I'm going to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me to the Book of Job. Book of Job, chapter 6. It never ceases to amaze me, the goodness of our Lord. Brother Bryant was reading there, chapter 16 of John. He was reading about us being, we who believe, God's people chosen in Christ, about the Lord being our friend, our friend. And today I'd like to preach out of Job chapter 6. I'm going to try to do an overview like I have here in this book. I'm going to just look at the chapter, just touch some high spots of it. And I want to talk about a friend in trouble, a friend that we have when we're in trouble. And we're born for trouble. I mean, trouble is everywhere. This world is just a place of trouble. And I need some encouragement. I need some help. And the only help that we ever really have is in the blessed Lord and Savior. That's the only help we've got. Nobody can help us, really. I mean, we think we get a little help. It's just so temporary. I get a little relief from something and I turn around and I got another problem. I got, it just, it's just a never-ending story. A Friend in Time of Trouble, Job chapter 6. I'll read this as I go. I won't read the whole chapter. Now, we will, but I'll just, Go as we get to it. Job, now, as I've said before, is a type of Christ. So as we read these verses, we're really talking about a man named Job, a man that the Lord had told Satan, if you considered my servant Job a just man. Righteous man. Not in himself. There's none righteous but God. But here is a picture of a man and we're going to see a picture of Job truly in his sufferings, but we're going to see a picture of our Lord in his sufferings. And we never can say enough. I was going over my notes I started looking at this, you know, about last week, and I told you I was gonna try to get into it, and I just could not see the heart of it. I couldn't see the message of it. And hopefully, I've learned a long time ago, if you don't see Christ in it, don't try to go somewhere that you're not. Just wait on the Lord. And the Lord will teach us. He'll teach us. But Job, in this chapter today, Job is a type of Christ. And Job has suffered the righteous hand of God in having to go through some pain and some suffering, some chastisement. Now, he's had some so-called friends. He's had some friends, Eliphaz different ones that have come and they were going to try to give him a little help. And what they've actually done is they've, you know, made it their business to bring out all the problems that they see in Job. They're going to help him out by reminding him of, you know, this is why I think you're going through this. And beloved, we deserve whole lot more than we get. We deserve more justice from God than we receive. The Lord has been pleased to demand all that's due in justice for His people in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But He has graciously allowed us to go through some things that we need to go through. We need to go through. We need them. We need them. And Job now is going through some things. And his friends are going to bring him out. They brought him out. They told him. They said, Job, I can tell you, you know, you're not suffering this for nothing. There's some skeletons in the closet, Job. You're going through some things There's some things that you've probably tried to sweep under the rug. But God sees them. And we're just here to help you out, just to tell you that you're a sinner, Job. There's something going on. You lost your kids. You lost your land. You lost your money. You lost your reputation. And I'm pretty sure, Job, You deserve everything you got. Boy, I'm telling you, there's nothing so self-righteous as a self-righteous religionist. I'm going to point out all the problems that we've got. God's people don't need to have their problems and their frailties pointed out. They know them. They know them. They're quite aware of them. But these friends are going to help him out. Here they bring all these things out in these previous chapters. In the first seven verses of Job chapter six, but Job answered and said, and he's talking to them. He's talking to them for all the help that they've given him. Oh, that my grief were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the balances. together. For now it be heavier than the sand of the sea, therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves in array to me, against me. Doth the wild ass brave when he hath grass or loweth The ox over his father? Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? The things that my soul refused to touch are as my awful meat. Job said, okay, I know, I know. I felt the sting of God's hand. This just man whose heart was revealed in the first chapter of Job, a man that loved God, a man that took his kids and tried to teach his kids, prayed for his kids. Unless they do something unawares, suffer the chastisement of God, he's praying for them. His wife got on to him. She said, why don't you just curse God and die? Why are you putting up with all this? This was Job. And here they are, and they're bringing it. And Job was pointing these things out. He said, if my calamity, in verse 2, if my grief was throughly, completely, totally weighed, and my calamity laid in the balance together, It'd be heavier than the sand of the sea. I wonder how much every grain of sand times the weight of every grain of sand, I wonder how much that would weigh. It'd be a lot. It'd be a lot. Job said, my grief is heavier than that. But listen, knowing that this man was called to suffer these things, though he was called to suffer Some heartaches. He saw his kids die. He saw everything gone. His wife ridiculed him. And he said, it's heavy. Let me ask you this. Let's just turn the page just a little bit and just ask ourselves this. Is Job not here a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who willingly suffered and laid his life aside according to the will of his father, he who must bear the weight of all of the transgressions of his people. And here these words now is a picture of Christ saying this, as the God-man mediator, Truly God, truly man, a man who was touched in all points as we are. Yet without sin, he had feelings. He was a perfect man, Barrett. He had perfect feelings. But he felt what his father called him to bear. He felt it. Oh, my grief. If it was truly, thoroughly, completely weighed, and my calamities laid in the balances together of what God demanded for justice, if that was weighed in balances, if it could be put on a scale, it'd be heavier than the sands of the sea. Oh, I'm telling you, our Lord and Savior, He knew something about suffering. He knew something about suffering. Here was the voice truly of the Lord. Job, yes, but Christ, perfectly. Oh, if that could be weighed. Beloved, we have no earthly idea what he went through. There's no way we'll ever know. We may never know. Somebody said, well, when we get to heaven, I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever understand it, but he expressed it right here. Those who have ears to hear, let him hear. Do we not hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ who was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin? I want you to hold your place there in Job, but just turn over to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5, let's just read verses 7 to 10. Hebrews 5, verse 7, listen to this. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared, he respected God. Our sin, beloved, the sin of God's people, the sin of God's elect, all men, but God has been pleased to put away the debt of the people of God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what The scripture says, in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears. He was hurting. Offered him up unto him who was able to save him from death. And he was heard in that he feared, he respected God. He went to the only one that you can go to. Though he were a son, Yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Here is the Son of God made flesh, and he learned obedience. He learned it. Somebody said, well, I can read in the Bible. I can see. I understand some things. Beloved, now you all know this. We know some things, and we know them. We know them by faith. But I'm going to tell you something. I'll tell you when you really get to know something is when you go through it. I can brighten some of you, too. I mean, I know, look, I'm looking at a lot of people here that's gone through some stuff, some tough stuff. And I can read you, I can get a manual and find, get a manual and read something about the effects and the frailties of having a stroke. I can read a book on that. I'll tell you this, that book don't carry any weight compared to having to go through it and to see yourself and see your frailties and to see the effects of it in daily life and feel the hurt of it. He learned obedience. He learned it by experience in the things that he suffered. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Oh, I tell you, here's Job, a picture, but nobody felt the weight of God's wrath, God's judgment, God's suffering. Nobody ever felt that weight. as the Lord did. Job longed that his grief would be throughly weighed by his friends. His friends had kind of reamed him out a little bit. And I told him all of his frailties and shortcomings, and he said, I'll tell you what, if you felt what I felt, he said, you'd know where I'm coming from. He was saying this, he said, does a wild ass bray? Does an ox? Does he bellow for having something if he's not hungry or if he's not hurting? Does even an animal not react to some things that he goes through? Oh, but thanks be unto God. Our Lord, God's people have one that knows how to sympathize with them. You know, you've heard the old saying, you wanna know how somebody feels, well just walk a mile in his shoes. Just go where he is and just see how he feels and then tell me about it. Then tell me about it. Oh, the Lord has a people that he sympathizes with. Matthew chapter 26, Matthew 26. Hold your place there, I will just turn to a few verses here. Matthew chapter 26. Let's look at verses 36 to 39. Matthew 26, 36. Then cometh Jesus unto them to a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto them, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, 