Amen. Turn with me tonight in your
Bible to the book of Job, Job chapter 38, Job 38, and we're
going to read the first 11 verses of the chapter.
Let's hear the Word of God, reading of course from the King
James Bible, Job 38 verse one. Let's hear God's word.
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who
is this that darkeneth? Counselled by words, without
knowledge, geared up now thy loins like a man.
For I will demand of thee, and answer thy me.
Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare, if thou hast understanding who have led the
measures thereof, if thou knowest, or who have stretched
the line upon it, Whereupon are the foundations thereof facet?
Or who laid the cornerstone thereof, when the morning stars
sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Or who have shut up the sea with doors, when it break forth as if
it had issued out of the womb, when I made the cloud the
garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for
it, and break up for it my decreed place, and set bars and
doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.
And here shall thy proud waves be stayed.
Amen. We know that God will stamp with
His own approval and blessing this reading of His own precious
and infallible word. Now my text this evening is from
Job chapter 38, verses 8 through to 11.
And my theme tonight I've entitled Shutting the Doors of
the Sea thus far and no further. The book of Job is one of the
most profound books in all of the Bible.
It's a story of a righteous man who suffered deeply, who
questioned painfully and searched desperately for answers
as to why. Remember, Job suffered the loss
of 10 children in one day. He lost all of his wealth, his
thousands of camels, his lovely sheep and his welfare oxen.
Then he lost all his servants. They were brutally murdered.
He also lost his health. Did you know?
He even lost the respect of his wife and I'm sure that was
painful and troublesome. Remember, his wife told him,
curse God and die. I believe he almost lost his
sanity under the crushing pressure of his sufferings.
Then his three friends came. They were added by a fourth
friend. They came to comfort him.
They're known as Job's comforters, but I want to tell
you they were very, very poor specimens of comforts.
Chapter after chapter they reasoned, they set forth their
arguments. Job, you must have sinned
secretly before God. All of these evils wouldn't have
come upon you if you hadn't sinned.
Job listened to his friends, so-called.
He heard their arguments. He endured their worldly
philosophy and human logic. He he listened to their
so-called wisdom and he countered and he protested his
innocence. And then we come to chapter 38
and everything changes. Look at verse 38, chapter 38,
verse one. Then the Lord answered Job out
of the world wind and said the word.
Then this whole town in the Hebrew, and it means at that
time, and it's interesting in this chapter, the Lord doesn't
begin to explain to Job about his suffering.
He doesn't begin to answer the mysteries of life that have
befallen Job. Instead, he reveals himself.
He reveals the greatness of his power.
He speaks of his absolute sovereignty, his majestic
wisdom. And in our text, if you look at
verse 8 or who shut up the sea with doors when it breaks forth
as if it had issued out of the whim, he points Job to the
raging, roaring sea. And God says to Job, in essence,
Job, I'm the one who controls the sea.
Of course, the oceans look uncontrollable to man.
It's waves crush against the coast with terrifying force.
The sea looks and is very powerful, almost intimidating.
And you know, of course, storms can rise suddenly entire ships
have disappeared beneath its waves.
Tsunamis have risen up and come and devastated coastlines.
And yet God tells Job the sea only goes for he's allows it to
go. The sea has a boundary because
God drew the boundary line. When we were in Port Rush a few
days ago, we stood and looked. Of course it was very windy, but
I was thinking about the sea coming in, in the tide and going
out, the sea splashing at Raymore Head up against the
rocks, and I was thinking of that boundary line that God had
set. I said to Rosemary, I'm going to
preach a message sometime on the sea.
I was thinking about God who says to the sea thus far and no
further. You see, this awesome God who
speak to Job was telling Job that he controls the sea.
And this God who controls the sea is the same God whom every
Sinner one day is going to stand before and give an account.
And this God who restrains the sea is the very same God who
restrains judgement coming upon our lives.
See, God says to the sea thus far and no further.
And God is the one who set a boundary line for our lives and
says to us on the journey thus far and no further.
So I want you to think of that with me tonight.
I want you to think first of all, the sea reveals the
creative power of God. Look at verse 8.
Who has shut up the sea with doors when it breaks forth as if
it issued out of the womb? You see, the sea didn't create
itself. The sea didn't evolve.
It's not the result of a Big Bang.
