The Lord My Banner

well good morningeverybody it's a beautiful day here inMichigan and it's good to be in thehouse of the Lord and it's good to seeso many people here today uh I knowthere's a camp meeting going on just afew miles north of here and if you'vebeen watching some of the programsthey've been a blessing haven't they andso it's good to be with you here todayand to share with you from the word ofGod uh for those of you watching onlinewe give you a warm welcome as wellwherever you are joining us from and wepray that you will sense God's presencetoday as well so uh uh my name is PastorConrad Vine and this morning I preachedon the topic of Hagar looking what thenames of God Eloy the God who sees meand who hears me in my distress andtoday we're going to look at anothername of God that we find in the OldTestament uh it's in the story of Mosesand the battle against theamalekites and so if you have yourBibles with you I'd invite you to turnwith me to Exodus chapter 17 that's thepassage we're going to be working ourway through through um for those of youwho don't have your Bibles with you orprefer the text will be on the screenand um so I hope we can follow along oneway or another it's a very famous storywhen amalec attacks Israel and they'redefeated uh by the Israelites and againum uh the computer doesn't have theright font here so that should sayJehovah Nissi or the Lord my bannerthat's the name of God we're going to bereflecting upon today and this is theonly part of the Bible where this namename appears just like this morningElroy in Genesis chapter 16 and 17 whenHagar flees from Abraham and Sarahthat's the only part of the Bible thatword appears in as well so we're lookingat these names of God because each nameof God is a window into hischaracter and uh as you look at God hasmany names in the Bible and differentnames reflect different aspects of whohe is at different times and dependingon your lifecircumstances um those names uh bringComfort or or guidance or warningdepending on what you're going throughso if you're lying in hospital sufferingwith cancer for instance the Lord is myshepherd is a beautiful name of God yaythough I walk through the valley of theshadow of death I will fear no evil forthou the Lord is my shepher that is hisname for thou art with me and so todaywe're going to be looking at thisparticular name of God it is the Lord mybanner Yahweh or Jehovah Nissi it's nota name we often chew upon but we'regoing to be looking at it today so Iinvite you to Bow your heads with me andwe'll invite the presence of the HolySpirit dear father we thank you for thisbeautiful Sabbath day uh we thank youfor the freedoms we yet enjoy in thisland to gather and worship you accordingto our conscience I thank you Father forthe word that you've given us throughyour servant Moses here I ask that as wereflect on this story that the lessonsit has uh for us will will sink deepinto our hearts I ask Lord that we willnot just Feast on this uh spiritualFeast that is before us but with thestrength it gives us we will walk in ANew Path in this coming week that ourlives will be changed that our walk withyou will be deeper and our witness willburn brighter so father We Gather todaynot just to consume but to learn and togrow and to become more like you sofather speak through me speak for me mayyour angels guard this place and mayyour spirit be the only Spirit speakinto our hearts this morning this is myprayer in jesus' holy name amen now forthe last six weeks ever since I was inwitchar Kansas where I lost my voice Iwoke up that Sabbath morning and I Lallycouldn't speakso I whispered from all my way throughthat day there and I've gradually beenrecovering my voice so I'll be drinkinga bit as we go through today's sermonbut I just want to start out as you cantell from my accent I'm not fromMichigan uh we're going to be lookingtoday at the physical battle thespiritual battle and the Victoriousbattle um because preachers always talkin threes it's easier to remember thingsin threes so we'll talk about threekinds of battle today I want to startout with a picture that probably you'reall very familiar with um it's the monthof June uh which is not pride month inBritain it's the time when we troop thecolor and uh you have here over 1400soldiers of the household division uhthe the Grenadier guards the Scotsguards the Welsh guards the Irish guardsthe lifeguards the blues and Royalsthose the various regiments and theyMarch through um the center of Londonand they're trooping the color and andit's a sea of pageantry and so the thethose Reds the red um those red umsoldiers in red uh they're probably thescotch guards or the Coldstream guardsthey go back to about the 1580s or 16early 1600s uh the guys in blue thoseare the um the blues and Royals and theguys in red on the horses are thelifeguards they basically tank divisionsuh but what they're doing is troopingthe color and every regiment has itscolor it has its banner and and on thebanner it has its battle honors so yousee uh next to e2r which is Elizabeth IIRegina Elizabeth queen Queen ElizabethII you have the yellow pieces therethat's the names of the battles wherethey've survived and won and so uh oncea year they troop the color and theyMass the the the soldiers of thehousehold Division and they March infront of the Monarch and they show offtheir banners and this isn't just a thisisn't just a ceremonial thing because indays gone by in the fog of battleknowing your Banner was very importantknowing where your banner was knowingwhere the banner was going whether itwas going forward whether it was goingback whether it was staying stationaryknowing your banner was importantbecause in the fog of war with the smokeblowing around you you didn't want toget lost you wanted to stay with yourregiment and so uh before the bannerbefore the battles in days gone by thesebanners were paraded before the troopsso they would know this is the bannerthat I must follow and when the bannerwent forward the regiment went forwardwhen the banner um retreated thesoldiers would fall back when the bannerstopped they rallied to fend off theenemy attacks when it was under attackwhen the