Isaiah chapter 50. As your pastor just mentioned,
we've been friends a long time. God's given us intimate relationship
from your very beginning and I thank God for you and pray
for you And I'm so thankful for the ministry God's given you
together with your dear pastor. Thank God for his faithfulness
and for yours. I've titled this message, Listen
to the Savior. Listen to the Savior. We're going
to just read these 11 verses together and hear what the Son
of God says to us this hour. In verse 1, hear the Lord Jesus
as he tells you who are lost, why you are lost. Thus saith
the Lord, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom
I have put away? or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?" He's addressing this particularly
to the children of Israel, his people by name, his people by
profession, who had abandoned the worship of God because they
had abandoned the worship of God They were brought into captivity
and subjected to bondmen again and again and again and again. Providentially, God preserved
them, restored them, and delivered them. And they perverted the
worship of God and abandoned the worship of God again and
again and again, over and over and over. We see this in the
history of that nation. The whole book of Judges is all
about Israel being apostates, giving up the worship of God
and rebelling against him. And God selling them under bondage
to their enemies and then raising up judges to deliver them one
after another. And that was their whole history.
He says this to that nation, but what he says to that nation
is true of all. He says, where do you have a
paper saying that I have divorced you? Where do you have a paper
saying I have sold you? That's not the problem. That's
not the problem. I recognize I preach, I believe,
I don't make any apology for it. The scriptures clearly teach
that all men are controlled by God and all their lives ordained
from eternity by God, both the elect and the reprobate. There's
not any question about that. But the whole responsibility
of your lost condition Rest on your shoulders. You're not going to blame God's
purpose, God's predestination, God's election, God's reprobation
for your damnation. If you go to hell, you'll go
to hell scratching and clawing against the light God's given
you. If you go to hell, you'll go to hell kicking God out of
your way. If you go to hell, you'll go
to hell because you choose to go to hell. Amen, Brother Don,
that's right. That's just fact. And nobody's
gonna pity you. Nobody's gonna pity you. We weep
and our hearts break for folks, you, our own sons and daughters,
our own mothers and fathers, our own husbands and wives, our
own neighbors, our own companions and fellow workmen, we weep for
you. But the day God sends you to
hell, an everlasting damnation at judgment, nobody will pity
you. There will be none to pity you.
Because you and all the world recognize it's your doings. Look what it says. Here's your
problem. Behold your iniquities. For your iniquities, for your
iniquities, not Adam's, Nobody's going to hell because of Adam's
sin. Not gonna happen. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. You'll go to hell because of
your iniquities. For your iniquities have you
sold yourselves. We use a phrase, Speaking of men who have done
horrible evil, and we say he sold his soul to the devil. That's where you sit. You've sold yourselves for the
lust of your flesh. You sold yourselves for your
willful breach of God's law all the time, your iniquities. You
sold yourselves for your transgressions. And for your transgressions is
your mother put away. The nation of Israel at last
cast off, you read in Romans chapter 11. God shut them up
in unbelief. God sent them blindness, God
sent them a delusion, and they're still in blindness and delusion
to this day because they despised the light God gave them and chose
their way. And so it shall be with you if
you continue in your way. And you will continue in your
way unless God stops you. unless God stops you, in your
mad rush to hell, you will go right on in your iniquity, selling
yourselves. Now, look at verses two through
nine, and hear the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, as he describes
himself. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? When I called, was there none
to answer? Why is it, why is it that no
man, no man regards me? Why is it that you will not hear
my voice? Why is it that when I stretch
out my hand, you'll slap my hand and turn away from me? Why? Is
my hand shortened at all? Have somehow I lost my strength? that it cannot redeem? Do you
really think I can't save you? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke, I dry up
the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stinketh, because
there was no water, and dieth for thirst. Don't you remember? What I've done for you. Can't you see how I have intervened
providentially for you? What I've done, showed my power
to you. I dry up the rivers for you. And I make streams in the desert
for you. And I destroy nations for you. Hear me, hear me. Do you think
I can't say? I've demonstrated it over and
over again. My power is indescribably infinite. You know, I clothe the heavens
with blackness and I make sackcloth their covering. I have power. over all the elements of nature,
over all the elements of creation, over all creation, and over all
creatures, and over all time, there's nothing I can't do. Remember
how the Lord's disciples asked him when he said, with regard
to the rich young ruler, said, it's easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. Now, I know what a commentator
would say, That needle's eye was a little tiny slit in the
wall where a camel had to be brought down to his knees and
get through there just, no, that's not what we're talking about.
