Well, verse 7 begins with the
word, then. And I will tell you that those
Bible scholars who have written commentaries on Exodus chapter
17, especially beginning in verse 8, they differ in their opinions. Some say that this war with Amalek
actually happened before, before Moses smote the rock. The reason
for drawing that conclusion is because it happened at Rephidim.
And Rephidim is where they went after spending some time at an
oasis. And Rephidim is where they were
thirsty. And so many believe that this
episode with Amalek took place after, after, excuse me, before,
before the rock was smitten and that the Amalekites actually
attacked Israel when they were weak and thirsty to try to take
advantage of them. Others have a differing opinion
and they believe that this that the smiting of the rock happened
before. I don't care which one you embrace.
I don't think that's what's really important here and I just threw
that out in case you do any reading on this passage of scripture.
It matters, it seems to me it matters very little whether this
happened after the smiting of the rock or before the smiting
of the rock. That which we do see is God provided
for the children of Israel. And he created a situation where
Israel had to fight. Up until this time, Israel has
not fought. Israel has not had to face up
against an enemy. God took care of the Egyptians. The Lord said when they came
to the Red Sea, stand still and see the salvation of God. And
they did, and they watched what God did. As he used his servant
Moses and the rod of Moses to divide the Red Sea, and all of
the children of Israel went across on the dry path through the Red
Sea that God himself had opened. They did nothing. They didn't
have to stand and fight against the Egyptians. But now, now they
are going to have to fight. The Amalekites were a ruthless
people. They hated the Israelites. For you see, the Amalekites were
descendants of Esau. God said, Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. And while God loved Jacob and
hated Esau, the descendants of Esau, Amalek, and the Amalekites,
they hated the sons of Jacob. That is, they hated Israel. It
was like hatred and malice for Israel was in their bloodline. And so they saw the children
of Israel here in the wilderness. And they began to attack them,
not from the front of the children of Israel, not from the front
of the nation, but from the rear. Look at Deuteronomy 25. Deuteronomy chapter 25. They
didn't attack those at the front. They didn't attack Moses and
the leaders of the children of Israel. Rather, they attacked
those who were the weakest and who could move, who moved not
quite as quickly as the younger folks. Look at chapter 25 of
Deuteronomy verse 17. Here's what Moses said, remember
what Amalek did unto thee? Deuteronomy 25, 17. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way when you were come forth out of Egypt? How
he met thee by the way? And he smote the hindmost of
thee, even all that were feeble behind thee when thou was faint
and weary. Which, by the way, leads many
people to believe that this happened before the smiting of the rock. Because they were faint and weary. And he feared not God. Therefore
it shall be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from
all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy
God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt
Blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven, and thou shalt
not forget." Don't forget what Amalek did. In fact, Moses back
here in chapter 17, he tells Joshua this in verse 14. He says, write this for memorial
in a book. And he did. And here's the book. It's written in the book of God.
What the Amalekites did. Write it down in a book of remembrance. Write it down in the Word of
God. You see, Amalek and the Amalekites, these were the first
of the nations to attack Israel. Balaam later will say in Numbers
24 and verse 20, And when he looked upon Amalek, He took up
his parable and said, Amalek was the first of the nations,
meaning the first of the nations to go after Israel and try to
defeat them. But his latter end shall be that
he perish forever. Know this, all of the enemies
of God and all of the enemies of his people are going to perish. Because they oppose our Lord. And if you're in opposition to
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah our salvation, be sure
you know this, you will perish forever if you remain in opposition
to Him. He is the King of Glory. Bow
down before Christ Jesus. He's the only Savior of sinners. To oppose the Savior, to oppose
God, our Redeemer, is really to oppose your own self and to
be in opposition to any possibility of your salvation. Remember that Israel here pictures
the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the church is at war
with Amalek. We're at war against spiritual
evil in this world, in ourselves, And we're at war against Satan,
against principalities and powers in high places. Look over in Ephesians chapter
six. Ephesians chapter six. We are
in a warfare. There's no question about it.
