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. 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's
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, For he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king. This is my subject right here.
For he endured as seeing him who is invisible. 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. By faith they passed through
the Red Sea, as by dry land, which the Egyptians a saying
to do, were drowned." Our Father, oh our blessed, blessed
Father, in the glorious, holy, righteous name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, your blessed Son, our Savior, our Savior, our Mediator,
the one by whom we have access into your presence. And Father,
we thank you for the day. Oh, what a day you've given us.
Another day. A day of health. A day with a
blessed, blessed hope that you've given us. We stand here, Lord
Jesus, gathered together to worship the one true and living God and
worship Him the way He taught us to do through His blessed
Son, by the Holy Spirit, preaching His Word, setting forth the Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, we thank You for what
You've taught us. And Lord Jesus, we thank You for the dear saints of God. And Lord,
meet with us this morning. Give us of your presence. Give
us of your power. Lord, liberate our hearts to
hear. Liberate my heart and mind to
preach. Father, bring glory to self in
the service today. Have mercy upon the lost. Open
their hearts. Open their hearts. Lord, we have
so many lost loved ones, children, grandchildren. sons, daughters,
husbands and wives. Oh Lord, we trust you to do the
work, because if you don't do it, it won't be done. So Lord,
we look to you. Enable us to bring glory to yourself. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. He humbled himself to behold
the things in heaven. Just to see the things in heaven.
So you imagine how he humbled himself to become a man. Hebrews
11, look with me there again. In verse 27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king. For he endured, and this is my
subject, seeing him who is invisible. How do you see the invisible? How do you see the invisible?
Well, I tell you how we see God who is invisible. He became visible
in his blessed son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was in the bosom
of the Father and He came to declare Him. And the Lord Jesus
Christ is the image of the invisible God. That's why it said, for
He endured at seeing Him, Him, who is invisible. Isaiah saw
the Lord high and lifted up. And when he did, he said, woe
is me, I'm undone. The blind man saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, Bartimaeus did. And Peter, James, and John, when
thy Lord was transfigured on the mount, and his son, he became
as bright as the sun, that was his glory. The Shekinah glory
of God manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. The brightness of God's glory
shone in him that day. And they saw it, and they saw
it. And then the Apostle Paul saw,
or Saul of Tarsus, saw the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus
road when the Lord put him in the dust. And so what do all
these people, all these saints have in common? Those who saw the Lord Jesus
Christ as Moses did. You know where Moses first saw
the Lord Jesus Christ at? In the burning bush. That's the
first place he met him. Met him in the burning bush.
That's why he said later, he said, Lord show me thy glory.
And he said, you can't see it. I've got to hide you. All you
see is my hand apart. I've got to hide you. Where are
you going to hide me at? There's a rock right over here beside
me. I'll put you in that rock and I'll put my hand over you.
There's a cleft in that rock. There's an opening in that rock. I'll put you in that rock and
then I'm going to put my hand over you. And that's where we're
at now. We're in the rock and God got
his hand over us. What a blessed thing it is. But
they all, every one of these people who saw the Lord, because
of their sight, they endured. Ain't that what it says about
Moses? For he endured. He endured. as seeing him who
is invisible. They all because of their sight
of seeing him endured and they kept on keeping on. They went
through lots of ups and lots of downs. Went through lots of
murmurs, lots of complaints, lots of troubles and lots of
trials. But there was never, no they was in a while and out
a while. Those who God gave sight to never
got over it. When Moses saw God in the burning
bush, when Saul saw the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus,
when Isaiah saw the Lord lifted up, and when Moses saw God in
the burning bush, I'm telling you what, they never ever got
over it. When Moses had an enduring sight,
what made it enduring? Because he saw him who is invisible. Now I want you to turn with me.
And we're going to go back to Hebrews 11. But look with me
at Exodus 32. Just turn over there for a moment. Exodus 32. Exodus 3, excuse me. Exodus 3,
not Exodus 32. Exodus 3 and verse 2. Exodus 3 and verse 42. Excuse
me, 3 and 2. I told you. Oh, you all will
be getting used to that by now. And oh, you see the God of glory
appeared unto him in a burning bush. And look what it said.
