Hebrews 11:23-33 — Leonard Ravenhill

Faith in the Trials of Moses

Again we're going to look into the same chapter Hebrews 11, right. Hebrews 11 and read from verse 23, 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 a 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 and the treasures of Egypt.

For he had respect unto 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 that sea that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

By faith they passed through the Red Sea of by dry land which the Egyptians are saying to do were drown as I mentioned the other night. I think there's nothing more profitable than reading how God makes men.

Either either in the word of God or biographies which are not always very sound. I think writers are very often biased about autobiographies. If we can get them are certainly much at least to me more convincing.

And it seems that in all these characters here and elsewhere that in some period of life there's a trial by fire. Not always literally fire but sometimes so like in the case of the Hebrew three Hebrew children.

Trials Build Spiritual Character

Now this is a day in which it seems the preachers are attempting to pull down all the hills and lift up all the valleys and make all the crooked places straight and bulldoze all trials out of the way.

And and you know we're marching to Zion. But it's all on level ground. I think if the Lord answered all our prayers most of us would be like jellyfish. We wouldn't have any backbone. We wouldn't have any character.

We wouldn't have any strong vigorous faith. We want to leave it all with God. Now. Now what proportion of responsibility is yours to come to maturity. And what responsibility is God's. It's not all God's.

Because it says there in the again in the epistle of Jude you're to keep yourself. You're to keep yourself from idols. John says keep yourself in the love of God again having these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse ourselves.

I don't care how filled with a spirit you are. He won't lift you out of bed in the morning at four o 'clock to pray. You've got to do something about it. And I think the greatest possession in the world is self-possession.

That is self-possession under the authority of God. I think we often forget the last verse in the 16th chapter of John in which says fear not in the world ye shall have tribulation. Now that's a promise as much as anything else.

Fear not in the world ye shall have tribulation but fear not. I have overcome the world. Before that Jesus had told his disciples he was going to leave them and that was something they didn't want. He was going to send somebody better than himself or greater than himself.

And that was something they couldn't believe. Reminds me of the pastor who announced his resignation. And one of the faithful old members of the church wasn't there. And someone said well you should go see her tomorrow.

She'll cry. Oh she'll be very depressed. She she just loves you so much. And so he went and drank his cup of tea and gradually maneuvered till he thought it was safe. And then he said well I guess you didn't hear the news.

No I'm resigning from the church. Oh no oh. We can't do without. Oh now now now he said listen I'm resigning but a far better man is going to succeed me. Oh no. She said yeah yeah. He's a much better preacher than I am.

He's a much better man of God than I am. And the lady said I can't believe that. That's what the last pastor said when he was leaving. Well Jesus says you're going to have somebody better. I'm with you but he shall be in you.

He said he give them the the comforter which is the Holy Ghost. The comforter that word doesn't mean he's a nursing mother for spiritually sick children. The word comforter comes from two Latin words.

Latin words comfortus. With strength you shall receive power the Holy Ghost coming upon you all. In other words he'll come with strength upon you. And Jesus says don't be afraid. You think everybody if I take the hub out of the wheel well the the spokes will collapse.

But if I go somebody else is coming in my place. And he says you should not be afraid to go into the world. It's a world of tribulation. It's a world of opposition. It's a world that's so hostile to you.

But don't be afraid because I will be in you. And then he says my world is going to fall apart in the end of that 16th chapter. And he says I'm not afraid because the father is with me. Now if I can face Gethsemane and trial and judgment because the father is with me.

You should be able to say face the same things because the Holy Ghost is within you. That's why he comes with strength and power. I'm be sure these characters we've read off again. It says of Joseph as we mentioned yesterday begins up here and he goes down from to Dolphin to to take food for his brothers.

They put him down in prison. And then he goes down into Egypt. Then he goes down in prison again. And there he's left for years and yet thank you. And yet God is with him. And it says elsewhere. His feet were hurt in the stocks.

They they mauled him if you like. And then again you have the three Hebrew children. They went to the burning fiery furnace. Shakespeare once said it's it's easy for it's easier for you to bear the other man's toothache.

