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Moses at the Crossroad of Decision
Hebrews 11:24-27
Skip Heitzig

Hebrews 11 (NKJV™)
24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved.

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58 Hebrews - Topical - 1988

The author of Hebrews is unknown, but the truths in its pages are powerful: it presents Jesus Christ as the ultimate fulfillment of Judaism and the Old Testament Law. Join Pastor Skip Heitzig for this topical study to see how Jesus is the Great High Priest, superior in every sense to the Levitical priesthood, and how we as believers should live in the light of this truth.


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Moses at the Crossroad of Decision

We're recognizing that you are here at our invitation, inhabiting the praises of your people. We asked Lord that now it would be your turn to speak, and we would listen, and that our ears would be open.

I pray, Lord, that through the study that we have today that we would grow to learn more about your character and our response in faith to your will. Lord, I pray that you'd give us the power to make correct decisions.

You said faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. As we hear your word today, encourage us, encourage our faith. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

In Verse 24, we begin. "By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter, choosing, rather, to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward.

"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned."

The theme of the entire chapter of Hebrews 11 is faith that makes right choices, right decisions. Now it's pretty obvious and evident that life is made up of making decisions, from simple decisions to complex decisions, from decisions that are really not that meaningful like, well, what outfit will I wear to church today, or what will I have for breakfast to important, involved decisions like, who will I marry, where will I move, what will I believe?

The decisions that we make determine the quality of life that we live, and determines the course of our life. Or you could look at it this way. We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us. Those decisions determine how we're going to live.

Hebrews 11 is filled, and we're going to go through each individual person tonight. It's filled with people who made choices based on faith. Some of those choices had to be made in a very short period of time in a crisis situation.

I was reading how that Napoleon Bonaparte believed that in every battle, there is a crisis, a period of about 10 or 15 minutes where the leader must make a decision, a choice. And that crisis of 10 minutes determines the entire outcome of the battle, whether there's going to be victory or defeat. And so we see a whole bunch of people making choices that determine the outcome of their lives, good or bad.

Now we go to one named Moses who is at the very roots of Judaism, one whom all the Jews looked up to as sort of the major example of faith, major example of perseverance. He gave the lot to them through the command of God. And so these chap-- or this section of Verses deal mainly with Moses.

My first exposure to Moses was a movie when I was a kid named "The Ten Commandments." Do you remember that? Now that's how I pictured Moses growing up, because I wasn't reading the Bible during that time. I thought Moses was like Charlton Heston. And when I read the scriptural account, I was shocked to find that Moses wasn't like Charlton Heston.

Moses was fearful. Moses gave all sorts of excuses why he can't serve God. Moses had a speech impediment. That's not how I pictured Moses. The Moses that I thought I knew was one who said, "Let my people go! " And he was good looking.

[CONGREGATION LAUGHING]

He was young. He was strong, confident, but that's not the Moses I read about in the Scripture. It was one who made lots of mistakes.

Now Moses' life is divided into three major sections. It's not outlined here, but it's outlined in the Old Testament. Three sections of 40 years since the Scripture says he lived to be 120 years old.

For the first 40 years, Moses tried to be something. He was well-educated and groomed in the best universities, in the finest culture of the ancient world. Everybody knew his name. When Moses walked by, people took notice. He was a brilliant man.

The next 40 years of his life was a change. There was a breaking period, a period of trial. First of all, he got married not that that has anything to do with it.

[CONGREGATION LAUGHING]

Secondly, he fled from Egypt and he couldn't find a job. He went to live with his father-in-law, and he ended up taking a job as a shepherd. Now I don't know if you've ever thought about that, folks, but being a high executive in Egypt to being a shepherd for 40 years, the same dirt for 40 years, the same smell for 40 years the same bah for 40 years.

It was a time of breaking. God was breaking him down and humbling him. And one day, he was taking a walk with his sheep, and that whole day changed his life. As he was walking, he noticed that there was a bush that was burning, but it wasn't being consumed.

