WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:09.080 By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:14.179 saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict. 00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:20.179 By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 00:00:21.059 --> 00:00:26.240 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:32.060 of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:40.019 for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, 00:00:40.019 --> 00:00:47.239 for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and sprinkled the 00:00:47.239 --> 00:00:53.480 blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith, the people crossed the 00:00:53.479 --> 00:01:00.359 Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:06.679 the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab, 00:01:06.679 --> 00:01:13.099 the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient because she had given a friendly 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:22.579 welcome to the spies. In the fall of 1959, an obscure white journalist, an army veteran from 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:28.000 Dallas, Texas, went to a dermatologist in New Orleans with a request that no one had ever made 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:35.700 before. He wanted to change his skin color from white to black. He was deeply troubled by the racial 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:41.620 tensions in the American South. He wanted to gain a better understanding of what it was like to be 00:01:41.620 --> 00:01:49.739 an African American. A magazine agreed to fund his treatment in return for an article. He went through a 00:01:49.739 --> 00:01:54.519 series of medical treatments to darken his skin. He shaved his head so that his straight hair would 00:01:54.519 --> 00:02:00.079 not be evident, and for six weeks he traveled by bus and by hitchhiking from New Orleans through 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:06.579 Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Everywhere he went, he experienced difficulties and insults. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:12.199 He wrote, an important part of my daily life was spent searching for the basic things that I used to 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:18.819 take for granted. A place to eat, somewhere to find a drink of water, a restroom, somewhere to wash my 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:25.199 hands. Clerks refused to cash his checks. When he applied for jobs, he was routinely denied. After 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:31.159 only a few weeks, he felt defeated and depressed. And so he stopped taking his skin medications, and for a 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:37.379 little while he alternated back and forth. He would go to the same places, first appearing to be a black 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:44.879 man and later as a white man, noticing how differently he was treated in each case. Eventually, he concluded his 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:51.039 experiment after six weeks. Well, the next spring, the magazine published his story, and two years later, he 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:57.439 published the book, Black Like Me, which immediately became a bestseller. He was featured in Time Magazine, 00:02:57.659 --> 00:03:03.599 on national TV, and the book was made into a movie. It raised awareness, particularly among white Americans, 00:03:04.099 --> 00:03:11.079 of the reality of racial discrimination and of the growing civil rights movement. John Howard Griffin's 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:18.740 six-week experiment had, and continues to have, a wide-ranging impact. But it also had a significant 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:27.000 personal cost. In his hometown, he was vilified and threatened. An effigy and a representation of himself 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:33.740 painted half black and half white was burned on the main street of his hometown. Out of concern for his 00:03:33.740 --> 00:03:40.860 family's safety, he moved his family to Mexico and only later returned to Texas. John Howard Griffin's 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:47.940 experiment was original, surprising, and controversial. But in some respects, his story reflected an ancient 00:03:47.940 --> 00:03:54.000 biblical pattern, which we see in our passage in Hebrews this morning. This morning, we're considering 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:01.640 the faith of Moses, who identified with God's people when they were oppressed at a great personal cost. 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:08.760 Hebrews 11, which we're looking at this month, gives a number of snapshots or examples of faith in action. 00:04:08.759 --> 00:04:15.840 This morning's passage is a complete section. It includes seven snapshots, four from the life of 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:21.719 Moses and three from those who followed him. And they all begin with the phrase, by faith. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:27.899 The last two weeks, verses 8 through 22, that section also includes seven examples, four from the life of 00:04:27.899 --> 00:04:34.399 Abraham and three from those who followed him. And this morning's passage shows us that faith means 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:42.199 intentionally identifying with the people of God, whatever the cost. And this intentional identification 00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:50.379 with God's people has not only a cost, but also a great reward. So first we'll look at the cost in 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:57.560 verses 23 through 27, and then we'll look at the reward in verses 28 through 31. So first, the cost of 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:06.040 identifying with God's people. In these verses, we see three key episodes in the life of Moses. First, 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:13.360 when he was a baby, in verse 23. Second, when he grew up, in verse 24 through 26. And finally, when he led 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:21.240 the people of Israel out of Egypt, in verse 27. And in each case, there is a contrast between a costly 00:05:21.240 --> 00:05:30.860 identification with God's people and an easy accommodation to an unfaithful world. And the writer of Hebrews 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:38.860 connects the challenges that Moses faced with the challenges that the people he was writing to were facing. 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:46.000 The challenges that we might face today. So let's go through these episodes one by one. First, verse 23. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.040 When Moses was born, he was hidden for three months by his parents. Moses' parents faced a choice. The 00:05:53.040 --> 00:05:59.480 Pharaoh at that time had made a law that every Hebrew baby boy was to be thrown into the Nile River. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:05.220 And so if they were caught raising a Hebrew baby boy, their own lives could be in danger. 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:13.160 And if somehow Moses grew up to be a Hebrew man, he was seemingly destined to a life of cruel slavery 00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:20.020 under harsh masters. Humanly speaking, the prospects for baby Moses were not very good. 00:06:21.220 --> 00:06:22.260 But verse 23 says, 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:27.340 Moses' parents saw beyond their immediate circumstances. It says, 00:06:27.440 --> 00:06:33.560 They saw that the child was beautiful. Now, this doesn't mean that they decided to keep him because 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:41.260 he was particularly cute or well-behaved. No, they recognized Moses was beautiful because he was created 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:48.120 in the image of God. Stephen says in Acts 20, sorry, Acts chapter 7 verse 20, he said, 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:56.300 Moses was beautiful in God's sight. In other words, Moses' parents saw their child as God saw him 00:06:56.300 --> 00:07:03.839 and not as their society defined him. And so they refused to walk the path of easy accommodation 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:14.399 to the king's evil decree. They refused to be intimidated by Pharaoh. They walked the path of costly identification 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:21.679 with the suffering people of God. They received their child as a gift from the Lord, worthy of being cherished. 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:26.199 Now, what might this look like today? What might be a contemporary example? 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:34.120 Well, it might mean, if you are pregnant, trusting God and persevering despite a prenatal diagnosis 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:40.699 of an abnormality. Or maybe choosing to opt out of genetic testing in the first trimester screen 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:47.139 altogether, even if it has become standard medical practice. Because why bother doing a test 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:54.399 that won't change how you proceed? Or it could mean seeing the image of God in a child who is not 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:01.139 highly valued in the eyes of this world. A child with perhaps a physical disability or behavior 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:09.579 problems or a child with a low IQ, making costly sacrifices to care for that child, whether it's 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:16.739 your own child or whether it's another child that you mentor or invite into your home. If you're a parent, 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:24.279 it does mean loving your child because they're created in God's image, not because they are 00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:30.659 especially cute and well-behaved. If you love your child because they are especially cute and well-behaved, 00:08:30.799 --> 00:08:38.100 you will not love them for very long or very consistently. And you might be inclined to deny 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:45.339 and justify and ignore your child's selfishness. You will promote an anxious, insecure child who is 00:08:45.339 --> 00:08:51.579 always trying to hide their flaws and earn your favor. But God calls us as Christian parents to love 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:59.040 our children with steadfast and costly love that is not a response to our children's behavior, 00:08:59.040 --> 00:09:06.480 but a reflection of the unchanging character of God. So that means we can acknowledge our children's 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:13.280 weaknesses and sins without feeling personally threatened by them. That means we will seek to 00:09:13.280 --> 00:09:21.080 lovingly correct and appropriately discipline them, even when it's inconvenient or awkward. That means we won't 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:29.500 stop praying for our children, even if they have walked away from God in their later years or rejected us. 