Well it's easy to sit down and say to somebody else so all his grace is sufficient for you. What about when it comes to yourself. Are we are we just as courageous. Are we absorbing truth like we kind of throw it to other people.

The three Hebrew children went in the fire. What happened. Well all that happened was the fire burned off them. What the world put on them. They needed a fire to get rid of the bonds and fetters. And by the same token when we get into certain situations of life certain fetters begin to break off.

It says of our Lord Jesus Christ. He learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Now we'd all bypass it. I'm sure we would. Nobody goes looking for suffering. But by the same token it's a period of testing a period of trial which comes on different levels to different people.

Moses and the Pattern of Christ

Now here we have one of the most amazing characters I think in the whole of the Word of God the Jews still think that Moses is a supreme character of all history. And here we have this situation. I see a great parallel here between Moses and the Lord Jesus.

Moses was born in a slave hut. Jesus was born in a slave system. Moses was born the son of men and he was adopted as a prince. Jesus was the son of God and a prince of glory. And he came down to earth and lived in this style that we have.

Moses went on to the mount and he was transfigured because his face. They couldn't dare to look on his face. He had to veil it. Jesus went on to the mount of transfiguration. Moses was tested for 40 years in the wilderness.

Jesus was tested for 40 days in the wilderness. Moses went up on the mount and he gave us the Sermon on the Mount. His Sermon on the Mount in in in Ten Commandments. And Jesus went on the Sermon on the Mount and preached the greatest sermon ever preached.

It's still the answer to all our problems. The only reason we're in the mess we're in is because we've rejected the Prince of Peace and with all our so called ideas of pursuing peace we're still trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

You know you you you and I. We recited that Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And you know all those classics. And if your children ask you who's Humpty Dumpty what do you say.

I think Humpty Dumpty is a satire on the fall of man. Humpty Dumpty was supposed to be an egg on a wall and he fell off. And as you say anybody can scramble eggs who can unscramble them. Nobody's ever put the egg together.

Nobody can put the human race together. Why. I. I'm not just old. I'm antique. I can remember World War one. Two years before World War one we had what was called the Fabian Socialist Society which was made up of so-called intellectuals George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells.

And I don't know how many others maybe not more than a dozen. Mm-hmm. But they were so superior. See it was a sleepy period in English history. Britannia ruled the waves. We still had a complete British Empire.

The Sun never set on the British Empire. Kipling was the great champion who warned us lest we forget the tumult and the shouting dies. The captains and the Kings depart. Still stands an ancient sacrifice a humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of hosts be with us yet lest we forget. And he goes on to remind us of the fall of Nineveh and Tyre how they boasted of their security as the Roman Empire did. The Roman Empire was never destroyed from the outside.

Every orator finished his speech by pointing to the distance and saying Carthage must be destroyed. And men reached for swords they weren't wearing and tried to run over bridges that weren't there to get to Carthage.

But Carthage was the enemy of Rome. They wanted Carthage to be destroyed. But about the Carthage did not destroy Rome. Rome destroyed itself. Nobody will destroy America. We're doing a good job ourselves.

We're corrupting. We've legalized abortion. We have homosexuality. Go on. Tell us what. And of this horrible deterioration inside I noticed even when before the presidential election the suggestion will you pray 15 minutes a day until the election.

So what is God our errand boy till the election. And then do what we like afterwards. Let's have a model majority. God never had a model majority. He had a holy minority. A model majority was something that who was a man had I forgotten his name for the moment there in the Old Testament he had 300 ,000 men.

Was his name. Gideon. Thank you Gideon. And it was reduced from a model majority. It was used to what 300 men eventually. I'm sure that 500 brethren who saw Jesus in the resurrection I'm quite sure that they were invited to the upper room.

But only 120 made it. Where were the other 380. It's like the children of Israel. They came out of Egypt and they came to Kadesh Barnea. And it was intended to be a stepping stone. It became a stumbling block.

It was intended to be a thoroughfare and it became a terminus. It was intended to be a gateway. It became a goal. We don't have to sweat in Egypt. We don't have to get up. We don't have to make bricks.

