The Light of the World Walking in Darkness

[0:01] Because of your sins you were sold. Because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.! When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer?

[0:15] Was my arm too short to ransom you? Did I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke, I dry up the sea. I turn rivers into a desert.

[0:27] Their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering. The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue to know the word that sustains the weary.

[0:44] He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears and I have not been rebellious.

[0:55] I have not drawn back. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.

[1:08] Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.

[1:18] He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other. Who is my accuser? Let him confront me.

[1:30] It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment. The moths will eat them up.

[1:40] Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

[1:56] But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go. Walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze.

[2:11] This is what you shall receive from my hand. You will lie down in torment. Well, we're studying the providence of God.

[2:23] Last time, we saw Job walking in the dark, didn't we? He lost all ten of his children, all of his wealth, his health, and even his friends.

[2:36] And worst of all, he had no idea why this was happening to him. What God was doing, where he was going. There was no light on his path.

[2:48] He confessed, Job 19, 8, he has shrouded my path in darkness. Can't see. There was no light of God's loving face. He didn't feel like he was being treated as God's friend, but rather as his enemy.

[3:04] He was walking in the dark. And we saw that he did better by not focusing on the secret things that belong to the Lord, but by focusing on the revealed things that belong to us, that are given to us in his word.

[3:24] Now, today, we're turning to Isaiah 50 and verse 10 to consider once again this condition that's found in Scripture of children of light walking in darkness.

[3:34] It's verse 10 of Isaiah 50. The passage read for us. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

[3:53] There's three things in this text I want to point out. First, the description of the condition itself. It's walking in the dark without light. Then secondly, the description of the kind of people who are found in this condition.

[4:06] They're God-fearers who obey the word of his servant. And thirdly, the prescription for them in this condition to trust and to rely on their God.

[4:19] First, the description of the condition. Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light. But the darkness of God's judgment was about to fall upon the nation.

[4:32] Because when he called, they did not answer. And they ignored his word. And so judgment is about to fall upon them. And God gave this word to Isaiah even before it happens.

[4:44] That it could be present with them when they meet this great judgment of God. Here would be his word. The judgment would come from the Babylonians.

[4:56] They would come and slaughter many of the nation. They would destroy their cities, their temple, their land, their future.

[5:09] Taking the best of the Israelites far away into captivity in Babylon. Hard and painful things were about to happen.

[5:20] Things they could not understand. It's something of this condition of dark providences of God. Much like Job's.

[5:30] That's the condition. To walk in darkness without the light. Secondly, the description of the kind of people that are found in this condition. Who among you fears the Lord?

[5:44] They were God-fearers. Who among you obeys the word of his servant? Not just when God speaks directly to you with a voice from heaven. But when he sends it through his servant, the prophets.

[5:57] You obey. Because you know it's his word. You know there's those that think that if you're righteous, everything will go well in your life.

[6:07] You'll be healthy, wealthy, and successful. That was Job's counselors so long ago. But it's still the prosperity preachers today.

[6:21] To them, God's providential rule of the world is simple. He rewards the righteous with good things in this life and gives them a long life. And he punishes the wicked with bad things in this life and with an early death.

[6:35] But that's not always the way we find it. It wasn't the way as righteous Job found. And as the wise man in Ecclesiastes 8.14 says, That sometimes the righteous get what the wicked deserve.

[6:51] And the wicked get what the righteous deserve. So here in our text, Isaiah 50 and verse 10 is speaking not of the wicked, but of the righteous. Here described as God-fearers.

[7:04] They're described in their attitude toward God. They fear him. They hold him in highest esteem, in reverence and awe. There's none like him in their esteem.

[7:17] No person, no thing. Most of all, not even themselves. They're God-fearers. But they not only esteem God, they also esteem God's word.

[7:30] Did you know that our treatment of God can always be seen in our treatment of his word? Nobody should think that they fear God, love God, trust God, obey God. When they don't fear and tremble at his word and obey and trust his word.

[7:47] Well, these did. They feared God and they obeyed his word. And as for these people here in verse 10, God in his word had the controls of their hearts.

[8:01] Now, these are the nation's most righteous people then. When they hear the word, they obey it. Yet in spite of that, we find them and they would find themselves walking in the dark without light.

