Deanna had to stay home this
morning, not feeling well. Talked to Robert
earlier. You all appreciate this. Robert
sent out his first text ever in his whole life this morning.
To me. Don't I feel special? They said they'd miss being with
us, but I told them that we would remember to pray for them. And
Cheryl tells me that Charlie's hoping to be here next Sunday,
so I'm very hopeful for that. Christ, the scripture says, was
delivered up for our offenses. and raised again because of our
justification. God raised the Lord Jesus Christ
from the dead because he was pleased with what he accomplished
on Calvary's cross, justifying God's people. Therefore, being
justified by faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand and rejoice in hope for the glory of God. That's what we've come to do
this morning, to rejoice in hope for his glory. Tom, you're going to lead us,
please, in the hymn on the back of our hymnals. Back of your
bulletin, I'm sorry. Let's stand together. ? My times are in thy hand ? My
God, I wish them there ? My life, my friends, my soul, my all ?
I leave, Lord, to thy care ? My times are in thy hand whatever
they may be. Pleasing or painful, dark or
bright, as best may seem to thee. My times are in Thy hand, why
should I doubt or fear? My Father's hand will never cause
His child a needless tear. My times are in Thy hand, Jesus
the crucified. Those hands, my cruel sins had
pierced, are now my guard and guide. My times are in thy hand. I'll always trust in thee. And after death at thy right
hand, I shall forever be. Please be seated. Good morning. If you would turn
to Romans chapter 10, to the Word of God. As I was preparing
for this, we read these verses. I pray that God would put it
on our hearts to see how blessed we are. to sit and hear the gospel of
God's grace in Christ declared. I fear I take that for granted
all too often, and that he would remind us the great blessing
he's given us here. We begin in verse 9, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the word of God, the scripture
saith, this word whosoever, I looked it up, another way is every single
one. Every single one that believeth
on Christ shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto
all that call upon him. For every single one shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And here's what I want
us to read, 14 and 15. How then shall they call on Christ
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
Christ in whom they've not heard? I think of our brethren and sister
who watch over the internet. There's not a gospel preacher
with them and they have the great blessing of yet participating
with us and hearing his word. And not only a Christ, Paul warns
about another Christ. They have to hear about the Christ,
the Christ who accomplished the salvation of his people. And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that's Christ,
and bring glad tidings of good things. As I read this, two things God
put upon my heart. It is a great blessing to be
where the gospel is preached, but I want us to understand that
that is not salvation. Salvation is believing it. A
multitude sit in a gospel church and remain lost because they,
God said, believe. It's God give you the faith to
believe what is going to be preached this morning about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Another one God's put in my heart
is, my wife sometimes asks me, anything Important happened today,
and I don't know if you're like me, but you reply, well, nothing
much, the same, same, same. I pray God will shut my mouth
to that, because that's a lie. Everything in the life of a believer,
from the first breath you took, till our very last, has been
ordained of God, and it is important. It's important. You are here
today, because God's ordained it to be so. And as I read these
verses and I think, oh, what a great God that he would send
someone to me, to me, cross my path, and I didn't even know
what was happening, to preach the gospel of God's grace in
Christ to me, and then would give me the faith to believe
it. What a great God we have. and he's orchestrated those events
my whole life and he will until I die. How thankful we should
be. We should be. Let us pray unto
the Lord. Lord, we confess this morning
we have no strength or power and we've come here pleading
with you Lord to be pleased to speak to us through your servant,
brother Greg, and that you would put your words in his heart and
give him the ability to speak to us and that, oh, we will rejoice
that you've sent him to us. And we plead with you, Lord,
send your spirit, oh, that we may believe. Lord, and that you will accomplish
your purpose and the saving of our souls. We take great comfort
that all work is done by you. We ask this day that you would
give us the ability to worship and glorify you in all things,
amen. Number 354 in the hymn book,
in the hardbacked hymn book, 354. What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and griefs to to carry everything to God in
prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care? ? Precious Savior, still our
refuge ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? ? Do thy friends
despise, forsake thee ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? In his arms he'll take and shield
thee. Thou wilt find a solace there. Please be seated. I'm so thankful for the faith
to believe what we just sang. The Lord wrote in Philippians
chapter 4, rejoice in the Lord always, always. You don't understand what I'm
going, no, no. And again, I say rejoice. Let your gentleness,
your moderation be known unto all men. Why? Because the Lord
is at hand. Be careful for nothing. In other words, the Lord said,
don't worry. The world says, don't worry,
be happy. God says, be careful for nothing, but in all things,
by prayer and supplication, let your requests be known unto God.
