back to index2021-02-21 Moses story of Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches to Rags to Riches
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You can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 23. 00:00:14.920 |
And we're going to be reading up to verse 26. 00:00:18.000 |
So it's really going to be a two-part sermon about Moses, which will go down all to 29. 00:00:23.800 |
But I'm just going to read from 23 to 26 because those are the verses that we'll be dealing 00:00:31.280 |
Reading out of the NASB, it says, "By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three 00:00:35.280 |
months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid 00:00:41.820 |
By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 00:00:46.800 |
choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing 00:00:53.160 |
Considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he 00:01:00.680 |
Heavenly Father, we pray for continued grace and guidance. 00:01:05.900 |
May your words speak to us, cause us to understand your intention, not only to know, Father God, 00:01:14.160 |
the historical events, but what you desire for us. 00:01:19.880 |
See if there's any hurtful ways in us that our worship that we give to you may truly 00:01:28.400 |
Alright, so now we're at Moses' example of faith, the cloud of witnesses that he has 00:01:34.680 |
established before us in chapter 11, not only to show us what happened in the record of 00:01:40.000 |
the redemptive history in the Old Testament through the nation of Israel, but specifically 00:01:44.680 |
in application, he says, "Considering the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us 00:01:48.000 |
that we would also endure and live a life worthy of the calling that he has given us." 00:01:54.040 |
This, just to give you a brief introduction, is probably somebody that we know better than 00:01:58.420 |
anybody else in the Old Testament, simply because so much was written during his lifetime. 00:02:04.360 |
His lifespan is mentioned in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 00:02:12.880 |
And so he was the leader and establishment of leadership, giving of the law. 00:02:18.680 |
In fact, he's so prominent in the Old Testament that during the time of Jesus, they would 00:02:24.880 |
call the Old Testament Moses and the prophets. 00:02:28.620 |
So Moses and the prophets basically summarize all of the Old Testament. 00:02:31.560 |
We call it Old Testament, they called it the laws of Moses and the prophets. 00:02:37.600 |
You know, one of the interesting things is that Moses is credited to be the author of 00:02:41.520 |
the first five books of the law, the Torah, the law. 00:02:45.840 |
And within that law, Moses describes himself in Numbers 12, 3 as being the humblest of 00:02:55.120 |
And so a lot of people poke fun of him because he wrote that about himself. 00:02:58.680 |
And it's like, "Oh, he couldn't help it because God dictated that, and so he was just writing 00:03:04.000 |
So he didn't really mean it, but God told him to write it." 00:03:05.360 |
And so a lot of people don't know what to do with that, that it was kind of a humble 00:03:16.240 |
But I really think that he meant what he said, but the way that we take it is humble, kind 00:03:21.920 |
of like, "Oh, you know, I'm no good at anything. 00:03:26.600 |
I don't think that's what he's talking about. 00:03:28.680 |
I think he really was humbled because he's described as an individual who met God. 00:03:37.500 |
And even though it wasn't face to face, as God was passing by, he saw his glory and he 00:03:46.280 |
So there was no other human being that was given that kind of vision, that kind of direct 00:03:56.280 |
So when he says he was the humblest in the world, that wasn't a humble brag, right? 00:04:03.080 |
It's a testimony, but you're really bragging about yourself. 00:04:05.960 |
He said, "No, I think he was actually humbled." 00:04:11.760 |
That in the presence of God's glory, he realized who he was. 00:04:17.120 |
And that's naturally what happens when people are confronted or in the presence of a God 00:04:22.480 |
that they could not possibly imagine, they become humble. 00:04:27.240 |
And that's why a Christian who is filled with pride is an oxymoron. 00:04:32.500 |
Because naturally, when we are confronted by his glory, we become humble, right? 00:04:43.000 |
In the presence of him, we all tend to shut our mouth, right? 00:04:49.640 |
That's the natural response of a sinner in the presence of God's glory. 00:04:52.820 |
And I think that's what he meant when he said he is the humblest, because he had access 00:05:00.280 |
Moses lived 120 years, and of the 120 years, his life is divided into distinct three parts. 00:05:07.080 |
40 years in Pharaoh's house, 40 years as a shepherd, and 40 years leading the nation 00:05:14.920 |
So it's almost like he lived three very distinct lives. 00:05:19.240 |
You know, when I title my sermons, I usually don't put a lot of thought into it. 00:05:23.040 |
I just kind of put, you know, "Faith of Jacob," right? 00:05:28.080 |
And that's usually, I don't really put a lot of thought into it, because I don't know how 00:05:32.440 |
But I actually had a sermon title, and I changed it, because I think really, it's really captured 00:05:38.960 |
