You can turn your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11, verse 23. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 23. And we're going to be reading up to verse 26. So it's really going to be a two-part sermon about Moses, which will go down all to 29. But I'm just going to read from 23 to 26 because those are the verses that we'll be dealing with this morning.

Reading out of the NASB, it says, "By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

Considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for continued grace and guidance. May your words speak to us, cause us to understand your intention, not only to know, Father God, the historical events, but what you desire for us.

Lord, search us and know us. See if there's any hurtful ways in us that our worship that we give to you may truly be acceptable before your eyes. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Alright, so now we're at Moses' example of faith, the cloud of witnesses that he has established before us in chapter 11, not only to show us what happened in the record of the redemptive history in the Old Testament through the nation of Israel, but specifically in application, he says, "Considering the cloud of witnesses that has gone before us that we would also endure and live a life worthy of the calling that he has given us." This, just to give you a brief introduction, is probably somebody that we know better than anybody else in the Old Testament, simply because so much was written during his lifetime.

His lifespan is mentioned in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And so he was the leader and establishment of leadership, giving of the law. In fact, he's so prominent in the Old Testament that during the time of Jesus, they would call the Old Testament Moses and the prophets.

So Moses and the prophets basically summarize all of the Old Testament. We call it Old Testament, they called it the laws of Moses and the prophets. That's how prominent he is. You know, one of the interesting things is that Moses is credited to be the author of the first five books of the law, the Torah, the law.

And within that law, Moses describes himself in Numbers 12, 3 as being the humblest of the world on earth. And so a lot of people poke fun of him because he wrote that about himself. And it's like, "Oh, he couldn't help it because God dictated that, and so he was just writing it.

So he didn't really mean it, but God told him to write it." And so a lot of people don't know what to do with that, that it was kind of a humble brag. Like, "I'm the humblest in the world." It just kind of doesn't fit. But I really think that he meant what he said, but the way that we take it is humble, kind of like, "Oh, you know, I'm no good at anything.

You know, you're better than me." I don't think that's what he's talking about. I think he really was humbled because he's described as an individual who met God. And even though it wasn't face to face, as God was passing by, he saw his glory and he got humbled. In the presence of something magnificent.

So there was no other human being that was given that kind of vision, that kind of direct access to God that Moses did. Moses received a law from God himself. So when he says he was the humblest in the world, that wasn't a humble brag, right? Or they call it a bragamony, right?

It's a testimony, but you're really bragging about yourself. He said, "No, I think he was actually humbled." And that's what he means by that. That in the presence of God's glory, he realized who he was. And that's naturally what happens when people are confronted or in the presence of a God that they could not possibly imagine, they become humble.

And that's why a Christian who is filled with pride is an oxymoron. Because naturally, when we are confronted by his glory, we become humble, right? Not we humble ourselves, we become humble. Because there's nothing higher than him. In the presence of him, we all tend to shut our mouth, right?

Just like Isaiah, "Woe is me." That's the natural response of a sinner in the presence of God's glory. And I think that's what he meant when he said he is the humblest, because he had access to God that other people did not have. Moses lived 120 years, and of the 120 years, his life is divided into distinct three parts.

40 years in Pharaoh's house, 40 years as a shepherd, and 40 years leading the nation of Israel to get into the Promised Land. So it's almost like he lived three very distinct lives. You know, when I title my sermons, I usually don't put a lot of thought into it.

I just kind of put, you know, "Faith of Jacob," right? And that's usually, I don't really put a lot of thought into it, because I don't know how many of you look at it. But I actually had a sermon title, and I changed it, because I think really, it's really captured his life.

Moses' story is from rags to riches, to rags to riches, to rags to riches, right? And so I think that kind of captures his life, because he was born as a slave, the rags, and then he was raised in Pharaoh's home, to riches. And then because of what happens, he ends up going out as a shepherd, to rags.

And then God calls him and raises him to be leader of Israel, to riches. And then they come out into the desert, and they wander because of their sin, to rags. And then when he dies, God raises him up to his riches. So it's rags to riches, rags to riches, to rags to riches.

