Exodus chapter 2. We're going
to be reading from verse 11 through verse 15. And we will be adding to this
as we go along. Exodus chapter 2, verse 11. Now, this was immediately after
verse 10, where the account is given that Moses after he was
put in the ark by his mother and his sister and laid in the
river that Pharaoh's daughter took him up and he became her
son. And she called his name Moses
because his name indicates he was taken out of the water. We
covered that last week. I'm not going to go into detail
there. But between verse 10 and verse 11, 40 years passed. Moses was a child. An infant,
he grew up in Pharaoh's court and became the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. And in verse 11 it says, And
it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown, that he
went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens, and
spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
Now, Moses was 40 years old, and he, as we read in Acts chapter
7, had been trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and he was mighty
in word and in deed. To be mighty in word means his
word had authority. It means he was a statesman,
a politician, someone familiar with the politics of Egypt. And he was also mighty in deeds.
It meant that he was accomplished. He had accomplished great things.
All of the wisdom of Egypt, he was familiar with. He was the
son of Pharaoh's daughter. Respected. He had a position. He had status. He had influence. And there's no reason you would
think on a worldly level that he would be discontent with anything
except what he was as an Egyptian ruler. Perhaps he was even in
line for the throne of Egypt. In the eyes of the world, he
was a successful man, 40 years old, in the peak of his usefulness
to the country of Egypt. And I've seen that in my own
life, even experienced it, where through training and through
work you become successful in your career. Successful in the
eyes of the world. Successful even in religion. And that's what Moses was at
this point in his life. He was a success. He was recognized
as a leader. Able to do great things in Egypt. Why would he find any reason
to change the course of his life? It says in Acts 7, in verse 22,
I believe it is, it says, Moses was learned in all the wisdom
of Egypt and was mighty in words and in deeds. And then it says,
when he was full forty years old, that it came into his heart
to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. Now, Moses would have
already been familiar with the nation of Israel. Obviously,
he was a leader in Egypt. Obviously, he understood the
political advantage for the Egyptians to rule over these people called
the Israelites. They were more numerous than
all the Egyptians. He would have had to be familiar
with how the Israelites were put under subjection in order
to build the city Ramses and Python and all the things that
the Israelites were made to do. He would have been familiar with
Pharaoh's strategy. He would have had to carry out
that strategy as an underling to Pharaoh in his court. He would
have had to buy into that, at least outwardly. And that's the
way he grew up. But somehow, it says in Acts
7, 23, it came into his heart to visit his brethren. Had he
never been out to see them? Obviously, he had seen them.
Obviously, Moses had gone out and looked on the Israelites
up to this point in time. But this time, It's not the same
as all the other times before. This time, Moses, it comes into
his heart to visit his brethren, not as someone who's going out
on the behalf or a representative of a leader in Egypt, but he's
going out now as one of them. He's going out to identify with
them. He's going out in such a way
that he is separating himself from all of the identification
with his mother, the princess of Egypt, Pharaoh's daughter. He's separating himself from
her, and he's also refusing to be called her son, and he's going
out with the intention of doing something for his people as his
own brethren. If you read in Hebrews chapter
11, where this is expanded, it tells us what this was that came
into his heart, what came into Moses's heart to change his attitude. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 and
verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, that would have been 40 years old, refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now that's a huge thing
to change. You are the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. It's like someone who's gone all their lifetime to the
university, gotten a PhD. They have the science of this
world well understood. They rely on the fact that they
believe science discovers truth. Science provides a better life.