Moses' story is from rags to riches, to rags to riches, to rags to riches, right? 00:05:46.040 |
And so I think that kind of captures his life, because he was born as a slave, the rags, 00:05:51.360 |
and then he was raised in Pharaoh's home, to riches. 00:05:54.640 |
And then because of what happens, he ends up going out as a shepherd, to rags. 00:05:58.880 |
And then God calls him and raises him to be leader of Israel, to riches. 00:06:02.900 |
And then they come out into the desert, and they wander because of their sin, to rags. 00:06:07.520 |
And then when he dies, God raises him up to his riches. 00:06:10.860 |
So it's rags to riches, rags to riches, to rags to riches. 00:06:14.040 |
I mean, you know, most people, like even just one, if you're born really poor, and then 00:06:19.500 |
you buy hard work, or whatever God did, and raised you up, that's enough to write a book 00:06:25.580 |
Or somebody was really rich, and he made some dumb decision, and ended up living in poverty. 00:06:31.280 |
But Moses' life is rags to riches, to rags to riches, to rags to riches. 00:06:43.040 |
And as we've been talking about, by faith, and we know that there are very specific people, 00:06:48.400 |
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and how God's redemptive plan, God's sovereignty 00:06:59.380 |
And I think not only Moses' life, but our life can be summed up in Romans 8, 28. 00:07:03.980 |
It says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those 00:07:08.740 |
who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." 00:07:14.700 |
You might be able to identify when you became a Christian, right? 00:07:18.980 |
And I realize that my testimony is not average, you know, because I know specifically what 00:07:33.700 |
And I just thought that that's kind of how everybody became a Christian. 00:07:36.700 |
But I realize that most people just kind of are in the environment of Christians, and 00:07:41.740 |
at some point, something happens, but they can't pinpoint exactly when that happens. 00:07:45.940 |
However, you came to Christ, whether you remember the specific date and time where you made 00:07:52.940 |
that decision where God opened your eyes, or whether it was a gradual opening and you 00:07:57.220 |
said, "Yes, you know, God really is real, and I want to follow him." 00:08:01.100 |
However you came to Christ, there was a ton of other things that was taking place in order 00:08:08.060 |
You know, when I became a Christian, I thought my spiritual journey happened in 1983, you 00:08:12.660 |
know, because that's when my eyes got opened. 00:08:14.580 |
So I didn't really connect the dots until years later I realized how much of my family 00:08:22.340 |
and how the gospel came into my family through my grand...not my grandfather, my great-grandmother, 00:08:28.780 |
because I asked my dad, "Who first became a Christian?" 00:08:30.980 |
And then I found out it was my great-grandmother, and then that was the line that it came through. 00:08:34.820 |
And then my grandfather was a pastor, and then my father was a pastor. 00:08:38.980 |
And I didn't see this heritage until years later I realized all of that took place in 00:08:44.780 |
order for me at that particular time, and all the other stuff, even the stuff that I 00:08:49.300 |
was angry about, all of that stuff took place in order to bring me to that point where I 00:08:53.540 |
was hungry, and when I desired God, you know, when he put that desire in me, that it was 00:09:01.340 |
Every single one of us, whether you recognize it or not, there's tons of things, some things 00:09:06.740 |
that you think are negative, some things that you think are positive, where God divinely 00:09:10.980 |
orchestrated in order to fulfill his purpose. 00:09:14.900 |
So the sovereign God is working past, present, and even future. 00:09:24.780 |
There's a purpose for everything that's going on right now. 00:09:28.500 |
Sometimes we understand it, sometimes we don't understand it. 00:09:30.820 |
But God's redemptive plan is in his sovereign hands. 00:09:35.460 |
He is deliberately orchestrating and moving and acting in order to fulfill his purpose. 00:09:41.020 |
That's why he can write the book of Revelations and tell us this is going to happen. 00:09:46.800 |
He's not just guessing and looking down the line and saying, "Well, if these happen," 00:09:49.980 |
and he just happened to be a great, great fortune teller. 00:09:53.300 |
He's looking down the line, "If these things can happen, if these people react this way, 00:09:57.180 |
and this country does this, so many missionaries go out, at this particular time, this might 00:10:03.180 |
No, he's telling us that's what he's going to do. 00:10:06.100 |
He's telling us what he's going to do, what his plan is, right? 00:10:09.560 |
So when we look at his redemptive plan, that's exactly how God's redemptive plan unfolds. 00:10:15.340 |
These are not random events that happen to happen because there are some good Christians 00:10:19.440 |
or good people who reacted to God a certain way, and so therefore it triggered this and 00:10:24.620 |
All of that stuff humanly is happening, but behind the scene, God is fully in control 00:10:32.740 |
We see that first and foremost with Moses, right? 00:10:36.840 |
It says in verse 23, "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by 00:10:42.020 |
