As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this morning, I'd like to invite your prayerful attention
to the Word of Scripture we read together from the prophecy of
Isaiah, chapter 50, and we'll take as our text verse 10. Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord, and stay upon his God. Those words you will find in
Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 10. God's wholly inspired and written
word, recorded for our learning, always points us to our Lord
Jesus Christ. In the verses leading up to this
tenth verse, we read so much about the Lord Jesus. We have
read how that the dark state in which the nation of Israel
were in, but also the promises that God would restore them,
he would take them back to their homeland, because of course they
were taken away into Babylonian captivity because of their sin
and their idolatry. And I think I'm right in saying
that following this blessing that the Lord used in
70 years of captivity, they were cleansed from their idols, never
again did they go back to idolatry. But the Lord Jesus himself is
he who suffered and gave his perfect life a ransom for many. And in your times of leisure
and looking into God's Holy Word, it's so good to notice so many
indications and clear pictures of the work of the Lord Jesus
in the Old Testament. I think we could quite rightly
regard the prophecy of Isaiah as the Gospel of Isaiah. We read words like this in chapter
50 and verse 5. The Lord God hath opened mine
ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. He's
speaking of the Lord Jesus. I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. The Lord Jesus humbled himself
While here on earth, he gave his life, a ransom for many. He endured the shame that he was treated. And as we read further on, just
over the page in chapter 53, Remember, these words were recorded
by Isaiah 700 years before the Lord Jesus. In verse three, he
was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He
was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. And therefore, the Prophet Isaiah
came with a message of hope, and a message of the wonders
of grace in our Lord Jesus Christ to be made known to the nation
of Israel and Judah to encourage them as the future unfolded. The prophet Isaiah was written,
of course, to call the nation of Judah and Israel back to God. their idolatry and their ingratitude,
God put away. And Isaiah clearly shows us of
God's salvation, which is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. In whom our hopes of heaven depend. What a wonderful gospel. the
prophecy of Isaiah is. Isaiah was called to be a prophet.
A prophet's work, of course, was to bring God to the people. The work of a priest is to bring
people to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we have
on record in the scriptures, he is our prophet, priest, and
king. Not only did he bring God to
the people, he himself personally brings us to God and therefore his wonderful work on earth continues
because he is still he on whom our hopes of heaven depend and
he it is who is able because he is God as well as mankind
He is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us. So as we
come to these precious truths in verse 10, may the Lord help us to keep
in mind that the prophet Isaiah could bring people who were going
away from God, who had sinned, and they could be singled out
as a nation and God who gave them his law and his promises
and his love even though they were under wicked
kings and they'd been worshipping idols and under King Ahaz and
King Manasseh They stooped so low at one time they were even
practicing child sacrifice. How awful. To think that they are descendants
of those who were given these God-given words in Exodus chapter
20 because coming out of the Egyptian captivity
and before the law was given in Mount Sinai,
we read in chapter 20 regarding the Ten Commandments, God spake
all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, speaking to
the children of Israel, descendants of Abraham, I am the Lord thy
God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven
above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve
them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children
and to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. I think I'm right in saying the
first commandment is the longest commandment given great description
and it finishes with a hope of salvation, showing mercy. Our God is a covenant God, covenant-keeping
God. And those who wandered away from
Him because of these covenants of grace, God worked mightily
in restoring them. Why? Because He would. None can say
unto God, what doest thou? And we ourselves, who were one
time without God and without hope, we have been brought, we
trust to put all our hope of salvation in our Lord Jesus and
his finished work. And so the prophet comes to this
last part of this short chapter 50, Now, verse 10, he separates
that from the rest of the context of the chapter, and the translators
of our received text of the Bible have made a separate paragraph,
and begins with this wonderful question. Who is among you that
feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness and hath no light? Who is among you? Well, I think we can easily realize
that God keeps a remnant of people, whatever the circumstances. A remnant, of course, is a part
of a bigger amount. I will remember after the war,
When wages were low and things were in short supply, there was
a shop in Tenderland that sold cloth, and that was known as
the Remnant Shop. All the offcuts from the bigger
shops were sold there, and they were sold off at quite a reasonable
price. I remember my mother coming back
from Ashford with a length cloth that she could make my sister's
dresses with and things for us boys. She was able to make a
shirt and that sort of thing. And they were made out of the
remnants, the offcuts of the cloth from bigger companies.
