Alright, let's open our Bibles
to the book of Job chapter 13. Job chapter 13. Now, the Bible is a book, God's Word,
that is full of miracles. Lots of miracles. You think about
Genesis to Revelation and God's dealings with men and women,
dealings with nations, and so many amazing things that suspend
and rise above human ability, human reasoning. That's what
has caused a lot of skeptics to deny the genuine authority of the scriptures. Some have even called it a book
of myths because of these miracles. And we could go through and list
all of these miracles and there's things that amaze us. But if
I had to make a listing of the greatest miracles in the order
of their greatness, I tell you the two things I would
put at the top of the list as the greatest of all miracles. And I think you know pretty much
what number one would be. And I think about how the Apostle
Paul was moved to state it in the book of 1 Timothy, when he
says, great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the
flesh. And I would list that at the
top. The greatest of all miracles. God in human flesh. The Word
was made flesh. But that doesn't stop with just
the incarnation of Christ. Because I would include in that
one miracle everything that He did as God in human flesh. His obedience unto death on the
cross of Calvary to redeem His people from their sins. To redeem His people. To save
His sheep. to justify the ungodly. God just to justify the ungodly
through the blood and the righteousness of Christ and all that He accomplished
as God in human flesh. And that's the greatest miracle.
God being just and righteous and still being a merciful and
loving and gracious God. That's our whole message. It's our hope. Salvation by the
grace of God in Christ. That's the number one miracle
of this universe. Of all time. Of the whole Bible. What Christ accomplished. And
that's the ground of our salvation. And that He did it in our flesh. Brother Joe read in Romans chapter
8 in the study a while ago. Where Paul wrote what the law
could not do. in that it was weak through the
flesh. God sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, that is as a substitute, condemned sin in the flesh. He
died and He was buried and He rose again the third day. He's
now seated at the right hand of the Father. That's the number
one of all miracles, the miracle of miracles right there. Number
two on my list would simply be this, a sinner, a sinner believing
in, resting in, trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation. I put that as number two. They
go together because one is the ground, the work of Christ for
us, and the other is the fruit, the spiritual life, the new birth,
the faith, which is the gift of God. That's a miracle. We know that so. Now, we who
know Christ, we know that it is a miracle when a sinner comes
to believe and rest in Christ. I said this morning, I said it's
the simplest thing in the world, but it's impossible for the natural
man to do. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know." So when
a sinner comes to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
a miracle. That's a greater miracle to me
than the parting of the Red Sea. That's a greater miracle than
the healing of the sick, the giving sight to the blind, hearing
to the deaf. A sinner born dead in trespasses
and sin. That's why I had you read that
passage in Ephesians 2, Bill. We who were dead in trespasses
and sin. That's a greater miracle than
being given life physically or being raised from the dead physically.
The miracle of Christ raising Lazarus out of the grave. That's
a miracle. Great miracle. But when he brought
you to faith in Christ, when he brought me to faith in Christ,
that's a greater miracle. I mean that, I'm not just being
poetic tonight. I mean that's so. Because that's
something, listen, the natural man will not do that. Man won't
do that of his own free will. Man won't do that on his own.
It takes a powerful, sovereign work of God, the Holy Spirit. He has to give us a new heart,
a new mind, all of those things. That's a miracle. And that's
what we have here in Job chapter 13. We have an example of that.
I told you that chapters 12 through 14 is Job's response to his three
friends and their poor, wretched advice to him, their counsel
to him concerning his suffering. Job, the man who was suffering,
suffering greatly. And he answers them in one of
his answers. This is the longest answer that
Job gives them. Chapters 12 through 14. It's
right after his friend Zophar had joined in with the other
two to preach that false gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity
based on the works of man. And that's what they were preaching.
And so Job in answering Zophar, he answers the other two also.
