Savoring Christ In An Age of Distraction

I'd like to speak tonight on the subject of the necessity of solitude. And I suppose if I could give the main title a subtitle, I would entitle it Savoring Christ in an Age of Distraction. Before we look at our text this evening and other selected texts, let me share with you very transparently something out of my own heart, because it seems as if in God's providence, the Lord has brought me in touch with people these days who have held my feet to the fire and cautioned me about overextending myself.

Recently, I received an email from a missionary in Thailand, and he wrote me this searching exhortation, Don, as you well know, the heart of the Christian experience is to know and love God and our Savior in and by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it all begins by cultivating and deepening a private, secret life of solitude and communion with the Lord. Brother, I must express some concern when I read of your travels and ministry schedule as to your physical, mental, and spiritual life.

Your itinerary seems very heavy and pressed and could drain the soul and be a substitute for the one thing necessary. Deadness and dryness can be the harmful fruit of such a potential overload. Our worth to God's kingdom is not first based upon what we do, but who we truly know and what we are truly becoming.

Andy Hamilton. I took it to heart. Years ago, I had been preaching for a number of weeks, sometimes two or three times a day.

Friend of mine who's an evangelist, a precious brother who's Arminian, said, I listened to one of your sermons that you preached recently, and he's normally very open. He will give me constructive criticism. So I inquired.

I said, brother, what did you think? And he said, I could tell that you've been on the road for a number of weeks. There was a distinct difference. Here is a message, brethren.

The object of this message is of vital importance. That's why I've been preaching it to myself. I'm fighting in faith to gain some semblance of structure in my spiritual life.

I preach and I wax eloquently in stressing the importance that everything flows out of a vital fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Yet I find myself so easily taking more than my devotional life enables me to accommodate. And suddenly finding myself dry spiritually with no sense of the tangible presence of Christ.

Here is the object of the message. And what I'm doing these days, as I told a brother earlier today, preaching is a science. So in order to help people to better understand and perhaps encourage listening, I give them a heads up as to what the premise of the message is.

And out of that, what are the implications? So listen very carefully. In our present day of spiritual apathy, it is urgent that this exhortation be taken to heart. Satan has successively diverted the pursuit of many of God's people in laying hold of those divine realities that lead to eternal life.

Eternal life. He has distracted. The people of God in such an extent that most are unable to feel the weight of glory.

I agree with Urban Lutzer. We especially in the reform movement are teaching people to think deeply, but not to feel deeply. We don't feel the weight of these things.

At least we don't take the time. Therefore, here is where we're going with the message tonight. I want to appeal for our need of soul-preserving solitude.

By first encouraging us to reflect on how often Christ Himself availed Himself to places of seclusion. Secondly, in light of our present age of distraction, I want us to ponder our desperate need of being alone with God. It's indispensable.

We're too performance-oriented. We need to be alone with Christ. Listen.

Thirdly, I hope you will see how a wealth of experiential theology can be gleaned in solitude. That's one of the reasons we don't know our God, is because we don't know the discipline of solitude. We only know Him intellectually or theologically, but not experientially.

And then finally, I want to stress the importance of savoring solitude. Because this, friend, will preserve you in this world of chronic care. Now I would add this before we move on tonight.

This seems to be the greatest deterrent to apostasy in this age. If you don't take the time to spend with Christ alone, if you don't regularly traffic that place of solitude, that place of quiet rest, you will find yourself spiraling downward. And the ultimate is you prove that you never were a real follower of Jesus Christ, and you apostatize from the Gospel, and you find yourself drowning in the waters of perdition.

What is perdition? It's an irrecoverable fate. So tonight, if you would, consider with me our text in Matthew 6, verse 5. Jesus said, And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, the secret place. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.

Consider this introduction with me. You find the text here is at the heart of Christ's sermon discourse. When you take the time to feel the weight of His words, you discover that His directive, when you pray, divulges divine nature.

This is at the heart of the children of God, is a desire, a righteous propensity to pray, to dialogue with God, to commune with the Almighty. And so, that nature with these propensities incline believers to seek God. Therefore, we see that a desire to pray is one of the assuring marks of the new birth.

It was said of Saul, this is how you identify him. Behold, he prays. After he had that encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus.

Now think with me. The Lord proceeds in instructing His people to withdraw to a secluded place for prayer. A place where God alone is the audience.

