(Hebrews) ch.11:23-12:4 — Zac Poonen

Moses’s Parents and the Influence of Faith

We turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 23. By faith Moses when he was born was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

Here we read of the fate of parents and how it can affect the children. This is a great truth that we find in the New Testament that parents have an influence over their children even where one parent is a believer.

We are told in 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 14 that the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. This doesn't mean that the unbelieving partner becomes a child of God but there's a sense in which God's sanctifying grace has an influence upon that partner because of the faith of the other partner and not only on the other partner but also on the children for it says otherwise your children are unclean but now they are holy in the sense of being set apart.

Not that those children have become children of God. They need to grow up and put their trust in God themselves and be born again but the fact that one of the parents is a believer, one of the parents is a child of God receiving God's grace makes a tremendous difference to what that child can receive.

And so we find here in the example of Moses' parents also. It's true that all parents would like their children to be protected and even in Egypt when there was this order given by the king that we read of in Exodus 1 that all male babies of the Israelis should be killed.

Parents of Moses, when they saw that Moses was a good child, they by faith hid him. They had a conviction that God was going to protect this child. It wasn't just an act of parental love. It was more than that.

We read very clearly it was by faith that they hid him for three months. And so it is when we act in faith as parents that we can have an influence upon our children. Why is it very often these days that children of believers grow up in worldly ways?

The answer is very clear and simple for all who will accept the testimony of Scripture. It's very obvious that in the vast majority of cases the parents have not lived and acted in faith. They have acted in unbelief.

They may have believed certain doctrines and gone to church but they have lived in unbelief as it were, not separated from the world, not having the characteristics that we studied in previous weeks concerning these men of God described in Hebrews 11.

And so the children grow up without faith too. But Moses' parents had faith and that faith gradually came into Moses. Moses' mother looked after Moses in the early years and instilled that faith into her child.

And this is what enabled Moses when he grew up to take certain decisions on the basis of faith himself. And this is what we need to learn as well, dear friends, that we need to walk in faith not only for our own sake but for the sake of others around us, children in our own families, our spiritual children in the church and others who may be looking at us.

We can have an influence on them for good if we will walk in faith ourselves. For we read that because his parents acted in faith like this, when Moses grew up, verse 24, when he had grown up, he also stood on the ground of faith.

It's so clear that that faith came to him because he'd seen that faith in his parents, in his mother particularly who was looking after him. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Moses Rejects Honor, Pleasure, and Wealth

And in those three verses we find that Moses took a decision on the basis of faith. He refused honor. He refused pleasure. And he refused wealth. There are three things we see here in these three verses.

First of all, honor. To be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter was the greatest honor that any human being on earth could have had at that particular time from a worldly standpoint. Pharaoh was the greatest king of the earth and to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter meant that you were in line for the throne.

But he refused the greatest honor that any mortal man could have had at that time from a worldly standpoint. Secondly, verse 25, he refused the temporary passing pleasures of sin. He knew that the pleasures of sin were only for a season.

The Bible teaches very clearly that sin does bring pleasure. And you and I know that from our experience. That we have sinned because it has brought us pleasure. There's pleasure in love. There's pleasure in the love of money.

There's pleasure in keeping a bitterness in our heart against someone. But the Bible also says that that pleasure is only temporary. It's only for a season. It's a passing pleasure. Finally, it kills us.

That's the foolishness of seeking the pleasure of sin. And Moses knew that. That it was only a passing pleasure. And so, like a wise man, he gave it up. Therein we see his faith. He gave up pleasure. And thirdly, he gave up the treasures, the wealth of this world.

In verse 26, he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. He gave up riches, the love of material things. He forsook wealth. There we have the three things that draw people to the world today.

Honor, pleasure, and wealth. And the man of faith will follow in the footsteps of Moses, refusing honor, refusing pleasure, refusing wealth. These are the three areas where many, many Christians have fallen.

Dear friend, if you want to know whether you're worldly or not, examine yourself in these three areas. If you want to know whether you're a man of faith or not, whether you're living by faith or not, you can examine yourself in these three areas.

