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In the sweet providence of God, we now find ourselves once again in his word. So will you take your Bibles and turn to the epistle to the Hebrews chapter 11, as we continue to make our way through this letter; and we will be examining verses 23 through 29 this morning. I've entitled my discourse "Moses' Fearless Faith." Let me read the text to you Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 23,

"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

'By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

"choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

"considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

"By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

"By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

"By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.”

"By faith" - we see it six times in this passage, and in each case, we see that true faith breeds courage. It trusts in an invisible God to do the miraculous works that he has ordained so that he can accomplish his purposes and his plans. It is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." This type of faith remains confident that God is in charge, even when it seems everything else is lost, even when things are confusing and we don't know which way to turn. It makes us willing to take risks that may even cost us our life, because our faith is anchored in the Gibraltar of our love for a God who cannot lie, a God who cannot change, and a God who cannot be conquered. Indeed, true faith believes in God's promise that those who trust in his Word will never be disappointed.

But Moses was such a man, and as we will see, so too were his parents. The New Testament sees Moses as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this is predicted in Moses' own prophecy in Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 15. There we read, "'The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.’” So it is fitting for the writer of the Hebrews, of this Hebrew epistle, to use Moses as an example of a man who had faith in the invisible God of Israel, later revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ; and like Abraham, Moses, was considered to be one of the greatest of all of the patriarchs of Israel, he was revered. He was highly esteemed, even by the first century Hebrew Christians that heard this passage for the first time, and I'm sure our study this morning will prove to be most encouraging and instructive to all who have ears to hear.

Now, let me give you the context here. Remember, the first readers of this epistle were being persecuted. Many of them had come to Christ, but oh, they were tempted to turn back to Judaism to appease their friends and their family, and the writer is constantly encouraging them, through the use of their own scriptures, not to do that, but to maintain their faith in Christ; to live by faith, not by sight, to take God at his Word and trust in his provision for salvation through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But from the outset, we must bear in mind that the point of this passage is not for us to have the same faith as Moses had, but rather for us to trust in the same God that Moses had. It's not that we need his faith, dear friends, we need his Savior. We need his Lord; for he alone is the one that can give us the gift of faith and sustain us in it. In fact, true faith will keep its eyes on Jesus come what may. For this reason, at the conclusion of the examples that the writer gives us in chapter 11 - the examples of men and women who live by faith - the writer says this in chapter 12, verse one,

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

"For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Now our text this morning takes us through 120 years of Moses life. By highlighting 340-year seasons of his life, you will see that the first season is from his birth until his departure from Egypt. The second season is his 40 years as a shepherd in the desert of Midian. And his final 40 years is when he led the Israelites in the Exodus out of Egypt and their desert wanderings. And from these texts, and others that we will examine in the Old Testament, we will see three aspects of fearless faith, and this would be my simple outline to you this morning. First of all, we're going to see that fearless faith obeys God rather than man. And secondly, fearless faith prefers the reproach of Christ over the pleasures of this world. And finally, fearless faith trusts in God's deliverance regardless the threat.

Now, by way of further context, you will recall the book of Genesis ends with the coffin of Joseph in Egypt, and the book of Exodus begins with a reminder that the new pharaoh that has come along some 400 years later does not remember who Joseph was. Now at the time of Moses' birth, Satan's world system in opposition to God was in full swing. He had well established it there in the Egyptian empire; it was ruled by a totalitarian megalomaniac. Egypt was very powerful at that time. It was wealthy and utterly blinded by occultic paganism. It was satanic to the core. But what's interesting that in the providence of God, the ruling Pharaoh, when Moses was born, was dealing with a real crisis in his land, the crisis of a population explosion among the Israelite slaves. So to deal with the problem, as we look at the ancient history, we see that he first implemented harsh taskmasters to somehow keep them in check; and that wasn't working so well, so he made it even harder for them to survive by causing them requiring them to work harder. But even with that, they continued to grow, and they even thrived. So finally, he instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill every baby boy, and in Exodus, chapter one and verse 17, we read, "but the midwives feared God." I love that phrase. "The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them but let the boys live."

