This morning we saw how that Joshua and Caleb in the face of the rebellion of God's people in Numbers chapter 14, when God had commanded them to go into the land that was promised on oath and they had listened to the 10 spies, when they had grumbled and murmured against the leaders that God had chosen, when they had with great impunity blasphemed against God, by saying you brought us in here to destroy. Remember that was a theme that often they said that God was dealing with his people. Why have you brought us into the wilderness today? Why are you going to take us into this land to kill our children? It was like as if the grumbling and the murmuring against the leadership, Moses and Aaron, the grumbling against God was a constant on their lips because it was in their hearts. And then the ridiculous statement, we'll just go back. Let's choose a leader and we'll go back for ourselves. And Joseph after Moses and Aaron had intervened and spoken as we saw in Deuteronomy. Although in numbers it merely says that they fell down. How Joshua tore his clothes in great distress at the sinful distress of God's people. How he spoke to them and he convicted them and he challenged them about the exceedingly good land. And how that God had given the land into their hands. That he had made the people bread to us. And how that God would deliver them because God had removed the protection of those people. And he called upon them to not rebel, not to deny God, but to go in and take hold of the promises that God had given to them. Clearly presents the arguments. Arguments which God had nearly stoned had it not been for the intervention of the glory of God descending upon the tent of meeting. Why were Caleb and Joshua different? What was it about these men that made them stand in the face of the other two men and against all the people, because it was all the people who had risen up to deny the things of God and to deny the promises of God in their own belief? What was it that gave this man, and we'll focus on this man, Joshua, what was it that gave him the specific sense of the rightness of the promises of God and the purpose of God that would take them into this pagan land. That's what I want to look at today and next week. That's why I took you tonight to Exodus chapter 17. For in Exodus chapter 17 and I would encourage you to open up the Word of God there and specifically the verses 8 through the end of the chapter. In these verses we find that Joshua learns two things that settle in his heart and his mind that will enable him to stand on this day when the people of God are refusing to go into the promised land and calling them out. Because he wasn't just being contrary to the position of the other ten men. You know there are people like that. There are people who will always take the opposite position. If everybody is saying, let's go to the right, they'll go to the left. If everybody had said, let's go to the left, they would say, go to the right. It's just their nature. It's not that they want to go to the left because everybody is going to the right or wrong, and they think the left is right. No, the reason they're going to the left is because everybody else is going to the right. It's just their nature. They have a capacity for awkwardness, contrariness. In Ulster, we'd call it thranness, thranness. Joshua and Caleb weren't being thrann, or thrown, or contrary. or argumentative, whatever term you want to use. There was a reason why this man had this belief in God. And in Exodus chapter 17 we see that he learns two things. First, that God is not ambivalent to those who reject his rule. God is not ambivalent to those who act rebellious against him. God doesn't just simply say, well, if you don't want to go this way, that's okay. I don't really mind. You know, your life is about choices. I will give you the best option. There are other options. Mine is the preferred option. I can give you reasons why mine is the preferred option, but since it's your life, you can choose whether you want to take one of the other options. No, God doesn't operate like that. God very clearly signals there is two ways. There is my way and there is the wrong way. And those who want to go the wrong way, they will suffer the consequences of that. And we're not thankful for that tonight. Because if it wasn't for God clearly signaling to us the right way and giving us the Spirit of God to walk in that right way, and many of us would go on the right way, we would all be walking on the wrong way. Because we know better than God, don't we? We always know better than God. Even when we're born again in the Spirit of God, often we look at the things of God and think we know better than God. That's why God has to keep telling us, hear my promises, hear the blessings associated with keeping those promises, and hear the curses if you don't. Why is the curses associated with the promise? Because God knows the temptation of people's hearts to not do what he says. God is never ambivalent. to the rejection of his rule. That's the first thing that we're going to see that Joshua will learn. The second thing that we'll see Joshua will learn is that victory is always in the hand of God. It's not in the strength of men. And he learned these two things, that God always responds to those who rebel against him and that victory is always in the hand of God. He learned them by first seeing it and