Turn again to the passage we
read to Job 13. In chapters 12, 13,
and 14, Job is answering these words of Zophar. And in the midst of his answer, He writes this from chapter 13,
verse 13. Hold your peace. Let me alone
that I may speak, and let come on me what will. Wherefore do
I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in mine hand? Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him. But I will maintain mine
own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation. though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him. I noticed in coming to this passage
that I preached on this same text in September 2018, seven
years ago to the month. So it seems timely perfect timing
that we're brought to return here, seven years later, on the
seventh day of this month, to return to Job's tremendous cry
of faith, and God is saviour. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him. What an answer he has here, to
his accusers, to the so-called friends and comforters who come
unto him to speak their wisdom unto him, but ultimately can
find nothing to say unto Job other than accusations. You've sinned, Job, or your children
have sinned, Job. Oh, that God would come down
and speak unto you, Job, and condemn you. Did he show you
what wickedness is in you, Job? It's all your fault, Job. So far as we saw in chapter 11,
wanted God to speak. Oh, that God would speak and open his lips against thee. Zophar wanted the Lord to speak,
but not in mercy, not graciously, and not against Zophar. Zophar
simply wanted the Lord to speak against Job. You see, the natural man doesn't
want to hear God for himself. Zophar's prayer wasn't that the
Lord would speak under him. We know by nature that we deserve
judgment. We know by nature what we are. We know the reality of our own
wickedness. And though we may wag the finger
at our fellow man and try to point to others and deflect attention
from ourselves unto the fault of others, and though we're swift
to judge our brother and our sister and our fellow man, we
don't want to hear God speak in judgment of us. because ultimately we know what
we are and we know that he would find us wanting. Zophar wanted
God to speak and open his lips against Job. Naturally, we don't want to hear
God speak. Indeed, ultimately man by nature
has tried to silence God. We try to run from His Word. We try to run from the Gospel. We shut our ears to it. We'd
rather be anywhere else but sat, hearing the Word of God preached. We try to avoid God. We try to
avoid the thought of Him by nature. And ultimately, In time at the
cross, mankind as a whole took up God in the person of Jesus
Christ. They took up the Son of God and
cried out, crucify him, crucify him, away with this man. We shall not have him to reign
over us. And mankind as a whole took the
Son of God and nailed Him to a tree and pierced Him through
and crucified Him and thought that by so doing they could silence
God. They could end this speech that
made them uncomfortable. How many heard the words of Christ
in His days upon this earth and turned away and said, this is
a hard saying. and turned away offended and
cast him out. How many were ready to stone
him? How many were ready to put him
to death? How they thought that by silencing
Christ, by crucifying the Son of God, they could silence God
and escape judgment. Is that ultimately what you do
in your heart? When you shut your ears to the
gospel, when you turn aside, when you consider other things,
do you think that God's out of sight? Do you think that his
speech is beyond hearing? Do you think that he's been silenced?
When in your heart you've rebelled against him, do you think that
you will escape his judgment? Man never did silence God. at
the cross when Christ was nailed to the tree. God spake at his loudest unto
all the ends of the earth. Even in the darkness of those
three hours upon the cross, even in the silence God in Christ spake at his loudest. He gave his only begotten Son
for sinners, even for some of those on that
day that nailed him to the tree. Brute soldiers took him and mocked
him and arrayed him in purple garments and they put a crown
of thorns upon his head and they beat him, they whipped him, they
scorned him, they laughed at him. And yet when he hung, we
read that one of the centurions looked on and said, surely this
was the son of God. Surely this is a righteous man. And God had mercy upon him. The thieves railed against him
who were crucified with him. And God turned the heart of one
to say, we die justly for our iniquity, but this man has done
nothing amiss. And Christ said unto him today,
ye will be with me in paradise. The chief priests derided and
mocked him and scorned him. And yet of their company we read
that Saul one day met with Christ on the Damascus road. And Christ
cried out unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And delivered him from his sin. Is that the cross? Even in the
darkness, God spake the loudest unto a world that rejected him,
that pierced the Son of God, that nailed him to the tree.
