Now look with me to Job chapter
10. I sort of debated over what to
entitle this message. And the first title that I came
up with is not the one that I'm actually giving it, but the first
title I came up with was, Why Me, Lord? Why Me, Lord? Because that's the question that
Job asked. in verse 2. He says, Wherefore
thou contendest with me. Why me, Lord? That's what that
means. Why are you contending with me? Why are you dealing
with me? But as I read through this whole
chapter, read through it several times and thought about it, the phrase that kept ringing
in my ear was the phrase that the Apostle Paul was inspired
by the Holy Spirit to use in Romans 7 and verse 24. Oh, wretched
man. And that's the title of the message.
Oh, wretched man. Now Paul, as you know, was dealing
with the anguish of his own soul concerning the warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. That's what he's talking about
in Romans chapter 7. He's talking about the desire
of his heart that was given him by God in grace to follow Christ
and to be like Him perfectly. Oh, to be like Him. He was expressing
his longing to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ in himself.
He understood. He understood that in Christ,
under God's law and justice, he stood before God perfect.
and righteous. And that's why he wrote in that
verse 1 of chapter 8, there is therefore now no condemnation
in Christ. No condemnation in Christ. He
understood what David wrote in Psalm 32 when David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputes not iniquity. In fact, Paul quoted
that several chapters before in Romans 4. when he was using
Abraham and David as examples, illustrations, of how God justifies
the ungodly. And he elaborated there, and
understand now, his elaboration was not just the commentary of
men, but it was the inspiration of the Spirit. In Romans chapter
4 and 6 through 8. He said this is what David meant
when he penned those words in Psalm 32, "'Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.'" That's what
David knew and meant. In other words, like Job, David,
and like Abraham, David looked forward by promise to the coming
of Christ into the world to put away his sins. and to establish
his righteousness, the only righteousness that God will accept, the righteousness
of God in Christ. And so Paul was talking about
his longing and his desire to be free of this sinful flesh. O wretched man that I am, he
said, who shall deliver me from this body of death. What he was
talking about was He knew, he expresses that in Romans chapter
8, he knew the certainty of being perfectly conformed to the image
of Christ. Paul wrote about that quite a
bit. He wrote about it in 1 Corinthians when he talked about how this
corruptible must put on incorruption. We have a certain assurance of
eternal life and glory and perfection in ourselves because of the grace
of God in Christ. Now Job knew that too. He expresses
it over in Job chapter 19 clearly. It really comes through all of
Job, but he really described it and explained it in Job 19
when he said, I know my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand in
the latter day, and I'll see him. I'll see him. And he said, though he destroy
this flesh, He said, I'll see him and I'll be with him. So
Job understood this too. Well, Job, what he's dealing
with, as you well know, is the chastisements and the trials
and the pains, the outward attacks upon his body, his person, his
life. But the anguish that he expresses
here in chapter 10 is the same kind of anguish that Paul expressed
in Romans 7. Oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this dead? Now Paul knew who was going to
deliver him. I thank my God through Jesus
Christ my Lord. Job knew who was going to deliver
him. He had been answering a man named Bildad. Bildad and his
friend Eliphaz and they You know, they had their ideas and their
philosophy and their religious thoughts about why Job was suffering,
and it runs pretty much like the false gospels of every age. And that's one thing that stays
the same. It may have a different name and a different color and
a different culture and a different way, but it's the same false
gospel, and that is salvation by works. And they'd look at
a man like Job, and they'd say, Job, now you're suffering. You've
lost everything. Now we know that God is just,
and He only does that to wicked people, so you must be wicked.
You better straighten up and get right with God so that you
can have it easier like we do. I don't know how they would answer
if it were their persons being tortured like Job's was. They might change their tune,
I doubt it. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. So Job answers Bildad and he basically says, He says,
I know I'm not perfect, I don't claim sinless perfection in myself,
but I'm right with God. And he said, based upon what
you're saying, no man living could be just with God. In other
words, if what you're saying is true, Bill Dadd, then we're
all sinners and we all ought to be suffering just like I am,
even worse. And when he finishes talking
to Bill Dadd in chapter 9, he expresses his need of a mediator.
