Good morning everyone. It has
been such a blessing these last few weeks in preparing to share the word with
you. God’s word is so good. Today I will have the verses up on the screen
behind me, but if you’d like to follow along in your own bible or if you’d like
to use a bible app on your cell phones please do so.
Before we get into the
message today I invite you to join me in prayer. . Amen.
In 1923 a sealed burial
chamber was opened for the first time in over three millennia. Golden shrines;
jewelry; statues; a chariot; weapons; clothing; a tomb abounding with treasures
and artifacts from floor to ceiling. Within the perfectly preserved mummified
body of King Tut. He lived around 1400 BC and died as a teenager after only 10
years as Pharaoh in Egypt.
His body was embalmed, wrapped in bandages, given a solid gold mask, placed
within a series of 3 golden coffins, in a granite sarcophagus, inside 4 gilded
wooden shrines. As was the custom, he was buried with vast provisions for the
afterlife, which after discovery took a whole decade to fully catalogue. This
was the last tomb of the pharaoh’s discovered and the most well preserved (even
with a couple entrance halls having been robbed before discovery). The collection
has enormous value, estimated at nearly three quarters of a billion dollars
with the innermost coffin and mask alone around 15 million. This amount of
fortune and wealth is so far outside our imagination. At least for me it’s hard
to imagine more than $100 000. Even a residential property in Ottawa averages at about $406 000. The
highest paid CEO in Canada
in 2014, CEO of blackberry made 90 Million. By comparison King Tut’s wealth
seems like unfathomable. However, King Tut was not even close to being one of
the wealthiest or most powerful pharaohs and only reigned briefly. This was the
wealth of Egypt.
Pause. What things would you value highly? Health? Career? Cars? Family?
Friends? A complete Pokémon collection? Pause. Do you value Christ more highly? Would you value suffering for Christ more
highly? Pause.
In our series on Hebrews 11
this is where we will be going today. Throughout this letter to the Hebrew
Christians, as they fall out of favour in the eyes of the Romans, the author
has been encouraging the readers to persevere through challenges and the
temptation to denounce Christ and turn back to Judaism. And the new covenant
which supersedes and is far better than the old one. We see this in verses that
say things like ‘we must pay much closer
attention tp what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.’ Or ‘we desire
each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope
until the end’ or ‘let us hold fast the
confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.’
And this is where chapter 11 fits in. Leading up to it in verse 32 of chapter
10 the author wants the readers to again remember what they have already been
through, what they had gladly chosen, and the hope they are holding onto.
“But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you
endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to
reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the
plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better
possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence,
which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have
done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are
destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”
Pause.
“Faith, that’s a great word,
but a little hard to understand.” It’s something as simple to say as trusting
God, and as amazing in reality as the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen. But what does that really look like and how can
we apply it? Hebrews 11 tries to answer that through the examples of the
saints, the people of old. Each of their stories showing us a way that faith
was lived out, so that we can do the same as we trust God. Today we pick up
where we left off last week in verse 24, Moses having grown up.
Hebrews 11:24-28 “By faith Moses, when he was
grown up, refused 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. By
faith he left Egypt,
not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is
invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the
Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.””
Today we’ll be in verses
24-26, looking at the context of Moses’ faith-led choice, the parallels in
Jesus, the Hebrew church, Paul, and other exhortation and encouragement for us
today to live out that faith.
1. By faith Moses chose to be
part of the people of God.
First is
Moses. In the passage we get 3 things that Moses did by faith which
chronologically includes everything from his birth to the exodus.
As we read
last week in verse 23, Moses’ parents hid Moses for 3 months faithfully obeying
God rather than the Pharaoh. He was placed in a basket in the river, found by
Pharaoh’s daughter, and through God’s provision Moses ended up being nursed by
his own mother and adopted.
There isn’t a lot written about his childhood in the
Bible. We know his mother was his nurse as I just mentioned. In Acts 7 by the
Spirit’s inspiration we see that Moses was well versed and educated in the home
of the Pharaoh. But that’s it. That’s all we get of Moses’ first 40 years.
After that he has grown up and we immediately see him living out the faith
mentioned. His refusal to be called son of the Pharaoh’s daughter, his choice
to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting
pleasures of sin, and him regarding the reproach of Christ as more valuable
than the wealth of Egypt.
From the
beginning of Moses’ adult life we see him choosing to side with the Hebrews.
Let’s read the account in verses 11-15. <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.
He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and
hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were
struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike
your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do
you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then 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.
And he sat down by a well.>
This is a
very strange situation, especially because there’s no context before the event.
