Good evening. I'm glad to see
everybody. It's nice to be back here. Thank
you for having me, and thank you, John. I appreciate you.
And Kathy, and everybody's always so good to us and makes us feel
so welcomed. And the brethren there in San
Diego send their love and to tell everyone hello. And they
miss you and look forward to seeing you soon. If you will,
let's turn in our Bibles to Job chapter 1. A unique challenge this evening. Several paragraphs I had to read
to you. Either Brother Norm just read
them, or John had commented on it already. So I hope I have
something for you. Job chapter 1. I told my pastor
years ago when I was in college that I was struggling in the
English classes. I did pretty well in history and science,
but in English I had trouble. And if it takes you an hour to
write a certain number of pages, it'll take me three hours. I
made good grades, but I just struggled getting everything
in order. And he looked at me one day and he said, Kevin, tell
them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell
them what you told them. And boy, it got real easy after
that. It eased up quite a bit. But tonight I want us to look
at the book of Job, verses 1 through 5. I want you to see, hope we can
see Job as a picture of Christ here. And Job as a believer. Just like believers in this day.
Just how you and I are. And at the end of it, I hope
to tell you those two things again, if I remember. But in
perfect wisdom, the Scriptures were preserved throughout time
for us. This entire book here has one
message. There's one message on every
page. Christ and Him crucified. His person, who He is, and the
work that He accomplished. We may not see it. We may have
to have that revealed later to us. But that's the message. The
message of the whole book. In its beginning, in its continuance,
and in its culmination, Christ is the message. We see there in that road to
Emmaus, Brother Norm just read. Those men were so sad and down
and fraught and thought everything was over. And he said, why are
you so sad? Do you know how the God who is love
comforted those two sheep? He preached Christ to them. That's
what happened. And it said there, it began in
Moses and all the prophets and he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. We were talking the
other night, a miracle, Christ said so, he listed that in a
number of miracles for those two servants to go back to John
the Baptist. Leopards are healed, blind see, lame walk, and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. That's a miracle. It's a miracle. When John ended
his gospel, He closed with this. He said, there are also many
other things which Jesus did, which if they should be written
by everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain
the books that should be written. We don't have a whole planet
covered in books to tell us everything that Christ did while He was
on this earth. But we have this book. And that's more than enough. We won't be able to scratch the
surface. The book of Job is considered
to be, by many scholars, a lot of people smarter than I am,
that's the oldest book in the Bible. And it's one of the oldest
books, period, that we have recorded. But obviously, this isn't an
account of creation. It's not the beginning of man.
But it is the earliest book, the one first written. And it
would be fitting for us to strongly consider the introduction, the
prologue, how it begins, Just like many other books, the first
thing written in that book sets the tone for the whole rest of
the book. For the rest of it. Sets the
stage. Historically, here are the first
words recorded that the Spirit moved a man to write. In our
timeline of this earth, this is the first things written.
Let's look at it. 1 verse 1, There was a man in
the land of Uz, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect
and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. And there
were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance
also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoken of oxen
and 500 she-asses and a very great household, so that this
man was the greatest of all men of the east. And his sons went
and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called
for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it
was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that
Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For
Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in
their hearts. Thus did Job continually." Many
say, well, that's a good introduction. We now have an idea of who Job
is. Let's go on to the next thing.
I hope there's a lot here for us tonight. I pray the Lord will
be our teacher. It says there in verse 1, Job
was a man. He was perfect, upright, fearing
God and eschewing evil, despising evil. Our dear Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, was the perfect God-man. He was holy, harmless,
undefiled, and separate from sinners. He was perfect. Christ
was a man. The Almighty God became a man,
human flesh. He humbled himself lower than
the angels to be made like you and like me and to make us alive
in Him to live for us. Isaiah prophesied, for unto us
a child is born. He's made like us. He was a man. But unto us a son is given. He was not of this world. He
was not of our father Adam. He was the son given from the
father. And because he was that God-man, Isaiah went on to say,
the government shall be upon his shoulders. and His name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace." Christ was born of a woman to
represent His people before the Father. We needed a mediator,
a go-between, between us and a holy God that we offended.
Someone had to stand in front of us before Him. Paul wrote
this to Timothy, For there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Why would Christ be made
a man? What would the result of this
happening, Him coming here, being perfect for us? Paul told the
Galatians, for when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
His Son, being made of a woman, made under the law, we were made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law that
we might receive the adoption of sons. The cross was made a
man to represent and save helpless sinners. He was made a man to
save me. To represent me. To represent
you. That's what he came for. And his life on this earth was
perfect. You know why he was perfect?
