San Diego Conference: 1977
Table of Contents
God's Provisions
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to the book of Exodus in the 17th chapter. Exodus chapter 17 and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in rephidim.
There was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why charge ye with me? Wherefore thee tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. The people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst?
And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod wherewith thou smote the river, take in thine hand, and go, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people.
May drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out man, and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy. They put a stone. They took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. And Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side.
And the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi. For he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Well, I'd like to look at this chapter here tonight is how it brings before us the provision God made for his people so that there was victory when they were attacked by this powerful enemy. The Amalekites think we all know that the history of the children of Israel and their deliverance out of Egypt, their path through the wilderness and they're reaching the land of Canaan is a picture to us of how the Lord and his goodness has delivered us from the ******* of.
And Satan, he's leading us through this world which has become a wilderness. And for us, we have something better than the promised land. That was the land flowing with milk and honey. But we who know the Lord have a heavenly home waiting us, a home that can never be spoiled. We owe. And the children of Israel entered the promised land. It was much conflict. There were many things there that they had to fight for.
But isn't it blessed that you and I, who know the Lord is our Savior?
Are going on to a home where there'll be no fighting, there will be no sickness, nor sorrow, nor crying or pain.
But there are many lessons for us to learn, and as I say, we begin with the children of Israel back there in Egypt in slavery. And isn't that a picture of this world? What were the children of Israel doing there in Egypt? Why, it tells us that they were building treasure cities for Pharaoh. Doesn't this make you think of this world and how busily occupied it is in trying to develop all the things that will make?
People happy away from God.
Trying their very best to try and find their rest and happiness in a world that has been spoiled by sin. And God's people too got involved in all this. But God made a way that he could bring his people out from that land of slavery. And we know how he told them that they were to kill the lamb. They were to take the blood and sprinkle it on the lentil and the two side posts. And God said when?
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When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And so if there's anyone here tonight and you're still under the ******* of Satan, there's good news for you. There's a way of shelter from the judgment. And the way of shelter is through God's lamb. And you know, that was a lamb in Egypt, a little lamb with four legs. But God tells us that the Lord Jesus is the lamb. And when John the Baptist looked at the Lord.
Jesus, he said, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, what a moment it was for John when he saw that one God's lamb, God's provision. And I say again, many of us in this room can say, thank God I've taken shelter under the blood, for every home where the blood was sprinkled was absolutely safe that night when the judgment fell.
Not one home for the.
Blood was sprinkled, was touched by the judgment that God brought and the blessed part of it is that what made them happy inside those homes was simply resting upon the word of God. They first had the sprinkle of blood. I say that made their homes safe, but what made them happy in their homes?
Just to rest on what God said and if there's anyone here that has taken shelter under the blood of Christ, but you say I'm still full of doubts. Doubts keep coming into my mind. Well, let me say this, the blood makes you safe, but if you really want to have peace, you must rest upon what God said. So in Israelite are where the blood was sprinkled was perfectly safe.
But in his home, as he rested upon those wonderful words.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you. He was at peace in his home. He didn't fear the judgment that night. And if you have taken shelter under the blood of Christ, no matter how weak your faith may be, God wants you to just rest upon His word. If there was enough faith to sprinkle the blood, the home was safe.
But peace was by resting on His word, and then too, they fed on the roast lamb.
Inside those homes, so there was there was that security, but there was also a feast. And you know, the Lord wants us to be happy Christians. He not only wants us to know that we're safe, he wants us to be happy. And each one of us who know the Lord can ask ourselves, are we really feeding on Christ? Are we really enjoying his love day by day? We need to read his word and that's the way we feed upon him for it says.
As new.
Born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow, thereby feeding upon the Word. We we find enjoyment, we grow in the things of God.
Well, there was more than that. God brought them out of Egypt altogether. They went through the Red Sea, come up on the other side, and they looked back and saw Pharaoh and all his hosts dead upon the seashore. And I want to say to every believer here tonight that you're not only safe from judgment, but God sees you in a new position altogether. It's very blessed to know that judgment can touch you, but it's more blessed to know.
That you are.
Holy and without blame before him in love.
