May the Lord be pleased to bless
us and instruct us tonight from his word as we meditate upon
it. Let us turn to the book of Job,
chapter 5, and we'll read verse 7. The book of Job, chapter 5,
and reading verse 7. Yet man is born unto trouble
as the sparks fly upward. Eliphaz is speaking to Job and
as we read these two chapters we see how he encourages and
yet sometimes he criticises Job for the things that he's said
and done and makes assumptions with regards to the path that
he is walking in. But there are also many wonderful
truths that are contained in this account, in the book of
Job, and this is one of those statements that we have here
tonight, that Eliphaz makes when he said, yet man is born unto
trouble as the sparks fly upward. And the picture is of course
quite vivid, isn't it? We think of a fire, And we know
when a fire is burning briskly, especially out in the open perhaps,
and the sparks fly upwards, and they're different. Some are small
sparks, some are big sparks, some shine strongly, and some
shine weakly. And so there's a variety, but
when a fire is burning, and burning vigorously, there is really a
continuance Those sparks flying up, isn't it? We don't see any
cessation, really. They continue. And therefore,
that's really the illustration that we have here before us. That we're born into this world. We're born in this world unto
trouble. An illustration as the sparks
fly upward. Naturally, We don't believe a
word like that. We don't think it's true. You
might say, well I don't know about that. Well our actions
don't believe it's true. Because we always think in our
minds, we've got this little trouble, or this big trouble,
and once we've got out of that, well we'll have a nice smooth
run. But the problem is, we don't. And we're not promised a smooth
or easy run in this world. And we should know the reason.
I'm sure we do know the reason. But we should know the reason.
The reason is spelt out to us very clearly by the Lord God
himself in that third chapter of Genesis. Remember the occasion. Adam and Eve had disobeyed God.
And at the forbidden fruit, their eyes had been opened and they
were now able to see, having given that knowledge of good
and evil. And God had come and had spoken
to them. They were surprised. They tried
to hide from God. They couldn't hide from God and
we can't hide from God today. We may think we can hide from
God. We may think God doesn't know.
Well, God doesn't see. The truth is God knows everything. Not only does he see what we're
doing, he knows what we're thinking. And if the Spirit of God convinces
us of that truth, it'll be a very solemn awakening to realise that
the things that we think are terrible, and we might be ashamed
of them. You know, if your thoughts of
the day were to be displayed on a big board on the wall here,
and everybody could see what you'd be thinking today, well,
you wouldn't want to stay in the chapel, I expect. You'd want
to run outside and pretend it wasn't you. That really is how bad our heart
is. And so, Adam and Eve thought
they could hide from God, but they couldn't. God knew where
they were, and He found them. And then they tried to make excuses
for the sin that they'd done. Yes, Adam blamed his wife. His wife blamed the serpent.
How easily we do the same, don't we? We try and make excuses for
things we do wrong. Point the finger. Well, that
was the reason for that. If that hadn't occurred, I wouldn't
have done this or that. The reality is, we're no better
than Adam and Eve. And the reason is that the Lord
spoke to them, Adam and Eve, in their garden. First of all,
He gave them wonderful encouragement. They never deserved such encouragement.
