Fear or Faith: Those Are the Two Options

December 29, 2019 · Hebrews

Series · Hebrews · Week 45 of 69

Scripture referenced 7 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

Hebrews 11:23-31 the main passage preached through in the sermon

23 By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
24 By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
25 choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time;
26 accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
27 By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
28 By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
29 By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
30 By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled for seven days.
31 By faith, Rahab the prostitute, didn’t perish with those who were disobedient, having received the spies in peace.

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Hebrews 11:6

quoted to show that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that God rewards those who seek Him

6 Without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

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James 2

referenced to support the point that whatever is not done by faith is sin

1 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality.

2 For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in;

3 and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing, and say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”;

4 haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?

6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?

7 Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?

8 However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.

9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors.

10 For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

12 So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom.

13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him?

15 And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food,

16 and one of you tells them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”; and yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it?

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself.

18 Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.

19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.

20 But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead?

21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

22 You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected;

23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God.

24 You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.

25 In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way?

26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

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Psalm 31:19

quoted in the benediction about the good things God has stored up for those who fear and take refuge in Him

19 Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

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Joshua 2

read at length to tell the story of Rahab hiding the spies

1 Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.

2 The king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men of the children of Israel came in here tonight to spy out the land.”

3 Jericho’s king sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered into your house; for they have come to spy out all the land.”

4 The woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I didn’t know where they came from.

5 About the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, the men went out. Where the men went, I don’t know. Pursue them quickly. You may catch up with them.”

6 But she had brought them up to the roof, and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

7 The men pursued them along the way to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate.

8 Before they had lain down, she came up to them on the roof.

9 She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.

10 For we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when you came out of Egypt; and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

11 As soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, and there wasn’t any more spirit in any man, because of you: for Yahweh your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath.

12 Now therefore, please swear to me by Yahweh, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a true sign;

13 and that you will save alive my father, my mother, my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death.”

14 The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”

15 Then she let them down by a cord through the window; for her house was on the side of the wall, and she lived on the wall.

16 She said to them, “Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers find you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward, you may go your way.”

17 The men said to her, “We will be guiltless of this your oath which you’ve made us to swear.

18 Behold, when we come into the land, tie this line of scarlet thread in the window which you used to let us down. Gather to yourself into the house your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household.

19 It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.

20 But if you talk about this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless of your oath which you’ve made us to swear.”

21 She said, “Let it be as you have said.” She sent them away, and they departed. Then she tied the scarlet line in the window.

22 They went, and came to the mountain, and stayed there three days, until the pursuers had returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but didn’t find them.

23 Then the two men returned, descended from the mountain, crossed the river, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. They told him all that had happened to them.

24 They said to Joshua, “Truly Yahweh has delivered all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.”

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Joshua 6:1-27

referenced for the account of the walls of Jericho falling

1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the children of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.

2 Yahweh said to Joshua, “Behold, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the mighty men of valor.

3 All of your men of war shall march around the city, going around the city once. You shall do this six days.

4 Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day, you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.

5 It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the city wall shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up, every man straight in front of him.”

6 Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh’s ark.”

7 They said to the people, “Advance! March around the city, and let the armed men pass on before Yahweh’s ark.”

8 It was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before Yahweh advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of Yahweh’s covenant followed them.

9 The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the ark went after them. The trumpets sounded as they went.

10 Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.”

11 So he caused Yahweh’s ark to go around the city, going about it once. Then they came into the camp, and stayed in the camp.

12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up Yahweh’s ark.

13 The seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns in front of Yahweh’s ark went on continually, and blew the trumpets. The armed men went in front of them. The rear guard came after Yahweh’s ark. The trumpets sounded as they went.

14 The second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. They did this six days.

15 On the seventh day, they rose early at the dawning of the day, and marched around the city in the same way seven times. Only on this day they marched around the city seven times.

16 At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for Yahweh has given you the city!

17 The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

18 But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted it, you take of the devoted thing; so you would make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it.

19 But all the silver, gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Yahweh. They shall come into Yahweh’s treasury.”

20 So the people shouted and the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight in front of him, and they took the city.

21 They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from there, as you swore to her.”

23 The young men who were spies went in, and brought out Rahab with her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all of her relatives, and they set them outside of the camp of Israel.

24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.

25 But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that she had, Joshua saved alive. She lives in the middle of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers, whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26 Joshua commanded them with an oath at that time, saying, “Cursed is the man before Yahweh, who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he will set up its gates.”

