Okay, so if you would, let's
turn back to Job, Job 42. Job 42. Job 42, and I want to
read verses 1 through 5. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought
can be withholding from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew
not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak. I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. We see here in this passage
God's working on us, his people. and what he puts us through will
cause us to answer him. But as we reread in chapters
32 through 40, and this is kinda going back over what we had heard,
you know, I think a month ago, but we see that God sends someone
to us with his gospel. But it also shows us he speaks
to us by his spirit. Here in this passage, we know
God is actually speaking out loud to Job. When God speaks
to us by his spirit, we will be as Job and begin to recognize
the vileness of ourselves. It will cause us to want to put
our hands over our mouth so that no sound escapes that might again
offend God. What he teaches us by his word
and through his spirit is who he truly is. We know who God
is and what he does, just as we have seen throughout the book
of Job. We have seen that God is in absolute
control over men, animals, the elements, health, flora and fauna,
and Satan himself. In short, he is sovereign over
all things and the people. He is sovereign in salvation
because he is salvation itself. Our answer at the last will be
different than at the first. Where once we talked about what
we do for him, we now can only answer in who he is. And him
being who he is, what we then know ourselves to be. What is
Job's answer? I am vile and I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes. Isaiah two and verse 17 says,
and the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness
of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted
in that day. That day. That day when God reveals
himself to a man or a woman, be it the first time or any other
time he is pleased to reveal himself to them. That time of
refreshing, you might say. Acts 3.19 we read. Repent ye
therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence
of the Lord. He does this by sending someone
to you to speak the truth to you. And then he himself will
come and speak to you by his spirit. That is what we see in
chapters 32 through 42. This, in this passage we just
read, is the whole purpose for God bringing one of his people
through such tribulations as we read in Job. It is not for
torture, but for giving glory and honor to his name and revealing
the power and might of him, and his graciousness to those whom
he loves. When God brings one of his to
know him, he will put you in a place where you think there
is no hope for you, You will be in that place where you know
your mouth condemns you when you open it. What he says in
his word will condemn you so that you say, like Walter said
in his message, God, I cannot do that. We have also seen that God is
pleased to take us into and maybe through tribulation. And what
I mean by that is, for instance, Paul in the bone and the flesh.
God says, my grace is sufficient for you. It's something that
he just continually had to go through. He just had to deal
with it. He will try our faith to show
that he is able to keep us, that excellency and the power is of
God and not of man. He also may bring these things
on us in correction, And if we are one of his, he does because
scripture says that all of his are partakers of this. He may
take us through these things in bringing another sinner to
himself. Paul and Silas is an example
of that, when the jailer said, what must I do to be saved? These
tribulations, as we can see in our text, are done so that we
might see God, our one and only savior and creator. We will see
him as our all, as our Lord whom we will, by his grace, serve
and worship. No matter what reason God may
have for doing these things, we know, again from scripture,
that it is for our good. Those things happening around
us may not be good necessarily, but they are for our good. just
as Joseph told his brethren in Genesis 50 and 20. But as for
you, ye thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good
to bring to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. So the evil they did, God meant
it unto good. That is what I'm talking about.
Scripture says that even the wrath of man will praise him.
He is in absolute sovereign control. As we go through or live in these
tribulations, we may not have a lot of happiness. In fact,
there will be grief in these trials. But the end of them to
those who endure is hope in Christ, and happy are they. We also know
that God can and does use other people in these tribulations
to bring us low. to show us that there is no help
that will be of any value for man. That is both from others
and from our own wicked Adamic nature. From fallen man there
will be no help. Just as Job was, those for whom
God brings through these things, they will come to know some things
about themselves and about man as he is born in nature. meaning
he will see that no other human being can make right what is
wrong with us. But at the same time, he will
show us ourselves, that is me, Paul Pendleton. He will show
me I cannot utter one word, I cannot perform one deed to make myself
clean in his eyes. We will, with Job, come to see
that if I even try to make myself clean, God will throw me into
the ditch and my own clothes will abhor me. Just as Job did,
you will feel the arrows of God coming down into your soul, that
sword of the Spirit dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Hebrews
4.12 says, For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. His word will show
you that by nature all you have are evil intentions toward God
in your flesh. Scripture says, all we like sheep
have gone astray, Joe. We have turned every one into
his own way. Those who are of this world,
even if they be of your own flesh and blood, cannot give you any
help. This world's help is like the
Arios, I can't say it right, in Colorado, that Paula tells
me about. Those ditches or streams, when
rain comes, they fill up with water, and they give water to
the ground that's close and stuff around there. But when the heat
of summer comes, they are dried up and give no sustenance for
anything. They wither when trouble comes,
in other words. When you really need a friend,
they are nowhere to be found. That includes our blood family.
