Let's turn this evening to Job
chapter 14. The book of Job chapter 14. It would be an understatement
if I admitted to you that there's a lot of things I don't know.
There's so many things I don't know, so many things we don't
know. But there is one thing I know
for certain about all of you and about me. I know a lot of things about myself,
but I know one thing about all of us. Everybody in this room,
everybody in every group that is now worshiping God this night. Each of you, each of us, either
has been, is right now, or soon will be in trouble. Y'all recognize the truth of
that? Look what it says, shouldn't surprise us. Look what it says
in Job 14. Verse one, man, that means men
and women, man that is born of a woman, that's all of us, right?
Is a few days, y'all recognize the truth of that? Some of us
are getting old enough to know that God's word says man's days
are three score and 10, that's 70. That's not many days. You children,
you're sitting there going, 70? Whoa, when you're six or seven
or eight or nine or 10, 70 seems like a million. But trust me,
you'll wake up one day and you'll be there. You'll be there. So the truth of this is obvious
that man that is born of a woman is a few days. Scripture says
it's like a hand breath. Y'all go out tonight, when you
go out, do this, you kids go, and you'll see that frost go
out in front of you, your breath go out in front of you. And I'll
tell you, if the Lord's merciful, you'll be just a few years and
you'll be like me, an old man. And that's what your life will
be. It'll just be a hand's breath.
It goes by so fast. The days are so few. But look
at what it says about the days. Man that is born of a woman is
a few days and he's full of trouble. Turn over to Psalm 73. Man's days are few, and they're
full of trouble. The years go by, and the days
will become more and more trouble. Now I have a question for you.
Are all men troubled the same? Scripture says that everybody's
gonna be troubled. But are all men troubled the
same? Not according to the Scriptures, And I want you to listen to well
the next statement I'm gonna make. It is the special privilege of
a believer to have more trouble than the ungodly do. You say,
now wait a minute, that seems all backwards. I'm a believer
and it's a privilege for me to have more trouble than those
guys out there? That's exactly what I'm saying. We have more trouble than the
ungodly. Why is that? He whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth. Look with me at Psalm 73. David gave his perspective on
this. In Psalm 73, verse one, he said, truly God is good to
Israel. And do you know a special way
he's good to us? We're not in trouble like we
ought to be. Anybody here ever done something you got away with?
You didn't get caught? That's a special mercy that you
didn't get caught, that you didn't get in trouble. You kids ever
do something and you're going, you know, you figure out you
ought not have done it, and you're just going, man, I hope mom and
dad don't find that out, don't catch me, woo, it'll be bad if
they do. Well. God's good to his children. He's good to them. We're in trouble,
but not like we ought to be. Even to such as are of a clean
heart. But as for me, David said, my
feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped.
He said, I was walking along this path I'm in in this life.
And he said, I got to looking at the wrong thing. And it's
amazing that I didn't slip. You ever slip and fall in the
snow? Last winter, I slipped on the down a steep slope in
the driveway. It was snowing. I went up in
the air and wham, I landed and cracked two ribs. That wasn't
any fun. My feet, they weren't almost
gone, they were gone. And David said, the way I was
thinking about things was just like that, a slip up, a fall,
and it wasn't right. Look at this, and here's why.
Here's what he was thinking in verse three. For I was envious
at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Now,
I don't know none of y'all ever do this, do you? You don't ever
look at anybody who's got more, who has more, who's got so much
stuff, and ever go, I don't know what they did to get that or
deserve that. You ever think, I need that new car. They got
all kind of new cars. How come I can't get a new car?
Y'all never think that way, do you? About anything? David, that's
exactly what he was doing. He said, I almost messed up,
because I was envious of the foolish, and they had more prosperity. Verse four, for there are no
bands. You know what that word means?
There's no trouble. There's no trouble in their death.