[8:16] Strange providence, wouldn't you say? The nation as a whole was coming under God's judgment. And the righteous will be called to suffer along with the wicked in that judgment upon the nation.

[8:36] Righteous Jeremiah would say of that judgment in Lamentations 3.2, He made me walk in darkness rather than light. Now, that's the condition. And that's the people in this condition.

[8:50] Children of light walking in darkness. And I wanted to come and we'll spend most of our time then on the prescription. What's prescribed for children of light walking in the darkness?

[9:03] Well, let such a one trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.

[9:13] There's the prescription. Trust and rely on your God. Sinclair Ferguson was being interviewed on the topic of suffering. And he gave four things that we need to know in suffering.

[9:26] I'm not going to give you the other three. I'm just going to give you the thing he said. Number one is God's attributes. Are you coming into a period of suffering? You need to be armed with God's attributes.

[9:40] That's it. That's what Isaiah 50.10 is saying. Let him trust in the name of the Lord. Now, your name, kids, is not just a tag to get your attention when mom calls you.

[9:53] Your name stands for everything that you are. It's just shorthanded. Because mom wouldn't have time to explain all the things that you are. So she just calls you by name.

[10:05] And so it is with God. His name represents who he is. All that he is. All of his attributes. And that's what we're called upon to trust.

[10:18] All that he is for us. I received a text recently from a friend who's gone through the fire. And he said, I'm finding healing in the character of God.

[10:32] That's it. That's it. The name. The character. Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Now, trust and reliance are exercises of faith, aren't they?

[10:47] Faith trusts. Faith relies. So, faith is perfectly suited for walking in the dark.

[10:58] Because we don't walk by sight. We walk by faith. So faith doesn't. It's just fine when walking in darkness. It doesn't need light. It doesn't need to see.

[11:09] It doesn't need to understand. It doesn't need to know. It's not by sight that faith is able to walk. Oh, but faith needs an object. Faith desperately needs an object.

[11:23] Faith is just leaning. But what are you leaning on? It's the object of faith to trust in. Faith needs an object to trust in. It is the name of the Lord. It is your God.

[11:35] That's the object of faith. So, when walking in such darkness that you cannot see, you need this confident trust in the guide.

[11:46] Who does see. Who does know. Who is leading you through the darkness. And the million dollar question is, what is he like? Can I trust him in the dark?

[11:59] Can I put all my weight on him and rely on him? So, trust is built on who he is. I wonder how well you know the attributes of God.

[12:10] Recently, I was reminded that there's a children's book with the ABCs of God. Could you go through the alphabet naming an attribute of God for each one?

[12:21] Maybe a couple? Four or five for some of those letters? The point is, we need to not only know the attributes of God, but we need to rest on them.

[12:33] Rely on them. To know them so well. And to know the God who is this God revealed in scripture that we actually trust in. Well, I only have time to speak of three this morning.

[12:44] Three attributes that are such a comforting dark and strange providences. Number one, God's perfect wisdom. This isn't the first time you've heard me say this, and I trust you'll bear with me.

[12:56] But it is a comfort to know that the God who's leading me is all wise. He's wise through and through. He doesn't have an unwise thought in him. Thursday evening, Pastor Jason and Aaron Hoke and myself were coming home from Florida, and we had a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina.

[13:15] By the time we took off for Fort Wayne, it was dark outside. Now, I know this is startling, but hear me out. You know what we did? We sat down in the plane.

[13:27] And we trusted two pilots up there that we'd never met before in our lives. We didn't know anything about them.

[13:38] We didn't know what kind of men they were. We didn't know what they had been doing before they got on the plane. We didn't know their condition while they were flying, whether tired, whether sober, whether wise.

[13:54] But we got into that plane. I had a window seat, and we took off in that silver bullet. Several hundreds, a hundred miles an hour, streaking through the darkness.

[14:10] We didn't have a clue who those pilots were. And I wasn't biting my nails. I was trusting. I was sitting back and expecting them to get me to my destination.

[14:26] We put our lives in their hands. We trusted them to fly us through the darkness of the night to get us safely to our destination. Now, if we would trust them in the dark, is our God any less worthy of our trust when going through the darkness?

[14:43] When we can't see what he's doing, where he's leading us, why this is happening. But it's not just that he is as worthy of our trust as those two pilots up there that we've never met.

