they were talking about a youth march sponsored by the Muslim religion that was to take place on the following Labor Day Week-end. The Mayor of the city had some great concerns, and did not want to grant them a permit to march, because these are some violent people.
On the program, they had a black Muslim spewing out the normal hate that you hear from these folks. Every time this young man spoke, you could see all the hate within him in his facial expressions, and in the words he spoke. The hate was so visible to everyone, that a black minister, who was also a guest, pointed it out. He told the Muslim that he was one of the many puppets in the hands of Lewis Farakan. He said all of his followers dress alike, and they all talk the same hate talk.
We can all look around and see certain things in the lives of others. And one of the things we see in the lives of many, is this same kind of hate seen on this program. We can look at the lives of some, and see love, kindness, and humility. For example-
Illus: A young minister attending Bible College heard a great deal about Dr. John R. Rice. He had never seen him, nor had he ever seen a picture of him at that time. Dr. Rice was noted for the many good books he had written, and for his firm stand in contending for the faith. When this young minister, who is now Dr. Odell Belger, heard that Dr. Rice was coming to preach within a hundred miles of where he lived, he made plans to go hear him. When he arrived at the large church, he was surprised that literally hundreds of cars filled the parking lot of the large church, perhaps as many as a thousand. As he was entering the church, a deacon recognized him as a visitor, and told him that church would be starting shortly, but in the mean time, everyone was in the large gymnasium eating supper. He invited him to go eat with them. In his haste to get there on time, and get a good seat close to the front, he had not stopped to get anything to eat, and he said, “Yes, that would be great!” He went into the large gymnasium, and there were thousands of people there, fellowshipping and eating together. He did not know anyone, so he got a plate full of food, and found himself a seat over in the corner of the gym, to eat alone. He was there only a short time, and this older gentleman and his wife came and asked if they could sit with him. He said, “Certainly!” The elderly man said, “Young man are you a preacher?” And he said, “Yes sir, I pastor a church about a hundred miles from here.” Then the elderly fellow said, “How did you know about the meeting?” He explained that he had seen an advertisement, and it was always a dream of his to hear Dr. John R. Rice preach in person, since he had heard so much about him in Bible College. They talked during the meal, and Bro. Belger excused himself, and said, “I am going to go, so I can get a good seat on the front row.” The elderly gentleman and his wife smiled, and said they enjoyed talking with him. He found a front row seat, and when it came time for the pastor to introduce John R. Rice to the congregation, the young minister was shocked to find that the older gentleman he had supper with, was none other than John R. Rice himself. Dr. Rice walked up to the podium, and with his eyes searched the front row of seats. When he saw the young minister, he pointed at him and winked at him.
On the way home, the young minister reflected on what had taken place, and was overwhelmed at the fact, that of all the thousands of people in that gymnasium that would have loved to have had supper with the great Dr. John R. Rice, he chose to go over in the corner, and have supper with a young man that was a stranger.
Dr. Belger saw a KINDNESS, LOVE and HUMILITY in that face, that you very seldom see in faces today. And decades have gone by since Dr. John R. Rice has gone to be with the Lord, but this minister will never forget the love, kindness and humility he saw in the life of this saint of God. You can look at the faces of some people and you will see hate, but you can look at the faces of others, and you will see love, kindness, and humility.
If we were privileged to be acquainted with Joshua, what are some of the things we could see in his life? We would see THREE things. And may his life inspire us to have these same three things in our lives.
I. WE WOULD SEE PRAISE
Praise is worship. Worship is acknowledging that God is worthy of our praise. We can worship ANYTHING or ANYONE! It is only when something becomes of value to us, that we want to show adoration for it.
Illus: Suppose I had an old beat up car in the parking lot, and I dearly loved that old car, and praised it every time I had a chance to praise it. In fact, I praised it so much, you wondered to yourself, “I do not understand. That old car is a piece of junk, and the preacher is praising it like it is something of great value.”
Now the reason you would not understand why I am praising this old car as being so great, is because to me it has value, but to you it is worthless!
The reason that the lost world does not understand why…
• We come to church three times a week.
• We tithe 10% of our income.
• We spend time in His word daily.
• We spend time in prayer each day.
• We take advantage of every opportunity we get, to witness for Him.
• We send missionaries around the world to tell other nations about Him.
It is because to them, Jesus does not have the same value He has to us.
To them, there are a lot more important things to do than to go to a worship service. Such as:
• Playing golf.
• Going fishing.
• Going to a family reunion.
• Going to the beach.
• Staying home and watching the race on television.
To them, these are things of great value, and these are the things they worship.
Illus: It is like grandparents: if you have the time, they will show you all the pictures they have of the grandchildren. Now it might bore us to death, but to them it is so exciting. To us they are just children, but to them, they are their PERFECT, PRECIOUS GRANDCHILDREN!
The world does not understand why we love the Lord like we do, to them He is not precious. You do not have to beg Christians, who know the Lord in an intimate way, to worship the Lord Jesus.
Look at the New Testament Christians in Luke 24:52,53. “And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.”
Illus: Have you noticed these young people who have reached that special time in their lives, when they have discovered the opposite sex. When they meet that special someone, you do not have to tell them anything about adoring that very special person, all of a sudden they are experts. IT COMES NATURALLY!
And, you do not have to tell people to worship the Lord, when they have discovered the greatness of the Lord Jesus. It is a natural thing to do!
