The Everlasting Arms - Part 1 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise!

The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace! This is LeSaire Bradley Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know He holds a future. And life is worth the living just because He lives. God sent His Son.

They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon.

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives. Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds a future. And life is worth the living just because He lives. Yes, my life is worth the living just because He lives.

Because He lives. Well, as you know, we've been on the radio for many years. And it seems to be a tradition that we can't overcome, and that is to experience a summer slump. I think from time to time, we're going to get by this year maybe without having that. But I find that it's not only us, it's other broadcasters that experience it.

Now, our expenses continue the same, but the support seems to decrease during the summer months. So I'm just mentioning that, because if you want us to stay on your local station, we need the help of our listeners. We depend on listeners for the support of this broadcast. You can make a donation by going to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Or address a letter to Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217.

I hope you'll pray for us that the needs will be supplied during these challenging summer months. Deuteronomy chapter 33, beginning with the 26th verse. There is none like unto the God of Jesuits, who writeth upon the heaven in thy help, and in His Excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine, also his heaven shall drop down due.

Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy Excellency. And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. You can see that God surrounds His people.

He is above them. He rides upon the heavens. But this text says there is none like our God. There were many false gods.

Gods recently risen up among the pagans that surrounded the Lord's people. But there is no God like our God. He is the God who rides upon the heaven in thy help.

Now those riding in a helicopter are very limited as to the territory that they can cover and what they are able to see. But our God rides in the heavens. He is above all. He sees everything.

There are no limits. He then is above His people. And then it says He is their refuge. He is the one where His people find shelter and protection. They are not left alone.

They are not left subject to all of the attacks of the enemies with no place of refuge. And then it says that He extends His arms underneath. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He is there to support you.

To hold you up. And finally it says that He is the shield and sword against all enemies. Now with that description you can see that the Lord completely surrounds His people. He is over them.

He is under them. He is caring for them in every detail of their life. Verses 27 and 28 both speak of God as our refuge. The eternal God is thy refuge it says. And Israel shall dwell safely alone. How wonderful to know that we have a safe place. A hiding place.

A refuge. Look at Psalm 90. Psalm 90 and verse 1. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place, our refuge in all generations.

This was true of Israel. When God had called Abram from the earth a Chaldees. He was dwelling in tents. He had no permanent place. But God was his protector, was the one who directed his steps. He was his refuge. Isaac and Jacob came along in the same path. And then Israel as a nation was in bondage.

Working as slaves for 400 years. But God was there to sustain them in spite of the difficulties of the way. He was their refuge. And now as Moses comes to the end of his journey.

He is able to speak to God's people about their wonderful benefits and how God has cared for them. The Lord was their refuge in bringing them out of Egypt. And blessing them in their wilderness wanderings to have food to eat and water to drink. And now as they prepare to go into the promised land.

God will be their refuge there. So Lord thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Even before the creation of the world Lord. Before you formed the world.

You are from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. We sometimes take for granted these remarkable things that are revealed to us about our God. But when you think about people who embrace various humanistic philosophies. Or hold on to some God of man's own imagination. What a contrast to think that as we assemble here today.

We worship the true and living God. Who is from everlasting to everlasting. He's always been and he shall always be. He's not going to wear out after a time. He's not going to give up in frustration.

He goes on forever. Psalm 46 verse 1 says, God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. Help that is present. Sometimes you may have had a person say, Now if you ever need me call on me.

I'd be glad to come help you. And when you needed them you couldn't find them. But the Lord is a present help. He is available. He is near you. He is where you are. He is a shelter.

He is a place of hope. Now I find that some people when they read these promises. Or hear somebody talk about God being our refuge and our protector.

Misunderstand. In fact they will sometimes say, I'm disappointed in God. I thought he would protect me. But I've had this tragedy to deal with. I've gone through this difficult time. It seems that God really was not a refuge for me.

Because I've had such deep trouble. Never has the Lord promised that he is going to exempt his children from trouble. As a matter of fact, many are the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivers them out of them all. God's children are going to face the same kinds of trials that others face. There are sicknesses.

There are financial reversals. There are all kinds of problems that we encounter. And the Lord's people have additional challenges.

Because they are sometimes persecuted for righteousness sake. So what does it mean if God is our refuge and our protector? And then we find ourselves in the midst of great adversity. Well we can see examples in scripture of what we are to learn under such circumstances. We go to the book of Job chapter 1 reading in the 20th verse. You remember that Job was an upright man. He was worshipping God.

He was praying regularly for his children. But suddenly there are great setbacks. His wealth is gone. The thieves have carried away his flocks and his herds. And then following he is afflicted with boils over his entire body.

Man is suffering greatly. But then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Different reaction than people who will say, I'm upset because God allowed this trouble to touch my life. He wasn't charging God. He wasn't complaining against God. He worshipped and said, naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. What a response.

I know somebody may say, but that's not all that you read about Job. He had some tough days. He had some questions.

He was deeply disturbed. But even in the midst of all of that turmoil, in chapter 13 in the 15th verse he says, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. His wife said, give up on God. Curse God and die. But Job says, I'm not giving up.

I've got no one else. He's my only refuge. He's my only hiding place. So even in the midst of his adversity, he did not feel to be forsaken. God was still there. God was still watching over him. God was still working his purposes in Job's life. And ultimately restored him to a place of prosperity.

