Then in again to Job chapter 23, as Job answers Eliphaz for the final time, we read from verse 1.

Then Job answered and said, even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke 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 he 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 is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth 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. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.

Therefore am I troubled at his presence, when I consider I am afraid of him. For God make if my heart soft, and the Almighty trouble if me, because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither have he covered the darkness from my face.

Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find that I might come even to his seat. O that I knew where I might find him. Job knew God. He knew God. He knew God's dealings with him. They were real. He felt them.

Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. The Lord had sent a storm Job's way. Job was overcome by the effects of that storm. The wind blew him and smote him. The rains poured down upon him. The snow and the ice and the blizzard consumed him. Job was ripped apart. Job lost all his family. Job lost all his goods. The storm ravaged upon him. He felt the consequences. It was real.

Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. The Lord took his health away. He was broken. He was bruised. He was laid low in the dust. He knew the Lord's hand was gone out upon him. He felt the effects of it. He felt the storm upon him. There was nothing theoretic about Job's faith. He did not rest in mental persuasion. He did not hope in a theory. He knew God. He knew God's dealings with him. And he desired to be with God.

Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat.

There have been many storms these past few days. We've seen the storms. We've heard the storms. They're real. And we know that God blows in the wind, we know he sends these things in his sovereignty.

But what is real in the world around us, Job felt in his experience he had a spiritual storm come upon him. The wind blew against him, he was broken, he was brought low. He knew God's hand upon him. There was nothing theoretic in Job's trust in God. He did not follow cunningly devised fables as Paul speaks of them. Christianity is not a collection of fables or a collection of the writings of men. It's real. These men wrote as moved of God to describe those things which they knew, which they'd handled and felt, which they'd experienced. God met with them, it was real. And Job's account is based on a reality that came upon him. He knew God.

And if we are ever to know God, if you are ever to know Christ, If we're ever to be brought to believe in God, God will make himself known unto us. He will send a storm our way. If we're trusting in our arrogance, in our own pride in ourselves, if we're trusting in our own knowledge, our own wisdom, If we trust in the wisdom and the knowledge of others, if we in our hearts resist and push away the truth of God and go another way in our own pride, God will send a storm our way.

If we're his, if he sets his love upon us, he'll find us and he'll cause his winds to blow upon us. and he'll break us. He'll make himself known because mental persuasion won't do.

So many make professions of faith when they hear of things, when they fear being cast into hell, when they seek to be delivered from the consequence of their sin. But they need to know God, otherwise that's just building upon sand. When the storm comes, you're blown away. The house doesn't stand. There's no foundation. But God will come under his children, those whom he loves in Christ from before the foundation of the earth. And He will make Himself known unto them. And He will send a storm their way to take away all that is of man, all the wood, hay, and stubble that they may trust in. All the wood, hay, and stubble of earthly religion. He'll take away all the wood, hay, and stubble of the wisdom of this world. He'll bring them to nothing and then He'll take them and put them upon a rock. and cause them to build upon that rock. He'll build them up upon his Son Jesus Christ. And all their mere notion in religion, their mental persuasion will be washed away because mental persuasion won't do. Mere notions won't do. Blind faith won't do. There must be a reality to it. God must make himself known unto us. He must reveal himself to us. And he does this through real circumstances.

Those who know Christ as their saviour aren't trusting in a mental persuasion or some ancient writings which are for a past generation. They've come to know God. in reality, personally. He sent a storm their way, brought them to an end of themselves and caused them to cry out unto Him and He's answered their cries and spoken unto them and made Himself known unto them as their Saviour.