Nobody's gonna lash us. So why not settle down here. Ah but the promised land flowing with milk and honey a most amazing a place you can't even dream of like you. And I can't anticipate the glories of heaven.

Now nobody knows how many millions died. All we know is that only two out of the whole mob at least the older one went into the promised land. I think the church is stuck now between between Egypt and the promised land.

She stuck between the resurrection and the upper room. We're afraid to enter into that land now sometimes I think sometimes that we we we mess up this idea of being filled with a spirit as though once you get filled with a spirit that ends all your problems it does end them.

It's the beginning end. Somebody asked the pastor one day. Have you a real Pentecostal church. He said yeah. I pass a real Pentecost. How do you know. He said of all the problems they had. Well you're not going to avoid problems.

They'd lots of problems. As soon as they got into the fullness of the blessing. Many of them had to go to jail. These people got out of the promised land the hazel and flowing with milk and honey. And they didn't make it.

You ever not not long ago you remember about three or four years ago there's a marvelous play on TV. It drew more crowds than any other roots. And it certainly was very fascinating. It opened a lot of wounds.

Surely enough about slavery. And what have you got that somebody asked Alex Haley fairly recently. Now you you became a wealthy man. You you put on that amazing show in roots. Do you have any ambitions.

What's your next goal. And quite kind of laconically without you know you know. So give me a few minutes to think about this immediately. He responded with this before I die. I want to know why I've lived.

That's pretty smart isn't it. Are we here to come the earth. Are we Christians just here between the womb and the tomb to live and do your best and live in a bigger house get a bigger car and some father.

Or are we here to live the kingdom of God on earth. Are we waiting to go to heaven. Or as I was gonna say Shakespeare not Shakespeare but Spurgeon said a little faith will will get you to heaven. A little more faith will bring heaven to you.

Now all these idealists sure Fabians they they scorn the Bible. They said we don't need the Bible. We don't need Jesus Christ. We can revolutionize society by well what they call intellectual and biological problems or methods.

Put the weak out you know. And get stronger people physically get stronger people mentally. They didn't talk about repentance and forgiveness. They talked about the adequacy of materialism the adequacy of materialism and the sufficiency of man.

That was two years before World War one. Then World War came and messed everything. It was the war to end wars. Remember there's never going to be another one after it. The adequacy of materialism the sufficiency of man the inevitability of progress.

They were saying two years before World War one. We're not beasts. Well we've really advanced now. Haven't we. We are the only generation that can barbecue a whole city in 60 seconds. And many of you are blessed in the fact that you've never been in a war.

Some of you may be older men went to war in Europe. But America's never had a war not on her own territory. She'll have one sure enough. You see it may be on TV screens. And it's pretty horrible. I went through two world wars.

It's worse than horrible. Wake up in the morning your neighborhood's gone. Go down the street. There's a baby's head in that tree and there's somebody's legs here. And there's a piano here and somebody crushed under it.

And the streets are running with blood and smell of burning human flesh. And what if all the hellishness that comes out of war. And we don't get better. We get worse. We're the most cruel generation. As an ungodly man said we're the most cruel generation this world has ever known another one.

Tonio says the dance of death goes on round about us endlessly. Somebody else says it's not micro microbes and so forth. That's the danger to mankind. It's man himself all. Because of what. Because we rejected the Prince of Peace.

We'll never have another world war. Two years after they said it we had one 1939. At 1919 war ended. There was a peace pact. Peace pact. Remember it was a it was an armistice. It wasn't an end of war.

It was an agreement to lie down and lick our wounds till we could get strong enough to fight again. And 1919 passed. And the end of World War one. We came to World War two in 1939 20 years in which the church had the greatest opportunity since Pentecost in my judgment.

And again we muffed the whole thing. Fumble the ball. 1939 came more cruel than ever with all the devilry. HG Wells wasn't quite as smart now. He had written his world his book world history. He'd written his book crux and Sartre got him into trouble with the Roman Church.

But at the end of World War two the man who said that the millennium is around the corner without Jesus Christ. The man who talked about the inevitable of the inevitability of progress and a sufficient sufficiency of man and the adequacy of materialism at the end of World War two he's saying my he wrote a book called mind at the end of its tether.

