All right, let's look at Job
chapter 34, continuing here with Elijah's discourse message to
Job. And actually, he begins to speak
to Job's three friends here also. He begins to speak to them later
on in this chapter. We're not going to cover it all
tonight, just the first few verses. But the title of the message
is Delight in the Lord. And I took that title from verse
9. Look at verse 9. Elihu, what he's doing here in
these first nine verses, he's giving like a summary of Job's
statements to expose Job's error, Job's sin, Job's complaint. And he concludes it in verse
nine before he embarks upon a great message on the justice and judgment
of God, which we'll get to next time. But he says, for he hath
said, and we'll get to this, but he hath said, talking about
Job, it profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself
with God. Now, what a statement. Yet profiteth
man nothing that he should delight himself with God." Now you know
Job didn't speak those exact words but Elihu is pointing out
a very important point here and that is that what Job was doing
in his complaints in accusing God of being unjust was the equivalent
of saying this. And there's some very important
things here that we who know Christ, we who are believers
need to understand about this so that we can be thinkers that
we can we can think in a godly way and make right judgments
and discern but that's the negative isn't it he says Job said that
well we know we know from God's Word and Job knew and he's going
to learn the lesson even more you know we have to learn lessons
more than once don't we I do I mean, I do a lot of things
that I know better and out of my grief or out of my anger,
out of my despair in this life, you know, I may say things and
I don't realize at the time I'm saying them that that has some
implications that I need to stop and think about. And that's what
Elihu's doing with Job here. He says, you need to think about
what you're saying. Here's the implication. We need to learn
these lessons. We know from God's Word that
it does profit a man to delight himself in God. And that's where
I'm really going to get to in this message. But let's just
begin at verse 1 here. Here's the summary of Job's statements
that Elihu brings about. Here's your error, Job. Here's
the charges, you might say. You know, his other three friends
falsely charged him. Elihu's not doing that. And you
notice that Job argued. He debated with his other three
friends and he ended up shutting them up. But he doesn't speak
a word during all of Elihu's message here. Job doesn't answer
because these things, these charges stick in that sense. So look
at it. He says in verse 1, Furthermore
Elihu answered and he said, Hear my words, O ye wise men. Now this indicates that he may
be talking to Job's three friends, too, here in this. But his message
is mainly to Job. And he says, And give ear unto
me, ye that have knowledge. Now, Proverbs chapter 1 and verse
5 says this. It says, A wise man will hear. He'll listen. And he will increase
learning. That indicates that the hearing
there is more than just hearing an audible voice. You know, sometimes
you can hear things without really hearing them. You can hear things
and not really be listening. And I can't remember who it was,
one of the old, it may have been Scott Richardson. He'd always
stop me and say, now, are you listening? Are you listening?
And that's important. But Proverbs 1 verse 5 says,
a wise man will hear, and of course we know a wise man there
is a believer. A wise man is a justified person. one who knows the ways of the
Lord, a regenerate person, one born again of the Spirit to know
who God is and to know who He is, who He as a sinner is. I know my sin, I know there are
depths to my sin that I haven't seen, I know that, but I know
this, I know that I'm such a sinner that it is impossible for God
to save me based on my works. and that if God were ever at
any time my best or my worst uh... if God would catch me in
a time that I've lost my temper or was doing something else that
that's not uh... moral in the sight of God or
even if God would view me in my preaching that if God were
to give me what I've earned and deserved it would be eternal
death and I know that's so now sometimes my My actions, sometimes
my reasoning, as I'm trying to figure out why things are happening
to me may not reflect that, but I know it's so. And I never deny
that, you see. But I may not live right according
to that at a given time. But he says here, a wise man
will hear. He's got the wisdom of God. It's
been revealed to him in Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God. And he'll hear and he'll increase
in learning. That's growth in grace and knowledge of Christ.
