Holy, holy, holy. Though the darkness hide thee, Though the eye of sinful man
by glory may not see." Reginald Heber was the author of that
hymn. I believe he knows something
about the God that hides himself. That is our subject. Look at
verse 15 of Isaiah 45. This really struck me, this one
verse. Thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour, a God that hidest thyself. This really struck me as I was
reading this. So true, so true. I know it from
experience. All of God's saints know something
about this, and it's troubling. It can be troubling. Job said
it. The oldest book in the Bible,
Job said, Wherefore hidest thou thy face from me? David said
it many times. He said, How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? He prayed, ìHide not thy face
from me.î But Isaiah said heís a God that
hideth himself. ìIf he revealeth himself, youíll
have peace, life, joy. If he hideth himself, youíll
be troubled.î If He makes His face to shine
upon you, that's the blessing that the Lord told Moses to bless
the people with. May the Lord make His face to
shine upon you. If He makes His face to shine
upon you, you will be enlightened. You'll lighten your darkness.
You'll be lightened. of your burden. But if He lifts
up His countenance upon you, He'll lift the burden off of
you. But if He hides His face, you'll be troubled. David in another place said,
He said, Hide not thy face from
me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. I'll
go down in a pit. You dug me out of a pit, and
if you hide your face from me, I'll go right back in it. Anybody
know what that means? A God that hides Himself. God
is hidden in His essence, or that is, God is Spirit. We're
flesh. That which is flesh is flesh.
We only believe what we see, don't we? That's flesh. God is
spirit. He's hidden from the natural
eye. God is spirit. No man hath seen,
nor can see. Our Lord said that. We just read
it in John 6. He said, No man hath seen the
Father, but me. Christ said. He hides himself, his essence,
his spirit, his mind, his will, his purpose is hidden from man. He giveth not an account of his
matters to anyone. His thoughts, his ways, we don't
know God by nature unless he reveals himself. 1 Corinthians 2 says this very
thing. What man knoweth the things of
man save the spirit of that man? That is, you don't know what
I'm thinking unless I tell you. You won't know me unless I reveal
myself to you. How much more God? Even so, the
things of God knoweth no man save the spirit of God revealeth. He said the natural man receiveth
not the things of God. They're foolishness to him. Man
doesn't believe what he can't see. But God hath, he said in that same
chapter, I have not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath
entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared
for them that love him. But, he said, God hath revealed
them unto us. His people is chosen by His Spirit. His mind, his will, his purpose
is hidden, is unknown to man. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways. He says this all through Isaiah.
He said, to whom will you liken me? Compare me. And men do that,
don't they? They compare him foolishly, blasphemously
compare God to men, to things. And I will not even repeat some
of the things that they say that God is like. It makes me angry
and sad at the same time, doesn't it? See, men wouldn't say those
things if they knew God. But they're blind to who God
is. He hides Himself. He's hidden these things from
the wise and the prudent and reveals them to whom He wills. His person, His personality. What is God like? What is God
like? Is He love? Is He hatred? Is
He angry? Is He pleased? With what is He
pleased? With what is He angry? Is He
merciful? We won't know. We don't know. Unless He reveals Himself. He
hides Himself. Why does He hide Himself? Why
does God hide Himself? Look at Psalm 14 with me. Psalm 14. Hold Isaiah. We're
going to come back to that in a minute. Psalm 14. Why does
He hide Himself? You know, man says things like
this. Here's what man says. If God
would only speak to us, we believe Him. He has. Doesn't the Scripture say that?
God has spoken once, yea, twice, but man perceiveth it not. God
used to speak out. God at sundry time in a diver's
manner spake to the father, to the prophets, and spake to the
fathers through them. Hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son. God spoke from heaven, didn't
he, when Christ was here. But men perceived it not. Some
said it thundered. But Paul heard. Saul of Tarsus
heard when he spoke. The disciples heard. They heard
what God said. What did He say? God spoke out
loud once or twice in the New Testament. Same thing. This is
my beloved Son. Men perceived it not. We devoted
a whole message one time Answering the question, why doesn't God
speak out loud? You remember that? It gave many
reasons. Why doesn't God speak out loud?