27 So Yahweh was with Joshua; and his fame was in all the land.

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Joshua 6:22-25

read to describe how Joshua spared Rahab and her household after the city was burned

22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman and all that she has out from there, as you swore to her.”

24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only they put the silver, the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.

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Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

The pastor picked up the Hebrews series at chapter 11, verses 23 through 31, working through a string of Old Testament figures whose stories all turn on the same hinge: fear or faith. He argued that these are the only two options available to us, and that every example in the passage illustrates what happens when someone chooses one over the other.

What was said

The chapter has been building a list of people who acted by faith, and Moses' parents are example number nine. The law of Pharaoh required every newborn Hebrew boy to be killed, and that law was rooted in fear, Pharaoh's fear that a growing Hebrew population would eventually overthrow Egypt. Moses' parents answered that fear not with compliance but with civil disobedience. They hid their son for three months because they were not afraid of the king's edict. Their act was not Moses' faith; it was theirs, and the writer of Hebrews names it exactly that way.

Moses himself then becomes the focus. He was raised in Pharaoh's household and was in line for enormous power, yet he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose instead to identify with the Hebrew slave class. The pastor drew a direct line between this and Christ leaving the glories of heaven, both are stories of someone setting aside what was theirs by rights for the sake of others. Moses did this while looking forward to a reward he could not yet see, which is precisely what faith is: acting on what is unseen rather than on what is in front of you.

The passage then moves to the Exodus itself. Moses kept the Passover by faith, spreading the word among the people, and those who listened and acted on it were protected. The blood on the doorposts had to be put there in faith before anyone knew whether it would work. When Pharaoh finally released the Hebrews, it was not because he gained faith; it was because he was afraid of what God would do next. The distinction matters: the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom is faith, but terror of what God might do to you is just fear.

Forty years of wilderness wandering are skipped almost entirely in Hebrews 11, and the pastor noted that this is intentional. That generation had walked through the parted Red Sea by faith and then immediately began looking back at Egypt with longing. The writer of Hebrews had already addressed them in chapters two and three as a warning, not as an example to follow. When Hebrews 11 picks up again, it jumps straight to the generation that entered the land, the people who walked around Jericho for seven days and then shouted, doing exactly what God had described through Joshua. The walls fell because they did the plan.

Rahab closes the passage, and she is the most striking example of the whole section. She was a resident of Jericho, not a Hebrew, and her city was the enemy. But she had heard what God did at the Red Sea, and while everyone around her was melting with fear, she concluded that Israel's God is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. That conclusion led her to hide the spies, cut a deal secured by a scarlet cord in her window, and gather her family inside. She reacted in faith where her neighbors reacted in fear, and the result was that when Jericho burned, she and everyone she had brought into the house survived. She was absorbed into the people of Israel and, the pastor pointed out, appears in the lineage of Christ.

The question the pastor left with the congregation is a personal one drawn straight from the pattern in every example. The two options are not complicated: am I living today out of fear, or am I living today by faith? He referenced James's statement that whatever is not done by faith is sin, and noted that this is not a question about dramatic moments like parting seas or collapsing walls. It is the ordinary question that sits underneath every decision, and the examples in the passage suggest that the answer shapes everything that follows.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

Moses's parents practiced civil disobedience by hiding Moses rather than obeying Pharaoh's edict, and the sermon described their action as being driven by faith rather than fear. Can you think of a situation where faithfulness to God and obedience to human authority have come into tension with each other? How did you or someone you know navigate that?
The sermon pointed out that Moses walked away from a position of enormous power and privilege, identifying himself with slaves instead, and that the writer of Hebrews connects this directly to 'the reproach of Christ.' What does it look like in your own life to set aside something that is yours by right for the sake of others knowing God?

and 3 more questions in the guide

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0:00 Speaker 1Is my mic not working? Is it working now? Yeah. Hey. Hey.

0:03 Who's mic? Yeah. Who's mic? Who's on the first? Go

0:12 Speaker 2tell it on the mountain everywhere go tell it on the mountain

2:06 Speaker 1got that. Him, the next hymn is one day. Do y'all know this song? One day? I know this song from a different tune and so we're gonna sing it the way that it's written in the hymn book.

2:17 Hymn number two ninety four is the way we're gonna attempt to sing this song. That's the way Judy's going to play it anyway. Verses to learn it, okay?