God doesn't see you in that old position that you are once in. He sees you now, the righteousness of God in Christ. He sees you accepted in His beloved Son. So I say again, you're not only safe from judgment, but God has brought you into a position of favor and perfect acceptance.
Well, even although we know all these things, isn't it true that we must go through a lot of experiences in our Christian life where we learn our own nothingness and we learn God's provision for us in our pathway?
And there are two great lessons that children of Israel had to learn in the wilderness, and that was their own helplessness, their own nothingness, and the all sufficiency of God to meet every need all through the wilderness.
And isn't it true that we're slow in learning those two lessons?
We still think there's something good in ourselves. We say here, Christians say, well, I wouldn't do that. All that shows we don't know our own hearts.
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He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. You and I can do anything if the Lord doesn't keep us. We need is keeping grace every moment.
Who are capable of anything. And so they had to learn their own hearts. In fact, it tells us this in Deuteronomy, that the purpose of God was to humble them and to prove them, and to show them what was in their hearts, to let them see their own insufficiency. But He clothed them, He fed them, He cared for them. That was His side, His provision. And we learned something of this in the chapter.
That we have before us. It was just one of their experiences in the wilderness by which they learned something about this. And so let's look at this chapter we read tonight, bringing before us some of these things that they had to learn.
It says here all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in rephidim. And we call your attention to that expression according to the commandment of the Lord, because when they came to this place where there was no water to drink.
They might easily have thought, well, we surely missed the way the Lord.
Brought us to a place like this. If we were following him, he wouldn't have brought us to a place where there's no water to drink.
Surely if he cares for us, why are we in this spot? So the Spirit of God particularly tells us that they came to this place by the commandment of the Lord. And if you come to an experience in your life when it just seems that all refreshment fails and everything seems to be going wrong, maybe the Lord has brought you there, just like He brought Israel for a purpose.
It's true that there was a lot of rebellion in their hearts. We can see that.
But I want to call your attention to the fact that it was the Lord who brought them there. It was at the commandment of the Lord. They came to refit him. And it's rather interesting when you look at a map that shows something about their journeys and that it shows Raphita and has a question mark after it. And to me, that's rather interesting because.
They couldn't seem people who drew the maps couldn't put their finger on the exact spot where Afidum is. And you know, I think it comes differently in every one of our lives. Your epitome may not be mine and my refittam may not be yours. God may bring you to refit him in one way, and he may bring me in another way. We all have to come to that spot and the Lord knows.
Just when we need that.
Teaching for in a sense, we're in the school of God, that is, he's teaching us, teaching us lessons. He doesn't give diplomas, you know, but he does teach us a lot of lessons. And so they needed to learn some of these lessons.
And when they came to Rephidim, there was no water for the people to drink. And I say again, I believe it's a little picture of how the Lord brings us to some point in our lives when everything seems to fail. There's just like no refreshment at all. And we see what the children of Israel did. We see human nature displayed here. The people began to chide with Moses.
And said give us water that we may drink.
Isn't it true that when we come to refit them, we try to find somebody to blame that we ever got there? We think of somebody that must be at fault, and so they sought out somebody to blame, and they started to blame Moses. And we can usually think of somebody that we can blame for a problem that comes up in our lives, but the Scripture has told us that it was at the commandment of the Lord.
And so when these difficulties come.
It's a good thing for us to realize this, that the Lord has allowed it. There may be what we often call second causes.
Yes, when when Paul was a prisoner, he was a prisoner under Nero. But he didn't call himself a prisoner of Nero. He said, I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. You might have said, oh, Paul, you made a mistake. You're not the Lord's prisoner. Nero is the person that has made you a prisoner. Why did he call himself the prisoner of the Lord?
Well, he saw that the Lord had allowed it. The Lord was the first 'cause.
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Was the second 'cause, if you like to put it that way. But the first 'cause was the Lord. The Lord had allowed Paul to be a prisoner. And so in anything that comes in our lives, the Lord is the first 'cause. And it's good for us when we realize this, because when we come to this point, then the Lord can teach us things as He teaches every one of us in our pathway.
Well, lady began to blame Moses and said give us.
Water that we may drink.