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:39.660 Faith means seeing our children as God sees them and loving them with steadfast and costly love, as Moses' parents 00:09:39.660 --> 00:09:47.400 did. So when Moses was a baby, his parents made this costly choice to identify with God's people, but despite 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:52.220 intimidation from the surrounding world. But when Moses grew up, he faced a different challenge. 00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:00.480 Not simply intimidation from the surrounding world, but alluring attractions of life in the Pharaoh's 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:06.959 palace. Moses was born to Hebrew parents, but when his parents could no longer take care of him, he was 00:10:06.959 --> 00:10:14.199 adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. He was raised in the king of Egypt's household. He went from the lowest 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:23.540 position in society destined to become a despised slave laborer to the highest one, the prince of Egypt. 00:10:24.060 --> 00:10:30.700 It's sort of like growing up in a housing project in Newhallville or the hill and then being accepted 00:10:30.700 --> 00:10:37.320 to Yale University. You're still in the same city, but they're two almost completely different worlds. 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:45.740 And when Moses grew up, he faced a choice. Which world would he identify with? Would he identify with the 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:52.280 suffering people of God or would he identify with the successful leadership of Egypt? Now, it would 00:10:52.280 --> 00:10:58.680 have been much easier for Moses to leave behind the suffering people of God and simply to embrace his 00:10:58.680 --> 00:11:05.800 identity as an Egyptian prince. Hey, I made it out. I got lucky. I'll take it. 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:13.039 As a prince, he was honored. He was powerful. He was in line to receive a royal inheritance. He had his 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:21.419 life made. But it says Moses, when he grew up, made a costly choice to identify with the suffering 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:30.219 people of God. Back in Exodus chapter 2, verse 11, it says when Moses had grown up, one day he went out. 00:11:30.220 --> 00:11:37.399 He left the palace. He left the palace. And he went out to where his own people were. And he watched them 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:45.519 at their hard labor. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own brothers. And this is a very 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:52.879 significant moment in Moses' life story where he chose to leave the comfort and security of the 00:11:52.879 --> 00:12:00.700 Pharaoh's palace in order to see and choose to identify with the suffering people of God. He recognized 00:12:00.700 --> 00:12:07.860 them as his brothers. And so he couldn't simply observe their suffering from a distance, sort of watch it 00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:14.539 on the evening news, make a token contribution, and move on with his life. He became emotionally, 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:22.039 personally, physically invested in seeking their welfare. And so he intervened to reconcile them 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.019 with one another when they were fighting each other and to advocate for them when they were being 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:33.419 mistreated. And in the process, he himself was mistreated, both by Pharaoh and by his own people. 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:42.719 Now, especially for those of us who are privileged in this world, do we intentionally identify 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:50.279 ourselves with the suffering people of God? Not only with the well-off people of God. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:57.180 You know, many Christian believers throughout the world, here in this city, here in this church, 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:08.660 are sick or poor or lonely or homeless or persecuted. Jesus said, these are our brothers and sisters. 00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:15.159 We are brothers and sisters in the same family together. And so if you are only relating to other 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:23.299 Christians who are relatively well-off, you are missing out on part of your family. Jesus said in 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:28.120 Luke 14, he said, when you give a dinner party, when you have people over your house for a Fourth of 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:34.939 July barbecue, he said, don't invite your friends, your relatives, and your rich neighbors. Instead, 00:13:34.940 --> 00:13:41.500 he said, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And he said, you will be blessed. 