Hebrews 11:23–29 speaks about the faith of Moses—faith to choose and the faith to move in God.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the first-born might not touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden….
That is vicarious faith. Do not be concerned only about yourself; realize that God grants you to have faith for another person. Have faith to hide your child as they hid the little baby Moses. Before he could care for himself, there had to be someone else to care for him and believe for him. When you look round about you and see others who have not been able to grasp this word because a wall has prevented it from reaching their hearts, do not let them miss it. Do not let them miss the feast; include them in your own faith. Say, “O God, You have done something marvelous for me; now I reach out to my brother.” When we say, “Not one hoof shall be left behind,” we mean everything that we are and everything we possess, but we also mean our families and those round about us. No one shall perish because faith is not being exercised for him.
Let me tell you a Passover story that has never before been written or told. Let us envision a little girl—the oldest child of the family—listening intently as her father is told about the impending passing over of the death angel and the Exodus from Egypt. But her father is a stubborn, obstinate man. He refuses to accept and follow the instructions to kill a lamb for his household, catch the blood in a basin, and then sprinkle it on the doorposts. None of this talk fazes him; he had been educated by the wise men of Egypt. He refuses to listen to the foolishness of this shepherd Moses, who came off the back side of the desert.
The hours pass, and as the sun sinks lower in the sky, the little girl who is caring for her baby brother realizes that he is a firstborn son, and that he could die that night! Her concern increases with the darkening sky. As the hours for preparation fast disappear, she finds herself unable to eat when her father and mother gather around a humble meal with the children. The tears stream down her cheeks, and she pleads, “Save my brother! Please save my brother! Do not let him die!” She pleads on and on until she beats down the unbelief and rebellion in her father. At last he goes out and kills a lamb. They build a fire and begin to roast it. The hour grows darker, and the midnight hour comes. Concerned, the big sister clutches her baby brother in her arms as they gather to eat that last meal. Then the awful cry comes up—thousands of wails from all over the land of Egypt—as the mourning begins in the houses where the first-born are now dead.
Later, a much relieved and very happy little girl carries her brother close in her arms as they begin their journey out of Egypt.
This could have happened, and it probably did. It could happen again with you because God is saying to you, “Be concerned.” Let the cry go up, “Save my brother; save my brother!” Exhort one another continually while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Our Scripture in Hebrews 11 does not deal with vicarious faith alone. By faith Moses, when he had grown up (he was no longer a child to be protected by the faith of others; he had reached a place of maturity), refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Spiritual maturity will bring you a sense of values, enabling you to begin to refuse the bond with the world. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, the woman who had virtually become his foster mother, who had raised him and exposed him to all the privileges of Egypt. No doubt there had been a bond between them, but he refused that bond. By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. By faith his decision was made.
You should know something about bonds. A bond can be made between two people through an agreement of their spirits, through a legitimate sex act, or through fornication and adultery. For a long time after you enter into a bond, it can be renewed by either party. You may say, “I am sorry I sinned. I went out and made a bond.” Even after you repent of it, you may find that something still comes through from the other person. You cannot get rid of the bond, and so you call upon a ministry of authority to break the bond that was made.
“He that is joined to a harlot is one flesh.” Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6:16. This truth applies, whether the bond was made with a harlot or with your wife. Once a bond is made, it is not easily broken; however, in time, it seems that it can be broken by the individual.
By faith, Moses refused the bond; he refused the relationship as a son to Pharaoh’s daughter. He had something else to do. He had another choice to make. He was to be God’s servant. You cannot choose good until you have refused evil. You cannot choose to be one with the Body of Christ until you refuse to be one in the way of the world with someone whom you should not be one with.
We have learned that even when one person refuses a bond, if the other person is devil-possessed, unsaved, evil, maybe apostate from God, it is not easy to break the bond. The condition for renewal can last for a very long time. Many times when I minister to people, I see that the bond is back again. They say, “But I didn’t do anything. I was not thinking of him.” You do not have to! The other party can renew it. It is very important though for you to understand that if you are persistent, if you continue, as Moses did, to refuse that bond, if you refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, if you refuse that relationship and insist, “I refuse anything of the world; I will not have it,” the bond can then be broken. But it is good to get some ministry along with your refusal.
If we are to walk with the Lord, we must leave all to follow Him. Sometimes our walk begins with an adamant refusal of the world. When you hang onto contacts and bonds of the world, you are guaranteeing yourself a very rough time trying to serve the Lord. Make it easier for yourself by refusing absolutely any kind of a wrong bond or a wrong relationship. If you are saying, “But I want to reach them for the Lord,” I say to you that you cannot reach them through that bond. That bond will only hurt you; it will not help them. The only way you can help them is through a flow of the Holy Spirit to them. We are going to see a whole world reached for God, but it will begin when our love for the things of the world disappears. Then we can reach the world.