And the people of God, at this time, there was a remnant of
people. There were those who belonged
to Israel, they were walking in darkness, they had no light,
and yet they were walking. We read in the scriptures that
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What a blessing that
is. And in the day in which we live,
there are millions in this land. who go about their daily life,
they have all that they think they need for this life, and unless they're made aware
that they have an eternal soul, a soul that will live on forever
and ever, either to be lost or saved, they will remain in this
state. What darkness are in? And many willfully break God's law. They have no compassion to those who have
a concern for them even. And the things that they possess
in this life become their idols. I remember a man years ago speaking
about we should guard ourselves from idols. He said, I've got
an idol. He said he's got an engine and
four rubber tires that it runs on. And he said he was in danger
of idolizing his car that he'd just recently purchased. But
what a blessing it is that we have words of scripture to encourage
us and to teach us and bring us to attention. In Deuteronomy
we read those words, oh that they knew, oh that they were
wise, oh that they understood, oh that they would consider their
latter end. Isaiah speaks to those who are
the recipients of God's grace in this chapter 10. And may this
be a word of encouragement to us today. Good Mr. Fowler, the hymn writer,
wrote those words. We don't know the circumstances
behind it, but they go like this. He says, surrounded with sorrows,
temptations, and cares, This truth with delight we survey,
and sing as we pass through this valley of tears, the righteous
shall hold on his way. And how do they hold on their
way? Well, by looking unto Jesus. He walks with them, he goes with
them. And we should never belittle
those times when we feel help and guidance from God. We know
not when and how he will work, but what a blessing it is that
he does work, and we should be ever ready to praise him for
those indications of his continued mercy and favor to us. In the Old Testament, that covenant was made by God
and kept by God regarding Abraham and all his descendants. In the
day in which we live, the New Testament covenant of grace in
our Lord Jesus is a spiritual covenant of God in the Lord Jesus and his followers. And a covenant is a deep seated and ongoing
agreement which God himself cannot break. What a blessing it is
that covenant of grace stands firm in the hands and on the
foundation of our eternal God. And so these people could look forward
to the ongoing work of God amongst them And we have in this verse
before us five precious truths. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? What a blessing it is when the
fear of God enters into our heart, mind, and thought. It's a gift
of God's grace. When we are young in the way,
we may not fully be aware of what is going on in us. I don't
know, those who are listening in, exactly where you are, there
may be a young person or a young believer, young in the way, who
feels a disturbance in their heart, not knowing exactly what's
happening to them, but they feel uncomfortable. They're aware
that they have an eternal soul. This may be you this morning,
dear friend. But the fear of the Lord, we
read, is the beginning of wisdom. And the Lord causes people to
seek to know him as their savior. God works by causing souls with
an awareness of their need to pray And he puts that prayer
in their heart. And it is a prayer which he puts
there, causes them to pray, and he's always ready to answer.
I well remember as a teenager, being awakened to the
awareness that I have an eternal soul, And a visiting preacher came
to preach for us over at Bethesda, where I was brought up. And he
spoke from these words in Psalm 65. I still remember it clearly. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell
in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. Now in the Old Testament worship
that the psalmist knew and spoke of here, that they
may dwell in thy courts, there was the mercy seat. That's where
they prayed. And God gave a wonderful promise
when the mercy seat was set up in the Old Testament worship.
