Let us turn once again to God's
word and to the chapter that we were considering verses from
this morning in Job, Job chapter 23. And in the morning we were
considering those words of Job in verses 3 and 4. His desire, his great desire
before God so that I knew where I might find Him and that I might
come even to His seat. And then His determination, what
He would do, I would order my cause before Him and fill my
mouth with arguments. Well, I want us to move on and
to consider what He says later in the same chapter at verse
10. where he acknowledges concerning
God's, but he knoweth the way that I take, when he hath tried
me, I shall come forth as God's. In Job chapter 23, and our text
then is found here at verse 10, but he knoweth the way that I
take, The margin gives the way that
is with me. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. This remarkable book of Job,
of course, is full of Christian experience. The experience of
the people of God, those who have any knowledge, of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I deliberately use the expression
that it's full of Christian experience because this book contains great
gospel doctrines. This book sets before us so much
of the truth that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Job's experiences
are really rooted in his faith in Christ, if we go back to chapter
19 for example, and there at verse 23. Job says, O that my
words were now written, O that they were printed in a book,
that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock
for ever. For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold,
and not another, that my reins be consumed within me. But ye should say, Why persecute
we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? Job has the root of the matter
in him and what is that root? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the hope of glory? We will not really find any clearer
statement concerning the Redeemer and his resurrection from the
dead than those words that we've just read here in chapter 19. This book, I say, is one that
contains so much gospel truth and it relates to us something
of the experiences of one whose trust was in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Christian's experience
that we find here. Of the book of Job, the great
Protestant reformer Martin Luther said, it is magnificent and sublime
as no other book of scripture. That was Luther's opinion with
regards to the content in. of this book, and isn't this
23rd chapter that we read this morning, and we were considering,
as I said, those verses in the earlier parts, is it not a remarkable
chapter of Scripture? Well, let us turn tonight to
this confession that Job is making in the midst of his great trial. Here in verse 10 of Job 23, But
he knoweth the way that I take, when he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. First of all, in this confession,
do we not see something of Job's confusion? He is confused in
some measure in the midst of the trial. Look at the context
in the previous verses. he says behold I go forward but
he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on
the left hand where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hides
of himself on the right hand that I cannot see him Job is
confused here he has lost sight of his God. He'd been given that
counsel, remember, by Eliphaz in the previous chapter, and
of course he's answering what Eliphaz had said in chapter 22,
but there Eliphaz had given counsel that he should acquaint himself
with God. In verse 21, acquaint now thyself
with him and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee. The counsel was good counsel,
we might say. He was to be acquainted with
God. And we considered, as I said those words, here is Job answering,
or that I knew where I might find him. He wants to be acquainted
with God. That I might come even to his
seat, I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth
with arguments. This was Job's desire. He wants
to know that God is with him. As I said this morning, in some
way Eliphaz had misjudged the situation. Wasn't it that Job
knew nothing of God? Job certainly was one who knew
God, God owns him, God acknowledges him at the very commencement
of the book, does he not? How is he introduced to us, this
man? He's a justified man. There was a man in the land of
Oz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright,
one that feared God and eschewed evil. He is perfect, he is upright,
and see what the Lord God says to Satan, in verse 8 there, the
Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright
man, one that feareth God and has doeth evil. How was he perfect? How was he upright? Not in himself,
no man can be that. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There is none a just man upon
the earth that doeth good. and sin of not. This man was
perfect. This man was upright as one who
was justified. He knew the Redeemer. He was
trusting in Christ for his redemption. He was trusting in Christ as
his church. Remember, we referred this morning
to his request there in chapter 17 verse 3 lay down now put me
in a surety with him and Christ was his surety Christ was his
righteousness as Christ was his redeemer all God owes the man
God acknowledges the man he is a justified sinner not his own
righteousness no perfection in himself but that perfection that
is all together in Christ And that's for the sinner. This man
certainly knew something of God. He had been favoured in times
past by God and God's dealings with him. Remember how he speaks
in chapter 29, or that I were as in months past, as in the
days when God preserved me, when his candles shined upon my head,
and when by his light I walked through darkness, all he knew
what it was for God to lift up the light of his countenance
upon him, and to walk in that light, as I was in the days of
my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle, when
the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me.
