Exodus chapter 2 and we're reading
from verse 11. And it came to pass in those
days when Moses was grown that he went out unto his brethren
and looked on their burdens and he spied an Egyptian smiting
an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that
way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian
and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second
day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together. And he said
to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And
he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest
thou to kill me, as thou kill'st the Egyptian? And Moses feared,
and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard
this thing, he sought to slay Moses, but Moses fled from the
face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat
down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had
seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the
troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came
and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them and
watered their flock. And when they came to Rul, their
father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to-day? And
they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds,
and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And
he said unto his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye
have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell
with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. And she
bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said,
I have been a stranger in a strange land. Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. Time had passed and Moses, the
Little baby in the bulrushes, in the ark that we read about
last week, has grown now to be a man. And he is considered amongst
his peers, amongst the people around about, to be the son of
Pharaoh's daughter. And so he is a prince in Egypt. In fact, in the New Testament,
we're told something about this man, this prince of Egypt, and
we're told that he was a very skilled and accomplished man
in the arts and in the activities of the Egyptians. Stephen says
Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and
was mighty in words and in deeds." So Moses was a very accomplished
man by this time. But there was something else
about him too. And I'm going to say to you that
there was something which was even more important about Moses
at this time. Yes, he had plenty of education. Yes, he had plenty of skills.
He had loads of training. He was accomplished in words
and in deeds and famous for them all. But Moses was also a man
of faith, and that was more important than anything else. He had been
raised an Egyptian, but he had learned about being a Hebrew,
probably from his mother. So mothers, you take note. Little
ones can learn the gospel early and Moses had learned the gospel
from those who taught him in his earliest years. Moses believed
the promises of God. In fact, it seems as though Moses
had already had some personal dealings with the Lord. If it
wasn't him personally, then it was his parents who had communicated
these things to Moses, but I suspect it was Moses himself. and that by way of some sort
of divine revelation because we read again from Stephen. Stephen
is very fulsome in his description in Acts chapter 7 with respect
to this man Moses at this time. And here's what Stephen tells
us about Moses at this time. He says, verse 23, and when he
was full 40 years old, so he's no longer a child, he's a 40
year old man, it came into his heart to visit his brethren,
the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer
wrongly, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed
and smote the Egyptian. Now what Stephen has told us
there, we picked up directly from Exodus as well. We read
that in Exodus and here Stephen is repeating this account to
us. But Stephen says something else. He says something important.
He adds, For he supposed his brethren would have understood
how that God by his hand would deliver them. But they understood
not. Now do you see what that says
there? Do you see what Stephen has told us? That Moses knew
from God that by Moses hand the children of Israel would be delivered
out of Egypt. and Moses had come to believe
that he would personally be involved in delivering the children of
Israel out of their persecution and their bondage and out of
Egypt, back into that land of promise. And he expected if God
had told him about it, Moses, that he would have conveyed it
to his brethren, the children of Israel as well. That he would
have opened a door of acceptance from the Hebrews towards Moses
and indeed respect to him who was to be their leader and lead
them out of Egypt. But what he discovered this day
when he encountered these two Hebrews contending, fighting
together, is that they did not see Moses in this light. Here's a wee lesson for us from
that. It's always good to note and remember God's purposes,
but we also have to remember that God has his own timings
as well. It would be a full 40 years yet
before Moses began his task of leading the children of Israel
out of Egypt. Moses thought that it was going
to happen now. He had things to learn before
God's purposes began to unfold. When Moses intervened in this
argument between these two Hebrews, one of them spoke harshly to
Moses in such a way that Moses realised he was not amongst friends. He was not amongst the brethren
that he had hoped he was. They did not understand Moses'
intentions, his motivation, or indeed his faith in God. And it seems as if that's when
the penny dropped. I don't know whether you know
that little saying about a penny dropping, but that's when it
dawned on him the reality and indeed the danger of the situation
that he was in. Suddenly Moses realised that
he was vulnerable and he couldn't count on the Hebrews to keep
his secret. Pharaoh would soon know about
the killing of this Egyptian and Moses might himself be executed
for the murder. So Moses decided to flee the
country. I suspect he was confused about
what was happening and he realised there and then that his time
was not yet come. But we're gratified, we're pleased
that he still harboured a belief that he still had a role to serve
amongst the people of God and amongst those who would return
to Canaan. And again, we find this written
in the New Testament. The writer to the Hebrews, he
sums up all of this that we've just said in these words. And
it's in Hebrews 11, 24, that great passage about faith. Here's
what he says. He says, by faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ more than the riches of the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. That's quite a long reading there,
those three or four verses. Let me just pick out a couple
of things to say to you, maybe three, and then we'll be done. But just listen carefully, if
you will, to these points. Moses chose rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. That tells me that there was
a time in Moses' life when he had to make a decision. He knew
of the covenant promises of God. He knew that he was a Hebrew.
