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Todd Nibert

A War God Calls Us to Fight

Exodus 17:8-16
Todd Nibert • September, 19 2007 • Audio
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Todd Nibert
Todd Nibert • September, 19 2007
What does the Bible say about fighting sin?

The Bible calls believers to fight against their old nature, exemplified by Amalek in Exodus 17.

In Exodus 17, we see the children of Israel called into battle against Amalek, which represents the old nature or flesh within every believer. As Amalek was a continual thorn in Israel's side, so too is our old nature a persistent challenge. Believers are instructed to 'mortify the flesh' and to not spare any part of it, aligning with the biblical instruction to fight against sin and temptation (Romans 7:14-25). This battle is waged not through our own strength, but through reliance on Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Exodus 17:8-16, Romans 7:14-25

How do we know that believers have two natures?

The Bible clearly teaches that believers possess both a holy nature and a sinful nature, as seen in Romans 7.

Romans 7 provides profound insight into the inner conflict faced by believers. Paul describes how he desires to do good but finds himself entangled by sin, illustrating the existence of two natures within him: a holy nature that desires obedience and a sinful nature that leads to disobedience (Romans 7:14-25). This duality is a fundamental aspect of the believer's experience and is consistent with the broader biblical teaching that once a person is regenerated, they are given a new heart that longs for holiness while still contending with the remnants of the old sinful nature.

Romans 7:14-25

Why is walking in the Spirit important for Christians?

Walking in the Spirit enables Christians to overcome the desires of the flesh.

Walking in the Spirit is vital for believers as it signifies living in dependence on Christ and His strength rather than their own. Galatians 5:16 explains that if one walks in the Spirit, they will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This relationship of reliance is akin to Moses lifting his hands during the battle with Amalek, where victory was tied to his dependence on God. Believers are called not to strive in their own efforts but to rest fully in the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit to sustain their spiritual life and growth (Exodus 17:11-12).

Galatians 5:16, Exodus 17:11-12

What is the significance of Amalek in the Bible?

Amalek represents the sinful nature that opposes God and His people.

Amalek served as a symbol of opposition to God and His purposes. In Exodus 17, Amalek attacks Israel at Rephidim, highlighting the battle believers face against their sinful nature. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 emphasizes remembering Amalek's actions and the need to obliterate his memory, reflecting the urgency of dealing decisively with sin. The recurring conflicts with Amalek throughout Scripture illustrate that believers must continually confront and battle their flesh, which does not submit to God (1 Samuel 15:2-3).

Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy 25:17-19, 1 Samuel 15:2-3

How do believers achieve victory over sin?

Believers achieve victory through reliance on Christ's power and the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Victory over sin for believers comes through recognizing their inability to conquer sin by their own strength and instead relying on Christ's intercession and the work of the Holy Spirit. Just as Moses needed assistance to keep his hands uplifted during the battle against Amalek, believers require the support of Christ, who prays for them, and the Holy Spirit, who empowers them to fight sin effectively (Romans 8:34). This cooperative effort assures believers that they are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).

