Go back to Job chapter 9. Job learned. He learned that
by experience after he went through all this. I titled the message, Who Am I to Contend with God? Just keep that in mind. As time
and life goes by, who am I to contend with the Almighty? What
do I know? What do I know? I have forgotten
most of what I've known. Somebody was talking to me about
something, some mathematical stuff that I learned in school.
I said, I don't remember that. I can't remember that anymore.
What are you talking about? I have forgotten so much. What do I
know? As we have seen, Job has been
justified himself before his friends who have charged things
against him that were not so. They accuse him of being a hypocrite or that he must have done something
to have caused this great trial. His children, his ten children
must have done something for God to kill him. And Job's had to deal with that. But Job never tries to justify
himself before God. He knows what he is. He knows that he's still full
of sin. And that no man can contend with
the Almighty. You and I can contend with each
other. And I might try to justify myself
before you if someone charges me something. That's not so.
But you know, before God, I know what I am. I know what I am. He says in verse 11, Lo, he goeth by me. Here's how perceptive
we are. He goes by me, and I see Him
not. Did you recognize God going by
you today? Did you stop today and recognize
that the Lord's hand was in anything? Did you recognize it? Job says,
He goes by me, and I see Him not. He passes on also, but I
perceive Him not. God does all things, yet we perceive Him not in all
things. We ought to. We ought to sing
that song in the rustling of the grass. When the wind blows through the
trees, do we perceive God's hand in that? We should be, of all people,
we should be so perceptive. We should be so in tune and keen
to God's hand in absolutely everything. Not just the big things, not
just a tsunami or earthquake or a tornado, but I mean in absolutely
everything. Everything that moves, everything
that has an existence, everything that happens, God's hand is in
it. We'll see this toward the end. I'm not going to go through
all of this tonight. I don't have enough time. But we'll see
this. We cannot grasp God's counsel,
can we? Can we grasp such a counsel of
wisdom, infinite wisdom? We cannot perceive His motions,
His acts in all things. Nor can we comprehend His ways.
He said, My ways are higher than your ways. This is why He gives
no account of any of His matters. If He did, you and I would not
understand. You're like someone trying to
explain Greek to me. It's Greek. I would not understand
it. His ways are higher than our
ways, and His thoughts are far above our thoughts. God does
nothing in the way we think He ought to do it. I can look back in life, and
I can look back over certain situations, and this is the way
I think it ought to be done, and it goes kaput. I thought,
man, I thought that was what I should have done, or that's
the way to do it. We have no concept of how far
God's way is and His thoughts are above us. No concept. Now, that being said, me being
that ignorant, a tough word, isn't it? Tough word. We don't like to be thought of
as being ignorant at all. I don't. I don't like somebody
to call me ignorant. But in comparison to the knowledge of God and the
vision of God, I am an ignorant fool. I am so ignorant. And that being so, who am I to
sit in judgment of what God is doing? What are you doing? You ever
have anybody say that? You ever say that to your kids? What are
you doing? And I've said it. I've said it. I've said it before
God. What's going on? What are you
doing? But I realize, and Job realizes
this, if he told me, I wouldn't understand. Just trust me. You just trust me. I know what
I'm doing. The judge of the earth will what? Do right. He will do right. And now Job
recognizes God's indisputable sovereignty in all things. Behold, give attention to this. He taketh away. You know, when
when Job lost all that he lost there in that first chapter,
those first two chapters, Did he ever blame Satan? Did he ever say Satan took this
away? He said God taketh away. He said the Lord giveth and the
Lord taketh. He didn't say. He recognized the first calls
of everything happened to him. God. God's hand is in it. God
took it away. He takes away. Who can hinder
him? Who can stop him? Who will say
to him, what doest thou? What are you doing? Does God
not have the right to take away as He sees fit? Does He not have
that right? Does He not have that wisdom?
Cannot He take away without answering to me? Absolutely. He can take away my health and
not give me a reason why. I tell you what, if He takes
away my health, He won't give me a reason why. He'll take it. He can take away my comfort.