I need a mediator. I need an advocate. I need a
substitute. We talked about that, man's need
of Christ as mediator. Then in chapter 10 here, he turns
to God. Job speaking to God. This is
a prayer, you might say. It doesn't come in the form of
what you would normally think of as a prayer. It comes in the
form of just The anguish, the expression of anguish of a tortured
soul. And sometimes when you read passages
like this in the book of Job and elsewhere in other passages
of Scripture, sometimes you'll read things like this in the
Psalms. David, for example, speaking out of his anguish. It's hard
for us to climb into the mind of these men and say, well now,
this is what he meant and that's what he meant. We just have to
go by the expressions. And then we have to interpret
scripture with scripture. But I want, there's a key here.
And I want you to start, look here at verse 1. The first few
verses, and this is the first point here, is Job's bitter complaint. Now he has a bitter complaint.
Now somebody comes up and says, well, we ought not ever complain.
Walk in Job's shoes for a day. And then tell me that. Walk in
his shoes and preach that message. Here's Job's bitter complaint.
And look at what he says in verse 1. He says, My soul is weary. It's weary. You might have in
your margin there a translation that says, My soul is cut off
while I live. Literally what he's actually
saying, if you go back to the original, He's simply saying,
I loathe, I hate my life. My life as it is now, I hate
my life. My soul is weary of my life. And he makes a distinction there
between the soul and life. What does that mean? Well, the
soul here, you know, sometimes when you see the word soul in
the, especially in the Old Testament, it's really referring to the
whole person. Just like saying this man or
this soul. But here there's a distinction,
and it's a vital distinction. The soul here is his immortal
life. It's that soul that lives on
even after death. And that life there is just referring
to physical life. You see, there are those who
are physically alive but spiritually dead. And yet they still have
a soul, the Scripture teaches us. So this soul, you might say,
is the inner man, in essence. It's the immortal life, as distinguished
from the physical life. And he's simply saying, I want
a release from this physical life. My soul, my soul is weary. I hate this life. I hate living
in this life. I hate living in this body. And
you know what he's talking about. He's talking about the pain and
the anguish that he has. You see, Job knew the distinction
between humans and animals. He knew, you know, the wise man
Solomon in Ecclesiastes, he spoke of that in Ecclesiastes 3. We
won't turn over there. But he talked about how man and
animals, we both die and go into the dust. But he said man's spirit
rises upward. The animal, they go to the dust.
So what's Job saying? He starts out, my soul needs
to be set free from this living body, this pitiful, wretched
existence. And then he says this, he says,
I will leave my complaint upon myself. What he's saying there
literally is I'm just going to let it all spill out. I'm going
to put it all on the table now. And I believe what he's doing
here is speaking out of frustration, too, because of what his two
friends had advised him. That false, legalistic, works
gospel that they preach that just grinds a person's soul down
even more. There's no comfort there. There's
no peace there. Not if you know yourself now.
You know the people who derive comfort and peace from works
salvation. You know what the Bible calls
them? Hypocrites. Self-righteous. That's what they
are. That's why David, when he prayed
there in that Psalm 32, he said, Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile. No hypocrisy. What David is saying
is, I know what I am. I'm a sinner. I know that if
God gave me what I've deserved and what I've earned, it would
be eternal damnation. I know the only reason that I'm
blessed of God is His grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's it. So, Job here, in answering his
two miserable friends, Miserable comfort he said I'm just gonna
lay it on the line. I'm gonna. I'm gonna let you
see my thoughts And then he says I will speak
in the bitterness of my soul now, that's the key to understanding
chapter 2 What's Joe doing here? He tells I'm speaking in the
bitterness of my soul I That word bitterness, it means discontentment. I'm not content. You know, the
Bible tells us that we're to strive to be content in every
situation. That's hard, isn't it? That's hard. Godliness with contentment. Oh Lord, make us content. This
word bitterness means heaviness. I've got a burden that I cannot
bear. That's what Job is saying. I
think about the bitterness of soul, man by nature, the burden
of sin. It takes a sovereign work of
the Savior to remove that burden. That's why he himself was burdened
in our place. That's why he was made sin. And
then sometimes that word bitterness can mean angry. I wouldn't argue or debate the
fact, is Job saying I'm angry? Yeah, he's angry. Wouldn't you
be? Who's he angry at? Everybody. You think he's angry at God?
Maybe. Is that sinful? Oh, yes, it is. Job's a sinner. He said that. He's a sinner saved by grace.