Oh yes, Job had suffered a storm. And in the midst of that storm, these three friends come unto him. And all they do is lash at him with their accusations. They blow upon him. They lash at him with their waves of the sea upon him. They accuse him and accuse him. There he is in the midst of a storm that God sent and these men around that could bring some comfort don't point him to Christ but just accuse him and find fault with him and lash at him all the more. And yet Job's faith stood sure in the midst of it. He knew his God was dealing with him. He knoweth the way that I take, he says. When ye have tried me, I shall come forth as gold. As gold. Not because there was anything in Job, but because the root of the matter, Christ and his salvation, was the gold that God had put in Job's heart. And Job knew that though the storms might blow everything else away, once God had tried him, that gold would remain. He knew the root of the matter was there. He knew the reality of God's hand upon him. Do you? When God begins to deal with us, we know it. He sends a storm our way. He begins to strip us down, to break us, to stop us in our ways, in our tracks, to bring us to an end of self. And we know it. Job knew it. God broke him. He humbled him. He laid him low in the dust. And Job felt the hand of God upon him. He knew this was of God. He knew the reality of what he was being brought through. And he recognised God's hand in it, God's sovereignty in it.

And he longs to see God. He longs to come before him. He longs for God to take his hand off him. and show him mercy and grant him peace.

Have you been brought to such a place? Beyond speculation, beyond mere knowledge, beyond blind hope, beyond mental persuasion, into the reality true faith in Christ. Has God brought you to the reality of things? Has he shown you what's real in this world, in time and space? Why we are here? Why there is life upon this earth? Why are we here? Why are things as they are?

Fools of men say it's but chance. The world came into being through some random explosion in space where nothing became what it is. Though all reason, though all science, though all knowledge teaches us experimentally throughout time as facts upon facts that things just decay, things grow worse. Chaos comes out of order. Somehow fools of men say if you throw enough time at it, if you throw enough millions of years at it, then perhaps order came out of chaos. Oh, the fools. They know that's a lie. They know that's not real. But they'd rather trust in a lie than acknowledge that behind the storms they see in everyday life, behind the awfulness of life here below, is a God to whom we are accountable.

Who sends the storms? God does. What is the reality of things? God made man. Man turned his back upon God. Sin entered and death by sin. The wrath of God burns from heaven against all unrighteousness of man. And yet, from the foundation of the earth before The world ever was, in eternity past, God, in love, in mercy and grace, chose a countless number in his Son and said, I will save that people with an outstretched arm. I will send my Son as their Redeemer. I will deliver them out of the storm and bring them in to eternal peace. eternal life and everlasting kingdom.

God sent his Son. Christ came into the world to save sinners. Christ entered the darkness, the evil of this world. to deliver people from their own foolishness, their own blindness, the deadness of their sin, to deliver rebels like you and I, to deliver Job from the darkness, to deliver sinners. He sent his son to give himself, to take their place, to take their sin, to wash that sin away, to wash them in his blood, to grant them the righteousness of God in him, to save them with an everlasting salvation.

Why are we here? Because God is saving his people from their sins in his son, Jesus Christ. And soon this world will be no more. And soon the winds will blow no more here below. Soon there will be no more blizzards, no more storms, no more wind, no more trial, no more tears, no more sin, no more sickness, no more sadness, for this world will be no more. And all for whom Christ died shall be delivered and taken up with him in glory.

Then Job's suffering will be at an end. Then he will be with his saviour. Then he will know where he might find him. Then he will sit at the feet of his saviour and throw his crown down before him and cry out, holy, holy, holy.

Have you been brought where Job was brought? In this chapter 23, Job acknowledges the sovereignty of God. He knows that God has dealt with him. He knows that God has tried him. And he knows that in the end, when God is done with him, when the storm has blown its course, that in grace, By the mercy of God and the love of God he will come forth as gold in Christ his Saviour. For he knew that his Redeemer liveth. He knew it. It was reality. These things are real.

But we'll only know it when God makes himself known. When he sends the storm into our life. and touches us like he touched Job. In the midst of this, Job cries out, abandoned by God, it seems. Alone, abandoned by man, abandoned by these friends, accused by every one of them. Alone in his sufferings, he cries out, 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 he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me.

