Let's open our Bibles now for the text that I've selected for
this evening to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah 32, verse 1 and 2 will serve for
my text this evening. in speaking to you on this subject, a hiding place from the wind. A hiding place from the wind. Now, if you don't especially
need this message tonight, I hope there's some way that you can
file it away somewhere in your heart or somewhere in your mind,
because I promise you, I assure you, you will need it someday. The amplified version in giving
us verse 2 reads this way, and a man shall be a hiding place
from the wind. a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm, streams of water in a dry place, the
shade of a great rock in a weary land. Now, in the first place,
and I've tried to impress upon you this fact and also upon the
ministers who attend and study together here. In the first place,
this text refers to King Hezekiah of Judah. That's the first reference. And you'll find this to be true
of many Old Testament scriptures. When we talk about Ezekiel's
infant, it's talking about Israel, the people of God. When we talk
about the dry bones coming together, that's Israel being restored
to their land. First reference, first application. You see, the Assyrians had invaded
the land of Israel, and the nation was powerless to defend its territory. The Assyrians were on the verge
of entering into and destroying Jerusalem And it looked like
the people would be destroyed, their homes would be destroyed,
they would be taken captive and all of their possessions taken
as a spoil. But there was one man by the
name of Hezekiah who was the king of Judah, and though he
had no great army, though he had no great force, he believed
God. And he laid the heathen king's
letter out before the Lord, and he prayed, he believed and prayed.
And he sent word to the prophet Isaiah, begging him to cry to
God on behalf of Israel, Judah. And Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah
that the Assyrians would be defeated, and they would never enter Jerusalem,
and that the king of the Assyrians would be destroyed in his own
land. In other words, Hezekiah at this
time was for Judah a hiding place from the wind. He was certainly
a refuge from the coming storm, and he was certainly streams
of water in what appeared to be a very dry and thirsty land,
and he was the great rock in a weary land. But now in the
second place, in the second place And of greater importance, this
text refers to our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is here. It's like Psalm 22. My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? This is the cry of David, who
felt forsaken of God. He felt the heavens were blast
and God would not hear him. But these are the words of our
Lord from the cross. And here in this text, we have
a reference to Christ the Redeemer, a man. Verse 1 says, a king,
Christ is the king, shall reign in righteousness, and princes
shall rule in judgment, and a man, the God-man, Christ who became
flesh, Christ incarnate, Christ, bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh, by his grace, by his love and sacrifice, is truly
for us a hiding place from the wind of sin. We find a hiding
place in Christ. our hiding place. And he is a
shelter. Scripture talks about the scourge,
the flood of judgment, the storm of God's wrath that shall one
day take the whole earth and take the whole universe. And
Christ is our shelter. He's our refuge from the storm.
And he is the water of life. He said, I am the water of life.
He that drinketh of me shall never thirst. He told the woman
at the well, if you If you knew the gift of God and who it is
that saith to thee, give me a drink, you'd ask of me. I'll give you
living water, and you'd never thirst again. He is the living
water in a dry and thirsty land, and he is a great rock. Our Lord
said, I lay in Zion a stone, a tried stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not be
ashamed. He is the foundation, the only
foundation. Other foundations can no man
lay than that which is laid. Christ our Lord. He's not only
the foundation, but He's the shelter. The Lord our rock, in
Him we hide a shelter in a time of storm. Content whatever ill
be tired in that shelter in the time of storm. And the hymn writer
says, Hiding in Thee. Hiding in Thee. Thou blessed
rock of ages, I'm hiding in Thee. But now there's a third application.
