Moses: Faith to Endure Pharoah’s Wrath (Hebrews 11:27) | Sunday Worship Service

Kootenai Church

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Jesus, we love you Jesus, we love

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There's no one like Living word

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Of the earth From dust may be Loved us when we

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Fell on our souls

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And promised grace We'll come to save To lose this iron hole

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And you are our song From age to age Our voices unite

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To recount your praise A king of fathers

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Was humbled unto death Of self -sin and shame

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In Jordan this week

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Now bear your name He guides our steps

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Through tempests and through trials Our share is best

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Though tears now fail us Your steadfast love

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Our perfect hope Our eyes have fixed us whole

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Age to age This story

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Of lies of faith

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Ever strained to see Will one day fill our sight

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Just be And sing as all the

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Let the joy begin

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Let our songs ring out Let our hearts be glad Love has banished doubt

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See the empty cross All our debts are gone

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Only grace remains For the victory is won

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Oh what a day What a glorious day

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Oh what a day What a glorious day

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When you conquer death And lead to See the grave close there

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He has left this place You won't find him here

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All our fears have fled Let our hopes arise

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Heaven waits for us We will never die

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Greatest day Greatest day

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There is still a day that we're

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This one we love appears He'll take us home with him forever

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Greatest day

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Greatest day

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When you conquer death And rose up from The coach you in Our savior's precious name

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We your children Here assemble now Your promised blessing claim

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From our sins His blood has washed us Now we can draw

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Not your spirit

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Out of our sins

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Jesus' proud grace

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On sin abounding Rescued us from misery

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You the prodigals Have pardoned Kissed us with your love

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Spread the feast And now you've caught us Here to dwell

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With you above Here to dwell Amongst the lost children

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Praising heaven

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For grace and love

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We have turned from God To sin's disgrace We chose the path to hell

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Perfect law of God Condemned our race

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For all in Adam fell But the righteousness

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Of God appear And the world found Home again

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For the righteous One has come down To bear all the curse

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Of sin and death Now to him

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Who's seated On the throne Laps of wisdom

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Grace and power All glory be

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What thus fast Is left in Jesus' grave We've been freed

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From all that gripped Our past From Satan's ruling

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Rage to life To breathe again As captives now

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Winter's gone All our striving ceased We're alive to seek

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His face Now to him

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Who's seated Our future's fixed

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Our journey clear God will not let us go

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Every trial That tempts our hearts to fear He'll use to give us hope

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All creation groans As we awake But our eyes

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Have longed to see Every pain Who's seated

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On the throne All glory be Forever Laps of wisdom

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Grace and power Laps of wisdom

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Grace and power There's nothing that my hands can do

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To save my guilty soul I cannot cleanse my filthy state

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Or make my spirit whole Without him, so we have to wait for him

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Well, good morning Welcome to Kootenai Church Would you please stand as we sing

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Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah Guide me,

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O Thou Great Jehovah This barren land

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I am weak, but Thou art mighty Hold me with Thy powerful hand

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Bread of man Feed me till I want no more

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Feed me till I want no more Of the crystal fountain

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Whence the healing stream doth flow Let strong deliver, strong deliver

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Be Thou still my strength and shield Be Thou still my strength and shield

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When my trehangeous fears subside

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Bear me through the swelling current Land me safe on Canaan's side

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Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever give to Thee I will ever give to Thee Songs of praises, songs of praises

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I will ever give to Thee I will ever give to Thee I am awesome wonder

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Consider all the worlds

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Thy hands have made I see the stars,

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I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe this day

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, great Thou art

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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When through the woods and forest plains

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I wander And hear the eaves sweeping in the trees

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When I look down from lofty mountain ranges

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And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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And when I think that God, His Son, God's Mary Sent Him to die,

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I scarce can take it in That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

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He bled and died to take away my sin

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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When Christ shall come with shout of affirmation

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And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart

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Then I shall bow in humble adoration

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And then proclaim, my God, how great

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Thou art Then sings my soul, my

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Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great Thou art

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Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee How great

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Thou art, how great

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Thou art This is my

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Father's world, and to my listening ears

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All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres

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This is my Father's world, I rest me in the thought

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Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, His hand the wonders draw

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This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise

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The morning light, the lily white, declare their

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Maker's praise This is my Father's world,

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He shines in all that's fair In rustling breaths

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I hear Him pass, who speaks to me everywhere

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This is my Father's world, oh let me ne 'er forget

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That though the wrong seems oft so strong,

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God is the ruler yet This is my

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Father's world, the battle is not done

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Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heaven be one

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You may be seated. Please turn your

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Bibles to the book of Psalms, to Psalm 27. Scripture reading from Psalm 27.

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When you've found your place there, the prescript says it is a Psalm of David. I'm going to read this entire

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Psalm, Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall

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I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh,

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My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear.

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Though war rise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident. One thing I have asked from the

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Lord that I shall seek, That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the

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Lord and to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle,

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In the secret place of His tent He will hide me, He will lift me up on a rock, And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me,

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And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the

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Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. When You said,

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Seek my face, my heart said to You, Your face, O Lord, I shall seek. Do not hide Your face from me. Do not turn

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Your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not abandon me nor forsake me,

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O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up.

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Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in the level path, Because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries,

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For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. I would have despaired unless I had believed

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That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage.

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Yes, wait for the Lord. Will you stand with me as we pray? Our gracious God, You are a

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God of deliverances and grace. We thank You, O Father, that we can trust You In all of life's events,

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In the good times and in the bad, In times of personal suffering, In times of enjoying the blessings that You give to us.

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We thank You even for the blessings of affliction and suffering And trials that come upon us. We are grateful for Your grace in the midst of them.

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And we know that You will sustain us and keep us through them, And that we shall look upon our God in the land of the living.

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The hope of this psalm and the hope of the psalmist And the hope of all the righteous Is that those who are

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Yours by virtue of faith In Jesus Christ, who have righteousness because of Him, Shall look upon You and behold

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You and stand before You And worship and glory in Your presence forevermore. We thank

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You that Your presence is the reward For those who seek You And that You give Yourself to us in the gospel.

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We thank You, our blessed triune God, For the work of salvation which has been wrought in our hearts. That, Father, You have elected us,

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That the Son has died in our stead, And that the Spirit has applied the gracious purposes

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Of the Father and the work of the Son to us by faith, And that He has given us that gift. We thank

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You for these blessings, And we ask Your grace and strength as we worship You today In spirit and in truth and gather around Your Word.

