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When God Hides His Face - 1

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• Let's open our Bibles to Isaiah 59 this morning. Isaiah 59. We're going to read the first two verses, and let me say at the beginning that I will be starting a message today that I will finish, Lord willing, next Sunday. This is a two-part message entitled "When God Hides His Face." When God Hides His Face. In Isaiah 59, beginning there with verse 1, the Bible says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear, but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear." Note, if you would, that last phrase, "and your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear."

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• You know, I've often told people there's only two things that will make an absolute fool out of adults, and that's babies and puppies. Now, you just stop and think about that. All of us have played the little game of peekaboo with our children. I mean, we would hide our faces behind our hands, or we would stick our head behind the door, and then we would reappear, and we would have the words "peekaboo" on our tongues. And it was just a game. Not only a game that our children enjoyed, but the adults enjoyed it as well. But unhappily, sometimes when children grow up, they become rebellious and disobedient. And when they do, sometimes we use different types of discipline, but whatever method we use, we cannot smile upon them as we did once before. And whether we hide our faces by removing ourselves from their presence, or removing them from our presence, or by just simply frowning upon them, at least they know that we do not want, need, nor condone their wicked and sinful attitudes and actions.

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• And when you have to do that, you no longer wish to be around them, nor do you wish for them to be around you. And when you hide your face like that, it's no longer a game. It's real, and it's punishment.

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• Now, the Bible speaks about God hiding His face. And whenever the Bible talks about God hiding His face, you can rest assured that there are very grave implications involved. In fact, the Bible says in Hebrews 10 and verse 27—you don't have to turn there—but the Scripture says, "But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and a fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." So whenever God withdraws Himself, whenever God hides Himself, you can make sure that there is either going to be judgment or chastisement that will follow. Now, the Bible in Isaiah 59 in verse 2 talks about God hiding His face. Whenever the Bible speaks of God hiding His face, you must remember that it is an anthropomorphic term. Remember, anthropos is the Greek word for man. Morphe is the Greek word for form. So when you say anthropomorphically, that just simply means man-form speaking. All God is doing is putting it in language that you and I can comprehend and understand. Because we know, just from reading the Scripture, that God does not have a physical face.

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• How do we know that? Well, John 4 and verse 24, our Lord said it very plainly. He said, "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." And so when the Bible is teaching that God is spirit, it is teaching that God is incorporeal. That is, He does not have a body as you and I have. He does not have a physical being as you and I would have. So the phrase that in Isaiah 55 and verse 2, or 59 and verse 2, is not only anthropomorphic, it is also a figure of speech known as a synecdoche. Now, when we talk about a synecdoche, remember this, that that word is made up of two Greek words as well.

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• One of them is syn, which is a preposition which means "with," and the root word is ekdechomai, which literally means "to take." So when you put them together, a synecdoche is a figure of speech where the whole is given for a part or a part is given for a whole. So when the Bible then speaks of God hiding His face, it's not just His face that He's hiding. It's the whole person.

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• That is, He withdraws Himself. He withdraws His presence.

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• Now, let me explain that a little further, because you've heard me teach and you should know by now that God is omnipresent. And when we use the term omnipresent, it just simply means this, that God is everywhere at one time in the totality of His being. There is not a place on this world, there's not a place in space, there's not a place anywhere where God is not. Because God is omnipresent.

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• Now, there is a question that must be asked. If God is omnipresent, and He withdraws His face, or hides His face, or withdraws Himself, does that mean that God is no longer omnipresent? And the answer is, of course not. Well, then how do we explain God hiding His face, or God withdrawing Himself? And that phrase is used in Scripture, which we shall see later on. And the answer is very simple. When the Bible speaks of God hiding His face, or withdrawing Himself, it just simply means that God removes the manifest presence in the sense that He removes His gracious favor. He removes His protection. He removes His blessing and grace. It's not that God goes into a corner of a building somewhere and hides, or that God goes into another building somewhere, or that you can find a little place where God is not. No. God is still there. God is still omnipresent. You just cannot perceive Him. There is no manifest presence that would allow you to know that God is there.

