Now, I'm turning for a text to
Isaiah 32, verse 2. Now, you're going to have to
listen closely to the message tonight if you get a blessing
from it. I believe if God enables me by
His Holy Spirit, to preach what I feel in my heart, and what
I feel that this verse is conveying, that it will be a blessing to
those who apply themselves. The title of the message is,
A Man Shall Be As In Hiding Place, and that's what the text says
in Isaiah 32, verse 2. And a man, a man. shall be as an hiding place from
the wind, and a covert or shelter from the tempest, as rivers of
water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land." Now God's best blessings to men have usually come by men. Now think about that a moment. God's best blessings to men,
to me and to you, His best blessings, His richest favors have usually
come by men or through men. Israel's days of prosperity,
greatness, revival came through kings like David. Israel was
great when they had a David on the throne. Israel's days of
prosperity and blessings came through leaders like Moses. When
they had a Moses to lead them, to direct them, to pray for them,
they lived in days of greatness. Israel's days of prosperity and
revival came through prophets like Samuel, came through deliverers
like Gideon, came through examples like Joseph. You look through
the whole Old Testament and you'll find God blessing men through
men and by men. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Let me show you something here. We get into the New Testament.
We get into the days of the early church. We get into today in
Ephesians chapter 4. Now listen carefully to this
in verse 8. Wherefore he said, when he ascended
up on high, talking about Christ, he led captivity captive, and
he gave gifts unto men. And he gave gifts unto men. Now the next two verses are in
parenthesis. Let's leave it out for a moment.
We're talking about these gifts. When Christ ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men." Now
what does verse eleven say? What did he give? He gave gifts
unto men, and what did he give? He gave men. And he gave some
apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some
pastors and teachers for the blessings, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the for the edifying of the body
of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, till
we all come to a knowledge of the Son of God, till we all come
unto a perfect man, till we all come unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ, God's blessing you, but he'll
bless you through men." That's what he says. And when he ascended
on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men, and
he gave some apostles, and he gave some prophets, and he gave
some evangelists, and he gave some pastors and teachers till
they come to they come unto the stature or perfection or full
measure of the image of Christ. Now let's look at these offices.
First of all, it said he gave apostles. Now this was the first
and the chief office in the Church. This was the first and chief
office in the New Testament. It was an extraordinary office. It is now ceased. There is no
apostle in this day. It is now ceased. There has been
no apostle since Paul. These men were infallibly directed
by the Holy Spirit These men infallibly wrote the Holy Scriptures. These men had the power to work
miracles. They had the proof of their ministry
in their miracles. They had the authority to go
everywhere to preach the gospel, to plant churches, and to exercise
discipline over them and to set them in order. God gave gifts
unto men. and he gave them apostles. And
you and I today profit from the ministry of these apostles. We
read James and John and Matthew and Mark. We read Paul and Peter
and these other men who wrote the Word of God. We see them
as examples. We see them as rulers and overseers
over us, and we follow them as they followed Christ. he gave
prophets. And to some he gave prophets,
by whom are men, not the ordinary members of the church, who may
teach." Somebody says a prophet is one who teaches. A prophet
is more than that, more than that. We're not talking about
the ordinary members of the church who may teach and who may exhort.
We're not even talking about the ordinary ministers of the
Word of God. These are prophets we're talking
about. These are extraordinary men. These are special men who had
the gift of interpretation. These are men who had the gift
of interpretation of Old Testament scriptures, of Old Testament
ceremonies, of Old Testament prophets, and even the gift of
interpreting by the leadership of the Holy Spirit what would
come to pass. I'll give you an example of that
from the eleventh chapter of Acts. Will you turn over there?
The prophets, the prophets. The most foolish thing that a
man ever did is try on his own to assume one of these offices.
It says, when he ascended on high He gave gifts to men, and
he gave to his church apostles, just like he gave over there
in the Old Testament to Israel a king. When they selected their
own, they went downhill, just like he gave priests. When they
tried to ordain other priests, God split the earth and swallowed
them up with their shoes on. God gave the church apostles,
and God gave the church prophets. And any man who tries through
the mumbo-jumbo of emotionalism to start interpreting the prophecies
on his own is a fool. God gave these prophets. And
if a man is a prophet, God knows it and he knows it. He doesn't
have to prove it. And God will give him somebody
to hear him do. In Acts chapter 11, verse 27,
And in those days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.
