Memorials Set Up - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! God, the grace of my God and King, the triumph of his grace!

This is LeSaire Bradley Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. When upon life's hill, two or ten are cast off, when you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, count your many blessings, think in one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, think in one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, think in one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Does the cross seem heavy, you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, and you will be shaking as the days go by. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, think what the Lord hath done. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done.

When you look at others with their hands and gold, think that Christ has promised you this wealth untold. Count your many blessings, money cannot buy, you're rewarded heaven by your own own heart. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, think what God hath done. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, see what God hath done.

So amid the conflict, whether great or small, do not be discouraged that it's ours or all. Count your many blessings, angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your church reason. Count your blessings, think in one by one, count your blessings, think what God hath done. Count your blessings, make them one by one.

Count your blessings, see what God hath done. I hope you will take time to write this week and let us know that you have listened to the program. And it's helpful if you'll mention the call letters of the station of which the program comes to you or the website where you have heard it. Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. We also invite you to visit our website at BaptistBibleHour.org.

You can make a donation there to help with the support of the program. Our mailing address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. We continue with the message entitled, Memorials Set Up. This is from Joshua chapter 4. We see that these memorials were set up to declare God's greatness and to be an ongoing reminder of what God had done for His people. And certainly we need to be regularly reminded that we're not distracted with the daily duties of life and the distractions of this world and fail to continually serve God with thankful hearts. Psalm 103, verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.

Forget not. Do you remember His benefits? It's easy in times of discouragement to forget His benefits.

We began to focus on our problems. We began to think about the things that discourage us and forget His benefits. The psalmist goes on to enumerate them, talks about the forgiveness of sins, talks about the healing of diseases, talks about the many benefits. But he's telling us in general that we must remember them and not forget. Are you mindful of His abundant mercies, of His daily mercies?

You remember when Jeremiah was in such a low place of darkness and he felt momentarily that his hope had perished from the Lord. He then recalled that the Lord's mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. So it is that every day is a time for us once again to review His mercies, enumerate them, give thanks for them. What a difference it makes in our outlook when we've come before God with a thankful heart.

And the only way we can come to Him in an acceptable way is to begin with a thankful heart and only then to make our request known. And then talking about the need to remember, we look at Romans chapter 12 verse 2. And be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. What's this telling us? That we can begin to think incorrectly.

We have forgotten the things that we should be remembering. And so as we admonish not to be conformed to the world, not to think like the world, act like the world, live like the world, doesn't mean that you're totally isolated from it, you're in the world but you're not of it. You're living here as a light that shines in the world to be a witness and a testimony to the glory of God but not a part of the world system and the way it thinks and the way it acts. Be not conformed to this world, so how are you going to avoid that?

By the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So you can hear the preaching of God's word and have no hesitation to embrace it.

I believe that's truth. It's God's inspired word. I perceive it.

You can read it at home and you can say, yes, I believe this is God's word. But even after the hearing of the word, reading of the word, even praying that God will bless it to your heart, you can drift. Your mind wanders. You begin to give way to the thinking of your carnal mind.

You give in to the ideas that are being advanced by people around you, things that you read or the things that you view on the internet. And these things begin to have an impact and your mind needs to be renewed that you may think right about everything, about all the details and aspects of life. That you may have your thinking to be correct. Now, back in that 2 Peter epistle, in chapter 2 and verse 12, Peter says, Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth.

So Peter is justifying the fact that he has to continually go over the same territory in some regard. Think, all right, I've heard that. I know that I have the tendency to be influenced. I need to put up my guard against that. I know that I can drift spiritually.

I know that I can grow cold without even realizing it. But do we have to keep hammering that? Well, the point is that over and over in scripture, the warning is given. Yes, you have a tendency to forget.

The encouragement is given. You need to remember. And here we're told that our minds need to be regularly renewed that we may be able to prove what is that perfect will of God.

How are we going to do that? Not just by how you feel on a given day. It has nothing to do with your emotion. It has everything to do with what God's Word says. That's the only way you're going to be able to prove what is the perfect will of God. What does God say?

What has He revealed to us in His Word? And so Peter is saying, I'm not going to be negligent. Maybe implying that some might be saying, you've been over that ground before. Well, he said, I'm coming over it again. I'm not going to be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, even though you know them. You already know it. I'm not telling you anything new, but I'm going to tell you again. You need to be reminded. You need to keep these things in your memory and be established in the present truth. One thing interesting to note that since these stones set up as two memorials were to be an ongoing witness, they were made obviously out of stone.

Twelve stones set up, one in the river and one on the riverbank. So they were solid. They were not made out of wood that might later deteriorate.

They were solid. This testimony then was certain and sure. It wasn't changing shape and size.

