It's good to see everybody this
morning. I invite you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50. I want to look at the last two
verses in this chapter verses 10 and verses 11, so let's read
those together. Let's remember here as we read
this, this is our Lord speaking here, speaking through the prophet
Isaiah, the Holy Spirit speaking through him. He says in verse
10, who's 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. Verse 11, behold, all ye that
kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. In Isaiah chapter 40, verse 1,
it says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord,
saith the God. The believers need comfort. Now, every man and woman in this
world needs comfort. Sin has brought that upon us.
We all need comfort. We all go through the same trials
and tribulations. The believer goes through the
same thing as the rest of the world as far as his physical
life goes. We have trials, we have tribulations, we have sickness.
All these things come upon us because of sin. But the believer
needs comfort, extra comfort for another reason, and that
is because there are two natures in the believer. There's one
nature, the old nature, that knows nothing but sin. And there's
the other nature, given by God, that knows nothing but righteousness. Now these two are opposed. And
the scripture says they'll always be opposed until we return to
the grave. And this war is continual. It
is a continual battle over and over and over. And this old nature
that lies within us is deceitful. If it doesn't come at you with
a front-on sin that you can resist, you can be sure it's gonna go
around to the back and come in the back door, crawl in a window
or something. It's coming in some other way. I wanna read I want you to turn
to 2 Samuel chapter 12. I want to read to you what this
nature consists of. We're going to learn. Here's
the problem. This sin lies so close to us
that we don't really see it for what it is. We don't. But it is vowed. You know, the
Lord spoke of Job as being a righteous man. There was none like him
upon the earth, but Job wound up saying, I am vile. And that's
what the believer comes to, that's been given a new heart by the
Lord. He's gonna say, I am vile. But how vile are we? Second Samuel
chapter 12, look at verse nine. This has to do with Nathan the
prophet coming to David after he had committed his sin. of
taking another man's wife and having that man killed. And Nathan
came to David to confront him with that sin. Now let's remember
that this is the Holy Spirit speaking here. This is God the
Holy Spirit speaking through the prophet Nathan. And we'll
see that in the next verse. Second Samuel 12, nine says,
wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord?
A believer despising God's commandment? Is that possible? That's what
the Holy Spirit says here. You've despised God's word. Wherefore hast thou despised
the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou hast
killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and hast taken his wife
to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children
of Ammon. Ah, can it get any worse than
that, to despise God's commandment? Yes, it can. Look at the next
verse. Remember, this is a man after God's own heart that the
Lord himself said. Verse 10 says in 2 Samuel 12,
now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house
because thou hast, what? Despised me. Isn't that something? The Lord says, this is his Holy
Spirit speaking. You've despised me. This is a
believer. You see, this is what God says
of us. And we think, well, I sinned,
but it was just a little sin. I was thinking as I was preparing
this, you know, when Lot was in Sodom, the angel came and
grabbed him by the hand, told him to flee into the mountains.
And Lot said, oh, no, no, I can't go up there, he says. I'd get
killed by a beast or something. There's a little town down here.
It's called Zoar. He says, is it not just a little
one? It can't be that bad. And the
angel says, okay, I'll grant that to you. And he went down
there, and when God brought destruction upon Sodom, the scripture says,
the lot departed and went back up into the mountains. Why? Doesn't say why, but I'm guessing,
and I think this would be it. He probably saw that in this
little town, Zoar, there was as much evil as there was in
that awful, wicked city of Sodom. And here's a good, good allegory
of the big sin and the small sin. They're no different in God's
eyes. None. It's a sin that hates God. Now we need to think about that.
We really need to dwell on that because sometimes I get to think
about this and I think, you know, if I don't see what I am completely,
if I don't see, and I'm never going to, I know that, but if
I don't see what I am, how can I fully understand the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross? I can't. So I've got to
meditate. I've got to think on these scriptures
that really condemn us. Now back in our text in verse
10, It says, who among you that feareth
the Lord? He's speaking to you who believe.
He's speaking to believers here. He says, who among you that feareth
the Lord? Now, there are two types of fear. The first one
is known as servile, S-E-R-V-I-L-E, servile fear. That's a relationship of a slave
to a master, and I'm reminded of slavery in his, in our country
in the earlier years, you know, where the slaves, the masters
often had a whip, you know. There was a fear there. There
was no respect, but there was fear. That's servile fear. But
there's another kind of fear, and this is the fear it's spoken
of here. It's called a philial fear, F-E-L-I-A-L, philial fear. And it really means that which
is befitting a son or daughter toward a parent. morally irreverent,
or excuse me, morally reverent. It's a reverent fear. It's a
reverent fear that the parent is good to them, they love them,
they provide for them, but yet, they know that if they step out
of line, that chastisement's coming. And that is the way the
believer sees our God. We see that he is just, and I'll
read a few scriptures here in a minute that refers to that.
