Alright, now let's turn here
together again to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Now, we find out here in verse
12 who John is speaking to. I write unto you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. Little
children, that's a description of a believer, no matter our
age, no matter our natural age. You know, your little children,
they come to you and they ask you honest questions. They come
to you and they're teachable. They want to be taught. You're
still their hero. But the older become more rebellious,
the questions become more self-justifying questions. Grace works in the
heart to make the believer a little child. Make them teachable, make
them honest, make them come and want to be taught of the Lord.
The Lord Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted
and become as little children, you should not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. That's what grace does to a believer. It
makes us to just be honest with God and
come and not try to hide anything and not try to be self-justifying,
self-righteous, rebellious, to come and want to be taught of
the Lord. And it says here, you're forgiven for the sake of Christ. Forgiven. Little children who
are forgiven for His name's sake. We're, the believers, a sinner
by nature, we're a sinner by practice. We're not without sin,
but we're forgiven of our sin. For Christ's sake, for the sake
of Christ Jesus, for His name's sake. Not because there was any
worth in us, but because of the grace of God. That's what's opposite
to our worth, is God's grace. Opposite to our merit is God's
grace. Not because there was any works we did, but because
Christ was sin of the Father and he finished the work that
God gave him to do. That's opposite to the works
of man is the work Christ did, whereby believers made accepted
of God. Not for our namesake, what Eric
just said, it's not for our name by nature is worm. worm, as ugly,
worthless, wiggly, despised little creatures you can think of, a
worm. His name is the Lord our righteousness. His name is faithfulness. And
it's not merely past sins he put away, it's all sins he put
away. Past, present, and future. You can't bring up a sin before
God. towards one for whom Christ died.
You just can't. They've been put away. They're
gone. All right, now this next verse we see who this assembly
of little children is made up of. He says, I write unto you
fathers. These are the aged believers,
been in the faith a while. For you fathers, because you've
known him that is from the beginning, I write unto you young men, these
are the middle-aged believers, or the younger believers, because
you've overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children.
That's a different word from that little children in verse
12. This word means babes in Christ, new believers, because
you've known the Father. Now that's who he's writing to
here. But now look at verse 14. Well, let's stay here in verse
13 for a minute and let's talk about this. He says, I write
unto you fathers, now those who have been a long time in the
faith have a tendency to want to consider themselves wise. wise. Now, to prevent us from
boasting any father who's been around for a while in the gospel,
an aged believer, from boasting in their wisdom, to prevent the
elder from boasting in his age, so as not to be teachable and
dependent upon Christ to teach him anymore, he says this to
us, Christ is our wisdom. He said, I write unto you fathers
because you've known him that's from the beginning. He's the
wisdom. Christ is the wisdom. He's the
one who's from the beginning. He's the one that's made you
overcome. That's what John is saying there.
I'm writing unto you fathers because you've known him that's
from the beginning. Did you get what I said? A father,
somebody that's been around in the gospel a while, got a tendency
to think he's wise. But he says, I'm writing unto
you because you've known him who is your wisdom. The wisdom
that's from the very beginning. He's older than you. He's been
around a lot longer than you have, from before the world was
ever made. This is the wisdom that was in
the beginning. And then he says, I write unto you young men. Now
young men like to boast in their strength and in their power,
unless we think that we've overcome by some power or might in us. He says, I write unto you young
men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Christ came and
He's the strength and He's the power who overcame the wicked
one. He conquered Satan for His people.
And the way that you and I overcome, John says later, is through faith.
Faith lays hold of Him who did the conquering. In other words,
John has said, I'm right, you strong men, because Christ your
strength has conquered the wicked one on your behalf and through
faith you trust in him. That's how you've overcome him.
That's how you've overcome him. So you don't boast in your strength
and your wisdom. And then he says, I write unto
you little children, now who is it the little child can relate
to the most? The care of a father. And he
says, and I write unto you little children, because you know the
father. You know the father, all right?
