Would you turn back to first
Samuel chapter three? The second sentence of that first
verse. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. There was no open vision. I've entitled this message, The
Silence of God. At this time, there was no prophetic
voice. There was no word from God. There
was no warning. There was no reproof. There was
no proclamation. There was no declaration. All
there was was silence. There was no open vision. There was no word from God. I would like to ask you a question. Have you ever dealt with the
silence of God? He's not speaking to you. The
word preached. Has no blessing for you. Your prayers. seem to get no
farther than the ceiling and bounce right back to you, all
you know is the silence of God. And that silence is deafening. Silence. God is. And what you and I think regarding
him and what you and I believe regarding him and what you and
I say regarding him has absolutely no bearing on who he is. He said, I am that I am. If someone says, well, here's
what I think about him. Let me stop you right now. Nobody
cares what you think. I don't. And you don't really
care what I think as far as just a man's opinion. God is. He is as he says he is in his word. And we are totally dependent
upon Him to speak to us. We will not know Him if He remains
silent. If I'm to know Him, He's going
to have to make Himself known. He's going to have to speak to
me if I am to know Him at all. We cannot know him apart from
revelation. Him speaking to us. Now, in this thing of revelation,
there's something that takes place. We see. We see. Now, there are two things necessary
to see. Number one, there's got to be
light. But number two, there's got to
be seeing eye. You can have all the light in the world. And if
you don't have a seeing eye, if you're blind, you can't see.
Now, in this thing of revelation. The light is his word. Him speaking. All I'm going to know of the
Lord is what he makes known. He must speak or I won't know
him. I've got to hear from him. But
not only does he have to speak, he's got to give me eyes to see.
I might have the light, but I also have to be given eyes to see,
ears to hear, a heart to receive. So in this thing of revelation,
there's two things necessary. He's got to make himself known.
He's got to give me his word. He's got to speak. And he's got
to give me the ear to hear what he says. He's got to give me
the heart to receive what he says. Now. We. will not hear this message to
any prophet unless he is pleased to speak to our hearts. Now, there are some who will
hear this message with no prophet. They will remain the same. You leave here the way you entered
here. No change. And some are given
ears to hear. How many times did the Lord say,
he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Not everybody is given
ears to hear. Turn to Matthew chapter 13 for
just a moment. Verse nine. This is after he's given the
parable of the sower, and he says in Matthew chapter 13, verse
nine, who had ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples came
and said unto him, why speakest thou unto them in parables? He
answered and said unto them, because it is given. unto you,
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. But to them
it is not given. You know, in another place, the Lord
said, You've hid these things. You've hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. I know this. I don't want the
Lord to hide the things of the Kingdom of Heaven from me, do
you? I want Him to reveal to me. But let's go on reading.
Verse 12, For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance. But whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak
I to them in parables, that because they seeing, see not. And hearing,
they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing you shall hear
and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall
not perceive. For this people's heart is wax
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes, if
they close, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears Now, thank God, He does speak. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners, spake in times past to the fathers by
the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son. God does speak. He speaks, first
of all, by creation. All you have to do is look at
this world and God speaks. Listen to this scripture from
Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth forth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no nor language
where their voice is not heard. In Romans 1, verse 20, we read,
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Creation says God is. And if you say I don't believe
that, it's simply because you're choosing not to believe it. Because
creation says God is. And you and I are rendered by
creation itself to be without excuse before God. God speaks
by creation. God speaks by providence. That's everything that happens
in time. He speaks by providence. Everything
that happens to you tells you that you ought to seek the Lord. You may not interpret it that
way, but that's the way you ought to interpret it. God's providence. God's providence speaks of his
goodness. You have all the warnings of God's providence. Providence
says men ought to seek the Lord. God speaks by creation. God speaks
by providence, his providential warnings, his providential goodness,
his goodness to you. Oh, don't you have reason to
thank the Lord? Look how good he is to you. And third, God
speaks by his word. The Bible claims divine inspiration. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Now, I realize every one of us
have thought How can the Bible be without error? I mean, men
were involved in writing it. You can't ignore that. God used
men to write the Bible, and it was copied over and over and
over and over again. What could keep men's words out? Here's my reply to that. Is God
able to create the world? Yes. Is he able to preserve his
word? Yes. God speaks by his word and
in his word he tells how sinful men and women like me and you
can be saved. Bless his holy name he speaks. But sometimes He's silent. Sometimes He does not speak. And that's exactly what is referred
