Three Great Truths

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00:01
Now Holy Spirit, we come to you at this time and we beseech you to take your word and to make it real in our lives Quiet our hearts Take from us the things that so often seem to just swim around in our hearts and minds Maybe we allow us to put them aside for a few minutes to hear your voice And hear your words spoken to us and that it might affect us in our lives that our lives would be changed That our lives would show forth the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ And so again, we ask you now to come and to teach as only you can May the words of our mouths Meditations of our heart be acceptable in your sight For you are our rock and our Redeemer in Christ's name.
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Amen I've asked you to read this portion with me and I want to focus on verse 13 and 14 But he is unique and Who can change who can make him change Whatever his soul desires that he does But he performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him You know friends God's Word God's Word as his divine revelation The vine revelation to man is just an endless well of instruction an endless well of comfort an endless well of of teaching add an endless well of Warning and you and I could do no better than as we come to his word to realize that that this is not a book Written by men.
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It is not something that was crafted in the minds of men over a period of time But rather this is the revelation of God himself This is God's Word to us You and I as we come to the words this morning We need to approach it in that way.
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Is that not why Jesus said that man shall not Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word That proceeds from the mouth of God And if you and I would consider it we can never really exhaust all the authority all the Instruction all the wisdom all the peace all the warning that comes from God's Word It was one time many of you know Charles Spurgeon famous preacher in England And one time someone came up to him and they said to him that that they had read the Bible and they felt as if they Were full of it.
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There was nothing else to be gained from it in Spurgeon it is In the way, he spoke he said that the Word of God was like taking an empty jar and Pouring in rocks into this empty jar and in that he asked the person do you think the jar is full the person said? Yes, it is And it's burden said what if I were to take smaller rocks and pour them into that same jar and fill up the spaces That are in between the larger rocks.
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Would you then say that the jar was full? The man said well, of course It's virgin went on and he said well, then what if I would take sand and pour sand into the same jar and That the sand would then again begin to fill up the spaces where even the little rocks Have left.
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Would you then think that the Word of God that the job was full and the man of cloth once again said yes And it's virgin said finally what if I was to fill it with water and that that water would then take up Every possible place.
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Would you then think that the job was full and my friends? I think that's a great way of explaining the Word of God the Word of God in our understanding We can never really fill that job to the point of exhaustion And as we consider these words and and I say to you in this way if we will truly consider them This is my friend.
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You do not come here to hear me.
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I'm sure I pray you came here to hear God.
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I Pray you came here to be to be taught to be instructed to be comforted to be worn By God and God himself, and if we will do that, then I believe that we will find meaning in this portion of the Word of God I think the Word of God in many ways is like a a man who takes a pick he goes and he approaches this this mountain that's before him and it's it this mountain is so big and Majestic and so high and so lofty and the man looks at that mountain and all he can really do he cannot conquer that mountain He merely can take a pick if you will and begin to chip away at a few pieces and and my friends That's all we're going to do this morning is to seek to to take a pick and just chip a few little pieces from the mountain of God's truth and particularly as it is revealed in these two verses But he is unique and who can make him change Whatever his soul desires that he does for performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him And I want to ask you to consider but three things would be this morning and again just to touch them briefly one is that we are told something of the person in the being of God and Then in the second place we are told something of the activity and the actions of God towards his creatures And then as we close I want to briefly mention something that I hope will leave us if you will hanging in in praise and worship of The one that we are thinking of Let me just ask you to consider the context perhaps you've not read Job in a while as we read In the opening of this man Job who God said was a righteous man God had declared him righteous But nevertheless just because God had declared Job righteous does not mean that Job did not struggle With the affairs of his life matter of fact if you will read the book over and over again you will see more and more that that is really the Essence of of the life of Job as it's revealed to us is that his he is righteous before God and yet his life Just seemed so full of struggles and ultimately the end God reveals himself to Job in a glorious way That is who we are considering as the main character from the standpoint of men He's right with God But listen friends, would you not agree with me? Just because we are right with God does not mean that the struggles of life disappear and in reality the struggles of life become more difficult and The reason for it I believe in as simple Understanding is this we are living in between if you will two different worlds We no longer belong to this world And and although we belong to to the world to come to new heavens of the new earth in some ways we're we're kind of hanging in between and So the struggles for the child of God I say to you are much greater and much more difficult Than for those who are only a child of this world So Job is is truly one who is if you will had his life turned upside down Job has lost Just about everything He's lost his kids He's lost his possessions he's lost his servants he's lost his wealth He loses his wife who thinks he is a fool Not only on top of all that his body begins to dissolve Right off his flesh My friends that would certainly Speak to you and me as a life of struggle on top of that Job has some friends and they come to him and they are supposed friends and they come and they want to give counsel to Job but you see the counsel that they give is is Defective Was really the only true counsel comes from God and so as we look at through this portion of scriptures and we View this man Job and what he speaks of in different places.
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We are not talking of someone who's sitting High on the hog and and and everything is going his way, but no friends.
