Moses: The Choices of Faith | Sermon by Tony Evans

[Music] hello everyone this is dr tony evans with the urban alternative and i'm excited to welcome you to join us on a journey a journey through hebrews 11 it's known as the hall of faith where men and women discovered what god can do when god's people learn to live walk and act by faith the beautiful thing is it's not just about them it's about us as the author of hebrews writes to new testament believers that's who we are about how the lives of old testament saints who learn to live by faith should challenge and affect our lives as we live by faith so we're excited to welcome you on this journey it's going to be an exciting trip we're going to learn a lot most importantly we're going to be transformed by the truth what it means to be a kingdom hero who lives by faith [Music] we make decisions every day some are minor decisions they really don't matter one way or the other others are medium decisions they matter somewhat others are massive decisions they carry a great deal of weight i'm sure we've all made decisions we wish we didn't make some we're glad we did make some we wish we could take back because it was just a bad choice it wasn't a good decision when it comes to living by faith it will involve choice you will have to choose when it comes to living by faith who you're going to believe and who you're going to obey who you're going to follow based on that belief you're going to have to make a choice and that is what we face in hebrews chapter 11 verses 23 to 28. moses the choices of faith verse 23 by faith moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's eating of course the author of hebrews is talking about the fact that when moses was born pharaoh made an edict that all the male children under two were to be slain the word came to the hebrews that their baby boys under two were to be slain because pharaoh did not want to see the continued proliferation of the israelites and so he made this edict but we learned in verse 23 by faith and then he talks about moses's mother and father amram his father and jochebed his mother and that they made a decision in spite of the law of the land about the killing of the kids that because their child was a beautiful child we are not going to be afraid of the king's edict and they made their decision about moses by faith moses was born into a faith-filled home if you want your children to have faith they need to see faith and the context of a faith-filled home didn't show up when his mama and daddy were at church it showed up when the laws of the land were against their family structure it said the king made an edict kill all of these babies but by faith because their child was beautiful it says they were not terrified by the king's edict now the question is what was it about the way this child looked beautiful child that made them so confident in god in luke chapter 7 verse 20 says moses was born to his parents and they saw this child was lovely in god's sight acts 7 20. so when it talks about him being beautiful they're not merely talking about what he looked like they were talking about god's perception of the child he was lovely in god's sight they looked at baby moses and because it was a faith-filled family they said god has a purpose for this child god thinks highly of this child they chose to believe god's plan for their children in spite of what the culture was saying doing and legalizing because it was the king's edict moses was born in a time of abortion infanticide secularism and they had to raise that let me tell you what they didn't say it's so bad out here we not even gonna have children it's so bad in here i'm afraid to bring children into this bad world they said in spite of how bad the culture is god has a plan for this pregnancy god has a plan for this birth and we're not going to be afraid about how bad it is out there because we know who we believe in here up in here up in here so moses was born into a faith environment in fact it was only three months old when they had to kiss him goodbye most of us as parents don't have to kiss our babies goodbye at three months old but when they graduate from high school you may have to kiss them goodbye they're going to college going to the army going to a career that's why you want to make sure you brand them with the faith before you have to kiss them goodbye and you want to brand them with the faith as early as possible so that when they leave and the secular world tries to eat them up you've given them enough faith for them to survive so they put their baby boy as the book of exodus opens up and tells us they put their baby boy in a little basket and sent him down the nile river pharaoh's daughter saw him pharaoh's daughter saw he was a hebrew how did pharaoh's daughter seeing a new baby in a basket know he was a hebrew because the boy was circumcised only the jews circumcised their boys the egyptians didn't circumcise their sons jewish boys were circumcised on the a day circumcision was a sign that i belong to god and i'm under god's rule i'm under god's covenant by the way those of you who know the story from exodus the first few chapters you'll see this story uh miriam moses big sister when the parents pushed the push the little crib so to speak the basket uh down the uh the nile river she ran along the bank and she saw the daughter of pharaoh pick up pick it up and take it home she says to the daughter pharaoh hey don't you need a nursemaid to help you take care of you need a night nurse a day nurse somebody help you take care of him yeah yeah i'm gonna need a nurse for this baby hold on i'll be right back okay hey mama uh pharaoh daughter needs a nurse because she just picked up my baby brother your son moses from the river why don't you apply for the job she goes down and applies for the job she's hired by pharaoh's daughter so she getting paid to raise her own baby guess what because you'll never discover what god can do until you trust him to do it and he can do it in ways that will blow your mind when he sees your faith by faith it says but watch this now verse 24 by faith moses when he had grown up refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of god than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin considering the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures of egypt for he was looking to the reward let me tell you the second thing faith does biblical faith chooses