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The scripture reading is Exodus
chapter 2. If you'd like to follow along
as I read, Exodus chapter 2. And we'll read from verse 1 down
to verse 15. Exodus chapter 2, verses 1 through
15. Here we have the background,
which we find in Ryle's sermon here. the faith of Moses. Now a man from the house of Levi
went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and
bore a son. And when she saw that he was
a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him
no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed
it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it. and
placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister
stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the
daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while her
young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among
the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When
she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying.
She took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call
you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? Pharaoh's
daughter said to her, go. So the girl went and called the
child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to
her, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will
give you your wages. So the woman took the child and
nursed him. When the child grew older, she
brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named
him Moses because, she said, I drew him out of the water.
One day when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people
and looked on their burdens and he saw an Egyptian beating a
Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that,
and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hit him
in the sand. When he went out the next day,
behold, two Hebrews were struggling together, and he said to the
man in the wrong, why do you strike your companion? He answered,
who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill
me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought,
surely the thing is known. When Pharaoh heard of it, he
sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and
stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. And there he will be in the wilderness
for another 40 years until the burning bush then appears to
him. Well, that is the word of the
Lord. Let's ask the Lord's blessing,
then, as we come here to the ministry of his word, as we hear
it from Reverend J.C. Ryle. Father, we thank you for
your word. Thank you for this example of
faith in the life of Moses, whom you called out of Egypt. granted him faith that he might
hear you and obey you, and you use him to lead your people out
of bondage. Father, we pray now as we look
into the faith of Moses as given to us
by the apostle in the book of Hebrews as an example for us
to be challenged by, and for us to exercise ourselves. And Father, we pray then that
you would use these scriptures to build up our faith, and that
if anyone listening today is unsaved, still dead in their
sins, we pray that you would open their eyes, grant them faith
and repentance, that they might call upon Christ and be saved. And we pray this in Christ's
name. Amen. Well, here then, yes, you have
a copy there in front of you. And I sent the link out to everyone
that regularly follows us. You can also find a copy of this. You can follow along on our sermon
audio. page, you can always download
really easily a printout of every one of the sermons that we have
here on Sundays in this church. And so here, J.C. Ryle, of course, was back in
the 1800s. He was a bishop, in fact, the
Bishop of Liverpool, a great city in England then at that
time. He was a bishop in the Church
of England. And he was reformed in his doctrine. He was an evangelical churchman
in the Church of England, which means he believed you needed
to be born again. And he believed the gospel. That
certainly was not true for large parts of the clergy in the Church
of England. But let's listen to him then
as he challenges us with the faith of Moses. By faith, Moses,
reading here from Hebrews 11, 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 reproach
of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he
had respect to the recompense of the reward. The characters
of God's most eminent saints, as drawn and described in the
Bible, form a most useful part of Holy Scripture. Abstract doctrines
and principles and precepts are all most valuable in their way.
But after all, nothing is more helpful than a pattern or example. Do we want to know what practical
holiness is? Let us sit down and study the
picture of an eminently holy man. I propose in this paper
to set before my readers the history of a man who lived by
faith. and left us a pattern of what
faith can do in promoting holiness of character. To all who want
to know what living by faith means, I offer Moses as an example. The 11th chapter of the epistle
to the Hebrews, from which my text is taken, is a great chapter. It deserves to be printed in
golden letters. I can well believe it must have
been most cheering and encouraging to a converted Jew. I suppose
no members of the early church found so much difficulty in a
profession of Christianity as the Hebrews did, as the Jews
did. The way was narrow to all, but preeminently so to them.
The cross was heavy to all, but surely they, the Jews, had to
carry double weight. And he means Jews that profess
Christ. And this chapter would refresh
them like a cordial. It would be as wine to those
that be of heavy hearts. Its words would be pleasant as
the honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. The
three verses I'm going to explain are far from being the least
interesting in the chapter. Indeed, I think few, if any,
have so strong a claim on our attention. And I'll explain why
I say so. It seems to me that the work
of faith described in the story of Moses comes home more especially
to our own case. The men of God who are named
in the former part of the chapter are all examples to us beyond
question. But we cannot literally do what
most of them did, however much we may drink into their spirit.
