Let's look at Hebrews 11, verse
23. It says, By faith Moses, when
he was born, when he was born, was head three months of his
parents, because they saw something unusual about this young man.
He was a proper child. They were not afraid. They did
not fear the king's commandments. Now look at the next verse. By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, when he was come to
years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and
chose. He refused and he chose. Some things he refused to do
and some things he chose to do. He chose rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
a season. Now look at verse 28. He kept
the Passover and the sprinkling of blood. Now usually when we
think of Moses, usually when we think of this man Moses, what
do you picture? I asked Bob and Jay this yesterday
and I kind of foxed Bob a little bit because I went through these
motions, you know, but I'll try to keep my hands down and we're
not playing charade or something, you know, but when you think
of Moses, What do you think? What's the first picture that
comes to your mind? I'll tell you the first thing that comes
to my mind, I think it came to Jay's mind first. I see a stern,
I see a white-haired fella, you know, with a glow around his
head, with a stern look on his face, standing on a mountain,
surrounded by lightning and smoke and clouds, holding the Ten Commandments
in his hand. That's the first thing I think
of. So I think of Moses dashing those Ten Commandments down and
breaking them to pieces. Moses, when I think of him, I
guess this is the way the movies and the pictures and the preachers
have presented Moses to us. Moses, we think of the law. Moses,
the law, the law, the law. Well, a stern man holding a sterner
law. Well, this idea needs to be corrected.
I think our Scripture corrects it this morning. Moses is as
much an example of faith as Abraham, just as much an example of faith
as anyone else in the Scripture, Paul or anyone else. He's a man
who lived by faith. We need to picture Moses, we
see him, like you said, Bob, lifting up the brazen serpents,
lifting up the brazen serpents. When the people of Israel had
been bitten by the fiery serpents and Moses prayed for deliverance,
he prayed the great intercessory prayer. He prayed this way, Lord,
if you're not going to save Israel, blot me out of the book you've
written. That's the kind of prayer he prayed. And see him lifting
up the brazen serpent. I see another picture of Moses
as he led Israel in slaying the lamb and putting the blood on
the doorpost. I see Moses smiting the rock. That rock is Christ,
and I see that refreshing, thirst-quenching, cool, clear water flow out of
that rock. like that thirst-quenching blood
and water flowed from the veins in the side of our Lord. I see
Moses also walking among the manna that fell from heaven,
the bread. Christ said, I'm the bread from heaven. I see Moses
leading Israel to build that tabernacle and putting the furniture
there and the veil and constructing the tabernacle as God led him.
I hear Moses talking to the people, yeah, I'm a prophet now through
whom God speaks, but one day he'll send that prophet. One
day, Moses said, God will raise up from among you, from among
the nation of Israel, from among the people, flesh and bones,
flesh and blood, that prophet, him you shall hear. Oh yes, I
see Moses a man of faith. And I want this Moses, man of
faith, to kind of cloud over and suppress and put in the background
that picture of Moses only as the stern man holding the sterner
law. Moses is an example of faith.
And when I read this scripture here in Hebrews chapter 11, I
said God has something for us here this morning. He has something
for us. Moses wasn't always like this.
There was a time when he wasn't like this. You can picture Moses
a lot of ways. You can start where the Scripture
starts with Moses in the bulrushes. You can come on down and see
Moses the warrior, Moses the intellectual, you can see Moses
the ruler of Egypt, you can see Moses sitting in the in the finest
palace of Egypt side by side with his mother, the daughter
of Pharaoh. You'd see Moses killing the Egyptian
in anger. You'd see Moses out there on
the backside of a desert taking care of the sheep. You can see
Moses leading the children of Israel. Moses, you can get a
lot of pictures of Moses. But I want us to think of Moses,
man of faith. How'd he get there? What took
place? What brought him here? A lot
of years passed, a lot of events, a lot of trials, a lot of revelations,
a lot of miracles, a lot of associations, a lot of everything. But here's
Moses, man of faith. And I believe we ought to start
this way. Let's see the preparation of
faith. The preparation of faith, and then secondly, the choice
of faith. And then thirdly, the ultimate
goal or foundation of faith. Moses example of faith now first
of all, there's the preparation of faith look at verse 23 Now
here's what we're saying Moses Man of faith Man of unquestioned
faith man of consistent dedicated persevering continuing loving
faith How'd he get that? There's a preparation look at
verse 23 by faith Moses when he was born When he was born,
there's the key, when he was born, something had taken place. Before he was born, something
took place. When he was born, something took place. Now, Almighty
God had determined to deliver a people by the hand of Moses. We know that what happens in
a man's life, what happens in a man's life, God has everything
to do with it. We'll start talking about Moses'
salvation and Moses' faith. You've got to go back a long
way. Like God said, Jeremiah, before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. Before you came out of the womb,
I knew you. But let's see in relation to Moses himself. I
know that's all in relation to God's purpose and God's election
and God's sovereignty and God's will toward Moses. But let's
start when he was born. That's what it says here, Moses
when he was born. When he was born. The king of Egypt had determined
that all the Hebrew, the Jewish man-child, male children, was
to be killed. There were too many of them.
