Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Moses’ Faith, Moses’ Choices . . . and Me Msg 2020

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Moses’ Faith, Moses’ Choices . . . and Me Msg 2020 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: John Bunyan in his immortal work, The Pilgrim's Progress, brings
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Speaker 1: us in the story to that epical moment where Christian
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Speaker 1: comes to the precipice, having passed through the wicked gate
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Speaker 1: and the narrow road that leads to that place where
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Speaker 1: he would see the chasm and across the chasm The
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Speaker 1: cross and the open tomb. And he feels the burden
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Speaker 1: of sin break free from his back. And Bunyan writes,
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Speaker 1: Thus far did I come, burdened with my sin. Really,
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Speaker 1: he wrote, laden with my sin. Nor could aught ease
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Speaker 1: the grief that I was in till I came hither.
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Speaker 1: Must here be the beginning of my bliss? Must hear
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Speaker 1: the burden fall from off my back. Must hear the
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Speaker 1: strings that bound it to me crack. Blessed cross. Blessed sepulcher.
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Speaker 1: Blessed rather be the man put to shame for me.
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Speaker 1: When our attention is focused on the cross, it really
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Speaker 1: falls on the one who died for us. He came
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Speaker 1: that we might live, that we might know eternal kind
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Speaker 1: of life, just altogether different from this temporal existence on
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Speaker 1: the planet Earth. If you never trusted in the Savior,
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Speaker 1: this is your moment for the burden to fall off
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Speaker 1: your back and the strings that have bounded to you
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Speaker 1: long enough crack as you turn your life over to
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Speaker 1: the Savior. How grateful we are for the cross. And
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Speaker 1: I'm thankful for this theme as we have thought about
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Speaker 1: it from different angles. We're looking at the life of
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Speaker 1: Moses in Hebrews 11, whose parents walked by faith and
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Speaker 1: not surprisingly, he did as well, at least for part
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Speaker 1: of his life. And we read of that in Hebrews 11,
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Speaker 1: 23 down through 27. I'm reading from the New Living Translation.
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Speaker 1: You have brought your Bible with you, and if so,
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Speaker 1: please open it to Hebrews 11, 23. Stand with me
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Speaker 1: as we open the scriptures together, and I will read
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Speaker 1: it for you. It was by faith that Moses' parents
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Speaker 1: hid him for three months when he was born. They
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Speaker 1: saw that God had given them an unusual child and
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Speaker 1: they were not afraid to disobey the king's command. It
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Speaker 1: was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused
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Speaker 1: to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose
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Speaker 1: to share the oppression of God's people instead of enjoying
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Speaker 1: the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better
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Speaker 1: to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own
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Speaker 1: the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to
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Speaker 1: his great reward. It was by faith that Moses left
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Speaker 1: the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's anger. He
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Speaker 1: kept right on going. because he kept his eye on
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Speaker 1: the one.
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Speaker 2: Who is invisible.
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Speaker 1: We're grateful for this passage and we anticipate the Spirit
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Speaker 1: of God opening our eyes to a greater understanding of
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Speaker 1: it than we have right now. Please be seated. Now
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Speaker 1: may we pause for prayer together. Were the whole realm
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Speaker 1: of nature mine that were present far too small, love
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Speaker 1: so amazing, so divine, deserves my all. We lay our
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Speaker 1: lives before you today, our Father. We've been preoccupied with
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Speaker 1: so many things this week. Now we concentrate on you
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Speaker 1: and your son, on his marvelous life that he lived
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Speaker 1: for us and his death on our behalf. Thank you, Father.
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Speaker 1: for seeing us through this week, a week where so
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Speaker 1: much of the world has known only turmoil, heartbreak, disappointment, danger,
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Speaker 1: and even death. There's so much sickness and sorrow, so
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Speaker 1: easy for us to be caught up in the backwash
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Speaker 1: of life's contingencies. Help us this day to be lost
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Speaker 1: in wonder, love, and praise, to think your thoughts after you,
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Speaker 1: to track a life who lived long before us, who
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Speaker 1: went through similar things as we go through, and as
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Speaker 1: we see ourselves in his life, may we be willing
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Speaker 1: to lay ourselves before you, holding nothing back, Thank you
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Speaker 1: in advance for the things we will learn, for how
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Speaker 1: they will benefit us as this week unfolds. We don't
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Speaker 1: know what a day will bring forth. We don't know
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Speaker 1: what this evening will include. But you are our God.
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Speaker 1: You are in control of our lives. You have written
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Speaker 1: all the inhabitants of the earth or is nothing. You
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Speaker 1: do according to your will in the army of heaven
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Speaker 1: and among the inhabitants of the earth and no one
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Speaker 1: can restrain your hand or say to you, what.
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Speaker 2: Are you doing?
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Speaker 1: Today in the mystery of your will, we find comfort, hope, reassurance,
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Speaker 1: and a reason to go on. Help those who recover
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Speaker 1: today from illness and surgery. Give strength to those who
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Speaker 1: adjust to a whole new way of life because of such.
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Speaker 1: Give strength to those who minister to them, who stand
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Speaker 1: alongside and pour out their love and affection. Bring encouragement
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Speaker 1: to the discouraged, hope for the disillusioned, direction for the confused,
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Speaker 1: relief for the burdened. Dear Father, we lay ourselves before
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Speaker 1: you now to hear words in our hearts and music
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Speaker 1: in our ears of that sacred head now wounded with
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Speaker 1: grief and shame. weighed down. Minister deeply as we sit
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Speaker 1: in quietness and ponder that death of the Savior.
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Speaker 2: On the cross.
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Speaker 1: In his name we pray. Everyone said, Amen.
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Speaker 3: Little lesson, two weeks ago I was ministering at a
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Speaker 3: seminary and following the third lecture I was taken to
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Speaker 3: lunch by a couple of the young men who were
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Speaker 3: from the school. As we were on our way back
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Speaker 3: to the school, one of the men asked a question
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Speaker 3: I had never been asked before. He said, with which
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Speaker 3: Bible character do you most easily identify?