Anytime you look at it, it was the same thing. So this reminds us of the testimony that we have in God's Word. Psalm 119 verse 89 says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Popular opinions are constantly changing. The ideas that are being advanced around us in our culture today are not only changing, they're absolutely alarming.

When you see how much effort is being made to steer people away from the thinking that is clearly laid out in the inspired Word of God. But just as these memorials were of stone, so they were solid, so we turn to God's Word, which is not changing with the times, but it is established, settled in heaven. And then the third reason for the putting up of these memorials was a reminder of the duty to teach the next generation. That's a theme that is repeated frequently throughout the Old Testament. Joshua chapter 4 verse 21, And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you until you were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us until we were gone over. It's interesting to note how many times the deliverance at the Red Sea is talked about in the Bible. You may say, well, I've just referred to that many times over the past few weeks. And the reason I have is because I've read it in God's Word. God obviously wanted these people to be perpetually reminded of that marvelous deliverance of the Red Sea.

So over and over again he's talking about it. But he says, when your children come along in generations to come and they see these stones and they certainly recognize it wasn't just something that happened. These have been placed there purposely.

They are one on top of the other. They stand up as a memorial, a monument. And so they're inquiring, What mean these stones? Now, he says, I want you to be prepared to tell them. I want you to remind them that these are set up so that you might be able to recall what God did for you in the crossing of Jordan.

How facing an impossible situation for this great nation of people to be able to cross the waters at flood stage. God rolled them back and provided you a path in the river. I want you to be able to tell them what God has done for you. So it is God would have this present generation be faithful in passing along to the younger generation the great things that God has done. The things that he's revealed in his word.

The things that he's done for you in your own life individually. To share with them what great things God has done. The book of 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says, Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea. Another reference to the crossing at the Red Sea. Over and over again, the Old Testament and the New Testament refer to it.

So it's obviously of tremendous importance. And we must never be weary of hearing about the great acts of God. They are there for a purpose, for our edification. But with many of them, this is verse 5, God was not well pleased for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

Now here's the point. Now these things were our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. So the account of what happened with Israel in Old Testament times is not here just to give us a historical record. It's here so that we can learn something. As we read in Romans chapter 15 this morning in our scripture lesson. Same principle is brought before us there.

And here it says these things were our examples that we might learn. We might learn to remember the great things that God has done for us. And that we might not do what Israel did. We might not be guilty of their offense, turning aside, lusting after that which is evil. Now it doesn't matter what the object may be, if it's evil, if it's contrary to that which will bring glory to God, then God is just pleased if you lust after it. God does not want his people to forget what great things he has done for them.

And wants us to learn from the failures of his people in olden times. So if your children ask you today about your faith, what will you tell them? Are you prepared to give them a good answer? Are you ready to relate how God has dealt with you in your experience of grace? Have you ever shared that with your children? What about the fact that there came a time that you were convicted of your sin? You saw your need of a savior. You were blessed with faith to come trusting Jesus Christ and resting in him alone. You might find that your children are very interested in hearing your own personal experience of salvation. And not only that, but no doubt there are many instances along the way of life when you've seen that the Lord has intervened, God has blessed you in a special and unique way and shared that with them.

But not only that, you have all the 66 books of the Bible at your disposal to go there and share with them the great and mighty acts of God. But are you prepared to steer them away from the liberal thinking of our time? A concentrated effort is made to influence young people. I've read recently of efforts to incorporate into the teaching of elementary children the idea that same-sex marriage is acceptable and should not be frowned upon.

It's an effort made to lead children down the wrong path. Are you prepared to deal with these issues? Are you prepared to give them the right answers when they come inquiring? Well, why is it that we take the stand we take?

Why is it we're not in agreement with the trends that are popular in our society today? This is really the most important thing you can do. Parents get caught up sometimes with how important it is to get their kids involved in some athletic program, get them to learn to play an instrument, get them to make good grades. All of those things may have their place, but I want to tell you there is nothing, nothing more important than you being able to answer their questions about God and to instruct them and guide them in the way of righteousness.

In fact, this is a responsibility God has given you that you cannot delegate. They today would prefer to put their children in a class and feel like this now relieves them of their responsibility. I can remember years ago there were a number of churches in this city that ran church buses all over the city. And for the most part they were picking up children whose parents did not want to go to church. And so I suppose those parents felt, well, it's probably good for my child to go, put them on the church bus, let the church educate them, and have done a good deed by saying that they got there. Well, the fact is that God has given parents the responsibility for this teaching. And it's the most important teaching that you can possibly give them. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 6. It says, And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.