I mean, you know, most people, like even just one, if you're born really poor, and then you buy hard work, or whatever God did, and raised you up, that's enough to write a book about, right? Or somebody was really rich, and he made some dumb decision, and ended up living in poverty.

That's enough to write about. But Moses' life is rags to riches, to rags to riches, to rags to riches. You know, I did it the other way, right? And so his life is very interesting. And as we've been talking about, by faith, and we know that there are very specific people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and how God's redemptive plan, God's sovereignty is orchestrating these things.

And Moses' life is no different. And I think not only Moses' life, but our life can be summed up in Romans 8, 28. It says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." Every single one of us, right?

You might be able to identify when you became a Christian, right? And I realize that my testimony is not average, you know, because I know specifically what date, what time, right? And I know exactly what happened. I remember what the room looked like. I remember what it was like at night.

I remember my emotions. I remember coming down. And I just thought that that's kind of how everybody became a Christian. But I realize that most people just kind of are in the environment of Christians, and at some point, something happens, but they can't pinpoint exactly when that happens. However, you came to Christ, whether you remember the specific date and time where you made that decision where God opened your eyes, or whether it was a gradual opening and you said, "Yes, you know, God really is real, and I want to follow him." However you came to Christ, there was a ton of other things that was taking place in order to bring you to that point.

You know, when I became a Christian, I thought my spiritual journey happened in 1983, you know, because that's when my eyes got opened. So I didn't really connect the dots until years later I realized how much of my family and how the gospel came into my family through my grand...not my grandfather, my great-grandmother, because I asked my dad, "Who first became a Christian?" And then I found out it was my great-grandmother, and then that was the line that it came through.

And then my grandfather was a pastor, and then my father was a pastor. And I didn't see this heritage until years later I realized all of that took place in order for me at that particular time, and all the other stuff, even the stuff that I was angry about, all of that stuff took place in order to bring me to that point where I was hungry, and when I desired God, you know, when he put that desire in me, that it was orchestrated to get me to that point.

Every single one of us, whether you recognize it or not, there's tons of things, some things that you think are negative, some things that you think are positive, where God divinely orchestrated in order to fulfill his purpose. So the sovereign God is working past, present, and even future. So there's a purpose for this pandemic.

There's a purpose for persecution. There's a purpose for everything that's going on right now. Sometimes we understand it, sometimes we don't understand it. But God's redemptive plan is in his sovereign hands. He is deliberately orchestrating and moving and acting in order to fulfill his purpose. That's why he can write the book of Revelations and tell us this is going to happen.

He's not just guessing and looking down the line and saying, "Well, if these happen," and he just happened to be a great, great fortune teller. He's looking down the line, "If these things can happen, if these people react this way, and this country does this, so many missionaries go out, at this particular time, this might happen." No, he's telling us that's what he's going to do.

He's telling us what he's going to do, what his plan is, right? So when we look at his redemptive plan, that's exactly how God's redemptive plan unfolds. These are not random events that happen to happen because there are some good Christians or good people who reacted to God a certain way, and so therefore it triggered this and triggered that.

All of that stuff humanly is happening, but behind the scene, God is fully in control and orchestrating every part of this. We see that first and foremost with Moses, right? It says in verse 23, "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict." First and foremost, he said it wasn't even Moses' faith.

Whose faith is it? His parents, right? Moses wasn't born and then he realized, "You know what? God has a special plan for me." By faith he told his parents to hide him so that he can be raised in a fairer home. This faith journey started way before he was even born.

In fact, it goes even further than that, right? You know the story, right? The Hebrews are growing in huge numbers. The new pharaoh came in who completely forgets about Joseph and he decides to enslave them, but these slaves are just, you know, remember we talked about how Joseph, even in trouble, God's blessing was upon him and he was increasing in favor?

And that's exactly what's happening with the nation of Israel. Even as they are enslaved, as it was prophesied and told Abraham hundreds of years before, and it's actually happening. And even in their suffering, God's blessing is upon them and they're increasing in number. The new pharaoh becomes paranoid that they're going to be too huge to be able to control.

