If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Job chapter 40. I titled the message this morning,
Will You Condemn God? Two weeks ago, we looked at the
first part of this conversation that took place between the Lord
and Job. In that conversation, God said,
Job, you've been asking A lot of questions. You've had a lot
of things to say. You've been contending with the
Almighty. He said, I've heard everything that you've said.
You've been talking about some things, Job, you don't understand.
Now, Job, God says, I've got some questions for you. And he
said, I demand an answer from you. And the Lord asked Job,
Job, where were you when I created the world? Do you have the power
like I do just to speak the world into existence? I know. Well,
then you'd be wise not to question somebody that's got that kind
of power, wouldn't you? The Lord asked Job, can you govern the
earth like I do? Do you have power over life and death? Do
you have power to make it rain and snow when and where you want?
Do you have the power to make the seasons change whenever you
want? Do you have the power and the care to feed all the wild
animals all across the earth? No, you can't do any of that,
can you, Job? then you'd be wise not to question the one who does.
Don't contend with the Almighty. In chapter 40, verse one, moreover,
the Lord answered Job and said, shall he that contendeth with
the Almighty instruct thee? He that reproveth God, let him
answer it. Job, can you instruct me? Can you correct me? And then
Job answered. Here's Job's answer to everything
God said to him. Job's answer is, behold, I'm
vile. What shall I answer thee? I lay my hand upon my mouth,
Once have I spoken, but I'll not answer. Yea, twice, but I
will proceed no further. Now, Job's answer to the Lord
was, I've said some very foolish things, I see that now. In order
to keep that from happening again, tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm
gonna put my hand over my mouth and I'm not gonna say anything
ever again. I'm not gonna say anything. I mean, if I don't
open my mouth, I can't put my foot in it, can I? If I don't
open my mouth, I can't say something that's gonna leave people astray.
Now, there are times we'd all be well served, keep our mouth
shut, wouldn't we? There's no question about that.
It is better to keep our mouth shut than to question God out
loud and cause others to be led astray and cause them maybe to
feel like they should do the same thing, to question God's
providence, to question his love and care for us and question
his wisdom and doing what he's doing. You'd be a whole lot better
off to keep your mouth shut and question God and talk about things
that would hurt a babe in Christ. Especially you older believers.
Keep that in mind. Babes in Christ are watching
you. I remember being a child and being a young man and being
blessed to be around so many older men, so many older believers.
Now, I watched them. I watched him, you be careful
now, these babes are watching you, be careful what you say.
Look over at Psalm 73, David went through this. David, in the midst of a severe
trial, wrote these words in Psalm 73. Beginning in verse one, he says,
truly, God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean
heart. He says, but now in this trial, as for me, my feet were
almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped,
for I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of
the wicked. There are no bans in their death,
but their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men, neither are they plagued like other men. And what David
means there is they're not troubled and plagued like a believer is.
These unbelievers are just blessed in everything they do. They're
not troubled and plagued like a believer is. Their pride compasseth
them as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. But they're corrupt, and they speak wickedly concerning
oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore his people, God's people, return hither,
and the waters of a full cup are run out to them. These wicked,
nothing's wrung out to them, but the waters of a full cup
of trial wrung out to God's people. And they say, how does God know?
Is there yet knowledge in the most high? Behold, these are
the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches.
Verily, I've cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in
innocency. David said, that's what it feels
like. It feels like I've cleansed my heart in vain and washed my
hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been
plagued. I've been chastened every morning. Now verse 15. And if I say I'll speak thus,
behold, I should offend against the generation of my children. David said, this is the way I
feel, but I'd be a whole lot better keep my mouth shut and
not saying those things out loud, not questioning God's providence. Now, like I said, there are many
times that we would be well served to keep our mouth shut. and not
say what we're thinking. But that's not all the time.
