I invite you to turn back in
your Bibles this morning to Job chapter 1. I invite you to look this morning
at verse 22. In verse 22, I hope this morning
that you listen carefully to the reading of this chapter because
what we read in this chapter has a great deal of bearing on
what we find here in verse 22. I'll be speaking this morning
on this subject in all this. In all this. And it says in verse
22, in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. In all this Job sinned not, nor
charged God foolishly. Now I want to begin this morning
by reminding you that no child of God is exempt from trials
and difficulties in this world. We read over in the book of 1
Peter chapter 4 and verse 12, it said, Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as
though some strange thing Happened unto you think it not strange
Or think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you as though some strange thing Happens unto you beloved. It's not a strange thing to find
the family of God in test and in trial, and under the afflictive
hand of their God. It's not a strange thing. God's
people, the Bible says, in John 16.33, these are the words of
our Lord Himself. He said, in the world you shall
have trouble. In the world you will have tribulation. As sparks fly upward is the testimony
of the scripture, man is born into trouble. So don't think
it to be a strange thing when we read a chapter like the first
chapter of the book of Job and find one who is under chastening
and under trial and under test such as Job found himself. Well,
of what value are trials to a believer? of what value are these trials
such as Job had to a child of God? Why are they necessary?
Well, let me give you some reasons why the people of God are tried,
why they're tested, why they have to go through all this in
this world. Well, in the first place, I believe
that trials are to test our faith. It's to test our faith. Is the
faith that we profess to have, is it a God-given faith? Is it
a faith that was begotten in us by the regenerating and converting
power of the Holy Spirit? Is it a genuine faith? Is it a head faith or is it a
heart faith? Is it a true faith that we have? A true faith that God has given
us? Now, life's troubles, they tend to bring out the authenticity
of our faith or else they uncover in us a false faith. They uncover in us a faith which
is just intellectual. It's a faith which we just picked
up somewhere or another. Maybe our mother or grandmother
wasted off on us, but it will uncover. Trials will test your
faith to see whether or not it's of God or whether or not it is
a false faith. Now trials, and I've told you
this before, but I want to mention it again this morning, trials
do not make us what we are, they just simply reveal what we are. Now when trials come, if we be
the children of God, if we truly are those that have been begotten
by God's Spirit, and if we have been brought out of our sin,
and if we are anchored in the Lord Jesus Christ, our feet upon
that solid rock, Then, beloved, our trials, they will not destroy
us. They cannot hurt us because that
faith which God has given, that faith will not pass away or they
will not diminish and grow weaker and weaker until finally it succumbs
to the trial. But that faith will endure the
trial and it will stand up in the furnace like precious metal. Now when trials like great bills
come sweeping down upon us, it is as if the master was asking,
will you also go away? Are you real? Are you genuine? Are you a sincere believer of
the gospel? Well, and by his grace, the people
of God are able to answer, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words. Eternal life that's found in
John 6 67 and 68 Number two, then, the first reason
is because our faith needs to be tested and it is trials are
designed of God to test our faith. Number two, why are these trials
necessary? Well, I believe that the trials
of life drive a believer to seek the face of their God. It drives
a believer to seek the Lord's face. Now, it's too bad that
there has to come these trials into our life to get us to seek
the Lord, to humble ourselves, and to cry unto the God of our
salvation. But nevertheless, it seems to
be the testimony of the tried and the afflicted family of God
that during times of difficulty and crisis that they find themselves
spending more time with their God in prayer. This just seems
to be the testimony of the people of God. We are drawn nearer to
the Lord in the time of trial and in the time of test. And
sometimes God has to bring a person low before they'll look up, before
they'll look up to God and before they'll begin to earnestly cry
to God God has to bring them into straits. He has to bring
them into stripping conditions and into situations that render
them helpless in themselves to handle their problems. And this
drives them to the God who is able to do exceeding above, above
all that we're able to ask or think. And thirdly, I'd like
to say the trials lead God's people to consider It leads God's
people to consider that eternal day when there shall be no more
trials, when there shall be no more crying, no more pain, no
more bereavement, no more disappointment. It leads them to consider that
day and to look off yonder, apart, away from this world unto that
glorious day when we shall have nothing to occupy our minds and
our hearts except the majesty and the glory of our blessed
Redeemer. It's to get our minds off this
