Job chapter 42. I've entitled
our lesson this morning, Have You Seen God? And we know some
things about our brother Job. We know he was a child of God.
We know that Job was a believer who had faith in Christ. We know
that from chapter one. We'll look at more of these things
in the message this morning. But we know from chapter one
that Job was a perfect man, an upright man. God called him that
so we know that he was and we know that no son of Adam could
be called perfect or upright unless he's in Christ. That's
the only way we could be considered upright and righteous is in Christ. We know about Job that he worshipped
God through burnt offerings. He knew God was to be worshipped
through the blood of a sacrifice. Job was a man of prayer. He was
continually in prayer every day. Job knew God and God knew Job.
called Job his servant. He said, this is my servant.
But at the end of the book, verse 5 of chapter 42, I want you to
look what Job says. He says, I've heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee. Job had
heard about God with the natural ear. There are some things he
heard, some doctrine and things he heard, he believed. But now,
Job says, I've seen God. I've seen the Lord with the eye
of faith and I understand more clearly who He is. Now my question
to us this morning is, have we seen God? Have we seen God with
the eye of faith and have some understanding about who God is?
I want you to look at Romans chapter 1. All of us, like Job,
have heard about God. All men have heard about God.
Creation tells us that God is. In Romans 1 verse 20, for the
invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Creation tells us that God is. Our conscience tells us that
God is. A man's conscience tells us we've got to answer to somebody. Look at verse 19 of Romans 1.
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God has showed it unto them. That in them is the light of
conscience. Our conscience tells us God is.
The law tells us God is. Romans 2 verse 14. For when the
Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts. their
conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile
accusing or else excusing one another. The law is written on
the heart of men. Men, the heathen who've never
heard of the Bible, know it's wrong to steal. They know it's
wrong to lie. They know it's wrong to kill
because the law is written on their heart, telling them that
God is. And the scripture tells us God
is, but men don't believe it. They don't read it, do they?
God's preachers tell us that God is, but men don't believe. Men don't believe in the Christ
of this book that God's servants preach. And the reason for that
is men are blind by nature. They're spiritually blind and
they never will see God unless God gives them eyes to see. Look
at Matthew chapter 16. If we're going to see the Lord,
the Lord's going to have to give us eyes to see, isn't he? Matthew
16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do
men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, some say that
thou art John the Baptist. Some Elias and others, Jeremias
are one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but my father, which
is in heaven. Peter saw the Lord. He knew who
Christ is because the father had given him eyes to see. He
revealed it to him. And others, they didn't see.
They thought our Lord was one of the prophets reincarnated
because God had not given them eyes to see. Now Job, He had
heard of God, hadn't he? He knew God. But after his trials
and after God spoke to him in those great chapters, chapters
38 through 41, Job said, now I see the Lord. Now I've seen. Now what does that mean? Job
was a believer. He already, he had faith in Christ
before this, but what he's talking about is the difference between
head knowledge and heart faith. That's what he's talking about.
It's the difference between what you've read in a book and what
you've heard others talk about and what you've experienced in
your heart. Really the things that we truly
believe are the things that we've experienced. I'll give you an
example of that. The difference between head knowledge
and experience. When our daughter Holly was about
eight or nine years old, She'd never seen the ocean. I was thinking
about that. I thought, do we fail her somehow? She was eight
or nine years old. She'd never seen the ocean. Holly
was a good student. She knew about all the different
kinds of fish that lived in the sea. She probably knew the exact
number of feet, the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean was. She
probably knew that. She had a pretty good idea about how wide, many
miles wide, the Atlantic Ocean is. She heard about waves. rising up and crashing down.
She could give you a scientific explanation for how that happens.
I have no idea. That eight-year-old probably
could have told me. She knew the ocean was filled with saltwater. Well, one November, we were about
an hour's drive away from the beach. And before we went home,
we were going to head out of our way so the girls could at
least see the ocean. It was a cold and windy day. But we thought, well, at least
they can say they've seen the ocean. So we got to the parking
area. And sitting in the back seat
is Holly, like this. Because she didn't want to get
a glimpse of the ocean at first. And as we were driving up, she
didn't want to see it until she could see it all at one time.
So here she is. Her eyes, hand over her eyes,
and we're leading her up over the boardwalk and over the dune.
And we get there on the beach and pull her hands away from
her eyes. Now I see. Now I see what the
big deal is about. Now I know about how many miles
across the ocean is. Now I know how fast it is. Now I'm getting some understanding.