They just live and die, and it seems so easy. And it says, but
their strength is firm. They're so strong. But then verse
five, it said, they are not in trouble as other men. Neither
are they plagued like other men. And you know what those other
men are? God's children, God's people. Does it seem like you're
ever really out of trouble? You know, life is not, you know,
getting out in the ocean sailing along and the storm comes up
and you've got to go through it and then you get out the other
side and it's so smooth again, nice and pleasant. Is that how
your life is? You just once in a while have
a little something come up. You know what a believer's life
is? It's a hurricane. It's a hurricane. And you go
along and you're in that hurricane. Oh, oh. And then you go through
the eye of it and you get just a little respite. The Lord knows
what you can stand. We do realize that, don't you?
He knows what we can bear. And we go through that smooth
part. And then you come out of that and go, whew. Here comes
another one. No, life is not a calm and you
go through an occasional storm. For a believer, life's a hurricane.
And occasionally we go through the calm. And David said, it's
not like that for unbelievers. You got neighbors or people who
just seem to just They sail right on through this life. And David
said, I observed all this and thought I was envious of them. I'll tell you, we don't want
what they have. We really don't. Not in the end, we don't. Turn
over to Isaiah 45. And I want to ask this question
and then answer it. Where does trouble come from?
You ever wonder about that? Why'd this happen to me? Where does trouble come from?
Well, the word of God teaches plainly that God is the first
cause of all things. Now, y'all are familiar, hold
Isaiah 45, stay right there. Y'all are familiar with Ecclesiastes
3, aren't you? Where the Lord says this, there
is a time to heal and a time to kill. There's a time to laugh
and a time to mourn. There's a time to laugh and a
time to weep. There's a time to dance and a
time to mourn. A time to get and a time to lose. A time for love and a time for
hate. A time for peace and a time for
war. Y'all have read that, haven't
you? You've all seen that, those two lists. You know what most
modern religion says? Well, God's in charge of this
list. You know, all that laughing and dancing and love and all
that. and Satan's in charge of this list. That's what most American
modern religion has to say. It teaches that God's in charge
of the first list and Satan in charge of the second. What's
the scripture say about that? Look at Isaiah 45, verse five. God says, I am the Lord and there's
none else. There is no God beside me. Oh,
I think we talked about that this morning, didn't we? Yeah,
we talked about that this morning. I didn't even reference this
one. It's all through the scriptures. There's nobody beside God. There's the true and living God,
and then there's everything else that's outside of him. And he
said, I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. Before we
knew anything of the true and living God, you know what he
did? He hedged us about, protected us. He girded us, that's what
it means. If you're inside a big fence
and nobody can get to you, you're girded. and God's girded his
people before we even knew him. Verse six says, why did he do
that? That they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me.
I am the Lord and there is none else. And then look at verse
seven. I formed the light and what? He makes darkness. I make
peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.
God's not in charge of all the good things, and Satan in charge
of all the bad things. God is in charge of it all, folks.
Nothing happens without his direct authority. Does that mean that
God's the author of sin? No, that's not what it means.
God is holy and righteous and undefiled, and God is sovereign.
He's the first cause of all things, and that means nothing good happens
except by God's direction. Nothing evil happens without
God's permission. You know that. You kids don't
have to be afraid of the devil. You know that. You don't have
to go, oh, there's a devil. You know why? It's God's devil. Satan, I'll show you in a minute,
doesn't do anything without God's permission. Nothing can happen
to you. And man can do no good except
if God motivates his intentions. and causes it to be so. But no
evil purpose or plan of any man, woman, or devil can come to pass
if God's determined to prevent it. The Lord God is in complete
charge. That's what I'm saying. Why? So that you, not all men, but
you, God's children, may know, not suspect or think or hope,
but may know that you From the rising of the sun unto the setting
of the sun, there's none beside him. God is sovereign. I, the
Lord, do all things. Whatever comes our way is his
will according to his purpose, and it is always for our good.
