Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that we read together,
Job 37, and the text you'll find in verse
13. He causes it to come, whether
for correction or for his land or for mercy. I'm sure we all are aware of
the story of Job and the depths to which the Lord brought him
in his life and the suffering and the sadness that he went
through as an individual believer in the Lord and how The Lord
sustained him through a period of time carrying a great loss,
a great hardship of sickness with the boils and all that he
went through and then at the end he was brought out of that
and the Lord blessed him. We know that in our lives there
are times of trouble, there are times of sickness, there are
times of sadness and there are periods of our lives that we
enter into something and we hope that the Lord will bring us out
of it. And it can be sometimes times
of a short period of time, maybe a few days of sickness or sometimes
a bit longer a month. Sometimes things go on for years
and years. But we continue to pray that
the Lord will sustain us and help us and bless us and do us
good while we are walking in these times of trouble and trial. And we pray that the Lord will
deliver us in his time and way. Sometimes people are brought
to their grave and they never experience that physical deliverance
of their trials and they enter into the grave with sorrow. But
we know as believers in Christ, it is not the end. They are received
into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are received
into glory. forever and ever and so in a
way that is the end of their suffering and for each believer. We really have no peace while
we walk this earth. It is constant battles against
sin, against Satan and against the world and constant oppositions
and trials and temptations which wean us off this world and cause
us to long for the Lord Jesus Christ, cause us to long for
that time when we will be in heaven which is far better. And
the scripture tells us about heaven that is a place of no
sorrow, a place of no suffering, a place of no sadness. Those
who have walked this earth, who have a body that is broken, a
body that is through great weakness, they can look forward to that
day when the Lord will give them a new body, a perfect body. They
will be able to walk in glory with the Lord Jesus Christ and
Job He's one of the Lord's people and he's caused by God to enter
into great sadness and suffering. And his friends come to him and
try to tell him and reason with him the reasons why God is doing
these things, that God is displeased with him, that he's done some
sin, maybe some secret sin that God is punishing him for. We
know that as the scripture tells us at the beginning of Job, it
was for no specific reason, only that the Lord wanted to test
his servant, wanted to prove to Satan that this man loved
God with all of his heart, soul and mind, not because of his
prosperity, not because of his health, not because of the benefits
that God gives to him. He loved God because he knew
who God was. And he knew that God was worthy
of his love and worthy of his service. And Satan seeks to almost
tempt God and says, he only loves you, Lord, because of all of
the good things that you have done to him. If you take all
of those good things away, he won't love you anymore. And so
the Lord says to Satan, OK, Go and test him. Go and try him. Take those things away that you
think are the reasons why he loves me. Go and take those things
away. And it was proved to Satan and
to us that Job loved the Lord not because of the material benefits
that he received from God, but he loved God because God was
worthy of his love. What a blessed place that is
to be brought to. That our love to God is unmovable
by present circumstances. That our service to God and our
devotion to God does not alter because of the providential pathways
or the sufferings and the trials in which we walk through. How
often it is, isn't it, that when times are hard, then we begin
to become sad and we become depressed, we become downcast and we say
well God doesn't love me anymore, God has forgotten about me, God
doesn't want to do me any good and then we focus upon those
things round about us and we forget that God's love is an
immovable love. that his love never changes,
that is always towards his dear people and our love to him, it
should be like that, it should be anchored to him through the
Lord Jesus Christ. That even in times of storms,
our love is anchored and immovable, doesn't sway with the wind, doesn't
go up and down with the storms. And so Job was tested by God. From chapter 32 one of Job's friends who is the
youngest of Job's friends called Elihu begins to speak. And some think here for you young
people you know when you are young you're full of zeal, you're full of ideas, you
think that you know a lot but here this young man Elihu he
said he waited to speak, he allowed all the older men to speak first
and he waited to hear what they each had to say and he did not
butt in, he did not seek to drive home his point but he waited the Bible tells us doesn't it,
children obey your parents. Children have respect for those
people who are over you, who have authority over you and to
wait for your time to speak and this Elihu, he waits for his
time to speak and he speaks about God and the things that he knows
