Thank you, David. In these 11
verses, the Son of God describes everybody in this building. You who are believing, saved,
born again, righteous, living before God. And you who are dead
in trespasses and in sins, and have no faith in Christ without
God, without hope in this world. And he describes himself and
his salvation. Listen to the Son of God. The
first verse of this chapter speaks to you who are lost. Some of
you are lost. many of us, perhaps many of us. I don't presume that you know
God. I never preach presuming that
the people I preach to know God. Listen to the Son of God as he
tells you why you are lost. The children of Israel God's
chosen nation, God's covenant people in the Old Testament,
were chosen only in a symbolic sense, and His covenant people
only in a symbolic, typical sense. There were chosen people among
the physical nation of Israel, but that physical nation represented
God's church in the Old Testament, and we who are God's elect God's
church is the Israel of God, His covenant people. But all
of their experience written in the Old Testament is written
to teach us our own experience of God's grace. The children
of Israel had been brought into bondage again. Brought into bondage
by the judgment of God upon them. This was their history. They
went to Egypt. and they stayed in Egypt for
400 years in disobedience to God. They wandered through the
wilderness for 40 years in disobedience to God. In the days of the judges,
God called Israel to be brought under the hand of their enemies
who ruled them and they served taskmasters from one nation to
another nation to another throughout the book of Judges. And he would
raise up a judge, a deliverer, a picture of our Redeemer, who
would bring them back to the worship of God. And they would
err again, and in their apostasy, in their abandonment of the worship
of God, God in judgment would send them again under the hand
of some cruel tyrant who ruled over them. And he would raise
up a judge, a deliverer, one typifying our Savior, who would
bring them back to the worship of God. And here they are brought
into Babylonian captivity. And they are again subjected
to the tyranny of an oppressing enemy. because of the judgment
of God upon them. But all this is written for you. This is written for me. This
is what the Lord God our Savior says. Thus saith the Lord, where
is the bill of your mother's divorcement whom I have put away? Show me where I divorced you. Show me where I put you away.
That's not the case. You divorced me. You put me away
from you. Or which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you? Which of my creditors is it to
whom I have sold you? The Lord is asking this question.
Do you foolishly imagine that you can blame your state and
your condition on me? Do you foolishly imagine that
you're in the state you're in because of me? Oh, no. Oh, no. You will not go to hell blaming
God's decree, God's predestination, God's sovereignty, God's purpose
in any way. If you go to hell, it will be
your fault entirely. Read on. Behold, for your iniquities
have you sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your
mother put away. God help you to hear me now. If you go to hell, anybody in
this building goes to hell, you're going to go to hell pushing God
out of your way. Mark just prayed as we pray incessantly
for our sons and daughters, and I do pray for your sons and daughters.
Just as I do for my grandchildren, I pray for them. I pray for them.
Pray God will have mercy on them. But our sons and daughters, yours
and mine, have not only the light of creation and the light of
conscience and the light of law, they have heard the gospel of
God's grace And this is how they hear it until God stops them. God, shut up! Leave me alone! And if you go to hell, that's
how you go to hell. Pushing God out of your way. Shoving God out of your way.
Second, hear the Savior as He describes Himself in verses 2
through 9. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. When I called, was there none
to answer? Why is that? Why is that? Why won't you hear me? Why won't
you believe me? Why won't you trust me? Is my
hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power
to deliver? Do you imagine that I'm not able
to save to the uttermost all who come to God by me? Imagine
that somehow I can't deliver you? I can't redeem you? I can't forgive you? I can't
accept you? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up
the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. The fish stinketh because there
is no water, and dieth for thirst. I have proved over and over again
before your very eyes my ability to redeem. I have proved over
and over again before your very eyes my ability to save. I opened up the Red Sea. I opened
up the Red Sea and you walked across. I dried it up and you
walked dry shod across the sea. I opened up the Jordan and you
crossed the Jordan River without your feet ever getting wet or
even muddy. I opened the sea for you. I am
that one who makes streams in the desert and I'm the one who
dries up rivers. I am that one who all power. I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering. I'm the omnipotent God. I control
everything. I have all ability and all power.