How might we find him? Has that ever gone through your mind? Oh, that I knew where I might find him. Where is God? How might I know God? How can I know? How may we find him? How did Job find him when we cannot see him? How do we know an invisible God? We feel the effects of the storm. We know He's there sending these things our way, but we cannot see Him.

Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him. On the left hand where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him. He hideth Himself on the right hand, but I cannot see Him. But he knoweth the way that I take, when he have tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job knew he was there, but he couldn't see him. So often when God puts his hand upon us and breaks us down and brings us to an end of ourself, we can't see him. We can feel alone, abandoned as though God has withdrawn from us. Has he forgotten us? Will he ever come back to us? Will the storm ever end?

Well, he hasn't withdrawn. He hasn't withdrawn. The fact that the storm is there means he's very close. He's not left us like he leaves the wicked to ourselves. He's not left us to prosper. in our blindness and darkness. How many are left alone as it were in peace and they multiply riches and go through this life as though they live forever and then old age soon comes upon them. And then time is no more. And then the storm comes. Better that the Lord sends a storm now and deals with us now, even if we cannot see him.

Yes, when the storm comes, he's not abandoned us. He hadn't abandoned Job, he was very much dealing with Job. The events proved it. Just like the blowing of the wind in a storm, the trees are blown about, the clouds rush through the skies, the tiles of the roofs come down, We see the effects of the storm, and we know that they don't come from nowhere. We know that God brings them to pass, but we just can't see Him. You feel the wind, but you cannot see the wind. You feel the effects of the Holy Spirit, but you cannot see Him.

Oh, that I knew where I might find him. Well, where is he? How might we find him? He makes his presence known. He deals with us. He strips his children of all confidence in the flesh, all their pride, all their wisdom, all their knowledge. He lays us low and brings us to the point of crying out like Job. But where is he? Well, Job found him in one place. And we'll find him in that place. Even though he felt alone, even though he felt broken, even though he felt he was in darkness, God gave him the faith to cry out. Oh, that I knew where I might find He gave him the faith to cry out, he knoweth the way that I take, when he have tried me I shall come forth as gold. He gave him the faith to cry out, I know, I know that my Redeemer liveth.

God gave him the faith to look through the darkness, to look past the storm, to see his Saviour in the Gospel, to see Christ to see Christ at the cross, suffering in the storm for Job.

I know that my Redeemer liveth. What Job experienced was God showing Job in such a close fashion, in such a near way, he was showing Job what it took his son to save Job. Job, this is what your Redeemer must go through. Job, this is what your Saviour experiences. Job, this is what it is for my Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to give Himself for those He loves. The storm you felt, Job, is but a picture of the storm that came upon Him at the cross. In the darkness, when the judgment the wrath of God poured down upon him, this is the storm he endured, Job, for you.

I know that my Redeemer liveth. How can he redeem us from our sins? Except he takes those sins. Except that he's made those sins. Except he bears those sins. Except God lays upon him the guilt of all his people. Except he's made a curse for them. Except God pours out his wrath upon him.

How alone Job felt. How alone the Saviour felt. How Job heard the accusations, the slanders, the railing of his friends upon him. How Christ upon the cross heard those railing against him, accusing him, mocking him, slandering him, scorning him. How alone he felt. in the midst of that storm.

Job had to be brought there to the cross to see his Redeemer. That's where he might find Him. And we must be brought there to see Him, to know Him by faith. God will bring storms our way to strip us of salve, and he'll bring us to our knees, to the cross, to his Son, the Saviour, to see him in the storm crucified for us. We must be brought there. We must be brought to know him, to see him, to see our sins washed away in his blood. To see ourselves crucified with Him. To see ourselves risen in Him.