Why he was such a good example for us? That's what so many people
think. He's just a good example. A good moral compass to follow.
He was perfect and upright on this earth because He is perfect
and upright. We can't enter into that. We
think we know what holy is. We don't have a drop in the ocean,
do we? We don't understand it. He was perfect. There was no
deceit in Christ, no craftiness in Christ. It was perfection.
Peter told us Christ is our example. I said, speaking of the Savior
who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. There was
no guile in the mouth of Christ. Nothing came out of His mouth,
nothing was in His mouth because there was no guile in Him. Perfect. He only loved righteousness and
He despised anything unclean. David wrote in Psalm 45, Thou
lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy
God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy
fellows. Our elder brother is holy. Holy. He was from birth given as that
child solely set on the will of his father. Remember when
Joseph and Mary left Christ at that temple. They thought he
was with them. They got a couple days down the
road and they said, we're missing one of our party. Let's turn
back. We've got to go get him. And they got back there. And
12 years old, there's all these learned men, so educated and
worldly wise. He was teaching them. Mary came
and said, where were you? I could imagine one of my children
being gone. Where'd you go? What'd he tell
them? How is it that you sought me?
Don't you know that I must be about my father's business?"
From birth he was about his father's business. So there in Job 1.1,
Christ became a man. And he was in a land that was
not like him. Uz is real close to Ur. They're
in them Cowdeys Mountains. And there's not much there. I
spent a little time over there. It's barren. It's desolate. There's
no life in it. That's where he came. The whole
time He was perfect, upright. He honored the Father. He despised
wickedness. There was a reason He did this.
A reason He condescended from His majesty in heaven to be on
this earth. He had some people to save. Look
there in verse 2, Job 1-2. And there were born unto Him
seven sons and three daughters. Anytime anything is numbered
in the Scriptures, it's numbered on purpose. Three speaks to completion,
but not to the extent that seven does. Those numbers mean some
things, but Job's children were complete and they were given
to him. It's a complete number. Turn over to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. The Lord's children
given to Christ are complete. Not one more and not one less. He has a complete number of children.
They were chosen in that spiritual adoption before the world was.
And it was the will of the Father to keep them and our Redeemer
forever. So in John 6 verse 37, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me. So many people
worry about that. I wonder what God wants. Blasphemous
words. He doesn't want. I want. What's
His will? That all which He hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day. There in John, turn
over to John 17. Children of God are loved with
a divine love. Not like you and I love. They're
loved with a distinguishing love, and we are loved with an everlasting
love. A believer loves someone on this
earth, we pray for them, don't we? Christ loved the children
given to Him, and He prays for us. What a thought. God Almighty in human flesh prayed
for His children. I think it will be addressed.
Look here in John 17 verse 9. I pray for them. I pray not for
the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me. For they
are Thine, and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, and I am
glorified in them. He will be glorified in His people. That will happen. Alright, back
to our text here in Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1 verse 3. His substance
also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and
500 she-asses and a very great household so that he was the
greatest of all men of the east. He was so great his cattle was
numbered. That doesn't sound like a magnificent
feast or feet to people. I've got ear tags and barcodes
nowadays. But now that we moved to California,
we're all the way down to having nine chickens. That's all the
chickens I have. And I count them and make sure
coyotes didn't get in there and we still have them all because
my children ask me. And I go one, two, three, four. One, two,
three, four. They move. They don't sit still. I can't put them in detention
like them boys in the army used to be. Animals were numbered. Sheep
were the ideal livestock back then. They provided meat, wool
for clothing, milk. The Bedouins there in the Chaldees,
they still make tents out of their hides. And they were provided
for for a sacrifice to God. And camels were for transportation,
a means to accomplish things over a large area. Oxen pulled
the plows for growing food. to provide for all those servants
and to provide for all those animals, have grain for them.
Donkeys carry all those heavy loads as pack animals. And a
great number of servants that tend to all of it. Our Master
has a great number of servants. He has laborers in His vineyard.
