The Exodus chapter two. Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Has commanded the complete extermination
of all the Hebrew male children. He had two reasons for this act
of inhumane cruelty. First, if all the males were
exterminated, he wouldn't have to be afraid of the Hebrews overtaking
them. And secondly, he thought we can
get rid of the males, marry their women, and the Hebrew race will
be swallowed up and become part of our culture. They'll be like
us. So he gives this command in verse
22 of Exodus chapter one. And Pharaoh charged all his people. Saying every son that is born. You shall cast into the river. And every daughter. You shall
save a life. And then we read of the birth
of a man named Moses. Now, before we go on, let's see
how God raised up Moses specifically for the purpose of delivering
Israel. And Moses actually is a great
type of Christ. I know he's a representative
of the law and a type of the law, but he's also a great type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold your finger there in Exodus
2 and turn to Acts chapter 7. Acts chapter 7, beginning in
verse 20. Well, let's begin in verse 19, the
same dealt subtly with our kindred, talking about Pharaoh and evil
entreated our fathers so that they cast out the young children
to the end that they might not live, in which time Moses was
born and was exceeding fair. If you have a margin, you'll
notice it says fair to God. fair to God, and indeed he was
fair to God, and nourished up in his father's house three months.
And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished
him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all
the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. And when he was a full 40 years
old and came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children
of Israel, why did he come into his heart? The Lord put it in
his heart. and seeing one of them suffer wrong he defended
him and avenged him that was oppressed and spoke the Egyptian
for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that
God by his hand would deliver them but they understood not
now evidently the Lord made known to him that he was going to be
the one to deliver the children of Israel and when he comes out
there at forty years old he figured they'd know it too but they didn't
And you know that another 40 years passes before he is used
to deliver the children of Israel. Look in verse 35. This Moses
of Acts chapter 7, this Moses whom they refused, saying, Who
may be a ruler and a judge? The same did God send to be a
ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared
to him in the bush. He brought them out after He
had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the
Red Sea and in the wilderness forty years. This is that Moses
which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the
Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. Him you shall hear. Now we see
from those scriptures that Moses is an imminent type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now let's go back to our text
in Exodus chapter two. And there went a man out of the
house of Levi and took the wife, a daughter of Levi. And the woman
conceived and bear a son. And when she saw him, that he
was a goodly child. She hid him three months. She saw that he was a goodly
child. We just read Acts chapter 7,
verse 20, where he was exceeding fair. And Hebrews 11, 23 says
his parents saw him as a proper child or a beautiful child. Now, was it only because he was
a good looking child that his mother sought to save him? Was
that all that was on her mind? Because he's just so cute, I'm
not going to throw him in the river. You know better than that. He
had another reason. She had another reason in what
she saw. in Moses at any rate. He was hid for three months in
the house and they knew all that time. I guess you reckon they
were scared to death whenever he'd start crying because they
knew any time an Egyptian could come in and if they found him
they'd throw him into the river and drown him and kill him. Verse
3, And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an
ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's
edge. She made an ark, a small boat
of bulrushes, something you could make boats with. We read of this
in Isaiah chapter 18, verse 2. We read of vessels of bulrushes
that were put upon the water. And she daubed it with pitch
and slime to make it watertight and put him in the river. And
I imagine she thought, where's the last place they'd look for
a child? In the river. That's where they were commanded
to throw the children if they found them. So she thought this
is the only safe thing to do. So she made this ark and she
placed him in the river. And this action is called by
the writer to the Hebrews, an act of faith. Hold your finger
there and turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Verse 23, by faith, by faith,
Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents.
Evidently, the Lord let them know this is going to be the
deliverer. That's why they did this. The Lord spoke to them.
You know, to have faith, you've got to hear the word of God.
God gave them a word. They believed the word. And this
is called by the Holy Spirit an act of faith, by faith. Moses,
when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because
they saw he was a proper child, a beautiful child. And they were
not afraid of the king's commandments. So back to Exodus chapter two.