A place that is exclusively characterized by quietness, stillness. In such a solitary spot, there is profound promised benefit. Years ago, as a matter of fact, better than 45 years ago, I was invited to come to a little church outside of Hawkins, Texas, to conduct a series of meetings.

And after I got there, I called Leonard Ravenhill on the phone. I'd never met him before. I said, I'm a young ministerial student.

I'm preaching in the area. Could we get together? And he very directly said, I'll give you an hour of my time. I went to his home, and I sat there.

And he dominated the conversation, which was fine with me. But everything he said centered on the life of prayer. And when I came to the end of the hour, he looked at me and he said, Don, don't forget this.

The secret of prayer is prayer in secret. It has resonated with me over the years. I've not been successful.

I want to be. Now to ensure that the intent of this message is not missed, I want to begin by sharing my concern. I prayed that this would replicate itself in you, that you might know the same type of burden.

I'm convinced that many ministers and believers have been drawn away from the secret place of prayer. This message is not theologically complex, and neither is it irrelevant. My aim is to rouse concern over how distractions have drawn us away from the soul-preserving refuge of solitude.

Brethren, this is no trivial matter. To underscore the gravity of this problem, I want to begin by sharing with you my own personal burden. This has come out of my own experience.

I preached this to me. Not a few in the modern evangelical church have been diverted in their pursuit of God by what I refer to as a conspiracy of interruptions. Our minds are relentlessly bombarded by intrusions to draw us away from the place of power.

And that is communion with the living God. What appears to be a principle life in many church people is in reality characterized by disorder in their private world. Not a few, listen up now, not a few are unable to fixate upon the God in Scripture and prayer without giving way to mental intrusions.

So distractions seem harmless, but they have rendered communion and communication with God futile. They particularly oppress the careless mind, and because the unguarded haven't disciplined themselves to fight in faith against distractions to fortify their thought life, the spirit of the age has taken them captive. So we look well, we use a lot of reformed terminology, and yet inside our lives are fragmenting.

Isn't it no wonder, brethren, why Blaise Pascal said all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone? Years ago, because we're not immune to this, ministerial activity can be the demise of many a Christian life and minister. Even something as noble as serving Christ can take the edge off of eternity and render our efforts for the kingdom enterprise fruitless. Vance Havner, the old Southern Baptist war horse, said there is nothing that crowds out the quiet hour any more than the very work that draws its strength from the quiet hour.

So there's this flurry of activity, but we're shallow inwardly. And all of a sudden it paves the way for compromise. Think about this.

If we are drawn away from that one thing needful, the outcome can potentially impede our spiritual walk, cloud our eternal perspective, desensitize our conscience, weaken our moral resistance, and draw us into the dark waters of perdition. Brethren, listen. Take digital distractions for example.

If the mind's eye is left unguarded, we will find ourselves conforming to what we are drawn to. If your eye be single, your body is full of lights. If your eye be evil, in other words, it's darting from one thing to another, it's unstable, it cannot fixate on any one thing, then your body is full of darkness.

As one writer put it, concerning social networking service Facebook, we become what we like. And I thought to myself, how does this translate in my life and the lives of people that are dear to me? And I wrote down this thought. Just as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, affirmation can be the subtlest form of conformity.

So you like things. You approve of things. Affirmation abounds.

But what do you seal your approval to? That's the very thing that you're becoming like. In his book, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, Tony Reinke said, we are addicted to distraction. For example, he said, regarding our cell phones, statistics reveal we check our smartphones 81,500 times a year on average.

Or, he said, once every 4.3 minutes. This estimate is more accurate than we realize because think about the multitude of apps we have on our cell phones. Such apps as calendars, photographs, reading, work schedule, workouts, writing, credit cards, bank statements, navigation systems, news, weather, email, and shopping.

The truth of the matter is that most people who own a cell phone are addicted to them. And like every addict, they seek hits throughout the day. It's true.

Are you addicted? And we proceed to the message. And what I want to do tonight is give you four things quickly to consider from our text and surrounding text. First of all, I want you to see with me that Christ is a Savior of solitude.

Now we know Peter's exhortation and that we are to follow in his steps. And so if we're to emulate the very character and practices of our Lord Jesus, certainly this is something that we must tremendously consider. Think about this.