Romans 8:34, Romans 8:37, Exodus 17:12

Sermon Transcript

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walk in the Spirit, and you shall
not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Now I wonder how many of us are
thinking, that sounds great. What does it mean to walk in
the Spirit? Now I hope And pray that God
will answer that question through this passage of Scripture we're
going to look at tonight. Now, would you turn with me to
Exodus chapter 17? I've entitled this message. A
war. God calls us to fight. A war God calls us to fight. Now the Lord said, blessed are
the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. And that would describe every
child of God, a peacemaker. But we're also called upon to
do battle. We have a war to fight, and it's
a difficult, wearisome war. Look in Exodus 17, verses 8 and
9. Then came Amalek and fought with
Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose
us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Now, this is a battle
that God himself calls us to fight. You know, this is the
first battle Israel fought. Did you notice in the last however
long we've been looking at this, they hadn't fought any fight
yet. You see, God did all their fighting for them. Look back
in Exodus chapter 14, verse 25. This is when God had
taken the chariot wheels off the Egyptians and He took off
their chariot wheels and they drove them heavily so that the
Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord
fighteth for them against the Egyptians. They didn't do any
fighting, did they? The Lord did all the fighting
Now, we don't participate in saving ourselves. We just watch
Christ, don't we? He did it all. He fights our
battles for us. We just watch. Now, back to Exodus
17 in verse 8, it says, Then came Amalek and fought with Israel
in Rephidim. Then, after the smiting of the
rock, Christ crucified. And the water coming out, that's
the work of the Holy Spirit flowing to us because of what Christ
has done. He was the rock spitting. Then
came Amalek. And Israel was called upon to
do battle themselves with this man named, with this people,
the children of Amalek. the Amalekites. Now, who is Amalek?
Well, he was the grandson of Esau. And the Amalekites were
the descendants of Amalek. And the Amalekites were a continual
thorn in the side of the children of Israel. This is the first
thing we're told that Moses was to write about. Look at verse
14 of our text in chapter 7. And the Lord said unto Moses,
write this for a memorial in a book. And rehearse it in the
ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek
from under the heaven." Now, this is the first thing we see
that Moses was given instructions to write about. Write this. Put
it in a book. This is an eternal truth. God
reminds them of what took place in Deuteronomy, Chapter 25. Would
you turn with me there? Deuteronomy 25, beginning in verse 17. Moses, inspired by God, says
to the children of Israel, remember what Amalek did unto thee by
the way, when you were come forth out of Egypt. Remember, this
was their first fight, and God reminds them of it. How he met
thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, the backside,
even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and
weary. And he feared not God. The Amalekites were a remarkably
wicked people. They didn't fear God. Therefore,
it should 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 to possess for inheritance, that thou shalt
blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt
not forget it. Now, God says some very strong
things against these Amalekites, doesn't he? He says, you're to
make sure that you blot out the very remembrance of them for
good. Look back on our text in Exodus
chapter 16, I want you to look at or 17, I want you to look
at the marginal reading. This gives us some insight into
Amalek. Verse 16 of chapter 17, for he
said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with
Amalek from generation to generation, and my marginal reading reads
because the hand of Amalek is against the throne of the Lord. That's Amalek's heart. His hand was against the throne
of the Lord. And God says, I'm going to wipe
him out completely. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15.
1 Samuel chapter 15. Verse 1. Samuel also said unto Saul, The
Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over
Israel. Now, therefore, hearken thou unto the voice of the words
of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember that which
Amalek did to Israel. Now, this is hundreds of years
later, hundreds of years later. I remember that which Amalek
did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way when he came
up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek. and utterly destroy all
that they have and spare them not, but slay both man and woman,
infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. Kill everything
that breathes that has anything to do with Amalek. You know,
people look at that and they say, well, that's Old Testament
stuff. That's the God of the Bible.
And he says, wipe them out. And do you know what Saul did?
You remember the story here. Remember how Saul spared Agag,
and he lost his kingship because he didn't obey God. He saved
the best of the sheep, the best of the oxen. He said, we're saving
this to sacrifice to you. And he spared Agag, and because
he spared Agag, he lost the kingship. Look in verse 10, 1 Samuel 15. Then came the word of the Lord
unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I set Saul to be king,
for he has turned back from following me, and hath not performed my
commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he
cried to the Lord all that night. But Saul was rejected because
of this. Do you know how Saul died? Does
anybody remember how Saul died? Turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter
1. 2 Samuel chapter 1. We're going
