Let's turn this evening to the
book of Exodus chapter 17. A couple of Sundays ago we had
the privilege of having Brother Henry Mahan here to speak for
us, and the most interesting thing happened in the study before
we came out. The men meet there for scripture
reading and prayer, and Brother Henry was back there, and it
turned out he was sitting right near the door, and on the other
side of the door, catty-corner, was Brother Matt. You all know
what Matt does to meet expenses going through this life. If you
don't, I'm sorry for you. You might want to get acquainted
with his kettle corn. Brother Henry, after the reading
and prayer, Brother Matt just leaned over and patted him on
the knee and said, I brought you some kettle corn. And it
was obvious that Henry, who you may or may not know, is deaf
for all intents and purposes. His hearing aid may help a little,
but mostly he reads your lips. And he didn't get it, so Matt
could see that and said, I brought you some kettle corn. And I was
sitting across, and as Henry is wont to do sometimes, even
though he didn't hear it, he smiled and kind of went like
this like he did hear it. And I knew he didn't, and I said,
Matt, he didn't hear you. And Matt said, I brought you
some kettle corn! Henry still didn't get it. And
Todd, who is all too familiar with Henry's malady, reached
down and stood up with a huge bag of kettle corn. And Matt
just went. And Henry turned and went. I hugged old Matt and he was
so thankful. Well, an illustration came to
me sitting watching all this happen. I'm going to say a lot
of words tonight, probably more than most of the young people
want to hear. But there's really only one objective I have, and
that's I'm going to point and hope you see the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what we came for, was to see Him, to hear about Him. So you think about that as I
labor to preach. You pray that the Lord will do
this one thing. He'll take the scales off our
eyes tonight, and He'll bring down the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll
lift Him up, and whatever I say, let's just pray that it's pointing
to Him, and we see Him. That's what we came for, isn't
it? Well, here in Exodus 17, if you
look at verse 8, there's one word I want you to see there
that says, then. Then. And as we've been taught,
when you see the word then or therefore in the beginning of
a verse, find out what it's there for. Something happened before
this. So let's go back to verse 1 of
Exodus 17, and let me just read you these first seven verses. the children of Israel, journeyed
from the wilderness of sin. After their journeys, according
to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim, and
there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore, the people
did chide with Moses, they complained, and said, Give us water, that
we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with
me? wherefore, do you tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted
there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said,
Wherefore is this, that you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us,
and our children, and our cattle with thirst?' And Moses cried
unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be
almost ready to stone me.' And the Lord said to Moses, Go on
before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel,
and take your rod. Wherefore thou smotest the river,
take it in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb. and thou shalt smite the rock,
and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.'
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and
he called the name of the place Massah, Merovah, because of the
chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the
Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?" The first thing I want you to notice
is that all the children of Israel Every one of them had been in
a place called sin. How clear can that picture be?
Every one of us. We're all the children of Adam
and we're born in a place called sin. And just as, I mean, this
is a real place. Just like this is Lexington.
There's a town called Georgetown. This is a town called sin. This
is a big area called sin. It's an actual place. And just
as real, It's what we are by nature. They call someone from Lexington
a Lexitonian. If you're from Ashland, you're
an Ashlander. You can be a New Yorker. But
there's a reason why we're called sinners in the Scripture. It's
what we are. It's where we're from. It's what
we do. It's where we dwell. But notice what it was like in
this place. It says it was a barren and a
dry place, and there was no water in sin. And we, by nature, living
in our sin, are without the water of life, without the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the water of life. This is a good picture of us,
isn't it? So what did God do for Israel, who was in a place
called sin? You know what he did? He let
them out. He let them out. Verse 1, it says, they journeyed.
They journeyed from the wilderness of sin. God was merciful. He brought them forth from sin.
He gave them a rock. from which flowed water, and
what's God done for every believer, for all his people, I'll tell
you, he's merciful. He brings us out. We begin a
journey from sin, the wilderness of sin, heading to the promised
land. He puts them on a rock, the rock
Christ Jesus. That's where we rest on our journey. He gives them the water of life.
