Exodus chapter 2. I want to read verses 11 through
verse 15. Exodus 2 verses 11 through verse
15. It says, It came to pass in those
days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren,
And he looked on their burdens. And he spied an Egyptian smiting
a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that
way. And when he saw that there was
no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And
when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews
strove together. And he said unto him that did
the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said,
Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill
me, as thou killest the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely
this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing,
he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh. and dwelt in the land of Midian,
and he sat down by a well." Now Moses here is an example of a
believer walking by faith in Christ. He's an example of a
believer walking by faith in Christ. There are some things
here that we could point out about Moses' flesh and the sin
that was mixed with this faith. And Lord willing, next time I
plan to look at those things and look at them in great detail. But today I want to focus on
the faith that God gave to Moses, the grace God worked in Moses
by His power so that by faith Moses walked looking to Christ,
trusting Christ, following after the Lord Jesus Christ. You do
realize this. Sinners saved in Moses' day were
saved the same way sinners are saved today. There's one Lord,
one faith, and one Spirit by whom we must be born. They're
saved the same way then as they are now. That's through faith
in Christ. So let's look at this. Now there's
two other passages I'm going to have you turn to that will
help us understand what's taking place here. Mark Acts chapter
7. Acts chapter 7. And when you've done that, also
mark Hebrews chapter 11. Acts chapter 7 and Hebrews 11. Now first of all, it is by faith
in Christ. By faith in Christ as our wisdom. Believe in Christ who's made
wisdom to us. It's by faith in Christ as our
wisdom that we're grown as believers. That's how we're grown. It's
by faith in Christ who's made wisdom unto us. Now, the Scriptures
tell us in verse 11, Exodus 2.11, it says, It came to pass in those
days when Moses was grown. Last time we saw Moses, he was
a baby adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and being taken care of by his
mother whom they didn't know was his mother. They were paying
her to take care of him. He was a baby. Well, now he's
grown. Now he's grown. Moses experienced
two different kinds of growth. All believers, true believers,
experience two different kinds of growth. And he experienced
two different kinds of growth. Acts chapter 7 and verse 22 tells
us he experienced growth in the wisdom of this world. It says
there in Acts 7.22, Moses was learned in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. Moses
was educated with the best education that Pharaoh's riches could afford.
And that was a good education. Historians tell us that this
word educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. The historians
tell us that this means, it would be what we would call in our
day, Moses was educated at an Ivy League college. He was educated
at the best educated, best school in Egypt, is where Moses was
educated. He was mighty in words and in
deeds. But that didn't benefit Moses
at all spiritually. That's not how God grows His
child. God grows His child not in the
wisdom of this world, but by faith. By faith in Christ. Acts 7.23 says, when He was full
40 years old, it came into His heart. This was not just some
decision that came into Moses' heart. This was God putting faith
in His heart and growing him in Christ in his heart, making
Christ wisdom unto Moses. We know that because Hebrews
11.24 says, By faith Moses when he was come to years. This was
by faith. This is what we are talking about.
This is how he was grown up by God. He was grown up in the world
with the world's education system. But he was grown up in Christ
by God by God making Christ wisdom unto him. And by faith, he was
grown up. By faith. God's children are
not saved by the wisdom of this world. We can't educate people
into the kingdom of God. That's one of the major problems
with a lot of preaching I hear, and preaching that is so subtle
that at first listen you might think it's the gospel, but it's
so intellectual. You can't educate men into the
kingdom of God. God uses the rough voice howling
in the wilderness. It's the voice God uses. Things
that are nothing. Things that are spies God uses. And before He uses a man, He's
going to make him to know he's nothing. God said, where's the
wise? Where's the scribe? Where's the
disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Paul said, when I came preaching
the gospel, I didn't come with wisdom of words. I didn't come
with excellency of speech. I didn't come tickling your ears
like men of this world do to try to make the gospel appealing
to you. I came stuttering and stammering and preaching and
preaching too loud sometimes and too soft sometimes and scared
to death sometimes and too bold sometimes, but I just came preaching
the Christ and Him crucified. It's not the vessel, it's the
power of God. Paul said later in Corinthians,
he said, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It's
written, he takes the wise in their own craftiness. But he
said, how be it we speak wisdom. We do speak wisdom. It's not
the wisdom of this world that comes to nothing. He said, but
it's the wisdom of God in a mystery. A mystery that's been hidden
from the wise and prudent, and which is revealed unto babes
by God. And that's what happened to Moses.
