Discerning the Heart A Biblical Approach to Counseling

So I read an account of a pastor who had been counseling a woman for years about her soul. She wasn't certain if she was saved. And she said this, if I were really reconciled to God, I've always thought I'd have more assurance of His favor.

I'm afraid to believe that I'm reconciled. So she has this struggle with assurance of salvation, right? That's something that many in our church have had at various seasons in your life. And this has gone on for years, this pastor Ichabod Spencer counseling this woman.

And he continues to ask various questions, right? He's trying to get to the root of the problem. A good counselor is praying for the Spirit to give them insight to rightly diagnose the situation and figure out what's going on here at the root. What's going on at the root? And the woman could not mark any time in her life where she could say that I was saved on November such and such in this year.

She couldn't express that. She told him, she said, I've always felt this righteous desire to desire the Lord. Ever since I was a little child, as far back as I can remember.

And then a realization struck Ichabod Spencer. It's a humbling realization. It's something that we need to be able to face in our own lives as we instruct and counsel people.

And in the 1840s, listen to what he wrote. Ichabod says, I was utterly amazed. Here I had been for years, for years, aiming to make conviction of sin more deep instead of binding up the broken heart.

I had been aiming to lead a sinner to Christ instead of showing her that she was not a stranger and an outcast. I was ashamed of myself. I had often talked to this precious woman as if she had been an alien from God, an enemy.

And now it appeared as if all the while, she had actually been one of His most affectionate children. Her very anguish consisting in this, that she loved Him no more and she could not get assurance of His love towards her. It was true, she had never told me these things before.

But that didn't satisfy me. I ought to have learned them before. I went out and I wept bitterly.

I felt as if I had been pouring anguish into the crushed heart of the publican as he was crying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. On my way home, I thought of what my old friend that whistled had said to me years earlier. And I was convinced that I had practically run into the error against which his wisdom aimed to guard me.

Over the recollection of the tears of anguish which I had so often caused this noble woman, in secret, I poured out my own tears. It's a very humbling admission for Ichabod Spencer to make. Maybe as I shared it, you can reflect on a situation where you were offering instruction.

Offering counsel. You were even offering or believing that you're hitting the nail on the head. Ichabod thought, this is an unbeliever who needs to be saved.

And therefore, he formulated and thought of what to say based on that. And this went on for years. And then he gets faced with the reality that he, kind of like Job's friends, was actually saying things that were true, but it didn't fit the situation.

And so we need to have the humility to admit this. And you know what? I look back, even as a new Christian, and I've seen many situations where people came to me struggling with sexual sin. And the way I emphasize things, I look back and I think it was not really helpful.

Certain things that I stated. So imagine a patient, you go to a doctor. You have this unexplained chest pain.

The doctor is really concerned you've got a major heart problem. He does certain tests. He even gets to the point where he's talking about you need a heart transplant.

And then one day that doctor starts asking a different set of questions. And all of a sudden, that doctor realizes all you have is some digestive problem. You don't really have a heart problem.

Right? But for years they thought that was the issue. It even got to the point of almost seriously considering an open heart surgery or a heart transplant. So that's what happened with Pastor Ichabod Spencer.

He misdiagnosed the spiritual condition of an individual and therefore his counsel was not actually that effective and helpful for the lady. So I think there's a lesson here for us. Right? Misdiagnosis.

Whether you're just totally misreading the situation, it can lead to unnecessary suffering. Have you or have I caused someone unnecessary suffering through giving counsel that was not meant for them? It might have been biblical, but it was given to the wrong person. Has that ever happened to you? Can anyone think of a situation? That you could even share? I mean, kind of like with your children, right? You're wanting to discipline them rightly.

I remember the time where the garage door opened while Selah was out in the garage. She came back in and I said, Selah, you hit the garage door opener. Right? You hit the garage door opener.

And so we were going to discipline her because she's lying. She's just totally determined that I didn't open the garage door opener. And then in walks Paul, who was like one year old at the time or something, and he had found a garage door opener in a dresser in the back room and he clicked the button at the exact moment that Selah was out in the garage.

So I was about to misdiagnose discipline someone who didn't need discipline. That type of thing. That happens to parents.

Our words have consequences, right? There's power in the tongue. I mean, the things we speak, they can bind up or they can destroy. Or you could say they could go to a middle ground where it does nothing.

It has no effect on the person at all. So this is what I want us to think about this morning. Just in thinking about this topic of counseling, of giving instruction, of offering instruction.

And let's pray and then I'll share some more thoughts where we'll look at a passage in the Old Testament primarily. Father, thank You for these precious believers, Lord, who I even have this great privilege of being one of their shepherds. And Lord, I can go through my mind and think of all sorts of conversations as I look around the room that I've had with different ones of these affectionate children of Yours.

And Lord, I realize there's times I've not hit the nail on the head and said exactly what was needed. But Lord, I've had wrong assumptions. I've had not asking the right questions.

And Lord, I pray You would. The wonderful counselor, that's what You are. The kids are looking in the back at Your names, Lord, and You are called the wonderful counselor.

We thank You for Your counsel, Lord, the counsel that You give to our own soul. Lord, when friends will fail us, what a friend we have in Jesus. All our cares and sorrows to bring.

