Address—Robert Boulard
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I'd like to open this meeting by seeing number six in the appendix.
Verse four says, when the world would bid me leave thee, telling me of shame and loss, save your guard me lest I grieve thee, lest I cease to love thy cross. This is treasure all the rest I count but draw number six in the appendix may be local brother could start it.
Well, shall we ask the Lord's blessing?
Our loving God and our Father, we thank thee for. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus, we thank thee for that one. Whoever did thy will and in perfect obedience walked through this world with love in his heart for thyself, and perfect devotion to thee, our God, and he walked.
In that course that led to the cross and to bring us into such blessing. And so this evening, our God, we can sing of the cross of Christ and what it is to be associated with that cross as those that belong to the Lord Jesus. And so we just pray that thou is blessed by precious word this evening, and that as it's opened, I thought it's work by thy Spirit with each one of us, that there might be that desire to go on.
And to associate ourselves with that cross and with that person.
The One who loved us and gave himself for us. Oh our God, we just ask thee for hearts to be stirred to follow thee with purpose of heart to cleave unto Thee while we wait for Thy coming. We ask if we give thanks now for this time together and the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
I'd like this evening, with the Lord's help, to just look at some portions of the Word of God in connection with the life of Moses.
And uh, perhaps we can open our Bibles to chapter 2 of Exodus. I'll just read a few portions and then make some comments. And then if the Lord allows and there's enough time perhaps to read a couple more portions. But particularly what I have on my heart here is an Exodus chapter 2 and a few other portions, some of the New Testament Exodus chapter 2 and verse one. And there went a man of the House of Levi and took a wife, a daughter of Levi.
And the woman conceived and bear a son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
And when she could no longer not longer hide him, she took for him an ark, a bulrushes, and dobbed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child there in. And she laid it in the flag by the river's brink, and it stood. His sister stood afar off, to wit, what would be done to him. And then a little further on we'll read.
In uh verse 16, Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock, and the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them.
And watered their flock. And when they came to Ruel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon today? And he said, And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherd, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock. And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man to call him, that he may eat bread? And Moses was content to dwell with the man, And he gave Moses to pour his daughter, and she bare him a son.
And he called his name Gershom, for he said I have been a stranger.
In a strange land. And then we'll read.
In chapter 3.
And verse 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
And then we'll turn over to the New Testament in Hebrews Chapter 11.
And verse 23.
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid 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 Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
00:05:15
By faith he first struck Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood of blood, lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea is by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned, and then in Numbers, chapter 12.
We won't read the whole account in Numbers chapter 12. I just want to make reference to a couple of verses here.
From verse one. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married.
For he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. And then in verse seven, my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house? And then we'll read in last portion in Exodus chapter 33.
In verse 14.
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with me, carryeth not of him. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated I and thy people from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also, that thou is spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness half before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy upon on whom I will show mercy.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in the Cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back heart, but my face shall not be seen while we turn back.
Hebrews Chapter 11, we go through that little portion, we'll find that the Spirit of God records 7 things that are of particular interest in connection with Moses life. And God has the ability to look at your life and mine and a very few short sentences to sum it all up. And what he has to say about Moses is very touching because you know, Moses was born in the land of Egypt, a picture of this wicked world whose ruler and Prince is Pharaoh and he is his desire.
Is to destroy the royal seed his desires tonight, dear friends.
Is to destroy your life and mine, that there might not be any fruit for Christ. And so we find here that Moses was brought into this world. And I read in Exodus chapter two and three there because it tells us that he had parents of faith. He had a mother and a father who loved the Lord. And how important it is to have a mother and a father that loved the Lord. Many of us have been blessed in this way.
And so.
We find that God records this, that he was born and he was hid three months of his parents. All beloved brethren, isn't a wonderful thing to know Christ as Savior and to have a knowledge of God in the home. And this little picture given to us of the Spirit of God says that this man, Moses, this little child for three months was hidden from the world, from Pharaoh, from the Prince of this world. And what a privilege it is to have a Christian home.