00:13:42.660 --> 00:13:46.480 Now, he wasn't making an absolute prohibition against inviting your friends over for dinner, 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:53.520 but he was making a point. He said, when you invite people who are suffering in this world 00:13:53.520 --> 00:14:01.580 to join, and when you join your lives with theirs, it's worth it. He said, you will be repaid in the 00:14:01.580 --> 00:14:09.240 resurrection. Moses made a costly choice to be mistreated with God's people rather than enjoy 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:15.520 the fleeting pleasures of sin. And verse 26 says he's considered the reproach, which means the stigma 00:14:15.520 --> 00:14:21.940 or the shame or the humiliation or the mocking, the mocking of Christ, greater wealth than the 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:29.540 treasures of Egypt. And Egypt had a lot of treasures. You can even go to Egypt and see some of them today. 00:14:29.539 --> 00:14:36.719 That's how long they've lasted. Now, you might ask, what does that mean? That Moses considered the 00:14:36.719 --> 00:14:42.879 reproach of Christ, and he considered it of greater value than all the treasures in Egypt. 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:48.459 It's an interesting phrase. We might ask, did God give Moses a vision of the future sufferings of 00:14:48.459 --> 00:14:55.339 Jesus? That's possible. I'm not sure we can be certain of that from this text. But what we can see 00:14:55.340 --> 00:15:01.440 clearly in this passage is that the suffering of God's people is connected with the suffering of 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:08.420 God's anointed one. That's what the word Christ means, God's anointed one. Verse 25 and verse 26 are 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:14.379 reinforcing statements that shed light on each other. They're actually parallel clauses in the same 00:15:14.379 --> 00:15:22.759 sentence in the Greek. And so the reproach of Christ in verse 26 corresponds to being mistreated with the 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:30.779 people of God. Now, the point of this is when God's people are mistreated, God himself suffers too. 00:15:31.939 --> 00:15:38.159 Psalm 89 uses the same words, remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants. Your enemies have 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:48.019 reproached the footsteps of your anointed one. Psalm 89, 51. So it connects the shame and humiliation and 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:54.299 suffering of the people of God with the shame and humiliation and suffering of God's anointed one, 00:15:54.659 --> 00:16:02.819 who ultimately was Jesus Christ. Or Isaiah 63, 9, another Old Testament passage. In all their distress, 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:12.419 it says, he too, the Lord too, was distressed. You see, there is a cost for us when we choose to identify 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:20.779 with the suffering people of God. But there was an even greater cost for God when he came to identify 00:16:20.779 --> 00:16:31.139 with us in Jesus Christ. Moses had to give up his honor, his power, his promised inheritance as a prince 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:36.500 of Egypt to identify with God's suffering people. And so he was falsely accused. He exchanged that for 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:47.379 being falsely accused, rejected, ignored, disbelieved, and driven out. You know, Jesus Christ gave up far 00:16:47.379 --> 00:16:53.500 more than Moses. Because Jesus Christ was the eternal Son of God, the King of glory, who ruled over the 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:59.019 whole universe. He lived in a palace that would make the pyramids of Egypt look like a three-year-old's 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:07.240 first Lego set. But Jesus chose to identify with us, the Son of God, not only to share in our humanity 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:15.220 and in our suffering, but even more to bear our sin. Jesus exchanged his glory for being condemned by the 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:21.960 world, rejected by his own people, abandoned by his disciples, and finally driven out to bear our sin all 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:28.660 alone on the cross. Jesus Christ made a far more costly choice than Moses made, or even than any of us 00:17:28.660 --> 00:17:36.120 could ever make to lay aside his privileges in order to identify with us. And he did so because 00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:42.220 of the great joy that was set before him. The joy of calling us his own, the joy of welcoming us into 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:47.820 his family, the joy of saying, you are my brother, you are my sister, and I have redeemed you and called 00:17:47.820 --> 00:17:54.220 you by name. I have rescued you from darkness and brought you into my marvelous light. That's why he did it. 00:17:54.220 --> 00:18:02.460 For the joy of including us in his family as his brothers and sisters, and so that we might share in 00:18:02.460 --> 00:18:12.740 his honor and in his glory and in his eternal inheritance. Jesus is the one even greater than 00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:21.420 Moses. So when Moses was a baby, his parents made a costly choice to identify with God's people. 