You remember the rich young ruler came to our Savior and our Savior
spoke to the Word of God and he went away sorrowful. because
he had much riches. And the disciples looked at the
Lord Jesus and they said, who then can be saved? Who then can
be saved? The Lord said to them, it's easier
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God. Now I know if you go
on one of your internet spots where they discuss the Bible,
you'll find somebody say, well, the wall going into Jerusalem
had a little slit in it that was very hard for camels to get
through. They had to unload the camels and they'd have to get
them to get down almost on their knees. The wall, no, that's not
what we're talking about. That's not what we're talking
about. He says, it's easier for a camel to walk through the eye
of that needle you ladies can't get a thread through. than for
a rich man to get into the kingdom of God. And the disciples said,
well, who then can be saved? If God's salvation in any way
depends on you, nobody. With men, it's impossible. But
with God, all things are possible. Is my arm shortened that it can't
redeem? That I cannot say? What a foolish
thought. This one who is our Savior is
God Almighty. Look at verse 4. The Lord hath
given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak
a word in season to him that is weary. Jesus Christ is the
Word of God, the wisdom of God, by whom God speaks to us. He
is that one for whom the Lord God, the triune Jehovah prepared
a body in which to minister to us and show us God. So that by His word and by His
life, by His death, by His resurrection, He speaks to us the word of wisdom
and speaks a word in season to him that is weary. He learned
this. He learned this. He learned this. obedience. He learned by his
suffering. The Lord Jesus, the God-man,
our Savior, as a man learned and grew in wisdom and stature
before men and before God. And he learned much by his sufferings. And now that one who is taught
of God as our mediator, our substitute, our representative, the God-man,
sits in glory to speak a word in season to him that's weary. The Savior says, He wakeneth
morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear
as the learned, filled with wisdom and with knowledge. Where did
this man get this learning? This is the carpenter's son.
Where did this man get his doctrine? This is Jesus. We know who He
is. We know His mom and dad. We know
where He came from. Where did He get this learning?
This is the God-man who is the Word. learned obedience by the
things he suffered. And now this one who perfectly
obeyed God, the Word of God reveals God to us. Verse 5, The Lord
God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back. Back in the book of Exodus you
have a law given for the bond slave. The bond slave, somehow,
because he impoverished himself, or was brought to poverty by
error, he sold into slavery. And the law of Moses was given
not to encourage slavery. The law given concerning the
bond slave was given to give us a picture of Christ, our Redeemer,
and His redemptive work on our behalf. That bond slave who was
brought into bondage was required to serve his master for six years. And on the seventh year, the
master was required to let him go out free. But if, during the
time of his slavery, he had obtained a wife and had children, those
children and his wife stayed under the master's custody. or
the bond slave could voluntarily become his master's slave forever. But the bond slave would have
to do something. He would have to publicly go before the elders,
and the master would take an awl and pierce his ear, bore
a hole in his ear, by which it is publicly declared, I love
my wife. I love my children. I love my
master, I will not go out free. Oh, thank God for him who is
Jehovah's righteous servant, who because of his love for God,
his love for his bride, his love for his children, would not go
out free. Brother Rex, read in the back, John chapter 13, having loved
his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. The Lord's opened my ear and
he did so because I volunteered to be his servant. I volunteered
to be surety for my people. I was not rebellious, neither
turned away back, verse six. For that reason, I gave my back
to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. Those soldiers didn't come and arrest our Savior with their
staves and swords. They carried their staves and
swords, but the Lord confronted them as they came. As they were
approaching Him, Judas kissed Him, and these soldiers come,
and the master said, Who are you looking for? They said, We're
seeking Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And they fell
away as dead men. And how they got up, I don't
know, except He raised them up. And He said to them, Now that
you know who I am, who is it you said you were looking for?
