I want to read the first 12 verses here and hopefully deal
with them. Now Lifas had been the one that
was talking. Then Job answered and said, even
today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my
groaning, or my hand is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I
knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his
seat. I would order my cause before
him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which
would answer me and understand what he would say unto me. Will
he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would
put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute
with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold,
I go forward, but he's not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive
him. On the left hand where he doeth work, but I cannot behold
him. He hideth himself on the right
hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I
take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My
foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from
the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of
his mouth more than my necessary food." This is Job, his expression to
struggles that I think a lot of us have. And he was one of
the deepest cries that comes out of a heart. It is so that
I might know where I can find Him. Where is God? I might know
that where I find Him. And Job was having a great, great
severe trial. You know that and I know. But
he had an intense desire to commune with God Almighty. An intense
desire. He really wanted to commune with
God. It seems as if God had hid His
face from him And he has friends, he was no comforter than his
friends. And the first thing he wanted to do in his intense
desire to commune with God Almighty, the first thing he wanted to
do was speak to Him. He wanted to speak to Him. He said, Oh,
that I might know, that I might find Him. And now he said in
verse 4, And I would order my cause before Him. I want to speak
to Him. I'd love to speak to God. I'd
like to speak to him and this team means evidently that he
believed God He believed that he know God, but he was in a
great situation here And he wasn't worried about the existence of
God he wanted to go where God was and commune with God Almighty
speak with him and Then he said I'd fill my mouth ain't that
what he said in the last part of verse 4. I'd fill my mouth
with arguments and He said, I'd start talking with God. Do you
remember when Abraham, and this is what he's talking about, do
you remember when Abraham, God was fixing to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah? And Abraham said, Lord, I'm gonna
take it upon me to speak to you, Lord. And he started arguing
with God. He presented arguments to God
to keep him from destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. He said in verse
40, in verse 45, he said, I am dust and ashes taken upon myself
to speak to the Lord. He had an argument with God,
trying to keep talking with God about if this was to happen,
would you not do this? If it's this many, this many.
And that's what Job said. He said, I would bring my arguments. what these people are doing to
me, what they're saying to me. I would say, Lord, why do you
let these fellas do me the way that they do me? That's what
he'd say. And I was, oh, that's what he
said, and I'd take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Speak to
the Lord. And then secondly, he said, I
want to learn of him. He said, I want to learn of him.
Look what he says there in verse five. I would know the words
which you would answer me, and would understand what He'd say
to me. I want to know what He'd say to me. If I got to speak
to Him, I want to learn of Him. I want to learn about Him. I
want to learn of Him. I want to learn what He has to say. I want to learn Him. I'd know the words. I'd like
to know the words that He'd answer me if I got to speak to Him.
If I got to commune with Him. If I got to speak to Him. If
I got into His presence. What words would he say to me?
What kind of answer would he give me? What would he say to
me? And then, Lord, would I understand
what you told me? Would I understand? He wanted
to learn about the Lord. And I'll tell you what, after
all these years, all these years, and a lot of you have been believers
longer than I have, Do you understand as much about the Bible as when
you first started? As the Bible got deeper, as the
Bible got worse, and do you understand less about God than you used
to? Do you feel like that you ain't learned anything, and you
feel like that maybe God, if He ever speaks to me, I'd sure
like to understand it. I know what He's got to say.
Please give me understanding of your Word when you give it
to me. Oh Lord, speak to me. Huh? Oh, listen, our souls, Job's
soul was craving for something higher. It was hungering after
something different. He was hungering after God. He
was hungering after a pure and living, strengthening thing that
would satisfy, the only thing that could satisfy his soul.
