Exodus 17 - I AM Your Banner

[Music] let's open up our bibles to the book of exodus chapter 17. exodus chapter 17. now as we begin this morning in exodus chapter 17 i'm thinking that maybe some of you are thinking all right you know israel's in the wilderness and they're still in the wilderness and they're going to be in the wilderness next week and they keep going on in the wilderness and how long does this really last they need this they need that you know they complain it's just you know it seems like one big cycle after and well this won't you understand yes they're in the wilderness from now until the end of the book of exodus but but they're not wandering in the wilderness after the next couple chapters once we get to exodus chapter 19 they come to mount sinai and they stay at mount sinai until the end of the book so what we have right now are sort of the unique challenges that came to israel as they journeyed along the way here they're coming out of egypt they're on their way eventually to canaan the promised land that god had promised to their forefathers abraham isaac and jacob they're in that period of transition and as they make their way along the way they have to trust god for new things and for important things all along the way just like you have to trust god and i have to trust god and so here we're going to take a look at two things this morning in exodus chapter 17 that were specific points where israel in some time of crisis they needed to trust god and we'll see how god came through for them and i think you'll see very plainly how it connects to our lives today but let's just start here exodus chapter 17 beginning at verse 1. then all the congregation of the children of israel set out on their journey from the wilderness of sin according to the commandment of the lord and camped in rephidim but there was no water for the people to drink therefore the people contended with moses and said give us water that we may drink and moses said to them why do you contend with me why do you tempt the lord and the people thirsted there for water and the people complained against moses and said why is it that you brought us us out of egypt to kill us our children and our livestock would thirst so moses cried out to the lord saying what shall i do with this people they're almost ready to stone me you know it seems a little bit like a soap opera doesn't it as the exodus turns or that kind of thing they're making their way last time we saw that they were desperately hungry and god in a remarkable way he brought to them divine provision he brought to them bread from heaven which they called manna but you know you need more than just bread i mean for your physical sustenance you also need water you also need something to satisfy your thirst and verse 2 tells us that because of the lack of water they contended with moses now they had a real problem ladies and gentlemen you need to drink something you need to be hydrated you need to have some kind of water some kind of fluid come into your system or you'll dehydrate and die especially in a more arid kind of area where they were at this was not a made-up need and i don't think there was anything fundamentally wrong for them saying we've got a problem what are we going to do about it i mean listen the way i think some people preach this section it's almost like they expect israel should have done this well we're dying of thirst but praise the lord anyway well we're dead water oh no don't even think about water you know until they're just all dead i mean what's going to happen no it wasn't wrong for them to say we've got a need it wasn't even wrong for them to say we've got a crisis i'll tell you where their great error was it's found in verse 2 where it says they contended with moses now as i sort of construct this in my mind and think what could have they done different verse two gives us another clue where moses's response was this he said why do you tempt the lord did you see that the people focused their complaint against moses but moses understood that their real problem here was with the lord they say you know this is a common thing i certainly can't say it's universal because sometimes it really is true that the person is the problem but often when we have a problem it's easier to blame someone than it is to think through the problem carefully and prayerfully and spiritually i mean i think how could it have been different for israel how about something like this i know maybe this is expecting too much for people that just were delivered from 400 years of slavery maybe this was something that god had to develop into him but if we could just say how could it be ideally for israel how about if they respond to the need in this way they say we're in a desert it's not surprising that there isn't much water here we need to look to god to help meet this need now wouldn't it have been a wonderful response and we just have to believe that if they would have responded that way god would have met their way in a way that benefited israel and the whole community much better so it's not wrong that they were thirsty it's not wrong that they had a need but what was wrong was that when they really should have had their eyes on the lord and came to him instead that all they found it easy to do was to complain against moses they blamed moses they did nothing to really help the problem so if we would sort of give low marks so far to israel as a whole for their contention with moses and this on the other hand we give moses very high marks in this regard did you see what verse 4 says verse 4 says what did they do moses cried out to the lord is that moses does this again and again lord i can't take this i'm stressed the the the weight of leadership falls upon my shoulders and it's too