Oh, may it be so until I die. Redeeming love be our theme. It shall be until we die. Hebrews
11, go back there with me. Hebrews 11 is, you know, the
book of faith. And what is faith? Faith is to
believe God. They believe God is God. It begins
that way. He's our Creator. We see clearly,
don't we? Faith is evidence of the unseen
God. And when He gives us His faith,
we clearly see, don't we? The things of God are clearly
seen. He's eternal power and Godhead, but men and women in
the world are blind. He's given us eyesight. And we
see Him in everything. We believe God is God. He's a
living and true God in whom we live. We believe God's Word.
Faith believes God's Word. True saving faith believes, says
it, let God be true and every man a liar. I believe everything. All that's written in the Law
and the Prophets, the Apostles, everything God said, I believe
every word. I hang my life, my soul, my everything
on God's Word. Is that you? The world scoffs. The world says
there's nothing to this. You say it's everything to them.
It's just the opposite. We say there's nothing to this
world, but this is it. Believes in God. Faith believes
on the Son of God. Here's faith. We believe on the
Son of God, like Simon Peter. You have words of life. I was
dead until you called me. I was in darkness even as others,
but now I'm in light. Now I see clearly the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He is life to me. Give me Christ. Eat my life. I want to win Him,
be found in Him, know Him, be with Him someday in glory. That's faith. He's my all, He's
my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption,
my all in all, my prophet, my priest, my king, my husband,
my father, my savior, my everything, Jesus Christ. This is faith.
This is faith. Not a creed, not a doctrine,
you don't come to a knowledge of doctrine, you come, you meet
Jesus Christ. Like Jacob, when a man came and
wrestled with him. Like Abraham, like Moses. It's a precious gift, this faith. He gives it to whom he will,
this faith. When I talk about faith, I'm talking about life.
I'm talking about a new birth. Faith is a gift. It's not of
yourselves. It's according to the working
of His mighty power. Like old Abraham, he was 75 years
old, steeped in religion. But God, is anything too hard
for the Lord? No. Moses, 40 years old. What I want us to examine is
whether we're of the faith. After hearing this, I want us
to ask ourselves, do I have this precious gift? Has God given
me this faith? If so, this is what you'll do,
okay? This chapter is about this great
gift of faith, this life that God gives, puts in a human being. It's not of yourself. None of
these people would do any of these things if God did not do
this work in them. And this is what you do. Look
at Hebrews 11, look at verse 4. By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. This brother and two
brothers, Cain and Abel, born in the same house. They both
heard the truth. He saw Abel's cane. Cain said, I don't believe that.
I don't believe God's that holy. I don't believe He requires blood.
I believe He'll accept the best that I can do. And so I'm just
going to be a good person and do my best to please God. And
I'm going to have to think, surely He'll accept from me the best
that I can do. And so he said, that's what I
believe. Do you have any brothers and sisters like that? Anybody? Abel said no can. God is holy. God is righteous. God will by
no means clear the guilty. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. It is the blood that makes the
atonement for the soul, not by works of righteousness which
we have done. It is according to His mercy. His mercy, His
grace is in Jesus Christ. Though He didn't know His name
was Jesus, He knew His mercy and His grace is in the woman's
seed, the Christ who is to come. And I've got to go on. But that's what Abel's saying
with it. I deserve to die, and this is my hope before a holy
God. The blood of this lamb, my substitute, my sacrifice.
Is that you? Cain said, no, no, no, Abel. Yes, Cain. Yes. One way. One truth. One God. One faith. One way to live before
God. It's the death of Christ. And
Cain said, I don't like that. You calling me unsaved, Abel?
Are you saying I don't know God? Apparently not. And he killed
him. Anybody in your family? By faith, Enoch, verse 5, was
translated, transported, that you should not see death. He
was not found. God translated him, transported him. Who did
this? God did this. Who gave him this faith? God
gave him this faith. It was not of himself. God gave
him this faith. God came to him like he came
to Abel and revealed himself. Like he did to Adam and Eve,
didn't he? Came to them and revealed to them. You're naked. You've
sinned. I'm going to cast you out. And
I'm going to cover you. There's blood going to be shed
for the remission of your sins. Now go tell your sons this. And
they told him. Aunt Cain rejected him, but Abel
didn't. Why? God gave him faith. Then Enoch came along in a world
right before the flood, a vile, sinful, corrupt world right before
the flood. Enoch believed God, walked with
God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. What does walk with God mean?
