May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Isaiah, chapter 50. We'll read the last two verses. Verses 10 and 11 in the 50th
chapter of Isaiah. 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. 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. These two verses, in rather a
strange way we might think, they describe a false Christian and
they describe a true Christian. And it is of course important
for all of us to know that we are amongst those who are true
Christians and not amongst those who are a false Christian. Well,
starting first of all on the negative side with regard to
a false Christian and the 11th verse gives us some view of what
that is and the illustration that Isaiah gives us is one of
a fire and sparks in that fire and it Speaks in this way, behold
all ye that kindle a fire. What I expect most of us in our
life of kindle the fire, that means we've made a fire. And
often we think of that term kindle with regard to some small sticks
or straw or something which we use so as to kindle a fire. That
means we use it to start the fire. We need something to start
a fire. You can't normally start a fire
with big logs. You need something small, you
need something simple, which will very quickly catch fire. Now, the illustration here then
is of kindling a fire, that means starting a fire. Starting a fire. And the illustration means that
in this particular situation it means really starting our
own religion. starting something ourselves. And it is of course very important
to realise that the difference between a true and a false religion
is very simply this. A false religion is one that
a person starts himself. A real religion is one that God
starts. And if you bear that in mind
as we go through this morning, to think of the reality between
the two things and to look into our own hearts, because of course
We need to know ourselves, don't we? What our religion is. Whether
our religion is real or whether it's false. And the importance
of that is because you and I have to die and we have to go into
eternity. We don't want to be found in
the wrong place. So it's very important for us
today to realise that we are in the right way and not the
false way. So coming back then to this illustration of a fire. Behold all ye that kindle a fire."
Clearly there's a lot of people who just begin and they make
this fire and they start in a very small way. And so it is in much
of religion, people start just in perhaps a small way. They
think they'll, well they'll become religious. They think perhaps
it's a good idea. And they may follow some tenets
of various religions. They may follow some tenets of
a good religion. And what do they do? Well, here's
the picture. They compass themselves or yourselves
about with sparks. Well, we know what a spark is,
don't we? As we start a fire, it's good to see a spark shoot
off, isn't it? Because it's an indication that
the fire's beginning to take hold of things and it's not something
that's going to go out. There is some life in the fire
and there's a spark. You think of a spark. What does
it do? Well a spark of course, initially
it's very bright isn't it? It springs out of the fire very
bright, but it very quickly fades away. And you couldn't really
expect a fire to just last for lots of sparks. You'll want a
lot more than that. But here we have this picture
then of a fire with sparks and it says, that compass yourselves
about with sparks, right? More than one spark, a number
of sparks. And again, if we think of that
with regard to religion, it might be that people latch hold of
various aspects of religion, they think by doing this and
doing that, they're going to make themselves worthy of going
to heaven. Now, I'm not speaking against
many of those things, but we have to be careful, we have a
right motive and a right desire. See, people can come and they
can start reading the Bible. It's a good thing to do and it's
a right thing to do. But just reading the Bible won't
actually get us to heaven. It's like a spark. And people
might think, well, I'll start going to church. Well, that's
not a bad thing. It's a good thing. But again,
in itself, it needs much more than that. And then people might
think, well, I think I'll start praying. And that's a good thing
in itself, but it's not if it's just a question of praying, as
it were, to chalk up marks for themselves so they think, well,
they're doing this and they're doing that, and therefore their
works are going to justify them for eternity in heaven. And they
may surround themselves with all these things and people might
look at them and think, well, that's a good Christian. person
that does this and does that and does the other, they might
do a lot of good things, they may help people, they may desire
to encourage people, but the important thing is that if it's
just emanating from their own selves, then it's like this picture
here. Behold all ye that kindle a fire
that compass, now compass means surrounding themselves about
with sparks, and what are they doing? They're walking in that
light. You see, there is some light,
but it's not a lasting light, it's just a false light. It doesn't
last, it vanishes away like a spark. It shines, it's gone. My friends,
we don't want to have a false light which appears to shine,
but doesn't have any lasting strength or matter in it. Walk
in the light of your fire. That's the important issue. It's a fire these people have
created themselves, it's not that which God has done for them,
it's that which they have done for themselves. And again, that's
the important analogy we need to concentrate on this morning.
As we think of our own religion, as to the reality of it, if it
is that which God has given to us, or is it that which we've
started up, And we worked up into a decent kind of fire with
plenty of sparks that people think, well, that's a good person,
that's a good Christian, he's doing the right things. And in
the sparks that ye have kindled. You see, it's just that which
we've done. It's not that which God has done.