I've set forth the first two, and this needs to be done when
we're borrowing from a text. We need to let the people know
what's the first application. We need to let the people know
how this, in the life of a sinner, applies to Christ, because that's
his principal work, that's his principal task. He said, the
Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm cheating. Paul said,
God forbid that I see glory saved in the cross of Christ. I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
As Roland Hill said, let every message contain ruin by the fall
and redemption by the blood and regeneration by the Spirit. But
the third application, which is my subject tonight, is using
the text as it is addressed to believers. My text is a true description
of life on earth for every believer. For me, for you. This is a true
description. We talk about the wind. We talk
about the tempest or storm. We talk about a dry place. We
talk about a weary land. We're in a wilderness. We're
in, as David said, the valley of the shatter of death. Any
man who reckons on a peaceful calm from the cradle to the grave
is either a fool or a dreamer. Any man who reckons or hopes
for a calm life, a peaceful life, a life without toil and trouble
and sorrow from the cradle to the grave is either a fool or
a dreamer. And any preacher or so-called
believer who reckons on a life of calm and peace from the time
he receives Christ to the time he stands in the image of Christ
is also either a fool or a dreamer. You may set out on a sea as smooth
as glass. You may begin your voyage, and
there may be young people here tonight. It seems like that that's
the way your life has been to this present time, just a sea
of glass. Everything has gone our way.
Everything has been as we have expected or desired or wished. But I'll tell you this, before
this voyage is over, before this voyage is over, your ship is
going to reel to and fro. Before this voyage is over, you're
going to feel the fury of the storm. Before this voyage is
over, you're going to know something about strong winds of testing. You're going to be tossed about
your little vessel, and at times you'll feel that it cannot continue
to float. It must go down. You're going
to know storms like you've never imagined in all your life. You're
going to walk through some places that are so dry, and so weary,
and so thirsty, that you're going to cry like one of the men of
old, has the Lord deserted me completely? Has the Lord forsaken
me completely?" I want you to listen to this tonight. As I
said when I began the message, if you don't especially need
it right now, and I'm persuaded that God gave it to me because
somebody or some few or some many in this congregation needed
some encouragement. He said, comfort you, my people.
Comfort you, my people. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem.
And I'm persuaded to believe that evidently somebody under
my ministry needs, at this time, encouragement and comfort. And I say to you, this life is
subject to storms, not only without, but within. And if you only count
on the storms being without, you're going to be ill-prepared
for the storm. They come from within, too. In
fact, sometimes the most severe storms come from Our Lord Jesus
Christ said, in this world, and that's where we are, ye shall
have tribulation. Not you might have, or perhaps
you could have, but you shall, shall, shall have tribulation. He said, they that will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer. And again, Job said, man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. And then
there's a scripture in the book of Acts that I read this morning,
Acts 14, verse 22. If you care to, you may turn
over there and look at it with me. Acts 14, verse 22. He says, confirming the souls
of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith
and that we must, this is your message, we must, through much
tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. We must, through much
tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. I feel the preachers
today who are making an effort to present the Christian life
as being always joyful, always happy, always exuberant, are
misleading people. We used to sing a little chorus,
happy all the happy all the time. That's plumb foolish. Plumb foolish. It sounds good, but it's foolish.
The Apostle Paul talked about being continually, continually
burdened. He said, I have great heaviness
and continual, continual sorrow. Continual sorrow. I think the
believer's life, in a better fashion, could be summed up in
scriptural language as being a life that's full, and yet somehow
empty, a life that's happy and yet somehow filled with sorrow,
a life complete and yet somehow lacking, a life of satisfaction
and yet somehow a life of continual desire, a life of wealth and
yet somehow a life of poverty, a life of holiness and yet somehow
a life of complete sin, chief of sins. Now I want to look at these four
things that he talks about here, a man. So if he begins, if Christ
is in the beginning, a hiding place from the wind, and a refuge
in the storm, and a river of water in a dry place, and a great,
the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, if he's that in
the beginning, he's that in the middle, and he's that toward
the end, and he's that all the way through. As I said to you
Sunday, I believe it was last Sunday or recently when I preached
on Abraham, after these things, after these things, Abraham being
115 or 20 years of age was called upon to go through his darkest
hour to carry his heaviest burden and to deal with his greatest
trial when he was at the end of his life. God tested him and
tried him. His fear of God, his love for
God, his faith in God again and again and again. And then when
this man, after these things, somebody said, had he not been
sufficiently tried? Evidently not. Evidently not. And God dealt with him there
in the last days as He had never dealt with him before. Well,
here are four things. First of all, we see the word,
the wind. The wind. Now, what I'm saying
is this. Life. The believer's life. I'm talking about the preacher
and the elders and the deacons and the ladies and men of this
church and the young people. The believer's life is subject
to storms and wind. What would we think of the wind?
