Higher ground. Okay. I'm pressing on the upward wave. New height. Heaven's tamble and a higher plane than I have found. I'll plant my feet on higher ground. My heart has no desire to stay. I'll rise in fierce dismay, though some may dwell where these abound. My prayer, my aim is higher ground. Oh, lift me up and let me stand. My faith on heaven's table and a higher plane than I have found, Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. I want to scale the utmost height and catch a gleam of glory bright, but still I'll pray till heaven I found. to higher ground. Oh, lift me up and let me stand, my faith on heaven's stable land. A higher plane than I have found. Oh, plant my feet on higher ground. All right, welcome to the Liberty Baptist Church again tonight. Let's go ahead and pray and then we'll continue with the service. Father, I ask that you bless the time we have together tonight. Bless the singing, bless the preaching. We need your help, need your power. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated. I want to welcome any visitors. I see at least one. Have any visitors, if you raise your hand, we'd like to give you some materials. All right. And they'll bring you some materials. Within that material, you'll find a visitor's card. If you'll fill that visitor's card out later on when the offering is passed, you can put that in there. And we'll thank you for that. All right, and we're glad to have you. He came all the way from Del Rio. That's a ways to drive, so praise the Lord. All right, we're going to sing More Like the Master now. More like the master I would ever be More of his meekness, more humility More zeal to labor, more courage to be true More consecration for work he bids me do Take thou my heart, I would be thine alone Take thou my heart and make it all mine own Purge me from sin, O Lord, I now implore. Wash me and keep me. ♪ Thine forevermore ♪ ♪ More like the master is my daily prayer ♪ ♪ More strength to carry crosses I must bear ♪ ♪ More earnest effort to bring his kingdom in ♪ ♪ More of his spirit the wonder to win ♪ ♪ Take thou my heart I would be thine alone ♪ Take thou my heart and make it all my own. Heard me from sin, O Lord, I now implore Wash me and keep me Thine forevermore More like the Master I would live and grow More of His love to others I would show More self-denial like Oh, like the master I long to ever be, Take thou my heart, I would be thine alone, In all I know. me from sin, O Lord, I now implore. Wash me and keep me Thine forevermore. All right. Again, thank you, visitors, for coming. A few announcements. Most of you know Mrs. Block. She passed away Thursday. And the funeral will be tomorrow. The viewing is at 10 o'clock here, and then 11 o'clock for the funeral itself. I hope you'll make plans to be here. Again, I mentioned this morning, this is a family matter. Families get together when these type things happen, so I hope you'll make plans to try to be here for that. Prayers for Preacher and his wife, for the Block family. Again, pray for them. Karen wanted to be buried in Missouri, so they'll be taking a trip up to Missouri. Pray for them for travel. Brother Lowry, he was here this morning. I talked to him for a minute. Thursday is a big day for him. He's got some lab work and some decisions they're going to be making on Thursday. So particularly on Thursday, if you think about it, pray for him. Sandra from Adams bus. She has some health issues. And then for several families that have losses in their families, the Wallace family, Block family, Murillo family, Plumstead family, and Brother Nichols mentioned them. One of the other missionaries down in Mexico had passed away a few days ago. We ought to keep each other in prayer. Again, we're a family, so we ought to stick with each other. As far as other things, we've got Wednesday night service at 7.30, and then Thursday we have soul wedding at 6.45, buzz visitation at 9.30 on Saturday, and then Saturday again, 10.45 for soul wedding, and then back in your place at 9.45 next Sunday. All right, thank you so much for coming. Let's see here, let's all stand, and we're going to sing another song, and when I get to the page, I'll tell you what it is. All right, My Anchor Holds. Though the angry surges roll on my tempest-driven soul, I am peaceful, for I know, wildly though the winds may blow, I've an anchor safe and sure that can handle more and more. and it holds, my anchor holds. Blow your wildest band, O Gale, on my park so small and frail. By His grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor holds. All right, hold that second. Here we go. I can feel the anchor fast as I meet each sudden blast. And the cable though unseen bears the heavy strain between. Though the storm might safely rise, of the tide, and it holds, my anchor holds. Though your wound is thin, oh gale, I'm my pock so small and frail. My grace I shall not fail, for my anchor holds, my anchor While we're singing this song, I was thinking we should have sang this this morning, the rock that's higher than I. So anyway, the last verse, here we go. Three fly billows o'er me row, Tempt to seek to lure astray, Storms obscure the light of day, But in Christ I can be bold, I would hang Sing it out. And it holds, my anchor holds, though you're wild as that old gal. Hey, her anchor holds my anchor. All right, you can be seated and we'll sing one more song. We'll sing holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, holy, holy ♪ Merciful and mighty ♪ God in three persons ♪ Blessed Trinity ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ Oh, the saints adore thee ♪ Casting down their golden crowns ♪ Around the glassy sea ♪ Cherubim and seraphim ♪ Falling down before thee for thee, which worth and art and evermore shall be. Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see, only thou art holy. beside thee perfect in power in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Amen. During the announcements, I should have said this. If anyone would like and can use a 36 inch chest style freezer, get in touch with Mrs. Bell. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. Jesus Christ now lives in me. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. Jesus Christ now lives in me. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. Jesus Christ now lives in me. I am crucified with Christ, therefore I no longer live. Jesus Christ now lives in me. Embrace the cross where Jesus suffered Though it will cost all you claim as yours Their sacrifice will seem small beside the treasure Eternity can't measure what Jesus holds in store Embrace the love that Christ requires. Cling to the one whose heart's new every pain. Receive from Jesus fountains of compassion. Only he can fashion your heart to move as his. To face with courage the shame and disgrace you blew upon your shoulders. Embrace the life that comes from dying. Come trace the steps the Savior walked for you. An empty tomb, good clues that guard the sorrow. Endure then till tomorrow, the cross of suffering. Embrace the cross, the cross of Jesus. Hello. I don't know if you thought the same thing I did, but when they started singing, I looked up there and I saw Mrs. Lerow, she was playing the piano, and Daniel was singing, and Brother Lerow was just standing there. And I mean, Daniel sung, what, the first verse or something like that of the song by himself. And so I started thinking to myself, what's he up there for? And then I thought, well, maybe he's just standing up there to look pretty. And then I thought, no, it can't be that. If that was the plan, it wasn't working. You may have noticed we didn't take an offering yet. I don't know if y'all remember one time I told you don't ever let me forget to take the offering. And so one time we didn't take one, I don't remember what it was, but I remember Henry hollering, hey preacher, we didn't take an offering. i thought about it but i still love you we're going to take the offering after the service tonight for the block and i hope you'll have this general support in the days you can and i hope you'll pray for him his heart broken issue can imagine also i hope you'll pray for my friend uh... given women mexico city who has some serious uh... health problems that he is going to have to deal with. And so I'd appreciate it if you would pray for him. Job chapter 23 tonight. Job chapter 23. and we'll read this chapter part of what jones what jones would let me show you this again because you've got to know what the other secure ever going to have any prayer at all of understanding uh... the book of joe you know that the first two chapters tell about the problems joe pad Then you get to chapter 3 and it opens like this. After this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day and Job spake and said and starting then at verse 3 right after and said what Job said we're told about in the remainder of chapter 3 what he said at that time. Chapter 4 then opens like this, Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, And the remainder of chapter 4 and all of chapter 5 tell us what Eliphaz said at that time. Then chapter 6 opens, But Job answered and said, And the remainder of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7 tell us what Job said at that time. Then chapter 8 opens, then answered Bildad the Shuhite. He's the shortest man in the Bible. Some have said Bildad the Shuhite. Ha ha ha. And so then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said, and the remainder of chapter eight tells you what Bildad said at that time. Chapter nine opens, then Job answered and said, and the remainder of chapter nine and all of chapter 10 tell you what Job said at that time. And it just goes like that through the book of Job. And if you understand that, it'll make it a whole lot simpler to understand. If you understand this, what this is, is not something, now some of the things that these guys, Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, Job's friends, some of the things that they said were not true. some of the things that they said were true but were misapplied and you just you have to keep that in mind so chapter twenty-three now is another all part telling us what joe said and what he said in chapter twenty-three continues on uh... through chapter twenty four but we're not going to read chapter twenty-four we're just going to read chapter twenty-three Then Job answered and said, Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. O, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." Some would say that that's the key verse of the entire book. Job goes on, verse 11, My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Then verse 12 is another great verse in the book. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him. Therefore am I troubled at his presence, when I consider I am afraid of him. For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me. Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. and uh... i'm going to use this uh... chapter as a text and uh... or at least as a part of a text and uh... we this is not all we're going to look at we'll look at some of the verses too but i'm going to speak to you for a while tonight on the subject when you don't understand god Father, now we want to be a blessing to people tonight. Of course, if there be one with us tonight that doesn't know Christ as their personal savior, I would pray, Holy Spirit, that you would draw that person to the Lord Jesus and that they might trust him and be saved. And I pray especially for your people tonight that you would help me to preach in such a way that you'd be glorified would be helped and blessed. Now, please help me, Holy Spirit, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we all know, Job is the classic example given in the Bible of one of God's people showing patience and endurance in the face of extreme adversity. The first two chapters of the book tell us of the things that Job lost as far as the material and physical world are concerned. He lost his riches and material prosperity. He lost his ten children. And all this happened on the same day. You talk about a day being a bad day. He had one. He lost his business. He lost his 10 children. They were all killed on the same day. Then he lost his physical health and got a terrible disease. Then his wife got bitter and suggested that he curse God and die. And by the way, some people seem to think that the answer to every problem is to quit serving God. That ain't the answer. Many Christians do that and then find that ultimately and eventually their problems get worse and worse and worse, and furthermore they end up having other problems that they didn't have before. Well, after all this, then Job's friend showed up and began to accuse him of sin and tell him that the reason he was having so much trouble was because he was wicked and he was in sin and God was punishing him for his sin. And there's always that crowd around as well. Anytime somebody starts facing a bit of trouble, unless it's they themselves, of course, none of this ever applies to them, only to somebody else, and especially if it's somebody that they don't particularly like, But it seems that there's always anytime somebody starts facing a little bit of trouble, these folks come out of the woodwork to point out that the person has probably been in sin. That's probably what the problem is. I always appreciate people that know so much. You know, people that God reveals things to them. They get a word of knowledge. They ought to go to Oral Roberts University. It really is what they ought to do. But they're like the barbarians on the island of Melita in Acts chapter 28. When these barbarians saw a snake bite somebody, their response immediately in verse 4 was, no doubt this man is a murderer. See, they assumed that the snake bite was vengeance for some murder that this fellow had committed. Well, guess what? They were wrong. No doubt this man wasn't a murderer. He was the Apostle Paul, is who he was. Now, God does send trouble as punishment for sin, but you can't just assume that because somebody's having trouble that it automatically means that they've been in sin and that the trouble that they're facing is punishment for the sin that they've been involved in. You see, in Job's case, while his friends were attributing the trouble in his life to punishment for sin, In reality, just the opposite was the case. Job wasn't having trouble because he was such a low-down, sorry devil. He was having trouble because he was such a godly man. And thus, the devil attacked him. I remember hearing John R. Rice years ago. Of course, he's been dead since 1980. I learned a lot of basic things when I first got saved from him. And I remember him talking about a preacher telling him at one of his conferences, a preacher coming up to him and telling him, you know, Dr. Rice, you're always talking about the devil does this and the devil does that. He said, the devil doesn't bother me. And Dr. Rice said, well, I don't doubt that the devil never bothers you, but if you twisted his tail like I do, he'd get after you. And so then here Job was, not a backslider, but the godliest Christian on earth. That's God's assessment of him. the godliest man around and he's lost his wealth and prosperity. He's lost his ten children to death. He's lost his health. His wife is bitter. He sits in an ash heap scraping the sores on his body. listening to his friends falsely accuse him of sin and attribute all of his trouble to punishment for that sin. And now, in the midst of all this suffering, Job expresses here in Job chapter 23 something that, while it was not a physical matter, it added another type of grief and suffering in a mental, emotional, spiritual sense. which may have been even worse in some ways than the physical and material losses that he had already suffered. The thing that I'm speaking of which added this extra dimension to his suffering is the fact that in the midst of all his trouble and suffering, he did not understand any of it. He didn't have the Book of Job to go read and find out. He was living the Book of Job. And so he didn't understand the trouble that had come upon him. He didn't understand why he and not some wicked person was facing all this suffering. It seemed that he couldn't find God to give him an answer. He did not understand what God was doing. Something that I've noticed about myself and about many others as well is that I find it much easier to face trouble if I understand the reason for it or even if I simply understand that there is a reason for it, even if I may not understand what the reason is. But when trouble arises, and there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it