A Sight Few Men See

I have a question for you today,
and that question is, have you seen the Lord? Have you seen
the Lord? Now, Jacob, describing his experience
at Bethel, he said this, I've seen the Lord. This is indeed
the house of God. I have seen the Lord. The hymn writer put it this way,
I've been to Calvary. I can say, I've seen the Lord. I've been to Calvary, and then
he describes how he has seen the Lord through the witness
of his word, that I've seen the Lord. Now listen to Job, and
here's my text. This text is found in Job 42,
verses 5 and 6. And Job said, I've heard of you
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and
I repent in dust and ashes." Now, I'm especially interested
in what Job had to say here, and I want us to examine his
words, these two verses, their each praise, each statement.
Now the first thing he said was this, Job was a religious man,
God said a righteous man who hated sin, avoided evil, and
he commended him even to Satan. But something happened here in
chapter 42 of the book of Job, something different, something
exceptional, something outstanding happened to this man, and I want
us to look at what he said. Now I don't know what it was,
I can't explain it, You want me to tell you when Job was saved?
I'm not going to do it. But I'm going to tell you something
that happened to him here according to his own testimony. Now, here's
what he said first. He said, I've heard of thee.
Lord, I've heard of thee. I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear. Now, there are very few people on the face of this
earth who have not heard of God. That's right, you can travel
anywhere you want to and ask anybody you want to, have you
ever heard of God? Yeah, yeah, I've heard of God.
I've heard of God. Even Russia, they've heard of
God. In Yugoslavia, they've heard of God. In Australia, they've
heard of God. In Africa, they've heard of God.
Everybody's heard of God, because God speaks to us about himself
in creation. That's right. One of the Psalms
says there's not a tongue, not a language, in which God's voice
is not heard. I'm talking about the things
God's made. There's not a language on earth
in which God's voice is not heard. And it says in Romans 119, because
that which may be known of God is manifest even to the heathen,
for God hath shown it to them. For the things of God are clearly
revealed, clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made. So Job said, I've heard of you, He heard the voice of
creation just like you've heard the voice of creation, and I've
heard the voice of creation. I've heard of God. There's not
a language in which his voice is not heard. And then God speaks
to us by his law. When he thundered that law at
Sinai, it echoed throughout the whole earth, throughout the whole
earth. We've heard God speak in his
law. What the law saith, it saith
to everyone. born under the law. But the law
is not only written on stone, and the voice of God was not
only heard from the mountain, but Almighty God's law is written
on men's hearts, did you know that? And on their consciences.
All of our lives we've heard about the conscience. Well, you
know what the conscience is? It's simply the written law,
written on the heart. That's exactly right. Romans
2.14 says, When the heathen, which have not the written law,
do by nature the things contained in the law. In other words, when
they respond and when they do by nature what the law commands
them to do or not to do, this shows the law of God written
on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness. Now, you can't
deny that. I just read it to you out of
God's Word. The law is written on the heart. God, I've heard
of you. My conscience has told me about you, My conscience has
told me about you, about your law. I don't know a whole lot
about you, but I do know I've heard that voice. They call it
that stale, small voice, the conscience. God has spoken to
us by the prophets, by the prophets from the beginning. God has not
left himself without a witness. God has been pleased to send
prophets, prophet after prophet after prophet after prophet.
God has sent into this world. Hebrews 1.1 says, who at sundry
times and in diverse manners speak to our fathers, how do
you speak to them? By the prophets, by the prophets. God has spoken to us. When Job said, I've heard of
you, he had heard of him, and you've heard of him, too, and
I've heard of him. And every son of Adam almost
has heard of God. And I say almost because I don't
want to leave room for some margin of error there, but most every
man has heard of God. Not only that, but God has spoken
to us by by son. Jesus Christ came into this world.
Only a fool or a man with no mind at all could deny that fact.
