Romans chapter 7. We're looking at Jehovah Nissi
this morning. I want us to see something here
in Romans 7. I got an email from Mike this
morning. Him and Karen are doing well.
His phone isn't working down where they're at, but Karen's
is. I hadn't heard from him. I was half worried, but a little
note and letter goes a long way right when you need it, doesn't
it? Here in Romans 7, we've been
looking at the names of our Lord, capital L-O-R-D, all capitals,
Lord Jehovah, Lord of Hosts, the self-existent one. We started
looking at Jehovah Jireh. The Lord gave us that story there
of Abraham sacrificing his only son, his only son, the one he
loved, Isaac. And the Lord provided. He provided. I understand that. I need provision. I can get a hold of that. Look
last week, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals thee. I need healing. I'm sick. I'm
lame. I'm blind. I'm deaf. I've got
a heart of stone that needs to be healed. I need the Lord to
heal me. In a couple weeks, we'll be looking
at Jehovah Shalom, the Lord of our peace. I'm like terrible
waters. Scattered. All the time spun
up. So easy. I need Him to be my
peace. That's what I need. Jehovah Raya,
the Lord's my shepherd. I ain't got enough good sense
to go anywhere. I don't know what to do. I need
lead. That's a new heart that needs
lead. A proud, self-righteous, stiff-necked people says, I'll
do it myself. I don't need nobody to tell me what to do. I'm a
child. I don't know what I ought to
know and I need Him to lead me. Jehovah Sikhinu, the Lord our
righteousness. I have no righteousness. I can't
get no righteousness by the law. I need Him to be my righteousness. I need His righteousness. Jehovah
Shema, the Lord's present. This one that provides for me.
He heals me. He's my peace. He leads me. He's
my righteousness. I want Him with me. I don't want
to be far off. We've got a president on the
other side of the country that I don't talk to. I know something
about him. I've met him once or twice, but
I haven't seen him again. I want one that's with me. I want to
be with him. From a young man, I understood
these characteristics of the Lord. Logically, you could see
there's a need for that in comparison to His Word, isn't there? But
why Jehovah Nissi? Why do I need a banner? The Lord
Our Banner. Why do I need that? I heard a
lot about this growing up. Why do I need to learn about
this? Why do our children need to know Jehovah Nissi? Why do
the young folks need to know Jehovah Our Banner? Before we
see why we need a banner, what is it? What's Jehovah Nissi? The Lord Our Banner? It's a flag.
It's an ensign. A guide-on is what we called
it in the Army. It's also called a badge. When I was in the military,
I worked for the 1st Infantry Division. I was in Germany and
I went to war with them. I come back and I went and taught
in Kentucky for a couple of years. I ended up in Kansas and the
1st Infantry Division had moved. I was back with them. And I left
to deploy with them again. And I had their badge on me.
That's who I was with. I had a badge. And we had flags.
In a military, in a unit, in drilling ceremony, there's someone
called a guide-on-bearer. There's a command of preparation,
a preparatory command, and a command of execution. Marines have them,
too. The Navy don't. I checked with our local experts
this morning. But before they say, you're going
to do a right face, they'd say right, and they'd shove that
flag up in the air in case the boys in the back couldn't hear.
And they'd say, well, something's about to happen. Look at that
flag. And then it moves. That's gonna present arms. It'll
present, and then arms, it'll drop that flag down. It'll say,
all right, we need to do this. We need to put our hand up. If we're
cut here, they could see it. They could see it. Where do you
rally on the battlefield? There's chaos, confusion everywhere. Blood's flying. It's slippery.
You look for that flag. Knowing that flag's still there.
Knowing our friends are still with us. Our command is still
over us. That's our banner. That's our
guide on. Our flag. And we sing a song about that,
don't we? I don't know if they do anymore. We sing about our flag
and this country. Though the ramparts we watch
were so gallantly streaming. Rockets bursting in the air.
They just come out with those. Bombs bursting in the air. That
was something new. Flashing out in the light. There's a flag.
It's all lost. They're shouting that because
we're dead. We have no hope. Oh, we have hope. There's a flag.
