All right. Beautiful singing! I love singing those old Christmas hymns and singing them in the old traditional ways. So thank you, Adam and team, for helping us lead in song.
Let me mention that my name is Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here. I’m glad you’re with us this morning. If you have a Bible with you, open up to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. We’re going to continue in our study of Hebrews today. Our text study is going to be verses 23 through 28 of Hebrews 11. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles available. It’s on page 585. So, Hebrews 11, verses 23 to 28. Let me read those verses, and then I will pray, and then we will get to work. This is what the Word says:
“By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith, Moses, when he had 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.”
That’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me?
Lord, we thank you for your Word. We know it’s true; we know it’s powerful. And we know that through your Word, the God of Heaven, of all eternity, speaks. So, Lord, that’s why we are here this morning. We want to hear you speak through your Word, even through the folly of my preaching. Would you please speak, Lord? Please give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This morning, as we gather together, many of you know we are taking up our yearly missions offering, where 100% of the offering that comes in today will be going to missions. Within that, 25% of it will be going to Robert and Lindsay Smith, who are church planting in Tennessee. If you’re not familiar with Robert and Lindsay, they were actually part of Red Village in some of the early days, where he did an internship with us. The church that they’re planting in Tennessee is the one where our youth went on the summer mission trip this last year, which was a great trip. That church actually shares the same anniversary weekend as we do. So, if you were with us last week, you celebrated our 14th year as a church. They celebrated their third year as a church last week. Some of the money that we bring in today will be going to them.
Then, 25% will be going to Andrew and Elizabeth, who we started out this service praying for, and who are working overseas in a location that’s somewhat sensitive for us to talk about due to different forms of persecution that can come their way where they’re serving. Rob gave a little bit of information, but if you’re not familiar with Andrew and Elizabeth, let me share a bit. Before they were married, Andrew was also part of the church in the earliest days. In fact, he was part of the first group of members who signed our membership book 14 years ago. And, as Rob mentioned earlier, Angela led our music in the beginning, so Andrew is a huge part of our early days. After he moved out of Madison, that’s where he and Elizabeth met. Elizabeth is a very sweet, very kind lady. They got married, have children, and have been overseas for three years. Some of the money that we bring in today will also be going to them—25%.
Then the remaining 50% will go into what’s called the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, which is an offering that takes place through the International Mission Board, which is one of the largest, if not the largest, mission board in the world. All the money collected for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering will go to missions. This massive offering that churches all over the world partake in has a yearly goal of about $200 million. It’s a significant offering that helps care for over 3,000 missionaries.
Now, if you’re not familiar with the name Lottie Moon, let me tell you just a little bit about her. Lottie Moon lived in the 1800s. She became a Christian in her early 20s and immediately after her conversion, she had a desire to share the message of Jesus with those who had yet to believe. This desire continued to build and grow. Over time, it led Lottie to join her sister, who was also a Christian, to do mission work in China. Lottie joined her sister there and took up a job teaching at an all-girls school, which was very much connected to the focus of her mission work as Lottie ministered to girls and women in China. The various cultural practices made it pretty hard to reach females in society, particularly at that time.
I don’t have time to share all of Lottie Moon’s story with you, so let me encourage you to look her up and read about her on your own. If you’re looking for a biography to read over Christmas or New Year’s, Lottie Moon’s story could be a real encouragement to you.
Though I can’t share everything about Lottie Moon, let me share a few things she was famous for. First, she was famous for her height—or lack thereof. She was listed as 4 feet 3 inches tall. At the seminary I attended, they actually have one of her chairs on display that was built to fit her small stature.
Second, she was famous for her struggles with loneliness. She served for a long time in China—39 years. In those 39 long years, she had some really difficult things to endure: sickness, turmoil with other missionaries, and often she suffered from the lack of having others to labor alongside her, ministering in isolation and loneliness. This loneliness was perhaps the hardest thing for her to endure in those 39 years. She famously wrote home, telling those back in the States how she would pray and pray that no missionary would ever be as lonely as she was.
By the way, kind of on a side note to that, this battle of loneliness is not just one that Lottie would have battled. I think at different times, all of our missionaries can fight that same battle, where they can feel isolated and lack access to Christian community like we do—Christian community that we probably take too much for granted. If you’re looking for something else to do over Christmas or New Year’s, or maybe to set some new patterns for the New Year, let me encourage you to reach out to our missionaries. If you need help doing that, just please talk to me. I would gladly connect you to our missionaries.