See Job couldn't be left at a distance. For him to know what Christ suffered, what it took to save him, God must put him, as it were, where Christ was. And he'll put us in measure where Christ is. It's one thing to read about the cross on the paper of scripture. It's one thing to hear preachers talk about salvation and talk about Christ crucified. It's another thing to know the reality by faith in experience. It's another thing to have the Lord put us as it were in the storm and bring us close to his son so we feel one with him there. We feel something of what he suffered there. We feel the storm come upon us. and lash out at our sin, and lash out at our rebellion, and lash out at our pride and arrogance, and bring us low and humble us.

And when God brings us there, He puts faith in our hearts to see the Saviour in the storm, of which our storms but a measure a picture. And we see just an inkling of what He suffered and endured in the darkness for sin, for His people. to save them from their sins.

Yes, we must be brought to see Christ crucified and to see ourselves crucified in him and to see ourselves risen in him. Yes, we are tried. Yes, we are crucified indeed. But we shall be brought forth as gold. As gold. Yes, at the cross, we see the wrath, the judgment of God against sin poured down upon his son in the storms of judgment. Poured down against wicked sinners, against our wicked sins, believing your wicked sins in Christ. At the cross we see that fury, that righteous holy anger, the righteousness of God poured out upon His own Son. At the cross we see the trying of faith. The trying of faith, He knoweth the way that I take, but when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Not the trying of our faith. but the trying of Christ's. When God tried Christ upon the cross, he came forth as gold, and Job came forth as gold in him, and believer you came forth as gold in Christ alone. His faith was honoured and rewarded as he entered the darkness knowing that he who knew no sin must be made sin, that his people might be made the righteousness of God in him. The horrors that came upon him, that he must be judged in this way, tried in this way, but he knew that he should come forth as gold.

In chapter 24, Job goes on to consider those who know not God. Those who are at a distance, as it were. The world, the wicked, and their works. Those that truly do deprive the poor. Those who cause the naked to go without clothing and take away the sheep from the hungry. Those who enrich themselves at the expense of others. Those who run away from God because they've no time for Him. They are of those that rebel against the Light. They know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

The murderer, rising with the Light, killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. The eye or so of the adulterer waited for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and disguiseth his face. In the dark they dig through houses which they had marked for themselves in the daytime. They know not the Light.

There are many who don't know the storm of God coming upon them. They don't know the trial that Job was brought through. They don't know the trouble that came. They're left in peace and security and they go about their own way. And the sin that's in their heart drives their ambition, boosts their pride. causes them to grab and to steal that which they want. They enrich themselves. They live for pleasure. They live for self-glory. They live for the acclamation of others. And they have no time for God.

And yet Job reminds us that the wrath, the storms of God will come to them in the end. But what was but for a time with Job, before he was brought forth as gold and led into eternal glory with Christ his Saviour, when the storm was gone for Job, and peace and calm was brought in for him for evermore. For these that knew peace, calm and prosperity here in this world at the expense of others, there is a storm coming, that will never be taken away, that they will endure for eternity to come. Because they had no time for God. They cared not. They laughed and they jeered and they mocked. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low. They are taken out of the way as all other. and cut off as the tops of the ears of the corn and if it be not so now who will make me a liar and make my speech nothing worth?

We know it's true and you know it's true. You can grab and steal. You can seek all that you can get in this world. You can live for pleasure, pushing Christ out of your thoughts and affections. And the days go and the years go and you grow old and then there's time no more. And then the storm comes. Then the storm comes.

These people persecute God's people. They steal from the hungry. They clothe not the naked. They're murderers. They're adulterers. They enrich themselves at the expense of others. These are not just the wicked in the world, but the wicked in religion. How many in religion follow in a false gospel, a false Jesus, a false idea? Persecute God's people. Persecute those that know Christ. They tread them underfoot, they trample his blood underfoot. They break them, they bruise them. They're like those that saw the man on the road who'd been beaten and bruised. The priest walks by and leaves him alone. And then it's left to a Samaritan to come and to clothe him, lift him up.

Yes, there's much in religion. that professes much, but in the end despises God's people because they despise Christ himself. They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low.