We're not called upon to offer a literal sacrifice like Abel. or to build a literal ark like
Noah, or to leave our country literally, dwell in tents, and
offer up our Isaac like Abraham. But the faith of Moses comes
nearer to us. It seems to operate in a way
more familiar to our own experience. It made him take up a line of
conduct such as we must sometimes take up ourselves in the present
day, each in our own walk of life, if we would be consistent
Christians. And for this reason, I think
these three verses deserve more than ordinary consideration.
Now, I've nothing but the simplest things to say about them. I shall
only try to show the greatness of the things Moses did and the
principle on which he did them. And then, perhaps, we shall be
better prepared for the practical instruction which the verses
appear to hold out to everyone who will receive it. First, I
will speak of what Moses gave up and refused. Moses gave up
three things for the sake of his soul. He felt that his soul
would not be saved if he kept them, so he gave them up. And
in so doing, I say that he made three of the greatest sacrifices
that man's heart can possibly make. Let's see. He gave up rank
and greatness. He refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter. We all know his history. The
daughter of Pharaoh had preserved his life when he was an infant.
She'd gone further than that. She had adopted him and educated
him as her own son. If some writers of history may
be trusted, she was Pharaoh's only child. Some go so far as
to say that in the common order of things, Moses would have one
day been the king of Egypt. That may be or may not be, we
can't tell. It's enough for us to know that
from his connection with Pharaoh's daughter, Moses might have been,
if he pleased, a very great man. If he had been content with the
position in which he found himself at the Egyptian court, he might
easily have been among the first, if not the very first, in all
the land of Egypt. Let's think for a moment how
great this temptation was. Here was a man of like passions
with ourselves. He might have had as much greatness
as Earth can give. Rank, power, place, honor, titles,
and dignities, all were before him and within his grasp. These are the things for which
many men are continually struggling. These are the prizes which There
is an incessant race in the world around us to obtain, to be somebody,
to be looked up to, to raise themselves in the scale of society,
to get a handle to their names. These are the very things for
which many people sacrifice time and thought and health and life
itself. But Moses would not have them
as a gift. He turned his back upon them.
He refused them. He gave them up. And second,
more than this, Moses refused pleasure. Pleasure of every kind,
no doubt, was at his feet if he'd like to take it up. Sensual
pleasure, intellectual pleasure, social pleasure, whatever could
strike his fancy. Egypt was a land of artists,
a residence of learned men, a resort of everyone who had skill or
science of any description. There was nothing which could
feed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride
of life, which one in the place of Moses might not easily have
commanded and possessed as his own. Let's think again. How great was this temptation
also? Pleasure, be it remembered, is
the one thing for which millions of people live. They differ perhaps
in their views of what makes up real pleasure, but all agree
in seeking first and foremost to obtain it. Pleasure and enjoyment
in the holidays is the grand object to which a schoolboy looks
forward. Pleasure and satisfaction in
making himself independent is the mark on which the young man
in business fixes his eye. Pleasure and ease in retiring
from business with a fortune is the aim which the merchant
sets before him. Pleasure and bodily comfort at
his own home is the sum of the poor man's wishes. Pleasure and
fresh excitement in politics, in traveling, in amusements,
in company, in books. This is the goal towards which
the rich man is straining. Pleasure. is the shadow which
all alike are hunting, high and low, rich and poor, old and young,
one with another, each perhaps pretending to despise his neighbor
for seeking it, each in his own way seeking it for himself, each
secretly wondering that he does not find it, each firmly persuaded
that somewhere or other it's to be found. This was the cup
that Moses had before his lips. He might have drunk as deeply
as he liked of earthly pleasure, but he would not have it. He
turned his back upon it. He refused it. He gave it up. Third, and more than this, Moses
refused riches. The treasures in Egypt. is an
expression that seems to tell of boundless wealth which Moses
might have enjoyed had he been content to remain with Pharaoh's
daughter. We may well suppose these treasures would have been
a mighty fortune. There's enough still remaining
in Egypt to give us some faint idea of the money at its king's
disposal. The pyramids. The obelisks and
temples and statues are still standing there as witnesses.
