Let us turn again to God's words,
directing your attention to the words that we find in Job chapter
23 and the verses 3 and 4. Job chapter 23 and verses 3 and
4, O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even
to his seat, I would order my cause before him and fill my
mouth with arguments in Job chapter 23 and verses 3 and 4 words in
the context clearly being addressed to Eliphaz as we see from the
opening verse of the chapter then Job answers he is answering
those things that have been spoken in chapter 22 by his friend,
his comforter, Eliphaz, Eliphaz the Temanite. Remember how we
have these various cycles of speeches in Job, as these men
come forward and express their opinion with regards to the circumstances
of Job's life. They seek, as they imagine, to
comfort him, though they prove very poor competence, and Job
in turn will answer them, and as I said, here he addresses
himself to what Eliphaz had been saying in the previous chapter. Like the other of Job's friends,
Eliphaz did say many good things, many right things, in fact There
in chapter 22 and verses 21 to 23 we see how he speaks of the
necessity of a spirit of true repentance in Job. Equate now
thyself with him, he says, and be at peace. Thereby good shall
come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law
from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou
return to the Almighty thou shalt be built up. They shall put away
iniquity far from thy tabernacles. It's a word of exhortation and
encouragement then that Job should turn from sin and be one who
is acquainted to the Lord, looking to the Lord. He speaks then on
occasions like the others many good, sound words. But on the whole, as we read
through the book, we see it is Job who says many more right
things than any of his friends. God's words, we might say, are
really words that have been proved in his experience, in his sufferings. He speaks then out of the midst
of all that God was doing with him, all that God was teaching
him. When we come to the end of the
book, how the Lord rebukes those friends of Job in chapter 42
verse 7 it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words
unto Job the Lord said to Eliphaz the demonite my wrath is kindled
against thee and against thy two friends For ye have not spoken
of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath. They might say on occasions many
remarkable things, but on the whole it is Job who speaks true
words, expending mental words out of the fullness of his heart's
experience. And do we not see it in these
words that we have this morning for our text? As Job answers
Eliphas, here is Job expressing something of his desire, O that
I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his
seat, I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth
with arguments. He longs to come to appear before
God, to come to the mercy seat, to address God, in his prayers
to pour out his soul to make his great needs known. Well,
as we turn to the text, I want to deal with two main headings
this morning. First of all, to consider something
of the desire, the desire of Job. as we see it in these verses. How like unto David is Job, David
the man after God's own heart. Remember in Psalm 38, David can
say, Lord all my desire is before the earth. All my desire is before
the earth. And my groaning is not hid from
the earth. Where is our desire this morning? Is our desire towards the Lord. Can we really identify with the
words of Job here in the text? We see his desire in this, that
he seeks after God, or that I know where I might find Him. He wants to know where God is, that
he might come to Him and order His cause in His presence. and
make his request known unto God. Now we know that the man that
he is answering Eliphaz was one who was certainly visited by
God. He had spoken back in chapter
4, in fact he was the first of those friends of Job's that spoke. And there in chapter 4, look
at what Eliphaz is saying at verse 12 following. Seems to
have had some experience, some strange experience of God. He
says there at verse 12, Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and
my ear received a little thereof, in thoughts, from the visions
of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men. Fear came upon
me, and trembling which made all my bones to shake. Then a
spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not
discern the form thereof. An image was before my eyes.
There was silence. And I heard a voice saying, Shall
mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure
than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his
servant. and his angels he charged with
follow, how much less in them the dwelling houses of Cly, whose
foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth."
