In the sermon titled 'Moses: A Chance in Pharaoh's Court' by Paul Carrington, the speaker delves into the book of Hebrews, addressing the challenges faced by early Christians who were tempted to abandon their faith due to persecution. The sermon outlines the spiritual journey of Moses, who forsook worldly wealth and status in Pharaoh's court for a life of faith and alignment with God's people. Moses's actions serve as a powerful example of prioritizing spiritual riches over temporary pleasures. The speaker emphasizes the dangers of compromising faith for worldly prosperity and underscores the importance of being a 'refusing' and 'choosing' person in the Christian walk. The sermon calls for believers to esteem the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt, recognizing the eternal rewards of faith over the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Well, it's a blessing to be able to come before you here this afternoon and spend some time in the book of Hebrews. Actually, it's one of the most interesting things about the book of Hebrews that I discovered when I was going through it, is that it's actually the same audience that James is addressing. James was writing to those that had been dispersed throughout the Roman Empire in somewhere maybe in the mid-40s and then somewhere in the mid-60s, you have this author, we don't quite know who it is. Some people debate who it is, whether it's Paul or some other writing, about in the 67, 80 time frame. And so, it's a time of intense persecution.

There's a lot of ridicule and a lot of attacks that are being made against this group of people, and the temperature is rising. And you can imagine any time the temperature rises, there's this overwhelming temptation to take the heat off and to compromise and to somehow just make sure that you have ease and a little bit more comfort. And what was happening to the people that this book is addressed to was really this they were saying you know what this whole thing about following Christ is just too hard let's go back to the old covenantal system Let's go back and at least try to do all the things we used to do when we were just Jews and Try to subscribe to those things maybe keep some of the elements of Christianity But it's just too hard and you could imagine yourself being there. It's a good question to ask. What would you do?

In such a costly climate think about it for a minute that in those days a man would be employed He would have to be a part of a guild Well all of a sudden now you've been expelled from the guild because of your faith You can't offer to the idols and do all this other stuff and your your livelihood has been decimated. And if you're a wife, your well-decorated home and your furniture and maybe even your family heirlooms have have all been plundered. We heard that this morning our brother read from Hebrews chapter 10 where you suffer joyfully the plundering of your goods. And if you're a young person, Just at the time when you you're about to spread your wings They're clipped and the door closes on all your future opportunities You can't see very far ahead and And so this was what the people that this book is addressed to, the people in Hebrews, this overwhelming temptation to compromise and to just go back to where they were and to who they were. And so chapter after chapter, what this author is doing is he's reminding them of the surpassing worth and the value, the beauty of Jesus Christ and how far surpassing the new covenant is over and against the old covenant.

And he comes to this famous chapter that we all know I think fairly well which is Hebrews chapter 11 And he begins Hebrews 11 with these words Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen And so what we're going to be doing over the next few minutes is spending Some time with according to the world's standards perhaps the greatest fool that has ever walked the face of the earth a man who had a chance in Pharaoh's court and he blew it he blew it he he had a golden scepter and he traded it in for a wooden shepherd staff and he had a silver tongue and he traded it in for slowness of speech. He could have had a spectacular tomb in the form of a pyramid but he traded it for an unmarked grave on a on a mountaintop that nobody even knows where he's buried. By the world's standards, a great fool, but according to God's standards, perhaps his greatest trophy under the Old Covenant. He forsook the false goddess of comfort for the god of all comfort. And in the final analysis, what we'll find is he exchanged a fading crown For an unfading crown hereafter and so I'm gonna read to us from Hebrews chapter 11 verse 23 down to 29 Says by faith Moses when he was born was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king's command.

By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. For he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who was invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land whereas the Egyptians Attempting to do so were drowned So what I hope we we come away with today is is an understanding of something I think is so critical for us when we consider what we heard this morning.

And there's something that's more dangerous and tempts us more to compromise than persecution. And that thing is called worldly prosperity. Something more dangerous has probably taken more people and destroyed more souls than any persecution the world has ever known. And we're introduced to Moses actually. It's fascinating.

By faith, Moses when he was born, it starts with an account of his faithful parents. And you could imagine the times. They were terrible times. They were fearful times where genocide was basically being being let loose and there was this conspiracy afoot to destroy the nation of Israel. The days of Joseph are now a distant memory and and Israel is considered a national security risk to Pharaoh.