Now I see the beauty of this ocean. Now I see what I could
never see in a book until I experienced it for myself. Brethren, that's what we're doing
when we preach Christ. That's what we pray will happen.
that we can lead a poor sinner to Christ and God will do for
them what he did for Job and take the scales off his eyes,
pull his hands away from his eyes. He's refused to see before,
but God will pull his hands away from his eyes so that he looks
straight into the face of the Savior. Now I see. Oh, now I see. I see his beauty. I see his grace. I see his love. I see his power. Now I see. Well, what is it to
see the Lord? Well, I know to see the Lord,
to see God, we must see the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only
manifestation of God we'll ever see, now and through eternity.
The man Christ Jesus is the only manifestation of God we'll ever
see. So first of all, to see the Lord,
to see him in a saving way, is to see Christ in his deity. The
Lord Jesus is not just a mere prophet. He's that prophet. He's the prophet. The Lord Jesus
is not just a miracle worker. He's not just a healer I can
whistle for when I get in trouble. The Lord Jesus is God. He's the eternal God with whom
we have to do. The Lord Jesus is God to whom
I must bow. When Isaiah saw the Lord, how'd
he seem? He saw him high and lifted up.
He saw him sitting on the eternal throne of God, those angels flying
about, crying, holy, holy, holy. Look over there at Isaiah chapter
six. Isaiah sounds a whole lot like
Job in Job chapter 42. Isaiah 6, verse 1. In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and
with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips. How do you know that, Isaiah? For mine eyes have seen the king,
the Lord of hosts. I know who I am because I've
seen Christ. I've seen he's God. Isn't that
what Thomas said? Remember Thomas said, they told
him the Lord had risen and Thomas said, no, he didn't. Thomas had
heard the Lord say, I'm gonna rise again in three days. And
they told him in three days he rose again. Thomas said, no,
he didn't. I won't believe it unless I thrust my hand in his
side, put my finger in those prints in his nail, you know,
nail prints in his hand. And the Lord appeared to him.
And what did Thomas say? My Lord and my God. He saw the
Lord Jesus is God. And if you and I have seen the
Lord, we don't see a baby in a manger. We don't see this hippie,
this talking, this soft, effeminate voice just being so sweet to
everybody he sees. If you've seen the Lord, you
don't see him begging you to do something. If you've seen
the Lord, you've seen the Lord Jesus Christ as God, and your
only response is to bow to Him in humility, just like we'll
see Job do, just like we saw Isaiah do, because now you see
yourself for who you are in the light of who God is in the face
of Jesus Christ. To see the Lord is to see Christ
as deity. Second, to see the Lord, to see
Him in a saving way is to see Christ in His sovereignty. Now we know God's sovereign over
all things. We know there's nothing that
can happen in God's creation that God does not will to happen.
Now we know that, don't we? You know Job knew that too. Throughout
this long conversation Job had with his three so-called friends,
you know what Job said repeatedly? He said, God did this. God did
this. The hand of God hath done this.
Never one time did Job say the devil did it. He always said
the Lord has done it. He knew God's suffering and His
friends knew God's suffering. Now we know that doctrinal truth,
don't we? I promise you, our children know
that doctrinal truth. God's suffering. God's not trying
to do anything. God does His will. God's not
begging us. God does as He pleases and that
means that you and I are in his hand to do with as he pleases
and nobody can question it because he's sovereign. Now we know that
doctrinal truth, don't we? But to see the Lord is to see
Christ as the sovereign. To see Christ as the one who
has the power to save me or damn me and to come to the sovereign
begging him for mercy. Not because he has to, but maybe
he will, because he's the sovereign. Isn't that the leper? Remember
the leper who came to the Lord? He came to the Lord and bowed
down before him and worshiped him before the Lord ever did
anything for him. Before he even asked the Lord
to do anything for him, he worshiped the Lord. And he knew this is
the sovereign, because what did he say? Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. If you will. He's the sovereign. Look at Matthew chapter 8. Here's
a very good illustration of a man who not just believes in the
sovereignty of God, but he came to the Christ who's sovereign.
And there's a difference. Matthew 8 verse 5. And when Jesus
was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching
him and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,
grievously tormented. Jesus saith unto him, I'll come
and heal him. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,
but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For
I'm a man under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this
man, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes.