Clearly this man had had some visitation from God himself. God had appeared to him. And
God had spoken to him there in that fourth chapter. And what
is Elijah is saying here as he comes and speaks again with Job
he reckons that Job needed the same sort of experience needed
to know something of God something of the Word of God that God would
come to him look at what he says there in verse 21 of that 22nd
chapter acquaint thyself with him and be at peace thereby good
shall come unto them. Didn't Job leave the sign that
God should come to him? But Eliphaz was misjudging the
situation here. It wasn't that Job knew nothing
of God, Job already knew God. Job also had experience of God
in times past. And Job makes that quite clear
himself when we see what he says previously in the 7th chapter for example. At verse 13 and verse 14 Job
speaks, When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease
my complaint, then thou scar'st me with dreams. and terrifies
me through visions Job had known something very much similar to
what had been the experience of Eliphaz back in chapter 4
it was not that this man was unacquainted with God he knew
God he had had blessed experiences of God he had not only been terrified
but God on occasions had favoured him and blessed him Look how
he yearns after those days in chapter 29. In verse 2 he says,
O 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, 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. Job certainly
knew as much of God and more of God than ever in life has
known. And of course we know that when
one has that true knowledge of God, that saving knowledge of
God, it can never be lost, it can never be completely taken
away from a man. No one is able to Wrench the
child of God out of the hands of the Almighty. The Lord Jesus
himself assures us, I give unto them eternal life, he says, and
they shall never perish. No man is able to pluck them
out of my hands. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man can pluck them out of
my Father's hands. Salvation can never be lost.
If Job was truly acquainted with God in times past, he was still
God's child. And that could never be taken
away from him. But sometimes, you see, sometimes
the child of God finds himself in darkness. God's face is hidden. The Lord seems to be at some
distance from him. Remember how the prophet Isaiah
speaks there at the end of chapter 50 in the book. Who is among
you that feareth the Lord, and obeyeth the voice of his servant,
but walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord. Oh, this is that man who fears
God, who obeys the voice of God's servant, the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the true servant of God. And yet he's walking
in darkness. And he has no light, he doesn't
seek to surround himself with sparks of his own making. as
we see there at the end of that 50th chapter in Isaiah. That's
the ungodly man, who will manufacture his own life. But those who are
the Lords who are walking in darkness, what do they do? They
wait upon God, they trust in the Lord. And so here we see
Job, he feels himself to be in darkness,
he cannot discern God, he cannot find God. look at what he says
at verse 8 following 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 turn which way and every
way and he is unable to find his God but he says in verse
10 he knoweth the way that I tell him when he hath tried me, I
shall come forth as God. Oh, in the midst of all his gloominess
and all his darknesses he does have some hope, he has some comfort,
he is one who will be ever always seeking after his God. Oh, that I know where I might
find him, he wants to find God. This is the great burden In his
heart this is a real desire of the man's soul, he wants to know
where God is, he wants to find God in the midst of all his troubles. And isn't that a mark of a gracious
man? Is this true of us friends when
we are in the midst of trials and troubles and difficulties?
Who is it that we seek after? Who is it that we turn to? Who
is it that we desire to know that he would come and look upon
us and behold us and lift up the light of his countenance
and direct our steps here is something then of Job's desire
to be discerned in the way in which he will seek after God
desire that he might find his God but then also see how he
speaks particularly of the seat of God this is where he wants
to come that I might come even to his seat. Which seat is this that he is
speaking of? Is it not the mercy seat? That mercy seat that is spoken
of of course in the book of Exodus that very significant part of
the furnishings of the tabernacle that that God's provided as a
covering upon the top of the Ark of the Covenant. Now, Moses
received very specific instruction with regards to the making of
that lid, covering that mercy seat in Exodus chapter 25. Now, what was the significance
of the mercy seat? Well, it's provided a perfect
covering for the Ark. The dimensions of the Mercy Seat
are exactly the same as the dimensions of the Ark. And in the Ark, of
course, were the tables of the Law, the Covenant that God had
made, the Ten Commandments. And here we have that Holy Lord
of God that can only minister death and condemnation to the
sinner. That is the ministration of the
Lord, is it not? by the law is the knowledge of
sin. But there is that perfect covering.