And the peace of God, which passes human understanding, will keep
your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Oh, Lord, I need that
grace. I need to take my every need
to the Lord in prayer. I need to take my greatest need
to the Lord in prayer. And I would use that to introduce
this message by asking you a question. What is your greatest need? What do you need God to deliver
you from? What do you need God to deliver
you from? Turn with me in your Bibles, if you will, to Job chapter
33. I believe I have here in our
text a word directly from God that answers that question for
each of us. Oh, would he give us faith to
believe what he has said. Elihu clearly, Michael, represents
a gospel preacher here in contrast to Job's false gospel preachers,
these false prophets, one by the name of Bildad, Elihu,
and Zophar. If you read the book of Job,
these men were false prophets trying to put Job under the law. Job, the reason you're in the
trouble that you're in is because you've got some secret sin in
your life, and if you'll just come clean, then God will bless
you by delivering you from all these trials and troubles. And
it was just, it was more, well, Job calls them miserable comforters. They've come to try to comfort
me, but they've only added to my misery because they've put
me now under a law that I can't find any peace in, I can't find
any hope in. And Elihu in chapter 32, whose
name means he is my God, comes now as a gospel preacher and
he declares the truth of the gospel to Job. And Job finds hope in this gospel
message. Job throughout these first 31
chapters was seeking to be delivered from his temporal trials. That's what he wanted deliverance
from. Lord, I need you to take your hand off of me. He knew
that all the things that he was going through were coming from
God. He didn't believe he deserved it. And he kept crying out to
God for God to relieve from him the troubles that he was in. Elihu came and identified something
that Job had not seen before. His real problem. Not to be delivered
from the temporal troubles of this life, but rather to be delivered
from eternal judgment. That's what he needed to be delivered
from. You have your Bibles open to
Job 33. Look with me, if you will, to
verse 24. In the middle of that verse,
deliver him from going down to the pit. That's what I need to
be delivered from, and that's what you need to be delivered
from. And whatever God has to ordain in terms of temporal troubles
to deliver us from the pit, It's all good. I mean, it really
is all good. Look at verse 28. He will deliver his soul from
going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. What are you looking to be delivered
from? I know that the Lord has ordained
some difficult things for his people in this world. And I hope
that God will give me a sympathetic heart to you and that you will
have that for me in the trials and troubles that he's called
us to go through. But here's what God says. Here's
what God says, Jeremiah chapter 12, verse 5. You don't have to
look it up. You may want to. You know what? Let's look at
it. Jeremiah chapter 12, verse 5. This is a glorious verse. This is a verse worth committing
to memory. If, I guess, every verse is worth
committing to memory, isn't it? But this is a summary verse. This is one of those, verily,
verily, I say unto you. You know, when the Lord would
summarize a lot of things that he had said into one poignant
statement, and that's what this is. Listen to what God says.
If thou run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then
how can thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein
thou trustest they weary thee, then how wilt thou do in the
swelling of the Jordan? You hear that? That's God speaking
to you and me. If you can't trust God for the
temporal troubles of this world, how are you going to trust Him? for your soul in that day of
death. Paul put it like this in Romans.
He said, I reckon. And when he used that word reckon,
it's the word for impute. It's kind of like It's kind of
like when you turn your GPS on on your smartphone, you are dead
reckoning your position triangulated off of satellites. And it means
to be positioned in a particular place. And that's what this word
reckon means. It doesn't mean like we interpret
it in the South. Well, you know, I reckon so.