What is your attitude to honor? Do you seek for honor? Do you seek for that which will exalt you above your fellow men, perhaps your fellow believers in the church? Do you seek for positions of honor, perhaps not in the world, but perhaps in Christian circles?

If you seek for honor and bigness and position in Christian circles, you are certainly not living by faith. You may have a doctrinal conviction concerning certain truths, but you don't have the faith that Moses had who refused honor, knowing that honor was a temporary thing, knowing that honor was empty.

Here is one area where it's really worthwhile for us to examine ourselves constantly because many, many Christians have fallen a prey to this temptation. Jesus was tempted with honor and he refused it.

He was asked to jump from the pinnacle of the temple and to get honor for himself as one who could land unhurt at the bottom. He refused it. Check whether you are drawn by the temptation to pleasure. Jesus was tempted with pleasure to satisfy his hunger, but he said no.

Moses said no. And when the pleasures of sin draw us do we respond and give in. Then we know whether we are living by faith or not. And the third area, are we drawn by wealth, by material things? Jesus too was tempted thirdly with the glory of the world and all that this world had to offer.

And he said no. He refused it. Moses refused it. Jesus lived by faith. Moses lived by faith. And we are called to live by faith. And here are the three specific areas where the Bible calls us by the example of Jesus, by the example of Moses, and all these other men, to refuse the wealth, the honor, and the pleasures of this world, knowing that they are temporary, knowing that they bring death in the end, and to choose affliction with the people of God, and to choose the reproach of Christ, for these are greater riches.

Moses’s Fearless Faith and Obedience to Revelation

We turn now to Hebrews, and chapter 11, and we have seen last week, concerning the decision that Moses took when he had come to age. Verse 24. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

And this is the mark of the man of faith. He looks forward for a heavenly reward. He wants nothing on this earth for himself. Verse 27. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

Now, the thing that we notice in all these verses is that faith led Moses to take a decision. It was a decision that led Eve into sin in the Garden of Eden. God has made us creatures of free will. Without free will, we could never be children of God.

We would be reduced to something the equivalent of a tree or a table or a chair that is unable to take any decisions, and therefore unable to commit sin, at the same time, unable to be holy. There are many people who ask this question.

Why did God not make man in such a way that he could not sin? If God had done that, then man would have been like a chair, some inanimate object. A chair can never commit sin, true, but then a chair cannot be holy either.

And God desired men to be holy, to partake of his nature. And the only way that man could partake of God's nature is by being created as a moral being with freedom of choice to choose whether he wants to serve God or whether he wants to live for himself and serve the devil.

And that free will, God never takes away from man. And it's through the exercise of that will that we become sinners or saints. The Holy Spirit comes to strengthen us within, to will the will of God, to deny our own will.

This is why we need to receive the Holy Spirit, to be strengthened within, to deny our own will, and to do the will of the Father. Moses, strengthened by God, made a decision by faith. Refusing the pleasures of sin.

It's the opposite of the decision that Eve took in the Garden of Eden. Refusing honor and wealth. Like Daniel in Babylon, who determined not to defile himself. He took a decision by faith, we read in Daniel 1 .8.

Same way Moses took a decision. And by faith, we read further in verse 27, that he forsook Egypt. He left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. And that king was the greatest king in all the world.

Faith makes a man fearless of the greatest powers in the world. It's a tremendous thing to be a man of faith. To be a man of faith means to walk in the footsteps of these men, who walked with their heads held high like Moses, denying the pleasures of sin, refusing the wealth of this world, rejecting honor, and living without fear of the greatest powers of earth.

Because they had seen him who was unseen. They had seen the living God. And like it says in Isaiah 8 .13, as paraphrased in the Living Bible, Isaiah 8 .13, if you fear God, you need fear nothing else.

That was true concerning Moses. He feared God, and so he did not fear Pharaoh or anyone else. He did not fear the wrath of the king. As long as there is fear in our hearts, John says we are not perfected in love.

1 John chapter 4. But it's also true that we don't have faith. Because when there is faith in the eternal almighty God, there is no fear in the heart of the man of faith. We can endure, despite all the threats and persecution of unbelievers, if we are walking by faith.