And the strange thing about the bush is that the Bush talked to Moses. Moses started talking back to the bush, and the bush knew his name. It said, "Moses?" Moses said, "Yeah?" And it turned out to be the Lord speaking to him through the bush, and God commissioned him at 80 years old to lead the children of Israel into their deliverance.

His ministry began at 80, not a 20. 40 years, Moses tried to become something. The next 40 years, God showed Moses that he was nothing. The final 40 years, God showed Moses that he could take nothing and make something out of it. Now that's Moses' life in a nutshell.

When we get to the New Testament, all of the appearances of Moses, the way the Holy Spirit depicts Moses is not a man of failure, although he failed, was not a man who made excuses, although he made lots of excuses. The New Testament depicts him as a man of faith, a man of perseverance. The Holy Spirit sort of exalts him as a man who, in his faith, made correct choices that determined the glorious outcome of his life.

Now if we were to unfold a sheet this morning on stage, a 10 foot by 10 foot white sheet, and we held it up and there's a black or red dot in the middle of it, what would you notice immediately? The dot. All of your focus and attention would be on that black dot on the sheet, and that's sort of how we look at many people who have failed in a few instances. We hold up their lives and oh, there's a black dot here. There's a little area that they've had problems in, and we noticed those problem areas.

God chose to focus on the white around the dot, and most of Moses' life, due to those choices, was beautiful. Now I want you to look at Verse 24 and go on down with me. Look at the choices that Moses made. This is an anatomy of his character.

Verse 24, he refused. Verse 25, choosing. Verse 26, esteeming. Verse 27, he forsook, he endured. Verse 28 he kept or he obeyed.

Now those are choices that Moses made and, first of all, notice in Verse 24 what Moses gave up. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, that is, when he grew up to be 40 years old, refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter. And then Verse 26. "Esteeming steaming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward."

Now for 40 years, Moses was groomed as a prince of Egypt. For 40 years, he served in the royal court of Egyptian pharaohs. He was well-educated. He was well groomed for the court. He was under the best educational system of the known world. In fact, it's estimated that the Egyptians were the ones who first believed that the Earth was round. It was the Egyptians who discovered that the distance between the Earth and the sun is 93 million miles. Not too shabby for 3,500 years ago.

Moses was instructed on hieroglyphics, and Semitic languages, and the Chaldean languages. He was a brilliant man. He went to the Harvard of the ancient world. He was bound for the top, but more than that, it says he refused to be called the son of pharaoh's daughter.

Let me tell you what that means. Moses was the adopted grandson of the pharaoh. You remember the story of how Moses came down the little river in a basket? Moses daughter found him and took little Moses to herself. Josephus tells us that Pharaoh had no sons, the pharaoh who was on the throne, just daughters. And Pharaoh's daughter, the one that took Moses, she had no sons.

Since Moses was the adopted grandson of the pharaoh, Moses was next in line for the throne of Egypt, so that if Moses would have hung out, if he would have stayed true to the Egyptian culture, to the training that he received, he would be the next pharaoh, the ruler of the known world. That's the position he had. He was well educated, he was wealthy, he was well trained, and he would have been the next ruler.

It says in Verse 26, "He esteemed the reproach of Christ." Notice, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

When they discovered King Tut's tomb back in 1922, they discovered that King Tut was buried with more treasures than most millionaires live with, just for King Tut's afterlife. He had more gold and treasures than anyone wouldn't know what to do with. Now that's the kind of wealth, that's the kind of access to wealth that Moses lived with. Powerful, wealthy. He had the chance to chase his wildest dreams.

He could have anything he wanted. He was the Adnan Khashoggi of Egypt. Adnan Khashoggi, by the way, is the richest man alive in the world today. Moses had all that stuff, but he turned 40 years old and he was faced with a choice. It says when Moses came of age, he was faced with a choice, a critical decision that he had to make, sort of like an Egyptian mid-life crisis.