Israel came down into Egypt, what was it, 70 people? Seventy,
I think, came down into Egypt, and now there were millions of
them. Two or three million, somebody said. And they were getting too
many. And the king of Egypt, the Pharaoh,
sent word out, kill them, kill them all, kill off these males.
As soon as these male children are born, if you see us a man,
kill him. Left the girls live. Well, Moses'
mama, Moses' mother knew something of the promises of God, something
of the power of God. And when Moses was born, she
took that little fella and hid him three months. And hid him
from the army or people that enforced this law of the king.
She hid him three months because she saw something about this
child. She had a revelation from God. She had an understanding
from God. She feared God. She hid him.
She saw she couldn't hide him. So she took him down to the,
she just committed him to the Lord. She took him down there
and put him, made a little basket of bulrushes or something of
some kind of protective stuff and put him there in the water.
And his sister hid over there in the bushes to watch him. And
so Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe there in the lake, and
she found this child, this beautiful three-months-old infant floating
there in a basket. And this is the providence of
God. And so she, one of her servants, took it out And she said, that's
a beautiful child. I want to keep that little Hebrew
baby. And then Moses' sister jumped
out of the bushes back here. And she said, would you like
me to get somebody to take care of it for you? Would you like
me to get one of the Hebrew women to take care of that baby? You
see, this Pharaoh's daughter, she's the king's daughter. She's
not going to die for a kid. She's not going to bathe a baby.
She's not going to take care of a baby. She just wants it
to play with when she wants to, like a granddaddy or grandmother,
you know. Let the mama take care of it.
We just play with them. Then when they get messy, just
hand them over to somebody else, you know. She's not going to
fool with that child. So Miriam says, you want me to
get somebody to take care of that baby for you? And she said,
I wish she would. She went and got Moses' mother. Moses' mother. And brought her to the palace.
And Moses' mother raised him. She took care of him when he
was a little boy. She helped him take his first
step, Jack. She was nurse to that child. She stayed on under
Pharaoh's daughter. I don't know how long, the Bible
doesn't say, but Pharaoh's daughter didn't take care of that baby.
She don't break her fingernails, you know, and saw her hands taking
care of children. Moses' mama raised him. Let me
tell you something. She taught him the ways of God.
She taught him the ways of God. When he was a little fellow,
he took his first step. He took that step from the arms
of a mother who loved God and who trusted God, who believed
God. When he learned to talk, he learned to say the things
that his mama taught him to say. Yes, sir. What I'm saying is
this, the preparation of faith. I'm saying this. If you believe,
you can bet your boots somebody's faith preceded yours. That's
what I'm saying. I'm saying if you believe, you
can be sure, if you love God, if you believe God, if you walk
in faith, I guarantee you somebody's faith and somebody's loyalty
to the gospel preceded yours. That's exactly right. I'm not saying necessarily mother
and father. I'm just saying this. I believe. I'm a child of God. I love the
Word. I love God. I love his Word, not like I want
to. And I trust him and believe on him, but I thank God for the
Apostles of Christ who preached the gospel that I've heard. I
thank God for the Reformers, John Knox and Calvin and Luther
and Zwingli, and these men who dared challenge an all-powerful
octopus of a Roman church that had its tentacles in every nation,
and they dared to die for what they believed. I thank God for
them. I wouldn't have heard this gospel if it hadn't been for
those men. I thank God for the Bible translators. Just think,
there was a time when this Bible wasn't even translated into English.