then being told about it. In Exodus chapter 17 we have a recounting of this attack by the Amalekites, although it is personalized in the name of Amalek who was the head of, as it were, the clan, a descendant of Esau. So they were a Samite people, they weren't Jewish, but they were from the same family backgrounds as it were. And what happens to Joshua in these events, and he is integral to them, he is central to the outworking of what transpires in Exodus chapter 17. He sees and he learns that God is not ambivalent to those who reject his rule. And he sees and he learns that God always brings victory and that victory is in his hand for those who will follow in his path. But he not only sees it by being present, He also learns it because he's told about it. Now, that's odd, isn't it? You would think that when we see something, we don't have to be told about it. Now, I don't know if you've ever had that conversation with your husband or your wife, or maybe your children, where you tell them about something that they were present at, and they'll say, mommy, I was there. But you have to tell them. You want to get it off your chest, don't you? And they're sort of looking at you as if you say, when is this gonna be over? Because I know what you're saying, because I was there. Or the same with your husband and wife. Do you not know that I was at that? I was there with you. Joshua was here. He was present. He was very much at the heart of all that is going on. Yet we read in verse 14 that God tells Moses something very interesting. He says, The Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial. Literally the memorial in a book. That memorial book was Deuteronomy. Sermon preached before the people of God went into the land. It was promised. after the 40 years in the wilderness. And he also says, recite it in the years of Joshua. So write it in the book, the events that have inspired here on this day, and then recite it to Joshua. Recite the book to Joshua. And as part of that reciting of the book to Joshua, because Joshua would lead the people into the land that God had promised in oath, recite it so that Joshua hears about it again. So he not only saw it, he was reminded about it. He not only saw it through his eyes and his ears, the intensity of the battle, he also had time to reflect upon it. And sometimes when we're in the midst of a war, we need to step outside the battle and not just take on board what we've seen and heard, but then reflect on it. That's why it's good to hear someone else's account of what has happened. Why it's good to stay silent when someone says, well, let's talk about what happened. I don't need to talk about it. I know exactly what happened. Well, you do know what happened about it, but you know it only from your perspective. Let me tell you from a different perspective. It's always good to have another perspective. Brings balance, brings equilibrium. And so Joshua learns these two lessons that God is not ambivalent when it comes to rebellion against his rule. And God is certainly at the hand of victory He sees it and he hears about it. So what happens in Exodus chapter 17 verses 8 through 16? Well the first thing we see is that the Amalekites attack as the world attacks. The Amalekites attack as the world attacks. The second thing we see is the banner or the standard of the Lord is raised. And the third thing we see is the effect of the raising of the standard of the Lord. First then, the Amalekites attack and they attack as the world attacks. Who do the Amalekites attack? Well, it's obvious the Amalekites attack the household of Israel. That's who they attack. The people of God are at Raphidim, they have just had this provision of water by God through this rock that Moses has struck. This was the occasion on which Moses was told to strike the rock. This is not the occasion when Moses was told to speak to the rock and in anger he struck to it, which then resulted in him not going into the land that was promised. This is a previous occasion. And we know from what we read in Deuteronomy chapter 25 that the Amalekites attacked the people of God on their way out of Egypt. What was the reason for the attack? Well, the reason was obviously, wasn't it, the Amalekites didn't want the house of Israel having anything to do with them and their territory. They were defending their territory. That's the obvious reason. Well, that's not the reason that the Word of God gives. The reason that the Word of God gives is because the Amalekites, chapter 25 of Deuteronomy, verse 18, did not fear God. That's why they attacked. Certainly there was the human aspect of the fact that they were going to attack Israel and defeat this, what they saw, this force of huge mass of people coming into their land. But the reason the Amalekites attacked was because they did not fear God. What does that mean? Well, it means they had no fear of God and therefore no love for his people. And it means they had no fear of God, so they had no fear of acting against God. The fear of God is a wonderful blessing. An absence of the fear of God is a terrible thing. God presents himself as the Holy One, whose word is truth. And when men and women have no fear of God, and they feel that they are at liberty to do as they please, when they please, as they please, that will bring them into direct confrontation with God. The world has no fear of God. Absolutely