And Moses said unto them, Why charge ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? The next verse says the people murmured against Moses. You can see how they have blamed him. But he said, why do you attempt the Lord? Because they needed to see that the Lord had allowed this. In this particular case, it certainly wasn't Moses fault at all. Moses was not at all to blame in this situation.
Sometimes there may be another person who is a second cause, but in this particular case Moses was not even the second cause, because Moses was only leading the people at the commandment of the Lord. So this was a little difficult for Moses to bear. We ought to be honest enough to admit things when people accuse us of things that are true, but it's kind of hard to take it when people accuse us of things that are not true.
And in Moses case, it wasn't true. But we'll see in a moment how nicely Moses accepted this, how he realized that the Lord had allowed it and he just accepted what God had allowed.
But I wanted to call attention to the end of this third verse.
What they said to Moses, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
Notice this, how when, when his problem came in heart, they turned back into Egypt. They said, why did we leave Egypt there? We had the leaks and the onions and the garlic. We had plenty of good things to eat back in Egypt. And why have you brought us into this place where there's no bread, there's no water, there's nothing? And isn't it true, brethren, that when we get discouraged, we're in a very, very dangerous.
Spot any person in this room tonight who's discouraged is very, very likely to be turned aside into the world. Because when you get discouraged, the devil's right there with some suggestion that following the Lord is a difficult path. Then you might as well go into the world. It's not nearly as hard as trying to go along with the world. It's It's too hard to follow the Lord. It's too difficult to go on in that path.
And so when they got discouraged here at this place where there was number water, then their hearts went back to Egypt. That's why in first Peter chapter 5.
We noticed that when the verse about casting all our care upon Him is brought before us, then there's the warning.
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And every time when we don't cast our cares upon the Lord, when we allow those cares to overwhelm us and get us discouraged, then the devil says.
Oh, what's the use of trying to follow the Lord? You might as well go into the world. You'll have lots of fun. You'll have a good time there. And that's exactly what happened here in Heart. They turned back into Egypt. It's nice to notice they never got back into Egypt because God's never going to let one of his own children go. He's he's a savior that will never, never let one of his own.
Go back to Satan's power.
Because Pharaoh represents Satan, who was the king of Egypt.
But the Lord has promised, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And there's a nice verse in First Corinthians 11 That tells us that when the Lord deals with us as his children, it says He chastened us, chastens us, that we should not be condemned with the world. Thank God no Christian will ever be judged with this godless world.
But in heart, we can go back into it. We can get away from the Lord.
And the world and holds out its attraction to us. And this was the spot where the children of Israel were at this time because they said why did you bring us up out of Egypt? We're only having problems with our family. We're only having problems with our children, with our cattle, that is with our business. Everything's going wrong, in other words, and why should we try to follow the Lord?
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What did Moses do?
Moses cried unto the Lord. Moses could have turned around and said, why are you blaming me? Not my fault, I didn't do anything to you. I only LED you in the way that the Lord commanded. Isn't it nice what Moses did when this situation arose? He cried unto the Lord. And let me say this, if you're ever falsely accused and anybody says something unkind about you.
Turn to the Lord, turn to the Lord. He's the best refuge that we have. Sometimes we can't set things right in this world. There's some things that never will be set right in this world, but we can always turn to the Lord. And that's exactly what Moses did here. Moses cried unto the Lord and said, saying, What shall I do unto this people?
They be almost ready to stone me.
They not only spoke against him, but Moses knew the feelings that were there. They were almost ready to stone him. They were just about ready to pick up stones and throw them at him. And he might easily have said, it's no use, I'm going to give up. But what did the Lord say? Listen to the Lord's reply. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go.
On before the people in this most beautiful here instead of giving up.
Instead of turning against these people who had falsely accused him, the Lord said, Moses, go on before the people, I want to use you. You can be a blessing to them. You can be a help to them. If you get discouraged, why you won't be any use any longer to the people of God. And so this is a lovely word.
Perhaps it speaks to some of our hearts because I'm sure we all have felt cast down.
Times and more than this, he said, take with thee how the elders of Israel, what these these people that were murmuring, these people that were saying these things was he actually to go on with them and to take them with him. Oh, how lovely it is to see how the Lord instructed Moses and again I say how he had the grace to go on.