to read several verses here about the death of Saul. And it came
to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from
the slaughter of the Amalekites, they were always being called
upon to slaughter the Amalekites. And David had abode two days
in Ziklag. It came to pass the third day
that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his
clothes ripped. and earth upon his head. And
so it was when he came to David that he fell on the earth and
did obeisance. And David said unto him, From whence comest
thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel, and I
escaped. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I prayed,
and he told me. And he answered, That the people
are fled from the battle, and many of the people are fallen
dead. And Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. And David
said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that
Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? And the young man Told
him, as I happened by chance upon the mountain Gilboa, behold,
Saul leaned upon his spear. Remember, he was trying to kill
himself. You can remember that from in the previous chapter
in Chapter 30 of the First Samuel. Saul leaned upon his spear and
lo the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And
when he looked behind him, he saw me and called into me and
I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art
thou? And I answered him, I'm an Amalekite. I'm one of the
people that he should have killed. God said, kill the Amalekites.
And he said unto me again, Stand I pray thee upon me, and slay
me, for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole
in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure
that he could not live after that he was fallen. And I took
the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on
his arm and had brought them hither to my Lord. Then David
took hold on his clothes and wrenched them, and likewise all
the men that were with him. And they mourned and wept and
fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son and
for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because
they were fallen by the sword. And David said unto the young
man that told him, Whence art thou? Where are you from? And
he answered, I am the son of a stranger and a Malachite. Who killed Saul? the one he refused
to kill, the Amalekites. Now, Amalek is
a type in the scripture. He's a type of the old nature. And this is the battle that you
and I are called upon to fight. We're called upon to fight our
old nature. The flesh, we're commanded to
blot it out and to not spare any part of it. Now, do you hear
me? That's what we're called upon
to do. We're called upon to crucify the flesh with the affections
and the lust. Now, why does this battle take
place at this time? I think it's interesting. It
says, then came Amalek. Well, this is typical. The smitten
rock is Christ's work for us. The water that flows out is the
result of the rock being smitten, the work of the Holy Spirit in
us. That's when life begins. And when life begins, the battle
begins. And not before then. The reason
there is a battle is that the believer, once he has spiritual
life, now has two Two distinct natures. He now
has a nature that he did not have before. And these two natures
are at enmity with one another. The flesh and the spirit. The old man and the new man.
Remember that scripture we opened up with in Galatians chapter
5 verse 17? The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit lusts
against the flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other. They're adversaries of one another.
They're enemies of one another. These two are contrary one to
the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
You lack the ability to do what you want to do because of this
battle going on. And I can say this to every believer,
you find this true regarding yourself. You would. You would
be without sin. You would be exactly like Jesus
Christ the Lord. You'd never lie again. You'd
never have an evil thought. You'd never have an unkind thought.
You'd be just like Christ. You'd be perfectly obedient.
You'd keep God's holy law perfectly. That's what you would. That's
what you would. That's what you desire. You desire
to be just like Christ, don't you? You really do. But you can't. You want to, but you can't. The
flesh is always there, breathing down your neck, and you can't.
You would be just like Christ, but you can't. What a difficult,
difficult thing this is. You would, and if you're honest,
if you're honest, deal with this honestly, you would be a perfect
monster in iniquity. You would be as bad as the devil
himself. There are times where all you
can see is evil. You would be a monster in iniquity. You would commit crimes. You've
come right up to the edge. But you can't. You can't. The Spirit won't let
you. The flesh lusts against the spirit,
the spirit lusts against the flesh. These two are contrary.
They're at odds, one with the other, so that you cannot do
the things that you would. They render you to where you
can't do the things you would from both sides. Now, would you
listen real carefully? Most people believe that when
God saves a sinner and that sinner comes to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, it's because God has changed his heart. You know, that's just not true. It's not true. God hasn't changed
your heart. A change of heart is nowhere
spoken of in the scripture. God doesn't change the old heart.
He gives a new heart. A new heart also will I give
thee. A heart that was not there before. That's why there's a battle going
on. You see, before you had this new heart, all you had was the
old heart. Everything was fine. Oh, you
had troubles, you had problems, no doubt about it. The things
your sin brings on you, but still the battle that you have now,
you knew nothing of. But now that you have this new
