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[0:00] Psalm 106, verse 43. He did repent and made them to be pitied of all those who did them captive lead.

[0:39] O Lord our God, us save and gather the heathen from among, that we may thy holy name may praise in a triumphant song.

[0:52] Blessed be Jehovah, Israel's God, to all eternity. Let all the people say Amen. Praise to the Lord give he.

[1:04] We can sing these verses, Psalm 106, verse 43. He many times delivered them, but with their counseled soul.

[1:14] He many times delivered them, but with their counseled soul, They hempoke not for kedies, They were from back to my back to my back to my beginning, Yet there are little things in the hell When he did hear their cry And his poor ambition

[2:18] His power to memory After his marriage Milding you In every pen and honey Then who visited All alone Again and higher yet O Lord our God The heaven of my heart

[3:27] That we thy holy give me praise In the triumph of the song Blessed be Jehovah To all he had never did Let God forgive us Amen Praise to the Lord Can we for a short while turn to the book of Joshua chapter 10 and we can read again at verse 12

[4:38] Joshua chapter 10 and verse 12 Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel And he said in the sight of Israel Son stand thou still upon Gibeon And thou moon in the valley of Adjalon And the sun stood still and the moon stayed Until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies Is not this written in the book of Joshua So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven And hasted not to go down about a whole day And there was no day And there was no day And there was no day like that before it or after it That the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man For the Lord fought for Israel We've been over the last number of prayer meetings

[5:43] Considering the glory of God And the God of glory And it is such a broad topic that gives you a fair bit of leeway In the occasions where we are brought face to face with something of what that glory entails If we consider his activity in different spheres of his influence There should be an inkling given to us of that glory If we see his iron bared in might And here we see him revealed to us as the God of miracles Which is a convenient title that is given to him

[6:48] What we actually mean by that Can vary from the various contexts in which We might feel free to apply that designation to him The God of miracles We are most used to witnessing miracles As they are the work of his only begotten son The Lord Jesus Christ There are ample accounts given to us Of miracles carried out by the Lord Miracles of healing Miracles of Of Quickening Spiritually And Also Quickening Even of dead bodies The might and the power necessary For any one of these

[7:48] Can only be Associated with Divine activity There is also evidence given to us in the Old Testament script Joshua codes In the book of Exodus The God of miracles at work there in different ways We see it in the lives of Elijah and Elisha We see it here in this book of Joshua And we could I suppose focus on any one of the accounts that are given to us And explore What we discover of the power and the might and the glory of God In the way that he exercises His power in carrying out these miracles We know that theologians

[8:49] If they are going to talk about what is meant by miracle They would insist on at least three things being in evidence That it is Within it there is a sign Within it there is wonder But most especially within the miracle there is the activity of God An act of God that is considered to be supernatural And that is what it confronts us here at several levels And I want us to think of what is suggested to us By what we have met with In the way God deals on behalf of Israel With Israel's enemies And deals with Israel themselves In order to enlighten them And remind them

[9:50] Of who their God is And what their God can do The significance of the miracle that we have here That is at the forefront of our attention Where the sun and the moon Are brought under The attention And the captive attention of God Out of their normal orbit And Many who read this Choose to dismiss it as something That is an impossibility And If they don't treat it as an impossibility And something that is entirely A work of fiction The other approach The other approach is to explain it away In some way So that What is said Makes some kind of sense To our natural

[10:51] Understanding Of how these Things work How the sun rises And how the sun sets And how the moon rises And so on But I want us to Look at The miracle Bearing in mind That it's not a miracle That stands alone There is a background To what happens here Which should not Be ignored And if you go back To the previous chapter And even before that You know that God has worked On behalf of his people And allowed them To defeat Their enemies And we've read about Some of these enemies In this chapter And the knowledge That the enemies Of God And the people of God Had of God's activities

[11:51] Is very much Part and partial Of what they Understood to have Taken place The five kings That are mentioned There Are all aware Of what God Had done Before then And Their knowledge Of that Makes them Very Very nervous And then In chapter Nine We read of An extraordinary Event itself We can read At the beginning Of chapter Nine Where Joshua Along with Israel Is to Going to Battle Against The inhabitants Of Gibeon But they They By means Of Of trickery And subterfuge As we read

[12:53] In verse four They did work Wildly And went And made As if They had Been Ambassadors Took Old Sacks Upon Their Asses And wine Bottles Old And rent And bound Up And old Shoes And clouted Upon Their feet Whole Garments Upon Them And all The bread Of their Provision Was dry And mouldy I'm sure You know The account And then We're told At the End of the Chapter That As a result Of Of Their Subterfuge An alliance Is entered Into And once The alliance Is Discovered Joshua Does not Go back On his Word To them But in Verse 22 We read Joshua Called for Them And spoken To them Saying Wherefore Have you Beguiled Us Saying We are Far From you When you Dwell A Mount Now Therefore

