In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the story of Moses and his commitment to serving God. The speaker highlights Moses' dedication by mentioning his 40 days of fasting and his willingness to leave everything behind to follow God's calling. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of being like Jesus and seeking a deeper revelation of Him. The sermon concludes with a reminder of God's faithfulness in delivering the Israelites from Pharaoh and the importance of trusting in Him.

Glad when thy gracious smile we see, and blessed when our faith can hold thee fast. We thank thee for assurance tonight. We thank you that like the Apostle Peter, we can say we have not followed cunningly devised fables. We thank you, Lord, that you established this book, this incredible book. This book written over centuries, even millenniums, and yet by men that didn't see each other, and yet they harmonized, non-contradicted the other. And you said that your word will last forever and ever. Thy word, O God, is forever and ever. We thank you for a kingdom that is forever. A kingdom that's not subjected to debates in Geneva or anywhere else. You said it. We don't care whether men can prove it archaeologically or other ways. The Bible isn't true because men think so, it's true because God says so. We can risk our eternity on your word. It's the biggest gamble a man could ever make, in one sense, and yet the biggest surety a man can ever make. We will say in the language of that old hymn tonight, beyond the sacred page, we seek thee, Lord. Our spirits pant for thee, thou living word. We thank you that this is manner indeed from heaven, and we want to feast upon it. With the psalmist we want to say and mean, open thou thine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. We give you praise in Jesus' name. All right, let's go back into Hebrews 11. Back or forward, whichever way it is. Hebrews 11. Verse 22, By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel. Verse 23, By faith Moses. What a difference. Joseph, remember him? The junior member of a family. Well, like everybody else, if you're spiritual, you have trouble with your family anyhow. But isn't it amazing that Joseph began in a shepherd's tent, and then he ended up as ruler, as the king. When the king was going out of town, he put the chain of gold around his neck, the chain of office, and the boy who was a nobody is a somebody, and known by everybody. Look at the difference with Moses. Moses started the life as a king and finishes as a tramp. The two positions are reversed. You see, there's no such thing as a blueprint in the Christian life. You know what David was going to do? He tried to fight in Saul's armor, and he couldn't do it. I don't know why. Oh yes, I do know why. Excuse me, catching up with myself. I do that now I'm getting old. You know, it's getting fashionable now to preachers tell congregations how much they doubt what they don't believe. One guy in town told people that the Old Testament is not relevant for today. Well, while I was raised, they used to say about the Testaments, the new is in the old concealed, and the old is by the new revealed. God doesn't change his mind, he doesn't have any afterthoughts, he doesn't have to correct anything. People tried to correct the King James Version. Well, as the lady said in England, the old lady is good enough for Paul, it's good enough for me. She was a little bit out, one or two years, but it's still the very best version anyhow. Yeah, so this is relative, the other is relative. We had one professor at the little college I went to, and he was a smart guy, a brilliant guy from Cambridge. He was the only professor that came in with his mortarboard on, his big flowing gown, and he put his, that down, you know, and put his hands together and pray stentoriously as though he's praying straight to heaven, and he never reached it anyhow. But one day he was in one of his critical moods, and he was, where were you reading? We were reading in Genesis. At that time, I mean, we were reading in Genesis. Chapter 5, and he said, well, you know, those men didn't live to be 969. He said about Methuselah, he didn't live nearly a thousand years, and somebody else didn't live so. In their day, their years equal one of our years. I mean, that was direct revelation, of course. Nobody else knew that. We all made notes of it. A boy cracked out laughing, and he said, what are you laughing at, at the back there? You fellows on the back row, I was one of them. He said, you always get a laugh out of something. Well, sure, anybody laughs at a fool. And he said, sir, you said that ten years of their life is equal to one of our years. Yes, what's wrong with that? Well, he said, it's interesting, in the fifth chapter of Genesis, it says Malalheel lived, pardon me, Malalheel lived sixty and five years and begat a son. He was only six and a half when he had a baby. It brought the house down. The old boy picked up his mortarboards to get on the road. Now, boy, was he angry. He never does any of that junk anymore. But again, what different patterns God has. Joseph starts off in the shepherd's tent, he finishes ruling over the greatest nation in the world at the time. Moses does the opposite thing. He's trained the seventh chapter of, the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles is worth reading, not now, read it after. Tells you about the career of Moses. He was wise in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in word. Now, that doesn't mean he was an orator, he wasn't, he stammered. It means he was a lawmaker before he got the Ten Commandments, the law of God. Come in. But he gives a rundown there in that seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles of the brilliance of Moses. His natural capabilities. Come in, ladies, please. You don't want to stand for two hours, do you? No, it's a short message, an hour and ten minutes. Three things about faith. Faith reckons, faith risks, faith rests. That precious little baby is put in a little boat made of weeds and his sister takes it and shoves it out on the river now. If that isn't faith reckoning, what is? If that isn't faith risking, why, she could have turned her back, a crocodile could have eaten it. When she'd gone away, the wind might have blown the roof off the little thing and the child would have been barbecued with the tremendous sun that they have there. Somebody else might have come and stolen the baby. It might have been a flash flood that took it away. But faith reckons that God is. As I've said, Hebrews 11, in Hebrews at least, there were over 30 times faith is mentioned. Over 20 times faith is mentioned in Hebrews 11, which we call the chapter of faith. But the key to the whole thing then, and I believe as far as I'm concerned, the key to my life now is Hebrews 11, 6. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. That he is what? That he's everything he says he is. That he's able to fulfill Hebrews 7, 25, he's able to save to the innermost. Or he's able to make all grace abound to us. Or he's able to keep you from falling. He is, he is everything that he says he is. Come hell or high water, come liberal preachers or idiots, I don't care. He is the unchanging God. Verse 23, By faith Moses when he was born was head three months of his parents. Because they saw he was a proper, or I think the Hebrew says he was a beautiful child. And they were not afraid of the king's commandment. Well, you can't have faith and fear. If you have faith, you've no fear. If you fear, you've no faith. It's as simple as that. What did God say to Abraham? I, notice it, I am thy shield. Not I'll give you a shield between you and yourself, I am your shield. Well, if God is between me and my circumstances, if God is between me and my world, why in the world should I worry? Who can destroy omnipotence? If all his resources are at my disposal, which they are. Because the scripture says we're heirs of God. I talked with a friend of mine a number of times about this recently. To know I'm an heir of God makes my hair stand up nearly. But then when it says immediately after, I'm not only an heir, I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Well, why is the church so bankrupt? The easiest thing in the world is to say like a smart boy into miracles ended with the New Testament. Well, that's the best excuse for your bankrupt spirituality, isn't it? That's why there are no miracles in church, we don't believe. The biggest monster in the church of Jesus Christ today is unbelief. Israel could have come out of Egypt into Canaan in 11 days, just 11 days. There you are, just 11 days. Why did it take 40 years? Why didn't they enter in? They did not enter in because of unbelief. That's the devil's masterpiece today. You know, Mr. Spurgeon, there were some Baptists that were right, Spurgeon was one, not many of them, but Spurgeon said, the Bible is God's checkbook. All the checks are already signed, all you have to do is fill them in. There's a big air of truth in that. Moses was hid for three months. I wonder why they decided to put him out. Do you think he was yelling too much? They knew he was going to be an auctioneer or a preacher or something, couldn't keep him quiet. I don't remember this. Would you believe the first day I was born, my mind was so foggy, I didn't know where I was. 20 years after, my mother said that day, you know, it's an old-fashioned way, they had babies at home, where they should be born anyhow. And women should feed the babies. We give them cow's milk and wonder why they're so beastly. Well, I was born properly and I was fed properly. But the first day I don't remember a thing about it. 20 years after, when I came from college the first time, my mother said, Len, I want to tell you something. This has been a great experience. I said, yes, it has. She said, the first day you were born, I put my hand out in bed and prayed and said, put my hand on you and said, God, make this little boy a preacher or don't let him live. Boy, if I'd heard that, I'd have been terrified. They saw he was a delightful child, just what my mother said. But anyhow, he was a proper child. They were not afraid of the king. You see the parallel again between Moses and Jesus. Moses was born in the slum quarters of Goshen. Jesus was born in a stable, not the stable on your Christmas card that will get an A plus for being so clean. It was a beautiful stable. It had water-warm manure. It was acrid with the ammonia from the cattle urine. It had curtains, but they were really cobwebs. It had a heating system, the sweating of the beasts. It had nobody to sing a lullaby. It's like the old cow that said to him, woo, woo, woo, you know, and they got it to sleep. They paralleled so much, Moses and Jesus. Moses was how old? Three months, about the age Jesus was when Herod tried to assassinate him. This little guy is only three months old and there's a contract out there, put him to death. Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be caught. Oh, I love this section. Notice middle of verse 24, refusing. Verse 25, choosing. Middle of verse 25, suffering. And verse 26, esteeming. When he was come to years, he left all that was lush and plush and went to live in the bush. You should remember that. Shakespeare couldn't do better than that. And I didn't get out of the book. I made that up. Anyhow, it's true. Didn't he leave everything that was lush and plush and went in the bush? Choosing. Verse refusing. To be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Josephus, the historian, I don't think you can always trust him. But he says they'd already planned that Moses would become Ramesses III. In that case, those huge images that they still have, I was going to say in India, in Egypt. You know, when they made the Aswan Dam, they moved those great things, cut their heads off and moved them all. This man was destined for the greatest throne in history at that time, to the richest empire in the world at that time. He faced it all up one day and the bottom line was he refused. To be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction. Come on, you idiot. Sit down and count the cars. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of God and to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Come on. Do you ever sing that old hymn in your church or wherever you go? My Jesus, I love thee. And there's a phrase in that hymn that says for thee all the pleasures of sin. Oh no, you don't sing. There's no pleasure in sin. What to do? Crowding Las Vegas for it. There's no pleasure in sin. We change it. We're smart. Not pleasure. The all the follies of sin. Do you know one man that's checked his course to hell? A man that's going to live on drink tonight or sleep with other women. Do you think he's anticipating hell? He doesn't sit down and count the cars. Jesus says you sit down and count the cars. Say to that man, you sit down the cars, you're going to wreck your marriage. You're going to end up as a drunken or a pervert. No man sits down and counts the cars to go to hell. He just drifts there. Moses, when he was coming to years, notice that, will you? It wasn't an impetuous decision by a teenager. It's a man that's mature. It's a man that when he goes down the street, everybody salutes him. When he goes down the road in his chariot, everybody bows down and says, you're egg cleansing. When he goes to bed at night, they fan him with ostrich feathers to keep him cool. Every time he sits