This change is a great miracle. to take a people who are dying
of thirst, and giving them the water of life, and taking them
to the promised land." This is quite a picture here, isn't it?
So that's what the then was there for, is that we understand that
miracle as we now come to some time has passed, and look what
happens in verse 8. It says, Then after this miracle
came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. So Israel
is on the way to the promised land, and what happens? The Amalekites
decide to go to war with them. Why? Why would they go to war
with them? That's the first thing that comes
to mind. Why did they attack them? And what they actually
did was, Israel was trying to get out of this land called Sin.
God had said, journey on, move on. And they were trying to leave
this place, and the Amalekites snuck up and went around behind,
and they had this big sneak attack, like Pearl Harbor. You know,
we weren't doing anything to Japan, were we? A sneak attack,
and that's a terrible thing in our eyes, isn't it? And that's
what the Amalekites did. They snuck up on them, Why did
they do this? Well, turn back a few pages to
Exodus 12. As believers, why won't the world
leave us alone? I mean, I suspect that not a
one of you went to work this morning thinking, Man, I'm going
to stir up some trouble at my place today. I'm going to pick
a fight with my boss. You kids don't go to school thinking,
well, I'm going to get in trouble today. That doesn't happen, does
it? And yet how often does trouble
just rear up? Somebody comes after you and
you don't know why. You have no understanding or
comprehension of why they're attacking you. What believers
want is to stop sinning To glorify Christ as God enables us on our
way to be with Christ, why won't the world just lead us along?
I think I've found the answer here. In God's Word, the Americites,
you see, heard of the riches of Israel. You say, I thought
there were a bunch of slaves down there in Israel. This is
riches you're talking about. Oh, they brought great treasure
with them out of Israel. Look in Exodus 12, verse 33. After the judgment of God fell
on Egypt when the firstborn of every family died, the Egyptians
in verse 33 were urgent upon Israel that they might send them
out of the land in haste, for they said, We be all dead men. They were right about that weren't
they? They were dead in trespasses and sin. And the children of
Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they borrowed of
the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment.
And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians,
so that they lent unto them such things as they required, and
they spoiled the Egyptians." So you understand what happened
here was God had been telling Pharaoh, let my people go. He
wouldn't. A great plague came. Ten times
he told them. And finally, he killed the firstborn
in every family. You know what happened then?
Those Egyptians knew what had happened, and they went to the
Israelites and said, Go! Go! And here, take my necklace
with you. Here's my jewelry. Take my gold.
Take anything you want, just go. If you stay, we're all going
to die. And so they did. God gave permission
to take this spoil, great spoil with them. They left a wealthy,
wealthy people. So why would the Amalekites attack
them? What's the root of all evil? It's the love of money. They
came to kill them to take their money. They had heard the Amalekites
of the riches of Israel. And what the Amalekites wanted
was that treasure. The world doesn't envy us for
having Christ, but I'll tell you what they do. The world envies
whatever you have. You say, well, I don't have much.
It doesn't matter whether it's a lot or a little. The world
wants it, and they'll attack you for it. They'll kill you
for it. Sinners will war against you
as a child of God in this life, covening what you have. We have
the riches, the unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they don't want it. You can beg them to listen. Tell them it's free. And they
don't want it. But if you've got two dimes in
your pocket, they'll kill you for it. And we need to understand
that. That's how the world is. So the
Amalekites attacked God's people. Look at verse 9 back in Exodus
17. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose
us out, men, and go out and fight with Amalek." Now who went out
to battle? Listen here. All who were chosen. All who were chosen. What does
that tell you? Well, all the children of God
are chosen. And you're going to have some
battles in this world. They're going to come your way.
All God's children do battle. There's no bystanders and those
who are heading for the kingdom of heaven. And don't be surprised
when the world hates you. They hate our Lord without cause,
didn't they? They crucified him for doing nothing. They're going
to hate you, too. But notice, too, where Moses
said he would be when the rest went out to battle. In verse
9 it says, Moses said to Joshua, choose us out then, and go out
and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the
top of the hill, of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.