Because we endure as seeing the one who is invisible. In verse 28 we read,. By faith Moses kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood in Egypt, so that he who destroyed the firstborn might not touch them.

Now keeping the Passover was not Moses' own brilliant idea. It was God who told Moses what to do. And it was God who told Moses to take a lamb and to tell the Israelites to shed the blood and to put it on the doorposts.

And Moses' faith was seen in obeying that revelation of God. We see exactly the same thing in verse 29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea. It was not Moses' brilliant idea to split open the Red Sea and go through.

He didn't know what to do. But God told him what to do. He had a revelation from God. Lift up your rod over the Red Sea and the sea will part. And he did it. And the sea split open. And they passed through on dry land.

And the Egyptians, when they tried to follow the Israelites, not being men of faith themselves, they were drowned. When a worldly person or a nominal Christian tries to copy the man of faith, he drowns in the very thing in which the man of faith comes out triumphant.

Don't try to copy men of faith. No, we can't copy them. We need to have the same faith that they have. Then we can copy them. There are people who have tried to live like George Muller, that great man of faith in England in the last century, and have made a miserable failure because they never had the faith themselves.

And then they have to degenerate to living by hints and by charity. There are many full-time workers who say they are living by faith today or actually living by hints and by charity because they are trying to imitate someone not having the same faith.

They make the same mistake that the Egyptians make. Moses had a revelation from God. The Egyptians had none. The same thing we see in verse 30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

There again, it was a result of a revelation. It wasn't Joshua's idea to go around the walls of Jericho and to see it fall down by itself. No, God had spoken, saying, You do this. And all they did was act on the revelation of God.

They had no brilliant idea to conquer Jericho. And so we see that in all these steps we find faith was the result of obedience to God's revelation. Faith was not the result of their own thinking of something brilliant to do.

We read in verse 31, By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient after she had welcomed the spies. With all these people, it was faith that brought them to salvation.

Rahab was saved by faith. Moses and the Israelites were saved out of Egypt by faith. Joshua was saved from being exterminated by the giants of Jericho by faith. All these people were saved by faith. And so, even in the Old Testament, salvation was by faith even from physical danger and from physical oppression.

But looking at these verses, verse 27, 28, 29, and 30, we find in every case, faith involved obedience to God's revelation. Who was it, verse 27, who told Moses to leave Egypt? God. Who was it who told him to keep the Passover?

God. Who was it who told him to go through the Red Sea? God. Who was it who told Joshua to go around the walls of Jericho? God. And so we find that faith is not just a question of thinking something brilliant to do in our own mind and then going ahead and doing something stupid and believing that God will protect us.

No. If Jesus had jumped off the pinnacle, expecting God to protect him, nothing would have happened. No. Faith means acting on God's revelation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Faith is not imagination.

Faith is not trying to work up belief that God will do something if we believe hard enough. No. Faith is always based on a clear revelation in the Word. If you don't have a clear revelation in the Word, if you have not heard God speak, then you cannot have faith.

Let's learn this lesson very clearly. Faith is always, always founded, first of all, on God's revelation. We turn now to Hebrews, and chapter 11, and verse 32. The apostle has spoken about some of the great men of God in the Old Testament who walked by faith, obeyed God by faith, and accomplished great things for God and His people.

Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, etc. And now he thinks of the many, many others who were there in Old Testament times. And he says concerning them, What more shall I say?

Verse 32. For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection, and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection, and so on.

There are many of these people in the Old Testament, all descendants of Abraham, who walked in the steps of their forefather Abraham, and thereby God's promise to Abraham was fulfilled when God told him that your seed will be as innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.

His physical seed, which is symbolized by the sand on the earth, was in great numbers. This man, who thought he couldn't have any more children after Ishmael, found after he had become impotent, having Isaac, and from Isaac so many others that we've read of in this chapter, and time would fail to tell of all the others, it says.

But God's promise to Abraham was not only that he would have seed like the sand on the seashore, but also like the stars of the heaven in number, and that could refer to his spiritual seed. Abraham had physical seed as well as spiritual seed.

