I said earlier, I'm delighted
to be here. I thank the world, your pastor. I'm so thankful
that the Lord allowed our paths to cross many years ago. And
I thank the Lord for it. And I'm so grateful that he,
our Lord, was pleased to send him to be your pastor. It's amazing
to see how our Lord works. He raises up a work and then
sends him a man, a pastor, a man after God's own heart, which
will feed him with knowledge and with understanding. We are
blessed to be able ever to get and meet and worship our God.
What a blessing we have this morning. Many people are sitting
in darkness, blindness, in the darkness of their wicked imaginations,
dying in religion and have no clue who God is. Have no clue. But he's been pleased to speak
to our hearts. And as we just sung that song,
oh God fill us now. If he don't, we're in a mess.
We're in a mess. Open your Bible to the book of
Job. I want to begin in Job 19. I
want to begin there and then come back to this. We begin reading in Job chapter
19, verse 6. Says Job chapter 19 verse 6,
know now that God hath overthrown me and hath compassed me with
his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but
I am not heard. I cry aloud, but there is no
judgment. He hath fenced me up, he hath
fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness
in my paths. He has stripped me of my glory
and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every
side, and I am gone, and my hope hath he removed like a tree.
He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he hath counteth
me unto him as one of his enemies. His troops come together and
raise up their way against me, and he camp round about my tabernacle.
He has put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are
verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and
my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house
and my maids count me for a stranger, and I am an alien in their sight.
I called my servant, and he gave me no answer. I intrigued him
with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife,
though I entreat for the children, the children's sake of my own
body. Yea, young children despise me. I rose and they spake against
me. All my inward friends abhor me
and they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth
to my skin and my flesh and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Pretty sad state, isn't it? All these things come against
him. And then he says, verse 21, which will be our primary
text, have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends,
for the hand of God hath touched me. And the hand of God hath touched
me. Now turn back to chapter one.
Job was a man who, at one time, had everything anyone could probably
ever want. He had health. He had material
wealth. He was admired by his friends.
He had a wonderful family. He had 10 children and a wife
who seemed to love him. Job chapter 1, beginning in verse 8. No, it's
beginning in verse 6. There was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord,
and he said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking
up and down in it. The Lord said unto Satan, Hast
thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
excuseth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not thou made
a hedge about him and about his house and all that he hath on
every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Don't
you see verse 11? But put forth thine hand Now
and touch him and touch all that he hath and he'll curse thee
to thy face. He said, put forth your hand
and touch him and he'll curse you. Verse 12, and the Lord said
unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only
upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went from the
presence of the Lord He said, you can touch him. You can touch
all he has, but you can't touch him. And verse 13, and there
was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine
in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto
Job and said, the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside
them. And the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea,
they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and
I only am escaped the long to tell thee. While he was yet speaking,
here came another also and said, the fire of God has fallen from
heaven and had burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed
him. And I only am escaped, alone
to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there
came also another and said, the Chaldeans made out three bands
and fell upon the camels and have carried them away. Yea,
and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only
am escaped, alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there
came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating
and drinking wine in the eldest brother's house. And behold,
there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the
four corners of the house and fell upon the young men and they
are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee. You imagine
getting all that news. I counted, I think it was the
other day, five different times when they came to him to tell
him. They said, I only am escaped to tell you. I'm the only one
that's escaped to tell you. Five different times, and now
they come with the news that all your children are dead. That's unimaginable. What did Job do? Then Job arose
and ran his mantle and shaved his head and fell upon the ground
and worshipped. You know what that is? That's the wind blowing up on
the garden, bringing forth the spices. And he said, naked came
I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither
the Lord gave and the Lord hath Taken away, blessed be the name
of the Lord. And in all this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. But he's not done. I want you
to see this, what happened, God has allowed to happen. But as I read in chapter 19,
it's God's hand that has touched him. God's hand that's touched
him. Now in chapter two, verse three,
the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job,
that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright
man, one that feareth God and escheweth his evil, and still
he holdeth forth his integrity, although thou movest me against
him to destroy him without a cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, skin for skin. All that a man hath he'll give
for his own life. And here he says it again, but
put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh
and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan,
behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. If our Lord had not said, but
save his life, he would have done to Job just like he did
to them 10 children. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord and smoked Job. Job was sore boils from
the sole of his foot, even to his crown. Job lost his children. He lost
his wealth. He lost his friends. We see on
through the book of Job, Job's so-called friends came to him
and here's what he said about his friends. You know what he
called them? He said, you're physicians of no value. You're
miserable comforters. They came and they said, yeah,
Job is a sin. A sin somewhere. And what it
is, they have the opinion like religion does. Well, if you're
good, well, good things will happen to you. And if bad things
are happening to you, you must be bad. You've heard people make this
statement, they'd say, why does bad things happen to good people?