his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's 00:10:48.100 |
First and foremost, he said it wasn't even Moses' faith. 00:10:54.540 |
Moses wasn't born and then he realized, "You know what? 00:10:59.620 |
By faith he told his parents to hide him so that he can be raised in a fairer home. 00:11:05.060 |
This faith journey started way before he was even born. 00:11:10.620 |
In fact, it goes even further than that, right? 00:11:20.100 |
The new pharaoh came in who completely forgets about Joseph and he decides to enslave them, 00:11:27.200 |
but these slaves are just, you know, remember we talked about how Joseph, even in trouble, 00:11:31.420 |
God's blessing was upon him and he was increasing in favor? 00:11:34.660 |
And that's exactly what's happening with the nation of Israel. 00:11:37.300 |
Even as they are enslaved, as it was prophesied and told Abraham hundreds of years before, 00:11:44.620 |
And even in their suffering, God's blessing is upon them and they're increasing in number. 00:11:49.580 |
The new pharaoh becomes paranoid that they're going to be too huge to be able to control. 00:11:54.740 |
So he has this idea, he sends out an edict and says, "You know, these midwives who are 00:11:58.180 |
going to deliver these babies," he orders them to kill all the male Hebrew children 00:12:05.180 |
The midwives in Exodus chapter 1, 4-5 said because they feared God more than Pharaoh, 00:12:10.960 |
that instead of killing these children, they allowed them to live. 00:12:15.380 |
And so obviously the pharaoh gets angry and calls the midwives and says, "Why are you 00:12:20.100 |
And they could have been killed by that, but by God's wisdom they said, "Well, we can't 00:12:24.780 |
get there fast enough because these Hebrew women are delivering so quickly. 00:12:29.180 |
As soon as we hear of it, the baby's out and they're gone." 00:12:33.740 |
Which is probably true, and that's why they were growing in number. 00:12:37.700 |
So it wasn't even the parents' faith, even the midwives. 00:12:45.140 |
So they make an edict, they tell all the soldiers to go find the baby boys and kill them themselves, 00:12:54.240 |
So that's when his parents, by faith, because they feared God more than Pharaoh, more than 00:12:58.460 |
their own lives, they hide him and then eventually they put him down and then they send him out. 00:13:04.540 |
But you know what's interesting is, if you look at verse 23, it says, "By faith Moses, 00:13:10.380 |
when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents." 00:13:19.900 |
And they were not afraid of the king's edict. 00:13:31.820 |
Remember when we do inductive Bible study, if something just doesn't sound right or it 00:13:37.540 |
doesn't make sense, before you jump to the commentaries, look at the different translations. 00:13:44.220 |
We're studying the NASB, and the versions that I look at are usually NIB, ESV, and King 00:13:51.980 |
And the reason why I look at those translations is that all three, those translations have 00:13:56.580 |
different philosophies in their interpretation. 00:13:59.140 |
NASB being the literal, NIB just kind of trying to make sense of doing both. 00:14:05.260 |
ESV is kind of somewhere between NIB and the NASB, and then King James is, "I don't care." 00:14:13.460 |
So when you compare the translations, you'll see there's something going on in the Greek 00:14:17.340 |
that couldn't be translated exactly the way we understand it. 00:14:21.700 |
If you look at this verse, the NIB says it this way, "By faith Moses, Moses' parents, 00:14:27.740 |
hid him for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child." 00:14:32.540 |
Now that doesn't sound exactly like beautiful. 00:14:36.220 |
And in the King James it says, "Because they saw he was a proper child." 00:14:41.260 |
So clearly there's something going on in the Greek that doesn't sound the same in the English. 00:14:49.220 |
And the word "asteou" basically means someone who is sophisticated, someone who is honorable, 00:14:55.300 |
someone who may be set apart, different than the others. 00:15:01.220 |
He wasn't like, "Wow, look at this, how symmetrical his eyes and nose are, and so he must be preserved." 00:15:08.460 |
There was something about the child that set him apart from the other children. 00:15:18.260 |
Just as God made it very clear to Abraham what was about to happen. 00:15:23.540 |
He says, "He prophesied from the very beginning of this covenant promise that you're going 00:15:28.860 |
to be in captivity for 400 years, and when you come out, that I'm going to make you prosperous." 00:15:33.620 |
So this event is the beginning of the nation of Israel, what was prophesied from the very beginning. 00:15:40.780 |
And so that covenant promise is being passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph, 00:15:53.280 |
In Amos 3, verse 7, it says, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret 00:16:01.060 |
And I believe that's exactly what was going on. 00:16:03.100 |
The prophecy was being passed down that God was going to use Moses to deliver the nation 00:16:12.100 |
And eventually Moses will find out about it, and then he will also carry this out. 00:16:16.060 |
John Calvin says of this particular passage, this is what he says, "The parents of Moses 00:16:20.780 |
were not induced by his beauty to be touched with pity and save him, as men are commonly 00:16:26.780 |