And he remembers those days, days of God's favour and God's
blessing. Job certainly knew God, and he,
in life, has misjudged the situation. He's not going to become acquainted
with God for the first time. What has happened, you see, with
poor Job was that he was frightened. And in the midst of this great
trial that came upon him, the mysterious dealings of God as
he allows Satan to assault the man, to assault him in terms
of all his possessions or his family even to assault him in
his own person though he cannot touch his soul. In the midst
of all this great trial we have to observe two things with regards
to Job. He could not find the cause of
his troubles. He could not find the cause of
his troubles. This is why he is so confused. He takes a view of his whole
life. He goes forwards. And God is
not there. He goes backwards. He cannot
perceive God. He looks to the left hand where God works, but
he cannot behold anything of God. He acknowledges that God
is hiding himself on his right hand. He cannot see God. Turn which way he wants. He can't understand. Why it is
that he is in this situation? Why these awful troubles have
come upon him? And we know that it is so wrong
of course to equate sufferings with sin. And Job's friends at
times suggest that. He is suffering because of some
sin. That's wrong. When in John chapter
9 we read of that man who was born blind, Remember what the
disciples asked the Lord Jesus. They said, who has sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind? And Christ answers
and says, neither this man has sinned nor his parents, but that
the works of God might be manifest in him. They were wrong. It wasn't
that he was guilty of some great sin or was suffering as the consequence
of some sin by his parents. What came upon that man, that
poor man born blind, was all in the mysterious purpose of
God again. We have those words of the Lord
Jesus in the opening verses of Luke chapter 13. We are told
there were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus
answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were
sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?
I tell you, Nay. But except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish. For those eighteen upon whom
the tower in Siloam fell and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you,
Nay. But except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish. It is wrong, you see, when we
see sufferings, to equate those sufferings with some particular
sin. Whichever way Job turns, he cannot
discover the cause of his troubles. And that's part of his confusion.
That's part of his problem. but neither is Job able to fix
his thoughts he can't fix his thoughts at this time and we
don't understand that in terms of what he is saying in these
verses 8 and 9 behold I go forward but he is not there and backward
but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he does work
but I cannot behold him he hideth himself on the right hand that
I cannot see him he's hither and thither he's all over the
place and he cannot fix his thoughts in a sense he seems to be a man
who is brought to his wit's end in trying to understand we are
reminded are we not of the mariner of whom the psalmist speaks in
the 107th psalm those who are doing business in great waters
there in psalm 127 sorry, psalm 107, psalm 107 The verse 23 we read of they
that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters. These see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount
up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul
is mulched because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Or as the margin
says, their wisdom is swallowed up. They are at their wits end,
they can't understand what God is doing. And we're not just
to think in terms of those who are real mariners who do business
in great waters. It's another spiritual interpretation
here. If we have business with God,
God has dealings with us. Oh, there is a mystery in all
God's words. As we sang just now in that lovely hymn of William
Cooper's, God does move in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. Plies his footsteps in the sea
and rides upon the storm. Here is a man then who is brought
to the end of himself. He cannot understand, he cannot
really fix his thoughts aright. Now we see there in the Psalms
that those who are having such dealings, or those who know that
God is having such dealings with them, what do they do? Then they
cry unto the Lord. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh a storm, a calm, So
that the ways that are of us still, then are they glad because
they be quiet, so we bring at them unto their desires haven. They are brought to the end of
themselves and they pray to God, they call upon God, they cry
to God. And this is what Job is doing,
is it not? Certainly this is his desire,
as we said this morning, to come to God's seat, to the mercy seat,
the throne of grace, where one obtains mercy, where one finds
grace to help, to order the cause before God, to fill the mouths
with arguments. Come now, he says, and let us
reason together. Or take with you words and turn
to the Lord. And we have the same exhortation,
do we not, in the New Testament Scriptures? Paul there in Philippians
4 says, be careful for nothing. Be careful for nothing. but in
everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgivings, let your
requests be made known unto God." Now the word that he uses, to
be careful, it's a compound and it's based upon the noun for
the mind. Literally it means to tear the
mind, to be careful, to tear the mind, to divide the mind. You see, it's that mind that
is wrapped with anxious cares, that's what's being spoken of.
We're not to have a mind that's torn and wrapped with anxious
cares. We're to cast all our cares upon
God, be careful for nothing. There'll be like that in everything,
by prayer and supplication. But there is a difference, of
course, between theorising, we see it there on the page of scripture,
it's a word of exhortation, a word of command that we have in Philippians
chapter 4. But it's one thing to see it
there in the scriptures, it's another thing to learn it in
our experiences, isn't it? When we're in the midst of the
trial, and this is where poor Job was, in the midst of the
trial there, He is brought to this, he is cast upon God. He
is cast upon God. He can turn nowhere else. Turn
which way? Everywhere. The Lord Jesus speaks
those gracious words in the 14th chapter of John's Gospel. Let
not your heart be troubled. The word there, you see, has
to do with the raging of the soul. the tumultuous seas, and
we've seen something of tumultuous seas, raging seas, boiling seas,
this winter with the storms, let not your heart be like that,
says the Lord Jesus Christ, ye believe in God, believe also
in me. Yes, Job is confused, he's confused,
he cannot get to the root of his trouble, he cannot explain
what's come upon him, he can't really gather his thoughts properly.