Lord, we forfeit peace because we don't go to You. Lord, forgive us for our own unbelief. So Lord, I pray You'd strengthen me now and use this for Your good.

Your people's good and Your glory. In Christ's name, Amen. Well, just briefly, turn to Romans 15.

You can read this text in Romans 15. I know it's been mentioned. I know I taught on it years ago.

How effective do you diagnose people when you're talking to them, not just counseling Christian to Christian, but Christian to professing Christian, Christian to an atheist, an outright unbeliever? Right? We face these different situations. And what I don't want you to do is log out and say, well, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a spiritual doctor.

This doesn't apply to me. Right? And that's why I remind you of Romans 15, 14, about what Paul is stating to a church. A church.

I myself am satisfied about you. That's a very glorious thing to say to the brethren, right? I am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves, and he mentions they're full of two things. You are full of goodness.

Right? Romans 6, 17, we become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching. He's given this Gospel to bring about the obedience of the faith. So they're full of goodness.

And then they're full of something else. They're filled with all knowledge. And then what does this knowledge allow them to do? What does this being full of knowledge give them the great privilege of doing with the knowledge that they have been given? He says right there, you have an ability to instruct one another.

There's many versions would render it. You have the ability, you're competent to counsel one another. So Paul looks out at the whole church, and I look out at you all, brethren, and I'd say I am satisfied about you that I see you all being full of goodness and seeking to walk in holiness and righteousness.

I see you all filled with knowledge. And in some ways, we have a lot more knowledge than these Roman Christians did at the time and the era in which they were living. And you have a whole complete Bible in your hands.

And you have access to all manner of resources. If anything, knowledge is not what we lack, right? Knowledge is not the issue, but you all have that. And I'm confident you all are able and you all do instruct one another.

You do, I see it, I hear of it. Different people, when I'm seeking to give them counsel, they mention others who've given them counsel, right? And I'll even ask, what did they say to you? What did Jake say to you? Oh, that's pretty good. Maybe wouldn't word it like that.

Maybe he's got more insight than me. Maybe I gotta learn from that, right? You're processing these things based on the information you have. We just saw a few weeks ago, Aquila and Priscilla, right? They did that.

They offered counsel to Apollos that he would be more accurate. Jeff just taught last Sunday in the 10 a.m. on exhorting one another. In Romans 15, 14, you're able to instruct one another.

And then what's Hebrews 3, 13 say? Exhort one another. So you got two of the one another commands. And those are both fulfilled as we use our mouth to communicate truth.

To communicate truth. So this applies for everyone. Even the 13-year-old believers, the 12-year-old believers who are in the church, you are instructing your friends and you have opportunity to offer them counsel.

This isn't something you wanna push off on others. You and I have this responsibility and you and I have a responsibility to not misdiagnose and to do everything we can and to be as accurate as we can to give the truth specifically for how it should apply in the situation. This is the weight that we have.

We have this responsibility before the Lord. And so I wanna, okay, now we're gonna transition. So I wanna spend a lot of time, the end of our time in an Old Testament passage, but first I wanna look at two New Testament passages.

The first is Luke 10. And I really had to shorten this message. Initially what I did was I went through 10 situations where Christ or Paul were offering counsel.

And I would actually encourage you, this is a helpful study you can do. You go and look at every counseling or instruction or even evangelistic situation in the New Testament. And you look at it and you see what is a point I could learn on how to counsel from this situation.

Right, so initially I did that with 10 situations looking at what can I glean from this? And what's something that always happens with Christ evangelistically? When Christ is evangelizing, what would you say is one of the main takeaways in Christ's evangelism? What does He do? What does He go after? I mean, what does He go after when the rich unruly? What's He aiming at? What's He looking at? What about the Samaritan woman? What's He going after? Not just the heart. The heart, yeah, the main supreme idol that He can discern in this person's life. He doesn't get caught up in the rich unruler's ranting, or that's not a right way to say it, but talking about the commandments and whether He's kept all the commandments.

He doesn't go and chase rabbits. He goes to the heart issue. Right, same thing with the Samaritan woman.

She's talking about the Messiah. And He goes right to the fact that this person you have right now is not your husband. Right? He goes to the idol.

Imagine if it wasn't Christ who got the rich unruler, the guy might have ended up being baptized in a non-lordship church or something like that. You don't know what was going to happen. So if you want to learn how to evangelize, the greatest person to go to to learn how to evangelize is the greatest evangelist, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now I would say if you want to learn how to instruct and counsel brethren, who's the great supreme example we could go to? The wonderful counselor. We could go to the Lord. We could go to the God-man, Jesus Christ.

And so we're just going to briefly look at two New Testament examples. And I'm not in any way going to exhaust... Luke 10 is the first one. I'm not going to exhaust everything that is gleanable there.

Luke 10, verse 38. Looking at Martha and Mary. You guys know how much, if you go earlier, I love the verse 17-20 or some of the most impactful verses about not rejoicing that Spirit's cast out, but rejoice your name is written in heaven.

You are going to find in this example of Luke 10 with Martha and Mary, we're going to find another example, and then we're going to find in this Old Testament passage, we're going to find something. Often in counseling, people are distracted from the main thing. They're not seeing it.

