Job's Personal Agony

Right, let's bow for a moment of prayer Father Thank you for today Thank you for the opportunity You give us to study your word

Thank you Lord for the midweek that allows us to refocus our attention back Toward the things of the Lord so many distractions throughout the day so many things that keep us unfocused from you The distractions sometimes seem to be overwhelming and yet Lord for a brief moment of time We can redirect our attention to the truth of your word We'll be able to understand more of your calling upon our life looking at this man Job this man that you did a an incredible work in and They understand Lord how it is

You want to do a work in our lives as well? We realize Lord that you're the God Today that you were in Job's day You haven't changed You're the same God Wanting to work in the same way in the lives of your people So our prayer Lord is that you'd instruct us in the way that we should go You illuminate our hearts and minds that we might obey your word And that we'd leave here So totally challenged that Lord we would never be afraid to live for the glory and honor of our King That's our prayer We anticipate What is you're going to do? In Jesus name

Amen Turn with me in your Bible to Job chapter 3 Job chapter 3 we have just finished the first two chapters of Job and upon looking at them and and studying them We see what God is doing in the life of this man Job Job has no idea about what's going on in heaven He knows idea no idea about the challenge between God and Satan no idea that Satan wants Job to curse God But yet Job as you read chapters 1 & 2 he comes out Seemingly unscathed. I mean he has lost everything

He's lost his health and yet he has maintained his character He's true to form Would it be that all of us would respond the way Job did and Yet when we come to chapter 3 things change dramatically and When we read chapter 3 we are a little taken back by what Job says So much so that we could even think he could be heretical in his approach to the things he says Yet God will never condemn Job for his words In fact at the end of the book of Job he affirms What Job has said in Job 42 the Lord says Because you have not spoken to me what is right as he speaks to Eliphaz as my servant Job has So at the end of the book of Job remember that Eliphaz did not speak rightly of God as Job did So whatever you think about the conversation of Job whatever you think about the things that he says realize that God Brackets the book with affirmations about Job Because he's an upright God-fearing blameless man turning away from evil We read chapter 1 & 2 like wow. I wish I could be like that We read chapter 3 and we think wow that is me. I do respond like that and Yet there are so many lessons to learn We had this idea that the people in Scripture the heroes of faith Lived flawless lives, but they didn't We had this idea that that they can do no wrong But they do so we have this idea in our mind that when you read about Job or you read about Abraham or or David or Daniel that these guys were were so spotless so over-the-top Amazing that we can we can never live up to that kind of character yet the great thing about about Job is that he models for us a biblical response to all of his imperfections Because he's an imperfect imperfect person He's not a perfect person He admits he's a sinner we'll see that as we go through the text But he models a biblical response to all of his imperfections And that's what the Christian life really is all about as parents

We we don't necessarily model perfection to our Children, but we do model a biblical response to all of our imperfections to our children So they know how to live the life of Christ and follow him No matter what Job in chapter 3 is depleted Absolutely discouraged Some would even say depressed And who could blame him, right? I've told you before that that none of us can understand the enormous pain that Job is facing at this point in his life and And so when you read about His response when he finally speaks after seven days of silence You can begin to understand

He's a man filled with great enormous Pain If Job was in the hospital he'd be quarantined There'd be a sign on his door no visitors you can't see him He's too ugly to look at He's in too much pain So there will be no visitors But he's not in the hospital He's on an ash heap

He's in the junkyard Trying to get some kind of relief some kind of reprieve some kind of rest, but he has none and Will not have any for days and days to come For us there are many that could be on a breaking point Their lives are depleted they're going through difficult times and hardship and We must remember that that Job is suffering this Not because he sinned against God There are times we suffer consequences because of our sin and those consequences are severe, right? It David for example, the sword never left his house because of a sin with Bathsheba and he Reaped the consequences of a sin for the rest of his life But there is no account of Job sinning we in fact God's already given the testimony that he has not sinned against him and That he lives an upright life and yet Job has faced Severe pain and in turmoil The last words that we heard him speak Were to his wife in chapter 2 She appears on the scene