Those who in Old Testament times lived by faith and who in New Testament times lived by faith who have no physical generation coming from Abraham, but who have a spiritual generation having the same faith that Abraham had.

And so Abraham had seed not only like the sand by the seashore, physical seed, but also like the stars of the heaven in multitude, spiritual seed. And time would fail, the apostle says, to speak about all these men, Gideon, who conquered the Midianites by faith.

He had an army of 32 ,000, but God said that was too much. Reduce that army to 300 and said, now you go and fight the Midianites because now you'll have to depend upon Me. The principle is the same. As long as you have strength, as long as you have an army of 32 ,000, you'll tend to depend upon that.

But when you don't have that, then you will depend upon Me. And in every situation, God seeks, dear friends, not to increase us, but to reduce us. Not to make us strong, but to make us weak. Because it's only when we are weak that we can have faith in God and thus become really strong.

God doesn't seek to make us clever, but to show us how stupid we are. Then we will lean upon God's wisdom. The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, if any man would be wise, let him first of all become a fool.

1 Corinthians 3 .18. Then he can become truly wise. The same way concerning strength. He says concerning his own experience. 2 Corinthians 12 .10. When I am weak, then I am strong. It is through weakness, through our human inability, that God can make us strong.

It is through our human stupidity that God can make us wise. The wisdom of the world is revealed not to the clever and the wise, as Jesus said in Matthew 11 .25, but to the children. The same principle in the Old Testament.

Gideon's army has to be reduced from 32 ,000 to 300 before God can use him. Then he went out without any sword, but just blowing the trumpet, trusting in God, exposing the light in the earthen vessel, and the enemy was defeated.

Do we see the lesson there? We have a treasure in an earthen vessel. As that vessel is broken, and we confess our faith in God, the enemy will be defeated. Not by human power, or by human might, but by the Holy Spirit, says the Lord.

And in an age where the world around us thinks that man is capable of many things, having gone up to the moon and conquered space, we need to remember, dear friends, that the only way we can walk by faith is if we come to an end of ourselves, an end of confidence in human ability, and a total confidence that through God's power I can do all things.

Faith has two words written on either side of its coin. On one side, John 15, verse 5. Without me, you can do nothing. And on the other side of the coin are the words of Philippians 4 .13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Here is a way by which you can test whether you have faith. Can you honestly say, deep down from your heart, Lord, I acknowledge, without you I can do nothing, and I'm never going to try to do anything without you.

And at the same time, if you stop there, you don't have faith, and you only have discouragement. But if you can go on to say what it says in Philippians 4 .13, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

God is working within me to do and to will His good pleasure. Yes, that is the mark of the man of faith. Barak, who overcame the enemy by faith. Samson, who had his mighty physical strength by faith, teaching us that even the strength of our bodies comes through faith.

It's through faith that we can have healing in our bodies. God gave supernatural physical power to Samson. Jephthah, who overcame the enemy by faith. David, who accomplished all those great things that he accomplished by faith.

As a shepherd boy, he slew a lion and a bear. And as a young man, he slew the giant Goliath. Not by human strength, not by his own wisdom or strategy, but by faith. Samuel and the prophets. Think of the great leadership that Samuel gave to Israel.

It was not through his own ability or cleverness. As a little boy, he heard the voice of God. We said earlier that faith is based on revelation, on hearing God's voice. The first step to faith is a total lack of confidence in self and a humble dependence upon God with great eagerness to hear what He has to say to us through His word.

Then through hearing comes faith. Samuel and all the other prophets, Daniel and many others, who by faith conquered kingdoms. Whereas in the rest of the world people conquered kingdoms by the might of their armies, here were those who conquered kingdoms by faith, by simple dependence upon God.

We read in 2 Chronicles and chapter 14 about King Esau, who trusted in God and cried out to God and trusted in Him and God defeated His enemies. We read in 2 Chronicles 20 of Jehoshaphat, another king of Judah, who in his weakness trusted upon God.

He said in 2 Chronicles 20 and verse 12, Lord God, I don't have the strength to overcome these enemies. I don't have the wisdom to overcome these enemies, but I trust in You. Our eyes are upon You and God slew the enemies.

