Amen.
This morning we're going to talk about the early life of Moses.
And in chapter two here we have this story about the birth of Moses, but it also brings
us all the way up to Moses being 40 years old.
So just to kind of bring you up to speed with what's going to happen when he's 40 years
old, which is very significant, when he leaves everything behind in Egypt, forsakes everything
in order to follow the Lord with his life instead of just following that path of least
resistance and just staying with the Egyptians and Pharaoh and the worldliness, he actually
follows the Lord.
But I want to give you the background in this chapter first to see how he started out or
how he even got into that position.
Because of course Moses is an Israelite.
Moses is a Hebrew, but at this time the Egyptians are treating the Israelites very poorly.
So they've got them enslaved, but not only have they got them enslaved, they're afraid
that their population is getting too big.
So they decide that they're going to start murdering their babies in order to just keep
the population of the Israelites lower.
So if there's ever a male child, this is what we'd find in chapter one, which we didn't
read yet, but in chapter number one it talks about how if there would be a male child then
they would kill it or throw it in the river or something like that.
So Moses is born in this environment where the male children are being murdered by the
Egyptians and so when he's born his parents hide him for three months because they don't
want him to suffer that fate.
So they end up hiding him for three months, but after three months they just can't hide
him anymore because obviously as babies get a little bit older they get louder and just
obviously eventually someone's going to figure this out.
And so they put Moses into this little ark and put him in the river and then Miriam stands
afar off to see what's going to happen to him.
And so little baby Moses is in this little tiny ark in the river and he ends up getting
picked up by Pharaoh's daughter of all people, right?
So Pharaoh's daughter actually ends up adopting Moses and it works out great because then
she needs one of the Hebrew slaves to nurse the baby because obviously having not given
birth to the baby she's not able to nurse it, she doesn't have any milk.
And so Miriam actually goes and calls Moses' mother herself so she puts the baby in the
river at three months old, but then literally the same day she gets it back and is able
to nurse the child.
But after she's done nursing it and baby Moses grows up to be old enough to where he doesn't
need to be breastfed anymore, then he ends up just being adopted into Pharaoh's household
as the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
Now think about the fact that this is probably the most powerful nation in the world at that
time and Pharaoh is the most powerful man in the most powerful nation in the world.
And so this is an extremely privileged position for Moses to grow up in as the son of Pharaoh's
daughter.
So he's literally growing up in the royal family in a very powerful nation.
And so if you would, keep your finger here in Exodus chapter two and flip over to Acts
chapter seven because there are a couple of chapters in the New Testament that really
shed light on this story.
Acts chapter number seven.
So we don't really hear about Moses' life from the time that he's a baby and he's adopted
by Pharaoh's daughter all the way up until he's 40 years old.
We don't really know a whole lot of details about his life, but Acts chapter seven sheds
a little bit of light on that period.
And it says in Acts chapter seven, 20, in which time Moses was born and was exceeding
fair and nourished up in his father's house three months.
And when he was cast out, Pharaoh's daughter took him up and nourished him for her own
son.
And look at verse number 22, it says, and Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds.
So that's pretty much all we know about that 40 year period of his life is that during
that time he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and
in deeds.
And then in verse 23, it says, when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart
to visit his brother and the children of Israel.
And so the thing I want to point out here is that not only did Moses grow up in this
royal family, very wealthy, very noble situation being called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
but also he had great achievements during that time.
So he's apparently doing something powerful with his life because it says that he was
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds.
So the deeds there, that would point to some kind of achievements that Moses had.
Again, we don't know the details, but this is a man who is not only growing up in wealth
and nobility, but also he himself is having some achievements.
He's not just a spoiled brat living in that home, but he's actually doing stuff.
He's actually out there, a mover and a shaker in Egyptian society to the point where he's
mighty in words.
So he's very eloquent, he's able to speak, and of course later he tries to deny that
at the burning bush, but the Bible here says that he's eloquent.
He's mighty in words.
This man's a public speaker.
He's well known.
He's a part of Egyptian society, and not only that, he's mighty in deeds, so he'd had some
achievements.
Is this in battle?
It's possible that he's fought battles, maybe he's built something, but whatever it is,
he wasn't just all talk, he wasn't just some rich talker, but he actually was mighty indeed.
So he had done some great things as well.
He had had some great achievements in Egyptian society, and then it says, and when he was
full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit his brother and the children of Israel.
So it's clear, based on the order here, that he was mighty in words and in deeds before
he was 40 years old.
So in his 20s and 30s, he's rich, he's noble, he's a great speaker, he has achievements,
and this is what most people would look at as success in this world.
And today in the United States of America, this is what most young people would want
for themselves, right?
They want to be famous, they want to have money, they want to have achievements, they
want to be able to speak well and be respected and have deeds that they've done that people
could look at and be in awe of.
And so he has basically everything that the world would consider success.
Think about how easy it would have been for him to just keep on that trajectory.
When he's 40 years old, I mean, why not just keep going and just enjoy all of your achievements
and life at the very top in the greatest country at that time?
I mean, it would have been easy for him to just continue on and take that path of least
resistance at age 40 and just keep going.
But look what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, flip over to Hebrews chapter number 11.