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May You be honored and glorified Through the sentiments of our hearts, The meditation of our minds, And, of course, the words that we sing.

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We ask in Christ's name. Amen. Father, I can come to You And boast of deeds

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I've done In my pride I strive to earn

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The favor Christ has won He alone cleanses my acceptance

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All my works aside So I come with empty hands

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And I cling to Christ Father, I can go astray

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And battle needless fears Verses tell me

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I'm condemned And that I can't draw near But Your Spirit calls me homeward

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With Your words of light Jesus wore my every sin

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So I cling to Christ It's more than I can do

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To keep my hold on You But all my hope and peace

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Is that You cling to me It's more than I can do

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To keep my hold on You But all my hope and peace

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Is that You cling to me

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Father, all my earthly aims

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In time will turn to dust Let me learn that loss is gain

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For those who know Your love All the treasures of this world

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Will never satisfy You alone are endless joy

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So I cling to Christ You alone are endless joy

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So I cling to Christ And 1

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Timothy chapter 1 says I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord Who has strengthened me

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Because He regarded me faithful Putting me into service Even though I was formerly a blasphemer

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And a persecutor And a violent aggressor Yet I was shown mercy Because I acted ignorantly in unbelief

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And the grace of our Lord Was more than abundant With the faith and love Which are in Christ Jesus It is a trustworthy saying

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And deserving full acceptance That Christ Jesus came into this world

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To save sinners Among whom I am foremost We're going to end our music service this morning by singing

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My Worth is Not in What I Own My worth is not in what

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I own Not in the strength of flesh and bone

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But in the costly wounds of love At the cross

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My worth is not in skill or name In win or lose, in pride or shame

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But in the blood of Christ that flowed At the cross

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I rejoice in my Redeemer Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

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I will trust in Him no other My soul is satisfied in Him alone

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As summer flowers we fade and die

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Faint youth and beauty hurry by But life eternal calls to us

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At the cross I will not boast in wealth or might

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Or human wisdom sweet and light But I will boast in knowing

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Christ At the cross I rejoice in my

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Redeemer Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

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I will trust in Him no other My soul is satisfied in Him alone

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Two wonders here that I confess My worth and my unworthiness

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My value fixed, my ransom paid At the cross

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I rejoice in my Redeemer Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

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I will trust in Him no other My soul is satisfied in Him alone

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I rejoice in my Redeemer Greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul

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I will trust in Him no other My soul is satisfied in Him alone

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You may be seated. And now we please turn to Hebrews chapter 11.

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Hebrews chapter 11. Alright, let's open in prayer before we begin.

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Our Father, we pray that you would speak to us this morning in your word. We have sung to you the desires and the affections, the sentiments of our hearts.

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As we have trusted in you, as we wait upon you, as we long to see you and to know you more deeply, it is our desire now that you would reveal yourself to us in the pages of scripture.

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In your word is all the wisdom that we need and all the knowledge that we need concerning salvation and you and our future together.

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We thank you that your word is sufficient and we pray now that you would instruct us and teach us and encourage our hearts together as we look at your word.

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Open our eyes to it and our minds that we may see in your word truth and wisdom and righteousness and light that we may know you more as we leave here than we do even now as we open your word with great expectation.

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We thank you and we praise you in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning at verse 23.

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We'll read through verse 29. 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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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 reproaches of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

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By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. 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 and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

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Example after example in Hebrews chapter 11 shows us that faith is not just a New Testament principle or a

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New Testament idea, but rather that the men and women of the Old Testament, believers, were marked by faith and they lived their lives by faith.

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Their good works, which are highlighted in Hebrews chapter 11, flowed from their faith. Their faith issued in and produced the good works in their lives.

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We understand that concept in the New Testament era that we are not saved by works, we do not please

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God by works, but rather that our good works are the results of faith. Faith comes first.

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The good works flow out of our faith. Our faith motivates those good works and actually gives life to those good works.

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That's a concept that we're familiar with from what is taught in the New Testament. It is a concept that was true also in the

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Old Testament with all of the saints of old. Their works did not please God any more than our works would please

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God. They were not saved by works any more than we are saved by works. Their works, likewise, flowed out of faithful hearts, hearts that had faith and believed

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God and trusted God. Out of that faith came all of the works and the good deeds that we read of in the

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Old Testament. The author reads the Old Testament through the lens of faith.

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I think that there's something instructive to that in us as to how we should approach the Old Testament as well.

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When we read the Old Testament, we should not read it as though we're just reading a bunch of stories that are told for our moral betterment as if they're a bunch of morality tales.

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You read the story of David and Goliath and David picks the five smooth stones and meets Goliath down in the valley and slays the giant.

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The preacher preaches through that or you read through that and then you're asked the question in your mind by the preacher or in your study guide what are the giants in your life that the

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Lord would like to slay and what are the five smooth stones that you need in your life in order to slay the giants.

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And that perspective on the Old Testament just makes the Old Testament into a series of morality tales or little stories like not the parables but the

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Aesop's Fables like Aesop's Fables that we can read and draw out little lessons here and there. And it is an entirely unbiblical approach to the

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Old Testament. Instead, the author of Hebrews is showing us that we can read through the Old Testament and we should be able to read it through the paradigm of faith.

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To see in the lives of all of these men and women of the Old Testament like the ones that are cataloged here in Hebrews chapter 11 to see how it is that faith motivated their good works.

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That these are men and women who responded to God on the basis of not of their works but on the basis of faith and how that faith issued itself out in lives of obedience and in submission to the word and to the will of God.

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By his own admission the author of Hebrews is not giving us a comprehensive list of Old Testament characters.

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Look down at chapter 11 verse 32. What more shall I say for time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and David and Samuel and the prophets.

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It's a good indication that the book of Hebrews was originally a spoken sermon as opposed to a written word because this is what every preacher says.

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Look, time running out of time. Time would fail me if I were to go on to all of the other things that I could say on this subject.

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But he is admitting there that this list in Hebrews 11 is not comprehensive. He doesn't even go into Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets but he just lists them.

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And not only is the list of characters incomplete but the list of examples of faith in the lives of the characters that he mentions is incomplete.

