Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Moses and the Patience of Faith

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Is it possible in a throwaway culture, in a society of throwaway relationships, and in a society of throwaway identities to be a person who can endure and hyperstand?  To hyperstand means you put your feet down and nothing can knock you off your feet. It’s like you’re in a river, but you can stand in the river. That’s what the book of Hebrews is about. And in the life of Moses, we see the secret of endurance, of someone who stands firm in the long run. Let’s look at 1) what Moses endured, and 2) how he did it. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 13, 1994. Series: The Nature of Faith. Scripture: Hebrews 11:23-30. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to the Gospel in Life podcast. We all strive to live with stability and balance in the face of the challenges life brings. It's natural to want poise and strength when we deal with adversity or uncertainty. Today on Gospel in Life, Tim Keller shows us how a life of faith in Christ is the key to facing the challenges and adversity in life. After you listened to today's teaching, we invite you to go online to GospelinLife.com and sign up for our email updates. When you sign up, you'll receive our quarterly journal and other valuable Gospel-centered

resources. Subscribe today at GospelinLife.com. It's in Hebrews chapter 11, as they all have been, but let me read to you verses 23. And actually, I'll go through, even though in your bulletin it's printed only to 27, I'll read another two verses beyond. It's the story of Moses. Most all what we're going to say has to do with the verses that are right there printed in your bulletin. Hebrews 11, 23 and following.

By faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith, he left Egypt not fearing the king's anger.

He perceived because he saw him who was invisible. He persevered because he saw him who was invisible. By faith he kept the Passover in a sprinkling of blood so the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. And by faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. He persevered, he endured as seeing him who is invisible. The book of Hebrews, which we've been looking at all fall, is actually about one

particular word, the word endurance, because the book of fall is actually about one particular word, the word endurance. Because the book of Hebrews is actually written to a group of Christians who because they were being persecuted and because of their suffering, they were really talking about giving up. And the writer of this tract, the writer of this treatise, says in Hebrews chapter 10, he says, remember after you first became Christians, you endured the plundering of your possessions.

And then he goes on and gives us chapter 11, which is all about how faith leads us to endurance. And he climaxes, actually actually the book in Hebrews 12 where he says, look to Jesus Christ who endured the cross, endured opposition, and therefore you should endure it. Now the word endure, the Greek word that is continually used by the Hebrews writer is the word, the Greek word huppo meno,-men-o, and it, men-o means to stand or stay. Hu-po is the little prefix from which we get our English prefix hyper.

And what he's, what the word endurance actually transliterates into is the word endurance means to hyper-stay, to hyper-stand. To hyper-stand means you put your feet down and nothing can knock you off your feet. It's like you're in a river, but you can stand in the river, you're hyper standing no matter how much the river is flowing.

Now the question that comes up, is it possible to be a durable person? Is it possible to endure? Is it possible in a throwaway culture? In a society of throwaway relationships? In a society of throwaway identities? To stick with something and to hyperstand? That's what the book's about. And the answer here, of course, to the writer of the Hebrews is yes. In fact, the writer of the Hebrews, his whole purpose is to show you how it's possible to hyper stand.

How it's possible to be someone who once you stand somewhere, you never get knocked off your feet. And the principles you see in Moses, and I'd like just to show you fairly briefly today, the principles in the life of Moses that shows the secret of endurance, the secret of the long run, the secret of someone who stands firm, who stays put, who can't be knocked off his or her feet for anything. Don't you want to be a durable people? This is the secret. Let me just show you first of all what Moses endured, but then how he did it. What he, but then how he did it.

What he endured and then how he did it. Here's what he endured. There's four major crisis points in his life, and they're all really mentioned in these few verses. The first major crisis point was where it says, he refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, but decided to identify with the people of God and be mistreated with them.

Now where did that happen? Moses, as the story goes, was a Jew who was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, and therefore he was brought into the court. And he had the most incredible training, and he had access to all the corridors of power. And he had an incredible career ahead of him but you know Joseph years ago had been both a Jew and a prince in Egypt

but times have changed now. Pharaoh was nervous because the Jews had multiplied and they'd become so strong he was afraid of them and so he'd begun to exploit them he'd begun to oppress them, He'd begun to oppress them. He turned them into slaves. He began to beat them and exploit their labor. And Moses realized that he could either be a prince in Israel, a leader, or he could be a leader in Egypt, but he couldn't do both the way Joseph did.