For he went on so faithfully with the people of God, we only read once in 40 years that he lost his patience. That's a pretty good record, isn't it? Once in 40 years he lost his patience with the people after all the things they did against him. And that's why the Scripture calls him the makest man in all the earth.
So it tells us here.
And thy rod were with thou smotest the river, taking mine hand, and go. Now why does it mention this thy rod? Where is thou smotest the river? Well, you know that rod was the means that God used to make a way through the Red Sea for the children of Israel when they left Egypt, and I believe that it represents.
The ground, the basis by which God can go on.
And with us, even though we're poor, failing believers at best, what is the basis by which God can go on? Well, as a little hymn we sing sometimes that goes like this. And Jehovah lifted up his rod. O Christ, it fell on thee. Thou wast forsaken of thy God. No distance now for me.
Thy blood beneath that rod has flowed thy.
Cruising healeth me, you know the only way the Lord can go on with a person like me is because of Calvary. It's because of what happened there. If it wasn't for that, every one of us would be under judgment. The only basis by which God can go on with any of us is because of Calvary. It's because there the precious Savior settled the question of sin, bore the wrath and judgment and.
Set us free through his glorious work. And so I say.
This is the means and we need to always remember this because we might think, well, how could the Lord go on with people like that? I say, how can He go on with me? There's only one basis that I know that He can go on with any of us, and that's because I say again of what happened at the cross where the Lord Jesus was made sin, as it says, He loved the church and gave himself.
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And so he was told to take this rod, and he was told to go. And the Lord said, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.
So we find here that the Lord said that he would stand before him.
Perhaps it brings before us how He was to have the Lord before him and not the failing people. We need to do that, you know, if we have the failing people of God before us, why perhaps we might get discouraged. Or if we look in, we're sure to get discouraged. But we need to have the Lord before us. So he said, I'll stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall water come.
Out of it. And so again, we're reminded it's because the rock was smitten and that the blessing could come.
I might just mention that later on they came to this place again and that the next time Moses was told speak to the rock.
Speak to the rock, because the Lord Jesus only had to settle a question of sin once.
And now that that has been settled, isn't it lovely that you and I can come and speak to the rock, because it tells us that the rock is Christ says in First Corinthians chapter 10.
They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. He's the rock of our salvation. He's the way by which we have been blessed.
And so he was despite the rock, and the water would come out, and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Now the smiting of the rock no doubt brings before us the thought of the water of life, but I believe it also brings before us the thought of the Holy Spirit of God. If you turn to John seven, I think you'll see how that this is brought out in the seventh of John.
John Chapter 7 and verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glory.
So here I think we can see that the drinking of the water of life is associated also with receiving the Holy Spirit. For when we believe the gospel of our salvation, the Bible says that we are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And the Lord also said, And the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
When God saves.
He gives us a new life and He also gives the Holy Spirit of God to indwell our bodies.
So I think that's pictured to us and what we have in the chapter, the smiting of the rock and the water coming out now, it tells us that.
The as soon as this took place in the eighth verse, then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Refinan.
And this is what happens when we get saved, when we are indwelled by the Spirit of God, then there's a conflict that has begun.
And we're told in Galatians chapter 5, the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that she cannot do the things that she would. Perhaps you should turn to it because I think there's an important connection here.
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Galatians chapter 5 and verse 17. I'll read it again.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Perhaps you can see the connection now, children of Israel. It had a drink from this water that came from the smitten rock picture of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. And now Amalek comes out and he's a picture to us of Satans power over us through that flesh, that fallen nature within. And we know very well that this is what happens when we are saved.
We know our sins are forgiven. We know the joy of salvation.
But it isn't long until we discover that we have within us a sinful, fallen nature and that there's a conflict when we want to please the Lord. Every Christian has experienced this. When you, when you're first saved you, you're something like Saul of Tarsus. He said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? But it isn't long until there's a conflict, because we still have the old nature within.
A flash lusteth against the spirit. I often say my body is like a house with two tenants. I have the old nature with which I was born.
But I have a new life that God gave me, and that's the that's the very life of Christ. And so, you know, there's a conflict because they're entirely different. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary to 1 to the other. The Spirit of God wants to lead us to do what that new life desires to do to please the Lord.