about God. He speaks about God's greatness,
that God is in sovereign control over all of the earth. He speaks
about his control over the weather, his control over the animals. his control over all things and
the reason why he does certain things in life, that he causes
it to rain on this side and that side, that he gives rain in abundance,
he provides for his well. What a blessing it is to have
young people who are able to acknowledge the greatness of
God, to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, to be able to look at
the providential circumstances of life and to say, this is the
Lord. This is the Lord's hand. The
Lord is in control of this. And so our text comes from the
wisdom of a young man. A young man moved by the spirit
of God to testify and to give reason for the way in which God
works in the lives of his people and over his creation. He is speaking about the wonders of or of the elements
or the wonders of the weather. We know, we listen to our brother
Keith as he always prays if it's sunny, he always thanks God for
the sunshine. And he is somebody who takes
notice of the weather all the time. And sometimes I think,
well, maybe that's because of his illness. The weather affects
his body so much that he takes notice of it and I'm sure all
of us have been appreciative of the sunshine that we have
had over these last few days and weeks and we look and we
acknowledge that this is the hand of the Lord. The Lord has
caused the sun to shine and it's very easy isn't it for us to
acknowledge the goodness of God when the sun is shining. But
the goodness of God also comes when it's raining. The goodness
of God also comes when it's windy, when it's snowing, when it's
sleeting, when it's cold. The Lord is in control over all
of these things. The scripture tells us or Elihu
tells us, the spirit of God tells us, he causes it to come. God is in control of the weather. There are many things that man
likes to be in control of. And yes, we are able to predict
the weather by satellites and sensors throughout the world. We're able to track storms, high
pressures and low pressures and things that take place. We're
able nowadays to to predict what is going to happen, but still
the Lord takes people by surprise. Still events change and things
don't go according to plan. The Lord is still in control. Often when we were in Kenya,
the news would say, it's going to rain tomorrow. there's going
to be so many inches or so many millimeters of rain and we would
be thinking oh this is so great it's going to rain and then you
wake up in the morning sunshine all day not a cloud in the sky
So difficult was it there to predict what was going to happen
and sometimes a storm would just arise out of nowhere. They would
say it's going to be sunny all day, no chance of any rain and
yet the Lord would bring a storm. If you remember last Lord's Day
we prayed that the Lord would bring rain to the mission. the
tanks, one tank was nearly empty, tank of water was nearly empty,
the village reservoir had gone green with algae and there was
no, naturally speaking, no clouds in the sky. That night The Lord
brought rain, a storm. Nearly probably 30,000 litres
of water was placed into the mission tanks. He causes it to
come for his glory. So people will acknowledge that
he is in control. And often in our time, in our
day, we miss out because we're so reliant on pipes into our
houses and gas and water and electric. We don't have to pray
for these things. But there are those amongst us
who know about farming and they still need the rain. They still
need the sunshine. They still need to rely upon
God and God's covenant that he made with Noah for the provision
of seed time and harvest, summer and winter. And, you know, if
the Lord failed to provide those things in this land, we would
struggle. He would struggle. He causes
it to come. The Lord caused creation. He spoke and it was done. It is His world. He created it
for His own glory, for His own purposes. He created the heavens
and the earth, the stars and all that was in it, that is in
it. He created the insects, the animals, the birds, the trees
and the plants, everything for His honour and for His glory.
They all testify of a truly magnificent creator. As science looks into
space, as science looks into the insect world, they see creatures
of design, insects of design that are intricately created
and work together. The scripture even tells us,
doesn't it, consider the ant. That little ant that we take
no thought of, Solomon tells us, you think about the ant.
How he prepares himself in the summer for the winter. He has
no king, yet they work together as a team and they achieve great
things. Consider the ant. He causes it
to come. And so as God is in control,
as he caused his creation to be, so he is still in control
today. He has complete authority over
all of his creation. And all of his creation is under
his subject, is subject to him. And so God is greater than his
creation. Paul tells us in the New Testament
that the builder of the house is greater than the house. Someone who makes something has
to be greater than the thing that they have made, because
that thing is just a product of their mind. And so God is
greater. than his creation. He's greater,
far greater than you and me. He's far greater than President
Trump. He's far greater than Elon Musk.