Men say, if God would only speak, we'd believe Him. No, He wouldn't.
He did speak. No man spake like that. Christ
came. Jesus Christ is God. He was hidden. He hid Himself in flesh. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Immanuel, God with us. God came
down robed in flesh. He hid himself. And he spoke. No man is fake like this man.
Grace poured from his lips. Sovereignty poured from his lips.
Power poured from his lips. He spoke and it was done. Like
the same God who created everything. He said, let there be life. That
God walked this earth. And everything he spoke happened. Blind saw, deaf heard, the dead
were raised. Things were created, weren't
they? God came here. They didn't believe Him. And
they'd say things, if He'd just speak, we'd believe. No, He wouldn't.
No, He wouldn't. God would just show Himself.
If God would just come down, He did. He did. And even his enemies were forced
to say, no man can do the things that you do, except God be with
you. But God hides himself. Look at
Psalm 14. The fool hath said in his heart,
there is no God. No God. Absolute, sovereign,
creator, ruler, controller of all things. Most people say that,
don't they? They're fools. They are corrupt. This describes them. They're
corrupt. They've done abominable works.
They're none that doeth good. You see, it's a good thing to
give praise unto the Lord, Psalm 92 says, to give thanks unto
the Lord. They won't do that. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. You see, the natural sons of
men, sons of Adam, there's none that doeth good. His sons, whom
He made sons. You understand there's a difference.
But He looked down on the sons of men, children of men, verse
2, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God. Any. He said there's none. They're all gone aside. They're
all together become filthy. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity,
no knowledge. I'll remind you, our Lord spoke
of religious people as workers of iniquity. All these that said,
we've preached in your name, we've prophesied in your name,
we've cast out devils in the name of Jesus, we've done many
wonderful works in your name. He said you're workers of iniquity. These are the ones that say these
things about God to men and women that are completely the opposite
of God. God wants to. God tried. God's trying to tell
me. God hides himself from natural,
sinful, rebellious man because of his sin. God hides himself
from man. Listen to this, Isaiah 64. If
you want to turn, you can turn, but I'm going to turn fast and
read these things for you. In Isaiah 64, the Lord said this. He said, We are all as an unclean
thing. All our righteousness is our
filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf. Our
iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away, and there is none
that calleth upon thy name. None that stirreth up himself
to take hold of thee, for thou hast hid thy face from us, and
consumed us because of our iniquity." What I'm trying to say here,
why God hides himself is because man's a sinner and a rebel against
God, and so God's not going to speak to him. God's not going
to show himself to him. Why should he? Why should he? Psalm 19 says
this, the heavens declare his glory, the firmament showeth
his handiwork, day unto day others' speech, night unto night knowledge.
There's no language or voice where that voice is not heard. Romans 1 says he's eternal power
and God is clearly seen, they're without excuse, but when they
knew Or then when they knew these, see these things, they didn't
glorify God as God, but became vain in their imagination, and
their foolish heart was darkened, so it says God gave them over. I'm not going to speak to you. Darken their minds, darken their
hearts, darken their understanding, and no darkness like religious
darkness. When the light that is in thee
be darkness, oh, how great is that darkness, our Lord said. God hides himself. Why should God speak? David said
this, what is man that he would even think of him? Or the Son
of Man that he would visit him? Why should he? I turn real quick to Isaiah 59
and look at this. Isaiah 59, this whole chapter
is wonderful. Isaiah 59 says in verse 2, you
have it? Isaiah 59, your iniquities have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His
face from you that He will not hear. Don't preachers everywhere say
that they make God almost obligated to hear us? Huh? Look at verse 4. None that calleth
for justice, nor any pleading for truth, they trust in vanity,
and speak lies, they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity,
and God hides himself. Well, let me answer the question
here. Why should God speak? Why should He show Himself? And
He does. He does reveal Himself. He does
speak to some people. Oh, yes he does. And he shows himself, like we
saw this morning. Our Lord said, he that seeth
the Son believeth on him. God does reveal himself. God
does reveal Christ. Christ is God. What God am I
talking about? Who am I talking about as God
that hides himself? Jesus Christ. He's God. That's who we're talking about.