He was wavering between making a full-fledged decision to become a permanent Egyptian ruler, a full fledged card-carrying Egyptian pharaoh, or join with his own people, the Jewish race, knowing all that it could mean, knowing that it could mean suffering. He had to make that choice. All of the learning, all of the training, all of the exposure to wealth, to position, to power did not lessen his desire for the things of God. His heart

Was still kept pure, and so he refused the wealth. He refused that powerful position of becoming the next pharaoh on the throne.

Now look at Verse 27. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible." This verse tells us that Moses did not bow to the pressure that was put on him. Let me explain.

The very first time that Moses left Egypt, this is what happened. Moses is out one day, and he was watching a master of the slaves, the man with the whip, the superintendent, beating one of the Hebrew slaves. And Moses, being a Hebrew, took offense to it. And he went over and he killed the Egyptian who was harming the Hebrew. Well, the pharaoh found out about it, and the pharaoh was so angry, he was hunting Moses down to kill them. And so Moses fled Egypt.

The second time when Moses came back and there was a whole different pharaoh on the throne, Moses wanted to take all of the children of Israel who provided the labor force for the Egyptians out of Egypt. When Pharaoh found out about that, he was angry at Moses.

So the first time , the wrath of the King was against Moses because he killed an Egyptian. The second time he left, the wrath of the King was against Moses because Moses wanted to rip off all of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.

Now the pressure of Moses' position, being that Hebrew prince, was enough. The pressure of having all that you ever want, the pressure of the position of being the next ruler in the kingdom was a lot of pressure. I mean, a person would think, why would I want to give all of this up to go live out in the middle of the desert with 2 million Hebrews, persecuted? Who would want to do that? I don't want to give this up. I have it nice here.

Now that's a lot of pressure, but the other pressure that was greater that Moses faced was the pressure of fear. The pressure of fear because of the wrath or the anger of the King. In other words, oh, I don't know if I should do this. The kings are going to get angry. That could mean my life. He's really bummed out at me. I better not say something. I better not do something.

But Moses refused to bow down to the pressure of fear because of the wrath of the King. That's what the verse says. It says in Verse 27, "He forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King, for he endured, or he persevered, as seeing him who is invisible."

This is the same fear that you and I face, the fear of being criticized, the fear of being different. Nobody likes to be looked at as different from the group, right? No one likes to stick out like a sore thumb, no one likes to walk into a room and have people go, there he is, the weird one.

[IMITATES WHISPERING]

It's the same pressure, and it is the one of the greatest pressures in our lives, the fear of being seen as different, the fear of criticism, the fear of losing our reputation, the fear of losing our job, perhaps. So one of Satan's most powerful tools, one of his most powerful tactics, is to get us afraid of what other people are going to think or say about us.

It's the same fear that Pilate faced. Pontius Pilate was a few feet away from Jesus Christ. And at that trial, as he looked into the eyes of Jesus Pilate knew that Jesus was innocent. He hadn't done anything wrong, and Pilate was about to sign his release saying, I find no guilt in this man. He can go free.

But Pilate feared what people would think about him. Pilate was afraid that the leaders in Jerusalem and the people in Jerusalem would not think so highly of him, would criticize him. And the Scripture tells us one of the saddest phrases ever. The voices of the people prevailed.

Pilate knew what was right. Pilate knew what the right decision was, but the voices of the people prevailed. Oh, how many times have the voices of the people prevailed? The voice of our boss, the voice of our old friends, the voice of our family, the voice of, perhaps, a girlfriend when we've come to know the Lord, or a boyfriend, or some significant person. The pressure, the voice, the fear of being criticized of being different.

And so we go to work fully determined to be a witness, fully determined to stand up for the law to make right choices, but the voices of the people prevail. And so we laugh at their dirty jokes. That was a good one, because we don't want to be seen as different. We'll even use a few not real bad cuss words, just sort of borderline cuss words, just so we'll fit in because we don't want to be seen as different from the group. That's quite a fear, and many people bow down to it.