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 a little further, and he fell on his face, praying, saying, O my father, if it be possible, Let this cup pass from me nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou. You know what he knew? He knew that he soon would go to the cross. And he was gonna die. He was gonna die. He was gonna lay down his life. Let me tell you what grieved him. He was gonna be made sin. That's what 2 Corinthians 5.21 says. He was gonna be made sin. And he who knew no sin was going to be made this thing called sin. And I've told you, I don't even know what it is. I'm irate about it and I know it's not good. I know it costs the lives of untold millions who leave this world without Christ. But he was going to be made sin. and he was gonna suffer the judgment of almighty God. He was gonna suffer that. And he was gonna lay down his life. He said, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down. He said, I have power to lay it down, I have power to take it back. Man, now that's power. But here he was, he submitted himself to his father. And he prayed, he said, Father, if it be possible that this cup be made sin, if it's possible, if this cup can pass from me, but nevertheless, now here's submission, here's submission. You talk about love, love for the brethren, love for his, Father's honor for his father's choice, chosen by the father. He's all about love. He laid down his life, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Now you think about that. Now we might enter into a little bit. You know, here again, you come down with something and the doctor says this, or you're going through something, and we're praying, and you're praying. I tell you how I normally do. Now, this is just the weakness of my flesh. I'll be honest with you. I'm praying that, Lord, if it be your will, you know, let this cup pass from me. Well, I hate to admit it, but I find myself with the emphasis on let this cup pass from me. But oh, that God might grant me grace and mercy for that first part. Not my will. Lord, if it please you to let me go through the rest of my life suffering like this, not my will, Lord, but yours be done. That's the heart that every believer has. I want God's will. Well, back in Job chapter six. Job chapter six, verses eight to 13. He says, Job, here is the one speaking, but it's Christ, which it truly points. Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for, even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off. Then should I yet, have comfort. Yea, I would harden myself in sorrow. Let him not spare, for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength that I should hope? And what is mine end that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh of brass? Is not my help in me? And is wisdom driven quite from me, what Job was saying was, and this is coming from a man that's strong in faith. This is what, this is a man that knew God. The Lord had given some evidence to that. Have you considered my servant Job? Have you considered him a just man? There's none like it, there's none like it. Oh, but as a man, as a man of flesh and blood, here's a man that knows God and loves God and sees something of his frailty and his hurt and his pain. And that man that knows God, he's still coupled with that old nature, that old man. And that old man still raises his ugly head and he just There's a battle going on in us. And here's Job, and he's suffering. He's suffering. He's brought to a point to where he's considering the only way out of the trials that he's called to suffer was for God to kill him. That's what he said. This is more than I can bear. I don't know how much more of this I can take. My kids, my reputation, my health have scraped themselves. Lord, if there's no other way, just take my life. Just take my life. This suffering is just so hard. Let me ask you this. Did not Satan himself tempt the Lord that way? It was Job. Job was tempted to say, listen, it'd be better for me. I mean, if I just died, at least then I wouldn't have to be going through this. If I died, I'd be with the Lord. I'd be away from here. I just don't know if I can take this anymore. Turn with me to Matthew 4. Let me show you how sate and how subtle. Matthew 4. The subtlety. I mean, you think, I don't think I'd ever be tempted to commit suicide. Don't kid yourself. You let things get bad enough. You let things get bad enough. You think, just, you've heard enough, and but for the grace of God, you don't know what you'd do. You say, what brings somebody to do that, to do that? Well, but for God's grace, obviously, it was Job. He was praying. He said, Lord, just take me. Just take me out. I can't. I'm at my wit's end. And think how Satan used that inadequacy in ourselves. Satan knows something about our inadequacy. He's not dumb. He's wily. He's the wiles of the devil. And he tried to use that tactic right there on the Lord. Now let me show you that. Matthew chapter 4, Matthew 4 verses 1 to 7, Then was Jesus led up in spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterwards, he was hungry. He's hungry. He's hurting. He's hurting. You know, you get 40 days and 40 nights. He's a man. He's a man. He hadn't eaten now 40 days, 40 nights. Verse 4. And when the tempter came to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. You think the Lord could do that? You think the Lord could take those stones and make them bread? Yeah. Yeah, he could do that. He's God. You think he was really hungry? He was really hungry. Why don't you take these stones and make them bread? Verse 4, But he answered and said, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Here was the Lord Jesus Christ. He was trusting his Father. He was trusting God. He wasn't going to listen to that temptation. To satisfy himself, he was going to believe God. He was going to believe his Father. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city and setteth him on the pinnacle of the temple. and saith unto him, if thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest thou at any time dash thy foot against a stone. You think Satan was really concerned about the Lord proving his deity, the angel saved? You think he was really concerned about that? He knew, Satan knew who this was, who this is. This is the savior of sinners. This is God's lamb. If he doesn't die, if he doesn't put away the guilt of God's people, we have no hope. God's honor is at stake, God's will is at stake, God's purpose is at stake to save a people that he's everlastingly loved. And Satan will come to him and he said, I tell you what, if you're God, if you're the son of God, won't you just jump off? And let us all behold your glory. You know the angels, you know, they've been given charge over there. Is that not the most wily, deceptive, won't you just jump off and kill yourself? Jesus saith unto him, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Job had come to a point to where he was, he was hurt. He was hungry. The Lord was. Job is brought to a point of despair. But old Job, again, is a type of our Christ, our Lord, tempted of Satan, and he didn't yield. You and I will every time, every time. He knew, the Lord did, he knew the suffering that he was called to bear. Job, again, as a picture, he knew something about his frailty. And Job was brought to this point. He said, you know, I'm realizing something. I'm realizing something. Oh, he had been blessed. He'd had so many things. He'd walk through the streets, and all the people would praise him. Hey, Job, how you doing, buddy? Good to see you. The kids would, you know, flock around him and everything. He had so much respect that was given him, richest man in the whole land. had more stuff than anybody. Now he's brought down to nothing, just nothing. And here's what he's come to. And here's what God's going to bring us to, at least to a point of knowing it. We'll never know the depth of this. But here's what Job was brought to know. Look at verse 14. To him that is afflicted, pity should be showed. Now listen to this. from his friend. But, or for, he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty because he respects God. He, this, he knew something. And, and Job was, he was, he was afflicted. He was afflicted. That, that word right there in that, in that affliction To him that is afflicted, that word means melted. To him that is melted, he just, I just don't have any sustenance left. Pity should be showed from his friend. Beloved, we don't know the depth. Here's a picture of Job, a picture found in Job, but a picture of our need And I'll tell you what we need. We need a friend. We need a friend. We need a friend that is willing and able to help us. You know, there's a lot of us that, you know, we see afflictions in our brethren, and we're willing to help them, but we may not be able to help them. But I need somebody that's willing and able. I need a friend. I need a friend. I need a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Turn to John 15 as I began to wrap this up. John 15. John 15 verse 13. John 15. Starting in verse 13, 15. John 15, 13. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. There's no love, there's no love. There's no love expressed except where a man is willing to lay down his life. I said, I'll give you the last dollar if I could. Would you die for me? Are you that good a friend to me? Would you give up your life for me? No greater love hath any man than this. He lays down his life. Then the Lord said in verse 14, you're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you henceforth. I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I've called you friends. For all things that I have heard of my father, I've made known unto you." Job, he was brought to this point. I don't have anything left. I don't have anything left. My health is gone, my wife is gone, my kids are gone, my land is gone, my livestock is I need a friend. Is there a friend out there that can help me? I need a friend. Job's friends treated him with such total disrespect and insensitivity. I'll come back and make a closing comment on that verse 14 in just a minute, but I wanted to just read. All I'm gonna do is just read verses 15 to 30. Job, when they came to him, got on to him, rebuked him, stuff like that, this is what he told them that they were. This is what he had expressed to them. Starting