Hebrews 11 F Suffer Affliction
{11:20} By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
{11:21} By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of
Joseph; and worshipped, [leaning] upon the top of his staff.
{11:22} By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing
of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.
{11:23} By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his
parents, because they saw [he was] a proper child; and they were not
afraid of the king’s commandment.
{11:24} By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter
{11:25} Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season
Choosing.
Making a choice.
To chose.
This act of choice is voluntary. You pick one way or another. You can't NOT pick.
There is one way or there is another way.
Here the choice for Moses was to stay living a life of pure ease under the Egyptian rule as an Egyptian prince or...
Choose to live as a slave and suffer as all the other children of God were.
Did he enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season?
We all know what the pleasures of sin are don't we? Or maybe our senses are so warped we no longer call sin, sin.
Maybe our pleasure is something we consider our right and how could something that is our right to have be sin?
We were made to feel pleasure and so it stands to reason that we would seek pleasure but at what price?
Is pleasure our right just because we can feel it?
We are creatures with the ability to choose and make choices and we can make selfish choices or unselfish choices.
When our choices are based upon our own pleasure, when they are based upon ourselves we call it our right, our due, in fact we call it our God given due just because we are made to feel pleasure.
Selfishness.
Thinking of our selves first is never good and yet more and more we are encouraged to do that. To take care of ourselves first and then bother about others.
Moses chose to suffer rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
We need to determine what pleasures are sinful and then determined not to enjoy those sins for a season no matter how much pleasure we get from them.
Sacrificing self is necessary we can't get around it not if we want to stand with the people of God.
By grace we are saved through faith.
Our lives should be lived by faith.
Lived by faith.
It's through faith that we are saved by grace. It stands to reason we should live by faith, our daily lives lived by faith. Faith that we are saved by grace through Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever.
We need to choose just as Moses chose, to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
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A small excerpt from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis-
'Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?
Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?'
**
2/11/10
Heb 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Lay aside every weight.
Lay aside the sin that easily besets us.
Run with patience the race before us.
Look to Jesus the author of our faith.
Look to Jesus the finisher of our faith.
Jesus whose joy before Him was the result of His sacrifice- eternal life for all those who would believe in Him.
Jesus who endured the cross- the suffering, the pain.
Jesus who despised the shame.
Jesus who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We are to lay aside how much weight? EVERY.
We are to lay aside what that easily besets us? SIN.
We are to RUN with PATIENCE the race before us.
We are to look to JESUS the AUTHOR of our FAITH.
We are to look to JESUS the FINISHER of our FAITH.
It's not easy to lay aside the weight, the problems that upset us and weigh us down. We like to cling to the problems and worry over them, we want to mull over them and get all the mileage off them we can. We want sympathy, we want justice, we want a lot of things but just setting aside the problems and worries that bother us isn't something easy to do. The sins that easily capture our attention and take over us aren't sins we want to give up readily or they wouldn't be sins that were easily besetting us. Laying aside these things that would keep us from running the race before us, and running it with patience isn't something we can do on our own. We need Jesus, we need to LOOK to Jesus. We need to take our eyes off ourselves and look to Jesus. Jesus is the author of our faith. Jesus created our faith and Jesus will be there at the end of our faith when the substance of things hoped for are realized in Jesus.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we look ever to Him and not to ourselves.
Amen.
2/11/11