Maybe so, maybe not. No, that's not. No, it's just
the opposite of that. Paul said, I reckon. I reckon that the sufferings
of this present life shall not be compared to the glory that
shall be revealed in us. That's my position. That's where
God has reckoned me to be. That whatever sufferings He's
ordained for me in this life, they cannot be compared to the
glory that shall be revealed in me. In 2 Corinthians chapter
4, here's what God says. If God didn't say this, I could
not say this to you. I couldn't say this to you if
God didn't say it. Because I know that your afflictions
are not light to you. And yet God says, for our light
afflictions, which are but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding weight of glory. Now that's what God says. We can't look at one another
and say, hey, suck it up, get over it, you know, it's no trouble.
But this is God's Word. He calls them light afflictions.
And He says they are but for a moment. Just a moment. Just a little while. Just a vapor. And they're going to work for
us an exceedingly great weight of glory when the Lord delivers
us from the pit. Now that's what you need to be
delivered from and that's what I need to be delivered from.
Not our temporal troubles. We need delivered from the wrath
that is to come. And here's the glorious truth,
if God gives you hope in death, you'll have no better understanding
of life than that. Alright, you have your Bibles
open to Job 33. Let's read the words of Elihu. Elihu is coming
as a gospel preacher. But Elihu also represents the
Lord Jesus Christ. For it's not the words of the
gospel preacher that change men's hearts. It's only when God takes
what the preacher is saying, if he's preaching faithful to
the Word of God, and applies them effectually to the hearts
of God's people, and as you said, Michael, gives you faith to believe. So I'm praying that our heavenly
Elihu Elihu's name means He is my God. And the Lord Jesus Christ
looked to God the Father as His God. And so, oh, would He speak? Would He speak volumes of truth
to our hearts in the face of Himself that we can't speak to
one another? To deliver us from the pit. That's what you need to be delivered
from. That's what I need to be delivered from. Chapter 33 of Job, verse 1. Wherefore, Job, I pray thee,
hear my speeches and hearken to all my words. Hearken, Job. This is the Word of God speaking. This is what you need to hear.
Zophar, Eliphaz, Bildad, those false prophets, they couldn't
give you any hope. All they did was put you under
the law. They didn't answer your questions. They didn't give you
any solution to your problem. I've come now to give you the
Word of God. Might God be pleased to speak
it to your heart. Behold, now I have opened my
mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth. My word shall be of the uprightness
of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. The
only time the gospel preacher can say that is if he's telling
you exactly what God says. If he's adding to or taking away
from what God says, but the Lord Jesus Christ could say that of
every word that came out of his mouth. every word that came out
of his mouth. The Spirit of God hath made me,
and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. If thou canst
answer me, set thy words in order before me. Stand up. Job, if
you're going to object to what I have to say, then stand up
and be a man and do it to my face. Oh, Lord, don't let me
object to God's Word. Sit me down. Don't cause me to
stand up. Behold, I am according to thy
wish. In God's stead, I also am formed
out of the clay. Job, you've been crying out to
God for God to answer your problems and tell you the answer to your
needs, and God has sent me to do just that. I'm the answer
to your prayer." That's what Elihu is saying. And again, this
Elihu, the only time that our real problems are going to be
answered is if God Almighty speaks to our hearts. If we're able
to say, I heard His voice, and I'm following after Him. We preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves, your
servants, for Christ's sake. That's all we're doing. We're
just lifting up Christ. Behold, verse seven, my terror
shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy unto thee. Job, I've not come here to intimidate
you. I've not come here to beat you
up. I've not come here to tell you how guilty and horrible you
are and leave you in the pit of despair. No, I've come here
to tell you about Christ and to give you hope, to give you
peace. The Lord said to Isaiah, when
you preach, preach comfortably to my people. Tell them that
their iniquity is taken away. Their sin is forgiven. Tell them
that. Surely, Thou hast spoken in mine
hearing, and I heard the voice of thy words." God has heard
every word that you and I have ever spoken. Every word. The Lord is saying, I heard you.
