INTRODUCTION:

1. There are many individuals mentioned in Hebrews 11 -- Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and several others.
2. The two Old Testament believers that are most prominent in this chapter are Abraham and Moses.
3. I mentioned last week that Abraham's name appears 300 times in the Bible.  Moses' name is mentioned 848 times in the Bible.
4. Moses is often referred to as the great "Lawgiver,"  but he was also a great man of faith.
5. Spurgeon said, "Moses is as much an example of faith as he is a representative of Law. What he did was as much due to his faith as were the acts of Paul or John. In describing Moses, the summary must begin, 'By faith,' as much as if we were describing Abraham. Continue to regard Moses as a representative of the Law but also view him as a man of wonderful and powerful faith" ("Moses — His Faith and Decision," June 24, 1888).
6. As we look at the faith of Moses tonight, we should note that his parents' faith is mentioned first (Heb. 11:23).

 

I. PARENTAL COURAGE (11:23)

1. Exodus 6:20 tells us the names of Moses' parents -- Amram and Jochebed.
2. "They were not afraid of the king's commandment" because they had faith in God (Heb. 11:23).
3. The "king's commandment" was "if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live" (Ex. 1:16).
4. So we see that birth control, abortion, and infanticide have been around for a very long time.
5. Moses' parents hid little Moses for three months, for as long as they could, and then Jochebed built a little ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put baby Moses therein; "and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink" (Ex. 2:3).
6. Moses, we are told in Hebrews 11:23, "was a proper child."
7. In Exodus 2:2 we are told "he was a goodly child."
8. In Acts 7:20 we read that Moses "was exceeding fair."
9. It was undoubtedly Moses' good looks that impressed Pharaoh's daughter and God used that to touch her heart (Ex. 2:6).
10. It took great courage for Moses' parents to go against the king's commandment and to hide little Moses for three months.
11. It was their great faith that made them courageous.
12. And it was their great faith that led them to put little Moses in an ark of bulrushes and lay him in the water by the riverbank where he could have easily been killed.
13. God honored their faith, and little Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter, "and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it" (Ex. 2:5).
14. Not only did Jochebed get to nurse her own baby, she even got paid to do it (Ex. 2:5-10).
15. God always honors faith.

 

II. PERSONAL CHOICE (11:24-27)

1. Moses had a choice to make.  He could have enjoyed an easy life of luxury as "the son of Pharaoh's daughter" (11:24), or he could choose "to suffer affliction with the people of God" (11:25).
2. "By faith" Moses made the right decision (11:24-27).
3. "By faith" Moses was able to appreciate the reproach of Christ as far greater riches than the treasures in Egypt (11:26).
4. "By faith" Moses had respect unto the recompence of the reward (11:26).
5. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible" (11:27).
6. "By faith," Moses won a great victory over the world (represented by Egypt), the flesh ("the pleasures of sin for a season"), and the devil, represented by Pharaoh ("not fearing the wrath of the king").
7. Moses accomplished many things, and the Bible makes it clear he was able to do it by faith (cf. Ex. 4:10-12).

 

III. PERSEVERING CONTINUANCE (11:27-29)

1. Moses "endured" (11:27) "by faith."
2. "Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood..." (11:28).
3. The institution of the Passover was an act of faith. God’s judgments had been poured out on Egypt and on Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and on the people of Egypt.
4. And yet, after nine plagues had been sent, Pharaoh and the Egyptians remained stubborn and impenitent.
5. Pharaoh even threatened to kill Moses if he ever came into Pharaoh’s presence again (Ex. 10:28, 29).
6. Then after all these fierce plagues, the LORD told Moses that each Israelite family should sacrifice a lamb, and then take the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses (Exodus 12).
7. Humanly speaking, these seem like rather strange instructions.  But by faith Moses obeyed and "he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them" (Heb. 11:28).
8. This of course is symbolic of our place of refuge under the blood of Christ.
9. Not only did Moses have to exercise faith to obey God and keep the passover, he needed faith to be able to go to the people and explain all the important details to them.
10. "By faith," Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea.  The Egyptians did not have faith in the true God so they all drowned (11:29).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. Hebrews 11:24-26 provides a great lesson for us.
2. Oftentimes, Christians make the wrong choice and they compromise with the world.
3. Hel­en Lem­mel wrote the words to the beautiful hymn, "Turn Your Eyes Upn Jesus," after reading a Gospel tract entitled "Fo­cused," written by Lil­i­as Trot­ter.  These words grabbed her attention: "So then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full in­to His face and you will find that the things of earth will ac­quire a strange new dim­ness."
4. Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
   Look full in His wonderful face,
   And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
   In the light of His glory and grace.