She says one thing curse God and die and He doesn't simply because Can we accept good from God and not accept adversity and in all this Job did not sin with his lips Which helps us understand and we talked about this last week that that Satan will use those closest to you because Satan's not done yet Satan is going to use his three friends To try to get him to curse God Now the three friends don't see themselves as being used of Satan just like Job's wife didn't see herself Being used of Satan just like Peter didn't see himself being used of Satan either When he asked the Lord or told the Lord He didn't know what his mission was that he had made a mistake about dying on the cross and the Lord said to him Get thee behind me Satan You see when someone close to you doesn't have in mind the purposes of God they're being but used by Satan to deter you from the mission that God's called you to They might not even know it Peter didn't know it Sarah didn't know with Abraham Job's wife didn't know it his three friends

Don't know it That's why it's always Always important to be wise and to understand what God is doing and what God is saying That we might follow him explicitly So let me read to you the third chapter

It's only 26 verses long We'll read it and then make some comments about it afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth and Job said let the day perish on which I was to be born in the night which said a boy is Conceived oh by the way, that's a great statement concerning those who believe in abortion That conception is birth Birth is not nine months later But conception actually is the birth of the child and Job affirms that May that day be darkness Let not God above care for it nor light shine on it Let darkness and black gloom claim it let a cloud settle on it

Let the blackness of the day terrify it That's where that night that darkness sees it

Let it not rejoice among the days of the year Let it not come into the number of the months behold Let that night be barren let no joyful shout enter it Let those curse it who curse today who are prepared to rouse Leviathan Let the stars of its twilight be darkened let it wait for light But have none and let it not see the breaking dawn Because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb or hide trouble from my eyes Why did I not die at birth? Come forth from the womb and expire Why did the knees receive me and why the breasts that I should suck For now, I would have lain down and been quiet. I Would have slept then I would have been at rest With the Kings and with counselors of the earth Who rebuilt ruins for themselves or with the princess who had gold? Who were filling their houses with silver? or like a miscarriage which is discarded I Would not be as infants that never saw light there the wicked cease from raging and There the weary are at rest The prisoners are at ease together

They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster The small and the great are there and the slave is free from his master Why is light given to him who suffers and life to the bitter of soul? Who long for death but there is none and dig for it more than for hidden treasures Who greatly rejoice and exult when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in For my groanings come at the sight of my food and my cries pour out like water For what I fear comes upon me And what I dread befalls me I am NOT at ease Nor am I quiet and I'm not at rest but turmoil comes quite a difference between chapters 1 and chapters 2 and Job Having sat where he is for seven days Seven days of silence members three friends gathered around him and were so awestruck by how he was disfigured So awestruck by the way, he was suffering they could not even speak of words they sat with him And so for seven days Job sits in silence He sits suffering in silence and there's no rest Probably very little sleep No way to relieve the pain that he's going through and all the questions in his mind What has happened? How did everything that was so good get so bad so fast and why is this happening to me and All this is going on in his mind It's not like his wife is there with her arms around him consoling him loving on him praying with him

Nope She's nowhere to be found once she Encouraged him to curse God and die She goes off the scene So there he sits totally alone Totally abandoned except for the three friends around him, but in our reality, he's still alone

They're not saying anything And all these questions are going through his mind What on earth is happening? Now think about this in your life in mind we'd have the same kind of questions What is going on? How did this happen to me? So fast, how did I get this disease so quick? Where did it come from? What did I do not even expressing the thought of the loss of his children in the loss of His possessions and all that he had His wife who was supposed to love him and be his number one helpmate was no help at all He was completely isolated and rejected And when his three friends finally opened their mouths the rejection seems to be even stronger And harder to accept This is what job is It's really hard for us to put ourselves in that ash heap It's hard for us to understand the turmoil that is going through It's hard for us to grasp the amount of pain that he's facing every moment of every day with no relief There's no way we can understand it And yet it's on the pages of scripture For us to read it And as joe begins to now open his mouth, he's not going to speak to the three friends he's not going to speak to god He's just voicing his inner turmoil He's speaking out loud you ever done that You know Oh, it's okay to speak out loud

Just don't answer yourself out loud, right? And so he speaks out loud because He's going to break the silence Which then will ensue with his friends believing that now they can speak up because they're going to listen to all that he says And instead of listening to his heart they hear his words and they use his words against him And so what begins as the discussion Soon turns To a debate And that's the last thing you want to do with somebody who's suffering is to debate why they are suffering But that's why they're called miserable comforters Not the kind of people you want to visit you when you're you're sick But anyway I want you to see four points this evening We want to see jobe's personal agony In terms of how it's expressed in his lamentation How it's explained by his questions How it's exhibited through his frustrations And then how it's extended to your situation and mine 4 000 years later by way of application, okay So Let's look first of all At jobe's personal agony as it's expressed in his lamentation notice 13 times he says Let it be or may it be In hebrew, it's a it's a it's a verb of wishing He is wishing That things were different He was wishing things could be changed They can't be He doesn't curse god But he does curse the day Of his birth why? Well, if he's not born He's not going to suffer If he's not born his children will not be born his children will not suffer and die So maybe the best part of life is never do I've been born at all Now think about this Job Job is not the only person who says this in scripture right Think about the psalmist in psalm 88 if you're with us this summer Hopefully you were Bruce covered this psalm

