Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. We're gonna be in Exodus. They're ready. They're ready. Right on time. They're ready. They would just put them on speaker and they'll listen in and we'll be good to go. Right? Hey, we're in Exodus, chapter 17, verses 8 through 16. If you want to turn there.
[00:00:17] So thankful for just the church staff. My family was able to take off and have a little vacation last week. And, Tracy, it's just like riding a bike.
[00:00:27] He did it for 20 years. Just like riding a bike. Jump back on. And I know that you were blessed by his message last week. If you didn't get to listen to it, it's one that will, I know, will encourage your heart if you want to check it out online.
[00:00:39] But we're seeing in the book of Exodus, really, kind of this same repeated theme of how do the people of God depend on God? And so that's what we're seeing. That as God has rescued the people of Egypt, people of Israel out of Egypt, he's provided salvation for them, and now he's teaching them, what does it look like to walk as the people of God?
[00:01:04] How do you depend on Him? How do you depend on him for provisions, for daily. Provisions which create daily dependence. How do you depend on him for his presence? We saw the question last week that is the Lord among us? That. That was the question. Is he among us? His presence? Is he with us? And maybe you felt that at times. I love just the narratives of the Old Testament because we can relate to these people. I was just having a conversation this morning in the hallway, and it was like, man, the people of Israel, we often read it, and it's like, man, how could they not get it?
[00:01:39] And then I'm like, it's a mirror for me.
[00:01:43] How could I not see God's provision time after time after time? And then I question it yet again. Is the Lord among us? Is the Lord with me? Is the Lord gonna come through again? And so we're gonna see that same thing again.
[00:01:57] But maybe you've experienced it like this.
[00:02:00] There's a certain person that if they call you at an unexpected time, you're like, well, wait a minute, something's wrong. You, like, see the caller id, and you're like, I gotta take this because I don't know why they would be calling. Maybe that's your kid's school. And you're like, oh, no. Either they're hurt or I'm gonna kill them, Right? Like, it's one of those two that, like, something's happened. And you just know that it's like a trial hits you just out of nowhere. Maybe it was a phone call from a loved one. And it's like you answer it expectantly, and then it's like, I don't know what's the matter. And you just know. That's one of the things we're gonna see in the text. It's a little bit interesting. So let's just read our text this morning and then we'll jump into this together.
[00:02:51] Verse 8.
[00:02:53] It starts, then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. I guess it's a really abrupt jump in, right, that the people of Israel have been wandering around, God's just provided water for them, and then all of a sudden, this real quick. Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
[00:03:14] So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him, and he fought with Amalek. While Moses and Aaron and Hur went up on the top of the hill.
[00:03:32] Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands grew weary.
[00:03:42] So they took a stone and they put it under him, and he sat on it while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side.
[00:03:51] So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
[00:03:59] Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it. The Lord is my banner saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Would you pray with me, Lord? We come to you, Lord, needy for your spirit, to work in our life, Lord, needy for your spirit to move in our heart, to soften our heart where it's become callous, Lord, to open our ears, to hear from you, to open our eyes, to see your word, to see your will, to see what you want to do in our life, Lord, that we would respond in in obedience and in faith to your leading, Lord. Would you guide us this morning? We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:05:05] Let's walk through this text. And there's several things in there that just Kind of jump out at first, and so we'll make some sense of that. But I really want this to kind of unfold and you to get a picture of what's happening. We actually Learned from Deuteronomy 25. It provides a little bit of commentary for this text. And if you just think about this text and what it was for that this text was recorded by Moses and was given to the people of God after this event had happened.
[00:05:39] And so he's giving them this account so that the people of Israel will remember and know what God has done and what he has promised and how the people of Israel responded. And so we get some insight in this, in Deuteronomy 25, which is a part of the Pentateuch. And Deuteronomy 25 actually tells us that Amalek came and that he sought to cut off the tail of Israel. What does that mean? Well, you've got a people group that's possibly 2 million to 4 million people wandering around in the desert. They don't move anywhere quickly. I have four kids. The six of us don't move anywhere quickly. Right? Like, we get this, that there's this string of people. And then towards the end of this group would be the weak and the vulnerable.
