Faith Exemplified - Moses's Parents and their Decisions of Faith

Well if you would take your Bible, turn back to Hebrews chapter 11. We did read verses 23 to 28 earlier, but I did say we will only be in verse 23 in the message, but I will refer to quite a few Old Testament passages. I do want to give you a little bit of an assignment, maybe go read these Old Testament passages that are behind verse 23. That would be easy for you to write down, easy for you to find, and easy to incorporate in your Bible study time this week. Now we're finally back in our study through the book of Hebrews.

We've been on a break for about four months covering some much-needed subjects and needs in the life of our church, but for me it really feels good to be back in the book of Hebrews. I had that feeling this week. It really feels good to be back in chapter 11, which we know is all about the Hall of Fame of the Saints of God. This reminds me of some of the language that you see in your John MacArthur study Bible. I say you, I know many of you have that study Bible. It's a good one. I would recommend it. But chapter 11 is all about the honor roll of the Old Testament saints of God. That's a good way to describe it.

The heroes of the faith, that's a good way to describe chapter 11. The Saints Hall of Fame, that's a good way to describe what's before us. But in our journey through the lives of these men and women of faith, we have seen that the author points out how each one lived the life of faith in their own unique way. And we have seen how the author points out their greatness because we would say many of them were great men and women of faith, but we have also seen their flaws. They were imperfect, even grievous, and great sinners.

And although they lived in an entirely different time and place and their walk with God looked much different than our walk with the Lord, there is quite a lot that we can learn from their examples if, if we do the hard work, if we spend time with these saints of old. And it takes some work on your time now church. You can't expect me to do all the work for you. Now because it's been a while since we have been in chapter 11, I challenge you to go back and read through the chapter. I challenge you to go back and study through these individuals. Maybe use some of your resources. I challenge you to go back and study through your notes.

Some of you are note takers. Maybe re-listen to some of those messages that you really feel you need to revisit. I call you to get these examples of the life of faith in the flow of this chapter back into your mind and back into your thinking. I have been doing that this week and I will continue to do that because I want these examples in the flow of this chapter to be back in my mind in my thinking like it needs to be. Now back in October we studied Abraham from verses 8 to 12 and Genesis 12 1 to 7 who can be considered the greatest example of all of these saints.

I said that he is considered by many as the greatest example of all of these saints because within these examples the author singles out Abraham for living the life of faith his entire life. But this morning we come to the man who is right up there with Abraham, Moses. I have said several times that Abraham is the greatest and Moses is the second greatest in all of these examples but we need to see how this is sorted out between the Jews and between the Christians and then we will see I will show how the author emphasizes each man.

Actually in the minds of the Jews and within the religion of Judaism no Old Testament character is honored more than Moses. That is because he was the great law giver and the law was central to Jewish life in central to Jewish worship. We see how they venerated Moses by referring to the law of God as the law of Moses. Have you ever thought about that? They venerated Moses by saying that the law of God was the law of Moses because he gave it or he was God's instrument to give it.

But Christianity tends to honor Abraham above Moses because of how he lived the life of faith because he is considered the greatest example of the life of faith and that is because Christianity puts a greater emphasis on faith and not the law like the Jews. And that is what the author points to when he presents Abraham as an example here in chapter 11. That's why I titled our message back in verses 8 to 11. Faith exemplified Abraham lived the life of faith. But notice what the author points out in the life of Moses. He does not say that Moses lived the life of faith by giving the law.

He tells us that Moses lived the life of faith through the many decisions that he made by faith and in faith and that is what verses 23 to 28 are all about. Decisions, decisions, difficult decisions even deadly or potentially deadly decisions. Decisions that Moses made as he walked with God, as he obeyed God and as he fulfilled the plan of God for his life. So verses 23 to 28 are all about decisions of faith and that's going to get factored into the title of the message. Now let's read our verses and then I will explain how we will proceed.

Verse 23, "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 kings that would be Pharaoh's edict or command. By faith Moses when he was grown up refused to be the 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 to the reward. By faith he left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them." Now notice who the writer is talking about. Obviously Moses because Moses is mentioned right there at the beginning of verse 23 and all the way down but first he writes about Moses parents. You see that? Whose names are Amram and Jacobed according to Exodus 6 verse 20. And to me we must look at the decisions of faith seen in Moses parents before we can look into the decisions of faith seen in Moses. So this is the title of the message. Again faith exemplified. We've carried that all throughout the chapter.

