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[0:00] We are continuing our examination of Hebrews chapter 11, and this is understandably a very lengthy chapter. And I say understandably because there is a hermeneutical law involved, and you wonder, well, what in the world is that?

[0:17] And a hermeneutical law simply has to do with the principles and the laws and the concepts that are involved in interpreting and understanding the scriptures.

[0:34] And there is a list, if you will, of principles and laws to be followed. In fact, we are dealing with that on the Christianity Clarified series.

[0:48] And one of those principles is referred to as the law of proportionate mention in the Bible. And all that means is kind of like it sounds.

[1:00] And it boils down to this. Whatever it is that the Spirit of God, who inspired the Word of God, wants to emphasize are those things that are mentioned the most frequently in the Bible, and issues that are given the most space in the Bible.

[1:20] In other words, the Bible is a book that is made up of important issues. And the most important issues are mentioned the most times.

[1:33] And that makes a lot of sense because we do, even in our everyday discourse, we do tend to emphasize in one way or another the things that we consider to be most important.

[1:47] The Bible does the very same thing. And when you come to the subject of faith, oh my goodness, how much does the Bible have to say about faith?

[1:59] And we have defined faith as nothing more than belief. It is believing God. Everybody, I don't care who they are, everybody exercises faith.

[2:12] Faith. Because faith means, and some good synonyms for the word faith, the word trust, reliance, confidence.

[2:23] All of these are synonyms of faith. And as I've mentioned before, some time past, even the atheist has faith. Now, he would probably rebel at the idea thinking that he is above that.

[2:36] But when you understand that faith means confidence, reliance, or trust, the difference between an atheist is who or what is the object of our trust or our confidence.

[2:51] For the atheist, he has the utmost faith, confidence, trust in his own mind, his own ability, his own thinking processes.

[3:06] That's where he has deposited all of his confidence. The believer in Jesus Christ puts his faith, confidence, reliance, trust in a person.

[3:18] And the person is our Lord Jesus Christ. So, as I've said before, everybody, I don't care who they are, everybody has confidence or trust in something.

[3:30] If it's themselves, like the atheist, or if it's a believer whose trust and faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, let me put this as clearly as I can, there is no difference in these faiths.

[3:44] No difference. The faith of a non-Christian is no different than the faith of a Christian. Same thing. Same principle. Same dynamic.

[3:55] The only difference is the object of the faith. Keep that in mind. That's a very important concept. So, everybody has faith. It all depends on who the object of your faith is.

[4:10] And for the believer, it is repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. So, he is the object of our faith.

[4:21] That's the thing that separates the believer from everyone else. Most everyone else, not everyone else, but the majority of other people. Everybody has faith in something. Many people have faith in their own character.

[4:35] Well, I'm a good person. What are you counting on to get you to heaven? Well, I'm a good person, and I've never really hurt anybody, and I always try to do what's right. And all that is, is self-righteousness.

[4:47] Their trust, their confidence, their reliance is in themselves, and their own history, or their own track record of doing this or doing that. So, it all boils down to what is the object of your faith.

[4:59] And as we approached Hebrews quite some time ago, because this is a really long chapter, in chapter 11, we saw that without faith, it is impossible to please God, for everyone who would come to him must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

[5:22] And, fellas, all we are doing here on Thursday morning, all we are doing is diligently seeking him in the word. And the word diligent means with purpose, with earnestness, with seriousness.

[5:36] And we are looking to Christ, the author and the finisher of our faith, and he is the object of our faith. So, here in Hebrews 11, we're given a whole bevy of examples of those who exercise faith with God as their object all the way back from Genesis.

[5:57] And that brings us to the last couple of verses in 11-H, and I don't know if you have that one left over or not, but we had it last week.

[6:09] And in verse 23, the example is given regarding Moses. We've already talked a little bit about Joseph and his bones, remember? And verse 23 says, By faith, and we encourage you to interpret those two words, by faith, every time it's used here in Hebrews 11, with the phrase, Because they believed God.

[6:35] That's the guiding principle in every one of these examples that's given. Because they believed God. And Moses, when he was born, because they saw he was a proper child, goodly child, beautiful child, saw what a fine child he was.

[6:55] By the way, who do you think made the determination of that? Oh, you better believe it. You better believe it.

[7:06] When Moses was born, Jochebed, his mother, did the same thing your mother did when you were born. She held you, cuddled you, cradled you, she counted your fingers, and she counted your toes, and she tried to figure out who you looked the most like, her or her husband.