He wants to destroy them and get rid of them entirely. But in this whole environment you get this faithful family, husband and wife Amron and Jochebed who by faith, notice how many times it says by faith in these next seven verses, by faith what did they do? They elevated God's law above the law of the ungodly king, and God blessed them. And so we know the story of how Miriam followed the baby down the river, and like how many of us were plucked from the fire, Moses was plucked from the reeds of the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter and he was returned to his home to be nursed by his mother for however many years. It was very very short but he lived in the midst of the poverty of Goshen, you know the state of the people at that time.

And after he was weaned, a short time after that, we don't know, was it three years old, five years old, we don't know, but it was an impactful period of time because there was a deposit that was made by his parents in this short period of time. You can imagine when you only know you have this amount of time with your child what you're gonna be doing. And they they probably didn't waste any time pouring in to this little man before he was gonna be taken away. And so What we find is that he was turned over to Pharaoh's daughter to grow up in another world entirely in the Egyptian court. And it's a lavish palace, no more mud brick home.

He's got access to the finest clothing you could ever imagine. Extreme pampering and advice was at his fingertips. And then of course you think of all the other things, the godless philosophies that he was exposed to and even all the pagan idolatry. If you know anything about Egyptian, all their idolatry that they get wrapped up and involved in the Pharaoh is one of the gods his grandfather Adopted grandfather would have been a god by the standards of Egypt and this is where he was growing up But it doesn't stop there. It says by faith Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

And we meet Moses again, we don't know a whole lot of what happened in that interim period, but we meet him now at the prime of life. He's become of age, he's now ready to launch out and make his mark in the world. He had everything that you could ever imagine. And just as he was most capable, think about this, and think about this as a young man or a young lady, just as he was most capable of enjoying and relishing all that Egypt had to offer. He begins to make this decision.

It talks about the idea that he had graduated. He had Acts 7 where Stephen's giving his declaration of the history of Israel. He says that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds and even today You think of how we can't even figure out how they embalm people like they did back then we can't figure out How did they make the pyramids? I mean this wasn't some backwater Nation, but this was the the pinnacle of technology had everything going on in this particular place and here was a man who was groomed for leadership, he was given a royal title, he had this ambitious career track that was laid before him. Wealth, decadence, opulence, they weren't just just at his fingertips, something he could grasp at some point in the future, but they were actually in his possession.

And so you need to ask the question, has there ever been a man in the history of the world who has been in a position of more temptation than Moses. It's really a worthwhile question and yet what do we meet with? We meet with these words, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. This is an active word, this isn't just a passive word. He had a chance in Pharaoh's court and he refused to be a part of that he no longer notice what it says he became of age this was no longer the faith of mom and dad but he now owned his faith and he had come to faith he had truly put his trust in God.

Something happened in Acts 7 23 where Stephen's recounting the episode of Moses life. It says that it entered or it came into his heart to visit his brethren. Where did that come from? Somehow God put it in his heart when he was 40. I need to go and see my brother and that deposit that my mom and dad made however many years ago.

Is this really my identity? He came to this point of crisis and he goes and sees these people. He has a new heart, He doesn't grasp all the finer points of doctrine. He doesn't have it all buttoned up, but something's happened in his heart. We can no longer laugh at Egyptian jokes or parade Egyptian fashion.

You could even say in our terms, he couldn't go to the Egyptian movies and just laugh and partake of all the things Egypt had to offer because something truly great and enduring had broken into his life and and he could no longer enjoy Egypt with a good conscience. Think about that if you're a young person today. And you know you think of all that he gave up, his adopted mother, his friends, his influence, possessions, and power, but all of that wasn't too great a price to pay for Moses when something happened within his heart. He had come to that proverbial fork in the road. You've heard of that where someone comes to a fork in the road and they're forced to a point of decision.

He could go the broad way that was pulsing with excitement and people and all the allurements of this world or he could go the other way, the narrower way, the difficult road. Not very many people on it. Not many people have taken it. And he decided to go that route. He came to this understanding and we need to understand this.

Young people need to understand this idea you cannot have dual citizenship when it comes to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. We heard when we recited earlier today that friendship with the world is enmity with God and it can be so watered down in our present age but he didn't water it down he understood I can only be a citizen of one kingdom and he began this this journey and you know it's amazing I was reading this through and I'm looking at all the accounts of people who have left things and and you look at the the Apostles it says they left their nets and you see how could they leave their nets their livelihood well here's a man that left the most prestigious post in the most civilized, prosperous kingdom to date in the entire world, and he left it all behind. Now some of us have to leave our nets. Some of us have to leave other things behind. To follow Christ you have to be a refusing man.

