I know it is a familiar passage, but let us turn to Hebrews 11:23-29. It is only seven verses, but this is the gist of what the Lord has laid on my heart over the last few months.
I will begin reading. Hebrews 11:23 says:
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child;
and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt:
for he looked unto the recompense of reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king:
for he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.
By faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.
By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land:
which the Egyptians assaying to do were swallowed up.
Okay? Let us pray.
Lord, we always thank You for Your Word. Without Your Word, what do we have? But because of Your Word, the Holy Spirit is even able to take it and make it alive, and cause it to do a work in us that we could never otherwise experience.
So, as we read this Word and share some thoughts on this Word, we ask that the Holy Spirit would once again breathe upon it, and that the Word would be made flesh in us; that it would have transforming power; that we would respond to it; and that we would see You as we never have.
Lord, Your words are spirit and life, not ours. Speak, Lord. We wait upon You, and we ask You to open Your Word to us this morning as we are gathered in Your precious name. Amen.
Well, I have been thinking about these seven verses, and they have been reverberating in my heart for the last few months. As I thought about them, this is the gist of what I want to share, God willing, if He would help and make it clear: the testimony of Moses.
Now, if you think I am sharing about the testimony of Moses, you have missed my point. Even though I would like to borrow from the testimony of Moses, I really want to share on the testimony God is looking for in His people, as illustrated in the life of Moses.
That is too long of a title to put on the website, so let us leave it at The Testimony of Moses. If you miss the point, I will apologize again. Okay?
This is the burden the Lord has laid on my heart. These seven verses—I think there is something wonderful in them, something precious in them, something full in them. When we look at them, we have to conclude that God did an amazing work in Moses. You have to conclude that.
So much is written about Moses in the Word of God. To me, this is one of those Holy Spirit summaries of a life in which God has done a work. The New Testament often does that.
Think of David. Of course, David was a man after God’s own heart. We know that from 1 Samuel 13:14. Yet, when we come to the New Testament, the Holy Spirit seems to sum it all up in one verse: Acts 13:36.
For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.
Now, the second half of that verse is not the important part. I do not want to get into David decaying. But I believe the first part of that verse is incredibly relevant: he served the purpose of God in his generation.
Do you think for a moment that verse is just about David? It is not. This is the testimony God is looking for in all His people.
I think about Abraham. You will agree, I think—I do not have to do much arm-twisting to tell you that Abraham is a very important man in the Scriptures. In both Romans and Galatians, it says something extraordinary about Abraham: he was the father of faith. It goes so far as to say that he is our father.
Now, some of you, strictly speaking, might have trouble with that, because God is our Father. But there is a message here. It is a deliberate message from the Holy Spirit: “I did something in this man’s life to show You, My people, what I can do.”
So, he is the beginning—the father of faith. That is the summary of the Holy Spirit. It says of him in Acts 7:2, another one of those wonderful little phrases that captures a whole life:
The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.
Did I say Acts 7:2? If I forgot, forgive me. The God of glory appeared to Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he went to Haran.
This is the Holy Spirit’s summary of a life: the God of glory appeared to him. Brothers and sisters, if you are going to have living testimony, something must happen to you. It may not be as dramatic as what happened to Abraham, but it has to be just as real.
The God of glory must appear to you. You must have your own experience of the God of glory. If you do, then you will have a living testimony.
Think about what happened. It transformed an idol worshiper into the father of faith—the father, in a sense, of all the people of God, if you understand the context. Is that not wonderful?
May the Lord have such a summary about your life and my life. May it not be just a blank page, but at the end, may the Holy Spirit be able to say what God did in our lives. This is pretty important.
Now, Moses in particular is central to the Old Testament. You might think that is too strong a statement, but I do not think so.
When you look at the Bible, David’s name is mentioned 971 times. Abram is mentioned 263 times. Moses is in third place, mentioned 803 times. Now, you might wonder who is first.
That was a question. Who is first in the Bible? I heard something. What did you say, Dr. Pepper?
Jesus—that is right. Do you know Jesus is mentioned over 1,200 times in the Bible? Think about how amazing that is. The name Jesus is only found in the New Testament. Abraham, David, and Moses had the whole Bible, and the Old Testament is much larger than the New Testament.
Yet that Name which is above every name is, and always will be, first place in God’s heart. Think about Colossians 1:18:
And He is the head of the body, the church:
Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things He might have the preeminence.
