. I’m sure he did so respectfully, but he still said “NO” Why would he do that? Well, he did that because he was he had FAITH in the RIGHTNESS of his answer.
Our text this morning tells us that there came a day when Moses said “No!” “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, REFUSED (he said “no”) to be called the son of Pharaoh’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.” Hebrews 11:24-26
From the children’s story I told you this morning we know how Moses got to grow up in Pharaoh’s home. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter he would have been trained in the religion of Egypt and learned of their many gods… including the Pharaoh. Moses would have been taught to worship his step grandfather as if he were the son of the gods who brought favor to Egypt. In fact, it’s possible that Moses was being groomed to be the next Pharaoh, and to be a god himself. But, even if he wasn’t going to be the next Pharaoh, then unquestionably, he would have become a man of prominence and power.
Josephus (a Jewish historian) speculated that Moses was a very handsome and educated prince and a mighty warrior in Egypt. He tells us about Moses leading Egyptians against the Ethiopians in taking one of their major cities. Of course that’s all pure speculation because the Bible doesn’t tell us that, and even history is a bit sketchy on this. But the one thing we can be sure of: Moses was destined to be a leader in Egypt.
But then (one day) Moses said “No!... I’m not doing that!” There came a day, when he refused to be called THE SON of Pharaoh’s daughter. Exodus 2:11 says “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to HIS PEOPLE and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of HIS PEOPLE.”
One of HIS people? Where did he get that idea?
Well, more than likely – he knew that ALL THE TIME. Exodus 2:5-9 tells us “the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then HIS SISTER (Miriam) said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So THE WOMAN (Moses’ mother) took the child and nursed him.”
You see, Moses’ mother got to raise him. She got to teach him. She got to influence him. Now, was it a coincidence that Moses’ mother got to raise HER own child? Well, Albert Einstein said “Coincidence, is God’s way of working anonymously” and when it comes to God, I don’t believe in coincidences. I suspect that Moses’ mother was there all through his childhood because God WANTED her there. He wanted her to teach him about HER faith.
Romans 10:17 tells us “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (NKJV) and Hebrews 11 tells us Moses made his decision because of faith. So where did Moses HEAR the word of God? Well, he heard it from his momma. His momma told Moses all about God’s promises, and all about how God had brought the Israelites into Egypt, and all about how God had protected Moses when he was born. Jochebed – Moses’ mother - would have repeatedly driven home to her son that she believed in a mighty and powerful God, and she made her faith come alive for Moses.
ILLUS: That’s what my momma did. She took me to church, she read the Bible to me (like she believed it), and she told me of things God had done in my life. It was because of her faithfulness, HER God was the God I came to believe in. If you have a son/daughter, grandchild, nephew/niece, or just a neighbor kid that comes over to your house - make your faith come alive for them. Make them hungry and thirsty for the God you believe in, and maybe they’ll become a great man/woman for God.
But now, wait a minute. If that’s true - if Moses caught his faith from his mother, how come it wasn’t until he was 40 years old that we read that NOW he thought of the Hebrews as being “HIS PEOPLE?”
Well, here’s what I think happened. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s house… for 40 years! For 40 years he is taught all about Egypt and its power. For 40 years he is surrounded by power and prestige. For 40 years he lives in luxury and comfort. He’d been born a Hebrew… but he was raised an Egyptian, and it would have been hard to leave that old world.
But Hebrews 11:25 tells us Moses chose “to be mistreated with the people of God (rather) than to enjoy the FLEETING PLEASURES of sin.” You see… I think Moses found it PLEASURABLE being in Pharaoh’s house. I mean… he knew he was a Hebrew, but He’d grown content with the advantages of that life. He’d learned to walk and talk and live like an Egyptian. And he liked it!
But one day he had to make a choice. One day he had to decide that this worldly life was not going to work with his momma’s faith. And when he made that decision, it now became was HIS faith.
My point is– there’ll come times in your life when YOU’LL have to make those choices. Times when you realize that BY FAITH you will have to say “no” to the world.
ILLUS: At last church there was a Christian man told me of a hard choice he’d made. He’d made good money working as a salesman for a major soda company, and it was his job to convince large companies to buy their product. Apparently, part of that job required him to take prospective customers to bars and buy them as much alcohol as they could drink. He said he liked the money and he liked the job, but one day he took good hard look at what he was expected to do and he realized he couldn’t do that anymore. BY FAITH he said “no” … he said NO… to a good paying job.