You have to be a refusing woman. There's the only way to follow Christ. In Christianity that's void of refusing ceases to be Christianity. Even in 21st century America there's a cost to following Jesus Christ. So I want to ask us a question, are you, am I, a refusing person?

With Moses what we notice is there's this deliberate renunciation, this turning away, there's this active impulse that he has working inside of his heart. And today we live in much a similar type of environment, don't we? Where there's so many enticements and allurements at our fingertips. The question is, are you a refusing person? Because Christian character isn't some mystical thing that you just wake up one day and you realize I have character, but it's actually made up of the choices that you make by faith.

And sometimes we miss that gap, we think one day I'll just I'll be more holy or I'll be more in love with Christ and we don't realize that it's taking this warfare seriously and actively and pursuing after him with all of our hearts. So we meet a refusing man. That's the first thing we want to realize here. But it's not just refusing, is it? It's about something we see in the next verse and it's about choosing rather.

And what did he choose? He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin and so he actively gives up something but he also willingly embraces something else altogether different over and against and so I want to just even paint this picture for us, right? If you think of what he was actually doing, and no one might have seen what was going on inside of Moses's heart, but he was doing all of these calculations. And if you think about like a scale, right, here he was, and he could have the scales out, and he on the one side put a company of brickmakers. How how appealing is that on the one side?

And then on the other side the pleasures of sin. And you put this on the scale But it wasn't just a company of brickmakers, was it? The Bible says that they were the people of God. And his heart had now been touched. He wanted to be with God.

Rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin, I like how the King James says for a season and So now all of a sudden it's not just a calculation of this company of brickmakers and the pleasures of sin but it's the people of God and The pleasures of sin just for a moment. Have you made those calculations? Have you actually done the math and sat down and done the reckoning? Because this is something that's so important. Some of us may never have actually done that and some of us have done it at one point in the future, but now what we're doing is we're drifting back to the world and the pleasure of sin can take us away in a moment because they're always calling out to us and I want to even think of it like this and if you're a young person one of our favorite Sundays is what if you're a young person in this church it's dessert Sunday and you see the table spread at the back of the church and if for example We all went to the back of the church and on the one side there was a table Spread with the finest of desserts everything you could imagine all laid out before you Everything you've ever wanted on one side.

And then on the other side there's a tiny little table with a little crust of bread. You don't even know how stale, how long it's been there, or whatever. And you're asked, choose which one you would like. And before you go, one second here, just one second, the table with full of desserts has been laced with poison, drops of poison have been put all over it. I just want to let you know, would that change which table you end up going to?

I think it would. It would change the table that I end up going to. And this is what Moses began to do the reckoning. He saw the table laid and spread, but he saw also, if I go that way, there's a cost, a cost that I will actually end up paying. The pleasures of sin for a season tastes good in the mouth but when it settles in the belly you're destroyed and he he made this decision to go with this tiny table if you would with a stale piece of bread because he saw someone else and he saw something else that we'll get to in a moment.

And so by faith he made a studied mature decision. This is important, he didn't just make this rash decision but he understood what he was actually calculating. And so you just think about it for a second, how many people would willingly in this world shave off years of their life? I'd give ten years of my life if I could only have what Moses gave up. You know how many people would do that in this world?

Millions upon millions, but not Moses. And so they look at him as a fool He had a chance in Pharaoh's court a chance and everything this world could offer But what does he choose affliction with the people of God the true worshipers the down Trot and the weak in faith even though they were and and here they were they were on God's side they were an enslaved population but despite all costs this man actually thought of that as a winning proposition. I will join myself with this band because of who they worship. What an amazing, amazing thing. And he looked at it over the fleeting pleasures of sin that will end in death.

And so to a world he's a fool, but by God's standards you've hardly ever seen a wiser man on the face of the earth because he saw Egypt's prosperity and its proper light. It's only going to be here for a moment. And so one of the things we want to think about and reckon with here as a church is when you think of worldly prosperity. We heard today how many warnings. I mean when you think verse after verse after God is is crying out beware beware worldly prosperity beware of just giving yourself up to Vanity Fair and pursuing everything this world has on offer.

What does it do? It threatens to suck the very life out of you even as you stand on your feet. You become this walking corpse and you see people like that all the time. I meet people like that all the time. Empty.

High up in position, but totally empty and bereft of any real life. And this is what you see. And the great remedy for this is faith. Notice again, by faith, by faith, by faith. And this isn't just faith that he had in his head, but it's faith as Hebrews 11.1 says it actually has substance and then has evidence to go with it.