I'm talking about that place where you have that mouth-wrenching
thirst, where your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth, spiritually
speaking. That kind of thirst that almost
hurts when you even think about having a drink of water and the
senses of your mouth kick in. But all help we have. All health
will have passed away, it would seem. I'm talking about those
times when the sky seems as hard as brass as the saying goes.
It seems God does not hear your cries, nor is willing to give
you any help. You know that if you open your
mouth to justify yourself, your own mouth will condemn you. Or
if you say I am perfect, your mouth will show you perverse,
Job says. I'm not going to work together
with God to work out my plight. He is far above me. His ways
are so much higher than my ways. I am but dust before him. Job
came to know that God would not just acquit the guilty. God is
too just to do such a thing. He demands perfection and he
will have perfection. God locks us up in his stocks
so that we cannot move from this place. Because God is going to
show us some things about ourselves and about him. He brings us to
the place where we know, where I know, where you know, we are
dead in trespasses and in sins. Just as Job said, we need a daisman. God in his dealing with us will
send us someone with the word. But this, be this a word of reproof,
doctrine, correction, or instruction in righteousness, or all of the
above. He sends someone to us. The one
he sends for this purpose will speak the truth. In speaking
this truth, God by his spirit will then speak to us, confirming
to our hearts the truth being spoken. In doing so, our eyes
will be open to that one to whom we always need to see. Elihu
enters in Job 32. This is a man. He is nothing more than a broken
clay pot, just as Job. Any man God sends to speak to
you the truth is only a broken clay pot themselves. So now let's
go through some of what Elihu says and the rest of the book
of Job leading up to our text, to some extent anyway. Now I
had said previously that Job had not complained unto sinning. Maybe that's not the best way
to have said it, I don't know. But I think I may have changed
my mind a little bit on that statement. But I do want to be
clear, and I have said it in the two previous messages. It
says Job was perfect, and Job was perfect because God said
he was perfect. God also says in chapter 42 that
Job spoke right about God. If God says something, it is
true. But there is a reason why God
says someone is perfect, and that is because God has made
them this way, as we will see. But here in chapter 32, it says
Elihu's wrath was kindled against Job. For this reason it gives,
that he justified himself rather than God. What Job was doing
was, as Robert Hawker writes, and I agree, is that Job seemed
to manifest a greater jealousy over his own character rather
than the glory of God. But yet he was also mad at the
other three comforters because they were trying to condemn Job.
And in this, they were not right. Elihu tells them all that it
was, Elihu tells them all that it was God that has thrusted,
it was God that thrusted Job down and not man. It is God that
has put him in this place, in other words. Man has no power
to refuse or to choose. And even if he does refuse or
choose, it makes no difference. It is God's choosing or refusing
that matters. God made it so that Elihu was
not able to keep quiet anymore. God compelled him to speak. Just
as any man that gets up to speak in the stead of God, it will
not be to give man flattering titles, because there's no reason
for man to be flattered. Man is at enmity against God
as he is born in Adam, and this will not change. As man is in
his flesh, he will always offend God. He has to create us anew,
put a new heart in us. We did not make ourselves, but
God made us, Elihu says. You lift up, man, you are asking
for God to deal with you. This is Elihu's assessment and
should be ours. We must have a daysman, that
one that will plead our cause. That which we can now say has
pleaded our cause now. Now let's turn over to Job 33,
Job 33. Job 33, and I wanna read six
through 24. Job 33, verse six. Behold, I am according to thy
wish in God's stead. I also am formed out of the clay.
Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my
hand be heavy upon thee. Surely thou hast spoken in mine
hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy word saying, I am
clean without transgression, I am innocent, neither is there
iniquity in me. Behold, he findeth occasion against
me, he counteth me for his enemy. He putteth my feet in the stocks. He marketh all my paths. Behold,
in this thou art not just. I will answer thee that God is
greater than man. Why dost thou strive against
him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters. For God
speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not. in a dream,
in a vision of a night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,
in slumberings upon the bed. Then he openeth the ears of men,
and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw men from
his purpose, and hide pride from men. He keepeth back his soul
from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is
chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of
his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread,
and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the
destroyers. If there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him and saith, deliver him
from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom. Man as he is
born is in the pit. But there are those whom God
has chose to show his love towards, that he, that is God, brings
them to this pit from whence they were digged. What it is
saying here is what I've been saying. God will bring you to
that place where you know one more breath and you could end
up lost in darkness forever. But God shows us in his word
that what he will do, what God will do, is to render unto you
his righteousness. If you never come to that place
where you know the evil you do, the evil that you are, is what
will send you down into the pit, then you will not be kept from
the pit. God says here that man will confess who he is and what
he has done to God, knowing that all he, that is man himself,
all he does condemns him to death. Those who are like this, God
will send them light. Verses 25 through 28. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he
will be favorable unto him. And he shall see his face with
joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh
upon men, and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that which
was right, and it profited me not. He will deliver his soul
from going into the pit, and his life shall see light. Then
read verse 29. This is how God deals with men
often, it says. This is not just a one-time thing.
Not for those whom he says is perfect. Verse 29, lo, all these
things worketh God oftentimes with man. He goes on in chapter
34, God will render unto man the works of a man. You will
be judged on what you do and what you do not do. If God does
nothing for man, what does this say in chapter 34 verses 14 and
15? If he set his heart upon man,
if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh
shall perish together and man shall turn again unto dust. God does right. He judges righteously. He will not at all acquit the
guilty. And we are all guilty. If you
do not believe that, then you do not know God. Knowing God
will show you that you are unholy because you will see the holiness
of God. God knows all things that go
on with man, even their thoughts. You cannot withhold a thought
from God. Those wicked thoughts that come
into our minds, he knows them all. But there is a ransom, a
purchase price. Elihu goes on to say that it
is good that man be chastised of God, because it will bring
him to the place where he will say, I am not going to do that
anymore. Whatever you show me to do, that
is what I want to do. He goes on in chapter 35. God
is not affected by you one way or the other. If you sin, it
will not diminish God. If you are righteous, you are
adding nothing to God. He is far above us. He made us. He made the world and the heavens
and all that in them is. He made us so that we are more
than the animals, it says. We have the ability to reason
and to do things with our hands. It is this God who made all of
this and made us this way. Nothing we do will add or take
away from him. He is totally, absolutely sovereign
over all things because He created all things. If He made us so
that we can do things with our hands, how much more do you think
He can do with His hands? Because He created us by His
word. God Almighty Himself spoke everything
into existence. How much more the work of His
hands? He goes on in chapter 36. If you do not bow down to
this holy, just, righteous God, you will be lost forever. You
will not see life. If you die in your sins without
ever acknowledging and believing that the days man, Jesus Christ,
has done all that is needed for the salvation of man, you will
die in your sins and you will not see life. There are those
who choose iniquity rather than to suffer affliction from the
Lord. Do you just want to have fun? Is it all about enjoyment
in this world to you? You better take heed, Elihu says.
God will send you someone speaking of the marvelous works of himself,
that is the works of God, the creator of all things that he
has made a way for man. His way being himself since there
is nowhere else that righteousness can be found. But hearing a man
will not do anything for you. You must hear God speak to you
in the whirlwind before any of the words from man will do anything
for you, even those spoken by those whom he sends. So next
we have God speaking. Here it is God speaking out of
the whirlwind, that is by his spirit. What does God by his
spirit tell us? He confirms the truth of his
word to us. He will confirm to us that He
is in absolute sovereign control over all things. The seas and
the winds obey His voice. The sun, moon, and stars perform
that which He has been pleased for them to do. The animals also
are kept by Him and controlled by Him. God comes to us showing
His utter control over all things, showing us this, we begin to
see in some small measure the greatness of His glory and who
He is. It will cause us to shut our mouths so that we say no
more in our own wisdom because we have none. We come to know
that we will not instruct God. If we do anything, we will plead
with Him for mercy, knowing that it is mercy that we need. We
will begin to see that it is God who has all the power all
power over all men and to some he is pleased to abase them from
their pride. To others he does not. If you
do not like who this God is, too bad. That is who God is and
he will have his way no matter what you say or I say, no matter
what you do or what I do. God is not dependent upon man
to do anything. God said if he needed anything,
and he is not, but God says if he said he was, he would not
ask man if he needed anything. It says in Psalms 50, 12, it
says, if I were hungry, and that's God speaking, I would not tell
thee, for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Our own
arm will not save us. Our own doings will not save
us. It is only the right arm of God that will do any saving.
