We'll be returning to Hebrews chapter 11. So in our study of the book of Hebrews, this is now message number 36, entitled Always Obey. Hebrews chapter 11, we'll be looking at verses 17 to 29. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that an Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also he received him in a figure. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. By faith, Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph and worshipped leaning upon the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land, which the Egyptians assigned to do, were drowned." So in verses 8 to 16 that we looked at last time, the writer emphasized the significant example of Abraham. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived their lives on the basis of promises that God made them that they wouldn't actually see fulfilled in their lifetimes. And they lived like resident foreigners, transients among people who were not their own people and in a land that was not their own except by promise in the future. So the writer emphasized the patience exercised by those in this particular example. There were many hardships, but he doesn't really in that section focus on the hardships that they faced and suffered. Rather, he wrote of the need to endure, the need to wait patiently, to live one's whole life in expectation of what could only be seen at a great distance, even at the time of death. So had they grown weary of believing, well, they could have simply returned to their own country, he says, and their own people, and life would have certainly been somewhat easier for them, at least in some ways. But of course, turning back is exactly what the writer is writing against. And so these examples certainly are worthy of imitation for keeping on and looking forward. And so as we come to verses 17 to 29, he brings the examples from Abraham to Moses. And the writer begins to pick up pace here at this point in the chapter and toward the end of it. And obviously there are many examples that could have been chosen that are not mentioned, and some are just mentioned almost in passing. But he chose these examples because they are significant, and these examples like Abraham to Moses, and particularly relevant to what he's writing in this letter. Now, the previous section dwelt on the future expectation and the need of patience, and here he refers more to trials and hardships, and you might even say dilemmas that might tempt us to turn back. Well, the example from Abraham to Joseph are all related to death in some way. And the example of Moses actually echoes the dilemma of Abraham in choosing the hard thing. So we want to look at this in two parts. Verses 17 to 22, which focuses on Abraham and his sons, his descendants. And verses 23 to 29, which focuses on Moses and Israel. So we'll start with verse number 17. So the writer is now shifting at this point to another aspect of Abraham's faith beyond just the patient waiting and the promises of land inheritance. Abraham faced a severe test of faith and he considers this He considers this a test. By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, when he was tested. So God's command to Abraham was a test of his faith. And this, of course, refers to Genesis chapter 22. In the first three verses there, it says, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt or test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, that only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claved the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place which God had told him. Now Abraham and Sarah, had been without children until Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born to them. But he had been promised many, many, many, many descendants. Descendants more than the sand by the sea and the stars in the sky. More than could be counted, he had been promised these descendants. And finally, after these 25 long years of waiting between that promise and fulfillment, Now he's being commanded to slay this son, this son that he had been promised, Isaac, as a sacrifice. And the death of Isaac would essentially seem to mean the end of God's promises. Well, that's that. I guess these things are not going to come to pass. But notice that the writer He emphasizes particularly that he obeyed. Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. Offered him up. He was tried. And when you read the account in Genesis, you're essentially given the statement, and then Abraham rose up early the next morning. In other words, the idea of promptness. Abraham immediately obeyed what God had told him to do. Verse 18 says, "...of whom it was said, that an Isaac shall thy seed be called." Now he's sort of building up this dilemma again because on the one hand here's this son Isaac that had been promised and he had prayed and waited for and finally he has come and he's probably maybe I don't know, 10, 12 years old or something at the time that this command was given. And God is saying now to kill this son that he's waited so long for and seemingly all of his hopes of these promises rests upon. And so he's building up this dilemma and he refers further to Isaac, that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now in Genesis chapter 21, In verse number 12, and God said unto Abraham, In other words, God made very plain to Abraham that it was a son that was going to be born to he and Sarah And not only that, it was that son that was named Isaac in which his seed would be called. In other words, the promises of this covenant were going to be perpetuated on. So Isaac was included in the covenant with Abraham, and then Jacob was included in the covenant with Abraham, and then obviously that nation that came from Jacob, from Jacob's family. So, in other words, he'd already had a son, Ishmael, and that's what the words there are referring to, who was 13 years older than Isaac. He'd already had another son, but God has made it very plain that this is not how this covenant is going to be fulfilled. It's going to be fulfilled only through the son that you and Sarah have, and his name is Isaac. So Abraham