And the key to understanding Job's answer in all three of
these chapters, 12, 13, and 14, is found in this chapter tonight,
chapter 13, and it's found in verse 15 of chapter 13. Look
at it. He says, Though he slay me, yet
will I trust him. Though he slay me. Job chapter
13, verse 15. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. But I will maintain, I will plead
mine own ways before him. I'll plead my cause. We'll see
what he's talking about. He also shall be my salvation,
for a hypocrite shall not come before him. Now that's faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a miracle. That's a gift
from God. And that's why I entitled this
message, The Gift of Trusting in the Lord. Over there in the
book of Proverbs that I read in the opening of of our service
tonight it says in verse 5 trust in the Lord and the word Lord
there is Jehovah the title Lord is Jehovah that's the covenant
God of grace who saves sinners by grace and he says trust in
the Lord with all thine heart and lean not into thine own understanding
now Job's three friends were leaning to their own understanding
that's what a false gospel is That's when preachers preach
salvation by the works and the will of man. What are they doing?
They're leaning to their own understanding. That's man's natural
understanding. That's what comes natural. Talked
about that last time when Job told his three friends. He said,
well, who doesn't know what you're all spouting forth? That's natural
to man. That's what Satan knows. When
Satan speaks his lies, he's only speaking what's natural to him.
When man preaches his lies, he's only preaching and teaching what's
natural. Salvation by works. That's the
way he thinks. That's the way we think by nature. That's why
when you read that in Ephesians 2, it says, we were by nature
children of wrath, children of disobedience. You know what a
child of disobedience is in the scripture? It's an unbeliever. That's what a child of disobedience
is. unbeliever so that if you find any believers you find some
miracles that's what they are that's what Job is he's a miracle
now he's going through a hard trial I'll tell you what you
think about it what Job's going through he lost everything lost
his land lost his family lost his health And his wife looked
at him and said, curse God and die. Yet, Job says, though he
slay me, I will trust him. What are we to look at and say
there? What are we to conclude when we read passages like that?
Job going through this hard trial, everything against him. You know,
if anybody was going to deny the Lord, it'd be Job. If we think this way, thinking
naturally, we'd think, well, if anybody had a right to deny
God, Job did. Look at him. And yet he says,
though he slay me, yet will I trust him. What are you going to conclude
from that? Well, let's talk about how great
Job is and what a guy, you know. Boy, and that Job, he's sure
better than me, you know. No, he's a miracle of grace. He's a testimony to the power
of God, to the goodness of God, to the mercy of God in Christ.
That's what Job is. You know, we want to hold up
men for examples, and listen, I believe we should be good examples
of godly people and all, but a good example of a godly person
is still a miracle of God's grace, a walking, talking miracle of
God's grace. Now, so Job had a gift. Bill read it, for by grace are
you saved. Does that apply to Job? Yes,
it does. Job was a sinner saved by grace.
Through faith, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. That
not of yourselves, that's the gift of God. Not of works, lest
any man should boast. And then he said, for we're his
workmanship. You see, God's the one who works
this miracle. Salvation's of the Lord. We're
his workmanship. Well, how did he work it? Well,
he created us in Christ Jesus. Where'd that take place? On the
cross. Isn't that right? on the cross when Christ died
he was made sin what a miracle and we were made the righteousness
of God in him what a miracle that's redemption and out of
that comes unto not because of as you said unto good works and
that begins with faith good works are the obedience of faith that's
a miracle and then he says God ordained that before the foundation
of the world chose a people gave them to Christ what a miracle
Well, Job relates to that. I relate to it, and I hope you
do, too, by the grace of God. I hope we can relate to that
no matter what we're going through in this earth, whether it's health
or sickness, plenty or poverty, whatever. I hope we can relate
to that. That's what we are. Now, to say
that Job was a miracle of God's grace and a man of faith does
not mean that Job said and did everything perfectly and right. So, don't get that impression.
