“Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Psalm 69:6-9).

Idea: Christ identifies with us if we are insulted for His sake.

Purpose: To help listeners realize how closely we’re identified with Christ when we are put to shame for His sake.

Has there ever been a time in your life when you were insulted by someone who hated the fact that you were a Christian? Have you known that to happen to anyone else?

When people insult you because you’re a Christian, do you think they are insulting God?

I. When Christians are insulted or hurt because of their faith, the shame they may feel God also feels.

David’s enemies did not think they were insulting God, but David realized that the insults that fell on him fell on God.

II. In Romans 15:2-4, Paul applies this passage in Psalm 69 to Jesus:

“Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written,

‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’ For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

Paul applies this section of Psalm 69 to caring about other Christians at some cost to ourselves, and he says that what we experience, Jesus experienced when He was on earth.

Paul explains what he meant in verse 4: “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”

What David said, and Paul repeated in Romans, helps us to endure and gives us encouragement and hope.

“Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Psalm 69:6-9).

Idea: Christ identifies with His people when they suffer.

Purpose: To help listeners realize that any burden they bear for Christ, He bears as well.

Do you ever wonder how New Testament writers read the Old Testament?

They saw things that we might never see.

Moses “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.” Then the next clause gives us the basis for his choice: “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” (Hebrews 11:25-26 NIV).

I. What do you think it means when it says, “he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ”?

What do you think Moses knew about Christ?

The people of God have always been Christ’s people because Christ is God. Christ appeared on earth 2,000 years ago, but He was always part of God in eternity past. Therefore the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is making the association that, whether he fully realized it or not, Moses suffered for the sake of Christ because it was for God’s sake.

II. Whenever anyone suffers for God’s sake, they suffer for God.

“Let not those who wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers and an alien to my mother’s children; because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me” (Psalm 69:6-9).

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: God’s people may not look like God’s people to others, but Christians must see them as God called them to be.

Purpose: To help listeners see God’s people as God sees them.

Tony Campolo talked about a shocking chapel service at Eastern College where he taught. A visiting black theologian began his message with these words: “Jesus was a (the “N” word)!”

I. What do you think the speaker meant by that?

He wasn’t talking about the color of Jesus’ skin.

He was saying that being a (the “N” word) has to do with what you were in the eyes of people in the surrounding society. The word was used for the downtrodden, the spat-upon, the humiliated, and the despised.

You can’t read Isaiah 53 and not come to that conclusion: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (v.3).

If we are going to be like Christ, you and I must be willing to become (the “N” word) too. We, as God’s people, must be willing to empty ourselves of wealth, status, power, and all the credentials we cling to that have given us our identity.

II. Moses, in the choice he made, did just that (Hebrews 11:24-26).

Moses knew that to the Egyptians the people of Israel were the (the “N” word) of that society. As Moses looked at the people from the confines of the palace, what did he see?

They were slaves while Moses lived in the luxury of the palace.

They were poor while he enjoyed the riches of Egypt.

He wanted to play the part of the deliverer, but he discovered that the people were suspicious of him and rejected his leadership. Do you blame them?

Who were those people in the eyes of God and Moses?

They were the “people of God.” What do you think that phrase means?

They were the objects of God’s grace and mercy:

“And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Why did that matter to the people who read this letter to the Hebrews?

III. Why should this perspective matter to us today?

How do the elite of our society regard the church?

How do we regard the church? We can be disgusted by the squabbling and the limited vision, the bad music, or the boring sermons. But those people are “the people of God.”

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: God’s people may not look like God’s people to others, but Christians must see them as God called them to be.

Purpose: To help listeners see God’s people as God sees them.

Tony Campolo talked about a shocking chapel service at Eastern College where he taught. A visiting black theologian began his message with these words: “Jesus was a (the “N” word)!”

I. What do you think the speaker meant by that?

He wasn’t talking about the color of Jesus’ skin.

He was saying that being a (the “N” word) has to do with what you were in the eyes of people in the surrounding society. The word was used for the downtrodden, the spat-upon, the humiliated, and the despised.

You can’t read Isaiah 53 and not come to that conclusion: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (v.3).

If we are going to be like Christ, you and I must be willing to become (the “N” word) too. We, as God’s people, must be willing to empty ourselves of wealth, status, power, and all the credentials we cling to that have given us our identity.

II. Moses, in the choice he made, did just that (Hebrews 11:24-26).

Moses knew that to the Egyptians the people of Israel were the (the “N” word) of that society. As Moses looked at the people from the confines of the palace, what did he see?