He has the right to remove my health. He has the right to remove
my comfort. He has the right to remove all
my friends. He has the sovereign right to
remove all my family. Everything that I own belongs
to Him. Doesn't it? Takes us a while
to learn that, doesn't it? You know, we believe that when
a person is born of God, that person believes the gospel. That
person has been enlightened. But it takes time to roll by
that you experience what you believe. And you come to realize
that everything I have, He's given to me. What do you have,
Paul said, that you didn't receive? And if you received it, then
don't brag about it as though you'd come up with it. Daniel 4.35, And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? All the prophets, all the old
saints recognize God's sovereignty in all things. His indisputable
sovereignty. And I'm glad He is. I'm glad
God is sovereign. Everything God does is right.
Everything He does is good. Everything He does is with infinite
wisdom. Could anyone be any better? No. Has not the potter power over
the clay? Do you parents not have power
over your children? Does God not have the same right? Isn't
it amazing, isn't it amazing that we send men and women into
war to fight for our rights? That they die, that you and I
may have the right to choose what we want to choose, to live
where we want to live, work where we want to work, and at the same
time we deny God the same right. Turn around and deny God Almighty
the same right we fight and die for. Well, we can deny it. Men can deny it all they want.
It's not going to do anything. It's not going to change because
He's God. He's the Sovereign. And who can
hinder Him? Who can turn Him away? Who can
say, hither shalt thou come and no further? Who can do that? Absolutely no one. God is God. Not only does Job recognize God's
indisputable sovereignty, but he recognizes God's irresistible
power. Verse 13, if God will not withdraw
his anger, if, if, there's a big word for us, if God will not
withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. No one can resist him if God
will not withdraw his anger. Here's the display of God's mercy
over all His works. He does withdraw His anger or
the human race would be wiped out. Wars would not cease. And all the proud helpers come
together against God. What can they do? If He will
not withdraw His anger, He will absolutely crush them. I'll crush
him like a moth. And then Job recognizes. He recognizes. He turns inward now. And he recognizes
his own inability before God. How much less shall I answer?
He puts himself even beneath all then. How much less shall
I answer him? and choose out my words to reason
with him. Job knew himself. What do I know? And think about
this. What do I know about what God's
doing? What do I know? I know some things. We know that. We know some things
through the Word of God, through the Gospel. We know some things,
but we don't know We don't know the whole picture. I used to run a business up in
Huntington for a man, and one of the things he would tell me,
you need to see the big picture. You need to see the big picture. I would be given to maybe this
little detail or something like that, but you need to see the
big picture. There's so much. The secret things
of the Lord belong to the Lord. The revealed things belong to
us and our children. How much is there yet for us to know after
this life's over with? It's going to astound us. It'll be astounding. Now, seeing
as I don't know why God does what He does in everything, in all things
that are going on in this world, this country right now, I don't
know. I don't have, I don't, I'll be
honest, I don't have a clue as to why, as far as the details
go. I know what the end result's going to be. I know the whole
church is going to be with the Lord and He's going to be glorified
by all His people. But what went on today, out there
in the world, and you saw, if you watch the news, I don't know.
I know His purpose being done, I know that. Now, if I don't know, then how
can I contend with Him over His dealings with me? How can I argue
with Him? How can I contend with God? How much less shall I answer
Him and choose out my words to reason with? I don't even want
words to use. I really don't even want questions
to ask. I know the questions that I would ask would be the
wrong ones. I assure you, because it'd all be self-motivated. It'd
all be self-motivated. And then verses 15 through 19,
Job sees his own weakness and sinfulness. He knows that he
by himself cannot stand before God. How much less shall I answer
him and choose not my words to reason with him? Whom though
I were righteous, yet I would not answer him." You know, God's
greater than my heart. He knows and sees sins that I
don't see. And Job recognizes this. He recognizes
his sinfulness. If I were righteous, he said,
though I were righteous, I would not use that as a means, as the
grounds of contending with God. I wouldn't do that. Now, why
would Job not do that? Because he's being taught of
God. My righteousness, our righteousness are filthy rags. Well, Job, how are you going
to handle this? But I would make supplication
to my judge. I would not use my righteousness
to contend with God, but I would sue for mercy. I would seek His
mercy. If I had called and He answered
me, yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice.