And Satan works on the flesh within us to try and get us to do the other thing.
And so here we see a picture to us in the word of God. Here were the children of Israel, so refreshed by this water from the smitten rock. And they look up and there's Amalek with all his hosts coming over the brow of the hill. I'm sure we've all felt this. We wanted to please the Lord. And then there was something came up, some big temptation, something that came into life, and we just wondered how we could meet that temptation. What should we do?
And now we see the Lord made full provision for this situation and that was what I wanted to bring before you, particularly tonight, a wonderful provision that God has made for us as Christians. For if it wasn't for this, we'd go down in the battle, just like Israel when Moses hand was down, Amalek prevailed.
And you know very well that Amalek sometimes prevails because.
Because we don't get that help that we need from the Lord. So let's notice this a little more carefully, that there are three, I believe, important things in this story for us to notice.
It says in the ninth verse. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out man, and go out fight with Amalek.
Now we have brought before us here Joshua and then Moses going up on the top of the hill, holding up his two hands. So I'd like to speak about Joshua first.
I believe He represents to us Christ as the captain of our salvation in the power of the Spirit of God, leading us, as Joshua did right into the Promised Land to possess those good things God had for them. And God has sent down the Holy Spirit, and He is going to abide with us forever, and He is bringing us through this wilderness.
And it tells us that when the Lord comes, our mortal bodies will be quickened by.
By the Spirit who dwells in US now, that is, He is here gathering out a bride for Christ, and He's going to bring us home into that glory land, just like the servant who brought the bride back and presented the bride to Isaac. So here we find that there was a leader, there was a captain, and Christ in the power of the Spirit is seeking to lead your soul and mine through this wilderness world in the path of victory.
So that we might go on to please the Lord.
And this is very blessed, as I mentioned before, tells us in Hebrews 2 That Christ is the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory. And now each one of us can ask our own hearts, are we listening to the instructions of the captain?
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Now we can go our own way. We're pretty self willed creatures sometimes and we make up our mind that we're going to go our own way. We're not going to listen to the captain and we decide that we're going to go our own way.
But Saul of Tarsus said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And may the Lord grant, brethren, that when we get up in the morning, that this might be the expression of our hearts too.
Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? We have a captain. And why should we try to find our way through life in our own wisdom? That's why it's so important to read the Word of God, to ask the Lord for direction. And he's promised, you know, in all thy ways. Acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. But sometimes we like to go our own way.
Sometimes we don't realize our own weakness to I told this little story that I read one time because I thought it illustrated what we have here.
Many years ago over in Scotland there was a man and he wanted to hire a coachman to drive his horses and he lived up on a steep, steep mountainside and the path going up to his his house was a very dangerous one.
And so you want to be sure he had a good, he wanted to have a good coachman. And so he interviewed quite a number of men and he asked them how close they could go to the edge of this road that went up to his property because it was right over a dangerous part with if you'd fallen over, it would have been perhaps your life.
And so you asked them how much experience they had with horses and how close they.
Thought they could go to the edge and hold the horses steady, and some told so many inches and some even a little closer. But at last another man came along and he asked him this question. He said, oh Sir, I keep as far away from the edge as I could.
Oh, he said, you're the kind of person I want. Those fellows thought they could hold a horse's steady. Well, what if the horse did something unexpectedly? We might be over the edge. I want someone that's not going to take risks. And, you know, we take risks in our Christian life. I've heard people say, oh, I'd never do that. I'm going out with that boy, but I don't intend to marry him. And it may take all kinds of risks, you know, but the Bible says.
He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool.
That the captain won't lead us in a risky path. It says that we'll walk in safe paths if we follow him. He says our foot won't stumble if we follow him. But, you know, we get in spots and we say, as I've heard people say, oh, I know how far to go. I know, I know I wouldn't do that. And so they trust themselves.
Oh, may the Lord keep us. And I'm not just saying this to the young people who are here. We older people need it too.
We needed just as much as the young people because it doesn't matter what age we are, we've got a lot of weak points, and Satan knows the weak points better than we know them ourselves.
