When God hides his face. That's
my subject this evening. When God hides his face. Our text will be the eighth chapter
of the Gospel of Isaiah. When God hides his face. What
a solemn thought to consider. Sometimes The Lord God graciously
hides his face from his church and his people, that he may compel
us to seek after him and calls us to know afresh our need of
him. Because we are so inclined to
disregard him, the Lord graciously moves our hearts and causes us
to seek him, and he hides himself from us, that we may seek him
earnestly. You have a picture of that living
clearly in the fifth chapter of the Song of Solomon, what
a blessed, blessed portion of scripture it is. When the Savior
knocks, we refuse to answer, then he stirs our hearts and
causes us to rise up and seek after him, and he withdraws himself. and compels us to seek him. And the preachers of the gospel,
the watchmen walking around the walls of Zion find us and take
away our mask and our veil and our hypocrisy, expose our evil
to us and cause us to cry out to him for mercy. Thank God for
such grace. Thank God for such grace. And
sometimes, God hides his face from men and women in wrath and
in judgment. He hides his face from people
who refuse the light that he gives them. And he turns that
light into darkness to their destruction. That's the situation
before us in Isaiah, the eighth chapter. In the seventh chapter,
Ahaz, because of his unbelief, chose to make a confederacy with
the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser. He hoped by this unholy confederacy
to preserve his life, his throne, and his power from the fury of
Syria and Samaria. So God sent Isaiah to warn Ahaz,
He sent his prophet to tell this king not to look to Assyria,
but to look to heaven for help. Isaiah told the king, don't trust
Tiglath-Pileser, but rather trust the Lord Jehovah, trust the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom he specifically spoke to him about. He says,
obey the Lord, obey the Lord, obey the Lord, believe the Lord. But the proud king of Judah,
Ahaz, being the wretch he was, would not trust God. He would
not trust the Lord Jesus. He would not obey the voice of
his prophet. Therefore, the Lord told Isaiah
that he would use Assyria. He would make Assyria and Tiglath-Pileser
to be instruments in his hands by which he would bring Judah
into utter humiliation. Ahaz's unbelief would bring Judah,
the people over whom he ruled, into a time of great desolation
and sorrow. He would become the victim of
the one he trusted. If you lean on the arm of the
flesh, your crutch will pierce you like a spear. But the Christ
that he despised would still accomplish his work. And he gave
him a sign concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That
was the message of chapter 7. In the 8th chapter, Isaiah begins
a new sermon. This sermon begins in Isaiah
1 and goes all the way through to chapter 12 to the very end
of the 12th chapter. In this sermon, God told Judah
of certain impending judgments. judgments he would bring upon
them and the extent of that judgment. But in wrath, he remembers mercy.
And even in this message of judgment, rich provision is made for the
comfort, encouragement, and instruction of God's people. Let us never
ignore the provision God has given us in his word for comfort
in times of great darkness, difficulty, trial, whether it be political
and civil, whether it be that of our nation, whether it be
that of our personal lives and of God's church. Let us always
remember the word of instruction God gives to us in the book of
Holy Scripture. I have a friend I'm going to
write to sometime in the next day or so. He's going through
some difficulty. He has a problem. And I don't
know how to help except to say to him, bury yourself in the
book of God. Bury yourself in Christ. Children of God, when your heart
breaks with heaviness, bury yourself in Christ the Lord. Bury yourself
in his word and find the comfort and instruction God gives us
in such times. This chapter is a prophecy of
darkness, of judgment, of desolation, of destruction. The Lord hid
his face from his people. He brought great sorrow upon
the people he loved, and yet he never forsook them, but only
worked for their good. There's much for us to learn
in this chapter about God's providence, His grace, and our responsibilities
before Him, especially in times of trouble and darkness. Let's
look at these 22 verses together, and I'll call your attention
to six things that I have pulled out of these as words of instruction
for us in this time when darkness comes. First, understand this. The prophet of God, every prophet
of God, every man who speaks for God is a man with a message
from God for you. Look at verse one. Moreover,
the Lord said unto me, take thee a great roll and write in it
with a man's pen concerning Meher Shalahashbaz. And I took unto
me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah
the son of Jebrachiah. And I went in unto the prophetess,
that's his wife. She's called a prophetess just
because she was married to Isaiah. Maybe she's called a prophetess
because she was one who worshiped God. It doesn't imply that she
spoke as a prophet or was a prophet in the sense that Isaiah was.