The ruins at Karnak and Luxor and Dendera and many other places
are still the mightiest buildings in the world. They testify to
this day that the man who gave up Egyptian wealth gave up something
which even our English minds would find it hard to reckon
up and estimate. Let's think once more how great
was this temptation. Let's consider for a moment the
power of money, the immense influence that the love of money obtains
over men's minds. Let's look around us and observe
how men covet it and what amazing pains and trouble they will go
through to obtain it. Tell them of an island many thousand
miles away where something may be found which may be profitable
if imported, and at once a fleet of ships will be sent to get
it. Show them a way to make 1% more of their money, and they
will reckon you among the wisest of men. They will almost fall
down and worship you. To possess money seems to hide
defects, to cover our faults, to clothe a man with virtue.
People can get over much if you're rich. But here's a man who might
have been rich, and he would not. He would not have Egyptian
treasures. He turned his back upon them.
He refused them. He gave them up. Such were the
things that Moses refused, rank, pleasure, riches, all three at
once. Add to all this that he did it
deliberately. He didn't refuse these things
in a hasty fit of youthful excitement. He was 40 years old. He was in
the prime of life. He knew what he was about. He
was a highly educated man, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
He could weigh both sides of the question. Add to it that
he did not refuse them because he was obliged. He was obligated
to do so. He was not like the dying man
who tells us, He craves nothing more in this world. And why?
Because he's leaving the world and can't keep it. And he was
not like the pauper who makes a merit of necessity and says
he doesn't want riches. And why? Because he can't get
them. He was not like the old man who boasts that he has laid
aside worldly pleasures. And why? Because he's worn out
and can't enjoy them. No. Moses refused what he might
have had and enjoyed. Rank, pleasure, and riches did
not leave him, but he left them. And then judge whether I am not
right in saying that this was one of the greatest sacrifices
mortal man ever made. Others have refused much. but
none, I think, so much as Moses. Others have done well in the
way of self-sacrifice and self-denial, but he excels them all. And now,
let me go on to the second thing I wish to consider. I will speak
of what Moses chose. I think his choices as wonderful
as his refusals. He chose three things for his
soul's sake. The road to salvation led through
them, and he followed it. And in so doing, he chose three
of the last things that man is ever disposed to take up. First, for one thing, he chose
suffering and affliction. He left the ease and comfort
of Pharaoh's court and openly took part with the children of
Israel. They were an enslaved and persecuted
people. object of distrust, suspicion,
and hatred. And anyone who befriended them
was sure to taste something of the bitter cup they were daily
drinking. To the eye of sense, there seemed
no chance of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage without
a long and doubtful struggle. A settled home and country for
them must have appeared a thing never likely to be obtained,
however much desired. In fact, If ever man seemed to
be choosing pain, trials, poverty, want, distress, anxiety, perhaps
even death, with his eyes open, Moses was that man. Let's think
how wonderful was this choice. Flesh and blood naturally shrink
from pain. It is in us all to do so. We
draw back by a kind of instinct from suffering and avoid it if
we can. If two courses of action are set before us, which both
seem right, we generally take that which is the least disagreeable
to flesh and blood. We spend our days in fear and
anxiety when we think affliction's coming near us, and use every
means to escape it. And when it does come, we often
fret and murmur under the burden of it, and if we can only bear
it patiently, we count it a great matter. But look here. Here is a man of like passions
with ourselves, and he actually chooses affliction. Moses saw
the cup of suffering that was before him if he left Pharaoh's
court, and he chose it, preferred it, and took it up. But he did
more than this. He chose the company of a despised
people. He left the society of the great
and wise, among whom he'd been brought up, and joined himself
to the children of Israel. He who had lived from infancy
in the midst of rank and riches and luxury came down from his
high estate and cast in his lot with poor men, slaves, serfs,
helots. A helot is someone who was held
in forced servitude. Helots. pariahs, bondservants,
oppressed, destitute, afflicted, tormented, laborers in the brick
kiln. How wonderful, that is, full
of wonder, once more was his choice. Generally speaking, we
think it enough to carry our own troubles. We may be sorry
for others whose lot it is to be mean and despised. We may
even try to help them. We may give money to raise them.
We may speak for them to those on whom they depend. But here,
we generally stop. But here is a man who does far
more. He not merely feels for despised
Israel, but actually goes down to them, adds himself to their
society, and lives with them all together. You would wonder
if some great man in Grosvenor or Belgrave Square were to give
up his house and fortune and position in society and go to
live on a small allowance in some narrow lane in Bethnal Green
for the sake of doing good. Yet this would convey a very
faint and feeble notion of the kind of thing that Moses did.
