The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lasser Bradley Jr. Mm-hmm. Dozen tumblers seem My great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my god and king, the triumphs of his race. This is LaSaire Bradley Jr., inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Oh God, our help.
He nations and our hope for His to come Our shelter from the torn devastate.
So fish are alone and our defence is sure before the hills in order for earthly sinter praise from everlasting the Lord God to endless His name. Oh God, our healthy nature has our hope for here to come. He thou thy life, my life, the last, and thy turn. I'm glad to have this opportunity to bring you a message from God's Word and pray that it'll be a blessing to you. If you want our broadcast to continue on your station, it's important that we hear from you.
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Into space and holds them in their proper place. Who, like a curtain, stretch the sky to make a place for birds to fly, who sends the wind and sun and rain to nourish fields of golden grain, who forms the seed and makes the weed and gives us daily bread to eat. He takes a sailor, pain, and file, and makes him as our little child.
Soft dos his will and guides his feet, and draws him to the mercy seat. Let all creation lift his voice and In the Lord, let us rejoice that all his works praise and confess the glory of his righteousness.
Now, today we come to a message we've entitled Blessings Restored. How wonderful to observe this recovery after the children of Israel had been defeated at Ai, And now God's blessings is once more being showered on them. We see in the book Victory. and defeat. Mistaken judgment.
And Confident conquest. Faithful obedience. and great sin. Abundant blessing and horrific judgment. Miraculous deliverances and practical duties.
Idolaters destroyed and grace rescuing sinners. And today We say that one defeat is not the end. We come to chapter 8. Joshua chapter eight Reading beginning with the first verse. And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not.
neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise up Two AI. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king. Only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves.
Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.
Now, immediately, we can note something here of interest. The Lord had forbidden the people to take any of the spoil. when they went to Jericho. He said, that being the first fruits, that being the first city that they were to conquer. that the spoil belonged to him.
Now when they come to AI, he says, you can have the spoil.
So we can't help but think about what a terrible mistake Aiken made. Of course, he was in strict rejection of the commandment of God when he saw the valuable things and took them and hid them in his tent. But the point is, if he had just waited, At this next place of battle, They were given liberty to take the spoil. What a practical lesson. How many times As human beings we can get in a hurry.
We want what we want. We want it on our timetable. And we move ahead. Bye. knowing better than the course that's being pursued.
but such a desire for whatever the object may be, and then the consequences of disobedience are suffered.
So At this point. The Lord says You're to go forward. I have given The king of Ai. The people, the land, all of it into your hands. You're going to be victorious.
So, the first thing we consider in looking at this passage is encouragement. This is an oft-repeated message. You might say, well, yeah, I thought we'd covered that. In some of the previous messages, have we not heard these promises. That God would be with his people, and a message of encouragement that was regularly delivered.
Indeed, that's true. In fact, this goes all the way back. to the day of Moses. Before Moses died, He delivered words of encouragement to Joshua concerning what would transpire when they came into the land. We'll look at the book of Deuteronomy.
Chapter thirty one, verse three. The LORD thy God, He will go over before thee. And he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them. And Joshua shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.
So, in anticipation of the fact that the children of Israel would move forward. and claim the promises of God, and inherit that land, Moses gives a word of encouragement. Verse 5. And the Lord shall give them up before your face. that ye may do unto them according to all the commandments which I commanded you.
Verse six. Be strong and of good courage. Fear not. Nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, He it is that doth go with thee, He will not fail thee nor forsake thee.
What better promise could anybody hope to receive? The God of heaven The Creator of heaven and earth, the one that upholds all things by his power. says be of good courage You don't have to be afraid. Why? The Lord is going to go with you, and he will not forsake you.
That ought to Adequate. to have the people Move forward, no matter what the opposition might have been, no matter what their momentary fear might have been, to remember this. Remember what God said. All right. Be of good courage because I am going with you.
Verse 7. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, Be strong, and of good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto thy fathers to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. and the Lord he it is that doth go before thee. He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed.
So this Wonderful message. of encouragement. was given by Moses. That notable leader of God's people prior to his death to tell Joshua and the people as they moved forward, they need not be afraid because God was going to go with them. Then, after the death of Moses, God Himself speaks.
God Himself speaks to Joshua.
So we look at the book of Joshua, chapter 1. Verse 5. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
So just as Moses delivered the message that he had received from the Lord to Joshua, now the Lord delivers it himself and says, I'm not going to fail thee. I'm not going to forsake you. I'm going to be with you. Verse 6, Be strong and of good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide the land which I swear unto the fathers to give them. Only Be thou strong and very courageous.
