Next week, we will change the
service to Wednesday night for that week, and we'll go back
to the regular Thursday. And so we'll be 7.30 next Wednesday
night here. And I'll probably be the only
one forget that, more than likely. But Job chapter 10. I titled this, and I've been
reading this for a few weeks. And the title that stuck with
me is Faith and Human Frailty. Faith and Human Frailty. It is written in the scriptures,
he remembers our frame is made of dust. He remembers what he
made us out of. But in this chapter and through
other chapters yet to come, we will see the frailty of faith
in these clay pots, in sinners like me and you. Now we know
that Job believed God. We know that. He was a perfect
man. God called him a perfect man,
and He called him a perfect man for the same reason He can call
me and you who believe perfect. Perfect in Christ. Our perfection
is in Jesus Christ. Not in this life, but in Him
we are perfect. In the One who is life, We are
perfect. I read to you there, John said,
we wrote to you about eternal life. Eternal life is a person.
Eternal life is Jesus Christ. And so we know Job believed God,
but faith is never perfected in this life. We often have doubts
for no reason. Has God ever broken a promise? We have unfounded fears. As the
Lord said to his disciples, why are you so fearful? When they
were on that ship and it was being rocked with the hurricane,
and they thought they were going to perish, they said, carest
thou not that we perish? What a statement, what a statement. And he calmed the winds and the
sea. They had nothing to be afraid of. You know, they had to wake
him up, he was asleep. You know, that's exactly how we ought to
go through trial, that calm. We ought to go through trials
that calm. Because not a hair of your head,
he said, will perish. Not a hair on your head will
perish. But sadly, sadly, we carry around with us, within
us, that old Adamic nature. We still have it. That old nature
that does not believe God, that old nature that's at enmity with
God, against God, we still have that nature. It's not eradicated
when the Lord saved us. Sin was not eradicated, that
sinful nature was not eradicated. That's why Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am. He said, in this flesh, he said,
in me, and then he clarifies. He said, in me, that is in my
flesh. Well, it's no good thing. Because
in me dwells the Holy Spirit. So we have to clarify that because
there is one in me, Christ in you, the hope of glory, that
is good and that is holy and that is righteous. But I still
have a nature, Paul said, when I would do good, evil is present
with me. That which I would do, I don't. That which I would not
do, I do. He said, oh wretched man that
I am, who's gonna deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ, that's who. Someday I'm gonna
be delivered, like a bird let out of a cage. You know, I think
about that when a believer passes away, goes home to be with the
Lord, I think of a bird being let out of a cage, and it's free
to go. Free from sin, free from this
body of corruption, free from the temptations. Won't it be
good when we're not tempted ever again? That the thought of sin
will never cross our mind. That's amazing. It's coming though,
it's coming. But I think, I tell you what,
this is a constant battle that goes on inwardly with every believer
day by day. But I thank God that he's ever
faithful to his covenant. God made a covenant with his
son. God made a covenant with us through his son. He will not
break that covenant. He won't do it. I can't break
that covenant because God's not a covenant breaker. We are, but
God's not. He's not a covenant breaker.
He's faithful to His covenant that He made with His Son. He's
faithful to His Son. He's faithful to His Word. And
God is faithful to His children. His children, they are the apple
of His eye. Can you imagine you being the
apple of God's eye? The concern of God as if no one
else existed, but you? You have his attention like that. But now listen, often in the
scriptures, the sins of the saints and their downfalls are recorded,
not for their shame, not for their shame, but for our learning.
our learning. You know, I've learned this after
67 years. I would rather listen to wisdom
and depart from something than experience it and hurt from it.
I would rather listen to wisdom. And right here we have it. The
Word of God. Open my ears to your wisdom,
the spirit of wisdom in your word. There's things I don't
want to go through. And if I can not do it through
the wisdom of God, Christ, that's better than experiencing the
hurt of it. So anyway, the Lord didn't reveal
their sins for their shame, but for us. You know, Abraham believed
God. Yet he gave up his wife two times
to two kings, supposing that they would want her and they
would kill him. This was just a supposition. He gave her up. They weren't even after her.