We're in a warfare. Now the war for our souls has
been won by our Redeemer. And therefore we read that we
are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. He has defeated
all of the enemies of our souls. And through Him we have the victory. In fact, the very theme of the
book of the Revelation is the victory of the Lamb of God and
His followers over the dragon and his followers. That's a summation
of all of the book of the Revelation. We're victorious in our Lord
Jesus. The Lamb and the followers of
the Lamb shall be victorious at last. And those who bow down
to the evil, the evil one, that is Satan, who bow to false religion,
which is called Babylon, all of those in opposing the Lord
Jesus Christ, their doom is assured. They're in a warfare that they
can't win. And if you set yourself in opposition
against the Son of God, be certain of this, you will die an everlasting
death. There is no possibility you will
ever come out victorious. For He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. He crushed
the head of the serpent. He took away the sins of His
people. He established for His children
an everlasting righteousness, and we conquer through Him. He
is the winning side, and we're with Him. In Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six, look at
verse 10. Paul says, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on
the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles, the craftiness, the subtleness of the devil. The devil is the diabolical one. That's exactly what the word
devil means. He's the diabolical ones. He
is pure evil. For we are because we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. Well, then what do we war against?
What do we wrestle against? We wrestle against principalities. against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God." And you'll notice this as we read through
this. The children of God, we have
no armor for the back. Because the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ is going forward. We're following our leader. We're
following the King of Kings. He's leading us to glory. We're
not retreating. We're not running. We're going
forward. Therefore, the armor is for the
front of the man and the sides of the warrior of God. Wherefore,
taking you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to
withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand He says,
stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth, the truth
of the gospel of Christ. Christ Himself is the truth. And having on the breastplate
of righteousness. Our armor is His righteousness,
not our righteousness. Because our righteousnesses are
His filthy rags. We have on the breastplate of
that imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ that He
established by His obedience unto death. And your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the
shield of faith. You don't hold the shield behind
you. You hold the shield in front of you. wherewith you shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take
the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation for protection
of the mind, the intellect, the heart, as it were, and the sword
of the spirit, the word of God, And he says, praying always with
all prayer and supplication, that is in contrition and in
humility in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance
and supplication for all saints. The word of God teaches that
every believer is engaged in a spiritual warfare against spiritual enemies. against false religion. There
can be no peace between those who love the gospel and those
who hate the gospel. There can be no peace between
those who seek to give God all the glory and those who would
seek to give man a part of the glory. There can be no peace
between those who believe in free and sovereign grace and
those who believe in man's free will. No peace. There can't be
any peace. For us to be at peace with those
who oppose the true gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ would be
for us to compromise the truth. And in that case, it would be
to go backwards. And if we go backwards against
the gospel, then Paul says, then we're like dogs who are going
back to their vomit, and hogs going back to their wallowing
in the mire. We go forward in Christ Jesus,
onward, onward. We have many enemies, the world,
our flesh, Satan, You see, while the evil forces were disarmed
by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, they remained to the
church of our Lord Jesus and to each individual believer a
thorn in our flesh. And your own nature is a thorn
to you. I know it is to you, it is because
mine is to me. But we're more than conquerors,
I repeat, through him who loved us. You see, the church is continually
at war, and our Lord has provided the necessary armor to quench
all the fiery darts of the evil one. Well, go back to the text now.
Who was it that weakened the Amalekites? The Amalekites, I
should say, and Amalek, the one who's the head of it. Who was
it who defeated them? It was Joshua, verse 13. And
Joshua discomfited or weakened Amalek and his people with the
edge of the sword. This is Joshua, Jehovah is our
salvation. Who defeated our enemies? Our
great Joshua did. And that which he used was the
Word of God. He himself is the incarnate Word
of God. And he's the one who defeated
our enemies. It says here in verse 13, Joshua
discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. that
is with the Word of God. Hold your place here, and I'm
gonna get you to turn to a few verses with me. First of all,
in Hebrews chapter four. Hebrews chapter four and verse
12. Hebrews chapter four and verse
12. You see, Joshua, Jehovah, who
is our salvation, He goes forward with a two-edged sword. It cuts
both ways. Hebrews 4 verse 12. For the Word
of God is quick. The Word of God, that's the incarnate
Word or the written Word. For the Word of God is quick,
living, full of life, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart." And the next verse tells us that
Paul has in mind somebody. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, The sword that he's talking about
are the words that come out of our Lord Jesus Christ. All things are manifest in His
sight. Look at Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter 19 and verse
15. 19 and 15. And I'll just back up and begin
at verse 11, 1911. And I saw heaven open, and behold,
a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of
God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white
horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. and he shall rule them with a
rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture and on
his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So our Lord, our Savior, that
one who was sacrificed for us, He is the one who goes forth
leading the way. And He Himself has conquered
all of our enemies. Now go back to Exodus chapter
17. Now who are these who are engaged
in the battle? We know Joshua is leading the
battle. We're all clear about that, right?