In Hebrews 12, 24, we read that we are come to Jesus, the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh
better things than that of Abel. Cain made an offering unto the
Lord of his works. Abel, in faith, offered a lamb,
looking beyond the type and the figure, unto the Lamb of God
to come, in whom he trusted, that God would save him. in spite
of all his sin and rebellion, not through any works that he
did, but by God's work in Christ his
Son. And yet Cain, in jealousy, rose
up against his brother Abel and slew him, and shed his blood
And Abel's spilt blood cries out, cries out throughout the
generations that God was merciful to Abel and not to Cain. But there's another blood, the
blood of sprinkling, the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed
when we nailed him to the tree with our sin and our rebellion.
that cries out throughout all time, better things than that
of Abel, everlasting salvation, that it is finished, that salvation
is accomplished, that the sins of all God's people have been
blotted out. Oh, yes, it speaks. Zophar said,
Oh, that God would speak. Well he did, and he has. He spoke through Job unto Zophar,
not just in Job's words, but in Job's suffering. When Zophar
and his two other friends came to see Job, and first approached
unto him they found him in such a state that they could not utter
a word for seven days and seven nights they sat in silence in
awe. Zophar had seen He'd seen in
Job a picture of Christ. He'd seen Job's sufferings and
God had spoken unto him through them. God spake and said, consider
my servant Job, consider my servant Jesus Christ, my son in whom
I am well pleased. God spake in Christ's blood. He's spaking the one offering
for sin. He's spoken. But could Zophar
see? Have you seen? Can you see? Well, from chapter 12, Job begins
to answer Zophar. And in his answers, We see a
glimpse once more of the cross, of God's silent speech in the
darkness at the cross, of the silent cries of Christ's faith
in the midst of the darkness, in the midst of his great suffering. We see a glimpse of this. Job
answered and said, no doubt, But ye are the people, and wisdom
shall die with you. For I have understanding as well
as you. I am not inferior to you. Yea,
who knoweth not such things as these? I am as one mocked of
his neighbor, who calleth upon God and the answereth him. The
just upright man is laughed to scorn. The answer is his friends. I
know what you are saying. You come unto me with your understanding,
which is just natural understanding. I know these things. I know that
we are sinners. I know that if I sin, then God
is just to condemn me. I know that he could turn his
hand against me. I know what you're saying, but
there's no wisdom in what you're saying. I also know that he's
brought this upon me and not upon you. There's more to this, but I also
know that God is just to do what he likes with me, but I won't
turn from trusting him. He goes on to speak of God's
power, his wisdom, how God can raise up princes and cast them
down, how he is sovereign over all. He removeth away the speech
of the trusty and take away the understanding of the aged. He
poureth contempt upon princes, and weakneth the strength of
the mighty. He discovereth deep things out
of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them. He enlargeth
the nations, and straighteneth them again. He taketh away the
heart of the chief of the people of the earth and causeth them
to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. They grope in
the dark without light and he maketh them to stagger like a
drunken man. God is sovereign. He rules over
all. Job knew this. God can do what
he likes with us. We're just mortal creatures in
his hands. We're rebellious sinners. Lo, mine eye hath seen all this,
mine ear hath heard and understood it. What ye know, the same do
I know also. I'm not inferior unto you. Surely
I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. Don't you know that I love God? Encourage me to go and pray unto
Him and repent unto Him and maybe He will answer. I am calling
unto God. I know He can do what He will
with me. But you just find fault in me. You're forgers of lies. Ye are
all physicians of no value. Oh that ye would altogether hold
your peace and it should be your wisdom. Twice over he pleads with them
to hold their peace. And what wisdom there is in this! How we should all learn to hold
our peace. Especially before our Brethren.