Science extends life. Science is all that we live and
base our hope on. They would be like that. Or maybe
they would be like someone who grew up in a church. And these
both are meant that they had an understanding of all that
was needed in order to please God according to the religion
of men. And they would have lived their
life by that. They would have attained to a certain proficiency in that
way of life. Moses is like that. In the land
of Egypt, there was both science and religion. And he had acquired
all that was necessary. Look in Joshua chapter 24. Joshua, just after conquering
the land of Canaan, He reminds, like Moses did, he reminds before
the end of his life the children of Israel of what they were before
and how God had saved them and what they were to do. He says
in verse 14, Joshua 24. Now, therefore, fear the Lord
and serve him in sincerity, not in hypocrisy, but in sincerity
and in truth. and put away the gods which your
fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and
serve ye the Lord." So the children of Israel, like their fathers,
served the gods of Egypt. Moses was in that court. Moses
was in that nation. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
But now it came into his heart, and by faith Moses, when he was
come to years, this this phrase come to years, it actually means
when he was great, when he was great. And you can understand
that a couple of ways. In the eyes of the Egyptians,
he was great. But in Hebrews chapter 11, there's
a transition in his life. In his life, he was He was great
because God had put it in his heart, in his life. God had given
him faith. And that faith, in God's eyes,
gave him honor before God. Because faith, what is faith?
Faith is seeing Him who is invisible. Faith is seeing Christ. Faith
is being persuaded. It's being persuaded of the truth
of Christ. And faith embraces the Lord Jesus
Christ and faith confesses. This is what you read in Hebrews
11, 13. Faith causes us to be persuaded. It causes us to embrace. It causes us to confess that
Jesus Christ is all my standing, all my hope before God. He is
all authority over me and over all things. And He is the one
I serve. He is the Lord. Faith does that. And so by faith, it says, Moses,
when he came to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. He refused to be called. You
can imagine what it was like to be Pharaoh's daughter. Everything
is provided for you. What would you need? It's provided
by Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh's daughter was obviously
kind to Moses. Think about it. She took him
out of the river. She even paid his mother to nurse
him. She took care of him all his
life. She gave him the best education that could be had in those days.
She accepted him into her own home. And she would have confessed
him before her father, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. She would
have told about Moses, this is a son I love. I call him my own
son. What kind of gratitude Moses
should have felt toward Pharaoh's daughter? But there was something
wrong. Pharaoh's daughter didn't know
God. Pharaoh's daughter didn't teach
Moses the things of God. At least there's no record of
it. Pharaoh's daughter, most importantly, was not a mother
of promise. Pharaoh's daughter could not
produce a seed of promise. Pharaoh's daughter was not in
the congregation of the Lord. Pharaoh's daughter was all these
things. Look at Matthew in chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10. Read these words with me that
are familiar, but it's better to see them when we apply them
to these Old Testament things to see the doctrine. Matthew
chapter 10. He says in verse 26, Actually,
verse 25, it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master
and the servant as his Lord. He's speaking about himself.
He's the master. He's the Lord. And he's speaking
to his disciples. So if this is the case, that
it's enough for a disciple to be as his master and as his Lord,
he says that next, if they have called the master of the house
Beelzebub or a devil, How much more shall they call them of
his household? In other words, if you are Christ's
disciple, they're going to call you the same thing they did to
the master. They're going to call this disciple
the same as they did the master. You serve Beelzebub. You serve
Satan. You serve false. You serve the
false gospels. You don't believe the truth.
Verse 26, But Jesus tells them, Fear them not therefore, for
there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. Because those who do this are
obviously opposed to the truth. And He says it will all be uncovered.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak in the light. What
you hear in the ear, that preach on the housetop. And fear not
them which kill the body. but are not able to kill the
soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without
your father? But the very hairs of your head
are all numbered, and here is exhorting them, do not depend
on the living that comes from, in Moses' case, his mother, Pharaoh's
daughter. Do not depend on the living you
get from your career in this world. Do not depend on it. What are you to depend upon?
Your Father in heaven. He says in verse 30, and when
you're following your master and these bring accusation against
you in all manner of persecution, he says, fear them not. Verse
31, fear ye not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore, Now listen
and think about Moses. Here he is in the court, forty
years old. It comes into his heart to visit
his brethren. And Jesus says it this way, Whosoever
therefore shall not confess Me before men, him will I I'm sorry,
whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also
before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny
Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is
in heaven." Apply it to Moses. Here's Moses. He's been given
faith. What does he do? He confesses,
I am not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I will not derive my
living from Pharaoh's court. I will not depend on the career
I have here. My future, my hope, my pursuit,
all of my life is linked to the promise of God to His people."