There was a time when this Bible was off somewhere in a monastery
with a chain on it. The individuals didn't have Bibles. There weren't Bibles in homes.
There weren't Bibles in stores to be bought. The Bible was in
one place. It was in the cathedral or the
temple or it was in the monastery or the convent chained to a desk
where the priest read it and the monks read it and the Pope
read it and told people what they wanted them to hear. And
men like Wycliffe and Tyndall and others gave their lives to
translate this Bible into English. into your language and my language.
They died for it, didn't they? They died for it. I thank God
for those men. I wouldn't even have this Bible
up here before me if it weren't for those men of faith. I thank
God for the pilgrims and early Americans who fled religious
persecution and came to this country and gave us the opportunity
to hear the gospel. I thank God for the hymn writers.
I thank God for the preachers. I thank God for my parents who
took me to the house of God. to hear his word. I thank God
for friends who love the gospel. I thank God for faithful preachers.
I thank God one day a man called Ralph Barnard came to this town
and dared to tell the truth about God and the truth about men and
the truth about what happened in the garden and the truth about
what happened on the cross and challenge us to face the Lordship
of Christ. Don't you thank God for them?
That's what I'm saying. There's a preparation of faith.
The preparation of faith by faith, when Moses, when he was born,
when he was born, when he was born, he was head of his parents
as a groundwork, as a foundation laid. I'm saying this, it may
be, it may be that you'll never come to know God in saving faith.
I don't know, you may and you may not. But I'm saying this,
if you do, it'll be through the hearing of the gospel. Somebody's
going to preach the gospel to you. Somebody's going to tell
you who Christ is. Now, I know God gives us ears
to hear, but what good are ears to hear if there's no message
to hear? God gives us eyes to see, but what good are eyes if
there's no light? There's still blindness. There's
got to be a message. It says, Whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? How shall they believe in him
of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear without
a preacher? Here's Moses. God had designs for Moses. God
had a decree concerning Moses. God had a purpose concerning
Moses out here. And God Almighty prepared Moses'
heart. He laid the foundation. God gave
Moses a mother who loved him, who cared, a mother who had determination,
a mother who wasn't afraid. who wasn't afraid of the king,
a mother who wasn't afraid of anything that men might do, she
was going to save that child. One way or the other, she was
going to save that child. And she, in the home of that child, she
taught him who God is. He knew who God was. She taught
him the Hebrew way. She taught him respect and truth
and honesty. I don't imagine she could teach
him the feast and so forth, or they'd have thrown her out of
that. But she taught him the ways of God, the commandments
of God. You see, Moses was brought up,
Moses was brought up in total heathenism, pagan gods and surrounded
by wealth and gold and silver and luxury and pride and arrogance
and haughtiness and all of the bad things of human nature was
in that country and in that palace where he lived. His mother taught
him God and truth and honesty and decency and loyalty and faith
and these things. She sowed the seed. And that's
what I'm saying. I'm saying there's a seed sown.
And the Bible constantly tells me, you train up a child in the
way he should go and when he's old, whatever happens in between,
he'll not depart from it. May God give us some wisdom.
God give us some determination and strong enough faith that
at least when our little ones are young, tell them who God
is. Tell them the truth about God.
Tell them what man is by nature. Tell them who Christ is. Tell
them of his glory and his love and his grace and his blood and
his redemption. Let's sing to them the old song.
Let's teach them Jesus loves me. Let's teach them, oh how
I love Jesus. Let's teach them only believe
all things are possible. Let's teach him the word of God.
Let's lay the foundation. That's Moses when he was born. His mama took him and hid him,
and bless your heart, at a great cost and sacrifice to herself,
she taught him, she taught him, she taught him. I imagine she thought at times
it's to no avail. She had him, when he got up about
twelve or fourteen, they turned him over to some big old mean
captain to teach him to use a sword. They turned him over to some
heathen intellect to teach him in the history of Egypt and the
ways of warfare and how to oppress slaves and how to steal and cheat
and lie and stay on top when you get on top. He was tutored
by the masterminds of Egypt, by the heathen. She saw him turn
him over to heathen philosophers, and they taught him the ways
of evil men, evil philosophers. She saw him fall into the company
of of bad, blaspheming, profane fellows, you know. She saw the
liquor flow and the wine. I imagine she got real discouraged,
because Moses was a man like any other man, and a handsome,
strong, big. He was the second in command
under Pharaoh, I imagine. She saw him get up around 20
and 25 and 30. Well, I bet she figured, Jay,
all that was worthless, wasn't worthwhile. Because there he
is, you know. But now wait a minute, here's
the second thing. Verse 24. You see what I started with?
