Isaiah

[0:00] I'll direct your attention this evening to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 20. Prophecy of Isaiah chapter 30 and verse 20.

[0:15] And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more.

[0:25] That thine eyes shall see thy teachers. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more.

[0:48] That thine eyes shall see thy teachers. The word that is laid upon our hearts is the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.

[1:10] And the very expression seems to suggest that this is something strengthening. Deep mystery.

[1:26] Figures of bread and water point to a sustenance in this pathway that is spoken of here.

[1:41] Speak to the Lord's work in the heart and his divine teaching.

[1:55] I believe there is something in this yet. something that is positive.

[2:09] Though the Lord give this, yes. There is something that is good about it. Something that will benefit the soul.

[2:21] There is, as the figure suggests, divine teaching. And the Lord intends that there shall be the pathway of his children, the bread of adversity and the water of affliction.

[2:44] And yet, he is with them in it. He will not leave them nor forsake them.

[2:57] But he will teach them. Teach them about himself and about themselves. Curely teach them about his sovereignty in their life.

[3:09] Adversity in the waters of affliction. We are not thinking of the troubles of the day.

[3:25] We are thinking of here of divine dealings. If I may give you one example, to give you an example of what is in my heart. the dealing of God with Moses when he struck the rock when he was commanded to speak to her.

[3:45] What a solemn dealing that was. But it taught Moses that government was upon his shoulders. He was a God of his holy word.

[3:58] God of judgment. He taught Moses that he was unchangeable in his will and purposes. And there was a rod.

[4:14] When we read in the Psalmist David, thy rod comforts me. What a strange remark it is. There was a bringing back from bypass meadows and solemn powers of disobedience.

[4:31] And a deep divine teaching. And I believe that this teaching is very particular, very peculiar to individuals. And we look at that case of Moses and how he desired to enter the promised land and how he attempted to get the Lord in prayer to change his will.

[4:56] and he did it in the most solemn hour of life, in a dying hour. Yet the Lord's will was manifest.

[5:11] He had given him the bread of adversity and the waters of reflection. And it was the divine hand of chastening that the Lord had brought into his pathway.

[5:26] And in it he learned divine sovereignty. And he learned it in a most powerful way, in unanswered prayer.

[5:39] He learned it in a thorn in the flesh which never left him for dying hour.

[5:52] It remained. He learned it in a bitter sorrow. And that is but one example though the Lord wounds solemnly.

[6:16] He brings his dear children, as it were, right up against a barrier of unanswered prayer. and he teaches them why they've come up against that barrier.

[6:34] Solemnly he promises them that though he gives them this he won't be an history to them as to why he's given them the bread of adversity and the waters of affection.

[6:50] Their teachers aren't going to be removed. It's not going to be left inexplicable. There's going to be teaching. Teaching of the Holy Spirit in the soul revealing why the Lord does this and why he has done it.

[7:09] And he will go back over life's journey. And he will stir up and show and move and work and solemnly teach.

[7:30] I believe this if I may turn to another case in this you know I think of two cases here one is Jacob and the other is David. think of Jacob at Jabbod Esau came to meet him where his teachers were moved into a corner though they were.

[7:53] He knew why. He wasn't unaware of why he was walking this pathway. He wasn't unaware. it was for sin and over many years past it had followed him.

[8:17] And the Lord brought it into his heart in a fresh way when he faced eternity and death and his brother came to meet him and he could see the consequences of his evil.

[8:30] bitter consequences of his sin. His teachers were not removed into a corner. God spoke and he was alone.

[8:44] And I say these powers are peculiar to individuals. And while the Lord teaches alone and we walk apart and he speaks to us apart but he speaks and our teachers aren't removed into a corner and there was a voice heard in it for Jacob a solemn voice.

[9:11] The voice was simply this that what he'd sown he was now reaping. Have you doing it? And yet though the Lord do this and brought his dear servant Jacob into eating that bread of adversity and mark the word that the Lord give well he follows his dear children he gives them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction as a fruit of their sowing and they live with it and they can't escape it.

[9:46] It's very solemn. It's not a trial of today or tomorrow it's a trial of a lifetime. and the Lord worked and he teaches and you know there's an acknowledgement and it was with Jacob in the necessity of his heart he went to his knees and he told the Lord all and what was he seeking?

[10:17] I believe he was seeking pardon peace. If he died there killed by his brother he wanted that atoning blood.