And it says in Proverbs 1 and verse 5, a man of understanding. Now, the Bible says the natural
man doesn't understand the things of the Spirit of God. But he's
talking about a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Now, Elihu's giving wise counsel. Now, Job's three friends, I don't
believe, are wise men. And I believe that's proven by
what they said when they tried to instruct Job. Because what
they were saying to Job in preaching and promoting their works gospel,
their false works, self-righteous gospel, legal gospel, that's
the words of a fool. Job's friends at this point in
time are not men of knowledge, but they think they have knowledge. They think they're wise. Now
I believe Job was a wise man. He was a man of knowledge. God
said he was. He's upright and perfect. A man
that feared the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. God said Job is a man who fears
the Lord. And he escheweth. He hates and
departs and flees from evil. So Job is truly a man who is
wise. Wise in the ways of the Lord
by the revelation of God in Christ. and one who's been taught of
the Lord. He has the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He knows he's a sinner in need
of mercy. So in addressing all of them,
he's addressing Job's friends in a way that's saying, well,
if you are really wise, if you really do think you know some
things, well, let me tell you, what the Bible says, give ear
to my words, listen to me, you that have knowledge. Look at
verse, and let me say this, let me read this in Proverbs 9 and
verse 8, it says, reprove not a scorner, now a scorner is one
who takes the things of God and sees no value in them at all,
lest he hate thee, rebuke a wise man and he'll love thee. Give
instruction to a wise man and he'll be yet wiser. Teach a just
man and he'll increase in learning. So you see the pattern here.
So Elihu speaks by the Spirit of God. He's speaking God's Word.
He carries the same authority as the Scripture. And the Scripture
is able to make us wise unto salvation through Jesus Christ
because it's given by inspiration of God. And it's profitable in
that way. Well, look at verse 3. He says
in verse 3, For the ear trieth or testeth words, as the mouth
or the palate tasteth meat. You know, there's a lot said
in the Bible about hearing. And it talks about that, for
example, be ready to hear and slow to speak, for example. As I said, we hear and sometimes
we listen and we try to discern what we're hearing. And he says
here, the ear trieth words, and that's what he's talking about.
I want you to listen to what I'm telling you. But I don't
want you to swallow the hook, line, and sinker without weighing
those words. I want you to be like the noble
Bereans. I want you to test these words. Just like the mouth that
tastes meat. If you put a piece of bad, rotten
meat in your mouth, what do you do? You spit it out. But let
me ask you this. What if you didn't have any taste
buds? Well, that's the natural man, isn't it? He didn't have
any taste, but in fact, by nature, the natural man hears evil things,
and he judges them to be good, and he swallows them hook, line,
and sinker. He can't discern. But here, Elihu is talking about
the ears, the spiritual ears of a regenerate person. Here's
one who's been born again. Christ said, blessed are your
ears, for they hear. He said, let he who hath ears
hear. and do the things that are written
in the Word of God. And what Elihu is saying, now
you listen and you judge these things, but judge them according
to God's Word. Don't judge these things according
to your natural thoughts and opinions. Don't judge these things
according to the opinions of man, the majority opinion. It's
like John said in 1 John 4 and verse 1, test the spirits, try
the spirits. Because everyone that claims
to be sin of God is not sin of God. There are multitudes. of
people who claim that God has sent them with a message and
they weren't sent at all. And you have to test them. Christ
said, take heed what you hear. And then he said, take heed how
you hear. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.
He said in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 21, prove all things. You know what that means? That
means test all things. Doesn't matter whose mouth it
comes out of. He says, hold fast that which
is good. What does that mean? That means
listen critically. And I know when people hear that,
they say, well, you mean I'm to be a critic? So I heard a
preacher say one time, he said, I don't want to preach in front
of a bunch of critics where I'm always on trial. And you know
what I told him? I said, well, you better get
down out of the pulpit, fella, because you don't read the scripture. Now, to listen critically doesn't
mean that you listen trying to find fault. If that's what you're
doing, that's not good. That's a Pharisee. Did you know
that? You remember how the Pharisees used to listen to the Lord? I
say you remember, I'm talking about how you remember reading
it. I don't think any of you were back there, don't get me wrong. But you remember how it was recorded,
how the Pharisees used to listen to the Lord and try to trap Him?