Does Job mess up? Yeah, he messes up, just like
I do, just like you do. Does Job speak out of place and
out of turn? Oh, yes, he does. This is a human
being. Listen, this is no superhero
here. You know how modern religion,
you know, they try... Listen, I want to do everything
I can to get children interested in the Scriptures, but I don't
want to misinterpret or misrepresent the Word of God to do so. And
I noticed in some of these children's catalogs that they'll have little
figurines of men like Samson and people like that, and Gideon,
and they portray them as the superheroes, like the comic book
superheroes. These men weren't superheroes. They were human beings. They
were sinners saved by the grace of God, but they had weaknesses
and pains and sin just like we all do. They stood perfect in
Christ, but not in themselves. And God doesn't hold back in
His Word. He lets it all. Right there.
He lets us see it all. He's letting us into the mind
of Job to a point. Job says, I'm speaking out of
the bitterness of my soul. Look at verse 2. He says, He
says, I will say unto God. This is where he goes to. Do
not condemn me. Show me wherefore thou contendest
with me. Now that do not condemn me literally
means God please don't treat me as the wicked. That's what
it literally means. Didn't Job know that there's
therefore now no condemnation in Christ? Didn't he understand
that? I believe he did. Some say he
just lost sight of it because of the dregs of his affliction.
And you know what? That's possible. Do you ever
lose sight of it? Of the assurance and security
of salvation that we have in Christ? I know we never lose
it. Because God keeps us. We're in
the palm of his hand and no one will pluck us out. Right now,
I'm as righteous as I'll ever be in Christ, and that can never
change. Right now, Job, as he's speaking
these words, he's as righteous in Christ as he'll ever be, and
that never changes. But do we ever lose sight of
it? Don't say you don't. Don't let
that guile come in your mouth. Just let God put you through
some things, put me through some things, and we may lose sight
of it. You know, David prayed, Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. He'd lost that joy. He didn't
lose salvation, but he lost that joy. So it could be that Job
had lost sight in his anguish, in his bitterness, As I said,
we know there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ. We
know Christ's sufferings and deaths secure his people from
the condemnation of God's law and justice. But what's Job saying
here? It could be that he's just speaking
in terms of his physical pain, his physical existence. And that's
possible too. I don't know. I can't climb into
his mind and make that decision. But I know this. Here's what
Job wants to know. Why are you contending with me? God, why are you striving for
me? He's wanting some answers, just
like you want and I want. Now, Eliphaz and Bildad, they
told him the reason, didn't they? What? We told you, Job. You're
wicked. And therefore God's beating you
down because you're wicked and you need to straighten up. Well,
Job knew he was a sinner. He couldn't deny that. But he
also knew he was saved by grace. I believe he knew that. You'll
see that here. He knew his sin. But he also
knew the sins of all men by nature. There's none righteous, no, not
one in ourselves. And so he's asking this, why
should he suffer any more than others? You remember, well, he's
saying, show me the reason for my affliction. And then look
at verse 3. He says, is it good unto thee
that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the
work or the labor of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of
the wicked?" The works of God's hand. Who's he talking about?
You know who he's talking about there? He's talking about himself.
Job knew that whatever it is he was, he was the work and labor
of God's hands. He knew that physically. David
expressed that in one of the Psalms, how fearfully and wonderfully
we're made, he said. The human body is an amazing
thing, isn't it? Think about it. Well, that's
the work of God. That's not the work of man. That's
not a Frankenstein. That's God who created this human
body. But Job is also the work of God's
labor and hands spiritually in Christ. You see, if we're saved
by the grace of God, we are not our own work. We are not self-made
people. Somebody said about one individual,
he was a self-made man and he loved his Creator. That's the way a lot of people
are. We're not self-made. Listen, sinners saved by grace,
that's the work of God, salvations of the Lord. Think about it,
in Ephesians chapter 2, it talks about how, verse 8, for by grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for we
are his workmanship. And so Job is saying here, look,
he's saying, why do I, a sinner saved by grace, why do I suffer? And why do the wicked prosper?
And I really believe in verse 3 there when he says, "...and
shine upon the counsel of the wicked." I believe he's referring
to Eliphaz and Bildad. Because apparently at this point
they weren't suffering the trials and the pains and the anguish
that Job was. And here they come along with
this counsel. And Job says it's a wicked counsel. And it is. It is. It's nothing more than a false
gospel of salvation by work. It doesn't point Job to Christ
for comfort and peace and wisdom and knowledge. It points Job
to himself. Job, you're the problem. You've
got to take care of the problem. Isn't that the false gospel of
today, basically? So he says, why should you despise
the work of your hands? I'm a sinner saved by the work
of God's grace in Christ, and shine upon the counsel of the
wicked." Look at verse 4. Now he says, "...hast thou eyes
of flesh," talking to God, he says, "...or seest thou as man
seest? Are thy days as the days of man?
