If you wish to follow along,
turn to the prophet Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50. I have just two verses to read
this morning as a text. Isaiah chapter 50. Follow along. as we read the last two verses
of that chapter, Isaiah chapter 50, beginning in verse 10. Who
is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant? Automatically it starts out on
a positive note, does it not? But look, look at this amazing,
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 compares yourselves about
with sparks. Walk in the light of your fire.
And that's the way you ought to say that. Walk in the light
of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall
ye have of my hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow. What a tremendous passage. Just
what we have is two short verses Two or three short sentences. And yet, what tremendous warning
we are given here, but even more than that, what tremendous encouragement
we are given here. Given to all who fear God and
obey God's servant. And who is that? That is none
other than Jesus Christ the Lord. Isaiah's already spoke of this
servant preceding. Great encouragement. Great encouragement,
especially, especially in our darkest times. Our darkest times. The subject
of my title this morning is this. Trust God's name and stay upon
Him. Consider this. And we just kind
of squash this bug right off the beginning. It's a bug that's
out there that's infested almost all of professed Christianity.
That somehow this passage here that Isaiah is talking about
is about an unregenerate person that truly is worshiping God,
but doesn't have any gospel light yet. That is just not so. I'm
not here to argue this, let me put it this way. All the worship
of the unregenerate is idolatry. A man or a woman who is unregenerate,
any worship they set forth is idolatry. And not only is it
idolatry, it is antichrist when it names his name, but does not
worship him in his true character. Antichrist is this. A lot of
people talk looking for a single person. John said Antichrist's
already in the world. That was 2,000 years ago. He
didn't say the spirit. That's interpolated. The message
of Antichrist has been there even then. Here is that message. The message of Antichrist is
they will use the name of Christ, but they actually worship man's
will, man's works, and man's worth. That's Antichrist. Now there are those who deny
Christ altogether. They are not specifically those
spoken of as antichrist. Antichrist is that which sets
himself up in the temple of God. And remember who's talking there.
Paul is talking, and if you look at Paul's writings, every time
he uses the word temple, what's he speaking of? Not that edifice
that used to exist, or some edifice that will exist again, but the
church of the living God. He said ye are. The what? The
temple of God. Go back and look at it sometime
for yourself. Antichrist religion. Antichrist religion is that which
uses the name of Christ but worships man. Whether it's man's will,
man's works, man's worth, or a compilation of any of those
three things, rather than worshiping Christ's will, Christ's work,
The one primary work, the work of redemption and Christ's worth. Oh, what great worth He is. Do not be deceived by false Christianity. Antichrist Christianity. I know that may be an oxymoron,
but that's actually the way this book teaches it. Antichrist Christianity. Do not be deceived by their facade. They stand in their pulpits and
they sit in their pews on Sundays and smile and worship God. Put that in quotes. And then
they murmur and bellyache and complain against the will of
God. They upcry man's will and they
put down God's will in here, in here. Ah, but the regenerate
on the other hand, the God-fearer, that's what it's talking about
here. Who is among you that feareth the Lord? And let me just say
this, feareth him in every way. In every way. Great reverence?
Yes, great reverence. But Christ also told the disciples,
you fear God that can destroy body and soul and hail. The regenerate, on the other
hand, that is the God-fearer, the believer in Christ. That's
who this is talking about right here. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? And here's where it manifests
itself, this fear of the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his
servant. Paul calls it obedience to the
faith. Obedience to the faith. Obedience
to the faith is not obedience to a certain set of doctrines,
though there are certain doctrines God's people believe. It's obedience
to who? The voice of the servant. The voice of God's servant. Though
this is true, though we fear him. We obey Him by faith and in faith. We obey Him, yet we are constantly
reminded of our inner corruption. Our inner corruption. And that
can bring a heavy darkness upon the soul. You ever been just
driving down, I've been driving down the road before listening
to a sermon and just began to feel my own inner uncleanness
so much that it puts me in despair. You ever been there? You ever
been there? Sometimes I'm constantly reminded
by my poor choices. Sometimes this darkness comes
upon us because of our poor choices. Let us never think we've risen
above making poor choices. If it wasn't for God working
in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure, we'd never
will and do his good pleasure at all. At all. So we're constantly reminded
of our inner corruption, we're constantly reminded of our poor
choices, we're constantly reminded of our weaknesses and frailties. And those things are not necessarily
held in degradation by God because even our Lord was a man of what?
