The Lord may be pleased to help us all speaking and hearing. Let us turn to the book of Job chapter 34 and especially we want to consider the first part of verse 32. Job chapter 34 and the first part of verse 32.

That which I see not Teach thou me. That which I see not, teach thou me. If you look at this closely, you will see that it's part of a longer sentence. The sentence begins at verse 31. Surely it is meet that is appropriate to be said unto God. I have borne chastisement. I will not offend any more. that which I see not, teach thou me. If I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

So these words appear then in this discourse from this man Elihu. We're not given the ages of any of the characters involved in the book of Job, It is very clearly set out that he was the youngest of the three friends and he was younger than Job himself. But he also was evidently taught more deeply than the others had been, certainly than the friends of Job, and he was in a better spirit than Job was, at least at this time.

We know that Job was a good man. That's very clear, especially in chapter one, isn't it? He has much praise, if that's the right word. I'm not sure it's quite the right word, but praise of God for his uprightness and how he hated evil. But in the depths of his troubles and trials, he got into this self-righteous spirit where he felt that God was unjust in the way that God was dealing with him. He couldn't see through the trial to the outcome. He was, simply put, he was overwhelmed. He was swamped by the difficulties and he wasn't sufficiently trusting that God had a purpose and God knew what he was doing. And so he began to rebel and Elihu strange really the way he suddenly appears and then disappears from this narrative account he's not mentioned when God speaks towards the end of the book when God reproves those three older men for not having given wise counsel and reproves Job himself there's no mention of Elihu but he appears for this this part, those chapters that I mentioned at the beginning.

And in this chapter, although some of the words, some of the imagery perhaps isn't that easy for us, but he is really making this point, isn't he, that although we cannot see, and specifically Job could not see, why God was permitting the things that he was or why all these troubles were rising up. But Elihu had that wisdom to know God was still in control. It wasn't an accident that these things had happened. It wasn't a triumph of the devil. It was all still in the hand of God.

Job, of course, was finally brought to understand that. At the end of the book, he makes that confession that though he had heard of God previously, now he saw God. In other words, the work was deepened. But this is a lesson, I think, for us all, isn't it? I'm not sure that anyone has really, I exclude the Lord Jesus himself, of course, but I'm not sure that anyone else has ever really suffered quite in the way that Job did. so much personal bereavement of his children and all his assets, if you like, all his wealth taken away, even his wife turning against him. So much to put up with.

But Elihu says that man is not to reply against God. And it is meet that is it is appropriate that we should be saying this is still a lesson for us thousands of years later we also ought to be having this same spirit that I have borne chastisement and I will not offend anymore that which I see not teach thou me, the prayer for a deeper knowledge and understanding of God's ways with us. That we may come by personal experience to that conclusion that perhaps in our mind we know it must be right, but to really walk it out in practice that as for God, his way is perfect. It's not easy, is it, to come by that conclusion. We know it must be right. We know that God is perfect. God, as Elihu says here, God doesn't make mistakes. God doesn't commit errors. God doesn't do that which is wrong.

But really in our heart to know it, we will have to be brought to this prayer that we have before us this afternoon, that which I see not. Because the natural heart will never see it. but teach thou me let the work of the spirit be in my soul to reveal these things to me

that's why i wanted to to just prolong the reading to just read that part of uh the epistle to the corinthians because the the teaching there is very clear isn't it that The natural heart, that which is not yet born again by the Spirit of God, will never discern or understand the things which are of God. They are spiritual things and by nature we have only a natural heart. The word is used in the scripture, a carnal heart. Often these days that word carnal has come to mean something slightly different. Really the word just means earthbound. The things that are purely of this life. We can come to a knowledge of those, can't we? We can study. I'm not saying we can have perfect knowledge, but you can do a natural amount of study and progress in a natural understanding.

But the things of God, the things which are much deeper, the things which are far more important, let us not forget that, far more important, are spiritually discerned. And we read, didn't we, that these things are taught by the Holy Spirit. It's the way my mind was led to try to build upon what we were considering together this morning, that it is the role and the purpose of the Holy Spirit as the comforter of the souls of God's people, of his sheep, to instruct them, to teach them.

Now, Peter, in his epistle, he speaks of those who are willingly ignorant. It's quite a powerful little phrase isn't it? Willingly ignorant. They don't want to learn. They are ignorant but they're quite happy being like that. When we teach children We know that necessarily little ones, they are ignorant. They haven't had time yet to develop knowledge and understanding. But what we're looking for is not the absolute amount of their knowledge, is it? But we're looking for a willing spirit, a teachable heart. That's what we want to see. And it should be so spiritually for us each, shouldn't it? We know we're ignorant. We know that in many ways we are foolish. Many things, as we said this morning, we don't learn promptly. We need revision lessons, we need that repetition, bringing back to our remembrance what we were previously taught.