Now I'll tell you what, that does That's not a very pleasant
place to preach from, is it, Ron? When you know people out
there just looking to find anything. And I want to tell you something
now. I'll admit to you right now, if that's what you're looking
for, sometime in another of my preaching, you're going to find
it. You're going to find something. And we'll go back and forth,
well, that's not what I meant, or that's what I thought you
meant, you know, all that stuff. That's not what I'm talking about
when we say listen critically. What we're saying is listen with
an ear to see if what I'm telling you is the truth. Listen with
an ear to see if what I'm telling you is the Word of God. Test
me by the Word of God. Don't test me by anything else,
you see. And that's what he's talking
about. Tryeth words. prove all things, test by God's
Word. Don't be dull of hearing as those
in Hebrews chapter 5, who could not discern good and evil, they'll
hear anything. People today, you think about
people in religion today, you know, most people don't think
about what they hear. They really don't. I mean, you
know, somebody gets up and they read a scripture and they say
a few words, tell a few stories that tug at your heartstrings
and everybody goes home feeling good. I don't even know what
they heard. They don't test those words,
what people say. Hold fast the form of sound words
Paul wrote to Timothy, which thou hast heard of me in faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. What I preach, does it
glorify God? Does it tell the truth on God? Does it identify and distinguish
the God of this book? as the sovereign God of this
universe who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will, who's holy and just and righteous and judges according
to truth. Yes, who's merciful and gracious
and loving, but not at the expense of His justice. How God can be
just and justifier. Does it identify and distinguish?
Does it tell the truth about men? About man? About me? About you and our sin? Or does
it exalt man? Does it lift up man? I'll tell
you what, if it exalts and lifts up man, you can forget it, it's
not of God. Does it talk about our sin in
the way that the Bible talks about it? That our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. That's not words for mixed company,
somebody says, but that's what God said. Does it talk about
my total depravity? My spiritual deadness, or does
it play upon some supposed power or goodness in man, like fanning
the fire, the spark of goodness, which the Bible doesn't teach.
Does it tell the truth on Christ, who he is, God in human flesh? What he did, he saved his people
from their sin. He didn't come here and try to
save anybody. His death on the cross is the security and the
surety of the salvation of all for whom he died. That's what
this book teaches. Bloodshed is the payment for
all my sins. And because they were charged
to him, God cannot and will not charge them to me. Blessed is
the man whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. His righteousness
is my security forever. I am righteous in God's sight,
not based upon what you see, but based upon what you hear
in God's Word. That's what Job was saying when
he contended and said, I won't let go of my righteousness. I'm
not going to let go of Christ. To let go of my righteousness
is to let go of Christ. Do you understand that? And when
I say my righteousness, I'm talking about Christ. His righteousness
charged to me. I'm not trying to lift myself
up. Does it tell the truth on Christ? All of these things, you see,
and especially true in the gospel. That's why Paul told the Galatians.
He said, I marvel, I'm amazed that you're so soon moved away
from the gospel that I preached to you unto another gospel, which
literally means one of a different kind. Not another of the same
kind. One of a different kind. Which
is no gospel at all. But he said, I'm telling you,
the we, now the we there is an apostle. Let's say Paul preached
the gospel to him, then came back three years later and preached
another gospel. What would that tell you about
Paul? Tell you he's just like Judas. But he said, the we, or
an angel from heaven, Somebody says, well, I had a dream or
saw a vision, I saw an angel. Well, if an angel from heaven
really came to you and preached any other gospel than that which
we have preached, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ, let him be anathema. That's what Elihu is saying.
The ear trieth words. Test those words. Some will give
an awful sound. Some words give an awful sound.