not only god's plan over the culture's plan it chooses god's priorities it chooses god's priorities it says that when moses had grown up he became an adult when moses grew up he refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter why did it take moses 40 years to make this decision because he's caught between two worlds see his mama is raising him acts chapter 7 says his mother nurtured him so his mother's whispering in his ear hey you belong to god you're not an egyptian you are hebrew you belong to god you're the offspring of abraham isaac and jacob you're part of god's divine covenant to israel but then he got over here he got the daughter of pharaoh saying hey hey come on now you come on i want to make you i'm going to be the smartest the richest the most powerful man in the world that's what i have in store for you so moses for 40 years is being told by two different mothers he's being pulled in two different ways and it took him to the age 40 to get right but at the age 40 it says he made a choice and he refused i will no longer be known as an egyptian i am now going to be known for what i truly am i belong to the people of god verse 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of god than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin you see the word verse 25 choosing because faith demands a choice he made a choice many of us have not yet made the choice many have but many have not made the choice you're still dancing between two realities i'm a ill treatment because you associate with your faith and your faith governs your decisions so i don't do that because i'm a christian i can't do that because i'm a follower of christ that's where i take my stand and i know there may be repercussions that's why that first word in the next verse is so important because the first word in verse 26 says considering the reproach of christ considering means to think it through carefully he looked at the pros and cons and when he looked at the pros and cons he said instead of enjoying watch this the pleasures of sin for a season now he tells you two things about sin first of all he says sin is fun okay and anybody who doesn't think sin is fun hasn't sinned right yet but he says the second thing about sin he says while it is sin is fun it's also seasonal he called it the passing pleasures of sin it's seasonal he made a decision that it's a lot of fun being the son of pharaoh's daughter and if i go over here and hang out with god's way god's word and god's people i'm gonna be ill-treated like they are i looked at the pros i looked at the cons i looked at the pros i looked at the cons and moses at age 40 says i have decided that i am no longer going to be identified with pharaoh's daughter as the heir apparent to the throne of egypt i have now decided at 40 years old i am going to cast my lot whatever the repercussions are with the people of god now the question is why make that decision if i know i'm going to get mistreated you know buked and scorned talked about showings you born if i if i know that there could be negative repercussions why risk it that's the question because he says in verse 26 considering the reproach reproach means the shame the criticism to bear the reproach means to associate with jesus christ and your faith and understand that that will bring with it some shame that is shame of rejection like jesus was rejected so why do it watch this now considering verse 26 the reproach of christ greater riches than the treasures of egypt for he was looking to the reward watch this now so there was a motivation factor here it wasn't just so he was so spiritual you know he thought this thing through and what he discovered was the payoff with christ is better than the payoff with the world and he calls it a reward now what do you get a reward for you get a reward for something you do something you do rewards you get a reward at work or reward for winning a race you get a reward because of a performance of some type he said if i do this thing right even though i'm really starting it full time at 40. even if i do this thing right i'm gonna wind up richer than i would if i just settle for what the world has to offer me in egypt so the question is what's the reward now your first thought may be heaven and heaven definitely is a reward because the bible says he's going to reward us for our faithfulness down here but i don't think that's the reward he's talking about although that's a true statement who's raising him his mother who's whispering in his ear his mother what is his mother telling him about his circumcision because that's the thing that sets him apart mo let me give you a little history boy um generations ago our forefather named abraham god told him to circumcise his son and he circumcised his son because god made this agreement with him this agreement with your forefather abraham said that god is going to build a land and a nation and he's going to give a promised land and this promised land is going to be for his people and god is going to lead his people into the promised land and boy let me tell you something um the reason why god let you get this edumacation in the secular environment being raised by egypt learning all this highfalutin stuff you learning is cause guess what he wants you to lead him there now just so you know i didn't make that up acts chapter 7 when stephen is reviewing moses history says and moses knowing that god had called him to deliver israel so when moses mother was telling him about moses playing for his life and said and god transferred that that covenant from abraham to isaac to jacob and we just transferred it to you because god's got this thing out there he wants to do to you with you through you and for you and this thing is so big boy you gonna be leading a whole nation don't you settle for that junk in egypt and miss out on the reward of god's promise you can fall so in love with the world that you miss out on god's plan for your life you can fall so in love with the secular society that you can die with money in the bank you can dial with your name order on a big plaque you can die with a big house and a nice car and a wasted life because you never got around to experiencing god's plan because you and i were too in love with egypt to make the decision that the reward of god is greater than the treasures of men nothing wrong with having the car the house or the job or the money in and of itself unless you had to give