One verse, verse 23, the title
of the message is Parenting in Difficult Times. As I said, I
started to just include this with the next several verses
with Moses, but then I began to have thoughts and the Lord
began to, I believe, open it up to me. and uh the title and
i always seem to have to get the title before i get the message
and once i get the title then i've got a clear path to the
message and this one is parenting in difficult times now hebrews
11 leaves us a legacy of salvation by grace through faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. No mention of WORKS, but FAITH WORKS, doesn't it? By faith they acted. Faith is
very active, it's not dormant, it's very active. And we are
reminded of the faith of God's elect throughout history here
in this chapter. Abel offered a better sacrifice
than Cain and he offered that better sacrifice by faith, he
believed God, that's what faith is. He believed God, he trusted
God, that's just simply put faith is believing God, it's trusting
Him. Enoch by faith walked with God, and he was not for God took
him for he had this testimony he pleased God. Noah built an
ark, moved with fear and he built an ark to the saving of his household,
he believed God. God told him what he was going
to do, he was going to flood this world, he was going to erase
man off the face of the earth and Noah believed him. It took
him 120 years to build that ark. and he never stopped he did not
stop he did not say you know 50 years has gone by 75 years
has gone by no he believed God all the way to the end by faith
he believed God he built that ark and and he built it because
he believed God and Abraham obeyed God not knowing where he was
going he was told to go out He was going to inherit the land
and he believed God. He'd never seen it. He had no
idea where he was going. He packed his bags, him and Sarah,
and they headed out by faith. By faith. And by faith he offered
up Isaac, the son of promise. But by faith he offered him up,
believing that God was going to raise him from the dead, of
which he had received him in a like figure. He believed God. Sarah, who was past the age of
childbearing, old, elderly lady, I started saying old lady, but
elderly lady, that's a better way to say it. She believed God
and she conceived and bore a son, Isaac. Would she have had Isaac
had she not believed God? No, she wouldn't. No, she wouldn't. You know, Jesus Christ is our
salvation. But if you never believe on Christ,
you're going to perish. You're going to perish. Because
God is a God of means and He uses faith. Then we have Isaac
and Jacob and Joseph who all died in faith, still trusting
the promises of God. And now, Now we come to Moses,
but before the faith of Moses is spoken of, we are given a
POWERFUL EXAMPLE IN A VERSE! Oh, how much is in the Word of
God just in a verse! I realized through the years
of preaching I cannot, with my limited understanding, exhaust
even a verse. THE SPIRITUAL DEPTH OF THE SCRIPTURES
IS FAR BEYOND ME. I CANNOT EXHAUST NOT EVEN A VERSE,
BUT HERE WE HAVE A POWERFUL EXAMPLE OF THE FAITH OF MOSES' PARENTS
HERE IN ONE VERSE. Parenting is difficult, it's
difficult. Raising children is difficult. at best, it's difficult. We are
raising an Eternal Being and parenting in difficult times
is even more difficult. However, no time is too difficult
for God to save His children, our children if they're His children.
But here's the courage of Moses' parents Verse 23, By faith Moses,
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents,
because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid
of the king's commandment. This reminds us of another time
in Biblical history when Joseph and Mary, they had to flee to
Egypt. Isn't that ironic? They had to
flee to Egypt in order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved
because Herod sent out an edict that all those two years old
and under would be killed. They experienced the same thing
that Moses' parents experienced. It's striking, I thought today,
it's striking how Satan has always targeted the male population. in an effort to destroy God's
redemptive purpose. That's why He has targeted the
male population. Why the attack on males? Why
the attack on males? Well, first of all, man was made
in God's image and Satan hates that image. Even though it's
marred, even though the image of God which man was made is
so marred by sin there's still a trace of it there's still a
trace of it and he hates the that image but here's the number
one reason the lord jesus christ was to be born a man the seed of the woman was to
be born a man remember when eve had to whenever she had a cane
she said i've gotten the man from the lord Satan has always,
he tried to destroy the promised Messiah since the fall. Listen to this in Revelation
12, 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And that child is in parenthesis,
is added for clarity. I can read it like this. Which
brought forth the man Christ Jesus. THAT'S WHAT HE'S BEEN AFTER.
THAT'S WHY HE HATES MAN. SATAN HATES MAN. MADE IN THE
IMAGE OF GOD. THE MESSIAH CAME INTO THIS WORLD
AS A MAN. HE HATES MAN. AND STILL TODAY
SATAN TARGETS MEN. HE TARGETS THEIR IDENTITY. WE
SEE THIS IN OUR DAY. HE TARGETS THEIR ROLE IN THE
HOME, IN THE COMMUNITY. HE TARGETS THEIR ROLE AND IT'S
UNDER CONSTANT ASSAULT. AND IT'S AN ATTACK. HERE'S WHY.