And as the story goes, Pharaoh finds out, he confronts them. He asks them, why, and the Hebrew midwives, I guess, had their fingers behind their back, crossed, and they said to Pharaoh, well, it's, "Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwife can get to them." Well, as the story goes, because they feared God, God protected them. But then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying in Exodus, chapter one and verse 22, "'Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.'" So the prevailing political climate of Egypt in that day was very similar to ours here in the United States, where barbaric laws give ungodly and immoral women permission to kill their unborn infants. In fact, we kill more babies in one month than Pharaoh did in his entire lifetime.

Now I want you to go with me for a moment in your mind's eye and your imagination, let's go back to 1875 years before Christ. Imagine what it would be like to live as a Hebrew slave in the land of Egypt. No freedom. Endless labor serving the greedy oppressors who have no fear of God, so that they can live in unimaginable luxury. In fact, again, the Pharaoh thought he was a god, and the people worshiped him as a god. History is replete with examples of men and women like this. We see this in the kind of narcissism in many of our own politicians and the numerous despots that exist around the world today. But of course, the very worst is yet to come, and that will be the person of the Antichrist, who will completely dominate the world under Satan's rule and oppress Israel in ways they have never experienced before, and that will happen until Christ returns. And I might also add, as a footnote, in light of biblical prophecy, we should not be surprised at the anti-Israel, secular, progressive globalist movement around the world that is promoting open borders and a one world government. Imagine what it would be like to be ruled by the United Nations and some leader would emerge like the demonic lunatic in North Korea. What's his name, Kim Jong Un or something like that.

Now go back to Egypt. Imagine hearing this edict that the Pharaoh has given concerning all the newborn baby boys. You've got to throw them in the river of the Nile. And then you find out you're pregnant. Can you imagine the fear that would grip your soul? What if it's a little boy? What are we going to do? The only hope at that point that those people had was in the promises of God. Those promises that they were still aware of that were given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and even to Joseph. Promises that had been passed down orally. They didn't have a Bible to open up and read. But dear friends, it was these promises that animated fearless faith in a man named Amram, who was the grandson of Levi, and his wife Jochebed; a slave couple that were about to give birth to a little boy named Moses. Actually, he wasn't named that at first, as you will see. By the way, I find it so encouraging to see how the Lord waits until the absolute final moment before he reveals himself powerful in some grand way. And that's exactly what happens here. He wants people to see that absolutely nothing can thwart his plans, his purposes.

And here we pick up the example of the writer to the Hebrews, where we see number one, fearless faith obeys God rather than rather than man. And in verse 23 we see this in the story of Moses' parents. Again, notice what it says,

"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's edict."

Now to gain more insight, we have to go back to the book of Exodus in chapter two, and in verse two we read, "The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months." Now, dear friends, be careful here. Don't assume that the only reason she did this is because she had a cute baby; that if somehow the baby wasn't cute, she wouldn't have done it. I mean, let's face it, we've all seen babies that look more like ET than a normal child, and the mother and the dad is going to say, "Oh, what a beautiful baby." So that is not the issue here. What's going on is you have a couple that feared God. They had faith in God. They understood the promises of God. They knew that every child that comes into life is made in the image of God and created to reflect that image. They understood that regardless of outward appearances, every child is beautiful, a beautiful image bearer of The Most High. But beyond this, the phrase implies some form of divine revelation. Somehow, it would appear that God gave them a sign that there was something exceedingly special about this child, and it may have had something to do with his appearance.

We see this attitude reflected in Stephen's sermon before the Sanhedrin in Acts, chapter seven, verse 20, where he says, quote, "Moses was lovely in the sight of God." The idea that he was exceedingly fair. He was special. He was acceptable in some unique way to God. So there was something exceptional about this baby boy. They could see it. They knew that God was somehow up to something, and by faith, they were going to trust him, even if it cost them their life.