It means you agree with God. Two can't walk together except
to be agreed. He agreed with God. You're right,
O Lord. You're true in everything that
you say and do. This world is a sinful place.
I am. You're holy and righteous. I
see clearly. It's the blood. Do you not believe
in sacrifices? Absolutely. That's why Abel's
the first example, isn't it, sister? That's why Abel's the
first. You cannot come to God except by God. So God gives the
first example of Abel. And to walk with God, to please
God is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou shalt be saved. in a sinful world, but God, your
merciful and gracious, loving and kind, would you have mercy
upon me by loving kindness sake, for your mercy's sake? Would
you blot out my transgression? Would you wash me throughly from
my iniquity? Let the blood be propitiation
on the mercy seat for my soul." That's what every single believer
said. And you know what? You'll obtain a good report when
it's all over. Verse 7, Noah being warned of
God of things not seen as yet. That is a deluge, destruction
of the world. But he moved with fear, didn't
he? Prepared an ark to the saving of his house by which he confessed
and condemned the world and became heir of righteousness, which
is by faith. Same faith as Abel, same faith
as Enoch. Noah warned, feared God, didn't
he? Where'd he end up? In Ark. Ark. That Ark was his life. A hundred years. A hundred years. Every day. Every day. For one hundred years, he woke
up thinking about the Ark. What about it? I want to be in
it. And the whole world, arc, judgment,
righteousness, wrath, come on. But for a hundred years, Noah
said, I'm going to be a paladin at heart. I want to be founder
of that art. Shem, Ham, Jacob. Dad, come on. It's been a long time now. Get
in the art. Get in the art. Get in the art. With every blow of his hammer.
Didn't it? Dad, the world said, would they
stop that infernal hammering? That preaching of righteousness.
Would you stop that? It's noise to my ears. Like that
trumpet blowing outside Rahab's apartment. She thought, blow
it loud and clear. Get in the art. That's how you know he really
bled. 100 years. 100 years. By faith, Abraham, verse 8, when
he was called to go out. See, this is all of God's people.
Called to chosen in the faith. Called to do what? Come out.
God said, I've heard their cry. I've heard their groaning by
reason of their taskmaster. And I am come down to bring them
out. to bring them up, to bring them
in. Called to go out, he went out.
Who did he leave? Family. He left his home, left his family.
That's how you know he's looking for where God is. By faith, verse 9, he sojourned
a land of promise, looked for a city, Now, let's go on down. Go on down, all the way down.
There's so many examples, but I want to come to verse 24, all
right? This is one of my wife's favorite
stories, and mine too, and I hope yours. And I hope we can find
the same faith in us that God put in Moses, all right? Verse
24, when Moses was come to years, He refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. He was 40 years old. Now, I want
you to go back to Exodus 3. It's when the Lord revealed Himself
to Moses, all right? Exodus 3. He was 40 years old
at this time. And another 40 years in the wilderness. And when He came back to lead
Israel, He was 80 years old, wasn't He? But Moses, when he
has come to years, he's 40 years old. And look at chapter 3, this
is where the Lord revealed Himself. Now verse 1, Moses kept the flock
of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he
led the flock to the back side of the desert and came to the
mountain of God, even to Horeb. Now Moses was a shepherd, and
that's significant. He's going to be a shepherd to
God's people. like the disciples were fishermen.
And our Lord said, I'm going to make you a fisher of men.
Well, Moses was a shepherd, but he was doing something. He had
a job. He was working this job for his father-in-law. He didn't
know God. He didn't know God. He's 40 years old. And God brought
him to a mountain world. That's the Mount Sinai range
is what this is. Through the law and the word
of God, where God is going to be revealed. It's a mount that
burns with fire and smoke. God brings Moses to this place
where he's going to meet the living and true God. A God he
didn't know. A God that he didn't think about.