And he says there is no hope for the human race. There's something corrupt in man. Pity didn't find that out a bit earlier. The founder of socialism in England whose name escapes me for a moment. But one of the men who was in with the Fabian socialists actually 30 years after he given his life to socialism he said if God would give me my time back I would have stayed in the Methodist Church and I would have become a preacher.

And I'd like to become a preacher though it's rather late. You see the idea of lifting humanity was born in prayer meetings. It wasn't born in taverns. And by the way atom bombs were not conceived in prayer meetings and they kept.

Because men get more intellectual they don't get more spiritual by by far saying that to say this again that we rejected the Prince of Peace the greatest sermon ever preached the summon on the mount is not only too difficult for the world.

It's too difficult for the church. We stumble over it. It's too demanding for us. And that is the only answer to our individual. Peace to a peace in the home peace in the city peace in the world. All right.

You don't look too happy. So let's change it a bit here by faith. Moses when he was born. Well Moses. Jesus had tribulation. The early church had tribulation. Joseph has tribulation. Three Hebrew children have tribulation.

This little fellow is born in the midst of the tribulation. Now again Christianity was not born. It was not served up to the world on a silver platter. Christianity was born in a sophisticated totalitarian society.

Moses was born in a slave camp. Jesus was born in a slave state. The order of the government in the days of Moses was this. If your child is a male it must be handed to the government. And the government will destroy it.

They throw it in the river or something. Now what did the parents of Moses do. Well you obey the government. Don't. You doesn't Roman say you obey the government. You only obey the government when it doesn't contradict the Word of God.

We don't think much of our boy. If your boy wants to go to the mission field you'll lay almost every reason why I shouldn't go. You know you know you've got this weakness and you've got that. And you've got something else.

And beside I won't see you. Maybe for 10 years. My boy went to the mission field. I didn't see him for 15 years. I got three boys on three different fields. We've met together once in about 17 years for a family reunion.

Don't make maybe never happen again. I rejoice in it. They could have gone to a battlefield and died. They've gone to the mission field. They still live. Oh but if my daughter's going to the mission I mean you know she she went to the Juilliard School of Music and she's a first-class violinist.

Well I don't remember any crowns in Revelation for first-class violinist. Let me just look at many hands. See. No there's no crowns for first-class violinist. There are crowns for martyrs. There are crowns for people who suffer and sacrifice.

But again the order is here is a child. He's a male child and it says that at three months three months. When he was three months old he was pretty vocal. Either going to be a preacher or an auctioneer or something.

He shouted and he disturbed that. And the parents said this is dangerous. Now we said the other day that faith does three things. Faith reckons and faith risks and faith rests. One chapter is given to faith resting.

There remaineth a rest for the people of God. And nearly everybody even Baxter has referred that to to eternity. That one day we're going to quit everything and we're going to rest. Well I don't think we're going to rest forever and ever.

It says his servant shall serve him. And I think there's a lot of things we're going to do in heaven. Where is heaven. Well right now it's called Fort Worth and Dallas. Well aren't we going to live on a cloud.

Not. According to the scripture there's a new heaven and a new earth and we shall reign on the earth. God never destroys anything. He's going to purify the earth make it a new garden of Eden. And we're going to reign on the earth.

You'll be able to go to into eternity for the weekend. Maybe if you want. But there's an undreamed of glory that God has reserved for them that love him and it's never going to pass away. It's not for the weekend.

Now here is this. And because they saw he was a proper child they were not afraid of the king's commandment. So faith what it reckons that God is as we say Hebrews 11 6 is a key to the whole thing. He that cometh to God without faith it is impossible to please God.

So obviously with faith you can please God. Without faith it is impossible to please God. And he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. So they say hey we've got our little treasure.

This child was born of prayer. This child is given to God. Are we going to feed the crocodiles with him. No. But the government said hand him over. Now I say we don't think of anything. If your boy wants to go to that doesn't wants to go to mission field or your child.

Very often you say now look I want to remind you of this and remind you of that remind you of the other I've trained you. I wanted you to take the business over. I I've. You've some reason why shouldn't go.