I heard you. Now here's the problem. Many
of our words are like Job's words. Look what Job said. Now Elihu
is going to confront Job with what Elihu heard Job say. And all you've got to do is go
back into the book of Job and you'll see that this is exactly
what Job said. All throughout this book, Job
is contending for his own righteousness before God. Turn with me to chapter
32. Let me just show you that real
quick. Look at verse two. Then was kindled the wrath of
Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite of the kindred of Ram,
against Job was his wrath kindled because he justified himself
rather than God. Just read Job. God, I don't deserve
this. God, why me? Verse 9, here's what Elihu heard
Job say, and all you've got to do is go to chapter 9 and you'll
see these words were Job's words, I am clean without transgression,
I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. And Job was. The book of Job
starts out with Job as a God-fearing man, as a man who's upright. And he was a moral man. And yet he's suffering these
horrible afflictions at the hand of God. And he can't reconcile
them. He can't understand, why am I
going through what I'm going through when I've been so good? Here's another thing that Job
said in chapter 13. Behold, he findeth occasion against
me. He counteth me for his enemy.
God's made me... Job knew these things came into
his life by the hand of God. And now he's accusing God. He
says, I don't deserve this. God's my enemy. God's against
me. It's kind of like, Kind of like
when Jacob, you remember when his sons came back from Egypt
and his son said, we've got to take
Benjamin back. We had to leave Judah there, and they're not
going to let him go unless we take Benjamin back. And what
did Jacob say? He said, I've lost Joseph, I've
lost Judah, now you want me to give Benjamin away? All these
things, here's what Jacob said, all these things are against
me. You ever felt that way? Just the opposite was true. They
weren't against him. God was working all these things
for his good. And what did Joseph finally say
when he revealed himself to his brothers? You meant it for evil,
God meant it for good. In order that his people would
be saved. Saved. Delivered from the pit. Verse 11. He putteth my feet
in stocks. He marketh all my paths. And
Elihu says, Behold, in this, Job, thou art not just. I will answer thee, and here's
my answer. God is greater than man. I've heard preachers say, you
know, God's big enough for you to... God's big enough and strong enough
to handle your accusations against God. And if you're in enough
trouble, you just tell God how you feel. You just pour out your
soul to Him and blame God if you feel like He's to be blamed. You do that. All you're showing
is that you think that you're greater than God. Yeah, God's big enough. He's
big enough to smite you. If the Lord ever reveals His
glory to you, you won't talk that way to God. Oh, you may
be pressed. You may have very difficult circumstances,
but you're not going to blame God for them. You don't want
to say, I'm innocent, I don't deserve this, God's my enemy. Verse 13, here's what God says,
now God's speaking to me and you in the midst of our troubles.
And I doubt very seriously any of us in this room or anybody
here in my voice knows the kind of troubles that Job had. Why dost thou strive against
him? For he giveth not account of
any of his matters. God doesn't have to give you
an answer for why he's done what he's done for you. He doesn't
have to explain himself. Don't contend with God. For God speaketh once, yea, twice,
Yet man perceives it not. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. They're spiritually discerned.
He can't know them. He won't receive them. You won't
hear my voice, God says. And so what's the Lord do? in
a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon
men, in slumbering upon the bed, then he opens the ears of men
and sealeth their instruction." In other words, when you are
spiritually asleep, you're just in a spiritual stupor, that's
when God speaks. And what's he do? He opens the
ears and seals the instruction. And here's the instruction, that
he may withdraw man from his... You see that word purpose? Perhaps
you have it in the margin of your Bible. It is the word work. Work. Here's what he does when
he speaks. He withdraws man from his work
and hides pride from man. He humbles us. He causes us to
be knocked off our high horse of self-righteousness. He puts
our face in the dirt and He makes us to be mercy beggars. Has He done that for you? Or
are you still shaking your fist at God? He keepeth back His soul from
the pit. That's what we need. We need
to have our souls saved. We need to be delivered from
the wrath that is to come. We need to have hope and assurance
of eternal life. How's that going to happen? Only
if God speaks. And when He speaks, here's what He's going to say.
