I believe this is going to be a
very key study for us as we go
through this.
I did something this week while I was
traveling that I normally don't do.
I listened to the first two messages on
this.
And I normally don't like to listen to
myself, but I thought, well, I better do
it.
Just maybe I need to improve on some
things.
And I do need to improve on my
stuttering.
Don't stutter so much and use, uh, don't
use that too much and things.
But, uh, I was encouraging that God just
seemed to minister to my own heart from
the word.
As I listened to it, and that's what
we want.
Moses, the man of God, and this is
our desert survival series.
Chapter, uh, two of Exodus is where we're
at today.
And I'll give you a little bit of
introduction after we have a word of prayer.
Let's bow for a word of prayer.
Father, our eyes are on you.
We do not look at the circumstances.
These things will distract us.
We see a lot of people gone on
Sunday.
We realize that, uh, there's reasons for this.
And maybe sometimes there's, there's a warfare going
on.
And Satan has distracted or diverted somebody from
these messages.
I believe that when, Father, you give us
a message.
You, you send along a message to us
that Satan will try to keep us away
from it.
And as these first messages are so important,
so foundational for this study.
Uh, we believe that there'll be many times
where we'll be, uh, drawn away.
But I pray that this morning your word
would work.
The power of your spirit would work.
That you would sustain my voice.
And that you would be lifted up.
Teach us about the Lord Jesus Christ.
How important he is.
And how important the ministry of the spirit
is in our lives.
Along with the word.
For we yield ourselves to you.
I yield myself afresh.
My voice to you.
And our minds, may our minds be focused
in on what you have to say.
Not on the speaker.
Not on distractions.
But on you.
For it's in Jesus' name that we pray.
Amen.
I gave you a definition of Exodus.
How many of you remember what it was?
Anybody remember?
The definition of Exodus, which we're studying in
the book of Exodus.
We'll be in Numbers and some in Deuteronomy.
Exodus means the way out.
The way out.
But it's also the way out of something.
The way out of what?
It's the way out of bondage.
And I was thinking about Jesus when he
was dealing with some of the Pharisees.
In John 8.
31 down through 34.
In that passage.
One of the things they said was we
were not in bondage.
Jesus was talking to them.
It said many of them believed on him.
And Jesus turned to those Jews which believed
on him.
And he says, if you continue in my
word.
He says, if you continue in my word.
Then are you my disciples.
Indeed.
In other words, if you don't continue in
my word.
You're not a disciple.
You'll follow a trend.
You'll follow a philosophy.
You'll follow a cult.
Or you'll follow something.
And you won't be my disciple.
You'll be somebody's disciple.
And you shall know the truth.
And the truth shall make you free.
To follow the word.
The truth will make you free.
And then they answered him.
And they said, we be Abraham's seed.
And we're never in bondage.
To any man.
How sayest thou you shall be made free.
One of the interesting things about bondage is.
You can be in a bondage to something.
And not even know it.
And they were.
They were in bondage right then.
And the thing about it.
They said, we've never been in bondage.
And they had been in bondage many times.
They had been in this Egyptian bondage even.
How come they didn't remember about that?
What about the Babylonian bondage?
But they had been in bondage.
But the spiritual bondage is the thing that
Jesus came to set us free from.
So it's the way out of bondage.
They were in bondage spiritually and also physically.
And God's going to deliver them from both.
Now the message of Exodus is redemption.
Exodus is a book of redemption.
Redemption has to do with release.
Again, freedom from the bondage.
It's redemption by blood.
You remember when they got ready to go.
The last plague was dealing with death.
And God told Moses, you tell the people
you put the blood from the lamb on
the door post.
And that will secure your freedom.
Your freedom from death.
As the death angel came and the firstborn
of every family was struck.
The Bible says in Leviticus 17.11 That
the life of the flesh is in the
blood.
And he says, I have given it to
you upon the altar.
I've given it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for your souls.
For it is the blood that maketh an
atonement for the souls.
And of course we know that when they
took the lamb, the Passover lamb.
He says, when I see the blood, I
will pass over.
And this is what Easter is about really.
We should use the term Passover more correctly.
But he says, when I see the blood,
I will pass over.
And ultimately it was speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he died on the cross.
It was so God, when he saw the
blood applied over our life, he would pass
over us.
We would not be judged for our sins
because our sins were judged on the cross
there at Calvary.
In Jesus Christ, he became sin for us.
