Amen. Please remain standing and turn the pages of the scripture in your hand to the book of Exodus chapter 17. Tonight we'll be looking at verses 8 to 16. Verse 8 to 16. I will read it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, and for God's glory. Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron, and Her went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and her held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 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 plot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called it 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. The word of the Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, we now come to your word. And as we sit under the preaching of your Word, we confess that your Word is truth. And tonight we ask you to sanctify us through the preaching of your Word. O Lord, like Mary and the psalmist, help us to treasure your Word in our hearts. so that no one among us would sin against you. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. You may be seated. You are a believer, one who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and the flesh tempts you to entice you into sin in your weakest moment in your life? How would you defend yourself from falling? How would you fight against such temptation from the flesh, your own flesh, or the men of this world that the Bible describes as flesh? Tonight's text of the scripture, Exodus 17, 8-16, will show us how the flesh could exert or bring its attack upon us, the occasion it uses, and how we as believers must fight to overcome the enticing power of the flesh for God's glory. Tonight I want us to consider three thoughts together from our text. The first one is a surprise attack. Amalek or the Amalekites attack in Israel, suddenly a surprise attack. And what that means in the Christian life. what it means when the people of God, the children of God, are being attacked with a surprise attack. And then the activities of sanctification will be our second thought, and then the agency of the staff of God in our text tonight. Exodus 17, 8 to 16, records the first attack on the people of Israel, after they have fled their slavery in Egypt. I want you all to have this picture in your mind, before your own eyes. The Israelites are now in the wilderness, and the journey is from Egypt to the Promised Land. They have been delivered, remember. And they haven't done anything toward their deliverance. God did it all. They haven't contributed anything. They were recipients of God's love, mercy, and deliverance. They are saved. They are redeemed. It's finished. And now they are on their way to the promised land. You and I have been delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus did it. He paid it all. We haven't done anything except we brought our sin and Jesus took it to the cross. We refer to ourselves as Christians, the redeemed people of God. And you and I are on our way to heaven, the promised land. And as the Israelites were attacked by the flesh on their journey to the promised land, you and I will be tempted, will be tried, will be attacked by Satan, the flesh, and the world as we journey towards heaven. After being delivered by God's mighty and outstretched hand, And in the middle of the conflict, in the middle of this conflict, an attack from the Amalekites, God chooses to reveal to his people another aspect of his name. That he is the banner of his people. We're not talking about a piece of clothes. We're talking about God as the banner of his people, or for his people. And the lesson tonight is you will discover in your Christian life, when you go through conflict, when the battle is tough, when you don't know where to turn, God will reveal to you more of his nature, more of his character. The more you are attacked, The more you fight against the flesh, the temptation of the flesh, the more you say no to sin, the more God will reveal His wonderful character to you. In this case, as the banner of His people, notice verse 15. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner. The Lord is my banner. The banner here is not a piece of cloth, it is the staff of his rod. The staff of his rod was the picture of God's power. It represents God's mighty power, God's sovereign power. The children of Israel have been delivered from Egypt. They have been freed. Now on their way, on their journey to the promised land, they are very close to Mount Sinai. where they will receive the Ten Commandments, the law of God. They're very close to the Mount of Sinai. But every step of the way from Egypt to Rephidim, to Mount Sinai, what did they do, brothers and sisters in Christ? They grumbled. They complained. They complained about, you know, whatever area of discontent they had with the Lord. No water, they complained, they didn't trust God. No bread, they complained. They even said to Moses, his servant, a man who was representing God, why did you bring us to the wilderness? To kill us? They accused God. So up to this point, who was the enemy of the Israelites? Up to this point, they were the enemies of themselves. Their flesh was their enemy. Their own doubt, grumbling. But now they are facing an enemy from without, the Amalekites. The descendants of Esau came to the wilderness to attack the Israelites. Amalek, in the scripture, represents the flesh. And all its schemes, all its evil plans against the children of God, the Amalekites, an army seeking to destroy them. So let's consider a surprise attack first. Remember, so far the only enemy they had was themselves, their own flesh, their own sinful desire, sinful behavior, the enemy within. In our Christian life, we need to learn that our own flesh is our own enemy. The flesh is against the spirit. The flesh is against God and His commandments. The flesh doesn't want us to worship God, doesn't want us to obey God. The flesh always entices us into sin, into the temptation of sin. James 4, 1 and 2 reminds us of this truth. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have. So you murder, you covet, and you cannot obtain. It's within, inside of you. Like in the case of the Israelites. Why did they complain? Why did they grumble? Why did they doubt God? Because their own flesh was telling them, you know, God is not to be trusted. Matthew 15, 19, Jesus said, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. Where does all these things come from? From within, from the heart. Flesh should be mortified. Flesh should be put off by God's grace. But now we see the conflict comes from outside. In verse 8, our text tells us, then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. You know, their whole mind was thinking about the promised land. I'm sure they were thinking, you know, all our trouble is over. We have now food. We have now water. And the Mount of Sinai is very near. We're about to arrive to the promised land. Our trouble is over. Now the enemy is from outside. It was a surprise attack. How do we know? Well, Moses tells us in Deuteronomy 25, 17 and 18, Moses recounts this attack. after many, many years, 40, 50 years. Listen to Moses in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 25, 17 and 18. Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt. How he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail. those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God. Therefore, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance to possess, you shall plot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget." What I want you to see here is They were tired. They were weary. They had children. They had their livestock with them. There was a long line. Two million Israelites were walking toward the promised land. And you have the head, and you have the tail, and they cut off. The line. It was very sudden when they attacked them. And the Amalekites came and cut off the tail of the line. Who were at the tail of the line? The weak, the weary. Those who had no energy to move forward. And the flesh attacks. The enemy attacks. lesson for you and I. Remember Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 tells us, all these are written for your instruction. So what is the instruction here? What is the lesson here? The devil, the flesh attacks the weak, the weary, but also at your weakest point in the Christian life. Listen, if you are strong about materialism, but you're weak about sexual temptation, with sexual temptation, he will attack that area of your Christian life. The flesh always attacks, the devil always attacks you as a Christian at your weakest moment. and in the area of your Christian life where you are weak and weary. Remember that. He will never attack the strong side of your Christian life, but the weakest. When you are weak, when you are weary, when you are doubting God's promises, You know, you lose a beloved member of the family, and you are questioning God's love, God's timing maybe, and then you will attack. Saying, God doesn't love you. God doesn't care about you. Why did he take your mom? Why did he take your child if he loves you? Weak moment. And you are single, you are not married, and a beautiful woman passes by, the devil will attack you if you are weak and weary in that area of your Christian life. This is how the Amalekites work their attack against Israel. It's what the church is facing today from the haters of the gospel. Those who oppose Christ, they hate Christ. John 15, 18. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before. I'm not even going to explain that because we have heard much about this. John 16, 33. In this world, you will have tribulation. Second Timothy 3.12, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, will be tempted, will be attacked. Let me ask you this, why this attack? You and I know from history, the Amalekites were renowned enemies of Israel from generations to generations. We know that. But why did attack Israel in the wilderness? We don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us why they attacked them the way they attacked them. You and I in the Christian life, we don't know why any attack comes to us. We don't know, but God knows. We don't know, but God knows. And God wants us to fight. Now let's consider the activity of sanctification. Verse 9 and 10. So Moses say to Joshua, you know for the first time Moses is calling the name of Joshua. It's the equivalent name to Jesus. Yesus. Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand." What's happening here? It's up to this point, the Israelites have been passive in their deliverance. They have been passive in the process of being free. Keep that in mind. They haven't contributed anything. They didn't fight to be freed. What did they do? They gained, they obtained their freedom. They haven't done anything. They just watched God doing miraculous things for them in order to deliver them. They saw the plagues, the 10 plagues coming upon Egypt. They saw God, through Moses, dividing the Red Sea into two. They saw all these miraculous acts and provision of God for their deliverance. They never participated. They just enjoyed God's redemption, God's salvation. Now God changes the method by which he will deliver them. Saved, now they must be sanctified. Saved, now they must obey God. Saved, now they must fight against sin and its temptation. Justification is only by faith in Jesus Christ alone. Sanctification, we participate. As the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, as the Holy Spirit tells us, no, no, no, this is sin! Don't even touch it! This is sin! Don't even go there! We say, yes, we obey. We resist. We resist. That's the reason why Moses called it upon Joshua. Joshua, it's time for us to fight. He didn't do that when God delivered him from Egypt. They were passive. That's salvation. From the beginning to the end, the work of God, we received it by faith. Then, being justified, we must be sanctified. God changes, you