Chapter 14, Joel 14, there are three questions that need
answered. That's the title of the lesson,
three questions that need answered. In verse 4, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Verse 10, man gives up the ghost,
And where is he? Where is he? Verse 14, If a man
die, shall he live again? Now in verse 1, we want to deal
with this question as we go down through here. Who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean thing? It's evident When God
put Job through this great trial, one of the benefits of it that
I have come to see is how it made him to SEARCH and to ASK
DEEP QUESTIONS. He asked deep questions. Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing? When I read
that this week, I thought, Now Job is thinking deep. Now he's thinking. This is the
way we ought to think. We ought to think like this.
In verse 1, He starts out here with man's
problem in verse 1. Verse 1, Man that is born of
a woman, here's the root and cause of all our trouble. IT'S NOT JUST A WOMAN, IT'S JUST
THE NATURE WE'RE BORN WITH, THAT'S WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT. WE ARE
BORN OF THIS EARTH, EARTHY. MAN THAT IS BORN OF A WOMAN IS
FLESH, THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE FLESH IS FLESH, AND THAT
IS ALL IT EVER WILL BE UNLESS GOD SAVES THAT PERSON, BECAUSE
THAT WHICH IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT IS SPIRIT. and this is the root cause of
our trouble. Man was created in the Garden.
The first man created was not born of a woman. Adam was not
born of a woman. Adam and Eve were not children.
They were full adults. But every human being that's
ever come into this world SINCE has come into this world through
the womb of a woman. and they have come into this
world sinful, vile. I know we don't see by nature,
now naturally, we don't see ourselves as vile. Job said at the end
of the trial, By the hearing of the ear I heard of thee, but
now mine eye seeth thee, and I bore myself. Isaiah, when he
saw the Lord high and lifted up, he said, Woe is me. I'm undone. I have unclean lips and I dwell
in the midst of people with unclean lips. So this is where our problem
starts, is our birth. David said, I was born in sin
and shaped in iniquity. I was conceived in sin. not the act. He's not talking
about the act being sinful, but the seed by which he was conceived
is a sinful seed. It's the root. You see, our problem
is the ROOT of our nature. He goes all the way back to Adam
and that nature that he received when he disobeyed God, we see
the fruit of it Throughout the world, don't we? We see it in
ourselves. We have thoughts we wish we never
had. We say things we wish we wouldn't
say. We've done things we wish we
hadn't done. And you look at the world. You
look at the hate that's in this world. We're in 2025. You would think people would
quit shooting each other, wouldn't you? You'd think people would
learn wars don't solve problems. They don't. Because when that
war ends, another one will arise. There will be another war. And
there will probably be another world war. Three. We've had one,
two, three. Actually, the wars have never
stopped since the beginning, since the fall. They've been
fighting and killing each other ever since. That's the result
of the NATURE that we receive from Adam. Now, man is born of
a woman. IS A FEW DAYS AND FULL OF TROUBLE. THIS IS THE RESULT OF OUR BIRTH. THE RESULT OF ADAM'S SIN. IT'S JUST THIS. WE HAVE FEW DAYS
TO LIVE. AND IT'S FULL OF TROUBLE. YOU DON'T HAVE MANY OF THEM WHEN
YOU'RE YOUNG, BUT BOY, WHEN YOU GET OLDER, YOU DO. THEY JUST
ACCUMULATE. YOU KNOW, BEFORE THE FLOOD Many
lived almost a thousand years and now the average lifespan
is about 72 years in the United States, something like that.
God said man's years will be three school years and ten. That's
how devastating sin has become on the body. Henry said one time,
talking about them living a thousand years, he said it took sin a
while to break down that perfect body that God made. My, it's
broke it down, hasn't it? YOU LIVE LONG ENOUGH, IF WE LIVE
LONG ENOUGH, IT'LL BREAK DOWN OUR BODIES, IT'LL BREAK DOWN
OUR VOICE, IT'LL BREAK DOWN OUR MINDS IF WE LIVE LONG ENOUGH,
WE WON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE WE ARE. THAT'S WHAT SIN'S DONE TO US.