So it's a message of redemption by the
blood.
And so he comes to set us free.
I was thinking again how Jesus Christ, when
he stood up in the synagogue and he
read the scriptures.
He read from Isaiah.
He read from Isaiah 61 verses 1 and
2.
And he says, the spirit of the Lord
God is upon me.
Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek.
He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted.
To proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are
bound.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
He is talking about a spiritual release of
captives.
The greatest captivity is when your spirit is
captive.
When your soul is captive.
And even as a Christian, you may have
something that is binding you.
And you're not really free in Christ to
let Christ live in your life.
You may have a habit or a doctrine
or something that is pinching you in.
And binding you in.
And you're hung up on that one thing.
And you're not free.
Christ has come to set us free.
Christ redeems us from the penalty of death.
And from the power of death.
He just sets us free.
Romans 6 verse 23 says, the wages of
sin is death.
If you continue on it, it leads to
death.
The wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's a redemption.
A release to freedom.
By blood.
Redemption by blood.
And also by power.
And here we see when God takes two
to three million people.
And takes them out of Egypt.
Leads them into the wilderness.
And then to the promised land.
That is power.
So he redeems them by physical power also.
There's a lesson there.
And that is that when Christ delivers us
from our sins.
When we are set free.
When we receive him as our Savior.
He is able to keep us free.
And if we go back to any bondage,
it's our fault.
Not his.
Paul said, for I know whom I have
believed.
And am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him.
Against that day.
So, they're going to have a physical release.
Along with a spiritual release.
And Christ can do that today.
And we're learning these lessons.
One of the things that we fail to
do.
Many times when we have something in our
life.
That is binding and pinching us down.
Is that we just fail to ask God.
We just fail to ask God.
We'll struggle.
We'll go around.
It's a very simple thing.
But Jesus said, ask and it shall be
given unto you.
Seek and you shall find.
Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
We just fail to do it.
Now the key verse for Exodus.
We're trying to break out of our introductory
remarks.
And today we will.
But the key verse, I think, is in
chapter 20.
In verse 2.
And if you know anything about Exodus.
In chapter 20.
That's where the law is.
You know that?
The Ten Commandments.
The heart of the law.
In that verse he says, I am the
Lord thy God.
Which hath brought thee out of the land
of Egypt.
And out of the house of bondage.
When you know Christ as your Savior.
You have entered out of the house of
bondage.
Into the land of the free.
If you're free in your spirit.
Then there's nothing that can bind you.
Now, last time we saw God about abort.
Pharaoh's abortion attempt.
Remember he tried to get all the babies
killed.
And God aborted his abortion attempt.
And it wouldn't work.
So they went to try and throw the
babies in the river.
And I got to thinking about that.
I don't even think that really worked either.
How many of you mothers would take your
baby.
And go throw them in the river.
Just because the king said to.
I don't think very many of you would.
You'd give your life.
Before that.
So I just.
I believe Pharaoh was just really getting.
He's up against a wall here.
He's batting his head against the bricks.
He's not able to beat God in it.
But that's the set up.
Now we learned then that.
That Moses mother and father.
They blocked the system.
They were not going to do it.
And they tried to keep them hid after
three months.
But after three months.
They realized they had to do something.
And so the something was.
The best thing they could come up with.
As God led them.
They prayed for direction.
They said.
I know.
We'll put them in a basket.
And we'll put them in the river.
We'll see what God will do.
They ultimately had to come to that point.
To where they just had to commit.
Their problem to God.
To see what he would do.
And so they put the problem in the
basket.
Put their basket in the river.
But ultimately they were just putting.
The problem in the God's hands.
And seeing what he would do.
Now.
We're going to look today.
At the training of Moses.
Last week we saw the birth of Moses.
But today we're going to look at the
training of Moses.
The training of Moses was basically in three
areas.
At home.
In the world.
And in the desert.
At home.
Is what we're going to focus on this
morning.
In the world we won't spend much time.
In the desert we'll spend a little time
there.
Alright.
You're ready to go.
First the training of Moses at home.
Now I want to get into this.
And not delay too much.
Because.
This is a basic element for survival.
If our home does not survive.
The family does not survive.
The unit.
The family unit.
Is being destroyed today.
Where we have one mother.
And one father.
And twenty kids.
You know.
Or however many.
You know.
One mother and one father.
Is the way God ordained it.
Back in the beginning.