If I could come before him, and if I could speak to him, and
then understand what he has to say. So what would he answer
me? Oh God, what would he answer
me? And then he said, oh, then thou didst strengthen me. Look
what he says there in verse 6. Will he plead with me against
me with his great power? No, he wouldn't do that. He'd
put strength in me. Oh, what he's saying is, you
know, he's got the power. to annihilate me. He's got the
power to do away with me. He's got the power to put me
out of His mind, put me out of my misery, and take me out of
this world. He's got the power. And if I plead with Him, and
would He bring His great power against me and destroy me? He
said, no, no, I know what He'd do. He'd put strength in me. That's what He'd do. It's like
Paul, you know, he said, God gave me a thorn in the flesh, and I asked the Lord three times,
take this thorn away, take it away, take it away, ask Him three
times. And that's what Job was saying,
if I plead against Him, He said, would He destroy me? And Paul
pled, he pled with God, this is one of them arguments that
we was talking about there a minute ago, where Paul argued, he said,
Lord, You sent Satan with a thorn in my flesh. And I got a big
thorn in my finger the other day, and it's still sore. But
he said, Lord, take this away from me. I'm an apostle. I need to be traveling. I need
to be preaching. I need to be visiting the church.
I need to be reading your Word. I need to be praying. And then
you gave me this thorn in the flesh, and it hurts, and it hurts.
And then He said, God didn't do it. He asked, went to Him
the third time. And then the second time. And then the third
time. And you know what the Lord said to him? And this is what
Job is saying. My grace is sufficient for you.
My strength, My strength is made perfect in your weakness. The
weaker you are, The more my grace gets glory, the more my grace
gets magnified, the more my love for you gets magnified. And that's
what Job said here. He said, he'll put strength in
me. Oh my. You know what he'll do? He'll
strengthen me. For I need strength. He'll strengthen my body. He'll
strengthen my mind. He'll strengthen my heart. He'll
strengthen me to be able to suffer. He'll strengthen me to be able
to serve and to worship the Lord God Himself, the infinite God. God will strengthen us and He
will make our weaknesses to be perfected by His blessed grace. Paul said, if you're weak, he
told the Corinthians one time, see you folks think you're weak?
You think you're weak? He said, I'm the weakest one.
You think you all folks are weak? He said, I'm the weaker, I'm
the weakest one among you. That's what He said. That's what
He said. And oh, here's the third thing
He wanted to say about God. He said God would not only plead
His power against Him, He said, I'd like to speak to Him, I'd
like to learn of Him, and I'll tell you what, He's going to
have to strengthen me. And the fourth thing is, He said in verse
6, 7, Excuse me, verse six, seven, excuse me. For there the righteous
might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my
judge. And he said, fourthly, the thing
I want to do is I want to be delivered forever from my judge. You know, this is something that
we're all guilty of. Some worse than others. But we
do it. We do it. We chide ourselves
when we do it. Men judge their fellow man. And
they do it a lot of times without any love in it. They judge unrighteously,
they judge severely. Sometimes their judgment comes
on and it's just a crushing, crushing weight upon those that
they bring their judgments upon. And Job, this is his great trial.
These men judged Him, and judged Him, and judged Him, and judged
Him, and judged Him. And every judgment they had was
an unrighteous judgment. Everything they said about Him,
they were just crushing Him. Crushing Him. And I tell you,
this is the greatest part. He said, the only person that
can help me is God Himself. He would deliver me, what he
said is, Lord, deliver me from the condemnation of men, but
especially deliver me from the condemnation of thyself. Deliver
me, O Lord, from the great judge of all. And I tell you what,
he desired communion with God. He looked to God for his tender
mercy. He looked to his creator for
his tender mercy. And he expected to get communion
with God. But yet he said, oh Lord, if
I'm delivered from condemnation, if I'm delivered from judgment,
you're gonna have to be the one to deliver me. And ain't you
grateful that God delivered us from the greatest condemnation
of all, which is sin? There's therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why can't there be any condemnation
in those? Why can't there? Because what
the law could not do, That law and all the ceremonies, what
they could not do. Because there's weak through
the flesh. Nothing wrong with the law, it was weak through
because of this flesh. What did God do? He sent His
Son in the likeness of this old sinful flesh. And then for sin,
for sin, as a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin. in this flesh,
and said, oh, I've done, and that's why we have no condemnation.
That's what Job said. Lord, strengthen me, I want to
know you, I want to speak to you, I want to learn about you.