It's the saddest of the 150 Remember what the psalmist said Some think it's even job who wrote psalm 88 Some believe it's someone writing about what job said in psalm 88 Some believe it's a man filled with leprosy in psalm 88 We just don't know which is a good thing Sometimes it's good not to know We are such control freaks We want to know everything sometimes it's good Just not to know what kind of disease did job have we want to try to explain it so we can understand it You can't explain it

So don't try to understand it So psalm 88 says this oh lord the god of my salvation i've cried out by day And in the night before you let my prayer come before you incline your ear to my cry for my soul Has had enough troubles And my life Has drawn near to sheol I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit I become like a man without strength Forsaken among the dead like the slain who lie in the grave whom you remember no more and they are cut off from your hand You have put me in the lowest pit in dark places in the depths your wrath has rested upon me And you have afflicted me with all your waves You have removed my acquaintances far from me

You have made me an object of loathing to them I am shut up and cannot go out my eyes Or my eye has wasted away because of affliction I've called upon You every day

Oh lord. I have spread out my hands to you Will you perform wonders for the dead will the departed spirits rise and praise you? Will your loving kindness be declared in the grave your faithfulness in abaddon? Will your wonders be made known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? But I oh lord have cried out to you for help and in the morning my prayer comes before you Oh lord, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your faith from me? I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on I suffer your terrors I am overcome your burning anger has passed over me

Your terrors have destroyed me They have surrounded me like water all day long They have encompassed me together all together You have removed lover and friend far from me my acquaintances Are in darkness You read that and you think whoa, this guy's in a whole bunch of trouble He's cried to the lord and the lord has not answered You've been there i'm sure you have jeremiah another man Jeremiah 20 Cursed be the day when I was born what? Jeremiah the great prophet Cursed to be the day I was born Jeremiah 20 verse number 14

Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me Oh Cursed to be the man who brought the news to my father saying a baby boy has been born to you And made him very happy cursed to be the day when my father heard that I was a boy born to him And remember jeremiah chapter 1 the whole thing about god's sovereignty how he's formed specifically In the womb how jeremiah was called out by god from the womb and now jeremiah is cursing the day that he was Born and that his father knew that he was a boy But let that man be like cities which the lord overthrew Without relenting and let him hear an outcry in the morning and a shout of alarm at noon Because he did not kill me before birth so that my mother would have been my grave and her womb ever pregnant Why did I ever come forth from the womb to look on trouble and sorrow so that my days? Have been spent In shame interesting Elijah remember elijah israel's greatest prophet Wished that god would kill him first king is 19 verse number 4 How about jonah? jonah chapter 4 He asked god to kill him What is this all these prophets these great men of god asking god to kill them? That things would be done with them forever sometimes We don't like to see the rawness of a person's soul But isn't it unique how god has put this on the pages of scripture Just be glad that the rawness of your soul when you speak isn't put on the pages of scripture for us to read What you say Think about that But god allows us to read About jeremiah and jeremiah was rejected jeremiah was isolated

Nobody listened to jeremiah even though he was called by god Nobody cared

He was putting in stocks and he was beaten and thrown in prison Elijah He was just being chased by jezebel But he wished he was dead And he had just called down fire from heaven And been used in a great way in the life of israel Jonah great prophet to nineveh, but because they repented he wanted to die figure that but job Different character Completely Afflicted from head to toe constant pain lost everything And so god lets him speak God never says shame on you job Wrong for saying that job God never criticizes nor condemns the words of job think about that He curses the day of his birth he does not curse god Listen distress the cry of distress Is not the same as a cry of distrust Please remember that The cry of distress is not the same as a cry of distrust Think about the lord jesus on the cross Eli eli lama sabachthani my god my god