How swift we are to give our own point of view. To give our
own wisdom. To wag a finger. To raise up
in judgement over others. Better to hold our peace. Hear
now my reasoning. and hearken to the pleadings
of my lips. Will ye speak wickedly for God
and talk deceitfully for him? Will ye accept his person? Will
ye contend for God? Is it good that ye should search
out? Or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? He will surely
reprove you if ye do secretly accept persons. Shall not his
excellency make you afraid and his dread fall upon you? Shan't
we be silent before a holy God? Your remembrances are like unto
ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. Hold your peace. Let me alone that I may speak,
and let come on me what will. Wherefore do I take my flesh
in my teeth and put my life in mine hand, though he slay me? Yet will I trust in him. But
I will maintain mine own ways before him, he also. shall be
my salvation though he slay me yet will i trust in him oh what
words to be able to utter what a place to be brought to this
is not a natural strength that lies behind this
Naturally we will not trust God if he slays us. Our natural inclination
towards God and towards others is that if others strike us we
want to strike back, we defend ourselves, we justify ourselves. And yet the Lord has so brought
Job to this place that he can say in faith, though he slay
me, Yet will I trust in Him. Yet will I trust in Him. And through this we see Christ's
own heart, His own faith upon the cross. When Christ was taken
and nailed to the tree, in faith in effect he said in fulfillment
of job's words though he slain me yet will i trust in him though he slain me yet will i
trust in him because firstly these are job's own words uttered
in the depths of his own suffering but they're pictures of Christ.
What a place Job was brought that he could be brought there. And looking by faith to his Saviour,
he knew that even if God slew him, God could save him. Even if God put him to death,
He had no Saviour and no hope but God, and God would be his
salvation. He also shall be my salvation. We see this faith with others
in the Scriptures. By faith Abraham took his son
Isaac and offered him up unto the Lord, knowing that God could
raise him from the dead, knowing that he would, knowing he would. By faith, Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall I see be called, accounting that God
was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also
he received him in a figure. Though he slay me, though my
son be slain, yet will I trust him. He will raise him up. Yes, Job, in such suffering,
in a place that we can but imagine, was given faith to trust that
God would still save him, even if he took his life away. Even
if this sickness that he was suffering was unto death, he
knew God was his saviour. And he looked through his suffering
unto the Son of God who would come, unto the coming Messiah,
unto his Saviour, who he knew would offer himself for sinners. Yes, these words are a picture
of Christ's words, of his faith, of his trust in God. when he
was slain, when he was offered. What trust Christ had in the
darkness, when he was made sin, when he bore the sins of all
his people, when God the Father forsook him and poured down his wrath upon
him, and took the sword of justice and plunged it into his own son. How Christ in the darkness, suffering
God's eternal wrath against sin, ultimately crying out, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Even there he trusted in
God, though he slay me. when he was being slain, when
he was being crucified, when he bore the sins of his people,
when he was made sin, when he drank the cup of God's wrath,
when he felt the fires of God's fury, when he was drowned in
the ocean of God's storms of judgment, he cries out, though
he slay me, Yet will I trust in Him. And all around him, all he heard
like Job heard, were the voices of those that accused him. Hold
your peace, Job says twice over. because all he could hear in
the midst of his suffering were these accusations from these
three friends. They come unto him and accuse
him, and Zophar says, Oh, that God would speak against thee. Oh, hold your peace, Job says. Hold your peace. leave me alone
that I may speak and come on me what will leave me in peace oh if we would but hold our peace do we come to Christ in the gospel
do we come as it were to the cross and gather around the cross
like the people did at the time? Do we pass by and wag the finger
and accuse? Do we deride and mock with our
apathy and our unbelief? Are we like these free comforters
of Job who derided and mocked and said, it's all your own fault,
Job. Oh let God condemn you! Do we come by Christ upon the
cross and utter those accusations like their people did and mock
him and scorn him? Or has God made us silent and caused us to just look on?
Oh that God would silence us. When all the world raged and
scorned and mocked and had their voice against Christ, He was
silent before His accusers. He was brought in that mock trial
before they led Him away to be crucified and they accused Him
of this and they accused Him of that and they asked Him this
and they asked Him that and He answered them not a word. He
was silent. As Isaiah writes in chapter 53,
he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shearers is done, so he opened if not his mouth. They all had
their say, and he held his peace. O that we might do the same,
that we might by God be brought to hold our peace and behold
the Lamb of God, to see Him, to behold Him as He hung in the
place of sinners, to see His love for sinners, to see His
sacrifice, His mercy. to see him when he by faith uttered
silently as it were in the darkness, though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Are we like Job's friends, full
of our own opinions? We know, do we? We know. We know right from wrong, do
we? We have greater wisdom than God, do we? We have an answer
for Christ, do we? We have an answer to the gospel.