I've read a lot of things today. This, and I tell you, the book
of Job is a very difficult book for me. All the books are difficult
for me, Job is a tough book because you're trying to enter into this
man and his experience and what he's going through and the pain
and what's the inner workings of his mind. This is a child of God. But he says, if I had called
and he answered me, yet would I not believe that he had hearkened
to my voice? You know, my pain, whether this
is Whether this is hitting a mark or not, I really don't know,
but it's something that the way I take it, and I understand it
this way. My pain and my trouble keeps
me from believing that God is hearing my prayer. You ever been
there? My trouble keeps me from believing
that God is listening to me. David said one time, is the Lord
clean gone? The heavens are like brass. Has your pain and suffering
ever kept you from believing that God actually still hears
your prayer? That's how painful this thing
was for Job. And if He hears me, and if God is hearing my
prayer, why am I thus? For He says in verse 17, listen
to verse 16 along with it. If I had called and He had answered
me, Yet would I not believe that he had hearkened my voice, for
he breaks me with a tempest." It doesn't get any better. Have
you ever prayed and it just gets worse? It doesn't get any better. If God is listening to me, if
God is hearing my prayer, then why am I thus? where he breaks
me with the tempest. I ask for mercy. And I keep getting
in trouble. I ask for help, and I keep sinking. One of the things I want us to
see here, and this to me has been a blessing to me, is how
that Job is allowed to speak his mind before God. You might as well. He knows your
mind anyway. What, you think you're hiding it? Do it reverently. Now listen to me. Do it reverently. Respectfully. And sometimes Job goes over the
line, but I assure you, we will too. But speak your mind. Speak your mind. So often in
prayer, we try to sound real spiritual. But I'll tell you
this, when it hurts, that's when we sound real. What we're getting here is a
real experience of a child of God under great pain. And he's
speaking his mind. I like it when someone speaks
their mind. As long as it's respectful, they speak their mind. And he says here, for he breaks
me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds. He didn't just shoot
me one time. He didn't just take one shot
at me, but he just shoot me time after time, arrow after arrow,
hitting the mark. He's multiplying my wounds without
a cause. Now, listen, God does not do
anything, especially with his children. without a cause. See, that's crossing the line.
But I think he may be saying this. This is something that
just struck me while I was reading this. When he's saying here,
he multiplies my wounds without a cause, it may be that Job is
saying, I don't know why God, or I don't know the cause, of
why God is doing this to me. I don't know. Look over in chapter 10. Let me see if I can find it.
In verse 15, if I be wicked, woe unto me. If I be righteous,
yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion. He's sitting there, scraping
those sores, and I can just see his head in his hand, and he's
saying, I'm just so full of confusion. Just so full of it. I don't know. He says, I don't
know what's going on here. I don't know. I know this. You friends are wrong. I'm not
a hypocrite. I believe God. And no, I didn't
do something so tragic that done this. I mean, like I said, you
can pick a day and pick a sin and God could deal with us over
it. We know why the sword never left
David's house, don't we? His adultery with Bathsheba?
The killing of Uriah? We know that. David knew that
till the time he died he knew why God dealt with him. But Job
was saying, I just don't know. Think it not strange, Paul, I
think it's Peter said, think it not strange when fiery trials
come upon you to try you. Think it not strange. Job didn't
do something that caused this to happen. Satan said, Let me
at him. I can prove to you, like I did
the first time, he'll fall. I can take him down just like
I did the first one. Let me at him. And God let him. And Job never cursed God to his
face, did he? Never did. But for whatever reason,
whatever reason, Job needed that trial. One of the reasons is
you and I needed to see it in the Word of God. We need to learn
from it. Then Job needed it for himself. Then it was need it
be for God's glory. You know, the scripture tells
us over there, I believe it's in also in Peter, that if need be,
you come into temptation, trials, if need be. I thought of, I thought of a
title for a message while I was sitting up here a while ago.
I wrote it down. If need be, you will be. If need be, you will be. If I need to go through a certain
thing, if I need to, I will. God will put me through it. If
I need to lose a certain thing, I will. If need be, I will be. And that's why God put Job through
this, because it was needful. It was needful for him and for
us and for the glory of Christ. Now, let me see if I can find
my place. Verse 18, He will not suffer me to take my breath.