Now, if you say, well, Job's a man of faith, that means he
always speaks the right thing, he always has the right attitude,
he always... Listen. Listen. If that's the
way it is, Job didn't need grace. If that's the way you think it
is, you don't need grace. No, Job, as Brother Bob McSweeney
would say, Job runs a wheel off every now and then in his thinking,
in his speaking. He doesn't always have the right
attitude, neither do I, and neither do you. But he says, though he
slay me, yet will I trust him. We trust Christ. Well, there's
three things here. Let's look at it in chapter 13.
The first thing in the first few verses here, Job exposes
his accusers. They come and they accuse him.
You know what they're saying. They're using man's natural self-righteous
reasoning. They say God is just. Well, that's
true. But they say God is just and
He only punishes the wicked. And he only rewards the righteous.
You're being punished, Job, therefore you're wicked. We're not being
punished, therefore we're righteous. Now, there's man's reasoning,
isn't it? Job says, I know that's not true. He'd already told them
there how they're mocking him, how they're leaning to their
own understanding. He said, Providence alone teaches
you better than that. Remember back in chapter 12,
verse 6, he said, Have you ever seen the tabernacle of spoilers
prosper? Well, yes, they have. Anybody
has. people who don't believe God, people who openly provoke
God. And in this life, they prosper. Now we know their end. You remember
the psalmist in Psalm 73, you know, he said, I wondered about
all that, it baffled me. Why do the heathen prosper? Why
do the righteous and the righteous, now who are the righteous in
the Scripture? Sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ.
washed in the blood of Christ, clothed in His righteousness.
Why do the righteous sometimes suffer? Job was a righteous man.
He was a sinner saved by grace. He's suffering. The psalmist
wondered about that. And he said, I couldn't figure
it out. And you can't either. And I can't either. Why, why,
why? And he said, until I went into the tabernacle of the Lord. I went into the house of God.
And then he gave me an answer. And it's the only answer He gives.
And here's the answer. He said, then I understood their
end. How it's all going to ultimately
end up. God will punish the wicked. And He will bless His people
in Christ. So, He shows them that they're
wrong. He first exposes them here. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 13. He says, Lo, mine eye hath seen
all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. And what he's
telling, he said, I've seen what you're saying, I've understood
what you're saying. That's natural to man. He says
in verse 2, What you know, the same do I know also. I'm not
inferior unto you. You know, listen, false gospels
are natural to man. We know that. You see, that's
why grace has to be revealed. You see, we don't know grace
by nature. We don't know Christ by nature. We know works. We
know self-righteousness. We know pride. We know religion
by nature. That's what he's saying to his
friends. What you're saying, what you're advising, that's
what everybody knows. And that doesn't help. In fact,
it hurts even worse. He says, so I'm not inferior
to you on this, but look at verse 3. He says, surely I would speak
to the Almighty. I need to hear from God. And
I desire to reason with God. Now that's not pride in Job.
Let me show you that. Turn to Isaiah chapter 1 with
me. Now that's, and Job is not, listen,
Job is not saying I don't ever need a preacher. You know, I've
heard people say that. God sends forth his preachers
to point sinners to Christ, to preach the Word of God. The problem
is Job's three miserable, comforting friends are not preaching and
teaching and counseling with the Word of God. They're doing
it with the reasoning of men. And Job is saying, I need to
hear what God says here. And if somebody could come along
and tell him what God says, I guarantee you Job would embrace that man.
Just like Philip in the Ethiopian eunuch, you know. The Ethiopian
eunuch was reading the Word of God and Philip sent to that man
out in the desert there. And he asked him, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, how can I except some
man? Some man's sin of God show me. Remember he was reading Isaiah
53 and Philip took that same scripture and began to preach
to him Christ. Jesus Christ. Well, look here
in Isaiah 1 and verse 18. You know, he talked about, he
said, learn to do well, seek judgment. Look at verse 18, come
down, let us reason together. This is God's commandment in
the gospel for sinners to come and reason with Him. This is
not, listen, this is not a leap, faith is not, the gift of faith
is not a leap in the dark. It's not jumping off a cliff.