Faith exemplified Moses parents and their decisions of faith. Moses parents and their decisions of faith. This morning we will examine the decisions of faith made by Moses parents right here in verse 23 and there is a whole lot more here than you know. And then next week we will examine the decisions of faith made by Moses. Now that very well may be a part one and a part two. We'll just have to see how it all fleshes out. Now in looking into the faith of Moses parents I want to do two things this morning in the message.

First I want to get into the specific decisions of faith that we see here in verse 23 and then second I want to back away from these decisions that we see here in verse 3 and I want to make three observations that tell us who they were as people. So number one in our outline the decisions of faith Moses parents. That's in verse 23. The decisions of faith Moses parents. But look at the specific decisions of faith that the author points out. All seen in verse 23 but these all speak to what took place back in Exodus 2. Now remember I mentioned the fact that you need to go back and study these Old Testament passages.

If we go back to Exodus 2 that's where all of these things took place. But let's get into the verse. First notice they hid their son Moses. They hid their son Moses by faith. Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents. But a question why? Why? Well Moses was born when the Jews were in Egyptian slavery and though they were cruelly treated as slaves God blessed the Jewish people in a great great way and their population increased. So to stop this population explosion of Jewish slaves in his land Pharaoh gave the order that all the male Hebrew babies were to be thrown into the Nile and drowned.

So to protect their newly born son Ann, Ram and Jacobed hid him for three months in the early part of his life. I don't know about you but this kind of reminds me of how many hid the Jews from the Nazis during World War II. But after a while they could not continue to hide their growing baby so they put him in a waterproof basket and they put him into the Nile River where they knew that Pharaoh's daughter went to bathe. Baby Moses was then found by Pharaoh's daughter and she took him to be her very own. Really she adopted him.

Moses' sister Miriam watched these events transpire and she stepped forward and she convinced Pharaoh's daughter to allow her to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Well she agreed. So Miriam got her own mother that would be Moses' mother to nurse the baby for Pharaoh's daughter. I don't know about you but it sounds to me like God was in control of all of these things. That's because he was. So this is simple.

Moses' parents knew Pharaoh's command that all the Hebrew babies were to be thrown into the River Nile but as we will see for natural and for spiritual reasons now they refused to do so so they decided to hide their child to protect him from sure and certain death. But then second they saw God's providential plan in their son and this is key now they saw God's providential plan in his son. Look at verse 23 again.

"By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful." Now I'm reading from the English Standard Version the New American and the Legacy Standard say the same thing. Now the King James says he was a proper child but we need to dig a little bit to see what's really going on here with Moses. Actually this had nothing to do with a physical beauty. Actually this had nothing to do with any kind of a physical cuteness or physical good looks.

This word translated beautiful or proper it means proper or beautiful or exceedingly fair and it was used in their day to speak of things like a beautiful city or even proper manners. Those things were described as beautiful or elegant but it was not that Moses was physically beautiful the language construction tells us he was beautiful in the sight of God. He was exceedingly fair and beautiful in the sight of God. That is why the amplified says because they saw he was beautiful and divinely favored. You see that? Because they saw he was beautiful and divinely favored.

Matthew Henry says and I'm quoting, "There appeared in him," that's Moses, "something uncommon the beauty of the Lord set upon him." And church make sure you see this. This is why I say that Moses parents saw God's providential plan for their son. They saw that Moses was beautiful and favored in the sight of God. Therefore they believed that God had a great plan for his life. They had a spiritual foreshadowing that he was born to do great things for God and I believe it was because God had done a work of God in their heart and in their minds and in their understanding. I love what William McDonald says.

This is really modern language but he's spot-on. He gets the meaning here. McDonald says, "They," that's Moses parents, "saw that he was a child of destiny." Sounds a little worldly. They saw that he was a child of destiny but McDonald goes on to say, "one who God had marked out for a special work." So Moses parents hid their baby boy for natural reasons. Yes, all godly parents want to protect their children, right? But Abraham, excuse me, Amram and Jacobed hid their son for spiritual reasons as well.

