The Need to Die - Part 3

I want to close with Exodus 17 today. I'll talk about the first battle. They come out of captivity and the very first thing that they had to battle is the very first thing that you and I will have to fight when we respond to the call of God.

Exodus 17.8 says, Then came Amalek and fought with Israel and rephidim. Now Amalek is the grandson of Esau. Now Esau is the natural man who sold off his birthright for soup.

The man who didn't want the things of God. There's an Esau in all of us folks. There's a nature in us that doesn't want the things of God.

This was the very first thing that he had to come up against. His own nature. And Moses said to Joshua, choose out men and go and fight with Amalek.

Tomorrow I'll stand on the top of the hill with God in my hand. Now Amalek, if you go to the end of that chapter, it says the Lord swore that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. God says this is going to be an ongoing battle.

But I'm going to show you how to get the victory. I'm going to show you where your life comes from, where your strength comes from. So Joshua verse 10, did as Moses had said unto him and fought with Amalek.

And Moses and Aaron, remember Aaron is the type as it is of the natural man. 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.

There's a type of something here. When Moses raised up his hands and surrendered to God, when his dependence was on God, the kingdom of God began to advance and go forward. And when his hands came down, when the weariness of his own flesh began to overpower him and he began to lose confidence in a sense as a physical type of the man who loses confidence in God.

And when he let his hands come down, then Amalek, the descendants of Eshaw began to prevail against the children of God. And Moses hands were heavy, verse 12. Scripture says they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on that stone.

And virtually every commentator, at least that I looked at, talks about that stone being an absolute type of Jesus Christ. And Aaron and her stayed up his hands. The one on the one side and the one on the other side.

And his hands were steady till the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. Now beloved, listen to me.

Natural talents and abilities may be yours to accompany you and I on this journey. It's not wrong to have natural ability. You might be today a natural leader.

You might be a natural speaker. You might be a natural singer. You might be a natural Bible teacher.

You might be a natural missionary. You might be a natural planner. You might have incredible planning ability in the field that you work in, but God is calling you into his kingdom.

And it's not wrong to have these abilities and they will always be there will always be an Aaron following along with a Moses. They're types in a sense of the two natures in the same man that God calls. But make sure, make sure that by God's grace the natural man and natural ability stay servants to faith in God.

You see Aaron, all Aaron did was Aaron was holding up Moses hands. The natural man became a servant to faith. And that's what God is speaking to us.

If you have inabilities, don't limit me by those inabilities. If you have abilities, keep those abilities servants to faith. Don't let your natural man begin to lead you because it would lead you and those that follow you astray.

Let your natural talents, let your natural ability always give place to faith in God. There is no other way to victory in the Christian life or in the kingdom of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.