And that's not to say that that's going to happen in every case. We'll see some other examples as well. Let's think about Habakkuk. Habakkuk was a prophet that was greatly perplexed because he saw the wickedness of the people. And it appeared to him that God was doing nothing. And when he expressed his concern to the Lord, the Lord revealed he was in fact doing something. He was raising up the Chaldeans to invade the land and punish the people because of their sin. Then Habakkuk was disturbed even further. He wasn't happy with God's plan. But after going to the watchtower, pondering the things that God had made known to him, he said in chapter 2 in the 20th verse, The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.

And then this marvelous statement in chapter 3. Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines, and the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Now he's talking about tough times. He's talking about a famine.

He's talking about a day when there are no crops and there are no flocks and there are no herds. But he says, even in that dark day, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. That's what it means to know that the Lord is our refuge. Everything around us is dark. Everything seems to be failing and falling apart.

Reach the point and say, I don't know where I'm going to get my next meal. But God is my refuge. And then we think about the Apostle Paul.

Here's a man with a unique calling. God is going to use him to establish churches, to labor extensively. We might think that since there's such a work for him to do, that since God is his refuge, it means God will just hedge him about.

And there will be no adversity and there will be no sicknesses and there will be no deep trials. But that's not the way God was working. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 7, Paul expresses it like this, And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, because he had been uniquely blessed. God had given him numerous revelations and lest he be lifted up in pride and I be exalted, it says there was given me a thorn in the flesh. It didn't just happen.

It wasn't just one of those unique occurrences. It was given to him. God gave his servant the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice. Now if I was going to have the opportunity to select someone to pray for me, I think I'd just as soon have the apostle Paul praying for me as anybody I could think about. I feel like he walked closely with the Lord. He was on good terms with the Lord.

But Paul prayed three times, Lord remove the thorn that it might depart from me. He said, this is what God said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities for Christ's sake.

For when I am weak, then am I strong. God was his refuge. Somebody might say, well I still just can't understand why God would work that way. Well you've got to remember this, his ways are higher than our ways. We can't always figure out what God is doing or why he's doing it. But it's revealed here that the purpose was he wanted the apostle to walk humbly before him and not become exalted in the flesh. So it was God's purpose for him to have to endure the discomfort of whatever this thorn in the flesh was.

And Paul therefore rather than complaining, accepted God's answer and said, I will take pleasure in infirmities and I recognize that when I am weak, then am I strong. And while we consider the fact and rejoice in what's revealed to us in this passage in Deuteronomy 33, that we see protection, he is our protector. He doesn't always protect us in the way we would expect. But he protects us in the midst of our deepest sorrows, our greatest troubles, our most difficult seasons.

He's still there as our protector. Verse 27 then tells us that he is our support. Underneath are the everlasting arms.

Isn't that a wonderful declaration? Underneath, no matter how low you may sink, still underneath are the everlasting arms. Psalm 69 verse 1, the psalmist says, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me. And that's a desperate plight to be sinking. Yes, I'm already low, but I'm going lower. I can't find anything solid to stand on. I'm in deep mire.

The waters are overflowing me. The psalmist is here struggling with a feeling of hopelessness. Have you ever been there? Have you faced situations that were so disturbing? You looked out ahead and you couldn't see any solutions. You were very frustrated. You say things seem to be getting worse instead of better. You're sinking in the mire. But then in Psalm 40 verse 1, we read these words, I waited patiently for the Lord. Oh, how we need to learn that.

We get so impatient, we want things fixed today and want it fixed on our terms. But it says, I waited patiently for the Lord and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit and out of the miry clay and set my feet on a rock and established my goings. He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.

Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. I waited patiently. Even though I was sinking in the mire, the Lord heard me. He brought me out of that horrible pit and He put my feet on a rock.

I dare say you've experienced that as well. After going through some terribly dark seasons and feeling miserable and hopeless for a time, you finally felt my feet were on the rock, the rock of ages. I'm resting in Jesus Christ. I know that He is there. I know that He is my help. He is my hope.

He is my support. Sometimes we're in the low places because of our own failures. We've made some bad choices. We have blatantly sinned against our God.

And when we're down in the low places because of our own action, we often have great question. Are the everlasting arms of God still underneath me? Does the Lord still care about me? I could understand if He totally left me. Wouldn't be surprised for Him to forsake me. I deserve nothing.

I'm entitled to nothing. But the promise is still there. Underneath are the everlasting arms. Jonah got himself in a predicament because he bought passage on a ship to go in the opposite direction from where the Lord had told him to go. And God sent a great storm and it became necessary for him to be thrown overboard. And he says in Jonah chapter 2 verse 6, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.

The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet, hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. He's down in that terrible plight. He certainly had never read a book about what you're supposed to do when you're swallowed by a whale.

This was all a new experience. He wondered if God will hear him, but he said, Yet once more I'll look toward thy holy temple. There's nowhere else to look. There's nowhere else to get help.

I'll look one more time. He looked and he called and that prayer went all the way from the depths of the sea straight into heaven. God answered his prayer and directed that whale to spew him out on dry land. And he came out with a great message. Salvation is of the Lord.

He certainly knew that. Every kind of salvation. Salvation from the storm, salvation from the sea, salvation from the fish. Salvation is of the Lord. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hid my soul in the cleft of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see.

What a wonderful promise. Underneath are the everlasting arms. No matter how low you may sink, still underneath God's arms are there to hold you up.

Are you one who has attempted at various times to stand in your own strength but have now seen the folly of it? And you've come to realize that whether it's the trial of the present time or your hope of eternal life, it must all be in the everlasting arms of a sovereign God. I hope that today you have found comfort and help in this message. Be sure to write us, and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. The Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder LeSaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Each moment he crowned and filled with his glory.