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, Thou the praise of my God and King, Thou triumphs of his grace. This is LeSaire Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. When I can read my title clear to mansions in the skies, I'll bid farewell, I'll bid farewell, I'll bid farewell to every fear, And why my weeping eyes should earth against my soul engage, And thy regards be heard.
Then I can smile, then I can smile, Then I can smile at Satan's rage and face a crowning word. There I shall bathe my weary soul in seeds of heavenly rest, And not awake, and not awake, and not awake of trouble across my peaceful rest. I encourage you to take time to write and let us know that you are listening to the broadcast. I appreciate all the mail we've received, so many words of encouragement from people who tell us that the Lord has touched their heart by the preaching of his word and made a difference in their life. And so if you have enjoyed the messages and want the program to continue on your local station, take time to write us a note this week and if you can help with the support of the program, we'll certainly be grateful for it.
Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. 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 veil I wander far, far from thee. Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. O what a friend is Jesus, sure anchor for my soul, so tender, true, and gracious, I'm safe in his control.
My help in time of danger, my strong defense is he. O thou blessed Rock of Ages, hide thou me. O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. No other refuge have I but thee. When life's dark veil I wander far, far from thee.
Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me. Today we bring you the second part of a message entitled God Leads Us Along. We have referred to the words of the hymn by that title.
It's a beautiful hymn that describes our travels, sometimes going down through the deep waters, sometimes in the fiery furnace, and again coming out on the top of the mountain. Our text is John 10-3. He calveth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. So we first have taken note of the fact that God leads his children, just as he led the children of Israel in olden times, led them in their wilderness wanderings.
He leads us today. The psalmist said, my times are in thy hand. And that gives us great consolation as we travel in life to know that we are resting in the hand of Almighty God. And then secondly we have noted that God leads his children through trials, some through the waters, some through the floods, some through the fire. This speaks of intense troubles, but the promise that God gives, thou shalt not be burned.
Sometimes in the valley, in the darkest of night. And then we come today to consider that in the midst of our sorrows, Satan may oppose us, but God is our helper. Then the hymn writer says, those sorrows befall us, and Satan oppose.
Well, we do have a great enemy. 1 Peter 5-8 says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. That's not put there to strike undue fear in your heart, but it is sobering to consider it, is it not? It certainly ought to capture our attention and say, if I've got an enemy who is so great, my adversary is the devil himself and he is a roaring lion and he would like to devour me, I need to be alert.
I need to attend to the things that God has given in his word as to how I am to resist the devil and to be able to stand in the armor that God has provided, which is described in detail in Ephesians chapter 6. We read earlier from Psalm 31 and the 15th verse, let's go back to that Psalm. Psalm 31 verse 7, I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble, thou hast known my soul in adversities, and hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy, thou hast set my feet in a large room. David frequently talked about his enemies, he had many of them.
Satan is our great adversary, but sometimes that takes the form of family members, people who once were friends and turned their back on you, maybe somebody you work with, for a variety of reasons, people can become your enemy. And the Psalmist expresses it. Lord, you've been good to me because you haven't shut me up to the hand of my enemies. And then it says in the 13th verse, for I have heard the slander of many, fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life, but I trusted in thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my God.
Where do we go? If you find that you have an enemy. The vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. So he doesn't tell you to dig in and fight with hand-to-hand combat against your enemy, or you try to outsmart your enemy and see what you can do to destroy them.
That's not your prerogative. What did David do? I trusted in thee, I said, thou art my God. Yes, Satan will always oppose us. We have the world, the flesh and the devil all in opposition that against which we must stand. And when we consider the fact that we still have the old Adamic nature in us, we still have this flesh to deal with, we have an enemy within that can be our greatest difficulty. And then in the Roman letter, Romans chapter 8 verse 35, we read about some of the things that God's people encounter.
Question is asked, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Those sorrows befall us. There can be many sorrows, deep sorrows, deep grief experienced in the time of tribulation.
Or when there's distress, there's just perplexity. We don't know where to turn and how to effectively deal with the situation that we encounter or persecution. Those in the early church suffered great persecution. Many were imprisoned.