[00:06:33] They often move slower.
[00:06:35] And so Deuteronomy tells us that Amalek saw the. The weak and the vulnerable, and he sought to cut off the tail of the people of Israel.
[00:06:45] And so God is. Is going to work on their behalf. But that gives us some insight into this, that when we read that Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim and that Moses responds to that, Word would have traveled up the people to Moses and. And they would have come to Moses. You know, they've just seen God provide this water.
[00:07:06] Moses is like, finally, things are good again.
[00:07:09] We're just going to obey God. We're just going to respond to that. And Word comes to him and goes, hey, we're being attacked.
[00:07:17] You can just imagine Moses as a leader was probably like, when does it stop?
[00:07:24] Right? Like you could just imagine that. But that we actually see for one of the first times. Moses responds in a. A really proper way.
[00:07:34] He responds in a really proper way. He doesn't. The people aren't grumbling and complaining.
[00:07:39] Moses isn't grumbling or complaining. That we see the response to this as the people tell him that they're being attacked by Amalek. Moses then instructs Joshua, again, this is important. If you're a Bible reader and a Bible writer, then you can underline, circle Joshua. This is the setup, because Joshua is going to be a leader of the people of Israel. He is the next in line after Moses. And this is the first time that we're introduced to him. Moses already sees him and points him out. And so he calls to Joshua and says, choose some men that you're gonna go into battle with.
[00:08:19] And then you go and fight Amalek.
[00:08:22] And then as you rally those people and head towards the end of the. The line of the people of Israel, I'm going to go up on this hill, and I'm going to take some people with me. And so we see in this just the reality of a battle.
[00:08:39] I just want us to spend just a minute and unpack this. A minute.
[00:08:44] I think oftentimes we think because God has saved us, that means that we won't struggle.
[00:08:53] I think it subconsciously creeps in that because I'm walking with God, because I'm obeying God, then life should get easier.
[00:09:03] I mean, I think we just default into that things should get easier rather than harder. That when you overcome an obstacle and make it through a storm or a trial, we often think, okay, now I can breathe and I can relax.
[00:09:18] And yet the scripture clearly shows us that there is a reality of a battle, that we should expect, that in this reality of the battle, we should come to expect opposition.
[00:09:32] We jump to the New Testament, and we see Jesus actually tell his disciples this in Ephesians, chapter six. Then he tells his disciples they're instructing the followers of Jesus, and they say, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. We're actually in an even bigger battle.
[00:09:49] But our battle is against spiritual forces in the heavenly places.
[00:09:55] First, Peter instructing believers in the gospel would say that our adversary prowls around like a lion.
[00:10:06] I don't know if you've ever watched those nature shows, but just like what we see in this text, it's the weak, it's the vulnerable, it's the newborn that the lions seek, whom they can devour. And that's the same thing that we see Peter instruct, that we have an adversary, the devil, who prowls around looking for whom he can devour.
[00:10:32] For the weak, the vulnerable, the isolated.
[00:10:35] That's who he looks for.
[00:10:37] That we should expect opposition. We shouldn't be surprised by our struggles. Jesus would say that we have enemies of the world, the flesh and the devil. We call it the unholy trinity, right? Like we've got the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But then the opposition to that is the World, the flesh and the devil.
[00:10:55] There's a world system which opposes the kingdom of God, that works against it in opposition to it. That our own flesh within us, that we have desires for things that would lead us outside of the will of God, that we have to battle against, that's within our own body.
[00:11:15] And then we have an adversary, the devil, who seeks whom he can destroy.
[00:11:19] That we shouldn't be shocked by opposition, but there should be a reality to the battle, that we should expect it.
[00:11:27] That just because we're saved does not eliminate the spiritual warfare which we will face.
[00:11:36] Ephesians chapter five tells us to dress for battle in Ephesians 5, 6, as it talks about who we are in Christ, that we should dress for battle and put on the armor of God, because we are in a battle.
[00:11:51] And so we see in this text in verses 8 and 9, that the people of Israel were attacked.
[00:12:00] Even though God was with them, and even though God was leading them, they still faced opposition.
