and women. We know something about denying ourselves for the good of others. The parent is called to deny themselves for the good upbringing of their child. The husband is to deny himself for the good of his wife and for his family. The firefighter will deny his life by putting his life at risk, by entering a burning building to save the lives of others. There are many examples in human history of men sacrificing themselves, denying themselves comforts and happiness for a greater purpose. On a more humorous note, I remember coming back from a church meeting many, many years ago when I was still a teenager, and I went and said goodnight to my parents. I went into my bedroom that was at the very end of the house, and in those days, we had a pet goat, or my brother, who's 11 years younger than myself, had a pet goat. This goat was kept in the garden, and it had some sort of a leash that allowed it to have a bit of space in the garden, but kept the goat from running away. And my brother loved this goat more than he loved me. That's the reality. And as I got into bed and as I lay there, I began to hear these strange noises. And I began to hear the sound of a goat. I'm not going to try to replicate it. But I heard the sound of this goat. And it didn't sound good. And I opened my window. And I thought, something is definitely wrong. It was about 12.30 at night. I was working the next day. And I ran out in bare feet, shorts, and t-shirt to see what was happening. I shouted to my parents, or tried not to shout too loud, to tell them to come and help. something was up. And as I ran out into the garden, there I saw the goat who had got tangled in some of the hedges. The leash had wrapped around the hedges and had wrapped around the goat, and he was breathing his last. And so I got down on my knees and tried to untangle this wire that was choking the goat. And my parents looked out the window to see what was happening. In those days, I didn't have a mobile phone that had the torch on. I had nothing, no light whatsoever. I was doing it by touch. I shouted at them, the only time I could shout at my parents, to go and to bring a light so I could actually see what was happening. And in the midst of it all, I do not deal with animals very well. Not that I have anything against animals. I'm just not an animal person. I was never brought up that way. But my brother liked the goat, and so I decided I will try and do what I can. And eventually, we got the goat untangled. The goat was choking to death. And as he was choking, he vomited all over me. And that was, well, Part of it, the next day I had a very thankful little brother coming in to me after work and thanking me for saving his goat's life. And part of that was a self-denial, a self-denial of the comfort of home, of bed, of sleep. And, of course, I had the goat and I needed to get cleaned up afterwards. It was not something that I enjoyed doing at all, but it was something that needed to be done. And we all know there's things in life, things that as we've said can be very serious, things that looking back might be a little humorous, not for the goat or for my brother, but looking back at that account. And often we deny ourselves. We put ourselves out for the good of others. And in the chapter that we have here this evening, We have a record of the great saints of old who show forth the power of the Lord in living blessed and faithful lives. In the passage that we have drawn attention to from verse 23, there's a striking thought found here, namely the self-denial of Moses. He denied the ambitions and the experience of fame and wealth and power to be numbered among the people of God and then to be a servant of the Lord and the leader of the Israelites. Moses, his account is seen in the book of Exodus and in those books that follow also. His death is recorded in Deuteronomy. He was a man who to give a summary of his life, was born to Jewish parents, parents who were Israelites in slavery in Egypt. The young babies, the young boys were to be killed. His life was preserved and he was found in the basket of bulrushes by the river by Pharaoh's daughter and brought into the palace. And he lived as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Later on, he became the leader of Israel. And through the power of God, he led Israel out of slavery, out of bondage in Egypt, to the Red Sea, across the Red Sea by the power of God, and to the verge of the land of Canaan. A mighty man, a man who feared God, a man who loved the Lord. But yet we find This brief account of him in Hebrews chapter 11, and it focuses upon his self-denial. He denied self for a greater cause. And what is self-denial? Here is one definition from the scriptural perspective. It is a summons to live by faith in the gospel of Christ. It is the lifestyle of those who were saved by God. One of the Puritan preachers, a man by the name of Isaac Ambrose, said this. He said that self-denial is a total, thorough, utter rejection of a man's own ends, his counsels, his affections. and a whole prostration of himself and all that is his under Jesus Christ. And thus we have the meaning of what the Savior said in the passage that we read earlier, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself. And Ambrose said that is, let him lay aside his own wisdom. as an empty lamp, his own will as an evil commander, his own imaginations as a false rule, his own affections as corrupt counselors, and his own ends as base and unworthy marks to be aimed at. Let him deny himself whatsoever is off himself, within himself, or belonging to himself as a corrupt and carnal man. Let him let go of himself that he may come unto me. Let him empty himself that he may be