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Responses to the Birth of Jesus

A Sermon by Dr Ben Hooman

We celebrate and bring in remembrance the First Coming of Jesus Christ, the greatest Gift ever. And as we walk through Matthew chapter 2 today, I want to highlight three responses to the Birth of Jesus, and I want you to honestly ask yourself, “What is my response?”

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Sunday 11 July 2021

Dr Ben Hooman

Please open your Bibles at the book of Lamentations. We begin today a four-week series that speaks especially to all who walk the path of sorrow and loss. Sooner, or later that will be all of us. 

Packer says, “Grief is the inward desolation that follows the losing of something or someone we loved – a child, a relative, an actual or anticipated life partner, a pet, a job, one’s home, one’s hopes, one’s health or whatever.” The key words here of course are ‘love’ and ‘loss.’ Grief is the process of adapting to the loss of something or someone that we loved.

When a person loses a loved one, we speak of them being bereaved. The word ‘reaved’ means to rob, plunder, or tear away. So, the one who is bereaved feels that he/she has been robbed or plundered, like having something or someone who is dearly loved taken away. The person feels they’re being torn in two.

All of us will walk through the valley of grief and loss in different times and in different ways. God has given us an entire book of the Bible that teaches us how to navigate the valley of sorrow and loss, an entire book of the Bible that addresses the issue of grief, an entire book that shows us how to navigate through this valley of sorrow and loss.

The book is called Lamentations. Studying this book will help you to be better equipped to live and serve in a suffering world, and it will encourage you to meet Christ on the path of sorrow. It is not a book that is often preached. I’ve never preached a series on Lamentations. Why not? Especially since this book speaks to something that every one of us will experience. God’s Word in its fullness speaks to every part of our lives. Neglect any part of God’s Word, and we miss the provision that God has made for us there.

We all in these times we live in, experience the loss of a partner, a child, a friend, a colleague. We tend to prevent speaking about the sorrow and the loss. And many a time we don’t know how to act or cope in times of sorrow and loss. 

We have three aims for the series: 

• That we will better understand what it means to grieve and to hope

What does it mean to grieve? People sometimes say, “I don’t think I ever grieved properly.” Well, what does it look like to grieve properly?

What does it mean to hope while you grieve? It’s not that Christians grieve for a little while and then, when we are done with that, we are full of hope. It’s not like that. Christians grieve and hope at the same time. We grieve as we hope and we hope as we grieve. I want us to see from Lamentations what that looks like.

• That we will be better equipped to live and serve in a suffering world

We do not go to church to escape from reality. Folks who don’t believe sometimes have this view of the church. We come to face reality together in the presence of God.

God speaks to us in this world as it is, not as we would like it to be. The Scriptures are given to us not only to prepare us for the world to come, where pain and sorrow will be no more, but also to equip us to live in this world, scarred as it is with pain, and with sorrow, and with loss.

One writer describes the book of Lamentations as “a house for sorrow and a school for compassion.” Here’s a place where you can learn to have a tender heart. Immersion in this book will soften our hearts towards a suffering world.

• That we will meet Jesus Christ on the path of sorrow

The path of sorrow is a difficult and painful path. But it is a path that Jesus is familiar with. He was familiar with suffering and sorrow. Any path on which we come to a closer, deeper walk with Christ is a path that will be blessed, even if it is a path of great sorrow and loss.

Historical background to Lamentations

Lamentations describes, in excruciating detail, the grief and sorrow that resulted from the siege and eventual collapse of Jerusalem in 586 BC. It is called Lamentations because it is the lament of people who survived unspeakable loss, and then had to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives and somehow find the strength to carry on.

“How long sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.” (Lamentations 1:1,2)

God’s people endured five disasters – one on top of the other.

• Enemies laid siege to the city

They just camped outside – no water, no food going in. They said, in effect: “We are just going to sit out here until the people in the city starve.”

• Then the people starved

You will find more in this book about the horrors of surviving in a besieged city than you ever wanted to know.

• Then the city fell

The walls of the city kept the people safe from their enemies. But when the walls were finally breached, what made these people feel secure was taken away. And then they were completely overrun.

• Then the city was occupied

The fall of the city meant the end of the siege, but it also meant the beginning on an occupation in which God’s people found themselves under the heel of a brutal enemy who had smashed their walls and homes. They had become slaves.

• Then the temple was destroyed

The place where God had promised His presence was gone. So where was God in all of this? “Even the temple is gone.” Here are people who feel all alone, bereft, bereaved.

Many died in these awful days. Many more were taken off into exile – Ezekiel, Daniel, etc. Lamentations is the cry of the few who remained, the survivors, who had to find a way to survive in the ruins of their fallen city, The place they once called home.

Lamentations is a cry from the depths of pain, sorrow and loss. It is the lament of the survivors. And more than any other book of the Bible, it speaks to those who grieve today.

The five chapters of this book are somewhat repetitive. Grief is like that. Grief is not linear. Those who have experienced grief know what it is like to go over and over what has happened again and again.

In this series, I want to draw out the main themes of this book: 

• Tears and Talk; 
• Guilt and Grievance; 
• Hope and Healing; 
• Prayer and Praise. 

We begin today with tears and talk.

Leslie Allen, senior professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, also serving in that time as a hospital chaplain, has written a helpful book in which he uses what he learned (as an Old Testament professor) about Lamentations to shed light on grief, and then uses what he learned (as a hospital chaplain) about grief to shed light on Lamentations.

He begins with the story of a young man named Raymond, who was brought to the hospital late one evening as a precaution against suicide. Raymond was a Christian man in his early twenties, committed to church, and actively engaged in youth ministry.

But he had gone through a series of tragedies that had overwhelmed him. A few months before, his parents had died, one after the other in a short space of time. Then he learned that his girlfriend had died from an overdose.

The chaplain was called for and Leslie says, “When I arrived, I gently woke Raymond out of an exhausted sleep. Bleary eyed, he sat up in bed and said, ‘All I want to do is sleep…’ I realized that this was not the occasion for a long pastoral interchange. What short message could I leave about the way forward? I thought for a moment and said, ‘I want to leave three words with you, Raymond: tears, talk and time.’ I added a brief sentence to each word and then told him to go back to sleep and remember those three words when he woke up.”  

Tears: Let them flow!

Tears are the shuddering of the body at the pain of the soul. Tears are a wonderful gift from God. Tears are a release valve for pain. So let the tears flow! Don’t hold them back. 