He came into this world. Hebrews 1 says, God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us by son. I've heard of you,
Lord. I've heard of you through Jesus
Christ. The word In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God and was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And God said, From heaven this
is my beloved Son, hear him. And we've heard him. Men despised
him and rejected him and spit upon him and nailed him to a
cross and would not have this man reign over them, but they
heard him. And I'll tell you this, little Jill, for you to
remember all the days of your life. God not only holds you
responsible for what you heard, but what you could have heard
and wouldn't hear. Don't ever forget that. What
you could have heard and wouldn't hear, what you could have read
and wouldn't read, God will hold you responsible. So many other
ways we've heard of God. At the birth of Christ, the angels
spake and said, Under you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, Christ the Lord. The angels came from heaven and
brought that message to me. And then at his baptism, God
spake from heaven and said, This is my son, in whom I am well
pleased. At the glorification of Christ
on the mountain, God spake again. He said, This is my son. God,
I've heard of you. I've heard of you. At his resurrection,
the angels stood outside the empty tomb and they said, He's
not here. He's not here. He's risen. And then at his ascension,
these same angels stood and said this. said, The same Jesus which
is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you have seen him go. We've heard of him. And then
God has spoken to us by his word. There's scarcely a home in America,
scarcely a motel room, scarcely a prison cell or a hospital room
in which there's not a Bible. The Bible has been translated
in over 900 languages. His word is preached, and I know
it's It's not preached very well, I know that. And it's preached
out of contention and competition and every other way. It's preached
by some who love it and some who don't love it, and some who
are trying to prosper through it, and some who want the glory
of God to prosper through it. But it's preached. It's preached.
The Word is preached. It's read. So we're without excuse,
and we'll have to say with Job, Lord, I've heard of you. There's
not one of you out there now, not a single person listening
to my voice. that can't say with Job, Lord,
I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. And I tell you this,
I might add, as was added in each of those scriptures I read,
talking about the creation, God speaking through creation and
God speaking through conscience and God speaking through laws,
so then, so then, they are without excuse. I've heard of you. But
now Job speaks of a different revelation other than the hearing
of the ear. He speaks of a whole new experience.
Here this man, he must have been up in years. He had ten grown
children. He was a wealthy man of influence
and power and prestige. He is a man of whom God said
that he is a righteous man. But here this man speaks of a
new experience, a different revelation. He said, But now, but now, mine
eye seeth thee, seeth thee. I've heard of you. And most religious
people, that's about all we can say. I've heard of the Lord.
Yeah, I've heard of him. I've heard of him. Know him,
but I've heard of him. Seen him, but I've heard of him. Most everyone's heard of God.
Does thou believe that there's one God? James says, Does thou
believe in one God? Thou doest well. The devil, he's
got that much sense. He's got that much revelation.
The devil believes and trembles in fear. He believes there's
one God. But there are some who have seen
the Lord with anointed eyes of faith. Listen to this scripture,
John 6.40, and our Lord Jesus Christ, prior to this, in verse
37, he said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me. that of all which he hath given
me I'll lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day."
Now watch this next verse, "...and this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son..." This is what
I'm talking about. This is what I'm preaching about.
I'm not preaching about divine purpose. I'm not preaching about
divine election. I'm not preaching about divine
providence right now. I'm not preaching about God's
divine choice. Christ has already spoke about
that, but then he says, and these same people the Father gave me,
for whom I came to redeem, and they will come. But he said,
they're going to see me. They're going to see me. This is the will of him that
sent me. Same will, speaking of the same people, that everyone
that seeth the Son and believeth on him And I say this, you can't
believe on him unless you've seen him. May have everlasting
life. Simeon saw him, this old man
who ministered about the temple, to whom the Holy Spirit revealed
that he would not see death until he'd seen the Lord's Christ.
And they brought the baby Jesus into that temple, and that old
man took him up in his arms and he lifted his eyes to heaven
and he said, Let thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word, mine eyes have seen thy salvation." And he wasn't
looking at a vision or some kind of dream or revelation. He wasn't
even looking at a cross. He wasn't even looking at a dying
figure on a Roman tree. He was looking at a small baby
just handed him by a young Jewish maiden. And he said, I've seen
the Lord, I've seen the Lord, thy salvation. Thomas saw him
You remember Thomas' words when they told him, the Lord's risen,
the Lord's risen. He said, I don't believe it.
I won't believe it unless I can touch the nail prints in his
hand and put my hand in his side. And then our Lord appeared to
them, and Thomas was present then. And the Lord said, Thomas,
reach here thy hand. and behold my hands and my side,
and be not faithless, but believe." And Thomas fell on his face.
I don't believe he even reached out. I don't believe he even
touched those scars. He fell down on his face and
looked up at Christ and said, My Lord and my God, I've seen
the Lord. I'm conquered. I'm broken. I've seen the Lord. Peter saw
him. Our Lord said, Whom do you say
that I am? He said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. I believe, I believe, I'm sure
you're the son of the living God. The thief saw it. Yeah,
he did, the thief on the cross. He was cursing and swearing and
speaking harshly against Christ, just like that other fellow.
But he changed his tune. He changed his tune. Right in
the middle of that, he stopped and looked at that other thief,
and he said, Don't you fear God? Seeing we're in the same condemnation? Where did he get that information?