Three things, he said I'm going to be on this hill, fully visible
to everybody, the highest place there is around. The battle will
be down there in the valley before me and I'll be on the hill. I'm
going to stand up and I'm going to have the rod with me." Now
does it say, did God tell him, well you just get a rod and go
out there. Did you get some rod? Did you get Aaron's rod that
budded? No, he said you get the rod. The rod. Let me tell you, this
is the same rod Moses used. He touched the Nile River and
turned it into blood. This is the same rod that he
took and he held it out over the Red Sea and said, Behold
the salvation of our God. This is the same rod when they
were dying of thirst, he smote the rock and living water came
out. It's not just some rod or a rod, this is the rod. The rod. This rod, you see, is the symbol,
is the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the symbol of power. It's certainly the symbol of
judgment. But it's also the symbol of power
and sovereignty and the salvation of our God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what he said. Moses said, I'll be out there
and I'll have the rod. And read verse 10. So Joshua
did as Moses had said unto him. I tell you what. If I would just
do what my Lord said to do in this book, if I just do it, I'd have a whole
lot less problems. Is that true for you? If I spent
as much time in prayer as I did worrying and fretting and carrying
on, no telling what wonders might happen. But Moses here is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we could just follow his
counsel, first and always, things would be so much better. But
notice that Moses wasn't alone here. It says in verse 10, So
Joshua did as Moses said, and fought with Amalek. And Moses,
Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Now let me come
back to that in just a minute. I need to lay some more groundwork
before we see who Hur and Aaron, what they're all about. And read
verse 11 with me. And it came to pass, when Moses
held up his hand, that Israel prevailed in the battle. And
when Moses let his hand down, Amalek prevailed in the battle. But Moses' hands were heavy,
and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there
on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the
one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were
steady until the going down of the sun. Let me tell you first
what this is not about. Aaron, I bet you remember this
happened to you in basic training. It's probably still going on.
Forty years ago it was happening. You do something and some sergeant
would come up to you and say, freeze there! You'd have your
rifle there standing and he'd say, bring out that rifle! Lean
against the wall! Hold it out there! That happen to you ever? They're still doing it, aren't
they? And you hold that rifle. I'd tell you to stand there for
a while. And I don't care whether you're a 300 pound muscle beach
whatever you are, or you're a little guy like me, after a little while
it starts doing this. It starts coming down. You're
just not strong enough to hold it up there. It's going to start
coming down. And that's what happened to Moses
here. His arms got heavy it says. Let me tell you what that does
not mean. It does not mean that these two fellows were there
because the Lord has no hands but your hands. That's the greatest
foolishness ever spoken from a pulpit. Do you think for a minute, I
mean, it wasn't that long ago, I mean, it wasn't going to be
that long before a man named Samson was going to take the
jawbone of an ass and slay a thousand Philistines with it. He didn't
get tired, he just kept killing them until they stopped. And
holding a rock would be a lot easier than swinging a jawbone
trying to kill a thousand men. You just stand and try doing
this about 800 times and see how your arm is working after
that. And Samson killed a thousand Philistines. You mean God can't
give a man strength to hold up his arms? No. That's so ridiculous. Is the Lord's arm short that
it cannot save? Does the Lord need Joshua or
his ragtag army of Israel to defeat the Amalekites? Let me
remind you what the Lord said. This is a great example of just
the raw power of our God. Remember those soldiers came
to arrest our Lord, and Peter drew out his sword and said,
I'll defend you, and took a swing, took that fellow's ear off, and
the Lord said, Peter, put up your sword, and he put the fellow's
ear back on. And folks interpret that as weakness.