You may not think it's that good when it's happening to us, but
it is. Turn now to Job chapter one, and let's look at an example
of what I've just said. Job chapter one. In the book of Job, we realize that Job was a very
prosperous man. He had a lot of stuff. He had
a big family, seven sons and three daughters. Scripture says
he was the greatest man in the East. So what happened? Look at verse
six here. There was a day. when the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among
them. Now, I don't understand all this,
and Revelation doesn't really make it clear, because we're
gonna have to go there to see what it's like, but apparently,
there are days on which God sits on his throne, the Lord Jesus
Christ is seated on his throne, and the sons of God come in,
believers come into his presence, okay? And this was such a day,
and you know what happened? Satan came along, he came along
and he presented himself. Now look at verse seven, and
the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Why are you here? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, well, I've been going to and fro in the earth and from
walking up and down in it. Satan presents himself, listen
to me now, as a servant, which is all he is. He's just like
a slave. He's a servant and subject to
his master. Satan comes into God's presence
only by permission and speaks only when he's spoken to. Do you all see that there? Satan
didn't come in and go and make a big, no, he just came in with
everybody else. And he didn't say a word. You
know why? He didn't have permission. And
he needs God's permission before he utters a thing or does anything. But in verse seven, the Lord
never asked questions for information, but only to get to the heart
of the matter. And when he says to Satan, what
are you doing? What are you doing? It's not because he doesn't know
what he's doing. It's because he wants Satan to admit what
he's doing. Sin always avoids the truth as long as possible.
So God asks Satan, where have you been? God knows where Satan
has been at all times. And God knew Satan had been watching
Job, and that Satan desired to sift Job, to bring evil upon
Job. And that ought to reassure us,
okay? You think, this bad thing happened to me. Satan didn't
do it, or if he did, it was only by God's permission. Satan, who
is a coward and a liar, when God said, what are you doing,
Satan? He avoided answering God's question, just like when the
Lord asked Adam, Adam, what are you doing? What'd you do? What'd
Adam do? Did he go, well, I ate the fruit.
No, he said, that woman, that woman you gave me, she made me
do it. You see? And Satan says, look
what he says in verse seven. He boasts as if he says, I've
been walking to and fro and up and down. Now, let me put this
in perspective for you about how much of a leash Satan is
on. If somebody does something against the law and is convicted
of, they get sent to prison. They get put in a cell, right?
A sort of a cage. And let's assume that the cage
is as big as this platform up here that a prisoner's in. Now
you know what that prisoner can do in that cage? He can go to,
and he can go fro. He can go up, And he can go down. That's all he can do. You see
how limited he is? Now, the thing that's hard for
us to realize is that, I mean, to you and I, with our constraints,
be putting in a cage this big, it'd be a bad thing, wouldn't
it? So limiting. But you say, Satan? What's his
cage? The whole earth. And you say,
man, that's a big cage. Well, not if you've been to the
stars. Not if you've been to the heavens. Not if you've seen
the heaven of heavens. If you've been way past Jupiter,
okay? Way past Pluto. If you've been
in 24 galaxies away. Let me tell you something. This
earth is a mighty small cage. And that's all Satan can do.
He has so little power. He has none at all without God's
permission. So when Satan boasts, God says,
what are you doing, Satan? He says, well, I've been going
to and fro and up and down. What folly. He's just in his
cage where he's been put. And earth is vast to us, but
not to Satan. So the Lord allows him to come,
and the Lord forces Satan to get right to the point. He asks
Satan another question in verse eight. Look at it. And the Lord
said to Satan, have you considered My servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
fears God and eschews evil, one who hates evil. That word consider, God says,
Satan, have you considered Job? You know what that means? He's
asking Satan, have you set your heart on him? The Lord God's not reluctant.