[10:35] Still in his poor heart there was carnality I believe the presence that he sent on ahead to Esau of pure carnality but he stayed alone to wrestle with his God and you know in the midst of that wrestling with the Lord Jesus he carried two things from that seed one was an answer to his prayer and the other was a physical mark in his body which he bore the rest of his journey as he halted upon his side ever did he carry a solemn breath of adversity and water of affliction as he left that spot he carried a thorn in his flesh a weakness as the

[11:36] Lord dealt with him blessed him and yet sent him on his journey solemnly leaning upon him you know I believe this that the teaching of that hour was very much in the open you see I believe that he hadn't really been brought face to face with the heinousness of his sin the Lord died but now he was now he understood what he had done and the paths of sin he'd walked in which at the time appeared to him quite lying but as you know deception dogged his footsteps the rest of his life not only from Laban but from his own son and solemnly dogged his footsteps it wasn't fruit that was reaped at

[12:56] Jabba it was fruit that was yet to be reaped and the divine teaching went deeper and deeper in life's pathway and those wagons came up from Egypt he had such a sight of the mercy of God in spearing Joseph but there was another sight he had at that hour and this was this a coat of many colours was a hope he'd been deceived there was teaching all the Lord went on throughout life's journey and you know when he came to his dying hour to see Ephraim and Nazareth and to bless them before Joseph and he spoke of a God who redeemed him from all evil his teachers hadn't been removed into a corner then he'd been well taught for solemnity of the pathway he had walked down and though the Lord had given him the bread of adversity and the waters of affliction and indeed he had and though he leaned upon his staff of necessity because God had left that mark yet yet you had his teachers hadn't been removed in a corner

[14:31] God had blessedly instructed him I would speak for a moment about David the pathway he walked and the fruit of his adultery and his sin you know the Lord solemnly told him that the child he left him that the child would die and die indeed his prayers were of no avail but the sword would never leave his hand and it never did he walked through a most bitter path a desperate evil and wickedness in his own hands a most solemn nature and it never left him the Lord followed his footsteps with the bread of adversity and the water of reflection he told him he would but you know it seems that there were times when his cup was so bitter that he seemed to lose sight of what was happening when he cried out oh

[15:53] Absalom my son Absalom how I would have died for thee and his heart was utterly broken by him here was the fruit that followed him throughout his journey here was the bitter cup of cloud of sorrows just as much as the prayer that the child might live was unanswerable in God's eye so it was that this sword would never leave his hands it never did and he walked through some terrible businesses bit of hitherto and that cup was put into his hands and I believe this you know that his teachers were not removed into a corner no way could he wrestle with his God to remove his affection they were given for a solemn purpose and they echoed and they rang in his soul and his cup was a cup of sorrow a cup of darkness and bitterness a cup of grief crucifying sorrows and mourning and he went on and on for it did and the

[17:28] Lord was showing him the deep solemn awful nature of his sin and the Lord was moving in his heart and in his life and I would come to this you know that this is all said in the context of this verse that the Lord waiteth to be gracious it's all said in the context of this following verse the voice behind you this is the why walking in it the way of unanswered prayer the way of the divine teaching regarding our own soul and our

[18:38] God and his ways to be gracious he waits to bring his dear children to an understanding the solemn and awful nature of sin defiance rebellion he waits to bring them into godly sorrow and confession this is not something light superficial this is something deep crucifying there's going to be real repentance real confession real mourning real sorrow deep agonies of heart and brokenness of spirit and his teaching there is a leading

[19:46] I believe in this pathway to the cross of calvary to redeeming love and blood this is where he laid his dear servant jacob at jabal as he wrestled with the eternal son of god he blessed him there what other than the blood of christ was it he wrestled for I tell you nothing only the blood the sacred approbation of love and mercy with god to pardon his sin but mark this he still carried the thread of adversity in the waters of affliction as he journeyed onward there was yet more teaching deeper deeper path crucifying sorrow he had to go down into he had to see the coat of many colors after this and the blood upon him and lose his chosen and say in his deep sorrow that he would go down to the grave in sorrow and you know god moves in a mysterious way he waits to be gracious deep in unfathomable mind of never failing skill he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will when the lord dealt with his servant david and he mourned and he mourned his heart was utterly broken yet as he says in his 51st psalm the teachers were not removed into a corner and the teaching that came through it was this the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart oh god they were not dispised that was a teaching his teachers were not removed into a corner in the great affliction which the lord laid on hezekiah by these things men live and all these things is the life of my spirit as a reality as a light to shine upon our pathway individual god comes and moves there is an enclosing a shutting in to our own path and in the midst of it all there is a looking up and there is a teaching there is a revealing these teachers are not removed into a corner the bread of adversity in the waters of affliction are the means of god teaching they are the refiner's fire they are the fullest soul they bring to a cleansing they do indeed they bring to a most solemn cleansing which has a divine hallmark about it no escaping them no avoiding them through much tribulation they shall enter the kingdom and when god dealt with david he came forth and not only did he utter that glorious truth a broken and a contrite heart of god they will not destroy but the dear man of god came forth in his prayer wash me with hyssop that was the plant used to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice the hyssop when he asked for god to wash me with hyssop he pointed in prayer to the atonement blood of

