I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Job. Job 7. Job chapter 7. Job, like all God's sheep, is a man who has been graciously taught of the Lord. Job, like all God's sheep, had been taught something about himself and something about the God he loves and knows and serves.

And the way that Job has been taught is by an amazing thing that this world and all of us, all of us, because of this old man, really hates to have to deal with. Adversity. Nobody by nature cherishes adversity by nature they don't cherish. But that adversity is something that a believer is taught to thank God for. He thanks the Lord for adversity.

But one might ask this question, Everybody suffer trials, tribulations, sufferings in this world. Yeah, everybody does. Everybody suffers. This world, right, is according to Job 5-7, yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Everybody's got problems. We've all got problems. We're born in a sinful, rebellious world.

And God's elect and those that the Lord has been pleased to not set his affection on, he's God. He does as he will in the army of heaven. He does all things according to his good pleasure. Is it right that God Almighty would show mercy to one and pass by another one? Is that right? Yes, sir, it's right. Why is it right? Because God did it. And it's right.

But these trials that we all suffer, God's elect and those who are reprobates left to themselves. That's what reprobate is. Left alone. Left alone. How does one know if the trials that he's suffering, are they the result of judgment that is due to every creature born of the dust? Is it that? Or are these trials that we're all suffering, Are these trials what the scripture refers to as chastisement? How do you know the difference? What is it about the difference of these sufferings?

I want you to hold your place. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12, 6 to 8. Hebrews 12. Now you think about this. Everybody suffers. Hebrews 12. Everybody suffers. Everybody goes through. I know people. You do, too. And they don't know anything about the Lord. They have no interest in God, the things of God, no interest in the gospel. And they got problems. But the Lord's people have problems, too.

But one of them is concerning justice being rendered and judgment. And judgment for God's people has been poured out. on the Lord Jesus Christ, he's paid the debt of it. But whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth. How is there, how do you know, how do you know what is what? I think Hebrews 12, six to eight gives us some good knowledge concerning this.

Hebrews 12, six to eight. The scripture says, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. And what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, than your bastards and not sons."

Now there was something said in verse 7 that gives us good indication concerning the difference between judgment, deserved judgment, and chastening. And it's in verse 7, and it says, endure. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons. I looked that word up. I wanted to know if you endure knowing that God Almighty chastens His children. If you endure, the Apostle Paul was moved to say, God's dealing with you as sons if you endure it. Endure. Here's what it means. If you remain, if you abide, if you persevere under these trials and hold fast to one's faith in Christ,

Now you take one that is going through some trials, tribulations, and he'll find every excuse under the sun. I'm not fooling with this anymore. I'm leaving. I'm going. But if one is found to be going through some trials and tribulations, sufferings, he's kept by the power of God through faith. under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. You cannot, because God keeps them, you cannot drive one of God's elect away. You can't drive them away. You just, you just, if one doesn't know the Lord, ah, I'm not fooling with that stuff, I'm not.

But scripture says, if he slays me, I'm going to trust Him. If God is pleased to take me out of this world, by God's grace, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. If He doesn't keep me, I'm gone. I'm leaving. One of them is chastisement. The other is judgment. A believer is one taught by God's Spirit the truth.

Now, I'll tell you this, I can tell you for a fact that there's some things that any man, any man, woman, can know in their head. I understand, I understand before the Lord ever revealed himself to me, I understood the concept of the three R's that we talk about. Ransomed, ransomed from the fall. redeemed by the blood, and regenerated by the spirit. I can have it. I can have it down. I can have it right here. I got it. I got that. I understand. I understand that. I got it. But knowing doctrinal truth is not necessarily knowing God. I know doctrinal truth. God's people know doctrinal truth. I can understand that with my head. Oh, but to have a heart that is knit to Him that moves me, makes me, compels me to cast myself upon the mercy of God. That's from above.

Man by nature can understand. I've said before, demons believe in God's sovereignty. Demons know He's sovereign. You remember when that demoniac, when the Lord was going to cast that legion of demons out of this demoniac, and one of the demons said, we know who you are. I know who you are. You're God. You ask any man on the street, you believe that God Almighty is sovereign. In his head, he's going to say, yeah, I believe that. But unless God teaches him and gives him a heart to know it, heartfully, He doesn't truly believe it. He doesn't know it.

What's the difference? God Almighty's got to do something for somebody and teach them. So knowing that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is going to suffer trials, that he's going to go through some things in this life for God's glory and for his own good, I want us to look at Job Chapter 7. I just want to look at this. I'm going to just do a, relatively speaking, a quick study of this 7th chapter. Let's see what the Lord has to say through this man's suffering.