First place—you win the prize—in all things. That was God’s intention. That is always His intention. That is God’s testimony.
Well, I do not know if you at least sense some of the burden, but today we will look at Moses’ testimony in the Word of God. If we are going to have living testimony, we have to understand Moses’ testimony in what he did. Only then will you fully understand testimony.
You also have to understand Moses in what he saw. Moses saw something. Abraham saw something. David saw something. It changed them forever. For us to have living testimony, we are going to have to see something that changes us forever.
That is the short version of the message. You are with me so far? Nobody sleeping? I always tell people, “I do not mind you sleeping; just do not snore, so I lose my place.”
But let us look at Moses’ testimony in the Word of God. When you think of Moses, look how much is written about him in the Word of God. To me, it is amazing. He has a significant place in the Word of God; there is no question about it.
Moses himself wrote the Pentateuch. Now, the Pentateuch—I looked it up because I felt for years that I was mispronouncing it. You can always trust the internet; everything is true on the internet.
But I love those websites with biblical pronunciations, because I feel like most of my time in eternity will be spent apologizing to those saints for how I have slaughtered their names over the years. So, it is helpful.
The Pentateuch is the first five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Jewish people call this the Torah.
What a volume it is to show us Who God is, what His intentions are, and what He is after. It is the basis of the whole Old Testament, and without it there would be no Word of God.
It is also the basis of the New Testament. We think we are so clever because we have the New Testament—thirteen books of the New Testament. Think of our—well, that is Paul, pardon me. I saw the sister’s face. Twenty-six books in the New Testament, thank you.
You can correct me whenever you want to, because I make numerous mistakes. But there are twenty-six books in the New Testament, thirteen written by the Apostle Paul—almost half.
The Old Testament is the basis of the New Testament, and we would not have the New Testament without the Old Testament. Our dear brothers and sisters who lived in the first century only had the Old Testament.
Yet all those writers drew upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and were able to pen the New Testament on the basis of God’s revelation in the Old Testament. That is how important the Word of God is. I hope you appreciate it.
This is, to me, a very important point about Moses’ testimony in the Word of God: the Word of God gives an extraordinary place to Moses and his testimony.
First of all, Moses was called the man of God. Significant—very significant. Can you imagine if, for a moment, you were called the man of God? You would go to My Imprint and have a sweatshirt made: “Jerry, the Man of God.” You would wear it to the gym, and everybody would see it and say, “Oh, look at him.”
Moses—what an extraordinary thing. It says seventy-eight times in seventy-two verses that Moses is the man of God. Can you think of a greater testimony than that? It is hard to imagine.
I think if, at the end of your life, your epitaph—the way people remembered you, or your tombstone—said, “Man of God,” you would be satisfied. But this is exactly what is in the Word of God about Moses: he was the man of God.
Now, it is not only about Moses. He is looking for you and me, brothers and sisters, to be men and women of God. Do not get all upset with me and say that is a sexist term. I do not want to go there.
I love what Galatians says: there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus. We are all men of God, okay? Do not get upset. In this politically correct environment we live in today, you are to be a man of God, and I am to be a man of God.
Galatians 3:28 says:
There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free,
there can be no male and female;
for ye all are one man in Christ Jesus.
Oh, what a living testimony it is. I will give you just a few examples, because if I read all seventy-eight examples, you would all fall asleep and leave sooner than later.
Listen to Deuteronomy 33:1:
And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
How wonderful—Moses, the man of God. Then Joshua 14:6 says:
Then the children of Judah drew nigh unto Joshua in Gilgal:
and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said unto him,
Thou knowest the thing that the Lord spake unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea.
This was the summary of this man’s life. Would you not want this to be the summary of your life? That is the whole purpose of our life in the Lord Jesus. I think it is quite powerful.
As a matter of fact, if you turn to Psalm 90, I think all of you know Psalm 90. Psalm 90 is Moses’ psalm. In its title it says, “A Prayer of Moses the Man of God.” How wonderful. That is in the title, by the way, Brother Keper, if you are looking for it; it is right below the name.
I believe this is significant. I believe this is of extreme importance. The one thing God wants to do in my life and in your life is that, in the end, we would be men and women of God—even children of God, even sons of God—but men and women of God.
