A Present Help - Part 2 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 praise 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. Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my life in vain. I'm tempted then to armor and all my lot complain. But when I think of Jesus and all He's done for me, then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. No other refuge have I but Thee. When life's dark pale, I wander far, far from Thee. Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. No other refuge have I but Thee. When life's dark pale, I wander far, far from Thee.

Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. I'm glad you've joined us for the broadcast today. If the message is of blessing, tell others about it, that they can hear this broadcast each week at this same time. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. We depend on our listeners for support, so if you can help us at this time, we'd greatly appreciate it.

When you write, mention the call letters of the station over which the program comes to you or the website where you hear it. We're continuing today with the message of present help. I find in talking to people who are struggling with the difficulties of life, that they often need to be reminded of some basic truths that are very clearly taught in scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments. So I hope that this message will be a blessing in comforting you today. In Isaiah chapter 41, three times, verses 10, 13, and 14, he says, Fear not, I will help thee.

What a promise. I will help thee. Somebody may say, well, I've asked God to help me and nothing happened. Well, of course, there's some things that we need to consider about our prayers. Psalm 66 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.

So there needs to be a confession of sin. There needs to be importunity in prayer. I'm going to continue to pray. I'm not going to give up.

I'm not going to turn aside. I'm going to trust him. Here's the promise of God. I'm claiming it. I'm relying on it here. Lord has promised I will help thee. And that's where I'm resting. And then you come to the New Testament that Jesus says to his disciples, preparing them for the fact that he was going to soon be going away.

John 14 one, he says, Fear not, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you that you may be with me, receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also.

What a promise. Surely that should enable one to overcome fear. It says I'm preparing a place for you and ultimately we're going to be together. So as you look down the road of life and you see many difficult places and you encounter oppositions along the way and you feel that Satan your great adversary has hurled his fiery darts at you, but you come back to this there's one page this journey will have ended and this battle will be over and I'm going to be with the Lord.

He has prepared a place for me. So there is help help for those who are struggling with fear and that we need help with unbelief. Now there are abundance abundance of promises in the Word of God over and over again. God is promising to do something good for his people. Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 25. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass and as thy days so shall thy strength be. God took care of his people when they were wandering in the wilderness.

Their shoes his head will be iron and brass. I'm going to support you. I'm going to make it possible for you to continue your journey and what a promise he adds to that to say as thy days so shall thy strength be. No matter how many days that may be I'm going to give you the strength necessary. Physical strength declines but he can give the strength in the spiritual realm that one still finds joy and comfort as they trust in the Lord. And then verse 27 in the same chapter says the eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms.

Isn't that good to know? You may feel I'm sinking. I'm going down.

I'm discouraged. My weakness is just a level that I don't know how I can continue but here's the promise underneath. No matter how low you may have sunk still there's a hand under you that supports you. His everlasting arms. And then we come to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper. Isn't that wonderful to be able to say? Sometimes we just take that for granted.

But think about it. As you go through life and you know you need help the Lord is your helper if you're one of his. If you're trusting in him, he is your helper. And I will not fear what man shall do unto me. You may say all of those promises sound good.

I can think of many more. Promises that you have read, that you've meditated upon, that you've heard preached. But you say I just struggle with unbelief. I want to believe those promises but I falter. I have difficulty finding comfort in them. I think maybe it's just not for me.

I feel unworthy to claim them. I believe what God says. I know his word is true but it doesn't seem to work for me. I read his promises and still I doubt. Still I fear.

But there is help. In the ninth chapter of the book of Mark we find the man whose son was possessed of an evil spirit. This evil spirit of time would throw this boy to the ground.

He was in a terrible, terrible state. And the father is asking Jesus to deliver him. Mark chapter 9 verse 23, Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Now here's a promise.

All things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief. There's help. We need help and the Lord provides the help.

Help. The man acknowledged, Lord, the best I know how, the best I can. I believe, that's why I've come to you. I've come to Jesus.