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• Now, today I want to cover one point and one point only. I want to cover the cause of God's hiding His face. If you look in Isaiah 59, let's read verses 1 and 2. He says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." What makes God withdraw Himself, or what causes God to hide His face? And the answer is given to us very clearly in Isaiah 59 verses 1 and 2, and that is because of our sin. Now, just very clearly and very simply, there are three truths that should be very obvious that just simply are lying on the surface of these two verses. First, the reason that God withdraws Himself is because of our sins. Listen carefully. There is no fault in God. It is wholly and completely and totally our fault, our problem, our sin, our rebellion. In fact, skip down to verse 3.

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• Let me show you after he says in verse 2, "and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Then he goes on to say, "For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity."

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• "They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity."

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• "Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." Plainly, God is enunciating the sins of the people. So there can be no doubt that this first simple truth is very real. The reason God withdraws Himself, the reason God hides His face, is because of our sins. The second truth is this. It is also made manifest that sin and rebellion merits and draws forth the judgment of God.

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• If you would skip down to verse 9. "Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men." And you read on down and you can see that God judges the people. It is their sins that brings forth the judgment of God. And what God is teaching in verses 9 through 14 is this, that we have merited, that we have earned and brought God's judgment upon ourselves. Very simple. And then the third truth is this, in light of these two facts, that number one, it is our sins, and number two, our sins have brought forth the judgment of God upon us. Number three, in light of those two facts, if God has mercy upon a people, it is due only to His grace and goodness. Because no wicked people can merit or draw forth the grace and the mercy of God.

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• So if God delivers such a people, He does so purely out of His own grace and for His own glory. And you'll find that in verses 16 through 21 in this chapter.

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• Now, listen to me very carefully. Sinners may merit and draw forth the judgment of God. But we can never merit and draw forth the grace and the mercy of God. It's like the Apostle Paul explained in Romans 11, verse 6. Listen as I read it. He said, "And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. And if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."

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• In other words, you can't have it both ways. If it is works, it cannot be of grace. If it is of grace, it cannot be of works. And so the Apostle Paul says when God has mercy upon us, it is because of His grace.

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• Now this is a broad overview of Isaiah 59. However, it is verses 1 and 2 that I wish to call your attention to particularly. The lack of blessings, the lack of deliverance, the lack of protection and providential care is not due to a fault in God. He has not lost His power. He has not ceased to be gracious and kind. There cannot be any fault laid at God's feet. The fault is entirely and completely with His people. Now, when you consider the context of Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, you will discover that God not only warns His people about their sins—listen carefully—He also warns them about their hypocrisy. Their religiosity. And their ceremonies. You know, I tell you that there is not only an immediate context, but there is also a remote context. When you look at Isaiah 59, verses 1 and 2, and the verses that follow, that should be very obvious. But what you also want to consider are the verses that precede. So if you look in your Bibles, Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, and notice if you would, verses 1 through 7.

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• Here Isaiah says, "Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins." Now watch carefully. "Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God." Ah, watch out now.

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• "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?" God says, "Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors." Now look what he says. "Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with a fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul?"

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• "Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?"

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• Now, notice if you would please, in this passage, God is condemning them because of their hypocrisy. What are they doing? They're going through the ceremonies. They're going through the rituals. They're pretending that they love to approach God. They're pretending that they really want the ordinances of God. And yes, we want justice, but all of this is pure hypocrisy. In fact, if you look back in your Bibles, hold Isaiah 58, but go back to Isaiah 29 and verse 13, and I want you to see how God has previously accused them and warned them concerning this hypocrisy. Isaiah 29 and verse 13. Look what God says through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 29 verse 13, "Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." Now note what he said, this people do what? They draw near with their lips. "Praise the Lord. Glory to God."

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• "Amen. Yes, we want the truth. We want righteousness." They draw near to me with their lips. They speak of me with their mouth. But he says their heart is far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men. In other words, God has never worked a gracious work in their heart. They've just been taught externally. And that's all they know. And all they know to do is to follow the ceremonies.

