Book of Hebrews - Ch. 11, Vs. 23-40 (06/13/2021)

Hebrews 11 and the Faith of Moses

Okay, this morning we're going to continue our study of Hebrews 11. We'll begin this morning with verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for all that you have done for us. We love you. We love you because you first loved us, and we thank you for all of the things that you have done for us, not the least of which is to give us encouragement that in times of stress, we might know that the rule we follow is the rule of God, not necessarily the rule of the country.

We've been given instructions to obey the commandments of our leaders, but not when it is contrary to the direct commandments of God. We're going to see an instance this morning where a man was given a command by the king, and he disobeyed it.

Give us the courage that you gave him. Give us the faith that you gave him. Bless us and keep us as we go through the services today. In Jesus' name, we pray. Okay, for a little background, let's go to Exodus 1.

Exodus 1 verse 1. Now these are the names of the children of Israel which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Jacob, Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Ishkar, Zebulon, Benjamin, Dan, and Nephali, Gad, and Asher.

All the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls, for Joseph was already in Egypt. And Joseph died, and all of his brethren and all of that generation and the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them.

Okay, let's consider something. When it says the land was filled with them, just how many is it talking about? 400 years earlier than this, 70 men, 20 years old and elder, came into Egypt with their households.

From that 70 men indicated here, the number that leaves Egypt about 400 years later has grown to 603 ,000 men, men 20 years old and older, for a total population of about 2 million people. Now, you understand this.

God had promised Jacob that his seed would fill the land, that he would multiply his seed. Remember when Jacob was leaving his father and going back to his homeland in Babylon to get his wife? On the way, he stopped and took a stone for a pillow, and slept.

And while he was sleeping, this is his dream. And he dreamed and beheld a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord, God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Now, that was a promise made to Jacob, not to Abraham. It was the same promise that Abraham had received, not to Isaac. This is the promise to Jacob that his seed would be abundant. Now, we're going to go back to Exodus 1 and pick back up.

But keep this in mind as we proceed. For as hard as he might try, there was absolutely nothing that Pharaoh could do to slow the growth of the Israelites. Now, we left off with verse 7. It said, And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them.

And there arose... Now, I'm going to stop there. That's an important word. Now, there arose... John MacArthur says this about that word. It's probably best to take this new king, who knew not Joseph, as the Hychoas ruler.

Furthermore, the term arose signifies arose against, which accords well with a foreign seizure of the Egyptian throne. And I added this to John MacArthur's comment, as well as an understandable nervousness concerning all groups of people who dwelt in Egypt.

So the king was worried that the Israelites would join any attacker in the event of a war. That if a war broke out between Egypt and any other country, he was afraid the Israelites would join with the enemy.

Okay. So here we go. There arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Now, this is the first time that anyone in the Scripture has referred to the people or the nation of the children of Israel.

This was an Egyptian pharaoh designating Israel as a nation and marking the first time the term people or nation is used of them. And already there were more Israelites than Egyptians, certainly more Israelites than the occupying usurpers of the Egyptian crown.

So it's understandable that the pharaoh would be worried. So here's what he says. Verse 10. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply. And it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us.

So get them up and out of the land. So they're going to uproot the Israelites from where they were living. And they were going to separate them and hopefully discourage their growth. Now, this is the pharaoh's first attempt to slow the growth of the Israelites.

Therefore he did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. So he assigned them tasks to do, and he put taskmasters over them, forcing them to do the labor. He made them slaves. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramseus, one in the northern part of the kingdom and the other in the southern part.

But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the fields.

All of their services wherein they made them serve was with rigor. So that was Pharaoh's first attempt. And now we're going to come to Pharaoh's second attempt to slow the growth of the Israelites. Verse 15,.

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shipparan and the name of the other Pua. And those are representatives, not all of the midwives certainly, because you're talking about two million people by now.

And he said, When you do the office of midwife to the Hebrew women and you see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then you shall kill it. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but save the mid men children alive.

So there they were disobeying a rule of their ruler. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, Why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

So what he's saying was childbearing was so easy for the Hebrew women that before the midwives got there to attend them, the child was already born. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty.

And he came to pass because the midwives feared God that he made them houses. So he provided for them. Now we come to Pharaoh's third attempt to slow the growth of the Israelites. And Pharaoh charged all his people saying, All the people saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.

And now we come to the end of Exodus 1 and the beginning of Exodus 2. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and he took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

So rather than dump him in the river as they were instructed to do, she hid them for three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrush and dabbed it with slime and with pitch and put the child therein.

And she lay it in the flags by the river bank. Now it's interesting to note. Both Noah and Moses were saved through the wrath of God by an ark. Now the flood which Noah survived through, the instrument of the flood was God himself.