And so they conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness. They walked in righteousness by faith. They obtained the promises by faith. There are many promises in the Bible. They cannot be obtained apart from faith.

Shut the mouths of lions. Daniel dropped in the lion's den, had no fear because he trusted in God and the mouths of those hungry lions were shut. They quenched the power of fire. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked through that fire that Nebuchadnezzar put them in.

And they came out unhurt because they trusted in God and they testified that they trusted in God. Escaped the edge of the sword. From weakness were made strong. Became mighty in war. Put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back that dead by resurrection. Think of that woman whose son was raised up by Elijah. Another woman whose son was raised up by Elisha. All these people received what they received by faith.

Think of the mighty possibilities that there are in faith. This is what the apostle is trying to show us. And know that our vision would be enlarged to see that truly as Jesus said, to him that believeth nothing is impossible.

Faith Endures Suffering and Defeat

We turn again to Hebrews chapter 11. We come now to verse 35. We have looked at the various men of God in the Old Testament who manifested faith in varying situations. And as I said before, faith manifested itself in different varieties of situations.

And here in verses 32 to 35, the apostle speaks of some of the outstanding achievements of faith. And we see here men who risked their lives and overcame kingdoms and were made mighty in war like some of David's mighty men.

Shut the mouths of lions and many other things at great risk to their own life. One of the things we see and learn through that is that faith can be exercised only by people who have no love for themselves or for their own lives.

Jesus said he who loves his life will lose it. Those who love their lives and are always seeking to protect it and watch over it and take care of it will ultimately lose it. But Jesus said those who are willing to lose their life for his sake and for the gospels will finally keep it.

And this is true wisdom. The man of faith is one who is willing to throw away his life. Not only his physical life but his ego, his soul life. He is willing to give it up and throw it away and die inwardly and physically so that God may be glorified.

We see here that faith could really be exercised only by unselfish people who were devoted to God's cause and to the cause of his people. And so when we ask ourselves whether we are men of faith we need to ask ourselves this question.

Am I in my life unselfishly devoted to the cause of God and to the cause of his people? The infection that we have received from Adam is the infection the deadly infection of self-centeredness. Dear friend, whether you know it or not all of us are basically centered in ourselves and selfish.

We think of our own gain in every circumstance. Even when we become Christians and we are born again we don't get rid of this selfishness. We don't get rid of this self-centeredness. The flesh is very much with us and that infection that's come through Adam is very much in our flesh.

But we can conquer it. God gives us his spirit so that we can conquer and overcome this infection of selfishness that there is in our flesh. And thus we can walk in victory over self-centeredness. And by faith we can unselfishly give ourselves to God's glory and to the good of his people.

That's how Jesus lived. Jesus never sought anything for himself. That's one of the clearest marks of a man of faith. That's why these people could conquer kingdoms, obtain promises, shut the mouths of lions, quench the power of fire.

They did not live unto themselves. And if this was true under the old covenant this is the thing that should strike us as we read Hebrews chapter 11. If these mighty things could be possible under the old covenant how much more under the new covenant which we have already seen in the book of Hebrews is established upon better promises.

The promises of the new covenant are not inferior. And reading through the list of men and what they accomplished in Hebrews chapter 11 should put you and me to shame to think of how little comes through our life.

We don't have to necessarily pull down walls of Jericho or shut the mouths of lions in order to manifest our faith. There are many manifestations of faith and we read some of them here. Some of them look very impressive in the eyes of men, shutting the mouths of lions quenching the power of fire, verse 34 receiving the dead back in resurrection.

But then along with them are listed others, verse 35, the middle of verse 35 who won their victory by being defeated as it were humanly speaking. There was victory that came in the guise of defeat. And so we find that faith not only achieves but also endures as we read in verse 35 others were tortured not accepting their release.

Their faith was manifested in the fact that they endured until the end and they were slain and they died. They did not get resurrected. They did not escape the edge of the sword as we read in verse 34.

These people received the sword and they died in order to obtain a better resurrection when Christ comes back in glory. In verse 36 others experienced mockings and scourgings. They could not escape from their enemies.