to in our text. There was no open vision from
the Lord. There was no word from God. God, as a judgment, can send
a famine of His word. Amos said, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine
of bread or a thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the
Lord." Now, this famine can happen in a nation. It can happen in
a community. It can happen in a church. It
can happen in an individual where there is no word from God. It could be that he just lets
error be preached as a judgment, and people drink it up. It could
be that he lets the truth be preached, but he doesn't give
you hearing ears, and you can't hear. He may be speaking, but
not to you. All you have is the silence of
God. No word from God. He is not speaking. Now, there are some people who
would not be troubled by this. They would actually be pleased
if there was no God. And they certainly feel no loss
at His silence. But there are others who cannot
bear The silence of God. Turn to Psalm 22. Let me read
you several verses. Verse one. Now, you know, these
are the words of the Lord from the cross, but they're also the
words of David. And David is talking about how he felt at
this time. And he says, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the
daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and
am not silent. Look in Psalm 28, verse 1. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord
my rock, be not silent to me. Be not silent to me, lest thou
be silent to me. I become like them to go down
into the pit. Look in Psalm 35. Verse 22. This thou hast seen, O Lord,
keep not silence. O Lord, be not far from me, stir
up thyself and awake to my judgment, even to my cause, my God and
my Lord. Psalm 83. Keep, verse 1, keep not thou
silence, O God. Hold not thy peace, and be not
still, O God." You see, this is the desire of the psalmist's
heart. I don't want the Lord to be silent to me. I want Him
to speak to me. Question. Have you ever dealt with the
silence of God? where He is giving you no communication,
no word from Him. He may be speaking to somebody
else, but not to you. All you have from Him is silence. I wonder if somebody is saying,
Why is he silent to me? Why will he not speak to me? Why won't he answer? I'm asking
him to speak to me, and he's not. Why isn't he speaking to
me? Why is the only thing I'm getting
is silence? Why isn't he speaking to me?
Now, here's my first answer to that question. Why should he? Why should he speak to me? Why should he speak to you? Is there something in you that
merits it? Turn with me for a moment to
Isaiah 59. Before I read this passage of scripture. I can see. why the Lord would
not speak to me. Can you see that? Why the Lord
would just withdraw himself and leave me alone. I can see why
he would not speak to me. Look at Isaiah 59, verse 1. Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save. Neither
his ear heavy that it cannot hear the problems not with the
Lord, but your iniquities have separated between you and your
God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not
hear. For your hands are defiled with
blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your
tongue hath muttered perverseness." Here is why God would not speak. My sins have separated me. And if he doesn't speak to me,
the reason is my personal sin. Now, can you see why the Lord
would not speak with you? The problem is not with him.
His hand's not short that it can't save. His ear's not, he
can hear. But he says, your sin has separated
you. If God's not speaking to us,
it's not simply some arbitrary decision on his part, but because
of our sin and because of our sins. Why should he? If he never
spoke to you and let you go to hell, Would he be giving you
any less than you deserve right now? Now, rather than ask why he is
silent to us. Perhaps we need to find out why
he would speak to us in the first place. Don't you reckon that
would be a wiser course of action? I can see why he would be silent
to me. But my question is, is how can he speak to me? He who is holy, how can he speak
to me when I am defiled by my sin? Now, let me tell you why
he can speak to somebody like me and somebody like you. There is someone who bore the
awful silence of God more than you or I can have any understanding
of. On the cross, when the Lord Jesus
Christ was nailed, nailed to a cross in agony And
in pain, he received no word from his father. He said, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? All he had was his father's awful
frown. Remember when we read, your iniquities
are separated between you and your God, and your sins have
hid His grace from you, so that He will not hear. When He was made sin, my sin
became His sin. And that sin separated Him and
His Father. so that his father would not
hear. And oh, the silence that he experienced. I can't understand this. He has
such a more of a capacity to suffer than you and I do. You
see, sin doesn't bother us much. We're used to it. But oh, how
the silence of his father tore his heart apart. On the cross,
He didn't have his father say, son, I know you're doing this
for the sins of somebody else. I know you're doing this in obedience
to me. I know you're doing this because
you love me. And oh, there's something noble about this act
of obedience. He didn't have his father saying
anything like that to him. All he had was the silence, the
awful frown, the wrath of his father against sin. When he was hanging on the cross,
he didn't say to himself, well, at least I know these sins are
not really sins that I committed. I know that. I know these belong
to somebody else. And I know I'm being treated
as if they're mine, but really they're not. These sins became
his sins so that he felt all the shame and the guilt and the
darkness of those sins. He had no communication in his
own soul that at least I'm not guilty. He was guilty. That's
the reason he opened not his mouth. He was guilty. When he
was hanging on the cross, he didn't have his people saying,
oh, thank you for doing this. We know you're doing it for us.
