Topic: Living by Faith Sermon Series
Text: Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. -NIV
Title: The Decisions of Faith -Part 1
Intro: Many ‘believers” do not live by faith as the scripture commands but have unknowingly moved toward another approach to living a fatalistic one. Because they believe that all events are predetermined by God, and therefore inevitable, fall into a “que sera sera, whatever will be will be” approach to life! Their attitude is “I’ll just sit here and wait on God to do His thing, and I don’t need to do anything!” Wrong approach!
I believe that our scripture passage places before us the fact that life and LIVING BY FAITH IS ABOUT CHOICES – IT IS ABOUT THE DECISIONS THAT WE MAKE in life! The bible is replete in this concept, and I do think some of
The following verses that I will quote affirm this:
Deuteronomy 30:19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live,
Joshua 24: 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Proverbs 1: 28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, 29 since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord.
I do believe that passage like I just read point us to the fact that -Decisions Determines Destiny!
Jesus said for example in his very 1st sermon…there are 2 roads, 2 gates, 2 ways of life….
Matthew 7:13a “Enter through the narrow gate.
Enter (eiserchomai from eis = into + erchomai = come, go, enter) means to go or come into and so to enter into. The aorist imperative conveys the sense of urgency, calling for immediate and effective action! Don't delay! Enter now! Don't procrastinate is the idea!
Matthew 7:13b For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
THE IDEA HERE IS THAT “GOD SENDS NO ONE TO HEAVEN OR HELL – IT IS BASED ON THE CHOICE THEY’VE MADE! ETERNAL DESTINY DEPENDS ON THE DECISIONS THAT YOU MAKE!
Romans 10:21 But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."
Proposition: Hebrews 11:23 places this principle before us. Let us consider how decisions affected the destiny of literally millions of lives!
Let’s consider first of all the two unnamed people whose decision affected redemptive history…
I. The People of decision:
A) Parent’s of Moses:
Hebrews 11:23a By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born,
II. The Problem that necessitated the decision?
We saw last week that Joseph was brought to Egypt by God to save them during a 7 year famine, he sends for his family to live there also in order to survive…
Exodus 1: 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.
Exodus 1: 8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
Exodus 1:11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. (But it backfired) 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
1. The problem was that a mass genocide was ordered!
Exodus 1:15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
Exodus 1: 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”
a) EVERY HEBREW BOY WAS TO BE KILLED!
III. The Peril behind their decision?
A) Defy the Pharaoh?
1. Potentially could die for it!
a) They could have been executed for their defiance!
Q: But what caused them to hide the child?
B) Parental instinct?
1. Our passage places before is a different reason.
VI. The Perception of Moses Parents!
A) Perception -the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
1. It was a FAITH DECISION
2. They saw him through the eyes of faith!
Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child,
he was a proper child; -KJV
he was a goodly child - ASV
B) Point?
1. Good / Goodly?
a) In the Old Testament Hebrew the commonest word for good is Tobh,
b) It has different shades of meaning depending on the context:
c) At creation:
Genesis 1: 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
d) Context?
i. The world was dark therefore light was “good,” i.e. serviceable, adequate, sufficient.
ii. Light was good it possessed desirable beneficial qualities.,
iii. Light was good, it illuminated the darkness, it brought sight.
Genesis 2:9a The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.
iv. Good for food – what is fruit good for? What is the purpose of it? To sustain life to feed us!
v. What does it mean that ‘God saw that it was good’? What does it symbolize? It means what God created, the way he manufactured it, was in accordance to a goal or purpose he had in mind!
OK so what is the…
C) Perspective/principle?
1. Communicated in:
Hebrews 11:23 Moses’ parents saw he was no ordinary child, but a proper goodly child?
a) God has a good purpose for every life He created!
Psalm 139:13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.-NKJV
2. Moses parents saw that their child – like every child, he was a goodly child. One that was created with a DIVINE PURPOSE IN MIND!
3. THIS IS THE FAITH PERSPECTIVE!!
(Illustration) The former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin discovered she was pregnant with a fifth child at the age of 43, while attending a conference in New Orleans in 2007. After she returned to Alaska, a test revealed that Palin was carrying a baby with Down syndrome, a genetic condition that affects a child's intellectual and physical development. She said the moment gave her pause.
Sarah Palin in an interview with Barbara Walters said, "I thought, 'God, unless you know more than I do about all this, how in the world would I handle this?'" she told Barbara Walters in an interview.
Ninety-two percent of women who get that news terminate the pregnancy, according to research reviewed by Dr. Brian Skotko, a pediatric geneticist at Children's Hospital Boston.
Palin knew abortion was an option - but was able to overcome the fear of the unknown to go ahead with the birth.
HOW? Listen to her testimony during her interview with Barbara Walters:
Sarah Palin -"I knew that the option (abortion) was there. ... I thought again, for that split second, 'OK, now I know, too, why, when that fear strikes you, it is because of the unknown,'" she said. "I understood then, too, why a woman would consider [abortion] an easier path to perhaps, if you will, do away with the problem, instead of understanding that every child has purpose.
[Then - SHE SAID] But there is destiny for every child. And it can be good, in our world. And that's what I held onto."
D) Point?
1. I believe that was the same perspective that Moses parents held onto, “our child has a destiny, and it MUST be good, because it is God's!
IV. A Practical view of their decision:
Hebrews 11:23b and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.?
A) Practical view?
1. Not afraid, then why hide the child?
Exodus 2:2b When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
2. There was a fear in their decision!
a) A fear at the very least for the life of their child?
b) Perhaps even a fear for their own?
B) Point?
1. I believe they overcame that fear because they were governed by a greater fear that everyone should be governed by!
2. THE FEAR OF THE LORD!
a) Why should we?
b) Consider it's benefits!
Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools[fn] despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 10:27 The fear of the LORD adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.
Proverbs 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.
Proverbs 16:6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.
Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.
Psalm 103:11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
Psalm 147:11 The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.
Psalm 34:9 O fear the Lord, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.
Psalm 111:5 He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever
Proverbs 14:26 In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.
3. I believe that baby Moses found refuge in his parent's fear of the Lord!
4. And so can we!
Isaiah 8:13 “Do not fear anything except the LORD Almighty. He alone is the Holy One. If you fear him, you need fear nothing else. He will keep you safe .” (NLT).
“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” ? Oswald Chambers
Conclusion: Does the fear of the Lord govern your decisions? If it does then you’ll make the right decisions, and experience the destiny God has for you!