The wrath of God through which Moses survived was from God, but it was through the Pharaoh. But it was still both of them saved not from the wrath of God, but through the wrath of God. Noah lived through the flood.

Moses lived through the time of the persecution of the people of Egypt when all of their sons were designated to be thrown in the river. Verse 4,. And his sister stood afar off to it. That means to see, to determine, to perceive what would happen, to see what would be done to him.

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along the riverside. And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child.

And behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Now he was wrapped in some sort of cloth clothing, and she could probably tell from the design of the cloth that he was Hebrew.

Verse 7,. Some of the commentators said maybe by the tone of his skin color, but I think the tone of the skin color was so much alike that you couldn't have told the difference anyhow by that. So it's probably by the clothes or the cloth that was in the ark with him.

This is one of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter. Remember the sister standing by watching to see what happened? Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women? So she knows that the daughter of Pharaoh could not nurse Moses, so they had to hire a wet nurse, that she may nurse the child for thee.

And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. Her mother as well, as a matter of fact. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thee wages.

Now I think that's ironic. Pharaoh's daughter paid Moses' mother to raise Moses for her. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And as the child grew, she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter. And he became her son.

And she called his name Moses and said, Because I drew him out of the water. Now here's what we don't know. We don't know how long Moses lived with his real mother before being returned to Pharaoh's daughter.

But it would not have been out of the ordinary. It would have been customary for the nursing mother to continue on as sort of a nanny, a babysitter, for the child after the child was brought back into the house.

Normally what happened was the rich Egyptian that took in the adopted child would hire a wet nurse, and they would nurse it. And when the bond that existed between the mother and the child was sufficiently strong that they would take the mother, bring her and the child into the house, and both of them would live in the house with Pharaoh's daughter and acting as a nanny.

Well, after her role as a nurse was no longer needed. We don't know if that's the case or not, but we do know this. Moses had enough interaction with someone who had been taught about God and about the Jewish culture.

Among other things, he knew that he was Jewish. It didn't come as any surprise to him. He was taught at his mother's knee that he was a Jew, not an Egyptian. And now we're going to go back to Hebrews 11, verse 23, and begin this morning.

By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Who was not afraid of the king's commandment?

Well, Moses' mother and father were not afraid of the king's commandment. What was the king's commandment? That they throw the child into the river. So what did they do instead? They hid him. Well, they did, but they didn't throw him in the river right then like they were supposed to.

The faith described here is not Moses' faith. That's the faith of his parents. His parents knew enough that they understood that God had a commandment that overrode the commandment of the king. Now, this next verse does deal with the faith of Moses.

By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now, it will turn out that this event will take place when he's 40 years old. And I'm just going to go ahead and tell you right now that Moses' life is divided into three 40-year segments.

From the time he was born until the time he left Egypt the first time to go to Midian. Then from that time until the time of the burning bush when he was called to go and deliver his people. And then from that time until the time he died at the end of the wilderness wandering.

So three 40-year periods for Moses' life. First 40, second 40, third 40. And by the way, do you understand when he began his serious ministry for God? When he was 80 years old. I guess that says something to all of us, doesn't it?

We've got time still to do things. Exodus 2, verse 11. And it came to pass that in those days when Moses was grown that he went out into his brethren. Now, when he was grown, how old was he now? He was 40 years old now.

When Moses was grown that he went out into his brethren and looked upon their burden. And he spied an Egyptian spying a 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.

Now back to Hebrews. Chapter 11, verse 24. 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 God, with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Now we're going to go to Acts chapter 7, verse 20 and pick up a few more details. In the time Moses was born and was exceedingly fair and nourished up in his father's house three months. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own son.

And Moses was learned in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. Verse 23. And when he was a full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit the children of Israel.

And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. That's what we just read about. For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them, but they understood not.

So that was the Acts account of the same event. So now back to Hebrews 11, verse 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure of Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

Moses suffered the reproach of Christ in the sense that he identified himself with the people of the Messiah. And by doing so, he forfeited the worldly riches of Egypt, but received the heavenly riches of God.

When he identified himself as a Hebrew, killed the Egyptian taskmaster, or killed the Egyptian taskmaster, buried him in the sand thinking no one would see him, that's when he in effect forfeited being called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and become an exile.

But even though he gives up the riches of Egypt, he received the riches of God, the heavenly riches. Verse 27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the kings, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

That's almost misleading. Moses actually forsook Egypt twice. The first time was in Exodus 2, just a couple of verses later. In Exodus 2, verse 14. He has now seen two of his fellow Israelites, one assaulting another.

And he intervenes and criticizes the one who is the aggressor. And that person says this. And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intending thou to kill me as thou killest 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.