In Genesis.
When the Pharisees and scribes were having their
divorce problems.
And everything.
They come to Jesus.
What do we do about this and this.
He says.
Go back to the beginning.
In the beginning.
This is the way God wants it.
Well Satan is destroying the basic family unit.
Now if he can destroy that.
Then he can destroy the nation.
And that's what he's after.
He wants to destroy America.
Because he knows.
The strength of America.
Has been the home.
And the strength of the home.
Has been God.
God has been the center of the home
life.
So he's taken God.
Out of the family.
And the family has fallen apart.
Okay.
Now.
In Exodus 2.9 and 10.
We're going to look.
At about all it says.
Except what it repeats in the New Testament.
About the training of Moses.
Look in Exodus 2.9. And Pharaoh's daughter
said unto her.
Take this child away.
And nurse it for me.
For I will give thee thy wages.
And the woman took the child.
And nursed it.
And the child grew.
And she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter.
And he became her son.
And she called his name Moses.
And she said.
Because I drew him out of the water.
Now.
In verse 10 it says.
And the child grew.
That's about all we know.
About the training of Moses.
And you're going to say.
How can you get much out of that?
Well you just wait.
You can't believe how much I can get
out of that.
Maybe you can by now.
But.
The training of Moses has been a fascinating
area.
Yesterday I was studying on it.
And I just couldn't write down fast enough.
All the things the Lord was showing me.
And I was just reading the section.
And looking at things.
There's just a lot of stuff.
Now.
I broke it down into two key areas.
The training of Moses was in two key
areas.
The practical.
They taught him some practical things.
And then they taught him some principles.
The practical and the principles.
Okay.
In the practical.
The practical has to do with this.
Proverbs 22.6 says.
Train up a child in the way he
should go.
And when he's old he will not depart
from it.
The scripture is saying.
You train up that child.
If you.
As you train that child up.
And you see the way that he is
developing.
You help him develop in that area.
For God.
And for serving God.
And for knowing God.
Maybe the child is going to be musically
oriented.
Then you train that child in that way.
To glorify God.
In that area of his life.
Or maybe he's mechanically oriented.
Or scholastically oriented.
Or whatever.
But you train up that child in the
way he is to go.
And the way the Hebrews did it.
They trained their children for a trade.
The mothers would train the girls to be
housewives.
To run the home.
To be a godly mother.
And the fathers would train the sons.
They would take them and train them what
they were doing.
They would take them and they would show
them.
They started at twelve.
In the way they should go.
And God was inculcated into every area of
their life.
And their training.
And it says.
Then when they were old they would not
depart from it.
We try to mix that around.
And say that when they depart they'll come
back.
That's not what it says.
If they depart maybe they'll come back.
Maybe they won't.
Alright the practical then from that verse.
Now there's three elements in the practical training.
I want to share with you.
Three practical areas.
And I want to share this with you
too.
Before I begin.
You say how did you get all of
this stuff?
Where did you find this stuff?
I'll tell you where I found it.
I found it.
I found this stuff about the training of
Moses.
By looking at Moses life later on.
Isn't that true?
You can usually tell how somebody has been
trained.
In their childhood by looking at them now.
Usually.
Not always.
Sometimes there's some changes.
Some dramatic changes.
And Christ is the dramatic change.
But as I studied Moses.
As I looked at Moses life.
I could see things that they put into
his life.
And I'll show you.
Three elements in the practical training.
These three things.
They gave him an education.
They gave him an example.
And they gave him discipline.
Now you got to understand something.
They did a lot in a short time.
Do you know how long that they probably
had Moses?
She says you take.
Pharaoh's daughter said you take this child.
And you keep him until he's weaned.
Maybe two to four years.
Possibly six years.
Because they used to nurse a longer time
at that time.
But probably two to four years she had
this child to train.
And his father had him.
That's not a lot of time is it?
Alright.
What about education?
What did they do with education?
And you got this little baby.
I believe that they pumped scripture into that
little baby.
They told him scripture.
They quoted scripture.
And that child had memorized scripture.
By the time he had left the home.
And he went back to the court.
Deuteronomy 6-7 was their principle.
And they followed it to the T.
They talked to the word of God.
The word says in Deuteronomy 6-7.
Thou shalt teach them diligently.
I believe every moment they could.
They taught Moses about God and his word.
Teach them diligently unto thy children.
And shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thine house.
