All right, tonight we're going
to be looking at Job chapter 35. You can turn in your Bibles
to Job chapter 35. Now I've entitled the message
tonight simply this, Look Up. Look Up. And I'll show you where
I got that title from here in this chapter Job 35, but let
me reread a portion from Psalm 5 that Brother Bill just read.
The first three verses is Psalm of David. He says, give ear to
my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. That's
my thoughts, my prayers, my desires. Harken unto the voice of my cry,
my king. And think about this in the terms
of Job, he's crying. He's crying out unto the Lord
for answers, for help, for relief. He says, hearken unto the voice
of my cry, my king and my God, for unto thee will I pray. I'm
not gonna go to men, I'm gonna go to the Lord. And then verse
three, he says, my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. Now, that language indicates
the priority. of God in his life. That it's not an afterthought.
I wake up thinking about this. That's what he's saying. I wake
up crying out of my need. So he says, my voice shalt thou
hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee and will look up. I look up to God. In Job 35, I took the title of
the message from verse 5 there, where Elihu is instructing Job,
specifically Job, but also Job's three friends, in the ways of
God. And he says in verse 5, look
under the heavens and see. Look under the heavens and see.
Christ told Nicodemus, except you be born again, you cannot
see the kingdom of heaven. And that seeing the kingdom of
heaven is an understanding that God gives to his people by bringing
them to look up to him, look into the heavens. Now in these
instructions here, as Elihu continues, this is a continuation of Elihu's
message to Job. And he's instructing him in the
ways of God concerning Job's suffering. These are the righteous
ways of God. The right ways. And we can learn
quite a bit from this. This is another one of those
chapters that is really instructive. And what he does here, he brings
forth three specific needs that God puts in the hearts of his
people. These are things that we didn't
need before the new birth, before God brought us to conviction
of sin and brought us to Christ. But now these are things we need
from the heart. It's not based on feeling. I
want to make that clear from the very beginning. In other
words, these are not things that we just feel like doing because
many times we don't feel this way and that's because of the
flesh. You know, you can kind of sum it up in the words of
our Lord to his disciples when he said, you know, the spirit
is willing, but the flesh is weak. But these are needs of
a believer. And we might use this as a point
of self-examination. Do I need this? Because if I
do, I know it's a need that God put within my heart. So let's
just jump into the passage here. And the first thing that he brings
out, in the first few verses here is the need for humility
before God the need for humility before God let's let's look in
in this verse one Elihu spoke moreover and he said thinkest
thou this to be right that thou saidest my righteousness is more
than God's remember Job had not said those exact words in that
way But again, Elihu is continuing to show him the substance of
his words, the implications of his attitude and his thoughts
that he expressed, and the substance of these words in accusing God
of being unfair and unjust and dealing with him like this improvidence,
bringing on this suffering or allowing Satan to do so. And
then he says in verse 3, for thou says, what advantage will
it be unto thee? And what profit shall I have
if I be cleansed from my sin? Job had spoken in that way. In
other words, if this is the way I'm going to be treated, if this
is the way I'm going to be, then what advantage is there to being
a sinner cleansed from his sins? You know, we sing the hymn, what
can wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's so. But Job is thinking in these
terms, he's saying, well, though I be cleansed from all my sin,
though I be justified in God's sight, what advantage is there
if this is the way I'm going to have to live? Verse four,
he says, I will answer thee and thy companions with thee. Eli,
you say, now I'm going to give you the answer. I'm going to
give you, I'm going to give you the words that God has given
me. That's what he's talking about. And he says in verse five,
look up. Look into the heavens and see.
You're not going to find the answers down here. You're not
going to find the answers in your heart, or in yourself, or
in other men and women. You're not going to find them
in man's philosophy, man's religion. The only answers you're going
to find come from God. They must be revealed by God.
And he says, and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. He
says in verse 6, If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him?
Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If
thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what receiveth he
of thine hand? Thy wickedness may hurt a man
as thou art, and thy righteousness may profit the Son of man. Now
I want to deal with those verses in just a moment. But let's get
back to this thing of the need for humility before God. The
first step in understanding any area of life as it relates to
God, as it relates to eternity, as it relates to salvation, and
as it relates to the life of salvation. As far as we can see
and know, these workings of God in providence, that's what Job's
concerned with, his everyday life, the first step in understanding
this thing is the same as the first step in understanding the
workings of God in salvation. And that is humility before God. What does that mean? That means
don't overestimate yourself. Don't overestimate your own power,
your own goodness, your own importance, and what you think you deserve.
Don't overestimate. Don't think too highly of yourself. That's what he's saying. There's
a whole lot said today about self-esteem. And we all want
to gender self-esteem in our children, for example. And that's
not a bad thing when it comes to our relationship to men. But
let me tell you something. When it comes to man's relationship
with God, There is absolutely no place for self-esteem. Now, I'm telling you, that may
sound bad, and I know the modern-day psychologist and positive thinkers
would just hang me from the courthouse steps over that. But it's so. When it comes to our relationship
to Almighty God, the Creator, There is absolutely no place
for self-esteem. All there is for us is mercy
and grace. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
sin and brings us to that point of humility. God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. I don't deserve it. I haven't
earned it. God, It's of your mercy that
I'm not consumed. Now Job's been through a lot.
Job has suffered a lot. But he still wasn't consumed.
That's of the Lord's mercy. And that's what Elihu's talking
about. Job, when he speaks of righteousness, by which he stands
justified before God. And the Old Testament saints,
they had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them just like
we do to us if we're one of his. They were justified by it just
like us. And Job, who had knowledge of
faith in Christ as his living Redeemer, the Lord his righteousness,
this is the righteousness of God worked out by one who is
God as well as man. Job knew that. He knew Christ. There's some things he didn't
know about Christ, but he knew the God-man. He knew God in human
flesh, the coming Redeemer, the kinsman Redeemer. He knew that
Christ, that he was always approved of God and accepted of God without
change in Christ. And that's the righteousness
that God reveals in the gospel and in the power of the Holy
Spirit. It's applied to the consciences of His people. And what do we
do when God the Holy Spirit brings us to see the glory of God in
Christ in light of our sins? Well, look at Romans chapter
10. A verse we refer to quite often. And listen to what it
talks about. In verse 1. Romans 10 and verse 1. Brethren,
my heart's desire, Paul wrote, and prayer to God for Israel,
his brethren according to the flesh, that's his kinsmen according
to the flesh, is that they might be saved. And I'll bear them
record. I'll admit that they have a zeal
of God. They're religious. That's what that means. They're
religious. They're trying to be saved. They're
trying to be accepted of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, now that's pride right there.
Going about trying to establish your own righteousness before
God is religious pride, self-righteousness. Have not what? Submitted. That's humility. Submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the finishing. The completion, the perfection
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. You
see, that's the first thing that God brings his people to. They
see their need to come down off of their own righteousness and
be in submission. And that's what we don't like
by nature, to be in submission. Not even to God Almighty. And
that's the issue, the need for humility. And that humility is
part of the gifts of the Spirit. It's the grace of God that brings
about that humility. Now, back here in Job 35, Elihu
speaking and teaching this lesson, it's clear here that Job is speaking
of God's dealing with him in Providence. We know that when
Job complains. When Job, when he hurts and when
he speaks these things that he does, he's speaking out of his
ignorance, Elihu had pointed out, Job's being tested. You'll
be tested if you're a child of God. I'll be tested if I'm a
child of God. Job lived a righteous life. Now,
you have to understand what a righteous life is. That's not a life of
perfection in the flesh. It's a life of following, trusting,
in humility before God in Christ. That's what a righteous life
is according to God. It's what he'd said in Job 1
and verse 1. Here's Job. He's an upright man. He's a just man. He's a man who
has chewed evil and feared God. He had faith in Christ. Satan,
remember, challenged God by saying that the only reason Job serves
you is because of the blessings that you've given him. You've
given him so much prosperity and health and wealth. You've
given him so much material things. And that's the only reason he
serves you. That's what Satan said. He was challenging God. Remember that. So what happened? God allowed Satan to hurt Job
and to do what? To prove that Job was a genuine
object of God's grace in Christ and that Job's faith was real.
