that God hath overthrown me,
that God hath compassed me with his net. Behold, I cry out of
violence, and I'm not heard. I cry against violence. I cry aloud, but there's no judgment
forthcoming. God hath fenced up my way that
I cannot pass. The Lord God hath set darkness
in my paths. God has stripped me of my glory. He's taken the crown from my
head. He has destroyed me on every
side and I'm gone. My hope has he removed like a
tree. He has kindled his wrath against me and counted me unto
him as one of his enemies. His troops, his army, come together. and raise up their way against
me and then camp around my frail tabernacle. You put my brethren
far from me. My acquaintance are very estranged
from me. My kinfolks have failed. My familiar
friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house,
my servants, my maids, count me for a stranger. I'm an alien
in their sight. I called my servant, he gave
me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange
to my wife, though I entreated her for the children's sake of
mine own body. Yet young children despise me.
I rose and they spake against me. All my inward friends abhorred
me, and they whom I love are turned against me. My bone cleaveth
to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of
my teeth. Have pity upon me, have pity
upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched
me. The hand of God hath touched
me. This is a mystery that natural
men do not understand. Only those who have been dealt
with by God and been touched by God can enter into this, not
as fully as Job entered into it, but at least in a sense. To the secular world and today's
religious world, the people who are touched by God, they think,
are those who are greatly prosperous, healthy, wealthy. Blessings are
measured by the world, and I'm afraid by today's church, in
terms of possessions. Is that not true? Spiritual blessings
and the presence of God and the hand of God upon someone is generally
measured in terms of physical or material blessings. To the
world, the way up is up. In the kingdom of God, the way
up is down. I know that so. In the kingdom
of God, the way up is down. He that exalteth himself shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. To
the world, the way to life is live. I hear this statement all
the time, and I just abhor it. Get a life. Get a life. Don't be so bowed down and taken
up with certain things. Get a life. Well, in the kingdom
of God, the way to life is to die. If a man will save his life,
Christ said, if a man will get a life, he'll lose it. However
he endeavors to get a life by his own conniving and his own
attitude and effort, he's going to lose it. But if a man loses
his life for my sake, he'll find it. That's the opposite. To the world, the race, The crown
goes to the strong and to the swift. Paul didn't say that. Paul said, I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in distresses, for when I'm weak,
that's when I'm strong. In God's kingdom, is this not
true? It's a paradox. But is it not
true, in the kingdom of God, to be full is to be totally empty
of self. And the more you can empty of
self, the fuller you are of grace. In the kingdom of God, to be
wise is to become a fool, for Christ's sake. In the kingdom
of God, to be clothed is to be stripped. In the kingdom of God,
to receive is to give. Don't tell the world that, they
don't believe that. It's more blessed, it's more blessed to
give than to receive. In the kingdom of God, to reign,
to rule, is to serve. He that will be chief among you,
let him be the server. The world can't handle that now,
the churches today can't handle that. But our Lord's first words
in the great Sermon on the Mount, are they not the ground rules
for spiritual blessings? Listen to them again. Blessed
are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed
are they that mourn, they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
humble, the meek, they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are
they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, that they should
be filled. Blessed are you when men revile
you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. And our Lord said, Blessed are
the dead. who die in the Lord. See, this is the world speaking.
Our Lord said to a man, follow me. He said, Lord, let me first
go bury my father. Well, he said, let the dead bury
the dead. You take up your cross and follow me. Another said,
Lord, I'll follow you. Let me first go bid them farewell
at home. Our Lord said to him, no man
can put his hand to the plow and look back and be fit for
the kingdom of God. That's the world speaking, let
me first, let me first, let me first. The Lord said, seek ye
first the kingdom of God, his righteousness. These other things
will be added. Seek ye first, first and foremost,
the kingdom of God. These things will be added. You
see, Abraham inherited a heavenly country, but what did he do first?