When they're at the table they're talking.
And when thou sittest in thy house.
When thou walkest by the way.
When thou liest down and when thou risest
up.
All the time they're teaching them scripture.
We've only got so much time.
And I tell you God's been working on
me.
On this passage.
This passage is for me.
Because I realize there's so much laxness.
You know.
I don't believe that they allowed any wasted
time.
They didn't allow Moses to sit and waste
some time in front of the T.V.
Now you have to take that.
You know as it comes up.
You'll know what I'm talking about.
Because they didn't have T.V. And of
course a two year old's not going to
spend a lot of time there anyway.
Unless they want to put their old sticky
fingers on the screen.
You know.
Or fool with the knobs.
Mess up your color.
And all that thing they like to do.
But they.
You see what I'm saying.
By the education they had to be careful.
But they didn't let that child spend time
getting things into his brain.
That would waste what they were doing.
A lot of the things that our children
get today.
Negates the scripture that we gave them.
It nullifies it.
Learn a lot of Sesame Street.
Where that program breaks down and goes against
scriptural principles.
Your child will be broke down.
We need to learn.
That what we let them take in.
Will either build them up.
Or destroy principles.
And for that reason we should evaluate cartoons.
We should evaluate programs.
And see if humanism is being taught there
in that program.
Okay.
Now another thing is example.
They say that fifty percent of attitudes are
learned by the age of three.
You got a bad attitude?
Well if you're fifty you've had it a
long time then.
You know.
Fifty percent of attitudes.
So their example was teaching Moses attitudes.
They watched.
I just wonder if one of his parents
didn't have a bad temper.
And we'll get into it later.
And I'll tell you why.
Because Moses had a problem in that area.
And it comes over into this last area
of discipline.
But ninety percent of our habits are formed
by the age of twenty.
So as Moses watched mom and dad.
His little eyes were taken in.
The computer was recording.
The example that he saw.
Okay.
I don't think they could afford to live
but one way before Moses.
And that was godly.
And they realized that.
They really had to watch it.
They believed the future hung on Moses.
They believed that Moses was going to be
the deliverer.
God had spoke to them.
And this child that they had and had
such a short time.
Their whole future hung on him.
So they were really pouring it into him.
What about our future in America?
It's in our youth, isn't it?
But we're letting them slide too much.
And they're sliding the ways of the world.
How many of our children in here are
being encouraged to think about going into missions?
Giving their life totally for the Lord.
What every area.
But no, it's almost all nowadays for getting
an education so you can make money.
And be miserable like everybody else with your
money.
And if you get it then you can
make other people miserable.
But they didn't waste time, I don't believe.
Their future was too critical.
And I don't believe they were dragging Moses
off to things.
By dragging him off to watch a movie
and things like that.
We learned from our parents and things.
But we got to critique our lifestyle.
If we're going to have little ones following
us, they're going to follow our example.
You know, we come along.
Now listen, Junior.
You do as I say, not as I
do.
Well, Junior's not going to do as you
say.
Junior's going to do as you do.
So if you're a thief and you try
to cheat and steal and lie in your
little particular ways where you think you're getting
away with it, Junior's going to do the
same thing.
He's watching.
He's listening.
Now, Proverbs 4.23 says, I did a
little study on that word issues.
That's the word for outgoing or outcome.
You keep your heart very carefully because out
of your life is going to come what
you put in.
The outcome comes from the income.
And so, as that little child watches me
and watches you, example, that goes into them
and it's going to come out.
You know, little Junior's a terror?
Well, look over there.
Mom or Dad may be a terror too.
They may be an older, more refined terror,
but they have their particular ways of throwing
their temper tantrum if they don't get their
way.
This is why there's a lot of problems
in churches today with splits and things.
Just because Junior has Mom and Dad that
never was disciplined.
That's the third area.
Discipline.
Discipline deals with one main thing.
What is it?
Obedience.
It just sweeps all the way across.
The whole thing on this area is obedience.
If they don't learn this one, it results
in rebellion.
And I think Moses, if he had one
major flaw in his life, it was this
area of discipline.
And it got him into trouble.
And we'll see a lot of tremendous things
about Moses, but if you'll really get down
to it, it should break your heart when
you see that he wanted to get into
the promised land so bad and he couldn't
get in because he was disobedient to God.
If our children are not obedient to us,
they will not be obedient to God.
We can't fool ourselves.
That's the principle of obedience.