But we're not, I trust, we can say, we're not willingly ignorant. We don't want to remain like that. We come, in other words, in the spirit of this little prayer, and it's a good prayer. The Bible here tells us this is an appropriate thing to say to God, to pray to God. That which I see not, teach thou me.

Now, I want to just begin with one of those prayers of David. You could find this in Psalm 19 and verse 12. David says, Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Something that is secret is something that isn't seen, is it? It's hidden away. Either nobody or only a very few people know that it's there. Otherwise it wouldn't be secret, would it? By definition it must be something that is hidden to most people.

But What a prayer that is. Cleanse thou me from secret faults, things I can't see in myself. This is the important thing isn't it? It's very easy for us to see the sins, the faults, the failings of other people isn't it? And I'm sure Some are worse at that than others, but I don't think any of us can probably say that we're not guilty of looking at others and tutting, as it were, at least inwardly, if not outwardly, and thinking, oh, they shouldn't have said that, or they shouldn't be doing that, or that's wrong with them, or they haven't understood this rightly.

But you see, the prayer is cleanse thou me from secret faults. I may not realize the extent of my own sin, And again, I just want to, for you younger ones to give you this little illustration. One or two of you and our brother James of course have been to our chapel at Okington and those of you that came with your dad you may remember that it looks very nice now. It's been completely rebuilt in the last few years so everything looks very smart, very clean, very tidy. We're very thankful for it but when the renovation work was going on There was one thing in particular that stood out to me.

The whole thing had to be completely rebuilt. The only thing we have left from the original chapel is the four walls. Everything else, the roof and the floor and absolutely everything else had to be done away with and rebuilt. But in the walls, completely hidden from sight, were some very large beams of wood. Now, nobody could understand what they were doing there. They were just inset into the courses of brickwork. They weren't lintels over a window or anything like that, just in a plain part of the brick wall. I can only guess, and it is a guess, that it was cheaper to do that than it was to lay the courses of bricks properly. I don't know if that's the reason.

But nobody knew that they were there because they'd been plastered over There's nobody, of course, alive now. The chapel was built 150 years ago originally, so there's nobody alive who knew anything about the original building. And that plasterwork, although it was cracking and peeling away in places, it still concealed those beams of wood. So nobody knew that they were there. But when the plaster had to come off, it was revealed that the wood was rotten. it was corrupt and either in places it had crumbled away completely or in other places it was soft and spongy and in many places to our distress once it was revealed we could see the bricks weren't really supported up by anything they were as it were suspended over a void in some places and yet nobody knew that was there

and this verse I remember vividly looking up and seeing these beams when the builders called our attention to it and said well there's going to be a lot more work here than you realize because we can't leave it like that and looking up and this first Came to my mind then, cleanse thou me from secret faults. You see, the fact that nobody knew they were there doesn't alter the fact there was rottenness, there was corruption, there was something completely unsound. The structure was unsound, but we didn't know it. And that may be the way in our lives at times, isn't it? We can be so consumed with looking at other people and their sins that we don't realise what's in our own hearts. And it's a good prayer then, what we don't see, we need God to teach us. We need God to show us what these things are, where we are in the wrong. David, to give you another scriptural example, Nathan came with his parable about the man, the rich man that had stolen the little lamb from the poor man. David was very quick to see where the other man was wrong, wasn't he? The man that hath done this thing shall surely die. But he couldn't see at first that it was him. And then Nathan said, and of course then the Holy Spirit showed it to David in his heart, thou art the man.

Ah, this was a secret sin. It wasn't secret from other people in that case, but it was secret in the sense that David himself hadn't confronted his own sin. He was quite happy going on in his life in that sinful condition, unaware, as it were, at least not consciously thinking that he was sinning in that way.

Oh, what a prayer. It takes much faith to pray this rightly, doesn't it? because who knows what's going to be exposed. Who knows what things there are in our lives that God, as it were, has a controversy with and we're not yet aware of it. Oh, but what I see not, teach thou me. This is an appropriate thing. I want to join that really. Perhaps we should have had verse 31 as part of the text as well, but you see, this is an appropriate thing to be saying to God, to be praying to God. We need that spirit.

And then when God hears that prayer, when the Holy Spirit teaches us that, how we need to be brought to repentance, don't we? To be truly sorry for our sin. Not sorry as we may be, sorry because of the consequences of all the trouble that it's brought upon ourselves or may even be sorry that it's brought trouble upon other people but real repentance is that sorrow that we have offended God.