Why hast thou forsaken me? That was the cry of our lord As he hung on calvary's tree And for those three hours of darkness when the full wrath of god fell upon him Because he would bear your sin in mind He was forsaken By his god didn't call him father only time in his life He never called on God his father

He just called him my god my god Because the distress and the anguish that he faced Did not mean distrust at all Because he truly trusted in his father That's why when it was over after that broken fellowship that broken communion where god the father had forsaken the son Because he turned his back on him because he bore the sin of the world That he would say father into your hands I commend my spirit But the cry of distress did not mean a cry of distrust sing with job But this is his Lamentation this is the man's cry It's expressed in all kinds of ways he speaks to the fact that His life should be in darkness deep shadow a cloud blackness thick darkness He is facing his pain head on He is letting out what's going on on the inside He has to express it some way and that's what he's doing he's recognizing that it's real It's painful But to recognize it And to admit it Is to express the reality of his pain If he laid there emotionless if he laid there like A few scabs here

No big deal. I can scrape those babies off We're good to go That's not how he can live his life No, he was in pain Again, we can't wrap our arms around this We can't even begin to fathom in our mind all Of a what he's going through we just can't We're trying We're trying as best as we possibly can to understand it

We're reading it on the pages of scriptures, but to really digest it We've never experienced this kind of pain On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 15 it goes off the scale most of us can't relate In fact i'd be embarrassed to sit down with job and talk to him about my pains I really would I'd really be embarrassed I've i've lost i've lost a wife But i'd be embarrassed to speak about my loss compared to job's loss right I've suffered pain. I've had three back surgeries

Hey, you know what but that's nothing they Shot me up with morphine. I was good to go And they did surgery on my back But not for joe, there's no hospital to go to There's no ointment to put on him Nothing to soothe his sores He's in pain So i'd be embarrassed to bring up all my pain and all my loss and even my My rejections to to joe because he just pale in comparison to what he's going through But yet yeah Yeah, i'm able to understand how it is God wants to teach me something unique in his life And therefore I listen intently So joe's personal agony is expressed in his lamentation

It's explained in his questions He asked them Something all of us ask verse 11 Why didn't you let me die at birth? Verse 12 Why didn't you drive my mother's milk so I would starve Versus 20 to 22

Why do you keep wicked people like me? Alive why? Just let me die Let it be over Why do you do this The why question listen, there's nothing wrong with asking a why question you just can't demand that god answer your why question We somehow think that god owes us an explanation And we told you that that as you go through this god's never going to do that for joe God's never going to give him an explanation Which is really good because you know what there are so many things that we go through that cannot be explained this side of eternity Remember, it's not the explanation god gives it's the revelation That god gives it's a revelation of himself But god doesn't do that right away

He does that at the right time God's timing is always perfect And happens in a way that is best for joe And by the way Whatever your pain Whatever your distress Whatever your hardship, whatever your trial God will answer With a revelation of himself when he's ready When it's time to give you the answer Not before then because one of the things that god's going to reveal to joe Is a little bit more about the afterlife Because his view of the afterlife is limited that wasn't fully revealed until the new testament 2nd

Timothy 1 10 that because the gospel of god Unveils to us lights the way to life and immortality But joe's understanding of the afterlife is very limited as he begins to explain These words in job 3 when he says, you know what for now? I would lie down. I would be quiet. I would sleep i'd be at rest I'd be with kings. I'd be with counselors. I'd be with princes. I'd be with all people who were who were miscarried I'd be with all those people But what god is going to do is unveil to him more and more about the afterlife So one of the purposes of joe's suffering is to understand more and more about eternity in the afterlife Because he doesn't have a well a good understanding of it at this point He doesn't know that But it will be revealed to him as time goes on Because this is he has a very limited knowledge in terms of what happens after death So he asks the questions And rightly so he doesn't demand answers he just wants to know questions and you know what the answer will will never suffice Let's say joe got the answer Would he feel any better if he got the answer Will all the sores go away if he knew that god said well, this is what I did joe But I I mean satan and I had this uh conversation and I told him he could do anything he wanted He just couldn't kill you

And so this is what you got Would that make him feel any better? Or that you know satan I had this conversation and he could do whatever he wanted just couldn't touch your life And so he took all your kids away How would that make joe feel? Would he be better See, we think that if we had the answer to the why question we'd feel a whole lot better We'd be in more control now. I know why But the pain's still there The loss is still there

