SERIES: The Book of Job
This Far and No Farther
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
DATE: October 17, 1993
Introduction: This morning about a quarter of our church family are at Pine Crest Camp in Fredericktown, enjoying the conclusion of this year’s Fall Retreat. I came home last night with Paul and Carol Stolwyk, and I can assure you that your friends are enjoying a delightful time in the Ozarks, with beautiful trees, great food, and some incredible fellowship. And it was dry down there!
I consider today a free Sunday. Our series on Job is finished, and Paul and Brad have just completed a delightful two-week study on the NT postcard known as Philemon. The Elders have asked me to repeat a short series I did four years ago, but since it’s Family Camp weekend we won’t start that until next Sunday. That makes this a free Sunday—I can preach whatever I want. And over the past several weeks I have had a lot of time to meditate upon what the Lord would want me to share my first Sunday back in the pulpit.
Believe me, I am delighted to be here today and to be back in the pulpit just four weeks after my accident. You have been extremely gracious. Jan and I have never felt so loved, as we have been the recipients of several hundred cards and letters, balloons, a veritable garden of flowers, books, tapes, meals, banana cream pie, rhubarb pie, and even a couple boxes of dove bars. Wow! I almost recommend a good crisis now and then.
This morning I don’t want to focus on my accident; after all, some of you have undergone far greater trials than I. But I don’t want to ignore it either, because many of you have shared the experience with us, and God has taught me some important things I believe He wants me to share with you. He is, of course, still teaching me. I would like to take the time to read a few excerpts from some of your cards because they are so special; I hope your heart will be encouraged as mine was. (Note: these excerpts are available on the audio of this sermon).
I might also add that someone asked me the most traumatic thing about the accident, and I said it was my first trip to get a haircut. The woman who cuts my hair commented that it had thinned considerably since my last visit, which she said is common with people who have experienced shock. Well, for the next three nights I had nightmares that I might end up looking like Brad.
I have chosen as my text today a brief passage from the Book of Job which speaks profoundly to the issue of anxiety in the face of difficult circumstances. You thought we were through with Job, but I’ve got one more message from that great book. As I lay in the hospital after my accident one phrase came to my mind more than any other: “This far and no farther.” At first I couldn’t remember where it came from. Slowly it came back to me that it was from Job, but I couldn’t remember the context. After I got home from the hospital it took several days before my glasses were replaced, but then I found the phrase in Job 38:11, and I recalled that it was spoken regarding the limits God places on the waves of the sea. In fact, I remembered commenting in an earlier sermon about how the great flood of 1993 was never really out of control—it was only out of ourcontrol.
Turn with me to chapter 38, where God interrupts the long debate between Job and his four philosopher/theologian friends with an amazing speech contrasting His own power and majesty with human weakness. Beginning in verse 8 God asks,
“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt.'”
Friends, if God places fixed limits on the damage the waves can do and tells them, “This far and no farther,” it only stands to reason He must also place fixed limits on the damage any trial or tragedy can inflict on His people. The very fact that I was lying in a hospital room rather than in a morgue was a testimony that God still says, “This far and no farther.” And as I began to think through the Scriptures, I found a number of examples where God in His providence set clear limits to the suffering of His servants and, in addition, brought significant good through it all. I want to share a half dozen or so of these great illustrations with you today.
God said “no farther” to Satan’s attacks against Job. (Job 1:12, 2:6)
You will recall that twice in the first two chapters of Job God set specific limits on Satan’s attacks against this man who was blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. For reasons known only to Him, God allowed the attacks, but He said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Later God adjusted the parameters—again for reasons known only to Him—but again He said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands, but you must spare his life.”
Job complained vociferously about the first part of the phrase, “this far and no farther.” He didn’t think God should have told Satan, “this far you may go.” But later he came to be even more thankful for the last part, the “no farther.” But you don’t need another sermon on Job. The fact is this same truth is found from Genesis through the New Testament.