And yet here is his comfort as we come to the words of the text,
but he says, He, that is God, knoweth the way that I take,
when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as God. Here is the comfort then that
the man has in the midst of all his trouble, He knows that God
is acquainted with him, that God knows him. He knoweth the
way that I take. Deliphas had given that word
of advice, acquaint thou thyself with him. And certainly that
was what Job desired. He wanted to be altogether acquainted
with God. But God, and the way of God,
was so hidden from poor Job. As he says in the words that
we looked at earlier today, Oh, that I know where I might find
him. I want to know where he is. I want to find him. This is his
great desire. But God's way is so hidden from
him. He cannot find the Almighty.
Another of the friends utters those remarkable words in a previous
chapter, in chapter 11. And there, at verse 7 following,
we have something of the, one of the speeches of Zophar. He
says, canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find
out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven. What canst thou do? Deeper than
half, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the search. Or you're not going
to be able to find out God's ways, John. He is not going to
be able to discover the Almighty. He is the Infinite One. He is
beyond all our reasoning powers. And there is a mystery in God
and the ways of God. The psalmist again in Psalm 77
says, Thy way is in the sea. Thy path is in the deep waters.
Thy footsteps are not known. There are no footsteps in the
sea. The tumultuous sea, how quickly the footsteps are washed
away. And that's where God works, God's
ways are such a mystery. He tells us my thoughts are not
your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways. As the heaven
is higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Poor Job, he's lost
here, he's lost. as he wants to understand something
of God's dealings with him. And yet, he knows that God is
acquainted with him, and God knows him. He might be while
he was confused by the dealings of God, but where does Job find
his comfort? He finds his comfort in the decrying. That's the wonderful thing with
Job. He finds his comfort in God's decree. He knoweth the
way that I take, he says. Here is where he draws a measure
of comfort in verse 13. He is in one mind, and who can
turn him? And what his soul desireth, even
that he doeth? For he performeth the thing that
is appointed for And many such things are with me. Oh, there
are many devices in a man's heart, you see. Nevertheless, the counsel
of the Lord, that shall stand. God knows this man. God knows him. He knoweth the
wife that I take. And that knowledge is indicative,
is it not, of God's love for him. It's not just the foreknowing
of events before they occur. When we read of God's foreknowledge
in the scriptures, it's much more than that. We read those
words at the beginning of 1 Peter, concerning the elect, thou elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. It doesn't mean that God foresees
what's going to happen and then on the basis of what he foresees
he makes his choice. No, it doesn't mean that at all. His foreknowledge has to do with
his love. He knows them. He knows them. Just as we read concerning Adam,
he knew his wife, he knew her, he loved her. The intimacy of
the relationship, the child-born. Adam knew his wife. And the Lord
God knows his people, he loves them. Paul tells us, does he not, how
all things work together for them that love God. Why do they love God? because
God is first of them. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. All the blessing of God's foreknowledge. He knows his people. He knows
the ways of his people. He understands them. And it is
the knowledge of gracious purpose that Job is so much aware of
him. God is acquainted with him. God knows him. He knoweth the
way that I take. He knoweth the way that is with
me. That gracious purpose of God.
He is executing His decree even in my life. I can't understand
what He's doing. There is a mystery in his dealings,
but there is the comfort of his eternal decrees, because he is
that God who is ever good and always does what is good. And it's not just a knowledge
of gracious purpose that's comforting to Job here, there is also of
course that knowledge of God's tender pituitary. God's tender
pituitary. The psalmist speaks of it in
Psalm 103, does he not? Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth his children. He knoweth our
frailness. He remembereth that we are dust. He knows our frailty. He knows that we are but feeble
creatures, weak men and women. He knows all about us. There
is nothing concealed from Him. And He takes account of that,
like as a father pitieth. his children. This is how God
is. It's a knowledge, I say, of tender people. So whatever
the trial or the trouble that comes into the life of his children,
God is in it. There has no temptation taken
you but such as is common to man. But God is fatal, says Paul. Will not let you be tempted of
God that you're able, but with the temptation he makes a way
of escape. but ye shall be able to bear it so it was with Job
he knows the way that I take the way that is with me when
he has tried me I shall come forth as gold God is not only
acquainted with him God not only knows this man but is there not
here also something more than that isn't God proving this man
and as God proves him will God not also approve of him as he
comes through this great test it is the reality of this man's
faith that is being tried and tested as I said Job was a justified
man perfect, upward And that is only in the Lord Jesus Christ,
as I said. It's a wonder, is it not? Our
own great sinners, filthy, foul sinners, as they are trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ, are looked upon in the eye of God
as those who are perfect and upright. That's the wonder. That's the great truth of justification. that righteousness of Christ
imputed to his people. And as that righteousness is
reckoned to their account, so Christ has taken all their sin. And that sin has been imputed
to Christ. That's the exchange, the glorious exchange of the
Gospel. He takes the sins of his people
and he bears the penalty, the punishment that was their desire.
