Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. I have enjoyed myself thoroughly
by coming up here and being with you all. First, I want to say how much
I appreciate Bob and Sally letting me stay over there. I've stayed
with them for years and years. It's good to see Bill Eldridge.
I haven't seen him in a while. And you all got some good preachers
here, you know. There's Larry. And Ron, and of course, there's
Don. And it's an honor to be with
the Lord's people. And you know, when I first started
coming up here years and years ago, I still had dark hair and had meetings in December. They had to take and eat over
at the, yeah, eat over there. I met Scott
Richardson my first time here. And I said all that to say this,
that I see a lot of folks here that I had never met before,
but there's lots of folks here we've enjoyed unbroken fellowship
for years and years and years and years. And that is something
only the grace of God can do. You know, when it talks about
where Indian strife is, there's confusion and evil work. In churches,
at most Baptist churches, you got to have a high sheriff and
three deputies, you know, when they have a business meeting.
They just fuss and fight and argue and go on. But among the
grace churches we fellowship with, there is no strife. Everybody just loves one another,
prays for one another, encourages one another, supports one another. Faithfulness. This church here,
you've had Don 30 years. I've been where I'm at 31 years.
And they're going to bury me down there. They're going to
bury me down there. I just turned 60 a little over
a month ago. So I've got a few years to go
before they do that, but hopefully. But I want to be a faithful preacher
of the gospel of the grace of God until the Lord calls me.
But what a blessing it is to be able to come in fellowship
with people I've known all these years, and they're still keeping
on keeping on. Ain't that something? If I come
back here ten years from now, there'll be some of you still
sitting here. Some of you the Lord will have taken home. But
the Lord will keep you faithful. That dear brother prayed, Lord,
please don't let us fall away. And that's what I want to talk
about tonight. Here in Hebrews 11. Verse 23. 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
of 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, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn
should touch them. Now I want to get my subject
there out of verse 27. By faith he forsook Egypt, not
fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him
who is invisible. How do you see him who is invisible? How is that done? We can only
see the visible, but yet Paul talks about not looking at the
things that are seen, but the things that are not seen. Here's
a man who endured looking at someone who is invisible. He
couldn't see. How does that happen? Well, God
dwells in a life that no man can approach unto. But God became
visible, where we could see, where we could touch Him, where
we could taste Him, where we could handle Him, in the person
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God was manifested in His blessed
Son. No man has seen God at any time,
save the only begotten of the Father, who came forth from the
bosom. God unbosomed Him, then He declared
the Father. And Isaiah, Isaiah saw the Lord,
saw Him high and lifted up, and he said, I see the Lord in His
glory. And that blind man saw the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
said, tell us, who was it that healed you? And how do you know
he'd done it? He said, all I know is that I
was blind and now I see. Oh, he saw something. And here's
Moses, he saw something. He said, he endured a seeing
Him who is invisible. Peter, James, and John was with
the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. And
our Lord Jesus was transfigured right in front of them. And He
became brighter than the brightness of the sun. And that just shows
us the glory that He's going to have in glory. And they saw
Him standing there. And they, beloved, saw Him with
their own eyes before their eyes. And that to see, and Peter talked
about later, we were eyewitnesses of the majesty. The majesty. of God, the majesty of Christ. And we even heard that voice
from on high. And Saul on the Damascus road
saw the Lord Jesus. But what do all these people
who saw Christ, what do they all have in common? What do they
all have in common? Well, those who saw the Lord
Jesus as Moses did in the burning bush and saw him on the mountain
when he says, Lord, let me see your glory. And this is the difference
in God's people and people in religion. The Lord's people,
they're like Moses. Lord, I want to see your glory.
I want to see your glory. Give me a glimpse of your glory.
I want to see something about you. And I tell you, the only
way we can is He sung this morning, hide me, oh God, in that rock
of ages. Cleft, put me there. Let me see.
And that's where we're going to see the glory of God in Christ
our Lord. But anyway, what do they have
in common? They all, every one of them because of their sight
that they had of God, the sight they had of Christ. They all
endured. Moses endured as seeing him who
is invisible. They, everyone kept on keeping
on. They may have been ups and there were downs. They had their
trials. They had their afflictions. They
had their heartaches. They had their sorrows. They had their
ups and they had their downs, but they never was no ends and
no outs. You know, this business of being
in for a while and out for a while, there's none of that went on
with these men. These men, these people who saw Christ, these
people who saw the Lord Jesus Christ, they endured as seeing
him who is invisible. And when God gave a sight, they
never got over it. When they saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, when Moses saw God, they never got over it. Have you ever
got over it yet? I never got over it. Never got
over it. And I hope I never. It's like
getting a new sight all the time. But anyway, what made Moses?