So, but now there's something else about this. By addressing
all here together as little children, the fathers, the young men, and
the little children, it's calling them all little children, by
regeneration, this is the truth, all that are in Christ Jesus,
by the Spirit of God rebirthing us, making us new in Christ,
whether you started in the Spirit today or whether you've been
in the Spirit 70 years, We're made partakers of the divine
nature, and we have all things that pertain to life and godliness. This is what Paul said to those
saints at Korah. Ye are washed, that means plural,
ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified. That's what
we need to be. If we have that, we got everything.
you're washed, you're sanctified, you're justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. So that you
don't let anybody say that there's yet such and such a work for
a believer to do before they can be complete in Christ. What
we just read here is That's our completion. There's nothing else
to be done. Whether you just started or whether
you've been around for 70 years or more, that's so. All right,
now verse 14, he says, I've written unto you fathers because you've
known him that's from the beginning. I've written unto you young men,
because you're strong and the word of God abides in you, you've
overcome the wicked one." Now again he says fathers and young
men, but he leaves out the little children. And I think the reason
is because what he's writing here, what he's about to say
to us right here, this is a message that deals with the responsibility
of the fathers and the young men, of the fathers and the believers.
And what he's saying here is the responsibility that falls
on the older and the younger young men believers to provide
and instruct for these babes, for these little children in
the faith. All right, here's what he says
to us. It's a plain word of instruction. This is primarily our text, but
we're going to see See three or four things here. First, we
have just a plain word of instruction. Couldn't get more plain. Verse
15. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. Love not the world. Believers
born of the Spirit of God are not of this world. That's what
our Lord said in John 17, 14. He said, I've given them your
word, and the world hath hated them because they are not of
the world, even as I'm not of the world. The Lord said, I pray
not that you should take them out of the world, but that you
should keep them from the evil. They're not of the world, even
as I'm not of the world. Now, the believer was chosen
of God before the world was made. We weren't of this world. We
weren't chosen in this world. We were chosen before the world
was even made. We're not of this world. Christ came, not of this
world. He came and He perfected His
people forever, put away their sin, and He's redeemed us out
of this world. so that we're not of this world. We're not our own. We're bought
with a price. The Spirit of God's made us so
that we're born of God. We're not of the world. And so
our citizenship is in the kingdom of God. It's not of this world.
Paul said, Our conversation, our citizenship is from heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's where our citizenship is. Now, he says, neither love
the things that are in the world. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. Now, he's talking here primarily
to fathers that have been around in the gospel for a while, aged
believers, and to middle-aged believers who have been around
for the gospel and are strong, upon whom these responsibilities
fall. And it's important for us to
hear it because with every phase of life comes a brand new challenge. A brand new challenge. We look
at our children, and we say, just when you got it figured
out, this phase, they change, and something else comes along,
and it's a whole new set of problems, and just when you think you got
that figured out, something else changes. But we need to look
at our children and realize, that's us, too. That's us, too. With every phase of life, something
new comes along. An aged saint has more bodily
weaknesses. Got more bodily weaknesses. than
a younger and stronger do. They've looked forward to getting
to the golden years. They've worked hard for that.
They've looked forward to that. Their strength's more apt to
have languished, and they're apt to grow lukewarm and indifferent. because they don't have the zeal.
They don't have the strength. They let the guard down and indulge
in things of this world a little more. Don't we all have the tendency
to think, well, I've worked for it. I deserve it. Don't we? Don't
we? And then the young man has too
much confidence in strength. Too much confidence in strength.
The young man here is not like what you think of like young,
as in young 18, 19, 20 years old. We're talking about middle-aged
believers here that have been around for a little while in
the gospel. And here's our problem. We are either coming into more
than we've ever had before so that we want to indulge in the
things of the world more because we have more than we ever have
before, or we're on the back side of being middle age, and
we want to kick up our heels just a little bit more before
we get too old to do it. We're always facing these kinds
of problems. Now, there's nothing wrong, Ecclesiastes
5, Ecclesiastes 5, verse 18, there's nothing wrong with a
man enjoying the good that he's gotten from his honest labor.
These are gifts of God. Ecclesiastes 5, verse 18, tells
us Behold that which I have seen.
It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy
the good of all his labor that he taketh under the sun all the
days of his life which God giveth him for it's his portion. Every
man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given
him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice
in his labor. This is the gift of God. And that's just plain and simple.