00:18:21.420 --> 00:18:26.140 Despite intimidation, when Moses grew up, he made a costly choice to identify with God's people despite 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:35.200 the attractions, the allurements of the world. And then verse 27, the third episode in Moses' life, when we see 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:45.420 that Moses carried on the courageous legacy of his parents. By faith, verse 27 says, he left Egypt once and for all, 00:18:45.420 --> 00:18:52.360 not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 00:18:53.019 --> 00:18:57.920 As we've looked through this chapter, chapter 11, we've seen that faith enables us to see reality 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:06.500 as God defines it. And just as Moses' parents saw their child as beautiful and did not fear the king's 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:17.460 anger. When Moses led the people out of Egypt, at first Pharaoh wanted them to go. He said, get out of 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:24.500 here. But then Pharaoh came charging after them, pursuing them with his armies to destroy them or 00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:30.640 bring them back to Egypt. And so Exodus 14, it says, when Pharaoh drew near with his armies, all the people 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:37.020 of Israel feared greatly. And they cried out to Moses, what have you done? Why have you brought us 00:19:37.020 --> 00:19:44.480 out of Egypt? We're going to die. Let's just go back and serve the Egyptians. Wouldn't that be so much 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:52.300 easier? And Moses stood and he said to the people, he said, fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of 00:19:52.300 --> 00:19:59.500 the Lord. He said, the Lord will fight for you. You have only to be still. You see, in each of these three 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:07.839 cases, the people faced a choice. And the better choice, the faithful choice, was always the harder 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:15.180 choice. For Moses' parents choosing to care for their baby in hiding rather than give in to the king 00:20:15.180 --> 00:20:21.599 and fear. For grown-up Moses choosing to be mistreated with God's people rather than to enjoy 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:29.480 the treasures in Pharaoh's palace. For Moses, the leader, choosing to endure, trusting the God who 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:35.220 he could not see with his eyes, instead of caving in to very visible and tangible opposition. 00:20:36.420 --> 00:20:43.799 You see, faith always demonstrates itself in concrete action. If you notice, almost every 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:50.019 description of faith in this chapter is an action. It's an action that wouldn't make any sense apart from 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:58.960 the belief, the trust in God. Leaving Egypt. Verse 28, sprinkling the blood. Verse 29, 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:05.940 crossing the sea. Verse 30, encircling the city. Verse 31, welcoming the spies. The point of this is, 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:12.400 faith is not primarily a private internal feeling that no one else can ever see or understand. 00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:18.819 So, you know, don't get overly hung up on how you're feeling from one day to the next. 00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:24.900 Having faith does not mean that you will never feel anxious or never feel fearful or never feel 00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:32.380 depressed or overwhelmed. But faith does display itself in concrete, physical actions. Many times, 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:39.680 in spite of what we feel, faith displays itself in actions that only make sense if the one that we 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:48.160 believe in is trustworthy and true. Now, when Moses led the people out of Egypt and they came to the Red 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:56.460 Sea, it says, the people feared greatly. There will be moments, even seasons, in the journey of faith 00:21:56.460 --> 00:22:04.700 when the people around you or your flesh inside you will fear greatly. And like the Israelites, 00:22:04.900 --> 00:22:14.060 you will be tempted to go back to Egypt. Maybe the person who first led you to faith in Christ 00:22:14.059 --> 00:22:22.200 has fallen away and renounced their faith. Maybe you're battling a habitual sin, an addictive pattern 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:29.399 taken, inherited from your pre-Christian life. Maybe you've longed to be free from the temptation, 00:22:30.259 --> 00:22:35.879 from the cycle. But some days it comes after you with a vengeance, like Pharaoh and his armies. 00:22:36.419 --> 00:22:41.960 And it says, look ahead at your future. There's the Red Sea. There's no way that God can get you 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:46.980 through that. Your future is hopeless. And look around you. You're in the middle of the desert. 00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:52.279 Don't you wish you could go back to Egypt, where you could see beautiful pyramids at least, 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:59.340 and enjoy wonderful crops and a whole array of nice restaurants? Don't you wish you could go back 00:22:59.340 --> 00:23:03.819 to the pleasures of your sin when you didn't feel guilty about them? Don't you feel all alone? 