THE TREASURES OF DARKNESS
I will give thee the treasures of darkness. Isa. 45:3.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness. Job 12:22.
God has assured us that there are treasures in the darkness. He has promised us "He discovereth deep things out of darkness"……but still
I. DARKNESS IS DREADED BY MOST PEOPLE
Most children are afraid of the dark. Young people who are full of life and vitality often times fear darkness also. Older folks often fear driving in the dark ….
1. Wicked individuals up to no good operate in the darkness of night
Men and woman are robbed and beaten in the dark
No one likes to be in a gang infested part of town after dark
2. We have all heard the expression Woman of the night…
Wayward daughters and wayward sons roaming the streets under the cover of darkness
What's the first thing you do when you go camping? You build a fire for comfort
and safety! What's the first thing you do when you get home at night….turn on a light.
3. Storms are even more dreadful if they comes in the darkness of night.
Sickness that torments a household is worse if it comes at night. An earthquake has its horrors intensified and multiplied if it comes, swallowing up houses and cities, in the night.
War, with the sound of whizing bullets and mortars, grenades and airplanes roaring overhead is made more terrible when it takes place in the darkness of the night.
Man has always dreaded the darkness from the garden until today
4. Jeremiah the prophet of old puts it this way in Lam 3:6
"He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old"
The Psalmist says the same thing in different words in Psalm 74:20
"For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitants of cruelty
5. Job declares in Job 24:16 how evil men carry out their wickedness in the darkness of night
"In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they knew not the light"
6. Solomon shows how shameful deceit works under cover of the darkness.
In Prov 7:8,9 And he went to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night"
But something you may not have thought about is this…………………
II. DARKNESS HAS IT'S GREAT TREASURES.
Listen carefully as I read the following scriptures:
"Thou hast visited me in the night" (Psalm 17:3).
"In the night, his song shall be with me" (Psalm 42:8).
"At midnight, I will arise and give thanks" (Psalm 119:62).
Acts 16:25 informs us that Paul & Silas prayed and sang at midnight
They probably sang the 119th Psalm (if they did ….they shouted out vs 62 loud and clear
In the middle of their darkness both physical and spiritual THEY FOUND TREASURE IN THE DARKNESS…So…..what are the treasures of darkness? Let us SEE
I. FIRST UNDERSTAND THAT DARKNESS SYMBOLIZES SIN FOR US
Job 5:14 says "They meet with darkness in the daytime"
For sinners, even in noonday ……the brightness, is as darkness.
Sin is,….and always has been ……and always will be darkness…..and not light.
The person on drugs is walking in midnight …..at noonday, meeting with darkness in
the daytime. The obsessive gambler is walking in the black of night …..at noonday.
The adulterer walks in darkness at noonday. The liar walks in darkness in the
daytime. The cheat and the fraud walk in the darkness at noon-time.
Every worker of iniquity meets with darkness in the daytime.
How true it is that "the way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not" (Prov.
4:19).
Someone is surely thinking "Where is there any treasure in the darkness in respect to sin?"
Let me ask you something…. is it not a priceless thing to know that darkness symbolizes sin and thus warns us against yielding to sin? …Is that not treasure indeed? ….
You look into a dark alley and you are warned of danger…You toss a rock into a dark crevasse and you listen as it bounces for minutes downward
If I were a sea captain, I would consider as treasure the lighthouse, that warned me of danger. Lighthouses are not placed on our rocky shores for adornment, but to warn vessels of danger. Buoys are ugly, but they tell us where the rocks are along the coast.
Years ago I was hunting and almost walked on a rattle snake …..He got my attention in a hurry. The rattle startled me …but it gave a timely warning as to something more dreadful. When I thought of his poisonous fangs, I was glad for the buzz of his rattles.
So, one great treasure of the darkness ….is that in what it symbolizes as to sin ……it is valuable.
Paul asked: "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Gal. 4:16).
Would you think it wise to take the light out of the lighthouse because it blinds you?
Do you think you would be safe from the rocks just because the light went out….no
Thank God for the treasure of truth and light in the midst of darkness.