He told them where it should be and how it should be constructed,
and God gave a promise with it. He said, I will meet with you
and commune with you from above the mercy seat. What a blessing. God, the God who reigns in glory, the promise of his son coming
to this earth was still hundreds of years away. But he did come. But God, in a type of the Lord
Jesus, spoke of that communing in prayer at the throne of grace. What a blessing is to those who
fear the Lord. And these wonderful blessings are
real things. King David asked for God to keep
him in his battles and his final
victory over King Saul who was fiercely opposing him, King David
committed this to God in prayer. And we read that having gained
the victory, King David confessed his sin and gave God the praise. Those who fear the Lord, what
a blessing if we have the fear of the Lord in our hearts, which
is the beginning of wisdom. And it's not a frightening fear,
it's a reverential fear. It's a fear of the highest respect
we can know. That's why we should come to
God with reverence and godly fear. Because he is other than
we are, he is holy, almighty, he is eternal. but his ear is ever open to hear
our prayers, his hand is not shortened that it cannot save,
nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. May the Lord help us to encourage
ourselves, those of us who are blessed with the fear of the
Lord in our hearts. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? And notice the word Lord in capital letters, that
is the Lord Jehovah. God in relation to his people. Feareth the Lord, that obeyeth
the voice of his servant. What a blessing it is to be given
a spirit of obedience. I think I can rightly say in
studying God's word Reliable commentators agree that in the
original language, obeying and hearing were words
that were interlinked. They usually went together. And
so to hear God's word and to obey God's word went together. I suppose in military life, If
a soldier is under the command of officers and they give a command,
they hear it, they don't hesitate, no, they obey orders. Now we're
speaking about our almighty Lord God, who is the Lord God omnipotent, who has power almighty. but also
God who is immutable, who cannot change. And therefore, every
voice that we hear from him, we are called to obey, aren't
we? Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? We've already spoken about David
being delivered from the hand of Saul, David heard the voice
of God, David who prayed his way along, who could have taken
Saul's life when he had opportunity, but he didn't. And if we can read about these
things in Psalm 18, which is also almost a duplicate of the
second book of Samuel, chapter 22. And we see there, How God's
dealings with King David were so wonderful. David, who also
had his times of failure, but God didn't change. God didn't
change, did he? He can't. He is immutable. And every word of instruction, every word of encouragement,
is for us to depend on. He that obeyeth the voice of
his servant. Be encouraged, dear friends.
If God himself has touched your souls, causing a willing obedience
to him, and causing your heart to be
warm towards him, this, dear friend, has come from God. What
do we read? Incline your ear, God says, and
come unto me, hear, and your soul shall live. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? No light. We can see each other,
we can see the world around us, Because we have light. When God first created the world,
we read, darkness was over the face of the earth. And so it was in darkness until
God spoke. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and
void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let
there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. What a blessing it is that God
does not leave his people to remain in darkness. These people,
remember, were condemned to 70 years Abalone's
captivity. When Daniel was suddenly made
aware that the 70 years was nearly completed, we don't read that
Daniel folded his arms and sat back and said, well, we'll just
wait till this comes about. No, he came with confession to
Almighty God for the sins of those of his nation. And he himself, in all our sins,
he said, and he was seeking for forgiveness
and for the fulfillment of the promise that they would once
again be brought back out of captivity. But there were those who were
still in captivity who were blessed with the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. And this we read of in Paul's
epistle to the Corinthians. It's easy to remember that reference.
It's 2-4-6. It's 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
And verse 6, just remember 2-4-6 in Corinthians, and you've got
this wonderful observation inspired by God and given to us by the
writings of the Apostle Paul. It's as though God shone into
his heart with a parable of creation. He says, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And he goes on to say, for we
have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency
may be of God and not of man. Now, earthen vessels. Clay pots, disposable containers,
just like us. We're here on Earth for a while,
but we're not here permanently. Clay pots are made of the Earth.
Man was made by God of the soil of the Earth, weren't they? A few years ago I was reading
how some scientist was being held up as a great researcher
because he made the observation that the same minerals and properties
in the human body that there are in a soil sample. Well, that's
not surprising, is it? We read of that in the first
part of God's holy word. But what a blessing it is that
God, the same God who commanded the light, the creation, is he
who commands light to shine in the hearts of those who walk
in darkness. That walk in darkness and has
no light. What a blessing it is when the
light of the knowledge of our Lord God enters into our hearts
and minds. You think of those children of
Israel who were trapped at Pyre Hieroth. They'd been wonderfully
delivered from Egyptian captivity. They went on their way, and God
gave to them a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of night by
night, and there they came to Pyre Hieroth. They were confronted
by the Red Sea. Apparently, there was an Egyptian
garrison on either side of them, which was guarded, and the troops
were behind them. Where could they go? Could they
go forward? Yes, they could. What we read
of is a remarkable record of God's mercy towards his people. The angel of God, which went
before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. And the
pillar of cloud went from before their face and stood behind them.
