Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Isaiah, Chapter 50. Isaiah, Chapter 50. If God will
let me preach it, I've got a message for you. Just hold your Bibles open for
a minute. Isaiah, Chapter 50. A while back, one of the young
men in our congregation, Brother Frank Hall, I came to the office
one Sunday evening. We always meet in my office and
have scripture reading and prayer before service. Usually meet
there for 30, 45 minutes before services start. And he was the
first one there. He came in, sat down. I could
tell he was a little concerned about something. And I said to
him, I said, Brother Frank, how are you? And he answered with
a question. He said, Brother Don, do all
believers Have times of darkness. And I paused for a minute and
I said, I can't speak for all believers. I don't dare presume
to say what all believers experience or don't experience. But I can
speak for myself. I know what it is to have times
of great darkness. Children of light. with times
of great darkness, times of great darkness. I know this, there
are some things that you can't see except in the dark. You can't see the stars in the
heavens or the moon above until the sun sets and darkness comes. Or if you're in a deep pit and
you look up through the hole of the pit, Then in that deep
pit, you can see the stars in the sky even in midday from that
deep pit. In spiritual things, that's much
the same way things are. None of us would choose seasons
of darkness. Nobody in his right mind would
ever choose any of those things that break our hearts, Any of
those things that cause us times of heaviness, not one of us would
choose them. Not one of us would. But those
seasons of darkness are necessary for our spiritual good, for the
glory of our God, for our usefulness to one another
in his kingdom. Whatever it is that your heavenly
Father brings to pass in your life, understand this, He did
this for you. Not to you, not just with you,
for you. I got a message just the other
day that a doctor is diagnosed by Donny Bell's wife, Mary, with
cancer. Said she has, at best, three
to six months to live. Has lung cancer in both lungs. One's very aggressive, cancer
that can't be treated, doesn't respond to treatment. The other,
a little more slow growing. waited a little while to word
things just right, and I said to Mary, if I could, I'd take
this from you. If I could, I would. I'd never
allow it to happen. Would you? I'd never allow it
to happen. But he who loves you infinitely
better than I can or do who is infinitely wiser than you and
I has done this for you because of his love and wisdom and grace. I want to talk to you tonight
about seasons of darkness, seasons of darkness. The fact is anyone
can learn the letter of Holy Scripture without any spiritual
help. A person can, by diligent study
and by repeated instruction, grasp the doctrines of the Bible. I've heard folks say, well, you
can't believe what men call Calvinism. You can't believe the doctrines
of grace and not be saved. No, you can't. You can learn
it just as well as anything. You can learn Calvinism just
as well as you can Arminianism. You can learn the historic facts
of the Bible and recite them with perfect accuracy. You can
learn the prophetic revelations of scripture and work out a chart
and write it out so other folks can understand it. And you can
teach other people these things. You can learn these things and
teach them to others and never be affected by them. But Russell,
you can't meet God and not be affected. You can't learn the gospel and
not be affected. You can't know the son of God
and not be affected. There are gems of living spiritual
truth hidden in this treasure chest. Treasures in this deep, deep
mind which no one can learn except by the experience of God's grace.
Our text tonight is one of those vast, deep, deep minds. Isaiah 50 verse 10. As I read
this text and begin to declare its message, some of you will
find your very souls echoing everything I have to say because
you know by experience those things I'll be talking about.
Some of you will be bewildered. Confused because you have no
idea what the text is talking about you may even become offended
Because it goes against the grain of your works self-righteous
religion But if God the Holy Spirit will speak by his word,
I've got something for you here Isaiah chapter 50 verse 10 Who
is among you that feareth the Lord and obeyeth the voice of
his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light." Who's here in this building here
in Walker Creek, Arkansas? This little group of people here.
Who among you is there who fears God? who obeys the voice of his
servant, and you walk in darkness. Well, I don't walk in darkness.
He's talking about somebody here who walks in darkness, somebody
who fears God and obeys the word of God walking in darkness. Let
him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the
light of your fire and in the sparks that you have kindled.
This shall ye have of mine hand. You shall lie down in sorrow. Now, here are two distinct characters
traced out by the hand of God, the Holy Spirit. One is a child
of God, an heir of heaven, a child of light. The other is a child
of Satan, an heir of hell, a child of darkness, reprobate, consigned
to eternal torment, cast off by the hand of divine providence.