He's just. He's loving, he's kind, he's
holy. I've made to see that in my life.
My 81 years, I look back and I see all my sins and he's not
dealt with me as I deserve, that's for sure. I'd hate to even tell
you what I think sometimes, what I've done in my mind. But he's
good, but he's just. He is just, equally just. He says in Isaiah 66 too, for
all these things hath my hand made, and all those things have
been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth
at my words. David said in Psalm 119 verse
120, my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy
judgments. God, our God, the God of the
Bible is a God of judgments. We've seen this going on here
in Texas, terrible thing, terrible thing. It's flooding. But let's
be honest, brethren, that's the judgment of God. And he picks
these judgments out to warn the rest of us. That ought to be
a warning to every person in this country, but especially
to believers. Continuing our text back in verse
10, he says, among you that fear the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, who is that servant but the Lord Jesus Christ. God says, I'm going to write
my law in your heart. He obeys the Lord Jesus Christ
as God's servant in the redemption of his people. John 10, 27 says, my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. Do they follow him perfectly?
No. And how I will grieve over that. We hunger and thirst after
righteousness, but we can't quite get there on this life, and we
never will. We never will get there. And
that's a grief. That's a grief. When you sin,
you know you grieve. You grieve because of your sin.
We all do. But we know this in Psalm 110.3. We know this is true. Thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. It is God that gives
us power to overcome. We're going to overcome this
nature. It's going to take the grave to do it. But even then,
in this life, greater is he that is in you than he that is in
the world. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound, the scripture says. God's going to oversee
it. He's going to bring you to himself.
He's going to bring us all to himself. What Christ went through
on that cross was not for nothing. He didn't waste time hanging
on a cross just to, as this world teaches, give everybody a chance. No, no, no, no. He came to save
his people. The willingness of God's people
to follow him, to hear what he has to say, is due to a hungering
and thirsting after the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what we look forward to as a believer. Back to our text, it says that
walketh in darkness and hath no light. Oh boy. When I hit
this, I've thought about this scripture. I've had this scripture
in my mind because I've been there. Let me ask you a question. Do you ever feel like you just
don't know anything? You ever feel that way? I do,
I have. I look at myself and I see no
good within me. And it'd be like old John Newton
said in that song we sing, if I'm a child of God, why am I
thus? Why do I feel this way? And I looked up some commentaries,
I just wanted to read on this a little bit, see what other
men had to say, Spurgeon, some of them. One of them said this,
and I'll read it to you. It is no new thing for the children
and heirs of light sometimes to walk in darkness, and for
a time not to have any glimpse or gleam of light. This has not
meant so much of the comforts of this life, and we know that
to be true. We're all going through this because of sin. But as to
their spiritual comforts, which relate to their souls, They walk
in darkness when their evidences for heaven are clouded, their
joy in God is interrupted, the testimony of the spirit is suspended,
and the light of God's countenance is eclipsed. Pensive Christians
are apt to be melancholy, and those who fear always are apt
to fear too much. King David said this in Psalms,
and here's why he's talking about fear too much. Psalms 42, 11 says, he's speaking
to himself. David's speaking to himself.
He says, why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted
within me? Why am I that way? If I'm a believer, why am I thus? He says, hope thou in God. He's
talking to himself. Hope in God, that's what he says.
For I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance
and my God. Now let's ask ourselves a question. Where do these doubts and fears
come from? Why do I doubt? You know, the
Lord speaks over and over in the scripture. He says, fear
not. There's a lot of fear nots. I never thought to count them
before I came, but I bet there's a lot of them. Fear not. Fear
not. Why does he say that? Because
we're at the fear. So why do we believe we have
no light? Why does a believer? Well, is it not because of unbelief? Is it there's there not unbelief
in us? I'm gonna tell you right now, there's enough unbelief
in me to put the whole world in hell. I know that. I see it. I see it. We wonder why. Lord,
you said you'd never leave me or forsake me. Why am I going
through this? You don't come out and say that
literally, but that's in the back of your mind. That's what
Job did. Old Job, he couldn't figure out
what was going on. He didn't know why God was punishing
him so. But unbelief. Listen to Matthew
4.21. You know, Peter, was in the boat and he said, and the
Lord came to him walking on the water and said, if it be thou,
bid me come. And the Lord said, come. And he started walking
on water and Matthew chapter 4, 31 says, and immediately Jesus
stretched forth his hand and caught him because he began to
sink. He took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink. And is that not us? Is that not
us? We start looking inside. I'm
looking inside for a feeling. But salvation's not based on
feeling. We're mixing things up in ourselves.