IT'S AN ATTACK ON GOD'S ORDER. Who did God set up as the head
in the home? The man, the man. And we don't back down on that,
we don't apologize for that. God did that, God did that. And it's an attack on God's orders
established from the beginning. Now SAVING FAITH FEARS GOD MORE
THAN MAN. We see this in Amram and Jochebed,
that's the name of his parents. They were commanded to give their
son, all the male children were commanded to be given over and
drowned in the river. You think we live in bad times?
Think about it, you think we live in bad times? THEY WERE
COMMANDED TO KILL ALL THE MALE CHILDREN, THROW THEM IN THE WATER, SAVE
THE FEMALES BUT ALL THE MALE CHILDREN THROW THEM IN THE RIVER.
THAT WAS A COMMAND, THAT WAS A KING'S COMMAND. Yet they defied Pharaoh's edict
You see, that faith that is of God glorifies God and does not
fear what man can do to it. What does saving faith do? Where there is saving faith,
how does it show up? First of all, saving faith sacrifices
self-preservation. It sacrifices self-preservation. One of the greatest sins spoken
of over in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 through 5, In the latter
days men will become lovers of themselves more than lovers of
God. We naturally love ourselves more
than we love God. We do. And we are given to self-preservation. But not Amram and Jochebed. They believed God. They believed
God. And I'll show you this in a minute,
but where they said he was just a beautiful child. Beautiful
to God. You know, every baby's a beautiful
baby. He was beautiful to God. But
I'll get to that in a minute. But SAVING FAITH SACRIFICES SELF-PRESERVATION. It says, THEY HID HIM THREE MONTHS. I have no doubt that Amram sat
down and talked to her, and they counseled together, talked about
it, and Amram said, This is what we're going to do. I believe
the father said, This is what we're going to do. And she carried
it out. because in another scripture it speaks of HER doing this.
But here they did it together. They did it together. They hid
Him three months. They were not concerned about
THEIR life. They were concerned about the
life of their son, Moses. It may be that God gave them
some kind of revelation about Him. I don't know, it's not mentioned. But they saw something different
in Moses, I know that. You know, Paul said this, he
said, none of these things move me, none of these things that
were against him, neither count I my life dear to myself that
I may finish the course. I don't count my life dear. You
know, when we count our lives dear to ourselves, here's what
happens, compromise. Every time, compromise. were
compromised. Saving faith values God's will
above earthly life. This is the will of God and they
were not afraid of the king. They knew this, they knew that
if the guards came in and searched the house and they found Moses
they were dead, they would be killed, they'd be put to death
AND Moses would be put to death, all of them. They knew that.
They believe God. I mean, this is astounding. This
is to me is, you know, we think of great faith is this just somebody
doing something great. But here is just parents hiding
their child and say, you know what? If it costs us our life,
it'll cost us our life. That's OK. That's OK. saving faith values God's will
above earthly life and saving faith stands on God's counsel not man's threats not man's threats
you know it says over in psalm 33 the Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathen to not turn over turn over to psalm let me see
what psalm 33 look at this Psalm 33, look in verse 10. The LORD bringeth that over my
margin, maketh frustrate. The LORD frustrates the counsel
of the heathen to naught. He brings it to naught. He makes
the devices of the people of non-effect. The counsel of the
LORD Standeth forever that counsel that was made in eternity that
counsel with concern Jesus Christ and you and I in Christ it shall
stand forever Nothing's going to happen to us that was not
in the counsel of God The counsel of the Lord standing forever
the thoughts of his heart to all generations David said thy
thoughts to us were can't be numbered and His thoughts is going to
STAND! His thoughts to us in Christ is going to STAND! It's going to STAND! I mean,
GOVERNMENT CONTRADICTS GOD'S WORD! SAVING FAITH OBEYS GOD'S
WORD! There was a time back in Daniel,
we'll turn over to Daniel chapter 3. Here I will, I won't be able
to find it. What page is that on? Somebody
tell me. What? 1108. You ought to try preaching and
thinking at the same time. It's hard. 1108. There it is. I had that all written down and
I don't know what I did with it. Listen to this. In Daniel chapter 3, in verse 16. Now you all remember there was
a statue made and they were supposed to bow down to it, everybody
was, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not do it. They
didn't do it. And the king gave him another
opportunity to do it. He said, now if you do it, everything
will be all right. I'm paraphrasing. Listen here,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this
manner. We're not afraid We're not careful,
we're not trying to word this in a way that we're not gonna
upset you. We're not trying to get out of
this. We're not afraid, we're not careful
to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we
serve, is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace,
and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King. But if not,
can we say that? But if not. I might have to die. You know,
there were many of God's children who have died and burned at the
