If you want to turn in your Bibles
to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, I want to continue on in
our series through the book of Hebrews. We've been working along
in this book for quite some time, but this is a wonderful book.
I don't know of another book of the Bible I love more than
the book of Hebrews. You might wonder why. I hope
you do by now. The book of Hebrews, as all of
scripture, but especially this book, unfolds to us how the Lord
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that came before. If you
were to summarize the entire law of God, you could categorize
it into two things. First, what God requires of us
for our obedience. In Deuteronomy 6.25 it says,
it shall be for our righteousness if we keep all the commandments
of the Lord. That's the first part of the
law is our obedience that God requires. The second part is
the remedy for our sin. All the sacrifices that God required
to make atonement to cleanse us from our sins. That comprises
the whole law. Jesus Christ fulfilled that law.
He himself is the righteousness of God to everyone that believes. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He fulfilled all of our obedience
and he satisfied God's justice in his sacrifice, which itself
was the ultimate obedience of submission to the will of God.
suffering under God's judgment, justifying God, always in everything,
in every prayer, in every word, every thought of his heart, he
was thankful to God that he could give himself for his people,
to have them for himself, to make them holy by his own blood.
The book of Hebrews is about that, and so we love it. We love
it because it extols our Savior, it makes us see him as all of
our salvation. And the 11th chapter of Hebrews
is about that which God produces in us when we hear the gospel,
when we hear the light from heaven, the truth we never knew before,
we never loved before, but when we see it, it comes as a great
surprise, an unexpected entrance of God's light into our hearts.
This is always the case throughout scripture and someday perhaps
we'll give some examples of that. But chapter 11 from Hebrews is
about faith. And we're going through that
chapter. It's a catalog of all those who
believed God, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we
are in verse 23 of Hebrews 11, by faith, Moses. By faith, Moses. That's what I've entitled the
message today, by faith, Moses. If you want to begin in verse
23, Hebrews chapter 11. It says, 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. In verse 24, by faith, Moses,
when he was come to years, 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. esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Verse 27, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath
of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith, he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. I want to consider with you this
faith that God gave to Moses. When we read these things about
Moses, I don't know about you, but the first thing that I think
is what tremendous grace God gave to Moses that he would believe
God in this way that he would be enabled to do these things
as a consequence of that faith God gave to him. God gave him
a view of Christ. God persuaded him of Christ and
salvation in him. And God made Christ and his saving
grace and all that Christ did for sinners, the pursuit, the
desire of Moses' heart. So that these things of the world,
the pleasures of sin for a season, and all the treasures of Egypt,
with all that that brought, the notoriety, the position, the
status, the power, and the wealth, he considered those nothing. In fact, he preferred the reproach
of Christ to those things. He preferred the affliction that
came with the people of God to all those things. That is grace. You can't explain that by anything
in a man. And so I want to consider these
things with you. It's not possible for me to give
you an account of Moses' entire life. The first five books of
the Bible were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
through Moses. And that's phenomenal. In the
first book of the Bible, we see the creation of the world and
man and the fall of man and God's remedy for sin, just in the first
three chapters. And then we see God's electing
grace towards Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, God's eternal
promises in Christ to them of eternal life and justification
by Christ's righteousness. and a people that would be born
by the Spirit of God and given to Christ and the Lord Jesus
would save by his redeeming blood. All that's in the book of Genesis
and more, much more. The Lord told Abraham, I am thy
shield and thy exceeding great reward. Moses knew about those
things. And I want to emphasize here
when we look at this grace of faith that God gave to Moses,
that Moses himself saw and believed. He trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw his salvation. And in that, in seeing Christ
and his salvation, Moses saw the glory of God. And that's
what compelled him and constrained him and caused him to have this
attitude toward the things of this life in preference of all
those things he much more desired the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
was his pursuit and he lived his life. In Acts 7, Stephen
preached a sermon to the Jews who heard him. The Jews gathered
around to kill Stephen. And so Stephen begins, and he
gives a catalog of God's history with the nation of Israel, and
he begins with Abraham. And his sermon begins with these
words to the effect that God appeared to Abraham while he
was in Mesopotamia, before he came out to Haran, and before
he left Haran, after his father Terah died, and he went on towards
Canaan. While he was yet in Mesopotamia,
God appeared to him. While he was yet there, God spoke
to him. And God promised him, gave him
promises. And Abraham knew then, he knew
then and understood then something about God's grace in Christ.