The child of light, however, is described as walking in darkness. And the child of darkness is
said to walk in light. The one walking in darkness is
comforted and the one walking in light is warned. These two verses teach us that
true believers are often distressed and troubled about the state
of their souls and many other things while mere hypocrites
very often are full of confidence and full of assurance. Believers walk in darkness much
of the time. Unbelievers, religious hypocrites,
have always got the answers. They've always got light. Here
first we have a description of the children of light. as men
and women walking in darkness. And I'm going to spend the bulk
of my time talking about these children of light walking in
darkness, because my object is to comfort you who are God's
own. to give you reason to believe
God, to give you some instruction to help you in times of darkness,
and to lead you who yet do not know our God into the light of
the gospel of the glory of our God in Jesus Christ our Savior. First, Isaiah shows us the character
of every true child of God. He tells us two things are true
concerning those who are children of light, those who are God's
elect, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. First, the
believer is one who fears the Lord. He fears the Lord. Now, I can't stress this adequately. There was a time when I was afraid
of God, when I didn't know it. There was a time when I was afraid
of God. I was scared to death of God.
The thoughts of death and judgment terrified my soul. That's not
the fear I'm talking about. That's not the fear referred
to in this text of scripture. This fear is not a slavish legal
fear. It's not a fear of judgment,
of wrath, of punishment, a fear that somehow you've got to be
just right or God's going to get you. Rather, it is a loving
reverence, a believing fear, a desire to please, a desire
to honor, a desire for God's glory. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. I just have one daughter. We
got those two grandchildren. And growing up, my daughter,
I hope, was not afraid of me. I never wanted her to be afraid
of me. I wanted her to honor me. I wanted her to want to please
me. And my daughter, now 41 years
old, And she still has a great dread of displeasing me. That's what I'm talking about. She wants to honor her dad. She
wants me to be pleased with her. That's the fear I'm talking about.
It's a filial fear. It's the fear of a child for
the father he loves, a fear of a child for the father he desires
to please, the fear of a child not for a tyrant of a father,
not for a hard, mean father, but the fear of a child for the
father that child longs to please and delight. The prophet's talking
about reverence, godly fear. It's the fruit of grace whereby,
the apostle tells us, we may serve God acceptably. This godly fear. Serve the Lord
with fear and rejoice with trembling, the psalmist said. David said,
as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy
mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. The fear
of God, then, it's the fruit of grace. It's the beginning
of the knowledge of Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. when a person turns from being
terrified of God to this fear of God, so that God sends His
Spirit into your heart, sprinkling your conscience with the blood
of Christ, making you know you're pardoned of sin and forgiven
and accepted in Him, as you've just been preaching to us. Now,
suddenly, that one who was terrified of God lifts his eyes to heaven
and says, God's my Father. Abba, Father, I'm not afraid
to call God my Father anymore. This fear, this fear of God is
that which is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of the
knowledge of the Son of God. And the more you grow in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the more you grow
in this fear of God. All who are born of God then
fear the Lord. And second, all who are born
of God Obey the voice of his servant. Now, without question,
the one who is spoken of in this passage as his servant is our
Lord Jesus Christ. Back up to chapter 50 and verse
4. Isaiah 50, verse 4. Our Redeemer is Jehovah's righteous
servant. He became Jehovah's servant when
he assumed all responsibility for our souls in the covenant
of grace as our surety. When he assumed the responsibility
of going after that one lost sheep and bringing it home. When
he assumed the responsibility of saving his people from their
sins, our Lord Jesus bowed himself willingly as our divine mediator
to be Jehovah's servant and said, Lord, I come to do thy will,
oh my God. Look in verse 4. The Lord God
hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how
to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Now watch this, verse 5. The
Lord God hath opened mine ear. You know what I'm talking about,
Brother Winston? I'm talking about that bond slave, willing bond slave. He
goes and gets his ear bored through with it all. He says, I love
my master. I love my wife. I love my children.
I will not go free. And the Lord Jesus is Jehovah's
willing bond servant. He wouldn't go out free. He would
not be freed from his obligation to redeem and save his people.
He said, the Lord God has opened mine ear. And I wasn't rebellious. This wasn't forced upon me. Neither
turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters. I gave my back to the smiters. He wasn't forced to die. The
Jews and the Romans had no power over him. I gave my back to the
smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I
hid not my face from shame and spitting, for the Lord God will
help me. Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. I know that I shall not be ashamed.