A God that he didn't need. His life was being a shepherd.
But God loved Moses. Chose Moses. He brought him to
a mountain. You know, you've been brought
to a mountain. Every one of God's people has been brought, been
loved and chosen by God or brought to the mountain. What mountain?
Mount Zion, the city of the living God. Mount Calvary. Look at it. The angel of the
Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a
bush. Are you with me? Do you know how many times this
is spoken of in Scripture? The God who appeared out of the
bush? Look, behold, the bush burned
with what? Fire. The bush was not consumed. The angel of the Lord, if you
hear from God, if you meet God, He's going to send an angel who's
going to tell you about a God who's a consuming fire and the
Son of God who came and made a burnt offering. Oh yeah. You're
going to find out who God is. I am that I am. And verse 3,
it says, Moses said, I will turn aside and see this great sight,
why the bush is not burned. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush. I thought it was an angel. It
was. But it says, God, it is. It was God who was speaking to
him. Was it the angel? Was it God? Yes. I've told you my story. I never
get tired of it. This is my story. This is what
wonderful things the Lord has done for me. I sat like your
children do right now and hear me, hear me. That's just Paul.
I know him all our lives, all our lives. That's just Paul.
That's just Paul. When I was sitting, I was just listening
to Henry. That's just Henry. That's my dad. And one day, it
wasn't my dad. It was God speaking to me. I
heard my dad. The voice of God speaks in my
day. Melted me. Melted this hard heart. Broke
this hard heart. Pierced me through. Arrow from
the Lord. Sharp. The bush that burned not. He saw. He heard. God in the
midst of the bush that burned not. He saw God was a consuming
fire. He heard a voice say in verse
four, the Lord said, He said, Here am I. And he said, Draw
not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet. The place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover,
God said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Moses hid his faith. He was afraid.
He feared for the first time. And down in verse 14, God said
unto Moses, I am that I am. Thus shall you say unto the children
of Israel, I am that sent me unto you. God will be known. God will first be seen. The bush that burneth not, or
burneth and consume not, that's Christ crucified. Like that rock. Paul said that rock that followed
him was Christ, didn't he? He said that manna, that's Christ,
isn't it? Well, that bush, what could it
be anything but Christ and Him crucified? You know, the word
bush means literally this. It means a prick with thorns. So here it is, this book, this
bush, this prickly, thorny bush, burning, but not consumed. And Moses was spellbound by it.
And he heard the voice of God speaking out of this burning
bush. God was in the midst of that burning bush, reconciling
Moses to himself, calling Moses to himself. You remember when
Paul Saul of Tarsus met God. He said the sun's light shone
around about him, encircled him, and laid hold of him, blinded
him. And our Lord, the first thing
he said, it's hard to kick against the pricks. And our Lord, remember when Abraham
saw God? Abraham saw my day, Christ said.
He rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was glad. When
did he see it? When there was a ram caught by
its horns in a thorny thicket. That's Christ. And he laid hold
of that. That's my life. That's all the
promises of God depend on this substitute. That's my son's life. And he put that ram on that altar
and burnt it up. Thorns and a consuming fire. That's just burning bush. That's
crying. That's where Moses met the Lord. And that's where you
lived in. All of God's elect, they see,
they hear the voice of God. They see His glory in Christ
and Him crucified. And all of them, go back to our
text, Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. All of them, like
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, all the saints, like Moses, they
will do these things. They will do these things. After
they've seen His glory, they've heard His voice. Look at it. It says, Moses, by faith, when
he had come to years, when he met our Lord at that burning
bush, here's what happened. He refused. There's several things
here. He refused something, he chose
something, he esteemed something, he forsook everything, he feared
someone, he endured, he kept the Passover until the end. All these things. Can you give
me five more minutes? Eight more minutes. All who truly have been given
this faith. They will refuse, they'll choose,
they'll esteem, they'll forsake, they'll fear, they'll endure,
they'll keep, they'll pass through until the end, till the end.