It's easier for a camel to get through that needle's eye that
you can't put a piece of thread through than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples understood
that. They said, well, that's the case, who then can be saved?
The master said, with you, it's impossible. With you, if any
aspect of this thing's up to you, it's impossible. With me,
it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Is my hand shortened? Oh, no.
Has my power gone? Oh, no. I've demonstrated over
and over again, he is God mighty to save. Read on, verse four. The Lord God has given me the
tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. That's not talking about Isaiah. And that's not talking about
me. Not even talking about the message we just heard from our
brother here. No, no, no. That's talking about our Redeemer. He who is Jehovah's servant.
He who is made of God unto us wisdom. He who is the word of
God in that body prepared for him by which he lived as our
representative and reveals God to us in his obedience unto death
as our substitute. The Lord God's given me the tongue
of the learned and he's given me the ability to give you a
word in due season to the weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as the learned, to do his will, to obey him, to fulfill all righteousness. Verse five, how do you know?
The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. You remember the law of the bond
servant that was given to the children of Israel. A man was
brought into bondage, to servitude, because he had sold himself into
debt as a servant, or he had been sold into debt, or he was
brought into some kind of bondage because of a debt. And he was
required to serve his master for seven years. But on the seventh
year, his master was required to let him go out free. He had
paid his debt. The time of servitude was over.
Now that wasn't because God was teaching us to put folks in bondage
and make slaves out of them. It was because God was teaching
us about his son, the bond servant. But that bond servant was required
if he had married a wife and had children. When he left his
master's service, he must leave his wife and children with his
master. But if he decides not to go out
free, he goes and says to his master, I love my wife, I love
my children, I love my master, I will not go out free. Then he must go to the gate of
the city and publicly his master would take a awl and pierce his
ear. bore his ear through publicly,
so that he is saying publicly, I am for life, my master servant. That's what Christ did for us.
And blessed be his name, he would not go out free. He wouldn't do it. He's opened
my, I didn't turn, I didn't turn away back. This is what I willingly
came here to do. Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh
my God. And at last the time came, he
said, I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. Men came to arrest me. And I
said, whom seek ye? They said, we see Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And they fell away as dead men.
I mean, just fell backwards. And he said, now that you know
who I am, who was it you said you were looking for? And he
says, I gave my back to the smithers. Pilate had no power over me.
The Jews had no power over me. The Romans had no power over
me. Judas had no power over me. I suffered what I suffered because
I do so willingly to lay down my life for my sheep. He said,
I gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. Here, you
want to jerk it out? Go ahead and give it a tug. I
gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. Read on. I hid
not my face from shame and spitting. I mean, spit on me and buffeted
me. I didn't even attempt to cover
my face from them. I willingly endured all of this because I
came here as Jehovah's servant. For the Lord God will help me. The Lord God will help me. Remember in Gethsemane, he finally says, Father, thy will
be done the third time and the angels of God strengthened him,
ministered to him. The Lord God will help me. I've come here to endure all
the fury of God's wrath and justice at the hands of wicked men to
be crucified and slain. God'll help me. God'll help me. He's in Gethsemane's garden and
he cries in agony, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. He said to his disciples, my
soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. What shall I
say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came
I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And his father spoke from heaven
and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify it yet again. And so he set his face like a
fledge to go up to Jerusalem. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. I'm not
gonna fail in this. I'm not gonna be confused in
this. He is near, watch this, that justifieth me. What? What? Is this the Son of God
speaking? Is this the Messiah speaking?