We discipline them so they will learn to
obey God.
That's the ultimate principle of obedience.
We have a lot of rebellion because we
do not insist on them being obedient.
We should give them a lot of praise
and reward for obedience, but disobedience should really
have a strong effect too.
Now, not only did they teach Moses in
the practical, but they also taught him in
the area of principles.
And there were three of them also.
Not only was the three practical, and the
three practical were education, example, and discipline, but
they gave him three major principles to follow.
Three major principles.
Now, these I find back over in Hebrews
again.
Turn back to Hebrews chapter 11.
We went there last week and we looked
at the birth of Moses, and now we're
going to go here and look at the
training of Moses to find out what kind
of principles they taught him.
And this is hard to believe that they
could do this much in Moses' life, but
I believe they did it.
And the only other explanation for Moses coming
out so well, for coming out so good,
is the possibility that they got to keep
Moses longer than we think that he might
have stayed.
It might have been a possibility that he
got to stay around home longer than two
to four years.
Maybe even up into his teenage years or
something.
That's the only explanation I would be able
to give for such a tremendous training that
Moses had in such a short time.
But Hebrews 11, 23, and 24.
Let's start with 24.
It says, 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 or valuing the reproach of Christ's greater
riches than the treasures in Egypt.
For he had respect unto the recompense of
the reward.
Three principles.
Here they are.
Verse 24.
First principle.
Moses, we're going to teach you what to
refuse.
Verse 25.
Moses, we're going to teach you what to
choose.
And then verse 26.
So to rhyme, Moses, we're going to teach
you what to lose.
Or value.
Value doesn't rhyme with refuse and choose, so
I had to put lose in there.
But there's some things you need to just
let go.
It has no value to you, Moses.
So you learn.
There's certain things you better refuse.
If it knocks on your door, say, no,
not interested.
And then slam the door.
And there's certain things when it comes along
and it says, here, you better choose it.
And if there's certain things that come along
that says, listen, I am of no value
to you, then Moses, don't put your time
in there.
Don't waste your time there.
Don't put your money into that area.
And there's certain things that are valuable.
Moses, sell everything you can and get it.
Invest all you have for that which is
valuable.
Now let's look at it.
What to refuse.
Verse 24.
By faith, when Moses was come to years,
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter.
Now what's this?
Refuse evil.
What was the evil?
The evil was position in the world.
Because of the principles he'd been taught, he
learned that it was better to turn down
this position in the world to be Pharaoh.
Because in Moses' mind and his heart, he
knew that God was going to use him
to deliver Israel out of bondage.
But he did not think it was going
to be by being a Pharaoh because of
the values, the principles, the things that his
mom and dad had taught him.
Now if he had not been taught those
things, he'd say, hey, this is the way
to go.
I'll be Pharaoh.
Everybody listen to me.
I'll get my people free.
It wouldn't work like that in Egypt.
Because of the political setup, he would have
just had his noose cooked just like that.
It wouldn't work.
But so he knew that much, at least
because of these principles.
You know, rank has its privilege.
Take it.
Boy, what an opportunity to make an advancement.
Rank has its privilege.
But rank also has its cost.
How many dads have ruined their families because
of an advancement in position in the world
and they moved their family out of a
good church into a locality where there was
not a good church?
I can share with you a real personal
story of how this principle of going for
advancement in the world destroyed a whole family.
And there's many stories on it.
I can share many of them with you.
But rank has its privilege.
But rank also has its price.
And he turned his back on rank.
I was thinking of a verse back over
in 1 Timothy 6.
It says, For the love of money, we
could say the love of power even, but
the love of money is the root of
all evil, which while some coveted after it,
they have erred from the faith.
This would have been a key point.
He could have turned and turned from the
faith.
And through this, they pierced themselves through with
many sorrows.
This principle of what to refuse.
He learned he better refuse this position in
the world.
And then what to choose?
Verse 25.
What to choose?
He says, It's better to choose affliction than
pleasure.
Notice, Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
When Moses came to 40 years of age,
and next week maybe I'll give you a
little bit more on the background on this,
but he was offered the kingdom.
He was offered the position of Pharaoh at
least three times from history we know.
In that setting.
But when he came to 40 years of
age, he turned his back on it for
the last time and says, No, I'd rather
identify with the children of God than identify
with the children of Satan.
It's better to be afflicted with the children
of God than to have the pleasures of
sin for a season.