Oh Lord, I want to get strength from you, and please deliver
me from the judgments of others, and especially the judgments
of you. But then look what happens in seeking the Lord. Look what
happens to him while he seeks the Lord. Look in verse eight. Behold, I go forward, but he's not there. I go backward,
I can't perceive him. I go on my left hand, I turn
left, look to my left hand, and he's not there. I cannot behold
him, he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see. Now in seeking the Lord, he wasn't
finding him. He wasn't finding him. And you
know it says here, he looked in every direction, looked to
his right hand, looked to his left hand. He looked to the front
of him, and he turned around and looked backwards. He looked
to all four points of the earth, north, south, east, and west,
and said, I can't find him. I can't find him. I can't find
him. He hides himself on the right
hand. He hides himself. And I tell you, He does His work
on my left hand, but I don't see Him now. He sought God in
every direction that He could go in, and He failed to find
Him. Why do you reckon He failed to
find Him? Well, this is a good lesson for me.
I don't know if it will be for you. Because he sought him in
God's outward manifestations. He looked for God in the things
that he done. That's what the Jews, that was
one of their great problems. They was always looking for a
sign. Lord, if you're God, show me this. If you're God, let me
see that. And that's what Job was looking
for. He was looking for God to do something outwardly that he
could say, well, God done that right there. You know, he was
looking everywhere. He was looking in nature. He
was looking in the stars. He was looking everywhere and
couldn't find Him. Instead of looking for him inwardly,
looking for him with his heart, looking for him with his soul,
he didn't look for him there. He was looking for him for the
wrong reasons, probably to justify himself. He looked outside himself
for God. Still looking, searching with
his heart. He didn't look into his heart,
didn't look and search for God with his heart and with his soul.
He was looking for God in outward things. He said, Lord, look at
all the things happening to me. If you stop these things here,
then everything would be all right. Oh, I'll tell you something.
You can look at the stars all night long. And you can look at the creature,
you can look at the sun, the moon, the stars, you can look
at everything in this world. And a lot of people do. And if
you know God, you can see God in God's creation. But if you
don't know God, you can look at everything there is and you
won't know God by looking at nature. The only way you can
know God is for God to make Himself known. A man can receive nothing
unless it be given him from heaven. And that was Job's problem. Instead
of seeking Him in his heart, seeking after God in his heart
and in his nature, he was looking for something outside. Looking
for something outside. Oh, instead of looking for Him,
he'd let his heart go out to Him. And I tell you, you'll never
see Him in the heavens or in the earth beneath. If you see
God, You're going to have to see him in Christ. You're going
to have to see him by faith. And then second reason why he couldn't
find him, because he was looking for extraordinary manifestations. Oh, he said, look, I looked to
the north, he wasn't there. Looked to the west, he wasn't
there. Looked to the south, he wasn't there. Looked in the east,
he wasn't there. Oh, my. And Job said, Oh my,
what am I going to do? What am I going to do? And you
know, this is one thing that people have a hard time with
when they start trying to seek the Lord or start trying to understand
something about God by nature. You know, they don't recognize
Him. They don't recognize Him. And oftentimes because He just
goes on in the way that He does, they deny Him. They deny His
existence. You keep Job and look with me
over in 2nd Peter. I think it's 2nd Peter chapter
3. 2nd Peter chapter 3. This is what people do. I don't know how many people
have told me this. 2nd Peter chapter 3 and verse
3. You know, Since they can't figure God out,
you know, and that's what Job is. He's trying to figure God
out. He's in such a state of mind that he's trying to figure
God out and looking for Him everywhere, everywhere. He started out saying,
oh, if I could just find Him, find out where He's at right
now. But look what it said here in verse 3. Knowing this first,
that there shall come in the last day scoffers, scoffers,
walking after their own lusts. And this is what they scoff about.
Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
And that's what men say. I've heard all my life of Jesus
coming, but everything goes on and on and on exactly the same
way it always has. The same way it always has. And
I tell you what, they'll say, if God exists, why don't he break
the monotony that goes on in this universe? Why don't he write
his name above heaven? Let him write his name in the
heavens and let everybody look at it so everybody can know where
he's at and what he's doing. Let them know he exists. But
oh my, that wouldn't do anybody any good. Still, they would see
it. I get stuff sometimes and in
my email, and it says this. There's a picture of God. Here's
a picture of God that somebody saw. Something about a cloud
somewhere, and they said that was God. Do you reckon it was? Do you reckon it was? I never
looked at it. I don't see God. I don't see
it. God ain't in a picture. Can't see a picture of God. That's
what Job is having trouble with right here. And then I tell you
another reason why he couldn't find him when he went never to
look forward, look back, look right, look left. Because he
saw it with his mind. Saw him with his intellect. Oh
my. Rather than with his heart. Thought
him with his heart. Never, never with a man's intellectual
abilities will he ever understand God. It's only with the heart. The heart. The eye of the heart.
The eye of faith. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. When Jacob's heart, when he lay there on that pillar when
he left home, because his brother Isaac was going to kill him,
his mother told him to leave and go back to her kinfolks. And he got out there and he laid
down one night to go to sleep, and he's using a big old stone
for a pillar. And then a great big ladder come
down out of heaven. And he saw things coming up and
down on it. Oh, what in the world's going
on here? He woke up the next morning,
and he'd seen angels descending in that. Someone speaking to
him. And he woke up, and you know what the first thing he
said was? God is in this place. God is in this place. Uh-huh. Surely God is in this place.
You know what else he said? And I didn't know it. I didn't
know it. I didn't know it. After he woke
up, he said, God's in this place. And that's what Job is trying
to... He said he's trying in every way in the world to find
God, but he's not looking with his heart. Oh, God's always been
there. God's always been there. But
unless a man's got faith and got something in his eyes that
causes him to have faith, to see Christ, he'll never see.
And then look what he finds, great comfort that he may not
find God. He may not come into the presence
of God, but he found great, great comfort in the fact that God
knew him. Look what he says, back over here in Job 22. I left
it myself. Look back over here in Job 22,
23, excuse me. Look what he says. Oh, he finds
great comfort in what God does. Look what he says there in verse
10. But he knoweth the way that I
take. I can't find him right now. I
can't find him. My faith is so weak. I'm in such
a state of mind. I'm in such a state. Oh, if I
knew where I could find him, I'd go. Wherever he's at, that's
where I'd go. That's where I'd go. But he says
here where he found great, great assurance. He knows the way that
I take. Oh, God was fully, fully, fully
seeing this Job and his individual tribe. He said, He knows the
way that I take. He knows the way that I take.
I don't know Him. I can't find Him right now. But
He knows me. I can't see Him. But I'm under His eye. Whether
I'm at home, whether I'm out in the field, or whether I'm
in this darkness right now. He says, He knows the way that
I take. He knows the way. He knows the
way of my thoughts. Knows the way of my feelings.
He knows my purposes. He knows the actions that I take.
He knows the way that I take. He knows the way I'm going. He
knows. And then secondly, look what
he says. When he hath tried me, when he hath tried me. God was mercifully, mercifully
using this trial for Job's good, when he hath tried me." Do you
notice there he says, when he's tried me. When he hath tried
me. When he hath tried me. He's the
one that sent this affliction to me. He sent it to me for my benefit.
For my good. And all God doesn't willingly
afflict his children. But He sends these trials, He
sends these afflictions, He sends these heartaches, these troubles,
to humble us, humble us, put us down, bring
us down. And secondly, to make us feel
our absolute dependence upon Him. Oh Lord, we need You. Oh, I need Thee ever. Oh, I need
Thee. When your near temptations lose
their power, And oh my, he makes us feel our
dependence upon him and brings us to the place, Lord, I want
to be yours. I want to give myself to you.
I don't want to have anything left of myself. I want you to
have me all. I want you to have every bit
of me. I want you to have me and all of me. And then the third
thing he said was this. I know the way that I, but He
knows the way that I take. And when He has tried me, listen
to this now. I shall come forth as gold. You know the Bible is full of
this. It says tribulation. Tribulation. It works patience. How does it work patience? Well, The more he tries you, the more
you understand that he's the one that do it and you'll just
wait. You just wait and wait and wait. Go on about your life
and he'll come and he'll relieve you. He'll take it away. For all things, all things work,
work, work together for our good to them that are
called according to God's purpose. I had somebody tell me one time,
and they was in, they was going to die. They had a death sentence. Didn't have long to live. And they asked me, said, what good
is this doing me? What good does this do anybody?