wanted the blessings of the covenant to extend to Ishmael and Ishmael was indeed a descendant of Abraham and as such he would be blessed because of it. But the covenant promised that particularly that seed nation that was promised to Abraham would be through Isaac and it would not come through Ishmael just as later it would be revealed to go through Jacob and not Esau. So this is put in light of this command. He's showing us this real dilemma that Abraham was in, this real test of his faith. On the one hand, he's received this tangible fulfillment. Here's the son. He's really here. And on the other hand, God is saying, this is the only son through which this covenant is going to be fulfilled, and now I want you to kill him. So that's the dilemma for Abraham's faith. Is he going to trust God? Is he going to believe and trust God so that he's going to obey this command even though it seems that it could threaten his future hopes? Verse 19, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him in a figure. So here in verse 19, The writer is pointing out that Abraham really did believe. That Abraham really did believe God. He really did trust God. And he's giving an explanation here that he trusted God so much, in fact, that he expected he was going to have to kill Isaac because God had commanded him to do so. In other words, Abraham, he wasn't going through the motions thinking, well, you know, God at the last moment is going to step in and I'm not really going to have to do it. I just have to act like I'm going to do it, just give this pretense that I'm going to do this and that'll be enough. That was not Abraham's thoughts. Abraham really believed when he got up early that morning, when he cut the wood and made all the arrangements and doing everything, he's taking off for that, he really believed he was going to have to kill his son. He really believed that. But he trusted God so much and these promises that God had made him so much that the writer of Hebrews points out, He believed that God would then raise him from the dead. He believed he was going to have to kill his son, but that God was going to raise him from the dead because obviously Isaac was very important to the fulfillment of the covenant. And so the writer then goes on to say that this is what happened in a figure, in a parable, in sort of a live action parable. Isaac was bound. He's on the altar. The knife is in hand and in the air when the angel stops Abraham, and then we know, according to the account, the ram was taken. It says in Genesis 22, 13, So Isaac was dead to him in a sense that Abraham was going through with it. He really believed this is what he was going to have to do. So in that live action parable, as it were, So, Isaac really was dead to him on that altar, but he received him back to life when this ram was taken and was put in Isaac's place. So, this command of God to Abraham surely didn't seem to make a lot of sense to Abraham as he's thinking over it. But we're told that by faith Abraham obeyed. Now, it was a test of faith. And we are promised and assured and we're shown by examples that our faith will be tested. We're told plainly God doesn't tempt us with sin, but he does indeed test our faith. And in that regard, there are certainly some commands, some requirements that God makes that may not seem to make sense to us. In other words, we can't seem to put a reason for it. Like, for instance, if you're looking at at the Old Covenant, like Deuteronomy 22, 8. And there's a command in the Old Covenant law that they had to build this parapet around the roof of their house. And we've talked about this before. And so they have a flat roof and they would use it as other living space and what have you. And so they were commanded that they were to put this parapet, so this barrier around the edge of this roof so that it would keep someone from accidentally falling off the roof and being injured or even killed. So we can look at a command like that and we can step back and we can say, you know, That makes a lot of sense. It makes a lot of sense that they would be responsible to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of their family and those that would visit them. We can understand that that makes sense. Well, then you turn over to some other places and you see where God commands them not to make garments of mixed fabric. Now that might seem to be a little bit more difficult to come up with some reasonable reason for such a law like that to exist. There's a lot more like that that we could go through comparing, and as we look even in the New Testament, there certainly are commands there that we may not be able to come up with a good reason for, in a sense, like providing safety, like a parapet on a flat roof of a dwelling. But nevertheless, if God commands us to do it, then we are to do it, or to refrain from it, whatever that the command is. We are to always obey. And sometimes it may simply be that we can't come up with some reason for why this command is there to do this or to not do that, But regardless it is there and it might just be that God is testing our faith with just such a command and we know that that was the case in the account of Abraham. And of course Abraham passed the test and he passed the test by faith. Verse number 20, by faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. Now the writer here moves to Isaac and again he's picking up speed. He'll slow just a bit with Moses and then he'll pick up speed toward the end of this. But he's moving to Isaac and he moves right to the end of Isaac's life and his faith in the future promises. And he refers to the fact that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, and when he did so, he didn't give them simple well wishes that they go and have a good life, but he actually blessed them concerning things in the future. So Genesis chapter 27, verses 27 to 29, and he came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed. Therefore God give thee the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. In other words, that covenant with Abraham That covenant that Isaac was included in