Teach them diligently. That means then it is more than just maybe once a week bringing up something about the Bible or reading a few verses of scripture. This is to be a diligent effort. For then when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Now obviously it doesn't suggest that there can only be one subject and that you have to talk about the Bible all day long, seven days a week. But it is saying this, that your teaching them must be incorporated as a way of life. That in every opportunity when you're able to set an example before them, as to your attitude about how to deal with difficulties, how to deal with conflicts, how to deal with the constantly changing circumstances of life because of the trends that are prevalent in our day. That you're giving them counsel from God's Word as to how to think and how to act.

And at every opportunity then you're not ignoring that great opportunity that you have and that responsibility that you have to instruct them. In Psalm 78 verse 4 it says, We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel which He commanded our fathers that they should make known to their children that the generation to come might know them, even our children which should be born. So it's even thinking about those that will come at a later time who should arise and declare them to their children that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments. We will not hide them from our children. We will not neglect to pass it on.

We want to show this to the generation to come. We want them to understand something about the greatness of God. Now I certainly realize that for a child to receive that into their heart and to come to faith in Jesus Christ there must be a divine work performed by the Holy Spirit. I recognize that no person, whether child or adult, respond to spiritual truth and to the preaching of the gospel without the effectual work of the Holy Spirit. It was said that Paul preached to Lydia and the Lord opened Lydia's heart so that she attended under the things which were spoken of Paul and it is always our prayer as the gospel is preached that the Lord will open hearts to receive it and certainly you can recognize that as you talk to your children but as you talk to them and you pray for them and you recognize God has given you that responsibility to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

It's something that must not be neglected. Verse 23 says the Lord dried up. The Lord your God dried up the waters of Canaan. And then in verse 24 that all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord that it is mighty. The Lord performed this great work that it might be known through all the earth what God has done. He wanted the word spread. He wanted others to hear about it and of course the people in Canaan had heard about it. When the children of Israel arrived, you remember that even Rahab the harlot said that the people were afraid and then there was another description given about how their hearts had melted particularly when they heard that God had even rolled back the waters of Jordan.

Now they are fearful. They've heard what God has done. But God wanted Israel to spread the word and he wants us today in his church and kingdom to spread the word concerning his greatness. Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 says go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We ought to be vitally concerned about the spread of the gospel both at home and abroad.

Go teach it all nations. We know that we must depend upon the blessing and power of the Holy Spirit and go as he directs and where he has applauded. But it shall always be our prayer that God will bless the preaching of his word. Bless those who are laboring in distant fields.

We try periodically to keep you posted, put information on the board and the fellowship hall about the work of Elder Guna. They go through difficult times, often the government seeking to interfere with their efforts and they need our prayers. There's such wonderful work is being done there and in other parts of the world where God's people are serving. But let us be mindful of the fact that you don't have to go overseas or even participate in that work.

There is something for you right at home. There is something for you as a faithful witness of Jesus Christ within your own family, within the workplace where you work, wherever you may be as a faithful witness. Go therefore bringing the message to all nations. And then the latter part of that verse says that ye might fear the Lord your God forever. It's talking about that fear of respect, that special fear. Not just a fear of trembling and running away but a fear of knowing that when God speaks I need to receive what he says. So it's talking about fearing him, loving him, obeying him that you might fear the Lord your God forever.

Having been blessed as you've been blessed, you should commit yourself to him, serving him forever. So there were two memorials set up. Twelve stones put in the midst of the river and twelve stones on the bank. Certainly as the river came back over those stones there was a sense that there was something being left behind. This was a new day, a new time. They were coming into a new land, enjoying this land toward which they had traveled for so long. The land that God had given to their fathers by covenant and promise before. Now they're in that promised land and they're told to possess their possessions. Some have suggested that Canaan represents heaven but it doesn't quite fit because there were battles to fight in Canaan. And when you get to heaven there'll be no battles to fight, they'll all be over. But there are battles for us to fight here.

And in order to possess our possessions we can't sit idly by. We have to move forward by faith and claim that which is ours because of what's been given us through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. What about a memorial in your life?

Have you set it up? Certainly in one sense you could say yes, the day that I followed Christ in baptism. I was declaring to the world I want to be identified with him. I believe that he has saved me by his grace. I'm trusting what Jesus Christ did for me. And may we always remember that commitment. And as we look to the memorials that are set up reminding us of the greatness and power of God and his mercies to us, may we serve him faithfully and diligently from day to day. More holiness, give me more shivings within.

Well, we have seen that one of the purposes of these memorials set up was that it might be a place where discussions would occur as parents taught their children about what God had done for them in days gone by. What an important duty, what a privilege for parents to teach their children and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I encourage you to write and let us know that you've listened to the program. Till next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Give me more trust in the Lord, more pride in his glory, more hope in his word, more joy in his heart. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr., pastor of the Cincinnati Primitive Baptist Church. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. More purity, give me more strength to overcome, More freedom from earth's gates, more longings for home, More fit for the kingdom, more useful I be, More blessed and holy, more Savior like thee.