world. It's to drive us to see that
the Lord has something better for us than for this world, better
for us than this world, and that we have the sure hope in eternity
to come. And fourthly, I believe that
today's trials, they strengthen and prepare us for those which
shall come tomorrow. Beloved, I recognize that the
trials that we have had up to this time in our life, that they're
preparing us. They're somehow or other strengthening
us and they're preparing us for what shall come further on in
our lives. And you can read the life of
Abraham, the testimony of the Scriptures about him. And after
he had left the Ur of the Chaldees, as he was led out by faith, he
experienced one trial after another until finally he was called upon
to face the greatest of them all, that great trial that we're
told about in Genesis chapter 22. where the scripture says
in verse 2, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou
lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him
there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains that I will
tell thee of. Here was Abraham who had wagered
and he was over a hundred years old and the Lord comes to him
in this great trial and says you take your son you take your
only son Isaac whom you love and you take him there on that
mount and you offer him as a burnt offering as a sacrifice unto
me. Now we know that God stepped
in and would not allow it to be done but yet it was a trial
and it was a test to Abraham but all of the trials that it
had prior to that was to prepare him as he knew the faithfulness
of God, as he had felt over and over the delivering power of
God, it prepared him to face this great trial and to obey
the Lord in this trial. And so all of our trials, I believe,
are designed to be stepping stones for the trials that we're yet
to have. in our lives. And fifthly, I
think trials teach us to trust the providential care of our
God. If we really believe that of
Him and through Him and to Him are all things then we will trust
and not doubt when God in his wisdom sends trouble our way. We'll not doubt the Lord, we'll
believe what the word of God says that God is in control of
all of these things and we'll trust his wisdom and we'll trust
and believe him regardless of whatever he sends into our life. And then sixthly, I want to say
as we face, and by God's grace, endure the trials that He sends
us, we will be better prepared to help someone else who at later
time it will be called upon to face the very same situation
that we have faced. I believe these trials are to
prepare us, beloved, to be of some use. No man lives unto himself. Every one of us, beloved, as
the people of God in this world, are dealt with by God that we
might be a source of help and encouragement and a blessing
to others around us. And God prepares us for our trials
that we might have a word to speak to others When they're
being tested and when they're being stripped and when they're
being brought low by the hand of God, we can give them a word
of encouragement. And we can say to those who are
cast down, there shall be lifting up. There will come a time when
God will take hold of your situation and He will lift you up and He
will encourage you. And so I believe that's one of
the reasons. Now we'll be able I believe to
give a witness to the sufficiency of the grace of God for every
circumstance of life. And this is what we're called
upon to do by the Lord. This is a giving of a witness
and giving our testimony that God's grace is sufficient whatever
the circumstances are and whatever we've been brought into God has
faithfully and ably delivered us out of our tests and our trials. Now in the seventh place, in
the midst of trials, we have an opportunity to bear evidence
of the truthfulness of the message that we say we believe. Now brother, sister, this gets
down home. It gets right down to our hearts
this morning. When we're really in a trial,
I mean a heavy and troublesome trial, because real trials that
are sent from God they get right down next to our hearts. I mean,
they're the kind of trials that you just can't simply pass off.
They're the kind of trials that you can't just overlook. They're
the kind of trials that get your attention and you simply cannot
just slough them off. I mean, they're the kind of trials
that hang in and they're the kind of trials that just keep
on hanging in and troubling the soul. And I want you to understand
that about real trial. These trials that God sends,
I mean they're real. And they're trials that we'll
never forget. as long as we live, because they're
from the hand of God, but it will give us an opportunity to
bear what we might call evidence of the truthfulness of the message
that we say that we believe. Now if we believe that God is
absolutely sovereign over all things, then he must of necessity
be sovereign over the trials and the difficulties that we
as his children undergo and experience in this world. Now, can you give
evidence to that? Can you say amen to that? I mean,
when you're in a state of trial, can you say with a degree of
conviction, I know that God rules over all these things, and I
know that God has these things under control? Or will you go
to pieces and fly off the handle, and will you murmur and complain? I mean, will you just simply
speak unworthily of your God that you claim to trust? Now,
brother, sister, these things are real that we're talking about.