God said “no farther” to the evil intentions of Joseph’s brothers. (Genesis 37, 50:19:21)
Most of you know the story of Joseph well. His ten older brothers were very jealous of him because he was his father’s favorite and because he told them of a dream in which his brothers would one day have to bow down before him. They decided to kill him and deceive their father Jacob into thinking a wild animal had ripped him to shreds. Reuben objected to the killing and suggested they throw Joseph into a cistern instead. Judah then came up with the idea of selling him to a caravan of Ishmaelites going to Egypt, and that’s what they did—for 20 shekels of silver. The Ishmaelites, in turn, sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.
In Genesis 39:2 we read that “The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered.” But he ended up in prison when Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him of trying to seduce her. But while Joseph was there in prison, according to v. 21, “the Lord was with him.” We don’t have time to tell the whole story, but in 41:41 we find Joseph out of prison and in charge of the whole land of Egypt—all at the age of 30!
Some years later there was a famine back in Palestine and Joseph’s ten older brothers were sent to Egypt to find food, which was available there because Joseph had been warned by God of the coming famine. He had masterminded the storage of a great amount of grain in anticipation of the world-wide hunger. The brothers were brought before Joseph, who recognized them but was not recognized by them. Slowly and deliberately Joseph set out to determine whether his brothers were repentant of the evil they had perpetrated upon him. When satisfied, he finally revealed his identify to them and was reunited with his father shortly before Jacob died. Let’s pick up the story in Genesis 50:15.
When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father left these instructions before he died: 17 ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
18 His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said.
19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.” There’s our theme again: “This far and no farther.” Yes, God allowed some tragic events in Joseph’s life, some severe trials, but always strict limits were set and good was the ultimate result.
God said “no farther” to the attempted execution of Shadrach, Meshach, Obednego, and Daniel. (Daniel 3, 6)
Again many of you are familiar with the fascinating accounts of these four young Hebrew men who were sent into exile in Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah and Jerusalem. In Daniel 3 we read about how Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold 90′ high and 9′ wide and commanded everyone to bow down and worship it. Shadrach, Meshach and Obednego refused to do so. Nebuchadnezzar gave them a second chance but warned in 3:15: “If you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?”
Their answer is classic: “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.’” (Daniel 3:16-18). God allowed Neb. to go “this far.” Just the thought of being thrown into a furnace must have created mental anguish beyond anything I have ever known. But God also said, “no farther” and sent His angel to rescue them.
Over in chapter 6 we find a similar story in which Daniel is thrown into a den of lions because he refused to stop praying. Once again God allowed evil to go “this far but no farther,” and he sent his angel (6:21) to shut the mouths of the lions.
God said “no farther” to the planned destruction of Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s day. (Isaiah 36, 37)
I’m afraid there is no time to share the details of the story of how God rescued His people in this amazing event, but I encourage you to read about it in Isaiah 36 and 37. Hezekiah and his people were helpless in the face of the Assyrian army which was laying siege to the city of Jerusalem. And Hezekiah went up to the temple, spread the threatening letter he had received from the king of Assyria before the Lord, and prayed one of the most moving prayers in the Bible. And what did God do? He sent his angel (37:36) who went out and in one night put to death 185,000 soldiers in the Assyrian camp. I love the next verse: “When the Jewish people got up the next morning–there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.”
Now just in case you were thinking that “this far and no farther” is just an OT theme, let me direct you to the fact that …
God also said “no farther” to the persecution of Peter by Herod. (Acts 12:1-19)
Turn with me to the 12th chapter of Acts, if you will. Let’s begin reading this account in verse 1 and read through verse 16:
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. 2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. 3 When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. 4 After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists.
8 Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.”
12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”
15 “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.