A place where the world cannot enter in. Sad to say, we have perhaps a tendency to allow the world to come inside the sanctity of those four walls of the Christian home. And I can remember well as a young man, 10 years old, being brought up in a Christian home. And I was thankful for it. But I remember well when the television came into the home, there was tragedy and there was sorrow in that home after the television came into that home.
00:10:23
Oh, dear brethren.
Might we just embrace and kindness to our children, preserve them from this wicked scene, wicked world? And so Moses was hidden from Pharaoh. We need to hide our children, as it were when they're young, from this wicked world and from Pharaoh, the king of this world. Well, it says here that they saw that he was a proper child. And I believe Mr. Darby's translation says that he was fair to God. I believe that's the proper.
Umm, translation. And so, dear one, every one of us is fair to God. We're born into this world. We're born in sin and shape and iniquity, But by the grace of God, he sees one that is born and he says this one is fair to God. You're fair to God. And if you're not saved tonight, if you don't know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
All he wants to save you that you might be forever fair to him. He only created one person just like you and he wants you in the glory. He wants to enjoy your presence eternally. Well it says of his parents that they saw he was a proper child.
Say her to God. Do we see our children as fair to God? Do you look upon your young ones and say that child is fair to God? It's lent to me and I ought to train up this child and teach this child as a savior of the love of God.
And to bring it into the knowledge of that one who desires to redeem it. Well, it says they were not afraid of the King's commandment. And so, you know, these godly parents, they feared God. They had a reverence for that One who was the God of Jacob, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. They had a reverence for him. They knew by faith that he was their God. And they no doubt spoke to Moses of that God.
And he was here.
In this land filled with fear. And so the believer doesn't need to walk through this world in fear. And so, parents, could I just encourage us in these last days not to be afraid of the world as it were, not to be afraid of feral, but to fear God and to seek to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It's a wicked world. But if we preach Christ, if we bring Christ before them, then there will be blessing. And I believe this is what happened in that little home.
With Moses that the God of Israel was presented as the source of blessing, and Moses never forgot that blessing of his parents.
Well, it says then in verse 24 by faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Well, by all outward account, Moses looked like he was the daughter. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He looked by every appearance, his relationship there in the Kingdom of Egypt. It appeared that this was really the case. And you know, we're all born after the family of the first Adam, and we look like we belong to this world, if I could use that terminology, But we really don't.
That's not the truth. God has created you in his image and for his glory. And so he has created you that he might enjoy your company, that he might, that you might walk with him in communion through this wicked world. And so it might look to all those in this world that you look like a child of Egypt. And we find as I read in Exodus, that these women, they saw Moses and they said an Egyptian came and delivered us. He looked like an Egyptian. He dressed like an Egyptian.
But he wasn't an Egyptian. He was one of God's people.
And so this little combination that the Spirit of God gives us of Moses, he says he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
00:15:00
And so he had moral courage.
To be, to speak the truth and to stand for it and to say I'm not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And so God records this. And so, you know, here, one dear brethren, beloved brother, it takes courage sometimes to refuse what the world considers to be a normal thing. And we don't live a normal world in a normal world, if you could use that terminology. We live in a world that's ruled.
By the Prince of the air and the normal course of life is to live for Christ. That's the normal course of life. And so he refused to identify himself in a relationship that was really a false position. He refused and it takes courage to refuse. Now it says in verse 25 he did something else that says choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God.
Rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.
For a season. And so there came a time after Moses really was a young man and responsible and he chose.
And he weighed the choice. You know, there was a life that he could live in the flesh, all the advantages of the flesh. And we've been reading about that in Romans chapter 8. He could have lived his life in the flesh, but then he could live his life in the spirit. And so if he lived according to the flesh, it would bring moral death. He would go in the same course as the Egyptians, in the same course of idolatry and.
The flesh desires, of course, the path of ease, a path of luxury. Look at the billboards and the magazine ads that we see as we walk through the scene. It's for luxury and ease and convenience. Not for sweat and toil, as it were, but for luxury and ease in that world that has been created. A world system that the man of this world might walk through this scene in a state of alienation from God.
But as comfortable as possible in his state of alienation from God, Well, Moses, the Spirit of God says he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season.
Oh, how encouraging it is to read this.
And to think that a young man at the beginning of his career.