regiment was under attack thebanner represented the Alamo or therally point for that regiment and whenplanted on top of a hill that Bannerrepresented Victory one so that's justwhat's been happening in Britain theselast few weeks um but in the context ofthe battle in the between good and eviluh we just want to look at one of thesebattles here today between Israel andthe amalekites which we find in Exoduschapter 17 and God reveals himself tothe people of Israel and to us today asthe Lord my banner y Nissi or JehovahNissi that is we don't just talk aboutbanners in in you know in in modernmilitary Parliament God himself one ofhis names is the Lord my banner that iswhere he goes we go when he is held highwe are victorious when his Banner isplanted on a hill then the victory oversin has been won and so we're going tobe talking today about the Lord myBanner one of these names of God that wefind in the Old Testament so let's startby looking out at the physical battleand um we're going to start on verse 8so if you have your Bibles you canfollow me in your hands on your biblesif you want you can watch it on thescreen and it says there then amaleccame and fought with Israel atrefidim and we say well that's kind ofinteresting what's going on here wellthe story here is Israel has just leftthe promised land they've just gonethrough the 10 plagues of Israel they'vejust gone through the the Passover nightthey've just crossed the Red Sea andthey're marching along the desert routeon the way to Israel to the promisedland now in a few verses they're goingto take a detour down to sini andthey're going to spend 40 plus yearsthere but they're moving towards thepromised land and as they move northfrom Mount Sinai and from is from Egyptthey come into the territory of theamalekites and the amalekites are nothappy that God's people are movingthrough their territory so they don'tattack God's people head on but theyattack the weakest parts of the columnthey attack the stragglers at the rearand we know that because this is whatMoses says to the people of Israel justbefore he dies he says remember theamalekites he said remember what amalecdid to you on your journey out of Egypthow he attacked you on the way when youwere faint and weary and struck down allwho lagged behind you he did not fearGod therefore when the Lord your God hasgiven you rest from your enemies onevery hand and and and the Lord your Godis giving you as an inheritance topossess and in the land that the Lordyour God is giving you inheritance topossess you shall blot out theremembrance of amalec from under Heavendo not forget and so as they were movingout of Egypt on their way to thepromised land the people of Amal hadattacked God's people but they hadn'tattacked them head on you know Soldieragainst Soldier they'd gone for thepeople who were straggling behind nowwho are the ones who are going to bestraggling behind the strongmen no the womenthe children the Aged the infirm theywent for the weakest of the weak theyweren't going to fight the soldiers theystarted cutting off what we would saythecivilians they were they were going forthe weakest of the weak among God'speople and they killed them and so Mosessays when you get into the promised landdo not forget what amalec did to youbecause you're going to block them outfrom memory oneday and so this cowardly attack by thepeople of amalec who in Exodus 17 bringsupon them God 's condemnation and who weask ourselves were theamalekites well amalec was the grandsonof Esau we're going to Del into that abit later on in our sermon today theywere cousins of the Israelites but theywere their implacable enemies if thereever was a family problem whe there everwas enmity in the family is betweenIsrael and the amalekites ought to bemore accurate it was the amalekites whohated God's people they hated God'speople their implacable enemies willcome to why shortly as we go throughthis sermon together so we'll come backto the original text Moses said toJoshua in Exodus7:9 choose some men for us and go outand fight with amalec tomorrow I willstand on the top of the hill with thestaff of God in my hand and so rememberthe people of amalec have attacked God'speople they've cut off the women thechildren the stragglers the halt thelame the blind who've been fallingbehind the column and so the next dayGod says now you're going to fight themyou're going to meet them headon and Iwant you to choose some men I like thisphrase that the God does not say to thepeople of Israel through Moses hedoesn't say I want you to send all themen out he says I want you to choosesome men there is there going to be somechosen men who are going to fight for mypeople it's not every man who going todo this not every man is called to dothis I want you to choose some chosenmen men who are ready for the battles oftoday both literal and spiritual and inevery generation God is also seekingchosen men who will not shrink from thesound of battle but who are willing torisk everything for God's people God islooking for chosen men it is easy inevery generation to say well I'm notgoing to be the one who's going to speakup or and all the rest of it but God islooking for chosen men in everygeneration men of conscience men ofCourage men of compassion men who areCovenant Keepers men if you're listeningto me today God is asking you to be achosen man to stand for God in yourfamily in the scenarios the situationsThe Temptations you find yourself in Godsays choose some men are you a chosenman or are you going to sit and watchthe battle from the sidelines and watchas somebody else takes the arrows ofFate that maybe would otherwise come toyou and God Moses he chooses Joshua herenow Joshua is moses' assistant he's thegeneral commanding the Israelite Army hecomes from the tribe of Ephraim and he'sone of the 12 12 uh spies sent intoIsrael later in the Book of Numbers nowwhen we first meet Joshua before he goesas a spy into Israel which is after thisstory here in Exodus 17his name is not Joshua it is HOSA orHosea which means salvation but Moseschanges his name to Joshua which meansJehovah issalvation so just as that many names inthe Bible have meanings like Elijah lmeans