He saw the Lord. He saw Christ in his true glory
and character. He saw a king on that cross.
Everybody else saw a criminal. Everybody else saw a defeated
reformer. Everybody else saw a religious
martyr. But this thief saw, he saw the
Lord. He saw the king hanging there
on that cross. He said, Lord, you're not going
to stay dead. You're coming into a kingdom
because you're a king. You remember me. Have you seen
the Lord? I'm not talking about a vision.
I don't have any use for these folks that are always talking
about seeing a vision, seeing a dream, and waking in the middle
of the night, and lights flashing in the room, and some physical
revelation of Christ. That's too much watermelon before
bedtime, or pizza, or something, you know. Because our Lord speaks
through His Word, and reveals Himself through His Word, and
don't you ever, don't you ever think Because you haven't had
one of those kind of visions, if you haven't had a spiritual
experience, you see Christ in the Word. And we'll show you
that in a moment. The Lord Jesus is revealed in
the Word and is seen by faith. By faith. How is this by faith
to see Christ? How can we? How did Job see the
Lord? How do we see the Lord? Well,
first of all, when you say, I've seen the Lord, and I believe
I can say to you, today that I've seen the Lord. I believe
I can say that. I've seen the Lord. First of
all, this is to see him in his deity, in his eternal glory. You know, when he prayed in John
17, he said, Father, glorify me with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not
an ambassador or a messenger only. He is God. I wish I could make that as clear
as I'd like to make it. I feel so unworthy to speak of
this great union of God and man. God in human flesh. But the Word
was made flesh. God became a man. God condescended
to come down here and take upon himself bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. You say, how can God become a
man? I don't know. I can't answer
that. I don't know how God can make a world out of nothing,
but I believe it. I see it. I'm standing on it. I don't know
how God can make the sun come up every morning exactly on time,
go down exactly on time, and each star keep from running into
each other all the time up there with all these millions and billions
of stars and make all these people and everyone of them look different.
There's not even a snowflake of light. I don't understand
that. And great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest
in human flesh. How do you expect me to explain
that? I just believe it. I've seen him in his eternal
glory and eternal deity. And I've seen him in his sovereignty.
There's nothing he cannot do. I believe that he can do all
things. Job said, I know that you can do all things. Old Nebuchadnezzar
said he rules in heaven. and upon the earth, and giveth
it to whomsoever he will." Christ said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Oh, I've seen him in his sovereignty,
in his power, in his glory, in his deity, in his greatness,
in his eternal stewardship. I've seen him. I've seen him
in the Scriptures. Every time I open the Scriptures,
I see Christ. I see him yonder in the wilderness,
the rock that followed them. I see him there in the wilderness,
the brazen serpent lifted up. I see him as the blood is splattered
on the door in Egypt. I see him, I see him as the bread
falls from heaven. I see him as the rock gives forth
the water. I see him when the Old Testament
priest went under the veil. I see him when the blood flows
over that mercy seat and drips down over the broken law. I see
him. I see him as the incense. ascends
to heaven. I see him as the shekinah glory
between the cherubim. I see him in the table of showbread
and the lamp, the candlestick. I see him in the altar. I see
him in the baptismal waters. I see him as the bread is broken
at the table. I see him in the Scriptures,
and I see him in his incarnation. This is what Simeon saw. God
became a baby. He who made woman was made of
a woman. He who made the streams of water
cried out thirst. He who grew that tree from which
they made that cross was nailed to that cross. He who put the
ore, the iron ore in the ground from which they made those nails
that they drove in his hand, he hung on that cross, pinned
to that tree which he grew by nails which he made. Dying for
a people he chose. shedding a blood that he assumed,
bearing sins that he didn't commit. Ha! I've seen him. I've seen
him. I've seen him in his active obedience.
He went about doing good. Tempted in all points, he knew
no sin. I've seen him. I've seen him
walking out there on that Judean hillside. I've seen him when
men hated him, he didn't hate them back. I've seen him when
men cursed him, he didn't curse them back. When the Father put
the load upon him, he bore it willingly. I see him when he
was the greatest presence in the universe and yet humbled
himself and became his servant. I see him. Perfect humility. I see him as he loves his enemies,
loves them enough to die for them. Oh, what holiness, what
active holiness, what unspeakable holiness, what unsearchable righteousness. My Lord and my God, I see him,
I see him in his redemptive work. Isaiah saw him, he was wounded
for our transgression and bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him. by his stripes where he is. Abraham
saw him. That far back, that far back. Abraham saw my day, Christ said,
and he was glad. Moses saw him. Moses said and
wrote about him what he saw. Wrote about him. Paul saw him.
