Treasures of Darkness - Pastor Frani

Deeper Through Discipleship, 10/8/2017 12:00:00 AM

Treasures of Darkness

 

Scripture: Isaiah 45:3


3 I will give you the treasures of darkness

Riches stored in secret places,

So that you may know that I am the Lord,

The God of Israel who summons you by name.

 

Here in this passage the Lord is telling that He will give us the treasures of darkness. Many of us desire the treasures but hate the darkness. Many times, we say, Lord if it is darkness then we don’t want the treasures.

Many times, we think that darkness is an enemy that has come to destroy us and we hate it with every passion of our soul.

Darkness – sickness, deep injustice, troubled relationship, uncertainty, living with difficult people.

Encounter darkness – times seems to move slower, awkward feeling, feeling of insecurity, surrounded by shadows and can’t see clearly.

The Bible says in 2 Sam 22:12,

12 He made darkness his canopy around him—
    the dark[a] rain clouds of the sky.

And you feel like Job in 19:8,

He has blocked my way so I cannot pass;
    he has shrouded my paths in darkness.

And we cry out to the Lord in Psalm 13:3

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

Some of you may have faced this darkness, some of you may be facing this darkness and indeed all of us will face this darkness and we need to be prepared to face this darkness at some point of our life.

This morning I would like to share with you the Treasures of Darkness.

Reality of Suffering:

  1. SUFFERING IS INEVITABLE:

Jesus said in John 16:33,

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

 

  • (MSG)

 

This world is not our home, 1 Pet 2:11 says,

 

We are foreigners and exiles, and are on our way to a much better place where there are no tears, no sickness, no pain, no death, no mourning. Heaven is a perfect place. Filled with glory and grace.

But here on earth nothing is perfect. Everything is broken here the weather, the climate, bodies, relationships are all distorted. Why?

  • Because in Heaven God’s perfect will is done to the minutest detail. It’s done joyfully, immediately, and fully, whereas here on earth we struggle to do the will of God. Every moment of our lives, there is a struggle to do his will. When our will clashes with the God’s will, there is cross in our lives.
  • We live in the ALREADY- NOT YET time of our life. We are already in the Kingdom of God but the kingdom of God is not yet fully consummated. Because of that we are experiencing suffering in this present world. That is why we experience suffering in our bodies, in our relationships, business, weather, economy…..
  • We should always remember in all that we do, this world is not our home we are foreigners and exiles here with a limited validity. And suffering is part and parcel of our lives.
  • Ps 90:7, Our days may come to seventy years,
        or eighty, if our strength endures;
    yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
        for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
  • Paul said in Phil 1:29, For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,
  • Introduction of Jesus in Isaiah 53:3, He was despised and rejected by mankind,
        a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
    Like one from whom people hide their faces
        he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
  • Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:22, said to the believers, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
  • Suffering is inevitable in this journey of life, because we live in a fallen world with fallen people. But that is not the end of the story.
  • Many people when they go through suffering will say, this is the end, I’m, done with it. Its better I die than live.
  • That’s not the solution, suffering is not the end of life, it’s the end of that particular moment of our life, and in this life, you will experience many ends of moment.
  • The end will come only when Christ will come and take us home to be with him, until then suffering is inevitable in all of our lives.

 

  1. SUFFERING REFINES US:

Sanctification is a process whereby God makes the believer progressively holy.

Job, one of the man who endured a lot of suffering said in Job 23:10,

But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

  • Suffering is one of the primal ways God sanctifies a Christian.
  • When God sends suffering our way, it’s not to take away the joy from our life, but to increase our joy.
  • Isaiah 53:3 says, 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness

Now what are some of the treasures of darkness?

  1. Faith is strengthened. 1 Pet 5:10

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

  • What the enemy intended to destroy you, the Lord will use the same suffering to make you strong, firm and steadfast.
  • The thing that you feared most will seem so insignificant and you will experience supernatural strength from His presence.
  • You will be firm and steadfast, not moved by the struggles but holding on to God.
  1. Done with Sin. 1 Pet 4:1

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.