He saw a despised people, and he chose their company and preference
to that of the noblest in the land. He became one with them,
their fellow, their companion in tribulation, their ally, their
associate, and their friend. And third, he did even more.
He chose reproach and scorn. Who can conceive the torrent
of mockery and ridicule that Moses would have had to stem
in turning away from Pharaoh's court to join Israel. Men would
tell him he was mad, foolish, weak, silly, and out of his mind. He would lose his influence.
He would forfeit the favor and good opinion of all among whom
he'd lived. But none of these things moved
him. He left the court and join the slaves. And so you remember
then when Moses does come back from Midian after the Lord had
appeared to him in the burning bush and he comes back and he
goes as the Lord told him to before Pharaoh, what was the
response? Pharaoh looked at him with scorn. You are absolutely, who is the
Lord that I should obey him? And so here is the ridicule toward
one who was one time prince of Egypt. Let's think again what
a choice this was. There are a few things more powerful
than ridicule and scorn. It can do far more than open
enmity and persecution. Many a man who would march up
to a cannon's mouth or lead a forlorn hope or storm a breach has found
it impossible to face the mockery of a few companions, and has
flinched from the path of duty to avoid it, to be laughed at,
to be made a joke of, to be jested and sneered at, to be reckoned
weak and silly, to be thought a fool. There's nothing grand
in all this, and many, alas, cannot make up their minds to
undergo it. Yet, here is a man who made up
his mind to it and did not shrink from the trial. Moses saw reproach
and scorn before him, and he chose them and accepted them
for his portion. Such then were the things that
Moses chose, affliction, the company of a despised people,
and scorn. Set down beside all this that
Moses was no weak, ignorant, illiterate person who did not
know what he was about, what he was doing, You're specially
told, Acts 7, that he was mighty in words and deeds, and yet he
chose as he did. Set it down, too, the circumstances
of his choice. He was not obligated to choose
as he did. No one compelled him to take
such a course. The things he took up did not
force themselves upon him against his will. He went after them. They did not come after him.
All that he did He did of his own free choice voluntarily and
of his own accord. And then judge whether it's not
true that his choices were as wonderful as his refusals. Since the world began, I suppose,
no one ever made such a choice as Moses did in our text. And now, let me go on to a third
thing. Let me speak of the principle
which moved Moses and made him do as he did. How can this conduct
be accounted for? What possible reason can be given
for it? To refuse that which is generally
called good, to choose that which is commonly thought evil. This
is not the way of flesh and blood. This is not the manner of man. This requires some explanation. What will that explanation be?
Well, we have the answer here in the text. I do not know whether
its greatness or its simplicity is more to be admired. It all
lies in one little word, and that word is faith. And of course, he's referring
to Hebrews 11, by faith, by faith, by faith, you see. Moses had
faith. Faith was the mainspring of his
wonderful conduct. Faith made him do as he did,
choose what he chose, and refuse what he refused. He did it all
because he believed. God set before the eyes of his
mind and his own will and purpose. God revealed to him that a Savior
was to be born of the stock of Israel, that mighty promises
were bound up in these children of Abraham, and yet to be fulfilled,
and that the time for fulfilling a portion of these promises was
at hand. And Moses put credit in this
and believed." Now, just a little parenthetical note here. You'll
notice that Moses' mother nursed him until he was of some kind
of age, and then took him to Pharaoh's daughter, who adopted
him. It is most likely that in that
period of time, in Moses' early childhood, his mother instructed
him regarding the Abrahamic promise, the promise to Abraham. the truth about the seed of the
woman who would one day come. Because these are the things
Moses believed and were the object then of his faith. Every step in his wonderful career,
every action in his journey through life after leaving Pharaoh's
court, his choice of seeming evil, his refusal of what seemed
good, all All must be traced to this fountain. All will be
found to rest on this foundation. God had spoken to him, and he
had faith in God's word. But the burning bush hadn't happened
yet, you see, and yet God's word came to him. He believed that
God would keep his promises, and that what he had said, he
would surely do, and what he had covenanted, he would surely
perform. And Moses believed that with
God, nothing was impossible. Reason and sense might say that
the deliverance of Israel was out of the question, impossible.