The word prophecy in scripture often refers only to the worship
of God. He went in to his wife. It's
the prophetess. And she conceived and bear a
son. Then said the Lord to me, call
his name Meher Shalahashbaz. For before the child shall have
knowledge to cry, my father and my mother. Before he can look
at you and say, daddy, or he can look at his mother and say,
mama. Before he has knowledge to cry, my father and my mother. The riches of Damascus. and the spoil of Samaria shall
be taken away before the king of Assyria. Isaiah was God's
prophet. That meant that he got his message
directly from God. The apostle Paul speaks of himself
that way. He said, I didn't go up to Jerusalem
and learn the things God taught me, but rather I went into the
desert and there God taught me. God's prophet is a man taught
of God. He was required to deliver the
message God gave him in clear, unmistakable language, to write
it out plainly so that nobody could misunderstand his language.
He wrote his message out and had it witnessed as a matter
of public record, we're told in verse two. And this man of
God utilized everything in his life to serve God as his prophet. This man of God utilized everything
in his life, right down to his wife and his children, to serve
God as his prophet. He used them all for the people
of God, even to the naming of his sons. His first son's name
was Shirjasim. The name means the remnant shall
return. You see, God has an elect remnant
in this world whom he will save. An elect remnant whom he is saving. Understand this, understand this. This is how we ought to read
the morning news every day. This is how we ought to read
the evening news every evening. This is what God's doing in this
world. He is saving His people. They're
chosen of Him, loved of Him, redeemed by His Son, and they
will be called by His Spirit, and they shall return to the
Lord in true faith. Isaiah's second son was named
Meher Shalahashbaz. His name means he that hastens
to the spoil. The great God of glory will punish
his enemies without mercy. The Lord our God always prevails
over and always spoils his enemies, using them to accomplish his
own purposes. I wish you could have all been
back in the office as we had a scripture reading, Rex read
the 60th chapter of Isaiah. And the Lord God spoke so plainly
of how that he would cause the nations to come to Christ. He would cause the nations to
flow into his church. He would bring kings and their
riches and all their goods into his church and kingdom for his
glory. You see, the Lord our God is
God indeed. He overthrows Satan's designs. And from the evil the devil brings,
God gets himself glory and saves his people. From the evil the
devil brings, God gets himself glory and saves his people. He even makes our fall and sin
to be a matter of praise and thanksgiving to him in the experience
of his blessed grace. Had we not known what it is to
fall, had we not known what it is to be dead in trespasses and
in sins, had we not known what it is to live in the bondage
of darkness and sin and spiritual death, we would know nothing
of redemption, grace, and life in Christ the Lord. So the apostle
Paul writes by divine inspiration, God be thanked, you were the
servants of sin. but now God's made you the servants
of righteousness. And understand this, God's church
always prevails. I don't mean we're going to prevail
someday. I mean God's church always prevails
over her enemies. She always spoils her enemies. Read the 18th chapter of the
book of Revelation and you'll see the kings of the earth bring
the riches of the nation into God's kingdom. Everything worth
anything, God brings to his own. The Lord God always causes his
church to triumph and prevail. When it looks like the cause
is lost, God's church still prevails. When it looks like everything
is vanity, God's church is still triumphant. The servant of God
must be a man like Isaiah, serving the cause of God, separated under
the gospel of God. This man Isaiah was commanded
to commit the writing of his message to a book and to deliver
that book. how we ought to bless God for
that appointment of God by which he's given us the record of Holy
Scripture. How I thank God for another prophet,
him who is the prophet of prophets. Ezekiel saw him, our Lord Jesus
Christ, a man with an ink horn by his side to record his people,
to mark out his people. And he has written our names
in his book in heaven above. Here's the second thing, look
at verses five and six and learn this. The actions of one person may
affect the lives of many and often do. The Lord spake also
unto me, verse five, again saying, for as much as this people refuseth
the waters of Shiloh that go softly and rejoice in Risen and
Remilia's son. That is, they refuse the soft,
easy-flowing, sweet waters of God's grace in Zion, and rejoice
in the waters of these pagans and their gods. That was the
cause of God's judgment upon the nation. The inhabitants of
Judah forsook God. because Ahaz their king forsook
him. They suffered the consequences
of Ahaz's stubborn rebellion and unbelief and ungodliness. What a warning this is to you
and me. What we do or don't do affects
the lives of those we influence. None of us lives as an island
to himself. Cain asked the question, am I
my brother's keeper? Well, you are either your brother's
keeper or you're your brother's murderer, as it was with Cain.