In other words, some words are so far away from the Word of
God that you couldn't help but see the terrible falsity of it. And then some just give an uncertain
sound. You know, Paul talked about that in 1 Corinthians 14
when he was talking about the gift of languages, the gift of
tongues, that's what that is. He said that, you know, and that
was a gift back then for the early church before the scripture
had been brought together because they had so many cultures. You
know, like Corinth was a big church. We had so many different
people from different cultures, different languages, and they
had the gift to preach the gospel in another language. It wasn't
some kind of a confused gibberish, but it was preaching the gospel
so that men of other languages could hear the truth. And that's
why he said, if the trumpet comes and gives an uncertain sound,
then all that's going to result from that is confusion. God's
not the author of confusion. You ever been confused by some
preaching? I told somebody the other day,
I said, you know, as I look back on it, other than Brother Mayhem,
there's two other men that really kind of helped me more than anything
else in my preaching. When I get up here and talk,
one of them was Cecil Roach, Brother Cecil Roach. And I'd
been in Albany about a year, down south about a year, and
I come back up here to preach, and I had a message now. Boy,
I had a message. You should have heard it. I don't
think you got it on tape, and I'm pretty glad you don't. It's
not that it wasn't a gospel message, but you know, a young preacher,
and I just decided to pack it full. And really, you know, couldn't
even close the lid on it, hardly. And after I got through, boy,
I thought I'd, as old preachers say, I thought I'd shuck some
corn. And Cecil Rhodes come up to me, he stuck out his hand,
he said, he said, are all your messages that confusing? Well, you talk about knocking
my wind, the wind out of my sail. And I thought about that. I said,
well. You're right. I need to get down
to the simplicity that's in Christ. I decided right there to do what
Brother Eddie Robinette said to do. He said, you get to Christ
faster, stay with Him longer, and end up with Him. And that's
what you want to do. But that's the clear gospel.
Ears try words. And that's what we're to be,
we're to be discerners. And if it's not according to
this word, then we're not to swallow it, we're not to digest
it. Look at verse 4 of Job 34. He says, let us choose, let us
choose to us judgment. Now, you know, when people say,
well, I don't judge, Elihu tells Job, he says, let us choose to
us judgment. Choose right judgment. Let us
know among ourselves what is good. I've got to know what's
good and what's bad. I've got to know what's good
and what's evil. I've got to know the difference.
Lord, teach. Now, by nature, we don't know that. People nowadays,
they don't often take the time really to think about what they're
listening to. As I said before, they believe what they want to
believe. Every man does that which is right in his own eyes.
Book of Judges. You see, they don't really take
time to investigate the facts and make a wise judgment. You
know, to choose judgment in the matter of salvation is to choose
Christ. You know that. Christ as He's
identified and distinguished in this book. To choose judgment
in the matters of obedience is to choose the Word of God in
Christ. We read there in Psalm 119, and he says that several
times in that long psalm. He says, I delight in thy law. I love thy law. And as I said,
the only way a sinner can say that honestly from the heart
is to see it fulfilled in Christ. If you don't have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice, how can you
delight in the law of God? That's why Paul wrote in Romans
chapter 3, he says, well, because of faith, do we cancel out, make
void the law? He says, no, by faith we fulfill
the law. How do we do that? By pleading
Christ. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. Christ, Romans 10, 4, Christ is the end of the law
for judgment to everyone that believes. He's the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And that's how
we fulfill the law. It's not by our obedience. We
don't make that yet, but Christ is. In matters of providence,
what is it to choose judgment? It's to choose faith in God.
In other words, trust in the Lord and do good. Whether you're
rich, poor, healthy, sick, sad, happy, whatever state you're
in, be content. That means trust in the Lord
and do good. But what is good? He says, let
us choose to us judgment. Christ told His disciples in
John 7 and verse 24, He says, do not judge by outward appearance,
but judge righteous judgment. Now, how is a sinner going to
judge righteous judgment? Only by looking to the Word of
God. God is the judge. God always judges according to
truth. Well, what is good? Think about that. We don't know
that by nature. By nature, we call good evil
and evil good. Example. I go back to the one
that I always, I think is probably one of the most glaring examples
of that is Matthew 7, 21 through 23. Lord, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we done many wonderful works? We call
that good by nature. Christ called it iniquity. Why? Because it didn't measure up.
They were pleading those things as their justification before
God. That's evil in the sight of God. Why? Because it denies
the glory of God, because it exalts the sinner in self-righteousness,
and because it denies the person and the glorious work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it's evil. What is
good? I'll tell you what good is. Whatever
God calls good is good. You say, well, I don't see it
all. No, you don't. I don't either. But God does.
And that's why when he gets over here later on, he talks about,
surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert
judgment. God cannot pervert judgment.
Why? Because God is good. God is light. And in Him is no darkness at
all. Look at verse 5. He says, For Job hath said, I
am righteous, and God hath taken away my judgment. Now Job confessed
that he was a sinner in need of mercy. We know that. We've
read it so many times in this book up through these chapters.