in verse 15, Job chapter 6, verse 15. He said, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook. and there's a stream of brooks, they pass away. You know, you got sometime, you get a little stream of water and you know it's, if the rain's been there, you got some water running through that thing, it's pretty good, but you know, you let it dry up. You go out there and try to find you something or get you a little water or water your garden or something like that. If a famine is coming, there's no water. That place where that brook was, there's nothing there. There's nothing there. This is what he's saying to him. He said, my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as a stream of brooks. They just pass away. You talked a good fight. I mean, oh, I'm telling you, I heard what you're saying. But what you do speak so loud, your words are nothing. which are blackish by reason of ice and wherein the snow is hid. I looked that up to find out exactly what he was saying. It says like it's when there's a stream and it's been running, it runs underwater and it's got a lot of silt and stuff that's been stirred up and it freezes over. And you can see through the ice and you can see the stuff that's down in there still. That's what he's talking about. He said, it's just what you're blackish by reason of ice, where the snow is hit. He said, you talk good, you talk a big talk and everything, but he said, you're just like a stream that either doesn't have any water, but when you see it, even if it's frozen over, it's got stuff in it that's not desirable. What time they wax warm, they vanish. When it's hot, they're consumed out of the place. He said, there's no consistency in you. The paths of their way are turned aside. They go to nothing. They perish. The troops of Tima looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them. They were confounded by cause they'd hoped. They came thither. They were ashamed. For now, you're nothing. And you see my casting down, and you're afraid. Joe said, I can't put any confidence in you. You're just like I am. You're just not going through what I'm going through. But if you were, you'd know why I'm doing it. But you're just like me. Did I say bring me or give me reward of your substance? Did I ask anything from you? That's what he's telling his so-called friends. Did I ask anything from you? You couldn't. You couldn't help me or deliver me from the enemy's hands or redeem me from the hand of the mighty. Teach me and I'll hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. You give me something that I can hold on to in you, he told his buddies. And he said, I'll listen to all your bragging and so-called, you know, help that you'd give me. He said, you can't. You can't help me. How forcible are right words, but what does your arguing reprove? Right words are helpful, but what you're saying is nothing. You're not doing me any good whatsoever. Do you imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that's desperate? which wind, yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and you dig a pit for your friend. That's all you've done. You just dug a big hole for me, telling me how righteous you are and how unrighteous I am. Therefore, be content. Look upon me, for it's evident unto you if I lie. Return, I pray you. Let it not be iniquity, yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. Is there iniquity in my tongue? Cannot my taste discern perverse things? He said, do you think I can't see through you? Do you think you're fooling me? Do you think, you think all of this, you know, I, I need a friend. I need a friend. Oh, how much we would desire to be known by the friend of sinners. I need somebody. I need somebody to take me and hold me and protect me and guide me. Thanks be unto God that the Lord's love for his people is not based upon our faithfulness to him, or our love to him. Proverbs 17, 17. A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. I need a friend to love me no matter what. I need one to love me no matter what. And I need a brother that's born for adversity. I need a brother And Christ, our elder brother, our Lord, our Savior, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, you've made like as we are yet without sin, Job said, this is the kind of friend I need. I need a real friend. Christ Jesus, the friend of sinners, has promised his friendship to the end. Last verse right here, Hebrews 13, 5, let your conversation Be without covetousness. And be content with such things as you have. Whatever you're going through, whatever you're going through right now, be content with what things you have. Whatever it is, health, no health. Be content with things that you have. For he saith, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. may be going through some tough times right now. I get it, I get it. Beloved, the friend of sinners has promised this. He said, I'm not gonna leave you. I may send you through the fire, I may send you through the storm, some through the water, some through the flood, but all through the blood. Lord, thank you for being a friend to me. for Christ's sake and my eternal good. Thank you. Amen.