Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

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I had to make an impossible decision yesterday. I’ve been sticking to a diet fairly well for the last few weeks. But my family wanted me to bring home Dairy Queen for us all. Even a small blizzard is over 700 calories, and I just couldn’t fit that into my diet yesterday. So I had to choose: an awesomely delicious blizzard, which I knew would taste amazing, or get Dairy Queen for the family and Subway for myself. I chose Subway. Why? Because even though I knew the blizzard would be amazing, I knew sticking to my diet would be worth it. And it wasn’t as though I didn’t enjoy Subway. In fact, I love Subway. I always get the same thing: the Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki sub on wheat, no cheese, with lettuce, pickles, cucumbers, peppers, and onions. It’s awesome and only 370 calories. Eat fresh.

We all have to make choices all the time. We have to choose between the pleasures of sin and the greater reward in Christ. Choose Christ! Life in Christ is so much better than the fleeting pleasures of sin, and the rewards are far greater, and Christ is so much sweeter. He’s worth it.

Read Hebrews 11:23-28

The Easy Life is Tempting

Moses could have had a very easy life. He was born to Jewish parents at a time when the King of Egypt had ordered that all the male Jews be killed when they were born. But they didn’t kill him, they hid him. And when they couldn’t hide him any longer, they made a basket and put him in it, and placed him among the reeds, by the river bank, in a place, I think, where they were sure the Pharaoh’s daughter would find him. And she did find him, and after having his mother care for him until he was weaned, she took him to live with her in the palace. There Moses grew up in luxury, and he could have continued to live that way. He wealth. He had his choice of women. He had everything he could possibly want carnally speaking.

But he recognized that to live that way would be sin, not only because of the immoral practices of the Egyptians, but also because God wanted to do something greater with his life. I’m convinced that God wants to do something greater in your lives as well. But the pleasures of sin are always right there, too, tempting us to shrink back from God’s plan.

But the Greater Wealth is Worth It

Moses chose to align himself instead with God’s people. Notice, though, that he didn’t make this decision until he had grown up. He knew long before this that he was a Hebrew. He looked like a Hebrew. He was raised by his own mother his first years, and they undoubtedly taught him about God and his people. Yet he knew that his life depended on being the Pharaoh’s daughter’s son. So he respected those who had spared his life. But when it came time to decide the course of his life, Moses chose God’s path. This wasn’t an easy thing to do!

It seems many people desire or even pray for happiness and peace, but they want to continue to live their own lives in the process. People want to find happiness and still live by their own rules. C. S. Lewis wrote, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”

Instead of luxury, Moses would be mistreated. Why would he do this? (v. 26) He saw that it was worth it. Knowing and serving Christ is worth it. It’s worth being mistreated. It’s worth struggling to live for God, even though you could lie and steal and have more than enough in this life without living for God. But the rewards in Christ are far greater than the fleeting pleasures of sin. Sin gives pleasure, but only for a moment. But the rewards in Christ are eternal! (v. 26)

Christ is Worthy

But Christ wasn’t around yet. How could Moses consider the reproach of Christ greater wealth? In other words, how did Moses know Jesus Christ, and how did he know the reward of identifying with Christ would be worth it? The answer to both of these questions is because Moses knew God. Moses knew Christ because he knew God. He knew that God is the God of compassion, and love, and mercy. And God saw them in their sin, and in their slavery, and God had promised that a Savior was coming. And Moses had faith in that Savior.

Furthermore, Moses knew that the reward of identifying with the Christ would be worth it because he knew that God is a generous God. God doesn’t give like I gave to food drives as a kid. No, God gives abundantly! He gives richly! He gives far beyond what we need, far beyond what we desire, He gives more than we can comprehend! Because that’s who God is. And if we can wrap our minds around how great and good Christ is, and our God is, we will follow Moses in having this same kind of faith. We’ll gladly turn down the fleeting pleasures of sin, the treasures of Egypt, and be willing to suffer for our faith, because we know a good God, and a good Savior, who will reward not based on our failures, or even based on our greatest acts of righteousness, but on the basis of Christ’s full and perfect sacrifice for our sin. And when we realize that, we stop looking at ourselves, and our performance, and stop trying to make ourselves great, and look to Christ, and exclaim, “How great thou art!”

When we see Christ’s greatness, we become hungry for more of Christ. We hunger to experience more of His grace. We hunger to put on more of His righteousness. We hunger for Christ because we know that He’s good.

So Moses left Egypt, not afraid of the king’s anger, but hungry for more of Christ (v. 27). He desired to know God more, to see Him who cannot be seen. He endured because He had caught a glimpse of God’s greatness, and he wanted more of it. Church, if you want to endure in your faith, first you need to see how beautiful God is. Because if you see how beautiful God is, you’ll want to gaze upon Him the rest of your life. Moses knew that although he could stay in the palace and live for himself, it wouldn’t lead to eternal happiness and peace. So he chose the greater wealth, a life knowing God and knowing God’s blessings. He chose obeying God, and standing up to the Pharaoh, and risking his own life and well-being to display God’s power and miracles and plagues in Egypt.

Our Sin, and Christ’s Salvation

After all the miracles and plagues had been unleashed in Egypt, Moses observed the last one in faith with a sober awareness of the price of their sin (v. 28). Our sin deserves death. We’re not saved by coming to church, we’re saved only by the death of the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who died for our sin. Moses knew it, and looked forward in faith to the coming Messiah, and he knew living for Christ was far greater than living for himself. Trust in Christ, and experience His goodness and greatness today and for all eternity.