So in Acts 7 it said that it came into his heart when he was full 40 years old to visit
his brethren, the children of Israel.
So we don't necessarily know what triggered this, but it's kind of a great midlife crisis
in the Bible.
If you're going to have a midlife crisis, it might as well be one where you decide to
get right with God and follow the Lord at age 40.
But for some reason this comes into his heart to go visit his brethren, the children of
Israel and to get back to his roots of his mother that had breastfed him and sang to
him and spoke to him as a child and to get back to the God of his fathers, the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because he had obviously realized that the worldly life in
Egypt wasn't really all that it was cracked up to be.
And people today that are even growing up in a Christian home, they might be fooled
or enamored by everything that the world looks like it has to offer, but the guy who's
been there and done that at age 40, he chooses rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God.
Look at Hebrews chapter number 11.
The Bible says in verse 24, by faith Moses, when he was come to years, and of course we
know that that's 40 years old, by faith Moses when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
So he could have just continued this illusion that he was Pharaoh's daughter, right?
Because he'd been adopted into that family.
He could have just continued that and said, yes, I'm the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
But instead, he decided to own his Israelite heritage and refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter, which you'd think would be a pretty impressive pedigree, but yet it
was more impressive in his mind to be one of the children of Israel, one of the people
of God.
And so 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.
And so you see, Moses' life in Egypt before he was 40 years old, although he was very
well educated, the Bible says he's learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
Although he's highly educated, a good speaker, a man of achievements, a man of wealth, a
man of nobility, having literally everything that the world could offer, here's the cost.
There's always a negative side of everything, right?
Was his life perfect?
No, because he was living a life of sin.
Egypt was a sinful place, and in order to be plugged into Egyptian society at that level,
in order to be living as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, he had to be involved in a lot of
sin.
And again, we don't know exactly specifically what those sins were, but I'm sure that one
thing we could pretty much take to the bank is idolatry and the worship of false gods,
but perhaps other sins as well.
We could think of all kinds of other sins.
We don't know if it was drinking, drugs, adultery, who knows what other sins were out
there that were prevalent or that were part of his lifestyle, maybe oppressing the poor
or maybe just abusing the Israelite slaves, all the different things you could think of.
But the point is that in order for him to live that life, he had to live a life of sin
in order to be at that level.
And so he decided that he would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Now this is the same choice that we have today and that all Christians throughout history
have had.
Suffer affliction with the people of God or enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
Now obviously sin can be fun.
Obviously sin can involve pleasure.
If it weren't fun, no one would be doing it, right?
Obviously there's a reason why so many people out there are living in sin.
Because they want to enjoy the pleasures of sin.
But the Bible here is showing us that the pleasures of sin are short-lived.
So I'm not going to lie to you and say it's not going to be fun to go out and live a life
of sin and to party and do all the things that the world has to offer.
I'm not going to get up here and lie to you and say, oh, it's not going to be fun at all.
You're not going to enjoy it at all.
There's no pleasure in that at all.
There is pleasure in sin for a season.
But it is short-lived and it is not worth it.
The pain and the suffering and the sorrow that comes later will completely eclipse whatever
enjoyment you got from that sin.
Sort of like in the dream that Joseph had at the end of the book of Genesis, where he
has the dream about the seven years of plenty and the seven fat cows.
And then after that, he has the dream about the seven skinny cows, right?
And so the seven fat cows represented the seven years of prosperity and plenty.
The seven skinny cows representing famine.
But if you remember in the dream, and like most dreams, this dream is not very realistic.
But none of our dreams are realistic, are they?
The seven skinny cows eat the seven fat cows.
Cows don't actually eat cows in real life.
And not only that, but when the seven skinny cows eat the seven fat cows, and this is the
thing I want to emphasize, is that when you look at them, they didn't get any fatter.
So even though the skinny cow ate a giant fat cow, it's just as skinny as it was before
it ate the fat cow.
Okay, now what am I getting at here?
Well this is the way the pleasures of sin for a season are, okay?
Is that you go out and you have the fat times, you know, and you're out there and it's fun
and you're partying and you're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, but then it's
going to be followed by such misery, pain, suffering, sadness, and heartache that the
good times are not going to get you through the bad times.
Just like those seven fat cows could not nourish the seven skinny cows, guess what, the fun
that you had is not going to get you through the consequences or the lean times that are
coming in the future.
You're not going to look back and say, well, my life is miserable now, but it was worth
it for those good old days, those glory days.
No way, they're going to be forgotten, just as the skinny cow ate the fat cow and it's
like forgotten.
It wasn't even like a snake that eats the egg or whatever and has a big bulge, there's
just nothing there.
Meaning that when you get to those lean times, you're not going to be able to ride on past
glory.
And so yes, sin has pleasure, but the pleasures of sin are only for a season and there's way
more pain and suffering involved than the joy that you get out of it in the temporary.
You know, if you talk to people who get into drugs, for example, you know, maybe their
first few weeks on drugs are great.
Maybe the first few months on drugs are just incredible and it just feels so good and it's
so amazing, but then it's just years and years and years of literal just torture and
feeling horrible and just having to take drugs just to feel normal and never feeling good,
always feeling like trash.
Was it really worth it for those couple months?
Absolutely not.
No way.
