daughter and Bobby just called
me a few moments ago and told me that she's been diagnosed
with late stage ovarian cancer that's moved into her stomach
and it doesn't look good. So remember her, Tracy Wright,
in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for her.
Remember Bobby. He's all tore up. Bless his heart. He loves
his babies. So remember her in your prayers.
She also has a daughter, right? and a little daughter. Tough time for them. I know what
they're going through. I know when my daughter was sick,
I was fit to be tied off, so it's tough when your babies are
sick. So remember them in your prayers, if you will. As far
as announcements go, I have an announcement to make. I'll make
it again Sunday, but this Sunday we'll have regular services.
Following Wednesday, we won't have service. I'll be heading
out for Missouri to preach at Drew Dietz's. And the following
Sunday after that, that's not this Sunday, but the following
Sunday, we'll just have an 11 o'clock service since Brother
Sam will be preaching. That's the schedule. We'll put
it in the bulletin on Sunday so everybody will have it. But
y'all know it a little ahead of time. Just feel fortunate
that you had information nobody else does. Let's begin our worship
service with hymn number 475, Redeemed, How I Loved Brooklyn.
? Redeem how I love to proclaim
it ? ? Redeem by the blood of the Lamb ? ? Redeem through His
infinite mercy ? ? His child and forever I am ? ? Redeem,
redeem ? ? Redeem by the blood of the Lamb ? His child and forever I am. Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of His
presence With me doth continually dwell. Redeemed Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb Redeemed Redeemed His child and forever I am I think of my
blessed Redeemer I think of Him all the day long I sing for I
cannot be silent His love is the theme of my song. Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed
of the Lamb. Redeemed, redeemed, His child
and forever I am. I know I shall see in His ears. ? Lovingly guardeth my footsteps
? ? And giveth me songs in the night ? ? Redeemed, redeemed
? ? Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb ? ? Redeemed, redeemed
? ? His child and forever I am ? Hymn number 186, The Church's
One Foundation, is Jesus Christ, Her Lord. The Church's One Foundation is
Jesus Christ, Her Lord. She is His new creation. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her and for her life he died. He led from every nation yet
one or all the earth Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith,
one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she waged the consummation of peace forever. the vision glorious her longing
eyes are blessed and the great church victorious shall be the
church at rest yet she on earth has ? With those whose rest is won
? O happy ones and holy ? Lord give us grace that we ? Like
them the meek and lowly ? On high may dwell with thee Have your Bibles turned, we're
pleased to exodus the 17th chapter. I'm going to read verses 8 through
16. Then came Amalek and fought with
Israel at Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose
us out men, and go out. Fight with Amalek tomorrow. I
will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my
hand, So Joshua did as Moses had said unto him, and fought
with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of
the hill. It came to pass, when Moses held
up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand,
Amalek prevailed. 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, the other on the other side, and his hands were steady
until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. 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 of the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar and called
the name of the place Jehovah-Nissi. For he said, because the Lord
is sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation
to generation. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank
you for your word. We know it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek. And therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. We thank you that it is
a light unto us. We thank you that it's the steady
and sound and immovable thing that, as the world seems to go
wild, we have this wonderful foundation, this blessed word
from on high that never changes. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, remember especially Tracy Wright, Bobby's daughter,
that you'd be with her. This diagnosis is scary. It's a very serious type of cancer
and Lord we ask that you'd be with her and her daughter and
be with Bobby and Bobby and the other rights folks as they minister
to her. Thou knowest every case. This
is no accident. This is not some happenstance. This is a gift from Thee. We bow to your wisdom. We know
that nothing is too hard for Thee. You can heal her if you
see fit. We know you will do what most
glorifies your name and what you do will be right. We pray
that you'd be with Bobby and Bobby and watch over them and
comfort them. This is a hard thing for parents.