down, he has a seven-course dinner. I'm going to one this week, but I won't tell you where, but anyhow. Not only that, having a big seven-course dinner, it really does you good. Every day he had a seven-course dinner. He'd leave them all the delicacies. They used to have larks tongues. I don't know why, goodnight. I think you get 50 of them in your mouth, but anyhow, they used to have those delicacies in those days. Choosing to suffer with the people of God, rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The people indulging in their lust and licentiousness, they'd be burned out in a few years. The men that decided to be an imam and get AIDS last three years after they get it. All the men that got in 1983 are already dead. Rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin, for a snap of the fingers. This is the tall one here, esteeming the reproach of Christ. What do you mean, esteeming the reproach of Christ? There's nothing in the Bible about Christ up until now. What did he know about Christ? You know, our old mother of his must have been something. I think his parents, Amram and Jochebed, were some of the greatest people ever lived and we don't know much about them. I think every time she nursed him, fed him, changed his diapers, all the things she did. I said one day, I wonder what Mary thought when she changed diapers for Jesus. Somebody said, he never needed diapers. He didn't. Must have been a wonderful baby. Ah, esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, because he had respect unto the recompensable world. Now, you can't read that and leave it there. You go right to the next chapter. By faith, not fear. He didn't run away because of a contract out for him. He went out by faith. He'd had a revelation. He'd heard the voice of God. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. Well, that was bread in his bones. His mother and father didn't fear the wrath of the king either. My daddy and mummy, oh, they've told me many times how the king was searching houses and they hid me away and then they put me in a little boat of my own to go on the canal in a gondola. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater than all the treasures of Egypt, the wealthiest you've seen in books or you saw in newspapers or you saw on TV a few months ago, the treasures of King Tut's tomb that was opened in 1920 by an Englishman that was very popular at that time. And they brought out all the treasures. They saw an image there. Of course, it was all carved and done in fancy woods. They took the lid off. There's a sarcophagus as they call it. There was an overlay in pure gold of the whole man. There was a miniature tree with a goat fastened in it with its horns in it. And the scientists said it didn't make sense. What's the meaning of that? Of course, when I was young and inexperienced, I didn't know the truth. I just read about it and thought it was a figment. The treasures of King Tut's tomb were the treasures he's talking about here. King Tut's name actually was Amenhotep II. He was to succeed the pharaoh that chased the children of Israel out of Egypt. He esteemed the reproach of Christ. See, that chokes me. If it said he esteemed the kingdom of Christ, if he'd had a revelation of the eternity of Christ on his throne, and it said esteeming the kingdom of Christ, worth forsake it. But he doesn't do that. It says esteeming the reproach of Christ. Esteeming being kicked out of my family and out of my country, which Christ gets and everybody else. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater than treasures of Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Hey, come on. Where did this guy get his theology from? By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Come on. What did he see? Did God lift the veil and give him a revelation that's never been revealed? He endured as seeing him who is invisible. I've got some news for you. If you're not living where you see him who is invisible, you'll be dead, and no faith within 10 years from now if the Lord tarry. We're going into a tribulation period like the world's never known. Seeing him who is invisible. This man should have come out of Egypt with the children of Israel and got into the promised land. He never made it. He sure did. When did he make it? On the Mount of Transfiguration. Do you think he had a revelation of the Mount of Transfiguration and saw him there with the Christ of God? I was looking there in the 15th chapter. Let me skip over to it right here. The 15th chapter in the book of the Revelation. No, no, no, wait a minute. Let me, I'm jumping ahead too far there. Let me go back to the 15th chapter in Exodus. You know, it takes a lot of putting together this thing. I'm pretty slow in my old age. Well, some of you young ones are not much brighter, so don't get too happy. Look at the 15th chapter of Exodus. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song, the Lord, this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea. The Lord is my strength. He has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare him a habitation. I will exalt him. Therefore Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea, and chosen captains who are drowned in the sea. If you go back to the 14th chapter, you'll find the hearts of the people are pent up, bound up in fear. Why? Because the enemy is chasing them. What has happened? God has done a miracle. Pharaoh was sure when he set after them. Here they are plodding through that mud anyhow. The Lord's parted it like you part your hair. We'll catch up with them. Oh yes, your excellency, we'll overtake them the first day. We'll spill their blood till that sea's red with blood. But that didn't happen. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel. Then when? When the pursuers were dead. When the enemy couldn't lay his hand upon them. They'd been delivered from death. They'd been delivered from torture. They'd been delivered from punishment. Boy, I'll tell you what, that must have been a song they sang. I think they sang Blessed Assurance that day, in their own way. If you look around this chapter carefully, you'll find there's one object alone that fills it. One object alone. It talks about him, his character and his ways. If you look at Psalm 92 verse 4, oh wait a minute, it's the other way around. No, Psalm 92 and verse 4, I won't read it, but let me skip over for the time. Don't you think that once they came out at the other side, they had a new assurance of God? Look at the bodies there, all washing up in the water. Look at their gleaming chariots, all rusty. Look at their leading captains, supposed to be geniuses in war. The fishes are eating them, the birds, the vultures are there to eat them. Then sang Moses the