He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me. Let
us stand together Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me come
back to chapter 42. I said 42 Here what God says
about his servant? His servant the Lord Jesus Behold
my servant whom I uphold mine elect I Christ be my first elect,
he said, then chose our souls in Christ our head. Christ chosen
and us chosen in him, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put
my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment,
justice, righteousness to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor
lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. That
is, this one, he's never frustrated. He's never confused. He's never under pressure. He's never put in constraint.
He doesn't cry, lift up his voice like someone in the street who
doesn't have his way and doesn't know what to do about it. Oh,
no, no, no. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quench. A bruised reed. A bruised reed? Y'all have bamboo around here? What can you do with a bruised
bamboo reed? You can't even use it for a fishing
pole. A bruised reed is a useless reed. You can't tie them together
and make anything out of it. A bruised reed is a useless reed. A smoking flax, all you want
to do with it is get it out of your nose. Just get rid of it. Find that which is useless, that
which is obnoxious. He'll never turn it away. He came to save sinners. Read
that now. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. Now watch this next line. He shall not fail. Brother David sang that hymn
a bit ago. He bled and died, the hymn in
your book says, for Adam's race. He changed it. He bled and died
for all his helpless race. Well, why'd you change that?
Because he didn't die for all Adam's race. If he had died for
all Adam's race, all Adam's race would be redeemed. He shall not
fail. This notion, this idea that Christ
Jesus tried to redeem folks who are yet lost, that he tries to
save folks who go to hell anyway, that he tries to get folks to
believe him who do not believe him is utter blasphemy, for it
is a denial that he's God. It's a denial that he's God.
He shall not fail. So the one spoken of here as
Jehovah's servant is our Lord Jesus. Certainly, certainly God
the Holy Spirit is the servant of God. He comes and teaches
us the things of God. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them to us so that if you're made of the Spirit,
you're taught of God. You're born of God. You're the
sons of God. If you have not the Spirit of
God, you're none of His. God's people walk in the Spirit,
live in the Spirit. They're led in the Spirit. They're
taught of the Spirit. We live in the world of the Spirit. We've
been born again. And certainly, Jehovah's servant
refers to his servants, faithful gospel preachers, those men who
declare to you the Word of God. Hold your hands in Isaiah and
turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. I want you
to see this. And I want you to see it clearly. We live in this civvy generation. in which men everywhere seem
to think preachers are hirelings. They hire them for a job, and
they pay them for the job. And if they don't do the job
right, then we'll fire them and get another one. And I know good
men of you come from what's called reformed circles. I'd like to
find out what you're reformed from. But the reformed folks,
they have a preacher, but he's just one among many. In other
words, he don't really count for much. You don't really count
for much. Not in God's church. Not in God's
church. God's servants are his messengers
by whom God speaks to you and instructs you in gospel truth
in the word and way of God, whose word, whose voice you obey as
they declare to you the word of God. Now let's see if it's
what the book says. Hebrews 13, 7. Remember them
which have the rule over you." What? Rule? Rule? No. That's what it says. Rule. Rule. If a man doesn't
know how to rule his own house, how can he rule the house of
God? Now, some of you will find this surprising, but I rule my
house. And I'm going to continue ruling my house. It's not going to change. I don't
care who votes what law, it ain't going to change. It ain't going
to change. That doesn't mean that I'm stronger than Shelby,
though I am. That doesn't mean that I can
force her to do what she doesn't want to do, though most of the
time I can do that. What's that mean? That means
by the leadership of God's spirit, With grace and love for her,
I'm the man responsible for what goes on in that house. And, Darwin,
it ain't going on if I don't agree to it. It just ain't going
to happen. Well, don't y'all vote? No, never
have. I've never called for a family meeting and said, let's go to
whether or not we're going to buy a car. The thought has just never crossed
my mind somehow. And she's never suggested it.
Well, what are you suggesting? God's servants, as they seek
the glory of God, seek to serve God's people and God's kingdom,
rule the house of God by his word. And God's people follow. They follow. Some of these preachers
here have been in the congregation in Danville for a long time.
I've had the privilege of being Brother Larry's pastor for 35
years, Brother Darwin's pastor for a long time. And when the
folks in Danville called me as pastor, I just went to this very
passionately. I said, now, this is the way
things are going to be. And if you don't want to be this
way, don't call me as pastor, I'll go shine shoes or something. I'm not going to play the game
with folks. I'm just not going to play the
game. But if you call me as pastor, this is how it's going to be.