But in the church of God, when God calls His people, when He
calls His people, God's grace makes us look on what God's given
us in a whole different light. Do you remember whenever the
time came when planning for your children, for your earthly children,
was more important than you? Do you remember that? when planning
for your children and laying up for your children became more
important than you. Your priorities changed. You
decided this world's not about me. It's about something else. Well, whenever God gives true
love for brethren, true love for brethren, it's manifest in
that the father's Men around in the faith and the young men
in the faith are more concerned about laying up for the babes
in Christ than for ourselves. They're more concerned for those
coming behind us who are Christ's sheep than we are for ourselves.
John just spoke about Christ's work. earlier in this chapter,
and he spoke of walking as he walked. And he spoke of the love
that God gives in the heart for brethren. Now what did Christ
do? Christ came to this earth and
he laid up for the children. He laid up for those that God
the Father gave him from before the foundation of the world.
He laid up a perfect righteousness that he earned by his own obedience
under the law. He laid up a justifying obedience
which he obtained by shedding his own blood. He laid up sanctifying
obedience by which his children are washed and made clean. He laid up redeeming obedience
whereby we're bought with a price and we're not our own. He did
all this how? By laying down his life. That's
how he did it. He laid down his life. So that
it can be said of you and I, verse 12, I write unto you, little
children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. What did he lay up for me? an
inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you." That's what he laid up by laying down his
life. So that nobody can pluck you out of the Father's hand,
neither pluck you out of His hand, because He's God, He's
one with the Father. God the Son, one with the Father.
We can't be lost because of what He's done. We can't fall away
because of what He's done. He's going to keep us because
He provided for His house. He did everything for His own
house to provide for us. Now, that's the heart that He
gives to His children. That's the heart that He creates
in the heart by His Spirit to those who are aged believers
and those who are middle-aged believers, even the babe in Christ. He gives us this heart. Our desire
is not to lay up for ourselves, but for those babes whom Christ
laid down His life for. That's the desire of God's people.
Now, so he tells us first of all that plain word of instruction. Love not the world, neither the
things of the world. And that gives us a plain word
of warning. Verse 15, If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. What does that mean? What does
it mean? In the context it means this,
and I'll show you this in just a second, but in the context
it means any man who can forsake the assembly of the saints where
he is needed most to pursue honors, pride of life, to pursue, forsake
his brethren for his own fleshly ease, pampering of the flesh,
the lust of the flesh, Any who can forsake babes in Christ for
the lust of his eyes, going after that which entices him by his
eyes, he doesn't have the love of the Father in him. Notice
the context. Look at verse 18. Little children,
it's the last time. And as you've heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists whereby we know
that it is the last time. If you want somebody to tell
you Otherwise, from what I'm telling you, and soothe your
conscience while you make you think you're religious and good
and while you go on in rebellion and pay them their harlot's fee
to do it, they'll gladly do so for you. They'll gladly tell
you. And here's the truth about it, though. Verse 19, they went
out from us. but they were not of us. For
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us. But they went out that they might be manifest that they
were not all of us." Now that's the context that he's talking
about. He's talking about forsaking the assembling of the saints.
Now, to our young people who God has called to faith in Christ,
the spiritual welfare of those who are younger than you Listen
to me now. Those who, you Robert, the spiritual
welfare of these that are younger than you, whether they know God
or they don't yet, or whether they ever do, the spiritual welfare
of those that are younger is more important than anything
else you do in this life. More important than anything
else. You'll have to get an education and a college. I'm talking to
little children now. You're considered here one of
the babes in Christ, but listen to this. The middle-aged and
the fathers listen to this too, and the mothers that are believers. You have to get an education.
You've got to go to college. Stay where you can hear the gospel. Stay as close as you can where
you can hear the gospel preached. Not just for your own soul's
benefit, but for the benefit of those that are coming up behind
you. Because you're going to teach them something. Whether
it's good or it's bad, you're teaching them something. Whether
you're teaching them that it's okay to leave and just say the
heck with everybody else, I'm going to go on and do what I
want to. Or whether you teach them that it's important to be where
you can hear the gospel preached. And you're going to teach them
one way or the other. You're going to teach them that one
way or the other. If you do have to go someplace else, you've
got to go further where you can get a scholarship or something.