children of Israel a song, it's all to God, it's all about his character, it's all about his faithfulness, it's about his holiness. There's no word of self-pity, there's no word about themselves there. Oh, it must have been gorgeous for God in heaven to hear them singing in verse 11, who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods, who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praise, he's doing wonders. That must have been thrilling for angels to hear. He's glorious in holiness. If the church gets back to that, we'll have revival. Our church, kids go to church as easy as going to a country club and come out the same. They never meet God. There's no supernatural manifestation. Well, why doesn't God come? Because he's not wanted, that's why. The preacher's already told you those things have passed away. Do you think you're going to wipe your feet on God? Those men will live to see the day when they'll go groveling before God, groveling before him. I want to emphasize this again. They sang, then sang Moses and the children of Israel, that this song unto the Lord. Again, I will sing unto the Lord, for he, not we, but he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider is thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and he has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare him a habitation. I will exalt him. Again, verse four, Pharaoh's chariots and his horses are he cast into the sea. His chosen captains are also drowned. Verse 11, who is like unto thee, O Lord? Among the gods. Who is like unto thee? Glorious in holiness and fearful in praises, doing wonders. That was what? The 15th chapter of Exodus. Skip over to the 15th chapter of Revelation, please. Excuse me. Revelation chapter 15. Verse one, and I saw another angel coming. I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and then they had gotten the victory. Notice that? Those that have gotten victory over the beast. Then we would come through a sea and there's fire in it, typical of tribulation. And then they've gotten victory over the beast and over his image and over his mark. And over the number of his name he stand upon the sea of glass having hearts in their hands and they sing the song of Isaiah. No? Oh no, no, there's a greater prophet than Isaiah. Jeremiah, they sing the song of Jeremiah. No? That's not in your Bible either? Funny Bible. Why of all the people that ever lived do they sing in heaven the song of Moses and the Lamb? I suggest to you that when he was in the tightest spot in his life, he endured as seeing him who is invisible and halfway to the ultimate was seeing himself in Jesus Christ there on the Mount of Transfiguration. And the ultimate is there in eternity where he speaks 600,000 people singing the song of Moses. Why? Because Moses' song was a song of victory. Pharaoh, a type of the devil, is being kicked out. The pursuing forces, death, destruction, sickness, sadness, they've all been washed away, they're all behind. Well, isn't that exactly what it says here? I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire. Fire means burning in a fiery picture of the beast. So there you are, it's the victorious. Well, isn't that what Moses says? The horse and his rider, he's cast into the sea. They're not going to make it in any shape or form. And they were on a sea of glass having harps of God. Excuse me. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Boy, wouldn't I like to write a hymn and the Lord say to me, you know, son, when you get to heaven, all the angels are going to be wanging harps, no guitars, you notice. Harps. Guitars are backslidden harps. Harps, golden harps. Brother, when you see 144,000 with golden harps, singing the song of Moses, I guess his chest will swell a bit that day. He'll stand there, look back and say, oh, unto him who has washed us and loosed us from our sins, unto him be glory forever and ever. This poor guy, ever since he was born, he's had a shadow over him like Jesus had, like the early church had. This man's born, Moses is born in a slave camp. Jesus was born in a slave camp. The Romans had conquered England, conquered the world. We used to live in a city of Bath in England. It's spelled B-A-T-H, but if you're wealthy, you don't say Bath, you say Bath. Like you don't say, children say you're telling a fib. When you grow up, you're saying you're telling a lie. When you've been to college, you say, what do you say, you're a prevaricator. When you've been to university, you say you're guilty of terminological inexactitudes. But it goes right back to being a liar anyhow. We try to wrap things up in such fancy words, don't we? You know, God gave us the Bible, a man-made theology to confuse it. I'm glad none of my boys went to a seminary. Hey, what about the host? I wonder how many of those singing around the throne, singing the song of Moses, were there when it was sung originally. We used to sing a hymn in England, with harps and with vials there stands a great throng in the presence of Jesus, and they sing this new song. Unto him who hath washed us and loosed us from sin, unto him be glory forever, Amen. We used to have a man in the old Methodist church I went to, and you know, if the poor visiting preacher was silly enough to choose Wesley's great hymn, and can it be that I should, how many of you know that? One to five Methodists? Bless you, so am I. I thought there's a nice atmosphere tonight. Oh, we used to get that big old organ up there with about four decks, you know, that organist used to make it roll and we sing, and can it be that, there's nobody can sing that but Methodists. And if you want to hear it, son, go to Asbury College, I've been there for two revivals, they're the best singers I've heard in America. Part of the hymn says, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose when for old Sam Horty there, I thought he'd a hand as big as a shovel. He was a very popular man in town, he's a garbage collector. But you know, he'd been down the long way down. Do you know why some of us don't love much? Because we've not been saved from much. When I wasn't in a horrible pit, well, listen friend, you were going to one, a million times worse than any hell hole on earth, we were going to eternal hell unless Jesus rescued us. When he got to that verse, the verse where it said, my chains fell off, my heart, I've no record, so don't worry, my heart was free. As soon as he got there, he clapped his hands, he said, hallelujah. Preaching the pulpit didn't have a nervous attack. My chains fell off. Every time we sang that hymn, he was reborn. Every time we sang that, he remembered when he was chained, fettered, burdened. When inwardly his conscience was biting worse than a scorpion's tail could have stung