And it was there upon the mercy seat, of course, that the blood
was to be sprinkled in that great day of atonement. The one day
in the year when the high priest is permitted to enter beyond
the veil, and to go into the Holy of Holies, and he must go
with the blood of sacrifice, and he was to take that blood
and he was to sprinkle it both before the mercy seat and upon
the mercy seat and we have all the instruction and direction
concerning that day of atonement in Leviticus chapter 16 and there
at verse 15 God says to Moses concerning the high priest then
shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the
people and bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon
the mercy son and before the mercy son and he shall make an
atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of
the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all
their sin and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation
that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. He is to take the blood of sprinkling
there into the Holy of Holies and apply it to the mercy seat. It is the place then of propitiation. God dwells there in the Holy
of Holies. And here is the sacrifice and
the sacrificial blood. And here we see that as the blood
is applied so the wrath of God is satisfied. And there is propitiation
for the sins of the people. The mercy seat, always the place
where sin is atoned. But not only that, it is also
that place where God's grouse It is the place, therefore, where
the children of Israel will be able to meet with God. This is
what God says as He gives those directions to Moses with regards
to the making of the mercy seat in Exodus 25. He says, there
I will meet with them. That's the mercy seat. There
I will meet with them and I will commune with them. from above
the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon
the ark of the testament it is that special place of meeting
and this is what Job desires all to meet with God, to meet
with God whose wrath has been satisfied, whose justice has
been satisfied at the mercy seat he would come to that special
place that I might come even, he says, to his seat. The seat of God, the mercy seat.
And all that we see in the mercy seat is of course typical, it's
part of the worship, the Levitical worship of the Old Testament.
And that book of Leviticus, it's all full of shadows and types,
it's all foreshadowing the coming of Christ who is the substance,
it's all pointing to Christ who is the great antitype, all that
was typified then in the mercy cities fulfilled in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the one who has come and
made the great atoning sacrifice. He is the propitiation for our
sins, says John. here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation
for our sins. The Lord Jesus is that one then,
who when He suffered upon the cross was pleased to bear in
His own person, His holy person, He bore all that wrath of God
against the sins of His people. He died as a substitute. in their
room and in their stage. All he is the place of propitiation. Christ is the Mercy Saint. He
fills the Mercy Saints as we sang in our opening praise. Interesting,
I know I've mentioned it before but I repeat it. Must it not
always be with each and all of us, line upon line, line upon
line, precept upon precept, Precept upon precept, here a little,
there a little. We hear things, we learn things,
we forget things. And so I repeat what I've said
many times previously in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter
9, in the opening verses we see how Paul speaks of some of the
furnishings there in the tabernacle. And in verse 5 he specifically
mentions the Mercy Seat. And the words that he uses there
in the original is used on just one other occasion in the New
Testament. That particular word is used
in Hebrews 9.5 where it's translated Mercy Seat, but it's also to
be found in Romans 3.25. But it is not translated mercy
in Romans. In Romans chapter 3 and verse
25 it is rendered propitiation. But then in Romans 3 we see how
Paul is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, this
whom God hath set forth, this is Christ, whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation. a mercy service through faith
in his blood. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ, you
see, is that mercy service. This is the one that Job really
desires, that I might come even to his sake, God's sake, God's
mercy service. As Job would seek in God and
seek to come before God, how will he come? He comes by Christ
he comes through the Lord Jesus Christ even here in the Old Testament
this is the only way of approach one God and one mediator between
God and man the man Christ Jesus or that I know where I might
find him where he's got to be found that I might come even
to his seat God can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am
the wife, the truth, and the life, says Christ. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. See how this man continues. At verse 6 he says, will he plead
against me with his great power? No. But, he's speaking of God,
no. He won't plead against me with
his great power. He would put strength in me.
There, the righteous might dispute with him. Where is the there? It's the Mercy Saint. There,
the righteous. Who is the righteous? That man
who is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, not only for the propitiation
of his sins, but looking to the Lord Jesus Christ as his righteousness. There is to be that looking to
Christ, that pleading of Christ. If ever we would know God, if
ever we would come to God and seek to order our cause before
Him. Observe then here something of
Job's desire as we have it expressed in the third verse. But then,
in the second place, turning to verse four, Do we not see
something of Job's doing? He's not passive, this man. He's
not passive. As he expresses his desire, as
he comes seeking after God, wanting to come to God's mercy service. What does he say in verse 4?