god e is my yah is Jehovah soElijah means Yahweh is my God you knowimagine having a name like that okay sothe names of the you find these Heroesof Faith in the Bible their name Bears amessage I wonder what kind of name do webear today when people think of you orme do they think that is a servant ofthe LivingGod that is an ambassador of JesusChrist what message does our name conveyas we live our lives here in BaranSprings or wherever we're watchingonline here and so Joshua's name meansJehovah is salvation and he leads thechosen men men who will not shrink fromthe sound of battle but men who willstand up in the battles of their eraconflict does not mean that God hasabandoned us it simply means we're inthe midst of the great controversy andwhen God called Jeremiah three times inthe book of Jeremiah God says to him yesyou're going to be in the middle of afight but he says I am not going toleave you in the fight so when there isa fight God does not promise I'm goingto take you out of the fight he promisesI'll be with you in the fight and God islooking for chosen men like that todaymen who have a conscience men who havecourage men who keep the Covenant withof Jesus Christ men who have compassionand these men who are they defendingthey're defending the people who theamalekites are trying to kill the daybefore the women the children the lamethe Halt and the blind the stragglersbehind the camp of Israel so God islooking for men to step up and taketheir place in the greatcontroversy so Moses makes every effortto protect the vulnerable and the peopleof Israel yes in this story the peopleof Israel fights but ultimately theytrust God for the ultimate Victory TheBattle Belongs to the Lord as read in 2Chronicles 20 and verse1 15 but whileJoshua goes into battle Moses doessomething else he doesn't go to battlehimself we read there in verses 10-2 itsays so Joshua did as Moses told him andhe fought with the amalec or theamalekites while Moses Aaron and herwent to the top of the hill and wheneverMoses held up his hand Israel prevailedwhenever he lowered his hand amalecprevailed but moses' hands they grewweary so they took a stone and put itunder him and he sat on it and Aaron andher held up his hands one on one sideand the other on the other side so hishands were steady until the sun set andthere are a number of lessons we canlearn from this story well first of allwho are these guys well Aaron was abrother of Moses he was soon to be setaside or ordained as the high priest ofIsrael her he was a descendant of Judahum he was a son of Caleb one of the twofaithful spies and so um Joshua and herthey kind of like the same spirituallineage they're both Faithful Men uh whoare willing to speak up for God andstand up for God in their generation andMoses he sits there with raised handsnow in 1 Timothy 2: 8 we realize we readthere that God desires that holy menstand and they pray with raised handslike in the west we sit we kneel we putour heads down we put our hands togetherand we pray but in 1 Timothy 2:8 that'snot how men are supposed to pray uhwe're supposed to stand with upliftedhands and uplifted voices I want tochallenge you today when you when wepray we go like this it's a verydifferent experience to if you pray withyour hands open likethis just the change in the physiologythe change in how your body is changesyour experience of prayer like Fatherhere I'm I'm ready to receive what youwant to give for me my Open Hands meanspsychologically I'm emotionally andspiritually ready to hear what you wouldimpress upon my heart today so men tryit women as well try praying throughthis week with Open Hands the Muslims doit many even the Jewish faith do it it'sa beautiful thing to do but Moses prayswith his hands raised and while at topof the mountain Moses was engaged inEarnest prayer to God asking for victoryover the amalekites yes we fight but yeswe pray we do our best but we place theoutcome in God's hands and wheneverMoses dropped his hands the amalekitesprevailed they were winning in thebattle in the valley and when he raisedhis hands the Israelites prevailed inthe battle and in permitting thisalternation between success and failureand success and failure God was teachinghis people them and he's teaching ustoday the importance of intercessoryprayer when we pray God's kingdomadvances when we neglect to pray God'skingdom does not advance in fact itoften goes sideways or it goes backwardswe also find in this story here thatwhen when the leaders of God's peopleare united because Aaron Moses her andand Joshua they were all doing theirpart in the story when they acted incoordination and in essential UnityGod's kingdom Advanced and they won theday so are we uniting inprayer husbands and wives are youuniting in prayer parents and childrenare you uniting inprayer church family are we uniting inprayer when God's People Unite and weact in harmony with one another and wesubmit to the will of God God's kingdomgoes forward but when we neglect to workin Harmony when we neglect to praytogether God kingdom does not Advance wealso see here the importance of teamworkJoshua Fought Moses prayed Aaron and herheld up moses' hands but everybody wasessential for theVictory and uh this morning we just wentthrough I don't have it with me or maybeI do no I don't the list of the officersfor the nominating committee and thankyou to those who served on thenominating committee you know there'ssomebody in this room who will remainnameless but I called to say I've beenasked to ask you whether you'd serve onthe nominating committeeand um I have a sense of humor and Isaid and they'd like you to serve in thenominating committee forperpetuity and um that person was wellyes I'm happy to serve for this 2yearcycle but maybe not so much inperpetuity but for those of you who'veagreed to serve I would say thank youfrom the bottom of my heart the lightsare on the floors are clean there areSabbath School classes there are deaconsand greeters on the doors there aremusicians here there are many many cogsin in a body like this and when Godpeople work together in harmony as didJoshua Moses Aaron and her then there isvictory for God's people so thank you