So he has this idea, he sends out an edict and says, "You know, these midwives who are going to deliver these babies," he orders them to kill all the male Hebrew children that are born. The midwives in Exodus chapter 1, 4-5 said because they feared God more than Pharaoh, that instead of killing these children, they allowed them to live.

And so obviously the pharaoh gets angry and calls the midwives and says, "Why are you not carrying out my edict?" And they could have been killed by that, but by God's wisdom they said, "Well, we can't get there fast enough because these Hebrew women are delivering so quickly. As soon as we hear of it, the baby's out and they're gone." Which is probably true, and that's why they were growing in number.

So it wasn't even the parents' faith, even the midwives. So they make an edict, they tell all the soldiers to go find the baby boys and kill them themselves, since they can't rely on the midwives. So that's when his parents, by faith, because they feared God more than Pharaoh, more than their own lives, they hide him and then eventually they put him down and then they send him out.

But you know what's interesting is, if you look at verse 23, it says, "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents." Why? Because they saw he was a beautiful child. Because he was a beautiful child. And they were not afraid of the king's edict.

All because he was a beautiful child. What about the ugly ones? He was preserved because he was beautiful. Remember when we do inductive Bible study, if something just doesn't sound right or it doesn't make sense, before you jump to the commentaries, look at the different translations. We're studying the NASB, and the versions that I look at are usually NIB, ESV, and King James.

And the reason why I look at those translations is that all three, those translations have different philosophies in their interpretation. NASB being the literal, NIB just kind of trying to make sense of doing both. ESV is kind of somewhere between NIB and the NASB, and then King James is, "I don't care." This is just what it says.

So when you compare the translations, you'll see there's something going on in the Greek that couldn't be translated exactly the way we understand it. If you look at this verse, the NIB says it this way, "By faith Moses, Moses' parents, hid him for three months after he was born because they saw he was no ordinary child." Now that doesn't sound exactly like beautiful.

And in the King James it says, "Because they saw he was a proper child." So clearly there's something going on in the Greek that doesn't sound the same in the English. And so the word in Greek is "asteou." And the word "asteou" basically means someone who is sophisticated, someone who is honorable, someone who may be set apart, different than the others.

Not simply aesthetically beautiful. He wasn't like, "Wow, look at this, how symmetrical his eyes and nose are, and so he must be preserved." There was something about the child that set him apart from the other children. And I believe it wasn't vague. Just as God made it very clear to Abraham what was about to happen.

He says, "He prophesied from the very beginning of this covenant promise that you're going to be in captivity for 400 years, and when you come out, that I'm going to make you prosperous." So this event is the beginning of the nation of Israel, what was prophesied from the very beginning.

And so that covenant promise is being passed down from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph, and now to Moses. In Amos 3, verse 7, it says, "Surely the Lord God does nothing unless he reveals his secret counsel to his servant, the prophets." And I believe that's exactly what was going on.

The prophecy was being passed down that God was going to use Moses to deliver the nation of Israel. So his parents knew it. And eventually Moses will find out about it, and then he will also carry this out. John Calvin says of this particular passage, this is what he says, "The parents of Moses were not induced by his beauty to be touched with pity and save him, as men are commonly affected.

But there was some sort of mark of excellence to come engraved on the boy which gave promise of something out of ordinary for him." So again, it wasn't just aesthetically, because he was aesthetically beautiful. God's sovereign hands was upon him and his family, because not only was he to save Israel, establish Israel, but through that, God was going to save mankind.

So the promise that he made in Genesis, that a child of the woman who's going to come crush the head of the serpent, that's what we're studying is the history of God fulfilling that promise right after the fall. He's coming, he's coming, he's coming, he's coming. And then, but before that happens, the nation of Israel needs to be established.

So you could see kind of God orchestrating. When you see just the, you know, what happens with Moses is 40 years, 40 years, 40 years, you don't, you know, you still see God's sovereign hands, but when you see it collectively, that everything that is happening, the good and the bad, God works together all things for good, all things for good, not some things we understand, some things that say, "Oh, that's good." Even the things that we think are horrible, God is working all things for good to accomplish his sovereign purpose.

