Continuing now our preaching series to the book of Hebrews and lately in chapter 11. The Hall of Faith chapter. We come after several illustrations and examples of faith. This morning we come to the life of Moses. And to his life, there are seven verses committed in this chapter.
Only Abraham has more with eight. Of Abraham's faith recorded in verses 8 through 12, and then after a little interlude again in verses 17 through 19, we have a total of eight. But of Moses' faith and the faith surrounding his life, We have seven verses. beginning with verse 23, which is our text for this morning. And so all the others that are mentioned here either have one verse ascribed to them or devoted to them, I guess I should say.
Or, as we get closer to the end of the chapter, we'll find a number of people all mentioned in one verse. They don't even have one verse to themselves So, what I'm saying is, it is very noteworthy that Abraham, on the one hand, with eight verses, and Moses, on the other hand, with seven. Are distinguished by having this larger volume of information. focused upon them because They are the two greatest Personages in the history of the nation of Israel. Abraham, as you know, is the father of the Jewish nation.
God called him out of the earth the Chaldees. God made him the beginning of a new people. God made promises to him. promises that Our not restricted, just To Israel, but actually promises that reach to the ends of the world. But nevertheless, many promises that did devolve around a particular people that came through his physical descendants.
And so Abraham is one of the most notable persons in Jewish history. But Moses would be the second most notable one. Moses was the Redeemer. of the Old Testament people. delivering them, redeeming them out of Egyptian bondage.
And Moses was the one through whom God delivered the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, the detailed scriptures of instructions for the people of God, the nation of Israel. Moses is the one who delivered to them the covenant with God that is identified as the first covenant or the old covenant. which remained in place until the coming of Christ. who inaugurated the second covenant.
So Moses and Abraham are certainly Mm-hmm. The two most important personages in Israel's history. And so we're not surprised. That we find a number of verses devoted to these two people. And today, taking up the first of several verses, about Moses.
In fact, five times over the next several verses, we're going to read about by faith. Moses, or by faith, he, or by faith, The people of God under the leadership of Moses did such and such. And it all begins with Hebrews 11:23. By faith, Moses. when he was born was hidden three months by his parents.
Because they saw he was a beautiful child. And they were not afraid. of the king's command. Like all of the others in this chapter, we really cannot fully understand what God directed the writer of Hebrews to say unless we have knowledge. of the Old Testament background.
And so, for that reason, I read a portion of Exodus to you this morning. And I begin by reviewing. that material that gives us the background of our text for today. And so once again, the New Testament takes us back to the Old Testament. It's done so again and again and again.
And we come to this familiar and fascinating story about baby Moses. If you would pick out the five best-known children's Bible stories in the Bible, this would have to be one of them. You've got David and Goliath, you've got Daniel in the lion's den, you've got Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree. But you couldn't leave out Moses in the bolt rushes, could you? That would have to be included in that list.
Familiar story Yet, because of its familiarity, sometimes I think we miss a bit of the import. of why it is included in our scriptures.
So let me review for you. He begins in Exodus chapter 1, notifying us that there has been a change of dynasty in Egypt. There arose a king A Pharaoh, a king. we are told, who did not know Joseph. The previous kings, the previous pharaohs, the previous dynasty.
Had a great respect and appreciation for Joseph and for his people. But Times have changed. Things are different. Circumstances are not the same. It reminds us the world is constantly changing, isn't it?
Death and decay. In all the world I see Thou God, alone, who changes not. Abide with me said Henry Light. one of my favorite hymn writers. And we see that again here.
Things were so favorable for the children of Israel in Egypt until Change took place, and suddenly things were reversed. There was a change in dynasties. There was a change in attitude by the Egyptians. They changed from warm, welcome. of the Israelites as their guests.
To resentment and suspicion of the Israelites as their enemies. They changed from appreciation to Joseph for. His part in rescuing them from the destruction of famine. to fearing his people. As they dwelt in the land of Egypt and multiplied by God's under God's blessing.
They changed from respect for the children of Israel to exploitation of the children of Israel. What a huge change has now taken place, a change in attitude, indeed a change in circumstances. Israel went from prosperity to poverty. They went from freedom to bondage. They went from An easy life to a very difficult life of affliction.
They went from protection to threatened annihilation. And it all took place with the change in the throne. One king died. Another king came to the throne, and immediately everything changed. A change in Dynasty, in attitude, in circumstances.
But in the midst of all of this, we read about a profile in courage in the parents. of Moses. MRIM And Jacobed were their names, not given in the portion I read this morning, but given a few chapters later in the book of Exodus. Amram and Jacobed, both of the tribe of Levi. Married?
And they had a notable child, and we realize as the story unfolds that this is not their first child. We know of at least two others. We know of Miriam, Moses' sister, who was quite a few years older than Moses. She was, at the very least, a teenager when Moses was entrusted to the Nile River and the Ark of Bulrushes, watching over him and reporting to His parents, what is taking place. And we also learned that he had a brother named Aaron, who was, I think, three years older than Moses, which also tells us that probably this edict from Pharaoh.
came after the birth of Aaron. When Moses was born, that edict was fairly fresh that every male child must be put to death. Not everybody complied with that, as you know. The Hebrew midwives who were instructed to carry out this gruesome edict. refused to do so.
at peril to their own well-being. And they answered for their neglect. And God blessed them because they. Kept the children, the male children, alive instead of putting them to death. But the edict nevertheless went forth with even greater force.
And it seems that what Pharaoh is instructing is all right. If the Hebrews won't obey my edict to put their children to death, which is asking a lot, Then you Egyptians make sure that it's done. That seems to be the force of what is said in the passage I read this morning. You Egyptians, make sure. that every male child among the Hebrews is thrown into the Nile.
and drowned. And so that was the circumstance. But Amrem and Jacobed We're brave enough to defile, defy rather, this order. and to spare their son Moses. They did not report him as the birth of a male child.
Evidently, that was required. That when a male child was born, His birth must be reported so that he could be killed. And evidently Most of the Hebrew People were doing that. But Amrim and Jacobed Had the courage by faith To not do that. As a matter of fact, this verse that is our text for this morning is really about the faith of Moses' parents rather than Moses himself.
But there's a direct connection, of course, and it shows us the kind of faith that undergirded the life of Moses. The kind of faith in the lives of his parents, the ones who brought him by. the providence of God into this world. And so Amram and Jacobed said, No, we're not going to do that. We're going to risk the.
Wrath of the king, I think they were. We were possibly risking their own lives, willing to give their lives for the preservation of their son. And so we're told they hid him for three months. And then, when they could no longer do so, we're not told what changed, why they couldn't, but presumably. As he was getting older and stronger, and maybe his crying was getting louder so that it was more likely to be overheard.
and his presence reported. They constructed a little Ark, a little basket of bulrushes large enough to contain a baby, and they made it waterproof and they. Put it in the reeds along the bank of the Nile, close to where they knew that Pharaoh's daughter would come with her maidens to bathe and then watch to see what would happen. And of course, we know what happened. We read about it this morning.
That the daughter of Earl finds the baby, and her heart goes out in compassion. We're told that when she opened the The basket the babe was crying.
Now that could have two effects, couldn't it? It could cause irritation or it could cause compassion. Why did it cause compassion instead of irritation? Get this crying child out of my presence. Throw him in the river could have been her response, couldn't it?
Why wasn't it? The providence of God. He directed A compassionate response And her heart went out to the child, and she said, Oh, let's spare this beautiful child. He was a beautiful baby. Miriam stepped right up and said, Shall I get a nursemaid from among the Hebrew women to take care of him in his earlier months and years?
And Pharaoh's daughter said, Yes, and she brought Moses' own mother, Jacobed. Isn't this. Humorous? And Jacobed, the mother, is instructed to nurse this child and paid to do it. And so instead of the child being destroyed in the waters of the Nile, the waters of the Nile became his salvation.
Instead of the children Its parents being destroyed for Disobeying the edict of the king, they were actually compensated for taking care of their own child. I mean, there's so many humorous things that are going on here. But all of it in the providence of God until Moses was old enough to be brought to the king's palace, and we'll see more about that in future verses in Hebrews chapter 11. That's the Old Testament background.
Well, let's consider our text. In Hebrews 11, 23. the New Testament focus. And I read it again. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child.
And they were not afraid of the king's commandment. I have picked out four words that I think will highlight the text. This focus on the faith of Moses' parents that undergirds the life of Moses. Heritage Activity Revelation And Courage. Heritage.
This is a heritage of faith. The focus is on faith. and it's a heritage of faith. By faith, The parents of Moses by faith when he was born. Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents.
This is the faith of Moses' parents. They were believing parents. They believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and Joseph. They believed in the promises of God. And these believing parents also, in the superintending providence of God, produced a believing child.
Of course, not at this stage in his life, but in the passing of time, parents with strong faith in God were blessed to see their child also. Exercising strong faith in God. That is not guaranteed. God is sovereign in these matters. But that is often the pattern.
God honors the faith of the parents many times in. Creating faith likewise in their children. It's something we should relish the concept of. Look to God to do that for our children. believe him and act according to his word with the hope in mind that God in his goodness will also create faith in our children and our grandchildren.
A heritage of faith. Number two, the activity of faith. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden. Three months. by his parents.
Remember the definition of faith? Faith is what? Believing the promises of God and acting accordingly. Believing what God has said and acting in concert with what has been revealed. The evidence of Scripture is: if you do not act according to what has been revealed, you evidently have not truly believed what has been revealed.
It's not the activity that is the faith. Faith is believing, but faith produces something. True faith produces commensurate response. commensurate obedience to God. And so these parents believed God and they acted according to that faith.
They hid Moses for three months. They did not report his birth. to the jeopardy of their own well-being. They conspired to conceal his presence. Again, to the jeopardy, the potential jeopardy of their own well-being.
They succeeded in this process for three months. To be able to keep him hidden, his birth unreported, his presence unknown. to the Egyptians for three months, and then they pursued Another plan, which We've already talked about in placing him in the water of the Nile. That's the part of the child's story that most people remember the best. And this is more remarkable, perhaps, than we might imagine.
But if we'll think about it, think how remarkable that is. These people Didn't live out in a rural place with many acres of forest around them and no people to hear the child cry. These are People that are under Oppression by the Egyptians. They are no doubt living in a congested area with many people living around them. Undoubtedly, others knew in the neighborhood, others knew about the birth of this child.
And you would say, well, the ones who knew it in the neighborhood were Hebrews. They certainly would identify with Amram and Jacobed and would support them in what they were doing.
Well, yes, that's what you would Hope. But Almost always in a situation like that, somebody turns coat and squeals. You can't count. On everybody to do that.
Some people delight. In being the ones to upset the plan.
Some people delight in doing something that will ingratiate them to those in authority, even at the expense of others.
So, this is remarkable that for three months they succeeded in keeping him hidden, unreported, unknown. to the Egyptians. No one squealed, nobody slipped up, nobody inadvertently. Revealed the presence of this child. Again, how is that possible?
God above. is the one who is superintending all of this. And so Their faith. is manifested by their obedience. They preserved and protected and and guarded Moses committed him to God Even committed him to God when they committed him to the Nile when they could no longer keep him safely hidden at home.
And so this is the activity of faith. Faith acts according to what it says it believes. If you believe the gospel of Christ, your life will reflect it. If you believe in the importance of the Word of God, your activities will reflect it. You will read God's Word.
You will be in the house of God with God's people, hearing God's Word, learning more about God's Word, because that's what you believe. If that's not important to you, apparently, no matter what you may say, you don't really believe that much, do you? Faith is believing the revelation of God and acting. Accordingly. That brings us then to number three, revelation.
Number one, heritage, number two, activity. Number three, revelation. And this is the part that is the most intriguing to me. And the question is, what revelation preceded their faith? If faith is believing the revelation of God, and acting accordingly.
What revelation from God did the parents of Moses had which they believed and acted in this fashion? That is the big question. Uh We are given an answer to that question, but it's not a totally satisfactory answer. To me. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents because, here's the explanation given.
Because they saw he was a beautiful child. Well, folks. That's not. Doesn't every Don't every don't all parents believe that their child is a beautiful child. Even if you don't think so, they do.
Look at this new baby. What do you say? What a baby. What a beautiful child. It's always beautiful to the parents.
And Moses evidently was a remarkably beautiful, a handsome child, but is that. How would that revelation prompt the activity that is ascribed to the faith. Of Moses' parents, the fact that he was a beautiful child. And so, I spent quite a bit of time this week pondering that question and searching for an answer to the question as to what it was that was actually revealed. to the parents of Moses that caused them to act in this fashion.
As I say, we are told he was a beautiful child. The Greek word, translated beautiful in my Bible, Is defined in a Greek lexicon dictionary that I have in the following words. Beautiful means Well bred. polite polished Elegant. Fair.
Comely. or beautiful.
So it can be translated beautiful, but it's obvious that this is a broader word than what we normally think of when we think of beauty.
Well bred. Polite. Polished. Elegant. Fair.
Comely, beautiful. And if I might just prod your thinking a bit, I think you would have to agree that even as we use the English word beautiful, we don't always mean visual beauty. for visible beauty. We might say, now that is a beautiful idea. That is a beautiful poem.
Are we talking about the artistic way in which it is arranged, the words are arranged on the page, and that is visibly beautiful to us? No, we're talking about something else. We're talking about a beauty that transcends physical, visible beauty, but it does say something admirable about the thing that we are describing. And when we use the word beauty in that way, We are means something like This is outstanding. Superior.
Remarkable. or elevate it. That is a An outstanding idea that you've come up with. That is a remarkable poem that you have constructed. That is an elevated thought.
It's a beautiful thought that you have articulated. And therefore, in various uh Bible translations Depending on what translation and version you may have. That's what I need, thank you. You'll find it translated Moses was A goodly child. Or Moses was A proper child.
Or Moses was no ordinary Child. And when Stephen was addressing the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 7 and touched upon this event in Israel's history. He said, Moses was well pleasing to God. which is translated in one version as lovely in the sight of God. Maybe that's getting more to the point.
He was a beautiful child, not so much in what the parents visibly saw, but somehow they recognized that this is an outstanding child. This is a child that is well pleasing to God. This is a child that is lovely in the sight of God. But again, the question is How did they know that? How did they come to that conclusion?
What revelation was given to them? to bring them to that understanding of this child. What was the revelation they believed? And I think there are three possibilities, and you'll... You can pick the one you choose after I give them to you.
It may have been simply an implication, which I'll describe in a moment. Or it may secondly have been a general revelation. Or thirdly, it might have been a specific revelation. And here's the three: an implication. It's possible that they simply inferred from the appearance of this child.
that God had a special purpose for him.
Now, how they would draw that conclusion, I cannot connect the dots, but it's possible that there was something about this child's. physical appearance that assured them that he was a special child given by God, chosen by God, appointed by God to special service by God for the people of God. What that could have been, I cannot imagine, but it's possible that that's all that is meant. That was the Revelation of God. Or, secondly, it's possible that they leaned upon what I will call general revelation in regard to this child.
Something like this. The general revelation, the general knowledge that God is. expects parents to protect and nurture their children. Whoever they may be. and that God will aid the parents.
and bless them in doing so. And taking that revelation. They applied it specifically to Moses. And their faith was such that they were assured in their heart that if we protect Moses, if we nurture Moses, if we do our full duty as parents to Moses, God will honor that, God will help us, God will bless us. That's possible.
But there is beyond that a third possibility. They may have had some specific revelation. which is not recorded for us in Scripture. Josephus reports That It was thought among the ancient Jews. That Amram, the father of Moses, received a special vision from God when Jacobed was carrying this child to reveal to Amram the future for this child and therefore his responsibility to protect and preserve the child so that he could carry out his God-ordained purpose in life.
And there are others in Jewish History. who have either said or at least surmised. that it was actually Moses' older sister Miriam who brought A prophecy from God to the parents because As we continued reading the account, Of Moses and his brother and sister, we learn that Miriam was a prophet, wasn't she?
Now, we don't know when she became a prophet, when she first spoke her first prophecy. But we do know that she was indeed a prophet of God who received revelation from God and spoke that revelation to the people of God.
So it's not far-fetched at all. Two. Surmise that Miriam was the instrument that God used to reveal his will. To Amram and Jacobed, which they then believed and acted upon. Faith is the focus.
They believed God, they believed something that God had revealed, and that they believed it so much that they acted in great courage, even to the peril of life. of their own life. They were not, and that brings me to number four. What did I say? Four things about this text.
Heritage, activity, revelation, and courage. And we read, they were not afraid of the king's command. That's the courage resulting from their faith. They were not afraid of the king's. Edict.
They endangered themselves, even to the risk of their own lives. In order to try their best to protect and preserve the life of their child, they were willing to give up their own lives in order to gain something greater. If in fact they had revealed to them that Moses was. Ordained by God to redeem the children of Israel out of Egypt. And out of this terrible bondage, and to lead them to the promised land.
Then they saw great promise, and they were willing to forfeit their own lives if necessary, so that this greater good. They were looking to the future. They were looking to the promises of God. They believed that they could gain something greater by. risking their lives than by protecting their own lives.
They were carrying out what Jesus said. That is, that we must be willing to die to self and to give up our own lives in order to gain them. This is an example of that. And it is a reminder that faith in God produces courage before men. And that brings me then to some concluding lessons out of this passage.
First of all, about faith and what it engenders. And I've already talked about it, but let's talk about it some more. Faith engenders courage in the lives of those who believe the revelation of God, the Word of God. Courage, in this case. to be willing to risk suffering and death.
For the sake of Christ, for the For obedience to the revelation which God has given, to the word which He has spoken, if we believe it. Courage to ignore peer pressure. and majority opinion. Evidently, the majority, if not nearly the totality, of all the other Hebrew families who had children. Obeyed the king's edict and allowed those boys to be taken and drowned in the Nile.
The majority took a different route. And when that happens, usually that majority is going to Chide those who take a more believing route. Your faith in God, your faith in God's Word, is not going to be applauded by everybody. It's not going to be applauded by unbelieving people in this world. in most cases.
Sadly, it's not always going to be applauded by the people of God who demonstrate a lesser faith than what you exercise in the Word of God. And therefore, you need to be willing to stand alone if necessary. You don't want to. You want support, you want help, but Faith True faith produces a courage that enables God's people to stand alone against the tide of family, friends, community, the whole world, if necessary, to do what is right and pleasing to God, what you know is pleasing to God because of faith. Can I tell you?
In regard to the majority, That the majority is usually wrong. We live in a democracy and we're ruled by the majority. That's not always a good outcome. Because the majority is often wrong, in fact, in some matters, particularly spiritual matters. The majority is usually wrong.
So you better learn like Daniel to stand alone. Amram and Jacobed did.
So faith. engenders courage. and a lesson in what faith accomplishes. And I've already touched on it, but faith often, by the blessing of God, accomplishes faith in the lives of our children.
Now I say again, that is not guaranteed. I'm not suggesting that if believing parents have unbelieving children. That indicates a lack of faith on their part. That is not necessarily so. In some cases, it may be so, but it is not necessarily so.
There's no guarantee.
However, This pattern of Moses' parents' faith Being created in Moses often is found as a pattern throughout the Bible. often enough to encourage us greatly. And what faith produces is, if not faith in our children, and as I say, that's not guaranteed, though we continue to pray for it and hope for it. But faith in the promises of God always produces partnership with the purposes of God. And that's a great privilege.
If we will believe the Word of God and act according to that Word, We will become partners with God in the purposes He is accomplishing, that He has designed for this world and that He's carrying out in this world.
Now again, in the sovereignty of God, God will use enemies of his. to accomplish his purposes. They are not in partnership with him. They may be in opposition to him, but they end up doing his will anyway. But there's no credit for that.
There's no credit for. accomplishing God's will when you didn't intend to. But there is great blessing and encouragement and reward. For accomplishing God's will because that's what you want to do. You desire to do it.
You believe the word of God. You enter into partnership with God in what he has revealed in his word. You believe it, you obey it, you become partners together with God, and then you have the great joy of recognizing, I have been a partner with God to accomplish His eternal purposes. What greater honor can there be than that? Faith.
produces that. Only faith. can produce that. And my final lesson is about the ways of God. The Bible tells us that God's ways are not our ways.
His ways are higher than ours. God's ways are past finding out. We can't. We can't figure them out in many cases, and we very seldom can predict them before they happen. When God is working, He almost always works in a way we didn't expect.
We never seem to learn that lesson, do we?
Well, that's what he did last time, but this time, surely he's going to rescue me by doing this. God, you didn't do that! Oh, but look. You rescued me over here in a way I didn't expect. How surprising.
That God should preserve Moses. by committing him to the Nile, the very instrument of the death of hundreds, if not thousands, of Hebrew children. How could you expect God to preserve a child in that? circumstance. The ways of God are mysterious.
They are past finding out. They're generally unexpected. but they're always perfect. And God's will is always carried out. And we need to learn that lesson.
To remind us to trust Him, even if we can't see what He's doing, because most of the time we can't. Occasionally, He may let us, but most of the time we can't. What are you doing, God? I don't see how this can accomplish your purpose, God. I don't see how this can be good in my life.
Of course, you can't. I don't expect you to. I don't allow you to. I show you that my ways are. Surprising.
and undiscoverable until they are unfolded.
So trust me to do what I promise to do. Even if it's in a way you didn't expect, because most of the time it will be in a way you didn't expect. Those are just the ways of God. And that should keep us seeking him. That should keep us trusting him.
That should keep us loving him. Until the day. He calls us home. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, take.
This portion of your word and seal it. to the good of our lives. Oh Lord, enliven it. to bring life to the souls of any Who are outside of Christ that they may come to. to believe in Christ for the salvation of their souls.
And Father, use this to strengthen your people. We are dense at times. We are. Weak. No doubt.
But Father, strengthen us to trust you to walk in your ways. to demonstrate our faith by acting according. to the revelation which you have given, As we trust you, to work your perfect plan. in our lives. For the sake and honor of Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.