It's not self originating. You take the great oceans of the
world, the Pacific, the Indian, the Atlantic.
Well, they didn't originate by themselves.
Who made them? Well, the simple answer the
child could answer, God made them.
How do we know? Well listen to the word of God.
It says in Genesis 1 and 9 he hears the beginning right back
to foundational things. And God said, let the water
under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let
the dry land appear. And it was so.
And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering
together of the waters called he sees.
And God saw that it was good. You see, before there was a
scientist to study the sea, or a sailor to navigate upon the
oceans, or even a scholar to speculate about its width or its
death, there was God. The sea came forth because God
spake and commanded it to come. Now the sea, as I've said, is
very powerful and intimidating. Men of cross deserts, they've
climbed mountains, even the Himalayas, the highest mountain
in the world. They've conquered empires.
And of course we could talk about the Babylonians and the
Medes and the Persians and the Grecians and the Romans and the
British Empire, and they're all gone.
Yet the sea has been unconquered.
The sea has been untamed by human strength.
The sea didn't come about as the result of human wisdom.
The sea came from the mouth and the hand of our God, he speak
and it came to pass. Spurgeon said this.
There's not a drop of water in the ocean that is outside the
degrees of God. You see, the atheist, he sees
nothing in creation. He could stand at Port Rush and
he could look at the sea or down in Newcastle and he could
scratch his head and he'd say, what do you want me to see?
Yet the true believer, when he looks at the sea, sees the
craftsmanship of God. The atheist of course, might
speak of random emergence, but the believer will speak of God's
divine plan. You see, the sea is not a rival
to God. Did you know that the sea is
actually God's servant? Even it's fury fulfils his will.
The sea, one that can be calm the next minute it be can be
catastrophic. But whether it's calm or
catastrophic, it's all in his plan.
And I know the sea looks wild and it is.
I wouldn't like to be out in the ocean and a big ship or a wee
ship. I'd be terrified.
But it's not sovereign. It looks free.
You stand at Portrush in Newcastle but you know it's not
free. The sea is fenced.
The oceans roar, but only roar because that's the way God
designed them. And it's wonderful.
When I read Job 38, it's not merely about meteorology, it's
about true theology. It's a revelation of the awesome
power of God. God is decreeing and declaring
and revealing His awesome absolute sovereign power over
creation objects like the sea, over evil, over the devil, over
human suffering, over the lives of all people.
Job suffered. Maybe you've suffered.
Job had questions, and you have questions.
Job wrestle with divine Providence in his life, and
you're wrestling with divine Providence in your life at this
time. But the Lord answered Job not
with explanations, but with revelations of himself.
See, I was thinking about this. The great question is not why do
the righteous suffer? We ask that, but that's not the
great question. The greater question is this
Listen to me carefully. In the midst of trials and
troubles, can I know? Can I trust in my God when I
don't understand His ways and works in my life?
That's what Job should have been asking.
God answers Job. He doesn't give an explanation.
He points Job to the creation of the sea, and he's saying the
same God who governs the ocean governs your life, Job governs
your affliction. The same God who made the sea
restrains the tide and he's able to restrain your trials.
And the same God has set limits to the sea, sets a limit for the
souls of men, a limit to every Sinner, even a limit to Satan.
The sea reveals the creative power of God very quickly.
The sea reveals the controlling power of God.
Look again at verse 10. It says and break up for it.
My decree, please. And set bars and doors.
We get asked the question beyond who made the sea, who controls
the sea? And of course the simple answer
is the God who made it. Not man, not kings, not
governments, not scientists, but God alone.
The God who created the sea controls the sea.
You see, the sea is powerful, but it's not omnipotent.
It's not all powerful. It's light, but it's not Lord.
It is fierce. If you were right there and 30
foot waves was hitting the boat, it would be fierce.
But it's fenced. See, God has placed bars and
doors upon it. And that language is remarkable.
That language is revelatory to us.
To me, when I look at the sea, it appears unrestricted, yet God
says it is locked behind an unseen boundary.
Locked behind an unseen boundary, like a prisoner behind
a door in a cell. The sea symbolises chaos,
danger, unrest, changeableness, days of calm, human pride.
And yet God has shut it in with doors.
He wraps it in a cloud like a garment.
He establishes boundaries. What's He doing?