00:23:03.819 --> 00:23:12.639 Why do you keep fighting the battle? It's not worth it. It's a combination of intimidation 00:23:12.639 --> 00:23:20.399 and alluring attractions coming at you at the same time. But if that is where you are, 00:23:21.059 --> 00:23:28.779 stand up like Moses and say to the people around you, say to your own soul, say to the tempter and 00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:36.700 accuser and deceiver, by faith I have left Egypt and I am not going back. Because by God's grace, 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:44.519 I belong to King Jesus. And I don't belong to the accuser and the tempter and the deceiver anymore. 00:23:45.259 --> 00:23:50.539 King Jesus has rescued me from the kingdom of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of light, 00:23:50.779 --> 00:23:57.200 into the family of God. I am on my way to the promised land, to the eternal city of joy and delight. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:24:04.559 And in the meantime, God will make a way where there seems to be no way. So fear not. Stand firm 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:12.220 and see the salvation of the Lord. You see, there's a cost to identifying with God's people, 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:20.840 of making hard choices, but the reward is even greater. And that's what motivated Moses to endure. 00:24:20.839 --> 00:24:28.759 And that's what can motivate us to endure. Verse 26 says he was looking ahead to the reward. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:34.359 And the reward, as we see in verse 28 through 31, is receiving the salvation of God. 00:24:35.679 --> 00:24:42.699 You see, the cost is temporary, but the reward is eternal. Verse 28, when Moses kept the Passover and 00:24:42.699 --> 00:24:46.919 sprinkled the blood of the Lamb on the doors of the houses, the people of Israel were saved. 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:53.580 They were saved from destruction. And when the blood of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for us, 00:24:53.980 --> 00:25:01.840 is applied to us by faith in him, it cleanses us from all sin, once and for all. Jesus said, 00:25:01.940 --> 00:25:08.960 the new covenant is sealed in my blood, which means it is secure and certain, and it won't be changed. 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:14.720 It can never be taken away from you. Verse 29, when the people crossed the Red Sea, 00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:21.620 the Egyptians who were pursuing them, were defeated once and for all. And in the new covenant, 00:25:21.799 --> 00:25:28.400 baptism is intended to be that once for all sign that we have died and risen with Jesus. 00:25:29.079 --> 00:25:33.839 We have passed over from death to life. We have been saved through the waters of judgment 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:40.819 and into the glorious future that God has prepared for us. And finally, verse 30 and 31, 00:25:40.819 --> 00:25:45.759 we see God's people who entered by faith into the promised land, 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:56.779 that the walls, which seemed so secure, fell down. Because on that day, there was only one refuge, 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:03.720 the Lord himself. And our passage today begins with Moses, who was called to renounce 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:10.579 his privilege, and some of the pleasures that he enjoyed in this world for the sake of identifying 00:26:10.579 --> 00:26:17.519 with the suffering people of God for because of a greater reward to come. But our passage ends 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:25.799 with Rahab. Rahab was in almost the exact opposite situation as Moses. Rahab was an outsider. 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:33.419 She was a prostitute. The book of Hebrews points that out deliberately. She was a desperate woman 00:26:33.419 --> 00:26:42.460 living in a city that was destined for destruction. She had no status, no honor, no wealth. She was the 00:26:42.460 --> 00:26:48.839 last person that anyone would have expected to be saved. But when she heard about the true and living 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:58.039 God, she knew. She knew that she had nothing in herself that would make her right before God. But 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:04.899 she heard about God's power in saving his people, saving his suffering people, and defeating their 00:27:04.899 --> 00:27:13.099 enemies. And she said, that's the truth. I need that. I want that. And one day the spies showed up at her 00:27:13.099 --> 00:27:20.539 house. And at a great cost to herself, she welcomed them in. She put her life on the line to save them 00:27:20.539 --> 00:27:26.279 because she had come to trust in the true and living God. And she said, please, when you come into the 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:35.399 land, as God has commanded you, would you save me and my family? I want to join in to the people of God. 00:27:36.679 --> 00:27:41.679 And by faith, Rahab was not only spared, but she was included in the people of God. She's included even 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:50.180 in the genealogy of Jesus Christ himself. I began with the story of a man who, in some respects, 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:56.019 made a choice like Moses. I want to conclude with the story of a woman who was not a prostitute, 00:27:56.700 --> 00:28:03.539 but in many ways was like Rahab. About 10 years ago, not long after we started the Nightrunners 00:28:03.539 --> 00:28:10.299 ministry, I met a woman named Olga at the Columbus house. Olga had one of the roughest life stories of 00:28:10.299 --> 00:28:17.539 anyone I have ever met. Her parents were killed when she was 14 in a