stake and they're martyrs, but if not, it may be that we have
to die for. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up. We will not do it. They didn't hesitate. They did
not hesitate to say to Nebuchadnezzar, We are not going to bow to your
God, KNOWING, KNOWING they are going to be put in the furnace
and burnt up. I cannot think of probably a
more horrible death than to be burnt up. But they said, We are not going
to do it. Peter and John, remember over
in the book of Acts chapter 4? THEY WERE THREATENED AND TOLD
NOT TO PREACH IN THE NAME OF CHRIST. Listen to what their
answer was. Whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, you
be the judges. And they went out and they preached
in the name of Christ. You see, when government contradicts
God's Word, saving faith obeys God. It obeys God. I think we had a small taste
of the power of government to shut us down during COVID, and
I'm not going to get into all that, but I tell you, we had
a little taste of it when that happened, of the power of government
to just shut it down. Threatened to be put in jail
if you met. We just had a little taste of
it. That's all we had. But in the face of danger, SAVING
FAITH DECLARES BOLDLY, THE LORD IS MY LIGHT AND MY SALVATION,
WHOM SHALL I FEAR? WHOM SHALL I BE AFRAID OF? David
this tall, Goliath this tall, I mean Goliath was a huge man
compared to David and David went out there with just that sling
and he went out there in the name of the Lord. When the fear of man prevails,
it brings a snare. That's what it says in Proverbs
29.5, the fear of man bringeth a snare, it brings compromise.
That's what it does, it brings compromise. But whoso putteth
his trust in the Lord shall be safe. If it's alright, put your
trust in the Lord, He said they'll be safe, that person will be
safe. But now we see here the power
of believing parents. I cannot emphasize and put any kind of value on parents that believe God. Parents,
plural. Father and mother that believe God. I just cannot
put that into words. What a blessing. Now as I said
earlier, we don't know exactly what Moses' parents knew about
his future, but here's what I do know from this one scripture,
here's what I know. THEY BELIEVED GOD TOGETHER. THEY BELIEVED GOD TOGETHER. TRUE
SAVING FAITH, NOW LISTEN, THIS IS WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO GET
TO. TRUE SAVING FAITH PUTS HARMONY IN THE HOME. IT PUTS HARMONY
in the home. Here's the importance of unified
faith in the home, and they are examples of God-saving grace
in the home. The believing parents are both
parents seeking God's glory where both parents believe God
You'll find a home in submission to the Lord and you'll see the
power of God on that home and the beauty, the beauty of the
Lord on that home. Both parents believing God, walking
according to this Word right here, not according to the world,
not according to the secular world, not according to what
this country teaches, but what God teaches. WHAT GOD TEACHES. A DIVIDED AND CONTENTIOUS HOUSE
IS NOT OF GOD. IT'S NOT OF GOD. Listen to this, THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
IS PEACE. Isaiah 32, 17. Now listen to
it, AND THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE PEACE. THE WORK OF THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST FOR US, THE WORK OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
OF CHRIST IN US, BRINGS PEACE OF HEART, PEACE OF CONSCIENCE,
AND LISTEN, WHERE THERE IS REAL PEACE OF HEART AND REAL PEACE
OF CONSCIENCE IN CHRIST, THERE IS PEACE IN THAT HOME. THERE
IS PEACE IN THAT HOME. YOU SHOW ME A HOME WHERE THERE
IS TURMOIL AND FUSSING AND FIGHTING, The work of righteousness is
not there. It's not there because listen,
and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect
of righteousness, that's the work of righteousness in us,
the effect of righteousness, quietness, quietness and assurance
forever. That's the evidence of grace
in the home. that's I just read you the evidence
of Christ in the home right here Isaiah 32 17 and the work of
righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness
quietness and assurance forever now and throughout eternity throughout
eternity don't pretend on sunday what what you and i would deny
on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday by
our life. I'm telling you the truth. This is, I said this to
someone the other day, I said, one of my fears is that we make
more Calvinists than we have believers. I don't want to be a doctrinal,
I know we have doctrine and I do believe Christ is not without
doctrine. Well, but where the Spirit of
Christ is, there's peace, there's joy, there's love, there's kindness,
there's the fruit of the Spirit. It's there. It may be there in
the bud, but that bud will turn into a flower. Because where
there's life, where there's life, there'll be development. There'll
be fruit. And I say to everyone, WHOSE
HOMES ARE A MESS, DON'T PRETEND TO BE ON SUNDAY WHAT YOU'RE NOT
AT HOME ON MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. DON'T DO IT! DON'T DO IT! CONSISTENT HYPOCRISY IS A MOCKERY
OF GOD'S GRACE. GRACE IN, GRACE OUT. LOVE IN,
LOVE OUT. IT EITHER IS OR IT ISN'T. and I say let's not use our sinful
nature as a crutch or an excuse for bad conduct. They believed
together and they hid their son and then when it came time we'll
see what they did here. But here's some encouragement Well let me let me mention this
before I don't want to forget this when I sit here let's not
use our sinful nature as a crutch or an excuse for bad conduct.