Perhaps his education complete, perhaps just in the lineage of the government and the social structure of that society that he lives in about to take off, as it were.
And he was going to make a choice. And so every one of us is going to make a choice as life goes on. Perhaps young people more than others that are older, but our brother Gordon Hale used to remind us that a good beginning is a good thing, but a good ending in the path of faith is even better. Oh, it's lovely thing too. As a young child, go on for the Lord to be saved when you're young, and then as a young man, young girl, to choose to follow the Lord.
But here it's not just choosing to follow the Lord, it's to choose to suffer.
Moses chose to suffer.
Affliction with the people of God.
He didn't want the luxury of Egypt. He didn't want it convenient. He didn't want it to carry it. He didn't want.
All that spoke of what was against his God and against God's people and had enslaved God's people, he could see the moral course that was going to lead to moral death. And God gives them this commendation that he chose rather to suffer.
And so.
Dear ones, if we buy luxury cars, we're not going to suffer very much. We buy luxury homes, we're not going to suffer very much. We buy luxury, convenient, luxurious vacations, whatever it might be. All but Moses is a picture of the Lord Jesus in this. And the Lord Jesus could say, show me a penny he chose. The Lord Jesus came into this scene from the purest heights of glory.
Where sin can never come. He came down into the sea. He chose to suffer affliction with the people of God. I wanna ask you tonight, is there a desire in your heart? Is there a desire in mind to choose to suffer affliction with the people of God, to identify ourselves with that people that God loves, desires utmost blessings, and to go on faithfully, simply with the Lord and with His people?
00:20:22
Well, we've seen verse 26, Moses, it says He esteemed, or is steaming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, For he had recompense unto the recompense of the reward.
And so he could see down to the end of the path.
You know there's a replica of King Tut.
Two in the wicked city of Las Vegas.
And I have business there once a year usually, and I went to tour that place. They have a replica that's two and a replica of some of the treasures in Egypt. And they have some of the very treasures of Egypt there, some of the gold coins, a chariot that was really used in Egypt. They have a bed that was slept upon in Egypt, ancient Egypt. And they have some of the treasures that were there.
And my heart was moved as I saw those things and as I thought of Moses, looking upon all the grandeur and the luxury of what they represented, and the wealth and the ease.
And I looked at that and I was moved as I thought. He counted the cost, and he esteemed he had an estimation of the cost and of the value of those things.
And he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, And so it's as if he added us all up.
And he said the reproach of Christ is something I want.
The reproach of Christ is something that's of exceeding value. It's worth more than all the treasures of Egypt.
Beloved brethren, there's a scene that we live in that will be a scene of reproach if we name the name of the Lord Jesus. And Moses identified himself with the people of God. He suffered affliction, but there was reproach to come and to identify himself with the name of the Lord, and he counted that cost esteemed the riches.
The reproach of Christ. Greater riches. Well, I just asked this for myself, for yourself.
Is it a rich thing to be reproached for Christ? Is it a rich thing? Have you ever thanked the Lord for it?
I don't have a lot of courage on an airplane perhaps, and other places, but one time, you know, I pulled my Bible out.
And I was just enjoying a portion and desire to meditate upon it.
And the people that were sitting beside me were reading their Star Wars magazine and they very abruptly, that I might understand that my presence wasn't desired, took their good and moved some other seats in the airplane. Well, you know, I thank the Lord that there was some reproach and I enjoyed something special of the presence of the Lord on that trip. And so that's what will happen, dear one, if you suffer something of the reproach of Christ, you'll enjoy something of communion with the Lord.
And he makes himself near to those that would esteem in that way. Well, it says in verse 27 that he first took Egypt.
Not fearing the wrath of the king.
He forsook Egypt, that entire system raised up of the enemy of our souls, that we might live in ease and comfort without the knowledge of God. He first took Egypt.
He doesn't say he left Egypt.
It says he forsook Egypt.
And he first took it. He never went back in his heart to that place. He never desired the leeks and the onions and the melons. Yes, physically he went back. The Lord sent him back into that place after he spent 40 years in the backside of the desert. And so he had. He was a suited messenger and a prepared vessel, the Golden Sea Ferrell.