Ahaz was as responsible for the desolations that came upon Judah
as the king of Assyria himself. He was just as guilty as if he
had been Tiglath-Pileser. He was just as guilty as if he
had taken the sword to destroy his own people. For it was by
his influence that they were brought to desolation and destruction. As a general rule, as a general
rule, you can, Know who a pastor is, how the pastor behaves. You can know his attitude and
his conduct without ever knowing him. If you just get to know
the folks he has pastored for many years, because they will
reflect him, good or bad. Husbands and wives, you can pretty
well know who they are. as a general rule, if you get
to know the children. Because their conduct rubs off. There is much more to the saying
than just the idle gossip of old women and old men. Like father,
like son, like mother, like daughter. You can just about bake on it.
You can just about bake on it. We ought to live always in the
conscious awareness that what we do affects the folks around
us. It rubs off on them. Every man's
responsible for his own ungodliness. Every man's responsible for his
own sin. Every man's responsible for the destruction of his own
soul. But this man, Ahaz, was responsible for the kingdom's
apostasy. And you and I are responsible
for the evil which we influence others to perform. Here's the
third thing. Unbelief provokes God to wrath. Read verse five again. The Lord
spake also unto me again, saying, Forasmuch as this people refuseth
the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin
and Rimeliah's son. Now therefore behold, the Lord
bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many,
even the king of Assyria, and all his glory. And he shall come
up over all his channels, and go over all his banks, and he
shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over.
He shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his
wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Emmanuel. Because Judah refused the gentle
waters of Shiloah, God flooded them with the waters of destruction. Because they refused to trust
the Lord, God gave them the terror of a serious king. You read this
book and you will find that God always warns before he punishes. He always sends warning before
he sends judgment. We don't have sense enough to
listen. We don't have sense enough to
hear, but God always sends warning before he sends judgment. God
gives mercy and grace to sinners in Christ. The waters of Shiloh
flow smoothly, softly, gently, flooding the soul by his grace.
And he graciously calls rebel sinners to trust his son. He
promises salvation to all who come to Christ, to all who believe
him. But those who despise God's mercy,
provoke him to wrath. He that being often reproved,
hardeneth his neck, shall be cut off suddenly, and that without
remedy. Though great desolations came
by his hand, God Almighty is ever gracious, and he would not
allow the utter destruction of Judah. How come? Because Judah
is called specifically Emmanuel's land. This is where God is with
us. And though God often purges his
church, he will never allow the destruction of his church. Because
his church is his Judah. His church is his Israel. His church is Emmanuel's land. This is where God is with us. Here's the fourth thing. The
Lord our God, faithful and true, will never, never, never forsake
his only light. When the days are darkest, When
the troubles are greatest, when the heartache is the heaviest,
understand, God will never, never, never forsake his elect. Not one of them and not all of
them. Look at verse nine. Associate
yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces.
And give ear, all ye of the far countries, gird yourselves, you
shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves and you shall
be broken in pieces. Take counsel together and it
shall come to naught. Speak the word and it shall not
stand." What's he talking about? Go ahead and bring your opposition.
