I was visiting with our camp speaker, and he asked me what I was considering for this morning’s message. I told him that I was thinking about “Moses’ Choice.” Out of blue he completely changed the trajectory of my thoughts. He asked, “Don’t you get nervous using some words and phrases like that?” Should we tell people to get serious and make a decision about salvation? Isn’t that the sort of exhortation that a man-centered evangelist might make of people? “Either choose Christ or reject Him. Make a choice right now. Don’t wait another second. Your destiny is in your hands.” Perhaps at some point in his ministry he had asked that question and someone questioned whether it was appropriate or not. “Don’t you get nervous using some words and phrases?”
I immediately replied, “absolutely.” I do get nervous using some terms and phrases. There must be about a dozen or so which give me pause. For example, I wonder if minds are going to explode whenever I use the wonderful BIBLICAL word “predestination.” In Ephesians 1:5 we are told that God has predestinated His elect people “unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Two of the greatest consecutive verses in the Bible are found in Romans 8 – “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Most of you don’t have a problem with that word, because you have learned the Biblical theology it expresses, but many other professing Christians hate the term.
Then falling into the ditch on the other side of the road, some people have a conniption fit whenever the preacher publically says to his congregation: “God loves you.” What if there are people in that congregation who will never repent and turn to Christ? Should I tell them, “God loves you?” While I don’t have a problem with the phrase, there have been times when I hesitated to use it. And then I remember Mark 10.
There was once a young man who came running up to Christ, kneeling before him and asking, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life,” When the Lord Jesus gave Him His answer, he left sad and grieved. The Bible doesn’t give us the slightest indication that the man was ever saved and given eternal life. However, at the time when he asked his question, “Jesus beholding him, loved him” – Mark 10:21. Could Jesus have loved the man without that man becoming a child of God? Some deny the possibility, while others, without Biblical authority, say that he must have been saved eventually. Additionally, I even think there is a sense in which Christ Jesus loved Judas. But still, I have to confess that because I know the way some people think, I sometimes hesitate to publically say: “God loves you.”
One of the men in the Old Testament whom God did love was Moses.
This week we heard about Jonah, and we heard about Jacob – two men whom Jehovah loved. In both cases the speaker essentially said: these men were scoundrels yet God still loved them. It is true. We must understand that God’s love originates in Himself, not in the men and women whom He loves. And in this regard we might throw Moses into the mix. He was not the perfect example of the perfect saint, and yet the Lord obviously loved him.
I hope you know the history of Moses’ life, because I won’t take time to get into those depths this morning. You know how as a baby his mother put him up for adoption, and he was taken in by the daughter of Pharaoh. And yet, by sovereign providence, God made sure that at least for the first two, three or four years, Moses spent hours every day with his birth-mother. How many years after he was weaned did Moses have with his true mom? We aren’t told. He spent most of the next three decades in the company of his adoptive family. And while there, he was given the highest secular education available to any young man in the world. In Acts 7, Stephen tells us that “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.”
I am not learned enough to tell you exactly how, but Moses also knew that he possessed Hebrew blood. Perhaps his adoptive mother was honest with her son, explaining why his facial features and skin tone were different from other kids in the palace. Perhaps, Moses’ parents, both of whom were children of Abraham and Levi, had circumcised their child, forcing the daughter of Pharaoh to explain why that was so.
Anyway, after his adoption the years began to pass. Was Moses in line to become Pharaoh? I can’t say for sure. But he was certainly a prince if nothing else. And over time he became more curious about his Hebrew roots, doing some investigating on his own. At what point did Moses actually become a child of God? When did he begin to worship Jehovah? Again, I’ll leave that for smarter, more educated people than I am. Did Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, the priest of Midian, lead Moses to a “saving knowledge of the Lord?” It appears that he didn’t really know the Lord until the burning bush, but was that when he was “saved?” Was he “converted” before he left Egypt, when he temporarily identified with the children of Israel?
I am curious but not particularly interested in these questions this morning. My focus is on applying to you and me what Paul tells us here in these four verses of Hebrews 11. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” Paul says that Moses made a choice to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy to pleasures of sin for a season. Perhaps for a few years he was “almost persuaded,” but then at some point he was “fully persuaded.” Am I supposed to use language like this? Some people say that I am not.
