In the book of Job, we read the
account of a man, an upright man who served God. But Satan,
the accuser of God's people, came before God and said that
Job merely served God for what he would get. That because Job
was rich and had many things and much family, that it was
easy for him to serve God. But should God take those things
away from Job? Should God put him through the
fire of trial? Then Job, Satan said, would curse
God and would die and would show what he was truly like. So God
allows Satan to take these things from Job and to bring Job through
trials that few could take in order to display the majesty
of God's grace in his servant. In order to show that those whom
he saves by grace, that though they are sinners like all others
by nature, Nevertheless, because of God's hand upon them, His
work of grace in them, ultimately serve God not for what they will
get from God, not because of the reward that they will get
for their works of self-righteousness, but they serve God out of love
for Him because of His great love and grace that He has shown
to them. They serve God for who He is and not for what He will
give them. The book of Job shows us the
calamity into which he's brought and the way in which his so-called
friends effectively accuse him of bringing this trouble upon
his own head. They reason with him, they judge
him. They look upon him as a sinner
that's brought upon his head the judgment of God. Job justifies
himself before them. We have these accounts of these
discussions and this reasoning until near the end, a young man
called Elihu comes along and rebukes these friends and rebukes
Job and declares the gospel. And in the end, God speaks unto
Job and we see the end of all these things, how the whole account
displays that God's dealings with man are not according to
his works, but according to his grace. And in chapter 42, Job
answers the Lord and says, I know that thou canst do everything,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered, and
I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not. Here
I beseech thee and I will speak, I will demand of thee and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee, wherefore
I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And this book has been a great
comfort to believers over the years in that it shows us that
many trials and sufferings that come our way not simply the result
of our own failings but more often they are those trials that
God will bring his people through in order to display the wonders
of his grace. That they stand not in their
own strength but in his. that their wisdom is not their
own natural wisdom but His that their righteousness is not of
their own working but God's righteousness in Christ that they are the work
of grace So in this book as we've seen
Job is tried, he has lost all his sons and their families are
slain. His goods, his sheep, his cattle
are destroyed. And he is left sat with a body
full of illness, boils and disgusting things brought upon his body.
he's tried in every way outside and even physically in himself
and his wife tempts him she says curse God and die look where
you are and his friends are no friends for they accuse him and
tell him that he's brought this state upon himself yet God is
using this to bring Job to see God as he truly is and to show
to all that Job's serving of God is the product of grace. not
for what he should get. Job is tried in the fire. God
strips him of all in order to prove, to demonstrate, to display
to all the work of his graceness, man, to show us that Job in himself
is nothing, no more than any other. But that, as Job says,
the root of the matter is in him. The reality, the root of
God's sowing, a seed of grace in his heart, the root of the
matter is in him because God put it there. So tried and accused
and cast down, Job in the end. having been encouraged by the
words of a messenger sent unto him called Elihu who reminds
him of the gospel and God's ways of grace and hearing the rebuke
of his Lord himself not to dwell in self-pity but to know that
he is nothing before God and God is all and all comes from
God's hand Job in the end says I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear but now mine eyes seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself and repent in dust and ashes. I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear but now mine eyes seeth thee. There's
more than one kind of hearing and more than one kind of seeing. and more than one kind of understanding
and more than one kind of wisdom. Earthly sight, earthly hearing,
earthly knowledge, earthly wisdom, earthly understanding gets us
nowhere. It's that wisdom, that knowledge,
that understanding that led Job's friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar
to judge him and accuse him when Job knew that the cause of these
calamities that came his way lay outside of himself. Yet their
wisdom said, you've wrought it, Job. You're a greater sinner
than we are. We dwell here without such trouble. Our lives, our health intact
because God is pleased with us. But you, Job, have been so judged
and attacked because you must, you must have done some great
deed of evil. What is it, Job? What do you
conceal from us? The fault lies in you, Job. That's
their wisdom, that's their understanding. They knew nothing. They thought
God's blessing could be earned. That the chastising hand of God
was always simply a result of sin. Well, sin does bring judgment. Sin brings death. But when God
sets his grace upon his people, the chastisement that comes their
way is not his judgment of sin and not the death that comes
by sin. For God's people's sins have
been answered and their sin has been put away by the blood of
their Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ died for
his people, when Christ came into the world to save sinners,
he didn't do part of the job for them to perfect the rest.