Now the preparation of faith. Faith? We got Moses out here
where we meet him, you know, man of God. But now wait a minute,
he ain't always been a man of God. He was born like everybody
else. And when he was born, some faithful,
godly mother laid a foundation. Faithful, godly preachers. Bring
those young people and sit them out here and let me preach to
them. Well, you won't be any good preacher, who knows? God
knows. God knows. But they've got to
face an awful world. Moses faced a world you wouldn't
believe. You wouldn't believe. But listen to verse 24. By faith
Moses, when he was come to years, when he was come to years. Now
stay with me. May shock some of you this morning, but do good
to get shocked We've been in this lethargic, indifferent,
careless, silly, sentimental, emotional, religion, fundamentalism
so long it's corrupted by everything it's touched. No one knows what
age we're talking about here. Moses, when he was come to years.
Nobody knows. And the Word of God is very careful
not to tell us. Not to tell us. But I'll tell
you what it's saying here, Moses when he was come jay-redded to
maturity, you know what you said? To maturity, to years. Now some
say he was between 38 and 40 right here. But I'll tell you
this, I'll tell you this about Moses when he, this is what it's
saying right here. He was now his own man. He was
his own man now. He was making his own decisions.
He was a man, now watch this, he had been Think of all the
influences Moses had in his life. First of all, as an infant, his
first words he learned from a godly mother. But some of the words
he learned a little later on were from ungodly companions.
First of all, he was instructed by a godly mother, godly influences. But a little while later he was
instructed in atheism, in evolution, You know the Egyptians didn't
believe God created the heavens and the earth. They didn't know
the living God. Who did they worship? Do you know some heathen
God? And they were just sensual, fleshly, hateful. They kept the Israelites in slavery. Moses had been instructed, taught,
tutored, corrected, influenced. He'd been taught to make war,
to battle. to build his body, he'd been
taught certain drugs and herbs and all these things to eat,
he'd been taught how to rule and reign, he was now full grown,
he was now his own man. No longer is his mother making
his decisions. No longer is his governess making
his decision. No longer is his tutor making
his decision. No longer is the captain of the
guard making his decision. No longer is anybody. He is now
full grown. He's his own man, able, determined
to think for himself. Some of you are that small. Some
of you are not. So see, the age differs. It depends
on the circumstances, environment, a lot of things. A young person
may reach this age early in life, where they have come through
all of this, they think for themselves. And really and truly, your relationship
with God, believe me now, I wouldn't upset you, your relationship
with God and your life or faith can only be determined when you
come to that place, when you're thinking for yourself. Now, this is what the fundamentalist
does. He gets these children and he brings them into the church
and he brainwashes them. They haven't heard anything else.
They don't know anything else. They don't even know there's
a war out there. They haven't seen it. They don't know that there's
heathen philosophy and heathen ideas and heathen beliefs. They've
never heard these things. They've been taught and taught
and taught, protected, a shell about them, a cocoon about them.
directed this way, they've been steamrolled this way, they make
their decision, they join the Church, they're in all these
different organizations, they're kept out of the movies, out of
the swimming pool, out of the high schools, out of this, out
of that, out of the other. They don't know beans. They haven't
made any kind of commitment to Christ. Commitment from what? To what? Turned from what idols
to the living God? Repented of what? But then they get out there and
they find out there's a world out there that's a whole lot
different from this world they've been brought up in, and they
believe they like it a little bit better. So, boom, they're
gone. They're gone. I'm not discouraging,
and you know that from the start of my message I've taught, teach
the children, protect them, help them all you can, lay the foundation.
But brethren, don't brainwash them into decisions and commitments
that they know nothing about. When Moses came to years, that's
when it'll take place. That's when it'll take place.