They had no power against him. He gave his back to the smiters. Men came who'd pluck off his
hair. He said, here, jerk it out. Nobody had power over him. Nobody had authority over him.
He voluntarily put himself in these conditions of suffering
and sorrow because he voluntarily stood before God as our substitute. I hid not my face. from shame
and spitting. I didn't hide my face from the
shame of false accusation, the shame of being paraded through
the streets, the shame of being nailed to the cursed tree and
hung up naked to die. I didn't hide my face from men
spitting upon me. didn't hide my face from the
shame of God Himself making me to be sin and forsaking me. Verse 7, here is the reason,
for the Lord God will help me. He was tempted of the devil in
the wilderness and with the temptations over the angels of God ministered
to him. He was cast down in Gethsemane
And he cried again and again and a third time, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, thy
will be done. And he says, therefore shall
I not be confounded, because God will help me. God will sustain
me. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. I was
subjected to shame. I was subjected to spitting.
But I know that I'll not be confounded. I know I'll not be confused. I know I will not be ashamed
because God will help me. I therefore set my face like
a flint to go to Jerusalem. Set my face like a flint to suffer
and die. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples
in Gethsemane, He said, Let's arise and be going. The time
has come. Again, in that 13th chapter of John, the Lord said
to his disciples, Now is the Son of Man glorified. God, our
Savior, went voluntarily to Calvary's cursed tree to suffer all the
wrath of God for us. Now look at verse 8. He is near that justifieth me. How can that be? How can God
the Son, the holy, perfect, righteous, unspotted, without blemish, Lamb
of God, be justified? He is near that justifieth me. You'll remember in Leviticus
16, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron the high priest would make
atonement for the children of Israel. But before he could do
so, He must take his own goat before the Lord, and confess
over his own goat his sins, and sacrifice his own goat unto the
Lord, and make atonement for himself. Then make atonement
for the people. So it is with our Savior, our
Aaron, our High Priest, our Paschal Lamb. He who knew no sin, was
made sin for us. Made sin for us. I can't imagine
how that can be a controversy among God's people. I know it
is. I just refuse to enter into the
controversy. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine
it. What it means Rex, I have no real idea. I can talk about
it in theory. I can talk about it with reason.
I can talk about it with theological precision. But what it means
for the Son of God to have been made sin, I can't imagine. He was made that which He most
hates. That which is most contrary to
Him. that which is most obnoxious
to him. He was made sin for us. And when the Lord God found sin
upon his son, he turned his back upon his son, and he cried, Awake,
O sword, against the man that is my fellow. Smite and slay
the shepherd. And then he was buried. as one
cast out, as one who was himself a reproach, buried as it were
out of the very sight of God, buried in the earth. Buried because
he was made sin and died justly under the hand of God as our
substitute. But then on the third day, he
arose up from the dead. And this is how God describes
that. He was justified in the Spirit. He arose without sin. So it is with every sinner saved
by God's grace. When our Redeemer took the wrath
of God and swallowed up the sword of justice, when the sword of
justice wore itself out on Him, I swallowed up the sword of God's
justice. And the sword of God's wrath
wore itself out on me so that God says fury is not in me and
I was justified in my Redeemer. He is near that justifieth me
the Savior says. Now look what he says. Who will
contend with me? Let us stand together Who is
my adversary? Let him come near. Satan would
raise accusations. Satan would accuse. Men would
raise accusations. Men would accuse. The Savior
says, come on. Bring it on. Bring it on. I have
nothing to fear. He's near who justifieth me. Oh God, teach us so to believe
Him. We who are gods have nothing
to fear from Satan himself. Not at all. Not at all. Satan
has been conquered by our Savior. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. He roars against God's elect,
but he can do us no harm. Behold, the Lord God will help
me Who is He that shall condemn me? I suspect this is the very
passage to which the Apostle Paul is referring in Romans chapter
8 when he says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Who is He that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
than is risen again, who is seated at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. The Savior said that. Who shall condemn me? We who
are His. We who lived in Him and died