You see David, to go back to his case, his first words, or at least his first recorded words anyway, I have sinned against God. True, he'd sinned against Bathsheba, he'd sinned against Uriah, he'd sinned against the people over whom God had set him up to be king, but the great thing, the uppermost concern with David was I have sinned against God. I think he says against the Lord.

But we have a lovely verse in Isaiah 55 verse 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. So this is true repentance. And this is the teaching of the Holy Spirit. All real repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. There's a natural conscience that God has given us that we may admit our failings, but this is something deeper than that.

But let them forsake, the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return unto the Lords. There's a direction for his sorrow. He got to bring that to God. I hadn't thought to mention this but it just comes to mind that lovely chapter 14 I think in Hosea isn't it? O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord. I often feel implicit there, there's this question, well that's good advice, but what am I going to say? Well, wonderfully, the scripture even tells you what to say. Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.

And then you have something I want to have in mind, Isaiah 55, again still you have the certainty of God's mercy to those repentant souls. In Isaiah we then read, let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon, in Hosea, You then have God's response to that. I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. Mine anger is turned away from him. You see, yes, we need to be taught our sin. We need to understand the consequence of that, what a terrible thing sin is. But we also need to be taught to look away from self to the Lord, to God. who has mercy, who is long-suffering. Yes, he cannot tolerate sin, but he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die in the place of those repentant sinners, that he has borne the punishment for their sins.

Yes, in verse 31 here we have, I have borne chastisement, but chastisement and punishment are very different things. The Lord's people, it's wonderful to think of it, isn't it? The Lord's people are not punished for their sin. Christ has borne that punishment. To punish the people as well would be unjust. That would be two punishments for one sin. God is not unjust.

But often our sins require chasing, that is correction from God. He will bring things as he did with Job into the pathway that will deepen our experience and knowledge of God and make us see where we are wrong. Job didn't know that he had this self-righteous spirit. Until he had to experience these things and then he had to be cleansed from that fault that he couldn't see in himself.

Oh But what a promise there is in the gospel, isn't there? He will Have mercy upon him to our God. He will abundantly pardon

We need to be taught about our sin, but we are not saved by dwelling upon our sin, are we? We are saved by looking to the Lord in faith, that he is the one that can cleanse us from our sin, that he can deliver us from our sin. Indeed although we experience it as it were here and now, we're brought to see that he has already done that. That great work of salvation is finished isn't it? That great last cry that Christ made on the cross, it is finished.

refer to his sufferings as such that my pain is ended. It doesn't mean that. That word in the original finished is not really fully adequate an expression. It means perfected. It is perfected. The work of salvation is now perfect. It is a complete work. It is a finished work. Nothing can be added to it. It's a wonderful comfort isn't it to the soul to think that way we may be tempted and of course many are tempted to to think they need to add to that with their their good deeds and many think that they can really offset some of their sins by doing various good works

well We need to be careful because good works are a part of the teaching of the Holy Spirit. We should be engaged in them. We should desire to bring glory to God by them. But they're not a part of salvation. They are the fruit of salvation, known and experienced in the soul. But they don't contribute to it. We have to be brought here that Christ has perfected that work of salvation.

The Greek words there, it is finished or perfected is the equivalent of the Hebrew word that you have concerning creation in Genesis chapter two where we read, thus the heavens and the earth were finished. Again, doesn't just mean that God stopped. We might be doing a job or a task and we get to the end and we just stop or we can't honestly claim that it's perfect. that it couldn't be improved, but it's good enough and we just stop work. Well, that's not what that means. It means that the creation was perfect. God ceased to work because he couldn't improve upon it. It was perfect. And so we begin to see in the gospel this perfection because it is God's work. Now we don't see that by nature. And we have to pray, that which I see not, teach thou me. Teach me, Lord, the perfection of thy salvation.

Really these things are summarized, if you like, in what we read of as the first thing that the Lord Jesus himself said when he began his public ministry. The first recorded thing in Mark chapter 1 that Jesus said, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye. and believe the gospel.

And I was thinking about that. It did seem so striking and so powerful. And believe the gospel. Believe that there is mercy, not just in theory, as it were, or in abstract, but believe that there is mercy for me. Believe that this is good news to my soul.

There is a prayer in one of the Psalms, isn't there? Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. I don't know if everyone here has been brought up with these things. I think most of us have at least. We know these things as it were in our head, don't we? We know the theory of salvation.