Secondly, Scripture gives another extraordinary testimony about Moses: Moses, the servant of the Lord. How about that? As a matter of fact, it goes even further. God says, “Moses, My servant.”
How tremendous. When I saw that, I trembled. I thought, “Lord, is that true of us?” Would He say, “Gunther, My servant”? Would He say of Linda, “Linda, My servant”? In the end, will the testimony be, “Anna, My servant”?
I believe all the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is to bring us to that determined end. I think that is absolutely important.
One wrote this: “Moses, the servant of God.” It is only mentioned of five people in the Bible that they are called that. Amazing, is it not? But I believe that is to illustrate, not to limit.
We think, “Oh, well, Brother Kong was a man of God, a servant of the Lord. Perhaps Brother Prim is a servant of the Lord, but I will never be a servant of the Lord.” But did you know that is God’s intention for your life? In the end, it is the testimony He is looking for in you.
Joshua 1:1-2 says, in the King James Version—and I like the way it is put:
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass,
that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses My servant is dead;
now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people.
What a remarkable thing, if you think about it. I remember Brother Kong, in April and May of 1982—forty years ago—I was here, and he gave messages on Moses, the Servant of God. They were profound. I remember them.
I sat here and thought, even then in my limited understanding, “Lord, this is what You want in Your people.” Those messages are now in a book. I am not selling books, by the way; I only mention it because my message this morning is focused, and I do not want to give you the impression that we are doing a full study on Moses.
I have enjoyed going back and hearing Brother Kong’s passion—hearing the spoken word, not just the written word. But the messages have been put in a book, and because I am not going to cover this as thoroughly as you might want, you ought to get this book: Moses, the Servant of God.
Brother Kong deals with this matter in a much more thorough and detailed way. Thank the Lord.
Not only was Moses the man of God; he was the servant of the Lord. What a testimony. I believe we need to see that, and that needs to be what God works out in us.
Brother Kong said that Moses is called “the servant of the Lord” and “Moses, My servant” more than anyone else in the Old Testament. Pretty remarkable, is it not? Do you not think maybe we need to spend a little time meditating on what God was doing in Moses? What is it? Why do we need to pay attention to it?
It was not just God’s desire for one, or five, or 144,000—you know the reference I am thinking about in Revelation. It is God’s desire for all of us. That is the testimony He wants in the end.
The Bible goes on to say other things about Moses. I found five things that I thought were incredible. It calls Moses faithful in all My house.
Oh boy, that steps up the testimony. Suppose the Lord said of you, “You are faithful in all My house.” What an extraordinary statement to be made about a person. Yet that is the record—the testimony in the Word of God.
You remember the story of Miriam, the prophetess, Moses’ sister. Moses owed a lot to his sister. As that ark of bulrushes drifted down the Nile, Miriam, his older sister, walked among the bulrushes and watched it.
When the maidens of Pharaoh’s daughter saw it and took it, Miriam intervened and said, “Should I get you a nursemaid?” It happened to be Moses’ mother. Can you imagine? This is the sovereignty of God.
Miriam was his older sister, whom he loved. Aaron, the high priest in the Old Testament—the first high priest—was his older brother, whom he loved. You understand?
Yet they challenged him and turned on him. They brought up the matter of the Cushite woman in an accusation meant to belittle him. Then the basic thrust of their argument was, “Does the Lord speak only to you?” They challenged him.
It was in that context that God spoke up and defended him. After that incident, so important in Scripture, He said:
Not so My servant Moses:
he is faithful in all My house.
What a thing to be said about you. What a thing that could be said about me, if we allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. These three things alone are outstanding.
You know, I appreciate the anonymous and anointed writer of Hebrews. One day I might have to apologize to people who insist they know who the writer of Hebrews is, but nevertheless, that anonymous and anointed writer picked up on this testimony of God about Moses.
Hebrews 3:5 says:
And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken.
That phrase propelled a lot of my burden concerning testimony: “for a testimony of things spoken after.” That is why it was. It was to create a living testimony in the man—one that we need, one that we must have—to be called the man of God and the servant of the Lord.
Remember what it says in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 about being stewards of the mysteries of God. Paul was talking about the apostles as servants and stewards of the mysteries. What is required of a servant?
Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
That is all you are required to be. That is all He is looking for.
Do you remember the parable of the talents in Matthew 25? One was given five talents, another two talents, and another one talent. The one with five talents traded and gained five more, so he had ten. The one with two talents traded and gained two more, so he had four.