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Speaker 2: It's a very good song. question.
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Speaker 3: It's a tough question. Not which one is your favorite
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Speaker 3: or which do you prefer to preach on? Who would
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Speaker 3: be called your hero? But which one, if you could
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Speaker 3: get inside his skin, would you most identify with? You
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Speaker 3: ought to ask yourself that question sometime. I still haven't
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Speaker 3: given him an answer. In light of this past week,
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Speaker 3: I would say either Peter or Jonah, but I don't
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Speaker 3: think that's the average kind of week for me. I
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Speaker 3: really don't know who the person would be, and I'm
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Speaker 3: still thinking about that. But if I were to answer
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Speaker 3: the question, who do I most admire? In the top five,
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Speaker 3: one would be Moses, without a doubt. He was a
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Speaker 3: tremendous man, a giant in every way. Here was a
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Speaker 3: man who led the exodus. He watched the parting of
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Speaker 3: the sea. Congregation of two million people. He ate manna
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Speaker 3: for years. He saw the cloud by day and the
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Speaker 3: fire by night.
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Speaker 2: He was mighty in word and deed, says Stephen.
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Speaker 3: Raised by parents who so inculcated godliness in him that
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Speaker 3: even in the height of his political stature, he did
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Speaker 3: not depart from that training. So he had great roots.
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Speaker 3: And as a friend of mine said, when he grew up,
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Speaker 3: he looked like Charlton Heston. So that's another benefit you
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Speaker 3: got to remember. Everything going for him.
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Speaker 4: Oh, I know.
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Speaker 2: I know he had weaknesses and.
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Speaker 3: I realize that if you nitpick with him long enough,
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Speaker 3: you'll find reason to say he's a failure as you
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Speaker 3: would with any of God's spokesmen. But I don't think
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Speaker 3: it's right just to plunge into Hebrews 11 and sort
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Speaker 3: of ooh and ah for a few minutes and then
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Speaker 3: walk away and say, yeah, he was a great man.
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Speaker 3: I think you've got to see just what he gave
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Speaker 3: up to appreciate what it meant when he walked by faith.
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Speaker 3: So bear with me for a few moments and listen
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Speaker 3: to this. What a magnificent land must Egypt have been
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Speaker 3: in those days of which Herodotus and the hieroglyphic records speak.
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Speaker 3: The atmosphere was rainless. The Nile brought from afar the
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Speaker 3: rich alluvial soil that bore corn enough to feed the world.
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Speaker 2: The banks of that river were.
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Speaker 3: Covered with cities and villages, stately temples, and all the
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Speaker 3: evidences of an advanced civilization. While mighty pyramids and colossal
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Speaker 3: figures towered to a hundred feet in height, seven million
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Speaker 3: people throve on this ribbon of land, poor and ignorant
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Speaker 3: and the upper class. were remarkable for their familiarity with
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Speaker 3: much of which we boast ourselves today. The cream of
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Speaker 3: all this poured into the cup of Moses. He was
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Speaker 3: brought up in the palace and treated as the grandson
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Speaker 3: of Pharaoh. If he rode forth into the streets, it
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Speaker 3: would be in a princely equipage amid the cries of
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Speaker 3: bow the knee. If he floated on the Nile, it
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Speaker 3: would have been in a golden barge amid the strains
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Speaker 3: of voluptuous music. If he wished for aught, the almost
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Speaker 3: illimitable wealth of the treasures of Egypt was within his reach.
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Speaker 3: When he was old enough, he was probably sent to
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Speaker 3: be educated at the college, which had grown up around
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Speaker 3: the Temple of the Sun and has been called the
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Speaker 3: Oxford of the ancient Egypt. There he would learn to
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Speaker 3: read and write the mysterious hieroglyph. There, too, he would
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Speaker 3: be instructed in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, philosophy, and law,
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Speaker 3: in all of which the educated Egyptians were adept. But
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Speaker 3: Moses was more than a royal student spending his time
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Speaker 3: in cultured refinement and lettered ease. He was a statesman
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Speaker 3: and a soldier. Josephus says that while he was still
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Speaker 3: in his early manhood, the Ethiopians invaded Egypt, routed the army,
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Speaker 3: sent against them and threatened Memphis, the capital. In the panic,
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Speaker 3: the oracles were consulted and on their recommendation, Moses was
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Speaker 3: entrusted with the command of the royal troops. He took
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Speaker 3: the field, surprised and defeated the enemy, captured their principal city,
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Speaker 3: the swamp-engirdled city of Meru, and returned.
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Speaker 2: To Egypt laden with the spoils of victory. That's Moses.
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Speaker 3: But there is no Sphinx in Egypt to his honor.
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Speaker 3: There's no pyramid. There's no mortuary temple that bears his name.
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Speaker 3: I mean, these were people who honored their dead. The
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Speaker 3: Egyptians had a saying, to speak the name of the
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Speaker 3: dead is to make him live again. Where is Moses' Sphinx?
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Speaker 3: Why didn't they build in his honor An enormous body
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Speaker 3: of a lion, 240 feet long and 60 plus feet
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Speaker 3: high and a face of a man 15 feet.
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Speaker 2: Wide with his image.
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Speaker 3: Why just to Thutmose and Ramses and Tutankhamen and Queen Hatshepsut?
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Speaker 2: Why not Moses? I mean, he's the pharaoh elect.
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Speaker 3: You can walk from the easternmost section of Sinai, up
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Speaker 3: and down to the westernmost region of the Libyan plateau,
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Speaker 3: and you will find no standing statue in honor of Moses.
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Speaker 2: Why?
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Speaker 3: Because of what we find written in Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11,
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Speaker 3: 24 to 28. What the hot, arid sands of Egypt miss,
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Speaker 3: the scripture contains. This need not take a long time,
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Speaker 3: but it certainly takes our undivided attention to appreciate it.