What did Job's friends do, remember? They hurled those accusations
against him. Every one of them were wrong.
Job, you're a hypocrite. Job, you're a thief. Job, you
love yourself. You hurt the downtrodden. They were all wrong. Job defended
himself. He said, I'm not a hypocrite.
Remember what he said, in seeking to understand his suffering,
he began to charge God with injustice. God, you're not being fair to
me. God, you're not acting righteously and justly. So here comes Elihu
on with this, and he says, Job, There's a need, and that need
is for us to humble ourselves before God. Man by nature will
not do that. Elihu's not trying to prove in
his words that Job was a sinner. Job was a sinner. Elihu himself
was a sinner. But he's simply trying to prove
to Job that his view of God in these matters was wrong, even
proud. Job lifting himself up. And Elihu
begins to show that Job's troubles were the chastisements that come
from God towards his children aimed at keeping his children
from going down the wrong path. Look here at verse 3 of Job 35. For thou says what advantage
will it be unto thee and what profit shall I have if I be cleansed
from my sin? Job had implied That if this
is the way it's going to be here on earth, then there's no advantage
to live in a godly life. To seeking to rid myself of all
sin, the warfare of the flesh and the spirit. You know, I had
a man ask me one time, he said, well, if we can't win the warfare
of the flesh and spirit, why fight it? And I looked at him,
I said, the warfare's already won. That's why we fight it. Christ told his disciples, from
the world you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer,
I've overcome the world. Now what does that mean? We'll
go blend in with the world and just act like them? No. No, it
means be ye separate. We fight sin because we're free
from sin in Christ. That's the only reason to do
so. Without that, we have a need to do that. You know, the kind
of reasoning that most people use in these areas is the same
kind of attitude that brings about this philosophy, eat, drink,
be married, tomorrow you die. Or this kind of thinking, shall
we sin that grace may abound? It doesn't make sense spiritually.
It makes sense to the natural man. And Job is coming very close
to acting that way and speaking that way. Look at verse 4. Elihu
says, I'll answer thee and thy companions with thee. He goes
on, and Elihu goes on to charge Job with all his unbecoming speeches. And he undertakes to refute them,
that he had represented his cause more just than God's in the worship
of the Lord and righteousness as things unprofitable to men.
Job had said it. God, you're unjust, you're unfair.
His friends had said, God always punishes the wicked and rewards
the righteous. And so Elihu gives the answer.
And look at verse 5. He says, look unto the heavens
and see. Look up, Job. You're in this
debate now. And you know, any time we get
in a debate, what do we do? We begin to defend ourselves. We
begin to answer fools according to their folly. Once Elihu said,
look up, Job. Look up. Look unto the heavens
and see. Don't look down. The answer's
not there. Don't look outward to other men. Don't look inside yourself for
the answer. The heart's deceitful, desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Look to God. Just like Isaiah said there in
the opening reading, look unto me. God said through Isaiah,
look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I am God. There's none else. Look up to see. So what are we
going to see? We're going to see the greatness
and the majesty of God. Look over at Isaiah chapter 40
with me. Let me show you this. Isaiah chapter 40, look at verse
26. Here's the prophet's instruction to the people of Judah and Jerusalem
that God gives him to give to them. Listen to what he says
here. He says in verse 26, lift up
your eyes on high. And behold, who hath created
these things? We're not in control of this
world. I know people think we are. God's in control. Somebody said, we better be careful.
We'll blow up the world. We won't blow up the world. God's
going to take care of this world. And when it comes to the end,
God's going to bring it to an end. He says that bringeth out
their host by number. He calleth them all by names
by the greatness of his might. For that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Why sayeth thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? See, that's the same kind of
thing that Job was saying, like, well, I'm not being treated fairly,
like God's not taking notice of me. No, but you know, we want
everybody to take notice of us, don't we? I have people come
into church and they'll sit back sometimes and they'll get mad
because everybody just don't descend on them. They say, oh,
we're so glad to have you. Well, we are glad to have you
here, but don't be that way. Don't be that way. That's not
the way to be. Look at it, verse 28, hast thou
not known? Hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the heavens of the
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There's no searching
of his understanding. We can't even begin to tap the
depths of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the
youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and
not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Now what
does that whole thing say? Our total dependence is upon
God. God's not dependent on us, we're
dependent on Him. He's our strength. Look over
at the book of Mark. I want to show you something
by way of illustration here. Because I think it captures the
essence of what Elihu is saying in this passage. Mark chapter
8, verse 22. Here's an episode of the Lord
healing a blind man. It says in verse 22 of Mark chapter
8, He cometh to Bethsaida. And they bring a blind man unto
him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man
by the hand, and led him out of the town. And when he had
spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him
if he saw aught. And verse 24 says, And he looked
up. First thing he did, look up.