Weakness. Sorrows. Acquainted with what? Grief. And yet, what did we do? We hid,
as it were, our faces from him. How bad we are. But weakness,
just weaknesses. You remember the disciples in
the garden? Go over there and pray. Christ, they're here praying. He says, you stay here and pray.
I won't go over there for a while. They fell asleep. And so do we. You know why? Because your body
gives out after a while. It just gives out after a while. And on top of that, pressing. And I could use all kinds of
words to describe pressing. I'm talking about pressing like
you'd take grapes in a wine press, squeeze the meat and juice in
the pulp and wring the juice out of those grapes. Pressing
circumstances. We experience what I'm calling
here, and I think this is what Isaiah's talking about, spiritual
melancholies. Don't we? Even when we're fearing God and
obeying the voice of his servant, yet we're walking in darkness.
I don't know what this is all about. I don't know why this,
even Joe, we know, we know all things work together for good,
but I don't know how. I don't know how. I know it is,
but I don't see how. But I know it is. That's a darkness. Oh, and of course, we're still
so religious we even make up sins to accuse ourselves of.
And we feel pretty shameful about it. Unless this book specifically
forbids something, let it go. Let it go and yet we don't we
hang on to that thing and either feel pretty good about ourselves
or just constantly down Because we think about it so much Hmm these spiritual melancholies
Isaiah describes here as darkness with no light He's not talking
about the same thing John is in 1 John 1, where the man says,
he says he walks in light, but walks in darkness, he lies and
does not the truth. He's talking about, they're talking
about two totally separate things. This ain't talking about a backslidden
Christian. This is, who is among you that
feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that
walketh in darkness and hath no light? Ever been there? If
you're not there right now, if you haven't been there, you will
be if you live long enough. Something will happen that'll
bring you into darkness. And you, even though you might,
you know it ain't a why me. You may say it, but you know
you shouldn't be thinking those thoughts. But you think, why
God? Just why? Why? God help us to
never seek our own light. Isn't that what it says right
here? When God puts you in that dark
place, don't go looking for your own light. That will do you no good at all. Well, I've got to make this better.
Ever tried that? I've tried that. I've tried to
kindle my own fire, set my own sparks, and all it does is burn
you. It burns you. As he says here,
you'll lie down. How? In sorrow. And the, and
I say the intent of the word here, God has sovereign purpose.
He didn't have just intent. But the intent of the word here
is to encourage us. One, when you find yourself,
are you a fearer of God? Do you obey the voice of a servant
yet you find yourself presently walking in darkness and having
no light? Don't try to kindle your own
fire. Bow down under God. Because as
Paul confesses, we don't even know what to pray for, because
we know we ought to pray for thy will be done, not mine. But we know what we want. We
know what we'd like to see. And John says, make your petitions
known before him. Make your petitions known. But
oh God, help us not to try to kindle our own fire. But rather,
in the midst of the darkness, You see, it's not even about
the darkness being lifted. 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, while this is going
on, do you see what he's saying? Let him trust in the name of
the Lord. And right while you're in darkness
and you got no light, stay upon his God. That, my brothers and sisters,
is a tall order. But it is, possible's not the
word, it is our experience, by the grace of God, when God Almighty
brings us low into the dust. To that place, Ellen, to where
you cannot but look up to him. You done put your face down there.