Well, why do good things happen to bad people? Our Lord, I don't understand
all this, but God said this man, this man, Job, was perfect and
upright in his sight. And the only way he can be perfect
and upright in his sight is to be redeemed by the precious blood
of Christ and robed in his perfect righteousness. But he was not
exempt from trials. The hand of God was heavy upon
him. You imagine losing all your children,
all your means of making money, Your health is attacked and you
lose your friends and then your wife says, why don't you just
cuss God and die? I wouldn't serve a God like that. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. He said, shall we receive good
at the hands of the Lord and not receive evil? And all this. Job said not. Now back to Job
19. What has happened to this man
who seemed at one time to have everything, have everything?
God has touched him with the hand of grace. Touched
him. If God ever touches someone,
they are never the same. Never. As I thought about this
sometimes in the scriptures when the Lord touched something. Remember
when he wrestled with Jacob and he touched the hollow of his
thigh and he limped to the day he died. He was never the same. I was trying to look at the other
day there in Mark chapter, I mean, Matthew chapter eight, where
our Lord, the leper came to our Lord and he said, if you will,
you can make me clean. And he said, I will. And he reached
forth. And you think about this, the
Lord Jesus Christ reached forth and touched that leper and he's
cleansed. Our Lord touched a deaf man's
ears and he began to hear. He touched a dumb man's tongue
and the man spoke. He touched a blind man's eyes
and made him see. Our Lord touched the coffin of
a young man who was about to be buried and raised him from
the dead. And I found one more this morning.
Many times before I preach, I go back and read the first part
of Jeremiah chapter one. He said, before I formed you,
I knew you. And I ordained you a prophet. And Jeremiah said,
I can't speak, I'm just a child. You know what it says he did?
He said he touched Jeremiah's mouth. And he said, I'm gonna put my
words in your mouth, and you know what? Just turn with me
there. I'm gonna show you this. It blessed my heart. Blessed
my heart. Jeremiah, chapter one. Verse nine. Then the Lord put forth his hand
and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold,
I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull
down, to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and as we looked
at earlier, and to plant. Why? Because he touched his mouth. Touched his mouth. One day, the
hand of God touched his only begotten son. When he was made
sin for us, and you know sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. My question to you this morning
is, has the hand of God touched you? Has God touched you in grace? And in mercy, if he ever has,
you're never the same. Never the same. So we will look
at Job here this morning and see some things that happens
when God begins to touch a man. When God touches a man in grace,
he will reveal his character to that person. By nature, we
don't know who he is. By nature, we have an imagination
in our mind of how we think God is like. He's not that way. He's
not like us. He's God. He's God. Job said in Job chapter nine
verse 30, if I wash myself with snow water and make my hands
never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine
own clothes shall abhor me, for he is not a man as I am. Job had to be taught that. And
we have to be taught that over and over and over again. The only way you will ever find
out who God is is for God to make himself known to you. by
divine revelation. He said, asked the apostles one
day, he said, well, whom do men say that I am? They said, well,
some say you're John the Baptist raised from the dead or Elijah
or some other prophet. He said, well, whom do you say
that I am? And Peter, he said, thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. He said, flesh and blood didn't
teach you that. But my father, which is in heaven, revealed
that to you. And he must reveal it. He must reveal it. An unknown
God cannot be worshiped or trusted. You know what he reveals? When
he reveals himself, he reveals that he's God and he's sovereign
over all things. Not just in creation, he's sovereign
over salvation. Everything that's happened in
Job's life, God's taught Job that God did these things. Horrible
things happened in the world that God had nothing to do with.
