Let's turn to our scripture reading for tonight, which is Hebrews chapter 11. It's 23 through 26. Hebrews 11 verses 23 through 26. Remember, these are chronicles, which means stories of faith. And we're going to talk about Moses tonight, and also next week, Lord willing. So let's pause a moment and pray, because we need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand and listen. Oh God, the Holy Spirit, we do pray that you would help us to pay attention to your word, open our eyes to see the truth of your word, and open our hearts to receive it tonight. We thank you that you speak to us in your word. Give us ears to hear. In Jesus' name, amen. So Hebrews 11 verses 23 through 26, and this is God's word. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for the reward. That's how far we'll read tonight in God's word. I think I mentioned this before, but doing the hard thing is usually the right thing or the best thing. I've said that before. I'll probably say it again. Doing the hard thing is usually the right thing, the best thing. So for example, let's say you work in an office and your boss leaves the office for a few hours and it's just you there in that area. You could put your feet up on the desk and veg out on your phone for two hours. It'd be easy, not hard to do. Or you could keep working diligently like your job's calling you to do and just do your job. That's harder, but it's the right thing to do. Or let's say your friend or family member, somebody you know, somebody you love, is in the hospital, maybe in the cities or on the other side of the cities, a little bit away, a ways away, and you know that you should go visit because you love that person and you know they could use your friendship. So one thing that you could do is you could stay home and watch a couple of shows on Netflix and just kind of like, you know, be lazy all night and stay home. That's the easy thing to do. Or you could make that drive after work to visit your friend in the hospital who really needs some company. That's the hard thing to do, but it's definitely the right thing to do. So I could go on, right? Usually in life, as we think about it, especially in those illustrations, doing the hard thing, it's actually the best thing. And you know what? It's similar in the Christian life. Jesus calls you as believers to deny yourself, to avoid your sinful urges and sinful passions. That's not easy. It's hard to deny yourself, but it's the right thing to do. Or one other example, I mean, there's many in the Bible. One other example would be that scripture tells us to speak the truth and don't lie, be honest. That's not always easy to do. And it's not always easy to tell the truth, but scripture calls us to that and it's the right thing. Even though it's difficult, it's the right thing to do. Now we see that theme and other themes in the story that we just read or the stories we just read in Hebrews 11 about Moses' parents and Moses. Now last week we talked about Joseph and Joseph's faith. Now we fast forward in Israel's history about 350 years after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, fast forward a little bit to Moses. And tonight when we read about Moses' parents' faith and Moses' faith, you're going to hear echoes of the same characteristics of faith that we've learned already, like the obedience of faith, how faith trusts in God's promises, and it looks forward to the invisible realities of God, and so on. But we're also going to learn a couple more characteristics of true faith in God. And these things are relevant for you because Hebrews 11 gives you examples to imitate in faith. So the question would be for Christians, how do we live a life of faith in God? The answer is in Hebrews, Hebrews 11, all these different stories. So these are very relevant for our daily lives. Anyway, let's start out by looking at some different characteristics of faith from Moses' parents' story. So in verse 23, Hebrews talks about Moses' parents and that whole story. Now you guys probably remember when Israel was in Egypt, they were slaves to Egypt and the population was growing. And Pharaoh and his people were getting worried, right? The Egyptian government was worried that these Hebrews, these Israelites are expanding and they're gonna take over. So what did Herod say? I'm sorry, what did Pharaoh say? Oh, we should kill all the baby boys that are born of the Hebrews, throw them in the Nile, was his decree. Drown these baby boys in the river. And that's serious persecution, by the way. We can't even wrap our minds around that, a decree to throw your baby boys and drown them in the river or have the government come and take them and destroy them. But that's the backstory here. But Hebrew says, by faith, talking about Moses' parents, when he was born, he was hidden for three months by his parents. So his parents knew the decree of Pharaoh that baby