There was once an old man who lost his wife. Every day he sat on his stoep crying. The young boy next door saw it and walked over, and jumped on the man’s lap. When he got back home, his mom asked him what he said to the old man. He replied, “Nothing, I just helped him to cry”. 

Lamentations is a book soaked in tears. Let me give you some samples,

“She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks;” (Lamentations 1:2)

“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me.” (Lamentations 1:16)

“My eyes are spent with weeping.” (Lamentations 2:11)

“My eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” (Lamentations 3:48)

“My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees.” (Lamentations 3:49)

Notice that the references to tears run throughout the book. They are not just in the first chapter and then they dry up. The tears of grieving people come at unexpected times. You never know when they’re going to come next.

There is a hymn that says, “When sorrows like sea billows roll…” Sorrow comes in waves, often when you don’t expect it. A new wave can be set off by a sight, a sound or a smell.

Someone once said, “People often say to me: ‘I don’t know what to say to you. I don’t want to make you cry.’ And I say to them, ‘You’re not going to take me to a place that I don’t already live all the time.’”

Sometimes the tears just won’t come. Have you also heard someone saying, “I was in such a state of shock, I couldn’t cry for days?” 

You have that in Lamentations too: “He has left me stunned, faint all the day long” (Lamentations 1:13). Sometimes the shock of a great loss freezes the senses for a time so that what you expect to feel, or even what you think you should feel, you don’t feel at all.

But Lamentations says, “When the tears come, let them flow! Don’t hold them back! 

“… let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord.” (Lamentations 2:18,19)

Leslie Allen comments, “I recall a patient who, having undergone a mastectomy, found it difficult to grieve [she said] because of her Christian faith… She thought grief was a sign of spiritual weakness and lack of trust. It had to be stifled [she thought] as dishonouring to God… Lamentations belies such a stoic view.” 

He is absolutely right. Here we have in a book of the Bible, something that validates the tears of godly people, the tears of faithful people.

Talk: Don’t hold it back!

The entire book of Lamentations is an expression of grief. It puts grief into words. Lamentations is a sustained outpouring of grief in which painful details of all that has happened, and all that was lost are poured over again and again. That is what grief does. That is what grief is like.

Leslie Allen quotes the words of Shakespeare in Macbeth, “Give sorrow words: The grief that does not speak, Whispers the o’er fraught heart, and bids it breaks.” In other words, if there is a grief that won’t speak, it tempts the heart to break.

If you read Lamentations, from beginning to end, you will be struck by the repetition. Grief is like that. It is not linear. It circles back over the same ground. Every detail of what has happened is rehearsed.

Imagine a priceless vase or ornament is dropped on the floor and smashed to pieces. The woman who loved it kneels down. She picks up the pieces, one by one. She looks at each one in detail, turning it round, as if to remember where it once belonged.

The vase was loved and so when it was shattered, every piece was worth picking up, no matter how small. A grieving person will often want to talk about the smallest detail of their loss. It is as if every broken piece is taken up and wept over. When you listen, you may feel that the detail was small, but it is part of something that was supremely valued, part of something dearly loved.

God has given us a whole book of the Bible that is a sustained outpouring of grief, in which the loss is put into words and it is expressed over and over again. Surely in this, God is telling us something very important about how to grieve. Tears and talk – let the tears flow, and don’t hold the words back.

One writer cites the story of a man whose sister died at the age of eight. And his father responded by turning to his sister’s picture on the wall saying, “Get rid of all her possessions, and forbidding anyone to mention her name.”  In other words, he was saying, “We are moving on.”

Thankfully, our culture is much more in touch with the importance of speaking about pain and loss. But a grieving person can only speak about their pain and loss if other people are ready to listen. There are two sides to every story.

Donald Howard writes on this with great pastoral wisdom: “Let the bereaved speak…Statements such as ‘You must often think of the time when you did such and such together…’ are ways of initiating discussion. A typical illustration of this is of a widow whose friends are talking with her when one remembers a humorous story about the husband. He stops himself telling it out of consideration for her and, like everyone else, steers the conversation away from her husband’s life altogether. Had he told the story, she probably would have laughed; perhaps there might have been a tear or two in her eyes, but she would have thought it wonderful that he was still remembered”. 

Part of our responsibility and part of the way we help those who have lost a loved one is to help keep the memory of them alive. What they wonder is: Does anyone else remember? Does anyone else care?

This reminds us of the importance of the ministry of listening in the body of Christ. Lamentations gives us a picture of what it means for God’s people to grieve together. We are called to “rejoice with those who rejoice” and “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).

There are two sides to weeping with those who weep. The first is that there must be brothers and sisters in Christ who are ready to listen, ready to sit with the one who grieves and identify with their sorrow. But if this is to happen, the one who grieves must be ready to allow some brothers or sisters into their own sorrow.

Here is a difficult challenge to those who are grieving a loss: It is very easy to put on a ‘brave front,’ and to say that you don’t want any sadness, to tell others that you only want to focus on the celebration of a loved one’s life, and then to determine that you will only do your weeping on your own. That’s not what we find in Lamentations.

God calls your brothers and sisters to weep with you. With whom will you share your weeping? Who will you allow, by the grace of God, to share in your sorrow and loss?

The body of Christ is part of God’s provision for you. They are given the privilege and calling to listen, so allow others into your grief, your sorrow, and your loss.

Tears, Talk, and Christ

The Bible tells us that Jesus wept. When Lazarus, who Jesus loved, died, our Lord came to Bethany. When he arrived, Martha came out to meet him, and later her sister Mary. These two women were grieving the death of their dearly-loved brother.

“Now when Mary came where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’. When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see. Jesus wept.” (John 11:32-35)

Why did He weep? Christ knew that in five minutes He would raise Lazarus from the dead – the resurrection is five minutes away for this brother! He told Martha, “Your brother will rise again” (John 11:23). But He did not say to Martha, “Don’t grieve.” He did not say that. He is the Resurrection and the Life, but He weeps with Martha and Mary over their loss. Jesus wept!

God is always intimately involved in the grief of His people. There is a beautiful verse in the book of Psalms that speaks of God gathering all our tears in a bottle. If you don’t know it, I hope you will note it, so that you will remember it.

