Well, when I drove up tonight,
the first person I saw was my good friend, Brother Tim James,
walking in the door and I started to reminisce. That's what you
do when you get to be my age. Brother Tim, his wife Debbie
and I were raised on the south side of Winston-Salem. I'm not
near as old as he is. He's the same age as my wife.
But we were raised on the south side of Winston-Salem. and known
each other for a long time. And then I began to realize I've
known most of you, most of your lives. And our lives have been
mingled together in God's providence. Many of us in unique ways. I
guess your pastor was about 15, 16 years old when I first met
him. And we've We've all known each
other a while. Don Williams, I met your mom
and dad the first time I went to cross lanes West Virginia
to preach in 1969. That's a long time ago. A long time ago. So most of y'all can remember
when I was still 6'3 and had a full head of hair and my shirts
were tapered this way instead of this way. I believe God's giving me a message
for you. Believe he has. Dear friends, family, turn with
me if you will to John's Gospel, Chapter 6. John's Gospel, Chapter 6. For the sake of time, we'll not
read verses 5 through 21, but I hope you will read the entire
passage Before you go to bed tonight or early in the morning
while this is still fresh on your mind. Right now let's just
look at the last sentence of verse 17. John chapter 6 verse
17. It was now dark and Jesus was not come to them. When I was a boy, boys learned
early you don't let anybody know you're afraid. If any of the
boys found out you were afraid, there's no end to it. Now, there's
a big difference between being afraid and showing fear. I didn't show fear. I don't think
I ever showed fear to anybody except when my mother came after
me with a belt. But the only thing that scared me more than
that was being alone in the dark. Oh, I can remember staying in
the back room of my great aunt's house in the mountains of West
Virginia on a dirt road that didn't have any lights and they
put me back there to sleep, it wasn't any place else. Either
that or sleep with the girls and they thought I was a big
boy, I didn't want to sleep in a paddock with all those girls, I'd have given
my right arm to have slept in the security of that room. But
they put me back in the den to sleep on that caught right up
next to that dirt road that they talk about convicts escaping
from prison and going up there and hiding out in the mountains.
And I'd lay back there and count the cracks in the walls all night
long, scared to death, alone in the dark. Well in this passage
before us we see these disciples in the midst of two great miracles
performed by our Master. He took five loaves and a few
pieces of fish from a boy's hand and fed 5,000 men as well as
the women and children who were there. And then the Lord Jesus
sent his disciples across the sea. He told them, you go get
in the boat and go across the sea and I'll meet you on the
other side. And they are in the midst of
the sea and it was dark. and the Lord Jesus had not come
to them. We're told specifically with
regard to the five loaves and fishes that this miracle was
performed to try Philip and the disciples to prove them. To prove
them. The fact is that our great God
and Savior sends us through many things in this life to prove
us. To prove Himself to us. Isn't that amazing? That He must prove Himself to
us. That He must prove Himself to
us. In order for me to trust him,
he's got to prove to me over and over and over again that
he's trustworthy. And he does these things to prove
us to ourselves, to graciously, sweetly force us to trust him. Now these two miracles might
seem to be unrelated. Don't ever imagine that to be
the case. This book inspired by God is written for us not
only the letter of the word inspired, but it is constructed and put
together in the order in which God the Holy Spirit intended
that we read it. It's put together in sequence
so that we would read things together. And these two miracles
speak of proving times to God's people. And we do have our proving
times. What a proving time it was for
Abraham on Mount Moriah when God sent him to offer his son
Isaac. What a proving time it was for
God's servant Job when God turned Satan loose on him. What a proving
time it was for Peter when the Lord Jesus ordered that he be
sifted as wheat. What a proving time it is for
our souls when the Savior proves himself to us and proves us to
ourselves. You see, the fact is, we experience
these trials, adversities, these proving times, these times of
darkness, when the Lord doesn't come to us. Because He will,
by these things, sweetly, graciously, force us to do what we will not
otherwise do. A few weeks ago, I was preaching
for Brother Darwin Pruitt out in Taylor, Arkansas. One of the
old men in the congregation had been a friend of mine for a long,
long time. Brother Winston asked me right before the service.