So you can almost, you can touch it, it has solidity to it. This is the kind of faith that Moses had. And so while he had this chance in Pharaoh's court, he just abandoned it and said, this is not the way I'm gonna go. And he could have reasoned, hey I love these people, they're downtrodden. Why not just sit tight though?

A man has to be balanced. Once I become Pharaoh, here's what I'll do. I'll release my people then and ensure that they're not harmed. In fact, I'll even go so far as to ensure they have a personal escort all the way to the promised land. Why don't I just sit tight and wait, but not Moses?

And it's a question for you. Do you ever find yourself? Doing this kind of self bargaining I'll do it. I'll do it one day. That was good That's message stirred me, but you go home and the impulse to actually cut off your hand or pluck out your eye, dissolves.

But not with Moses, not with Moses. By faith, he was brought to see the true poverty of Egypt. He actually saw it as slavery, and the enslavement of God's people as the path to freedom. It's an amazing, this is an amazing discovery that God showed him. And so while many of us even in the church today are whistling on our way to to Vanity Fair, we need to be brought up short to see the danger that we're in.

Because at one time even for some of us who've been following the Lord for a period, perhaps Jesus was all we we would constantly think about eternity. But now you know kind of the valueless tinsel of this world has taken up more preoccupation in our hearts. We do want to go to heaven We do want to worship and see Jesus But but there's also a lot to enjoy here and this is not a message to say pleasure is sin Just like riches is not sin. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm talking about a heart that's been diverted and taken off course from its love for God because of the enticements and entanglements of this world somehow the love being crowded out and dimmed and reward It's nice, but I want to enjoy all that this world has to offer well in the 50s. There was a young man His name is Jim Elliott And he was 21 years old and he he penned these words in his diary nine years eight years before he would he would die In the Amazon his blood just running through the river at this at the end of a spear of Alka Indians and he wrote these words he says he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose and I want to say do we have that that impulse burning that desire burning in our hearts is that is that just something we quote and we say or is it something that is the same thing we can agree with he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep everything this world can have on offer.

A man, like we heard this morning, gets all the world but in the course of it he loses his own soul. What a terrible terrible trade. Well, life is a vapor and so this man is not only a refusing man but he's a choosing man as well and we want to spend some time in verse 26 it says he is steamed or esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward and here we meet this man he's a refusing man he's a choosing rather man But the reason why he was a refusing man and a choosing man is because he was an esteeming man. He was looking at something. And so esteem, what does that mean?

The definition of esteem is to set value on Or to prize or to regard with reverence It's to look at something or to look at a task and then begin to count the cost You begin to do those calculations and John Newton said it so beautifully. Listen to this, he says, nothing can turn out the love of the world but the love of God shed abroad in the heart. Wherever the love of God is so shed abroad in the heart as to become the ruling principle, there the world loses its hold. I thought that was so beautiful. And so what is the object of Moses's esteem?

He had found the pearl of great price. He made this mathematical decision. He looks at the pearl and then he looks at all he has and he gives up all that he has to purchase the pearl of great price. It's like that merchant. And so we talked about that scale earlier and what did he see?

He saw the treasures of Egypt on the one side and the passing pleasure of sin. You put not just the pleasure of sin, that'll weigh it down, but then you take all the passing pleasures and you put that on top. But notice what he's esteeming. Esteeming on the other side of the scale the reproach of Christ. Think about that for a moment.

Not the glory of Christ. Not all that comes with following Jesus and the end reward only. But he's looking at the very worst that you get from following Christ and the very best that this world can offer. And he puts them on the scale and boom the scale comes down in favor. I must follow after Christ.

Have we made this tally? Have we done this reckoning? It's really one of the most important things to think about because look at this thing, the reproach of Christ. I want to ask, what is the main reason why we fear telling people the good news of Jesus Christ? I feel it.

It's the reproach. What will they think of me? You know, I don't want to seem odd. Maybe if I just kinda kill them with kindness and winsomeness and over time they'll come around. Not Moses.

Not this man here. He saw things in their proper light. What Moses saw that often we don't see is the great riches are actually in the reproach of Christ. If we saw that that way, wouldn't that change the way that we we walk in the earth that it's a pleasure It's riches to suffer the reproach of Christ It's an amazing thing to think about and so we want to ask ourselves these questions. No doubt.