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See, when he camped on Abraham back a few verses ago there are far more examples of faith in the life of Abraham but the author cherry picks a few of those examples and when he slows down to talk about Moses in this passage it's not just these incidences in the life of Moses that are examples of his faith or that are indicative of his faith.

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There are four of them that are mentioned here by faith. Moses, when he had grown up he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

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Verse 27, he left Egypt. Verse 28, he kept the Passover. And verse 29, they passed through the

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Red Sea. That's not a comprehensive list. In fact, we could add to that list from the life of Moses the following.

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This is just, again, a cherry -picked sampling. By faith, Moses picked up the serpent and turned it into a staff.

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By faith, Moses picked up the serpent after it had been turned from a staff into a serpent. By faith, Moses returned to Egypt.

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By faith, Moses announced to the elders of Israel God's promise to deliver them. By faith,

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Moses stood before Pharaoh. By faith, Moses commanded Pharaoh to let God's people go. By faith,

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Moses commanded water to turn into blood. By faith, Moses stood before Pharaoh again. That list could go on.

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We could go through all the 10 plagues of Egypt. So this sampling that we have here, these are chosen from the life of Moses and they are instructive.

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And we've looked at the first incident of Moses' faith. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter as he was looking forward to the reward.

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Now we turn in verse 27 to the next example of Moses' faith because we're not yet done with Moses. Verse 27, by faith, he left

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Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

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I want you to make a few, we're gonna make a few general observations before we get into the nitty gritty of this verse and what it is referring to.

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I want you to notice the verbs that the author uses beginning in verse 24. Moses refused.

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These are all examples of Moses' faith. He refused, verse 25. He chose, verse 26.

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He considered, and verse 26, he looked. So he refused and he chose. He considered and he looked.

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And now in verse 27, there are two more verbs. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, and he endured.

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He left and he endured. Both of those verbs are examples of faith. They're expressions of his faith.

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Those two phrases in verse 27, not fearing the wrath of the king and as seeing him who is unseen, those two phrases really describe the manner or the how of Moses' action.

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He left and he endured. How did he leave and how did he endure? What sustained him through that?

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He left not fearing the wrath of the king. That describes his faith. And he endured as seeing him who is unseen.

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That describes what it is that sustained Moses for his expression of faith. How it is that he was able to leave

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Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. Now one of the main questions of verse 27 is what incident is this referring to?

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Verse 27. What incident in the life of Moses is this referring to? Because there are two times when we could say that Moses left

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Egypt. One of them we looked at a couple of weeks ago when Pharaoh tried to kill Moses after he killed the

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Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Pharaoh tried to kill Moses and Moses heard that word had gotten out. He was afraid and he fled

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Egypt and went out to Midian where he lived for 40 years. That is one of Moses' leavings of Egypt.

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The other one is in the Exodus proper. 40 years later after the 10 plagues and the Passover and Israel looting the

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Egyptians, Moses and all of Israel with him got up and left and went out of Egypt. So there are typically two times that Moses departed

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Egypt and the question now is which one of those two times is the author referring to? I want you to notice one last thing.

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Verse 27, 28, and 29. There is an order there. He left Egypt by faith.

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Verse 28, he kept the Passover and verse 29, they passed through the Red Sea. He left

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Egypt, kept the Passover and passed through the Red Sea. Just notice that order and keep that in your mind.

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Left Egypt, kept the Passover and went through the Red Sea. Now in order to find out what incident is it from the life of Moses that is described in verse 27, he left

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Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. I want you to turn back to the book of Exodus. Keep your fingers here in Hebrews 11 because we will be returning here.

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Turn back to Exodus chapter 2. Exodus chapter 2.

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There is some disagreement amongst Bible scholars and commentators as to which of these incidences is meant by the author in verse 27.

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By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. He endured as seeing him who was unseen. Now there are two options as I mentioned.

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The first is Moses' flight into Midian which is briefly mentioned at the end of chapter 2, verse 11 and 15 or toward the middle of chapter 2, verse 11 through 15.

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Now it came about in those days. This is the first possibility. I'm going to give you these two possibilities. Now it came about in those days when

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Moses had grown up that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors. And he saw an Egyptian beating a

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Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that. And when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the

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Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He went out the next day and behold two Hebrews were fighting with each other.

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And he said to the offender, why are you striking your companion? But he said, who made you a prince or a judge over us?

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Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Look at the end of verse 14. Then Moses was afraid and said, surely the matter has become known.

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When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian.

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And he sat down by a well. Now according to Acts chapter 7, Moses was 40 years old when he fled Egypt that first time and went out to the land of Midian.

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Midian is a little bit south of Egypt where Moses and the children of Israel were at in the land of Goshen and east over in the

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Arabian Peninsula. That was the land of Midian. So it was far enough out of Pharaoh's reach that Pharaoh could not find

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Moses. The second option is the Exodus itself. And we're going to skip over a little bit of material but flip over to Exodus chapter 12.

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This is after the Passover, after the death of the firstborn. Egypt drives them out in Exodus chapter 12, verse 40.

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Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. And at the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the hosts of the

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Lord went up out of the land of Egypt. That's Moses with them. So Moses leaves Egypt twice.

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Once to the land of Midian and once alone and once with the children of Israel in the

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Exodus itself. Now which one of those two events do you think is described in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 27?

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Don't turn back there just yet but I'll read it to you. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, he endured to seeing him who is unseen.

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Nearly every source that you check, and I say nearly because it's not all of them, but nearly every source that you check will tell you that verse 27 in Hebrews 11 refers to either

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Moses fleeing Midian or Moses fleeing, sorry, Moses fleeing for Midian or Moses fleeing

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Egypt with the children of Israel in the Exodus. All of those sources except for one.

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And if you count me as a scholar, you can now say two. Because I have a third option. But before I give you the third option,

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I want to set a little bit of the context for that and describe why it is that I don't think that either one of these two departures from Egypt is meant by this in verse 27.

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The first one, our first option, Midian, back in Exodus chapter 2, it is interesting that that flight from Egypt is directly attributed to Moses' fear.

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Did you notice that? Exodus chapter 2, verse 14. But he said, Who made you a prince or a judge over us?

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Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses was afraid and said,

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Surely the matter has become known. When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian and sat down by a well.

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Moses' first flight from Egypt is attributed to his fear. Now there are Bible scholars who believe that that's the one mentioned in verse 27 of Hebrews chapter 11.

