The Faith of Moses' Parents

[0:00] Nothing like truth. It's just so solid. It's so real. It's so true. Find Hebrews 11 tonight. Hebrews 11.

[0:17] Hebrews 11.

[0:47] Hebrews 11.

[1:17] Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.

[1:51] Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11.

[2:25] Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. with Moses, but no, actually the verse says that he was hid three months of his parents because they saw, because they were not afraid, and it's about them. It's their faith. Moses had nothing to do with this one. And so their names from Exodus chapter 6 are Amram, the father, and Jochebed, his mother. And what can we learn from Moses's parents that's relatable to the New Testament and to our walk of faith today? Well, it's in here, isn't it? They're in here. They made the hall of faith. There's definitely something, and I think we can uncover something and apply it tonight.

[3:12] But before we do that, these are holy words, and they're written and given by a holy God, and so we're going to need his help. So let's pray together, and then we'll get into this. Father, we ask now that you'll just still our minds and our thoughts and let them race into these things of the world no more, but may they just be focused completely on the scriptures. And would you take these holy words and make them become alive to us, and make this example in the lives they lived become alive to us, and teach us something that can help us, and help us then to be obedient and to be receptive to the word of God, and to apply it and to live it out in our lives here in this day that we live.

[3:51] So we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So it says that they hid him. Did you read in verse 23, they hid him three months? Why? Because, because it says they saw something in that boy. They said they saw that he was a proper child. Now what does that mean? Did he sit up straight? Did he come out and act a little bit above his age? I don't think that at all. He was a newborn baby, and he did everything newborn babies do. However, they saw something in him, and I want to give you the other verses on this. So if you've got a couple fingers, find Acts chapter 7, because this very mention, it shows up three times in our Bible. You're going to have to go all the way back also to Exodus chapter 2 to get the very story itself. And we're going to come to these references a few times tonight, so you might just mark them and stay there, or put something in the place. It says in Hebrews that they saw he was a proper child, a proper child. Let's start back in Exodus and read what the very first account is in Exodus chapter 2. Exodus 2 verse 1, there went a man of the house of Levi, took to wife a daughter of Levi, and the woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him, that he was a goodly child. She hid him three months. He was a goodly child, the verse says. Now that word goodly shows up a few times in your Bible attached to a person. Very few times is it ever attached or used as a descriptive manner of mankind, one of which is King Saul. Maybe you remember King Saul when he was chosen to be king. It says that he was a goodlier. Let me think how that was worded. I'll probably not be able to remember it now. It's in 1 Samuel like 9 or something. The first phrase I can't nail down.

[6:01] Go before that. Go before that. A choice young man. That's what I was trying to think of. A choice young man and a goodly.

[6:16] And there was not among the children of Israel any goodlier. And from the shoulders, or how does it say it? Read that part. From his shoulders number, he was higher than any goodlier. So his stature, his physique, he stood out of all. He was a goodly young man, a choice young man.

[6:33] And so he just made a natural selection for a leader. He was. He just looked the part. It says the same thing of David, that he was of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look on. And so he was a beautiful man. Like had just great looks, the way the Bible uses that word. And this baby here was a goodly, she saw this as a goodly child. It doesn't say that about Aaron, his brother.

[6:57] It doesn't say that about Miriam, his sister. But it says it about Moses. Now turn over to Acts chapter 7. We'll come back to Exodus later on. If you can keep it, go ahead. If not, we'll be back there.

[7:08] Acts chapter 7. And this is where Stephen is giving this history lesson. And he comes across this portion of Exodus 2, mentioning Moses being born. It's in verse number 20.

[7:26] In verse number 20. In which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair and nourished up in his father's house three months.

[7:37] All three accounts give the time frame of three months. And all three accounts give this appearance of the baby boy. There's something noticeably special about this baby boy. So much so that the Bible records it three times whenever it brings up his birth, that he was a special boy, a goodly child, a proper child, or exceedingly fair. You're familiar with reading that word with like most of the time having to do with a beautiful woman, that she was fair to look upon or fairer than her sister, things like that. This baby was a good-looking baby. Now these words are describing the physical characteristics. There's just something about this baby that causes me to imagine that they knew from the very beginning that this child was no ordinary child. When they saw that he was a goodly child. Like it doesn't say that about too many people at all in the history of this nation.

[8:39] So we're looking at like when they saw this baby is he's one in a million. Like this is something special right here. And I think Moses knew it. Look at Acts chapter 7 if you're still there.