He just said, you know, whenever they come, you just go. David
with Bathsheba. God didn't cover that up. David
tried to. He tried to cover that up. He
said, my bones waxed. They roared within me. My bones
roared within me. He tried to, Psalm 32, he tried
to cover it up. Noah, he gets off the ark. Noah
and his family are the only ones saved, the only ones saved in
the flood. He gets off the ark, grows a
vineyard and gets drunk and then embarrasses himself in front
of his family. God didn't hide that. He didn't
have to record that, but he did. Jacob deceived his brother for
the birthright. Peter denied the Lord. God didn't
hide that. He didn't hide it. And that list
goes on. It goes on. But remember this. God is pleased
to put this treasure in earthen vessels that the power may be
of God and not of ourselves. He gets the glory. Don't we give
him the glory for for all that we have and all that we are.
I am what I am by the grace of God, are we not? Now let me just
do a brief recap here in Job. In Job chapter 10, verse 1 and
2, Job said, My soul is weary of my life, tired of living. My soul, my inward man, I'm tired
of this sinful life on this earth. I'm going to leave my complaint
upon myself. I'm going to speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I'm going to say some things I probably shouldn't say, but
he does. And I'm glad he does. I'm glad
that God let this man speak out his heart, speak out what he's
feeling, because you know, you and I have felt some things when
we've gone through some difficult times. And Job just, he just
lays it out there. And God enables him to do it
for us. For us. But he asked God not to condemn
him, but to reveal to him why he was being dealt with with
such severity. You know, this is the same God,
listen, here's what Job was, and let me say this. Let me say
this. You and I have the advantage
of having the whole Word of God. We have the whole revealed word
of God. Job didn't have that. It's said
to be the oldest book in the Bible. He didn't have all that
we have. We have the full light of scripture.
It says that Christ has come and brought light and immortality
to light through the gospel. We have a lot more knowledge.
We have a lot more light than what Job had. And here's what
Job is dealing with. God buttered his steps. God blessed
him. Satan said to God, you have blessed
the work of his hands. Everything he touches, you just
bless it. Anybody would worship you for
that. And then God Almighty did not
turn on Job. This was an act of mercy toward
Job. He's bringing Job closer to himself. By the hearing of
the ear I've heard of thee, but now mine eye seeth thee. That's what he says at the end
of Job. That's what he says. Now I see
you. I see God. I see who he is. And
he said, I abhor myself. I abhor myself and sat close
in the ashes. God gave Job a greater view of
himself and his holiness and his righteousness and his power. You know, there when God began
to speak to Job, he didn't, he did not apologize. I told you
last, I was in the bulletin. A sovereign, the sovereign God
of heaven and earth never apologizes. You only apologize when you're
wrong and God's never wrong. He's always doing good. Everything
works together for our good. No matter how much it hurts,
it's for our good. Sometimes it takes us a while
to learn that though. It takes trials to learn that. It takes
experience to learn that looking back and seeing it. And then
Job in verse three through six, he asked several questions. He
said, is it good to you to oppress? Did you get joy out of oppressing? Are you like other men who judged
by appearance only? Well, we know the answer is no.
Because we have the Word of God. God is light, and in Him is no
darkness at all. I read it to you out of 1 John.
Job said, You made me, now will you destroy me? No, I tell you
what He will do with you as a believer. Now, if you're an unbeliever,
He's going to destroy you. But as a believer, He's going to
mold you and conform you to the image of His Son, and suffering
is a great part of that. Taking as well as giving is a
great part of that. And he says in verse 13, and
all these things concerning me are in your heart. That is, you
purposed all these things concerning me. My afflictions and my blessings
are of God. God is not just, he's not just
figuring this out as he goes along. God is God. God is infinitely wise. He's
a God of knowledge. He has purposed and ordained
all of these before we were ever born. He's no knee-jerk God. He doesn't do things. He's not
reactive. You and I are reactive to things
when they happen. You know how we react. The Scripture
says He purposed the end from the beginning. I mean, we've
got to have a higher understanding and view of God. We can't think of Him... We think
of God too humanly. We think of Him too humanly.
God is on another level. God is spirit. God is God. My ways are higher than your
ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. You can't figure
out God. Who by searching can find out
God? The scripture says, no one. He has to reveal himself. Seek
me, he said, and you'll find me, but he has to reveal himself.