Now, let's be very clear. God has ordained that such words
should be written by Isaiah, and we sometimes refer to Isaiah
as the Gospel of Isaiah, because it does refer very much to spiritual
blessings and it speaks in prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ,
as we'll come on to later. But here we have then this vivid
picture really, for us to just think about kindling a fire,
encompassing ourselves about with religious things, and yet
not actually having the truth of God in the heart. You may
perhaps think of it like this. It's just that which goes through
our head, just in our mind. We just have religious thoughts
in our mind and religious actions emanate from our mind, but they're
not which God has put there because the Word of God tells us that
that which God produces within us is because he gives to us
a new heart. a new heart. That means something
within us, a new heart God gives and how important that is. We
don't just want to have religion in our head, because religion
in our head will die when our head dies. How necessary that
we might know that we're not just surrounding ourselves with
just these evidences of a Christian religion, and not possess the
truth of God in our hearts. We read together that chapter
in Job for this reason, because it did spell out, and it started
in that fifth verse, Yea, the light of the wicked, here we
have the light you see, the sparks, they produce a light, shall be
put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. He just goes out, he doesn't
last, he just disappears and here is Bildad speaking to Job
about the falseness of such a situation and he clearly regards it as
pointing to those who are not true believers, those who are
false and he tells us quite clearly that the light of the wicked
shall be put out and he tells us Well, a number of things as
we read it together, I won't go through it all, but just one
or two points. He says, the steps of his strength shall be straightened
and his own counsel shall cast him down. See, people will sometimes
make big mistakes in their understanding of the truth of God and by their
own counsel shall cast them down. For he is cast into a net by
his own feet and he walketh upon a snare. And as we come down
towards the end of this chapter, he shall be driven from light
into darkness and chased out of the world. Just ponder that,
to think about it. You see there, people might think
they're walking in a light. But what is it? It's their own
light. It's not a light which God has given. It's a false light
and it will go out. Remember that occasion And the
Lord Jesus spoke on the earth about those ten women, those
ten virgins. They all had lamps and they all
dozed off and went to sleep and there was that call made at midnight,
Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. And there
were five of those women, those virgins, who were classified
as foolish. Why were they classified as foolish?
Because their light had gone out. Why had it gone out? They
hadn't got any oil in their lamps. What were they doing? They surrounded
themselves with sparks of their own kindling. And you see then,
they had to go and find and buy some oil. And when they came
back, they found that all those had gone in, those five women
who'd had oil, they went in to the marriage supper of the Lamb
and the door was shut and they were shut out and they were shut
out eternally. That's a very, very solemn picture,
isn't it? And here we have a very similar
scene here as we read this account. He shall be driven from light
into darkness and chased out of the world. And then we read
shortly such are the dwellings of the wicked. And this is the
place of him that knoweth not God." Now that's the real difference. It's not knowing God. And how
important it is for you and me to know God. And that's to know
God as our Lord and our Master and our Saviour. Behold. Again, remember when the Word
of God speaks to us in this way. Behold, it's something we need
to notice. Not something to pass over and
think, It doesn't apply to me. Many people have thought they're
real Christians when in fact they're not. And they've woken
up, the day of their death, in hell itself. They thought they
were Christians. They thought they had religion.