By the way, as a footnote, parents, we can learn from this. Remember that every child that is given to us is brought into this world by the One whose image they bear, and it is our responsibility to bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. We must teach them to fear the Lord our God, who is holy beyond our imagination. We must teach our children to trust him, to obey him, and the best way for them to learn all of that is through our example. You never know what God may be up to in your child but know this: God expects you to live by faith and make every effort to care for that child and teach them the ways of the Lord, even as Amram and Jochebed did for little Moses.

Now, can you imagine how hard it would have been for these parents to hide the child from the taskmaster and from other people that might even give them away, especially perhaps a friend that had to throw their baby boy in the Nile? By the way, I look forward to meeting many saints, but these are a couple that I would really love to talk to someday, wouldn't you? I mean think about it, ordinary people with extraordinary faith. We see many stories like this throughout Scripture. People the world would never notice, but choice, servants of God who are blessed forever. I would love to hear the stories of the clever ways they covered their tracks and concealed their scent to keep the hounds at bay. Wouldn't you love to hear those stories?

Now it would be hard enough to just hide the pregnancy, right, ladies, but then to hide a little boy. You know that may well be one of the world's greatest examples of divine protection combined with admirable and acceptable faith from these people, and what a great testimony of God's invisible power. You know, he's always up to something, even though you may not see it. So for this reason, they feared God. They didn't fear the king. And what an incredible influence their lives must have been on Moses. As we are going to see in the providence of God, his mother had enormous influence upon him, and his father probably did as well; and no doubt she told him, "Son, you are the grandson of Levi. You are a son of the promise. You are of the tribe of Levi. You are a son of the covenant that God gave to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. We are people who believe in God. We know that he will make good on his promises. We live by faith. We do not live by sight. Therefore, son, fear no man, fear the most high God and trust him to deliver us."

 So what a privilege it must have been, to grow up in that kind of a family. By the way, we want to ask ourselves, parents, is this the kind of influence that is shaping the lives of your children? Do they see this kind of attitude, this kind of faith in you, or are your children being shaped by the idols of this world? YouTube, video games, Hollywood, musical and athletic entertainers that have the morals of an alley cat and the wisdom of an earthworm. Are these the type of people that are influencing your kids? Beloved, we need to learn from these ancient parents that exhibited fearless faith, which is love in action. A faith that obeys, a faith that influences, a faith that is salt and light, that's willing to take risks for the glory of God, a faith that is willing to stand up for the truth come what may; a faith that is willing to defy, a faith that is willing to love and protect and persevere. Folks, is this what your kids are seeing in you? Because they learn best from your example.

Well, back to the historical narrative. We go back to Exodus, chapter two and verse three, and we read that when "she," his mother, "could hide him no longer, she got him a wicker basket and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile." No doubt, her idea about the little ark came from Noah's Ark. But what incredible faith. Think about this. Can you imagine parents what it would be like to take your little infant son and put it in a basket and set it afloat in the crocodile infested waters of the Nile? Here, we learned that faith in God's promises frees us from the fear of death and animates our love. Moreover, we learn that faith is not stupid, it is not careless, it is not whimsical, it is clever. It is sanctified wisdom and common sense. I mean, after all, she didn't flaunt her pregnancy in front of the taskmasters and parade her baby in defiance of the king, presuming upon God and expecting him to somehow intervene in some miraculous way. No, no, no. She acted prudently using the wisdom and the resources God had given her.

In verse four of Exodus two, we go on to read more of the story. "His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him." Oh, my, what a coincidence, right? No. This was a well thought through strategy. Verse five,

"The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the Nile with her maidens walking with her maidens walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid, and she brought it to her.

"When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying, and she had pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' children.'

"Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?'

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go ahead.' So the girl went and called the child's mother.

"Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him."