Job suffered. He knew it. He knew what he was going through. Now look, Job chapter 7. Now here's Job, and he's talking to some men that claimed to be his friends. Joe's friends. And what they've done is they've come and accused him, you've been unfaithful, you've been inconsistent. I told you last week, a week before, I said, you got some skeletons in the closet, Joe. That's why you're going through this. I'm just, you know, not wanting to hurt your feelings, Joe, but this is the way we see it. That's what they were saying. There's something going on, Job, that you're not being up front with us about and you're not being up front with yourself about. You're suffering because there's something going on. Oh, that just reeks of self-righteousness. When you hear somebody talk about somebody else, I tell you, I know why they're going. I tell you what, we do well to look at ourselves. Look at me. I'm to blame. I'm to blame.

So here they're going to talk to him. They're going to tell him. And they've accused him, and now Job is going to, he's going to give them an answer. Here's what he's going to say to them. Job chapter 7, verse 1 to 6. Job says, is there not an appointed time? Is there not a warfare? Is there not a time of warfare? That's what, an appointed warfare time. due to man upon earth. Are not his days also like the days of a hireling? As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and hireling looketh for the reward of his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity and wearisome nights, or appointed me. When I lie down, I say one Shall I rise at night and the night be gone, and I'm full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms, clods of dust. My skin's broken and become loathsome. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and are spent without hope.

They rode him and rode him and rode him, and he's suffering. And what he's saying, these words, he's rebuking them for them getting on to him about being tired. He's a man. He's a man. And you get tired. They've told him, you don't have any reason, Joe, to be fussing and bickering and arguing about this. It's something, you know. What he's saying is this, is there not an appointed time of warfare on this earth? He's saying, is it so awful that a suffering servant sees the frailty of this life and he feels the weight, the bearing of what he is, what he sees around him?

A carnal man does not look for death. A carnal man doesn't look for death. He has no hope after death. He's going to do everything in the world. I know something about that, and you do too. If I get sick, you know what I'm going to do, Mitch? I'm going to the doctor. I'm not going to say, well, whatever it's going to be, it's going to be. Here they are, they're rebuking him because he's felt the weight of God's chastisement. He's felt the weight of it. And he's tired. He just got to that point and while they're so self-righteously, you know, beating him up, he said, is not there an appointed time? God, I know, is going to take all of us in our time. And we all have good reason to be thankful to the Lord that we're still here. I thank God that the Lord has allowed me to be here with you this morning. I thank the Lord for that. I've just been made to realize lately, I could be gone, I know that, I know that. And it does, it weighs on me like it does on you.

So this, the carnal man, he doesn't look at this thing of death as being anything that's a friend, but to a believer. He knows that there's an appointed time. I know there is. I know that there's going to come a time, if Lord doesn't return, I know that there's coming a time when my warfare is going to be over. That's what he said. He said, you're fussing at me because I'm tired, I'm weary. Isn't it? He says, verse two, as a servant earnestly desires the shadow. You guys should go out there and if all of us have you know, in general, but generally speaking, especially a man that earns his keep by the sweat of his brow and goes out there. Do you ever just kind of start looking at, you know, what time is it? Well, it's about 3.30 in the afternoon. Man, I'd be glad if five o'clock gets here. I'm just about wore out. That's what he said.

Verse two, as a shadow earnestly desires the shadow, as a harling looketh for the reward of his work. That's where, verse three, so am I made to possess months of vanity and wearisome nights appointed. When I, when I lie down, I say, when shall I rise? I know what's coming. I go to work, used to have a construction company there in Louisiana, then Tennessee. And then I, I just, And I come home, I wore out. I'm tired, but I'm laying down. But you know what's coming in the next few hours? I got to get up and go again. I got to go. And it's just, you know, he says in the latter part of verse four, he said, I'm full of toxins to and fro, you know, until the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms, clods of dust, skin's broken, lonesome. My days are swifter. I just, it's passing so quickly.

So he reproves them. And a believer feels that. And he says within his heart, I don't want to be here too long. So he sees God's wisdom in moving him, causing him to get older. You know, you get to a point where you see the mercy of God to prepare us to leave. We're being prepared to leave. And so that believer that has been graciously caused and called to suffer, he turns to the Lord in the midst of his trials and he pours out his heart to the only one who knows. Something about trials. You think, well, I tell you what, I've been going through some stuff.