Left his father's house. Isn't that right? Abraham received
his son Isaac forever. First, he gave him up on the
altar. Moses embraced the riches of
Christ, but first he refused the riches of Egypt, walked out
of Egypt with a shepherd's rod. That's what we have here. Job
said what so few understand, the hand of God has touched me. None like him, it said, in all
the East. And he brought me down to a very
low, low place. The hand of God touched me. And
the hand of God's compassed me with a net. He's closed his net
about me like a fish in the sea. He put his net about me to draw
me to himself. Compassed me about. In verse
7, I cry out, because of violence, I cry out and complain." Job
wasn't perfect in all this. He's a man. But he said, I complain
against the wrong done to me by the Sabaeans and by the Chaldeans
and by whatever power or force. I'm not sure he knew Satan was
behind all this. But he said, I cry out against
these things, but I'm not hurt. God doesn't hear me. And here
he says he, I cry aloud and there's no judgment. I asked God to avenge
me. I asked God to avenge me. I said,
I just asked the same thing. Lord, I wish you'd take these
enemies of the gospel and just put them out of order, out of
commission, one at a time. God said he's not going to do
it. Thank the Lord for our wives.
He's not going to do it. Joseph, I cry aloud, but there's
no judgment. He's not dealing with them. He's
not dealing with them. Turn to Psalm 73. That was David's
complaint, wasn't it? Psalm 73. He said, verse 2, As for me,
my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.
David fretting, complaining, I was envious of the foolish.
I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no burdens in their
death. Their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. They're not plagued like other men. It's Psalm 73, verse
6. Therefore pride covers them about
as a chain. Violence covers them as a garment.
This whole world of rich, prosperous, wealthy, filthy people, they're
just violence all about them, but verse 7, their eyes stand
out with fatness, they have more than the heart could wish. They're
corrupt, they speak wickedly concerning oppression, they speak
loftily, they set their mouths against God, against the heavens,
and their tongue walking through the earth. But his people, verse
10, return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to
them. And his people say, does God know? Is the knowledge of
the Most High, God know what's going on down here? Behold, these
are ungodly who prosper in the world, who increase in riches.
I have cleansed my heart in vain, washed my hands in innocency.
All day long I'm plagued and chastened every morning. If I
say, if I talk like this, if I speak thus, I'm going to offend
the people of God. I'm going to offend against the
generation of our children. when I thought to know this is
too painful for me. But then I went to the sanctuary
of God, and I saw things in a different light. I've been looking at their
prosperity now. God let me look at their judgment
later. I saw their end. Their foot will
slide in due time. And like I said, I wish God would
deal with them. He will. But not in my time,
in his time, his time. He'll deal with it. I saw their
end. But he says here, I cry aloud, and there's no judgment
against these people. Back in Job 19, verse 7, there's
no judgment. And then this, if you have experienced
this, he's fenced up my way that I cannot pass. I make plans for
my future. I think I know the way to go.
I think I know what to do. But then God builds a wall in
front of me, and I can't pass. It's just not that way at all.
That's not his will. I would go here, and I would
do that, and I would do this, but he fences me in. He's fenced
my way, and I cannot pass. And then I seek to know his way
and his will, but he doesn't give me any light. He puts darkness
in my path. I want to know the will of God.
I want to know the purpose of God in these things. I want to
know why, don't you? But he doesn't tell me. That's
what Job said. He doesn't tell me. I look for
light and I can't find it. Darkness. And then watch verse
9. He stripped me of my glory. Stripped
me of my glory. Now turn back to Job 1 just a
moment. What was it? He stripped me of
my glory. He didn't say he stripped me
of his glory. He stripped me of my glory. God's hand touched
me and he stripped me of my glory. What was his glory? Alright,
look at Job 1. Number one, his honesty, his piety. A man in the land of earth whose
name was Job was an honest and upright man. Don't you know he
knew he was an honest man and an upright man and a man respected
by everybody? I'm sure he did. And I'm sure
being a human being he gloried a little bit in that. A man that
hated evil, fought evil, shunned evil. An example. There's a sense
in which all of us are human beings and we take a little bit
of... My glory has to do with what
I produce. That's my glory, what I produce.
And then Job, I'm sure, glowed in these children. He had seven
sons and three daughters. Strong, talented, gifted, able
children. And I'm sure Job I'm sure he
was very proud. I'm sure that Joe had a good
bit of pride concerning how he raised those children. And then
his substance. I want you to think about what
this man owned. 7,000 sheep. How many people
did it take to shepherd that many sheep? 3,000 camels. He worked a lot of people.