I'm sure the family said, "Don't you just love it when a plan comes together by God's grace." Verse 10, "The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said," quote, "Because I drew him out of the water." Moses literally means "one who draws out" so here we see God working with his obscure servants that nobody really paid any attention to - unwilling slaves of Pharaoh, but willing slaves of the Most High God. So the story of the faith of Moses begins with the story of the faith of his parents, who obeyed God rather than man.

And secondly, we see that fearless faith prefers the reproach of Christ over the pleasures of this world. This takes us to the second 40-year phase of Moses' life. Notice in verse 24 of Hebrews 11,

"By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

"choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

"considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward."

This is absolutely astounding. Think about this. You're raised in the court of the king. You have all of the riches and all of the pleasures of Egypt available to you at the snap of your finger, and yet you know that you belong to the one true God and the people of the covenant because your mother told you. So God used your mother and your father and no doubt, others, to tell you this. And as we're going to see, God Himself tells him this. So after 40 years of witnessing the contrast between the pagan idolatry of Egypt and the sufferings of the people of promise, he chooses to follow God, and that meant that he would have to renounce his Egyptian citizenship, so to speak, and give himself fully to becoming a loyal Israelite.

Stephen gives us additional commentary on this new season in Moses' life, that something that really helped force the issue, in Acts chapter seven, verse 22 Stephen says, "'Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

"'But when he was approaching the age of 40, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

"And when he saw one of them treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.

"And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand."

So obviously, God had revealed to Moses that he was to be the anointed deliverer, and he somehow assumed, when that scenario occurred, that the people were aware of that; but they weren't. And as you may recall, you go back to Exodus two and you read more of that story. You see how that Moses then later sees an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brethren, so he comes to his defense, and he kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand. And the next day, there was a fight that broke out amongst a couple of his Hebrew brethren. And when he confronted the man who was in the wrong, the man answered, and in verse 14, we read, "'Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' Then Moses was afraid and said, 'Surely the matter has become known.'

So obviously, God had revealed to Moses that he was to be the anointed deliverer, and he somehow assumed, when that scenario occurred, that the people were aware of that; but they weren't. And as you may recall, you go back to Exodus two and you read more of that story. You see how that Moses then later sees an Egyptian beating one of his Hebrew brethren, so he comes to his defense, and he kills the Egyptian and buries him in the sand. And the next day, there was a fight that broke out amongst a couple of his Hebrew brethren. And when he confronted the man who was in the wrong, the man answered, and in verse 14, we read,

"'Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?' Then Moses was afraid and said, 'Surely the matter has become known.'

"When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian."

So back to the narrative in Hebrews 11, verse 24, "By faith Moses...refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." He rejected all of the power and the prestige and the wealth and the royalty, and he chose instead to "endure the ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin." In verse 26 says, "considering the reproach of Christ..." "Considering," literally means to think very carefully about, to weigh the pros and cons. He considered "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." And here's why, "for he was looking to the reward." So obviously, Moses had some understanding about the coming Messiah. Some of it, no doubt, was gained through his knowledge of the covenant that God had given to Abraham. Perhaps God had revealed more of this to him as well. In fact, in John five, verse 46, Jesus says, quote, "'If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.'" So Moses had an understanding of the coming Messiah of Israel, and he wrote about him in all of his writings. But what we also see here is that Moses kept his eye on the unseen reward; the rewards that belong to all people who have placed their faith in the invisible God, the reward that would one day be mediated through the coming Redeemer, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, like the apostle Paul says in Second Corinthians, 4:18, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal." My friends, I would ask you to ask yourself, "Does this describe me? Is this the attitude of my heart?"

