Seeking once again the Lord's
help, I'd like to draw your attention to the chapter that we read together,
Job 23, and the text you'll find in verse 10. But he knoweth the way that I
take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. I'm sure all of us are aware
of all that took place in the life of Job, of how he was a
righteous man, that he sought to follow the ways of the Lord. and that he was perfect and upright
and one that feared God and one that hated evil in similar way
to how Noah was. Noah was a righteous man, a just
man and one who feared God. And in the life of Job we see
how the Lord tested him and brought much sadness and distress into
his life and to set him up as an example of faithfulness that
his faith in God was not because of his material wealth or his
success in business or the blessing of God but his faith in God rested
in God whether he had much or whether he had a little. As we
have said many times before, it's very easy, isn't it, to
read an account of someone passing through great trouble and great
opposition in the scriptures or even a biography and see the
end from the beginning. We're able to look at the whole
picture of the story and we sometimes forget that those people have
to walk That pathway, unknowing of what a moment will happen
before them is actually the same as you and me when we are passing
through troubles. We don't know what is in front
of us. We don't know how long this trial
is going to go on for. We don't know if we're ever going
to recover from a sickness, for instance. We don't know if our
loved one will ever recover. There are so many unknown things. And yet if someone was to read
our life after we have died they would be able to know well this
trial would go on for a week, this trial would go on for a
month or a year and then it would all be over and they're able
to see the full picture. But as Job was in his day, just
like you and I, he was living a moment at a time, unable to
understand the bigger picture of all that the Lord was leading
him through and how long all of these things were going to
take. He had his friends who came to offer him some advice
and he declares miserable comforters are you as they sought to pinpoint
things in Job's life as to the reason why God would bring such
distress and sadness into his life but they never gave the
correct answer. They were never able to fully
grasp that God is sovereign and God brought about this trial
for his own reasons, for his own purposes, ultimately to prove
to Satan that Job was faithful even with much or with a little. And we do know that there are
things that Job said which were not right. The things that his
comforters said also which were not right and things that he
wanted to know. And I'm sure in our own lives
there are things that we pass through. Maybe things that you're
in even now and you want to know why. You want to know how long. You want to know when is it all
going to be over. And Job was in a similar position. In the chapter that we read,
he even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier
than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my
case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. And so Job wanted
to know where God was. He says, if I was able to find
him, he says, if I go forward, he's not there. If I go backward,
I can't perceive him. On the left hand, I don't know. On the right hand, I can't see
him. And it's like he's lost sight. of where God is, that if I'm
able just to speak to him, I would ask him some questions and then
it would all be OK. I'll be able to iron the things
out in my mind and I'll see clearly why the Lord has brought these
things into my life. what he rested on was this, although
I can't see God and although I can't fully comprehend all
that I am passing through he says I know that he knows. He knows the way that I take
and so he says I know that God knows everything that I am passing
through and that gave him some comfort. The knowledge that God
was in control and that God knew the way that he was going in.
Maybe that is how you are even today. There are things in your
life that Nobody else knows. You've hidden them deep down
in your mind and you haven't been able to speak to anybody
else about it but God knows. And you know that God knows. And we know that God knows because
God knows all things. He's all-knowing. And he knows
every detail about the lives of his own people. And we know,
especially in the life of Job, that it was God who gave the
permission to Satan to bring those troubles into his life.