That's not all the time. There are times we do need to
speak. There are times we need to speak
to one another. There are times we need to speak in prayer. There
are times we need to speak. That has to be the case, because
when Job said. I'm not saying anything to anybody
ever again. I'm just going around my hand
over my mouth. The Lord keeps going. The Lord keeps going with
these questions for Job because he's gonna draw the right answer
out of him. See, the wrong answer was to
say, I'm not gonna say anything ever again. So the Lord continues
to ask these questions to Job, so he draws the right answer
out of Job. In verse six, then the Lord,
then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind and said,
gird up thy loins now like a man. I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me, wilt thou also disannul my judgment? Wilt thou
condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Job, are you gonna
make my judgment null and void just so you can be righteous?
You gonna change my judgment? You gonna change my laws? Job,
are you gonna call me unrighteous so that you can be called righteous?
You know, the apostle Paul dealt with that in Romans 9, 14. He
said, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Did God do something wrong? Was God unfair? Was God unrighteous?
Paul said, God forbid. God forbid that we'd say that.
But in his haste, that's what Job had done, isn't it? Verse
nine. Hast thou an arm like God, or
canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with
majesty and excellency, and array thyself with glory and beauty.
Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath, And behold everyone that is proud
and abasing. Look on everyone that is proud
and bringing low, and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide
them in the dust together, and bind their faces in secret. Then
while I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can
save thee. And here's what the Lord's asking
Job. Can you make yourself righteous, Job? Can you save yourself? Now that's the question. That's
the question for Job, and that's the question for all of us here
this morning. Can you make yourself righteous? Now, the answer to
this question, that's what the Lord's gonna draw out of Job.
If the Lord's gonna save us, he's gonna draw the same answer
out of us. Can you save yourself? Well, of course not. Everybody
knows only God can save sinners. Only God has the mercy and grace
to save sinners. Only God can satisfy his holy
justice so that guilty sinners can be saved in justice. Only
God can make it right for him to forgive the sin of his people.
Job, can you humble the proud? Can you bring the proud low,
make them beg for mercy? If you can, God said, let's see
you clothe yourself in majesty. In God's majesty, let's see you
do it. Let's see you bear your mighty arm, your right arm to
save a sinner. Now Job, if you can do that,
then I'll say you can make yourself righteous. But you can't do it. You can't do it. So here's the
answer that the Lord's gonna draw out of Job. He's gonna draw
out of us too if he's gonna save us. We have to admit, we can't
do anything for ourselves. We need the Lord to do it all.
And to prove the point, the Lord talks to Job about two earthly
things. that in his wildest imagination
Job would never think of going one-on-one and contending with
these two things. And this is the Lord's point in doing all
this. If you won't tangle with these earthly things because
they're too strong for you, why would you ever think you can
contend with the Almighty? And the first thing that the Lord
uses as an illustration to Job is the elephant. Verse 15. Behold now the behemoth which
I made with thee. He eateth grass as an ox. And
lo, his strength is in his loins. His force is in the navel of
his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his
stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong as pieces
of brass. His bones are like bars of iron.
He is the chief of the ways of God. He that made him can make
his sword to approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring forth
food. where all the beasts of the field
play. He lieth under the shady trees and the covert of the reed
and fens. The shady trees cover him with
their shadow. The willows of the brook compass
him about. Behold, he drinketh up a river
and hasteth not. He trusteth that he can draw
up Jordan into his mouth. He taketh it with his eyes. His
nose pierceth through snares. The Lord asked Job, Job, would
you ever go one-on-one with an elephant? I mean, an elephant,
he pretty much does what he wants when he wants. He goes where
he wants, he eats what he wants. He eats grass in the valleys.
And that elephant can climb up into the mountains and eat grass
in the mountains, too. And nobody stops him. He lies
down to rest under a shade tree. And he's completely unafraid.
