Hebrews 11:26a
"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:.…"
We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Egypt was the America of its day. They lived sumptuously. They knew how to live, as we say, ‘high on the hog.’ And they knew how to throw fancy banquets. They knew how to dress with beautiful clothes. They had all that going for them, and yet Moses turns his back on all that and aligns himself with the slaves out there in the brick kilns of the Hebrews in Goshen. Quite a choice, wasn’t it?
And yet, the lesson for us is is it any different today? And oh, if our young people could realize that Moses knew what he was doing when he "esteemed the riches of Christ as a greater treasure than the sins and the pleasures of Egypt." And why did he make the choice? How could he have known Christ and His riches, than by inspiration or revelation from the Holy Spirit of course. We find this answered in the last half of verse 26:
Hebrews 11:26b
"…for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward."
He suddenly got, a spiritual understanding of "the recompense of the reward." Now we want to remember that for the pleasures of sin, even if they could enjoy it to the full, up until the end of a normal lifespan, we’ll even go on up into the 80’s and 90’s, what if? What if we could enjoy all those youthful pleasures all the way up until we die? What is compared to eternity? Nothing! Absolutely Nothing! It’s just a blink of the eye compared to eternity. Wherein we'll either be spiritually in torment and pain or with the Father of spirits.
I made the comment, that I had read the back of a T-shirt and that was a T-shirt I wish more people would wear. It said, "Eternity. Have you thought about it?" Well, someone turned right around and made a lapel button out of that and a friend of ours made a bumper sticker of the very same thing. We would to God that more people would consider eternity. That’s forever. For the true believer they're going to be enjoying all the rewards of our right choices, not just for a lifetime, but Forever!
On the other hand, for the lost and the lawless, wicked person who have chosen wrongly, he’s going to suffer the ramifications of that forever. Eternity is forever. Someone came up with the answer, How long is eternity? As long as God lives! Isn’t that what it is, Joy? As long as God lives! That’s eternity. And He’s from eternity past to eternity future. Now that’s beyond our human comprehension. But this is what Moses considered. Moses considered that these pleasures of Egypt for a little while were nothing compared to the rewards of eternity. And oh, if we could only just get this across to people - stop and think. It’s not just for a few years. As the book calls it a vapor of smoke, that is our life as a mere human. Not even for a few hundred years. But eternity, It’s for Forever. Verse 27:
Hebrews 11:27a
"By faith, he forsook Egypt,.…"
Moses didn’t just take off blindly. Moses just didn’t take out into the wilderness wondering what was going to be his lot. Moses knew that God was in control. Now I think I made the comment, that they didn’t have any written Bible in those days. He didn’t have the written Word to depend on like we do. So how did those people keep the trust generation after generation? By the word of mouth. They passed it on to their young children and they rehearsed it. They did not have a priest or system of study, they just rehearsed it with each family member telling of God's exploits in their lives. They told of His great faithfulness to His promises and His actions on they're behalf. That’s where we have failed. We haven’t passed it on to our younger generation and so now we’re living in a society where most kids don’t even know anything of the Scripture. Most people have NO testimony of God's activity among themselves because they're not part of His activity. Why? Because the Religion which God condemned has now over ruled and captivated mans heart by its poison humanism, physiology, philosophy, socialism and Idolatry. For it teaches and propagates the other gospel which is NOT the Gospel of God in Christ Jesus.
It’s just mind boggling of how ignorant most of our younger people are of Scripture. They can’t tell a Bible verse from a sentence from a poem. Now, that’s pitiful. But anyway, Moses left Egypt knowing, by trusting God, that he was under God’s control.
Now of course, the circumstances were less than perfect because you remember he had killed the Egyptian, and because of that he had to flee, the crisis. But, nevertheless, by faith he left Egypt:
Hebrews 11:27
"By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible."
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