Moses is said here, By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king. For he endured, endured as seeing
him who is invisible. What made this an enduring sight? What made this an enduring sight?
What will make it an enduring sight to me and you? Moses endured. Well, first of all, look what
it says. For he endured as, listen to
it, as seeing him. That's why you endured seeing
him. He didn't just see anything.
He saw him. He saw him. And you know, and
look over here with me in Exodus 3. You keep this for a minute
and stay over here in Hebrews just a moment. But look in Exodus
3 with me for a minute. You know, the God of glory appeared unto
him in a burning bush. First time he saw God was in
a burning bush. And that bush wasn't consumed.
And here's where God appeared to him. It says here in verse
2 of Exodus chapter 3. He was dwelling in Midian. He
come up on this mountain. And he's up there on the mountain.
And it says the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame
of fire in the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. He said,
I'll turn aside here and see this great sight. And what a
great sight it is. You're looking at a bush. And
it's burning. And yet it's not burning. It's
not consumed. It's on fire. And there's something
there that he ain't never seen before. I'm going to look aside.
I'm going to turn aside here and see this. I'm going to turn
aside and see what's going on here. And about the time that
happened, God said, Stop that we act. Listen, this business of do-si-doing
up into the presence of God don't happen that way. You don't come
walking to God switching blowgun from one side of your mouth to
the other, snapping your fingers. Instead, I'm going to accept
Jesus. I'm going to come to the front and make my decision. No,
no. Stop right where you're at, Moses. Don't you make another
step. What? You mean God just ain't standing
ready and willing for us to come? No, no, no. You stop. Why do you want me to stop for?
Because you're fixed to come in God's presence. You've got
to come where I tell you to come. You take off them shoes. And
anyway, here's what happened. Here's what God told him down
in verse 8. Here's what happened. And what
a glorious sight this was. He says, And he saw God in this
burning bush, and that's why we endure the sight we've seen
of Christ is so glorious. He said, I am come down. You
think about this. I, God. Eternal God, Infinite
God, Immutable God, Glorious God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, God who inhabits eternity, God who measures the water in
the heart of his hands, count the nations as a drop in the
bucket. There's a drop in a glass. He
said, you say a bucket and I'll tell you what, that's all the
nations are to me. And he said, I'm coming down. What are you
coming down for? to deliver my people out of the
land of Egypt. Take them into a good land, large,
golden, glorious land. And that's what he came down.
And beloved, that's why it was a glorious sight. And that's
why he endured. And I tell you, that's why I
see in him. He saw him in that burning bush. In the flame of
that bush, he beheld the key eternal, immortal, invisible,
the only wise God. And ain't this what we see in
our Lord Jesus Christ? God come down to deliver? God
come down to save? You know in Matthew 121 it says,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall, He shall save His
people from their sins. And beloved, wasn't it a glorious
sight when you found out and seen with your own eyes That
Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, truly came down here to save. That He came down here. Why call
Him Savior if He came to save? If His name is Savior, does He
save? If His name is Savior, does He
have the power to save? And He said He came to seek?
Seek? I mean, He's looking for it.
When He's looking for something, you reckon He'll find it? And
He said He came to seek? And then He said He came to save.
Them that are lost. And what a blessed, glorious
sight it was for us when we saw the Lord Jesus Christ as the
Savior, as an effectual Savior, as an almighty Savior, as a Savior
who actually saves. That's why He said He endured
to send Him who is invisible. He had a glorious sight. And
I tell you what, not only was that, And this is, this is what,
you know, I know everybody's accepted Jesus. I mean, you can't
find anybody that don't, ain't accepted Jesus one time or another.
But I tell you what, why in the world do they want to call him
savior if he actually can't save? Why call him savior if he can't
save? He wants to. I was on a website the other
day, and this guy, he was so good, and he had a picture, you
know, of Jesus knocking on the heart's door, and he said, what's
wrong with this picture? That's all he had under that, what's
wrong with this picture? And he told what was wrong with
that picture, because Christ don't do that. First of all,
you don't know what he looks like. Moses said, dearer to seeing
him who is invisible. Secondly, he don't knock. Thirdly, beloved, he said, he
come to seek. You're not seeking him, he's
seeking you. We're the ones that's lost, not him. I found him. No, no, no, no, no, no. He found
us. We was the ones that's lost.