(You will never know how many people get so mad at me when I preach the truth of
Gods concerning subjects such as adultery, homosexuality, Gods love for Israel, the
cults, holiness, stewardship, hell etc
But also consider that darkness puts before us
III THE TREASURE OF REVELATION
Darkness hides things from our sight….But the darkness never hides anything from God's sight.
Listen to the Psalmist….."The darkness and the light are both alike to thee" (Psalm 139:12).
One of the treasures of the darkness is what it reveals to us
Darkness hides those things that are near……. the things on which we focus most of our efforts . But darkness reveals those things far away ……on which we think so little about. Darkness may hide the stepping stones to your garage at night…., but it reveals the Milky Way going across the sky.
Darkness may hide the lovely rose bush at our feet, but not the stars of heaven hundreds of miles away. The darkness reveals the stars…. you can’t see the stars until the darkness reveals them
Napoleon, the great soldier, declared: "I find in the stars all the proof I want of the existence of God."
Listen what the Bible says about the stars …star that without the revelation of the darkness you’d never see…Let me list just a few
"Praise him, all ye stars of light" (Psalm 148:3)……. The stars declare He is worthy of our praise
"The stars in their courses fought against Sisera" (Judges 5:20)…..They reveal God is our protection
"As the stars of heaven for multitude" (Deut. 1:10). …The stars speak of God’s vastness
"He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names" (Psalm 147:4). He is All knowing …..and ever present
"Though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down" (Obadiah 4). …..The stars speak to us concerning Mans Arrogance
The stars speak of future punishment for those who refuse to repent…."wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness . for ever"………. (Jude 13)…
They speak of God’s ultimate triumphant…."They shall shine..... as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). …They shout of God’s glory…..and of the Glory of the Godly
"The sun and the moon and the stars shall be put under his feet."
There are great treasures in the darkness when we remember that the
darkness reveals the stars, ……and in revealing the stars we see a God of
perfect order.
Jesus is the bright and morning star who said I am the Light of the world
Thank God it was in the 3 hours of Darkness on the cross that Jesus was rejected
and because of that……Every individual that realizes they are a sinner….and humbly repent of their sin ….and receives by faith Jesus Christ into their heart will be free from the chains of the sin of darkness …and will one day dwell in the presence of light forever….That darkness revealed Jesus as the Savior of the world beloved.
We must remember also that
II. DARKNESS DEVELOPS
Maybe your going through a tough time in your life and your trying to figure out "Lord Why"…..These thoughts should help you today
God has made a world in which the freeze is needed as well as sunshine
A world in which storms are needed to make the trees take deeper root-
A world in which suffering and sorrows have treasures of their own to bring to the spirit.
God's highest revelation was in Jesus Christ who passed through the darkness
of Calvary-his exposed body quivering and blood-splotched against the
darkness.
And listen carefully…God is more concerned for our character than for our comfort. He is more concerned for our moral purity than for our physical immunity. He is more concerned for our freedom from poison of evil than for our freedom from danger. And so he allows us to experience tribulation oftentimes.
….you say NO… NO ….NO….. STOP ….STOP
But I remind you the seed must first be in the dark ground before it becomes the plant that makes the fruit.
The foundation must first be placed in the ground before it can hold a mighty structure…..The gardener put pots over plants to deny them light so their roots will go deeper …..Diamonds are made from coal under pressure….it is the pressure that produces the diamond….The Butterfly must first struggle out of the cocoon …it’s the struggle that makes the butterfly
1. God takes John Milton and puts a pot over his life.
It seems he is being denied light….He is blinded with darkness. But something wonderful happens…his roots grow down deep. He develops "Paradise Lost," and one of the great songs of the world, "Paradise Regained." Bedford Prison and persecution couldn't keep God's servant locked up
Through Paradise Lost John Milton is still preaching loud and clear today
2. God takes the Apostle John and puts a pot over his life
John is exiled to the isle of Patmos. It seems The Apostle of Love is being denied light by the one in whom he loves Jesus…all alone and deserted…how will he ever share the love of Jesus with any one. All his hopes and dreams are shattered
But it was here on the Island of Patmos all alone and seemingly deserted John is given a BIRDS EYE view of the resurrected Jesus…..He wrote the book of revelation and has testified to saints of God and people throughout all the ages!!!