It's still there So it's better that he doesn't know Why because it causes him to continually trust his god It causes him to continually lean upon his god depend upon his god It drives him to god Even though he does not know so As god begins to unveil these things to him in time down the road job sits and wonders His personal agony is expressed in his lamentation it's explained by his questions and it's exhibited through his frustrations You can see his frustration in verse number 24 He's never without pain and suffering In verse number 24

He says for my groanings come at the sight of my food and my cries pour out like water in other words Food comes i'm still in pain I'm still crying out And my tears flow like water There's a never-ending Part to my pain It just keeps coming And in verse 25 the one thing I didn't want to happen has happened The greatest fear that I could ever imagine Has come upon me I've lost everything And my health is tearing my life apart so even in verse number 26 he speaks of the fact that Peace and safety and serenity Used to be mine. I used to be protected but now i'm not in fact, he closes with these words

He says I am not at ease. I nor am I quiet and I am not at rest But turmoil comes That's how he ends His Statement having said that How to respond to all this What do we do So let's extend everything to our situation to our timetable today You know paul asked For god to remove his thorn in the side Have you ever asked god to remove something He knew that it was a messenger of satan Sent to buffet him He knew that And so in second griffiths 12, he talks about asking god to remove that from him He did it three times I would have asked 300 times, but he asked just three times And god said no not gonna do it

He asked For his turmoil to be removed And instead god gave him something he didn't ask for He gave him grace he gave him grace to strengthen him to Cause him to stand And that in his weakness he would be strong Didn't ask for grace He asked for the pain to be removed Have you ever done that? Have you ever asked for something to be removed something to be totally gone? Maybe it's a situation at work That's so bad lord remove them, but god doesn't remove them Lord remove me, but god doesn't remove you

You're still there And their words and their persecution becomes more and more severe And god says no i'm not going to remove that from you instead i'm going to give you the grace To sustain you in that situation You have you have a physical ailment you say lord remove this from me take it from me god says no I'm, not going to remove it. I'm going to keep it there. I'm going to give you the grace to sustain you through it You've incurred an incredible loss in your family And you lay in bed at night alone

You're saying god, would you please? Take me home and god says no i'm not going to take you home. I'm going to keep you right here I'm going to give you the grace to sustain you That's very important to understand That there are things that we go through that we wish we never have to go through

That's why job says Why didn't I die at birth? I would never have to face this stuff But he was born And he was facing it And god wasn't going to remove it at least not just yet And for paul god never removed it, but god gave him grace So having said that I want to help you understand How it is god's grace will sustain you through whatever turmoil you encounter Because that's what you're going to get no matter what Granted god might remove it from you

He might remove that that tumor That's cancerous He might remove that person that's cantankerous at work and it's constantly persecuting you He might remove That loneliness from your life And give you another wife as he did me years ago But then again he might not But he will give you his grace And that grace will sustain you How does that happen? Number one, you must acknowledge the god of grace You must acknowledge the god Of grace, you know, our god is a god of grace Remember way back in the book of exodus the 34th chapter when moses wanted to see god face to face He wanted to show me your glory

Oh, I just I just need to see your glory And the lord says I I can't let you see my face because if I do if I do i'm gonna have to kill you So i'm gonna let all my goodness pass before you so whatever his glory is it's all around his goodness and so he says I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the lord before you and I will be gracious to you Be gracious to you most and so the lord hides him in the cleft of the rock and the lord passes by him And it says in verse number 5 of chapter 34 The lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the lord Then the lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the lord the lord god compassionate and gracious Gracious You want to know about the glory of the lord? He is a gracious god

He is a compassionate god 30 Or excuse me, 27 different times Exodus 34 6 and 7 is quoted in the old testament This becomes the benchmark for israel's history Our god is compassionate Our god is Gracious our god is forgiving Our god is full of mercy abounding in truth

This is who our god is You must acknowledge the god of all grace You can ask whatever question you want to ask Why am I this way? Why am I not that way? Why has this happened to me? Why at this time has this happened to me? And the why question may or may not be answered but more than likely it will never be answered But the who question is that there's a god of grace behind everything That everything is from him through him and to him again Romans 11 36 to him be the glory both now and forever and ever amen Therefore you must acknowledge that he is the god of grace

In fact, listen to this Not only is god the father the god of grace Christ is full of grace and truth John 1 14, right? Christ is full of grace He's full of truth God is the god of grace hebrews 10 29