Joshua is leading the way. Jehovah who is our salvation. Well, who are these who are following
him? Look again at verse nine. And
Moses said unto Joshua, choose us out men. They're the people
of divine choice. Those whom Joshua would choose. These are the ones engaged in
the battle. And all of those whom our great
Joshua, Christ the Savior, all of those he has chosen unto salvation,
we're all engaged against the enemy of our souls, and against
powers and principalities, and against sin itself. We follow our great Joshua as
he leads us into battle. You remember what our Lord said?
I didn't come to send peace, to bring peace, but a sword. That's what he said. I came to
bring a sword. I know we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ and we rejoice in that great
truth. God's justice has been pacified. It's been appeased by the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we stand complete in Him. But we follow Him in this spiritual
battle. This One who chose us unto salvation. And we know he leads us through
many battles in this life. Picture the scene. Moses has
the rod. And he holds the rod up. This rod being held by Moses
pictures the ensign or the flag The banner of the gospel of grace. Moses, in this picture, is a
preacher of the gospel. And the banner that he holds
up, if I could put it this way, the flag that he holds up, the
mask that he holds up, which we follow, which we look to,
is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as long as Moses
held up that ensign, that flag, that mast, that ensign, as long
as he held it up, Israel prevailed. He was up on a high point. And
everybody couldn't see Moses himself, but they could see that
staff lifted up. And you see, it's the preacher's
job to lift up, to hold up our Lord Jesus Christ. And as I hold
you up, as every preacher of the Gospel holds up Jesus Christ,
our crucified, buried, risen Savior, as we hold Him up, we
triumph. But if the preacher grows weak
and lets down the banner, that's when we begin to lose faith and
grow weak. You see, the banner that we hold
up is the banner of truth. Well, Aaron and Hur put a rock
under Moses. He sat down on the rock, and
that rock is Christ. Let God's servant rest on the
Son of God, the solid rock, and the rest of the people will stand
firm on the solid rock, too. What is the preacher's job? Hold
forth the gospel. May you see me, as it were, sitting
on the rock, Christ Jesus. You sit down, too. That's the
only firm foundation there is, is our Lord Jesus. That rock
is Christ. Listen, Christ, our banner, must
be upheld. Let me show you a few references.
Go over to Isaiah chapter 5. I've got one, two, three references
in Isaiah I want you to look at. First of all, Isaiah chapter
5. Isaiah chapter 5. Look at verse 26. Isaiah 5, 26. Christ is our banner. There's
a wonderful little book that was published many years ago.
It was written by Philip Henry. And he wrote a book, and he didn't
actually intend for it to be published, but his daughter found
the, as I recall, his daughter found the manuscript and she
had it published using the title Christ is All. It's one of my
favorite books. I think we probably have it in
the bookstore. It's a wonderful book, and in
there, he has all these chapters about our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you want to do yourself a favor, and it's easy reading. It isn't
difficult to read, He has chapters in there, Christ our way, Christ
our truth, Christ our life, and he goes on and on, Christ our
rock, goes way down the line, and he gets to Christ our ensign,
or Christ our banner. He's got a wonderful chapter
on that, and it'd be worth your while not only to read that chapter,
but every chapter in the book as far as that goes. But I wholeheartedly
recommend that. I've wore out one copy, and I'm
well on my way to wearing out another one. But it's wonderful. I've given it away to several
people, to several preachers, in fact. I gave a copy to Jack
Shank. Some of you remember Brother
Jack. He came up here. several times, I think, preaching
in Bible conferences. I gave it to him. He said, Jim,
where did you find out about it? He said, how come I didn't
know about this book? And I said, well, it's been published
a while, and it's just an excellent book. So you do yourself a favor
and read it. But anyway, let me read here in Isaiah chapter
5, 26. And he will lift up an ensign
or a banner, a flag, to the nations from far, and
will hiss unto them from the end of the earth. And behold,
they shall come with speed swiftly." What's he talking about? When
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is preached, when Christ
is held up, That's when men and women and young people moved
by the power of the Holy Spirit will come to Christ Jesus the
Lord and will hiss for Him, will long for Him. Because they see
the banner lifted up. Everybody's heard this. Rally
around the banner. Rally around the flag. And I'll tell you what, when
we preach Christ and Him crucified, God draws people to the Son of
God. And He says in verse 27, None
shall be weary, nor stumble among them, none shall slumber, nor
sleep. Neither shall the girdle of their
loins be loose, nor the latching of their shoes be broken. Whose
arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, The horses' hoofs
shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions. Yea, they shall roar and lay
hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall
deliver it. And in that day they shall roar
against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one look into
the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened
in the heavens thereof. Go over to chapter 11. Chapter 11. Still talking about this ensign
or this banner or flag. chapter 11, verse 10. And in
that day, in the gospel day, there shall be a root of Jesse,
which shall stand for an incense or a banner of the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. Our Lord has gone back to heaven
and entered into his rest, not because he was weary, but because
he finished the work of redemption. There was no chair in the Old
Testament tabernacle or temple, but our Lord went back to heaven,
having accomplished redemption, and he sat down at the right
hand of the Father. Work was done. Verse 11. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign,
a banner, for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of
Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four
corners of the earth." This is what happens when Christ is upheld. And when God the Spirit gives
eyes to see the glory of Christ and the accomplishment of redemption,
then people are drawn by effectual grace to the Son of God. And then He gathers, He gathers
the outcasts. Gathered by Christ to Christ. Gathered like sheep to the shepherd. Gathered as a dove to the ark. Gathered as children to our Father. Gathered as eagles to the carcass,
we feed on Christ. Gathered as chicks to the hen,
and he unites us all. And then one other reference
in Isaiah, Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59, 19. Isaiah 59, 19. Isaiah 59, 19. So shall they
fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the
rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in
like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. Who is that standard? Who is
that ensign? Who is that flag? Who is that
banner? But our Lord Jesus Christ. Because
then he says, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto
them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant
with them, saith the Lord. My spirit that is upon thee and
my words which I put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's
seed, saith the Lord from henceforth and forever. Forever. Well, go back to our text. You might remember, I'm sure
you do, the passage in John chapter 12, where our Lord Jesus said,
and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me. And this
spake he concerning the death that he would die. And I'm certain
of that because the Holy Spirit tells us that. But that also
reminds us it's only as we lift up our Lord Jesus Christ in his
substitutionary justice satisfying death that God the Spirit draws
sinners to him. This is the preacher's responsibility,
and this is the responsibility of the church, to hold him forth. Christ, our banner, must be upheld. And you know, here in the passage
of Scripture, at last Moses, in verse 15, he built an altar
and called the name of it Jehovah Nisi. A memorial altar. And here's the thing about this
altar. It pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. And the sacrifice on that altar,
that also pictured our Lord Jesus Christ. And the one who killed
the sacrifice, that also pictured our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He's everything. He's
everything. And I would be remiss if I did
not remind you that these two men Aaron and Hur held up the
arms of Moses. I liken them to men who are prayerful
for the leader. One of the things I beg of you
is to remember me in prayer, to hold me up before God. I'll tell you an interesting
story. A number of young preachers came to visit Charles Spurgeon. One day, they wanted to see the
massive auditorium where he preached the gospel. That auditorium held
5,000 people. And they asked him, what is the
secret? What is the secret? to your success
as a preacher of the gospel. He said, let's go down in the
basement. I want to show you the boiler
room. And they said, we're not really
interested in seeing the boiler room. He said, listen, I've showed
you the auditorium. You are going to come down in
the basement so I can show you the boiler room. And so they
obeyed. And you took them down in the
basement. to what he nicknamed the boiler room. And he opened
the door in this room. There were 100 people in there,
praying and reading the scriptures. And as they listened for just
a little bit, one after another prayed, oh God, give our pastor
strength. to hold forth the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And Spurgeon eased the door shut. He said, there, there, I have
people praying for me. I ask you to do the same for
me. Join in the boiler room. Go to
the boiler room. A boiler room in your home will
be just fine, where you can get alone with God. And as you recount
all of the mercies and the blessings of God, please remember to pray
for the servants of God that we would faithfully hold up the
banner. Because if a preacher fails to
hold up the banner good and high, so people can see and hear and
be informed every time he preaches, if we fail to do that, we may
as well just step down from behind the pulpit. Because nothing of
any profit will ever be done if we don't hold up the banner
Let's sing a closing song, shall we? Last Joe to come. Let's sing 477 at Calvary.