Moses refused to be intimidated by the pressure of fear to do what Pharaoh wanted him to do. So here's a man of incredible wealth, could do anything he wanted to, could chase his wildest dreams. He was the next pharaoh on the throne. He didn't bow to that pressure, nor did he bowed to the fear of the wrath of the King.

And it says in Verse 27, "He forsook Egypt." This word means a lot more than he just left Egypt. He didn't just leave, he forsook, which means literally, he abandoned. He turned away from it. He relinquished it, he abandoned it. He made a conscious decision not to follow it.

He said, I don't need it. I'm going to take a whole different path. And he refused to be intimidated by the fear of Satan. He wouldn't bowed to the pressure. Instead, he was bowing his need to the Lord.

In World War II, there was a church in London in the midst of the war, and outside of the church was a little billboard sign, and it had-- you know how churches have little things on them? You drive by and you pick up on it?

And the saying said, if your knees knock, kneel on them. That's quite a phrase to hear in World War II, if your knees knock, kneel on them. In other words, if you're pray-- if you're afraid, get on your knees and pray.

Moses got on his knees, it says, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. How could a man make choices like that? Now I really want you to think over again what all this means. He had immeasurable wealth. He had an incredibly high position, and he refused all of those advantages.

He had the best educational system anyone could want, and he refused it. Why? Why would anyone refuse that? What did he opt for instead?

OK, Moses. You can have all the money you want. You can be educated in the finest institutions. You can have the most power. Why would anyone opt for something different? What if Moses exchange it for?

You see, that's an important question, folks. That's an important question, because when a person refuses something that the world considers great, it is only logical that he would have something better because he refused something else. In other words, if I'm going to turn something down, there must be something better than what I turned down. That's how the world sees it.

What if Ed McMahon drove up in a limousine to your house and he had that sweepstakes check just for you? It said $1 million on it. And he knocks on the door, and here's the million dollar check, payments of $10,000 a month. And he says, you're the lucky winner of the sweepstakes, and you say, nah. I don't need it. I've got something better.

Your friend standing by would say, yeah? What?

[CONGREGATION LAUGHING]

Why? What would a person exchange for all that Moses refused? What did Moses choose? Look in Verse 25. Choosing, rather, to suffer affliction.

Now Moses, what are you doing? Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Did you know that word, choose, means to prefer or to select? It is not an impetuous, quick decision. It is not a decision of emotion of the moment. Moses didn't shed a few tears and say, I'll do it, I'll do it, I'll do it.

This word means a carefully, well-thought out decision, a volunteer choice weighing all the pros and cons of either side. Choosing rather than all of the wealth, and all of the position, and all of the advantages, he chose. He selectively preferred, after a period of time weighing out the pros and cons, chose to suffer affliction.

He weighed out the world's offer. He weighed out what God offered him, and he decided that in the long run what God had to offer was better than what the world had to offer. So he preferred shame to honor. He preferred rags, in a sense, to worldly riches. He preferred persecution to the power that he had. That was his choice. He chose to suffer affliction.

Look at Verse 26. "Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Esteeming the reproach of Christ. You see, he was satisfied. The word esteem means he valued. He just didn't endure his decision. He esteemed, he exonerated, he prized, he valued the affliction of Christ over the riches of Egypt after weighing them out, after carefully deciding to take this direction, to make this choice, he just didn't endure it, he esteemed it. He valued it. He prized it. "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches."

You know what the principle is? And this is the principle that Moses was dealing with. After weighing out the pros and cons, Moses decided that the very worst that God could dish out was better than the very best the world could give. Now think about that. The very worst that God could dish out is better than the best the world could offer.

Think of some of the incredible choices Christians have made over the years that seem absolutely stupid and ludicrous to the world. Look at Corrie ten Boom, who in World War II used her house to hide Jews who were fleeing from the Nazis. She made that choice, and she suffered years in a concentration camp for it. It wasn't an erratic decision, impetuous choice. It was well thought out. She knew what she was doing.