We can set it at nought, can we? We can silence God, can we? Are we like Job's friends? Are
we like those who railed on Christ at the cross? Full of our own opinions. We read in Mark 15, 29, there
were three groups that spake unto Christ at the cross, like
these three friends of Job's. We read, they that pass by railed
on him, wagging their heads and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself and
come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests
mocked and said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel
descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they
that were crucified with him reviled him. Free groups, those
that pass by, save thyself. The scribes, the chief priests,
saved others himself he cannot save let him save himself the thieves crucified with him
save thyself read likewise in luke's gospel
similar account luke 23 we read from verse 34 then said jesus
father forgive them for they know not what they do. And they
parted his raiment and cast lots, and the people stood beholding.
And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked
him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou
be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself
and us. Free accusations. Save thyself. Is that our heart's attitude
to Christ? In our unbelief do we say, If
he's God, if he's true, show me, show me that I may believe. But at the cross he didn't save
himself, he gave himself, he died. So they mocked him and
they scorned him and to the eyes of wicked men they saw weakness
Because in their eyes a powerful saviour would save himself and
would demonstrate in power who he was. So we say he cannot be
God, because he died. And yet in his death, God's speech
under fallen man is at its greatest. He gave himself to save others. If he'd saved himself we'd all
be lost, we'd all be damned, we'd all die in our sins. But
Christ remained silent in the face of their accusations and
gave himself that he might save sinners such as you and I. though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Though all he heard were these
accusations, though all men had abandoned him, though all had
accused him, though they all to a man pierced him with their
sin and their unbelief, though we all put him to death, though
we all hated him, he loved his own. and gave himself for them. He trusted his God and his Saviour. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. These were Job's words. They were Christ's words in spirit. Are they your words? Has God given you faith that,
no matter what comes, you believe Him, you trust Him? To whom else shall we go? Thou
hast the words of eternal life, Peter said. We know, we believe
that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. To whom
else shall we go? We trust you. Has God given you
faith to trust in the depths of suffering, in the hardest
of trials, when trials come your way, to trust Him? By nature, how easily we are
knocked down, how weak we are in the flesh, how swift we are
to complain. But has God given you His faith? that does that which is not natural,
but in the midst of the fires trusts it. You see, our faith
can't save us. Our trust can't save us. But
the one in whom we trust does. The one who himself said, Go,
he slay me, yet will I trust in him. He also shall be our
salvation. The greatest hour this world
has seen, the hour of salvation, the hours upon the cross, were
also its darkest. And the darkest hours this world
has ever seen were also the greatest. What light shone in the darkness
upon the cross. We may look at the darkness around
us. We may as believers look in ourselves
at the darkness in our own flesh. We may bemoan our own sin, our
own unbelief. We may bemoan our own doubts,
our own fears. We may see the darkness around. We may feel the darkness within. But in the darkness upon the
cross, God wrought salvation. He was on His throne. He was
bringing about the salvation of His people. And no matter
how dark an hour we may be brought into, as Job was, God does all
things well. He's on his throne, just as he
was when his own son was crucified, was slain, was offered up, was
slain by our sins, our unbelief, our hatred. When we pierced him
with our own unbelief, when we pierced him with our hatred,
when you did, Did we, did you, think that by crucifying Christ,
that by shutting your ears to the gospel, that you could silence
God and escape his judgment? Mankind never did silence God. He never did. At the cross, in
the darkness, God speaks at his loudest. Christ by faith shouts
out from the cross, throughout time, into eternity, unto you,
unto me, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. He also shall be my salvation. Oh, has God brought you to him,
to the cross? Has he shown you the faith of
Christ? Has he shown you his love? Did
he love you and give himself for you? Did he love you and
give himself for you? Though he slay me, Yet will I
trust him. Amen.