Someone said:
(1) In Worshiping God, we give Him His rightful place in our lives. This is giving God the glory that is due Him.
(2) In Worshiping God, we put ourselves in our rightful place, that of complete submission, so God can use us.
In Worshipping God, we prepare ourselves for the other TWO things we notice in the life of Joshua. That is, if we were acquainted with Joshua WE WOULD SEE PRAISE AND WORSHIP IN HIS LIFE, but also-
II. WE WOULD SEE PRAYER
Look at verse 13-14. We read, “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, WHAT SAITH MY LORD UNTO HIS SERVANT?”
This was a very stressful time in the life of Joshua. Joshua wanted to know, “What saith my Lord unto his servant?”
You can always tell who people hold in great value, during stressful times. HOW CAN YOU KNOW? Because during the stressful times in life, they turn to the THING or the PERSON they consider to be of great value. For example, when some people are facing the difficulties of life, they run to their family members and friends, and say, “What should I do in this very difficult time in my life?” And when they have tried everything they know to do, and after they have turned to everybody in the same area code for advice and it does not work, they FINALLY turn to the Lord.
DO YOU KNOW WHY THE LORD IS ALWAYS THE LAST ONE THEY TURN TO? Because the Lord is the last one in their lives. They will seek the advice of anyone before they seek the advice of the Lord….HE IS THE LAST ONE ON THE TOTEM POLE! You can clearly see this in the lives of many people.
But if we were privileged to meet Joshua, we would see that in his life, God was first. He was facing this very difficult time, and he wanted to know, “Lord, what have you got to say to me?” In the life of Joshua, you can see PRAISE and PRAYER, but also-
III. WE WOULD SEE PERFORMANCE
Look at verse 15, we read, “And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. AND JOSHUA DID SO.” Notice, the words in verse 15, “…And Joshua did so.” If we want the Lord to answer our prayers, we have to learn to obey Him.
Illus: On September 28, they showed a movie of the life story of Joe Louis, the boxer. It showed when Joe Louis was a young man trying to become champ, that he did everything his trainer told him to do. But once he got to the top, and he felt he could beat any man alive, he started disobeying his trainer. For example, they threw a birthday party for him, and he looked at his manager in defiance, and ate a large piece of birthday cake. Before his next big fight, when he should have been resting, he was playing around. His trainer caught him, and told him he should be resting. That night, during the fight, he took one of his worst whippings and defeats he had ever suffered. A fellow that he should have beaten, beat him in a disgraceful manner. During the fight, he turned to his trainer and said, “What am I doing wrong?” His trainer said, “The things that you are doing wrong, you have already done before you ever got in the ring.” He got beat and went home in disgrace.
The same thing is true for many Christians. They know what the Lord would have them to do, but they defy His commands.
And in their Christian life, they are getting the stuffing beaten out of them.
The reason they are defeated, is because they have broken the commands of their trainer, the Lord Jesus, and now they are paying the price. If we are going to be victorious in our Christian lives, we are going to have to obey His commands.
Illus: Remember the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee? The Bible tells us that in the midst of the feast, they ran out of wine.
Look at the book of John, chapter 2, in verses 3-10. We read, “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.”
Now that is a bad situation to be in. Right in the midst of a wedding feast, and you run out of refreshments.
They could have run out for a number of reasons, such as:
(1) Somebody miscalculated the amount they needed.
(2) More guests showed up than expected.
(3) The guests drank more than usual.
For whatever reason, they ran out. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was concerned about this, and she went to the Lord and told him about the problem.
Look a verses 3-4. We read, “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.”
The Lord is not being rude to His mother, but you need to know what He is talking about, before you can understand His response. Remember, the Lord was born of a virgin. But Mary had lived all her life with the stigma, that she had a child out of wedlock. Now in our day and time, that would not be a big deal. But during this time, when a woman had a child out of wedlock, she was looked down upon in the worst kind of way.
If a man in America has a child, we might make him President of the United States. Mary was looking forward to the day that Jesus would prove that He was not just an ordinary man, but that He was the Son of God. And one good miracle would prove that to those who saw it!
She came to the Lord Jesus, and we see His response. “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? MINE HOUR IS NOT YET COME.”
WHAT DID HE MEAN BY SAYING, “MINE HOUR IS NOT YET COME?”
The time He spoke of, was the time when He would provide indisputable proof that He was the Son of God. That time had not yet come. But notice, He did accommodate the wedding feast with a miracle.
Mary had asked Him to do it, but look what she tells the servants in verses 5-7. “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim”
1. Jesus said, “Fill the water pots with water.” Notice, they did not say, “Let’s fill some of the water pots.” They filled all the water pots.
2. They not only filled them, but look at verse 7. “…And they filled them up to the brim.” Listen, one of the best ways for us to get our prayers answered, is for us to obey the Lord to the very detail.
These people, that are running around here disobeying His commands, and thinking that they can call upon Him and He will answer their prayers, are fooling themselves.
Conclusion: You can look at the lives of people, and see who or what they worship. And had we looked at the life of Joshua:
I. WE WOULD SEE PRAISE
II. WE WOULD SEE PRAYER
III. WE WOULD SEE PERFORMANCE
What do people see in your life? But even more important, what does the Lord see in your life?
Note: You can hear Dr. Odell Belger preach many of these sermons on Youtube. Just type Youtube Lykesland