Did you read in Isaiah 45 there where it says, I've sworn every
knee shall bow to me? Who's he talking about? Didn't
Paul write in Philippians 2, at the name of Jesus, every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord and he's God.
Thomas one day finally realized who he was and he hid his knees
and he said, my Lord and my God, my God and my Savior, God. He was hidden. And I'll tell you why he does
reveal himself, and why he does speak to some. Because he's God. He's not man. If you didn't believe me, if
you rejected me, if you said I'm not going to have him, if
you despised me, I'd say, well forget you. Wouldn't you? But this is God's glory. He said
that in Hosea, I'm God, not a man. He said he looked down to see
if there were any. Any! And every one of us were like
that. Me! There was a time I didn't
give God a thought. In fact, I vehemently denied
this truth. I've got to say it, Robin. But
God! He said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts, My ways are not your ways. I am merciful. As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so is My mercy toward
them that fear Me. My love greater loveth. God is
rich in mercy for His great love wherewith He loves us. Who? His
chosen people. Comes to them through the gospel
of Christ and reveals Himself. They'll all be taught of God.
Who's God? Christ is God. God is God. And
we're not. Because God is love. Yes, God
hates. He does hate. Scripture says
many times to people that He hates. But God is love. And His love is found in one
place. Romans 8, 39. The love of God
is in Jesus Christ. Like that ark. The wrath of God. God destroys those that He hates.
God saves those that He loves. If you've come to Christ and
you're in Christ, you're found in Christ, smile. God loves you. God is love. And He is love,
so He must show that love. And He does. Those whom He chose
to love, they're going to find out. God loved them with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
You're wrong. He won't come unless He does.
Why does He reveal Himself? Because He's God. Because He's
merciful. God is merciful. That's His character. That's His person. That He's merciful on whom He
will show mercy. He's gracious to whom He will.
How do we know God is love? How do we know God is merciful?
How do we know God is these things? Calvary. Christ and Him crucified. That's where all the character
of God is seen. That's where all the personality
of God is seen. God is holy. God will by no means
clear the guilty. God hates sin. And God will send
to hell a sinner unless unless they're found in Christ. But God hath made Him to be sin
for us, His people, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Substitution. A God who hides
Himself. Look at Isaiah 43. Go to Isaiah
43. I'm going to shorten this. Kills me. Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. Look at this. Here's the God that hides himself.
The God who must show himself to his people. Isaiah 43, verse
1. But now, thus saith the Lord
that created the old Jacob. talking about his people, his
elect. Jacob have I loved, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy
name. Thou art mine. You like that? If you're a son of Jacob, you
do. Verse 6, I will say. You see this? He does all things
according to his will. I will say to the north, give
up. And to the south, keep not back, bring my sons from far. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Bring them, my daughters from
the ends of the earth. Everyone that is called by my
name, for I have created him for my glory. I have formed him. Yea, I have made him. Bring forth
the people that have blind eyes and deaf ears. I'm going to open
them. by the Gospel, by the Word. Look at verse 10. You are my
witnesses. He's speaking to his chosen,
his elect. Jacob, whom he loved, saith the
Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and
believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was
no God-born, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the
Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared and
have saved, and have showed, there is no strange God among
you, and therefore you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that
I am God. Read on. Yea, before the day
was, I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who shall make
it? He makes himself known. God who's hidden. How could men
say the things about God that they do? He's hidden. How could
men and women read what we read there? How could they read these
things and not see clearly? He's God. He's not going to want
to be God. He's not God if you let Him be God. He is God. How
could they read that much? They're blind. He says, in great
mercy and grace, he left it low. He said, bring them, bring my
people that have blind eyes. I'm going to open their blind
eyes. I'm going to open their deaf ears. They're going to hear
what they've never heard before. What? That I am God. And I've chosen them. I've been
hidden. I've revealed myself. They're
going to hear from Me. They're going to see Me, the
unseen God. They're going to see, and once
He opens their eyes and opens their ears, they see God in everything. They see His hand in everything. Everything declares His glory.