You're not going to figure God out. He's way above us. Way above us. And Job said, all
these things are hidden in your heart. All the blessings, you
see Job dealt with God who had blessed him, I mean just blessed
him, buttered his steps, and now he's dealing with God who's
chastening him, which at the time he thought turned on him,
but you and I have the advantage of the Word. We know he didn't. Look over in Job 23 to see this scripture, what he's
talking about. He says in Job 23, 13 and 14, but he, God, is in one
mind. God is not double-minded, you
know. God's in one mind. And who can turn him? And what
his soul desireth, even that he doeth. Now listen, for he
performeth a thing that is appointed for me, that he has appointed
for me. And many such things are with him yet to come. Many such things. Now, let me
get to the verse 14, that's where I want to get to. Now, in looking
at what Job was saying, we must look at it in the light of the
whole Word of God. We have to take what Job says
and look at it in the light of the Word of God, because Scripture
interprets Scripture. No Scripture stands alone. And
he says in verse 14, If, some say Job is speaking hypothetically,
but he's saying, if I sin and thou markest me, thou will not
acquit me from mine iniquity. Job knew God to be holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. If we are going to talk with
God or talk about God, we've got to start with His holiness,
because it defines all the other attributes. His love is holy. His mercy is holy. His justice
is holy. Everything about God is holy.
All His attributes are immersed into His holiness. So Job knew that God was holy. He knew that God could not look
upon sin with indifference. John said, brethren, I say that
you sin not. God never approves of sin. He
said, be ye holy for I'm holy. That makes me want to run to
Jesus Christ more than anything, because I know in this flesh
I can't produce that kind of holiness. I can't do it, but
Jesus Christ did. He did, and I see my need of
him. But he knew that God would not
look upon sin with indifference. He knew God would by no means
clear the guilty. That's what he says over in the
scripture. That is, if we die guilty, if we die guilty, we
stay guilty. If I am not justified through
the blood and righteousness of Christ, I die guilty, I stay
guilty. There's no change. And here's
where we must interpret what Job that in the light of God's
word, if not, we'll, we'll fall into despair. You know, David
said this in Psalm 133 and Psalm 130 verse three, if thou Lord
should us mark iniquities, what if God marked your iniquities
today? You say, well, I didn't do anything today. Did you think,
did you have a thought today? There's nothing we do in this
life and in this flesh that's not tainted with sin. Man at
his best state is altogether vanity. When is a man at his
best state? When he's reading the Word of
God, when he's praying. If God leaves us alone, we're
vanity. We're vanity. If the Lord should
mark iniquity, oh Lord, who shall stand? what the psalmist said. Now listen, there are two ways
God deals with sin in his people. There are two ways God deals
with sin in his people, every one of them, one by one, every
one of them. And he did so collectively at
one time. First of all, he deals with the
sin of his people by way of punishment. Legal punishment. God is a God
of law. God is a God of law. The first one is legal. Legal punishment. And this is
where our substitute comes in. This is where the Lord Jesus
Christ comes in. God, God manifest in the flesh. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
God. God Almighty becoming a man. God Almighty in the flesh, God
taking upon himself the penalty of his own law for a multitude
of sinners that no man can number. God did that. That's substitution. Every believer's sins were dealt
with in Christ at Calvary. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, For He, God, God the Father,
hath made Him, God the Son, to be sin for us. He came into this world and was
made to be, as has been added by the translator. It says, For
He hath made Him sin for us. And let me tell you why. Well,
it tells us here, who knew no sin, Christ who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. But Christ had
to be made guilty for my sins. God, now listen, it says this
in the scripture, this is an abomination to God to slay the
innocent with the guilty. To take an innocent person and
put that person to death for something he did not do. God
said that's an abomination. Now listen, only God Almighty,
only God can make my sins, listen, His. Only God can take my sins from
me, take them to Himself and stand before His own law guilty. When Jesus Christ died, I died
on that cross. This guilty sinner died. And
that new man that's born of God in righteousness and true holiness
has no sin. That man has none. That's born
of God. But that man that's born of Adam?
He's a sinful man. He's a wretched man. Listen,
1 Peter 2.24. Who, that is Jesus Christ, His
own self, bear our sins in His own body, took them to Himself
on the tree. That we being dead to sins, to
that nature of sin, is not our King no more. It does not reign
in our hearts no more. And before God saved us, it was
enthroned in us. It ruled us. It ruled us like
a master rules his dog. It whistles, and we come running.