see, the method by which he will deliver them. God would have destroyed the Amalekites just like that. But now they have to participate. God knew who the Amalekites were. He knew the fact that they are going to attack his people. He could have stopped that instantly, but he didn't do that. Instead, he tells them to fight. Now he wants them to be active. Put their efforts to overcome the attack. Active participants in their own fight. Choose men. I want to address you as a church, beloved. The church today needs men, preachers and leaders who are ready to fight. Who are ready to fight the temptation from the world. Who are ready to lead God's people in the fight of faith. Basically, God was telling Moses, Moses, it's time for you to recruit men from among you who will fight. Fight who? Fight the flesh. We'll come to Ephesians 6. You see, our warfare is not with the flesh. Men and women, you know, that we see around us. More than that. The flesh. choose men and go out and fight against the Amalekites. Moses called Joshua and her. We have been told her was the husband of Miriam, Moses' brother. Aaron was the priest. Her means light. It's amazing. The connection is amazing. The high priest in Israel, Aaron, was, you know, holding Moses' hand up. And then her, the light, was helping him holding his hand up. He also tells Joshua to recruit among the men in Israel to establish an army. There have never been in war. They never fought before. The only thing that they know is, you know, they can make bricks, they can build houses, but they're not fighters. Now God is teaching them, hey, it's time for you to be sanctified and I want you to fight. I want you to fight. Martin Luther, the reformer, always describes the Christian life as the life of a soldier, a warrior at war, fighting against the flesh, the world, and Satan. That's who we are in Christ Jesus. As we journey toward heaven, the flesh will attack. The flesh will entice us into the temptation of sin. God did all, he saved them, but now he wants them to be sanctified. And that's what we see here. In Philippians 2.12, Paul exhorts believers, therefore my beloved, as you always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, listen to this, work out, not work for, that's done, Christ has done it, but work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. What fear? The fear of God. What fear? The love that we have for God. Like Joseph. Potiphar's wife came to Joseph and she said to Moses, if you sleep with me, there will be honor in the kingdom of my husband. Moses' response was, what? I fear the God of heaven. which also means, I love God. I can do this. No. He refused it. The flesh attacked it. The flesh came to entice him into temptation and into sin. And Joseph's response was, but I love God. I feel the God of heaven. Now this is, you see, after conversion. After conversion, we fight. We're soldiers of Christ, fighting against our enemies, the world, the flesh, and Satan. Beloved, tonight I want you to take this message, not only for your own life, not only for yourself, but I want to encourage all of you to share this message, this instruction with fellow members in our church, family members who loves God, who are working with Christ. It is time in the Christian life that we receive God's unmerited favor, gift of salvation, gift of righteousness, and we are called the redeemed. But there is also time in the Christian life that we fight against sin. We say no to sin. We follow the example of Jesus. Matthew 4, Satan said to Jesus, if you just bow down and worship me, I will give you all the riches of this world. You shall not tempt your God. It's written. You can stop the cross. You don't need to die on the cross. Just cooperate with me. No, you shall not test the Lord your God. And Joseph did the same. He followed the example of Jesus. When he said no to that woman, it was a pure sexual temptation. It was that day of pornography. She was there, standing before him. promising him honor, respect, and riches. His response was, I love my God. I fear him. Because of who he is, what he has done for me, my fellowship with him as his child, I love my God so much to sin against him. God wants us to grow in grace. God wants us to discipline ourselves in holiness. But beloved, this requires what? Effort. This requires sacrifice. This requires choosing God over anything that the flesh presents to us. In Ephesians 4, listen to the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4, 21 to 24. Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Paul was saying, pursue after these things. Put off the old man that you belonged in your former life, Now you have been converted, you have been redeemed, you have been justified. Now you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. So when the flesh attacks, when the flesh entices, say no. Now thirdly, I want us to consider the agency of the staff. In verse 9, so Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek. While Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Now listen to this, whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. Whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Her held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. What's going on here? This is what God was teaching Moses, Joshua, her, the Israelites, and all of us tonight. All your efforts to fight against sin without my strength, without my help, it's vain. You will not do it. You will become weak and weary. So you need my help. That's why you see Moses, built an altar and call it the name of it, the Lord is my banner. The connection is with the staff of God. Very interesting. You know, this staff so far has been called the staff of Aaron, the staff of Moses. Now it's called the staff of God. Why? Because God is saying, you need my help. In your fight against sin, in your fight against the flesh, you need my help. Yes, you must obey. Yes, you must resist the devil. But you can only do that with my