Psalm 19 talks about the heavens being a tabernacle for the sun,
who's a bridegroom that comes to run a race. What's that? Christ! It's all Him. He reveals Himself. Where am I?
Go back to Isaiah 45. Go back to our text. Oh, my. He reveals Himself to His people.
He reveals His sovereign power. He's sovereign to His glory. Isaiah 45. Don't you love this?
Don't you love it? Didn't you love it when Brother
Wesley was reading this? Oh, my. Look at verse 5. I am the Lord, there is none
else. There is no God beside me. Satan's not God. Man's not
God. God's God. Aren't you glad? Aren't
you glad that God reigns? Read on. I girded thee, though
thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west. There's none beside me. I am
the Lord, there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. The same
God who said, let there be light, and there was light, must say,
must lighten your dark heart and your understanding. And best
God does to His people, to some people, His children. God who
caused the light. John, I can't hardly preach the
gospel without quoting that verse, Tim. God, who caused the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, His sovereign
power, His sovereign glory, the praise of the glory of His mercy
and His grace and His love in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God came down here hidden from man, hidden from the natural
man, robed in human flesh, But God's people see Him for who
He is. He's peeled back His veil of
flesh, and we've seen His glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. The God who hid Himself, who
hides Himself from man, came to us to reveal Himself. And the same God that sent to
us is the same God who walked this earth, who said, I am that
I am. Even the disciples, you know,
they were bound by flesh. You remember Philip said, he's
leaving. And Philip said, show us the
Father. Just show us the Father. Just give us a glimpse of God.
Our Lord said, Philip, have I been so long time with
you and you haven't known me? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. I am the Father of one. That's what Isaiah wrote. Call
His name. Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, Emmanuel, God with us. The man doesn't see Him. He's
hidden. I see Him. I see Him. Oh, bless God. Look at verse 7. I form the light
and create darkness. All the Lord has to do to create
darkness is remove the light. He said in verse 7, I make peace. Oh, the Lord makes peace. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to make peace by the blood of His cross
for His people. He's the only one that can. I
make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things.
Evil? Evil? You read it with me. Deuteronomy 32, 39 says, See
now that I, even I, am He. I kill, I make a life, I wound,
I heal, I the Lord do all these things. If I wet my glittering
sword, that's the God of the Bible who will do what He will. He does all things after the
counsel of His will. He said, I kill, I make a life, I wound,
I heal, I create peace, I make evil. Evil? Now, God is not the author of
sin. God's holy. God cannot be tempted
with sin or tempted with sin. God is not the author of sin.
But sin wouldn't be here if God hadn't, in His will and purpose,
allowed it to happen. Right? It wouldn't happen. Whatever evil, whatever evil
it may be, It's according to God's will and purpose, and He
has absolute control over it. And it's working His will and
His purpose. Proverbs 16, verse 4 says, The
Lord hath made all things for Himself, even the wicked, for
the day of evil. Remember when He chose twelve?
He said, I've chosen you, and one of you is a devil. He chose
him. He was the son of perdition.
This is the God of the Bible. We know that, don't we? We don't
fully understand, but we know. We know. But I love what one
of the old writers wrote, Brother Thomas Watson, a great old English
preacher and a brilliant, brilliant man. No one today could possibly,
none of these, nobody could stand before wisdom of men like that.
Nor the men today, nor God's preachers today. Can't do it.
But Thomas Watson said this, listen carefully. He said, God
hath a hand in the action where the sin is. But no hand in the
sin of the action. God had the hand in the action
where the sin is. That is, God purposed everything.