His mom and dad had taught him this
principle.
It's an amazing principle of what to choose
just in our decisions.
Fellowship with God's children are a pleasure in
the world.
Let's go to church.
Today it's Sunday.
No, let's go water skiing.
Hey, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Let's go.
They made a choice.
They made that choice and it was a
wrong choice because the principle was not instilled
in the child's mind.
Now there's some other things with that.
There's a time for fun and there's a
time for fellowship.
Satan says, Let's have fun when it's time
to fellowship.
God says, Let's have fellowship when it's time
for fellowship and then let's have fun when
it's time to have fun.
Have fun.
I like to water ski.
Invite me.
Let's see.
You know.
But you won't get me there Sunday.
Especially Sunday morning when we're having a service
or Wednesday night because I have been taught
some principles since I was a little bitty
kid and I haven't departed from them.
It's an amazing thing.
I would have normally accepted my folks taught
me these principles and I'm so glad they
did because if they had not taught me
these principles I would not be where I
am today.
I would not know the Word of God.
I would not have chose to go the
route of knowing the Word of God.
It's sin or fun.
Fun's for a moment.
Fellowship is for eternity.
These different things.
Here's something else now.
The third thing of what to value.
Not only what to refuse and what to
choose but Moses, we want to teach you
this principle here of what to value.
There are certain things you need to value.
There are certain things that are of tremendous
value.
And Jesus taught us these principles too.
We don't have time to get into it.
But he says, here's what to value.
Value Christ.
And anything associated with Christ, you value that.
Isn't that what he did?
Esteeming the reproach of who?
Christ.
He said, I'd rather identify with Christ and
be a slave than be the Pharaoh of
Egypt.
Ah, boy they had taught him a key
principle of what to value.
He was taught to make eternity decisions.
Remember I mentioned to that?
Make a decision on the basis of how
is it going to affect you or your
family in relation to eternity.
What a tremendous principle.
Moses was taught to make eternity decisions.
Is it worth it to run with the
crowd, Moses?
They'd teach him as they had that little
baby.
How they did it, I don't know.
This is why I'm beginning to wonder if
they didn't have him a little bit longer.
They did an amazing job.
Is it worth it to run with the
crowd that's going to hell?
Is it worth it to put your time
in there?
Put your time in with Christ and his
crowd.
And so when he got up and he
had to make the choice, he didn't hesitate.
I'm going with Christ.
I'm going with his crowd.
I'm going with my people.
I'm going to stick with my people even
if it means death.
So he gave up his position.
You know, I was studying this.
It's an interesting thing.
He gave up when he turned his back
on being pharaoh, he gave up three things.
He gave up these three things.
He gave up self-preservation.
He gave up self-protection.
And he gave up self-position.
This is good.
He gave up self-preservation in that who's
going to provide for you?
You know, ultimately you had to run off
out in the desert and hide because the
other guys got mad at him, the pharaoh.
When he killed that Egyptian, we'll get into
that too next week or so.
But his self-preservation, who's going to take
care of you?
Who's going to take care of your basic
needs?
Man, you can have all the T-bone
steaks you want as pharaoh.
You know?
Without the T-bone.
What about your protection?
Your power?
That's the area of power.
You turn about that, who's going to protect
you?
You didn't fight with these slaves, who's going
to protect you?
And what about your position?
Well, with this position, you can travel.
Your travel agencies, you've got a hundred travel
agencies.
Pleasure!
You're not going to have any fun with
Christians.
You're not going to have any fun, Moses,
identifying with those Israelites.
You see?
They really instilled into him a tremendous principle
when they taught Moses what to value.
And the scripture says that he chose rather
to suffer affliction with the people of God
than to enjoy pleasures for sin for a
season.
The day is coming, and maybe not too
far off.
To where we're going to have to make
decisions as to who we're going to identify
with.
Christ and His church or this world.
As persecution will come in.
And I hope it doesn't come.
But the signs are coming.
Do you know that the temptation that Jesus
received from Satan in Matthew 4 and those
passages, did you know that the temptation that
Jesus received from Satan was these same three
areas?
Have you ever thought about it?
Hey, you're going to starve to death.
Why don't you just turn these stones into
some bread?
That's that principle.
Let God provide versus self-preservation.
Moses learned, I'll just let God provide.
I don't have to be fed.
I don't have to do what Satan says.
And that's what Satan said to Jesus.