Because God promised that in him and in his seed, all nations
of the world would be blessed in Christ. And this became the
faith that God gave to Abraham, Christ and him crucified. And
so Stephan in his sermon continues in the sermon by cataloging how
that Abraham bore Isaac, Isaac Jacob, Jacob the 12 patriarchs,
and the patriarchs, the 12 patriarchs sold their brother Joseph into
Egypt. They turned him over to their
enemies, to the idolatrous Egyptians. Yet it was God's plan that that
be the case because God would bring that nation of Israel,
all of Jacob's children, into Egypt because he was going to
deliver them from that as a great picture of our salvation by Christ.
And so they sold their brother Joseph into Egypt and they went
and then God brought a famine and he gave Joseph the understanding
to interpret Pharaoh's dreams about how the famine would come
after seven years of plenty, seven years of famine over the
whole world. And the famine came and Jacob
and his family needed food. And so they found that there
was food in Egypt because Joseph was ruler over Egypt. And so
they went down to Egypt. And this is all in Stephen's
sermon. And then Stephen in his sermon goes on and he says, while
they were there, the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt who knew Joseph,
and had understood that God had blessed Joseph and he had so
blessed Joseph that the Pharaoh recognized this and put Joseph
in charge of the entire land of Egypt. No one, according to
Pharaoh, could lift up a hand or foot in Egypt except by Joseph. And so when the famine came and
the people cried to Pharaoh, Pharaoh said, you go to Joseph
and you do whatever he says. But that Pharaoh who knew Joseph
and was blessed, in fact, the nation and Pharaoh's own family
was saved by Joseph's wisdom, the wisdom God gave to him, according
to the will of God to preserve the nation of Israel, that Pharaoh
died and the next Pharaoh that rose up forgot Joseph, didn't
know Joseph, didn't know the Hebrews. He had no respect, no
regard. He did not consider all that
God blessed them through Joseph. And so what did he do? He began
to afflict the Hebrews. They were foreigners. They were
not Egyptians. They were the Lord's people.
They didn't adhere to the idolatrous ways of the Egyptians, at least
not some of them. Many did. And so this new king,
this new pharaoh who rose, began to afflict them. But the more
he afflicted them, the more that nation multiplied and grew. because
it was God's promise to Abraham, while Abraham was still living,
that he would bring them out of Egypt, out from under the
affliction and the bondage, the furnace of Egypt, Egyptian affliction,
he would bring them out. And so according to God's promise,
at the time God promised, this is all from Stephen's sermon
in Acts chapter seven, God sent a son. He didn't send a son,
he gave to the parents of Moses, he gave them a son. And this
was a time when the king of Egypt was trying to kill all the male
children in Israel. He would have them thrown into
the river. That was his command. Cast in all the male children
into the river that they might not live. Because the people
of Israel were growing. They were multiplying. And he
knew that they would become mightier than the Egyptians and they would
one day take over the entire land. He couldn't have that.
So he said, I'll fix this. I'll kill all the male children.
It was at that time that Moses was born. And so what we read
in Acts chapter 7 is that, and I'll read this to you from Acts
chapter 7, that when he was born, his parents, and I don't remember
their name right now, but it doesn't really matter for the
purpose of what we're studying, his parents saw that he was a
proper child, and it says this in Acts chapter 7, in verse 20,
in which time Moses was born in the time when
the wicked king of Egypt evil entreated our fathers, so that
they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live,
in verse 20, Acts 7, in which time Moses was born, and was
exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house for
three months. And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter
took him up, and nourished him for her own son. So this is the
birth of Moses and this is what Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
23 is referring to. By faith, Moses, when he was
born, it was not Moses' faith, it was the faith of his parents.
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. Now my goal here
in looking at this verse is not only to understand it, but to
emphasize what is true about Moses. That Moses trusted Christ. We contend, you know, Hollywood
does this and we tend to think this way. We look at the microscopic
view of things said in scripture and we miss the big picture.