But there was some sort of mark of excellence to come engraved on the boy which gave promise 00:16:35.140 |
So again, it wasn't just aesthetically, because he was aesthetically beautiful. 00:16:39.180 |
God's sovereign hands was upon him and his family, because not only was he to save Israel, 00:16:45.500 |
establish Israel, but through that, God was going to save mankind. 00:16:49.840 |
So the promise that he made in Genesis, that a child of the woman who's going to come crush 00:16:54.580 |
the head of the serpent, that's what we're studying is the history of God fulfilling 00:17:01.980 |
He's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming. 00:17:04.340 |
And then, but before that happens, the nation of Israel needs to be established. 00:17:10.540 |
When you see just the, you know, what happens with Moses is 40 years, 40 years, 40 years, 00:17:14.940 |
you don't, you know, you still see God's sovereign hands, but when you see it collectively, that 00:17:19.740 |
everything that is happening, the good and the bad, God works together all things for 00:17:26.140 |
good, all things for good, not some things we understand, some things that say, "Oh, 00:17:32.420 |
Even the things that we think are horrible, God is working all things for good to accomplish 00:17:41.220 |
In fact, you know, what's interesting is Exodus chapter 2, 6, 3, 8, it describes for us how 00:17:48.540 |
So the parents put him in a crib or a little box and, you know, pass him down through the 00:17:56.620 |
river and it goes down and his older sister Miriam, who was somewhere around 11 or 12 00:18:01.180 |
years old, no one knows exactly, but they're guessing that that's about how old she is. 00:18:05.460 |
She follows the basket and then sees the Pharaoh's daughter was taking a bath down and then she 00:18:10.580 |
sees the basket, opens it up and sees a child. 00:18:13.100 |
And here's the encounter that's recorded in Exodus chapter 2, 6, 3, 8. 00:18:17.620 |
When she opened it, the Pharaoh's daughter, she saw the child and behold, the boy was 00:18:21.180 |
crying and she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew's children." 00:18:25.860 |
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, right, his sister, meaning Miriam, "Shall 00:18:30.980 |
I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women?" 00:18:35.420 |
I wonder who she was thinking about when she was suggesting this, right? 00:18:39.860 |
Clearly, you're Pharaoh's daughter, you can't, you know, nurse this child. 00:18:44.620 |
You want me as your servant, get somebody to help you raise this child? 00:18:52.380 |
Obviously she's thinking about her mother, the mother sacrificing and let the baby go 00:18:56.940 |
and God in his sovereign hands, right, causes the baby to be raised. 00:19:05.060 |
So the girl went and called the child's mother. 00:19:08.820 |
Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me and I 00:19:18.060 |
Not only does she get to nurse her own child, she's going to get paid by Pharaoh's daughter 00:19:24.540 |
to raise her own child that she sent down the river probably thinking, you know, and 00:19:30.020 |
worried and God sends the baby back with money, right? 00:19:36.580 |
And so the Pharaoh's daughter basically says, "Raise him until I don't have to deal with 00:19:40.660 |
his snots," you know, and then changes diaper. 00:19:43.420 |
Of course, they didn't have diapers back then. 00:19:45.140 |
But basically do the hard part, okay, and then bring him back when I can enjoy him. 00:19:49.540 |
So we don't know exactly how old because it doesn't tell us, but my guess is, you know, 00:19:53.980 |
anybody who's raised kids around five, they become easier, right? 00:19:59.460 |
And then just skip the teenage years, you know what I mean? 00:20:04.220 |
We don't know exactly how many years, but it was enough. 00:20:06.820 |
And I'm pretty sure Pharaoh's mom was not eager to send him away. 00:20:11.740 |
So she probably held on to him as long as she could. 00:20:14.580 |
But can you imagine the education that he must have gotten from his mom? 00:20:17.740 |
Because his parents already knew that he was special, right? 00:20:22.740 |
But to the degree that God made it plain to them that he was beautiful, he was set apart, 00:20:28.860 |
And then they find out a little bit later that he knew a lot more than what we thought, 00:20:35.780 |
So God sovereignly, this is not planned by man. 00:20:39.300 |
Like in the midst of the Pharaoh trying to kill this child, Pharaoh's daughter ends up 00:20:44.380 |
bringing him into, right, into the very thing that he was trying to eradicate. 00:20:49.660 |
He ends up bringing the child into his home, paying the mother to raise this child, right? 00:20:55.620 |
Only God can orchestrate something like that, right? 00:21:02.180 |
And it is in this sovereign God that Abraham had faith in. 00:21:08.300 |
If the God that you worship is a tiny God, right, it will be reflected in the way that 00:21:17.540 |
You will trust him when he is trustable, when he makes sense, when your future is laid out, 00:21:24.180 |
when everything makes sense, the bills are paid, and everything is done that I can take 00:21:28.100 |
care of, and only the things that I have no control over, it's like, "God, I trust you." 00:21:34.300 |