In fact, you know, what's interesting is Exodus chapter 2, 6, 3, 8, it describes for us how he ended up in Pharaoh's house. So the parents put him in a crib or a little box and, you know, pass him down through the river and it goes down and his older sister Miriam, who was somewhere around 11 or 12 years old, no one knows exactly, but they're guessing that that's about how old she is.

She follows the basket and then sees the Pharaoh's daughter was taking a bath down and then she sees the basket, opens it up and sees a child. And here's the encounter that's recorded in Exodus chapter 2, 6, 3, 8. When she opened it, the Pharaoh's daughter, she saw the child and behold, the boy was crying and she had pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew's children." Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, right, his sister, meaning Miriam, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women?" I wonder who she was thinking about when she was suggesting this, right?

Clearly, you're Pharaoh's daughter, you can't, you know, nurse this child. You want me as your servant, get somebody to help you raise this child? Obviously she's thinking about her mother, the mother sacrificing and let the baby go and God in his sovereign hands, right, causes the baby to be raised.

Look what it says. "She may nurse the child for you." Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go ahead." So the girl went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages." Right? Not only does she get to nurse her own child, she's going to get paid by Pharaoh's daughter to raise her own child that she sent down the river probably thinking, you know, and worried and God sends the baby back with money, right?

And so the Pharaoh's daughter basically says, "Raise him until I don't have to deal with his snots," you know, and then changes diaper. Of course, they didn't have diapers back then. But basically do the hard part, okay, and then bring him back when I can enjoy him. So we don't know exactly how old because it doesn't tell us, but my guess is, you know, anybody who's raised kids around five, they become easier, right?

And then just skip the teenage years, you know what I mean? Then get to the adult. We don't know exactly how many years, but it was enough. And I'm pretty sure Pharaoh's mom was not eager to send him away. So she probably held on to him as long as she could.

But can you imagine the education that he must have gotten from his mom? Because his parents already knew that he was special, right? To what degree, we don't know. But to the degree that God made it plain to them that he was beautiful, he was set apart, right? And then they find out a little bit later that he knew a lot more than what we thought, right?

So God sovereignly, this is not planned by man. Like in the midst of the Pharaoh trying to kill this child, Pharaoh's daughter ends up bringing him into, right, into the very thing that he was trying to eradicate. He ends up bringing the child into his home, paying the mother to raise this child, right?

Only God can orchestrate something like that, right? God's completely sovereign. And it is in this sovereign God that Abraham had faith in. If the God that you worship is a tiny God, right, it will be reflected in the way that you live. You will trust him when he is trustable, when he makes sense, when your future is laid out, when everything makes sense, the bills are paid, and everything is done that I can take care of, and only the things that I have no control over, it's like, "God, I trust you." Because you don't have ability to trust yourself because everything is done.

So that's why when we get sick, we lose our job, when desperate things happen, God's like, "God, we need you, but every other time I can take care of myself." It's because we have a very small view of God. See, when you look at redemptive history, God is far beyond what you and I could possibly imagine.

And God has orchestrated all of this, and it is this God that Moses knew. And that's why it says in Psalm 24, "By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Now think about what that means. His parents were slaves. They're not just low middle class or lower class, they're slaves, they don't own anything.

There is no future for a slave. You can work hard as you can, and you might be given some responsibility, but as a slave, there is no future for you, for your children, your grandchildren. As long as you're a slave, the harder you work, you just work, that's it.

But he says, "Because he believed in this sovereign God, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." The son of Pharaoh's daughter, what it would have meant to be raised in Pharaoh's home. That means everything that you and I can possibly imagine he had. I would think his position is better than Pharaoh, because Pharaoh has to rule the country.

Pharaoh has to take out the laws. He has to worry about people trying to overthrow him. If you're a child in a Pharaoh's home, you get to enjoy everything that the Pharaoh has without the responsibility. So I think that's a better position than the Pharaoh. He had everything that a human being could possibly imagine, and he says he refused to be called the Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasure of sin.