They were slaves while Moses lived in the luxury of the palace.

They were poor while he enjoyed the riches of Egypt.

He wanted to play the part of the deliverer, but he discovered that the people were suspicious of him and rejected his leadership. Do you blame them?

Who were those people in the eyes of God and Moses?

They were the “people of God.” What do you think that phrase means?

They were the objects of God’s grace and mercy:

“And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Why did that matter to the people who read this letter to the Hebrews?

III. Why should this perspective matter to us today?

How do the elite of our society regard the church?

How do we regard the church? We can be disgusted by the squabbling and the limited vision, the bad music, or the boring sermons. But those people are “the people of God.”

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: God’s people may not look like God’s people to others, but Christians must see them as God called them to be.

Purpose: To help listeners see God’s people as God sees them.

Tony Campolo talked about a shocking chapel service at Eastern College where he taught. A visiting black theologian began his message with these words: “Jesus was a (the “N” word)!”

I. What do you think the speaker meant by that?

He wasn’t talking about the color of Jesus’ skin.

He was saying that being a (the “N” word) has to do with what you were in the eyes of people in the surrounding society. The word was used for the downtrodden, the spat-upon, the humiliated, and the despised.

You can’t read Isaiah 53 and not come to that conclusion: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (v.3).

If we are going to be like Christ, you and I must be willing to become (the “N” word) too. We, as God’s people, must be willing to empty ourselves of wealth, status, power, and all the credentials we cling to that have given us our identity.

II. Moses, in the choice he made, did just that (Hebrews 11:24-26).

Moses knew that to the Egyptians the people of Israel were the (the “N” word) of that society. As Moses looked at the people from the confines of the palace, what did he see?

They were slaves while Moses lived in the luxury of the palace.

They were poor while he enjoyed the riches of Egypt.

He wanted to play the part of the deliverer, but he discovered that the people were suspicious of him and rejected his leadership. Do you blame them?

Who were those people in the eyes of God and Moses?

They were the “people of God.” What do you think that phrase means?

They were the objects of God’s grace and mercy:

“And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Why did that matter to the people who read this letter to the Hebrews?

III. Why should this perspective matter to us today?

How do the elite of our society regard the church?

How do we regard the church? We can be disgusted by the squabbling and the limited vision, the bad music, or the boring sermons. But those people are “the people of God.”

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: God’s people may not look like God’s people to others, but Christians must see them as God called them to be.

Purpose: To help listeners see God’s people as God sees them.

Tony Campolo talked about a shocking chapel service at Eastern College where he taught. A visiting black theologian began his message with these words: “Jesus was a (the “N” word)!”

I. What do you think the speaker meant by that?

He wasn’t talking about the color of Jesus’ skin.

He was saying that being a (the “N” word) has to do with what you were in the eyes of people in the surrounding society. The word was used for the downtrodden, the spat-upon, the humiliated, and the despised.

You can’t read Isaiah 53 and not come to that conclusion: “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (v.3).

If we are going to be like Christ, you and I must be willing to become (the “N” word) too. We, as God’s people, must be willing to empty ourselves of wealth, status, power, and all the credentials we cling to that have given us our identity.

II. Moses, in the choice he made, did just that (Hebrews 11:24-26).

Moses knew that to the Egyptians the people of Israel were the (the “N” word) of that society. As Moses looked at the people from the confines of the palace, what did he see?

They were slaves while Moses lived in the luxury of the palace.

They were poor while he enjoyed the riches of Egypt.

He wanted to play the part of the deliverer, but he discovered that the people were suspicious of him and rejected his leadership. Do you blame them?

Who were those people in the eyes of God and Moses?

They were the “people of God.” What do you think that phrase means?

They were the objects of God’s grace and mercy:

“And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Why did that matter to the people who read this letter to the Hebrews?

III. Why should this perspective matter to us today?

How do the elite of our society regard the church?

How do we regard the church? We can be disgusted by the squabbling and the limited vision, the bad music, or the boring sermons. But those people are “the people of God.”

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“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: Sin is disobedience to what I know God wants me to do.

Purpose: To help listeners realize that sin is often an attitude more than an act.

When I was younger, I remember evangelists taking off on a phrase in Hebrews 11:25 about Moses: “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”

How do you think the evangelist applied the phrase “the pleasures of sin”?

I. The phrase probably isn’t referring to the indulgences of the appetites.

Notice two men who are mentioned next to each other and who had much in common: Joseph and Moses (Hebrews 11:22-23).