And you may make a decision when you're eight, nine, or ten years
of age. Some kind of commitment, good, fine, that's fine. But
there's coming a time when you think for yourself and make decisions
for yourself and choices for yourself. That's when your real
commitment to Christ is going to be made. That's when Moses
was made. I'm dedicated to preaching and
teaching children and young people the way of salvation, but I can't
believe for them. My choice cannot save them. There
must come a day when they make a choice. Read the next verse.
By faith, Moses, this verse 24, when he was come to years, when
he had been brought through all of this, the brainwashing of
Egyptians, philosophy and Egyptian teaching and all this stuff,
the teaching of his mother. the qualities and values of his
mother, the convictions and principles in Egypt too. Moses, when he
came to years, when he was his own man, thinking for himself,
he made a decision. First of all, he refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What did she represent? She represented
cruelty, oppression. She represented ill-gotten gains. She represented heathenism. She
represented lust and pride and all these things. And Moses weighed
this thing. He weighed this thing. He looked
at her with all of her glamour and glitter and gold and human
glory and all these things. He looked over here at that nursemaid,
that Hebrew nursemaid, in her plain poor clothing and position. And he refused that right there.
He refused it. He refused to be called her son.
He made a decision, made a choice. He knew both sides, he saw both
sides, but he made a choice. He said, look, choosing rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season." He saw Egypt's sins and the pleasures
of them, the pleasures of drunkenness, the pleasures of all that glitter,
glamour, and fashion of this world. There's pleasure. Don't
say there's not. There is, for a while. But he
saw there was no peace. There's no joy in that. The world
can give you for a little while excitement, but not peace. It can give you for a little
while comfort, physical comfort, but not soul comfort. It can
give you for a little while some recognition and some fame and
some acclaim. for a season, for a little while,
but when it's all melted and gone and you wind up old and
broken and wrinkled and gray and despised and forgotten, Moses
saw them grow up and die. He saw God's people over here
with a peace, poor but peaceful, despised but at rest. They had
something that when they came through trials, they had a foundation,
they had some strength. It wasn't pleasure for a season,
it was an inward joy and pleasure forever. And he chose, he said,
the afflictions of God's people, the afflictions and trials of
God's people are bettered. and the pleasures of seeing for
a season. He weighed these things. You
see, he's his own man, Bob, he's his own, he's got a brain, he's
got a mind. He's not pressured by some preacher
to put up one hand and put up the other and get out here quick
while the pressure's still on or get out here quick, you know,
while the atmosphere, the psychologist, you stay right where you are.
You stay right where you are, bud, and you count the cost.
I don't want you down here. I want you to feed of Christ.
And this ain't to feed of Christ. I want you to sit right there,
and I want you to take a good hard look, a good hard look at
Pharaoh's daughter. And a good hard look at the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you just decide which one
you want to be called the son of. Just decide. That's your
business, Charlie. You make up your mind. If you'd rather be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter, I'll call you that. And we'll let
everybody else call you that. Churchill, you're your own man
now. There's nobody hanging you up by thumbscrews. You're your
own man. You make up your mind. You see
the pleasures of sin? Sure there's pleasures. And any
preacher tells you, don't tell them they're not having a good
time. They are having a good time for a little while, but
it's going to end. And I'm saying God's people under
their slander and persecution and things like this, there's
joy. There's all the joy in the world in Christ, but you can't
see it until you're in Christ. But you see their afflictions,
and I'm saying this, I made up my mind. I'd rather suffer the
afflictions of God's people for a season and enjoy eternal glory
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and no eternal
misery. Look at the next line. Moses,
verse 26, he had sense enough to know, he esteemed, he understood
the reproach of Christ is greater than the riches of Egypt. The
very reproach of Christ is better The worst that God has is better
than the best that Egypt has. That's what he's saying. It's
better. I'd rather weep with the people
of God than laugh with the people of this world. That's what David
said. He said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper. I'd rather be a
servant in the house of the Lord. I'd rather sit back there and
keep the door and wash people's feet when they come in and let
them out when they go out. I'd rather be that in the house
of God than to dwell as a son, as a ruler, in the tents of wickedness.
You see, Moses saw this. He stood back and took a hard
look at it. He'd been there. Some of you
young people have been there too, haven't you? Mama, you came
here when you were little children. I look out there and see some
of you that were here when you were two years or one year old.