Because you don't have ability to trust yourself because everything is done. 00:21:37.100 |
So that's why when we get sick, we lose our job, when desperate things happen, God's like, 00:21:44.300 |
"God, we need you, but every other time I can take care of myself." 00:21:49.460 |
It's because we have a very small view of God. 00:21:52.180 |
See, when you look at redemptive history, God is far beyond what you and I could possibly 00:21:59.860 |
And God has orchestrated all of this, and it is this God that Moses knew. 00:22:05.980 |
And that's why it says in Psalm 24, "By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called 00:22:18.660 |
They're not just low middle class or lower class, they're slaves, they don't own anything. 00:22:26.140 |
You can work hard as you can, and you might be given some responsibility, but as a slave, 00:22:31.140 |
there is no future for you, for your children, your grandchildren. 00:22:34.740 |
As long as you're a slave, the harder you work, you just work, that's it. 00:22:39.220 |
But he says, "Because he believed in this sovereign God, he refused to be called the 00:22:47.420 |
The son of Pharaoh's daughter, what it would have meant to be raised in Pharaoh's home. 00:22:51.380 |
That means everything that you and I can possibly imagine he had. 00:22:55.380 |
I would think his position is better than Pharaoh, because Pharaoh has to rule the country. 00:23:04.820 |
He has to worry about people trying to overthrow him. 00:23:07.380 |
If you're a child in a Pharaoh's home, you get to enjoy everything that the Pharaoh has 00:23:13.140 |
So I think that's a better position than the Pharaoh. 00:23:16.540 |
He had everything that a human being could possibly imagine, and he says he refused to 00:23:22.140 |
be called the Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people 00:23:26.820 |
of God than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin. 00:23:31.420 |
You can look at that and say, "Oh, he was very nationalistic. 00:23:33.780 |
He was so proud of being a Hebrew that he was willing to identify with the slaves rather 00:23:41.460 |
If you look at it on the surface, we may think that that's what's going on. 00:23:46.540 |
No wonder the Jews see him as the highest among the Jews. 00:23:50.620 |
But it says, "Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of 00:24:06.280 |
He said his reproach of Christ was greater than the treasures of Egypt. 00:24:13.260 |
Now we're going to get to this in a bit about what he means by the treasures of Christ or 00:24:16.820 |
reproach of Christ, and he was looking forward to the reward. 00:24:21.940 |
But Acts chapter 7, 22 to 25, actually explains a little bit more in detail exactly what Moses 00:24:29.820 |
And it describes the background behind why he was able to trust in this God and forsake 00:24:43.460 |
Right before he gets stoned, he basically gives redemptive history. 00:24:47.500 |
This is what's going on, and he basically is preaching the gospel. 00:24:49.900 |
And in the gospel preaching, he mentions Moses, and this is what he says in verse 22. 00:24:54.780 |
"Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in 00:25:01.440 |
But when he was approaching the age of 40, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, 00:25:07.860 |
And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance 00:25:13.100 |
for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptians." 00:25:16.520 |
"And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance from 00:25:41.180 |
But Stephen describes and says, when he stood, and he stood with the Hebrews, he said he 00:25:48.300 |
thought, he thought that the Hebrews would have understood that he was called to deliver 00:25:58.660 |
But what surprised him was, instead of thanking him, next time he comes out and says, "Well, 00:26:06.660 |
And he realized that they did not know, and they weren't embracing him as a leader. 00:26:12.260 |
And that's what discourages him and causes him to run out to the desert. 00:26:17.540 |
Doesn't that cause you to see the burning bush incident very differently? 00:26:21.820 |
Because when he's at the burning bush and God says, "I want you to go and tell Pharaoh 00:26:25.980 |
to let my people go," and Moses says, "No, no, no, not me. 00:26:43.900 |
Moses was not simply saying, "No, I'm humble. 00:26:48.260 |
It's like, because Moses knew that there was a calling in his life. 00:26:52.540 |
So by the time he gets the burning bush, God was calling him back. 00:26:58.540 |
You thought it was going to happen 40 years ago, but now is the time. 00:27:01.400 |
So when Moses said, "No," he was, in a sense, "I don't want that responsibility." 00:27:08.120 |
And that's why God became angry, because that's the reason why his parents did what they did. 00:27:14.320 |
That's the reason why he was raised at Pharaoh's house. 00:27:19.040 |
But he was discouraged because his countrymen didn't embrace him. 00:27:24.880 |
But obviously, God had different plans and he raised him, and he reconnects with this 00:27:28.440 |
God, and because he believed in the sovereign God, he did what was completely unnatural. 00:27:37.900 |
It's unnatural for a man, humanly speaking, who grew up in Pharaoh's house, to reject 00:27:47.840 |
If I was to drop this key, what do you think is going to happen? 00:28:03.800 |
