HE REFUSED TO BE KNOWN AS THE SON OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER
Heb. 11:24-26
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Kid’s Mother’s Day Gifts
1. Eight-year-old Mary wrote: "Dear Mother, here is the box of candy I bought you for Mother's Day. It is very good candy. I know, because I already ate three pieces."
2. Eight-year-old Carol writes, "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother's Day."
3. Eileen wrote: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother's Day wasn’t on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn't have to go to school."
4. Little Diane wrote; "Being a Mother isn’t easy. If it were easy, fathers would do it.”
B. A HOSPITAL SWITCHED CHILDREN
1. A lady named Paula Jones was trying to get her ex-husband to pay child support for their little girl Callie. Paula got a DNA test, which showed that neither she nor her “Ex,” Carlton, were the parents.
2. It was discovered that her daughter had been switched at the hospital with another baby, and each family had raised them for four years. It was a terrible dilemma, for each family would want their biological child, but the 4-year olds (not to say the parents) had already bonded with the parents.
3. The Bible tells of a similar switch and how it was finally resolved.
C. TEXT
24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
D. THESIS
1. We’re looking today at Moses’ faulty identity, the obstacles he faced to set his life right, and the truths that helped him finally side with God.
2. The title of this message is “He Refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s Daughter.”
I. WORLD MOSES GREW UP IN
A. MOSES’ WRONG IDENTITY
1. When Moses looked out his mansion windows, he saw:
a. The squalor b. The misery
c. The ignorance d. The slavery of the Jewish rabble.
2. Moses lived in wealth, pleasure, good food, entertainment, fabulous wardrobe, with servants and butler's, and a great education.
3. But each day, as he grew up, Moses had looked into the wrong mother’s face; a face adorned with paint, with strange eyes, large earrings, and long painted eyebrows. But she was the only mother he'd probably ever known.
4. At some point, Moses came to realize that his "world," as well as his mother, was the wrong one. He had built his identity on the wrong world and the wrong lady. It is the same with us!
B. OUR WRONG IDENTITY
1. We were brought up and taught the "scientific method," to only believe what we could detect when our senses.
2. Our goals were money, popularity, happiness and self-actualization. All these attract us to the world, this world.
3. But God didn't intend for us to look at this life as the end. One of the Lord's most common warnings was, "Beware lest you become entangled in the cares and affairs of this life."
4. IMPRINTING. Ducks and geese do this. Sometimes they imprint the wrong animal. We have too!
C. WHY DID HE WAIT FORTY YEARS?
1. He might have reasoned: SURELY GOD HAD PUT HIM THERE. Since God had ordained her to raise him, might not Moses be destined to help his people FROM the throne? Wouldn't abdicating be throwing away God’s opportunity?
2. Perhaps during the forty years he attempted to see whether he could not serve God and remain the son of Pharaoh’s daughter too.
3. ILLUS. John Maxwell said, “Until I am committed, there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment I definitely commit myself, then God moves also, and a whole stream of events erupts. All manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, persons, and material assistance begin to come my way —the moment I make a commitment.”
II. OBSTACLES TO MOSES’ DECISION
A. HIS EDUCATION
1. Moses was a man of advanced education. The Bible says he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). The greatest library in the ancient world resided at Alexandria, Egypt, so Egypt was one of the greatest and most ancient depositories of wisdom and learning.
2. Undoubtedly Moses had mastered that great learning. Contrast this with the total ignorance of the Israelites, and it’s a wonder that he could communicate with them.
B. HIS HIGH RANK
1. Moses was used to commanding and being obeyed. He had thousands of servants to serve him. His every wish was obeyed.
2. To suddenly become a nobody, to wash his own clothes, cook his own meals, carry his own water, to have to work as a common laborer, to serve others – would be a change almost inconceivable.
3. He was of the ruling class; how could he suddenly throw all that away to become a servant?
C. PEOPLE HE WOULD LOSE
1. HIS FRIENDS. He had to tear himself away from many close friends he’d known for forty years. Childhood friends. Teenage friends. Adult acquaintances, many that were very dear. They must have been shocked and grieved at his decision to associate himself with the unpopular nation of slaves.
2. HIS FAMILY.
a. MOSES WAS PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER’S ONLY CHILD. Philo, ancient historian (Life of Moses, 1:13) says Moses was the adopted son of Hatshepsut. She was her father's only child, and herself otherwise childless. (F.F. Bruce agrees, Hebrews, pp. 318-319).
b. If true, then HE WAS HEIR TO THE THRONE ! To throw away such wealth and position must have seemed an act of folly.
c. HE OWED HIS LIFE to the Princess. To refuse her would be an act of ingratitude. She was like a mother to him.