God calls us to walk by the Spirit not by the flesh and it says
in Romans 1 there is therefore no condemnation to them who are
in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the
Spirit You know, they walk after they're controlled and under
the power of the Holy Spirit. He's not a weak spirit. The Holy
Spirit is God. He's God. Now here's encouragement
for parents today. And I know that a lot of us are
older, but you have older kids that don't believe the gospel.
Some of you do. Some of you have older kids that
don't believe the gospel. And I know this, the days we
are living in are dark, they're dark days, but they've always
been dark. They've always been dark. Ecclesiastes
7, 10, Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days
were better than these? They weren't. They've all been
dark days. For thou dost not inquire wisely
concerning this. You don't understand the Scriptures. Listen, like Moses' parents,
we must trust the Lord with our children and grandchildren. We trust Him with them, even
in such hostile times. Even in such hostile times, we
have to trust the Lord with our children. He saved us, didn't
He? We who believe, didn't He not save us? He saved our children. We just, Lord, They are in your
hands! They are in your hands. They trusted the Lord with Moses.
He is just a baby. He is just a young child, a baby. We have got to trust Him. What
did they do? They hid Him as long as they
could, then they placed Him in an ark and trusted God's mercy
and providence. They hid Him as long as they
could. And they didn't put him in the ark and put him in over
there because they became afraid of being killed. No, they couldn't
hide him any longer and they knew he'd be killed. They knew
they'd put him to death. But they saw something in him.
They saw something in him. But here's what they did. They
took and they made an ark over in Exodus 2, 3. And I'm just
going to mention a word about this ark. and we don't have time
to deal with everything. It says in Exodus 2 verse 3,
And when she could no longer hide him, Moses, she took for
him an ark of bulrush, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. What did Noah put on that ark? Pitch. What does that pitch mean? Atonement. Atonement. and put the child therein, and
she laid it in the flags by the river's brink, and I guarantee
when she did it, she prayed and left in God's hands. That ark is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, our true ark of safety. All of God's children
ARE SECURE IN CHRIST EVEN BEFORE THEY KNOW HIM. Even before they know Him. Now, would you listen? We think this is the worst of
times. It's bad times. It's always been
bad times since the fall. In fact, it was so bad God flooded
the whole world except rape and saved eight people in the ark,
but it was so bad God said enough's enough and He killed everybody. Sodom was so bad that God burned
it down and He burned it down as an example to those who should
live afterwards after the same manner. God burned it down. And even though Moses was raised
in Egypt, now listen here, listen, think about this. This just struck
me today. As I was, well, the last few
days I was writing on this. Moses was raised in one of the
most perverted places, in the most perverted house, the house
of power and corruption. He was raised in that. But now
listen to Jude 1.1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father
and preserved in Jesus Christ. And called, you know, called
later, but you preserved in Christ before the world began. God preserved
you in Christ. I don't think any of us want
our lives put up on the screen, do we? We don't want our lives put up
there. But God preserved us in Christ,
then called us and brought us to faith in Christ. And when we think of how terrible
the times are, They're no worse than what Moses, from a child,
he was raised up in that perversion. You know how perverted Egypt
was. It was as bad as it is today. Just as bad. But let me give
you a word of balance here. We are to protect our children
from ungodly influences as much as possible. We are responsible
to watch over our children, aren't we? We are responsible. But let's
be careful we don't turn them into Pharisees. The rich young ruler's downfall
wasn't immorality. And here's got to be a balance.
It's got to be a balance. His downfall was his self-righteousness. He said, ALL THESE HAVE I KEPT
FROM MY YOUTH UP. Who taught him? Who taught him
that from his youth? His mom and dad. They made a
Pharisee out of him. His morality became his undoing.
