Heros Of The Faith: Moses Series

Introduction: There is a new series on television this year called Hero’s. I haven’t seen it, …Real life Hero’s like the man who threw himself on top of a man who had fallen onto the subway track in New York.

Real life Hero’s are important, because they give us someone to look up to, someone to pattern our lives after. Now having said that Jesus should be our Number 1 Hero. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we should constantly be doing our best to become more like Christ. However, the Bible is full of stories of Men and Women who became Hero’s of the Faith. The Author of the Book of Hebrews lists several of them in the 11th chapter. None of those listed in The Hall of Faith were perfect, they all made mistakes, but I believe we can all learn something from their stories that will help us as we strive to become more like Christ. This morning I want to Read Hebrews 11:24-28, as our text, as I begin a series of sermons on “Hero’s of the Faith.”

Moses was born during the period of time when the Israelites were living in the land of Egypt. They had come to Egypt back when there was a severe famine in the Land. God used Joseph, who had become the Second most powerful man in the Land of Egypt, to save the lives of his Father and Brothers. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt was so thankful for everything that Joseph had done for Egypt He allowed Joseph’s Father and Brothers to settle in the land of Goshen. But that was then.

It had been somewhere around 350 years since Joseph had died, and the new King of Egypt didn’t remember Joseph and saw the Hebrews as a potential threat to His Kingdom. Consequently He began using them as slaves and treating them harshly. Yet God continued to bless the Hebrews, and they continued to multiply. Eventually the King became convinced that the Israelites had become to numerous and gave the order that all baby boys born to the Hebrews were to be throne into the Nile River. In verse 23 we read that Moses’ parents hid him for three months because they were not afraid of Pharaoh’s edict. Of course you know the story. After 3 months his mother placed baby Moses in a basket, then put the basket into the Nile River for Pharaoh’s daughter to find. Which of course she did, and after seeing Moses, she decided to adopt him and raise him as her own son. So for the first 40 years of his life, Moses was known as the grandson of Pharaoh. He had the best of everything. He had been given a good education, and was well on his way to becoming a powerful political leader in Egypt. Some people believe that he was seen as the eventual heir to the throne. I don’t know about that, but I’m sure he was a very powerful man in the land of Egypt. But at the same time, he had not forgotten who he was and where he had come from. Undoubtedly, Pharaoh’s daughter had been honest with him and told him that he was adopted, because he knows that he is a Hebrew.

According to the Bible, one day Moses went to check on the Hebrew slaves and saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of the Israelites. Moses couldn’t stand to see this man beaten, so he took matters into his own hands. He looked around to make sure no one was watching then he killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. Even though Moses thought no-one would ever find out what he had done they did, and he was forced to leave Egypt to keep from being killed himself.

He fled to the Land of Midian, where he would live as a shepherd for the next 40 years of his life. D.L. Moody once said, “Moses spent the first 40 years thinking he was somebody. He spent the second forty years learning he was a nobody. He spent his third 40 years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”

Moses was tending his Father-In-Laws sheep on the far side of the dessert near the Mount of Horeb one day when he saw something that intrigued him, something that he had never seen before. He saw a bush that was burning. But there was something unusual about this particular burning bush, you see for some reason the bush was not being consumed by the fire. So Moses decided to take a closer look. When he got close enough to the bush, God called out to him from the bush and informed him that he needed to take off his sandals because the ground he was standing on was Holy Ground. God then proceeded to tell Moses that He had seen the way the Israelites were being oppressed in Egypt and had heard their cries and had decided to deliver them from their suffering. Then God told Moses that He wanted to use him to deliver the Israelites from their bondage in Egypt. Moses isn’t all that excited about the possibility of going back to Egypt. In fact he proceeds to argue with God and give him as series of excuses as to why he can’t do what God is calling him to do.