That's what the flag is. It's an ensign, a guide-on, a
badge. Why does a child of God need a banner? Why do we need
a flag? We're at war. We're at war. A believer doesn't
wake up that morning after God works in their heart, understanding
all of our needs. We don't know that we need a
banner. We don't know that we need a flag. I had to go to war
as an adult to understand about these guide-ons, about these
swallow-tailed flags. have this information. And you
don't have to go to Eastern Europe in our day. You don't have to
go to the Middle East. You don't have to go to Africa or Ethiopia at
civil war to understand these things. An unregenerate person
may go to a carnal war and they may have seen some strong internal
conflicts during that within themselves. But a child of God
is at war. I've been through war. I ain't
there no more. A child of God is at war right now in this world
that we're in. The world hates you. You might get along fine, and
you start talking about what man is and who God is, and our
only hope of salvation, all of a sudden, well, we'll agree to
disagree. That's hating. Don't seem like
it. I'm not slapping you in the face.
But they'll say, you stop talking about that. I don't want to hear
it. That's a war. And if not in this world, in
our own bodies. If I don't hear another voice
on this earth, there's a war going on right here inside of
my body. There in Romans 7 verse 23, Paul
experienced this, that great apostle who labored more than
them all. He said in Romans 7, 23, but I see another law of
my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Are you at war? Do you have days
where you're absolutely miserable and tore up and you don't know
what to do? You don't know where to look. You don't have any commands
given you to lead you or guide you or anything like that. You're
just a wreck. Are you wretched? Paul was. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? That's a
good place to be. People that ain't got no rough waters, buddy,
I pray the Lord's rough on them. I pray to send us some trials
to shake you up. If you're comfortable, I want you to be disturbed. Why? That way whenever the God disturbs
you, you can be comforted. There ain't no comfort apart
from Him. And Paul cried out, O wretched man that I am, who's
going to deliver me from this death and this war that I'm living
in? Verse 25, I thank God. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, the law of sin. I bow to Christ. Good place to
be, isn't it? I have a flag, I have a banner.
I look to Him, I bow to Him. In a war, you need armor and
weapons, don't you? It's been a while since we looked
up there in Ephesians 6. Paul writes to that church at
Ephesus and he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. We're not out there, though we
may, we're not out there taking up our causes in this world,
but against principalities and powers and against rulers of
the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickedness
in high places. We're at war. You need to put
the armor on. What's the spiritual wickedness in high places? What's
the highest place on me? Right there. It's mind. It's
head, born of Adam. It's old man that lives with
me. That's evil in high places, isn't it? He says you take on
the whole armor. having your loins girt about
with truth, having the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Be ready to run, telling
people how peaceful Christ is, what He's done for us, what He's
accomplished. And above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God, and praying always with prayer and
supplication in the Spirit. You put on a helmet, You gird
your loins, put your shoes on, grab your shield for those fiery
darts and pray. Calling out to Him constantly
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Pray for yourself
and pray for those that's at war with you. We're fellows in
the same ship. Right here. When you're about
to go to war and your feelings arise at some point, I ain't
cut out for this. You may do your job, but there'll
come a time when you say, this ain't for me. I ain't able to
do this. And you're right. You're right. We are no match for our adversary.
We're in the war. We're fighting the battles inward
and outward in this world. But for those Christ shed his
blood for, the fight's already accomplished. We're in it right
now, but our warfare has a determined and sure end. Do you know that?
We're in this war. And he told the prophet Isaiah,
he said, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Speak to her heart and cry to
her that her warfare is accomplished. Your iniquities pardoned. You
proceed to the Lord's hand double for all your sins. Who did this
fighting? We're in the war right now, but
it's already determined. It's already finished. We're
going to go through the motions. We're going to have to go through
it. It's going to have to physically take place in ourselves. Who
did the fighting? We're in it. We're trouble on
all sides in this war, but someone else did the fighting, didn't
they? Moses, we just looked in Exodus last week. That great
song of Moses, just before those waters were made sweet, Moses
sings this song and he says, the Lord is a man of war. The
Lord's his name. This Lord, we're learning His
names. We're learning about Him. He's a man of war. This isn't
a sweet little old grandpa that floats up on a cloud and brushes
off sin underneath the rug. He's a man and He's a man of
war. And He's a victor. Turn over to Joshua 6. Joshua
6. I thought this was precious.
You've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua.
Sixth book. Joshua 6. I'm sorry, Joshua 5. I need something to look to.
I wrote down Joshua 6 in the book and I just said Joshua 6.
Sometimes even when I'm looking I look at the wrong thing. Joshua
5, verse 13. Joshua 5, 13. And it came to
pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted up his eyes and
looked and behold there stood a man over against him with his
sword drawn in his hand. That's a man of war. Joshua went
unto him and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries? Are you for us or against us?