In all of this, in all of this, that joke went through. Well,
how honoring it is, brother, sister, to honor the Lord, how
honoring it is to our Lord, when in the midst of these trials,
in the midst of these afflictive times, when the children of God,
by patient endurance, of the trial can give evidence of the
reality of God's grace in their life. How God-honoring that is. It's glorifying to God for an
individual to be able to say, I trust the Lord. Times are dark
and troubles are real and I am pressured. but God is faithful
and he will deliver in his own good time. How honoring to God
that is. Now it's no use to talk about
believing in the providence of God and in his total and absolute
sovereignty if when trials come we begin this murmuring and this
complaining and going to pieces and flying off the handle and
have not the ability to control ourselves. God help each one
of us to believe and to trust and to rest in the Lord who controls
all things and who's working all things out for the good of
his people and for his own glory. I remember the words of the disciples
who said, Lord, I believe but help thou mine unbelief. Yes, beloved, it is true that
you cannot see the stars while the sun shines and we must wait
till it's dark and then we can see the stars. That is, when
it's dark and many a Christian grace is quite imperceptible
until the time of trial and then it shines out with great luster. Well, all of this of course supposes
that the grace of God is in the heart. All of this supposes,
I mean, you'll be able to see the grace of God in reality in
the heart and life and testimony of God's people. I mean, in dark
times, if the grace of God is there, if it's truly in the heart. But if it be lacking, trials
will, of course, discover the lack most surely. And you, my
friend, know not what spirit you are of until you come under
heavy trial. And when you get under heavy
trial and heavy pressure as some of us have lived under and as
some of you are experiencing now, then beloved you know something
about what spirit you're of. You know whether or not God's
in you or not. You know whether or not you've
got this desire to draw up near the Lord and cry to Him, and
whether or not God's given you strength day by day to bear up
under your trials and your afflictive circumstances. And so, when the
sun's shining, we'll never know about you. But whenever the trouble
comes and when real trial and heavy burdens fall upon your
soul and upon your life, then we'll know what spirit you're
of. We'll know what you're made out
of and whether you be a genuine child of God or not. Well, now
that brings me this morning to the text. And I come to the text
and this has been a real challenge to me. I cannot tell you what
this text has meant to me and how it has really touched my
heart because it's brought conviction of soul. It's brought conviction
to me and it's also showed me some things in connection with
trial and the attitude and their beneficial tendencies in the
life of a child of God that have been a tremendous help to me. But in all of this, take a look
at that text, in all of this, that is to say, in all of his
trial, in all of these trials that are set forth to us here
in the first chapter of the book of Job, under all of his temptation
to cry out and to murmur and complain and to charge God foolishly,
let me say it, Job kept right with God. He kept right with
God in spite of all of these things that happened to him.
Now during all of his losses and the death of his children,
he did not speak in an unworthy manner of his God. He charged not God foolishly. Now the text speaks admiringly
of all this. Did you notice that in all this,
the text says, and a great all it was. Now some of us have many
troubles, but what are our troubles? What are the afflictions that
we have compared with the afflictions of old Job? Our afflictions are
just molehills contrasted with the mountains of Job's grief. They're just simple molehills. All this All this, he was suddenly
reduced here from a peer to a pauper, suddenly reduced from a rich
man to a poor man, suddenly reduced from a happy father unto a childless
mourner. This was Job I'm talking about. And who can measure or fathom
all of this that this man here experienced? Yet in all this
Job sinned not. In all this he sinned not. Oh
dear ones, if God can uphold old Job, in the midst of all
of his circumstances and these great tests and trials, then
you can rest assured this morning that he can support you and look
away from yourself unto Job's God and get the help that you
need to sustain you in the hour of your affliction and in the
hour of your trial. All this All this, in all this,
it alludes also, I think, to that which Job did and thought
and what he said. What goes through your minds
when God crosses your path with a trial? What goes through your
mind? What are your thoughts? And what
do you say when you go through trial? And what do you do whenever
you're faced with a very perplexing and trying situation? Well, Job was full of bursting
with grief and he shaved his head and he ran his garments
and he lifted up his voice to God. But in all this, He said
not. In all of this, he said not. Now this is a great deal to say
of a man when you see him in the extreme of sorrow and the
extreme of grief. If in patience, Job, if he can
possess his soul when the errors of affliction are wounding him,
then he's a man of faith indeed. He's a man who believes God.