He's far greater than President Putin. He's far greater than
any person even collectively put together upon this earth. Nobody can stop his hand. Nobody
can say unto God, what are you doing? He is in control of all
things and he causes old things or he allows old things to take
place and God he causes it to come, he rules this world with
purpose and care. In the book of Amos, Amos chapter 4 speaking to the
children of Israel We know that the people of Israel as they
disobeyed God, God would bring them into hard times, times of
famine and times of hardship. In verse 6 he says, I will also
give you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. Not that he's
going to clean their teeth, in other words he's just going to
give them no food. And want of bread in all your places. Yet
have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord. That was the
reason why he was doing it. He withheld the rain or he caused
the sun or he caused pestilence to come throughout their nation. And the reason was because they
had sinned. They'd gone away. They'd broken the covenant that
they made with him. And he disciplined them. And he disciplined
them so that they would turn again in repentance and sorrow
of sin. And he tells them, I have also
withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months
to the harvest. I caused it to rain upon one
city. I caused it not to rain upon another city. One piece
was rained upon and the piece whereon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered
to one city to drink water, but there were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned unto
me, saith the Lord. And he goes on and speaking of
the pestilence or the diseases that he brings to the crops so
that they would turn to him, but they refused. But we notice
that the Lord is in control. even where the clouds are. Man would say that it is just
luck or chance that it rained here in Hastings and that it
didn't rain in Bexhill. The scripture tells us that it
is God. God had caused it just to rain
on this chapel building and and it may not have rained on the
other side of Hastings. These minute details that take
place are under the control of Almighty God. He causes it to
come. You think of what we looked at
this morning and how the ruler's husband, the noble's husband,
the noble's son was sick. Why was he sick? The Lord made
him sick so that the father would run to the Lord Jesus Christ
as his only hope. He caused it to take place, to
bring about his glory, to bring about his saving work in the
life of that man and that family. He causes it to come. Although God is not the author
of sin, He causes it to rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
He causes the sun to shine. He causes there to be droughts,
floods, snow, blizzards and such like. Yet he is not the author
of sin. If you think of Peter, we cannot
say, we can never say that God caused me to sin. The Bible tells us that when
we sin we are drawn aside by our own lusts and we are enticed.
It is not God and we can never blame God. There are some people
who try to blame Satan and say, well, Satan made me do it. Satan
did not make you sin. You sin because you want to sin.
You sin because you are drawn aside by your own lusts and you
are enticed. Satan may lay the trap Satan
may dangle the carrot, but you willingly walk into that trap. Think of Peter. Jesus did not
cause Peter to sin. He did not cause Peter to deny
the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter denied the Lord Jesus Christ
because he was filled with fear. Jesus knew that Peter would deny
him, but he permitted it to take place because Peter needed a
lesson. He needed it for his correction. He had become proud, self-sufficient
and the Lord needed to bring him down, to knock him down a
peg or two as we say. He caused it to come or he permitted
Peter to sin for Peter's own good and for the honour and glory
of God as Christ restored him again. He causes it to come. Peter was left to himself and
there are times in our lives no doubt as believers in the
Lord Jesus we can see that the Lord leaves us to ourselves and we sin. We're so thankful
that the hand of mercy that Christ receives us back. That sin is
no longer a pleasure to the Lord's people as it once was. That sin
is a bitter pill. As Peter denied the Lord Jesus
Christ he wept bitterly as he realised that Christ was looking
at him. He went out and he wept bitterly. So the believer as they are left
to themselves as the hand of the Lord is removed from them
and they are enabled to sin they are brought to true sorrow. The Lord uses then the weather
for his own purposes, he causes it to come weather for correction. And the greatest weather event
that has ever taken place in the history of this world is
Noah's flood. Evidences of Noah's flood are
seen throughout the whole world. And God used the weather on that
day or on those days to bring about his own purposes for the
correction of mankind, for judgment, Multitudes were swept into eternity
because they were filled with violence and hatred for one another
and hatred to God. The Bible tells us Noah found
grace in the eyes of God. Noah and his family were saved
and them only from that judgment. He causes it to come for correction. the correction of the whole world
and we can look back even today and we can fear. The scripture
tells us these things they have been written for our instruction
that we may learn from them, that God is not messing around
when he speaks of judgment. He has already done it. He did
it in Noah's day. He did it to Sodom and Gomorrah. And he will do it on the last
day when he will come again. He will judge this earth with
fire and it will be the final, final judgment. And so he uses
the weather as a means to bring correction and discipline since
the fall of this world since Adam and Eve sinned against God.