The spirit is called the spirit of grace So because they're all one, right? One god manifest in three distinct persons god the father god the son god the spirit They're all grace Grace And god wants you to acknowledge him as the god of grace In first peter 4 10 peter talks about the manifold grace of god The varying shapes of that grace that goes along as we said earlier about the manifold trials that come your way different shapes and sizes there's a there's a there's a There's a grace given to you For every shape and trial of every for every shape of every trial that comes your way Because god is a god of grace we sing earlier when through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply my grace Shall be your supply The grace of almighty god You must acknowledge the god Of grace first peter 5 10

He's called the god of all grace not just the god of grace The god of all grace god's unmerited favor toward undeserved sinners God's unmerited favor towards undeserved sinners

God has what is called a common grace as well as a special grace A common grace is that everyone experiences that it's common, right? You breathe common grace You're alive Common grace, right? Your boss who's a heathen Is alive common grace, right? The wage of sin is death When you sin you should die, but you don't why grace It's all about common grace But special grace is saving grace Special grace is sustaining grace Special grace is sanctifying grace And that comes to the believer For by grace you save through faith that not yourselves

It is a gift of god not of works less than he man should boast You must acknowledge the god of grace and then number two You must accept the gospel of grace You must accept the gospel of grace Once you acknowledge that god is full of grace and full of truth that the spirit is nothing but grace And that god is the god of all grace You must accept the gospel of grace We don't deserve the gospel

We don't deserve to be saved We're undeserving But god is graceful Remember noah First time the word grace is used in the by in the bible genesis chapter 6 The whole world was full of evil And all they did was sin continually against god but god graced noah Noah was just as evil as everybody else was Noah was just as sinful as everybody else was he was continually sinning against god, too But god said I chose to grace noah He graced him And that's why noah and his family were saved because the grace of god Is That's why anybody's saved right? We're not saved because of good works

We're not saved because of who we are

We're not saved because we're famous people We're not Saved because of anything other than the fact that god decides to grace us We've been graced And we accept that grace Because we acknowledge the god of all grace that's why titus chapter 2 is is so important Because in titus chapter 2 the bible says in verse number 11 for the grace of god has appeared bringing salvation to all men Constructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live sensibly righteously and godly in this present age Have you accepted the gospel of grace? Because you've acknowledged the god of all grace Number three number three need to apply The word of grace You need to apply the word of grace Now, this is very important

Listen carefully Paul told the ephesians and elders and that's at the 20 verse number 32. I commend you to god and to the word of his grace Which is able to build you up I commend you to god in the word of his grace, which is able to build you up So if I accept the god of grace, I mean, excuse me acknowledge the god of grace and accept the gospel of grace The very next thing I need to realize is that I need to apply the word of grace to my life In other words, I don't deserve to have god's word But god gave it to me God granted it to me so I could read it understand it and believe all that he says Now the bible says that god Resists the proud But he gives grace to the humble He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble And therefore we need to humble ourselves 3 peter 5 6 under the mighty hand of god's destiny That's very important Because you see our refusal to submit to god's mighty hand of destiny for job It was the hand of destiny that that signified the fact that he would lose everything And his health And a proud man will never experience the grace of god because god resists the proud But he does give grace to the humble That's why we submit ourselves under god's mighty hand of destiny and follow his direction So we apply the word of grace to our lives psalm 119 Says it this way verse number 25 My soul cleaves to the dust revive me according to your word Revival in your distress only comes from the word of god job

Listen job didn't have this Job couldn't receive a bible open it up and read psalm 119 verse number 25 He didn't have the book of the law He didn't have any of that He couldn't go and apply the word of grace because he only knew what was passed down from generation to generation He didn't have a bible to read How blessed are we to be able to open it up and read it? Look what says in psalm 119 verse number 107 I am exceedingly afflicted Revive me oh lord according to your word

Wow The psalmist says i'm exceedingly afflicted Well, what do you do when you're exceedingly afflicted? You call upon the lord You read his word because the word of god is what revives you so paul says in acts 20 I commend you to god and the word of his grace which is able to build you up which is able to strengthen you Which is able to lift you because nothing else can so i'm going to give you the word of his grace to do that The psalmist says when i am exceedingly afflicted

It's the word of god that revives me psalm 119 Psalm 119 verse number 153 Look upon my affliction and rescue me For I do not forget your law Plead my cause and redeem me revive me according to your word Salvation is far from the wicked for they do not seek your statutes greater your mercies Oh lord revive me according to your ordinances Many are my persecutors and my adversaries yet. I do not turn aside from your testimonies I behold the treacherous and loathe them because they do not keep your word consider how I love your precepts Revive me

