Adrian Rogers: The Discipline of Darkness [#2206]

welcome to love worth fun with pastor teacher and author Adrian Rogers reaching out with God's love bringing people to Christ touching lives around the world and helping you find the answers you need today join us as we prepare to open God's Word and discover how your life can be changed forever by his great love worth finding would you take God's Word and find the Book of Isaiah chapter 50 sometimes we as God's people go through darkness sometimes we can't see ahead sometimes nothing seems to make sense maybe we have a wayward child maybe there's been a financial reversal maybe there is a broken fellowship and we just don't seem to be able to make sense of anything now we've listened to our preaching we've studied our lessons we've learned our little formulas we've written down our promises and we think we have it all figured out and just about the time we have it all figured out we are plunged into deep deep perplexity and despair I suppose a question that pastors asked more than any other question is this why pastor tell me why should such a precious little girl die at such an early age pastor tell me why I could not carry this baby determine pastor tell me why my wife has treated me this way and walked away from me perfectly wonderful marriage and her children tell me pastor why why why well after preaching for a long time I found out that why is not our question God has the answer to that how is the important thing to us how are we going to react what do we do when the lights go out when nothing seems to make sense well you know we feel like we could bear up under almost anything if we just knew why but when we're suffering and it doesn't make sense then that's hard well our scripture today is a wonderful wonderful scripture and I pray God he'll write it upon your heart Isaiah chapter 50 beginning in verse 10 who is among you that feareth the Lord that obey the voice of his servant now let's just stop right there we would say if somebody's fearing God and obeying God's servants we would think they would be walking in the light wouldn't we we could say well the next step is that they'll be walking in the light but listen to it who's among you that fear the Lord that obey at the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his god behold all ye that Kindle a fire that can pass yourselves about with sparks walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that ye have Kindle this show you have of mine hand you shall lie down in sorrow now here's a question what do you do when the lights go out what is the discipline of darkness well I want to give you some propositions number one those of greatest devotion may know the deepest darkness those of greatest devotion may know the deepest darkness now if you look at verse 10 again you're going to find out that we're talking about someone who fears the Lord that doesn't mean he cringes at the idea of God fear is love on its knees it is a reverential offer Almighty God a person who has great respect and reverence for God and who obeys the voice of God's servant when the word of God is preached he says yes Lord I will obey you and yet he seems to walk in darkness now there's no fine print in the contract and I want to tell you if you're considering becoming a Christian it is not all sweetness and light sometimes I think we over promised in order to somehow get people to come to the Lord Jesus Christ there is a distorted idea that if you become a Christian it will be all joy and all light and all sweetness and just roses all through life there be no sickness to be no sorrow we're just going to go through life in a never ascending scale of health and success and and then we're going to die the serene old age and then have a glorious exit and go to heaven be nice if it happens that way but folks it generally does not it generally does not there's no need to deny it there are thousands of saints that fear God and obey God who are walking in darkness now as we study the Bible we're going to find out that was true of the Bible Saints for example Joe the Bible says hope was an upright a perfect man he feared God and yet Jobe was in darkness put in your margin Jobe 19 verse 8 job said he hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass modern English he's headed me off of the pass and he hath set darkness in my paths who has done that God has done that God set darkness in the paths of good old job and job said Lord I just don't understand this I was reading about Habakkuk the Prophet Habakkuk went to God wanted to get some answers things that he could understand a back of chapter verse two he says Oh Lord how long shall I cry and out will not hear even a cry out unto thee of violence but thou will not say Habakkuk says God I have stained heaven with my prayers where are you God God it doesn't make sense I read in the Bible about John the Baptist was John the Baptist a great man you better believe it jesus said there was not a greater born of woman than John the Baptist and yet John the Baptist got down in a dungeon and he's in darkness and he can't understand he got so perplexed he even sent messengers to ask of Jesus are you really the Messiah oh he who really or should we look for somebody else now that's not a bad man who was saying that that was a good man a man who was deeply perplexed I read about the Apostle Paul not a greater Christian ever lived and