Look at all these derelicts that we see, you know, it's not hard to keep this on your mind
today because all you have to do is just drive around the city of Phoenix and drug addicts
are everywhere, surrounded by drug addicts and you see just these drug addicts everywhere
and you know, you should look at that and think to yourself, hey, this is what a life
of drunkenness leads to.
This is what a life of drug use leads to, right?
You should take it as a cautionary tale and say, man, I do not want to go down that road.
It's not worth it for the fun of having that drink or taking those drugs or whatever.
And so don't be fooled by the pleasures of sin that only last for a season.
He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
Verse 26 is steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,
for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
So Moses literally had access to the treasures of Egypt because that's the implication here
that he says, well, the reproach of Christ is a greater boon, it's greater riches than
the treasures in Egypt because here's a guy who really has access to the treasures of
Egypt because he's acting as the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but he found something far more
valuable in suffering for Christ.
You know, I love the fact that even though we're talking about an Old Testament character,
it still says, steaming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.
Because of course, Christ has always eternally existed, right?
God exists eternally as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And although the Old Testament saints did not have the knowledge that we have or understanding
that we have of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection on the cross and all the details
that his name will be called Jesus, they didn't know all the details, but still they were
in the same lineage that we're in as far as Christians, you know, Christianity in that sense, right?
Even though they did not know the name of Jesus Christ, they were still following Christ
in a sense, right?
And so it says that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt for he had respect under the recompense of the reward.
Now, there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that the book of Hebrews is written by the
Apostle Paul, although some people do dispute that.
Of course, if you go back to the 1611 King James replica in the back, it says at the
top of the page, the epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, just saying.
But also in chapter 13, at the end of Hebrews, Paul talks about how Timothy and, you know,
salute Timothy, obviously, that's Paul's buddy, Timothy.
So that again, points to the fact that's written by Paul.
And so I, I believe firmly that the book of Hebrews is written by the Apostle Paul.
And if you think about it, the Apostle Paul, and Moses are actually very similar characters.
First of all, because you could argue that Moses is the most significant character of
the Old Testament.
And then in the New Testament, outside of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul is probably
the most significant character, since he literally was used to pin down what 14 books of the
New Testament.
And not only that, but the book of Acts is predominantly about the Apostle Paul.
And so the Apostle Paul is extremely significant in the New Testament, even as Moses is extremely
significant in the Old Testament.
But what do these two men have in common?
And like I said, I believe that this is the Apostle Paul writing about Moses.
And obviously he is being inspired by God to write this.
But not only that, even just humanly speaking, the Apostle Paul knows what he's talking about
here.
When he talks about Moses sort of giving up everything in order to follow Christ and just
rejecting all of his achievements and successes that he'd had in the past in order to follow
Christ.
Because the Apostle Paul pretty much did the same thing.
You know, the Apostle Paul was actually one who excelled in the Jews' religion above many
his peers.
And so he excelled in their religion, he was a well-respected man, and he was also extremely
educated.
Okay, so he was a scholar, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he traveled around,
he's a Roman citizen, he spoke many different languages.
He was very learned and respected and high up in the Jews' religion, just like Moses
was very learned and knowledgeable, respected and excelled in Egyptian society.
But yet, what did the Apostle Paul say about that?
Well, keep your finger here in Hebrews 11 and flip back to Philippians 3.
Philippians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul is kind of talking about some of his own achievements
and things that he had done in the Jews' religion.
He talks about it elsewhere in many places though.
But look at verse 7 of Philippians chapter 3, it says, "'But what things were gained
of me?
Those I counted loss for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things
and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my
own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.'"
And so the Apostle Paul looked at all of his past achievements and accolades that he had
received in the Jews' religion and he said, "'The things that were gained of me I counted
loss for Christ,' and he said, I count all those things but dung that I may win Christ."
Like all of that stuff is dung.
So you say, wow, it must have been a really hard decision for Moses to leave everything
behind that he had achieved in Egypt and just pretty much just nuke his life.
And I'm sure that on a human level it was a difficult decision, but when you actually
have a spiritual perspective you look at all that stuff and you just say, you know what,
it's literally a pile of dung.
It's literally excrement.
It's literally, I mean, what the world today is so enamored by and so excited about, it's
just literally a big, smelly, heaping pile of dung in the eyes of God and in the eyes
of spiritual Christians.
You know, they look at the things that the world gets so excited about and lusts after
and wants so bad and all of the whining and dining and lifestyles of the rich and famous,
it's a bunch of dung.
Okay, it's meaningless.
And so to the spiritual man this is no decision at all.
It's pretty easy to turn in a big barrel of manure in order to receive the unsearchable
riches of Christ.
In order to receive something of eternal value.
And so the Bible says in Hebrews 11 that he chose 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 under the recompense
of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing
him who is invisible.
So let's go back to Exodus chapter 2 now.
So Moses had faith in the Lord, he trusted that there was greater riches to be found
in Christ than in what the world had to offer, which he'd already experienced up to being
40 years old, all the things that Egypt had to offer.
And so he gets to the age of 40 years old and he decides to identify with the people
of God.
He decides to become an Israelite and make that known and refuse to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter.