Is this the Christ of God speaking? Why should he be justified? How
can he be justified? You remember when Aaron was ordered
of God to make atonement for the sins of the children of Israel
on the day of Passover once every year throughout the history of
the nation from the giving of the law. Aaron must go in with
the blood of a lamb. But before he did so, Aaron must
make atonement for his own sins and then for the people's. The
Lord Jesus is our great high priest and our sacrifice. And he was made sin for us. He was made sin for us. Brother Don, how do you explain
that? He was made sin for us. All that is obnoxious to Him, all that is hideous to Him, All
that is hateful to Him, all that is despised by Him, He was made
sin for us. So He said, when He hung upon
the cursed tree, thou knowest my guiltiness. And he was put to death justly
when he was made sin for us upon the cursed tree and buried as
one to be buried out of God's sight. But on the third day,
he was justified in the spirit. God raised him up from the dead
and says he has no sin. He's freed from sin and we were
justified in him when he was justified in himself. He is near
that justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Who's
gonna lay any charge against me? Who's going to condemn me? Who's going to punish me? Let
us stand together. Come on, bring your charges. Satan, come on, bring your charges. Who is my adversary? Let him
come dear, let him come dear. He who bore our sin, suffering
all the fury of God's wrath, enduring all that ungodly enemies
could heap upon him, now is forever freed from sin. and freed from
any possibility of harm by any hand, divine or devilish. He said, come near to me. Who
was he that could do it? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? All Satan can do is roar like
an old chained lion with no fangs and no claws. Brother Todd came
up to Bob's house yesterday. And when he came up to Bob's
house, Y'all probably don't know this, but Bob and Jeanette have
some little pups out there. And Todd called for somebody
to come get the dog. And I don't blame him, they're
big dogs. And they've got good teeth. Yeah. Not Satan. If you see the old dog laying
out there and he's got arthritis, and he can't hardly get up, and
he starts to growl at you, he's got nothing but gums, well, I'll
go ahead and get out and come in. I don't care how big he is.
That's not gonna bother me any. So it is with he who roars against
your soul. Satan can no more harm you, my
brother. Satan can no more harm you, my
sister, than he can harm God, our Savior, who snatched out
his fangs and snatched out his claws and bound him with a chain
of omnipotence. He can do us no harm. Read on,
read on. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. Who is he that shall condemn
me? Lo, they all shall wax old as
a garment. The moth shall eat them up. That's
our blessed Redeemer, our omnipotent Savior. who endured all the wrath
of God for us, having satisfied all demands of God for us, having
fulfilled all the law for us, having done all the will of God
for us, Jehovah's righteous servant of whom it is written, he shall
not fail. Now hear what he speaks as he
describes his people. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? that feareth the Lord. That's
a child of God. He fears God. He fears God. Not in the sense
of dreading God, not in the sense of being afraid of God, but in
the sense of a reverent, honoring worship of God so that he has in him a sense
of awe and reverence and love for God that God's planted in
him in the new birth. If you're God's, that's true
of you. If you're God's, that's true of you. Not dread. Not terror, not being afraid,
but fearing God. I'm not one to give counsel to
folks as far as pastoral counseling stuff. If folks call but you
won't counsel, usually one trip will take care of it. Because
most of these, this pastoral counseling business, this is
free, won't cost you anything extra. Pastoral counseling business,
those fellows really want to be your priest. They'd really
like to wear collars and have you come make your confessional
to them. That's all it's all about, nothing else. But people
want the pastor to counsel because they think he won't say the same
thing face-to-face, sitting across the table from them as they will
from the pulpit. So if you just speak honestly, they'll go find
somebody else to give them their opinions. But I give young couples
a little bit of counsel when they're about to have their first
child, or when I see them when their first child is born. You've
got babies. And I don't qualify to give counsel for parents. The Lord just gave us one child
and he was a girl, so I don't qualify. But if I'd had a boy,
he'd have been like me and one of us wouldn't have survived