He was on the backside of the desert. And he came over to the
Mount of God. In verse 2, And the angel of
the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst
of a bush. And he looked, and behold, a
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses
said, I'm going to turn aside and see how this great sight,
why the bush is not burnt. And the Lord saw that he turned
aside, called unto him. Moses, Moses, he said, here am
I. The Lord knows his sheep and he calls them all by name. And
he said, don't you get close to me. He said, you know on the
ground you're standing on is holy. And oh, look what happens. Then he says down in verse 8,
look what God told him he come down through. The God of glory
appeared unto him in a burning bush. And then he said, I've
come down to deliver them out of the hand of Moses. And I'll
tell you, beloved, he came down to save. When he said he came
down to deliver, I came down to save out of the hand of the
Egyptians and bring them into a land. In that flame, in that
bush, He beheld, God did, Christ did, and Moses did. He beheld
the King, immortal, invisible, eternal God in that bush. Because
God spoke to Him out of that bush. Did you notice that? God spoke to Him. He said, I'm
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I tell you what, I've
come down. Where did God come down at? One
place He came down at. And that's what we see in Christ. God came down to save. God came down to deliver. And
you know, I don't know why people don't understand this. He says,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, and He shall. shall save His
people from their sins. God come down to save a particular
people. Christ came down to save a particular
people. And the very fact that He's called
a Savior ought to tell people that He saves. He don't try to
save. He don't want to save. He don't
make an effort to save. He actually saves people. That's
what His name is, Savior. And all He come to seek Who did
He come to seek? The lost. Who did He come to
save? The lost. Who did He come to
die for? For sinners. And I tell you,
beloved, what a glorious sight. What a glorious sight to see
the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Savior. You think, listen, He's
called the Savior. Who needs saving? I do. I need
saving today, I need it yesterday, and if God lets me live, I'll
need saving tomorrow. Ain't that right? Oh my! See the Lord Jesus Christ and
say, My Savior! My Savior! Saved me from my sins! And I tell you, He's one who
actually saves. So it is a glorious sight seeing
Him. Seeing Him. And then look at
the next thing about it. This sight changed Moses. It
transformed him. Let's start here in verse 3 and
read down for a few minutes. And Moses said, I'm going to
turn aside. And I'm going to see this great sight. Why, this
bush is not burnt. He saw it on fire. He said, maybe
lightning struck it. It's just on fire. It will be
consumed. But it wasn't. It just kept burning and burning
and burning. It wasn't consumed. And when
the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called. unto him
out of midst of the bush." God called! God ever called you? You ever heard the voice of God?
Oh my! And he said, Moses, Moses! And he said, here I am. He said,
don't draw near here. Don't draw nigh here. Put off
the shoes off your feet. For the place whereon thou standest,
holy ground. And everyone, we're standing
before God and we're standing before Christ. Any place. You know, they call Israel the
holy land. They call water from the river
Jordan holy water. The only person in this universe
that's holy is God himself. Huh? And he said, listen, you're
here, we're holiness dwellers. And look what he says. Moabites
said, I am the God of thy father, God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob. And look what Moses did now.
And Moses hid his face. Ah. He hid his face. He said, oh my, I can't look
on God. And how in the world can God
look on me? He covered his face. He said,
oh, how am I going to stand in God's presence? I see something
I ain't never seen before. My face got to be covered. How
in the world? He said, first of all, take off
your shoes. Now I'm going to cover my face. Oh, that's one
thing that this generation don't know nothing about. And look
what he said, for he was afraid to look upon God. People ain't afraid to say the
awfulest things in the world about God, the awfulest things
about Christ, the awfulest things about His Word. But oh, he turned
aside and oh, he said, I was afraid to look upon God. The Lord said, I've seen the
affliction of my people. I've heard their cry and I know
their sorrows. God knows everything there is
about us and then he said I'm come down to save Save them out
of the hand out of the hand of the Egyptians bring down that
land into a land flowing with milk and honey Now therefore
he said in verse 9 behold the cry of the children of Israel's
come unto me and I've seen the oppression were with the Egyptians
oppressed to come now therefore and I'll send thee unto Pharaoh
and that thou must bring forth my
children out of Israel." When he turned aside to see this great
sight, he was never the same. God said, I'm going to send you.