And I didn't know I was lost until I was found. If anybody
ever says, preacher, I'm lost, I've got news for you. You've
already been found. The minute you say, Oh, I'm lost. I'll tell you right there. It
tells me in your heart, God's already found you. You may not
have the assurance of it. You may not have the comfort
of it, but just as sure the minute you cry out, Oh Lord, I'm lost. Mark it down. You done been found. Christ undutifully on his shoulder.
And look out else about this sight. This sight, this enduring
sight that he has, it changed Moses. It changed him. It made
a difference in him. Look with me again in Exodus
3. It changed him. And I tell you, beloved, when
we see Christ, when we see the Lord, it changes us. That's what I'm talking about.
This morning I was telling you about the preaching that I was
doing. Nobody was ever changed. Nobody was ever changed. They
stayed the same. You know, the average Baptist
church and average Methodist church, they have a turnover
about every three to six months. Folks come in, make a profession,
go out, stay a while, go in and out and in and out. And you know,
and that's what, it changes us. When we see Christ, when he saw
God in that burning bush, when he saw God in his glory there,
that man was never the same after that. Ain't that what he said?
He said there in verse 3, he said, Moses said, I'll turn aside
now, see this great sight. And it is a great sight. It's
greater. Oh, it's a greater sight than
we've ever saw. And he was never the same. And then he says, when
the Lord saw that he turned aside to see him, God called to him
out of the midst of that bush. God speaking out of a bush? He speaks out of me? I don't have no problem with
speaking out of a bush. And now listen, God speaks. And when
he speaks, no matter where he speaks from, I mean his people.
And look what he says to him. And he says, Moses, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them. He called him by name. He didn't
know God knew Moses. Moses, how did he know my name? He know my name. Before you was
formed in the belly, I knew you. And he says, Moses, Moses, Oh
my! I'm here! And that's all we can
say, Lord, here I am. What else are we going to do?
He said, don't you draw nigh hither. Put off your shoes from
your feet for the place whereon thou standest holy ground. And
then he said, I'm the covenant God. I'm the God of thy father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. I'm
a covenant God. I keep my promises. I'm faithful.
I keep my promises to the people I'm speaking to. I keep my promises
to Abraham. I keep my promises. I've entered
into covenant with them. And look what happened now. Moses
jumped up and said, Hallelujah, I see the Lord. Hallelujah, let's
dance a while. Hallelujah, throw some gas and
make them bobby pins come out of your hair. No, no. What did
he say he done? He hit his face. Oh. Whenever anybody's seen God
in the scriptures, first thing they've done, Abraham fell on
his face. I'll tell you this, they fall
on your face. You prostrate yourself and say, God, you're God. Who
am I but dust and ashes? How can I speak to you? Here
I am a worm and no man. Here I am a grasshopper of the
earth. Here I am talking about God. Speaking about him who is
holy and here he says, and all my, he was afraid to look upon
God. And I tell you what, God will
not be looked upon except in Christ. I mean, God will not
let he which old Scott Richardson said it, I'm sure if he said
it once, he said it a hundred times, God will not speak to
nor be spoken to by any member of the human race apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, you can't, God
said, no, you ain't coming to me. Everybody said, God will
accept you anytime. He will not do that. He can't
do that. Here's his chosen man. Here's
his chosen servant. Here's one in his elect And he says listen, you know
he hit his face And oh my god said you got used his way You're
gonna have to come and here's what he said and I've seen the
affliction of my people. I Mean that's gonna be it. Are
you gonna go through affliction? I mean your hearts gonna be broken.
Yeah spirits gonna be broken. Yeah souls gonna be broken And
oh, that's why God come down. And he said, I've come down.
And all their hard masters, their taskmaster's been hard on them,
sin's hard on us. People ask me all the time down
home, how's the world treating you? They ask me that all the
time. I say, it ain't never treated me good. The world has never
treated me good. When I was in the world, the
world never treated me good. I'll tell you a true story. When
I came back from Vietnam, I spent, My last five months in the Philadelphia
Naval Hospital, I got out of the Marine Corps, come home,
got married, had a lot of trouble. Ended up in the hospital a lot.