and you simply cannot understand it it makes the trouble that much more difficult to find use and become the terms with now notice some of joe state notice the first two verses here then joe bans or didn't say it even today use my complaint bitter my stroke is heavier than my groaning jobesley points out that yes, he's doing a lot of complaining, his complaint is bitter, but he declares that in reality his complaints are less than they could be. He said, my stroke is heavier than my groaning. He said, the stroke that God has allowed me to be smitten with is so terribly heavy that my groaning, my complaining doesn't begin to measure up to the severity of my suffering. In other words, Job is saying, yes, I'm complaining, but the truth is that I'm not complaining loudly enough. My complaining doesn't begin to show you how badly I'm really suffering. I mean, if that was all he said, that's saying quite a lot. But then he goes on in verses three through five, Oh, that I knew where I might find him, find God, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my calls before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me. Job said, I wish I could find out where God is so I could go before Him and have a conversation, a dialogue, a debate with Him, and I'd explain my side of things to Him. I'd fill my mouth with arguments, and then He could answer me, and it caused me to understand His reasons for allowing this trouble in my life. verses 8 and 9. Behold, I go forward, but he's not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. He said, I can't find the Lord. I look in every direction. I look ahead of me. I can't find Him there. I look behind me. I can't find Him there. I look on my left hand. I can't find Him over there. I look to my right and I can't find Him there. He's just not around anywhere to give me an explanation and an understanding of the troubles that I'm facing. And so then a great deal of Job's suffering from a mental, emotional, and spiritual standpoint was because he had no explanation for what God was doing and why God was allowing him to go through these things. He did not understand God. Now this is many times a cause of distress to us as well. Trouble comes and we don't understand what God's doing. We don't understand why he allows this. And so I want to just give you some suggestions concerning when you don't understand God. And believe me, you may not admit it, but all of us at times don't understand God. So let me just give you some suggestions, some things you can think about when you don't understand God. Number one, don't blame God for sin. Don't blame God for sin. In the book of James in the New Testament, James said this in verse 13 of chapter one of his book, let no man say when he is tempted, I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. God is not responsible for sin. Now, I point this out because I'm sometimes amazed at the things that people want to blame on God. I mentioned this a little bit this morning, but somebody gets drunk, goes and puts himself behind the wheel of a car, pulls that car out into traffic, and ends up in a car wreck and in the hospital. And I've actually heard people in that situation say things like, I don't understand why God did this to me. as though God is the one that made him drink the whiskey, as though God is the one who made him get behind the wheel of a car drunk, as though God is the one that made him drive that car out on the road in traffic, it wasn't God who did it. It was somebody acting in violation of God's Word. I mean, it's bad enough to disobey God, but to disobey Him and then blame Him for the trouble that results from the disobedience is a little bit absurd. Suppose you have a child and that child, let's say the child's eight or 10 years old, and you have told that child over and over and over again not to mess with the dog next door. Leave that dog alone. You've told him again and again. Okay, now, suppose that against all of your commands, he continues to play with the dog until finally The dog does what dogs oftentimes do when they don't know the person, it's poking at them. He bites him and then the kid has to go get shots. Now suppose as he gets his shots and they begin to hurt, suppose that he looks up at you and says, why did you do this to me? you might be tempted to point out that it wasn't you that did it, it was him, and furthermore, if he had obeyed you, it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Now in the same fashion, somebody disobeys the Lord and trouble arises as a result, don't blame it on God. Number two, remember that God is just and always does right. One of the great attributes, one of the great character qualities that God possesses is that of justice and righteousness. Back in Genesis, the first book in your Bible, if you've got the right kind of Bible, But in Genesis chapter 18, what we're going to read is Abraham talking to the Lord. Abraham is the intercessor, probably the greatest example in some ways. of intercessory prayer in the entire Bible in this passage in Genesis 18 where he's pleading with the Lord to spare, believe it or not, Sodom and Gomorrah because his nephew Lot had moved off down there. Notice what Abraham says to the Lord in verse, the Lord has told him that he's gonna wipe the place out. And verse 23, Abraham drew near and said, will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be 50 righteous within the city. Will thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein? Now notice this verse especially, verse 25. that be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. And then he asks a rhetorical question, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Think you can answer that? Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Well, of course, God always does right. Now notice that it doesn't say that we'll always understand everything God does. It doesn't say that everything God does will always appear right and just in our sight. But it does point out that God will do right and be just. So when we don't understand what he's doing or allowing, we have to rest ourselves in the assurance that even though we may not understand it, even though it may appear otherwise to us, God will not do wrong. He will not be unjust. He will always do the right thing. Number three, remember that God knows things that we don't. In Isaiah chapter 55, there's a marvelous verse. The book of Isaiah is filled with marvelous verses. But in Isaiah chapter 55, and verses eight and nine the lord says for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways saith the lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts uh... god has knowledge that we don't have i've often thought that much of our lack of understanding of things that God does or allows is because we simply don't know what He knows. Let me show you an example. Look a chapter over to Isaiah chapter 57 and notice verse 1. The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. A good, godly, righteous, merciful person dies seemingly before their time. But in this situation, God was removing them due to some evil, and I'm not talking about evil in the sense of sin, I'm talking about a bad thing, evil in the sense of a disaster, for example. But so, God was removing this person due to some evil that lay down the road that the person would have to face had they remained alive. So to us, it looked like a tragedy that a good person died before their time, when in actuality, God was being merciful with them. He knew something we didn't know, and so he just simply removed the person. so they wouldn't have to face something that they would have had to face had they stayed around. Dr. Joe Henry Hankins was a great preacher in the middle part of the last century. He used to tell a story of a woman that, now Dr. Hankins was, his main church that he pastored was First Baptist Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, but he would tell about a woman was in his church this woman told about her daughter being deathly sick as a baby and she told of how she got bitter about it and told God if you let my baby die I'll have nothing to do with you for the rest of my life Well, God didn't let the baby die, but 25 years later, now, the daughter was in prison for murder and was to be executed. And Dr. Hankins talked about how that mother said, I could have faced her death as a baby so much easier than I can face this. God knew something she didn't. uh... number four remember that you may not always be able to trace god but you can always trust god in john chapter thirteen this is the night before the lord jesus christ was crucified the next day on the cross in john chapter thirteen and verse number seven this is after peter had basically rebuke the lord verse seven jesus answered and said unto him what i do with all of us not now all but all show no hereafter uh... peter didn't understand what jesus was doing at the time look at the next chapter part of the song passage chapter fourteen and verse one jesus said let dr heart be troubled you believe in god believe also in me Jesus says, don't be troubled, trust me like you trust the Father. My father's way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad I know he maketh no mistake. My cherished plans may go astray, my hopes may fade away, but still I'll trust my Lord to lead, for he doth know the way. Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith, my all in him, he maketh no mistake. There's so much now I cannot see My eyesight's far too dim But come what may I'll simply trust And leave it all to Him For by and by the mist will lift And plain it all He'll make Through all the way, though dark to me He made not one mistake You may not always be able to trace God But you can always trust God number five will be a buffet second corinthians chapter five second corinthians chapter five and uh... first number seven for we walked by faith not by a slight you know if we are understood that by god does in a while that would remove the faith element from living for god and without faith it's impossible to please him, says Hebrews 11 and verse 6. But when we can't understand him, we, by faith, accept that he's doing the right thing. Number six, hold fast to God and His Word. Hold fast to God and His Word, back again to Job chapter 23. Notice verses 10 through 12. Job said, But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Don't stop reading the Bible. Don't stop being faithful to church to hear the Bible. Hold fast to God and His Word. And finally, number seven, remember that God will make everything right in the end. One of the great verses of the Bible, a lot of the great verses of the Bible are found in this chapter, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and verse 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. He said the few sufferings that we face in this present time, in this life, it's not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us when the time comes that he comes back and sets everything right, and he will. And so these are some things I hope might be a help and a blessing to you when trouble comes.