And what am I going to send you to do? With a message. With a
message to a man and a message to people. I'm going to send
you with a message to a particular man, Pharaoh, and to a particular
people, my people. And beloved, I tell you when
Moses said this, the first thing Moses said, who in the world
am I? Who am I? Who am I? Do you ever wonder
that? Who in the world am I that God
would have anything to do with me? Who in the world am I that
God would ever consider me? And I tell you what, if you ever
get over the idea that who in the world am I that God would
ever do something for me, you're in trouble. You never get over
that. Who in the world am I that Christ
would do anything? And then not only that, but give
me something to say. I said, Moses, I've got a message. You're going to go down there.
I'm going to send you down there. Not somebody else, you. And I
want you, the first thing I want you to do is go down there and
tell my people that I've come down to save them. And ain't
that the message we got, Cody? God came down to save His people. Well, Pharaoh, he won't let them
go. Oh, yes, he will. Pharaoh, you're
going to let my people go. No I ain't. Oh yes you are. No I ain't. Yes you are. Then God said, you know there's
only one reason I raised you up, Pharaoh. And you know you
read over there that they by faith went through the Red Sea.
And the Egyptians come along, they tried to do the same thing.
And the scripture said, and they all drowned. Oh my, oh his purpose, his attitude
toward God changed. Oh he humbled himself, humbled
himself. And I'll tell you, we see the
Lord Jesus Christ by faith now. And we humble ourselves in His
presence. in our hearts, in our minds.
And I tell you what, beloved, when we see Him in glory, the
first thing we're going to do is sing songs and bow down at
His feet. That's the first thing we'll
do. And ain't you looking forward to that? And all his purpose
and his attitude toward God has changed. With Saul and Tarsus,
proud, arrogant Pharisee, full of pride, full of self-righteousness,
full of anger, full of hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ and
His people. And he had that hatred in his
heart till one day he was on his way to Damascus. walking
along, minding his own business, going down there to get some
men and women, bring them back and throw them in jail. Until,
light fell down on him. And he got blind as a bat. And
he fell down into the dirt. He said, saw, saw. Just like
God said to Moses, saw, saw. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus. You know what? Paul got up, and
you know what he said? He never got over it. He said,
Would it please God, who separated me from my mother's womb, call
me by His grace. Grace come to me that day. He
never got over it. He preached grace for the rest
of his life. You know what he said? By the
grace of God, I am what I am. Never got over it. John, in the
revelation, he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw him out of his
mouth with a two-edged sword. And he had in his hand seven
stars. And he said, and he had on that
golden girdle and that snow white hair. And he said, when I saw
him, I fell as a dead man. And you know the Lord, listen
to me, the Lord, I've seen this this morning, the Lord laid His
right hand on him. That right hand of authority,
that right hand of power, laid that right hand on him and said,
fear not. Fear not. He put that right hand
on him. That's the right hand of authority.
Power. Put it on him. Put it on him.
And oh, beloved. And oh, Daniel said, when I saw
the Lord, my beauty, my beauty turned into corruption. Turned
into corruption. And that's what exactly happened.
And then let me show you something else. Now let's turn back over
to Hebrews 11. Let's look at some more things about Moses. Seeing Him who is invisible.
Seeing Him who is invisible. Look what it says there in verse
27 again. You know when he saw the Lord,
when he saw Christ out of that burning bush, he said, By faith
he forsook Egypt. When you see this site, people
say, Boy, we need to separate. Preachers preach separation all
the time. Separation. I don't know what
separation means to them. I know what it used to mean to
me, but it don't mean the same thing now. This was a separating
site. It said, He forsook Egypt. Oh my, you know God translates
us from darkness into his marvelous light. And what happened was
Egypt, and Egypt is the world, and Egypt's wealth, Egypt's power,
Egypt's glory, it lost all of its appeal when he saw the Lord. And I tell you what, we no longer
find that there's anything in this world that's for us. I know
you have to have jobs. I know you have to work. And
I know you have to deal with it so much. But it's not your
friend and you know it's not. You're very cautious and very
careful when you're in the world. You're very cautious and very
careful how you treat people if you go in to pay for gas.