Spent a lot of time in VA hospitals. And when it would come, push
come to shove, all of those people that I worked with, all of those
friends that I had, not one of them said, went and said, what
can I do to help? Went to my wife, said, what do
y'all need? Do you need your rent paid? Do you need any groceries? Not one of them come to the hospital
and said, Don, how are you doing? Not one of them. The world never
done me one good. The world never done Christ any
good. And that's what he said here, you know. The world's a
hard taskmaster. I mean, it'll put you under his
thumb, and when he gets you down there, he'll stomp you and crush
your head. And all the only way you'll ever
get out from under, and this is what happens. God's got to
come down in power. And he got to come down with
blood. And when the blood shed, that's when he puts forth his
power, after blood shed. And the blood's been shed, he
puts forth his power. And I'll tell you this much,
he'll get you, people say, he won't get you by the nap of the
neck. I don't know about you, but he did me. He said, no man can come unto
me except the Father which sent me drawing. And beloved, he drew
me. He drew me. I couldn't help but
come. Could you lad? Couldn't help
it. And then he goes on down here to say, now. Now he says
there in verse 9, therefore the children of Israel's cries come
unto me. I've seen their oppression. And we were oppressed and didn't
know it, but God's seen it. And then he says now, watch what
he says, come now therefore. Verse 10, I'm going to send you
unto Pharaoh. Oh, going to send me to talk
to a king? Preach to a king? Number one piston rod in the
whole kingdom And there's one that you may bring forth my people
out of Egypt And oh beloved this man was changed right there when
he turned aside. He said i'm gonna send you Well,
i'm gonna send you with a message to a particular man and to a
particular people And the first thing he had to do when he got
down there, said, listen, who was it sent you down here? The
God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I've come
down here to bring you out of Egypt. Next person went to, he
went to Pharaoh. He says, the Lord said to me,
who is the Lord that I should obey him? But ah, he went down
there and he is never the same. Beloved God said, I'm going to
send you. And you reckon he went? He went. You reckon he was afraid
of Pharaoh? He wasn't afraid of Pharaoh.
His purpose, his attitude toward God changed that day. It changed
that day. Saul of Tarsus, when Christ put
him down on the Damascus road, his attitude changed from that
day. His relationship with God changed
that day. John said, I saw the Lord in His glory. I saw Him
in His beauty. I saw Him with His snow white
hair. I saw Him with that golden girdle. I saw Him with those
brass feet. I saw Him there. And I fell down
before Him as a dead man. This generation don't know nothing
about God and falling down before God. In his glory falling down
before God in his power. Oh And all Daniel said my beauty
turned into corruption And when we get in the presence of God,
we know what we are. We know what we are And I just
won't if God no be faithful to tell men about God, so they'll
shut their mouths and And so they won't decide there's going
to be this debate and this arguing and fussing and fighting in their
mind whether they're going to let God do anything for them
or not. God don't have to do anything for anybody. If He does
it, it's because He wants to do it and He wills to do it.
And if He wills to do it, there ain't nothing you're going to
do going to stop it. There ain't nothing I can cause Him to do
it and ain't nothing cause you to stop Him. He said, I'm going
to bring a whole nation out of Egypt and a whole nation come
out of Egypt. And He used one man to do it.
And oh, beloved, that's what I'm talking about. It changes.
You see Christ, you see the glory, and it'll change you, won't it?
It'll change you. And oh, not only that, but there's
a separating side. Back over here in Hebrews 11,
27, look what it says. By faith, He forsook Egypt. Oh my, you know, it separated
him, you know. He forsook Egypt. And then he's
going to have to go back, but he forsook Egypt. You know, God,
when God translates us from darkness to light, now the kingdom of
Satan into the kingdom of his dear son. Moses, beloved, Egypt's
wealth, Egypt's power, Egypt's glory, Egypt's might, None of
those things impressed him. None of those things moved him. When he walked in that palace
and saw Pharaoh sitting there with all that gold on him, and
that throne on him, and all those courtiers around him, and all
those hoodoos and all that around him, you know, that didn't impress
Moses one ode. Grace, beloved, makes you understand
that I'm telling you, you know, everybody says, well, he puts
his pants on one leg at a time like I do. It's a heapsight different
than that. I mean, it makes you understand
that everybody's exactly the same, whether he's on the throne
or whether he's living in a shack. He's the same. And that's why.
And beloved, when we see God, this world loses attraction.