They did have religion, but it was their religion. It wasn't
God-given religion. It was that which they drummed
up. It's that which they produced. And behold, therefore, says Isaiah,
Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, encompass yourselves about with
sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks
that ye have kindled, this shall ye have in mine hand, ye shall
lie down in sorrow. You see, what a sad end. What
a sad end to all those who possess a false religion. And the Bible
does intimate to us throughout the pages the truth of real religion
and the truth of false religion. And we should bless God that
we have the Bible to describe the two situations. Well, we've
perhaps gone on on this negative side, but now let's come to the
positive side, which again is rather a strange thought, as
Isaiah spells it out in this 10th verse, where he tells us,
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." Well, this of course does not
describe the permanent life of a true Christian. But it does
describe a scene which comes into the lives of a true Christian
from time to time. It is that which therefore tests
the reality of a true person's religion. There will be those
times of darkness, and the Word of God does tell us, in fact,
the days of darkness shall be many, and we may be surprised
at that. But the truth is that as the
Lord brings us into these times of darkness, We won't want to
stay there. We want to come out of the darkness. We want to come into the light. And we should be encouraged therefore
that God in his infinite love and mercy has recorded such a
statement as this. Now first of all it addresses
those that fear the Lord. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? That's a test for the reality
of our religion. Fearing the Lord. I believe it
means this, that we will desire to do that which is right in
God's sight. And we will fear to offend Him. We will fear to do that which
is wrong. We will be truly sorry when we
do depart and we do fall, which we will. And we will sin, and
we shall be sorry for that, and it will be the evidence in our
hearts that we are among those that fear the Lord. Now, in Proverbs we read this,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And that means true
wisdom, that means God-given wisdom, that means spiritual
wisdom. And as you and I have this fear
given to us By the Spirit of God, the fear of the Lord, remember,
is the beginning. That's how we start. We don't
want to offend God. And when I say that, I mean this. When we sin, we offend God. And therefore, the real effect
of this fear of the Lord is that when we sin, we will wish we
had not sinned, we would be sorry for our sin, we would desire
to repent of our sin. The evidence of the fear of God
is to be sorry for sin. And what does that show to us? It shows us this, that the first
thing that the Spirit of God will declare to us is that we
are not righteous, we are unrighteous and that we are a sinner. It's
clear, isn't it? It must be that way. And so therefore,
to know the fear of the Lord, the fear of the Lord directs
us to show us our true condition, not a condition where we're producing
these sparks to justify ourselves, but the very opposite. We're
standing before a holy God and we realise that we are indeed
a sinner. Now, this fear of the Lord, this
fear of bringing about that realisation in our hearts, you might think,
well, what will that produce? What will that do? Well, again,
it's interesting that the Apostle Paul, who knew the picture and
knew the situation very well, and he describes the outcome
of this fear of the Lord. And it may be in a different
way to what we expect. When he wrote to the Corinthians,
He tells us this, for in this, that means in this body, his
earthly body, we groan. We groan. Why do we groan? Well, we groan
because the Spirit of God has shown to us that we have sinned
against God, we have offended God, and because of that, there's
a separation. God is holy, and we are unholy. And the fear of God, that beginning
of wisdom, produces in our heart then this aspect that we groan. Again, perhaps that's something
we hadn't really thought about, hadn't really realised. And yet,
true it is. The beginning of wisdom, the
fear of the Lord is this groaning. The Apostle in this 2nd Corinthians
in the 5th chapter, he just, I'll read one or two verses.
For we know, and it's good to know that the Apostle did know,
and he did know, and it's good that we know, that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, that means our natural
body, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens, See, the Apostle directs us immediately
to heavenly and eternal realities. And that really is where we want
to be found, considering the reality of these things. For
in this, he says, we groan, and then he moves on, earnestly desiring
to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. And again,
there will be a change in our lives. a change from being only
concerned about our natural life, the materialism of things in
this world, just achieving benefits for our natural body and respect
from people. This will be the aspect that
naturally we all go after. We want to be thought well of
people. That's what these sparks of unkindling produces, just
desires that people think well of them. And here we have the
opposite though, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house
which is from heaven." This is looking forward to the eternal
glory of being found with Jesus. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. We don't have anything to cover
ourselves with. All we have is sin. We have nothing
ourselves. And that's a hard lesson to learn.
Again, it's the fear of the Lord. which tells us that all we have
is our sin to cover us, and that won't do us any good at all.
We need to be clothed with something else. We need to have our sins
taken away, and we need to be clothed with something else.
And that can only be the clothing that is given to us, being clothed. And what does God give to His
people? He gives to them a robe of righteousness. So he goes
on, for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for
the self same thing as God also hath given unto us the earnest
of the spirit. And the earnest of the spirit
is the fear of the Lord. So here we have this statement.
Who is among you that feareth the Lord? Well, that's the first
evidence that we have of being amongst those who are born again
of the Spirit of God. Born again of the Spirit of God.
That means that we become a new creature. And if we become a
new creature, we're told all things are passed away. Behold,
all things become new. And the truth is that when the
Spirit of God produces this fear of the Lord in our hearts, there
is a complete and wonderful change and we see things in a different
view. Instead of concentrating on the
things of this world, we now have a new nature, a God-given
nature, a life within which is seeking after the things of God,
which is concerned about Where we should spend eternity? You know, I believe one of the
first things when the Spirit of God comes and grants us this
fear of the Lord and we realise we're a sinner and we're concerned
about our eternal state, where should I spend eternity? Real religion is always personal. Where should I spend eternity?
Who is among you that feareth the Lord? wasn't everybody. The question was put, who is
among you? Who is among you? I could ask
the question this morning, couldn't I? To all of us here this morning.