You know what I'm talking about. There's times when sometimes
I'm like, my prayers are just so practiced. I say the same
thing over and over like a blessed heathen. Every evening before
I go to bed or in the morning when I wake up or while I'm driving
to work and I find myself praying the same old rote prayer. You ever been there? Been there where
your heart just feels so cold. So cold. You can hear the word
of God and you know there's rich blessing there but it's just,
it's like it's not hitting me today. It's not hitting me today. When your mind wanders. You'll
be sitting and reading the word of God, and then in a flash,
find yourself thinking about some ungodly, frivolous thing. Ever been there? Be hearing preaching,
hearing gospel preaching, and next thing you know, you forgot
where the preacher's at, and you're sitting there thinking
in your own mind about something stupid. That's a dark place. It's kind of startling when that
happens to you. Sadly, I get startled a lot. Startled a lot. As I said, sometimes this happens
because of our poor choices. Yes, it does. But not always. Because in fact, everything we
do is fraught with some poor choice on our part. Even when
God's working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure,
remember that verse? There's not a just man upon earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. Even when God's moving us to
do what he's ordained for us to do, Mason is still shot full
of hell because I'm involved in it. If it's not for the blood
of Christ, I'd go to hell for it. God doesn't save us by working
in us both to will and to do. He works in us to will and to
do because he has saved us by Jesus Christ, his son. our poor choices, but it's not
always. What poor choice did Job make? There are none recorded,
right? As a matter of fact, God said,
he's the man that fears me. He excuses, he avoids evil. And
yet the world turned upside down for that man in a day or two,
didn't it? Lost everything, animals and
stuff, that's one thing, but servants? Sons and daughters? All of them! And in the end,
he's sitting there filled with balls, and his wife says, curse
God and die. You still attain your integrity?
You still conduct yourself like a God-fearer? That's what she's
talking about. You still conduct yourself like one that believes
in God? Why don't you just curse God and die? That's a tough place
to be in. Tough place to be in. But there's
at least, now there may be some others. And you know this, but
let me remind you of it. There's at least one reason why
this is so, why this happens. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter one. There's at least one reason why
these dark places, no light, why it happens. Look at what
Paul says, 2 Corinthians chapter one, we'll begin in verse eight
for the sake of time. For we would not, brethren, have
you to be ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. But
notice he doesn't name the trouble. I believe, now this is my take
on that, this is my take here. There's one reason why I believe
so, because we're so prone, if Paul would have told us his specific
trouble or the troubles that came, we would have said, well,
I've not been there. It don't apply to me. But no
matter what trouble you're in, this is the point. Because the
point's not the trouble itself, the point is trouble. Do you
get what I'm saying? Because we're so prone to compartmentalize
everything. Try to get it all theologically
lined out. But we have the sentence of death,
I'm sorry, verse eight. But we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. Came to you. It's almost like a lion sneaking
up on you. which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out
of measure, not out of measure for God, but out of measure for
Paul. It was out of my reach. I couldn't deal with it. I couldn't
fix this thing. You see what I'm saying? That
we were pressed, pressed out of measure, above strength, in
so much that we despaired, what a believer, an apostle despairing,
that's what he says, does he not? And we despaired even of
life. But Paul, don't you know your
life's in God's hands? Yes, but it still doesn't make
it any less real, does it? Even of life, but look, but we
had the sentence of death in ourselves that, now we're gonna
see one reason at least, why? Why does this trouble like this
come? to such degree, pressing above
strength, in so much that you may be in despair of life, that
we should not trust in ourselves. Don't kindle your own fire. That
we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the
dead. Mason, he raised me out of spiritual
death. And I experienced that. Now we
don't look back to a time or a day, but we do look back to
what God Almighty did when he laid hold of us and brought us
out of that horrid pit. You remember that day? Remember
that time, that season? You remember what I'm saying?