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• In fact, if you look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 7, you will find a similar illustration of this. Look in—I believe it's Jeremiah 7. Maybe. Maybe that's not the passage. I can quote it. I've got it in my mind. But in the book of Jeremiah, God tells Jeremiah to go to the city of Jerusalem and to run to and fro throughout the streets. And he said, if you find one righteous man there, then I'm willing to pardon the city. And then he says, and though you might find one who says, "The Lord liveth," then says God, surely he sweareth falsely. In other words, all he's got is the lingo. All he's got is the language.

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• He does not have the heart. And that's exactly what God is condemning here in Isaiah 58. He is condemning these people because all they've got is the ceremony. All they've got is the ritual.

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• Now look what they ask in verses 2 through 4. God says in Isaiah 58 verse 2, "Yet they seek me daily." What you would think, man, that's a good thing. Seeking the Lord every day. "Yet they seek me daily, delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God. They ask of me the ordinance of justice; they take delight in approaching God." And look at what they're saying to God now. Watch.

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• You talk about arrogant and blasphemous. "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?" God, look at us. We're going through the ritual. We're going through the ceremony. What's wrong with you? Can't you hear? Can't you see? I mean, come on. We're doing what we're supposed to do. The problem cannot possibly be with us. It has to be with you. Interestingly, they went through all the motions, they went through all the ceremonies, they went through all the rituals, and now they're blaming God because God doesn't see, God doesn't hear, and God doesn't answer.

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• Such an attitude not only demonstrates pride, arrogance, haughtiness, but blasphemy as well. Their concept of God was not only unbiblical, unreasonable, it was also illogical and unfounded. Here's what they're saying.

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• Now, I want you to think this through with me, because I'm going to make a modern day application in just a moment. They're saying, "Lord, we've been fasting and you didn't take notice. We've been crying. You didn't hear. We've been approaching you. And something must be wrong. You're not taking note of that. God, you must have aged. You must have lost some of your power. You must have become deaf or impotent in some way or become unconcerned, for surely otherwise you would have acted upon our behalf."

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• I mean, after all, we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. Well, what you can say is, poor God, too bad. It's absolutely amazing how the sovereign, supreme, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutable, infinite, and eternal God can lose power and compassion. Why, it must be true. Listen, that was their thinking. Because God wasn't hearing them and God wasn't answering them. It's got to be true. Come on, help me out now. God must have lost His power, or God must have lost His compassion, because if God was God, certainly 9/11 would have never happened. I mean, if God was God, the Columbine massacre could never have happened. God, you must be deaf or you must be blind or you must have lost some power or compassion because if you were really God, I mean, you wouldn't have let Katrina hit us like that. And Lord, one thing for sure, you wouldn't put up with all the starvation and disease and hunger and war that's raging because God, if You were really God, You'd do something about it.

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• You'd stop it. Surely you must have lost some of your power or you must have lost some of your compassion. Well, now, you know, when I say those words, I'm speaking facetiously, but let me ask you a question. Is that not the way the ungodly think? I've heard people say with my own ears, "If there is a God, why does He allow war? Why does He allow people to be slaughtered? Why does He allow disease? Why does He allow starvation? Why, if I were God, I would do something about it."

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• Let me tell you, it never enters most people's minds that there's a possibility that we might have sinned against Him. We might have trampled His commandments under our feet. We might have despised and rejected His Son. We might have done despite to the Spirit of grace. We might have refused to bow to Him and worship Him in the way that He's ordained. Oh, no, that never enters their mind. You know why it doesn't enter their mind? The same reason it didn't enter their minds in Isaiah 58.

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• I mean, come on, after all, we go to church, at least on Easter and Christmas. And we pray when we get into trouble or have special needs. And we will give financially, too, when we're forced to or after we've spent everything we want on ourselves. If there's any left over, we might give just a little bit. And certainly we're Christians and we want to be known as a Christian nation. So come on.