the Apostle Paul the Apostle Paul said in second Corinthians chapter four verse eight we are perplexed he said Paul come on man you must be backslidden he wasn't backslidden he was in backslidden at all he said we're perplexed and troubled on every side yet not distressed we are perplexed but not in despair Paul knew that darkness need not put him in despair I'll tell you something else if you read outside the Bible just read the biographies the history of the great Saints there's not a one of them are hardly a one of them that does not speak sometime of what we call the dark night of the soul when they have gone through darkness and despair now we're talking here again look in verse 10 we're talking about a man who fears the Lord who obeys God if you're in darkness right now if you're plunged into darkness if things don't make sense to you that does not mean that you have sinned or you're out of the will of God remember our proposition that those of greatest devotion may know the D this darkness now let me give you know the proposition number two the faith that is born in the light is often developed in the dark the faith that is born in the light is often develop in the dark mass q question when have you grown the most spiritually when it was all sunlight and roses or when there was darkness and difficulty and despair and heartache and tears are not those the times in the darkness that you've grown the most faith like film is developed in the darkness let me give you the names of three men named John and see what happened to these men when they were in darkness for example one is John Milton who was blind John Milton in the darkness of his blindness wrote one of the greatest books ever written Paradise Lost another was John Bunyan who was put in Bedford prison and suffered there and languished there in darkness and despair in many ways but John Bunyan in this time of darkness wrote pilgrims progress again a book that has blessed the world another man named John was on the island of Patmos exiled on the island of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus Christ that John there wrote the book of the revelation I'm telling you folks there's faith that is developed in the darkness now God wants to develop your faith a wise man said never doubt in the dark what you've learned in the light your faith born in the light grows in the dark now by the way the test of your character is what you do in the dark the test of your character is not what you're doing in this Worship Center right now but the test of your character is what you do in the dark now how does God develop our faith in darkness well look again at verse 10 minute ELLs you to do two things if you indict us look right now at verse 10 who is among you the fear the Lord that obey at the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light and here's what it tells you to do let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God number 1 look to the Lord trust in the Lord 1 where's be said we live by promises not by explanations that is tremendous wisdom we live by promises not by explanations don't demand that God explained something to you just stay on his word just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean it doesn't make sense and does just because it doesn't make sense to you now does not mean it will not make sense to you later on another great man of yesteryear Thomas Watson said where reason cannot wait faith must swim just trust God just keep on trusting just keep on obeying God now if you pray and darkness comes don't stop praying just keep on praying even when you don't feel like pray as I've said don't bring to God the Brass of your emotions come even in the darkness with both hands filled with in sense of his Worth and just keep on praying if you've been witnessing and darkness comes and nothing seems to make sense to you don't stop witnessing just keep on witnessing if you've been giving you've been a tither and now everything goes upside down and you lose your job and everything seems to be wiped out don't stop tithing just keep on tithing if you are a wife and you've been trying to win you unsaved husband to Jesus and he seems to get meaner and meaner and more and more difficulty comes just keep on loving him just keep on submitting if you've been praising God and then everything seems to go wrong don't stop praising just keep on praising when you don't understand and when you don't feel like it lift your hands by faith and praise him trust him trust him look to the Lord and then lean on the Lord look again in this verse it says let him stay upon his god now that word stay is the word that is used it's the root of the word that is used in the 23rd psalm when it says thy rod and thy staff they comfort me a staff was something the Shepherd would stay upon that he would lean upon stay upon God when you're in the dark you don't need an explanation you need God stay upon God lean upon God listen to me it is better to be in a dark Valley leaning on God then on the sunlit peak without him just stay upon your God as a matter of fact sometimes we may not know why in order that we might know who sometimes God removes all the answers to give us himself as a great gospel song you know it when answers are not enough there's Jesus for example David in Psalm 23 was talking about his theology when he says the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he's talking