[14:58] Is it not that he is worth how much more should we trust him than them? How much more should we rely on our God than these pilots that we've never seen?

[15:14] He's the only wise God. He's in a class all of his own. A wisdom that's ever on display around us.

[15:26] We live in his wisdom works. His creation. Everywhere we look, we see the wisdom of God displayed in creation. Why? To strengthen our trust so that when going through the dark, we'll rely on him.

[15:41] He gives men wisdom to fly in the dead of the night. And bats too. He gives doctors wisdom to operate on a heart the size of a strawberry.

[15:56] And I heard this week that they can even operate on a baby's heart in the mother's womb. While still in the mother's. Whose wisdom thought up and designed that human body who created the human cell?

[16:11] And then divides it into two cells. And then the two divide into four. And the four into eight. And the eight into 16. And so on. And every single cell carries all the genetic information for the whole body to be put together.

[16:25] So some cells get together. And they say, let's be a nose. Yeah. Let's do that. And they come together.

[16:36] And thank God that if others want to join them and keep joining them, there's a point where they say, no. No more. Otherwise, we'd all have noses like Pinocchio's.

[16:47] It would just keep growing and grow. But there's this knowledge, you see. There's this wisdom. So that the cells know. That's it. No more. You go be an eye. Okay. And there's two eyes.

[16:58] There's only one nose. But some of those cells form an eye. And now there's two eyes. And they're not in the middle of your back. To see where you've been. And who's following.

[17:09] But they're rather up front. To show you where you're going. And other cells get together and say, let's be a heart. Let's be a left lung. Let's be a right lung.

[17:20] Let's be a toe. Let's be one of the ten fingers. All of them distinctly unique and different. Let's be some skin. Let's be some tendon. Let's be some muscle.

[17:34] All in exactly the right place in the body. Billions of parts all working together. So that you are you. Sitting there alive this morning.

[17:46] And then God made a soul. The control center. Of the person. What is a soul anyway? How do you make one?

[17:57] Oh praise the wisdom of our God. This is the one who's piloting our lives through the darkness. He knows. And that's just our bodies. The whole ecosystem of the planet.

[18:09] The one who had in wisdom. Installed in the monarch butterfly. A guidance system. To migrate thousands of miles. And every year to go to the same place.

[18:23] Oh praise the wisdom of our God. Amen. So what's our privilege then? To have this all wise God as our pilot.

[18:34] Leading. Guiding us through our darkest trials. A God who's planned your life. With perfect wisdom. Knowing the very best plan for you. For as for God. His ways are perfect.

[18:45] Perfect. And that means his way and plan for you is absolutely unimprovable. You could think for billions of years. And you could never improve on God's plan for you.

[18:58] He knows. He knows. You may not. But he knows just how to prune you. To make you more fruitful. He knows just the right mix of bitter and sweet. To pour into your cup.

[19:09] He knows the right time to lift us up. That we not be pressed down beyond measure. He knows. Exactly what you need. Far better than you even know yourself.

[19:21] He knows how to take your worst things. And to bring about your best things. How to take what your enemy Satan means for evil. And to turn it to your good.

[19:34] And he's never had to readjust his plan. Oh I didn't know that was going to happen. Let's shift. Let's go with plan B. Why not? Because he knows the end from the beginning.

[19:46] Why? Because he in the beginning planned for the end. And he planned all the intermediate steps to get you to the end.

[19:58] This is his wisdom. Oh praise the wisdom of our God. And rest in that wisdom. The cross of Christ is the supreme demonstration of God's wisdom.

[20:08] How can a holy God pardon guilty sinners without being an unjust God? We wouldn't like a judge. We wouldn't be voting for him come next November.

[20:21] If he has a record of just letting guilty criminals off. Saying not guilty. Not guilty. How is it that our God can say of us sinners not guilty.

[20:33] And still himself be just and uphold righteousness and justice. Well he will punish our substitute in our place.

[20:45] And therefore no sin will be left uncondemned. Unpunished. Sin is punished in our redeemer. And the repentant sinner is set free.

[20:55] Oh praise the wisdom of our God. This is the pilot leading us. Guiding us through the darkness. Jesus savior pilot me over life's tempestuous sea.

[21:10] So let him who walks in the dark. Who has no light. Trust in the name of the Lord his God. And rely on him. His name.