It's believing God. That's what faith is. I think
it's the best definition of faith. Believing what God says. Believing
what God says about Himself. He's a holy, righteous, just
God. He's a sovereign God. He doeth
as He will among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And none can stay His hand or say unto Him, what
doest thou? God's not accountable to us.
We're accountable to Him. God works all things after the
counsel of His own will. God is holy and He must punish
sin. He cannot look over sin. Now,
He's sometimes long-suffering in the manifestations of His
wrath, but judgment is coming, rest assured. Noah preached that
for 120 years, and how many of those folks you think really
believed Him? The Bible doesn't record any except His family,
eight souls. Isn't that right? But what happened? Well, after the 120 years was
up, and after Noah preached righteousness, preached Christ, after Noah built
the ark, what did God do? He brought it down and destroyed
the earth with a flood. It came. It didn't come immediately.
It didn't come the first day Noah preached it, second day,
third day, 120 years. But it came. Come, let us reason
together. What does God say about me? And
I'm a sinner, and I cannot save myself. And God, listen, listen. God, if He gives me what I deserve
and what I've earned, it'll be eternal damnation. At my best. None righteous, no not one. Born
dead in trespasses and sin. That's what the Scripture says.
That's what God says. Man says, no, you got a little
spark of good, we just need a preacher and a good piano player to fan
that spark. No. No, no, no. That's not what
God's Word says. Come let us reason together.
And then what the Lord says about salvation. How He saves sinners. By His grace. Grace, grace, grace,
grace all the way. I had a fellow over at the Y
who watches our TV program, and he'll come up and talk to me.
He heard the message I preached entitled, Grace All the Way. He said, Boy, I wish more people
would hear that, you know. He wanted us to send the DVDs
to his son. Grace All the Way. That's what
it is. That's what God says. Well, look
at it. Verse 18. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as gold." How is that possible? It's a miracle. God was manifested in the flesh. God the Son incarnate obeyed
the law perfectly and went to the cross of Calvary and died
for the sins of His sheep charged to Him so that He might charge
them with His righteousness. That's how it happens. That's
how the scarlet ones become white as snow, the crimson ones become
white as wool. We wear the white robe of Christ's
righteousness that's been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And
that's the only way. There is no other way. So when
he says, I need to hear from God, what Job is talking about
is his suffering. He said, I desire to reason with
God. I want to hear from God. He says, look at verse 4 of chapter
13. He says, but you're forgers of lies, and you're physicians
of no value. You know what that word forger
means? It really means that they coat the truth with lies. Remember
I told you, if you read what his three friends say to him,
and you'll see more of this, they speak a lot of truth. But
they whitewash it. They coat it with lies. And that's
what he means. You forge out lies. In other
words, this is not just by happenstance. This is a concocted, concocted
lie. This is something that they thought
about. This is man's connivance in opposition to God's Word.
This is how we've got it figured out. And there's some truth there,
you know. Every one of these fellows that
when they approached Job, they said, Now Job, you know God is
just. That's true. And then they begin
speaking their lies in a false gospel. Forgers of lies. Whitewashing it. Coding the truth
with lies. And then he says that you're
physicians of no value. When I read that, I thought about
the Lord in Mark chapter 5. Turn over there a minute. They're not helping. I don't
know what they call it, the Hippocratic oath of doctors that they take,
but I think included in that, and it may not be included in
that oath, I don't know, But they say that the first rule
of a physician is to, first of all, do no harm. Do no harm. Well, that's exactly what these
physicians of no value were doing to Job. They were doing him harm.
They weren't pointing him to the Word of God. They weren't
pointing him to Christ. They were pointing him to himself.