And you know, I've been there for 33 years and getting along
pretty good. Getting along pretty good. Remember
them that had the rule over you. Watch this. Who spoken to you
the word of God. That's the man who has rule over
you. His rule is not by his character. It's not by his personality.
It's not by his brilliance. He speaks to you the word of
God. Faithfully expounds the scriptures. Whose faith? That might be translated faith.
That's proper. Follow their example of faith.
Their doctrine of faith. But Brother Darwin is talking
about faithfulness. That's our responsibility, Brother. If I'm God's servant, it is my
responsibility to lead God's people with exemplary faithfulness
in the things of God, whose faithfulness follow considering the end of
their conversation, considering the end of their life. Verse
17. Obey them that had the rule over
you and submit yourselves. How on earth can a man rule his
house? She submits herself. That's how we get along. And
it'd be tough if she didn't. I mean, we'd have a tough way
to go, but it didn't happen. Submit yourself. That's how the
church gets along. For they watch for your souls
as they that must give account that they may do it with joy
and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you." All
right. That's the character of God's
people. They fear God, and they obey the voice of his servant,
his son, his spirit, his servants as they declare his word. Here's
the next thing. The prophet describes the condition
in which believers often find themselves walking in darkness
and having no light. Walketh in darkness and hath
no light. Has anybody got a translation
that reads that any softer? Walketh in darkness and hath
No light. No light. When Isaiah says that
God's dear saints walk in darkness and have no light, he doesn't
mean for us to understand that in an absolute sense. Of course,
We walk in the light as he is in the light. And if we do, we
have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's son, cleanses us from all sin. We were children of darkness. Now we're children of light.
You are children of light and children of the day, not of the
night and not of darkness. So yes, all who are born of God
walk in the light of life. But this word, light, here in
Isaiah 50, verse 10, is an unusual word. It's not the word that
we would use when we talk about, boy, well, sun's up and there's
light outside. That's not the word we'd use.
It's not the word we'd use, well, the light's working all right.
That's not the word we'd use. It's not the word we would use
to say, well, they turned the lights on and now it's light
in the building. That's not the word. This is
the word that we would use to speak of brilliance, dazzling
light, dazzling light. Sometimes you'll be driving down
the road. I somehow always find myself
driving east in the mornings and driving west in the evenings.
I don't know how I manage to do that all the time. But the
lights will just be dazzling, just dazzling, blinding lights. But most of the time, I drive
during daylight hours And the light's all right. I don't have
to put sunglasses on. I don't have to pull shades down.
I don't have to take the sun visor and adjust it to keep the
glare out of my eyes because there's a lot of cloud cover.
This word is dazzling brilliance. We walk in darkness and have
no brilliance of the shining of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. if we could just have that brilliance
of His shining favor. If we could just have that brilliance,
the shining revelation of His knowledge, of His will, that'd
be a different story. But much of the time, we grope
about in darkness, walking with God, walking in the light, but
we can't see our way. And we don't know what God's
doing. Yes, all who are born of God walk in the light of lights,
but we don't always walk in the brilliant shining light of his
countenance and his favor. Lift thou up the light of thy
countenance upon us. Cause thy face to shine and we
shall be saved. Turn to the psalm of Solomon,
chapter 5. It's on Solomon chapter 5. I sleep, verse 2, but my heart
waketh. I sleep but my heart waketh because
my Savior is knocking at the door. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the
drops of the night. But he usually finds us sleeping
and in darkness. I don't know about you, but I
never have any trouble I really never have any trouble knowing
the light of my duty. I just don't have any trouble
with that. I don't recall ever in my life as a believer having
difficulty knowing what I ought to do with regard to duty and
responsibility. Do you have any trouble with
that? That's plain as a nose on your
face. That's plain as a nose on your face. I don't have any
trouble in that regard. But I often find myself in darkness
and in trouble. Turn to Psalm 88. I want you
to look at two passages. We'll just read them together.
Psalm 88, verse 1. Here is a man after God's own
heart. He writes by divine inspiration.
You remember what I've told you so often here preaching to you
over the years. You find old saints, find old
believers, an old man or woman who've been walking with God
for a long time, and you pick up the Bible. The thickest pages
are always the Psalms. Always the Psalms. I don't know
of any case where I've ever looked and didn't find that to be the
case. And there's a reason for that, Caleb. But here we're allowed
to go with a man after God's own heart, into his closet, and
hear him say to God the things we want to say, but we're not
honest enough to say. I can go with David in his closet,
and I can hear David cry the very things that my soul wants
to cry, and I just can't muster the honesty to cry before God.