5:12 Speaker 2Wonderful savior this Jesus is mine

5:19 Speaker 1and that's a different word and something else let's hit the chorus together Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Beautiful. The last verse in the version that I have in front of me says, one day, the trumpet will sound for his coming. One day, the skies with his glories will shine.

6:03 Wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing glorious savior. This Jesus is mine. Amen. Announcements this morning. We have Monday nights.

6:11 It's happening tomorrow night. Monday nights at first B down the hall, meal, music, and a message. Samantha McVeigh is in charge of the meal. That's always gonna be good. Christy Little is gonna be bringing the message.

6:22 Actually, she is an outdoor adventure missionary and she'll be sharing from that perspective and she's gonna be the speaker tomorrow night. So, meal, music, and a message happening tomorrow night, 06:00. There is not any Awana tomorrow night because we're the school schedule typically is what we go by school calendar. So, no Awana. Men's, snowmobile retreat.

6:45 It's not just for people riding snowmobiles. There are people that come up and ride cross, do cross country ski and there are some folks, one guy, drags himself behind snowmobiles to the top of mountains and then snowboards down. That's not my thing but if that's your thing, it can be did, okay? It can be done at the Men's Snowmobile Retreat, January 24 through the twenty sixth. That's in Island Park, Idaho at Old Faithful Christian Ranch.

7:08 It's always a good time. So, if you are want to get away, January 2426 men's retreat. If there were other announcements and they're almost certainly are but if there are an other announcements, they'll be in your paper bulletin that you're handed on the way in. If you forgot to get one or didn't get one, you can grab one on the way out. Just kind of know what's going on.

7:29 Mostly, it's the standard fair we're picking up from here and just doing our normal thing. Christmas for me and for Carl and for a lot of folks who are in ministry just ramps up, up, up. Fever pitch on Christmas Eve and thank you all for coming. That was fantastic. So much fun on Christmas Eve and then, there's like a we can breathe again.

7:49 So, we're getting back into the breathe again. We get to the sermon time. We're just going to go forward in Hebrews. Looking forward to that but I think, is there anything else that has to be announced that I've forgotten? Hearing none.

8:01 Would y'all stand and greet one another and we will bring you back together with another song. Let's go. Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place. Great worship Y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the frontline team to come forward.

11:29 Won't you pray with me? God, we thank you for this season, this season when we contemplate your humanity lord and stand in awe of your deity. Lord, you came humbled yourself, emptied yourself. You left what was by rights, your own, the glories of heaven. You stepped out of that and into this, and you walked in the power and the direction of the Holy Spirit throughout having emptied yourself of those divine rights.

12:09 Left the glories of heaven, lord. You chose, chose to put aside your rights and deny yourself for the good of others, for the good of all in your case but lord, may we follow after you doing the same. May we, lord, set aside our rights. What is ours? In order that other people may come to know you.

12:32 What may we set aside what belongs to us, lord? By rights. Is there anything that we have that you didn't give? Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Lord, we wanna share back with you and with others what you've given.

12:50 We don't have to but we can and so lord, obediently and by faith, we come to this time in the service where we put into the plate some of what you've given us so that others may know. Lord, would you multiply and bless this to do your kingdom's work? May you spread the word, plant the seed of the gospel in lives that it may blossom up into eternity. In Jesus name, we ask you lord that you would bless and multiply these gifts. Amen.

16:38 Thank you, Judy. So, I said we're going straight back into Hebrews. We, I've usually in the last seven years, I don't break off from the text in front of us very often. I break off at Christmas, break off at Easter to do either a Christmas or an Easter message or both sometimes. But I love that we can just plot together through scripture and so I feel like that's the task that God has put ahead of us.

17:09 We're up to Hebrews eleven twenty three through 31 is what we'll cover today and I think that there's a theme that emerges from it and it's been a really really good one and since I had a Christmas message between, I've had two weeks to stew on this one. This one's been kinda in the hopper for a while and I feel like this is more pertinent in life than most anything else that we hear often. I know that the Bible is more pertinent than anything we hear often but this particular message I feel like is really really pertinent. Where we live in life today and it was in the first century. So, the writer of Hebrews or the writers of Hebrews were writing to first century Jewish background people who had trusted in Christ and was trying to keep those people engaged and encouraged to stick with Christ and not go back to what they knew of Old Covenant Judaism with all of its symbols and shadows.