Then there was the one-talent person, who buried it and hid it. He thought his master was a hard man, requiring too much of him.
You know what it says in the end? The response is the same to the one with five talents and the one with two talents. Let me say to you, you will not be Moses, okay? I do not want to burst your bubble.
You might have five talents. You might have two talents. You might only have one talent. But whether you have five, two, or one, God is looking for the same thing in all three. If He finds it, the reward is great.
We often share this verse at people’s passing. It is in Matthew 25:21 and Matthew 25:23:
Well done, good and faithful servant;
thou hast been faithful over a few things,
I will set thee over many things:
enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
That is what He says. He is looking for those who are faithful in little things. I believe this testimony in the Word about Moses—faithful in all God’s house—is precisely what the Lord is looking for in His people today.
In the end, your reward will be based on that one thing: Were you faithful?
Think of it. It is sobering—so sober. I will give you a little comfort: I do not believe Matthew 25 is about salvation. I think it is about the kingdom and reward.
You do not lose your salvation. You cannot lose your salvation. I love you dearly, but you have not been able to convince me yet that anyone can lose their salvation. It is the grace of God and the free gift of God. You will never lose it.
But you could lose your reward. You could miss out on the kingdom—the thousand-year kingdom. You could miss the first resurrection in Revelation 20:4-5.
All He is looking for is faithfulness. One who is faithful in little things—He said, “Be faithful.” That is the testimony God is looking for. I believe it is precious.
Another thing about Moses: God spoke directly to Moses. Oh, what a testimony.
When Miriam and Aaron got all stirred up, God had an answer for them. He said:
Not so My servant Moses:
he is faithful in all My house.
With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even manifestly, and not in dark speeches;
and the form of the Lord shall he behold.
Now, I know some of your versions say, “face to face I speak to him.” That is a powerful testimony. He went on to say, “and not in riddles,” and then, “the form of the Lord doth he behold.” How precious.
Brothers and sisters, there used to be a day when, if you said God spoke to you, they would lock you up and put you in an institution. But we believers know God speaks to us.
We know it from the anointing and the unction within—the Holy Spirit. We know it when the Word of God, which is ink on the page, becomes a living revelation by the Holy Spirit.
We know it when we worship and pray in His presence. His promised presence is so real. We know it when we are with brothers and sisters. This is the testimony we are to have: God speaks to us. How precious.
Finally, this is important—this is the last: Moses was the most humble.
Just for a moment, let me play with you and myself. If it were said of you, “Man of God. Servant of the Lord. Faithful in all My house. I speak to you face to face,” could you be humble?
If even an iota of one of those things were said about me, my head would be so big it would not fit in this building. It would be like one of those helium balloons with baskets—swollen to a degree no one could imagine. I would probably tell everybody.
But it is an extraordinary testimony. It says:
Now the man Moses was very meek,
above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.
Have you ever thought about that? I think that is incredible. If anybody—if anybody ever in creation, a human being—had the right to be proud, a justifiable right to be proud, it was Moses.
But it says he was the humblest of all men. This was all in that same incident when Miriam and Aaron challenged him. It was all at the same time: “I speak to him face to face, and he beholds the form of God.” What a testimony.
Brothers and sisters, in this context, let me say something remarkable. Brother Kong brought this out, and I have remembered it for years. When it came to God, Moses would always defend God.
He never stopped. Remember when he came down from the mountain, his face shining with glory, and he saw the rebellion of the people of God? He took the tablets of stone, cast them down, and broke them.
When it came to defending God, he was a lion. But when it came to defending himself, he was silent. He never did that.
I think our first reaction, when somebody says something to us, is that we want to defend ourselves immediately. But learn the testimony God is looking for from this man of God: he never defended himself.
It is remarkable. It is a remarkable testimony in the Word of God.
Think of his older sister, who was responsible for him getting where he was, and Aaron the high priest, saying these things about him. He left it to God.
I have advice for you. There are many times I have foolishly—foolishly—defended myself. What a waste. Leave it with God.
If He has created His testimony in you, He will take care of it. Do not worry about it. Okay? That is a little word of encouragement.
What is that clock saying? Quarter to twelve. Here is a word of encouragement. I mean this very seriously. This is what I took away from this.
You say, “Boy, Moses could do that, but it will never be true of me.” It will never be true of you. It was not true of Moses. Do you understand?