You see, Jesus came preaching that word, yes, repentance, absolutely necessary, the knowledge, the conviction of our sin and the sorrow over that sin, but and belief in the mercy that God has in the gospel. that which he will extend to his people by faith. He gives them faith. Faith we read in Ephesians, don't we, chapter two. Faith is the gift of God. It is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if you like. That which I see not.

Oh, you see, by nature we want to see everything, don't we? But we have to walk by faith. Oh, what I can't see, teach me. Teach me to believe it. Give me faith to trust in the work of God. Even when I can't fully understand it. And of course there are many things that God does that we don't have a full understanding of.

Let us not rebel against that. Let us not say like, essentially like Thomas did, well until I can see it all, I just won't believe it. No, Jesus said, be not faithless, but believing. What you can't see, you should still be trusting that God is doing his own work, that he's doing it for his purposes. That indeed, all things work together for good. to them that love God, who are the called according to His purpose.

And these difficult things, these trials, these problems, they're working out God's purpose, aren't they? It's easy for us to say, well, I didn't need to enter this trouble to have to learn that. Well, God has determined that we did. It's not for us to reply against God as Job did, is it? And say, well, no, I didn't need that lesson. I knew that anyway.

Like I said this morning, my spirit, so often when I was at school, I know all that. Don't bother me with a revision lesson. I know it all. And then I found I didn't know it. And we had to be taught it again. So we need this spirit, this prayer, that which I see not. Teach thou me, teach me to trust, even when I can't see, as it were.

Now, just briefly, there were one or two other things I just wanted to touch upon. The disciples of Jesus came, and you can read this in Luke chapter 11 and the first verse. One of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray. This is a very necessary teaching, isn't it? Teach us to pray.

And I was thinking of it in this way, and please don't misunderstand me. I believe that it is absolutely right for parents to teach their children a prayer for them to say. But all we can really do is teach them a prayer. And as I say, don't misunderstand me. I think that's good. I think that's right. We tried to do that with our own children. But only the Holy Spirit can actually teach a soul to pray. There's a lot of difference, isn't there?

I could teach you, if you like, how to drive from the pulpit here. I could tell you, well, you need to get into the seat on the right-hand side at the front. Make sure the car's in neutral, you need to turn the ignition on, you need to select first gear, you need to have your foot on the clutch, lift your foot up, put your foot down on the accelerator. But you wouldn't be able to actually drive, would you, just sitting here in the chapel? You'd know the theory of it, but it wouldn't be safe to just let you out on the road, would it?

We need to be taught to actually do something, to put it into practice. And there's a great difference. This prayer here really is so often misquoted, it troubles me. Lord, teach us how to pray. Well, it doesn't say that. It says teach us to pray.

Again, a scriptural illustration of that, you have Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee. He had said almost certainly thousands of prayers. He knew, as it were, how to pray. He knew the theory of it. He'd stood on street corners and prominent places in the synagogues and everybody could hear and they all thought that he was praying. But you find in Acts chapter 9 where of course the Lord met him on that road to Damascus and humbled him there, revealed himself to Saul.

When the Lord spoke to Ananias, who was going to be sent to recover Paul's sight, the Lord said one amazing thing to Ananias, and it always stands out to me. He didn't say, I've met with Saul on the road to Damascus, I've cut him down to size, as it were, I've humbled him, He's a changed man. He now believes in me. He used to be very aggressive toward the church. Now he's caring and considerate. He's changed this, he's changed that. It doesn't say any of that. The only thing that the Lord said to Ananias was, behold, he prayeth.

Well, Ananias knew that Paul had said many prayers. He knew what sort of person he was, didn't he? But for the first time ever in his life, he was truly praying from the heart. And the Lord gave that to Ananias as a sure and certain token, if you will, an evidence of all those other changes. Yes, all those other changes were true. But the one thing that God said to Ananias was, Behold, he prayeth.

What an important thing it is. Teach us, Lord, teach us to pray. Help us, Lord, to bring every concern, every problem, every difficulty to Thee in prayer. Teach us to pray with faith, not even to just say the right words, but really to believe it. I think we touched on that this morning, to believe with faith, that we're going to get answers. Not easy and again I dare say we all know that theory don't we?

But do we put that into practice? Are we a doer of that word? as well as a hearer. And that was one of the other things I wanted to touch on in Psalm 143. David says there in verse 10, teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Again, we touched on it. I don't want to labor the point, but it is so important to be a doer of the word.

lost count over the years and I'm personally no different so don't take this as me being judgmental but I've lost count of the number of times people have said to me I want to know what the will of God is. I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times somebody has said to me I want to do the will of God. You see, I think our spirit so often is, well, I want to weigh up what God's will is against my own will and against all these other alternatives that might seem more pleasant or easier to fulfill. God's way, God's will is just one of those alternatives. But it isn't, is it? Not really.