[21:22] His wisdom. But now is it not true that God could have the most wise plan for your life. But it would be worthless if he had no power to bring it about. So we're saying that before one day of your life came to be.

[21:35] God had ordained and planned all the days of your life. They could be wonderful plans. But if he has no power. What good are those plans? You've had those kinds of plans.

[21:46] And have had no power to bring them about. Is that God? So faith rests on God's sovereign power. By which he upholds and controls and governs all things.

[21:59] That's the second attribute. His sovereign power. Omnipotence. After our plane there in Charlotte had taxied down the runway.

[22:10] And was next in line to take off. We sat there for a while. There was some mechanical problem with the aircraft. And whatever it was.

[22:21] The mechanics got it fixed. And we were on toward Fort Wayne. But if the mechanics failed. If they didn't have the knowledge.

[22:33] They didn't have the power. The skill and ability to make the fix. Well then the plan to get us in Fort Wayne by 10 o'clock would have been scrapped. It just wouldn't have worked.

[22:46] Is that the way it is with God's plans? Wonderful plans. But what if there's something in this universe that God can't control. And so it frustrates his plan.

[22:59] Well this is where our faith needs to rest on his omnipotence. His sovereign power. Because he controls all things.

[23:11] He's able to bring about all that he has planned. Psalm 57 too. I cry out to God most high. To God who fulfills his purpose for me.

[23:24] You see if God is most high. Is anything higher than him? Is anything equal with him? No. Everything else is under him. Therefore there's nothing that can trump him.

[23:36] Nothing that can frustrate his plans. He is God most high. And therefore his plan for me will be fulfilled. And there's my comfort. There's my trust. No problem.

[23:49] No trouble. No person. No heart. No devil. No power of hell. Over which our Lord does not reign as the most high God.

[24:00] And so King Nebuchadnezzar confesses in Daniel chapter 4. No one can stop his hand. He's going to see that what he planned and purposed is fulfilled.

[24:11] Jehovah himself says I will do all that I have planned. Isaiah 46 11. That's what Job learned in his trial. I know that you can do all things.

[24:24] No plan of yours can be thwarted. So an omnipotent God. A God of sovereign power. Has an unthwartable power. To bring about his unimprovable plan.

[24:37] He will get it done. That's the one who's in the cockpit. Guiding you through your midnight darkness. He's too strong to ever have a plan.

[24:49] For you to fail. Not even one detail. Of that plan. So let him who walks in the dark. Who has no light. Trust in the name of the Lord. And rely on his God.

[25:02] But it's scary in the dark. Isn't it kids? Are all my concerns safe in the hands of the Lord? So in the dark.

[25:14] Faith looks thirdly at God's unfailing love. We've seen his wisdom. We've seen his power now. His unfailing love.

[25:25] And well the whole earth is full of his love as well. He's told us of it. And he's shown it to us hasn't he? He told us that from everlasting to everlasting.

[25:35] The Lord's love is with those who fear him. That means it had no beginning. This is his love for you. You who fear him. It never had a beginning.

[25:46] It's always been. Don't ask me to explain that. And neither will it have an ending. From everlasting to everlasting. The Lord's love is with those who fear him.

[26:01] A love like that will never let me go. It will hold me in the darkness of the storm. Romans 8 is such a precious, precious chapter of God's word.

[26:12] I'm trying to memorize it. Rememorize it. You know how it ends? It ends by assuring us that nothing will be able to separate us from his love in Jesus Christ.

[26:22] So in the furnace God may prove thee, thence to bring thee forth more bright, but can never cease to love thee. Thou art precious in his sight.

[26:36] That's our God. You're precious to him. He can never stop loving you. Rather, he tells us in his word that he rejoices over you with singing.

[26:46] He delights in you so much that he sings over you. Oh, he tells us of his unfailing love. But then he proved his love for us on Calvary, didn't he?

[26:57] This is how we know. We don't know what God's doing in our lives. We don't know what's coming next, where he's leading, why it's happening.

[27:09] But we do know God's love. And how do we know what love is? Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. That's really all we need to know, isn't it?

[27:23] Did he lay down his life? Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And we weren't friends when he laid down his life. Romans 5.8 God demonstrated his love for us in this, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[27:44] And in that passage of Romans 5.6-10, he not only tells us it was when we were sinners. It was when we were without strength. It was when we were enemies.