But in case I don’t make myself clear before the end of this message, I want to invite you to make a choice similar to that of Moses. I urge you to choose Christ over sin; I want you to choose eternity over a few seasons of pleasure. I want you to decide for righteousness over sin and therefore for blessing over eternal judgment.
Of all the decisions and choices in the life, the greatest of them all involve the Lord in some way.
Of course, we make choices all the time, but most of them are relatively unimportant. Under what tree should I set up my tent for camp this year? Should I wear a brown shirt or a blue shirt today? What should I eat at the “all-you-can-eat” buffet? What does it matter? In contrast to these unimportant things, once in a while there are those much more important decisions. Whom should I marry? Is this the sort of career I should pursue? Should I move to a place where there isn’t a scriptural church? Should I drive for an hour every week so that I can hear Biblical doctrine?
I suppose that the long-term effects of our decisions determine the importance of those choices. If you wear the brown shirt today you can wear the blue one tomorrow, or perhaps even a yellow one. And no matter what you eat today, you’re going to be hungry tomorrow. On the other hand, your choice of a spouse should be considered a life-changing and life-long commitment. There should be no going back on this decision – so make sure it is the right, right from the beginning. But even then marriage is only “until death do us part.” The very best and life-long marriage is temporary. If we are using the measure of time, even beyond life-long decisions are those which are eternal. Choices which reach beyond life and into eternity must be the most important of all choices. And when speaking of eternity, we must also look at them in their relationship with the eternal God.
There came a day in Moses’ life when he made a choice between his Egyptian mother and his Heavenly Father. There came a day when he deliberately chose to identify with the people of the eternal God, rather than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a relatively short season of eighty or a hundred years. He looked at the reproach which comes with serving Christ as something temporary when put into the light of the full recompense of divine reward. Moses forsook Egypt because, by faith, he could see the God who is invisible. Jehovah is “the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, (and to Him will) be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Paul says that Moses’ decision was made as a mature and thinking man.
“By faith Moses, when he was to come years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.” In Acts 7 Stephen tells us: “when he (Moses) was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.”
Have you ever heard that faith in God – that religion in general – is a crutch for emotional and mental cripples? This has been repeated over and over again by sin-blinded, flesh-centered, truly weak-minded people who can’t think for themselves. Some of you might remember Jesse Ventura, who after he got his head bashed in a few dozen times as a professional “wrastler,” became the governor of Minnesota. Ventura is quoted to have said, “Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.” A hundred years earlier Karl Marx famously said, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.” Such sentiments have been repeated over and over again by people looking for excuses not to make positive eternal decisions. They say, “Mature, educated, thinking people, don’t need religion, or Christ, or salvation from sin.” “Charles Darwin did away with Biblical religion a hundred and fifty years ago.”
Moses was not a weak-minded, brainwashed, Sunday school kid when he made his choice of Jehovah. Moses was a forty-year old man who was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” And note that his “wisdom” was that of the Egyptians, not the Hebrews. Extrapolating his education into today’s world, he knew all the arguments for evolution. He was familiar with the atheistic dictates of science and the Jehovah-less ideology of political science. His decision to choose the people of God was not a rash, spur of the moment choice. It was based on sound judgment. He did his homework. He made his investigations. His decision was well-digested.
And it wasn’t theoretical. It wasn’t a matter of believing some ethereal idea. It was real. It was life-altering. When he saw a certain injustice inflicted on one of his Hebrew relatives by an Egyptian, he took action. And in defending his kinsman, he began burning the bridges between himself and his adoptive family. He was like Hernán Cortés. In the year 1519, Cortés arrived in the New World with 600 men. Motivated by greed for gold he intended to conquer Mexico. In order to convince his men to go into battle he burned 10 of his 11 ships, cutting off his men’s only hope of retreat. Moses tore down his bridges and burned his ships. He could never return to the palace in the way he once did. This, my friends, is often what happens when people choose God over gold, or golf, or girls, or glamor.
Moses rejected some things, while accepting others.
Please notice that “he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” I don’t think we can imagine what Moses was turning down. He may have been in line to become Pharaoh some day, but even if there were 17 others closer to the throne than he was, Moses was still a member of the royal family in the most powerful nation west of India. He was surrounded with wealth and luxury, imported from Africa, Asia and Europe. And if knowledge was his passion, he had the information of all extant science at his finger tips. Was sports his passion? I’m sure there were forms of that available to him. Did he want to travel up the Nile to see Lake Victoria? Did he yearn to sail up to view Mount Vesuvius? If he chose sin, he might have been forgiven of any immorality except that of killing an Egyptian. There may have been almost nothing that was not available to this man. But he refused ”the pleasures of sin for a season,” and he refused all “the treasures in Egypt.”
