Thank you, Brother Don. Thank
you, Gene. I was very blessed by that message. I'm grateful to have heard that. This morning I'd like to try
to speak to you from a text in the book of Job. If you would
turn with me there in your Bibles to Job chapter 42. Job chapter
42. I bring you greetings from your
brethren in Florida. some of which are here with us,
and I'm so glad to see them. I've titled this message, The
Confession of a Broken Man. The Confession of a Broken Man. And I'm somewhat encouraged in
that Brother Don, I think, had ten points last night, and Gene
had at least that many this morning. I have six points to my message. And you'll find them in the first
six verses of Job 42. The confession of a broken man,
verse 1, is that he pours out his soul in prayer to God. The confession of a broken man,
verse 2, is that he confesses that the Lord is absolutely sovereign. The confession of a broken man,
verse 3, is that he readily and willingly confesses his own ignorance. Verse 4, the confession of a
broken man is that he commits his ways unto the Lord. Verse 5, the confession of a
broken man is that he has learned by experience the difference
between knowing about God and knowing God. And verse 6, the
confession of a broken man is that he loathes himself. Now, Job's confession is every
believer's confession. David said in Psalm 51 verse
17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and
contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. A broken heart is a gift from
God. David goes on in verse 10 to
say, create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit
within me." Can you ask the Lord with me this morning to give
to you a true broken heart? In Psalm 34 verse 18, the Scriptures
makes it clear that there's no salvation apart from having a
broken heart, The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken
heart, and saveth such as have a contrite spirit." If we're
going to be saved, if we're going to be right with God, He's going
to have to give to us a broken heart. Now, Job had a broken
heart in our text. We're going to see that. The
Lord had done a work of grace in his heart and brought him
to this place of brokenness. My question this morning is,
what is it that brought Job to this place of brokenness? Was
it the spoiling of his possessions? Was it The Scripture says that
he had sores and boils from the crown of his head to the sole
of his feet, which in other places of God's Word is a description
of leprosy. Was it that physical malady that
brought him to this place of brokenness? Was it the loss of his children
that brought him to this place of brokenness? Was it the accusations
of his miserable comforters, his friends, that kept telling
him, Job, you're hiding something. If you just get your life right,
God will take His hand off of you. We often quote verses from the
beginning of the book of Job, and then we quote them from here
at the end, but sometimes we fail to understand the message
of the book of Job. The message of the book of Job
is that Job's friends put him under the law. They put him under
the law. But the thing about it is, having
him being put under the law didn't break him. It didn't break him. The loss of his children did
not break him. The law never broke anybody.
The law never broke anybody. When the Scripture speaks of
the law being our schoolmaster that takes us to Christ, it doesn't
mean that we preach the law in order that they could be broken
by the law and then therefore come to Christ. No. It means
that we declare the law in its inability to save. The law can't
save you. You know, the law is like an
abusive husband. You wake up first thing in the
morning, you wipe the sleep out of your eyes and you look to
see that there's a man sitting already dressed in perfect order
there in your bedroom and the first words out of his mouth
as soon as you gain consciousness is, you're ugly. And then as the day progresses,
he continues to criticize you. He continues to beat you and
he says to you every day, one of these days I'm going to kill
you. Now if a woman came to me and
explained to me that her husband was that way, I would counsel
her to get away from him. And yet I found by experience
that there are as many women that were raised under those
circumstances and they turn right around and marry a man that treats
them the same way. Why would they do that? Why would
they do that? It's because it's predictable.
It's because it's something that they know what to expect. And there's no fear of the unknown. You know, that's the same reason
men stay under the law. It's predictable. It's the only
thing I've ever known. I know what to expect. The law doesn't save and the
law doesn't break a man's heart. It didn't work here, it won't work now, it won't work
with you, and it won't work with me. Say, how do you know that
these things didn't break Job's heart? Well, listen to Job's
words in chapter 23, verse 4. If I could find God, I would
order my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. If I could just find out where
God is, I would prove to Him with sound arguments that I'm
not worthy of this. He said to God, he said, let
me be weighed in the balance that God might know mine integrity. Now, does that sound like a broken
man? My righteousness I hold fast, and I will not let go. My heart shall not reproach me
as long as I live. Job was responding to the accusations
of the law with self-justification and defense. He was saying to
his friends, no, no, I'm not guilty. And now we find in chapter
42 that he's broken. What broke Job? The horrible
calamities that he experienced in his life didn't break him.
