By faith Moses, when he was born, was him three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Israel of Christ, greater riches and the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured, as seeing him who was invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn, should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry lands, which the Egyptians, a thing to do, were drowned by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. Our continuing, without any introduction, in our general theme of these studies, because, of course, they're not exhausted, and we are taking them in just in one specific way. There are many, many things that we have to leave behind us. We're looking at these characters, the ones that we have chosen, in the framework of great examples of the life of faith, or of men's reactions to different trainings and teachings of God in the life of faith. We have looked at Abraham and saw great many incidents connected with the obedience of faith. Isaac, the patience of faith. In Jacob, the disciplining of faith. In Joseph, the sufferings of faith. And now tonight, we have come to Moses and the theme is the decisions of faith for I'm sure as you read done and I'm quite sure that you have read scores of times in preparation for the lesson these verses in Hebrews chapter eleven there are seven or eight certainly seven connected with himself active verbs that we have drawn your attention to in the lesson material and they start off with a choice and As a matter of fact, they start off and they keep right on going with choices. Moses' life, therefore, we're going to look at in this framework of a life lived within a framework of a series of great choices and decisions. I don't think anybody would deny that this is very important for us. because at every turn of our lives, every day, every hour of every day, and perhaps we might say every moment of every hour, we are constantly making decisions. Now, they're not all equally important, but it so happens that we are rarely in a position to know for sure what decisions are what we would call important and what aren't. Sometimes a great deal hinges on a choice which at the time looks rather insignificant. We meet someone, we have a choice, will I go, will I not go, and afterwards we look back on that and say not a great deal hinged and pivoted on that one little choice. I frequently use the illustration of the switch and the points of the railway tracks or in other days in the streetcar tracks, but certainly a railway illustrates it much better because we see trains coming into one of the great railway junctions of North America, and one might end up in California, and another might end up in Quebec. And yet, the point of actual selection at a given place is a switch, the blade of a switch in the tracks, not very much thicker than the end of a screwdriver. And yet that enormous train, probably hauled by two, three, four great diesel locomotives and perhaps a hundred freight cars behind it, or a great passenger train, that one switch will decide ultimately whether the train ends up in California or in Quebec. And sometimes in our lives, as we look back, before we touch that, as we look back in the scriptures, we see man again and again put to a choice and a seemingly... unimportant and small choice is very much more important than appeared at the time. So the plain truth of the matter is that you and I are not the judges. We can never say, well, this isn't a very important choice, and therefore I don't need to worry too much about it. You may look back in years to come and discover, to your dismay and perhaps to your horror, that that was a tremendously important choice, because on that, everything else came. for the rest of your life. Now, before we get wandering off into that, I'd like to draw your attention to one or two points in the notes on page one. Faith is said in Romans ten, seventeen to come by hearing. Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. Even that hearing, that is of the word of God, demands a choice. For it takes for granted the setting aside of what man says in favor of what God says. Now we know and we believe firmly that God is sovereign and that God's purposes are worked out willy-nilly. But this must never for a moment be allowed to trick us into believing that man is not responsible for his own moral choices because he is. For if man were not responsible for his own moral choices, it would appear that God would be unjust. Either to deny someone reward for doing something, which he couldn't help doing in the first place, or to punish him. To punish him as a sinner in the lake of fire for all eternity, as the scriptures teach, for doing something over which he had no control. How could God punish people for something over which they have no control whatsoever? Now, this is a mystery. And we can never explain it away and turn it into a neat little mathematical equation, nor can we turn it into some kind of a little philosophical sentence. It just won't work. Here is the mystery of the sovereignty of the infinite God working over everything. But man is still held accountable and responsible for his moral choices. This is taught very clearly in Scripture. So when we are faced with the Word of God, And always alongside it is the voice of man. We have to ask which we're going