capable of that and that I may reign, speaking of Christ, reign and rule within him. And dear believer, this evening, this is the opposite to our earthly and sinful nature, living for Christ, denying ourselves for Christ and for His gospel. Our natural selves do, as Paul said in Philippians 2 verse 21, all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. And that's our sinful nature at work. We do not desire Christ. We do not desire His Word. We do not desire His ways. We do not desire His salvation. But yet, yet. He is one who gave Himself to redeem the sinner. We desire the things that are not His. We desire the sin. We desire the pleasure. We desire the good times. We desire the alcohol. We desire everything that is not of Christ. All these things that could be classed as sinful and wicked and in rebellion to God. We seek these things in our own flesh. Every man seeks his own. Every man seeks his own. We saw something of that last Lord's Day when we considered Christ the bread of life. And how the multitude, this group of individuals, came after the Savior. Oh, how that seemed like a great self-denial. They left their homes, they left the workplace, they left their families, and they went to find the Savior. They searched for Him. They put their priority upon finding Christ and hearing Christ. But the Savior responded that it was not His doctrine or Himself or the miracles that drew them. It was the loaves of bread, they desired the physical bread, not He who is the spiritual and eternal bread of life. There are great pretenders of holiness in this world. There are those that pretend to be godly, pretend to follow the Lord, yet when faced with this great matter of denying themselves for Christ, they're found out. The Savior said, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. The Puritan preacher William Greenhill said, he who most denies himself lives most free from sin. Denying ourselves, denying the sinful flesh, putting Christ first is the way of godliness and the path of righteousness. And this evening I want us to consider denying ourselves for Christ. Denying ourselves for Christ. And first of all, I want you to see that our self-denial is founded upon Christ alone. Our self-denial is founded upon Christ alone. Thinking of this spiritual self-denial, the self-denial in our lives, the self-denial that, as we see in this passage, comes from faith. Because in verse 23 and verse 24, we see those words, by faith, Moses. This wasn't Moses in his own strength. This wasn't Moses trying to do something in his own way, his own strength, by his own ideas. This was by faith. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in the Lord. It was by faith. in Christ alone. What is the point of denying self if we know not Christ? How can we deny self if we know not Christ? How can we receive the power and strength to deny self if we know not Christ? Christ is the foundation of what we see Moses doing here. It was years before Christ was born. Years before the Savior, it came and it was born in Bethlehem, yet Moses looked forward to the promise of the one who would come to redeem the lost. He looked forward to the coming of Christ. He believed the Lord. He believed in the Savior. And his self-denial is founded upon Christ, or to use those words, by faith, by faith. The self-denial of Moses is a testimony of the preciousness of his faith. Faith fills the heart with the fullness of God. It empties the heart of self. Faith lifts us up to God, but faith also keeps our hearts low and keeps our hearts humble. Dear believer, if you desire to put Christ first, you must first That's very obvious. You can't put Christ first if you do not know Christ. And tonight, if you do not know Christ, you cannot deny yourself for Christ, because you know nothing about Christ. Christ means nothing to you, because you've never turned from your sin, and you've never believed in Him. By faith, Moses, And here we have what is referred to as a saving faith. Moses knew a saving faith. He knew a faith in his life, living for God, but he knew a saving faith. And what is a saving faith? A saving faith is something we need to experience. It is something that is vital to us because of our sin, because of our sin. The book of Romans, and we've mentioned the book of Romans before, but it will do us good to go back over old ground and to see what we have in the book of Romans regarding ourselves and our sin. And in Romans chapter 6, the verse 23, Paul speaks very simply and very plainly about the wages of sin. For the wages of sin is death. For the wages of sin is death. If you were paid such wages, I think you might be tempted to change your job. For the wages of Canada Post is death. It's money and exhaustion and back pain and leg pain and all sorts of things, but so far it's not been death. The wages of sin, that reward from sin, that which we deserve because wages is what we deserve. Wages being in some way what the government says the average person deserves per hour for the average job or what your employer things that you deserve based on your qualifications and the needs of your job for that which you are employed to do. Wages is that reward. Wages is the result of that. It's what you deserve for the labor that you are doing based on your education, based on your experience, based on the requirements of the job. And Paul says here, the wages of sin, what we deserve because of our sin, because he says in another place in Romans, all have sinned, that includes all of us. We've broken the law of God. The wages of sin is death, a physical death, a temporal death. That is why there are graveyards and cemeteries in this world because the wages of sin is death. Not only is it a physical death, it is a spiritual death. A spiritual death. Sin, as we said this morning, separates between God and us. There's no peace between us and our Creator. There's no peace between us and God because of our sin. It separates. It separates. And it will kill us. It will be death to us eternally. For the Word of God teaches us about hell and teaches us that it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, it's not the end. After this, the judgment, the judgment of God for our sin, the wrath of God for our sin. The wages of sin is death, and that sin, those wages are upon us all, upon us all. We do not live denying self for Christ. We live denying Christ for ourselves. That is the path of the ungodly. That is the path of the sinner. That is the path of those who know not Christ. And there is a consequence. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's a change here. What we deserve is death, but God comes in mercy and love, and He gives us a gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And there we have seething faith, faith in Christ, faith that Christ has accomplished salvation, faith that Christ has paid that debt that we could never pay for our sin. Faith and repentance, that turning, that change. in our ways, that change in our direction, and that faith in Christ Jesus alone as our Savior. And so this gift of God being eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord changes our death completely, our physical death. is but a way into life eternal. That spiritual death between us that leads to that separation between us and God has been removed. And now there is spiritual life and communion with God through our mediator in the Lord Jesus Christ. This great change takes place instead of denying Christ for ourselves and living outside of Christ and living against Christ. We are now in a position where filled with love for Christ, filled with thankfulness and praise to Christ for redeeming us, we deny ourselves and we live for Christ. Oh, there's a great need of salvation, a great need of faith in Christ, that faith that leads to a changed life. Have you experienced that this evening? Have you experienced that changed life? That change from denying Christ to denying yourself for Christ. That change from indulging in this world for yourself to denying all those things and setting them aside because you love the Savior and desire to live for Him. Do you know Him as your Savior? had saving faith. Our self-denial is founded upon Christ alone. That's the context we have here. But our salvation is founded on Christ alone. Our hope of everlasting life is founded on Christ alone. Our hope of the forgiveness of sins is founded on Christ alone. For Christ alone is the answer to the sin of man. Have you turned? Have you believed? Have you trusted the Savior? Our self-denial is founded upon Christ alone. But secondly, I want you to see that our self-denial is a rejection of the world. Our self-denial is a rejection of the world. We see that in verses 23 and verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he was come to here, has refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. There's a rejection there. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. There's a rejection there. And so there is a rejection of worldly honor. A rejection of worldly honor. And this thought is more like an umbrella term covering many things. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He refused to be treated as the son of the king's daughter. Of course, he was not related to the king, but rather he was adopted into the king's family. He was raised as the son of the king's daughter, and that was a privileged position. Imagine if we had been adopted into the royal family. adopted as a son of a prince or a princess, how our lives would be very different. Very different. A simple reading off the introductory chapters of Exodus reveals to us a particular truth, that the Bible does not record everything about the life of Moses. It could not. What he did from his infancy until later in life, he killed the Egyptian, we do not know. We know that he was trained and learned in all of the Egyptian knowledge. We see that in the book of Acts. Hebrews 11 gives us an insight into his heart and the faith he possessed, but in regard to his actual activity, we do not know. The Jewish historian, Josephus, speaks of the young child, Moses, receiving a crown from Pharaoh, and Moses, though a child, threw it to the ground, then trampled upon it. That may be true. Equally, it may not be true. But what we do know is this, the Spirit of God takes no notice of such an event here. It is unimportant. It's irrelevant for us to know, for all that we need to know, the Spirit of God has revealed to us. And all we need to know is this, that when He came to years, He refused all of that. He did not want to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He refused to be called that. And there's a grave danger in focusing too much on what the Holy Spirit does not reveal to us in Scripture. And we can often miss or neglect applying what the Spirit does reveal to us. We do not know if Moses physically or vocally declared this refusal. We do not know, but we know what was in his heart. We know what was in his heart by faith, and that is the important thing here. His heart was one that was toward God, a heart of self-denial to the world, a rejection of the world, a rejection of this worldly honor and this worldly privilege. I must say that There are honors and titles and riches in this world. Not all of it is sinful. There are many Christians. I know Christians that have titles before them, titles that have been bestowed upon them