Here's the first thing that came to me, how mysterious is the
wind? How mysterious is the wind? Christ
said, they that are born of the Spirit, like the wind, you can't
tell whence it cometh and you can't tell where they're going.
The wind is mysterious and all of us, either now or sometime
in the future, are going to be plagued with and disturbed by
mysterious, mysterious trials and mysterious troubles for which
we cannot account. Have you ever walked up to a
friend and you could tell he had a burden and you could tell
His brow was furrowed with some type of concern. And you say,
what's wrong? He says, I don't know. I don't
know. There's just something wrong.
I'm unhappy and I don't know why. I'm distressed and I don't
know the reason. I'm discouraged for no apparent
cause. What's wrong with you? Have you
ever asked your wife, what's your problem? I don't know. Well,
of course you know. I don't know. I don't know. We call it emotional. We call
it nerves. We call it mental stress. We
call it a lot of things. David experienced this. In Psalm 42, verse 5, he said,
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why? My soul is cast down,
my burden, My heart is heavy, my mind is burdened, I'm troubled,
I'm healthy, I've got clothes to wear, I've got food to eat,
Christ is my Lord, I know Christ is my Lord, I love Him, He's
my Redeemer, but I'm troubled. My soul is cast down. Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? Why? He said. Why art thou disquieted
in me? Paul went through this, turned
to Romans 7, and you'll find it right here in the writings
of the Apostle Paul. I call this wind, these trials
of the wind, trials of mystery. Mysterious trials. Where they
originate, we don't know. Where they come from, we don't
know. Where they're going, we don't know. We just know things
aren't right. Things aren't right. Things aren't
right with us. Things aren't right in our hearts.
Things aren't right between us and others. Things aren't right.
Our souls are heavy, our hearts are burdened, they're mysterious.
You ever have that problem? In Romans 7 verse 18, Paul says,
I know that in me, Romans 7 verse 18, there dwelleth no good thing.
The will is present with me, how to perform that which is
good I find not. The good that I would, I don't
do, I do not. The evil that I would not do,
that's what I do. The way I would talk, I don't
talk. The way I would think, I don't think. The way I wouldn't
think, I do think. Now, if I do that which I would
not, no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, I find
in a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.
I delight in the law of God. I delight in the person of Christ.
I delight in the word of God. I delight in the things of Christ.
After the inward man, but I'm in conflict with another law
in my members, warring, warring, warring. It's a war. against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity, bringing my
thoughts into captivity, bringing my spirit into captivity, something
or someone has a grip on me with which I cannot contend and can't
handle. You ever been there? Bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my old wretched,
wretched, wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this
state? of this body of death. Well,
my friend, I say to you, if you're here tonight and you're in the
midst of one of these wind tiles, you can't tell whence it cometh
or whether it goeth. But I tell you this, you're not
alone. You're not alone. There are others who have experienced
it and those who haven't willed. You're not alone. One of the
old hymn writers said, from every stormy, but I offer this suggestion. The hymn writer said, from every
stormy wind that blows, from every swelling tide of woes,
there is a calm, a safe retreat. It's found beneath the mercy
seat. Christ is the hiding place. Now here's what you are. If you're
out there in that wind, and you're being tossed about, and the wind
bloweth, And you can't tell where it comes from, or where it's
going, and you can't find a reason, and you can't find any cause,
and you know better, and you're being tossed about. You know
what you ought to do? Flee to Christ. He's the hiding
place. He Himself. Flee to Him. Go to Him. Creep up under His
wing. get up close to his heart. O
where, he went on, O where can we flee for aid when troubled,
desolate, dismayed? O how the winds of hell defeat! Come and sit at the mercy seat.
That's where it is. Paul cried three times, Lord,
this thorn, whatever it was, we don't know, but it was a thorn. And you know, someone pointed
out the other day, I was reading on this thorn business, and he
said, if it had been a gash in the flesh, Paul wouldn't have
been troubled nearly so much. You know, a gash can be just
sewed up and treated and bandaged, but a little old aggravating,
irritating thorn. You ever get a thorn? My goodness,
you can't even find it, let alone get it out. You know it's there.