He won't let up. But you know, in all the suffering
that Job went through in this great trial, it still wasn't
anything compared to the suffering of our Lord. However painful, whatever I go
through, however painful it may be, remember this, is there any
sorrow like unto my sorrow? all ye that pass by. No matter how painful of the
things that I go through, none of them are comparable in any
way, shape, or form to the pain and the sorrow that the Lord
Jesus Christ went through to redeem me, to redeem my soul. Even Job here with what we have
here. He will not suffer me to take
my breath But he fills me with bitterness.
Trials taste bitter. I've never had a trial that tasted
sweet. I've never had a chastening that
was sweet. He says, instead of filling me
with joy, he fills me with bitterness. He feels the pain of it, but
I tell you what, he also fights that inward sin. that makes you
bitter. You fight bitterness. You know,
you fight it. You have to fight it because
it rises up in you. You don't know how attached we
are to these things until it's time to lose them. But God will not, he's saying
this, God will not let up on me. Job didn't think he'd ever
see, he did not think he'd ever see a good day. He didn't believe
he'd ever see, I remember my grandfather, When he passed away,
he said, I cannot remember the last time I had a good day. Can't remember. Job, here's what I think is happening,
and I liken this to something I experienced one time. Job is
spiritually disoriented right now. He's been hit. He's been hit. He's been hit
so hard that he can't get himself together. He's staggered. He's
staggered like someone in a boxing match. Years ago, when I was just a
little more stupid than I am now, I boxed. And I boxed in
Moundville State Prison. I went up there with a team.
We boxed. I boxed a prisoner up there. That guy, I'm not making
this up, he was chiseled out of stone. And I found out he'd
had a hundred fights. And I failed it, too. I failed
every one of them. He brought every one of them to the ring.
And we were in that ring fighting. And one time he hit me. I mean
he hit me and it was just a flashing light. I could see nothing. Everything
was just bright. I saw the bright light they talked
about. It was nothing but a bright light. And next thing I know
the ref has given me a standing eight count. I'm getting a standing
eight count. I was so disoriented. I was just,
I was staggered. I mean, I was just like, he knocked
the daylights out of me. It felt like, and I'm just, I'm
just telling you the experience of it. It felt like a truck hit
me and I didn't see it coming. Job didn't see this coming. He
didn't see this coming. Those are the toughest ones.
You don't see them coming and all of a sudden you're just,
you're just waylaid. And right now what we are seeing is this.
Job is spiritually disoriented. He's been hit so hard. I understand
that. From that little experience there,
I understand what it is to be hit so hard that you don't know
where you're at. He said, now, if I speak of strength,
lo, he's strong. If I don't poke out my chest,
that ain't going to help because God, he said, he's strong, he's
power. God is sheer, raw power. He is the embodiment of absolute
power. I cannot take on God. Who am
I to contend with Him? And if I'm going to talk of judgment, like I'm going to take Him to
court? One of the translations was this. You going to summon me to court?
You're going to summon God to court over the way he's dealing
with you? Is that what you're going to do? Job said, if I speak
of strength, I speak of taking him on, he's strong. And if I'm
going to talk of judgment, if I'm going to talk of summoning
him to court, who's going to set me a time to plead? I cannot dispute with God. Who
do I think I am? If I justify myself, if I take
Him to court, if I summons God to court, and I stand in court,
and I try to justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me.
What I had to say will, you know, the Scripture says, by your own
words you shall be condemned, by your own words you shall be
justified. Now, if I take God to court over His dealings, every
word that comes out of my mouth is going to condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, that will
prove perverse, won't it? We can prove that perverse that
fast. And God can prove it even faster. Job knew enough about God and
himself not to justify his own righteousness. He said, my mouth
will prove me wrong. Though I were perfect, let me
move on. I'm going to take too long here. Though I were perfect,
I wouldn't know my own soul. God knows it. God knows my soul. He knows it far more than I know
it. He said, I would despise my life.