Make his parentage known and say, I'm not an Egyptian, I'm not the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, I am an Israelite, and if that means that I'm going to suffer affliction, if that
means I'm going to be in bondage, whatever that means, so be it, because I'd rather suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
And so we as Christians, we need to make that same choice in our own life to say, you know
what, I'm going to identify with Christ.
I'm not going to pretend not to be a Christian and try to fit in with this world, no, let
the redeemed of the Lord say so.
And we need to proclaim the fact that we are a Christian and not be secretive about the
fact that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
We should be open about the fact that we are a Christian and make that known.
And if that means that we're going to be treated differently or suffer persecution,
so be it, because I'd rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
And you know, a lot of people in this world, they have this attitude that says, well, you
know, if you're smart, you're not going to become a fundamentalist Christian.
You know, that's a religion for ignorant people.
And I'm sure you've kind of been exposed to that line of thinking that acts like, well,
these evangelical Christians are uneducated and they're ignorant and they're just completely
just blindly following something just because they haven't learned or something.
Now part of the reason why Christians could get this reputation is because of the fact
that God actually does often choose to use men and women that are less educated, that
are simpler people.
Why?
Because God has chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
And so God receives a great amount of glory when he can take someone who's not super talented
as the world looks at it, who's not necessarily mighty in words and in deeds as Moses was.
You know, when he can take a simple person, an average person, someone who's not super
intellectual or super athletic or super eloquent, if he can take them and use them greatly,
then he receives a lot of glory.
So there are a lot of people that God greatly uses that are not necessarily intellectual
giants, but they're spiritual giants.
And that is way more important and much more significant.
You don't want to be one that just worships intellect.
And obviously on Wednesday nights we're learning about how important it is to get knowledge
and how important learning is and understanding.
I think that we should all strive to be as smart as we possibly can and to learn as much
as we can, but let's face it, some people are smarter than others and you don't have
to be an intellectual in order to be greatly used by God.
There have been many pastors and laymen, men, women, boys and girls who were at all different
levels of intellect that have been greatly used by God.
And so God often uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, number one.
But number two, another reason is that often people who are intellectual, they get really
puffed up and prideful and then they can't be used by God.
So that's another reason why maybe people might think about Christianity this way is
because the Bible says, knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
So if someone is just puffed up with a bunch of knowledge but doesn't have the charity,
they don't have the love to balance that out, then they could become prideful, arrogant,
and full of themselves and no one like that can be used by God.
Why was Moses used by God?
Even though he was an intellectual, even though he was learned and all the learning of the
Egyptians, it's because the Bible says that also, in addition to being very educated,
he was also the meekest man upon the face of the earth according to God.
So he was humble and meek, that's why God could use him even though he was very knowledgeable.
And this is a great combination when someone can be humble and have a lot of skill and
have a lot of talent and then they can bring that talent and use it for the Lord.
So there can be this attitude that looks down upon Christians as being ignorant or backward
or something, but nothing can be further from the truth.
Because in reality, God's word makes wise the simple.
God's word takes the simple man and makes him wise, and the more that we read and study
God's word, the smarter we're going to get.
And in fact, we're going to become smarter than the people of this world.
And the people of this world professing themselves to be wise, eventually, ultimately what?
End up becoming fools in many ways.
And so I don't buy into this attitude for one second that says, oh well, you know, Christians
aren't that smart.
I find Christians to have more wisdom.
And obviously, just like any other segment of society, there's a mix.
There are people in our church that are very intellectual.
There are people who are less intellectual.
And you know what?
That's the way it should be.
Because we're trying to minister to all kinds of people here.
All demographics, all education levels, and you know, all the way from someone who's very
scholarly and educated, all the way to someone who's barely literate.
Although I do believe that God demands of all of us that are able to be literate.
Every single person should be able to read and write.
And if you can't read and write, you need to learn how to read and write.
That's what I believe.
We're not Muslims, amen?
You know, look up the 10 most illiterate countries in the world and they're all Muslim countries.
Because Mohammed the prophet was literally illiterate.
Muslims brag about the fact that he was illiterate.
But let me tell you something, God wants us to be literate.
He wants us to learn.
He wants to be good at reading and do the best we can with what we've got.
But you know what, even if we do the best we can with what we've got, obviously not
all of us are just going to be some kind of a genius or something, right?
And so there are going to be different levels of intellect.
But at the end of the day, following the Lord, going to church and reading your Bible is
going to make you smarter, period, than the person who does it.
Now maybe there's some super smart person out there who's never cracked a Bible in their
life.
But hey, that's the person who was given a lot of talent and they just, they started
out basically in life being taught really well and they've been given a lot of knowledge
and they're like, but you know what, I would submit that if that person had then come to
church and read the Bible and learned the word of God, they would have gotten even smarter.
And that even a Christian who's not very smart, well he's still smarter than if he hadn't
been a Christian, because Christianity makes you smarter, reading the Bible makes you smarter.
You know what else I think is funny?
It's how people act like those who read the King James Bible are somehow not as smart.
But here's the ironic thing about that is that supposedly the King James Bible is so
much harder to read than the NIV or these other versions, but then they act like, oh,
you know, you poor, dumb, ignorant folk with your King James.
How about you poor, dumb, ignorant folk that think the King James is too hard to understand?