Well, let this be your first thought. Where's there a church?
Where is there a church there? A church that preaches the truth
there. And make that the basis of your
choice, where you're going. And if you go there to a place
like that, and you're away from home, make it your endeavor. Be at every service. Don't just
go there because there's a church there, but then you stay on the
other side of town. Go there and go to that church and attend
those services. Christ Jesus, now you listen
to this statement, Christ Jesus, knowing the Lord Jesus Christ,
is preeminently more important than any degree of any kind from
any institution in this world. I can't say that dogmatically
enough. That is so. It is more important
than any degree of any kind from any institution in this world.
A job. You're going to have to get a
job. You're going to have to have some kind of job of some
kind in this life. That's just how it is. Let this
be first in all your thoughts when it comes to getting a job.
What can I do? What kind of job can I get where
I can promote the good of Christ's kingdom without being consumed
away from Christ by a career? The world needs doctors. The
world needs lawyers. The world needs those. And God may give you the grace
to do it and be able to serve God in His kingdom and promote
the good of His church, and I hope so. That would be wonderful.
But make sure whatever it is you do, it's not something that's
going to consume you away in this lust of these flesh. This
is what the Lord said, Matthew 6.24. As simple, as plain as
English can be, Matthew 6.24. No man can serve two masters. It's just impossible. Somebody's
going to have to have the preeminence. Somebody's going to have to have
the preeminence. Either God, Christ is going to have to have
the preeminence or this worldly cares and worldly lusts and worldly
ambition. No man can serve two masters.
He'll either hate the one and love the other, or else he'll
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon. You can't serve God in the world.
You can't serve God in unrighteous riches. Look over at Matthew
13, 22. Matthew 13, 22. All through Scripture. We read over and over and over,
love not the world. Things like that. Don't go after
riches. If God gives you riches, don't
set your heart on them. That's what Scripture says. He
made David a king. God made David a king. Do you
know where God sent a man to David who was content? David
was out tending his father's sheep because that's what his
father needed him to do. That's what he was doing. And
David would have stayed there and been the best sheep tender
there ever was for his daddy. But God sent him and got him
and took him and made him a king. God made him a king. God did
it. But he says, when he gives you
riches, don't set your heart on those riches. He never tells
us, set your heart on riches. He never says, try to get the
biggest house you can get. He never says, try to get the
biggest bunch of stuff you can get in this world. He never tells
that to us. But this is what he tells us, Matthew 13, 22. He tells us a parable like this
and says, there's one that received seed among thorns. And he's the
one that hears the word, and the care of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. That's what the cares of this
world and the deceitfulness of riches will do. They'll choke
the word. So make Christ in the furtherance of Jesus' name the
chief thing in everything you do in this life. All right, now,
fathers and middle-aged believers, I said all that to them, to the
babes in Christ, because of this. That's the Word, and that's the
example that you and I are to teach these babes in Christ.
That's the example we're to be teaching them. If any man's attendance
on spiritual things is just for his immediate needs, just for
his own personal self, just for his own personal family till
he can get them all grown and out of the house, and then that
man wants to leave, and no longer gives himself for those babes
in Christ who are coming up behind him in the church, that's very
dangerous. Because the scripture says here
in verse 15, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. That's not the love of the Father.
The love of the Father gave his only begotten Son. You see why
men don't like to hear this? Why aged men don't like to hear
this is because you're They want to give their son to the world.
They want to throw their son in the fire. They want to take
their only begotten son and throw him in the fire of this world
and let him be consumed and swallowed up in this earth and get a name
and pride and honor because that's what they covet and they lust
after. I want him to be a chip off the old block, even if the
chip of the chip was a worthless chip. I want him to be like me.
That's what a man wants in the lust of his flesh. God gave his
only begotten son to lay down his life for the good of his
sheep, for the good of his elect, for the good of those babes in
Christ. And he exalted him to the right hand and said, now
here is a son to be proud of. Here's a son to be proud of.