He makes the great sin atoning sacrifice. And so the sinner,
I say, is justified, upright, perfect in the sight of God. And that was Job. Job was a justified
man. But Job, Job knew little of his
own heart. Job knew very little of the depths
of his depraved nature. And that's true of us, is it
not? How well do we really know ourselves? How well do we know
ourselves? What has God shown us, truly
shown us of ourselves? Here God deals with Job. And
what does God do to Job? Look at verse 16. God, He says,
make of my heart soft and the almighty troubled. Then God comes, you see, in the
trial. What is the effect of the trial?
Well, where the trouble comes into the life of the godless
man, it only hardens his heart. Hardens his heart. He hates God. But here is a man you see who
knows God. Here is a man who is truly a
child of God. And the effects of God troubling
him is not a hardening but a softening. Or do we not feel to need it,
friends? What is my heart? What is your
heart by nature? Our hearts are so hard. We are
hard-hearted sinners in our very natures, are we not? And we need God to come and touch
us, and to make our hearts soft hearts. And when God touches
the heart and makes the heart soft, what do we feel? We feel our sin. And we feel
our sin to be a grievous sin. the dreadful burden. We hate
it. When God touches our hearts,
we see what sins cost the Lord Jesus Christ, all the sins of
His people. It cost Christ His very life.
That's why Christ died. He died for sinners. He died,
as we've said, in the sinner's room and in the sinner's stead. Law and terrors do but harden,
all the while they work alone, but a sense of blood would pardon. Soon dissolves the heart of stone. Do we know what it is when our
hearts, our hard hearts dissolve, soften, brought to weep over
our sins? This was something of Job's experience,
you see. He felt himself to be a sinner
and he confesses this is the outcome of all these strange
things that come into this poor man's life when we come to the
very final chapter of the book what does he say? I have heard
of thee by the hearing of the ear that now mine eyes see of
thee wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes
he's abhorrent to himself because of his sin And yet, he's the
man who is upright and perfect. That's what God says of him.
God says that in chapter 1. In chapter 42, Job says, I'm
of horror. How strange this is. This is
the way of salvation, is it not? When we see ourselves as we really
are and yet God sees us. As those who are looking to Christ
and trusting in Christ, God sees us only in His only begotten
and well-beloved Son. Oh, what is Job experiencing
here then? He's having his faith tried. And the reality of that faith
is going to be discovered. That's what he confesses. He
knoweth the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall
come forth as gold, I shall come forth as gold, gold in the furthest
trite, ne'er lose his aught but gloss, so is the Christian purified
and bettered by the cross, or the experience you see is beneficial,
it's blessed, to have the reality of our faith proved by God. Again
we read it there in Peter, did we not? The trial of your faith,
being much more precious than the gold that perishes though
it be tried in the fire, is found unto honour and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ. And this is the loss, you know,
of the people of God. This is the loss of God's people. Beloved, think it not strange
concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some
strange thing happened unto you. Peter says that in chapter 4.
We are not to think it strange. Why is this remarkable book of
Job in the Scriptures. Why is this man's experience
left on record? Isn't this God's Word to us?
Isn't this God's Word to us tonight? We won't necessarily, very doubtful
that we don't have the depth of experience that this man had.
All you've heard, says James at the end, Juras, the perseverance,
the patience, the Job, This is all recorded and it's
written for our learning that we through patience, endurance
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Or are we not
to learn then from this blessed book and the Lord's dealings
with the justified sinner. What was true of Job is true
of all the Lord's people he knoweth. We might often say, oh, that
I know where I might find Him, that I might come even to His
seat when God, as it were, hides Himself from us. When the heavens
sometimes feel as if our breaths and our prayers don't penetrate.
And we want to come before Him, we want to seek to order our
courts, we want to fill our mouths with reasonings and arguments,
we want to pray to God. And it's hard to pray. And we
cannot really gather our thoughts together. And we cannot find
the root cause of our troubles. Oh, but here is our comfort,
God. He knoweth the way that I take. When He hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold. Amen.