Moses…choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. There is that moment of desire to sin, but sin is only for a season. The next chapter in Hebrews says: See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God (it is important that you do not come short of the grace of God); that no root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by it many be defiled (the defilement comes to many because of just one person); that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. Hebrews 12:15–17.
The moment of desire may be there for a Christian, and like Esau, he says, “I’m hungry.” Young people—heed what I say! Esau was an immoral, godless person who for one meal sold his birthright. “But he was hungry,” you say. “I can understand that.” Maybe you feel unfulfilled. You may have moments when you are lonely, harassed, and rebellious. Remember, when you pay that kind of a price for sin for a season, you will be hungry the next day, and the day after that. When you pay that price, you may find that the disaster becomes permanent.
Why should I constantly bring this pressure on you? If you have not repented yet, you will. You have to get rid of the things that hinder you from being a minister of the Lord. You are going to get rid of the thing that keeps you from being a bondservant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not possible for both bitter and sweet water to flow out of the same fountain. You are going to be a fountain of blessing, without the old corruption and disaster of the flesh creeping into the stream.
We have a big job ahead of us, just as Moses had a big job. By faith, he would keep the Passover. By faith, he would be ready to lead millions of people out of Egypt. Where would it begin? By making a choice, by refusing a bond with Pharaoh’s daughter, He was saying in effect, “I choose to wipe out the pleasures of sin and everything else I could have. I choose ill treatment with God’s people. I choose the frustrated, unfulfilled, lonely way, I choose the hard place. In the name of the Lord, I choose the way God has chosen for me to walk in.”
Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. There it is! You have to keep in mind that a great reward is waiting way down the line. It is not just that you are making a bad choice, “Well, I choose to be miserable rather than to have pleasures”; it goes beyond that! You are going to hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” You are going to stand and know that you have brought forth a hundredfold—not thirty, not sixty, but a hundredfold—because you abhorred evil and turned away from it, and you turned to that which God wanted. There is a reward coming, and you will reap the dividends. You are like a rich man who needs only a pair of scissors to clip the coupons on his stocks and bonds. It will pay back. It will be deeply rewarding and you are looking for the reward.
You will never get out of Egypt with Egypt anchored to your heart. You will never make it; you turn back and perish. Are you ready to make the transition into the next step? Then it is a foregone conclusion that you will say, “I have refused; I have chosen. I have decided. There is no question about it: nothing else will enter the picture. I have refused the bonds. I have refused the pleasures of sin. I have renounced the world. This is done in my heart. There is a reward coming. In the name of the Lord, I am going all the way!”
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. Verse 27. He left Egypt, but he did it with faith. And if you move into the next step, you will do it by faith. Are you going to leave Egypt behind? How are you going to leave this old life that you have been in? “I am believing to leave it. I have faith to leave it. But will I get discouraged tomorrow morning?” Probably. “What about the next day?” Probably—just like the Israelites. As soon as they got out of Egypt, they hemmed themselves in between the mountains and the sea, and when they looked around, they found they were being pursued by the enemy. Be prepared, for even though you have a miraculous deliverance out of Egypt, you will face hindrances and assault coming at you from every quarter. You will have to believe all the way. It is going to be a walk of faith.
This is a faith walk. By faith we leave Egypt. Five times in these passages from Hebrews 11 we read the phrase “by faith.” You believe to do this. You do not go out with only your determination to cut loose and do it. You believe to do it. You cannot do it in yourself. Again, it is the grace of God that enables you. By faith you do it! You have to want it and determine to walk in it, but it is by faith that it comes. And it is by faith that you will have no fear of consequences. “If I start walking with the Lord I will get into spiritual battle and assault.” That is right. “I will be hindered.” Yes, but you are going in by faith.
The secret of enduring is in your focus. The quickest way to get a black eye is to look behind you as you walk; then when you suddenly turn around, whack! you hit a door (and no one believes you). The best way to make progress is to have a right focus.
“Moses, what are you looking at?”
“I am seeing Him who is invisible.”
“What does He look like?”
“I can’t tell. He is invisible.”
“Then what are you looking at?”
“I am looking at the Lord.”
“How do you know it is the Lord if you cannot see Him?”
“By faith I am focused on Him.”
“Moses, what is it that gives you all that strength? What is it that helps you to keep enduring when other men would give up?”
“Well, I just keep looking.”
“And what do you see?”
“I don’t know; it is invisible. But I am focused on the Lord.”
That is the way we practice His presence, even when we do not feel anything. It is easy to practice the presence of the Lord when you feel that the Lord is here. That is wonderful. But the real test of your focus is tuning in to the Lord when you cannot see Him or feel Him. Tune in.