this long. But I'll tell you what you can do. The best thing
I know you can do with a father, somehow if you can instill in
that baby a reverence for you, springing
from love that causes that child to want to please you. You've got half the battle lit. If that child just wants to please
you, you're well on your way, well on your way. Let me tell
you something. Every heaven-born soul wants to honor God. Every heaven-born soul wants
to honor God. Nothing more important than honoring
God. They fear the Lord. God's people
do. We serve him with fear and rejoice
with trembling. The prophets here talking about
that reverence and godly fear. that is the fruit of grace whereby
we serve God acceptably. The next line, God's people obey
his servant. What it says, who is among you
that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant, his
servant. The believer, is a person who
obeys Christ, God's servant. They obey the Lord Jesus, who
is himself our prophet, priest, and king, and obey him willingly. We obey his word, we obey his
will. We obey him by the direction
and teaching and influence and conviction of his spirit, Jehovah's
servant. We walk in the spirit. We're
led by the spirit. We rejoice in the spirit of our
God who takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, makes us
to know Christ himself, makes us to understand his word, and
makes us to know his will day by day. And they obey the voice
of the Lord's servant, gospel preacher. They're pastors. Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls,
as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Pastors are pastors. under shepherds to Christ, not
lords over God's heritage, but pastors. Responsible under God
to direct his people and to lead his sheep and to rule his church
by his word. And believers obey them. They
obey them in matters of doctrine, in matters of faith, in matters
of worship, in matters of conduct as they are taught the word of
God. Well, I'm not gonna obey any man. You will if you follow
Christ. You will if you follow Christ.
And if a man's a pastor, he's not going to give up that responsibility. God's given you a faithful pastor. Pray for him that God will, every
time he stands in this pulpit, come here to you. with a fresh
message from heaven, burning in his heart for your soul, and
speak to you the word of God. And when it does, he didn't speak
to you something for you, well, you've given me some things to
think about. No, I didn't. I didn't come here today to give
you some things to think about. I didn't come here today to give
you some things to go home and just say, well, I like this part
of what he said, but I don't know about that part. You at
best pay attention. You'd best pay attention. Obey
God's word given to you by God's servant. Obey it, obey it. Next, the Lord says, who is he
who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice
of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Here God's prophet describes
the condition in which believers commonly find themselves. Walking in darkness and having
no light. Now when the Lord Jesus here
describes his people as being men and women who walk in darkness
and have no light, don't misunderstand me. He's not speaking of no light
in an absolute sense, or darkness in an absolute sense, as with
the lost. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. You were sometimes
darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. You're all the children of light
and children of the day. We are not of night nor of darkness.
Those who are born of God walk in the light. Walk in the light
of divine revelation. Walk in the light of the gospel.
Walk in the light of him who is light. And yet, here the prophet
speaks of us, the Lord Jesus speaks of us as those who walk
in darkness and have no light. The word light here in Isaiah
53.10, is a very distinct word. It's
not light like that or light like that coming through the
curtains. The word is brilliance. Who is among you that walk in
darkness and have no brilliant, shining, clear light? The fact is Though we have the
light of God's truth, we don't always have the brilliance and
clear shining light of God's countenance and his presence
and his spirit. Listen to the scriptures. He
turned to Lamentations chapter three, I'll show you. There'll be many that say, who
will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You remember in the
Song of Solomon, the Church of God is described in that condition
that we're usually, I sleep, but my
heart waketh. It's the voice of my beloved. He's knocking at the door, his
hands at the door, and he says, open to me, my beloved, my undefiled. Open to me, open to me. And we
respond, we'll come back after a while, I'm busy right now.