tothose who've agreed to serve on thenominating committee all of the giftsthat God gives his people are essentialin the battle against the enemy of soulseach one of us here today has animportant part to play and as we arefaithful in using the talents that Godhas given us on an individual level Godentrusts more talents to us that's asermon for another day and if we are notfaithful in using our god-given talentsGod removes them from us and he givesthem to somebody else so use the talentsthat God has given youtoday now the text actually says Mosesheld up his hand it doesn't say hishands plural he held up his hand andwhat was in his hand it was the rod thisis the rod that sometimes Moses refersto as the staff of God and what has thisRod been through so far it's the rodthat turned into a snake and ate theserpent-like rods of the Egyptianmagicians it is the rod that was used topart the Red Sea on The Exodus fromEgypt it was the rod that was used tostrike the rock out of which would flowum lifegiving water that would nourishGods perishing Israelites in the desertthis was not moses' Rod so much it wasthe rod of God it was the tangible pHphysical presence of God in their midstbefore they had the Ark of the Covenantthe rod was held up by Moses during thebattle as armies normally held upbanners and so it functioned as a bannera tangible manifestation of God'spresence when that Banner or that rodwas lifted High God's people Advancedwhen that broad or that Banner fell downthen God's people retreated on thebattlefield and so it was effectivelythe symbol of God's presence in theirmidst so The Story GoesOn The Story Goes On and Joshua defeatedamalec and his people with the sword andwe we may say is that the end of thestory of the amalekites and the answeris absolutely not there was anintergenerational struggle wouldcontinue for generation and generationand generation and generation a yearlater only read in numbers 14 theamalekites joined forces with theCanaanites to repel the IsraeliteInvasion at Kadesh Baria when they werein the promised land living under thetime of the judges the amalekitesinvaded the promised land and theysubjugated the Israelites and it wasthey were only beaten back by a judgecalled Gideon in Judges chapter 6 Sauland David repeatedly went to battleagainst the amalekites more on that in afew minutes and it was an amalekite whostabbed Saul to death on the finalBattlefield after Saul fell on his swordand it was an amalekite who took thecrown off hishead the amalekites almost were werealmost entirely destroyed by Hezekiah in1 Chronicles 4 and The Last Descendantof amalec that we know of was a mancalled hmon The agagite Who planned thegenocide of God's people but was thencaught in his own plans and he himselfwas hung from a Gallows so theamalekites even though Joshua defeatedamalec here this wasn't the end ofIsrael's encounter with the amalekitesso the text goes on to say the Lord saidto Moses write this as a reminder in abook and recite it in the hearing ofJoshua I will utterly blot out theremembrance of amalec from under heavennow we know from numbers 32 that Moseskept a daily record of what he didduring The Invasion and during TheExodus story just like the Egyptianmonarchs of his time would keep theofficial um anals of of their Kingdomthe records of what the Pharaohs woulddo and In this passage here God says toMoses recite in the hearing of Joshuaindicating that Joshua is already beinglabeled as moses' chosen successor andGod says I will blot out the remembranceof amalec from under heaven but we knowfrom elsewhere in Scripture that itdidn't happen right then in fact itdidn't happen for maybe another over athousandyears now why would God tell Moses towrite this at that point in time that hewould blot out the remembrance of Amalfrom underHeaven well because Joshua and allIsrael needed know that the finalvictory wasassured that no matter what happenedbetween that first battle with theamalekites and Esther and hmon theagagite the last encounter we have withthe amalekites despite the ups and downsthat painful and bloody history of timeof Oppression and killing and murderGod's people needed to know that at theend of the day God wouldTriumph and we need to hear today thatyes in J Daniel for instance Daniel 12vers there is a time of trouble comingupon on this Earth such as never hasbeen since nations came into existencewe need to we know that's happening butwe also need to hear again that Michaelwill stand up to deliver his people andwhen we know from the scripture thatJesus is coming again to deliver hispeople it gives us courage to go throughthe battles that lie ahead of us does itnot and so when we know the end of thestory we can go through the interveningchapters or any of you if you like reada detective novel do any of you go tothe lastchapter like I used to read Agatha krisyany of you know Agatha krisy I you knowMurder on the Nile and all these likemurder mystery books and as was a smallboy I would always go to the lastchapter I wanted to know who did it thenI could read the story through thinkingokay if this person did it where iswhere is UL PUO where is he picking upthe clues from in the story because if Idon't see it then how can he how does hesee it okay so I'd always go to the lastchapter because I want to see whathappens and who the murderer is and thenI've already solved it and the rest ofit is is pretty painless to read thestory but it's important for us it wasimportant for Israel is then to knowthat at the end of the day God willTriumph and at the end of the day in ourtroubled World God is going to Triumphand he's going to deliver his people sono matter what we are going throughtoday no matter what crisis our nationlurches through from month to month nomatter what pain our world is goingthrough we as Adventists know that Jesusis coming again therefore when men'shearts are failing them for fear we canstand tall and lift our heads Highbecause our Redemption is drawing n soit's a message of encouragement eventhough God says I will utterly Blood Outthe remembrance of amalec he's givingthem a promise that you're going to gothrough centuries of trouble but God'speople