heart, this new nature, there is a battle and there is a rage
going on. You see, the believer is born
again, or born from above, by the Spirit of God. Now, this
new nature, this new heart, is not the removal of anything from
a man, nor is it the changing of anything in a man, but it's
putting something new in him that was not there before. The new nature. II Peter 1.4
says we're partakers of the divine nature. It's called in 1 John
3, the seed of God. Now, can God give birth to something
that's sinful? Can God give birth to something
that's part good and part bad? Part holy and part sinful? Absolutely
not. If I'm a partaker of the divine
nature, if I'm birthed by God, He's birthed into me a nature,
like Himself, a holy nature that cannot sin. So a believer has
these two principles working within him, a holy nature that
can't sin. It lacks the ability to sin. It is holy and a hold nature
that lacks the ability to do anything but sin. These two natures reside in the
believer. at the same time. Now, somebody
says, I don't understand that. Well, I don't much understand
it either. I really don't. Now, I can see why somebody would
have a difficult time with this and not believe it if they only
have one nature. If you only have one nature, that makes sense,
does it? But if you have two natures,
if you know something of this by experience, you find these
two principles warring within you. You might not understand
it, but you believe it. You find it's true concerning
yourself. This is what the scripture teaches
so clearly. Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter seven? Every believer has two natures,
a holy nature, perfectly holy and a perfectly evil nature.
And this is what the Bible teaches, Romans chapter seven. beginning in verse 14. You know,
I love this passage of Scripture right here. I can remember the
first time I read it. I can still remember that I was
amazed by this passage of Scripture because I was worried about myself.
And then I read, it mirrored me. I thought, this is in the
Bible? It surely is. Look here in Romans
chapter 7, verse 14. Paul says, For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin, a slave to sin. That's what he found himself
to be. For that which I do, I don't approve of it, I don't
allow it. For what I would, what I want to do, I want to be perfectly
holy, I don't do it. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it's good. Now then, it's no
more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. Now he's
talking about these two natures. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, I know this, this is settled. I know that in me,
that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me.
I want to be holy. I want to obey God perfectly. But how to perform that which
is good? Sometimes I mess up. No, he said, I find it not. I
find it not in my experience, I don't find it. Well, can you
see that? Can you sometimes see the holy
nature here and the evil? No, when I would do good, evil
is always present with me. The only way I know that holy
nature there is my faith, not my experience, but my faith.
Because the Word of God tells me it is. Not because I feel
like I'm holy or anything. We believe this because the Word
of God teaches it. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For the will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that's what I do. Now if I do that which I would
not, it's no more I that do it, but the sin that dwelleth in
me, I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present
with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, that mind that would do good, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin. which is in my limbs,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? 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. Now that's the clear teaching
of scripture. The believer has two separate
natures that are at war. the flesh and the spirit, and
we're called upon to mortify the flesh, not to give in to
it, not to say, well, it's my nature, I can't help it. No, I'm called upon to mortify,
to put to death, to crucify the flesh with the affections and
its lusts. I'm called upon to deny myself,
to deny myself, to take up my cross daily and follow Him. We're called upon to fight the
old nature just like Moses told Joshua to choose out men to fight
with Amalek. And let me remind us with this
word of warning, Amalek the flesh is very deceitful. We just read
about how Amalek ambushed the children of Israel. They let
him pass by. They attacked him from behind
where they were weakest. Now this is where they thought
they were. They thought they had their bases covered. They
left the weak in the back where they thought they would be safe.
And they had all the strong guys out front. But Amalek's, he's
deceitful. He's deceitful. He knows where
to attack us. He knows what to do. And that's
what he did. He attacked them at their weakest
point. And you can write this down.
Whatever you think your strongest point is, that's your weakest.
And whatever you think your weakest point is, bless God, that is
your strongest. That's really true. Now, Amalek
is deceitful. Scripture says the heart is desperately
wicked, deceitful above all things. Your flesh, you've got a nature
that is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. Do
you believe that? You really believe that? I know it's so. Well, back to our text. How do we wage this war? Exodus
chapter 17. How do we wage this war? Verse 9, And Moses said unto
Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod
of God in mine hand." Now, this gives us some idea that this
battle is not ours. We're called upon to fight, but
who is the one who does the winning? He says, I'm going to stand with
the rod of God, the rod of God's judgment 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. And it came to pass, when Moses