He said, Brother Don, do you ever find yourself leaning on
the arm of the flesh? And Bob and I responded, Always, until God stops me. That's just truth. I hate it. I wish it weren't
so, but that's just truth. No matter what difficulty comes,
be it great or small, No matter what trial, be it great or small,
no matter what thing I have to deal with, the first thing I've
got to do is work it out. What am I going to do? How am
I going to handle this? And the Lord graciously makes
me understand I can't do anything. He will make you, if you're His,
to know your utter insufficiency, that you're utterly incapable
of anything. Without Me, you can do nothing. And that's addressed to men and
women who walk with Him by faith. Without Me, you can do nothing. And He will make you, if you're
His. over and over and over again
to know His grace is sufficient. He'll do it. Our subject tonight
is alone in the dark. And I want to show you five clear
lessons from John chapter 6 verses 5 through 21. First, learn this and remember
this. The Lord God, our great Savior,
always knows what he will do. Look at verse 5. When Jesus then
lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he saith
unto Philip, Which shall we buy bread that these may eat? And
this he said to prove, Philip, for he himself knew what he would
do. We're often and easily caught
off guard. He's never caught off guard.
We're often and easily taken by surprise, shocked. He's never
surprised. He's never shocked. He's never
unprepared. Our great savior always knows
what he will do. That ought to be enough, shouldn't
it, Greg? That ought to be enough. I just expected my daughter,
when she was a little tight, I don't expect it anymore, she
knows me too well, but when she was a little tight, I just expected
her, if she was troubled about anything, if she was disturbed
about anything, all it should take to calm your fear is for
me to say, honey, daddy knows. I just expected her to be perfectly
at ease with that. Kind of foolish, isn't it? The
Savior knows what he will do. That ought to be sufficient for
us. He knew what he would do before Lucifer fell. He knew
what He would do before Adam transgressed in the garden. He
knew what He would do before we came forth from the womb,
speaking lies. And for you, poor lost sinners here tonight, chosen
by His grace, redeemed by His blood, He says, I know the thoughts
I have toward you. Thoughts of peace, not evil.
He knows exactly what He's doing with you. He knows exactly what
He will do with you. and child of God, He knows what
He'll do with you. He knows, let this my comfort
be, He knows the path designed for me, a healing balm for all
my woes. Oh, blessed thought, my Savior
knows. The thing our Savior knew He
would do in these two miracles, It's just what he always does.
He knew that he would make his disciples to understand that
they couldn't provide for these 5,000 men. He'll make them understand that
they had no sufficiency in themselves. He'll make them understand they
could not do a thing about the need before them. He'll make
these disciples understand, these very same disciples, understand
as they're rowing in this boat in the midst of a storm in the
dark of night that you can't get anywhere. Make them to know
their utter insufficiency and His complete all-sufficiency. If God ever saves you by His
grace, one way or another He's going to do that for you. He's going to make you know you
are nothing and you can do nothing. You're nothing but a lost, ruined,
doomed, damned, helpless, dead sinner and there's nothing you
can do about it. There's nothing you can do about
it. There's nothing you can do about
it. All it will take for you to go
to hell is for God to leave you alone. There's nothing you can
do about it. Oh, but He is grace. He is mercy. He is righteousness. He is redemption. And when He has stripped you
and laid you low in the dust before Him, He will reveal Himself
to you in His all-sufficient mercy and saving grace. But not
until then. Number two, when the Lord Jesus
tries and proves When He tries us and proves us, though He sifts
us as wheat, and tries us and refines us as silver is refined. I'm not looking for something
besides, I just want to be real sure you hear what I'm saying.
When He does, Clare, nothing shall be lost. Nothing shall be lost. Nothing shall be lost. The Lord
asked His disciples who forsook all and followed Him, He said,
lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? I ask you,
my brother, my sister, you who have forsaken all and followed
Him, you who today forsake all and follow Him, lacked ye anything? After Doug and Faith and her
grandchildren left us Thanksgiving Day, Shelby and I did some work
at the office and worked around the house and yard and sat down
in the evening and my dear wife so good at helping me remember
things, she started going over things God had done just for
us. You ever think about that? Things
God done, he's done just for you? I mean just, you look at
each other, That wasn't for anybody but you. Just for me. Lacked He anything? Have you
ever lacked anything following the Redeemer? Ever lacked anything
obeying His will? Ever lacked anything serving
His kingdom? You young preachers, I'll tell
you what I told a young preacher just yesterday. Talked to him
at length. He said, I want to think about this, think about
that. Brother Gabe, you're fixing to move over to Kingsport, which
everyday way is Rocky Mountain. Ah, what a blessing. Tell you
what I'd do if I were you. I'd tell you what I'd do. I'd
throw caution to the wind. I'd throw caution to the wind.