In Stephen's sermon, he prosecutes, he goes for the goal of convincing
the Jews who were the murderers of Christ, he's trying to convince
them that they were not like Abraham. Abraham, God's promises
to Abraham, they never heard. God never appeared and spoke
to them. like he did to Abraham, they didn't love the promises
in Christ. They didn't trust the righteousness
of Christ for their justification. They were not the true children
of Abraham, and they proved it. And so he goes on and talks about
the sons of Jacob who sold their brother Joseph into Egypt. See,
that's what you're like. You're like those stiff-necked,
unbelieving Israelites. And when Moses was born, according
to God's promise, and was raised up, and he went to his brethren,
thinking they would understand, God would deliver them by him,
because he understood that, and they did not receive him. And
so Stephen's sermon is trying to convince these Jews that this
was their case. because it eventually led up
to the fact that they rejected the very one Moses spoke of. The one God said through Moses
would rise up and be a prophet like Moses. So all of Moses'
life was connected to and centered about and lived upon Christ. And it began when he was born.
He was the son God gave in order to bring Israel out of Egypt. And this, of course, is reflective
of the fact that God sent his son into the world that we might
live through him. He made known his love to us
and that he gave him to be the propitiation for our sins. Moses
was a figure, a type of Christ. He foreshadowed him. He, in his
life, was not only a prophet by his words, but in his life,
he reflected the truth of the gospel of Christ. And so he himself
found his life in Christ. He was a sinner. Moses was not
without sin. We sometimes think that he, how
could he give the law? How could he say these things
unless he was without sin? But he was a sinner like us.
In fact, I want to refer you to a psalm that was written by
Moses in Psalm chapter 90. In that psalm, Moses said this, He says in verse 8 of Psalm 90,
thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins,
in the light of thy countenance. Iniquities, sins, that's what
Moses is confessing. Moses was a sinner too. He needed
a savior too, just like Mary. She said, my soul has rejoiced
in God, my savior. So never think that these Men
and women who live by faith of old were somehow immune to the
temptations and falls that we experience in our lives. They
were not. That was the thing that drove
them to see Christ in all of his loveliness as all of their
salvation and to praise and thank God for him. Moses was just like
them. And so when God gave Moses He
was fulfilling his promise, and it's spoken here in Hebrews 11,
it says, by faith Moses, when he was born, by the faith of
his parents, Moses when he was born was hid three months of
his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. I'm reminded of John the Baptist. Remember, he was promised by
God to Zechariah, his father, and Elizabeth, his mother, that
when he was born, he would, not only when he was born, but even
from the womb, he would be filled with the Spirit of God. He would
be sent by God as the forerunner, the one who would prepare the
way of Christ, the Lord. Remember? And so when he was
six months conceived, after six months still in the womb of his
mother Elizabeth, when he heard the voice of Mary, the one in
whom God had conceived Christ in his human nature, the one
who was Ordained by God to be the forerunner of Christ, hearing
the voice of his mother, knowing that Christ was then conceived
in his body in the womb of Mary, the baby John the Baptist leaped
in his mother's womb. He was about, he wanted to be
about that work. That was the reason he was born,
was to prepare the way of Christ. And he loved to think that here
he is, I need to get out, I need to get going. He jumped in the
womb. And so we see that even in the
womb, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
And he responded to the words, the prophecy of Christ. I want
to be about that business. And so Moses was a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the womb. He was in
the womb of his mother. The king was about to kill all
the male children. God saved Moses through the faith
of his parents. They saw he was a proper child.
But what does it mean here? It says here, a proper child.
It's the same word that was used in Acts 7, where it says, in
which time Moses was born and was exceeding fair. The same
word in the Greek. As here is said in Hebrews 11.23,
he was a proper child. What does this mean? Does it
mean his parents looked at him like Francis and Amber look at
their little baby girl? And say, oh, he's a fine son.
Look at that boy. He's so handsome. He's so strong. He has so much potential. Is
that what they were thinking? Every parent, most parents do
that, don't they? But you see, it was the spirit
of God that inspired these words to describe Moses, not from the
perspective so much of their parents, But from God's perspective,
he, Moses, God was going to use to bring Israel out of Egyptian
bondage, according to the promise of God. Christ was going to bring
his people out of the bondage, the tyranny of their own sins. and Satan and all of Satan's
false doctrine and deceit and delusion that held them captive
and bound in the darkness of the absence of light of the truth
of God in Christ. He was gonna bring them out.