By virtue of His humanity, Christ needed times of solitude with His Father. The context of quietness, He would resort to consisted of mountainsides, deserts, seacoast, a wilderness, a garden, and as we learned earlier today, a cross. A cross.

Why did He need this? Have you considered that there are at least nine different accounts of Christ being alone, withdrawing into the presence of His Father? The events that preceded and followed His retreats reveal something of His vital need for them. For those times alone. They remind us that the Savior being fully human, needed times alone with His Father.

And if the God-man who was touched by the feeling of our infirmities needed solitude, how much more do we? Consider, brethren, some of the reasons why He had banished Himself to such places. First of all, for a demanding ministry and intense trials. In Mark 6, verses 45 and 46, it says immediately, He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd and after He had taken leave of them, He went up on the mountain to pray.

Now it's interesting that Mark 6 gives us an account of what Jesus withdrew, why He withdrew to the mountain region. Think about these things. First of all, He experienced rejection by His own hometown residents in Nazareth.

You find in verses 1 through 6, the citizens were offended in Him and they made a definite statement by their very behavior that they were disbelieving. It deprived them of miraculous works. Certainly, that had to be in Christ's humanity a great disappointment.

Furthermore, He called for and commended His disciples for service, giving them authority to go out and do miracles and cast out devils. In verses 7 and 8. Then later in the day, He received them to hear of their ministry in verse 30. And immediately following, we learn that He had no time to eat.

He's pressed. He's called to this angle and that avenue. Furthermore, in verses 34 through 44, He felt the press of the multitude.

He is moved with compassion to teach and to feed them. Can't you feel the weight of His fatigue? His disciples say, this is a desert place and now the time is far past. It was a place of deprivation.

But the Son of God constrains His Chosen to board a ship while He sends the people away. Now when you think of the rejection He suffered in His hometown, His disciples were eager to report their exorcisms, the vast mob of anxious inquirers, and the demands of teaching and feeding the thousands, you can see why He would pull away and He would go to a place of seclusion. That's why it says in verse 46 at the end of the chapter, He went up on the mountain to pray.

So once again, we can see and say not with absolute certainty, but considering the trauma of such a demanding ministry that day, I can't help but feel why He needed time alone with His Father. Personally, I know something of that. Although I don't like to compare myself with Him in this area, I know what it is to be taxed, to be spent, to try to give everyone some equal time.

I love that. I love God's people. But oftentimes, you don't have the capability of accommodating everyone.

So you're stretched in every direction. Your mind suddenly begins to get disoriented. And you need to come away to have your thoughts settled and your soul refreshed.

We all need that, brethren. You find furthermore that Christ needed solitude for crucial decisions. Luke 6, verses 12 and 13.

In those days, He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples and chose from them twelve whom He named apostles. Now track with me here.

On this occasion, it appears that His reason for spending the night in prayer was for wisdom in discerning once again by virtue of His humanity what was His Father's choice in selecting these men. Who He was to select. Furthermore, another reason the Lord Jesus needed solitude is for difficult trials involving costly sacrifice.

In Matthew 26, verses 36-44, here is the scenario. The context is the Garden of Gethsemane. And we'll not read the whole passage, but let me highlight a few things.

He prays thrice. He prays the same thing the writer tells us in Matthew 26. Father, it be Your will, let this cup pass from me.

But nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. And here He is sweating great drops of blood, but nonetheless, He's facing this costly sacrifice. He needs His Father.

Other reasons of being alone included His need of communion with His Father. Preparation for ministry. And spiritual strength.

From our opening text in Matthew 6 and verse 6, we see how Christ stresses the importance of the discipline of solitude. That does not denote a legalistic practice. Brethren, it's life-giving.

You need to be alone with God. From our opening text, the Scripture says He tells those on the mountain when they pray, they are to enter their closet and shut the door. You know what the background is behind this? What is this closet? This secluded place? Well, according to tradition, Jewish homes in Jesus' day had a designated room for prayer.

It was a place for secret devotion. Commonly referred to as the upper room. This was a refuge for praying people as it distanced them from traffic and the noise of family life.

This is something good to implement in our homes, brethren. That we have a place of quietness. A place of solitude that we can go and meet with God without disturbance.

When Jesus said when you pray, enter into your closet, you might think it's trivial. But on the contrary, I believe this is a vital exercise for effectual praying. Think of this.

We must have a place of seclusion. A refuge of undistracted privacy. Andrew Murray called it a solitary spot.