[8:51] And let's look at pick it up a little bit further down from where he was born in verse 20. I'll start in verse 22. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed and smote the Egyptian. Now watch this testimony of Moses. Verse 25. For he supposed in his own mind, in his own heart, he had this thought. He supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them. But they understood not. Do you realize this is before the burning bush? This is 40 years before God approached him and said, Moses, Moses, take your shoe off your foot and I'm going to send you back to Egypt. You're going to deliver them.

[9:48] This was 40 years before that. Even there in Egypt, being raised and brought up in Pharaoh's house, he supposed his brethren would understand, God chose me to deliver you from this bondage.

[10:04] Where did he get that? How did he know that? Why did he suppose that? I can't answer that. The Bible's silent, I think, in those areas. But what we can see is his parents from the very beginning saw that this is a goodly child. There's something special about this boy. And they hid him for three months because of that. And by his upbringing and by 40 years down the road, this guy has gotten his mind that I'm the one. I'm the one that's called of God to deliver this people, this persecuted people.

[10:40] He knew it. Something was already in the works from the very beginning. And his parents saw it when he was born. They recognized it. Whether the Lord revealed it, whether there was an angel of the Lord, like any of that stuff, we can't answer, can't even think about it. But it was in the air.

[10:55] It was in his heart. And it got there somehow. Now, first of all, we're covering this thought here about his parents and their faith. And so it said back there in Hebrews, by faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child. The first thing I want to say about their faith is by faith, they hid their son from the Egyptians, believing that he was destined for great things, to be an instrument in the hand of their great God, to one day lead and deliver his people from bondage. You think, did his parents believe all that? I don't know, but I think they believed something about that boy. They definitely saw something different about him.

[11:39] They believed that something was in store for this child. They saw that he was different from the very beginning. And by faith, they kept him away from those Egyptian killers. This child was special. I told you three different times this comes up and all three times it reveals to us something about his birth and being very special. He's going to be used of God one day. Now, let's relate this. If you're a parent, you may not see your children as great world leaders and great deliverers and world influencers. You may not see them like that and in that light, but by faith, you can see that it is the will of God that they are brought up and nourished up in truth and in righteousness and that they too bring glory to God through their lives. You can, by faith, see that much. You don't have to see big things for your kids, but you can see that God could use them for his glory. If you don't let the Egyptians get them, if you keep them hid from the Egyptians, you better take that part serious. By faith, they hid that boy because they saw there's something special here. God's going to use him and I am not going to let him turned over to the Egyptians. Boy, that's something real, isn't it? You better hide them away. You got an adversary that's as a roaring lion. He's walking about seeking whom he may devour.

[13:08] You better hide them away. You better keep them from those Egyptians. They'll devour him just like that old devil. Satan no doubt wants to devour your children, destroy your children as quickly as he can. You better hide them. You better shelter them. If you can, keep them close and get the word of God in them as much as you can while you can. Pump that book into them. Make it come out of their ears while you have the chance. It's going to be their best bet in life. Get them to church as often as you can get them to church. Keep them there as long as you can keep them there and get the word of God in them. Show them that this is a way of life to you and pray that it picks up on their life. Pray that they get a piece of that and want it too. This is not a doctrine, but it's just an attempt to relate the importance of church to you. When you have a newborn baby, you feed that baby whenever it wants fed, right? I mean, it cries, you feed it. Doesn't matter what time of day, what time of night, you feed the baby. Eventually, you get that baby into that, what's typical in the world today, three meals. You get them into that breakfast, lunch, and dinner cycle and routine, and that's what kind of sticks with them through life, right? And so going off of that, which is true for most of us in here, don't tell me about your diet or what you're on or not on, but just for most of us in here, the normal routine for your life is three square meals a day. That's what they do for the jailbirds, so that's what we'll go with, whether you're in the hospital or in the prison. So that makes 21 meals a week. Now, let me just contrast that with church and with coming to church. We have Sunday mornings, we have two hours Sunday morning, two different services, and then one right now Wednesday night. That's three services a week. Now, just comparing the two, the three squares a day times seven days a week, 21 versus three, that's a seven to one ratio. You following the math? Now, I know you can say, well, wait a minute, preacher, we go home and read our Bibles, and so we feed ourselves. Like,