He's a man who trusts God indeed. And he is a real, genuine child
of God. Rake the earth and search for
one. And there's very few genuine,
real, children of God in this world that are able to stand
up under test and not complain and murmur and go to pieces and
throw in the towel. May we ourselves so live that
it may be said of us in the end that in all this He sinned not. His life story is written within
and without with lamentations, but in all this he did not dishonor
the name of the Lord. May it be said of us that in
all that we have experienced and all that we go through, that
we did not dishonor the name of our God. He did and said many
things, but in them all He was patient, in them all He was resigned,
in all He was obedient, and never did He utter a rebellious word. against the Lord my my if we
could have a testimony like that when we die I mean when they
plant us in the earth if it could be said or written on our tombstone
in all this that this man went through he sinned not nor charged
God foolishly wouldn't that be a marvelous epitaph to put upon
the tombstone of the faithful. It really would, and may we labor.
Well, let us think a little while about this wonderful case of
Job in a practical way, desiring that the Spirit of God might
make us like him, might make us like this old patriarch of
the faith, Job. Well, in the first place, let
me say this. And I'm going to try just to
press this home to your heart this morning to help you a little
bit. Because like I say, if I can
get some help from something, then I believe that somebody
else can. And I want to just kind of press
this upon you this morning to be of help to you. I hope that
we can make this church here can be a happy lot of believers. And I hope that your homes are
a happy place. where faith is in exercise and
where people believe God and trust God and where you're able
to be an encouragement to one another in your households. And
if we could be just like Job, I think we'd be able to do that.
We don't want to be like Job's wife, but we want to be like
Job, don't we? We really do, a man of faith.
Well, in the first place, in all of our affairs, And in all
of our trials and in all of our troubles and afflictions, the
main thing, the main thing, the chief thing is not to sin. Is not to sin in those trials. Now the chief point is not to
go through life without suffering, without having some sorrow, without
having some sadness. Somebody said, I've been trying
to find a way to escape all of that kind of stuff, preacher.
I don't want any sadness. I don't want any sorrow. I don't
want any suffering. I don't want any affliction.
I want to live out my days and drop over dead without ever experiencing
any real trials in this world. But beloved, Shall Simon bear
the cross alone and all the rest go free? No, there's a cross
for everyone and there's a cross for me. So trials we will and
must have in this life because the Bible says that through much
tribulation we will enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, I
would not have you, I would not ask you to pray that you might
miss all sorrow, all trial, all sadness, all discouragement,
all bereavement. No! No, no, I would not ask you
to do that. But I would have you to pray.
I would have you to pray from the depth of your soul. then Satan is defeated. Satan is defeated in his effort. Satan did not care how much,
he didn't care how little that Job suffered, if he could but
drive him into sin. That was the desire. He said,
well, you know, the day came when Satan came here before the
Lord, And he had to come before the Lord because Satan can't
go a yard out of his door unless God permits him to do it. And
here's Satan, he comes before the Lord and he said, does Job
fear you or does Job serve you for nothing? Why, he said, you
built a hedge around about him, and you blessed the work of his
hands, and you blessed his substance, and all these blessings have
been upon you. And God said, you can go on out
there and you can touch everything that he's got, just don't touch
him. And so the afflictions came. upon him because he would drive
old Job to curse God. He would drive Job to sin and
to murmur and complain. He would drive Job to doubt his
God and it wouldn't work. And he regretted, I believe,
Satan regretted that he ever tried this man Job because he
discovered that he could not make him sin. He discovered that
he couldn't make him fly off the handle and give up the ghost
and say, I'm done with it. I won't trust God anymore. God's
not reliable. Look what God's let come into