Job, you've got a problem. You've got to take care of this
thing, man. You've got to atone for your sins. You've got to
get right. You've got to reform so that God will bless you. And
that's the problem. You see, I'll tell you, any time
we look to ourselves for the solution, we can call ourselves
at that moment physicians of no value. But you remember this
incident in our Lord's life here on earth when he was on his way
to heal another person, a little girl. Jairus's daughter and on
the way it says in verse 24 of Mark 5 listen to this it says
and Jesus went with him and much people followed him and thronged
him and a certain woman don't you love how the scriptures always
say that about these things a certain woman not just any but a certain
which had an issue of blood 12 years been sick a long time some
kind of hemorrhaging and and had suffered many things of many
physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing
bettered, but rather grew worse." Now, in a spiritual way, that's
the same thing Job's old counselors are trying to do to him. They're
going to make him worse. Remember it says in verse 27 here, when
she had heard of Jesus, she came and pressed in the press and
touched his garment, for she said, if I may touch but his
clothes, I shall be whole and straightway, which means immediately
or now. And immediately the fountain
of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body that she
was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing
in himself that virtue, that's power, had gone out of him, turned
him about in the press, said, who touched my clothes? He knew
who it was. He's making a point here. Now
you know what people do with that, don't you? I'd say, well, it's the power
of your believing. No. What was her faith? What was
her faith? Define her faith. Her faith was
that Christ could heal her of her sickness. Her faith was in
Him. Her faith was not in her faith.
It was in Christ. That's her faith. Thy faith.
That's the gift of God. That's what Job had back here,
and he looks at his friends, go back to Job 13, he says, you're
forgers of lies, you're not telling me the truth. You're like those
false prophets in Jeremiah. Jeremiah twice, he spoke of false
preachers. Who just, he said, the way he
puts it, or this way, here's the way he describes it. talking about israel and he said
they healed the hurt of my daughter talking about the children of
israel slightly it's like it's like putting a a band-aid over
a fatal wound you just cover it they heal it slightly and
how did they do it by crying peace peace when there is no
peace that's a deadly message peace when there is no peace
see there's only peace in christ and without him there is no peace
with god So, any peace without him is a deadly message. It's
like, it may make you feel good, but it won't last. It's like
putting a band-aid over a deadly wound. It won't work. And so,
that's what's happening here. He says, you're physicians of
no value. You see, Christ is the great
physician. He doesn't heal the hurt of anybody
slightly. He heals all the way. He heals
the broken heart and He heals the disease. He put away my sins. That's what's the disease that
we have is sin. He put it away. He did away with
it. There's no charge brought against
God's people who shall lay anything to the charge of God's will.
Christ put it away. He put it away. He delivers us
from the disease of sin. And then look at verse 5 of Job
13. He said, Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace, and
it should be your wisdom. What Job is saying there is the
best wisdom you fellas can enact is to shut up. The wisest thing you can do is
shut your mouth, because all you're spouting out is foolishness.
So even the Bible in Proverbs 17 and verse 28 says, even a
fool when he holds his peace is counted wise. If he doesn't
open his mouth, you can say, well, maybe he is wise. And the
he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. So if
you open your mouth in these situations, you better be preaching
God's word, because that's the only wisdom there is. in these
matters. Now beginning at verse 6 and
going through most of the rest of the chapter, Job pleads his
case. Now he's going to plead his case.
And the summation the summation of his pleading and like I said
I'm not gonna try to sit here and tell you that Job says everything
right does everything right no I'm not that's not at all but
the summation of his pleading his case is very similar to what
Paul stated in Galatians 6 and verse 14 God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and boy I tell
you that's the best way for any of us to plead our case right
there God forbid That we should glory, save in the cross, the
person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to
what he says, look at verse 6, he says, Here now my reasoning,
hearken to the pleadings of my lips. He says, Will you speak
wickedly for God? You come in the name of God yet
you're speaking wickedly. and talk deceitfully for Him?
Will you accept His person? Will you contend for God? In
other words, when you speak wickedly, are you speaking for God? Are
you showing partiality for Him? You see, God is no respecter
of persons. The Scripture teaches that. God
is no respecter of persons. Read Romans chapter 2 sometimes.