much what does he do he cries out to the lord he goes to the lord again and again he asked god god throw me a lifeline god sustain me now let's be plain the lack of water wasn't moses's fault yet as the leader of israel he had to lead them to the answer and so what did he do he cried out to the lord as the right way to lead them to the solution he knew they were being unfair but god bless you moses you didn't just you know slip into some kind of pity party oh they don't like me oh they want somebody else oh i give up no he took it to the lord and saw god lead them even though he knew it was bad verse four what shall i do with these people they're almost ready to stone me that's a little hot under the collar he looks out under people it's like i'm nervous they're holding rocks and i'm wondering what they're going to do with them but he did the right thing he turned to god in prayer now how are you going to solve this situation look at it here it's really wonderful verse 5 and the lord said to moses okay moses what you're going to do you're going to go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of israel also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river and go behold i will stand before you there in the rock in horeb and you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it that the people may drink and moses did so in the sight of the elders of israel what does god tell moses to do he says verse 5 you take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river i think this is wonderful first of all first of all because god told moses to get out there and lead come on moses don't just lick your wounds in your tent go out there and get out there and lead and get before the people and take with you some of the elders of israel come on remember this moses you got a team around you get the team together get out there and lead and then he told him to do something really wonderful moses take something that i blessed and used before get that rod of god in your hand and remember what i did with it before and get out there before the people now i don't think moses could pick up that old stick that he held in his hand he couldn't pick that up without remembering the power of god he remembered that's the very same staff that he would throw down on the ground and become a serpent that's the very same step that he touched the nile river with and it became as blood that's the very same staff that he raised up over the red sea and it miraculously parted yes god you can do these great things i see what you've done before i believe you can do it but listen nobody should think for a minute that this was some testament to moses's power or even the power of the staff that he held in his hand i want you to notice something else look at what it says in verse six this may be the most wonderful thing in this little section of verses god says behold i will stand before you there moses get yourself out in front of the people bring the elders with you bring your rod along but when you stand in front of them all when you stand on that rock i will be there with you i will stand before you there this is one of the great great themes of the book of exodus to see how god was present with israel through the journey and over and over again he persuaded them i'm with you he sent them a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night and inside of those things was the presence of god the glorious radiance of jesus every step with them along the way he sent them the manna from heaven as a reminder i'm with you every day he sent them water miraculously he sent them his care and provision every day all through their wanderings of the journey if there is anything that israel should have known they should have known god is with you now i know about you but when i'm persuaded of that i feel like i can handle anything when i just step back and say okay can i remember the beautiful promise of jesus to me that he said he would be with me even unto the end of the age and when i grab that i believe it i internalize it i feel like i can face just about anything now if i feel like i'm out there all alone if i feel like that jesus isn't with me on something i feel like i could be thrown to the wolves but isn't it true for you when you're reminded of the lord's presence with you when you believe as moses would believe at that time and place that jesus was right there with him as he said i will stand before you there then you say yes lord you can do it i like what this old puritan commentator named john trapp said about this he said if god had not stood upon the rock in vain had moses struck it means must be used but god only depended upon for success listen it wasn't the critical factor that moses hit a rock with a stick that's not what's going to provide water although that was a means that god used no the critical thing there was that god was present right there with him in the midst of the extremities so look at that verse six god commanded moses you shall strike the rock and water will come out of it do i need to belabor the point that this is a miracle that you could just take a nice stick and go out and start hitting rocks all over the place and it'd probably be a long day at work before water just starts gushing out of any one of them you see god was interested in satisfying the needs of israel and he was going to do it in a miraculous way in the presence of all the people with all the attention upon him with the presence of god there moses was going to stand in front of the people strike a rock and water was going to come forth now when i think about that i think a few things about this miracle first of all i think this was a remarkable miracle everybody there that knew that this didn't normally happen this was an attention-getter