him. He remembered when his guilt fell off. He remembered when he stepped out of darkness into light. How can a man say when he's, are you saved? I don't know. Mercy in the world, if you're in darkness and go into light, wouldn't you know? If you had a hundred pound weight on your back and somebody says, uh, what's that on your back? Oh, oh, I lost it, I didn't know. Well, there it is, you lost it coming up the hill. If a man doesn't know his burden's gone, he's not saved. If he isn't walking in the light, he may have it like these boys go to college. Do you know what you do when you go to seminary? You get a swollen head and a shrunken heart. One of the greatest evangelists I ever heard in my life was W. P. Nicholson. I'd like to spend a whole night one night telling you stories about him. Very, very fantastic preacher. He said, I will just as soon give my son a file of poisonous, send him to a modern seminary. That's what he said. We've lost our exuberance. We've lost the joy. You can tell when there's no joy in the church, they have a big entertainment program. One of the big churches in town, that Mr. Dobson there, wasn't it Dobson? Telling people how to keep the family together. Then they build a family center next door, so they won't, they'll be away from home every night. Isn't that logical? Isn't that smart? Spend half a million dollars on a building so your kids can be there instead of being under daddy and mommy's influence at home. Oh, we blame the devil for so much, don't we? And it's our stupidity. Alexander White had one of the most remarkable women in the world in his church. She never said anything wrong about anybody. You know a woman like that? Raise your hand. No, don't. One day he went in to see this old lady, Jenny. Old Jenny always had the teapot there and he loved tea. Ah, she says, the pastor came yesterday. It was a horrible day. And I filled his cup up and he says, no, Jenny, I never take more than three. She said, I already refilled it 13 times. This day he went in soaking wet and he said, oh, what a wretched day. Ah, she says, pastor, it's not so very bad. Oh, look at my coat running, the rain running off onto my trousers are wet through. It's not too bad. Are you praising the Lord? Yeah. For a storm like this? No, I'm praising him because it's not like this every day. He said, Jenny, I think you'd have a, you never have a bad word about anything, anybody. I think you would have a good word for the devil. Well, pastor, she said, he's very industrious. In everything give thanks. Sometimes we sing that hymn, oh, for a thousand tongues, eh? Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing thy power to save. When this poor lisping, stammering tongue shouts, victory or the grave. That's how it was written. All hail the power that angels prostrate for, bring forth the royal demo and crown him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred thong we at his feet may fall. Join in the everlasting song. Mercy on us. Do I have to wait all the years till I get there to really join in the everlasting song? Yeah. I should look up every day and remember there's the sea and the mercy of God. The mercy of God. God canceled all my sins. If I believe him, he's taken care of my fears and my doubts. And he's given me all the exceeding great and precious promises so I can blast them at the devil when he wants to come and torment me. Moses was like Jesus. Why? Well, number one, again, born of very poor parents. Both were born in a slave camp. Moses went down to Egypt. Jesus went down to Egypt almost after he was born, didn't he? Parents took him there. Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount. So did Moses. He came down carrying his notebook and dropped half of it. Oh, that old quid that somebody had, it wasn't mine, it's good. America takes more pills than any nation on earth. And what we pill, what we need is not more pills, two tablets like Moses had. Oh, you'll, you'll, you'll catch through with that tomorrow, but that's all right. I know it's, it's tiring preaching to people tired at the end of the day, you know, I mean, you're too tired. Moses, he was transfigured. Why? Because his face had to have a, he had to have a veil over it. Jesus was transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses was, what, 40 years in the wilderness. 40 is the number of testing. Jesus was 40 days in the wilderness. Moses was 40 years there. The book of Matthew is the 40th book in the Bible, isn't it? 39 in the Old Testament, the next one makes 40. 40 is typical of a period of testing. What's the testing in Matthew? God testing Israel with his, giving them his son. And John puts it in another phrase, he came to his own, his own received him. It's the same report in different, a different style of language, that's all. Moses must have had a constitution. I didn't check this today, but I think I'm right in saying, didn't he have 40 days fasting? And didn't he turn right round and do another 40 days? 40 is a long time. 40 years in the wilderness. The first time I went to a Christian Missionary Alliance church, I was very thrilled with the hymns. They sang some old hymns of A. B. Simpson's, like, once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. Once it was the feeling, now it is his word. Once his gifts I wanted, now the giver own, and so forth and so on. And then they sang another one about, O to be like the blessed Redeemer. This is my constant longing and prayer. I sang it a few times and I bit my lip. O to be like the, like the picture I see of Jesus. No, like the revelation I get of Jesus. If I want to be like Jesus, why don't I take 40 days? Most of us couldn't stick 40 hours. 40 days fasting, leave your friends behind everybody, go to a place you can only drink water for 40 days. And Moses does a second shift, he has 80 days. O to be like the blessed Redeemer. What? Do you want a Judas in your life? Do you want a Thomas in your life to doubt you? What did Moses get for his holiness? I'll tell you what he got for his holiness. His sister gossiped about him. What did she get? You know, if God did the same with his judgments today as he did then, we'd be in bad trouble, wouldn't we? If he put a mark on the forehead of everybody who did what Cain did. You know, I was saying to a friend the other day, he was talking about the mark. Is it in Ezekiel where a man goes out with an inkhorn and marks their forehead? I said, well, here's your choice. Have the mark of God for holiness or have the mark of the beast. That's the only choice you have. Or have the blood of the Lamb or have the wrath of the Lamb. You know, Moses was tested for 40 years. Moses faced John, the glory of Jesus. I used to think of Jesus there on the Mount of Transfiguration