Christ had, now has, and will always have the full means at
His disposal completely to provide for his household in all aspects. He will not be found short. You
need to travel a long distance? He'll provide it. You need covering? He'll provide it. You need a
sacrifice? He provides that. Everything. Let's turn over to
Psalm 50. Psalm 50. Psalm 50 verse 10, For every beast of
the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know
all the fowls of the mountain. They're not just his, he knows
them. And the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee, For the world is mine and the
fullness thereof. What are we to do? We cannot bring a sacrifice of
something that God already owns and has no need of. John, if I owe you a debt and
I went into your home and I took a lamp that was on your nightstand
and said, here, are we square? You'd laugh at me, wouldn't you? What can I bring to the Lord
that isn't His already? A man can't provide a sacrifice,
can he? Look down there in verse 14. Psalm 50, verse
14. Offer unto God thanksgiving,
and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and call upon Me in the
day of trouble. If we know Him, we are thankful
for Him. If we trust Christ, we call on
Him in our time of trouble. Is He faithful to save us? Read
on. Verse 15, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify
Me. It's going to happen. If you're delivered, you'll glorify
Him. If you're glorifying something
else, you ain't delivered. Christ is revealed in us, in
our hearts, we will call on Him, and He will deliver all those
that call on Him and they'll glorify only in Christ. Now back
there in our text in Job 1, verse 3. Job was the greatest man of the
East. Christ, the God-man, whose going
forth has been from everlasting, is the greatest of all. In all
things He has preeminence. He is the greatest in the East,
meaning He is the greatest from the beginning. Before the sun
came up. Before creation. Till now and
until eternity to come, He is the greatest. Romans 11 says,
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His
counselor, or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be
recompensed unto Him again. For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him, are most things. No. All things. All things. To whom be glory
forever. Amen. He's the greatest. Our God is God. Now these children of Job, they
feasted together. Look here in verse 4. And his
sons went and feasted in their houses. Every one his day and
sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with
them. They were relaxed and comfortable
and comforted. Their father was in control.
That makes sense to us, don't it? We are calm and relaxed here,
aren't we? We're not hustling and bustling.
We were sent for and called to be in rescue in California this
weekend. As Roe said earlier, we were
gathered today. We didn't choose together, we
were gathered. We're brought here, and we're feasting on Christ
the Word. That's our feast. Solomon said,
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart. How would we be so happy? For
God now accepteth thy works. Maurice Montgomery used to say,
You go sit underneath a shade tree and eat a ham sandwich.
Go relax. Rest. Rest in Christ. A believer's warfare is accomplished. God accepts the work of Christ,
and we are in Him. Just as Job's children were in
His loins, we were in Christ's loins. He was accepted, His children
are accepted. Now there in verse 5, Job 1.5,
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about,
that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the
morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them
all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and
cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Our Redeemer sins for us. He
sets us apart, and He gets up early in the morning, before
the earth was, and offers our sacrifice for us. He provides
the sacrifice, and He's the one that offers it. When God the
Father puts us in Christ's hand immediately, it was so. Before
that Son came up. I always refer to the Mount of
Transfiguration. Moses and Elias were there on that Mount of Transfiguration
speaking with our Master. They believed in Christ and they
were raised. Christ hadn't died yet. We look
at this, we live in this body of time. Something may happen
yet, may not happen. He said it was going to happen.
It was prophesied. It was commanded from His lips.
And as my dad used to say, you can take that to the bank. How
much was it going to happen? Moses and Elias were already
in glory, weren't they? I think it's going to happen. Thus did
Job continually. Our Master makes intercession
for us continually with our Father. It's said in Romans 8. Who is
He that condemneth? It is Christ that died yea, rather,
that is risen again, who even is at the right hand of God,
who also maketh intercession for us. Because of that, who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Throughout this book
of Job, we see different things. Job was suddenly brought from
great riches to great poverty. Paul wrote to Corinth, you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might
be rich. Job was assaulted by Satan. What were the sufferings of Job
compared to the sufferings of our Lord Jesus for the salvation
of our souls? Satan was the instrument that
brought sorrow to Job, but all his adversaries came by the will
the decree and the hand of God, and He knew it. So it was with
our dear Savior. He knew what was coming. Willingly
going to that cross. Job made an effectual sacrifice
and intercession for his friends by the will of God. But how much
do we rejoice that our Lord Jesus made effectual sacrifice and
effectually intercedes for us? And because the Lord accepted
Job He accepted those for whom Job made intercession. Because
our great God accepts His Son for us, He accepts us in His
Son. Job was laid low that he might
be exalted very high. Our Lord Jesus was made the least
in the kingdom of heaven that he might be the greatest. In
chapter 42, It says, So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job
more than his beginning, for he had fourteen thousand sheep,
and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and
a thousand she-asses. And he also had seven sons and
three daughters. Now everything was doubled but
the children. The children were his. That number will not change.
He will not lose one. They're his. Some people will
dispute that. That won't be good enough for
him. So I'll give you this. During the whole time of Job's trials,
in his whole life, his whole struggle, he never lost his bride. She cussed him. She scorned him. Picked on him. Refused him. He never lost his bride. Kept
his bride to the end. The bride of Christ will not
be found missing. But we see Christ there in Job
in these first five verses. But we also see Job as a believer.