about God but then when he gets in the dark Valley he says yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me he's not talking about God now he's talking to God I mean he's having a relationship with God that he could not have had in the light just stay upon God standing somewhere in the shadows you're going to find Jesus this is what God's taught in the book of Job job said God you've hitted me off at the pass you've sent darkness into my path God you owe me some answers so this job says well I wish I wish I could see you and talk with you it's almost like God I'd like to bring you into court where are you God God you owe me so answers the book of Job ends with Jobe never ever understanding you understand what happened to Joe because you've read the book of Job but Jobe didn't have the book of Job when Jobe was going through all that darkness he's just he's just stumbling and and but at the end he says though he slay me yet will I trust him and Joe discovered what I want you to discover that a relationship is more important than a reason when you don't have the reason you just have God you're walking in darkness let him trust in the name of the Lord and let him lean upon his god now you say Adrienne I'm not in darkness well just hold on just wait a while this is some good medicine to keep on the Shelf and that will come a time when you will find out that not only is God necessary you find out that God is enough that God is enough now here's a third proposition some things are seen in the dark that cannot be seen in the light you're going to understand some things in the darkness that you would never have understood in the light now you're in verses 10 and 11 just back up 2 verses 3 and 4 and notice what he says here God says I clothe the heavens with blackness see is God who sends the darkness I clothed the heavens with blackness and make sack cloth they're covering sack cloth is just dark cloth God says I've just pulled a veil over the son the LORD hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary he waketh morning by morning he waken mine ear to hear as the learn what does all that mean are you going to wake up and you're going to realize that in the darkness you were learning some things there are some treasures of darkness and when the Bible uses darkness sometimes the Bible uses darkness as a symbol of evil but sometimes the Bible uses darkness as a symbol of perplexity and the treasures in darkness if you were to go backward Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 3 you would find out that God is speaking to a Persian king named Cyrus and God said to Cyrus I will give thee The Treasures of darkness think of that The Treasures of darkness there are some things that are seen in the dark treasures that cannot be seen in the light for example if you ever heard anybody say the stars are out tonight for and they're out in the daytime the stars do not go away in the daytime you just don't see them in the daytime the only time you can see the stars is at night and the stars are there to praise the Lord praise ye him Sun and Moon praise him all ye stars of light but you would never have a star to praise God if it weren't for darkness those stars that are there like a chandelier on the velvet blackness of night those stars are there and you could not see the stars were it not for the darkness now in the light we see that which is near but in the dark we see that which is far away in the light we may see more clearly but in the night we see further there's just certain things that you see in the darkness that you can't see in the daytime you may think your brightest thoughts in the daytime but you will think your deepest thoughts in the nighttime in the times of darkness they're going to be certain treasures of darkness there are things that are seen in the dark that you will never see in the light let me give you another proposition now if these things are true then it is better for you to be leaning on God in the darkness then standing alone in your man-made light it is better for you to be leaning on God in the darkness then standing alone in man-made light now look in verse 11 behold all ye that Kindle a fire that confess yourselves about with sparks walk in the light of your fire underscore this of your fire and in the sparks that ye have kindled this shall he have a shall you have a mine hand you shall lie down in sorrow now one of the great dangers of darkness is that you may be tempted to light your own fire that you may be tempted to light your own fire now remember that if this darkness comes to you and you are fearing God and obeying God and then the darkness comes that means that darkness has been ordained of God remember what verse 3 says of this chapter God says I closed the heavens with likeness that is the darkness is ordained of God now don't ever get the idea that darkness can chase away light if you're in a lighted room you can't open the door and let in the dark no no the light always chases away the dark the dark can never chase away the light the only way therefore that darkness can come is what for light to be removed so if if the light has been removed that means that God in His sovereignty has allowed you to be in the darkness that God has a reason for you to be in the darkness it is God who is clothed the heavens with sackcloth it is God who has done that now if God has done that don't you be so foolish as to light your