When all of a sudden, maybe even then, if you can recollect by
God's Spirit and you look back and you realize this, somebody
says, well, what about Jesus Christ? And you fail for words
to truly be able to describe him. But you know this, one time
I was blind. Bless God, now I see. I see. You remember that blind man?
He didn't see everything clearly right at first, did he? He said,
I see men walking in trees. Walking in trees. Here's why this trouble comes,
no matter what it is. but that that we should not trust
in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered
us, that's what I was just talking about, from so great a death,
and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us. And know this, our actions toward
and for one another matter too. Ye also help him together by
prayer. That's how important prayer is. How does it work?
Doesn't matter how it all works. God says this is the way it pleases
me. Engage in it. Engage in it. Oh, let us see
the true comfort. Think about this. Let me just
read this to you. I don't have to. There's just
one part of a verse and Job was responding to his three friends
in Job chapter six. And just this one part of it.
And you remember, Job's friends were giving him a what for? They
were giving him a what for? But look at verse 14, Job 6 and
verse 14. To him that is afflicted, pity
should be showed from his friends. You see it? Oh God, help me to pity. my brothers and sisters, when
they're in trouble, rather than backbiting about them and talking
about them. You say that don't happen. It happens from us all
the time. Well if, and we usually put a
I in there. You ever done that? Well if I,
I find myself Mason thinking it a whole lot more than I say
it. Because I'm ashamed to let that out. that I'm thinking,
but well, if that was me, I'd do this. You ever thought that
way? No, no, no. You and I do not know why our
brothers and sisters are going through everything they're going
through. It may be poor choices, but who
hasn't made them? Who hasn't made them? But even
more than this, let us be careful we don't point at a brother and
sister. And God says even to Satan, you take your hands off,
you touch him as far as I let you. God didn't tell us to touch
him at all. What should we do? Show pity.
But that's not the main thing, is it? It's nice to be pitied
by someone else, but that doesn't take the darkness away, does
it? That doesn't even comfort you
in the darkness itself. Now this is a philosophical thing.
People say misery loves company. That may or may not be true.
I think it depends upon the person. But that's philosophy. I'll tell
you one thing that misery does like. Sometimes it's good just
to shut your mouth and listen. Don't be trying to give advice,
just pity. You see, sometimes people just
need to express themselves. And sometimes maybe they just
don't want anything said. Sometimes. But again, that's
not where we're told to trust, is in the pity of our friends,
is it? Uh-uh. Now let us do that. Oh God, help
us to do that. But that's not the main thing.
What does it say? 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. It's kind of like leaning. And
maybe even holding on a little bit, you know. Stay upon his
God. Here's where it's at. Our God
is in charge. manipulating circumstances, even
circumstances that affect me by his own sovereign purpose. We always know that, but not
being able to grasp the depth and breadth and height of all
these things sometimes puts you in that dark place, don't it?
But remember what the psalmist said. Let me read these to you,
just a couple passages from the Psalms. Psalm chapter, excuse
me, 32, verse four, for day and night, thy hand was heavy upon
me. Mason, this is not a cry of bitterness,
but an acknowledging of the truth of God's absolute sovereignty,
even in my everyday life. For day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. That's this dark place that Isaiah
was talking about. And then he says, stop and think
about this a while. Stop and think about this a while.