His mom doesn't know what else to do. She makes an ark. She
hides him at the river's edge. Verse four, and his sister stood
afar off to wit what would be done to him. And you know, I
was thinking we do a lot of that, don't we? We're just waiting
to see what the Lord is going to do. We don't know. We just
wait and see. That's what she was doing at
this time. You know, it's exciting to know.
I love that in that song you just sang where it talked about
the same one who controlled the wind and the seas. Still controls
will be still my soul. He's in control. And she just
stood and waited to see what was going to take place. Verse
five. And the daughter of Pharaoh.
Came down to wash herself at the river, her maidens walked
along by the riverside, and when she saw the Ark among the flags,
she sent her maid to fetch it, and when she opened it, she saw
the child. And behold, The babe wept and
she had compassion on him and said, this is one of the Hebrews
children. I think it's very ironic, if
that's the right word, that the daughter of the very one who
commanded the death of the child is the one that God uses to deliver. the child and to deliver all
of Israel. I see such poetic justice in
this. Pharaoh doesn't know it, but
he's being used by God to raise up the one who is going to destroy
him. Isn't that amazing? That's the way our God works. He's in absolute, complete control. Verse 7, Then said his sister to Pharaoh's
daughter. Remember, she was watching all
of this. Shall I go and call to be a nurse of the Hebrew women
that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter
said to her, go. And the maid went and called
the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto
her, take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give
thee thy wages. And the woman, Moses's mom, took
the child and nursed it and the child grew and she brought him
into Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son and she called
his name Moses and she said because I drew him out of the water and
we know from reading in Acts chapter 7 that he remained her
son for 40 years. That's a long time. He grew up
in Egypt and he was Learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
we just read in that passage of scripture, and he was mighty
in words and in deeds. He was an impressive man. Now, the first thing that strikes
me about this is the appearance of Moses. What did he look like? Scripture says he was exceeding
fair. He was a proper child. He was a beautiful child. I don't
know very many mothers who've had children who didn't think
they were beautiful children. that everybody thinks that about
their kids, but there must have been something very special about
Moses exceeding fair. And you know as well as I do
that that's not just a reference to his physical appearance, although
he must have been impressive physically. You know, even when
he died at 120 years old, the scripture says his eye was not
dim, nor his natural force abated. He had all the strength of his
youth at 120 years old. So he must have been some kind
of impressive physical person in some way, but I feel quite
sure that when it's referring to his mother and father seeing
his beauty, it's not really talking about his physical appearance.
It may have entered in, but in Acts chapter 7 verse 20, that
passage of scripture we just read when Moses was born and
his mom and dad looked at him, scripture says he was exceeding
fair And it's literally, he was fair to God. He was beautiful
to God. When God looked at this boy,
he saw one who God himself found to be beautiful. Now you can tell by the creation
that the Lord God has an appreciation of beauty. But who is beautiful
to God? Now, you know the answer to that
question. Who is beautiful to God? The
Lord Jesus Christ. He is beautiful to His Father. He's beautiful to His people,
but He's beautiful to His Father. You know, His people say, He's
altogether lovely. And He is. He is altogether lovely. You think of the Lord Jesus Christ,
every one of His most excellent, glorious attributes are beautiful.
He's beautiful in His holiness. He's beautiful in His submission
to His Father. He's beautiful in His righteousness. He's beautiful in His sovereignty
and His rule. He's beautiful in His justice. He's beautiful in His mercy and
His loving kindness. Every aspect of the Lord Jesus
Christ is beautiful. He's altogether lovely. He's
altogether lovely to me, but most especially, He's altogether
lovely to His Father. He is the beautiful One He couldn't
be the Deliverer if He were not. Now, what I thought about was
the Mount of Transfiguration. When the Scripture says that
His face shined like the sun and His clothes became bright
so that no fooler could reach this brightness. His deity burst
through His humanity. What did He look like? Oh, He
must have been so glorious. Now, you remember what Peter
said at that time? and Elijah were talking to him at this time.