God always judges according to truth. He'll never make a mistake. He's never unfair. He's never
unjust. He doesn't look at your person
and say, well, look who that is, look who his dad is, or his
mother is. Nothing like that, you see. Or
look at what he's done or not done. God is no respecter of
men's person. Listen, with God, it's either
one of two ways. You're either in Christ, justified,
washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness, or you're
on your own, condemned. That's the way it is. Know what? There's no in-between, is there?
It's either in Christ, saved by the grace of God, looking
to Him, resting in Him, or it's on your own. And on your own
is death. He's no respecter of persons.
But you see what these three men, these three counselors,
they were presenting God as a respecter of persons. Job, God will bless
you if you'll do certain things for Him. Now that's being a respecter
of persons. Well, God is not. And He won't
be. Look at verse 9. Job says, Is
it good that He should search you out? Or as one man mocketh
another, do you so mock Him? What he's saying here is this.
If God were to put His spotlight of omniscience on you and search
you out, how would you fare? If God were
to mark your sins, The sins of your thoughts. Sins of commission
and sins of omission. The psalmist put it this way.
If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, who would stand? You're looking at me, Job says.
And you're trying to find out my sins. You're trying to bring
them out. What if God were to look at you?
Or you? Look at your heart, your thoughts.
Or will you mock Him as you mock a man? You know what he's talking
about mocking God there? Here's a sinner who has nothing
to recommend him unto God. That's just by nature, isn't
it? And yet he comes before God expecting salvation based on
what he thinks he's done for God or what he thinks he promises
to do for God. That's mocking God. Think about
that. Verse 10, look at it. He says,
He will surely reprove you. You know, God uncovers everything.
He'll convict you if you do secretly accept persons. Again, God's
no respecter of persons. And someday, men and women are
going to be reproved. Now what we pray for, what I
pray for myself and for those who hear the gospel is that God
will reprove them by the power of the Holy Spirit in conviction
in the new birth. Remember it says he will reprove
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Bring you to
see your need of Christ. Like that old public. And say
God be merciful to me the sinner. Bring us to see Lord we have
nothing of any value or worth to recommend us unto you. That's
what I am. Even as a preacher of the gospel,
I have one plea, Christ died for me. I have one righteousness,
Christ's righteousness charged, accounted to me. That's my hope. It's not what, not, listen, the
fact that I preach the gospel, that's, listen, that's a privilege. That's not merit before God. That doesn't make me righteous.
That's a privilege. That's an honor. To get up before
men and preach the glorious gospel of God's grace is an honor. That's
not my righteousness. Christ is. Christ is. Look at verse 11. He says, Shall
not His excellency make you afraid, and His dread fall upon you?
Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies
of clay. They'd spoken so proudly. and
so self-righteously. They claim to know God's greatness
and God's justice. But instead of making them afraid
and bringing them down in humility and loathing themselves and pleading
and begging for mercy, instead of doing that, it made them self-righteous. That's the problem with the natural
man. Remember in Hannah's prayer, you know what she said? Talk
no more, exceedingly proud. But they had looked at the justice
of God. They had looked at these things
and it made them proud. That's the natural man. Verse
13, he says, hold your peace. Stop it. Let me alone. Leave me alone! Can't you just
hear Job crying that out from the depths of his soul? Leave
me alone that I may speak, and let come on me what will. I want
to present my case to God, and I'm willing to accept whatever
comes. Well, Job is pretty much at the lowest point, isn't he?
Already. But he told them, he says, the
things you all think, they're like ashes that blow away. Like
the bodies that are bodies of clay, these old bodies. This
body is dead because of sin. The spirit is life because of
righteousness. He said, let me alone that I
may speak. And then look at verse 14. He says, wherefore do I take
my flesh and my teeth and put my life in mine hand? What he's
saying there is, why should I hold to dear life like an animal who
holds its prey in its mouth and won't let it go for a while?
because he wants to preserve it. Like a man who holds a possession
tied in his hand to secure it. Don't let it go. He said, why
should I do that? Verse 15, though he slay me. Life's not going to last forever,
is it? This life on this earth, that's what he's talking about.