He said, Nay. Which is it? You answer me. No. Nay. Who are you? But as captain
of the host of the Lord am I now come. The captain of the host
of the Lord am I now come. This man of oars a captain. And
Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did worship and said
unto him, what saith my Lord unto his servant? If you're his
servant, what did God say to you? Tell me. And the captain
of the Lord of hosts said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off
thy foot, for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua
did so. He took his shoes off. Why? That
captain bearing a sword from the Lord of hosts said, take
your shoes off, this place is holy. He listened, didn't he?
Joshua listened. That's such an amazing thing
to me. How do we have this banner given to us? This one is the
captain of our salvation. David said, Thou hast given a
banner to them that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because
of the truth. Selah. He said, you pause and
think about that. The Lord gave us a banner. Those
that fear Him, those that obey, that it may be displayed because
of the truth. We don't hide it underneath the
napkin, do we? We don't put a candle with a
basket over top of it. It's going to be displayed. And
it's the Lord's doing. Isaiah wrote, and he shall set
up an ensign for the nations. He's going to set a banner up
for his nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel. Who's
this banner for? Who's this captain for? Outcasts
of Israel? That make you mad? That tickles
me to death. That's for outlaws, rebels. And
gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners
of the earth. What a precious thing. I'm not a priest. This
is one you can bow to. This man of war, this captain
of our salvation, this banner, flag that we look to for leadership
and everything. This is one you can bow to. I'm
not a priest. You all encourage me to, I don't
know what to pray for if you don't tell me. We got a brother
now that's having some trouble and I pray for him. Lord be with
him. Give him grace to go through this trial and show him Christ
in it. And on top of those things, if you will, make it easy on
him. Take that pain away or whatever it is, you know. We ask for those
things. But I don't run a prayer service. I'm not a priest. Somebody
coming to me and saying, you pray for this and you pray for
that and you pray for this. You ain't going to get no different result
than I am. You don't come to me with those things. People
do that on TV and they charge a fee, don't they? You ask God
for that. Pray God gives me a word for
you too. While you at it. I'll pray for you, you pray for
me. There's a big difference in that. I'm not to be worshipped.
I'm not to be bowed to. And I've told people that plainly.
You bow to God, you go to Him. It's a good thing. I'll pray
with you, but you go to Him. I'm no mediator. Cornelius came
to that apostle Peter in Acts 10 and he fell at his feet and
he worshiped him. And Peter said, get up. What's
wrong with you? He said, stand up. I myself also
am a man. What is wrong with you? Paul
had experienced this. What are you doing? Get up. You don't
bow to me." That angel was speaking to John in Revelations. And he
said to me, "'Right, blessed are they which are called unto
the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "'These are
the true sayings of God.'" That angel came and prophesied to
John and said, "'Those that are at that marriage supper, they're
blessed. God blessed them.'" And John, that apostle, he fell
at the feet to worship him. And that angel spoke and said
unto him, "'Don't you do that. See that thou doest that not.
I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the
testimony of Jesus. Worship God," he said. That great
angel said, don't you do that. I'm here with you. We're just
pointing to Him. Worship Him. Worship God. For the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Him, that's
who we speak of. This one told Joshua. This angel of the Lord came,
bearing a sword, this man of war, this captain. And he said,
you take your shoes off. You're worshiping him. Take your
shoes off. This is holy ground. And he did. Who do you think it's talking
about? Is this some apostle? Nope. Is this some, just Sarabim
or Cherubim? Nope. This is the Lord. Joshua
bowed to him, worshiping him, and he said, you go take your
shoes off. Even what you do is unclean. This is the captain
of our salvation. That's what we read in Hebrews
2. For it became Him, Christ our Lord, for whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of our salvation perfect through sufferings. Why
do we need it? Why do we need a banner? We're
at war. Why else? The war is accomplished and we
need reminded of that. I need reminded of that often. I'm in the middle of this war
and it's finished. The victory has been declared.
How else could I get through it? If the Lord didn't sustain
me and give me his son to look at, And this battle and this
flesh that I live in, how could I survive? I think of World War
II often there in London, them getting bombed. It's so easy
for us to read a book or watch a documentary and say, oh, that
must have been rough. We know the outcome, don't we? They didn't. Right now over in
Eastern Europe, there's a war raging. People's dying, their
bodies in the streets. They don't know how that's going to end.
We don't either. 20 years from now, we can look
back and say, oh, that's probably pretty rough on them, I guess. I can imagine
that. We didn't live through it. Right now, in this body of
death we walk through, this war that's raging in my members,
I know how the outcome is. You that have a war, I know the
outcome. You that's got a little skirmish
and, eh, we got some hiccups every now and then, I don't know
your outcome. I don't know about that, but you're tore apart. A war-torn
country, bombs going off inside of you, I know the outcome. You
got an old man and a new man, and God saved you. That angel
was speaking to John. He didn't wrongfully bow to him,
but this one's worth bowing to. Now, what does nisi mean, banner?
