Title: The Meaning of Faith #3
Purpose: To move Christian to Total Faithfulness


Intro:
  1. Review: Faith is assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things unseen, moves you
    1. to believe in what you can’t see
    2. to worship by honoring God your very best as Abel did
    3. to walk with God every moment as Enoch did
    4. to work for God faithfully and obediently as Noah did
    5. to move closer to God away from the world (as Abraham did in moving from UR)
    6. to trust in God’s ability not your own (As sarah & Abraham did in having Issac)
    7. to look forward to a permanent home with God, not back at tents (as Abraham did & Jacob)
    8. to be 100% devoted to God, ready to give what is most dear to us (as Abraham did Issac)
  2. Faith is not mysterious, but is something decisive and moving


I. Faith moves you fearlessness (v.23)

  1. Begins with the faith of Moses’ parents
  2. Explanation
    1. Pharoah became afraid of the Hebrews and tried to weaken them by affliction
    2. Exodus 1:15-16 - Ordered midwives to kill males
      1. Midwives disobeyed the Pharoah & let them live (God good to them)
      2. Heb 11:23 - Moses’ parents didn’t fear the kings edict either
    3. Parents saw that Moses was a beautiful or goodly child
      1. This was seen as a blessing from God among Jews
      2. They knew that this was no ordinary child
      3. Ps 127:3 - “Children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them”
    4. One exception to “fearlessness in faith”
      1. Ex. 1:16-22 - Moves you to “fear God”
      2. Heb 11:28 - In the passover they feared God
      3. Ps112:1,7“how blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandmnts”
  3. How can you be fearless and fear at the same time?
    1. Who do you fear?
    2. Those who work High tension wires seem to be fearless
    3. They fear the voltage - they respect it.
  4. So how do you fear (revere) God?
    1. Start by not letting the “orders” of Pharoah come between you and God
    2. ILL: Had a weiner Dog that could do tricks. Never responded to me but would respond to one of my friends. Didn’t thank much of me. Stupid Dog.
    3. That is the way it is when we heed the voices of Pharoah instead of God
    4. The voices of the Pharoah still call today to try and come between you and God


II. Faith moves you off of the fence

  1. Moses was 40 years old before he came to a decision in his life
  2. Explanation:
    1. Acts 7:25 - Moses at 40 already envisioned himself as a deliverer
    2. Ex 2:9-12
      1. Moses was given to his mother to raise him
      2. When he grew, he came to live in the palace as Pharoah’s daughter
      3. Moses grew up and went out to his brethren & looked on their hard labors
      4. Moses faced a decision when he saw slave being beaten
        • Remain Pharoah’s daughter (rich, education, palace, respect, servants)
        • Stand with his brethren (contempt, affliction, suffering, slavery)
        • Couldn’t just straddle the fence any longer
      5. Looked around, struck down an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew
        • Moses had a lot to learn
        • God wasn’t going to deliver the Hebrews through Moses’ strength
        • Moses fled and spent next 80 years in rugged wilderness
    3. Why? He recognized three things (v. 25-26)
      1. That pleasure of sin is fleeting (chose not to emjoy passing pleasures of sin)
      2. Reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
        • Moses knew Christ (not according to the flesh) I Cor 10 read
        • How? He was looking beyond the struggle --
      3. He was looking to the reward
        • “looking to” means to look away from all other objects to look at one
        • As result, he “left” (forsook) Egypt not fearing Pharoah (the Exodus
        • He fixed his eyes and heart on the prize
  3. . You cannot have one foot in heaven and the other on earth (no one can do splits like that


III. Faith moves you to March

  1. Now the text has moved from faith of Moses’ parents, to Moses and now to the people
  2. See two victories listed here. Remember the stories?
    1. Crossing of the Red Sea by faith
    2. Marching around the walls of Jericho by faith
  3. Even when it seems it doesn’t make any sense march
    1. There may be a great in-passible sea, but God will part it for you
    2. There may be a great wall, but God will cause it to fall for you


IV. Faith brings you Salvation (30-31)

  1. The final example is of salvation through faith
  2. Remember 10:38 - My righteous one shall live by faith
  3. I think it interesting that the last example here is a harlot
    1. She is mentioned several times in the New Testament
      1. James uses her as an example of faith as well
      2. She is in the geneology of Jesus (was David’s great-great grandmother)
    2. Joshua 2
      1. She hid spies in her house
      2. Heb 11:31 - By faith did not perish along with those who were disobedient
        • Insinuates that they were disobedient, and she was not
        • How?
      3. Notice 2:8-11
        • The whole city knew of YHWH and were fearful
        • What could they have done? (Remember Ninevah)
        • Notice Rahab’s confession: Josh 2:11
      4. Rahab believed in God when she heard and acted on it by protecting the men who came from God.
        • That was “healthly” fear or reverence
        • The rest of the city had unhealthy fear, they were going to resist
      5. The only way to run from God is to run to God


Concl:

  1. Remember that without faith it's impossible to please him
  2. What kind of faith do you have?
  3. Saving faith is a moving faith
    1. to fearlessness
    2. off the fence
    3. to march
    4. and ultimately to salvation
  4. Do you want the benefits of this faith?