Even whatever sin and evil and so on goes forth. But no hand
in the sin of the action. As we saw, all God has to do
for man to do all manner of evil is take his hand off it. That's
you and me. I love the story of an old woman,
a believer at one time, that was always known, like Daniel,
to pray. It's supposed to be a true story. She was always
known to pray, and when the windows opened, those screens in the
windows, she'd pray like Daniel. They knew she did, and some rowdy,
some ruffians wanted to play a trick on her. They knew she
prayed, and they heard that old woman praying one day in her
kitchen window, saying, Lord, give me this day some food, some
bread. She was very poor. So they went
and got something, some food. And before she was done praying,
they put that up on that windowsill, put a loaf of bread or something,
and then hid. And that woman quit praying,
and she looked up, She said, Thank you, Lord. Thank
you, Lord, for sending the food. Thank you for answering my prayer
for sending the food. And those two ruffian boys popped
up and said, old woman, silly old woman, the Lord didn't send
that. We did. And she said, well, the devil
may have brought it, but God sent it. That's the facts. The wrath of
man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain."
It's all according to this verse. He worked it all the time. And
here's the good news, people, for you, people that know God.
No evil shall befall you. It shall not come nigh of thee.
Why? Listen to me. If you've never
heard Romans 8.28, listen to it now. But we know That all
things work together for what? Good! To them that love God. Why do they love Him? Because
He first loved them. To them that love God who are
the called according to what? His purpose. His purpose and
grace which was given us, 2 Timothy 1, 9, in Christ before the world
began. And sometimes I love preaching
the Gospel. I thought before this, I thought, after that first
message, I thought, I'd sure like to go home. I'd like to
just go home. Let's just go home. We've heard
it, and this is too good. He's God, our Savior, to His
people. He hides Himself from most people,
but reveals Himself to His people. Let me close with this. But,
you know, sometimes He hides Himself from us, doesn't He? That's how I began this. Job
said, wherefore hidest thou that face from me? And David said it over and over
and over through the psalm, doesn't he? Psalm 13, oh, hide not thy
face from me. He said, I go down into the pit. Oh, Lord. Why does God sometimes,
do you not feel it that sometimes you pray and heavens are brass? You think, His people that trust
Him, that believe Him, they say, is His mercy claim gone? Has
He cast me out? Has He cast me off? Will he be
angry forever? You feel his anger. You feel
his displeasure, don't you? Why? You know why. You know why, don't you? The
same reason he hides himself from the rest of the world. Sin.
You know, we're supposed to be his
people. And he says this over and over again to the Jews, to
Jacob, the sons of Jacob. In history he says, you've forgotten
me. Times without number. You're going to whore him, he
says. That's idolatry. Going after things. And don't
give me a thought. He hides himself. And you'll
be worried if you want to hear this. And he ought to, shouldn't
he? He ought to. He ought to make
us feel his displeasure. Like a father chasing his son.
He ought to. Our sins separate us sometimes.
Make us feel His displeasure, and we should. Look at Isaiah 54 in closing.
You know, right after Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, the gospel of
Isaiah, the cross of Christ. And you know what Isaiah 53 says? It says, He's despised and rejected
of men. Who? Me. A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from
Him. Now Isaiah 54, this is wonderful,
verse 7. He says, For a small moment have
I forsaken thee. We need to feel forsaken of Him.
We forsake Him time without end. Like an unfaithful wife. Like a rebellious child. We need
to feel that way to Him. Like a prodigal son. We need
to think, oh, I don't know if I'm His child or not. Here's what I'm going to do.
It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. Here's
what I'm going to do. I'm going to call on Him again.
I'm going to go back. I'm going to seek his face again.
In a little rap, verse 8, he said, I hid my face from thee
for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will
have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. Oh, my. A God who hides himself. I said, Lord, I'd knock that
face from me. I hope and pray that somebody
in here, the Lord will lighten their darkness, lighten their
eyes, their understanding, and reveal Himself to them. And those
God's people who we all sin against, We all feel his displeasure.
We all feel like he's kidding himself. No? Well, yes, but return unto the
Lord and He'll have mercy on you. He'll abundantly pardon
you and save the Lord. Okay, let's sing in closing number
ten. Oh God, our help in ages past. Number ten. Sauce stand, number 10.