We come crawling. But he has dethroned it. Paul
said in Romans, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under the law, you're under grace. who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness unto God, by whose stripes you were
healed. We are healed by his stripes. My cough is back, as you can
see. Hebrews 1 3 who being the brightness
of his glory Jesus Christ being the brightness of God's glory
and the express image of his person and upholding all things
by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our
you see the hour they belong to someone he died for someone
particularly their our sin Paul's writing to the church And he's
telling them, he's telling them that Christ died for our sins. He put them away. And he sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Jesus Christ
crucified, put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
That's what it says over in Hebrews 9, 26. That he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Once in the end of the
world. Once in the end of the world.
You know we're in the end of the world? We looked at it in Timothy, 2
Timothy. In these last days, perilous times shall come. We're
in the last days, we're in the end of the world. I'm ready for
it to end. I really, I would, I would that
the Lord would come back right now and put an end to this corruption
and the sin that's in me. In Christ, now listen, now listen.
In Jesus Christ, we have no sin. That's how we're justified. God's
not gonna justify a person who's full of sin. We're in Him where
we have no sin. God the Father sees us in Christ
perfect as He saw Job. In Christ we are holy. We are
without spot or blemish. In Christ we are. We are as perfect.
Now listen, we are as perfect as God Himself. You know why
I say that? Well, first of all, Jesus Christ
is God Himself. But here's another reason why. It says in Leviticus
22, 21, it shall be perfect to be accepted. And when God says
perfect, he's talking about as perfect as himself. Gotta be
perfect. Jesus Christ is our perfection.
That's why it says in Colossians, in him, you are complete. However,
however, in this flesh, God, God, the Holy Spirit, God, the
Holy Spirit, who indwells us, sees us sinning. In Christ, I have no sin. In
this flesh, He sees me sinning. He sees me do that. Nothing's
hid from Him. As Hagar has cried, Thou God
seest me. Thou God seest me. As David said
in Psalm 51, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done
this evil in thy sight. God knows every thought, every
motive, every motive, why I do what I do. You know, it says in Ephesians
4.30, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, who by yourself
until the day of redemption. How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? We do so by sinning. in this
flesh. That's why David, he asked for
the Lord to restore unto him the joy of his salvation. He
said, take not thy Holy Spirit from me, is what he said. Now, how does God deal with my
sinning? In Christ, I have no sin. In
this life, I sin on every turn. How is God going to deal with
that? How do we deal with this? It's called chastening. Chastening. Just like a father with his children,
you chasten your children, you correct your children. They are
your children and you correct them, you guide them, you discipline
them, what you do. The scripture says, he chastens
every son in whom he receiveth. Why does he do that? Because
they're sinful. They're sinful. In Hebrews, turn over to Hebrews
chapter 12. Let me start in verse 5 and 6. And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons. What son is he whom the Father
chastens not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, afflictions, trials, God chastens all of us,
because we are all sinners. All the way home. All the way
home. I had a man tell me one time
that he didn't sin anymore. I read to you 1 John, if you
say you have no sin, you're a liar, the truth's not in you. Whereof all are partakers, then
are you bastards, illegitimate sons. You're not sons of God.
You're not sons. Now when you look at Job in the
light of that scripture, what a mercy, what a mercy. You say the Lord is chasing me,
the Lord has tried me, what a mercy. He loves you, he loves you. He doesn't chase those whom he
doesn't love. He loves his children. In Proverbs 3, 11, my son, despise
not the chasing of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. And Job is written in Job 517. Behold, happy, happy the man
whom God corrects, correcteth continually. Therefore despise
not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Don't despise His chastening. Look upon it as a blessing. I
know, you know, it said there in Hebrews, no chastening for
the present is joyful. I'm going to read this to you
in a second. This is how God deals with our sinning. In Christ,
we have no sin, it's put away. God sees no sin in us. In this
life, we sin. You say, that is complicated. Well, you're not God, and I'm
not either. You know, I just know that his
ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than
our thoughts. But I do know one thing, I know what his word says.
I know what it says. Now what does chastening accomplish?