One more thing: third, Lottie was famous for her boldness and courage for the cause of Jesus Christ. She was small in stature, but large in courage. There are stories of Lottie Moon courageously putting herself in very difficult, challenging situations with the hopes of making much of Christ—the one she deeply loved and wanted others to know and experience.
I share this with you today to provide some background on the missions offering we are about to take up, but I want to highlight the boldness and courage of Lottie Moon to set us up for our text today, which continues the theme of living by faith. This theme has been central in our study of different characters from the Old Testament who lived by faith. As we continue this theme of living by faith today, we will see how important it is to have courage. Courage is actually an ingredient of faith.
To be honest, until this week, I hadn’t taken much time to think about how important it is to have courage if we’re going to live by faith. In the past, I’ve thought of different ingredients like trust and belief as essential to faith. The definition of faith we looked at in verse one of chapter 11 says faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Assurance, hope, and conviction—these are ingredients of faith. But as I mentioned, until this last week, I hadn’t taken much time to consider how courage is also baked in. Courage is what we need if we’re going to live by faith and take up a cross to follow Jesus Christ.
Today, as we continue in our study, the Old Testament character we will focus on is Moses and the courage of his parents. Before we look through the passage, let me remind you that Moses is someone we have discussed a number of times already in our study of Hebrews. So, by way of reminder, let me highlight some things we have already covered regarding Moses in the book of Hebrews.
In chapter 3, several months back, we looked at how the writer of Hebrews spoke about Moses as the par excellence of the Old Testament. Moses was faithful in all of God’s house. He was the one who led God’s people out of Egypt, where they were held in the bondage of slavery, as you can read about in the book of Exodus. We talked about this in more detail in today’s sermon. Hebrews 3 and 4 remind us that Moses led God’s people out of Egypt on a journey through the wilderness toward the promised land, which we learned was a land of rest—a land that was promised to a man named Abraham. Moses led God’s people to the promised land, and the writer of Hebrews reminds us how hard-hearted God’s people were during that journey, resulting in them wandering in the wilderness because of their rebellion. They were judged for their rebellion and were not allowed to enter the promised land. It would be the generation after them, led by a man named Joshua, who would enter it.
Fast-forwarding in our study to Hebrews 8, which also speaks about Moses, we learned how God gave instructions to Moses, including building the tabernacle, which was a man-made tent where the presence of God would dwell with his people as they wandered in the wilderness. We also learned how God gave instructions to Moses through the Old Testament law, which was a covenant God made with his people. A covenant in which God declared that he would be their God and they would be his people, promising to obey him and his law. One of the things we discussed in the past is how this was a bilateral covenant, where each side had agreements. God had agreements, and God’s people had agreements. If either side broke their end of the covenant, the entire covenant would be null and void. However, even though God’s people continued to break their end of the agreement by breaking the Old Testament law, we read in Hebrews how God made provisions for them through a sacrificial system, where priests administered sacrifices brought on because of sin—the sin of breaking the covenant. This included a yearly sacrifice in the most holy room inside the tabernacle. Yet despite this provision, the sacrificial system was never going to be enough. It had faults; it could never make whole the covenant that God’s people broke when they broke the law. We learned that the blood of bulls and goats was not enough to fully take away sin and make us righteous before God. This is why, multiple times in the letter of Hebrews, we see that we needed a new covenant.
Thankfully, a new covenant was given to us—one that Christ himself would usher in, which would be a better covenant. This covenant was not a bilateral covenant like the one Moses signed that was established during the Exodus and had faults. Rather, this new covenant is a unilateral covenant where the entirety of the covenant rests upon the Lord and his promises to his people. In this new covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ proved to be the better and true high priest who would offer up a better sacrifice, which was himself. The Lord Jesus Christ died for his people, shedding his blood, which is able to provide forgiveness of sin and make us righteous before God. This righteousness does not come from ourselves but comes by faith—faith in Christ. In this new and better covenant, the righteousness of Christ by faith will be counted as our righteousness. We will talk more about this at the end, but this is a bit of a reminder of what we’ve already worked through in the letter of Hebrews concerning Moses and his ministry during the Exodus and the giving of the Old Covenant.
Today, as we look back at Moses, we will examine more of his backstory—the backstory that led up to his ministry of the Exodus and the Old Covenant, which we will see is filled with courage. Courage is at the center of our text today. Please look back with me again at verse 23. If you are visiting with us, I will just walk us back through the text, so please keep your Bible open.