The Lord is declaring His absolute sovereignty and control
of the sea. Did you know that?
Every wave a basin. I was amazed as I began to think
about the sea. Psalm 89.
We talked about it that evening out for a walk says in verse 9
of Psalm 89. Thou rulest the raging of the
sea. When the waves thereof arise,
thou stillest them. God's sovereign control of the
sea is not partial. It's not a partnership.
You do your bit, God and I do my bit.
No, it's not partial. It's not a partnership, it is
real and it's absolute. Again, as you think of the
ocean, it seems wild to us. It seems free, yet it's
perfectly obedient to God. Every way of answers to God,
every tide obeys His command. Every storm stops when he says
stop thus far and no further. Let me apply that tonight to
those out of Christ. This is the God many sinners are
ignoring. This is the God whom they mocked
and blasphemed and reject and oppose.
You see men and women today in carried off and beyond live and
act as if God is weak and God is irrelevant to them.
And it's as if they never have to answer to him.
But the Bible teaches, and the God of the Bible is revealed not
as a a powerless religious person.
No, He's revealed as Creator, Maker, the true and the living
God, the great Creator who governs the universe, including
the sea, with absolute authority.
Do you know tonight your very breath is in his hand?
Do you know that you wouldn't be alive unless he gifted you that
breath? Do you know that your very
heartbeat as sustained by him? How do I know that?
Well, listen to what it says in the book of Acts.
In Acts chapter 17, it says in verse 26.
And hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on
all the face of the earth. And hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they
should seek the Lord, if happily they may feel after Him and find
Him. That we be not far from every
one of us. For in Him we live and move and
have our being. You're not an independent
person. You're not living independently
of God, even though you don't know Him and even though you're
in rebellion to Him, You're upheld by God every second of
your life, breath and heartbeat included.
And therefore, in light of that, I urge you, I call upon you to
repent. I call upon you to believe the
gospel. I, I, I urge you to have faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Redeemer.
The Bible says believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall
be saved. Let me apply that to the Saints
tonight. Maybe you're here listening to
me and you're in trial and trouble.
Your life's full of heartache and hardship.
You're struggling, you've many unanswered questions.
You're you're maybe asking why, and you're suffering peeing and
woe and sorrow. Martyn Lloyd Jones said this.
The greatest comfort of the Christian life is the doctrine
of God's sovereignty, he said. The ultimate cause of all our
troubles is that we feel to realise God is who he is, we
need to let God be God and Job needed to discover this.
God was revealing himself to Job and Job said I know that my
Redeemer never but but Job really didn't know and realise
God is who he is. He needed this reminder and God
was giving him the reminder and so do we.
Do you know tonight even the devil has limits?
Do you know that tonight the devil is under God's control?
The devil could not touch Job until God permitted him to touch
Job. The devil couldn't go beyond
God's decree in relation to Job. You see, Satan's power is only
delegated power. The devil is under God's
authority. The devil is not equal with God.
Powerful, yes, but he's not omnipotent.
He's not all powerful. He is not sovereign and he is
not independent either. Martin Luther, do you know what
he said about the devil? Even the devil's God's devil.
You see, Satan could only do and go as far as God allowed him.
And God said thus far and no further.
That's what the devil couldn't transgress that boundary.
And what's true about the devil being having limits set is true
of every one of our trials. It's true of every temptation,
it's true of every enmity, true of every affliction, true of
every sorrow. The sea reveals the creative
power of God. The sea reveals the controlling
power of God. But I'll tell you something
else. The sea reveals the containing
power of God. Look at verse 11.
It says there in Job 38 and verse 11 and said this is God
speaking to the sea. Hitherto shalt thou come, but no
further. And here shall thy proud waves
be stayed. Now here's the containing power
of God. Hitherto shalt thy come, but no
further. What an astonishing statement
God speaks to the sea as if He is dealing with a rebellious
child or a rebellious servant. Thus far and no further waves
crash into the coastline. The sea roars, but they cannot
cross the line that God has drawn.
And what does that teach us? Surely it teaches us this, that
God restrains things. God restrains the storm.
He restrains kings and nations. He restrains Satan.
He restrains evil, He restrains the Sinner.
God even restrains his judgement from dropping on the earth.
You see, if God gave us what we deserve, every one of us outside
of Christ would just immediately drop into hell.