And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and he signified
by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all
the world which came to pass." Now that's another thing about
a prophet's office, what he says will come to pass. He doesn't
prophesy about a lot of the, Johnny's going to cut his leg
next week He prophesies about things God's going to do. And
you can always rest assured that what a prophet says is coming
to pass. And it says here that he prophesied
great dearth throughout all the world, which came to pass in
the days of Claudius Caesar. God gave prophets, prophets. And then thirdly, he gave evangelists. These men were below the apostles. And these men were above the
pastors. They were companions to the apostles,
and they assisted the apostles in their work. These men were,
for example, Philip was an evangelist. Luke was an evangelist. Titus
was an evangelist. Timothy was an evangelist. And
these men were not fixed in one place, but they went here and
there as they were sent, not only by the Holy Ghost but by
the apostles, declaring the glad tidings and the good news from
a far country. God gave the church evangelists,
evangelists, a special office. a special man with a special
ministry. And then he gave some pastors
and teachers. Now, that's me. That's you, Brother
Payne. That's you, Brother Thornberry.
That's you, Brother Ropes. That's you, Brother Fitzer. God
gave pastors and teachers. These men are called elders. They are ruling elders. That's
the pastor. Obey them that have the rule
over you." That's the Word of God. There are teaching elders,
and these men are given to the church, and they occupy the most
important offices in the church. They are to wait upon the Lord.
They are to spend time in prayer. They are to discharge their duty
in a responsible manner, responsible to God, to His Word, to the Holy
Spirit, and to the people. and the results of their ministry.
As it says over here in Ephesians chapter 4, the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended on high and he gave gifts to men. And the gifts that
he gave to men were men. And the greatest blessings that
God has comes to us through men. And he gave some apostles and
some prophets and some evangelists and pastors and teachers for
the perfecting of the saints. or the work of the ministry,
or the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the
unity of the faith." Now, we could go on talking about other
men that God has given to His church. In the church, you have
different gifts. You have the gift of faith. You
have the gift of healing. You have the gift of prayer.
You have the gift of labor. You have all of these gifts.
Every member of the body of Christ is a vital necessity to that
body. And we all profit from one another. We gain from one another. God
has given us one another. And the smallest member is as
important or more important to the body of Christ as the most
recognized member. But what are all of these men?
The reason I mention that is it says in verse 32 of our, verse
2 of our text, chapter 32 of Isaiah, and a man, and a man. I said God's blessed gifts to
men are men. But what are all men and all
blessings all combined that have come through men? compared with
the man Christ Jesus. God blessed us through a man.
God's still blessing us through men, that's what I'm saying.
But God has given his greatest, richest blessings through the
man. Amen. Now here's what it says
about him, talking about Christ. And a man, and a man shall be
as a hiding place from the wind. Now brethren, life is one storm
after another. I want you to listen to me now
carefully. Life is one storm after another. A man shall be a hiding place
from the storm. A man shall be a shelter from
the tempest, from the tornado, from the hurricane. I divided life's storms into
five areas. First of all, there is the overwhelming
storm of spiritual distress. When you and I, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, come face to face with what we really are
by nature, what an experience. When we come face to face with
the holy law of a holy God, when we realize the terrible truth
about our nature, about our hearts, about the terrible guilt of our
sin, when we are faced with the awful, terrible guilt of our
race, and of our personal guilt before God. Oh, the unbelief! Oh, the wrong desire! Oh, the
pride of life! Oh, David said, My sins, my sins,
my sins are ever before me. Have you ever been caught up
in the storm of spiritual distress? Have you ever cried out before
God, O wretched man that I am? My sins are too heavy to bear. And then the second storm is
the constant fierce blast of daily temptation, the suggestions
of the flesh. When we, as somebody said, have
lost communion with God, When the flesh seems to reign over
the spirit, the Bible talks about the flesh and the spirit warring
against one another, of the flesh lusting against the spirit. And
there are times during our days when it seems like no spiritual
life even exists, that the flesh is totally and absolutely in
complete command. And we've lost communion with
God, and we pray in the heavens of brass, and we feel like that
our sins and our flesh and the ruling passions of these bodily
members are utterly going to consume us altogether. As David
said, Lord, how long will you keep silence? I cry in the daytime,
and I cry in the night season, and you hear me not. And then
there is the trying storms of bereavement. As the psalmist
said, my tears have been my meat. Has your sorrow ever been so
great that you could feel it in your throat? When your head
seems to burst with the fever of bereavement and the fever
of sorrow, And you even taste it in your very mouth. That's
what he's talking about. My tears have been my meat day
and night. That's what I chew on. I'm in
such heavy sorrow with such personal loss, with such physical pain
and suffering, that my whole being seems to be alone in a
box of agony. And there's no light coming in
anywhere. And I can't find any answer.