[15:17] I know, I get that, but for sake of what I'm trying to show you, it's a little different. It really is, because in this case, you come and sit up to the table to get something that's been prepared for you and prayed and studied over and trying to feed you the Word of God. It's different than you reading your Bible, and so I'm going to stick with this, seven to one. Now, imagine you miss one of those services. In comparison, that's like missing seven meals in a week. You wouldn't think of missing seven, well, okay, I'll just have two meals a day. If you miss the entire day of Sunday, you just miss 14 meals in the week's time, just using the comparison. All I'm trying to do is get you to see how important this is, not just for your kids, but for you too, mind you. But while we're talking about the kids, get them here as much as you possibly can. Get them under the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

[16:12] Get as much of that book in them. Get as much of the songs in their heart. Get them singing while they're young. Get them memorizing the Bible while they're young. Shove that thing in them. You won't regret it.

[16:24] Amen. You'll be thankful you did. Get as much of that in them and keep as much of Egypt out as you possibly can. They'll get plenty of it just being alive. They'll get plenty of it, but you can keep as much of it out as you can while you can. You can hide them from the absolute destruction that Egypt's going to get them, the spiritual death that Egypt wants to do to them, and you can hide them from that. And by the way, if you're not feeding them the truth, the world will feed them. You can count on that. They'll get fed one way or another, and that's not just for the children, of course. So by faith, Moses's parents, those two children of Levi, came together and had a son and saw he was a goodly son and said, we have got to keep him from the world. We've got to hide him as long as we can. They hid their son from the Egyptians. There's something else they did by faith.

[17:24] It's back in Hebrews, and you can go there. Hebrews 11, we're finished with the book of, oh, maybe not. Just keep your places if you still kept them. We'll see what happens. Hebrews 11, and picking up the last portion of that verse, after it says he was a proper child, the last portion says that they were not afraid of the king's commandment. They were not afraid of the king. That doesn't mean they were defiant and that they were out there throwing bricks and blocks at the soldiers, like that kind of defiance, like you're seeing on the news today. No, that's not it.

[18:00] They were not afraid. They were afraid a little bit. It does say they hid the baby, right? So you get that much. There was a fear, a real fear of what could happen and would have happened, but it says there they weren't afraid. Well, what does that mean? I think it means this. I think by faith, they feared God more than they feared the king. Oh, there was a fear of what the king wanted to do and accomplish against their child. Of course there was, but it wasn't any bigger than the fear they had for the Lord. And they've been taught that God is going to visit his people and that God is going to bring us out. He promised that to Abraham. We saw the faith of those men. It passed on and passed on and passed on, and it was in them. And these are the, some of the very voices that cried under the Lord about the oppression and about the bondage and the hard labor that they were under in Egypt. And God heard their cry. And this little boy, they saw something special and they said, he's the one.

[19:03] He's the deliverer. He knew it. And by faith, they feared God more than they feared the king. Look back at Exodus chapter one. If you got your place there, just slip back to chapter one.

[19:20] There was fear in them as mothers and a mother and a father. There's no question about that, but there was more faith in them. And that's what we're looking at, their faith. In Exodus chapter one, and look here about, this is true of Jochebed as much as it was about the midwives earlier. It mentions them in verse 16. Pharaoh, he wants to kill the babies. And he said, when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, if it be a son, then you shall kill him.

[19:56] But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not as the king of Egypt commanded. They saved the men children alive. That verse applies right into chapter two, when that woman conceived and bear a son and she hid him. Bible says that they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Well, they hid the child, but they feared God. Their fear for the Lord was more than a fear for the king. Fearing God is always an evidence of faith. Why else would you fear him?

[20:32] Unless you believe that he is and that he is faithful to his word and will follow through with everything that he said that causes you to fear him. That's faith. That's absolutely faith coming forth from you, believing the word of God and believing the Lord and what he said. We learned that from Noah back in Hebrews 11 when we saw that he was told to prepare the ark. It said that he feared.

[21:01] He moved with fear and prepared the ark to the saving of his house. There's always going to be an element of fear when faith is tried. And so it's very common to doubt and to second guess and to just be uncertain of even what the Lord reveals to you, to just not be so sure. You've heard testimonies of men and women that have left their homes and followed God. And in their testimonies, they'll say, the Lord was dealing with my heart about it. And so I prayed about it. Or so I, I put out a fleece like Gideon. I, my dad told you that with his testimony. That's, that's fear. That's some uncertainty, some doubt. They just want to make sure they want the Lord's word on it. There's always an element when you don't know that something's going to work out. But with these parents, faith was stronger.