[27:55] It was when we were ungodly. It was then that he showed, demonstrated his love for us. So it's like God saying, listen, son.

[28:06] Listen, daughter. If I loved you and died for you, when you were ungodly, sinful enemies of mine, how much more now that you are my reconciled friends and children, will I not let anything separate you from my love?

[28:25] You see, our best interests are safe in that one up there who's leading us. In that one who is all-wise, all-powerful, and for me, all-loving.

[28:37] He's all in with his love for me. So the song says, when you cannot trace his hand, trust his heart. You can't trace what he's doing in your life.

[28:50] You can't trace out his providence and understand. Trust his heart. And he has revealed enough about his heart in scripture and in history and at the cross for us to know he loves us.

[29:05] And that ensures that his providence will work in all things for our ultimate good so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

[29:17] Not only know it up here, but rely on it down here. We can sit back as we're hurtling through the darkness, knowing that our shepherd loves us.

[29:29] He's too unloving to be unkind. Well, this is our pilot taking us through the darkness. He's no stranger that we've never met.

[29:41] We have met him. He has dealt with us in salvation. He's revealed himself to us in the gospel and in conversion. We've walked with him.

[29:52] We've talked with him. He's talked with us. He's loved us. He has a track record. He's our all-wise creator with a perfect plan for us.

[30:02] An all-powerful God of providence to bring about that plan and an unfailing lover of our soul who will never stop loving us. A plan born in love.

[30:16] So no matter how dark the providence is, there's always light for a look at the Savior. There's always light streaming from his word for a look at the Savior.

[30:28] Ah, he's in control. I can trust him. I can rely on him. But there's more. Because if I read Isaiah 50 correctly, this is the suffering servant of the Lord speaking in Isaiah 50, in verses 4 through 9.

[30:52] This is our Savior. One of the suffering servant songs found in Isaiah. I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.

[31:06] Who's this? This is our Savior. And if you look up Psalm 22 and read Isaiah 50, what we find is not just children of light walking in darkness, but we find the light of the world walking in darkness.

[31:28] There is a darkness that no child of God will ever experience. No one who trusts in him to save them. It's the darkness of God's wrath, of God's judgment.

[31:41] You remember that Jesus was nailed to the cross around 9 o'clock in the morning. And those first three hours he endured the worst of men, their mockery, their torture, their hatred, their shame.

[31:55] And then about noon we read that darkness came over the whole land. For the sun stopped shining. It was a strange and eerie darkness.

[32:07] When the sun is usually at its brightest, it was dark outside. And it didn't go away. It lasted three hours. No coincidence.

[32:20] But a strange providence. And if we have eyes to see, we can see that the darkness sheds light upon what was happening at Calvary that day.

[32:31] Now, most often in the Bible, not every time, but most often in the Bible, a strange darkness stands for God coming in judgment and wrath upon a people.

[32:42] The prophets often spoke of the coming day of the Lord as being a day of darkness and gloom, since it would be bringing God's wrath. Amos 5, 18 and following.

[32:55] Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord. Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. Pitch dark without a ray of brightness.

[33:05] Without light, but with plenty of weeping and wailing. Amos 8, 9. And that day declares the sovereign Lord, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

[33:17] The strange darkness announces God coming in wrath and judgment. You remember the ninth plague, kids?

[33:28] Out of the ten plagues? Plagues were curses. Plagues were judgments. And the ninth plague upon the land of Egypt was an eerie darkness that lasted for three days.

[33:43] It was so dark, people couldn't go out of their houses. It was God's wrath because, we're told in Psalm 105, because Egypt rebelled against God's words.

[33:56] Let my people go. And they said, no. Here's the judgment. Darkness. Now. Coming upon Egypt. Just before the first Passover.

[34:10] And now here. At noon. During Passover week. When Christ, our Passover lamb, is being slain.

[34:21] An eerie darkness. Descends upon the whole land. Perhaps the most telling of all. Is the number of verses that. Use darkness to refer to hell.

[34:34] And our Lord Jesus did that at least three times. In the gospel. First we see.

[34:47] Jude recording. Of the wicked. For whom blackest darkness has been reserved. Peter says the same. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.

[34:58] These are those who are going to experience God's wrath. Forever and ever. It's referred to as blackest darkness. And then our Lord. Speaks of hell.