And so he goes on in verse 34, "...think not that I have come
to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace but
a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance with his father,
and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of
his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me." And he that taketh
not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Do you see that? This is exactly
what I think is happening to Moses in Hebrews chapter 11,
where he says, by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, one
more verse in Matthew 16. Look at this. Matthew 16. He
says. In verse. Verse 24, Then said Jesus unto
his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. To deny yourself means to deny
all hope of finding in you something God can accept. It's to deny
yourself all pursuits that are not in line with the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, deny yourself. That's
the hardest one to deny, isn't it? And take up his cross and
follow me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life
for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if
he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? And so you see
this in Hebrews chapter 11 where it speaks of Moses. He says this, he says that when
he not only refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
but rather, he says in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. In Egypt, There were all manner
of things that would support the pleasures of the body and
of the flesh. Not only things that we think
of at first that might support the sin of the body, but also
the sin of the mind. Because status and dignity and
respect and honor that comes from men is a sinful thing, isn't
it? To receive honor from men that's
opposed to the honor of God is a sinful honor. And here's the
thing about the truth. The truth. Actually, let me say
it this way. Here's the thing about the lie.
The religion of men, the doctrines of this world and the science
of this world give honor to men, but reproach before God. All
of the religion of this world intends to honor men and to give
us shame before God. But the truth will bring us shame
before men and honor before God. And only the truth will do that.
Only the gospel will give a man honor before God. The truth that
Christ alone by Himself has purged our sins, and I have no righteousness
of my own, That alone will bring me honor before God. To hold
to a truth that somehow by what I do, my commitment, my sincerity,
my works, something about how I was born or where I'm going,
my intentions, all these things, those things will bring me honor
before men, but only shame before God. Because that's the nature
of truth. That's the nature of the Gospel.
And Moses is compelled He's actually thrust from Pharaoh's court,
out of the court, by faith, to do something that no one in his
right mind would do. I thought about entitling this
message, The Insanity of Faith, because that's what it seems
to be, the insanity of faith. But I've actually decided to
call it instead, Faith's Preference. Because here, Moses exchanges
two things. He exchanges here in Hebrews
chapter 11, he exchanges the pleasures of sin for a season
for something no one would think in their right mind to want to
do, which is the reproach of Christ. The reproach of Christ? Wait a minute. My body is satisfied. I'm comfortable like the man
with many barns. I've got plenty. I can take my
ease. I can say, soul, take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry, for
you have much. There's nothing to worry about,
nothing to fear. Everything is well. Life is good. Isn't that the pursuit, naturally,
that we're encouraged to take in this life? To take a focus
on life that has everything to do with our life in this world?
That's exactly the opposite of what the gospel does. The gospel
sets our eyes on eternity. It sets our eyes on the God of
eternity. It shows us, like Jesus said
in Acts chapter 26 and verse 18. I'll just read that to you.
You don't have to go there. But the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
sent Paul on this mission, and He sends every one of His ministers
on this mission. He says, I'm going to send you
to open the eyes, open their eyes, the eyes of the Gentiles,
to turn them, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power
of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me. The gospel sets men releases
men from darkness, releases them from the deception of the devil.
It shows them the forgiveness of God in Christ and sanctifies
them to serve God by giving them faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the goal of the gospel. It sets our eyes and heart on
eternity and on Christ because God has forgiven us this debt
of sin. that held us down, released us
from the bondage of trying to please Him by something we can
do, by something we can bring, and sets us free to serve Him
out of a heart of love and gratitude only for what Christ has done.
It teaches us to worship the Lord God. That's what Moses did. So he says in his heart, faith
compelling him, driving him to this point where he says, I would
rather suffer affliction with God's people than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. Sin satisfies, at least temporarily,
the body and the flesh. Only the gospel can satisfy the
soul, satisfy the spirit of man. Only the gospel. Sin promises
life, but actually ends in death. Only the gospel, only Christ
can give us life. If you want to look at it in
Ecclesiastes chapter 5, there's this verse. I'll read it to you.