homicide suicide. Her older 00:28:17.539 --> 00:28:22.000 siblings immediately took off with all the parents' money and left her alone to care for her little 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:28.039 brother. The two of them became homeless, living in abandoned buildings, cardboard boxes, on the streets 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:34.200 and in the subways of New York City. She earned money from drug running and drug dealing and shady 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:40.779 business. She said, once I sold a car seven times. Each time I told the buyers to pay me and then come 00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:47.920 back for the car next week. I always took the money and did drugs. She used heroin for 25 years and crack 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:54.600 for seven. And finally, it all caught up with her. She lost her home. She lost her kids. Her brothers 00:28:54.600 --> 00:29:00.039 wanted nothing to do with her. And so she ended up at the Columbus house, depressed, alone, and sick. 00:29:00.039 --> 00:29:07.500 And she said in her testimony, which she gave later on, she said, so this Monday night, I went to 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:12.879 Columbus house. The next day, I met the night runners, Rob and Rob. I still don't know who the 00:29:12.879 --> 00:29:19.559 second Rob was, but she seems to remember two Rob's. She said, I was amazed. These young men were so 00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:24.920 sincere. I knew that they were from a good family. I asked him, I said to myself, what are they doing 00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:32.120 here? I wanted to find out what they were about. I broke down and told them I am messed up. They were 00:29:32.120 --> 00:29:38.640 ready to listen. I trusted the Lord that night with Rob and Rob and came here to church. Over the next 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:44.240 several months, God did a marvelous work in Olga's life. Instead of being hopeless and depressed, she was 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:51.019 full of joy and peace and gratitude. After 30 years of drug addiction, she was almost completely drug-free 00:29:51.019 --> 00:29:57.359 for the last four years of her life. It wasn't easy. One night, she called her accountability partner, 00:29:57.480 --> 00:30:02.420 another woman in the church, seven times because the cravings were so strong, but she just kept on 00:30:02.420 --> 00:30:08.940 talking until she got through it. She got baptized here in this church and became a member of the 00:30:08.940 --> 00:30:13.420 church and joined a Bible study. She started caring for her kids, pursuing better relationships with her 00:30:13.420 --> 00:30:19.000 family. She brought her family and friends and people she used to do drugs with to church. She became, 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:24.839 I would call her, a runner for Jesus. She got her own apartment, but she would come back with us to 00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:29.680 the Columbus house because she loved to tell other people about Jesus and the joy that she had found. 00:30:30.420 --> 00:30:35.619 She said, I was always hiding and running away, but I'm grateful to God that I'm out of bondage 00:30:35.619 --> 00:30:42.279 because Jesus set me free. Maybe you're like Moses and God is calling you to make costly sacrifices, 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:47.720 to identify with the suffering people of God and trust that the reward that he has promised you 00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:52.980 is much greater than what you will lose in this world. And maybe you're like Rahab. You have a 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:59.319 shameful, painful, sinful past and not much of a future to hope for in this world. But whoever you 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:06.079 are, there is a place in the people of God for you. And there is a calling for you to live by faith, 00:31:06.579 --> 00:31:10.360 to embrace the cost of identifying with the people of God because the reward 00:31:10.359 --> 00:31:14.359 in Jesus Christ is so much greater. Let us pray. 00:31:14.359 --> 00:31:37.839 Our Father, we thank you for your mercy in sending your Son that we might be called his brothers and 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:51.179 sisters, that we might be called your beloved children, that we might be redeemed from our past, that we might have a new 00:31:51.179 --> 00:32:00.220 identity in you that will last forever, that we might praise your name for your great deliverance. 00:32:00.220 --> 00:32:08.380 Lord, we pray that as you endured the cross for the joy set before you, that you would enable us 00:32:08.380 --> 00:32:17.180 to take up our cross that you have called us to take for the sake of the joy that you have set before us. 00:32:18.220 --> 00:32:21.920 We pray that you would give us the joy of knowing that we are part of your family, 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:34.140 that we would gladly leave behind whatever you might call us to leave behind for the sake of knowing you. 00:32:35.320 --> 00:32:37.200 We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:32:38.560 --> 00:32:45.840 As the music team comes forward, we're going to respond with a song called Gladly Would I Leave Behind Me, 00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:54.139 a song reflecting the posture of Moses and of Rahab as they walked forward in faith. Let's stand as we sing.