Well, that's a good place to be brought to. He that hates
his life, shall find it. But Job was saying, if I believed
that I was perfectly innocent, I would not use my perfection
as a means to plead with God. Well, Job, what grounds would
you plead on? The same grounds that David did in Psalm 51-1. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender
mercies. Blot out my transgressions. That's the way you want to deal
with God. That's the way we do it. Let
me close. This is one thing, therefore,
I said it right. I said this. Job said, I agree. I meant this. I said this. God
destroys the perfect and the wicked. I said it, and I'm going
to stick to it. If the scourge slays suddenly,
he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given
to the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of the judges
thereof. That's why there's so much injustice.
God's allowed it. You say, now hold on, you're
going too, too far with that. Well, if not, then Job says,
where and who is it? Then you tell me who. You tell
me who's running this, though, if that's not so. Ecclesiastes 2.14. The wise man's
eyes are in his head. but the fool walks in darkness.
And I myself perceive also that one event happens to every one
of them, happens to them all. Please, yes, these nine too.
All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous
and to the wicked, to the good and to the clean and to the unclean,
to him that sacrifices and to him that sacrifices not. As is
the good, so is the sinner. And he that swears is he that
swears as he that sweareth He that fears the Lord. There's
one thing that happens to them all, the righteous and the unrighteous. They all die. We all grow old. And some of
us don't even grow old. Some don't grow old. But we all
die. All suffer. There's no one who
goes through this life that does not suffer. All suffer. No one escapes it. No one's going
to escape death. No one's going to escape suffering.
The wicked, for the most part, have the riches of this world.
Who's the richest in this world? Who are the men that seem to
have all the riches in this world? It's not those who believe God.
I don't see them on television. I don't see them as the ones
who have. No. I know men that are very
rich. I've known men over the years.
Especially being in business, I've had to deal with some. and
are very rich. And there's a few that come to
mind. Now believe me, you wonder how
God hasn't struck them dead. That's amazing to me, God hasn't
struck them dead. But He doesn't. He doesn't. They even get more rich. They
just seem like they can't quit getting rich. Remember how David was envious
at the wicked? He said, there's no bands in
her death. They're prosperous and her kids are happy. There's
so much injustice in this world. And you know what Job does here?
He doesn't blame Satan. Though Satan is a god of this
ungodly world. Job recognizes He's recognizing,
and I tell you what, we cannot plumb the depth of what he's
saying right here. He's recognizing that God's hand is in all of
this, one way or another. He's allowing it. The whole world lies in wickedness
from top to bottom. And for what reasons, if you
know him to God, he's allowing it. He allows the wicked to prosper. He allows injustice. He allows
it for a time and for a purpose. Job said, I said it. You're right.
I said it. I said he destroys it perfectly. They both die.
That's what he means. They both die. And as the scourge slays suddenly, you know, You take that tsunami
that came through and just killed all those thousands of people.
You think it was all wicked? I mean, you think it was all?
There's some people in there, I'm sure, that died and went
to be with the Lord. I'm not going to try to get into
this, you know, he lasts at the trial of the innocent, but I
do know this. If I die in a storm, a believer, if I die in a storm,
God's not upset over that. He just brought me home. He just
brought me home. He used that means as a means
to take me out of this world and bring me into His presence.
Now, I don't know if all that fits right here, but I understand
that. I understand that. And I understand He allows judges
to sit on the bench and be unjust. And whatever He's done with them,
He'll judge them. He's not the cause of their injustice,
but He allows it to be so. Here's what I say in closing.
Let us not find ourselves contending with God, pulling Him into question,
drawing Him like like you would someone in court. Answer to me
why you're doing this. No, he's not. He's not going
to do that. But let us bow before God. Let us be still and know that
he is God. Let us submit to his sovereign
rule over all things. Trust his wisdom. And let us trust. and know that in Jesus Christ,
and that's why you sang that song at the end of this, fit
it perfect. I wrote this down. We know that
in Christ it is well with our soul. I can't contend, I don't know
why, why. That's all the why's in the world. But I know this. I know that my Father, my Heavenly
Father, is infinitely wise, infinitely good, and everything absolutely
to the temperature of every day is for me. It's for my good. And it's for His glory. And that
in His Son, Jesus Christ, it is well with my soul.