3. God takes Fanny Crosby and puts a pot over her life
Fanny Crosby is blinded as an infant by a careless doctor. It seems she has been denied light by the master Gardener. But her roots go down deep and Fanny Crosby begins to write Songs 100,..500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 5,000, 6,000 ..7,000 ..8,000 songs & poems many of which we sing often. In her blindness she reaches around the world and influences many generations. She was visited by kings and queens and many important dignitaries of her day
4. Many of Gods choicest servants have a pot placed over their life
Not to deny them light …….but rather because God has a special plan for them.
God wants them to extend their roots a little deeper than the average plant so he gives them what the Bible calls "the treasures of darkness."
Sorrow often times brings out what the sunshine never could …..
You say oh make me to be more like you Jesus…and he hears your prayers……..and you suddenly become more like Christ a man of sorrows
THERE ARE BLESSINGS FOR YOU IN THE BLACK TIME OF YOUR LIFE
The seemingly black moments of your life that never seem to make any sense
at all
1. The Master Gardener Placed a Pot over the life His only begotten Son Jesus
Jesus and his teachings and his miracle were all sunlight. Joy was in all his parables. …. Joy of women finding lost coins; …..Joy of shepherds finding lost sheep; Joy of father having his lost son come home again. So much Joy that the frozen-hearted Pharisee found fault with Jesus and his disciples.
2. Then one day Jesus told the disciples about the other things that were coming.
He showed them the black in the picture WAS ABOUT TO COME…..the CROSS and DEATH.
And Peter protested that this must never be so. Peter like many others, did not like the black-because he did not know the black was to become gold.
But there came a day when the black came.
The betrayal….the arrest…..The spit in the face…... The scourge……. The mocking……The crown of thorns….. The Cross. The three hours of darkness…..The death…. The burial.
It seemed to them all black. …….His throne had turned into a tomb…… His kingdom was reduced to the narrow dimensions of the grave
Their heavens were black with clouds as the prophet said in 1 Kings 18:45
Then at last….they saw and understood.
For the wounds and the Cross and the crown of thorns …..shone out in a golden glory.
They "beheld his glory"……as they had never seen it or imagined it. They learned resurrection morning, of the wonderful the blessings there are in the darkness
Black shadows will fall on your road from time to time. The wonderful sunlight bringing warmth and light produces a shadow too
Do not be afraid of them. …. Do not fear the black moments in your life.
Remember that when God sends you the black, he is preparing for the gold,
Listen to what Job said "When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
BUT THE DARKNESS HAS EVEN FOR US MORE TREASURE….
IV. THE VISIONS OF THE NIGHT…"The visions of the night" (Job 4:13).
The day has its visions….visions of earthly objects….flowers/ trees/ hills / mountains.
The night also has its visions…visions of heavenly objects… /moon/ stars /
But it is only at night are these celestial bodies visible to us.
Beloved write this down “Darkness is the time for vision.
When a movie is about to be shown to the audience, the house is darkened so that one may better see the movements of the people on the screen. And enjoy the beautiful color scenery
tapestry - funeral of TV child that was strangled - I PREACHED THAT FUNERAL
God gave me a vision of a tapestry…ugly threads all together …seemingly nothing
But turn the tapestry around and it is a beautiful pitcher
When the doctor tells you, I am sorry we have done all we can do….…....and you call upon the master physician…..but he doesn’t seem to answer…
Or your looking over a casket with tears blinding your eyes…. wondering why…..Or your about to loss everything you worked so hard to accumulate……Your passing through financial darkness…………Or your in the midnight of disgrace….…..or the darkness of domestic trouble………
Jesus said: "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light." It was the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
I will give thee the treasures of darkness.-Isaiah 45:3.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness.-Job 12:22.