Ecclesiastes 5 verse 10. Listen to how God... wisely summarizes
the pursuit of this world. He says, He that loveth silver
shall not be satisfied with silver. What a bondage, isn't it? Loving
something, having it, and then not be satisfied with it. Sounds like King Midas. He could
touch everything and make it gold, and yet he was miserable. And then he says, Not only he
that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor
he that loveth abundance with increase. And this also is vanity. God is saying the one who loves
abundance will not be satisfied when it increases. He will not
be satisfied. Look at Proverbs chapter 30.
He says this. He says in verse 7, two things
have I required of thee. Deny me them not before I die. And this is the prayer of the
man of faith. He says, remove far from me vanity
and lies. What is vanity and lies? Vanity
and lies is the pursuits of this world and the hypocrisy that
comes from man's religion. That's vanity and lies. Coming
to God, pretending that I'm something when I'm nothing. Coming to God,
relying on a cobweb. of false lies that will not support
me in the day of judgment. He says, so remove these things
far from me, vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches,
but feed me with the food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny
thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain. So he prays. He knows his own
weakness. And he prays, Lord, don't make
me poor or I'll steal and don't give me riches so that I'll deny
you. But he was he was wise to say
that. And Moses understands this. But
more importantly, not just Pharaoh's daughter's comfortable lifestyle. That was part of it. But I think
the real thrust here of what Moses turned away from was not
so much just the worldly pleasures and comforts. Jesus said it this
way, you can't serve two masters. You'll either serve God, you'll
either serve one and love the one, or you'll hate the other
one. But you can't serve two masters. You can't serve both
God and man. And what he means by that, you
can't find confidence and trust in God and also put your confidence
and your trust and your pursuits and your desires in this world.
You can't do it. They're either going to be one
or the other. You'll love one or the other.
And that's why in 1 John 2, he says, Love not the world. Don't
love the things in the world. The one who loves the world,
the love of the Father is not in him. But here in Hebrews 11,
I think there's even something more that Moses turned away from. Because remember, Egypt has to
do everything with man's religion and idolatry. It has to do with
salvation by works. And there's nothing more ensnaring,
nothing more deceiving, nothing more natural to our flesh and
enticing in that way to think in our heart that we can somehow
meet the requirement that God has for us by something we can
do. When I was younger, until the
age of perhaps 17 or 18, All I heard, all I heard was that
God loves everyone. Jesus died for everyone, and
it's up to you to make a difference by committing yourself, by accepting
Jesus, by asking Jesus into your heart, by raising your hand in
church, by coming forward, by shaking the preacher's hand,
by kneeling at the bench, by providing some sincerity and
commitment that you are going to change. You're going to be
better. You're going to confess Christ before men. You're going
to be baptized. You're going to do all these things in order
that God might have favor on you. And I tried. I thought I tried, but not really. You know how you try to do religion,
you might even try it, you think with everything you have, but
even then I couldn't do it. I couldn't even do that. But
all my life, under this bondage of thinking, somehow, if the
circumstances were just right, for a moment, I might be able
to please God. Or, looking at something that
I've done, thinking, I'm making progress, I'm actually getting
closer, and feeling some sense of satisfaction that God has
now accepted me more because I've achieved some progress in
my life, my spiritual life. And then thinking when I fail
that God is going to punish me, always seeking some kind of reward
for what I do, or fearing punishment for what I fail to do. This is
nothing more than salvation by works. It's the bondage of man's
religion. Moses teaches us that when the
gospel comes to us in power, in faith, that God compels us. He compels us. We cannot not
turn away from that. From Moses' mother outwardly,
Pharaoh's daughter, he had to say, you are not my mother. You're
not the mother of promise. Following you, leaning upon all
the wealth and the wisdom and the position in Egypt will land
me before God on the day of judgment in hell. And that's all it will
end in. But not that only. But there
was something that compelled Moses. Look at Hebrews chapter
11. He says, 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."
In other words, in his view, he had something that was a prize,
something he held up that he was longing for and striving
for. He wanted more than anything.