Said, I've got to die. What's so good in that? What's
so good in that? Well, for a believer, it's good. It's good. You know why it's
good? Because God's good. And when He gets through with
us, when He gets through with us, we're going to come out as
gold on the other end. Though you be in heaviness through
all your many temptations, but after He hath tried you, He tried
your faith, your faith shall be found under praise, honor,
and glory. Though it be tried as precious
as gold, it'll be found under praise, honor, and glory at His
presence. That faith shall be come forth
as gold. You've all heard this, I'm sure
you have, that when they put gold and they start melting it,
it starts trembling on top. They start melting it and it
starts trembling on top. It starts shaking. They pour all
the impurities out of it. Pour it out, get the purest,
boil it again, and it shakes. But when it becomes pure, it
stops. It stops. And that's what Job
said here. I'm trembling right now. I'm
going through a lot. But what I'm going through right
now. He knows. God knows the way that I'm taking
right now. He knows where I'm at. He knows what I'm going through.
He knows the way. He said, He's ordered my steps.
Ain't that what He says next? My foot hath held His steps. He said, I don't know where He's
at, but I still... You know, if you can't trust
God in the dark, you can't trust Him in the daylight. And He brought
Job into this dark and He says, My foot hath held whose steps? God's steps. He's ordered my
steps. And look what He goes on to say.
And His way I've kept. I've kept His way. I don't care
what they say about me. I've kept His way. And I've not
declined. I've not declined. I've kept
right on. And listen to this now. And I'm not going back. I'm not going back from what
He said. You know, He said, Oh, I wish that He'd speak to me.
I'd order my cause again, I'd argue with Him. But He says,
neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips.
Listen to this. Oh, when God did speak to me,
when I had this communion with Him, I steamed the words of His
mouth more than anything that I could possibly eat. Oh my. He said, I'm going to come when
God's done with me. And that's what He says, when
God's done with me. Listen, you know, there's two
or three reasons why he puts us in these situations. I think
the first one is to bring us down. I get pretty high mind,
I wouldn't say that about you, but I do. And secondly, to make us absolutely
dependent upon him. Barbara's mother used to say
all the time, she was way up in her 80s, and I, you know,
from the time I knew her, she was a younger woman, she'd say,
the Lord's weaning me from this world. And that's what God's
doing. He's weaning us from this world.
I want to be weaned from it, don't you? That's what he said. He said, Lord, He's gonna wean
us off this world. Huh? Oh my, it's hard for a mother
to wean her children. But God's going to wean us from
this world. Like I said this morning, He's
going to be our defense, which He's going to be our treasure.
He's going to be our gold, and He's going to be our silver.
That's what He's going to be to us. And He's that to us right
now. He's really that to us right
now. Oh, our Lord and our God. Oh,
our blessed, blessed Master, our Lord Jesus. We come into your holy presence utterly, utterly empty of ourselves. No strength, no gifts, no abilities,
and anything spiritual without you. Oh, we can get by in the flesh. We can do a lot of things, but
we can't do a spiritual thing without you. So Lord, we lift up our hearts
to you, lift up our minds to you, lift up our faith, and look
to you. Lord Jesus, you're truly, truly,
when we call you Savior, what a wonderful title, Savior, Savior,
and oh Lord, we sung tonight, oh hear, hear, hear my feeble
cry. While you're calling on others,
oh Lord, oh Lord, don't pass us by. God please, for Christ's
sake, be merciful to us, and when we're like Job, when we're
in such darkness, When we're so discouraged, we're depressed,
or we're so weak that we fear we don't even have any faith,
and we don't know where we can find you. Lord, you know the
way that we take. You know. And so, Father, we're
going to follow you, trust you, and not decline from your ways. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. And He is. See you Wednesday,
God willing.