are going to win in theend and so we come to the name of Godand Moses built an altar and called itthe Lord my banner the Lord is my bannerExodus 17 and verse 15 Jehovah is mybanner the Lord is my banner the rod ofGod was held high by Moses as soldiershold their banners high and as soldiersfollow their banners into battle Israelhad followed the directions of God thusthe Lord my banner became their standardwhere he went so they went as hecommanded so they obeyed and victory wasthe outcome but there's a lot more tothe story than just the physical battleso I want to reflect now on thespiritual battle the battle againstamalec so the Amal the amalekites let'sjust delve a bit further into whoexactly these amalekites were well wepick up the the first we encounter theamalekites is in Genesis 25 529-34 we're familiar with this story itsays once when Jacob was cooking as stewEsau came in from the fields and he wasfamished Esau said to Jacob let me eatsome of that red stuff for I am famishedtherefore he was called Edom the wordEdom means red okay and if you go to theDead Sea and you look at is look on theEastern side of the Dead Sea when Sunsetcomes because there's so much iron inthe hills of of ancient Edom itliterally shines red in front of youit's a beautiful sight so therefore hewas called bread Jacob said first sellme your Birthright and Esau said I'mabout to die or what use as a Birthrightto me Jacob said swear to me first so heswore to him and sold his Birthright toJacob then Jacob gave Esau bread andlentil stew and he ate and drank andRose and went his way thus Esau despisedhis Birthright so twice we are told thatthat Esau has no time for his Birthrightnow what exactly was the birthright thatEsau despised now he was the oldest sonthere was Esau and Jacob so normally inin in ancient times um the oldest sonwould receive a double portion comparedwith what the younger Sons would receiveuh that happened throughout the MiddleAges um in many societies around theworld the oldest son would would receivethe primary inheritance from the fatherand he would be responsible for thewell-being of The Wider Clan as as theyears rolled forward but this wasn't thethe birthright that Esau was despisinghere what was the Birthright of JacobandAbraham it was this it was the promisethat God had given to Abraham that inhis seed All Families of the Earth wouldbe blessed the birth right involved thebirth of Christ The Seed of Abraham inparticular through the Seed of Abrahamin general the Seed of Abraham that isthe Messiah would redeem lost Humanityfrom our lost condition and restore usto a right relationship with ourheavenly father so in Esau then is aspirit of total independence from Godyou might say rejection of God's Plan ofSalvation thus Esau manifested thespirit of Satan and because hemanifested this Satan God hated Esau weread about it there in Malachi 1 I haveloved you sayth the Lord he's speakingto God's people here Jacob as acollective of God's people but you sayhow have you loved us is not EsauJacob's brother sayith the Lord yet Ihave loved Jacob but I have hated Esauand so Jacob was a child of promise andhe accepted what God's purpose purp forhim in life was Esau had no interest inGod's Plan of Salvation and he couldn'tgive two Hoots about you know beingreconciled to God all he was concernedwas M about material pleas um physicalpleasure right now getting that fullstomach and the rest of it he he reallywasn't that concernedabout God can do nothing with a man whowill not admit that he needs anythingfromGod like Esa if you think that you don'tneed anything from God there's not a lotGod can do for you or with you Esaurejected God's chosen means of Grace herepudiated man's need for God'sintervention and God's salvation hedespised his spiritual Birthright Godcan do nothing with a man or womaninfected with the spirit of Esau butlook at Jacob he was a seeming failurewas he not he was a deceiver he was aliar he was a cheat and he was a cowardyet he accepted God's call in his lifeand God changed him into Israel whichmeans the prince ofGod so AMC was Esau's grandchild we seethat in Genesis 36 and perpetuated inamalec was the profanity of Esau the manwho scorned the birthright of SalvationAnd as such the amalekites were thefirst they were the longest lasting andthey were the most bitter enemy God'speople encountered on the Long March tothe promised land and so today we are onour March to the promised land and westruggle against the flesh that is ournatural Fallen condition apart from Godas we March towards our own PromisedLandverse 16 we go back there in Exodus 17uh he said a hand upon the banner of theLord the Lord will have war with amalecfrom generation to generation thusbetween God and amalec there was benothing but Perpetual hostility becauseamalec represented the spirit of Esauthat is total independence from God arejection of God's Plan of Salvation orto put it a new testament terms herepresented a life devoted to livingaccording to the Flesh and not accordingto to the spirit so God was at war withamalec that is his life that has livedaccording to the flesh from generationto generation and God's in God's opinionthere was nothing good about amalec thiswas his perfect judgment so we come toamalec a few verses later in the Biblein 1st Samuel 15 and we have Godcommanding um Saul through Samuel todestroy the amalekites and we read thestory there I think most of you familiarwith the story as he um took King AAG ofthe amalekites alive that is Saul didthis but he utterly destroyed all thepeople with the edge of the sword Sauland the people spared AAG and the bestof the sheep and of the cattle and ofthe fatlings and of the Lambs and allthat was valuable and would not utterlydestroy them all that was despised andworthless they utterly destroyed now Godhad condemned the amalekites everythingabout the amalekites was bad as far asGod was concerned but Saul's sin was topresume presume to see good in thatwhich God hadcondemned well God has condemned it butI know betterI'm not going to pass up the opportunityto get all this material wealth when wewipe out theamalekites this was the sin of Saul andthis is the subtle