It was not true of Moses. God had to make it so. He is in the transforming business. He is in the making business.
You remember when Moses came upon his calling—his high calling from God to be a deliverer. He was in Egypt, and he was that rock star in Egypt. It says all the people loved him. He was a prince in the court of Pharaoh, destined to be the heir apparent of Pharaoh. Can you imagine—a Hebrew?
Then he came to the point when he realized his calling, and he tried to take matters into his own hands. He saw the Egyptian taskmaster oppressing his Hebrew brother.
It must have been all those moments when his mother, Jochebed, told him as she nursed him about his calling. The Holy Spirit must have made it alive and stored those things in his heart. Then he came to realize it—but he tried to do it himself.
He slew the Egyptian. You remember? He was a powerful man, apparently. He was one of those guys you see at the gym—just powerful. He did it with his own bare hands and stuffed him in the sand.
Then he thought he was so wise and could do so many things. The next day, he saw two Hebrew brothers quarreling. So he came up to them, thinking he was ready. He thought he was ready to be the servant of God. He thought he was ready to be the man of God. He thought, “Now I know my calling. I can do it.”
So he went up and talked to them about reconciliation and peace. One Hebrew said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
The whole story was out. Moses fled in fear to Midian, and it was in the deserts of Midian that this testimony was wrought in Moses.
Let me put it in stronger terms: Moses was a complete failure. You think that is too strong? That is what the Word of God says. God took him apart to do a work in the deserts of Midian.
He found a wife, Zipporah. You know all about it. He became his father-in-law’s shepherd with a few sheep in the deserts of Midian. It is hard enough to work for your father-in-law, but to take care of his few measly sheep!
You remember the phrase in the Old Testament about Moses in Egypt: “He became exceedingly great.” Is that not remarkable?
Here was this man, taken out of Egypt, where he was just about the Pharaoh. All the treasures of Egypt were his. Then he was taken to the deserts of Midian, tending his father-in-law’s sheep.
Can you imagine? They would say to him, “Who do you work for?” “Well, I work for my father-in-law.” Sometimes I wonder if Moses did not tell the sheep, “Do you know who I am? I am the prince of Pharaoh. I have learned in all the learning and wisdom of Egypt. I became very great. Listen to me.”
Imagine the sheep looked up at him and went back to eating.
God took him there for a reason. If you are going to have a testimony—a living testimony—God has to take you into a place where He can deal with you, where He can transform you, where He can conform you to the image of the Lord Jesus.
That is where the testimony was made—not in Egypt. Moses could never do it. You can never do it. Only God can do it. Only the Holy Spirit can do it.
He will make it His aim to transform you from what you are in the natural to what you are in Christ Jesus. That is the testimony of Moses.
This great man became a great failure. He gave up. He thought, “It is over. I had better learn to like sheep. I had better learn to enjoy the deserts of Midian, because my life is over.”
Hardly was it over. God brought him, on that day, to the burning bush in Exodus 3.
There he saw a sight he had beheld many times in the desert: an old thorn bush, an old bramble bush, dried up, a waste, of no value, unable to do anything—rolling and tumbling as they do, and burning up in an instant.
But this sight caught his eye. Moses talked about the sight, because what he saw at that moment was a fire inside that old dried-up thorn bush. It burned brightly, and the thorn bush was not consumed.
There was revealed the secret of testimony: it is not you. It never will be you. It was not Moses. It was never intended to be Moses. It is to be the fire of God in you.
God did not give him too much explanation. He simply said, “Moses, I AM.” That is our testimony. Do you get it?
Brothers and sisters, we have to see this. If we do not, we will serve God in our own strength, with our own wisdom, and with our own knowledge. But when you see the secret, you are done—and you are dependent.
One of the first messages I gave as a young man was called “Delivered to Dependence.” I did not altogether know what I was saying, but it was real to me.
I have realized that this is the testimony God is after in you and me, as illustrated in the life of Moses.
When you read that story, notice the absence of confidence. God told Moses to go, and Moses said, “Oh, I cannot go. What will I say?” They say he even stuttered and stammered.
This great man of Egypt no longer had the confidence and eloquence he had in all the learning and wisdom of Egypt. Something happened.
His confidence was now in the God Who was in him—the old, dried-up, good-for-nothing thorn bush.