He didn't take simply their past sins away, for them to then live
righteously and for Him to judge them and chastise them for every
failing that they display in their life. But He came to save
His people from their sins. When He died for His own, He
washed them from all their sins, past, present and future. Therefore the chastising hand
of God upon Job and upon any of his people is not a judgement
of their sin but a chastising in order to turn them away from
the things of this world that they should have no confidence
in the flesh but every confidence in Christ alone for salvation.
and he chastises them in order to display his grace as wrought
in their heart that they stand alone in Christ by grace and
that all else is but dross upon the gold which will be burnt
away in the fire. Have you been there? Are you
there? Is that where you are this day? Can you listen to the account
of Job and see some encouragement and say I know something of that
suffering and what hope there is that these pathways through
which I am brought are actually for my good. that as with Job,
whose latter end was better than his former, maybe God has a wonderful
purpose in these things. He's not out to destroy me, but
He is my Saviour, who will bring me safely through to the end.
By what wisdom do you judge the events of this life? The wisdom of man, or the wisdom
of God? Do you look upon them in the
light of the law, justice and judgment, or in the light of
the gospel and its grace? I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee. You may have heard
of God, you may know there's a God, you may know that you
by nature are a sinner, You may know there comes a day of reckoning. You may know that God will judge
us for our sins. You may have heard his gospel. But have you heard simply by
the natural ear? Or has God opened your ears to
hear by faith? And has he opened your eyes to
see him by faith? or is all with the natural understanding. Whilst you remain in the flesh
grasping these things with the natural wisdom and intellect
with which you were born they are just words, just a persuasion
and when you're put in the fire like Job you will not stand. But if you like Job have had
put in your heart the root of the matter, the work of God by
grace, then when you're brought into the worst of straits, when
tragedy comes your way, when bereavement, when poverty, when
ruin, when your reputation is mocked and scorned, when your
health is taken away when you're diagnosed with heart disease
or cancer or some such tragic illness and everything seems
desperate if you have the root of the matter in your heart then
you will rise up above these things and you will be able to
say with Job I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know. I heard of Him once with the
hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes have been opened. I once
was blind, but now I see, and I know that God will bring me
safely into His presence one day. I will stand before Him. and all the frailty of my flesh
will be brushed aside and all the trials and the difficulties
I know now will be gone in a moment they are nothing but He is all
He is my Lord and my God in me in my flesh there dwells no good
thing I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes but I rejoice
in God my Saviour. Oh what a difference there is
between the language of God's children who know His grace and
the language of the world and even of those who profess Christ's
name who have simply heard with the hearing of the ear but who
have never seen Him by faith. This is the great contrast we
see in this book between Job's words and those of Eliphaz and
his friends. They viewed everything with the
wisdom of man. They fought in terms of works. If you live like this God will
bless you. If you live like that, God will
judge you. They viewed everything in respect
of works and of God, rewarding our works and condemning our
failure. But Job is brought to think in
terms of grace. In the end, he knew there was
no good in him. and that anything he received
from God he received by grace. All was freely given and all
could be freely taken away and God was just to give and just
to take away. Job deserved nothing and he knew
he deserved nothing and he knew he had no complaint if God took
all his earthly goods away. when the calamity comes upon
him in chapter 1 of Job. All his cattle, all his sheep
are destroyed, his sons are slain and he hears about this all in
one day. We read that Job arose, rent
his mantle, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and
worshipped and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and
naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor
charged God foolishly. The Lord gave and the Lord have
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What a place to be. When trouble
comes your way, when things don't go as you'd wish, when terrible
news is brought to you, do you fall upon your face before God
and worship and say, blessed be the name of the Lord. Or do you cry out in desperation,
in frustration, in anger, in sorrow? Why has this come about? Why me? What have I done? It's not fair. so easy for the
natural heart to respond in such a way to become bitter and angry
and to find people to blame when trouble comes it's their fault
or his fault or in the end we shake our fist and ultimately
fight against God and blame God but Job didn't because the root
of the matter was in him The Lord gave, the Lord have taken
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. What a contrast between how he
responds and his thinking mentality here to the works which motivate
the thinking of his three friends who view all things in terms
of you do and God will bless. What a contrast, and it's this
great contrast between man's idea of works to gain God's merit,
or failure to work to gain his wrath, between that and God's
grace. Job chapter nine, somewhere in
the middle of these accounts, and these responses from his
friends, Job answers them and says I know it is so of a truth
I know I'm a sinner by nature I know I'm nothing but how should
man be just with God how should man be just with God if as you
say my sin will bring upon me judgment and if as you think
good deeds will bring about God's blessing then how will I be just
with God for in me I know there's no good thing. If we must work to win God's
favour then we are lost because there is not one man upon the
face of this earth who can do one work to earn God's favour. That's what they didn't understand
and that's what the vast majority of mankind by nature, you and
I included, don't understand. We think we can earn God's favour. We think there are good things,
good works, good deeds, good thoughts that we can perform
with which God is pleased. We know we do wrong and we know
that God could be displeased with those wrongs but we think
that on the other side we can do much good and we look upon
God as weighing these things in the balance and putting our
bad deeds on one side of the balance and our good deeds on
the other and as long as we have more good deeds in the other
side of the balance then God will save us, God will bless
us. But Job knew that all his deeds
were on one side of the balance. They were all wicked. Then how
should man be just with God when there's nothing good in him? Is it by works? No. If it were, then we would all
be lost. then if God is to save any, if
any is to stand before God just, righteous, innocent, without
guilt, then it is and it must be by grace. God must take their
sin and take it away. He must judge it himself, judge
it in another, another must pay the price that they should pay.