Temptation we are allfaced with because Satan Whispers intoour ears that maybe we're not quite asFallen as as the scriptures point outthat there is something intrinsicallygood about us that apart from Christthere is something salvable in humannature no matter how bad we may appearon the outside we hear this rep repeatedthe at funerals people always say he wasa goodman spiritually he was a lost man inneed of a savior but we Comfortourselves in funerals by saying he was adecent man he was a family man he was agood man as if there is anythingintrinsically good within FallenHumanity that somehow can commend us toGod apart from the sacrifice of Jesusand so Saul in defiance of God's commandand of God's judgment on the malachittried to discern between good and evilin that which God had already rejectedand we are also tempted to do the sametoday we are sometimes sorry for ourindividual sins but we're often loathedto recognize our spiritual bankruptcybefore God and without God we Face thetemptation to combine faith in jesus'plac taking sacrifice on Calvary withjust a little trust in our own goodnessin order to stand before God yes I'm inneed of a savior but I also return afaithful tithe that's going to stand inmy credit yes I need a savior but Idon't yell at my spouse that's going towork in my favor yes I'm a sin yes I'm asinner in need of salvation but look I Icontribute this and I do this etc etcetc and we need to do away with this OurHope of Salvation cannot depend on thatwhich God is already condemned which isthe life of the flesh when he's invitingus to live the life of the spirit Godhad said remember amalec and Saul forgotto remember Saul repudiated God'sverdict on amalec and now he was tolearn in the most personal and bitterway way that God's verdict was right inthe final battle with the Philistines in2 Samuel 1: 6-8 it was an amalekite whotook Saul's life when he lay woundedafter falling on his own sword and tomake matters worse that young amalekitethen took Saul's Crown from his headlikewise we compromise with amalec todayin 2022 when we live when we compromisewith the desires of the flesh at our ownPeril in our flesh dwells no good thingspare it if it will but it will notspare you if we presume to findsomething in the life of the flesh whichGod has already condemned the day willcome when it will rob us of the crown oflife and so Jesus encouraged Us inRevelation 3:11 behold I come quicklyhold fast to what thou Hast that no mantake thy Crown which is exactly whathappened to Saul so am I still offeringGod the best of My Flesh as a seeminglyacceptable offering to him we eitherchoose live according to the flesh oraccording to the spirit this is whatmakes Christianity more than a religionmore than a philosophy more than anethic it is the promise of Jesus Christliving within you that is why it is notjust an idea it is not like Buddhismwhich is a philosophy Christianity isdifferent to every other Faith out therebecause it is the promise of the livingrisen Son of God living within you andwhen he lives within you or to be inChrist as Paul puts it that meansRedemption we're brought back fromslavery to sin that is a life of theflesh but for Christ to be in you thatis known as sanctification that is Godpreparing us foreternity Galatians 5:116 Paul discussesthis concept a bit more he says live bythe spirit I say and do not gratify thedesires of the flesh now what exactlydoes thismean how do we put this into practicesimply put it means that we assume byfaith the victory over self and sinwhich God credits us when we acceptJesus as our Lord and savior and Godwill then vindicate our assumptions andmake make it real in our experience aswe receive the Holy Spirit by faith weare to walk by faith and God will makereal his promises of a changed life anda Sanctified life and a transformedcharacter in our the family devotionslast night we've read a devotional fromSister white where she basically saysthat the greatest the greatest um proofand advert for the Christian faith is atransformed life it is not a SystematicTheology it is a changed heart it is atransformed life and this comes when weseek to live by the spirit and notaccording to the Flesh in our nation'sDay we celebrate the Flesh in pridemonth and that's precisely what Godcondemns here we are to live by thespirit not according to the Fallendesires of the flesh Satan loves totwist this truth of scripture he temptsUs by suggesting that we should firsttry not to fulfill the lust of the fleshas in Galatians 5:116 and then we canwalk the life of the spirit as if thelife of the spirit was a reward forturning away from the life of the Fleshand if we do that we become sopreoccupied with self and cutting thisand cutting that and cutting the otherfrom our lives that we end up becomingpride of our proud of our ownaccomplishments which I really isnothing in God's eyes Satan also seek topersuade us that walking in the spiritis the consequence of our own PiousEndeavors our own intrinsic Holiness andthat through confusing the means withthe end he robs us of victory in theChristian life so yes we are to walk inthe spirit as per Galatians 5:116 in anattitude of total dependence Upon Jesusexposing everything Our Lives to him tohis cleansing and his transforming andhis sanctifying power and as the textsays you will not fulfill the lust ofthe flesh to walk in the spirit is not areward of God it is the means it is toenjoy today the saving life of JesusChrist With Victory not just in sin butvictory over sin and the promise of atransformed character it's not popularfor us to talk about it these days butwhat does it mean to repent why wouldGod ask me to repent if he doesn't wantme to be free from that sin in my lifeso the Sanctified life is the one of aChristian who has accepted the lordshipof Jesus Christ and now now they want toturn away from everything which bringspain to their heavenly father and so Goddoes not just save us in our sins but hewants to save us from our sins and thatis the process of sanctification thelife of the spirit we'll come on to thatthat shortly in a bit more detail sothen we call so how is this possible howdo we live this life of the flesh