in Him and rose in Him, we who are seated with Him in heaven,
born again by the grace of God, saved by His mercy, one with
Jesus Christ, cannot be condemned. It's not possible. It's God that
justifieth me. Lo, they all shall wax old as
a garment. The moth shall eat the mum. Look at verse 10, and hear the
Son of God as He describes His people. Hear our blessed Savior describes
His people as children of light walking in darkness. 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. Now I want you
to understand that our Savior is here telling us that this
is the character of every saved sinner. The believer is a person
who fears the Lord. Who fears the Lord. fears Him
in the sense of being afraid of Him, not fears Him in the
sense of being in dread of Him. Oh no, no. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The believer is one who has a
loving reverence, a believing fear of God, a desire to please
and honor God. You who've had children in the
time that I've been here, and I try to give you some word of
instruction, and I don't know much about it. I don't pretend
to have any authority or have all the answers about raising
children, my soul. Far from it. I often say to folks,
I've said to you, I just have one child, and he was a girl,
so I don't qualify for giving instruction to parents. But this
I can tell you. And this I have said to probably
every one of you who've had a child since I've been here. If somehow you can instill in
that child a desire to please you, instill in that child a
desire to honor you, you've got the bulk of the problems licked.
If that child wants to please you, if that child wants to honor
you, you're not likely to have much difficulty raising that
child. God's people fear Him in that
way, desiring always His honor, desiring always to please Him
in that which they do. The prophet is here talking about
that reverence and godly fear that's the fruit of grace, whereby
we may serve God acceptably. Serve the Lord with fear and
rejoice with trembling. I will come into thy house in
the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward
thy holy temple. More than that, all who are born
of God, fearing God, are people who obey the voice of his servant. Without question, this is speaking
about our Redeemer right here in this context. one that we
just read about who is Jehovah's Servant. These who fear the Lord
obey the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obey His voice in His
Word. We obey His voice given to us
in the Gospel. God the Holy Spirit is the Servant
of the Lord. And those who are born of God
are led of the Spirit, that is, He directs our lives so that
we walk in the Spirit as He takes the things of Christ and shows
them to us. And God's preachers, faithful
pastors, are described as His servants, servants of God to
your soul. And God says to you, obey them
that have the rule over you. Obey them. God's servants. faithful pastor comes to God's
people as God's ambassador with a word from God for you. Now I can't say this strongly enough and I can't say
this in such a way that folks won't take it the wrong way.
I presume you won't. I didn't come here to offer you
some advice. I didn't come here to give you
an opinion. I didn't come here to tell you
what I think God would say to you. I just don't do that. I don't do it. I don't, when
I'm preaching through a passage of scripture, if I come to a
text of scripture, I don't understand. I'll either tell you what it,
I'll either tell you I don't understand it and hope God will
give me some light or I'll just pass over and come back to it
another day when I understand it. I'm not going to guess about
what it says. David Peterson, I came to you
tonight with a word from God for you. Well, you've given me some things
to think about tonight. No, I didn't. I gave you some
things to hear and obey. We're going to talk about this.
You go ahead and talk about it if you want to. I gave you a
word to hear and obey. This is God's word. God's word
to you. And God's people obey His servants,
preaching the gospel to them. Matters of faith and doctrine,
matters of worship, duty, matters of conduct, God's people obey
them. I'm not here as a man hired by
you to come and tell you things you want to hear and do things
the way you want them done. My sister's pastor, my older
sister's pastor, is a man I went to school with. And they've started
doing some things that she questioned last time I saw her. And she
said, I asked him about it. He said, well, this seems to
be what folks want. I said, you go back and tell
him your brother Don said. A pastor doesn't have folks do
what they want. He leads them to do what God
says. He's a shepherd. shepherd. Not lords over God's
heritage, but shepherds under Christ responsible to guide God's
people in the way of truth. God's given me this responsibility
and I will not, God giving me grace, ever relinquish the responsibility. Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen.