none. The world hates God, and the world hates all of God's ways. We know that from what God tells us. We know it from here. We know it from this very event. that this was the only event. And remember the Amalekites are not just representing Amalek, they're representing in a sense all those who would oppose God, not only in the land of Cana, but in the world. This is the house of God coming out of bondage in Egypt, going into that land that God had promised on earth. They're going in to rid that land of all idolatry, all apostasy. They're going in to destroy that land and cleanse that land of everything that speaks against God. They're going in to establish altars and righteousness and holiness in that land, that that land may speak of the greatness of God. And here, these Amalekites are the world, and this is the first engagement of the world attacking the house of God as the house of God goes in to clean the world out. And Jesus says in John 15 that just as the world hates him, so the world will hate us. Now, sometimes we read that and think, oh, isn't that so true? And yes, it is true. If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the word would love you as its own. The Amalekites did not love the house of Israel because the house of Israel were the people of God. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. The Amalekites attacked these people because they were the people of God and the Amalekites had no fear of God. And what does Deuteronomy tell us? Moses' assessment of the situation. What does he tell us? Because that's the why. What does he tell us about the how? He tells us that the people of God were faint and weary. Verse 18. How he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary. And you wonder, well how were the people of God faint and weary? They were attacked at Raphidim. What had happened at Raphidim? Well what had happened at Raphidim was that they had been murmuring against God because of the lack of water. God has brought us out here to die in the wilderness. We're going to die of thirst. Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? Exodus 17 verse three. So God told Moses, okay, Moses, take the staff that you struck the Nile with and take that staff and strike the rock. And when he did so, water came out and the people drank. So how could they be tired and weary if they were refreshed? Well, they were physically refreshed, but they were spiritually tired and weary. You see, it is possible to receive the truth of God's word on a regular basis and not be spiritually refreshed. How do people who love the things of God, as they say they do, then wander from the things of God? How do they drift from the things of God? Well, in the psalm we sang, didn't we? That the psalmist loved the law of God. You see, you can hear the word of God. You can receive it. but it may not refresh you. The refreshing of the word of God comes when the word of God is engrafted into your heart by the work of the spirit. That's why we must always ask God to work in our hearts by his spirit so that we do not sit in judgment of God's law, but we sit under the law of God. It's amazing how many Protestants will speak of the Roman Catholic system and how it sits in its doctrines above the law of God. It doesn't sit Under the law of God it makes pronouncements as a church upon the law of God. And yet many Protestants when they sit in the house of God and listen to the word of God being preached have that same attitude. I'm sitting here and I'm assessing what I'm hearing to hear if it's good enough for me to actually take on board. They're not sitting with a compliant heart. They're sitting with a judgmental attitude. I don't like that point that was made. I didn't think it was that funny then. trying to crack his jokes. You don't have to laugh at all my jokes because of that. But it's the attitude you see. It's the attitude. It's this attitude that I know better. It's this attitude that, yeah, you can teach me sometimes, but the reality is I'll be the custodian of what I'm going to take on from the Word of God. Do you know what that is? That's an attitude fraught with danger. And what that attitude has to be addressed or met with is a sense of coming to God and saying to God, remove that attitude from me and work in my heart that I would be submissive and receptive to the word of God. And if there is something said that is inaccurate, help me to forget it. It helped me not to pick up on that one little mistake that was made and use that as my defense for not listening to anything else. That I'm listening so I might hear, that I might judge. Oh that God would remove from every single one of you. and me, as I come to His Word in preparation during the week, that sense of sitting on the Word of God, to hear it, that I might judge it, and that I might assess it and see what its benefit to me will be. The refreshing of the heart only comes not when you drink of the water, but when you rest on the Rock who is Christ Jesus. It only comes when you're a submissive heart and you're willing to receive the Word. How many times have we heard the Word and we've missed what God would have to say to us, because we have assessed something before that, that has set our hearts off, or our minds off on another tangent. And we have missed what God would say to us, because we have judged something that we would have been far better to let