And to my servant, do this, and he doeth it. Now when Jesus heard
it, he marveled. and said to them that followed,
Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel. Now our Lord said that saving
faith, saving faith recognizes Christ is the sovereign. I'm not worthy of the least of
his mercies. He's the sovereign and I come
to him begging for mercy. You see, it's one thing to know
that God is sovereign. It's one thing to believe in
the sovereignty of God. It's another thing altogether
to know that Christ is sovereign over the saving or damning of
my sinful soul. It's one thing to believe in
the sovereignty of God. It's another thing to believe
in the God who's sovereign and wait on Him to accomplish His
will. That's what Job learned. It's one thing to know the Lord
will provide. It's another thing altogether
to wait on Him to do it, to believe He will do it, to provide for
you when all other earthly forms of provision have been removed,
to wait on Him to provide, in confidence, because you know
He'll do it. That's believing the Lord who will provide. And
after God put Job in the fire of trial, and God spoke to him,
God left him in that fire a pretty good while, and then God spoke
to him, and God taught him, and Job believed a whole lot more
than the sovereignty of God. Job believed in and rested in
the God who is sovereign. That's what he said. Look back
in Job chapter 42. This is what he says, verse one. 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. Now I know, I believe and I rest
in the God who suffered. Third, to see the Lord, to see
Christ in a saving way is to see Christ in his redemptive
glory. Now, almost everybody, there
may be countries in the world, but in this country, almost everybody
knows that a little over 2000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth
died on the cross. Almost everybody knows that.
But now that's not seeing the Lord. Almost everybody knows
Christ died to save sinners. Almost everybody knows that.
But that's not seeing the Lord. To see the Lord is to see that
my only hope of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he lived, he lived for me. He lived as my representative,
doing for me what I could never do for myself. When He died,
He died bearing my sin, bearing the guilt of my sin and putting
away through the blood of His cross. When He was buried, He
was buried for me because the law demands my death. And when
He was raised again, I was raised in Him. My only hope of justification
is that Christ both died and was raised. That's all my hope.
To see the Lord, to see Christ in saving faith is to see, salvation's
not a thing. Salvation's not a state of being
that, you know, we're either in now or maybe we'll be in someday
in glory. To see the Lord is to see salvation
as a person. Oh, and to be in love with that
person, the Lord Jesus Christ is my salvation. Look in Luke
chapter two. Isn't this what Simeon saw? One of the clearest declarations
there is in scripture that salvation is a person is right here. This is when Mary and Joseph
in verse 28, they brought this baby, eight day old baby to be
circumcised in the temple. And then he, Simeon, he took
him up in his arms and he blessed God and said, Lord, now let us
thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation." Simeon saw a whole lot more than an eight-day-old
Jewish baby boy, didn't he? Simeon saw God Almighty in human
flesh. He saw God come as a man, come
to save his people from their sins, come to establish righteousness
for them as their representative. Come to offer the sacrifice that
will ultimately, completely pay for sin. To see Christ in His
redemptive glory is to see, to understand, why did Christ come? He came to save His people from
their sin. He came to redeem His people.
He didn't come to be an example. He didn't come to be a healer.
He came to redeem. To see Christ in His redemptive
glory. is to see, is to understand, why did God have to become a
man? He had to become a man. Why? So he could be the representative
of sinful men. So he could be bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. We need a substitute to come
in our flesh. So God came as a man to be our
representative and substitute for sinful men. To see Christ
in his redemptive glory is to see, to understand, Why did Christ
have to die on the cross? We had to die on the cross. He
couldn't have had his head cut off. He couldn't have been stabbed
through with a spear. He had to die on a cross because
Christ had to die bearing the curse of the law away from his
people. He had to bear it and die the
cursed death of the cross. Why did the Son of God have to
die? He had to die to satisfy justice. Christ died because the Father
made his beloved son to be sin for his people. And the law demands
death for sin. And Christ died as the substitute
for his people. So they'd never die. He died
to take away the sin of his people and make them righteous. And
if he didn't die, there'd be no salvation. Sin could never
be put away any other way than through the death to bear on
the resurrection of Christ. To see Christ in his redemptive
glory, is to see that Christ is not a failure. My friend, if you think that
Christ died to make salvation possible for everyone who would
accept Him, make a decision to invite Him into their heart,
you've not seen the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die for anyone who went to hell anyway. That would make Him a
failure. This is the successful Savior. Christ died for His people. and those people are redeemed.