And you and I have a responsibility to bring them to recognize that. Or else people get caught in this repetitive cycle, and they want out of the cycle. And you want them out of the cycle.

They're caught in a cycle of despair, and you want to get them out, and you're trying to think how do you get them out? What do you say? So Luke 10, verse 38, "...Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she went up to Him and she said..." She's actually seeking counsel from Christ.

Instruction. Or even you could say she's making an accusatory statement at the Lord as well. "...Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?" So she's already got some negative thought about Christ.

I would say that's what's happening there. "...Tell her then to help me." So she already knows. This is what the answer's going to be.

You're going to look at her, my sister, and you're going to tell her to help me. Isn't that how we sometimes do it? We go to get counsel. We already know what the solution is, right? You ever had that happen? This is what they need to say.

I'm going to go get counsel. They're going to go tell this other person to get up and help. They already planned it out in their mind.

Is that what happens here? Is that what Jesus does? But the Lord answered her. So all you've got is whatever Christ is observing, and you've got these statements right here, and then Jesus gives the response. So in one way, and then whatever His history is of the person, right? Because you think what's my history and knowledge of the person and their weaknesses? What's presently happened, assuming that they might have grown since I last counseled them? And what are they actually saying and what do their words mean? And so she gives these words.

Christ gives this response. The Lord answered her. Martha, Martha, you're anxious and you're troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

And then He doesn't go and say, I'm going to go tell Mary to get up. Mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her. Isn't that amazing? I mean, in one way it's simple, but it's amazing.

Martha believes she has a legitimate grievance. Right? That happens, right? I have a legitimate grievance about someone in the body not helping me, not getting involved in something that I'm involved with. I feel like my grievance is legitimate.

Why are you neglecting what I'm doing? Don't you see that I need help? Right? And then ultimately what happens? My thoughts start thinking about the Lord. The Lord isn't intervening to tell them to help me, so maybe the Lord doesn't really care for me. Notice, is she in any way looking and thinking the problem's with her? She's not.

The problem's with two people in the passage. She's going into what she says to Christ and her thought is two people are the problem. My sister and the Lord.

The Lord doesn't care and my sister's not helping. Isn't that amazing? You get your Christ, you get this lady who's thinking the other two people are the problem and the problem is ultimately with her. So she doesn't realize the main issue in her life.

She thinks the main issue is someone else. And she perceives she's doing well in comparison to this person, right? My sister's not doing well. I'm doing well.

And so this is really critical, brethren. When you start getting all that data and you recognize what's going on, someone is shifting the blame or the focus onto others, what a chance to instruct them in a biblical way and to help them. To redirect their attention to their own heart and their own relationship with Christ.

And not just that, Christ, if you saw, He affirms Mary. The person that Martha thinks there's an issue with, verse 42, Mary has chosen the good portion. He's very clear about it.

What she's doing is great. It's actually better than what you're doing, Martha. And so you could say this example is the person who's seeking to be counseled, they come with a self-diagnosis that is wrong.

Right? They're coming to the counselor. They've already self-diagnosed themselves. And they're wrong in their self-diagnosis.

So you as the counselor, you as the brother or sister in the church, as you're hearing this information, as you're seeking to offer instruction, think about Christ here. Think about what Christ did. And ultimately notice, again, what the Lord always does is He points back to Himself.

He gets people away from thinking about the temporal and on to Himself. It is very Christ-centered counseling that Christ gives, obviously. He's Christ.

Where's He going to point to? He is the cistern of living water. So the counselor sees what's off and he redirects them. He redirects them.

So we see that right here. What a great counselor. They want to deflect.

They want to be distracted by comparisons. They want to think about irrelevant concerns. They want to think about other people's problems.

And Christ encourages personal responsibility. And Christ got their focus on what was most essential. And that's where He put their eyes.

And so this misguided focus is a frequent problem. It's a frequent problem that we can run into. Let me just give one example that has really helped me over the years in counseling.

It's from Martin Lloyd-Jones. This is a practical example. So Lloyd-Jones, who was actually a physical doctor as well as a pastor, so some people call him doctor.

But listen to what this person wrote who Lloyd-Jones was counseling about the unpardonable sin. This man says, I was converted when I was young. All seemed to go well until my twenties when I was assailed with blasphemous thoughts which plagued me day and night for years.

Several ministers advised me. So he's getting instruction. Several ministers advised me to A. Trust in the Lord.

Or they would say, pray about it. Now what do you think might have happened as he followed that advice? Pray about it. What do you think maybe happened? Anyone speculate? What happened? You're struggling with the unpardonable sin.

I tell you, pray about it. What could happen? He can't pray because you're hindered. Unbelief.

You feel like the heavens are brass. But where's the emphasis? What's going to be on his mind as he's praying? The it. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

Several ministers said this. I did so. The worse I became.

The worse it became. I seriously contemplated suicide. It was at this juncture that I asked Lloyd-Jones for help.

He did not help me until he was satisfied I was a Christian. That's the good of Lloyd-Jones. Lloyd-Jones wants to know, where's this person really at? As much as I can know.

Because you can know and you can't know, right? But as much as I can know. Then he diagnosed my problem immediately. He advised me, rather surprisingly, never to think about the problem again.