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Speaker 3: Here is a man who had everything going for him.
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Speaker 3: And businessmen, there's not a one of you that will
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Speaker 3: ever imagine, imagine handling enough money to compare with what
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Speaker 3: went into his clover in one year.
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Speaker 2: We cannot imagine the treasury.
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Speaker 3: We cannot imagine the pomp that went before the adopted
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Speaker 3: grandson of the Pharaoh. There aren't words to describe it.
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Speaker 3: or the palace where he resided, or the power in
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Speaker 3: his grip simply to say, let them die or let
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Speaker 3: them live, and there wouldn't be a question asked.
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Speaker 2: This man has it all. In our words, he has
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Speaker 2: it made.
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Speaker 3: Now, because of three decisions this man made, there is
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Speaker 3: no sphinx in Egypt that bears his name. The first decision,
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Speaker 3: verses 24 through 26. I have circled the word refused.
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Speaker 3: I'd like you to do the same thing. By faith
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Speaker 3: when he was grown up, refused. The first decision he
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Speaker 3: made was a refusal to sustain the sinful. Let's take
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Speaker 3: a moment and study this. Picture the young man Hebrew within,
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Speaker 3: but fully Egyptian without. He bore no marks of a
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Speaker 3: Hebrew on the outside. He simply would pass for an
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Speaker 3: up-and-coming Egyptian pharaoh. But when he reached adulthood, see the words,
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Speaker 3: when he had grown up? It's in the Greek, having
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Speaker 3: become great. That's even more vivid. Moses, having become great,
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Speaker 3: made a decision. Now, if you will allow me to
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Speaker 3: picture it this way, I think you'll get the idea.
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Speaker 2: Every person, every individual.
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Speaker 3: Not once but many times in our lives, comes to
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Speaker 3: a why in the road, a fork. We come to
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Speaker 3: that fork when we're in school, many times. And there
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Speaker 3: are great banners waving us to follow the route, one
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Speaker 3: route as opposed to another route. One is broad, one
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Speaker 3: is wide, one is well-trafficked, one is narrow, one is rugged.
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Speaker 2: It is not popular. and you come to the why,
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Speaker 2: and you make a decision. It leads to yet other
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Speaker 2: whys or forks in the road, and yet others.
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Speaker 3: Moses came to that when he had become great. He
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Speaker 3: came to the fork in the road when he had
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Speaker 3: to make a choice.
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Speaker 2: Observe in verse 24. Verse 24. He had to decide.
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Speaker 3: Whether he would allow them to continue to call him
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Speaker 3: the Pharaoh elect or not. The scripture says he, quote,
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Speaker 3: denied it to be said, the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
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Speaker 2: That's literally what it reads.
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Speaker 3: There was a time, maybe he stood up in a court,
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Speaker 3: maybe he said it to the soft-footed servants who waited
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Speaker 3: on his every whim. Maybe he announced it to his grandfather,
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Speaker 3: who was Pharaoh. Maybe he told his adoptive mother, the
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Speaker 3: daughter of Pharaoh. But one day he said, no longer call.
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Speaker 2: Me your son. I'm not available for the throne. I
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Speaker 2: don't want that.
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Speaker 3: I refuse to be called that any longer. It reminds
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Speaker 3: me of Daniel, who stood alone in the Babylonian court,
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Speaker 3: Hebrew through and through, surrounded by Babylonian lifestyle, saying, I
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Speaker 3: will not eat the king's food. I will not adopt
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Speaker 3: the king's lifestyle. I will not go the king's route.
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Speaker 3: I am first and foremost a believer in Jehovah. He
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Speaker 3: has my allegiance. He has my loyalty. I will live,
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Speaker 3: and if necessary, I will die for his honor.
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Speaker 2: This man has integrity.
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Speaker 3: He comes to the Y, and he makes a decision
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Speaker 3: refusing to be called a son of Pharaoh's daughter. How
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Speaker 3: could he do that? After all, he's a red-blooded Hebrew man.
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Speaker 3: He is the catch in the kingdom. He has got
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Speaker 3: whatever he wants, the world by the tail. Look at
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Speaker 3: the next two verses and circle the words choosing, considering.
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Speaker 3: The first words of the next two verses.
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Speaker 2: By faith, when he was grown up, he refused something.
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Speaker 2: How could he do that? Well, verse 25 says, he
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Speaker 2: made a choice. Choosing.
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Speaker 3: It comes from the Greek word that means to take
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Speaker 3: for oneself a position. I don't miss that. To take
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Speaker 3: for oneself a position. In other words, he came to
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Speaker 3: the why. He came to the neck of the decision.
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Speaker 3: He came up against it and he had to take
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Speaker 3: for himself a position. before he could go to the
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Speaker 3: right or to the left. Without the position taken, he
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Speaker 3: would have been in a continued quandary. Part of the
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Speaker 3: reason we do not make right choices, we have not
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Speaker 3: taken a position. In basic things of life.
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Speaker 2: Of character, of morality, of godliness, of commitment to Christ.
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Speaker 2: And so we teeter away.
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Speaker 3: We wait constantly at the neck of the yoke, waiting,
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Speaker 3: waiting for something to break free. Or we make a
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Speaker 3: wrong choice on the basis of our feelings only to
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Speaker 3: regret it later on. Moses thought through his position and
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Speaker 3: he came to a position and he chose.
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Speaker 2: What did he choose? 25.
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Speaker 3: He chose rather to endure ill treatment with the people
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Speaker 3: of God than sin. the passing pleasures of sin. A
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Speaker 3: couple of Sunday nights ago, many of us here in
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Speaker 3: the church sat through a dramatic musical by one of
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Speaker 3: our young men. It's a musical he's entitled Choose. The
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Speaker 3: reason we entered into it with such vigor is that
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Speaker 3: we could see many things.
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Speaker 2: In our lives pass in review. Life is full of choices.