Oh, how dark it is for those to whom will not have this man
reign over them. If he is not pleased to bring
them down, man will not pick himself up by his own bootstraps
in any way. God himself tells us in Job that
he owns all things. There is not anything that is
not his and he will do with his own as he is pleased. which brings
us back to our text, Job 42, one through six. God will put
us through trials, through tribulations, through testings, whatever word
you wanna use. He does this for different reasons,
whether it be for correction, for trying our faith, for bringing
one of his to himself. For whatever reason it is done,
it is him that does it, and he is in total, absolute control
of it all. It is not to torture us, but
it is to bring us to a saving knowledge of him who is our days
man, our redeemer. This he does when at first he
is pleased to reveal himself to us, or he will do this to
try our faith, causing us to look to him, to refresh our minds
about him, because we need refreshing. Why? Because we forget Joe. When God first visits you in
love and in mercy, he will bring you to such a place as this,
so that seeing him you will know surely he will consume me in
a moment because I am only evil continually. Oh, the joy that
comes from seeing him, that one which has paid the price, that
which I owe to God for offending his righteousness, his holy character. It causes me to repent in dust
and ashes. There will be those times when
we as believers will be tried and it will be ourselves that
is the enemy. The thoughts that are evil will not be what some
would think them to be. We will begin to think or say
things such as this. How could I be a believer and
think that? How could I be a believer and
say that? How could I be a believer and
do that? There are those times when God allows things to take
place. those things that we were not
even intending or unhappening. We did not contemplate to do
them or gave any thought, but out of nowhere we think or say
or do things that cause us to bow down in shame before God.
God bethink that he takes us to this place so that he might
reveal himself once and again afresh to our minds who he is
and what he has done. These thoughts, as I have mentioned,
what are they? You are trying to justify yourself
rather than God. It is not about us. It is about
God and the glory of God, which is Jesus Christ. It is that right
arm of God, Jesus Christ, who is God, that one that is in total
absolute control, who must save us. It is he who came down became
a man because he could not justify us without becoming a man. Man
had to die to pay the offense against him. That one that came
down to pay the ransom was the same one who has been offended.
He took our place if you were in him. He was made sin for us. We are talking about the same
one who has said to Job in Job 38 in verse 17, it says, have
the gates of death been opened unto you? Or hast thou seen the
doors of the shadow of death? Death has no power over this
dazeman. When he wants that gate open,
it opens unto him. If he wants it shut, it shuts
before him. This is that one who being God
came down, being sacrificed and made sin. He lays his hand on
God the Father, a sweet-smelling sacrifice to him. He lays his
hand on man, those for whom he chose from before the foundation
of the world, and he is not defiled. He then taking up the breach
that is between us, filling the gap That great gulf separating
man from God and brings us together in himself. What a wonderful place to be.
It shall not always be this way. There will be a time when he
shall return and when we gather together with him. But I tell
you it is a glorious that God was pleased to allow us to see
him now. But I do believe it would be
pretty miserable life if God had not done this. But we do
not have to worry ourselves about that because that is how God
was pleased to do things. But for now, it must needs be
that we go through many trials and tribulations. We may suffer
persecution, but all the glory of being able to see Him makes
it worth all that. This life is but a vapor. I tell
you these things, or I speak these things, knowing that as
you are in the midst of these tribulations, they will be grievous. But know this, these things happening
to you will bring the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them
that are exercised thereby. Just as Elihu did, I want to
give an answer, not condemning the brethren, but to uplift the
brethren in the Lord. because the only place that true
joy will be found is in the daysman, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ the
Lord. I do look forward to the day when I shall see him face
to face. What a glory to behold. 2 Samuel
24, 14 says, And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall
into the hand of man, I know I've read this passage
before, but I wanna read it again. If you would, just turn with
me to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3. I'm gonna read the first five verses. 2 Timothy 3, one through five.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, Lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof. From such, turn away. I can tell you this passage causes
me to pause. Not just because I might be associated
with someone who are like that at times, but there are times
I feel like I am like this. God keep me from it. But God
calls me to look to you and calls me to turn away from such people
as this, as they will not be of any help to me. All they will
do is cause destruction. I want to be with his people,
holding to the gospel. When you are in a place such
as God puts you, puts his people, as we have seen in the book of
Job, God puts his people in this place because he means for them
to see Jesus Christ. God is in absolute sovereign
control of all things. If in these things he causes
you to turn to him, then you are one of his. If in these things
you turn to man for your comfort and your way, you are not one
of his. If your comfort comes from this
world, you have no true comfort. It may feel good for a time,
but the end of it will be destruction. May God enable you, may God enable
me to say with Joe, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear, but now mine eye seeeth thee. Amen.