This is chapter 17. We're considering the first seven verses of the chapter. And in that portion of scripture, we saw the miracle of water provided for Israel through the smiting of the rock by Moses at the command of God. This took place at Rephidim. Now, we'll begin to read tonight in Exodus 17 at verse 8. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose without men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with a rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. They came to pass when Moses held up his hand, but Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, but 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 discomfited 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 Nisai. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Amalek was the first enemy encountered by Israel after their deliverance from Egypt. You may recall, as we have recorded in Exodus 13 and verse 17, that God did not lead his people by the way of the Philistines, which was the most direct route from Egypt to Canaan. And the reason given for that was, lest they should see war and return to Egypt. There were certain lessons that Israel had to learn before they were ready to encounter an enemy. Those lessons, I believe, were learned particularly at the crossing of the Red Sea, so that Amalek, as recorded in this chapter, becomes the first enemy, the first adversary. encountered by Israel on their way to the promised land of Canaan. We might pause and consider the three enemies that Israel had to deal with. First of all, there were the Egyptians. Then Amalek, and later when they came to Canaan, there were the Canaanite nations that inhabited that land. Egypt, as we saw in our previous studies, is a type of the world. And against the Egyptians, Israel did not need to fight. In the 14th chapter of the book of Exodus, we were studying that remarkable deliverance granted by God to his people, Israel, when they're pursued by Pharaoh and his armies. You remember the they stood on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea. That sea seemed to present an impassable barrier to them. They could not move forward. Behind them came Pharaoh with all the military might of Egypt. And the situation was indeed serious for Israel. But you may recall that, as we have recorded in verses 13 and 14, of this book of Exodus. The word to Israel was, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom he has seen today, he shall see them again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And so, here was granted a once-for-all victory election, and it was by the Lord, without any assistance whatsoever from the Israelites. This would remind us of the words of our Lord Jesus that we have in John chapter 16 and verse 33. There he said to his disciples, In the world ye shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and so the victory has been given to us over the world through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Paul was undoubtedly referring to this when in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 14 he said, God forbid that I should glory, save him the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Now, the only danger presented to the Israelites from Egypt after they had been delivered through the Red Sea was the danger of loving the things of Egypt. You may recall that in Numbers 11 and verse 5, we're told of one occasion on which the Israelites were murmuring, and they said, we remember the fish which we did eat freely in Egypt, and the melons, and the cucumbers, and the onions, and the leek, and the garlic. They remembered these things which had pickled their palate, but they did not recall the terrible suffering that they endured at the hands of the Tashmah. Christians. But they were only in danger regarding Egypt once they were delivered from it. Their only danger was of loving it. Now that is the danger that confronts us as Christians in relation to the world. The world has been overcome by our Lord. We are crucified to it and it to us by the cross of Christ. But we have the exhortation in 1 John 2, verses 14 and 15, Love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now let us consider this adversary that is facing the Israelites now at Rephidim. Amalek. We read of Amalek about 24 times, I believe, in the Old Testament. He was the grand son of Esau. And Esau, you remember, was the man of the flesh. The man who chose for temporal things, material things, in contrast to the spiritual. The man who sold his birthright for a mess of potty, that which appealed to the flesh. Now, here is his grandson Amalek, and Amalek stands out in Scripture as an illustration of the flesh. That's what we're going to look at tonight. In Numbers chapter 24 and verse 20, he is spoken of as the first of the nations. And thus he becomes the representative of the first man Adam and the first creation. Now this is a natural creation. This is a flesh. I think we should pause long enough to remind ourselves that that term, the flesh, is used in a six-fold way in the Scripture. It's used of meat, meat as food. And then it's used of the body of man. Sometimes it refers to our physical flesh. It refers to man himself in some scriptures, or to mankind in general. You remember our Lord said prior to the flood, the end of all flesh is come before me. Then when we come to the New Testament, the term flesh is used symbolically in John chapter 6 of the death of Christ. You remember he spoke about eating his flesh. Now, he certainly did not mean his literal flesh. But just as we eat food to nourish our bodies, to maintain and sustain the physical life that is within our bodies, so we must appropriate by faith the death of Christ if we're going to have eternal life. only symbolically of Christ's death, but is used in an ethical sense of the fallen nature that is in man. Something like 30 times in our New Testament, I believe this term flesh refers to that fallen nature that is in us. Eight times it's translated carnal, which is simply fleshly. Now, in this sense, the flesh is synonymous with our old Adamic nature. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 3, it's called sin in the flesh. And in Romans chapter 6 and verse 6, it's spoken of as the body of sin. In chapter 7, verses 17 and 20, Paul speaks of sin. dwelleth in me. Now that's the old nature. That's the flesh. And then in the 23rd verse of that seventh chapter, he speaks of the law of sin in my members. The word law here carries the thought of principle. So it's the principle of sin in my members. Then I believe to the flesh is synonymous with a heart. In Mark chapter 7, verses 21 and 22, we have that terrible stream of pollution that flows from the human heart. And if you compare that with the works of the flesh, as recorded Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 21, I think you will see that the heart is synonymous us with the flesh. Now, the flesh in this sense, as our evil, fallen, Adamic nature, that which we received by our first birth, it's spoken of in various scriptures in this way. The description of it is indeed appalling, but we need to grasp this to realize how desperately nature is that is in us and let us remember it never improves I have been saved almost 50 years the flesh in me is just as evil and corrupt as it was when I was the first saved almost 50 years ago it's spoken of in Jeremiah 17 and 9 as deceitful above all things and desperately wicked I referred to the of wickedness that flows from it, as recorded in Mark 7 and verse 23, and to the works of it, those depraved works that you have in Galatians chapter 5, verses 19 through 21, it's spoken of us filthy. In Romans chapter 8 and verse 7, we are told that it's an enmity against God. to the law of God neither indeed can be that is the flesh that's in us at enmity against God continually if you will glance down in this chapter that we were reading from chapter 17 you'll notice in verse 16 words that apparently in the Hebrew are quite difficult to translate for amongst competent translators, there has been a considerable difference of opinion as to just how this verse should be translated. But there seems to be almost general agreement that it carries the thought of a hand against the throne of the Lord. That is undoubtedly what Paul is referring to in Romans chapter 8, when When he speaks about the carnal mind being at enmity against God, as it were, the flesh has its hand upraised in rebellion and defiance and hatred against the God of heaven. Now that's the flesh that is in us, and that is what is typified in Amalek. We are going to take time, know that it will take several studies. We're going to take time to trace a little of the history of Amalek as we have recorded in our Bible. We're going to do this because we must learn the basic lessons regarding the flesh, and then we shall learn how we can have victory over it. Now, that is just in brief, the adversary then, that met Israel at Rephita. Now, I want us to look a little at this attack. We read in verse 8, Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. The important word in this verse is then. That's the time. Now, there are two things about this time that we must notice. It was after they had drunk of the water that came from the smitten rock. That is very, very important. You may recall in our study of the smitten rock and the water that flowed from it that we pointed out that the water here is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, we read that they... all drank of the same spiritual drink, for they drank of the rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. That water, then, that flowed from the smitten rock is symbolic of the Spirit of God, who was given by Christ after he ascended to glory. We went over all that in our study of the first seven verses of the chapter, so we'll not retrace our steps again. But thinking of the water here as being symbolic of the Holy Spirit, it was after this water had been received by the Israelites that we read, Then came Amalek. Amalek certainly had existed before this, but they had not troubled Israel until this particular moment. So it is when we think of the flesh. Now the flesh, of course, is in us from the time we were born. It's that Adamic nature that we received by our first birth, as I've already said, and which is in us. It is us, really, until we are born again. At the time we are born again, nature, a spiritual nature, through the energy and power of the Holy Spirit of God. And as soon as we are born again by the Spirit, and the Spirit comes to dwell within us, for just as all Israel drank all that water from the rock, so every born-again believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. That is clearly taught in many scriptures in our New Testament. Now, just as soon as the Spirit of God enters in, a conflict begins between the flesh and the Spirit. We read of that in Galatians chapter 5 and verse 17. There we have the words, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that he cannot do the things that he would. That is the internal struggle that every born-again believer experiences. And as I say it, begins when the Spirit of God comes within and is in opposition to the flesh. and the flesh is in opposition to it I remember when I was first saved almost 50 years ago I went to the meeting the day after I was converted and the big Irish evangelist who had led me to Christ he said to me something like this well McKay are you saved and I said well I I hardly know. I'm not absolutely sure. I thought I was last night. Well, he said, what's the matter? Well, I said, there's a struggle going on within. I said, there are old desires there that I used to have before I was saved, and I didn't expect that. He said, is that all that's there? Oh, no, I said, there seems to be. to be something there that's seeking to suppress those evil desires, that is in opposition to them. And so I said there's a kind of a struggle going on within me. I don't understand it. Well, he was quite a blunt Irishman, and he was well-experienced