THIS IS WHAT IT IS TO BE BORN OF A WOMAN. THIS IS WHAT IT IS
TO BE FLESH. And no matter how long we live, it's still very short, isn't
it? Vicki and I were talking yesterday, we were watching something,
and I said, man, it seems like we just jumped from being a teenager
to being almost 70. I said, it's just like we just
jumped ahead of all of it. It's amazing how fast it has
all gone by. Trouble is man's closest companion. It's our closest companion. As
it says of our Lord, He's despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. It was His constant companion. Our sorrows and our griefs were
His constant companions. Our middle name, our middle name,
everybody's middle name ought to be Trouble. It ought to be
John Trouble Chapman, Doug Trouble West, that ought to be our middle
name, Trouble, Trouble, Trouble, because that's what it is, a
few days are full of trouble. Man comes into this world, verse
2, he tells us man comes into this world like a flower, beautiful,
young. I've said more than once, youth
is beautiful, it's just beautiful. These two girls are beautiful. Youth is beautiful, like a flower. The flower of springtime, Vicki
has some flowers out here that are just beautiful. I take pictures
of them and send them to different people because they're beautiful.
But as time goes on, they don't last very long. They don't last
very long. They begin to wilt and die. And
he says here, it's like a flower, it cometh forth like a flower,
it's beautiful, but then it's cut down. It not only just wilts,
it's cut down, dies. Everybody here knows sooner
or later you're going to be cut down, right? You're going to
be cut down. Johnny Cash has a song, God's
Going to Cut You Down. Don't ask me why I can't remember
that. God's going to cut you down. It's going to be cut down, that
flower is going to be cut down. A flower comes from the earth,
so do we. Man was made from the dust of
the ground. From dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. That's our nature, our nature,
this body is going to return to dust. The beauty is going
to fade, it's going to fade away. And man, he's like the flowers
cut down and he fleeth also, he fleeth. It's like he's in
a hurry. He's in a hurry. I told someone that they was
in a hurry one time, they just had to be in a hurry. I said,
what you in such a hurry about? You're just going to die. Slow
down. Slow down. He fleeth as a shadow. CONTINUES
NOT. A SHADOW HAS A VERY SHORT EXISTENCE,
DOESN'T IT? HOW MUCH SUBSTANCE DOES A SHADOW
HAVE IF YOU CAN WAVE YOUR HAND THROUGH A SHADOW? THERE'S NO SUBSTANCE TO IT. JAMES
SAID MAN'S LIKE A VAPOR. AND JOB SAYS LORD, AFTER SAYING
ALL THIS, AND DOEST THOU OPEN THINE EYES UPON SUCH A ONE? HE'S
SPEAKING HERE OF HIMSELF. DO YOU OPEN YOUR EYES ON ONE
SUCH AS MYSELF, AND BRING ME INTO JUDGEMENT WITH THEE? I CAN'T
STAND IN JUDGEMENT WITH GOD. NO MAN CAN STAND IN JUDGEMENT
WITH GOD. DON'T BRING ME INTO JUDGEMENT WITH THEE. I DON'T
WANT TO GO TO COURT TOGETHER WITH GOD. OH, I NEED A MEDIATOR,
I NEED SOMEONE TO STAND BETWEEN ME AND GOD. I DO. That's what I need. I need someone
to stand between me and God. You know, David says in Psalm
8, What is man that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of
Man that you visit him. Why would God look upon me? I mean, look at the universe. Look at what all God has created.
