Well, good morning to everyone. Beautiful fall day today. Enjoy that. 

We're continuing our study here in Hebrews and really the songs we've been singing this morning are what the message is all about, that Jesus has accomplished our salvation at Calvary, that the work is done, that he's died in our place for our sins, and now the righteousness of God can be imputed to us through faith. That's the message that we kind of keep going over and over and over through this 11th chapter of Hebrews. 

Last time we began our study of the incredible life and story of Moses, and we saw tremendous faith exhibited in those first verses we looked at here in 23 down to 27. We saw how Moses' parents, by faith, hid him from the king and didn't obey the command to throw him into the river to drown, and then they put him in an ark, protecting him, setting him in the river, fully trusting in God's provision. And then how that provision came, as Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river to bathe, and she found the baby Moses in the little boat, and then his sister volunteered to find a nursemaid for Moses, which turned out to be his own mother, and he grew up in his own house with his own family, learning the ways of the Hebrews and the promises of Jehovah God.

Well, these things are amazing to consider, to ponder, as we see in this passage the tremendous sovereign hand of God, guiding and protecting and providing for his people and to accomplish his purpose. And we also see the incredible faith in subsequent actions of those who trust in him. These truly are awesome examples of faith in the Old Testament that we've been studying, examples for us of what faith looks like and how the saints of God exercised, lived each day by faith. 

In the verses we're going to consider this morning, we see no less amazing examples of faith in the life of Moses in the Passover, and then the deliverance of Israel from Egypt in the Exodus. God made some tremendous promises to Moses and to Israel, even as we saw back in the life of Joseph, promises that seemed impossible at the time, and really for 80 years of Moses' life. The promise of deliverance, of providing a way out of Egypt. 

And in our text today, we will see again that God does what he promises. He is the God who cannot lie, who makes good on his word. And we see that nothing is impossible with him. Let's look at our text in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 24. 

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.

I've given you three points on your outline. First we're going to look at the purpose, reminding us of the intent of the author. Second, the picture in the Passover. And third, the provision of deliverance on dry land through the Red Sea. 

Well first we're going to look at the purpose and I want to just look back at the intent of the author, why he's writing all of these examples. Before we dig into our text I think it's important for us to review again why it is that the author is giving us all these examples of faith from the Old Testament, why he's writing these things to these specific Hebrew people. 

By the time of Jesus coming to this earth to become a man to take on flesh and dwell among us, the Jewish people had developed an elaborate system of works-righteousness. They'd taken the old covenant law of God and turned its purpose on its head. It was no longer, as God had intended it, a means of showing man his sin, his need, and providing a picture, a foreshadowing of the provision to come in the power of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather, it became a means to work one's way to righteousness. 

The law was a means to holiness in the Judaism of Jesus' day as it is in our day as well. And so the system in which these Hebrews had grown up was really no more than another false religion based on the works of men, a system of rites and rituals meant to earn the favor of God by one's own merits. Jesus confronted this very thing speaking of the spirit of the law with the Pharisees of his day. 

Let's turn to Matthew 23 and look at some stunning words in Matthew 23 beginning in verse 23. This is Jesus publicly speaking to the religious leaders of his day. He said, "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone. Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you're like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.'"

Well, this is a great theme in the book of Hebrews as well. The problem was that they were trying to cleanse themselves by external works and what they really needed was an internal recreation. Jesus said it's not what goes into a man that defiles him, but it's what comes out of him. 

We deal with the very same issue with religious men today. They're trying to work their way to heaven. They're participating in all kinds of external cleansing in rituals and rites and ceremonies, but they have no way of dealing with the internal corruption that is the real problem of man. In Hebrews 9-11 it says, "...but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come. With the greater, more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." 

Now listen to what the author of Hebrews says, "...for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" 

The old covenant was all external. It was all law, meant to show us our sin, to picture Christ, but Jesus brought the new birth, regeneration through his death, burial, and resurrection, and through faith we can be united to him, dying with him to sin and law and death, and raised up to newness of life, having a new heart and a new spirit, and the life of Jesus Christ living in us. 

I'd like for you to turn to Romans 5.18 just to press this point a little further. Romans 5 verse 18, Paul's writing concerning the condemnation that came to all men because of Adam's sin. In verse 18 he says, "...therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification unto life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

The law was not given to help us to earn our own righteousness, to become good. You see, this is where religion has it all wrong. Religion says that the problem is that man does bad things, and thus the answer of religion is for man to do good things. You do bad, you do bad, you do bad, you become bad. So you should do good and do good and do good so that you can become good. But the Bible says, Jesus says, Paul says here in Romans 5, the author of Hebrews says in chapter 9, the problem is not an external one, it's an internal one.

I was thinking of my old buddy Anders Gehr from Sweden as I was writing these notes. Every year since 2007 I've guided a group of guys from Sweden this time of year on archery hunts for deer, but this year we're not doing a hunt so I've kind of been missing the thought of doing that and at the same time thankful that I'm not. I remember a conversation that we had many years ago as we were driving on Highway 2 in my truck. I was explaining this very truth to him, the need of the new birth, the problem of inner corruption and need for regeneration, fixing what is wrong on the inside so that we might see the fruit outwardly in our lives. 