Go ahead and bring your confederacies. Get together with this little
group or that little group, with this kingdom or that kingdom,
with this nation or that nation. Do whatever you want to. In spite of hell, it will fall
to the ground. How come? God is with us. God is with us. God is with us. And let me tell you the man,
the woman, that you will be wise to step aside if you see him
coming rolling your way. That man or that woman convinced
God is with me. God is with me. That'll put some
spine in your back. That'll put some steel in your
spine. That'll give you some confidence. God is with us. Tiglath-Pileser is nothing. The sons of Rimeliah, they're
nothing. God is with us. All hell, that's
nothing. God is with us. The confederacies
of our foes, no matter how great, shall be broken to pieces. I don't know how many times I
must experience this to really believe what I'm preaching to
you. I have over the course of my life as a believer, and particularly
as a preacher, met with considerable opposition in various places.
Considerable foes who make their confederacies and decide they're
going to destroy this man. Destroy the ministry that God
put in my hands. And not one of them has stood. I've watched God take them away
one after another. And yet, whenever I learned that
opposition's brewing, this fellow over yonder, this fellow in that
town said this, said that, somehow or another, you just immediately
wanna start thinking, I'm gonna take care of this. Step aside
and lean not on the arm of the flesh, but rather on the Lord
God. The counsels of our enemies,
no matter how well laid, shall be brought to naught. God is
with us. God is with us, more than conquerors
through him that loved us and gave himself for us. and the
God of peace shall brew Satan under your feet shortly. I love what I've often told you,
one illustration from Martin Luther's life, of all the reformers,
and I'm certainly not one named among reformers, or even in their
pedigree. I'm not, I don't pretend to be,
I don't associate myself with reform doctrine. but of all the
Reformed theologians and preachers, there is none with whom I have
less in common doctrinally than Martin Luther. He had a lot of
problems. But I don't know of a man in
the history of God's church with whom I have greater aspiration
to be like in a manly manner. Luther would get word that the
Pope had issued some decree against him. And he would say, come,
let's sing the 46th Psalm and spite the devil. A mighty fortress
is our God. Lean not on the arm of the flesh,
but lean on him who loved you and gave himself for you. Here's
the fifth thing, look at verses 11 through 18. God always honors
faith. God honors faith, faith in Christ. That's the only faith there is,
everything else is just pretense. You may as well believe a witch
doctor or witchcraft and believe anything else. God always honors
faith in Christ because faith in Christ is the one way by which
men and women honor God. And he has sworn them that honor
me, I will honor. Look at verse 11. For the Lord
spake thus to me with strong hand, and instructed me that
I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye
not a confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say
a confederacy? Neither fear ye their fear. What a word. Neither fear ye
their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself. Let him be your fear and let
him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary,
but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to
both the houses of Israel and for a jade and for a snare to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. bind up
the testimony, seal the law among my disciples, and I will wait
upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom
the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel
from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. Now let
me summarize those verses. Here is God's counsel to you
and me. Walk not in the counsel of the
ungodly. Don't seek to understand God,
his ways, or his word. Don't seek to understand providence
by the counsel of the ungodly. And don't ever fear what men
do, but rather sanctify the Lord of hosts. Let him be your fear
and let him be your dread. Fear him, that is trust him.
