If you will turn in your Bibles
with me today to the letter of Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. This past week, as I was praying
and thinking about a message for us today, I thought about
the fact that we are acknowledging the graduation of several in
our congregation, that graduations are a time of change, change
and choices which are made. And I thought it would be good
this morning if we would consider Some verses of scripture which
speak to us about Moses and some choices that he made many years
ago. And when we read the 11th chapter
of Hebrews, there's so many men and women who are mentioned.
But when we think about Moses, we see that he did some things
and things are recorded about him that are true of us today. Abel, this chapter begins with
Abel, but we will never be called upon to take a lamb and offer
it as a sacrifice because the true lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he has already been sacrificed for us. We will never be commanded
to build a ship or an ark in which to save ourselves from
the wrath of God, because the wrath of God that our sins deserve,
that is God's people, has already been poured out upon our substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are some things written
here about Moses that are certainly pertinent to all of us. We're
going to look at three verses of scripture. Verses 24, 25,
and 26, and that which is recorded concerning Moses. 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's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he
had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Let's remember
these things about this man, Moses. He was born into a nation,
the nation of Israel, at a time when they were in bondage. They were slaves. That is, the
Israelites, they were slaves under a very cruel king, a monarch,
a despot, Pharaoh by name. He was so depraved that we know
he commanded that all of the male babies who were born to
the Israelites, that they should be destroyed. His parents, the
parents of Moses, they feared God. And they defied the king's
order, and in defiance of him, they hid their baby for as long
as they could. As long as they could, they kept
their baby hidden for about three months. And then it became impossible
to hide him any longer, so they made an ark, had a small ark
constructed, and placed their young child in that ark. and
then somehow anchored it to the banks of the river where no doubt
they knew the daughter of Pharaoh would come to wash. And so she
came along and washed, to wash rather, and she saw the ark and
so she had it brought to her. And inside, when they opened
up the ark, they found a small baby crying. And the scriptures
tell us that she had compassion upon him. Even though her father
had commanded that all of the male children be destroyed, she
had compassion upon this one. And her, or rather his older
sister, Her mother and dad had stationed her where she could
watch the ark and see what happened. And just as soon as Pharaoh's
daughter saw the baby and had compassion upon it, then his
older sister came running to her and said, do you want me
to fetch a nurse? Do you want me to find a nurse
for this baby? And she said, yes, I sure would
like that. And of course she ran and fetched
her mother. And so Moses' mother then did,
got paid for doing what she loved to do, and that was to nurse
her child. How long she kept him before
he was weaned and presented to Pharaoh's daughter, we are not
told. But I would just remind us of other cases in the scripture. When we read about a child being
weaned, I think about Hannah. And her son, Samuel, remember
his name means ask of the Lord. And she had prayed and asked
God to give her a child and vowed that if he would, she would give
him to the Lord. And God gave her a child. And
she kept him, nursed him, raised him until he was weaned. And
then she took him and presented him at the tabernacle to the
priest Eli. So he was of some age. And then
we read, of course, of the weaning of Isaac. When Sarah weaned him,
he must have been of some age. But the point I want to make.
And this is a very important point. This mother knew that
she would only have her child for a limited amount of time. Now that's true of everyone,
of every mother. But this woman, this mother especially
knew that the day would come when she would have to take her
child and present it to Pharaoh's daughter. And so I know, as every
mother would do, and especially a mother who believed in God,
and she did, her and her husband, they believed in God. They, by
faith, the scripture says, they hid this son. They made the ark
and placed him in it. So she knew, and his father as
well, they had a limited amount of time to teach and to train
this child before he would be given to Pharaoh's daughter.
And I know that she took advantage of every hour that God gave her,
of every day that God gave her. She took advantage to teach him
that his people that they had been promised a deliverer. That is, that a Messiah had been
promised to the nation of Israel, and not just to the nation of
Israel, but to all the nations of the earth. She knew that.
And she also knew that her nation had been promised the land of
Canaan. And so she did everything she
could for as long as she had him to instill in his heart and
in his mind these precious promises that had been given unto mankind
in general and to the nation of Israel in particular. And
I make this point because I want to encourage every young family
here today. You need to recognize that you
have your children for a limited amount of time. A limited amount
of time when you can set an example before them. When you can teach
them with your words, but yes, you can teach them by your example. And if you don't think your children
do not notice and watch your conduct, you are sadly mistaken. And so take advantage and use
the time that God gives you with your children when they're small.
You can say, we're going to church today and they're going to come
with you. But the day will come when they
will be old enough and you say, we're going to church today.