Well, he's not a religious man by any means, but I remember his response vividly. He said, so what you're saying is that I need a new hard drive, that my hard drive is corrupted. I always thought that was a really precise, accurate way of understanding the problem. Our hard drive is corrupted and no matter what we do outwardly to dress ourselves up or fix our actions or appearance or reboot ourselves, the real problem is internal and it must be fixed by the new birth, a new creation, regeneration, a new hard drive installed through faith in Jesus Christ.

You see, Israel as a nation when Jesus came did not understand these things. They were so immersed in religion and self-righteousness through the law that they had no clue about the righteousness of God which comes only by faith. He came to his own and they received him not. But for those who received him, that is those who believe on his name, to them he gave the right to become the children of God. 

That's the message and the intent of the author of Hebrews considering the audience to which he writes and I don't want us to forget that in the midst of our study of all these great examples of faith. You see, the Jews revered Abraham and Moses as the greatest men of all. He who was the father of the nation who received the promises, Abraham, and he who received the law, the law covenant which encompassed their entire lives, Moses, and unfortunately which they thought by which they would obtain eternal life.

So the purpose, the intent, what the author's trying to do here in this 11th chapter is this. He's trying to convey the truth to them that righteousness by faith is not something new. God has always imputed righteousness to men on the basis of faith alone. You see, the Hebrews thought the law covenant was all about works and Abraham was justified by works and Moses was justified by works and now they're saying you're coming to us preaching this righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ, this is something new, this is something contrary.

It's not that there's some major deviation from the old to the new, not that God is scrapping the whole purpose and intent of the law covenant. Rather, Israel, the Jewish nation, has misused, misunderstood, and misapplied the law to such a degree that they have no understanding of its intent and what the author's saying is you have completely missed the fulfillment of all that was pictured and pointed to in the Messiah in Christ. 

The example here of Moses and his great faith, his life of faith and righteousness obtained by faith, is a powerful example to these readers that this teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the new covenant is not a deviation from the old covenant law but a fulfillment of it. And even all the way back to Cain and Abel and all the way through the patriarchs including Abraham and even in the great giver of the law covenant Moses, God's way of making a man right with him has always been by faith. 

So the conclusion in their minds for the ones who had believed and were saved, the primary audience of this epistle, is that they had made the right decision. That they should hold fast to their confession, to faith in Jesus, and be encouraged and strengthened in the midst of persecution and pressure. And for the ones who are leaning back to the law as a way of righteousness, this is again a clear warning that no one has ever been made righteous by the law. The law brings only wrath. It leads to death. So what they must do is what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses did. Come to God in faith. Be made right by faith. Receive the very righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ. 

This is the call of the new covenant gospel and this is the way that God has always made men right with him. So I just want us to remember as we studied the intent of the author, the context and the flow of the text here in the midst. Hebrews chapter 11, so that we might see the purpose in showing the life of faith of all these great saints. 

So we see the purpose, now let's get to the picture in verse 28. Hebrews 11:28, "By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them." Well last time we left Moses in Midian. Remember he was there with Jethro and he lived there for 40 years. But then it had come time to go back, to go back to Egypt. God had called him at the burning bush, giving him his mission to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let the people of Israel go.

Let's continue that story together in Exodus 5. Go back to Exodus 5 with me please. We're gonna look at several Old Testament passages this morning. Exodus 5.1 it says, afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus says the Lord God of Israel, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go. 

So they said, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword. Then the king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor. And Pharaoh said, look the people of land are many now and you make them rest from their labor. So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers saying, you shall no longer give the people straw to make brick as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. And you shall lay on them the quote of bricks which they made before; you shall not reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry out saying, let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let more work be laid on the men that they may labor in it and let them not regard false words.

Well the first meeting did not go so well. But you remember that God told Moses in the beginning that Pharaoh would not heed his words. So then Pharaoh punishes the children of Israel and causes them to gather their own straw and make bricks and he doesn't decrease their quota. And they groan against Moses and Moses gets discouraged and he has to talk to God again. And we see that he goes back to Pharaoh and we have this ongoing hardening of Pharaoh's heart against God, against Israel. 

And then we see the plagues begin, the water turn to blood, the frogs, the gnats, the flies, the death of livestock, the boils, the great hailstorm, and the locusts, then the ominous darkness. And finally we see that God brings a final plague on Egypt of the death of the firstborn of every household. But in this we see the beautiful story, the picture of the Passover. Turn to Exodus 12 with me please and let's look at that. 

Exodus 12 and verse 2, the prescription for the Passover. This month shall be your beginning of months, Exodus 12. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel saying, on the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of persons. According to each man's need you shall make your count for the lamb. 

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two door posts and on the lentil of the houses where they eat. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night roasted in fire with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Do not eat it raw nor boil it at all with water, but roast it in fire, its head with its legs and its entrails. You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. 

And thus you shall eat it with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you. And the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 

So this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them, but that which everyone must eat, that only may be prepared by you. 