That people must be ransomed, ransomed from the grave. They're
held captive by their sin. Their sin has wrought a penalty. It has broken the law of God. It has brought down the penalty
of God against them. There is a price over their heads. And if they're to be set free
from the judgment which they have earned, if they're to be
set free, then a price must be paid to redeem them, to ransom
them from the grave. And praise God that price has
been paid for his people. Because he sent one to take their
sins away. He sent one to pay the price.
He sent one to pay the ransom. He sent his only son. A man without
sin. Both God and man. innocent and
pure and perfect to die, to die in the place of Job, to take
the sins of Job upon himself, to be slain in Job's stead, to
answer for all Job's debts and transgressions, to take them
all away, to wash him clean. Christ shed his blood for this
man Job and because he shed his blood he made him just. How shall
man, how should man be just with God? By grace. Freely by grace. The wonderful
thing we see here with Job is that Job knew that all that he
did could not earn God's blessing and all that Job did in God's
service he did not to earn God's blessing but because God loved
him and blessed him and he loved God he loved God for who he is
and he loved God for what God did for him He loved God freely
because the root of the matter was in him. And God saved him
by his grace. Satan wanted to show that Job
served God for what he could get. But God undid Satan and showed
that he did not. The Lord said unto Satan in chapter
1, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God and is sure of evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast thou not made an
hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he
have on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he have, and he
will curse thee to thy face. Satan's accusation was Job served
God because God had blessed him. It was easy to serve a God that
blesses you. So the Lord responds unto Satan,
Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. And he upon himself
put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord and struck Job. He took away his family,
he took away his goods. And he went on to take away his
health. And Job's response? Did he curse
God as Satan accused that he would? He will curse thee to
thy face, Job's response. The Lord gave, the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He fell upon his face and worshipped because Job's understanding,
Job's wisdom, Job's life was not the natural wisdom, the natural
understanding, the natural life of his friends, who lived by
works and served God for what they'd get. But he was perfect
and upright, not by nature, but because God put within him the
root of the matter. He was a trophy of grace. there's one kind of hearing which
leads us nowhere one kind of knowledge which leads us to accuse
and to condemn but there is another kind of
hearing and another kind of knowledge which leads us out of this world
out of sin and to the foot of the cross where we bow down and
say of Christ I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ear but
now mine eyes seeth thee and in the light of thee and how
glorious and holy and perfect and majestic thou art I abhor
myself and I repent in dust and ashes because by nature both
Job and us are full of sin there is nothing perfect and upright
in us by nature but in Christ if we are washed
by his blood we are perfect but knowing that we look upon ourselves
in our flesh and abhor ourselves in dust and ashes Job had a different heart to
his friends and a different cry in his heart. He longed to be
with God, he longed to know God. He cries out in chapter 23, O that
I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his
seat. Where is God? How might I come
before him? Oh that I knew where to find
him. Unlike his friends he longed
to hear to know in a way which is past natural understanding. Can you hear the words? Can you
hear his cry? Is that the cry of your heart? You may hear the words of the
scriptures. You may hear the words of the
gospel. But is it with the natural understanding? Do you ever really hear? Do you ever really see? You can
know the facts, but do you ever really know God? You can know
of Him, but do you really know how you might find Him? You want to come to Him, you
want to know Him, but you cry out, Oh that I knew where I might
find Him, where is He? You need to be where he is. You
need to see him by faith. We need another kind of hearing,
another kind of sight to the natural sight. That's what Job
needed. He could look back and say that
there's a time in my life when I heard, but I never heard. There's
a time in my life when I thought I saw, but I never saw. But when
God gives faith, there's a difference. Job needed faith and you and
I need faith to hear, to see. We'll never get there whilst
we're full and rich in this world. God's ways are to break a people,
to strip them down, to bring them to the end of themselves,
to cause them to cry out for his help and his mercy. Job was stripped of all. Job
was broken. But outwardly, though his friends
accused him of being a great sinner, outwardly he was more
righteous than they. He was perfect and upright, a
bit like Saul. Saul was as touching the law,
blameless outwardly. He was moral and upright. But
inwardly, when the law came to Saul, to Paul, he discovered
that it slew him within. And Job knew that whatever he
might be like outwardly, that in him, in his flesh, there was
no good thing. For Job to see his Redeemer by