[7:29] And that's a mother, and a mother's heart. And when Moses was born, these Hebrew women were under an edict that had been issued by the Pharaoh of Egypt.

[7:48] And these baby boys were to be done away with because they represented a potential threat. They did not see any significant threat coming from female babies to be born, because they were considered the weaker sex, and they would not rise up in some kind of insurrection or whatnot.

[8:07] But, the males, once they reach the teenage years and the early twenties, they get frisky, and they get idealistic, and they get all kinds of crazy ideas about overthrowing the government or whatnot.

[8:22] So these we need to do away with. And that was the plan. But when this mama, by the name of Jochebed, held this precious little bundle in her arms named Moses, there was just no way that she was going to do what the establishment required.

[8:42] And she was determined to give this baby boy at least some kind of a fighting chance. Could not keep him in her own presence. She'd surely be found out.

[8:53] So she came up with this idea of just putting him in this little ark, a little basket that was woven and pitched on the inside and the outside to make it waterproof as possible, and set it afloat there in the bulrushes.

[9:14] And lo and behold, you know the story about daughter of Pharaoh coming by. And in your sheet now we're looking at 11i that you were just given.

[9:27] And in verse 14 we read that by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

[9:39] Now there are a great many questions that surface in connection with this. you realize that Moses' life is broken down into segments of 40.

[9:52] He is going to spend 40 years in the courts of Pharaoh where he will be educated and instructed in what would have been the most elite education available to anyone at that time.

[10:07] And then this situation is going to occur where he is going to where he is going to slay one of the Egyptian guards who is abusing one of his countrymen and he becomes a fugitive.

[10:26] He takes it on the lamb and he heads east for the land of Midian and there he will spend the next 40 years of his life in the land of Midian and he will be a shepherd.

[10:41] he will meet a man by the name of Jethro who will be significant there in the land of Midian and he will eventually marry Jethro's daughter and it is there where he will be spending the second 40 years of his life when he sees this phenomenal thing called the burning bush and this bush bush that is on fire is just blazing away but it just keeps blazing away and the thing you would think would just be consumed and die out but it doesn't and he is intrigued by that and he looks over there and it is out of this burning bush that God calls Moses and identifies himself as the I am but I am getting ahead of that so he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God and for those of you who have some appreciation of history and I know that most of you do the children of Israel descendants of

[11:49] Abraham Isaac and Jacob have been subjected to some kind of persecution in about every century from this time of Pharaoh onward and many people and satisfied that many people probably are not aware of the greater dynamic that is behind all of this but you need to understand that the adversary who is very very real the adversary has had it in for Israel ever since God chose Abraham and he has thrown every possible obstacle in the way that he can because if there is anything that Satan the adversary cannot afford it is for the plan and program of God to be successful so he is going to thwart it in any and every way that he can and we see all kinds of evil machinations that will take place throughout the history of

[13:02] Israel each one of which has to do with the potential annihilation of these people because God has made that special promise to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and it started back in Genesis 12 that through him and through his seed all nations of the earth will be blessed and of course we know that it is through this line Abraham Isaac Jacob that eventually Yeshua Hamashiach will be born Jesus the Messiah and even after he came there were efforts to thwart him and we see that highlighted in the temptation in the wilderness when Christ met Satan head on comment or question Dana I assume that her daughter must have told Moses that he was found in a basket because otherwise how would he know that he was the descendant of Abraham I think you're probably right your assumption is probably correct we do not know we're not given the details but it's entirely possible that that Pharaoh's daughter may very well have thought when he you know when he grew who knows maybe it was a teenager

[14:24] I was a teenager when I found out that my that my the man that I thought was my father wasn't my father at all I found that out when I was a teenager so it's entirely possible that that Pharaoh's daughter one day may just have looked at her son and said to herself you know this boy really has a right to know where he came from who his parents are we don't know that I'm just surmising but is that a stretch probably not I can understand she probably had deep feelings for this one that she raised as her son and she may very well have reasoned that he has a right to know and she may have one day said sit down son there's something I want to tell you something you need to know and she may have and again this is speculation she may have just spilled the beans but Dana is right he had to have known some way yes

[15:28] Joe probably probably yeah it's entirely possible that even the color of their skin as Joe suggested because there are Egyptians even today that are as light skinned as we are and there are also Egyptians that are much darker skinned and we just do not know what the makeup was regarding the time that Moses lived but it's entirely possible that he might have as the proverbial saying goes he might have stuck out like a sore thumb because he was the he may have been the white boy in the midst of a number who were darker we just don't know that but that's entirely possible so he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and that's another way of saying he refused to traffic in his exalted position he refused to take advantage of the position that he was actually in and he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of