Acts 7 says “it came into his heart to
visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And
seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him
by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by
his hand, but they did not understand.” In verse 11 when Moses went out at
the age of 40, at that point he went out to see ‘his brothers’, ‘his people’.
It came into his heart to visit his brothers. The children of Israel. the
people united in their God, faithful creator, provider, who would send the
promised Messiah.
Pause.
Already Moses had an awareness that he was an Israelite. Why would he consider
himself a Hebrew? What would he understand that to mean? We have nothing
definitive to let us know. Pharaoh’s daughter knew he was a Hebrew, and his
mother nursed him. We don’t know how long that relationship went on for or if
it lasted afterwards. We can only imagine that Moses mom had taught him about
who God was and His promises to His people or that Moses had searched for
answers himself of who God is. This God who created the universe. This God who
had called their fathers into a distant land. This God who had saved their
people from a famine. This God who had promised to lead them out of slavery.
This God who had promised that a Messiah was coming to save them from sin and
death, to conquer sin and death. This Messiah who would bruise the serpent’s
head, but have his heel bruised. And all the other stories of God’s
faithfulness to His people through the ages. We don’t know how much of this he
knew. Moses had not seen any of this. Moses had seen Egypt. Moses had seen the wealth of
Pharaoh. He’d have learned to read and write, he’d learn math and poetry. He’d
have seen the abundance and privilege he had been adopted into. As son of
Pharaoh’s daughter the life ahead of him would have been comfortable. Even
without ever becoming the Pharaoh he would have enjoyed every luxury at his
disposal as part of Pharaoh’s household.
However, to
do so he’d have to choose to be called son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He’d have to
forsake his Hebrew heritage. Just because parents are faithful doesn’t
guarantee children will be. Everyone faces this decision at some point in their
lives to make their faith real or to turn away. This I believe is the
importance of the event described with the Egyptian. For, what sounds like the
first time, Moses was able to see the mistreatment of the Hebrews first hand.
Up until now he may have been calling himself one of the people of God while
living in Pharaoh’s house, but now for the first time seeing the reality that
he could no longer live in both Pharaoh’s house and as a Hebrew. The two were
opposed. He’d have to make a decision, to stay in Pharaoh’s house or to be one
of God’s people. It is at this point that his actions speak for his choices.
What we read in Hebrews 11 is that “By
faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused 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.”
From this we see that in making that decision Moses was not simply siding with
the Hebrew ignorantly. He knew the mistreatment of God’s people, he knew the
wealth of the Egyptians was fleeting pleasure, and he was willing to choose to
suffer in the present, as Christ would in the future so that he would be
included in the coming hope and reward.
This is an
incredible reality. As we’ve already briefly discussed, the wealth of Egypt was
massive! Before the time of Moses, just as the visions Joseph interpreted
predicted, the entire land had a severe famine and there was no food in the
land. During that time Egypt
sold grain to the peoples and accumulated vast wealth. So much so that the
Israelites sold themselves into slavery that they would live. The house of
Pharaoh had all the wealth of the land. Based on archeological finds many
believe King Tut was Pharaoh after the Exodus (where the Israelites took much
gold and silver) and as we mentioned before he wasn’t one of the great
pharaohs. Even so his tomb abounded in wealth. Moses could have had so much
more than that. But Moses had confidence: this life wasn’t it; the wealth
buried with the Pharaohs didn’t make it to the afterlife. Although his time on
earth would be lived indulging in all worldly pleasures, as Ecclesiastes puts
it all of those things, money, knowledge, pleasure, power; all is a chasing
after the wind, vanity, meaningless. He would die and he’d have to face his
maker. So Moses chose to suffer with the people of God, looking forward to
Christ, rejecting all the world could give him. Praise God for the faith he
gave Moses to make such a large decision. “Blessed are those who have not seen
and yet believe.” Those who trust God. Those who have faith, assurance of
things hoped for, conviction of things not seen.
Pause. Would
we make the same decision? Would we
value suffering more highly than vast riches, comfort, and a life of pleasure?
Think briefly for a moment of what Moses ended up going through. Instead of a
life of pleasure and comfort he got 40 years as a shepherd, had to stand up to
Pharaoh multiple times, and 40 years in the wilderness overseeing hundreds of
thousands of habitual complainers before he died across from the promised land
never having entered it. Pause.
By faith
Moses considered what it meant to be numbered among the Hebrews, what he’d have
to go through from Egyptians and Pharaoh’s family, what he’d lose, and he chose
to stand up for the Hebrews believing that the hope in God of freedom from
Egypt and the coming messiah was worth more than all that. This example of
faith in loss and difficulty. Choosing God over the world. This is the message
the author of Hebrews is trying to get across in these verses. Within the book
of Hebrews itself we see two other cases of faith being lived out in parallel
ways. The second we find at the beginning of Hebrews 12.
