Job

[0:00] Would you turn with me to the book of Job and to the 33rd chapter, verse 4.

[0:19] The book of Job, chapter 33, verse 4. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

[0:42] May I just say that it is a privilege to be asked to come and minister to you today. I make no pretensions of being a great preacher.

[1:01] Perhaps you will say at the end of this service, well, all he's done is given us a Bible study. I can only say that I can think of no more profitable occupation for young or old than the diligent study of God's word, of which the children have just been singing so beautifully.

[1:30] It's good to hear these young voices raised in the praise of God, out of the mouth of babes, and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.

[1:46] But then turn with me to the word of God. May he bless his own word. Whether one tries to speak to the children or to the older folk, we must just leave it in the Good Spirit's hand and turn now to this infallible word.

[2:05] The subject that I want to try and speak of this morning is simply this. The breath of the Almighty. The breath of the Almighty.

[2:20] And you will find it in the verse that I have already read to you. The breath of the Almighty. I'm sure that even the youngest here know what it is to breathe.

[2:38] We breathe in and we breathe out. And if we cease to breathe, we cease to live.

[2:50] But I'm not here to speak about your breathing. My breathing. I'm here to speak about the breathing of God.

[3:02] You say then, does God breathe? Yes, he does breathe. Our text tells us this. The breath of the Almighty.

[3:15] But don't let us confuse this with our breathing. We are dependent creatures. We need to breathe to keep alive.

[3:30] If our breath is taken away, then we die. The Bible tells us this quite plainly. He taketh away their breath and they die.

[3:42] We need to breathe in. And we breathe out too. We inhale. We exhale. God is the only independent being in the universe.

[3:55] All else is dependent upon him, the eternal creator and sustainer. He never needs to breathe in. He has need of nothing.

[4:06] He only breathes out. The breath of the Almighty is that which proceeds from the one alone, who never needs anything.

[4:18] He has need of nothing. He is the great giver. He is the great bestower. The breath of the Almighty.

[4:30] Now let me take you a little further into the subject, if I can. This breath, I find it in the scriptures, sometimes it refers to the breath of his lips.

[4:45] Sometimes it refers to the breath of his mouth. Sometimes it refers to the breath of his nostrils. Well, you may apply it how you will.

[4:56] Read the context in order to understand the relevance. But these are just some terms used in God's word relative to his own breathing.

[5:10] The breath of the Almighty. Now let me take it a stage further. I have established that he only breathes out. He is the great giver.

[5:20] I have established that the word of God gives us certain illustrations concerning his lips, his nostrils, his mouth, and so on.

[5:32] Thirdly, let me establish this. As we consider the subject, this term is used relevant to power.

[5:43] Relevant to his life. And relevant to his speech. And to his word. Let me put it like this. Firstly, life.

[5:57] When I was a young fellow, I belonged to the St. John's Ambulance for a while. And learned a little bit about what they called first aid.

[6:10] Now I don't know. Things have changed a lot since those days. So I don't know now what people are taught. But in those days, I was told that one of the tests for death was to put a mirror in front of the lips and the nostrils of the person who was thought to be deceased.

[6:32] And if there was no clouding of the mirror, then there was no breath. And if there was no breath, then there was no life.

[6:45] But be it ever so faint, if there were any clouding of the mirror, then there was evidence of life. So the breath of the Almighty is relevant to that life which is his and his alone.

[7:04] And if we see any evidence of that breath, then we may conclude that God is God and that he is a living God.

[7:17] Let me show you what the Bible says about certain gods, idols, as compared with the eternal Jehovah.

[7:30] In Psalm 135, the psalmist there speaks of the idols of the heathen, which are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. And amongst other things, he says this about them.

[7:44] Neither is there any breath in their nostrils. Bear this in mind as I proceed. Because, dear friend, young or old, if you can say, I have seen some evidence of the breath of God, then you have established that there is a God and that he is a living God.

[8:12] Further, concerning breath, not only is it evidence of life, but I think of it in terms of power. Now, I'm sure all our young friends here at some time have had a go at blowing up a balloon.

[8:28] The balloon is there and it is limp and it is small and then you blow into it. What happens? Because there is some power in your breathing, because the person behind it has a degree of strength, the air goes into the balloon and it begins to expand and gets bigger.

[8:51] There is power in your breathing and you can blow something up or you can blow something out like a candle. My friend, breath of the Almighty.

[9:05] May we perhaps this morning consider a little of the power of the eternal God. It is the power that belongeth unto God.

[9:17] If we can say, I see this or that in the universe, or for that matter within my own poor soul, that is demonstrating the power of God, then we have laid hold of the understanding of this truth, the breath of the Almighty.

[9:36] You can't see it, can you? You can't see the breath, but the effect is there. I'll touch on it again. Thirdly, concerning speech.