We want friends We want neighbors we want co-workers Family members to come to Christ The only thing we don't want is we got to go through that thing called the valley of reproach, of not maybe being all that well thought of. And so we we keep things buttoned up and we don't go forward with the thing that we know to do and it's because we don't have a view of the reproach of Christ as being greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt. So what if you get mocked or scorned or looked down upon? So what if they, when you turn your back, make signs and gestures one to another, if only you're standing and giving glory to the one who deserves all glory and honor and praise. And so his love for Christ outweighed every other consideration.

Like Abraham, he saw the day, Christ's day, afar off, and he was glad. And so he saw that there was more to be gained by going with the oppressed, ridiculed people of God, with Christ in their midst and the world in all its glory. And this is a decision that the natural man cannot make it's a foolish thing for a natural man to look at things like this And so again, it's a foolhardy exchange The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, but it says something there in the King James it says he had respect unto the recompense of the reward, this unfading crown of glory. And he came to the same decision another man you're familiar with came to. As well, I'll read it.

But what things were gained to me? These I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed, I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish Scoobalong the worst and rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him Do not be like Esau Who for one morsel of bread he he sold his birthright build your house of your hopes the house of your hopes on The solid rock of Jesus Christ and you will never be confounded build your life on him I think this is what Newton had in mind when he wrote Amazing Grace and he said when we've been there 10, 000 years bright shining as the Sun we've no less days to sing his praise than when we first begun there's no end world without end in the presence of God. And so a chance in Pharaoh's court, it was absolutely nothing to Moses. And you could say, well hold on a second, are you saying then that Christians need to sell everything that we can never enjoy nice things And do Christians have to be poor monks and hermits or is wealth evil?

Are you advocating a physical? Withdrawal from the world. No, that's that's not what I'm saying at all. Jesus himself said I do not pray that you take them out of the world Right in John 17, But that you keep them from the evil one and so that's not what we're saying today We're saying that in order to live for God you need to be a person who is a refusing person a choosing person Because you're an esteeming person. This is so so critical.

I feel the pull. I feel the draw I'm a man just like every other man here. You feel those pulls in your draw, these draws that are calling out to you and constantly upon you. But on the other side, to see the glory of Jesus Christ and that one day I will stand before Him and I will spend my eternity with Him. It helps to put a lot of life into perspective.

Like John the Baptist, we see this man. What was John the Baptist's entire life? It was a man pointing away. What was Moses' entire life? You look at Moses and say, what a man.

You know what Moses was doing? He's saying, no, don't look at me. Look at to what the thing I'm esteeming. That's the thing all of us need to be looking to, and that's how we should all be. What's captivating us?

What's captivating your heart? Not what you say with your lips, but what captivates your heart? This is the question of the hour. We need to understand this whole idea. Do you need to relinquish this idea of dual citizenship and decide and make a decision to fall hard after the one who died for you.

To stop making mistaking God's kindness for license. Maybe that's what some of us have to do. And so I want at the end of days My life to be one that that wasn't about just pursuing the things of this world I think all of us have that desire, you know If you think about what Christ has done shouldn't that be all of our cry that our lives say one thing, worthy, worthy, worthy is the lamb. That should be our entire desire at the end of the day to bring glory and honor to him. Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of soup.

Moses wouldn't trade his birthright for all the treasures in Egypt. Of whose religion are you? Well we come to 27 and 29 and I'll try to be quick here. It says, by faith he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible and so you see refusing choosing a steaming man now become a decisive man he had to decide faith that doesn't actually result in a change of life and a change of allegiance where you cut off certain things and choose rather other things, that's all theory. It's not real true religion.

That's what James says in James chapter 2. That's the whole basis of what he's saying. And so what you see is this true substance and evidence that's shown in his faith. And so in verse 27, you remember Moses, the first time he left Egypt, he left in fear. But the second time, it says, he endured as seeing him who was invisible.

But the wrath of the king, it says the wrath of the king, but now his king was the king of kings and the Lord of lords. It wasn't the same anymore. He had this this faith that propelled him forward through all the other things And you can think about it for a moment even you young people when you take steps of faith guess what you will incur wrath Your friends even friends in this church might laugh at you or look at you a certain way friends in the world all that you're gonna incur wrath Like Pharaoh the world will be loath to let you go. But follow after him. What of it?

Follow Jesus Christ. This is the call. And you think of a man like in Pilgrim's Progress, wasn't that the cry of Christian? He was walking around with this burden on his back. This is where he was.

He was a citizen of the city of destruction. But he came to a point in his life where he said, I have to go to Christ. And he left his wife and his children and they're all pleading and crawling and hanging on to him. And it says he plugged his ears as he ran out of the house and he's saying, life, life, eternal life, alone. And he pursued God with all his heart.