to listen to and which is going to be the basis of our choice. Just keep that in the back of your mind. Immediately God's word is accepted as the basis of everything. And the touchstone of every decision, the touchstone by which every decision must be tested, the believers every move will be guided by it. The Word of God, that is. And so I am making constant choices, and they must be made in the light of the Word of God. Not how do I feel about it. Not what do all the other fellows do. Not what do all the other kids in class do. Or not what do all the other businessmen in my particular line of business do. Not what do all the neighbors up the street do. Or what do all the churches in Toronto do. But what does God say in His Word? This is where I am pinned down to every time. And on the basis of that, I am required by God as a Christian, basically and fundamentally, to make every choice of my life, not in keeping with the fashions and moods and carry-on of the world, but always what separate scriptures. Now, it was for disregarding that and disobeying that that Israel was torn out of the land and sent into captivity. It is for disregarding that or disobeying that that God's judgment falls upon his people, for it does fall at times. And no matter where we turn, we have this same thing. In a society where God and his word are ruled out and scorned, or at the very least neglected and ignored, this will bring the Christian into conflict with the world. Because, you see, he is marching to a different drumbeat. He is listening to a different voice. He is the possessor of a totally different set of rules. He is obeying a totally different master. The world is under the domination of the devil. The believer is under the lordship of Christ. The world has no hope, no God, no compass. It has nothing by which to orient itself. It has long since given up any idea of absolute truth or absolute anything as a matter of fact. And so here it is now in a storm, and it doesn't know who to listen to, what to obey, where to go. It is no standards, it is no rules, it is no anything. The believer, on the other hand, has, and I believe, young Christians, that this is one thing that a Christian can very well bear a testimony in. We talk a good deal these days about witnessing, and sometimes we have the impression that witnessing is just... putting a piece of literature in somebody's hand or saying, what do you think about the Lord Jesus? Now, this is very good, and I'm not ridiculing it at all. But I think there are so many other areas where the Christian is required to be a witness to something. And here is one thing he should be a witness to. The absolute sovereignty and authority of the Word of God. So when he is pushed into a corner, he is never ashamed to say to the world, no, I have to do so and so. Well, why ever do you have to do so and so? because I accept God's Word as the standard of my life. That should be your constant witness. That whatever they may do with the Word of God, you put it in first place. Now, do you as an individual actually witness in this way? Do you tell men, no, I rule my life totally and completely by the Word of God? I don't have any other standard. I don't know about you. But I think this is one of the things where we could actually be a witness. And there are many others that are never mentioned. This, in turn, that is coming into conflict with the world, will force him into choosing between the word on which his faith rests and his hopes are built, and the prevailing patterns about him. All moral action is based on choice or decision. Examples, Adam and Eve, Enoch, Noah, Abram, David, Jonathan, Paul, Demas, and the list goes right on. We've seen these men reaching a given point and then going one way or the other, making choices and decisions all the time. It's in this framework that we should study the life of Moses, since that life, as we have it in Scripture, seems to be woven around a series of great choices. The next paragraph notes that at least some of the major choices were and are, by their very nature, negative. A thing basically wrong, or at variance with God's purposes, must be refused categorically. A negative choice. The often-heard theme that all choices and attitudes must be positive requires rethinking. And in many instances will not stand up to intelligent scrutiny just means about it. There are very definite prohibitions in the word of God. Are we going to turn around to God and say, well, now, listen, don't be negative. As though poor God hadn't discovered these great truths that men are talking about these days, usually, they're a lot of rubbish, and they're cited in order to get away from something that they don't want to face up to. A full eighty percent of the ten commandments are negative. And by the way, even the ones that are positive have a good deal of negative content in them. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then it goes on for a few sentences, and thou shalt do no work. That's very negative, isn't it? And so on. God's command to Adam was, thou shalt not. eat thereof. Daniel's purpose that he would not eat and defile himself. Our Lord in his temptation said, Man shall not live by bread alone. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Paul said, First Corinthians six twelve, I will not be brought under the power of any. See also five, nine and eight thirteen. There is a place in the Christian's life for an emphatic and resounding no. You remember, of course, the case of Daniel's companions in the land of Babylon when the ruling was given that they were to Baadon at the sound of the different musical instruments, and they say, well, our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace. But even if he doesn't, know, O King, we will not Baadon. And I believe, and I repeat, there is a place in the Christian's life for a very emphatic, blunt, and resounding no to everything which is dishonoring to God and not according to his word. We may note in passing that in Hebrews eleven, twenty-three, faith is first seen in the choice of Moses' parents defying the world's law, all seen against such a choice. In other words, it looks as if They'd never get away with it, as if it were foolish. Today people would call it stupid. That's the favorite word. But you know, against all the world's wisdom, the parents of Moses simply refused to do what they were told to do. For there was a greater law, an overriding rule, to which they owed allegiance. Now the reason I bring this up, but we should finish that little paragraph, it may have appeared foolish and useless and bound to end in death, yet they carried it out according to verse twenty-four without fear. Did Moses learn his fearless decision-making from such parents? I throw that out to you as a suggestion, and I would like to tie in with it the fact that I read on past Moses. Would you turn to your Bibles now, and we'll come back to the second page of the notes in a second or two? Notice, look at verse twenty-eight. Through faith he, the singular, Moses, through faith he kept the Passover. Now from that point on, indeed from the previous verse on, we find a queer kind of fuzziness, a queer kind of mixture. We're still talking about Moses. It's still the singular. And yet now other people are linked up with him in his chart. He didn't keep the Passover alone. He kept the Passover with all the Israelites. And you can hardly tell where he merges into they. Keep on reading to see what I mean. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Now, it's said there in the singular, and yet it was quite evident that while Moses did it, a multitude of other people did it as well. Then, verse twenty-nine, by faith they passed through the Red Sea. But there is no antecedent for that they. It doesn't say, in verse twenty-eight, by faith Moses kept the Passover along with the children of Israel, and all the children of Israel sprinkled the blood, and so on, and then, by faith they, referring back to the children of Israel. Now, grammatically, at least I was always led to understand that it's very unwise and sometimes totally wrong to use a pronoun like this without a very clear indication of what its antecedent is, who this they is that they're talking about. Do you see how it merges in the opening verses? It's Moses and the choice is his alone about being the son of Pharaoh's daughter and so on. Then we come down to a place by faith he kept the Passover, but other people are now influenced by his choice. By faith he sprinkled the blood. But it wasn't just he. It wasn't just he. As a matter of fact, we're not even sure that Moses' family was in Egypt. It would appear that they weren't. And so now we're talking more clearly about what other people did. But then in the very next verse, Still talking about Moses, now it says they, and there's nothing to which this refers. What I'm trying to bring out is not that God doesn't use, God the Holy Spirit doesn't use accurate and precise language. As a matter of fact, the Holy Spirit is exquisitely precise in the choice of words. And I think what we're being taught here is that no choice of mine and no decision of mine can go without influencing other people. What begins as Moses' choice with a singular pronoun, he, he, he, then it merges and blends into a plural situation, though he is still used, he kept the Passover. He sprinkled the blood. They, they, in the very next verse, they passed through the Red Sea. Didn't Moses? Yes. But now the pronoun has changed. My dear Christian friends, Moses' whole life was influenced by a choice of his parents over which he had no control, so he wasn't even born yet. His life was influenced by a choice over which he had no control, but that choice overshadowed his whole life. And he lived in a home with parents who had made a monumental choice, a tremendous choice, to keep that baby no matter what happened. And of course he was the monument himself. And as he lived under the love and care and instruction and teaching of parents who taught him the value of such choices based on the Word of God, his life was influenced by their choice, and then his choices began to influence other lives until Moses' single life merges into and moves forward along with upwards of two million people and their choices. You see, every choice you make impinges upon other people's lives. And every decision you make may influence far more people than you know anything about. As a matter of fact, it's quite certain it does, no matter how small. So it behoves us to be very careful about our decisions, doesn't it? And it behoves us always to remember this, that whatever I choose to do is important to God. It's