And it hurts, and it irritates, and it aggravates, and it just
controls your whole being, that little, one little organ in the
flesh. Three times, and God finally
said to him, my grace is sufficient. So I say that in reference to
these mysterious trials, these emotional, mental, these nerve
problems, these things that all of us encounter. And you get
mad at everybody. And you don't know why, you're
just mad at everybody. You're upset with everybody.
You don't know why, you're just upset with everybody. Yourself
included, chiefly. Because you are this way. And
things aren't right. They should be right, you know
they should be right, but they're not right. I'll tell you where
we need to go to him. We need, like God said to Jacob,
let's go back to Bethel. on purpose. What happened at
Bethel? That's where he met God. That's
where he communed with God. That's where Jacob poured out
his heart to God. That's where God revealed himself
to Jacob, when the angels were going up and down that ladder
to heaven, and he had his head on the rocks, and he just, boy,
I'll tell you, that was the place. And the Lord came to him, and
his life was all messed up, and his sons had messed up his life,
and he was full of trouble. And his sons had killed those
fellows, you know, and he was a stench in the nostrils of his
neighbors, and he was dissatisfied with himself. And God said, Jacob,
Jacob, you just keep on going in the same direction. Now, what
you've got to do is go back to Bethel. Just pack it all in and
head back to Bethel. That's the thing to do. Christ
is the hiding place. from the wind. There's no need
in going on as we're going. There's no need in proceeding
as we're proceeding. The thing to do is call a halt
and pack it all in and go back to Bethel, back there where you
met God. The sweet time, the sweet place, the first love.
You've left your first love, he said. You've left your first
love. I've got something against you. You left your first love.
You've got too many other interests. You need to get back to Bethel
and get this thing in its proper perspective. Everything in its
proper perspective as it relates to Christ. That's the way we
started, gentlemen. That's the way we started. We started simply. We started singularly, we started
with Christ, and then all these other things started being added,
you know. And we're too diversified, we're
too divided, we've got too many irons in the fire, with a blacksmith
with too many shoes in the fire right now. And we need to come
back to Bethel, back right here, to the simplicity of the gospel,
to the simplicity of faith, to the simplicity of worship, to
the simplicity of prayer, to the simplicity of daily living,
let everything be evaluated as it brings me closer to Christ.
And that which doesn't, cut it off. And those companions that
don't, cut them off. And those activities that don't
relate to Christ, cut them off. That's the thing to do. A man
is a hiding place. And we say that we can't account
for our distress. Well, there's no distress without
a reason. We just don't know the reason. Perhaps we do and
we won't admit it. That may be our problem. Perhaps
we do know the reason. Perhaps we do know the complications.
Perhaps we do, and we're just not willing to come back to the
simple life. The life of faith is the simple
life. I'm not saying men don't work
hard. I'm not saying men don't try hard. I'm not saying that.
But they try hard and work hard in relation to their spiritual
well-being. A man's hiding place. All right,
let's go to the next. The next word is a storm. A storm. He said a man shall be a covert
for the tempest. The tempest is a storm. And the
word here is a refuge in the storm. You don't think life's
full of storms? I mean them window rockers. That's
what I'm talking about. I mean those window rockers.
I mean those that rip the shingles off the top of the house. I'm
talking about those that get water even in the basement. I'm
talking about those when you stand and hold the walls and
wonder if they're going to stand. Listen to David when the news
came that his son was dead. Oh, Absalom, Absalom, my son,
Absalom, would God I died for you. That man's heart, somebody
laid hold of his heart and tore it out of his chest. was almost unbearable. You can
hear the grief and sorrow of that man's heart as he wailed
before God. The pride of his life, the joy
of his heart, God had reached in and taken it away. That's
a pretty good story. Listen to Jacob. Jacob said in
Genesis 43, 14, his sons, every one of them with the exception
of Joseph, and he thought he'd lost him, and Benjamin, and he
thought he'd lost him. And all he had left was those
ten characters that absolutely tore him up. Every time, every
time he got... I believe every time he got up
every morning, he just wondered what they was going to do next.