He who knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. I've seen him on the cross. I've
seen him take his body and lay it in the tomb like they'll lay
mine someday. But that Sunday morning, the
stone was rolled away, and those angels said, What are you looking
for the living among the dead for? He's not here. I see him
risen, and I see him at the right hand of God. And seeing, seeing,
listen, that we have such a great high priest. Do what? Seeing we have such a great high
priest. Let us come boldly. before the
throne of grace that we may find mercy and grace to help in time
of need. Job, I know what you're talking
about. I know exactly what you're talking
about. I've heard of him. I heard of him from my parents
when I was a little boy. I heard of him from my Sunday
school teachers. They didn't do much good, but
I heard. I heard of him in the songs. I heard him in the scriptures. I heard him in the winds. I heard
him in the waves when I was in the Navy. I heard him, his majesty,
his greatness, his power. But one day in the gospel, I
saw the Lord. I saw him in his redemptive character
and his redemptive grace and his redemptive work. I've seen
the Lord. Well, when Job saw the Lord,
what else did he see? What else did he see? Well, let's
see what he said. He said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of the ear, but now, oh, something happened, but now,
mine eye seeth thee, thee, mine eye seeth thee. I don't see your
preacher, I see you, I see the Lord. Wherefore, I hate myself,
I hate myself, and something else, I repent. When Isaiah saw
the Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up his train,
filled the temple. Cherubims and seraphims cried,
holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And I cried,
then I cried, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm cut off, mine eyes
have seen the Lord. Everybody who's ever seen the
Lord. Now, I can give you some evidence by which you can determine
if you've really seen the Besides the scripture and these other
things, if you've ever seen the Lord in his glory and majesty
and might and holiness, you've been made to see your guilt and
shame and sin as never before. You've been stripped and broken
and slain and humbled at his feet, or you've never seen the
Lord. I don't care who you are. That's
right. I'm okay, you're okay. Stuff
doesn't go with those people who've seen the Lord. My positive
mental attitude will get me through every trial of life." Not when
you've seen the Lord. Well, I'm just as good as anybody
else. Not when you see the Lord. Well, I'll have you know I'm
not a bad fellow, then you haven't seen the Lord. Everybody who
sees the Lord cries, I abhor myself. Now, I know that's contrary
to some of what these little sissified preachers are preaching
about positive mental attitude and and all this other stuff
you know, but I'm reading from the word of God. Job said, I've
seen the Lord, wherefore I hate myself. You see, now listen to
me. God himself is the only true
measure of holiness. All have sinned and come short
of what? Of the church standard? Of the
written law? Of our constitution? Of our confession
of faith? No, sir, of the glory of God. That's the measure of holiness
and sin, too. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Job said, I've seen the Lord.
Before that, before he saw the Lord, he was boasting a whole
lot of his righteousness. He was boasting a whole lot of
what he'd done, had done, and what he hadn't done. But once
he saw the Lord, he said, I put my hand on my mouth. I've spoken
things too wonderful for me. I'm not going to speak any more.
I ate myself. I repent. You see, God's perfect
glory reveals our shame. God's perfect love reveals our
selfishness. You can't see perfect love without
seeing your imperfect in love. God's perfect humility reveals
my pride. Now, I can compare myself with
others, with some of you or you with me, and we come off looking
pretty good, because all of us are proud worms. But when we
see God's true humility and true mercy, it shows us in our true
light. Proud, arrogant, self-righteous
people. His holiness, His immaculate
holiness, before which even the cherubims and seraphims cover
their faces. Even Moses couldn't look on Him.
His holiness reveals our sin. You don't know what holiness
is, and I don't either. And so many people who call themselves
holiness are talking about an outward form and not an inward
godliness. His submission reveals our rebellion. His grace reveals our malice.
To see God in His holiness is to see myself in my sin. Now
watch this verse, Job 33. He looked upon men, and if any
can say, I have seen, and perverted that which is right, and it profiteth
me not. He will deliver his soul from
going down to the pit, and his life shall see the light. You
ever said that? I have seen. I have seen. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And he will. He may reveal Christ
to you. That's my prayer, that he will
reveal Christ. And you'll be able to say, I've
seen the Lord. I've seen the Lord. Now we have
these messages on a cassette tape. One's called Eternal Questions. The other entitled Have You Seen
the Lord? Write to me. The address will
be given to you by the announcer. Send two dollars. That's what
it cost us to get the tape, make it, send it to you, pay the postage
and all that. Until next week, God bless you,
everyone.

A Sight Few Men See

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A Sight Few Men See

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