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Everything seems to be going away from him And I think that's all the more important as we see what he speaks of when he speaks of God That in the midst of all his struggles in the midst of all his if you will confusion in the midst of all his Misunderstanding yet job would still say Words such as but he is unique and who can make a change and he performs what is appointed for me Let us consider these words and again I say to you as we consider and may God open our hearts because my friends if God does not open our hearts this morning We will go away.
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No better than when we came So, let me ask you to first consider how We are given something about the very person and being of God look at it, but he is unique And Who can make a change? That word unique friends in a believe me.
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I am no Hebrew scholar nor my Greek scholar.
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I am Italian from the Bronx But the word unique there designates and comes from a root word which speaks of a specific number of some kind a specific number of some kind a if you will unique designation other translations will interpret verse 13 and they will say but he is of one mind Another translation will say but he stands alone And I do not think we would be out of bounds if we would say that God is one of a kind Did you ever say to someone have someone say to you, you know, you're unique I've had people say that to me and they say it with a half a smile and a half a frown I'm not sure if it's a compliment or an insult But yet when you say that what you're trying to say is you're different You're special Listen friends, and I will get excited this morning and I make no apologies for it.
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God is special The living God is unique There's none like him Did you and I realize that when we came here this morning we came to worship one who is absolutely unique and beyond Comparison you see he's not the result of the thinking of men He is not the result of the thinking of all men in there in their most Intelligent or or Understanding mind you could put all the minds of men together and you could seek to have them Comprehend one such as the living God.
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They would fall far short my friends The living God the true God is separate from all else Now you and I might say amen.
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I know that do we Do we really believe that God is unique? That he is higher than all That he transcends all that there is none like him But he's unique Some of you might know before we My wife and I came here.
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We we had been in the ministry 20 years different churches and During that time.
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I've been convinced to some things and then I've changed my conviction But I have a conviction that I've had for a number of years and the conviction is this one of the greatest hindrances to the churches of Christ Comes not from the outside but from the inside.
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I Have been convicted for a good period of time that one of the greatest obstacles in the churches of Christ is the result of the perception of The people who call upon God the perception and their concept of himself That the deficiency that you and I have of the very person of God hinders us That is not so much those that are outside that seek to to Drag us down and to silence us, but it's it's it's the problem of us.
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Our concept of God is way too small friends Our perception of this one who is absolutely unique is deficient and Not only is it a hindrance within the church.
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I believe it's a hindrance in the proclamation of the God we proclaim We go out sometimes and we preach an impotent Jesus And we declare an impotent God as if as if God's just a little better than all the other gods of the world My friends there is no other God Is unique God says To those who have this deficient Insufficient perception of him.
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He says you really thought that I was such a one as you You really thought I was like you He is unique who can make him change Some time ago.
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I sent a text to my wife in 2017 we could send texts.
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I sent the text to my wife and I Was working and something just came in my mind.
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I sent her a text and I said hey think about this think about things That belong to God that never change And I was a shortlist nevertheless think about this this morning my friends who this God is That never changes God Very tired this morning God never tires That certainly is unique That certainly is Something that none else no one else can claim God never hungers Some of your bellies were already growling God never is hungry You might say well, that's pretty fleshly.
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That's pretty worldly my friends That's a that's a truth and you and I cannot say that of ourselves God never tires God never hungry Listen, God is never lonely How's that God knows no Loneliness, he's never alone.
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He is forever father son and Holy Spirit and Glorious communion and fellowship.
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God is never lonely.
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I Have a term I use for things like this and it's very eloquent and it's very High minded that's pretty cool God is never depressed God is never weaker No strong.
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I want to show you something.
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I will keep you in the book of Job this morning I want to show you something that maybe you've never read before and if you're ready before I hope it makes your hair stand on end Turn with me if you will in the book of Job Job 35 for a minute Job 35 and this is the point of the fact that God is unique and God never changes and nothing from the outside Could affect him in any way to change you Job chapter 35 I'll pick it up in verse 4, but the point is in verse 6 to 8 as Eli who answers and speaks I will answer you and your companions with you Look to the heavens and see and behold the clouds which are higher than you and look at this if you sin If you sin, what do you accomplish against him? If your Transgressions are multiplied.
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What do you do to him? Verse 7 if you are righteous What do you give him? What does he receive from your hand your wickedness affects a man such as you and your righteousness the Son of Man Listen my friends And I wonder if we really get this God doesn't get bigger and smaller as the days go on If we sin against God we grieve God.
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Yes Do we do damage if you will to his manifested glory, but God doesn't become less God because people rebel against him If you and I are righteous if you and I do the things that please God then it pleases God, but God doesn't get bigger God is unchangeable He's forever God totally wholly completely God he is Unaffected Is that the Godly Brooklyn? I'm sure you're not much different than me Do you ever think to yourself man? I did good today.
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I was a good Christian today God must be happy with me today or I was a terrible Christian today My friends those things might be true, but God is forever the same.