The Lord Jesus Christ is that light and he came to bring his
people out to shine the light to those who were in the shadow
of darkness and in the land of darkness. He himself would be
that light. And Moses was a type of that.
But not only was he a type of that, he was also like every
believer. So when the Lord says here, he
was exceeding fair, it has a double meaning, doesn't it? Doesn't
it mean that in Moses, God was seen in foreshadowing? the Lord
Jesus Christ himself, of whom God the Father would speak from
heaven, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. God
is pleased with His Son and He's pleased with us in His Son. This is God's glory. God the
Father speaking from heaven at His baptism, at the transfiguration. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased because in Him God's people are pleasing
to God. That's God's glory, you see,
that he would make his people holy and faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy. And God sees this in the
foreshadowing, that's why he sent, or why Moses was born and
the Spirit of God speaks of him this way, is to point us to Christ. But also as a believer, because
God looks upon his people in Christ and he describes him here
as exceeding fair, a proper child. In Exodus 2, it says that he
was a goodly child. All these things give to us God's
view of his people in Christ. And notice also in Hebrews 11,
verse 23, this was when Moses was born. It says, by faith, Moses, when
he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw
he was a proper child. And when is it that God sees
us? When is the testimony of God
spoken concerning all of God's people that we are, to God, exceeding
fair in Christ? Doesn't that come in the evidence
of it? and in God's testimony from Scripture,
when we receive, when God gives us that light and we see in Christ
crucified all of our salvation, when we see the one who was hung
up on the cross by God's will to save us from our sins, there
our substitute, the one who bore our sins and the curse of them,
when God by His Spirit births us and gives us that life with
faith to see Christ, then God's testimony comes to us and says,
you're exceeding fair to God in Christ. Isn't that when it
happens? At the new birth, when we realize,
we receive then by faith what God has seen in Christ from eternity,
and what he accomplished at the cross. But then, and then only,
do we see it ourselves. And it becomes the evidence.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. We don't see it, but God does.
And it's His testimony that counts. It's what God sees that is all
of our salvation. And so we see this even in Moses'
birth. He reflected what God would do
in Christ. And that was exceeding fair to
God. And he reflected what God would do for his people in Christ,
and that too, and they are exceeding fair to God. He was a proper
child, a goodly child. We come from the womb speaking
lies. We were conceived in sin, in iniquity. Psalm 51 verse five,
David said, I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive
me. This is true of everyone born of Adam. In Adam, all have
sinned. In Adam, all are condemned and
were justly condemned. But by the obedience of one shall
many be justified, many be made righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled our obedience. He fulfilled and magnified God's
law for the obedience we could never give. And he himself redeemed
us with a price we could never pay because he is the fulfillment
of the law, every jot and tittle. In holy perfection, he understood
and he fulfilled that law for us. That's why he's so beautiful. And that's why we are accepted
because this was God's will to make us accepted, to make us
holy in the beloved, in Christ. And back in Hebrews chapter 11,
it goes on, he says, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. How old was he? He was about
40 years old. According to Stephan's sermon
in Acts chapter 7, it came into his heart. It came into his heart. And he went out to visit his
brethren, the Hebrews, the children of Israel. And God put it in
his heart. And at approximately 40 years,
maybe 40 years exactly, he went out to look upon his brethren. And what did he see? He saw affliction
by their cruel taskmasters. He saw the will of the king of
Egypt being inflicted upon them unjustly. He saw the Lord's people
under affliction. And this came into his heart.
He wanted to deliver them from their bondage. How could he remain
loyal to Pharaoh's family and his dynasty? How could he pretend
to be consistent with their laws that caused him to afflict his
own people unjustly? Could he have any part of that?