and a spotlight coming out of heaven. I don't believe that for a minute. I believe it was the inward holiness that shone through his physical being. He was the light of the world. He is the light of the world. The city hath no need of sun. I remember the first time I read that, it startled me. And there's no temple in heaven. That will be hard on the Baptist. It doesn't say there's water at the gate. That'll be rough on the Baptist too. They're jogging about. There's no temple in heaven. Every city you go to in the world, if you go by water, the first thing you see is the climbing spire of a church or a cathedral, except when you come to New York. And the first thing you see coming in from the sea is the Empire State Building, or rather not, the Chrysler Building with its spike on the top. Somebody says it's typical of America. All you see is industry when you come in. Typical of some other countries, I'm sure. But there's no temple in heaven. Somebody asked an old friend of mine, while you're a famous preacher, do you go to church? No. You don't go to church? He was a Nazarene, and some wonderful old Nazarenes. You go to church? He says, I can't. Why not? He says, because I am the church. The church isn't a building. Oh, we do have a church hall there. Of course, we fool around and have silly concerts. We know that's not the church. Well, why is it tax exempt? Some people in the area, if you know, but you'll know soon, have decided to become Roman Catholics. You know what they say? That once the priest pronounces the blessing on the blood, pardon me, pressing on the wine, it becomes blood. Wait a minute. There are at least five institutions in America where they send priests to dry out, alcoholics. Why? Because they take the mass at 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Seven times in the morning, he drinks wine. And before long, he's an alcoholic. Come on. Yes, we believe in transubstantiation. We believe the bread becomes the body of Christ. We believe the wine becomes the blood of Christ. So you're telling me that when that man drinks the blood every day, it sends him drunk? It is the blood of Christ. How can he become an alcoholic? That's total junk. Well, where are we? Let's look at the time. Oh, I don't have too much, but anyhow, there you are. Let me step back a minute and leave you with a good thought here, hopefully. Verse 25, again, esteeming, pardon me, choosing rather suffering, affliction with the people of God than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasure of Egypt. Why? Because he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Where do you get that idea? He's endured as seeing him, but was invisible. He sees Jesus there on the Mount of Transfiguration. He's standing at the side of Jesus. He sees a throne, and round it a marvellous crowd, and 600,000 people singing the song of Moses that he wrote under inspiration. What else does he see? He sees the judgment seat of Christ. Esteeming the reproach of Christ. I had a, a singer sang for me a few years ago, a very smart guy, big enough to make two men, always boasting, you know, I was to sign a contract for 30 million dollars in Hollywood. He and his wife were called the King and Queen of Broadway at one time, and he was the Broadway, but anyhow. I need to say, you know, by the way, people don't realize what I've given up to serve the Lord. Do you know what I've given up? I said, yes. What? Hell. That's all he's given up. 30 million dollars, it's sinking hell quicker with it rounding neck anyhow. Nobody ever that makes a sacrifice for God. He did all the sacrificing. God isn't in anybody's debt. Everybody's in God's debt. I don't care what men say. I don't care how big the guy is. They may have a big TV show. No man ever has or ever will do God a favor. Moses didn't do God a favor. The apostle Paul didn't do God a favor. No man has ever done God a favor. He's in debt to nobody. What a man this was. All those centuries, millenniums before Jesus seen, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater than all the treasure of Egypt because he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. Let's just think of this. Moses is, he flees from Pharaoh, not by fear, but by faith. Do you think he'd stop to change his clothes? I can't go in these new sandals. I'll put my old ones on. I can't go in this royal robe. I'll go and change him, put an old one on. No, he fled out of the king's presence in royal robes. Are you suggesting he lived on the backside of the desert without the devil beating him up nearly every day about it? What was he eating? Mutton. I like mutton. It's good for you. It's a lot in England. New Zealand has 50 million sheep. Australia has 100 million. Very nutritious. It's very good. Moses, come on man, you've been here now how long? Years. What's the change of diet? I had a change yesterday. What did you do? I boiled the mutton instead of roasting it. What are you going to have tomorrow? Lamb chops? You could have been having such marvelous meals when you're, if you'd been back in Egypt today and all you have is all this junk. Junk food. You'll never complain once about it. See, God only tells her a fraction of the biography of this man. If he gave us it all, we'd be so discouraged and humiliated we'd never dare read it again. It's for Satan, Egypt. Moses, look, your feet are bleeding again. You've got a thorn there. You could have been riding in a chariot down main street and everybody acclaiming you. What about his wife and children? Where were they? Where is his mother and father? Amram and Jochebed doesn't mention them. You know, when you do the will of God, it's not what it costs you, it's what it costs other people. And the Lord says, you get up and do so and so. There are two difficult things in the Christian life, more than two, but two main ones, I think. Number one is to find the will of God and the second one is to do it. The world, the flesh, the devil, the in-laws and the out-laws. God doesn't expect that of you. Look at the people in the church. They're older than you are. Yeah, they're half dead. They're rusted. They've no revelation. They're happy to go in church and sit there. If they were blindfolded, they could find that seat. Automatically, they sit on the same seat every time. I've had young guys come to me weeping. Remember a few years ago, we had a meeting in a Methodist church. He said, I believe the Lord has called me to the mission field. I'm almost terrified to tell my daddy he's a wealthy man and he's he's had me trained in business so I can take over the family business. It would break his heart. I said, we'll take your choice, either break his heart or break God's heart. Right. Simple enough. So finally, God went and told his father. Sure, his father was blazing mad. Sure, his father disowned him. So what? Moses esteemed the reproach. After all, there's only been one kingdom, the kingdom of God from beginning to end and he's going to serve Jesus Christ come hell or high water. He's already got out of bondage to Pharaoh. He's already got through the Red Sea. He's going into the promised land. He's going to fight, what, 32 kings? 