Father, help them, we pray. Pray also for Dee Parks, he's
still going through this treatment. Pray for Christie and for the
kids and for Moose and Sandy. and the morales as they all go
through this together as a family, we pray you'd be with them. Watch
over them. Bless them and continue to strengthen
them in Jesus Christ. For those others of our folk
here in Cherokee who've lost loved ones, we ask, Lord, you'd
be with them. Father, we ask tonight that you'd
be with us as we've met here and to read your word and to
hear it preached. We pray that we'll get understanding
and appreciation for the things that you have set before us and
show us. We pray for a glimpse of our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may reach out and touch
the hem of his garment. Help us, Lord, to worship you,
we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Now this, what I've just read
to you, the chronology of this attack by the Amalekites took
place on the way to Sinai but took place before the rock was
smitten and gushed forth with water, though that is mentioned
before this. And the people were weary and thirsty, we know that,
and the Amalekites took advantage of that situation. And the Israelites
did not incite this attack. Israel did not invade the land
of the Amalekites. The tribes of Israel were headed
in the opposite direction, and according to Deuteronomy, The
Amalekites attacked from behind. If you turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 25, they snuck up on the weak and the
weary, and that's how they attacked them. In Deuteronomy chapter
25, in verse 17, it says, Remember what Amalek did unto thee by
the way when we were come forth out of Egypt. how he met thee
by the way, and smoked the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble
behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not
God. So Amalek came and attacked them
from behind, and attacked those who were tired and weary, knowing
in his own head that he would be able to defeat them. Of course,
this attack and subsequent battle added to the weariness and the
thirst of this people, and then they cried out for water, and
the Lord gave them a rock from which the water gushed forward.
Now Moses, once the attack ensued, set the defense for the following
day, instructing Joshua to choose out men to engage the enemy.
Moses told Joshua that he would stand on a hill, a place where
the gathered Israelite warriors could readily see him, and in
his hand would be the rod of God, that rod that had divided
the waters, that rod that had done wondrous things, that rod
that hung over the Red Sea. and spread it out. Moses and
Aaron and her ascended the hill as Joshua engaged with the Amalekites
and the battle went according to Moses raising the rod or lowering
it. When he raised the rod the battle
went in favor of Israel and when he lowered his hand Amalek prevailed. Moses did not raise the rod with
both hands but with one hand at a time and as the battle continued
Moses grew weary Moses grew weary and could no longer raise the
rod in his hand, and things didn't look good on the battlefield.
As the battle continued, Hur and Aaron brought a big rock
and set Moses down on the rock to support him, and then they
supported his arms by lifting up his arms with that rod so
that he could lift up the rod and hold it in place for the
remainder of the day until the sun went down. And after the
victory was attained, for it says Joshua discovered Amalek,
the Lord told Moses to write it in a book of remembrance.
The very account that we are reading is what he wrote down. He told Moses to write this down.
This is what Moses wrote down for us. It was to be a memory
that Amalek's name would be removed from natural history. His name
would not be remembered. And Joshua, when he wrote his
book, talked about Moses giving him things to write. In Joshua
chapter 1, verse 78, it says, Only be thou strong and courageous,
that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law that
is the book of God, which Moses thy servant commanded thee. Turn
not from it to the right or the left, that thou mayest prosper
with us wherever thou go. This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt meditate therein day
and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is
written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
and thou shalt have good success." He's quoting to read what Moses
has written as a memorial. What was his memorial in the
end? It was the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch,
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, And Deuteronomy, he wrote the
last book of Deuteronomy, not all of it, most of it, just for
a few chapters. And then he wrote no more because
God would not let him go into the promised land because he
represented the law. He also smoked the rock the second
time when he was supposed to speak to the rock the second
time. And so God buried him somewhere in the wilderness. Somewhere
in the wilderness is Moses' grave. Nobody knows where he's at but
God. There ain't no gravestone. Ain't no gravestone there. But
he did that so his people would know, as he progressively revealed
Christ throughout the scriptures, that if you're going to go to
the law, you have to leave the promised land to do it. You've
got to leave Emmanuel's land. You've got to leave Christ if
you're going to go find Moses' grave. That's what you've got
to do. So Moses wrote this down as a remembrance, and that's
why we have it for us, that we can remember these things. And
it says, Moses built an altar there and called the name of
the place Jehovah-Nissi. Now this means the Lord is our
banner. The Lord is our banner, or our
flag, or our flag of battle. It's referring to the raised
rod that assured victory in the battle. Now, he named it that
because the Lord had sworn something concerning that. The Lord said,
Do this because. And it says in verse 15, Moses
built an altar and called the name Jehovah-Nissi. for he said
because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation. He said this war is going to
go on until I wipe out Amalek altogether. He would make war
with Elimelech from generation to generation. Now one of the
little meanings of this phrase Jehovah-Nissi is really a language
of response. It means that Amalek had touched
the throne of God. or that he had come against the
throne of God, and the result of such an effort would be utter
destruction for him. And it will be under the Lord,
our banner. The Lord, our banner. There is
much here for the Lord about the Lord and His church in this
passage of Scripture. First and common knowledge to
the church is that she is at war. She is at war. Now, she is at peace in her own
heart. The Lord has given her His peace,
not that the world gives, but that He gives, and they're at
peace in their heart, but they are at war with principalities
and powers and things raised in high places and so forth.