Look at who He is. And He would look upon a worm
like me and consider me? Lord, do you bring me into judgment
with you? He said, I can't contend with you. Psalm 143 too. And enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified,
not by himself, not by himself, not by his words, not by his
deeds. If I'm justified, I'm justified by another and in another,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse four, who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Who can do this? Not one. Not one. We can't do it. You cannot, you know, the medical
industry has come up with a lot of different medications and vaccines
to treat diseases but there's no cure for sin which is a root
of all sickness you get over one sickness you get another you just get another it just
it doesn't stop who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean not one not one man not one human being but i
know one who can I know one who can, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the answers to these
questions are all found in one person, one person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the answer. Our Lord is
our surety. Our Lord is our representative
being born of a woman. Our Lord's obedience is our righteousness. His blood is our cleansing. OUR
LORD CAN CLEANSE US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, OUR LORD CAN
MAKE US HOLY, UNBLAMEABLE, UNREPROVABLE IN HIS SIGHT. WHO CAN BRING A
CLEAN THING OUT OF AN UNCLEAN? NOT ONE HUMAN BEING CAN DO THAT,
BUT GOD CAN. THIS IS GOD WORK, IT?S GOD WORK. We?ll see that in the next service. God said, Moses, take your hand
and put it in your bosom. And he did. He brought it out
and it was full of leprosy. He said, now Moses, put your
hand back in your bosom. He said, now bring it out. And
it was whole again. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? God. God. I think of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the womb of Mary. There's a clean thing being brought
out of an unclean thing. Mary was a sinner. She needed
to be saved. She needed the blood of Jesus
Christ as much as Mary Magdalene whom the Lord cast out seven
devils. She needed to be saved as much as any other sinner. God used her womb to come into
this world. A clean thing came out of an
unclean thing, and you've been born of God.
You've been born of God and you're sealed with the Holy Spirit and
one day, one day when God takes us out of this world, one day
when you and I die, a clean thing is coming out of this unclean
thing. That new man born of God is coming out of this shell,
this flesh. Yeah, God can. God can do it. Philosophy can't do it religion
can't do it, but God can do it. This is God work Here's another question Man he gives up the ghost and
where is he? He says in verse 6, listen, TURN
FROM HIM THAT HE MAY REST, TILL HE SHALL ACCOMPLISH A HIGHER
THAN HIS DAY. FOR THERE IS HOPE OF A TREE,
IF IT BE CUT DOWN, THAT IT WILL SPROUT AGAIN, AND THAT THE TENDER
BRANCHES THEREOF WILL NOT CEASE, THOUGH THE ROOT THEREOF WACKS
OLD IN THE EARTH, AND THE STALK THEREOF DIE IN THE GROUND. He's
reaching in now to giving us an example from nature, and He's
saying you cut a tree down and it dies. TIME ROLLS BY, IT RAINS,
AND YOU LOOK OUT, AND THERE ARE SPROUTS COMING FROM THAT STUMP,
BECAUSE THE ROOT IS STILL ALIVE. AND THERE IS A SPROUT COMING
FROM THAT. BUT I'LL TELL YOU THIS, THERE
ARE NO HUMAN SPROUTS COMING OUT OF THAT GRAVEYARD. DID YOU SEE
ANY COMING OUT OF THE GRAVEYARD? DID YOU SEE ANY STICKING OUT
OF THE GRAVE OVER THERE? NO, WHEN MAN DIES, HE DOESN'T
RETURN. HE DOES NOT RETURN TO THIS EARTH.
THIS IS THE VERY THOUGHT I HAD WHEN I BURIED BOTH MOM AND DAD. I WILL NEVER SEE THEM ON THIS
EARTH AGAIN. THAT WAS ONE THOUGHT THAT JUST,
AND I STILL THINK OF IT. IF I LIVED TO BE THEIR AGE IN
MY 90'S, 25 YEARS WILL GO BY THAT I HAVEN'T SEEN THEM. We don't come back. We don't
come back. Listen, you can break a leg and
go to the hospital and come back. You can get the flu, go to the
hospital. Or get sick or whatever, go to the hospital. You come
back. You die, you ain't coming back. You're not coming back. That is final. The grave is final. As far as this life's concerned.
