Sermon Title GOD HAS TO WIN OUR CHOICES
Introduction College and profession football has begun. Now, the announcers for these early season games don’t talk about how this game is a must win for one of those two teams. But later, in the season, those announcers will be begin saying that if one team wants to make it to the playoffs or to a bowl, this game is a must win.
And that made me think, there are some must wins in my life that God must get. And so, over the next four weeks, I want to share with you four must wins that God must have in my life. We will start with the first one today. God must win our choices.
It is hard to put a number on the number of choices that we make each day. But researchers will always try, and one such group at Cornell University studied food and the number of choices that we make concerning food each day. They concluded that we make about 227 choices about food each day.
If that is true, then the number of total other choices that we make in a day must be in the thousands. I actually saw two reports that quoted 35,000 as that magic number of choices we make each day, but they gave no supporting evidence as to how they got to that number. I don’t know if they just pulled it out of the air.
But here is the point that I want to make, it doesn’t matter if it is 1,000 choices a day or 35,000 choices a day. At the end of the day, what matters is that God won those choices that He needed to win in my life today. When it came to decisions about me and God today, did He win or did the world win? When it came to decisions about me and God did He win or did my flesh win? When it came to decisions about me and God did He win or did the devil win?
So, I set out looking for someone in the Bible who I knew it can be said about him or her that in their life God won the daily choices.
And I want to see what made that person the Godly person they became; what made that person chose God over everything else, so I can model that in my own life.
So, turn with me to the Book of Hebrews Chapter 11 beginning with verse 24 and let’s discover why it can be said in Moses’ life that God won. Moses chose Godly choses over other choices in his life.
Scripture
Hebrews 11:24-28 (NKJV)
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.
1st point:
GODLY CHOICES WON OUT IN MOSES’ LIFE BECAUSE HE DIDN’T LISTEN TO THE DISTRACTIONS THAT RISE UP TO PREVENT US FROM MAKING THOSE GODLY CHOICES.
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
In verse 25, we are told that the Godly choice was to suffer affliction with the people of God, and the distraction is the passing pleasure of sin.
In Luke 10, we are told the story about Mary and Martha. Mary made the Godly choice by sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to what He said, but Martha was distracted by her many task.
In Matthew 14, we are told that Peter asked the Lord if he could join Him on the water, a very godly choice. But the Scripture says that that before Peter got to the Lord, he saw the wind, a distraction and began to sink.
The thing that I want to make you aware of whenever we face a decision for God, there is always some distraction that rises up that tries to prevent us from making that Godly choice.
I have seen that over and over in my life. Anne will sit down to start praying and as soon as she does either the phone rings, or I call out from another room asking her a question interrupting her time with God.
I will sit down to read my Bible, and out of nowhere I will get tired and need to take a nap.
And I am sure this has happened to you, and I know it has happened to us. We are walking out of the house for church and the phone rings and it is some emergency which changes your plans about attending church.
When I make a decision does the Godly choice prevail or does the distraction prevail?
2nd point:
GODLY CHOICES WON OUT IN MOSES’ LIFE BECAUSE HE CHOOSE ETERNITY OVER THE HERE AND NOW.
I like the way the NIV reads for vs 26 because it makes it easier to see the choice between the here and now and eternity.
Hebrews 11:26 (NIV)
26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
How often do you choose eternity in your life? When faced with a decision, do you choose the hear and now or do you choose eternity.
The rich young ruler who came to Jesus chose the here and now over eternity. He could not give up his earthly riches for the riches of eternity.
The farmer, in Luke 12, whose land produced a bountiful crops instead of allowing it to have eternal value by giving the excess away to the poor decided to build bigger barns so that he can eat, drink and be merry. He felt that he can have a life of ease here and now. He chose the present over eternity.
In the Book of Acts, Simon the magician wants to do the things that the Apostle Peter could do not for eternity sake but for the here and now. Simon felt if I could do what Peter did it would bring me fame, notoriety and probably wealth. Peter saw through what his intentions were and told him to be a cursed.
Jesus’ word to each one of us is this Matthew 6:19-20 (NKJV)
19 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
When I make a decision does the hear and now win or does eternity win?
3rd point:
GODLY CHOICES WON OUT IN MOSES’ LIFE BECAUSE HE CHOSE THE FAVOR OF GOD OVER THE FAVOR OF MAN.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible
The truth is a lot of times we make decisions not to offend somebody or get them mad at us or hurt their feelings without any consideration what that choice does to God.
Moses could have said to himself that I don’t want to incur the wrath of the king because actually he has been good to me. He took me into his palace, he dressed me in fine clothes, fed me delicious foods and gave me the finest of educations. He could have said to himself; I really would love to serve God if it doesn’t interfere with my relationship with the King because he has been good to me. What he did say to himself was I will serve God even if it hurts my relationship with the king.
In the Book of Acts, Stephen could have toned down some of his religious language to please the Sanhedrin council and possible save his life, but instead he chose to please God by telling the Sanhedrin just like it was. The result was that he was executed but before his death he saw Jesus standing welcoming him to heaven.
Stephen chose to please God.
God wants us to chose Him first; so many of us cannot make that choice. Matthew 19:29 (NKJV)
29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
When I make a choice does God come first or does someone else come first?
4th point:
GODLY CHOICES WON OUT IN MOSES’ LIFE BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO BELIEVE GOD’S WORD EXACTLY LIKE HE SAID IT RATHER THAN SAYING TO HIMSELF GOD DIDN’T MEAN EXACTLY THAT.
28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Moses could have told himself; God did not mean if they don’t put blood on the door sills that the death angel would kill the first-born child in the home without it. He could have told himself God was just saying that to emphasis how important this Passover was, and we need to observe to please God, but God would not kill the first-born Jewish child if you didn’t.
Let me tell you something. God says what He means. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden found out what God says He means when they were ejected from the Garden. Moses found out what God says He means when Moses was denied entrance to the Promised Land because he struck the rock rather than speaking to it. The people in Noah’s day found out that God says what He means when they perished by the floods that He promised.
But here we sit today and say that God does not say what He means. When it comes to marriage and God said one man and one woman, we say that He did not mean that. When He says that hell is real and wide is the way that leads to it, we say that God is love and He would not send anyone to hell.
When I make a decision do I take God at His Word or do I say I think He meant this?
Conclusion
At the end of the day, God must win our choices. Is He winning your choices? Let us pray!