boys should be killed, but by their faith in God, they hid Moses when he was an infant for three months. Don't tell anybody. Be quiet. Pharaoh's policemen are coming. Hide this baby. Kind of reminds me of that movie, you know, what's it, Quiet Place 2, where, you know, you have to be really quiet or the aliens can hear you and come and get you. You have to keep quiet. Can't let anybody know we have this baby, because if they hear or know, Pharaoh will have them killed. And they did this by faith. because they trusted in God, they hid Moses from Pharaoh and disobeyed his decree. And actually, it's a fun exercise. Go back and read the story in Exodus 1 and 2. And in Exodus 2, Moses' mom was kind of the spotlight of the story. It's her faith. But here, of course, it's talking about his dad and mom. They're pretty ordinary parents who had extraordinary faith in God. So anyway, it says here that they hid Moses for three months for two different reasons. I guess we can think about it that way. Look in verse 23. First, because they saw the child was beautiful. That's interesting. You've maybe read that before and you're like, what does that mean? So they had this baby and he's whatever, a day or two old. And they're like, this child is beautiful. Well, in the Greek, it means something like handsome or well-pleasing or fair. Could even maybe nuance it as special. They saw something about this baby And by faith, they hid him so he wouldn't be put to death. Now, there's another place in the New Testament that talks about baby Moses. Bible trivia, does anybody know? Acts 7, Stephen's speech. Remember before he was stoned? He goes through the whole history of the Old Testament people. And Acts 7, Stephen said that baby Moses was beautiful in God's sight. That's fascinating. So Moses as an infant was beautiful in God's sight, and Moses' parents, by faith, saw that he was also beautiful. So again, we don't know exactly what this means. I don't know if you'd put baby Moses in a line of many children that he's much more cute than other babies. I don't think that's probably what it means. But by faith, they knew that there was something special about this child, special to God. Maybe I should, I'll share this with you. When I was studying, there's some Jewish stories, I think it's Josephus, I forget exactly, you can look it up. But some Jewish stories say that Miriam, Moses' sister, prophesied to Moses' parents that this baby's gonna deliver Israel. Now that's not in the Bible, it's just a guess. And I'm not sure what to think about it, but Miriam was a prophet, right? Prophetess in Exodus 15. But again, I don't know about that story. But the point here is that by faith, they saw that there was something special about baby Moses. So they defied Pharaoh's decree and hid him so he wouldn't be put to death. Now also, it says like I'm just, I was just kind of hinting at in the end of verse 23. So they hit him by faith because they saw he was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's decree or edict. Remember the king's decree is throw all these baby boys of the Hebrews into the Nile River. They weren't afraid of Pharaoh. By faith they trusted God. They weren't afraid of Pharaoh. They feared God, not Pharaoh. That's faith, isn't it? And that's a bold faith because Pharaoh, of course, think about this decree. Pharaoh was a very evil man. I mean, what kind of monster says put all these baby boys to death and drown them in a river? They weren't afraid. Moses' mom, Moses' dad said, we trust God. We don't fear Pharaoh. So they hid baby Moses. This would be one example in the Bible of proper civil disobedience. Yeah, we're not going to let death happen. We're going to disobey and trust God. So Moses' parents did the hard thing, didn't they? Maybe it's a good meditation for you. Think about that this week, what it would be like to hide a baby boy for three months from a very evil tyrant. It was a hard thing for them to do and disobey the high King Pharaoh, the evil man. They did the hard thing, but it was the right thing. And it was pleasing to God, it was commendable to God. So there's different things that you could talk about their faith. It's an amazing faith that Moses' parents had. But I've kind of highlighted this already. I wanna say that it's a courageous faith, a brave kind of faith. They knew they were going against the laws of Egypt's king, but still they trusted God and they said, no, we're gonna protect this child. They knew it could probably mean their deaths. But what would happen if Caesar's policemen found this baby being hidden by Moses' parents? I don't think it would go well for them. But they weren't afraid. They had this courageous, bold, brave faith. It was a faith that did not fear man, but feared God and obeyed and trusted him. Or like as Jesus put it in the New Testament, they didn't fear someone who could kill their body. They