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Speaker 3: It's full of everything, choosing a radio station, choosing a
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Speaker 3: television channel, choosing how we'll spend our afternoon, choosing a
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Speaker 3: mate if indeed we are to be married, choosing the
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Speaker 3: matter of children, choosing work, choosing schooling, choosing how long
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Speaker 3: to stay in, choosing a degree, choosing where to live,
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Speaker 3: choosing how to live. Constant, constant, constant choices. We face
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Speaker 3: them all the time. Moses, having taken a position concerning
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Speaker 3: his walk with the Lord, made a decision that was
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Speaker 3: neither popular nor advantageous materially. He pulled off the headgear
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Speaker 3: of the Pharaoh. He pushed aside the palace of the queen.
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Speaker 3: He set aside all of the prerogatives that would be
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Speaker 3: his to enjoy for the rest of his life without question.
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Speaker 3: and he chose to live with the people of God.
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Speaker 3: Don't think for a moment that the Bible is simply
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Speaker 3: embellishing the text by saying, enjoying the pleasures of sin.
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Speaker 3: The pleasures of sin are always initially more enjoyable than
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Speaker 3: the walk of righteousness.
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Speaker 2: Always. Initially. Your heart beats faster when you're around it.
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Speaker 3: It is voluptuous and it is seductive and it feeds
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Speaker 3: the flesh and it makes you feel good. And don't
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Speaker 3: let anybody ever tell you that it doesn't and it won't.
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Speaker 3: And it will bring regular satisfaction for a.
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Speaker 2: Period of time.
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Speaker 3: A very attractive woman stopped me following one of the
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Speaker 3: services this past month and said, I'm having real trouble.
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Speaker 3: She said, I'm visiting from out of town. She named
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Speaker 3: where she was from. She said, I've just come to
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Speaker 3: know Christ. And I'm having such trouble believing that God
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Speaker 3: can love me. Tears began to come to her face.
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Speaker 3: She said, I have made all the wrong choices. She
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Speaker 3: was a very attractive woman. Looked older, no doubt, than
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Speaker 3: she was. Many miles. Hard miles. She said, I've been
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Speaker 3: involved with several businesses. individuals and some drugs, and men
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Speaker 3: who had everything but God. And she says, I'm now
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Speaker 3: reaping the consequences. And she just buried her face in
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Speaker 3: her hands. She's down the road further, and there were
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Speaker 3: passing pleasures of sin. Remember passing. They were passing pleasures, but, oh,
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Speaker 3: they were pleasurable. And just kept her going for the
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Speaker 3: next day and the next man and the next drug
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Speaker 3: to the next, to the next. Like falling over a
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Speaker 3: hillside and you hit plateaus and it's like it's terrorist
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Speaker 3: and you bump and you go further. Moses chose the
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Speaker 3: path of godliness rather than the passing pleasures of sin
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Speaker 3: How could he do that? What was it inside Moses
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Speaker 3: that caused him to make that choice?
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Speaker 2: Next verse. Considering. That's why I want you to circle it. Considering.
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Speaker 2: It means to think beforehand. Isn't that interesting? To see ahead.
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Speaker 2: To look further than the yoke in the fork.
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Speaker 3: To see beyond. Moses came to the fork in the
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Speaker 3: road and he realized, if I continue to be called
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Speaker 3: the son of Pharaoh's daughter, if I continue to be
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Speaker 3: called the Pharaoh elect, if I continue to amass this
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Speaker 3: fortune and win these awards and gain the statesmanship of
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Speaker 3: these people, I will indeed be in a place where
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Speaker 3: I cannot turn back without damage to the nation, without
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Speaker 3: damage to my soul.
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Speaker 2: Because with it come those perks, those perks that say,
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Speaker 2: come on, come on. everybody does it.
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Speaker 3: He says, no, I see far enough down the road
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Speaker 3: to know that that will not be good, but bad.
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Speaker 3: Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches, than the treasures
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Speaker 3: of Egypt. For he was looking to the reward. That's
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Speaker 3: a great word. Looking away from everything else. It's a
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Speaker 3: compound verb. Looking away from everything else and fixing one's
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Speaker 3: full attention on one thing. Like you did yesterday at
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Speaker 3: the SC-UCLA game. The time was out. The ball was snatched.
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Speaker 3: quarterback took the ball, you didn't get up and go
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Speaker 3: get a glass of milk. You looked away from everything
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Speaker 3: else and you focused in on that guy with the ball.
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Speaker 3: Are they going to score or are UCLA going to
30:44
Speaker 3: win it? Moses looked away from everything else and he
30:51
Speaker 3: got a fixation.
30:52
Speaker 2: On Christ.
30:56
Speaker 3: And he made that choice. You dink around with all
31:01
Speaker 3: the possibilities. You loll around in the pleasures enough. You
31:05
Speaker 3: lose your focus in Christ. It'll happen, and it happens
31:08
Speaker 3: to the best of God's men and women. Don't say
31:13
Speaker 3: you're not vulnerable. Don't say you're immune. We could etch
31:19
Speaker 3: into the face of this pulpit 20, 30, 40 names
31:22
Speaker 3: in our own generation of men and women who walk
31:24
Speaker 3: with Christ, who no longer walk with Christ.
31:28
Speaker 2: Because they didn't see it. Him only. I think of
31:36
Speaker 2: Jim Voss, the wiretapper, back in 1949. Crazy guy.
31:44
Speaker 3: He was working for Mickey Cohen and also for the
31:46
Speaker 3: Los Angeles Police Department. He had a part-time job with both.
31:54
Speaker 3: the case of law and crime working together. Problem is,
31:57
Speaker 3: he had to live with Jim Voss. And he stumbled
32:01
Speaker 3: into a tent meeting in downtown Los Angeles, and he
32:07
Speaker 3: was converted to Christ.
32:08
Speaker 2: And his conversion drove a wedge into his duplicity. He
32:14
Speaker 2: could no longer set up the crime.