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They'll say, Yeah, Moses was afraid but he wasn't afraid afraid. I don't know what that means but basically they're saying that he was, sure he was fearful.

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Who wouldn't be fearful of the most bloodthirsty tyrant on the face of the planet at the time? A man with a military like that seeking to kill you.

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Who wouldn't be afraid? So of course Moses was afraid but it wasn't a fear that caused him to flee.

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It was just fleeing to save his life. I don't know. Maybe Moses was not really afraid afraid.

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He was just afraid but I think that the statement in Exodus chapter 2 is a little difficult to reconcile with the

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Hebrew statement. He left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king. So I think there has to be an incident in the life of Moses where he stood before Pharaoh and Pharaoh's wrath was aimed at him and Moses did not fear that and Moses left instead.

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The second possibility is that this is referring to the Exodus. But if that's the case the order of Hebrews chapter 11 does not work.

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Now I mentioned before we went back from Hebrews chapter 11 he left Egypt. They kept the Passover and he went through the

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Red Sea. Now if we're going through Hebrews chapter 11 and it's chronological you'll notice that something is out of order there. They celebrated the

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Passover then they left Egypt then they went through the Red Sea. But Hebrews 11 says he left

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Egypt then they celebrated the Passover then they passed through the Red Sea. I would submit to you that the order does not work because everything in Hebrews chapter 11 so far has been chronological.

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Now you might say well maybe the reference to these incidences in the life of Moses is not intended to be chronological.

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If it's not intended to be chronological it kind of doesn't fit the rest of Hebrews chapter 11 because everything else in Hebrews chapter 11 has been chronological.

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Remember we started with Cain and Abel back at the beginning of this chapter and every person that has come up has been brought up in a chronological order as you're going through time.

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And furthermore when he focuses in on Abraham zooms in on the life of Abraham and Sarah and gives us multiple examples of faith in the life of Abraham those multiple examples are in chronological order.

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So if he is referring to the exodus of Egypt here it doesn't fit the chronology of Hebrews chapter 11.

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It suggests that the author has something in mind something that happened before they celebrated the Passover that refers to Moses leaving

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Egypt. Furthermore it would be more proper for the author to say if he's talking about the exodus itself that by faith they left

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Egypt rather than to say by faith he, Moses left Egypt. As he does down in verse 29 of Hebrews 11 by faith they passed through the

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Red Sea. Refers there to the whole company the whole host of the children of Israel passing through the

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Red Sea by faith. Now of course Moses was leading that but it's a reference there to the entire nation. So if this is referring in verse 27 of Hebrews 11 to the exodus it seems more appropriate they would say by faith they left

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Egypt not he. So again there seems to be some incident in the life of Moses where Moses himself was standing before Pharaoh in the face of Pharaoh's wrath that the authorism means here.

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Third when the children of Israel left Egypt Moses was not full of wrath. Moses was a broken man.

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He was not full of wrath. In fact check Exodus chapter 12 look at verse 29 Now it came about at midnight that the

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Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of cattle.

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Pharaoh arose at night in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

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Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, Rise up get out from among my people both you and the sons of Israel and go worship the

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Lord as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds as you have said and go and bless me also.

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Does that sound like Pharaoh's wrath? Not at all. So the exodus doesn't seem to fit that description.

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By faith he left Egypt not fearing the king's wrath. There is a third option. The third option and I didn't invent this out of whole cloth

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I actually saw this in a commentary by John Owen. His series of commentaries series of books commentary on the book of Hebrews.

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Owen suggests a different incident that is meant in verse 27. But in order to get that I want you to go back to Exodus chapter 2 we're going to set a little bit of context so you can see what sort of leads up to this.

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In Exodus chapter 2 Moses does escape to Midian but it's not what the author of Hebrews is referring to. He meets the daughter of a priest of Midian and marries her

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Zipporah and has a son. Pharaoh eventually dies. Exodus chapter 2 look at verse 23.

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Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died and the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage and they cried out and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God.

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So God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them.

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Now that doesn't mean that God was oblivious to their existence or oblivious to their plight before that.

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Not at all. But it does mean that under their cry when the time came about for God to deliver them according to his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that God took notice of them in the sense that his attention was directed to them with the intention of redeeming them and taking them out of Egypt.

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The time had come for that to happen. So it's not that God woke up suddenly and said oh that's right Israel I forgot

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I made a promise to Abraham 430 years prior. I should probably do something about that. But rather that when in the providence of God that time came for them to be delivered by God's power

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God's remembered his covenant when he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the actions that he takes from this point forward are intended to fulfill the word that he gave to Abraham, Isaac and to Jacob.

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So in chapter 3 and 4 is the incidence of the burning bush and Moses' call. Moses being out in Midian now with a son and a wife and he is shepherding his father -in -law's sheep.

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Moses is out in the wilderness now 40 years have passed and Moses meets God at the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3 and chapter 4.

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And Moses is called to be God's deliverer his instrument through which he would go deliver the children of Israel from Egypt.

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And you remember the story Moses came up with every excuse unto the son that he could possibly come up with? I don't know

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Lord I don't think that they're going to know who you are. And God said no I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob my name is

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Yahweh you're going to introduce me to the sons of Israel and I'll take care of this. Well I don't think Pharaoh is going to really pay attention to who you are

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Pharaoh is not going to care who you are and God said it doesn't matter whether Pharaoh cares who I am or not I'm going to do many signs and wonders in the presence of Pharaoh and I will crush his heart and I will bring up my people.

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And Moses said but I'm not really a good articulate I've never been to homiletics class or to speech class and I've never really spoken in front of people

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I'm not the guy not my mouth Lord choose anybody's mouth but mine and the Lord dismissed that and said

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I'll give you Aaron and he said well the tent cleaners are coming on Tuesday and the sheep shearers on Thursday and we've got the fam this week this whole week

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Lord is just not good for me. Finally the anger of the Lord burned against Moses and Moses relented and God humbled him and directed him back to Egypt.

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Moses goes back to Egypt chapter 5 Moses confronts Pharaoh and demands the release of the children of Israel and Pharaoh politely declines.

