Sermon #67 Hebrews
Notes
Title: Moses – A Man Who Believed God
Text: Hebrews 11:24-26
Subject: Moses’ Faith
Date: Tuesday Evening – October 30,2001¨
Tape # W-66b
Introduction:
Will you join me in a solemn
and painful task? We naturally shy away from that which is solemn and avoid
that which is painful. But wisdom will face the solemn and endure the painful
if gain is to be made by it. So I ask you to join me, as you care for your
soul, in a solemn and painful work, for the next little while. I want us to
honestly examine our faith.
Here are some questions, which I hope the Holy Spirit will
answer for us this hour from the Word of God. Write them down and keep them in mind
while I try to preach to your heart.
·
Is my faith in Christ genuine, or is it false?
·
Do I have the faith of God’s elect? or am I being deceived with a mere
profession of faith?
·
Do I have a living, heart faith in Christ; or is my faith a mere
opinion of my mind?
·
Am I truly a believer, a child of God; or am I an unbeliever, a child
of wrath?
If we will honestly face these questions, I believe God will
answer them for us. Of these four things I am absolutely certain. Here are four
characteristics of true, saving faith. Wherever you find true faith, you will
find these four things.
1. True faith believes God (Rom. 4:3). Illustration:
“At Thy Word.”
“Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Faith believes God as he has
revealed himself in his Word. Faith takes God at his Word. Faith receives God’s
testimony regarding his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and trusts the merits of
Christ alone for salvation and acceptance with God.
·
His Righteousness
·
His Blood
·
His Intercession.
My
hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and
righteousness;
I dare not trust the
sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’
name.
2. True faith submits to Christ
as Lord
(Matt. 10:39).
(Matthew 10:39) "He that
findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall
find it."
Illustration: Lee’s surrender at
Appomattox.
Faith in Christ causes a man to willingly, voluntarily surrender
himself to the claims of Christ. Faith is a resignation of myself to Christ.
3. True faith follows Christ (Matt. 9:9; 10:38).
(Matthew 9:9) "And as Jesus
passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt
of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed
him."
(Matthew 10:38) "And he
that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me."
·
Faith follows the Word of Christ.
·
Faith follows the Spirit of Christ.
·
Faith follows the example of Christ.
·
Faith follows the will of Christ.
All of God’s people are
followers of the Lamb. Sometimes they follow afar off. Sometimes they follow
with fear and trembling. But all true believers follow Christ, regardless of
cost or consequence. None follow perfectly, but all follow persistently.
4. True faith perseveres to the
end
(Matt. 10:22).
(Matthew 10:22) "And ye
shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved."
God’s people in this world are not perfect. We do not even come
close to perfection. We all fall. We all sin. Sin is mixed with everything we
do. Sometimes our hearts are hard, cold, and indifferent. We are all, so long
as we are in this flesh, likely to commit any evil deed. There is nothing of
which we are not capable.
Prone to wander, Lord, I
feel it,
Prone to leave the God I
love:
Here’s my heart, Oh take and
seal it,
Seal it for thy courts
above.
Faith recognizes the weakness, infirmity, and sin of the flesh.
But faith never quits. It keeps on believing Christ, submitting to Christ, and
following Christ (Rom. 6:16-18).
Illustration: I don’t belong to you
anymore.
Tonight, I am going to take one man who was an eminent example
of faith, and use him as the standard by which all true faith must be judged.
The title of my message is – Moses
– A Man Who Believed God.
I call your attention to this man Moses and to the description the Holy
Spirit has given us of his faith (Heb. 11:24-26).
(Hebrews 11:24-26) "By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh's daughter; (25) Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (26) Esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had
respect unto the recompense of the reward."
Perhaps, above all others, Moses is the example of faith best
suited to us. Those men of God who are mentioned in the first part of this
chapter are all examples to be followed. But we cannot literally do what most
of them did. We follow them in spirit, but not in deed. God has not called us
to offer up a literal sacrifice, like Abel. God has not called us to build a
literal ark, like Noah. God has not called us to literally leave our homeland
and families, to dwell in tents, or to offer up our Isaac, like Abraham. But the
faith of Moses exactly tallies with the experience of all God’s saints.
Moses’ faith made him walk in the same path, make the same sacrifices, and
endure the same trials as true faith requires of us today.
Proposition: As it was with Moses, so it
is with all believers. True faith in the heart manifests itself by certain
characteristics of life.
Divisions: I want us to look at these
three verses, and examine our faith by them. I am going to be both brief and
simple. I want us to see the greatness of the things that Moses did and the
principle which compelled him to do them.
1. Moses gave up some things he
would have preferred not to give us.
2. Moses chose some things he
would have preferred not to do.
3. What is the principle which
compelled Moses to act as he did?