He made him to see his nothingness, and he made Christ wisdom unto
him. And when God makes Christ wisdom unto us, and He has to
do it. 1 Corinthians 1.29 says of God
is Christ made unto us wisdom. He has to be. And when God's
done that, then you have the mind of Christ. And then you
behold Christ is all. He's all your righteousness.
He's all your sanctification and all your redemption. And
God makes Him all unto us. And that's when a man's truly
wise. Now we grow up in that. And Moses, we'll see next time,
wasn't yet. He needed to grow some more.
God's going to have to grow him some more. But he knew Christ
is all by the Spirit of God. He knew that. Now secondly, by
faith in Christ, God makes His child come out from among the
world. Through faith in Christ, He makes His child come out of
this world. Look in Exodus 2.11. It came
to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out. Now, this was a deliberate act
of faith. This was a deliberate act of
faith in Christ which was put in his heart by God. He renounced
Egypt, is what it's saying. He totally renounced Egypt. He renounced his upbringing.
He renounced the mother who had raised him, adopted him. He renounced all his former companions
in Egypt. Listen to this, Hebrews 11.24
tells us that. Hebrews 11.24 is God speaking
by the Holy Spirit telling us what is taking place in our passage.
He says in Hebrews 11.24, By faith Moses, when he was come
to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This was much more than Pharaoh
just leaving the palace court one day and just going out. This was Moses renouncing Egypt. This was him coming out of Egypt.
This was in his heart leaving Egypt, renouncing Egypt. It says
he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Do you know what that means?
He didn't have a father. He didn't have a father. Pharaoh's
daughter wasn't married. And so that means Moses is heir
to the throne. As far as we know, Pharaoh had
no sons. He had this daughter. And so
Moses is heir to the throne. That's what he renounced. He
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He renounced
the throne. He refused it. Why? Because by
faith, God makes you to behold Christ is the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords, the Lamb of God upon His throne. And when
you behold Christ upon His throne, you know that what He does in
the Kingdom of God is going to be done by Christ, by His rule,
by His authority, by His sovereign power. And you rely upon Him. That's what faith does. If you
don't Your faith trusts the Sovereign King of Glory. That's what it
does. He doesn't leave His child in
the world. When He regenerates you and gives
you faith in Christ, He doesn't leave His child in the world,
in sin, with former companions. He brings you out. He brings
you out. Listen to 2 Corinthians 6.17,
Wherefore come out from among them, And be ye separate, saith
the Lord. This is the Lord's Word. And
touch not the unclean, and I will receive you. And I will be a
father unto you, and you shall be my sons and my daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. And Paul said, having therefore,
brethren, these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear
of the Lord. And when God calls you by grace
and sanctifies you and speaks this word affectionately into
your heart, that's exactly what you'll do. Paul didn't have any
power to make anybody come out. He could tell them, come out,
just like I can tell you, believe on Christ and come out. But it
takes God speaking that word affectionately in your heart
saying, come out from among them. What fellowship do you have with
the world? Light doesn't have any fellowship with darkness.
Christ has no fellowship with bilio. Righteousness has no fellowship
with unrighteousness. Moses couldn't stay in Egypt
anymore. He didn't have any companions
in the household of Pharaoh. He had nobody he could talk to
about the gospel. He had nobody that could comfort
him and encourage him and whom he could encourage. He had no
brethren in the house of Pharaoh. So he left it. By God's grace,
that's what faith does. Faith comes out of this world.