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Chapter 5 verse 1 and afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh thus says the Lord the God of Israel let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness

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Pharaoh said who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go I do not know the

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Lord and besides I will not let Israel go it's going to be a hard pass for me bro is what

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Pharaoh said I'm not going to do this I don't know this God that you speak of I'm not interested in this God that you speak of so it's not going to happen and then

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Pharaoh increased the workload of the children of Israel by taking away from them the straw and making them go fetch their own straw so that their burdens became heavy and then the children of Israel lashed out at Moses and said to Moses the

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Lord should judge you for making our burden heavy everything was better before you showed up and started demanding our release and now things are worse than they have ever been

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Chapter 6 verse 1 the Lord said to Moses now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh for under compulsion he will let them go and under compulsion he will drive them out from this land now the

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Hebrews would not listen to Moses the Jews did not they resented the fact that Moses came back and because he confronted

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Pharaoh their workload was worse than it had ever been and they were suffering more than they had ever suffered prior to Moses' arrival and Moses now doubts that Pharaoh is going to listen but the

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Lord encouraged him and now here's where everything heats up Chapter 7 verse 1 then the

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Lord said to Moses see I make you as God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet you shall speak all that I command you and your brother

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Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh and that he will let the sons of Israel go out of this land but I will harden

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Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt when

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Pharaoh does not listen to you then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my host my people the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt by great judgments the

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Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst so Moses and Aaron did it as the

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Lord commanded them thus they did Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh so at this point

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Moses is 80 years old 40 years have passed with him being in Midian and now he shows up in front of Pharaoh to demand the release of the children of Israel and God says in verse 3 of chapter 7 look at it

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I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply my signs and my wonders here's an interesting little sidebar homework assignment for you read through the first let's call it 11, 12 chapters of the book of Exodus sometime and take note of all the times when it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and take note list all the times when it says that God hardened

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Pharaoh's heart and you know what you'll find that both of those things are true and here's why because every time that Pharaoh responded to God's revelation and a deed that God did

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Pharaoh's act of rejection and rebellion is described by Moses as Pharaoh hardening his heart and because Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not repent

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God's judgment upon Pharaoh was that he hardened Pharaoh's heart so God ended up giving to Pharaoh exactly what

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Pharaoh deserved and exactly what Pharaoh wanted in hardening his heart so that Pharaoh would respond by further hardening his own heart by which

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God responded to Pharaoh's act of hardening his heart by hardening Pharaoh's heart and back and forth it goes all the way through the

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Exodus narrative so that we see two things working in tandem the sovereignty of God in hardening

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Pharaoh's heart so that he would accomplish judgment upon the Egyptians and the responsibility of Pharaoh in rejecting

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God's truth and God's revelation and thus his heart was hardened now what follows in verses chapters

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I should say seven through ten are what we call the ten plagues of Egypt or on Egypt the first one and we're not going to go into depth on all of these the first one is water turned into blood one thing

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I will say about all of these in particular the case has been made I think it's a convincing case that each one of these plagues is intended as something of a polemic against one of the gods of Egypt because the gods of Egypt and the multiplicity of gods and the way that they worship they worship the

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Nile they worship frogs they worship flies they worship all these things and all of these ten plagues represent some aspect of Egyptian culture

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Egyptian religion or Egyptian polytheism that God is assaulting with each plague showing them it was almost like if you had a god like if you worship cows for instance and then

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God said I'm going to wipe out all the cows and just wipes out all the cows and you're an Egyptian you'd be sitting there thinking hold on we worship a god who's a cow like you couldn't keep the cows from living and yet this god this miracle this

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Moses does this to our cattle that is the case with all of the plagues of Egypt everyone is intended to assault one of the

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Egyptian deities or one of the Egyptian false religions the first one is the water being turned into blood

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Pharaoh was rather unimpressed with that the second plague was frogs all over the land in response to that Pharaoh promised to release the children of Israel but then relented when the plague went away the third plague was the gnats or the lice

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Pharaoh was unmoved by that the fourth plague was flies Pharaoh promised release and then again relented the fifth plague is the cattle dying like for instance if you worship cattle for instance there's an illustration

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I gave it was right out of the passage the cattle die Pharaoh was unmoved by that one the sixth plague was the plague of boils

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Pharaoh was unmoved by that one the seventh plague is flaming hail and Pharaoh in response to that plague promised release to the children of Israel but then again he relented chapter sorry the plague number eight was the plague of locusts and Pharaoh's response to that was a shallow repentance and finally the ninth plague was a darkness that encompassed the entire land and Pharaoh gave them permission to leave kind of sort of and by this point you should be in Exodus chapter 10 look at verse 21 now keep in mind with each one of these that the children of Israel were supernaturally protected from all of those plagues so God made a distinction between Israel and Egypt just in how he protected his own people from all of the judgments that fell upon the land of Egypt Exodus chapter 10 verse 21 the

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Lord said to Moses stretch out your hand toward the sky that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt even a darkness which may be felt so Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days they did not see one another nor did anyone rise from his place for three days but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings then

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Pharaoh called to Moses and said go serve the Lord only let your flocks and your herds be detained now here's

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Pharaoh's sort of quasi -repentance his quasi -acknowledgement that they could leave verse 24

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Pharaoh called to Moses and said go serve the Lord only let your flocks and your herds be detained you can leave but you've got to leave all your stuff can't take anything with you you guys wander off into the wilderness the thought being obviously they would wander off into the wilderness maybe find some animals to sacrifice they would get tired of wandering around with nothing and think well we might as well go back to Egypt I mean that's where all of our stuff is verse 25 but Moses said you must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings that we may sacrifice them to the

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Lord our God therefore our livestock too shall go with us not a hoof shall remain behind for some reason

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I love that phrase not a hoof shall be left behind but we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our

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God and until we arrive there we ourselves do not know what we shall serve with what we shall serve the

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Lord another said we've got to take all of our stuff because we don't know until we get out there what the Lord is going to require of us in terms of service and sacrifices so we obviously can't go out into the wilderness without any animals so we're going to take all of our animals because we're going to get out there then the

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Lord will reveal to us what it is that He wants of us and we will have all of our stuff to offer to the Lord verse 27 but the

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Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart and he was not willing to let them go now here's the crisis and here

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I think is the third option just to remind you since it's been a while since we covered the first two options there are two options right

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Moses leaving Midian and Moses leaving in the Exodus neither of which I think fit the description in Hebrews chapter 11 we're all up to speed now because it's been a while so if you're waking up now you've missed all of that here's the third option

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I think it is this exchange at the end of chapter 10 the beginning of chapter 11 between Moses and Pharaoh verse 28

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Pharaoh said to him get away from me beware do not see my face again for in the day you see my face you shall die now does that sound like Pharaoh's mad?