[21:54] Faith overcame the fear. It doesn't mean that faith answers all the questions and doesn't mean that faith answers all the concerns. But when you act in faith, God just ushers in assurance and he ushers in peace that this is right. And when that peace settles into your heart, nothing can shake it. Because then you, you have the assurance, this is what God wants me to do and I'll do it no matter what.

[22:17] If you kept your place in Acts, flip over to Acts chapter five. We're finished in Hebrews now, but Acts chapter five, you know, this verse here.

[22:32] The point was that they feared God more than they feared the King. And you're familiar with this, this situation when Peter and the other apostles, the, the just famous line that has been passed on and preached on and held onto through the years, it's in verse 29. But I'll back up just to get the context. These men are out there preaching and they were told not to. And then the Lord directs them in verse 19, the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, brought them to go stand and speak in the temple to the people, the words of this life, go preach. So they're being obedient to the Lord and they come and they take them by force and bring them. It says a verse 27.

[23:23] When they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? And behold, you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

[23:35] And this is Peter, man, this is so good. Peter, he, Peter's going to respond to the high priest and he opens with this line. We ought to obey God rather than men, which is just a smack in the face.

[23:50] It's not soft or subtle. He's not being gentle and being, if it's okay with you, I'd like to answer. No, he's just like, we ought to obey God rather than you, man. You're just a man. And he's slapping him saying, what you're commanding us is against what God has commanded us. And you know how they reacted to that? Well, let me finish what he says here. Verse 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, him hath God exalted with his right hand to be prince and a savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things.

[24:24] And so also is the Holy ghost whom God has given to them that obey him. And when they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. Man. And I, this is me imagining things.

[24:38] Forgive me if it's too crazy, but I just see the Lord in heaven. Just like what's Peter going to, because Peter's a, you know, Peter would always say stuff quick, foot in his mouth kind of guy. And Peter's been converted and Peter's been turned over. And now he's, he's got his zeal aimed in the right direction. And when he's preaching and being obedient to God, when he gets called into question over it, he stands to their faith and says, we ought to obey God rather than man. I think the Lord was like, Oh, did you hear that? Oh, that's good. Peter. That's so much better than the way he used to respond and talk. You know what he said? Lord's like, make sure Luke writes that one down.

[25:21] Like he didn't write everything down. Did he? This is a big book, but make sure that one gets written in the book, what Peter said, we ought to obey God rather than man. It takes faith for you to believe the word of God like that. It takes faith for you to completely rest in what the scripture tells you to do, what God tells you to do, no matter what circumstances you find yourself in, no matter what your family says about it and what other people's input is to know what God told you to do and to do it.

[25:57] To fear God more than anybody else. That takes faith. Jochebed and Amram, they had it. They had faith.

[26:09] You've got God watching over you. If he calls you to it, he leads you to it. He's got you. And if he tests your faith, like we saw recently, so be it. He can do that too. But he'll guide you.

[26:26] He'll guide you and help you and assist you to live among this wicked, ungodly world. And Moses' parents are the examples for us tonight. They feared God more than the king.

[26:38] Now, there's one more thought I want to give you from this story. Go back to Exodus to get it, because that's where the story or the mention stops in Hebrews, but it's not where the story stops with them. So go back to Exodus chapter 2.

[26:56] Moses was hid for three months of his parents. Hebrews 11, 23. Hid for three months of his parents. Why three months? Here's why. Verse 2 says, The woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

[27:16] And when she could know, she could not longer hide him. Three months was the max. And you better believe that those three months weren't just a breeze.

[27:29] Every single day was a day of, are they coming? Is he crying too loud? Just the whole, you could imagine it. By the time, he's still a newborn. But by the time he's three months old, she could not longer hide him.

[27:45] The time had come. So they feared God more than the king, already evidenced. They hid him from the Egyptians as long as they could.

[27:56] But then thirdly, by faith, they let him go. They had to let go. That's something. Verse 3 says, When she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it by the flags, or in the flags by the river's brink.

[28:23] It takes faith to let go. She hid that precious, goodly baby boy as long as she possibly could.

[28:34] She held on to him as long as she could hold on to him. Until the day came, she had to let go. She had to go back to the house without her baby.

[28:49] And for her, everything in her heart was saying, Go get him. Don't you dare leave him. But she had to. There's nothing easy about this for anybody.