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• The problem could not possibly be with us. It has to be with God.

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• Now, that's exactly what these people were saying in Isaiah 58. God corrects this misconception very rapidly by stating two truths. First of all, He tells us, look at Isaiah 59 in verse 1. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear." First of all, He tells us that the Lord's hand is not shortened. What does that mean?

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• Once again, it is a figure of speech. It is a synecdoche. Remember, God does not have a physical body, so therefore He does not have a hand and therefore He does not have an arm. But when you see the word hand or arm in the Bible identified with God, it speaks of God's power. I'm going to show you the scriptures in just a moment. But what happens when a man's arm becomes palsied? He gets polio or something like that in the arm or some other disease. What happens?

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• It usually draws up or you have a stroke. And the arm draws up and you lose the use of that hand and that arm. So this is what God is saying. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened." God hasn't had a stroke. God has not come down with the palsy. No, His power and His strength are just like they have always been. Hold Isaiah 59, but go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 4.

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• Let me show you several verses. Deuteronomy 4 verse 24. Deuteronomy 4 verse 24. Deuteronomy 4.

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• That's still another verse I want, but I'm going to read it anyhow. It's a good verse. "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." Turn over to chapter 5 and look at verse 15. I put down the wrong verse there, but look in chapter 5, verse 15. And here it is. "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Now, how did God get the children of Israel out of Egypt? By a mighty hand, by a stretched out arm. In other words, it's talking about His power. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 7 and verse 19. Deuteronomy 7 and verse 19. "The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid."

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• Now, let me just point this out. Do you realize that whenever you and I start to do work, or when we start to do strenuous exercise, or pick up something that's heavy, the first thing we do is stretch out our arm. In other words, we get it ready to do the work. So the Bible, once again, is talking about God's great power in delivering His people. Look in Deuteronomy 9 and verse 29. Deuteronomy 9, verse 29. Here, the Word of God says, "Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm." There it is, the power and the arm put together. Let me just show you a couple other passages. Now look to Psalm 136. Psalm 136.

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• And notice, if you would please, verses 10 through 12. Psalm 136, beginning there with verse 10. Psalm 136, verse 10, look at it. "To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever: and brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: with a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever." And then if you will turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 23 and then Isaiah 45. Isaiah 23 and notice if you would please verse 11. Isaiah 23 verse 11. "He stretched out his hand over the sea, he shook the kingdoms."

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• "The Lord hath given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strongholds thereof." He stretched out his hand over the sea. And what did he do? He shook the kingdoms.

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• Now look in Isaiah 45 and verse 12. Isaiah 45 and verse 12. God says, "I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." So whenever God says in Isaiah 59 and verse 1, that the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, He is simply saying this, I retain all the power, all the strength, all the vigor that I've ever had.

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• I want you to stop and think about this. Several of these verses refer to it. You think of the power that God exercised in delivering the children of Israel out of Egypt. You think of the power that God exercised in smiting Pharaoh and his army. You think of the power that God exercised in bringing them into the Canaan land. You think of the power that God exercised in subduing all those nations and subduing all those kingdoms and giving Israel their land. What is God saying?

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• I have not become weak. I am the same as I always was. I still have the power. I'm still omnipotent. The power is not—or the problem is not with God. The problem is with the people. God is still able, listen, to defeat His enemies, to overthrow the wicked, to destroy those who rebel against Him. The problem is not with God. God is still just as able to help as He has ever been able to help.

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• His hand is not shortened. His power is not abridged. His strength is not straightened or lessened. God has just as much power as He ever had, and it is just as efficacious. It is just as powerful. You know what God asked Moses in Numbers 11 and verse 23—you don't have to turn there—but God asked Moses, "Has the Lord's hand waxed short?" Have I lost any of my strength? You know, the answer to that, no. Do you realize that God—and I'm going to be preaching on this in the not too distant future—God is just as able to save with few or with many, it doesn't matter to God. Because the power is really not man's power. It is God's power as well. God is still able to defeat His foe. God is still able to deliver His people. God is still able to protect us. So He says the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. And then secondly, in Isaiah 59 in verse 1, He says, "neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear."