I'm telling you, you know the Lord's people, listen, Moses
said, what did he say there in verse 25? Choosing rather to
suffer affliction with the people of God to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Oh my, God he translate us from
darkness into his blessed glorious light. And when that happens
like it did with Moses, he got down there in Egypt, Egypt had
all the power, Egypt had all the wealth, Egypt had all the
gold, Egypt had all the glory, Egypt had all the majesty. And
Moses said, don't mean a thing in the world to me. I'm going
to leave it. I'm going to forsake it. And I tell you, beloved,
that's what happens to the Lord's people. This world absolutely
holds no attraction for it whatsoever. That's one thing it says about
the Lord's people. They're strangers in pilgrims
just passing through here. Abraham and Jacob and them passed
through this world living in tents. They picked up their tents
and went from here to yonder. And beloved, I'm telling you,
we are strangers and pilgrims here and one of these days we
are going to a place where we'll never be another stranger and
we'll not be a pilgrim anymore. And I tell you what, I've got a house that I live
in. We call it a home. But you know where my home is?
Up yonder. I'm going to leave this one made
of sticks and bricks. I'm going to where God made. I'm going to leave it where somebody
else made the foundation. We're going to where God made
the foundation. And that's why this world don't hold
nothing for us. Oh my, it's never been a friend
to me, never has. And I'm telling you, I'm going
to let me show you something. You keep Hebrews, look over here in Isaiah
42. Look what it says about the Lord's
people, about our Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 42, in verse 19. You
know, There's people out there, they
just, all they're after is everything they can get out of the world.
I heard a preacher say one time, he said, people out in the world
are getting all they can, canning all they get, and they're sitting
on the can. That's pretty much the truth, ain't it? That's the
truth. Listen, we got more wealth than
the world will ever know. People talk about billionaires.
We are wealthier than any billionaire to ever live. Look what he said here in Isaiah
42, verse 18. Hear ye deaf, and look ye blind. Now wait a minute. How in the
world is the deaf going to hear and how is the blind going to
see? He's talking about us seeing Christ, who is blind but my servant. And as my messenger that I have
sent, who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the
Lord's servant. He was blind to everything but
the will and purpose of God. He is blind to everything but
obeying God, everything but saving his people, blind to the enmity
of the world, and look what he said, seeing many things he didn't
observe, opening the ears, but he hearth not. So, oh, beloved,
when we become to see the Lord Jesus Christ, this world holds
no attraction for us anymore. And then here's another thing
about when he saw the Lord. Here in verse 27 again. Hebrews
11, 27. There's another thing. It's a
separating site. He forsook Egypt. You know, let me say just another
thing about that. Over in Galatians, it says, I'm crucified with Christ. Let me look at it real quick.
I don't want to misquote it. But in Galatians 6, it says this. I'll read it to you. I don't
want to just quote it because there's three who died that day.
And he said, God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's where
we died. By Christ the world is crucified
under me. And look at the world, I'm dead
to the world. And listen to this, and then I died to the world
too. Three people died that day on Calvary. Christ, you, and
the world. Ain't that right? All right,
let's now go back over here to Hebrews 11, 27. Separating side,
he forsook Egypt. And then look what he says in
here, not fearing the wrath of the king. He wasn't afraid of
that king. Now, you know, there was a time
when, you know, when he killed that Egyptian and they told him and he said, well, I'll
be in trouble. So he left. He left and went
to Midian. Forty years on the backside of
the desert. But when he done that, he hadn't
seen God yet. He hadn't seen that burning bush
yet. But here he says, He feared not the wrath of the king. Why
should anyone fear man? You know, the first thing when
he walked in there and told Pharaoh to let my people go, first thing
Pharaoh said, who in the world is the Lord? That I should obey
him. Why should anyone fear man? I
heard Henry say the other day, talking about a preacher. He
said, one thing I can tell you about him. is that he doesn't
fear man. And he said, you know why I know
he don't fear man? Because he fears God. Because
he fears God. And what in the world can a man
do if God be for us, who in the world can be against us? They
can destroy this body and it's going to go back to the dust
anyway. They can destroy this body but they can't destroy the
soul. And you remember there was a
king Ahab. And he wanted to go to war. And
all these prophets got together and built them some iron hordes. And they said, oh, go ahead.