The problem with modern Christians, now listen to this, the problem with modern Christians is not that we can't find such a place, it's that we're so addicted to activity that we can't be alone with God. Can you be alone with God? Can you be alone with God? Most people cannot. If we are to be like Christ, if we really desire that, we must become acquainted with seclusion.

It is in the closet, you see, that Christ assures us that the Father sees and rewards. Sometimes I get bothered because I incorporate so many excellent thoughts and quotations in my messages, and yet I want to give credit where credit's due, but friend, these things are so pregnant with reality I can't help but share them. I feel like a kindergarten before his class in a show-and-tell class.

Listen to this. I want you to listen to this by Al Barnes. There should be some place to which we may resort where no ear will hear us but His ear.

No eye can see us but His eye. Unless there is such a place, secret prayer will not be long or strictly maintained. He goes on to say, people use all kinds of excuses as to why they can't be alone with God.

He said we're away from home. We are traveling. We're among strangers.

We are in stages and steamboats. And how can we find the time to spend in retirement? But he says I answer that by saying the desire to pray and the love of prayer. If you have a desire to pray and you have a love for prayer, you'll find a place.

He says this. The Savior had all the difficulties which we can have, but yet He lived in the practice of secret prayer. Rebuke.

He's right. No excuse. No excuse.

So here's my second point tonight very quickly. Consider with me how desperately we need solitude for survival. Solitude for survival, yes.

That's the way I put it deliberately, intentionally. In 1 Timothy 4, verses 7 and 8, you remember here's Paul engaging his son of the faith, Timothy. And he says, Don't exercise or discipline yourself unto godliness.

For bodily exercise profits little, but godliness is profitable unto all things. Don't miss this now. Having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

The discipline of solitude promises life in this world and in the other world. It serves, brethren, to strengthen our existence in various ways. Our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health are benefited when solitude is prioritized.

We must not neglect it in this day of anxious care. Of the many ways we benefit, our assurance of heaven, the assurance of our salvation is increased. Paul says that such a discipline has promise of this life and also to the life to come.

You remember there in Pilgrim's Progress? The pilgrims had come into the enchanted forest, the enchanted field. They heard someone praying. They walked quietly.

There was a solemn tone to the prayer. And they chanced upon this man who was praying with his hands lifted heavenward and his eyes toward the heavens. And so they walked very quietly.

And suddenly, the man jumps to his feet and he bolts ahead and he runs toward the celestial city. That's what solitude does. It will heighten your consciousness that this world is not your home, that you're headed for another world.

It increases assurance, confidence. Someone might ask, how does solitude increase confidence in heaven? Well, let me provide a real-life scenario. Take a professing believer who is unprincipled.

I mean, they talk well. They know all the catchphrases. They come to church.

But behind the scenes, they're undisciplined. They enjoy church. They fellowship.

They talk about God. They theolog with no intent of internalizing truth. They just theolog about one area of theology after another.

But they're content with a casual form of Christianity that requires no spiritual regimen. They're just casual Christians. Their life is void of discipline that produces no order in their private world.

The result is that they are taken captive by anxious care, business, and respectability of being a multitasker. Look at how much I can do. And that's a death sentence.

It's a death sentence. You think as a minister, you've got so many irons in the fire and you think you're going to be successful? It's a death sentence. Their unprincipled lifestyle leaves them vulnerable to the world's indulgences because they can't be alone.

In a recent Shepherds Conference, my dear brother Paul Washer addressed the need of solitude. Listen to what he said. We are such a public people.

I fear for many of you young ministers. I really do. Most of us who are old, we've spent many years serving in obscurity with a small flock, experiencing failure.

No one knew our name. He said, I remember so many times my support was $350 a month. And I felt I was such a failure, I should give that back.

But it was in that hiddenness, alone with God, not only did no one see you, but no one wanted to see you. That God shapes and fashions a man. And now you go from college to master's to PhD to podcast, and you finagle your way to get somebody famous on your podcast, and it shoots your numbers to the roof, and there you go.

Brother Washer paused and he looked at the congregation and said, No! Stop it! Stop it! He said, I beg you, make God your goal. So the next day, I text brother Paul. I said, Paul, can you share any things for my own personal benefit along the lines of solitude? And here's what he wrote me in a text.

