Christ - Our Hiding Place

Open your Bibles first to Isaiah
7. Some writers refer to the book
of Isaiah as the gospel according to Isaiah. It is said that Isaiah is quoted
as much or more in the New Testament than any other Old Testament
writer. Philip began in Isaiah and preached
the Lord Jesus Christ to the eunuch. And here in Isaiah 7,
verse 14, he talks about our Redeemer, Emmanuel. He says in
Isaiah 7, verse 14, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you
a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son, bring forth a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Who is that? Who is this Immanuel? It's God with us. God with us. Our Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah
9, verse 6, the prophet Isaiah wrote again Our Emmanuel, he
says in chapter 9, verse 6, unto us a child is born. A man-child. A child who had
never lived on this earth before. In human flesh. And unto us a
son is given. A son is not born. He came from
heaven, inhabited that body of that child that was born. The
Son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Who is this? Who is this? It's our Emmanuel,
our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah is writing about the coming
Redeemer. In chapter 25, verse 8, he says this, and he'll swallow
up death in victory. Isaiah 25.8, he'll swallow up
death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from
all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away
from off all the earth. For the Lord has spoken it. And
it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. This is
our Emmanuel. This is our Redeemer. We've waited
for Him. And He'll save us. This is the
Lord. We've waited for Him. We'll be
glad and rejoice. in his salvation. Now then, in
Isaiah 32, and this is my text, talking about the same one, Immanuel, the one upon whom the government
shall rest, wonderful counselor of the mighty the one for whom we've waited,
our God. And it says here in Isaiah 32,
verse 1, Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes
shall rule in judgment, and a man, and a man, the God-man, shall
be as a hiding place from the wind, and a shelter from the
storm, a covert from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place,
as a shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Now some of you may not especially
feel a need for what I'll say in this message today. But let me urge you, all of you,
to listen very carefully to this message. And if you don't especially
feel the need at this time, file it away in your heart, or get a tape and put it in a
safe place, for the time will come when you will need it. It's certain the time will come.
when you'll need these words. A man shall be as a hiding place
from the wind, and a shelter from the storm, streams of water
in dry places, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. These words, winds, storms, dry
places, weary land are a true description of this earthly journey. Someone wrote years ago, he who
reckons on a peaceful calm from the cradle to the grave is a
fool or perhaps a dreamer. You may set sail on this sea
of life And it may be as smooth as glass. But before this journey is over,
your ship will reel to and fro. And you'll feel the fury of the
storm. And you'll think for a while
that your ship will surely sink. The scriptures are clear on this
subject. Let's look at a few of them.
First of all, in the book of Job. Chapter 14. Job wrote, Man that is born of
a woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower.
He's cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow. and
continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?"
Our Lord said in John chapter 16, you can follow in all of
these, I can read them quickly to you. Our Lord said to his
disciples in John 16, 33, these things I have spoken unto you,
that in me you might have peace. For in this world, you're going
to have trouble. Trouble. Tribulation. Trial. But be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world. In the book of Acts chapter 14,
the apostles said this. Acts chapter 14 verse 21. Listen to it. Acts 14 verse 21.
Now listen carefully. And when they had preached the
gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again
to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, confirming the soul
to the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must, through much
tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. confirming the souls of the disciples,
exhorting them to continue in the faith, and remember that
we must, through much trial, trouble, and tribulation, enter
into the kingdom of God. Peter wrote this in 1 Peter 4,
verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange,
strange thing happened unto you. This is not strange. This is
to be expected. But rejoice inasmuch as you are
partakers of Christ's suffering. that when his glory shall be
revealed, you may be glad. You may be glad also with exceeding
joy. Now let me go back to the text,
Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah gives us four words, a
four-fold description of life's trials and troubles. And I want
you to look at these words and mark them. He talks about the
wind, he talks about a storm, he talks about a dry place, and
he talks about a weary land. And most all of our troubles
and trials come under these descriptive words. First of all, the wind. And a man shall be a hiding place
from the wind. How mysterious is the wind. Our
Lord said about the wind, He said you cannot tell whence it
cometh or whither it goes. It's mysterious. It's there,
and then it's gone. You hear the sound, you see the
results, but you can't tell from whence it cometh or whither it
goeth. It's just there. The wind. And some of our conflicts
and our troubles are like the wind. We're troubled, we're depressed,
we're confused, and we really can't tell why. Someone says,
what's wrong with you? I don't know. I really don't
know. David experienced this. Turn
to Psalm chapter 42. Listen to David in Psalm 42. David says in verse 3, My tears
have been my meat day and night. This is the sweet psalmist. This
is the king of Israel. This is the man after God's own
heart. This is the writer of these great,
great words. Going through this valley of
heartache and depression, tears, day and night, while they continue
to say, well, where's your God? Where's your God, David? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. I had gone with the multitude.