[9:49] All our vocal organs may be intact. That is to say, our throat and our lips and our tongue and so on, and all the wonderful construction of our vocal organs.

[10:03] But, if there is no breath, there is no voice. So, this subject is relevant to the voice of God.

[10:14] It is relevant to his life, to his power, and to his voice. You know, we may have all the means of grace. The Bible may be open.

[10:27] The preacher may be in the pulpit. He may have eloquence. He may even have gifts. But, if God does not breathe, the voice of God will never be heard.

[10:40] So that any hearing of the voice of God is dependent upon the breath of the Almighty, just as now you hear my voice, because my breath is rising through my throat, through my lips, and so on, my vocal cords, and those things which would otherwise be silent, now make an audible sound, because the breath is passing through them.

[11:12] Well, now, those things, then, I hope I've established without further repetition. Now, having said this, then, let us turn to one or two other parts of the Word of God to further pursue the subject.

[11:27] Firstly, this breath is that by which he created the world and the universe. May I direct you to the 33rd Psalm for a moment, when I can find it myself.

[11:44] Psalm 33, verse 6. Now, do listen to this, young people. There is so much evolutionary teaching in these days, and it's the devil's teaching.

[11:58] Make no mistake about it. I stand here this morning as the declared enemy of evolutionary teaching. It comes from the pit. Listen to the Word of God.

[12:10] Consider the breath of the Almighty. By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

[12:26] That's enough. Need I go for it? The breath of his mouth. I know also it speaks of them as the work of his fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained.

[12:44] Wonderful language indeed. But one of the wonderful figures given here is by the breath of his mouth. Let me put it like that. The scientist and anyone with any comprehension of the world and nature and the universe marvels at the magnitude and the wonder of it.

[13:07] Well, let me just say this. It was as simple to the eternal God to create this world and bring it into being as it is for you or I to breathe.

[13:21] To breathe. With his breath. It was just a breath to him to bring these things into being. If nothing else, this should humble us under the mighty hand of God.

[13:37] This should bring us to see what we are before him. The breath of his mouth brought these things into being.

[13:48] Nothing more, but nothing less. But then, relevant still to creation, I like the expression that we read in the epistle to the Hebrews.

[14:00] Upholding all things by the word of his power. If the almighty should ever stop breathing, this world would no longer exist.

[14:14] If he failed still to give life and breath, he giveth to all life and breath. Upholding all things by the word of his power.

[14:27] It's he that sustains, it's he that orders the affairs of this world in this universe by his breath. In this same book, in the book of Job, I rather like an expression used in the 37th chapter where we read this, by the breath of God, frost is given.

[14:48] Well, that's just one aspect of creation, I know. But listen, young people, I know we're in the summer now, but in the providence of God and subject to his will, winter will come again if the Lord tarry.

[15:03] And once again, you'll wake up one morning, perhaps, and see the frost. You know, well, you say, that's the dew, frozen. Yes, but go a little bit beyond that.

[15:14] Who is it orders these things? Who brings the summer? Who brings the winter? Who brings the heat? Who brings the cold? God, not only did he make it, but he sustains it.

[15:26] Next time you look at the frost, just remember the breath of the Almighty. It's a common enough thing, you say, to see the white frost on a cold morning. Then may it teach you something.

[15:37] Remember the breath of the Almighty, for by the breath of God, frost is given. Yea, and every other thing that is relative to the maintenance of this universe and the benefits which we so wonderfully enjoy.

[15:53] But turning now from the natural creation, wonderful it is, may I turn now to the creation of man. And again, I must take issue with any form of evolutionary teaching.

[16:05] Listen for a few moments to part of the second chapter of Genesis. Genesis. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of the Almighty.

[16:21] Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

[16:33] Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life that is into Adam the first man formed and man became a living soul. Man is unique in creation.

[16:47] He is made in the image of God. Now I'm not going to explore that further. That's a very deep subject to take up. But just leave it with this at the moment.

[16:59] That he was the direct recipient of the breath of the Almighty. This made him different to any other created being the breath of the Almighty.

[17:16] May I remind you of the eternity of God that he is eternally existent the great I am and man became a living soul.

[17:32] Young people old folk too. Remember this. You have what we describe rightly I believe as a never dying soul.

[17:47] When God stops breathing when he stops living when he has no longer power then your soul will cease to exist and not before then.

[18:02] You have a never dying soul but may I draw the distinction between life and existence. One day we all face eternity.

[18:16] We must all come to the end of our life sooner or later. Our natural life will terminate but our soul will still exist for man became a living soul.

[18:32] Will it exist or will it live? Will it live with God with Christ amongst the glorious company of the redeemed or will it go to that solemn place where hope can never come because man became a living soul.