We're not impressed with this world's wealth. We're not impressed
with this world's power. We're not impressed with this
world's glory. We're not impressed with what people attain in this
world. We're not impressed with how much money they make. Not
impressed with how big their houses are. Not impressed with
how many bathrooms they got. We're not impressed. And that's
why, beloved, why God took us out of Egypt. And we forsook
that outfit. The only thing that impresses
a true believer is the grace of God in another believer. That's
the only thing that truly impresses a believer once he sees the grace
of God in another believer. When he sees the grace of God
in another believer, God puts their hearts together. And I
mean, that's what happens. And you know what? And if they've
got anything, they don't glory in it either. What have we got
that God didn't give us? What do we own that God didn't
give us? What do we know that God didn't teach us? Oh my, we're
no longer friends with the world. What Moses says there in verse
25, Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Sin evidently has some
pleasure in it. I enjoyed it for a long time.
I didn't even know what it was until God taught me what it was.
I didn't have a bit of problem with sin until I got converted.
Did you? I never had a bit of problem with it until God saved
me. Didn't even know what it was. But now I know what it is. There's no pleasure in it. Just
sorrow and grief and heartache and mourning. And oh, and all,
let me show who is this blind. We're talking about blind to
the world in Egypt. Who is this blind? Look at Hebrews
42 with me as my servant. That's what God said. And this
is talking about Christ and Isaiah 42. And we become blind. And another thing that Scott
Richard said, I quote Scott more than anybody, but I'll tell you
another thing old Scott said was this. You know, when I first
went to Tennessee, they still used horses and mules and they'd
skid logs out with horses and mules. And I've helped skid many
a log out, you know, with an old mule and things like that.
You know, you drive the dogs in the old log and you go down
through the woods with it. And them mules or horses have
to have blinders on them. Because you know they'd get scared.
And they'd jump this way and they'd jump that way. And they'd
put them blinders on and they couldn't see behind them. And
you know, if that log started sliding or anything, it wouldn't
scare them. They had them blinders on. They could only see in front
of them. They couldn't even see what you was doing. And I've
heard old Scott say many times, oh, wouldn't it be wonderful
if God put blinders on us where we couldn't see nothing but Christ.
See nothing but His glory. See nothing but His power. And
in that way, we wouldn't be spooked over here, we wouldn't be spooked
over there, we wouldn't be spooked by something behind us. You know,
you put them blinders on. I'll be the Lord's mule if you
put the blinders on me. Oh my, but look what it said
here in Isaiah 42 and verse 19. Who is blind but my servant?
Or deaf is my messenger that I send? Who is blind as he is
perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant. What does that mean?
That means he has one thing he sees. He's blind to everything
else, deaf to everything else. Christ was, our Lord Jesus was
so, saw one thing, that's the will of God, the glory of God,
the purpose of God, the work of God, the will of God. He saw
that and he heard one thing. And that was a voice of God.
Wouldn't you love to see that? Make that to be your sight, the
will of God, the purpose of God, the glory of God. And be deaf
to everything in this world. Be deaf to what people say to
you to try to influence you some other way. Oh, it was a separating
sight, this endurance. Let me show you another one.
Over here in Hebrews 11 again. It's a glorious sight. Transformers I changed him separates
forsook Egypt and it was a sight It was a sight that relieved
him of fear took away his fear says there in Hebrews 11 27 by
faith He forsook Egypt listen now not fearing the wrath of
the king Not fearing the wrath of the king you know you remember
in Exodus 2 when he slew that Egyptian, you know and buried
him in the and they run up there and told Pharaoh, and Pharaoh
said, I'm going to slay that fellow Moses. I'm going to slay.
And he fled to Midian. He hadn't seen God yet. But now
God's going to say, you're going to go right back down there,
and you're going to face that same king who wanted to kill
you. Moses said, all right, I'll do that. He said, but he tried
to kill you before. That's what they told the Lord.
Don't go up to Jericho. Don't go up there to Jerusalem.
Don't go up to Judea. They want to kill you when you
get up there. He said, my eyes not come yet. Ain't nobody do
nothing to me. And God says, Moses, you're going
down there. And I tell you, that's what he says. You're going to
go down there. And Moses, beloved, after he saw God on that mountain,
off to Egypt, he went. And why in the world should we
fear man? What in the world can man do
to us? You've heard that old saying, sticks and stones may
break my bones, but words never hurt me. And that's really true. That's really true. You know, what in the world is
a word going to hurt you? People say anything. And most
of the things they say about you is going to be true, whether,
you know, you want to admit it or not. But that's why, what
can they do to us? I know, and I know this has happened,
I know it's happened to you. I've had men get in my face. I've had folks just about tear
the door down. I've had people cuss me. I've had fellas threatened to
whip me. Come in the church and want to, Mary says, well, somebody's
going to wear you out one of these days. And I said, well,
they'll never wear out a better man. But that's what, what in
the world's a man going to do? They think that they're going
to come up in your face and going to make you deny what you just
said. They think because they can whip you, they're going to
make you deny what you just said? When Moses is going to go up
here and this king is going to slay him, man, what do you mean
to tell me you think because you're a man, because you're
just a man, you're dust and ashes, you're going to, of course, intimidate
me to keep me from preaching what God taught me? You don't,
just because you don't like it, you think you're going to scare
me, you're going to upset me, I'm going to have to take a baby
after me to get over it. And that's what most people think.