32:19
Speaker 3: Or the government He could no longer live with both
32:23
Speaker 3: hands in different pots.
32:27
Speaker 2: Why?
32:29
Speaker 3: Because he came to see that Christ is to be
32:35
Speaker 3: Lord of every part of my life.
32:43
Speaker 2: Have you come there yet? The reason there's no Sphinx in.
32:49
Speaker 3: Egypt bearing the image of Moses is that he refused
32:52
Speaker 3: to sustain the sinful.
32:56
Speaker 2: There is no earthly monument.
32:58
Speaker 3: There isn't even a handprint pushed into wet cement that
33:03
Speaker 3: bears the name Moses.
33:05
Speaker 2: He's forgotten in Egypt. But he's honored in heaven. He
33:14
Speaker 2: gave up the earthly academy for the eternal reward There's another.
33:23
Speaker 3: Look at the second. By faith he left Egypt. Now
33:28
Speaker 3: you circle the word refused. Now circle the word left.
33:33
Speaker 3: He left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,
33:38
Speaker 3: for he endured, and.
33:40
Speaker 2: Here we have him again, as seeing him who is unseen.
33:44
Speaker 2: See the fixation? See the focus?
33:48
Speaker 3: This was no Sunday go-to-meeting kind of a guy. This
33:52
Speaker 3: was no religious hot and cold creature. This man has
34:00
Speaker 3: fixed his attention on Jehovah. And so, verse 27, he
34:07
Speaker 3: determines to leave the familiar.
34:10
Speaker 2: By faith, he left Egypt.
34:15
Speaker 1: Egypt.
34:16
Speaker 2: I've never been there. Some of you have. I don't
34:21
Speaker 2: know much about Egypt. But I know a lot about
34:23
Speaker 2: El Campo. I've been there.
34:28
Speaker 3: Most of you don't want to make a special trip,
34:31
Speaker 3: just in case you're planning your vacation. I was born
34:34
Speaker 3: in that little town in South Texas.
34:36
Speaker 2: I know all about it. I know all the little roads,
34:39
Speaker 2: all the little trails.
34:41
Speaker 3: I know the little drugstores and who lives where, at
34:44
Speaker 3: least the way it used to be.
34:47
Speaker 2: It's imprinted in my mind because I have my roots there.
34:52
Speaker 3: But I've left there young in life, and so I
34:55
Speaker 3: really don't know it as well as many that have
34:57
Speaker 3: lived there all their lives. There are men in our
34:59
Speaker 3: congregation who have worked at the same company for 30 years.
35:03
Speaker 3: Would you believe 40 years? I mean, all they know
35:06
Speaker 3: is that company. How would it be for them to
35:10
Speaker 3: just up one day and quit and.
35:12
Speaker 2: Get another job? A little insecure? I would say so.
35:18
Speaker 3: Some of you have lived in the same house As
35:22
Speaker 3: long as you can remember, you've raised your kids in
35:25
Speaker 3: that house. And if you have your way about it,
35:28
Speaker 3: you'll die in that place because it's your place.
35:32
Speaker 2: Deep roots.
35:33
Speaker 3: I've got a pastor friend who took the pulpit from
35:35
Speaker 3: a fellow who had been in the particular pulpit 37 years.
35:40
Speaker 2: He says, Chuck, his voice is in the woodwork.
35:44
Speaker 3: His handprints on the pulpit, they've mashed all over 37
35:47
Speaker 3: years in that place. You can be in a place
35:50
Speaker 3: so long that your thumbprint's there.
35:52
Speaker 2: Your head's there.
35:54
Speaker 3: That's what Egypt was to Moses. He knew nothing but Egypt.
35:58
Speaker 3: He had never been to Canaan. He knew only Egypt.
36:02
Speaker 2: But he left it.
36:04
Speaker 1: Why?
36:06
Speaker 2: Well, he just read. Because of faith. God led him out.
36:17
Speaker 2: God moved him.
36:19
Speaker 3: He determined to leave the familiar, even though Egypt was
36:24
Speaker 3: in his blood. Negatively, he didn't fear the, that's always
36:30
Speaker 3: going to be there. He didn't fear what the king
36:33
Speaker 3: would do against him.
36:35
Speaker 2: Positively, he was looking ahead, seeing the one who was unseen.
36:42
Speaker 3: One of our major battles, Americans, one of our major battles,
36:47
Speaker 3: and it's one of mine, It's a battle of things, places, houses, belongings, territory.
37:00
Speaker 3: Security is there. That's where we have our roots. And
37:04
Speaker 3: there's nothing wrong with roots. I love those kind of things.
37:11
Speaker 3: I may love it too much. That's why I love Thanksgiving.
37:14
Speaker 3: In my opinion, it's way ahead of Christmas. Because you
37:18
Speaker 3: can't commercialize it.
37:19
Speaker 2: All they can do is feed you. They just sell
37:24
Speaker 2: you food.
37:25
Speaker 3: There's no way in the world they can commercialize Thanksgiving,
37:28
Speaker 3: but give them enough time, they'll probably work out a way.
37:31
Speaker 3: But it's kind of a home and fireplace and hearth
37:34
Speaker 3: and family and it's cozy and you.
37:37
Speaker 2: Get all those great things, plus a cowboy game. It's
37:40
Speaker 2: all there. It's just great. It has all the stuff.
37:45
Speaker 3: Now, How can you explain a young couple? How can
37:49
Speaker 3: you explain a young couple? He gets a graduate degree.
37:53
Speaker 3: She gets her degree. They begin, they have a baby,
37:56
Speaker 3: then another baby. And they're just getting started. Fine practice
38:00
Speaker 3: or a fine profession or a fine job. And suddenly
38:04
Speaker 3: they announced to mom.
38:05
Speaker 2: And dad, they're gone. Where are you going to go? Well,
38:07
Speaker 2: we're going to go to Spain. Why are you going
38:10
Speaker 2: to go to Spain? Going to go by faith. Yeah,
38:14
Speaker 2: but look at all you've got here.
