A Review of Divine Mercies - 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 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. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing. Our helper be amid the flood, a mortal is prevailing. For still our ancient foe does seek to work us woe.

His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel fate. All earth is not his equal. And though this world with thee fell fear, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath with His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for Him. His praise we can endure, for love is to be sure. One little word shall felt Him. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth. Let goods and kin breath go, this mortal life also.

The body they may kill, cause truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. I hope you will take time to write and let us know that you have listened to the broadcast. This is a five Sunday month and so it is particularly important that we hear from you as our expenses are greater.

Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Through their leaders, the prophets and the psalmist, God's people in olden times were repeatedly reminded of God's greatness and the great things that He had done for them. Then when we come to the New Testament, we find Peter writing, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things though you know them. So scripture is clear.

We must be off reminded of God's greatness and glory that we may continually praise Him and give thanks for His abundant mercies. As we go again to our series on the book of Joshua, our subject is a review of divine mercies. We go once again to the book of Joshua, chapter 24, reading verse 1.

Joshua 24, verse 1. And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to ship them and called for the elders of Israel and for their heads and for their judges and for their officers and they presented themselves before God. I recall in the preceding chapter, there was a similar meeting, but at that time, it only mentions that he called these leaders. At this point, it says that he gathered all the tribes and then lists the various leaders who were also there. A subject, a review of divine mercies. This is obviously an important meeting since all the tribes and their leaders are called to hear this message from Joshua. He comes down to the end of his journey here on this earth. He feels it important to cover this ground, reminding them of the great things God has done for them.

So first, we consider that there are mercies here enumerated. Verse 2. And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nehemiah, and they served other gods. Now one thing that's consistently pointed out in this reading is that God was always extremely displeased with idolatry. That's where Abraham was.

That's where God came to him and brought him out. These people were idolaters. What an amazing display of grace that God would make a covenant with him, promising to make him the father of many nations, and give a promise that even looked forward to the coming of the Messiah.

So they served other gods. Verse 3. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau, and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir to possess him.

But Jacob and his children went down into Egypt. We know early on in this message it is a description of what God has done. It's not an acknowledgement of man's successful effort in going into the land of Canaan.

It's not something that was based on his decision or his works. It's a description of what God did for his people. Verse 5. I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt according to that which I did among them, and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ye came unto the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the sea. And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt, and ye dwelt in the wilderness for a long season. Now even as we read that, somebody might be saying, how many times do we have to hear about the deliverance of the children of Israel at the Red Sea?

And we heard that over and over again. Is it necessary that we have such repetition? Obviously it was the purpose of God that his people be continually reminded of that deliverance. And we read that these things of old were written for our learning and admonition. So we need to learn that there are things that must often be repeated, bringing to our minds these mercies of God, the mighty things that he has done for us. It's uplifting and encouraging to read what he did for his people in days gone by.

It's a reminder of what he's able to do for us, and that there are specific things that we need to enumerate as to the blessings he has given us in our lives individually. So it was important for the people to recognize and continue to remember that their deliverance from Egypt was not a result of their own effort, their ingenuity, their schemes. It was the Lord that raised up Moses, brought them out, delivered them at the Red Sea.

Verse 8, And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which well on the other side of Jordan, and they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, that he might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. God wanted them to remember what he had done for them and to recall the details. So here Joshua, in his last days, brings it to their attention once again.

The Lord is mentioned 21 times in these verses that we're going to look at in this chapter. So the focus is on the Lord. Joshua was a great man. He was a faithful servant.

We're inspired when we read all of the things that took place in his life and how he faithfully served God. But the focus is not on Joshua. It's on God.

21 times. God is mentioned in this message that's brought by Joshua. So just as it was necessary for these people to be reminded of specific things God had done, the details of his mercies and blessings upon them, we need also to be mindful of that in our lives, and we'll say more about that in a moment. Verse 9, Then Balak, the son of Zaphor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel and sent Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I would not hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand. Now that's an interesting story, as this king asked Balaam to curse Israel. Well, Balaam says, I can't say anything except what God gives me.