[18:56] Each one of us whether we like to accept it or not has a never dying soul as sure as God breathed into the nostrils of Adam having formed him from the dust of the earth.

[19:12] The breath of the almighty may it remind us of the solemn eternal issues. But let me go a bit further now with this subject because you see I viewed it in creation and the creation of man in particular but now let me just look at it from what I call the judicial aspect.

[19:34] That's rather a hard word I know but it means relative to God's judgment relative to God's authority relative to the administration of this world's affairs.

[19:47] And in the prophecy of Isaiah and in the 30th chapter I believe that's right we read something here which is relevant to this subject where we read behold the name of the Lord cometh from far burning with his anger and the burden thereof is heavy his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a devouring fire and his breath as an overflowing stream shall reach to the midst of the neck to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to err.

[20:31] Solemnity of God's sovereign judgments. Now in this particular instance this is relevant to his judgment of the Assyrian forces that were to surround Jerusalem and besiege her.

[20:48] And may I remind you of what happened. We're thinking of the breath of the almighty, the wondrous power and authority of the living God. That city was surrounded by 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

[21:06] They were men of war, they were invincible army, well led, well equipped, quite capable one would say of overthrowing this rebellious city.

[21:19] But God intervened. One poet describes it thus. The angel of God spread his wings on the blast and breathed on the face of the foe as he passed.

[21:35] God breathed and 185,000 Assyrian soldiers perished in a moment.

[21:46] It's a solemn thing, isn't it? the breath of the almighty. Go back to the book of Exodus and read there in the 15th chapter a description of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the destruction of the enemy.

[22:03] And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together. The flood stood upright as on heat. The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them and so on.

[22:21] Thou did blow with thy wind. The sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. Pharaoh and his hosts perished.

[22:34] You say, well, wasn't it a strong east wind? The breath of the almighty. Egypt, Assyria, let me remind you of something else in more recent history.

[22:50] When the devil sought to overthrow the glorious reformation, and it was a glorious reformation, whatever the archbishop may have to say about it, it wasn't a mistake, it was a divine deliverance, when the devil, through the pope, and through the power of Spain, sought to overthrow that reformation.

[23:14] When the Spanish Armada approached this country, God looked upon it, and he heard the cry of his people, and whatever other instrumentality may have been used, ultimately it was divine intervention.

[23:31] May I remind you of what Queen Elizabeth herself said, he blew with his wind, and they were scattered.

[23:42] The next time you open your history book, and read of the destruction of the Spanish Armada, remember the breath of the Almighty.

[23:55] Do you want it a little more recent? There are plenty of you here, who with me, will remember what we think of as the evacuation of Dunkirk, and it is recorded by those who observed the weather, the tides, the winds, that during the period of that evacuation, they had never observed the waters of the English Channel to be so calm, or the weather so suitable, for that particular evacuation, when 300,000 British soldiers were brought safely out.

[24:35] My friends, God heard the prayers of his people, I believe, in this country, but how solemn, when we consider the state of that nation today, and consider the solemnity and the sovereignty of God, as it is shown us here, in the breath of the Almighty.

[24:59] One more solemn thought, and then I must turn rather to the positive aspect of it. Going back to Isaiah chapter 30 for a moment, may I remind you of this, Tophet is ordained of old, yea, for the king it is prepared, he hath made it deep and large, the pile is of fire, and much wood, and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it.

[25:28] People don't want to hear about hell today, a good lady, only with whom I was staying, said she knew a man who was a wonderful character, a professing Christian, but he does not believe in hell.

[25:43] Those who do not believe in hell, may I tell you briefly where you stand? You make the Lord Jesus Christ a liar, no less than that, and the breath of the Lord doth kindle it.

[26:02] May I tell you something else now? Again, it's in Isaiah's prophecy, and in the 40th chapter, it reminds us of the brevity of our days.

[26:15] What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.

[26:29] Surely the people is grass. Or turn back to the 103rd Psalm for a moment, and you get a very similar figure given where we read this, As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth, for the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof knoweth it no more.

[26:59] Listen to me again, young people, I beg of you, listen to me for a moment. Have you ever had a birthday cake with the candles on it, one for every year, if you were four years old, four candles, if you were five years old, five candles, and so on, what do you do?

[27:21] You go, you blow them all out, you try to blow them out at once, don't you? That's right, isn't it? And those years are gone, aren't they?

[27:35] Well, it's not just a birthday cake I'm thinking of now, all the candles on it, it's the candle of your life, you may be seven, you may be seventy, but when God is pleased to blow, no matter how many candles you have on your cake, no matter how many years you have lived this earthly life, one puff, and it is gone, the wind bloweth upon it, have you faced the issue?

[28:09] How stands the case, my soul, with thee? For heaven are thy credentials clear? Is Jesus Christ thy only plea? is he thy great forerunner there?

