The Exodus Family Part 3 "Moses' Dilemma"
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24 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 recompence of the reward.
Introduction
Introduction
Safety Meeting Sunday morning after church.
10,000 Sermon Illustrations Luciano Pavarotti
“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers’ college. On graduating, I asked my father, ‘Shall I be a teacher or a singer?’“
‘Luciano, my father replied, ‘if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’“
You are today what you are, because several years ago you chose to be what you are now. And what you choose now will determine what you’ll be five years from today. 58-0720M — By Faith, Moses
This is especially true for young teenagers.
When I was 16 I was living at home, didn’t have a driver’s license, had never had a job in the public,
When I was 21 I was married, pastoring a church, had started my career in real estate title and had a baby boy.
What could you be in five years?
A Missionary or a bartender.
A Godly Mother or a prostitute.
In the tribulation or the rapture.
Moses’ Choice:
Moses’ parents had kept him alive by faith, their choices had given him an opportunity to make his own choice, but now it was his turn.
5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
6 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.
God arranged this.
7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?
8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.
9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.
10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.
This must have been almost as hard as committing him to the river. Moses must have been young when he came to Pharoah’s house, but he was old enough to know who he was. His mother had taught him.
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.
Moses would have been almost 40 years old at this point, but still considered a young man. He made a choice to be identified with slaves rather than as a prince.
My advice to you, is, don’t look at the modern things around you, and the popularity and the glamour that you could be. But choose, rather, by faith, Him that give the promise that some day He will come and will righten all wrongs, and will give you Eternal Life, and raise you up.
No matter if you take the despised way with the Lord’s few, make that choice. If there is troubles in the hand, if there is troubles in the land, if there’s troubles in the church, if there’s troubles in the home, no matter where it is, make your choice, “By faith, I’ll serve God.
I’ll humble my heart in His Presence. I’ll take the way with God’s children. I see them despised and rejected, and drove out and made fun of, but I’ll still take my post of duty. I’ll stay right by. And when they cry, I’ll cry with them. And when there is sorrow, I shall sorrow with them. The way they live, I’ll live.” 58-0720M — By Faith, Moses
24 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 recompence of the reward.
The rich young ruler made the opposite choice.
17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Luke said he was a “Ruler”. Another young prince.
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
He had a choice to make.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Now, just religion won’t work. See, this one young ruler here, he said, “Good Master…” Now remember, before I say it. He had been taught to walk right. He had a good education. He had been taught business. And was rich, and was a ruler, and had religion. But he was confronted with another problem, and it confronts all of us, Eternal Life.
Religion doesn’t give us Eternal Life. Religious, is a covering, but it don’t give us Eternal Life. And yet, him taught with the best teachers there was, he was yet lacking something. And the young man knew it, because he said, “Good Master, what can I do to inherit Eternal Life?” 65-1031A — Leadership
And he was well equipped for life, the way his father and mother, and the priests and all of them, had equipped him, but still he knowed he was lacking something. Now I’m talking to the adults. He, he knowed he was lacking something, and he didn’t have Eternal Life.
Religion won’t produce Eternal Life. Forms, sensation, you feel something; you could get scared, and feel something. Crying, that’s good; shouting, that’s good; but that still ain’t It, see. You are confronted with Eternal Life.
You say, “Well, I have been just a staunch Baptist, or Methodist, or Presbyterian, or Pentecostal.” That still isn’t the question.
This young man was, too, he was taught in the religion of the day, but he still didn’t have Eternal Life, so he wanted to know what to do. He had been guided successful, to This. But when he was confronted with It, he refused to be guided to Eternal Life, or to be led. His other leaders had had such a hold on him until he didn’t want to turn it loose.
You’ve got to face one thing, Eternal Life, and there is only one Person Who can give That to you. Mama can’t give It to you. Papa can’t give It to you. Your pastor can’t give It to you. Your leader here can’t give It to you. Everybody that gets Eternal Life has got to come to Jesus Christ. He is the only One Who can give That part.
Your teacher can give you an education, she can teach you; you have to learn it. Your mother can teach you to walk; you have to learn to walk. Your father can teach you how to be a businessman, or what; you have to learn that. But only Jesus can give you Eternal Life.