But his heart was taken up with the Lord and with his people and he first took Egypt knew her brother Harry Hale used to say. And I have enjoyed listening to the tapes and CD's, some that have been so kind to put his addresses on recordings.
00:25:13
Copied them. He used to say this, you can have as much of the world as much of Christ as you want and your life will show how much you want. Isn't that a positive way of saying that you can have as much of Christ as you want and.
Your life will show how much you want.
Well, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. And I want to say this, if you leave Egypt, if you forsake Egypt, if you forsake the climb to the top of the business world, the climb to the top of the educational world, if you forsake Egypt and its system, its entertainment, the king of this world will be wrathful Satan.
We'll test, Satan will oppose.
And what a lovely thing it is to have a sense of the presence of the Lord as we walk through this world and recognize that the enemy of our souls is angry that we might forsake his world and his system and cleave unto the Lord. O Moses could look by faith to the end of the past and could say it's not worth anything. It's all stamped with death. Brother, Last night at the hymn thing made that comment.
You might as well take a rubber stamp and stamp everything that's in this world, stamp it. That's going to burn real well. It's condemned to burn. Condemned. There's nothing that you see with your eyes that's not condemned to burn.
It says here too in verse 27 the last part, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
And so that's the fifth thing that the Lord says about Moses in this particular passage. He says he endured. Isn't that lovely? Does that not encourage you in this world that we live in the the Christian pathway is not a quick Sprint to the finish line. It's an endurance race. If you could use that terminology, doesn't that just encourage your heart as the Spirit of God records of Moses that he endured. Do you think that Moses didn't receive some tests? Do you think Moses.
Didn't have some pangs of anxiety from some of the tests that were sent his way. Do you think that Moses perhaps thought that his life sometime was wasting way 40 years in the backside of the desert was hard, you know, to go from Pharaoh's court into that backside of the desert. But by faith, it says he endured as seeing him who is invisible. And so he had his heart set upon a person. And beloved brethren, that's what's going to give us the endurance as we walk through this wicked world.
Is if we have our eye on Christ, if you have your eye on anything or anyone else but Christ, there won't be that endurance. And so that's the secret to endurance in the presence of God. And the godly life, a life that's filled with Christ, is seeing him who is invisible. And so God records this that he endured. What a lovely commendation. Then it says in verse 28, through faith, he kept the Passover.
And the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first born should touch them.
Isn't that lovely? At the end of this path? At the end of the backside of the desert? Both training years.
What a privilege he esteemed the reproaches of Christ. Far greater riches than all Egypt had. He chose to suffer the affliction of the people of God.
And God, in his grace, in his wisdom and His kindness, uses Moses as his beloved servant to bring before us the Passover.
And we can read Exodus chapter 12 and other passages throughout the Word of God and even read that Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Oh, what a privilege it was for Moses to walk with God. And as they began that wilderness journey, to experience the protection and experience the deliverance of what the Passover speaks to us. And so as we walk, as we begin in the pathway of faith.
And we continue in that path, we see Christ as that Passover. And so it brings before us the blood of Christ his Son that cleanses us through all sin and allows us to walk through the wilderness in a clean path separated under our God. And so it says to here in verse 29 that by faith they pass through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians are saying to do were drowned. And so they were delivered from Egypt.
00:30:20
And it speaks of the death of the Lord, doesn't it? Doesn't it speak of us being associated with him in death? Going through the Red Sea men later on, they were going to go into Jordan, cross Jordan, going to that promised land. But what a deliverance. The Lord used Moses to bring them out. And I want to turn to Numbers chapter 12.
And read a couple more things that the Lord says about Moses and we'll just comment on verse 3.
Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Well, here we find that Moses had his relationship with the Lord. He loved the Lord.
God has this combination to say of Moses. He never defended himself. He was meek. He didn't have high thought to themselves. And why was that? He had high thoughts of Him who is invisible. He had high thoughts of God himself, and He knew He had been in the presence of the great I am. And He there in that wilderness scene was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.
Well, what a commendation, what an encouragement to us as we think of how Moses was tried in this situation and he married this Ethiopian woman.