Are thy years as man's days, that thou inquirest after mine
iniquity, and searchest after my sin? Now again, Job here,
what he's doing, he's referring to the accusations of his friends
who claim to be sin of God. You know, Eliphaz and Bildad,
and later on we'll see Zophar, who comes up in chapter... They
claim to be sin of God. It's kind of like they're saying,
Job, God sent us here to you to help you through this. And
here's our counsel. And what Job is saying here is,
well, is that the case? Are you like a man? That's the
way man reasons. Their counsel is human, fleshly,
based on sight. So he's saying, God, is this
what you're like? What they're telling me? That
you look at me like a man looks at me? A man who can't see my
heart? Who doesn't see reality? You
remember, they were ignorant. Even Job was ignorant of what
we know to be true in the first chapter, about why God is doing
all this. He's saying, are you trying to
get me to search in myself for some secret sin that I nor any
other man can see? Is that what this is all about?
Does God see as man sees? Well, the answer to that is no.
No. God looks on the heart. The Bible
tells us that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of
the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart. And it says, and this is Hebrews
4.13, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight,
but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of God with
whom we have to do. God doesn't see his man. He doesn't
search like a man searches. He doesn't look at his children
and say, now let's see if I can find something wrong and get
this fellow to straighten up. No. No. Think about this. Does God see
our sins? You know, there's people who
argue about that. I think it's crazy. I really do. Of course
God sees our sins. He doesn't impute them to us.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. You
know, David, when he prayed his penitent prayer in Psalm 51,
you remember what he said in verse 4? He said, God, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Yes, God sees our sins, but he
doesn't hold them against us. He doesn't charge them to us.
He doesn't impute them to us. He sees us in Christ. Does God
change as a man changes? Well, if He does, then we sons
of Jacob better get ready to be consumed. Because God said
in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. So the way
that these men, these miserable comforters, are portraying God
is wrong. It's idolatry. And Job Ask that
question, not agreeing with them, but just making the point, I
believe. And let this prove it. Here's the second thing. Look
at verse 7. Here's Job's submission to God. Now, Job's hurting. Job's
in anguish. He's the wretched man here. But
he does submit to God. Look at verse 7. He says, Thou
knowest that I am not wicked. And there is none that can deliver
out of thine hand. He appeals to God's knowledge
of him. In other words, it's not like
Bildad is saying. It's not like Eliphaz is saying. You're looking
for something. You're searching for something.
And you want me to do the same. But he says God knows the reality. God knows the truth. Now, listen
to what Job says there. Did you ever... I don't know
if you've ever considered this before. I really never had stopped
at this verse to consider this, but listen to this. Listen to
what he says. God, thou knowest that I am not
wicked. Now somebody might say, well
now how can Job make such a claim? Well he can make that claim based
on the testimony of God. What did God say in Job 1 and
verse 1? That Job is a perfect man. Upright. One who fears God and is choose
evil. How could Paul make a statement
similar to that? By God's testimony. You can't
make that statement based upon what you see in others or in
yourself. If you make that statement based
upon what you see in others or in yourself, then what are you
doing? You're walking by sight. But what does God say? Now, that's
what Job's appealing to here. This is the knowledge of God.
What does God say? God says, "...there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." God says,
"...blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
imputing righteousness without words." Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now,
Bildad's not justifying him. Eliphaz is not justifying him,
and even Job is not justifying himself based on their false
gospel. But it's God that justifies. You see, men look at each other
and they say, well, that's not real, this isn't real, that's
not... When God does it, it's real, it's reality. And when Job says, he says, Thou
knowest that I am not wicked, he's not claiming sinless perfection
in himself before God. He'd already said, back in Job
7 and Job 9, he'd already said, I'm a sinner. He already said,
build that. If that's the gospel, then we're
all doomed. How can any man be just before
God? We're sinners. So when Job says, Thou knowest
I am not wicked, He's not claiming sinless perfection for himself.
What's he doing? He's simply saying this. He said,
I'm no hypocrite. You see, Bildad and Eliphaz were
saying, Job, you're a hypocrite. But Job's saying, I'm no hypocrite,
as you've accused. You know what he's done? And
I want you to turn to John 21. I want to show you something
here. I think it will help us all. You know what Job is doing
there when he says, thou knowest that I'm not? He's claiming the
grace of God in Christ. That's what he's doing. I'm an
object of God's mercy. God knows. And let me tell you
something else. When he says, I'm no hypocrite,
he's simply saying, Lord, you know my heart. You know my heart. Now, men don't know my heart.