I've got other things to do. And he says, all right. And he
puts his hand in the hole of the door, sticks his hand in
the lock of the door, right into your heart, and moves your heart
to him. And you say, oh no, I didn't
mean that! Lord, come here! And he's withdrawn himself. But
he leaves the sweet myrrh of his grace and his mercy and his
love, and you go about seeking him. And the watchman, your faithful
pastor, As you meet him in the streets of the city, you come
here to Jerusalem, the church of the living God, and you meet
with the watchman and you say, Brother Chris, have you seen
him whom my soul loveth? And your pastor is preaching
the word and he removes your veil from you and exposes your
nakedness and shows you your shame. You say, oh, if you find
him. Tell him I'm sick of love. Oh,
how I miss him. Thus we find ourselves walking
in darkness with no brilliant shining light. I never had any
difficulty knowing what the light of my duty is. But I often find
myself lacking the brilliant shining light of God's favor
and God's goodness and God's mercy. Oh, Lord, listen to this. I'll get to Lamentations 3 in
just a minute. Oh, Lord, God of my salvation, I cry day and
night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee.
Incline thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draweth near unto the grave. I'm counted with them
that go down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength,
free among the dead, like the slave that is in the grave, whom
thou rememberest no more, and there cut off from thy hand,
thou hast laid me in the lowest pits, in darkness in the deeps. Now, hear the lamentations of
Jeremiah. I am the man that has seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned.
He turneth his hand against me all the day. Well, Jeremiah,
don't you know God's mercy? Read Jeremiah 50, 20 and find
out. Read Jeremiah 31 and find out. Yeah, Jeremiah knew all.
He knew God's mercy. He knew God's faithfulness. He
knew God's forgiveness. He's talking about what he feels
in his soul. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He'd
broken my bones. Acts, 35 years ago, Brother Scott
Richardson and I were preaching that in Jacksonville, Florida,
and he turned to Acts chapter 27 and read to us about the ship,
where they were going into, by leave of the storm, and they
thrusted into a place where two seas met, and the ship broke
apart, and some swam to shore, and some on broken pieces of
the ship. And Scott said, God only uses
broken pieces. God only uses broken things. God only fills broken cups. That's God's way. He hath broken
my bones. He hath built it against me and
compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places. Who is among you that walketh
in darkness? John Berridge made this statement. For my own part, since first
my unbelief was felt, I had been praying for years for faith,
and praying with some earnestness, and am not yet possessed of half
a grain. If you have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, you say to this mountain, be thou removed into
the sea and you'll see it move into the sea. So what did Alaska
say? He said, I don't have even a
half a grain. Don't you long To believe God? I mean believe God? I believe God, but I don't half
believe God. We not only have struggles with
unbelief, but we have our spiritual trials and conflicts. Satan's
horrid temptations in Bethany's Worldly trouble care sorrow Domestic
strife and trouble sickness Broken hearts bereavement Slander reproach
from ungodly enemies and often from friends Have to deal with emotional agony,
depression. I was thinking yesterday, spoke
a little bit to Bob and Jeanette about it, eight years ago. You know the sickness with cancer,
not cancer, but had an aorta valve replaced and had some severe
complications afterwards. Brother Todd Come every couple
of days, visit with me and talk. I appreciated it more than I
could ever express. But I couldn't enter into a thing
he said. For the first time in my life
as a believer, the only time in my life as a believer, after
I'd gotten through all the medical difficulties and it's only me
and my mind was clear, clear thinking. I went for two weeks, two dark, dark weeks of depression
like I never imagined Don Fortner would ever experience. Never,
never dreamed it would happen, never dreamed it would happen.
