WWUTT 1867 By Faith Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26)

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By faith Moses did not sit in the house of Pharaoh in the lap of luxury with the fleeting pleasures of sin, but he chose to suffer with the people of God when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Back to Hebrews 11 as we are going through the Hall of Faith.

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Yesterday we considered Moses' parents. Today we'll consider the life of Moses himself, beginning in verse 24 and going through verse 29 out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

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Choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.

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For he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

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By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

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By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as though they were passing through dry land.

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And the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. So we come back up to verse 24 where it says that by faith

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Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Remember what we read yesterday with regards to Moses' parents.

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This is 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.

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Now who ended up finding Moses and raising Moses in her own house?

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That was, of course, Pharaoh's daughter. So Moses was a son of Egypt for a little while, until he decided to be joined again with the people of his lineage, to be joined with the

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Hebrews, the people of God, those descendants of Abraham, to whom God had promised an inheritance.

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In verse 24, by faith Moses, when he had grown up. So we read about him as a baby in verse 23, who was hidden by his parents and raised in the house of Pharaoh's daughter.

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And when he grew up, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

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Now what a nice life that surely would have been. Growing up in the palace, growing up in the household of Pharaoh, couldn't

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Moses have lived that life and been faithful to God? Maybe. But of course, if God was calling him to something else and Moses had rejected that, instead choosing to stay in the house of Pharaoh, then he wouldn't have been pleasing

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God. So no, it was not really possible for Moses to continue in that, that upbringing and still also be an honorable man of God.

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He chose instead to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

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So wherever Moses would have been positioned there in the house of Pharaoh, say he would have lived his whole life long there in Pharaoh's house, he would have been in sin.

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He would have been enjoying and indulging in those things which are sinful, those things which are surely by their nature pagan, because Egypt was a very pagan culture full of all kinds of false gods.

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In fact, when you go through the plagues of Egypt at the beginning of the book of Exodus, each one of those plagues that come upon Egypt, all of the 10 plagues have something to do with one of the gods that the

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Egyptians worshipped. Like for example, the plague of frogs, you've probably seen a picture of one of the

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Egyptian gods with the head of a frog. With the plague of the flies, there's one of the

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Egyptian gods that has the head of a fly. You have, of course, the Nile being turned to blood.

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There was a god of the Nile and the darkening of the sun. Well, that's right in the face of the god

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Ra, who was considered like the head god in Egypt. He was the god of the sun.

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And so God has the power to darken even the sun, showing that Ra is not really a god at all and has no power over the true

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God, the one and living true God. So anyway, Moses could have continued living in Pharaoh's house all of his life long, but he would have been living in paganism.

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He would have been living in disobedience, watching those people to whom he really belonged, be persecuted by the

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Egyptians and choosing not to have anything to do with them. Instead, growing up in the lap of luxury there in Pharaoh's household.

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My friends, we try to rationalize all the time. All kinds of professing Christians will try to say,

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I can indulge in these things of this world and still honor

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God at the same time. You know, it might be something like entertainment. For example, I can watch these wicked

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TV shows and movies. Do you consider how much entertainment we enjoy that's really just being entertained by sin?

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You're watching people sinning on screen. The actors even have to sin in order to demonstrate the action or the plot or whatever it is that's going on.

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They actually have to sin with each other right there on the screen in order for you to be entertained. And you waste your time with it.

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You give your mind and your heart over to these things. And let this stuff fill your mind.

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And you think to yourself, you know, it's just entertainment. It's not a big deal in everything else. I still give honor and glory to God.

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Do you think it pleases the Lord to give your mind over to some of those things that you're watching in these

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TV shows and movies that you enjoy? And I'm not saying all of that is bad, but a great deal, especially the stuff that's being made today, a good deal of it is just being entertained by sin.

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And there's even a part of us that, you know, we kind of wish we could have that. Maybe the reason why we're entertained by it is because we fantasize, what if I, you know, just a little bit,

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I could have a little bit of that right there. What would be the harm in that? To even desire the sin is sin itself, because it's to want something that God has said he's going to judge.

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It's like Lot's wife looking back at Sodom and Gomorrah as they were burning, and she turned into a pillar of salt.

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Jesus told his disciples, remember Lot's wife, do not long for the things of this world.

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But there's so much of it, so much of the world, we try to rationalize in our heads, how much compromise?

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How much can I have a little bit of this and enjoy just a little bit of it and still keep a foot in heaven?

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The apostle Paul told the Corinthians, you cannot dine at the table of the

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Lord and at the table of demons. You can't have one foot in heaven and one foot in this world.

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James said, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

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And so we must heed the example of Moses that's given to us here.

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He chose to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

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He could have stayed there perfectly comfortable in Pharaoh's house, but however comfortable it would have been to him, it still would have been fleeting.