held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down
his hand, Amalek prevailed. Now we find when Israel prevailed.
when they won, and when Amalek seemed to get the upper hand.
When Moses lifted up his hand, Israel prevailed. Walk in the
Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This gives
us some idea what it is to walk in the Spirit. When Moses let
his hand down, Amalek prevailed. Now what does the raising of
the hand signify? Well, let's look back to where
it's first mentioned in Genesis chapter 14. Genesis 14. And this is after Abraham has
returned from the slaughter of the kings and has delivered Lot
and delivered the people of Sodom. And beginning in verse 21, And
the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons and take
the goods to thyself. You can have all the spoils.
I'm just grateful you've delivered the people. Give me the people
and you take all the spoils. And Abram said to the king of
Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the Most High
God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, and I will take from
you a thread even to a shoelatch it and that I'll not take anything
that is thine lest thou should say I've made Abraham rich When
he lifted up his hand He lifted up his hand in complete dependence
on the Lord He said I won't take a thing from you. I won't take
a thread. I won't take a shoelatch it I won't take anything from
you because if I do you'll say I've made Abraham rich This is
complete dependence on Christ. Now, here's what walking in the
Spirit is. Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit is looking to Christ.
Is it that simple? Yeah, let's see you do it now.
Let's see you do it. Rest in Him. Trust Him only. When Moses lifted up his hands,
who won? Israel prevailed. But when He
put His hands down, who won? Amalek prevailed. You see, we
cannot possibly fail looking to Christ. Israel prevailed,
but when we look somewhere else, when we fail to depend solely
upon Him, Amalek prevails. And I think the best New Testament
illustration of this is Peter walking on the water. I love
that passage of Scripture there in Matthew chapter 14. gets out
of the boat. Now you think about what he did.
He gets out of the boat and walks on the water going toward the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember Christ was walking on
the water? He said, Lord if it be thou bid me come to thee on
the water. The Lord said, come. I love to think of the faith
of Peter. He walked out and was walking on the water toward the
Lord Jesus Christ. What? Can you imagine having
that kind of faith? But the other fellows didn't do that. I mean,
they stayed in the boat, but not Peter. Peter was a man of
great faith. I just admire him so much. But
I have no doubt, while he was walking on the water, several
things came into his mind. I'm sure he thought about maybe
John and James. I wonder why they didn't do this. I've got better faith than him.
I've got stronger faith than him. Look at what I'm doing.
And then the scripture points out that he saw the waves boisterous. He looked at the circumstances.
He quit looking to Christ and started looking at the circumstances
and what took place. He began to sink. And he cried
out, Lord, save me! And the Lord grabbed him by the
hand and said, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?
But we see when he looked to Christ, he walked on the water. When he looked at the wind boisterous,
what did he do? He began to sink. Now, I appeal to your experience
when you're unable to rest in Christ, just just rest in Christ. What peace. What assurance, what
joy you have. Just really believing that He
is all in salvation. That you need nothing else. That
you complete in Him. But when you look within or somewhere
else, how miserable do you become? How unhappy do you become? How
unbelieving do you become? Now, let's go on reading. Verse
12. Now remember, when Moses held
up his hands, Israel prevailed. When he put his hands down, Amalek
prevailed. Verse 12. But Moses' hands were
heavy. When's the last time you tried
to hold your hands up? How long can you do it? You really can't
do it very long, can you? Your hands get heavy, heavy.
They start feeling like a stone. They start feeling like lead.
You put them down. Moses' hands were heavy. He couldn't
keep holding them up. It was impossible for him to
do it. The flesh drags us down. You know that, don't you? You
know the Lord said, the Spirit indeed is willing, and it is.
I'm willing to be Just like Christ, but the flesh, the Lord saw this,
of course he saw it, he's the Lord. The flesh is weak and Moses
hands were heavy. The fact of the matter is we
cannot continue to look and to rest in Christ without special
help. It can't, we can't do it. And
let's go and read verse 12. But Moses hands were heavy and
they took a stone. and put it under him and he sat
there and Aaron and her stayed up his hands. The one on the
one side and the other on the other side and his hands were
steady into the going down of the sun. Now here's the help.
Here's the help I need. It helps the right word. Aaron. Well who's Aaron? Who's Aaron
represent? He's the great high priest. He's God's priest. Aaron represents the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, remember who Christ is. He's the high priest who represents
his people before God. And his representation is always
successful. Remember when he said, Peter,
Satan had desired to have you, literally asked for permission
that he might have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But
I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. And you know what? His faith
didn't fail. Everything else failed. You know
what he ended up doing, but his faith did not fail. Why? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ prayed that it might not fail. And if Christ prays for me, I
must be saved. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but for them which you've given me, for they