But if he doesn't want to go to the battlefield you'll push him and say oh don't refuse that because you bring shame on it. Now supposing the government did what I understand happened in the days of Hitler.

He said every girl married or single must bear a child. And so girls 16 years and so forth were shipped off and they became pregnant and they came back and they yielded a child for the fatherland. Would you yield your daughter like that very easily.

She's dragged out of your arms screaming and you say darling don't worry. You're going to bear a baby for the government. Would you like it. We think that's gross immorality. But we don't think killing is gross immorality.

Even Spurgeon said I've got to get Baptist backing here. See Spurgeon said that that no man of God should kill another under any circumstances. Now that you think that's getting into politics. Or is it is it getting into morality.

Is it saying that we are different from other people in the world anyhow. Okay here's the baby in question. Faith what reckons. Faith risks. Faith rests. God created what. For six days. And then the seventh day he rested could I suggest to you is still resting.

He's never made a thing since then. He finished all his work. And we're to enter into his rest. Not when we die. Even now. What was the first sermon of Jesus. Matthew 11 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

There you are. Wait a minute. Then you cross the bridge to the second half of the text. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me and you shall find rest. But why do you need to find rest. If you've got rest.

Well you've got rest here from fear of judgment and fear of death and fear of sin and fear of man. At least you should do if you got saved. Right. But there still remaineth a rest for the people of God.

Less we called it that blessed rest from inbred sin. Not me. Not only comfortable because my past is forgiven. But getting this monster of self-control or carnality or the old man call it what you like that getting all the works purified so that the rest of God the peace of God which passeth all understanding and all misunderstanding can abide in it.

I wonder if your neighbors see you as fretful and worried and anxious as they are. They ought not to. They ought to see a difference. When my mother died I was away. I'd married and I was far away. When I came back the whole neighborhood people would stop me and say the Queen of the neighborhood has died.

Your mother had a peace had a serenity. When she walked down the street there was something about her. Well I'm glad of that. I'd known that for years. I'm glad of a godly mother. I'm glad she wasn't running to coffee breaks every other morning and sitting around gossiping which often they are.

Coffee breaks might be good. I don't know. But I never came in and found her watching TV because it didn't exist then. But whenever I came in the house she was singing something blessed assurance or take time to be holy or something of that caliber.

You can. Never never. Some of you you remember the influence of your home. Why. One of the miracles of the house was to go in and hmm mother's baking bread. Your children never had that miracle. You women don't know how to make it anyhow.

But anyhow many of you couldn't make a loaf of bread. If you tried it would be like a slab of concrete. I'm sure when you finished it. But all those blessings have gone. You see they they look old-fashioned.

Oh there's something so lovely about the old-fashioned home. I don't know. Mothers got through those days. I don't know women do today end of Monday. They're dead tired. Pressing button. You know. Put it in to wash.

Spin dry. Put it in here to dry pepper. Bring it out. No ironing sheets that don't need ironing shirts that don't need that. What do you do with your time. You take time to be holy. Speak off with I Lord what is it.

I'm getting time. Made us more spiritual. A lady took us into a place a while ago. And the man had about four. Tell me about four hundred clocks. Oh I like clock. He had every kind of clock. Grandfathers grandmothers grandchildren.

And alarm clocks. Of every kind. Electric clocks. Quartz clocks. What does he got. Marvelous. And as we came out the lady said. Well isn't that a wonderful day. Hasn't. He got a lot of clocks. And I said.

Suddenly I realized something. She said what I said. He's got more clocks than anybody I've seen. But he has no more time than I have my goodness. If you've got more time by I'd have my house. I'd have every wall covered with clocks.

And the ceiling as well. If it gave you more time it doesn't time. This precious thing that we have. What do we do with it. Hmm. Only one life to assume the past. Only what's done for God will last. But that's not what the point wrote.

The point wrote. Only one life to assume the past. Only what's done for God will last. And when I am dying how glad I shall be if the lamp of my life has been burned out for thee. Now don't you get the idea at all.

Christians die happy. They don't a lot die miserable. Oh I do wish the Lord would heal me and let me live a bit like I'll be. You said that after your surgery. You said if ever I get on my feet again.