because of politics and other things. I know believers who could write you a check for several hundred thousand dollars and they wouldn't even miss it. in their bank account. God is blessed. God is blessed. There is nothing wrong with what God has blessed with. The problem is if these things come between you and God, and we'll come to that in a moment, or riches or titles, whatever God has blessed us with should be used for His glory, should be used for His glory. But if they come between us and Him, they should be denied. They should be denied. And here we have Moses, his position as the son of the princess, his learning, as we'll see in a moment. All these things were against who he was as an Israelite, as a child of God. They were against his faith in the living and true God of heaven. He was in an imminent position in Egypt. An eminent position in Egypt, he had all the respect and honor and love that would come from being part of the royal family. All the riches and fame and power and ancient Egypt, it was a power in that time period. Ancient Egypt was a marvel of civilization in many ways. Yet he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The Lord meant much more to him. Much more to him. Not every member of nobility and not everyone with honor in this world rejects Christ, but yet great thoughts and pride can enter into the hearts of men. Many of the Stuart family of kings in England had great and lofty thoughts about themselves. In the 1600s, the history of the 1600s is filled with a civil war and filled with Parliament setting up a assembly of believers to put together a confession of faith that we see and believe is our confession of faith, that time period is filled with battles because these kings thought themselves above the ordinary person. They believed that God had appointed them to be king in a way He had. But because of that, no man could oppose them. No preacher could point out their sin. No man or woman in the kingdom could worship in any other way than they decreed. They were accountable to no man. Pride and wicked ambition had corrupted the heart. Very often honor and power does such a thing. Oh, the nobility of birth, honors, outward delights, whatever it might be, are to be denied for Christ. Christ is to be first. We're to be willing to lay down all these things for the Savior. Dear unbeliever, would you lay down all these things that you might have Christ, that you might have eternal life? Because Christ is much more than a temporal delight, much more than a temporal delight. He is above nobility and honor. The birth of the greatest person in this world, outside of the Savior. The birth of the greatest person in this world is a birth that is defiled with sin, a birth of someone who is spiritually unclean. The birth of the lowest person in this world, born perhaps far from civilization, born in the wilderness, born in poverty, born to nothing, is also a birth that is defiled with sin and spiritual uncleanness because of sin. because of sin. The most noble blood and the lowest blood in this world is stained by sin. So whoever you are in life, noble, rich, honorable, famous, there's this stain of sin. the stain of sin, and the honor of this world is insignificant in the eyes of God. Before men it is great. Before God it is empty. A man's worldly honor and riches are nothing in comparison, nothing in comparison to the Almighty God, the Lord who sees into the heart of every individual. He knows where your treasure is this evening. I see faces. The Lord sees the heart. He sees where your heart lies. He sees what is important to you in life. He sees the desire and treasure of your heart. Rich or poor, all stand before the same God on judgment day. We're not to glory in the world's attainments. We're to glory in Christ alone. And while I've said these things in and of themselves may not be sinful, we must, child of God, be in a place where all the honor and respect and wealth of this world, we would be willing to lose it all for the Lord Jesus Christ. And whatsoever we do with such things, we do to the glory of God. There's also a rejection here of worldly wisdom, a rejection of worldly wisdom. In Acts chapter 7 verse 22, it says that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. And as a prince in Egypt, he received much learning. Egyptian philosophy and religion is much removed from our biblical faith and contrary to all contrary to all that the Israelites held dear regarding their faith. Yet we find that this worldly wisdom was, as it were, pumped into Moses, but it did not sway his heart for the world. Rather, in the grace of God, he rejected Egypt. And worldly wisdom does nothing for your soul. It is faith, and Moses possessed that faith by faith, a saving faith. was a rejection of all the wisdom of the world, but it was also a rejection of sinful pleasure. Sinful pleasure. All the delights, sinful or not, Christ is to be above them. Christ is to be above them. Notice what Moses says or what is said of Moses in verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And here we have one of the first negatives out of two in verses 25 and 26. Moses chooses what we humanly would see as the negative thing. rather than what many would see as the positive thing. If I were to say to you, would you like to suffer affliction? We'll take you out and we'll make you suffer affliction. I have a stock whip from Australia. It's safely in a container in the United Kingdom. I don't have it with me. But if we had an alternative, we could cause great affliction. We could cause it in other ways rather than something that is painful. I don't think you would choose to suffer affliction willingly like that. You wouldn't put