God had everything to do with it. Everything to do with it. God rules and reigns over all
things. God may allow Satan to cause
whatever the wind was that destroyed his children, but God's the first
cause of all things. Job didn't blame the Sabaeans
for killing the oxen. He didn't blame the fire for
killing his sheep. He didn't blame the Chaldeans
for stealing his camels. And he didn't blame the wind
for killing his children. Our God is in the heavens. He
does whatsoever he hath pleased, and he didn't listen. He didn't ask Job's permission
if he could do it, did he? Satan had to get permission.
God is God, and he reigns over all things, and listen to me.
God can do with you and me as he sees fit. The hand of God touched Job. And he learned, none can stay
his hand. God is all powerful. He can show
mercy to whom he will show mercy, and whom he will, he'll harden
us. Job found out that God is sovereign
and all powerful. And he also found out that God
knows all things. We may deceive ourself, and I
may deceive you, But God knows our thoughts and God knows our
motives. He knows all that we are and
all that we think and all that we know. He knows our secret
thoughts, the imaginations of our hearts. He knows our secret
motives and our hidden lust. Nothing can be hidden from the
Lord. Now we may think we have it hid.
We may think we have it hid from him. When he touches us, you
know what he does? He's going to expose it. That's grace, that's why it's
the touch of grace. He also found out by revelation
and by experience that God is sovereign over all and God is
holy. Holy. Job said in chapter four,
verse 18, he said, his angels he charged with folly. Job 15,
15, he said, the heavens are not clean in God's sight. How
much more abominable and filthy is man that drinks iniquity like
it's water? Picture this sin. This is us. We drink it like it's water. God is holy. God is holy. And God touched Job. You know what it did? It humbled
him. And we tried to look at the first message about the garden.
You imagine when the Lord reaches over and he takes hold of that
little tomato plant. He touches it to prune it in grace. and the hand of God in grace
and mercy reached down and he touched Job. Before God ever
saves a sinner, he must humble that sinner. God's never saved
a sinner that he didn't break. and put in the dust. It's like
that leper in Matthew chapter eight. This man's a leper and
he knows it. He knows that unless somebody
does something for him, and nobody can, there's only one that can,
and he comes to our Lord and falls on his face before him
and he said, if you will, you can make me clean. God must make you see your sin
And until you see your sin, there's no hope for you. He came to save
sinners. Are you a sinner? If you ever get the least glimpse
of your sin, it'll make you want to run and hide. It's the most terrifying thing
you've ever saw. You know what it is when you
see sin? Because you will see sin as God sees it. You will
see it as God sees it. Before he brings down, he always
lifts up. He kills and he makes alive.
As we read there in Jeremiah, he said, to pull down and destroy. That's how God always works.
He kills and he makes alive. He wounds and then he heals.
Men want salvation without conviction. That cannot be. How does God
bring people down? How does God bring sinners down?