They might say Why why are the same words used repeatedly? Why why is this brought? Before the people and before Joshua their leader. not only by Moses, but now directly by God himself.
Well The Lord doesn't speak any idle words. The Lord doesn't speak words that are not necessary.
So there's a reason for it. The reason is because the people Or weak. The people easily became discouraged. caved in to some of the difficulties that they encountered. And certainly, it was a great challenge for Joshua to lead these people and to remain courageous in the face of all kinds of difficulties.
So once again, in verse 7, it's saying only Be thou strong, very courageous, that thou may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. That certainly was a key part of the admonition. Not only was God giving His people words of encouragement and assuring them of His blessing, but He's also warning them that they must not turn aside, either to the left hand or to the right, that they must walk obediently, that they must observe His commandments, that they might go forward.
So Admonitions. To be of Good courage. Not to fear. and the promise that God will be with his people and not forsake them are mentioned repeatedly. Over a dozen times here in the latter part of the Pentateuch and then in the first part of the book of Joshua, those words are repeated.
They are there for a reason. Repetition is necessary.
Sometimes a person may say, well, I've heard that before.
Well, hopefully you have. We're not here to preach anything new. We're preaching the age-old message of the inspired word of God. And if you've been listening to these messages from the book of Joshua, you heard us go into detail in those early chapters about the repetition of this word of encouragement.
Well Not only do we find that principle here, but Peter Informs us in the second epistle that he wrote, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 12. He says, wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them. You already know this, but I'm going to put you in remembrance. I'm going to keep reminding you. You know them and be established in the present truth.
But I'm going to come over it again. Why? Because we need it. How quickly we can forget. You may hear a message or you may read a portion of scripture and at that moment be convicted.
or be encouraged, be instructed. And The distractions of life come along and a short time later you let it slip away. You've totally forgotten about it.
So you have to come back and read some more. Come back and hear another message. They reminded These things are necessary for your remembrance.
Now, it's no wonder that they needed a lot of encouragement. First of all, when they were going into the land, They had to cross the River Jordan, which was at flood stage. Think about that challenge. Two million people. Need to cross a river.
and they don't have any boats, they don't have any mode of transportation. How they're going to cross the river. A lot of encouragement. But God says, I'm going to be with you. And he was.
And as you know, he rolled back the waters, and the priests had to stand in the midst of the river holding the Ark of the Covenant until all the people had safely crossed over. And then they were going to have to conquer. At their first scene of battle? A well fortified, wall protected city. Surely they needed encouragement.
Not only that, but as they would pursue the conquering of the land, They were going to face the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. I see why they needed encouragement. they had a formidable enemy that they were going to face. And maybe if you'll be realistic. And start thinking about some of the things that you have to face in life.
You can say, I've got a lot of these ites to face also. I've got this challenge and that problem and this difficulty. And so encouragement. is needed. Necessary.
Then The message is found in numerous other of the Old Testament books. Go to the very first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 15 and verse 1. The Lord is speaking to Abraham. The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, What? Fear not, Abraham.
I am thy shield. an exceeding great reward. Don't be afraid. I'm going to protect you. I'm your shield.
Fear not. And then David expressed his confidence in the Lord in that familiar Psalm, Psalm 23, verse 4. He says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. No matter what The place that I must travel. In the very shadow of the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not going to be afraid.
The region is because God has promised to be with me. And then there's one in Isaiah chapter 35 that I've always particularly enjoyed. Verse 4 says, Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.
Now if you stop right there, you can see Well that didn't help. Don't be afraid. Well, I'm afraid anyway. Be strong.
Well, I'm not strong. I'm weak. They're like a little child who wakes up in the night and cries. And you could call down the hall and say Everything's okay. Go back to sleep.
And I'm sure experience tells you that that doesn't work. It still cries. But look at the rest of what's in this promise. Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense.
He will come and save you. And what a difference it makes when you call out to that little child and say, All right, I'm on the way, I'm coming to get you.
Now he's feeling better. everything's under control. He's got reason to cast off his fear. And so it is for us. The Lord doesn't just say, I want you to cast off your fear.
Wants you to be strong. He says, Here's the reason you can get rid of fear. Here's the reason you can be strong because God is going to come and save you.
So help is on the way. He is a very pleasant help in the time of trouble. As we call upon him, then we have assurance. that He will hear us and rescue us. And then we think about that little group of verses.