The better question is, who's our banner? That's the Lord's
name, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is our
banner. We see Christ so plainly in so many of these people in
our text. And I'm excited for the day we go through Exodus.
I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be blessed.
And we're going to go slow. It's going to take us a long
time to get through Exodus. Probably a couple of years before
we even get there. But let's look at Exodus 17. Jehovah Nissi,
the Lord our banner. I want to touch on some of these.
Hopefully I won't dwell too much time on them. So many pictures of our Lord
here. and what he's done for us. Exodus 17, verse 8. Exodus 17, 8. Then came Amalek and fought with
Israel and rephidim. Who's Amalek? That's a descendant
of Esau. That's our enemy. Those that
aren't like us. Those that aren't Chosen of the
God, loved of God. This is the one hated of God,
Amalek. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel, and Moses
said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. You choose out men after your
own heart, Joshua. You go to battle. Tomorrow I will stand
upon the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So
Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went
up to the top of the hill. Moses pictures the holy law of
God. Moses is the top picture of the
law. Joshua, that's Jesus. A Hebrew name Joshua is the same
as Jesus in Greek. That's our Savior. who that is. That law required some things.
It demanded some things. And our Joshua, Jesus our Lord,
our perfect substitute, He did as the law said. You see that?
Did you ever make a whole message out of that one passage? Joshua
did as Moses had said unto him. Our Lord fulfilled the law. He
kept it. And He fought with the adversary while keeping it. While
in obedience, He obeyed the law and He accomplished our warfare.
That's what He did. Another picture here. While Joshua
went to choose those men to physically fight, Moses the Law was going
to go up on a hill, apart from everybody else. Aaron, the high
priest, was going to go with him. That's the one that made
the sacrifices. That's the one that was covered
in blood, our high priest. And Hur was going with him. I
looked up Hur. You know what that means? A hollowed
out place. A boar in the rock. A cleft in
the rock. Her, here goes the law, the sacrifice,
and the surety. Up in a mountain. Who do you think that typifies?
Up this mountain high above us, the law, the sacrifice, and the
surety went together. It says in verse 11, And it came
to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. When that rod was exalted, lifted
up high, Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed. The rod of the Lord. What was
that? What was it that Moses was holding up? That's Aaron's
rod. You remember whenever he needed
a sign to go in front of Pharaoh and the Lord told Moses, you
take Aaron's rod, his staff, and you throw it down on the
ground, it's going to become a serpent. Remember that? And all those magicians
and sorcerers, they threw their rods down and they became serpents
too, didn't they? And this one ate all the other
ones. That was a serpent, wasn't it? That rod of Aram was a serpent.
That's what it was pictured as. Christ, the Lord, our banner.
He's the serpent lifted up high in the wilderness, isn't He?
Look to Him and live. We've seen that, haven't we?
Just as a serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. He's got the rod. He's lifting
it up. When He's exalted, when He's
looked at, there's victory. Victory all around. Talk about
having confidence. And He's that rod. That's what
the Old Testament says. He's the rod out of the stem
of Jesse. That's our Lord He's lifting
up. When we see Christ our banner
lifted, when we see that accomplished work of our salvation, the warfare
is already finished, It's set. We prevail. Can you breathe a
little better? All the worries and woes, whether
it's carnal, worldly things, or it's spiritual, you don't
feel like you're a child of God. When you look to Christ, where
He is now, exalted, getting all the glory as He should. Amen.
Do you prevail? You grieve a little bit? You got a little breathing room?
We prevail, don't we? When we don't see Him high and
lifted up. They're down there underneath this mountain fighting.
You look to that, and you're just swinging away. Easy swinging,
isn't it? And whenever you don't look to
that high and lift it up, and you're fighting one another,
and you're fighting yourself, and you're looking to yourself, and you're
looking at that enemy in front of you, what happens? Amalek prevails. Those that are hated by God,
not loved of God, they prevail. They overcome us. It doesn't
matter if that's just this world, this whole world, this evil one,
that's our adversary, or my old man. When the war is raging and
the Lord's not exalted, I'm losing. And I know it. He says in verse
12, But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put
it under him. And he sat thereon, and Aaron
and Hurst stayed up his hands, the one on one side and the other
on the other. And his hands were steady until the going down of
the sun. Moses, the law, his hands were
heavy. He got weary, didn't he? I thought
of Romans 8. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh. This picture's weak, isn't
it? Moses was weak. God sending his
own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us. That that war he won, you'll
wear the crown of victory for. How's that? That law of Moses,
he was set on a stone. Christ is our cornerstone. He's
our foundation. He's the one who gave it. Gave
that law. He ordained it. And on one side
of him, he's setting on Christ the rock. On one side is Aaron.