2. By Faith Jesus.
In Hebrews 12:1-3 we read “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder
and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of
God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so
that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” By faith, Jesus chose to come
down from the Father’s side, lowering himself from status as a prince to that
of a baby born in a manger, he chose to be mistreated, he chose to fix his eyes
on God’s purposes, even above his own desire.
Jesus was tempted just as Moses to live a life of comfort
and pleasure. When tempted in the wilderness the devil tempted Jesus to use his
status as Son of God to satisfy his own hunger and to gain his own glory. The
devil also offered to give him the nations if he’d worship him. Jesus was
tempted to not go to the cross, but just become the king of the Jews. And even
while he was praying on the Mount of Olives “"My Father, if it is possible, let
this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." In each
case he was tempted to have comfort, security, fame. He wouldn’t have to
suffer. Instead throughout his 33 years of life Jesus chose to be homeless, to
suffer the attacks and ridicule of Pharisees, officials, family, betrayal by
friends, and even separation from the Father as He died on a cross so that the
promises of God would come to completion. In bruising the serpent’s head his
heel was bruised. In overcoming sin and death, he died on a tree. This is the
reproach of Christ mentioned in verse 26 in Hebrews 11. The disapproval,
disappointment, the suffering from others. Moses didn’t suffer for Christ, but
suffered similarly to what Jesus would suffer. While holding on to the reward
from God more valuable than many riches.
John 1:10-12
“[Jesus] was in the world, and the world
was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and
his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
By faith Jesus chose suffering over worldly treasure for
the sake of God’s promises. He chose to empty himself, suffer, die on a cross,
and rise again for the purposes of God to be fulfilled, and the good news to go
to the nations, looking forward to the day where people from every nation tribe
and tongue would worship before the throne of God above; including the Hebrew
church this letter was sent to. They are the third party we see living out this
faith.
3. By Faith the Hebrews
The church had already been showing their faith as we saw
in chapter 10 “recall the former days
when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes
being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in
prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you
knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore
do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need
of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what
is promised.” (just on the screen)
The Hebrew church had heard the news of Jesus dying on
the cross for them, God gave them faith to turn from the law which can never
save to Christ and the grace that could be found in him alone. After coming to
faith they suffered; endured a hard struggle. They were publicly exposed to
reproach and affliction (there is the word reproach again). They heard
disapproval and disappointment from those around them through their words and
actions, just as Christ did. They were likely kicked out of families and
synagogues. They had compassion on those imprisoned and joyfully accepted loss
of worldly treasures for the better and abiding treasure.
By faith the Hebrew church had chosen affliction and
plundering for the reward found in God’s promises. He gave them faith to gladly
choose to do so losing much and partaking in the reproaches Christ endured. And
the author was encouraging them to continue to do so even as further suffering
may come. Christ is better than anything the world could offer and that there
was nothing to turn back to. By faith the Hebrew church chose to be called
Christians rather than Jews, to suffer for the better and abiding possessions
found in God and His promises. The last example I will mention today that is
found in the Bible which is so similar to these others is that of Paul.
4. By Faith Paul
Paul was Phil 3:4-11 “circumcised
on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the
church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” And that is an
astounding resume. His heritage was there. He’d followed the law to a tee and
had even been trained under famous teachers. He was on the front line of
activism and fighting to protect his faith from cults. He had it all. But he
continues: “whatever gain I had, I
counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss
because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all
things and count them as rubbish, in
order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of
my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means
possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Paul counted it all
as loss. Paul was not scared to be called a Christian. He valued sharing in
Christ’s resurrection life as more valuable than all he’d worked for or any
suffering. He valued knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ as more valuable than
being known by many and being famed by other Pharisees and teachers.
He’d travel
through Asia sharing Christ, being stoned,
hated, shipwrecked, whipped. And instead of backing down, he’d go to Rome, warned again and
again by prophets and the Spirit that he’d end up in prison. He’d choose
imprisonment that he’d be able to share the gospel. Writing to the church in
Philippi he says Phil 1:12-14 “I want you
to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance
the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and
to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers,
having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear.” He goes on rejoicing that no matter the
reason Christ is proclaimed and pens those famous words as he hopes “that with full courage now as always Christ
will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is
Christ, and to die is gain.”
By faith
Paul chose to count all as loss for the sake of knowing Christ and that no
matter what he would work for others to grow in their faith through the
preaching of the gospel.