[16:51] God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and we can only suggest that the pleasures of sin would have had to do with the Egyptian lifestyle as it existed at that time and there's very interesting phrase that is used here that is also very accurate it talks about the pleasures of sin does sin come as and with a pleasure yes of course it does yeah that's the temptation of course it comes with pleasure no question about it it may be sin may be involved with financial gain and the pleasure that comes from that it may be sexual involvement and the pleasure that comes from that I mean sin produces pleasure through a whole host of avenues that's what makes it so deadly it is enticing it is captivating it is ensnaring and that's what makes it so dangerous because it never comes to us as some kind of an ugly ogre it's always something that is pleasing to the sight and by the way guys you need to know this in case you don't already and I suspect you already do just from just from having lived that there is something particularly captivating for us males through the eye gate this is the basis for the success of pornography this is the basis even for something as innocent as boy meets girl and you just look back on the time when you first saw the woman that you married and the likelihood is on the basis of what you saw just on the basis of what you saw you wondered who is that and you wanted to pursue who that is because you liked what you saw and that's the attraction between male and female now there's nothing nothing sinful about that but it may become sinful because good things can become bad things and we all know

[19:36] I'm sure by personal experience we've all lived long enough to know that things are not always as they seem and that this thing has a downside to it so the pleasures of sin for a season and the point is made that it's only for a season it's only short lived you know because sin sin makes incredible promises but never delivers never delivers on what it promises always takes you down the wrong road always brings up something that you had not anticipated always comes back to bite you but the allurement and the attraction is always there and yet never turns out like it promises that's that's the nature and the character of it pleasures of sin for a season esteeming or considering or judging the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of

[20:37] Egypt now today in our current culture we are experiencing a dynamic that has just developed over the past few years that did not exist earlier and that is this the person and the cause and the name of Jesus Christ is being held with less and less esteem as the years go by things Christian are becoming less and less acceptable and less and less tolerated we may be exposed to a reproach of Christ the likes of which we have never seen before in this country because from the time of our founding to the present there has been an unquestionable respect admiration accorded to the person of

[21:46] Jesus Christ and things Christian even by people who were not on board even by people who really didn't buy into this Christianity thing there was still for most of them a kind of quasi admiration acceptance from a distance that is fading rapidly fading and the time is coming if this intensifies and continues that the name of Christ may come with a reproach that it has never had before in our culture or in our country but you may be sure that Moses dealt with that and when it talks about the reproach of Christ it is I think it is taking into consideration the whole concept from the time of the promised seed way back in Genesis 3 15 up to the time that Moses was living because

[22:47] Christ well there's a verse in there's a verse in Revelation chapter 19 I think in verse 10 that says that that Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy and what that means is that everything in the scriptures past present and future is all geared to and surrounds the person of Jesus Christ before he came when he was here and after he came and he's coming again in other words the person of Jesus Christ is the very heartbeat of the Bible and

[23:48] I think it must have been a delightful thing there on the road to Emmaus when Jesus confronted the two disciples in Luke chapter 24 after his resurrection and they didn't know he'd been resurrected and finally he revealed himself to those apostles on the road to Emmaus and the text says and Jesus took them to the scriptures and by the way what scriptures did he have to take them to then Old Testament only only the Old Testament the pen had not even been put to the page for the writing of the first page of the New Testament all that existed was the Old Testament and the text says that he took them to the scriptures and showed them all things concerning himself and I can't help but believe he probably started in Genesis 3 15 the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent or crush the head of the serpent and all through the

[24:56] Old Testament Christ surfaces in prophecy I mean he's there in Genesis he's there in Isaiah he's there in Jeremiah he's everywhere and that's what is meant by the testimony the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy it's a very heartbeat of all that prophecy is about the beautiful thing and the person of Christ is found all the way back in my estimation he's in Genesis chapter 3 he is there I believe as a Christophany he's there as one of the three that approached Abraham in the cool of the day in Genesis chapter 18 or 19 and he was the angel of the Lord and he was the one that made the promise to Sarai and so on so he's all throughout there yes he prayed he there go good