What does it accomplish? Here it says in Hebrews 12, 11,
now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous. Nobody ever
enjoyed a whipping. I never enjoyed a whipping growing
up. Not a one of them. But there's grievous. Nevertheless,
afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness. That
chastening that the Lord has given you time after time is
actually yielding peace. You know, it's like Eli, when
God took his two sons, Eli and Phinehas, not Phinehas. Eli said,
it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
That's what it produces. It produces a quietness of conscience
in trouble. Because when you go through it
time and time again, you realize, you realize all things are of
God. All things are of God. You know, after that hurricane
went through last week down around Florida, I noticed the next day
how beautiful it was here and we got a great rain out of it.
What was a storm to them was a blessing to us. But what a
beautiful day. And I thought, this was my thoughts.
I thought, this is just like life. We go through hard trials
and then the sun shines. We go through trials and then
the sun shines. And that is life until you leave
this world. We go through one trial and we
come out of it. We go and the sun shines and
we're blessed. When that sun shines, that's
when, you know, That flower begins to grow, but it needs more rain.
It needs the cloud. It needs the rain, then the sunshine
and the rain. That's what we need spiritually.
We need that to grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. We need that. Job, you need this.
Job, you need this. And we need Job to have it because
we are really learning from it. It yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness, not anger, not anger, but peace, peace in
the heart, peace in your conscience. And then it turns us to Christ.
It turns us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And we confess our sins.
We turn it to him. Look back in verse 60. Oh, I
mean, over Psalm, Psalm 119. We've been going through Psalm.
Look at Psalm 119, verse 67. Before I was afflicted, I went
astray, but now have I kept thy word. That's why in verse 71,
he said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn thy statutes, not stray from your word again. Yeah. If it turns us to Jesus
Christ and we confess our sins, as I read to you there in first
John one, nine, if we confess our sins, He is faithful every
time, every time. I don't care if you go a thousand
times a day. He's faithful to forgive you a thousand times
a day. And not only to forgive us our sins, but to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. It brings us back to our only
hope. the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ
crucified. It brings us back to the cross.
It brings us back to our Lord, to our high priest, to our prophet,
to our king, to our only hope. It brings us back to him. As
John said there in 1 John 2, 1 and 2, my little children,
these things write I unto you that you sin not. But if any
man sin, God makes him aware of it. God makes you aware of
your sin. It's not over with. It's not
doomsday. You feel like it ought to be,
because you're sinning against light. You're sinning against
more light than anybody's had in history. You're sinning against
light. But if any man's sin, we have
an advocate, a representative, a lawyer, with the Father, Jesus
Christ, the righteous one, is what that is. And he's a propitiation
for our sins, many, many, many sins. And not for ours only. Remember
a Jew writing this. And he says, it's not for our
sins only, this Jewish nation called Israel, but it's for the
whole Israel of God made up of believers from Jews and Gentiles.
They make up the Israel of God. Paul said, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the
flesh. They said, we be Abraham's seed. Well, that doesn't cut
it. It's the children of the promise,
God said. It's the children of the promise
that's counting for the seed. That's what it says. And Job said, and I'm gonna wind
this down here, Job said, In verse 7, he said, you know I'm
not wicked. Then here in verse 15, he said,
if I'm wicked, woe is me. If I'm a hypocrite, as my friends
say, I have no hope. I have no hope. He says in Job
8.13, so are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's
hope shall perish. In Job 27.8, for what's the hope
of the hypocrite? Though he hath gained, he's rich
and he's gained, he's prosperous. And God takes away his soul.
The hypocrite has no hope. Job said, if I'm wicked, if I'm
what you say I am, I have no hope. I have none. Yet if I be
righteous, I can't lift up my head. Can't do it. I still can't
boast because my righteousness is of God. I can't boast about
anything. What do I have to boast about?
I cannot boast about one thing except Christ. Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my boasting. He's my boasting. He said, I'm
full of confusion. He said, I'm full of disgrace.
He felt so embarrassed, so ashamed. You know, Joe spoke so highly
all the time, you know, as a representative. He spoke so highly of God. He
spoke so highly of God to his children. And here he is sitting
and lost them all, lost everything. And it's like, I have no answer
for this. I have no answer. Well, we do
because we have the rest of the story. As Paul Harvey used to
say, now for the rest of the story. We have the rest of the story. I'm full of confusion, full of
disgrace, but also full of perplexity. I don't know what's going on.
I don't. But you and I do know when these
things come upon us, we know what's going on. We're being
conformed to the image of Christ through these trials and afflictions. All right, I'm going to end it
there.