The kingdom of God, Scripture says, suffereth violence, and
the violent take it by force. The church is on a march to the
land of promise. We are sojourners here on our
way to glory land. And all her armor that she wears
is on the front of her body. She does not have any armor on
the back of her body. All of her armor is on the front,
and the reason that is is because she is always going forward.
She is not retreating. She never turns her back. She
is always going forward. Her armor is set forth in Ephesians
chapter 6. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse
11 it says this, Put on the whole armor of God. that ye may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Now you'll notice
that's a very general statement concerning what the devil does
and the reason is because he does so many things you can't
figure out what it is. But you can't look and find out
what he's doing. What you do is you put on the
armor. And that takes care of the problem. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against
powers, against the rulers of darkness in this world. against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto
you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand the
evil day, and having done all, to stand, to stand. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth," this is the armor, And having
your breastplate of righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel, how beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet that bring good tidings that publishes
peace and that publishes salvation. And above all, take the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. and take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying
always with all prayer and supplication of the Spirit, and watching therein,
too, with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. This is the armor of God. The
Church is at war, and this is the armor she is to wear. Her
enemies may attack from behind when she is weary and thirsty,
but the Savior, Joshua, which is the Hebrew word for Jesus,
means Savior will face the enemy with the edge of a two-edged
sword. It says He takes them with the sword back in our text.
It says in verse 13 that Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people
with the edge of a sword. What sword is that? We just read
it. It's part of the armor of God.
It's the sword of the Lord, which is the Word of God. That's that two-edged sword that
divided us under the joints and the marrow. He will face His
enemy. The Lord says in this book and
in Numbers and in Deuteronomy that He will fight for us. He will face the enemy, and He
will face the enemy with men of His own choosing. Moses said,
Choose you out men to do this battle. And all who come to Christ
come because they are chosen of him, and all who fight in
his army are those he has chosen himself. He looked at his twelve
disciples and said, Ye have not chosen me, I have chosen you. and ordained you that you go
forth and bring forth good works. 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, Paul gave
thanks for God's electing grace. Brethren, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of spirit and belief in the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter describes those who are
sojourning and scattered about the Church of the Living God
as elect, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. And
our Lord promised this when He told Peter that upon the rock
of His Word, and what was that rock? What was that rock that
Peter spoke? That rock was now the Christ, the Son of the Living
God. He said upon this rock, upon
that truth, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." We're at war. Now, when hell moves, it
does move. It says hell has enlarged itself. But when it moves, it doesn't
take its gates with it. Gates are stable. We go against
his gates. The army never takes its gates
with it. They open the gates and go out and fight. But the
church is in the assault business. We're going forth in this world
with the word of God. Now people think there's nothing
to that. Listen, this is the power of God and salvation. This
thing will last when we're all gone. All of us here have been
here a long time, most of us, and got the gray hairs and we
ain't long for this old world. And I'm glad to tell you that
when I'm gone, somebody else will be doing this. And he'll
be preaching from the book that men have been preaching from
for 3,500 years. And he'll keep on preaching.