Honor him, believe him. For only the fear of God will
drive away the fear of man. Only fear of God will drive away
the fear of man. How on this earth do you reckon
Daniel faced that lion's den and never broke a sweat? He feared God. How on this earth
do you reckon Moses went into Pharaoh the mightiest man on
the earth knowing that Pharaoh was bent on his destruction and
didn't quiver in the least? He feared God. How do you reckon
David, that little old pup, went out against the giant Goliath
and said, I come to you in the name of God, and didn't have
anything but a sling and some rocks, he feared God. The fear of God and that alone
drives away the fear of man. And then we're told in verse
14 that the Lord himself, Christ Jesus the Lord, will be our sanctuary,
our refuge. So bind his word to your heart
and bind your heart to his word and wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. He will accomplish
his purpose. He will save his people. Look
at verse 18. We know this is our Savior speaking
because we're told so in the second chapter of the book of
Hebrews. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me,
not one of them is lost, he said in John 17, not one of them. I and the children that the Lord
Jehovah has given me, they are for signs and wonders in Israel. By this people, in the saving
of this people, God performs wonders in the earth and shows
His glory. These which dwelleth in Mount
Zion. One last thing. Look at verses
19 through 22. And learn this. The only foundation
for faith is the word of God. We have none other. The basis of our faith is not
logic or even experience. The basis of our faith is not
history or science. The basis of our faith is God's
word alone. And when they shall say unto
you, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, unto wizards
that peep and that mutter, should not a people seek unto their
God for the living to the dead? Other folks, They have to read the astrological
signs and they have to visit the witch doctors and the sorcerers
and the witches and have their palms read and have somebody
look into a crystal ball and tell them the future. And that's
what you can expect from them. You can expect people to seek
after their God, but not you. Not you who are God's people.
Rather, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in
them. What on earth is Isaiah telling
us? He's telling us that these false
prophets, these men who come and represent the gods of men,
who speak falsehood, they are nothing but sorcerers. Witch doctors, they're nothing
but devil worshipers. They're nothing but the servants
of devils. They are men with, like the magician, with familiar
spirits and wizards that peep and mutter. God's people are
otherwise. They look to God and they trust
his words. and they shall pass through it,
those who speak contrary to God's word, hardly bested, hardly fixed,
unstable as water and hungry. And it shall come to pass that
when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves and curse
their king and their God and look upward. And when they shall
look into the earth and behold trouble and darkness, of anguish,
and they shall be driven into darkness." Isaiah concludes the
chapter with three points he would have us lay to heart. First,
he tells us we must resist every temptation to make a confederacy
with false religion. resist every temptation to try
to find a way to Strengthen your hand making a confederacy with
those who don't know God then in verse 20 It tells us we must
judge every prophet and every doctrine by the Word of God Judge
everything this man preaches to you. Everything you heard
from these lips today. Everything you've heard from
these lips for the past 37 years. Everything I have written, judge
everything by this book. By this book. If it's not according
to the book of God, don't listen to me. If it is, don't you dare
ignore me. Don't you dare ignore me. And
then Isaiah tells us that those who refuse to walk in the light
of divine revelation must and shall reap the rewards of ignorance,
darkness, and superstition. How truly blessed and profitable
it is to observe the Lord's care of his people. Through times
of general wickedness, he takes care of his own. If men will
look to the arm of the flesh, that arm will be their confusion.
But if we sanctify the Lord of hosts and wait on him, trust
him, look to him, he will be for us a sanctuary. When our
God sends trouble on the earth, like a father speaks to his children,
he sees a storm approaching. He brings us into the house and
shuts the door and secures his family from danger. In this chapter,
our God, our heavenly father says to you and me, come my children,
enter into the chambers of my providence and the covenant of
my love and shut the door until the storm is over. Take refuge
in Christ, our refuge. Preparing this message, I couldn't
help but to think of a hymn. Shelby and I requested some friends
to sing at our wedding. I haven't heard it sung since,
except once. I asked Brother David Coleman
to sing it for us. In the dark of the midnight, have I oft hid
my face. While the storm howls above me,
and there's no hiding place. Mid the crash of the thunder,
Precious Lord, hear my cry, keep me safe, till the storm passes
by. Many times Satan whispers, there's
no need to try, for there's no end of sorrows, there's no hope
by and by, but I know thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise,
for the storm never darkens the skies. When the long night is
ended, and the storms come no more. Let me stand in thy presence
on the bright, peaceful shore. In that land where the tempest
never comes, Lord, may I dwell with thee when the storm passes
by, till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more,
till the clouds roll forever from the sky, Hold me fast. Let me stand in the hollow of
thy hand till the storm passes by. Amen. Amen.