Somebody's gonna jump out and attack him. Because nobody can
whip him. He's just unafraid. The Lord says, Joe, that elephant
can whip you with his tail. His tail is like cedars banded
together. He'll just whack you with that
thing, you're done. You know, just his tail. We're not even talking
about his tusks or his feet or something, you know. And you
can hit him if you want, but you ain't hurting him. His bones
are like brass bars. His strength is the chief among
the animals that God made. And he comes up to this flooded
river. The Lord paints this picture
of a flooded river. He's talking about the River
Jordan. Every year the River Jordan floods and people are
very concerned about the river at that time. It floods and just
the waters are deep and fast and people are concerned by getting
caught in that thing and drowning. Not the elephant. I mean, the
elephant just looks at that flooded river. He's not afraid. He'll
say, eh. I'll just drink that thing up with my mouth. I'm not
afraid of that, you know. It doesn't bother me. You know,
everybody is clear about this. I'm staying away from the edge
of the Jordan when it floods, not the elephant. Your herds
of elephant, they're all females. They're led by the older females.
I've seen this on TV. They come up that flooded river,
and the grandmother, the oldest grandmother, She just goes right,
she doesn't stop. She just goes right into that
river. She's completely unafraid of that river. She just goes
in. If she gets out in the middle,
she stands there. And you know what she's doing? She's not afraid.
She's just making sure the little ones can make it across. She's
not afraid. Now, Job, are you going to wrestle
with her? Huh? Job and all the rest of you.
Now, would you ever think about contending with an elephant one-on-one?
No. Then why would you ever dream
of contending with the Almighty? Oh, God, keep us from that. That
we'd ever question His prophets. That we'd ever question how can
God bring good out of this? Why is God doing this? Let's
start with what's most important. Would you ever question how God
is pleased to save sinners. Well, a sinner won't. An object
of God's mercy wouldn't ever dream of questioning how God
saves sinners. If Lord's been pleased to reveal
himself to you, you know what he showed you? He showed you
his power, his redeeming power, the power of the blood of Christ.
He shows you the depths and the breadth of his love. that despite
all your sin, Almighty God loves you. Sent his son to be the propitiation
for your sin. God saved you by his grace. By
his grace, you didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it, just the
opposite. But God saved you anyway. That's grace, isn't it? Now, after seeing all of God's
grace to you, you see it, you see his grace. You see his love. He showed you his love, his eternal
love for you. then whatever it is you're going
through right now, why would you ever question what God's
doing with you now? Huh? After all His grace, and
mercy, and love, and power in redeeming you that He showed
you in the past, why would you ever say, well, God's still,
He's not still being gracious with me? Now, you know better,
of course He is. You know, when we question God,
we say, of all people, why is God doing this to me? When we
ask that question, you know what we've forgotten? We've forgotten
that salvation is by grace. God deals with his people in
grace. Not works, not merit, grace. All grace. I mean, grace at the
beginning, grace at the end, and grace everywhere in between.
It's all of grace. And when I say, why would God
do this to me? You know what I'm saying? I deserve
better. I've conducted myself so well.
I don't deserve this trial. I don't deserve this heartache. Now, that's what I pray the Lord
would deliver me and you from. Oh, how I pray the Lord never,
ever, ever give me what I deserve. I don't want what I deserve.
I want God to deal with me in mercy. I want God to deal with
me in grace. And that's the answer that the
Lord's drawing out of Joseph. We'll see that in just a minute.
And if the Lord's gonna be merciful to you and me, that's the confession,
that's the answer he's gonna draw out of us too. So first
was the elephant, second is the crocodile. Now I've always kind
of thought in verse five of chapter 41, he talks about the Leviathan,
the Lord playing with a Leviathan like we would play with a bird. I've always thought that's the
whale. And that's what I always think about when I see on TV
these whales jumping up out of the water and splashing down
and stuff, you know. And I always think, that's the
Lord playing with that whale. He's just playing with it. The
thing's jumping up. That's probably true. But in
studying this passage this week, I don't think the Lord's talking
about a whale here. He's talking about the crocodile, because
that seems to be what the Lord's describing to Job in this chapter.