He knows our he knows our weak points. He's been watching us all through our lives. He's had 6000 years almost experience with human nature. So we ought to understand human nature pretty well. He knows about us. So we have a captain choose us out man and follow the captain. And the captain LED them out in this conflict. It wasn't a pleasant thing. And we have to come to have a conflict. The flesh is still.
And I say again, it doesn't improve when you get saved and it doesn't improve with age. I've often heard people say when I've been to their homes, well, our dogs getting older and he's getting a little more cross as he gets older, it doesn't improve with age. And so, you know, this fallen nature that we've got, it just remains the same and perhaps gets a little bit worse with age.
So how much we need the Lord's keeping grace?
Well, that wasn't all Moses said, While you're in that conflict, he said, I'll go up on the top of the hill and with the rod of God in mine hand. And so Moses went up on the top of the hill. And it didn't seem as if this had very much connection with what was going on down in the plains, but it had a great deal to do, as we see with the battle and the victory. What does Moses going up?
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On the top of the hill represent to us well. I believe it represents something that we have brought before us in Hebrews. Could we turn to Hebrews chapter 4?
Verse 14.
Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.
That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Now the 7th chapter again the 24th verse.
But this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.
Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who was wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
Well, perhaps we can see the connection because it says Moses said he was going up to the top of the hill and he was going to hold up his hand. And it says we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens who's made higher than the heavens, and he's doing just what Moses was doing on the top of the hill. There was Moses with his hand up, upheld so that Israel in the plains below would prevail. And isn't this very precious, that we have a real living man?
The high priest, one who went through this world before us and who knows all about us, it says he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now, you know, there's no excuse in the Bible for sin, but there is provision for our infirmities.
When we sin, we have an advocate, as we'll notice in a moment. But here we're talking about infirmities. You say, what are infirmities? I thought those were sins. No, infirmities are weaknesses that we have. Perhaps you wake up in the morning, didn't sleep very well, and you have a headache. You're just feeling kind of miserable. Well, you need a special supply of grace that day, don't you?
And perhaps you know very well, when you go down to work, there's going to be a lot of things turn up there that are going to be very upsetting. Well, you're going to need a special supply of grace. The Lord knew all about what you were going to have to face at work. He knew you went to work with a headache. He knew that you weren't feeling the best. And so he says now don't give way to the flesh because it doesn't matter whether you have a headache or not.
I'm able to help you, that's why it says he's touched.
With the feeling of our infirmities invites us to come. And he says he's able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Now some have applied that verse to God being able to save the vilest Sinner, and that's blessedly true. But brethren, that's not really the force of the passage. He's talking about believers.
And it's in the same manner in which it's spoken of in Romans chapter 5.
For there it says, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Now Israel was saved out of Egypt by the blood.
But they were saved from the defeat with Amalek by Moses on the top of the hill. And So what he's really talking about is he's able to save them to the uttermost. You have a very trying situation at work. You have some physical problem that makes it seem awfully hard for you. Do you have difficulty perhaps with are you more emotional than other people? The Lord knows all about this.
And isn't that lovely that we have one up there who understands us perfectly? And the reason it says he has, it says he has an unchangeable priesthood. It means this, that he knows all about us from the time that we were born. You know, in Israel there was a high priest. And then he died and another one replaced him. And perhaps the second one wasn't nearly as compassionate.
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The first one, but the one that we have is the same one that undertook for Paul, that undertook for my father, it undertook for my mother and he knows my whole emotional setup, he knows my physical setup, he knows all about me and this is so lovely. I've often said if you have a doctor and he knows the family, you feel pretty badly if the doctor dies and you have to get another one.
He'll never understand our family in the same way.
Isn't it, blessed brethren, that we have a high Priest who thoroughly understands us, touched with a feeling of our infirmities, was in all points tempted like as we are sent apart, never tempted from within, But often in His blessed pathway we find Him tempted from without by the malice of Satan and by the wickedness of man.
What a precious savior we have and you can't come to often. It says in every time of need you don't have to run to your room. Even Nehemiah saw himself in a difficult situation and he didn't run to his room. He just prayed to the God of heaven while he was in the presence of the great king. So we have one that we can come to in every time of need and it says when Moses hand was up.
Israel prevailed, and when you and I asked the Lord for help. But then we find that He gives us grace to overcome that flesh within.