You can look at that and say, "Oh, he was very nationalistic. He was so proud of being a Hebrew that he was willing to identify with the slaves rather than with Pharaoh." If you look at it on the surface, we may think that that's what's going on. He was just a very proud Jew.

No wonder the Jews see him as the highest among the Jews. But it says, "Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Clearly, it wasn't just nationalism. He saw beyond nationalism. He said his reproach of Christ was greater than the treasures of Egypt.

Now we're going to get to this in a bit about what he means by the treasures of Christ or reproach of Christ, and he was looking forward to the reward. But Acts chapter 7, 22 to 25, actually explains a little bit more in detail exactly what Moses knew. And it describes the background behind why he was able to trust in this God and forsake the riches and identify with these slaves.

This is Stephen. Right before he gets stoned, he basically gives redemptive history. This is what's going on, and he basically is preaching the gospel. And in the gospel preaching, he mentions Moses, and this is what he says in verse 22. "Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and in deeds.

But when he was approaching the age of 40, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptians." And look at verse 25. "And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance from him, but they did not understand." When did the calling of Moses happen?

Was it before or after this event? When did the burning bush happen? Way after this. 40 years after this. But Stephen describes and says, when he stood, and he stood with the Hebrews, he said he thought, he thought that the Hebrews would have understood that he was called to deliver Israel.

But what surprised him was, instead of thanking him, next time he comes out and says, "Well, you're going to kill us too?" And he realized that they did not know, and they weren't embracing him as a leader. And that's what discourages him and causes him to run out to the desert.

Doesn't that cause you to see the burning bush incident very differently? Because when he's at the burning bush and God says, "I want you to go and tell Pharaoh to let my people go," and Moses says, "No, no, no, not me. My brother is the one who can talk.

You don't want to use me." And they said, God became angry. He got angry because Moses was humble. It kind of puts a different light to that. Moses was not simply saying, "No, I'm humble. I'm not good at this." It's like, because Moses knew that there was a calling in his life.

So by the time he gets the burning bush, God was calling him back. Now is the time. You thought it was going to happen 40 years ago, but now is the time. So when Moses said, "No," he was, in a sense, "I don't want that responsibility." And that's why God became angry, because that's the reason why his parents did what they did.

That's the reason why he was preserved. That's the reason why he was raised at Pharaoh's house. All of that to prepare him. But he was discouraged because his countrymen didn't embrace him. But obviously, God had different plans and he raised him, and he reconnects with this God, and because he believed in the sovereign God, he did what was completely unnatural.

It's unnatural. It's unnatural for a man, humanly speaking, who grew up in Pharaoh's house, to reject all of that and identify with these slaves. If I was to drop this key, what do you think is going to happen? Anybody surprised? I'm going to do it again. Did it again.

Maybe if I keep doing it, something else is going to happen. What? Maybe if I do it 100 times, maybe one of the times, at least one time, 1%, right? I'm stubborn. I'm going to keep doing this until -- oh, did it again. None of you are surprised. I can do this 1,000 times, and 1,000 times, we expect this to drop.

But if this doesn't drop and it goes up, how will you react? Right? He's a good magician. Because you're going to think something's going on. But I know him. I've never seen any magic trick before. I know this guy. Something's going on. Gravity? Oh, shoot. Are we losing gravity?

Are we going to die? Something's going to cause you to examine what happened. Why did that happen? All of redemptive history is the key going up instead of down. All of redemptive history is going against the natural events, and to look and say, what's going on over there? Why would that happen?

Why did he do that? Whether God did it supernaturally, or whether he orchestrated certain things, and why certain people responded in a way that was unnatural, all of redemptive history is a revelation of God's glory that causes mankind to look at that and say, why did that go up?

Why did Moses forsake everything he had to identify with these Jews and live a difficult life? The only answer that was given, he considered reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt. He was looking for the reward to come. He knew this sovereign God, and he believed that the promises that he made was much greater than anything that he already had in Pharaoh, because whatever he had in Pharaoh was temporary.