He provided income for a lot of people. Five hundred yoke
of oxen. I can't even imagine two yoke
of oxen. That's a thousand oxen. A yoke's two, isn't it? And a great household. Well,
when they served the dinner, there was a whole lot of folks
there. He was the greatest man in the East. And when this thing
came along, he didn't have anything. Absolutely nothing. Literally,
God Almighty has stripped me of my glory, and watch this,
and he's taken the crown off my head. Only God is sovereign. You know,
what I'm seeing here, I'm seeing what God did to this man was
in evidence and proof of his faith. But does not, in a sense,
the Lord God do this to everybody whom he brings to faith? They
may not experience all that Job experienced physically and materially,
but they'll experience it spiritually. That's exactly right. Spiritually,
everybody whom God saves, he brings them through this same
experience. He overthrows them. He puts a net about them and
draws them to himself. He strips them of their glory.
We don't have any glory. We take the crown off our head.
You know, God took away from Job, this was the crown, this
is what I believe. All that Job had that would distinguish
him, make him to appear different from others, more magnificent,
more gifted, more talented among men, such as the world's goods,
this large family, fine clothes, high living, strength, health,
God stripped all of it away from him by one means or another to
reveal, to reveal that all these distinctions, all of the world's
goods and family and clothes and high living and strength
and health, all these things just really are an outward covering
for an inward leopard. One dependent totally on God
for every breath He draws, every step He takes, every object He
sees, every voice He hears. We earn nothing, know nothing,
have nothing except what He gives us. God's suffering. He literally, Job said, took
the crown off my head and put it where it's supposed to be.
And I just believe God's going to do that to everybody. whom
he brings to himself. I really do. Verse 10 says, He's
destroyed me on every side and I'm gone. I'm gone. Didn't Isaiah say that? Let's
see about that. Somebody else said that. Isaiah
chapter 6. Didn't Isaiah say that? I'm undone. I'm gone. I'm gone. I'm cut off. Isaiah 6, in the year that King
Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne. I lifted up. And then he says down here in
verse 5, then said I, when I saw the Lord, woe is me, I'm cut
off, I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have
seen the King. The crown is on His head. the
Lord of hosts. And then he says something here
about God's wrath. Every believer knows the wrath
of God is against sin. Verse 11, he's kindled his wrath
against me and that's well deserved. And then verse 11 says he counts
me as one of his enemies. We were all enemies of God. Isn't
that right? Enemies in our minds. We were enemies of God. That's
true. By nature. Our whole race is the enemy of
God. His troops come together and
raise up their way against me and encamp round about my frail
tent." You see, the gospel is so contrary to the world's religion
that no one can be neutral. I want to show you something
in these next few verses now, how people responded to Job.
God touched him. I know that. He said so. God
said so. God enabled Satan to do what he did, but God touched
him. And none of these people understood this. And you and
I do, and that's marvelous. That's a miracle we understand
what's going on here. God's stripping somebody so he
can get all the glory. So this man will really love
him and trust him and depend on him and give him the glory.
But the world doesn't understand this. They can't enter into it,
and you can't be neutral about it. You either love it or hate
it. The Lordship of Jesus Christ and his total sovereignty and
salvation is the only way to God. And contrary to that, a
man can't find God. Now listen to what the response
was in verse 13. He put my brethren far from me.
My acquaintance are strained from me. My kinfolks have failed. My familiar friends have forgotten
me. When God is pleased, this is what's happening. We know
what's happening. God's touching him. When God
is pleased to reveal his power and his wisdom and his grace
to a person, it's an awesome experience for that person, but
it's an awesome test for everybody around him. It's just so. It's an awesome experience for
him. He's confronted with God. Not just religion, not just making
a decision or changing his life or straightening up because he's
in trouble or trying to do this, that. No, that happens all the
time. But when God touches a man, Almighty God touches a man. He's mine. I'm going to strip
him and humble and decrown him. I'm going to break him. I'm going
to humble him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going
to slay him. I'm going to bring him to me.
I'm going to bring him to me forever." Boy, that's awesome. And I don't blame you. Some of
you here have been listening a while. You've never made any
kind of commitment to Christ or confession to Christ. Well, I don't know. I don't blame you
for counting the cost because there's a cost. I don't blame
you for giving it some time because you've heard enough junk from
all the other religious organizations. It's an awesome experience. It calls for compassion on the
part of other believers. It calls for pity and understanding. That's what Job said in verse
21. Have pity on me, my friends. God's touched me. Don't sit there
and carp at me and criticize me and find fault with me. Pity
me. me, I'm under the hand of God. You'll understand this someday.