And that message, the good news of Christ is why we are
here today. In the same way as the Hebrew church was encouraged to persevere
and choose suffering over temporary comfort, so we too, and there’s much in the
Bible that talks about this encouraging us to likewise live by faith.
5. Live By Faith
Jesus was not afraid of telling hard truths. While he was
here he rebuked, he told parables, he helped us know God, and he told us that
there will be difficulties. He said Matt 10:22 “you will be hated by all for my
name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Mark 10:29-30 “Jesus
said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or
sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the
gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time … with
persecutions, and in the age to come eternal
life.” Matt 6:19-21 ““Do not lay up
for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where
thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.” Luke 9:23-25 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after
me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will
save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and
loses or forfeits himself?” Matt 10:32-33 “everyone who confesses Me before
men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever
denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
Loss of house, family, lands,
treasures and possessions, denial of self, persecution. Being a Christian isn’t
a life of ease and is something I need to remember more. Our brothers and
sisters around the world daily choose to suffer that they might receive greater
things. They gladly leave the land of their ancestors. They suffer
imprisonment, poverty, death. Their eyes are fixed on greater things. Treasures
in Heaven. Eternal life. A life lost for the sake of God that it might be saved.
Children of God. Heirs of the Kingdom
of Heaven.
Jesus also said Matt 5:10
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven.” Which he describes as such: Matt13:44 “The kingdom of
heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.
Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Pause.
What would you lose or suffer
to stand as a Christian and inherit the kingdom of heaven? Would you lose
friends? Would you turn down promotions? Would you lose favour in our culture?
Would you lose a life of pleasure, comfort, fame? Would you choose to put
yourself into those situations for the sake of the gospel? Pause.
The author of Proverbs
writes: Proverbs 16:8 “Better is a little with righteousness than great
revenues with injustice.” David in the midst of trouble with people pursuing
him to kill him: Psalm 63:3 “Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.” James writes: James 4:4; 1:12 “Blessed is the man who
remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive
the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” Paul writes:
2 Tim 3:12 “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be
persecuted”. And in another letter: Romans 8:12-19 “So then, brothers, … if you
live according to the flesh you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to
fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by
whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit
that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and
fellow heirs with Christ, provided we
suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. // For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager
longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”
These sentiments, a cheerful
loss of all that they might have Christ, a glorying in the all surpassing
greatness of knowing God and being found in Him, a daily obedience to turn our
focus to Christ and value His love higher than anything the world could offer.
This is echoed throughout the Bible, through the lives of saints through the
ages, through the testimonies of each of His children today in this room and on
the other side of the globe.
Pause.
By faith Moses, Jesus, the
Hebrew church, Paul, and us today; each of us have had to leave things behind
and suffer in standing as a Christian. All that the world could offer,
everything: fame, power, pleasure, comfort, security, family, the wealth of
Egypt; all of it is worth less than knowing Christ and being found in Him even
if it means suffering. Pause. What have you been valuing higher than Christ?
Have you ever asked God to forgive you for placing things higher than Him and chasing
after your own desires while ignoring Him? Christ was willing to die on a cross
that you would be able to know God. If you’re here today and have never asked
for that forgiveness, I encourage you today to seek more the answers to these
questions. I pray He would help us to understand the reality of those
statements and give us faith to stand with His people.
As I’ve been saying those
things if you call yourself a Christian, but are still valuing other things
higher, I hope the Spirit has been convicting and drawing you back to Him.
God’s grace is greater. Peter the apostle said he would never denounce Christ even
if he had to die. Peter followed Christ to the house of the high priest, but
denied Him three times to the men and women there. (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark
14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-27) “I do not know him” “I am not ‘one of
them’” “I do not know what you are talking about”. Peter wept bitterly as he
realized his denial. For Moses it was 40 years before he lived out his faith as
one of the people of God. They had chances to repent and were restored. Hebrew
3:12-15 “Take care, brothers, lest there
be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the
living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,”
that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come
to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in
the rebellion.”” Esau traded his birthright for a single meal and was
rejected with no chance to repent, even seeking it with tears. If you hear his
voice, do not harden your hearts. Repent, turn to Him, and by faith live in His
promises today.
A final word for us. In the
letter to the churches of Phillipi while in prison for the sake of the gospel
Paul by the inspiration of the Spirit wrote the following to encourage them in
their partnership in the gospel.
Phil 1:29-2:18 “For it has been granted to you that for the
sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any
comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full
accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look
not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this
mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in
the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and
bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
…
Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon
the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”
He is no fool who gives up
what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose - Jim Elliot [36:11]
Let’s pray.
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