He said, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman. and
between thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel." And that was a prophecy with
regard to the coming of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, the seed
of the woman. It was the seed of the woman,
Mary, who was that one who brought forth the Lord Jesus Christ,
who would bruise Satan's head, squash Satan's head. Well, what
happened? The Lord then went on, and he
spoke to Adam. This is what he said, Because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou shalt not
eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life, thorns also and thistles
shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of
the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and unto dust
thou shalt return." The easy life had ceased. The time in paradise had come
to an end. All because of sin. And that's the problem. And that's
our problem today. Sin. So we have this word, man is
born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. And why is it? It's because of sin. The hymn writer tells us, he
says this, O thou hideous monster sin, what a curse has thou brought
in. What a curse it was. He had an
understanding of it. And the understanding of it was
like this, it was a monster. And it was hideous. I wonder
if we view sin like that. If we think, well, it's not very
important in that fact and I can get along with it. We realise
that sin is just like that, a hideous monster. You know, the Apostle
Paul refers to this situation that, as God addressed Adam and
Eve and in the 5th of Romans, He tells us, He says, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And so we are in a situation
of trouble because of sin. How are we to be delivered from
that? There's only one way, and that's
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle outlined it in
this fifth chapter very beautifully. He says this, for when we were
yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly,
and we were ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man, some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Commends His love toward us. Think of your sin, think of my
sin. Commends His love toward us. While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by His blood. We shall be saved from wrath
through Him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. This is the hope of the lost
sinner, Christ. This is the blessing, this is
the favour, this is the gospel, because we are like this, born
into trouble, as the sparks fly upward because of our sin, our
continual sin. And what a blessing it is to
look, and to observe, and to see, and to understand, and to
know the blessing that the Saviour brings. And He brings peace. Peace by His cross as Jesus made. And so we have here the simple
words that the Apostle writes in this fifth chapter to the
Romans. Remember, and not only so, but
we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom we
have now received the atonement. We won't joy, will we, as we
are passing through these scenes of trouble, as the sparks fly
upward, but as the Lord may give us a closer look out of ourselves
to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is, we read
here, joy. It is a wonderful blessing to
have joy in our hearts. as we consider what the Saviour
has done, and that we are reconciled to God through the death of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the atonement. And that's
why the Apostle says, wherefore, because of this, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin And so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned." Well, it was that offence,
because he says, but not as the offence, so also is the free
gift. For if through the offence of
one, many be dead. Much more, the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many. What a wonderful favour, you
can read the fifth of Romans, it's very clear and it really
is a wonderful commentary on this position and it's good to
realise that we have such a God and the concluding verse tells
us that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, what a relief that will
be as we recognise the situation we're in. Man is born unto trouble. I believe perhaps this trouble
falls into two categories. There is the natural trouble.
which every man has to contend with day by day in his life. And there is then also that natural,
that spiritual trouble, which the Church of God has to contend
with. As the devil assaults them, hour
by hour, perhaps minute by minute, he tries to defeat them. He tries to turn them away and
out of the way. He endeavours to make them look
at themselves and to realise what a failure they are and what
trouble they're in. And he tries to turn their eyes
away from the Saviour. My friends, there's no peace,
there's no blessing in looking to ourselves. You know, you will
look to yourself because the Spirit of God will direct you
to yourself. And it will make you cry out,
a wretched man that I am. But your look to the Saviour,
you won't be content. The Apostle Paul was never content
with the situation he was in. He looked to the Lord Jesus Christ
and that's the place and that's the way of salvation. What a
glorious blessing it is then for us today. Although this is
so true, man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Yet
to know that we have a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Christ
the Lord, a glorious, wonderful Saviour. And the Apostle Paul
tells us, we are troubled on every side. Every side. You only have to read the life
of the Apostle, don't you? To realise how true that was.
And I suppose we think, well, of course he was unique. In one
way, of course he was unique. But nonetheless, he was a man
who was blessed by God. And he was a man who knew his
God. And he was a man who had to endure much trouble in his
life. And so he tells us, we are troubled
on every side. Outwardly, naturally, inwardly,
spiritually. And yet he tells us, not distressed. And why was that? Because he
had hope in his God. He had faith in his God. He believed
in his God. He said we are perplexed, but
not in despair. And again, when we are faced
with trouble as the sparks fly upward, we are perplexed. And we wonder why this perhaps
has come into our path, why the Lord has permitted such a situation
to develop in our life. Well, the Apostle tells us, although
that came into his life, although he was perplexed, he didn't despair,
he didn't give up, because he recognised that the Lord was
with him, ordaining these things. for his spiritual good. And that's
really why it is. Because if we had a life without
any trouble naturally, or a life without any trouble spiritually,
we would very easily become, as it were, in a calm. We wouldn't
pray, we wouldn't seek unto the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't
mean anything to us, because we wouldn't need a saviour, We
wouldn't need a God who could atone for our sins. We'd be very
satisfied with our own life. And we'd carry on. And the result
would be there would be no honour and glory to God. We wouldn't
be praising God. We wouldn't be thanking God.
We'd be looking to ourselves and patting ourselves on the
back because we're such a wonderful Christian and we're living such
a glorious life. We wouldn't need God. We wouldn't
need a Saviour. My friends, the Lord God is a
jealous God. And He wants His children to
ever be needing Him, ever be seeking unto Him, ever to be
praying unto Him. And that's one of the reasons
why man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. So as
we look into our life, just remember the words of the Apostle here,
Because they are encouraging words. He tells us, he was troubled
on every side, just like this isn't it? Where we read, man
is born under trouble, it's a sparse blackboard. He tells exactly
the same in slightly different words. We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair. Now, Previously in this chapter,
the Apostle directed us to the Lord himself and he tells us
this, for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That is a wonderful statement. Just ponder it carefully. God who commanded, commanded
in our lives. He commanded. It had to occur. The light to shine out of darkness. We were born in sin. shape and
iniquity. We were in darkness. Bless God
today. Bless God today. It's a light
to shine. Shine into your heart. Shine
into my heart. Bless God today to give. It's a real light and it's a
light that does something. It's not just a natural light
like a light bulb shining. It's much greater than that.