Who brought up Job? Did Satan? No. No, he didn't
bring him up. God brought him up. And Satan
wanted to have a go at Job. Why? Satan does nothing without
God's permission, and he had to come ask. Look at verse 9. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Hast thou not made a
hedge about him? Remember that? and about his
house and that all that he has on every side. Thou has blessed
the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the
land. And then Satan makes an accusation. He says, but put
forth thine hand now and touch all that he has and he'll curse
you to your face. Do we see that? In verse 12,
and the Lord said to Satan, behold, all that he has is in your power
only upon himself. Put not forth thine hand, you
can't touch him, Satan. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. Now what happened? You know the
story. He went down, and God killed all his cattle, all his
camels, all his land, burned up all his crops, and killed
all his children. His children, he had ten children,
and they were in the house. Satan brought a big wind, blew
the walls out and the roof fell and killed all his children.
Now folks, we're talking trouble here, aren't we? Real trouble. And you know what? In all that,
look at verse 21, Job said, naked I came 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. And all this Job sin not, nor
charge God foolishly. I'm not sure I'd be up to that.
I'm not real sure I could take that without whining and complaining
and making some false accusations. But Job, by the grace of God,
you say, why did God mention Job in the first place? He knew
he'd give him the grace to say that. So Satan returns before
God. And the whole process is repeated.
God says, you still thinking about Joe? And Satan says, well,
if you just let me touch him, the only reason he didn't deny
you is because you wouldn't let me touch him. So God now allows
Satan to add more trouble. You see chapter two, verse six,
what it says? And the Lord said to Satan, behold,
he's in your hand, but save his life. You can't kill him. You
can touch him, you can do whatever you want to him, but you can't
kill him. So Satan returns to touch Joe, but he can't kill
him. Do we not clearly see that not
even Satan can rob God's children, even a physical life, much less
a spiritual life? We don't have to be afraid on
that account. The Lord will preserve us just as he did Joe. Now I
want to take a minute, I'll be brief, to consider the four kinds
of trouble that Job was in. The first affliction he had,
all Job's material things were taken from him, all of them.
And no doubt, if we have much, losing much is a painful experience. And that's something to be thought
about in accumulating things. It'll be painful if they have
to go away. You know, when a stranger loses
his job, we think of that, it's a layoff. It's a downsizing. When a friend
loses a job, we think, well, that's sort of like a recession.
But I tell you what, when I lose my job, that's a full-blown recession,
depression. We see the degrees in all of
this. And it must be personal. And
it got personal with Joe. Everything he owned. I mean,
think how tough it would be to go home tonight and your house
burned down. Your children are all gone. I mean, It's not that
your refrigerator is broken, you don't have one anymore. It's
all gone. The second kind of trouble he
was in was the death of loved ones. Seven sons and three daughters,
all dead. This is unspeakable trouble.
And there's no words except his word that can help or comfort
us. And I don't want to know about
that kind of trouble. I don't want to know a thing about it.
Job knew more than most people ever will. The third kind of
trouble was that Job was smitten with boils. I know a little about
this. I have a scar here on my forearm
when I was nine years old. I don't know what happened. But
one morning I woke up and it looked like a golf ball had grown
on my forearm. And to breathe on it hurt. It
was just so agonizing and awful. And my mother took me to the
doctor and he said, oh, that's a boil. And man, he tied my arm
down on the stable and had my mother hold him. He cut that
thing open. Oh, man, the pus and everything
ran everywhere. And he reached in there with
forks and pulled out a rock out of my arm. And it was sore for
days and days and days. Job had those all over his body. I don't know how he breathed
and stood the pain. So he had this physical illness. He was in serious trouble. And
to add to it, his wife came up to him and said, why don't you
just curse God and die? That'd be better than what you're
going through. The kind of trouble, and I don't
know what kind of trouble you're in. I really don't. I don't know
whether you've lost things or whether you've got loved ones
who've died or don't know whether you're sick. But I do know this
about trouble. You know what the worst kind
is? The one you're in today. Whatever your trouble is today,
that's the worst one for you in this day and time. And you
know why you got it? God sent it to you for a purpose,
for a reason. Otherwise, God wouldn't send
it at all. He wouldn't allow it to happen. And let me give
a word of caution. Let's be careful in criticizing
a troubled brother or sister who seems affected out of proportion
to us, lest a worse trouble come our way. Scripture plainly teaches us,
love your brethren, be kind, thoughtful, considerate, lest
it come our way. And then The final trouble, the
next trouble for Job was spiritual trouble. There was three fellows
that showed up. They heard about Job. He's sitting
on a dung hill, scraping his boils. They know he's lost all
his crops and animals. They know that his children are
all dead. And these three fellows show
up. And do you know what they tell Job? They start preaching
works to him. They start questioning him, Job,
what'd you do? What'd you do to bring this on?