Psalm chapter 66, listen to what the psalmist writes there. Psalms
chapter 66 and verses 10 and 11. For thou, O God, hast proved
us. Thou hast tried us as silver
is tried. Look, thou broughtest us into
the net. Thou laidest affliction upon
our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride
over our heads when we went through fire and through water, but Thou
brought us out into a wealthy place. You see that? A wealthy
place. Right there's what Isaiah's talking
about. That wealthy place. That's the thing that'll sustain
you. wealthy place. And that wealthy place is declared
to be here none other than God Himself. You see it? God himself, our God, is that
wealthy place. Look at it. Who is among you
that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servant? And
yet, we could put that in, it's still, it's valid. And yet, walks
in darkness and has no light. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Now do not, do not be deceived
by the false Christianity that's all around you. because the false
Christianity all around you says God's names, and this is the
way they'll say it, God's names speak of what God can do for
us. Now he may do something for you,
but he may not do something for you. He may leave you in that
dark place for a while. No, his name, describes who he
is to us. You see, I love my wife, and
she's beautiful to me, not because of the clothes she wears. It's
her. Now if there's a specific outfit
that she wears that I think that she really just looks radiant
in, if you ever see me sitting in my house with just that outfit
beside me, kissing on it and loving on it, then you know what
time to take me off to the funny farm. Do you understand what
I'm saying? It's what's inside that outfit
that makes the difference. And her being mine, sometimes
Joe comforts me more than anything else in this world. Do you understand
what I'm talking about? It's not what God could do. Oh
God, get me out of this. Cry for that if that's what you
desire. But we must bow to God's sovereign will, whatever it is.
And remember, he is our wealthy place. It wasn't the tribe of
Dan, and I don't, maybe that wasn't the place they come from,
you can go back and check it, where they brought those great big,
one great big lump of grapes, remember that? It's not that
land. What does that land do? It shows
us exactly what the church is today. All one nation, one people,
divided by God's own hand to deal with things, some over here,
some over there in their own particular place. Is that what
Paul teaches us in the New Testament? That's the way it is. There's nothing new under the
sun. The Old Testament is not just some mystical thing, we
gotta find out the secrets. No, it's teaching us the truth
of the person and work of Jesus Christ all throughout that Old
Testament. Our God is that wealthy place.
Note, as I said, it's name, not names. Now, when I mentioned
that, did you start to think, which name is it talking about?
Did you think that? I did when I first read it. Well,
which one is it? No, wait a minute, wait a minute. This same prophet,
turn back to chapter nine. You see, our mind wants to, natural
thought never gets you to the truth of God. Isaiah chapter nine, now before
I read it, when someone asks me what my name is, what do I
usually say? Walter Pendleton. That's not
my names, Mason, that's my name. Walter to be specific, Walter
Anthony Pendleton. That's my name, not my names,
right? Because my name, Walter Anthony
Pendleton, is the whole me. You see what I'm saying? I'm
not just Walter, I'm Walter Anthony. I'm not just Walter Anthony,
I'm Walter Anthony Pendleton. That describes me, that's my
name. Now look at what the prophet
says. Isaiah nine and verse six, for unto us a child is born.
A child was born. A child came into existence that
was not in existence before. Unto us a son is given. You see it? Mason, before he
was the child born, he was still the son. He was already the son. Unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulders. Who rules over everything? Who makes the rules, the laws
of nature, or whatever they might be, Mason? Who is it? This man.
This child born, this son given. The government shall be where?
On his shoulders. Look. Name. You see it? His name shall
be called Wonderful. Counselor, wait a minute, I thought
that's two names. No, this is one name. Jehovah Jireh, that's still
one name. All of it, you see it? Jehovah
Shalom. Jehovah, I said, kidding you?
The Lord our righteousness? Not the Lord will just give me
righteousness. He is my righteousness. He is
my wealthy place. You see it? His name shall be
called Wonderful. the counselor, the mighty God,
the everlasting father, the prince of peace. Even when I'm in turmoil,
he's still my peace. You see it? Still my peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace, no end. In other words, what he is to
me will never fail to me. You see it? Mason, even especially
when I'm in that dark place, when I have no light, when I'm
despairing, maybe even of life, miserable in my circumstances,
I can still rejoice in Him. And Joe, by His grace, I found
myself doing that. Doing that. I've had a couple
things happen in my life, and we ain't gonna go into the details,
but I thought this, God's gonna expose me for what I really am
now. You ever felt that way? Huh? God's gonna expose me for
what? Well, the people that already knew me already knew what I really
was. And the people that didn't really
know me probably knew me better than they even thought they did,
yeah. Huh? I'm a worm. Even as Paul, writing, being
inspired of the Spirit of God, and still cries out, oh wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me? Not of
what? Who shall deliver me? A person
shall deliver me. I thank God, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, now
what's that? He rules over God's people specifically. Now David
ruled over all, he conquered people all around him, did he
not? But who was he king over? And king for? God's people. God's people. And his kingdom
to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice. And let me tell you something.