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just a wee bit he's mad that's Pharaoh's wrath verse 29

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Moses said you're right I shall never see your face again does it sound like Moses is afraid? Moses run out of there? Moses didn't run out of there in fact this heated exchange continues

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I want you to ignore the chapter division because that's not in the original the heated exchange continues in chapter 11 chapter 11 verse 1 now in chapter 11 the

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Lord reveals something to Moses something to the children of Israel and something to Pharaoh chapter 11 verse 1 is the

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Lord speaking to Moses Lord said to Moses one more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt after that he will let you go from here when he lets you go he will surely drive you out of here completely again after this plague this last and final plague of the killing of the first born

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Pharaoh is not angry when he drives him out he wants them to get out Pharaoh's anger has just been expressed leave my presence if I ever see you again

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I will kill you that's the threat that's the wrath of the king then the Lord has something to reveal to the children of Israel here's the instructions for them verse 2 speak now in the hearing of the people that each man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold the

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Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians now up to this point you might be asking yourself why is it that Pharaoh just didn't kill

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Moses at any point along this whole story until now the very first moment when

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Moses steps into the presence of Pharaoh and says thus saith the Lord let my people go why didn't

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Pharaoh just right then say you take him out of here kill him deal with him I don't want him anymore get rid of this guy

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Pharaoh's the most powerful man in the world why didn't Pharaoh kill Moses at that point or after the first plague or after the second plague or after the third plague you see where this is going or after the fourth plague or at any point up until now the end of verse 3 is the answer to that furthermore the man

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Moses himself was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt both in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people so Pharaoh threatened

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Moses and Israel was embittered against Moses and it is

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Moses' esteem in the sight of the Egyptians that has kept Pharaoh from killing him I think up to this point this becomes very politically unfeasible to get rid of Moses before now because Moses was esteemed by the people of Egypt and he was and he was not esteemed by his own people esteemed by the people of Egypt and esteemed by those in Pharaoh's court

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Pharaoh is not politically expedient for him to kill Moses he doesn't want to do that so he has avoided doing that until this very moment when his wrath finally has reached a boiling point and he says to Moses get out of my presence or I am going to kill you it would have seemed very reasonable for Pharaoh to kill

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Moses any point before this because remember the children of Israel were mad at Moses they didn't want him there earlier they had said to him the

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Lord judge you for doing this to us now our burdens are more so the Hebrews didn't want to follow him the

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Hebrews didn't like Moses they resented the fact that he was there they would rather have their comfort and their slavery than discomfort and freedom and if you don't think that the natural inclination of the human heart is to desire comfortable slavery over uncomfortable freedom you have not been paying attention to what is going on around us this was the inclination of the children of Israel they would rather have had

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Moses dead and out of there and had their slavery and at least some of the workload alleviated than to be free and to have to go through all this suffering to get it that has been their natural inclination but Pharaoh would never have killed

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Moses up to this point simply because he was esteemed in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of all the people but now it has come to a point where killing him is the best option verse 4 here is what

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Moses says to Pharaoh oh one other thing before we get to verse 4 there is another thing that is ironic here in this passage in light of what we have covered up in recent weeks remember

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Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing instead ill treatment with the people of God than the passing pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt right so notice at this point where Moses is at he is at a place in his life where the people to whom he has sworn his allegiance and he has chosen to be his people they have rejected him and the very people that he has rejected they highly esteem him that seems entirely backwards doesn't it the people that he has rejected esteem him the people that he has embraced are rejecting him

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I think there is a whole message to be preached there not by me but by somebody else verse 4 Moses said thus says the

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Lord about midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt and all the first born of the land of Egypt shall die from the first born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne even to the first born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones all the first born of the cattle as well now this is what

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Moses is saying to Pharaoh keep that in mind you are going to see that here in a moment Moses is saying this to Pharaoh verse 6 moreover there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again but against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even bark whether against man or beast that you may understand how the

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Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel all these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves before me saying go out you and all the people who follow you and after that I will go out and he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger now that is an interesting exchange isn't it the

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Lord revealed something to Moses one more plague and after this you are out of here revealed something to the children of Israel ask everybody for silver and gold items they are going to give them to you

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Israel ended up plundering the Egyptians and then to Pharaoh Moses announces the judgment of God on Pharaoh and then announces to Pharaoh that he is leaving

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Egypt this I think is the incident that the author of Hebrews has in mind first of all it fits the chronology of Hebrews chapter 11 because Moses here is leaving

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Egypt as it were as he announces it to Pharaoh and leaves to pack his bags that is a departure and a leaving it fits the chronology of the passage in Hebrews chapter 11 because after this in chapter 11 they celebrate the

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Passover in chapter 12 and then they pass through the Red Sea so it fits the chronology second Moses faced

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Pharaoh's wrath without any fear you will notice what was Moses temperament when he went out from Pharaoh at the end of verse 8 hot anger hot anger so Moses stood in front of Pharaoh Pharaoh gave him all of his wrath if I ever see your face again

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I am going to kill you and Moses stood up to that was absolutely unflinching and unbending in the face of that announced to Pharaoh the judgment that was going to come announced to him what was going to happen after this when this happens you are going to drive us out we are leaving we are out of here and then

01:17:06

Moses turns around not fearful at all and walks out of there drops the mic walks out of Pharaoh's court never to be seen again as far as Moses is concerned this is

01:17:17

Moses I think leaving and this is the event that I think the author of Hebrews is describing you could say that the reference to he left

01:17:24

Egypt by faith in Hebrews chapter 11 refers to all of these events the plagues it could be just a blanket term to refer to that but it culminates in this exchange between Pharaoh and Moses where Pharaoh now the most murderous bloodthirsty tyrant on the face of the planet a man with unlimited power in terms of his visibly what it would look like over Moses and the children of Israel he is threatening

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Moses' life and Moses is absolutely undeterred by it it is in faith that he stood up to Pharaoh's wrath

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John Owen is the only commentator that I read who believes this and takes this incident as the incident that the author of Hebrews is describing and as I said

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I think it answers all of the problems it matches the chronology it describes it matches what is here in Hebrews chapter 11 and it seems to answer exactly what it is that the author of Hebrews is saying after all of those incidences