But never to pray about it either. He said, you're not really praying. You're simply reminding yourself of the problem.

The next week, things became infinitely worse. I was counseled, must not have worked. I tried to apply it, everything got worse.

Must have been bad counsel. Is that a good conclusion? You know, it doesn't work the first week, so you just give up and it must have been bad counsel. Doesn't the Bible talk about something about steadfastness? I returned in distress to the doctor, Lloyd-Jones.

Not a real doctor. Or he is a real doctor, he's a pastor. Who said he had expected it.

So Lloyd-Jones expected that was going to happen. So he had been around enough time to recognize this is how the enemy works. He said it was proof Satan was behind it all, seeking to take control of my thought life.

He added a warning not to let Satan do so with any other problem whatsoever. I thank God that the doctor gave me that advice. It was the best pastoral advice I ever received.

Satan was crushed under my feet and remains so after all these years. I still wonder at the doctor's extraordinary insight unquestionably God-given. The advice others had given had led me into the grossest bondage.

So you notice, just like with Martha, Christ has an opportunity to put her emphasis somewhere. He doesn't put her emphasis on the sister and being anxious about serving. He puts her emphasis on there's one thing that's necessary and it's me.

And it's sitting and it's knowing me. And Lloyd-Jones recognizes the one thing necessary for this guy is not thinking about what he's afraid he has committed. Because then he's just reminding himself of the problem perpetually.

And I'm telling you, that is so applicable in the area of sexual purity. I cannot emphasize that enough. How many people, they want purity and then they just start focusing on purity.

And they don't get the very purity they desire. The purity then ultimately becomes an idol in their life and they're in bondage to wanting purity and then they fall into sin. And then they become all the more discouraged because they're overemphasizing something that they think is good.

And is it good? Purity is good. Self-righteous reformation is not good. It's bad.

It's bondage. It doesn't help. So am I reinforcing and reminding someone of a fear? Or am I pointing them in a direction that's actually going to help them be set free? It's a very, very important question.

I'm talking, do not, please. You want to help people? I want to help people. Do not forget, right? A Christian here, if this was an unbeliever, like the rich young ruler, you don't get his eyes off of the one thing.

You emphasize the one thing. He's got to forsake in order to follow the Lord. Okay, so, did I move? Okay, John 21, there are two pages now.

Go to John 21. This is just the only other New Testament example. Again, there's a lot.

And I'm sure books have been written on gleaning everything you can from the person of Christ and his counseling in that very account, Luke 10. You can maybe get like six observations at least from it. I just shared one thing, right? Craig's been doing the whole counseling course.

Probably emphasizing what Christ would do. Yes? And Paul and people inspired, led by the Spirit of God. So John 21, we're going to look at the second.

Okay, Jesus is counseling, restoring Peter. He's instructing. He's giving Peter truth as he's being restored.

And what tends to happen when you're in the midst of counseling, restoring someone or instructing them about one issue? What tends to happen? Other issues come up. And that's what happens here. So look at John 21.

John 21. He's counseling in v. 18. Or not v. 18.

Go to v. 20. This is the second after he said to Peter, feed my sheep. Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them.

The one whom also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, Lord, whom is it who is going to betray you? When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, he's just got done Christ restoring him, counseling him in this way, and then Peter's not talking about this. And Peter says, Lord, what about this man? Isn't that eerily similar to what we saw in Luke 10? I'm anxious and troubled about many things. What about Mary? Right? Pretty similar.

We just want to talk about everyone else. When Peter saw him, he said, Lord, what about this man? Jesus said to him, so you have an opportunity to give instruction. You can say absolutely nothing.

Or you can give instruction. Jesus said to him, if it's My will that he remains until I come, what is that to you? Is that any of your business? What I do with him, Peter? Is that any of your business? And then He doesn't just leave Peter with no application for his own life. You follow Me.

You follow Me. So right after you're basically done restoring Peter and speaking truth to him, he's now preoccupied with John. Isn't that amazing? There have literally been counseling sessions I've been in for hours talking, and then you think you're almost done? Like you almost wrapped it up? And then they say something else, and it's like, okay, you know what? We better buckle down, and we need to now talk about this.

Or I can't just let them go. Doesn't matter what time it is. Doesn't matter I'm tired.

This is a big thing. Why didn't that come up earlier? And you labor through that. Or if you're Christ, you have the wisdom where you can just say it in one sentence.

That's all that's needed. Maybe we use too many words. So what does Jesus do? Jesus didn't play into it.

He told Peter it didn't matter to him. That doesn't matter to you. Marzah, it doesn't matter to you what Mary is doing.

There's one thing necessary, and she has chosen that. Peter, it doesn't matter how he's going to die. What matters is you need to follow Me.

So again, you have this redirecting Peter's focus. Redirecting Martha's focus to their own personal responsibility in what they need to be doing. This is happening.

Because people get distracted by comparisons. People get distracted from their personal responsibility. And so that's one takeaway therein from Luke 10.

So the third example, I want to go to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. Remember one thing that's always encouraging when you think about instruction and counseling.

