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 praised the glories of my god and king, the triumphs of his race. This is Lesaire Bradley Jr., inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Today we continue with the message The Sun Stood Still.
We had some introductory things to talk about in the previous message that led up to this great event. And now we look at the event itself. And we'll read a little more about it as we go on, but to introduce the program. I want us to look at Joshua. CHAPTER ten And beginning with the twelfth verse.
Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord. delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Son, stand thou still upon Gibeon. and thou moon in the valley of Aolon.
Now you know. That ordinarily, if people heard a man out speaking to the sun. The moon saying stand still they'd say that man has lost his mind. But in this case Joshua was in such touch and fellowship with the Lord that That he knew he was doing something that was acceptable, and God was going to hear him. What a remarkable thing indeed.
And then says the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. You see, Joshua needed a little more time, and He was making good progress defeating the enemies, but if if it was going to be night time, He wouldn't be able to fulfill his uh his work.
So he speaks to the Son, knowing that the Lord's in charge of it in control, stand thou still, and And it does. The sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher?
So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hastened not to go down. about a whole day. and there was no day like that day before it or after it That the Lord hearkened unto the Under the voice of a man For the Lord fought for Israel.
Well, how wonderful to read of such an event. and know that the sovereign God who is in control of all things Um Hear the request of his servant to make the sun stand still, I'm afraid a lot of times when we pray, Reduce our prayers to small things. Can't ask God for something big. But if we're asking for something That's for the good of his cause and the glory of his name There's nothing wrong with asking for big things and expecting that God can do The unusual. All right, we hope that you will let us know if You enjoy the program today?
Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217. We look forward to hearing from you, and it is vital if we're going to stay on your station that we hear from you and you mention the call letters of that station.
Now, there's also solemn warnings given in Scripture that we must be careful. Always to rest only in the Lord. and not depend upon the arm of the flesh. Isaiah chapter 31, the first verse says, Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horses, because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord.
Now I understand you're not going to trust in a horse. And you're not going to depend on a chariot, but We're talking about what was common in that day. that they felt like if an army had many chariots and strong horses to pull the chariots, that here was a guarantee of success. The point that's being made is that We must not do what the last part of that text says, that these did not seek the Holy One of Israel or turn to the Lord. They were looking to some other source for their strength and for their help.
So whatever it is you might turn to. It's not going to be horses and chariots. But it might be that you Trust in a friend. only to be ultimately disappointed. The scriptures are clear that the arm of flesh will fail you.
If you depend on material possessions to give you peace of mind and comfort, you're. diligently trying to accumulate money and wealth, you'll find disappointment. if you rely upon the popular opinions of the day. Oh, there are multitudes of philosophies and theories out there being advanced about what one can do to put real meaning into life. But over and over again, those concepts and theories leave God out of the picture entirely.
So, if you become guilty of what was the case, as the Lord spoke through Isaiah.
So long ago, that these did not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord. then you will suffer the consequences. That come as a result of it.
Some five. 50. Verse 15. and call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
So we're encouraged that when troubles do come, rather than to turn to some weak source that could not sustain us anyway, to turn to the true and living God, he says, Call upon me, I will deliver thee.
Well, somebody might say, Well, I've called on the Lord and He did not deliver me.
Now wait a minute, let's think about it. If God makes a promise, he's going to keep it. doesn't mean that the trouble is going to immediately be eliminated. Does it mean that the conflict is going to subside? Doesn't mean that everything's going to immediately be peaceful and tranquil and be exactly like you'd want it to be.
It says, I will deliver you. But that deliverance may come in the form of delivering you from yourself. delivering you from your despair. delivering you from your anger, delivering you from your resentment. Delivering you from your bitterness, so that, what does it say?
That you may glorify me. If in the time of trouble, You become angry at God. Chilling to even think about, isn't it?
Somebody to be angry at God. I've heard people say that. I've had people say to me, I'm angry at God.