And they won't break you and they won't break me. I've watched
men slip off into eternity with their fists clenched towards
heaven, hatred in their heart towards God. No amount of difficulties,
no amount of circumstances will give to you a broken heart. In chapter 32, a man by the name
of Elihu, who has been listening to the conversations between
Job and his friends. He says, I was younger than you
all, and I waited to speak to see if perhaps you would have
an answer. And it has become clear to me
that you don't. And so Elihu, from chapter 32
to chapter 37, preaches the gospel. He's the one in a thousand, as
he claims, who brought deliverance from Job from going down into
the pit. He's the one who declared to
Job, I have found you a ransom. He's the one who enabled Job
to understand. that yes, there is a daisman
betwixt you and God. One who is able to place his
hand on God without being destroyed and place his other hand on man
without being defiled. He presents to him the Lord Jesus
Christ. And as soon as he finished speaking,
God begins to speak. Isn't that the way it always
is? That's our prayer this morning. That's our prayer every time
the gospel is preached. Our hope is that men won't just
hear the voice of the preacher, but that God will speak. And
in chapter 38-41, the Lord Himself begins to speak to Job. And He
speaks out of a whirlwind. And He says to Job, Who is this
that darkens counsel without knowledge? Job, brace yourself
like a man, I'm going to ask you a few questions now. And
God begins to interrogate Job. And he asked him rhetorical questions,
questions that obviously had an answer to them. A rhetorical
question, in fact, is not a question at all. It's a statement put
in the form of a question for emphasis, and chapters 38, 39,
40, and 41 are God's interrogation of Job with those sort of questions. Now Job's heard the gospel. Now
Job's heard about his daysmen. Now Job's been delivered out
of the pit, and now Job's heard the voice of God. He hadn't just
heard the accusations of the law. He's heard the very voice
of God. And Job is now broken. The only thing that will break
your heart and my heart is that the Lord opens our ears to hear
the gospel. To understand who the Lord Jesus
Christ is and what He's done on behalf of sinners. To understand
that we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
Righteous One. One who, as you've already heard,
has bore in His body all the sins of all of God's people and
had the very sword of God's justice sheathed into His own heart in
order to satisfy divine justice and put away the wrath of God
once and for all. That's what breaks the believer's
heart. It's the goodness of God that
leadeth to repentance. No trouble. No hardship. Oh, the Lord may use those things
in order to sit us down that we can hear the gospel, but it
is the hearing of the gospel and the voice of God Himself
that breaks the heart and brings us to this place that brother
Job was at. Say, how do you know if your
heart has been broken? Can you peer into the secrets
of a man's heart and know what's there? Is there anything that
will reveal the true condition of a man's heart? Well, the Lord
said there was. He said that it's not that which
goeth into the mouth that defileth a man, but that which cometh
out of his heart. Those things that proceed out
of the mouth come forth from the heart. That's why I've titled
this message, The Confessions of a Broken Heart. This is the
testimony of everyone of whom God has broken their heart. You listen to what a person says,
and you'll find out what's in their heart. The Lord said that
a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit. And a good tree cannot
bring forth bad fruit. The fruit of our lips is to confess
what it is we believe. Job chapter 42. Verse 1, Then Job answered the
Lord. The first evidence of a broken
heart is that a broken heart pours out its soul in prayer
to God. A broken heart doesn't just express
its need to another man, it goes directly to the throne of grace
with boldness. It goes boldly before the throne
of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in its time
of need. A broken heart knows that there's
no man that can help him. The preacher can't help me. My
husband can't help me. My wife can't help me. Only the
Lord can deliver me from this trouble. And if the Lord ever
puts the trouble of sin on you through the preaching of the
gospel, you know you'll have a burden that you can't carry.