That holy law we offended, here's our redeemer, our sacrifice,
our propitiation, an acceptable bloody sacrifice, the work of
the Lord. Here's that law set on the Lord,
established on Him, and one side the work of Christ our Redeemer
is upholding. On the other side, her. That
law upheld by the cleft in the rock, our security, our shelter
in the time of the storm. That's the person of our Lord.
What upholds that law? We offend it. It's seated on
Christ, it's upheld on one side by His person, and upheld on
the other side by His work, and it's all exalting Him. He's the
rod above, His person and His work. That's our hope. We ought
to see that, shouldn't we? We can prevail. Verse 13, and
Joshua disconfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the
sword. They were gutted. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the
ears of Joshua." This ain't a historical action that took place and like,
okay, we learned that, we passed the test, let's go on. We have
discipleship programs we need to get into and we got community
outreach programs, we got to feed the homeless and train these
kids up how to color and read. He said, you rehearse it in the
ears of Joshua, in us. We need to hear this over and
over and over again. God is holy. That law is holy. And we broke it from the time
we would concede until the sun went down. Until our life's over. And Christ is our only hope.
For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under
heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nisi. The Lord, our banner, that
flag lifted high up, commanding us, giving us direction, giving
us comfort in the heat of battle, looking to Him. For He said,
because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation. Tell us over and over to Joshua,
because this is going to take place. The Lord is going to be
at war from generation to generation. How long is that? Every generation
from Adam to the last child of God being called to our Lord
on this earth. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our banner. The war is going to rage. You
think that didn't happen to Adam and Eve? They had a whole lot
less sin than I did. A lot better looking on the outside,
knew so much more, more brilliant. They had a war within them. What
if it's thousands of years from now? What about that last child?
That last sinner saved by grace? You know what's going to happen
to them? There's going to be a war going on. And the Lord's going
to be that person's banner. Just as He's my banner, just
as He's Moses' banner, and Joshua's banner, and everybody else's
banner. From generation to generation. And the Lord's going to defeat
our foes. And He's going to defeat this old, stony heart that's
in me. That I was born with. And He's
going to give me a hard flesh. What about that next one? Something
going to be different? No. It's going to be exactly the
same. The preaching of the gospel.
Tell men and women what we are. We can't win without Him. All
hope is gone in and of ourselves. Christ is our hope. Here's the
flag. Look at Him. Rally to Him. Cleave to Him. Have hope in Him.
He's our banner. Nothing's going to change from
generation to generation. Why? He's a flag worth flying.
He's a flagworth. We have protocols that people
don't adhere to in this nation anymore. There's flags up and
down our road, and I about put a sign up saying, take care of
it, take it down. I fought for that thing. It's nighttime, you
better have a light on it. Let it touch the ground and drape
and get winds whipping it around. It's all tattered looking. We
got enough sense as Americans to go out, fix that. What's wrong
with you? We want to tend to it, don't
we? That flag is worth flying, it's
worth taking care of. The Lord gave it to us, put us in this
country, we were born here. How much more Jehovanese, how
much more Christ our banner. We ought to care for his gospel,
care for his brethren, those that he laid his life down for.
Honor him, honor his word. I love that article, Bruce, I
think I'm going to reference it in the next message too. I
sent it with the bulletin this week. But for our children, his
mother ate vegetables when he was a little child. She didn't
make him. And as he got older, he didn't eat vegetables. And
he thought, you know, my dear mother ate vegetables and it served her
well. I think I'm going to eat some vegetables. And he said,
you mommies and daddies, you can't make your children. Consume
the gospel. You can't make them believe Christ
and look to Him. But if they see how much you
love it, if they see how committed you are to it, if they see how
much it's benefited you, they may say when they get older,
well, maybe I'll taste that gospel. And it might be delicious to
them. The Lord may use it that way, isn't it? Jehovah and ECR
banner. I pray I could fly only that
banner. What unit you with? Him. What's y'all's tactics? Him.
How you gonna win the battle? Him. What's your training process? Him. All of it. He's our banner. Amen.