my life. And I'm sure that the devil said,
give him back his kids, give him back his animals, his livestock,
give him back his money, give it all back to him. Because if
this man now look at him through the centuries, down through the
centuries, he'll be a testimony of a man who in faith sinned
not in all this. And what a terrible, terrible,
Calamity it will bring upon my evil, evil kingdom. This man could not be driven
to sin in his afflictions. And my, how this honored God
and how it defeated the devil. Now if you could just extract
a rebellious word from Job, then Beloved, he would have gained
his effort, but he lost all of his effort because he could not
get Job to utter one rebellious sentence. If Satan could not
make Job sin or charge God foolishly, then he was defeated and God
was glorified. If enduring your particular trouble,
Excuse me, if enduring your particular trouble and problems this morning,
my friend, you do not fall into sin in enduring your trouble
and your problems. You're more than conquer over
him that hates you and your God. You're a conquer over Satan if
you're able to endure. If you conquer him in the hour
of grief, then you've conquered him indeed, my friend, because
then is when we're the weakest, and then is when we're most susceptible
to cry out and to complain and to utter things that we're later
sorry that we ever said. Now then, let me say another
thing, that if we do not sin under the stress of heavy troubles,
then I say to you, not only will Satan be defeated, But God will
be greatly honored. He is not so much glorified by
keeping you and me free from trouble as by upholding us in
our trouble, underneath. are the everlasting arms of the
Lord. The arms of the Lord are underneath
His people to support them and to hold them up. He allows us
to be tried that His grace in us may be tested and it may be
glorified. God's grace held up this man
in the midst of all of these afflictive circumstances. God
furthermore permits trial because He knows that His wisdom and
grace have made us able to bear these trials. I've told you before,
God's people are not hothouse plants. God's people shall be
strong and shall do exploits. God's people will be able to
endure because the grace of God is able to make them stand and
make them able to endure. Another thing I want to say is
that we do not sin that if we do not sin, then we'll be no
loser by all of our afflictions and by our tribulation. Now I
want you to get what I'm saying here. That if we are not driven
to sin by our troubles and by our problems, then we'll really
not be losers by our tribulation. Most of you know that in the
latter end that Job was blessed more than at the beginning. Most
of you are aware of that. that he came out of this thing
better off in the end than what he was in the very beginning
before Satan ever laid a hand on him. And so this is exactly
my point. Sin alone can injure a person,
but if you remain steadfast, though you are stripped, you're
going to be clothed with glory by and by and what if we be stripped
here in this world it's just for a little while we're about
ready to go to bed anyway so what difference would it make
these bodies are about ready to be put off and so if we be
stripped you know what Job said in verse 21 he 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. Though you are then deprived
of comfort, you'll lose no real blessing. If the metal in the
pot loses none of its gold, all that it does lose is well lost
and is indeed gained. Because many times what goes
into the furnace is not worth when it goes in there what that
metal that's left is worth that comes out of that furnace. And
so, beloved, listen to me now. We're not going to be losers
by our tribulation unless we're driven to sin in those situations. Though you're brought low in
circumstances, what does it matter if we profit spiritually from
the circumstances that brought us down? I mean, really, have
we lost? If our souls have benefited by
the circumstances that have been brought into our life, if we
are sick in body, what does it really matter if our soul's health
is furthered thereby? If our soul's health, I mean
if we profit spiritually and if our soul's health is increased,
then what really does it matter? Now to sin would be a terrible
thing To abide in holiness is to triumph. The Lord may send
us a ton of trouble, but that is better than an ounce of sin. He may send you a ton of trouble
into your life, but just take it and receive from the hand
of the Lord whatever He sends. That's better than an ounce.