I won't say too much on my feet. I'll get on my knees. I won't read the news so much. I'll read books. I write a books. I read the Bible. I won't watch TV. I'll take time to behold it. But it's all dissipated.

Lots of people die with regrets. If only if only if only if I could get my time back. What I would do if I could have the money I wasted. What I'd do. It's the only one life. Well here's little Moses.

He's got nothing to say about his life. His mother and father should give him to the government instead. Faith what reckons. Risks and rests. She makes a little basket and she puts a little fellow in it.

And she sends a treasure to the Nile and pushes the little baby out. No no no no. The stream would have carried it away but she had it wedged there in the in the rushes. What does faith do. It reckons and it risks.

Faces risk. How do you know a crocodile won't come and eat it. Take it for lunch before the little girls left it or after she's left it. How do you know the wind won't blow the lid off the thing and a little child be scorched barbecued in the heat of the Sun.

What about somebody coming and stealing it. What about a flash flood to take it away it. Faith reckons. Faith risks. He is faithful. He's just it's out of my hands. It's in God's hands. It's safer in his hands and my hands.

I can't see it. He can't forget it. I don't know where the child is. He knows where the child is all the time. And the child is there secure. It's in a little little basket. And here comes along the princess comes down to bathe and says hey what's in there.

Open it. Oh it's a baby. Oh bring it here. What did you say. Oh look at this gorgeous baby. It's a child of the Hebrews drown it. You should have done that for the daddy's day. But the scripture says that the heart of the king is in the hand of God.

And she's a pagan. And she knows her father's terrified of the rising power of the Jews because they've been in captivity all those years and they become very strong. Is it fade that there's somehow they'll override the country and get rid of all the male children.

What are you gonna do with the baby. She says. Take this child and nurse it for me. She says that to the mother. When the little girl comes along Moses sister and says would you like somebody to take care.

She said yes. I really would somebody who could really really breastfeed that baby. You know that's what they used to do. That's the best way. That's it. That's the real way. That's God's way. Women get smarter than that.

We feed them on cows milk and then wonder why did they become little beasts. But anyhow she fed the child. What did the princess say. If ever I dedicate children which isn't very often. They won't take the risk.

But anyhow if I dedicate children I always quote this scripture take this child and nurse it for me and I will give thee thy wages. The first day I was born my mind was you know quite fuddled that day.

I couldn't remember clearly. But the first day I was born my mother put a hand on me in bed and said make this boy a preacher or don't let him live. Glad I didn't hear it. I'd have been scared I'm sure.

But from from my birth or pre-birth my mother prayed over me as I said the other day this woman this woman that's in the country now she I don't know. She looks a foreigner. She's married to an American.

She has four girls who are all in the genius class. Well how is it. What's the biological secret. Or what's some other thing psychological. Nothing to it she said. As soon as I found I was pregnant I read to them the classics I play played to them the classics.

I read psychology to them. I read history to them. As soon as the youngsters around the girls only 14 she takes the entrance exam to university and sweeps through like that the other three girls are in the same same classification.

Believe it or not. Well but it would go in Ripley's. Believe it or not. Maybe. But the fact is she's raised four children who are geniuses and says it's because from the first day she knew she was carrying a child.

She read to the child. She talked to the child. She instructed the child. She explained the music to the child. She read philosophy. She read history. Rather wonderful. Well if they don't have that if some of your women were not as smart as that the fact is you've got them.

Now what do you do with them. What's the atmosphere like. And I like to rub this into men. If you've got children you should whether you have or not you should be the king in the home and you should be the priest in the home.

And every day that Bible should come out and you should instruct them. You shouldn't leave it to the school even if it's a Christian school. But some of the Christian schools are not too Christian right now.

It's your responsibility. Even grandparents. I'm a grandparent. I'd spoil some of my children but I know this if I spoil them when they're spoiled and they're away with their parents. It's no good saying the parent that grandparents spoil them.

They say the parents don't know how to control them. Well he didn't come for instruction on children. I'm sure. But here's Moses here is in this basket. And then he's taken by the to the castle and you see what God does.