It's a spiritual light which shines in the darkness in our
heart. And this is what it does. It gives the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the light. That's the glorious light. That's
the wonderful light. Now, as we find ourselves in
this position, born under trouble as the sparks fly outward. To
realise that although we're in this situation, which we are,
and yet to recognise that the Lord God has shone his light
into our heart, to give us a spiritual understanding, a real knowledge
of himself, that we have to look out of ourselves And we've got
nowhere else to look to apart from the Saviour. And first of all, that is revelation
by the Spirit of God. Oh, be encouraged if that's so.
Bless God if that's so. And therefore, we have this statement. Give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, to look at the
Saviour and to see there all our salvation. Oh, this is a
wonderful blessing. And so the Apostle then tells
us. But we have this treasure, and it is a treasure indeed.
It's worth more than all this earth can give, because it's
the knowledge of the Saviour He tells us we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. Our body is just an earthen vessel,
it's just earthy, dust. And he tells us why. That the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. It's not in us, it's in God. And because it's in God, God
receives the honour and glory for that which he has done in
shining into our hearts this great and glorious light. Although
we are still in this world and we're still in a time of, as
it were, continual trouble, continual trouble, many burdens,
many situations to distress us. And so he tells us then, We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed,
but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life force of Jesus
might be made manifest in our body. Yes, this new life, This
God-given life, for we which live are always delivered unto
death, for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. What wonderful truth,
what wonderful revelation this is. And so here we have this
position, born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. That's
the position that we are in. But as we journey on in this
position, we should expect it to continue, we shouldn't expect
it to suddenly dissolve, but we have that secret. The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them
his covenant and he will show us these great and glorious truths
and they will be an encouragement to us and we will want to hold
on to them to recognise the great work of
God and that his name may be lifted up and that his name may
therefore be honoured and glorified. And don't forget what Eliphaz
said in the continuing words, he says, I would seek unto God
and unto God would I commit my cause. He was in trouble. But he was committing his cause
unto his God. And he had a confidence in his
God in this way. He says, which doeth great things
and unsearchable, marvellous things without number. God hasn't changed. God does
the same today. God does great things. He comes
to us. in our time of trouble, and encourages
us and speaks to us. There are many, many words in
the Word of God with regards to trouble. I haven't counted
them. I don't think I could. There's
many, many words. Right through the Bible, it mentions
the word of trouble. Not surprising, is it? because
of sin, in that time, in that Garden of Eden. But, although
there is so many words of trouble, we should also realise there
are many words of encouragement. Especially in the Psalms, there
are many, many words to encourage us in our time of trouble. We
should not therefore be discouraged, but we should be encouraged that
the Lord is the same today, the Lord who speaks to us. And how
many times David was in times of trouble. We have some evidence,
don't we, of some of the things that David had to endure. But
the Psalms do describe to us His personal testimony, his personal
spiritual experience, also his natural experience, both are
combined. And we should realise that this
is really typical of the Church of God. And so, he tells us in
the 25th Psalm, the troubles of my heart are enlarged. Enlarged. They're very big. Now, David, he doesn't stop there. As we might go through, we will
realise that we're not to stop there. Sometimes we tend to. Oh dear, I've got this problem. I've got this trouble. How am
I going to carry on? David said, the troubles of my
heart are enlarged. What did he do? prayed. What did he say? Oh, bring thou
me out of my distresses. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. See how he felt, what he did. He immediately committed his
way to his God. Immediately. How important it
is for us. Trouble has come and I believe
the reason is to make us pray. To make us pray. To come to our
God. To commit our way unto Him. Again,
well known Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength.