4. What lessons are we to learn
from this inspired biography of Moses?
I. Moses
gave up some things he would have preferred not to give up.
Our text tells us that Moses
gave up three things for the sake of his soul. He could not have followed
Christ, he could not have been saved, had he kept them. So he gave them up. He
sat down, counted the cost of following Christ, and willingly paid the price of
doing so. Moses made three of the greatest sacrifices a man could ever make.
A. Moses gave up rank,
position, and greatness. – “When he was come to years, he refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
We are told, by tradition,
that Pharaoh had but one daughter, his only child; and that Moses was her only
child. She had adopted him as her son. He was next in line for the throne of
Egypt, the greatest nation in the world. He could have been a great man, the
most powerful, influential man in the world. But Moses refused it. This was a
very great sacrifice.
1. He refused the throne of
Egypt.
2. He forsook his family, a
mother whom he loved.
3. He made this decision when
he was a man of forty years of age.
B. Moses gave up earthly ease
and pleasure.
The pleasures he gave up
would have been for other men matters of indifference, involving no sin in
themselves. They were simply the pleasures of wealth, security, comfort,
luxury, and ease of life. But for Moses, they would have been “the pleasures
of sin,” because they were contrary to the will of God.
This too was a great sacrifice. Moses gave up that which all men
and women of all ages and social conditions most naturally seek. – Pleasure!
C.
And Moses gave us great riches.
“The treasures of Egypt” would have been his. This, I
dare say, was his greatest sacrifice. Most men are far more willing to give up
both position and pleasure than give up prosperity. Yet, Moses did not give
away only a portion of his wealth. He gave up all his wealth.
D. Let me show you something of
how great Moses’ sacrifices were.
He gave up all of these
things, position, pleasure, and prosperity, all at one time.
1.
He gave them up deliberately, as a wise, well-educated, mature man, a
full forty years old (Acts 7:22).
(Acts 7:22) "And Moses was
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in
deeds."
His was not a hasty, rash decision, made in an emotional moment,
but a deliberate, willful, calculated choice.
2.
Moses was in no way obliged to give these things up.
a. Pharaoh did not disown him.
b. The children of Israel did
not beg him to become their leader.
c. He was not a dying man, who
was about to leave the world, and therefore willing to give it up.
d. He was not a beggar, who had
no rightful claim to or hope for these things.
e. He was not an old man, who
could no longer enjoy these things.
3.
Moses willingly made these sacrifices, for the honor of God and the
good of his people, hoping for and expecting nothing in return.
II. Moses
chose some things he would have preferred not to do.
His choices were as great as
h is sacrifices. He chose to walk in a path that was completely contrary to the
flesh, contrary to worldly wisdom, and contrary to personal desire. The Holy
Spirit tells us that Moses chose three things. They were hard, costly choices.
But they were necessary to the salvation of his soul.
Note: The things Moses did in no
way merited, earned, or caused his salvation. But had he not done these things
he could not have been saved (James 2:17; Matt. 6:14-15). (Obedience is
necessary – Naaman.)
(Matthew 6:14-15) "For if
ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
(15) But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses."
(James 2:17) "Even so
faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
A.
Moses chose a path of affliction and suffering. -- Conflict instead of
comfort – Adversity instead of prosperity – Sorrow instead of satisfaction –
Pain instead of peace – Suffering instead of solace.
B. Moses chose the company of
God’s despised people.
He left his family and
friends and became one with the people of God. Their troubles became his
troubles. Their sorrows became his sorrows. Moses not only preferred God’s
despised people to the people of this world, he preferred God’s people to
himself.
C. Moses chose a path of
reproach and scorn.
He was mocked, belittled,
ridiculed, and laughed at. He was the joke of Egypt. He saw reproach and scorn
before him, and deliberately chose them.
Note: For most men it is easier to
face a cannon than to face scorn and ridicule.
Never was there a man, but the God-man, who made such sacrifices
and choices as Moses. He gave up a king’s throne and chose a slave’s rags. He
gave up the king’s palace for a place among God’s people. He gave up riches for
poverty. He gave up respectability and chose reproach. Why would any sane,
reasonable man make such choices?
III.
What is the principle that
compelled Moses to act as he did?
The Holy Spirit tells us – “By
faith Moses.” -- Moses had faith. Moses believed God. Faith motivated him.
Faith directed him. Faith controlled him. Moses did what he did because he
believed God.
A. Moses believed on Christ. -- He believed God’s promise
that he would send a deliverer, a Redeemer, a Savior, a King of the seed of
Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
B. Moses believed God would
keep his promise. -- He
would fulfill his covenant. He would deliver his people. He would never forsake
his own.
C. Moses believed that with God
nothing is impossible. -- The deliverance of Israel and the overthrow of
Pharaoh seemed impossible. But Moses believed God!