Thou art my God. How can we say he's our God and then say not so, Lord? You see, teach me to do they will let there be a fulfillment of that and if we're off if we're honest we we often do know what the will of god is don't we what his commandments are we've had that repent and believe the gospel in the acts of the apostles so often it was repent and be baptized that was a a symbol of of their their personal knowledge of salvation wasn't it the washing away of their sin not that baptism had any such property in itself but as a symbol we know what these commandments are but we don't want to do them

It'd be a wonderful thing if we were all brought to this prayer this afternoon, wouldn't it? Teach me to do thy will. I know what it is. I know the theory. The theory's up here, but teach me to do it. Teach me to put it into practice. Teach me to honor my God.

You see, this is the point. It's not doing the will of some other person who may or may not have a good understanding of what we ought to do. Thou art my God. The perfect knowledge and understanding of Almighty God, so His will must be right. As for God, His way is perfect, but teach me to do it.

But I see not. I may not understand why I need to do that particular thing. I may genuinely think there are better ways of doing it, but there aren't. God's way is the right way. God's will is the right will.

Or to be conformed in our heart to the will of God. That Psalm 40 where David says, I delight to do thy will. my god he doesn't say I do like to know what thy will is but I do like to do it well I must know it then mustn't I if I'm actually practicing it but practicing it goes so much further than simple knowledge doesn't it And it's a delight.

I think of that word so often because it often isn't in my heart that it's a delight to do the will of God. We sometimes are very begrudging, aren't we, of the time and the commitment, whatever resources. It might be financial, but especially the resource of our time. Sometimes actually serving God isn't the really our most desirous thing, is it? If we're honest.

Oh, but that's where we should be, isn't it? Teach me to do thy will and do it with delight. Let me esteem it a privilege and an honor to serve God. As we said this morning, we have different ministries, different aspects to that, but every believer has a ministry. has some service to do toward God, let us do it with delight. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God.

And just in conclusion, I want to come to this. We don't see, as it were, heaven, do we? Again, we know a little bit about heaven. We can have a natural understanding of a few aspects of heaven, but we can't really enter into the full understanding and the full glory of that here below.

in writing to the Corinthians, the first epistle in chapter 13, at the end of that epistle, he says, for now in this life we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known. I shall know God with the same clarity as God knows me. It's almost impossible to get our mind around that, isn't it?

But why? What is the restriction now? What is it that makes the glass dark, as it were? It's largely our sin, isn't it? That's what separates us between us and our God. It's why we don't have that perfect knowledge, why our mind is is finite, that is because of sin. But then, then in heaven above, face to face, oh, not a natural sight then, is it? But that sight of faith, that spiritual sight. Then this partial knowledge will be done away with. And we shall know, even as also we are known,

What a wonderful prospect that is, isn't it? To the believer. What I see not, teach thou me. Teach me by bringing me to heaven at last. Let this be my experience at last. To experience that face to face relationship with God, to see him so perfectly. It's a glorious thought, isn't it, that should be much comfort and encouragement to us in this life to continue because there is that certainty about it. God will fulfill that to his people.

So may the Lord help us to pray this prayer then from the heart because it is appropriate to say this unto God. That which I see not, teach thou me. Amen. Let's conclude our worship here today in singing hymn number 925.

925. Peace by his cross has Jesus made,
the church's everlasting head.
All hell and sin has victory won,
and with a shout to glory gone.

Hymn 925, tune 385.

By his cross that Jesus died,
the judges of the house declared,
O there was sin that plagued him,
and where the ?

To thy bed the billows roll
? ? And shades of silver turn like stone
? ? When darkness could never sleep
? ? Yet still this man of thy peace shall be ? ? In praise ? ?
Oh, in the calm of breathless sleep
? ? As pure as death thy peace shall be ? ?
Even my eye of fear in his care
? ? And somehow Jesus made the spring
? ? And at its roots to gather in
? ? For his children the leaves shall grow

? Lord, we do pray that thou would lead us on with the teaching of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and all those many things. Lord, we've only considered a few, but those many things that we do not see and do not understand, Lord, do teach them to us. Give us a humble, teachable, biddable spirit, we pray. And Lord, do grant us those comforts also.

of the Holy Spirit, he which teacheth us all things and bringeth all things to our remembrance, that thou hast said, Lord, in thy mercy so do deal with us each, we pray. Now may the love of God the Father, the grace of Christ the Son, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit be with us each. Amen.