Nor will any faithful pastor. Not gonna happen. The next word
here. They fear the Lord and they obey
the voice of his servant. And then the prophet describes
the condition in which believers often find themselves. Walking
in darkness and having no light. This is not the condition of
God's children all the time, but it is much of the time, and
I would safely say most of the time. Now when Isaiah says that
we are children walking in darkness, having no light, he doesn't mean
for us to understand that in an absolute sense. The ungodly
are children of darkness. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Ye were sometimes
darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of
the light. You're all children of light and children of the
day. We are not of the night nor in
darkness. Yet the believer is here described
as one who is a child of light walking in darkness. The word
light here in Isaiah 50 verse 10 is a very distinct word. It means brilliance. are clear,
shining light. And the fact is, though we are
children of brilliant, clear, shining light, children of Christ
who is the light of the world, the fact is, while we always
have the light of God's truth, we don't always enjoy the brilliant,
clear, shining light of His countenance. Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. You remember that passage
in Song of Solomon, chapter 5, where the Lord Jesus comes to
his church, his bride, comes to you and me, and he knocks
at the door, and he says, open to me, My sister, my love, my
dove, my undefiled. For my head is filled with the
dew, and my locks with the drop of the night. As he speaks, he
says, I sleep, but my heart wakeneth. He says, open to me, my sister,
my dove, my love, my undefiled. And we respond, come back in a little while.
I don't have time for you right now. But He, blessed be His name,
won't leave us to ourselves. He puts His hand in by the hole
of the door and my bowels were moved within me. And I arose
to open to Him. I smelled the myrrh of His grace,
His mercy, and His love on the lock of the door. But now my
Savior's gone. He's withdrawn Himself. And I
came into the city, into the city of God, right here where
you are now, right here, into the house of God. And the watchman
caught me. The watchman caught me. When
you go to God's house, when you come here to worship God, when
you come back Tuesday night, ask God to make this watchman
catch you. He caught me and when he did,
he took away my veil and exposed my nakedness. And I acknowledged
what I am and what I've been and what I've done. And I said
to the watchman, if you see my beloved, will you tell him that
I am sick of love? I'm sick of this darkness and
long for him. I never have any real difficulty
knowing the light of my duty and my responsibility. But I often find myself without
the brilliant, clear, shining light of God's favor. I'm often
like David. The children of Israel singing
in Babylon, they've hung up their harps. and they can't play the
songs of the Lord in a strange land. Because the Lord has laid
me in the lowest pits, in darkness, in the deeps. Turn to Lamentations 3 and I'll
show you what I'm talking about. Here are the Lamentations of
Jeremiah. I am the man that hath seen affliction
by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me
into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
built it against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He
hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. The
fact is, true believers often walk in darkness. We walk in darkness concerning
the state and condition of our very souls. I don't know how much Rex read
today of what I was going to preach to you from here in this
chapter tonight, but what he said when he's praying in the
back, Lord, we often presume that we are strong in faith. What a horrid presumption. What a horrid presumption. John
Berridge made this observation. He said, for my own part, since
first my unbelief was felt, I had been praying for years for faith. I'm praying with some earnestness.
Bobby, I've been praying for years for faith. I want to believe
God. And praying with some earnestness
because I really want to believe God. And as Berridge said, I
am not yet possessed of half a grain. Not of half a grain. Faith is like a grain of mustard
seed. Is that what the book says? It's
like a grain of mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven in you,
that's like a grain of mustard seed. And our master said, if
you had faith like the grain of a mustard seed, the tiniest
little seed, the tiniest little seed, you could say to this mountain,
what mountain is he talking about? Any mountain, any mountain, any
obstacle, anything standing in your way, depart and be removed
into the sea. And the mountain was gone. Oh, I've been praying for faith
for 49 years and praying with some earnestness, but I don't
have half a grain. Not half a grain. Believers walk
in darkness in the midst of spiritual trials and conflicts. Satan's
temptations, the lust of our flesh, with worldly trouble and
care and sorrow. Believers have those things.