01:18:18

Moses stood in front of Pharaoh and was absolutely unbending in the face of the king's wrath

01:18:25

Pharaoh's wrath was at its peak and Moses was unfearful in the least and he turned and he walked out and he said to Pharaoh we are done here

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I am leaving I am packing my bags by this time tomorrow morning your servants will be bowing down to me and begging us to leave so bye bye and that is what

01:18:42

Moses said absolutely unafraid in the presence of Pharaoh now turn back to the book of Hebrews because now with all of our time gone we have to find out what the author of Hebrews says about this incident

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Moses did not fear the wrath of the king again chapter 11 verse 27 by faith he left

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Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king he endured to see him who is unseen the most powerful man in the world was threatening

01:19:11

Moses' life Moses had no army he had no armed militia he had no armaments all he had was a staff and every time he showed up in front of Pharaoh he just had a wooden staff that was all he came into Pharaoh's presence with each time and yet Pharaoh had an army at his disposal and Moses' courage in the face of that is notable

01:19:31

Moses' faith made him as bold as a lion in front of Pharaoh each and every time God would tell

01:19:38

Moses you are going to go and you are going to announce the next plague and Moses would do so and Moses had these exchanges with Pharaoh always never fearing for his life always unbending and Moses left

01:19:49

Pharaoh's presence in anger Pharaoh was angry when Moses left and God had told

01:19:55

Moses look you are not going to die in the land of Egypt and here is where Moses' faith comes into play here is why

01:20:01

Moses knew he could stand before Pharaoh and be unafraid for his life because God had said to Moses I am going to use you to take the children of Israel out of here you are going to stand before Pharaoh you are going to announce to Pharaoh what he is going to do

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I am going to do signs and wonders in their midst after which they are going to beg you to leave and you are going up from here you are taking the entire nation out into the wilderness where you are going to sacrifice to me and all of that is how this is going to unfold now

01:20:27

Moses had no reason at all no earthly reason at all to believe that any of that could happen

01:20:34

Moses had never seen any of those miracles Moses had never seen any of those kinds of signs in his own life

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Moses had never seen anything on that scale all of that was unseen to Moses and yet he was convinced because he believed

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God's word Moses was convinced I am not going to die in Egypt why? because God said I am going out to the wilderness and that was it if God said you are not going to die in Egypt then there was no way that Moses would ever fear dying in Egypt so he could stand in front of Pharaoh and Pharaoh could say next time

01:21:01

I see you I am going to kill you and Moses said I guess that means you are never going to see me again because I am not dying I am going out into the wilderness to the children of Israel about this time tomorrow all of us and our first born and that is going to be real powerful watching us walk out with all our first born while you are burying yours that is how this is going to go down Moses was undeterred by Pharaoh's anger because Moses believed

01:21:24

God's word that it would unfold exactly as God told him that it would unfold so Psalm 27 verse 1 which we read earlier the

01:21:30

Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? that question let that ring in your mind the

01:21:36

Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? a dementia patient who lives at 1600

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Pennsylvania Avenue should we fear him? should we fear the FBI the CIA the NSA should we fear the

01:21:48

US military should we fear government agencies should we fear the Supreme Court who is there that we should fear?

01:21:54

if the Lord is our light and our salvation whom shall I fear? the Lord is the defense of my life whom shall

01:21:59

I dread? Psalm 118 verse 6 the Lord is for me I will not fear what can man do to me?

01:22:06

fear is the devil's most powerful weapon it is his most effective weapon and by it that is by fear the devil keeps us from exercising faith from enjoying peace and joy and assurance by faith he handicaps our service to him sorry by fear he handicaps our service to him by fear he keeps us out of being fruitful in our own

01:22:27

Christian life and one of the most powerful types of fear is the fear of man which all of us are tempted to fear man in some way or to some degree

01:22:37

Proverbs 29 verse 25 the fear of man brings a snare but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted all of the great even the heroes of faith had moments in their lives when they feared men

01:22:48

Abraham feared men at times that's why he lied about his wife Sarah the children of Israel out in the wilderness when they were told to go in and spy out the land and they came back and the entire nation responded with the fear of man

01:23:00

Elijah after slaying 450 prophets of Baal he's overcome by the fear of man when some cackling herod in the palace says

01:23:08

I'm going to kill you and rather than responding in bold faith Elijah himself begins to cower

01:23:14

Gideon was afraid Joshua needed to be reminded fear not God is with you Peter denied the

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Lord Timothy was a bit fearful and Paul had to remind Timothy that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind so all of us are tempted to this fear of man it manifests itself in hundreds and thousands of ways in our life we're all tempted to it but faith is the antidote a resolute trust in the word of God and in his promises and in his presence that is the answer to fear of every kind so that faith and fear are mutually exclusive which is why

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Moses' parents did not fear the edict of the king but instead hid their son trusting in God's providence to protect their son it is by faith that Moses stood before Pharaoh and was undeterred because he did not fear the wrath of the king there was nothing that Moses needed to fear and because he saw who

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God was and because he trusted in God's promises and because he believed what God had said

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Moses was absolutely full of faith and not fear and he stood before the mightiest of the mighty and he was unbending unrelenting like Paul you remember the examples in the book of Acts Paul would stand first before the

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Sanhedrin and then he stood before Felix and then Festus and then Agrippa and then eventually Nero here was a man who stood in the presence of the mightiest men in the

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Roman Empire in his region the rulers and he was absolutely bold and faithful in his explanation of the gospel and his defense of the truth because he was not afraid of men notice this last phrase in verse 27 he endured as seeing him who was unseen endurance is not a new theme for us in the book of Hebrews you remember at the end of chapter 10 the author in that warning passage is describing to them their own need for endurance chapter 10 verse 36 you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised the author looked at his audience and said here's what you really need is endurance to bear up and to endure under these trying times and these difficulties and to do so in faith and not in fear chapter 11 verse 25 says

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Moses endured chose to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin and the word for endure or endurance in chapter 10 verse 36 in chapter 11 verse 25 is a different word than the word used here in chapter 11 verse 27 when it says he endured as seeing him who was unseen it's a different word with similar meanings and the meaning here has to do with the idea of the strength the fortitude the obstinacy and the power of enduring or putting up with something it's one thing to endure something in fear we can endure something in weakness we can endure something flinchingly and terrified but it is another thing to endure something with an unflinching obstinacy without becoming weary in it with strength and power and fortitude bearing all the evils that come upon us and to do so with patience and strength and courage unbending in strength is what is being described here so Moses endured that is he was unflinching in it and he put up underneath of it he bore up under the wrath of the king he endured notice that phrase as seeing him who was unseen that phrase perfectly describes the definition of faith that we saw back in chapter 11 verse 1 faith is what?