38:15
Speaker 3: We just helped you get into your house, paid $ 25, 000
38:18
Speaker 3: down payment. We got you moved in. We got you going.
38:21
Speaker 3: We got good medical help here.
38:22
Speaker 2: Why do you want to go to Spain? God's calling
38:25
Speaker 2: us to Spain. But look, they don't have any good
38:28
Speaker 2: movies in Spain.
38:29
Speaker 3: Have you seen the cars they drive in Spain?
38:33
Speaker 2: Do you know what they eat in Spain? Do you
38:35
Speaker 2: know what they talk in Spain?
38:39
Speaker 4: Yeah.
38:40
Speaker 2: Well, we've got to go to language school. You're kidding.
38:44
Speaker 1: No.
38:47
Speaker 4: Why?
38:48
Speaker 3: Because that's where God wants us. How can you explain
38:52
Speaker 3: to a couple that'll do that? Pull up roots, go
38:54
Speaker 3: over there, and it could be anywhere. The bush in Ethiopia,
38:58
Speaker 3: in the middle of Europe, in the southernmost tip of
39:01
Speaker 3: South America, in the heart of Canada, in the Indian
39:06
Speaker 3: plant reservation, right in the heart of America. How can
39:10
Speaker 3: you explain to a couple that'll leave all the good
39:12
Speaker 3: stuff You ask them, they'll say, because we're going to
39:17
Speaker 3: the better. Am I saying it's for everybody? No, but
39:22
Speaker 3: I'm saying it's for many. But the battle is leaving Egypt.
39:31
Speaker 2: It's a risk of faith. It's tough. Because it's born
39:38
Speaker 2: and bred in us to hang on to stuff.
39:43
Speaker 3: You know, if you went home today and your place
39:45
Speaker 3: had burned down to the absolute bottom, just absolute concrete shit,
39:50
Speaker 3: slab and black rubble, you know that nothing of value
39:53
Speaker 3: would have burned up if all the lives in that
39:56
Speaker 3: home had been saved. Because you've got relationships and you've
40:00
Speaker 3: got memory.
40:03
Speaker 2: And you build everything from there. He left Egypt. He
40:09
Speaker 2: burnt the bridges. He didn't fear the wrath of the king.
40:12
Speaker 2: He took off.
40:13
Speaker 3: I love the way one man put it. We live
40:16
Speaker 3: by faith or we do not live at all. Either
40:18
Speaker 3: we venture or we vegetate. We risk or we rust.
40:27
Speaker 3: There's no Sphinx in Egypt today because Moses left Egypt.
40:32
Speaker 3: Who needs Egypt when God says, there's an exodus in
40:37
Speaker 3: my plan? If you're committed to Egypt more than an exodus,
40:44
Speaker 3: you're not committed to God. Now there's a third, and
40:50
Speaker 3: I think of the three, it's pretty close to my favorite.
40:54
Speaker 3: He was willing to do the unusual. He refused sinful.
41:04
Speaker 2: Pleasures. He left the familiar. But look at verse 28.
41:10
Speaker 2: Picture it.
41:11
Speaker 3: Act like there's never been a Passover, because when he
41:14
Speaker 3: did it, there hadn't ever been. He kept the Passover
41:17
Speaker 3: and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who
41:19
Speaker 3: destroyed the firstborn might not touch them.
41:22
Speaker 2: You know the story?
41:24
Speaker 3: Moses had come to Pharaoh time after time after time saying, let.
41:28
Speaker 2: My people go, let my people go. He wouldn't do it. Finally,
41:33
Speaker 2: God said to Moses, I'm going to send a death angel.
41:35
Speaker 2: He'll let them go.
41:37
Speaker 3: I'll strike every home except one special group of homes. Now,
41:43
Speaker 3: I'm not going to tell you where I'm reading or
41:44
Speaker 3: from what version. I just want you to hear it.
41:47
Speaker 2: Listen.
41:48
Speaker 3: It's what they were supposed to do if they were
41:50
Speaker 3: going to be preserved from death. The animals you choose
41:55
Speaker 3: must be year-old males without defect. Take care of them
41:59
Speaker 3: until the 14th day of the month when all the
42:01
Speaker 3: people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.
42:06
Speaker 3: Then they are to take some of the blood and
42:09
Speaker 3: put it on the sides of and the tops of
42:13
Speaker 3: the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.
42:18
Speaker 3: The same night they're to eat the meat roasted over
42:20
Speaker 3: the fire along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast.
42:24
Speaker 3: Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water,
42:26
Speaker 3: but roast it over the fire, head, legs, and inner parts.
42:32
Speaker 2: Still listening?
42:33
Speaker 3: This is brand new stuff. It had never been done before.
42:37
Speaker 3: Do not leave any of it till the morning. If
42:38
Speaker 3: some is left till morning, burn it. This is how
42:42
Speaker 3: you're to eat it, with your cloak tucked under your belt,
42:45
Speaker 3: your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.
42:49
Speaker 2: Eat it in haste. Sounds like Tommy's, you know. Eat
42:56
Speaker 2: it in haste. It's the Lord's Passover. Wasn't Tommy's by
43:01
Speaker 2: any means.
43:02
Speaker 3: On the same night, I'll pass through Egypt and I'll
43:04
Speaker 3: strike down every firstborn.
43:07
Speaker 2: But you have your staff in your hand. You have
43:08
Speaker 2: your cloak under your belt. You have your sandals on.
43:11
Speaker 2: You be ready to run. Because I'm coming. And you're
43:16
Speaker 2: going to hear them screaming. But you got blood on
43:19
Speaker 2: your door. And I'll pass over you. You got to
43:29
Speaker 2: be kidding.
43:32
Speaker 1: Blood? Yeah.
43:33
Speaker 4: Yeah.