Maybe if I keep doing it, something else is going to happen. 00:28:08.760 |
Maybe if I do it 100 times, maybe one of the times, at least one time, 1%, right? 00:28:15.000 |
I'm going to keep doing this until -- oh, did it again. 00:28:20.080 |
I can do this 1,000 times, and 1,000 times, we expect this to drop. 00:28:26.240 |
But if this doesn't drop and it goes up, how will you react? 00:28:36.320 |
Because you're going to think something's going on. 00:28:53.240 |
Something's going to cause you to examine what happened. 00:28:59.520 |
All of redemptive history is the key going up instead of down. 00:29:06.280 |
All of redemptive history is going against the natural events, and to look and say, what's 00:29:18.700 |
Whether God did it supernaturally, or whether he orchestrated certain things, and why certain 00:29:22.800 |
people responded in a way that was unnatural, all of redemptive history is a revelation 00:29:28.400 |
of God's glory that causes mankind to look at that and say, why did that go up? 00:29:34.760 |
Why did Moses forsake everything he had to identify with these Jews and live a difficult 00:29:45.440 |
The only answer that was given, he considered reproach of Christ greater than the treasures 00:29:55.440 |
He knew this sovereign God, and he believed that the promises that he made was much greater 00:30:02.240 |
than anything that he already had in Pharaoh, because whatever he had in Pharaoh was temporary. 00:30:10.120 |
Whatever treasure that he had with him is temporary, but what God was going to give 00:30:14.080 |
him is eternal, and that's why he says he was looking forward. 00:30:17.880 |
It wasn't simply because he was nationalistic. 00:30:26.080 |
He believed that the treasures that were coming was much greater than whatever he had in Christ. 00:30:34.280 |
You know, even as believers, sometimes our lives don't look any different than natural 00:30:41.880 |
law, because we do things that just come naturally. 00:30:45.920 |
You know, after being a pastor for so many years, I can watch the cycle, and it's predictable 00:30:54.400 |
What happens when you first come into college, eager to get out, enjoy life, enjoy freedom, 00:31:00.640 |
and then you regret it your second year, right? 00:31:03.880 |
Then you got to catch up, then you become a sophomore, sophomore, sophos, moranos, wise 00:31:10.440 |
You just have just some, just enough information to make you a fool, right? 00:31:15.200 |
And then by the time you get to third year, you start to gain knowledge. 00:31:18.400 |
You're a junior, but you're not a senior yet. 00:31:20.960 |
You don't quite know, but you're starting to know, and you're realizing, like, oh, shoot, 00:31:27.000 |
And then by senior year, you take 20, 30 units to get out, right? 00:31:34.080 |
You get out, you become a BAM member, and you're trying to struggle, and real life hits 00:31:41.420 |
And then you look fondly to your college life, only if I was back then, and then so I'm guessing 00:31:48.240 |
if you are a baby BAM, that your advice, whenever you see college students, is like, you ain't 00:31:55.000 |
And you can't stomach college students' complaints, and you got it easy, because life has hit 00:32:02.800 |
Nine to five, it's nine to five every day, all day, all week, all year, all decade. 00:32:23.360 |
And then after that, you start, you know, really, if you're a single adult making money, 00:32:30.120 |
you have more money than you'll ever have, right, unless you become filthy rich, but 00:32:33.960 |
most people, that's because you don't have a lot of responsibilities during that period. 00:32:37.880 |
And you have all the freedom that you want, because you're not married, you don't have 00:32:40.280 |
kids yet, and everybody envies you, right, worldly speaking, right? 00:32:48.720 |
But there's no other groups of people in life that is eagerly waiting to get out of that 00:33:01.760 |
Lord willing, you get to the next stage, you get married and have kids, right? 00:33:06.640 |
So if you don't have kids, it's like, when do we get kids? 00:33:11.480 |
And then when you do have kids, it's like, oh, my gosh, when are they going to grow up? 00:33:16.440 |
And then when they grow up, it's like, I wish they were kids again. 00:33:20.720 |
This cycle of life, it's like, that's natural. 00:33:23.680 |
You observe year after year after year, it's just a matter of you transitioning to the 00:33:28.760 |
next stage, and another person comes, they go through the same thing, another person 00:33:32.800 |
And that's why Solomon says there's nothing new under the sun. 00:33:37.320 |
Even sometimes the way we live our Christian life is predictable. 00:33:52.520 |
And so some find it in politics, some find it in religion, some find it in Hinduism, 00:34:00.160 |
some find it in Buddhism, some find it in Christianity. 00:34:03.580 |
But the root reason is because they want to belong somewhere. 00:34:10.900 |
Year after year, you observe, you know, you get certain kind of personalities gravitate 00:34:15.020 |
toward this, and certain people are like that, and certain people are like this, and it's 00:34:21.760 |
But what is beyond reason is what Christ did. 00:34:27.400 |
Because he didn't just tell us to love, because everybody, by natural law, a mother loves 00:34:40.520 |