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance." 

Well the final plague on Egypt would be the death of the firstborn of every household, even of the livestock. This is such a tremendous picture of eternal death from the consequences of sin. But what we see in this is that God made a way for man to be saved from death, from his wrath, and that way was through sacrifice, was through blood. Each household by faith, trusting, believing God and His Word, His revelation given here to Moses, was to take a lamb, a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year. And they were to sacrifice this lamb and take its blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel, covering, protecting the house from the angel of death, the destroyer. 

What a picture, my friends, of the Lamb of God, the blood of Christ, which washes us, which protects us from the wrath of God as He died as a sacrifice, as a substitute in our place for our sins. This Passover is a picture of Christ and it says that it was by faith that Moses kept it, that he did what God said, that he believed Him and obeyed Him, that it was by faith. 

And we read on in Exodus 12 that the destroyer came and he struck all the households in Egypt. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, go and serve the Lord as you have said, and take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone and bless me also. 

And the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We shall all be dead. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked the Egyptians for silver and articles of gold and clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they had requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians. 

Then it says they went out, the children of Israel journeyed, six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, flocks, herds, a great deal of livestock. They had been in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that very same day, it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations. 

What a great day in the history, in the life of Moses and Israel, who threw it all in the face of all that challenged him in Egypt, in the impossible circumstances, who had been the prince of Egypt, who had all that before him and all the treasures at his disposal, and had forsaken it to bear reproach with the people of God. What a day for Moses and for Israel. He had believed God. And now the fulfillment of the promise of deliverance had come and they blessed God, they spoke well of Him as the millions of Hebrews made their exodus from Egypt by faith. 

But this isn't the end of the story. The picture of the Passover was established, of the final Lamb that would come and take away sins, and Israel would practice this as a memorial of God's faithfulness and a picture of what was to come. But we still see another great event in the life of Moses, God's provision for final release of the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. 

Look at verse 29 in our text, Hebrews 11:29. Notice those two words again, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. We see the tremendous account in Exodus 14, God instructs the children of Israel to camp by the Red Sea with mountains on both sides, putting them in an impossible position as God hardens Pharaoh's heart to come after them and pursue them and kill them and bring them back into slavery. 

And God's going to show how He is in control, how He provides for His people, and that they can always trust Him, they can always believe Him, that they in fact can live by faith and He will make provision. Let's look at one more passage in Exodus 14. This is such a tremendous story, the account of the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 14:3. 

"For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land, the wilderness has closed them in. Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so. 

Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people and they said, why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? We just let go a million slaves, what are we thinking? So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also he took 600 choice chariots and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. 

And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel. And the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi-Harath before Baal-Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. 

What a picture! You couldn't make a better motion picture, could you, in Hollywood? Here they're all trapped in and here comes Pharaoh and he's gonna wipe them out. Then they said to Moses, verse 11, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? Wow! For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. 

Now look at the faith of Moses. They're coming, he's looking at them. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace. 

And the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward, but lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea and indeed I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots and his horsemen. 

Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. And the angel of the Lord who went before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one and it gave light by night to the other so that the one did not come near the other all that night. 

God's provision, God's protection. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry land and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Can you imagine? And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea all Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and his horsemen. 

And it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians. And he took off their chariot wheels so that they drove them with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians. 

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians on their chariots and their horsemen. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 

Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. And the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 

Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt. So the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and His servant Moses." 

What an amazing event. It's easy just to read over that, but think about what God did there and how He provided for their salvation and He delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians. It just makes me think about how God has delivered me. We're going to see that Israel, after they go out in the Exodus, begin to grumble and complain. They begin to forget. They don't remember. I wonder for myself how often I forget. How often I grumble and complain and doubt and fear. When God has delivered me from sin and death and hell, He saved me with hope, with steadfast confidence and assurance of God's provision of grace for my life today and for eternity. 

This pastor started this morning, what can we say but thank you. Faith starts with thank you, Lord. Understanding grace, understanding what God has done in Christ. Well this was a tremendous lesson for Israel, for these Hebrews to which the author writes, and it's also a tremendous lesson for us. 

A lesson to live by faith, to trust God, to always know that God is in control, that He will not leave us or forsake us, but will make provision for us to accomplish His will. The example of Moses is a powerful testimony of these Hebrews of God's purpose, of the picture of Christ, of the provision He makes to deliver us, and the salient message is this, it's all by faith. By faith. 

Justification, being made right with God is through faith alone and Jesus alone. Sanctification, the life we live one day at a time, being conformed to His likeness, bearing fruit for His glory, is by faith just the same, for the just shall live by faith. This is the lesson these Hebrews needed to learn and to hold on to, and this is a truth that we must hold fast to as well, each and every day. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful that You continue to teach us. We're thankful for all of these examples, the amazing lives of the Old Testament saints and their faith in You, and we're thankful that You delivered them, that You saved them, that You provided for them, and that You've provided for every man in Jesus Christ, and that anyone who will turn to Him in faith, trust Him and believe Him, and His death for our sins in our place will be saved forever. We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.