The Apostle Paul spent much time as a prisoner. All of the Apostles, with the exception of John, were martyred. They're Christians being killed in various parts of the world today because of their testimony for Jesus Christ. Famine, nakedness, peril, sword, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Not going to be destroyed by it. Well, if some of them were martyred, were they not destroyed? Well, think about Stephen. He was stoned to death, but while he was dying, he looked up into heaven and saw Jesus, this time not sitting on the right hand of the Father, but standing up ready to welcome him home.
What a way to die. They may have felt when they saw his limp body they had indeed accomplished their purpose and conquered this man, but he went on to glory. Nothing can separate us from his love, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other creatures shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is given us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Powers. It doesn't matter what power may oppose. It may be a powerful nation. It may be a powerful religious institution. It may be a powerful worldwide conspiracy, but no power can separate us from our God, for our times are in His hand.
What a consolation. And then he says, away from the mire and away from the clay. In the mire, we find that we're unable to get a firm footing.
You take a step, you want to get out of the mire. It's an uncomfortable place. It's a place that can be very harmful and destructive, but each time you take a step, instead of finding a solid rock, you find more mire and it's sucking you down.
The psalmist refers to it in Psalm 69 verse 1. Save me, O God, for the waters are coming unto my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me.
You sometimes pray that with David. Lord, I'm sinking in the mire. Come to my rescue. I can't get out on my own.
I've got to have your help. Verse 14, deliver me out of the mire and let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them that hate me and out of the deep waters. Verse 33, for the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not his prisoners. God leads his children through afflictions and God leads his children along. In shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, God leads his dear children along. We're made to think of that wonderful psalm. The Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. What a pleasant scene comes to our mind. Shady green pastures. A place where sheep are comfortable and can be fed. Philip Keller, a pastor who was for eight years a shepherd caring for sheep, writes in his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, that sheep will not lie down unless they are free from fear. When they're alarmed, when they're troubled, they will not lie down in the green pastures. Fear is something that can beset us.
There are many circumstances, things you may be dealing with at the present, things that you think about that could occur in the future, and it causes you to be afraid and you fail to lie down and rest in the Lord. Sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others. If one sheep is antagonizing another, if they are battling each other, they will not lie down. The Lord would have us labor for peace. Peace.
Seek peace and ensue it. And they will not lie down when they are hungry. Sheep have to be fed. We are fed as His Word is proclaimed, as His Gospel is preached, as we read His Word, and we're able then to lie down in the green pastures, where the water's cool flow bathes the weary one's feet. Isn't it good to know that in spite of the fact we're sometimes in the night season, sometimes in the depths, the Lord brings us to another season where the water is refreshing. The water's cool flow bathes your weary feet where you've been traveling on the hot, dusty sands. Isaiah chapter 66 verse 12 says, Thus saith the Lord, behold I will extend peace to her like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream. The Little Miami River, such a beautiful stream.
Sometimes you look at it and it's just, you can hardly tell the water is moving. Just peaceful. I will extend peace like a river. Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright. Somebody might say today, well, I'm beginning to wonder if there is a mount. I've been in the valley so long.
I've been in the low places so long. Now let me assure you that you can't have a valley unless there is a mountain attached to it. So as you go through the valley and you come out on the other side, there is a high place.
There is a mountain. In Ezekiel chapter 34 when the Lord was rebuking the shepherds that had failed to care for His flock and said that He would care for them. It says in the 13th verse that, I will bring them out from the people and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in a good fold and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. So the mountains are connected with a happy time, a joyous time, a time of being blessed.
Sometimes when you spend a good bit of your experience in the valley, you may tend to forget about the mountains. But I'm confident that every one of us today, if we think back just a bit, we think about some of those mountain top experiences. Times when the Lord has been with us in a special way. And we just feel that He is there. Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright. Malachi 4-2 says, But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall.
The Son of righteousness, Jesus Christ. Think back a few years ago when I'd gone to Poland to preach. I'd had some good sessions, met with several people, and they were rejoicing in the good news of the gospel and the message of God's grace. And then I got the news early one morning that the car we had rented had broken down.