They'll die in faith. All right? Look at it. Verse
25. He refused, verse 24, to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Moses said, after God met him
at the burning bush, he said, I don't belong here. I don't
belong in Egypt. No, Pharaoh is not my God. God is my God. These people are
not my family. You see where this starts? Do
you see where this starts? That's not my mother. That's
not my father. God is my father. This is my
family. Christ people. You see where
this started? Do you see this? I'm after two
or three witnesses. Not my home, not my family, not
my world. Our Lord said in John 17, He
said, I've given them thy word, and the world has hated them,
but they are not of this world, even as I'm not of this world.
I won't pray for the world, but I pray for them. Not that you
should take them out of the world, but deliver them from it. And
I will, O Father, that they be with me where I am. Where is
that? Out of this world to behold my
glory. If you've seen His glory now,
if you've been at the burning bush, brother, you'll want to
be there then. You will be there then. If you've
seen His glory now, nothing else will be glorious to you. And
you'll want to be with Him in glory. That's what you say. Lord,
I want to be with You in glory. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that's what I'm after. Who? You! Moses said, That's not my mother.
This is not my family. This is not my home. These are
not my people. Who are Moses? God's people. Like Ruth. I'm leaving this place. Your God's my God. Your people
are my people. I want to die with you. I want
to be crucified with Christ, buried with Him, and risen someday
forever. Don't you? Do you? Do you? Do
you? That's all God's true people
said. Without exception. Without exception. Moses chose,
rather. See, here's a refusal, and here's
a choice. Now listen. Verse 25, he chose
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Do I have to say this? I'm going
to. Salvation is not our choice.
You know that. Moses had already met God. Why
did he choose? Because God chose him. That's
why. Why did he call on the Lord?
Because God called him. Why did he love the Lord? Because
God first loved him. Why did he come out? Because
God brought him out. How did he know? Because God
taught him, brought him, bought him. Why did he seek the Lord? Because God sought him. Or he
wouldn't have. Right? This is not giving glory
to Moses. This is giving glory to the God
who makes a person choose suffering over pleasure. That's not natural,
is it? No, sir. Here's the world. Here's the world. Pleasures of
sin, all the pleasure that you get. And here's a bunch of poor
people wandering through the wilderness, saying they're going
to a place nobody's ever seen. Now, which? Here you go. Have
it. Either way you want. Moses said,
I'll go with that. How about you? Anybody? I want to suffer affliction with
the people of God and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
I outstain the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures
of Egypt. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Precious, more precious than
gold. Jewels whose luster our lives
may adorn. Pearls that the poorest may wear.
Precious, more precious than gold. Oh my, he said. See, verse
26 says he had respect under the recompense of the reward. He had his eye on Christ. He's
the reward. Remember Abraham? God said, Abraham,
I'm your reward. Lot wanted Sodom. He about perished
with it. Abraham, by God's grace, wanted
God, and he got it. Seeing Christ crucified, chose
rather to suffer affliction All of God's people do. Moses suffered
affliction, didn't he? It was a trial, a great trial
to leave everything, leave his home, leave his family, wander
in the wilderness all those years and dwell in tents and all that
they went through. He went through everything that
the children of Israel went through. Moses went through everything
they went through as a type of Christ. But Moses He esteemed
the treasures of God and the treasures of Christ more than
the treasures of Egypt because he had his eyes on his Lord,
not the things of Egypt. And he suffered. How can a child
of God, how can a person bow to and submit to pain and
suffering over pleasure? Only the grace of God. Only a
true work of God. I bring up Job all the time because
he's one of the greatest examples of faith, of God-given faith
in all the Bible, that God did to this one man, a real man,
all at one time, everything that could be done to a human being.
All the pain, all the suffering, all the affliction, all the... He took away all his family except
his wife, and I don't think she was a believer. That was just
as hard as losing his kids. And all his fleshly belongings
and all his health, God did it all at one time to one real flesh
and blood man. And what did Job say? That trial was found unto glory
and honor. He said the Lord gave. Tears running down his cheeks.
Sorrow in his heart, but joy sorrowful yet rejoicing. Can
you have both? Oh yeah. He said the Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Though he slay me, I'll trust him. But there's that. There's
that. Eli. Eli, both of your sons are
lost. Their sons will be liable. They
don't know the Lord, Esau. And I'm going to kill them both.