help. Remember what Jesus told us in the Gospel of John 15? I am the true vine, you are the branches, without me you cannot do nothing. Beloved, that's why we need the Word of God. That's why we need the Word of God as a means of grace. That's why we need the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a means of grace. That's why we need to pray together. That's why we need to pray for one another. Because we are in this fight, we are under this attack. Today, how many Christians fall into sexual sin? Let alone members of local churches, but even preachers. I just ask you to count. Even in the space of, you know, in the past three, four months, how many prominent Reformed preachers have fallen into sin, sexual sin. And what example they have set. to the church and to the world, how they brought shame to the name of Christ. I'm not condemning them. God knows my heart. I pray for them every day. Some of them, I have their books in my shelf, in my office, at my home. I have benefited a lot from their writing, from their teaching, from their preaching. And as a pastor, I fear even for my own life. Do you fear for your own life? Do you fear that you would bring shame to the name of your Savior? When the flesh attacks, Are we serious about sin? Are we serious about this business saying no to sin? And we all need one another in this fight. I need you, you need me, but more than anything else we need our God, a banner. We need His power. How do we find this power, brothers and sisters in Christ? We come to His Word. Listen to Paul, the apostle Paul being led by the Holy Spirit. He never left believers, you know, all of us without guidance, without this marvelous counsel. Finally, be strong in the Lord, in the strength of His might, not your own strength. Beloved, we should never rely on our family devotion. We should do it, it's good. That's not our power. Paul here never said, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of your prayer, in the strength of your family devotion. No. In the strength of his might. Where do we see that? In His Word. So we do family worship, we do private devotion, we do read His Word, we do meditate on His Word day and night, someone, because we need that spiritual prosperity in our Christian life. Like that tree planted by the water. The water of the Word, the water of the Spirit. We need that. But the strength comes from God. So, finally be strong. Don't be weak. Don't be weary. He will attack you. The moment he sees his weakness, the weakest moment in your life, he's going to attack. He's going to strike. So be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers, even this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So what do we need? This is what we need. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, the word of God, the armor of God. Put on these things upon you as the soldier of Christ. That's what God is telling us tonight, to fight a good fight of faith. David, you remember, approaches Goliath. It was a real fight. And Goliath laughed at David. He mocked him. You come to me with a stone? Don't you know who I am? David's response was in 1 Samuel 17, 47. The battle is the Lord's. David was saying, listen, it's not my fight. I'm doing the fight, but I'm doing it in the name of the Lord who is my banner. I'm fighting in the might of His strength. Listen to what David told Goliath. The battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands. David was saying victory comes from God. Proverbs 21, 31. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. Did you hear that? So yes, have the Word of God in your life. Dwell in it. Let the Word of God dwell in you so richly. We should do that. But our victory comes from the Lord, who is the God of the Word. We're not separating God from His Word. But we need to be cautious that in any way, under any form, that we rely on our own strengths. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. I want to ask you three questions tonight before we pray. Are you aware of the flesh's attack in a Christian life? Do you even realize that you as a Christian, you can be attacked by the flesh? The Israelites had no idea. They were not prepared. It was a surprise attack. And this is for our instruction. Always be ready to fight. How are you fighting, brothers and sisters in Christ? How are you fighting against the temptation of sin? Are you in the Word? Are you fighting in the strength of God's might? Is God your banner in spiritual battle against The temptation of sin. Where do you see the Word of God in your life? Where do you see prayer in your life? Where do you see the fellowship of the saints in your life? The Puritans. The Puritans used to meet one or two days in a week. just to encourage one another. I'm not suggesting that we meet two days in a week. I'm just encouraging us just to remember that we need one another. It would be Useful, it would be encouraging to your soul to call your brother or your sister in the Lord, in the church, even over the phone. Can we pray together? Can you pray for me? I'm fighting temptation. I'm saying no, I'm resisting, but it's a tough battle. Can you pray for me? Are we close with one another for that purpose? It is time of sanctification. And may the Lord grant us His Holy Spirit to apply all these things in our Christian life, not by our own strength, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, our Helper. Let's pray. Our gracious and heavenly Father, Lord, we love you. We fear you. With your help, we want and desire to fight against the flesh, Satan, and the world. And as we engage in this fight tonight, we ask you Lord to grant us your Holy Spirit, so that we would win this battle, we would overcome the temptation of the flesh. When the flesh attacks suddenly, we ask you to help us to fight a good fight of faith in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, and in the strength of your might. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.