Oh, Lord God of my salvation. And notice how he speaks. God,
you're my salvation. I have cried day and night before
thee. Let my prayer come before thee.
Incline thine ear unto my cry, for my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with
them that go down to the pit. I am a man that hath no strength.
free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave,
whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy
hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness in the
deep." God, you've dug a hole for me, and you've thrown me
in the hole. and you've covered it over, and
there's no light. I can't see. You're my God. I trust you, but I have no light.
Look at Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3. And I want you to notice as we read
these verses how often Jeremiah refers to God. How often Jeremiah
says, God, you did this. You did this. Lamentations chapter
3, verse 1. 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. He hath hedged me about that
I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy.
Also when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. He hath
enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying
in wait, and as a lion in secret places." David is talking about
God, our Father. God's done this to me, you know.
He hath turned me, verse 11, turned aside my ways and pulled
me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He
hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath
caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people
and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness.
He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken
my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
and thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot
prosperity, and I said my strength and my hope is perished from
the Lord. Remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail
not, they are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. Oh, child of God, when He digs
a pit and throws you in it and covers it over and you're in
darkness, remember it's at the Lord's mercies
that we're not concerned. And in the pit of darkness still,
His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. And He watches over us in the
dark pit when we can't see as well as when we can. And His
faithfulness, oh, great, great, great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. We have the light of God's goodness
and grace in Christ always. but not always the light of assurance.
We have the light of his promises always, but not always the light
of his presence. The fact is true believers often
walk in darkness. Some believers walk in darkness
and struggle all their lives concerning the state and condition
of their souls. John Berridge, one of the English
preachers from the 1700s, said, for my own part, since first
my unbelief was felt, I've been praying for years for faith,
and praying with some earnestness, and am not yet possessed of half
a grain. Russell, I relate to that. Oh,
how I want to believe God. Oh, how I want to believe God. Don't want to talk about each
other. I want to trust Him. Just trust
Him. We have spiritual trials and
conflicts, temptations from Satan. Grieve our hearts. Lusts arise
within that give us constant trouble. worldly care and sorrow,
slander and reproach, depression, mental anguish, emotional disturbance. I never have any of those things. I'm sure I've told you this before,
but it'll bear repetition. I've never had much experience
with depression. Never had much experience like that. till five years ago. And I went for two weeks when God didn't speak to me and
God wouldn't let me speak to Him. Walter, I haven't been like
that ever before or since in my life. And I can't tell you
what darkness it was. He wouldn't speak to me. And
I'd try to pray, and I couldn't speak to Him. And one morning, I think it was
May 15th, I'm sure it was, Shelby had been doing what she had been
doing for that whole month. I was in the hospital. She read
Spurgeon's morning devotional to me. And the Lord Jesus said
in John 15, Father, I will that thou shouldest not
take them out of the world." And for the first time in two
weeks, God spoke. I believe if I had been in hospital,
I'd have shouted. God spoke. God spoke. And, Darwin, if you'd
asked me a month before if Don Fortner would ever be in that
shape, I'd say, not me. Not me. Why does God send the trouble?
Why does he send the darkness? He's ever wise, ever good, ever
gracious. Why does he direct our paths
then into the path of darkness? Why does he send his disciples
sailing their ship right into the eye of the storm, knowing
that the storm is about to arise and would wreck their ship? Why
would he do that? Why? I can't answer the word fully,
but I know this. Darkness. is our teacher. Did you ever find a textbook
written in colored ink? If you find a textbook on any
subject written in colored ink, throw it away. The fellow who's
writing is not serious about what he's doing. Textbooks are
always written in black ink. And God's textbooks are written
in black ink. Black ink of darkness. Times
of darkness tend to humble us. If today he deigns to bless us
with a sense of pardon sin, he tomorrow may distress us, make
us feel the plague within, all to make us sick of self and fond
of him. And that's good for you. That's
good for you. Darkness, trouble, heavy trials tend to make us a little more
sympathetic with others and might just make us more useful. I sometimes
think the few little troubles, difficulties, I've experienced,
God's allowed me to experience them, brought me into them and
brought me through them, just so that I can help you when you
go through those troubles. We often walk in darkness, but
even in those times, we're not excused from daily responsibilities. Our text speaks of those who
walk in darkness. We walk in darkness. Sometime
back, I had a preacher scheduled to preach one of our conferences.