Remember what Tim brought from James 1. If you lack wisdom, you can ask the Lord, and it says He will give you wisdom without correcting you, without scolding you, without saying you shouldn't be coming for wisdom. The wonderful Counselor is very kind to counsel us on how to counsel. That's really what the whole Christian life is.

We're trying to do everything by the power of the Spirit of God. Whether it's in evangelism, whether it's in counseling. What was the main thing Peter needed to go counsel Ananias and Sapphira? He needed to not be grieving the Spirit in his own life so he could understand the voice of God and hear the voice of God and know what to say to them.

Being full of the Holy Spirit is so essential. So Isaiah 58. As we look at this, and we're going to read this, and I'm going to read a quote from a book that I feel like it explains it in a far greater way than I can.

It just really impacted me two weeks ago. And that's part of why I was led to talk on this topic is because of this one insight. So I'm going to read that after we look at the passage.

But don't take me as giving this broad counsel and Isaiah 58 is saying this is what to say to everyone in every situation, right? I don't think what the Lord's reasoning with Israel here is what needs to be said to Job's situation. For one, Job was genuinely a blameless man. That's not what's happening here with these people that we're going to see about in this chapter.

And so just realize that. But I think there's something we're going to see in Isaiah 58 that's very important. So we're going in the midst of the Lord responding to a nation who's in the midst of diligent fasting and seeking God.

There's a big problem. What's the big problem in Isaiah 58? From their perspective. God has His perspective and He's going to tell them the big problem.

And they're wondering what's the big problem? We're fasting, we're praying, and what's not happening? Yeah, there's no answer. We're not hearing from the Lord. God's not answering us.

Again, if you have unanswered prayer in your life right now, I'm not saying this is the cure. But is this one possibility biblically? Absolutely. This could be something to weigh and consider for that.

So, Isaiah 58. Cry aloud. Do not hold back.

Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Declare to My people their transgressions. To the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek Me daily. So He's going to a people to declare to them their sins. And now look at what describes the state of these people.

They seek Me daily. They delight to know My ways. Which, by the way, in Romans 7, it mentions that if you take Romans 7 as Paul prior to being regenerate, people say he delights the law in his inner man.

Well, these Jews here, who it seems are vastly, mostly unconverted, they delight in the law too. Just saying there's a connection there with that in Romans 7. That was me chasing a rabbit because I shouldn't have. But they seek Me daily and delight to know My ways.

As if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God. They ask Me righteous judgments and they delight to draw near to God. Now you hear that.

All that sounds really good. Right? Doesn't it sound really good? They seek Me daily. They delight to know My ways.

They ask of Me. And they delight to draw near to their God. Doesn't James say, draw near to God and He will draw near to you? All that sounds really good.

These are difficult situations. Someone's in a situation where there's so much that sounds so good. It sounds so right.

These are very things you would encourage someone to do. You would encourage someone often in counsel that you need to go and seek the Lord daily. And you need to delight in His Word.

Well, they're already doing that. So obviously, that's not the cure for the counselor to give to the counselee. Right? So they're trying to figure out what is going on.

V. 3, why have we fasted? You don't see it. Why have we humbled ourselves and you take no knowledge of it? You know, they're asking these questions. And then the Lord answers, Behold, in the day of your fast..." So here's what the problem is.

Notice where their emphasis is. This connects to where is Martha's emphasis in some ways. This connects to where Peter's emphasis.

It connects under the general principle that they're distracted from the root problem and therefore nothing is going well because they're not recognizing what's really at the root. Behold, in the day of your fast, you seek your own pleasure. So they're being selfish.

"...you oppress all of your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight, and you hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high." Interesting.

So we're fasting. We're daily seeking the Lord. But we're oppressing our workers and we're being selfish.

And the Lord's saying, I'm not going to hear you. "...Is such the fast that I choose a day to person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed?" We're bowing down like reeds. Isn't that good? "...And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord?" And then He says what to do in v. 6. "...Is not this the fast that I choose? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover him? Is it not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" So that's His counsel.

That's what's missing. They're very religiously doing all these things. They're easy to do.

Seek God daily. Fast. Pray.

Know the Word. Love the homeless. Love the perishing.

Treat our workers right. They're finding it more difficult. What's going to happen if they do respond? Look at v. 8. I know this has been a passage often quoted in our church that Tim has often brought up.

"...Then shall your light break forth like the dawn." I mean, they want that. I want my light to break forth like the dawn. "...Your healing shall spring up speedily." Remind you of Luke 18.

Persistent prayer. Will He not answer you speedily? "...Your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." Look at v. 9. "...Then you will call and the Lord will answer you and cry.

And you shall cry and He will say, Here I am." You know what that statement? Alec Montero, he said this about this. Here I am. Answered prayer is not like the sending of a food parcel.

It's like a home visit from the doctor. That's what you want. I want a home visit from the Lord.

If you get a food parcel from the Lord, you're thankful, right? You're thankful to get a food parcel. But imagine He shows up Himself. That's what's in that language right there.

Here I am. It's a home visit from the doctor. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger.

Isn't that interesting? And speaking wickedness. You see that in v. 9? The Bible talks about the pointing of the finger. Why is she not helping me? Right? That's what Martha said to Mary.