Not that we expect the flesh to improve, but we have one. We have a good captain, the Lord Jesus, and we also have him living up there at the right hand of God. And isn't this very precious that we can come to Him, I say, in every time of need. He never gets tired of us coming.
We might have a friend that does get tired of this coming, but he never does. He doesn't sleep day or night. He's always ready and he's able to supply all the grace that we need. Is there any wonder that as long as Moses hand was up.
Israel prevailed when it went down. Amalek prevailed. Now, of course, we know the Lord Jesus will never fail in his priestly work, but we fail to ask him for help. We try to meet situations in our own strength. We run out, perhaps without getting down on our knees and asking the Lord for help. Situations arise and we don't do what Nehemiah did. We don't send that a little swift prayer to the Lord.
And so Amalek prevailed.
Well, it tells us too, that when Moses went up there, he had two hands.
It's very interesting. If you noticed carefully when I read speaks about one hand going down, but it never talks about the other hand going down.
Is in the 11TH verse. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But that only says the hand, and then the 12TH verse says his hands were steady.
Till the going down of the sun saw that. This shows us that the other hand never went down. Why is that? Well, you know, friends, the other hand is the advocacy of Christ. And the advocacy of Christ goes on continually. And I'd like you to turn with me now. And there's just two verses I'd like to read or two passages in John.
Epistle. First Epistle of John and the first chapter.
On the eighth verse.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We say that we have not sinned. We make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things write I am to you that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Jesus Christ the Righteous.
Now there's two parts to the Lord Jesus work for us at the right hand of God. His priesthood is to keep us from failing to supply the grace that we need. His advocacy is to maintain us there before the Father and to restore us when we have failed. You say well why was it that the other hand didn't go down well perhaps if you noticed when I read in first John 2 and verse one, it says if any man.
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Sin we have an advocate with the Father, but I call your attention to is that it doesn't say if any man confess his sin. We have an advocate with the Father, but it says if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father. Because before you have confessed your sin, the Lord Jesus is there on your behalf as the advocate. You say, well, what happens when a believer sins?
Well, he gets out of fellowship with God.
He doesn't enjoy the Lord when he has unconfessed sin in his life, but the sin doesn't change his standing before God.
The very moment the believer sins, the Lord Jesus, if I can put it in a very simple way, is in the presence of God the Father. And it's just as though he said I paid for that sin at the cross. Isn't that blessed?
Because if it wasn't for that, supposing the Lord came before you confessed that sin. Oh, you say, I'm afraid I'd be left behind because I hadn't confessed that sin. But the Lord was there as your advocate before you ever confessed it. He's maintaining your cause before the Father. It's just like if you had a good lawyer, for that's what an advocate is. It's just like you had a good lawyer and he saw you make some slip in the business and before he even told him about it.
He's already acted to protect you. He's interested in your affairs. Well, we have such an advocate. We have one. We don't deceive ourselves by saying that we haven't sinned. We're not like some people who say, well, if you sin after you're saved, you're lost again. No, we only deceive ourselves if we say that we don't have a fallen nature in us. We only deceive ourselves if we say that we haven't failed since.
Saved us, but all. How blessed. We have the one who's there to keep us from failing, and we have the one there at the right hand of God as our advocate when we have failed.
Well, it's very important, of course, that we should confess our sins, because if we don't confess them, we remain out of communion with the Lord. And a Christian who doesn't come and own his sin to the Lord while he is still saved and he never can be lost, he won't be very happy.
And it's sad to see Christians who go on in unconfessed sin, they get cold in their souls, they become unhappy. The Lord doesn't give them up by any means, but they're they're not happy because it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He's faithful because he's always there before the Father.
He's just because he paid for.
Our sins of the Cross.
Must just tell this little incident to make it clear.
Was a lady many years ago that accepted the Lord as their Savior in a gospel meeting and was very, very happy.
And then after a while she became sad because she realized that after she was saved, she had sin.
And she came to the brother who was holding the meetings, and she said, oh, she said, I was so happy when I was saved, but I've sinned since I was saved. And I wonder what about those sins?
And this brother said to her, well I just want to ask you 2 questions.
First, how many of your sins were future when the Lord Jesus died?