But he's willing to try to move forward and do what he can. Well, he's riding a little donkey, and God puts an angel in the path so that he's hindered his forward progress. The donkey could see the angel, but Balaam couldn't see it. So he's frustrated when his donkey stops. In fact, he's so angry, he whips him. And finally the donkey turns around and talks to him. He says, why are you whipping me?

Why don't you see this angel? And then Balaam's eyes were open so that he was able to see it. Well, when he tried to speak some word of curse to satisfy the king, blessings came out. Balaam says, I brought you out here to curse these people and you'd bless them. He said, well, let's move on to another spot. Let's go to a different location.

Maybe it'll turn out better. So they move along and Balaam speaks and blessings come out. Second time, he's blessing Israel. He said, I can only speak that which God gives me.

So what God was giving him was blessing. Well, Balak says, let's go to another location. Maybe you can see the situation a little better. You can see the land, see the people.

So we'll try a third location. And in the end, the same thing happened. Balaam just spoke blessing. Well, isn't it wonderful to know how God can intervene in such a matter? That here's a pagan king determined to do harm to Israel and has this servant come with the idea that he will be able to curse them, but God intervenes and nothing comes out of his mouth but blessing. Well, God's people have many enemies today. There are many people that would like to wipe out totally the Christian testimony in America, stand in fierce opposition to it, and are doing everything they can to curse it. But isn't it good to know that God is able even to turn around the effort and desires of those who would curse Christianity and remove it from any influence in this country. God was able to turn that around to a blessing. So it's in him that we trust.

He's the sovereign God ruling over all and we depend on him to protect us, sustain us, from all opposition that surrounds us in this wicked day. Verse 11, And you went over Jordan and came unto Jericho, and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Gergeshites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. So there was a formidable opposition to their entrance into the land. These various tribes and peoples that possessed it, but the Lord says, I delivered them into your hand.

That's why you were able to move in. That's why you were able to possess the land because I delivered them into your hand. We never forget that and into the spiritual battles in which we've become involved that we must look to the Lord to turn back the efforts of the enemy and to deliver his people. They face much opposition and God's people today face much opposition. There's a growing bitterness and resentment against Christianity in America. How sad to see it when we know that in the earlier times, there was great respect shown for teaching to God's word.

The moral principles established there were respected and were a part of the law of the land. And now there are those that want to destroy it all and want to limit free speech so that if somebody disagrees with them, they ought to be shut down, not be allowed to speak their view. Oh, how we need God's blessing and intervention to keep the goals of these who oppose the truth from being successful in their effort. We face much opposition and we see that described in Ephesians chapter 6. Just as the enemies that Israel faced would have hindered their enjoyment of their inheritance, these enemies today would hinder us. They can't destroy our inheritance in heaven.

They can make our present inheritance a little uncomfortable. Ephesians 6 verse 11 says, Put on the whole armor of God that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. I don't know that we fully understand all that's involved in each of those categories, but when we read that our battle is not just against flesh and blood, not just against individuals that we might encounter, it's against principalities, against powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world.

Oh, it seems that the darkness is certainly invading the minds of multitudes today, not able to discern, not able to see the darkness that's engulfing them, the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We recognize that we're incapable of adequately facing enemies of that caliber. So, he's telling us to put on the whole armor of God. We can't successfully fight this battle by ourselves.

We can't do it by human strength and ingenuity. It's only as we are clothed upon with that armor, taking the shield of faith, going forward with our trust in God and using what he's made available to us. Certainly, we recognize that we are in a battle. Any Christian that doesn't recognize that has put their hand in the sand.