is now being passed to Jacob. And we know that, we confirm that as you read on later in Genesis, and the Lord himself speaks and makes that covenant with Jacob that he made with Abraham and then with Isaac after him. And so Isaac is blessing, and I know that we've got the issue of the deception and all the things that were going on, and again, I'm just going to point out that we know the accounts of these people that are mentioned in this chapter in particular, and we know that they had faults, and they certainly didn't always do what you might say the right thing. But Isaac here is the emphasis that the writer's talking about, that Isaac and what he was doing was giving the blessing. He was perpetuating that covenant. He was speaking of things to come, things in the future related to those covenant promises. And then later to Esau, Genesis 27, verses 39 to 40, So by faith, and the point of this again is Isaac looking forward, having that future expectation. Verse 21, So now he goes to Jacob, and Jacob essentially on his deathbed. And he's referring to this blessing that he gave, Genesis chapter 48, verses 17 to 20. And when Joseph saw that his father's laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head under Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it, my son, I know it. He shall also become a people, and he shall also be great. But truly his younger shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed him that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he said Ephraim before Manasseh. And so in these blessings from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they're not just wishes or hopes. Again, these really are prophecies that are being made concerning the future, and they're based on the promises of God and him fulfilling them and perpetuating this seed of Abraham. And he quotes here from Genesis 47, 31, when Jacob made Joseph take an oath, to bury him in Canaan because Egypt was not the land of promise, even though his life had been saved there. The family, the nation essentially had been saved in Egypt, but that was not the land of promise. And he made Joseph swear an oath that he would not bury him in Egypt. And then verse 22. By faith, Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones." So likewise, we go forward now to Joseph's deathbed, essentially. Genesis chapter 50, verses 24 to 25. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." So the promise that was made to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15, verses 13 to 16. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them. And again, he's referring to that seed nation. and they shall afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." So the faith of Joseph when he died He said, promise me that you're going to carry up my bones to the land of promise. Why? Because he said, God's going to visit you. God's going to bring you out. This nation is not going to just continue to exist in Egypt, nor is it just going to sort of be obliterated by being scattered and intermingled. the killing of the males and all these sort of things so that the nation would essentially be destroyed. That's not going to happen. Joseph knew that because of God's promises and so by faith when he was dying he made them swear this promise and of course they did keep that when they in fact did leave from Egypt. Now that brings us to this next part in verses 23 to 29. where he now focuses more on Moses and Israel. Verse 23, So the writer moves to Moses, and this is a bit of a different aspect of faith at this point. He begins, really, with the faith of Moses' parents, Avraham and Jehovah. In Exodus 1-22, end of chapter 2, verse 2, Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took a wife, a daughter of Levi, and a woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. So again, he's talking here really about Moses' parents. Moses was preserved, essentially, and he was preserved by faith, by the faith of his parents. It's interesting that he mentions in referring to this here that they saw he was a proper child. Back in Exodus 2 and verse 2 that we just saw, I think the word there is translated, goodly child. In Acts 7 and verse 20, when Stephen is talking about this before the Sanhedrin, he also mentions something about his extreme fairness, some sort of exceptional beauty, as it were, of Moses as a baby. So it's interesting that where this is mentioned in each of these locations, this particular detail is emphasized. Now we're not told what exactly this meant, what exactly that it was that made him so much better than other babies. The same word is in fact used later in one of the descriptions of Esther in Esther 2 and verse 7 of that book. And we know that actually sort of her physical qualities actually got her into position to to be able to deliver the people of Israel later. So what we can discern, I believe, is that Moses' parents here just discerned something providential about this child. We're not told that they were given any particular prophecy or promise or any particular word about him, but it seems like that they discerned something providential about this child that we have to hide, we have to protect. And he's emphasizing that their actions were because they didn't fear. In other words, they didn't give respect to the king's commandments that these males of Israel were to be killed. And obviously, the pharaoh was trying to destroy Israel. He's trying to take them out. As you know, reading early in Exodus, that the later pharaohs, they began to be worried because Israel had grown so much. It seemed to be multiplying so much. And they said, one of our enemy nations comes against us then they may well join with them and and destroy us and so they were very concerned about that and this was one of the efforts that they had to try to eliminate. Oh, save the women and we'll let them intermarry with other Egyptians or I guess it was the Ethiopian dynasties and whatever at that time. But we'll let them sort of mix together and we can get rid of this Hebrew people. And of course, Moses' parents, by faith, they did not obey