Remember Esau? He comes in from the field. He's
hungry and he's the eldest, so he has the birthright. He has
the right to the promise because of his birth order, even though
he was a twin of Jacob. even though God had promised
that the elder would serve the younger. And God loved Jacob
and hated Esau. Esau comes in for the field.
He's hungry. And Jacob says, I've got some
soup here I'll give to you, some red porridge. And Esau says,
I'm about to die. And Jacob says, I'll give you
this soup if you'll give me the birthright. Why did Jacob do
that? Because Jacob believed that everything
that was important in life and eternity lay in the fulfillment
of God's promise to his grandfather Abraham. Everything God promised
to Abraham in Christ was all that Jacob wanted. And he was
willing to do anything, sneakily, connivingly, even lying. He wanted
to get that birthright. And so he gives Esau the soup. Now, that was perhaps wrong for
Jacob to be such a sneaky guy. But notice, God recognizes his
faith and God worked through that. But Esau, on the other
hand, he turns around and he looks at the birthright. He looks
at all the promises of God in Christ Jesus and he despises
them for a bowl of soup. Moses, teaches us that what he
says here in Hebrews chapter 11, that Moses had a view to
the reward. And that was what he was looking
for. What is this talking about? I believe it's it's it's exemplified
in what Paul said. In fact, I believe that Paul
is just like Moses in many ways. And so if you want to look at
this in Philippians chapter three, verse seven, verse eight, he
says, In reflecting, Paul reflecting on all of his attainments as
a Pharisee, everything he had been able to accomplish in his
growth and his knowledge and his zeal, everything, he says
in verse 8, this is what I think of everything about myself. Look at verse 7, in fact. He
says, What things were gained to me? Philippians 3, verse 7. He says, but what things were
gained to me, Paul says, I considered them profitable. I looked at
them and assessed them. I thought they were they were
in the plus column. But what things were gained to
me? Those I counted loss for Christ. Here's Moses, isn't it?
He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. He refused to
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but chose rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God, esteeming the reproach
of Christ's greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt."
And here Paul says the same thing. Everything I considered gain
to me, I counted it loss for Christ. And he expands on it.
Yea, doubtless. I count all things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom, in other words, in I've
relinquished everything that I might have this one thing.
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things in order to
gain Christ, that's what he means for whom I've suffered the loss
of all things, and I count them done that I may win Christ, what? It's almost a vulgar thing, isn't
it, to say it that way? It's just a pile of manure. The best that I could do, the
best that this world has to offer, all the wealth, all the prestige,
all the knowledge, the philosophy, all of the goodness I can muster
in order to be a good Christian in myself. It's dung. It's that foul. It's repugnant. It's revolting. It's foul. It's filthy. It's less than nothing,
in verse 9. But he says, I do count it, but
done, in order that I may win Christ. That's the recompense
of the reward, isn't it? Remember the promise God made
to Abraham in Genesis 15.1? He says to Abraham, I, am thy
shield, I am thy exceeding great reward. And that's the promise
in the new covenant. God says to his people, I will
be a God to you and you shall be my people. God is our inheritance
and we are his inheritance. God takes us for his own inheritance. And Paul says, my inheritance
is Christ. Everything else is loss. It's worse than nothing. And
so he says, this is what I pursue, verse 9, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's what Paul
longed for. Look at Galatians chapter 6.