Whatever treasure that he had with him is temporary, but what God was going to give him is eternal, and that's why he says he was looking forward. It wasn't simply because he was nationalistic. It wasn't because he was a noble man. It was simply because he had faith. He believed that the treasures that were coming was much greater than whatever he had in Christ.

You know, even as believers, sometimes our lives don't look any different than natural law, because we do things that just come naturally. You know, after being a pastor for so many years, I can watch the cycle, and it's predictable people's behavior. What happens when you first come into college, eager to get out, enjoy life, enjoy freedom, and then you regret it your second year, right?

Then you got to catch up, then you become a sophomore, sophomore, sophos, moranos, wise fool. That's what that literally means. You just have just some, just enough information to make you a fool, right? And then by the time you get to third year, you start to gain knowledge. You're a junior, but you're not a senior yet.

You don't quite know, but you're starting to know, and you're realizing, like, oh, shoot, I better get my act together. And then by senior year, you take 20, 30 units to get out, right? You need to finish up. You need to catch up. You get out, you become a BAM member, and you're trying to struggle, and real life hits you.

And then you look fondly to your college life, only if I was back then, and then so I'm guessing if you are a baby BAM, that your advice, whenever you see college students, is like, you ain't see. And you can't stomach college students' complaints, and you got it easy, because life has hit you, right?

Nine to five, it's nine to five every day, all day, all week, all year, all decade. All life. And you're just starting. Hello. And that hits you. It hits you hard, right? And then after that, you start, you know, really, if you're a single adult making money, you have more money than you'll ever have, right, unless you become filthy rich, but most people, that's because you don't have a lot of responsibilities during that period.

And you have all the freedom that you want, because you're not married, you don't have kids yet, and everybody envies you, right, worldly speaking, right? But there's no other groups of people in life that is eagerly waiting to get out of that than the singles. When is my turn?

When do I get to the next stage, right? Lord willing, you get to the next stage, you get married and have kids, right? So if you don't have kids, it's like, when do we get kids? And then that's what you live for. And then when you do have kids, it's like, oh, my gosh, when are they going to grow up?

Right? And then when they grow up, it's like, I wish they were kids again. This cycle of life, it's like, that's natural. You observe year after year after year, it's just a matter of you transitioning to the next stage, and another person comes, they go through the same thing, another person comes.

And that's why Solomon says there's nothing new under the sun. But guess what? Even sometimes the way we live our Christian life is predictable. It's predictable. Because religion is predictable. Because we want to belong somewhere. We want to have a sense of purpose. And so some find it in politics, some find it in religion, some find it in Hinduism, some find it in Buddhism, some find it in Christianity.

But the root reason is because they want to belong somewhere. So this is my community. So it's predictable. Year after year, you observe, you know, you get certain kind of personalities gravitate toward this, and certain people are like that, and certain people are like this, and it's so predictable.

But what is beyond reason is what Christ did. Because he didn't just tell us to love, because everybody, by natural law, a mother loves a child. That's natural law. That's just what happens. You love the people who love you. That's natural law. That's not uniquely Christian. Everybody, even people who hate Christ, practices some kind of law, some kind of love.

But the love that he showed us is while we were yet sinners. So he basically came and it went up. And that's what makes the cross intriguing. Why would he do that? So when he revealed his glory, it causes people to say, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why did he do that?

Why was he doing that?" And then he called us to live a life against the natural law. When he says to pick up your cross and follow me, a child who was born into this world, from day one, he wants to live. He comes out sucking. It's very interesting.

Nobody taught him that. Nobody discipled him. He comes out sucking, like wanting food. And so he's already learned to survive from the get-go. But Jesus said, "If you want to live, you have to die." See, the very symbol of death was the cross. And Jesus, instead of walking to live better, he walked deliberately into Jerusalem to be hung on that cross.

And he told his followers, "You follow me, too." And so what he did was completely against the natural law. And then he told his disciples to do the same. You pick up your cross, you deny yourself, and you follow me, and the world is going to look at you and say, "Why are you doing that?