Quit working. Quit working. Don't pick up a
stick on the Sabbath. No, don't do any work. You remember
that story, don't you? They found a man that was, the
Lord said, don't work on the Sabbath. Now that doesn't mean
you don't do certain things on Sunday. That means that you don't
add to the finished work of our Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. He's our day of rest and you
don't add to what he's done. And this man was picking up sticks
to make a fire on the Sabbath day and they caught him and they
brought him before Moses and Moses didn't know what to do
and so he went before the Lord in prayer and God said, kill
him. Kill him. He's put his hand to grace. He's
trying to add to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If God has spoken to you and me, then He has revealed to us
clearly that no work that we have ever done has been of any
profit to the saving of our soul. As a matter of fact, Paul said
in Philippians chapter 3, those things that I thought were gain,
I discovered them to be my loss, and I now count them as dung
that I might win Christ." When the Lord speaks, He withdraws
man from his work, and He hides the pride of man. He humbles
man as a sinner, unable to save himself. He keeps his soul back
from the pit and his life from the perishing by the sword. And
you just go to the book of Revelation, those who are going to perish
in the pit, we're talking about going to hell. Those who are
going to perish by the pit are going to be slayed by the flaming
sword that comes out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's the word of God. This word either gives life or
it kills. It's either a saver of life or
a saver of death. There's no in between. God's
word will save you or it will slay you. He is chastened also with pain
upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain."
Now, there is something physical and something spiritual here.
The physical truth is that as we grow older, we become less
and less physically strong. Their body perishes. It dies. And the Lord, in that process,
teaches His children how to turn loose of the things of this world. But He's also talking about the
desperation of those who can't find any strength in themselves
for their salvation. Lord, I'm sick. I'm a sin sick
sinner. I can't. "...so that his life abhorreth
bread, and his soul dainty meat. He can find no satisfaction or
no comfort from his pursuits." He comes to the same conclusion
that Solomon came to. Song of Solomon, chapter 1. Solomon identifies himself as
the preacher. And turn to me there, Song of
Solomon, it's right after Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, I'm sorry, thank
you, Bert. Ecclesiastes, chapter one. Verse one. This is so glorious. This is Solomon, the wisest man
that ever lived. God told him, he said, Solomon,
you ask for anything you want and I'll give it to you. And
Solomon said, Lord, I need wisdom. And God made him the wisest man
that ever lived. And he identifies himself as
a preacher. And look what he says in verse one. The words
of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, and here's
the first word out of his mouth, vanity of vanities, saith the
preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. It's empty. And he goes on to describe his
worldly pursuits. He said, I thought wine would
make me happy, so I indulged myself in the stupor of alcohol,
and that was vanity. And so I thought wealth would
be my answer, and so I accumulated all the wealth that the world
had to offer, and that was vanity. And so I thought women would
be my salvation. And so he had a thousand wives. 300 wives, 600 concubines, or
900, I guess. Anyway, that was vanity. Vanity
of vanities. Oh, that's what, and that, go
back with me to Job. That's what Job's saying here.
My life of whoreth bread, I can't find any satisfaction for my
sinsick soul. I can't find any hope for salvation. I know I'm dying. I know this
life's gonna come to an end. And vanity, all is vanity. It's all empty. Empty promises. Empty pursuits. Temporary pleasures
but no eternal satisfaction. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyer. Do you see that happening
in your life? You know, we just live for the
moment, don't we? I want you to think about the
brevity of life. I want you to be confronted with
it by the Spirit of God. I want our young people to live
their lives in the conscious knowledge of death. And through that, I pray that
God will give us a concern for our souls and an interest in
the gospel, because that's what we need to be delivered from.
The pit is coming. It's coming. Look at verse 23. If there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
his uprightness." Now what that means is, if there be someone
that can tell me how it is that I can be right with God, How
can a man be right with God? How can one who is born of woman
be right with God? How can we stand in the presence
of a holy God and have acceptance in His presence? Most folks would
say, you know, just be a good person. Just be a good person. Just do your best. Do your best. It'll all work out. You're good. We're all good. You're okay.