They'll say, I'm not going. And there probably will be nothing
you can do about it if that happens to you. The scripture says, train
up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old,
he will not depart from it. I know there's different understandings
concerning that text, that proverb, but I know this, it is the parent's
responsibility to bring up their children in the nurture and in
the admonition of the Lord. And I say unto us here today
that the parents of Moses They did that for as long as they
had any influence or any communication with their son. But the day came
when he had to be given unto Pharaoh's daughter. Now she named
him. These parents, they did not even
have the privilege of giving their child a name. Pharaoh's
daughter named him Moses because he had been fetched out of the
bulrushes. But not only did she name him,
but she educated him, had him educated in all the wisdom of
Egypt. Until we read in Acts chapter
7, Stephen speaking about Moses, he said that Moses became mighty
in words and deeds. He was educated in all the wisdom
of Egypt. And I would just remind us that
Egypt was not some third-rate country. Egypt at this time was
the most powerful, the wealthiest country on the face of God's
earth. Some historians say that He would
have been the Pharaoh, that this Moses, because Pharaoh had no
son, and this daughter adopted him. Whether this is true or
not, we do not know. But many believe that Moses,
had he not made the choices that he makes, and we're told about
in these verses of scripture, that he himself would have become
Pharaoh. But God had other intentions. God had other plans for Moses. We're going to look at what he
chose. But first we must see that his
choice involved turning from certain things. This we know is repentance. As the apostle Paul wrote to
the believers in the church of Thessalonica, he said, you turn
to God from idols. Whenever a person turns to God,
that is by faith, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we turn from
idols. We turn from our sin. We call this repentance. The
scripture calls this repentance. And repentance is the other side
of faith. They always go together. It's
impossible for a person to truly believe, to truly trust in Christ
and not repent. And the same is true, it's impossible
for a person to truly repent, that is to be given repentance. You see, repentance and faith
both are gifts. A natural man doesn't have the
power to repent. The natural man doesn't have
the power to believe. Christ is exalted a prince and
a savior for to give repentance unto Israel. For by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God. Both faith and repentance are
gifts from God. But we see this in the life of
this man. First of all, notice the three
things from which Moses turned. First of all, he turned from
fame and advantage. He turned from fame and advantage. He refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. I've already mentioned that Stephen
in Acts 7 tells us that he was now man. mighty in words and
deeds, and he turned from all the advantage that naturally
would come by being a member of the royal ruling family. He was, remember this, he was
a man, and he was just like you, and he was just like me, and
he was just like every other man that is of like passions
as us. He was that kind of a man, like
all of us. And yet he refused, he turned
from fame and advantage. This is something that the world
is seeking for the most part. Very few people do not seek for
fame and for advantage to be somebody. I want to be somebody. I want to be listed in the who's
who of America. Most people seek for fame, for
advantage, to have the recognition that is given to famous people,
to be able to pick up the telephone and call the White House and
say, I want to speak to the president. And they put you through to speak
to him. To have the paparazzi following
you everywhere you go, taking pictures, and people Clamoring
for your autograph and clamoring to be given an opportunity to
have a picture made with you. Fame. Fame. Advantage. Everyone knew who
he was. Everyone knew who his adopted
mother was and who the king was, Pharaoh. And he was part of that
family. And yet the scripture tells us
that he turned from it. He turned from it. He refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The second thing he
turned from was the pleasures of sin. Notice that in verse
25. It says, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Pleasure. Pleasure. That's what everyone wants. Pleasure. There's Pleasure Island. There's
all these theme parks and vacation places. People are seeking for
pleasure. Pleasure. And yet we are told
here that the pleasures of sin. Sin does have a pleasure, but
it is for a season. I was thinking this morning of
how that when a man goes fishing, He's fishing with a line and
a hook. That hook is usually very shiny. It really is. And so he baits the hook, right? So the fish doesn't see the hook,
the fish sees the bait. And Satan does the same thing,
my friends. He shows that the pleasures of
sin, that's what people see, they don't see the hook. They
don't see the hook, they see the pleasures. The pleasures
of sin for a season, for a little time, for a short time. And this
man, now think about that, this. This man, Moses, there was nothing
that would have been withheld from him being in the court of
Pharaoh. Nothing that John describes as
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life. It's all there, Moses. It's yours
for the taking. You are privileged. You have
all of these things at your hand, at your disposal. Enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. He turned from it. He turned
from it. You know, when individuals consider
different pleasures, one thing may be pleasurable to you, another
thing pleasurable to someone else, another thing pleasurable
to someone else. That's true. But all of the things
that might have been pleasurable to Moses was at his fingertips. Everything. Whether it was learning,
education, the wisdom of this world, the sensuality of this
world, whatever it was that gives people pleasure, that men seek
after for pleasure, it was all there for Moses. And he turned
from it. And the third thing he turned
from was the treasures of Egypt. Notice that in verse 26. esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt. Now we know from the book of
Genesis, from the time of Joseph, when God sent Joseph into Egypt,
Joseph became the second man under Pharaoh. And as people
came in those seven years of drought, After seven years of
plenty, remember as they came, the Egyptians came, they sold
their livestock, they sold their land, they sold themselves under
the Pharaoh. What wealth did this Pharaoh
have? And that would all have been
Moses. Every once in a while we see
display, a traveling display here in our country at the museum.