Now go back to verse 2 for a moment, for there is a very important balance here to all I am saying this morning. Peter was delivered by God through the ministry of an angel, but James was put to death with the sword. The “this far” that God permits sometimes includes death. It didn’t for Job, it didn’t for Peter, it didn’t for me, but it did for James. Does that contradict the power and compassion of God? I don’t think so. In Phil. 1 Paul is in prison facing possible execution. He hopes to be delivered, but in verse 20 he states what is even more important to him: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
If death meant the end, then yes, allowing tragedy to go that far would indeed contradict what the Bible tells us about the power and compassion of God. But since to depart and be with Christ is far better, which Paul states a few verses later, the “no farther” means that even death cannot separate us from the love of God, a truth clearly taught at the end of Romans 8.
I cannot tell you why the life of Pastor David Winecoff of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church was taken in a bizarre accident in August and mine was spared in another bizarre accident in September. I know it is not because I am more righteous or because our church is better. The reasons are known only to God, but the reasons are good and perfect. God said to the Enemy of our souls, “You can take Mike to the brink, but you can’t have his life.” He said of David Winecoff, “You can take his life, but you cannot have his soul.”
God said “no farther” when Paul faced a tragic shipwreck on his way to Rome. (Acts 27)
I will speak very briefly of the tragic shipwreck described in Acts 27. Paul was under arrest and had appealed his case to Caesar in Rome. On the last leg of the journey from Crete to Italy the ship and its 276 passengers were caught in a wind of hurricane force called the “northeaster.” They threw the cargo overboard, then the ship’s tackle, and after many days finally gave up all hope of being saved. Paul, who had warned them in advance that the voyage was going to be disastrous and there would be great loss to ship and cargo, nevertheless spoke to everyone (verse 22):”I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'”
After 15 days the ship foundered but everyone reached land safely—a frightening experience in anyone’s book, a costly tragedy. But God said, “This far but no farther.”
Now the last vignette I want us to consider is when …
God said “no farther” to the diabolical scheme that sent Jesus to the Cross.
That Satan was on a mission to stop God’s plan of salvation by preventing His Messiah from redeeming mankind is as clear as anything in the Bible. In fact, as early as Gen. 3:14-15 God predicted that the serpent would bruise the heel of the seed of the woman while the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. It is clear that the serpent refers to Satan, the seed of the woman is Jesus Christ, and the bruising of the heel is His death on the cross. From the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane, Satan tried again and again to stop the redemption of mankind by stopping the Redeemer. Finally, he succeeded! He smelled victory as Messiah hung between two thieves.
How can death on a cross—the cruelest punishment known to ancient man—be referred to just as a bruised heel? Only because it was not final. God raised Him up. He said to Satan, “This far but no farther. You may kill Him as a common criminal, but I will defeat death, raise Him up, and restore Him to His rightful place at my right hand.” And God’s angels rolled away the stone from the tomb—not to let Him out, for His resurrection body needed no door, but to let His disciples in to see that the tomb was empty except for graveclothes.
At the same time Satan’s head was crushed. He was defeated, and while his destiny in the Lake of Fire is not yet, it is assured.
I don’t know if you have noticed it, but there are three factors common to virtually every one of these deliverances by the power of God: angels, prayer, and obedience. Angels are specifically mentioned in the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, Obednego, Daniel, Hezekiah, Peter, Paul and Jesus.
I believe in angels, friends, I really do. Though I do not remember seeing one the night of my accident, I firmly believe that God provided His angels to guard my life. The paramedics told me there was no way I should have lived through that accident, but God’s angels found room for me despite the fact that the horse was completely inside the car as it went airborne and landed upside down; and God’s angels cushioned the impact. You may scoff at that and offer the fact that thorough-going atheists have been known to survive similar accidents, and all I can say is “maybe so; perhaps a gracious God was giving them one more chance to believe.” But you could no more change my mind about God’s angels that you could convince me that Dove Bars taste like Brussels sprouts.