important to me and it is important to God's people and also very likely important even to people who are not God's people. But of course we could easily make choices that would cause real trouble and cause stumbling to those who are not the Lord's and perhaps be very hard to explain to them afterwards. Just think about this area and perhaps you could discuss it when you come together in your discussion group. seven active verbs over on page two seven active verbs in Hebrews eleven twenty four to twenty nine embrace the major decisions and choices of Moses as revealed in scripture they are as follows refusing now this is a very negative thing isn't it by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now I'm quite sure that these words, we mustn't pin too much on that word to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and yet it's important. It doesn't say by faith he refused to continue being the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He not only made a choice, but he made a choice which was evident to everybody. He took a clear-cut stand who was the great jurist who said, it is not only important that right should be done, talking about the law and decisions at law, but it is equally important that right should appear to be done. That is, that this should stand up as a witness We may do the right thing in a choice. A judge may make a right choice and not go to any pains to explain himself or so put the decision that it irritates and irks people. And this is the important thing. He should not only judge right, but he should be evidently choosing right, if at all possible. He should make it clear. Other people should be able to refer back to that and say he certainly didn't beat about the bush. He didn't say he was doing one thing and do another. He did it and he made it clear what he was doing. Now, this is one thing that is very evident in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Very evident. Anything he did, he spoke clearly, ringingly, emphatically about it. And the Apostle, on one occasion, he said, this thing was not done in a corner. And he challenged that wicked beast of a man. And he said, You, King Agrippa, know these things. You're not ignorant about this. They've all been out there. Everybody knows what we preach. And so many times Paul said, I call you to witness this day. I have not done so and so. I have not done so and so. I have not coveted any man's silver or gold. I never shrank from telling you the whole truth of God. And he calls people to see that. Not only did he do it, but it was evident that he was doing it. Let's not play around with words. Let's not say, no, thank you. I'd rather not do that or take that or go that, whatever it happens to be. Doesn't agree with my stomach. Shame on you. If you're doing something for Christ, say so, if you have opportunities. You may not always have the opportunity, of course. But don't tell a lie, a real lie, in order to make it appear that you're not doing it from any kind of religious conviction. He refused even to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He didn't want the name. He didn't want the title. He wanted everybody to know that that was not for him. And so he made a very clear-cut decision. Basically, it was a rejection of position in the world. And the Christian, of course, is up against that kind of thing, too. He could have had a position in the world. Not only that, but he could have rationalized it. But we may come up against that as we go down a little bit. He turned down a position of prestige and power in the society of his day because of a revelation from God. You know, I find some of these things that are just breathtaking. When I come across a phrase like that in my own mind, when I'm thinking about it in the word of God, here is a man who could have aspired to be king of Egypt. He was the adopted son of the reigning monarch's daughter. And I take it that like A lot of other women, if not most other women, she had a tremendous amount of power behind the scenes with her father. Otherwise, he never would have allowed her to keep the baby. But somehow or other, this despot, this man who could lift his finger and condemn ten thousand people to be slain, and did, very frequently, these men are known to have laid out captive slaves and ran... slabs of stone. Instead of they couldn't find rollers, just lay these people down and roll the slabs of granite over the top of them and use them as rollers and leave the remains of them behind. These are men who didn't care smack about human life. And yet this woman somehow or other had enough leverage with the great monarch that she kept the baby, and not only that, but he was known as her daughter. He was brought up and educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, not educated and prepared. He could have been in a place of prestige, leverage, power in Egypt, but suddenly a revelation from God comes into that light. And the revelation from God says, I have a people. I have a plan for those people. I am going to carry that plan out. And I am going to carry it out in judgment on the Egyptian nation. I am going to tear this place apart. It's all marked for judgment. And when Moses got hold of that revelation from God, it altered his whole attitude toward the position of prestige in which he was