Well, when you call on the Lord for help And he delivers you, although the trouble itself doesn't disappear. He delivers you from your inclination. to give up in despair. or become bitter. or to blame God.
and say I'm angry at God. And then Psalm 46, verse 1. God is our refuge and strength. a very present help in trouble.
So, in spite of the fact that he says there are many, many troubles in life. All kinds of troubles, troubles that go on for a lifetime. We have a refuge. We have a hiding place. We have a place where we can resort.
And this God not only is our refuge, He is our strength. And He can be counted on. We can depend on him. He's proven it over and over again when we've turned to him for his help. And he is a present help.
He's near, he's near at hand, he's not at a distance. It's not like somebody might say to you, Well, if you ever need any help, give me a call, and you try to call them and you can't find them. Or if you do find them, they say, Well, I'm too busy. But he's a present help. He's ready to hear us.
He's near at hand. He's there to sustain us and to give us the strength that we so desperately need. And then next. As we look at this passage, The tenth chapter. of the book of Joshua.
We see God's control of creation. First there's Joshua's action. He responds to the request of the Gibeonites. Verse 7.
So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. When Dash will adopt the requests, From These give you eyes. He didn't say I think you're expecting too much. I think you're imposing on me. You're taking advantage of my good graces because I said I wasn't going to destroy you, even though you deceived me.
No, he had made an agreement with them. And as we have looked at previously, In days to come, many of those people obviously were true converts. They were given the position of being drawers of water and hewers of wood. They provided the wood that was needed for the burning of the sacrifices in the tabernacle and the in the later in the temple and many of them became true converts.
So Once again, we see God in his sovereignty taking that which was evil, but turning it around and bringing something good out of it. And So Joshua responds. He's relying on God's promise to him to be successful. Verse 8 says, And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand, and there shall not a man of them stand before thee. My what what assurance.
Joshua, you can go forward. I have delivered them into your hand.
Now, as must be pointed out so often in these events recorded in Scripture. Because the Lord says, I've delivered the enemy into your hand, didn't mean that Joshua could go back to his tent and sit down and do nothing. It meant that he had to Go to battle. It meant that he had to go out and face the enemy.
So, when the Lord promises to be with you and sustain you and deliver you, that doesn't mean you sit down and do nothing. You have the incentive then, the encouragement to move forward and do whatever it is that needs to be done. Isaiah chapter 12, verse 2. It says, I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is my strength.
So just as the Lord gave the promise to Joshua, I'm going to be with you, therefore you need not fear, I've delivered the enemy into your hand, we can go to a promise like this and find courage. I'm going to trust. I'm not going to be afraid. For the Lord Jehovah is my strength. Joshua.
went forward to face the enemy. And he endured hardships. It wasn't just an ordinary situation to go out and immediately face the enemy. Verse 9 says this. Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.
In order to comply with their request to come quickly. He had to travel all night. And it was uphill. It was climbing up a mountain.
Now it'll be very easy under such circumstances. Say, I can't do this. I'd like to help them, but I can't do it now. I'll wait till morning. Or to say this is imposing too much on my men, on my soldiers.
I can't ask them to do it. But He did it. He came so he could make a surprise attack on the enemy. He came suddenly. Traveled all night.
Not complaining. No doubt the men were weary. Then Probably Joshua was himself. When you read of all of his activities, you just stand amazed at any man. could survive.
All the battles that he was involved with, all of the work that he did. God sustained him, obviously. And as we look at this account, And here's Joshua. Not being called to defend one of the tribes of Israel. For the people.
Who had misrepresented themselves. But because of the fact he's now made a commitment to them, he feels obligated to fulfill it and he's going to help them. and is being greatly inconvenienced, and he's having to travel at night and climb up a mountain But he's doing that because he's serving God. Um How many times Do we make excuses? If we're having to climb uphill.
Let's say this is hard. If we're having to travel some in the darkness. If we're tired and weary, Say, well, I'm I'm willing to serve God. But there's no real obstacle in the way. But I don't like being inconvenienced.