“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?” (Psalm 56:8)

Every tear you have ever shed is completely known to your heavenly Father. Not one of them is ever forgotten by Him. The tears of God’s children are precious to God. They are part of why He sent His Son into this world.

There are many wonderful statements in the Bible of why Jesus Christ came into the world. In one of them the Messiah says, 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to… bind up the broken hearted… to comfort all who mourn… that they may be called oaks of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:1-3)

All this so that you may be able to stand and not be destroyed in your grief. Our Lord was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;” (Isaiah 53:3) 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Lord said, 

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow” (Matthew 26:38). When your soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, your Saviour has been there. You have a Saviour who knows what it is to weep!

You also have a Saviour with whom you can talk. There is a great gulf between this world and the next. You cannot talk to your loved one who has died. But if your loved one was in Christ, he or she is with the Saviour, and you can talk to the Saviour about your loved one who is now in His house. You can tell the Saviour how much you miss them and how much you love them. You can bring the pain of your loss to this Saviour who is familiar with sorrow and grief.

One day Christ will wipe away all tears from your eyes. Literally, the Bible says he will wipe all tears “out of” our eyes (see Revelation 21:4), as if he would take away not only the tears, but the tear-ducts themselves (in the resurrection body), because they would no longer be needed. It is not only the tears that God will take away, but also the sorrow and loss that gave rise to them. Lord, hasten that day!

Now that day has not yet come. And until then there will be tears. But there is also the Man of Sorrows, acquainted with grief, who says in this book,

 “See if there is any sorrow like My sorrow” (Lamentations 1:12) 

He plumbed the depths of sorrow when He suffered on the cross. And no one is more ready, or no one more able to walk with you through the valley of grief, sorrow, and loss, than Jesus Christ.

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04 July 2021

Ps Ben Hooman

Please open your Bible for the last time in this series at Hebrews 11. I have enjoyed every step of our journey through this marvellous chapter of the Bible, in which the Holy Spirit teaches us about living by faith. We’ve seen what faith is,

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is an assurance and a conviction. Faith is sure of things we hope for because they have been promised by God. Faith is convinced of things we cannot see because they have been revealed by God. Faith believes what God has revealed and trusts what God has promised.

Hebrews 11 shows us what faith looks like through a series of examples: Each of them highlights a distinct aspect of faith, and we have seen that: Faith listens to God, faith walks with God, and faith fears God. Faith obeys God, faith receives from God and faith submits to God. Faith worships God, faith hopes in God, faith depends on God and faith commits to God.

Faith is a living tree bursting with fruit. If you have faith, all kinds of good things will follow. We have looked at 10 models or examples of faith in this series. And the writer of Hebrews, clearly could have called on many more.

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets” (Hebrews 11:32)

You will be glad to know that I am not going to attempt to tell the stories of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets today. Time would fail us! The point here is that the examples of genuine faith are not a few, they are many.

Then the writer goes on to describe the achievements and the agonies of the heroes of faith. Verse 33 lists some of the achievements: They conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, stopped the mouths of lions.

Verse 35 lists some of the agonies. “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release. Others were mocked, flogged, and stoned to death. The world was not worthy of them.”

And now, as we come to the close of this chapter, we all know how it’s going to end. It’s going to say: Some heroes of faith achieved great triumphs. Other heroes of faith endured great suffering. But all of them received what God had promised and entered into their glorious reward.

But that’s not how the chapter ends. Just when we are expecting the heroes to receive their crowns, we read,

“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised” (Hebrews11:39)

You read this verse and you say, “Really?” These people have been held up to us as models of faith, and none of them received what was promised? That’s what it says. Abraham did not receive what was promised. Moses did not receive what was promised. David did not receive what was promised.

Now, clearly, Abraham Moses, David and the others received many wonderful gifts from God.

Old Testament believers were forgiven

And they were forgiven in the same way we are today. Our faith looks back to Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross. Their faith looked forward to Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross.

The whole point of the Old Testament sacrifices was that they were a way of expressing trust in the sacrifice that God Himself would provide for our sin. On that basis, David says,

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2)

Old Testament believers received the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit was poured out in greater abundance in the New Testament, but the Spirit of God came rushing on the Judges, and God answered the prayer of David when he said,

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51: 10,11)

Old Testament believers went to heaven

Asaph describes the experience of an Old Testament believer when he says,

“You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (Psalm 73:24)

These Old Testament believers looked in faith to the Saviour who was to come. Their sins were forgiven, by grace and through faith they knew the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. They entered into the glorious presence of the Lord when they died, and yet Hebrews tells us, “They did not receive what was promised” (verse 39). What part of the promise did they not receive? Look at what it says,

“And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39-40)

This is a difficult verse, but the key words are “something better.” What is this “something better” that God has planned? It could be that the writer is making a contrast between the blessings that the Old Testament believers enjoyed and the blessings that New Testament believers enjoy today. But I don’t think so, and here’s why. He speaks here about being “made perfect,” and that is not something that happens in this life.

The contrast here seems to be between the experience that they and we have on earth, and the experience they and we will have when we are made perfect.

God has promised “something better” for us than anything we could experience in this world, just as He promised something better for the Old Testament believers than anything they experienced in this world.

So, the point here is not that our position is different from theirs, but that in this life, our position is exactly the same. They lived and died looking forward to what God had promised, and we will do the same. They did not receive what God has promised in this life, and neither will we.

It was the same with Jesus. He came preaching the kingdom of God. And He lived and died in a world that rejected Him. But that is not the end of the story. He rose from the dead and right now, He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

God had planned “something better” than the cross and the grave for Jesus. And God has planned something better for the Old Testament believers and for us. The Old Testament believers have gone ahead of us. And they are waiting for us to finish our race, because “apart from us” they will “not be made perfect.”

Believers who have died are with Christ

“So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8)

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which shall I choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” (Philippians 1: 21-23)

Believers who have died are waiting

They don’t yet have the resurrection body. They don’t yet have the company of the whole believing family. They don’t yet enjoy the new earth that will be the home of righteousness. So, they are waiting for the glorious return of our Lord because only then will the whole family be gathered.

Only then will they receive the resurrection body. Only then will they enter the fullness of all that God has promised. Something glorious lies ahead, that even those in heaven have not seen.

When God gave the apostle John a glimpse into heaven, he said,

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:9-10)

Notice their question: “How long?” They are in heaven, but they are still waiting. What are they waiting for? Three R’s. They are waiting for the Resurrection body. They are waiting for the Redeemed family to be gathered. They are waiting for the Restored universe – The new heaven and earth that will be the home of righteousness forever.