Oh lord according to your loving kindness the sum of your word is truth and every one of your righteous ordinances Is everlasting again revive me revive me revive me how? according to your righteous ordinances Your statutes your precepts You see when god said to paul my grace is sufficient It's sufficient because paul acknowledged the god of grace Had already accepted the gospel of grace And was willing to apply the word of grace to his life number four You need to approach the throne of grace Right approach the throne Of grace hebrews 4 If you can recall our study in hebrews the fourth chapter 15th verse many many many many many many months ago Says for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses But one who has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace You need to approach the throne of grace

Why? So that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need you see Why does god resist the proud because the proud does not approach the throne of grace? He wants god to give him answers he demands that god gives them answers But the humble person He bows before his god Cries out to god and pleads with him approaches the throne of grace Remember isaiah 30 this is so good Isaiah 30 verse number 18 the lord longs To be gracious to you

The lord longs to be gracious to you And therefore he waits on high To have compassion on you For the lord is a god of justice How blessed are all? those Who long or wait or rely on him ever think about how the lord longs to be gracious to you? He just wants to bestow grace upon grace upon grace to sustain you to strengthen you But are you willing to approach the throne of grace? To come to him He waits on high What's he waiting for? He's waiting for you to come to him He's filled with all his grace He's full of grace and truth

He's the god of all grace looking to dispense grace that will sustain and Suffice in every time of need And yet all he asks that you approach the throne of grace Because he is the high priest who can sympathize with whatever weakness that you have your pastor Cannot Your house husband your wife your spouse cannot Your children they cannot But god Oh, he can So he longs to be gracious to you he waits on high To bestow grace upon you Undeserved Unmerited favor toward undeserved sinners So Having acknowledged the god of all grace Having accepted the gospel of grace Having applied the word of grace and approached the throne of grace Need to aspire to grow In grace 2nd peter 3 18 grow in the grace and knowledge of jesus christ Our lord you aspire to do that we grow in grace we grow in knowledge The two kind of go together but they are distinct grace all is about character traits Grace is what makes you vulnerable knowledge is what makes you you stable Grace is what makes you sensitive knowledge is what makes you strong But you are to grow in the grace and knowledge of jesus christ do you aspire to grow in that grace What does it mean? Well, if the lord is full of grace and truth You're growing In your understanding of the god who is god of grace You aspire to that Because you want to exemplify his grace So you seek to follow your god and honor your god and then lastly lastly you act upon the strength of his grace you act upon the strength Of his grace Second tivity chapter two verse number one be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus Now you act upon the strength of grace Because it strengthens you Unlike anything else you say how does that happen? Listen you don't need I said this to you before grace for the loss of a loved one Do you lose a loved one? You don't need Cancer grace until you get cancer You don't need Loss of a job grace until you lose your job Job You look at people say well, how do they ever do that? Well, you don't you're not there so you don't need the grace for that God dispenses his grace to those who are in need to sustain them during that particular need the manifold grace of god And so as amy carmichael said It was pain That knocked upon my door and said that she had come to stay And though I would not welcome her but bade her go away she entered in And like my own shade she followed after me And from her stabbing stinging sword No moment Was I free? And then one day another knocked Most quietly at my door. I said no pain is here

There is no room for more Then I heard his tender voice Tis I be not afraid And from that day he entered in Oh the difference He has made When the god of grace enters the heart When the spirit of grace enters the heart When the son that is full of grace and truth enters the heart Grace is dispensed in time of need So god would say to paul i'm not going to remove it It's going to be with you for the rest of your life But my grace Is sufficient for you Let's pray Father we thank you lord for tonight and a chance to briefly spend time in your word and our prayer is that lord You will continue to instruct us In the way that we should go We pray for those lord who are in pain tonight physically emotionally mentally However, that pain might manifest itself We pray lord that they would apply the truths of scripture to their life And they would approach the throne of grace having knowledge you as the god of all grace And aspire to grow in the grace and knowledge of jesus christ our lord They might be able to act upon the strength of your grace Oh lord We so come to you because we can go to no one else You are our god And you are the god of all grace So in our time of need We come to you as only we should And may you Deal with us as you see fit For the glory of your kingdom until you come again as you most surely will in jesus name