1. Moses is one of the great heroes of the Bible.  He is one of the few characters of Scripture whose life is recorded all the way from his infancy to his death.
2. No one knows the details of his death and burial, but apparently God Himself conducted his funeral (Deut. 34:1-12; cf. Jude 9).
3. I. M. Haldeman was the pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City for 49 years.  He wrote, “The life of Moses presents a series of striking antitheses. He was the child of a slave, and the son of a queen. He was born in a hut, and lived in a palace. He inherited poverty, and enjoyed unlimited wealth. He was the leader of armies, and the keeper of flocks. He was the mightiest of warriors, and the meekest of men. He was educated in the court, and dwelt in the desert. He had the wisdom of Egypt, and the faith of a child. He was fitted for the city, and wandered in the wilderness. He was tempted with the pleasures of sin, and endured the hardships of virtue. He was backward in speech, and talked with God. He had the rod of a shepherd, and the power of the Infinite. He was a fugitive from Pharaoh, and an ambassador from heaven. He was the giver of the Law, and the forerunner of grace. He died alone on Mount Moab, and appeared with Christ in Judea. No man assisted at his funeral, yet God buried him.”
4. Exodus 2 gives us a brief account of the infancy of Moses. The king of Egypt was determined to slow down the rapid growth of the Israelites.
5. First, he placed them under taskmasters, who were given orders to “afflict them with their burdens” (1:11).
6. “But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (1:12).
7. Next, Pharaoh gave orders to the Hebrew midwives that whenever a male Israelite was born, he should be killed. But once again, Pharaoh’s evil designs were thwarted because the midwives feared God, “and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive” (1:17).
8. It was during this time that Moses was born (2:1-10).  Hebrews 11:23 says, “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” (cf. Ex. 2:1, 2).
9. CH Mackintosh describes the situation this way:

1. The power of Satan (1:16, 22)
2. The power of God (1:17, 20)
3. The power of faith (cf. Hebrews 11:23)

10. The faith of Moses’ parents is seen in the way they overcame their fear of the king, and in the way they trusted in God’s protection and preservation of their child (Hebrews 11:23).
11. Matthew Henry said, “Faith is a great preservative against the sinful slavish fear of men, as it sets God before the soul, and shows the vanity of the creature and its subordination to the will and power of God.”
12. Moses is referred to 848 times in the Bible, 80 times in the New Testament. There are many interesting details about Moses given to us throughout the Bible, things not mentioned in the account in Exodus.
13. For example, only the mother of Moses is mentioned in the account in Exodus 2, yet, from Hebrews 11:23, we learn that his father was involved as well.
14. It is good to study all the references to Moses in the Bible (cf. Acts 7:20-44; Hebrews 11:24-27).
15. In Stephen’s message in Acts 7, we learn that Moses “was full forty years old” when he went out unto his brethren (Acts 7:23; cf. Ex. 2:11).
16. From Stephen we also learn that Moses spent forty years in the land of Midian (Acts 7:30).
17. We know from Deuteronomy 34:7 that Moses lived to the age of 120.  Therefore Moses’ life can be divided into three periods of 40 years each:

1. Moses was learning how to be somebody – Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds (Acts 7:22)
2. Moses was learning how to be a nobody – Moses spent 40 years on the backside of the desert.
3. Moses was trying to help everybody – Moses is called “the servant of the LORD” (Deut. 34:5; Josh. 1:1, 2).

