Would you talk with me to 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 alive. And then we read of the birth
of a man named Moses. Now, before we go on, let's see
how that 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, it came into his heart to visit his brother and the children
of Israel. Why did it 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 40 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 2. 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? Oh, 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, 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 arc. She
hides him at the river's edge. Verse four, and his sister stood
afar off to wit what would be done to him. You know, I was
thinking, we do a lot of that, don't we? We're just waiting
to see what the Lord's 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 him. Be still my soul, he's in control. And she just stood and waited
to see what was going to take place. Verse 5. And the daughter
of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river and her
maidens walked along by the riverside 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 thee 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. 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 had children who didn't think they
were beautiful children. But 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. And you remember what Peter said
at that time? Moses 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, 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 than 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. Now, 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
to 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. 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, and 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 is a type of Christ
had to be the deliverer who was fair to God. Now, let's 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 three, look in verse three, and
when she saw she could no longer hide in Exodus chapter two, verse
three, when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an
ark of bulrushes and she dogged it with slime and with pitch. and put the child there, and
she laid it in the flags by the river's break. 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 daub it, you, that's
what you think of when you think of daubing. 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. And that gives me some... You
know, when I talk about this, I feel so inadequate. 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 sinned. 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. That's who was 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 Hebrews 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 comes 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. 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. 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
believed that Jesus Christ God's Son is beautiful to God. They
really believed that everybody that is in Him is beautiful to
God. And they really believed 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 a 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. And 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 at all these. Here's an example. Look at 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, is 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
sounded 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. Isn't union with Christ wonderful? 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.