And Job would have been a whole lot more familiar with a crocodile.
than a whale, so I believe this is a crocodile. It's chapter
41, verse one. Canst thou draw out Leviathan
with a hook, or his tongue with a cord, which thou lettest down?
Canst thou put a hook into his nose, or bore his jaw through
with a thorn? Now, can you catch a crocodile
with a hook, and haul that thing into your boat for dinner? No. Now, this is just me, but if
I was I was fishing, I don't do much fishing anymore, but
I used to do a lot of fishing. And if I was fishing and I hooked
a crocodile, old Frank would cut the line and run. I mean,
I'm getting out of there and you would too, you're smart.
I don't want to mess with that thing. Verse three, the Lord
says, will he make supplications? Can you make this crocodile make
supplications unto thee? Will he speak soft words unto
thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? Will thou take him
for a servant? Forever? Job, can you make friends
with a crocodile? Can you just make that crocodile
talk sweet to you and be your friend? Can you make him agree
he's willingly gonna serve you and he won't be fierce with you?
No, of course not. God does. God does. Verse six. Shall the companions
make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among the
merchants? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons or his
head with fish spears? Lay thine hand upon him, remember
the battle, and do no more. I mean, can you imagine laying
your hand feeling that crocodile, that armor God's made out of
him, you know? Remember the battle, don't do
that again. Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Should not
one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce
that dare stir him up. And who then is able to stand
before me? If you won't stand before that
crocodile, who's able to stand before me? Who hath prevented
me that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole
heaven is mine. Job, you don't have any hope
of battling that crocodile. Your best hope is to run away
from him. That's what all the animals do. They run away from
him, but not God. God rules that thing. He rules
everything in his creation. Verse 12, I will not conceal
his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion, Who can
discover the face of his garment? Who can come to him with his
double bridle? Who can open the doors of his
face? His teeth are terrible roundabout. His scales are his
pride, shut up together with a close seal. Those things just
form such a close seal over him, it's like armor over him. One
is so near to another that no air can come between them. They
are joined one to another. They stick together, they cannot
be sundered. By his kneesings a light doth
shine. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of
his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out
of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or cauldron.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
In his neck remains strength. His sorrow is turned into joy
before him. The flakes of his flesh are joined
together, They are firm in themselves, they cannot be moved. His heart
is as firm as a stone. No wonder, I mean, nothing can
harm him. Of course he's firm, he's not afraid. Yea, his heart
is a piece of the nether millstone. When he raiseth up himself, the
mighty are afraid. By reasons of breakings, they
purify themselves. The sword of him that layeth
at him cannot hold. the spear, the dart, nor the
habregon. He esteemeth iron as straw, and
brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee.
Slingstones are turned with him into stubble. Darts are counted
as stubble. He laugheth at the shaking of
the spear. You gonna try to scare him by
rattling your spear? He just laughs. Sharp stones are under
him. He spreadeth sharp pointed things
upon the mire. He maketh the deep to boil like
a pot. He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. He maketh
the path to shine after him. One would think the deep to be
hoary. Upon earth there is not his light
who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things.
He's king over all the children of pride. There's nothing that
makes that thing afraid. He's not afraid of you, but you're
afraid of him, aren't you? You're not going to go fight
him one-on-one. But Job, if you don't want to face that crocodile,
why would you say you want to see my face? Why would you say
you want to come into my question and ask some questions from the
Almighty? Why would you say that? Job, would you dare resist my
will? Would you dare? Oh, oh. Now Job's gonna answer again.
And this time, Job gives the right answer. I know he gives
the right answer, because that's what the Lord says. Look at verse
seven of chapter 42. It is so that after the Lord
has spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the
Tiamite, my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy
two friends, for you've not spoken to me the thing that is right,
as my servant Job hath. So Job's answer here is the right
answer. And this right answer is the
confession of every believer. Now remember we said there's
times we should keep our mouth shut, but there's times we shouldn't,
there's times we should speak. And we should always be ready
to open our mouth with this confession. You cannot keep your mouth shut
about this. This is what every believer confesses. Number one, Everything God does
is right. Verse one of chapter 42. 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 hieth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not. Things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, I will speak,
I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Now Job and every
believer will confess this. Everything God does is right.