We know that perhaps there are things that are done which is not done in faith and bring reproach. And Moses perhaps could be faulted for this. He took this woman, an Ethiopian woman. But you know, I wonder too, if there's not a picture of Christ here, and that is that the Ethiopian woman was black and perhaps not that desirable, if you could want to put it that way, naturally speaking, but in connection with Christ, you know.
He's taken a bride.
Sometimes we wonder what the privilege and the ponderous thing to think of that were part of that bride. And Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might present it to himself, a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that he might present it to himself, a glorious Church, not having fought or wrinkle, or any such thing. And we find here that this woman, no doubt.
Had some qualities that Moses.
Desired and so the Lord looks upon his own, his church. There's something that he desired. What we find that he had Zipporah, a wife that was given to him of the Prince of Midian. And that wife, if we read in Exodus, we would find that she didn't walk in.
The reproach she didn't follow in the wilderness. She went back with Jethro, her father, and her two sons, and they didn't walk with Moses in the wilderness. And how he must have long for that fellowship of his wife and his two sons. And what a picture it is to us, and ought to encourage us as fathers, as husbands, as wives, that we need our children, we need one another.
We need to walk in the fellowship companionship of those that God has provided for us, that we might enjoy them while we're in the sea. And so Moses took this wife.
And there was reproach, but he was very neat. And then the Lord says in verse seven of Moses, my servant Moses is not so who is faithful in all my house?
And so we find that Moses was born into a household of faith.
The Spirit of God gives us a short history of his life there in Hebrews. Chapter 11 adds that he was very neat.
And he says, who is faithful in all my house?
God has a way of saying very little, saying it all in very few words. And he could say of Moses, He is faithful in all my house.
All that speaks to my heart.
Does it speak to yours? Are you faithful to the Lord faithful? Can he count on you? Does he count on you?
00:35:05
Oh, the Lord could call upon Moses, and he could count upon Moses as a faithful man to execute that which was necessary in the administrative matters among his people, and he could use Moses to deliver his people and to bless his people. I want to turn to Exodus chapter 33 now.
We'll find that there was a low point in Moses life.
In the path of faith.
The children of Israel, I'm not going to read it, but umm, in chapter 32, they've fallen into idolatry. The golden calf was there.
In the camp. And then it says in verse 7, Exodus 33, and verse 7, Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, a far off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation, and came to pass that everyone that sought, which sought the Lord, went out under the Tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every man.
At his tent door and looked after Moses until he was gone into the Tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the Tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the Tabernacle. And the Lord talked with Moses, and all the people saw the cloudy pillars and at the Tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp.
But his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not.
Out of the Tabernacle. Well, we didn't read that at the opening of the meeting, but I had it on my heart to bring out that, you know.
There was a crisis among the people of God. Moses had chosen to suffer affliction among the people of God, and now there was great failure.
And perhaps you might have thought, a questioning of whether he'd really chosen the right path or not. And beloved brethren, there's going to be affliction with the people of God. They're going to be reproach of Christ if we follow the Lord Jesus. But what a blessed thing it is. And what did Moses do when there was failure? Oh, it says that he took that Tabernacle and he pitched it outside the camp, afar off from the camp, that it might be a clean place for his brethren, that it might be a clean place that the Lord His Holiness.
Might be there, and that he might dwell among his people, and there was a young man there.
Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed, not out of the Tabernacle. And so none of us live unto himself, no man dieth unto himself. And Moses had an effect upon those that younger generation and dear ones. Every one of us has an effect on another generation, the other generation coming up, and if we'll walk with the Lord, oh, what a blessing. Joshua saw something in the life of Moses and the choices that he'd made.
And he said, I want that, I want to walk with the Lord.
The Lord says in verse 11, he spake unto Moses face to face as a man or mouth to mouth is perhaps a better translation, as a man speaketh to his friend. And he turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man. You know we make the decisions of life, and we set the chart, the course of life in our youth at the time when we have the least experience in the path of faith.
The least experience in the life. And So what was it that? What will it, what is it that will give us the strength, give us the wisdom? It's the word of God. As we take up the Word of God and we see Christ revealed and we see that the path of faith brings glory to God and glory to the Lord Jesus, that's what will reflect upon the younger generation. And so Joshua could see that Moses had made a course, charited a course, and he saw something in the life of Moses that attracted him to the Lord.