You know what Peter's doing? Okay, I'm restored now. Well, what's going to happen to John? What's going to happen with John? What is that to you, Peter? You follow me. Alright, pointing the finger.

You can even say pointing the finger. Well, this is great. Our church should be doing these things, but other people are going to partake in these things.

It's not going to have to be me. Point the finger. We could do that in that way as well.

V. 10, if you pour yourself out for the hungry, satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong, and you will be like a watered garden." These are all things we want. Like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt and you shall raise up foundations for many generations. You will be called the repairer of the briefs, the restorer of the streets to dwell in. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable, if you honor it not knowing your own way or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly, then you will take delight in the Lord.

And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 58.

So, we've heard Isaiah 58. We've heard different applications, exhortations. Let me read one.

I was reading Robert Phillips wrote a book, A Guide for the Doubting. He made this comment on Isaiah 58. I want us to listen to this quote.

Let this stick because you will find there will be seasons in your life where you're going to need this. You're going to need to remember this. You're going to need to remember this truth that he's observing from Isaiah 58.

That is an application from Isaiah 58. And this truth is something that you have heard many times in the life of this church. It's nothing new.

It's something that in a way, it can be hard to hear. It almost feels insensitive for me, for him to say what he's about to say. You understand what I'm saying? You know how that happens.

There's something you know is true and you think it applies, but you're wanting to be sensitive. So maybe you don't share it when it actually is the very thing that's needed. So, Philip says this.

He said, the late Andrew Fuller. Who's Andrew Fuller? Not a rhetorical question. You guys need to know your people.

Who's Andrew Fuller? Say again. Yeah, the rope puller. We just read his quote when? Was that last Sunday? Yeah, last Sunday during the announcements.

He said, I'll go down into the well, Cary said, if you will hold the rope. So, Fuller has his church. And he says this, there was a time I made every effort to comfort my people.

My people who are serious. They're grieving over different things. The more I tried to comfort them, the more they complained about doubts and darkness.

That's interesting. Kind of like the Lloyd-Jones example. These first people were counseling him in a way where what did it lead him to do? More despair over have I committed the unpardonable sin.

So, it's interesting how often that happens. But again, in that example, when he gave the right counsel, it still led to some initial despair, but that doesn't mean give up on it. So, Fuller says, they complained about doubts and darkness.

Whenever I went, I heard the same lament. Oh sir, I can't find no comfort. I cannot claim the promises as my own.

And Fuller is bewildered as a pastor. He's bewildered. He's distressed.

He says, for I had done all I could to counsel the mourners in Zion. And yet they remained disheartened and I was at my wit's end. What do you do? What do you do? In a way, you could say this, the church there, they were fasting.

They were delighting to know the Word. What was on Isaiah 58? What was missing in Isaiah 58? Maybe that's something that's missing in that church that Fuller has. Are they going after the perishing? Are they clothing the naked? So, listen to what he says.

At that time, notice this is a turning point in the life of this church and in these people's own assurance of salvation and their comfort. At that time, God directed my attention to the plight of the heathen in India. Why direct them to that? They've got enough problems, don't they? I realized we had been focused on ourselves and had neglected the souls of others.

I shared this conviction with my congregation. They were moved to tears, grieving over their past indifference to the lost. They began talking about a Baptist mission.

Women started collecting money for the spread of the Gospel. We gathered to pray for the heathen, to discuss what we could do for them, and then we acted on it. As this unfolded, the complaints ceased.

Something's not right. How could that work like? The complaints ceased. The sorrow became cheerful.

The despondent found peace. And no one lamented a lack of comfort anymore. And Fuller, he says this, I no longer had to study how to comfort them because they were comforted in the work.

And I too found comfort through them. They were drawn out of themselves. That was the secret.

That was the secret. God blessed them as they sought to be a blessing. Brethren, you've heard that.

You've heard us say that. I'm not saying that with every situation that's going on in the church, this is the answer. But I'll tell you, more than often not, this is the truth that someone needs to hear.

In our own repetitiously sharing this truth, it can almost feel insensitive. But brethren, me sharing it right now isn't going in your mind and saying this is the answer for you. But you should ask yourself with whatever you're going through, what if you're one of these individuals who is distracted by something else? And I would ask you how much of your life is given to serving the needs of others? How much of it is thought about the homeless poor, the naked, your neighbors, the needy, the perishing? It's absolutely a question we should ask.

They were drawn out of themselves. Phillips, he then said that this truth parallels in Jewish and Christian history. Isaiah speaks to this principle in Isaiah 58.

The people whose doubts and darkness God had promised to relieve had tried various methods this is still Phillips speaking, to gain the light of His presence and the joy of salvation. Yet all their efforts failed. Even though some seemed well-suited to achieve the goal.

I'm telling you, how many times you tell someone to read the Word? How many times you tell someone to be at the meetings? These people were at all of the meetings. These people were reading the Word of God. These people were fasting and they were praying and they were stuck.

They needed what Fuller saw that his church needed. They needed to have more of a concern for the perishing and to lose themselves in the midst of the work rather than focusing on their problems. And then the problems start to diminish.

I'm telling you, this actually works. It really does. It really does.