I realize I do not fit into a politically correct world. I know we are supposed to be telling everybody about self-esteem. I get that. The world tells us that, right? “Build yourself up. Be all that you can be.”
That is not how God makes us. Moses discovered this secret.
I believe this is the point: testimony is the Word made flesh in us. That is it.
John 1:14—do you think that is just speaking about the Lord? Earlier in John 1, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” Then you get to verse 14:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us
(and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father),
full of grace and truth.
I think that is testimony: the Word made flesh. That is what happened in Midian, and that is what needs to happen in your life.
The second point is Moses’ testimony in what he did. I think this is important. When you read those seven verses in Hebrews 11, there are three words that stand out. They are remarkable words: refused, choosing, and esteeming.
Moses actually responded to the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was wise enough to give us the recipe of how one responds to the work of the Holy Spirit, how one is transformed, and how one is made. It is in these words.
He refused—past tense, by the way. Not only did he refuse, but choosing is the second important word. Finally, esteeming is a very important word.
This is what Moses did. Now, I hesitate to say, “what Moses did,” but I want to use it to make a point. Really, if you think about it, it is not what Moses did. It is what God did, and Moses’ response to it. You understand? That is the secret.
Just respond as the Lord is doing His work in you. It says, “By faith,” five times in those seven verses. “By faith”—that phrase is repeated all through Hebrews 11.
Do you think it is your faith? It is never your faith. It is the faith of God.
Do you remember Galatians 2:20? Paul realized in his great revelation:
I have been crucified with Christ;
and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith,
the faith which is in the Son of God,
Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
He was a dead man, just like Moses—good for nothing. Nevertheless, he lived. What is this? This is amazing. “I live because Christ lives in me.” The fire in the bush—that was the secret. That was the fire.
It is not your faith. It is not my faith.
He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Something dawned on him: he was called to be a son of God.
Brothers and sisters, there is a step we need to take as the Holy Spirit works. We need to refuse. We need to drive a stake. We need to take a stand.
I do not know when that will be for you, but it was after forty years of trying with Moses. One day it is going to dawn on you that you have a special calling on your life—to be called a son of God.
It is all His work that is going to make you that. The first thing—the most important thing—you can do is refuse. You refuse this world.
Remember what Paul said to the Galatian church in Galatians 6:14:
But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world hath been crucified unto me,
and I unto the world.
It no longer has a place. Moses was no longer the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He refused to be called her son. It is remarkable.
Have you come to that place? Have you seen that nothing in this world is for you? Have you seen it? Have you really seen it?
I think this is the beginning of transformative testimony. He was not born for Egypt. He refused Egypt. It is past tense, because he drove a stake.
It was not only that. He did something else: choosing. That is the word—choosing.
Have you noticed that choosing and esteeming are in the present tense? Now, by this time, you know that with English, I do not know what I am talking about. But I think it is the present perfect tense, as some brothers have said: he is continually choosing.
That is what we need to do. Think about it. We often go to people with the gospel, and I appreciate you who went down for the gospel time, and we say, “Choose Christ.”
One of the brilliant things Brother Kong said in those four messages is that we do not choose God; God chooses us. Did you know that? God chose Moses. It was not until later that he really realized it.
But there is a choice we have to make. There is an agreeing with the Holy Spirit. There is a choosing you are faced with every day. It is present perfect. It is your daily experience in gaining that living testimony.
The question is: are you doing that?
I think this choosing is a response. To me, it solves the whole dilemma. How many arguments and discussions have there been about predestination and free will? How many?
Predestination: God chooses you. Free will: choosing. It is response. He realized, “God chose me, and I choose Him. I choose Him.”
I think of that wonderful hymn we often sing at baptism:
I have decided to follow Jesus;
no turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me;
no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me—here is a challenge to the testimony being worked out. When we see ones close to us, sometimes even turning against us, are you willing to choose to the point that you say, “Though none go with me, I still will follow”?
I think that is the second word. It solves the problem of sovereignty and free will. It is a response. It does not begin with you; it begins with God.
But once you realize it, you have to come into connection with it and make it your daily, ongoing choice. Yes, you do choose God in a sense, but only because He chose you first.
It is like that verse in John’s epistle:
We love, because He first loved us.
That is choosing.
Last word—I am almost done, by the way. I am almost done. I know you are worried. At this point you are shivering, thinking, “Oh, the lunch is going to go cold.”