You'll be like a big horde. You'll take these steel hordes
and you'll just destroy the enemy. Said, there's another prophet
named Micaiah. Let's call him, see what he has
to say. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let's don't ask him. Why not?
Because he'll tell me the truth. And I don't want to hear that.
So they said, well, let's go see what he said. Well, I know
what the prophet said, but he said, well, what do you say? He said, I'll tell you what,
all I see is the Lord's people, the sheep of God scattered all
over the mountainsides. I told you that that preacher
didn't have nothing good to say to me. Nothing but evil. And
I'll tell you what, he didn't fear that King Ahab and Elijah
standing before those 850 false prophets. He didn't fear Ahab
and he stood there and destroyed them. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
bless His holy name, you're talking about taking away fear and anxiety
about things. If we fear God, what in the world
else should we fear other than our own selves? But the Lord
Jesus has said here in verse 6 of chapter 13, look at that
with me here, Hebrews 13. The Lord Jesus conquered all
of our enemies. He faced all of our enemies.
He faced God's law and honored it. He faced our sins and He
put them away. He faced death and He conquered
it. Everything that was against us,
He took it out of the way and nailed it to His cross. He conquered
every enemy that was ever against us. And now we got no more enemies
to fight. We really don't. And look what
is said here in verse 6. So that we may boldly say, The
Lord is my helper. Oh, what we will say about that? And I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. I shall not fear what man shall
do unto me. Oh my. I'm going to tell you
a story. Years and years ago, I was just
a very, very young man. I was in my 20s. And I was going over to Herman's
and Ethel's and a fellow met me at the gate. Got out of my
car and he was waiting for me to get out of my car. And he
had on a great big thing of brass knuckles on his hand. I got out of the car and he said,
I'm going to whip, you know. I said, well, He was really mad. He was really upset with me. He said, the first thing he says
now, where's your God at? What's he going to do for you
now? I said, well, he's where he always was. I kept telling
him, give it your best shot. I said, I've been whipped by
better men than you. That's why I told him. He just
kept. He's like a little dog. He never did swing. He thought he'd just have me
on my knees, have me begging. But I tell you what, the only
person I'm going to beg is God. I became a beggar before God,
and I'll stay a beggar before God as long as I'm in this world.
Man ain't going to make me beg. Oh no, I'm going to beg God. So I do know the Lord is my helper. You know what I'm going to say
about it? I shall not fear what man shall do unto me. Huh? Oh my. And then look what it
says, not only was it a separating site, a site that takes away
fear, not fearing the wrath of the king. Let me tell you, I
just thought of this, I'll tell you what. It takes me a while to get it
all together. But let me tell you something about this here,
not fearing the wrath of the king. Do you remember Moses was standing
at the Red Sea? And all of Israel was gathered
up there. And there was big rocks over here and big rocks over
there. And they looked back and they saw Pharaoh's army just
coming, just as hard as they could come. And they said to
Moses, Moses you brought us out here and Pharaoh's coming to
get us. You know what Moses said? Stand still. See, see, see the salvation
of the Lord. And about the time they got there,
God rolled that red sea back and away they started. And by
the time they last one got over there, Pharaoh was about half
way in. God killed him. He would have said, Oh, by Moses
you brought us out here to go, Tabor's not going to get us anyway.
No, he ain't. No, he's not going to get us.