Let me tell you, look at Job chapter 42 a minute. Every religious expert is going to hear from
God someday, just like these men did. Look at Job 42, And God's finished with Job,
this thing's settled. But now he's not finished with
these men. In Job 42, verse 7, it was said that after the Lord
had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the
Temanite, My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. You have not spoken of me the
thing that's right, as Job has. Now therefore, take unto you
seven bullocks and seven rams, and you go to my servant Job,
and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job
will pay for you, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you
after your folly, in that you have not spoken of me the thing
that is right, like my servant Job." So I'm saying when God's
pleased to touch a person, if God's really doing it, It's not
just a religious fad or something passing through. If God's dealing
with a person, it's an awesome experience. It's a lifetime experience. It's an eternal experience. And
it requires compassion and pity and prayer and understanding,
which other believers have, but which the religious world knows
nothing about. So he says to him, let's look
back at my text in Job 19. So he says to him, verse 20,
why do you persecute me as God? Are you not satisfied with my
physical sufferings? John Gill said this about these
men. He said, Job said to them, why
do you persecute me as if you were God and not just men? Why
do you judge me as if you have the same infinite knowledge that
God has? God has the authority to say
to me and do with me what he pleases, but you don't. That's
the prerogative of my God. But it belongs not to religious
preachers or religious leaders or to you. It belongs not to
me and to judge my heart and God's dealings with me. Are you
not satisfied with my affliction and my suffering, lest you wound
my spirit also?" Why do you persecute me? Why? God's touched me. God's touched
me. And then he gives this awesome
confession. Out of all of this, out of all
of this, as God deals with him, God reveals himself to him. And Job utters these powerful
words. I want you to start with verse
23 and listen to him. Now, I believe Job's speaking
about this confession of faith when he says, oh, that my words
were now written that they were printed in a book. He says, write
them in a book. My confidence in Christ, my confidence
in all of this, that God's hand has touched me. My confidence
in all of this is so sure and so certain, you record it. You write it for posterity. And not only that, but engrave
it on my tombstone. Get an iron pen and lay it in
the rock forever. Forever. I think Job must have
known what Solomon said, what God does is forever. What the
Lord doeth, you can't put anything to it or take anything from it.
It's forever. Now Job said, what I'm about
to say. Record it and write it on a tombstone. God's touched me. And verse 25,
and I know. See, saving faith is certain
faith. It's certain faith. Saving faith rests on the sure
word of God. Our foundation is sure and safe. Paul said, I know whom I have
to leave. I'm persuaded. He's able to keep
that which I've committed to him. John said, we know we've
passed from death unto life. I know that. Peter said, for
as much as you know, you are not redeemed with corruptible
things that silver and gold from your vain conversation. The disciples
said, Lord, we believe and are sure thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. And thou we must and thou we
will, but we won't move from that place. We know. I know my Redeemer. There's no
name given the Messiah that's more significant, that's more
comprehensive, that's more endearing than my Redeemer. I know my shepherd,
that's precious. But there's no name given to
the Redeemer, to the Messiah. It's so significant, so comprehensive,
so endearing as my kinsman Redeemer. That's what the book of Ruth
is all about. The Hebrew word for Redeemer is a near kinsman
who has the right to redeem, who has a right to purchase back
all that I lost in Adam. That's right. A kinsman redeemed.
A kinsman. He's bone of my bone, flesh of
my flesh. He's related to me. And he has
the right to redeem because of his relationship with me. And he has the will to redeem
because that's why he took this relationship. And bless your
heart, he's got the prize. He is wealthy. He is wealthy. All things are his. All things
are His, and all things are yours in Him. What an inheritance.
I know that my Redeemer, I know He lives. I know He's always
lived. He said, I'm He that liveth and
was dead and am alive forevermore. He lives. Not only that, but
He's life. He quickens whom He will. I'm
come that ye might have life. And not only that, but He ever
lives to make intercession for us. My Redeemer liveth. He lives,
always has. He is life, and he liveth ever
to make intercession, because he lives, I live. And listen
to this, and he shall stand at the latter day upon this earth.