Believers have domestic trouble, sickness, bereavement. Believers have wives who forsake
them and husbands who forsake them. Believers have children
who hate them and do everything they can to tarnish their name. Believers trouble, trouble. Believers get sick. Believers
die. Believers hold the hands of folks
they love dearly and watch them die. And we're full of trouble. Walk in darkness and don't know
what to do. Believers suffer slander and
reproach. Believers suffer depression,
mental, emotional anguish, agony. I thought until eight years ago
I would never know anything about such depression. My wife will
verify what I'm telling you. I had never known depression
in my life. So for you men and women who
struggle with it, I could Sympathize with you, but I couldn't understand
it and I still can't understand it but after I came through all
the difficulties and surgery eight years ago got past all
the Influence of the medication stuff. They'd had me off medicine
for a long time get it out of my system. I Spent two of the
darkest weeks in my life Two weeks when God didn't speak
to me. And try as I did, God wouldn't
let me speak to Him. This dear lady would sit by my
bed day and night. She'd read to me and we'd chat
and talk. Brother Todd came over every
couple of days to visit and we'd chat and talk. But nothing moved. God wouldn't speak. And God wouldn't
let me speak to Him until the second day of May. And you shall
be read Spurgeon's morning devotional to me from John 17 and verse
15. And God spoke. Oh, what bright, brilliant, shining
light dawned upon my soul. Believers suffer those things. Why? What's God's purpose in this?
Why has he brought me in darkness and laid me in the pit as those
that be dead of old? I don't pretend to know a full
answer to that, but I'll give you some thoughts. Darkness is our best teacher. Darkness is our best teacher. He came home from England one
night a few years ago, went by the hospital, Regina's in the
hospital, and Mark was in darkness. And I've watched you be taught
of God. Darkness is our best teacher. Books of instruction are always
written in black letters. Did you get it? They're written
in black letters. And God teaches his own in darkness. We learn far more in times of
darkness than we ever learn when everything's going well. We learn
far more. The reason God keeps his people
in the valley rather than on the mountaintop is because things
grow with the valley. And we learn in darkness. We
see things in darkness we can't possibly see in the shining lights. Times of darkness tend to humble
us. five years ago, 36 years ago.
I came through here to preach to you on my way to Jacksonville,
Florida to preach for Brother Scott Richardson in a meeting.
And preached for you and left that night, drove to Jacksonville.
Next day I got a call and I found out that this building that you're
in the process of putting up was a pile of toothpicks. And
Brother Scott and I talked a little bit. He preached to us from Acts
27 where Paul was on board a ship going to Mileta and there was
a terrible storm and they ran the ship aground and it broke
apart and folks who could swam to shore and others came to shore
on broken pieces of the ship. And Scott preached on broken
pieces. He said, now we need to learn
something. always uses broken pieces and
only uses broken pieces. God always uses broken pieces
and only uses broken pieces. Times of darkness not only tend
to humble us, they tend to shut us up to Christ. If today he deigns to bless us
with a sense of pardoned sin, he tomorrow may distress us and
make us feel the plague within, all to make us sick of self and
fond of him. Times of darkness. make us sympathetic to one another. And times of darkness make us
more useful. Though we're broken and often
walk in darkness, still the believer walks in darkness. He never quits. Light or dark, he trusts the
Lord. Now look at the counsel God gives. When you walk in darkness, trust
in the name of the Lord and stay upon your God. Trust in the name
of the Lord. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's darling Son, He in whose name alone we come to God, by
whose name alone we are saved. Trust Jehovah Jireh, the Lord
who provides. Jehovah in Kadesh, the Lord who
sanctifies. Jehovah's in Kenya, the Lord
our righteousness. Stay upon your God in darkness. When you can't do anything else. Stay upon God. Stay yourself upon Him. Lean hard upon your Savior. Well, if I had some light, I
would. If I trust God only in the light, my trust is not in
God but in myself, my feelings, my experience. God's promises
were not made for times of light. God's promises were made for
times of darkness. Spirit of God, teach me to trust
God my Savior in the darkness. To trust Him without any evidences
of grace. Now, I've tried to deal with
this a great deal lately. because it needs dealing with. Quit looking for evidences. Quit looking for evidences. Oh,
if I just had some evidence, well, I know I'm a believer because
I love my brethren. Do you now? Do you now? Which one of you loves me like
you love yourself? I know I'm a believer because
I love the Lord. Do you now? Do you? Which one
of you loves God with all your heart, soul, mind, and being? Quit looking for evidences in
yourself. Trust God without the evidences. If you trust God with evidences,
you don't trust God. You trust the evidences. And
quit, especially quit, looking for evidences in other people.