We're looking inside for a feeling, and I don't feel it. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him and said, O thou of little faith.
Little faith, how many times do we see that in the scripture?
When the Lord talked to his disciples. O thou of little faith. Another place he says, if you
had faith as the size of a grain of mustard seed, you could say
to that mountain, move, and it'd be moved. O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt? Doubt. Oh, my soul. We're in, I heard Scott say one
time, he used this phrase, and I've always thought about it,
he said, this mess we're in. And you know, That pretty much
explains that we are in a mess in this life. In John 20, 25,
you remember Thomas, the disciples came to Thomas and said, after
the Lord had resurrected, they said, we've seen the Lord. And
Thomas says this, except I see in his hand the print of the
nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust
my hand into his side, I will not believe. All unbelief, unbelief. But back
in our text, verse 10, even though we walk in darkness and we have
no light, what's the cure? It gives two things which are
basically one. He says, let him trust in the
name of the Lord. Now the Lord in one place says
he magnifies his word above his name. So what does it mean? I
wondered about that. Why does it say trust in his
name? Well, in the scriptures, his
name is often referred to as Jehovah Nisi. Interpretation
is the Lord my banner. That's where we need to trust.
The Lord is my banner. It uses Jehovah Ra, the Lord
my shepherd. We need to trust, brothers and
sisters, that the Lord is our shepherd, that he is my shepherd.
I can't whip that trust up. I can't whip this trust. The
word trust means assured reliance on the character, the ability,
the strength or truth of someone. All these things are attributes of God. He is
of utmost character, perfect in his character, absolutely
sovereign in his ability, his strength, and certainly his truth. His truth is paramount in the
scriptures. You shall know the truth, and
the truth alone shall set you free. In Zephaniah 3.12, he says, I
will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor
people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Proverbs
18.10 says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous
runneth into it, and is safe. And back to verse 10 in our text,
let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Stay there means to lean, to
rest, to rely upon the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the
greatest price to bring us to God and he's not gonna be defeated. We can rest upon him. No place else. I can't rest in
here. The more I look in here, the
more I'm gonna be seeing what we're reading about here. I've
got no light. There's nothing in there. As far as this old
nature goes, it's dead. Isaiah 50 verse seven says this,
for the Lord God will help me. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
says. He's not gonna be defeated, for the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. Brothers and sisters, that's
a blessed thought, that our Savior, God himself, you think about
this, God himself, What is man that thou art mindful of him?
That the holy God that created everything we see, everything
we know, created this body. He made me. That he would take
on the form of a man, come down here and save worms. Paul says
of who I am chief, and every believer will say that, I'm chief.
I'm chief of sinners. Our God is a good God. He's a
good God. He's a good God above everything
else. Merciful. He delights in mercy,
the scripture says. And that was seen in the coming
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Great is the mystery
of godliness. I can't understand it. I don't. I can mull it around in my head
all day long and I will never understand. the God of the Bible completely,
not until I hit the grave, and I'm, I'm there with him. Will
I be able to see more than what I see now? But I thank the Lord, I really
do. I thank the Lord, that he's been gracious to us, that he's
not left us to ourselves. What a blessing. You think about
7 billion, they say it's almost 8 billion now, I think. people
in this world and God has set his affections upon you who believe. What mercy, what mercy, how we
ought to bow, follow our face and praise him all hours of the
day. And then in our last verse, verse
11, he says, behold, pay attention. Behold, all you that kindle a
fire. Oh Lord, keep me from that. You
know, it's, I was thinking as I was preparing this, sometimes
you fall into that darkness and you're halfway up the mountain
and all of a sudden you fall back into the valley. And you think, Lord, unless you
do something for me, I'm done. I have no strength in myself.
I have no strength. You must do something for me.
And I can try to read the Bible a little more. And I can say,
well, I'm going to read the Bible. I'm going to study. I'm going
to pray a little more. Well, what's that about self-worth?