18:07 Turning away from the real thing. Now, that their temptation was to do that. That's not our temptation. In fact, if most of us were honest, it might be that we have a legalistic religious past that we could go back to rather than following Christ but it might also be that licentious, kinda unbridled past that we might be tempted to go back to. Is this thing cutting in and out?

18:32 Not too bad? Okay. Let me know if it goes out, alright? The other day, Norris Brown said, he said, if you can't fix it with your Leatherman, you probably shouldn't have it. Okay.

18:46 Alright. It was after last, you know, after a little bit of technology trouble last week but here we go. Hebrews eleven twenty three. Now, by faith is the refrain in this chapter. We hear it over and over and over.

18:58 In fact, we have heard it eight times up to this point where it says, by faith so and so, like had a name after that. By faith, this one says, by faith, Moses, by faith, Moses, okay, is it about Moses? Well, keep reading. By faith, Moses, when he was born, at that point, he was not exercising his own faith. He just was born.

19:17 So, by faith, when he was born, he was hidden for three months. That's a passive verb. He was hidden. That wasn't him. Who was that?

19:24 That was his parents. By faith, his parents. By faith, Moses's parents acted and they acted out of faith. It's very explicit that they did that. By faith, his parents hid him for three months right after he was born because they saw that he was a beautiful child, a goodly child in the Hebrew, goodly.

19:46 That's not necessarily just physically beautiful, could be but he was a good child. There's something about Moses that his mama recognized. In fact, Jacobed in the Hebrew story of the Old Testament says, his mother hid him. It doesn't say anything about his father but in the Septuagint and that is what the writer of Hebrews always quotes from. Never from the Hebrew version of Bible, always from the Septuagint Greek version of the Bible at that time, first century time because they, his parents, saw that he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

20:19 Now, the king at the time was Pharaoh in Egypt and the Pharaoh saw that the Hebrews who were slaves were growing to the point that there could be a rebellion. They were outnumbered or beginning to be outnumbered and they thought if this keeps going, these people are very prolific and they keep gaining ground and if they keep gaining ground, they're gonna overthrow us and so, it was fear from Pharaoh. Pharaoh feared that the Hebrews would take over, excuse me. And so, in the face of that fear, Pharaoh comes up with a law that every Hebrew child that was born male would be killed. It was a requirement that any male baby that was born of the Hebrews was to be killed and the midwives were supposed to kill those baby boys when they were born.

21:12 Infanticide, not the same as abortion but immediately after birth, killing all of the male babies and this began to happen. Actually, the the Hebrew midwives did actually or disobey in there but not all of em. It was the law. The law of the land was to kill all the male babies in the Hebrews. So, Moses's parents were seeing that he was a beautiful child, hid him for three months because they were not afraid of the king's edict.

21:46 Actually, it was by faith that they did that. Moses's parents were our specific example number nine. We've hit eight so far. Abel gave the first of his flock and his outcome was he was murdered, dad. Enoch walked with God and he was taken up.

22:02 Noah prepared an ark and so saved his household. Abraham was when he was called, he obeyed. Amen. And he became the father of an innumerable number. Sarah considered him faithful who had promised.

22:17 She looked to God in faith and she miraculously conceived a son. Isaac blessed his son's future. Jacob blessed his grandsons. Joseph, there was lots of stuff we could say but the writer of Hebrews mentions the Exodus and giving plans for his bones. Looking forward to that time when there would be an exodus and all those last three just died.

22:36 It doesn't mention their outcome beyond that but Moses' parents act that demonstrated their faith was civil disobedience. Civil disobedience. Hid Moses and protected him. They were not afraid of the king's edict. Now, the law of the land said, you gotta kill him.

22:58 That's the way that it was but they, by faith, did not fear and so we get to this and this is the message of today. This is where it's gonna come to. It's fear or it's faith. You are going to react either out of fear or out of faith and so, fear the word fabas, faith, fear, it is the same word when it's fear of man or fear of God. So, but let me just say, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and fearing God is actually faith.

23:29 When Jesus said, why would you fear man who can only take your body? You should rather fear God who is in charge of your soul, right? He he determines the outcome of your soul and he's made a way and his way is Jesus Christ. His way is a Messiah, the provision that he only he could make. So, fear or faith.