The shocking thing is that people are not dropping and
perishing into hell immediately. John 3 and 18 makes this
astonishing statement. John 3 and 18 And it was the
Lord Jesus in conversation that Nicodemus said he that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not has condemned
but ratty, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. See, God allows the rebellious
to live. Isn't that amazing?
And he allows him to live another day and another day and
another day. So every moment of their lives
is really a mercy. Every sunrise that they see,
every light of a new day, every gospel invitation that they
hear, every sermon, every step, every heartbeat, it's all
connected to the mercy of God. You see, they think they're
getting away with their sin, their drunkenness, their
immorality, their idolatry, their parties.
Do you know they're only living under restrained judgement?
They're condemned the ratty. It's just that the execution
hasn't taken place because it's under the containment of God.
You think tonight of the sea, it's pounds away at the coast,
builds up as the tide comes in, and you think of the ungodly,
how their sins are piling up before a holy God, and they pile
up and they pile up. Listen to what Romans 24 says Or
despises thou, the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance, but after thy hardness and penitent heart
treasures up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and
revelation of the righteous judgement of God.
Just as a dam will not hold forever, one day the barrier,
that's the boundary lane that keeps us on earth and keeps us
out from eternity. One day that barrier will be
removed, and in that day we'll discover all's we've done in
life's journey, as you have treasured up wrath against the
day of wrath, because we've got a hard impenitent heart.
You see, there's a lane. God has set the lane.
And how many times have sinners crossed the lanes of immorality
and crossed the lanes of conscience and the lanes of
purity and the lanes of truth, and rejected and refused the the
call of the gospel, the lane of conviction.
One day they'll cross the final lane.
Jesus said if you die in your sins, where I am, there you
cannot be. Rosemary told us on Friday
night, very rightly at the end of her testimony, that time is
short. She used a leg timer.
You think of the time that it takes for the little grains of
sand to go down, the egg timer from one end to the other.
Then all of a sudden the last little grain comes down.
Sometimes you think it's unlimited time, but it's not.
It's a set time and God will call the time.
And how many on life's journey say, well, I'd love to get
saved, but I'll get saved later at some other time tomorrow or
maybe the next day expect another opportunity, but there's
no guarantee because the Bible says boast not thyself of
tomorrow. For knoweth no man knows what
the day may bring forth. And what do they know before the
end of 24 hours is out and before death could come and take
them away. And then after death is the
judgement. We're not promised tomorrow.
We're not promised another sermon.
God was teaching Job not just about His creative power and His
controlling power, but about His containing power.
Job. I'm the one that sets the line
and says to the sea thus far and no further.
Very quickly the sea reveals the counsel of God.
Notice these words in verse 11. And here shall the proud waves
be stayed. When I was in Portrush, I was
thinking about the waves. I was thinking about this
reference of Scripture, the proud waves.
Why does God call them the proud waves?
Well, I believe God calls them the proud waves because they
rise up violently, as if they can overthrow all restraint.
They pound the coast. They do it relentlessly.
It appears unstoppable. But God the Rock humbles the
proud wave. God the rock gives counsel and
says, here shall thy proud waves be stayed.
Man is a proud creature. He's maybe pride in his face,
pride in race and intellect, pride in his morality and self
righteousness, pride in his religiosity.
May be proud that he's a member of the loyal orders, proud in
his rebellion. See, man thinks like this, but
I'm not as bad as other men are. I don't need a Redeemer.
I don't need a right relationship with God.
I don't need to repent. I can live without God.
I don't need Jesus Christ. I can save myself.
I'm a good enough person. You see all of that, that
thinking, those statements know what they reveal.
They're like the proud waves pounding the coast.
And God the Rock humbles the proud waves constantly, just
like he does sinful humanity. It all speaks and smacks of
pride. And you see this idea of telling
God, I don't need to be saved and I don't need the Saviour
that you've provided. God is the one who stays the
proud waves. See when we come to Calvary,
when you stand at the cross, when you think of the Lord Jesus
dying in your guilty room instead, do you know that the
cross work of Christ and it's blood shedding destroys human
pride? It levels it in the dust.
At Calvary God says men are sinful, men are guilty, men are
ruined, men are not good, men are not spiritually neutral.
Men are are are are not even imperfect.
They're dead in trespasses and sin.