I wouldn't consider anything. I wouldn't consider my daughter's
future, my wife's future, my grandchildren's future. I wouldn't
consider a thing except His glory and His will. And you'll like
nothing. Like ye anything? Which of you
would deny what I just said? Like ye anything? When Israel went down to Egypt,
Joseph finally got them down there. And they were there for
400 long years. 400 long years. And they were oppressed
and beaten and beaten and oppressed and oppressed and beaten. Pharaoh
tried to slaughter them, tried to kill all the male babies.
He did everything he could to see to it. They could not prosper. And when they went out of Egypt,
the Egyptians gave them everything they needed and said, please
leave us. And they took everything that was worth anything out of
Egypt with them. Everything. They took everything
that was worth anything out of Egypt and then they spoiled the
Egyptian army laying in the coast of the Red Sea. Like to do anything? The three Hebrew children, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. We think of them as little children.
Those are fellas, Bruce and me, don't know who we are. They were
grown men. And they would not bow down to
the barbaric image of the pagan king and worship an idol. And
so Nebuchadnezzar threw them into the fire furnace. And you
know what they lost in that furnace? Did you ever notice what they
lost? The cords that bound them. That was all. And they didn't
even smell like they'd been in a smoking area. They came out
of the furnace, hadn't lost a thing. Hadn't lost a thing. But they
found one thing there. They could not find elsewhere.
They found the Son of God walking with them in the midst of the
furnace. And they had never found that,
Paul, had they not been in the furnace. Right key anything? Turn to Isaiah chapter 43. Now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not,
for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Sheba for thee, since thou was precious in my
sight thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. After our Lord performed this
notable miracle And the folks saw what he had done. They said,
surely this is that Messiah, the prophet. For these things
demonstrate that the one promised in the book has come in our midst. This is the Christ, the Son of
the living God. He who has performed such wonders
for us has performed another wonder. He was on his way to Jerusalem
when he fed the 5,000 and when he sent his disciples across
the sea. He was on his way to Mount Calvary where he must suffer
and die at the hands of the Jews and the Gentiles and rise again
the third day because in another wondrous miracle in the sacrifice
of himself he would redeem us from our sins. Here's the third
lesson. by living in this world, we will
have and must have our nights alone. We will have and must have our
nights alone. We read in verse 17, Even was
now come, verse 16, his disciples went down into the sea, then
verse 17, entered into a ship and went over the sea toward
Capernaum, and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come unto them. You compare Matthew and Mark,
and you will find that these disciples boarded this ship not
on their own, But because the master said get in the boat.
They got into this little boat because the Lord Jesus said you
go across to Capernaum and I will meet you over there on the other
side. And so the disciples got in their
little boat, and they kept looking. Every boat they were passing,
they were looking for him. But he didn't show up. And then
it got dark, and the storm arose, and they rowed, and they rowed,
and they rowed, and he's still not with them. They were the
Lord's servants, but the Lord wasn't with them. They were doing
what the Lord told them to do, but he hadn't come to them. They
had 12 baskets full of fish and bread, and they couldn't eat
a bite. They were in the midst of a storm,
busy with oars, and they were terrified. The fact is, every
lost sinner's life is one long, starless night. But these are
believers. These are God's children. These
are people distinctly loved of God. Especially redeemed by the
Son of God. Especially called by His grace.
In fact, He proved His love to them over and over and over again.