And he said, I see men as trees walking. And after that, he put
his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up. Did you notice that? He made
him look up. You know, for any of us to look
up, God has to make us look up. That's right. Because by nature,
we're going to look down. We're going to look within. We're
going to look around. We're going to look anywhere
but to God. That right? Made him look up,
and he was restored and saw every man clearly. He didn't see men
as trees walking now. He saw every man clearly. When God causes me and you to
look up, we see ourselves clearly. Oh, Isaiah saw it. Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty. I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. That's what he's saying.
You think about that. That's a good illustration of
what Elihu is saying here. Go back to Job 35. He says in verse 6, if thou sinnest,
he says, if thou sinnest, what does thou against him, against
God, or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou
in him? I want you to grasp the essence
of what he's saying here. This is instructive. Now God
hates sin. The Bible says that. God will
punish sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. The wages of sin is death. If
you ever doubt that God will punish sin, just look at Christ
on that cross. Sin's charged to Him. He was
made sin. What happened? God punished His
Son and was just in doing so. God never encourages sin. He never ignores it. But here's
the point. What we do in sin, what we do
in wickedness, does not change, affect, or hurt God. Period. That's what Elihu's saying. If thou sinnest, what doest thou
against him? David said, against thee and
thee only have I sinned. Our sin is against God. But it
doesn't change him. No sir. It doesn't affect him. Now, he says sin changes, affects
and hurts us and others around us. Look here, look what he says
here in verse 6. He says, or if thy transgressions
be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? Now he says in verse
8, thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art. That's right. It'll hurt us. It'll hurt others
around us. Think about David. When he sinned
greatly, it was pointed out to him in 2 Samuel 12 by the prophet
Nathan. He said, the sword shall not
leave thy what? Thy house. Your whole family
is going to suffer because of this. Didn't change affect or
hurt God. God's still the same. God never
changes, He's immutable. He hates sin, always has, always
will. He'll punish sin, always has,
always will. Listen, God is not up there reacting
to our sin. He's not, as I've said so many
times, He's not this cosmic chess player up there that's looking
out for some kind of contingency plan. But now it'll hurt you,
it'll hurt us. Consider those who believe they
can lose their salvation. You can be saved once. They think
their sin hurts God or changes God. It doesn't. It doesn't. And then look back here at verse
7. He says, If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? Or what
receiveth he of thy hand? Now God loves righteousness.
God will reward righteousness. He says He will. God encourages
righteousness. But it doesn't change him, it
doesn't affect him, or it doesn't add to him, it doesn't affect
him. He's the same, either way. And you know what this speaks
to? It speaks directly to man's overestimation of himself. We
think we just make God like a puppet in our hands. Self-righteousness
and pride. I'll tell you what, this cancels
out any notion of salvation by works or reward by works. It
really does. You know what we are? You know
what Christ said we were in Luke 17? He says this, now I want
you to think about it. He says if we could do everything
we're supposed to do, now is there anybody here who would
say we do everything we're supposed to do? I hope you won't raise
your hand. Don't do that. I don't want to embarrass you. To do everything we're supposed
to do, we'd have to keep the law of God perfectly. And there's
none of us, there's no man, woman living who can say that. But
he said this in Luke 17, he said, if we could do everything we
were supposed to do, we would still be what? Unprofitable servants. What does that mean? What is
he talking about? Is he speaking in the same way that Job was
speaking where there's no prophet to live in a righteous life?
No. No, not at all. There is a great prophet. And
that prophet is not of merit. It's the reward of grace. It's
glorifying God. That's the prophet right there.