that. They hid Moses. Verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. So Moses was hidden, and then later by the account, he was found by Pharaoh's daughter. Exodus 2, verse 10 says, And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and she said, Because I drew him out of the water. So at this point, once Moses was weaned, His life had been saved, and not only had his life been saved, but he was given opportunity for a better life, so to speak. We know that the Israelites were enslaved, and they were in bitter bondage in Egypt, and they were suffering afflictions and crying out. And we know that early in the book, it says that God heard their cries. He remembered His promises to their fathers, and He took many actions that we recently studied in the book of Exodus. But Moses was taken from that. Moses was taken from that affliction and from that suffering and that difficult life, and he was put into Pharaoh's family. Essentially, he couldn't go any higher in the nation than that. So he's given a real opportunity here. He's educated and has all of these things. But notice what it says, that by faith, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What does that mean? He refused to identify with Pharaoh's house and instead he chose his identity, his true biological and God-given identity as a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Levi for that matter, one of Israel. So he's not going to just enjoy life in the palace, so to speak, while all of his kin's people were suffering in afflictions and slavery. Verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. So here again, much like Abraham, Moses faced a dilemma. Now, again, the situation's very different. the dilemma that Abraham faced and the dilemma that Moses faced, but they both faced a dilemma here in their faith. And by faith, Moses chose the harder path. Now the writer is emphasizing here this pleasure of sin for a season. He's emphasizing this temporary nature of the pleasures that Moses had access to. They were fleeting. They were just momentary. Things like power and wealth and physical pleasures, just everything that the richest life in this world power at the time could offer. Easier life, much richer life. But in his dilemma, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Now, the people of God here, this is in the singular, and it is Laos, it is nation. It is with the possessive of God. When used as a singular collective, it refers to a group, to an ethnic tribe or nation. Here, Israel. We've talked about this in the Old Testament and the New Testament, how consistent that this is. So he chose suffering affliction, and he goes on in verse 26, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. So the writer points out two particular aspects of Moses' faith. On the first part, he believed and understood those pleasures of sin that he had access to, to be temporary. He understood those to be fleeting. He understood those not to be lasting. And then secondly, he understood the reproaches of Christ as being greater riches than what probably the richest nation on the earth at that time could afford to give him. Now we also understand by the promises to Abraham referred to earlier in Genesis 15 that this nation was going to be enslaved and they were going to suffer affliction at the hands. And that nation that enslaved them, God's going to bring them out and that nation that enslaved them, God's going to judge. God's going to judge. So in other words, Moses knew and believed that the situation in Egypt was not going to just continue. It was going to be radically altered when God's judgment visited that nation. We read about that in Exodus and all those plagues and things that came on them and how that would have essentially would have just crippled that nation in terms of their economy and military and all those sort of things. So Moses understood that this is just a temporary situation. I suppose he could sort of milk it for everything that it was worth, but he understood that it was a temporary situation. And he also understood that there was a far greater reward than anything that Egypt could offer him. Why? Because he was looking forward, the writer tells us, he was looking forward to that reward, those promises of God. And that word for recompense there, it has the idea of requital or In other words, it's something that's owed or due. Now, it's not that Moses had put God under any sort of obligation, but rather it's because God had promised. So because God had promised, it's due, it's owed, because God has said He's going to do it. And that doesn't mean that Moses did anything to deserve it, but that God had said He was going to do it. That's why it was owed. So he continues on in verse 27, "...by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." So like his parents before him in verse 23 where they talked about how they didn't fear the king, He didn't fear Pharaoh and he forsook Egypt. Now we know that the conditions of his forsaking Egypt, his forsaking of Egypt was inevitable, but the conditions of his forsaking Egypt after slaying that Egyptian slave master, he had already identified with the people of God, with the nation of God, with Israel. And after he slew that Egyptian taskmaster, in Exodus 2, verse 14 to 15, he flees from Egypt. But the writer says, he endured. That word means he was steadfast. He did not turn back. He was steadfast as seeing God who is invisible. In other words, the things not seen as he talked about. In fact, this is the faith of Moses. And then verse 28, through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Of course, here he's referring to the original Passover event in Exodus chapter number 12. and the death of the firstborn and the necessity of obeying God's commands to be delivered. In other words, if you remember in all those other plagues as we studied them, God made a difference between the people of Israel, between that nation and Egypt. And whatever plague was afflicting the Egyptians, it did not afflict Israel. All the way that is until the last one. And God says, when the angel of destruction goes