They're diseased in their affections.
They're they're darkened in their understanding.
They've No Fear or thought of me.
Sinners by nature, sinners by choice, broken God's law in love
with sin, live for self, deny and dishonour the God who made
them. You know what they're living
like? I'll tell you, they're living in
proud sinners. They're like those proud waves
bashing up against the rocks. You know what they need to cry.
God be merciful to me, the Sinner.
And Gee, here's an interesting thing.
Very quickly, God restrains the sea to preserve our life.
Could you imagine if the oceans cross their appointed boundaries
on the earth? Suppose we had been down there
in Portrush and those big waves that hit the rocks decided
they're coming over the rock and there's we're sitting in the car
licking an ice cream and the next thing the big wave bases
against the car. Well, I'll tell you the car.
We've been started and we've been away as quickly as we could
because God restrains the sea to preserve life.
That's why he has set boundaries to the earth and coast, because
without those boundaries, the earth and the coast would become
inhabitable. God's boundaries are merciful.
Then they're a real blessing. I know that modern society hates
limits, but you think of a train.
And a train, of course, is free to run and roam the countryside,
but it must remain in the tracks.
Suppose you decided the the train down to Portrush.
Wherever it comes from, Lisburn, there's 3 cold rain.
You're going to decide to take a couple of those tracks off and
remove them. Well, what would happen there
would be a disaster. People's lives would be lost.
That would destruction would follow.
Remove one tract and destruction follows.
Well, well, that's the picture. See, I know society hates
limits, but we have to have limits and God is the one who
sets the limits. The sea reveals the country of
God. And finally and lastly, the sea
reveals the care of God. I've struggled with this.
We verse in verse nine. Look at verse 9, when I made the
cloud, the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band
for it. It's a reference to the sea.
Here's the tender language. Now.
It's as if God is Speaking of the sea almost as a newborn baby
unwrapping that baby in swaddling clothes.
And of course, reminds us that God is merciful and God is
compassionate. God has clothed the sea with
clouds. God provides the darkness, the
thick darkness of the night, a swaddling band for the sea.
Over there in the book of Matthew, in Matthew chapter 6
and in the verse 26, we read, Behold the fowls of the air.
For they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they?
Peter said, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for
you. As I finish tonight, do you know
that God cares for the oceans? God has provided the oceans with
fish, and fish are good for you. Eat plenty of fish.
Don't listen to the gainsayers who tell you don't be eating
fish. Plenty of fish in the sea.
God feeds the sparrows. God clothes the lilies.
And if God does that, what is the Lord Jesus saying?
His Sermon on the Mount, speaking again of the little
sparrows. Listen to the words.
Yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are ye not much better than they?
God also cares for us. Life is not random.
Life is not meaningless. Your tears are measured.
They're stored up in His bottle. Yes, your days are numbered.
Yes, your nights are governed, but even your affliction is also
under His control. Everything that befalls us, I
believe, is by divine appointment and the greatest
care of all if we want to bring it home.
This points us to Christ, the Christ of Calvary.
Remember one day in the Sea of Galilee Was it one night?
And the storm came and he stood up on the boat.
There's wind and there's waves. And he cried out, Peace be
still. And then the one on the boat, I
believe, is the one who's addressing Job.
He is the living and the true God.
The wind and the waves obey him. This God who by his creative
power, who controls the sea and contains it by a boundary and
counsels the sea, the proud waves are to be stayed.
He cares for us because he provided in his mercy these
boundaries. And of course, when we come to
the cross, we realise how much we're cared for because we read
this Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and
that he was buried. And the third day he rose again
according to the scriptures. And what befell Christ in the
cross was God's holy judgement, and his justice was satisfied,
His law was fulfilled, the debt was paid, and then a full free
salvation is offered now to the whosoever will.
And he calls out, Come unto me, all ye that labour, and they're
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Is your life weary, your life feel out of control and you're
overburdened tonight with many things, with guilt and sin?
I point you tonight to Christ, Go to him by faith, kneel at his
feet and cry out. Lord, Remember Me.
Lord, be merciful to me. Lord, I come to you tonight.
The doors of the sea, the shutting of the doors thus far
and no further. What does it reveal to us?
It reveals this, the creative, the controlling, the containing,
the counsel and the care of God. May the Lord take this message
and bless it to your heart this evening.