[29:02] When you don't know how it's going to work out. When you don't know if they're going to make it. Let go. She had to let go.

[29:14] You think about your kids, keeping them close as long as you can. Eventually, you have to turn them loose. You have to let them go. But I don't know how they're going to turn out.

[29:25] I don't know if they're going to make good choices. I don't know if they're going to trust the Lord. I don't know if they're going to give their heart to him. Or if it was all just for show while they're with mom and dad. And eventually, you just have to.

[29:38] The day comes. You've got to turn them loose. But what will the world do? Will the world get them? You got to let go.

[29:50] Will they love God and serve him? When the day comes, it's a tough choice. But it's one that has to be made by faith. You have to let them go.

[30:01] For some parents, that day has already come. And for some, they've still yet to let go. And they try to manipulate. And they try to hold on because of their own fears of what's going to happen to my kids.

[30:16] And how are they going to go about their lives. And they try to orchestrate things outside of their power and ability. Instead of releasing those children to the hand of God.

[30:28] By faith. Parents got to learn. You can't orchestrate the lives of your children. You can only train them up in the way that they should go.

[30:39] But it's going to be their choice if they go the right way. You don't get to make all of the decisions for them.

[30:52] Because the point comes where you have to let go. I know a preacher that's dealing with a wayward child right now. And it's just tearing their home apart. And it's hurting them horribly.

[31:04] And it's making him question everything. You know how that kind of can go inwardly. Just getting beat up. And what do you hold on to in that moment? You hold on to faith.

[31:16] That's what you hold on to. There's nothing else to hold on to. You pray that the word of God is in them. And that it guides them. You pray that the Holy Spirit is in them.

[31:28] And that he convicts them. You pray that their father. The same father you have is their father. And that he'll guide them. That he'll speak to them. That he'll be merciful to them.

[31:39] You pray for all of those things. But you do it from a distance. Because you can't put your hands on it anymore. It's a hard thing to do. But you have to let go.

[31:51] Because the time comes when you can no longer hide them from the Egyptians. I know another preacher. He told me recently that his one child is on the fence of making some bad choices.

[32:07] And he tries to guide him. But he feels like he's not listening to me. I just feel it like he's going the wrong direction. And this is not going to play out good. And the mom is trying to do everything she can to fix it.

[32:19] But she can't. And she doesn't know that. She hasn't released that. And the dad says, I know this is probably going to end bad. But he's going to have to learn it the hard way. And he said, I'm going to have to let him do it.

[32:34] That's faith. It's just going to have to let him go. It's hard to do that because it hurts because you love him so much. You don't want to let go.

[32:46] You want to keep him. You want to fix it. You want to force him if you have to. And you can't. But faith will get you through.

[32:57] By faith you can let go. And give it to God. The whole thing. And then just trust him. It doesn't mean you don't care.

[33:08] And it doesn't mean you don't love. And it doesn't mean you don't want the best. It just means you understand. God's going to have to take this if something's going to happen. It's going to have to be his hand.

[33:20] And then you let go. And sometimes that's harder for one than it is for another. But that's the example. And they do it by faith.

[33:31] So the conclusion here in closing this is the story of Moses goes on from here. And it focuses on his life and so much of a character he is in this Bible.

[33:44] Like he's mentioned all the way into the end of Revelation. But the book of Hebrews points out that it all started with a father and a mother that exercised faith.

[33:56] They did what they could to keep the world out as long as possible. They feared God and obeyed his word rather than what the world demanded of them.

[34:06] And when the time came, they let go and they put their precious baby boy in the hands of God and trusted him.

[34:20] By faith. God picked this example for us in the New Testament to read and study and learn from.

[34:31] He picked that couple right there to teach us something. So we ought to take these thoughts serious tonight. Because they've been written down and preserved for us to follow. By faith.

[34:43] Father, as we dismiss tonight, thank you for this example and for how much is in this book. How much is in this chapter of Hebrews that's helping us and guiding us into what our faith should look like in this life.

[34:55] From birth to death and everything in between. Lord, you're good to us. You did not leave us to ourselves. You teach us so much. But Lord, now it's up to us to pick it up.

[35:06] And to study it. And to apply it. And to take it serious. And so Lord, I pray if anybody here tonight is dealing with any of these thoughts. That you make it real. And give them courage.

[35:17] And just be very near to them. And show them the way. Help us to be obedient and compliant. And Father, we love you because you first loved us. And you gave your son for us.

[35:28] And we thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.