Verse 23 says this: “By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”
Now, just a few things here. First, the faith I spoke about in verse 23 refers to the faith of Moses’ parents. They are the ones who acted in faith as they hid their baby boy. Second, the hiding of Moses and the king’s edict refer to a story found in Exodus chapter 2. To set the stage for Exodus 2, let me pick up where we left off in our study of Hebrews last week. Remember how we left off last week? Great people came out of the family of Abraham through a man named Joseph, who became second in command in Egypt. God used Joseph to rise to a position of power in Egypt, which helped save the family of Jacob, who was Abraham’s grandson. Joseph’s father, Jacob, and his family then dwelled in Egypt. This was not only a saving of Jacob’s family but also a fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham about an offspring that would bless all the earth.
As God providentially placed Jacob’s family in Egypt through Joseph, time went by, and this family continued to grow in number. Eventually, Joseph died, and a new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph. This new king saw how large the family of Jacob had become and viewed them as a military threat—one that he feared might someday rise against him. To maintain his power and control, this new king did two major things—two awful, evil things. First, he put Israel into slavery, oppressing them into forced labor. However, as the Egyptians oppressed Israel, they continued to be fruitful and multiply. This led to the second major action he took—he created an edict that all babies born to Israelite families were to be killed by being tossed into the Nile River. You can read more about this in Exodus 1.
Then back to Exodus 2, we read about a couple from the family of Levi who gave birth to a son—a beautiful child. Because they were not afraid of the king or his edict, they did not want to kill the boy. For three months, they somehow managed to keep this child hidden. However, as the child reached three months, they could no longer hide him. Rather than throwing the child into the Nile to die, this couple placed the child in a basket and floated him down the Nile, hoping that God would protect him and lead him to a place where he could live. In a sweet, perhaps ironic providence, the Lord directed the basket, with the child, right to the daughter of Pharaoh—the very Pharaoh who issued the edict of death. When Pharaoh’s daughter found the child, she didn’t throw him into the Nile to die. Instead, she pulled him out of the Nile and adopted him as her own, naming him Moses, which sounds like the phrase “to draw out,” referring to how she drew him out from the watery grave of the Nile.
Can you imagine how stressful that entire situation must have been for Moses’ parents? Just think about the stress of carrying the child, making the decision of how the child could live instead of die, trying to keep everything as private as possible, not wanting the word to get out, and attempting to keep the child hidden for three months. Babies are not exactly easy to keep quiet! You can imagine how difficult and stressful this season must have been for the parents as they made this decision that was in the best interest of their child. If they were found out, not only would the child have been murdered by Pharaoh, but it seems likely the parents would have been murdered as well. Yet, in spite of the grave consequences of being caught, by faith, the parents of Moses did what was best. They honored the Lord, and they did what was best for their child. They kept him hidden, not being afraid of the king’s edict. Church, that’s a lot of courage. That’s a lot of trust—a lot of courage in the Lord. They were courageously putting their lives and their family into God’s hands, trusting the Lord, regardless of the outcome. This wasn’t some bit of fake courage; this is real courage being put on display by the parents of Moses.
Let’s keep going. This real courage that Moses’ parents had is mirrored in Moses himself. In verse 24, we see this: “By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
Just as a reminder, “Pharaoh’s daughter” is the one who pulled him out of the Nile. Verse 25 continues: “Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”
Here we see that at some point along the way, Moses caught wind of the fact that he was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, but that his birth parents were Hebrews—part of the family of Israel. We don’t know exactly when Moses learned this information about his true birth parents, but we see in the text that by the time he had grown up, this information grabbed hold of his heart to the point where he was willing to leave all the luxuries of Egypt behind, luxuries he had enjoyed his entire life since being drawn out of the Nile.
By faith, he left all the luxuries and comforts to join his birth family, which, like the rest of the Hebrew people, subjected him to mistreatment. In the book of Exodus, we see he experienced incredible mistreatment. By faith, Moses left the best this life could offer in Egypt to enter into some of the worst this life can offer as a slave. The text tells us that as the Lord grabbed hold of Moses’ heart, he chose to be mistreated and left the fleeting pleasures of sin, doing so in verse 26 by considering, believing, and trusting that the reproach of Christ was greater than all the wealth and treasures of Egypt. Moses was looking forward to the greater reward that was to come.
A few things to note here: First, notice that Moses’ faith was a faith in God’s promises—promises that were still yet to come. This is something we keep circling back to in our study, but I want to emphasize it again today because it is essential. Moses had faith in the promises of God—promises given to his people, particularly the promise of a Christ who was to come—the offspring of Abraham, the Christ who came much later, long after Moses had passed away. Yet, that is where Moses had his sights set: on the promised Christ.