The obstacles were too many. The difficulties too great. But
faith told Moses that God was all sufficient. God had undertaken
the work, and it would be done. Moses believed that God was all
wise. Reason and sense might tell him
that his line of action was absurd, that he was throwing away useful
influence and destroying all chance of benefiting his people
by breaking with Pharaoh's daughter. But faith told Moses that if
God said, go this way, it must be the best. And he believed
that God was all merciful. Reason and sense might hint a
more pleasant manner of deliverance might be found, that some compromise
might be effected, and many hardships be avoided. But faith told Moses
that God was love and would not give his people one drop of bitterness
beyond what was absolutely needed. Faith was a telescope. to Moses. This is great. That's
a good image. Faith was a telescope to Moses. It made him see the goodly land
afar off. Rest, peace, and victory, when
dim-sighted reason could only see trial and barrenness, storm
and tempest, weariness and pain. Faith was an interpreter to Moses. It made him pick out a comfortable
meaning in the dark commands of God's handwriting. while ignorant
sense could see nothing in it but mystery and foolishness.
Faith told Moses that all this rank and greatness was of the
earth, earthy, a poor, vain, empty thing, frail, fleeting,
and passing away, and that there was no true greatness like that
of serving God. He was the king. He, the true
nobleman who belonged to the family of God, It was better
to be last in heaven than first in hell. That's a good sign for
our wall. It's better to be last in heaven
than first in hell. Faith told Moses that worldly
pleasures were pleasures of sin. They were mingled with sin. They
led on to sin. They were ruinous to the soul
and displeasing to God. It would be small comfort to
have pleasure while God was against him. better suffer and obey God
than be at ease and sin. Faith told Moses that these pleasures,
after all, were only for a season. They were only temporary. They
could not last. They were all short-lived. They
would weary him soon. He must leave them all in a few
years. Faith told him that there was
a reward in heaven for the believer far richer than the treasures
in Egypt, durable riches where rust could not corrupt nor thieves
break through and steal. The crown there would be incorruptible. The weight of glory would be
exceeding and eternal. And faith bid him to look away
to an unseen heaven if his eyes were dazzled with Egyptian gold.
Faith told Moses that affliction and suffering were not real evils. They were the school of God in
which he trains the children of grace for glory, the medicines
which are needful to purify our corrupt wills, the furnace which
must burn away our dross, the knife which must cut the ties
that bind us to the world. Faith told Moses that the despised
Israelites were the chosen people of God. He believed that to them
belonged the adoption, the covenant, the promises, the glory, that
of them the seed of the woman was one day to be born, who should
bruise the serpent's head, that the special blessing of God was
upon them, that they were lovely and beautiful in his eyes, and
that it was better to be a doorkeeper among the people of God than
to reign in the palaces of wickedness. Faith told Moses that all the
reproach and scorn poured out on him was the reproach of Christ,
that it was honorable to be mocked and despised for Christ's sake,
that whosoever persecuted Christ's people was persecuting Christ
himself. and that the day must come when
his enemies would bow before him and lick the dust. All this,
and much more of which I cannot speak particularly, Moses saw
by faith. These were the things he believed,
and believing did what he did. He was persuaded of them and
embraced them. He reckoned them as certainties. He regarded them as substantial
verities. That means truths of substance. He counted them as sure as if
he had seen them with his own eyes. He acted on them as realities. And this made him the man that
he was. He had faith. He believed. Don't marvel that
he refused greatness, riches, and pleasure. He looked far forward. He saw with the eye of faith
kingdoms crumbling into the dust, riches taking to themselves wings
and fleeing away, pleasures leading on to death and judgment, and
Christ only and his little flock enduring forever. Don't wonder
that Moses chose affliction, a despised people, and reproach.