It's me and you. I'm going to try to go as quick
as I can. I'll wrap this up. There in verse 1, there was a
man in the land of Uz, his name was Job, and that man was perfect
and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. He was perfect. Job was perfect. He didn't look perfect. He didn't
act perfect. He sinned, didn't he? God said
he's perfect. When perfect, that means complete.
plain, undefiled, upright. He wasn't the only one that the
scriptures say was perfect. Noah was a just man and perfect
in his generations and Noah walked with God. Abraham was ninety-nine
years old and the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto him,
I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. That
was a commandment. Speaking of Zacharias and Elizabeth,
Luke wrote, And they were both righteous before God, walking
in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord, blameless. I knew a gentleman one time that
said, well, there's a lot of people in the Bible that were
perfect, not just Christ. Job was perfect in the eyes of
the Lord. Those that believe on Christ,
trust Him, know Him, love Him, you were perfect. Explain that,
preacher. It's so. It's so. How did Job get that way? You
that believe on Christ, how did you get perfect? How did I get
perfect? The Hebrew writer said, for by
one offering, He, not me, He, Christ, hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. He made us that way. After being
made perfect, Job feared God. He was reverent towards God.
He honored God. God. He wasn't afraid of God.
He feared Him. He honored Him. He loved Him.
And He eschewed evil. And Christ is the one that made
Him that way because Christ is that way. And His elect are made
to be like Him in the eyes of God the Father. And the Lord
was gracious to Job. Physically, he was healthy. Materially
and spiritually. Our Lord and Master gave everything
to Job. And he had a great household.
And it said he was the greatest of all the East there. Do you
feel that way when you see Christ's glory and power in the hearts
of men? And creation and providence and salvation? I feel like I'm
the most blessed man that walks the face of the earth. I have
all this and Christ. What more could I want? I feast on Him. Fed well too. Exactly what I need. There in
verse 4 it says, And his sons went and feasted in their houses
every one his day, and sent and called their three sisters to
eat and drink with them. Physically, we feasted here today. You all fed me lunch and it was
wonderful and I appreciate that. And that was a good time. It
was pleasing to eat a meal with folks. Just walk around, sit
and chat for a little bit. That's something. David wrote,
Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. We're united in Christ. We are so comforted because we
know He's our Savior. We know the Father, as John told
us. You know the Father. And there in verse 5, And it
was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that
Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning,
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all, For
Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in
their hearts. Thus did Job continually. He pleaded on their behalf, on
his children's behalf. Why would he do that? Job knew
his children were sinners. He was aware of his depravity,
he was made to know that, and he knew that his children were
to pray. Now notice he didn't say that his boys were out in
the honky-tonks Girls were riding in cars with boys, wearing their
hair a certain way, and said that they may have sinned in
their hearts against God and cursed Him. How would Job even
consider that? He knew in his heart that's what
he had done. He knew he had unbelief. And he made that offering to
the Lord continually. And Samuel, we see the story
of him and his mother was barren, and she prayed to the Lord to
give her a child and the Lord remembered her. given by his
mother to serve the Lord until he died. It says she lent him
until his death. And I've read about several believers
of old saying that they gave their children to the Lord. They
turned their children over to the Lord. They lent them to the
Lord. And I always found that to be a little odd. I wonder how that works. And
then I had children. When I had children, I gave them
to the Lord. I said, Lord, show them that
they're sinners. Show them what they are. Show them who you are.
Teach them. I didn't pray that just once.
I did that continually. And if He shows them they're
sinners, and He shows them who He is, and He saves them and
does work in them and gives them new life in their heart, you
know what we'll do the next morning when the sun comes up? Lord,
keep them. Show me what I am, show me what they are, and show
us who you are. An elect child of God by His grace has shown
The earthly blessings they have, but more importantly, we're shown
our spiritual blessings. Then for those ones that we care
for and love, we pray that Almighty brings Christ glory, that He
might make Himself known to those that we love. And since we're
brought to remember our Savior all throughout the day, we pray
for those that we love all throughout the day. You see how this book's
about Christ? That's who it's about. The picture
of Him, His glory, His total power and His salvation. Every
page. Those that see Him in these pages,
see His salvation, they're humbled and they pray for those saints
everywhere, don't they? Continually. I pray we're able to pray continually.
I pray the Lord is with us continually. Forever make an intercession
for us. I hope that was a blessing to you. Thank you.