I went with them to the house of God with a voice of joy and
praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why are you cast
down, my soul? What's wrong with you? You know
anything about this? Mysterious. Why are you troubled? Why are you cast down? Why are
you disquieted in me? Why are you upset? Mysterious. The Apostle Paul had some problems
with this. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4. 2 Corinthians 4. Listen to Paul here. 2 Corinthians
4 verse 7. And how well we know this. I
want you to turn there and read this. How well we're acquainted
with this. We have this treasure. This jewel,
this pearl, this diamond, this gospel. We have this gospel. We have it. By His grace we have
it. We've learned it. We love it.
We rejoice in it. We call it my gospel. My gospel. Have no confidence in this flesh
and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. But verse 7, 2 Corinthians 4
says we have this treasure in an earthen vessel, a clay pot. That the excellence of the power
may be of God, not of us. And we're troubled. Troubled
on every side. Yet we're not distressed. Not
going to give up. We're perplexed. But we're not in despair. We're
persecuted. We're not forsaken. We're cast
down. But we're not destroyed. That's
what Isaiah is talking about here in chapter 32, verse 2. We need a hiding place from the
wind. From the wind, from the mysterious
troubles. Why are you cast down, my soul? Why are you disquieted in me?
Why are you perplexed? Why are you distressed? Why are
you cast down? What's wrong with you? And then he talks about the storms.
He said, and a man is a shelter from the storm. Well, we know
the source of these storms and the cause of these tears and
pain. Sickness is a storm. Some of
you have been through it. You read about Hezekiah in the
book of Isaiah. In those days he was sick. King
Hezekiah was sick, sick unto death. And the Scripture said
he turned his face to the wall. You ever done that? Turned your
face to the wall. And wept. And cried to God. Sick. It's a storm. And then
David in Psalm 55, I want you to look at this. Psalm 55. Enemies. Enemies. Enemies vexed his soul. Troubled
his soul. He calls it a storm. Enemies
in trouble. In Psalm 55, David says, Give
ear to my prayer, O God. Hide not Thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me. Hear me. I mourn
in my complaint. I make a noise. I groan. Because
of the voice of the enemy. Because of the oppression of
the wicked. For they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate
me. My heart is sore pained within
me, and the tears of death are falling upon me. Fearfulness
and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
And I said, Oh, if I just had wings like a dove, I'd fly away
from this mess. I'd fly above the clouds and
the storm, and I'd be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off
and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my escape from
the windy storm and tempest. That's what Isaiah is writing
about. The storm and the tempest. That's what David's talking about.
I need a shelter. in the tempest and the storm.
We know something about the cause of these storms, sickness and
enemies and trouble and the death of a loved one. If you read sometime
the experience of David when his son Absalom was killed, there's
a whale went up from his soul a chilling wail that you could
have heard all over the castle, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my
son, my son Absalom, would God have died instead of you? And then Paul, grieving over
his sins within, he said, the things I would do, I do not,
and the things I would not do, I do. Oh, wretched man that I
am! I delight in the law of God,
but I find another law warring in my members, bringing me into
captivity to sin and death. Oh, wretched man that I am! Do
you know anything about that? That storm, Storms, windy tempests
blowing upon the believer. And then our children. Old Jacob said, Joseph is not. Simeon is not. And now you would
take Benjamin. He said, be bereaved of my children,
I'm bereaved. Some of you know about that.
It's not easy, is it? Oh, the wind. Where's it coming
from? I feel its effect. I don't know
where it came from. I don't know where it's going.
I just know it's there. I see the rustle in the trees.