feared God who holds their souls. So this would be relevant for first century Christians reading the book of Hebrews. So first century Christians lived in the Roman era, Roman Empire era, where there was some persecution. And if you think about it, there's some parallels between the Roman government that persecuted Christians in the first century and the Egyptian government in the Old Testament that persecuted God's people as well by trying to destroy their babies. So when Hemers is reading this, or I mean, the people of Hebrews are reading this, they would say, oh, that kind of faith like Moses' parents have is what we need to do. Brave, obedient, and bold faith, we don't fear Caesar. We fear God and trust him. So I don't think it's a reckless faith. That doesn't sound right, does it? But it's also not a cautious, timid faith. It's a big, bold, brave faith. And again, this is what we want as believers. We want to live in this world with a firm fear and trust in God. Not fearing people, but with faith in God like Moses' parents. Okay, that's the story of Moses' parents. Now fast forward a little bit. Moses grows up. The second point is the faith of Moses. So the second part is about Moses, verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called son of Pharaoh's daughter. So let's pause it for just a second. For the Jewish people, Moses was their primary patriarch. He was the most important man in history for many or most of the Jews because he gave the law at Mount Sinai, right? Of course, all Jewish people would think Abraham was very important, but Moses, for many Jews, was even more important. So now the Jewish Christians will be listening. Moses, what do you got to say about Moses? Well, it says that by faith, he pretty much renounced his adoption. Again, do you remember the story though? Remember Moses essentially or eventually ended up in Pharaoh's household because Pharaoh's daughter took him in the whole Nile River incident in the little basket. So Moses grows up in Pharaoh's courts, kind of like adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, and he grows up in Pharaoh's household. But by faith, he refused to be called an adopted child of Pharaoh or Pharaoh's daughter. That's interesting. Because imagine how Moses lived. Remember, Joseph also spent some time in the high courts of Egypt. Moses lived in Pharaoh's courts, and it would be pretty decent life, I guess, from one angle. Tons of good food, wealth and comfort. Just think of all the amenities in Pharaoh's household. I mean, whatever you want to eat and drink. I mean, there's luxury, there's prosperity, there's mansions. I'm thinking about Pilgrim's Progress in a sermon when I was writing it, and this is like Vanity Fair. That's what Pharaoh's household would be in Egypt for Moses. But he said, no. No, I don't want to be part of this household. Instead, it goes on here. He says he chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God. than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. So no, I'm not going to be identified in Pharaoh's house. I'm not an Egyptian. I'm not Pharaoh's people. I identify with the people of Yahweh, the people of God. And I would rather have the mistreatment that the Hebrews are facing than the passing pleasures of sin. It's pretty straightforward, isn't it? He said, I could stay in Pharaoh's household and I could have all these passing pleasures of sin. But I'm not gonna do that, I'm gonna renounce that and I'm gonna identify with the people of God and undergo the suffering that they're undergoing. If you were a Hebrew or an Israelite living in Egypt at that time, you did not have a good life. You were whipped and you were made servants and slaves so that you could make bricks for Pharaoh's government and houses and stuff. Hebrew people, the Israelites in Egypt were treated like scum and dirt. But Moses said no to Pharaoh's household and yes to being identified with the people of God and facing the suffering that they were facing. And he did it by faith. He did it because he trusted God. Now, in verse 26, it's kind of a similar thing, only said a little differently. Moses, he, Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. So by faith he reckoned that Christ's reproach was a greater thing to have than all the treasures and wealth in Egypt. Just think about that. He said, no, I'll suffer with Christ. and let go of all these riches and treasures in Egypt. And he did it by faith. So these verses go together, by the way. In verse 25 and verse 26, it kind of goes like this. He chose by faith to be mistreated with the people of God and be reproached with Christ instead of have fleeting pleasures and wealth and treasures of Egypt. So the verses kind of go together. They fit together quite well. Now, think about Moses' situation. If he stayed in Israel's house, let's say, I'm sorry, if he stayed in Pharaoh's house over