This is the position of Old Testament believers and of our believing loved ones who have died. They are with Christ, consciously enjoying the glory of His presence. And they are waiting, for the resurrection body, the gathering of the redeemed family and the restored universe, all of which will come when the glory of the Lord is revealed.

Now what does all this have to do with us? These heroes of faith have run their race, and now we must run ours. Think about Olympic athletes running in a vast stadium. The stands are packed with spectators, and they are cheering as we run.

In the same way, we are surrounded by a great “cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab and many more beside. They have run their race, and now they are waiting for us to finish ours. So,

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1)

Now how are we to do this? How are we to run our race with endurance. How are we to withstand the relentless pressures that keep coming to us throughout the course of our lives? The answer lies in three wonderful words in verse 2, “Looking to Jesus.”

Looking to Jesus

• Faith looks to Jesus

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, …” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Christian faith is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have learned from these models of faith in the Old Testament. But faith is not looking to Noah, Abraham, Moses or Rahab. Faith is looking to Jesus.

This is what the Old Testament models of faith were doing. Jesus says, “Abraham saw My day” (John 8:56). Moses chose the “reproach of Christ” over the treasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26).

The whole point of Hebrews 11 is that we are in the same position as these Old Testament believers. We believe as they believed. We must endure as they endured. We look to Jesus as they looked to Jesus.

Faith believes what God has revealed and trust what God has promised. And it is in Jesus that God has revealed Himself. And it is through Jesus that all God has promised will be ours. So, faith looks to Jesus.

• Jesus is more than our example

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1, 2)

These words are really important because they remind us that Jesus is more than our example. You can admire an athlete breaking the hundred meters record, but that does not give you the ability to do what he or she did.

If all we have is examples, we would be crushed. If the message of this chapter was to say, “Enoch walked with God, Noah feared God, Abraham obeyed God, Rahab committed to God, so get your act together and follow their example,” we would all be saying “How can we match up to them?”

If we were told simply that Jesus is our example, and now we must step up and live a life like His, we would all be saying. How can we ever match up to Him? So, thank God the message of this chapter is not “These heroes of faith were great, and you should try and do better.”

The message is, “the same faith that was formed in them has also been formed in you, and Jesus is the One who has formed that faith. Jesus is more than our example of faith. Jesus is the “founder” of our faith.

A founder is a person who brings something into being. Jesus is the “founder” of our faith. You believe. You have faith. How did this come about? Jesus formed faith in you. He is the founder of your faith. He laid hold of you. He put His Spirit in you. He opened your eyes to the truth. He brought your faith into being.

And Jesus is the “perfecter” of your faith. A perfecter is a person who brings something to completion. Notice that faith does not make you perfect. The best of the Old Testament believers were far from being perfect. Noah got drunk. Abraham lied about his wife. Moses lost his temper. Jacob was a miserable old man. They were all flawed people as we are. But Jesus will make them perfect, and He will do the same for us.

“God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40). Our faith is far  from perfect. We often feel like the man who said to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

That prayer will be answered. Jesus will perfect your faith. He will bring it to completion. He will vindicate your faith by bringing you into all that He has promised. And He will do this when all of His family are gathered together.

Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith. Jesus brought your faith into being, and He will complete what He has begun.

• Jesus will enable you to endure

“For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (Hebrews 10:36)

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:1,2)

Hebrews was given first to Jewish believers who were facing difficult days. They had “endured a hard struggle with sufferings (Hebrews 10:32). They had been “publicly exposed to reproach and affliction (Hebrews 10:33). Their property had been plundered (Hebrews 10:34).

The strain of all this was beginning to tell, and the writer tells them “You have need of endurance” (Hebrews 10:36). You read that and you find yourself saying, “That’s me! That’s what I need!” I need endurance, but how am I going to get it?

Hebrews 11 is the answer to that question. The writer says, “My righteous one shall live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38). And from there, he launches into this marvellous exposition of faith in Hebrews 11.

But here’s the question: How does faith enable us to endure? We’ve seen that faith Listens to God, Walks with God, Fears God, Obeys God, Receives from God, Submits to God, Worships God, Hopes in God, Depends on God, and Commits to God.

How does faith do these things? Faith joins us to Jesus in a spiritual union in which what is His becomes ours. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). When you are in Christ the life that is in Jesus flows into you.

Paul says, “Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). When Christ lives in you, He gives you a righteousness you would not have on your own.  When Christ lives in you, He gives you a strength you would not have on your own. When Christ lives in you, He gives you a peace you would not have on your own. When Christ lives in you, He gives you an endurance you would not have on your own.

Look at the endurance of Jesus: He endured the cross! The Saviour who endured the cross lives in you by His Holy Spirit. And because He lives in you, you will be able to endure as you run the race that is set before you.

• Jesus will bring you into His glorious reward

“…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus endured the cross, but He is not there now. He is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And notice that He got through the cross “for the joy that was set before Him” and I believe that the joy set before Him is the “something better” that God has planned for all His people.

The Three R’s

• The joy of the Redeemed family

Jesus is going to bring the whole family together, and when He does, not one of His own will be missing. You will be reunited with loved ones who are already with the Lord. What a day of rejoicing that will be. Jesus said,

“I tell you many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11)

On that day there will be no divisions, no disputes, no arguments in the believing family. Every effect of sin will be removed from us. We will be made perfect. The bride of Christ will be without blemish.

• The joy of the Resurrection

Your redeemed spirit will be clothed with a resurrected body that will never ache, never tire, and never tempt you to sin. A body in which you will be able to serve the Lord and enjoy His new creation forever.

• The joy of the Restored universe

Abraham was looking for “a heavenly city whose designer and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). And John says,

 “I saw the holy city…coming down out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:2).

What makes the city holy is that God Himself is there.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new. …” (Revelation 21:3-5)

Jesus will bring us into His glorious reward, so “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Sunday 27 June 2021

Ps Ben Hooman

Joshua 2:1-21, Hebrews 11:31

Please open your Bible at Hebrews 11. Our core passages are from Joshua 2:1-21, and Hebrews 11:31. We have just two more weeks left in our series on faith. God teaches us in Hebrews 11 through a series of examples. Each one highlights a particular aspect of the faith to which we are called. We have looked at the faith of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob. We have looked at the faith of Joseph, and the faith of Moses. Who would you expect to come next? Joshua was the successor to Moses and without doubt he was a man of extraordinary faith.

Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan by Moses. When the spies returned, ten of them brought a bad report.

“And they him, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there… We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13:27-28,31)

But Joshua and Caleb said, “If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:8)

Joshua was a man of great faith. It was under Joshua’s leadership that God’s people finally entered the Promised Land. It was Joshua who directed the people to march round the fortified city of Jericho till, by the power of God, the walls fell down. That story is recorded in Hebrews 11:30. Joshua was without doubt a great hero of faith, but his name does not appear in Hebrews 11. The next person named after Moses is not Joshua, but Rahab,

“By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31)

Of all the examples of faith in Hebrews 11, Rahab is the most surprising. God had given His promises to Abraham and his descendants. Rahab was not a descendant of Abraham. She was not one of God’s people. And Rahab had not lived a righteous life. She had been a prostitute. Yet here she is held up for us as a model of faith!

If you want to know about genuine faith, look at Rahab! The Holy Spirit must have something very special to teach us from Rahab’s story and that story is told in Joshua 2 which was read for us earlier. When God’s people were about to enter the Promised Land, Joshua sent two spies to gather intelligence about Jericho. And when these men came to the city, they lodged with Rahab.

Clearly the spies had not been successful in concealing their identity. Word got out that two “men of Israel” had come to town (verse 2). And since it was known that God’s people were moving towards Jericho, it wasn’t hard to work out why these men had come.

When the king of Jericho heard about the visitors, he sent messengers to Rahab with an order that she should hand over the men who had come to her house. Rahab must have guessed that this would happen, and before the king’s messengers arrived, she had taken the spies up to the roof of her house and hidden them under stalks of flax. When the king’s messengers arrived, she sent them off on a wild goose chase.

“But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out.” (Joshua 2:4,5)

So off went the king’s messengers, chasing after the spies who were hiding under the flax on Rahab’s roof. Then the Bible records,

“So, the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out”. (Joshua 2:7)

The search for the spies was on, and once the gate was shut, the city was in lockdown. No one could enter the city, and no one could leave. So now the spies had a real problem. They were trapped! How could they escape from the city when the gate was shut? Rahab’s house was on the edge of the city. It was built into the city wall (verse 15). The front of her house looked over the streets of the city and the back of her house looked out to the open country outside.

When darkness came, Rahab let the spies out of the city on a rope hanging from her window. Why did Rahab do this? Why did she put loyalty to these men higher than loyalty to her own king who demanded that she hand the men over?

Rahab saw that a great conflict was coming. She was faced with a choice. She chose a side, and she made a commitment. And Hebrews tells us that she did this by faith.

The simplicity of Rahab’s faith

“By faith Rahab… did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31)

The first thing we learn from Rahab’s faith is that you don’t need vast knowledge before you can believe. You don’t need to have all your questions answered before you can trust.

Rahab had a very limited knowledge of the truth. She was not an Israelite. No prophet had ever spoken the Word of God to her. She would have known nothing of the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or of the revelation that they had received. But Rahab did have some knowledge of the Lord. Notice that she says,

“Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, ‘I know that the LORD has given you the land …” (Joshua 2:8,9)

When you see the name LORD in four capital letters in the Old Testament, it signifies the name God revealed to Moses. Yahweh: I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). And Rahab refers to God, by name, four times (verses 9, 10, 11, 12)

• Notice what Rahab knew about God
• Who God is

“… for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11)

“Your God is the Sovereign Lord: He reigns in heaven and He rules over the earth. The idols of Jericho will fall before Him.” Rahab knew who God is. And she knew what God had done.

• What God had done

“… we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt” (Joshua 2:10)

This amazing story had got around. Israel’s God had parted the waters and piled them up like a wall on either side of His people. God’s people crossed on dry land and then the waters came crashing down on the oppressors who pursued them.

“Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey Him?” (Mark 4:41)

Rahab knew who God is, and she knew what God had done. And she knew:

• What God was about to do

“… I know that the LORD has given you the land” (Joshua 2:9)

Rahab was part of a community with a long history of evil. And God had determined that they would be destroyed. Back in Genesis 15:16, God said,

“In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached full measure.” (Genesis 15:16 NIV)

The sin of the Amorites was great. But God was merciful. He held back judgement for four hundred years until their sin reached “full measure.” Rahab knew that she was part of a community whose sin had reached “full measure.” She realized that her city would be destroyed. “I know that the LORD has given you the land” (verse 9).

Here’s what we learn from Rahab’s faith: Faith rests on who God is, what He has done, and what He will do.

Who is God? God is the ruler of heaven and earth. What has God done? God sent His Son to save His people, by giving Himself as a sacrifice for our sins and rising from the dead.

What will God do? God will bring justice. He will destroy all evil. And He will bring His people into all that He has promised: the new heaven and earth that will be the home of righteousness.

Rahab’s faith was very simple. She had no Bible. No pastor. No believing friends. But she knew that there is a great God in heaven. She knew that He would bring judgment on the earth. And she knew that God was with His people.

You don’t need to know everything about the Bible before you can believe. You don’t have to have all your questions answered before you can be saved.

Here’s what we all need to grasp: God reigns in heaven and He rules over the earth. He is who He is. He is not whoever you want Him to be. He will judge all sin, and destroy all evil. But He has sent His Son to save His people. And if we are among His people, we will be saved.

Faith rests on who God is, what He has done, and what He will do. And on that basis, faith commits to God’s people.

The depth of Rahab’s commitment

“By faith Rahab… did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies” (Hebrews 11:31)

Hebrews makes it clear that it was “by faith” that Rahab did not perish. But the evidence, the proof that her faith was genuine, was that she gave a friendly welcome to the spies. The strength of Rahab’s faith was shown in her commitment to God’s people.

We have seen that faith believes what God has revealed and trusts what God has promised. That’s what faith is. But the whole message of Hebrews 11 is that faith shows itself to be genuine by what it does.

In Abel, we see that faith listens to God, and faith led Abel to offer a sacrifice. In Noah we saw that faith fears God, and faith led Noah to build and ark. In Moses we saw that faith depends on God, and faith led Moses to leave Egypt and prepare for future ministry. In Rahab we see that faith commits to God, and faith led Rahab to identify with God’s people.