If you listen to any of the news, and it's not that I recommend you want to spend a lot of time with that because that's rather depressing, but just to be alert enough to know something of what's going on in our country today, you know that there is a concerted effort to put down the testimony of the Christian faith. So, we are facing spiritual wickedness in high places, and we need to have all the whole armor of God to successfully stand. Then verse 12, And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, but not with thy sword nor with thy bow. Now, there are varying opinions about what this means. Some believe that it means exactly what is literally before us, that God did send some hornets which drove out some of the people from before them. Some think that it's figurative language, and it's talking about the news that was circulated concerning the success of the Israelites, so that when they went in and had a visit with Rahab, she talked about how their hearts failed them just when they heard the account of what had happened. And so, here, this was a forward blessing, not dependent on their sword or their bow, but however it was, certainly it was the work of God.

I sent the hornet before you. I'm the one that drove them out. And I have given you a land which ye did not labor, and cities which you did not build, which you built not, and ye dwell in them, and of vineyards and olive yards, which ye planted not, do ye eat. Joshua was reminding them of how blessed they are. They've come into a land and enjoyed houses that they didn't build.

They have been able to eat from vineyards and olive yards that they didn't plant. How faithful, how blessed. Now, we know there's a principle in scripture that the man that won't work ought not to eat. And work is good and work is expected. But must we not all say that there are many blessings in life that God has given us, which we have to say, it's not a result of my work.

It's not a result of my effort. It's just the goodness, mercy, and grace of God. So just remember, Joshua says, how favored you are that you are living in cities that you did not build, you did not labor for them, you're eating from vineyards and olive yards which you didn't plant. Oh, how gracious and good is the Lord. Expressions here certainly emphasize the power of God in carrying out his purposes. He says, I took, I gave, I sent, I brought, I have brought, I have done, I destroy.

Over and over again, then the focus is on God. This is what God has done. God is declaring that God had done what he promised to his people. Isn't it reassuring when we see God keeping his promises? We know that he is faithful, that he cannot lie, as we said in the message on the air this morning. His promises are yay and amen.

They're dependable. But Joshua is giving them clear evidence, clear proof as they recall what God had promised and now see the fulfillment of it. They now possess the land and the Lord reminds them that he has done it. I brought you into the land of the Amorite. I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them before you.

This is what I did. And as we see the many evidences of God doing what he has promised, we should believe him without hesitation, even as Abraham did long ago. Romans chapter 4 verse 20, speaking of Abraham, says, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.

Now let me ask you, has there been a time that you've staggered at the promise of God through unbelief? You knew what his promise was. You read it directly from his word, but you didn't embrace it. You didn't believe it.

You raised questions about it. Well, Abraham staggered not. He believed the promise of God. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And when we embrace his promise or believe his word, we thereby are giving glory to God. So being fully persuaded that what he had promised was he was able to perform.

Do you believe that? That what God has promised he is able to perform? Now, sometimes we get in a hurry and we're asking the Lord to grant a particular blessing and we don't see evidence of it and questions of various kinds come in our mind. We have to remember that God's timetable is not always equal to ours.

He's his weight on the Lord. We're to continue to come regularly to the throne of grace. We're to pray without ceasing.

We're to seek him and believe his promises, but know that he will fulfill them according to his timetable. And sometimes his answer differs from what we would desire. When Jesus himself prayed to the Father, let this cup pass from me. Now did the Father hear him?

Yes, he heard him. But his answer was that it was intended that Jesus would go on to the cross and die, which he did. And so the Lord, sometimes he will hear what we say. But his answer differs, just like in the case of Apostle Paul, where Paul's request was remove the thorn. God heard his prayer, but the way he answered it, I'll give you grace to bear up under this trial.

He believed his word, staggering none at the promise of God. Is me and my Father's throne Make all my wants and wishes known In seasons of distress and grief My soul has often found relief God's promises are wonderful for us to review. Give us great courage, and we should embrace them, staggering not at the promises, but believing God will do what he said it will do. I hope that you will respond by writing us this week or go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org.

You can make a donation there to next week. At this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer My wings shall my petition bear To hear the truth at faithful hands Baptist Bible Hour has come to you under the direction of Elder Lissaire Bradley, Jr. Address all mail to the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. That's the Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And since he raised me, seek his face Believe his word and trust his grace I'll cast on him my faith