Esteeming. What a word. Do you understand? Esteeming means to value something as the highest prize.
Moses no longer looked at the treasures of Egypt, which were immense—immeasurable, at his disposal. Egyptologists are still discovering remarkable treasures, unbelievable treasures, from that vast empire.
He did not esteem those as the true riches anymore. Something happened. He would rather suffer.
Let me read you the phrase. Hebrews 11:26:
Accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt:
for he looked unto the recompense of reward.
That is a full verse. Is that your testimony?
I think it was the Apostle Paul’s testimony. You remember Philippians 3. To this last church he wrote a letter, and he shared the deep things in his heart. He explained them in Philippians 3.
He talked about all that he had. You talk about a rock star—I am sorry if that offends you—in the Hebrew people, he had it all. Read the first part of Philippians 3.
Then something happened. He saw the excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and it turned him upside down.
No longer was it the riches and treasures of Egypt, like Moses. It was the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Because of that, he had lost everything—but it was not a loss to him.
He said, “I counted it but dung.” You know what that means.
That is what God wants you to do. In the final analysis, it is esteeming. Where is your value?
Let me tell you what: I do not realize how quickly I got to seventy-one years old. Where did it go, Jerry? I know—you passed it eight years ago.
The temporary pleasures of sin—where did they go?
But I realize this: there are treasures and reward—remember that word, recompense—beyond anything you could ever imagine.
Remember what the Scriptures say:
Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not,
and which entered not into the heart of man,
whatsoever things God prepared for them that love Him.
Esteeming—what do you value?
I believe if that testimony is going to be worked out in you, you are going to have to drive a stake. You are going to have to say, once and for all, “I am no longer part of this world. I am a sojourner.” Refuse.
You are going to begin to choose and respond to the One Who has chosen you. Finally, like Paul, you are going to discover where the real riches are: esteeming.
I do not know. Those three words have so gripped me for these few months. I have been rethinking them and rethinking them, and I cannot let them go.
Finally—this is the last thought. My sister is even laughing at me. Moses’ testimony in what he saw—it is very brief, by the way. It is about this much. I know you do not believe that. No, you do not. I get it.
He saw something. The secret that held him to the end is found in Hebrews 11:27:
For he endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible.
What a secret. Brothers and sisters, we often talk about vision, and we should. But we need to know what the vision is. The vision is seeing Him.
It will explain the church. Do not get so hung up on the church; the church is all fulfilled in Him. It will explain your life.
Moses’ secret and his testimony was that he saw Him Who is invisible. Because he saw Him Who is invisible, he was able to endure to the end. That was his secret.
You want a secret? That is the secret. I think that is so tremendous.
Think about it. Moses was hated by Egypt once he made his choice. They wanted to drown him and the whole nation—what was to become the nation of Israel—in the Red Sea, in a watery grave.
He was even hated and despised by those God so greatly delivered from the bondage of Egypt. “Why did you bring us out here to die? We want the leeks and the onions and those sweet-smelling things from Egypt. Let us go back.”
They rebelled again and again. They murmured again and again. What things he endured.
Then his dear sister, the prophetess, came to him and said, “Who are you?” His brother, the high priest, came to him and said, “Does God speak only to you?”
What he went through. How incalculable the suffering.
But he had a secret. That secret made him go through everything: he saw Him Who is invisible.
That is what we need. That is the vision you need. That is how the testimony will be made real.
It is the testimony of the Word being made flesh in us. That is what has to happen. That is what has to happen.
It is the testimony of our response. We understand Moses’ response in these three words: refusing, choosing, and esteeming.
It is the testimony of what he saw. What he saw made everything possible. Therefore, we have this great testimony of this man of God.
Here is the question: Is this just Moses’ testimony?
Do you not think there is a reason it is in Scripture so thoroughly, so fully? It has to be.
Remember what it says: “for a testimony of things spoken after.” It is for us. It is for us.
That is the testimony He is looking for. May the Lord do His work.
Father, we know that when it comes to spiritual things, we cannot fully express what is in Your heart. But we are thankful that You have not left us alone. You have given us the Holy Spirit.
How we pray that the Holy Spirit would do what You want to do: to make us a people of testimony, a people of a living testimony—people who know their God, have seen Him, understand the work He is doing, and respond to it.
Let us be those people. We ask this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.