But God does. God knows my heart. And you know,
it reminded me of the Lord here in John 21 when He came up on
the shore and Peter and their other disciples had been out
there fishing and they came back in and they hadn't caught anything.
And there in verse 15, I want you to listen. He says, So when
they had dined, Jesus saith unto Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas,
Lovest thou me more than these? Talking about that fish and his
profession, the world. Peter saith unto him, Yea, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee. Now let me ask you a question.
Do you suppose that Peter, when he said that, now he's standing
before the sovereign Lord of this universe. Right there, sitting
right there with him. He knows who Jesus Christ is. Peter knows who Jesus Christ
is. This is God in human flesh. This is the one who knows me
better than I know myself. And when he asked that question,
Peter, do you love me more than these? What did Peter say? Oh,
Lord, I don't really love you at all. No. He said, Thou knowest. Yea, Lord, I do. Thou knowest. You know that I love you. Now
was Peter, when he said that, was he claiming a sinlessly perfect
love within himself? No. No, he wouldn't. But he's simply, simply just
saying, Lord, you know my heart. And you know I love you. Wish
I loved you more. Old wretched man that I am. And
then in verse 16, he saith to him again the second time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith to him, Yea, Lord, thou
knowest. Thou knowest. I can't really
make any claim of any sinless perfection, no. But you know
reality. You know my heart. And that heart
was the work and labor of God. in Peter, just like it is in
Job and in every other child of God. He's given us a new heart. Sometimes we lose sight of that,
don't we? Sometimes don't we get so down and bitter that we
even wonder if we're saved at all? And all we can do is say,
oh God, thou knowest. Sometimes I don't even know myself.
Look over at 1 John. Let me show you this one. 1 John
chapter 3. You know, sometimes I really
believe that growth in grace and knowledge, a big part of that is a believer
not only coming to know Christ more and love Christ more, but
getting to know ourselves more. Things about myself I didn't
really know before. Look here in verse 18 of 1 John
3. He says, My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. And hereby know we that we are
of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him, for if
our heart condemn us, and that happens, God is greater than
our heart, and he knows all things. Lord, thou knowest. Thou knowest. Paul wrote, The foundation of
God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth them that are
His." You see, our foundation of assurance is not our knowledge
of Him. It's His knowledge of us. But
we do love Him. Oh, not like we ought to. But
we do love Him. And He knows because we're His
creation. Go back to Job 10. And He says
here in verse 7, He says, He says, Thou knowest that I am
not wicked. Job was justified. God justified him in Christ.
He was a sinner washed in the blood of Christ. He was a sinner
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. God knew the reality. He was a regenerate man, a born-again
person. He's one who feared God, believed,
and rested in Christ, and ran away from evil. He's, in essence,
running away from the evil of his wicked friends here. God
knows it. Because it's all the work of
God in Christ. And he says, there's none that
can deliver out of thine hand. Nobody can take it back or turn
it around on God. He's simply saying here that
in his chastisement, until God himself is pleased to remove
it from Job, Job himself, Bildad, Eliphaz, they can't do it by
their works. You see, Beldad, you see Eliphaz, you're wrong.
God knows the truth. And then look at verse 8. He
says, Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round
about, yet thou dost destroy me. Now, he's talking about the
physical body here now. He's not talking about eternal
damnation here. He says, verse 9, Remember I
beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt thou
bring me into dust again? He says, hast thou not poured
me out as milk and curdled me like cheese? What an analogy. He says in verse 11, listen.
He says, thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hath
fenced me with bone and sinews. And then look at verse 12. He
says, thou hast granted me life. That's the same word for life
in verse 1 there. It's talking about physical life.
And then you've given me favor. He's talking about the favor
of God in this life. You remember how Job started
out? How much he had. Now, of course, the favor that
we need most is that eternal favor that comes from salvation
by God's grace in Christ. But Job is thinking of these
physical things that have been removed from him. He says, Thy
visitation hath preserved my spirit. That's spiritual life
there. God had preserved him. He hadn't
killed him. And then verse 13, he says, "...and
these things hast thou hid in thine heart. I know that this
is with thee." God knows the reason. He hadn't told me, but
I know it's with him. I know he has a purpose. You
see, that's what Job is saying. It's all of God's power. Only
God can deliver him. Job knew that he himself was
totally helpless in this. What a picture of man as impotent. In anything we do, in this life,
or especially in salvation. Impotent, that's what we are.
