The Discipline of Darkness | Part 2

Can you avoid darkness when you become a Christian?

Listen to Adrian Rogers. 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. Be nice if it happens that way, but folks, it generally does not. There are thousands of saints that fear God and obey God who are walking in darkness. What do you do when the lights go out? What is the discipline of darkness? Welcome to Love Worth Finding featuring the powerful, dynamic messages of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. In part one of today's message, we learn that those of greatest devotion may know the deepest darkness. Fate that is born in the light is often developed in the dark and that there are some things seen in the dark that cannot be seen in the light. We may also be tempted to make our own light, but there are many examples in scripture that warn us not to. If you have your Bible, find Isaiah chapter 50. We'll begin in verse 10 as we learn more about the discipline of darkness.

Once again, here's Adrian Rogers. I suppose a question that pastors ask 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 to term. Pastor, tell me why my wife has treated me this way and walked away from a 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 obeyeth 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 compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled, this shall ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Now, here's the 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. 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. 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. 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?

Are you 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. Now, 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 deepest darkness.

Now, let me give you another proposition. Number two, the faith that is born in the light is often developed in the dark. May I ask you a 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? 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, you say, Adrian, I'm not in darkness. Well, just hold on. Just wait a while.

This is some good medicine to keep on the shelf. And there will come a time when you will find out that not only is God necessary, you'll 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.

For example, have you ever heard anybody say the stars are out tonight? Friend, they're out in the daytime. The stars do not go away in the daytime.

You just don't see them in the daytime. 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 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 than standing alone in your man-made light. Now, look in verse 11. Behold all ye that kindle the fire, that compass 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 ye have of mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow. Now, one of the great dangers of darkness is 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 clothe the heavens with blackness.

That is, the darkness is ordained of God. 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're not going to have a sure guide. It's kind of like taking your flashlight and going out at midnight and looking at a sundial to see what time it is. You see, God says if you do this, when you're in darkness, if you light your own fire, this will you have of mine hand, God says you're going to lie down in sorrow. You're asking for it. You're going to 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 sun. And this sun is going to bless the world.

And he's going to be a son of miracle. And through this sun, all of the promises Abraham that I've given you will be fulfilled and you're going to have descendants like the sand of the seashore, like the stars, year after year after year past and no sun. Finally, Abraham and Sarah got together and said we better help God out. Now, Sarah had an Egyptian maiden whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said to 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, he was 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 sorrow. Because here was a man 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. But Moses is looking around and he doesn't seem to understand how God is going to do it. He'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 slays 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 sorrow.

He lighted his own fire. I think of Simon Peter. Jesus had told Simon Peter, Simon, I'm going to the cross. Simon says, no, 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 darkness, Simon Peter draws his sword and goes to cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, a man named Malchus. And as a result, you 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 the number five.

And here it is, friend. If your son has set, it will rise again. If you're in darkness. Friend, it will rise again. Notice Isaiah chapter 50 verse 4. He waketh morning by morning. God will waken you in the morning.

The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. Friend, when you go through darkness and come out, you'll know some things that other people won't know. He waketh morning by morning.

He waketh mine ear to hear as the learned 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 in darkness right now, lean on God.

If you're in darkness right now, don't light your own fire. Trust God. And I'm telling you, he'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 ariseth light in the darkness. He is gracious and full of compassion and righteous. Psalm 30 in verse 5. For his anger endureth 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 the sunshine of his love, his light, and you're going to see things that you've never seen before more clearly than you've ever seen them before.

When he awakes you in the morning, you will awaken with the tongue of the learned. I was an artist who painted a great painting. He wanted his friend to come see his painting. So he invited his friend to come and see the painting. And so his friend came down the busy street, went in, and the artist said, 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.

It is magnificent. He said, Why did you want me to just come in this room 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.

He 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 in 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. Trust Him. 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. Daddy, 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 his 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. He 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 learning the treasures of the darkness. Now let me say one last word and we're going to 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.

It's 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. 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're 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 sheer 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. In your precious name I pray.

Amen. If you prayed to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord just now, we want to celebrate with you and offer an insightful resource. Go to our website, lwf.org slash radio, and click Discover Jesus at the top of the page. You'll find answers you may need about your faith. There's a response section where you can share how this message or others have impacted you. Again, go to lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus.

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Or you can order by writing us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for studying in God's Word with us today. Maybe you're in a time of darkness right now. Remember these comforting and encouraging words from Adrian Rogers. God will turn every tear to a pearl, every hurt to a hallelujah, every Calvary to an Easter.

Your morning will come. Be sure to join us next time for more timeless truth right here on Love Worth Finding. Well, we love hearing your feedback about the program, and recently someone reached out on Facebook with a powerful testimony.

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