Could he live consistent with that rule and those laws and
claim to be one of the Lord's people? There's no possibility. So this is the way, this was
Moses' attitude, and it's reflected in Psalm 106 and verse four. Psalm 106 and verse four. Listen to these words. This is
the attitude of the Lord's people. And I know this was Moses' attitude
because he considered affliction with the people of God and the
status he had as the queen's son, the pharaoh's daughter's
son, he considered that nothing. He would rather suffer affliction
with the people of God. And here's, I think, what captures
his thoughts. Verse four. Remember me, O Lord,
with a favor that Thou barest unto Thy people. God's elect
people, those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, redeemed by His precious blood. They're favored, aren't
they? They were given to Christ to
be His own, so intimately connected to Him that they and Christ are
one. They're one, one spirit, one
body, one flesh, one blood. Read about it in Ephesians chapter
5. He says, because I live, Jesus said, because I live, you shall
live also. And then that day you'll know that I am in the
Father and you are in me. And all who confess that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, they dwell in God and God dwells in
them. These are the words of scripture. There's such an intimate
connection with them. And so he says, remember me,
oh Lord, with that favor, that grace that you bear to your people. Oh, visit me with thy salvation. that I may see the good of thy
chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that
I may glory with thine inheritance. That was Moses' attitude. He
says it as much here in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 24 and 25. Listen, by faith Moses, when
he was come to years, when he was come to years, refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He laid aside all status. He wanted to be identified not
with Egyptian family, not with that dynasty, not with that rule,
not with that doctrine, not with those people, not with that culture,
not with that nation, but with who? The slaves. because they
were the ones chosen of God and precious. They were the ones
given an eternal inheritance in Christ. He chose to associate
himself with the poor and the sinful appearing. Remember when
the Lord Jesus came into the world? They accused him. This was the
offense of Christ to them. This was the stumbling block
that he ate and drank with sinners. And so we have it here in Hebrews
11. He says, By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God. Isn't that what our Lord
Jesus did? He wanted his people, he wanted
to be with them, and he chose affliction to all reputation
in this world. A man who had no place to lay
his head, a man despised and rejected of men, he chose to
suffer affliction with the people of God. And consider ourselves,
this is the result of faith. When we understand the gospel,
what do we know? We know that God justifies the
ungodly. How? By their works? No. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, His faith is counted
for righteousness, the one he believes. Christ is imputed to
him as his own righteousness. He's clothed with the garments
of salvation and righteousness, the very beauty of Christ himself
in fulfilling God's law for us. Standing in the presence of God,
dressed in his own beauty, as we sung earlier. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ chose to suffer affliction with his people when
he took their sin. When he came under the judgment,
the fulfillment, the obligations of the law, and the judgments
of God's law, and he justified God under that, and the whole
kingdom of Satan mocked him. They hated him because he associated
with the sinful people God had chosen to save. And they used
it as an accusation against him. This woman was taken in adultery.
Moses in the law said she should be stoned. But what do you say? Well, you know what he said.
Woman, where are your accusers? There's no man to condemn you.
He said, neither do I condemn you. There's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. It's Christ that died. He stood
for his people. He died for them. He chose affliction
and he paid their price and he presented them in the presence
of God in all of his holiness and glory. Without blame, he
chose to suffer affliction. And here the believer, in following the master, what do
we choose? We would rather spend our time
fellowshipping in the worship of Christ with God's people,
though in themselves they are absolutely nothing, in the eyes
of this world counted to be the offscouring and the foolishness
of this world, and yet we have a common bond. And what is it?
the need of a sinner for his Savior, the admiration and adoration
of a sinner for his Savior. That's it, isn't it? We would
rather, given the choice, would you rather suffer affliction
with the Lord's people that look to Christ and trust Christ and
find their all in Him? The light of the Lord has appeared
to us. Or would you rather be named
after the President or the King and receive the blessings of
this world? It's the no-brainer. It's the
biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind. We would rather suffer
affliction, wouldn't we? What does that? It's faith. It's the eyes of faith given
to see Christ in the light of God's glory in him. And so he
goes on here in verse 26. He says, esteeming, this is what
Moses did by faith, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt. What reproaches this? What reproaches this? Well, it's
the reproach that comes because the things of Christ are considered
a greater value than anything else. And what is that? What
does the world find hateful and reproachful about Christ? What
does it find shameful about him? Well, as I mentioned before,
certainly this, this and foremostly this, that God would justify
the ungodly without any contribution on their part. He would take
these sinful people and he would, in the presence of the onlooking
universe, present them to himself without any taint to his holiness
in all of his glory with exceeding joy because he made them holy
by the works of his son, in his son. And the world finds that
to be a shameful thing. How could you take this one?