And I was frustrated to say the least. We'd had our plans for the day. We were going to travel a distance and meet some other people we had not previously met and be able to bring the message to them. And the first question to my mind, I've come this far, why would this be that I'm not going to be able to go anywhere today? But then the thought came to mind, my times are in His hands, God's in charge, if I'm going to pace the floor all day or sit around here and fret because my plans have been disrupted, that's not going to honor the Lord. And I just prayed, Lord, bless me to get into your Word in a very special way. And I spent that entire day studying Psalm 119, reading it and rereading it and I had a commentary on it that was excellent. I don't have words to describe the joy that I felt in my heart. Wasn't anybody with me during that time.
I was there in a country far from home and I could look down and see children playing on the playground and periodically I'd go down and we couldn't communicate because I couldn't speak their language, they couldn't speak mine, but somehow we could gesture that we were friendly toward each other and I would go back up with my study. And when that day was finished, oh Lord, this has been a day on the top of the mountain. It didn't start out that way, it seemed that everything was going wrong, but this time of fellowship with the Lord was so special. And after the hymn writer describes these various experiences, he says, but all through the blood. All of God's children need the cleansing of the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood there is no remission. 1 John 1.7 says, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Without the shedding of Christ's blood, without His sacrificial death, without His substitution, going to the cross, taking the place of those who were given to Him by the Father, there would be no salvation.
And all this other consideration of the way we travel would have really no meaning at all. But we've been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He laid down His life and got what He paid for. And then the hymn says, And away up in glory, eternity's day, God leads His dear children along. 1 Thessalonians 4.17, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord and the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So along the way, He leads us through the waters and through the floods, He leads us through the fire, He leads us through the valleys, and up on the mountain tops in days of joy and refreshment, in days where the Son of Righteousness smiles upon us and we feel His presence and say, Oh, how good to know that the Lord is our Savior and that He is with us. And ultimately we look to the end of the journey when He leads us on to that higher ground, catching us up in the air, to be with Him and so shall we ever be. No more disruptions, no more dark days, no more valleys, no more disappointments, no more struggle with sin, no more enemies, but to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, basking the sunlight of His love forever.
That's the hope we have. Yes, He leads His sheep, He leads His own. In 1942, sometime after the death of George A. Young, who wrote this hymn, Haldor Lilinus, who was a hymn writer, publisher of hymns, in fact, his most famous one is Wonderful Grace of Jesus. He decided to track down George Young's widow. He got an address in a small town and driving there, he stopped at a gas station to ask for directions. When the attendant saw the address, he said, Why, sir, that's the county poorhouse, up the road about three miles. And, mister, when I say poorhouse, I really mean poorhouse. Not knowing what to expect, Lilinus made his way there.
He found Mrs. Young a tiny elderly woman in surroundings that were far from pleasant. However, she radiated the joy of the Lord and spoke of how He had guided her and her husband for many years. Then she exclaimed, God led me here and I'm so glad He did. You know, about every month someone comes into this place to spend the rest of their days and many of them don't know my Jesus.
I'm having the time of my life introducing them. Isn't it wonderful how God leads? God leads His dear children along. Has it been leading you to convict you of your sin and show you your need of a Savior? Has it been leading you to show you that there is no other Savior but Jesus?
Has it been leading you to become His follower? In shady green pastures so rich and so sweet, God leads His dear children along. Where the waters will flow with the weary one's feet, God leads His dear children along. God leads us along.
How is it in your life? Though you may be passing through some difficult times and going down in the deep valleys, have you been able to sense that God is leading you? He's holding you up. He is your strength. You stand amazed that you've been able to get through it all thus far and you know it's because He is with you?
What about you who have given little thought to spiritual things but by divine providence have tuned your dial to listen to this program today? Is God leading you? Is He dealing with you? Is He convicting you of your sin?
Is He bringing you to the end of yourself, making you realize you need help? And I pray that you will see today that the help you need is in Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. So next week at this same time, may the Lord richly bless you all.
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song in the next season and all the day long. 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. The Baptist Bible Hour, Cincinnati, Ohio 45117