Isn't it amazing how all of us simpletons here are able to read this high level English
prose, this Elizabethan English, we're able to read it, no issue.
And you're like, oh, that's way too hard to understand.
Oh, but by the way, I'm smarter than you.
Even though you're reading a higher level literature.
You know, I've seen people talk about how, oh, you know, the King James is on a higher
reading level, and the NIV is fifth grade or third grade.
Well, the last time I checked, God's not in the fifth grade.
Why would I want some first grade reading level Bible?
I don't want the hop on pop Dr. Seuss version, I want the real thing.
If it's too hard to understand, maybe you need to get a little smarter.
And you know what, by reading the Bible, you will get smarter, and isn't it amazing how
all the simple fundamental Baptists, you poor, uneducated fundamental Baptists, are able
to read the King James and understand what it says?
Meanwhile Dr. Fatbottom, he has to dumb it down with the ESV or the NIV, because the
King James is too hard to understand, doesn't make any sense, does it?
And so Moses is a highly intelligent man who embraced the word of God, and embraced
the life of the people of God, rather than just being in the high society, and maybe,
you know, maybe he could get some papers published in Egypt, and you know, maybe he could speak
at some kind of an Egyptian Ted Talk or something.
No, no, no, he'd rather suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season.
And the Apostle Paul is the same way.
The Apostle Paul was a super smart guy, and he followed Jesus Christ.
And God was able to use him in a mighty way, he was able to use his learning, ok, because
obviously the Bible says, you see your calling brethren, not many noble are called, not many
mighty men are called according to the flesh, not many wise, but God has chosen the foolish
things of this world to confound the wise.
What we have to understand is that when he says, not many noble, not many wise, not many
mighty men, it means that there are some.
Sometimes God will call a mighty man, sometimes he will call a wise man, sometimes he will
call a noble man, and Moses is an example of that in the Old Testament.
A wise, mighty, noble man who's called by God.
And then the Apostle Paul is another example of that.
Now what else do these two men have in common?
Well if you think about it, they're both very instrumental in delivering the word of God
to the people of God.
Because on the one hand, the law was given by Moses.
So when we think of the Old Testament, the heart and soul of the Old Testament is the
Pentateuch, the books of Moses, the law was given by Moses.
Not to say that Moses wrote every verse or every chapter of the Pentateuch, but obviously
the law of God was given to Moses on Mount Sinai and he wrote down in the book of the
law the word of God, at the mouth of God at Mount Sinai.
And here's the thing about that, is that in order to do that he had to be able to write,
and he had to know these things, and these are probably things that he learned in Egypt
about reading and writing.
And then of course in the New Testament, we've got the Apostle Paul writing these fourteen
epistles from Romans all the way through Hebrews, or if you don't want to accept that Hebrews
is written by Paul, you can say Romans through Philemon, thirteen books, but here's the thing
about that is that these are probably the most intellectual books of the New Testament
because you've got the four gospels, you've got Acts, those are telling the story, but
then from Romans to Philemon you have this kind of working out of the doctrine and the
theology and asking all these really deep philosophical questions in the book of Romans
and in Galatians and all these different things.
And so the Apostle Paul was the perfect guy to do that, he'd been studying the Old Testament
his whole life, and obviously we know it's inspired by God, but we also believe in the
human authorship of the Bible.
The Bible is both human and divine.
And so every verse of the Bible is absolute truth, the Bible is completely inspired by
God, but it's also written by human authors, who spake as they're moved by the Holy Ghost,
and the human authorship actually comes through as far as their personality comes through,
that's what makes the Bible so amazing.
It's not just mechanically dictated like the Quran or something, but it's actually done
by divine inspiration of humans.
It's marvelous the way that God's Word is delivered to us.
But here's what's so interesting, you know, when you actually think about the Word of
God being delivered by Moses, I mean, those are the earliest books in the Bible.
The first books in the Bible to be written down are that law of God at Mount Sinai, right?
That's the first time we have a written Word of God.
Before that, God's speaking through the prophets, and the prophets are preaching, and it's a
lot of oral Word of God being preached, but as far as the written Word of God, that starts
at Mount Sinai, which is around 1500 BC.
Well here's the thing about that, obviously human beings have been writing things down
even long before 1500 BC, okay?
Human beings have written things down and you could go back thousands of years before
Christ and you have the earliest writing samples, which are cuneiform, and you also have Egyptian
hieroglyphics, and you have these ancient writing systems that go back even further.
But here's what you don't have until around 1500 BC, you don't have the alphabet until
around 1500 BC.
So earlier writing systems are not an alphabet.
I mean, if you think about hieroglyphics, hieroglyphics are a pictorial writing system,
so basically a picture represents a whole word or concept, possibly a syllable, right?
But not an alphabet.
An alphabet is where each letter is just one sound, right?
Like we have our alphabet A, B, C, it's just B.
I mean, by itself there's nothing there, B, C, D, F, right?
But you can mix these up and make any word using the alphabet.
Now here's the thing, if you look at pictorial languages, you might look at a certain picture
and maybe it represents a certain idea, and you might look at that picture and you might
be able to come up with five or six or seven different words verbally that could match
up with that picture, right?
Like maybe it's like a picture of a dog or something, and then you're thinking like dog
or hound or, you know, Fido or whatever, pet, right?