He didn't come and give himself to consume his You get it. So what's wrong with the world
and the things of it, everything in it? Well, that's the third
thing. Look here in verse 16. Very simple words. We're just
talking about simple English right here. Look, for all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of
the world. That's just simple, isn't it?
We want an answer? There it is. There it is. Now, is Satan whispering in your
ear right now and saying, has God said that? That's not exactly
what that means. That's just a little too... Now,
he don't mean that. Is that what he's saying? You
know, he came to Eve and he said, have you looked at that fruit?
Have you looked it over with your eye? And she looked at it. And he said to her, you know,
it's good for food. And she knew it because she perceived
it's good to eat. It's good for the flesh. It'll
sustain my flesh. I can eat that fruit and it'll
sustain this flesh just like if I eat all those other trees
out there God said I could eat. It'll sustain my flesh just like
they will. And he told her God was keeping back something from
her. if she listened to God and obeyed God. He said, this will
make you wise if you eat this tree. And the pride of life,
the pride of being wise, apart from God, made her think, I want
that. I want that. As soon as she ate
it, as soon as Adam ate it, here's the first man-made church right
here. Lust to the eye, I'm naked. You know you're a sinner. Everybody
sitting here knows you're naked before God. You know you're a
sinner. Lust of the flesh. I need a covering. I need a covering. Pride of life. I can cover myself. I am naked. I need a covering. I can cover myself. Lust to the
flesh, lust to the eye, lust to the flesh, pride or lie. They
made themselves aprons. They hid themselves. Adam said
to God, I hid myself. I don't think he was helping
him and I don't think he was helping Eve. And as soon as God
said, how did you know you were naked? He said, the woman you
gave me, she gave me the tree and I ate it. You see all this?
Who taught them that? Who taught them all that? You've
got lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of
life. Who taught them all that? Did God teach us to have these
lusts of the flesh, and lusts of the eyes, and pride of life,
to self-justify ourselves, and make ourselves self-righteous,
and self-holy, and self-exalt ourselves, and pat one another
on the back, and then blame others the whole time we're doing it?
Is that what God gave us? All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. Every bit of
it, that came from me and you. It didn't come from God, it came
from us. This is what the Lord Jesus said,
how can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek
not the honor that comes from God only? The honor that comes
from God is going to diminish our pride. It's not going to
puff it up. We want that pride where we can boast in it, where
that honor we can boast in and be proud that we accomplished.
The honor that God gives, the robe of Christ's righteousness,
it's going to strip you of all your honor. It's going to strip
you of everything you thought was honorable and was something
to be seeking after. The only way we're going to overcome
that is by Christ. I won't go into great detail
here because we've looked at this two or three times, but
you know, Satan appeals to the lust of the flesh. He said to
Christ, you're hungry, here's stones. Here's earthly stones
right here. You can make them bread. You
live of these earthly things right here. You can live of these
things. They'll sustain your flesh. That's exactly what he
told Eve. And Christ said, it's written,
man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
out of the mouth of God. He appealed to the pride of our
flesh. He said, if you be a son of God,
if you be a child of God, He took him up to the pinnacle of
the temple. You know everything. You know the five points of Calvinism. You've made a profession. You've
been in the church a long time. You don't have to go to that
place all the time. You don't have to go there and
hear the gospel preached. You can stand on your own. You
can jump off that temple and separate yourself from it and
God will send angels and they'll hold you up and they'll keep
you and provide for you and everything. That's what Satan said. And Christ
said, it's written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Don't
presume that because you've come to some place, a certain place,
depend ever more upon His grace to keep you, ever more upon His
promise to keep you. The lust of the eyes, the devil
took him up, he showed him an exceeding high mountain, he showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, all in
one instance. And he said, all these things
I'll give you if you'll just fall down and worship me. And Christ said, get behind me.
It's written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only
shalt thou serve. You see, he just wouldn't be
turned from serving his Father to go after this world, to pamper
his flesh, to satisfy his eyes, or to get any honor that would
come like those things that we so often want to seek after. That's how we're going to overcome.