He's all these things. He's clearly a sinner. And he
has no intelligence. He doesn't know anything about
the world's philosophies. He repudiates the science and
the politics of this world. He loves Christ. What a shameful
thing he is. The Lord Jesus Christ chose,
he was counted and crucified among the transgressors. And
he saved that transgressor who said to him, while he was there,
bloodied and mangled and unidentifiable as a man, he said, Lord, when
you come into your kingdom, remember me. Isn't that the one that the
Lord's reproach is that he loved sinners and did all for them? And that is his glory, isn't
it? The sovereign Lord of the universe.
came and was born in order that He might redeem those who had
offended the very God of glory that He loved. He made them holy. He reconciled them to God in
His own blood. And this was all sovereign mercy.
He did it by His own will. We had no part in it, and we
don't want a part except that the benefits that come to us
because of His grace and love And so the things that cause
Christ's reproach are the things that we love, isn't it? That's
the reproach of Christ. What the world finds hateful
about Christ, the believer loves most. His humility, his grace
to the undeserving, and those who have no hope and strength,
he chooses to save them by sovereign mercy. So when we say, when the world
says, do you really believe that the only way of salvation there
is, is Jesus Christ? I find that hateful. There's
gotta be other ways. I'm okay with a Jesus who allows
other Christs, but I am not okay with Jesus who's the only way. Isn't that what really irritates
people? How could you be so arrogant as to claim you know the only
way? Actually, I boast in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only way, because that's the only way I can be saved.
That's the only thing that gives me joy and peace and assurance
in this world and a hope for eternity. Is it if God did it? And you find in the world and
religion of this world, they find it hateful to say what Christ
did actually accomplished by salvation. All for whom he died
must and shall be saved and given eternal glory with him. And the
believer rejoices in that because that's the only way I can be
saved. In fact, day by day, we find
it to be true again and again. I need to hear. I need to know. I need to be persuaded of this
and see this and embrace this and rejoice and be thankful for
it. That God has saved me only for what His Son has done. Only
by the strength and the grace and the righteousness and the
wisdom and the holiness of His Son. and the world finds us to
be reproachful. But faith, the faith of Moses
says this, esteeming that reproach, that that causes reproach to
Christ to be the greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.
Give me the pyramids and the gold and the authority and the
power of the Egyptians on one scale, on one side of the scale.
Give me a hundred million dollars, if you will, or a hundred billion
dollars. or give me that which causes
Christ's reproach." Which one? Which one has God compelled you
to love? Isn't it the Lord Jesus Christ?
Listen to these words. Sometimes we don't find this
to be true. We get entangled by our own sinful desires and
our foolishness, and we experience what the psalmist experienced
in Psalm 73. He says this in Psalm 73, verse
1, truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean
heart. But as for me, Asaph, the psalmist
says, as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well
nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked. So here we see that we can be
tempted and do fall, as Asaph did in his mind. When he saw
the prosperity of the wicked, he thought, there's no problems
with their lives. I'm constantly under affliction,
trouble, misery because of my sin. And notice in verse 25,
or actually, let me read it back. Verse 22, here's the conclusion. He says, Thus my heart was grieved,
and I was pricked in my reins, in my lower inward bowels I was
disturbed. So foolish was I, and ignorant
I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Thou hast holden me by my right
hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. That's what Moses wanted. You see? It doesn't matter. In heaven, on earth, I have no
one but Christ. And whom do I desire but Him?
In Psalm 27, the same thing is said. In Psalm 27 and verse 4,
listen to these words. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I pursue, I will seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To do
what? To behold the beauty of the Lord,
not my own, and to inquire in his temple. The light of the
gospel, God's glory has shone in our hearts, has directed us
to the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our salvation, and we see
beauty in him we never saw, never knew, never loved before, and
it comes as a surprising light. And so, It enters into us, as
the psalmist says, the entrance of thy words giveth light, it
enters into us in such a way, we're captivated, we're captured. And we realize, this is all my
salvation. I want to dwell with the Lord.
I want to inquire in His temple. It doesn't matter. I want to
be with the Lord's people, those saved by His grace, those whom
He has chosen and favored and given this salvation. I want
to be with Him. In John chapter 6, A similar
case was seen there in John chapter 6 and Jesus has been giving,
breaking the bread and expounding to them that he is himself the
bread of life and only his broken body and shed blood is our meat
and drink. And many were offended. In verse
63 he said, it is the spirit that quickens, that gives life.
The flesh profits nothing. The words. That's the light,
the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, they are life.