Their sin is put away. And Paul said in Romans, they're
already glorified. Speaking in past tense, they're
already glorified. That's how sure the salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. To see Christ with saving faith
in his glory, or his redemptive glory, is to see, to believe,
and to rest in that only the Lord Jesus Christ could save
a sinner like me. That's the only way somebody
like me can be saved. It's to see that Christ is all
my hope of salvation. And then last, to see the Lord.
To see the Lord in a saving way is to see Christ as the only
mediator. Look back at Job chapter 42. Job offered, at the end of this
trial, he offered some sacrifices. He offered sacrifices for himself
and for his friends, and he prayed for his friends, and they were
forgiven. And the Lord brought the trial to an end. Look at
verse 10 of Job 42. 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, why was Job's prayer heard
at this time? Because Job came to God through
a mediator. He came to God through the blood
of the sacrifice. He offered these blood sacrifices.
Only Christ had blood that would atone for sin. So Christ is the
only mediator between God and man. He's the only way a sinful
man can ever come to God. And when we see the Lord, you
know what we see? We understand and know beyond
a shadow of a doubt There's a lot of things about God I don't know,
but this I know. The only way I can come to God
is through the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't come in my own self because
God's holy and I'm a sinful man. We only dare come to the Father
through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, God
is so gracious. He's so well pleased with his
son. We don't have to come to God
like a little scared church mouse. You know, afraid God's gonna
just crush us. We come boldly. You know why
we come boldly? Our substitute's already been
crushed. And we come boldly. Look in Hebrews chapter 21. See
if this isn't what God's word says. Hebrews chapter 10. In verse 21. and having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he's faithful
that promised. Let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works. Now, how is it that we
draw near? How is it we're holding fast
the profession of our faith without wavering? Let us draw near Verse
22, with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Just boldly
we come. Boldly we come. Why? Because
of our confidence in the substitute. Because of our confidence in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We come with reverent boldness
if we ever see the Lord. Now I want to give you two more
things about this. When did Job see the Lord? And
what was the result of it? When did Job see the Lord? Job
saw the Lord in a time of severe affliction. We don't want that. There's not
a person in this room that this morning prayed that God sends
you affliction. Not one person. But we see the Lord in time of
severe affliction when all other earthly joys are taken away.
When everything else that we would look to and find pleasure
in and comfort in is taken away, then we'll look to the Lord and
then we'll see him. Job saw the Lord in a time of
loneliness, when his so-called friends were horrible friends,
when his wife didn't have very comforting things to say to him.
When every child Job had was taken away, when there was no
one else to look to, then Job saw the Lord. When he was shut
up to Christ, when he had nowhere else to look, no one else to
look to, then he saw the Lord. And thirdly, Job saw the Lord
when God was pleased to reveal himself. And that's what we pray,
Lord, be pleased to reveal yourself to your people because Job saw
the Lord clearly when God was pleased to reveal himself to
Job. Well, then what was the result of Job seeing the Lord? When we see the Lord, we'll hate
ourself. We'll hate our sin nature. Look
in verse five of Job 42. Job says, I've heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore,
because I've seen the Lord, I abhor myself, and I repent in dust
and ashes. I tell you, the only time we'll
ever repent is if we abhor ourselves. We see the Lord as he is and
we'll abhor ourselves. Then we'll repent. We'll turn
away from everything that there is to do with this flesh and
turn to Christ. Job says, I abhor myself. Now,
we spend a lot of time teaching our children to love themselves. There's a song I remember about
the greatest gift you can give your children is teaching them
to love themselves. We ought not be beating up our
children, telling them how awful they are all the time. They need
self-esteem. We have beautiful, wonderful
children. And they need to have that self-esteem,
some confidence. They can go out and do the things
that they got to do in this world. But this I know, we don't need
to be taught to love ourselves, especially spiritually. We do
not need to be taught to love ourselves. We got that one down.
We love ourselves so much. We think we don't need God's
son, the son that God loves. We love ourselves so much. We just don't think we need that
horrible awful suffering of Christ as our substitute, because we
just love ourselves so much we think we're good enough. What
will take away that hope in this flesh? Not just so that we don't
put any hope in it, but so that we hate it. Seeing the Lord. Oh, if we see Him, then we'll
hate ourselves. We'll hate our sin. We'll hate
those rags of righteousness we've been trying to cover ourselves
with. And we will look to Christ, away from this flesh, and look
to Him as all we need. If we see the Lord, it's not
going to be a cooperative effort between me and Jesus. All my
hope will be put upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's seeing the
Lord. All right, I hope that'll bless
you.