No, we're leaving this country. God done told us we was. He believed
God. Look what else happened was,
it was a sustaining sight. It says there, in verse 27 again, He endured, he endured as seeing
him. He endured. You know our Lord
said he that endureth unto the end. It is through much tribulation that
we enter into the kingdom of God. When we first get converted,
we think, boy, this is something. This is so easy. This is so wonderful.
Until your first trial comes. And you say, what in the world?
I thought I was saved. Well, I'm not so sure right now. But I tell you, when we're first
converted, that's the way we are. But he endured. Do any of you all endure anything? Paul said, endure hardness as
a good soldier. of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
endure hardness of men's hearts, endure the hardness of men's
words, the hardness of men's feelings and women's feelings.
He endured as seeing him who is invisible. He endured Pharaoh's
hatred. He endured the murmurings of
the Lord's people. He endeared the complaints. And you know what? One of the
hardest things that he dealt with first? He endeared his wife's
enmity to God. His wife said, you know, when
God stopped Moses, because he hadn't circumcised his two sons.
And God stopped him and said, I'm going to kill you before,
because you haven't circumcised your sons. Well he did, and his
wife said, oh you and your bloody religion. You and your bloody religion.
Didn't want nothing to do with it. Didn't want nothing to do
with it. His wife had enmity to God. You know what, it would
be awful to be married to somebody that just hated God. There was
a fella, and I can tell you his name, I know him very well, known
him for years and years and years. But years ago he went to 13th
Street, he goes somewhere else now. But his wife, he'd go to
services all the time. And his wife kept asking, well
stay home with me on Sunday night, stay home with me on Sunday night,
stay home with me on Sunday night. And he just went on anyway. And
then one night she said, if you don't stay home with me when
you get back, I won't be here. He said, oh my, I wish you hadn't
have said that. I wish you hadn't said that. Choose between me
and church right now. He said I wish you hadn't said
that. I got to go now. And he went and when he got home
she was gone. She was gone. He's got a new wife, had a new
wife for years and years and goes to a different congregation. But I tell you what, that's a
trial to endure, ain't it? But she made her choice and he
made his. And I tell you what, beloved, if
a man walks away from Christ or a man or woman walks away
from Christ, you may not want to go, but don't hinder anybody
else from going. If you don't like it, just keep
your mouth shut. If you don't want to go, stay
home. Boy, if somebody wants to come, don't you ever hinder
them from coming. I wouldn't bend your shoes for 10,000 worlds
like this. If you tell somebody, well listen,
choose between me or Christ, don't ever put a person in that
position who knows Christ. Every single time it happens,
they're going to say, I'm going to take Christ. I can give you
up, but I can't give up Christ. I can give up a home, but I can't
give up Christ. I can lose a child, a husband,
a wife, a son, or a daughter, but I can't lose Christ. And he endured. He endured. He endured his wife's
enmity to God. He endured the hatred of Pharaoh
and the hands of Pharaoh. He endured all of his unbelieving
brethren. Well, how in the world are we
going to endure? Look at Hebrews 12. I'll tell you how we're going
to endure. Will we endure? Look what it
says in verse 2. This is how we're going to endure.
Looking. Looking. Who are we going to
look at? Unto Jesus. looking unto Jesus, the author,
the one who authored our salvation, the captain of our salvation,
and the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was set
before Him, He endured that cross. He despised the shame that came
upon Him. And now He sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. Oh, consider Him. Now listen,
consider Him. He endured some things. He endured
the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He come to save
sinners and sinners so mistreated Him. lest you be wearied and
faint in your minds. And I tell you, you've not yet
resisted. You've not yet been put in a
situation where you have resisted until you shed blood yet. And
oh, that's why we're looking to Him. You see, it's Christ
who saves us from the storm. He's Christ who comes to us walking
in the darkness on the waters of our troubles. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ when Simon Peter was on his way down and sinking. He didn't say, now Simon Peter,
I'm going to give you a help. I'm going to give you a hand.