And he wanted to be where the Lord is. And so, dear ones, do you want to be where the Lord is? It's an unspeakable privilege to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus. The assembly is like no other place upon earth where we can come into the very presence of the Lord Jesus, to remember him in the circumstances of his death, to come to the reading meeting, to the prayer meeting, and to the meetings, to the open meeting, perhaps an assembly meeting. Those assembly meetings are outlined in Acts 242.
00:40:17
To and So what a privilege it is to come into the presence of the Lord.
You, perhaps many of you, were brought up in the assembly. Some of us weren't.
And I can remember the first time that I came into the assembly meeting.
I can remember.
Leaving a division, and coming for the first time to where the Lord was in the midst.
And my heart was moved as I saw the people in this place and I came into the presence of the Lord.
And it made an effect upon me. It had an effect. Oh, it's lovely to for us to see. And it ought to be an encouragement to our hearts that we're not just coming to meetings. We're coming into the presence of the Lord. We're coming to enjoy his presence. We're coming to learn more of himself.
And if we read down a little bit further we find I'm not gonna re read this, but Moses had a request.
He says in verse 17.
The Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also, that thou has spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said This, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
And so he made a request. Isn't it lovely to have that confidence in the Lord to make a request? And what did Moses want?
Naturally speaking, he left it all in Egypt.
Naturally speaking, there wasn't.
Much that he could really have in this world, if you want to use that terminology. What was his heart set on was set upon Lord, and he wanted to see something of the glory of the Lord. He didn't want to see something of the glory of this world. He'd seen it before and He'd left it. He'd forsaken Egypt.
He wanted to see something of the glory of the Lord and he had his request granted to him. You know, we'll just turn the page here to chapter 34 and it says in verse 29 it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony and Moses hand. When he came down from the mountain, Moses with not that his skin, the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him. Well, if really let's just read the last verse, The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses face shone, and Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went to speak with him. Wasn't this lovely? What a lovely encouragement it is to us if we'll come and spend some time in the presence of the Lord.
Our faces will shine.
You know, as I walk through the cities of North America and some of the cities in Europe, I look for smiling faces. It's just something that I do. I just look into the faces of the people that I'm walking facing and as we cross paths and you'll find very sad, sorrowful faces. But the Christian can smile as he walks through this world. He can smile. He can reflect the life of Christ and some of that moral beauty that is of Christ as he walks through and shines for Christ.
Well, Moses, this is what God says of them, that his face shone while he talked with him. And so your face will shine as you spend time with the Lord, as you meditate upon His word, as you desire just to walk with Him in separation.
From this world, from Egypt, and to just forsake Egypt by faith and to cleave unto the Lord. Well, if we turn a little bit farther on in Moses life we find, I think it's at the end of Deuteronomy.
Chapter 34.
Moses went up from the plains of Moab under the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is, over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dam, and all Naphtali, and all the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the utmost sea and the South, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, and the city of palm trees unto Zoar. And the Lord said to him, This is the land which I will which I swear unto Abraham.
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Under Isaac and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.
Well, here we find that Moses is on a mountain top experience if you want to use that terminology. And he was with the Lord, and the Lord was showing him things that were of value to himself, and he was going to bring his people into the land. It speaks to the truth of God, dear ones, and how the Lord Jesus himself would desire just to open it up with forest if we would just spend time in His presence.
And here Moses, the man of God, a faithful man, meek, one that is forsaken. Egypt.
He had a view to the recompense of the reward, and he's standing upon the Mount Pisgah and enjoying something of communion with his God. And he saw something that he would never see in Egypt. He saw something that was of immense value, and he enjoyed something of the glory of God and the communication of God from his heart. Oh, have you ever enjoyed something just between you and the Lord?
As you spent some time over the word and just meditated a little bit on a portion of scripture and walked in, uh, separation from Egypt, Egypt, and just desired to spend some time with the Lord. And he just showed you something that was exceedingly precious and special to him, and you shared it with him. Oh, what a privilege it is to walk through the scene and enjoy the Lord's company and the Lord enjoy the revelation of Christ himself as we walk with the Lord.