No, all he had was the silence of God. And it tore his heart
in two. You see, God will not speak where
there's sin. And he won't be spoken to where
there's sin. And when Christ was made sin,
he bore the awful silence of God. He saw nothing but blackness
and darkness bearing the full equivalent of an eternal hell. And because he bore that awful
silence, which I deserve, now God can speak to me. Because
there is no sin to separate me. It's been put away. And now God, a holy God, a righteous
God, can speak to me. The reason for his silence has
been removed. I ask you again, have you personally
ever dealt with the silence of God? He's not speaking to you. You try to speak to him, and
your prayers bounce off the ceiling and come back to you, and you
know you're not hearing from him. Now, there is a way that
he can speak to you. Don't give up in despair. There
is a way that God can speak to you. Now, would you turn with
me for a moment to Matthew, chapter 15, I want to look at a couple
of scriptures. And in Matthew, chapter 15, we
find the story of a woman who dealt with the silence of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very familiar passage
of Scripture, but I want us to see how this woman dealt with
the silence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21. And Jesus went thence and departed
into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coasts and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. She had a demon-possessed daughter. She came to the Lord in reverence
and respect. She knew who he was. Have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David. She knew who he was. She comes
For the right thing, have mercy on me. Oh, that's the only thing
I asked for. Mercy. Mercy. She came for the
right thing. Mercy. She came with a great
need. Verse 23. But he answered her,
not a word. Silence. He ignored her. He didn't hear her speak. Now
she came, as far as I can tell, the right way, and he turned
her away in silence. Have you ever asked for mercy
and all you heard was silence? This woman did. He answered her,
not a word. Evidently, she kept crying, verse
23, and his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her
away, for she crieth after us. But you know, he's still not
going to speak to her. He speaks to them. He doesn't give her
any direct word. He said to the disciples, who
said, get rid of this lady. He said, I'm not sent, but unto
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I don't know how many
different ways there are to take this. Christ said, I've only
come for particular people. I did not come to save everybody. Now, You cry, Lord, have mercy
on me. Nothing but silence. You continue
to cry and you hear him say to somebody else, I didn't come
to save everybody. You might not be one of them. Now, what did she do at this
time? This is very important. Verse 25, then. came she and worshipped him. Now, this issue must be settled
before you or I ever hear from the Lord. He is to be worshipped for who
he is without reference to whether he speaks to you or if he doesn't
speak to you. If he doesn't speak to you and
he lets you drop into hell as an act of his irreputable justice,
is he still worthy of worship? Is he to be worshipped because
of who he is without reference to what he does for you? Now,
that issue has got to be settled. And until that issue is settled,
you can be sure you will not hear from Him. Then, after first
He didn't speak, and then He said, I've only come for a particular
people. I didn't come to save everybody.
Then came she and worshipped Him. You only worship God. She worshipped Him for who He
was, and she said, help me. If you don't help me, I will
not be helped if you don't do something for me. I'm a goner.
Help me. Now, when you don't have anywhere
else to go, when you don't have a plan B, this is what you'll
do. You'll come the same way this woman did. It's true. You don't have to speak to me.
It's true. You only came for a particular
people. But help me. Help me. And look what he said. Verse
26, but he answered. than saying it's not meat to
take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs. Well, it almost seems harsh,
doesn't it? Help? Why would I give my help to a
dog like you? How do you respond to that? Let's look at how this woman
responded. And she said, capital T-R-U-T-H, truth, Lord. It's the truth that you're the
Lord and that I'm nothing more than a dog. That's the truth. It's the truth that I'm in your
hands and you can do with me whatever you're pleased to do.