I'm okay. Just be a good person. And whatever sins you have, you
know, the Lord will take those away. And he'll, you know, he'll
credit your goodness. That's what Bildad, that's what
Eliphaz, that's what Zophar were telling Job. And Job found no
comfort there. He found no comfort. This world
is full of good people that are going to go to hell. I mean,
I'm talking about outwardly good people. I'm talking about people
like your grandmother and your mother and people that are outwardly
moral and good people. Here's the truth
of the gospel. You heard me say this before
and I'll say it again. Good people go to hell. Bad people go to
heaven. And that is just the opposite
of what the world is teaching. Mark it down. Good people go
to heaven. Bad people. Good people go to
hell. Bad people go to heaven. That's
the way it is. Oh, if we have an interpreter.
One that can tell us, how can I be right with God? If that
happens, God gives you a gospel message. If he declares it to
your heart, look what he says. Then God has been gracious unto
him, and God saith, deliver him from going down to the pit. Why? Because I have found a ransom.
I have found a ransom. That word ransom means atonement. I found a covering for my sin. I found one who is able to make
me righteous with God. One who is able to put away all
my sin. One who is able to make me perfect,
not according to my own righteousness, which is by the law, but that
righteousness which is by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my ransom. He's the one
that paid the debt for my sin. I found a ransom. An interpreter
has come and shown me, contrary to everything that Job thought,
Job was looking at his own life and looking at his circumstances
and saying, what are you saying? I don't deserve this. This isn't
right. What did Elihu say to Job? Job, don't question God. Whatever
God does is right. And he doesn't have to answer
to you. And here's your real problem. Your real problem is
that you're dying because of your sin and you're on your way
to the pit. And I've come to tell you about your ransom. The one and only one that can
save your sin sick soul and give you hope of eternal life. Verse 25. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. Now Job, the scripture says,
from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet was sores,
running sores, scraped himself with pot sherds, had the dogs
licking his wounds. He was a leper from head to toe. And God says, You find a ransom. Your flesh is going to be returned
to the freshness of a child. That's the spiritual picture. God makes you a leper. You know
there's not a clean square inch of flesh anywhere on your body. Sin is what you are. Everything
about you is sinful. And the Lord says, you find a
ransom, the ransom, the Christ, the son of the living God, the
only one that's able to save you. Well, in another place, Job said,
and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh, I shall see God. God's gonna give me a new body.
an incorruptible body, a resurrected body, a glorious body that's
going to look just like the body of Christ. And that's the day
I'm longing for. Setting my affections on things
above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, looking
and hoping and waiting for that day when this body of death is
going to be put away. This vessel, this clay pot is
going to be put back in the ground. And God's going to make the corruptible
incorruptible and the mortal immortal. And that's what the
Lord, you find a ransom. That's the hope that you have.
I cannot give you as a, as a minister of God's word, I cannot give
you any hope that God almighty is going to deliver you from
any trouble that you're in in this life. as far as the trouble is concerned.
I'd be a liar if I did. I'd be a liar if I told you,
you know, you just believe God and that'll go away. I can tell
you that if you believe God, the peace of God that passes
understanding will keep your heart and your mind in Christ
Jesus. God will give you grace. I can tell you that His grace
is sufficient for your every need. That He is able to keep
you from falling and to present you faultless before the throne
of God with great joy. I can tell you that if you've
got a ransom, if you know Christ, if you have an atonement, a covering
for your sin, I can tell you that in a spiritual sense, in
a spiritual sense, your flesh will become like a child. You'll
be made new in Christ. New creature in Christ Jesus. Old things passed away, yea,
all things will become new. And I can tell you that in the
hope of eternal life, you'll have the rejoicing of knowing
that where he is, there you shall be also. Look at verse 26. When you find a ransom, when you quit trying to justify
yourself and accusing God and believe that God sovereignly
has ordained whatever's necessary for the salvation of your soul.
