SERMON TITLE: Four Principles of Victory

SERMON REFERENCE: Exodus 17:8-11

LWF SERMON NUMBER: #2160

We are grateful for the opportunity to provide this outline produced

from a sermon preached by Adrian Rogers while serving as
pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
This outline is intended for your personal, non-commercial use.

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FOUR PRINCIPLES OF VICTORY | EXODUS 17:8-11 | #2160

1) INTRODUCTION
a) Our biggest enemy is our own self.
i) The Bible calls that “the old man.”
(1) Romans 6:6
(2) Ephesians 4:22
(3) Colossians 3:9
ii) The Bible also calls it “the flesh.”
(1) Romans 6:19
(2) Romans 7:5
b) We are in a battle with three enemies:
i) The world
ii) The flesh
iii) The devil
c) Today’s message will focus on our battle with the flesh.
i) In this context, “the flesh” is not referring to the material body.
(1) It is not our skin and bones.
(2) It is referring to the nature that we inherited from our parents, who
got it from Adam.
(3) It is a disposition against the things of God.
(4) Galatians 5:17
ii) The Old Testament is more than history.
(1) It is devotional literature.
(2) In our passage in Exodus, we see the coming of the Jewish nation out
of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into Canaan.
(a) 1 Corinthians 10:11
iii) We will learn a lesson about the life of conquest.
(1) At one time, the Jewish people were in Egypt and were slaves.
(a) Egypt represents the world that we’ve been called out of.
(b) Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, represents the devil.
(c) Canaan does not represent Heaven; it represents victory.
(i) It represents the Spirit-filled life.
1. Not in the sweet by and by, but in the here and now.
2. We can have victory day by day.
(2) As Christians, we have come out of Egypt, we’re coming through a
wilderness, but we’re headed toward Canaan.
(a) We ought to already be there.
d) Exodus 17:8-13
e) In today’s message, we will learn four principles of victory.
i) Before we get to Heaven, we can bring Heaven to Earth.

2) RECEIVE A GRACIOUS PROVISION: SALVATION (EXODUS 17:1-6)

a) Exodus 17:1-6
i) The children of Israel were in a barren land, dying of thirst.

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ii) God told Moses to smite the rock with a rod, and water would come from
that rock.
b) This account in Exodus of getting water from the rock literally happened,
and it is also a glorious illustration of our salvation.
i) 1 Corinthians 10:11
ii) 1 Corinthians 10:4
(1) That rock pictures the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages, smitten for
us.
iii) Isaiah 53:4
iv) Because Jesus was smitten for us, out of His side came forth water.
(1) That water represents the Holy Spirit, which is the water of life.
(2) Because Jesus was smitten and died upon the cross and out of His side
flowed that refreshment, the Holy Spirit is in us right now (if we have
been born again).
c) If you’ve never received Jesus Christ, are you thirsty?
i) Is there something missing in your life?
(1) It is not something, it is someone.
(2) What you’re thirsting for is Jesus.
ii) You will never be satisfied or feel contentment until you know the Lord
Jesus Christ.
iii) Revelation 21:6
d) If you want to live a life of victory, then you must receive salvation.

3) REALIZE A GRAND PURPOSE: VICTORY (EXODUS 13:3-8)

a) Being saved is wonderful, but God has much more for us.
i) God’s plan for His people was not merely that they come out of Egypt and
go into the wilderness of Sinai.
ii) God’s plan for His people was that they go into the land of Canaan.
(1) God brought them out that He might bring them in.
b) Exodus 13:3-8
i) God told the people that He wanted them to celebrate when they came
into the land flowing with milk and honey.
(1) He wanted them to keep the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread.
ii) God also told them that their children would ask the meaning of the
celebration.
(1) They could then tell their children that they were celebrating what
God had done for them when He brought them out of Egypt and into
this land.
c) Why is the devil getting the kids of the best families in our churches today?
i) These are the kids of faithful church members.
(1) Those who sing in the choir, teach Sunday school, love God, tithe, live
clean lives, etc.
(2) And yet, their children are living wayward lives.