But there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from
the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray
him. And he said, therefore said I
unto you that no man can come to me except it were given to
him of my father. Aren't you glad it's that way?
Because if it weren't given to us, we would never seek it and
never be able to obtain it. It had to be given to us, like
life to a dead man, like light to a blind man, like feet to
a lame man, like cleanness to a leprous man. That's what we
are. We're filthy. We're plagued and
it's all our fault and God has to save us. God the Father himself
has to give us to Christ and give us light. Verse 66, from
that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more
with him. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? Now here comes the reproach. The things that cause reproach
to Christ, which one? Then Simon Peter answered him
and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? We are sinful. We have no hope but that which
is in you. Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Jesus said, have not I chosen
you twelve? One of you is a devil. You see,
Moses considered to be greater riches,
the reproach of Christ, than all the treasures in Egypt. Back
to Hebrews chapter 11. Finally, it says here in verse
27, by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the
king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Understand
that this is showing how that the believer forsakes all confidence
in what he formerly trusted, Egypt, according to Revelation
chapter 11 and verse 8, represents all false religion and all false
gospels, the gospels of the kingdom of Satan. The gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ is what saves. And so, when Moses forsook Egypt,
he was leaving behind all of the idolatry of this world that
says it cannot be only Christ. There's such a doctrine, it excludes
us. Because we come, like the prodigal's
elder brother, we've been serving our father all our life, we expect
a reward now. They'll show up in judgment and
say, what have I done? I've preached, I've done this,
I've done that, many wonderful works in your name. And Jesus
said, depart from me, I never knew you. But to the ones who
did nothing, who worketh not, and are justified by his blood
and righteousness, they will say, you did it all. Lord, you
are worthy to receive all praise and honor. Everything we have
is yours. Everything we've been given came
from you because of your grace. And so when Moses forsook Egypt,
he was leaving behind all of that confidence in our flesh,
this mindset that has us receiving from God because of our own deservings,
something we're going to be or could be someday by what we do,
our contribution in some way. Moses said no. I'm leaving that
bondage, that affliction, that tyranny of sin and Satan and
the world behind. I have no interest in it. It's
not just that I'm tired of living, tired of going to work every
day. What I'm really tired of is my sin, the wretched man that
I am, and I want to be free. I want to see Christ in His glory,
and so I pursue Him. Lord, make Yourself known. Let
me see Him with the people like the angels looking in on our
services week by week to hear what has Christ done, who is
this one that sinners have found so attractive and have been so
glued to by this gift of faith, the Spirit of God and life in
them that now they can't leave Him. What is it? and the angels
desire to peer into it, we as sinners want to see him. And
so we've left all in this world, in our heart, and we've followed
Christ. And he says here, it says that
he endured as seeing him who is invisible. With the people
of God, a suffering affliction, And all the persecution of the
Egyptian king and their armies, and God delivered him. And notice
here, I'm trying to show us how Moses was just like us, verse
28. Through faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of
blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Moses said, I want to be in the house. where the blood is sprinkled,
I want to eat the lamb roasted for my salvation. That's where
we are, right here. Our hope is that God would see
the blood and pass over us, not visit us with the wrath we deserve,
but visit us with the salvation he provided and all the glory
that's in Christ. Give us what he's given his son,
life from the dead. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that
we would be given this grace to have the faith that Moses
has by your spirit working in us, bringing your word, the gospel,
powerfully to us and causing us to see glory in Christ and
in him alone. That all the riches of this world
and all the fame and the rewards that we could find in this world,
especially all the false doctrine that's in this world that promotes
man's works and man's will, and man's blessings instead of Christ's
glory and Christ's work, that we would repudiate that, we would
find it revolting, and we would cry out with Paul, Lord, deliver
me from the wretched man that I am, and we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ alone has and can do this by his intercession before
the Father as our mediator, and so we trust him. We come to you
by him, and we trust your promises that all who come to him We've
been brought by Him. You will not cast out. This is
the evidence, this is our hope, the substance of this faith you've
given to us in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We pray you would
bless the children and bless all who are here. We pray you
would not leave one of them outside of your kingdom. You would bring
them by the powerful life-giving operations of faith in their
souls by your Spirit to direct us to Christ, we might forever
worship and praise Him who saved us and loved us with an everlasting
love. In His name we pray. Amen.