Don't despise it. Don't hear this and think this isn't right. No, brethren, I'm telling you, you go out and you serve others and you love the Lord and you're free of self, God will comfort you even in the midst of some of the hardest trials.

He goes on to say, "...Yet despite their faithfulness and outward worship, the Lord did not renew their strength, nor did He meet them to bless them. And He didn't even frame His delay as a test of their faith, saying, though the visionary wait for it. Why did God withhold His presence? The main reason was their selfishness.

He would not comfort them without addressing their besetting sin." I'll never forget, I think it was at Craig's single study, I went one time, I mean, I was obviously married, but I went to record it on different things of trials. And one of the points Craig brought out was a repeated trial the Lord put him through and the Lord never gave him relief. He kept bringing him to the same trial until he passed the test.

Right? God works like that. What if you're here this morning in denial about your besetting sin in your life? And you're unwilling to admit what it is. You will be stuck where you're at and you will not get out of it.

Because your Father cares about you enough to not mess around and give you joy and give you that comfort without you learning the very lesson He's wanting you to recognize. He would not comfort them without addressing their besetting sin. Phillips goes on, "...the root issue was their neglect of the poor, the oppressed, and the perishing.

This neglect was the reason for their darkness and the key to their restoration." Isn't that amazing? People seeking God every day. Let me just read a few more of what these insights that he gives on this passage in this chapter. The reason for their failure is summed up in the words of the psalmist.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. I'm not regarding iniquity in my heart. What if you're regarding iniquity in your heart and you can't even recognize what that iniquity is? What if it is some sort of manifestation of pride? What if that iniquity is fill in the blank of every single respectable sin that Jerry Bridges talks about that are not respectable? The so-called respectable sins.

"...The iniquity in their hearts was selfishness, a form of covetousness that caused them to ignore the needs and suffering of others. This self-centered way of life was something God would neither encourage nor bless. He hid Himself from them to teach a vital lesson.

Hide not thyselves from My own flesh." Verse 7 in Isaiah 58, "...They deeply desired the comfort of His mercy, but He would not grant it without first teaching them to show mercy to others." I want to experience the mercy of God. The Lord's saying, I'm not going to let you until you show mercy. I'd be inconsistent of My character to do that.

God sought to establish two great principles. First, blessed are the merciful for what? They will obtain mercy. And second, they shall have judgment without mercy who show no mercy.

He would not compromise either of these truths no matter how fervently they prayed or wept. They're fasting and weeping and praying and God's not answering. The situation reached a critical point.

Either they must yield their selfishness or God must relent on His insistence that they care for the poor and the perishing. They were focused on receiving comfort. He was focused on making them kind and generous.

We misunderstand the mysteries of the Kingdom if we see in all of this anything resembling legal or meritorious conditions for receiving mercy and comfort. No reasonable person could think that these comfortless individuals neglected their poor neighbors out of some self-righteous fear of falling into a works-based religion. Their neglect was not a Pharisee attempting to avoid working for life, but rather a desire to save themselves the trouble and the expense.

They avoided the claims of suffering humanity and the responsibility of immortal souls out of a selfishness and a sloth, not a concern about legality. It's no wonder then that God resisted their prayers, the zeal of their worship. In fact, He was acting for their true comfort.

For no lasting comfort can exist in a selfish heart. Had they received comfort, they sought without addressing their selfishness, what damage it would have done to the reputation of Christianity. The poor and afflicted would have been justified in saying, how can a religion that makes unfeeling and unsympathetic people make someone wholly happy and true? Well, you see my point? You see Philip's point on Isaiah 58? What if what you need at this point in your life is you need to be comforted in the midst of serving others? And that's what frees you from whatever darkness you're in the midst of.

From all the self-focus. You know what? Martha did not need to be thinking about what her sister needed to do. She needed to be getting her eyes on Christ.

Peter didn't need to be worried about what John needed to do. He needed to realize it didn't matter to him as being a busybody, he needed to go be faithful to Christ. And we have this nation here, they're fasting and praying and they're weeping and they're doing all these things, but they're not going out and serving.

Serving the lost, the homeless, the weak. I mean, you fill it in the blank. The very people who you're most uncomfortable at the thought of serving.

You know what I mean by that? There's people in your mind that you hope the Lord is not going to have you have to serve. You know, a brother in Lebanon, the one whose name starts with a D, he did not initially want to go there. God made him go to the very place he did not initially want to go to.

The Lord has that in us. But guess what? The Lord puts us in those situations, but guess what you experience over there? What are they experiencing over there as they reach out to the homeless poor, the needy, and the perishing? What's going on over there? The very thens that we see right here in this passage. I mean, that's happening.

And that can continue to happen or happen to a greater degree here if that's where our own emphasis is. Then your light will break forth like the dawn. Your healing shall spring up speedily.

Your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Brethren, don't despise food ministries.

Don't despise nursing home evangelism. Those things are very much right at the heart of God. Don't despise those who are in situations where they take in the homeless poor.

They take in relatives. We've got the mortuary looking at fostering to take in a child. And the Datsun's, Caleb's father has a two-year-old and he's looking at fostering and taking in.

Or a four-year-old, Cyrus, taking him in. There's other situations. You know what? Those things are honoring to God as difficult and as hard as they might be.