Let me tell you, our God's a man of war. He fought all the battles up
to this time for Israel. He fought them all. This is the
first one that had anything to do with it. You think he couldn't
have fought this one if he wanted to? With Moses' arms in the air
or not? You think he couldn't have given
him strength for that? You know what our Lord said to
Peter? He said, Peter, thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my Father, And you presently give
me more than twelve legions of angels." You know how many that
was? 72,000 angels. The Lord said,
Peter, all I've got to do is say, Father, and 72,000 angels
will appear before me between me and those soldiers. You say,
well, what's an angel going to do? Let me show you that. Turn
back just a little bit to Genesis 19. Turn back just a little bit.
You know, most folks, religious or otherwise, they've got a notion
about angels. And our pastor here dispelled
some of that recently when he started the book of Hebrews.
But folks think angels are some harp-string-plucking, cloud-floating,
white-robed, feather-winged, lucky charm, helpless messengers.
Some version of that or a combination of those things. Let me tell
you what the Word of God says two angels did one time. You
follow with me here and you're familiar with this story, but
in Genesis 19, verse 15, when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened to Lot. It was just two of them, keep
that in mind, it was two angels only, saying, Arise, take your
wife and your daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the man
laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife," and
let me pause there just a minute and y'all listen to this. Most
folks in our day would give all they had to be able to say, an
angel of God came and took my hand. They have this superstitious,
foolish thing thinking that angels are, and they are angels of mercy
when sent on mercy by the Lord God. They are angels of mercy
and they protect God's people. Those things are taught in the
scriptures. But do you know who this was? One angel took Lot's
hand and one took the hand of his wife. And we'll see what
happened to her. The angels of God, there's no
salvation in them now. And don't think there is. Their
purpose is not to deliver us. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's who He is. And don't get those confused.
God won't honor that. But He took the hand of Lot and
of his wife and the hand of his daughters, and the Lord being
merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without
the city. And it came to pass when they brought them forth
abroad, That he said, escape for your life, but look not behind
thee. And then look over at verse 22.
And Lot was lingering, and in verse 22 the angel said, Haste
thee, escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou be come
thither. Do you know what that's saying
right there? These angels were saying, judgment's coming. Judgment's
coming. But we can't do a thing until
you're saved. You know, judgment's coming.
I don't know when, but it's coming. But I tell you what, as the people
of God, don't be afraid. I'm saying right here, I don't
know when the last day will be, but I do know that it will be,
it won't be until the last of God's children is made safe.
It is with Him. And it says in verse 23, the
sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into this place,
Then the Lord, two angels did this. They rained upon Sodom
and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And verse 26 says that Lot's
wife looked back from behind and she became a pillar of salt. And you tell me, if God could
send two angels and so utterly destroyed, two cities, that to
this day, do you know how much time has been wasted, people
trying to find Sodom and Gomorrah, or the remnants of it? They're
looking for something that doesn't exist anymore. They so utterly
destroyed, those two cities, there's not any evidence of either
city ever existing, or any of the people that ever lived there.
You think that God needed this ragtag bunch from Israel to defeat
the Amalekites? If two angels could do that,
what would a legion have done? God has no hands, but your hands,
what foolishness! God could have breathed, fought,
and the Amalekites totally incinerated, vaporized, gone forever! But
he didn't do it that way, and there's a reason why. Look with
me at, we just finished reading verses
back in our text, Exodus 17. God needs us? No, that's not
true. We need him. God could have snuffed
out these Amalekites, but he allowed his chosen people to
participate and to prevail. Why? Number one, he allows his
people to share in the spoils of victory. All that Christ accomplished
in his victory over Do you know we have it as well? We are free
not only from the penalty of sin, but from the dominion of
sin, and one day we are going to be free even from the very
presence of sin. The other reason the Lord did it this way is that
he gets glory, the Lord Jesus Christ gets glory, and this poor
little army could only overcome the Amalekites by the grace and
power of God. And his people knowing that,
knowing they didn't even have any weapons. And I read one old
writer said, well, they picked up those weapons from the Egyptians
by the sea there when they were overcome, and some of them floated
up there. Swords don't float too well, neither do spears. I don't know what they fought
with, whether it was sticks and stones or rocks, I don't have
any idea what they used. But this group had no real training,
they had no real weaponry, and yet they prevailed. You know
why they prevailed? The grace of God. And Israel
knew it. They knew the only reason they
prevailed. And as a result, they praised the captain of their
salvation without end. And they praised him for the
privilege of going to battle. We ought to rejoice. You see, he's counted us worthy to do
his battle. And I'm ashamed of myself, I
really am. Anytime I get any, any, any,
the least thing that comes up seems to be in my way, or a problem,
first thing I do is start whining and complaining, telling Rebecca
how... I'm ashamed of myself. It's a
privilege to be attacked by the enemies of God. And then the
third reason, and don't think this either, don't think we're
going to always prevail. It didn't happen here, did it?