This world has been working against the human race. Adam and Eve
lived in the garden of Eden and they lived in harmony with nature. They didn't have to toil with
sweat and tears. The garden produced all that
they needed. But when they sinned against
God, they were chased out of the Garden of Eden. And the Bible
tells us that God cursed the ground for Adam's sake. And the
Bible tells us that Adam was now going to provide for his
family by the sweat of his head. There would be thorns and thistles
come out of the ground and the ground would work against him
as he sought to provide for his family. He had to dig the ground. Anyone who's ever had anything
to do with gardening will know that that's the case. You dig it over, you plant your
plants or your vegetables and then the weeds come. And it's
a constant battle. And then the insects come. The white fly,
the black fly. the caterpillar and they begin
to eat on your hard work and you have to spray, you have to
labour and everything seems to work against you. Then some mysterious
illness comes and wipes out all that you've laboured for. And
so it's a constant battle. And so the world has been working
contrary He's been working against mankind
as he seeks to provide for his people. And so God uses the weather
as almost a rod of correction. God uses those means that he
has available. And he uses the weather as a
judgment. He can make it not rain. As he
said to the people of Israel, I brought the rain three months
or I stopped the rain three months before harvest. When the ground
needs that moisture to swell the grain, the Lord says, there's
going to be no rain. I'm going to make you realize
how dependent you are upon me. how you need me just to survive. And so he uses the weather for
a rod of correction. And sometimes it's only the Lord's
people that see it as we entered into those times of COVID. And as we've seen times throughout
the years of much rain or no rain, the people of the world
just get angry. They say it's because of global
warming or they say it's because of this or because of that. But
the Lord's people know that this is the hand of God. This is the
Lord that has brought this for a specific purpose. And it's
for people to look to him and to turn from their sin and acknowledge
their weakness before him and their reliability upon him. And they can only do so as we
looked this morning by his spirit to grant them eyes that see and
hearts that believe. And so he uses the weather as
a rod of correction and also as a judgment for the sins of
nations. Peter in his time of denying
the Lord Jesus Christ, he needed that correction. He needed it. If the Lord had left him, One
sin would have left to another sin and to another sin and to
another sin until it would have snowballed out of control. And
so the Lord nipped it in the bud early and brought him to
that realisation of his sin. He disciplined him. He corrected
him. And there are times in our life
and often in our lives as believers that we need correcting. We need
the Lord to break up our hard hearts and we've become callous,
we've become lukewarm. We need the Lord to bring something
into our lives to discipline and to chasten us. The scripture
tells us that it's not a bad thing to be chastened by God,
in fact it's a good thing. For who God loves he disciplines. And he scourges every one of
his sons. Why? Not because he hates them. Discipline is not to do with
hatred. Discipline is to do with love. And God loves his people. He loves them as the apple of
his eye. He loves them in Christ Jesus. He loves them so much
that he gave his son to die for them upon the cross and rose
him up again on the third day. And so the Lord's people need
correcting. We need discipline but when we
do experience it we are to submit under that Peter as Christ looked
at him he went out and he wept bitterly. And so he causes it to come.