Why are you turning the other cheek? Why are you going there? Why did you do that? You had so much potential. Why would you forsake that? If you do this, you're going to make so much more money. Why did you do that? Why would you pack up your bags and go to places that are uncomfortable?

For what reason? What do you benefit?" And so the world is constantly looking at the Christian community, trying to figure out what the Christians are doing. For majority of the Christians in the church, they can explain it, because it's a security blanket. "Oh, that's why you're doing that, right?

You're doing that because you have a sense of belonging. You're doing that because that's your purpose. You're doing that because you were raised in a Christian home. You're doing that because of a certain nationality." And so they explain it off, and you say, "Oh, that's why." They just are looking for the natural law that you are functioning under.

But what God called us to do is to do something completely unnatural. What the world does not understand and will not understand until we meet this Christ who went outside the gate and forsook everything. Being God himself, not considering equality with God, something to be grasped, but he emptied himself, became nothing.

And he tells us to have the same mindset, that our witness is to be supernatural. If we love those who are lovable, yeah, of course. Everybody does that. If you look for safety and comfort, yeah, that's natural. That's what everybody does, right? Everybody hurts you, you hurt them. That's natural.

Everybody's ambitious to get ahead. We just happen to be Christian ambition, right? That's natural. That's what everybody does. You just happen to find it in this particular circle. But everything that God calls us to do is unnatural. That's why he calls us out. So what Moses did, the only explanation for what Moses did was because he met a supernatural God who was sovereign, and he believed him.

He believed him. That's why Paul did what they did. That's why the disciples did what they did. That's why missionaries do what they do. That's why so many Christians live contrary to what the world understands. Because what we value is far greater than whatever this world can offer. First John 2, 16-17 says, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but from the world.

The world is passing away, and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God lives forever." You notice here, whenever we talk about this passage, we have a tendency to focus on the lust. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and boastful pride of life.

Because we can easily say, "I'm not lusting." Because with lust, we have an image of somebody who's just out of control. It's an out of control passion they can't control. Lust basically means powerful passion, something you're passionate about. But the part that you and I should all pay attention to is the all.

All that is in the world. That's what he was trying to get at. We have a tendency to think that there's a part of things that we need to avoid, like pornography, sexual immorality, killing, murder. And so these are things that we know are no good. And then we have the godly stuff, reading the Bible, making disciples, sharing the gospel.

These are the good stuff. But where you and I get into trouble is this whole part in the middle where we think God doesn't really have anything to say. Most of us don't get tripped up because of that. Even though that is, you know, that trips us up too.

But most of us don't get tripped up on that. We get tripped up on all this other stuff in the middle that really have nothing to do with God. But we get so entangled pursuing the natural law. Take care of our kids. What's wrong with taking care of our kids?

What's wrong with, you know, like all this stuff? They're all neutral stuff. So we pour all our energy toward the neutral stuff that really has nothing to do with God. And so by the time we get to this side of pursuing God, what we know to be godly, there's very little energy that we give to this.

The call to a Christian is to follow the unnatural law of Christ. To pick up our cross and follow him as he went to the cross. He's not simply telling us to sacrifice and live hard lives and suffer for the name of Jesus. He's simply telling us until you let go, until you let go, you will not understand what's coming.

You have to first let go and follow me. Moses did what he did because he saw a greater reward in Christ than he did with Pharaoh. That's why. And why any Christian will follow Christ is for the same reason. You can go to church. You can participate. You can do some good stuff.

But again, if we're not careful, we're just following the natural law, just doing what's best for us. Of course, I want my kids to have good morals and have friends and community, you know, and to do things together and have a purpose. And all of that stuff is good, but it's natural.

Every human being does that. We just happen to do it as Christians. God's calling is bigger than that because his reward is much bigger than that because God is much bigger than that. Hebrews 12, 2 to 3, fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

Joy set before him. What do you think he's talking about? Joy set before him. He's talking about us. He endured the cross. What benefit did he have? What does he get out of this? He said the joy that he's referring to is us, our salvation, our praise of his name, our loyalty to him, our love for him.