God knows, and He'll, the power's all His. Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me clean. That's it, isn't it? Only God
has this power, only God has this knowledge. And then Job
expresses his utter confusion. Here's the third thing. Look
at verse 14. He says, Now he's not saying not that he may or
may not sin. But he's simply saying he knew
he was a sinner. Now I'm a sinner, you're a sinner.
Why would you mark me out specifically and not everybody else? That's the idea he's seeing here.
He's confused. He says, verse 14, "...and thou
wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity." Now Job was acquitted
from his iniquity in Christ. Or God wouldn't have said he
was perfect and upright. Justified. But he's feeling the
pains and the anguish that are the result of sin. Some that
are the consequence of sin. Not the result of any some specific
sin in Job's life. But he's simply saying, I feel
like I'm on trial here and I'm being punished. You know, if
God were to visit us in punishment, as I said before, in direct proportion
to all our sins, we'd all be in misery, wouldn't we? Verse
15, he says, if I be wicked, woe unto me. That's unjustified
there, unbelieving. He's simply saying, if I am wicked,
then I deserve all this that I'm getting. In fact, Zophar's
going to make this point. He says, you're getting less
than what you deserve. Well, that'd be true of any of
us, wouldn't it? He says, and if I be righteous yet, will I
not lift up my head? If I am righteous, I still have
nothing to boast in. Let me tell you something. If
I'm righteous, it's by the grace of God in Christ. I don't have
anything to brag. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's my boast.
We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We boast in Christ. So if I'm
righteous, I can't lift up my head. And then also he would
say here, if I am justified before God, I'm still beat down here. I'm still going through hard,
hard pain and anguish here. And he says, look here, verse
15, I am full of confusion. I'm full of confusion. Therefore,
see thou mine affliction. God, take notice of me. Don't
turn a deaf ear to me. Help me. God can see it. God knows the
reason. God knows the purpose. He knows
the end. Look at verse 16. He says, For it increaseth my
pain, my anguish. Listen, it hasn't even leveled
off. It's getting worse. Thou huntest
me as a fierce lion. God won't let up. That's what
he's saying. And again, thou showest thyself marvelous upon
me. It's something I have to deal
with every day. Verse 17, Thou renewest thy witnesses
against me and increaseth thine indignation upon me. Changes
and war are against me. It's getting worse. It never stays the same even.
It's already bad enough, but it's getting worse. And the witnesses
that he's talking about is the suffering, the pain that he's
going through, the loss. And then he expresses his desire
for death. This is the last thing. Look
at verse 18. He says, Wherefore, or for this
reason, then hast thou brought me forth out of the womb? Is
this why you brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had given
up the ghost, and no eye had seen me. Remember Job expressed
this in chapter 3, wished I'd never been born. Verse 19, I
should have been as though I had not been. Born and then dead
and people wouldn't even know my existence. I should have been
carried from the womb to the grave, right from there. Are not my days few? My days
here on earth are short. Cease then and let me alone. I just assume God let me alone
as do this to me. That's what he's saying. that
I may take comfort a little, just a little comfort. We want
a lot of comfort. Job's praying just for a little
comfort. And then he says, Before I go,
whence I shall not return. Talking about returning to this
physical life. Even to the land of darkness
and the shadow of death. The land of darkness is darkness
itself, and of the shadow of death without any order, and
where the light is is darkness. He's speaking of the grave there.
And he's speaking of the grave as a release from the physical
body and the pains that he's going through. And he won't return
to this life. Now, Job, you know, some people
read verses like that and say, well, see there, Job, he didn't
believe in a resurrection. Oh, no, he did. But he's talking
out of the pain and anguish of the bitterness of his soul to
be released from the pain and anguish of this life. Job said
in Job 14 and verse 14, he said this, he said, if a man dies,
shall he live again? He wasn't asking that for information.
He's making a point. Here's his point. He says, all
the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. We'll all be changed. He knew
his hope of resurrection in Christ. He knew his standing in Christ. In Job 19, let me read you that
in Job 19, 25 again, he says, he says, For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
my Redeemer, the one who bought me with his precious blood, clothed
me in his righteousness, and though after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. That's glorified flesh
that he's talking about there, the glorified body. Whom I shall
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ my Lord. That's who. All right.