It's the same thing. This is an amplification of what
came into the heart of Moses and into the heart of all his
people. This is the insanity. The world would esteem it as
insanity. This is the insanity that faith
compels a man to pursue an invisible dream. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Look at this, Galatians chapter
6. But God and verse 14, Galatians 6, 14, Paul says, But God forbid
that I should boast. In other words, that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cross
of Christ is a reproach. The cross of Christ is what the
Jews would call a stumbling block. It's it's the word is a scandal. To the Jews, the cross is a scandal. Why is it to the religious world
is the cross of Christ? And when I say the cross of Christ,
I don't just mean the cross, because all kinds of people wear
them on their neck, and their mirror in their car, and put
them in their house, and all sorts of things. I'm not talking
about the symbol of the cross. I'm not even talking about the
historical record of the cross. What I'm talking about is what
the Lord accomplished in the cross. What did God do in the
cross? What did Christ accomplish in
His cross? He finished the salvation of
all His people by His own sacrifice once and for all. And He did
it in weakness. He did it by He who was God took
on the form of a servant, gave up his status as God in order
that he might take on the form of a servant, become lower than
a servant, become man in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
then take the lowest of all, taking the sin of his people
to himself. And then in obedience to his
father as a servant, as an obedient son, yielding to his father,
perfect obedience all the way to death in order to free and
redeem us from the power of sin and death. And he says, that's
what I boast in. Paul said, that's what I boast
in. What Christ has done and what he's done alone for God's
glory to the salvation of his people. That is my boast. That's all my glory. And the
religious man, the Jew, would say, yeah, but believing that
all of your salvation is accomplished by what Christ has done, that
will give cause for sin because you'll throw off the shackles
of the law. You have to do something in order to keep yourself in
line. But Paul says, oh, no, because the gospel is such, it
constrains me. The love of Christ constrains
me. I can't go outside of this. Faith
compelled me. I must give everything for Christ
to have him, to know him and to pursue him and to pursue his
cause and his glory. This is what compelled him. The
cross of Christ. And then he goes on in Galatians
6.14. He says, By whom the world is
crucified to me and I unto the world. That's what happened to
Moses when he said he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter. He was crucified to the court of Egypt. Are you kidding? We brought you in here as a Hebrew
child, made you the son of Pharaoh's daughter, gave you an education,
provided everything for you, put you in a position of status,
and now you're throwing that off for what? To go out and be
with the slaves? You're going to suffer the same
affliction they suffer. That's what you're going to get.
And Moses said, it says in Hebrews chapter 11, that he considered
that reproach of Christ The reproach that the Jew would have was,
it's a scandalous thing, this grace that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that God would save me by Him who hangs on the tree?
As the thief on the cross said in his weakness, when he had
blood all over his body and sweat, and he knew that the people were
totally opposed, all the crowd trying out crucify him and mocking
him and taking advantage of his weakness and shouting insults
into his face. And all the cruelty that came
with that. And even that God was against
him and the thief says, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Because the thief saw, like Moses
saw, the reproach of Christ is greater than all the treasures
in Egypt. All the riches of Egypt don't
even begin to compare with the reproach of Christ. As Todd Nybert
is Always referring to this martyr,
I've never read it myself, but he says there was a martyr who
died for Christ and he says, to die for Christ is an honor
I do not deserve. And that's what Moses had it
in his heart. And don't you find in your life
that when you really get it down and draw the string tight and
you feel the pressure, of those who hold to a religion and salvation
that comes by the works and the will of man, that you feel, I
have absolutely no part in that. I don't even look back at my
youth when I was growing up in Pharaoh's court, as it were.
With fondness, thinking, see all the things I learned, I actually
put that to use. I had an education. I gained
experience. And I'm going to do good things
for God because of the things I acquired at that time in my
life. No. Paul says, it's dumb. It's worthless. Everything I counted gain to
me was I refuse it for Christ that I may win Christ. And Moses
was the same way. And so were his people. When
you really get it down and draw the string tight, And someone
says, you're crazy. You think the Bible alone is
God's Word? You think that Christ actually
put away the sins of only His people? That His redemption is
so particular that it actually saves His people all by Himself? That God chose them, they didn't
choose Him? That the reason they believe
is because God put it in their heart? And that you believe that
God will absolutely, certainly bring them to the end in glory,
all because of grace, and you don't think they have to do anything?
Except what God has done for them. Yeah, I believe that you're
a lunatic. You're insane that you would
give up everything for this gospel. You're crazy. You're going to
end up as one of those foolish people. The Jews consider it. In fact, look at First Corinthians
chapter one. This is also it teaches us the
same thing over and over throughout Scripture. First Corinthians.
In chapter 1, he says this, verse 17, Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom. Think of Moses'
wisdom. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. Foolish. People call you foolish. You tell them the gospel, they're
going to say that's foolishness. And I'm sure that you think it's
foolishness, because I did too at one time. I couldn't imagine
that God would save me by nothing from me. I always believed that
it required my contribution, something, everything from me.