And so although Job didn't know the reason why, although he never
knew what took place in the councils of heaven to bring about this
trial, he knew that God knew. and God knew what he was doing. And we know that the scripture
tells us in the Old Testament and the New that God is as the
shepherd of his people. In the New Testament he tells
us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the good shepherd. David tells
us that the Lord is his shepherd. We are told that he leads his
people forth by the right way. And as he led Job, Job says,
he knows the way that I take. God is the all-knowing Good Shepherd. He's the all-knowing King of
kings and Lord of lords. And he knew about Job. Job chapter one. was God who brought about this
test in Job's life. In verse 8, And the Lord said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? There is none
like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and eschews or hates evil. It was God God the Good
Shepherd, God the King of Israel says to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job? And I think in the lives of all
of the Lord's people there are those times when the Lord says
to Satan, have you considered my servant so and so? Go and
test them and I will prove to you that their faith is not because
of their smooth pathway but their faith is grounded upon the Lord
Jesus Christ and their love to me. He says he is one that fears
God and he hates evil. We know that those things that
took place in the life of Job, how everything was taken away,
all of his material possessions were taken away. And although
his body is grieved under the pain, yet he says, naked came
I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The
Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. In all this Job sinned not nor
charged God foolishly. But it doesn't end there. Job
is to go through another wave of sorrow, another wave of trouble
and the one who is in charge of it is the Lord. The Lord never loses hold of
Satan. Satan is only allowed to go so
far. He's only able to do so much
and then that is it. But it is God again who says
to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? There is again
none like him, perfect and an upright man, one that fears God
and eschews evil. And still he holds fast his integrity,
although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause
or without reason. And so God knew everything that
was going on in the life of Job and he allowed Satan to only
go so far and afflict so much damage on the things of Job and
the life of Job. Yet Job held on to his faith
in God. He feared God. And he says, but
he knows the way that I take. And he knew the way because he
led Job into the way. Job was a follower of God. He says, I know that my Redeemer
lives. He was a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ prior to Christ's birth. He knew that the ultimate
sacrifice would come, the ultimate Redeemer would come, and he feared
God. he obeyed God and he followed
God and he says as I follow God, God knows the way that I am walking. And so the question that is asked
through the book of Job is why. Job's friends tried to come up with
the arguments as to why God would do such a thing to Job. What
specific sin was God disciplining Job for? But there is no specific reason
why. God dealt with Job Ultimately
it would be to humble him and to prove him and to know what
is in his heart that he might come forth as God. And it wasn't because of a particular
sin or a bad thing that he had done. It may be in people's lives
that God does bring things into their life because they have
done a specific sin. It may be that he chastens them
for a particular reason, like with David as he sinned with
Bathsheba, the sword would never leave his house and he was punished
and the child died. maybe there is a reason why things
come into our lives because we have done a particular sin but
the Lord would make very sure of the fact that we knew what
the reason was. The trials that are brought into
the lives of the Lord's people are not always because of a particular
sin may be a test to draw them closer to himself or to humble
us, to bring us down, to make us realize our need of him, to
recognize that we are not in control and that God is in control. And you know as we read through
the scriptures we can know all about the word of God. how we
can maybe are to reason from the word of God and argue from
the word of God. And as we looked at the soldiers
this morning, now a soldier may go through a lot of training.
He may spend months and months of his life training to use his
weapon, increasing his physical strength and stamina, but none
of that makes him a true soldier. If he's never experienced war,
if he's never experienced face-to-face combat under the pressures and
the strains of those experiences, he's not a true warrior. He's
not someone who has been to battle. So the Lord puts his people into
battle to grant them experience, that the training is proved on
the battlefield, that our faith is tested in the battlefield,
in the trials of life, in day-to-day living We walk through much trouble,
the Bible tells us, as we walk through enemy territory. Our
faith is tested. Daily we experience opposition
and trouble and difficulty and our faith is tried. and proved as what type of faith
it is. Whether we are a true soldier
of Christ or whether we are just a dressing room soldier we like
to just wear the uniform of a Christian without being able to fight in
the true battles that are in our pathway. So knowledge doesn't
make us a steadfast believer. The training
that the soldier has doesn't make him a soldier but that training
equips him for the battle and the knowledge that we have. equips
us for the battles that we have in life. It gives us experience. We're able to truly experience
the help of God, the provision of God, the care of God, the
strength of God, the might of God in our trouble, in our difficulty. It's sad, isn't it? A calm sea
never made a good sailor. A good sailor needs a good storm
to bring his experience and his knowledge to the edge. that he
can cope under pressure and under difficulty. And so the Lord brings
his people into a storm to shake them up, to bring them to the
edge of their own strength, to make them rest upon him. And so believers progress in trial. Job we know, if you read the
end of Job, although he lost a lot yet the Lord gave him double. He progressed materially but
the believer progresses spiritually in trouble. The Lord deals with
them to benefit them spiritually, to humble them and to bring them
down. Job says he knows the way that
I take. In Deuteronomy we have the children of Israel
and how they were brought out of Egypt. Like we said this morning
And as they came through the Red Sea they went into the wilderness,
they went right up to the River Jordan and there they disobeyed
God, they disbelieved God. They had no faith to press on
into the promised land and so the Lord punishes them. He says all you that have come
out of Egypt are going to die in this wilderness because you
didn't believe. And so the Lord makes them wander
around in the wilderness and he says to them this in Deuteronomy
8. Thou shalt remember all the way
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness
to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what is in thine heart,
whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. he humbled
thee he suffered thee to hunger or he allowed you to hunger and
fed you with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers
know that he might make thee know that the man does not live
by bread only but every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of the lord doth man live and so he says the reason why you
are wandering in the wilderness for 40 years is a test It is
to humble you, to bring you down. You are too proud. You need to be brought down from
your self-reliance, your self-ability, your self-confidence, and you
need to learn to rest and trust in God and God alone, that he
will provide. and to prove you, to test you. He wanted to test them, to see
whether they would be drawn aside, go after other gods, neglect
him, the true and living God, to know what was in their hearts.