Oh yes, we're going to live eternally. We're either going to live in
eternal glorious union with God in Christ or we're going to live
in eternal separation from God. That's hell. So he says, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. That's a statement of faith
in Christ. Right there. We know that from
the context. We know that from what God Himself
in chapter 1 said about Job. He's a just man. He's an upright
man. He's one who feared God and has
chewed evil. He's a man of faith. Justified
before God through Christ. We know that through Job's worship.
He came to worship. He called upon the Lord through
sacrifice. He knew he was a sinner just
like Abel who needed the blood of the Lamb that was promised.
Pictured and typified. He knew he needed the righteousness
of another. His own would not stand the test.
He knew he needed the righteousness of God. We know this by Job's
testimony throughout this book in which he constantly alludes
to the fact that he is at the mercy of God and God's mercies
are everlasting. They're forever and ever. We
know this from his statement later on when he says, I know
my Redeemer liveth. and shall stand at the latter
day on the earth, and I shall see him. Though he slay me, yet
will I trust him." This is the same as the Apostle Paul when
he said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I
commit my soul unto the Lord. This is a gift from God, friend.
This is not Job's, listen, this is not Job's self-will. This is not Job's power of goodness. This is the grace and goodness
and will and power of God in the operation of grace upon a
sinner, saved by grace. That's a miracle right there.
Think about it. This is a gift of God's grace
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And you think about this. If
you believe in Him, you have that same gift. You have that
same gift. Don't be proud. Don't be lifted
up. Just look to Christ from the
bottom of the barrel like Job. You say, well, I'm not suffering
like Job, thank God. Life's not over. Not yet. Suffering may come in forms that
you haven't even begun to imagine. Isn't that right? One day, everything's
fine. The next day, the whole world's
collapsing around you. Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him. Trust Christ. That's a miracle. A miracle of grace. But Job says
here, he says, but I will maintain mine own ways before Him. Now,
when he says maintain mine own ways, he's not talking about
his works and his worthiness or anything like that. He's defending
His integrity. He says it there, yet will I
trust Him. He shall be my salvation, verse
16. He also shall be my salvation. I have no other salvation but
Him, but Christ. And He said, and hypocrites shall
not come before Him. You can't fool God. Who is your
only hope of salvation? If it's anything else, I'll tell
you who knows it. God does. If you're looking to
anyone but Christ, For forgiveness, for salvation, for righteousness,
for eternal life. I'll tell you who knows it right
now, God knows it already. That's a hypocrite. Anybody that's
looking anywhere else. But if you're looking to Christ
alone, trusting Him alone, resting in Him alone, knowing your frame,
knowing your sin, God knows that too. A hypocrite won't come before
Him. And so Job says, look here in
verse 17, he says, hear diligently my speech and my declaration
with your ears. Behold, now I have ordered my
cause. I know that I shall be justified. You know what that is? Some say,
you know, some commentators say, well, that's self-righteousness.
No, I'll tell you what it is. That's boldness in the day of
judgment because as he is, so are we in this world, 1 John
4, 17. That's the cleansed conscience, the cleansed heart who enters
in boldly to the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus. That's
what that is. How do I know I'll be justified
at judgment? Because I have no other hope
but Christ and Him crucified. I've got nothing else to plead,
nothing else to say. God saved me for Christ's sake. That's it. And he's setting this
up like a courtroom. Look at verse 19. He said, Who
is he that will plead with me? For now, if I hold my tongue,
I shall give up the ghost. In other words, what he's saying
here is what you fellows are saying is about to make me explode.
I just want to tell you the truth. I can't stop. If I don't say
something now, I'll die. And then what does he do? He
pleads with God for an answer. Look at verse 20. Now Job's friends
didn't have the answer. But he says, only do not two
things unto me. Now he's talking to the Lord.