In contrast to these, what were his mature and well thought out choices? “By faith Moses, when he was come to years… (chose) rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.” He (esteemed) the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.” What? Moses chose to suffer because the people of God were suffering? That is insane.
I hope you’ve already caught the perfectly wonderful and mysterious thought which these verses contain. It is not the word “esteemed” which means he “considered” or “counted” the reproach of Christ to be worthy. And it is not the word “reproach” which speaks of disapproval even approaching persecution. I’m thinking of Paul’s use of the word “Christ.” Christ is in the Book of Exodus? Too many untaught people picture the imagined face of Jesus when they hear of “Christ.” My friend, when the Lord Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem, he was more than the son of Mary. He was the Son of God. And the Son of God, the second person of the God-head, the second person of the Trinity, met with Abraham, wrestled with Jacob and later spoke to Moses from the burning bush. Yes, Christ is to be found in the Old Testament, even as early as the books of Genesis and Exodus.
So Paul’s use of the word “Christ” in this verse reveals some deep Biblical theology. The Apostle had been taught by the Holy Spirit that the manifestations of God in the Old Testament were actually those of the New Testament Christ. And we might add that to reject Christ is to reject the God of the Old Testament in the process. It is proper and Biblical to say that the Saviour whom we find in the New Testament is “Jehovah” – the covenant-making God of Abraham and Moses. And as the Apostle John tells us, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine (or the Person) of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, (by faith) he hath both the Father and the Son.” Or to put it another way, Moses was choosing the One who is our Saviour – over the things of the world. He had “decided to follow Jesus.” By faith he had heard the Saviour say, “come follow me,” and he threw down his nets and followed the Lord.
And that is my reason for taking up this text of scripture. I beg of you to choose Christ over the pleasures of this world. I plead with you to decide for Jesus. The example of Moses shows us that this is the most logical choice. It is the best choice, because it has eternal results and effects.
Now notice what really lay under Moses’ decision.
“By FAITH Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; By FAITH he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” I’ll point out once again that Moses was no child when he made up his mind and made his decision. And he wasn’t an uneducated half-wit, but someone steeped in the wisdom of the worldly wise. He wasn’t pressured into his decision by circumstances beyond his control. He deliberately, thoughtfully and carefully made a choice between Christ and the world governed by Satan. Perhaps through his study of world history he had learned about Abraham, who was asked to make a similar choice. Perhaps he had read about Lot who did not choose wisely. Moses had logic and history behind him.
But, the key to the actual commitment was not born out of logic. His choice was made through faith. I’m sure that his Egyptian friends probably said that it was against logic to suffer affliction with the people of God. But by faith Moses saw “him who is invisible,” and the suffering looked less foreboding. I won’t be so foolish as to say that he could see the Son of God dying on a Roman cross. However he did see the Lord with something far beyond his eyesight, and it was that faith which connected him to Jehovah and to eternity. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, th evidence of things not seen.” And “without faith it is impossible to please (God); for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
As someone who is firmly convinced of the sovereignty of God, I still beg of you to make a choice for God – make the choice OF God. I haven’t made strong logical arguments this morning. I haven’t tried to convince you through dozens and dozens of worthwhile scriptures. And I certainly haven’t used any sob-stories. But I have, week after week in this place, laid out before you the revelation of the scriptures. You are a sinner dead in trespasses and sins, and as such, you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire unless you are born again. And I have tried to show you the sacrifice of the Saviour – Christ’s death on the cross as the Lamb of God. I have quoted scriptures which tell us to put our faith our trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross. And now, as Moses himself will eventually say to Israel, I say to you: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life…” – Deuteronomy 30:19. Choose life by choosing to put your faith in Christ.
I’ll close with one more brief thought. Not choosing Christ is another kind of choice. It is a choice to remain where you are – under God’s wrath and under an eternal death sentence. What logic is there in that? As the Holy Spirit leads you won’t you come to Christ this morning? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Let us rejoice with you by stepping out during our upcoming hymn to tell us about your faith in Christ.