“I am resting in the Lord.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am pretty sure I’m sure. I am certainly not looking in any other direction. I am looking to the Lord. I am focused.” Does that sound silly? No, by faith Moses endured as seeing Him who is invisible. He had to have an eye of faith. When the natural senses did not perceive anything, he kept believing, “God has met me. I am His servant. I refuse the wrong. I have chosen the persecuted way. By faith I am leaving Egypt. By faith I am moving out. I will not turn to the right hand nor to the left.”
“But look at all these circumstances—”
“No, no, I am focused on the Lord.” Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, we lay aside every weight, every sin, and run with patience the race set before us (Hebrews 12:1, 2).
By faith he kept the Passover. It is one thing to keep the Passover after it has been started, but it was a matter of faith to keep it the very first time. You cannot imagine the criticism we heard the first time we kept the Feast of Tabernacles. Even people in the church thought it was strange, and very few participated. After three or four years, we celebrated with a turkey dinner and then everyone came to the feast. But at the very beginning, there were only three of us who met and kept the feast. I had spent seven months waiting on the Lord; and that period of waiting upon Him ended just at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. I did not know anything about the Feast of Tabernacles when the Lord spoke of what He would do during that time.
It is one thing to keep a feast for the first time during a time of restoration, but imagine what it must have been like to keep the Feast of Passover for the very first time. “What did you say, Moses? Kill our lambs? Well, that is a new wrinkle! And catch the blood? Isn’t that going to be messy?”
“Yes, and then you dip a little bunch of hyssop in the blood and sprinkle it over your doorposts.”
“Something must have happened to Moses out there in Midian, in the wilderness.”
“Moses, are you sure?”
“That is what the Lord said.”
“But to eat with our staff in our hand? We like to eat with both hands. With shoes on our feet, ready to move? And at midnight!”
These were some seemingly crazy instructions, but by faith he kept the Passover—not because it sounded reasonable. It was very much an act of faith. He kept the Passover with the sprinkling of the blood, so that He who destroyed the first-born might not touch them. What a faith he had in his heart.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. What is happening during this Passover? The blood is being applied; judgments are being averted; God is dealing with things. We are putting the sandals on our feet, we are taking our staff in our hand, and we are beginning to move. We have been feeding on the Lamb. What will happen next? We will probably be chased by Egyptians. We will probably run into a Red Sea. We will probably face mountains. Undoubtedly we will have troubles. Why? Because God not only has to deliver us, but He must finalize deliverance. He said, “The Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will see no more forever.” That is what I want—something final!
Are you tired of getting a deliverance out of Egypt, only to get another deliverance out of Egypt, and then need another and another deliverance? I would like to see the thing done irrevocably. And this is what God is bringing during this Passover Feast—a deliverance to get us out and then He is finalizing it. He will drive that nail through the board and then look on the other side and clinch it, so that no one can pull it out. He will finalize it. “Lord, You have delivered me from so much, now why, why must You have Egyptians chasing me?” The Lord has not finished with those Egyptians yet; He has to finalize your deliverance. This is what God is doing for us by faith—bringing irrevocable, final blessing and deliverance that will never be taken away.
This message is a word from the Lord. The Lord spoke to me, “Tell the people that I will not only deliver them, but this Feast of Passover will see things uprooted and removed forever.”
You are going to change; there will not be any lapses back into the old nature. You are going to be new creatures moving into something new. We will not need to go back and plow the field over and over because the weeds keep growing back. God is putting a weed killer on us. He is getting rid of things that are down in the depths of our being. Do not be cocky about it, but have a very aggressive faith to believe to be righteous, to be sanctified, to be holy. Believe to have God remove everything from your spirit, soul, and body that is corrupt and defiled. God help you to break every bond with Pharaoh’s daughter. God help you to refuse all the pleasure of sin and treasures of Egypt. Refuse them in your mind.
We choose God. We choose ill treatment with God’s people. We choose His way. By faith we leave Egypt behind and we are never going back! As we leave Egypt behind, we will have a pillar of fire, a cloud, and a beautiful breakfast of manna. We will see victories as God leads us! God forbid that we murmur in the way. We should be so thankful to leave that bondage behind.
This deliverance will be an expanding and growing experience. Believe the Lord to remove your doubts, your fears, your reservations. I want every bond removed. I want everything that I pamper in my heart of a contact with the world or a love of the world to go. We are moving out to embrace all that God would bring to us. And we are not going to fear the wrath of the king. If Satan is angry, we shall move on anyway. Do not accept any condemnation from the devil. You are not some third-rate citizen in the Kingdom of God whom Satan can come along to condemn and say, “See, this is what you did. You failed!” Yes, I have failed, but God has forgiven. It is all under the blood now. I have partaken of the Lamb and I feel His strength within me.
When everyone leaves Egypt, everyone leaves Egypt. We all leave. We do not say, “Some will stay behind because maybe they are not quite up to it.” Everyone goes, and we believe for everyone to make it. We shall keep walking. We shall follow that pillar of fire until we come into the land of promise.