[26:02] Drummond the all conservative Christian people in the Congress and now the other side is not willing to make it they'll stand on their own now that they don't feel that they can't do that and so you got this battling you're right and it's getting stronger and stronger indeed it is indeed it is it's it's the secularization of our nation and you know I have heard such extreme fears voiced by the extreme right that if these people called Christians have their way you're going to be forced to go to church on Sunday morning I mean stupid stuff like that you know but this these are the kind of scare tactics that the other side tries to use that you cannot give these people like one of the evolutionists put it we cannot allow a divine foot in the door that's where secularism is coming from and it is pervasive it is out there everywhere and listen fellas our universities our state run universities for which people are paying 20 and 30 thousand dollars a year to educate their kids filled with this stuff and the secularism and the anti-christian stuff is just permeating out there and there's no reason to believe it's going to subside if anything it is it is increasing and we we just need to be and at the same time listen in many respects we who name the name of Christ have pretty much been given a pass in this nation never forget we Christians are the odd man out we are not the majority we never have been the majority and we need to realize that we are strangers and pilgrims in a foreign land we are citizens of heaven and this world is not our home and listen when push comes to shove we ought not to assume that we are going to get a square deal from john q public because we are not we are not and that's okay because you know what that's the norm really that's the norm we ought to have no illusions about about our culture and our world falling in love with us because we represent an entirely different world an entirely different value system verse 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of god yeah well that may very well be what's coming you know nobody wants to volunteer for that but we need to keep in mind that we do constitute the minority not the majority and you and and actually all the majority is doing is exercising and revealing their worldview keep that in mind this is where they're coming from this is their worldview these are their convictions and their ideas and they do not include spiritual values like they do for

[29:39] Christians so we've got a worldview too and Jesus Christ is at the center of our worldview and what we are dealing with today is a clash a clash of the world views and we are the minority keep that in mind we are we are what the world would consider the oddballs they are the ones who are normal in their mind and we are the ones who are abnormal so far as they are concerned was there another question or comment yeah Dan I was just going to say something in my opinion something that helps promote that divide helps divide further is when Christians are judgmental I'm sorry when Christians are judgmental oh yeah well that just adds fuel to the fire you know and Christians can be judgmental too there's no question about that and we we need to understand that there but for the grace of god there we go and let's keep this in mind never forget this guys this is a really real important concept I know I've shared it with you before and it may sound like a broken record but it's something that we really need to be to keep in mind and that is those out there who comprise the culture who are secularistic and anti-christian they are not the enemy they are the captives of the enemy and they don't even know it they are acting out of complete ignorance it may be fueled by you know hatred and arrogance and everything else but they have no idea of what they're true estate is or what the real estate is what they're true estate is or what the real estate is or what the real lay of the land is and you cannot expect them to know because it is only the believer who has the inside scoop and the revelation of scripture to be able to assess the world as it really is they can't do that they can't do that all they've got to operate with is their own human reasoning which is as flawed as is ours in the flesh.

[31:45] And the only thing that enhances our reasoning, that enables us to rise above human reasoning, is the authority and the revelation of Scripture. Because the Bible is provided, among other things, to give us the real lay of the land.

[32:00] And it tells us what really is true and what really is not. But they have no respect for that. And therefore, for all practical purposes, it is not available to them. But it is to us.

[32:11] And we just need to keep in mind what's really taking place here. And like Jude, I think it's Jude, talks about snatching men as brands from the burning fire.

[32:24] And that's what we do when we witness to someone and bring them to faith in Christ. They are like a brand that has been snatched from the fire. And so were you when you came to faith in Christ.

[32:35] So you need to keep that in mind. Okay. Any other thoughts or comments? Mike? I recently saw statistics, because I can't quote from memory, but it said that the existence of conservatives in higher education is almost one of the...

[32:55] Yeah. In the faculties. Yeah. Yeah. I saw that too. And that was quite stunning. And you just don't know, how did that happen?

[33:06] I mean, who's doing all of the placement there? And it almost looks like, it almost looks like there was, had to have been some kind of a conspiracy among these institutions to bring that about.

[33:22] And I'm not saying that there was, but I am saying this, there is a grand conspirator that is at work on a daily basis, and most people, including Christians, don't have a clue as to what is taking place and what he's doing.

[33:47] But there is a master orchestrator behind this whole thing, and he is the adversary. And make no mistake about it, he is very real, and he is very active, and he is very involved, and he is very influential.

[34:04] Joe? The college and stuff, what are they after? They're after finding truth, see? Except the truth is already here, see? Here's the truth. And they essentially would be out of a job, you know, if they accepted the Bible as the truth, because that's what the schools were trying to do.

[34:21] Yeah. I know the best way to do this or that, so forth, you know. I write a book, you know. They write books that guide you, you know. And so, you know, they've got to fight the Bible or they wouldn't have a job, essentially.