The storm that comes upon the souls. All of God's children experience
this. Beware of the man that smiles
all the time. He's dishonest. He's dishonest. And then he talks
here, look in Isaiah chapter 32. He talks about something
else. Wind. Storms. Watch it now. A man shall be streams of water
in a dry place. Listen to me. These are words
of comfort. Paul talked to the Corinthians
about comforting others with the comfort wherewith you've
been comforted. And that's what I'm going to
do. What's the dry places? Well, listen to David again,
Psalm 63. Psalm 63. Oh, God. Thou art my God. There's no doubt
about that. Like Peter of old, he could say,
Lord, you know I love you. That issue's been settled. We're
not talking about that issue at all. That issue's settled.
You're my God. You're my God. To whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of life.
Thou, O God, my God, early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth
for Thee. My soul longeth for Thee in a
dry and a thirsty land where no water is. Psalm 77. Turn over there and
listen to this. Psalm 77, verse 6. David said, I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with my own heart and
my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever?
Will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean, gone forever?
Does His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?
Hath He an anger? Shut up His tender mercies. John Newton knew something about
this experience here, this dry land, dry places. He wrote this in one of his hymns,
If I love Christ, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
who never heard His name. What are the dry places? I'll
tell you, the dry places are when the heart is cold. The dry
places are when study and reading are a chore. The dry places are
when the flesh is strong and rears up its ugly head with envy
and anger and pride and self-righteousness. Dry places. The dry places are
when prayer is just words. And the tragic thing is, we know
it. Somebody wrote, I often say my
prayers, but do I always pray? I often say my prayers, but do
I always pray? Do the true wishes of my heart
go with the words I say? I may as well kneel down and
worship a God of stone as offered to the living God a prayer in
word alone. Guilty. I may as well kneel down
and worship a God of stone as offered to the living God a prayer
of words alone. Words, words, words. He said
something about when you come to the house of God, let your
words be few. A fool is known for his much
speaking. The dry places, I've often tried. That's what David's talking about
here. My soul thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee in
these dry and thirsty lands. One other, look at the text again,
Isaiah 32. These are just experiences that
we have and places through which we walk. He talks about a weary
land. A man, verse 2, shall be a hiding
place from the wind, a covert or a shelter from the storm,
a river, a stream of water in a dry place. I was out in Arizona preaching years ago.
And it was dry and parched. I was staying with a man who
had some fields of some kind of plants. I forgot what he was growing. But the ground was cracked. and parched and dry all over
the field, just flat as this floor. You've seen ground height
just crust over and cracks and the plants look so thirsty. And he got on the telephone and
called a certain number and ordered water. He ordered so many hours of water. And they said it'd be there at
8 o'clock the next morning. We got up and went out the next
morning at 8 o'clock, or earlier than that, getting ready, standing
out there by these huge irrigation ditches. And they were dry as
that field. In a few moments I heard it coming.
I heard the water coming. And I looked down that ditch
and here came the water, just floods of it. And he had these
petitions, where he'd seal it off, and it went into that field. And that water, as I watched
it go into the field, it just filled up the cracks. And those
little old plants seemed to take a big drink and straighten up,
you know. And the water was two or three
inches deep out there in that field, and then it soaked into
the ground. And the next few days while I was there, it was
so fresh and green and pretty. Water, streams of water in a
Dry and thirsty land. And then he says here, the last
one, he said, and a man shall be a shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. Somebody said this world does
not become a weary land, it is a weary land. There just comes a time when
we realize it. There comes a time when we realize
that this is a weary land. There's nothing here. Solomon
did. He said, I've tried this, I've
tried that, I've tried the other. I've tried intellectualism, I've
tried wine, I've tried riches, I've tried all these things,
and I've come to this conclusion. Vanity of vanities, it's all
vanity. And this world has not become
a weary land, it is a weary land. There comes a time when we realize
it and long to leave it. And can enter into, after a while,
the cry of the Apostle Paul, I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. I tell you, when this weary land
becomes to us a weary land, when sorrows outnumber joys, and when pain exceeds pleasure, and when there are far more lonely
hours than hours of fellowship. And when tears come easier than
laughter, and when the nights grow longer and the days just
seem to be shorter. And I saw this somewhere and
it packs a punch. The land becomes a weary land
when we need others much more than they need us. Isn't that something? When we
need others much more than they need us, and we become a burden. You say, you're dismal this morning. Well, I'm just facing facts. This is the way it is. This is
a weary land. And like I said, when I started
this message, if you don't need it this morning, put it away
somewhere. We'll need it, won't we? We'll need it. We'll need it. And the old ship
may be sailing on a sea as smooth as glass, but out yonder, it's
going to get rough. All right, let's turn to 1 Corinthians
10 and listen to the Apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 10, verse
13. Verse 12 says this, Wherefore
let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation, no
trial, no trouble taken you, come upon you, but such as is
common to man. This is common. What I'm talking
about this morning is common to us, to man, to the flesh. But now here, listen, but God's
faithful, and He'll not suffer you to be tempted. Above that,
you're able. God's faithful to His children.