Job confessed Christ, his Redeemer, his kinsman Redeemer, as his
only hope of righteousness before God. But Job also defended his
good name and his conduct in the matters that he was charged.
And that's what he's saying, I'm righteous. But he says, God
has taken away my judgment. God had removed every physical
blessing and sign of his favor upon Job in this life. So that
when men looked at him, they judged him to be what? They judged
him to be a hypocrite. Job, you must be doing something
wrong. Eliphaz, you must be doing something
right. And that's the natural man, isn't it? Basically, I know
people will jostle that around a little bit, but basically the
philosophy goes this way. If you're healthy and wealthy
and wise, you must be doing something right. And if you're sick and
poor and a fool, you must be doing something wrong. And neither
one of those things are true. Sometimes the righteous suffer
and sometimes the wicked prosper in this life. Again, that's not
the ultimate. The ultimate end of all things
is God is going to do what's right. The righteous will enter
glory and be blessed forever. The wicked will enter hell and
be punished forever. But Job, when he looked at these
things, he just didn't think they're right. Look at verse
6. He says, should I lie against my right? My wound is incurable
without transgression. Should I lie against my right?
Job had asked his friends if they wanted him to lie about
whether or not he was righteous. Now again, you know, now think
about it. A believer is a sinner saved
by the grace of God. Kept by the grace of God. preserved
and when we all enter glory will enter glory by the grace of God
now all that all that is grounded upon one thing the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ the blood of Christ the
righteousness of Christ imputed to say anything less than that
for a believer now is a lie is a lie But as I told you, we looked
at this a few weeks back. If somebody accuses me or accuses
you of doing something, committing a crime that you didn't do, there's
nothing wrong with you saying, no, no, I did not do that. And
that's what Job was maintaining here in his righteousness and
in his justice. He felt that if he'd admitted
to the charges of his friends, he'd be lying and he would have
been. That is according to what God said of him. And also I believe this, I believe
Job has this in mind, and I think this because of the context.
The context of what Job said in expressing his faith in Christ. I think if God, listen, I think
if Job felt that if he'd admitted to the charges his friend brought,
he would be saying, you're right, I'm a hypocrite. And he knew
he wasn't. He'd been brought to conviction
by the Holy Spirit, and listen, to admit, and listen, if you're
a believer, and I want you to understand what I'm saying, if
you're a believer, to admit that you're a hypocrite
means to admit, to say that you're destitute of the grace of God. Now, that doesn't mean that believers
will never try to hide things. David did that, didn't he? He
tried to hide some things after he committed sin and adultery
and murder. And that's hypocrisy. But I'm talking about in a person's
relationship with God. Here's what I'm saying. Upon
what basis or ground do you and I approach God? Now, if I approach
God and expect salvation and blessing and acceptance based
on anything but Christ and Him crucified, that's a hypocrite. But I'll tell you what, now,
if you've been convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit, there's something
I know about you. You wouldn't dare approach God
that way, would you? If you know your sin, If you
know your need of mercy, like that publican, he wouldn't dare
approach God except by saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And then look back over at Job
27. Here, Job is saying something similar here. We looked at it
a few weeks back. Verse 4, Job 27, talking to his
friends. He says, God forbid that I should
justify you, vindicate you and your charges. Till I die will
not remove mine integrity from me. Job is saying, I'm not a
hypocrite. I trust the Lord. Now Job got
away from it and lost sight of it now in this thing of providence.
But he said, my righteousness I hold fast and will not let
it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. You see
that? His hope was in Christ. Go back
to Job 34, look at verse 7. And what he says in verse 6 there,
my wound is incurable without transgression. Basically, what
he's saying is I've done nothing to deserve what I'm going through
right now. Now, he's wrong there. But there's
no specific sin that, like his friends are saying, that is pointed
to and say, well, this is the cause. This is why you lost your
family. This is why you lost your health and all that. This
is the chastisement of God. We'll learn more about that later.