And he listened to them sing at the cross, and oh, how I loved
Jesus, and near the cross, and preached about Christ, and then
your mama let you go, and you went off to school, and you met
a bunch of heathen and pagans. I met them. I was in the Navy,
a little over two years, working a steel mill. I know a little
bit about what's out there. And I came to this place where
Moses, Moses, when he came here, he's 40 years old. Maybe you
40-year-old men haven't come to years yet. You've just been
carried along by kind of like going down a stream, you know,
the current's taking you. You've been just so used to just
going along, you know, not paying any attention. Moses one day
made a decision, I am not going that way. I'm not going to be
called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I'm not going to continue in
the pleasures of sin for a season. I'm not going to follow the riches
and treasures of Egypt. I'm going to walk with God, because
the reproaches of Christ are better than the riches of Egypt.
The afflictions of God's people are better than the pleasures
of sin for a season. And bless your heart, he left
that place. And that's what you're going
to have to do. He left it. He forsook Egypt. He forsook
Egypt. Well, do you realize you're going
to hurt people that love you? I imagine Pharaoh's daughter
thought a lot of Moses. Don't you reckon she did? Proud
of him. Proud of him. And the king, Moses,
they got you geared for great things. Moses don't leave. Think about it. You can serve
God and stay there. No. Moses knew better than that,
Bill. I hear people say that. I can
serve God and stay here. I can serve God and stay there.
Who's God? Moses knew he couldn't. Moses,
you're going to hurt Pharaoh's daughter and you're going to
hurt Pharaoh. He's going to be disappointed. What about your friends, Moses?
You've got friends. That's praying down here, Moses.
You can't be a friend of God and a friend of those who hate
God. So he forsook Egypt. He didn't fear the wrath of the
king. He saw him who is invisible. He saw him who is invisible.
Old Moses, when he came to years, he weighed all the evidence.
And then his jury came in and pronounced the verdict. And Moses
said, this is it. I'm walking with the King. I'm
living for God. I'm leaving Egypt. All right,
verse 28. You see, you have first the preparation
of faith. Are you with me? Preparation
of faith. The foundation laid. There's some things taught. There's
some prayers. There's some concern and care.
And then there's the choice of faith. That's when Moses is just
like he didn't even have a mama, just like he didn't even have
a tutor, just like he didn't even have any. He's got to make
the decision, the commitment, the choice is up to him. You see what I'm saying? Choice. He's got to decide whether he's
going to stay in Egypt or leave. He's got to decide whether he's
going to be Pharaoh's daughter or God's son. And there's a choice to
be made. And then the foundation, how
do I know Moses made the right choice? How do I know that he
made, how do I know that Moses really in his heart left Egypt? How do I know? You know, a lot
of folks claim things that don't happen. A lot of folks claim,
you know how I know that Moses turned his back on Egypt and
turned his face toward God? You know how I know? Through faith he kept the Passover
and the sprinkling of the blood. Here is that renowned, great,
honorable, educated, recognized, famous son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He's sitting in a little slave's hut. And outside that door are
some marks of blood, Jay, one on the lintel and two on the
side poles. And he's sitting in there at
a table. with other believers, and he's eaten the Passover,
the roasted lamb, resting in the blood and trusting in the
broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's identified. See what I'm saying? He's identified.
And this is when you know. This thing of faith That's what we studied in Sunday
school this morning, this faith, this word. Oh, I believe this
and I believe that and I believe the other. Let's see the evidence. Let's see a man's identification,
his commitment. Let's see a man's companions.
Let's see a man's commitment to Christ. Let's see his attitude
towards the blood, substitution, the cross. That's how I know Moses made
the commitment. Moses, if you think what he was, here he is
with his armor, and his headdress, and his spear, and his sword,
and walking about with his whip, riding his chariots, being identified
with the people of this world. And somebody came up to him and
said, are you a believer? Oh yes, yes, yes, I'm a believer.
I believe those people are God's people. I believe there's a God.