Then thirdly, by faith in Christ, God makes His child unite with
His people. He doesn't just bring us out
of the world, He carries us into a place. He makes us unite with
His people. Look here, Exodus 2.11. It came
to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he went out unto
his brethren. Now watch what it is to go unto
your brethren. And he looked on their burdens.
And he looked on their burdens, and he spied an Egyptian smiting
an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that
way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian
and hid him in the sand. By God's grace, by God given
faith, by His grace, by the faith He gives, Moses made a deliberate
choice. He looks and there is all the
pleasures of sin in Egypt at his beck and call. And on the
other hand, here's his brethren, our despised and rejected enslaved
people bearing much affliction. Which one would you choose? The
natural man said, I'll choose the pleasure. But by God's grace,
faith says, I'm going to unite with my brethren. I'm going to
suffer affliction with them. With them. Not apart from them,
with them. And so that's what he did. Hebrews
11, 24 says, By faith Moses, and then verse 25 says, He chose
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, what made Moses do that?
What made him do that? What made him decide, I'm going
to unite with these people. I'm going to bear their burdens.
Well, Acts 7.24 gives us some light on that. He goes to them. He goes to Goshen. He goes to unite with them. He
looks on their burdens. They're in slavery, you know.
They're slaves. They're building the pyramids under Pharaoh's
taskmasters. And it says in Acts 7.24, seeing
one of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him
that was oppressed. And he smoked the Egyptian. Moses
saw the burden they were under, the slavery and the bondage they
were under. And he sees this one brethren
there being treated wrongfully, suffering wrongfully. This taskmaster
who had his rod and he was beating this one Hebrew, one of Moses'
brethren. And it was wrong what he was
doing. It was totally wrong what he was doing. And our text says
he looked this way and that way and he saw no man. Perhaps he
was looking this way and that way, probably, most likely, so
he wouldn't be seen. But he looked this way and this
way, that way, and there was no man to help this brother.
There was no other Hebrew brother coming to help this brother.
And so Moses united with that brother and said, I'm going to
bear his affliction. And he stood between Moses, between
that Hebrew brother and that Egyptian. And he smote that Egyptian. And he killed him. And he put
him out of sight. Why did he do that? God-given
faith beholds Christ. God-given faith beholds Christ.
Christ came to where we are. He could have stayed in heaven's
ease, in heaven's glory, but He came to where we are and He
beheld our burdens. The burdens of all those the
Father gave to Him. The burden of those the Father
gave to Him to redeem from those burdens. And He saw us in our
burden. He saw us suffering justly under
the wrath and the curse and the condemnation of God. Because
we broke the law in Adam and the law had something against
us. And he saw us suffering justly
and he saw us suffering wrongly. He saw Satan and his taskmasters
who had us in bondage by the curse of the law and our sin
nature. And self-righteous men whipping and the world whipping
and all these different forms of bondage that he saw his people
in. And Christ looked. He looked to see if there was
a man that would help. And there was no man, Scripture
says. And you know what Christ did? He came to where we are. And He interposed Himself between
His people and our enemies. As our substitute and as our
representative. And Christ smote our enemies. And He conquered our enemies.
And just like Moses put this Egyptian out of sight in the
sand, Christ made all our enemies to go out of sight by what He
did. He did this for His people. Everybody
Christ came to save, Christ saved. Everybody He came to make righteous,
He made righteous. Everybody He came to make holy,
He makes holy. He does it, brethren, because
He can't fail in what He does. He does it because He's our Savior. He's our Lord. He's our Redeemer. And this is what faith beholds
when it beholds Christ. And so when you behold Christ
and you behold what He did, it makes you desire, by His grace,
to bear affliction with your brethren. Christ speaks to His
child. He says, Bury ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. You know, we talked
about last week how He puts that fear in your heart and you say,
Lord, I know that I don't have to do anything. You've done it
all. You've finished the work. Is there anything I can do to
serve You just because I want to? And he says, yep, bear one
another's burdens. That's fulfilling the law of
Christ, bear one another's burdens. That's the law of Christ. It's
the easy light yoke. Just bear with one another. And
so he makes you unite with his people with this heart. I see
their burden. I want to bear them. I want to
help. I want to do anything I can to lighten the load for my brethren.