Faith shows itself by what it does! This is the great theme of the letter of James in the New Testament: And James takes Rahab as one of his shining examples.

“And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” (James 2:25)

You read that and you say, “justified by works?” How come? Paul says that we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1).

James and Paul use the word ‘justified’ in two different ways. Paul speaks about the declaration by which God makes us right with Him. James speaks about the demonstration by which we show that our faith is authentic. Paul speaks about a sinner set free. James speaks about a believer proved genuine.

Hebrews is right in line with both James and Paul. It was by faith (as Paul would say) that Rahab did not perish. Rahab believed who God is, what He had done, and what He was about to do and by faith she was saved. She did not perish with those who were disobedient. But (as James would say), the evidence that Rahab’s faith was genuine was that she committed herself to God’s people and put her life at risk by protecting the spies.

Rahab took a huge risk in welcoming the spies. If the spies had been found on her roof, Rahab would have been done for. And the strength of Rahab’s faith was shown in the depth of her commitment to God’s people.

We live in a highly individualistic culture. So, it is easy to get the idea that faith is a purely private matter between me and God. But Hebrews is telling us that faith shows itself in commitment to God’s people, and for us today that means the church.

Rahab made a lifelong commitment to God’s people. After the destruction of Jericho, we read that Rahab…has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho (Joshua 6:25).

Faith shows itself in commitment to the people of God. And the strength of Rahab’s faith was seen in the depth of her commitment to God’s people.

The simplicity of Rahab’s faith, The depth of Rahab’s commitment, and then, The promise of Rahab’s safety.

The promise of Rahab’s safety

Before Rahab lowered the spies to safety from her window, she asked them to swear a solemn promise.

“Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house” (Joshua 2:12)

Rahab pressed the spies not just for a promise, but for a promise that was made in the name of the Lord because she knew that a promise with God’s name attached was a promise that would be kept. The spies gave a solemn promise in the name of the LORD.

“Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household” (Joshua 2:18)

Rahab trusted a promise that had God’s name attached to it, “swear to me by the LORD …” (Joshua 2:12). The promise was clear, “Tie the scarlet cord in the window, and anyone who is in your house will be saved. And Joshua records, “She tied the scarlet cord in the window” (Joshua 2:21)

Faith commits to God’s people because of who God is, what He has done, and what He will do. And faith trusts God’s promise.

Some time, after the spies had gone, the people of God appeared on the horizon. When Rahab saw them coming, she gathered all her family. When you come to believe you have a great desire that your loved ones should also believe and be saved. And Rahab was concerned not only for her own safety, but also for the safety of her father and her mother, her sisters and brothers and all of their families too (verse 13).

So, Rahab gathered her family. “This city is going to be destroyed. Come to my house and you will be safe.” I wonder what they made of it? I expect Rahab had caused her mother and father no end of worry through the years.

What would you feel if Rahab was your daughter? Rahab what are you up to now? No doubt she explained her simple faith to her family. There is a great God in heaven. He is about to bring judgment on our city for all the evil we have done. But I have been given a promise of safety, given in His name. Believe that promise with me and come into my house. The family gathered – packed into Rahab’s house.

What did they make of the strange scene as God’s people marched round the city in silence? And at the end, nothing happened. On the second day, God’s people marched round the city again. Rahab watched from the window. And at the end of the second day, nothing happened. It was the same on the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day and the sixth day.

But every time Joshua’s army marched round the city, they would see the scarlet cord hanging from Rahab’s window. “The people in that house are with us. When the walls come down, make sure they are taken to safety!”

Then on the seventh day, God’s people marched round the city seven times. Then the sounded the trumpets, and the great walls of the fortified city fell down. Remember, Rahab’s house was built into the city wall (Joshua 2:15). So, when the wall came down, one side of her house collapsed completely. Rahab and her family were completely exposed to the armies outside.

But Rahab’s house had been marked by the scarlet cord. She was one of God’s people. And she was ushered to safety along with her father, her mother, her sisters, her brothers, and all of their families.

Application

• God’s grace covers real sins

Rahab had lived a deeply immoral life. Her sins before she believed were many. And Scripture records her lie to the king’s messengers which clearly was after she believed.

Some writers seem to pay more attention to the lie that she told than to the truth she believed. But there is no doubt that she broke the 9th commandment. “The spies are gone” she said. I don’t know where they are, but if you hurry you will catch them.”

The Bible never defends the lie. God commands us to speak the truth. But Hebrews passes over the lie, and focuses only on Rahab’s faith. That’s grace. God’s grace covers real sins. Draw near to God in faith and repentance, and whatever your past may have been, you will be forgiven, accepted, loved and saved. No sin, however great, can stop you from receiving the mercy of God if you will trust His promise as Rahab did.

“By faith Rahab… did not perish with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

God’s grace covers real sins, and God’s grace offers real hope.

• God’s grace offers real hope

If ever there was a person who would be likely to think, “There may be hope for others but not for me,” it was Rahab. Rahab could have said, “What I have done has shaped who I am,” But Rahab found hope because she believed.

Jeremiah records an occasion when God called people to turn from their evil ways. And this is what they said, “There is no hope” (Jeremiah 18:12 KJV). And because there is no hope, “We will follow our own plans.” But the story of Rahab says, “There is hope!” Where there is even the simplest faith, the door to a new and different life is open.

• God’s grace brings real change

We’ve seen that Rahab became one of God’s people. But the best part of the story was still to come, and it is told at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel. Rahab married a man by the name of Salmon, and they had a son whose name was Boaz.

“And Boaz was the father of Obed, Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of king David” (Matthew 1:5)

Rahab became the great-great-grandmother of king David, and it was into the line of David that Jesus Christ was born. That’s what God’s grace did for Rahab. Think what His grace can do for you!

MARKS OF TRUE REPENTANCE (PART 2)

Dr Ben Hooman

Charles Hodge, who was a professor of theology at Princeton, made a very striking statement. Writing on the passage in Corinthians he writes, 

“It is a great mistake to suppose that the natural tendency of pain and sorrow is towards the good. A great mistake to think that it naturally moves into a good direction. 

The natural tendency to pain and sorrow rather is to excite rebellion against God and all evil feelings. It is only when these are sanctified, and that by the Holy Spirit to bring into exercise patience and faith in the sufferer, that they then bring forth the good fruit of righteousness”.