Everybody, even people who hate Christ, practices some kind of law, some kind of love. 00:34:46.920 |
But the love that he showed us is while we were yet sinners. 00:35:01.640 |
So when he revealed his glory, it causes people to say, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 00:35:10.600 |
And then he called us to live a life against the natural law. 00:35:16.720 |
When he says to pick up your cross and follow me, a child who was born into this world, 00:35:36.960 |
And so he's already learned to survive from the get-go. 00:35:43.320 |
But Jesus said, "If you want to live, you have to die." 00:35:50.360 |
And Jesus, instead of walking to live better, he walked deliberately into Jerusalem to be 00:35:57.620 |
And he told his followers, "You follow me, too." 00:36:01.440 |
And so what he did was completely against the natural law. 00:36:05.520 |
And then he told his disciples to do the same. 00:36:08.840 |
You pick up your cross, you deny yourself, and you follow me, and the world is going 00:36:12.520 |
to look at you and say, "Why are you doing that? 00:36:26.000 |
If you do this, you're going to make so much more money. 00:36:29.640 |
Why would you pack up your bags and go to places that are uncomfortable? 00:36:34.920 |
And so the world is constantly looking at the Christian community, trying to figure 00:36:41.360 |
For majority of the Christians in the church, they can explain it, because it's a security 00:36:50.480 |
You're doing that because you have a sense of belonging. 00:36:53.180 |
You're doing that because that's your purpose. 00:36:55.020 |
You're doing that because you were raised in a Christian home. 00:36:57.620 |
You're doing that because of a certain nationality." 00:37:00.200 |
And so they explain it off, and you say, "Oh, that's why." 00:37:04.040 |
They just are looking for the natural law that you are functioning under. 00:37:08.520 |
But what God called us to do is to do something completely unnatural. 00:37:15.840 |
What the world does not understand and will not understand until we meet this Christ who 00:37:22.200 |
went outside the gate and forsook everything. 00:37:25.600 |
Being God himself, not considering equality with God, something to be grasped, but he 00:37:31.520 |
And he tells us to have the same mindset, that our witness is to be supernatural. 00:37:37.280 |
If we love those who are lovable, yeah, of course. 00:37:45.420 |
If you look for safety and comfort, yeah, that's natural. 00:37:57.760 |
We just happen to be Christian ambition, right? 00:38:03.440 |
You just happen to find it in this particular circle. 00:38:08.400 |
But everything that God calls us to do is unnatural. 00:38:16.680 |
So what Moses did, the only explanation for what Moses did was because he met a supernatural 00:38:33.720 |
That's why so many Christians live contrary to what the world understands. 00:38:40.600 |
Because what we value is far greater than whatever this world can offer. 00:38:47.600 |
First John 2, 16-17 says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust 00:38:52.200 |
of the flesh, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world. 00:38:56.560 |
The world is passing away, and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God lives 00:39:02.040 |
You notice here, whenever we talk about this passage, we have a tendency to focus on the 00:39:07.560 |
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and boastful pride of life. 00:39:10.720 |
Because we can easily say, "I'm not lusting." 00:39:15.640 |
Because with lust, we have an image of somebody who's just out of control. 00:39:19.920 |
It's an out of control passion they can't control. 00:39:24.560 |
Lust basically means powerful passion, something you're passionate about. 00:39:28.680 |
But the part that you and I should all pay attention to is the all. 00:39:39.000 |
We have a tendency to think that there's a part of things that we need to avoid, like 00:39:43.080 |
pornography, sexual immorality, killing, murder. 00:39:47.640 |
And so these are things that we know are no good. 00:39:51.080 |
And then we have the godly stuff, reading the Bible, making disciples, sharing the gospel. 00:39:56.960 |
But where you and I get into trouble is this whole part in the middle where we think God 00:40:05.800 |
Most of us don't get tripped up because of that. 00:40:09.400 |
Even though that is, you know, that trips us up too. 00:40:14.400 |
We get tripped up on all this other stuff in the middle that really have nothing to 00:40:21.760 |
But we get so entangled pursuing the natural law. 00:40:31.240 |
What's wrong with, you know, like all this stuff? 00:40:35.040 |
So we pour all our energy toward the neutral stuff that really has nothing to do with God. 00:40:40.960 |
And so by the time we get to this side of pursuing God, what we know to be godly, there's 00:40:48.960 |
The call to a Christian is to follow the unnatural law of Christ. 00:40:55.960 |
To pick up our cross and follow him as he went to the cross. 00:41:00.240 |
He's not simply telling us to sacrifice and live hard lives and suffer for the name of 00:41:05.600 |
He's simply telling us until you let go, until you let go, you will not understand what's 00:41:18.280 |
Moses did what he did because he saw a greater reward in Christ than he did with Pharaoh. 00:41:24.480 |
And why any Christian will follow Christ is for the same reason. 00:41:35.440 |