Just quit. Quit. All my life as a believer,
I've heard fellas say, well, we can't judge, but we're fruit
inspectors. The problem is, you don't know
good fruit. And that's not your privilege,
nor your responsibility, and it doesn't lie within your ability.
Quit looking for evidences. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord
without having anything to confirm His Word. God said it. That's it. Well, I don't feel saved. I want
to tell you something about your pastor. I don't know when I have felt
saved. since first I knew the Lord.
I'm just as honest as I can be. I don't know when I felt saved. But this I know. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. And I believe on the Son of God. He is all my hope and all my
trust. Faith believes God without support and thus honors
Him. And when thine eye of faith is
dim, still hold on, Jesus, sink or swim, still at His footstool
bow the knee, Israel's God shall strengthen thee. Now look at
verse 11 and listen to the Savior as He tells you why you will
go to hell if you do. Verse 10 speaks of God's children
walking in light, children of light walking in darkness. In
verse 11 He speaks of children of darkness walking in light.
Behold all ye that kindle a fire, and compass yourselves about
with sparks. Walk in the light of your fire
and in the sparks that you have kindled. You won't believe Christ. You
won't walk in the light. You won't do it. So you make
some sparks for yourself. You make some sparks for yourself.
are just little flickers of light. You know what they're good for?
You know what they're good for? Nothing but entertainment. That's
all they're good for. You can't use them for anything.
They're just good for entertainment. You remember as kids, little
sparkly things we'd buy? You got to pack up about 10 cents
and you get a match and light that thing up and you just wave
it around and watch it and just, oh, look at that. Look at the
spark. And sometimes get two of them going. Try to get as
many as you can hold in your hand going at one time. And oh,
you're entertaining yourself with them. Just sparks. Good
for nothing. That's what religion without
Christ is. That's what your own righteousness
is. Savior says here, you kindle
a fire for yourself, then you wrap yourselves up with your
sparks and walk in the light of your fire. and in the sparks
that you have kindled. I recall years ago, Mary Bell,
she's with the Lord now, she was talking, I was visiting down
at their house one time and somehow got talking about records, old
45 records, and she said we had the best collection of records
She said, we had records from the 60s right on through the
early 70s. We had all the good records.
And then in one of our fits of religion, Donnie threw them all
out. Sparks. Just sparks make you feel good
for a minute, entertain you, and do nothing for you. This
shall you have from my hand. You choose your way. God says,
I'll leave you to your way. and you shall lie down forever
in hell in sorrow. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. When darkness veils His
lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, my anchor holds within the veil. His oath, His covenant,
His blood, support me in the whelming flood. When all supports
are washed away, He then is all my hope and stay. O Son of God, Make yourself the hope and stay
of every soul here, of every immortal soul who hears
this word from you. Make them children of light and
give us grace ever, ever, ever to trust you and to stay ourselves
upon you. Amen.