3. HE ONLY GAINED THE RABBLE - his family were slaves, despised, uneducated, wretchedly poor.
D. MOSES FINAL DECISION
Yet Moses became convinced he must renounce everything in Egypt, and, by faith, claim his place among the impoverished nation of slaves. Moses had to look his mother in the face and say, "This woman is NOT my mother! I RENOUNCE:
1. My claim to kinship to the royal family;
2. My position as Prince;
3. My citizenship in Egypt;
4. My wealth and, if necessary, even my freedom!" Would you do it, for God?
E. WAS IT NECESSARY TO MOSES GIVE IT ALL UP?
1. ISRAEL HAD TO COME OUT OF EGYPT! Otherwise the culture of Egypt would infiltrate the Israelites. That would be like Jesus agreeing (with Satan) to rule the world without going to the cross!
2. ILLUS. a. When Whistler was at the height of his artistic career, a wealthy patron purchased one of his pictures on the condition that the artist would accompany him home and help select a spot to hang the picture.
b. Once at his mansion, the man held up the picture first here and then there, each time asking, "How about this? Finally Whistler said, "You are going about this all wrong. What you must do, is remove all the furniture from the house, hang the picture where you want it, and then arrange the furniture around the picture."
c. Many people want to “tack God on” to what they’re doing, but God won’t accept anything but total commitment.
III. WHAT MOSES SAW WHICH ENABLED HIM
A. FAITH IN THE LIVING GOD
Heb. 11:24 says, “BY FAITH Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.” It proceeded from faith.
B. THE PROMISE OF GOD TO ISRAEL
1. Moses believed the prophecy that God would come for Israel. God had told Abraham Israel would be in slavery 400 years – that time was up.
2. Joseph, while serving as Regent of Egypt, had left instructions his bones should be carried with them when they came out of Egypt.
C. HIS REVELATION OF CHRIST
1. The faith of Moses centered on Christ. Hebrews 11:26 says, “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.” Moses wrote the first five books of the O.T. with all their revelations of Christ. He had a wealth of knowledge about Christ. Consider:
2. Genesis 3:15 tells how the Seed of the Woman would crush the Tempter’s head. Abraham’s offering of Isaac on Moriah paralleled Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Abraham was promised that through his Seed all nations of the earth would be blessed. Balaam prophesied about the Star out of Jacob. Jacob’s prophecy of that one Judah’s descendants would rule. Think of all the incredible parallels between Christ and the Priesthood, the Tabernacle, and the sacrificial system with its Day of Atonement. Moses must have understood their significance. Most of all, the Passover Lamb, by whose blood the entire nation was delivered from the death angel of judgment. Jesus is our Passover Lamb(1 Cor. 5:7).
D. SOMETHING BETTER
1. Moses saw something far better than:
a. Ruling on the throne of Egypt a short time,
b. Having a closet full of gold,
c. Better than a few dancing girls
2. WHERE are the pharaohs of Egypt today? Where are the dancing girls? They're all dead and turned to dust. Where is Egypt's glory today? A few stone monuments are left, slowly turning into dust.
3. BUT MOSES SAW:
a. The eternal glory of God's kingdom would smash and triumph over all others.
b. He saw a City with Walls made of precious stones, where the streets are paved with gold and pleasures abound.
c. Moses saw that Jesus would reign on His throne forever!
4. COMPARISON: How petty the throne of Egypt looks next to the throne of God! How petty all the gold of Egypt looks next to the gold of heaven! How foolish to choose passing pleasures over eternal rewards!
5. Moses weighed matters, put them on scales; on one side: WORST PART of attaining eternal life – suffering; BEST PART of the world -- "treasures of Egypt"
6. And Moses concluded that the worst part of serving God was better than the best part of serving the devil!
7. TOO MUCH RESPONSIBILITY. A bright four-year-old boy, Benji, was asked about about receiving Christ. “Benji, would you like to have Jesus in your heart?” Benji thought for a few minutes and then rolling his blue eyes answered, “No. I don’t think I want the responsibility.” Benji realized what many Christians still have not figured out: salvation is a free gift, but it has serious strings attached.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: YOU HAVE TO BOARD
1. Billy Graham said: “Many people say, "I do believe in Christ. I believe in the Church, and I believe in the Bible. Isn’t that enough? No! You must RECEIVE Christ.”
2. “I may go to the airport. I have a reservation. I have a ticket in my pocket. The plane is on the ramp. It is a big, powerful plane. I am certain that it will take me to my destination. They call the flight three times. I neglect to get on board. They close the door. The plane taxis down the runway and takes off. I am not on the plane. Why?”
3. “I "believed" in the plane, but I neglected to GET ON! IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO BELIEVE, YOU MUST RECEIVE!
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Have you ever really surrendered? Does the materialism and popularity still draw you? Where is your heart? Jesus said, "Where your treasures are, there will your heart be also." Have you been born again?
2. Are you willing to “to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season?” Do you “regard disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt/ this world?”
3. Have you counted all this world as dung? Paul said, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” Phip. 3:7-8.
4. Song: "Take this whole world, But give me Jesus!"
5. Mother’s Day Gifts