And he got up to preach, and he started to cry. He said, I
just can't go on. I'm just not prepared. I can't
preach. And a lot of folks thought that
was very noble. If I'd have had a gun, I'd have
shot him between the eyes. What are you talking about? I
was scheduled to be here tonight to preach here. And it doesn't
matter what I feel like. And it doesn't matter whether
I have any light or don't have any light. And it doesn't matter
whether I feel close to God or feel as far away from God as
I could possibly be. That's my responsibility. It's
my responsibility to prepare and do what God's put in my hand
to do. And know full well I can't do it unless God speaks by me. Believers walk in darkness, don't
quit in darkness. They continue in darkness. They
don't quit. They don't turn back. They walk in darkness. They that
wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount
up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
They shall walk even in darkness, David, and not faint. How many times over the years
that man's called me and my response is, you just go on. You just go on. How? You go on. You just go on and
pray that God will give you some light and pray that God will
be pleased to draw near to you and draw you near to himself.
And then thirdly, the Lord gives us gracious, gracious counsel. Watch this. Let him, who's this? Those who fear the Lord, those
who obey the voice of his servant, who walk in darkness and have
no light. What you do? Let him trust in
the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Trust in the name
of the Lord. But Brother Don, I don't have
any evidences. That's when you trust it. Where are your evidences? You
come out of religion, teachers look for evidences all the time.
Evidences of grace, evidences of salvation, evidences of conversion,
and evidences of holiness. As long as you've got any, you
won't trust him. That's exactly right. That's
exactly right. With no evidences, trust the
name of the Lord. His name is Jehovah Jireh. The
Lord will see. And the Lord will provide, and
the Lord will be seen in the provision He makes. His name
is Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, God of the Sabbath,
God of all might and power. He will care for His own. His
name is Jehovah our Shepherd. He feeds His sheep, and guards
His sheep, and protects His sheep, and carries His sheep all the
way to glory. What do you do when you have
no light? What do you do when you feel
as dead as stone, as cold as ice, as hard as steel? What do
you do? Trust in the name of the Lord. His name is His character. It's
His character. His name reveals what He is. He's God our Savior. He's God
our Father. He's God our Redeemer. He's God
our shield, our strength, our help. He is God our all and in
all. Trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. The Lord Jesus looked to those
disciples and said, will you also go away? And Peter looked
around to see where those fellows were going. And I reckon Peter
thought to himself, well, they hadn't got a place to go. He said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Leave you? What have I got left? Leave you? Where do I find any
strength? Leave you? Where's my comfort? Leave you?
What shall I do? Oh, no. Thou hast the words. of eternal life. If I trust God only in the light,
my trust is not in God, but in myself, my feelings, my experience. God's promises are made for dark
times, not for light. And when thine
eye of faith is dim, Still hold on, Jesus, sink or swim, Still
at His footstool bow the knee, And Israel's God thy strength
shall be. Now quickly look at verse 11. Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire. He's talking about those self-righteous
Pharisees over there, right about in Luke 15. They kindle a fire. Some of you. Everybody's got
a refuge. All of you do. Everybody's got
hope. All of you do. Everybody's got
religion. Everybody does. But most everybody
has religion. Did you ever try to make a fire
out of striking rocks together, striking a flint? I tried. I
never could do it. And you see some sparks. That's
just what it's all about. You kindle a fire. Now watch
what it says here. Compass yourself about with sparks. Just sparks of religion, sparks
of righteousness, sparks of feelings, sparks of emotion. All right,
walk then in the light of your fire. Take your little Flint rock,
walk through the woods on a dark night. Take it! Walk in the light of your own
fire and in the sparks that you've kindled. You trust your righteousness
and refuse Christ? You trust your works and refuse
Christ? You trust your doings and refuse
Christ? You trust yourself and refuse
to bow to the Son of God? This is what God says. You walk
in the light of your fire, those little sparks you kindle, the
sparks that you kindled, this shall you have of mine hand. God says you want your well,
give it to you. You want to think well of yourself, I'll make you
think well of yourself. You want to claim to your righteousness?
I'll fix it so you can't let go of it until you lie down forever
in the pit of hell. Oh, thank God. Thank God for grace to walk in
darkness, stayed upon God. Children of God, trust in the
name of the Lord, and stay yourselves upon your God. Amen.