situated. Immediately, that position of prestige became a position of danger and menace. Now he wouldn't be caught in at death. Now he was determined to have no part of it. What made the difference? the revelation of God. Young Christians, if the word of God acts like this in our lives, we'll be totally different people. Not because they do this or don't do it at Greenwood or Downforth or Westmont or wherever. That may be a good reason for not doing a thing, but that's not the basic reason for it. The basic reason is, I have found truth from God. And that truth from God shows me what's going to happen to the world. Therefore, I want no part of the world. I don't want to be caught in it or mixed up with it in any way. And we find this clearly spelled out in the scriptures. These particular scriptures. Human reasoning could have said that he would benefit Israel and further God's plans more by retaining and using the provision. God's revelation made it clear that the whole society was under judgment and would shortly be smashed. To the man believing God, the choice was clear, though it was not easy. The night this young man must have spent pacing up and down in his room, how was he going to break this to his foster mother? How was he going to stand up to the pressures of the court? How was he going to go to the school in which Pharaoh had placed him? How was he going to renounce his position in society? How was he going to explain it and not look a nutter fool? Now, maybe he did look a nutter fool. But you know, the scriptures say the New Testament scriptures anyway, that the Christian sometimes has to stand in a place where the world will call him a fool for Christ's sake. And he accepts that. All right, that's fine. That's your way of looking at it. But I have a light, I have a word, I have instructions that you know nothing of, and those I must obey. So he walked out. That's all. Now, without laboring this or going into details in which we might apply it to our lives, though this could be another area of discussion, by the way, and I hope your group leaders are jotting some of these things down. So that when the inspiration in your group dries up, if it does, you'll be able at least to pull some problems out of your pocket wherever you get the solution to the problems. Choosing, verse twenty-five. Refusing is negative. Choosing is positive. A positive opting for suffering with the people of God. A positive opting for suffering with the people of God rather than, there's a word missing there, got me stumbled for a moment, rather than the temporary enjoyment of things clearly seem to be sinful. His basic premise, based on the word of God, was that God had a people. And he must make clear where he stood in relation to that people. Now I'm sure if you had told Pharaoh that God had a people, he would have laughed his head off. He said, as a matter of fact, that Christian discovers this momentous truth that God has a people in this age. It makes a tremendous difference in that individual's life. Some Christians, by the way, they talk, seem not yet to have discovered that. Well, what's the benefit in going and sitting with a lot of people in the chapel? What's the benefit of just, you know, being there? Every benefit in the world, every benefit in the world, they are God's people. And where those people are gathered together, God delights to be. And why shouldn't I? For two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them? And if God loves to be in the midst of them, I don't see why any Christian should think it a matter of no importance, whether he's there or not. I think it's a very great importance. That too might be an area of discussion. giving a lot of free advice to my own about it. The people of God. Now, even in this was a negative side to it, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. He knew it would mean affliction. He knew it would mean sorrow than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. There's the negative side to it. He's saying no. To the life of his day, he's saying yes to association and identification with the people of God. And he made clear his relation to that people. Every once in a while I meet Christians and they seem almost to be ashamed and embarrassed to associate themselves with the Christian. I find one or two very catching praises in the writings of the Apostles Paul. in which he said, you are not ashamed of my bond. I know what that means. Because I have lived in a land where men were taken prisoner and tied up. And some Christians looked the other way because they didn't want anybody to know that they were associated with these people in case they were tied up too. It wasn't the shame and degradation of it. It was fear. And apparently some people felt like this demon did. He ran away. He wanted to save his skin. None of the Romans appeared when Paul was on trial to stand up for him, and they could have done so so easily, couldn't they? For he was going to be executed as a man who stirred up people against the Roman government. And all one of those Roman Christians had to do was to turn up at the trial with one part of Paul's letter to the Roman Church and say, No, sir, this man did not stir us up against the Roman Empire. Can you prove it? Yes. Here's a letter of Paul. Read what he says. Let every soul be subject to the powers