It's the truth that you don't have to speak to me. It's the
truth that you only gain for a particular people. That's the
truth. Truth, Lord. I know that so. And I'm not looking
for a place among the children. I have no sense of entitlement
in that sense. I'm not looking for a place with
the children, but I would take my place with the dogs under
the table. And I'd be so grateful for any
crumb of mercy that would come my way. Look what he said to her. She said, truth, Lord, yet the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, now he speaks, he speaks
to her. When these issues are settled,
He speaks. Not until then. When these issues
are settled, he speaks to her. Oh, woman. Great is thy faith. You know, me and you, if we were
in her position, we would have just given up. We'd just walk
off and say there's no point. But not this woman. And he says,
O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. Here's a woman who dealt with
the silence of God. Now I want to show you somebody
who wouldn't be silent. Turn to Mark chapter 10. Now, regarding God's silence,
he doesn't have to speak. He doesn't have to speak to you. You know that, don't you? He
doesn't have to speak to you. So I ask you a question, though. Because that's true, is that
going to keep you shut up to where you won't cry for mercy? Look at Mark chapter 10, beginning
in verse 46. And they came to Jericho, and
as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number
of people, blind Bartimaeus. Let me tell you something about
Bartimaeus. He couldn't see. He was blind
as a bat. He could not see. He sat by the highway side, begging. And when he heard that it was
Jesus of Nazareth, he heard all this commotion. He couldn't see,
but he heard some commotion. And he asked, what's going on?
And somebody told him. Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. You know what? Jesus of Nazareth is passing
by right now. He's passing by in His Word,
in His Gospel. And what did Bartimaeus do? And
when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry
out and say, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me. Evidently, he kept repeating
this and repeating this and repeating this. But the Lord didn't respond. And many charged him that he
should hold his peace. Shut up, Bartimaeus. Shut up. I mean, he's not responding.
Shut up. Did he shut up? Somebody says you should never
say shut up. Well, you probably shouldn't, but that's what they
said to him. What did he do, verse 48? He
cried the more. A great deal. Thou Son of David,
have mercy on me. Let me tell you when you will
not stop crying for mercy. When you know that that is the
only hope you have. You have nowhere else to turn.
You need mercy. Have mercy on me. Verse 49. And Jesus stood still. He heard. He heard. Now, I guarantee you on the authority
of God's Word, if you ask for mercy, He'll hear. He'll hear you. He'll hear you. You ask for mercy. Now, if you
bargain with Him, If you try to strike a deal with Him and
say, if you do this, I'll do that, He's going to go on. He's
not going to pay attention to you. It's not real. If you talk
about all the things you're going to do, the things you're not
going to do, how you're going to change everything, He's not going
to hear you. It's all just empty, hollow talk. But if you cry for
mercy, He'll hear that. He's quick to
hear the cry. for mercy. That's who he is. He delights in mercy. And Jesus
stood still and commanded him to be called. And these same
people that told him to shut up, they called the blind man,
saying unto him, be of good cheer, rise. He calleth thee, and he
casting away his garment. And I know this, if you come
to Christ, there's something you're going to cast away. That
filthy garment of your security, of your righteousness, you're
going to get rid of it. In coming into his presence,
you're not going to come for anything but mercy, and you're
going to make sure you don't have something that's going to
cloud that issue of mercy. You're going to get rid of that
filthy robe of your righteousness, your security. No, you get rid
of it, and you come naked to him with nothing. He got rid
of his garment and rose and came to Jesus, and Jesus answered
and said unto him, I love this question. What wilt thou that
I should do? Listen to me. Salvation's what
He does. It's not what you do. It's not
what you ask Him to do. It's what He does. Salvation's not what you do for
God. It's what He does for you. And that's the way you come.
And he says to that man, what wilt thou that I should do unto
thee? Oh, Lord, say that to me. What
do you want for me to do to you? Well, I want you to save me.
I want you to forgive my sins. I want you to wash them away.
I want you to give me. I want you to give me mercy.
I want you to give me. I do that, which I can't do for myself.
I can't see. I'm blind. The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him,
Go thy way, thy faith that may be whole. And immediately he
received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. Now, regarding his silence, there
is something that we would call the silence of God. But regarding his silence, he
never remained silent to that one who asks for mercy. When you're guilty and you see why he would be silent
toward you and not speak to you, Now, as long as you're mad at
him for not speaking to you, the issue hasn't been settled.
But when you can see why he would not speak to you, all you can
do is ask for mercy. You don't have anywhere else
to go. Jesus, our son of David, have mercy, mercy on me. Everybody who asks for mercy
receives mercy. That's who He is. And if you
don't receive mercy, you never asked for it. Ask and you'll receive. Cry for mercy, even now. And He will answer. Let's pray.