This is what we must do if we're going to live for the one who died for us. This is what we must do if we're gonna live for the one who died for us. This is what we must do because he's worthy. Don't dally, don't delay, but run to him. And so we need to ask ourselves the question, is the great I Am still occupying my gaze as he once did or has he ever occupied our gaze well it's not only about the forsaking he forsook Egypt but in verse 28 it says he kept the Passover By faith he kept the Passover in the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them." And this is really the hinge point of the whole Exodus, and it was achieved by grace.

How many times have we talked about the Passover? And it wasn't armies that set Israel free but it was all captured right here in this particular miracle that God did and it says by faith this was a great act I mean you're being told to go into your homes keep your shoes on your belt on and this is what God is gonna do. Follow God, put that blood, make sure that that blood is on the doorpost and on the lintel, and somehow there's gonna be this deliverance. Well they believed God. They believed God.

This great act of faith. And this only way that they could be saved was through the substitutionary death of an innocent victim. It wasn't prayer, it wasn't fasting, it wasn't confessing their sins, it wasn't good works. It came from outside of them and of course we know what that was it was foreshadowing the deliverance that would be wrought by a future lamb a greater Exodus from a more enslaving house of bondage you think Exodus you thought Egypt was bad as the house of bondage sin is a far far greater task master but Jesus Christ has come to set the captives free. What will you do with Jesus Christ?

What will you do with him? And so The word is this, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's what it says in Exodus. That was all. That's how these people were delivered.

But it didn't end there. It ends, we see here in verse 29, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned. And so you see this elation, fine you guys go, you go, but it gives way to despair, it gives way to dismay in the face of this great obstacle called the Red Sea, and you've got this army barreling towards you. You could imagine all you do is you see this dust cloud in the distance and you're looking at the Red Sea ahead of you. It was about to go down as the most spectacular leadership debacle in the entire history of the world.

Here they are and they can't do a thing to escape. But instead we see the greatest reversal. And just as Christ conquered an apparent weakness we hear these words, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And what we see is God overthrowing the works of the devil just as he overthrew the horse and its rider into the sea. What has Jesus Christ done for us?

He's undone our bondage and all the works of the devil that's put us in this in the state that we are by nature it's the reversal of the ages what will you do with him the idea is to stand still to stand still to stand still and and rest and pray quiet to the Lord if you're a young person at the crossroads don't Don't just dismiss the words that we heard this morning, the word of God preached, eternity hung before you. What will you do with it? That's really the most important thing to consider. And so as it turns out in conclusion, What appeared most solid and most enduring the kingdom of Egypt was swept away in a moment Just like Revelation 18 we heard in one hour. This wasn't even one hour but the waves closed over the entire nation of Egypt or the armies of Egypt.

And what we need to understand, I think the message here that all of us need to understand is this, is that the world, it has an expiration date. It has an expiration date. There's coming a time when it's expired, just like spoiled milk, it's done. There's nothing that can be done to recover. But if you're on the Lord's side, you look back, you turn around, and you see what God just did to save you.

And all it will do is just redound to his great glory and praise because he's a faithful God. Moses, as it turns out, lost nothing. He wasn't quite a fool, was he? But he gained everything. And it's true, you won't find Moses's name etched in a pyramid somewhere in Egypt, but you will find it etched in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Isn't that the aspiration or should be the aspiration of all of us? He gave up a momentary place in Pharaoh's court and in so doing he became among the richest men in history. Well we're out of time and you read a little bit further on in Hebrews 11 he actually says, and what more shall I say for the time has failed me and time has failed me here, but there's no better way to end with the words of the writer. This is probably the best application for Hebrews 11. It's in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 & 2.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross Despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God Father we we praise your holy name Who could it be Oh Lord that can Create such victory who can do such amazing things for people like us, O Lord? Father, we pray that our hearts will be fixed Once and for all on him who is invisible. Oh Lord, we pray that we would be weaned from the love of this world and the things of this world. Oh God, would you please captivate our young people. Oh Lord, pull them back from looking over the edge and dabbling.

Oh Lord, would you truly help? Help us as parents not to just welcome into our homes the things that would destroy and then wonder why are things going the way they are. Oh God, help us. Awaken us and put a fire deep in our hearts we pray a love for Jesus Christ a love for your kingdom oh Lord help us Lord to make the decisions that that Moses did that our religion would be of the same kind oh God in Jesus name Amen.