And somebody said to him, asked him about his problem. He said,
if I'm bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. If I am bereaved of my children,
I am bereaved. Turn to Psalm 55 and listen to
David. You talk about storms. Psalm
55, verse 1, David said, ìGet ear to my prayer, O God.î Psalm
55, verse 1, ìAnd hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend
unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make
a noise because of the voice of the enemy, because of the
oppression of the They cast iniquity upon me, and wrath they hate
me. My heart is sore pain within me, and the terrors of death
are falling upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have
come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, O
that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away and be
at rest." You ever said that? Oh, if I just fly right out of
this mess. Some people do. Some people do. They can't take it. They end
their lives. They take the pills. They hang
themselves. David, he's saying that. He's
not on the verge of any dramatic action of that sort. But he said,
oh, in this traumatic hour, if I could just be like a bird,
I'd fly out of here. I'd never come back. I'd be at
rest. Lo, then would I wander far off. and remain in the wilderness
alone. I'd hasten my escape from the
windy storm and the tempest." That's trouble, isn't it? That's trouble. Listen to Hezekiah
as he lay on his sickbed. Some of you have been here. I
don't know much about this. I've never been sick like this. But turn to Isaiah 38. Some of
you have. Some of our friends right now
are. But Hezekiah, in chapter 38, verse 1, in those days, was
Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son
of Amos, came unto him, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord,
Set your house in order, ye shall die, and not live. And Hezekiah
turned his face towards the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and
said, Lord, remember now, I beseech thee, I walk before thee in truth,
and with a perfect heart, I've done that which is good in thy
sight." And he wept with a great weeping, a great weeping. Now I'll tell you, if you want
your heart torn out, turn to Job 19. Here in Job chapter 19
is the account of a man who at one time was the most influential,
most popular, wealthiest man in the entire community. most
highly respected. And I want you to listen to him
now in Job chapter 19, and here's the solution. As he gives us
the problem, he gives us the solution. He said, verse 12,
his troops came together and raised up their way against me
in a camp round about my tabernacle. He had put my brethren far from
me and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My
kinfolks have failed, my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house,
my maids, count me for a strange. I am an alien in their sight.
I called my servant, and he didn't answer. I have treated him with
my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife.
I have treated her for the children's sake of mine own body. The young
children despise me. I rose, and they speak against
me. All my inward friends hate me. They whom I love are turned
against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin.
I've lost weight, he said, I'm skin and bones, and to my flesh
I'm escaped with the skin of my teeth. Have pity upon me,
have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched
me. Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with
my flesh? Oh, that my words were now written,
oh, that they were printed in a book. Or that they were graven
with an iron pin and laid in the rock forever. I know that
my Redeemer liveth. There's the solution. The storms,
our Lord is a refuge in time of storm. I don't care how severe,
how cold, how strong, how terrible that storm may be. Here is the
solution right here. And this man, I don't see how
he could have gotten any lower. He didn't have anybody. He didn't
even think he had God's favor, did he? He said, God hath turned
his back on me. But he said, I know one thing,
I know my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
day on this earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, in my flesh I shall see God. whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reign
be consumed within me, I know my Redeemer lives. That's it. That's the security. That's the
safety. That's the refuge. In the dark
of the midnight have I often hid my face, while the storm
howled above me, and I found no hiding place. Let the crash
of the thunder, precious Lord, hear my cry, and keep me safe
till the storm passes by." And it will. It will pass by. You might be in the middle of
it right now, but be assured, it will pass by. Job said, though
after my body, skin, worms destroy this body, they're not going
to keep it destroyed. I'm going to save the Lord. It'll
be over. Many times Satan whispers, there's
no use to try. There's no end to this sorrow.
There's no hope by and by. But I know that he's with me.
And tomorrow I'll rise and live where the storm never darkens
the sky. And when the long night has ended
and the storms come no more, Lord, let me stand in thy presence
on that bright, peaceful shore in the land where the tempests
never come. Oh, Lord, may I dwell with thee. till the storm passes by, till
the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more, till
the clouds roll forever from the sky, hold me fast, let me
stand in the hollow of thy hand, keep me safe, till the storm
passes by. There's one thing we must learn.