in the things of God, and he simply turned on his heel with a word, well, I guess you're saved all right, and left me. I was to learn later, of course, that what was happening was Amalek had attacked Israel. Or in New Testament language, the flesh was warring against the Holy Spirit within me. And the very fact that that struggle was going on was an indication. It was a proof that I had been truly born again. Now we're going to talk in a later study of how we get the victory in connection with this struggle. But right here, we are concentrating on the time of this attack by Amelie. And I want to point out before I leave this, it was not only at the time when they had received the water from the smitten rock, murmuring, and when they were discontented. Now there is nothing that opens the door to an attack by the flesh as a discontented spirit in a Christian. Murmuring, criticizing, complaining, that is a sure indication of the activity of the flesh, and it opens the door. for Amalek to attack us, and we're not careful to get the victory over us. But not only should we notice the time of this attack, I want you to notice the nature of it. And first of all, we notice that it was initiated by Amalek. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. in Romans chapter 8, that the flesh is opposed to God, actively opposed to God and the things of God and the people of God. Peter wrote, a fleshly lust with war against the soul. Now we don't attack the flesh, but the flesh attacks us, and our part is to reckon that it has been crucified our old man we read in Romans chapter 6 and verse 6 is crucified with Christ now that as we shall see later is one of the main keys to victory over the flag but we're thinking here particularly the of the fact that this attack was initiated by But we must notice the subtle nature of this attack. It wasn't a frontal attack. They did not stand out as it were in the road and bar the path of Israel. In the first book of Samuel, chapter 15, we read in verse 2, Thus thus the Lord of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid weight for him in the way when he came up from Egypt. That's what I want you to notice. He laid weight for him in the way. Now, that's the way the flesh does. That's the way it operates. It doesn't come out and make so much of a bold, apparent attack against us right out in the open, saying, as it were, no, I'm the flesh, and I've come to oppose you. I've come to overthrow you. in weight. This was an ambush, and that's the way the flesh operates. It lies in weight for us, and then at an unguarded moment, it attacks, and before we know it, we go down before it. There is a verse in the 25th chapter of Deuteronomy that I want you to look at. Deuteronomy chapter 25 and we'll read verse 17 remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way when you were come forth out of Egypt now notice how he came forth how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee even all that were feeble behind thee when thou was faint and weary and he feared not God here again we notice This was not a frontal attack. No doubt the armed men would be at the head of the colium of Israel as they marched along. And Amalek didn't attack them, but he lay in wait. And as the colium passed by, he saw the stragglers, those that were in the rear that had dropped back, that were beginning to lag a little. most of these, all that were feeble behind these. These were the ones, the ones that were falling out a little, the ones that weren't keeping pace with the rest of Israel. These were the ones that fell prey to Amalek. Now, therein lies a very, very important lesson, my brethren and sisters. The only safe place. the flesh is pressing forward for God. Just as soon as you begin to lag behind your brethren a little, you are getting in danger. And the flesh is alert to that opportunity and is going to take advantage of you. Don't become a once a weaker. Don't become a once a monther. Be there at all of the services, you need the fellowship of the Lord's people all the time. Don't slacken off. Don't lose hearts. Don't be in and outer. Or before you know it, Amalek will have you and you'll be out overcome by the flesh. Those that were feeble, it says among you. They were losing their strength, and it's when you and I lose our spiritual strength through failure to read the word of God and pray and fellowship with the Lord's people and serve the Lord. It's when we lose our fervency, our spiritual strength and vigor that the flesh is going to take advantage of us. Oh, my brethren, keep going on for God and you're much safer from the flesh. if you lag behind. Keep up in the forefront. Get in the thick of a battle. It's the safest place. It has the dangers, but not the dangers of those who lag behind. It says here when thou was faint and weary, oh how the flesh knows when we begin to faint a little, when we become weary a little, and the flesh will take advantage of a span now sometimes our weariness may be a physical weariness it may be a mental weariness it may really be no fault of our own but I have learned from experience over many years that that is the time when the flesh is going to seek to get an advantage over us and so in every way we possibly can we We need to keep strong, and when there is weakness come that we have no control over, be on the alert. Watch for Amalek. He's lurking somewhere in the shadows, and he wants to overthrow you. Now we're not going to continue this any further tonight, but we will have other studies on it because we are really just getting into the meat of it. But I hope that you now, from our study tonight, that we have identified Amalek as the flesh and that we've learned a little of how the flesh is going to attack the people of God. And as I said, we are going to look a little more at the activities of Amalek because we want to learn all we can about the activities of flesh against it and we're going to see how the victory was won that day over Amalek and that will illustrate to us how we can gain the victory