They were caught by their enemies mocked and scourged and put in chains and imprisoned. But that could not take away their faith. They manifested their faith not by opening the prison doors as Peter did or Paul did, but suffering in prison like James the Apostle did who was slain with the sword.

We read in Acts chapter 12 that James and Peter the two apostles were locked up by Herod. James was killed and Peter came out through open prison doors. That did not mean that Peter's faith was more than James's.

They both had faith. One manifested in his faith by enduring until the end and the other manifested his faith by coming out of the open prison door. And so we read here of some who were imprisoned and chained.

We read in verse 37 of some who were stoned and sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with the sword in direct contrast to what we read in verse 34 of those who escaped the edge of the sword.

And so both people manifested their faith. There were people we read in the middle of verse 37 who went about in sheep skins in goat skins. They didn't have proper clothing. They didn't sit in a royal palace like Joseph or David.

No. God's will for everybody is not the same. We read that God's will for Joseph was that he should rule in Egypt as the ruler next to Pharaoh. So God took him to Egypt. But God's will for Moses was completely different.

By faith, Moses forsook Egypt. God's will for David was that he should rule upon the throne as a king. God's will for Elijah was that he should go and hide in a cave, persecuted, misunderstood. God's will for some people has been that they should accomplish great mighty miracles even raising people from the dead.

But God's will for other people has been that they should be persecuted like we read of the prophet Zechariah who was slain in the temple. Jesus spoke of him. Abel who never accomplished anything great.

The first one in this list. But who died in faith. And so faith not only achieves but faith endures as we see here. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated, men of whom this world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

Then we read these magnificent words in verse 39. And all these having gained approval through their faith. Faith is not only manifested in escaping the edge of the sword but in being slain by the sword and refusing to give up our convictions concerning God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul manifested his faith not only by raising dead Eutychus, not only by casting out devils, but also by refusing to give up his faith when his head was on the executioner's block under Nero's orders in Rome.

So faith is not only manifested in magnificent achievements that impress the world but also in endurance. And I want to say this that it's easy to believe in God when God does a miracle. It's easy to believe in God when you've seen someone raised from the dead.

It's more difficult to believe in God when you're wandering in sheepskins and goatskins, hiding in the deserts and in the caves. And there is a greater manifestation of faith when things are not going well and according to your desire.

But all these people, the ones who achieved and the ones who endured gained their approval through their faith. Not through what they did, not through splitting the Red Sea or raising the dead, but through their faith.

In their faith, they were all the same. In what they did, there was a difference. But in their faith, they were all the same. But yet, they did not receive all that was promised. They could not come under the new covenant because God has provided something better for us so that apart from us, they should not be made perfect.

Think of this privilege, dear friends, that we have been called to something better than these men received, to come into a life of victory, to partake of God's nature, to be part of the very Bride of Christ.

May God help us to be faithful to our calling. Faith can be exercised only by people who have no love for themselves or for their own lives. Jesus said, he who loves his life will lose it. Those who love their lives and are always seeking to protect it and watch over it and take care of it will ultimately lose it.

But Jesus said, those who are willing to lose their life for his sake and for the Gospels will finally keep it. This is true wisdom. The man of faith is one who is willing to throw away his life, not only his physical life, but his ego, his soul life.

He is willing to give it up and throw it away and die inwardly and physically so that God may be glorified. We see here that faith could really be exercised only by unselfish people who were devoted to God's cause and to the cause of His people.

And so when we ask ourselves whether we are men of faith, we need to ask ourselves this question. Am I in my life unselfishly devoted to the cause of God and to the cause of His people? The infection that we have received from Adam is the infection, the deadly infection of self-centeredness.

Dear friend, whether you know it or not, all of us are basically centered in ourselves and selfish. We think of our own gain in every circumstance. Even when we become Christians and we are born again, we don't get rid of this selfishness.

We don't get rid of this self-centeredness. The flesh is very much with us and that infection that has come through Adam is very much in our flesh. But we can conquer it. God gives us His Spirit so that we can conquer and overcome this infection of selfishness that there is in our flesh.