When these mysterious winds blow, and when these storms, whether
from heaven, earth, come upon us, there's one relationship
that we must guard above all, and that's our relationship with
Christ. You must not, you cannot, and you will not lay it aside.
Isaiah 26, that would be because he's the only hiding place. There
is in Isaiah 28, 26, Isaiah 26, verse 20. My friends, he is the
hiding place from the wind, he is the shelter, the refuge, and
he's the only refuge. only refuge. You're a fool to
seek any other refuge. You're a fool to seek the security
of the flesh. Put no confidence in the flesh,
yours, mine, or anybody else's. You're a fool to seek any other
solution than the one given. The wind, yes, it'll come, but
ease the hiding place. The storms, yes, they'll come,
but ease the refuge. Isaiah 26, 20, Come, my people,
enter thou into my chambers. and shut thy doors about thee,
hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed." Isaiah 26, 20. Come, my people. You are his
people. You may be the weakest child
he's got, but his child. You may be the frailest of all,
but his child. And I tell you this, sometimes
the frailest child gets the most attention from the parent. That's
right. Sometimes the frailest child,
sometimes the weakest child. He needs more help. He gets more
help. Sometimes the sickly child gets more attention, more help,
more concern, more care than the child who is independent and who can stand on his own
feet. Don't try. You can't do it. You can't do
it. Come, my people, enter into thy
chambers and shut the door about this. under his wings, safely
abiding." Then notice the next thing back in our text, Isaiah
32. It says something about Christ being a hiding place from the
wind and a shelter in the time of storm or refuge, and he's
rivers of water in a dry place. Now then, let's look at a few
verses. What's this dry place? Now, I
think I've aptly and at least for my part, handle two things
here. The wind, mysterious. Christ said you can't tell whence
it cometh and whither it goeth. And the storms, you see them. Lord, you see them. You feel
them. What's this dry place? Dry place.
You mean the Christian experience is dry places? Well, let's see
what David says, Psalm 63. Let's see what we can do with
this. It has no question, no question,
a reference to you and me. Psalm 63, verse 1. Oh God, thou
art my God. All right, that's established.
Okay? Early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my
flesh longeth for thee. Where? In a dry and thirsty land
where no water is. Now, Psalm 77. over just a few
pages, Psalm 77. This is the believer talking,
Psalm 77, verse 7. Will he be favorable no more?
Is his mercy clean gone? Ha! Is his mercy clean gone? Will he be favorable? Does his
promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has God in anger shut up his tender mercies from me? That's the believer talking.
Has he? Have you ever felt that way? You haven't? Well, you will. You will. You know, I told you over in
Psalm 22. Turn over there a minute. Psalm
22. We, and I've done this more than you have, more than anybody,
applied this totally to Christ. Psalm 22. This is a psalm of
David. I know it's a messianic psalm.
I know it's a prophetical psalm. I know it deals with the cross.
But this is David talking. My God! What? That's thou forsaken
me. Lord, thou art so far from helping
me, and from the words of my Lord. Oh my God, I cry in the
daytime and you don't hear me. In the night season, and I'm
not silent, but you are. Well, let me tell you something,
and let me be totally frank. How can we help anybody if we're
not, and I think this is one of the great problems that preachers
have, the monsters they've created. They have carried such an expression
and such a false image of Christianity and of faith. They have put up
a front, Jay, it's a veneer of religion that nobody's ever cut
through or seen behind. It's like a mask. You see these
masks the fellow puts on, he's always smiling. The minister's
always smiling, always shaking hands, always saying praise the
Lord and hallelujah And people say, well, he ain't like me.
Oh, he ain't like me. Well, he is. He's phony. He's
got a head behind a mask. He just lets you see one side.
David lets us see all sides. He lets us see all sides. My
God, why stop? What say to me? Oh, you never,
as your mercy, clean go. Now, I know that the whole pilgrimage
through this world is through a dry and thirsty land. There's
no springs of living water out yonder. It's a valley of death. Is this vile world a friend of
grace to help me on to God? No, sir. And we know that. But I'm telling you this. Every
believer I read anything about in the Bible, in biographies, and from my own experience, There
are dry spells for that believer. He can say, I know Christ is
my Lord. I know whom I have believed.