[00:12:09] So how does Moses then respond to this opposition? What's the secret to this? That Moses then instructs Joshua. We see an element of human responsibility here, but we see something else happen. That as Joshua goes to gather men to go into battle, we see Moses takes with him two people and he says, I'm going to go up on top of this hill.
[00:12:31] Now it's interesting, different commentators will say different things about this text. That that was Moses going up to pray. We see a posture of lifted hands, which is a posture of prayer.
[00:12:44] Other commentators would say that, well, anytime that Moses has prayed before this, then it's been really clear in the text that Moses, it says he prayed, and so was he praying? Was he interceding? What was this? What we see in this, if we can just make some sense of this, that in the secret to their victory, the point of the text is really clear. And he makes that. Because what it says here is that when Moses hands were up, they prevailed. When his hands were down, they lost.
[00:13:16] Now, there's nothing super magical about this.
[00:13:20] Don't just walk around in battles going like this, right? Like this is actually a posture of surrender, right? Like that's a posture when someone says stick them up.
[00:13:34] That's a posture of surrender.
[00:13:37] But we see something really interesting here that should cue our mind that in verse nine it says that Moses would go up onto the hill with the staff of God in his hand.
[00:13:54] Now this is important because this staff is really familiar to us this far into Exodus, this is the staff that God has told Moses when he was walking around as just a shepherd, and God would call him. He said, hey, throw down your staff. And that staff turned into a snake to see the power of God.
[00:14:14] God then told Moses, take that staff with you when you go to Pharaoh. And God used that staff to show Pharaoh when he put it down, and it turned into a snake. And then Pharaoh's magicians put their staffs down and Moses staff ate all the other staffs his power. This is the staff that then Moses would strike the Nile with and see the power of God turn the Nile into blood. This is a staff that Moses would take to the sea and part the sea so that the people of Israel could come through on dry land. This is the staff that Moses has just taken and struck a rock which provided water for the people of God.
[00:14:59] That this staff represents God's power and God's presence.
[00:15:05] And so Moses goes, I'm taking the power of God up onto this hill because God's the one who's gonna fight for us.
[00:15:15] The secret to the victory is dependency on the Lord.
[00:15:21] But listen to this.
[00:15:23] But that doesn't absolve human responsibility.
[00:15:27] Catch this. This is important.
[00:15:29] Dependence on the Lord doesn't absolve Joshua from going into battle.
[00:15:36] We see that that Joshua went into battle, that Joshua is fighting with his men, that they are down there working and toiling.
[00:15:46] And yet when Moses hands drop the power of God, they lose. When Moses hands are up, the power of God and dependence on him, they win that. We see this tension, which we often like to go either to one side or the other. We've talked about theological ditches before, that we. There's a ditch on both sides of the road. We want to stay here in the middle that on this side we see, oh, it's all God, and we just sit back and do nothing.
[00:16:20] Well, that's not what we see in this text. Or we go to this side where it's all us and we try to do it all on our own and we don't depend on God. Well, that's the other ditch. We want to stay in this middle where. Where we see both of these things happening. Maybe you've been there, maybe God's calling you to action and you're struggling to actually act. And maybe you've. You've misunderstood that. You're like, I'm just going to trust God and yet he's called you to action.
[00:16:53] Or maybe you're in the other side where.
[00:16:55] Where you're striving and toiling and you're using all of your effort and energy to accomplish.
[00:17:02] And yet God's going, I'm not going to allow you to succeed in that without depending on me.
[00:17:09] That we see both of these things at play. The secret to the victory is human responsibility based on dependence on God.
[00:17:19] And when we do that, God gets the glory and we get to participate in what he's doing.
[00:17:27] We see that Moses could not do this alone, though this is, I don't think, the main point of the text. And yet I think that there's a really important point for us here, is that we never see within the scripture that you can do the Christian life alone.
[00:17:45] Like, the Bible just doesn't ever say that. That you can succeed in this Christian life all on your own.
[00:17:54] And we even see Moses here. And Moses takes Aaron and her, and they. They go up on this hill. And what we see in Moses is that Moses grows weary.
[00:18:06] He's holding his hands up and they're like, yes, let's go.
[00:18:09] And then he's like, how long is this going to take?