23:51 It's either gonna be fearing man or having and placing your faith in God. It'll come up multiple times throughout but I think all of the examples for right now, for a people who are considering going back to the way that they knew rather than going the way that God would show them in Christ. This is a very important message and it's a very important message for us too. So, by faith, Moses's parents hid him, not afraid of the king's edict and now we get to Moses himself. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

24:24 He did by faith. Now, he was actually in line to be a pharaoh. Most of one of the most powerful people in the world at that time. Probably, the arguably the most powerful person in the world at that time was Pharaoh and Moses was in line to be that and he renounced it. Instead, gave up his rights and was identifying himself with a slave class of the Hebrews.

24:55 That's amazing. Christ left the glories of heaven and came and humbly was born on this Earth and Moses right here refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. So, Moses chose rather to endure ill treatment because that's the way slaves are treated. He choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Excess.

25:28 Considering the reproach of Christ. It's interesting that in Moses's case, in the Old Testament, fourteen hundred years before Christ, Christ is brought in by the writer of Hebrews. Moses, considering the reproach of God's chosen and anointed one, left behind the greater riches of the treasures of Egypt for he was looking forward to the reward. Oh, that's good. We see that that's by faith.

25:57 It's not by sight because by sight, you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't walk away from that. Remember back to Hebrews eleven six. Hebrews eleven six says, without faith, it's impossible to please God. For it comes to God must believe that God is, first of all, and Moses did.

26:13 And so did his parents and that he's a rewarder of those who seek after him. By faith he left Egypt. By faith, this is talking about Moses. By faith, Moses left Egypt and he was not fearing. So, it is again.

26:31 Is it fear or is it faith? It cannot be both at the same time. Now, I did say fear of God is faith. Yes. But fear of man or faith in God.

26:40 Those are the two options. We see in Old Testament examples, a lot of examples. What happens when the Israelites acted out of fear? They get their fanny's kicked every single time. Every single time, over and over and over again.

26:55 What happens when they react in faith? It goes better for them. I'm not a prosperity gospel preacher. Fear or faith. Eventually, faith is this and that's what the writer of Hebrews is making the case for.

27:08 So, here we go. Faith, Moses left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. It is either going to be by faith or it's going to be by sight and what Moses was looking forward to and looking forward is he identified with the people of God. He identified with them and he did actually leave Egypt. Now, we we could be thinking about he left Egypt and he took the people with him but I think this is in this particular verse.

27:37 I think it's Moses left Egypt and he went to Mideon and he stayed on the backside of Mideon for some extended period of time where God was preparing him for going back and leading those people out. You know that Moses after identification with the slave race, he was giving up but then, when he was protecting a Hebrew slave from the Egyptian master and he killed that master. He kind of burned a bridge with going back to Egypt. He's now a wanted man. He left.

28:07 Did he leave in fear? This says he didn't. This says he left out of faith. By faith, he left, not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured. He did and he came back.

28:16 Not fearing. He came back as seeing him who is unseen. He saw that God had a plan for what he wanted to do with him. And he followed after that by faith. By faith, he kept the Passover.

28:28 So, consider, it skips a lot of other plagues, right? There are other plagues that lead up to this where Moses is saying, let my people go and the pharaoh is refusing. So, one plague, two plagues, three plagues. It keeps going and then the very last one is kind of interesting how what you put out there, King Pharaoh says, you're going to kill all the Hebrew baby boys and then, at this last plague, the firstborn son of each household would be killed by the angel of death unless by faith with the blood, on the post, in the lentils of the house, there was that sign to protect this home and it had to be done by faith the Hebrew children did it By faith, he kept the Passover. Moses did but he spread the word among the people and the people who had faith that listened and went with it.

29:30 Although it sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? This is gonna be assigned to you. You do this over the post lentils of your house and then your son will be protected. Well, by faith, he kept the Passover and so did these other people and so that he who destroyed the first one would not touch them. It was by faith.

29:48 That was the last straw. That was when Pharaoh decided, you know what? This is a more powerful thing than we know anything about and that is a fear of God that's not faith. That's a fear of what God might do and that's just fear. He said, take em and go.

30:05 Get out of here. Moses left Egypt. He endured. He came back and he kept the Passover and that was what eventually allowed Pharaoh to to say, just get out of here. Go.

30:19 So, the outcome there was Moses led God's people faithfully. Now, he did that for the whole forty years. He was faithful. Even when he spoke out and the reason he couldn't go into the promised land, he was still faithfully doing what God had asked and leading the people. He didn't do it exactly as God had asked and he didn't get to go in.