Now, as I think about it, Moses, in this situation, is a beautiful illustration of what it means to deny yourself and follow Christ, right? To be willing to lose your life in order to gain it. To come out and be separate from the world. To yield yourself completely to God through faith in Christ. This last week, on a couple of occasions, I had an opportunity to watch what we call today some of the millennials. And I know a number of you are millennials. You're called millennials. I was called a baby boomer. I wish I could have been a millennial, but I'm a baby boomer, all right? But I watched some of the millennials on several occasions this week, and most of them had their eyes glued to their cell phones and to their laptops, and of course, they're adorned with their tattoos and their body piercings and their unique hair styles and all of the wardrobe that they wear today. Most of them utterly bereft of any moral compass, madly in love with themselves and the world; and as I watched them, I was reminded of me when I was that age, and my friends. We had our own version of all of that stuff. Those of you that are my age know exactly what I'm talking about. In fact, when I see my kids laughing at some of the pictures of me when I was a younger man, I have to say, "You millennials, just wait. Someday your kids are going to look at you and say, 'I can't believe you really looked like that.'" That's just the way it goes. But you know, even in my day, we had our own unique look, we had our idols, we had our temptations to the world, but I have to say there was much more moral restraint back when I was a young man, more respect for human life, more dignity, self-reliance. And in every generation, we see how sin continues to metastasize. It's never satisfied with just taking over one organ. It's got to have it all. And now the malignancy is so pervasive in our culture, it is really beyond the point of redemption. But most of my friends, and many of my family, who grew up in the 60s and the 70s are equally lost today, their worldly to the core. Many of them call themselves Christians. They go to church every week, but they know nothing of a faith that costs them anything, and they're certainly not looking to the reward. And sadly, many millennials today that call themselves Christians are no different. They're nothing more than worldly materialists with a Bible app. Today in America, I think you all realize we live in a in a post-Christian culture. The Apostle Paul talked about the "mystery of lawlessness that already exists in that day" (Second Thessalonians 2). My goodness, if that was already in existence 2000 years ago, think of how many years that "mystery of lawlessness" has had time to perfect its nefarious plans. You ask anyone over the age of 60 to give you their perspective of what has happened to our country, and the vast majority of them will tell you what I will tell you; that this isn't the same country that I grew up in. Every system, from government to education, from the courts to the church, is in a moral free fall. What was once right is considered wrong. What was once considered wrong is considered right. What was once good is now evil, and what was evil is now good. However dear friends, as in the days of Egypt, God has preserved a remnant for himself; a remnant that will follow him. And there are parents, even in this church, like Amram and Jochebed, who are raising their children to be like Moses; raising their children have a fearless faith like theirs; people who consider the reproach of Christ as a greater treasure than all of the riches of the world, because they're looking to the reward;  a phrase that literally means, "looked away to a reward." Their eyes are somewhere else. Can you imagine what Moses would have said to his palace friends when they asked him, "What are you doing?" And he would have said, in essence, "I'm looking beyond this life. God has given me the eyes of faith to see the invisible God and to trust in his invisible promises. I'm going to lay up my treasures in heaven. I'm laying hold of that which is imperishable that will never fade away. I'm looking for a city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God. I have the assurance of things hoped for, the confidence of things not seen." Beloved, I hope this is what energizes your fearless faith. Moses knew that he would gain far more than he would ever lose for he was looking to the reward.

Young people, if I can speak to you for just a moment, I can tell you on the basis of the authority that I have from the Word of God - I have no authority on my own, but my authority is from the word - and also from my own experience, the pleasures of this world are fleeting, and they will never give you what they promise. And those pleasures will only, therefore last for a season, the Bible says. But likewise, when you follow Christ, the ill treatment that will be inevitable as you stand for Christ will only last for a season, whereas its pleasures are forever. Folks, this is the stuff of fearless faith.

Now, to turn your back on Pharaoh and your family, not to mention all of Egypt, was an insult to end all insults. I mean, after all, from their perspective, from the world's perspective, what could possibly be more attractive than Egyptian royalty, and what man would dare poke Pharaoh in the eye, so to speak? The answer is, the only kind of Man that would do that would be a man that had faith in the promises of God. And with that kind of faith, dear friends, comes reward. We have already learned that without faith, it is impossible to please God. The text says he is a rewarder of those who seek him. But you must understand that that reward is not just something in the future. It doesn't await glory. It begins the moment you come to faith in Christ. It is the reward of God's presence and his power and his protection in every situation in your life. Dear friends, it is the reward of a felt Christ; whereas we walk with him, we experience that soul-satisfying, soul-exhilarating, soul-nourishing joy of his presence in the core of our being. It is having that fellowship with the lover of our soul; the one who has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. For this reason, we can say with the psalmist in Psalm 27 and verse one, "The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread?"