But he says in verse 7, what man is like Job who drinketh
scorning like water? Now that word man, that's a different
word for man. You know, usually the word man
there can be translated just like Adam, you know. But here
it's a word that means a great or valiant or wise man. And it's like he's saying this,
what great or valiant or wise man is like Job? And he says,
who drinketh up scorning like water? And the idea here is that
Job was full of scorn towards God and that Job accused God
of injustice. God, you're not fair. You're
not right in what you're doing. You see, Job was a paradox. Well,
I got news for you. We all are, aren't we? All believers
are paradoxes. We're people who have righteousness
before God, but still sinners within ourselves. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, but we're still
old wretched man that I am. That's a paradox. We know the
way of salvation. I know whom I have believed,
and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. But I am so daggone ignorant
in so many ways of the day to day things of this life and providence
like Job. We desire to be holy like Christ,
but we also have desires to fulfill the flesh. I hear preachers sometimes
talking about, well, we desire to be holy, and it's like we
don't have any desire to sin. Yes, we do have desires to sin.
You have desires to sin. You might not want to admit it,
but you do. You have a desire to be like Christ. You know what
that's called? That's a warfare. That's a warfare
of the flesh and the spirit. One moment we can ascribe praise
and glory to God, The next we can accuse God of injustice.
God, why did you do this to me? That just doesn't seem right.
And that's what he's saying, drinking up scorning like water.
Verse 8, he says, which goeth in company with the workers of
iniquity and walketh with wicked men. Now, Job wasn't doing that
physically in this life. How do you know that? Well, God
said Job feared God and eschewed evil. He stayed away from evil.
He wasn't walking in the counsel of the ungodly. But Elihu's exposing
the implications of Job accusing God of being unjust and unfair.
He's saying, Job, you're acting just like those workers of iniquity,
those wicked men. You know, when we preach the
true gospel, how God saves his people from their sins, what
do religious people accuse us of? Oh, God's not fair, God's
unjust. That's why Paul wrote Romans
chapter 9, as he was guided by the Holy Spirit. Is there unrighteousness
with God? That's the natural man's response
to that. God chose a people, gave them to Christ, sent Christ
to redeem them from their sins, and sends His Spirit to make
them willing in the day of His power to come to Christ. Oh,
that's unfair. That's just, you know, who can
resist His will? And when Job accuses God of being
unjust and unfair, even in the matters of providence, Elihu
says, here's the implications of what you're saying, Job. That's
just like walking in the council of ungodly, wicked men. Somebody
says a believer wouldn't do that. You better, you better sit back
and take notice of some things. If you think that you say Eli,
who's exposing this, and this is part of the judgment that
he was talking about. Do we realize what we're saying
when, uh, or what we're doing in, in these areas when we complain
and murmur. Think about it. Look at verse
9. He says, He says, For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing
that he should delight in himself with God. Now that's a correct
rebuke. Job's been bitter. And he hasn't
exactly said these words like Elihu says there. But that was
the implication of his complaints. And Job had described the wicked
that way. Look back at chapter 21. Now
Job had said the wicked are like that. And then he falls into
the same frame of mind in Providence. Look at chapter 21, verse 14. He's talking about the wicked
here, the unbelieving. He says, Therefore they say unto
God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit
should we have if we pray unto him? That's the wicked. When
Elihu is saying, Joe, do you realize that in complaining against
God and accusing Him of being unjust towards you, you're saying
the same thing. Basically the same thing. You
know, the psalmist said that. He had trouble with trying to
understand wicked people prospering and the righteous suffering.
He wondered why he even bothered trying to be good. Psalm 73 and
verse 13, listen to this. He says, Verily I have cleansed
my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency. He said,
I've done all that for nothing. But the psalmist also said this.
We read it over there in Psalm 37. He said, Delight thyself
in the Lord, verse 4 of Psalm 37. Let me read it to you. Delight thyself also in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Now listen, what
is it to delight in the Lord? You know, Job didn't realize
a lot of what he was saying until Elihu come and pointed it out
to him. And then he remembered it, and later on, you know, Job
repents in sackcloth and ashes. The thing about this, what is
it to delight in the Lord? Well, it's to believe in Him
as He reveals Himself in Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Who's your delight? Who do you
believe in for salvation, for righteousness, for forgiveness,
for eternal life and glory? Delight thyself in the Lord.