wow water gushing forth from the rock just because moses struck it there with his staff number two this was a very generous miracle what do i mean by generous would you say every generous every miracle is generous well yes but in a special way this one and what i mean by that is look what went up from the people of israel up to heaven what went up complaining complaining whining not faith not praise not honor complaining went up what came down a miracle of provision of water that's generosity of god that's god doing something that he does in every day in our life if you see it or not he's better to us than we deserve do you realize that i would hope that that be written on the attitude of every person here that you walk around with that consciousness god has been so much better to me than i have ever ever deserved from him complaining went up and god and his generosity sent provision down and a wonderful miracle for them but also say this number three this was a meaningful miracle in striking that rock with his staff moses acted out a drama that perhaps he didn't even know was happening paul describes it in first corinthians chapter 10 verse 4 where he says this he says of israel in the exodus that they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was christ now i can't say for sure that this rock that moses struck is exactly the rock that paul mentioned because there's no mention of it in exodus of them following but but i think it's the same thing we do know this that when jesus was struck living water flowed out of him i don't mean to sound grotesque about it but i just got to tell you because it's the biblical truth there's jesus hanging on the cross he's had this holy transaction between him and the father where he's cried out in the agony of his crucifixion my god my god why have you forsaken me at that holy moment god the father poured out upon him all the guilt all the shame all the judgment that your sin and my sin deserved it went upon jesus on the cross and when all that was finished after jesus had cried out those great words it is finished and yielded up his spirit before god after he'd done all that what did a roman soldier come alongside and do he struck the side of jesus with a spear and what flowed out blood and water you'd see almost literally jesus was struck with a staff and water flowed out of him and paul says all of this points forward to jesus christ and i don't even think moses probably understood it at the time that he was enacting a holy drama strike the rock and water comes forth but this is exactly what had happened jesus was struck if you want to say with the law with the rod of moses the curse of the law was upon him and out from him flowed water to satisfy our spiritual thirst do you know that old hymn how about this let the water and the blood from thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure save me from its wrath and power that's from that great old hymn rock of ages and it's the very same idea that jesus is that rock well verse seven so he called the name of the place masa and maraba because of the contention of the children of israel because they tempted the lord saying is the lord among us or not you see moses did what he was told to do and water came forth and this was a great miracle but he wanted it to be remembered for the way that they tested the lord so verse 7 tells us that they called the name of the place masa and maraba masa means tempted or tested means contention and it's recalled in several passages after this that it was here that they tested that they contended with god and how did they test how they contend with god look at it right there in verse seven they tempted the lord saying is the lord among us or not i wonder if there's not some people here and now asking that same question is the lord among us or not well you know i could forgive you so to speak i could allow it if you had no reason to think that god was among you but here's the idea didn't israel have more than enough reason to believe it did not they ask that question is god among us or not with bellies full from manna that morning you see they had more than they could look outside the window and see the pillar of cloud out there right then right now you say with all that god has done to show you that he's with you how could you doubt it now can i just kindly turn that question upon you maybe there's somebody here that you think god hasn't done anything for me god has been absent from my life he's never been there when i've needed him or in that moment of crisis maybe there's a few people here who think that all i could ask you to do is say would you please think on that again would you please remember your life again and remember the many places where sometimes literally god has saved your life he's brought you strength he's blessed you he's brought unexpected goodness again and again for those of us who have experienced such things how dare we ever say is the lord among us or not now later on when israel remembered god's provision in the wilderness at the feast of tabernacle they had a specific ceremony where they were called the miracle of the water from the rock they would pour down water from the temple steps and in the days of jesus when jesus was there at the temple for just such a time jesus said this he said if anyone thirsts come to me and drink he who believes in me that the scripture said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water do you see what jesus was saying he was saying i am this source of living water the holy spirit can flow out of you in the sense of living water and it will be a miracle of god to bring love and power to other people how about this maybe jesus needs to strike the rock of your heart right now so that water living water can