Well, folks, Moses understood this intellectually, and he experienced this subjectively. And frankly, this is what motivates men and women to leave lucrative careers to go and serve Christ, perhaps in some foreign land. This is also what causes ordinary believers to do extraordinary things with their families and in their workplace. I want you to notice finally, how the writer reminds his audience of this last season in Moses' life. Verse 27, "By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen." This leads us to my third point, and that is this: fearless faith trusts in God's deliverance regardless the threat. Now here the writer is reminding the reader of Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh when he told him that quote, "The LORD, the God of Israel, says, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness" Exodus 5:1). I mean, you talk about courageous. Talk about faith. Again, Pharaoh was perceived to be a god. He thought he was one of the gods. And so for him to be told by this traitorous pipsqueak Hebrew shepherd, that the God of his slaves has said, "I want you to let my people go so that they can go into the wilderness and celebrate a feast to me." I mean that was the ultimate attack upon his dignity. That was the ultimate challenge of his authority and power. I mean, talk about walking up to a lion and smacking him in the face. I mean, that is just not going to end well. But Moses was fearless. Why? Because, dear friends, he believed in the promises of God. He trusted in the word that God had given him.

And we know that just prior to this, he had come before the Most High God whose Shekinah glory was blazing forth from a burning bush, and he had removed his sandals because he was on holy ground, and he had fallen upon his face before the Lord. And it was there that the Lord, the God of Israel, had commissioned him to do this very thing and to be his mediator. Moses was fearless because he believed God when he said to him, quote, "'I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it, and after that, he will let you go."

Now you will recall the astounding events that followed in that great story. Pharaoh was furious, and instead of letting the people go, he made life harder for them. He required them to gather their own straw to make bricks. In the past the Egyptians had provided the straw for them to make the bricks, but now they had to do it on their own, and they had to still maintain the same quota of bricks. Folks, this was an impossible task. And so the people were literally killing themselves to try to do this. And we read in the text that the foremen of the people, the Israelite foremen, were beaten. They were just being worked to death, and as a result, the people turned against Moses.

So the text goes on to say that Moses cries out to the Lord, and it's so interesting to see how the Lord responds. What the Lord does is remind him of the covenant promises that he had made to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob; to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Exodus, chapter six, verse six, we read,

"'Say, therefore to the sons of Israel, "I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments."

"'"Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

"'"And I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD."'"

You will recall the rest of the story. Although Moses had to deal with the fury of Pharaoh, and the distrust of his own people that he was trying to rescue, God was faithful, and Moses was faithful to obey God. And the writer of Hebrews here says that he recounts now, the 10th and the final plague that God brought upon the Egyptians - the killing of their first born - verse 28, "By faith he (referring to Moses), kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them." What a reminder to the first century Hebrew believers and the almost believers. Here he is reminding them of what happened at that incredible moment in history. And although those ancient people did not understand the full implications of why God was having them take in this lamb and kill it and put its blood on the doorposts and so forth - even though they didn't understand that - they trusted him. And what happens when you trust the most high God? He saves you. And that's what happened. They didn't understand that all of that pointed to a lamb that would one day come, a lamb that God himself would provide in the person of his Son. They didn't understand that that Lamb would one day shed his blood as the perfect and final sacrifice for sin. Nevertheless, those people trusted in God's provision for salvation, and what a testimony to what we should do as well.