It's right, it's just. The Lord can do whatever he pleases.
He got the power to do whatever he pleases. He's king, he's got
the right to do whatever he pleases and everything he does is right. He'll never do wrong. You know
why every believer will confess that? Wayne, that's our conversation. That's our assurance God will
do right. Even if I don't understand it,
God's doing right. Isn't that what Abraham said
when he was interceding for Sodom? Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? I know you will. Of course he
will. Everything God does is right. There's some things God does. Boy, we. I don't know, celebrate
the right word. We were just so happy we just,
you know, But then there are other things we think, well,
wait a minute. Well, just think about what God's
done is right. God was right to save me by his
grace. I see that. God was right to
do that. And I'll never argue with that. I'll always rejoice
in that. God was right to save me by his
grace. And he made it right to do it.
God made it right to be gracious to a sinner like me. He sent
his son to take my sin made my sin to be his. And then he suffered
everything I deserve. He suffered the hell that I deserve
to put my sin away. Christ suffered it for me. His
blood put my sin away. The blood of his sacrifice made
my sin to be gone. See, the sacrifice of Christ
made it right for God to be merciful to me. See that? Lord saved me
by his grace and I rejoice in that. Let's remember this. Whatever God does to me now,
that's right too. And stop being gracious to me.
Whatever God's doing with me now is right. Just as right as
when he saved me by his grace. Just as right. The Lord's been
right to feed me and clothe me. Janet and I were talking last
night just looking back over our life together. Utterly amazing. Just amazed and thankful how
the Lord has provided. The math of it at times didn't add
up, but He provided. He provided us food and clothing
and shelter. He provided us a family. He provided me a wife that is
just second to none. How thankful I am. Don't you
love Lord's provision for you? He hasn't deserved any of it,
but he's given it to you. Now we rejoice in that, don't
we? When we pray, we say, thank you, Lord. Lord, when we get
ready to eat, Lord, thank you for this food. Thank you. We're
in health. Our children are all doing well. You got enough money to pay the
bills. Everything's just going great. Like Brother Henry used
to say, you got the tiger by the tail on a downhill pull on
the shady side. It's all wonderful, isn't it? We say the Lord's right. You
know what? The Lord's right when He strips
me and He lays me low too. The Lord's right when He takes
my health away from me too. He is now. The Lord is right. to give me life. I'm talking
about just physical life. We can say, you know, the Lord's
right to do that. I'm thankful for it. Let's not
forget this. The Lord's just as right when
he takes it. Just as right. We all love when the Lord blesses
us, don't we? Always thank your Lord. Let's remember this. The Lord's just as right when
he sends us a heartache. Don't forget that now. Now, I don't know. I will never
pretend to know everything the Lord's doing when he sends a
trial my way or your way. All we can see is right here. The ripple effects of that, how
they spread out, and what God's gonna accomplish with all that,
we couldn't begin to comprehend. But this is what I know. Let's
start with what we know. When the Lord sends a trial to
one of his children, One thing that trial, if you're a child
of God, one thing I know for sure that trial is going to make
you do. It's going to make you fall on your face before his
throne. It's going to make you look to
him. It's going to make you depend more upon him. Because you see,
you can't depend on yourself, you know. I mean, we think, OK,
Lord's taught me this in this trial. I'm never going to be
taught this again. I'm not self-sufficient. And then the further you get
away from that trial, the more this flesh starts thinking, yeah,
I'm self-sufficient. He's going to send another trial
to teach us. He's going to teach us we're
not not self-sufficient. He's going to send us his children
in trial to make us depend on him and cling to him harder than
we ever have before. Now, that's going to be painful,
but let me tell you. Whatever it is that makes me depend on
Christ more, that makes me look to him more, that makes me Seek
his face more that makes me drives me into his word more is good. It's good. Absolutely is. Many of you been through severe
trials and you know what I'm talking about. When you're in
the midst of it, all you can do is cry out to the Lord, right?
