Alright, let's go back to Hebrews
chapter 11. I started this last week, but
this is a continuation of that message, but it stands on its
own, so follow along with me here, talking about this man
named Moses, a sinner saved by grace, one who came to a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah who would
save him from his sins, justify him before holy God based on
righteousness that Christ would come and produce in time. This
man named Moses, just about everybody knows something about Moses who
knows anything about Bible stories or whatever. How he was the leader
that God chose deliverer, the Hebrew children, out of the bondage
of Egypt. Talked about last week how Moses
was a type of Christ. Christ is the deliverer of God's
chosen people, Jew and Gentile, out of the bondage of sin, the
bondage of darkness, the bondage of Satan. That's how Moses typified
Christ. He was a picture. But here it
speaks of something called the reproach of Christ in verse 26.
Let's just read this beginning at verse 24. It says, By faith
Moses. Now that word faith is a revelation
from God. The knowledge of God revealed
to Moses. God revealed it to him. And that's
what he does to us when he brings us to believe, to faith. It's
a revelation from God of his promise of salvation through
Christ. So by faith Moses, when he was come to years, when he
was grown, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
You remember the story of Moses, how he was raised up in Pharaoh's
household. Moses made a choice, look at
verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God, that's the Hebrew children, than to enjoy the pleasures of
sin for a season, and his choice having been based upon the revelation
of God, and that's what, you see, somebody says, well, you
don't believe people choose to be saved. Listen, every sinner
whom God brings to salvation makes the right choice. We choose
Christ. We don't choose ourselves, we
don't choose anyone, we choose Christ. But that choice is not
of our own goodness, our own power, or our own free will,
or anything like that. It's a choice that God brings
us to when He makes us willing in the day of His power. And
it's based upon a change that God brings about in our hearts,
our minds, affections, and will, whereby the things we used to
esteem, value, those things that we were impressed with and thought
recommended us unto God, now we don't esteem them at all.
We looked last week in Philippians chapter 3 where Paul said, all
those things that I thought were good and right, moral and godly
and made me acceptable, made me righteous, he said, I count
them all but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. I do count them but dung, he
said. Boy, that's a very, his values
changed. Well, that's what happened to
Moses. Look at verse 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ. Now, he put a value on something
called the reproach of Christ. You know what reproach is. Reproach
is defined this way last week. It's the hatred. Now, Jim read about that in John
16. Christ told His disciples, don't be amazed if the world
hate you. That's the reproach of Christ.
Because it hated me before it hated you. It's the hatred, it's
the derision, it's the rejection, it's the affliction and even
the persecution sometimes that believers suffer from the unbelieving
world because of our value, our estimation, of Christ and His
blood and His righteousness and the gospel message and our testimony
of His gospel. And why? Why is it so offensive
to the natural man? Well, we'll look at that in just
a moment. But Moses had a revelation from God, from God's Word. And
based on that revelation, by which he was convinced through
the Holy Spirit, he chose to suffer. affliction rather than
enjoy the luxury of Pharaoh's house for a season. And what
he did, it's said here in, this is what God the Holy Spirit says
about Moses. Now you need to understand that.
Now, whatever is said here about Moses, this is the Holy Spirit
making the Bible. You know, people argue about
over what human instrument wrote the book of Hebrews. I personally
believe it was the Apostle Paul, but I can't prove that. But here's
what I'm telling you, it doesn't matter. God wrote this. That's what I believe the Bible
is. I believe the Bible is the written Word of God. How about
you? There's no error, there's no contradiction. This is God's
Word. So this is God saying this about Moses, and when he talks
about Moses' estimation here, he esteemed, he's talking about
something that went on in Moses' mind. Moses' values changed. And that's what happens to every
sinner saved by grace. Your values change. Now I'm not
talking about in your value of a diamond ring or anything like
that. I'm talking about as far as a right relationship with
God. What do you value? as pertaining to a right relationship
with God. And I'm going to tell you something,
if you're like Moses, by faith, you value one thing, and that's
Christ crucified and risen, His righteousness imputed alone.