I would order my cause before him. and fill my mouth with arguments. His desire is expressed in his
doing. And what is his doing? Well,
it's God who puts strength in him. And God puts strength in
him to pray. This is what the man does, he
prays. He prays. He makes use of the mercy all friends are we those who
do that very thing there is a mercy seat there is a throne of grace
and there we obtain mercy and there we find grace to help in
every time of need but alas how slow we are to pray well I have
to confess I'm so slow to pray so slow to pray we don't avail
ourselves of that blessed mercy seat but Jo Oh, here is his determination. I would order my cause before
him, he says, and fill my mouth with arguments. What boldness
we see in this note. Does it not remind us of the
words of the Apostle as we read them there at the end of Hebrews
4? How Paul exhorts and encourages, in view of Christ's priesthood,
let us therefore come boldly, he says, to the throne of Christ. For with you come boldly says
the Apostle and the word boldly is one of those compound words
that we often find in the New Testament, it's two words that
have been welded together. Literally it means all speech,
that's boldness. Let us therefore come boldly,
come with all speech filling the mouth with arguments. William Cooper says, have you
no words? Ah, think again. Words flow apace
when you comply and fill your fellow preachers here with the
same time. Of all your care, we have much
to say one to another. And we often comply one to another. But all that we might come to
God with our words They might be poor words, broken accents. Hardly able to give expression
to what we really feel. And yes, God invites us to come.
Take with you words, he says to the prophet Hosea. Take with
you words and turn to the Lord and say take away all iniquity
and receive us graciously. Or doesn't God invite us thus
to come to him? It's a remarkable word that this
man uses when he says he would fill his mouth with arguments. But this is what God invites
his people to do, is it not? Come now, he says, and let us
reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as war. That's our privilege to come
to God with all our sins, to reason with God about our sins,
to fill our mouths with arguments, to tell the Almighty how gracious
God is. Has He not established a mercy
street whereby the sinner can come to Him and come with all
boldness and come not only to pray to God but to plead with
God and to come not only to ask of God, but to argue with God.
Friends, this is the God that we have to do with. When we see
it here, do we not, in the case of this man, Job, I would order
my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. Now, what is the best way to
order our cause? Friends, the best way is to put
our cause in the hands of another. To put our cause in the hands
of him who is the blessed advocate, the sinner's advocate. And Job,
Job certainly knew something of that. See how he speaks of
the advocate several times here? In chapter 9 he says, neither
is there any day's man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon
us both. As he comes before God, he feels
his need of one who will be the mediator, one who will be the
umpire, who will lay his hand upon Job, but also lay his hand
upon the Almighty, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, is it
not? He can lay his hand upon the poor sinner? Is he not bone
of our bone and flesh of our flesh? Is he not partaker of
our human nature? He took not upon him the nature
of the angels, he took upon him the seed of Abraham. And for
as much as the children were partakers of flesh and blood,
he likewise took part of the same. Is a man He can lay hold
of men, lay hold of women. He does that. He comes where
we are. But he is also God. Oh, it's
the Lord Jesus, you see, that dear Job is expressing his great
desire for. He wants to know that there is
a Diasmond, an umpire, that will stand between him and God, lay
his hand, he says, upon us. both and he wants Christ to come
as that one who will plead for him and intercede for him look at chapter 16 verse 21 again
words of Job or that one might plead for a man with God as a
man pleaded for his neighbour He wants one to plead. Who is
the one who pleads for the sinner? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ? This is how this man would come
and order his cause then. He will put his cause into the
hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will trust Christ to intercede
for him. In fact, he wants Christ not
only to plead his cause, he wants the Lord Jesus Christ to be that
one who will stand in his very place. He wants a surety. Chapter 17 and verse 3, he says
to the Almighty God, lay down now, put me in a surety with
them. Who is he that will strike hands
with me? He wants a surety. Someone to stand for him. to
stand in his very place the surety ship of the Lord Jesus Christ
remember how Judah would stand as surety for Benjamin when Jacob
desires his sons to go the second time into Egypt to appear before
the man Joseph and the brethren knew not it was Joseph the first
time they went And they went away with their sacks filled
but they were told plainly they would never see this man's face
again except they brought their younger brother Benjamin. And when all the corn had gone
and they again needed to go into the land, they remind Jacob that
they're going to take Benjamin. And dear Jacob so low to allow
his youngest son, he'd lost his son Joseph he supposed, and he is very loath to permit
that they should take Benjamin. But Judah stands forth for Genesis
43 verse 9 and declares that he will stand assured for his
brother. If anything should befall Benjamin,
Judah is the one who will be responsible. It is not Christ
of the tribe of Judah. Christ is that blessed surety.