And we know what they were talking about. The Scripture tells us
they were speaking of the deceased, which you should accomplish.
And I love thinking about that. Here Moses and Elijah talking
to the Lord. What are they talking about? They're talking about
his death and what he would accomplish by that death. You know, that's
the theme of heaven right now. It always will be the theme of
heaven. The glorious death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what they were talking about. And Peter, the Scripture says
Peter answered. Now, nobody asked him anything.
But he always had to say something, didn't he? He said, Lord, it's
good for us to be here. Let's make three tabernacles. One for you, one for Moses, and
one for Elijah. Now, there's something wrong
with that picture. And at that time, the Scripture says a bright
cloud overshadowed them. They hit the dirt. They were
afraid to death. They were scared. They didn't
know what was going to take place. And a voice from heaven said this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. You know what the next verse
is? Christ came and touched them
at that time and the scripture says they saw no man save Jesus
only. I don't believe there are two
words that are more appropriate. in those two words. Jesus and
only. You know, there's something wrong
with Jesus and. Jesus only. How glorious did He look? He
is the one who is beautiful to God. And Moses is beautiful to
God because of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. This thrills
me to think about this. How beautiful is Jesus Christ
the Lord to His Father? How altogether lovely is He to
His Father. Beloved, that's how altogether
lovely you are because of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where our confidence comes from. That's where our joy comes from.
That's where our peace comes from. That's where our rest comes
from. Union with Christ as He is. How is He? Oh, He's beautiful,
the God. He's perfectly holy. He's altogether
glorious as He is. So are we in this world right
now. Now does that give you some confidence? You know the scripture says we're
to come boldly into His presence. How in the world do you come
boldly into His presence? Well, if this is so, as He is,
so are we in this world, I can come boldly. I myself can come
boldly and know I'm accepted. Know I'm viewed as Him. That's how beautiful every believer
is How beautiful is Christ to the Father? There's no way I
can describe it. That's how beautiful every believer
is to the Father. And listen to this, this beauty
that I'm speaking of. I know the way we naturally think.
This is the way I naturally think, and I know better than this,
but it's still the way I naturally think. I think of God seeing
Christ and seeing His beauty, but He knows underneath where
the real me is. There's nothing but a scoundrel.
And he tolerates me simply for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the way we think. That's the way I think. But do
you know when God looks at you, he looks at someone who's beautiful
on the outside, and he looks at someone who's beautiful on
the inside. Let me show you this in Psalm
45. Moses was exceeding fair to God. Verse 9, Psalm 45, verse 9, King's
daughters were among thy honorable women. Upon thy right hand did
stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty. Can you imagine the Lord looking
at you and desiring Your beauty? For He is thy Lord, and worship
thou Him, and the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people
shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious. Where? Within. Within. Her clothing is of wrought
gold. She shall be brought unto the
King in raiment of needlework, even the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The virgins, her companions that
follow her, shall be brought unto thee with gladness and rejoicing
shall they be brought. They shall enter the King's palaces."
Now, Moses' mom looked at this babe and she saw he was goodly. He was altogether That's the
same word that's used in Genesis chapter 1 when God created whatever
it was He created, and behold, it was very good. It was perfect. I could say this to every believer,
and this is so hard for me to get hold of. I believe it, but
I want to believe it more. When God looks at me, I'm talking
about outside and I'm talking about inside. He sees the very
goodness of the Lord Jesus, yes, but it's also the goodness of
Todd Norbert because I'm one with him. Who he is, I am. Where he is, I am. That's hard
to believe, isn't it? That's hard to believe. As a matter
of fact, we wouldn't believe it if it wasn't in the Word of God. We'd just have
a hard time with that, but it's the truth. Goodly, altogether
lovely. Now believe this. Believe this. Romans chapter 6, verse 11. It
says, Reckon yourselves. Now this is God's command to
every believer. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Would God tell you to reckon
yourself to be dead to sin if you weren't dead to sin? It's real. Most true. Moses is goodly. Now, Moses, as a type of Christ,
had to be the deliverer who was fair to God. Now, let's consider
Moses being saved by the ark as a type of salvation for just
a moment. Now, remember the command. What
was the command of Pharaoh? Cast every single one of them
into the river. That's so cruel. That's so barbaric. And they
did it. Can you imagine taking a little
baby and throwing him in the river and letting him drown?