Yes, if these people sin, if our sin wasn't judged at the cross in Christ under the outpouring of God's wrath upon him. If the storm didn't come upon him, if we weren't crucified there and in him, if our sins weren't blotted out by the blood of Jesus Christ, if that storm didn't judge our sins there and then, then that storm must and will come down upon us. Though we may be exalted for a while, there will be a day when we are gone and brought low.

Oh that God in his mercy and grace would deliver us from such a place. Oh that we would not be left there in that ignorance in that unbelief, in that foolishness, under that wrath, awaiting that storm.

O that God would send a storm our way now, a loving storm, a gracious storm, a merciful storm, O that the wind would blow upon us hard now! O that the rains would rain down upon us now! O that we would feel a fire in our soul now! That God would consume the wood, hay and stubble of our false ideas, our false beliefs, our false religion, our false hopes, O that he would break us, humble us, bruise us, now as he did with Job, and lead us like him to cry out, O that I knew where I might find him. Lead me to Christ my Saviour, O that I might know where my Redeemer is. Oh, that he would have mercy upon me. Oh, that God would send the storm to you and to I, to you and to me now. A storm of grace, a storm of mercy, a storm of love that leads us to Christ and Christ alone. Leads us to the one of whom Job was but a figure.

leads us to his redeemer that one who at the cross in the darkness under that wrath in the depths of the storm cried out my god my god why hast thou forsaken me who like job in type and figure cried out in the darkness under his father oh that i knew where i might find him

O that I might be back in his presence. May God lead us to him, to Christ, to God's Son, the Redeemer, whose faith was honoured, whose cries were heard, who entered into his Father's presence victorious, victorious, rising from the grave with all his people, Job in him, Paul in him, all his people gathered in him, having had their sins judged and washed away in the storm, rising from the grave victorious, ascending into glory and coming into the presence of God the Father. in their Saviour Jesus Christ, who came in riding upon a horse, riding in with blood-dyed garments.

Who is this entering in? Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Oh, what a Saviour came from the storm, came from the battleground in blood-dyed garments, speaking righteousness in his gospel to those that only know sin. washing his people clean in his own blood. Those dyed garments, washing his people in that blood he shed for them, making them to be the righteousness of God because he is mighty to save.

Mighty to save, this is who Job saw, this is who Job was a picture of, this is who suffered the storm. Oh how Job suffered, but oh how Christ suffered for him, for his people. Did he suffer for you? Oh how Christ suffered, but with what consequence? He speaks in righteousness. He's mighty to save.

If it be not so, now who will make me a liar and make my speech nothing worth? He speaks in righteousness, as Job did here. It's true. It's real. He saved his people with an everlasting salvation. He brought in the reality of eternal life.

And he brings his children forth through their trials as gold. As gold. Perfect, righteous in him. He brings them through the other side of the storm, safe in His arms. He carries in His sheep into eternal glory, safe into the flock. The shepherd leads them in safely and brings them beside still waters, safe from the storm, safe from the wrath of God, safe from the battlefield, delivered, saved with an everlasting salvation, loved with an eternal love, an everlasting love. He says unto them, I loved you and gave myself.

O has God brought you to see this Saviour? Has he brought a storm your way, in the midst of which you've been brought to cry, O that I knew where I might find him? Has he brought you to the gospel, to Christ, to the cross, to the storm that came down upon him, and seen your mighty blood died garments of your mighty Saviour, has He brought you to see your Saviour, glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.

If you'll find Him, it will be there at the cross, in Christ and Him crucified. If you find Him, it will be there in the store, If you find him, it will be because God has made himself real and known unto you. Send a storm your way, a storm of grace, that you might be tried and be brought forth as gold.

If you find him, you will find him at the cross. You will find Christ your Saviour. Oh, that I knew where I might find him. All made a Lord, bring us to Christ and Christ alone.