I believe that there's help here. But help, Lord, not unbelief. And he spoke that as he cried out with tears.

Have there been times that your struggles have been so great? You've cried out to the Lord with tears. I said, Lord, I desperately need help. I want to claim your promises.

I want to claim them for myself. I want to believe that you're my present help, but I struggle. I'm full of doubts and apprehensions. Help thou mine unbelief. Romans chapter 15 verse 5 says, For whatsoever things are written aforetime are written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. So at this time that you're feeling hopeless and you're having difficulty claiming the promises and you're struggling with doubt. He says, these things in the scriptures are written for our learning.

Let's go back and review them. You go back and see God was a present help for Israel. Here's people who are slaves. How can they possibly leave this bondage and go to a better place? Only because God was their help. Because God delivered them. Because God parted the waters of the Red Sea. Because God cared for them in the wilderness. He fed them with the manna.

He brought water out of a rock. He led them by the fiery pillar at night and the cloud in the daytime. God was a present help for Israel in bringing them out of bondage. You come and read the story of David as a young lad going down to face Goliath.

All of the brave soldiers were afraid to go. But David said, I'll go because I've had experience with God. God is my helper.

I one day was able to kill a bear another time a lion. Then I came to devour the flock. I go.

I'm ready to go. But he acknowledged this. Salvation is of the Lord. He acknowledged my help is in my God. I'm not depending on this armor. Saul tried to give him his armor. He said, I can't take that.

I haven't proven that. I'm going trusting in the God that has proven to me. He is my help and my strength. And then you think about Daniel and the lion's den. The king that put it in there really didn't want to do it. His advisors had gotten him to sign the document that anybody prayed to another God would be put to death.

And he regretted he had signed the paper, but he had done it. And now Daniel's put into the lion's den and the king is troubled all night. And he comes out the next morning and says, oh Daniel, must thy God able to deliver thee?

And Daniel says, I'm here. Everything's fine. No harm has befallen me.

And then you read about the three Hebrews thrown into the fiery furnace. The king said, everything's not but it's going to bow down to this great image that I have had erected. When you hear the music, bow down. Everybody bow down. Except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He didn't want to have these boys put to death.

So he said, we're going to give you another opportunity. We're going to play the music one more time. When you hear the music, everybody bow down. And everybody in the kingdom bow down.

Except Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There they stood. What will you do under such circumstances? Would you say, well, I guess to save my life I better compromise. I trust God will understand. Now, you may not be facing a fiery furnace or a lion's den, but you may be facing a situation at work where you're required to compromise your convictions in order to get a raise or an advancement in your position. How are you going to stand? Can you say when the music is played and everybody else in the culture around me is bowing to that which is ungodly by God's grace, I'm going to stand.

So we're talking about this help. Help with unbelief. You go back and review what God has done in times past. And it's written for our learning and admonition.

It's written to encourage us. And so you come away from that saying, if God could bring Israel out of Egypt, if he could part the waters of the Red Sea, if they could bless David to kill Goliath, if he could bless Daniel and protect him and the lion's den, if he could bless Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, if he was their helper, I believe he's my helper and I'm going to trust him. So the more you read of what God has done and you're seeing these wonderful old hymns that describe what he has done, come to believe he can help me.

And then help in trials. Now, we've talked about troubles, but I'm distinguishing trials in a little different light. Trials of deep inner struggle. In Psalm 102, verse 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me of the day when I'm in trouble. Incline thy ear unto me of the day when I call. Hear me speedily. Here the psalmist is having a deep inner struggle. Lord, when I pray, when I call upon you, hide not thy face.

I need desperately your help. Hear me speedily. Have you not been at that place at times where the situation was such, Lord, I need help now.

Now. When Peter stepped out of the boat and started to sink in the water, he says, Lord, save me or I perish. It wasn't time for a long prayer. He just needed help and he needed it quicker.