From some country, artifacts and gold and precious stones
and all of those things, you know, they'll have it on display
down at the museum and you can go down and see those things.
When we went to England many years ago, one of the places
we visited was the Tower of London. And we went into that place,
as best I remember, and you were kind of on a board that keeps
you moving. They don't want you to stay there
very long because there's so many people. And behind those
glass cases, there was gold and silver, crowns and jewels, and
I remember that one diamond. that was in that scepter of the
queen. I mean, that is a diamond. Well, thank, all of that was
in Egypt. A lot of the jewels that are
there in England today were taken from the pyramids and the tombs
of Egypt. All of that was there. The pyramids
that were built during the days of Moses, they're still there.
All of that, the riches of Egypt, the wealthiest country, no doubt
in my mind, this was the wealthiest country in the world at that
time. The riches of Egypt. And Moses turned from, from it
all. Turned his back on the treasures
of Egypt. Well now notice, I said he turned
from, well let's see what he turned to. And let's be clear
now. Don't miss this, please, don't
miss this. Let's be clear about why Moses
chose these three things. He did it so for the sake of
his soul. He made this choice for the sake
of his soul. The things he turned from, these
things I've just mentioned, they all minister to the flesh, they
all minister to the body, that's true. but man is more than body. Man has a spirit, has a soul. The things he turned from, they
ministered to the body, but man is more than body. He's more
than flesh and blood. He also has a spirit, a soul
that will spend eternity either in bliss, unimaginable, are torments
unimaginable. There's only two places where
men and women go when they leave this world, either one place
or the other. Moses made the choices, my friends,
for the good of his soul. He recognized, I'm sure his mother
and father had instilled this in him. They did not know the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, but what our Lord said, I'm sure
that his mother told him, his father may have told him, for
what should it profit a man, Moses? For what shall it profit
a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul? First thing he chose, suffering
and affliction. Verse 25, choosing rather to
suffer affliction. No one likes suffering, no one
likes affliction, but Moses saw that if he cast in his lot with
the Israelites, that's all he could expect. That's all that
he could ever expect, suffering and affliction. He chose to leave
a palace with all of its luxury and attach himself to the life
of a slave. Think about that. A slave. He chose that. He chose the suffering
and affliction. He may have heard of the land
that God had promised the Israelites, but Moses, more than most men,
would have known the might, the strength of Pharaoh's army. There's no way these slaves are
ever going to be released. There's no way they're ever going
to get their freedom. That's an impossibility. He may
have heard of the land of promise, my friends, But he also knew
the impossibility of it all. And yet the scripture says he
chose suffering and affliction. The Lord Jesus Christ said when
he was here in the flesh, if any man, any man, any woman,
if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. That's
what Moses did. let him deny himself, take up
his cross and follow me. No exceptions, no loopholes, no. If any man, if any man will come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. The second thing he chose, he
chose the company of the people of God. Notice that in verse
25 as well, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God. The people of God at this time
were downtrodden. They were under the power of
a cruel tyrant, and yet he chose to identify with the people of
God. Jesus said, so likewise, whosoever
he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be
my disciple. I cannot help, when I thought
about this, to think of the words of Ruth that she spoke to Naomi. Here she is, a Moabitess, and
she's going back with her mother-in-law, without a husband, without any
hope of a husband, a life of poverty, a life of suffering. And yet she said to Naomi, thy
people shall be my people. Thy God shall be my God. And that's what Moses said. That's
what he said in reality. Thy people, speaking to the Israelites,
thy people will be my people and thy God will be my God. The third thing he chose was
the ridicule of the world. Don't you know, just think about
this a moment, the world hasn't changed. Don't you know that
all of his peers, all of those that he associated with, those
he'd gone to college with, gone to school with, those he worked
with, those he had any kind of relationship with as a son of
Pharaoh's daughter. Don't you know they all said,
man, you're crazy. You're crazy. You're going to
identify with that group of people. You're going to identify with
that promise. You're going to leave all the
prestige that you have. You're going to be nothing, you're
going to be a nobody, for that's what you're going to become.