flow forth to be a blessing to other people all right that's the first part of our chapter let's take a look at the second half where god shows his faithfulness in another way verse eight now amalek came and fought with israel and rephidim and moses said to joshua choose some men and go out and fight with amalek tomorrow i will stand on top of the hill with the rod of god in my hand i find it interesting here verse 8 amalek came and fought with israel in referendum this was a completely unprovoked attack you see israel was just on its way they didn't do anything against the amalekites they were just on their way and without any kind of provocation at all amulet came and attacked the israelites and by the way they attack them in a particularly despicable way later on deuteronomy chapter 25 starting at verse 17 says this remember what amalek did to you on the way as you were attacked coming out of egypt how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary and he did not fear god there's this huge procession making its way through the wilderness the hundreds of thousands if not millions of israelites coming out of egypt and as they're making their way out what are the amalekites doing they're picking off the weak and the stragglers at the very back cruel cowardly craving in what they were doing yet nevertheless god sought and he noticed and what did he say look at it there in verse 9 he says go out fight with amalek i find this to be very interesting do you realize that this was israel's first war you see when they fought with egypt god just did it israel didn't have to do a thing against egypt god just wiped him out god sent the plagues god sent the red sea crashing over the egyptian army god just did it when it came to fighting egypt now god says you and i together are going to go after amalek go go fight with amalek there had to be a first war a first battle for israel and here it is now you're a nation now you have to defend yourselves so what was moses going to do moses and aaron and all the other guys verse 9 and the rod of god would be in his hand he would go up on the top of the hill with the rod of god in his hand by the way i find it fascinating back in verse 5 god called it moses's rod he said your rod that's what god said to moses god called it the rod of moses moses calls it the rod of god i know for some reason that just fascinated me it's like this god honored moses and called it your rod moses moses honored god back no it's your rod god nobody wanted to claim credit for it because they saw that god did great things through it verse 10 so joshua did as moses said to him and fought with amalek and moses aaron and her went up to the top of the hill and so it was when moses held up his hand that israel prevailed and when he let down his hand amalek prevailed all right ladies and gentlemen picture this very carefully there down on a valley floor are two great armies fighting against each other and i don't have any idea about the side on the one side our bedouin nomadic soldiers these are guys who live on their horses and they're a warrior culture from the very beginning fiercely independent mighty fighters those are the amalekites on the other hand you have a slave people who haven't been trained in the arts of war at all that's the last thing you want to do with a bunch of slaves is teach them how to fight and so they hadn't worn up with any kind of military culture or organization or anything you got a ragtag group of slaves with inferior weapons and very little fighting spirit on one side and you got these mighty bedouin warriors on the other side and there up on the hill overlooking them you have moses the great leader of israel you have his brother aaron and you have her who some people believe was moses's brother-in-law the husband of moses sister miriam we're not told that in the bible but some people believe that and there they are out there they're up on the praying for god to do this great battle for god to give victory to israel and who's down leading the fight below joshua now this isn't going to be the last time we speak of joshua so i'm just going to mention it briefly here is everybody here aware that the name joshua is the same as the new testament name jesus just keep that in your mind jehovah yahweh is salvation that's what the name means josh was fighting down below moses and aaron and her are up on the hill below above and friends is crazy i don't know how to describe this and this it's crazy israel wins israel loses israel wins israel loses you wonder if almost moses did it just to see what would happen when he look wins lose now of course you understand i say of course because it's just a thing that speakers say um this was an uh the hebrew posture of prayer listen different cultures different people they're different customs of prayers for us normally in our culture what do we do when we pray we fold our hands we close our eyes we bow our heads a little bit now there's nothing wrong with that i just want you to stand that that's cultural it's it's nothing that the bible commands us to do the bible does command us to be concentrated in prayer so it's pretty good to put your hands together because i'm a in stoppable fiddler i'm fiddling with things all the time with my hands it's probably why i move them around so much here i just feel like i have to do something with my hands so that's a good thing for me to do this when i pray and i'm so easily distracted it's good for me to close my eyes and bowing my head maybe that's a little gesture of humility oh that's fine but saying it's not the bible doesn't tell me to do those things it's just sort of a cultural thing which is okay in hebrew culture this is how you prayed you prayed with your hands reached out to heaven as if you're