And not surety for those who in their fallen nature are his
brethren. They're his enemies. They're his enemies, they're
strangers. The wise man says he that his surety for a stranger
shall smart for it. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that surety, you see. how he has suffered as a short-term,
how he has had to act as their substitute
and die in their room and in their state. Oh friends, we see
something then of Job's great wisdom. as he expresses his desire
there in chapter 17 that one would stand as his surety and
that's what the Lord Jesus Christ does. We have to commit our cause
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone's seeing says
John we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous
and he is the propitiation for our sins. Here is Job then, what does he
do? Always looking to another. He will commit his cause into
the hands of Christ. And we are to learn, are we not,
that these things are not written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. As we come together
we come to hear of this blessed even the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then we have his arguments. His arguments. What does he say? He would fill his mouth with
arguments. It's not the only time he says
that. If you go back previously in chapter 13, and verse 3 says something similar
surely I would speak to the almighty I desire to reason with God or
the boldness of this man are we those friends who would reason
with God and argue with God not presumptuously not foolishly
we know that God is in heaven where upon the earth our work
should be fused that's what the preacher says in Ecclesiastes
chapter 5 we have to remember where God is Surely Job doesn't come here
to plead his own deeds. He's not looking to argue in
terms of his own righteous works. He's not going to speak of his
great faith or his genuine repentance. That's not the way to argue with
God. We are all as an unclean thing.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, says Isaiah. We
do all pay as the leaf. Our iniquities like the wind,
they carry us away. We have nothing of ourselves
that we could plead. Now, you might say, on occasions
there does seem to be something of self-righteousness in Job.
Look at how he speaks there. In verses 11 and 12 he says,
My foot has held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined,
neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips.
I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary
food. Is he here commending himself? Maybe he is. There is certainly
something of self-righteousness in Job on occasion. He is not
always wise in the words that he speaks. But you see, God is
dealing with this man and in Job's sufferings, in his trials,
Job is being sifted and searched. Job is being made increasingly
to see his sin and his complete, his utter dependence upon the
grace of God. And friends, we can only argue
with God in terms of grace. in terms of grace, what God is,
what God has done, not what he's done. But we can argue with him,
from his own word can we not. We can take his promises. And
the Bible is full of these promises. And we can take the promises
and turn them into petitions. And reason with God, concerning
all those things that he has said in his great mercy to sinners,
and come as the sinner and argue in terms of our great needs as
that sinner. How Job was taught of God. He
acknowledges that none teacheth like him. And what did Job learn? And we see it when we come of
course to the end. In chapter 42 he says, I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes
seeth not. Wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. He's filled with self-abominance
when he looks to himself. He has nothing to speak of. No
righteous works to please. He cannot argue in terms of merit. He can only come and sue for
mercy. And God is a merciful God. Where
is it that Job would come? It's to God's feet. And as we
said, that is the mercy seat. That is the mercy seat. In the
New Testament, the throne of grace, and we're to come boldly
to that throne, that we might obtain mercy, that we might find
grace to help in every time of need. or God's grant that we
might learn them from this ancient book of Job. Some say it's the
oldest part of all the scriptures, predates the days of Moses and
the giving of the law, in the sense it anticipates those things.
But here we see, even in those ancient days, the gospel of the
grace of God. That message seat of mercy, that
throne of grace, or that I knew where I might find Him, that
I might come even to His seat, I would order my cause before
Him and fill my mouth with arguments. Well, the Lord grant His blessings
for His namesake.