of sin. Now, let not iniquity, the psalmist
said, have dominion over me. Let not iniquity have dominion
over me. Well, let me hasten now in the
second place to say that in all of our trials there is a special
fear of sinning. Well, how is that? Well, because
suffering is fruitful sorrow for certain forms of sin. When a person gets into certain
states of mind and when he's afflicted in certain ways, that
is fertile soil for sinning. Let me explain what I mean by
that. Many have sorely grieved They are God by what they've
said and done in the time of their sorrow. Many have sinned,
many have grieved God in what they've done and what they've
said in the time of their sorrow. For instance, we're apt to grow
impatient and we're apt to murmur against the Lord when His for
afflictive hand comes into our life. We think our trial is too
long. We say the trial has been too long, we've had this trial
for years, and nothing's ever happened. And we think that our
prayers ought to have been answered before now. If God hears prayer,
if God does sit on the throne of glory and control all things,
and if the prayers of His people, if they do come before Him, and
if He does hear them, why has He not answered me yet? And so
we get impatient and we begin to murmur. We are even tempted
at times to rebellion. We say that if God doesn't do
something by tomorrow morning, then I'm going to do such and
such and so and so. I've heard people say that. It
makes cold chills run up and down my spine when I hear somebody
say, if God don't do such and such, I'm going to do such and
such and so and so. Well, my friend, you're a fool.
You're a fool to say that. That's wrong to say that. That's
rebellion against God. If God don't heal my child, I'll
never serve him again. That's rebellion is what that
is. And that, my friend, is sin against
God. Now then, some people will never
forgive God. They never will. God does something
and God takes their loved one. God is pleased to bring them
down low and to reduce them to poverty and to afflictive circumstances
and they'll not forgive God. They will not do it. The Lord's
done this and I'll wear black the rest of my life. I am not
about to forgive God for taking my child, taking my mother. I'll
not forgive God for doing this or doing that or allowing such
and such and so and so to happen. And I've had people to get mad
at the preacher. that preaches the absolute sovereignty
of God and tells them that God's in control of all things. Preacher,
we don't like you and we don't like your God. And they're in
rebellion against the God of the Bible and say, we don't want
nothing to do with a God that would let my little baby get
run over with a truck or this happen or something else happen.
I don't want anything to do with a God like this. Now brother,
sister, this is what I'm talking about. Sorrow is fertile ground
for sin. And many, many times people get
even to a point of not only impatience and fretting and murmuring, but
they get just to the very point of rebelling against the God
of the Bible. And how can we rebel against
God and hope to prosper in that rebellion? You cannot. You cannot
fight against God. Are you as strong as he? Can
you fight with God? Well, with the forward, the scripture
says, he will show himself forward. Rebellion brings with it a world
of misery. A world of misery. And then also
we can sin by despair. Getting to the place where we
say, well, I'll never look up again. I'll never look up again,
come or go old brass. I'll never draw you again. It's
all over. I give it up. I'll never be happy
again. I will never, never again be
able to sing a song. I'll not be able to do it. I
won't be able to hear the birds sing ever again because of what's
happened in my life. The dreadful, awful things that
have befallen me and come upon me. I shall never again be happy. Never, never again. Well beloved,
are God's mercies clean gone forever? That you say that? Are
the Lord's mercies clean gone forever? The scripture teaches
us always to believe and to trust God. Who is among you, the scripture
says, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust
in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. Even when he's
in a place of darkness has no light in your darkness beloved
this is the place for trust it's not the place for despair now
then let's go on a little bit further and I want to make this
as the third statement about this text and that is this I
want you to notice this because it's important that you do and
that is that it is no sin to mourn or weep or grieve, that
that's no sin in and of itself. Job, you know, he rent his garments
and he shaved his head. Now he didn't tear up his garments
like a wild man and he didn't tear his hair out of his head
like a maniac. But Job did grieve, he was not
a rock He felt what happened to him, and insensitivity is
not an ornament of human nature. It's a disgrace for a human being
not to be sensitive enough to be able to weep. The Bible says
that Jesus wept. Jesus wept himself, remember,
at the tomb of Lazarus? And so, beloved, I'm not talking
about being a stoic and I'm not talking about being insensitive.
I'm talking about that it's alright to weep. We're not to sorrows
others who have no hope. The Bible says we're not. I mean,
we've got something that the world don't have. We've got an
anchor for the soul that's most steadfast and sure. One that
reaches into the very veil. One that reaches into the very
throne of God. And so you and I ought not to
grieve as others who have no hope. And we can speak the truth.
In the hour of our affliction and in the hour of our trial,
naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return,
Feather." That's the truth. That's not rebellion, and that's
not murmur. Job said, I'm going out of this
world apparently like I came into it, with nothing but a mother's
love. That's all I had when I came
in, and I'm going out of the world with nothing to take with
me. And beloved, this is to be recognized
and we can speak the truth as Job did and we can speak the
truth as others. So Levi said, it's the Lord. Let him do as he sees fit. And
David said, I open not my mouth because thou didst it. You did
it. And so I kept my mouth shut.