30:39 So, I could say the outcome was he didn't get to go into the promised land. In fact, the writer of Hebrews will say, all of these did not receive the promise. So, he didn't go into the promised land but Moses left Egypt. He endured. He kept the Passover and he led God's people faithfully but he died without entering into that.

30:56 Promised land. By faith, they, oh, here's another group of people. This is specific example number 11. They, this is the what we'd call the children of Israel leaving out of Egypt. Lots and lots and lots of folks.

31:11 This great band of people. They, what did they do? They walked through the parted Red Sea. If we go back by faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through on dry land. You can look at that and say, God parted the sea.

31:27 It was an act of God. Absolutely, it was. Actually, a chapter before they crossed. It says, the east wind was a blowing and east wind, you can say, well, it was a natural phenomenon that did it. Well, okay.

31:38 Who's in charge of that? An act of God but this says, by faith, they pass through. By faith, they pass through. God's faithfulness was there for them. They placed their faith in him and in his chosen servant, Moses.

31:54 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. They didn't cross in faith the soldiers that were drowned didn't cross in faith. That natural phenomena that split the sea, act of God also caused the sea to recede and drown. Pharaoh's army chasing him. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they're passing through dry land.

32:24 How many times does that come up in scripture? It comes up Old Testament, New Testament all the time. Remember that time? Remember when God had us right on the edge of a sea, we couldn't go around and then he split it and then our enemies in it. It's the refrain that comes back.

32:38 Now, it's interesting that this is mentioned and then, forty years is completely skipped. God was faithful throughout. Moses was faithful throughout with a little bit of we'll go back and hear that a different way where he instead of speaking to the rock strikes it but the people, they were just waiting for forty years for those folks to die off and the writer of Hebrews has already mentioned that wilderness generation. He said, don't be like them. Don't be like the wilderness generation.

33:06 They were alright getting through the Red Sea because they acted in faith but then immediately after that, they started complaining and saying, let's, oh, it was so much better in Egypt. When we were slaves, so much better. We ate better when we were in Egypt. I was like, God provides food for him. Oh, but this, he provided water form in the middle of the desert.

33:25 God was faithful throughout but they just waited for the unfaithful generation and the writer of Hebrews has already mentioned that. Chapter two, chapter three, he says, today, if you hear the voice of God, hearken unto it. Do not rebel like those in the wilderness. By faith, they pass through. The reason I mention that is because we skip forty years here from the day who walked through the parted Red Sea and were saved from immediate harm, miraculously.

33:52 We don't hear anything else about that generation in Hebrews 11. We heard about it in two and three but not in 11. Then, we get to this. By faith, the walls of Jericho. When is this?

34:02 This is when they're entering into that promised land and Moses didn't get to go but Joshua did. We read about this in Joshua. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. Now, a battle plan, that's an interesting battle plan. And if you heard that from your leader, okay, what are we gonna do again?

34:27 Joshua five, Joshua asks, God's messenger. Joshua asked, exactly how are we gonna do this? And he took the message and he shared it with the people exactly. We're going to take ram's horns. Seven priests are going out, our men are going ahead, and we're gonna encircle this city and we're gonna go around it one time a day for six days and then on the seventh day, we're gonna go around at seven times and then when I say so, shout.

34:56 That's the plan. That doesn't sound like a military plan to me. But by faith, that's what God had shared with them to do and that is what they did and the walls came a tumbling down, right? You can see that in Joshua six one through 27. Actually, if you go back about five fourteen, you'll see the plan taking shape or you can hear about it in the verses of this old spiritual.

35:19 We'll see how this goes. It's an A minor if you want to join me. So, I play the bass in the first service to not get nervous before the sermon and I sing the songs up here to not get nervous before the second service but I'm going try to do this right now.

35:45 Speaker 2Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumbling down. You may talk about the men of Gideon, you may talk about the men of Saul, but there's none like good old Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Delspit the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Josh bit the battle of Jericho and the walls came a tumbling down. Up to the walls of Jericho, he marched with sword in hand.

36:21 Come blow the ram's horns, Joshua said, because the battle is in our hands. The battle is in our hands. Joshua beat the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua bit the battle of Jericho and the walls came a tumbling down. Then the ram's horns they began to blow and the trumpets began to sound.