That battle went this way, and then it went that way, and it
went this way, and it went that way. We don't always prevail.
We don't. In the battles. Now, we'll win
the war. The war is already over. It's already been decided, Mark.
I mean, our Lord Jesus Christ is victorious. But don't think
we'll always prevail at every moment. But the Lord did it this
way because he allows his people to prevail against his enemies
at times. so that wicked men and women
don't see the sovereign power of God at work. As the word spread
of the victory of Israel, they had a lot of enemies. They had
a lot of battles coming ahead of them, didn't they? The Philistines
and the Hittites and the Amorites and all the otherites, they were
going to fight them all at one time or another. And do you know
what the word went forth? I can guarantee you what the
word went forth. Well, those Israelites were just lucky. Well,
they must have snuck up on them some way, tricked them, that's
what they did. You know, those dumb Amalekites,
they never have been able to fight a war. They lost every
war they ever fought. And the excuses were endless. Say anything except give credit
to the sovereign will of Israel's God. Anything but say their God
delivered them. The significance now of Aaron
and her. Remember they're up there with
him. We've already established this truth that God could have
given Moses sufficient strength to hold up his arms for a month,
much less a day. But in his wisdom and sweet providence,
he allows these two men to participate in the victory in this way. And
who are they? Certainly I like the application
that Aaron is a picture of our great high priest. And her, his
name means spirit, he's a picture of the Holy Spirit. And any time
we overcome any difficulty, that we prevail in anything when our
enemies are after us, you can write it down to these two things.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest, is interceding for us.
He's not going to let them get the best of us if his glory is
at stake. You're not alone. The Spirit
of God will be with His people at all times. He's a comforter.
That's what He does. When you're out there fighting,
I tell you, I've never been in a shooting war, but I tell you
what, I've got a feeling it's no fun. I'd want somebody to
back me up, to comfort me, to help me. That's what the Holy
Spirit does. And He's with us. You'll find
young people, if you haven't been in many battles yet, don't
start looking for them. But they'll come, and the older
you get, the worse they'll get. And those who've been around
and had some experience will tell you, don't worry about how
bad they get. The Spirit of God is able, He's
able to comfort you. And the Lord Jesus Christ delivers
His people every time He intercedes for them. So, I like that application,
but I like this application too. You know who these two fellows
were? They were the brothers of Moses. Aaron was a brother
by blood. He was a Jew. Her was married
to Moses' sister Miriam. We call him a brother-in-law.
And he's a Gentile. You understand here? Thank goodness
they weren't just Jews there. They were Gentiles. Christ has
got a lot of brothers and sisters. And some are Jews and some are
Gentiles. Some are black, some are white, some are rich, some
are poor, some are strong, some are weak. But thank goodness,
He's got a people out of every tribe, kindred, and nation. And
Christ, the Son of God. This picture, Moses here, is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Moses' arms are lifted,
they have the victory. They prevail. If His arms weren't
lifted up, They didn't prevail. You see, Christ, when His arms
were lifted up at Calvary, and those nails were driven in His
hands, you know what? He got the victory. Got it. It's over. Who won the battle? It's already been decided. You
don't have to worry about your sin catching up with you one
day, overcoming you. No, it's decided. This war is
over. But I tell you what, this does
mean, if you don't see Christ lifted up, If when you've heard
the Word of God preached, and God lifts up the Son of God,
I tell you, if you don't see Christ crucified, you're not
going to have the victory. You're not going to have it. You'll have it for absolute ruin.
