Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. I'm going to consider
this evening verse 26. Before we do, let's ask our Lord's
blessing. Our Father, we thank you this
evening for this precious time to be able to come together and
to read your word and to hear that which the Spirit of God
has recorded concerning the glory of our Lord and Savior. I ask
you, Lord, to bless the word. Bless it to the honor of Christ
and salvation and comfort of your people. For it is in the
name of our Lord we ask these things. Amen. Moses, a chosen vessel of God, raised
up for the express purpose of leading God's people, the children
of Israel, the Hebrews, out of Egypt, was providentially preserved
from a child. His mom and daddy, when Moses
was born, the Scripture says by faith they hid him for three months. And when they could no longer
hide him, His mama took and made an ark, made a box. And she put that baby in that
ark, pitched it, made it waterproof, and put him in it. Went out,
put him in the river. It's an amazing thing. But there's
only two places where an ark, and not the ark of the covenant,
but I'm talking about the ark like Noah. Noah's ark. A boat. A box. There's only two
places that an ark is recorded in all of Scripture. Noah's ark,
and this one right here. we see the glorious type picture
of preservation of this young baby, Moses, raised up. And Scripture says, and we looked
at this last time, that when he was first 24 or 25, when he
had come to years, he was 40 years old, And as we considered last time,
I know that by faith, verse 24 says, by faith, and faith is
always based on God's Word. Faith believes God. By faith, we believe God. I don't know. I don't know. I
said last time, Moses' mama had him for a while. After Pharaoh's
daughter found him by the providence of God, there was Moses' sister. She was watching to see what
was going to happen. And soon as that baby was found
by Pharaoh's daughter, Moses' sister came up and offered, you
know, do you like for me to go back Find a Hebrew woman to nurse
that baby for you." She said, I would. I'd like you to do that.
And so she said, you take this baby and you get this baby. Nurse this baby. I'll pay you. And I'll take care of the expenses. When you're done, you bring the
baby back to me. That's what happened. And Moses
was raised up. in the house of Pharaoh's daughter. He was schooled in the ways of
Egypt. He was a master in speaking. Amazing thought, whenever the
Lord called him to go back into Egypt, Moses He said, I'm slow
of speech, huh? The ability to be able to think
and articulate words. He said while he was in Egypt,
he was a good speaker. But whenever God calls a man,
calls a woman, they're brought down in their own eyes. And the
Scripture says that Moses raised up with the best, the finest
of everything. in that empire in Egypt. And here, he's 40 years old. And the Scripture sets forth,
verse 24, when he was coming to years, he refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. He visited with his brethren. He knew he was a Hebrew. He knew. And he saw an Egyptian that was
beating one of the Hebrews. And he killed him. Killed that
Egyptian. He cast away by faith the idols
of Egypt and sent his affection by the grace of God on things
above. Relinquished that position that
he had in the court of royalty, and he chose in his heart, he
had a desire made willing in the day of God's power when God
Almighty moved upon that man, gave him
faith to believe. That man chose by a new heart
to have fellowship and suffering with the despised people of God. Moses, right there, is a beautiful
picture of our Savior. Here he, royalty, chose To be with God's people suffering. Scripture says 2 Corinthians
8-9, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich. Our blessed Savior descended
from heaven. God Almighty humbled Himself. Born of a woman, the Spirit of
God moved upon a virgin. A human being. And caused conception to take
place in the womb of that virgin. An almighty God. God Almighty. Went through nine months united
with flesh. God-man. The Christ. Nine months grew in the womb
of that woman and was born just like all those that He came to
redeem. Humble Himself. took upon himself
the form of a servant. Humbled himself to God's will,
God's purpose. That's a miracle of God's grace.
But I'll tell you another miracle of God's grace concerning God's
people. That they would esteem, verse
26, the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt. Man by nature does not want to
deny self. It's all about me denying self,
esteeming the reproach of Christ to be greater riches than whatever
this world has got to offer. That takes a new heart. By nature,
man is going to be for man, number one. And it is a miracle that
a sinner, regenerated by the grace of God, would throw his
lot, this is what I want to do, into that which this world despises. But let me ask you this, is that
not what you that believe? Is that not what you want? What
would you be willing to let take place of being in a place where
God Almighty is honored? What would you esteem greater
riches than the hearing of the gospel of God's grace? And being
where the Lord has been pleased to bless for all of these years,
what would you give up? What would you take instead of
that? Nothing. No. I know that our flesh wars against
the spirit of our new man. I know that. But by the grace
of God, kept by the power of God. Moses chose to suffer, that's
what the scripture says, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater
riches. He killed that Egyptian, and
I'm telling you, the moment he killed that Egyptian, he cut
himself off. He cut himself off to everything
that he could have had, and he did it willingly. The Lord's
people are willing in the day of God's power. Not before. Moses
desired to be where God was honored. Chose to suffer affliction with
the Hebrews. And here's the reason. esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward."
He looked past what was obvious to his natural eyes. He sought
God's kingdom first. Now, there's always going to
be affliction when we're aligned with God's people in this world.