And he knew a choice would come. And one day, the choice sort of ambushed him. He was out and he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a helpless Hebrew slave. And in anger, Moses killed the Egyptian taskmaster and buried his body in the sand. And at that point, he had thrown And at that point, he had thrown in his lot with the slaves. He decided no longer to take the advantages that he had as a member of the royal court. But as hard as that would have been to do, we're told there was a second choice that happened almost immediately and it was a harder choice. We're told here, if you look at the passage, you'll see it says, he also left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king.

What's that mean? Here's what happened. The very next day Moses suddenly realized he had to make the choice all over again, only this time it would be much harder. Because the very next day he discovered that two Israelites fighting with each other and he walks up to them and he says, why are you fighting? Stop fighting. And the one guy turns and says, who made you, judge and ruler over us? Are you going to kill me the way you killed the Egyptian yesterday? And suddenly it hit Moses that this wasn't a secret. If it was already out like that, the fact that he'd

killed the Egyptian, if it was already around, he knew that Pharaoh would hear about it pretty soon. But the worst thing was that his own people had rejected them. They resented the idea that he had self-appointed. And they were frightened of him. And suddenly Moses, in one day, went from having two peoples to having no people.

And here's why the choice was so amazing. We know enough about those autocratic governments of the ancient times to know that if a son of the daughter of Pharaoh kills a commoner in a tantrum and then turns to the grandfather, turns to the Pharaoh and says, I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. You know, that's not a problem. You come on in, okay, okay, you killed a commoner, all right, okay. Moses knew that he could go back, but now he realized that if he stayed true to his identification with his people, he would be an outcast. He knew that he would have to always be an outcast, and he'd be an eternal fugitive from the wrath of the pharaoh,

who was the most powerful man on earth. He knew that he could actually go away from his principles, he could disobey his principles, he could do the wrong thing and be safe, or he could do the right thing and be utterly, he could face absolute career suicide. To be faithful to his principles was not now to become this great leader, but to have to become a fugitive, run off into the desert, if not killed by beasts or thieves, which is most likely, be a fugitive endlessly. And he did. He decided to do the right thing. He decided to obey even though it meant the end of his life.

Career suicide, oblivion, and he did it. And of course as he stood out there, as far as he was concerned, his life was over. You know, and that's what it looks like to all, any person looking at what had happened to Moses would say, this is crazy. Here's a man with tremendous leadership skills. And his people need him. And look what happened to him. Stuck out as a shepherd in the desert for years and years,

now a member of a marginal group of people. His life at an end, everything in shatters. And you know, there he was. He passed his 40s, he passed his 50s, he passed his 60s, he passed his 70s, he got to 80 years old. There he was, a complete has-been, everything over. But then one day God showed up in the burning bush and said, Moses, I have a job for you. He says, you know, even though you are a member of a marginal little group of people, even though you're a nobody, I want

you to do two things for me. First of all, I want you to walk up to Pharaoh, the most powerful person on the face of the earth, and I want you to say, I'm about to take your entire free labor force from you. And then I want you to lead out that group of people, broken by years of slavery, no economic resources, no personal resources, and I want you to lead them out, even though they're going to continually fight with you, and even though you know that the greatest army on the face of the earth

will come after you. And Moses did it. But then the final crisis was when he stood in the banks of the Red Sea and on this side was a mountain and on this side was the sea and on this side was the army of Pharaoh and in obedience to God's went literally into the sea and he endured. He hyper stood. He put his feet in the Red Sea and he passed through it. Nobody knocked him off his feet. Now how did he become a man like that?

Just like with Abraham, you notice at every spot, at every place, at every spot, the test got worse. The test got worse and at every spot he was able to handle it. He never would have done it 40 years before that. He never would have done it 40 years before that. But at every point, he continued to grow in perseverance. He endured. Now how did he do it? There are

three verbs in this passage, three verbs that tell us how he did it. You must not think, friends, that Christianity is the same thing as Stoicism. You must not think that Christian endurance, the endurance that is offered to you here is a kind of grit your teeth negative thing. That's not what's looked at at all. We're told here exactly what Moses did to become this kind of person. And if you do the same, you will be the same. What is it?

Three things. First of all, he regarded. You see that word? It's not a very good translation. He regarded. He looked at the treasures of Egypt, and he looked at the reward that he would have with God, and he assessed the two.

And he assessed the disgrace he would have, faithful to God, as far more valuable than all the treasures of Egypt. Assess. Now let me just tell you quickly how this works. This is not stoicism. This is not holding on. He assessed. This is a calculation word. This is the same word that Paul uses in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8 where he says, I had it all, I counted it all as lost for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. Here's the image, the image is, you and I, we're lay people when it comes to diamonds,

we're lay people when it comes to real estate maybe, we're lay people when it comes to various things. You get an expert who knows how to assess. And the expert comes in and says, well, now you know what? You think this is more valuable than this, but you know what? You see this thing over here? Do you realize this is 10 times more valuable than that? This is 10 times more useful than that.