[35:08] As the place of outer darkness. That's an interesting term. There. There's the kingdom of light. The eternal kingdom of heaven. And God and the lamb are the light.

[35:19] And. And. And so there's no need for the sun. But it's a light place. But outside. It's dark. It's outer darkness. There are no parties in hell.

[35:32] It's total despair. Total hopelessness. Without end. Agony and darkness forever. No hope there. But the sound of continual weeping.

[35:43] And wailing. And gnashing of teeth. That's what our Lord says. Throw that wicked man. Into outer darkness. Where there will be weeping. And gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8. 12. Matthew 22.

[35:54] 13. For the man showing up. At the wedding. Without the garment. Of righteousness. That God provides. For anyone. Who wants it. How did you get in here.

[36:05] Without the wedding garment. Tie him hand and foot. And cast him into. Outer darkness. In the place. Where there will be weeping. And gnashing.

[36:16] Of teeth. Parable of the talents. Those who used what they had. To serve their master. Will be hearing. Well done. Welcome. To the father's happy.

[36:28] To the happiness. Of your Lord. The one wicked. Lazy servant. Who lived for himself. And not for his master. Throw that worthless servant.

[36:39] Into the outer darkness. Where there will be weeping. And gnashing of teeth. I don't know what that means. But you don't want to find out. Weeping.

[36:49] And gnashing. Of teeth. Now it was that outer darkness. Of hell. That came to Calvary. That day. On the middle cross. It was the judgment.

[37:01] And wrath of God. The eerie darkness. Is saying. God is present. In wrath. To judge. Sin. And he.

[37:13] Christ. Entered into the blackest darkness. That should have. And would have been mine. Forever. For as he hung on the cross. He was sin for us. Wasn't he? He became sin for us.

[37:25] And he's standing there. He's hung there. As the substitute. In the place. Of his people. And having all. Of our sins. Laid on his head.

[37:35] Transferred to him. He therefore bears it. To the place. Of punishment. And God's undiluted. Infinite wrath. Falls. On his own son. Our substitute.

[37:48] And the punishment. That brought us peace. Was upon him. Strange darkness. When we. See. Who it is. On the middle cross.

[37:59] It's none other than Jesus. The light of the world. Who's now walking. In darkness. For us. He who from all eternity. Knew the light. Of his father's face. Sat face to face.

[38:10] For all eternity. Never a moment. Of time. There wasn't even time. Yet. But never a situation. Where he was not. In the bosom. Of the father. In face to face.

[38:20] Delight. And love. And rejoicing. In each other's company. Who is himself. Heaven's light. Who came to bring.

[38:31] His light. To this world. Of woe. And darkness. It's him. It's the light. Of the world. And he's now. In the blackest darkness. And out of that darkness. Is heard a blood.

[38:41] Curdling screen. Eloi. Eloi. Lama. Sabachthani. Which translated. Is my God. My God. Why have you. Forsaken me.

[38:54] And we learn. From his loud cry. That the outer darkness. Of the sun. For those three. Hours. Was matched. By an inner darkness. In the heart.

[39:05] Of our savior. The darkness. Of the father. Turning his face. Away from his son. Withholding the expressions. Of that love. For his son.

[39:15] Such that he felt. Rejected. Cut off. Treated as an enemy. Rather than a friend. And a son. As we sing. Christ. God's beloved.

[39:27] Condemned. As though a foe. He. As though I. Accursed. Left alone. I. As though he. Embraced.

[39:38] And welcomed home. But he's accursed. He's left alone. He's under the father's wrath. What's the takeaway? Well whatever. The darkness.

[39:49] Of your providence. Brother and sister. No matter how dark. It gets. It's never the outer darkness. That we deserve. And I find some sanctifying.

[40:00] Help in that. We get our eyes. On our suffering. We think how great. We're suffering. And. A few minutes.

[40:12] Meditating. On his suffering. Puts ours in context. I will never know. That kind of darkness. Because he took it for. He entered into my.

[40:23] Outer darkness. Yes. He descended. Into the valley. Of that dark shadow. Of death. For me. So that I will never.

[40:34] Never have to know. Death. Under God's wrath. That. Second death. Where there is. Only weeping. And wailing.