And secondly, it's to rest in Him. Rest in Christ. He's our
Sabbath. He's finished the work. He put
away my sins. He finished the transgression.
He brought in all the righteousness that God requires of me and I
must have. For He is my righteousness. I
delight in Him. To delight in the Lord is to
boast in Him. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice, boast in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I have
no hope, I have no assurance, I have no claim, I have no right,
I have nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified as my whole
salvation. Delight thyself in the Lord.
To delight in Him is to follow Him in His Word. The psalmist
said that. My delight is in the law of the
Lord, the Word of God. To feed upon His Word. And that's
to delight in Him now. Now let me say this. To delight
in Him is not simply to feel emotional or anything like that.
It's to know from our hearts that this is what we need. I
need this. To delight in Him is to follow
Him and to serve Him out of love and grace and gratitude to where
His commandments are not grievous because He doesn't require me
to produce righteousness. He is my righteousness and therefore
I serve Him as a willing, loving bond slave. To delight in Him
is to be loyal to Him. Paul said, I've espoused you
to one husband. I don't want you to be subtly
drawn away from him unto another, committed spiritual adultery.
You're married to Christ. Just like the loyal, loving wife
delights in her husband and the loyal, loving husband delights
in his wife. And what would happen if they
begin to delight in another in that way? Then the marriage is
broken. Then it all breaks down, you
see. Well, we're married to Christ, delight in Him. And, you know,
Job in his complaints had essentially said, well, there's no prophet
for a man that he should delight himself in the Lord. Well, let
me tell you something, there is prophet for a man to delight
himself in the Lord. What is that prophet there? When
we think of profit, we think of profit and loss. We think
of something you earn, something you invest in. That's not what
it's talking about. It's talking about blessings
and benefits. And this word profit, it means blessings and benefits
based on certain terms. And what are the terms? Well,
it's the terms of the everlasting covenant of grace, not by earning
God's favor, because that's not the terms of the everlasting
covenant. It's an everlasting covenant of grace that is ratified
not by your works or my works or your efforts or my efforts.
It's ratified by the blood of Christ. It's what he earned. And so the terms of the everlasting
covenant of grace. Now, Christ said this in Mark
8 36, he said, what shall it profit a man if he shall gain
the whole world and lose his own soul? Well, nothing. But
this is a prophet here that is not earned. It's a prophet given. Given. It says in Psalm 37 and
verse 4, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give
thee the desires of thy heart. Now somebody says, well, that's
almost like making God a genie in a bottle. In other words,
if I delight in him, he'll give me everything I want. That's
not what that says. You see, if your delight is truly
in the Lord, that's Jehovah there, Christ, if your delight is truly
in the Lord, then the desires of your heart will be according
to his will. Thy will be done. It'll be that
which glorifies and honors him and is good for you. And you
know what? We don't always know what's good
for us. I've seen several stories about
the genie in a bottle. Not just Aladdin, but other stories. Somebody finds a bottle, there's
a genie, and then they begin to make three wishes. And each
time they make a wish, it really gets them into more trouble.
They might wish for a million dollars, and they find out all
the negatives that come with it, you see. And that's the way
we are. We don't know what's good for
us. But the desires of our heart, if they're in line with glorifying
God and saying, God, thy will be done, you do what you know
in your wisdom is good for me. He'll give you the desires of
your heart. You see, there's great reward
in serving the Lord. Let me show you a scripture here
and then I'll look at Psalm 37 and then I'll conclude. Let me show you what this prophet
is all about. Turn to Psalm 37 and then turn
back to Psalm 1. And let me read this, this will
be our conclusion. In Psalm 37, he says in verse
35, listen to this. He said, I have seen the wicked
in great power spreading himself like a green bay tree. a green
bay tree, a green tree that's beautiful. But look at verse
three, it says, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found. Now that's what the wicked earn.
That's a sinner without Christ. But look over at Psalm 1. Here
he's talking about the blessed man. the justified person. The sinner saved by grace, verse
3, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. There's the prophet.
That's the grace of God. That's not what we earn. That's
the fruit. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. Delight thyself in the Lord. And there is great profit, the
profit of grace. All right.