They saw that he was favored in the sight of God and that he was marked out for the purposes and plans of God because God had revealed that to them to some degree. But then third, I want us to see, "They loved God and obeyed God more than they feared and obeyed the king." Look back at the verse. "By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents," Amram and Jacobed, "because they saw that the child was beautiful," are highly favored of God, "and they were not afraid of the kings," we could say Pharaoh's edict or command. This is simple. They knew who Pharaoh was. They knew Pharaoh's commands.

They knew all of the risks but they were not afraid of the king and his threats. And notice how all of this came together. Amram and Jacobed were people of faith and because they lived the life of faith, they had the spiritual courage and the spiritual strength to reject the king's command and to obey God. They loved God more than they feared the king, you see? Now church, there is a quick lesson here that is desperately needed for some. We disobey the king only when the king's command leads us to disobey God's Word. Let me restate that and I'm gonna flesh it out a little for you.

We disobey the king only when the king's commands lead us to disobey God's Word. And look folks, there are a plethora of professing Christians who advocate disobeying civil government for all sorts of beliefs and lifestyles and causes, but most of those reasons have nothing to do with Scripture. I'm gonna restate that because you need to let it sink in. There are a whole host of professing Christians and even Christian organizations who advocate disobeying civil government for all kinds of beliefs, lifestyles, and causes, but most of those reasons have nothing to do with Scripture.

So many of these kinds of folks are calling for disobedience to civil government when they don't have biblical grounds to do so. And that's a grievous sin. Church run from those who call Christians to disobey the king when the king is not calling you to disobey God's Word. Romans 13 will sort all that out for you. So look at what we have here in verse 23. "By faith and in faith Moses' parents Amram and Jacobet defied the king's orders that their son be thrown into the Nile. They saw that their son was highly favored in the sight of God and they understood that God had a great plan for his life. So they made the choice.

They decided, they made a series of decisions to disobey the earthly king so as to obey their heavenly king. They made decision after decision, choice after choice, by faith and in faith because they lived the life of faith in the face of great great danger and fear." Now church before I move into some other observations, I want us to learn a few parenting lessons from Moses' parents. I do not know God's will and plan for our children but I refuse to make what I see as two mistakes here. First mistake. I have heard super reformed people say something like this, "Well we don't know God's sovereign plan for our children.

We do not even know if they are of the leg. So how can I pray and expect God to do great things in our children?" I've heard people talk like that. But I've seen others make another mistake on the other side of the road. They just leave their children up to chance. They just leave them kind of out there. Oh they take them to church. They teach them the scriptures but they do not instill in them the expectation to do great things for God. They do not call them to see that God expects them to love God, serve God and to be used of God in a great way in their life. Look church in my opinion, we should surround our children with the things of God.

We should pour the gospel and the truth of God into our children. We should have them in church every single time we meet. Church is it worth it when we miss? Is it worth it? And we should pray for their salvation and confront them with the gospel and their need for salvation regularly, often. And as they get older more and more in their face with the reality that hell is real, their sin is real, and they need Christ and Christ came to die in their place. And we should confront them with the gospel, pray over them, confront them with the gospel more and more and more until they get saved, even if they're 45 years old and they're not saved.

And we should instill in them that they are marked out for God. Why would God put children in our homes? We should tell them every day that they're beautiful in the sight of God, that they were created by God for His purposes in the world, for His glory, and that all starts by pouring their lives into the local church. And there's more we need to learn here from Amram and Jacobed and their parenting decisions. We should hide our children away from Egypt. We should hide our children away from Egypt into the will of God away from the destruction of the king.

We should work hard now to hide our children away from Egypt in the will of God away from the destruction of Egypt and the king. But we must influence them and mold them to be able to live in the palace of Pharaoh's daughter as well. We should influence them and mold them to be able to live in the palace of Pharaoh's daughter as well. Look, not only am I your pastor, but for many of you I am a Titus 2 older parent talking to younger parents. I know I don't look 56, but I am. No comments. And there is a little wisdom in what I'm about to say to you. As an older parent, not that I've done it perfectly, no.

If we hide our children away and never teach them to live in Egypt, we do our children an injustice. You need to hear that church. If we hide our children away to such a degree that we never teach them how to live in Egypt, we do our children an injustice and they will fail to be able to thrive for the Lord in the world. I have heard Christians do this when they say stuff like this. Well, you know, you can't send your children to community college. They'll go the way of the world. And when I hear stuff like that, I think, well, gee whiz, we'll never be able to send a missionary around the world when it's full of pagans where they go.