That joy, that joy set before him, he endured the cross, despising the same, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God and consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. That's what it means.

He endured the reproach of Christ because he saw the reward that's coming was greater. And that's the question that you and I wrestle with. Is he greater? Not is he good? Is he greater? Do you remember when Peter fell and Jesus was restoring him? And Jesus asked him, "Do you love me?" He didn't just ask me, "Do you love me?" He said, "Do you love me," what?

"More than these?" And we don't know what the these are. These could be the other disciples. These could be the fish that they caught. We don't know for sure. But I think the meaning behind the these is much more broader than that. Love me more than anything else. Because that's what it says in the other parts of the Bible.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He says he has this against the Church of Ephesus because they have forsaken their first love, their priority love. So when he says these, I don't think he was just referring to fish or his disciples, meaning everything else, even your own life.

Do you love me more than these? Because if we say yes to that, we will live our lives unnaturally. Unnaturally. We don't invest today for a payoff tomorrow. We don't make decisions because that will make us richer tomorrow. We live lives against the flow that everybody else is going because we believe the reward is coming in Christ.

And that's what he's laying out for us. Some people got elevated and then they die elevated. Some people, they died in prison. But all of them were looking beyond this life for greater reward. You know, I want to sing this song together. You know that song, I Have Decided to Follow Jesus?

If you grew up in the church, you know, maybe you grew up in a church that spoke different language. This is one of those songs that's universal. Every church you go to in other countries, you'll hear this song and they know this song. I have decided to follow Jesus.

I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back. But there's a story behind this. Years ago, American Baptist missionaries ended up going to a very hostile village in India and started to share the gospel and this one family came to Christ. And then because the village that they were at was so hostile to the gospel, the village leader came out and basically threatened the father, said that you need to renounce your faith.

And the father would not and he said, I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. He said, if you don't denounce your faith, we're going to murder your children. And he said, I cannot. I can't turn back. And so the chief ordered the people to shoot arrows into his two boys.

And so right in front of his eyes, the two boys died. And he says, if you don't denounce your faith now, even your wife, we're going to take. He says, the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back, no turning back. Though none will follow, I will continue to go.

No turning back, no turning back. So he shot his wife and killed her and then also killed the husband. That's the song. That's the story behind the song. But the story goes that in his resolve to remain faithful to his Lord, and again, completely unnatural. With his life, his children's life, his wife's life about to be extinguished, he stood firm in his faith.

And so the village people, including the chief, couldn't understand why this key went up. And so he wanted to examine what was it about this Jesus that he was willing to give his life and his family's life. So he started asking questions. He came to faith. And because of his influence, the village became a Christian village.

That's the story behind this song. I have decided to follow Jesus. My prayer is that you and I would know this Jesus. I know we're weak. You don't have to tell me. I know you are. Because I know I am. I don't have the resolve to be faithful. I'm not disciplined enough.

I'm not honorable enough. I'm not pure enough. I don't have the ability. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. This time I'm really going to do it. You know how many times I've done that and failed miserably? It's not because I didn't want it. It's not because I didn't try.

It wasn't because I wasn't passionate enough. It wasn't because I wasn't educated. I wasn't taught enough. I'm so corrupt inside. I don't want to be but I am. And I'm waiting to be delivered when Christ comes. All the more why if we don't abide in Christ, we can't bear fruit.

If we don't keep our eyes on Jesus and our faith is not being renewed for the promise that's coming, your resolve isn't going to cause you to make it. Do you believe in this God? Do you believe in this sovereign God? Do you believe in the unnatural work that Jesus did on the cross?

How do you choose to follow this Jesus who went outside the gate? So again, as we look at Moses' life and how he followed him and all the patriarchs and the ladies who loved God more than this world, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, let us choose to go outside the gate with him as well.

Let's sing this song together. I'm going to ask the team to come up and to -- we're going to sing this song. And as we sing this song, again, think of the story behind it and that this would be our prayer as well, that we would have the courage and we would have the faith to say these things.

Even though our life is not threatened, that even in comfort, that this would be our testimony.