31 and lick them all except one. And that was when the chernobyshev got into sin. Otherwise he'd lick them all. That's what he called being more than conqueror. He esteemed the reproach. He thought it a valuable thing to be reproached for Christ's sake. Rather than enjoy temporary prosperity, there used to be a wonderful, wonderful Irish lady. She was a great book writer and a wonderful artist. Eva Stewart, what? You see any of the old books around, pick them up. She said to me one day, would you go see lady somebody? And I said, sure. She said she lived in Southern Ireland in a gorgeous castle. I got a friend to drive me down. I remember we swept off the main road on a winding path and we have some bushes there we call rhododendrons or as high as this place and they have a red flower as big as a cauliflower. And just as a car went round chugging, I'd never seen them before. There were about half a dozen white peacocks. I'd seen green ones but never white ones. And as you know, the male is always attractive. So the peacock stood at the side, the peahen's shabby looking. Just like the male lion is gorgeous and the old lady's scruffy. But anyhow, here were the peacocks strutting right across in front of us. Boy, did they look beautiful. I went to the castle. There was one of these old handles, you know, a thing you put your hand in like this, pull the bell. Suddenly it was as though the bell was ringing half a mile away. Finally, somebody came and opened the door. It was about so thick, big oak door. Good afternoon, sir. So I said, I'd like to see the lady. Do you have a card? No, I can't afford cards. Your name? Ravenhill. I didn't ask you where you lived. I didn't tell you where I lived. But Ravenhill is an area in Northern Ireland. I said, that's right. Do you own it? I suppose I do, but I can't inherit it for some reason. But there you are. Well, let me go ask. So she came back. She said, yes. The lady says you can go. So I went down this long corridor. It had big flagstones about this width, you know, cloppity, cloppity, cloppity. But just as I went in, there were life-size monuments of men. There's a classic, I've forgotten the title now, classic Greek who wrestled with a serpent. You see it in museums. And here is this man and the serpent's between his legs and round his neck. There he's wrestling with it. All down towards the dining room. I ate in the dining room afterwards. I guess the ceiling was about 60 feet high. It had flags hanging on the side that had been shot through. And so they put webbing behind to put them all. It was a fantastic place. Got down in the back room. This is the library, sir. I said, fine. Here's a little lady. Well, not so little and not so young. Sitting there with a red shawl around the shoulders and a black skirt. Oh, Mr. Raven. I said, I'm Leonard Raynor. Oh, Eva Stewart Walters talked about you. Isn't she a wonderful lady? One of the most wonderful ladies I know. A wealthy lady. Her daddy had tea plantations in Kenya. They packed everything up. She came home and she's living in a slubrous district outside of Belfast. And she was telling God one morning how much she loved him. He said, well, if you do, why don't you sell this place and get a place up a back alleyway? You can bring tramps in. Very nice. I happen to be one of the tramps. I went later. She poured out tea. Because there were six of us. And she had six cups, but only two had handles. And I was reaching for her. The plates were cracked. We had half a slice of bread, a half a slice of a leaf of lettuce. It was one o'clock in the morning. We'd been in a dugout she had on the River Liffey and there were drunks there. And these high class prostitutes, what have you got? We praise the Lord. We sang, I preached. We got home and she said, are you refreshed? Yes. Good. I said, I'm fresh enough to go to bed. No, it's time to go to the nightclub. I beg your pardon? It's after two o'clock. It doesn't close till three. We went across town to a nightclub. The opposite kind of people loaded with gorgeous furs and diamonds and aristocrats were there. She was as much at home with them as she was with the bungalow we'd been talking to. That woman did a super job. And she got friendly with this lady and talked with her, living in this gorgeous castle. Oh, I love Abdiva. She is so beautiful. I said, you're dead right, she is. When did you see her last? Oh, a few months ago. What was she wearing? A plaid skirt that she was wearing five years ago, first time I met her. I think she knits her own stockings as a matter of fact. She had thick wool stockings on about this thick. I'm not saying you have to go this way, I'm showing you what she did. She fell madly in love with Jesus. And this society lady said, you know, I want to be like that. I said, no, you want to be like Jesus. Afterwards, I learned that a younger lady had married a very wealthy colonel in the English army or something and he inherited the castle and what have you got. He went one day and he made a big check out in his checkbook and it bounced. And I'm sorry, sir, you have no funds in the bank. What do you mean I have nothing? Well, look, your wife here has given away three thousand pounds and there were five dollars to a pound, five dollars to a pound. She'd given fifteen thousand dollars. Oh, here she's given twenty thousand pounds, that's sixty thousand dollars. All right. So he went home and he said, you can't live like this in this castle, you'll waste too much money. She got a trailer house and went out of that fantastic castle and lived in a trailer on the ground. Again, I'm not saying you do that. I'm saying that she had seen a vision of eternity, all those society things. I couldn't get over it when I came to America first. Oh, the pastor's gone hunting. Well, in England, if you go hunting, you wear a red jacket and a little black peak cap and white breeches and expensive shoes, boots. I thought, boy, the preacher must be wealthy to do that. No, he'd gone walking around the road chasing rabbits or something. But in England, she went with the hounds. It costs a lot of money to ride with the hounds. It costs a lot of money to be in a club where they have a set of hounds. She gave the whole thing up, never a word of complaint. She became more sweet and beautiful after that than she was before and she was distinguished. Typical