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it is the conviction it is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen

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Moses was convinced of something that he had not seen it says he endured as seeing him who was unseen that is as seeing

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God and notice that the author does not say he endured as if seeing him who was unseen that is different by the way he endured as if he saw one who was unseen because that would if the author had said that it would suggest that Moses endured almost as if he was able to see somebody who was unseen even though he didn't see the one who was unseen but instead the author says he endured as seeing him who was unseen and the author is intending there to call our minds back to chapter 11 verse 1 where it describes the definition of faith

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Moses endured not because he pretended to see somebody who was unseen but Moses endured because he actually saw with the eyes of faith a

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God who cannot be seen in other words in the life of Moses God was as real and tangible to him as the wood of this pulpit is to you and me there's no there's no human capacity that makes that a reality it is the gift of faith which makes that a reality it is only by the gift of faith that Moses could endure because he saw something and the author is not speaking here of physical sight but by faith

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Moses saw something that is completely unseen this is what faith does we can go back to chapter 11 verse 1 listen to the explanation of that that we did a couple of months ago when we were in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 that ability to see what is unseen that ability to be convinced of what you hope for something that you cannot touch you cannot feel it you cannot sense it with any of your five senses but by faith by that divine gift you are actually able to see it as a tangible reality and the idea is that Moses could stand in Pharaoh's presence and Pharaoh could could come after him with all of that wrath and threaten to kill him but Moses with the eyes of faith could look in that room and say

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God is as real to me here in this room as Pharaoh is and as all of his army is and so if God is on my side because I can apprehend him almost like he is physically here with me because faith gives me that capacity to trust that then

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I can stand in the face of Pharaoh's wrath and be unbending and unflinching faith by faith

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Moses was assured of what he had not seen he was convinced as a substance he saw as a substance what he only hoped for that is why he was able to stand before Pharaoh because he did so endured as seeing him who is unseen it's only the eye of faith that allows you to do that and that is why faith is absolutely mutually exclusive with fear

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Moses endured because he saw by faith a God who cannot be seen he saw his power he saw his promises he saw his word he saw his reward he saw his future he saw truth and reality things that Pharaoh could not see

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Moses by the eye of faith could see it and he felt it and because God was present there with him

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Moses was not fearful at all to illustrate that imagine for a moment that Moses was actually physically able to see the presence of God with his physical eyes do you think that Moses would have feared

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Pharaoh if he could just look over in the corner and see the angel of the Lord there with his flaming sword about ready to take

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Pharaoh's head off do you think Moses would have feared that he would not have so Moses' spiritual perception of those real divine spiritual truths was as real to him as if he physically saw with his eyes the angel of the

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Lord with a flaming sword you and I need this kind of faith this strong resolute confidence in the word of God and the only way that you can endure for God's glory the only way that you can endure life's vicissude viciss...

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I don't know life's trials and afflictions the only way you're going to be able to endure that is if you have this kind of faith that is unflinching in the face of the wrath of the king the original audience to the

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Hebrews by the way they had many reasons to fear just as you and I do they had the kings to fear they had their own pharaohs they had their own things that threatened their life their well being their occupations their families their finances they had all of the same realities that you and I face on a daily basis they had people in their lives unbelievers who threatened them and hated them and responded to their faith with vitriol and rejection and hostility and so here's this reminder that Moses was able to stand before the most powerful of men and be absolutely full of faith and the word of God is the very thing that strengthens that kind of faith that informs our faith how do you get that kind of faith?

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I'll tell you how you don't get it you don't get it if your only diet and your only intake of scripture is Sunday mornings from 11 to 12 you can't have that kind of faith faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God you say oh but Paul's talking about salvation there he is talking about salvation but is the faith that saves different than the faith that sanctifies?

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it's not is the faith that saves different than the faith that secures us? it's not in fact in Hebrews chapter 10 the author of Hebrews says it is the just shall live by faith not just that we are saved by faith but we live by faith and all of the examples in Hebrews chapter 11 are men who lived day by day and did these things by faith how do you get faith?

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faith comes when I hear the word of God I study the word of God I memorize the word of God and my daily intake my daily nutrition comes from the word of God that creates that kind of faith it sustains that kind of faith it informs and energizes that kind of faith and if you neglect the word of God then your faith will shrivel up and shrink and you will be full of fear but the man who has

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God's word at the center of his heart and his mind and his life through whom through whose mind and through whose heart the word of God courses like the blood through his veins that person has the kind of faith like Moses and you can only be unbending and unyielding if you have the word of God at the center of your heart and your life like that otherwise you will respond with fear every single time scripture is the food that feeds your faith and without it your faith will just collapse like a house of cards in a strong wind every time because you have nothing to sustain it you have nothing to create it nothing to nurture it nothing to base it upon because faith after all is taking

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God at his word where is his word? it's in scripture when you take God at his word and you believe what he has said you have to know what he has said you have to know what he has said means and you have to know how what he has said applies to your life and when that is true that will sustain and strengthen and undergird your faith and it is then and only then that we can be like Moses and stand before the wrath of any king and say

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I'm resolute and unbending I will endure as seeing him who is unseen let's bow our heads our father we are grateful for your grace and your mercy to us in Christ we are thankful for the faith that is ours not because we have done anything to deserve this great gift but because you by your grace have granted it to those who are yours we pray that you would strengthen our faith and strengthen our resolve to feed our own faith through your word we pray that you would give to us a confidence in your promises and in your presence and that you would help us by faith in all of our lives to see you who is unseen unseen to the physical eye but manifest to the eye of faith that we may behold you that is our desire and we pray that you would strengthen our faith to that end we pray in Christ's name amen let's stand and end our service this morning by singing blessed assurance blessed assurance

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Jesus is mine oh what a foretaste of glory divine heir of salvation purchase of God born of his spirit washed in his blood this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my sight angels descending ring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long perfect submission all is at rest

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I and my Savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my

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Savior all the day long now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy to the only

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God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory, majesty, might and authority before all time and now and forever.