Ron Dunn Podcast - Ministry Of Darkness

Episode Date: December 15, 2021

Ron Dunn continues the series "Strange Ministers"

Now would you open your Bibles to the prophet Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50 and I'm going to read the last two verses of this chapter. Verses 10 and 11 of Isaiah 50. It's hard to imagine that the music in heaven is going to be any better than that, but it is. And you just have to have faith to believe that it can be. Isaiah chapter 50, verses 10 and 11. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant? He 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 yourself 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 there's a verse a question asked in verse 10 who is it among you that feareth the lord and that obeys the voice of his servant and then it is answered like this it is he that walketh in darkness and hath no light. And yet, while he's walking in darkness without even a glimmer of light to lead him, he trusts in the name of the Lord and stays upon his God. In the past two or three weeks, I have, in casual conversation, talked with three men that I personally and many others would consider to be some of the greatest Christian men that I know anything about, some that I would classify to be the real saints of God,

men who know God and walk with God, men of tremendous faith and victory in the Lord. Each one of these men, as the conversation became less casual and more serious, gave this testimony. In the past few months, I have gone through the dark night of my soul. The first one that I heard say that, and these were all at different times, it surprised me. I thought I was somehow an exception when I would go through a dark night of the soul.

And yet each one of these men, not knowing the other had made any kind of comment like this, said, In the past three months, one said, For the past six months, there has been a darkness upon my soul that I have never before experienced, where I had absolutely no feeling as far as spiritual things were concerned. I would pray and I felt no feeling that God was hearing, much less answering. One man said, I wrote a book on the Christian life and for three months after I wrote that book, I thought I must be lost the way I felt. Now, I was very interested in their conversation because this past week several of us met with some people from a publisher and they were talking about what needs to be made available

to people we were talking about meeting the needs of people in the life of being filled with the Spirit and coming to know the fullness of Christ, talking about the abundant life. What material needs to be written and published to meet the needs of the people along these lines? And without exception, there was agreement among the five preachers of us that were there, along with the layman, that there is an inevitable experience in the life of every believer, especially once he makes a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus. And that inevitable experience is to go through a dark night of the soul. And for so many Christians, it comes upon them unawares, and they do not know how to handle it.

And something must be said, ought to be said, about what to do when the lights go out and you walk through a dark night of the soul. It is, I say, an inevitable experience for two reasons. Number one, the scriptures teach it. And number two, the testimony of Christians throughout the ages. The inevitable experience of a believer walking through a dark night of the soul. And this is what the prophet Isaiah is talking about. As a matter of fact, he says that the way that you can tell one who really fears God and who really obeys the Lord Jesus is how he acts in the darkness, not how he acts in the light.

Now, I think it'd be good to give a definition of darkness. Now, I've worked long on this definition, and you're going to discover it's profound. I want you to listen. Don't miss it. Darkness is absence of light. And that's right. Darkness is absence of light. The picture in these two verses is of a man on a journey. He's walking. And suddenly the light is withdrawn and darkness rushes in. And the Hebrew has it like this.

He walks in deep darkness without even a glimmer of light to guide him. Now when there is light, you know where you are. When there is light, you can see where you're going. When there is light, you can read the road signs and see how far it is to the end of your journey. When there is light, you can see if there's an obstacle in the road ahead of you. When there is light, you can distinguish friend from foe. When there is light, there is exposure, there is knowledge, there is assurance.

Darkness is when there is no light, when you're not sure where you are, when you're not certain where you're going even, when you are unable to see any obstacle that's in the road when you are unable to distinguish friend from foe and I repeat that this is the inevitable experience of every believer when there comes upon him a darkness when there is no real spiritual feeling, when there is no light, no light is thrown upon the subject, no light, no revelation, no knowledge is given as to why this is happening or what he

is to do next. It seems as though he is enveloped as he is in absolute pitch black darkness. Well, what do you do when the lights go out? I have three suggestions that the prophet here has. When the darkness comes upon you, first of all, keep on walking. That's the first thing. Now, several years ago, a number of years ago, I was driving at night, and the lights went out on my car, and immediately I did the safe thing, the right thing, the rational thing.