Giving him all the glory. The unprofitable servant is teaching
this. That if we did everything we
were supposed to do, we would only be doing that which is right
and reasonable in our duty. Nothing more. That's right. Because God is God and we're
the creature. We owe him everything. He doesn't
owe us anything. He created us out of nothing.
The old preacher said he stood on nothing, spoke to nothing
and created something. And our very existence, the very
breath that we breathe is owing to God. We change, He doesn't. You see, God's delight is not
in the sons of men. God's delight is in Himself. And that's in His own Son, Christ. And that's what this issue is
all about here, humility before God. And that's what Elihu's
saying, Job, realize who you are. Realize who made you. Go back up to it here, Job 35.
Look under the heavens and see, behold the clouds, which even
the cloud, you know what a cloud is, don't you? It's water vapor,
mist. You could put your hand right
through it. Even that's higher than you, Job. And so think about this. Humble
yourself before God. God's in control. And that's
our need. Certainly we see that in salvation,
but I want to tell you something that's our need in everyday life
Whatever we're going through humble yourself before God well,
here's the here's the second need and That is the need to
serve and to worship God to serve and to worship God look at verse
9 of Job 35 and He says, by reason of the multitude
of oppressions they make the oppressed cry out. They cry out
by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none sayeth, now he's talking
about people who are in trouble there. They cry out in oppression. Who do they cry out to? Well,
he says in verse 10, but none sayeth where is God my maker
who giveth songs in the night. Now songs in the night represents
a time of prosperity. What's Elihu saying? He says,
well, when people get in trouble, what do they do? They cry out
to God. They pray. They get religious. They start
coming to church. They start rededicating. But
when things are going well, he says, none say, where is God
my maker then? Verse 11, he says, who teaches
us more than the beast of the earth and maketh us wiser than
the fowls of heaven? God's given us the minds of human
beings that in the beginning was made after the image of Him
who created us. He says in verse 12, there they
cry, but none giveth answer because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity,
neither will the Almighty regard it. What's he saying here? He's
saying, You need to worship and serve God at all times. Whether
you're in trouble, whether you're in prosperity, it doesn't matter.
There's that need. Turn to John chapter 4 with me.
Now God puts that need in the hearts of his people. And again,
it's not based upon feeling or anything else. If you're a child
of God, I'm telling you right now, you know that you need to
worship and serve your maker, your redeemer. You need to do
that. You have a need. Why do you need
to do it? Well, is it out of legalism? I hope not. Because that's not
the need that I'm talking about. Is it out of some kind of a mercenary
promise of earned reward? I hope not. Because that's not
the need I'm talking about. It's a need of the redeemed person
crying out to his Redeemer. Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so
rich and so free. Look at John chapter 4 and verse
24. He's talking to the woman at the well here. Look up at
verse 23. He says, the hour has come and
now is. when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. True worshipers, not false worshipers,
not idolaters that pray unto a God they cannot save, but they're
going to worship the Father in spirit. I believe there's two
emphases that need to be made on this, worshiping Him in spirit.
Number one, is we worship the Lord as He reveals Himself by
the Spirit to our hearts. Not as we think He is. Not as
we imagine Him to be. Not as a reflection of ourselves,
but as He reveals Himself in His Word in Christ. The God who
justifies the ungodly. Remember what Isaiah said. God
speaking through Isaiah, look unto me and be ye saved. Who
are we to look to? A just God and a Savior. the God of the
covenant, the God of all grace, the God of mercy, the God who
has a relationship with his people on the ground of mercy and grace
in Christ. It's not on the ground of what
you've earned or what you deserve, but it's in mercy. That's where
that humility comes in it. And he says, in spirit and in
truth, and then in spirit, we worship him from the heart, knowing
our need to do so. We'll war with the flesh over
that issue. Oh, I just don't feel like it,
but I know I need to do it. That's right. I need to do it. I need it because of who God
is and who I am and how he saved me by his grace. And then he
says, and in truth, Again, worshiping God, the true and living God,
he says, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Now, we
know the Bible tells us to seek the Lord. We know those who seek
him, he seeks them first. What kind of people is he seeking?