Why, Lord? Why? Why? And there's no answer. And no one can share this grief,
and no one can experience this grief, and no one can enter into
this experience. It's just personal sorrow. It's like walking the winepress
of God's wrath all by yourself, which Christ experienced to the
infinite degree, but which we experience to some degree. That's
a storm. That's a storm. And then, fourthly,
there is the storm of human enemies, misunderstandings, hatred, selfishness,
greed, desertion by those upon whom we depended, failure of
those in whom we trusted, the desertion of those whom we love,
the failure to stand when we needed someone to lean upon.
That's a disappointing storm. And then, I don't know a great
deal about this, but some of you do. There is the mysterious
storm within. I read this a few days ago looking
for something on this subject. Those mysterious storms within
us which cause the most dreadful confusion of the mind and the
soul have winds whose directions are unknown. The wind's blowing,
but we don't know where it's coming from. We just know it's
blowing. And those winds have a power
that shakes everything and creates unrest. And there's a pain which
has no apparent cause. And there's a loneliness even
when we're surrounded by a crowd of people whom we adore. And
there's tears when there's no cause for tears. And there's
fear when there's nothing to fear. And there's a breakdown
of dependable, unquestioned foundations that we have never questioned
or found fault with. But suddenly we find those foundations
crumbling. Storms whose cause may be physical,
mental, spiritual, or emotional. Who knows? No one knows. Just
storms. Just storms. Storms within with
no end in sight. Where can I find shelter? Where
can I find shelter? How can I escape? Is there a
hiding place? Here it is. And a man, verse
2, chapter 32, and a man shall be a hiding place. Whether that
storm be one of spiritual distress, whether that storm be one of
constant daily temptation, whether that storm be one of great bereavement
and sorrow, whether that storm be one of disappointment, whether
that storm be one with no explanation and no apparent cause. When our
foundations seem to be crumbling, God says a man shall be as a
hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest and
rivers of water in a dry place, and the shadow, the cool shadow
of a great rock in a weary land." Turn to Isaiah 25, verse 4. Listen
to this. Isaiah 25, verse 4, "...for thou
hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress, a refuge from the storm." This is what the prophetess to
Isaiah is talking about, the storm. He's not talking about
the rain and the lightning and the wind out there that we love
to stand out on the porch and watch the lightning flash and
watch the thunder roll and watch the skies grow heavy with God's
hand and watch the rain pour down. That's a lovely sight,
but these storms in here aren't lovely. And they're fearful and
they're distressing and they're overcoming. And we want to get
out of these. We want to hide. And he says,
he's a refuge, he's a shadow from the heat. When the blast
of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall, find your shelter
in him. And then look at chapter 26,
verse 20. Listen to this. I read it a moment
ago. Come, my people, enter thou into thy and shut the door, and
hide thyself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation
be overpassed." Then turn to Psalms 32, verse 7. Listen to
this scripture. Psalms 32, verse 7. Thou art my hiding place. David
knew something about these storms. You can read through the psalm.