They think they can really intimidate, but Moses went up there right
to that king. I remember you. Yeah, I remember you too, and
I've got a message for you. You think you told me something,
I'm going to tell you something. And oh, beloved, if God be for
us, that's what I'm saying. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Huh? And oh, man. Let me show you this. You keep
Hebrews. Look in 1 Kings with me just a minute. Here's a preacher.
Here's a preacher. 1 Kings 22. You know, they sent that preacher
out to get Elijah to tell Ahab. He said, you know, I want to
see Elijah. I'm gonna go tell him said, you know if I find
him said that, you know, you'll kill me if I go You go tell that
fella. I'm right here. Let him come.
Let him come. But anyway here in in First Kings
22, there's here's here's two Kings in verse 10. They getting
together. They're devising. They're thinking
about where we're gonna go to war We're gonna go up to Samaria
and we're gonna we're gonna go to war and we're gonna win this
war So they got all the prophets around called all the preachers
around. And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat
sat on the throne, put on the robes, called all the prophets.
And boy, all those prophets, they began to tell them, oh my,
one of them even got him a set of horns, you know, and held
him up and said, this is what you ought to do when you go through
this. It's like a big bull in the china shop. You'll just run
over them people. You'll beat them and you'll beat
them. And all these messengers said. And finally, you know,
one of them said this. He said, in verse 12, And all
the prophets prophesied, go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper
for the Lord shall deliver you into the king's hand. The message
that was going to call Micaiah. He says, why do you want to call
Micaiah? Saying, behold, now the words of the king's prophets,
the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth.
Because you see this king says back up there in verse nine,
he says this. He said, is there any other prophet here besides
these other prophets? And the king of Israel said,
hasten, call Micaiah, the son of Imlai. And the king of Israel
said, oh my, everything he says about me is awful. So he told
him there in verse 13, he says, now the words of the prophet
declared could unto the kings with one mouth. Let your word,
I pray thee, be like the word of one of them and speak that
which is good. Tell him what's good. Tell him what he wants
to hear. Tell him what he wants to hear. Everybody else is telling
him, good, don't you dare go up there and don't you, don't
you, don't you be a fly in the ointment. And Micaiah said, as
the Lord liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that's what I'm
going to say. So he came to the king. The king said unto him,
Micaiah, shall we go up against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall
we forbear? He said, go and prosper. The
Lord liveth into the king's hand. And the king said unto him, how
many times? Shall I adjure thee that thou
tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord?
And he says this, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as a
sheep having not a shepherd. And the Lord said, These have
no master. Let them return every man to his own house. And the
king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would
prophesy no good concerning me but evil? You know, I tell you what, everybody
else said something good. One out of the whole bunch walked
up and told him the truth. One out of the whole bunch. And I
wonder how many preachers, if they had an opportunity to preach
before the president of the United States. And you know, there was
a preacher, Billy Graham. He was the preacher of the presidents
for years. You reckon, wonder what gospel
he preached to them presidents. Wonder what he told them. I wonder
if he told them the truth. Was he like John Hush when John
Hush stood before the King of England, Henry VIII, you know,
and he had eight wives. And here's old King Henry, you
know, and John Hush stood up and preached and he preached
there, you know, about adultery and all that. And he says, now,
I'm going to let you come back next year and preach next week
and preach to me and realize who you're standing for. You're
standing for the King of all of England. And old John Hush
said, I may be standing for the King of England, but let me remind
you, you're standing for the King of Kings and so am I. He
went back next Sunday and brought up the same message. Monday,
they had him burning at the stake. How many preachers do you find
like that? I don't know if I'd be one of them. I don't know,
but I do know this. The Lord Jesus, you know what
our enemies are? Sin's the first one. Christ put
it away. God's justice, the second one,
Christ satisfied. So what in the world have we
got to fear? God's the only one we have to
fear. Why should we ever fear man? And I tell you what, not
fearing the wrath of the king. And that's why we'll say, the
Lord's my helper. I'll not fear what man will do
unto me. And then it's a sustaining sight. Look what it said. He
endured. He endured as seeing him who
is invisible. What did he have to endure? Well,
he had to endure an awful lot of things. He had to endure a
wife that didn't like God, didn't like Christ, didn't believe God,