Those to worship him. And how does he bring them to
worship? He humbles them down and brings them to Christ. Look
at verse 24. God is a spirit. And they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And you
know one of the best definitions of a true Christian in the Bible
is found in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3. You remember what
it says? We are the circumcision. That's regeneration, the new
birth. We worship God in spirit. You can't be a Christian and
not worship God. The two go together. Out of that
need. serve Him at all times. We worship
God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Our confidence
is in Christ. We couldn't worship God without
Christ. We come under the throne of grace. That has to do with
prayer, but it also has to do with worship. That's what we're
doing right now in worshiping together. Ascribing all glory
to God we're coming to a throne of grace to find help mercy in
time of need just like beggars Lord help me Whatever help you
need tonight Lord help me This is how we come into the holiest
of all the Shekinah glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus
Christ worship him, received, accepted, communing with God. Think about that. Is there anything
higher than this on this earth? I don't know if there is. You
can say, well, you could meet with the president, or you could
meet with the chiefs, general chiefs of staff, or you could
meet with the world leaders, and that may sound more impressive
to me. Is there anything higher than
what we're doing tonight in worshiping the Lord? There's nothing higher
than this. This is the highest calling of
a redeemed sinner. This is the highest calling of
a justified sinner. There's nothing greater than
this. You see, and it's not just seeking Him in trouble. He's
not a convenience for us. He's not, listen, he's not just
someone that we call after out of when we're in trouble. Listen,
God doesn't answer people out of their pride. That's what he
means there in verse 13. Surely God will not hear vanity.
You come before God pleading your works, that's vanity. Pleading your righteousness,
that's vanity. Come to God in Christ, that's
humility, that's worship. The Almighty won't regard anything
but a sinner begging for mercy in Christ. The need to serve
and to worship Him. And then here's the third need.
The need to trust God continually. Now we see the need to trust
God initially in salvation, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. But here's Job, in trouble, crying
out, Trying to figure it out. You can't do it. That's why Elihu
says, look up, Job. Look up. That's what you do.
You know, if you're going to look up, you've got to be down.
You've got to be lower than the one you look up to. Worship,
you've got to worship someone higher than yourself. You've
got to look up. Well, here's Job and the dung heap of us. He's trusted the Lord. But you
know what? You never stop. What about tomorrow,
the next day? At all times, He says it. Look
at verse 14. Although thou sayest thou shall
not see Him, yet judgment is before Him. Therefore trust thou
in Him. You think God's forgotten you?
You think God's abandoned you? Well, I know He hasn't. Because
He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. All you who
trust in Him now, trust in Him now. This is the faithfulness
that's the gift of the Spirit. Always believing. Not just one
time. Always coming to the Lord. To
whom? Coming. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. And we continually
come to Him. Verse 15, But now, because it
is not so, He hath visited in His anger, yet He knoweth it
not in great extremity. In other words, He's not... It's
kind of like what He was saying to the Hebrew Christians. He
says you're suffering, but you have not yet suffered unto blood.
God's not totally abandoned you. God's not destroyed you. He'll
never, He'll never separate you from Himself. He'll never condemn
you. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Verse 16, Therefore doth Job
open his mouth in vain. Watch your talking. When you
bring God into question, He multiplieth words without knowledge. What
he's saying to Job here is simply this, wait on the Lord. Listen
to the words of the Psalmist. Psalm 27, 14, wait on the Lord.
Be of good courage and He shall strengthen thy heart. Wait, I
say, on the Lord. Isn't it hard to wait? That's one of the hardest things
I have to do, to wait. Psalm 37, verse 34, wait on the
Lord and keep His way. And he shall exalt thee to inherit
the land when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. They
may be prospering now, you wait on the Lord. Boy, I can tell
you, I could see how it'd be hard for Job to wait. And all
that he went through. Listen to the wise man in Proverbs.
Proverbs 20 and 22. Say not thou, I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord. And he shall save thee. That's
the need to trust God, to trust Christ at all times. Don't stop. And if we don't, we know it's
God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.
And that's why his glory is the issue in all this thing. That's
the needs that he puts within the hearts of his people. All
right.