through Egypt, the firstborn of every home is going to die. Firstborn of sons, the firstborn of animals are going to die. The only exception would be those who observed the Passover as he instructed, the killing of the lamb, the roasting of it, the eating of it, the smearing of the blood on the doorpost, and only those And so he says, by faith, Moses kept the Passover. In other words, it seems like that maybe there could have at least been the idea that, well, you know, I mean, God's not going to do that here. We don't have to go through all this process. I mean, you know, he's going to kill the firstborn of Egypt, surely. I mean, that's who he's judging, right? But Moses, by faith, kept the Passover, instructed the children of Israel in keeping this, and in fact, delivered them from the angel of destruction. Verse 29, by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, a saying to do, were drowned. In Exodus chapters 14 and 15, the account of the Red Sea deliverance, Israel had left Egypt and Pharaoh pursued with the army. And they essentially got to that point where they were walled in. They had no escape. They couldn't go to the left. They couldn't go to the right. And behind them was the Egyptians getting closer all the time. In front of them was the sea that they could not cross. And of course, we know that God parted the waters. He brought them across and then he destroyed the army of Egypt. So as we look at some of these different aspects of faith and again we see that people are in all different types of situations and what they are called on to do is different but in a sense the same because it has to be done by faith. So one thing that we can say, especially when we think about Moses and the dilemma of Moses, he seems like he's got wealth, he's got power, he's got all these things on one hand, and then he's got affliction with his own people on the other. Faith then gives us the right focus in this present life. In other words, we are more able to properly evaluate what is before us. Moses could look at this and he knew that God was going to judge this nation. This is not going to continue forever. This wealth, this power, all the perks of being in the Pharaoh's house, he knew that wasn't going to continue forever. That was very fleeting, which is something that obviously can be said of sin, but even things that maybe are not necessarily in and of themselves sin, but things that just belong to this mortal life and this this temporary life on this earth. So faith helps to give us that sort of focus in this present life. What should we be ultimately concerned about? If we're making decisions and maybe we're evaluating some different options, we have things to think about more than just the immediate effect that this might have. So in other words, faith informs our choices. There's just nothing any more relevant to our present life. Faith informs our choices that we make every single day in this life on earth. And also, there are consequences for those choices. So Abraham and Moses are in these dilemmas, and they essentially both have to choose what seems to be the very hard thing, the very hardest path, and they have to go that way, and there's consequences for going that way. In Moses' case, he had to choose the suffering of the reproaches of Christ. And he chose that rather than those temporary pleasures. We can also see that some commands or requirements that God makes in his word may not seem to make sense. I'm not saying that faith is irrational or illogical. I'm just saying it may not make sense if you've ever I mean, sometimes maybe parents have done this, or maybe if you're at a job and you're getting trained in a certain way. And people that are experienced, sometimes they have a way of saying, oh, make sure you don't do this at this step. And at the time, you don't really understand why, because you haven't done it, you don't have the experience with it. And then later as you get on, and you didn't listen, and you did the thing they told you not to do at that step, then you get here and you realize, oh, that was why they told me not to do that. Now I've got to go back and do everything over because I messed it up. Well, we don't have that sort of explanation. Sometimes the commands were given some very tangible reason for following those, but sometimes not. And a lot of times we twist ourselves all up trying to come up with some kind of a reason. But understand that commands and requirements may not necessarily make sense to us, especially in that immediate point, but nevertheless, faith obeys. And the writer has pointed this out over and over and over again. Faith does what God says to do. And I would say the last lesson that we sort of draw from this would be Don't seek to save yourself. What an illustration that we have that Jesus said in Matthew 16, 25, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. If you're concerned with the pursuit of comfort and pleasure and safety and security in life, and you are pursuing those things and neglecting faith, neglecting Christ, neglecting his kingdom, then you'll lose your life. You'll lose your life. If Abraham had sought to save, he would have said, no way. No way am I going up on that mountain and killing Isaac. No, I'm not doing that. Maybe I'll take Ishmael. I don't know what his relationship was with him at that point, but I'm not doing that. If Abraham was trying to save himself, he would have said, no, I'm not doing that. If Moses was trying to save himself, he would have thought, well, I can stay in Pharaoh's house and enjoy these pleasures, and maybe I can use these to bring a little relief to Israel. Israel didn't need a little relief, they needed redemption. And that, of course, is what they ended up experiencing. So we also learn that lesson that by faith, we're not seeking to save ourselves. We're not trying to save ourselves from discomfort, from inconvenience, and all of these sort of things. We're not trying to glorify ourselves, but we're seeking to please Him who has called us and Him who is faithful, acknowledging that expectation that we have for the future.