When you suffer in the body, your done with sin

  • Gain a new appreciation for life. You will understand that life is like a vapor and it can be blown away any time.
    • You will understand life is short, I have only one life and it will soon pass away and then you begin to live everyday passionately and purposefully
    • You will keep shout accounts with people. God will even the scores.
    • Ignore things that need to be ignored and live every moment for the glory of God.
    • You will not crave for the world or the things of the world but prepare yourself for eternity.
  • Gain a new appreciation for heaven.
    • When you go through intense suffering in the body, you will not be depressed like the people of this world, but you will long for that day when everything that is broken on this side will be straightened on the other side, in the sweet by and by. Ex. Joni Erickson Tada
  1. Enjoy God:

One of the hidden jewels of darkness is emptiness.

  • When grief and suffering hits us there is a deep emptiness in our life and many of us try to run away from this emptiness.
  • Some of us try to fill this emptiness of our soul with activities, shopping, eating, travelling, watching T V, playing games, etc.
  • But this will leave you emptier than before and a deep frustration can come over your life,
  •  But then in the empty moments of your life, when you share your emptiness with Jesus the lover of your soul a deep sense of peace and joy comes over your life.
  • Then you can sing you are more than ten thousand to my soul. Your love is better than life.

Suffering refines us and prepares us for eternity.

Paul says in Rom 8:18,

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Friends, this is not the end of the story. Greater glory will be revealed in us.

Glorious days are ahead for those who endure suffering without growing cold in their first love for Jesus on the earth.

 

  1. SUFFERING HELPS US TO KNOW GOD INTIMATELY.

Isaiah 45:3

So that you may know that I am the Lord,

The God of Israel who summons you by name.

When we go through suffering the immediate question that comes to our mind is why me? My family? My loved one? My Church?

But God seldom answers that question and even if he gives you an explanation that would never make any sense to you.

But during these times if you choose to trust God, like in Is 50:10 Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God

  1. You will experience the presence of the Lord, so that you may know that I am the Lord, The God so Israel who summons you by name.
  • Heb 13:5; “Never will I leave you;   never will I forsake you.”[a]
  • Ever abiding presence of the Lord will be your portion.
  • Isaiah 49:15, 16 15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
        and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
    Though she may forget,
        I will not forget you!
    16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
        your walls are ever before me.
  • Isaiah 43:1-2 But now, this is what the Lord says—
        he who created you, Jacob,
        he who formed you, Israel:
    “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
        I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
    2 When you pass through the waters,
        I will be with you;
    and when you pass through the rivers,
        they will not sweep over you.
    When you walk through the fire,
        you will not be burned;
        the flames will not set you ablaze.
  • In times of suffering, God will not leave you, he will not forget you! He will be with you!
    • Unless you walk through the fire you can never experience deliverance.
  1. Experience the comfort of GOD.
  • Isaiah 66:13, 13 As a mother comforts her child,
        so will I comfort you;
        and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.”
  • Deep comfort from God is all you need in times of suffering.
  • We receive much comfort as we read the Psalms, why? Because many of the Psalmist in their deep pain cried out to God and experienced deep comfort and penned down their experiences and when we read those psalms we can identify with them.
  • The God who comforted them will surely comfort us.
  • Don’t look for comfort from mortal beings, because there is a limit to what they can do to us.
  • 2 Cor 1:3-7, 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
  • Only through suffering will you experience the deep comfort of God.

 

CONCLUSION:

I know that this is a very hard subject to digest. When Jesus spoke about suffering in John 6:53-68,

Vs.60 says, on hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

Many disciples deserted Jesus that day and Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Friends if we are seeking Jesus only for this present life then like the disciples we will desert him when suffering comes our way. But like Peter if you understand that Jesus is much more than blessing just for this earthly existence, if you have eternity in perspective and know that Jesus has the words of eternal life which is much more important than this earthy life, surely you will experience the treasures of darkness.

 

May God help us to this very end. God bless you.