here, and he just said, no, I'm not gonna go to the people of God. That's miserable. Look at, I mean, who would want to go over there? They're making bricks and being whipped and they have a miserable life. Why would I want to go there? If Moses would have stayed in Pharaoh's house, he could have had wealth and sinful passing pleasures. He could have enjoyed drinking and parties and sex and all these idle feasts and all kinds of food and all kinds of entertainment and all kinds of good stuff. But by faith, he left all that and went to be with God's people. And he faced the reproach of Christ. And he calculated this, by the way. In verse 26, he considered. So it's not like he made a rash decision. He woke up one morning, hey, I don't think I'm gonna do this anymore. I'm going to Israel, the Israelites. But no, this was a reckoning. This was like a calculation. I don't want to identify with Egypt and its sinful passion, pleasures, and treasures. I want to identify with the people of God and the reproach of Christ. Some kind of faith. Oh, some kind of faith. Quick question. What is the reproach of Christ? I mean, this is like, what, 14 or whatever hundred years before Jesus came. So how could Moses suffer the insults of Christ long before Christ came? Well, another way to put it is the insults of the Messiah, or he suffered for the sake of the anointed one. You know, Christ means the anointed one, the Messiah. But there's a couple answers to that question. I'll be very brief. The reproach of Christ here that Moses faced could be reproach for believing in the Messiah, So he considered that the reproach for believing in the Messiah was greater than the treasures of Egypt. That makes sense. Or some commentaries say that Moses suffered reproach and insults like Christ would many years later. So Moses is kind of a type of Christ, showing how later the Messiah is gonna be insulted. That fits. Or another one, is that Christ himself is bearing the insults and reproach in and through his people in the Old Testament, so that when his people suffer, he actually suffers with them. And that's a biblical thought as well. You can read Isaiah 63, verse 9, where people of God suffers in a way, you know, he suffers. So there's a couple different answers to that. But Hebrews' point here is Moses' faith. By faith, Moses left a life of sinful ease and pleasure and treasure, like literally, to be with God's people, to suffer with them, to face the reproach of Christ. And he did it, why? Look at the end of verse 26. Because he was looking to the reward. So by faith, Moses said, I have all this treasure right here. But by faith, Moses overlooked all that treasure to the heavenly reward. And he said, no, I don't want this earthly treasure. I'll take the heavenly reward. So he left the earthly treasure and went to be with the people of God and suffer with Christ. And he did it by faith. So once again, this is just an amazing chronicle or story of faith. Think about the different dynamics of Moses' faith. I mean, it was a forward-looking faith to the reward. It was an upward-looking faith. We talked about that before. It was an obedient faith, right? He did what God wanted him to do. I think it was even a pilgrim faith because he was in Egypt, but not of Egypt. And think about the self-denial of Moses' faith. I mean, he could have had riches and wealth untold, but he denied himself to follow the calling of God. And his faith was also like a rejection of earthly pleasure to obtain heaven's treasure. So I've been thinking in Hebrews 11 that the author of Hebrews is approaching the topic of faith from many different angles. I didn't look into all the correct terminology for how you study diamonds, but diamonds have different angles to them, right? Faith is kind of like that. There's different angles of faith. Well, there's the obedience of faith. There's the pilgrim aspect of faith. There's the self-denial of faith. There's the forward-looking aspect of faith. And Hebrews is showing us all these different angles of true faith. And Moses' story, like I've already mentioned, would be extremely relevant for Christians living in first century Rome when they're reading the book of Hebrews. 