The Lord has promised you're going to suffer persecution. They that shall live godly in
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's promised. The great is thy
reward in heaven. I know right now the people of
God suffer in this life ridiculed, But I know that though we see
through a glass darkly, we see the reward that Almighty God
has promised. We have His Word on that. When
I read John 17.24, I was reading this the other day again, and
the Lord praying in that high priestly prayer, when He was
praying, He said, John 17, 24, I will that they also whom thou
hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my
glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the
foundation of the world. Now I know, I can't grasp hold of the depth,
the fullness, In my Father's house are many mansions, many dwelling places. I can't enter in. Eye has not
seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of
man that which God has prepared for them that love Him. Last weekend when we were in
Lexington for the Bible conference. We were there just one night,
last Friday night, and then one preacher school the next morning.
And Neil and I stayed in the home of very, very gracious people.
Very gracious people. And it was a beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful home. I started looking around. It
was a very, very nice house. And I looked around and I thought,
this is a very, very comfortable, very nice home. But as I looked
around at all of the pleasant things about home, this entered
my mind. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man that which God
has prepared. I thought all of these things that this world
has to offer are nothing. Nothing. That which our Lord has prepared
for those that love Him. I know that in this world, We suffer persecution. And I
know that it's a light affliction because our Lord has told us
that it's a light affliction. No matter what, no matter what
we go through, Almighty God is going to teach His people, this
world is not your home. This is not your rest. You're
just a sojourner here. You're just traveling through.
And we're going to be weaned from this world. But now we come to the reason
for verse 24 and 25. We come to the reason that Moses
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The reason
he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And the reason, remember,
that the pleasures of sin for a season, if you remember last
week, I said that Joseph stayed and died in Egypt. Joseph died there, stayed right
there. That's where God kept him. Moses
didn't stay there. What was the difference? Well,
the Lord purposed that Joseph would stay there, provide for
God's people. He purposed for Moses. To leave. Bring the people of God out.
Lead them out. The means by which. The pleasures of sin for a season
is anything that is contrary to God's will for you. Whatever
it is. Whatever it is. You say, well,
how will I know? You'll know. You'll know. You'll
know. It may be that Almighty God teaches
you through His Word. It may be that the Spirit of
God impresses you. But you'll know. He chose rather
to suffer affliction with God's people than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. For a season. Think back. Those of you who, like me, I
mean, humanly speaking, I mean, I know what Scripture says. Three
score and ten? And if four score? Some a little more, some a little
less. But as a general rule, you know this, that we're all
coming to a point to where unless the Lord returns, our time here
is not long. You know that. Just a season. And how quickly, how quickly
you look back. How quickly has this all been
over? This is so fast. Rather than enjoy the pleasures
of sin for just a little while, by the grace of God, he chose
to be numbered with God's people. What a privilege that Almighty
God would give a man or woman the desire, the will, the want
to. to be with the Lord's people
and stay there. Why are you still here? But for
the grace of God. That's the only reason that you
stayed. Because God kept you. I told you, back in 83, I think
it was 83, I was in Franklin, Tennessee. Brother Walter Groover
was there. We were sitting out on the back
porch. And we were just talking. And I asked him, I said, Walter? I think he was in construction
of some kind there in Texas. And I asked him, I said, what
would come to a man's mind? How do you know? How do you know?
He hadn't been in Mexico that long. He'd been there now, I
think, 45 years. But in 83, he hadn't been there
a real long time. I said, Walter, how do you know? that you were to go and leave
Texas and go down to Mexico, go down into this place. Betty got sick down there. Walters picked up. I think he
still has a parasite of some kind that's got to be treated
and stuff like that. Going down in Mexico, just hard, hard times. It's not the best. Mérida is great. But outside
of Mérida, it's still not modernized or anything like that. What would
cause a man to do it? He told me, he said, Marvin,
when something becomes more important to you than what you're doing,
he said, you'll do it. when something is more important
to you. That Almighty God would give
a man, a woman, a heart, by grace, to not consider this fleeting
world, to not consider that to be more important than being with the people of
God. Staying where God blesses, where
God teaches, where God has raised up a preacher. Moses considered
what the world called disgrace, shame, discredit. Moses considered being numbered
with God's people. and suffering, whatever the Lord
providentially brought them through, to be worth more. That was worth
more. I'd rather be with God's people, laughed at by the world, ridiculed,
scorned. I'd rather be with God's people
than to have all that this world has got to offer. But the only
reason that I would have a heart for that is because the Lord
would graciously give me a new heart for it. Outside of that, I've got this attitude. Well,
we only go around once. Let's just go for all the gusto
we can. I mean, let's eat and drink. Tomorrow we die. This world is fleeting and by
grace alone the believer esteems the reproach of Christ or for
Christ, greater riches and the treasures of this world. But
those that do esteem reproach for his sake to be the greatest
riches, do it and have this end. in sight by faith. They see by
faith. They have, as Moses, respect
unto the recompense of the reward. Now, that's a statement there. This is what it means. There is recompense to pay for. There is a payment. But it's
not a payment according to debt because of our faithfulness.