You see, these Old Testament believers, and people tell me
this is the oldest book in the Bible, Job. That Job was before
Abraham. Perhaps so. But these Old Testament
believers wrote about the coming of Christ. My Redeemer is Christ
Jesus. I know he lives. Isaiah said
that. The virgin shall bear a son,
call his name Immanuel, God with us. Unto us a child is born,
a son is given. He shall grow up as a tender
plant, as a root out of dry ground. A man of sorrow is acquainted
with grief, but he'll bear our sins, be wounded for our transgressions. Jeremiah said he's the Lord our
righteousness. Well, he'll stand on this earth,
Job said. He'll stand. He did stand. He
stood before the law and fully, completely satisfied it. He stood before Satan and defeated
him. The prince of this world comes,
but he'll find nothing in me. He stood before the justice of
God and took all of it on behalf of his people and died under
that judgment. He's the high priest of God.
who appears in the presence of God for us with his precious
blood to obtain eternal redemption. He'll stand on this earth. And
though, after this skin, worms will destroy this body, Job knew
the frailty of this body, the frailty of life. He knew that
God had ordained death. His days were determined, the
number of his months were with the Lord. Yet Job knew that he
would rise from the grave. And Job knew, this is amazing,
in my flesh, I'm going to see God. In my flesh, I'll see God, unashamed. In the flesh, I'm going to see
God. Now, no man can see God and live. God told Moses that, no man can
look on me and live, but Job planned on doing it. Yeah, but
he said, no man shall, Job's going to be a man. He said, in
my flesh, I'm going to see God, unashamed, clearly. Whom I shall see, verse 27, for
myself, my eyes are going to look on God, not another, though
the rains, my rains, be concerned. He's talking about what I read
to you this morning. When the Lord Jesus died on the
cross in the flesh and bones and blood died, was buried and
arose with a glorified body. What kind of body did Christ
have before? One just like this one. Just exactly like this one. Just exactly like this one. Except
without sin. But when they cut him, he bled.
And when they lashed his back, he hurt. And he thirsted. He wanted water. He needed food. He sent his disciples to get
food. But when he arose with that body of flesh, he wasn't
the same kind. See, there's several kinds of
flesh. There's a flesh of fish. There's a flesh of birds. There's
a flesh of beasts. There's a flesh of man. There's
a flesh of Christ. Glorified flesh. And that's what
Joe's talking about here. Joe, isn't this marvelous that
this man, back before Abraham, knew these things? He said, I'm
going to see God unashamed. Unashamed. And here's what John
said. He said, What manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called sons of God. It doth not yet
appear what we shall be. I don't have any example to show
you. I've got examples to show you what we are. Here's one right
here and there's a bunch of them out there. But when I see him,
I'll see him as he is. Not as he was, as he is. Isn't
that what it says? Glorified and be like him. So that's what Job is saying.
Now you write that in a book. And God did all this to establish
that testimony. And I don't know what it would
take in my life or yours or whomever to be brought to this place where
there's no glory but his, there's no praise but his, there's no
crown but his, there's no hope but him, there's no life but
him, nothing that I see, hear, feel, or related to that has
any bearing whatsoever on my relationship with God, with Christ. The hand of God has touched me.
Well, it's not always a pleasant experience. It will be. It will be. But all things work together.
I thought about when he said he got his net around me, and
he got his troops around me, his army, his Holy Spirit, his
apostles, his prophets, his troops, his angels, all around me. I thought about that scripture,
and we know that all things are working together for good, not just good here. Job couldn't find much good where
he was, but he had a whole lot of good ahead of him, for good
to them that love God. who was called according to his
purpose, for whom he did foreknow. He did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son. And whom he predestinated, he
called. He touched him. And whom he called,
he justified him. And whom he justified, one day
he will glorify him. That's right. Well, come on,
troops, you know, even me, even me. That's all right. What God
does is all right, isn't it? It's for your good and my good
and his glory. Let's just face that and confess
that, that this is something that needs to be said. And I've
tried to say it. I pray it will be a blessing.
I pray God will use it. But I do know it's an awesome
experience to be touched by God. It's an awesome experience for
everybody that's related to the experience. It's an awesome experience.