You'll find him experiencing every one of them. Thou art my
hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble.
Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance." Well,
chapter 32 again, verse 2, it says, "...a man shall be as a
hiding place." First of all, Christ as truly man. As a man, He sympathizes with
us. As a man, he brings God near
to us. As a man, in his incarnation,
he assumed our nature. As a man, in his life on the
earth, he endured every trial that I'm called upon to endure.
He understood every temptation with which I am tempted. He went
through every valley of sorrow that I'll ever have to go through.
As a man, he was tempted in all points, yet without sin. In his
death he redeemed my nature, in his resurrection he exalted
my nature, and as a substitutionary man he met the storms for me
as a representative in my place, and he was more than a conqueror,
he was victorious over them all." The songwriter puts it this way,
the tempest awful voice was heard, O Christ at Calvary it broke
on thee. Thy naked body was my ward, it
braved the storm for me. O Christ, thy form was scarred,
thy visage marred, that cloudless peace might come to me." And
Samuel Rutherford wrote this, listen to it, I creep under my
Lord's wings in the great storm of life, and its wrath cannot
reach me. Let the fools laugh the fools'
laughter. Let them scorn Christ and bid
the weeping captive in Babylon to sing them one of the songs
of Zion. We can. We can sing the songs
of Zion even in our winter storm. even in our bereavement, even
in our sorrow, even under our temptation, and no created powers
in hell or out of her hell can mar or spoil my Lord's work. Let us be glad and rejoice in
the salvation of the man, Jesus Christ. He became a man in my
place and in my stead and met my and bore the fierce wrath
of his father's anger, and there is no storm left for me. As the
ever-living man, he is my refuge. He said, Because I live, ye shall
live. In him I am delivered from divine
wrath. In him I am covered from Satan's
charges. In him I am victorious over death
and over the judgment, because as the interceding man, he said,
I have prayed for you. I prayed for you. And then, as
the coming man, I fear no political catastrophe. I fear no social
disruption, because the man The representative man, the conquering
man, the substitutionary man, the victorious man reigns as
King of kings and Lord of lords. And the Scripture says he shall
reign until every enemy is put under his feet. And the last
enemy that shall be destroyed is death, and he is victorious. A man shall be the hiding place.
What is your story? Whatever your storm, he is the
hiding place." Four things more and I'll close. Look at it. It
says, "...a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind." First of
all, he's an effectual shelter. He's been tried and proved. Saints
of God have gone to the stake singing hymns of praise. Saints
of God have gone to the gallows, rejoicing in Christ Jesus. There
is no storm that any man will be called upon to bear that Christ
Jesus is not an effectual shelter. He is an open shelter. He is
available now. He is an abundant shelter, yet
there is room. He is an eternal shelter. He
is our hiding place through all generations. He said, Never forsake
you. He's an inviting refuge because
he is a man who can have compassion on men. And then secondly, look
at it. He said he's a hiding place from
the wind. He's a covert from the tempest. Now, my friends,
a shelter is of no good, no value, no use if you only read about
it. Now, here's the nitty-gritty
of this message. You say, I believe all that.
When you talked about the storms of life, preacher, I've been
there or I am there. All right. A shelter is of no
value unless we use it. You can read about it, you can
talk about it, you can hear about it, you can even stand in front
of it and admire it. But our safety lies in getting
in it. in it. And then when we get in
there, don't walk the floor, don't wring your hands, don't
pace the floor, sit down and rest. Sit down and rest. Get in Christ by faith, and when
you are in Christ by faith, rest in him. Trust in him. Cast all your cares upon him,
for he carrieth You can't cast your cares upon your pastor.