[24:09] Christ this is what he cried out for he also asked for creating me a clean heart of god and renew a right spirit within me well his prayer wasn't answered on the spot we see it being most solemnly answered when he cried out Absalom my son Absalom how I would have died for him the agony of his soul in that hour was the lord answering his prayer shortly after his adultery and the lord waited maybe years and brings dark clouds over his children their teaching brings the bread of adversity in the waters of affliction they're the instruments in god's hand of teaching terrible things in righteousness brought into our pathway long standing afflictions torments torture crucifying sorrow bitter cuts are the instruments in god's hands though he gives them our teachers are not removed into a corner they're beside us in them speaking to us we come apart as it were under the weight of them to rest a while under the pressure of them under the solemnity of them to rest a while and to be taught by him and i would say this his teaching is effectual there's no teacher like the spirit of truth the lord uses his servant as the instruments in his hand to teach his people he uses the ministry of his holy word he uses his word of truth he uses it to search the hearts of his dear children and to bring them to him self you may well be asking in your heart why have i got to pass this way why walk out this dark path why walk through these years of sorrow why this cup of bitterness why this set fast trial why this churning up of the mark and mar of my human nature why this bitter cup why this cup of trembling there is a reason mark this the

[27:18] Lord gives the bread of adversity and the waters of reflection and though he gives them how solemn that though he though he gives them yet there is given with them a sacred promise and this is the promise that though he gives us this path yet he will give us a light light upon him thine eyes shall see thy teacher I take this to mean that there will be given understanding spiritual understanding of what he's doing and why when I think of Jonah what a rebel he was he begins his book in rebellion and he ends it in anger little peace between him and his

[28:31] God and he was a servant of the Lord everything was wrong he didn't like the way the Lord sent him he didn't want to follow his Lord the work was too difficult it crossed his own thoughts and desires and when the Lord had dealt with him and brought him into obedience a willing obedience when the work was accomplished he was still fighting his God in anger and murmuring and complaining no humble bearing under his God's hand and yet you know when you consider Jonah's book he wrote it I believe this you know that he wrote it as one taught of

[29:35] God who could look back on his disobedient defiant pathway and he wrote it as one whose teachers were not removed into a corner he saw what he was an understanding in himself he saw the teaching that was in all that he didn't hide it you would think that if you were to write an autobiography of yourself and your spiritual experience you might not leave put in the defiance of your pathway and the solemn murmurings and anger against your God sin so when the God with it what a spirit he showed anything else but submission to the east wind but

[30:38] I believe in writing it though he doesn't make any comment on it it's its own comment the very fact that it was written at all shows us the truth of this word his teachers were not removed into a corner and when he penned it he shows us the teaching that his anger and wrath and rebellion how wrong it was and you know the scriptures are like this one of their great hallmark is the truth that is revealed there I can give you an example of this here Peter at Galilee his teachers were not removed into a corner when he said Lord I know he saw his teacher the Lord Jesus Christ was his teacher and he saw the solemnity of that teaching he knew the depth and the bitterness of the pathway he had walked and his eyes when he uttered those words they were a confession a deep confession of his sin his bitter sorrow his godly sorrow his repentance his confession and his pardon what is wrapped in those words

[32:15] Lord they know as nobody knows I believe it was between his own soul and his God there was a death in those words and it's a blessed mercy when our eyes see our teachers and we're brought to see the teaching of God to bow beneath the cross and to be still under his hands and to know that in the bread of adversity and the water of affliction how special that is the world comes into adversity and affliction but it's not divine that is spoken of it's not the tribulation that is spoken of by the apostle through much tribulation tribulation tribulation is something that comes from God and this is clearly here and though the Lord gives he gives doesn't give it to the world the world do not know the mighty work of the spirit in affliction and sorrow when sanctified because this is what is happening here have you got in your life a bitter cup that is being sanctified and you know that it's been put in your hand by God himself