You won't prevail against sin. Christ of Calvary put away sin.
He prevailed, and all those in Him prevailed. To the men in
the valley, when they looked to the hill, they didn't see
three men. What they saw was they saw the
rod. They saw the rod. They saw a
man with the rod lifted up. And they prevailed. When they
saw a man not lifted up, they perished under the wrath of the
Amalekites. Do we see Christ crucified? Look to him. Look
to him. Now look at verse 12 with me
back in our text. The last phrase there, it says,
In Moses' hands will steady until the going down of the sun. I
don't know when your sun is going to set, but it's going to set. This time is going to run out
in this world. Some of us a lot sooner than
others. It doesn't seem like it's going to be very long to
me anymore, does it you Joe? I think it's going to come right
soon and that's all right. But rest assured it's going to
go down. A man's days are short and full of trouble. If you live
longer, you just have another battle. If it's not the Amalekites,
it'll be the Philistines, it'll be somebody. When your sun goes
down, if you see Christ, if you believe on Christ, you know what?
Just like Moses, you'll be steady until it goes down. He keeps
all who look to him. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. All our enemies,
whether it's sin, Satan, the world, death, they'll all be
defeated finally. And until then, they'll be discomfited. Now, what that's saying is that
our enemies, they're all miserable whether they know it or not.
And they'll keep coming after God's people. They can't get
to God, so they attack his people. And don't worry about our enemies,
their end is already certain." You say, how certain is it? Well,
look how certain the end of the Amalekites was in verse 14. And
the Lord said to Moses, write this down for a memorial in a
book. And rehearsed it in the years
of Joshua. Where was Joshua? He's out there fighting those
Amalekites. And he said, remind Joshua when he's in another battle. I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven." Don't worry about our enemies.
Don't get concentrated on them. God did what he said here, too.
At the hands of Saul, he killed almost half the nation of the
Amalekites. And God told him, kill them all,
and Saul disobeyed, and it was Amalekite who killed him eventually.
But David finally finished the job. There's not an Amalekite
alive today. Did you all know that? Not one.
They're all dead. And one day all our enemies will
be done and gone. They'll be done and gone. But
why write it down? Well, it's a warning to all who
would resist or attack or do battle with God's people. It
is also proof of depravity, rashness, cruelishness of those who battle
with the God of gods, which is what one does when he attacks
the people of God. If you attack one of us, you're
taking on God Almighty. How foolish is that? And it's
proof that the word of the Lord is sure. Our Lord shall prevail
against all his enemies. Now verse 15, And Moses built
an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-Lucy. God built an altar, well it's
a symbol of our worship, adoration, and praise to Christ our Savior
and King. And it means the Lord is my banner. Now I don't know whether young
people identify with this as much as those of us who are a
little older, but I know the symbol of this country, and to
me the most stirring moment in the history of this country.