And then, as if to drive the point home even further, the writer of Hebrews reminds us of the faithfulness of God to make good on his promise to deliver all who trust in him. You will recall the story we read it a little bit ago. The charioteers of Pharaoh are approaching from the rear. The sea is blocking them from advancing. The Israelites are trapped. They have absolutely no way of escape apart from divine intervention. And of course, this tested their faith to the absolute breaking point, and he caused them to say to Moses in Exodus 14:11, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" Beloved, as we think about just that scenario, at that moment in history, we are reminded that it is in times like these that we need a Savior. Amen?  It's in times like these when we have no recourse but God's provision; that we need a leader with fearless faith. It may be a father, it may be a mother, it may be a grandparent, it may be an aunt, it may be a friend, it may be a pastor, but God provided this in the person of Moses. So with utmost confidence in the faithfulness and power of God, he stands before the terrified people who are hopeless. And he says, in Exodus 14:13, "'Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today.'" Then he goes on to say, "'The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.'"

So we come back to verse 29 of Hebrews 11, and we the see the summary of this. "By faith they pass through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned." Folks, can you imagine what it would be like to stand on the other side? The Egyptians over here behind you, and the glory of God and the cloud is protecting you from them, and all of a sudden you see that the waves are up and there's dry land, and now you're going to tell your family, "Come on, kids, Mom, let's go. We've just got to trust God to keep this corridor open and to keep all of this water standing up as it is." Talk about faith.

You see folks, fearless faith trusts in God when all it has is promises. That's all you have. That's what fearless faith does. To walk by faith results in salvation; to walk by sight results in death. It's for this reason that the just shall live by faith, and if we're honest, we're all driven by fear more than faith. We're afraid of criticism, we're afraid of being unpopular, so we've got to do all the things that everybody else does. We don't want to be laughed at or attacked. We are, by nature, a fearful people; that's part of our fallenness, part of our flesh. And certainly, Satan uses this to intimidate us and to conform us into the likeness of the world. And frankly, this is the primary tactic that we see today in the left-wing liberal social progressive movement in our country. If you don't agree with them, you are shouted down, you are ridiculed, you are mocked and called all manner of names. We're told in Proverbs 29 verse 25, "The fear of man brings a snare." In other words, folks, the fear of man will trap you. "But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted." You see, dear friends, if you are ruled by man's opinion, then you will be ruled by fear. You will not be ruled by the Most High God. You will not have any confidence in him. But to trust in the Lord is to simply say, "I will do what God has said come what may. Even though my friends may think I'm a bit strange; even though I may not dress like them, talk like them, laugh at their jokes, go to their places. Man's opinion, even popular opinion, is meaningless to me. All that matters is God's opinion. If people don't like my position, so be it, and I answer to God, not to them. So I will fear God, not man. I will obey God, not man, because my ultimate good, my ultimate joy, my ultimate satisfaction in life is found in the Lord, not in man."

O child of God, as we close this morning, I pray that you will learn this lesson. Well, you're either going to live your life with a vertical or a horizontal perspective. Faith views life from a vertical perspective. It sees him who is unseen. It knows that in every situation, God is at work for our good and for his glory. It knows that God is always working. God is always watching, and that kind of person, will look to Christ in all things and be satisfied in whatever he brings about. But fear views life from a horizontal perspective, only the visible is important. Those kind of people give no thought to God. It looks only to self; it looks only to others. And therefore, those people are without resource, and they're certainly without reward. So I would ask you to ask yourself, which is my perspective? Is my faith in Christ or in self? Do I fear God or do I fear man? And I pray that we all, like Moses and like his dear parents, will trust in him, who is invisible; knowing that those who trust in his Word will never, ever be disappointed. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these reminders from people that you set your love upon over 4000 years ago. Lord, thank you that you are the same God today as you were then, and thank you that we have the same resources of Amram, Jochebed and Moses and all who have walked by faith. May this be the desire of our heart, and we cry out to you that by the power of your Spirit, we will be such a people. I ask it for your sake that you will be glorified in our lives. Amen.