[00:18:14] Right?
[00:18:15] That as his hands are up, he begins to grow weary. He begins to see his own failings, that he can't accomplish this for them.
[00:18:26] That it's not about Moses, it's about God.
[00:18:29] And so as Moses hands drop, you can just imagine Aaron and her being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[00:18:37] Get him back up, right? That the battle clearly prevails when Moses holds his hands up because God is fighting for them. And so what do these people around Moses do?
[00:18:51] They help him depend on God? Catch this.
[00:18:56] The people around him help him depend on God.
[00:19:01] They set him down. They set him up, set a rock and. And then they stand next to him and say, hey, we'll help you keep your hands up.
[00:19:12] I just wonder if you took an inventory of your friends, if you took an inventory of the people in your life.
[00:19:21] Who are the people that help you depend on God?
[00:19:25] Who are those people?
[00:19:28] They're worth investing in those relationships? Who are the people that. What does that look like? What does that mean to help you depend on God? Who are the people that point you to prayer when you have a freakout moment, when you go, life just threw something crazy at me. Who are the people that go, let's pray.
[00:19:49] Who are the people that hold you, that pick you up when you can't hold yourself, when your faith is struggling and it's hard for you to see God at work?
[00:20:05] Who are the people that hold the rope for you, that help you depend on him?
[00:20:11] You see, Moses had Aaron and Hur. And that's exactly what they did, they didn't strategize with Moses and say, hey, let's send message to Joshua and have a better war strategy.
[00:20:26] No, they helped Moses depend on God.
[00:20:29] That's what true biblical godly friendship looks like. Who helps you do that?
[00:20:37] The point of the text that we see here is that it just makes really clear that the victory was not dependent on strategy.
[00:20:48] The victory was dependent on their dependency on God.
[00:20:53] The same is true for your life and mine.
[00:20:56] It's not dependent. The success of our life is not dependent on our strategy.
[00:21:03] The success of our life is dependent on our dependency on Him.
[00:21:10] The last thing that we see in this, after they begin to win and they. They overwhelm Amalek and the people with the sword, then there's really something interesting here that, that then the Lord speaks to Moses and says, okay, now that victory has been brought, how do you respond? And so we see the response to the victory.
[00:21:34] The response is worship and remember.
[00:21:38] The response is worship and remember. Let's see where we get this.
[00:21:43] The Lord says to Moses, write this as a memorial in the book and recite it in the ears of Joshua. That I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and he called the name of it. The Lord is my banner saying, the hand of the Lord upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. What we see here is that there's an aspect of remembering that God makes sure that. That Moses communicates to Joshua and that Joshua is going to have whispered in his ear, that he is going to have that anthem in his ear, reminding him that the Lord is the one who brings the victory, that the Lord is the one who will utterly blot out himlech. Now, why is this important?
[00:22:35] See, they. What we know from the reading of the rest of the.
[00:22:39] The Old Testament is that Amalek actually came from a dispute between two brothers.
[00:22:47] And so the people of Amalek, the Amalekites, actually become a people which then begin to represent opposition to God's people.
[00:22:58] They came in to cut off the tail of the people of Israel, and they will continue to be a thorn in a pest, that God will actually tell Israel to blot them out. He promises here that he will blot them out. He tells Israel that as they move into this promised land to wipe them off, the people don't obey.
[00:23:18] And then what we see is that that causes a lot of other issues for the people of Israel because they Fail to obey. And yet then we see that God raises up a leader who actually does obey. And God keeps his promise that he makes war with the Amalekites, that He blots them out, that. That he ushers in his people. But, but why is this important? That. That the people of Israel are going to need to remember this, Catch this. This is really important.
[00:23:52] Your trials of today become your testimonies for tomorrow.
[00:23:59] That God gives them victory today so that in the years to come, they will be reminded that he is the one who provides the victory. As they continue to face the Amalekites again and again and again, God continues to remind them, I fight for you. I'll accomplish what I promised.
[00:24:25] You and I are going to face trials. And a lot of times we think, man, I'm glad that's over.
[00:24:31] Never have to face that one again.