You know, there could be a whole bunch of different things that could come to your mind
when you see that picture, man's best friend or whatever.
You know, you're thinking of all these different things, whereas when you use an alphabet,
it's very precise.
D-O-G, dog, right, it's just like that's what we're talking about, a dog here, okay?
We're not just like, oh, animal, oh, pet, in general, no, it's like dog.
So an alphabet allows you to be more precise.
Here's what's so interesting is that history tells us that the oldest alphabet in the entire
world, not the oldest writing system, but the oldest alphabet in the entire world is
the alphabet that was used to write down the old covenant at Mount Sinai, which is known
sometimes as the paleo Hebrew alphabet or the Phoenician alphabet.
That is the oldest alphabet in the world, paleo just meaning old, paleo Hebrew alphabet,
okay?
The old original Hebrew alphabet that's also known as the Phoenician alphabet, because
they both use the same alphabet, the 22 letters, where each letter is just a sound, and it's
only consonants, there aren't any vowels, there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet.
You know, you've probably looked at Psalm 119 and you've got the 22 sections there for
the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, 22 consonants, no vowels yet, vowels have not
yet been invented, but you have these 22 consonants, and those Hebrew letters are
literally the original alphabet in the history of mankind.
So isn't it interesting how God worked it out, that when he's ready to deliver his word,
when he's ready to give his word to mankind, first of all, he uses a guy who's learned
in the wisdom of the Egyptians, which includes this brand new technology of writing with
an alphabet, which is brand new, you know, if you believe what history and archaeology
tells us was brand new at that time, it was brand new around 1500 BC.
And where did this original paleo Hebrew Phoenician alphabet come from?
It's basically like a sort of simplified down hieroglyphics, because hieroglyphics got all
these hundreds and hundreds of different symbols and thousands of symbols, whereas, because
it's pictographic, whereas basically, each of the original letters of the paleo Hebrew
alphabet are, they're pictographic, but they're really simplified down and they represent
a sound instead of a concept, it's just a letter, it's a B, D, G, right?
So God used this man Moses who's learned in all this stuff, cutting edge, understanding
how to read and write, and understanding the alphabet.
Why?
So that God's word could be given to Moses in a precise way.
Now think about how people misinterpret the Bible, twist what the Bible says, try to just
wiggle out of clear teachings of the Bible.
Can you see why God didn't want his word to be delivered as a pictograph?
I mean if God's word were delivered in hieroglyphics, people could look at it and say, well you
know I see something different in that picture, you know, here's what I think this picture
stands for, here's what I think that means, and people could really twist it, but Jesus
Christ talked about every jot and every tittle of the law of God.
Why?
Because God's word was delivered at Mount Sinai to Moses and it was delivered in an
alphabet so that it could be precise, so that it could be thus saith the Lord, these
exact words are what God spoke.
And so God used Moses in that way, he used his education and learning so that he could
actually write down the word of God in a permanent way where every jot and every tittle would
be preserved.
Just like he used the learning of the Apostle Paul to be able to teach all the wonderful
things that we have in his epistles in the New Testament.
So it's not that God never uses an intellectual person, it's that he rarely does and the biggest
reason is because knowledge puffeth up and these people are often filled with pride,
the smart people, the PhDs, and all of the scholars of this world are often so filled
with pride, it doesn't matter how smart they are, God can't use them.
The Apostle Paul had to be humbled to be used by God, Moses had to be humbled to be used
by God, and he shows his humility by the fact that he's willing to give up all of his fame
and glory and accolades and all the things he had achieved to go suffer at the bottom
rung of society, to go from the very top of society to the very bottom of society to being
an Israelite, to being a Hebrew so that he could suffer affliction with the people of
God and then he took all that learning and knowledge and wisdom that he had and he was
able to be used by God to write down the original Bible at Mount Sinai, the very first time
that the written word of God was pinned down and preserved for us all the way to this day.
And think about it, God used other people that were highly skilled in the book of Exodus
because in the book of Exodus we have Moses, but then later God says well I've picked a
specific guy named Bezalel and he's great with craftsmanship and so he picked a certain
guy that was really good at making things out of metal and so forth so that they could
make the tabernacle a certain way.
So this guy was a really good blue collar guy and God said this guy's really talented
and I'm going to use this guy and the guy was number one, already talented, but number
two then he was divinely inspired even as he created these works of art, these physical
objects that were to be used in the tabernacle.
That craftsmanship was both his human skill that he brought to the table and then divine
inspiration into the bargain.
And so we need to understand that all of us have been given certain abilities, maybe our
life has trained us for something up to a certain point, like Moses had been doing all
this stuff up until he was 40 and he probably thought to himself like you know man I just
wasted the first 40 years of my life or I'm pretty much just taking the first 40 years
of my life and kind of flushing it down the toilet, I'm counting it all done, I'm forsaking
everything, I'm getting rid of everything that I learned and achieved and it's worth
it though you know because the approach of Christ is better riches to forget all that,
but was he really giving up anything?
No because God ended up using his speaking experience, his leadership experience, his
literacy, his abilities with reading and writing, God ended up using all that knowledge and
wisdom and everything so that he could then lead the nation of Israel and be used by God
to deliver the law at Mount Sinai.