go. And there God would be speaking to us. And God would be saying to us, is your heart open? Are you going to be refreshed? See the people weren't refreshed. They had drunk, but they weren't refreshed. What else do we see? Deuteronomy tells us that the Malachite attacked those who were lagging behind them. They attacked the stragglers. Peter writes in 1 Peter 5 verse 8, Be sober minded, be vigilant, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion for someone to devour. How easy it is to lag behind. How easy it is when the drift sets in. How easy it is when the refreshing is not coming. How easy it is when the judgmental attitude is our driving force to then to get into a pattern of lagging behind. Lagging behind. Not seeking to be up front, but lagging behind. And is it not the case just as the Amalekites attacked those who were lagging behind, that the world today will attack those who are lagging behind. Those whose hearts are not running after God with everything they have. Isn't it wonderful how these biblical truths concerning these physical realities speak to us with such spiritual power? The necessity to be conscious of the enemy and his prowling capacity. The fact that he is an adversary, that he is looking for whom he might devour. Take care not to find yourself lagging behind. I preached 15 months ago, March 2020, on the dangers of the threat of the coronavirus. And I did make the point that for some people it could be a fatal reality. But I said the preeminent danger as I saw it, and this was early in the process, was the reality of the threat to our spiritual well-being. That we that we could drift from the things of God. We could become vulnerable. We could become disassociated from each other. We could become disenfranchised from God. That has been something that has underpinned the approach of the session. In our communications, in those early months, in the writing of the daily encouragement as it was there, and the seeking to reach out to you. The whole purpose of that was to not allow you to become so vulnerable and so exposed that the enemy would come along and attack you. There's only so much that can be done by the leadership. It requires a desire of your own heart. And note this attack. This attack is on the people, but as I say, It's ultimately an attack against God. Now, how do I get that? Where do I get that from Exodus chapter 17? Well, after the battle we read that Moses builds an altar and he calls it, the Lord is my banner. And then he says something that is really interesting. A hand upon, another translation has, a hand against the throne of the Lord. Moses was saying there that this battle, yes against the Israelites, was principally an attack against God and against His rule. It was rebellion against what God was doing. And Joshua came to understand that, that God is not ambivalent, as we shall see now, God is not ambivalent to such an attack upon his ways and his rule. And as we meet the various things in our lives on a day-to-day basis from the world, we must remember, we must remind ourselves that the world is attacking us, but it's attacking us because of our love for Christ. And as the world attacks our love for Christ, and will attack us because of that love, that we are not alone. That we are not alone. And our strength is not in ourselves. That it is God who will be actively engaged in addressing those who rebel against him. He knows what is going on. He knows who the key players are. He knows what the spiritual warfare. He knows what the adversary is seeking to do. We have only a partial view of it. And even the partial view that we have is a limited partial view. God understands it. And we must remind ourselves constantly that God is not ambivalent to what is going on. Secondly, the standard of the Lord. It says that Moses raised a standard. What was a standard? A standard in battle. Well, it was a flag. In the United Kingdom, you can go into historic buildings and you'll see their flags, their standards. And on those standards will normally be a reference to the crown and then there'll be the battles in which those standards went into. And those standards serve two purposes. They served an emotional purpose. When the standard was carried into the battle, it was seen as a representation of the authority of the one whom the soldiers were fighting for. It was lifted high so that people could see it. I'm sure you've seen films where maybe historic films of the war of independence or national aggression, depends which part of America you're in. And you see someone, a standard following him. A man will go forward and pick up the standard and run forward. And all those who are running to meet him sort of stop and think, and there's that pause. What are we going to do? And they turn around and they follow the standard. This is who we're fighting for. We're not fighting for ourselves. We're not engaging in this battle personally. We're engaging in this because we have one whom we're subject to. There's an authority. It also had the purpose of a strategic purpose. In the fog of war and hand-to-hand combat you could easily get lost and not everybody was wearing the same uniform. Uniforms were not always just dressed up nicely. You couldn't say, well, he's in that side, he's in this side. You could be hacking the head off maybe one of your colleagues. And so the standard was there to say, this