And He's not going to put you through a trial or a test in
which He'll not give you the strength to bear it. But He will, with the trial,
also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. Paul,
you know, when he had the thorn in the flesh, and he cried unto
the Lord, and he prayed three times that God would remove it,
and the Lord told him, he said, I'm not going to move it, but
I'm going to give you the grace to bear it. My grace is sufficient. So, common to man, these trials
are common, but God's faithful to His children. And He's not
going to allow us to suffer or be tried above that which we
can bear, but He will make a way to escape. Now look at my text
again. Here's the way. And a man shall be a hiding place
from that wind. Christ is our hiding place. A
man will be a hiding place from the wind. A man will be a shelter
from the storm. And a man shall be streams of
water in a dry place, and a man shall be a shadow, a shade, rest,
like a great rock in a weary land. That's what Mike was singing
about. From every stormy wind that blows, From every swelling
tide of woe there is a calm, there's a safe retreat. Where
is it? It's found in Him. My mercy seat. There's a place where Jesus sheds
the oil of gladness on our heads, a place beside them all more
sweet. It's the blood-stained mercy
seat. Ah, whither shall we flee for
aid when tempest and desolate and dismayed Oh, how the host of hell would
defeat if we didn't have Christ, our mercy seat. And there, there
on eagle wings we soar, and sin and sense molest no more, and
heaven comes down, our souls to grief, and glory crowns Him,
our mercy seat. You know, I quoted David a while
ago in Psalm 42. Let's go back and read the rest
of it. Let's go back and read the rest of it. In Psalm 42. I read beginning with verse 3
in Psalm 42. Now listen. David said in Psalm
42, 3, My tears have been my meat day and night, while they
continually say unto me, Where is your God? Verse 5, Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Now here's the rest. Listen. Hope thou in God. Flee to Christ. Don't let the
trial take you away from Him. Let the trial drive you to Him. He's the shelter. He's the rock
in a weary land. He's the hiding place. That's
what David's saying. Hope thou in God. I shall yet
praise Him for the help of His countenance. Oh my God, my soul
is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember Thee. from the land of Jordan, the
Hermonites, and the little hill." Verse 8, "'Yet the Lord will
command His lovingkindness in the daytime and in the night.
His song shall be with me in my prayer unto the God of my
life.'" You know, I read from Psalm 77. Go back over there
and let's read the rest of it. Psalm 77, we read, Through verse 9, it was so... David was grieving, he said,
verse 8, is God's mercy clean gone? Verse 9, had God forgotten
to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender
mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity,
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most
High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember
thy wonders of old. I will meditate also on all thy
work and talk of thy doing. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God that doeth wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength
among the people. There's my hope in Him. Don't allow the trial to take
you from Him, but rather to turn you to Him. The man Christ Jesus, He's my
hiding place from the wind. He's my shelter from the storm. He's the streams of water in
this dry, parched and cracked desert. He's a shadow of a great
rock in a weary land. Let me give you three things
and I'll close. Do you understand that these
needs that God brings upon us are good for us because they
do drive us to Christ? This is when we need Him. When
the wind blows is when I need a hiding place. And if the wind
drives me to Christ, the wind has served a good purpose. David
said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn his statutes. When the storm rages, that's
when I need a shelter. When the ground is parched and
I realize it, that's when I need water, that's when I'll turn
to him. Anything that comes in my life that will turn me to
Christ is their problem. When the sun beats down upon
my head in a weary land, and all others fail, like the woman
who spent everything she had and was no better, she came to
Christ. You see, in Matthew chapter 9,
turn over there just a moment. Thank God for the need. Thank
God for conviction. Thank God for trouble. Thank
God for affliction if it drives us to Christ. Everybody that came to Christ
in the New Testament had one thing in common. They needed
Him. And here in Matthew 9, verse
10, it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold,
many publicans and sinners came and sat down with Him and His
disciples. They came to Him. And when the
religious Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does
your master eat with publicans and sinners and folks like that? And when Jesus heard it, he said
unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that
are sick. You go learn what that means.