And the same thing with the Apostle Paul, you know his whole life and the Jews religion
he said I count it but done, but yet obviously all that knowledge that he had of all these
foreign languages and stuff, that's what allowed him to be a missionary all over the world.
He was able to travel the world as a missionary using those languages that he had studied
and not only that but he was able to get out of a lot of scrapes because he's a Roman citizen
and so because of that worldly achievement and being a Roman citizen and being a scholar
and being high up in the Jews religion, he's able to use those things for the Lord.
And so I encourage you, no matter where you are in life, to bring your talents and abilities
to the Lord so that God can use you to do something for him.
It's time for you, no matter how old you are, to start identifying with Christ, identifying
with the people of God.
Don't hide the fact that you're a Christian but make it known that you're a Christian.
Make it known that you believe on Jesus Christ and why not give the gospel to the people
around you and try to get them saved?
And why not instead of just coasting and taking the path of least resistance like Moses could
have easily just coasted at age 40 and say, well, you know what, I'm already 40, I'm not
some young guy, I'm 40, I'm established, this is who I am, this is my career, this is what
I do.
You know, instead of just getting locked into that and saying, well, you know, it is what
it is and just continue, instead he said, no, no, I'm going to go all out for the Lord
at age 40.
And of course, you know, he ends up having to spend 40 years out in the wilderness and
40 years out in the desert of Midian and that's a whole other story.
But then even at age 80, at 80 years old is when he comes back to Egypt and confronts
Pharaoh and says, let my people go.
And man, there's a lot of variety among 80 year olds.
Man, I was talking to a guy the other day and I was shocked when he said he was in his
80s.
I was like, huh?
He was in like his late 80s.
I would have guessed that the guy was like 68.
If somebody would have said, how old do you think this guy is?
I'd have said 68, 70, he was like 88.
He was sharp, he was able to speak and do everything and just, you know, he seemed like
he was just still going strong.
And you know, you see other people that are even in their 60s and they're winding down.
And I get it that some of that is just genetic.
Some of it's genetics, some of it's lifestyle, there are all different reasons why, but don't
just let some number dictate to you that you're done in life or that you're too old to change
your ways or you know why you can't teach an old dog new tricks or whatever.
You know, I don't care if you're 40 or 80 or 50 or whatever, you know, if you need to
make a change, then make that change and get right with God.
It's not too late to start soul winning when you're 70.
It's not too late to start soul winning because you're 40 and it kind of cracks me up sometimes
even people, they think they're old when they're like in their 40s and I really, you know,
I'm 41, I don't feel old at all.
You know, I'm in my prime.
I know I'm up here coughing this morning, but you know, it's not like I'm dying, okay?
It's just, you know, one of those things.
I feel great.
Hey, you know, I'm 41 years old, man.
I feel like I'm just getting started.
I feel like the greatest days are ahead.
I feel like even when I'm 50 and 60, you know, I should be in full swing.
You know, I should be in my prime as far as serving God.
You know, don't let this world dictate to you that you're too old or that you're winding
down or you're in the twilight of your life.
Now, maybe you are in the twilight of your life if you are super old and like dying,
okay?
I get that.
God bless you, all right?
But don't let a number tell you that, that you're done.
And part of the reason why this world acts like you're all old when you're 40 or they
act like you're old is because they're emphasizing all the wrong things.
Because this world is emphasizing what?
They're emphasizing physical looks, sports, what was that?
Partying, yeah.
So obviously, yeah, you know, when you're in your 40s, you're not going to party like
you used to.
Yeah, I like to go to bed around 9 p.m. personally.
So yeah, I don't party like I, well, I never partied but, you know, I used to stay up late,
but I'm saying like, yeah, if your life's about partying, then yeah, I guess your prime
partying years are your 20s.
If your life is all about playing basketball, then yeah, I guess probably in your 20s is
going to be your greatest time for basketball, maybe in your 30s or something.
I don't really know when basketball players really peak.
But if you're thinking about physical beauty and physical looks, yeah, you probably are
going to look the best when you're in your 20s and 30s, you know, but that's not what
life's about.
When it comes to soul winning, preaching, reading your Bible, praying, ministering to
other people, encouraging other people, being involved in the church, being active in church
and evangelizing and winning people to Christ and loving the Lord with all your heart, mind,
soul and strength, what does that have to do with your 20s?
What does that have to do with your 30s?
You should be able to do those things at full strength in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s.
And look at the great men of God who did.
You know, I mean, Moses didn't even start thinking about serving God or getting right
with God that we know of until he's 40.
That's when it came into his heart to actually get back to Israel and the God of Israel.
And then he didn't even really have the achievements until he was 80.
But not until 40 did he even get in church as it were.
And so don't get this attitude that it's too late and you say, yeah, but I've already invested
so much into my worldly life.
But here's the thing, whatever you invested into that worldly life, whatever you did to,
you know, to build your situation, that you feel like you're going to be giving up or
something by serving God and getting serious about living for God, all those investments,
God can take those investments that you made and actually turn them around and use them
for his glory.
Like, oh man, you know, what good was all this learning that I did with the Egyptians?
Well, actually, that's going to come in handy, Moses, because you're going to be, you know,
writing out the Bible at the base of Mount Sinai here.