didn't like the religion that Moses had. He was on his way
down to Egypt, and on the way down there, God stopped Moses
and said, Moses, if you take another step, I'm going to kill
you. Why? Because you ain't circumcised
your boys yet. Why hadn't he circumcised his boys? His wife
says, you're not doing that. I want my sons to be in that
religion. I don't want my sons to have your religion. I don't
want my sons to be circumcised. I don't want to be identified
with your God. I don't want to be... My father's a priest up
at Midian, you know. I've got my religion. You help
him to yours. But I don't want my boys to be raised in that
religion. God says, you're going to circumcise her. I'm going
to kill you. He had to endear his wife who did not know God,
did not care for God, did not care for... And when he circumcised
her, she said, you bloody man and your bloody God. Had to be
hard to endure. Having a wife or a husband that
just blasphemed God when he was around them and didn't want you,
God, didn't want you, gospel, didn't want you, grace. Ah, boy,
and then not only that, he had to endure at the hands of Pharaoh. Oh, every time he went in there,
Pharaoh would mock him. Pharaoh would make promises that
he wouldn't keep. And when he went in there, and
the first thing after a couple of times he went in there, he
says, you think you're gonna make me turn these people loose?
He said, you go down there and you make it harder on them Hebrews
than it's ever been on them before. Woo, man. Moses, you come down
here to save us? Deliver us? We're in worse shape
than we've ever been in. That's what the gospel does when
you first hear it. It puts you in awful shape, don't
it? Ah, puts you in awful shape. And then he suffered at the,
endured at the hands of his unbelieving brother. Let me ask you, will
we endure? Will we endure? How will we do
it? I'll tell you here in Hebrews
12. Look how we'll endure. Oh man, I wish I'd have turned
this thing on. How will we endure? Look in Hebrews
12 too. This is how we're going to endure. Looking under Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him, endured the cross, despising the shame, sat down at the right
hand of God. That's how we're going to endure,
looking unto him. And watch this. Consider him
that endures such a contradiction of sinners against himself. He
came to save sinners and while he's on that cross, he says that
he come to save and he can't even save himself. If you're
such a savior, save yourself. He come to save sinners and Simon
Peter denied him. I know not the man. He come to
save sinners as Thomas did him and said, I will not believe
unless I see those prints and put my finger in them. And here
He come to save these sinners and they contradicted Him and
made fun of Him and ridiculed Him. And you consider that lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. And listen now. You've
not yet resisted unto blood. You've not yet resisted temptation.
You've not yet endured persecution. Striving against sin. You've
never strived against sin so hard that it cost you some blood
yet. That's what He says. And oh beloved, I tell you if
it was in When Peter was on that storm, it was Christ who reached
out for him and saved him. And beloved, Christ reached out
and saves us. And oh, he has saved us. He does
save us and believe and bless his name. He will save us. And
then what? Let me give you another thing
here and I'll hurry. I really will. I don't know how long I'll
preach. I've got a thing at home that
I can tell, but I didn't. Does Don set this stopwatch when
he starts? I'm going to start it now. But all listen you talking about
a satisfying sight Oh glorious sight satisfying sight it says
there In Hebrews 11 26 he received esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches in the treasures of Egypt He esteemed the reproach of Christ.
Oh my look at all that wealth in Egypt Look at all that wealth. Look at them sphinx. Look at
them pyramids. Look at them thrones. Look, they
take a mummy, and they've traveled the world around that thing for
decades and decades. That King Tut, and everybody's
gotta go see him, King Tut. And I mean, he's been dead for
a thousand years, and everybody wants to see a dead man because,
I don't know. Supposed to be somebody. Oh my, but he's, and everybody
runs and looks at that. Boy, ain't that something glorious?
Moses said, that ain't nothing. See Christ over here. He's despised
and rejected. No beauty about him that he should
be desired. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. He come to tell, you know, that there was many
with us in Israel in the time of Elisha, but I only sent to
one. There was many lepers in Syria in the time of Naaman,
but I was only sent to one. And they understood right then.
Oh, we can't have this man. He's preaching election. No man can condemn me except
my Father. Oh, now he's preaching we don't
have no ability. We don't have no power. We don't
have no free will. And oh, beloved, the Lord Jesus,
I tell you, his person is despised. His substitutionary death is
defiled. He has powered God's right hand. And let me tell you
something, and this is so, this is so, and you know it's so by
where you work and the people you associate with. When you
identify Christ as he is, and his gospel as it is, that God
doesn't love everybody. Christ didn't come to save everybody.