He's going to be under. Maybe you've been there. You say, Lord, hear me speedily. For all my days are consumed like smoke and my bones are burned as a hearth.

My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. Now, somebody might say, well, Pritchard, you're talking about things that are foreign to me. I've never experienced that and maybe you never will.

But in case you do, you'll find out you're not blazing a new trail. Somebody's been there before you. And for those of you that have been there, take courage. When the solace acknowledges, I've reached a low state. I feel like I'm withered like grass. I'm so troubled I don't even eat. Miss a meal.

I can't even eat because of the anguish that I feel. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleaved to my skin. I'm like a pelican of the wilderness. I'm like an owl of the desert. I watch and it was a sparrow alone upon the housetop.

By what descriptive language? I feel like the pelican of the wilderness. I feel to be in a deserted place. I'm like the sparrow alone on the housetop.

I picture one little sparrow up there on the top of the house. He's subjected to the winds that blow and the rains that fall. It describes one in a lonely place. Here he is desperately needing help. Then Psalm 107 speaks of those who are at their wits end. At their wits end. But then they call upon the Lord and he delivers them. And then the plea is may we acknowledge that and praise God for his deliverance.

These trials are great when one struggles deep within with all kinds of doubts and fears and concerns. And so the psalmist describes it. But he also points us to the fact that our help is in our God. And then we may struggle in a trial because we have prayed. We felt we trusted God. But God's response to our request is not what we expected.

And we see a perfect example of that in the experience of the apostle Paul. He was given a thorn in the flesh. Doesn't define exactly what it was.

But it certainly presents the idea that it was painful, uncomfortable. He wanted to get rid of it. He prayed three times. Lord removed the thorn.

And I certainly believe the apostle Paul was on good terms with the Lord. If he were here today I'd certainly like for him to pray for me. But he prayed three times. And the Lord didn't remove the thorn.

Here's what he said. 2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 8. For this thing I besought the Lord Christ that he might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for me. 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. God's response to his affliction, to his trial was not what he'd hoped for.

You may experience that. You saw a clear path that you'd like to travel and you saw no harm in it. And maybe there wasn't. It wasn't a sinful path but it wasn't one of God's choice for you. And you prayed for help here, help there, deliverance from this situation. And it didn't turn out like you asked.

It's not what you expected. But the answer is my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength. That's what we're talking about is finding strength to help in time of need. God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble. So no matter what the situation may be, no matter how the circumstances of life have fallen out to you or ways that are strange and have been unpredictable, God's grace is sufficient for you.

He is a very present help. And then we talk about help in prayer. It's difficult when we feel that prayers are not being heard.

Lamentations chapter 3 verse 8, Jeremiah said, Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. Psalm 66 verse 2, I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying, my throat is dried, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. I'm waiting, I'm praying, I'm seeking God. But he said, I feel like I'm sinking in the mire. I can't find a solid place to stand.

I just feel like I'm going down for the count. Then in Psalm 77 verse 7, it says, Will the Lord cast off forever and will he be favorable no more? Now I realize that language is strange to a lot of Christians.

Their idea is that we just must always be on the top of the mountain. And indeed we are to rejoice always in the Lord no matter what our circumstances are. But the Spirit of God inspired the psalmist to write these things and they deal with real life experiences. Maybe many of you today can say, yes, I've been to that place where I've asked the question, Lord, will thou cast off forever? I cry and shout, but it seems that my prayer is shut out.

Will he be favorable no more? I'm having difficulty then in my prayers. But there is help. Romans chapter 8 verse 26, Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. You have a problem with prayer?

Having difficulty? There's help. The Spirit of God helps us in our infirmities in prayer. For we know not what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Isn't that wonderful? To say, Lord, I want to pray. I want to pray right. I want to pray for the right things. But I feel weak even in my effort to pray. I give thanks that there is this promise that the Holy Spirit will help me in my weakness. Help me.