I. MOSES REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER (HEBREWS 11:24).

1. The Jewish historian Josephus says that Pharaoh had no other children, and that his daughter had no children of her own. Therefore, it is possible Moses could have succeeded to the throne.
2. Hebrews 11:24 says, “He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”  This could indicate some offer was made to Moses, and he turned it down.
3. Or this could simply mean he was turning down a comfortable life of ease and pleasure.
4. Moses “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” because he did not want anyone to think that he was renouncing his faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
5. Moses “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” because that would look like he was also disowning his fellow Israelites.
6. Moses could have lived his entire life in the midst of the wealth and splendor of Pharaoh’s palace.
7. Providence placed Moses in Pharaoh’s palace, but providence did not keep him there.
8. “What he refused then was wealth, honors, power, and, most likely, a throne” (AW Pink, Gleanings in Exodus).
9. Moses “chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”
10. There is pleasure in sin, but it is only “for a season,” and the season is very brief. It will all soon pass away.
11. Wine drinking is pleasurable, but Proverbs 23:32 says, “At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”
12. First Corinthians 6:10 says drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
13. There is pleasure in immorality, but Proverbs 6:32 says, “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.”
14. Revelation 21:8 says whoremongers shall be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
15. We are not to suppose that when Moses was living at the court of Pharaoh, that he was indulging in these sins of the flesh. What this passage means is that these sins were practiced there.
16. If Moses had remained there it would have been because he loved the pleasures of a sinful court and a sinful life, rather than the favour of God.
17. Albert Barnes said, “Those who live for pleasure often abridge their own lives. Indulgence brings disease in its train, and the votaries of sensuality usually die young. The art has never been yet discovered of combining intemperance and sensuality with length of days.”
18. Hebrews 11:27 says, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”
19. The Egyptians were sensual, pleasure-loving sinners, but Moses turned his back on all of that – “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God” (Heb. 11:25).
20. Moses deliberately chose to identify “with the people of God” (Heb. 11:25).
21. And the people of God identify with the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Hebrews 12:26a; 13:13).
22. The Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven and identified with His people.
23. Moses came down from his elevated position in Egypt to identify with His people.
24. Moses’ decision is all the more amazing when we consider he was deliberately joining up with a despised and persecuted people.
25. Moses preferred hardship to comfort, and shame and reproach rather than fame and honor.
26. Moses chose afflictions rather than pleasures, and the wilderness rather than the Egyptian court.
27. Moses could have quietly helped his fellow Israelites from within the comfortable position in Pharaoh’s court.  He could have used his influence to lighten their burdens.
28. But God had a much greater work for Moses.  And so “by faith” (Hebrews 11:24) Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and “by faith” Moses forsook Egypt (Heb. 11:27).
29. Remember back in the days of wicked King Ahab and his heathen wife Queen Jezebel, there was a man named Obadiah?
30. Obadiah was the governor of King Ahab’s house, and he was a believer. First Kings 18:3, 4 says, “Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.”
31. God used Obadiah, and I thank God for men like Obadiah.
32. But we need more men like Elijah the prophet, who stood up to wicked King Ahab and said, “I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim” (I Kings 18:18).

II. MOSES ESTEEMED THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES THAN THE TREASURES OF EGYPT (HEB. 11:26).

1. At first glance, the expression “the reproach of Christ” (Heb. 11:26) seems strange, considering Moses lived 1,500 years before Christ (cf. I Cor. 10:1-4).
2. Our Lord said to the Pharisees, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56), and Abraham lived 2,000 years before Christ.
3. The Old Testament prophets all looked forward to the coming of the Messiah (I Peter 1:10, 11).
4. Moses believed, and by faith he was a partaker of the sufferings.
5. Moses not only endured suffering, he “esteemed” them (Hebrews 11:26).  The word “esteemed” means he considered it an honor and a privilege; he had a great regard and respect for it; and he valued it highly.
6. Moses understood that once he cut his ties with Pharaoh, there was no turning back.
7. Moses gladly went from being a prince to a slave. The life he chose was in every respect the very opposite of that in which he had been reared.
8. Yet Moses did not murmur or complain. Rather than being dissatisfied with his decision, he valued (“esteemed”) the “reproach” which it brought him (Heb. 11:26).
9. Rather than complain at the affliction, he “esteemed” it highly – as if it were worth more than all the treasures of Egypt (11:26).
10. When Moses was a young man, Egypt was the wealthiest and the greatest country on the face of the earth. But Moses gladly walked away from it, “for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” (11:26; cf. II Cor. 4:17, 18).
11. Moses walked by faith and not by sight.  “It is only faith that discerns the invisible God who transcends all circumstances” (HA Ironside).
12. Moses had his eyes on the invisible, not on the tangible. Moses was “occupied with the future rather than the present; and, consequently, it was an easy matter to exchange the palace for the wilderness, and the pleasures of sin for the reproach of Christ” (AW Pink).

III. MOSES WAS FORCED TO FLEE FROM EGYPT (EX. 2:11).

1. Exodus 2:11 says, “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown…”
2. Moses was a great man, but nevertheless he had his faults like every other man.  Exodus 2:12 says he killed an Egyptian, and then hid his dead body in the sand.
3. Acts 7:24 seems to indicate it may have been justifiable, but the Egyptians did not see it that way, and so Moses had to leave right away (Ex. 2:13-15).
4. Hebrews 11:27 says, “By faith (not fear) he forsook Egypt…”  “Whatever his danger may have been, the decisive element in his leaving Egypt was not his fear of the king’s wrath, but his deliberate purpose to renounce his princely rank and to throw in his lot with the people of God” (Sir Robert Anderson, Types in Hebrews).
5. The Lord was with Moses, and he soon settled down in the land of Midian (2:15-22), i.e., Arabia.
6. But God was preparing Moses to return to Egypt to deliver his people from bondage (2:23-25).
7. In Exodus 2:24, we see “God heard.”
8. In Exodus 2:24, we see “God remembered.”
9. In Exodus 2:25, we see “God looked.”
10. And then in Exodus 3:4, we see “God called.” 

CONCLUSION:

1. Exodus 3 is the big turning point in the life of Moses.
2. God spoke to Moses out of the midst of the burning bush (3:1-6).
3. Someone said, “To the Christian all ground is holy ground, and every bush is a burning bush.”