All right, Job chapter 42. I
referenced Job Thursday night, and I want to look now at Job
and the trial and the end of this trial, the blessed latter
end, the blessed latter end. Job was a man of great wealth
with a very large family, and God had put a hedge about him
And when the devil came amongst the children of God, the Lord
asked the devil, have you considered my servant Job? The Lord called
Job a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
escheweth evil. And the Lord accused him of fearing
God for nothing, that he doesn't fear God for nothing. He's because
you've put a hedge about him. So God took the hedge off and
permitted Satan to take all his wealth and all his children died
in one day. All in one day, all his riches
were taken. And as trial came, Job started
out well. Amazingly, Job sinned not with
his mouth. But bless the name of the Lord.
That means he didn't sin with his heart. Out of the heart,
the mouth speaks. Verse Job 1.20 says, Then Job
arose and ran his mantle and 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. And in all this Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. And Satan came again, and the Lord
asked him again, had he considered his servant Job? In Job 2, verse
3, There in the middle, the Lord said, There's none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
sheweth evil, and still he upholdeth fast his integrity, although
thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause, to
swallow him up without a cause. Then God gave the devil permission
to take Job's health Take his health. And again, Job said not. We read in Job 2 and verse 7. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the
sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to
scrape himself with. And he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? Curse God, and die. When he said
unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we
not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin
with his lips. And then Job's three friends
came, and they began to weep, and they sat down, before Job
and they stared at him in silence for seven days and seven nights. And Job 3.1 says, after this,
opened Job his mouth and cursed his day. And Job said some true
things. He said some very true things.
But Job also said some very wrong things. But through this trial,
God taught Job And he blessed him in ways that he could not
have known apart from this trial. Whether it's the first hour that
God makes himself known, or whether it be the trials he sends his
people, he's going to teach us what we could not have known
otherwise. He always accomplishes purpose of blessing and edifying
his children. So in Job 42, 12, we read, so
the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And I want us to look at this,
this blessed latter end. And I want to look at three things
that God did for Job at the end of this trial. The first thing
that God did was he blessed him to know the Lord and to know
himself better than in the beginning. He blessed him to know the Lord
and to know himself better than he did before. The Lord appeared
to him in a whirlwind. The Lord's going to appear to
us, his child. He appears to you on the cross.
He appears to you from his throne in glory. And it's like a whirlwind. And he speaks things like the
Lord spoke to Job. Makes you know he's sovereign
God, makes you know he's holy God. And here is where he brings
his child. Verse five, Job said, I've heard
of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now might I see it thee,
wherefore I pour myself and repent in dust and ashes. Be it the
first hour God first comes in grace and gives us faith to behold
Christ, or be it the trial. He's going to bring you to look
to Christ crucified. He's going to bring us to see
Christ crucified, and that's where we're going to behold who
God is and what we are. When God makes His child know
His holiness, He makes you know it took God sending His own Son. to accept you. We go through
this life being told we need to accept Jesus and we need to
accept God. God's going to make us know he
has to accept us. And it took holy God sending
his son, his own only begotten son. It took Christ going to
the cross, bearing the sin, being made sin for us. He became what
His people were on that cross. And He did it justly. He did
it in justice so that God's justice could be honored, so He could
be satisfied. He bore the curse that His people
deserved. This is what we have to see. That's when we see the holiness
of God. He sent His Son. That's the only
way He could have anything to do with me and you. And his son
had to go to that cross, and when sin was found on his son,
he did not spare his own son. He poured out wrath on his own
son. And when God makes us see his
holiness, that's how he makes us see it. He makes us see Christ
on the cross bearing our personal sin, bearing what we are, bearing
the curse we deserve personally, making you see you put him there,
making you see you're the one for whom he was dying, making
you see it was for your sins. That's when you see God in his
holiness. And he also, by that view, makes
you behold God's mercy. makes you behold God's love, that He would send His Son and
His Son would lay down His life for His people to uphold His
own justice. God said this in Isaiah 63, 5,
I looked and there was none to help. Job's a picture of Christ
in many ways because Job suffered this alone. There was nothing
to help. And just like his three friends came and judged him to
be smitten and stricken of God because of what he was suffering,
Christ had a bunch of self-justifying men around the cross judging