Let me tell you something. Consider him. Consider the Lord. He was made flesh. And he felt like we've never felt. He felt the burden, the weightedness of this world and sin that just was all around him. He knew no sin personally, but he took upon himself the form of sinful flesh. And he went through this world. Remember that time when the Pharisees got on to him and they said, you know, you're not even 50 years old. No, he was in his, you know, mid to later 30s, but just looked at him. He knew what it was like. And so Job was telling them, while they accused him of being so insensitive, Job was telling them, said, look, I'm only going to be here for a certain amount of time. So the Lord knew something of the road that we're trod, that we walk right now.

And then look at Job 7, verses 7 to 10. And now he's talking to the Lord. Job had been talking to his friends and rebuked them. But these few verses right here seems to be that the Lord is being spoken to concerning Job. Look, he said, oh, remember that my life is won. I read that again this morning, and I thought, what a prayer of one that knows the Lord never forgets. He never forgets. And here's Job saying this, Lord, would you remember that my life is wind? Lord, would you remember that? And I'm thinking, what a, what a plea from a frail creature of dust. Would you, would you just, Lord, would you remember? Would you remember? You let yourself get down. You let yourself get weary, and you'll cry unto the Lord, and you'll say, Lord, would you, would you remember that I, my life is when mine eyes shall no more see good. The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more. Thine eyes are upon me, and I'm not. As the cloud is consumed and vanished away, So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. Lord, would you remember that I'm only going to be here for a little while?

I thought it was almost like a child talking to someone who's his parent, his dad or his mom, and like, you know, telling them something that you know good and well he knew. Lord, would you remember me? Here's one speaking, a worm to the sovereign who never forgets. Oh, you think about that thief on the cross. When I looked at that word this morning again, and when it says, verse seven, oh, remember that my life is wind. I was thinking about that thief that said, Lord, when you enter into your kingdom, would you remember me? You know, would you, if Lord pleased to remember somebody in mercy, you think he's going to forget? But you know what a believer says, Lord, would you remember me? Would you remember, would you, would you think upon me?

And then after the Lord did, I mean, after Job had spoken to his friends and rebuked them and then He was asking the Lord to remember him and the sufferings that he was going through. And this is a believer. You pray and you say, Lord, I'm going through. Lord, would you remember? Would you remember mercy to me? Would you remember me and what you've called me to go through? This is where prayer becomes something that's not just ritual. You come down to, I'm just getting down to the brass tacks here. Lord, you know better than I the frailty of this flesh. Would you remember your mercy to me? Lord, keep me in the midst of this for as long as you're going to have me here. Lord, would you not, don't leave me to myself. That's what he's saying.

And then Job speaks, having come to a great conclusion in these last last few verses. Let's read verses 11 to 21. Here is, he's rebuked his so-called friends and he's called on the Lord to remember him. Lord help me in the midst of these.

Job knew that the Lord sent all the sufferings that he was going through. He knew that. But here's his great conclusion, 11 to 21.

Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Now, I looked at that word complain. I'm going to complain. And when I first read it, immediately I jumped to conclusions. You know, we always do. Have you ever heard me say the best thing to do, if you've got a question about a word, look it up. Look it up and see.

I will complain, he said. Now see, now my first thought, I'll go ahead and say what you're thinking, and I am too. When you first hear that, I'm going to complain about it. I'm going to just argue or fuss about it, and I'm thinking, this ain't right. That's not what the word means at all.

When he said this, when Job said that he would complain in the bitterness of his soul, what he was saying, you can look this up. I'm gonna meditate. That's what the word means. I'm gonna meditate. I've been called to suffer. God has called me to suffer. The Lord has set on me This lot, this is my lot. It is my lot, whatever you're going through, this is your lot. You that know him, this is the lot that he has prescribed for you, for your good and his eternal glory.

And then Job said, I'm going to complain about it. Well, he wasn't complaining or arguing with God or fussing about what he was going to go through. But what he was saying is this. I want to meditate on what I'm going through. Lord, would you just allow me just to enter in to what you've called me to do?

Therefore, verse 11, I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Am I a sea or a whale? Thou settest a watch over me. When I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint. Then thou scar'st me with dreams and terrifies me through visions, so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than life. I loathe it. I would not live forever. Let me alone. My days are vanity. What is man that thou shouldest magnify him, that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him, that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment? How long wilt thou not depart from me and let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

Oh, listen to this conclusion. Here's why he knew he was going through what he was going through. Here was his great conclusion. I have sinned. Do you realize what a great revelation that is to a needy sinner? I've sinned. And the Lord is coming to this world to save sinners. Now this is a great A great revelation. I've sinned in word and thought and deed, but God has been pleased to arrest me, to stop me, just like he did Saul of Tarsus.