• 

Sunday 20 June 2021

Worship – Wolmarans Family

Sermon -Ps Ben Hooman

Please open your Bible at Hebrews 11. We are continuing our Faith Life Series, and today we come to the story of Moses. God had given an amazing promise to Abraham, 500 years before Moses was born saying,

“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gates of enemies,” (Genesis 22:17)

Well Abraham fathered Isaac, and Isaac fathered Jacob and Esau. After two generations, there had not been much progress. But Jacob fathered twelve sons, and then things really got going. In the generations that followed, God’s people grew rapidly. They came to Egypt as an extended family of just seventy people. They left Egypt as a great nation of around two million people!

We saw last time that when God’s people arrived in Egypt, the smile of the culture was on them. Joseph was loved in Egypt, and his extended family enjoyed the favour of the people. But, “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). He feared the rapid growth of God’s people. And so, the great oppression began. God’s people endured hard labour. But even then, God blessed His people and their number continued to grow.

“Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, ‘Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” (Exodus 1:22)

This was a despicable act of ethnic cleansing. Notice that the Pharaoh gave this order to “all his people.” He called on the people to ensure compliance. This was a license for mob rule. “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile…” When a Hebrew boy was born, the parents would be required to report the birth to the authorities who would then come and take the child away. And if the parents did not do that it would be up to the neighbours to take action themselves.

A Hebrew boy is born, and word gets around the neighbourhood. “There’s a baby in that house and I think it is a boy.” Then one night there is a knock on the door. A gang of thugs want to see the baby. It was a horrific evil. Never under-estimate the evil of which the human heart is capable.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

When Jesus was born, Herod purged all the infants in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to Egypt. It was in Egypt that the life of Jesus was guarded, and it was in Egypt that the life of Moses was saved.

We begin today with the remarkable story of how the life of Moses was preserved.

^“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.: (Hebrews 11:23-28)

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents”. It seems that Moses’ parents were able to hide their son at home for the first weeks of his life, but after three months it was clearly getting more difficult and more dangerous.

Where could they hide the baby? Moses’ parents came up with a clever plan. “The mob would throw the baby into the river. That’s where we should hide him!” So, they made a basket, covered it in pitch, and hid the infant Moses in the reeds at the edge of the river, while Moses older sister Miriam kept watch over the basket from a distance.

One day, the crown princess, the daughter of Pharaoh, came down to the river to bathe. And she found the basket. When her servant opened it, Scripture says,

“When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children” (Exodus 2:6)

Moses’ sister Miriam was watching. She approached Pharoah’s daughter, and in a stroke of genius she said,

“Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrews women to nurse the child for you?’ And Pharoah’s daughter said ‘take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. ‘Go’. So, the girl went, and called the child’s mother. And Pharoah’s daughter said to her, ‘Take the child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed him.” ((Exodus 2:7-9)

So, Moses’ mother was paid by the crown princess of Egypt to nurse her own child. The story reminds us that grace, love and kindness can be found in some unexpected places. The crown princess had every reason to implement the deadly policy of the regime to which she belonged. But she did the opposite. Her heart was opened and the life of Moses was saved.

I want us to focus today on the faith of Moses himself. We’ve seen in this series that the Holy Spirit has drawn out one lesson from each of these heroes of faith. But in the case of Moses there are three things for us to learn. Notice that the words, “by faith” comes three times (verse 24, verse 27, and verse 28).

Today we’re going to look at: The choice that faith makes; The courage faith brings, and, The confidence faith enjoys.

The choice faith makes

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24,25)

This was an extraordinary decision: Moses grew up in the palace. He was known as the son of the crown princess. He had all the privilege of being a member of the royal household.

Moses could have become like Joseph, who was second only to Pharoah himself. But he made this astonishing decision: He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

I wonder what the crown princess made of this? She knew, of course that Moses was a Hebrew, and according to the king’s decree, he should not have been alive. But the crown princess had shown kindness to him. She had adopted Moses as her own son.

She had prepared him for a royal career, and now he says that this is not what he wants! He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and chose rather to be mistreated with the people of God. “I belong with these people who are despised by the world. I would rather take my stand with the people of God than have all the treasures of Egypt.”

In making this decision, Moses points us, very obviously, to Jesus. The Son of God enjoyed a glorious life in heaven but He gave it up. He did not grasp onto what was his by right. He left the pleasures and the treasures of heaven and chose to be mistreated with the people of God. He came from a throne to a manger and went from the manger to the cross.

Moses lived 1500 years before Jesus. But Hebrews makes it clear that, just like Abraham (John 8:56), Moses saw Jesus from afar. That is why we read in Hebrews,

“He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:26).

Moses had some glimpse of this wonderful truth that one day God Himself would come among His people. That He would be mistreated; that He would be reproached, and that out of this would come a glorious reward that He would share with all His people.

Moses had some glimpse of what Jesus would do and he said, “I want to be like Him. I am going to stand with the people of God no matter what it costs.”

The calling of Moses and the calling of Jesus is our calling too. Jesus said,

“And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, ‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34)

Jesus is saying, “There is a cross for Me and there will be a cross for you. You must take up your cross. If anyone would come after Me, let him… take up his cross”. Thomas Boston said that God will lay down a cross at everyone’s door. “God had one Son without sin, but no son without a cross.”

The cross you carry may change but in every season of your life there will be some cost for you to bear in following Jesus. So, here’s the question: How are you going to take up your cross? How will you bear the painful and costly things that confront you as you follow Jesus?

The cross God gave to Moses involved renouncing his royal title and taking his stand with the mistreated people of God. And Hebrews tells us that Moses made his decision by faith.

Faith makes it possible to take up your cross. And faith does this in two ways:

• Faith takes up the cross because it sees that the world is fleeting

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:24,25)

Acts tells us that Moses was forty years old when he made this life changing decision,

“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.’ (Acts 7:23)

For forty years, Moses had enjoyed the pleasures of the royal lifestyle. Riding in chariots, sailing boats on the Nile, building great structures etc. But through it all, one word kept pressing in on his mind, “Fleeting”. The fleeting pleasures of sin.

This is all passing away. “Here I am, forty years old. And I am living a comfortable life. But God brought me into the world for a greater purpose than this. My life must be about more than the pursuit of pleasure and treasure. These things are fleeting. They are passing away”.