that be, for the powers that be are ordained of God. They could have done much in witness for Paul, but they chose not to. And Paul speaks again of others running away and leaving him and prays that it may not be laid to their charge. And again and again he speaks of those who stood by him. Luke is with me. It says in Acts twenty-eight, is it? The twenty-seven. Twenty-eight. When Paul was on his way up to Rome for the first time, when he saw the brethren coming out to meet him, he praised God and took courage. Or he thanked God. He thanked God, I think it is, but I'm not sure of the word, and took courage. He was down a bit. He didn't know what was going to happen to him in that monstrous city. And then suddenly a little group of Christians came down the road to meet him in a company and in. He was a prisoner. He was a prisoner. There were soldiers marching at either side of him. A short time passed, they had suggested killing him in case he escaped, and they were held responsible for allowing the prisoner to escape. But they are counsellors to kill this prisoner, so he won't escape. But no, and now this man already condemned is marching up between the soldiers. Why didn't those Christians stay at home and just pretend they hadn't heard he was coming? No, they didn't. They came out and walked with him. And it says Paul thanked God and took courage. He must have been a bit done that day. He needed encouragement. All of this, you see, comes in those words, in connection with those words. He had to make clear where he stood in relation to the people of God. Paul says, or the writer of the Hebrew letter, I think it was Paul, or a scriptural reason, but that's not important. Paul's name isn't on it and it doesn't matter. Speaking to those Hebrew Christians, he says, you suffered a great fight of affliction partly while certain things happened to you and partly while you became the companions of those who were so you. In other words, sometimes you were the direct target of the persecution, the destruction, the wreckage of your goods, And there were other times when you were not the direct target, but you put yourself alongside those who were sharing the reflection. Don't you see, Christians, how important it is to make clear our stand and our relationship relative to the people of God? Shame on me if I would ever deny my association with my brothers and sisters in Christ at any time. Esteeming, verse twenty-six, was really the basis for both things. Both his refusal and his choosing was based on a certain way of thinking. And that's what that word, esteeming, really means. Esteeming, the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Now, however, did Christ get into this passage? Couldn't the modern theologians and the higher critics have a field day with that one? God must surely have made a mistake. Because Moses, of course, didn't know anything about Christ, according to them. But of course he did. For the Christ is simply the Messiah. And every godly Jew from Abraham onward looked for Messiah, the anointed, the Christ of God. And Moses' parents had no doubt taught him these things, that God not only had a people, but that God had an anointed king for those people, not yet visible, but coming. And that anointed king would put in his appearance, and that his people should be prepared to suffer affliction in association not only with the people, but with the people's Christ, their Messiah, their anointed king. And he said, that's all right with me. And so the long, long shadow of the Christ of God was thrown back through all those thousands of years. And Moses took his stand right under that shadow, the shadow of the coming Messiah. And he said, well, If it means suffering, that's all right with me. Did Moses know, perhaps, that that Messiah would be a suffering Messiah, as Isaiah knew, and Jeremiah knew, and the other prophets knew? I don't know. I don't want to stretch words beyond where they'll go. But I leave it to you to think about at least. The modern Jew can read Isaiah fifty-three and deny all thoughts that they ever contemplated a suffering Messiah. How? I wouldn't know. They just close their, well, they don't close their eyes for things, the veil is upon their heart. They don't see it because they can't see it. But here was a man who chose rather to, esteeming rather, the reproach of Christ, greater riches in the treasures of Egypt, as he had said to Pharaoh, you know, our king is coming. Pharaoh said, well, what a big joke. your king, this mob of ignorant, illiterate slaves, that I could wipe out with one word. I wouldn't even have to raise my hand, just stand word, and I could have the whole lot of them extinguished. Now, of course, Moses was living proof that not only could he not extinguish the whole lot of them, he couldn't even extinguish one little baby whining and whimpering in the river, bobbing around in a little cradle among the crocodiles. He didn't even have the power to put his hand on that baby, much less extinguished the lot of them, if and when God chose to say no, and God did choose to say no. And so this man throws in his lot with him. But you see, the word is steaming means that he has a scale of values. He assumes this highly. He assumes this very low, very cheap. He has not only a scale of values, but he has a bookkeeping method. And Paul had