Ever had a thought like that? What did I do, God? What'd I
do to bring this on? It's the natural thing we think. It's works. And they say a lot
of things to Job, much of which they say is true, but they basically
are preaching works to Job. Turn over to chapter four and
look at verse six. They say to Job, is this, Is
not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness
of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, whoever
perished being innocent, or where were the righteous cut off? Do
we see what they're saying? Job, what'd you do? What'd you
do? And God, help us not to do that
to our brethren. When trouble comes, not to go,
I wonder what they did. I wonder what they did. Because
they don't have one thing to do with another. Not at all.
You see, bad things happen, they believe, to bad people, not to
good people. The people of God will always
be under attack by false religion and false prophets. If it has
not come your way yet, it will. It will. They'll gloat in their
lack of trouble and rejoice in your trouble because it is evidence
to them of their righteousness and your lack of goodness. And
the truth is, the people of God, we have no righteousness of our
own, only that of Christ. And all the good things I do
won't prevent one thing from happening or cause another to
happen. It's all in the purpose of God.
But they have no real righteousness except self-righteousness, and
we have no righteousness, listen, except that of Christ. We're
not counting on what we do in this life. as righteousness. We're counting on what Christ
did in this life as righteousness. But then there is a final trouble
that comes the way of all folks. There is, at physical death,
there is then that trouble. And for believers, it's not a
problem. For the unbeliever, it is. Jesus
Christ, our Lord, do you know what he allowed himself to be
gotten into? The final trouble. He was taken and accused and
tried and convicted and let up Calvary to be punished, not for
anything he did, but to suffer for the trouble his people were
guilty of. He suffered the eternal trouble,
eternal death for all who believe on him. Thank God he did. Now let me briefly tell you what
the purpose of trouble is. As we just touched on, it will
reveal false faith and self-righteousness. Hereby shall all men know that
you're my disciples if you love one another. How will they know
you love one another? It's when one's in trouble, we
rush to their aid. We comfort, we give, we do whatever
is required, whatever is needful for those in trouble. I'll tell
you what the folks who are in real trouble do is they go, I
knew he'd do that. Nah, he's a bad person. And they have nothing to do one
with another. Turn to 2 Chronicles 15 with me. 2 Chronicles 15, a little bit
back from Job. The purposes of trouble can be
to reveal true faith and false faith. But trouble in a believer
will always reveal true faith. No one is found of Christ until
we realize our need of him. Do we see that correlation? We
will not run to Christ until we have nowhere else to run.
And look here at 2 Chronicles 15, verse four. But when they, God's people,
in their trouble, did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought
Him, you know what happened? They were found of Him. Do we
hear what that's actually saying? When they got in trouble and
finally went, help, help! Is that what we do when we get
finally in real trouble? Help, help! When that happens,
when we seek Him, you know what'll happen? He'll find us. It doesn't
matter how far out in the desert we got, how far, what our trouble
is, if we cry to him, he'll find us where we are and take care
of it. Does anyone here ever remember
the first time you were in real trouble? I can tell you this,
every believer sooner or later is gonna be in real trouble and
is gonna cry out and the Lord's gonna find us. Now turn to 1
Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians 10. Trouble is going to reveal false
faith and true faith. Trouble in a believer is going
to be the means by which we're drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But trouble also As we go through this life, we're going to be
drawn nearer and nearer and more near to the Lord Jesus Christ
by trouble. That's why we have so many. Why
have I got so many troubles? He's going to bring us closer
and closer and closer to one day. He draws us right into his
bosom. He takes us home. And that's
why there's so many troubles is because as long as it takes
and whatever it takes, you'll get us there. But have we ever been in such
severe trouble that you thought, there's no way out of this mess?
Have you? I have to confess to you, I remember
a time where I thought, there's no hope for me. There's no way
to get out of this mess, and it's my fault. I've done this,
and it's my fault. And it was just all too much.
Now, that's where Job was brought. Why did he have to lose everything?
Why did he have to get sick? Why did his children have to
die? So he would finally come to the place where he would cry
out. Look at 1 Corinthians 10. 1 Corinthians
10 verse 12. Wherefore, let him that thinketh
he standeth take heed lest he fall. There is no temptation. You know what that word is? Trouble.
There is no trouble taking you, no troubles overtaking you, but
such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will
not suffer you to be tempted or tried or troubled above that
you are able to withstand. but will with the temptation,
will with the trouble also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear it. He'll make a way, make a way. Does that sound familiar? Who's
the way? The Lord Jesus Christ. Lord Jesus
Christ made himself the way. He came down here to make the
way. He came down here and you know
what? He never did anything. You and I, now maybe not you,
me, I deserve every bit of trouble I ever get. I've earned it. I
deserve it. It's all mine. I have to own
it because I did it. It's who I am and what I am.
I'm a sinner. You know what the Lord Jesus Christ did? He came
down here and never sinned. He didn't deserve one ounce of
trouble, not one minute of trouble. He didn't get himself in it.
He didn't deserve it. And thank God that's the means
by which he enables you and I to survive, to come to him. You see, folks, these troubles
we're talking about, they're real. They are real, they happen. If you live long enough, you're
gonna lose your stuff. If you live long enough, your
children won't survive. I know too many folks, I know
too many folks who've lost children. It's a hard thing. If we live
long enough, we're gonna be sick, really sick, sick now to death. And then what? Then what? Then
there comes the time when there's real trouble. Sometimes we have
to be brought to the place where there's no place else to turn,
that there's no one else to turn to before we'll ever seek Christ. And I promise if we're one of
God's children, that's exactly what he'll do. He'll bring us
trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, as much as it takes to cause
us to finally go, help, help me. I can't get this fixed. I can't do it. I can't, I'm not
going to survive it. When that happens, then the trouble
has accomplished its purpose and he'll remove it. Turn quickly
to Psalm 22 and I'll close. Psalm 22 is an account of what would happen
thousands of years later when the Lord Jesus Christ was taken
up Calvary and crucified. You see in Psalm 22 one, it says,
just what he said at Calvary, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? You see, Christ didn't do anything
to get in this trouble he was in on Calvary. We understand
he was in trouble, don't we? He was in serious trouble. They
had taken him and tried him for something he didn't do, convicted
him. They had beaten him and scourged
him and marched him up a hill and nailed him to a tree to die. Why? Well, it certainly wasn't
for anything he did. He's in trouble. And he says,
my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and am not silent. He said, I'm in trouble. And God turned his back on him. So did everybody else. His disciples
said, I don't know the man. He'd lost everything he owned.
They'd stripped him naked. He was beaten to a pulp. He'd
lost everything. And he was in spiritual trouble.
Can we even imagine as children, if we ever were in such trouble,
and I was a few times, that I had to go to my dad and say, Dad,
I have really messed up. I'm in trouble. What would my
reaction, he never did this to me, but what would have been
my reaction if he did this? if he turned his back. We all do know that's what we
deserve, don't we? For the willful evil and sin
we've done, we deserve God to turn his back on us. But he didn't
do that. You know why? He did it to his
own son so that he could reach out to us and draw us to himself
and take us where he is And all our trouble's gone. It's gone. It's not gone yet, is it? It's
not gone yet. We're still in it, and we've
got to go through it. But I promise you this, every
bit of it, Christ has already paid for. It's gone. There's
no more trouble. He's gonna take us to a place,
we realize in Revelation, it says, there's no trouble. No
more trouble. No more heartache, no more tears,
no more sorrow, no more death. All the things we fear most,
we're going to lose our stuff, we're going to get sick, our
children are going to die, and we're going to go to hell. God's
taking care of it all. It's done. It can't happen to
us. Because the Lord Jesus Christ has already done it for us. At
Calvary, nobody's ever been in trouble like our Lord was. The
Lord Jesus Christ, I tell you what, he either did that for
you and I, Completely and it's done when he said it's finished.