is where we are. That's where they are. In our church history, we have a standard. It's in many of our churches, especially in Ireland, Scotland, it's for Christ's crown and covenant that was carried into the various battles Covenanters were involved, and when I first went to Airdrie, there was one in the local museum in Airdrie from 1680s. It was there in a glass case, and I took a picture, or someone took a picture, and it ended up in the local newspaper. New minister comes to the town, stands beside the banner. Monklands Covenanters for Christ's Crown and Covenant. Interestingly, it went to a man called David Roy, who saw that. He was a workman, worked as a gardener. Some of his mate went in and cut it out and took it to him and handed it to him in another town. He said, you might be interested in that boy. David knew a lot of the Covenanters. He and I got together and it was him that helped me to understand much of the history that I know today about the martyrs and the cause of Christ in Scotland. Standard. But ultimately, the standard that we have here is not a banner physical, it was a staff. The standard that Moses held up was a staff that he had struck the rock with. The staff that speaks of God's power. It's a staff that speaks of God's love as a shepherd. It's a staff that speaks of God's humility and coming among his people. This was the standard. We read how that when that standard was lifted up, the battle went well and when the standard was dropping because of a lack of strength of Moses, how the people wearied. The standard. The staff. Who is our standard? What does it say in Isaiah chapter 11? It says, In that day the root of Jesse who shall stand is a signal or a standard for the peoples. Verse 12, He will raise a standard for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel. Christ is our standard. Just as Moses stood on top of the hill and raised up his staff, so Christ was lifted up at Golgotha. And just as Moses revealed the power of God in the lifting up of that staff, and the love of God in caring for His people on that day, and the humility of God coming into that place by His own presence, and defeating the Amalekites, surely we have at the cross and the lifting up of Christ, the manifestation of God's power against the world. A declaration of God's love and the immensity of the humility of God coming into the earth. And it's not just that it happened at the crucifixion. Was Christ not lifted up when he ascended into heaven? when he was taken from the cross, laid in the grave, raised, and then ascended into heaven to manifest his glory. And what of the manifestation today? What of the declaring of the standard today? Galatians 3, we read, it was before you that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified for all the world to see. The cross declares the power of God. He is undefeated. The love of God is manifest at the cross, was it not? John 3.16, does it not say in Romans 5.8, For God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Is that not the standard? Christ in His humiliation, being born in low condition, in living as a man on the earth, in suffering as He did, the rejection, the sorrows, the pain, the reviling, the spitting upon, the mocking, is that not the standard? You see, the banner is waved as a flag. It speaks of the authority. It speaks of the presence. It speaks of, this is what we're to rally around. When Moses says, the Lord is my banner, what's he saying? He's saying, the Lord God, He is our standard. He is our standard. Christ is our standard. And just as God went against the Amalekites and He wiped them out, so God comes today in Christ. He comes in the power of Christ. He comes in the love of Christ. He comes in the humility of Christ. He is the one who has been raised. He is the one who was raised up on the cross. He was the one who was nailed to that wooden structure. He was the one who died. And in His dying, He defeats the world. And in defeating the world, what does He do? He brings those who are His enemies into Himself. Who were we? We were the world. Who were we? We were rebellious against God. Who were we? We were deniers of God. And yet it's through the defeating of us that God then brings us to Himself. We who were haters of God now become servers of God. We who were rejecters of God become lovers of God. The One who is our standard is the One who is lifted up. And in humility and love He draws Himself to us. And He draws us to Himself. And what's the effect of the raising of that standard? As Joshua went out and fought, what happens? Moses' hands grow weary. They took a stone, they put it under him, and he sat on it. And while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. As the hands are held up, victory. As the hands begin to grow weary, There is a sense of potential defeat. And then Aaron and Hur lift up the hands and the rod is lifted up and the banner is displayed. What's going on there? What's happening when the rod, what's happening when that stick is being lifted up? How is that impacting the fight in the ground as men are weighing into each other with their fists and all their implements? How is a man standing on a hill with his hands up in the air going to have one iota of difference upon men shedding blood on the ground down below? It's because in the lifting up of the standard, God is saying, this is my battle. And I am claiming