I stopped and pulled over to the side of the road to wait until daylight. That was the smart thing to do. That is the right thing to do in the physical realm, but it is the wrong thing to do in the physical realm, but it is the wrong thing to do in the spiritual realm. And probably the biggest mistake that most of us make is that when the lights go out and we come into this dark night of the soul, we stop dead still. And yet the prophet is saying that those that trust the Lord, those that fear God, and those that obey the Lord are those that walk in darkness. And the Hebrew construction of that seems to say this, that it is the characteristic of one of God's people that he continues to walk in darkness.

That when the darkness falls upon him, he doesn't stop. But he keeps on walking. And so the first thing that I would say to you is that when the lights go out and you find yourself submerged in darkness, don't stop. Keep on walking. Keep on praying, even though it feels as though you're not praying. How many of us find it easy to pray when there's that feeling? When somehow in a tangible, real way, we seem to be able to see God himself answering our prayer. And there is a witness within our spirit that our prayer is rising to the very throne of God and is greeted

there with the smile of God. But I want to ask you what happens when that feeling is gone, when the darkness falls upon your prayer life. Do you stop praying to wait for the light to come back? Don't do it. You continue to pray. One of the things that impressed me about one of these men that gave this testimony was that during that six months period when he was in darkness, he continued to walk. When it seemed that he could not pray,

he continued to pray. When it seemed that God was not answering his prayers, he continued to besiege the throne of grace with prayer after prayer. Sometimes the dark night falls upon our witnessing life. You may go through a period of time where every time you speak up to somebody about Jesus, there is a good response and people are saved. But you'll go through a period of time where it appears that every word you speak in witnessing falls on deaf ears what do you do he says keep on walking keep on witnessing just continue to do what you did before the lights went out sometimes a person is tithing and giving god

what is rightfully his and god seems to be blessing but I tell you there are those times when the darkness comes upon your tithing experience and it seems as though none of those things that the preacher said would happen when you started tithing are happening what do you do do you stop tithing no you keep on walking in darkness you keep on walking in darkness to continue to do what you did before the lights went out because because you must discover, friend, that there's something much more important than light. What do you do when you're trying your best to live the way God wants you to live? Perhaps there is a wife who has a lost husband,

and she has heard that if she will commit herself to the lordship of Jesus and become the kind of wife that God tells her to be, that God will her to be, that God will use this to reach her husband. And yet the moment she does that, the darkness seems to fall, the light is withdrawn and things at home get much worse than they've ever been before. What do you do when the darkness falls upon you? He says you keep on walking, just keep on walking. Now that's the first thing.

The second thing is the main thing that I want to talk to you for just a moment about. When the lights go out in your Christian life and the dark night of the soul comes upon you, number one, keep on walking. Number two, don't light your own fire. Do not light your own fire and I suppose the first reaction of most of us when this darkness comes upon us this period of distress and darkness

our first reaction is somehow to light our own fire and to create some light that will substitute for the light of God which has been withdrawn. But that's a mistake. Notice he says he walks in darkness and has no light.

This is the man that trusts in the Lord. And look at the 11th verse. Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks, that walk in the light of your own fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have from mine own hand, you shall lie down in solace. God is saying, now there are some that when the lights go out, they make their own fire, and they make their own lights so that they can see where they're going and see what they're

doing. But God says that is a mistake, and when you walk in the light of your own fire, I will see to it, I will see to it that you will lie down in sorrow. And the gravest mistake, now listen, the gravest mistake you can make as a Christian is man-made light when you're walking in darkness. And of course, the light here in verse 11 symbolizes man's efforts

and man-made attempts to fulfill the plan of God. Now, there are several reasons why you ought not to light your own fire and kindle your own light. Number one is because the darkness is ordained of God. The darkness is ordained of God. The darkness is ordained of God. Now, a moment ago, I gave you that profound illustration about darkness and you laughed, but there is a reason why you must understand that definition.