Let all these clowns in society act like they're going to do
something about the children of God. They'll attack religion
and religion will fold. Religion always folds. But they
can't hurt the Church of God. We're fenced in. The devil said
about Job, he said, well, I can't touch him. You got him fenced
in. How can I touch him? You can guard him all about.
We're a daughter enclosed, but we're at war. We're at war. That's the first thing taught
here. Also, Moses here pictures the minister of the gospel. He
stands at war in view of the people holding up the banner
of truth. That's what he does. He holds up God's rod and God's
staff, which is His Word, and as long as He holds up the rod
and preaches the gospel, the people will have victory. You
can count on that. If He does not hold up the rod,
the banner, the people will falter. That is just the basic truth
about it. That is why we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ continually,
redundantly, repeatedly, over and over again. We point men
to Christ. We tell them about what Christ
has done. Why? Because therein is the banner
of truth. Therein we hold up the banner.
Therein is your victory over this world. Nowhere else. Now,
I could preach on other stuff. I could preach about drinking.
I could preach about smoking. I could preach about going to
a picture show. I could preach about a whole
lot of stuff. I could preach about adultery and get everybody
in here mad at people that do adultery. And so self-righteous
that we don't do that. If I preach the gospel, it puts
everyone else in the same boat. There's no hope in us, and all
our hope is in Jesus Christ. That's where we are. I hold up
that banner. That's what the minister does.
When he holds up that banner, everything's going to be all
right. This asserts the importance of preaching the gospel. The
man holding it forth is not what the people are longing to see.
It's that rod that is in his hand. That rod. And that is the
basis of faith that girds the lawn for battle. Why do we do
what we do? Because God has said it. We don't have any other reason. It ain't about feeling. It ain't
about emotions. It ain't about sentiment. It's
not about any of those things. It's what God has said. That's
what God has said. We have the word. We're looking
for that rod. Hold up that rod, preacher, and
now see Christ. The gospel alone is what is held
up before the people of God. The determination of the man
of God that the man of God has called and sent to preach is
to preach Christ and Him crucified, and the guarantee is grounded
in the word of God itself. Our Lord said, My word shall
not return to me void. That's a promise of God. he said
it will accomplish where i send you, go where i send you and
accomplish what i intend for it to accomplish that's the way
it's always going to be, his word he said my word is like
a hammer and like a fire and it will break down the enemy
and it will consume all that oppose him but the minister is
but a man that's all he'll ever be and he may grow weary like
moses did even in holding forth the truth He may grow weary. Moses grew weary, and Aaron and
her helped him. First they took a stone and had
him sit on it so he could remain in view of the people. Is that
stone not Christ the rock, the foundation of God, the church's
one foundation that we just sang about? The foundation that God
has laid that no other man can lay. The foundation upon which
the church itself is built. That's your foundation. He's
that chief cornerstone. Christ is. He's refused of the
builders, but He's made head of the corner. He is the rock
upon which the sinner is placed, having been lifted from the miry
clay and set upon the solid rock, Christ Jesus. He's that house
that's built on a solid foundation and not on shifting sands. Then
Aaron and Hur in turn supported Moses to hold up his arms so
he could hold up the rod. They may represent Christ and
His Spirit, the message and the revealer of Christ. They may
also picture the church, the body of believers who through
prayer support the preacher as he holds up the banner of truth.
Spurgeon who preached in what was called the Crystal Palace
and later on the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Had a big pulpit. In fact, they didn't have these
things here. Had these great pulpits that had these sounding
boards that rolled over the top of the preacher. Beautiful. I
saw one at a college up in Virginia one time. And man, the sound
was unbelievable. He stood there and just whispered.
You could hear it back on the background. Amazing. When he preached, he
said, the power that comes from this pulpit is not the pulpit.