your hand up and shout out, pick me, pick me. But yet we find Moses here, he chooses affliction. He chooses the negative thing. Affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. This affliction and the slavery of the people of God and the position they were in, far below what he was in as a prince of Egypt. He chose to suffer that than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. How marvelous that is, and dear believer, that's a challenge to us. Oh, how the pleasures of sin come upon us. Oh, how the pleasures of sin can entice us, and we should flee from them. But oh, how easy it is to enjoy those pleasures, rather, as it were, suffer affliction with the people of God. But yet what is said here, suffer affliction with the people of God, because Christ is there, because Christ is in the midst, because God is with His people. Is it truly affliction? There may be physical affliction, but there's certainly not spiritual and eternal affliction because of Christ, because of Christ. You notice what is said about the pleasures of sin for a season. for a season. There's a limit upon the pleasure of sin. Yes, there is pleasure in sin. That's what Scripture says here. Man can enjoy the pleasures of sin. That does not mean that the pleasures of sin are righteous. They are not. But the sinful flesh enjoys them and desires them, but for a season. And that is something we need to bear in mind. And here I believe because it's said of Moses, he chose to suffer affliction rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He knew the reality of sin. He knew the reality of the pleasures of sin. He knew two things. Firstly, he could not enjoy this sin forever. His life would one day end. He'd be cut off. He would be gone. He'd be ushered out into eternity. His life would end, and so would the sin. He would not continue in it. He would face the consequences for it. Secondly, the pleasures of sin themselves are limited. They last for a season. The hymn writer said, now none but the pleasures of sin can satisfy. I think I got that wrong. Now none but Christ, none but Christ, that's what he said, can satisfy. Many think, now none but the pleasures of sin, nothing but pleasure, nothing but alcohol, nothing but drugs, nothing but the pleasure creases of this world can make me happy. I'll earn my wage, I'll get my money and I'll spend it on all kinds of living to enjoy myself before I die. Those things will not satisfy. Now none but Christ can satisfy. Christ is the great one who satisfies our souls. Those of you here who are true believers, Who lived in sin before Christ redeemed you? Were you satisfied in that sin? Did you long to continue in that sin? Or did you find satisfaction and peace in Christ? Oh, the joy. and satisfaction and peace that comes through the Savior. Sin lasts but for a season. Sin can often be like a little interest in something, and then it gets boring, and then you sin in a different way, and then it gets boring, and there's absolutely no satisfaction. I remember as a young child, I'm playing games and board games with the family or playing games with friends. It was so exciting at the start, And then an hour later, it was so boring, you wanted to go and do something else. And sin cannot truly satisfy. Sin gets worse and worse and takes over our lives. And sin, as it were, evolves within us. We commit certain sins, and then we move to other sins. There's no lasting satisfaction. Many can get bored, and I know many have got bored with certain sins, certain drugs. They've moved on to other things because they need satisfaction, and it will never come because it lasts, but for a season. Dear believer, dear unbeliever, do not get caught up in those things. Flee from the pleasures of sin that last for a season. Cast your anchor upon Christ. Live for Christ. And then thirdly, we see that our self-denial is an esteem of Christ's reproach. Our self-denial is an esteem of Christ's reproach. Notice what it says in verse 26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Perhaps in the ancient world, there was no greater place of treasure than Egypt. Maybe at this point in history. I want to say that if Moses, he esteems the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. And that word reproach does not mean treasure. It means a disagreement toward Christ, the disapproval of this world toward Christ, the mockery and rejection of Christ, the persecution of Christ that also comes upon His people. Moses counted this reproach, this negative thing, a greater blessing than the comforts and the riches and the treasures of Egypt because he was focused on reality. This temporal world will end. He was focused upon spiritual and eternal realities. The land of Egypt was a fruitful land. Much blessing. Along the Nile, there was much fruit. But yet, did Moses not realize the Savior, his Lord, was more fruitful? The blessed man, the one who loves the Lord, Psalm 1, is a fruitful man, a fruitful man. The reproach of Christ, the hatred this world pours upon Christ, Moses counted that as more important than Egypt. Here's a man who had his eyes focused, who had his eye on the right thing, who had his eye upon Christ where it needs to be. And tonight your eye needs to be upon the Savior. As His child, as His redeemed saint, your eye needs to be upon Him, looking to Him, forsaking the things of this world. Yes, you may be blessed with riches and with all sorts of things. God has given them. Be thankful. Use them to glorify his name. But yet, don't put them above the Savior. Esteem his reproach as greater riches. Greater riches. Why? Because there was a reward. A reward. Let me think of the reformers of old. They gave their lives because they