reaching out to god and you're reaching up to him to receive something from him and might we say a third aspect to that it's surrender i give up i surrender god this was the posture of prayer do you realize what happened in this battle when moses prayed they won when he let his hands down and stopped praying they lost i don't know if god could communicate the importance and the power of prayer to us in any mightier way than this that life and death that victory or defeat the eternal destinies are on the line as we pray now sometimes we think of prayer as just sort of this you know pious custom this thing that we do this religious obligation it's not like that at all things matter whether or not you pray or whether you don't pray you might say well this is all just nonsense god was going to give him that battle no matter what no as far as moses and everybody else was concerned life and death depended on whether or not they prayed and i can't say these words nor can you hear them without us thinking we need to pray more now i thank god for the solid foundation of prayer that there is in this congregation i thank god for the praying people that are the foundation and uphold this ministry from that anchor of prayer i praise god for that but is there anybody here could say that we pray enough that you shouldn't pray more that more might be done with more prayer and this is it victory defeat right there so it was when moses held up his hand that israel prevailed this shows us how important prayer is not only for moses and for us now i know what some of you are trying to do you're trying to reconcile this with well god don't you have an eternal plan aren't you sovereign don't you predestine things how does that all work listen i just want you to shut all of that out of your mind for a moment and realize what this text shows us israel wins israel loses our prayers matter greatly verse 12 but moses's hands became heavy so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it and aaron and her supported his hands one on each side and the other on the other side so that his hands were steady until the going down of the sun so joshua defeated amalek and his people with the edge of the sword this job of continuing in prayer was not easy moses needed help he needed support so they gave him a stone bench to sit on and then they held up literally held up his hands in prayer sometimes we use that as a figure of speech sometimes people talk about holding up the pastor's hands they're going to come along and support him in the spiritual aspects of the ministry and that's a glorious thing there's moses praying with the assistance of aaron and her because listen you know how it is with prayer sometimes prayer is the easiest thing in the world sometimes your heart just overflows with just blessing and honor and intercession before god sometimes prayer is so easy and other times other times prayer is like a war other times prayer is like a battle it's like wrestling it's very difficult but it's what we must do and with aaron and her supporting him this was a glorious thing for israel and the end result of it you saw it there right there in verse 13 so joshua defeated amalek and his people with the edge of the sword because of this work of prayer israel was victorious over amalek i am left with no other option to say other than to say this that if moses had not prayed israel would have been defeated can we say anything different than that which oh no no god didn't want israel no if they didn't pray israel would have been defeated nevertheless joshua had to fight does anybody think for a moment that joshua's there telling church hey guys put down your swords moses is praying no they looked up and saw what moses did and they said let's fight all the more let's be strengthened let's be encouraged you see this chapter is a glorious display of this track between this truth between god's wonderful work and man's cooperation with god how god works but he uses human instruments now let's look here to the end of the chapter verse 14. then the lord said to moses write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of joshua that i will utterly blot out the remembrance of amalek from under heaven and moses built an altar and called its name the lord is my banner for he said the lord has sworn the lord will have war with amalek from generation to generation the first thing that sort of shocks us is how displeased god was with amalek and god says no you guys are on my bad list i'm going to wipe you out what you did against my people israel was so unprovoked was so wicked was so a disagreeable that i am now i'm going to make war against you forever you see amalek had the shame of being the first nation to make war against israel amalek had the shame of going out of their way to attack israel and amalek had the shame of actually fighting against god so god was going to fight against them by the way i can't read this without being struck by the fact that even though amalek had the shame of being the first nation to fight against israel they certainly weren't the last nation to make war against israel and i think that god's hand of preservation is upon israel even still verse 15 and moses built an altar and called its name the lord is my banner i think this is wonderful what was the atmosphere after the battle was won can you imagine the intense feeling of relief and victory there among israel we won this first battle our first war we won yes this is amazing but what was the atmosphere among the people was it like let's credit moses the mighty man of prayer no was it let's credit joshua the general who led us into victory no the attitude was this the lord is my banner i love that phrase yahweh nissi nissi describes a flag or a banner and the idea is that