Come to my rescue. Help me, Lord, to pray. Say sometimes I don't know what to pray. Pray the psalms. You're praying what God has conveyed to us to be a blessing in our life. If you're praying the psalms, you will confess.

Psalm 79, 9 says, Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake. So if you're praying the psalms, you'll be praying, Lord, I'm a sinner. I've sinned.

I've come short. I'm going to confess my sins. I'm going to enumerate them. I'm going to lay them out.

I'm going to admit them. I'm going to pray. Lord, forgive me. Purge away our sins. And you'll be praying with praise. Psalm 147, 1, Praise ye the Lord, for it is good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant and praise is comely. So in my prayer, I'm going to praise God. Praise Him for His greatness, His goodness, His mercy.

Praising Him. And if you're praying the psalms, you'll pray with thanksgiving. Psalm 116, verse 17 says, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. Thanksgiving is such a wonderful and important theme of the Scriptures.

And it cannot be ignored. It's there over and over again that we are to be giving thanks to our God. Recently, when I spoke to you from the Book of Colossians, chapter one, pointed out how we should pray like Paul prayed. Let's just recall those things he prayed for. He prayed for this church that they might be filled with the knowledge of God's will. He prayed that they might walk worthy of the Lord. He prayed that they might be fruitful in every good work. He prayed that they might be increasing in the knowledge of God. He prayed that they might be strengthened with might according to His power. He prayed that they might be giving thanks unto the Father.

All of those things could well be included in our prayers. Lord, I pray that I will have grace and strength to walk worthy, that I may be fruitful in every good work, that I may be involved in the one-anothering process that's so often repeated in scripture. Lord, I come surely giving thanks to the Father for His abundant mercies, a present help. God is our great helper, a present help in trouble, and He encourages us to seek His help. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. Is that not what we need? If we have a clear sense of our own unworthiness, our own failures, we need mercy. And that's what He says we will find. Come boldly, because you're coming not in your own name but in the name of Jesus Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to what?

That's what we're talking about. You need help. Find grace to help in time of need. He is the God of comfort and He gives comfort to those that are troubled. He's the God of hope. He gives hope to those that are in despair. He's a God of grace and He gives grace to the unworthy.

Not one soul can claim that they're entitled to a single blessing from the hand of our sovereign God. As unworthy sinners, we stand desperately in need of grace. And what a wonderful truth to know that salvation is entirely by His grace.

And even those blessings that we need from day to day and the help that we desire must be given to us on the basis of grace. How wonderful that He identifies Himself as the God of all grace. He is the God of power and therefore He gives strength to those that are weak.

He's a God of love and He brings salvation through His Son Jesus Christ to lost, ruined sinners. Yes, He is a very present help in the time of trouble. God is our refuge and strength.

Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters there overore and be troubled, though the mountains shake and the swelling thereof. In the greatest of calamities, God is our refuge, our hiding place, our secure place where we are protected by His power. He is a very present help in the time of trouble.

Why would you look anywhere else? Why would you grovel among the empty vein things of this world when there is this help? He alone is the salvation of sinners. When you've been convicted of sin and you see yourself in need, how good to know that Jesus came to save sinners. The apostle said, He saved even the chiefest of sinners as He felt Himself to be.

Jesus says, Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. He's the Savior. He's the refuge.

He's our hope. Savior, I come to Thee, on Thee I come. What a wonderful truth that God is a present help. He not only is our great Helper, but He is at hand. He is willing to hear from us. He invites us to call upon Him so that we recognize our unworthiness.

We can come boldly to the throne of grace because we're not going to the bar of justice. We're going to the throne of grace, and He says to come that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. I hope that you will write to us, and until next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Savior, I come to Thee, in Thee I pray. 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. Jesus, my King, knowest the grief I bear to Thee, I cling. Savior, I come to Thee, be Thou my Lord.