36:45 Joshua commanded the children to shout and the walls came a tumbling down. Joshua thought the battle of Jericho Jericho Jericho watched this battle of Jericho when the walls came with tumbling

37:07 Speaker 1I've got a long section of scripture I'm going to read about Rahab and I thought that two of em was too much. That song tells the story. It's an abbreviated version but not if you listen to all the verses. They're about seven verses of that song and treat yourself this afternoon. YouTube Mahalia Jackson singing that song.

37:24 It's so good. So, so good. So, the encirclers of Jericho. This is the folks God's chosen people, the encirclers of Jericho. Now, what are we going do again?

37:35 We're going to go. And we're gonna send out the priest in the front. We're gonna, I mean, the the arm in the front, the priest are gonna blow some ram's horns and when I say so, on the seventh day, on the seventh time, we're gonna shout. The walls are gonna come tumbling down because God has put this city in our hands. The encirclers of Jericho and the outcome was that the walls came and tumbling down.

37:56 What they do? They did the plan just like it was stated. Joshua and the encirclers of Jericho did as God demonstrated to them to do. That that carried the pictures is from Gideon. Sorry, trumpets.

38:10 They walked around the city at the right time. They shouted. Now, we're on the last verse we're covering today and this is from the same story. Same story of Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho. There's another character in that study that gets to be in this list and by faith, Rahab.

38:26 Rahab, the harlot. Okay, here we go. By faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient. She was of the city of Jericho. God had given the city into their hands Rahab, the harlot, did not perish along with those who are disputing after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

38:55 So, Rahab is our specific example number 13. 13 specific examples, the writer of Hebrews gives to dissuade them from going back to that which they knew and to keep them with Jesus. Stick with the way that God will show you by Christ through his spirit. Rahab, the story, you remember it? The story from Joshua two.

39:18 This is before the battle of Jericho. This was when they were preparing for the taking of Jericho. Joshua two says this, then Joshua, the son of Nun, sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim saying, go, view the land, especially Jericho, pay attention. So, they went out and they came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab and they lodged there. It was told the king of Jericho saying, behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight and they've searched out the land and the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab saying, bring out the men who have come to you, who've entered into your house for they have come to search out all of the land but the woman had taken the two men and hidden them and she said, yes, the man came to me and she lied right here.

40:03 She, that, tell them the truth, they came to her but I did not know where they were from. It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark that the men went out and I don't know where the men went. Pursue them quickly for you will overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof. She'd hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof.

40:24 So, the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan, to the Fords, and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now, before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to them, listen to this, I know that the Lord has given you the land. And that the terror of you people has fallen on all of us. So, faith says, I know God has given it to you but everyone of her people were in fear. That all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.

41:05 You don't make good decisions when you're fearful and they were melting away before them. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea. There it is coming back again. The Red Sea. We heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt or full nation and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who are on the other side of the Jordan, Sihan and Og, whom you utterly destroyed, if you didn't know that story and as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted.

41:39 Neither did there remain any more courage in anyone. Now, the battle plan is not seeming so bad. Because the people that they're gonna be fighting are scared to death. Our hearts melted neither did they remain anymore courage in anyone because of you for the Lord your God, he is God. In heaven, above, and on earth, beneath, that is a statement of faith and the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom rather than fearing the Hebrew children that were gonna take over their city, Rahab saw that God is God and she said, I'm putting my faith and actions in with God and his people.

42:19 Now, therefore, please swear to me, Rahab says, by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you that you also will deal kindly with my father's household and give me a pledge of truth and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters with all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death. So, the man said to her, our life or yours, if we do not tell the, if you do not tell this business of ours, and it shall come about that when the Lord gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you and then she let them down by a rope through the window for her house was on the city wall so that she was living on the wall. She said to them, go to the hill country so that the pursuers will not happen upon you and hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return and then afterward, you may go on your own way. The man said to her, we shall be free from this oath to you which you've made us to swear unless when we come into this land, you tie this cord of scarlet.

43:15 Now, she was letting them out of the window by this cord. Unless you tie this cord of scarlet, we're gonna be free from our pact with you. Unless you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down and gather to yourself into your house, your father, and your mother, and your brothers, and all your father's household. Get everybody you wanna keep safe and bring em into the house. And put the cord out there so we know which one it is and give us a chance.

43:44 The right thing. It shall come about that anyone who goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head. That would be an act of fear and not faith. And we shall be free but anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. If a hand is laid on him but if you tell this business of ours, then, we shall be free from the oath which you've made us swear and she said, according to your words, so be it.