He beheld things below the surface. He saw with the eye of faith
affliction lasting but for a moment, reproach rolled away and ending
in everlasting honor, and the despised people of God reigning
as kings with Christ in glory. And wasn't Moses right? Does he not speak to us, though
dead this very day? The name of Pharaoh's daughter
has perished, or at any rate is extremely doubtful. The city
where Pharaoh reigned is not known. The treasures in Egypt
are gone. But the name of Moses is known
wherever the Bible's read and is still a standing witness that
whosoever lives by faith, happy is he. And now, let me wind up
all by trying to set forth in order some practical lessons
which appear to me to follow as legitimate consequences from
this history of Moses. What is all this to do with us,
some men will say? We don't live in Egypt. We've
seen no miracles. We're not Israelites. We're weary
of this subject. Just stay a little, if this be
the thought of your heart. And by God's help, I will show
you that all may learn here and all may be instructed. He that
would live a Christian life and be a really holy man, let him
mark the history of Moses and get wisdom. First, if you would
ever be saved, you must make the choice that Moses made. You
must choose God before the world. Mark well what I say. Don't overlook
this, though all the rest be forgotten. I'm not saying that
the statesman must give up his office, resign from his office,
or the rich man forsake all of his property. Let no one fancy
that I mean this, but I say if a man would be saved, whatever
his rank in life might be, he must be prepared for tribulation. He must make up his mind to choose
much which seems evil and to give up and refuse much which
seems good. I dare say this sounds strange
language to some who read these pages. I know well you may have
a certain form of religion and yet find no trouble in your way. There is a common worldly kind
of Christianity in this day, which many have and think they
have enough, a cheap Christianity, which offends nobody and is worth
nothing. I'm not speaking of religion
of this kind, but if you really are in earnest about your soul,
if your religion is something more than a mere fashionable
Sunday cloak, If you're determined to live by the Bible, and if
you're resolved to be a New Testament Christian, then I repeat, you
will soon find you must carry a cross. You must endure hard
things. You must suffer on behalf of
your soul, as Moses did, or you cannot be saved. The world in
the 19th century is what it always was. The hearts of men are still
the same. The offense of the cross has
not ceased. God's true people are still a
despised little flock. True evangelical religion still
brings with it reproach and scorn. A real servant of God will still
be thought by many a weak enthusiast and a fool. But the matter comes
to this. Do you wish your soul to be saved? Then remember, you must choose
whom you will serve. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot be on two sides at
once. You cannot be a friend of Christ
and a friend of the world at the same time. You must come
out from the children of this world and be separate. You must
put up with much ridicule, trouble, and opposition, or you will be
lost forever. You must be willing to think
and do things which the world considers foolish and to hold
opinions which are only held by a few. It will cost you something. The stream is strong, and you
have to stem it. The way is narrow and steep,
and it's no use saying that it's not. But depend on it. There can be no saving religion
without sacrifices and self-denial. Now, are you making any sacrifices? Does your religion cost you anything? I put it to your conscience in
all affection and tenderness. Are you, like Moses, preferring
God to the world or not? I beseech you not to take shelter
under that dangerous word we, we ought, and we hope, and we
mean, and the like. I ask you plainly, what are you
doing yourself? Are you willing to give up anything
which keeps you back from God, or are you clinging to the Egypt
of the world and saying to yourself, I must have it. I must have it. I cannot tear myself away. Is
there any cross in your Christianity? Are there any sharp corners in
your religion? Anything that ever jars and comes
in collision with the earthly mindedness around you? Or is
everything all smooth and rounded off and comfortably fit into
custom and fashion? Do you know anything of the afflictions
of the gospel? Is your faith and practice ever
a subject of scorn and reproach? Are you thought a fool by anyone
because of your soul? Have you left Pharaoh's daughter
and heartily joined the people of God? Are you venturing all
on Christ? Search yourself and see. These
are hard inquiries and rough questions. I can't help it. I
believe they're founded on scripture truths. I remember it is written,
there went great multitudes with Jesus. And he turned and said
to them, if any man come to me and does not hate his father
and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yes,
and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does
not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Many people, I fear, would like
glory, who have no wish for grace. They would desire to have the
wages, but not the work, the harvest, but not the labor, the
reaping, but not the sowing, the reward, but not the battle.
But it may not be. As Bunyan says, the bitter must
go before the sweet. If there is no cross, there will
be no crown. The second thing I say is this. Nothing will ever enable you
to choose God before the world except faith. Nothing else will
do. Knowledge will not. Feeling will
not. A regular use of outward forms
in the church will not. Good companions will not. All
these may do something, but the fruit they produce has no power
of continuance. It won't last. A religion springing
from such sources will only endure so long as there's no tribulation
of persecution because of the word. But as soon as there is
any, it will dry up. It's a clock without a mainspring
or weights. Its face may be beautiful. You
may turn its fingers around, but it will not go. A religion
that is to stand must have a living foundation. and there is none
other but faith. There must be a real heartfelt
belief that God's promises are sure and to be depended on. A
real belief that what God says in the Bible is all true and
that every doctrine contrary to this is false, whatever anyone
may say. There must be a real belief that
all God's words are to be received, however hard and disagreeable
to flesh and blood, and that His way is right and all others
wrong. This there must be, or you will
never come out from the world, take up the cross, follow Christ,
and be saved. You must learn to believe promises
better than possessions, things unseen better than things seen,
Things in heaven out of sight better than things on earth before
your eyes. The praise of the invisible God
better than the praise of visible man. Then and only then you will
make a choice like Moses and prefer God to the world. Now,
I ask every reader of this paper, have you got this faith? If you
have, you will find it possible to refuse what appears to be
good and choose what appears to be evil in the world's sight.