Now I want to honor God, I want to obey God, all of that, but
my right relationship with God is established, firm, and immovable,
and unchangeable, in one person based on one work. And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ and his work on that cross. And that's
it. I'm accepted in the beloved.
Now I value other things, but not like that. And that's what's
being said of Moses here. Look at verse 26, esteeming the
reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,
for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Now here's the
faith, that's the revelation from God. The choosing and the
esteeming. Moses' values changed. And the
recompense of reward, what was the reward? Well, the reward
is eternal life, not because we earn it or deserve it, but
because Christ earned it. It's the reward of grace. That's
what he's talking about. And then he says in verse 27,
by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.
He endured as seeing him who is invisible. And that's talking
about a vision of God. Choosing and esteeming the reproach
of Christ. Turn to John 16 there, the passage
that Brother Jim read. This thing about the reproach
of Christ. Why is the gospel such a reproach
to the natural man? Well, I'll tell you exactly why.
because it leaves him with no place to glory in himself, to
boast in himself. In fact, it calls on him to repent
of that which he naturally glories in. Now think about religious people
here, because that's what we're talking about. What do they glory
in? You ask most people today about
their salvation. Where do they, a lot of people,
where do they normally go? Well, I made a decision back
in umpteen thirty or something, you know. Or I walked an hour,
I gave my heart to, that's what they glory in. Or I turned over
a new leaf. Or I had an experience, had a
dream, had a vision, all of these things. I became more, I stopped
smoking, stopped drinking, stopped doing this. That's what they
glory in. Joined the church. Got baptized. That's what they glory in. That's
what they boast in. What does a child of God boast
in? Well, Paul said it. Galatians 6.14, he said, God
forbid that I should glory except in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's it. And he said, Because
I glory in the cross, the world is crucified unto me. I look
at the world as being cursed of God. And I unto the world,
they look at me as being cursed. But this is what Christ is talking
about to his disciples. Look at John 16 and verse 18.
He says, if the world hate you, John 15 verse 18, if the world
hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Now hold
your finger, I'm going to go on through John 16, but look
back at John 3 that I read in the opening. What is it the world... You know, here's the Lord Jesus
Christ. How would you describe His character,
His personality? Well, He's the only perfect person
that ever lived on earth. He's love incarnate. He had compassion
on the weak and the sick and the poor. He healed the blind,
the lame, the dumb. He even raised from the dead. He had a gentleness and a meekness
about him that's unsurpassed by any person. He did no wrong. And yet it says, the world hated
him. What was the problem? Was it
his personality? No. Was it his expression of
love? Well, in some way it was. Because you see, perfect love
always tells the truth. Perfect love always tells the
truth. And by nature, man just doesn't
want to hear the truth concerning how God saves sinners. Look at
it in John chapter 3 and verse 18. He that believeth on him
is not condemned. In other words, if you don't
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as He's identified and distinguished
in the Word, that's a sign of condemnation. And He says, because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil." Now did you see that? What Christ was preaching as
the truth exposed the things that men and women by nature
glory in as being evil. Now go back to John 16. This
is what he says here. Or John 15 rather. He says in
verse 18, If the world hates you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. Verse 19, if you were of the
world, if you were in agreement with the world, spiritually speaking,
religiously speaking, the world would love his own, the world
would embrace you. And because you're not of the world, but
because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world
hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant
is not greater than his Lord. If they've persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they
will keep yours also." You see, this has to do not with how he
acted, but what he said. If they heard and believed me,
they'll hear and believe you, because you're saying the same
thing, the same gospel. Verse 21, But all these things
will they do unto you, for my namesake, because they know not
Him that sent me." Now look at verse 22. If I had not come and
spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no
cloak, no covering for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth
my Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they had not had sin. But
now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." What
does he mean? If I hadn't come and spoken to them, they had
not sinned. Does that mean they weren't sinners
until he came and spoke to them? No. We're all sinners. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. But they didn't
think they were sinners. They didn't know and believe
they were sinners, but they thought in their religion, in their activities,
in their ceremonies, that the issue of sin was already taken
care of. Oh, I don't have to worry about my salvation. It's
all done. Well, what if your ground of
salvation denies the glory of God? You know, I talk to people
all the time, you know. We just assume everybody's saved.