Joseph lived in Egypt from the time he was 17 years old. He rose to the top of the Egyptian government.

He was made the secretary of agriculture. He was in charge of all the grain in both lower and upper Egypt.

He enjoyed the perks of that position (Genesis 41:41-43).

Joseph was a wealthy man.

He had the confidence and ear of the Pharaoh.

Moses was also a man of power, wealth, and influence in Egypt.

He had the title “son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

He had wealth and education (Acts 7:22).

II. Why do you think the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that Moses turned his back on “the pleasures in Egypt”?

Do you think the lifestyle involved in being part of Pharaoh’s court was more wicked than in Joseph’s time?

Was Joseph’s position in Pharaoh’s court a compromise with evil?

Were the first 40 years that Moses spent as part of Pharaoh’s court lived in sinful indulgence?

III. The “pleasures of sin” would be the sin that Moses would have committed by turning his back on God’s people and God’s call.

Apostasy is choosing some value as being more important than Christ (Hebrews 10:30).

Joseph, as an official in Pharaoh’s court, protected God’s people by his position. But Moses, as an official in Pharaoh’s court, would have had to put himself in opposition to God’s people.

It isn’t necessarily wrong to be part of Pharaoh’s court, but it is a sin if God has called you to a different life or to another place.

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: Sin is disobedience to what I know God wants me to do.

Purpose: To help listeners realize that sin is often an attitude more than an act.

When I was younger, I remember evangelists taking off on a phrase in Hebrews 11:25 about Moses: “He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”

How do you think the evangelist applied the phrase “the pleasures of sin”?

I. The phrase probably isn’t referring to the indulgences of the appetites.

Notice two men who are mentioned next to each other and who had much in common: Joseph and Moses (Hebrews 11:22-23).

Joseph lived in Egypt from the time he was 17 years old. He rose to the top of the Egyptian government.

He was made the secretary of agriculture. He was in charge of all the grain in both lower and upper Egypt.

He enjoyed the perks of that position (Genesis 41:41-43).

Joseph was a wealthy man.

He had the confidence and ear of the Pharaoh.

Moses was also a man of power, wealth, and influence in Egypt.

He had the title “son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

He had wealth and education (Acts 7:22).

II. Why do you think the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that Moses turned his back on “the pleasures in Egypt”?

Do you think the lifestyle involved in being part of Pharaoh’s court was more wicked than in Joseph’s time?

Was Joseph’s position in Pharaoh’s court a compromise with evil?

Were the first 40 years that Moses spent as part of Pharaoh’s court lived in sinful indulgence?

III. The “pleasures of sin” would be the sin that Moses would have committed by turning his back on God’s people and God’s call.

Apostasy is choosing some value as being more important than Christ (Hebrews 10:30).

Joseph, as an official in Pharaoh’s court, protected God’s people by his position. But Moses, as an official in Pharaoh’s court, would have had to put himself in opposition to God’s people.

It isn’t necessarily wrong to be part of Pharaoh’s court, but it is a sin if God has called you to a different life or to another place.

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

Idea: Faith that gives up much to get nothing is more overwhelming than faith that gives up nothing to gain something.

Purpose: To help listeners realize that acting on true faith can be costly.

Someone has observed that young men and women start every great movement. Someone else has noted that at age 20 most young people are liberal, at 40 they are conservative, and at 50 they are reactionary.

Is there truth in these statements?

I. People in their middle years often feel that they have more to lose by giving themselves to Jesus Christ.

What is the difference between courage and brashness? Do they have anything in common?

Teenagers are sometimes brash but think they are courageous. They often feel they have little to lose in following Christ.

Older people are often conscious of how much they have to lose and they lack the courage to make great decisions.

Moses made a courageous choice when he was 40 years old. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews says that he made this decision out of his faith (Hebrews 11:24).

II. Moses made the deliberate choice to identify himself with God’s people even though he was aware of what he was giving up.

Moses gave up the standing he had in Pharaoh’s court.

He gave up the title “son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

He gave up a lavish lifestyle. That is in the phrase “the treasures in Egypt” (Hebrews 11:26). The priceless treasures of King Tutankhamun’s tomb alone included several thousand pounds of pure gold.

He gave up security. As an elite member of Pharaoh’s court, his future was secure.

He gave up the prestige of the court for the disgrace of God’s people (Hebrews 11:25).

He knew what he was giving up for the promise that God had given to his people.

Jim Elliot wrote in his diary, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”