Night Seasons

Let's read together in Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13 and reading at verse 12. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.

Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Now the latter part of the verse isn't on my mind at all, I've just been thinking about the Lord Jesus and his coming. And it says the night is far spent, the day is at hand.

I remember Mr. Paisley telling one time that he was taking a funeral and he got to the grave site and it was one of those cemeteries that was run by a church. And the way he put it is this man walked up, strutted up in his robes to the brethren before Mr. Paisley got there and he said, I'd like to speak to the head man. And they said, well, he'll be here in a few minutes, Mr. Paisley.

And so the man waited around and when he got there, he said to Mr. Paisley, he said, are you the head man? And he said, no, but he says we're expecting him any moment. And he said, well, I'll wait around for him. Well, he said, we're not sure when he's coming, but he will be here.

And so we're waiting for the head man, the Lord Jesus, he is coming. I want to read three places where it speaks of night scenes. First one is in Genesis chapter 32.

Genesis chapter 32. This is a well-known story by most of us, I think, where Jacob was left alone in verse 24. Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh. And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the day breaketh.

And he said, I will not let thee go except thou bless me. And he said unto him, that is the angel of the Lord, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. He said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.

For as a prince thou has power with God and with men and hast prevailed. Now, in verse 30, Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen God face to face and my life as is preserved.

As he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him and he halted upon his thigh. Therefore, the children of Israel, eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh unto this day. Because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and the sinew that shrank.

We'll just look at this while we're here rather than turn to the next passage. God allows night scenes in our lives. We don't always, well we never like them really.

But he allows night scenes in our lives to bring us out to a sunlight of a better day. I think of believers right now, it's been on my mind a lot, those that are going through times right now where there is going to be no day here, but there's going to be a day at home with the Lord. Those that have cancer and there's no expectation of recovery.

That is a very difficult time. I don't know anything about it. I had cancer about eight years ago, prostate cancer, and it's always there.

It's always on your mind and you just wonder if at some point in time you will have to pass through that dark night of the final suffering. And I would say honestly it never goes away. And I think about those who are facing that reality and what it must mean for them to know that they're going to have a darker day, darker night even yet.

But we all have dark nights in our lives and here was a dark night that Jacob walked into. He was going to face Esau. He didn't know just how that would turn out and he wrestled all night.

Considering his age that was quite an accomplishment really. He was a strong man, but there he is and there's no prevailing. But the morning comes and he's had the hollowest thigh touched.

So that as he walked out in that new day, he never walked the same. Brothers and sisters, God may put us into some dark night, but if we walk out of that in a new day with a changed name, and I'm not talking about just the name as an identification, but a different person, it will be well worth it. It's interesting that many years later when Moses wrote, he says in the last verse that the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank.

Why did they not eat of it? They always remembered the experience of their ancestor. And my goal and the goal of every believer here, even those that are not yet married, but maybe if the Lord be not come, ought to be that somehow in our lives the dark night will produce not only a change in us, but by the kindness and grace of God will affect generations to come. I think of my grandmother, and I'm a grandfather now.

I think of my grandmother, and my mother used to say to me, she's passed away, my mother, she used to say to me, your grandma used to say, and maybe lots of others have had that, or people have said, your grandma used to say. And now our grandchildren can go beyond that, and they can say great grandma way back used to say, because we tell them the same wisdom that we got then. And what my grandmother used to say affects me.

And she was a godly woman, both grandmothers were believers, and I thank God for that. And my life has been changed because of them. So I would just encourage any believer here, I don't know what you might be going through, or what you might yet go through, or what you have been through that you're still struggling with, but remember that if in that dark night a change comes that glorifies God, that makes you walk a different way, it is a wonderful thing that may affect generations to come.

Let's go to the second one, Exodus chapter 14. Children of Israel, again a well-known story, they're about to cross the Red Sea, they don't know how they're going to do it, and they start blaming Moses, and Moses is crying to the Lord, and the Lord tells him what to do, and the outcome is that as verse 21, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. You'll notice that it was all night that the east wind was blowing.

But then the next day, verse 22, the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Here we have a problem where there seems to be no way to get through. Maybe there's a believer here, and you right now are in a dark night, and there just seems to be no way ahead.

If we keep our eye on God, we can remember that he will bring us through, and he will open the way. This is a marvelous event. I've often wondered what the children were doing as they went with their parents.

You know what children are like? They likely were running their finger along the ice walls as they went along. I don't know if there was ice walls on both sides or just one, but as they rubbed their fingers along and looked at that tall wall of ice, what an amazing thing it must have been to them of what God had done. But here everything looked like they were closed in, no way ahead, and God himself opened the door and brought them into a new land or a starting to a new land.

Maybe there's someone here, and you're going through a difficult time, and maybe it's a job, a career, and you don't know just how it's going to work out. Well, God will always bring you, it may not appear so, but into something better. After a dark night, God gives them a bright day.

Let's look at the last one, Ruth chapter 3. Ruth chapter 3, verse 1. Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, that is to Ruth, my daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee that it may be well with thee? So Naomi sends Ruth down to the threshing floor, and she goes and lies at the feet of Boaz, and at verse 8 it says, It came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid, and turned himself, and behold, a woman lay at his feet, and he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thy handmaid, spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art a near kinsman. And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter, for thou hast showed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, and as much as thou followest not young men, either poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not, I will do to thee all that thou requirest, for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman, albeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Terry this night, and it shall be in the morning that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well, let him do the kinsman's part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee. As the Lord liveth, lie down until the morning, and she laid his feet until the morning.

This was a new day that was going to start in chapter four. It was a night scene, a midnight scene. The Book of Ruth is a beautiful book.

Even those that are in the secular world consider it one of the finest short stories in all of literature. In chapter one, there is death and there is no man, not a single man alive in chapter one. Chapter two, when Ruth comes back to Naomi and says where she has been gleaning, Naomi says to her, well, he's one of our near kinsmen, one of a number.

In chapter three, he's one of two, but there's no new day until he's number one. Chapter four, he's the only one. Brothers and sisters, we have been brought here this morning to get a fresh focus and to have the Lord Jesus Christ as number one, the only one.

Isn't it interesting? In our New Testament, you have a man, a brother called Cordus, number four. You have Tertius, a brother, number three. You have a man called Secundus, number two.

But you have no man in the New Testament called either Primus or the other, the Latin word. But no one in the New Testament is number one because the Lord Jesus is number one. And there's a new day.

But what are we supposed to do? We are supposed to lie at his feet until the morning. And we're here to remember just to lie at his feet, to rest in him and trust him because the night is far spent. The day is at hand.

And so may the Lord help us as we leave here to give fresh focus to the Lord Jesus, to get our eye fixed on him and just remember that we are in the night of the world, but the day is coming. And until that day, let's rest at his feet until the morning comes.