Turn with me, if you would, to
Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1. I apologize to Matt. This is as
close to commentary that we're going to get on Job. I'm just
going to preach this passage. He said he'd like to go to Job
on Wednesdays. So this is not Job. Job chapter 1. We'll read verse 1 and then jump down
to verse 13. Job chapter 1 and verse 1. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job. And that man was perfect and
upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil. Verse 13, And there was a day when Job's
sons and his 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 Sabaeans fell upon them,
and took them away. They have slain the servants
with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell
you. Verse 16, While he was yet speaking,
there came another messenger also and said, The fire of God
is fallen from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants
and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there
came another and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands and fell
upon the camels, and they 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 another and said, your sons and your daughters were eating
and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold,
there came a great wind from the wilderness and smoked the
four corners of the house. And it fell upon the young men,
and they're dead. And I only am escaped alone to
tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle
and shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped.
And said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall
I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." I couldn't handle this. The believer weeps, but we don't
weep like the world. Everything he had, I guess almost
everything he had, anything, when you come down to your children,
it doesn't matter. Things don't matter. Your children's
safety and consequent death is what matters. You don't worry
about the camels, the servants, but the sons and daughters. What happened? We're going to
be looking at verses 13 through 22. What happened? Four messengers came and told
Job, I only am escaped alone to tell thee. What happened?
The first one, the first servant said, he escaped from kidnapping,
from captivity, which led to slavery, and murder or death. That's what he escaped from.
The second messenger came in and he escaped judgment. He escaped judgment. In verse
16, fire from God has fallen from the heavens. Verse 17, this
third servant, he escaped surprise attack or sudden attack by the
Chaldeans. Took them away. They fell upon
the camels. They killed, they slayed, they
slew the servants. The third messenger escaped death. In verse 19, the fourth messenger,
the house suddenly collapsed and killed him. But he only am
escaped alone to tell thee. What about us here this morning? Can we not see a spiritual, providential
application and grace for everyone here this morning? I think we
can. I had to look at it. I had a little help from Mr.
Hawker. This is the title of the message,
I Only Am Escaped Alone, to tell thee. Have we escaped the wrath
of God? which is spiritual death, spiritual
death, spiritual death, spiritual death. Could we not tell any who ask
us what we have been delivered from, could we not tell them
the same thing? We've been delivered from spiritual
eternal death. Specifically, we inherited Adam's
fall. We're born in trespasses and
sins. Born hating God. And that alone is enough to place
us in hell's infernal. Romans 3 talks about our depravity.
1 Corinthians 15, in Adam all die. So specifically, we are
born in sin. And we as believers have escaped
alone. We love to have others escape,
but personally, we can only talk about ourselves. Really. What about the days of our youth?
I was thinking back about this, about myself. spent in folly
and youthful lusts, all against God, our Maker, and Christ, the
mighty Redeemer. We were led away captive with
every whim and fancy, carelessly, without respect to God, His honor,
or His glory. We were just living our lives
as children. We didn't think about these things. Well, think
about them. That's why we're gathered here
together, to honor and glorify Christ. And we've gathered in
this place Come out from ourselves and worship Him. Let's concentrate
on Him and worship Him. So in our youth, what about our
teenage years, our young adult seasons? Oh, self is now the
first fruits. It's all about me, myself and
I. We're deceived and being deceived,
ourselves and going the way of the world. It's enticements,
and we're enjoying everything that's anti-God, everything anti-God
pleasures this world will give us, whether it's sports, whether
it's free time, whether it's recreation, whether it's just
not working, whether it's retirement, all these different things. We
are enjoying the fruits of our labors, and we should, but we can't remind ourselves that
we have escaped. We have escaped. Brethren, remember,
says the scriptures, the pit from which we've been pulled,
been dug. It says to remember that. Personally,
recall and remember, I only am escaped alone to tell
thee. Sin, judgment, hell, Sure death. That's why we're here. But he
says, it says in the text, I only am escaped alone to tell thee. To tell Joe what? To tell your
neighbor what? To tell your co-workers what?