But again, if we're not careful, we're just following the natural law, just doing what's 00:41:41.080 |
Of course, I want my kids to have good morals and have friends and community, you know, 00:41:46.440 |
and to do things together and have a purpose. 00:41:48.520 |
And all of that stuff is good, but it's natural. 00:41:58.080 |
God's calling is bigger than that because his reward is much bigger than that because 00:42:09.420 |
Hebrews 12, 2 to 3, fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of the faith, 00:42:16.140 |
who for the joy set before him endured the cross. 00:42:35.060 |
He said the joy that he's referring to is us, our salvation, our praise of his name, 00:42:43.180 |
That joy, that joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the same, and has sat 00:42:49.460 |
down at the right hand of the throne of God and consider him who has endured such hostility 00:42:54.300 |
by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 00:43:00.020 |
He endured the reproach of Christ because he saw the reward that's coming was greater. 00:43:06.580 |
And that's the question that you and I wrestle with. 00:43:17.220 |
Do you remember when Peter fell and Jesus was restoring him? 00:43:43.640 |
But I think the meaning behind the these is much more broader than that. 00:43:50.180 |
Because that's what it says in the other parts of the Bible. 00:43:52.540 |
To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:43:56.340 |
He says he has this against the Church of Ephesus because they have forsaken their first 00:44:02.400 |
So when he says these, I don't think he was just referring to fish or his disciples, meaning 00:44:15.980 |
Because if we say yes to that, we will live our lives unnaturally. 00:44:27.500 |
We don't make decisions because that will make us richer tomorrow. 00:44:31.780 |
We live lives against the flow that everybody else is going because we believe the reward 00:44:43.860 |
Some people got elevated and then they die elevated. 00:44:49.460 |
But all of them were looking beyond this life for greater reward. 00:44:57.420 |
You know that song, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus? 00:45:00.480 |
If you grew up in the church, you know, maybe you grew up in a church that spoke different 00:45:08.060 |
Every church you go to in other countries, you'll hear this song and they know this song. 00:45:21.420 |
Years ago, American Baptist missionaries ended up going to a very hostile village in India 00:45:29.000 |
and started to share the gospel and this one family came to Christ. 00:45:33.860 |
And then because the village that they were at was so hostile to the gospel, the village 00:45:38.820 |
leader came out and basically threatened the father, said that you need to renounce your 00:45:44.940 |
And the father would not and he said, I have decided to follow Jesus. 00:45:50.180 |
He said, if you don't denounce your faith, we're going to murder your children. 00:45:57.560 |
And so the chief ordered the people to shoot arrows into his two boys. 00:46:04.260 |
And so right in front of his eyes, the two boys died. 00:46:06.380 |
And he says, if you don't denounce your faith now, even your wife, we're going to take. 00:46:11.540 |
He says, the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back. 00:46:16.860 |
Though none will follow, I will continue to go. 00:46:21.460 |
So he shot his wife and killed her and then also killed the husband. 00:46:31.540 |
But the story goes that in his resolve to remain faithful to his Lord, and again, completely 00:46:40.660 |
With his life, his children's life, his wife's life about to be extinguished, he stood firm 00:46:48.540 |
And so the village people, including the chief, couldn't understand why this key went up. 00:46:56.500 |
And so he wanted to examine what was it about this Jesus that he was willing to give his 00:47:06.820 |
And because of his influence, the village became a Christian village. 00:47:21.540 |
My prayer is that you and I would know this Jesus. 00:47:50.220 |
You know how many times I've done that and failed miserably? 00:48:01.900 |
It wasn't because I wasn't passionate enough. 00:48:15.500 |
And I'm waiting to be delivered when Christ comes. 00:48:20.740 |
All the more why if we don't abide in Christ, we can't bear fruit. 00:48:25.760 |
If we don't keep our eyes on Jesus and our faith is not being renewed for the promise 00:48:31.260 |
that's coming, your resolve isn't going to cause you to make it. 00:48:46.340 |
Do you believe in the unnatural work that Jesus did on the cross? 00:48:51.440 |
How do you choose to follow this Jesus who went outside the gate? 00:48:57.420 |
So again, as we look at Moses' life and how he followed him and all the patriarchs and 00:49:04.260 |
the ladies who loved God more than this world, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before 00:49:10.500 |
us, let us choose to go outside the gate with him as well. 00:49:16.400 |
I'm going to ask the team to come up and to -- we're going to sing this song. 00:49:24.580 |
And as we sing this song, again, think of the story behind it and that this would be 00:49:31.660 |
our prayer as well, that we would have the courage and we would have the faith to say 00:49:39.020 |
Even though our life is not threatened, that even in comfort, that this would be our testimony.