[28:20] The breath of the almighty blows. It blew on my mother-in-law a month ago, suddenly, taken, it is blown upon this place, I believe, during the week that is past, and one has been taken, and another has been taken.

[28:37] Don't think that you can escape the breath of the almighty. What's the remedy? Let me give you another aspect of the subject now.

[28:49] I hope, very wonderful to me, anyway, and it is this. The breath of the almighty, almighty God-side human breath, the Lord of life experienced death, how it was done we can't discuss, but this we know it was done for us.

[29:16] Do you know what brought this subject to me? One of our deacons not long ago, in prayer, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the word made flesh, that blessed condescending saviour, said this, amongst other things, he breathed the same air that we breathed.

[29:40] He breathed the same air that we breathed. Have you thought about that? This great breather, he breathed as we did.

[29:51] In the manger at Bethlehem, he breathed his first breath. Upon the cross of Calvary, he breathed his last human breath.

[30:03] There it was the cry of a babe, there it was the cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. It is finished. Into thy hands I commit my spirit.

[30:17] Almighty God, breathe human breath, breathe out prayer, breathe out blessing. But you say yes, but he died, he did die, he literally died upon that cross, he made his soul an offering for sin.

[30:40] He poured out his soul unto death, but his breathing didn't stop. His natural breathing did. I don't believe in his risen glorified body he needed to breathe the air around him.

[30:53] No, but there is a different significance now to his breathing which you find in John chapter 20. The risen Lord is now standing before his disciples.

[31:07] and we read, he breathed on them and said unto them receive thee the Holy Ghost. He breathed on them.

[31:19] He's not now a man in the sense that he needs to breathe. He has a resurrection glorified body and one day his people will be with him and like him.

[31:32] But see, he breathes upon his disciples a foretaste undoubtedly of Pentecost and the coming of his Holy Spirit.

[31:44] So here we have the sovereignty and power of God. Here we have his mercy in Christ Jesus, one who breathed human breath.

[31:55] Here we have the manifestation of his spirit as he breathes upon his disciples. let me then say this, concerning these breathings which are very relevant to the work of God the Holy Spirit.

[32:12] Did you know that all the words used in the New Testament concerning the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit mean wind or breath?

[32:24] Wind or breath? To speak of the Holy Spirit is to speak of the breath of God. The breath of the Almighty.

[32:36] It is true then the Spirit of God hath made me. The breath of the Almighty hath given me life. It is true of creation. It is true of my initial birth, my natural birth, but it is true too of my new birth, my spiritual birth.

[32:54] Now this is why I read the Gospel according to John and the third chapter because you see there you read of the blessed work of God's Spirit.

[33:05] There you read of this breathing. In John chapter three the Lord Jesus speaks to Nicodemus and he says the wind bloweth where it listeth.

[33:19] You hear the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit? Yeah?

[33:30] How do I know that God breathes? How do I know his breath is still almighty breath? Show me one soul that loves the Lord.

[33:42] Show me one poor sinner truly converted. Show me one who has come by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I see there that the wind of God, the breath of God still blows and blows upon a poor sinner and turns him into a new creature so that the Lord Jesus speaks of being born of the Spirit, born again.

[34:09] The breath of the almighty hath made me and the breath of the almighty hath given me life, not just natural life, not even that eternal soul, but the life of God in Christ, through his death, through his resurrection, and through the ministry of his blessed Spirit.

[34:30] Now this is true of conversion. It is also true of every aspect of what we think of as revival. This is why I read that very well known passage from Ezekiel chapter 37 relevant to the dry bones.

[34:50] Israel, with her hope cut off and her bones dry, and then the Holy Spirit, as it were, breathed.

[35:01] Oh, you say, but wasn't Ezekiel there? Of course he was. But what was he to do? Amongst other things he was to prophesy unto the wind.

[35:12] He was to plead for the breath of God. I will put my breath in you. The breath of the almighty. I shall have to come to a close.

[35:26] The time is gone. The breath of the almighty. Creation. The creation of man. Regeneration. Reviving within the soul.

[35:41] How we need it today, don't we? Can these dry bones live? Lord, thou knowest the breath of the almighty.

[35:54] God breathed at the time of the reformation. God breathed in the 18th century. God breathed in the last century. How we need him to breathe again in this, our day, our generation.

[36:12] And not only generally. Is there any Christian here today, any dear child of God, that does not need this breathing, that does not lead?

[36:24] Breathe on these bones so dead and dry, with sovereign power and energy. Breathe on me, breath of God. Fill me with life anew.

[36:37] And so on. There's many a good hymn, many a passage of scripture, that one could hear quote, but here I must leave it. May God in his mercy, not only open up the scriptures, but may we know the experience of it, the breath of the almighty.

[36:57] May the Lord bless his own world. Amen.