That's how the wise believer has overcome, the aged believer
who's grown in wisdom, he's overcome by Christ who's our wisdom. And
that's how you strong men who are strong and in the flower
of age right now, that's how you've overcome. It's by this
one who's conquered Satan for us, Christ our Lord. Well, not
only are those things not of the world, or these things not
of God, but they also not last. Look at verse 17. And the world
shall pass away and the lust thereof. Every last thing in
this world that appears most precious, most important, most
valuable to our flesh is marked for destruction. You don't take
my word for it. Read it right there. The world
passed away and the lust thereof. All of these things are going
to pass away. Let me tell you about the $460 million man. I know a man who built a business
from the ground up. This man built multiple businesses
and multiple businesses. This man ended up with several
thousand acre estates. This man accumulated estimated
value. This man when he died was $460
million. I can't even count that high
$460 million. Let me tell you how wise he was. Tell wise this man was late 70s. left his wife for about 40 years,
got him a new model, about 30 years old. She liked horses, so he went
out and got some horses. And she wanted him to go ride
horses with her. So here's this 79, 80-year-old man climbing
up on horses and goes out riding horses with his new young wife. And here's this man on one of
these big 1,000-acre ranches he's got. And this man had all
this wealth, accumulated all this power, and all this prestige,
and all this honor, and a little bee. This is a true story. I
know who I'm talking about. This is a true story. And a little
bee came out and scared that horse he was riding. And that
horse went to bucking and bucked him off. A beast put him in the
dust of the ground. And he spent about the last six
months of his life hooked up on every machine I could get
him on whatever kind of care the medical medical could provide,
spent a ton of that money, and he died and left every bit of
it. Every bit of it. That's the $460
million man. Smart, wasn't he? Smart. Well, there's something that
never ends though. Let me show you this, verse 17.
But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. What's the
will of God? We believe on Christ. We rest
everything in Him, the propitiation, the atonement for our sins. We
trust Him who's the advocate with the Father. We abide in
Him, in His gospel. We endeavor to keep His word,
abiding in our hearts and with one another. And by this Spirit,
we observe the new commandment of love. What is that? We love
God. We love Christ. We love our fellow
believers. And we don't love the world and
the things of the world. What's the difference? Verse
17, the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever. Now let's read this
out, verse 24. Let that therefore abide in you
which you've heard from the beginning. See, it's the Word. It's the
Word. Let that abide in you. If that
which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this
is the promise that He's promised us, even eternal life. These
things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
But the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you. He said you have an unction,
you're taught of the Spirit of God, and that anointing which
you've received of Him, it abides in you. That's how you're going
to stay abiding in Him. And you need not that any man
teach you. He said, you know these things. You know what I'm
teaching you, John said. But as the same anointing teaches
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, you shall abide in him. Have you been taught
this? Is this what the Spirit of God
is teaching you? Abide in Christ. Abide in Christ. Do you hear
him say, you abide in me? You don't have any fruit unless
you get it from me. That's what he said. I'm the
vine, you're the branches. Abide in me. And he says there,
he that abides in me, he'll abide forever. Now verse 28, he says,
and now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his
coming. You know what happened to Moses?
Moses got picked up out of a creek and carried into Pharaoh's house.
The richest man. Pharaoh was like a president.
That's what Pharaoh meant. He ran Egypt. And he carried
him in there. And he was going to be the heir
of everything Pharaoh had. And when he came of age, He left
all of that to serve God and his people and suffer reproach
for the name of Christ because he esteemed that greater riches
than to be given everything he could have received in Pharaoh's
house. Moses is one of those faithful fathers who's still
teaching us today. We can read about him in Hebrews
11 and he's still teaching us today. Do you even know who Pharaoh's
name was, what his name was? I don't even have a clue. I don't
have a clue. Moses still has the riches that
Christ gave him right now. There's been, I don't know how
many pharaohs come and go in Egypt. And far as I know right
now, Egypt's probably one of the poorest countries there is,
and I don't even know if they even have anybody leading them right
now. Where's Pharaoh right now? You
know what? Moses has been with the Lord.
eternally, unchangeably perfect now for over 5,000 years. And it's just like the first
day. Just like the first day. Where's wisdom? It's to abide
in Christ, isn't it? Love not the world. Love Christ
and abide in Him. Amen.