Everything God's doing to you is just. And everything God's
doing to you is a judgment of some sort of another. Whether
against your character or against the world in which you live or
to refine you like silver and force your face in the dust to
where you don't trust in yourself but you trust in God. Now that's
the difference between an unregenerate man and a regenerate man. An
unregenerate man can worship, but he worships falsely. And
when God brings him down, it'll turn him from God. He'll get
mad at God, despise God, hate God, run from God, say, if this
is God, I won't serve him. God's people says, this is God.
And this hurts. I don't understand it, but I
believe him. I trust him, even though I can't
make sense of it. and I trust Him for who He is.
He's wonderful to me. He's my counselor. He's my mighty
God. He's my everlasting Father. He
is my Prince of Peace. Isn't it good? Name. Trust in
the name of the Lord. Why? Because He's all of that,
all the time, to me, in all of those different descriptions
that the book calls His name. But isn't it amazing? You get
to the New Testament and then we find this name centralized.
Don't we? In the child born and the son
given to where Peter said in Acts 4, verse 12, very popular
verse, neither is there salvation, whatever kind of salvation. Whatever. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's none other name. given amongst men under
heaven, whereby we must be saved. And that name, Paul goes on to
say in Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11, it's the reason
he died under the judgment of God. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto God, even to death. the death of the cross. Wherefore
God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above
every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God. of God the
Father. Now, Mason, all of those descriptive
things that are his name are now all centralized in the one
man God had his mind on and love set on from all eternity. Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, the Lord. There's the one that you trust. Even when you're walking in darkness
and you have no light. That's the one you stay upon.
Look at it, and stay upon his God. That implies a joint ownership. I am his, Joe. But what did Solomon
say? He is mine too. See, he is that wealthy place.
I can't tell you we're gonna get all we want, but we pray
for it. We pray for it. But oh God, help
us to know you are our wealthy place. Isn't that it? What would be heaven if we just
remained like this for eternity? And what would be heaven if we
get there, Joe, and the one who redeemed us from it never reveals
himself and comes up and raises his arms around you and gives
you a hug and said, I told you I loved you before the world
began. I told you I'd get you here with me. And isn't that
what he said? I go to prepare a place. Why?
For the place sake? No. I'm gonna come back and get
you, and you're gonna be with me. And Paul, when he talks about
his glorious second advent, when he comes, he says, comfort one
another with these words, what words? And so shall we ever be
with the Lord. Oh, God help me to walk in that
light. And even when I'm walking in
darkness and have no light on the other side, that'll be enough
light. Do you agree? That will be enough
light. In my darkest times, Christ is
still all to me. Isn't that what Paul said, Colossians
2? Whether it's your believing unto salvation, whether it's
your walk, he said, walk ye in him. Don't be spoiled by philosophy. Away from who? Him. Why? Because in him dwells the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Mason, he is someone that in
his condescension, he could be touched. John said we handled
the word of life. Handled God's hands and God's
feet. John could lay upon God's breast. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Ye are complete in him. Oh God help me to realize that.
I forget it all too often. And I get my eyes on the circumstances
rather than on him. So let me read it one last time.
Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light?
I know some of you are there. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord, and stay upon his God. Amen. Father, teach us these
things. We know that tribulation works
patience, and God, I'm not good at tribulation, but you're sufficient. Our sufficiency doesn't come
from us. Oh, God, help us not to kindle our own fire and set
on our own sparks, but to be patient and wait upon thee. In
Christ's name, amen.