You can't carry. You know, there's always a sliver
of hope when it comes to our circumstances that this is going
to get better. I can fix this. I like what one
brother said, if a problem that you have can be fixed with time
or with money, it's not a problem. It's not a problem. The problem of sin cannot be
fixed with time nor money. And if the Lord ever makes you
to be a sinner, you'll find yourself pleading for His mercy before
the throne of grace. You'll repeat the words of that dear
Syrophoenician woman when the Lord called her a dog and you'll
say, Truth, Lord. You'll find yourself on your
knees like that publican in the temple, smiting yourself upon
your breast, and not so much as even looking up and saying,
crying to God, have mercy upon me, the sinner. You'll find yourself with that
father who had a child possessed of a demon. who came before the Lord and
said, O Lord, help thou mine unbelief. Lord, help me. Help me. Prayer is as natural
to the life of a broken heart as breathing is to the life of
our bodies. The first evidence that Job had
been broken is that he answers the Lord. David said, unto thee
will I cry, O Lord my rock, be not silent to me. A broken heart doesn't just think
about prayer. It doesn't just talk about prayer.
It goes into his closet and it breaks itself open before the
God of glory and cries for mercy. It knows something of what the
Lord spoke of when He spoke of the Holy Spirit making utterances that cannot be mentioned. Have you found yourself just,
oh Lord, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. Abba, Father, have mercy upon
me. Nebuchadnezzar had a broken heart. And at the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned unto
me. And I blessed the Most High, and I said, All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. For He hath done according to
His will with all the armies of the heavens and all the inhabitants
of the earth, and no man can stay his hand or say unto Him,
What doest Thou? Nebuchadnezzar goes on to say,
those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. Job heard the gospel. Not just from Elihu, but from
the very voice of God. Job found himself answering the
Lord. And look at verse 2. I know that thou canst do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee. I don't know much. I'm here to
confess to you, I don't know anything for sure. First and
foremost with myself, I don't know what to expect from me.
I don't know what to expect from the circumstances of my life.
I don't know what to expect from the world in which we live. I
don't know what to expect for sure, not for sure from you. I don't know much, but I know.
I know, as Job said, that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall
stand in the last day upon the earth. I know that all things
work together for good for them that love God and those that
are called according to His purpose. I know that Jesus Christ, you
remember when Philip was talking to that Ethiopian? And he said,
the Ethiopian said, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And
Philip said, if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. Yeah, I used to have trouble
with that, but I don't anymore. Because the one thing that I
believe with all my heart is that Jesus is the Son of God. I don't believe anything else
for sure. I mean, I don't know anything else for sure, but I
know that's true. He's convinced me of it. He's
convinced me that He's put away the wrath of God. Romans chapter
7, the first few verses of that chapter speak to that illustration
I gave earlier about the abusive husband. He said, we're dead
to that husband. If you're found in Christ, you're
dead to that husband. You're married to another. Oh, don't you love the story of Boaz
and Ruth and Naomi? Ruth comes to Naomi and tells
her everything that Boaz had said. Do you remember what Naomi
said? She said, daughter, you sit right
here. For I can assure you that that
man will not rest until he has finished the thing. Naomi was an older woman. She
knew what a man in love looked like. She knew that Boaz loved Ruth. And what Boaz do as a kinsman
redeemer, as the husband of this Moabitist woman. He said, there
is a kinsman nearer to you than me. And he's got to be reckoned
with first. And so Boaz took ten of the elders
of the city and met in the city gate and got that kinsman together
and he said, Naomi's back from Moab and her property needs to
be redeemed and if you're going to redeem her, redeem her. And
the kinsman said, okay, I'll do that. I'm the nearest kinsman.
I'll do it. And then Boaz said, by the way,
the day in which you redeem Naomi, you also have to take Ruth, that
Moabitess. Oh, wait a minute. No. No, I
can't do that. I can't have a Moabitess in my
household. She'll destroy my inheritance. I'd have to lower my standard.
So Boaz redeemed her. Oh, what a glorious picture of
Christ. Reckoning with the law. The ten
elders in the city gate. And though the law was not able
to redeem, He did. He did. And Job said, I know that my
Redeemer liveth. Oh, there are some things that
we know, isn't there? We know that He's sovereign.