What was Saul of Tarsus doing? Well, he was going on the road to Damascus and he was going to take those of the way. He was going to take them back to Jerusalem in handcuffs and bound them, all bound. And God stopped him. He stopped him.

And Job, like every object of God's mercy, here's the reason. Here's the reality. Why has the Lord been pleased to put me through what I'm going through? Number one, because I deserved it. Man by nature doesn't know that, and he doesn't care about it. But here's a great revelation. I have sinned.

What shall I do unto thee, O preserver of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so I am a burden to myself? And why dost thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity? For now shall I sleep in dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Lord, why are you putting me through? I want to muse upon this. I want to complain. I want to muse. I want to consider. I want to think about, meditate. The Lord has providentially sent all of this for his glory. and my good and the good of his people.

And he knows just exactly how to correct. He knows just exactly how to temper his gracious dealings of chastisement with his people. He knew that the Lord, that is Job, measured out our trials with exactly proportion. Why have you done this, Lord, why? It's like he just has the light turned on. I've sinned, and I deserve, I deserve more than you've given me. I deserve much more. I deserve much more in myself, but thanks be unto God.

Lord, you've borne my guilt. And this chastening, These trials, they're just for a moment. They're just for a moment. I think to myself, just a few more setting suns. You've heard me say that before. A few more setting suns. And all of this is going to be over. And these light afflictions that we're being called to suffer right now. Oh, but did not Job's trials beautifully show us the sustaining grace of God?

where I look and I see that there were some that sat under the gospel and heard the gospel for a while. But in time, they went away. Just like that crowd that was following after the Lord, you know. That's a hard saying. Who can hear it? The Lord just turned to his disciples. He said, well, you go away also. Do you want to leave? You want to leave? You that know him, let me ask you this. Do you want to leave? You know what you're saying in your heart right now? Lord, where am I going to go? Where am I going? Where am I going to go?

Trials will still be there. Oh, but the blessed lesson. Job had told the Lord. He said, you put a hedge about him. You put a hedge about him, I can't get to him, but I tell you what, you let me touch him and he'll curse you to your face.

Beloved, every believer is going through trials. And you know what the Lord has graciously been pleased to do? To let you suffer. To prove Not to him, he knows you're not leaving, because he's keeping you. But to prove to you, I'm not going to leave you, I'm not going to forsake you.

Job said, I've sinned. Why dost thou not pardon my transgression, take away mine iniquity? For now I sleep in the dust, and thou shalt seek me in the morning. I'm not going to be here forever. in the presence of God's people forever, but I'll be with him." That's what he's saying.

Did not Job trials beautifully show us the sustaining grace of God? You let me touch him, he'll curse you to your face. Was that not the intent of Satan? Whenever the Lord was caused to go through the suffering, being tried of the devil. That was Satan's intent. You let me touch him, and he'll curse you to your face.

Oh, affliction. That glorious grace. Affliction. Oh, the blessing of being able to suffer. Let us be kept. from looking at these providential dealings that the Lord has graciously taken us through. And remember, he has sent these things because he loves us. He loves us.

I can't help, I've told you this before, and I'm gonna close, but I cannot help but think about when my kids were growing up, and I would, they'd do something. I never would whip them for a, I told you this, I never would whip them for a mistake, but for disobedience. And I was the one that made the decision whether it was a mistake or disobedience. And my word was going to overrule theirs. I did not want to take a belt. I did not want to take a belt to my kids. It hurt me because I knew it was going to hurt them. It hurt me. But I'd tell them, I said, if I don't discipline you now, God's going to discipline me later through your disobedience. I've got to. I've got to.

All God's sheep know what they are in themselves. We know that. Ecclesiastes 7.20. There's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not. But being found in Christ, according to God's eternal electing, redeeming, regenerating, and keeping grace, all of God's sheep are as Job was declared by the Lord to be, a perfect upright man, one that fears God and escheweth evil.

Beloved, none of us have any reason. We have no reason to wonder why God has been pleased to send afflictions to us. We don't have any reason to doubt. I don't care what we're going through. What you're going through may not be exactly what I'm going through or vice versa. But I'm going to tell you something. I'll tell you why we're going through this. It's because the Lord has been pleased to reveal his love to us, to keep us in the midst of these adversities and trials and tribulations.

You let this world accuse us. I know why you're going through this. It's because you so-and-so and so-and-so. Well, that may be. as far as you're concerned, but I tell you why God's people are going through what they go through. It's because of God's love for them and His perfect will. I'm not going to leave you to yourself. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it.

I pray that the Lord be pleased to bless these words to our heart for His glory and our good.