He knew that he was an heir of those promises, and he saw the
terrible sufferings of the Hebrew people on the one hand, but he
also saw all the pleasures of being a prince of Egypt on the
other. And he knew he had to choose
on which side he stood. Would he make a stand of faith,
or would he enjoy an easy life? as an Egyptian prince and never
have a day's hardship in all of his life, just nice and peaceful
and easy and doing all the things that he wanted. And Moses chose
to stand with the people of God because he chose to do so by
faith. Let me tell you young people
who are listening something. Someday, and it may be soon,
you'll be called to make a choice just like that. The pleasures
of the world or the affliction of God's people. Choose wisely. Why did Moses choose the way
that he did? Well, this is the second point.
He esteemed, that means he credited or he, he recognised, he esteemed the
reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. The treasures in Egypt looked
good, but he understood that Christ was better. Even the troubles
that Christ and following Christ would bring were better than
all the privileges of the treasures of Egypt. Do you realise what
he's saying here? He's telling us, the author of
the Hebrews, the writer to the Hebrews, is telling us that Moses
saw Christ. All those years before, in Egypt,
Moses understood that the covenant was spiritual. Not just about
land, not just about possessing a country, but it was spiritual
because he saw Christ. He saw the Lord. all those years
ago. He believed that one would come
who would deliver his people and bless them with spiritual
blessings and he weighed up that those spiritual blessings were
far more valuable than the temporary blessings of Egypt and its treasures. He believed in the Messiah Christ
and that Christ would save his people from their sins because
Moses had faith in Christ. He waited on the Lord. He didn't
give up and he didn't deny his faith but we're told he endured. He endured. And that's our third
and our last point. He endured as seeing him who
is invisible. You know, Moses may well have
been disappointed when that Hebrew man turned round and said, what
are you going to kill me as well? Like you killed the Egyptian
yesterday? He may have been confused, he may have doubted, he may have
wondered, he said, what is this? I trust God, I believe God, I
believe God's promise that he's going to use me to lead this
people back to the promised land and to the inheritance, what
is happening here? But Moses knew that there was
a divine purpose and he knew there was an invisible God. How
can you see the invisible? By faith. He knew that there
was eternal salvation. He heard, he believed, he trusted. He understood that he was an
heir of the everlasting inheritance and he chose Christ rather than
the pleasures of sin and the comforts of this world. Yes,
it would take time for God's plan for Moses and the children
of Israel to come into effect. Moses thought he could bring
about Israel's deliverance himself by killing a single Egyptian
and gaining the confidence of his people. But that wasn't God's
way. Moses would have a deliverer's
role, but not yet. However, Moses never lost sight
of the invisible God or of his Messiah. And even in the land
of Midian where he lived for the next 40 years, where he got
a wife and where he got children, he never lost his faith, but
he endured as seeing him who is invisible. May the Lord cause
us to be faithful and to persevere and to endure because we see
the Lord Jesus Christ, our invisible God, and we trust him for his
promises and for his grace. Amen.