Well, here in Job, he brought it through Providence. Providence,
God ruling and controlling everything, everything that happens, everything. God put it in them Chaldeans,
put it in their heart to go steal his cattle. All things, all things. Remember the prodigal son? Remember
the prodigal son that went to the far country and wasted his
substance on riotous living? But something happened. A famine
came. Who controlled the famine? And
what the famine did, it made him come to himself. And he was
in want, where before he wasn't in want, he's got everything
he ever wanted. People today, they think they've
got everything they could ever want. Job thought that too. Job thought that too. The Holy Spirit must convince
us of sin, convince us and convict us. When He has come, He will
reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
I can't convince you of sin, but He can, and He does. Not only what we do, now listen,
sin is not only what we do, Sin is who we are. Sin is a nature. It is a principle. Our Lord said in the Sermon on
the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit. And blessed are they
that are poor in spirit. What's the next one? Blessed
are they that mourn. You know what God did to Job when
he touched him? He stripped him. Look in verse
nine of Job 19. He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown
from my head. When we are stripped, when I
think about stripping something, I think of just peeling layer
after layer after layer. When you strip something, you
expose it. When God came to Adam and Eve and Grace in the garden,
they clothed themselves with their own fig leaves and he took
it off of them. And then he provided a righteousness
for them, but he stripped theirs off. You remember Naaman the
Syrian who came to Elisha to be healed of his leprosy? And
it says he was a general, he was a mighty man, a valiant man,
but he was a leper. And he kept that leprosy hid
under his armor. He didn't want anybody to see
it. You don't want, if you had leprosy, we all have spiritual
leprosy and we try to keep it hid. Elisha said, you go down
to the Jordan River and you dip seven times. And he gets mad,
he said, I ain't gonna do it. And God breaks him. And I can
see him as he walks up to the Jordan River and all of his army
standing there with him. And the first thing he has to
do is taking his helmet off, taking his armor off. And he
strips all that off. He's standing there as an exposed
leper. And now Joe. Imagine everything
he had. Now he's covered from the top
of his head to the sole of his foot with boils. You know what
the scriptures describe us? We're full of wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. Stripped him. Stripped Job of everything. Everything
that he gloried in is taken away. He said, the crown off of my
head, the crown. In Lamentations 5.16, listen,
the crown is fallen from our head. Did we ever think we had
the right to wear one? As I thought about that, and
I couldn't get a lot of help, and I'll just throw this out to you, you can
research it, about the crown. It says, children's children
are a crown to old men. And I thought about that. All
Job's children are dead. And I picture him being young,
I might be wrong whether or not he won't have any grandchildren. Who took that away? You see,
we glory in anything, won't we glory in anything? And Job said,
he stripped me of it. He laid me in the dust, that
no flesh would glory in his presence, that no flesh. Once God stripped
Job of his glory, he made him to see how vile he was. Job said
in Job chapter 40, verse three, then Job answered the Lord and
said, behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth. Job's been talking for several
chapters. Now he shuts up. He puts his hand over his mouth,
basically like a leper saying, unclean, unclean, that's who
I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. Wicked, vile. You know, when
you'll see that one, God strips you. Strips you. But you know what
this did? That stripping brought about
repentance. Job said, 42 verse five, I've
heard thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye, the
spiritual eye of faith, seeth thee, wherefore I pour myself,
and I repent in dust and ashes, and that's when I will repent,
is when I see you. That's why it's a touch of grace.
Godly sorrow works repentance not to be repented of. Paul wrote
that letter to them Corinthians, and it broke their heart, and
they repented. You know when we will repent?
Well, first, when God enables you, when he strips you, and
causes you to see your sin, and you see who you are, and you
hate who you are, and we fall on our face before him. Then Job begins to see things
as they really are. He said in Job chapter 14, verse
one, man that is born of a woman is few days. and full of trouble. It didn't
say a few months. It didn't say a few years. Man
that is born of a woman, and that's talking to every one of
us, man that's born of a woman is few days and full of trouble. Me and Tony was talking. They
began meeting over 10 years ago. That only seems like yesterday.
Our life is but a vapor. We think we've got all eternity. We think we've got all this time.