I suppose one is the famous picture of Washington crossing the river
and the ice with the flag out in front of him there. But the
one that comes to my mind is in the Second World War when
the Marines were at Iwo Jima and they fought a brutal battle,
twenty something thousand of them killed and how many other
thousands wounded and finally they got to the top of Mount
Suribachi at Iwo Jima and that group of Marines is raising up
that flag. Every time I see that I get goose bumps. Makes me want
to stand right up and salute. I tell you, that's the banner
of this country. And I have some sympathy with those that say,
you know, hey, love it or leave it. I mean, if you don't like
sitting under this banner, well, go find some country you like
better. Live there. And I say to you, if you won't
bow at this banner of the Lord Jesus Christ, well, go find one
you like. You already got one if you won't
bow to this one. Set it on fire. Burn it up. Get rid of it. You
can march to a different term if you want, but it'll drum you
just right out of this life into eternal death. It's a terrible
thing. God's people are going to a country,
a new heaven wherein dwells righteousness. And as the rod of God was the
banner of Israel that day versus the Amalekites, Christ is our
banner as we do battle on the way to heaven. In the meantime,
we stand under our banner and we pledge allegiance to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't we? Pledge allegiance to
Him. He's our banner. He's our banner. But I like this. One other thing
I really like. John Gill said, He is an old
writer, and he said this also can be interpreted as Jehovah-Nissi,
the Lord our miracle. I like that, and I will tell
you why. A great miracle was done this
way by Christ for his people. He defeated the Amalekites with
the Israelites. And the Israelites, let me put
that in perspective, were just like the Amalekites. They'd all
been in the land of sin, right? They were just alike. And we're
all born in Adam, we're all sons of Adam, every one of us. I mean,
let's quit, let's, I mean, tell me, I need to quit having these
thoughts about unbelievers when they come at me. It's a good
thing we're not in charge, isn't it? Boy, we'd send angels doing
a lot of bad things. There's been more than once,
I'd like to send an angel to do what he did to Sodom and Gomorrah
to somebody who's after me or my family or whatever. But I
tell you, we need to get, we're just like them, except for the
grace of God. They'd all been in the land of
sin, and God's victorious army is made up of His former enemies. If you're in the battle now,
if you pledge allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you,
there was a time when you were His enemy. when you were not
pledging allegiance. The chief apostle Paul was once,
as he said, the chief of sinners. Look at verse 16 with me. For
he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have
war with the Amalek from generation to generation. It is true that
God hates the workers of iniquity, God hates sin, and he will one
day utterly without mercy destroy sin and all sinners. Yet he does
a miracle here. God took a group of sinners,
Israelites, and turned them into the army of God, who now fights
against sin. That change done in his people,
done in you and me, is a miracle of God's grace. Done by and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, our banner. You see, Christ of Calvary put
away our sin and makes us righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
our miracle. And in this chapter, the reason
I came at it this way is there's two great miracles here. The
first is that Israel was in a desert with no water, and they needed
water or they'd die, and God miraculously gave them water
out of a rock. That's a miracle. Here's what
it pictures. Israel, or us, are born in sin,
we have no righteousness, Christ miraculously comes to this earth
as a man, he lives perfectly, he is righteous, and then he,
our Lord, gives us his righteousness and we're made perfect in him.
That's a miracle. That's a great miracle. One we
must have. Now the second miracle, briefly. God takes a group of helpless
former slaves, brought them out of this place called sin, and
makes them into something they're not, which is the army of God,
and they get the victory. Their victory, it was dependent
on a man whose arms were spread on a wooden rod on a hillside. That's how Israel got the victory
that day. That picture is us, whose victory
over sin is dependent on the man Christ Jesus, whose arms
were spread at nail to a tree on a hill named Calvary. That's
the picture here. It's all about Christ. And the
result of that is our sin is gone. It's gone. That's a miracle. These two great miracles, if
we're not marching under this banner, Oh, give it up, give
it up. Salute, standard attention. Pledge
allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ. If you refuse, the price
is so great. You'll lose the battle, you'll
lose the war, you'll lose eternal life. Look to Christ. In Him, we are victorious. This battle will continue for
you and me until the day our sun goes down. But Christ will
keep you steady until that day. And there's an old hymn that
I've heard it a lot of times, but I never heard it in the light
of this scripture, I don't think. I'm just going to read you a
couple of verses of it here. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching
as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal master, leads
against the foe, forward into battle, see his banner go. Isn't that great? Onward then,
ye people, join our happy throng, blend with ours your voices in
the triumph song, glory, laud, and honor unto Christ the King,
this through countless ages men and angels sing. See the Lord
Jesus Christ? Oh, run to Him, run to Him. All our victory is in Him. May
the Lord bless His Word. you you you you you you