I want to help them. That's what it is to join with
God's people. God doesn't call His people and make His people
just show up from time to time and associate with God's people
and be acquaintances with God's people. He makes His people unite
with God's people. Listen to what Paul said. He
told the Corinthians, you are in our hearts to die and to live
with you. That's union, isn't it? That's
wanting to bear somebody's burden. I'm ready to die and to live
with you. That's the heart He gives His
people. You know why? Because He makes us to know the
closest thing we have on the top side of this earth to being
with Christ in person is being with those in whom He dwells,
His people. You want to be with Christ? Be
with His people. Person that don't want to be
with His people don't want to be with Christ. So here's the fourth thing. God-given
faith makes His child willing to bear the reproach of Christ. God-given faith makes you willing
to bear the reproach of Christ. Now understand, I'm saying God-given
in all this. Faith's not of you and me. None
of this was of Moses by nature. He's a sinner by nature. This
is of God's grace, the gift of God's grace, that he was given
faith. And it has to be that way or
we boast. It's by God's grace. Now watch. It makes you willing
to bear the reproach of Christ. Not just reproach for Christ,
but the same reproach Christ bore. Watch. Exodus 2.13. When He went out the second day,
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together. Now you've got
two of His brethren striving together. And He said to him
that did the wrong, probably kindly, probably just as harmless
as you could say it. He said, Wherefore smitest thou
thy fellow? This is your brother in Christ. And he said, Who made thee a
prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as
thou killest the Egyptian? God the Holy Spirit tells us
what Moses was doing right here. Look over there at Hebrews 11
verse 26. By faith, Moses esteemed the
reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,
for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Now how was that,
esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the riches
of Egypt? What Moses did there in having
his own brother throw it in his teeth like that, why was that
the reproach of Christ? Because that's what Christ endured
for us, for His people. Script, Moses came unto his own,
his own brethren, and they didn't receive him. That's exactly what
Christ did. And that's what faith beholds.
Christ came unto his own and his own received him not. Christ
came into Israel first. He came to folks who had had
the oracles of God, the law and the prophets and the Psalms,
and the message that Messiah was coming, and here comes Christ
to these people that had had this and been religious all their
lives. And all it was was a vain form. And when Christ came, they didn't
even recognize Him. And they said, who made you a
prince and a judge over us? And you know what you did and
I did all the days that we were in our unbelief and in our rebellion?
The exact same thing. Every time... What is it that
made us, when you would hear the gospel, or you would just
hear somebody mention the Bible, or you would just hear somebody
mention a church, or just anything that sounded religious, would
just make that heart just so uncomfortable. Let's change the
subject. Let's talk about something else.
Let's put the ball game on. Let's don't talk about that.
You know what that is? That's enmity against God. If
it was pushed and prodded and pressed a little bit harder,
you'd see just how much enmity it is. Just like, who made you
a prince and a judge over me? You ever tried to preach the
gospel to somebody or just talk to somebody about the gospel
and they come back at you with that? Who are you to judge me?
It's the enmity of the natural heart. And God has to give a
new heart. God has to make you bow to Christ
and trust Christ. And when He does that, He makes
you see what Christ bore for His people. The Scripture says
of Christ, it says, Even Christ pleased not Himself, but the
reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me. Christ had respect
to the recompense of the reward. What made Christ want to come
here and bear the reproach of sinful men? Even some He was
going to save. Paul, when he was Saul of Tarsus,
he hated Christ. He did everything he could to
reproach Christ. What made Christ bear with that?