And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp
of Israel, and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it
gave light by night to these, that is, the children of Israel,
so that one came not near the other all that night. And Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the
sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made
the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children
of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground,
and the waters were a wall unto them on the right hand and on
the left. And the Egyptians pursued and
went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's
horses and chariots and his horsemen. And it came to pass that in the
morning watch, the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the
host of the Egyptians and took off their chariot wheels that
they drove them heavily. So that the Egyptians said, let
us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them
against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses,
stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come
again over the Egyptians upon their chariots and upon their
horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea,
and the sea returned to his strength. when the morning appeared and
the Egyptians fled against it and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea. Apparently in Egyptian history
that is not mentioned. They only mention the times when
they win battles. But the Bible is the most honest
book ever written. All the Praise goes to God. And to Bible characters who failed,
that's recorded. To Bible characters that were
restored in strength, that's recorded. And to those that fear
the Lord, who walk in darkness and have no light, they're given
all the encouragement possible in God's holy word. Now dear old friend Job, in the
Bible, he knew what it was to walk in darkness, didn't he,
and have no light. He lost everything, his family,
his home, and his three friends that came to see him. They were
no great encouragement. They spent their time questioning
Job as to why, what sin he had committed, why all these things
came upon him. But right in the darkness, when
Job might have given up in despair, God shone into that dark situation
with a remarkable light. And what was shown to Job? He
said, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He could look forward
through all the darkness and despair that he was in, and know
that the Lord Jesus Christ, his Redeemer, liveth. I know that
my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day
upon the earth." And also he went on speaking about the resurrection.
He said, although worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God. What was blessed, what a blessing
it is to be blessed in this way, to know so clearly those wonders
of grace which are in Christ Jesus. I'm old enough to remember the
God-fearing King George VI that we were blessed with through
the war years. And what a divine provision it was for us as a
nation to have a God-fearing king during those war years. And somewhere I've got a printout
of a Christmas speech that the king made In the darkness of
the war, in the 1940s, I was a little toddler when the war
finished. I was a three-year-old. But it goes something like this.
The king read somewhere. He asked the man at the gate
of the year for a light and a known way. And the man replied, with these words. Put your trust in the hand of
God. It will be better to you than
a light and safer than a known way. How blessed we were to have a
God-fearing King in those days. But these blessings come to us
who trust in the true and living Lord God. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust. Trust where? Well, trust in the name of the
Lord, Jehovah. the name of the Lord in capital
letters again. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord. And what a place of refuge this is. Trust is a total
dependence on another. And the wonderful blessing it is to know
the strong tower that the name of the Lord is. We read in the
scriptures of this place of refuge in Proverbs that the name of
the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and
is safe. In God's word, the holy scriptures
are rich with promises to all who are brought to trust in him.
You think of dear Ruth. came from Moab with her mother-in-law.
She was a poor, young widow. And God directed her to glean
in Boaz's field. And Boaz came and spoke to her.
He said, go not to glean in any other field, but stay fast by
my maidens. And he instructed the young men
to behave themselves and to guard her, and also to drop some handfuls
of purpose so that she could glean plenty. It's quite obvious
that God had put his love into Boaz and caused Boaz to naturally
love Ruth. But what a blessing it is. Boaz
was, I was going to say and I will say, he was inspired to give
Ruth that word of encouragement. He said, it's fully been shown
me What a blessing you've been to your mother-in-law. And to come from your own idolatrous
background and come to trust in the true and living God. We've
got Ruth's statement of faith, haven't we, in that wonderful
account of Ruth. And Boaz says of Boaz, regarding
her and her trust in God, he says, under whose wings thou
art come to trust? Under whose wings thou art come
to trust? She was sheltering under the wonderful love of God,
whereby her soul is saved. And she knew that complete and
sure dependence It's a wonderful thing when in
a natural way we can put our trust in someone that we know
and it gives us such peace of mind that we can trust and have
confidence in them. Now how much more? We can't begin
to compare the love and mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
on whom our hope of heaven depends with any of our friends, can
we? But to those that fear the Lord
and obey the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and
hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay
upon his God. That means have support and strength. They can put all their dependence
in God and have a complete sure dependence. That same God who gave his only
son to put away our sin, how can he not also with him
freely give us all things? His perfect life he gave as a
ransom for many. Even if we're called to walk
for a time in darkness, God cannot change. He will lead us, guide
us, and bring us safely through. The words of Him in mortal honours come to my mind.
Oh, that my soul could love and praise Him more, His beauty's
trace, his majesty adore. Live near his heart, upon his
bosom lean. Obey his voice, and all his will,
esteem. May the Lord bless his word to
us this morning. Amen.