But Moses didn’t just have his sights set on the promised Christ; he also had his sights set on the greater reward that was still to come, which ultimately is found in the eternal promised land in heavenly places. When we walk by faith, that is what we are doing—we are putting our trust in God and in the promises he has given to us. We are trusting in Him. We are trusting in His Word more than we are trusting ourselves or the current situations we find ourselves in, which for Moses included the difficult circumstances of being mistreated.
Second, note again that Moses’ faith was taking him toward that which was better—toward that which was superior. He left the treasures of Egypt and the fleeting pleasures of sin to seek that which was better: the greater wealth and the greater treasure of having Christ. The reward of Christ and the promised land that is to come is greater and better. This is also something we’ve been circling around throughout this study. When we get to chapter 11, friends, when we live by faith, we are seeking that which is better—who is greater, the one who desires his people to have Him, to have the peace and joy He gives, which is so much better and superior. Our God is not a God who is a killjoy. Rather, He is the one who wants the best for us, which is Himself. By faith, we seek the greatest treasure.
In our text, this is what Moses was after. By faith, that is what we must be after as well: that which is better. Third, verses 25 through 26 highlight the theme of the sermon. This was an act of courage by Moses. Think about how easy it would have been for Moses to learn about his past and perhaps even find out about the promises of God concerning Christ, and then just sit on them. He could have tried to figure out ways to honor his past while keeping all the treasures of Egypt at his disposal. Think how easy it would have been for Moses just to stay quiet about it all—not wanting to rock the boat, not wanting to compromise the comforts he enjoyed from Egypt. Yet, in our text, in an act of faith and courage, Moses clearly spoke up. He spoke up in ways that led him to leave everything behind, knowing he would be mistreated for doing so. Friends, there is so much courage involved in the faith of Moses. In verses 25 through 26, we know this: If he were a coward, he would have stayed silent. By faith, with courage, he spoke up.
Let’s keep going with verse 27: “By faith, Moses left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”
Let’s pause here for a moment. First, Moses actually left Egypt twice. The first time, as recorded in Exodus 2, was after Moses struck down and killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Moses fled to a place called Midian, which is a pretty far distance from Egypt, on the other side of the Arabian peninsula. For 40 years, Moses lived there as he toiled in obscurity as a shepherd. That was his first time leaving Egypt.
The second leaving of Egypt took place during the Exodus, when God used Moses to deliver his people from the bondage of slavery and put them on a journey to the promised land. Perhaps the question we should ask here is: Which leaving of Egypt is the author referring to? Based on the chronology of the passages, it seems likely that the leaving of Egypt refers to the first time Moses left when he went to Midian, fleeing from Pharaoh, who no doubt would have gravely punished Moses for killing the Egyptian.
Secondly, as Exodus 2 speaks about Moses fleeing Egypt, it states that Moses was afraid of Pharaoh. However, in our text in Hebrews, we read that he was not afraid of the anger of the king. This might feel like a contradiction between Exodus and Hebrews. Was Moses afraid or was he not afraid? However, I don’t think this is a contradiction. It actually points out that two things can be true at the same time. In Exodus 2, it stresses one thing, whereas Hebrews 11 stresses the other. Both can be true: Yes, Moses was afraid of what Pharaoh could do. I’m sure his heart was racing; he had sweat running down his face. He had real fear and concern about what Pharaoh might do to him for killing the Egyptian. But even though Moses had real fear of Pharaoh, a real concern about what might happen, he also had a greater fear of the Lord—a fear that led him by faith to leave Egypt and embark on a dangerous, long trip to the distant land of Midian.
To further explain this, let me read what the Pillar Commentary on Hebrews says concerning this: “Moses’ faith gave him a perspective different from the one that was being controlled by fear,” meaning the fear of Pharaoh. This perspective enabled him to act as if he was not afraid. In other words, yes, he was afraid of Pharaoh, but because of his fear of God—which was greater—by faith he moved in ways that allowed him to do something as if he had no fear.
On this note, to continue on the theme of courage, friends, to have courage doesn’t mean we are always 100% void of concerns or fears or that we are blind to unpleasant realities that might come our way. No, to have courage is simply to have the right perspective in the face of those threats—a perspective that is God-centered, which allows us to act in ways that trust in the Lord. If we wait to act with courage until we have no concerns or fears or emotions like that—until we are completely void of those things—then guess what? We will never move. Rather, by faith, we act with courage even when everything inside of us is telling us to do the opposite.