We're not coming back. He reaches and says, a tree can
be cut down. And after a while it rains and
it's a sin of water and there could be branches and live again,
but not man. Not man. See, man's not a tree. Man's not a tree. God created man in his own image
and man fell. And now he wastes away. But a
man dieth, he says in verse 10, and wasteth away. We die buried
in the ground and the body goes back to the dust. It goes back to the dust. I was
watching a program yesterday on the human brain and this woman
is holding this This real brain, she has a brain that has old
nerves hanging down. She's holding it, talking about it. What all
this does, this does, this does. And I thought that was actually
in somebody's head. That was a person. She's holding
a person in her hand that used to live and have a family probably,
he or she, I don't know which it was. But anyway, this person
was alive. But now she's standing there
holding the brain of that person. That person's gone. HE WASTETH AWAY! THERE WILL BE NO REVIVAL OF LIFE IN
THIS LIFE. MAN GIVES UP THE SPIRIT. IT SAYS
THE BODY GOES BACK TO THE GRAVE AND THE SPIRIT GOES BACK TO GOD
WHO GAVE IT. AND WHERE IS HE? WHERE IS MAN? WHERE ARE THOSE
THAT WE BURY IN THE GRAVE? THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. And only
the Bible gives us the answer. You're not going to find that
anywhere. You will not find that answer anywhere else. But we
find the answer where everyone is that's in the grave right
now. We find that in the Word of God. To be absent from the
body for those who believe. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. And for those who don't believe,
they're in hell. Is that too hard? Is that too plain? It's the TRUTH! When our Lord
was on the cross and that thief was there beside of Him, He said
to him, TODAY shalt thou be with Me in PARADISE! TODAY! You're going to be in
PARADISE! It's to go to be with the Lord,
but I tell you this, to die outside of Christ is NOT Paul over 2 Corinthians
5 he said when we put off this tent that's what he calls this
body this body is a tent you know it's just a tabernacle we
I live in a tent somebody asked you where you live tell me live
in a tent that's where you live you're not lying you're not exaggerating
they think you're crazy anyway go ahead and tell them truth I live in a tent A WEATHER-WORN TENT. Listen to this in Luke 16, 22
and 23. And it came to pass that the
beggar died, Lazarus, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment,
and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE
THAT WE BURY. THEY EITHER GO TO BE WITH THE
LORD OR THEY'RE IN TORMENT. IT'S ONE OR THE OTHER. NO PARGATORY.
NO PARGATORY. IT'S ONE OR THE OTHER. THERE'S
NO MIDDLE GROUND. NO MIDDLE GROUND. And then thirdly
here, listen, if a man die, if a man die, shall he live again? Shall he live again? In verse
14. Absolutely. Absolutely. Once that child is conceived,
once it's conceived, it'll live forever. All those abortions
that have happened Those children are with the Lord, I have no
doubt about that. I have no doubt about that. When they are conceived, they
are a person. They are a real person. So if a man dies, will he live
again? If a man lies down in the grave and he rises not, NOT
INTO THIS WORLD, NOT BACK IN THIS PLACE AGAIN. BUT HE DOES
LIVE. HE DOES LIVE. HE DOES LIVE. CHRIST SAID, BECAUSE
I LIVE, YOU SHALL LIVE ALSO. HE SAID, HE THAT BELIEVES IN
ME SHALL NEVER DIE. EVERYONE WHO DIES IN THE LORD
IS ALIVE. I don't know why I was thinking
about Henry the other day. I was listening to a message,
I was listening to him preach a message, and as I was LISTENING
to him preach the message, it just HIT ME how ALIVE he is! I thought he's alive and well!
Rupert is alive and well! All the saints, the ones I've
buried here, they're alive and well! They're not dead! They are alive and well! Yes,
He'll live again. If He doesn't live in glory,
He's going to live someplace else. That's not good. But He'll live again. Our Lord
Jesus Christ died and rose again and we live in Him. We shall
have a glorified body like His, a powerful body like His. You know it says over in 1 Corinthians
15, and I'm going to close. It says, How are the dead raised
over in 1 Corinthians 15? They are buried in corruption. They are raised in incorruption. They are buried in weakness,
raised in power. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Absolutely. He's either going
to live again in heaven, in paradise, he's going to go to be with the
Lord. There's no in-between. It's just no different than going
to sleep over here in my bed tonight and waking up in glory. Just wake up in another place. No experience of death. Just
wake up there. But if he's not in Christ, it's
to wake up in torment. These are questions that need
answered. And this is how we need to think. We need to give
deep thought to the things of God. You know, don't spend more
time on your retirement than you do on the life to come. Don't
do that. BE WISE, BUT THE WISE MAN SEEKS
THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE ABOVE. THE LORD WILL PROVIDE FOR HIS
CHILDREN. HE WILL PROVIDE.