faith, and to know Him, He must be shown what He is by nature. He must be brought this way and
so must we for God to show us Himself. We must be stripped
of all. And God uses Job as an example. He uses him to show to us that
Job's faith, Job's understanding was not based on what God did
for him. but his faith transcended outward
circumstances. Though stripped of all natural
blessings, Job still remained faithful to the God that loved
him. Job cries out in chapter 13,
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Though he slay me, yet will
I trust him. He is God. He's right, he's just,
he's glorious. He does no wrong. He heard of him by the hearing
of the ear. But now his eyes saw him. His
eyes saw him in a way that the natural eyes cannot see. He saw
him by faith. And that faith comes one way. by the hearing of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the work of God. It comes by the gospel and when
the counsel of Job's friends is brought to an end, there is
a young man, a messenger sent to Job called Elihu, who stands
up and rebukes those men. But he also rebukes Job for much
of what Job has said in his suffering because Job sought to defend
himself from their accusations rather than to defend his God
and his grace. And Elihu reminds Job and reminds
us of the Gospel and of God's ways. He preaches the Gospel
to him. He preaches the Gospel He shows
how God sends a messenger to his people, how he brings them
down, and how he points them to Christ. In chapter 33, Elihu
says, Yea, his soul draweth nearer, near unto the grave, and his
life to the destroyers. He's brought down low this man
with whom God will deal And if there be a messenger with him,
an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness,
if God then sends his gospel by a messenger to that man, then,
33, 24, then God is gracious unto him. And saith, deliver
him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. I found a ransom. He sends a
messenger with his gospel to one in such a state who knows
he's nothing and says, fear not, I found a ransom. One has paid
the price. One has washed your sins away. Job hears the gospel here and
there's a hearing of the gospel, not in word only, but by faith. whereas 1 Thessalonians 1 5 tells
us that our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in
power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance there is a
hearing of the gospel in word only as Job said I've heard of
thee with the hearing of the ear but I didn't understand But
when the Gospel comes in power, in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance,
it transforms, it puts faith in the heart, it delivers, delivers
from the captivity in which we're sold. Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom, a ransom. It's a lie who appears here much
as a figure of Christ with his gospel, a preacher of the gospel. He hears the cries of the legalists
against Job, he rebukes them. He hears Job's complaints and
self-justification. He shows Job that there's no
good in him. He reminds him, he reminds him
that it's all of grace. he reminds him of the power of
the gospel in delivering God's people from the pit because God
has found a ransom Job then hears the rebuke of
his Lord and having heard he sees things as they are again
now mine eyes see of thee and I abhor myself and repent in
dust and ashes what an effect what an effect the gospel brings
you'll never bring a man to that state by natural reason you may
persuade people of many things you may use emotion and reason
to persuade of many things but no one will abhor themselves
and repent in dust and ashes until God breaks them and until
God brings them to see Christ their Saviour, all glorious,
all perfect and wonderful, one who took their sins upon himself,
one who shed his blood in death, one who washed them clean, when
we see him as he is when we see ourselves as we are in contrast
we see what a difference there is between the natural understanding
and the heavenly we see God as he truly is and we see ourselves
in the light of how God is what a contrast how great he is As
small, weak, sinful and wretched we are, how shall man be just
with God? How should he? How can he? When we are so weak and foolish
by his gospel. by the power of the gospel that
shows us what we are, that causes us to repent, to turn from what
we were, to turn from our natural understanding, our natural hearing,
our natural sight, to turn from our thinking and to turn to the
God of all grace. To turn to Him whose purposes
are always to show mercy. To turn to Him whose purpose
with Job was from the beginning to show mercy. However hard the
journey that Job went through was, God in the end prospered
him more than at the latter. He loved him. He loved him by
grace. He loved to show unto Job mercy. And he loves his people. He has
a people chosen before the foundation of the world, a people for whom
he sent Christ into this world to save, a people for whom Christ
died, for whom he suffered, a people for whom Christ shed his blood,
a people who will hear his gospel, a people who he washes in that
blood and whom he wraps his loving arms around and causes them to
see, a people who cry out in the end. I have heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Is that you? Have you seen? Has
God's love by the blood of Christ been applied to you? Has he taken
you and led you this way and brought you to his cross? Can
you say with Job, I have heard of thee by the hearing of the
ear, but now mine eyes seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes. Amen.