Reach out now. And oh no, Christ just reached and got him. Put
him on that ship and just blink of, boom, boom. But how often
does Christ come to us in the middle of the night and gives
us comfort and gives us assurance and gives us help and gives us
hope? How many storms has He saved
us in? He'll bring darkness sometimes
to our lives just to make the light brighter when He turns
it back on. Don't He? You know, when you go in and
look at a diamond, you know what they do? They put that diamond
or that ring against a big, either a dark, dark blue background
or a black background. You know why? To make it shine
brighter. And when God will put that darkness on us, He just
makes Christ shine that much brighter. Oh my. And I'm telling you, He saved
us. He does save us and will save us. Ah. I'm telling you, oh my goodness,
I've got to hurry. And this is a satisfying sight.
I had a few things to say about that, but I'll let it go. Preaching
too long. Look what it said here in verse
11, 26. What a satisfying sight. It said, He esteemed the reproach
of Christ greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt. You know they found in some of
them pyramids, they found these real famous kings and they was,
their caskets was made out of solid gold. Made out of solid gold. Put them in
solid gold. They find them and oh, they just
so admire that and all the gems and all the stuff that they find.
Boy, what treasures they had. Moses said, you know what? I'd rather have the reproach
of Christ than everything they got down there. Huh? Oh my. The Lord Jesus Christ, so despised
by the world, holds a wondrous attraction to me. And He is despised
by the world, especially the religious world. The things they
say about Him shows you that they despise Him. They despise
His person. They put Him in a manger at Christmas.
put a robe around him and a cross in their front yards at Easter. They despise his person. They
despise his substitutionary death. We say he died for his people.
They say he died for everybody. I say he died for his elect and
his elect alone. They despise his power at God's
right hand. You know why? Because they can
do things on their own. But we know we can't. We need
somebody at God's right hand with some power, with some authority,
with some ability. Somebody that can do something
for us and plead our case and plead our cause. Huh? Oh my! Do we repair his reproach? And when we do, do we count it
riches? When you tell men that their worth is absolutely zero,
When you tell men that their works are as filthy rags, and that anything they do, say,
or can do, or think about, adds nothing to salvation whatsoever.
And the Lord Jesus Christ told him much that one day. He said,
I told you, you couldn't come to me except my Father brought
you. And a multitude turned and walked away from him. And he
looked to his twelve and said, Will you also go away? And he
said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Let them go. But Lord, to whom shall we go?
You've got the words of eternal life. Oh, that's why Paul said,
I count all things but a loss that I may win Christ. And nor
do you want to be identified with him. He's hated. He's despised. Who stands with
him? Huh? Who will claim I'm one of
his? He bought me and paid for me.
He loved me and gave himself for me. Not for everyone. He
loved me. Not everybody. He loved me. Gave himself for me. And then
let me close with this right here. It's a spiritual sight. Back there in verse 27. Says
five times here about Moses having faith. Five times it says about
him having faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith. By faith.
It's a spiritual sight. By faith. You know how we see
and you know how we endure? By faith. By faith, it's only
by faith that he sees the invisible. And that's why Simon Peter said
this, whom having not seen, you love. Whom having not seen, you love.
Moses believed God's promises. I've come down to deliver. I've come down to deliver. I
will show you one thing in John 20, 29 and I'm done. I want you
to see this. John chapter 20. And I'm done. Look down here. The Lord had
done risen from the dead and look what it says here now. Thomas wasn't with them when
the Lord appeared for his disciples. And our Lord said in verse 27,
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold
my hands. Reach hither thy hand, and thrust
it into my sight, and be not faithless, but believing. Thomas
answered and said unto him, My Lord, and my God. This is what
our Lord said to him now. Because thou hast seen me, you
believed, you saw me and you believed. But blessed are they
that have not seen, whom having not seen you love with joy unspeakable,
and yet they have believed. You know what we're doing? We're
enduring thy faith, seeing Him who is invisible. Our Father, O our Father, in
the precious, precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank
you for your abundant mercy and grace given us in Christ before
the world ever began. Thank you for allowing us to
meet here this morning. Thank you for your gospel. God
bless it to the hearts and minds of the folks here. Strengthen
them, encourage them, comfort them, give them assurance, and
save your people in this place. for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen.