We turn again to the book of
Job this morning, and as we've just read, we turn to chapter
3 where Job, having been brought into great suffering, having
lost his sons, his daughters, and all his riches and cattle
and animals, having been struck in his own body with great illness,
with boils from head to toe, having been brought to death's
door with a calamity, a trial, which is hard to comprehend in
its depth. He is met in his place of suffering
by three friends that come to comfort him. And as we saw at
the end of chapter two, they sat down with him upon the ground
seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him,
for they saw that his grief was very great. But then at the end of this seven
days and seven nights, as his travel continues, as Job's patience is tested as
he endures this suffering, this unimaginable pain and torment
and heartache, he finally opens his mouth to speak. And in this
third chapter, broken, he as it were laments the day
he was born. He wishes to be delivered from his suffering. He wonders
why he was ever brought forth if this would be his life. Better
that he was never born. Why has this come upon him? And
he says towards the end of the chapter, he describes the depth
of his suffering. My sighing cometh before I eat. My roarings are poured out like
the waters, for the thing which I greatly feared is come upon
me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither
had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. I was not in
safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, Yet trouble came. Yet trouble came. Oh, the depth we find him in
here, in the midst of this trouble. He curses the day he was born,
feeling it better that he had not been. Job spake and said, Let the day
perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said,
There is a man-child conceived. Let that day be darkness, let
not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon
it. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost
when I came out of the belly? For now should I have lain still,
and been quiet, I should have slept, then had I been at rest. with kings and counselors of
the earth which built desolate places for themselves, or with
princes that had gold who filled their houses with silver, or
as an hidden untimely birth I had not been, as infants which never
saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together,
they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great
are there, and the servant is free from his master. Why was
I brought to endure this? He then goes on to wonder why
God gave him life, only to bring him into such misery. Wherefore
is light given to him that is in misery and life unto the bitter
in soul? Which long for death, but it
come if not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures? Which
rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath
hedged in? Why has God brought me here,
to bring me to such suffering? and then as we saw he speaks
of the depths of those sufferings my sighing cometh before I eat
my roarings are poured out like the waters the thing which I
greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of
is come unto me I was not in safety neither had I rest neither
was I quiet yet trouble came yet trouble came how broken he
is And yet, in the depths of his
words here, there is great encouragement, really, for any who endure great
trial, great trouble, who are brought very low, who are broken. Because here, in Job, they see
someone else who cries out perhaps as they might feel, why am I
brought to this? Better not to be alive than just
endure this, better not to have been born. Sometimes when dark thoughts
may come upon us in the midst of trial, this will encourage us that Such
thoughts are not ours alone. Even Job felt that way. And yet the Lord kept him. He
kept him. Job endured to the end. The Lord's
hand was upon him. He sustained him. He kept him.
As he keeps all his children. No matter how far we may fall,
No matter what depths we may come into, no matter what deep
depths of trials we may be brought to walk through, the Lord keeps
his children. We should not be hard on Job
here. We should not point out where's
his faith. Yes, the demonstration of faith
that we saw in his words in chapter 1 and chapter 2 when trouble
came upon him, seems at a distance. When all was taken away from
him, we read in chapter 1 that Job arose, rent his mantle, shaved
his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said,
naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return
thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job said not, nor charged God foolishly. Then when
his health was taken away from him, He cries out, shall we receive
good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all this,
did not Job sin with his lips? And yet time goes on. And this
suffering he endures, carries on night after night, day after
day, there's no relief. And it breaks him. It breaks
him down. It brings him to his lowest point
where he then wonders. His faith isn't gone. He knows
God is sovereign over all. But he wonders, would it have
been better if I was never born than brought to endure this?
Why must I be brought here? The depths of Job's sufferings
are great and hard to fathom. His cries, his laments and his
reasoning here are no more than we would be brought to in such
a state. Job does not take things into
his own hands. He does not end his own life,
the Lord keeps him from that. But he understandably wishes
to be freed from his agonies. Wonders why he was brought forth
to endure this. He longs for rest. He longs for
relief. He longs for deliverance. And
any who've been brought low, very low, any who've been brought
into great trial will empathize with him here. The fact that
he's brought to talk this way is of encouragement when we think
the same, when we desire rest and relief from the hardness
of the way. Job's sufferings, you see, are
for others. Job may have wondered why this
had come upon him, but it wasn't just for him. It wasn't just
to teach him. It wasn't just to turn him to
God and to test his faith. It wasn't just that he might
be brought through and see the deliverance of God. It wasn't
just that he through this should be pointed to Christ his Saviour,
who suffered far more than Job ever suffered in order to save
Job. in order to save his people.
It wasn't just to teach Job the Gospel and to lead Job to Christ
but it was also for others. For every child of God who can
look unto Job in the midst of their suffering and see the Lord's
hand upon him and see in this suffering that Job suffered and
the suffering that they suffered, how it points us to the sufferings
of Christ the Saviour. How it leads us unto one who
endured all that he might deliver his people from their sins. Whatever we suffer in this world,
it is but a drop compared to the sufferings of Christ upon
the cross. Job was brought very low, but
the Lord kept him. In the end, there was hope. God
gave him faith to trust and endure to the end. As we read in Matthew's
Gospel, He that endureth to the end shall be saved. And that
endurance, that ability to endure, to be brought through such suffering
like this, is not of man. It's not Job who kept himself. It's not Job who, in his own
strength or his own wisdom, endured to the end. It wasn't Job who
had faith of his own bringing forth that brought him
to endure through these trials. It was God who kept him. It was
God's grace upon him. It was God's mercy upon him.
God put his hands around him. And though he was brought to
a point like this in chapter 3, though he cursed the day he
was born, though he longed for relief, though he was brought
to such words, God kept him, and loved him, and made his grace
and his mercy known unto him, and caused him to endure to the
end. His sorrows, his complaint are
understandable. His cries are those that are
common to many. And yet the Lord keeps him, keeps
him to the end, brings him through to salvation. As we see later
in the book, Job's latter end was better than his beginning. Job 42 we read, so the Lord blessed
the latter end of Job more than his beginning. All that he had at the start,
he was given more at the end. God brought him through this
to show his salvation, to show unto sinners who are brought
to hear of Christ, that no matter how hard our pilgrimage through
this world may be, no matter what suffering we may be brought
through, no matter how much we may be persecuted for naming
Christ and for declaring His Gospel, no matter how we may
be cast out by men, no matter how we may be rejected or afflicted,
In the end God will bring his people into a great salvation
and a wonderful deliverance and eternal glory. He will bring
them into a place, into a heavenly kingdom where there is no more
sorrow. and there are no more tears,
and there is no more sickness, and no more sadness, where there's
no more death, there's no more sin, there's no more suffering,
where there's eternal glory with the Son of God, who loved them,
and gave himself for them. Yes, the latter end of Job was
more than his beginning, there is this to be hoped for. God
gives his children faith to look beyond what they see, to look
beyond the trial, to look beyond the suffering here below, to
look beyond outward things and see the latter end. To trust
the God that I've done all things well. Job here didn't know what
would come. He didn't know how long his trial
would go on. He didn't know whether he would
be brought to the grave or not, how these things would work out. But he did, despite his words
here, know that God was sovereign, know that God did that which
is right and just, that God can give good and God can give evil. that God can give and God can
take away. And blessed be the name of the
Lord. Yes, this is of great encouragement
to us. No matter where we're brought,
no matter what our circumstances, no matter what sorrows may come
upon us, no matter how low we may go, or how great the trial,
The Lord always, always brings his people through. He always
keeps them to the end. He always grants grace sufficient
for the day. He watches over us. He leads
us. He guides us. He feeds us. He clothes us. He comforts us. He gives us warmth. He gives
us heat. He gives us wisdom, He feeds
us in Christ, He feeds His own. As sheep who are led by a shepherd,
they're kept, they're watched over, they're fed, they're led.
And no matter what circumstances, what storms may come their way,
what trials they may be brought through, in the end, His grace
keeps them, His mercy is over them, His love Wraps them up
and in the end he brings them to a greater end. He will deliver
them. He will save his own. And none
of his sheep shall be plucked out of his hands. Paul knew this. He knew this through experience.
Paul was brought to suffer. in ways beyond what we comprehend,
how Paul was cast out, how Paul was persecuted for preaching
the gospel, how often he was put in jail, in horrible jails,
in dungeons, chained, with no food, beaten, brought to the
point of almost dying, how often people tried to murder him, tried
to kill him for preaching Christ, what he endured and yet through
it God gave him that faith to trust and to know that this is
nothing compared to that that God would give him. He writes
in Romans 8, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of
the creature waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature
was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him
who hath subjected the same in hope. because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the
whole creation, groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now. And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
redemption of our body. We long for it. We long to be
redeemed. We long to be delivered from
the pain below. We long to be delivered from
the sin in our flesh. We long to be with Christ. For
we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeeth, why doth
he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it? Job couldn't see. But ultimately, he hoped. Likewise,
the spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
He prays for His people. And we know, we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. We know. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Yes, Paul in the midst of suffering
was brought to look by hope unto Christ. And Job's sufferings
and Job's laments Point us to the man of sorrows, to Christ,
who suffered beyond the suffering of any man. Whose sorrows are like unto my
sorrows? Is it nothing to ye, or ye that
pass by? Job's lamentia show the depths
of his sufferings, and they show in figure the depths
of Christ's. When the hour of judgment was
come upon the world, when the hour of judgment was come unto
Christ, when Christ knew that he would be betrayed and given
up and taken to be crucified, At Gethsemane he went apart on
his own in prayer, and travailed before God, knowing what would
come upon him. O the depths of his sorrow! O
the depths of his trial! Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch
with me. And he went to little father
and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my father, if it be
possible, let this cut pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. Oh, if I could be spared from
this. If it could be that I was not
born for this. If it could be that I should
not have to endure this. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. Oh, the heaviness of heart we
see in Christ as he sees the cup that he must drink. As he prays thus, the disciples,
the few upon earth who might be fought to comfort, slept. They were no more comfort to
Christ in the depths of his suffering than the so-called friends of
Job were. They slept. Jesus came unto them
and then went and prayed again, likewise, if it be possible let
this cup pass from me. He went back to the disciples
and they slept again. He prayed again. And then he
was taken. and led to the cross. And yet,
trouble came. I was the thing which I greatly
feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come
unto me. I was not in safety. Neither
had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. Trouble came. It must. It had to come. If God's people were to be saved,
then one must die in their place. If we're to be saved, then sin
must be judged. If we're to be saved, then a
saviour must come. A perfect saviour, a perfect
man, one without sin. And he must come and place himself
under the judgment, the penalty of the law, in the place of his
people. If God's people are to be saved,
then Christ, the Son of God, God made man, God as a man, must
come in their place. He must suffer. He must bear
their sins. He must endure the pouring out
of God's wrath. There can be no salvation except
Christ die, except He suffer, and except He suffer unto death.