And I would never really achieve it. And there was a total bondage
in it. But he says, but unto us which
are saved, the gospel is the power, the power of God. The Word of God brought this
world into existence by God speaking. The Gospel is that Word. He brings
from nothing that we are to place us and to create us in Christ
Jesus by the Word of the Gospel. And so he says, it's written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? How often have you been in some
kind of a situation where people around you think you absolutely
off your rocker to consider the fact that science doesn't discover
truth or that somehow that the discoveries of science are nothing,
they're temporary, they're just Tools to create temporary, useful
devices in our service to God today. No, no, no. This is the
end. This is the big thing. This is
what we spend our life pursuing and putting all of our trust
in. And you say, no. It's empty. It's vain. It's foolish. God's going to wrap it up. Truth
is only in the Word of God. You want to find truth? Christ
is all. There's the truth. There's an
equation for you that solves every problem. But no, that's
not the way the world thinks of it. So he says, After that,
in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, an offense and a
scandal, a stumbling block. And to the Greeks, foolishness.
It's absurd. It's silly. It's nonsense. And
Moses said, no, actually, I choose to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
So looking back at Exodus now, he goes out, he chooses to identify
with his brethren. And in verse 11, when he was
grown, when he went out to his brethren, he looked on their
burdens. This is what the gospel does. It causes us, like Paul
says, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience also
bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness
and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren." Moses goes out
and he looks on the burdens of his brethren. And he spied an
Egyptian, smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked
this way, and he looked that way. In other words, he did it
secretly. He did it so that no one would
know. And he smites the Egyptian. And
I don't know how he did it, but he was 40 years old. He was skilled
in the Egyptian. Somehow he killed him. And then
he hides him in the sand. Now, when Moses did this, He
had it. God put it in his heart to go
out to see them, to look on their burdens, to identify with them
as his brethren. Remember, it says in Hebrews
2, Jesus was not ashamed to call them brethren. Moses wasn't either. He was the one who had even looked
like an Egyptian. When he got to Midian, Rule's
daughters said, an Egyptian helped us today. He looked just like
an Egyptian. Maybe it was his haircut or something. I don't
know. His clothes. But when he gets there, He gets
out to his brethren, he's one of them, and he sees an Egyptian
smiting a Hebrew. He takes out his weapons or whatever
it was, and he kills this Egyptian. And he expected that his people
would recognize him, that God sent him to deliver them. So
he says, verse 13, when he went out the second day, behold, two
men of the Hebrews strove together. And you can hear what Moses is
doing here. Here's these guys arguing, fighting,
and one of them is smiting. And he looks at him and says,
what are you doing? The Egyptians are beating you,
but you are brethren. What are you doing? Beating each
other. Isn't that just like religion? Laying burdens on men that are
too heavy to bear. Preventing those who are trying
to enter heaven from going in, when those who are preventing
them don't go in themselves. In First Thessalonians, chapter
two, it says the same thing. Look at this. First Thessalonians,
chapter two. We see the way that men who are
haters of the gospel, who have the spirit of this man who is
smiting his brother, see what they do. Look at it says in First
Thessalonians. This is the wrong book. Chapter
2, he says, For we, brethren, became followers of the churches.
Verse 14, 1 Thessalonians 2, 14. We, brethren, you, brethren,
became followers of the churches of God, which are in Judea, which
in Judea are in Christ. For you have, you also have suffered
like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews.
The Jews who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets,
and have persecuted us, and they please not God, and they're contrary
to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they
might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has
come upon them to the uttermost." Here's a man, he's smiting his
brother, and Moses, like a judge, like a resolver, he says, what
are you doing? Beating on your brother, laying
the same affliction on him. that the Egyptians lay on you.
It reminds you of the account that Jesus said a man owed so
many talents and he was frankly forgiven, and he went out and
tried to strangle his brother who owed him just a few things,
a few pence. That's what this man is doing.
And so Moses is trying to set them at peace with one another.