But that was the command. Every baby was to be thrown.
Male baby was to be thrown. into the river, no exceptions.
So Moses' mother made an ark of bulrushes to deliver him.
And the word bulrushes comes out of the word that means to
absorb. Moses was placed in the ark,
the ark absorbed the judgment, and Moses was saved. Now the
scripture points out in verse 3, Look in verse 3, and when
she saw she could no longer hide, in Exodus chapter 2 verse 3,
when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark
of bulrushes, and she daubed it with slime and with pitch,
and put the child therein. She laid it in the flags by the
river's brink. Now, when you think of daubing, what do you
think? Well, I think of daubing, I just, you know, hitting it
here and there, hitting it here and there, trying to Wherever
there's a crevice or wherever there's a crack where water might get
in, you dob it. That's what you think of when you think of dobbing.
But you know, the word actually means befouled, besmeared, troubled. That's the definition of the
word. Besmeared, fouled, befouled, troubled. The ark was befouled
with slime. And with pitch, a tarry, black,
grotesque substance, it was befouled. Now, the child in the ark was
delivered. In the ark, the child was saved.
But what had to happen to the ark? It was befouled. That gives me some... You know,
when I talk about this, I feel so... So inadequate, I feel so. I feel so amazed by this, I feel
like I don't really much know what I'm talking about. But somehow
on the cross. Christ was befouled. He was besmeared. He was made sin. Now, who in the world can understand
that? I don't understand it, I know
he never committed sin. In Him is no sin. He knew no
sin. He did no sin. But on the cross, He was befouled. He was besmeared. He became odious
to His Father. You see, the Lord will only punish
the guilty. He won't punish a righteous man.
Our Lord, on the cross, was not a righteous man. After God took
the sins of God's elect and placed them upon Him, He was besmeared. He was befouled. He was made
to be sin. And just when I'm talking about
that, I don't have any idea what all that means. But I know he
became guilty. The ark was placed in the place
of judgment after it was befouled, after it was besmeared, after
it was filled with slime and pitch. It was placed in the place of
judgment, the river. Who was saved? Whoever was in
that ark had to be saved. Can't you see the ark as a glorious
type of the Lord Jesus Christ? He was made sin, He was cast
into the place of judgment, the river, the wrath of God came
upon Him, and those in Him are saved. Those united to Him are
saved, union with the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't reckon I ought
to ever preach a message without making some reference to union
with Christ. It's the very heart and soul
of the gospel, union with Him. He became united to me, He became
what I am, and I become what He is. That's why Moses is beautiful
to God. Moses didn't put himself in that
ark, somebody else did. God placed us in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. What a beautiful picture we have
of the gospel. Now, I've already read this passage
of Scripture in Hebrews 11, but would you turn with me there
again, Hebrews chapter 11. Now, if you were writing about the
hall of faith in Hebrew chapter 11 where all these people are
mentioned as great examples of faith. I dare say that this is
not something that you would consider as worthy of great faith.
Just the fact that they hid their kid. Well, who wouldn't hide
their kid? I mean, if the king's command was to kill one of your
kids, you'd hide them too. You'd do anything you could to
save them. You know that. And would you think of this as a great
act of faith? But God, the Holy Spirit, calls this an act of
faith. Let's read it again in Hebrews
chapter 11. By faith Moses, when he was born,
was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper,
beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.
Now what is faith? They said this is an act of faith.
What is faith? It's believing God. It's believing what He says.
Now, in order to have faith, you're going to have to have
a word from God, aren't you? You can't believe what you've never
heard. Faith cometh by what? Hearing. And hearing by what?