What about a missionary who would leave all of the comfort of America and go to a third world country and live his life out there? The world would say what a stupid idiot. You've got a good job. You've got a great position. You've got lots of friends. You can go to the lake on the weekend. Why would you give all that? Why would you make a choice like that? How do you do it?

Jim Elliott, who was a missionary, coined a phrase that's become one of my favorite little anecdotes. As he was going on his way to pour out his life even unto death for a group of headhunters, before he left, people were saying, Jim, how could you give all this up, man? What a choice you're making. Are you sure you're able to make a choice like this? You're giving up so much. This is a tough choice.

Jim Elliot said, "A man is no fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. A man is no fool to give up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

Now how did Moses make such a choice? Look at Verse 25 and 26. "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God," now notice this, "than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, the passing pleasures of sin. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," and here's the phrase, "For he looked to the reward."

Now in those Verses we have principles for making correct choices, the same principles that Moses used for making decisions in his walk. It's the same basis that we have for making choice. The passing pleasures of sin versus looking to the reward. In other words, the way Moses decided, the way Moses made choices is that he evaluated the short-term consequences and benefits with the long-term consequences and benefits. Do you understand what I'm saying?

He looked at short term, he looked at long term. He said, if I choose this, this will have short term immediate gratification. If I hang out in Egypt, if I stay here in Egypt, if I enjoy all my wealth, all my position, all of this prosperity, oh, immediate gratification, but long-term heartache, because that's not God's will for my life.

The other choice meant immediate heartache, losing some of the enjoyments of this life that he could have, but long-term satisfaction. So he evaluated short-term benefits and consequences with long-term benefits and consequences. He talks about the pleasures of sin as passing pleasures of sin.

From the world's standpoint, Moses was sacrificing everything for nothing. From the spiritual standpoint, Moses was sacrificing, really, nothing to gain everything. He'd gladly give it all up for what he would get in the end.

Now did you notice that it says the passing pleasures of sin, or as some translations say, the enjoyment of sin for a short time? I don't think you have to convince anybody that sin is fun. In fact, I had one person come up to me and say, you mentioned that sin is pleasurable. I said, well, no, I didn't. The Bible says that sin is pleasurable.

Well, I disagree. I said, well, then why do so many people do it? If it's not fun, why are so many people involved in it? Folks, sin is a blast. Sin is fun. It is pleasurable. It appeals to the pleasure sensations of our body. It appeals to our nature.

Sin is fun. Sin is pleasurable, but it's passing. It's temporary. The passing pleasures of sin. When Satan packages sin, he puts it in the nice wrapping paper, and a shiny bow on it, and he gives it to you. It looks so gratifying. You open it up, and it's a bomb.

No matter how temporarily satisfying it is, it fades. There are two characteristics about sin that the world never notices. Number one, it corrupts, it destroys. It eats away at a person. Number two, it's passing. It's temporary. Those are two things the world never picks up on or notices when it comes to sin. It corrupts and it fades.

Now every now and then, you and I look around at the world, even gross sinners, and we notice that there are some prosperous, happy, seemingly happy, seemingly contented, smiling unbelievers who are involved in gross sin who are not following after the Lord, but seem to be doing great. They're smiling, their kids are happy, their families are growing, their bank account is growing. It'd seem like they don't have a care in the world.

And you start scratching your head going, now wait a minute. I'm a child of God, and I look at these people, and they just always seem to enjoy life. Not always, but many times we notice that, and there's, oh, there's a real grating feeling.

Listen to the words as I read what Job said concerning this. He had the same exact feeling. He said, "Why do the wicked live and become old? Yes, become mighty and power. Their descendants are established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear. Their bulls breed without failure. They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and the harp and rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth."

