True Faith Sacrifices
Notes
Transcript
If I were to ask you to sacrifice something in your life, what is the one thing you wouldn’t give up? Coffee!
Tonight we’re going to look at what “True Faith Sacrifices”
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, 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 passing pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
I want us to look at four things Moses sacrificed by faith and two things he recieved in faith.
1. Being Prince of Egypt; 24
1. Being Prince of Egypt; 24
Moses was raised by Pharaoh’s daughter as a prince in the court of Pharaoh.
Jewish tradition even says that his daughter was the only child Pharaoh had and that she herself was childless. If this is accurate, it means that Moses was, as tradition says, the heir to the throne of Egypt (Thomas Hewitt. The Epistle to the Hebrews. “Tyndale New Testament Commentaries,” p. 180 and Matthew Henry. Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Vol.6, p. 947).
This is what Moses gave up; education and knowledge, fame and wealth, possessions and estates, power and authority, position and duty, purpose and responsibility, a home and love (Pharaoh’s daughter must have loved Moses to stand against Egyptian law to save him as a child.)
2. Pleasures of Sin; 25
2. Pleasures of Sin; 25
When Moses gave up his place in Pharaohs court, he also gave up the passing pleasures of sin.
Being a part of the royal court in Egypt, Moses could have just about anything he wanted including money, power, prestige, and women. He could have and do anything he wanted and no one could challenge him.
Remember sin was so bad in the world in Noah’s day that God had already wiped out the entire planet with the Flood!
But Moses realized that the pleasures of sin are only temporary. No sin has ever made any person happy. Sin simply cannot bring happiness, but it can deliver pleasure, and when we confuse pleasure with happiness, we are wide open to the seduction of the enemy. But the pleasures of sin are fleeting.
Sproul, R. C. (2010). What Is Faith? (Vol. 8, pp. 38–39). Reformation Trust Publishing.
True Faith demands that we make a choice between the present and eternity, the passing pleasures of sin and the afflictions of Christ.
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
3. Treasures of Egypt; 26
3. Treasures of Egypt; 26
Moses believed in the promises which God had given to Abraham and his people, and the promises of God were better than the treasures of Egypt had to offer.
Esteeming- respect and admiration
Moses considered his options and he made a deliberate decision to suffer with his people and to inherit the promises God had made to them rather than to enjoy the riches of Egypt.
William Barclay explains:
“Moses was the man who gave up all earthly glory for the sake of the people of God. Christ gave up His glory for men. He became despised and rejected; He abandoned the glory of heaven for the buffets and the scourging and the shame inflicted by men. Moses in his day and generation shared in the sufferings of Christ. Moses was the man who chose the loyalty that led to suffering rather than the ease which led to earthly glory. He would rather suffer for the right than enjoy luxury with the wrong. He knew that the prizes of earth were contemptible compared with the ultimate reward of God” (The Letter to the Hebrews, p. 178)
Matthew 5:11 (NKJV)
11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
4. Protection of Egypt; 27
4. Protection of Egypt; 27
When Moses chose his Hebrew heritage, he became an enemy of the state.
23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian.
25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.
Moses didn’t fear Pharaoh, Moses knew what his purpose on earth was, to deliver God’s people! That’s when he became an enemy of Egypt.
Endured- to be steadfast, persevere
Moses endured by keeping his focus on Him who is invisible [God] to take care of him.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Now lets look at the two rewards of Moses faith
1. Avoids Judgment; 28
1. Avoids Judgment; 28
Just because Moses has given up the world and all its possessions for the Lord, that doesn’t excuse one from the consequences of sin in the world. Faith does more than sacrifice, faith obeys!
Moses when he returned 40 years later to lead the people from Egypt, had to obey by faith and keep the Passover, or the Hebrews would have suffered death with the Egyptians.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
2. Faith is the Victory; 29
2. Faith is the Victory; 29
No matter what the odds are against you, if we will walk by faith as Moses did, God will overcome the odds and save us if we will only believe.
Matthew 21:21 (NKJV)
21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.
Close;
From a worldly standpoint, Moses was sacrificing everything for nothing. But from a spiritual standpoint, Moses was actually sacrificing nothing for everything. He renounced the world’s power, honor, and prestige for the sake of God, and knew that for so doing he would gain more than he would lose, for he was looking to the reward.
True faith sacrifices the present temporary for the future eternal!