To tell your sisters, brothers in the flesh, to tell your family,
to tell your neighbors, to tell your friends, what? Well, first thing we tell them
is what we just mentioned about the fall. We are completely and
totally fell from God, as aforementioned, but of more significance, I am
alone, I have escaped alone, to tell thee, we tell of His
sovereign free grace. We tell Him if He had not chosen
us, we would not have chosen Him. We tell Him of His sovereign
grace found only in the substitute. How did I escape? Well, Galatians
4 says, Paul says, in the fullness of time. God separated me from
my mother's womb. That's how I escaped. Because
obviously we would be kicking against the pricks by our own
will, our own worth, our own merit. And you tell me, you read
the story, just if you want to over-spiritualize or under-spiritualize.
I only am escaped alone to tell thee. I don't think they could
say, I did this by myself. I did it so the Chaldeans, I
was camouflaged. None of that. I was then in the
house when it fell. Why, why, why? These people knew
They escaped and they went and told somebody. And they were fully aware of
what they saw and what had happened and that's what we personally
will be. People, you know you're a sinner and you know you're
a sinner saved by grace. That's what we tell. Ephesians
chapter 2, we were dead in trespasses and sins. By grace are you saved
through faith and not out of yourself. That's the banner. That's the one string instrument
that we keep plucking. All glory to His name. How sweet
the sound! Grace is in the sinner's ear. Thirdly, we're going to tell
of a supreme, sufficient, complete satisfaction in and through and
because of Christ the Lord, the Son of God, Emmanuel. We're not
going to talk about ourselves. We're going to talk about Him.
We're going to tell Him, I only am escaped alone to tell Thee. What great things God has done.
We're going to tell of a perfect righteousness, which He gave
to me. He took my corruptions and misery
and washed them all away. They're all gone. We sing that
song. They're all taken away, away. My sins are all taken away.
I didn't do it. He did it. We're going to tell
anyone who will hear, I'm going to tell you, I am complete in
Christ, like we heard this morning. We are complete in Christ. The
Father will therefore receive me, because the Son purchased
me, and the Holy Spirit enables me to glorify His blessed name. Fifthly, and you're never going to be
able to shut me up. You're never going to be able
to shut me up. Are you going to talk about that again this
morning? Yes, I am. Because I feel, and you should
feel, if you know the Redeemer, that you only have escaped alone
to tell of such great things. Mercy undeserved. Grace unsought
for. We're like the prodigal son.
Spending and wallowing in this world's filth and everything
this has and aggrandizement and what we can get for self. And
then when it comes, when the Lord calls our bluff, calls it's
time to give an account, we're found in the balance wanting.
Then what are we going to do? If we escape, it's only by His
grace. But we're going to tell it so. I will not be shut up. We will not hold our tongue.
It's all of grace and grace alone. And what does this result in? We're never going to forget our
deliverance. We're never going to forget how
we escaped or our Savior. You just can't do it. You can't
do it. Last Wednesday, that message
was an answer to my struggles for 30 something years on how
to explain certain things. And I thought it explained it.
I just was so blessed. Righteous lot. The scripture
says he's righteous. He made some poor decisions.
He lost a lot of the joy. Return unto him the joy of his
salvation. He did when his brother Abraham got him, but he said
his soul was vexed. Is your soul vexed in this world? Why would it be vexed? Because
He's given you the Spirit of grace and supplications. Don't
ever forget it. And I often remember my deliverance
from sure certain death, and it causes me to flee to Christ. Like a good message should uplift
us and turn our eyes off of ourselves and on to Christ. It causes me
to flee to Christ, it causes you to flee to Christ, like a
little child flees to his mother. And just want to snuggle, don't
want to let go. The remembrance causes us to reflect and be in
much thankfulness and much gratitude. For this place. For this place. I know Matt, does somewhat, but you know,
Bruce, Jackie, me and Melinda, could we not remember what it
was like to meet in your house? Could we not remember what it
was like to meet in that old run-down building that we were
going to lose if we didn't sell it? And nobody buys churches,
but somebody came up, the Lord raised them up, they bought it,
and we were out from under it. And then it's been, we're just bouncing
from one place to another, and now we're here. He, by His blessed Spirit divine,
won't let us forget. We will say, I only am escaped
alone to tell thee. Why do you work where you work?