Not only is solitude important, but it is one of the things that is most lacking today. Now listen to this. As a result, men do not think or preach deeply.

There is a difference between academic precision and bringing forth identifying application from the text. It's true. It's resoundingly true.

I've been there. I know that. So we're going to pride ourselves in our academic theological precision and yet we're dying from the inside out? And it's not just the preachers.

She was a businessman as a blue-collar worker. And sadly, in some homes, it's mothers. They take no time for God.

Here's the third thing I'd like for you to see with me tonight. There's a theology in solitude. Listen to this.

Going back to our text. Matthew 6. But you, when you pray, go into your room. Look what he says about the Father.

When you shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret rewards openly. Don't miss this. Listen to this.

From this portion of Christ's sermon, friend, we see that solitude teaches us what it teaches us about God. A lot of people say, I don't like all that theology stuff. Well, simply put, friend, theology is nothing more than the study of God.

Don't you want to know about God? It teaches us a lot. The Lord gives us a taste of head-lifting theology in this passage of Scripture. And can I say this? This is experiential Christianity at its best.

Because you get to know about God in the classroom, you get to know God in the closet. For those who look upon this with contempt, let me remind you that we have a precious God that our understanding of can be expanded greatly if we will come apart from the press of life and spend time cultivating time alone with Him. The solitude spot is often the best seminary for experiential Christianity.

It is where the Father is known and felt. Without minimizing the importance of sitting under gifted men, I'm convinced that we get to know God best in the closet. So listen, to prayerfully ponder this text teaches us a lot about God.

And of all the character qualities that an earthly father conveys in relation to his children, the heavenly Father demonstrates infinitely more toward His own. His own posterity. Listen to this.

Human fathers provide good things for their children, but our heavenly Father displays far more. Isn't that what the Bible tells us? Do you remember there Jesus said if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him? And once again, Matthew 6.6 discloses things about God that serve to enlarge our understanding of Him. Listen, brethren.

Things that endear us to Him in much greater measure. Look with me at the verse again. First of all, He said, but you when you pray, go into your room, and when you shut your door, pray to your Father.

Note this just in passing. It's so profoundly real. God is not just God or our Father.

He is your Father. If you know the saving work of Christ, He is your Father. This speaks of a unique relationship.

A relationship that affords open and continued access. Continued access. Unconditional, friend.

He's your Father. This is a title of endearment for Father God that denotes infinite affection. Secondly, notice something else about God here.

He is a trustworthy Father. He's your Father which is in secret. The implication here is that the unconditional acceptance, He always receives us.

He doesn't stipulate. Based on the finished work of Christ, His righteousness alone, we have access to God. He knows our griefs, our motives, and our failures intimately.

This faithful Father, listen, never misinterprets or misunderstands us, but is ever conscious of our disappointments even to the extent of being more than willing, eager to shoulder our burdens. That's my God. That's the Father you know in secret.

So we grow in our experiential knowledge of His precious Person who I refer to as a precious Papa who never chides when I ask for wisdom and ravishes His children with His love when they're bruised. Furthermore, notice something else about the Father. This is a simple text, but this is so profound.

He's omniscient Father. Your Father which sees in secret. In the place of solitude, brethren, Father observes every intricate detail of our work performed in secret.

He takes into account our moods. Our moods. Our moods fluctuate, man.

They're up and down all the time. My wife can attest to that. But my moods, my motives, my methods, He's examining all.

We draw immeasurable encouragement in knowing that the Father is not unjust to forget our work and labor of love which we've showed toward His name in that we have ministered to the saints and do minister. But how about this one? The text also tells us that He is a benevolent Father. He shall reward you openly.

Now, you don't want to miss this. Listen carefully. Rewards are not always revealed in answers to specific prayers.

Sometimes He may not answer the specific prayer, the petition that you're offering up to Him, but nevertheless, He's still rewarding you openly. This is significant. They're often seen in ways that are foreign to the nature of the petitions that we offer in secret.

But the Scripture bears witness that to the faithful benevolence of our Father, He rewards openly. Listen to His proven promise in Romans 8, verse 32. It's already been quoted I think twice already in the conference.

He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, shall He not also with Him also freely, freely, freely give us all things? Even when He does not once again answer my prayer specifically that I offer up to Him in secret, He still is working on my behalf to reward me openly. I can't say that this has been an ongoing reality in my life, friend, but many, many years ago after Cindy and I were first married, we lived in a little apartment. A little bedroom.