and whether for correction. That is one of the reasons why
he brings things into the lives of the Lord's people. He causes
it to come. There's a reason for it. There
is a reason why everything that is happening in your life right
now is taking place. God has a purpose. God has a
reason for it. He has brought it into your life
for a specific reason. Ultimately, if you are a Christian,
if you are a believer, it is for your good, for your sanctification,
for your growth in grace. He has brought it in to make
you aware of who you are before him. And so he is correcting
you in love. But another reason that he brings
things into the lives of his people is for his land. This is a strange part of the
text but in context it is speaking about the weather and it is speaking
about God's creation and the way that God uses the elements
and the weather for the benefit of the world. And so when he
causes it to rain, it is for his glory, it is for his world. The scripture tells us in Psalms,
Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's. He made it. He created it for
his honour, for his glory. Everything about it magnifies
a creator and it belongs to him and the fullness thereof, all
the abundance of the world belongs to God. And the world and all
they that dwell therein, everything belongs to God. Our money, belongs
to God. The scripture tells us the silver
and the gold is His. The cattle upon a thousand hills
belongs to the Lord. If what we have in our lives
is because God has given it to us. We have labored. He has given
us the strength. He's given us the ability. He's
given us the mind, the intellect to work and to provide. He's given us a job to be able
to provide for our families and all of these things. They ultimately
come from the hand of God. The Lord makes rich, the Bible
says, and the Lord makes poor. The Lord makes sick and the Lord
makes healthy. He causes it to come and the
earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it, the world and all that
dwell thereon. In Job 38 and verse 22, from verse 22, this
young man is still speaking, Elihu. Has thou entered into
the treasures of the snow, or hast thou seen the treasures
of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble. Sorry this is not Elihu, this
is the Lord speaking. Speaking about how he is in control
of all of these things and how we cannot enter into them. Which
I've reserved against time of trouble, against the day of battle. By what way is the light parted
which scattereth the east wind upon the earth? Who has divided
the water course, or the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning
of thunder? To cause it to rain on the earth
where no man is, on the wilderness where there is no man, to satisfy
the desolate and waste ground, and to cause the bud of the tender
herb to spring forth, hath the rain a father or who hath begotten
the drops of dew out of whose womb came the ice and the hoary
frost of heaven who has gendered it the waters are hid as with
a stone and the face of the deep is frozen and he goes on speaking
of his creation and he testifies God speaking
testifies of have you considered causes it to rain. If you've
ever been into a desolate place, ever been to the mountains of
Scotland or the Lake District or you've had the privilege of
traveling abroad witnessing the great mountains and you see it's
a wilderness Yet the Lord causes it to rain there where no man
sees. He causes the beautiful heather
to grow for the little plants to open up on the top of the
mountainside. And he does it for his glory.
It is him who causes it to take place. As the salmon swim up
the rivers to spawn miles out inland, it is the Lord that does
it. He is in control of all of these
things, things that take place that you and I don't even see
or even acknowledge. He is doing it and he is causing
it to take place. Every daffodil, every tulip,
every bluebell that is opening up at this time is the handiwork
a mighty creator every individual one opens at his command nothing
takes place without him saying so he causes it to come whether
for correction or or for his land, he is watering and taking
care of the whole earth. Every day the earth turns, bringing
that continuity of seasons and life. Every day there is that
night and day which provides rest for people and for the world. Every time there are those seasons,
it is the Lord that is in control of every single thing. Why? Because he promised, while the
earth remains, seed time and harvest, summer and winter, night
and day shall not fail. And so God does it for his own
purposes and for his own glory because it's his will. Going back to Peter. Peter denied
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord withdrew his hand, showed
him. Peter was shown himself. It was
for correction. But also for his land. We can
say for the church. The church is the Lord's people. Peter is set forth as an example. of how we can fall, how we can bring shame, but how
the Lord restores. There have been those videos
in recent months of the deserts in I think it's Saudi Arabia.