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He never changes He is the self-existent God And that again in the lofty terms is some pretty cool stuff to think If you will go back now to chapter 23, I want to ask you to think of this When Jesus the Savior When Jesus the Savior of sinners when Jesus came into world and the world did not know him When Jesus came into a world of darkness and the doctors did not comprehend him when Jesus came into this world as the Son of God And the Son of Man my friends.
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He veiled his divinity.
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He did not lose it He was no more no less the eternal Son of God as a babe as he was on the cross And the wickedness of men and the rebellion of men did not take anything from this one He veiled his his eternal being what he forever is There's so much more But I want to ask you to consider Never forget He's unique never told in the second place about Some of the activities and the actions of God He's unique and who can make him change and whatever his soul desires that he does You know, I think that is particularly offensive to the unbeliever that Not only is God unlike any other not only is he unique and Not only does this uniqueness of God never change but God does whatever he pleases God does whatever he pleases and he performs what is appointed to me You ever talk to someone about the sovereignty of God I'm not asking you to talk to someone about the five points of Calvinism Sometimes We'd be better off leaving Theological terms aside and just talking about the truth of God and the character of God He talked to someone about the sovereignty of God And if you dare to say something such as that God does whatever he pleases and he appoints He performs what is appointed for me.
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You usually if you've hit a nerve get some sort of reaction like this Robots Are you telling me that that God is is Unanswerable to anyone and everyone is that what you're saying? Are you saying that that I'm nothing but a robot to be moved about at the whim of this God that you're speaking of? My friends I'm ready to say amen Maybe some would say wait a minute What are we just a bunch of? Chess pieces on a board and we just been moved around at the whim of God and he does whatever he wants to do with Us and we can't stop them.
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We can't we can't the freedom kind of Fatalistic don't you think? Or perhaps when you mentioned the fact that God never changes that he does whatever he pleases to do And he performs what is appointed for us as his creatures.
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Some would say hey, wait a minute.
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What's the oase? Almost just lay down in the dirt.
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God's gonna do it.
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Anyway That's the argument many people will give when you talk to him about the sovereignty of God and the reality that unless God opens the heart The heart will remain shut and people say well if I'm gonna be saved, I'll be saved and I'm not gonna be saved It's not my fault.
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It's God's fault There will be no such arguments in the day If anyone thinks of it listen, here's a here's a way to kind of work through those issues If anyone ever says that as you speak to them about something In line of the fact that God does whatever he pleases to do and he performs that which is appointed as he has appointed If someone rebels against that my friends they are either giving you a Reaction that is based on a lack of understanding because You and I that maybe have been with the Lord many many years.
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Can you and I understand all that? Can you and I in the struggles of life in the perplexities of life in the confusion of life in the in the struggles of life? Can can you and I say well God does whatever he pleases to do and that's fine with me It's either many will say that because they have a lack of understanding of this glorious God Well, you want to know the truth friends? Their heart and rebellion just wells up against them You see because I don't know how It always undresses itself or displays itself, but every man apart from Christ thinks he's his own God and Because he thinks his own he's his own God and yet being his own God He cannot do what the Living God does because God does whatever he wants to do Find me a man on the earth or a woman on the earth that can do even in a small way anything that they desire to do and Could cause things to take place that they desire to do You see Job knows something being a righteous man No, no friends Job has basically lost everything he's laying in the dirt He's got boils on his body His flesh is falling off his friends are condemning him and yet Job says that God never changes and he performs what is appointed for me He knows who's working behind me If you've never read the Song of Solomon Read the Song of Solomon the book of the Song of Solomon You will find that the Song of Solomon really is about to the beloved who is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and The Shulmanite whom the beloved loves who is taken up as the person of Solomon and so in the Song of Solomon it's the richest love story that has ever been told and In the Song of Solomon is a portion of it where the beloved speaks and again He speaks as type of the Lord Jesus Christ himself and he looks upon the Shulmanite and she is sleeping and it says that he he comes at night when she is asleep and he gazes at her through the window if you will through the lattice And he looks to watch over I've been gazing at my wife for almost 45 years and I'm gonna continue to gaze at my wife We see that's how Job understands God in reality that this God who is majestic this God who is enthroned on high this God who spoke this whole world into existence this God does whatever he pleases and Job knows because Job will one time at one place say Though he slay me what? That's right.
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Yet.
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I will praise him.
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How can that be? How can that be he knows the very character of God He knows God is good only good always good He knows if God before us who could be against us He knows that Christ came into this world or would come into this world to redeem him to save him to recreate him to take him Friends the God that we came to worship this morning.
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He performs what is appointed for each and every one of us He's just not sovereign over the universe friends.
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He's sovereign over us He knows the way that I will take he knows the way that you will take He knows the way that everyone will take why because I say to you unashamedly that God has already purposed To do all he pleases And if that doesn't bring you comfort this morning Then I must say this to you it's because of the deficiency in you Not a deficiency in God If you cannot see the gracious goodness Love and mercy of God towards you my friends.
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The problem is with you He that spared not his own son Spared is not his own son.
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My friends.