What made Christ bear that Himself? What made Him bear being rejected
and despised and spat upon and nailed to a cursed cross and
bear the sins of His people? What made Him bear that? Just
like it says of Moses, he had an esteem for the recompense
of the reward. He knew that the reward was greater
recompense to him than the reproach he was bearing. What was that
reward? It was seeing God receive all
the glory for the salvation of His people. That's why Christ
came. Christ didn't come to give me and you something to do. Christ
came to take everything out of our hands. That's why the world
hates the message. Christ came to declare God is
just by Christ bearing the sins of His people and satisfying
the justice that we owe to God's law so that God's just. And he
came to declare God as the justifier because He's God in human flesh
who justified His people from our sins. And we didn't have
a thing to do with that. He did it. And then He comes and tells
you the good news and gives you faith to believe Him. And then
you say, it's all of Him. He did it all. Why did I ever
reproach Him? And you know what He makes you
willing to do? to bear his reproach, the reproach of Christ. Just
like Moses. Moses went there and he was willing
to try to help his brother and asked him this. Why are you smite?
This is your brother. He was willing to do that, willing
to bear. Christ said, if they've rejected
me, they're going to reject you. And you don't know who the elect
of God are. You don't know who He's going
to call out by His Word. And you tell anybody that will
listen, it looks like God's opened the door, you try to declare
the truth to them. And they will often reproach
you because a drowning man, he's going to thrash and kick and
try to take you down with him. And when you start taking away
every little splinter and every little bore that a man's trying
to cling on to while he's drowning, he's going to be thrashing you
like you. That's reproach. You just got
to bear that. Put up with it. But Christ makes
you want to because the recompense of the reward is God's going
to get all the glory. He's going to be brought to the
feet of Christ to behold God, His just and the justifier. And
He's going to give God the glory. And His child's going to be saved.
That was the other thing Christ was doing it for, to save His
people from our sin. And He makes you have that heart
where you want to see God get all the glory and you will see
His brethren saved. That's what was in Moses' heart
by God's grace in faith. We're going to see next time
there was some sin mixed with it. But God says in Hebrews 11,
this was faith. He was willing to bear that reproach
because He saw that reward. And that to Him was greater riches
than all the riches in Egypt. Do you have any idea of the riches
in Egypt at that time? We can't imagine. I mean, that
was a rich, rich place. But that was... The reproach
of Christ was greater riches than all the riches in Egypt.
He says this, "...Jesus, that He might sanctify the people
with His own blood, suffered without the gate, or reproached. Let us go forth therefore unto
Him without the count, bearing His reproach." And He says, if
you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you. Why? If you can bear reproach for
the name of Christ, here's the only way you can do it, the Spirit
of glory and of God is resting upon you. That's the only way. And to be able to bear reproach,
that gives you some joy because you know, the only way I can
do this is the Spirit of God and His glory resting upon me.
On their part, He's evil spoken of. Here's what else makes you
rejoice. On your part, He's glorified. That's the recompense of the
reward. Alright, listen to Paul. He said
to the Corinthians, I'm filled with comfort, I'm exceeding joyful
in all our tribulation. We want to bear the reproach
of brethren. Alright, fifthly. I've got to
hurry. This is my last point. Faith in Christ makes the believer
fear God rather than men. Now look here at Exodus 2.14. It says, when this fellow said,
you're going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday,
it says Moses feared. I kind of wonder, I kind of wonder, if this fear
Moses had was toward God. I'm going to show you next time
there was a lot of fear in his flesh. But I kind of think it
was mainly fear toward God. He was more concerned that his
father knew this and he had the disapproval of his father. That's
what the fear of God makes you feel like. I don't want to disappoint
my father, my heavenly father. It says here, he feared and he
said, surely this thing is known. Known by my Father, my Heavenly
Father. And now when Pharaoh heard this
thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face
of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by
a well." Now, I know this. There was probably, most likely,
a lot of sinful fear, fleshly fear in Moses too. The Old Testament
says here that he feared and he fled from the face of Pharaoh.
