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“Hall of Faith” (Mess.#11) “The Deliverance of Faith” (Moses)
Text: Heb.11: 28-29 Intro. We learned last week about four choices Moses made. He chose: 1) Poverty over Privilege. 2) Suffering over Sin. 3) Reproach over Riches. 4) Promises over Palaces. We find one last choice that he made in vs.28-29. He chose the Passover over Perishing! The faith of Moses calls for special attention. Three things need to be noted. 1) Faith’s Vision (v.27). He saw through temporal things and found eternal realities because he saw God! 2) Faith’s Value (vs.25-26). He chose, reckoned, separated himself and determined to do the will of God. 3) Faith’s Victory. He overcame the world (Represented by Egypt), the opposition of Pharaoh and the power of his own natural tendencies as he was tempted by the glories of Egypt. It was Moses’ total confidence in God’s Word and his fear of the consequences that made him willing to institute the Passover. This great choice that Moses made illustrates beautifully the deliverance that faith brings. Those who exercised faith were delivered, those who didn’t faced death and doom! The same is true today! If you’ll exercise faith in the Lamb of God, you will experience the deliverance of faith. If you fail to do so, you will face death and eternal doom! Faith brings . . .
A) Deliverance from Death (v.28) “By blood” 1) Submission: “Through faith he kept . . . ” A) Institution of the Passover as an act of faith is similar to that of Noah’s preparation of the Ark. 1) Both required submission to God’s instructions. 2) Both required faith that God would use them to deliver from death. 3) Both were the only means of deliverance! 4) Both protected believers from the wrath of God! 5) In both cases those who rejected God’s place of refuge faced judgment and death! B) Moses submitted to God’s instructions and instituted the Passover through faith. He truly believed that God would kill the firstborn and so he followed through with the Passover. 2) Symbolism: (Ex.12: 1-3, 23-30) “and the sprinkling of blood . . . ” A) Typology of Passover: 1) Lamb without blemish (Ex.12: 5) - Pictures Christ who was without sin. 2) Kept from the tenth day to the fourteenth. A period of inspection. Christ was “inspected” for thirty-three and ½ years and found faultless! 3) Lamb was killed - Christ died and therefore bore our judgment. 4) Blood was sprinkled on side posts and lintel of the door. “Without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Heb.9: 22). This made the figure of a cross! The shed blood was evidence of a sacrificial death required by divine justice! 5) All those “covered by the blood” were “passed over” in judgment, all others suffered death of their firstborn! B) Because of Moses’s faith in God’s Word and fear of the consequences he willingly instituted the Passover. C) We too must have faith in God’s Word and a fear of the consequences if we fail to obey the gospel and receive Christ, our Passover, who was sacrificed for us! (Heb.9: 27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Ro.6: 23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rev.21: 8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”). 3) Safety: “lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.” A) Only those who entered the ark were spared from judgment and only those who sprinkled the blood were “passed over” and spared from certain death! B) Pharaoh killed the boy babies and God killed the firstborn! C) Truly “salvation is of the LORD” and “. . . safety is of the Lord.” (Jon.2: 9; Pr.21: 31). D) If you are to escape the judgment of God, you too must have the blood applied to the doorposts and lintels of your heart! Are you under the blood?!
B) Deliverance from the World (v.29) “By power” 1) The Picture: Egypt is a type of the World. A) It’s a place of bitter bondage (Ex.1: 14) B) It’s a place of groaning and despair (Ex.2: 24) C) It’s a place of idolatry (Ex.12: 12) D) It was ruled by Pharaoh (A type of the devil, the god of this world) E) It was a place that was under the judgment of God (Ten plagues) F) It was a place of death G) Leaving Egypt (Ex.14: 21-22), pictured separation from the world to walk in victory and newness of life! H) Crossing the Red Sea also pictured passing from death unto life! 2) The Power: A) God is a God of separation! As soon as they observed the Passover they separated from Egypt. As soon as you get saved, you are to separate from the world! B) God displayed His great power by parting the waters! C) God alone can give you the power to live a victorious Christian life! D) You are no longer enslaved by the power of the world – You are set free from the past – Your past sin, bondage, despair, defeat, idolatry, grief, and death. You are to live like it!! E) Moses and the Children of Israel crossed over by faith - You can too! Faith enables us to see the . . . C) Destruction of the Enemy (v.29) “which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.” 1) God not only wanted His people to see His deliverance, but also to witness the destruction of the enemy! 2) Both the deliverance and the destruction came about because Moses exercised faith in God’s Word. 3) The Egyptians sought to bypass the authority of God and thus met destruction. This vividly illustrates the folly of attempting the way of faith while bypassing the cross and the authority of God’s Word! 4) Jn.10: 1, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” The Egyptians had bypassed the blood and were seeking to “climb up some other way” and were therefore thieves and robbers! 5) God has judged our “enemies” too – Sin, the world, the devil (and all those who die in unbelief will be judged as well!). Conclusion: Moses and the Israelites were delivered by faith! Delivered from death and the world! You too can be delivered by faith! If you reject the way of faith – you will face destruction! Won’t you go the blood-sprinkled way?
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