Faith takes up the cross because it sees that the world is fleeting, and

• Faith takes up the cross because it looks to the reward

“He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:26)

It is clear from the life of Moses that his reward was not in this world. Taking his stand with the people of God meant spending the rest of his years in the desert leading a people who were ungrateful and uncooperative.

Following Jesus means taking up a cross, and if this world is all that there is, it simply isn’t worth it. Paul says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

But faith factors in eternity. Following Jesus means taking up a cross now but it does not end there. The cross led to a glorious resurrection for Jesus. Right now, our Lord Jesus enjoys His reward in the glory of heaven, and one day we who follow Him, will share in His reward. Faith factors in eternity.

 “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17,18)

By faith, Moses saw through the world with its fleeting pleasures and treasures. By faith, he factored in eternity and looked to the reward. If we are going to follow Jesus, we must do the same. You have to factor in eternity.

Some of you who are younger are trying to figure out if you will follow Jesus. You know that if you do, the smile of the culture will not be on you. You wonder if it’s worth it? There’s only one way you can make the costly decision to follow Jesus. By faith that factors in eternity.

Faith that sees through the fleeting pleasures and treasures of the world, Faith that looks to the reward. So, firstly: The choice faith makes, and secondly: The courage faith brings.

The courage faith brings

“By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27)

When Moses made his decision to leave the palace, his first venture as an advocate for the people of God was an absolute disaster. He decided to do some research. He went out to see what life was like for his Hebrew brothers and sisters. And what he saw appalled him. He came across an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew slaves and on an act of impulse, “he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:12)

Moses thought that what he had done was hidden, but what he did was seen. And when Pharaoh heard it, “he sought to kill Moses” (Exodus 2:15). Moses went from a favoured son to a hunted fugitive, in a single day. Scripture tells us that “Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian” (Exodus 2:15).

Moving to Midian may not sound like an act of faith and courage, and some scholars suggest that Hebrews is referring to the second time Moses left Egypt in the Exodus. But I’m convinced that Hebrews is referring to this first time that Moses left Egypt.

“By faith he left Egypt, … By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.” (Hebrews 11:27-29)

Firstly because of the flow of the story: Hebrews tells us that Moses left Egypt after he left the palace and before it tells us about the Passover, which comes in verse 28. Secondly, I don’t think this is referring to the Exodus, because the story of God’s people leaving Egypt comes later in verse 29. Thirdly, Hebrews describes Moses leaving Egypt alone. “By faith he left Egypt.” There is no reference here to the people of God being with him.

The reason some suggest that Moses leaving Egypt by faith is a reference to the exodus, is that Exodus tells us Moses was “afraid” when what he did was known (Exodus 2:14). But that does not mean that fear was his motive in leaving Egypt. Hebrews tells us that he left Egypt by faith.

• Why did Moses leave Egypt?

Why did Moses not stay and fight? There are two reasons:

• God’s people were not ready

The first response of God’s people to Moses was to say, “Who made you a prince a judge over us?” (Exodus 2:14)

• Moses was not ready

Moses clearly had a violent temper. What damage might he have done if he had assumed leadership of the people of God at the age of 40? Moses needed to master himself. He needed to learn self-control. God taught him these things in the desert.

The worst thing that can happen to a man is to have success before he is ready. Moses was not ready for the work God would call him to do. God’s time had not yet come for him. So, Moses spent the next forty years of his life in the desert. God taught him to master himself and the man with the violent temper became a man who was known for his meekness (Numbers 12:3).

Why did he leave Egypt? And why was this an act of faith?

• Why was this an act of Faith?  

Moses knew that his time had not yet come, but he also knew and believed that his time would come. So, by faith he left Egypt, to prepare for the work God would call him to do. “I believe that God has a future for me and so I am going to prepare for the work He will give me to do.”

After the disaster of his first venture into ministry, Moses might have said, “It’s all over for me now. I messed up. God’s people don’t want me. Pharoah wants to kill me. I’m done. I’ve blown it. There’s no future for me”. Moses might have caved in on himself. But he did not do that. By faith Moses left Egypt!

Here’s the principle: Focus your attention of becoming the person God calls you to be, and trust Him to lead you into the right work at the right time.

Never despise the years of preparation. Paul spent years in the Arabia. Jesus worked for years in a carpenter’s shop. Moses spent forty years in Midian. His great contribution came in the last third of his life.

How did Moses endure these long years of preparation? His 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, all passed and still he had not entered into the great work that God had prepared for him to do. How did he endure all these years?

“By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27)

Moses endured when everything was against him. God’s people were against him. Pharaoh was against him. His own conscience was against him. But he dared to believe that God was for him. And he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

Some of you are going through some very tough things. Here’s the question: How are you going to endure? If you could see God standing next to you, you would trust Him completely. If you could turn round at any moment, and see the Lord and hear Him say “I’m with you. I’ve got you.” You would be able to endure.

One day you will see Him. When faith is turned to sight: When you see the Lord in His glory you will say, “Why didn’t I trust Him more?” Moses trusted God as if he could see Him right there in the desert. That is how he endured. He endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

The choice that Faith makes, the courage that Faith brings, and thirdly, the confidence Faith enjoys.

The confidence faith enjoys

“By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them” (Hebrews 11:28)

We’re coming to the Lord’s table today, and this brings us there. Here we read about the Passover lamb and the sprinkled blood. We usually think of this in relation to all of God’s people. But Hebrews records the personal faith of Moses in observing the Passover himself.

By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood. Here is this great man of God. A man who has spent forty years in preparation. A man who would do miracles. A man who God would use to form and lead an entire nation. And this man says, “I am a sinner who needs a Saviour.” I need the blood of the sacrifice sprinkled over me”.

But faith says more than “I need a Saviour.” Faith says, “I have a Saviour.” The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin.

Prayer

• A prayer for the person who is facing a costly choice:

Sin that is hard to give up. A sacrifice that is hard to make. A price that seems high to pay. Father strengthen my faith, and help me to see through the world with its fleeting pleasures and treasures and look to the eternal reward that belongs to all who take up the cross and follow Jesus.

• A prayer for the person who needs courage to endure:

Father help me to endure as if I could see you standing right next to me. Help me to say, “I have set the Lord always before me and because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8).

• A prayer for all of us as we prepare to come to the Lord’s Table:

Father, I acknowledge my need of a Saviour. Thank you that Jesus is the Saviour I need. Give me the peace and confidence of knowing that the blood of Christ was shed for my sins, and that through Him, I have peace with You.