The third point in this passage addresses “seeing him who is invisible.” This is the motivation behind Moses moving by faith. The “Him” that Moses was seeing, that was motivating him and causing him to persevere in the face of his fears and concerns, is obviously the Lord. Over and over, Moses looked to the Lord to find strength, hope, trust, and courage. Through the eyes of faith, as Moses looked to the one who is invisible, he could see God’s hand on him, and that gave him the courage and confidence to move forward.
By the way, this is one of the reasons we, as a church, often try to speak about the evidence of God’s grace on us. We may not physically see God with our eyes, but we can see His gracious hand in our lives. As we see God’s gracious hand, hopefully, it encourages us to persevere and find strength, trust, and courage in whatever God may be leading us to do.
Finally, let’s end our text today with verse 28, which refers to the events that took place after Moses returned from Egypt following his 40 years of toiling in obscurity in Midian. The events that took place are recorded in Exodus, where God used Moses to bring forth various plagues of judgment on Egypt. In our text, it says, “By faith, he, Moses, kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.”
This refers to Exodus 12—the last of a series of plagues that God performed through Moses. This final plague was not just a judgment; it was also a plague of redemption for all who had faith. In this final plague, God would strike down judgment on the firstborn of the land, which in many ways was God’s judgment on Egypt for how they had previously judged God’s people. This led to Moses’ parents floating him down the Nile in the basket. This judgment would come through the spirit of the Lord, or in our text, “the destroyer,” who would pass through the land. In this last great plague, he would strike down all the firstborn of the land unless the blood of a lamb was sprinkled on the doorframe. When the destroyer passed through Egypt, if he saw the blood of the lamb present, he would pass over that house and not touch it, allowing that house to be saved from judgment. They would receive redemption, which not only saved them from judgment but also freed them from the bonds of slavery.
As mentioned, God used this plague to cause Pharaoh to let God’s people go, saving them from slavery and leading them on a journey to the promised land where they would dwell forever. Friends, this theme of Moses keeping the Passover lamb and sprinkling the blood so the destroyer might not touch the firstborn reflects faith filled with courage. Moses and the rest of God’s people took God at His word and trusted in the salvation that would come through the blood of the lamb.
Think about it: if they put the blood on the doorpost, but God did not make good on His promise and did not destroy the firstborn of the land, think about what would have happened to Moses and all others who put their hope in the Passover lamb. Yet, by courage, they did what God commanded them to do. They trusted in God’s salvation.
This leads me to some concluding thoughts on courage, and as I do, I want to give us some thoughts on how we can grow in this area of our lives.
First, friends, have the courage to stand up and do what is right—do the things that God would have us do. In the text, the parents of Moses had the courage to do the right thing for their son and protect his life. Think how easy it would have been to fall prey to the fear of man. But they didn’t. By faith, with courage, they kept the child hidden for three months. Moses had the courage to do the right thing and leave worldly riches—the fleeting pleasures of sin—in order to have Christ and His eternal reward. It would have been easy to be consumed by worldly pleasures, by sin. But he didn’t fall into that seductive trap. He did the right thing by faith. He treasured Christ as the greatest treasure—the one worth leaving all things behind in order to have.
In the text, Moses had the courage to do the right thing by offering up the Passover lamb so the destroyer might pass by. Moses could have trusted himself to free God’s people, taking the entire situation into his own hands. But he didn’t. Rather, by faith, with courage, he trusted in the Lord and the Lord’s great salvation. Friends, that is what courage is: standing up to do the right things that God would have us do, even in the face of personal cost.
Courage is not just talking big without any skin in the game. It is trusting in our Lord—trusting in ways that we do the things He would have us do, even when everything inside of us tells us to do something different.
Second, church, have the courage to seek after that which is best. Let me say again: that which is best is the Lord. He is the best. He is superior for us. May we have faith and courage to seek after Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength in whatever situation we find ourselves. Friends, in the end, when we act in courage—the courage of faith—it is because we are seeking Christ. As we seek Him, courage will follow.
Third, have the courage to put your hope in God’s redemption. The reality is that when we live with courage, there will be risks involved. In many ways, it was risky for Moses’ parents to stand up for life in a culture that celebrated death. By the way, our culture also celebrates death through abortion, which perhaps makes it risky for us to stand up for life as well. Likewise, it was risky for Moses to leave everything behind. Think of all the things he had to leave. That’s a risk in order to have Christ. It is also risky for us to do something like that as well.
For the cause of Christ, we may need to give up our time, treasures, and talents to serve others. It may be risky to