are thine. Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost
who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. Now, I'm going to persevere.
My hands are going to stay up. I'm going to continue looking
to Christ. And here's the reason. Christ Jesus is praying for me,
giving the grace to continue to look to me. And I'm going
to do it. The intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that... It's Christ that died, yea rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Right now the Lord Jesus Christ
is representing my interest before the Father. And that's how my
hands are going to stay up. I can't keep them up. It's impossible.
It is impossible for me to keep my... It's impossible for anybody
to keep their hands up. But as Christ prays for me, I do. Aaron! Went up to the top of
the hill and he held up one hand. And who's this other fellow?
Her. Her. You know what her's name means?
Light. He is the Holy Spirit. There's a reason why my hands
will continue to look up to Christ because of the work of God, the
Holy Spirit in me. He's a type of the Holy Spirit.
We could not hold our hands up. They're too heavy. The flesh
brings them down, but our hands are held up by the intercession
of Christ and the work, the supernatural work of God, the Holy Spirit. Verse 13, And Joshua discomfited
Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Now, this
word discomfited, Joshua did not really slay him.
He did not really slay him. If he would have, they wouldn't
have kept coming back up throughout Israel's history. The word discomfited
is weakened. Weakened. And what this reminds
me of is my flesh is going to be with me until I die. You know,
the Lord could have made it to where it's not. You know, the
Lord could have made it to where you never sinned again once He
saved you. He could have made you without
sin, couldn't He? Sure He could have. But He didn't for wise
and holy purposes. I don't understand what they
are, but they must be good. They must be good, and I know
this. In my own experience, I know this. Christ is so precious to
me when I'm nothing but sin needing Him. Oh, He's so precious as
a Savior. But when I start thinking anything
else about myself, I lose that beautiful view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So, Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword, verse 14, And the
Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and
rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Don't be discouraged.
This is something God has promised He will do. You write this down. It's certain. He's going to wipe
out the remembrance of Amalek. You know my flesh that gives
me so much trouble right now? It's giving me trouble right
now even while I'm speaking to you. I'm so aware of it. It's always
there. It's always there. But you know God's going to get
rid of it. It's going to be blotted out, and I'm not even going to
have any remembrance of it. I'm going to be in the very presence
of Christ, worshipping Him, and I'm not going to be dealing with
the flesh one of these days. And that's something God's going
to do. He said, I'm going to wipe out the remembrance of them.
And that's what our Lord did. It's coming to me because of
what our Lord did on the cross. He put away sin. He made it to where it's not,
and this flesh is going to be completely wiped out because
of what the Lord did on the cross. You see, this is a battle we're
guaranteed to win. We're guaranteed to win. Now,
when I was growing up, back when I was growing up, kids, more
so than today, they got in fights a lot. And when you get in a
fight, you're a little bit scared. I mean, you think maybe you'll
win, you hope you'll win, but you know, you might not. But if you go into a fight, absolutely
sure of victory. Makes a lot different, doesn't
it? And this battle we're called upon to fight, we are guaranteed
victories. As a matter of fact, we've already
got it. We've already got it in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So don't be discouraged. This is something God has promised
to do. Verse 15. And Moses built an altar. And
called the name of it Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah our banner, Jehovah
our ensign. Now, this is what armies carried
when they marched into battle. They would carry a flag, their
ensign that told under whose colors they were flying. Well,
they were marching under this banner, Jehovah Nisi. The Lord Himself is my banner. He's my salvation. He's the one
who's fighting this battle for me. That's my message. Christ Jesus, that's my message.
Jehovah Nisi, Christ Jesus, my banner. For he said, verse 16,
because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation. Amalek's always around as long
as we're alive. And we're called upon to fight
Amalek nonstop. And what I'd like to challenge
Each of us. Let's leave this room. With the
determination. To never sin again. But can we do that? Let's don't
even let's don't even go there right now. Let's leave this room. with the intention of putting
to death Amalek in every respect. And remember, we're promised
this is a victory. Not only we will win, we've already
won. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. So this thing of walking in the
flesh and you won't fulfill the lust of the spirit that's not
talking about living on some kind of ethereal plane where
you're just walking above sin and you're you just not at all
walking in the spirit is looking to christ it's resting in him
and god's word says if you walk in the spirit you will not fulfill
the lust of the flesh i know this if we had perfect faith
we'd never sin again would we Oh Lord, increase our faith. Let's pray.
Todd Nibert
About Todd Nibert
Todd Nibert is pastor of Todd's Road Grace Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

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