Well, it was done for somebody For his children. It was done.
It's finished. There will never be any eternal
trouble for any of us It'll be when we're when we leave here.
It's done. It's over. No more trouble. No more heartache
Or You and I one day will have to face that trouble alone alone
Do we? Do you and I? Let me show you
this in Psalm 22. Have you got verse 11? It says, be not far from me for
trouble is near and there's none to help. And if you look at your
center reference, it says there's no helper. Let me tell you what
Jesus Christ did. Do we understand why he cried? Oh God, oh God, Father, Father,
why have you forsaken me? I haven't done anything. I haven't
done anything to deserve this trouble. Why hast thou forsaken
me? And you know what the answer
is? He didn't do anything, but we did. We did. And the Lord Jesus Christ, either
did that for us, or you know what's going to happen? One day,
when we arrive at the judgment in real trouble, and we say, first of all, it won't work to
say I didn't do it because we did, but the record's going to be
open, he's going to read all the trouble we got ourselves
in, every sin we ever committed, in thought, deed, or word, And you know what he's gonna
say? You don't have a helper. There's no help, none. But the good news of the gospel
is, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, believe what?
What he did, he lived a perfect life. And he died, not for what
he did, but for what we did. You know what, when he says,
well, this is what you did, and you did, and you did, and you
did, you know what we can say? I got a helper. I got a helper. And the Lord Jesus Christ will
step up and say, that's paid for. That's done. In fact, as
far as he's concerned, it never happened. I did it, he didn't. You know what that's called?
A helper. A helper in time of trouble. And there's no avoiding
trouble in this life, it's coming our way. God sends it, and help
us to recognize it in our children when it happens. And God, listen
to me a minute, parents. I've been greatly blessed. I
have three children, all of whom have professed to love God and
give evidence of it. I'm so grateful, I'm so blessed.
They're all married to spouses who, give every evidence of believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, you say, man, you're blessed. I am
beyond all imagination. But I tell you what, it's not
because of anything I did or they did or anything else. It's
because of what Christ did. He has been their helper in time
of need. And when they come to you, your
children do in trouble. be troubled some, so that they
will then recognize that you can't fix everything, but there's
one who can. And that's why we bring them
here, so they hear this over and over. You say, Bob, you keep
saying the same thing over and over again. Well, I'll tell you
what, let them hear it until they understand it and embrace
it and fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. So how does
the story of Job end? You know what he got in the end?
He got double for everything he had in the first place. And
I'm not going to have you go back and read it, but you know
he had 8,000 camels. You say, yeah, he started with
4,000. He got 2,000 cows. He started
with 1,000. He got double everything. You
say, well, wait a minute now. He had seven more sons and four
more daughters, or three more daughters. You say, that's not
double. Yes, it is. He had 10 already
in glory. And now he's got 10 more. God
saved all his children. Why? Job was a righteous man
who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I promise you. You know
what it says about Job? He prayed for his children because
he was afraid they wouldn't. He sought God on their behalf
because he was afraid they wouldn't. So in the end, Job wound up with
twice all that he had. Job lived to be 140 years old.
You know what that is? Two times three score and 10. You got double. I don't want to live to be 140,
but I sure want to live my how many ever in Christ. Because
the trouble is going to keep coming. They just keep coming.
The older you get, the worse they get, it seems. But he's
the solution to all our trouble in Christ. All right, let's stand
and be dismissed.