Darkness is nothing more than the absence of light. The Gospel of John says the light came into the world and the darkness comprehended it not. There is no way that the darkness can extinguish the light. Let's suppose tonight when it is dark, you're sitting in your room and you have the lights on and that room is flooded with light. Open the door.

Does the darkness come in? Is there a patch of darkness thrown across the floor? Does the darkness chase the light away? Not at all. Not at all. The darkness will stay outside. You can open the door, pull back the window, the curtains, let all the darkness come in. It will not come in. Because darkness is simply the absence of light. And darkness cannot chase light. But when you remove the light, darkness follows the light. And darkness can only come in

when light has been removed. The night does not chase the day away. The day leaves and the night follows. And the night is not permitted to come into our area until the sun has left this area. Darkness is the absence of light. Therefore, if there is a darkness that has come upon your life as you walk with Jesus, it is simply because God has withdrawn that light for a purpose. And to make any man-made light will be to frustrate the purpose of God in your life. A significant statement in the book of Genesis is the evening and the morning were the

first day. Did you ever realize that night is just as much a part of day as is the light? God not only created the light, he created the night and the evening and the morning constitute the day. Do not light your own fire, God says, because the darkness is ordained of God. You know, it's remarkable, but there's some things you can't see except in the darkness. You can't see them clearly. Now, you may go out after a while and look up into the sky, and you may be able to see vaguely the moon.

And perhaps once in a while, you might vaguely be able to spot a star, but you cannot see them clearly until the darkness comes, and then it is a simple matter to look into the sky and with a glance to see the moon and the stars clearly. The darkness is ordained of God. You say, Preacher, right now I'm going through a dark night of my soul. There are things in my life I do not understand. It seems as though God has abandoned me. I've confessed every sin

I know to confess. I've done all the things I know to do. I've pushed all the buttons. I've pulled all the strings and nothing seems to work. I've rebuked the devil. I've done everything

you've preached and I've done everything that you've told me to do and still nothing seems to work. Listen, that darkness is ordained of God. And I cannot tell you why. Only God can tell you why. But there is darkness in your life this morning if you are a believer walking in the Spirit because God has

withdrawn the light for some reason. Now, if you're a lost person, you're walking in darkness because the devil has blinded your eyes. But if you're a believer and you're walking in darkness, it's because God has turned off the light for a specific purpose. There's another reason why you must not light your own light and make your own fire when you're walking in darkness, and that's because man-made light is very deceptive. Oh, my. We got down to the wedding rehearsal Friday, and I had ordered tux the size that I wear, size 42 coat, which is the size that I normally wear and the size I wear right now. And so after the rehearsal, they said we'd better try on the tux

and make sure they're okay. And so I tried on mine, and I don't know if they make a bigger size than a tux and make sure they're okay. And so I tried on mine and I don't know if they make a bigger size than a tux and they're doing a normal suit or not, but I disappeared and they had to send out a searching party to find me in that coat. I tried on the pants and they were just fine. They fit all right. And so they said, well, we'll run down here to the store and get you another coat and I said well that would be a good idea so we went down there and uh they didn't have another coat just like that one and so I had to get a size 39 which I haven't worn since I was 19 years old and uh it's I I tried it on in the store

there and it seemed to just go great I said this will, this will do. This will find I'll just hold my breath and not eat any lunch and I think I'll be able to make it all right. And it all matches real good. But that afternoon, when it came time for the wedding and I walked out into the sunlight, lo and behold,

I saw that the coat and the pants did not match at all. I mean, they didn't even come close. I didn't know there were two shades of black but there were. But it was all right because during the wedding we were going to be living in man-made light and nobody would be able to tell that there was any difference in the coat and the pants. The only problem with man-made light is it's very deceptive and very dangerous i think about abraham god came to abraham and said now abraham i'm going to make

of your seed a great nation and i will bless the world from your seed and And then God withdrew the light and gave Abraham a dark night of the soul and Sarah was barren and there was no child. And so Abraham said, I will make my own light. And the result was Ishmael. And we're still today reaping the problems of man-made light. Now to Abraham, that seemed the right thing to do.