[33:39] Moses knew it on the man this is a life of disobedience and yet in the court of Pharaoh he chose rather and had chosen rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt but when it came to the trial of his faith at the burning bush how he fell down vast unbelief swept over him he didn't rise like the apostle Paul rose from the street broad straight and straightway preached crying that he is the son of God he said send whom thou will you know I believe there are solemnly those whom God has called and I was speaking to a friend today of cases I've known of those whom the Lord has called in years past to walk through the waters of baptism and they've never done it they've been disobeyed some have been called two and three times and never come into obedience and you know

[35:05] I've witnessed those on a dying being who have been brought under the bread of adversity and the water of affection to confess it I've stood with my late dear father the bread of a dear godly dying man in Southampton he said eleven years ago I felt the command to come and I never came but the bread of adversity and the water of affliction had brought his teachers to him they weren't removed into a corner and he saw them and he saw that commandment and that divine teaching and he said to my father if ever I get up from this bed I'll come he never did but I remember my father walking out the house he turned to me and said he's baptized done and he was ready to come then teachers have promised there won't be removed into a corner the Lord is going to make it all clear in the hearts of his dear children bring them to this way hear a voice behind them saying this is the way that's seeing your teacher clear as crystal this is the way walk in walk in oh my dear friends

[36:43] I've grown over the churches today I can't tell you how my heart inwardly grown over Zion I couldn't express the depth of what I feel about Zion there's so much that is false and light it's so easy to come to the Lord Paul and to his table just got to believe there's that angle which horrifies me and the great day is going to reveal what was right and what was wrong but there's so much of it that riddles with it from top to bottom but there's equally on the other side a solemn disobedience and you know

[37:57] God will not leave his dear people I've watched this there are those who walked in darkness for years and years because they're walking in disobedience sometimes like Moses like that dear man I've mentioned they come to the end they want to come it's too late the Lord pardons this and he washes them but their sorrows are grey they know and as this dear man did he knew he'd walked in eleven years of disobedience so mercy if we're not left to do it when the Lord called me to his table and to the ordinance it was watching the ordinance in the back of the chapel one Sunday night never before had I felt the persuasion but it came with almighty power and at the same time came a tremendous fear and I began almost instantly inwardly to argue and say well Lord

[39:00] I haven't got what is necessary to come before the chair and to lay down what I wanted before I come and to start and walk out months of disobedience and everywhere I turned I was faced with my disobedience my teachers weren't left to go into a corner so I went to a baptizing and I sat in the back row feeling it should have been me and I opened the hymn book and immediately I was confronted with come be baptized without delay bottom line of the hymn book I can see it now and I went on like this as to go to my father and say occasionally I think I'll be baptized and he was so faithful he used to say quite blunt you can go away you're not coming like that I don't know how many times he sent me away three I think wouldn't have it my teachers were not in a corner oh when it did when he did preach one night from the words

[40:15] I haught you between two opinions I never get it I went straight down to the vestry to him after he'd gone in after the service and I said I'll come and he said that's better but you know I was like it over the ministry for years I longed to go and my teachers were not in a corner I heard dear R.E.

[40:39] Mercer preach in September 1963 at the Harve and all his words never forget the end of that service that night stand still and if you can't stand still sit still and if you can't sit still be still and there were six years to wait and I knew it that night and then when the commandment came to go and I heard under the lips of Frank Gonsden who shall I send who will get here and he said go then like Moses I began to count the car no can't go Lord when I was commanded to sit still I longed to go was thrashing about to go but when the hour came to go no couldn't face it all the darkness the Lord didn't leave me with my teachers in a corner

[41:41] I knew the teaching and oh as the years have gone by have I been thankful that I was kept from ever putting my hand in how many rush into the work of the Lord rush into the ministry seek to rush into office in the church and sometimes are left to long that they've been kept in the back side of the desert as it were another forty years Moses waited forty years in the back side of the desert and I've often thought how exceptional was his training ground forty years in the court of Pharaoh forty years in the back side of the desert that he might be the instrument in God's hand of leading them out of Egypt and leading them through the wilderness for another forty years God knows our time is always ready and it is yet to come they're solemn things these we see the time has gone we've but touched the verse that is before us though the

[42:50] Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction and perhaps you have it in your pathway tonight yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more but thine eyes shall see thy teachers and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying this is the way walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left Amen