43:37
Speaker 2: Maybe my blood? No. Lamb's blood. Lamb's blood. You're telling
43:44
Speaker 2: me that I don't even have to lock my door?
43:47
Speaker 3: Don't lock your door. Now here's a guy with an
43:50
Speaker 3: advanced degree in hieroglyphics. He graduated from the Temple of
43:53
Speaker 3: the Sun. He's got a chest full of medals, and
43:56
Speaker 3: he's out there smearing blood on the side.
43:58
Speaker 2: Of his door and on the top of his door.
44:01
Speaker 2: What are you doing? I'm keeping the death angel away.
44:04
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
44:06
Speaker 5: Yeah.
44:07
Speaker 2: Sure.
44:10
Speaker 3: Can you imagine? I mean, we look at that like
44:13
Speaker 3: it was high and holy. And indeed it was.
44:15
Speaker 2: Of course, in principle it was.
44:17
Speaker 3: But imagine the mockery that these Hebrews lived with by
44:21
Speaker 3: people that weren't going to do that. Death angel coming.
44:25
Speaker 3: I'm closing the windows. I'm taking a trip. We're getting
44:29
Speaker 3: together with a bunch of people down at the gym.
44:30
Speaker 3: I mean, there's stone walls down there. Well, we're just
44:36
Speaker 3: putting blood on our door.
44:39
Speaker 4: Why?
44:40
Speaker 3: Because, sounds unusual, but God says if we sprinkle blood here,
44:49
Speaker 3: death won't come in. That night, the screaming started. It
44:55
Speaker 3: came from Memphis and swept all the way up through
44:58
Speaker 3: the valley toward the land of Goshen. You never heard
45:03
Speaker 3: such screaming. Kids dying like flies. And here is this
45:09
Speaker 3: little Hebrew couple standing there with a staff and a
45:14
Speaker 3: cloak and sandals and roasted lamb.
45:19
Speaker 2: About to make an exodus. What an unusual thing. There's
45:28
Speaker 2: no tradition to fall back on. How could he do it?
45:35
Speaker 3: He could do it the same way Noah could nail
45:37
Speaker 3: nails into the ark and there had never been a rain.
45:40
Speaker 3: He could do it the same way Abraham and Sarah
45:42
Speaker 3: could go out to look for a city that had
45:44
Speaker 3: a foundation whose builder and maker was God and they
45:46
Speaker 3: had never been to the land of Canaan.
45:49
Speaker 2: He could do it because God said do it.
45:57
Speaker 3: My friend, there's no hocus pocus in this talk. This
46:01
Speaker 3: isn't a talk addressed to preachers. or missionaries per se.
46:06
Speaker 3: This is to people just like us, just everyday garden
46:10
Speaker 3: variety folks, young and old alike, single and married, retired
46:15
Speaker 3: and youthful. All cross-section of America can apply this.
46:22
Speaker 2: In three areas. What about you in all of this?
46:29
Speaker 3: You know, I haven't let you stay out of the
46:30
Speaker 3: picture entirely, but let's put you right in the center
46:33
Speaker 3: of the picture.
46:36
Speaker 2: Here's the first.
46:36
Speaker 3: To have the discernment it takes to refuse the sinful,
46:41
Speaker 3: faith must overshadow my feelings.
46:43
Speaker 2: Let me say it again.
46:46
Speaker 3: To have the discernment it takes to refuse the sinful,
46:51
Speaker 3: my faith must overshadow my feelings. My feelings say run.
46:57
Speaker 3: Faith says stand still. My feelings say try it. Faith
47:02
Speaker 3: says stay away from it. My feelings say, can't you
47:06
Speaker 3: remember the Academy Award winning song?
47:08
Speaker 2: If it feels so good, how could it be wrong?
47:12
Speaker 3: Or if it's so right, how can it be wrong?
47:17
Speaker 3: I mean, it feels right.
47:19
Speaker 2: It feels right. We're in a day of feelings. Whatever
47:22
Speaker 2: you feel like, get at it. Faith says, hold it.
47:31
Speaker 2: You've come to a fork in the road. If you
47:34
Speaker 2: take that journey, you're going to buy a lifestyle that
47:41
Speaker 2: is wrong. Back up. Look again.
47:48
Speaker 3: Some of you are right there. Some of you have
47:54
Speaker 3: made the choice. It's time to back up. It takes discernment.
48:02
Speaker 2: You can do it.
48:04
Speaker 3: Second, to have the determination it takes to leave the familiar, faith.
48:09
Speaker 2: Must be my security.
48:16
Speaker 3: To have the determination it takes to leave the familiar,
48:19
Speaker 3: faith must be my security. That's how come you can
48:24
Speaker 3: have a Larry and Rhonda Satig and two kids over
48:27
Speaker 3: there in Spain secure. even though they had whatever you
48:31
Speaker 3: could name right here going for them. And I could
48:35
Speaker 3: name three dozen other couples and more represented by our assembly.
48:44
Speaker 3: Their faith has become their security. Their walk with God
48:48
Speaker 3: is their security.
48:50
Speaker 2: Not where they live. Remember Corrie Ten Boom's words?
48:53
Speaker 3: I'll give them to you one more time. I've learned
48:56
Speaker 3: to hold precious things loosely. because it hurts when God
49:00
Speaker 3: pries my fingers and takes them from me. You hold
49:05
Speaker 3: your children loosely. Give of thy sons to bear the
49:10
Speaker 3: message glorious. Give of thy wealth to speed them on
49:12
Speaker 3: their way. Pour out thy soul for them in.
49:14
Speaker 2: Prayer victorious, and all thou spendest Jesus will repay.
49:19
Speaker 3: You rearing your children to keep or to give sometime
49:24
Speaker 3: the kid's greatest battle in getting to the field his.
49:27
Speaker 2: Parents and won't let him go give them what a
49:34
Speaker 2: tremendous investment.