And so God's wandering was to prove them in the wilderness,
to expose the inner workings of their hearts. He says, I allowed
you to hunger. Why? to bring them back to reliance
upon God. When they hungered, what did
they do? They grumbled and they complained. Instead of crying
unto the Lord, they grumbled and complained about the pathway
and said, oh, that we were back in Egypt. Oh, that we were slaves
eating watermelons and having nice food. And so they exposed
their hearts. God brought them into a difficult
situation to prove what was going on in their hearts. And the same as Job. He put him
into this difficult situation to prove what was going on in
his heart. And the scripture tells us in
all of this, Job did not sin with his lips. The test that
the children of Israel went through, they grumbled and they complained. We have no stones to throw at
them I'm sure. very quickly when our lives change
from going smoothly to having some issue, it's very quickly
we can come and we can grumble and complain. How quickly we
lose sight of the plan of God, the will of God, the sovereign
rule of God over our lives and that he is bringing these things
for a purpose to humble us and to test us to see what is in
our hearts in the book of Proverbs. It tells us there, Proverbs 17
and verse 3, the filling pot or the crucible pot is for silver
and the furnace for gold. But the Lord tries the hearts. God tries the hearts. And as
gold is placed into the fire, as silver is placed into the
fire, as metals are placed into the fire to purify them. So God sits as a refiner of the
heart, purifying his people and he uses his means. He uses the means of difficulty
and a trial to as it were, heat up their heart to see what is
going on within. And we know that when metal is
heated up and becomes molten, that the dross is all brought
to the surface and is scraped off. And as we go through trial,
as our lives are heated up under the pressure of what we are passing
through, how often it is that our hearts erupt and the dross
and sin is seen on the surface. It's very easy to hide what is
going on in our lives, in our hearts, when everything's going
smooth, isn't it? But when we are put under pressure,
it is then that sin that we hold in comes out. That anger, that
bitterness, that grumbling and that complaining spirit. And
the scripture says, when all of this Job sinned not with his
mouth and he comforts himself, the Lord knows the way that I
take. And so all the trials that the
Lord's people have, have a purpose. They have a purpose. He will
never bring one of his people into a situation for no reason.
A metalsmith or a goldsmith will put the gold into the fire for
a reason. He wants to use it. He wants
to purify it and make something out of it. And so when God puts
us into a trial, when he makes our pathway dark and difficult,
he's doing it for a reason. He never unwillingly brings us
into trouble or unknowingly brings us into trouble, does it purposefully
with a plan and a product in view. He wants to humble us,
wants to bring us down, to make us more reliant upon him, less
self-confident, less self-able and to become dependent upon
him for all things. to test our faith. Remember Abraham,
God did tempt Abraham, God did test Abraham. Take your son,
your only son Isaac and offer him up as a sacrifice upon the
mountain that I will show you. God tested his faith, proved
it to see what type it was. whether it would buckle under
pressure or whether it would persevere under the emotional
pathway that he was going to walk through. But Abraham persevered. He went through. He loved God. And so his faith was tested. sometimes when people are cooking
they use herbs and spices and before those herbs and spices
are put into the pot some have to be crushed some have to be
cooked in the saucepan in the fat and in doing so it enhances
their flavour enables them to penetrate into the pot into the
bigger pot of food more easily and so when the Lord heats up
his people he does so with a purpose to enable them to glorify him
in the midst of trouble to shine as a light in a greater way in
this world. Job although he uttered things
which were not always correct and he wanted to reason with
God that the ultimate process of God is to purify his people
and to enable them to shine more clearly. And that can only really be done
with the knowledge that he knows the way that I am taking because
he's led me there. If we lose sight of God's sovereign
control over the events of our life, then we end up like the
people of Israel wanting to go back, thinking this is too difficult,
this is too hard, that God's lost control of everything. But
Job comforted himself, he knows the way that I take. And when
God knows, when we come to that point of God knows, then that
is enough. He knows the way that I take
and that is enough. If God knows our way then that's
enough. We can rest in that. In the beginning of the chapter He says, oh, that I knew where
I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would
order my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. That was what Job wanted to do. Sometimes we can be like that.