would not deny that salvation is through Christ alone. They were tied to the stake, gunpowder tied around them. They were set on fire. As we've said before, they died a very painful death. They esteemed that, that hatred toward Christ. That's what it was, hatred of Christ and hatred of Christ's Word and hatred of Christ's doctrine. They esteemed that. as more valuable than their physical lives, more valuable than all they possessed in this world, and they gave their lives because of it. Dear believer, this evening, do you esteem the world's hatred of Christ's greater riches than anything in this world, than anything in this world? Thomas Manton said, we are not right Christians until we have such an esteem of Christ that the worst things which can befall us in His service should be more to us, mean more to us than the best things in this world. In other words, the worst thing that could befall us is losing our lives for Christ, and we see that as greater than owning everything in this world. The reward of Christ is greater than all the treasure in the world. It's an everlasting reward, everlasting life. And then finally, I want you to see very quickly, our self-denial is a blessed path in God's will. Our self-denial is a blessed path in God's will. Self-denial leads to an imitation of Christ, and when we think of the Savior, The Savior is one that we love. We ought to imitate Him. But Christ did not live a worldly life. Christ was not an enemy to preaching and prayer. Christ lived in the greatest contempt of all the wealth and honors and pleasures of this world. He lived in holy obedience to His Father. He sought the salvation of others. He patiently bore persecution, derision, and death. And we as His people are to take up our crosses and follow Him joyfully. We're to be an imitator of Him. And that is a blessed path. Moses here, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be numbered among the people of God. He esteemed and counted the reproach of Christ. That hatred of Christ, we could sum that up as. He counted that as greater than the riches in Egypt. And God blessed him. God blessed him. He wasn't 80 years of age, 120 years of age when this happened. Moses was in his youth. We do not know how old he was here, but he left Egypt, I believe, the age of around 40. That's quite young. In four years' time, if I hear anyone here say 40 is old, well, I'll be saying something to you. It's quite young. It's still young, just about. But this whole passage that we have here, his denying of self was something that likely came gradually or came many years before that. is a spiritual work within his heart also. What I'm trying to say is that Moses was not on his deathbed. Moses was not at the end of his life and thinking, well, there's no fun left, there's no pleasure left. God is left, and I'm going to turn to God, put my life right, put Him first, just before the end. Moses self-denied in the prime of his life as a young person. As a man that had his life ahead of him, he put the Lord first and he humbly obeyed and followed the Lord all the days of his life. That's a lesson to those who are young here. Also to those who are old, whatever age you are, but to those who are young, it's a lesson for you. Moses denied these things in the prime of his life. God used him. God blessed him. We said something about how he led Israel. God richly blessed him in that regard. God was with him. He's known and mentioned here as a man of faith, a righteous, a godly man because of his example and because of that blessed path and the Lord's blessing being upon him. Believer tonight, do you desire to walk that blessed path? Deny self. Don't let sin get the victory off you. Put Christ before yourself. Put Christ before yourself. No work of God must be too low for us. No work of God in our employments, in the service of God should be too low for us. Let us do it all to the glory of God, denying ourselves to glorify Him, to glorify Him. Be a testimony, be an example to Christ and for Christ by denying yourself. We deny ourselves by not looking down upon others who are worse off than us. We deny ourselves by being willing to suffer for Christ, mockery, abuse, persecution, whatever it may be, because Christ is more important. Do you seek to honor and glorify God? Do you glorify Him with all you have? May nothing come between you and Christ. Dear unsaved person this evening, what of you? What of you? Will you deny the pleasures of this world, the sin of this world? Leave it all behind. Repent and have faith in Christ. and live for Him. May the Lord bless His Word this evening for His name's sake. Amen. Amen. Let us pray and let us seek the Lord. Our eternal God and our Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy goodness and grace toward us. We thank Thee this evening for Thy precious Word. We thank Thee for this great example in Moses, denying self. Oh, what a life he may have had in Egypt, but yet He saw a greater purpose, and He glorified thee. Father, we pray that we would not be taken in by the riches of this world, the honor of this world, to deny Christ, but that we would be willing and ready to give it all up to put Christ first. And we pray for those outside of the Savior. Those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, Father, draw them to Thyself, we pray. May they not deny Christ, but may they deny self. Work in our hearts, we pray. May Thy Word live on within us this week for the honor and glory of Thy name. We do pray that the love of God our Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the sweet fellowship and blessed communion of God, the Holy Spirit, would rest, remain, and abide with us, both now and forevermore. Amen.