The Hidden Door

It’s good to be with you again. Our theme this week is one which is of personal concern to each one of us:  Where to Find Security.

In previous talks we’ve seen that the quest for security springs from a universal craving of the human heart. Over the ages, and especially in our contemporary civilization, man has sought security in various ways and forms. In certain areas he’s achieved a measure of security, but at no time has he ever found total or permanent security. Furthermore, I believe that somewhere in the depth of our hearts each one of us is aware of this. In spite of all our striving for security, there remains within, almost below the conscious level, a nagging sense of insecurity.

In contrast to man’s efforts, we’ve seen that the Bible offers total and permanent security that comes from a different source. For instance, we have looked at the promise in Proverbs, chapter 1, verse 33 where the wisdom of God speaks and says this:

“Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (NIV)

That’s complete security. And yesterday, we looked at the security which the Bible promises in times of special trouble; war, famine and so on. In particular, we’ve focused on the “secret place of the Most High” as it’s described in Psalm 91 and I’m going to read those beautiful words again because I want them to be engraved in your hearts. I want them to become part of your thinking. Psalm 91, verses 1 through 10:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.’ Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you make the Most High your dwelling, even the Lord, who is my refuge, then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.” (NIV)

You see, I pointed out yesterday there are two basic conditions. First of all, we have to be permanently dwelling in that secret place of the Most High. It’s not just a place that we duck into in times of crisis, but it has to be a place of our permanent dwelling. And then secondly, we have to make our own bold, personal confession. The psalmist says in verse 2, “I will say of the Lord.” That’s a decision and what we say of the Lord in line with Scripture becomes ours in personal experience but if we don’t say it, we have no claim to it. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so”, that’s a condition of full redemption.

Well today I’m going to deal with a very important practical question which arises directly out of this passage in Psalm 91. The question is: How can we make our dwelling in the secret place of the Most High? How can we get into that secret place? Well, it’s very clear that a secret place is hidden. It has to be searched for. It isn’t advertised. There’s no sign hanging out telling you this is the secret place because if there was a sign hanging out saying this is the secret place, it wouldn’t be a secret place. So here is a secret that we have to find.

There are some beautiful words in the Book of Job which I believe relate to finding this secret place. In the 28th Chapter of Job he says, “Who can find where wisdom dwells,” and you remember it’s wisdom that offers this total security. So I’m going to read just a few verses from Job, Chapter 28 which just tell us how God has hidden this secret place. Job 28, verses 7 and 8:

“No bird of prey knows that hidden path, no falcon’s eye has seen it. Proud beasts do not set foot on it, and no lion prowls there.” (NIV)

See, there’s no animal creature, bird or beast that knows the way to this secret place. Then a little further on in Job 28, verse 14:

“The deep says, ‘It is not in me;’ the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’”

It’s not hidden somewhere in the depths of the sea. A little further on, verses 21, 22, 23:

“It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds of the air. Destruction and Death say, ‘Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.’ God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells.” (NIV)

That’s the secret place of the Most High. The animals haven’t seen it, the birds of the air can’t see it, it isn’t in the depths, it isn’t in the sea, but there’s a significant statement about destruction and death. Destruction and death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.”  In other words, if I can put it this way, when you get to destruction and death, you’re beginning to get warm. I’m sure once upon a time you played that game where somebody hid an object and then you had to come into the room and guess where it was and as you walked around, if you got near it they said,  “You’re getting warm,” and if you went further away from it they said, “You’re getting cold.” Well, that’s something like a hint in Scripture. Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.” But when you get near death, then you’re beginning to get near this secret place.

I think of old castles that I’ve been in in my own country, Britain, and in Europe. Many times in an old castle there was a secret door with a secret passage that led to an escape exit, and many times this secret door would be covered up by something like a tapestry or a large portrait, and then when you removed the tapestry or the portrait from the wall behind it, there was a little something that you pressed and the door swung open and you’d found the secret place.

Well, I think that’s a picture too of the secret place of God. It’s covered by a picture, by something that we wouldn’t associate it with. And I want to tell you now the answer to the secret:  The door is the cross of Jesus.

And when we see the cross, first of all, we recoil from it. We don’t want it. We don’t like it. But behind the cross is the door to the secret place. So the cross of Jesus is the door to this secret place that no animal can find, no bird can see, that whole natural creation doesn’t know. It’s in the spiritual realm; it’s not in the natural realm.

Now I want to read to you some words of Paul from Colossians, chapter 3 which speak about being in this secret place and identify it. It says:

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (vs. 1-4, NIV)

Notice that key word, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” That’s not in the next world; that’s already true now and being hidden with Christ in God is being in the secret place. Paul says, “You died.” That’s the cross. See, the secret is, that when Jesus died, He didn’t die for Himself, He died for us. He was our representative. He took our guilt. He took all our condemnation. He paid our penalty and He died our death and so when we understand it, and by faith receive what Scripture says, then when Jesus died, we die. Paul says elsewhere, “I’m crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live and yet not I but Christ now lives in me.” So Paul says here in Colossians,  “You died.” You passed through death, through the death of Jesus, through the cross into a new realm, a realm that’s not in the natural world, a realm that the senses cannot discern, a realm that natural creatures do not perceive. It’s a realm in Christ and we’re hidden with Christ in God.

Just pause for a moment and consider the total security that that represents. You’ve got, as it were, a double protection. First of all, you’re in Christ, and then you’re in God and nothing in the whole universe can reach you except it comes through God and through Christ. Our life isn’t in this visible world. We’re here in the flesh but we have another kind of life, a different life from a different source. Our body is just a clay vessel for this other life. Paul says the clay vessel can go through many difficulties and pressures. There’s no guarantee we won’t face those. But in that clay vessel, there’s a different kind of life. It’s an eternal life, an incorruptible life, an indestructible life and we’re so totally identified with Jesus Christ and with God that nothing can ever happen to us unless it’s in the will of God and of Christ. That’s total security; security in the midst of war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, no matter what comes, in Christ, we are in that secret place of the Most High, protected from all harm and all danger, and the door to it is the cross.

Our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again tomorrow at this time. Tomorrow I’ll continue with this theme of security. I’ll be sharing “How to Find Emotional Security.”