[00:24:34] And yet God catch this in his grace, doesn't let us become self sufficient because we need to depend on Him. This self sufficiency is not victory.
[00:24:54] That dependence on God is victory. That if we can walk every day dependent on him, that is victory because he fights for us.
[00:25:05] So we see that they need to remember this. They wrote it in a memorial book. The second thing that we see here is that Moses then builds an altar. That the proper response to victory is worship. That when God gives you victory, you need to remember that and you need to worship him, that he's the one who provides. That Moses builds this altar. And then we find something really interesting here that he calls the name of this altar where they will worship.
[00:25:32] The Lord is my banner.
[00:25:34] There's a lot of different thoughts about this that I think maybe the best helpful illustration is. You know, if you've ever watched the opening or the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, then you see these flags walk in and you see people behind each one of these flags. And if you ever wonder what country do those people represent? You look at the flag and go, oh, that's their banner.
[00:25:57] That's who represents them. That's who they're with. That's their identifying characteristic that identifies them as a people.
[00:26:07] And Moses says, here, the Lord is my banner.
[00:26:15] Just imagine if you walked around every day, you got up and there was a banner that was over your head, that as you went to work, it said, the Lord is my banner.
[00:26:31] That as you interacted with adult children which maybe are wayward or that are causing strife in your life, that it said, the Lord is my banner.
[00:26:42] That as you face retirement and you go, I don't know if I Have purpose? Or where do I find my purpose and my value now that I'm not working in society? That there was a banner that said, the Lord is my banner. That as you go to high school and you interact with your friends and you're looking for acceptance and you're looking for identity, that over your head is said, the Lord is my banner.
[00:27:04] That as your marriage struggles or you wonder, how is the Lord going to work this out, that you see over, that the Lord is my banner.
[00:27:14] That as the diagnosis comes and you sit in the doctor's office, that the doctor walks in and sees, the Lord is my banner.
[00:27:25] That it identifies you as a people, as a person, that it identifies you with the one who has all power and authority, who fights on your behalf.
[00:27:40] What if we lived like that?
[00:27:45] What if the world watched as we responded to the trials which come at our life and they saw, the Lord is my banner?
[00:27:58] See, this text points us to a man, Moses, that goes and intercedes between God and his people.
[00:28:10] And that as Moses lifted his hands, they had victory.
[00:28:15] But the New Testament tells us that there's a better Moses.
[00:28:19] There's a better one who intercedes, who lifted up his hands on a cross, who now stands, it says, at the right hand of the Father, and intercedes for us night and day and day.
[00:28:37] That as Satan brings accusations, as Satan seeks those whom he can devour and destroy, that he stands interceding on our behalf. And he never grows weary, the Scripture says he never sleeps nor slumbers, that he has all power and authority. That John, chapter 16, verse 33.
[00:28:59] It's such an incredible passage.
[00:29:02] Jesus talking to his disciples before he leaves and goes up to heaven.
[00:29:11] He says this to them in John 16, verse 33. If I can get to it.
[00:29:23] He says this, I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.
[00:29:32] In the world you will have trouble.
[00:29:36] But take heart, I have overcome the world.
[00:29:42] If you don't know the Lord as your banner, the one who said, you're going to have trials, you're going to have trouble in this world.
[00:29:53] But if you will walk in dependence on me, I fight for you and I will be your banner.
[00:30:02] If you don't know him, today's a great day to know him.
[00:30:05] If you do know him.
[00:30:07] Let's be a people that live like that, confident, no fear.
[00:30:14] The Lord fights for me. Let's pray.
[00:30:22] Lord, would you help us to be a people who respond to trials and tribulations of this world, who respond to the world, the flesh and the devil that we will face in this life in the proper way, expecting it to come because you've told us it would come. Expecting opposition, but then knowing that the secret to the victory is not an abandonment of personal responsibility, but an obedience to that that's based on a dependency on you or that we would depend on you to fight for us and that we would see the victory you provide, Lord. And then that we might have the proper response to that that we remember.
[00:31:25] And then we would worship, Lord. That we would go about our lives worshiping on the altar, being reminded that you are our God.
[00:31:40] Lord. Would you help us to live that out? We ask it. In Jesus name. Amen.