44:11 It was a pact, a covenant. They were gonna do that. So, she sent them away and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the window and they departed and came to the hill country and remained there for three days until the pursuers returned. Now, the pursuers had sought them all along the road but had not found them. Then, the two men returned and came down from the hill country and crossed over and came to Joshua, the son of Nun and they related to him all that had happened to them and they said to Joshua, surely, amen.

44:39 Surely, the Lord has given all the land into our hands. Moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us. They delivered the message exactly as she had said that it was. She tied this cord. Rahab hid the spies and she did not perish with her city.

44:57 That's one way of looking at that but if you read the rest of the story, Joshua six twenty two through 25, the rest of the narrative here says this, Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, it's interesting because Joshua was one of the original spies that came back and said, we can take em, right? He sent two other guys out. Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, go into the harlot's house and bring the woman and all she has out of there as you have sworn to her. So, the young man who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had, they also brought out all of her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. So, Rahab protected her people, her folks, mama, daddy, everybody that she cared about.

45:43 She carried that message and if they listened to her, came in, she was protecting them. They burned the city with fire and all that was in it, only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord just like God's messenger had delivered. However, Rahab the harlot, here we go. This is my point right here. However, Rahab the harlot and her father's household and all she had, Joshua spared.

46:10 And she has lived in the midst of Israel, God's chosen people and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day. When this was written down, she was still among them and alive. For she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. So, if we look at that, she reacted in faith instead of fear. That's what she did.

46:31 She hid the spies but she reacted in faith and not fear. She proclaimed faith in Israel's God and she lived and was accepted into that people of God and even if you pay attention to the genealogies, she's in the lineage of Christ. Amen. Amen. So, she is our specific example.

46:54 Number 13 and then, I get to this. The application point from the day to day. Everything has been about fear or faith. From Pharaoh's fear that the Hebrews would take over caused him to make a very ungodly law that all the male children would be killed. But Moses' parents didn't obey the law, civil disobedience.

47:19 I actually love civil disobedience. For the right reasons By faith, his parents hid him. By faith, he led the people. By faith, he exited from Egypt the first time. By faith, he came back.

47:36 By faith, he led them across the Red Sea. By faith, he did what he did, not fear, not fear. If we go forward, we see Joshua reacting in faith and not fear. We see the folks of Jericho reacting in fear. How does it go for you when you're acting fear?

47:52 Not good. So, fear or faith is the question and I wanna pose a question to you that I've been considering for at least the last two or three weeks because of this. Am and I want you to read it for yourself, okay? Am I living my life today out of fear? Or am I living my life today?

48:17 By faith. Because those are the two options. James says, whatever is not done by faith is sin. So, am I living my life today out of fear or am I living my life today by faith? Are you doing what it is that you're doing?

48:31 Because God has led you to that place and that is what he wants you doing. I think that's the last slide. I know it's the last scripture we're going over today. So, that usually means time to stop. Judy, would you come up and play?

48:47 I actually, Carl, I'm gonna throw you a curve. The no longer a slave to fear. Do you know that song? Do you have an iPad? You can get it.

48:55 You don't know it off top of your head, do you? Oh, he's got an iPad right there. Will you play it? You just play it. Would you, this is an audible.

49:05 We got time. So, he's gonna play it on the piano. I'll sing it. Y'all stand with me please if you would and we'll we'll sing Blessed Be the Tide of Barns at the end, okay? This is two songs in the middle of the sermon.

49:16 This is not bad. Y'all sing with me. I'm not I'll I'll sing it off the wall. Alright. The the words are too perfect to let it go.

49:27 So,

49:35 Speaker 2you unravel me with a melody you surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies my fears are gone I'm no longer a slave to fear from my mother's womb you have chosen me has gone by name I've been born again into your family blood flows through my veins I'm no longer a slave to fear

51:14 Speaker 1God. Here's the bridge. We've got a tie that binds us together. One is a good God who rewards those who seek after him. Judy, would you play this and Scott, would you come on up?

52:30 Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts and Christian love. The benediction this morning, considering this, fear of God is faith, okay? Fear of God's beginning of wisdom and it is faith. How abundant are the good things that you have stored up, oh God, for those who fear you or for those who put their faith in you, that you bestow in the sight of all on those who take their refuge in you. Psalm thirty one nineteen.

54:21 God, may we carry this word. May we carry it out with us and walk out our faith. May we lay aside what is ours by rights so that others may know you. May we practice self denial in humility. Amen.

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