When God wouldn't speak to me and try as I did, I couldn't
speak to God. And Shelby was by my side the
whole time and she would read to me and we'd chat. And I tried
my best to enter into what was going on, but I just, oh, my
soul was as empty and as hard and as cold and lifeless
as death itself. And then one day, I don't think
I'll ever forget it, on the 2nd of May, that dear lady read to
me from Spurgeon's morning and evening, the morning reading
for that day from John 17 and verse 15. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, that thou shouldest keep
them from the evil. And as she read Spurgeon's comments, for the first time in two long
weeks, God spoke. This light, how I cherish that light. But we spend much time in darkness
of one kind or another, walking in darkness, walking in darkness. I recall a good friend of mine,
Brother Harry Graham, I learned so much from him. He was one
of the, he was without question, the most confident believer I
ever knew. He told me when I was 19 years
old, he was probably, oh, at least 35 years my senior. Until
recent years, all of my friends were 35 years my senior. Now
I'm 35 years your senior. But he said, we were talking
about assurance, he said, he said, Brother Don, I don't know
what you're talking about. He said, I've never had any question
about my salvation since the day God saved me. And I believe
him. And then, When he was almost
80 years old, he had a stroke. And he got over the stroke, but
it never got over the depression and the strain. And every time
I was near Western Salem, I'd go by and spend an hour or two
with him and never again enjoyed that blessed light of walking
in peace with God. Never again until God took him
out of this world of darkness. Why? I don't know. I don't know. My memory served me well. Spurgeon told this of a man in
his congregation who was a strong, stalwart man. And he prayed for
his sons. He had four sons, all of them
rebels who hated God. And he wanted his sons present
to watch him die. hoping that if they watched a
man die with confident faith, that would have an effect upon
them. When it came time for him to die, things weren't as he
seemed, or seemed to think they would be. He, for the first time in his life, had no peace, had died in utter agony, just
utter agony concerning his own soul. And his sons, after the funeral,
the oldest son got his three younger brothers together, and
he sat down and talked to them. He said, if our father, who believed
God as we know him to have believed God all these years, died in
such agony, how will it be for us? And God used not the man's faith,
but his darkness as the instrument by which he called his sons to
hear the gospel. Why does the Lord God The ever
wise, ever gracious, ever good God direct the paths of his children
through darkness. What good purpose can it serve?
I don't pretend to know all the answers, but I'll give you some. The very best of books are printed
in black letters Did you get it? The very best
of books are planted in dark, black letters. We learn far more
in darkness than we do in light. We learn far more in the valley
than we do on the mountaintop. That's the reason God keeps us
in the valley and keeps us walking in darkness. Times of darkness
tend to humble us, if we can use the word humility. If today
he deigns to bless us with a sense of pardoned sin, he tomorrow
may distress us, make us feel the plague within, all to make
us sick of self. and fond of him. He sends trials
of darkness so that we can be of help to our brethren, to our
sisters, of help to others in times of
darkness. What do you do with your brother,
with your sister? When they're going through difficult
times, dark times, dark times, you may bring it on yourself.
What do you do? What do you do with your sister?
When they're going through dark, difficult times, we tend to stay
away. We tend to avoid the company. We tend to leave them alone. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. When you've been there, you can
help. And that's our business. Help
one another. And God graciously gives us experiences
in our lives by which he prepares us as instruments of usefulness
to his people in days on this earth. Now, here's the counsel
God gives his children when they walk in darkness. Let him trust
in the name of the Lord. Oh, what good counsel. What a sweet command. Let him
trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Jesus Christ our Savior is himself
the name of the Lord. The revelation of all God's character
and his being. Trust the name of the Lord. He who has been our deliverer
is our deliverer still and he will yet deliver. He who opened
the Red Sea won't have any trouble with the Jordan. He who dried up the Red Sea won't
have any trouble making waters in the desert. He's our God. He's our God. Trust the Lord. who has given
you, I started to say a personal interest
in his covenant. Let me phrase that another way. Who has made with you an everlasting
covenant. Who has made with you an everlasting
covenant. The Lord hath made with me an
everlasting covenant. Ordered in all things and sure,
what more could I ask for? This is all my salvation and
all my desire. Trust in the name of the Lord
and stay upon Jehovah. If I trust the Lord God only
in the light, my trust is not in God, but in
myself, in my feelings, and in my experience. If I trust God
only in the light, my trust is not in God, but in myself, my
feelings, my experience. Trust is found when there is
no light. Trust is found when there is
no strength. Trust is found when you can't
do anything. Now, you may have a kind of perplexed
thoughts concerning that. Go home and read the 107th Psalm. And remember to apply it to yourself.