That's the way they look, you know. Well, we're all Christian.
We just go to different churches. We go to different denominations. Different ways of salvation. The thing of sin is already taken
care of in my life. That's not a problem. Well, what
if a gospel preacher comes along? and exposes their ground of salvation
as being something that's evil in God's sight. Now, if the Spirit
of God doesn't do a work, how are they going to react to that? They're going to reject you.
They're going to hate you. Now that hatred may express itself
in a lot of different ways. It may just, they ignore you,
maybe they might attack you. Some of the disciples went through
that. But that's what he said, what
he was preaching. And what was he saying? That
in order for a sinner to be saved, in order for God to have mercy
and grace upon that sinner, You must have perfect righteousness. That's what you've got to have.
That's what I've got to have. We don't have it. We cannot get it by our best
works. There's only one way that a sinner
can be found before God righteous in God's sight. And that's through
the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His righteousness
imputed, His blood alone. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. And if you think anything else
can do it, whatever that thing is, it's evil. You know why it's evil? Not because
it's immoral in the eyes of men. Men applaud it. That which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. It's evil
because it denies the glory of God. It's evil because it denies
Christ. who is the Lord our righteous.
If righteousness come by the law, Galatians 2.21, then Christ
died in vain. A sinner coming before God based
on anything but the merits of Christ's righteousness alone
is actually making a statement that what Christ did was in vain.
That's evil. And notice what he says here.
Look at John 16. Look at verse 1. Christ says,
now these things have I spoken unto you that you should not
be offended. I'm telling you this beforehand so that you won't
stumble over this when it happens. And look what he says in verse
two. They shall put you out of what? Do you see it there? They're
gonna throw you out. Now what are they gonna throw
you out of? The bars? The brothels? Well, they probably would. He said, they're going to put
you out of the synagogues. You know what that is? That's
their religious gatherings. They're going to throw you out
of their church. You go up, stand before a church group, and let
me put it in this context. Here's a preacher, and he's telling
sinners to look somewhere or to someone to find righteousness. to find salvation, to find forgiveness. But it's somewhere, someone other
than Christ and Him alone, His blood alone, His righteousness
alone. It's like the pastor I heard up in Atlanta. He said, he said,
what's gonna, what's gonna bring forgiveness of sin? What does
the Bible say will bring forgiveness of sin? One thing, the blood
of Christ. This pastor got up and he said,
what's going to bring forgiveness of sin? Your repentance. God
does not forgive your sins based on your repentance, folks. That
is not biblical. That is anti-gospel. Get up in
that congregation and say, now what this man just said is evil.
What do you think they're going to do? That's what he's talking
about. That's what caused Moses to leave
his adopted family, to reject them, even turn against them,
because he valued the reproach of Christ. Now, why did he value
that? Well, because he saw the glory of God. That's what the
Scripture says. Look over at Exodus. I want to
show you a couple of Scriptures, and I'm not going to go long
today because we're taking the Lord's Supper. But look at Exodus
chapter 2. Exodus chapter 3. You know Moses,
there were a lot of events that caused him to go the way that
he went. You know, he saw one of the Hebrew
slaves being mistreated by an Egyptian and he slew that Egyptian
and he had to leave that country. And he of course went out on
the backside of the desert, became a shepherd, married a woman.
And you know what happened, how the Lord called him up. And here
in Exodus chapter 3 it says in verse 2, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a
bush. He looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the
bush was not consumed. Now what I believe is happening
here is what we call a pre-incarnate visitation of Christ. The angel
of the Lord, the messenger of God, the angel of the covenant.