Irish lady with her beautiful blue eyes, red cheeks, trained in society. She counted it, as Paul says, that dung that I may win Christ. He becomes awfully offensive, doesn't he? He says, we're the off-scouring of the earth. I think if you look up Phillips and some of the others, what does it say? We've become the scum of the earth, the scum of the earth. Do you think a preacher that denies the reality of the Bible thinks he's scum? If I meet him on the street again, I'd say, hey, scum, how are you doing? What do you say? Hi, son. No, I said, how's scum? What do you mean? I have a degree. I don't care what you have. You have 32 and still be frozen. It all depends on the vision, you see. He endured as seeing him, seeing past him on the Mount of Transfiguration, seeing past him in a vast crowd, seeing there on the judgment seat. When he had respect, that's what it says, he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. You think I'm losing? Man alive, you're fooling. I'm not losing a thing. I'm trying to recall a verse of a hymn. Can't recall it. But the essence of it is, what I keep, I lose. What I give away, I keep. Somebody said to the dear Marashall, you never had the pleasure of meeting that gorgeous lady. I did. I talked with her, ate with her, preached with her. Wonderful lady. One day somebody met me and said, Marashall, you live on charity. You've got beautiful shoes. A friend gave them to me. You've got a nice dress. A friend gave it to me. You've got a nice umbrella with a silver top. A friend gave it to me. Goes down the list of things. You live on handouts. She said, well in case you don't know, so did my Lord. He borrowed a body to come into the world. He borrowed a boat to cross the lake. No. He borrowed the upper room to celebrate the feast. He borrowed a boy's lunch. He borrowed a donkey on which to ride. He borrowed a womb to come in the world. He borrowed a tomb to go out of the world. His life was only borrow, borrow, borrow, borrow. And she said, if he wasn't ashamed of it, neither am I. People give you, nobody's ever given me a thing yet. What do you mean never given you a thing? Every time you give something to a child of God, if they give it to Leonard Rayner, he doesn't say they give it to Leonard Rayner. In as much as you've done it to the least, you've done it unto me. You've given it to Jesus Christ. What a day it's going to be when we get up there. We have a little lady friend down through here, up in Minnesota. She was there in 1950, the first time I went there. You could pick her up and put her in your pocket. Exaggeration, but that kind of thing she is. Little, slim thing, oh, must be 70-odd years of age. She's been in the same hospital about 50 years. And every new nurse that comes in, they say, who's that little lady? She's the angel. The angel? Yeah. She has a touch. She'd go to people distressed and pray with them and immediately they seem to be consoled. She only gets mercy a few dollars a month. She gives almost its entirety over to missions. I think that little soul in eternity will have one of the biggest rewards of anybody. These guys will be wishing they hadn't, you know, I've got a private Learjet. Wait till you get up there, brother, you'll be in trouble. Every tithe and offering that I get, I pray over it, I won't use it unless I know what God wants. People say, you should use other people's money as though it were your own. I say, no, never. You don't use other people's money as though it's your own, no. I use other people's money as though it's God's. I might be free using my money as somebody's gift. If somebody says, this is for so-and-so, so-and-so, I think the Lord's told him to buy me this or that. Great. But this man strips himself of everything. Instead of being on the throne, he's on the backside of a stinking desert. Instead of having his meals served on a silver train, somebody bowing to him and knocking the flies off, the flies are half devouring him. And he goes through it, not one year, not two, not three, not 10, not 20, three decades, four decades, 40 years, and never flinches. The devil can't get into trouble. He's as thrilled as though he's in heaven, because every day he sees into eternity. And he says, I'm laying things up for eternity. One hymn writer says this, the eternal glory is gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor. So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever. It's not going to be long. There'll be no privilege of sacrifice in heaven. No time to pray in heaven. There's worship in heaven. I can't find a place where there's any prayer in heaven. So, what we're doing, we've got to do today. Get a vision of eternity, and the things of earth look strangely dim, we say, don't we? But reverse it. When we get to heaven and look back, the things of earth will look strangely grim. We'll discover we've been hoarding sawdust. We've been calling junk treasures. We've been neglecting precious eternal things. When I first went to Bethany in 1950, I used to quote a verse. He was not willing that any should perish. Am I his follower and can I live? Longer at ease with this soul going downward, lost for the lack of the help I might give. Perishing, perishing, thou was not willing. Master, forgive and inspire us anew. Banish our worldliness, help us to ever live with eternity's values in view. There was a beam right across the center of the chapel, and I used to stand there, and they put a sheet of paper, they wrote that on in big red and white, red and blue letters on a white background. Live with eternity's values in view. It was there for years and years. It may be there now, I don't know. That's the only way to live. Not like all the stupid folk around us that are hoarding up sawdust and useless things. Not being afraid of the king's commandments. Let them talk about a nuclear war if they like. There's somebody bigger than that. He is our peace. Not he gave us peace, he is our peace. He is a shield between us and that situation. That's all we care about. Father, we thank you for the privilege and the honor of being children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. We thank you for this word, oh Lord. Not what I've said about it, but what your word says about itself. Help us to be like Moses. See him who is invisible. Know a Christ that's real and to the world and even after people in the church, he's only a theory. He's only a figure that lived a century ago. We want to be doers of the word and not hearers only. We want to be living epistles as your word says, read and known of all men. We thank you. We know you, we have to dismiss from each other but not from your presence and this is our comfort and joy. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Bless you.