It's to make a living, it's to render under Caesar, pay taxes,
and you get ready to pay more taxes, but that's the way it
goes. Have you seen gas prices out in California? Gas prices,
it's up there. It's not that bad here. Why do you work where you work? To tell that you escaped alone to tell
it. Now, talk about yourself, but
that does come into it because he saved sinners and you're like,
I'm a sinner. That's why we work where we work.
He won't let you forget. And I can imagine those four
messengers, I mean, the horror that they saw, the screaming,
the hollering, the servants and their children, I suppose. He won't let you forget. What
does the Scripture say? This I recall in my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3. Verse 21, 22,
and 23, this I recall to my mind, I am escaped alone to tell of
Him. And all of God's love and His
mercy and grace is found only and solely in Christ. And according to Romans chapter
8, that's why the believer can never be separated from God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, all
that is within me, bless His holy name." I close and leave you this thought. Pause once more. I only am escaped
alone to tell thee. Pause once more and read that. Have we now, we ask myself, I
ask you, really, truly escape the grip of Satan, the grip of
sin, and its judgments. Have we escaped? If so, the heart
and foundation of all this is owing to that rock of ages, that
one balm and gilead, that bread that fell from heaven. If this be so, you can say, I've
escaped. Let us be kind one to another,
Ephesians chapter 4, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. And if this be
so, if we be escaped by His owing, by His doing, let us not speak
of free will, let us not speak of man's merit, self-salvation,
luck, chance, hope as the world uses it. Oh, I hope that this
happens. I'm not going to do anything about it. I'm not going
to hear the gospel when it's preached in this very building,
in this very community. I've asked people to come. You've
asked people to come. And the excuses, I've got to
take care of some land. I feel sorry for you. You've got to take care of land.
I've got land and you don't. I don't care. We're going to
come and hear the gospel. Martha, stop what you're doing. We can be as busy as we want
to be. We can be as busy as we want to be. Or we can just say,
I'm not going to do it. It's Sunday. It's Wednesday. I'm just not going to do it.
And I know we have responsibilities outside of church, but it doesn't
compare. Martha, Martha, stop. There's one thing needful all
the time. And that is to remember that
God has delivered you and remember by whom He did so. You could just say no. I remember
when Carol was real little, a friend that we had met from Henry's
church, he said regarding children, he said, no is the first word
they hear and the last word they learn. I don't even know if they
hear no anymore. Anyway, we'll move on. But let
us not speak of man's free will, man's worth, man's merits, or
any of these things. But let us speak, let us declare,
I am only escaped alone to tell thee. Let us tell that which
this book declares. John 15, 16, You didn't choose
me, I chose you. Hosea 14, 8, My fruit, your fruit is found in Me. It's
not found in you. And John 15, 5, without Me, you
can do nothing. That's what we tell. That's what
we ascribe to. I only am escaped. Let's close
by turning to Psalms 66. And let us, by God's given grace,
trumpet Let us speak this, Psalms 66 verse 16. Come and hear, Job, come and
hear, neighbor, come and hear, friend, all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what He has done for my soul. I'm clean escaped. Now I can't,
there's the struggles of the world, there's the problems of
the world, there's the pullings of the world, there's the pullings
of friends, there's the pullings of responsibility, there's the
pullings of parental responsibility, there are these pullings. But
let us never forget, Christ has and he must have, but he will
have the preeminence with us. Let us honor and glorify him.
Has God given you, has God given me deliverance from self to serve
Him? I pray so. We only have escaped
alone to tell what great things He has done. Bruce, would you
close us please?