And this man says in response, not the one who is being beaten
up, But the one who was beating, he said, Who made thee a prince
and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you
killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, Surely
the thing is known." So much that can be looked at here. And
we're running short on time. But see this man? He was beating
his brother, one of the Israelites, Moses corrects him, and what
does he do? He accuses Moses of intending
to kill him. He was in the wrong. He was wrong
to beat his brother. And Moses comes to him and says,
what you're doing is wrong. You're treating your brother
just like the Egyptians treat you. And Moses is setting this
thing straight. But he says, no, no, you're you're
here to kill me, aren't you? Just like you did the Egyptian.
And this is the way that natural men and unbelief, we treat the
gospel. We oppose it. We think that God
is out to get us and we don't we don't trust. And and so he
rejected his own mercies, as it says in Jonah to eight, he
says those that Let me just read that to you. This is one of those
verses where it kind of comes to your memory. You go, where
is that written? So let me take you to this. Jonah 2.8. He says
this. Sorry. He says, They that observe lying
vanities forsake their own mercy. Here's a man who observed lying
vanities, hypocrisy, oppression, all the things that he was under.
And he's beating his brother and he's forsaking his own mercy.
Here's Moses coming to deliver you. No, no, I don't want you.
He rejects him. And Stephen in his sermon tells
the Jews that you did to Moses, your fathers did to Moses, what
you did to Christ. What he did to Moses was nothing
but compared to what you did to the Lord Jesus Christ. You
rejected your own mercies, the deliverer God sent. And so, So
this is what Moses did. He comes out to deliver them.
And Moses is a judge. He says, who made you a prince
and a judge over us? And he was a deliverer. God had
sent him to this. And we're going to have to close
with this because we're running short on time. But think about
this. What did God send Moses to be?
He sent him to be everything, to portray what Christ would
do. When Moses looked on His brethren. That was the Lord Jesus Christ
looking on His brethren. When Moses chose to suffer affliction
with the people of God, that was the Lord Jesus Christ, where
it says in Isaiah 63, He says, in all their affliction, He was
afflicted. When Moses He esteemed the reproach of Christ's
greater riches and the treasures of Egypt. That was the Lord Jesus
Christ who says, The reproaches of them that reproach thee have
fallen upon me. Moses went out to save his brethren.
And what did they do? He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. All the reproaches that that
came upon Christ came upon Him when He was going out to save
His brethren, His people, His elect, His sheep. And the cost
He had to pay was infinitely higher than all that Moses paid. Moses did it by faith as a servant,
but Christ did it as the Son, the One who actually fulfilled
all that Moses teaches us in pattern. The gospel is preached
by Moses in pattern, but Christ actually fulfilled it. He actually
stooped from being equal with God, not just in Pharaoh's court,
but being the king of kings, to taking on the affliction of
his people as a servant in order to satisfy God's justice and
save us from the wrath we deserved, the bondage we were under. We need to see the Lord Jesus
Christ in this, but we also need to see what faith compels us
to do, because faith always compels us to turn away, to relinquish
everything else in order that we might have Christ. To turn
away from all other confidences, whether it be wealth, or whether
it be our own righteousness, or anything else, and to lay
hold on the Lord Jesus Christ. And may the Lord give us May
He put it in our heart, like He did Moses, to, by faith, to
see Christ, Him who is invisible, and to consider everything else
nothing, like Paul says, less than nothing, dung, that we might
win Christ. Let's pray. Father, we pray that You would
teach us. We're not anywhere near as competent
as Moses. We've actually been in the seat
of the scornful. The one who beat his brother,
that would be me. The one who trusted his own righteousness,
that would be me. Deserving of nothing but wrath. Lord, I have, and we have together,
protected our pride. instead of exalting Your grace.
We have hid our faces in hypocrisy behind the trees of our own righteousness
when only You could save us instead of coming to You by Jesus Christ. Lord, take away our sins. Receive
us graciously. Our sin is great. We need a great
Savior. We need the Lord Jesus Christ
to deliver us as He was sent to do by Himself from the oppression
of our own sin and our own legal trust in everything else in this
world. Lord, we pray You'd be with us.
Cause us to hear Your Word and trust in Jesus. In His name we
pray. Amen.