own fire when you light your own fire you're going get into difficulty because you're going to try to undo what God has done now the sad thing about the man-made fire is it is deceptive if you walk in the light of the fire the sparks that you've kindled you know you're gonna have Asher guide it's it's kind of like taking your flashlight and going out at midnight looking at a sundial to see what time it is I mean that's your own man-made fire out light you see God says if you do this if you do this when you're in darkness if you light your own fire this will you have a mine hand God says you're going to lie down in sorrow you're asking for you're gonna have great difficulty when you in a time of God ordained darkness light your own fire I want to give you three examples of that first example was Abraham God said to Abraham in a time of light I'm going to give you a son and this son is going to bless the world and he's going to be a son of miracle and through this son all of the promises Abraham that I've given you will be fulfilled and you're gonna have descendants like the sand of the seashore like the Stars year after year after year passed and no Sun finally Abraham and the Sarah got together and said we better help God out now Sarah had an Egyptian maiden whose name was Hagar and Sarah said Abraham why don't you have sexual relations with Hagar maybe she can conceive and then you can have your son you know what he was doing when he agreed to that you lighting his own fire he's trying to help God out because it was darkness and he couldn't understand it so what he did was to light his own fire and Ishmael was born and for centuries and millenniums past that time the offspring of Abraham had been made to lie down in song because he was a man could who could not trust God but he took matters into his own hand with no Direction no command from God lit his own fire and then he and his offspring are lying down in sorrow let me give you another example Moses God called Moses and God said Moses I want you to lead the children of Israel out of bondage and I you am i anointed and my appointed leader but Moses is looking around and he doesn't seem to understand how God is going to do it is it's in a time of darkness and then Moses goes out and takes matters into his own hand he saw some people in an argument Moses steps in and kills one of those he Slayer he kills an Egyptian slaves an Egyptian and buries him in the desert sand there but God's wind uncovered Moses mistake Moses who set out to be a missionary ended up a murderer and as a result of that Moses spent 40 years on the backside of a desert lying down in song he lighted his own fire I think of Simon Peter Jesus had told Simon Peter Simon I'm going to the cross Simon Says Mel Lord this will never be Jesus said Simon Satan has desired you to sift you as wheat but I prayed for you that your faith fail not Oh Lord I'll go with you to prison and to death and then that night of dark Gethsemane when it was dark things didn't make sense here was Jesus Christ the Messiah they're taking him a prisoner nothing is making sense and rather than believing what God had shown him in the light in the dark Simon Peter draws his sword and goes to cut off fear of a high priests servant man named Malthus and as a result just see Simon Peter off there doing what weeping bitterly bitterly he wept why he tried to light his own fire and he's lying down in darkness lying down in sorrow because of that weeping bitterly now here's the proposition it is better for you to be leaning on God in the darkness than standing alone in man-made light now here's the next proposition I want to give you this is the final it's a number five and here it is friend if your son has sent it will rise a game if you're in darkness Fred it will rise again notice Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4 he waked morning by morning God will waken you in the morning the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learn that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary friend when you go through darkness had come out you'll know some things that other people won't know he waketh the morning by morning he waked my near to here as the learn in the morning when the morning comes when you've gone through that dark night of the soul when you've been through anguish I'm telling you friend there's a better day coming if you're in darkness right now trust God if you're a darkness right now lean on God if you're in darkness right now don't light your own fire trust God I'm telling you you'll turn every tear to a pearl he'll turn every hurt to a hallelujah he'll turn every Calvary to an Easter your morning will come Psalm 112 in verse 4 unto the upright there are rise of light in the darkness he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous Psalm 30 and verse 5 for his anger and earth but for a moment in his favor is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning don't you love that weeping may endure for a night you may lie down and wet your pillow with tears but I'm telling you friend there's a better time coming one of these days God is going to pull back the shades of night and pin them with a star and open the door of the morning and flood your world with a sunshine of his love his light and you're going to see things more clearly than you've ever seen them before when he awaits you in the morning you will awake him