[34:35] Well, there's certainly an element of truth in that, to be sure. Other thoughts about this? This is a real dynamic that's taking place. Right now, as we speak, this is what's going on in our universities throughout the country.

[34:51] And it is really stunning to look at the number of influential professors. And, of course, all of them are teaching from their own perspective. And these young minds, these 18-year-old kids that are put under their tootlies, very often, just stand in awe of these professors.

[35:13] They represent the epitome of authority and knowledge. And many of them are very witty and persuasive. And you may be sure they're very well educated.

[35:25] Many of them have their PhDs. And they are very, very impressive to these 18, 19, 20-year-old kids. And they have not only the idealism, and by the way, that's something that's just generational.

[35:42] It is only natural for these teenage kids to be filled with idealism and energy. and that's part and parcel of being a kid at age.

[35:55] That's, you know, they're 18, 19-year-olds. I'm going to change the world! You know, well, by the time they're 28, 29, they've backed off of that a little bit. And by the time they're in their 30s and 40s, they know that their thinking back then was not realistic at all.

[36:11] But it takes a while to learn that. And they capitalize on that. And not only, not only do these kids have the idealism, these kids have an energy factor that has departed from you and me a long time ago.

[36:30] We just don't have the energy for that. But they do! And they are driven by that idealism, and many of them are pumped up by these professors, and you get what we're getting.

[36:40] Many of them are active in all kinds of causes, demonstrations, et cetera, and they're, well, let's go on. Any other thoughts regarding them? Okay, let's go on.

[36:53] Moses, greater than the treasures of Egypt, for he had respect. Williams translates it, he kept his eye on the reward.

[37:04] He had respect unto the recompense of the reward. And all I can say about that is that Moses had to have been convinced. However, whatever avenue it was that convinced him, he had to be convinced that loyalty to God contained a guaranteed payoff.

[37:33] Had no idea how God was going to honor those who honored him, but he had the utmost confidence that God would do that.

[37:44] and the name of that principle is this. It's always right to do the right thing. And it may not look attractive at the time, and the payoff for doing the right thing may not be immediate.

[38:02] In fact, the payoff for doing the right thing may not even come to you in this lifetime. But the payoff is coming because God honors those who honor him.

[38:17] Always has, always will. God will not be in debt to any human being. He will honor those who honor him. Any other thoughts before we enjoy our breakfast together?

[38:28] Joe? You talk about how Satan and the Jewish people are down and being encrypted all the time. Yep. And of course when it comes time and the tribulation comes, it really gets bad because Satan realizes his time is almost up.

[38:45] That's right. His time is almost up so he really pours it on. He pulls out all the stops. That's right. Indeed. Dana? I remember the story of Moses in the basket and stuff but we talked to my members.

[38:57] There was a prophecy that caused the countries to make that walk and kill all the babies. What was the cause of that?

[39:09] That's back in Exodus when the children of Israel had been in Egypt for 400 years and multiplying and the concern of the Pharaoh we're told that a Pharaoh rose up that knew not Joseph.

[39:27] and he was that was 400 years removed from Joseph and he didn't have the history or appreciation for Joseph. Joseph had been the savior of the nation of Egypt but apparently that was lost on this Pharaoh and his concern was that we have we have enemies around us and their fear was that if enemies come against us how do we know that these Hebrews are not going to join with our enemies to overthrow us so it was a fear factor and the end result was to get rid of the male babies so that they was there one thing that spurred it because I mean that's a pretty dramatic action to kill a lot of babies were there specific to write him that caused him to get rid of you?

[40:14] I cannot answer I do not know we just aren't given a lot of details all I can say is that apparently it was a fear factor that prompted the Pharaoh to do that because he saw the possibility of because they had grown you figure you start with 70 people but you multiply them for 400 years you're going to end up with a lot of people especially when these people didn't have the pill you know things like that yeah Joe?

[40:46]  Pharaoh's thought of themselves of God you know so he's a God so to do that for him it's nothing we might have other than all babies killed I'm a God I can do what I want well yeah absolutely that's no big deal you can't believe it's a good job because of God they believe in different God which was a person absolutely you know so that you know you can do anything I want to and it's fine you know no big deal yeah John would Moses be considered the type of Christ because when Christ was a baby that was the uh the to kill all the boy babies under two years old like he killed all the yeah yeah well that's that's entirely possible it it would appear that he fit many of the criteria for being a possible type of Christ yeah absolutely yeah yes indeed it in so it's it it that a little yeah yeah yeah