Your priest, your leader, or so forth, can teach you your religion, you can learn the Message that we are trying to teach, but still that won’t give you Eternal Life. You’ve got to accept the Person, Jesus Christ.
You understand that, all of you? Got to accept the Person, Jesus Christ, to have Eternal Life. Now, but sometimes other leadership gets so much influence on us till we don’t know what to do then when that time comes. 65-1031A — Leadership
Lot chose the well watered plains of Sodom, Abraham chose the plain of Mamre.
To make the right choice, you must look at the unseen.
Abraham looked at the land and saw tomorrow. He saw the future.
to choose the beginning of a road is to also choose it’s end.
Ask yourself the question “If I continue on this road, what will my future look like”.
Lot saw himself becoming mayor of the city, but he could not see the destruction of his family. He did not see his wife becoming a pillar of salt, he did not see his daughters getting him drunk.
When you look at the future of America, what do you see?
Can you see with prophetic eyes?
When you look at your future as a basketball star, or a quarterback in football, you may see money and fame, but can you see beyond that?
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
All the works.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Ruth made the right choice.
16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Don’t look at what the majority does. Following the crowd is easy, cattle move in herds, driven by fear or desire for food.
Illustrate: Llamas, sheep and coyotes
Someone has to be different.
Daniel made a choice to eat a diet of vegetables and water instead of wine and red meat, but it was God’s Word for that day. We have a choice to feed on the world or on the Message. Daniel saw that he would be better off doing things God’s way.
The three Hebrew Children made a choice to not bow to the image. They chose fire over the Worship of a false god, because they saw tomorrow.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
The fourth man showed up in the fire, because they looked at the unseen.
Moses chose suffering over pleasure.
Most young men choose pleasure over suffering.
“What a foolish thing,” that the young men of his day must have thought, “when Moses chose to take his place with the afflicted and suffering people of God.”
Why did he do it? By faith, when he lifted up his eyes, he looked beyond the glamour of this world. He looked beyond the pleasures of sin. And the Bible said that he endured as seeing Him Who was invisible, by faith, and he made a choice to serve that God regardless of what took place.
It has not changed. Many of us could go to what we would call a better building. We could enjoy, maybe, the fellowship and pleasures of setting in a better pew. We might be more popular, to drink and to smoke, and to dress and to act like the world. But what’s the matter?
You’ve lifted up your eyes, and by faith you see Him Who is invisible, and have took your stand with the rejected and so-called holy-rollers of the day. For by faith we see Him Who is invisible, choosing to suffer the persecutions and the afflictions.
I wouldn’t say to people that they should choose to be afflicted. I don’t say that you should choose suffering. It would not be the human thing to do. But if suffering lays in the path of duty, then let’s take it as it comes.
I wouldn’t say for you to get out here and carry on and do something that was radical. I wouldn’t want you to do that, so that somebody would say that you are a fanatic. You bring that on yourself. But if it lays in the path of your duty towards God, let the world say what they want to say. You live on.
What if Pharaoh could have saw what Moses saw? He saw the sufferings of the people. He knew what the price was to pay. But by faith he chose it, rather than to have the pleasures of sin.
(Young women wearing immoral clothes, young men drinking and cussing)
And in this faith walk, there comes a time there has to be a choice. Lot made that sad mistake that we make. A lot of times we choose for our own good. We choose things that would be better.
Sometime if there’s a little squabble comes in the church, and someone would say, “Well, the deacon or the pastor is on this side.” Don’t look at that. Look at what’s righteous. Get that thing out and bring them both together. That’s godly.
There’s a choosing. And we choose for ourself. We choose something that’s for our own good. But Moses chose the afflictions and the disgrace, that he might walk with the people of God. 58-0720M — By Faith, Moses
Conclusion
Conclusion
All of us will meet God one day.
The Poet Robert Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” as a joke for another Poet, Edward Thomas. Whenever they would be out walking in the countryside Thomas never could decide what road to take.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Frost wrote this poem at a time when many men doubted they would ever go back to what they had left. Indeed, shortly after receiving this poem in a letter, Edward Thomas's Army regiment was sent to Arras, France, where he was killed two months later.
Take the less traveled road, not guided by impulse or whim, but by faith in the Word of God.