Even Sarah thought it was the right thing to do at first. But man-made light is deceptive and dangerous. Moses saw the plight of his people and his heart was broken. And he knew it was not God's will that his people live in bondage to Egypt. And God had made the promise that he was going to give a promised land unto his people. But God withdrew the light and there came a dark night of the soul upon the people of God and upon Moses. And so Moses said'll make my own fire I'll light my own light and he rose up and slew an Egyptian and set the work of God back 40 years

Israel mightily delivered finally from the land of Egypt brought to the threshold of the promises of God they said over there is Canaan. That's what God has promised. And then suddenly God turned off the lights and the darkness came upon them. And they said, we will make our own light. We will light our own fire. And they sent out spies into the land. And the report came back. Ten of them said, we are not able to take the land now that was the rational reasonable conclusion of the spies and man-made light is deceptive and dangerous and for 40 years they wandered in the wilderness of defeat Simon Peter in the garden of Gethsemane when the soldiers came to take Jesus it was not only only night physically, but it was night spiritually,

and God had withdrawn the light, and Peter couldn't figure out why God was letting the Messiah be crucified. And so Peter said, I'll light my own fire and make my own light, and he pulled out a sword and tried to fight. And that was wrong. Every great mistake and failure and defeat you've had in your Christian life has come because you have tried to make your own light. And you have tried these man-made attempts to fulfill the purpose of God.

You see, faith and reason are like the two compartments of an hourglass. When I was a little child, I had an hourglass and the sand would be in the bottom and you turn it over and all the sand would fall to the bottom. And faith and reason are like those two compartments of an hourglass. The one can be full only when the other is empty second thing when God withdraws the light and you're going in darkness don't light your own fire make no efforts to help God out

God doesn't need our help. Third thing. In the darkness, lean on Jesus. Now, I want you to notice what he says in the 10th verse. 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. And stay upon his God.

The word stay is a Hebrew word that means to lean for support. The root of that word is the word translated staff in Psalm 23 and verse 4, where David says, Though I walk, where? Through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff. They what? Pull me up is what the word comfort means. They support me. They encourage me.

The same root word found here. When you're walking in darkness and there is not even a glimmer of light, then you find Jesus as your staff. And when you walk in darkness, you need a staff to feel your way along. And Jesus is that staff. That's one of the things that you don't see in the light that you have to have the darkness to see. That's Jesus. Remarkable thing about the Lord. Some of us can't see him in the light. We can only see him in the darkness.

Listen, better to be in the dark with Jesus than to be in heaven without him. What do I do? Just lean on Jesus. heaven without him. What do I do? Just lean on Jesus. Just trust him. Just trust him. Now, I'm sorry to be repetitious, folks, but everywhere I turn in this Bible,

I keep coming up that God is trying to teach us just one thing, and that's you can trust God no matter what. And when you and I learn that lesson, I'll move on to something else. I do have another sermon but if you folks will just come along and learn this and if I can ever learn it I'll move on to point number two but everywhere I turn in the Bible

it seems that God is constantly trying to teach us one thing you can trust him you can trust him and so he sends the dark that we might discover there's something better than light it's Jesus

and so when the darkness of the soul comes upon you and there's no feeling there's no light there's no revelation there's no illumination and you would be certain you're certain that the fires of hell

are licking at your feet, what do you do? You just lean on the Lord. Trust him. Just trust him. There's a song. I don't remember anything much about it except this.

Standing somewhere in the shadows, you'll find Jesus. And so when the light of your life grows dim, still cling to Jesus, sink or swim. Still at his throne, bow the knee, and Israel's God, thy strength shall be. to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.