Here you are at the height that man can come to and you're going
to choose to go to the very bottom. How ridiculous, how foolish. No one would do that. No one
in his right mind would choose that. Nothing. I've thought about this
and I think this is worth thinking of for all of us. Nothing shows
our depravity, my depravity, your depravity. Nothing shows
our depravity anymore. than for us to ever be ashamed
of identifying with the Lord Jesus Christ and his people. And yet, for the most of us,
there is some shame sometimes, isn't there? There's some shame
because we know that those that we work with, those we go to
school with, that they might look down upon us because we
believe the truth, we believe in Christ, we believe the Bible
is the word of God, and we're determined by the grace of God
to follow God no matter what it costs. Nothing shows our depravity anymore. than being ashamed to identify
with Christ, with his gospel, with his precious blood and his
righteousness. And yet our Lord said this, for
whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my word, of him shall the son of man be
ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in the father's
and of the holy angels. He chose to turn from the things
that most men spend their lifetime trying to find to accumulate. Prestige, fame, fortune. He turned from that and chose
suffering, the company of God, the people
of God rather, and the ridicule of this world. Well, third, notice
what enabled Moses to make these choices. You say a person can't
do that. Well, that just doesn't make
any sense. How a person could turn from
that which most men, if not all men, naturally are seeking and
turn to that which most men shun. that most people want to do everything
they can to shun these things that he chose. The answer, how
could he do it? It's so simple and it's right
here before our eyes. By faith. Isn't that what the
scripture says? By faith. 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's
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. How could he do it? He believed
God. He believed God. Faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. This is how I know
in my heart that he had heard the Word of God. And I say from
his parents, most likely, he had heard the Word of God. And
when we read here by faith, and I say that he believed God, you
recognize I'm not saying that he just believed that there is
a God. All men believe that. There's only a few that would
even say they're atheists and they are fools for saying it.
The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Man knows there's
a God. All men do. And men know they're
responsible to him as their creator. When I say that he believed God,
I'm not just saying that he believed that there is a God. The devils
believe and tremble. The apostle James tells us. If
you look back here in Hebrews 11 verse 1, I said he did this by faith.
The scripture says by faith. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The recompense
of the reward. What is that? It says that he
had respect unto the recompense of the reward. What is that? That's eternal glory, my friends. That's what the world calls pie
in the sky. That's what y'all talk about.
That's what your preacher preaches about, pie in the sky. Good, glory, and the good by
and by, recompense of the reward. It is eternal life. It is to
be with God. and enjoy God forever. And it
is the substance of things hoped for. The natural eye, we've never
seen heaven, we've never seen Christ with these eyes, but it
is by faith, by faith Moses made these choices. And that's the
only way anyone ever comes to Christ, anyone ever knows true
salvation. Moses, remember Abraham, the
scripture, our Lord said this about him, he rejoiced to see
my day and he saw it, or he saw my day and he rejoiced. Well,
Moses saw that day as well. Because know this, every person, I don't care who,
every person who has been saved, is saved, will be saved. Every person is saved through
Jesus Christ. There's only one Savior. There's
only one blood that cleanses from sin. There's only one righteousness
that justifies before God. And those in the Old Testament
before Christ came, they had faith in Him as the coming one. They didn't just believe that
there's a God, they believed the promise that God had given
in the very beginning of the deliverer who would come and
crush the head of Satan. Everyone listed in this chapter,
chapter 11 of Hebrews, they all had faith, and they all had faith
in Christ, the promised one who was coming, You and I, as we
look back, if you look in verse six of this chapter, it says,
but without faith, it is impossible to please him. It doesn't say
without baptism. It doesn't say without all the
things that religion tells people they must do, but it says simply
without faith, it is impossible to please him. The only way anyone
pleases God is through the person and work of Jesus Christ. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. But without faith in Him, it
is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who
diligently seek him. I hope, and my prayer is, that
this message would be a challenge to all of us, and I include myself,
to all of us, those young people here today who are graduating,
You're going to make some choices. You're going to experience some
changes. And I just pray, and I hope you will too, that God
will give you the grace to make the right choices. And the right choice is always
Christ. Always. Any other choice is a
bad choice. And it may promise pleasure now,
but it will be just for a season. I pray the Lord would bless this
word to all of us here. If you will.