by the sight of their eyes, judging Christ was smitten and afflicted
because he was unjust. But that wasn't so. He was being
smitten and afflicted by God for his people and it's by his
stripes that his people are healed. But he suffered that alone. God
said, I looked and there was none to help. I wondered, there
was none to uphold. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me. My fury it upheld me. When Christ
bore the sin of his people on Calvary's tree, He bore the fury,
his own fury. God satisfying God. That's what
was taking place on Calvary's cross. He bore his own fury. The fury that would have been
poured out on his people had Christ not entered covenant to
be our surety and pay that price that we owe. And he bore that fury and therefore
he says, mine own arm brought salvation to me. My fury upheld
me. Sinner, look to the cross. Look
to Calvary's cross. You're gonna see there the judgment
that was settled for God's people. But that judgment Christ bore,
if you don't come to God in Christ only, trusting Him alone, that
judgment, that fury will be poured out on everybody that meets God
outside of Christ. You need Christ. Flee to Him
and Him only. And you that believe Him, don't
look anywhere else but to Him. Trust Him only. And when God
gives us faith to behold Christ on that cross, dying in the room
instead of His people, and He makes you see personally that
there He is dying in your room instead, that's when God makes
us cry out, I've heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear. But
now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in
dust and ashes. He said earlier in Job 40 verse
4, Behold, I am vile. I'm vile, Job said. God said he was an upright man,
a righteous man that eschewed evil. Job said, I'm vile. I'm vile. He saw himself as he
really was. How could God say he was upright
and righteous? Because he was in Christ. Because
he was by what God worked in him. By his spirit. Job saw he had nothing to boast
in. He said of himself, I'm vile.
I'm vile. I'm vile. I'll lay my hand upon
my mouth once I've spoken, but I'll not answer yet twice, but
I'll proceed no further." And this is what God continues to
make his children see when he chastens us. Whether it be in
some smaller measure just to turn us, or whether it be a severe
trial like this believer Job went through. He brings you to
see Christ on the cross, that you put Him there, all your sins
put Him there, and He makes you know all the sins of your heart. He makes you know, He brings
them out of you, so you see them in the light, just like Job did. Job began to speak things and
say things, and that was just unjust against God, and condemned
God for what God was doing. Some people don't think Job's
a believer, because he did that. You do the same thing, believer.
If you don't believe it, maybe God will send you this trial
and show you. Because you do. And that's what we've got to
see. In ourselves, we're vile. We've got to have God saving
us. We've got to be made to keep
our eye on Christ. And this is what he does. He
said, I'll pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications. This is
the spirit he pours out. This is why Job was able to cry
out to God and say, I pour myself, I repent in dust and ashes. He
poured upon him the spirit of grace and supplications. And
where does he make you look? God said, they shall look upon
me whom they have pierced. They'll look upon me whom they
have pierced. Can you say, I crucified Christ. Can we say, it was me who crucified
Christ? Can you say, I'm the one who
crucified Christ? They'll look upon me whom they
have pierced. And they'll mourn. Where's this
mourning? Is it just mourning because we've
sinned? Is it just mourning because we are ashamed? No, he said they
shall mourn for him. There's where the agony comes.
There's where the repentance comes. That's where the abhorring
of ourselves is. Mourning for Christ. Mourning
for Christ. They'll mourn for Him as one
mourneth for His only Son. They'll be in bitterness for
Him. As one that's in bitterness for His
firstborn. That's when God makes you know,
I'm vile. I'm sinful. That's all I am.
I'm sinful. I'm just vile. Maybe Job was
doing what the devil said. Maybe he was, in some measure,
believing God because of what God had given him. Maybe he was
believing God because he was prosperous and God had put a
hedge about him and let none touch him. But God brought it
out. God showed what he was, showed
him what he was, so that he said, I vile, I abhor myself, I hate
myself. The world's telling you to love
yourself. The world's telling you to love yourself, love yourself. God's going to bring us to abhor
ourselves. But that same sight, brethren,
just like the disciples when they looked and they saw Christ
crucified and it made them sorrowful and then he gave them faith to
behold what he did for them and he turned that same sight, turned
it from sorrow to joy, that very same sight turns this morning
into joy. Because beholding Christ, bearing
the sin of His people, when He makes you see He's borne your
sin personally, the sin you're guilty of right now that you
mourn when He's brought you to that place, and you see your
violence, and you see and abhor yourself, He turns you to Him
and shows you, I've borne it all away. I've justified you. I've put your sin away. That's
how He turns us from our will. That mighty will we have that
we think so strong. That's how it turns us from our
wisdom, from going in something that we think we are by our own
imagination. That's how it turns us from our
works, from not trusting anything we've done. That's how he turns
us and keeps us casting everything upon Christ and trusting him.