He tried to tempt Him.
Preserve yourself.
Turn the stones into bread.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word of the Lord.
Jesus told him that.
And then the second thing is let God
protect you.
You throw yourself down off of this temple.
Let God protect you.
The angels will catch you.
And there's the principle of self-protection.
And Jesus says you do not tempt God.
See there, and I don't have time to
get into it.
It's tremendous.
And then the third thing is position.
He took Jesus up and He showed Him
all the kingdoms of the world from this
high mountain.
He said, see all of these kingdoms.
You will be over them if you'll just
bow down and worship Me.
It's self-position.
And Jesus says, you'll have no other gods
before Me.
Thou shall have no other gods before Me.
And Him, only shall you worship Him.
He answered Him in Scripture three times.
The three areas that Moses gave up, the
three areas Jesus was tempted in, isn't that
interesting?
Do you know that you will be hit
by these same three areas?
These principles apply.
It's all knit and tuck.
And this is why last week, you remember
I said that whatever you give to God,
you don't lose.
It's safe.
But whatever you try to keep, maybe you've
got something in your life you're trying to
hang on to, that you're going to lose.
The very thing you're trying to hang on
to so tightly, you'll lose it.
Moses got back those three areas.
Self-preservation, he turned it over, God will
provide.
Man, God fed him.
They had a mobile cafeteria out there, food
dropped from the sky, birds come in, water
out of the rock, you know.
They didn't have to run back down to
Egypt every time they ran out of food
or sent somebody out.
It was right there.
God provided for that.
God provided for the protection.
Anybody try to get them?
Zap!
God'll knock them off.
And what about the pleasure?
God intended for them to enjoy themselves to
the help, to really enjoy Him.
They had their food, their clothes would not
wear out.
Wouldn't that be great, men?
Your wife couldn't say, hey, my dress is
worn out and he had a new dress.
Hey, let me look at it.
No, it's been good.
It's been good for 30 years.
It's good for another 10 years too, you
know.
Their shoes wouldn't wear out.
God wanted them to just get so excited
and enjoy Him.
But they wouldn't.
We're going to get into it.
They began to rebel.
They would complain.
They missed out on the pleasure.
But God will take care of it.
Moses was given the basics to survival in
life when his parents raised him up.
You know what they said?
Moses, know God and trust God.
That's what it all borne out to.
Just know Him and trust Him.
Love Him.
Who you trust is your Savior.
Moses was not going to trust in himself.
He was going to trust in God.
You see, if he would have went to
that position in the power, he would have
been saying, I will preserve myself.
I will protect myself.
I'll provide for myself and my pleasures.
He would have lost all of them.
We would have never heard of Moses.
And maybe you'll never be heard of either
if you choose the wrong way.
Who you trust in is your Savior.
And this is what humanism is saying today.
You better trust in yourself.
You better trust in man.
Don't trust in God.
And Satan may have had you biting on
his bait on your salvation.
I don't know if you're saved or not.
I hope you are.
But it's just possible that you may not
be saved.
That you have not yet trusted Christ as
your Savior.
And He's had you into this trap where
you better just do what you can, do
the best you can, and you'll be saved.
That's not God.
The Bible says, For by grace are you
saved through faith.
That's what God does.
For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God.
That's what Christ did.
Salvation is what Christ did.
It's a gift of God, and not of
works, so no man can boast.
Let's bow for prayer.
Before we close, we'll have a short invitation.
Wouldn't you like to just invite Jesus in
right where you sit while it's still fresh
in your mind?
Maybe you can see how you've been trying
to do everything for yourself, and life has
just turned out to be one miserable bummer.
Won't you just say, Lord, I've blown it.
My life is a mess.
I'm really not happy.
And I now by faith accept Jesus as
my Savior.
Dear Jesus, come into my heart.
You just tell Jesus to come in and
take over.
You just ask Him to be your Savior,
to forgive you of your sin.
Right where you sit.
He'll do business with you.
You see, He says, behold, I stand at
the door and knock.
I'm just waiting to come in.
Thank you, Lord, for this time.
And if someone's accepted you as their Savior,
I pray that they'll go on to obey
you by following you in believer's baptism, confessing
you as their Savior.
As you said, whoever believes will not be
ashamed of you.
They'll come out and they'll identify with Christ.
As Moses came out and identified with the
children of Israel.
Thank you, Lord, for this time now in
Jesus' name.
Amen.