with the tongue of the learned I was an artist who painted a great painting he had wanted his friend to come see his painting so he invited his friend to come in and see the painting and so his friend came down the busy street I went in and the artist said come out here and I come in here and I want you to sit in this room and I'm going to turn out all the lights and I want you to sit in the darkness for 15 minutes before I show you my painting the man did it then he was taken out of the darkness and brought into the gallery to look at the painting he said it is beautiful is magnificent said why did you want me why did you want me to just come in this room and and sit in the darkness and the artist said it is because you had the glare of the street in your eyes I wanted you to be able to appreciate the richness of my colors said you would not have been able to do it until the glare was gone you know I think sometimes that you and I are just so dazzled by this world I think sometimes that there's so much jingle and jangle and so much glare that God and his love just lets us know something of the treasures of the darkness I've been preaching long enough to know there's some people in this room right now you've got some deep deep hurts and you have some big big questions and you're trying as best you know how to love God you fear God and you obey God and nothing seems to make sense trusting trust him lean on him stay upon your God a father and a little girl came from the funeral home they had just put away into the cold ground a mother a wife and now this daddy and this little girl had to come home without that mother the little girl said daddy can I sleep with you tonight he was glad she said that because he did not want to be in that lonely bed by himself she came to lie down by her daddy he turned out the light and she said daddy it's dark that it is so dark daddy have you ever seen it this dark before daddy it's so dark I can't even see you daddy daddy is your face toward me he said yes sweetheart my face is toward you she said I'm glad to know it daddy good night daddy I'll see you in the morning and she went off to sleep and that big man crawled out of bed got on its knees and spoke to his heavenly father and said father it is dark so dark father I've never seen it this dark before father is your face toward me and from heaven he said yes my son my face is toward you they said then good night father I'm going to sleep and I'm going to tell you friend in your deepest darkest sorrow the eyes of your heavenly father are upon you trusting and learn the treasures of the darkness now let me say one last word and we're gonna have prayer if you're not a child of God if you're not trusting God if you're not staying upon God there's another kind of darkness is called everlasting darkness for those who do not know Jesus Christ they go from this life into eternal everlasting darkness without Jesus the Sun will never rise for you so I want you to know Jesus I want you to trust in Jesus he is the light of the world would you bow your heads in prayer while heads are bowed and eyes are closed if you're already saved would you begin to pray for those round about you who may not know the Lord Jesus Christ and if you're not certain that you're saved or if you're certain that you're not saved I have wonderful news you can be saved for sure and forever by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and I want to encourage you to pray this prayer if you can pray it sincerely out of your heart dear God I know that you love me and I know that you want to save me Jesus you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you I do trust you I believe you are the son of God I believe you paid for my sin with your blood on the cross I believe that God raised you from the dead and I now receive you as my personal Lord and Savior I receive you by faith I trust you once and for all to save me you're now my Lord my Savior my God and my friend begin now to make me the person you want me to be I will follow you the rest of my life not in order to be saved but because I have been saved by a shear gift of grace I will follow you and by your grace and for your glory I will not be ashamed of you because you died for me I will live for you thank you for saving me and your precious name I pray amen [Music] we pray God has blessed you as you've watched this message if you'd like additional copies or information on other resources write us at love worth finding Bo box 38 800 memphis tennessee 38134 at lwf dot o-r-g in the US you can place Visa or MasterCard orders by calling 1-800 two seven four five six eight three Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time thank you and may God richly bless you [Music]

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Keywords: the, discipline, of, darkness, Adrian, Rogers, Dr, Pastor, Teacher, Teaching, Preacher, Preaching, Evangelist, Prophet, Prophecy, Truth, Praise, Faith, Worship, Gospel, Grace, Word, Minister, Ministry, Ministries, Love, Worth, Finding, God, Jehovah, Jesus, Christ, Christian, Christianity, Yahweh, Messiah, Saviour, Savior, Lord, Holy, Spirit, King, Lamb, Ghost, Bible, Bellevue, Baptist, Church, Saved, Salvation, Sermon, Fellowship, Trinity, Preist, Missionary, Revival, Lost, Sin, Satan, Backslide, Help, Forgiveness

Id: tFqS-j77l_o

Length: 38min 20sec (2300 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 12 2016