And that ends the first 40 years of Moses' life. He is no longer Moses, the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But he is now Moses. I can't think of the word to say. The person who is trying to avoid being captured by Pharaoh, who is fleeing from Pharaoh.

Fugitive is the word I wanted. Fugitive. No longer Moses, the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but Moses the Hebrew fugitive. And it's obvious that this is not the time referred to in 1127. No, this is a different Pharaoh and a different time that Hebrews is talking about.

Here's the time that Hebrews is talking about. Go ahead to Exodus 5, verse 1. And we'll see Moses and Aaron at the beginning of the end of the second 40 years of Moses' life. His life as a fugitive from Pharaoh.

Remember he saw the burning bush and he was told to go to Pharaoh and tell Pharaoh. And he said, I'm afraid. And God said, I'm with you. And he said, I can't talk very well. And God said, who are you to determine how well you speak?

And he took Aaron along to speak for him. So now Moses and Aaron are back in front of Pharaoh. Not the Pharaoh that he ran from 40 years later, but a new Pharaoh. And afterwards, Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. So that was his response. And we're going to get a follow-up to that in just a few minutes.

But first, back to Hebrews 11, or we'll never get through with Hebrews. Verse 28. This is back to Moses. By faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyeth the firstborn should touch them.

Remember, they've gone through the plagues, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened at every instance. And now we have the final plague. Just before the final plague, they were told to sprinkle blood of a lamb on the doorpost and on the lintel, and the death angel should pass them by.

It took faith to believe that the blood of a lamb on the doorpost would save a household from the terror of the death angel. But Moses had that faith and led the nation in observing the Passover. So the first Passover was then.

And the death angel passed over the houses that had blood sprinkled on the doorpost. Now, this one is really interesting. Number 29, verse 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, a saying to do, were drowned.

Now, here's what's interesting about that. Moses is following the directions of God. And Moses following the direction of God led the Israelites to a place where the Egyptians thought they were trapped with no place to escape.

But as is so often the case with God, it was the Egyptians that had no way to escape. Well, they could have turned around and not followed the Hebrews across the Red Sea, across the dry land with the waters on both sides of it, but they didn't want to.

And as Brother Otis Fisher used to say, you always do what you want to do. And what they wanted to do is follow the Israelites and destroy them. So now we are back to Exodus 14, verse 1. We're now after all the plagues, after the final plague, after Pharaoh had let them go and told them to take themselves, get out and take all their stuff with them, they left, and here's what the Lord says to Moses.

Speak unto the children of Israel that they might turn and encamp. Now, He's going to give them specific directions, and I'm going to mispronounce the names of these cities, but just bear with me a second.

Now, how did Moses choose his campsite? God told him where to go. Now, this is not a likely place to be. He's over against the sea. The Red Sea is in front of him. He can't go forward. There's wilderness on both sides.

He's got two million people with him. He can't go right. He can't go left. He can't go across. He can't do anything. He has been led to a place where he is trapped. And before you shall encamp by the sea.

Now, the Lord took pity on Moses and explained to him what was going to happen. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land and wilderness has shut them in. So there are seas in front of them, wilderness on both sides, two million people, there's nowhere to go.

Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he should follow after them. And I will be honored upon Pharaoh and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord thy God. That the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.

Not only did the Egyptians learn that God was the Lord, but also other people did that we'll see a little bit later this morning if we actually get there. Well, I got a question. Ron, did the Egyptians follow God because God made them follow Him or because they wanted to and because God made them?

The answer is both. The answer is both of them. They both wanted to and they wanted to because God made them want to. And so they did what they wanted to do just like Brother Otis always says, you always do what you want to do.

So now we're going to leave Moses for a while and go to Jericho. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encompassed by seven days. You know the story of that, how Joshua went out and had his meeting with the Lord and the Lord told him what to do.

And what did He tell him to do? He said, go march around the city. March around it one time each day for six days. And on the seventh day, march around it seven times. And when you get around it the seventh time, now you got to understand this.

Each time they walked around Jericho, you can imagine the people on the walls of Jericho saying, what are you doing? What do you think you're doing marching around our city? There's no way you can get in here.

But on the seventh day, they stopped. They blew their trumpets, and on the final trumpet, they all shouted and started running toward the wall, everybody straight toward the wall. What happened to the wall?

It fell down before them, and they went in and destroyed the city. So here's where we are. Now Jericho was straightly shut up because of the children of Israel, and none went out and none came in. And the Lord said unto Joshua, see, I have given unto thy hand Jericho and the king thereof and the mighty men of valor, and you shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go around the city once.