two. He knows what goes in the credit side and he knows what goes in the debit side. The first thing that anybody has to learn in even the most elementary bookkeeping course. Every credit entry has to have a debit entry somewhere, somehow. And the hours that I spent when I went to night to try to learn bookkeeping once upon a time. The hours I spent. when I was trying to run and get that old trial balance to work out. To say nothing of a balance sheet. And here would be something totally missing. It got in one side and it didn't get in the other. And the teacher said, look, beautiful writing. Marvelous arithmetic. It's just terrific. But it doesn't balance, so it isn't any good. It isn't any good. All wasted, all lost. So you'd go back through it to find whatever it is. And of course, he sometimes said, well, It seems such a small amount. But I'm told by people who keep books when I tried to go into a few stamps on a check. And they said, look, you just hash things up for them. Because those extra stamps somehow or other have got to show up in the book. If it says here, fifty-nine dollars and sixty-nine cents, well, why didn't you just pay us fifty-nine dollars and sixty-nine cents? Well, it would be easier to write the other way, but it's difficult for us. Now, the Christian keeps books, too. The Christian keeps books. Paul did. He said, before I was saved, certain things appeared to me to be gained that credit. And as soon as I got saved, the things that were on the credit side I saw were lost. They were on the wrong side of the ledger. My bookkeeping was all wrong. And some things that I thought were, had they had lost a write-off Those I discovered to be the most valuable and important things in the whole universe. And this happened because of the excellency of the knowledge that Christ gave him. My Lord. All values were changed. Now Moses chotted things up, and he arrived at the conclusion that it was better, much better, to suffer reproach. That's the conclusion he came to on the basis of his bookkeeping. Acting on the basis of a proper scale of values. His apparently negative attitude was motivated by a clear-headed system of spiritual bookkeeping with a balance sheet. Esteemed, considering. That's the meaning of the word. Considering this was more important. Compare Paul's gain and loss, Philippians three, seven, and the light affliction versus eternal weight of glory in second Corinthians four, seven, seen. He also acts five, forty-one with Matthew five and eleven. Then comes the forsaking. Verse twenty-seven. Now we can't go into all these in detail. time is running out on us. Forsaking. Since he did it by faith and not fearing the wrath of the king, this cannot refer to his hasty departure for Midian. Now, this is what has been in most folks' minds, that Moses, this forsaking Egypt, was the time, you remember after he killed the man, buried in the sand, and then he ran away because he was afraid he'd be discovered. Now, the Bible says that when he did, for say Egypt, he did it not fearing the wrath of the king. So it can't very well be that, can it? My feeling is that this refers not to his sudden departure for Midian, which by the way was the outcome of a very precipitate act which possibly had no part whatever in God's plan for the children of Israel, for he was not going to bring them out through Moses ringing somebody's neck in the sand in a clandestine way and then being ashamed of it and afraid of it. God doesn't do his work that way. And God had to send him back for a further polishing course in Midian, which lasted forty long years. You would have thought that would have made Moses very cautious about striking that rock, wouldn't you? But he forgot the lesson of the forty years when he hit the rock. It has to refer to Exodus thirteen, and his bold marching out of the land once for all in the company of God's people, for a whole new life which left Egypt in all its ways and after. This is the forsaken of Egypt. It was that irrevocable step when on that night of the Passover he marched out When from Israel, types of bondage, Israel marched on mighty vines. Why, you've lost some wonderful thing. I don't know where they've gone to, but I wish somebody could see something like that. From Israel's types of bondage, Israel marched on mighty vines, and with them was Moses, not afraid of the king. Not afraid of the king. The forty years in the wilderness had taught him. to fear God. Take off your shoes, throw off your feet the place where on your standing is holy ground. I am God. I am God. Fear me, never mind the king. So he goes back. When God even chose him for the job, he said, oh, but I've got a speech impediment. I'm not a very good speaker, and I really couldn't do the job. He was frightened. He was afraid to go back to Pharaoh. But when the time came, he marched out. He forsook Egypt, and that means a permanent abandoning of Egypt. A permanent abandoning of Egypt in favor of the life that God had for him. A wonderful, wonderful choice. However, these are all crisis decisions, aren't they? Refusing, choosing, esteeming, forsaking. They're kind of crisis decisions. Decisions reach in a crisis. Sometimes it's rather easier to do it that way. Somebody said to me the other day, I always work better under pressure. I think we need to watch that one. However, it may be