He'd like to bear them. He'd like to share them. You
can't cast your cares upon your dearest friend, although he loved
you and he'd be glad to share all of these things. But he can't
experience them. All he can see is the results
of what you are experiencing. But Christ can share them because
he's been there. There is no temptation, there
is no There is no storm that Christ has not already borne. And you can cast your cares on
him. He cares for you. And then it
says here that he's a river of water in a dry place. Now, brethren, when we realize
just how dry and barren our nature really is, I think the best thing
in the world for us is to endure these storms. We're never worth
a dime spiritually until we become helpless. A man's never worth
a dime spiritually or a woman either until we've been totally
and completely stripped of all the frills of human nature. The
best thing in the world that ever happened to some people
is to fall flat on their face. That's the best thing that ever
happened to me. to be utterly shown to myself and to everybody
else what an ignorant, stupid, failing, sinful creature we really
are. That's the best thing that ever
happened to us. Oh, I wish I hadn't have done this. It's the best
thing in the world because it showed you what you are. And
when we realize just how dry and barren our nature really
is, just how parched we are, just how cracked and dry the
land really is on which we dwell, boy, I'll tell you, you'll welcome
a river flowing down through that land. You sure will value
that river in a dry place. As long as you've got the moisture
of human nature, you don't value the river of Christ Jesus. As
long as you think you've got the dew of human goodness, you
won't look forward to that abundant river that flows down through
that dry place. But when it's so parched and
dry, there's cracking open with human depravity. Oh, bless your
heart how valuable that river really is, a river of water in
a dry place. And then when we see the desert
of human guilt, Christ is more quickly discovered. Somebody
said Christ is never empty except to those who are full of themselves.
And when we feel the burning thirst of divine wrath, Christ
will be received. That's the reason Isaiah said,
Oh, everyone that's thirsty, come to the water, because he
knows the only fellow that really values water is the thirsty man.
And the only man who values the blood of Christ is the dirty
man. The only one who values the atonement
of Christ is the guilty man. The only one who values the healing
of Christ's wings is the sick man. And the only one who values
the power of his resurrected glory is the dead man. And the only man who values the
cleansing covering of his robe of righteousness is the naked
man. And the only man who values the
river of water in a dry place is the man that says, I can't
live another moment without Christ. I've got to have Him. Without
Christ, I not only go to hell, without Christ I am hell. Without
Christ, I'm already in hell. Without Christ, life is hell. Without Christ, even the sweetest
thing on this earth is hell. And then last of all, now listen.
It says he is a hiding place in the storm. Won't you flee
there? Won't you find your refuge in
him? Won't you find your comfort in him? He's a covering from
the tempest, and he's a river of water in a dry place, and
he's the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. I close with
this, and I want you to listen carefully to it. What we need
we always find in Christ. When we need nothing, we find
nothing. When we need little, we find
little. When we need much, we find much. But Charlie, when we need everything,
when we are reduced to complete nakedness, When we're reduced
to total poverty, when we're broken to complete failure, we
find in Christ God's complete treasure house. He's made unto
me all I need. Jesus Christ is made unto me
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And when I am
completely reduced to absolute nakedness, to utter abject poverty,
to the ruination of my whole complete nature. When I have
nothing, am nothing, know nothing, and can do nothing, Christ then
comes in, and He's everything, and He meets my need. He meets
my need. Oh yes, a man, the man Christ
Jesus, the God-man, shall be to those who need him a hiding
place in the storm, a covert in the worst tempest, and a sweet,
refreshing, crystal-clear river of water in a dry, parched, thirsty
land. And when you're out there marching
in the oriental sun and you don't believe you can go another step,
suddenly there before you is a great rock, the shadow of a
great rock in a weary land. Our Father, by the power of the
Holy Spirit, break us, crush us, bring us down in the dust
of repentance to behold our nature as thou hast beheld it. and to
despise it, and to say with Job, I hate myself, I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. Once have I spoken, yea, twice,
I've seen my guilt, I'll never speak again, except to cry with
a publican in the temple, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And reveal to every guilty creature here tonight, who needs everything,
who needs not little, who needs not much, but who needs everything,
that Christ is everything, that in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, that we can find in Christ an effectual
sufficient supply of every need. He never will forsake us. He never will desert us. But
he who is the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our
faith, shall supply every need in order that we might be accepted
in the beloved." Christ is our life, our refuge, our strength,
our holiness, our righteousness. Christ is everything. O Lord,
we thank Thee for Christ, our Savior. In His name we pray,
amen.