Though we get worked up, And we want to reason this thing
out with God. I'll just tell him, Lord, you've
made a mistake. It's all going wrong. You're
delaying. You've done this, you've done
this, having no good effect upon me whatsoever. And Job says,
if I could just speak to God and reason all of these things
out and I understand his plan, then it would all be OK. And
then when God shows up, all of Job's arguments fall away. In chapter 40, God speaks to
Job. Moreover, the Lord answered Job
and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?
He that reproveth God, let him answer it. And so God says to
Job, Who do you think you are? Are you going to instruct me? Are you going to tell me how
I should be ordering the world events, ordering your life? Have
I made mistakes? Have I brought about a problem
when there was no need to be a problem? What are you going
to say to me, Job? And Job says, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth, once I have spoken, but I will not
answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. He says,
I am vile. If you remember when the Apostle
Peter met the Lord Jesus Christ on the boat and Jesus told him,
cast your net upon the rights or launch out into the deep and
you will catch. And they caught an abundance
of fish and called their friends to help them bring it to the
shore. And he says, depart from me,
O Lord, for I'm a sinful man. He saw the greatness of Christ. And as God spoke to Job, he saw
almost the holiness and the authority of who God is, the Almighty God. And he says, I don't have anything
to say. I am vile and I put my hand upon my mouth. I've spoken
once and I'm not going to speak again. I will proceed no further. Really, this is what we need
to see. As we get into the frame of mind of grumbling and complaining
over our pathways, we need to see God sitting upon his throne
and the angels of God crying, holy, holy, holy. we need to
understand the promises of God that he is in ultimate control
of the events of our lives and when we question him we are questioning his authority
over us his wisdom in the events of our lives and he says I am
vile And I will lay my hand upon my mouth. But he knows the way
that I take. And when he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. He knew the outcome. Although
sometimes he lost sight of it yet he knew that was the process
that God always went through. The testing process of his people
and the product that comes out of it is gold. He says, though
he slay me yet I will trust in him. He says, I will come forth
in a better way than when I went in. God will deal with me. And so
in our lives, in the life of Job, God was at work. And in the life of every single
believer who is resting upon Christ for their eternal hope
of salvation, God is at work. And it's been said, hasn't it,
sometimes you see building sites and they have work in progress,
a sign on the door that it's not finished. And in the life
of the believer, there is that sign that hangs on their life.
It is a work in progress. And God is ultimately refining
the believer, purifying the believer through trial and difficulty
and opposition to give them experience in the Christian pathway. It's not just about knowledge,
head knowledge, but it is an experience that must take place
in the day-to-day battles of life. God is at work. And he
says I will come out of it as gold. It has an end. Every trial has an end whether
it be even in death. The believer is brought to that
point of death and they will then depart to be with Christ
which is far better. Even in the little trials of
life that the Lord brings in they have an end. Not only do
they have an end but they have a purpose. And that's what we
see is the system that runs through the whole of the scripture that
God is at work refining his people through trial and difficulty
to humble them and to test them to bring them forth as gold that
they may enter into his presence ultimately one day in heaven
at last. And Job was able to see he knows
the way that I take and when he has tried me I shall come
forth as gold. Well may the Lord add his blessing
to these few remarks. Amen. Our closing hymn is from Gadsby's
hymn number 244, Hope. Our Jesus is the God of hope. He works it by his power. It
holds the weak believer up in the distressing hour. Hymn number
244 to the tune 444. Yeah. ? Go together like a dove ? ? Let
us be forever near ? ? Nature, love, this verdant air ? O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave? May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship and
the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with us each
now and for evermore. Amen.