I don't feel like I can really go out of my way to minister to somebody else or help them or try to make some sacrifice in serving God. The point I want to get across here is that Joshua was willing. though he was traveling in darkness, traveling uphill, difficult situation He didn't quit. He moved forward. Serving.
The Lord. Then we see God's work. Verse 10. And the LORD discomfited them before Israel. and slew them with a great slaughter, He discomfited them, which means that he dispersed them.
He scattered them. He defeated the enemy.
Now Joshua was doing the right thing. He was traveling to be there. It was necessary for him to be involved in the battles. But look what the Lord did. The Lord discomfited them, slew them with a great slaughter.
and chased them along the way that goeth to Betharon, and smote them at Asachah and Mecadah.
So God intervened. God scattered the enemy. Isn't that good to observe? That Joshua has taken God at his word. God says, I've committed them into your hand.
I'm depending upon God to lead me. I'm going into battle. I go there, and God scattered them. It was God that defeated the enemy. Notice Some of the things he did.
Verse 11. And it came to pass, as they fled before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethalon. that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven And upon them unto Ashakar, And there were more that died from the hailstones than from the children of Israel that slew them with the sword.
So the Lord sends hail.
Now, we've all, no doubt, at some time or another seen big hailstones and seen some that were big enough to damage a car, but I doubt that we've ever seen one big enough to kill somebody. And God sent down hailstones that were big enough to kill a great number of these soldiers, and with divine accuracy, he directed them so they did not kill the Israelites. Talk about God being in control of his creation. He's sending a hailstorm down, and the hailstones, big enough to kill a man, only hit the enemy. God was in charge.
Aren't you glad to believe in a God like that? That's the God in whom we trust. He is able to do great and mighty things which we know not. He defeated them. And so God's wrath.
was being poured out. The question is often raised.
Well, look at all of the destruction that came to the inhabitants of the land. Look at all of these people that are dying under the hailstones that God sends. I thought God was a God of love.
Well, he is, but he's also a God of wrath. He hates idolatry. These were not Innocent people, as sometimes one would like to describe them, as a matter of fact, there are no innocent people in Adam's family. We're all guilty sinners, but they were idolaters. The first commandment says, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
And so God is sending just punishment upon them because of their sin. That's a subject that so many want to avoid in this day and time. Say, well I like to think about God being God of love, and I do too. I'm thankful that God is love. I'm thankful for his grace.
I'm thankful for his mercy. But if we're going to believe the Bible, we also have to believe that God is God of wrath. That he's angry with the wicked every day. That he is going to send judgment upon the wicked in the final time. He's sent judgment many times, as the biblical record reveals to us.
as he did in Noah's day and others. where multitudes have died. But you see, a person's not going to really see the need of mercy. See the need of grace. that they don't first come to the realization.
that God is a God of wrath. That they have violated his law. They are a lawbreaker. And God's wrath will be meted out. It's a subject.
Very much avoided by many.
Somebody'd rather come along today and say, God loves you and has a great plan for your life.
Well, that doesn't require any repentance. That doesn't bring about any conviction. Fact is that as sinners We are justly condemned and must be brought to the place that there is repentance. And then Joshua's Request Here in verse 12. Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel.
Sun, stand still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajon. Can you imagine? They're in battle. He realizes that time's running out. He needs some extra time.
He needs some more daylight. And to stand out there in front of the people and say, Son, stand still. Under other circumstances, you might think that man's lost his mind. But no doubt, Joshua had had some consultation with the Lord about this matter to give him the boldness to be able to make such a demand. He had Put it.
God had put it in his heart. Don't think Joshua would have come up with this on his own.
So Joshua. Had no doubt had this put in his heart by God Himself, and God gave him the faith to believe that it would come to pass, and so it says, Son, stand still. Verse 13. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed until the people revenge themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher?
This evidently was a book in which they recorded many events of this kind, the mighty acts of God that he had used in delivering his people.
So the sun stood still in the midst of the heaven and hasted not to go down. about the whole day. And there was no day like it, before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. I don't think it implies that there was never a time that The Lord. heard the voice of his servant, it simply means something of this magnitude.