So be careful that good morals don't become a substitute for
saving faith. It's not, it's not. And that's as bad as it gets. They keep them away from our
secular education, which is so messed up right now. It's so
messed up. But then they take them and they
teach them a false gospel. Jesus loves you and wants to
save you. They have no idea who He is. And next thing you know,
they've got a false hope, false refuge, false faith, false everything. We got to have a balance, but
we also don't want to completely turn over to absolute wickedness. I'll tell you what we do. We
trust the Lord to say, bring him up in the fear and admonition
of the Lord and trust him. Lord, my children, my grandchildren
are in your hands. Do you see what a trial of faith
this was for Amram and Jochebed? They had to take Moses and for
three months hide him, then they took him and put him in this
basket, this ark that they made, took him and put him in the bulrushes,
and they trusted God to save him. And He did. Our children are in the hands
of the Lord, and whether He saves them or not, that's a matter
of the sovereign will of God. That's a matter. I'm not afraid of self-righteousness
no more than I'm afraid of being a whoremonger. What I am more afraid of is this.
Here's what I'm more afraid of. It's not me being self-righteous.
It's not me being a whoremonger. It's me not believing God. Why
is this epistle written? It's written because of some
who were turning back from the faith in unbelief. Why did they not enter in? What
does it tell us in this epistle? Why did they not enter into the
Promised Land? UNBELIEVED! It doesn't say because they did
this or they did that, it doesn't say because they made a golden
calf, or they murmured and complained, no, they DIDN'T BELIEVE GOD! If you're going to be afraid
of anything, be afraid of this, NOT BELIEVING GOD! NOT TAKING
GOD AT HIS WORD! That's what you'd be afraid of,
that you don't believe God. I don't want to come up to the
end and hear Him say, DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER KNEW YOU. You
think no Calvinists are standing in that line? The Pharisees believed
election as much as we believe it. They believed particular
redemption as much as we believe it. They believed it wrong, but
they believed it. They believed it was for them
and nobody else. I want to believe God. That s
what I want to do. I want to believe God. And they
saw he was a proper child. All God s children are beautiful
to Him. Let me read you something over
in Acts. I marked this one, I think, in
verse 7, verse 20. okay in verse 20 in which times
i mean you could start in verse 17 but when the time of the promise
drew near which god has sworn to abraham the people grew and
multiplied in egypt till another king arose which knew not joseph
the same dealt subtly with our kindred and evil entreated our
father so that they cast out their young children to the end
they might not live in which time moses was born and was exceeding
fair and nourished up in his father's house three months."
But that word EXCEEDING FAIR, do you have in your margin, what
does it say in your margin if you have a margin in your Bible?
FAIR TO GOD. That's exactly what it says.
He was exceeding fair to God, and they saw that. I think they
had some kind of revelation about it, but they saw this child's
fair to God. Fair to God. BEAUTIFUL! BEAUTIFUL TO GOD! LIKE SAMUEL
AND SAMSON AND OTHERS, GOD SEES HIS CHILDREN WITH PURPOSE AND
BEAUTY. BEAUTIFUL TO GOD. You know you are beautiful to
God, you who believe, you are beautiful to God. EXCEEDING FAIR
IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. HOWEVER GOD SEES CHRIST IS THE
WAY HE SEES ME AND YOU. And here's the courage of faith.
I'm going to wind it down. Here's the courage of faith.
They were not afraid of the King's commandment. We are to obey authority. We
are to obey it as long as it does not come in conflict with
God's Word. We never contradict the Word
of God. And in closing, let me close
with this. FAITH IN DIFFICULT TIMES. I started out parenting
in difficult times. Moses' parents stand as an example
of what it means to believe God in difficult times. We just believe
God, we trust Him. They defied fear. You know the
wrong kind of fear will shut you down. The wrong kind of fear
will absolutely shut you down, it'll shut your mouth. When you
ought to stand up and speak up, instead you'll sit down and shut
up. That's the wrong kind of fear. A RIGHT FEAR OF GOD WILL
MAKE YOU BOLD, EVEN IN THE FACE OF DEATH. And then here's another thing
about their faith in this difficult time. They worked together in
faith. This is unity of faith in the
home. They worked together. They didn't work against each
other. They didn't work against each other. It wasn't husband
and wife against each other. They were a team. You know, when
I was growing up on a farm, when we first moved on the farm, Dad
had a team of horses. And those horses pulled together.
They plowed that field together. One wasn't going this way, one
going that way. No, they were going the same
way. That's a house that's of God. They worked together. They trusted
God with their child. They trusted God with their child.
And they found REFUGE in God's PURPOSE, not man's. THEY TRULY STAND AS EXAMPLES
OF THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.