And here's why. And the expert analyzes it for you, and you say, I didn't know that. Instead of going on appearances, you get the expert who assesses and says, this is far more worthy than that. Moses knew how to do it, and here's how he did it. It even shows you.

He says he decided that the treasures he would have in God are far greater than the passing pleasures of sin. The pleasures of sin last for a short time. And let me give you the first secret, and here it is. passing pleasures of sin. The pleasures of sin last for a short time. And let me give you the first secret, and here it is. Moses knew that you're only as durable as the thing you love most. There's no greater hope for you today than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, His resurrection is the key to understanding the whole Bible and the greatest resource

we have for facing the challenges of life. Discover how to anchor your life in the meaning of the resurrection by reading Tim Keller's book, Hope in Times of Fear, The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter. Hope in Times of Fear is our thank you for your gift to help Gospel in Life share Christ's redemptive love with people all over the world. Just visit GospelUnLive.com slash give to request your copy. That's GospelUnLive.com slash give. Now, here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. You're only as durable as the thing you love most. Moses said, if I love something most,

that can never pass away, I will never pass away. If I can love something most, that will last forever, I will last forever. But if I love anything that's vulnerable, I'm vulnerable. I'm as durable as that which I love most. Tom Oden, Thomas Oden, who teaches philosophical theology over here at Drew University, fascinating little article in which he says, this is how the human heart

works. He says, number one, every person is goal oriented. You can't live if you don't have something to look forward to. Every person is goal oriented. He says, number two, all goals compete. So you can't live unless you choose one goal as the center of value by which all other goals are judged. Okay? Number one, everybody's goal-oriented. Number two, goals compete. So everybody has to choose one center of value, one bottom line by which all other goals are evaluated. And then number three, he says, and I'll even quote him, he says, if you choose a finite center of value, you're always anxious. The way he puts it, if I can find it quickly, he says, anxiety becomes neurotically intensified to the degree that I have idolized finite

values. And then he goes on. He says, suppose my center of value is my health or my political party. Ooh, bad year. Or sexual attractiveness or financial productivity. If my center of value is any of these things, when these things are under threat, and they always are if I think about it, I am shaken to the depths. Therefore, I try not to think in order to keep my peace." You see what he's saying?

He was saying, if you choose anything but God, anything but an infinite source of value, center of value, you're shakeable. And Moses figured that out. He says, I will be as durable as the thing that I love most in life. If I decide, look, the most important thing is I've got to have somebody love me. So I will do whatever it takes to get somebody to love me. I'd like to obey the Ten Commandments, but if I have to disobey the Ten Commandments to get somebody to love me, that's the center of my value. You're as durable as that person is that you have banked everything on. That person is not durable. That person's a sinner. That

person is frail. That person is fragile. If you do the same thing with, as he said, your political party or your sexual attractiveness or your productivity, Moses figured it out. He assessed. He thought about it. This endurance, this strength that Christianity gives you is not something that just comes on automatically. You have to think. You think it up. You assess, you reason, you think it out. You say, yeah, these things are happening, but they're nothing compared to this. This is what I live for. And you're as durable as that thing you love most. Secondly, the first verb is he regarded, he assessed. Secondly, he chose to suffer. He chose to be mistreated. Oh no, no, no.

He didn't look for suffering, but he decided to obey even though the obedience entailed suffering. Did you hear that? Moses didn't look for suffering. He chose to obey even though it entailed suffering and he didn't know why. The great temptation, when it looks like to obey God and do the right thing is going to bring suffering, the great temptation is to read pencil God's script for us. In other words, here's Moses and he says, you know what? I went on a limb for these people. I risked everything for these people.

What a bunch of ungrateful things. Why should I be faithful to God now? Because to be faithful to God now means utter oblivion. Why? That's a waste of my talents. Now you think about it from a human point of view. Think about it from a human point of view. Here is the one Hebrew in the whole world who's got the connections, who's got the knowledge,

who's got the training, who's got the ability, who's got the intellect. They need him. They rejected him. And now it's a complete waste. So he says, well, if I obey God, well, maybe if I obey God, it's no waste. He decided to obey God anyway. And did God ruin his life? Did he ruin his life?