D. Moses believed in the wisdom
and goodness of God’s providence. -- Like Joseph before him, he was in the place of God.
E. Moses believed God is
faithful.
(Lamentations 3:21-26)
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. (22) It is of the
LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
(23) They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. (24) The
LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. (25)
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh
him. (26) It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the LORD."
·
To His Purpose.
·
To His Promise.
·
To His People.
1. Faith caused Moses to see
things that had not yet come to pass.
2. Faith caused him to see
temporal things as temporal and eternal things as eternal.
3. This man interpreted divine
providence by faith.
4. Faith showed Moses what God
would have him to do and gave him strength to do it.
5. Marvelous as Moses’
sacrifices and choices seem to be, they are really not very marvelous at all. He
believed God and acted accordingly (Heb. 11:27-29).
(Hebrews 11:27-29) "By
faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as
seeing him who is invisible. (28) Through faith he kept the passover,
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch
them. (29) By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which
the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned."
IV.
What lessons are we to
learn from this man who believed God?
We have seen what Moses did.
He denied himself, took up his cross, and followed Christ. And we have seen why
he did it. He believed God. But what does all of this have to do with us? What
does the Spirit of God intend for us to learn from Moses’ example? -- This is
what I see in our text –
A. If I would be an heir of
eternal life, I must deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Christ (Lk. 14:25-33).
(Luke 14:25-33) "And there
went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, (26) If
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
my disciple. (27) And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after
me, cannot be my disciple. (28) For which of you, intending to build a
tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient
to finish it? (29) Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation,
and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock
him, (30) Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
(31) Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down
first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that
cometh against him with twenty thousand? (32) Or else, while the other
is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of
peace. (33) So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."
Where there is no cross, there is no crown. Where there is no
sowing, there is no reaping. Where there is no battle, there is no victory.
Where there is no struggle, there is no triumph.
1. Faith in Christ requires a
denial of self.
2. Faith in Christ willingly,
deliberately takes up the cross, the way of offense and difficulty for the glory
of Christ.
3. Faith in Christ follows
Christ.
Nothing will cause a man in his heart to truly deny himself and
forsake this world, except faith in Christ. If I believe Christ, I can and will
follow him, regardless of cost or consequence.
B. If I live for myself and
refuse to forsake this world, I cannot have faith, I cannot have Christ, I
cannot have eternal life (Mk. 8:34-38).
(Mark 8:34-38) "And when he
had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto
them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me. (35) For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same
shall save it. (36) For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the
whole world, and lose his own soul? (37) Or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? (38) Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the
Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels."
If I prefer my will to God’s will, if I seek my way rather than
my Lord’s way, if I prefer the world to Christ, if I place the things of time
before the things of eternity, if I live for the comfort of my body, rather
than for the welfare of my soul, if in my heart I prefer myself to Christ, I do
not know Christ and I have no faith. No man can serve two masters. You will
either serve self, or serve Christ. You will either deny self, or deny Christ.
You will either live for the world, or live for Christ. Choose you this day
whom you will serve.
C. If I believe Christ, follow
Christ, and seek the will of and glory of Christ, my God will take care of all
my earthly and eternal interests (Matt. 10:28-33).
(Matthew 6:33) "But seek ye
first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be
added unto you."
(Matthew 10:28-33) "And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but
rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (29) Are
not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the
ground without your Father. (30) But the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. (31) Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
sparrows. (32) Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will
I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (33) But whosoever
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in
heaven."
Application:
1. Is your faith true; or is it
false?
·
Do you believe God?
·
Is your heart in submission to Christ?
·
Do you follow Christ?
·
Is your faith a persevering faith?
Do not be presumptuous, my
friends. Make your calling and election sure.
2. There are many ways by which
men obtain a false faith; but true faith is a supernatural gift of the grace of
God. Only the Spirit of God can create true faith in a sinner’s heart (Eph.
2:8-10).
(Ephesians 2:8-10) "For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the
gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (10) For
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them."
3. Has God given you faith? Has
the Lord given me faith? Surely, then, it is a most reasonable thing for us to
give ourselves to him.
Jesus, spotless Lamb of God,
Thou hast bought me with Thy
blood,
I would value none beside,
Jesus –Jesus crucified.
I am Thine, and Thine alone,
This I gladly, fully own;
And in all my works and
ways,
Only now would seek Thy
praise.
Help me to confess Thy name,
Bear with joy Thy cross and
shame,
Only seek to follow Thee,
Though reproach my portion
be.
When Thou shalt in glory
come,
And I reach my heavenly
home,
Loudly still my lips shall
own –
I am Thine, and Thine alone.
Let’s try to
sing this hymn (#390) -- Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken. This will be our
benediction.