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• By the way, the Hebrew says neither is God's ear thick of hearing. I want you to turn to Psalm 115. Let me show you a comparison. Look in Psalm 115.

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• Now, some of you, like myself, have lost some of your hearing ability. Alice says it's selective, and maybe sometimes that's true, but that's alright. Eddie told me this morning at breakfast, he said, "Well, I'm going to go let the horses out." And so I looked at him and said, "Well, Eddie, since you're going out there, please let the horses out." I never even heard him. And he started laughing. And then Alice started laughing. Don't call me thick-headed, just thick of hearing. You see, that's it. That's what the Hebrew says.

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• But look in Psalm 115, where God is talking about the idols. In verse 4, He says, "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat." In other words, all of these are nothing more than dumb idols. They can't hear, they can't speak. But God's not a dumb idol. His ear has not grown heavy that it cannot hear. Now, let me tell you what Proverbs 20 and verse 12 says. Listen carefully. "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye."

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• "Even the Lord hath made both of them." Here's a simple question. Why are you able to see? Because God gave you sight. Why are you able to hear? Because God gave you the ability to hear. Now, if you believe that God is the Creator and God created us with the ability to see and hear, are you so insulting to God to think He that created hearing and seeing can't hear and see Himself? He said the seeing eye, the hearing ear, even the Lord thy God hath made both of them. What kind of God would He be if He could make something for someone else, but not for Himself?

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• Now, when you go back to Isaiah 59 and look at verse 1, you've got to remember this. You've got to remember the context when He says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear." The reason He is saying that is because back in Isaiah 58 verses 3 and 4, they're complaining that God is not hearing their prayers. God is not seeing their sacrifices. God is not looking at their worship. Oh, no. And so they're accusing Him of being thick-eared.

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• Now, wait a minute, Lord. What did they say in Isaiah 58? We approach You on a daily basis. We're asking Your ordinances, we're fasting, we're going through the ceremonies, we're fulfilling the rituals. Why aren't You hearing? Are You thick of hearing? Are You hard of hearing? In other words, they were blaming God, not themselves. The truth is, listen, folks, that God does indeed hear and answer prayers. But the truth is, He will not respond to unbiblical, ungodly, and unethical prayers.

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• This sermon is not a sermon on prayer, but let me just give you three passages. Jeremiah 33 and verse 3, one of my favorite verses. God said, "Call upon me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." Listen to that. "Call upon me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." God is willing and ready to hear biblical prayers. In Isaiah 65 and verse 24, God says, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Before they call, I will answer. God knows our needs before we ever express them. God knows what we're going to say before we ever mouth our prayers. And God said, I'm willing to answer them even before you speak. And what did our Lord say in John 14, verses 13 and 14? He said this, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name."

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• "That will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it."

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• Now, the only reason I quoted those verses is to show you that God is quite ready and willing to hear and answer our prayers. Why would He not hear the prayers of these people in Isaiah 58? Why will He not hear our prayers many times? Do you remember that one passage in Psalm 66 and verse 18? Help me out now. David said, "If I regard iniquity in my heart," what? "The Lord will not hear me." Now, is the fault with God or is the fault with man? It's us. That's why He says, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you." The problem is not with God. The problem is with us.

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• You know, we can sit around and whine and bellyache and complain about the oppression, the taxation, the tyranny, the loss of liberty, the loss of freedom in this land, all we want to. But let me remind you of one passage. 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and turn from their wicked ways, and pray and seek my face, then will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sins, and heal their land." As much as I despise the wicked in this world, and especially the ungodly, reprobate rulers.

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• The problem is not with them. In reality, it's with us. It's with us. Therefore, says God, your sins have separated between you and your God, and your iniquities have caused Him to hide His face.