A very present help in trouble. He's telling us here of the condition
that he had experienced. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Well, if the Lord has helped
us in times of trouble, I wonder if we can look into our hearts
tonight and to go back in our lives and remember a time of
trouble and remember how God helped us. how God was our refuge,
how God was our strength. He was a very present help in
that time of trouble. There's no greater favour than
to be able to look back and to recall the mercies and the favour
of God toward us, deliverances. That's why he comes and says,
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and that
the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Yes, he
had his confidence in the Lord God. Come down to the end of
this 46th Psalm, be still and know that I am God. In the midst
of trouble, in the midst of difficulties, to pray to the Lord and then
to be still. Naturally, that's not our nature. We're restless. Yes, we're on
the go. Be still and know that I am God. It really means that we are to
wait on the Lord. We are to wait for His appearing.
We are to wait for His blessing. We are to wait for His favour. The 50th Psalm. 15th verse, and
he says, And call upon me in the day of trouble. And then
there's a promise. I will deliver thee. And then
there's the outcome. And thou shalt glorify me. Perhaps we understand a little,
the reason then for such a word as this. Man is born under trouble
as the sparks fly upward. And the outcome is to therefore
call upon the Lord and to be delivered and to glorify God. I cannot overemphasize the great
purpose of our lives, your life and my life. It's to glorify
God. So essential it is. that we realise
that great important truth and we would never do it unless we
experienced being born under trouble as the sparks fly upward
and caused to cry unto God and to be blessed with deliverance,
we would never glorify God. Well, what a wonderful thing
if you and I tonight are able to trace in our lives the times
when God has come and delivered us. And I believe in many cases those times of
deliverance will bring us to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the troubles bring us
down, allow us. We're not on our high horse,
we're brought down. We're humbled in the dust. And I believe these troubles
then make us look into ourselves. We discover there a true position,
or at least something of the truth of the position. And then
it is we cry unto God, Most High. How often in the 107th Psalm,
I think it's five or six times, you can read then, they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
their distresses. the various scenes which were
described in the 107th Psalm, and the deliverances, because
those situations cause them to pray to God. The Lord does not
afflict willingly. He brings us in these times of
trouble for our soul's benefit, for times of deliverance, so
that his name will be honoured and glorified. Man is born unto trouble then,
as the sparks fly upward. The Lord then strengthens us
by these things. Was it not Hezekiah that was
brought in that time when he was faced with death, and he
cried unto the Lord, The Lord came to him and gave him 15 more
years to live. He was able to come and to give
this testimony. By these things men live. What it meant was, by these things
his spirit was lively in the things of God. Oh well, if you
and I were faced with what he was, he was told, put your house
in order, He was going to die and not live. He faced death. Reality was staring him in the
face. He couldn't continue in his life then as it was. He had to cry unto God Most High. He was in a time of great trouble.
The Lord heard his prayer. The Lord delivered him. And so,
we should remember tonight this expression. Man is born under
trouble as the sparks fly upward. And don't therefore expect an
easy, trouble-free life. We do by nature. My friends,
remember the Word of God. Remember the deliverances which
were brought about. You meditate on David's life.
And the many times he was delivered, times of distress, times of great
difficulty, the Lord delivered him. The Lord delivers his church
today. He knows the reason for the troubles
he brings them into. And we're all brought into different
troubles. What is a trouble to you might not be a trouble to
me and vice versa. The Lord brings us into troubles.
which affects us, which causes us to cry unto God so that He
then brings about deliverance. So that we then give Him the
honour and the glory. And what a favour it is in a
spiritual sense when we have soul trouble and the Lord comes
and delivers us and makes Himself precious. He draws us to Himself. those cords of a man and those
bands of love. Love. He draws us to himself. You'll bless God then for a time
of trouble. You'll bless God for it. And
you'll come and say, like Hezekiah, by these things men live and
by all these things the life of my spirit, the life of my
soul, you know what it is. And you'll realise how needful
it was. and your thankful God was mindful of you. He didn't
leave you. He didn't leave you to perish as it were in the rubbish
heap where we deserve to be. He took you in hand. He dealt with your soul, remembered
you for good. With that favour, He bears towards
you. Visit your soul with His salvation. Show to you the merits of the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back. to that chapter in 2
Corinthians and the 4th chapter. Go back to that. Read that. Be
encouraged as the Apostle Paul describes the dealings with God
with him. May we be encouraged in our lives
to know the Lord is dealing with us for our souls' eternal good. That's a blessing. Eternal good. We're rapidly passing through
life. and to be thankful to the Lord dealing with us for our
soul's eternal good, here a little and there a little, line upon
line, precept upon precept, so that we are instructed in the
ways of God and brought closer to Him for His honour and for
His glory. Amen.