Like He has you. And they're in the dark. And
the Master hasn't come to them. We have our nights of adversity
and trial and pain, our nights of emptiness, desolation, and
woe, our nights of sorrow, bereavement, and heartache. We do as individuals,
and the Church of God has her night seasons as well. How dark
the night when the Lord Jesus He is not with us manifesting when He appears to have abandoned
us. John Newton knew something about
that. He said, how tedious and tasteless the hours when Jesus
no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. Job said,
when I looked for good, evil came to me. When I waited for
light, there came darkness. And how often that's the case
with God's saints. But the Lord's given me something
that will help you through the darkness, I believe. are never as they appear. Things are never as they appear. The disciples were in their boat
and the Lord Jesus was not physically with them as he often is not
manifestly with you. How often you seek Him and can't
find Him. How often you call Him and He
will not answer you. So it is with us often. But things are not as they appear. He said, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. Though you can't hold Him, He
still holds you. Though you can't feel Him, He
still holds you in His heart. Though you can't see Him, His
eye is on you, and you're the apple of His eye. The night has
not come because of some evil you've done, not necessarily. But the night has come to make
you know again and again, again and again, Our Lord's all-sufficiency
in His great grace. The night seasons alone in the
dark make us conscious of our need, make us conscious of our Savior's
mercy, make us again aware that He hasn't changed, and they're
never wasted seasons. In fact, if you care to look
in Jeremiah 31 with me, Jeremiah 31, then turn over to Revelation
chapter 1, I'll show you in the book here that for God's saints, these night
seasons are profitable seasons for our souls. In the darkness
of night, the Lord Jesus comes to us and gives us stars of light
that we could not otherwise have. You've got to have dark to see
the moon. You've got to have dark to see
the stars at night. I'm told, I've never been down
here, but I'm told if you go down into a deep well and you're
down in the deep pit where there's just darkness and look up out
of the darkness, then in broad daylight you can see the stars.
But you've still got to be in the dark. Got to be in the dark
to see them. Look here, Jeremiah 31 verse
35. Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by
day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light
by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar. I'm not a seaman. Don't pretend
to be. I've never been in the sea in
the midst of a storm. I've just been out there with the wind
blowing a little bit. And I was ready to go back to shore. Okay,
Jeremiah says, when the sea is in a storm, and those waves,
those huge waves, are breaking and tossing the ship, He's the
one who divides the sea. He has His way even there. The
Lord of hosts is His name. Look in Revelation 20. He's speaking
of the mystery of the seven stars, which thou sawest. Revelation
chapter 1 verse 20. The seven stars which you saw
in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven
stars are the angels of the seven churches. And the seven churches,
the seven candlesticks which thou saw, they are the seven
churches. When the Lord Jesus sends darkness,
He sends light to you. What you just gave us, oh what
light for Joseph and his brethren. He sees light by his servants
in his house, by his word. And some of you listening to
me tonight, I know some of you are young, young both in age
and young in experience of the grace of God and you haven't had to bury somebody
you love yet and you haven't You had to nurse a child in your
arms until it died. You haven't been faced with a
rebel son, a rebel daughter. You think, well, what's in this
for me? I pray you'll remember when the
time comes. Because you need what I'm saying to you. He gives
you lights. Light by the instruction this
man's given you faithfully all these years. Light you find in
God's house by His Word. lights worth more than bricks
of gold. God teach you so to value it.
In the night season, that's when we find ourselves alone in the
dark and we're compelled to seek the Savior. By night, on my bed,
I sought Him whom my soul loveth. And I don't know that I've ever
earnestly sought Him any other time. It's just fact. It's just fact. I don't know
that I've ever known what it is to pray until he brought me
into the depths of the raging sea and sweetly forced me to
cry to him." I try to pray all the time. I really do. Paul,
I read this book and I pray all the time. But most of the time
it's just so many words about me. That's just fact. until He brings me to the depths
of the raging sin. And I'm made to know I am nothing,
and I can do nothing, and I look up to heaven like Jonah in the
whale's belly, and I cry, Salvation is of the Lord! Thank God to learn it, again
and again. It's in the darkness of night
when the Lord makes sweet revelations of Himself. Turn to Zechariah
chapter 1. Daniel said it was in the night
I saw the Ancient of Days. In the night I saw the Ancient
of Days. Zechariah chapter 1. Look at verse 8. I saw by night and beheld a man
riding upon a red horse and he stood among the myrtle
trees that were in the bottom I know who that man is that man's
Christ Jesus our Lord and he rides among the myrtle trees
God's churches in this world And I'll tell you where he keeps
them. In the bottom. In the bottom. We were driving
down to Brother Linwood Campbell's this week. Bill Eldridge and
I, Bill was riding and I was driving, he kept looking over
things. Oh, man, what rich bottom land. Well, that's right. I couldn't
look, I was driving, but rich bottom land. All the rich land
is bottom land. It's all bottom land. I drive
across from Nevada over to California, sometimes fly into Lake Tahoe
and drive over to Brother Harmon's and drive across those huge,
stark mountains. Do you know what's up there about
8,000 feet, 9,000 feet? Nothing. Just rocks and dirt
and light air. So you feel a little dizzy. Everything worth anything grows
in the bottom land. We all like to have what we call
mountaintop experiences and we like to get a little dizzy headed,
you know, when we shout and clap our hands, all that stuff folks
do. Our Lord graciously sees to it
that we live in the bottom land. and he keeps us there and he
rides in the midst of his churches there in the bottom and everything
else follows him, everything. In the darkest of the night the
Lord God our Savior will appear to his own in a glorious manner. He said He will be a flaming
fire by night upon the glory and He will be our defense. Yes, we have our night seasons. What do we do in the night seasons?