[13:53] You are Cursed And there Shall None Of you Be Freed From Being Bondmen And Hewers Of Wood And Drawers Of Water For The House Of My God And The Answer Joshua And said Because It was Certainly Told Thy Servants How That The Lord Thy God Commanded His Servant Moses To Give You All The Land And To Of The Land From Before You Therefore We Were So Afraid Of Our Lives Because Of You Have Done This Thing And Now Behold We Are In Thine Hand As It Seemeth Good And Right Unto Thee To Do Unto Us And The Last Verse Joshua Made Them That Day Hewers Of Wood And Drawers Of Water For The Congregation And For The Altar Of The Lord Even To This Day In The Place Which He Should Choose So The Relationship That

[14:53] Was Established Between The Gibeonites And Israel Was One In Which Joshua Bound Israel To Them In A Form Of Covenant And At The Beginning Of Chapter 10 When We Read Of The Five Kings Of Canaan Who Ally Themselves So That They Rise Up Against Gibeon Because Of This New Alliance That Has Been Established Between Them And Israel And They Are Intent On Taking Vengeance Upon Them So When The Five Kings Set Up Against The Gibeonites The Gibeonites Inform Joshua And Send For Joshua And Joshua

[15:53] Responds To That Request And Comes To Their Aid Now It's A Very Interesting Narrative And A Very Interesting Account But You've Got In It The Account Of Joshua's Dealings With Them The People's Dealings With Their Enemies You Also Got God's Impression Of What Has Taken Place His His Mercy Even Towards Those Who Were The Enemies That Were Destined To Be Destroyed Along With All Others Stands Out But The The Willingness That God Shows To Allow Joshua To Come To Their Aid Is Something That Reminds Us Of That Mercy

[16:54] But We See That Once Joshua Hears The Account Of Their Need He Almost Instantly Goes To Their Aid And We Read In Verse Seven Joshua Ascended From Gilgal He And All The People Of War With Him And All The Mighty Men Of Valor And They Make Their Way To Assist The Gibeon Knights And You Have God's Promise To Israel Because You Have To Remember Even Though The Gibeon Knights Are Recognized As A Fearsome Foe Themselves They Are Strong Men Of War There Are Still Only Israel And The Gibeon Knights Against The Five Kings Of Of The Canaanites They

[17:54] Would Be Greatly Outnumbered And Yet God Gives To Them The Promise Fear Them Not For I Have Delivered Them Into Thine Hand For There Shall Not A Man Of Them Stand Before The So God Gives Them This Undertaking That They Are To Go And To Fight Their Enemies And That He Will Be With Them And Their Enemies Will Be Destroyed They Will Triumph Over Them But Notice Although God Says To Them That They Are To Do This And That They Will Be Successful Alongside That You Have The Strategy Of A Man Of War And That's What Joshua Was His Instinct Is To Deal With His Enemies As The Battle Leader

[18:54] That He Was So He Leaves In The Middle Of The Night And Takes His Men Of War With Him So That He Surprises His Enemy And They Travel All Night And They Came Upon Their Enemies And They Defeat Them So You Got The Combination There Of God's Promise And The People Of God Claiming The Promise But Doing Their Part And Their Part Was To Engage In Battle And Sometimes The Way You Listen To Some Of God's People Speak They Insist It Is God's Work And It Is God's Doing And If He Doesn't Do What He Has Promised To Do Then It Is It

[19:55] Is Something That We Should Not Engage In But That's Not The Way God Works He Brings Our Duty To Our Attention And Requires Of Us That We Fulfill It He Will Do What Only He Can But His People Are Required To Do What They Can And The Way Of Blessing Is In The Path Of Obedience And And That That Was The Way It Was For Joshua He Did What God Gave Him To Do And There's That Combination All The Way Through This Story The Lord Discomforted Them Before Israel And Slew Them With A Glade Slaughter At Gibeon And Chased Them Along The Way That Goes Up To Beth Horen And Smoked Them To Asha And To Magda The Lord

[20:55] Did That But It Is The People Of God Who Are In Pursuit There Is This Combined Endeavor If You Like Where The Enemies Of God Are Defeated By God's Mighty Hand But His Mighty Hand Holds In It The Fulges Of Israel And You See That Again Came To Pass As They Fled From Before Israel And Where In The Going Down To Beth Horen That The Lord Cast Down Great Stones From Heaven Upon Them And To Asha And They Died Hail Stones Came Down The Likes Of Which They Had Not Seen Before Now We May Think That Hail Stones Would Not Create Much Damage But In Recent Days With These Weather Instances