easier to do it that way, but this enduring wasn't in the stern discipline of the desert and the unceasing difficulties of the pilgrim life in total dependence on God, surrounded by enemies with nothing visible on which to lean. He just simply at every test deliberately chose to carry on. This is enduring. Hunger, thirst, heat, misunderstanding, the chiding of the people of God, the discouragement, the serpents, the whole package. And yet, this man made mistakes. He became very irritated with the people of God on more than one occasion. But there is one thing about Moses, to the best of my knowledge, we never hear of his even thinking of turning back. He said, blot me out of your book of your life. Don't abandon your people because you have told the whole world that you're not only going to bring them out, but that you're going to bring them through, and you're going to bring them in. You must do. You have to do. If it's necessary to blot my name out, well then blot it out. But never for a moment did this man consider going back. I think he knew better than the other crowded people. There was no way he could go back anymore. They said, let's return to Egypt. I wonder who they thought was going to open the Red Sea to let them into the place. God brought them out through the sea. He closed the sea behind them. And that was that. If they were God's people, they were irrevocably separated. They were irrevocably his. They were unchangeably, unalterably committed to this time. They could go back and wander as God's people in the wilderness until they were wiped out in discipline. But they could never go back to Egypt because they were the people of God. And so Moses endured, endured, endured. What a wonderful word. We know it's a word that's a good one to try to work out these days. We've got so many sloppy people who want just to amble around from one place to another. never bothering too much, you know, take the easy way. This kind of thing. God is looking for people who have got the spiritual character to endure, to endure affliction, to endure disappointment, discouragement, misunderstanding, misinterpretation, whatever it may be, and looking it all straight in the face to what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And we're told this is what he did. Enduring the cross, despising the shame. Despising the shame. Not the other way around. Not despising the cross and enduring the shame. But enduring the cross and despising the shame. Consider him, says the writer for the Hebrews. Consider him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, left you be weary and saved. And not only that, but with all these great witnesses, including Moses around the body, let us run with endurance patience but it's patient endurance active patience patience perseverance let us keep on going they kept the Passover thus identifying himself in hope with a flame redeemer and a plan of God totally contrary to the reasoning of the world that God should bring his people out by the blood of a lamb what nonsense what rubbish how unscientific how ignorant how completely irresponsible why Pharaoh could crush the whole lot of you. You don't have a sword among you. And sure enough, they didn't. That's fine. They had no training. They had no anything. You're going out. You're just going to kill yourself. No, that's not it. We stand around this plain lamb and we identify ourselves totally with this truth that God is now working redemption and deliverance through sacrifice and that God will always work deliverance and redemption through sacrifice. Furthermore... even though they may not have kept the Passover through the wilderness all the way when they came to when they came to the land and went over into it and were about to assail Jericho to attack the city do you remember one of the first things that Joshua replied they kept the Passover at Gilgoth or it was no more possible for them to knock the walls of that city down and to conquer the city apart from the power of God manifest in Christ than it was for them to get out of Egypt without it. And the very same power that brought them out of Egypt was a power which led to the victory over Jericho. Hence the renewal of the Passover. And the power of God which was evident in Christ in your redemption, in your salvation, is the only power there is for day-to-day victory in your Christian life. It's the same Christ for everything. So they kept the Passover, associating himself in this with the people of God. They passed through the sea. Verse twenty-nine, called in First Corinthians ten two a baptism. He burned his bridges behind him. This was the ultimate act of commitment. For while still on the Egyptian side of an unopened sea, he could have chosen to go back and bargain. This was the point of no return. Compare with Israel's stupid act of rebellion in Numbers fourteen four. They could not return to Egypt. They could only turn back to wandering. Their baptism in the seat of Moses sealed them off forever from the old life in Egypt. Now I think we have touched enough of these points to make it obvious the kind of thinking we have before us. In the passages I hope you can read the Word of God and discuss them profitably and come up again with questions and points of benefit and blessing for the rest of us in the will of the Lord. God bless which word.