I remember when I was just a little boy, I remember I thought 50
was old. 50 ain't old. You know how we
looked at things? I go, where did time go? God
taught Job this. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean thing? Not one. He sees how short life
really is, that the things which are seen are temporal. Our life
is but a vapor. God ever touches us like he did
Job, it will cause us to see that we only have one life to
live, one death to die, one judgment to face, and one eternity to
spend. If he ever touches us, we will
begin to seek him for mercy. Sinners need mercy. We are mercy
beggars. It says in Matthew 6, 33, but
seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and
all these things shall be added unto you. Job begins to seek
for mercy. He begins to seek a righteousness
that he doesn't have. I heard someone, they quoted
Maurice Montgomery one time, he said, if God ever opened men's
eyes to his glory and to who he is and ever showed you who
you were, there would be a stampede of people running to get to him,
begging for mercy. As I stand before you this morning,
you know what I need more than anything? I need mercy. Mercy. Do you need mercy? Do you need
any mercy? It says in Job 9, verse 2, he
said, how should a man be just with God? How can a man that
is born a sinner, depraved, wretched, corrupt, how can that man be
just with God? The just for the unjust. He said in that chapter, neither
is there any day's man, a mediator betwixt us, that might lay hands,
lay his hand upon both of us. What is a mediator? It is a go-between. It is a day's man. There's one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. We have
God who is so holy, and you have us who are so wicked. How in
the world can a holy God have anything to do with us? There's
only one way, a mediator. He that was rich became poor
that we may be rich. He took upon himself the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. He is the
God-man and that God-man He took upon himself
a body and was in a womb for nine months. He was born into
this world as a man. He lived as a man. He suffered
as a man. He grew weary as a man. He died
as a man, as the God-man. He was put in a grave. That body
was buried, but he rose that same body from the grave. And
that same body, he took it back and set it at the right hand
of the throne of God as my mediator. When I sin, where do I go? I
don't come to the front of a church. I don't run in some little room
and confess it to some priest. I run to the high priest. I run to the mediator. You know
when you'll do that? When you see you need him. Who's going to take hold of both?
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. How can God have anything to
do with me? If he ever touches you, you'll
find out. If any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation
for my sin. I've told you for a while how
bad you are. Where's the good news? Look to
him who bore you sin. and put them all away. Do you see your need of mercy?
Do you see your need of a mediator to satisfy the justice and holiness
of God? And lastly, the touch of grace
brings salvation. The touch of God's hand is always
effectual and it is irresistible. I remember the first time I ever
heard that term, irresistible grace. I've never heard it in
my life. You want to say it? I never heard that, but that's
exactly what it is. It's irresistible. No man can come to me except
my father draw him. And you know how he draws you?
He goes and he gets you and he reaches out his hand of mercy
and he brings you. and you come willingly, willingly. Job is made to see that his only
hope and righteousness and acceptance with God was in the all-sufficient
Redeemer and substitute. He was made to see that. And
we have to be taught that every single day. When we sin, the
first thing comes to our mind. is we think we can undo it. We
think we can remove it. We think we can remove the guilt,
and you can't. You can't. Isn't that how we
do? When the hand of God touched
Job, it caused him to embrace a substitute. The hand that wounded
him, the hand that showed him his sin, showed him the righteousness
in Christ. The same hand. Basically, he
said, I come to get you, and I'm gonna take you to him, and
that's what he does. And what that is, that's fetching
grace. He went and fetched him, but
he couldn't come, and he brought him to David, because David said
for him, if the Lord ever intends to save you, he must come to
you, and take you by his hand, and bring you to him. Let me read you this poem. Some
of you have probably heard it, some of you may never have, but
I ran across it the other day as I was preparing this message
and it blessed my heart. The poem talks about they were
having an auction, and they probably got down to the end of the auction,
and everybody's tired, everybody's ready to move on, and said they
were gonna auction a violin off. and says, "'Twas battered and
scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his while,
to waste much time on the old violin, but held it up with a
smile. "'What am I bidding, good folks?'
he cried. "'Who will start the bidding
for me?' A dollar, a dollar, then two, only two. Two dollars
and who will make it three? Three dollars once, three dollars
twice, going for three, but oh no. From the room, far back,
a gray-haired man came forward and picked up the bow, wiping
off the dust from the violin, tightening the loose strings.
He played a melody, pure and sweet. as a caroling angel would
sing. The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
with a voice that was quiet and low, said, what am I to bid for
the old violin? And he held it up with the bow.
$1,000, who will make it two? $2,000, and who will make it
three? $3,000 once, $3,000 twice, and going and gone, said he. The people cheered, but some
of them cried. We do not quite understand what
changed the worth. Swiftly came the reply. It was
the touch of the master's hand. And many a man's life was out
of tune and battered and scarred with sin. His auction cheap to
the worthless crowd, much like the old violin. Ruined and running
from God he goes. In madness to hail headlong,
he's going once, going twice, he's going and almost gone. But
the master comes and the foolish crowd can never quite understand
the worth of a soul and the change that was wrong.