He does it the very first hour he saves you, but that's not
the only time he does it. He keeps this new in your heart,
keeps you from trusting you by leaving you in this body of death
and continually showing his people from here to the end what we
are in ourselves and what we are in Christ. Paul's a believer. He said, for the will's present
with me in my new man, but how to perform that which is good
I find not. And when you're brought into
captivity, where Job was, could Job deliver himself? No, he couldn't.
That was the point of it, to show him you can. And when you're
brought there as a believer, God brings you to say, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead?
And he turns you again and makes you say, I thank God through
Jesus Christ, my Lord. He's the one that delivered me.
He's the one that is delivering me. He's the one that shall deliver
me. He's our salvation, brethren. He's our salvation. So this is
the first thing that is the great ladder blessing that God gives
you. He makes you know God more. He makes you know Christ more.
He makes you know yourself better. So that you trust Christ and
don't trust yourself. Abhor yourself. And secondly,
the blessing of the ladder in is that God grows us in the grace
and knowledge of Christ. It was so, verse 7, that after
the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to the
three friends, My wrath's kindled against thee, for you've not
spoken to me. The thing that's right is My
servant Job. He told them to take seven bullocks and seven
rams and go to Job. He keeps calling Job, My servant
Job, My servant Job, My servant Job. He said, You take seven
bullocks and seven rams and you go to My servant Job. And he said, and my servant Job,
verse 8, he'll pray for you. For him will I accept, lest I
deal with you after your folly, and that you've not spoken to
me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So they
went. They did according as the Lord
commanded them. And the Lord accepted Job and
turned to captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. If
you go through and you read this chapter, Job's friends were not
friends. They were mean, self-righteous
men who condemned Job by the sight of their eyes and just
said some horribly hard things against him. What made Job show
them mercy? What made Job intercede for them
and love them and have mercy on them? What made him do this? When Job saw his friends and
what they were doing, Job saw what he was doing to the Lord. When Job saw his friends and
what they were doing to him, Job saw himself and what he had
done to holy God, to his Redeemer, to his Savior. And he did it. Throughout that trial, Job condemns
God. He blames God for where he's
at. And he saw he did the same thing these friends did. Probably
saw it far worse in himself than in what they did. But he also
saw the Lord's mercy and grace to him despite his vileness. He saw what he was in his friends. But he saw God's mercy and grace
to him despite what he had done to his friend, what he had done
to God. Job defended himself and he said
some hard things against the Lord. But here's why the Lord
had mercy on Job. This is what Job's made to see.
The Lord Jesus didn't do so. When he suffered, and he suffered
far worse than what Job suffered, as bad as what Job suffered.
Our Lord Jesus suffered far worse than what Job suffered. God forsook
him on the cross. He was made to be the despised
thing he hated. Do you know how shameful it is
when, you know how it feels when God makes you see your sin, and
how shameful it feels to you. Imagine being made something
you were not. Imagine being made something
you hated with a perfect hatred. And then God completely leaving
you in darkness and rejecting you. Bearing hell for your people
is what he did. But when he bore that, there's
Job bearing what he bore. And I don't condemn Job because
I couldn't have done what Job did. I'd have been right there
with him. But when our Lord bore something
far worse, he never, ever was unfaithful to God. He never,
ever did anything but look to the God in perfect faith. He
said in Isaiah 50 verse 6, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me. That's the word of Christ. Therefore
shall I not be confounded. I won't be ashamed. Therefore
have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed. This is the perfect faith of Christ. He's near that
justified me. Who will contend with me? Let
us stand together. Who's my adversary? Let him come
near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help
me. This was Christ's perfect faithfulness.