While on.
Read very briefly in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 9.
And we'll just read verse 30.
Behold their talk with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and speak of his deceased, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
Oh, dear friend.
Do you think Moses ever looked back and said I wish I'd stayed in Egypt?
Our brother Harry Hail used to say you'll never see a Christian that walked all his life with Christ and at the end of his life said I wish I hadn't done it, you never will.
Oh, it's lovely thing we saw here our brother.
Charlie Little.
I didn't ask him that question.
Perhaps 95 years old.
There's a lot of things that he'd do over again. There's a lot of things that I would do over again if I had a chance to do it over again.
But if you've made a choice for Christ, if you desire to suffer affliction with the people of God and you look back on the pathway.
As you see the Lord in his glory, you'll never regret a choice that was made and any faithfulness for Christ whatsoever. And so is it lovely that this encouragement that the Spirit of God gives us to just walk with the Lord and hear Moses is standing. He's one of the two that the Lord desires to have with him on that mount to see his glory right in the land. Moses couldn't go in because of his.
Failure.
At one time he failed in patience with the people of God. But isn't it lovely that the Lord Jesus himself?
The I am the same one that Moses met on Mount Orum, The very same one brings Moses into the land, and he shows him that glory they sake of his deceased which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. He came into the secrets of the Most High God. Oh, do you want to enjoy something of the secrets of the Most High God?
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It's a lovely thing, but it can't be done while you're enjoying Egypt. There has to be a leaving of Egypt, a forsaking of it, and a cleaving under the Lord, a walking in the Spirit.
And we each won.
Need to make that choice and perhaps make it more and more.
With determination as life goes on. Well, that's really what I had on my heart tonight. I wanted to make another couple of comments.
How did this?
I've felt sometimes that there.
These parents of faith that Moses had, there was something that they desired for their son. And I want to tell you, dear young people.
You're Christian parents. There's something that they desire for you more than anything else.
In this world.
They desire that you could repeat after the Lord, as it were. But I am a worm and no man.
Nothing in this world. All they want you to be nothing in this world.
That's what they really want. My father is with the Lord.
He never said that to me, but I'm sure that that's what He wants for me now. He wants me to be nothing in this world, and He wants me to be everything for Christ. He wants the Lord to shine in my life. That's what your parents want. And you know your parents what your children want most.
What did Moses want most in his parents?
All he wanted parents that feared God, he wanted parents that loved the Lord he wanted. Oh how he must have looked back to those times in his parents home.
Where every vestige of Egypt was vanquished and only that which would be relevant to the home of a godly parent would be in existence. That's what your children want is a home, and the world is outside the four walls of that home.
Oh, what a lovely thing it is for us, how encouraging it is for us to see that it's possible to forsake Egypt in this day that we live in, and to have homes that are.
Sanctified, set apart for God and for his people, and to enjoy something of Christ in those homes.
Perhaps we could sing #100.
And 74 I believe.
174.
Should amend ourselves.
Our loving God and our Father, we thank thee for our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We think of how Moses could speak and say that the Lord would send a prophet like unto me, and him shalt thou hear. Always think of how our God, thou, has given us this picture, this little story of Moses.
Used them to write the first five books of Thy precious Word.
Call them faithful in all of our house.
Oh, how about its value is company and value is fellowship?
How thou just delight to bring him into the land and show him.
Thy glory.
Oh our God, we just ask you that these two verses of Scripture and these meditations might just encourage each one of our hearts.
Just to cleave under the Lord with purpose of heart, and to esteem the riches of Egypt.
In their proper place, as dung not worthy of our attentions, and to desire to suffer affliction with the people of God while it is called today. And so we just ask thee for thy blessing upon thy precious word, that there might be fruit for thyself.
In the life of our young people, young men and young women, and those of us that are older too, that we might have a desire to endure. While we wait for Thy coming blessed Savior, we just ask if we plead for the courage of heart to walk to Thy glory. While we wait for Thy coming blessed Savior, we ask these things and we pray for our brethren that travel to we ask Thee for safety, for Thy blessing, thoughts of Thy love and grace to our God. In the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask these things and give thanks. Amen.