I believe there's a God. I believe the Bible is God's
word. I believe the law. Yeah, I believe the law. I believe
men ought to do right. I believe men ought to treat his neighbor
right. I believe men ought to be honest, truthful, and be evilly hogwashed. I'll tell you when Moses proved
he believed, when he left Egypt, and we went down in that little
hut, and that blood was on the door. Yes, sir, he committed
himself to the blood. He humbled himself under the
blood. He was committed to the substitutionary work of Christ,
to the sacrifice of Christ, without the shedding of blood. He wasn't
ashamed of the blood. And he sat there at that table. They had slain that lamb, and
they had roasted its body, and they were sitting there around
with these poor believers, and they were eating, feasting on,
finding their nourishment and their joy in eating the body
of our Lord Jesus Christ in type. Now that's where it is. I cast
my lot. That's where it is. That's where
it is right there. That's what I'm talking about.
When you come to years, and you don't get this thing not done
by mobs and handraisings and crowds and pressure and all of
these things, you go on. Let me sow a little seed here.
Let me preach a little here and there. Let me talk to you a little
bit. Let me tell you about the Lord. Let me tell you about the
need of man. Let me tell you about the death
of Christ. One day he's going to confront you. Now's the time,
Moses. Which will it be? And you can't
have both. No man can serve God and Mama.
No man has two masters. Moses had a bunch of them. He
had Mama, his sister, his tutors, his governess, his trainers,
his captains, his generals, and all this mess. But when he came
to be his own man, he made a decision, and he said, I refuse to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter. It's going to hurt some folks,
and it's going to disappoint some folks, and it's going to
cost you something. I say I choose to suffer the afflictions of
God's people because I esteem the reproaches of Christ to be
worth more than the treasures of Egypt. Then I come and find
the people of God somewhere, and I ask them, Can I be a part
of you, fellas? I want to eat the bread with
you and drink the wine. I want to sit under the blood.
I want to be identified with you. Is there room in your place
for me? They ain't going to go out on
the street and try to drag you in. See, that's where we've been
wrong, Dick. We've been going out there and
dragging them in, whether they wanted to come or not. Come on,
you ought to worship God fully. You stay on out there where you
want to be. You walk with the crowd you want to walk with.
Moses made up his mind, John. Can I be a part of you? What
Shirley was saying, can it be that I should gain an interest
in the Savior's blood? Our Lord's not a beggar. He's
a King. And everybody who eats with him
is a king. Folks out there don't know it, but these folks know
it. Do you reckon I could sit and eat with you all? Because
I'd rather be here than out there. I'd rather be. Just be where
you want to be. Be what you want to be. By God's
grace, I want to be with Christ. That's what Joshua said. He stood
there, I'll quit in a minute, but Joshua stood there and said,
I don't know what the rest of you are going to do. You can
worship the gods your fathers worshipped on the other side
of the flood, but I'll tell you what me and my house are going
to do. Whether it's through deep water or shallow water, whether
it's through fire or flood or whatever it's through, we're
going to serve the Lord. We're going to serve the Lord. I've come to years, and I've
made up my mind. I've cast my lot with Christ.
I just believe, folks, I really do. I believe this is where it
is. I think, and this is where we
must lead those to whom we preach. We want to see them make a commitment
to Christ. I want to see my loved ones and
your loved ones and my friends and your friends and my people
to whom I preach. But let's don't employ this trickery. I know what it is, and you know
what it is. It strikes while the iron's hot. It's like a salesman
who gets a fellow in a spirit or attitude of nodding his head,
yes, and then he sells him something. Get his name on the line quick,
he may not sign tomorrow. I want you to sign when you want
to. I want you to sign when you'd
rather have Christ than life itself. Because that's the only
time you're going to have that. That's the only time. When you
come to years, when it's all settled in your mind. I'm an
old man now. Judas came to years, made up
his mind he'd go the other way. Demas did too. Moses, he walked
with God. Our Lord said something like
this, count the cost. Sit down and count the cost.
See whether you really want this or not. Our Father, we have tried
thou knowest all things. We don't need to tell thee anything.
But like our Lord said, for the benefit of these who listen,
we have made an effort to tell men the truth. We've made an
effort to present the beauty and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the folly and foolishness of this world and how there has
to be a commitment to the Lord Jesus, we know it's by thy grace
that we live and by thy purpose that we're called and by thy
merits that we're redeemed. We know that faith is thy gift
to us, and even the goodness of our Lord leads us to repentance. But with a heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
to salvation. And there's got to be a commitment.
As the Apostle Paul committed everything to Christ, we've got
to come to a place of commitment. And Lord, do a work of grace
in the heart. Prepare the heart. Bring us to
this choice, which is Christ.