god is victorious in battle and the flag of his victory is lifted high god god is the conqueror god is that winner and as we are in him we see that it's used in this very specific and powerful way now in exodus chapter 17 this whole chapter we see examples of god's power and man's effort working together think of it walk through it with me moses strikes the rock but only god can bring the water joshua fought but moses prayed but only god gave the victory over amalek in all of this god receives the glory it isn't israel is my banner it isn't moses is my banner it isn't joshua is my banner rather it's what it's yahweh missy the lord is my banner i think about it because there's probably another name that we might give to a banner in our day and age we might call a banner a flag the lord is my flag i can't help to think of that with a special relevance right here are we now you know what is it nine ten days before a great election that's going to happen in our country and you know my feelings about this i've told you before how important i think it is for you to vote and for you to vote your christian conscience i think it's a christian stewardship that it's an obligation before god that we have to vote and to vote our christian conscience and i tell you i look forward that god would have his blessing upon our nation i think we should pray for it we should pray for our leaders we should participate in our democracy and i say throughout my whole life i loved america as a young man i love america even more as an older man but for seven years i lived in western europe and i loved the experience it was a good place to live and god blessed it and it was a wonderful time but my time over there made me have an even greater love for america and its own distinctiveness and especially for the role god has had for this nation in spreading the gospel what a wonderful thing that is what a wonderful privilege it has been given to our nation to be a nation that carries the missionary banner around the world not to say that other nations don't do it of course they do it and they do it in increasing numbers and with wonderful effectiveness but there's just a special place that american christianity has in spreading the gospel all over the world and i'm very happy about that but let me say even considering all of that at the end of the day the lord is my banner the lord and i want him to be exalted and him to be lifted high so i take my participation as a citizen very seriously and i hope you do too but at the end of it all what do we say the lord is my banner he is the flag that i fly under and i'm grateful for this nation and all the blessings it is for me and my family and my community and the world at large but the lord is my banner all right let me conclude with this a good way to conclude any chapter in the book of exodus stand back and say well where's jesus you know they used to have those books years ago where's waldo and you'd look at this great big thing right you tried to figure out where this fellow named waldo was in the midst of it well i'll tell you some of those things were very difficult i would look at those things for sometimes for 20 minutes and never be able to find waldo but it's not hard to see jesus in this chapter jesus is all over the place how about this jesus is moses leading the people before god i see that there but how about this one jesus is the rock he's stricken and he's giving life to his people strike the rock and life-giving water comes out oh that's jesus right there jesus is the rock but then we see it again jesus is moses praying for his people on high do you realize that the bible says that that jesus enthroned in the heavens right now is praying for you that he ever lives to make intercession for you and maybe you're not on anybody's prayer list maybe there's nobody on this earth who prays for you you don't even have a praying mother or a grandmother nobody praise you i'll tell you who prays for jesus prays for you he makes intercession for you well there's moses that's jesus praying for his people on high how about this one jesus is our joshua he's our savior leading us in victorious battle yes jesus you're like our joshua but then finally how about this jesus is our banner he gets all the glory he gets all the honor he gets all the credit lord whatever he uses for to do it we receive that gratefully but it's you who gets the glory and the honor and the credit let's pray together that god would cement that to our hearts father that's what we pray we pray that we come to a new afresh a vital realization that jesus hear all those things it's you and your greatness that we receive together this morning we say jesus you are our banner and we can't think of that lord without thinking of the flag that we fly over our nation over our state over our community and we pray for that lord we pray for our community we pray for our state we pray for our nation especially as we come up to this time of election i pray that you'd stir people lord to take their civic stewardship and responsibility and that they'd vote and that they would vote lord with a christian conscience in the voting booth but lord over and around and above all that we look to you jesus you are our banner you you lord are our victory i pray that you'd speak that to a discouraged soul this morning lord and give them strength in you we pray this in jesus name amen [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 3,097

Rating: 4.8499999 out of 5

Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, exodus 17, i am your banner, lord, god, jesus christ, christ, moses, israel, provide, victory, protect, water, rock, amalekites, prayer

Id: Ch2cQVK0gl4

Length: 38min 52sec (2332 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 07 2020