God don't love everybody. And you say, I'm one of God's
elect. God loved me before the foundation of the world. Right
then and there, buddy, You're fixing to have a fight. The fur
is going to fly. And that's what he's talking
about here, bearing the reproach of Christ. Are you willing to
bear that reproach? Are you? And that's what he said.
I esteem the reproach of Christ greater than anything they got.
Oh, they'll, I'll, you know, they'll steam all these preachers,
you know, they'll steam and put them in high regard. But oh,
when somebody gets up, starts telling about Christ, His substitutionary
death. That death accomplished what
God intended for it to do. He redeemed His people. He caused
His sheep. He laid down His life for His
sheep. Well, I don't believe that. I know why you don't believe.
Because you're not His sheep. And they get upset. That's what
I'm talking about bearing the reproach of Christ. When you
do that, folks say, whatever you do, don't go up there at
that church. They preach something up there I've never heard in
my life. They don't even believe a fellow's got a free will up
there. They don't believe in Jesus died to save everybody. Oh, listen, I'm telling you,
that's what we went. That's this is a hard saying
who can hear it. But at the same time, we turn
around when all that multitude walked away and they said Simon
Peter looked at the 12. All y'all going to go to. All
y'all going to go to. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
To whom shall we go? I was out running one day and
it just dawned on me. I thought, where would I be without
Christ? Where would I be right this minute? I'm out here running down an
old dirt road and I'm running and it just dawned on me. Where
would I be right now without Christ? Where would I be? Oh, I kind of can't bear the
thoughts of it. To be without Christ? To rather
have the good opinion of men? To have the praise of men? The
approval of men? The appropriation of men? To
have a house full of people while you lie to them? Oh, oh Lord
Jesus, never, never let me be that way. To whom shall we go? You've got the word. You've got
the word today. I get up in the morning, you've
got the words. I go to bed at night, you've got the words.
I sit down at lunch, you've got the words. You've got the words
I need. The words that speak to my heart.
The words that speak to my soul. The words that speak to my needs.
The words that speak to my fears. The words that speak to my pride.
You've got the words that speak to me as I am. That's why Paul said, I count
all lost but done. You're somebody, Paul. Nah, not
anymore, ain't everything gained to me. Done now, you're done. Oh my, will you be identified
with the Lord Jesus? Will you bury his reproach? And
here's my last point. Here's my last point. There's
a fella down home. And, uh, young man. And, uh, last time I saw him,
he was in a grocery store and he had his little girl in his
arm and he was teaching her how to say Jesus. He said, listen to
what she says. He says, tell him, honey, what
Jesus does. She said, Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Oh, my goodness. I just cringed. But that same
fella, young man. told my daughter, says, your
dad's going to be more responsible. We're going to be responsible
for more people going to hell than anybody in Cumberland County. I'm not going to be responsible.
You know, I used to think that. I'll not be responsible for one
person going to hell. I'll not be responsible for one
person coming to Christ. Only thing I have to answer for
is a gospel that I preach. And God do what he will. And
that's why we're talking about enduring. Enduring and all that
reproach of Christ and let me show you this How come it's an
enduring sight? He says by faith by faith, you
know, I said during sight it's a spiritual sight It's not something you see with
these eyes right here We're not looking at the things that are
seen if we saw that the things that are seen No, it's by faith. He endeared and it's only by
faith only by faith whom having not seen you love and rejoice
with joy unspeakable. Moses believed God's promise.
I've come down to deliver. And God says, certainly I'll
be with you. And when Thomas, the disciples told him, says,
you know, the Lord Jesus came and appeared to us. And Thomas
says this, and this is the most astounding thing. He says, I
will not believe. I will not believe except I put
my finger in the prints of those nails and thrust my hand into
his side. He no sooner got those words out of his mouth and there
stood the Lord Jesus Christ in front of him. And you're talking
about a condescending Savior and grace. He said, if that's
what it takes for you, Simon, reach hither your hand. Oh, how
gracious is our Lord. But you know what, that didn't,
that's not what it took really, when it's all said and done.
You know what, just as quick as he seen the Lord, he fell down
and says, my Lord and my God. And that's what we do, ain't
it? My Lord and my God. Will you endure? If you've seen
Christ, you will. If you've seen Christ, you will.