Sermon Central
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Treasures Of Darkness
Contributed by Maurice Mccarthy on Apr 13, 2015 (message contributor)
Summary: Abraham experienced a horror of darkness, but in that season God gave him a treasure of revelation!
The Treasures of Darkness
PPT 1 Title
PPT 2, 3 Text: Isaiah 45:1-3
Isa 45:1 Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him, And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
Isa 45:2 "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars.
Isa 45:3 "And I will give you the treasures of darkness, And hidden wealth of secret places, In order that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
The text is written of Cyrus. But I believe the text can be applied to all of God's anointed. Certainly everything that was said here to Cyrus equally applies to Jesus. The text is to God's anointed. God's anointed is Jesus.
Anointed -consecrated - set apart
God holds the hands of the anointed ones.
God opens the gates and they are not shut.
God makes the crooked places straight. (Do you have any crooked places?)
God breaks in pieces the gates of iron and brass. Didn't Jesus promise us the gates of hell will not prevail (stop us).
This morning we are going to preach on the treasures of darkness that God wants to give us, and how knowing such is of benefit to us.
God has a message for someone today - your darkness has a treasure hidden in it, and God means for you to have it.
Let me begin by explaining the frustration of darkness, then we will move on to what are the treasures of darkness, and how knowing such is of benefit.
The frustration of darkness is:
Darkness is a time of moving slower, feeling awkward, feeling unsure.
Darkness is a time of shadows, of not seeing clearly. Of flying by the instruments and not sight.
(Trusting the Word, while for a season not seeing it yet fulfilled)
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things NOT SEEN!.
Of trusting your memory on where things are and how they should be. We have to navigate by things other than our eyes, and that is usually very uncomfortable for us.
Frightening sounds, think of the different way sounds impact you in the day and the night. If my dog barks during the day, I assume it to be a squirrel or some other critter in my backyard, but at night we think of burglars. Why? Because night and darkness cause fears to manifest.
In our text this morning God said in this text He would give His anointed the treasures of darkness.
That puts a different spin on darkness, doesn't it. Even as there are fears and awkwardness in a season of not seeing, there are also treasures available, so let's discuss them.
A. What are the treasures of darkness?
God has treasure even in places of darkness.
No the text says more than that it says He has "treasures." (Plural)
1. The first treasure I want to speak of is the treasure of the presence of God.
PPT 4, 5 text
1Ki 8:10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy [place], that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
1Ki 8:11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
1Ki 8:12 Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
Whenever I read that text I always thought of some super bright cloud. But that is not the cloud God dwells in. Even though in Him is light and no darkness, I think He wraps Himself in dark clouds to remind us that there always is mystery about God.
Ex 20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God [was].
Who is in the thick darkness? Us alone? No that is God's dwelling place! So the truth is that in times of darkness we may come away with some of the greatest moments of intimacy we will ever know in our lifetime here on earth.
2. The second treasure I want to speak of is the treasure of new revelation.
We just read of Moses drawing near unto the thick darkness where God was, and what happened there?
God gave him the revelation of the 10 commandments and so many other things. You will find that in a season of darkness will sometimes be the season in which you get some of the greatest revelations from God you will ever have.