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The judgment of God was still going to come on Egypt and his people were going to be set free.

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Now, of course, we know ultimately in the grand scheme of things and the picture of all of this, God had ordained

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Moses for this and no one else. So of course, Moses was going to leave

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Egypt and follow God and lead Israel out of slavery and captivity in Egypt.

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Of course, that was going to happen. But God is still working through Moses, through his faith in God to accomplish his ultimate purposes.

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And we are to look at Moses as such an example that we should follow by faith.

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You know, the other thing that is mentioned here in verse 25, the other thing to consider is that the Bible actually acknowledges that sin is pleasurable.

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Of course, sin is pleasurable. We wouldn't do it if it wasn't pleasurable. But it said right here, sin is pleasurable.

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Moses chose to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

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So it says sin is pleasurable, but it also says that pleasure is passing or in some translations, fleeting.

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You know, one of the things about drug addiction, that's kind of an example or a picture to us of something.

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Drug addiction is it's a pretty good example of just about any kind of sin that we desire or indulge in something that would control our mind and our heart and even our physiology to where we feel like we physically have to have it.

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Drug addiction is a pretty good picture of that, of those those sins that control us, that we are enslaved to, because a person who is addicted to drugs, they will try a drug the first time.

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You know, whether you're talking about some sort of illegal substance, you're talking about a pain medication that they've now started to abuse and are addicted to, or you're talking about alcohol, any of these things, a person tries and they love the feeling that it gives them the buzz.

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Kind of the the absent mindedness or taking their brain or their thoughts or whatever to another place.

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They love that feeling and they always want to come back to that feeling.

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That feeling that I had the first time, that was the best feeling. How do I get that again?

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But they have to try more of it the next time in order to try to attain the feeling that they got the first time they got the substance.

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You know what I mean? And then the next time it's more and more and more. They have to take more of the drug to experience the euphoria they had when they first tried it like an alcoholic.

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They have to drink more and more alcohol because their brain becomes tolerant to her.

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Their body becomes tolerant to it. So it takes more of the substance in order to get their mind to the place that they enjoyed in the beginning when they were first drinking alcohol until this substance completely controls you and even completely destroys your body, destroying your mind, destroying your body and will ultimately take you to hell.

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If a person does not repent, that's a pretty good picture of sin. It's exactly what sin does to us.

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There's all kinds of sins that this could apply to you. Lie once, you know, just kind of a harmless lie.

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No big deal. But then to cover up that lie, you have to lie again and you lie again and again and again until maybe your own mind is even given over to it.

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You don't even realize you're lying anymore. It's just your state of thinking. It's where your mind is.

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You are not a truthful person. You don't love the truth. You love lies. Sexual immorality, when a person experiences that sexual temptation, well, they give into the temptation or they experience that immorality.

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And boy, that feels good. They try to come back to it again and again and again and again, over and over again.

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It's like trying to get back to that first feeling again, that first sense of euphoria till it requires more and more and more.

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And you get into deeper and darker and more depraved sins until God just turns you over to your own depravity and you're consumed, heaping judgment on yourself.

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I used to get caught up in serial dating. I did this in not so much in high school, but definitely a lot more in college and in my young 20s.

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So we're just jumping from relationship to relationship. And there's there's kind of that, you know, that blissful butterflies in the stomach feeling when you wonder, does this person like me?

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I like them, too. You know, maybe I can hold their hand. Wonder what that first kiss would be like and what you become addicted to is all those first experiences so that when you are in the relationship for a long time, you get bored with it.

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And since it's just, you know, a dating relationship, it's not like we're engaged. We're certainly not married. So you can just dump this person and go on to the next so you can try to experience those first feelings again.

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You're addicted to a feeling. And you are breaking hearts in the process. Now, of course, that was me in the 90s, late 90s, early 2000s anymore.

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When a person's dating, it's almost like there's an expectation to sleep with one another on the first date.

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But again, it's that it's that addiction of firsts. I loved the first kiss.

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I love the first time. And then this person you get bored with. So you drop them and you go to somebody else.

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And it's just one person after the next. It's a long string of bodies behind you. Hearts, you're breaking souls.

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You are shattering for the fleeting pleasures of sin. And you could use any number of sins fit in the same sort of a picture that I've been painting for you.

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Here's Moses living in a pagan household, nice and comfortable.

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Of course, the wrath of God was going to be coming upon that household. But Moses didn't know that he could have continued living in that lifestyle, thinking that he was safe.

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But he would have perished had he stayed there. He chose instead to be mistreated with the people of God than enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.

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And people surely would have thought he was crazy. What are you thinking, Moses? Man, you got it good.