We know that He has the sovereign right to choose according to
His own will and purpose before the foundation of the world those
that He would save. We know that He can have mercy
upon whom He can have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.
We know that He's the potter and we're the clay. And He has
the right to make out of the same lump of clay, some vessels
of honor, some of dishonor. That's the confession of a broken
heart. I know that my God is sovereign
in providence, and I know that He's sovereign in salvation.
He's sovereign. He reigns. And notice, I think
Gene made mention of this in the previous hour, look at the
last part of verse 2. No thought can be withholden
from Him. Now in the margin of my Bible
it says, no thought of thine can be hindered. You know, when
you and I think, We are pondering, we are considering, we are weighing
our options, we are trying to decide what the best thing is
to do, we are reacting to our circumstances. That's the process
that we have when we think, isn't it? And some thoughts are good
and some thoughts are followed up on and other thoughts are
not. You know, God's never done that. There's not a vain thought
that God's ever had. And there is absolutely no difference
between His thoughts and His actions. What the Father thought in election,
The Son fought in redemption, and the Holy Spirit fought in
regeneration, so that what God fought, Christ wrought, and the
Spirit of God brought. No thought of thine can be withholden.
If God thinks it, it's done. How He's not like us. Aren't
you glad? Aren't you glad He's not like us? He's sovereign. And the broken heart gladly and
readily confesses that. Look at verse 3 quickly. 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 Job is just repeating what
God said in chapter 38 verse 2. Who is this that darkens counsel
without knowledge? You know what Job's doing here?
He's taking sides with God against himself. He's agreeing with God. Lord, I didn't know what I was
talking about. I was such a foolish man. I spoke
things I didn't understand. I blasphemed you by calling into
question your right to do for me whatever you will. I had fashioned
in the imagination of my own darkened heart an idol. And I didn't know what I was
talking about. I didn't know what I was talking about. The
third thing that a broken heart does is it confesses its ignorance
and its idolatry. We have a billboard in our city. Big black billboard with white
lettering on it, huge lettering. It says, Jesus is, and then there's
a line with a period. You fill in the blank. He'll
be whatever you want Him to be. And so that's what men do. They
make Him to be what they want Him to be. And what's Job saying? Lord, I didn't understand. I
didn't understand the complaints that I uttered. I didn't understand
who you were. Now, I don't know when Job was
converted. I think a very strong argument
can be made that it's here. You read some of the things he
said in the middle part of this book, and it's horrendous. They
are not the words of a believer. Fourthly, verse 4, Here I beseech
thee, and I will speak. I will demand of thee. Now, it's unfortunate that words
change their meaning over time. And the word demand here doesn't
mean what it means to us. In the old English, it meant
to inquire. It's not to make a demand. And
so if you want, just you can change that word to inquire.
I will inquire of thee and thou will answer me. Now what Job's
doing here as a man with a broken heart is that he's committing
his ways unto the Lord. Job's saying, Lord, if you'll
just speak, I want to know what your will is. How many times? Have you gone
before God? And you've pretended to want
to know His will in a situation only so you could evaluate it
and then decide whether or not you were going to do it. You'll
never know God's will under those circumstances, and that is not
the spirit of a broken heart. A broken heart is the spirit
of Samuel, who said, Speak, Lord, for Thy servant listeneth. A broken heart is the spirit
of Isaiah, who after seeing the Lord high and lifted up, cried,
Woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. And
the Lord goes on to say, Who shall we send? And Isaiah, Lord,
here am I, send me. And then what does the Lord say?
This is the message you've got to tell. Oh Lord, I didn't know it was
going to be that. How long, Lord? How long? Until the cities be
wasted without inhabitants and the land be utterly desolate.
And Isaiah was faithful preacher of the Gospel in spite of the
fact that Israel wouldn't hear. Why? Because God had given him
a broken heart. He didn't say, hear my sin me. No, he said as we heard last
night, it's all in. I love that illustration. It's all in. Lord, what would
You have me to do? What would You have me to be? Lord, just reveal Your will and purpose to me.