49:38
Speaker 3: Determination it takes to leave the familiar means that my
49:42
Speaker 3: faith must be my security.
49:43
Speaker 2: Here's the third.
49:45
Speaker 3: To have the discipline it takes to do the unusual,
49:49
Speaker 3: faith must silence the critics. You're going to have critics.
49:55
Speaker 3: You're going to have to have discipline to take that
49:57
Speaker 3: journey and to live with the mockery. You're going to
50:03
Speaker 3: have to have the kind of discipline it takes that says,
50:06
Speaker 3: Lord God, you've told me that's the journey to take,
50:08
Speaker 3: that's the way to walk. My critics are getting louder
50:12
Speaker 3: and more in number and closer.
50:15
Speaker 2: Silence them.
50:19
Speaker 3: Elton Trueblood said, Faith is not belief without proof, but
50:23
Speaker 3: trust without reservation. He refused, he left, the third word
50:30
Speaker 3: to circle, he kept.
50:35
Speaker 2: He kept the Passover. What do you need to refuse?
50:42
Speaker 2: What do you need to leave? What do you need
50:45
Speaker 2: to keep?
50:48
Speaker 3: Everybody puts on these clothes in different ways, but everybody
50:52
Speaker 3: has all three to deal with.
50:58
Speaker 2: So do I. Tell you the truth. I want to
51:05
Speaker 2: live my.
51:05
Speaker 3: Life so deep, just deep enough to say I am
51:10
Speaker 3: eternally committed to my Savior, but so available and free
51:18
Speaker 3: to Him.
51:20
Speaker 2: That all it takes is a whisper, whisper, and I'm gone.
51:30
Speaker 2: And that for my children and my wife.
51:37
Speaker 3: I want that for us as a congregation, as a
51:40
Speaker 3: people of God. I'm aware that some of you are
51:44
Speaker 3: going through tremendous tests.
51:51
Speaker 2: It's very hard to.
51:52
Speaker 3: Go through that kind of test. But I want to
51:58
Speaker 3: challenge you as your pastor and as your friend that
52:02
Speaker 3: you remember your God.
52:07
Speaker 2: In the hard times.
52:12
Speaker 3: You wouldn't have planned your life the way it's uncovered,
52:15
Speaker 3: but it's happened.
52:17
Speaker 2: What he takes or what he gives us.
52:20
Speaker 3: Shows the Father's love so precious. It's been a long
52:27
Speaker 3: time since there has been true thanksgiving flowing from the table.
52:33
Speaker 2: Or the hearth of your home.
52:37
Speaker 1: Perhaps.
52:41
Speaker 2: Maybe it's time for that. Unusual. Not as unusual as
52:48
Speaker 2: the Passover, but unusual. Because at hard times, people complain
52:56
Speaker 2: and fight.
52:59
Speaker 3: I challenge you today to make your platform a platform
53:04
Speaker 3: of praise. And just open your heart to God and
53:15
Speaker 3: praise for what he's taken as well as for what
53:19
Speaker 3: he's given. For your future that seems so uncertain as
53:26
Speaker 3: well as the security of your past. Just give him praise.
53:35
Speaker 3: That means you give him first place.
53:39
Speaker 2: In everything.
53:44
Speaker 3: I'd like us to bow together, please. I appreciate your listening.
53:52
Speaker 3: I know I'm hard to listen to today, and I
53:54
Speaker 3: appreciate your attention. I'd like to think you've listened to
54:00
Speaker 3: the truth.
54:00
Speaker 2: Of God's word.
54:06
Speaker 3: I really feel the need right now to ask you
54:11
Speaker 3: to do a little searching. For some of you, it's
54:16
Speaker 3: long overdue. You've gone down that road, and to come
54:22
Speaker 3: back and do it all right, it's going to be hard.
54:27
Speaker 3: You're deciding now whether it's worth it. If you could
54:33
Speaker 3: put yourself in the skin of any Bible character, let
54:37
Speaker 3: me ask you to put yourself in the skin of Moses.
54:42
Speaker 2: Consider what he gave up. And what he got in return.
54:48
Speaker 2: A monument in Egypt. A temporal sphinx or pyramid. A
54:57
Speaker 2: reward in heaven. Trust Christ. Trust Christ today. Give him
55:09
Speaker 2: your most priceless possession. First your life. Than all that
55:16
Speaker 2: you are. By faith.
55:25
Speaker 4: May we bow together this evening. I pray Lord that
55:29
Speaker 4: you would purify us. As your people.
55:33
Speaker 2: You would make us jealous.
55:38
Speaker 4: Hot after the heart of God. Make us very concerned
55:44
Speaker 4: about the. the details of our faith, so that we
55:48
Speaker 4: are a discerning people, not captured by the wind and
55:52
Speaker 4: the current and the flow of our times. Lord, I
56:00
Speaker 4: pray that you would stir us up, give us conviction,
56:05
Speaker 4: strength of character, inward courage, first as individuals and then
56:13
Speaker 4: as corporate members of your body, I pray tonight, especially
56:17
Speaker 4: for those that are lonely, those who long to find companionship,
56:23
Speaker 4: direction in life, the love of a friend or a mate,
56:29
Speaker 4: how I pray that you would give them in the
56:31
Speaker 4: quiet times of their lives that solid consistency linked directly
56:39
Speaker 4: with your word. And from that source only, may they
56:43
Speaker 4: find their encouragement and peace. Guide and guard, dear Father,
56:52
Speaker 4: as we have heard this information from your word, may
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Speaker 4: we be very faithful to implement what we have heard.
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Speaker 4: We commit to you our week and our lives tonight, Father.
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Speaker 4: Through Jesus, our Lord, we pray. Amen.
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Speaker 5: The preceding message, Moses' Faith Moses Choices and Me was
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Speaker 5: copyrighted in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1998, and 2024, and
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Speaker 5: the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles Arswendal, Inc.
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Speaker 5: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
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Speaker 5: commercial use is strictly prohibited.