There was never a time like it that God heard the voice of a man to bring the sun to a standstill. See? Here's another example of where Joshua demonstrates great faith and courage. He could have been hesitant to even go to the battle because he was going to have to travel all night to get up the mountain. Or he could have at this point say, well, It's just about sundown.
We can't finish this battle today. We'll just go home and try to take it up tomorrow. Joshua says, This battle needs to be won today. I need more daylight. He's seeking God to give him the light that he needs.
And so there's a lesson in that for us. That when the enemy is to be driven out, when we're dealing with the weaknesses of our own flesh, the temptations that so easily beset us. We must not give up. We must continue in the battle until the victory is won. And so It's just another time that we are reassured of the fact that God is in charge of his creation.
Job chapter 9 verse 5. He moveth the mountains, and they know not. which overturneth them in his anger. Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble, which commandeth the sun, and it riseth, and sealeth up the stars. Makes us think of that time.
In the book of Exodus, chapter 10. One of the plagues that came upon the Egyptians was darkness. It says it was absolute darkness for three days. People couldn't even go out of their house, they couldn't see anything. It was that darkness that you could feel.
If you've ever been in a cave with the lights out, you get a little perception of what that darkness was like. But the interesting thing was, it was dark. in the homes of the Egyptians And their neighbors, the Israelites, had light. God is in control. of his creation.
He put darkness in one place. and light in another. Certainly, then, the God who is the sovereign creator could make the sun stand still. Psalm 146, verse 6. God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein.
I've just been so... impressed recently. to see how often The fact that God is the Creator is mentioned in the scripture. You'd say, well, I know the Genesis account of creation is there. Is that not enough?
Can we not just believe that? But over and over again, God is reminding the people that He is the Creator. That gives you a whole different perception if you know that the God that you worship is the one who. Brought this earth, heaven and earth, into existence and created man. And so he is the one.
Who is the sovereign ruler over them? Psalm 147, verse 5: Great is our Lord and of great power. Verse 8, Who covereth the heavens with the clouds and prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains? Verse 15, He sendeth forth His commandment upon the earth. His word runneth swiftly.
He giveth snow like wool and scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels. Who can stand before his coal? I've talked to people who say, oh, I believe that God. Put everything in motion at creation.
He kind of wound it up and it just runs like a machine. Friends, that's not what the book says. This indicates that God controls every drop of rain that falls. God is in control of his creation. Isaiah 45 verse 18.
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it, not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord, and there is none else. And what do we learn from all of this? Then Joshua says, son, stand still. And the sun stood still, and he continued the battle and was successful in destroying the enemy.
Well We learned that God The Creator has all power. None can compare to him. Nothing is too hard for him. He is absolutely sovereign and controls his creation. We learn that we can trust him to execute his counsel and to keep his promises because none can defeat him, because he has all power.
We can therefore depend on him in trouble. We are to worship Him and declare His greatness. We worship the God who created the sun and made it stand still. You'll keep it in its place. Until the heavens and earth pass away.
Now somebody says, well I want evidence. I want God to give me a sign. I want evidence that there is a God. God said, The heavens declare his glory. He's already given you a sign.
And when Paul was preaching in Mars Hill, he said, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, then he calls on men to repent. Repent. Of your unbelief, repent of your sin, acknowledge your need. You come to Jesus Christ as the one who can deliver you, just as these turned to Joshua. To deliver them because he was the only one that could help them.
And Jesus Christ is the only one that can help and save fallen, ruined sinners. The sun stood still And the God who made it. and the God who made it stand still. is the God we worship. Be too My soul, the Lord is on thy side.
Well, what a monumental event to remember. The sun stood still. It's good for us to keep it in mind that the sovereign God, who is the Creator, did what was necessary in this event. Causes the sun to stand still. Remember, he says, call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
I hope you will write us, and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Every day be thankful. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder Lessere Bradley Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217.
To find joy and forever soul by God of day