Let that sink in. If we hide our children away and never teach them to live in Egypt, we do our children an injustice. But if we throw them into Egypt without hiding them away and teaching them and molding them to be able to live in Egypt, well, then we set them out for failure. We throw them into the world. We throw them to the dogs and the whole world devours them up. We don't throw our kids into a frat party, no. And look, church, let me tell you something. We can do all of these things well. We can do all of these things together, together in the life of the church. But if they don't come to saving faith in Christ, it won't work.

They will go the way of the world. If they don't come to saving faith, they'll go the way of the world or they'll sit in the pew and they'll be a religious hypocrite. You see, the key to it all is that they are converted and born again. At this point, I want to make three big picture observations about Moses' parents that really have a bearing on verse 25. Really, these things are all behind verse 23. Number two, Moses' parents, who they were. I want us to look at number two, Moses' parents, who they were. Now, this is coming from various Old Testament passages. Again, go study this on your own.

First, I want us to see they came from a godly line of people. In Exodus 2.1 and Exodus 6.20, we see that both came from the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi basically became the priestly tribe that was devoted to worship and service of God in Numbers 3.5-12. Of course, this happened after the giving of the law. That came later. Even before the formal priesthood under the law was established, this godly heritage speaks of a tribe of people that were closely connected to the worship of God and service for God. So, what I'm showing us is this. Amram and Jacobed came from a godly line of people. They had a godly heritage.

And look, church, there is a tremendous Christian lesson for you here. Some of you are what I call first-generation Christians. Your parents and grandparents were not Christian and are not Christian. You came from homes that were anything and everything but Christian. Well, it's up to you. It's up to you. You be the first. You be the first. You be the first in a line, a long line of godly people. This reminds me of my mother in one of her hobbies in her later years while she was able to do so. She really got into her family line, her genealogy. And honestly, I'll kind of throw under the bus a little bit.

When she was doing all of that genealogical work, she always had a tendency to focus on those who made something of themselves in life. I used to jokingly say, "Mom, if you keep digging into your past, you're gonna find somebody that was a horse thief." Well, she always ignored that. My dad did the same thing and he found out that we are direct descendants of Newt Knight. Go study that and figure that one out. My mom didn't like to hear that. But what I'm pointing out is this. She was always looking back, going down the line, looking for someone that was a little prestigious.

Well, our great-great-grandchildren should be able to look back through their spiritual genealogy and find us. You see? Our great-great-grandchildren should be able to look back through their genealogy, through their spiritual genealogy, and they should find us. Look, when your great-great-grandchildren do the research on their family line, what will they find when they study and find you? And you're long dead. What will they find? So if you're a first-generation Christian, it starts with you. Second, they were godly people. Amram and Jacobed were godly people.

Now, we may not realize it, but both Old Testament and New Testament tell us that Amram and Jacobed were indeed personally godly people. They were in right standing with God. We could say like this, they had a personal relationship with God. In Exodus 2, 1 to 3, that's the Old Testament account of what we see here in Hebrews 11. Exodus 2 is the historical account of when Amram and Jacobed made the decision by faith and in faith to hide their beautiful son instead of giving him over to the king to be thrown into the Nile. Simply Exodus 2, 1 to 3 is the Old Testament account of Moses' parents living by faith.

Well, in Hebrews 11.23, we see the same thing outright. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Amram and Jacobed were people of faith because by faith and in faith, they decided to hide their son Moses for God, for the will of God, instead of turning him over to death for the king. So this is my point. Just like Abraham and all of these other Old Testament saints in Hebrews 11 were right with God, Amram and Jacobed were as well. Genesis 15.6 says of Abraham, and he, that's Abraham, believed the Lord and he, that's God, counted it to him, that's Abraham as righteousness. That's God's way of saying he was right with God.

New Testament language, that's God saying Abraham was a Christian. We can truly say that Amram and Jacobed, they believed the Lord and he, that's God, counted them as righteous as well. And look folks, listen to your pastor close. You cannot impact your children to discover the providential plan that God has for their life. You cannot begin to form a godly heritage and a godly family line if you have not come to true saving faith. And in a setting like this, in churches like this, and in our culture that is predominantly a Christian culture, we have thrones of people in church pews who are religious.