From eternity when he became surety for Job and for all his
people, this was his perfect faithfulness when he entered
this earth. This was his perfect faithfulness when he bore the
darkness of rejection on the cross, forsaken of God in the
curse and condemnation that he was bearing for his people. And
it was because he's the perfect faithful one, the author and
finisher of Job's faith, the author and finisher of the faith
of all his children, that God didn't kill us when Adam sinned
in the garden. That's why he didn't kill us
when we came forth from a mother's womb speaking lies. That's why
he hadn't slain you today for your sin. They believe him. Because
Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the righteousness
of God in whom his people are complete. You're complete in
him, child of God. God receives you. If God receives
you, it's not because he's just overlooking some things. It's
because you're perfect and God accepts you. And that's only
in Christ. When he was reviled, he didn't
revile again. You revile the man and you watch
any one of us. stiffen up that neck, poke out
that chest. He didn't do that. We can't boast
about anything. We're vile. He never did that
when he was being spit upon. Has anybody ever read back and
spit in your face and called you a liar? That's what he was
bearing. And he didn't revile again. Not
even a flicker in his heart. He didn't threaten, he committed
himself to him that judgeth righteously, who his own self was bearing
our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should
live unto him who is our righteousness, by whose stripes we're healed. It was Christ as Job's surety. It was Christ as the author and
finisher of his faith that God beheld. God saw Christ. He saw Christ from eternity.
God the Father looked upon his son, pleased with his son. And he looked upon the Lord Jesus.
And that's the reason he had mercy on Job. And Job was made
to see something of that by God bringing these three friends
before him, to just hold a mirror up before him to let him see
himself and what he was doing to God. And yet he showed him
mercy and showed him it was for Christ's sake he spared him and
saved him and had mercy on him. Oh, that God would help us to
see this. This is the only way God has
mercy on us, brethren. And he has mercy on you continually. Because we sin continually. Job
rejoiced in mercy for Christ's sake because God rejoiced to
show him mercy for Christ's sake. Did you hear that? He rejoiced to show these condemning
friends mercy for Christ's sake because God rejoiced to show
him mercy for Christ's sake. And in a small way, a very small
way, and that's about the most meaning you can say, is a very
small way, when you show mercy to somebody that doesn't deserve
it, in a very small way, you're showing what Christ did for you. In a very small way. Blood had to be shed to remit
his sins and to remit our sins. And Job knew something of the
fact that it was only in the Lamb that he was accepted. He
saw himself vile. He abhorred himself. He knew
something of the truth that it's by Christ's one offering that
we're perfected. That was all his hope. That was
all his hope. He said, though he slay me, I'll
trust him. I'll trust him. God told them
to go to Job. Now you think about this. God
told them to go to Job, the one they had sinned against. And
Job would show them mercy by offering their offering to God
for them and make an intercession for them. Why did Job do that? That's exactly what God did for
Job. He sent Job to Christ, who made the one offering by which
Job was accepted. and for whom God received Job
and accepted him. Job saw something of that and
he said, I'm going to be merciful. I'm going to intercede for them
because Christ my advocate has interceded for me. He kept calling
him my servant, kept calling Job my servant, my servant, my
servant. Don't you know Job when he heard
that? He just said, I'm vile. He just said, I abhor myself.
Don't you know, when God called him my servant, don't you know
Job was just, his heart was breaking and he's thinking, I'm not your
servant, Lord. I've been a pitiful servant.
And God just kept saying, he's my servant. He's my servant. The son of God took the form
of a servant. And it's by God making us behold
Christ, who's rich beyond measure. Come down, come down right here
to where his people are and take the form of a servant and serve
God for us. That's what makes you humble
before him and amazed that God would call you and me a servant. That's the servant. Look how
he's served. And yet God, for his sake, says,
you're my servant. God told him to go to Job. He
said, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your
folly. Sinners have to come to God through faith in Christ.
That's the only way God will accept us. If we don't come to
God through faith in Christ, God will deal with us after our
folly. And Job knew that about himself. Christ was his righteousness. And when Job interceded for them,
showed them mercy, the Lord also accepted Job and turned his captivity. Maybe that's what it was all
about. I do believe this. I do believe that the point of
God not telling us why he sent this child to Job is the point. God can do with us what he will.
