Hebrews 11:24-26, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”

I do not need to tell you that Hebrews 11 is a great chapter of faith. I suppose none found so much difficulty in a profession of Christianity as the Hebrews did. The way was narrow to all, but pre-eminently so to them. The cross was heavy to all, but surely they had to carry double weight. This chapter would refresh us like a cordial, and its words would be pleasant as the honeycomb, “sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

The men of God who are named in the earlier part of the chapter are all examples to us, beyond question. But we cannot literally do what most of them did, how much we may drink into their spirit. We are not called upon to offer a literal sacrifice like Abel, or build a literal ark like Noah, or leave our country literally and dwell in tents and offer up our Isaac like Abraham. But the faith of Moses comes near to us. It seems to operate in a way more familiar to our own experience. It made him take up a line of conduct such as we must often take up ourselves in the present day, each in our own walk of life. For this reason, the quoted three verses deserve more than ordinary consideration.

First, Moses gave up and refused some things. Moses gave up three things for the sake of his soul. He felt that his soul would not be saved if he kept them, so he gave them up.

(1) He gave up rank and greatness. “He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” We all know his history. The daughter of Pharaoh had preserved his life, when he was an infant, adopted him and educated him as her own son. If writers of history may be trusted, she was Pharaoh’s only child. Men go as far as to say that in the common order of things, Moses would one day have been king of Egypt. That may be or may not – we cannot tell. It is enough to know that, from his connection with Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses might have been, if he had pleased, a very great man. If he had been content with the position in which he found himself at the Egyptian court, he might easily have been among the first, if not the very first, in all the land of Egypt. Think, for a moment, how great this temptation was.

Here was a man of like passion with ourselves. He might have had as much greatness as earth can well give. Rank, power, place, honour, titles, dignities, everything was before him and within his grasp. These are the things for which many men are continually struggling. These are the prizes which there is such an incessant race in the world around us to obtain. To be somebody, to be looked up, to raise themselves in the scale of society, to get a handle to their names – these are the things for which many sacrifice time, thought and health, and life itself. But Moses would not have them at a gift. He turned back upon them. He refused them. He gave them up.

(2) He refused pleasure. Pleasure of every kind was at his feet, if he had liked to take them up – sensual pleasure, intellectual pleasure, social pleasure, whatever could strike his fancy. Egypt was a land of artists, a residence of learned men, a resort of everyone who had skill, or science of any description. There was everything which could feed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, which one in the place of Moses could easily have commanded. Temptation was great.

People may differ in their views of what makes up real pleasure, but all agree in seeking first and foremost to obtain it. Pleasure is a shadow that all alike are hunting, high and low, rich and poor, old and young, one with another. Each perhaps pretending to despise his neighbour for seeking it, each in his own way seeking it for himself, each secretly wondering that he does not find it, each firmly persuaded that somewhere or other it is to be found. This was the cup that Moses had before his lips. He might have drunk as deeply as he liked of earthly pleasure. But he would not have it. He turned his back upon it. He refused it. He gave it up.

(3) He refused riches. “The treasures in Egypt” is an expression that seems to tell of wealth that he might have enjoyed had he been content to remain with Pharaoh’s daughter. We could easily suppose that these treasures would have been a mighty fortune. Enough is still remaining in Egypt to give us some faint idea of the money at its king’s disposal. The pyramids, obelisks, and statutes are still standing there as witnesses. The ruins at Carnac, Luxor, Denderah, and many other places are still the mightiest buildings in the world. They testify to this day that the man, who gave up Egyptian wealth, gave up something which even our modern minds would find it hard to reckon. Think once more, how great was the temptation.

Think about the power of money, the immense influence that the love of money obtains over men’s minds. Look around us and see how men covet it, and what amazing pains and trouble they will go through to obtain it. If a man knows that he can find something for great profits but has to travel a very long distance, he will immediately make travelling plans to get there. If a man can meet another man who can give him advice to increase his profits by one percent, he will be willing to do anything for the wise man to get that advice. To possess money seems to hide defects, to cover over faults, and to clothe a man with virtues. People can get over much, if we are rich. But here is a man who might have been rich and would not. He would not have Egyptian treasures. He turns his back upon them. He refused them. Such were the things that Moses refused – rank, pleasure, riches, all three at once.

He did it deliberately. He did not refuse these things in a hasty fit of youthful excitement. He was forty years old. He was in the prime of life. He knew what he was about. He weighed both sides of the question. He did not refuse them because he was obliged. He was not like the dying man, who does not crave anything, because he is leaving the world and cannot keep anything for himself. He was not like the pauper, who cannot get riches anyway. He was not like an old man who cannot enjoy worldly pleasure anymore. Moses refused what he might have kept and gave up what he might have enjoyed. Others have refused much, but none, so much as Moses. Others have done well in the way of self-sacrifice and self-denial, but he excels them all.

Lovingly,

Your Pastor

More Lively Hope

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