Trouble comes. Trouble comes. You're diagnosed
with cancer. Later stages. And you start,
you get on the commuter and start to look up the internet and study
all the stuff and you figure out what I'm going to do. I'm
going to go here, I'm going to go there. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that.
And you pace the floor and you fret and you wind up in the hospital
flat on your back and you can't do anything. You can't do anything. Make it worse. This is your husband. This is your wife. This is your
son. This is your daughter. And you
just gotta do something. Gotta do something. And you reel
to and fro like a drunken man. And you go down to the deeps
and the depths. You just find confusion and madness. You can't do anything! You can't
do anything! And when God shuts you up to
God, then they cry unto the Lord. How sad, how sinful, how shameful. Our last shift, Brian, is always
faith. Never the first. We will never believe God, even
as believers, in any circumstance until God graciously, sweetly
forces us to believe him and gives us grace to believe him.
We will never pray, we'll never pray. Oh, we'll utter words and
we'll speak the words, but we will not pray until God puts
prayer in our hearts. Won't happen, won't happen. God's
promises were made for dark times, not for light times. Spirit of
God, teach me to trust in the Lord. to stay, to lead all the
weight of my soul, all the weight of my life, all the weight of
my care, oh my God, without any evidences of grace. I know, I'm
talking about this this morning. We're so conditioned. in our
fleshly religion, and so conditioned with false religion, to look
for things in ourselves. Brother Todd addressed it a little
bit, just a little bit ago, feelings in my faith, in my repentance,
in my devotion, in my dedication. Quit looking for evidences of
grace in you. I mean that. Quit looking for
evidences of grace in you. And especially quit looking for
them in one another. Quit looking for them. I'll tell
you what you'll find when you start looking for evidences of
grace. You'll take your eyes off of Christ and focus them
on you. Not sometimes, every time. Every time. And if your assurance
and your peace It comes from your evidences. You ain't got
any. What evidence do you have? Oh,
brother Don, I believe God. Well, let's see. I'm talking
about believe God. Trust God with all your heart. And mean not to your own understanding.
Anybody? Anybody? Well, I love my brethren. Oh, which of you loves me like
you love yourself? Anybody? Anybody? Well, I love the Lord now. Oh,
that's your evidence, is it? Which of you loves God with all
your heart, soul, mind, and being? Now, show me what evidences were
you talking about? What is it that gives you reason
to think you believe God? Well, I don't have anything except
I believe Him. That's it. That's it. That's it. We believe God without
anything to confirm His Word. God said, He that believeth hath
everlasting life. And I don't have one thing to
confirm that word from God. Not one thing. But I believe
God. I have everlasting life. To believe
him, stayed upon your God, his faith, without support, that's
God honoring faith. And when thine eye of faith is
dim, still hold on Jesus, sink or swim, still at his footstool,
bow the knee, and Israel's God shall strengthen thee. All right,
look at verse 11. And hear the Son of God, our
Savior, as he tells you why, you will go to hell. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that can pass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. Kindle a little fire of emotion
and religion and you reform your life and you rededicate your
life and you join the church and you read your bible and you
memorize scripture and you just You kindle a fire, makes you
feel good. This makes you feel good about
yourself. Oh boy, I don't cuss like I used
to and I don't get drunk on Saturday night and I don't beat my wife.
Oh man, I'm so much improved. You kindle a fire and it just
sparks. Sparks. Not even a sparkler,
just sparks. Nothing but sparks. As transitory,
as insignificant, as meaningless, as useless, as sparks with no
fuel, just sparks. But you walk in the light of
your fire. Try to find some comfort with
that tonight, why don't you? Stretch yourself on that bed
tonight, why don't you? Wrap yourself in that covering
tonight, why don't you? This shall you have of mine hand. You won't have my light, I'll
give you darkness. You won't walk in my ways, I'll
give you your ways. And I'll send you to hell with
your delusion. You shall lie down in sorrow. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When darkness veils his
lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, my anchor holds within the veil his oath. His covenant,
His blood, support me in the whelming flood. When all supports
are washed away, He then is all my hope and stay. God make Him yours. Amen.