And He's going to bring you and me to say, it's the Lord. Let
Him do what seemeth Him good. It's the Lord. Whatever He does
to you and me, it's not even remotely compared to what we
deserve. As bad as what Job suffered,
it was just a drop in the bucket compared to what he deserved.
That's so of me and you. Look to Christ on the cross. God showed Job the same grace
and mercy in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom Job had shown nothing
but contempt. For Christ's sake, that same
one Job had shown contempt, for his sake God showed him mercy.
And so God's grace made Job willing to show them mercy, to intercede
on behalf of these men who had been so haughty and arrogant
and so condemning and so held him in such contempt. Only reason,
Job saw that's exactly what he did to God. That's exactly what
he did to God. And God had mercy on him. Peter called this work of our
Lord in the new man, growing in grace and the knowledge of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is how it's going to happen.
This is how it's going to happen. He's going to bring us through
serious trial, and He's going to bring us to hear His gospel,
hear His word, hear Him speak, and show us. And ourselves, we're
vile. It's only in Christ, the one
we've sinned against, and sinned against, and sinned against,
that God keeps showing us mercy, mercy, mercy. And when you see
God delighting in mercy for Christ's sake, that's when we delight
in mercy for Christ's sake. And He grows us in that. He grows
us in that. We have to go through a lot of
hard trials to see it and to be grown in it. So then lastly,
God blessed Job's latter end more than his beginning. Verse
10 says, the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed
for his friend. That captivity was that spiritual
captivity he was in. He was overcome by his sin nature
is what it was. And he turned that. He spoke
in his heart, renewed him in a new man, and turned him over
from that captivity, released him from it, made him able to
worship God again. And he did it when he prayed
for his friends. It wasn't because of that. It
was because by praying for his friends, we see that Job got
the point of the whole trial. He saw the mercy God showed him,
for Christ's sake. And that's what he showed his
friends. That was the point of it. He was showing Job the unchangeable,
sovereign love of God toward the children of Israel. who loved
other gods and loved flagons of wine, how his love for his
people does not change regardless of us. It wasn't based on him
choosing you, and it's not based on you now. It's the love of
God in Christ toward you because he loved you. Grace means we
didn't merit it. Mercy means we in no way deserve
it. We're guilty. And that's how
he saved. He turned him, and he made him
see this, and he gave him twice as much as he had before. It
says in verse 12, the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than
his beginning. The Spirit of God gives us the
lesson. We don't even have to wonder what the lesson is to
take from this. In James chapter 5 and verse 10, the Spirit of
God says, along with the prophets that suffered, he said, Job's
an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Probably wouldn't get that if
you read some of Job's words and what Job said while he was
going through this. A lot of men condemn Job for
what he suffered. Don't condemn him. Don't condemn
him. Lord may let you go through it.
God said he's an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
That means of endurance. That means of perseverance in
faith. Behold, we count them happy which
endure. They're blessed who endure, who
continue to believe in Christ and trust in Christ. You've heard
of the patience of Job, and you've seen the end of the Lord, that
the Lord's very pitiful and of tender mercy. You know this,
brethren, that the only reason that God says this, that Job
endured, and the only reason Job endured in faith, is the
same reason Peter did. When Peter denied the Lord three
times and went out and led others with him to leave. Peter's faith didn't fail because
Christ was the faith of his faith. Christ was the intercessor. Christ
was the one God looked to. When Peter wasn't believing,
when he wasn't trusting the Lord, when he was gone, Christ was
the faith that saved him. And Christ came and restored
him just like he came to Job and restored Job. That's how
Job endured. That's how you endure today.