A little living room. A makeshift closet is all we had. And a little kitchen and a bathroom that had one of those tubs that had feet on them.

No shower. You can imagine six foot seven getting into that little tub. We rented it for $90 a month.

One night Cindy gathered our laundry to take it to the laundromat. And I was reading there in Matthew 6 about seeking God in secret. Going into the closet.

And so I went to our little closet. Everything that we had when we got married was crammed in that closet. And I took out the clothes and I laid them over on the bed.

And then I took out the boxes in the bottom of it. And then the shoes. We had a few shoes in the closet there.

I took them out so this big guy could get in the closet. I got in there. It was tough, man.

I wasn't used to getting in the closet. It was uncomfortable physically and even spiritually. I didn't know what to say.

I didn't know how to pray. But all I said, Lord, You said You would reward me openly if I sought You in secret. I'm here.

I love You. I'm seeking You as best I can. I don't understand it all, but I'm seeking You.

I came out of the closet later that night right before Cindy got back from the laundromat. We had to drive our little Plymouth Duster six and a half hours from Lynchburg, Virginia down to Moorhead City, North Carolina for me to preach that weekend. And our tires on the car were so bad that as they would turn, they would just make this roaring sound.

Roar, roar, roar. Just knots on them. Very worn.

Very bald. So we come through Goldsboro, North Carolina. I said, we're not going to make it.

I've got to get some tires. We didn't have no money. All I've got is a checkbook.

So I pull into this nickels department store. I said to the man, I said, I need some new tires. He said, well, we've got a sale on them.

And I thought to myself, now there's a reward. There's God rewarding openly. It's a sale.

I said, put them on. He put them on. He gave me the bill.

I went up to the counter to pay the bill. And the lady behind the counter said, sir, I'm sorry, but we can't take a check. I said, well, this is the only way we have of paying you.

She said, I'm sorry, that's company policy. I said, can I talk to the manager? He came. He surveyed the whole situation.

I made my appeal. He said, sir, I'm sorry, that's company policy. We can't negotiate.

And I'm pacing back and forth and I'm saying, Father, You said You would reward me openly. Nothing's happening. And suddenly, back behind this manager and the girl at the counter, there's this dear girl who appears from behind some filing cabinets and she looks and she sees us and she recognizes Cindy and I. And she comes walking up to the counter and she said, I know who you are.

Never seen the girl before. And I said, well, who? She said, you're a preacher. You were preaching over here at Grace Baptist Church on Royal Avenue last year.

I said, yeah. Were you at the meetings? No, I didn't come to the meetings. But you stayed here at the motel the day's end and one morning you came and you got breakfast.

And I go up there to have coffee and sometimes breakfast in the mornings before I come to work here at the department store. And she said, last year, you finished your breakfast and while you went up to pay the bill, your wife here stopped by my table and gave me a Gospel tract and shared Christ with me. And she said, I want you to know I've trusted the Savior.

She said, what's your problem? I said, well, we don't have any cash with us. We need tires. All I can do is write a check.

She said, give me that check. I'll make it good. Immediately, God reminded me, I told you I would reward you openly if you seek Me in secret.

We will know more about the character of the Father in the secret place than we could ever imagine, friend. But then I close with this tonight, and that is let me just emphasize the importance of savoring solitude. You've got to do it.

Cultivate a desire. Love it. Savor it.

It's life-giving. It's your channel to eternal life. Psalm 91, verses 1 and 2. Precious.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, and in Him will I trust. Listen to this, friend.

There's a world of beauty in that. This is what I want you to see. The discipline of solitude has its rewards.

And we will know an ever-increasing consciousness of the Father in that place. We will find ourselves in our elements as true believers in Jesus Christ. It will require fights.

An intense fight of faith. But overall, you'll find yourself in your element in that place of seeking God alone. Listen, we will enjoy a steadfast conviction of trust.

That's what He just said there in the psalm. What makes a discipline of solitude a delight? His Father God Himself. Please listen.

We find far more fulfillment from Him who sees in secret than the eyes of men. That's why they paraded their works before men. That's why they wanted to pray in front of men that they might be seen of men.

But we find exceedingly greater fulfillment in being alone and appearing and practicing prayer in the sight of Him alone, our God. Please listen. Making ministerial or spiritual success the goal for solitude tends to diminish spiritual interest and deaden our pursuit of God.