In Isaiah chapter 41. Verse 10. Fear thou not For I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Fear not. Why? How can you overcome fear? Because God says, I will strengthen you. I'll give you the strength you need.
Yes, you are weak, but I will strengthen you. I will help you. You know that you can't accomplish what you need to accomplish by yourself, but I'm going to help you. What better help could you ask for? If God is our helper, then we have every reason to be encouraged.
Same chapter, verse 13. For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. I'm going to hold you by the hand. You're not going to slip away. I'm holding you.
You need not fear. Verse fourteen Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. the Holy One of Israel. Three times in the same chapter.
Fear not. I'm gonna help you I'm the Lord. I'm going to hold you up. Fear not, I'm your redeemer. And then the message carries on.
in the New Testament as well. I think it's probably at least a dozen times in the Gospel of Luke. That the message is there. Fear not. First one is Luke chapter 1 of the 13th verse.
For the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias. For thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
So the angel speaks to Zacharias. telling him, I have good news for you. Your prayer has been heard. You don't have to be afraid. Fear not.
And then that wonderful declaration in the second chapter of the book of Luke, verse 10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, speaking to the shepherds that were watching their sheep. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. You can imagine that these men were immediately alarmed when this. Great number of angels appear.
But they say, you don't have to be afraid. We're bringing you good news. Tidings of great joy. And oh, do we not yet rejoice in the news that they brought. And at last All of the Old Testament prophecies had been fulfilled.
The Messiah had arrived. The Son of God was here. The Savior of sinners had come to perform his work. This is a time that the news is joyous, great joy. And then the scriptures conclude in the very last book of the Bible.
Revelation chapter 1, verse 17. Fear not I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore.
So as the Lord speaks to John while he's on the Isle of Patmos, the same message: fear not. See this message then throughout the Bible. to many different people. under many different circumstances. But I put that emphasis on it today because we live in a time that there are many things that can cause us.
to be discouraged. And he's saying. Don't be discouraged. Don't be fearful. Don't dismay.
You need to be reminded then of God's promise and why He tells us that you should not fear. It may be that You are struggling with discouragement. Because of past failures. That no doubt was somewhat in the mind of these people as they were told to go back to AI. They remembered that they had been defeated there.
No doubt when they're told We're ready. to proceed. Can't help but think that some of those soldiers must have had that. previous experience flash in their mind. I remember what it was like when we went up the hill.
We were so confident we thought we were going to take AI and they rush out against us and we are defeated and go in retreat down the hill and 36 of our men died. That's what I remember.
So as you think back to some of your experiences. Where you have been defeated. You dwell on that. and can easily become discouraged. These people had wanted to spend all their time talking about their first tragedy.
when they attempted to take the city and were driven back. They never could have Made any future progress. It may be that you become discouraged. Because you've tried to overcome some sinful inclination. And you find that your old human nature pulls you down.
You have to say with the Psalm 119, verse 25: My soul cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken thou me according to thy word. Lord, it just seems my old human nature drags me down. It cleaves to the dust. It tends to bring me only to the things of this temporal world, to that which is dust.
It brings me down to that which is of the lowest degree. I find the battle is extremely difficult. He then said in Verse thirty-seven, Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Turn away my eyes. Scriptures speak of the lust of the eyes.
The lust of the flash What a battle it is. The old human nature. There's still But it was in the beginning. If you're a child of God, you've been born again and you have a new nature. And by the Spirit of God in you, you desire to do what is right.
You want to live righteously and godly in this present evil world. And when you fail, you're deeply convicted, you're grieved. You come before the Lord confessing your sin and you're asking that He will bless you to overcome. Take time to be holy. Speak off with thy Lord.
Abide in Him always and feed on His Word. Make friends of God's children, help those who are weak, for getting in love His blessings to seek. As you can see, there are many practical lessons to be drawn from these Old Testament accounts of how God dealt with His people long ago. May we apply them to heart and seek to serve the Lord to His honor and glory.
So next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Uh Bye. Looking to Jesus, like him thou shalt be my friends in thy conduct, his likeness shall see. Take time to be holy, let him be thy God and run not before him, whatever betide in joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord and looking to Jesus, still trust in his word. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder Lassaire Bradley, Jr.
Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217. Mm. Time to be holy be come in thy soul each thought and each moment be neath his control Thus led by his Spirit true fountains of love Thousand shall be fitted for the service above