I knew it was you that done it. And so it's okay. You know that
David fasted and mourned at the death of his baby. But he did
not sin. He said, You did it! You did
it! And so he said, I opened not
my mouth. Now Job mourned, and yet he did
not sin, for he mourned and he worshipped at the same time. And if you must fall to the ground
under the weight of a heavy load of trial, and a heavy test. Look at verse 20. Job fell down
upon the ground and he worshipped. So if you must fall to the ground,
fall to the ground worshipping the God of the Bible. Fall to
the ground blessing the God who gives. Because Job, he saw God
everywhere giving and he saw God everywhere taking away. It
was the hand of God who gave and it was the hand of God who
took it away. And so he fell down and he worshipped the Lord,
and he worshipped as he mourned. And so there's nothing wrong
with mourning if you're worshipping while you're mourning. I believe that some of the truest
and purest and sweetest and strongest devotion that has ever come to
God from the hearts of men have come from the hearts of men and
women whose hearts were breaking with grief. This has been some
of the greatest devotion that has ever come to God. And so
there's nothing wrong with mourning and lamenting and weeping, but
beloved, in all of this, Job sinned not. He sinned not, nor
charged God foolishly. Then remember then, that in the
acts of mourning there is not of necessity any sin. In the acts of mourning there
is not of any necessity any sin. Well, lastly and fourthly, let
me say that Job sinned not, And the phrase which really explains
this to me is this phrase here, nor charged God foolishly. Now that's the phrase that really
opened this thing up to me. Now to call God, and what does
this mean? Well let me tell you what it
means to me. I believe to charge God foolishly
means to call God to our judgment seat. to call God to our judgment
seat. Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Woe unto him that contended with
his Maker is the language of the Word of God. We call God
to our judgment seat and we say to God, Why? Why, Lord? Why? And we demand
of God, we demand of Him in this time, we require God to explain
Himself to us. Lord, why would you do this? Give me an explanation. Why should such calamities befall
me? Why have they not fallen upon
this fellow down the street? That is, he's an entirely, I
mean, he's a whirling sinner and he's getting along and prostrating
fine. And ever since I've become a
believer, I've been chastened every day and you whip me behind
the door. And I'm tested and tried all
the time. Why, Lord, explain this to me. Well, my friend, that's calling
God to your judgment seat. That's asking God to explain
himself to you and I. Shall we, my friend, this morning,
is God under bond to do this? Shall we say, God, you must do
this. You must tell me why you're doing
this. We're usurping fools when we
pretend to sit in judgment upon the judge of all the earth. God
must know what he's doing, and he must and will do right. He's the judge of all the earth.
And we dare not call Him and say, explain this. Can we not
be content to let God know some things that we don't know? Can we not be content with letting
God know and saying, well Lord, to give you the benefit of the
doubt. I mean the secret things all belong to you. Those things
that are revealed belong to us and to our children. But there
are some things that belong strictly to you. And the reason why that
things are like they are with you and with me are some of the
secret things of the Lord. He knows. Blessed be His name. He is inscrutable and we should
be glad to have Him so. We can't figure Him out and we
do not know the reasons and the answers. But beloved, to demand
for explanation, let me say it plainly, is unbelief. To demand
that God explain to us is unbelief. That's what it is. It's the desire,
it's that desire we all got in us. to be God ourselves and to
call the shots ourselves. That's what it's all about. It's
unbelief. It's sin. So let us bow before
Him without question. Job did. He bowed before the
Lord and said, the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
God gave all this and God took it all away. He is Jehovah and
that just simply ends the matter. That ends the matter. That's
the way it is. Well, he would have his children
feel, I believe, that the Lord would have his children to feel
that what he wills is always the best. What seems most wrong
is right if it be his sweet will. You say, it looks wrong, preacher.