There's been no rain for years and years and years and yet a
deluge came. Floods in the desert. barren place. After the rain
there is life. So Peter's heart had become as
it were barren, it had become hard and he needed this discipline,
he needed like a spiritual rain, a deluge poured out upon him
so that he would produce more life, more evidences of God's
Spirit. Think of the vine, the illustration
that Jesus gives of the vine being pruned back. The Lord prunes
his people that they may bear more fruit. Peter needed to be
disciplined by God so that he would bear more fruit and that
he would be set out as an example as to how precarious it is to
become self-sufficient and confident. and proud. The Lord, he will
not have it and he will bring his people down. And so Peter
is set as an example for us to be aware, lest we be taken over
with pride, lest we be exalted above measure, that the Lord
will deal with us. And so it was done for the good
of the church. And then he ends with mercy. Jesus said in Matthew chapter
10 that the Lord causes it to rain. Matthew 5 in the Sermon of the
Mount. Matthew chapter 5 from verse
45. He says that you may be the children
of your father which is in heaven for he maketh the sun to rise
on the evil and the good and sendeth rain on the just and
on the unjust. And so the Lord he makes no discrimination
as he brings rain to the land of England and he doesn't say
I'm just going to let it rain upon those Christian fields and
I'm not going to let it rain upon those unbelievers. No he
says because he's a God of mercy. He will make it rain upon the
righteous and upon the unrighteous. He will bring seed time and harvest
time to the righteous and to the unrighteous and he deals
with us in mercy because he is a covenant-keeping God and he
has promised to continue providing those things for all of time. So in mercy he brings rain and
in mercy he brings sunshine. In mercy he allows the seeds
to germinate. In mercy he allows them to grow
and produce the ear. In mercy he allows the farmer
to come and collect the grain that has been planted and to
put it into his barns and to sell it and to provide for his
family. And so he does all of these things. He deals with the sons of men
in mercy. And even today, the Lord is still
in control and he causes things to take place in our lives, especially
in the lives of the believers for his purposes. Every event
has been allowed to take place. There's nothing happening in
our life right now that the Lord does not know about and maybe
he has caused it to happen or he has allowed it to take place. And how do we know that? We know
that because of what the Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter
10 about the sparrows. Matthew chapter 10 it says, fear
not them which kill the body but are unable to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing? and one of them shall not fall
to the ground without your father or without your father knowing
but the very hairs of your head are all numbered fear ye not
therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows How often
it is that we drive along the road and we find a dead bird
or a badger or a fox and we just pass by nobody cares But the
Lord says that he cares. He knows when a sparrow is knocked
to the ground. He knows when a sparrow is eaten
by a cat or falls to the ground and dies. He knows. And he says,
more than that, I know. I know the very hairs of your
head, how many you have. And even if one of them falls
to the ground, he says, I know. How can we understand that? We
can't understand that. But we have an all knowing God
that the scripture has revealed to us. And he says that he knows. So everything in your life right
now, at this moment in time, he knows all about it because
he says you are of more value than many sparrows. He causes it to come. He has
allowed it to take place. He has made it take place for
your and my correction, for the good of his people, for the good
of the church, for the good of the land and for mercy. He always deals with us in mercy.
Mercy is God not doing what we deserve to have done to us. deals
with us in mercy. We do not deserve his love and
he gives us his love. We do not deserve his favor yet
he gives us his favor. He cares more for his people
than many, many sparrows. He causes it to come. May we submit, as we can say,
may we submit under his mighty hand that he may exalt us in
due course. Amen. Let's close our worship here
today in singing from Hymns for Worship, number 161. 161. Forth in thy name, O Lord,
I go, my daily labour to pursue thee, only thee resolve to know,
in all I think, or speak, or do. Hymns for Worship, 161, tune
398. ? Where am I, where do I go? ? ? Are you really there to pursue
me? ? ? The living is our hope tonight
? ? Let all thy faithful speak thy praise ? In all thy works thy presence
shines, and brings us joy. I sit at thy right hand, whose
eyes, like inner stars, do see. And may I look at thy comely
face, And still to this eternal gloom,
and face the ? What ever I have just praise
of Thee ? ? And crown my cross with thee even joy ? ? And mercifully
walk with thee evermore ? Our Heavenly Father and Almighty
God, we do thank Thee for the wonder of creation. We thank
Thee, Lord, for Thy providence. We thank Thee that Thou art in
control of all events in our lives, and we pray that even
in the hard things of life, we may rest upon Thy love and Thy
promises in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and help us, Lord,
not to resist thee, but to submit under thy mighty hand that we
may be exalted one day in thy time and in thy way, be delivered
from these trials and temptations of life. We pray, Lord, that
you may be dismissed with thy blessing. Bless us each as we
enter into another week of time And as we go out into the workplace
and as we go about to school and to college and university,
Lord, we pray for thy blessing to rest upon each and every one
of us. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with us each now and forevermore. Amen.