Lord, give me grace for the hour. Just give me grace, I mean, for
the minute. Have you ever been there where you just thought,
I'm not worried about the hour, I'm worried about the next 10
seconds. Lord, give me grace sufficient for this thing. Oh,
it's so hard. It's so painful. But when the
Lord is pleased to deliver you and you look back on that, you
say, that's the best thing that ever happened to me. When the Lord brings you so low
that all you can do is just cry out, Lord, help me. Lord, help
me. I'm going down for the third
time. Lord, help me. And the Lord gives you peace
of heart. Now, He didn't give you peace because He removed
the trial. He doesn't give you peace because He removed the pain.
He doesn't give you peace because He removed the heartache. The
heartache and the pain and the trial are still there, but He
gives you peace of heart. As the commercial says, it's
priceless. It's good for me. I couldn't have enjoyed that
peace if the Lord hadn't afflicted me first. I was talking to a
dear, dear friend of mine this week. And he recounted a story
that he heard about John Newton when he was in, was it Newton? Yeah, he was in prison, whoever
it was, his fellow, he was in prison for preaching the gospel. He refused to recant. He spent
years in prison, a horrible, Situations and he said at that
time the Lord gave me such peace peace of heart He said it would
almost make me pray So if it wouldn't be tempted the Lord
almost make me pray that he'd make the trial harder So I can
experience his grace all the more My dear friend Rex said
I don't know anything about that But you understand what I was
talking about there don't you when the Lord gives you peace that
passes understanding Priceless. And Job said, I see that now.
Job said, I have questioned God before, but no more. I've complained
about God's providence, but I'm not gonna do that anymore. How
can I? How can I complain about God's
providence after he's been so gracious to me? The only thing
I'm gonna tell people is this. You don't understand it, but
you hang on to this for all you're worth. What God's done is right.
It's right. Number two, this is the confession
of every believer. By faith, I see Christ, and I
trust him. Verse five, Job says, I've 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. Now Job says, Lord's dealt with
me in his trial. Lord's touched me. But you know,
before this thing happened, Now there are some things I knew.
Some things I knew about God. I had a head knowledge of some
things. But now I know them. See, now
I know them. Because now I believe these things
in my heart. I believe them by experience. I knew the doctrine
of salvation by grace alone. I believed that was so, and I
could see that's a really good thing. But this trial has taught
me salvation is by grace. I mean, it's by grace alone. See, I had a head knowledge of
the doctrine of salvation by grace, but I thought I was being
blessed because of my integrity. I thought God was blessing me,
and he wasn't blessing somebody else. He was blessing me more
than somebody else, because quite honestly, I'm just doing better
than you. I'm just doing better than you. My friends, that's not grace,
is it? That's works. And Job said, now
I've experienced this. Salvation is by grace. This thing
is all of grace. God chose me. He elected me in
grace. He redeemed me in his grace.
He called me by his grace. He revealed his son to me and
in me in his grace. He saved me by his grace. He
kept me by his grace. And if I'm going to be blessed,
I'm going to be blessed because of God's grace, not because of something
I've done. You see, now I see Christ. Now
I see Christ. See, I heard But now I see, I
see that salvation is a person. Grace is a person. And now I
see Christ and I trust him. I'm not just believing a bunch
of true statements. I trust him. See, I used to have a head knowledge,
just like I had a head knowledge of grace. I had a head knowledge
of God's sovereignty. God does as he pleases. Now I
believe in the God who's sovereign. So there's a difference in believing
in the sovereignty of God and believing in the God who's sovereign. Job says, now I believe in the
God who's sovereign because I've seen his power in action. I've
seen him saving me, keeping me, comforting me. I used to have
a head knowledge that the Lord would not leave nor forsake his
people. Written in the word of God, I believe that to be so
because that's what God said. Now that I've experienced that,
I believe it. I believe it. Job could say the
same thing you and I have said. You know, I'm not picking on
Job for saying all these awful things. You and I have said the
same things. We've thought the same things. I've said all these
awful things. And the Lord still didn't leave
me. Now I've experienced it. He will not leave nor forsake
his people. And instead of leaving me, you
know what he's done? He's comforted my heart. Now I know it. Now I know I can count on that
because I've experienced it. And the third thing is this.