And of course, the Lord revealed himself to Moses over in verse
14 of chapter 3. God said unto Moses, I am that
I am. He said, thus shalt thou say
unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. He
identified himself as the Lord God in verse 15, the Lord God
of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All of that. And then
he commissioned Moses to go back and withstand the most powerful
king on earth, Pharaoh, to the face. And you know the story. Look over in Exodus chapter 33. God revealed Himself to Moses
and commissioned him to follow the commands of God in going
and withstanding Pharaoh to the face. And of course you know
his brother Aaron was with him. And you know the story about
all the plagues and all of that. Next week I'm going to talk about
the Passover and how they crossed the Red Sea. Well this right
here is after all that happened, after he got them out. God brought
him out. Moses had been taken up on the
Mount Sinai. God revealed Himself there. And
here He is, at the end of all that, and it says in Exodus 33,
where Moses, look at verse 12, Moses said unto the Lord, See
that thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me? Yet thou hast said,
I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. See, Moses here is a is a possessor,
he's a recipient of the grace of God. That's how God saves
sinners. That's how God keeps sinners. Moses asked him there, he says,
he says, if I found grace in your sight, show me your glory. Show me your glory. Look at verse
18. He said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Well hadn't Moses seen his glory? Yes he had. But
you know, that's one thing about it. Once God shows you His glory,
you can't get enough of it. You don't want to move on from
there, do you? If you see, now where does God reveal His glory?
In the face of Jesus Christ. That's why we preach Christ and
Him crucified, risen. That's why we preach His righteousness.
We can't get enough of it. You don't want to move on from
there. I've had people say, well now, why don't you stop talking
about that and go on talking about what we can do. Well, you
haven't seen His glory. His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ, in the person of Christ. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. That's an amazing thing. That
question has never even entered into the minds of natural religion,
let alone been answered, but the gospel answers it. We who
are sinners, we stand before God righteous in God's sight. God who knows my thoughts. God
whose word cuts to the quick. And He accepts, He looks at me.
And He says, not guilty. Righteous! How? How is that possible? Not but one way. By grace that
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Why would God show that to me?
Look at verse 19 of Exodus 33. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious,
and I'll show mercy on whom I will show mercy. God's sovereignty
is part of his glory. People rise up in opposition
to that. They say, well, I don't want
that. God chooses some and passes by others. Well, he said, that's
my glory, Moses. Shall not the potter do what
he will with the clay? If he chooses to make one vessel
unto wrath, one vessel unto mercy, and that his right, that's part
of his glory. And look on, he says in verse
20, he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. You cannot come face to face
with God on your own. That's what that means. You see,
you gotta have a mediator. Gotta have a surety. Gotta have
a substitute. You gotta have a righteousness
that you don't have in yourself. And so he says in verse 20, And
the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt
stand upon a rock. What a picture of Christ. My
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is
sinking. He says, it shall come to pass
while my glory passeth by that I will put thee in the cleft
of the rock. That's Christ. Covered in his blood, clothed
in his righteousness, and will cover thee with my hand while
I pass by. And then verse 23, he says, I'll take away mine
hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not
be seen. Now you know what that means.
Again, He says, you shall not see my face. Now we're going
to talk about that a little bit next week when we talk about
Moses seeing the invisible God. But you cannot come to God on
your own face to face. You can't do it. We're sinners.
But his back parts, you know what that means? That's the work
that he's finished and accomplished. And it's upon the ground of the
finished, completed, accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in putting away our sins and making us righteous before Him
based on His righteousness imputed that we'll meet God. See Him,
be accepted with Him, all the blessings of salvation. Now that's
what brings on the reproach of the world, the reproach of Christ,
the hatred of the world, because they glory in other things, but
we glory in Christ. Now that's what the Lord's Supper
is about. We're going to come and I'm going to ask the men
to come on up.