Moses: The Choices of Faith

If you want to travel to a foreign country, you're going to have to have a passport, because that passport gives you the right to cross over. Dr. Tony Evans says holding on to the passport of faith in Christ may not be easy, but it comes with unimaginable rewards. If you make that choice, you get to see Him who cannot be seen in a way you've never seen Him before. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author and speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Life is all about making decisions. Some are obvious and easy, others more difficult and costly. Dr. Evans says that faith quite often falls in that second category, so today he'll offer some biblical motivation to help us make the more difficult but wiser choices.

Let's join him. This hero is named Moses, the greatest leader in the history of Israel, and what he's going to teach us is what it looks like to make your choices by faith. Life is made up of a myriad of choices.

We make decisions every day. When it comes to living by faith, it will involve choice. 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. That is what we face in Hebrews 11, verses 23 to 28. 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 edict. 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 because Pharaoh did not want to see the continued proliferation of the Israelites. But we learn in verse 23, by faith, and then he talks about Moses' mother and father, 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? Well, when the Bible says that the child was beautiful, they're not talking about Gucci, Gucci, Guu. In fact, there are very few beautiful babies. One of the biggest lies ever told is when somebody tells you your newborn is cute.

They're being nice. The writer of Luke, in Luke 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. See, one of the reasons we're against abortion here at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship is what God thinks about the baby in the womb.

Not what the mother thinks, not what the daddy thinks, certainly not what the government thinks. We want to know, does God believe that that unborn child is beautiful? Does God have a plan for that child's life? 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 eating.

They decided that this is God's child for which we have responsibility and we're going to preserve his life and protect his life in spite of what the government is saying and what the government is planning. They chose God's plan for their child over the culture's plan for their child. And I want you to know, parents, that the culture and the devil have a plan for your children that's different than God's plan and maybe even yours.

Because they were committed to God's plan and said, we are going to follow God in spite of what the society is saying, they moved by faith. The problem comes when you turn over your child to the culture for their plan because their plan may wipe them out. But it says these parents were, by faith, committed to God's plan for their children in spite of what the culture was saying. Moses was born in a time of abortion, infanticide, secularism, and they had to raise the—let me tell you what they didn't say. It's so bad out here we're not even going to 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. 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 had circumcised their sons. By the way, those of you who know the story from Exodus, the first few chapters, you'll see this story.

Miriam, Moses's big sister, she ran along the bank, and she saw the daughter of Pharaoh pick it up and take it home. She says to the daughter of Pharaoh, hey, don't you need a nursemaid to help you take care? Don't you need a night nurse, a day nurse, somebody to help you take care of them? Yeah, yeah, I'm going to need a nurse for this baby.

Hold on, I'll be right back. Hey, mama, Pharaoh's daughter needs a nurse because she just picked up my baby brother, your son, Moses, from the river. She goes down and applies for the job. She's hired by Pharaoh's daughter, so she's getting paid to raise her own baby. Because you'll never discover what God can do until you trust Him to do it, and He can do it in ways that'll blow your mind when He sees your faith. 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's 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.

When Moses grew up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now, Acts 7 says this took place when he was 40 years old. But at the age 40, it says he made a choice, and he refused. I am going to now identify myself with the Hebrews, 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, the reality of your faith and the pressure of the world. So let me give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God. Once you make the choice, there will be ill-treatment.

You saw the verse. He says to suffer the ill-treatment that would come to the people of God. If you want to live in a popularity contest, then this choice is not for you, because Jesus said all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will have negative repercussions that come their way. You may no longer be in the in-crowd. You may no longer get the first observation for the raise.

You may not get the promotion. You may not get that special recognition that everybody else is getting because you're too Christian. So there is ill-treatment that comes when you identify with Jesus Christ. I'm not talking about ill-treatment because you're doing a bad job, you're being disrespectful, you're being non-productive.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about 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, he said he thought this thing through. And when he thought it through, he discovered more riches in Christ than treasures in Egypt. That's what he said.

And watch this. He didn't want to miss out on the reward. So there was a motivation factor here.

It wasn't just that 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.

I'm going to 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. Who's raising Him? His mother. What is His mother telling Him about His circumcision?

Because that's the thing that sets Him apart. Mo, 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 God is going to lead His people into the promised land.

And boy, let me tell you something. The reason why God lets you get this edumacation in the secular environment, being raised by Egypt, learning all this highfalutin stuff you're learning is because, guess what? He wants you to lead Him there. Acts 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' plan for his life, and said, And God transferred 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're going to 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 die with your name 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 it. 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 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. Dr. Evans will be back with more of our message in a moment. You know, the Bible tells us without faith it's impossible to please God, but with faith there's no limit to what God can do through us. And that's what Tony's brand new book is all about. Kingdom Heroes examines the powerful faith journeys of the men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11. These heroes were ordinary people who became some of the most familiar characters in the Bible simply by believing God and staking their lives on the fact that He was telling the truth. By studying their lives, we see what it looks like to walk in the assurance of God's love and can be inspired to embrace and demonstrate that same confidence in our lives. Faith didn't go out of style in the Old Testament.

It's still as powerful today as ever, and God still honors those who trust Him. We'd love for you to be one of the first to receive this new book from Dr. Evans, so if you contact us and make a contribution to the ministry right away, we'll send you as our thank-you gift Tony's book, Kingdom Heroes, the companion Bible study, and all 13 messages from the two-volume audio series we've been hearing from today called Heroes of the Faith. Just visit us at TonyEvans.org to make your online donation and request, but don't wait. This special faith package is only available for a short time. Again, that's TonyEvans.org, or call our resource center day or night at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our team members help you.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans will be back with more of today's lesson right after this. It was my first time meeting Jesus in the Bible. That's what one student is saying after studying bibliology through the Tony Evans Training Center taught by renowned theologian Dr. Tony Evans. These online courses feature compelling and exclusive video and audio teaching, plus an interactive scripture-based curriculum you can access online or through the mobile app. Sign up now at TonyEvansTraining.org. Take a course with Dr. Evans and explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere.

TonyEvansTraining.org. He comes to another choice. 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 has 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 the 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 the folks would look at him as their deliverer. 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? Forty years. It took him forty years to make the decision, and he had to go through a forty-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. He didn't get to see the one you can't see until he made the decision. So a lot of us are waiting for God—for us to see God. We want to see God. We want to see God work when God hadn't seen us make the choice. So if you haven't made the choice, you're not going to see the Lord. But even after you make the choice, God is going to prepare you for the encounter. He had to prepare him for the encounter because this encounter was going to blow his mind.

So let's go back to the story. In the book of Exodus, Moses is leading his 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 his 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 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've 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 says, 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 you got to take off my shoes? Because right now, there is a gap between the bottom of your foot and the ground, so you too high.

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 to 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. Don't give yourself an Excedrin PM headache trying to figure out why this bush does not burn because he's not explaining all that. All he wants you to do is come near to him in the midst of this crazy contradiction so he can say, Betty, Betty, Ruth, Ruth, Butch, Butch, Ray, Ray, George, George. He can call your name about the situation you're in to tell you the next step he has for your life if you're moving by faith.

Time is up, finally. Verse 28. 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 death angel sees the blood, I will pass over you.

I'm going to skip you. Let's say you're a Jewish family and you're the oldest child, and everybody's dying who's the firstborn in the family. So you're the oldest son. I don't know about you, but I got a question for dad. Do you have something on this door? Because I know, I know you may not care about it for you, but I care about it for me.

Do you have something on this door? Watch this. What God had asked Moses to get the children of Israel to do had never been requested before.

This was a first. This had no precedence. If you went back and Googled it, you wouldn't see Passover. You wouldn't see blood on door.

If you looked academically to do this, there would be no precedent, and it wouldn't make sense. And you'd be asking why? How come? I don't understand. It doesn't make sense. God figured out.

He said, kill the lamb, put the blood on the door, hurry up and eat the meat, and let the death angel pass over. Now, you may have been in there trembling. You may have been in there scared. You may have been in there terrified.

The question is not how you feel. The question is, is there something on your door? So you may be shaking, living by faith. You may be worried, living by faith. Your nerves may be off, living by faith. Just put the blood on the door.

Because faith does what God says, even with what God says makes absolutely no sense and even though it's never been done before. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.