I also believe in prayer. Joseph prayed, Shadrach and his companions prayed, Daniel prayed (in fact, that’s what instigated his persecution), Hezekiah prayed a great prayer of dependence upon God, the church prayed for Peter (not in great faith, but they prayed nevertheless), Paul prayed, Jesus prayed. My wife was home praying for me at the time of my accident because she had an incredible premonition of it. And the prayers of God’s people that night and in the days following are the reason I’m standing here today. Again you can scoff at that and present examples of people who survived tragedies without prayer. But I wouldn’t choose to live one day of my life without the power of prayer.
I also believe in obedience. From Job to Jesus there was an incredible degree of obedience in the lives of these servants—Jesus’ obedience being absolutely perfect. Every one of the individuals we have examined today practiced obedience even when it hurt; they were committed to godly living, no matter what. I would never compare myself to them, but I do strive to be faithful to the calling God has given me.
While the paramedics were trying to extricate me from the car, they began to ask me questions, perhaps more to keep me conscious than anything else. They asked me my name, my social security number, my phone number, etc., and according to the police report I answered most of their questions accurately. They also asked me where I had been, and while at first I didn’t remember, I eventually recalled I had been at a prayer meeting for flood victims at West County Assembly of God. Then I remember being asked, “Have you been drinking?” And I had enough of a sense of humor to respond, “No, there’s not much to drink at a prayer meeting.”
But there’s a point here that is very meaningful to me. I thank God this accident happened on the way home from a prayer meeting and not on the way home from a bar, or worse. I thank God I was alone and not with someone I had been having an affair with. Imagine the increased pain to my family and the damage to this church had there been other issues to explain. Well, there weren’t, and by God’s grace there never will be, because over the years I have learned that obedience to God is the only way to go. It is not only what pleases Him; it’s also what makes life worth living. It’s what enables me to look back without regret and say “Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the ‘this far,’ and also for the ‘no farther.'”
Friends, the God we have been reading about this morning is the same today as He was in Job’s day or Daniel’s or Peter’s. He is still worth trusting with every fiber of our being. He still has his angels to watch over us. He still responds to effectual, fervent prayer. He still honors obedience on the part of His people.
Conclusion: In closing, allow me to read a brief story from the autobiography of the late James Michener, where he writes…
…of an experience that occurred eighty years ago when I was a country lad of five and was of such powerful import that the memory of it has never left me. The farmer living at the end of our lane had an aging apple tree that had once been abundantly productive but had now lost its energy and ability to bear any fruit at all. The farmer, on an early spring day I still remember, hammered eight nails, long and rusty, into the trunk of the tree. Four were knocked in close to the ground on four different sides of the trunk, four higher up and well-spaced about the circumference.
That autumn a miracle happened. The tired old tree, having been goaded back to life, produced a bumper crop of juicy red apples, bigger and better than we had seen before. When I asked how this had happened, the farmer explained: “Hammerim’ in the rusty nails gave a shock to remind it that its job is to produce apples.”
“Was it important that the nails were rusty?”
“Maybe it made the mineral in the nail easier to digest.”
“Was eight important?”
“If you’re goin’ to send a message, be sure it’s heard.”
“Could you do the same next year?”
“A substantial jolt lasts about ten years.”
“Will you knock in more nails then?”
“By that time we both may be finished,” he said, but I was unable to verify this prediction, for by that time our family had moved away from the lane.
In the 1980s, when I was nearly eighty years old, I had some fairly large rusty nails hammered into my trunk–a quintuple bypass heart surgery, a new left hip, a dental rebuilding, an attack of permanent vertigo–and, like a sensible apple tree, I resolved to resume bearing fruit.[i]
I resolve the same thing, and I hope that resolve never leaves me. I hope the same for you.
Prayer: Father, thank you for your guardian angels. Thank you for the privilege and power of prayer. Thank you that you honor obedience. But thank you also for rusty nails. May they help us to bear more fruit.
Tags:
Angels
Prayer
Obedience
[i] James Michener, The World Is My Home, 3-4.