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ii) It is a complicated thing, but one reason it happens is that there are many
Christians who have come out of Egypt but have never gone into Canaan.
(1) The children of Israel ate manna in the wilderness for 40 years.
(a) Manna was not meant to satisfy them.
(i) It was only meant to sustain them until they got into the land
that flowed with milk and honey.
(ii) It was only meant as temporary food.
(b) They were only meant to spend a little time in the wilderness.
(2) Because of their unbelief, the children of Israel went around in circles
in the desert.
(3) There were children born during those 40 years in the wilderness.
(a) Their parents had come out of Egypt, but these children only knew
the wilderness.
(b) Those kids had only known manna for food.
(c) Those children born in the wilderness had heard about Canaan, but
they had never seen Canaan.
(i) Their parents are not living in Canaan.
(ii) Their parents are saved (they’ve come out of Egypt), but they’re
not living the victorious, Spirit-filled life.
(4) Suppose those parents decided to celebrate in the wilderness what
God had done for them.
(a) God said to celebrate in the land, not in the wilderness.
(i) Exodus 13:5-8
(b) What would the children be celebrating?
iii) Many Christian parents have come out, but they’ve never gone in.
(1) They have never learned how to live in victory before their children.
d) God brought us out that He might bring us in.

4) RESPECT A GRIEVOUS PROBLEM: THE FLESH (EXODUS 17:8)

a) Exodus 17:8
b) Amalek was a king and the grandson of Esau.
i) Esau was the man who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
(1) Esau was a profane man who sold his spiritual things for a bowl of
stew.
(2) He was more interested in the present than the future; the material
than the eternal; and the things of the flesh, not the things of the
Spirit.
(3) Hebrews 12:16
ii) Malachi 1:1-4
(1) When God says that He hates Esau, He is not talking about a baby
Esau, but He is talking about a whole nation, the Edomites.
(2) He is not talking about people in the flesh but about a principle that is
the flesh.

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iii) Amalek was part of that category of persons with whom God said He had
a perpetual war.
(1) Amalek represents what we all have in us, and that is the flesh.
(2) The flesh is our enemy.
(a) There is an Amalek in each of us.
c) Romans 8:6-7
i) “Carnally minded” means “fleshly minded.”
d) Galatians 5:17
i) This is the principle of the flesh that will come against us.
e) As soon as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved (as soon as we
come out of Egypt and drink of the water that comes from the rock that is
smitten for us), the Bible says, “Then came Amalek.”
i) Exodus 17:8
ii) Immediately when we come out of Egypt, the flesh comes.
(1) Amalek (the flesh) comes to tell us that we are not going into Canaan.
f) Deuteronomy 25:18
i) God will test us in our strongest point; the flesh will attack us in our
weakest point to keep us from entering into Canaan.

5) REMEMBER A GLORIOUS PRINCIPLE: VICTORY IS GOD-GIVEN (EXODUS 17:9-

12)
a) Exodus 17:9-12
i) The victory is God-given.
b) There is a perpetual warfare.
i) The flesh is in us.
ii) When we get saved, the flesh is not eradicated.
(1) But we can have victory.
c) The rod that Moses had was the rod of God.
i) It represents the power of God.
ii) It was the rod that opened up the Red Sea.
iii) It was the rod that smote the rock and sent forth water.
iv) This rod was now going to lead them into battle.
(1) The victory over Amalek (over our flesh) is a God-given victory.
d) Galatians 5:16
i) Holiness is not the way to Christ; Christ is the way to holiness.
ii) This passage does not say that if we walk not in the flesh, then we can
walk in the Spirit.
(1) We must walk in the Spirit, and then we will not fulfill the lusts of the
flesh.
e) The victory over our flesh is a God-given victory, and that’s the only way we
can come out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into Canaan.
f) We need to take the rod of God (which is the Word of God, the power of God,
and the Spirit of God), and hold it high.
i) We need to pray for one another and help one another.

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ii) We need to hold up one another’s arms because the victory is God-given.
g) The victory is realized in the valley, but it’s won on the mountain.
i) There is a battle.
ii) We can’t stay out of the battle.
iii) But the battle is the Lord’s.
h) Aaron was a priest.
i) He represents prayer.
i) The name of Hur, who held up the hands of Moses, means “whiteness” or
“purity.”
i) Purity and prayer holding up the hands of the people of God.

6) CONCLUSION
a) If you are tired of Egypt and are thirsty, then you can drink from that rock
today; His name is Jesus.
b) Receive Jesus into your life today.
c) Pray to Him and ask Him to come into your life.
d) Call upon Jesus today. Repent (turn) from your sins, and turn to Jesus. Ask
Him to forgive you of your sins, and acknowledge Him as Lord of your life.
i) Romans 3:23
ii) Romans 10:9-10
iii) Romans 10:13
iv) Acts 16:31
v) John 3:16

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