You will think nothing of today's losses in the hope of tomorrow's
gains. You will follow Christ in the
dark and stand by him to the very last. If you have not, I
warn you, you will never war a good warfare and so run as
to obtain. You will soon be offended, turn
back to the world. Above all this, there must be
a real abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The life that you
live in the flesh, you must live by faith of the Son of God. There
must be a settled habit of continually leaning on Jesus, looking to
Jesus, drawing out of Jesus, and using him as the manna of
your soul. You must strive to be able to
say, to me, to live is Christ. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthens me. This was the faith by which the
old saints obtained a good report. This was the weapon by which
they overcame the world. This made them what they were.
This was the faith that made Noah go on building his ark while
the world looked on and mocked. And Abraham Give the choice of
the land to Lot, and dwell on quietly in tents. And Ruth, to
cleave to Naomi and turn away from her country and her gods.
And Daniel, to continue in prayer, though he knew the lion's den
was prepared. And the three children refused
to worship idols, though the fiery furnace was before their
eyes. And Moses, forsake Egypt. not fearing the wrath of Pharaoh.
All these acted as they did because they believed. They saw the difficulties
and troubles of this course, but they saw Jesus by faith among
them all, and they pressed on. Well may the Apostle Peter speak
of faith as precious faith. The third thing I say is this.
The true reason why so many people are worldly and ungodly persons
is that they have no faith. Now, I should make a note here
and remember, and certainly J.C. Ryle would definitely teach this
and agree with it. This faith is a gift of God.
It comes from his hand, and it's not something that we must drum
up in myself, you see. comes from him when we're born
again. The third thing I say, the true reason why so many are
worldly and ungodly persons is that they have no faith. We must
be aware that multitudes of professing Christians would never think
for a moment of doing as Moses did. It's useless to speak smooth
things and shut your eyes to the fact. That man must be blind,
who does not see thousands around him, who are daily preferring
the world to God, placing the things of time before the things
of eternity, and the things of the body before the things of
the soul. We may not like to admit this,
and we try hard to blink at the fact, but so it is. Why do they
do so? No doubt they will all give us
reasons and excuses. Some will talk of the snares
of the world. Some of the lack of time. Some
of the peculiar difficulties of their position. Some of the
cares and anxieties of life. Some of the strength of temptation. Some of the power of passions.
Some of the effects of bad companions. But what does it come to after
all? There's a far shorter way to account for the state of their
souls. They do not believe. One simple sentence, like Aaron's
rod, will swallow up all their excuses. They have no faith. They do not really think what
God says is true. And you see his point, who is
the they? He's specifically talking about people who claim to be
Christians, all right? That's who he's talking, that's
the they. And what does he say here? They do not really think
what God says is true. They secretly flatter themselves
with the notion It will surely not be fulfilled. There must
surely be some other way to heaven besides that which ministers
speak of. There cannot surely be so much
danger of being lost. In short, they do not put implicit
confidence in the words that God has written and spoken, and
so they don't act upon them. They do not thoroughly believe
hell, and so they don't flee from it, nor heaven, and so they
don't seek it. nor the guilt of sin, and so
they don't turn from it, nor the holiness of God, so they
do not fear him, nor their need of Christ, and so do not trust
in him, nor love him. They don't feel confidence in
God, and so venture nothing for him. Like the boy Passion in
Pilgrim's Progress, they must have their good things now. They
do not trust God, and so they can't wait. Now, how is it with
ourselves? Do we believe all the Bible?