victory. Because the rebellion is not against you, it's against me. They don't fear me, that's why they're into battle. They don't love me, they hate me, that's why they're engaging with you. And so today when Christ is lifted up in the preaching of His Word, what are we doing? We're saying this is a source of power. This is a source of love. This is where we find the humility of God coming among men. That's why the denial of the church that I spoke of this morning, the unbelief in the holding up of the Lord Jesus, is such a terrible indictment. It's a terrible indictment on their belief, but it's also a terrible indictment on themselves. Because they believe they have the power. They believe in their music. They believe in their songs. They believe in their homilies. They believe in their practices, that they can win the victory. They can never win the victory, because they don't understand who the victory belongs to. They fight as men fighting men. We will never outdo the world. There's nothing you and I can do to take the world on. That's why you must pray for the lifting up of the banner. There were two or three things that transformed the congregation in Airdrie from 25 people, elderly people, to a thriving congregation over 20 years. Two or three things. There was an encouraging of God's people into the Word of God, and we had begun that. One of the other critical things was a few people gathering on a Saturday night for the preaching of God's Word, and praying specifically for the salvation of the children in the church, and the salvation of those whom Christ was bringing into the church. And those people gathered, and I was there, and we prayed every Saturday night. What were we doing? We were lifting up the hands. So when people come into the sanctuary on the Lord's Day, they were coming into a place that had been prayed over. It wasn't just a case of, let's get together to go to church. There was a belief that God's victory was to be claimed. There was a belief that the power of God was real. There was a belief in the lifting up of Jesus Christ. And the belief was measured in the praying of God's people. Not just in their talking about it. Men would come and they would sit around a little round table. And they would open up their hearts. And they could have been doing other things on a Saturday night. A lot of things they could have been doing where their family are watching the television. But what they understood was the victory that has to be won in this place. And you see, when there's a smell of death, When there's a smell of death, it's a great incentive to act. And when you've been in a congregation that's dying on its feet, and you have six people at worship on a Sabbath evening, six people, and you look at a city of 15,000 people and you think, how is this ever going to change? Then there's something put into you when you realize this will change as we lift up Christ. The Lord is my banner. And as we lift up, and we lift up Him, and we come and we gather together and we sacrifice a wee bit on a Saturday night or another night, and we say, Lord, we're asking You to come. We're holding up Moses' arms. The staff, the banner of the Lord has been lifted up. Do you think we can attain the victory by some other means? Do you honestly think that? Do you honestly think that? That it will come easily? Joshua realized that God was victorious because he knew the threat was against God. He fought with a sword, but he knew that they were fighting with prayer. We have got to lift up Christ. We've got to publicly portray him. It's the only thing that will work. The only thing that will draw the godless in. We think that just won't work. How would it work to tell them that they're in need of a savior? We think that because we don't see the way that Christ works. We need to be out there telling people all the time. We need to be doing personal evangelism. We need to do lots of things. Do you know what we need to be doing? We need to be believing in the preached word. And we need to be praying for the authority of the preached word. And we believe in the authority of the preached Word, and we're praying for the authority of the preached Word. Christ will draw them in. He will bring them in. Are we not to tell other people about Jesus? Of course we are. Of course we are. But how much evangelism have we done in the last year? And has God not brought ones in to hear the Gospel, even in this situation? Many streets have we walked around. What has God done? He's brought them in. Why? Because His Word is being declared, and there are a few people who are praying that Christ would be lifted up, and that His name would be glorified, and that Christ would build His church. That's all we have. But what do we have in all of that? You see, the other way, it's about what I'm going to do. God doesn't care what I'm going to do. God cares whether I understand that the victory is His. God cares whether I'm going to uphold His banner, lift His banner up. Because when the victory is His, then we build an order to God. We build an order to Christ. We say, look what Jesus did. We don't write books about what I did or what we did or what we're going to do. We write books about what Christ does. We read the book about what He has done. We pray through the book of what He has done. And then we proclaim what He has done. And then we let Jesus have the victory.