You're going to be, well, you know, I learned all these great leadership skills in Egypt
and now I'm just out in the desert in Midian for 40 years.
Yeah, but after that 40 years, you're going to be leading a nation of a couple million
people.
Think about it.
Was any of Moses training in vain?
I guarantee you, he used all that training.
It all ended up coming in handy.
All of Paul's training, he ended up using all of it.
So God can turn those things around and use them.
You say, oh, well, you know, maybe you're a young lady and, you know, oh, you know,
I put so much work into my college degree.
I put so much effort into that bachelor's.
I put so much effort into that master's degree.
You know, now I'm supposed to just be a housewife and raise kids.
Yeah, you are.
You know, the Bible talks about the virtues of the wife being a keeper at home and loving
her husband, loving your children.
And you know, instead of just dropping your kids off, don't care.
You could actually be home raising your own kids and you say, yeah, but if I'm home raising
my kids, that's a waste of all my learning.
And by the way, people have literally said that to my wife because my wife, you know,
she was studying and going to university and everything before we got married.
And somebody said to her, hey, you're not reaching your full potential.
Especially from her past life, you know, you're not reaching your full potential.
But hold on a second.
I believe she is reaching her full potential and I guarantee you that whatever she learned
in her worldly education in Germany and all the things that she was taught, I guarantee
you that she uses all those things today, homeschooling the children.
And you know, what's funny is that the world would not bat an eye at somebody going and
getting the bachelor's and the master's degree and then becoming an elementary school teacher
or a high school teacher or a community college teacher or something like that, right?
Nobody would bat an eye at someone going and getting a PhD from the university and then
becoming a university professor training elementary school teachers.
So like you have a PhD and you're training elementary school teachers at a university.
They'd say, wow, you have really succeeded.
You've really put that to use.
But hold on a minute.
You know, what about just a woman teaching her own little elementary school in her house
and junior high and high school.
It's called homeschooling.
I guarantee you that my wife does not regret one single brain cell that she has and think
like, oh, I wasted my learning.
I wasted my studies.
You know, she definitely didn't waste her time learning English.
She speaks English every day.
It's really important to communicate with all of us, okay?
But you know, she learned that as a third language.
Was that a waste?
All that time she put in learning English?
No.
So she walked away from her university education, but was it a waste?
No.
And so you sit there and say, well, I have this degree, so now I feel like I need to
do that job.
No you don't.
You know, I mean, look at a guy like Pastor Jonathan Shelley.
You know, Pastor Jonathan Shelley, he was very successful as a computer programmer.
He's making real good money, succeeding in that, and now he's forsaken that to pastor
full time.
What a waste of all that computer training.
No, because obviously as a pastor, he's able to bring that computer training to bear and
use it in his job.
And obviously just the intellect that you develop, programming computer, is going to
be the same type of intellect you're going to need to run a church.
And he's got the website, GodResource.com, where our sermons right now, not only are
we streaming to YouTube and Facebook and other places, but actually if you go to our church
website homepage now, it's super easy to find every sermon live now, you just go to
faithforwardbaptist.org, just the main church homepage, the sermon is streaming right now
live embedded on the church homepage.
So anybody who just goes to Faith Forward Baptist, they can just go to Google, Faith
Forward Baptist Church, and just click on our website, and my sermon is playing right
now, video, live, on the main homepage, okay?
Thanks to Pastor Jonathan Shelley, who is the one who set that up.
And the thing is, that if you go to the church website on Tuesday, then it will be a replay
of Sunday night's sermon.
If you go on Friday, it will be a replay of Wednesday night's sermon.
If you go on Sunday afternoon, it will be a replay of the morning sermon.
So if you go during a service, it's live, if you go after a service, it plays it on
the replay.
And so those things are getting, you know, about a thousand views each, let alone the
views that we're getting on YouTube, Facebook, whatever, just the God resource views, like
a thousand views, a sermon.
You know what?
So I'm thankful that a computer guy is willing to use his talents for the Lord and help get
the word of God out there.
And so whatever the college degree, whatever the skills that you gain, don't let those
things dictate your life, okay?
Don't say, well, you know, I've already put so much into this, you know, be willing to
change your life and say, you know, if this is what God wants me to do, if this is a better
way to live for God, then you know what?
It doesn't really matter whatever I've done in the past because God's going to find a
way to use those things anyway for my future works.
I've never learned anything or done anything that didn't come in handy later, even though
I might think to myself like, oh, you know, I spent all those years learning how to do
X, Y, and Z and now I don't do it anymore.
It's never in vain.
And so don't let your age or your background dictate your life.
Be like Moses where you can just show up at 40 years old and just basically just say,
you know what?
This part of my life is sinful, I'm getting rid of it.
You know, I'd rather identify with the people of God and not let a number or your background
or whatever stop you from doing what you need to do as a Christian.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much, Lord, for this great example of Moses and how he had a lot
of talents, he had a lot of abilities, and he was willing to humble himself and give
up worldly fame and accolades so that he could achieve something great for you, Lord.
Help us always also to not get sucked in by the pleasures of sin for a season, but help
us rather to suffer affliction with the people of God and to understand how much greater
riches there are to be laid up in heaven than there are to be laid up on this earth.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.