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You've been raised in the house of Pharaoh. Instead, you're going to go join the slaves. What is the matter with you?

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How does the world think of us when they find out that we're Christians? Is that the reaction of the world?

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You're a Christian? Are you kidding me? Why would you align yourself with those people? But are we willing to regard the reproach of Christ greater than the riches and the treasures of America?

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For that's what Moses considered, according to verse 26. He regarded the reproach of Christ greater than the riches and the treasures of Egypt.

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Now, as I closed yesterday, I said, how could it be that Moses regarded the reproach of Christ when

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Jesus had not even been born yet? I mean, he wouldn't come along for another 1500 years.

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We don't even know the name Jesus Christ yet at this particular time. So how does Moses regard the reproach of Christ?

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Well, first of all, we know that Moses did know Jesus, the pre -incarnate son of God.

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He did know him. Jesus said that Moses knew him. John 5, 46, if you believed

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Moses, you would believe me, Jesus said, for he, Moses, wrote about me.

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So Moses certainly did know Christ, the pre -incarnate son of God. And when

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God's people are afflicted, Christ associates himself with that affliction.

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Remember that when Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts chapter 9, what did

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Jesus say to Paul at that time called Saul, which, of course, was his Hebrew name. But Jesus said to him,

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Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Paul has to reply, who are you,

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Lord? And Jesus says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Paul was persecuting the church, but Jesus associated himself with his people so that the persecution of his people was the same as if it was a persecution of Christ.

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And so it is the case as well with the children of Israel in Exodus. They are enslaved. They are being persecuted.

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They are disapproved of, which is really what reproach means. The Egyptians disapproved of the

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Israelites just as they hated God, just as the Pharisees hated Christ and they persecuted him.

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The apostle Paul also said in Romans 8, 17, if we are children of God, we are also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.

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If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

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And remember what Paul said to Timothy, do not be ashamed either of the witness about our

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Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God.

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Second Timothy 1, 12, for this reason, I also suffer, but I am not ashamed.

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I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

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So we share in the sufferings of Christ. When people hate us for being

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Christians, Jesus said to his disciples, when they hate you, remember, they hated me first.

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They hate us because they hate him. 1 John 3, 13, do not marvel brothers when the world hates you in 1

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John 4, 5, they are from the world. Therefore they speak is from the world and the world hears them.

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We are from God. The one who knows God hears us talking about the apostolic ministry.

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What the apostles proclaimed is the gospel. The one who knows God hears us. The one who is not from God does not hear us from this.

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We know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So yes, there are going to be people in this world who hate

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God. If you love God, if you love Christ, then you must choose to suffer with Christ.

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You must turn from the fleeting pleasures of sin to Jesus Christ, keeping an eye on the reward for that's what

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Moses did. He regarded the reproach of Christ greater than the riches and treasures of Egypt for he was looking to the reward.

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Colossians 3, 1 through 4, if now you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, setting your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

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For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

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Keep your eye on the reward. That's going to come up again in just a few verses.

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In fact, when we get to the beginning of chapter 12, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, we're running the race with endurance with our eye on the prize and Christ is the prize.

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Moses did this. And so following Moses example, we must not keep our eyes on this world, but keeping our eyes on Christ.

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And my friends, that is a daily thing that we must do. Turn away from the world, turn to Christ.

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Don't be tempted by this world. Certainly don't be tempted by your flesh. Don't be fooled by the schemes of Satan.

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Fix yourself on Christ. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

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Resist the devil and he will flee from you. As said in James four, today, you must live as unto

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Christ. Submit your mind to him. May the words that you say, your actions, stuff that you say to other people, may it all be honoring to Christ, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.

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First Corinthians 10 31. Love your wife to the glory of Christ.

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Love your husband to the glory of Christ. Love your kids in obedience to the Lord. Do all the tasks that you have to do today.

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Even if you're by yourself, do it all to the glory of Christ. Not after the things of this world, but after the things that are pleasing to God by faith.

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Keep your eye on the reward. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we've read today.

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The reminders that we have in the life of Moses. May we not be ashamed of the gospel.

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May we not be ashamed of the name of Christ. But we choose to live in this world in a way that other people are quite frankly going to see as strange.

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We have values and morals that are different than the values and morals of the world. We call good what

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God says is good, not what the world says is good. We call evil what God says is evil.

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Not what the world says is evil. But in this also we have patience with those who are still ensnared by Satan, correcting our opponents with gentleness, holding fast to the word of life, calling them to repentance, sharing the gospel of Jesus.

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For it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that a man or a woman can be saved from the passing pleasures of sin and look to the reward that is

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Christ in glory. Deliver us into your kingdom, it is in the name of Jesus that we pray,

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Amen. Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues.

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You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com. Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.