[21:55] That We Have Heard Of Within The World There Have Been Hail Stones That That Have Been Significant In The Extent Of Damage That They Have Done To People And To Property Such For The Size Of Them But Remember This Is a Miracle Of The Lord He Intervenes Against Israel's Enemies Using The Might Of Nature In His Own Hand And Many Die As A Result Of It But At The Same Time You Read There That More Of Them Died With Hailstones Than They Whom The Children Of Israel Slew With The Sword Which Is What Is Said But It Doesn't Say That Only Those Who Died With Hailstones Died There Were Also Those That Israel Were Engaged In Battle With And Alongside The Miraculous Intervention Of The

[22:55] Lord There Was The The Requirement For Israel To Be Whole Heartedly Engaged In Battle Against Their Enemies And They Had To Bear The Sword And Use The Sword In The Defeat Of Their Enemies And That Is Important I Mean There Is Almost In Introduction If You Like A Miraculous Introduction To God At Work And The Fact That Israel Were Prepared To Go In God's Strength Is Itself Something Of Of A Miracle Because They Weren't They Weren't As Fully Engaged With God's Ability To Try For Enemies As They Should Be They

[23:56] Were Very Forgetful At Times And Only By Persuasion Were They Willing To Go And Do What God Said I Think There's A Knickling Of That In What Joshua Does Next Because We Read There In Verse Twelve Thou Then Spoke Joshua To The Lord In The Day When The Lord Delivered Up The Amorites Before The Children Of Israel And He Said In The Sight Of Israel Stand Thou Still Upon Gibeon And Thou Moon In The Valley Of Adgeron What You Read There Is A Public Prayer It's A Prayer Offered To God On Behalf Of Israel For A Specific Request But It's Not Uttered In Private And Such Is The Nature Of The Request That

[24:57] You Would Think That He Would Be Cautious In Asking Such A Thing From The Lord Just In Case If You Were Going To Ask The Lord To Do A Great Thing For You Would You Stand Up In Public And Make Your Mind Known To God And Not Just To God But To All And Sundry Which Is What Joshua Did Whose Prayer Was A Prayer Offered To God But It Was Offered Not In Private Or Or In Secret Or In Public And It Was A Prayer For An Event The Likes Of Which As We Read Here Were Never To Be Repeated Because In Verse 14 There There Was No Day Like That Before It Or After It And We Need To Understand

[25:57] That The Prayer Offered By Joshua Was Of Significance That What He Asked The Lord To Do Was Something That That He Had No Right To Expect That He Had No No Previous Experience Of Having Seen The Likes Of This Before Yes He Had Heard And Seen For Himself Of Mighty Deeds By God But The Likes Of This Was Something Beyond Question Now Why Did He Pray This Prayer We Have No Preamble To It We Are Not Given Any Information As To Why The Prayer Was Offered But There Is Of Course As You Would Expect Some Speculation As To What Prompted The Prayer Matthew Hendy Is Of The Opinion That The Prayer Would Not Have Been Granted

[26:57] By The Divine Power Were It Not Dictated By Divine Grace In In In In In In He Was Instinctive To To Himself In The Sense That He Said I'll Do This And Ask God To Listen but it was something that was implanted within his conscious conscience or his conscious awareness of who God was implanted by God himself or the Holy Spirit and the prayer followed on from that now it's always the case sometimes we pray for things that we have no right to believe that God gave these things to us to pray for sometimes we don't think out loud what we're praying for as a burden God has placed upon our hearts but sometimes we're convinced that this is what God requires us to pray for one of the commentators mentions the experience of Robert Murray McChain you remember at one point his ministry didn't last very long but at one point he was encouraged by the church to go out to his field and to speak to the Jews there and in his absence the minister that was put in charge looking after the congregation was William Chambers Burns and during the absence of McChain revival broke out in the congregation and this commentator was saying that while he was writing his diary when he was away from the congregation he recorded that he was persuaded of the need to pray earnestly for a whole day or more just for revival to break out at the very time revival was taking place in his home congregation now you could say that was just coincidence coincidence but God doesn't doesn't work through coincidences there are his incidents that he encourages and he brings about and for us to imagine that Joshua just off the top of his head said well let's do something different let's get God to do something different and people will pluck up their ears and see what what God is like but he prayed before his fellow men and he asked God for the sun to stand still and the moon to stay and that's where the difficulty arises for many you see the miracle such as such as any miracle is a difficult concept for many people to deal with how how do miracles actually work what is it that that creates a situation where a miracle can take place and the Christian church themselves have got themselves into a trying to legitimize