I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. I've not come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. If the wind and the storm and
the dry places and the weary land or whatever trial or suffering
comes my way, if it turns me to Christ and away from all idols
of this flesh, it's worth it. I stood and talked to a man in
the penitentiary, there for murder. A life sentence. He heard me
preach the gospel of God's grace. And the Lord brought him to a
knowledge of Christ. And we corresponded for years.
Still correspond. And when I stood there beside
him in that penitentiary, gone there to preach the gospel, he
looked at me and he said, it's worth it. It's worth it. If God Almighty brought this
in my life and brought me to this place so that I could hear
the gospel and look to Christ, it's worth it. And it is. Whatever the affliction, whatever
the trial. Do you understand? This is why
He came to earth. He's the Savior of sinners. He
said, I didn't come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners. If any man sin, we have an advocate. Who needs an advocate? A man
in trouble. It doesn't say if we're holy,
we have an advocate. A holy man doesn't need an advocate.
It says if any man sin, we have an advocate. The man in need
needs an advocate. The man in trouble needs an advocate.
He's water for the thirsty. He said, if any man thirsts,
let him come to me. And whatever thirst God brings
into my life, if it brings me to the water, thank God for the
thirst. I thank God for the water, but
I thank God for the thirst that put me there. Heard a man pray in this congregation
years ago. He said, I thank you, Lord, for
the privilege of being here in this place to worship you. But
I thank you, Lord, for the desire to be here. That's from you too. You see, it's not your sins that
keep you from Christ, it's your righteousness. It's not your
weakness that keeps you from Christ. When I'm weak, I flee
to heal. When I'm in trouble, I pray to
Him. The best prayers I pray are when I'm in trouble. How
about you? Then thank God for the trouble. That's the reason
Paul said, I rejoice in afflictions. I rejoice in trouble. Because
it drives me to Christ. That's why I need Him. That's
why He came. And listen, I'll close with this.
This is my Lord's greatest glory. My Lord's greatest glory. What's
a hiding place for? To cover and to comfort. What's a shelter for? To shield
and protect. What's water for? To quench thirst
and satisfy. What's shame? What's it for?
It's to give rest and strengthen. Then the glory. of the hiding
place and the shelter and the water and the shade is to do
what it's intended for. Right. Then the glory of Christ,
the ultimate supreme glory of Christ is to give and forgive. That's His glory. The glory of these things here
The glory and praise of these things is accomplishing the things
for which they're intended. And my Lord's glory is redeeming
sinners. Moses, out yonder in the tent
of meeting, he said, Lord, now, show me your way. I've got to
lead these people. And Lord, if you don't go with
me, don't let me go. And then he asked the last favor. He said, Lord, show me
your glory. Show me your glory. Moses had
seen. If we'd seen just a third of
what he'd seen, we'd be writing books. But he knew that he had
not seen God's chief glory. He said, show me your glory.
And the Lord said, alright, hide over there in the cleft of the
rock. He put my hand over you and I'll go by. You can't see
my face. No man can see me and live. But I'll cause my glory
to pass by you. I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. And I'll tell you the chief glory
of our Lord is in showing mercy. That's his chief glory. Giving,
forgiving, receiving the prodigal, receiving the weary, comforting
the bereaved, strengthening the weak, saving the lost. That's His greatest glory. That's what Paul said over here
in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, I quoted it a while ago, he said,
I prayed. that God would remove this thorn,
verse 8, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 8. I prayed God would remove
this thorn. In verse 9, He said to me, my
grace is sufficient and my strength is made perfect in your weakness.

Christ - Our Hiding Place

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