Thus shall they do six days, and seven priests shall bear before the ark, seven trumpets of ram's horn, and on the seventh day, you shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow their trumpets, and it shall come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

Now that takes some faith to believe that when that wall, when that horn blows, the wall is going to fall down. But they believed it, and it did. Now we go to verse 31, and we go earlier in time, and we're going to get a little bit of a hint as to why Jericho was shut up tight when the Israelites came.

By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace. Remember, they sent two spies in, and the purpose was not to find out how strong Jericho was, but to have a path of deliverance for Rahab and her family.

But that's neither here nor there. Joshua chapter 2 verse 10. Joshua chapter 2 verse 10. A little bit earlier, a few days before the walls fell down. This is Rahab talking to the spies. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you.

They saw that. They knew that. They knew that the waters of the Red Sea opened. The Israelites marched through on dry land. The Egyptian tried to follow them. The wall of water fell on them and drowned them all.

They knew that when you came out of Egypt. And what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side of the Jordan from them, Sheon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. Now you need to understand this.

Og was a giant. And the city of Og was filled with giants.

Yes, sir. I believe that's so. Yes.

You're right. All the ones that actually had seen it had died in the wilderness journeys. And all that was left, and the very last one to die was Moses. And then there was only two left, Joshua and Caleb.

That's right. Isn't that amazing? Oh, but they heard about more. They heard about the Red Sea parting.

Yes, sir.

Yeah, but now in the meantime, Israel had come up the other side of the Jordan and destroyed these two mighty empires, one that was filled with giants. So this was no mean feat. The men that looked like grasshoppers in the eyes of the twelve spies, to whom they looked like grasshoppers in the eyes of the two spies, these were the men that these Israelites destroyed, utterly destroyed them.

That's more recent. They've just seen that. That just happened recently. So the people of the city of Jericho were rightly concerned enough to be tied down. For we have heard how that the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you.

And when you came out of Egypt, what you did on the other side of the Jordan, Sion and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we had heard these things, our hearts did melt. And there did remain any more.

And neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you. For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and in earth beneath. Now, not everybody in Jericho thought that. But Rahab the harlot did.

Rahab did. She understood that the God of Israel was more than just one of the gods that they were worshiping. He was the God of the heaven above and in the earth beneath. Now, therefore, I pray you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness unto my father's house and give me a true token.

And that you will save alive my father and my mother and my brethren and my sisters and all that they have and deliver our lives from death. So she's asking for a favor for them. And the men answered her, our life for yours, if you utter not this our business.

And it shall be that when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. And she let them down by a cord through the window. For her house was on the town wall. And she dwelt upon the wall.

And she said unto them, Get you to the mountains, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourself there three days until the pursuer be returned. Now, I didn't take time. I didn't have time, really, to pursue that three days.

But that's an interesting thing that I want to, at some point, explore. Why they hid three days? Could it have any relationship to the amount of time that was spent, that Jesus spent in the grave before he was resurrected?

I think it probably does, but that would be premature. Yes, sir? Which is also a picture of the same thing, Jonah and the whale. That there's something about these three days. It might be a good thing to do a word study on, find every time three days is mentioned, and see how they're fitted together.

But I didn't do that for this one. I knew I'd have enough difficulty finishing anyhow. And one interesting thing I was kind of thinking as I prepared this, as the Egyptians started running toward the city, what happened?

What happened when the Egyptians started running? The Egyptians. What happened when the Israelites started running toward Jericho? Did all the wall fall? Rahab's part of the wall didn't fall. Why did Rahab's part of the wall didn't fall?

That's right. And she had that token that's going to be described in just a minute hanging from her window. And the one place that's standing is the place where Rahab was? Oh, that makes chill bumps. Okay, so here we go.

Get you to the mountains, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide yourself there three days until the pursuers be returned, and afterwards you may go your way. And the men said unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which thou made us swear.

Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which thou dost let us down by, and thou shalt bring thy father and thy mother and thy brethren and all their father's household home to thee.

Now, what did all the household members have to be? In the house with the red thread attached to it. Rahab had to have enough faith to hang that red ribbon down? She probably did. Her parents and her mother and her father and her brothers, all those that were in the house that fell not, were saved.

And all the rest were utterly destroyed with all of the other. That's right. And there's a whole litany of stories about scarlet markers indicating self-protection, yes. And now we're going to quickly run through the rest of this.

Verse 32,. What more shall I say? For the time would fail me. I get the gist of this. What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson, of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets.

And you notice that all these men listed held positions of power and authority, but none is praised by their personal status or their abilities, but what they're recognized for is what each one had accomplished by faith in Christ.

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions. Joshua, the judges, David, and others subdued kingdoms and worked righteousness. Righteous kings like David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah obtained promises, as did Abraham, Moses, and Solomon.