[30:53] God's activity by explaining it in natural ways like for example when you look at the miracle of the parting of of the Red Sea some have insisted that it was just a matter of extraordinarily low tides and that the low tides were were occurring at the right moment to allow the children of Israel to walk across dry short but always you find that these explanations do not bear scrutiny we need to understand and remind ourselves that God is the God of miracle however improbable it seems to us I was reminded as I was preparing this of something that I read long ago about the explanation that was given to this event based upon current discoveries and current discoveries in the sense that that the national

[32:08] NASA national aeronautic space association america who were involved in space exploration that they had this at that time wonderful computer and they had computed the history of the world from its beginning and they found out that there was this missing day and this was where they discovered it when the sun and the moon stood still unfortunately such a discovery was proved to be false and that's the danger you try and legitimize what God does by explaining away his power in miracle and it doesn't need to be it doesn't however improbable it is it doesn't need to be explained away what we have is

[33:09] God's word and God's word is given to us by God's spirit the veracity of it the truthfulness of it can be relied on far more than any scientific discovery however however awesome the scientist is as far as his competence is concerned some Christians would reject what happened to you because they say the laws of nature are broken by God and God is the one who created the laws of nature and you can't have a God who created the laws of nature break his own law now that sounds as if it's a good argument but principle Donald McLeod in his own writings and in his teachings and systematic theology says you have to always guard against insisting that God is bound by his own word in the sense that he created the word by the world here by his own power listen to what he says the will of God is the ultimate reality governing the behaviour of atoms and galaxies genes and protons that world cannot exclude

[34:39] God from his creation the sequence of change has no power to insist that God shall never alter it he may at any point for good reason depart from his own custom and cause any force or element to behave in it in another new way now this is extraordinary this is miraculous this is something different it's not what you would expect it's not the way things are but it is the way things happened the sun was caused to stand still and the moon was kept at bay and the reason for it God did it now the question you may ask is how extensive was the effect of this was it a natural phenomenon that was based entirely in the locality or did it have a worldwide influence and again if you think logically about it if you think about nature you think well the sun is only one sun and the moon is only one moon and it affects whatever it affects here in colonies it affects it in

[35:55] Australia in Sydney in Texas whatever same sun but God is in control of his own creation and whether he chooses to use it to fulfill his own will as he did here and his will was that the people that bore his name would fulfill his penalty that he invoked on the enemies that were Israel's the declared enemy of his people and he gave them sufficient daylight for them to carry out his will upon them the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies it was the vengeance of the Lord as well as the vengeance of the people and something that

[36:56] I had forgotten but I was reminded of it was if you think about the Canaanites the Canaanites religion was very much centered upon the heavens the sun and the moon were their gods the stars were their gods and Peter Masters says it is interesting that Joshua was allowed to demonstrate the power that his God had had over these deities their power was under his sway and they had no ability to resist the power of God for as long as he wished to demonstrate it well what we can say is this that Joshua calls upon his God as directed by his God and God performs this miracle and in verse 14 we read there was no day like it before it or after it that the

[38:05] Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man for the Lord fought for Israel and this was the whole point of the exercise a miracle like no other and God was responsible for it and when you think about in the natural well there is no miracle of equal significance but you know I was thinking well people say about when Jesus went to call Lazarus out of the grave that was a miracle carried out by the son of man it was no mean feat to call a dead man out of the ground having been dead for some time and some very cleverly say he called him by name because he had the power to call all other graves to empty where it is well that is so on it isn't there's only one day when the graves will open and that will be at the sound of the last trump and people say that won't happen that can't happen well the same

[39:22] God who caused the son to stand still is the God will call the graves to open the same power the same awesome power that he uses at times in his own way for the good of his own people always remember it and that's what Joshua was to remind the people of God about when God fought for his people they were to remember who their God was and what he was able to do for them the Lord fought for Israel and he is able to do that even to this day if we would just rely upon him to do that let us pray Lord oh God we give thanks for the many ways in which you remind us of our own inability and our own weakness and yet you remind us also that we we are strong in the

[40:31] Lord that we have power that is inexhaustible as we draw it from the God who drives us to that source and allows us to avail ourselves of it may your eyes be always to the heavens that we may know that were you to rend a sun to these heavens and come down that there was and there is not any who can stay your hand bless us together we pray forgive our sins in Jesus name amen go say and some know one hundred and while I can buy maybe better than would The wollen up as

[41:46] I heard every I apologize for gasting me that died.

[42:06] I apologize for gasting you now.

[42:19] Oh, my return, my heart.

[42:42] Thank you.

[43:12] Why the grace was in pallet with no guards… …that we speak to God… series ofνε Poets… …cotts addressed it in the time God bless you.

[44:07] God bless you.

[44:37] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[44:49] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[45:01] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[45:13]  Amen. Amen.