Who is among you? Who is among us here this morning
that fears the Lord? Well, it would be wonderful if
every one of you could put your hand up and say, yes, I do fear
the Lord. I do have the evidence of the
work of God in my soul. Bless God for it. But be honest
before God. Be honest, my friends, and don't
just rest in what you think you've got. Spark to your own kindling.
Who is among you that feareth the Lord? Now, the outcome, the
evidence of this fear is proved. It's not something which is just
random, which is just negative. We read this, that obeyeth the
voice of his servant. Well, his servant is none less
than the Lord God himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who that obeyeth
the voice of his servant. So not only is there the one
proof, the one evidence that we fear the Lord, there's a second
evidence that we obey the voice of his servant. Well of course
the question arises, have we heard the voice of Jesus. Have we heard the voice of Jesus?
Has Jesus spoken to us? Has he spoken to our hearts?
Has he spoken to our souls? It's an important consideration,
isn't it? You see, God does speak. He speaks to our heart and he
speaks that which is needful for us. It doesn't speak the
same words to everybody. It speaks different words, but
there is the words that the Lord speaks to our hearts that obeyeth
the voice of his servant. You know, the voice of the Lord
Jesus to Nicodemus was very clear, wasn't it? He spoke to him and
he told him this word, be born again. Well, Nicodemus
wasn't too sure what that meant. And sometimes you and I may not
be too sure what a word means when the Lord speaks to us. And
he couldn't actually understand how he could be born again. But
the Lord spelt it out to him. The Lord gave him a right understanding
of what it was to be born again of the Spirit of God. And so, we must remember here
that the Lord does speak to our hearts. He speaks, as it were,
silently. It's not a voice that everybody
else hears. You know, on that Damascus road,
when the Apostle Paul was struck down, he was with other people.
They didn't hear the voice. But the Apostle Paul heard the
voice, and it spoke to his heart. And that voice was Why persecutest
thou me?" Yes, Paul had been a persecutor. He'd been speaking
against the Lord Jesus, and you and I may have been. You may
have been speaking against the Lord Jesus, and you may say,
well, I don't think I have. Well, let's be careful. You may
have been in a group of people, and a group of people may have
been speaking disparagingly or mocking Jesus. You've kept quiet. You've held your voice. You haven't
said anything. You haven't spoken out. What do you see in that
situation? You being one who persecutes
the law of Jesus, just like Paul. I think we'll find that we can't
hide under anything. We'll find that we are guilty
before our Holy God that obeyeth the voice of his servant. Now
that if we've heard his voice. And the voice is sometimes spoken
through reading the Word of God. You and I read the Word of God
and you read a verse in the Bible and it may speak to our hearts.
And it's God speaking to us. And bless God if he speaks to
us through his Word. And we think, yes, that applies
to me. That condemns me. Well, that
encourages me. Well, that gives me a hope in
the mercy of God. And that voice is speaking to
me. That obeyeth the voice of his
servant. Again, this word obeyeth is important. I suppose naturally we don't
like the word obey, do we? Because what it means is we have
to submit to rules. We have to submit to the truth. Or we have to submit, perhaps,
to other people. There may be those rules which
are laid down, and to obey them, we may not always like obeying
them. Well, it may be so, truly, in the things of God, you know.
When the Lord lays down and speaks those things to us, we may not
be willing to obey His Word. It's a very solemn thought, isn't
it? Because here it's given as a
qualification that obey the voice of his servant. And we may not
be obeying the voice of his servant. And it's not easy. It's not easy
at all to obey the voice of the Lord. No, I'll tell you this. You and
I will need God's help to obey His voice. But let's understand this. The
Lord does help us. The Lord does encourage us. We've read together this morning
in the same chapter, for the Lord will help me. You may say, well I don't think
I can ever do that. I can't really obey God in that matter. Remember
the word of God here, for the Lord God will help me. Have you a hope in God's mercy?
Have you a belief that you fear God? Then surely this word is
true. You can't get away from it, can
you? You can't get away from it. And it would be a wonderful
thing if you can bless God For a word like this, as you rest
your all upon the help of God, and you can claim His promises,
for the Lord God will help me, that obeyeth the voice of His
servant. Well, there is then this wonderful
blessing of obeying the Lord. And my friends, I can tell you,
there's no better path than obeying God's Word. There's no better
path. You and I may not want to, you
may fear. I can tell you this, those that honour me I will honour.
And it's a path of peace. It's a path of wonderful favour
to be found obeying the Lord. So here we have this truth. Who is among you that fears the
Lord, that obeys the voice of his servant? Then he comes on
to this statement here, that walketh in darkness and hath
no light. Well, that's a strange statement.