This is a prayer. Then will I not hide myself from thee? And he
makes two requests here. That God would prove to him that
he had not been forsaken. Verse 21, he says, withdraw thy
hand far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid. He's
talking about his afflictions. Lord, lift these trials off of
me. You ever prayed that way? I have. Lord, you know, Paul said, I
had a thorn in the flesh, I sought the Lord three times for it,
and God's answer was, my grace is sufficient for you, Paul.
Lord, take this away from me. You're going through sickness,
Lord, heal me. You're going through anguish, Lord, relieve my oppression. Whatever you're going through,
whatever trial it is, whatever grief, whatever pain, we like
Job. Lord, lift this from me. Now,
he may do it. Well, I'm going to put it to you this way. He
will do it. But he may do it by taking you home to be with
him. He may heal you permanently. He may heal me permanently. He
may take me tomorrow, and I'll never have to fool with heart
disease again. Never again. But that's a cure, isn't it?
And then he says in verse 22, Then call thou, and I will answer,
or let me speak, and answer thou me. Lord, comfort me with your
voice. Give me an answer. I want to
hear from God. That's the two things Job wants.
Relieve my oppression, relieve my affliction, and answer me. Speak to me, Lord. Don't be silent. Speak to me. Now, Job doesn't
mention this here, but he mentioned it earlier. God is speaking to
you when He speaks through His Word. Do you understand that?
Now, I know we pray, and God answers us in His providence,
but this is the main way that God speaks to His people. He
does it every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.
And He does it when you read the Scripture. He does it when
you listen to a message. He does it when you discuss His
Word. He speaks to His people through His Word. Look at verse
23. He says, How many are mine iniquities
and sins? Make me to know my transgression
and my sin. That's one thing Job's learning
through this whole thing. He's learning, really, how much
of a sinner he really is. And we learn that too. That's
growth in grace and knowledge. And what that does is we grow
in appreciation and value and love for Christ as our Redeemer. He says, verse 24, Wherefore
hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? Now Job's
talking about his affliction. God's not his enemy. But Job
can't see straight right now. He's on an ash heap. He's out
there on the dung heap of us. He's wanting answers from God.
He says in verse 25, He says, Wilt thou break a leaf driven
to and fro, and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? In other words,
I'm so beat down I'm like a dry leaf and you're still beating
up on me. I'm like the dry stubble. You can't do much more to dry
stubble, but here I am and I'm getting it again. Why do you
want to beat up on a dead horse? Why do you want to beat up on
a dry leaf? He says in verse 26, for thou writest bitter things
against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. What
he's saying there, he said, well it may be something back in my
youth that I did that God's punishing me for now or God's chastising
me for. Now Job knew he wasn't paying
for his sins. He said, yet though he slayed
me, I'll trust him. But he's trying to figure this out in
his own way. He's wanting God to answer him. He says in verse
27, Thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and lookest narrowly
unto all my paths. What he's doing, he said, I can't
walk but in a narrow path of suffering. Thou settest a print
upon the heels of my feet. You've marked the heels of my
feet that anywhere I walk, it's suffering. Suffering. I turn
north, south, east, west. It's suffering. That's all Job
faces now. And then he says in verse 28,
And he as a rotten thing consumeth and as a garment that is moth-eaten.
That's what Job... That's how he assessed his life.
I'm like a rotten thing and I'm rotting away. I'm like a garment
that's being consumed and moth-eaten. So, he asked for God's answer. Help me, God. He's speaking out
of his suffering. He's speaking out of his suffering.
And I'll tell you, when we speak out of our suffering, we do the
same thing. And that's why we need to continually be in God's
Word. That's why David said, Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed not iniquity, whose sins are covered, though he slay
me I will trust him we got our problems don't we we don't always
act well going through these trials but we can say by a miracle
of God's grace by the gift of God's grace though he slay me
yet will I trust him all right