That's what He's saying in verse 4. Here I beseech Thee, and I
will speak, I will inquire of Thee, and Thou declare it unto
me. Lord, if You'll just show me.
Just show me. That's the spirit of a broken
heart. Verse 5, I have heard of thee
by the hearing of my ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee.
A broken heart knows by experience the difference between knowing
about God and knowing God. Paul said in Romans chapter 7,
they have a zeal for God, but it is without knowledge. They're
ignorant of the righteousness of God. They're ignorant of the
fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth, and so they're going about trying
to establish their own righteousness. A broken heart is not satisfied
with Bible knowledge. It's not satisfied with understanding
some doctrine. He wants to know God. The Lord
Jesus Christ said in John chapter 7, this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. Oh Lord, would You make my relationship
with You experiential? Not just intellectual? Knowledge
puffeth up. It's love that edifieth. Now,
if our experience is inconsistent with the revelation of truth,
then get rid of that experience. But if God's been pleased to
make Himself known, we'll say with brother Job, I had heard
of thee with the hearing of mine ear, but now my eyes have seen
thee. We'll cry as Paul the Apostle
did at the end of his life. Oh, to be found in Him. Not having
my own righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. He said, I've not yet
apprehended that which has apprehended me. Oh, that I might know Him
and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering,
the pursuit of His life. I press towards the mark for
the prize of the high calling. What's the mark? It's to know
God. is to know Him. Only as He gives us a broken
heart will we come before His throne of grace. Sixthly and finally, broken heart
loathes itself. Now, I know what the philosophers
of this world say. They say, well, you know, you
all need to have a better self-esteem. Truth is, the only way to stand
before men without fear is to stand before God in fear
and trembling. The only way. When God makes you to be... Now,
turn back with me quickly to... to Job chapter 40. Job chapter
40. Now God's already began speaking
in chapter 38 and 39. Job's hearing the voice of God.
And in chapter 40, look at verse 2. What does Job say? Job speaks. Behold! You know what that word
behold means? It means, I've never seen this
before. An amazing truth has just been
made real to me. I didn't know it. I was justifying myself before. I said, I'll hold on to my righteousness
till my death. Let God take me before His counsel.
I'll prove to Him my innocence. Now what does He say? Behold,
I am vile. And what does he say in our text? Wherefore, I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from this body of death? Every time God speaks,
the first words... You see, Job's experience of
having a broken heart began with, I am vile, and ended with, I
abhor myself. It begins and ends with total
depravity, and we never get away from that. In me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. To will is present with me, but
how to perform it, I find not. Lord, I've got this body of death
I'm carrying around with me. What am I going to do?" Turn
to Ezekiel 36 and I'll close. Daniel said, after having seen
the Lord, My comeliness has been turned into corruption. Has your
comeliness been turned into corruption? Has God caused you to know that
everything about you is sinful? Look at chapter 36 of Ezekiel. And you can begin reading in
25, but for the sake of time, let's just skip down to verse
31. Then shall you remember your
ways, after I show mercy upon you, after I show you what I've
accomplished on your behalf in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 36 of Ezekiel, verse 31. Then shall you remember your
own ways and your doings that were... Now, do you see in your
Bible that the verb were is in italics. I'm glad the King James
does that. When they add words to the text,
they at least put them in italics to let us know that they were
added by the translators. And most of the time, those words
don't need to be there. In this case, it doesn't just
scratch it out. It doesn't belong there. The prophet's not saying when
the Lord shows mercy upon you, you're going to reflect upon
the way you used to be and you're going to loathe yourself for
those iniquities. I know there's people that talk
about Romans chapter 7 as if Paul's speaking of his life before
conversion. That's not my experience. So what does the prophet say?
Then you shall remember your own ways and your doings that
are not good and shall loathe yourself in your own sight and
your iniquities and for your abominations. Judge yourself, as I've asked
God to enable me to do, judge yourself by the confessions of
a broken man. Has God given to you a broken
heart? Is Brother Job's experience your
experience? If it's not, will you ask the
Lord to make it your experience? It's the only hope of salvation
we have. There's no salvation apart from having a broken heart.