You're looking inside. I'm looking inside if I do that. Stay upon your God, that's what
he says. When things get bad, look up. Don't look in. You're
not gonna find any help within. I'm not gonna find any help within
this flesh, within myself. But he says, behold, all ye that
kindle a fire. Here's the free will. I'm gonna make a decision for
Christ. I'm gonna walk the aisle. And what happens? that compasses
selves about with sparks. As I read this, I thought, you
know, I've watched these preachers on television. They have all
these big crowds, especially that man down in Texas. He's
got thousands. He's accompanying himself about
with sparks. He's made those sparks. He's
talked all those people into conversion. All you gotta do
is walk the aisle, Say the sinner's prayer, and you're saved. They have to
tell you that you're saved. And because they tell you that,
people believe it. And so what they're doing, they're
killing on their own fire. They're accomplish yourselves
about with sparks, the text says. Take a man that does that, first
thing you know, he's a great prayer warrior. or he's a great
soul winner. He's compensating himself about
with sparks. But the Lord says, walk in the
light of your fire and sparks that you have kindled. And here's
the sorrowful part. Here's the sorrowful part. And
millions are going this way. Broad is the way that will lead
us to destruction and many go in there at. He says, this shall
you have of my hand. You shall lie down in sorrow.
Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Oh,
those are terrible words. You just think about that, that
the Lord would say that to you. Meditate on that a little bit.
I don't want to hear those words. I really don't. That's the most
terrifying thing I can think of. That's the most terrifying
thing. And I think about Old Paul, he
says, I have continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren,
according to the flesh, who are Israelites. He was talking about
his family. And we think about our families,
our children, brothers, sisters, that have no need of the gospel. People you've talked to, friends
you work with, they don't want to hear it. What a sad thing that they're
going to stand before a holy God. They're going to give account
of every idle word, he says. Apart from me, you workers of
iniquity, I never knew you. What a terrible combination. And so let me close it down. Isaiah 42H says this, I am the
Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That is my name
and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise
to graven images. God's gonna have all the glory.
That's what this whole life is about. Let's not deceive ourselves
and think that this life's about me. It's not about me and you. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ.
All things are by him for him and to him. It was made for him. And if he by grace has saved
me, or if he has saved you, what great mercy and thankfulness
we ought to have in our hearts for that. That's a blessing. That is a blessing above all
blessings. We think, well, we've got it
good in this world, but not nearly as much as what the blessing
of salvation by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did. Our old man in all of us, I'm
speaking of believers, that seeks, we seek our own glory, and the
Lord has purposed that it's not gonna be so. He's gonna bring
us to the end of self. I remember our first time I ever
heard that. Scott used to use that all the time. Coming to
the end of self. There's nothing in here, brothers
and sisters. Don't look for it. Don't look to your feelings.
Feelings are going to deceive you. Your heart's going to deceive
you. That old nature's going to deceive
you. Doubts and fears are going to come as long as we have breath. Let's face it. Let's be honest
about it. God in his text, he recognized that. You notice when
it says up here, he says that walketh in darkness
and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord. He doesn't
condemn you. He doesn't say, oh, you of little
faith, you need to believe more. No,
as a tender father, as a tender father would instruct a child,
he says, Let him trust. Take your eyes off yourself.
That's what he said. No condemnation there. God recognizes
what we're in. He sees this plight that we're
in. And as a tender father, he directs
us toward himself and the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have a Savior
who has taken our weakness, this very weakness that we have of
unbelief, and nailed it to His cross. Aren't you thankful for that,
that your unbelief was nailed to the cross of the Lord Jesus?
That's a sin, unbelief's a sin, but it was taken up by Him. Let us remember that the Lord's
trying of our faith, He's gonna try our faith. He's got a purpose
in it. He's trying us for a reason.
The Lord's trying of our faith is as the refining of gold. You
ever watch TV and how they refine gold? They process gold, but
it's not 100%. So it goes through another process. It's still not 100% or 99.99%.
It goes through different processes in order to obtain that purity.
That's the way the Lord works. with his people. He's going to
put you through these trials. And if it doesn't do what it
needs to do, you're going to go to the next one. He's going
to process you more and more because he's preparing us, brothers
and sisters, to bring us into his presence, a holy, holy presence. He says in one place, be holy
for I am holy. And that's the aim of this life.
This life is just not about me, like I said, about my wants and
wishes and all that stuff. I'm here to bring glory unto
the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation he has brought. That
is the purpose of it. I pray this morning that the
Lord the Lord himself would give us a heart to seek his face. Let me stop looking to myself
and look up to him who died for us and paid our sin penalty.
Amen.