We confess, every believer confesses this. I'm going to use my mouth
in prayer. Verse seven. It was so that after
the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz,
the Tiamite, my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy
two friends. For you have not spoken of me
the right or the thing that's right as my servant Job Therefore
take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my
servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering,
and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept,
lest I deal with you after your folly, and that you've not spoken
of me, the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliaphaz
the Tiamite, and Bildad the Shuite, and Zophar the Naamathite went
and did, according as the Lord commanded them, The Lord also
accepted Job, and the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he
prayed for his friends. Also, the Lord gave Job twice
as much as he had before. Now, I bet old Job thought about
this, and he said, I used to pray. I did. We read that at
the very beginning when we started going through these questions
in the book of Job. Job went every day and offered sacrifices
for his children and prayed for his children. Prevention they
didn't offer sacrifice for themselves. Joseph said, I used to pray.
I used to go through the religious motions. After the Lord sent
this trial to me, now I pray. Now I pray. And I don't just
pray selfishly for myself. Now I pray that the glory of
God be revealed. That the Lord show his glory
somehow in this trial. Now I pray that the Lord keep
his word. Lord, you said you'd comfort your people. Lord, would
you comfort me? Would you be with me? Now I pray
that the Lord get glory to himself, whether he delivers me or not.
Lord, get glory to yourself. This is what Job has learned,
and this is what Lord's gonna teach you and me. The issue's
Christ. Now that's the issue. The issue
is Christ. It's his glory, not my glory. And you take this for what you think. At the end of
verse 10, the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed
for his friends. The Lord turned the captivity
of Job, and he gave Job twice as much as he had before when
he prayed for his friends. The Lord didn't give deliver
Joe from this trial and bless him with all these physical things
again when he prayed for himself and asked Lord to give him stuff,
didn't. The Lord bless Joe. When Joe prayed for his friends.
The Lord forgave Job's friends because of the sacrifice that
Job offered when Joe prayed. I'm pretty sure that means this.
We're going to be much more blessed. We start to pray. that the Lord
save others based upon the sacrifice of Christ. We're gonna be a whole
lot more blessed when we quit asking for stuff and start praying
that the Lord bless somebody else. See, the issue is Christ. The issue is the Savior, the
issue is his people, the issue is Christ's person and his work,
not me and not mine. The issue is Christ's righteousness
and Christ's glory, not mine. And sooner that the Lord teaches
that to you and me, the better off we'll be. And if he uses
a trial to do it, we're gonna be thankful for it. I promise
you we will. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this time that you've given us together. And Father, I pray
you'd bless your word as it's being preached, as it's being
laid open to your people, Father, enable us to see the glory of
Christ our Savior. Reveal to our hearts the glory
of Christ and give us the faith to believe him. Father, how we thank you for
a place where we can come and truly worship, hear your gospel
preached, to have Christ exalted to us. And Father, I pray you
continue to bless us. how you blessed us all these
many, many, many years. Well, I pray that you continue
to bless us. Go with us. Bless us in this coming year,
we pray, as you have in the past. All these things we ask for Christ's
sake, for his glory, for the sake of his people. Amen. All
right, now remember our service this evening. A few men will
put us up about two tables out there in the vestibule so we
can put our Refreshments and things on it and this evening,
I'd greatly appreciate it. All right, Chris.