let'sjust drill down that into that in a bitmore detail here our time is moving onso we turn to the Victorious battle sowe looked at the physical battle umwhich is the Battle of Israel againstthe amalekites we looked at thespiritual battle which is either livingby the flesh or living according to thespirit and now we're going to talk tothe Victorious battle and we're going tocome to JehovahNissi and this this name of God the Lordmy banner well we ask ourselves wheredoes this Banner next appear in thescriptures you know it's always helpfulwhen you want to a Theology of somethingneed to look through the whole Bible andsee where does that word appear thattells you what the scripture has to sayon that idea or that word or that Truthwhere does the banner of God next appearin the word of God well it appears inNumbers Chapter 20 21: 6-9 and you seeit on the screen there the theIsraelites are wandering in thewilderness and they've started tocomplain once again as they indulge thespirit of discontent they were disposedto find fault even with the blessings ofGod this manner tastes awful Moses isgoing crazy God hates us he's leaving usfor these 40 years out in the wildernesslife was so much better back in Egypteven as a slave and so these evilmurmurings these denials of God'sgoodness in their life God sent these popoisonous serpents into the camp we readthe story there it says the Lord sentpoisonous serpants among the people andthey bit the people so that manyIsraelites died the people came to Mosesand said we have sinned by speakingagainst the Lord and against you so theyrecognize their sin then they say prayto the Lord to take away the serpentsfrom us so Moses prayed for the peopleand the Lord said to Moses make apoisonous Serpent and set it on a poleand everyone who is bitten shall look atit and live so Moses made a serpent ofbronze and put it upon a pole whenever aserpent bits someone that person wouldlook at the serpent of bronze and livenow you know there is a difference apoisonous serpent is one that if you eatit it will poison you that's differentto a venomous serpent a venomous serpentmeans if it bites you it'll kill youokay so there is a subtle distinctionbetween a poisonous Serpent and avenomous serpent but anyway in thisstory here God commanded Moses to make abronze Serpent and set it high in a poleand invite the people to look and livethat was their instructions all you haveto do is look at the serpent on the poleand you will live and the word spreadthrough the camp I imagine can't youlook and live imagine during the copandemic let's say that we directed agold a bronze serpent here and PastorKelly had a vision from God and said ifyou erect a bronze serpent in thischurch if people just look at it evenonline they will look and live and let'ssay we streamed it live on on onFacebook that Facebook page would havehad the most viewings of any internetsite during the entire pandemic yes lookand live that's all it took God hasprovided the means for your salvation ifyou look and you will live and that isGod's power in your life so many broughttheir dying relatives as the text saysand they urged them to look in obedienceand Faith to the uplifted bronze serpentto be healed and to live I can imaginecan't you the urgency of parentsbringing their young children or oradults bringing their elderly parentswho been bitten and they were dying fromthe Serpent's Venom and they're sayingjust look at the bronze serpant look andlive some however refuse to look andcontinue to lament their wounds theirsuffering their sense of God's Injusticeand in their self-absorbed misery theysuccumb to the Serpent's Venom now thelift that bronze serpent was to teachthe Israelites an important spirituallesson they could not cure themselves ofthe Serpent's Venom left to themselvesthey would all die God Alone could healand God Alone could bring them life yetthey were required to show faith in theprovision or the means of Salvation thatGod had laid out for them they must lookin order to live it was their faith thatwas acceptable to God and theydemonstrated their faith by looking atthe uplifted bronze Serpent and thosespiritual lessons apply to us today dothey not they apply to us in theself-same way we cannot cure ourselvesof Satan's sting we all face The Stingof death one day sooner or later wecannot cure ourselves of death no matterhow much we try left to ourselves we areall going to perish God Alone can healus of the sting of sin which is deathand God Alone can give us the gift ofeternal life yet we are required to showfaith in the provision that God has madefor us the means of our salvation ationwe must also look in order to live it isour faith that is acceptable to God notany kind of goodness we think we havewithin ourselves and we are todemonstrate our faith by looking to theuplifted bronze Serpent and what didthat uplifted bronze serpent point towell we're familiar with the text asMoses this is Jesus speaking toNicodemus in the dead of night as Moseslifted up the serpants in the wildernessso must the son of man be lifted up thatwhoever believes in him may have eternallife and so that bronze serpent pointforward to Jesus Christ lifted high onCalvary that all who look in faith tohim might overcome the serpent sting ofdeath and have the promise of eternallife Jesus goes on to discuss this a bitfurther in John 12 he says and I when Iam lifted up from the earth I will drawall people to myself isn't that abeautiful promise all people we werestanding before the first service justin the vestri there and we were justintroducing ourselves to each other andthere was a gentleman from West Africathere was a gentleman from Europe therewas gentleman from Australia and therewas a gentlemanfrom America I think and we justremarked that among the four of us werepresented four of the world'scontinents United in Ministry United infaith we come from different homes butwe're go to a common future at the NewJerusalem it was just a reminder that wemay come from all different parts of theworld but through faith in Jesus Christwe are brothers we are sisters we haveresponsibilities towards each other andwe're going to encourage each