Look at Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50. I don't think I will forget.
I hope I don't forget. I can't remember the year, the
date. I got a call from your pastor in
the UK hospital. He called me and said if you
want to see me, you better come now, Todd wants to see you. We're
headed down to charity. Last words, I heard you speak
over that. The man said to me, what will
Aubrey and I do without Todd? What would we do without Todd?
And I wept and prayed the best I could, prayed and wept the
best I could. What do you do in the darkest
of night, when you can't see your way? and you can't put one
foot in front of the other, what do you do? Isaiah 50, verse 10. Who is he, who is among you,
that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant, obeys
the voice of Christ our Redeemer, of God the Holy Spirit, and walketh
in darkness, and hath no No light. No light. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay upon his God. Number four. Back at our text. John 6. The Lord Jesus will come to you
in the night of your storm, and he will appear to you in such
a way as you could not otherwise know him." I've had a few trials, nothing
to speak of. I've had a few trials, a few
seasons of darkness, heartache, pain. and there's not one I would have
chosen there is not one painful experience
in life I would have chosen had it been up for me not one I've
chosen for you not one but looking back from this side there's not one I'd be willing
to give up Not a what? Not a tear, not a heartache,
not a pain, not one. Because with each difficulty,
the Savior has come to me and made himself known to me in such
a way as I could not otherwise know him. And so he comes to
his own in the midst of darkness. Look at verse 18. It was dark
and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of
a great wind that blew so that they had rowed about five and
twenty or thirty four logs. These experienced seamen had
rowed about five miles. They see Jesus walking on the
sea and drawing nigh unto the ship. And they were afraid. What? They were afraid. Well, that doesn't make any sense.
They were afraid. But Jesus saith unto them, Be
not afraid, it is I. It is I. Why were they afraid? They thought he was a ghost. They thought it was a ghost walking
across the water. Isn't that silly? Kind of like
you. Kind of like me. We judge his providence ignorantly
and foolishly and often superstitiously. God forgive us. He comes to them
and says, be of good cheer. It is I be not afraid." And he
stepped into the boat. These things are written for
our learning and our admonition that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Listen to the Savior's voice.
He says, to you be of good cheer It is I, be not afraid, I raise
the tempest in your soul and I control it. I set you into
this stormy night and I'll be with you in it. I kindled the
furnace that burns you so fiercely. I kindled the furnace and I'll
watch the flames and I'll bring you through it. I sent the rivers
of woe through which you passed, and I will uphold you with the
right hand of my righteousness. I mixed the cup that you drink,
and I will see to it that it's mixed properly. It is I who took
you and took from you your health and your strength. and brought
you to emptiness and desolation. It is I who carved your cross
and laid it on your back and it is I who put the burden on
you and I will sustain you in it. I have done these things
for you. For you. He performeth all things for
me. Oh, God teach me to believe you. He performeth all things for
me. Don't be afraid. In His eye,
your brother, your friend, Your God, your savior, be of good
cheer. Everything's alright. Everything's
alright. God moves in a mysterious way
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm deep, deep in unfathomable minds
of never-fading skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall break in blessing on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his
grace. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bird may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Now look at verse 21. Then they willingly received
him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither
they went. as soon, as soon, just as soon
as you willingly receive the Savior into your dark, dark ship. The storm will be made
a calm and deliverance is immediate. Amen.