Is that true? Here I am, fearing God. Here I am, obeying His voice. And what's the result? I expected
to walk in wonderful light all the way to heaven. I expected
my path to be lovely and smooth, with no difficulties, with no
trials and no temptations. And here I am in this state,
walking in darkness. and I haven't got any light. Well, believe me, this is the
truth of God's Word and this is what we should come to expect
in our life. And what does it do? The result
is, it purifies our faith. Because in these times of darkness,
You will lay hold upon the truth of God's Word. You will come to God and you
will claim the promises that are in God's Word. You will claim
that which God has spoken. And religion then won't be sparks
of your producing. It will be the Word which God
has given you. Word of God which is recorded
in His Word, and you will need that, and you will come in these
times of darkness, and that's when the Word of God will be
precious and will be real, and it won't just be a book of fairy
tales, it won't just be a book of no consequence, it'll be the
Word of God, and you, my friends, in that time of darkness, you
may not feel very much like reading the Bible, But as the Word of
God, as the Spirit of God rather comes to you, perhaps just open
a Bible, perhaps just read a verse. And the verse encourages you
to press on, to press on. And my friends, as you and I
press on, how do we press on? In our own strength, in our own
sparts? No. It's that which is the strength
which God has given us. Those lovely words that Paul
tells us, I can do all things through Christ that strengthens
me. There is a secret, not in yourself, it's in God. Why is
that so important? It's so important because if
it's God's work, it brings honour and glory to His name and it
doesn't bring honour and glory to your name. And therefore if
you've been brought out of darkness, you'll know it's the work of
the Spirit of God and it's not your work and it's not your sparks. is that which God has done. Who
is among you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of
his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? So what are you to do? To sit
down? To give up? To do nothing at
all? No, not a bit of it. Here is
the word of encouragement. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord, and stay upon his guard. That's what we're to do, my friends.
Even in darkness, even if there's no light, even if we can't see
the way, we're to trust in the Lord. The Word of God tells us,
trust in the Lord at all times. At all times, ye people, pour
out your heart unto me. Pour your heart out to God. Pray
to God. Cry out to Him. Tell Him all
about it. Tell Him you're in this time
of darkness. Tell him you need deliverance. Tell him you need
to come and to bless you and to encourage you. Trust in the
name of the Lord. There's a sure foundation. There's
a certain place of deliverance. It's because in that state, if
you're trusting in God, God will not turn you away. God will not
turn His back upon you. You may have to wait a little
bit. You may not come to your timescale in accordance with
your timetable. The Lord will come. I will see
you again and your heart shall rejoice. It is the truth of God's
word. And so may you be encouraged
to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his guard. Keep
on. Keep on praying hard as it may
seem. Prayer may seem very hard sometimes. It's not always easy.
When you're in darkness and you can't see your way, just pray
to God, but you don't have to produce a fancy prayer. You don't
have to produce a prayer to impress God. God's not impressed by your
prayers, He's impressed by the prayers that He gives to you.
And some of the most beautiful prayers are so simple. That prayer
of that woman, three words, Lord, help me. Well, that's a real
prayer. But it's a true prayer, and it's
a God-given prayer, and it's a God-indicted prayer. And as
you may be in this situation, trusting in the name of the Lord,
and staying upon Him, just perhaps being able to come and say, Lord,
help me. Lord, direct me. Lord, deliver
me. Lord, instruct me. It may be
just like this, Lord, bless me. That prayer of Job is, O that
thou wouldest bless me indeed. and in darkness you may feel
a desperate need for the light to shine, and the light only
shines as it shines through the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, this will be a time
of blessing when the Spirit of God directs you to the need you
have of a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God, my
friends, will come and direct us in that right way and show
us the blessing there is to be found in Him. When we are in
Christ, we're eternally blessed, we're eternally safe. And to
know then, by the work of the Spirit of God, that we are born
again in His Spirit and that Lord Jesus Christ has died, that
we might live die that we might be blessed with that new birth,
die that we might one day go to be with Him in glory forever
and forever. And so here we have then these
two pictures really, these two verses of that which is true
religion, which we may not always understand as true religion,
yet spelled out here very clearly, and then that which is false
religion, which is just of our own making. In conclusion let
me just say this, the evidence of the work of God in our heart
is this, that that which you and I possess
is something that we could not have done for ourselves, but
it's that which God has done. And if God has done something
for you and me, we can bless God for it and believe that our
souls are eternally safe. Amen.