It's not the man that's preaching. Because below him, below that
great stand that he stood on was a room and in that room was
about 150 to 200 men praying all the time while he was preaching
the gospel and he said that's what's holding me up and that's
where the power comes from Aaron and Hur poor old Moses got tired
they held up his arms so the people could see the word of
God and win the battle Finally, there is this banner. It is called
Jehovah Nissi. The banner is the flag. It is
the rallying point of the soldier. It is raised and the people gather
to it. The soldiers gather to it. This
is no doubt Christ, for it is said to be Him throughout Scripture. Let's look at a few passages.
Isaiah chapter 5 is also called an ensign. When
I was in the service, I was the guide arm in tech school in Chanute
Air Force Base, Illinois. In the wintertime, it was cold. I stood out in front of the whole
squadron by myself in that cold, carrying that flag. And I listened
to the cadence of the sergeant, and when he called me to move
left or move right, I moved left. And the soldiers was looking
at that flag. They couldn't see me. All they
could see was the flag I was holding up and marching with. They could
see that flag. When that flag turned, they knew their next
step was to turn. When that flag did a left turn,
they had to do a left turn. They watched that flag. That's
the ensign. And when we got to school, I stopped, I planted
the flag, and they gathered around for instructions. This is what
the banner is. This is the ensign. This is what's
called in Isaiah chapter 5 verse 26, it says, And he will lift
up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them
from the ends of the earth at his whistle. He'll whistle for
them, like a man whistles for his dogs. And behold, they shall
come with speed swiftly. None shall be weary nor stumble
among them. None shall slumber nor sleep.
Neither shall the girdle of their loins be loose, nor the latchet
of their shoes be broken. Whose arrows are sharp, their
bows bent, their horses' hooves shall be counted like flint,
and the wheels like a whirlwind. The roaring shall be like a lion.
They shall roar like a young lion. Yea, they shall roar. They
shall lay hold of the prey and shall carry it away. And none
shall deliver it. And in that day they shall roar
against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looketh
to the land, there shall be all darkness and sorrow, and the
light is darkened in the heaven thereof. That is what this instance
is going to do and all he calls to it. Look over at Isaiah chapter
11 verse 10. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David,
and the root of Jesse was David. root of Jesse which shall stand
for an ensign for a banner an ensign of the people and it shall
be the Gentiles and to it shall the Gentiles seek and his rest
shall be glorious his rest shall be glorious look at chapter 12
and verse 45 No, I was looking at verse 12,
the same chapter. And He shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. Chapter 45 of Isaiah. Our Lord says this in verse 22,
Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God, and there is nowhere else to look. I have sworn by
myself, the word is going out of my mouth, in righteousness,
and shall not return. That every knee shall bow to
me, and every tongue confess. Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men
come, they shall gather to the ensign, and they shall not be
ashamed. In the Lord shall all the seed
of Israel be justified. and shall glorify." This was
a promise made of Judah in Genesis chapter 49 when Jacob had gathered
his sons together and was telling them their future. He spoke of
Judah which speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lion
of the tribe of Judah. In Genesis chapter 49 verse 8
it says, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy
hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, just like Joshua
was in the neck of the Amalekites. Thy father's children shall bow
down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, strong
and vital, a lion's whelp from the prey. Thou art gone up, he
stooped down, he came down to earth, he crouched as a lion,
as an old lion, and who shall rouse him up? You can't stir
him up to do stuff. He is God, and He does as He
pleases. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver
between His feet, until Shiloh come. And to Him shall the gathering
of the people be." He is the Ensign, and that is where they
gather. Our Lord said, as He was speaking
to His disciples concerning Him going to the cross in John chapter
12, John chapter 12, verse 32, he
said, If I be lifted up from the earth, speaking the word
of the cross, I will draw all men unto me. This he said signifying
the death, that he should die. Then in Psalm 60, you don't have
to turn there, in verse 4, this is what it says, Thou hast given
a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because
of the truth. Jehovah Nissi, the Lord, our
banner. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen. All right. God bless you.