Because why does the Old Testament say it that way? Because the
Old Testament is the law. It's the covenant of works. And
the law was given by God to declare that our flesh is nothing but
sin. And that's what you see in the
Old Covenant. But now, go to Hebrews 11 and we'll see what
the covenant of grace says. Grace, under the blood of Christ,
covers the sin of His people. And that's not how God records
it in the New Testament under the everlasting covenant of grace.
He says in verse 27, by faith he forsook Egypt. He wasn't fleeing
from Pharaoh, he forsook Egypt. Not fearing the wrath of the
king, for he endured, he persevered in faith as seeing him who is
invisible. See, that's the new man. That's
under grace. That's under the blood. God's
people behold in Christ. That's what we are in Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. Fools, that is somebody that
doesn't have the fear of the Lord in their heart, despise
wisdom and knowledge. But the fear of the Lord, that's
the beginning of wisdom. Why? When you fear and reverence
somebody, you want to learn from them. And God makes His child
fear Him to come to Him and sit down by Him and want to learn
from Him, want to be instructed by Him. And it makes you not
want to disappoint Him. It makes you want to serve Him
and honor Him like a little child wants to honor and obey his father,
wants to have his approval. That's what fear does. It has
nothing to do with law. It has to do with the fear and
reverence of God put in the heart by God. And that's what Moses
had. That's what he gives you when
he gives you faith in Christ. I like how this passage ends.
It says that Moses sat down by a well. When God makes you to
sanctify Christ in your heart, makes you to fear God rather
than men, He makes you to see Christ is your sanctuary, Christ
is your well of life, Christ is your protection, He's your
defender, and He's your provider in all instances, and you fear
Him more than you do men. In the new man, all we do is
fear the Lord. We don't even, we have no fear
of man in the new man. No fear of man in the new man.
It's in the old fleshly nature that we fear men. That's what
we see in the Old Testament. But in the new man, nothing but
truth, holiness and righteousness put there created by God. We
fear the Lord. Now, I hope He'll give us faith
to sit down by Christ who is the will of life. He'd make Christ
our wisdom by faith. and that He would make us come
out of this world and unite with our brethren by faith in Christ.
And He would make us bear the reproach of Christ through faith. And by faith that He would make
us to fear God rather than men and walk under His blood knowing
God doesn't even remember our sin anymore. I pray that faith
looks at Christ and what He did for us, sees that He did all
this for us, infinitely more than anything we could do, and
faith says, that's reasonable. That's perfectly reasonable.
Whatever the cost, it's not costing me anything like it cost my Redeemer. It's reasonable. They ended that
Hebrews 11 with this, seeing were accomplished about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, who trusted Christ, they were
saved by the object of their faith. Let us therefore lay aside
every weight and the sin that so easily besets us. That sin's
not some individual sin. You know what that sin is? It's the opposite of what he's
been talking about in Hebrews 11. It's unbelief. Lay unbelief
aside. and rest on Christ, believe on
Christ. And he says, run the race, run
with patience the race set before us, looking to 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 now set down
at the right hand of the Father on high. And consider Him that
endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. Unless
you get to be weary, and start to feign in your mind. When that
happens, consider Christ. Reckon when Moses would think
about being Pharaoh's daughter, Pharaoh's daughter's son, and
all he had in Egypt, and he began to be weary out there in the
desert, who did he consider that made him strong? Christ. Christ. Consider Christ. When you grow weary, consider
Christ. Consider Christ and trust Him. Amen. Let's stand together. We'll take a short break and
we'll come back to our main service. Father, thank You for the Word.
Thank You for showing us these clear pictures of faith. And
Lord, we need that faith. We need You to give it to us,
strengthen it, Uphold it, preserve it, keep it ever stayed upon
Christ alone. And Lord, make us to know it's
not faith, just the faith that's saved, it's the object, it's
Christ upon whom faith rests that is saving us, that's strengthening
us, that's keeping us and preserving us. Make us follow Him, look
into Him and nowhere else. Lord, make Your people hear this.
Make them believe You. Make them come to that well and
drink and believe You and trust You. We ask it in Christ's name
for Your glory. Amen.