other toget to that Heavenly landand so when I am lifted up says Jesus Iwill draw All Peoples to myself it's abeautiful promise truly The Sinner wholooks to Jesus on the cross of Calvaryin faith believing he died in theirplace for their sins receives the giftof eternal life and forgiveness TheSinner lives because he trusts in themeans that God has provided for his orher Eternal salvation but you may askwhat about this Banner where does thebanner fit into the story why does thethe the Lord my banner how does thatpoint forward to the death of Jesus Juson Calvary well it's quite simply thisthe Hebrew word that is used for poll innumbers 21:8 that you lift the bronzeserpent up that pole is the word Nestthat means it's translated there is apole it's translated in in in ourscripture reading today as Banner it isthe same word as uh the the bronzeserpent was lifted high in a pole justas Jesus was lifted high on a cross itis the same word used for this name ofgod Jehovah Nissi the Lord my bannerMoses lifted the rod of God it was thebanner of God uh Jesus the serpent waslifted high on a pole it was a Nessiethat was the Lord my banner and Jesuswas lifted high on the cross in orderthat we might receive the gift ofeternal life as the Lord my banner waslifted high on a mountain giving Victoryto Israel in their battle and theirfight against amalec so Jesus was liftedalso high on a lonely Mountaintoppromising victory over the sin oursinful flesh and our sinful naturewherever the banner or the cross ofChrist leads there we follow when thebanner of Christ or the cross is hiddenwe tend to fall back when under attackthe cross represents our Rally Pointwhen planted on top of a hill a lonelyHill outside a city wall that crossrepresents a victory one against amalecor against sinful flesh and the desiresof the Flesh and so as we contemplatethis name for God the Lord my bannerwe're actually being invited tocontemplate the Cross of Christ it is byhis wounds that we are healed and thebite of sin is rendered harmless Thistruly is good news is it not Solomonwrote about it later when he said hisBanner Over You is what his Banner OverMe Is Love very famous from the song ofSolomon's there so the Lord my bannerpoints us forward to the Cross of Christand when the banner is lifted High God'speople follow when the banner standsstill God's people rally around when thebanner or the cross falls back or ishidden God's people fall apart and thebattle is is goes against us so ourchallenge just keep lifting the Cross ofChrist high that people may be drawn toJesus in love and faith so what do wesay in conclusion here today our time isalmost up well I I as I was writing thesermon a few weeks ago I I was lookingback at my life and I realized that umsince the age of 18 I've been travelingalmost consistently around the worldthat's I hate to admit it that's 32years of non-stop travel around theworld that's a lot of airmines okay and uh this I'm I'm onvacation this week and last week andnext week guess what I'm doing for myvacation I'm sitting at home doingabsolutely nothing I'm not goinganywhere on my vacation other thanchurch I ain't leaving my home foranything because I crave to sit in myoffice at home and just look at thegrass you know this week I was sittingthere and two groundhogs ran ran rightin front of me and I felt very offendedat that and I've been looking for themever since but you know for my birthdayI for my my birthday on Monday for thesetwo weeks of vacation I ain't goinganywhere you want me to go to Chicagofor the day absolutely not should we goand spend the day at the beachabsolutely not do you want to go andvisit you going was Washington orsomewhere absolutely not I'm sitting athome because I've traveled for the last32 years almostNon-Stop and what have Ileared there are two laws that work ininternational travel just as there aretwo laws at work in our spirituallives there is a law of gravity intravel and there's the higher law ofaerodynamics when I sit on a plane I'mexpressing faith in the higher law ofaerodynamics and in explosion of powerthe engines will thrust the plane downthe runway and up into the sky and Iwill discover that the higher LW ofaerodynamics actually sets me free fromthe law ofgravity and I experience that thatexperience happens because I have faiththat the plane will take me up that thelaw of aerodynamics can conquer the lawof gravity by default every one of us isBorn Into and we all daily experiencethe law of gravity and we're all helddown by this law but is only those whowith faith in the higher law ofaerodynamics only they will experiencethe power of that law over the law ofgravity when they step forward in faithonce I'm Airborne so long as I maintainan attitude of faith and dependence uponthe high law of aerodynamics I do nothave to worry about the law of gravityit's not going to try and pull me it'snot going to pull me down to the groundit may try but it cannot I am set freefrom the lower law by the operation ofthe new and the higher law and so it isas we live our Christian lives in2022 we are not called by God to remainliving according to the flesh but we arecalled to walk by faith in the spirit incomplete dependence and trust in him wholives in us and who died for us so whenyou arise tomorrow morning I want toinvite you to invite Jesus to livewithin you to cleanse us of ourunrighteousness to change your heart torenew a right Spirit within you and toempower you through the indwelling ofhis Spirit to live the exchange lifethat God wishes for each of us it isthrough trusting in God's promisesbuilding my life on the words of Jesuson a daily basis and looking to him infaith as my sin-bearing and plac takingsavior that we will experience theBreaking Free from the laws of the Fleshand so in the Sanctified and exchangelife for the spirit that is merely a forTaste Of The Wonder of life to come so Iwant to challenge you in this comingweek do not live by the flesh live bythe spirit do not be held back by thelaws of gravity but by faith there is ahigher law the law of air dynamics thatwill set you free from that which holdsyou back may God bless you as you saw inthe life that God has for you