Let's ask ourselves that question. Depend on it. It's a much greater
thing to believe all the Bible than many suppose. Happy is the
man who can lay his hand on his heart and say, I am a believer. We talk of infidels sometimes
as if they were the rarest people in the world. And I grant that
open avowed infidelity is happily not very common now. It's probably
more common now than it was in Ryle's day. But there's a vast
amount of practical infidelity around us for all of that, which
is as dangerous in the end as the principles of Voltaire and
Paine. There are many who Sunday after
Sunday repeat the creed, the apostles' creed probably, and
make a point of declaring their belief in all that the apostolic
and Nicene forms contain, and yet, these very persons will
live all the week as if Christ had never died, as if there were
no judgment, and no resurrection of the dead, and no life everlasting
at all. There are many who will say,
oh, we know it all, when spoken to about eternal things and the
value of their souls, and yet their lives show plainly They
know not anything as they ought to know. And the saddest part
of their state is that they think they do. It's an awful truth
and worthy of all consideration that knowledge not acted upon
in God's sight is not merely useless and unprofitable. It's
much worse than that. It will add to our condemnation
and increase our guilt in the judgment day. A faith that does
not influence a man's practice is not worthy of the name. There
are only two classes in the Church of Christ, those who believe
and those who do not. The difference between the true
Christian and the mere outward professor just lies in one word. The true Christian is like Moses.
He has faith. The mere outward professor has
none. The true Christian believes. and therefore lives as he does.
The mere professor does not believe, and therefore is what he is.
Where is our faith? Let us not be faithless, but
believing. And fourth, the last thing I
say is this. The true secret of doing great
things for God is to have great faith. I believe that we are
all apt to err on this point. We think too much. Talk too much
about graces and gifts and attainments. And do not sufficiently remember
that faith is the root and mother of them all. In walking with
God, a man will go just as far as he believes and no further. His life will always be proportioned
to his faith. His peace, his patience, his
courage, his zeal, his works, all will be according to his
faith. You read the lives of eminent
Christians, of such men as Wesley or Whitfield, Venn, Martin, Bickersteth,
Simeon, McShane, and you are disposed to say, what wonderful
gifts and graces these men had. I answer, you should rather give
honor to the mother grace, which God puts forward in the 11th
chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews. You should give honor
to their faith. Depend on it. Faith was the mainspring
in the character of each and all. I can fancy someone saying,
they were so prayerful. That made them what they were.
I answer, why did they pray much? Simply because they had much
faith. What is prayer but faith speaking to God? Another, perhaps,
will say, they were so diligent and laborious that that accounts
for their success. I answer, why? were they so diligent? Simply because they had faith.
What is Christian diligence but faith at work? Another will tell
me they were so bold. That rendered them so useful.
I answer, well, why were they so bold? Simply because they
had much faith. What is Christian boldness but
faith honestly doing its duty? And another will cry, it was
their holiness and spirituality that gave them their weight.
For the last time, I answer, well, what made them holy? Nothing but a living, realizing
spirit of faith. What is holiness but faith visible
and faith incarnate? Does any reader of this paper
desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ? Would you bring forth much fruit?
Would you be eminently holy and useful? Would you be bright and
shine as light in your day? Would you, like Moses, make it
clear as noonday that you've chosen God before the world?
I dare be sure that every believer will reply, yes, yes, yes. These
are the things we long for and desire. Then take the advice
I give you this day. Go and cry to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the disciples did. Lord, increase our faith. Faith is the root. of a real
Christian's character. Let your root be right and your
fruit will soon abound. Your spiritual prosperity will
always be according to your faith. He that believes shall not only
be saved, but shall never thirst, shall overcome, shall be established,
shall walk firmly on the waters of this world, and shall do great
works. Reader, if you believe the things
contained in this paper and desire to be a thoroughly holy man,
begin to act on your belief. Take Moses for your example.
Walk in his steps. Go and do likewise. Father, we thank you for these
words. Thank you for this great scripture
in Hebrews chapter 11. and for the example that you've
given to us in the life of Moses. And we pray that prayer. Lord,
increase our faith that we might be better servants to you and
brighter light shining in a dark world. And we pray this in Christ's
name. Amen.
Moses - An Example by J.C. Ryle
Series 2024 Non-Series Sermons
Moses is an example of genuine faith. He chose to suffer with the people of God rather than cling to the treasures of Egypt.
| Sermon ID | 92724191666535 |
| Duration | 1:00:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Hebrews 11:24-26 |
| Language | English |
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