Eli said, It's the Lord that he did what he did with good.
Isn't it? Now, there's faith. There's faith. Abraham, take your son, your
only son whom you love, and offer him to me and burn his body. What did Abraham do? It's the
Lord. It's what God did. Spared his son. See, God's grace really is sufficient. It's real. I had a man stand
in our home one day, in our living room, after he'd gone through
so much. He stood up. I remember him standing. Do you
remember him standing there? He was going through tough times. What
he was going through at the time, I thought, I wouldn't take that.
But he did. And he stood there and he said,
you know, he said, grace is real. It's real. Or I couldn't do this. And he did. I think he's still
a believer. It says he chose rather to suffer
affliction. He forsook Egypt, verse 27, forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, who did he fear?
God. Now Moses, everybody fears Pharaoh. I don't. Everybody's doing what Pharaoh
says. I'm going to do what my God says. Didn't he? And Moses, you can't You can't,
you know, Egypt is the center of all modern technology and
science and learning and knowledge and, you know, Moses, this is
the wisdom of the world. So that's foolishness. That's
right. Foolishness. Christ is my wisdom. I see in Him who's invisible.
Through faith He kept, look at this, verse 28, through faith
He kept the Passover. How long? Forty years. Forty
years, Brother John, all the way through that wilderness.
We've got to stop. We've got to sacrifice a lamb. Kept the
Passover. God said, this dude, In remembrance,
this do, our Lord said, this do in remembrance of me. Come,
worship, hear the gospel, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, keep
preaching the gospel, keep preaching the blood, keep coming, keep
sitting, keep hearing, keep believing, keep singing these songs, same
song of the same one about the same subject. Redemption through
the blood of Christ. Keep the Passover, lay hold of
Christ, there's nothing else, don't build a gymnasium, you
don't need it, just need a pew. Don't need a family life center.
This is our family. Don't need programs for your
kids. They need the gospel. Keep the Passover. Moses said,
I think I will. That's my hope. All of us, none
of us, we didn't get out of Egypt except one way. That's what we're
going to sing. That's what we're going to do
for 40 years. That's it. There is no other
way. That's why He brought us out
of the wilderness. You remember why? To hold a feast! I'm taking
you out of Egypt, where you never had that feast until that one
thing. Taking you out to do what? One thing. Wander through the
wilderness, keeping the Passover. Anybody tired of this? It gets better. The half has never been told. One of these days I hope to tell
it, and you might just be like me and just walk on out of here. We all might. But there is nothing
else. Egypt. Desert. Look at this. It says by faith,
verse 29, I'm talking about Moses and his
people. And he was now a companion with
the people of God, a sojourner, a stranger and a pilgrim, wandering
through the wilderness with these people of God. And he said, ain't
it wonderful? Moses did, some didn't. God was not pleased with
some of them. He was very displeased. Some
of them loathed the light red. Some of them said, we want to
go back to Egypt. Not Moses. Not going back there.
That's not my home. And some of them, by His grace,
all of them, little children, all the little children, no,
no, no, we're not going back. Joshua and Caleb, not going back
there. No, sir, that's not our home. So they kept the Passover,
and they passed through the Red Sea that drowned the whole Egyptian
world. And bogged down in the muck and
the miry clay, the Egyptians, God took their wheels off to
where they just sunk down in the miry clay. You know what
God did for his people? Lifted us up out of the miry
clay and set our feet on a rock. The shifting sands of this world.
No, no, no, no, no. You'll sink. You'll drown in
perdition. But not God's people. They're
walking on the rock. Standing on the rock. Christ
Jesus walking through this Red Sea. That is a place filled with
blood, death, destruction. But the water was a wall on both
sides of God's face. Not coming out of you. Why? You're
standing on the rock. It says like Joshua and all the
people beholding that ark. It says they all passed over.
clean over it. And there wasn't one, Brother
Kelly, there wasn't one spot of mud or dirt on them anywhere. Clean. And they, the water, and
there's this vast gulf fixed between them and their sins and
their enemies. Whew! We're here. Okay, I agree.