Those are things the Lord, He delights in. He delights in us being, yes, a missions-minded church. No, not neglecting the home days and letting things crumble and disintegrate.

But brethren, what a privilege it is that we can put money in a box and we can send it and support various people in various fields. And what a blessing it is to see God equip different people and get to the point where we can send more laborers into the harvest and see them live out these realities even in Isaiah 58. Phillips, he says, their effort appeared sincere and was well-intentioned, yet it yielded no results.

Do you feel that? Is there any effort in your life? Well-intentioned, prayer, fasting, no results. What if this is the emphasis that's needed? It's just something to consider. It really is.

Something to ask yourself. You know what? There's times we face disappointments where things are not going as we expect to go. And we just keep asking the same thing rather than stepping back and getting a bigger picture and wondering, maybe there's something more at the root here that I'm not recognizing.

No wonder their efforts failed. None of them addressed the core issue between them and God. They didn't.

Brethren, we want to be a people who always take pains to have a clear conscience. A brother just shared in the men's chat this morning clearing his conscience about something that he stated that he came across in a way ultimately of being dishonest. You know what? That's the type of thing we need to continue to happen in this church where you're willing to take pains to have a clear conscience.

It should make you wonder, is there any subtle way I've actually become desensitized in this area by pursuit of personal holiness and my sensitivity to sin and my sensitivity to how I present myself? Is there anything fake about me here this morning? Is there anything wrong in my heart this morning? Brethren, our church will not break forth like the dawn. Because one of the things that was happening in Isaiah 58 was they were quarreling. Brethren, if there's any quarreling going on in your heart or any quarreling that goes on in this church that's undealt with, we're not going to be our Isaiah 58 church.

Paul wrote to one of the counseling accounts I ran into as I was thinking about counseling is Paul to the Philippians. Whose names showed up in a letter. Iodia and Syntyche.

Apparently to Paul, them having the mind of Christ and resolving some conflict was so important he blasted their names into a church email. And he asked someone else to help. Isn't that concerning? Why did Paul have to ask true companion to help these women? What's that mean true companion who's there wasn't doing? He wasn't helping.

Why would he not help? Maybe he didn't recognize the severity of the issue demanded his involvement. That's one possibility of that text. So brethren, we need these realities.

We need the Lord and the God of peace will be with us. And we have a wonderful counselor who's willing to help us. I think there's one other quote from Phillips to balance all of this out.

Let me just see. This is a kind of selfishness that focuses all of our time, attention, prayers, and concern exclusively on ourselves. That's what he's saying was happening in Isaiah 58.

It seems both natural and reasonable to concentrate on our own spiritual condition when we are burdened by suspense or weighed down by despondency. At first glance, nothing seems more prudent or necessary than an inward focus. You hear that? It even appears cruel or insensitive to suggest thinking of others while we ourselves are walking in darkness.

And Phillips says, this suggestion is neither unkind nor unwise. To seek peace or hope from any other source or to attempt any other remedy is utterly futile. All our looking must be to Christ if we desire Him.

And so, I close with that thought from Phillips there because I feel that. At first glance, nothing seems more wise than to tell someone to be inwardly focused on this area of depression or whatever it might be. It feels insensitive.

But it's actually the very thing that is needed. So may the Lord help us, brethren. We need God's help.

Let's pray. Let's pray for His help. Lord, You are the wonderful Counselor.

Lord, we want to know You more. Yes, we want our light to go forth like the dawn. We want our prayer meetings, our fasting.

Lord, we want all of these things not to be some fruitless endeavor that mean absolutely nothing because we're just so blind to some bigger issues that are happening in our hearts that we can't even recognize. Lord, I pray that again. Lord, if there's anything that we're blind to, show us, Lord.

If anything in my own heart that I don't recognize, Lord. If I'm in any way like a Peter or a John, or something's not right in the way that I'm... My own self-perception, Lord. Lord, if anyone's here like Martha already figuring out in their mind that well, this is the answer and I know what the Lord's going to say.

And Lord, Your answers sometimes are not what we would think. Lord, we want Your counsel. We want Your nearness.

Oh Lord, Your nearness is for our good. Father, forgive us the ways we've grieved Your Spirit. Forgive us the ways, Lord, we've had negligence in our own heart towards people in the church who are suffering, towards the heathen out there who are perishing.

Lord, help us. Lord, to the widow. Pure and undefiled religion.

To the orphan. Lord, help us to be those who rescue the perishing. Lord, help us perish.

Help let our fondest ambitions and earthly desires perish. That we'd find our all in You. Lord, that we know in a deeper way.

Lord, pull back any clouds. Anything, Lord, that's in the way. Lord, this is Your church.

These are Your people. Lord, help those who are suffering. Help those who are in the midst of trials.

Lord, I do pray that, Lord, in all these different things shared, that You, the great Counselor, would apply very specifically to specific hearts that You know need certain truths that were shared. Lord, that it really would be a turning point in their life. Lord, what a delight when there's a turning point in our lives and we're out of the ditch.

Lord, get people, if anyone's here in a ditch, Lord, get them out of that ditch today. Lord, they're Your sheep. They're Your affectionate children.

Help. Pray this in Christ's name, Amen.