He must die. Trouble must come. Yet trouble
came. And that trouble came upon the
substitute, upon the sinner's substitute, upon the Savior,
the Redeemer, upon Christ, the Son of God, who loved his own
and gave himself for them. who loved the church and gave
himself for her. Though they slept in his hour
of need, when he was alone with his father, yet he gave his all. Oh, how we see in Job's cries
a picture of Christ's, and how we see in his suffering A picture
of the cross. Oh, the cries we hear from Christ
at the cross. Now from the sixth hour there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That cry from the cross at the
ninth hour, after the three hours of darkness, Reminds us of Job's
speech and lament here at the end of seven days and seven nights
of silence. However forsaken Job felt, the
Lord kept him. And however forsaken Christ felt
in the darkness, And his cry here is a statement, a preaching
of the Gospel, of where he was brought to. My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Because he was made sin, because
he bore the sins of his people, because the curse came down upon
him, because God had to judge sin, and he judged it in his
Son. Because it had to come. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? However forsaken, in the end,
the consequence of Christ's death, of his travail and suffering
in the darkness, of his loneliness, his isolation, his abandonment,
his rejection, the end, salvation. The end was that he wrought salvation
for his people. He cried out, it is finished. In spite of the cry, Christ's
faith never wavered. Though abandoned by all, Though all the disciples scattered,
though they slept in his hour of need, though none came to
his aid, though the Lord God poured out his fury upon his
own son. Though he was forsaken, yet Christ
trusted. He believed in God to the end. He trusted that the pouring out
of God's wrath to judge sin would bring forth the righteousness
of God in him for his people. That in him, united to him, their
sin was blotted out, taken away, washed in his blood, and in him
they became the righteousness of God. perfect, beyond measure,
glorious, a righteousness that transcended all. The law could find no fault in
them, because it could find no fault in him. The law measured
Christ from head to foot and found nothing in him, and it
finds nothing in them, because he is righteous as God. with
a righteousness that exceeds the heavens, that exceeds the
earth, that is further in its scope than any can imagine, that fulfills every law that
was ever given but goes beyond, that brings in a people with
everlasting life, everlasting righteousness to bring them in
fit to commune with a holy God. And that people for whom he suffered
was the people that God gave him as he suffered on their behalf
in this darkness. Yes, Christ's faith, his hope
in the darkness was rewarded. As Isaiah writes, he made his
grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death because
he had done no violence Neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. In the darkness, abandoned by
all under the wrath of God, forsaken by the Father, yet Christ's faith
trusted, and he should see the end. The travail of his soul
was satisfied, for in the end all his people were gathered
up in him. As he rose from the grave, they
rose with him. As he ascended into glory, they
ascended with him. As he sat down, they sat down
with him. And from there he preaches his
gospel to gather them in, to bring them in, that one day they
will physically sit down with him. Today they're sat down with
him in spirit. Even now the child of God is
with him above, seated in heavenly places. But one day we shall
be with him in body. and what a day that shall be
what a salvation he wrought what mercy and grace he set upon his
people just as Job is set forth for the encouragement of God's
people when they are brought into trial and suffering just
as he as it were suffered for the encouragement the help of
others so of course Christ's suffering on the cross was for
others, for His own. He bore the sins of His people. He bore their judgment. He didn't
die because of His own sin, He had none. He didn't die because
of His own guilt, He had none, He was innocent. But He took
their sin, their guilt, their judgment, in order that He should
deliver them. He suffered for them. O child of God, He suffered for
you to deliver them, to deliver you
from sin, from condemnation, from judgment, from hell, from
all their enemies. He suffered in order that He
should save them, deliver them, bring them from death to life
in order that He should make them righteous. He died that
they should live. He suffered that they should
be spared. He gave Himself for them He loved
in order to save them with an everlasting salvation. Oh, did
He go to the cross for you? Did He take your sins? Did He pay the price? Did He
love you and give Himself for you? Oh is it nothing to you,
all you that pass by? Do you just hear of the depths
of His suffering and shut your ears and close your eyes and
wander off and think that's for another day? Or has God shown
you your sin? your depravity, your weakness,
your need, your need of His grace, your need of His salvation. Oh
that God would by His gospel lead us here, that He would break
us, that He would perhaps bring us where Job was, to an end of
ourselves, to an end of our own strength, that we can only look
for God's mercy, And oh, that He might make Christ known unto
us. Oh, the depths of the love of
God, the grace of God, the mercy of God in Christ for His people. Oh, that God should show us and
that we should know. And no matter where we're brought,
that He would give us the faith to look up and see our Saviour,
who suffered all in our place, who loved us when we hated Him,
who had mercy upon us when we rejected Him. O God, give us
grace to look to Him alone, who gave His all for sinners.