[40:45] And gnashing. Of teeth. This is the light. Of the world. I. Am the light. Of the world. He said. Whoever follows me.

[40:55] Will never walk. In darkness. But will have. The light of life. I will never. Have to know. That darkness. So that now. In our. Darkest providences. Now.

[41:06] When we have. No light. Coming from our. Circumstances. There's always. Light. For a look. At the savior. And life. More abundant. And free. So. Turn your eyes.

[41:17] Upon Jesus. See. Who he is. What he's done. For you. He's set before you. In the scripture. As a savior. You can trust. And rely on. Do you know him?

[41:29] Is he a stranger to you? No. If you're. If you know him. He is no stranger. And. Here's the encouragement. He's no stranger. To your darkness. He was tempted.

[41:41] In every way. Like we are. Yet without sin. He entered. Into the worst darkness. That we will never. Enter into. As believers. Others. And that's the one.

[41:51] Who now walks with me. In my darkness. That's the one. Who's in the cockpit. Of my life. Guiding. Directing me. All the way home. Isn't that comforting? To know.

[42:02] When you're traveling. In the dark. So that even in darkness. Light dawns. For the righteous. There's light. For a look. At the savior. There's. There's. There's light.

[42:13] For in his light. We see light. And. We see. That he is. All wise. And all powerful. And perfectly. Loving. But the chapter.

[42:28] Ends. On this. Note. So who among you. Fears the Lord. And. And obeys. The word of his servant. Let him. Who walks in the dark. And has no light. Trust in the name of the Lord.

[42:39] And rely on. His God. But now this word. Verse 11. But now. All you who light fires. And provide yourselves. With flaming torches.

[42:50] Go walk in the light. Of your fires. And of the torches. You have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive. From my hand. You will lie down. In torment. Do you see.

[43:01] What this is saying. When we're walking. In the dark. When we can't. Make sense. Out of the. Circumstances. Of our. What is our temptation.

[43:11] Is to light a lamp. Of our own making. Is to lean on. Our own understanding. Is to go to the world. To find. Some wisdom. Some help.

[43:22] To turn away from. The light of the world. From. The suffering servant. Who has light. And life for us. And is to go. And to. Light a torch. Of our own. Our own making.

[43:33] It's not trusting. On him. It's. It's. It's trusting. On. Me. It's not relying on him. It's relying on. My own understanding. My own resources. I can fix this.

[43:44] I can get through this. The word from Jehovah. Is. Go ahead then. If you are going to reject. Me. The light of the world.

[43:55] Then just go ahead. And walk in the light. Of your little torch. Because every second. It's burning. It's going out. It's also foolish.

[44:05] It's not only wicked. It's. It's unnecessary. Why? Why would you light a little torch. To flicker. Try to create some light. On your back. And you have the light of the world. Ready to give you light.

[44:16] And life forever. Through your darkest night. To be with you. If you haven't trusted in the Savior. He's welcoming you.

[44:27] He's welcoming. The alternative. You'll lie down in torment. Oh. But when you walk with Jesus. You'll have. Wisdom.

[44:39] Power. Love. And light. On your side. Let's pray. Oh. Our Father. We didn't deserve.

[44:50] The light of the world. We didn't deserve. We had all. Every one of us. Turned to our own way. We had struck out on our own. We had said. We don't want to listen.

[45:01] To your word. Yes. Your word gives light. But we didn't want that light. We. We love darkness. Rather than light. We didn't want the son of God either. We crucified him. We rejected him.

[45:12] We love darkness. Rather than light. And still you pursued us. And still. You called us. And you. You wooed us to the Savior. And now.

[45:23] It is our greatest privilege. To have him walking with us. In light. In bright days. And in the darkest days. And how we thank you. Lord Jesus.

[45:33] That you've taken the blackest darkness. The outer darkness for us. That we might walk. In the light. Until we see your face. And we. We live in that new.

[45:45] Jerusalem. Where. You and the Father. Are the light. And there is no night. And there is no darkness. Thank you for such mercy. Have mercy on others.

[45:56] Who are still in the dark. We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Stand with me. As we sing from the overhead.

[46:07] In Christ alone. See if you can't find. The providence of God. In this hymn. A Savior. Who. Who leads us through the dark. A Savior. Who. Is with us.

[46:19] And who controls our destiny. From the cradle. To the grave. Amen. Amen.