From the first hour you believe till now. If you continue to
the end, that's how you're going to continue. Christ's going to
get the glory for preserving you. And these trials, he said
in Romans 5, we joy in them. because they work patience. They
work endurance. They teach you by experience
that God's true to his promise. He's not going to let his people
go. He's going to keep blessing his people. So when the trial
comes upon you, you're a little more calm about it, and you know
it's going to be okay. When trial comes upon your brethren,
you don't act like a fool. and act like Job's friends, you
know it's going to be okay. But he's got to teach you. He's
got to show you over and over and over. He's got to hold up
that mirror of brethren that judge you and condemn you to
show you this is you before God. We've got to stop looking at
one another and condemning one another. You want to get the
blessing God's given you of your brethren? Look at your brethren
who you're just looking down on and think they're such sinners
and see yourself and what you've done to God. and know God had
mercy on you for Christ's sake. That's what he's teaching us
in these trials, in every one of them, brethren. And he did
bless Job with some temporal blessings, and we can be sure
Job was thankful for those temporal blessings. But Job knew better
now what he said at the beginning. He said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the
Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Job learned to hold on loosely to those temporal things. God
had given him a bunch before, and he took them. Now he gave
him more in the latter end, but he knew. I'm thankful for them,
I'm glad he's given them, but God can take them away. My blessing
is in the Lord. Job knew if need be, gotta take
them temporal possessions. But know this, believers, what
I tried to show you Thursday night, that's not the real lasting
blessing. Whatever God gives you in this
life, your body's gonna go to the dust. Maybe you got good
health today. That's a blessing, but that's
not the lasting blessing. That body's going back to the
grave. Maybe you got children. They're a blessing, but they're
gonna break your heart. Whatever other things he gives
you in his life, it is not lasting. Love him and thank him for giving
it, but just hold on loosely because these things are not
the eternal lasting blessing. The eternal blessing is Christ
and all the life we have in him. blessed to our new spirit so
that we know him and are united with him. And when you drop this
body of death, your spirits can go and be with him immediately.
No alteration, nothing to be done. It's that same holiness
of Christ by which you can right now, in spirit, enter into the
holiest of holies. Every sorrow and every trouble
we have is this body we're carrying around. The joy is in spirit. The joy is beholding Christ.
The joy is Christ in you. And He's going to keep you trusting
Him. When you're cast down, that you don't believe Him, and you're
in darkness, what did He say? You that believe My servant,
you that are in darkness, that believe Me, trust the Lord. Even in the darkness, trust Him.
He's going to keep us. And He's going to bring you to
see the reason you still believe is Him. And He's showing us by this.
This is what Job knew above everything else. This was the true latter
blessing he got. In spite of all the extra stuff,
he knew there's one thing needful. And that one thing that's needful
is Christ. And here's the good news. Christ
said, He'll never be taken from you. Job lost his children, he
lost his riches, he lost his health. God will never take Christ from
you. And there's life. There's unsearchable
riches. There's a picture here of Christ
in that when Christ laid down his life and lost everything
for his people, God raised him to his right hand and blessed
him like he did Job here. He blessed him with sons and
daughters and he's still calling out all his brethren right now
and bringing them to himself. Everything that belongs in this
world is His. And He made His people joint
heirs with Him. And He's going to see to it we
have these unsearchable riches that He's obtained for His people
by His blood. And you're going to have them,
child of God, because He's made you a joint heir with Him. He's
going to keep you. He's going to bring you into
this inheritance. But this is the one thing you
need. Everything else can be taken away, including our life.
Christ is the one blessing, the one thing needful, that will
never be taken away, and in Him are all blessings. The gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. This was the latter
blessing Job had. This is what we need to learn.
Christ said, You now therefore have sorrow, but I'll see you
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from
you. That's what we're talking about. We want to be found in Him, not
having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is to the faithfulness of Christ Jesus, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Now go with me to 1 Corinthians
1. I'm going to end with this. 1 Corinthians 1. This is what Job learned. This
is what Paul learned. This is what the Lord is teaching
all of us right here today. We don't have a thing that we
didn't receive from God. And here's what he's teaching
us right here, verse 4, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 4. Paul said, I thank
God, thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which
is given you by Jesus Christ. Now remember, remember all the sin that was going on
at Corinth. Remember all the things that
was going on at Corinth. And hear what Paul said. In everything
you are enriched by Him. In all utterance and in all knowledge. Even as the testimony of Christ,
the gospel of Christ was confirmed in you. It's all by Him. So that you come behind in no
gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. who shall
also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you
were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord." That's what Job learned. That's what Paul learned by being
thrown in prison and forced to trust God alone. That's what
you and I are being taught. And brethren, that's what God's
gonna do. God's faithful. He'll confirm you to the end,
all by His grace, giving you every rich blessing by Christ
Jesus for Christ's sake. Look to Him, trust Him. He is
the blessing. Amen.