But then he ends by saying, "But in a moment, they go down to the grave." Oh, it finally hit him. They enjoy all of the pleasures, but in a moment they go down to the grave. And continuing on in another chapter, it says, "The triumphing of the wicked is short. Sin is pleasurable, but only for a season. It is passing. It fades away."

I have encouraged, and I will encourage this morning those of you who are unbelievers, those of you who are looking to the world to have a good time, those of you who are wanting to be fulfilled in all of the pleasures that was offered to Moses. If that's your desire, and you want nothing to do with the Lord, you don't want to make a commitment to the Lord because it's too much to give up.

I don't want to become a Christian because my friend did it, and boy, look what happened. His family turned against him, his friend turned against him. I would rather just get all of the enjoyment, all of the pleasure here and now and the pleasure sensations of this world. Then let me encourage you, unbeliever, to suck the world like an orange. Suck it like an orange like it's a hot date. Get as much pleasure as you can out of this Earth. Man, experience every kind of sin you can experience, because it's the last good time you're going to have.

If all you're living for is immediate pleasure, if your decision is temporary, aw man, then get all you can out of it, because it's not going to last. And one day, you're going to have to stand before God, and you will give an account for it. And that pleasure ceases at that moment. And then you face an eternity without Christ, an eternity of torment.

But if that's what you opt for, if you have considered, like Moses, but you have made your choice against Jesus Christ, well, at least if you're going to sin, be good at it, because Jesus said, that you're either for him or against him.

I think of David. David understood this concept of the passing pleasures of sin perhaps better than anyone in the Old Testament. Oh, one night of having Bathsheba in his bed, oh, how enjoyable that was for David to indulge in that kind of sin. It was so pleasurable. But he suffered a lifetime of consequence.

It cost him and his family life. It cost him and his personal life, it cost him in the kingdom. Oh, he had so much fun, but he suffered long range consequences.

And speaking of that very thing, that's a decision that many people make today. A lot of people are faced with those same kinds of choices in their own relationships NS their own marriages.

Jim Dobson, in his book, speaks of what he calls the straight life. And he says what usually happens in a relationship with a man and woman is they get married, they grow together, they have families, they make choices. As the years go by, as the pressures of life surround them, and the temptations of life inundate them, many times those two people are faced with a choice.

He starts getting a little bored. He starts thinking man, I am being stifled. I could be more, if only I didn't have this woman, these children, this family. And so, perhaps, he or she will have an affair, and that affair will destroy the marriage, destroy the family, end in a divorce because of his choice.

He has deviated from the straight path, from the straight life. He's deviated for sake of pleasure. He's made a choice. And then what happens is that person recognizes that well, I've had an affair. This is horrible. I need to I need to marry this gal, at least. So he'll marry the gal.

The second marriage, he'll have kids, start out so blissful, seemingly. But then they start growing old through that relationship. They start maintaining the straight life, in a sense, that commitment, that bringing home the paycheck, coming home day after day, holding the kids, changing the diapers, eating dinner, eating breakfast, on, and on, and on. And pretty soon, he again thinks, I'm being stifled. I need to deviate, he or she, from the straight life.

And so they go creating a deviation, and then another straight life. They don't like that. They make another choice, deviate, and another straight life. And hence, the gross consequences of those kinds of decisions. See, that's exactly what David faced.

And Moses weighed out the pros and cons of that kind. of a decision. He said, you know what? In the short term, in the short run, it's going to be difficult to suffer persecution with the people of God, but I'd rather do that and to temporarily enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Before we go on and wrap things up, I want to mention that the things that Moses was offered were not evil in themselves. There's nothing wrong with bucks. There's nothing wrong with being in a powerful position. Many godly people have been blessed by the Lord financially. God has prospered a great number of his people. God has given a high position to a great number of people.

But in Moses' case, those things would have kept him from the best thing, from the will of God, for God chose him to be a deliverer with the people, and he knew that, and he chose it. So these things aren't wrong in themselves, but if anything's like these keep us from God's highest perfect will, they are a sin to us.