It's not because that we've done something that Almighty God is
going to pay or give or reward. This payment is all of grace. It's not by anything that we've
done. If Almighty God gives us anything,
It's totally by His grace. It's totally because He chose
to. He said, I'll have mercy upon whom I'll have mercy. I'll
have compassion upon whom I'll have compassion. And the Spirit
of God through the Apostle Paul says, so then, it's not of Him
that willeth. It's not of Him that runneth.
But it's God. who shows mercy. Moses, just
like all believers, knew that communion with Almighty God and
peace with God and fellowship with God, there's the riches.
There's the reward. Almighty God has placed within
the heart of His people tonight a thankfulness. Lord, thank You. Thank You that You'd give me
a heart. That desire is to be thanked. Lord, in the strugglings
that I go through, and the Lord knows the struggles that all
of His people have. Struggles without, yes, but especially
the struggles within. Is there really struggles on
the outside that compare to what you struggle with on the inside?
Really. I mean, don't you hate the way
that we are by nature? Seriously. I told you before, it embarrasses
me when we pray. I heard Brother
Don Fortin say this the other night. He was talking about prayer. And he said, you know, in his
sad, he said, this is just the way it is. He said, by and large,
when we pray, it's all about us. I got to thinking on that,
and I thought, you know, that's so true. That statement came
back to my mind this morning, and I thought, I want to go back
and read. I read John 17, our Lord's high
priestly prayer. I thought, I just want to read
how our Lord prayed. The struggles that we have within,
How thankful I am that Almighty God has promised, by grace, reward. Reward because He's chosen to. Almighty God gave Moses a heart
to behold true riches, eternal riches by faith. The substance of things that
were hoped for. The evidence of things that are
not seen. Riches in Christ that never perish. Greater. Greater than anything
this world offers. Think of the trivial things.
Trivial. Nothing. Nothing. What this world
offers instead of worship of Almighty God. Little fleeting,
nothing. Trinkets. Trinkets. I like going to these game places
where you get tickets. I mean, just get tickets and
tickets and tickets. Tickets. Boy, look at all these
tickets. Brought my grandkids one time
to this place and man, they just had a handful of tickets. And
went in to trade those things, and I look at that, and those
little plastic pieces of junk, and you think, this is all I
get? This is all I get for what I thought was riches? Look at
those tickets. He had respect unto. I looked that up. He had respect
unto. You know what it means? It means
he looked away from. To look away from the treasures
of Egypt, the treasures of this world, the promises of nothing. Empty promises. Empty promises. Liar. This world. A liar. He had respect unto. He looked
away from everything else and looked unto the recompense of
the war. Oh, the compensation. That's the words. When you look
these words up, the reward, the recompense of the reward, the
compensation that Almighty gives His people for the sake of His
precious Son. according to what I've done or
could do. The reward of God's sheep is owing totally to God's
will, God's purpose, God's goodness, God's grace, and oh, what a reward
it is. One day, we'll know. I know we know now. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. I can't even enter into what
that is. I know it's joy unspeakable. One day, I think about that passage
that I considered here the other day. When the Queen of Sheba
came, she said, I heard all about this. I came to talk to you,
prove you. But she said, well, the half
of it wasn't told me. Now, I've never even entered
into the half of it of what God has prepared for those. The reward
for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ to be eternally with Him,
to behold His glory. Father, I will that those that
You've given me out of this world, that they be with me, that they
may behold my glory. Lord, help me. Lord, help me. Lord, give me a heart that longs
after You. Keep me. Lord, to be seated with
You. To be seated with Him. His bride. His bride that He's
everlastingly loved. that He redeemed by His precious
blood, robes in His precious righteousness, and presents before
God Almighty's throne, Father, I and the children that You've
given me. Oh, one day, one day, one day,
Moses, as all God's people, he knew, they know, that their reward
is a reward of sovereign grace. Lord, let this not be just words. Lord, let this gospel come to
me, not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, Lord, may I see You by faith,
Lord, one day by sight, and actually hear You say unto me, being found
in Him, well done. Well done. I know the only well
done that I'll have attributed to me is that it's His righteousness
imputed to me. I know that. God's people, they
have respect them too. They believe that they're going
to possess just exactly what God Almighty has promised. The saints of God, back in the
Old Testament just like we do today, they look forward to His
first coming and second coming. He's come already. He's already
come. And now we look for His second
coming. And we look for it at any moment,
whether He comes, whether we hear the trump of God and it's
all over. Before you even knew what happened,
we were standing before God. It's a great white throne judgment.
The trump of God sounded. The dead in Christ rose. And
those that are alive on this earth, meet them in the air. We believe Him. We believe that
when He comes back, whether He comes back at the second coming
while we're still here, or whether He comes back for us in death and calls us
to Himself, we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Time is short. Time is short. You say, well, I don't know about
that. The believer dies daily. He dies
daily. Live every day as it is your
last. Because one of these days it's
going to be. Being with God's people, greater
reward than the treasures that this world had to offer. Lord,
keep me by Your grace. For Christ's sake, amen.