1st century Rome, just like Old Testament Egypt when Israel was there, 1st century Rome did not love Christians. There was some persecution. Followers of Jesus in 1st century Rome in some parts and in some times faced oppression and reproach and insult for following Jesus. So when these Christians who were suffering insults in the 1st century for following Jesus, when they would read the story of Moses, they'd say, that's what kind of faith that we need. Like that great example of Moses, keep your eyes on the heavenly reward and by faith identify with the people of Christ and Christ himself. And that's why later in Hebrews, or rather right around chapter 11 in Hebrews, it says, don't forsake the assembly of the saints, right? Continue to identify with God's people and bear suffering because there's a heavenly reward waiting for you. So for the people of Christ in the first century and they're reading Hebrews 11, that's a hard road for them. I mean, if you quit following Jesus, maybe it would go much easier for you in life. You're not gonna face suffering anymore. But that's a road that leads to darkness. So keep your eyes on this heavenly reward. Keep your eyes on Jesus. It's a hard road, but it's a road that leads to heavenly reward. You know, we don't face, right here and now, we don't face mistreatment or reproach or persecution for facing Christ. I'm sorry, for following Christ. Like, maybe you've been made fun of once or twice in your life for being a Christian. That's probably extent of persecution that many of us face, and we can thank God for that. But some Christians today do actually face real serious persecution, and when they're reading the story of Moses, this would motivate them to say, okay, I need to keep identifying with Christ and his people and go through this suffering, because there's a heavenly reward on the other side of it. But I think for us, from this text, the difficulty is not facing suffering and persecution, but the pull of the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt. You know what I mean? Wealth, entertainment, cash, sinful pleasures of our culture. I'm thinking of Jesus, you know, narrow and broad road, I'm thinking of that illustration, but it's kind of like if you take this Hebrews illustration, especially thinking about the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt, the worldly wealth, It's kind of like there's two paths. So once again, over here is this broad and wide path, and it's full of sinful pleasures and worldly treasures, like a life of self-gratification. where you do whatever you want to do. You just indulge in whatever thing you feel like doing. Whether it's living for money and amassing a whole bunch of cash, or just being amused in your life, or all kinds of sex, or parties, or drinking, or just living for your hobbies. Indulging yourself without any restraint. Just drinking and enjoying life and storing up cars and cash. That's the broad road and the wide road. That's the path of the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt over there. That's the easy path. That's like the path you coast. But like Jesus said in Matthew 7, that wide road leads to destruction. Moses got it. We need to get it as well. Because that's a strong pull in our culture. Sinful pleasures and treasures and wealth. But over here, okay, switch your thinking. Over here is this narrow path. It's a hard path sometimes. And you have to say no to sinful pleasures and treasures on the wide and broad path. But this narrow path is the one that Moses chose, and this narrow path is the one that God calls you to, that Christ calls you to, and on the end of this narrow path is a heavenly reward. That's a million times greater than any earthly treasure that you could ever lay your hands on. So if you think about the two paths, also remember you can't go on both ways. Moses couldn't stay in Egypt and identify with the people of God. Moses couldn't enjoy the treasures of Egypt and bear the reproach of Christ. By faith, he chose to bear the reproach of Christ, suffer with God's people, and look forward to that reward. And so, good time for self-evaluation in your life. I know we can't go on both paths, but I think sometimes as Christians, when we backslide or just lack faith, we sometimes start to go down that broad path, right? Oh, the treasures. Oh, the pleasures. So it's a good self-evaluation time for all of us, myself included. I mean, which path are you on? And just let me remind you, if you're on that broad path of living for yourself and pleasures and amassing treasures and wealth, that path leads to destruction. I know it's easy. It's so easy. But the end is darkness forever. So do the hard thing. Trust God, like Moses. Reject those sinful pleasures. Reject living for those sinful treasures. And by faith, go down the narrow road. By faith, trust in God. Identify with the people of God. Identify with Christ, even in his sufferings. And that path of faith, the narrow path, leads to a great reward in the life to come. So you see, I think this part of the text is for us, the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt. We got to reject those like Moses did. So lift up your eyes of faith to God. Lift up your eyes of faith forward to the heavenly reward awaiting for you, and remember Jesus, who went on this very path before you. Keep your eyes on him and follow him. And I want to end with that call that Hebrews gives after the stories of faith in the first couple verses of Hebrews 12. This is how I'll end. Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen. Let's pray.