Job 33

Lord, this conversation cannot begin until they have a clear revelation.

I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, like you said by your servant Elihu in Job 33 that in dreams and in visions of the night the Lord makes clear His will to silence the pride of men and hold back their haughtiness.

I ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, silence the pride of the things that we have set out to build and hold back our haughtiness by the clarity of a revelation of what you want to do with us.

In the name of Jesus.

A sermon delivered on Lord's Day morning, March 16th, 1873, by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"Lo, all these things works God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living." Job 33:29-30.

Some people are wonderfully enamored of anything that is old.

An old coin, an old picture, an old book, or even a piece of antique rubbish they will almost worship.

Job chapter 33, verse number four.

Job 33:4.

The Spirit of God had made me, and the breath of the Almighty had given me life.

In my study of the Bible, I see that, um, there were many occasions where God deployed His breath as the instrument of creativity.

I mean, Jacob was called W- Is- the name Israel means one who wrestles with God.

You know, Job questioned God after the, the devil and s- the, the, um, m- and God made a, made a wager about, you know, when God says to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" You know, so, a- and Job was a- he was afflicted with boils.

He lost his wife, lost his family, and he began to question God, and God answers him.

And so I think that ultimately, though, I, I would quote Christ here, which is Ultimately, flesh and blood cannot reveal to you who He is.

Mm

... more like a map? So the life that you're living now is something that I haven't experienced yet because I haven't reached that point yet, or vice versa.

Now, how I would factor that into the Bible, Job.

What was the story of Job initially? Job was a good person, right?

So if you can quickly go with me to Job chapter 33.

Job 33, verse 13.

So we can see...

In the Old Testament, we can see how God used dreams to communicate his message, whether his blessings or judgments.

So Job 33, verse 13.

And by the way, this is Elihu continuing his discourse.

So verse 13, Why dost thou strive against him? For he giveth not account of any of his matters.

Elihu is speaking to Job, uh, and Elihu is, he's, he's a young guy, so he's pretty incensed at Job.

I'll read, here it's Job 33, 14, uh, verses 14 through 18.

"For God does speak, now one way, now another, though man may not perceive it.

In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, he may speak th- in their ears and terrify them with warnings to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword." Uh, so i- in this case, Elihu's saying, "You know, sometimes God allows this stuff."

...

in a number of theological ways, but I'll leave that, I'll leave that for another, another discussion.

Um, but we see here in, in, in Job 33 what happens, um, and it's something I believe goes on even today, you know? Um, God sends, God will remove his hand, uh, remove his protection to send a warning to people occasionally, especially non-Christians or, or very sort of lukewarm Christians, if you please, that are not, they're not walking in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, or they're not, they're not doing things.

They're, they're, they're doing, they call themselves Christians, but, you know, um, you know, they're, they're partying a lot.

It doesn't match what we thought it was going to look like.

And Job 33, 14 speaks to this.

It says, For God may speak in one way or in another, yet man does not perceive it.

That means man is not aware.

because it didn't match what you expected.

That's why Job 33, 14 says, for God may speak in one way or another, yet man does not perceive it.

That means man is not aware.

Lord, make us aware.