If anything becomes a substitute for Father, we will lose heart. To apply solitude, listen, is to obtain something that only the Father can produce. But if I make something else my goal, it will only lead to despondency.

When diminishing desire is experienced in place of solitude, we tend to create formulas for success. It's what you said, Michael. We default to formulas and then it becomes a form of legalism.

But listen, I am so disillusioned with to-do lists. Oftentimes, I come to something that God convicts me about. I want to come up and I want to enumerate things.

I've got to do this and this and this. So I come up with this checklist. And friend, I've found in my own Christian pilgrimage I can't even remember most of those things much less do them.

It's a wretched thing. And if that's what you do, oftentimes, this going into the place of solitude will be short-lived. As ministers, we pursue platforms and podcasts that lead to devotional dryness.

Listen, Donald Whitney was right when he said discipline without direction is drudgery. And if the object of our pursuit is anything other than Father, it leads to despondency. Oh, brethren, listen, I am disillusioned with all these things that encumber me that are more performance oriented.

What drives our devotional life is not our performance, but His propitiation. So I beg of you to remember this tonight. That solitude is sustained by enjoying God.

I ask you a question. Do you really enjoy God? As I said the other morning, I don't see too many believers these days and I almost run exclusively in Reformed context, but I don't see very many believers who really know the joy of their Lord as their strength. They look absolutely miserable.

But this is where we find our catalyst for joy is alone with Him. Think about it. The desire in being alone with the Father in secret is sustained by enjoying Him.

When He is the object of our affection, we will not find it difficult to traffic the secret place. Why wouldn't we want Father to be our preeminent pursuit? Isn't He far better than the approval of men? Than to perform our Christianity in the sight of men? Isn't He greater? Of greater value than human praise? One brother was right when he says, shun notoriety, embrace obscurity. Our Christianity in America doesn't function very well unless we have somebody in our presence to perform it before.

And what's behind that? The spirit of hypocrisy. So this is what I leave you tonight. The Father in secret must be our supreme attraction.

Self-imposed methods provide little or no motivation for being alone with God. However, when He is the object of our heart affection, we will have no difficulty accessing and consistently frequenting this secret place of devotion. Let us remember therefore, this is so important, here are the takeaways tonight.

Here are the takeaways. Let us remember that we have a sterling example in the solitude of the Savior. His humanity inclined Him to be alone with the Father.

And if He needed to be alone with Him, how much more do we? Secondly, let us remember how much we need solitude for survival. Solitude for survival. You mark my word, whether it's big-name preachers in the reform movement or whether it's lay people who have spiritually declined, their life is a pitiful testimony now.

Some sadly are apostatizing. You mark my word, friend, across the board. Every one of those people neglected the secret place.

That's where you grow strong. It profits us. This solitude profits us in tuning our hearts to sing His praise.

It sharpens our perspective of providence. We're able to see it, detect it more readily. It makes the eye of faith clearer.

Our spiritual senses are keener. Our will more disposed to obedience. And our soul more fortified against apostasy from the Gospel.

And let us remember, friend, that there is much theology to be had in that place. We feel the weight of His glory. We sense the delight of His love.

And we anticipate the fulfillment of His promise to reward openly. And then finally, don't miss it. Let us remember to savor solitude as a means of grace.

As a means of grace to treasure the God Who delights in us. Someone said that loneliness becomes our friend when it forces us to enjoy the fellowship of God more than the fellowship of others. But the chief motivation for a life of solitude is not our loneliness.

It's His love. It's His love. You cultivate that when God is your supreme attraction.

You'll know no abate of trafficking that place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. Let's pray together. Father, we know from the testimonies of various people, and even, Lord, perhaps from our own life, that our trafficking solitude at times is not to meet with Father, but to satisfy the flesh.

So some people thrive on solitude. But it's not to encounter God. It's to satisfy the longings of their carnal heart.

To access pornography. Or to seek things that will draw the heart away from Christ. Or to fuel bitterness.

Father, I pray, help us to tear down this stronghold and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And then avail ourselves to this place of beauty where we can meet our Father and anticipate His presence. His seeing eye.

His hearing ear. To reward us openly. It's not selfish.

You promised that, Father. So, help us by the Holy Spirit to make the Father our supreme pursuit. In Jesus' name, Amen.