Now, I don’t know what you’ll have to say NO to in your life, but you’ll know it when you see it. You’ll know it because YOU’LL realize that you can’t be a Christian and live like that anymore. And then you’ll have to make a choice! It won’t be easy, but you’ll know it’s the RIGHT choice!
Now, it’s the next part of this passage in Hebrews 11 that’s always puzzled me. Hebrews 11:27 says “By faith (Moses) left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”
The reason it always puzzled me was because I remember reading that Moses WAS afraid. Moses saw taskmaster beating a Hebrew and he killed the Egyptian. But then we’re told that “Moses WAS AFRAID, and thought, ‘Surely the thing is known’ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses FLED from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.” Exodus 2:14-15
So… what’s going on? Hebrews says Moses was NOT afraid of the anger of the king, but Exodus tells us… HE WAS!!!
Well, I looked long and hard at that passage in Hebrews 11 - and as I prayed about it, it occurred to me that Hebrews was focused on Moses’ faith. BY FAITH Moses did this, and BY FAITH Moses did that!
But notice, Hebrews does NOT say “BY FAITH Moses struck and killed the Egyptian taskmaster.” Why not? Because he didn’t! It wasn’t faith that led Moses to kill the man. Exodus 2:12 says “(Moses) looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand”
You see, it’s not faith if you have to look around to make sure no one sees what you’re doing. And it’s not faith if you have to HIDE what you’ve done. That’s not faith… that’s guilt. Moses KNEW what he was doing was wrong, but he felt justified in doing it. But it was a bad choice… and there were consequences. Because Moses made that bad choice, he died to his dreams, he died to being a Hebrew, and for 40 years he lived as an outcast in the desert.
Now, why did God tell us about that part of Moses’ life? Why would God want us to see how Moses messed everything up? Well, because you and I might mess things up. We might do something that robs us of our dreams and our hopes, and will make us feel so guilty that we don’t think that God would ever have anything to do with us ever again. And we’ll be tempted to run away from God… just Moses did.
ILLUS: I took some kids from JAM on a bike ride this last week, and it gave me a chance to talk with them. One of the girls was very serious when she asked “If I don’t read my Bible will I go to hell?” She was serious. She felt she’d messed up and God wouldn’t love her anymore because she hadn’t been reading her Bible the way she should have.
That’s why I think God focused on how Moses trashed his own life. Moses started out strong: BY FAITH he said “no” to being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter… but then he messed up. And then he thought it was all over. God wouldn’t love him anymore.
But the repeated message out of Hebrews 11 is that almost all of them messed up. Almost every one of those great men and women of faith seemed to have gotten something wrong.
BUT GOD LOVED THEM ANYWAY! AND GOD USED THEM … ANYWAY
You see, Moses had made a decision to act by faith before he messed up. And though he may have run away from God, when the time was right God came looking for Moses. And that’s when Moses’ life changed forever.
When Hebrews 11:27 said “By faith (Moses) left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible” God had SKIPPED OVER the failure Moses that nearly destroyed him. God skipped over the killing of the taskmaster and fleeing into the desert… and went straight from the faith Moses had to say to NO to Pharaoh’s daughter and then took us to the Burning Bush and the faith of Moses as he boldly entered into Pharaoh’s court and declared: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me.’”
CLOSE: You see – that’s what God does. God takes people who mess up, and He turns them into men and women who NOW have faith and power.
ILLUS: Back in a 3rd-century there was a debate between a Christian leader named Origen, and a Greek philosopher (and hater of Christianity) named Celsus. Celsus mocked Christ by saying “When most teachers go forth to teach, they cry, ‘Come to me, you who are clean and worthy,’ and they are followed by the highest caliber of people available. But your silly master cries, ‘Come to me, you who are down and beaten by life,’ and so he accumulates around him the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity.”
And Origen smiled: “Yes, they are the rag, tag and bobtail of humanity. But Jesus does not leave them that way. Out of material you would have thrown away as useless, he fashions men, giving them back their self-respect, enabling them to stand on their feet and look God in the eyes. They were cowed, cringing, broken things. But the Son has set them free.”
INVITATION