What Moses didn't realize until afterwards, and we never realized until we obey through the suffering, he didn't realize that he wasn't ready to be a leader, that he needed two levels to be prepared to be a leader. The first level was he had to have this great training in Pharaoh's court, but the second thing is he had to go out and live with simple people if he was ever going to lead them. He had to understand them, and not only that, he needed to be humbled. Killing that Egyptian shows an arrogance. Listen, a prince in Egypt Egypt maybe, in that time,

could have a fit and kill somebody in a snit, but a prince in Israel can't. They were afraid of him, and rightly so. He needed to be humbled. He needed to learn self-control. He thought he was ready to lead, and he wasn't. He had no idea that he was not going into oblivion at all. Don't you see? If he had decided to lead,

if the Israelites had decided to lead, have him lead, it would have been a disaster. In other words, here's the second secret. The second secret is when it looks like obedience leads to disaster, obey anyway, because obedience is actually taking you away from disaster, a disaster you can't see. When obedience to God looks like disaster, looks like it's leading to disaster, obey anyway because actually obedience to God always leads you away from disaster, at least a disaster you can't see. And you know how you become an enduring person? You know how you get strength? Because over the years, if you obey in spite of suffering, if you obey in suffering, if you obey even if it brings

suffering, you'll see that. And the more you see it, the more enduring you become, the more durable become. You see? It takes years to develop that, but eventually you see it. Whenever obedience looks like it's leading to disaster, obedience to God always leads away from disaster, a disaster you can't see. Now lastly, we're told that Moses saw him who was invisible.

Well now, how did he do that? I think for him all that meant was like Psalm 16 where it says, I have set the Lord ever before me, so I will never be shaken. What Moses was doing was he was reminding himself of who God was. He was seeing the unseen. He was continually seeing God, and that means he disciplined himself to remember who God is. And you know how he does that?

He does it this way. He says, what makes me think I'm wiser than God? It looks like this is disaster. It looks like that the Red Sea will never open up. It looks like this will never... But God is wise. He knows better than I do. Do I think that I know better? He reminded himself of who God was. And because he was continually being overwhelmed with the wisdom of God, he persevered. But you see, we can see somebody, we can see somebody that Moses couldn't see. The reason that Moses was able to do what he did and become the great man he was, the reason he was able to assess, and the reason he was able to choose and eventually get into the place where he was able to look

at the Red Sea itself and say, charge. And if you want to get to that situation, if you want to get into that kind of character and condition, you have to assess and you have to choose, but you have to see the wisdom of God. And Moses did that, but we see more wisdom than he did. You know why? Because we see someone in Moses. We know of somebody who left a much greater palace than Pharaoh. And we know of somebody who came to his own and his own received him not. And we know of somebody who was rejected by his people, but they rejected him in a far more deep and profound and radical way than Moses was rejected.

They killed him. And we see wisdom in Moses because we see incredibly, God's wisdom was such that the very rejection of Moses led to the salvation of those people. And we see that the very defeat of this greater than Moses led to the greatest triumph in history. And therefore, because we see the one who did that and who was faithful in spite of our rejection of him. We see the wisdom of God in a way Moses didn't. We see the incredible wisdom of God on the cross. And we see here's somebody who was willing to be rejected and to be obedient to God,

it meant oblivion for him and yet redemption came out of it. And so when we face the problems that we have in front of us, we say, do I think that I'm wiser than God? Look Lord Jesus, I rejected you, yet you were faithful to me. I'm not going to reject you again. Look Lord Jesus, you were faithful though it looked like it meant oblivion, it meant redemption. I'm going to be faithful though it looks like disaster, but I know it will be redemption.

We see something that Moses didn't see. We should be able to take on the Atlantic Ocean, not the Red Sea. Do you understand this? If you do, you'll be so enduring. The great hymn writer William Cowper put it this way, God's moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will.

His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread, are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your head. Let's pray. Father, we're sorry that we're not as enduring as Moses, even though we see one that he didn't see, though he vaguely knew about him. We see one who saved us through his rejection, saved us through his suicide almost, saved us through the most incredible disaster because of your wisdom. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to see that if we love you centrally, we'll be as durable as you.

We pray that you would show us that if we obey you completely, we will become everything you want us to be. And if we look to the one who died on the cross, rejected, but saving the ones who rejected him. We will know how also to look at the greatest disasters and the greatest obstacles and walk right through them. Teach us how to endure. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the wisdom of God's Word to your life.

For more resources from Tim Keller, visit GospelInLife.com. There you can also subscribe to the Gospel In Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other helpful resources. Again, it's all at GospelInLife.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter. Today's sermon was recorded in 1994. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel in Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.