They know all of the Sunday school answers. They've been baptized and they're members of churches, but they've not savingly been converted to Christ. And look, if you have not come to saving faith, you cannot do any of these things. And if you're here and you know you're lost, don't stay in that condition. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Pray fast, stay up all night if you have to. Do whatever you can do to get to the place where you can repent and believe the gospel and be converted. Don't be an externally good Christian and do it all right on the outside and still not be converted.

It's really scary just how some can be Christian on the outside and still be lost. Third, they were able to form and shape Moses in his early life. We're still talking about Amram and Jacobet. This will surprise some of you. In Exodus 2.9, we see that although Moses was taken into the home of Pharaoh's daughter, Jacobet, Moses' mother, was able to nurse him and to care for him. Simply because of God's providence, it really seems that Jacobet was able to nurse him, care for him, and raise him in his early years. And it is very, very safe to assume that she taught him all about her God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Oh, it's very safe to assume that she taught him of the covenant promises God made with his people Israel. It is safe to assume that she taught him who he was and that he was actually of the people of God Israel. It is safe to assume that Moses' mother taught him all that she knew of God, of God's ways, of God's Word, and the plans of God. Think about it, folks. It is safe to assume that Moses' mother taught him and formed him in a great way right under the nose of Pharaoh's daughter. So notice what we have here, and I will show you why this is so very necessary. Moses' parents came from a long, long line of godly people, and they were godly.

And because of God's sovereign will and plan, Moses' mother was able to not only care for Moses in Pharaoh's house, she was able to shape him and to form him in the Word of God, in the ways of God, so as to be used of God. Now church, look at what Amram and Jacob, Jacobed were able to do. They were limited in their time and their ability with their son, but when Jacobed was with Moses in those early years, she, they formed Moses, they shaped Moses into who he would be. But they were able to do this for two reasons. First and foremost, God worked. God worked in these circumstances. We know that God called out Moses.

We know God worked in Moses' life. God worked in them. God worked. If it wasn't for God working, none of this would have happened. And second, they saw and knew that Moses was favored in the eyes of God, and they knew their son had a spiritual destiny. Do you know that your children have a spiritual destiny? And look, church, Amram and Jacobed were limited in their time and their ability with their son, but what is our excuse? How much time do we have? Do we have our children from birth, say, 286, and then they're taken away? How much time do we have? How many resources do we have? How many resources do they have?

Do we have a king threatening the lives of our children? Do we have to give our children away just so they'll live? They had to give their son away so he would live. Compare their circumstances to ours compare their success rate to ours. Amram and Jacobed were limited in so many ways, but what is our excuse? Maybe we all should go to the Amram and Jacobed parenting class for Jesus. I wrote in my notes we have, but I don't think we have. There's far more that we could learn here. I believe we could pray and study over these things, especially those of you who have young children. I believe you could take these things and pray over them.

Oh, and let God do a work in you where you're changed morally. You're changed as a parent and you become the parent God wants you to be because you've gone to the Jacobed and Amram parenting class. Now, church, notice why it is so important that we go this far with Moses' parents. Honestly, none of the commentators that I studied did this, but as I was reading and I was studying this just unfolded for me in my mind and my heart. But to me, verse 23 is a synopsis of all that Moses' parents were and all that they did living the life of faith in the face of great fear. Think about it.

Verse 23 is a summary, a synopsis of all that we see in their lives in the Old Testament. Now, think back to that original audience. This was a Jewish congregation and we have seen that many were tempted to go back and go back into Judaism, to go back to life under the Old Covenant and many did. And through the example of Moses' parents, the writer was calling them to make the decisions necessary to live the life of faith by faith no matter their fears, no matter their dangers. Church, what fears do we face as we walk with God? How do our fears compare to Moses' parents and Moses?

What dangers do we face if we live out our faith and how do those dangers compare to Moses and his parents? And how do we compare the fears that Amram and Jacob have faced compared to ours? I don't know about you, but the more I study things like this, the more I realize I'm more of a pygmy Christian compared to them. Church, listen. We are called to make the decisions necessary. We are called to make even difficult decisions, potentially deadly decisions, if they come our way to live the life of faith. So this is faith exemplified, Moses' parents and their decisions of faith.

And next week we will look at or begin to look at faith exemplified Moses and his decisions of faith. Let's pray. We'll close out the message in prayer, in worship, then we'll look at some church business pertaining to deacons. Let's pray.