Well, she said. I guess they were all future. I wasn't even born.
Well, he said. The second question is, do you think the Lord Jesus is going to die for sin again?
Well, no, she said, I don't think he is well, the scripture says he isn't. It says in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Well, his brother said to her, if the Lord Jesus didn't settle your the question of your sins of Calvary, it'll never be settled. It's very blessed, dear friends, to see that it was settled, but we do need.
That help so that we would be kept.
And then just a little word here. It doesn't say if anyone asks forgiveness, but it says if we confess our sins. I've heard some Christians say, well, when I fail, I ask the Lord to forgive me. Or I've heard others say ask the Lord to forgive my sins every day.
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You don't have to ask the Lord to forgive your sins every day. If you know Him as your Savior, your sins are forgiven you.
But let me put it something like this.
If I have done something very unkind to you and I came to you and I said will you forgive me? I'm raising the question about whether you're going to say yes or no.
When I say will you forgive me? You can say yes or you can say no.
But if you said to me, well, Gordon, I've already forgiven you in my heart, but I would like you to say you're sorry. Now that's a little different, isn't it?
And sometimes I think it's a little harder to say you're sorry. I'm glad that my parents, when we did something wrong, wasn't enough for us just to ask to be forgiven. We had to acknowledge that we were wrong and say that we were sorry. And you know, that's a good thing for us. And when we have failed, we need to come to the Lord. We need to realize what it cost him to put that sin away. We need to have a sense in our souls that he had to suffer for that.
Of the Cross and to acknowledge it to him as something that has grieved his heart and that has broken fellowship with him. But when we do, then we enjoy this forgiveness again.
Perhaps I could just give a little word in the difference between knowing all our sins forgiven and governmental forgiveness. When you accept the Lord as your Savior, you'll never have to deal with God as a judge again. That whole question was settled at the cross. But there is the forgiveness of sins in the family of God.
I heard a story about a boy. He got out in some bad company. His father had told him not to go with these boys. He got out in some bad company and they were throwing stones and he threw a stone and he threw it right through a store window. And the the storekeeper was very angry and he came and said that it was going to have him arrested and all kinds of things for what he was doing.
And the boy said, well, Sir, would you please call my father?
So he called the father and the father came down. The boy acknowledged he was wrong and the father paid for the broken window. That was all settled now, but when they were going home, the boy said.
Dad, am I going to have to go to court and to jail? No, he said. That's all settled. He's perfectly satisfied. I've got the receipt right here in my hand. He has no more claim on you at all. But he said I have something to say to you.
As a father now, if I can illustrate, this is the difference, dear friends, if you know the Lord as your Savior, you'll never have to do with God as a judge. But we do call on the Father who without respect of persons, judges according to every man's work. And there is a forgiveness in the family. Judicially, our sins are forgiven us. And so that's why we just come and acknowledge that we're wrong.
But in the family there is this what is sometimes called.
Of governmental forgiveness. So we find here that provision was made and Moses hands were steady till the going down of the sun. The Lord's never going to give up that.
Twofold part of his work there as our high priest ever living to make intercession as our advocate there in the right hand at the right hand of God.
So that he's always maintaining our cause before the Father.
So this was to be written in a book and rehearsed in the ears of Joshua. I sometimes say many of us here tonight have heard these things before, but Moses was to write this down so Joshua would hear it again because he might forget. And we need to be reminded of these things. We're still in the wilderness, brethren, the enemies around. He comes out and he just knows our weak points.
And so we need to be reminded of this. It's very precious for us to be reminded.
But it's nice what it says in the end, the chapter, the 16th verse.
The Lord has warned that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. I like that little expression. The Lord will have more with Amalek.
There's a little song that says the Lord is our banner, the battle is his, the weakest of Saints more than conqueror is. Isn't it nice to know that the battle is really the Lord's? He gives us the way of victory, but it's really his battle. And so it tells us here that Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah.
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Nissi, which means the Lord our banner. So he put up this this banner.
He said I wanted to always remember the way of victory. I never want to try and get victory over Amalek myself. I want to remember God's way of victory. And so we need to do this too. We need to erect our altar. We need to erect that banner.
It says the Lord is our banner, the battle is his.