The Word of God. In order to have faith, you're
going to have to have a word from God. Now, evidently, God
spoke to these two people, Moses' mom and dad, and said, your boy
is going to be the deliverer. And you know what they did? They
believed God. Now, it really is that simple.
They believed God. Do you believe God? Do you believe
what God says in His Word? Do you believe that He's actually
done what He said He has done? Do you believe that? You believe
He will do all He said He will do. We believe His Word. These people simply believed
the Word of God. And you know, they were not fatalistic
about what God told them. Now they could have said, here's
what some people would do. Well, if God said that Moses will deliver
the children of Israel, I'm not going to worry about trying to
hide him. God will take care of that. I won't do anything. No.
They took all the pains that were necessary in order to hide
him. They didn't become fatalistic. They hid him, doing whatever
they could to save him, but they still believed what God said. And it was through faith that
they saw he was a proper child. Now, it was through faith they
saw he was beautiful to God. And somehow they had some view,
some understanding of why he was beautiful to God. They really
believe that Jesus Christ God's Son is beautiful to God. They
really believe that everybody that enters into Him is beautiful
to God. And they really believe that if they were in Him, they're
beautiful to God. You believe that? You believe
if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ, you really are beautiful to God?
And I don't mean just to paste on beauty. I'm not just talking
about nice clothes, but dirty underneath. I'm talking about
beautiful to God. by faith they saw he was a proper
child, a beautiful child, beautiful to God, and by faith they were
not afraid of the King's commandment. Now you can't believe God and
be afraid at the same time. Now when you're afraid, you know
what you're doing? You're not believing God. I know that from
experience. When we believe God, we're not afraid of the King's
commandment. But you know something that I
think is interesting? when I read Hebrews chapter 11. It says they
were not afraid of the king's commandment. But you know, if
you read what took place in Exodus chapter 2, it kind of sounds
like they were afraid. Sounds like they were scared to death
and they were doing anything they could to hide it, but it sure sounds
like they were afraid. And as a matter of fact, you
look in all these, here's an example. Look in Hebrews chapter
11, verse 11. Hebrews 11, verse 11. Through
faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and
when and was delivered of a child when she was past age because
she judged him faithful who had promised. Now that sounds powerful,
doesn't it? What about Genesis's account?
Remember what happened when the Lord said your wife, Sarah, is
going to have a baby? Remember what she did? She laughed. She didn't believe. She laughed. And yet, when what she did is
recorded in the New Testament, what does it say about her? It says she had faith and strength
to have this baby. It doesn't say anything bad.
It says nothing but that which is good. Now, there's a couple
of things that come to my mind about that. First, The Old Testament
exposes sin. It does, doesn't it? The Old
Testament, the law, exposes sin. What's the New Testament do?
Covers it. Covers it. I read where she laughed. No,
she didn't. She had perfect faith. But she
laughed. No, she didn't. If Christ had
perfect faith, I've got perfect faith. Somebody had to believe
God perfectly. He did. And I'm saved by the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love this scripture.
Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. Paul, you weren't crucified
with Christ. Yes, I was. If He was, I was. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God." There's my faith. The faith of
the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. That's how I live, His faith. So we read of these parents They
weren't afraid of the wrath of the King. Well, if you read the
Old Testament account, it sounds like they were, but no, they
weren't. No, they weren't. We're saved by His faithfulness,
and we believe that, don't we? You believe that. Well, what
about faith? Don't you personally have to
believe? I believe that. I surely do. I believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ is my salvation. I believe that He is my life,
and I believe I believe, and I'm conscious, when I'm talking
about this, I'm conscious of so much sin, so much failure
in my life. I'm conscious of the weakness
and sinfulness that dwells in my heart right now. I'm not trying
to cover that up or deny it, but I'm also truly saying that
when He sees me, He says, Behold, thou art fair, my love, thou
art fair. Thank God for that. Do you, by
faith, see that Christ is good? Do you see he's beautiful to
God? And that causes you to not fear the commandment of man's
religion, because you know your beauty is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.