up god to get in unless you had to hide your faith under a bushel to get it he says that he made the decision and he made the decision because he knew that it was going to be worth it see but unless you believe that you won't make the decision you'll hang out with the world because you don't buy the fact that to fully give myself to god means i lose you will be mistreated but being mistreated while you win he comes to another choice wow verse 27 by faith he left egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is unseen i need to read verse 27 again by faith he left egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is unseen he had faith in choosing god's presence all right moses made a graphic mistake he killed an egyptian outside of god's will the reason you need to know that is because most of us have made mistakes that is operated outside of god's will he blew it and operated independently of god and had to run for his life so on the one hand he refused that was a good side on the other hand he was presumptuous that was the bad side so he had a good and a bad thing working both but both he was trying to do god's will because it says in acts 7 he thought that that the folks would look at him as their deliverer so so he's trying to do good but he winds up doing bad even though he made the commitment so this imperfect man watch this says he saw that which was unseen he saw that which was unseen he saw something you couldn't see so when did he see something you can't see at the burning bush because it says he saw him who you can't see so he saw god but god is invisible so you can't see god so he saw the one you can't see now watch this don't miss this in verse 27 it says he saw him watch this don't miss this after he endured so there was a gap between his refusal and his seeing and the gap between his refusal to his seeing was endurance how long did he endure 40 years it took him 40 years to make the decision and he had to go through a 40-year process of enduring before he got to see the unseen why because god was getting him ready for what he was getting ready to see let's go back to the story in the book of exodus moses is leading the sheep and it says while he was leading his sheep because now he's no longer in egypt he's running for his life he's leading the sheep and it says he's leading his sheep in the mountain of god so he's leading his sheep in an environment where god is while leading his sheep in an environment where god is he looks up and he sees a bush on fire that's not being consumed that blows his mind because the leaves are not burning the land the branches aren't falling off yet the branch is engulfed with flame so he says to himself self you got to check this out because you didn't seen a lot of fires in the wilderness you've never seen nothing like this where the bush is on fire the leaves are still green the branches are not burning he said let me turn aside and see this strange thing when he turned aside to see the bush that would not burn a voice came from outside of the bush saying moses moses take off your shoes you're on holy ground oh i love this take off your shoes why god take off my shoes cause right now there is a gap between the bottom of your foot and the ground so you too high that one that one half inch sole right there has got you too elevated right now i'm here take off your shoes and touch the dirt because right now the creature is in front of the creator so you go all the way down to planet earth because i'm here now and he doesn't say y'all he says moses he gets a personal word from god after he's refused after he's endured he gets a personal word from god and what's the personal word from god he says i want you go tell pharaoh let my people go now is the time for me to give you a special word with your name on it because i have a special purpose because you've gone through the process to make yourself available to me let me tell you how you know when god is ready to talk to you when he creates a situation in your life that doesn't make sense see it doesn't make sense to have a bush that's not on fire that's a contradiction when god creates something in your life that makes absolutely no sense don't try to figure it out you're not supposed to you're just supposed to get as close to it as you can so you can hear when god starts calling your name even though it makes absolutely no sense our time is up finally verse 28. [Applause] by faith he kept the passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them this is the passover this is the event that they would never forget god said i'm going to kill every firstborn in every home of the egyptians and every firstborn animal who belongs to any egyptian i'm going to send the death angel you tell all my people to paint the blood of a lamb on the door and when my deaf angel sees the blood i will pass over you i'm going to skip you that's why those of us who accept the christ are going to heaven because when god looks at me and you he sees the blood of jesus we've accepted the blood of jesus christ as our sin bearer and now have a passport to heaven when you have a passport that gives you entrance into another country my passport is the blood of jesus christ that gives me entrance into eternal life it ought to be your passport too and if you don't have a passport we're printing them today for free and if you will come to jesus christ for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life your passport is stabbed by his blood entrance to heaven is guaranteed and so the question today is what you're going to choose will you choose the risk of faith because faith is risky because often what faith asked for you've never tried before so that's a risk the question is is jesus christ worth betting on [Music] so [Music] life is full of choices every day we have to make decisions we've all known what it is to make bad ones and good ones but it's always best to make better ones when we learn how to make choices from god's perspective then we don't only choose we choose wisely and whenever you make wise choices you make the best possible choices for your life [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Tony Evans

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Keywords: sermons, faith sermon, Tony Evans sermons, Moses, powerful sermon, Moses sermon, choices sermon

Id: YISUSg5hZ60

Length: 27min 40sec (1660 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 12 2021