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• Now, I want to make some applications today, and I want you to listen carefully. The first one is this, and I'm going to get into this more in detail next week. I'll show you scripture after scripture. But there is a time when God hides His face. There is a time when God withdraws Himself. There's a time when you and I can look around and say, "Where in the world is God? Where are His blessings? Where is His mercy? Where is His help? Where is His strength? Where is His power?"

  #59 | 41:30 to 42:10 | cleaned

• "Lord, why don't You arise and do something for us?" By the way, read the Psalms over and over, you'll find David crying and praying, "Arise, O Lord, and show Thyself. Make Thy power known. Let man know that Thou art God." Over and over you find that. Why? Because there are times when God withdraws Himself, He hides His face. Now, this is known as the Lex Talionis.

  #60 | 42:11 to 42:44 | cleaned

• I've given you that phrase before. Lex talionis, it is Latin for the law of retribution. The law of retribution. Do you know what God always does? He always makes the punishment fit the crime. Now, what did David say in Psalm 66 and verse 18? "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." If you and I constantly and continually are sinning against God, violating His Word, disobeying Him, what does that mean? It means we're not hearing God. We're not listening to Him. And what does God do in perfect justice? God says that you won't listen to Me. I won't listen to you. I'll hide My face. I'll withdraw Myself from you. And you look around and say, "Where did God go? Where did God go?" You know, let me give you an illustration.

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• Some of you can identify with it. Some of you can't. The only hobby that I have, I suppose, outside of studying is I do like to hunt. And I do love to hunt deer. And usually I can go hunting and I have seen—I've seen as high as 21, 22 deer at a time. And a lot of times I don't even shoot, I just watch them. But you know, deer feed with the moon.

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• They have two major feeds, two minor feeds. And when you get that full moon, and that moon is shining in the middle of the day and then bright in the middle of the night, you can just about look for deer all you want to and never see a cotton-picking deer. There's two or three days out of the month. It seems like every deer has fallen off the edge of the world. There's just none around. You can't see them. They're there. But you don't see them. You know, we as Christians can go out and when we're in tune with the Lord and we're right with the Lord, I mean, we see God in creation. We see God in preservation. We see God in providence. We see God. We see the Lord everywhere we turn. But when we start sinning and we become disobedient, all of a sudden we look around one day and say, "What happened? Where did God go? He must have fallen off the edge of the world." No. It wasn't God that moved.

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• It was us. God's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, and His ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. It's our sins. The second application is this. Most of us never really understand fully the mischief of sin. It is true that sin brings chastisement. It is true that sin brings judgment. It is true that sin brings heartache. It is true that sin brings everything that you and I do not want. But one thing we tend to forget is sin builds a wall of partition between us and our Lord. That's what He says. "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you."

  #64 | 45:52 to 46:42 | cleaned

• In other words, there it is. There's that wall. We can't see where God is. And we think that God can't see where we are. By the way, you remember one of the penalties of sin is that sin separates. It separates families. It separates friends. And it separates us from our God. The third application is this. Whenever God does hide His face, and you can't perceive His protection, His blessings, His grace, His mercy in your life, put this down. The fault is not in God, it's in you. You need to repent. You need to exercise faith. You need to come back and say, "Lord, I want to be where You are." What does He say?

  #65 | 46:43 to 48:02 | cleaned

• "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save." Wouldn't you like to see God jerk a knot in the wicked of this nation? I would. But the fault, and the reason He hasn't, is with His people. We're the ones that need to get right with Him. And when we do, I don't want to be around when He does the jerking. I mean, I don't want Him jerking me, I want to be around to see it, but I don't want to be in the mob that He jerks.

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• Because He shall straighten them out. Lord willing, next week we'll look at the consequences of God hiding His face. Let's pray. Father, we do ask and pray that Your holy and blessed will would be done in our lives. And Lord, each of us have experienced times when You have withdrawn Yourself, You've hidden Your face. And we must admit and confess, Lord, the fault was not Yours, but ours. Help us, Father, to repent of any known sin or disobedience and bring our lives into conformity to Your Word. And help us to understand how important it is that each of us live a holy, godly, obedient life. Give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-04T17:52:09Z