The principle is found in Corinthians. "All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient." All things are lawful. Not all things are expedient. In other words, I can do anything, but not all things will expedite me down the path of my desired goal.

Let me give you an illustration. If I wanted to get from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California, there's lots of modes of transportation I can use. One, I can walk. I'll get there. It would be more expedient for me to hitchhike. I'd get there faster. It would be even more expedient for me to drive myself. I wouldn't have to stop along the way and put my thumb out. It would be more expedient to drive. I'd get there quicker.

It would be more expedient to buy an airplane ticket and to fly. Now if I could beam myself aboard like they do in Star Trek, that would be even more expedient, but we can't do that.

Now I can get there any way I want to, but certain ways are more expedient for me. If I want to, I can put Army boots on, weigh myself down, and pull an iron wagon, and I can get there, but it's not expedient. One way will be slower the other will be quicker. Good things become evil things if they keep us from the best things.

Again, good things can become evil things, bad things, if they keep us from the best things. And those are choices we must weigh out. What will be the result of the path that I am choosing now to follow? Is a short range benefits? Is at long range benefits? What are the consequences? And we go from there.

Look at Verse 27 again. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King." Second principle for making good decisions. He endured as seeing him who is invisible. He just didn't weigh out the consequences. What are the benefits, what are the assets, what are the deficits. He saw a personal God, and he wanted to please God.

He had a relationship with God who is invisible and he had the desire to fully please and be devoted to Him, not just to what are the consequences, but the Lord behind this. I want to please the Lord. So he saw him who is invisible.

Wow, what power in choice, man. What power we have to say I decide to do this. We have choices every day. Satan says, ah, man. Don't read your Bible. Don't pray. You have a choice right there. Are you going to do it? Are you not going to do it?

The Holy Spirit opens up an opportunity for you to share your faith. The enemy goes, don't do it. You're scared, remember? Oh yeah. You have a choice right there to make. Life is made up of those choices, and we make them, and then our choices make us and determine the quality of life that we live.

Perhaps some of you have made a decision to follow Jesus Christ and because of that, your friends, your family, are sort of pushing you away. You are suffering a consequence because of a correct right choice that you made. Or some of you made it might even be a little scared to raise your hand and accept the Lord, or to come forward, or to say I really need to accept Jesus Christ because you are afraid of the consequences. You're afraid that, perhaps, your husband will get angry, or your wife, or your mother, or your children, or whoever.

Maybe today some of you are facing a career choice. It's a difficult choice. It looks good, but you know that if you make that choice, it's going to take away a lot of your time in serving the Lord or being with your family. It's a tough choice you're facing.

Some of you may feel the tug of the Holy Spirit saying, I want you to leave your comfortable city and country and go to this country and be a missionary. Oh, that's a tough choice. You see, obeying is not always easy. And in the immediate short term, short run, it's more comfortable, in many cases, to make the wrong choice. It's much easier. But what about the long run? Let's pray.

Lord, we believe from your word that the secret of living a godly life is to be able to see things in light of their eternal value. I'm sure that Egypt looked real nice and comfortable to Moses. What a pressure he had put on him. What an example, Lord, he is to us, for all of us daily face choices, decisions, some that seem so small, but they reap huge, huge harvests.

Lord, I pray that is the seed of the word is sown in our hearts that it would bring forth fruit. Lord, I pray that we would recommit ourselves to you, to our spouses, to our children, to our church. If you'd help us, Lord, to see the difference between short and long-term benefits and consequences. Lord, give us a glimpse this morning of you, seeing you who are invisible. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Additional Messages in this Series

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1/24/1988
completed
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Shh...God Has Something to Say
Hebrews 1:1-4
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1/31/1988
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A Priest Who Can Sympathize
Hebrews 4:14-16
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2/7/1988
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Privileges and Responsibilities
Hebrews 10:19-25
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2/21/1988
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Love - The Best Sermon
Hebrews 13:1-6
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There are 4 additional messages in this series.
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