I know my Redeemer liveth. I know my hopes in Him. I know that Christ died for my
sins, but there are times when study is a burden and a chore. There are times when reading
this Bible, becomes a burden and a chore. There are times
when words of prayer are just that, words of prayer. They're
just as dead as words on paper. In my life, and I'm sure in yours,
there are times when my heart is cold as a millstone. There are times when it seems
like I'm all flesh and no spirit. Have you ever experienced that?
All flesh and no spirit. John Newton experienced that.
I want you to listen to this. And we have so many of his great
hymns, Amazing Grace and so many others. But John Newton, and
some of you have been so blessed by his biography, it is a point
I long to know. Often it gives me anxious thought. love the Lord or no? Am I His
or am I not? If I love the Lord, why am I
thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly could they be worse who
never knew His name. Could my heart so hard remain? Prayer a task and a burden through? That's what I just got to say.
Every triumph will give me pain if I knew a Savior's love. When
I turn my eyes within all, not some, all is dark and vain and
wild. Isn't that what I just said?
Filled with unbelief and sin, can I call myself God's child?
John knew. If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You that love the Lord, tell
me. Indeed. He added that word indeed. Don't
lie to me. Is it this way with you? I mourn
my stubborn will. I find my sin a grief and thrall. Should I grieve for what I feel
if I didn't love him at all?" Now, he's reasoning. He said,
if I didn't love the Lord at all, would I feel this way? You
see what he's saying? If I didn't love the Lord, then
I wouldn't grieve over my sins. I wouldn't be troubled over them.
I wouldn't be disturbed. Could I joy his saints to meet?
Could I choose the way I once abhorred? Could I find at times
the promised sweet if I didn't love the Lord? No, you couldn't.
Lord, decide the doubtful case. Thou who art thy people's son,
shine upon this work of grace, if it be indeed begun. And let
me love thee more and more. If I love it all, I pray. But
if I have not loved you before, let me start today. You afraid of that? You're not
if you're honest. And old Bernard used to say,
honest people don't wind up in hell. God saves honest people.
That's people that deal with Him in honesty. But, Lord, to
whom shall we go? He's still the rivers of water
in a dry land. He's still streams of water in
the desert. There are times, my friend, there
are times, and we can't just say, We only experience wind,
we do, and storms, we do, but there are times when it's dry
as powder. There are times when it seems
like we're no spirit at all, we're no love at all. There are
times when we're just taken up for the moment in a sudden fit
of temper, or hate, or vengeance, or selfishness, or something
of that nature. And then we come down and we
say, That's not me. That's not what I want, then
why do I do it? Why do I do it? That's that dry place. And I
tell you, sometimes you ever try to pray when it just seemed
like it got, no, it didn't get that high. It didn't even get
outside Boyce Range, you know. Heaven's a brass. Shut up. Just
shut up. Well, what are we going to do
about it? Let's flee to the oasis. Let's
flee to Christ. He's the water. He's the water. If I'm dry, I need to drink again
of Christ. If I'm in this thirsty land,
I need to find in Him my comfort and my consolation and my satisfaction
and my joy. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. Be of strength in thine heart. Wait. Don't resign. Don't
quit. Don't quit. Don't throw in the
towel. Don't surrender. Just wait on
Him. It'll soon pass. But He is your
source of comfort and help. He loves you. He won't forsake
you. I think I can say this. I believe there are times when
the Lord kind of leaves us to ourselves for our own good. I
really do. Let's see what you're going to
do with that. That's what you wanted. That's what you wanted.
I'll let you have it and see how you get along with it. I
believe that. And then this fourth thing, I preached too long, but
a weary land. David found it to be a weary
land. He said, I'll be satisfied when I wake with eye-likeness.
Paul found it to be a weary land. He said, I'm in a strait betwixt
the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is
far better. Abraham found it a weary land. He found no place
to dwell, and he just looked for a city. It's a weary land,
but there is a rock in a weary land, and that's Christ. And
that's Christ. Our Father in Heaven, we know
all these things. They're the blessed truth and
promises of Thy Word that cannot fail, the Word of our God who
cannot lie.