And you look in faith to Christ, knowing that you have nothing
in this life that can redeem you from the pit. And you hear
the word of God that the ransom has been paid. It's been paid. Sin's been put away. God's people
have been saved. Then you shall pray unto God,
and he will be favorable unto you. And you shall see his face
with joy, and he will render unto you his righteousness." Have you done that? That's the promise of God. It's
the promise of God. You're still trying to justify
yourself, still trying to argue with God about your circumstances,
or still trying to believe that somehow you haven't found a ransom. But if you have, you'll pray
to God. And He, you see that word favorable? It's gracious. He's going to
have favor. You're going to find favor in
the eyes of the Lord. You're going to find grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Verse 27, He looked unto men, and if any say, if
any say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it
profited me not. Why do we sin? Why do we sin? Why do we disobey God? Because of what we think we're
going to get from it. Pleasure, popularity, power,
whatever, all the things of this world, the lust of the flesh,
lust of the eyes, pride of life, all those things are an attempt
for us to achieve something. And when God makes you to be
a sinner, you come to realize that you haven't achieved anything.
Everything you've ever done against God has been to your destruction.
It hasn't been to your profit. I've sinned and it hasn't profited
me anything. And my iniquity, which I thought
was profit, which I thought was gain, I now realize is dung. He will deliver his soul from
going into the pit, verse 28, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with man. Did you get that? All these things God does a lot,
oftentimes. There's no reason to think he
won't do it for you. If he does it oftentimes, why wouldn't he? Lord, I need, I need you to do
that for me. I need you to make me a sinner.
I need you to cause me to believe that you are sovereign in all
the circumstances of my life. and that you are working all
things together for good, for them that love you and those
that are called according to your purpose. I need to be convinced
that my greatest need is to be delivered from the pit. I need
to be shown that all the things that I've ever done in trying
to earn favor with you have not profited me anything. Haven't
profited me anything. to bring back his soul from the
pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living. Mark well,
O Job. Hearken unto me. Hold thy peace,
and I will speak. If thou hast anything to say,
answer me. Speak." Now what Elihu is saying
here is, Job, do you have any questions? Any questions? Ask me, and I'll tell you. Because
my heart's desire is for you to be justified before God. Justified before God. You can't justify yourself. Who is he that condemneth? It is God that justifies. He's the only one that can do
it. It is Christ that died, yea, rather, is risen again. The death, burial, and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope of having our sin put
away. The only hope that we have of being delivered from the pit.
And when we have that hope, then we have an understanding and
reasons to rejoice in the Lord always. always. Job, if you don't have any questions,
verse 33, if not, hearken unto me. Hold thy peace, and I shall
show thee wisdom. Here's what James said, and I'll
close with this. If any of you lack wisdom, Christ
is our wisdom. God has made Him to be for us.
Our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption.
Christ is our wisdom. James says, since you lack wisdom,
ask it of God. Ask God for Christ, who giveth
to all men liberally, and He upbraideth it not. He doesn't
resent the fact that you've come and asked for Christ. He delights
in showing mercy. He delights in exalting His Son. He delights in revealing Christ
to the hearts of His people. But ask in faith, nothing wavering,
for He that wavereth is like the wave of the sea, tossed to
and fro. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything from the Lord, for a double-minded man
is unstable in all of his ways." What is it to be double-minded? It's to be thinking and hoping
that somehow you're going to add to what the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished all by himself. If you come to God like that,
asking Jesus to patch up, you know, Lord I got a hole in my
garment, I need a new patch over here. I got a little problem
here or over there. Lord, I've done my part. Now
I need you to seal it for me. I need you to bless it. I prayed
the prayer. I've been a good person. I need Jesus. I know that. I need Him to make
what I've done work. Let not that man think that he
shall receive anything from God, nothing. Elihu says, I'm going to speak
wisdom to you. I'm going to tell you about Christ.
He's done it all, all by himself. He's the only one that can deliver
your soul from the pit. And he's the only one that can
daily save you to the uttermost, giving you understanding and
faith and joy and encouragement in whatever trials he has ordained
for you to suffer in this life. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the message that you have given us in your word. We ask Lord for the faith to
believe you. And we prayed in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together, Brother
Tom. 125 in the hardback temple. Thank you. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine
all in all. Jesus paid it all, All to him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find thy power
and thine alone can change the leper's spots and melt the heart
of stone. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. Oh, for nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white blood of Calvary's
Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips
shall still repeat, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Thank you. Okay.