It may look that way to you, but it's right if it be his sweet
will. And we need to bow our heads
and hearts to that. Now then, bow down. Bow down
and worship the Lord. Put your desires at His feet. Bow down before His throne and
submit yourself to Him. What He does is wise. What he
does is kind. What he does is true. We're all
sure of this. We can very easily charge God
foolishly when we're suffering, but we better not charge him
at all. For who are we that we should call the eternal to account? Who are we? Who are we that we
should charge God with foolishness? Lord, you just, you don't know
how to handle anybody's life. Who are we to call the eternal
to account? Who are we? Well, it means that
we sin when we imagine that he's been unjust. Well, do you mean
to insinuate that the Lord does not treat you justly? Have you
ever said that, Lord, you just, you don't treat me right. You
just don't treat me right. Well now let's stop here just
a little bit if we can and let me talk just a little bit to
you about this. I'm not going to keep you but just a minute
here. I want to correct your thinking a little bit. It's important
that we do that. Now you see I can do this because
I've been over this ground many a time. If the Lord was to deal
with you with strict justice this morning, where would you
be? And if he were to suddenly call in the debt that you owe
him, I mean if he would suddenly this morning call you into account
for all your sins, what would become of you? You would once,
at once be in a state of despair and very soon you'd be in hell. That's where you'd be. If God
was to deal with you any of you in strict justice. So never charge the Lord with
being unjust, for this is to sin with a vengeance, and this
is to charge God foolishly. Lord, why don't you treat me
like you treat the fellow down the road? Well, you don't know
what God's going to do with him tomorrow. You don't know what
God may do with him, and you don't know what God has done
with him already, and his name may not be in the book of life.
And all the heaven he's going to have may be right here in
this world. And you, all the hell you're going to have is
right here in the world, and your heaven's to come. And so
therefore God may be dealing a great deal different with you
and with your neighbors. The Lord may deal different with
you and another member of your family. and they may laugh at
you, but God knows what he's doing in your life and don't
you question his justice because to do so, I believe, is to sin
with a vengeance. God is a faithful and merciful
God unto his people. And then again, just quickly,
to bring full charges against his love is, I think, what this
means. How can a God of love permit
me to suffer so? How can he do this? Well, we
forget as many, this scripture, as many as I love, and the Greek
there is as many as I tenderly love, I rebuke and chasten. Now the more that God loves you,
the more surely that he'll rebuke any and every evil that he sees
in you, as surely as he loves you, he'll rebuke you. He will. God will chasten his people.
In love I correct thee, thy goal to refine, to make thee at length
in my likeness to shine. It's what the Lord would say
to every one of us this morning. God will rebuke, he will chasten
his people. Well, I must close But before
I do, I want to say this. In all this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. And I was reading after one old
writer. He said, I read that, and he said, it appeared to be
a little bit dry to me. And so he said, I wet it with
my tears. Job, Job, in all of this, sinned
not, nor charged God foolishly. And yet you and I, who have suffered
so little, have often sinned, and I fear in times of the sorrow
and the grief that we've had personally, that at times we've
even charged God with foolishness, haven't we? Yes, we have. I fear
that we have. Now, I'm sure this is true, not
only of me, but some of you. We have charged God foolishly. And so what must we do in the
light of this? Well, I think we must go anew
to that fountain filled with blood that's drawn from Emmanuel's
veins, and that sinners who plunge therein lose all their guilty
stains. And I believe that if we come
and confess our sins of impatience, our sins of rebellion and petulance,
and sins of unbelief, I believe that we will be forgiven. I believe
our sins will be washed from us. These are real sins, beloved. I know that sometimes people
say, well, you know, everybody gets a little upset when things
not going their way. But for God's people, this, my
friend, is their example. And this they should seek to
be. And that is that in all of this,
Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. And all these sins
must be washed away in the blood of the Lamb. We still sin, but
oh how dear that fountain is to us, that we can come anew
and confess our failures and our weaknesses and our frailties
and our deep and horrible sins of mistrust of the God of the
Bible. and that we can cry out to him,
Lord, forgive us, forgive us of our failures. Well, I hope
the Lord will bless this message to all of your hearts and that
you will prosper, every one of you, from having been in the
sound of this scripture this morning in all this Job. Sin
not, nor charge God foolishly. Larry, could we have a hymn