The book of Job, turn there with
me. I'll not have you turn too many
places. Perhaps I'll turn for you. The
book of Job, one of the oldest written books in the Bible. Like every book, like the book,
the Bible, this book Job in the whole Bible declares who God
is, declares the living and true God as He is. He declares Himself. God is not how men think He is. God is how He is, how He declares
Himself. He is Lord. I mean Lord of Lord. He is the sovereign ruler over
all. He is over all. And I'm talking about God, not
the Father, and I'm talking about God the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Listen, let me quote you some Scripture. See now, that I, even
I, am He. There is no God, little g, with
me. No little ruler. Nobody rules
over anything. You understand? Nobody has any
power over anything. unless God gives it. I kill. I make a life. I wound, make sick, whatever,
cause to fall. And only He can keep us from
falling. And I heal. Neither is there
any that can deliver out of my hand. That's the God of the Bible. All things, all things. Listen to Isaiah 45. The world doesn't like this.
God's people do. They love God. We love God as
God, don't we? This is our hope. This is our
comfort, our refuge. I am the Lord, Isaiah 45. I am the Lord. There is none
else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou
hast not known me. that they may know from the rising
of the sun, east, it's that way, and to the west, there's none
beside me. I am the Lord. There is none
else. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace
and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. All things. Okay? And I was reading this book of
Job, and it was a blessing when John read it in a study a couple
weeks ago. And I began reading it again
for myself. And these words just shot out at me. Verse 22. This
is the title, and this is the story. Look at it. You have it? In all this, everything that happened, Job
sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. In chapter 2, verse 10, the last
line says, In all this did not Job sin with his lips. He blessed
God, didn't he? Now, there's no doubt that the
one speaking, the Lord who is speaking here, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you know that? This is the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Proverbs 8, it says that His
delights were with the sons of men, rejoicing in the habitable
parts of the earth. Our Lord made many, many earthly
appearances. But listen to Colossians 1. There's
no doubt in my mind, should be no doubt, who is speaking here.
He's the Word. the one who speaks. He says,
He's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
and by Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, principalities
of power. That's devils, demons, men, angels. By Jesus Christ, they were created.
Listen, all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is
before all things, and by Him all things consist. He is the
Head over it all. It pleased the Father in Him
should all fullness dwell. Didn't Christ say, all authority
is given unto me in heaven and earth? All power. Didn't He? This is the Jesus of the Bible.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He did all this. He's doing all
this. Today. He's the same. Can you
quote it? Yesterday, before the world began. Today and forever. He changes
not. He's the one. He's the Lord.
He's the one doing all things. Whether it's fire burning up
California. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes. What men call evil. Jesus Christ
did it. What do you think about that?
In all this, Job sinned not. He said, it's the Lord. Eli sinned
not, did he? It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth good. And he does. Didn't David say
that? Where's your God, David? He said,
our God's in the heaven. And he hath done. whatsoever
he had pleased. Now that makes me glad. It made
Joe glad. With tears running down his face,
his hope, his comfort, his peace, his joy, his everything was that
God did this. All this. Is that yours? That's faith. This is a blessed
story. You know, James wrote of this. You remember the message from
1 Peter a few weeks ago on the trial of your faith? Faith will
be tried. And God had this happen because
Job, he said, there's nothing like him in the earth. He's a
perfect man. He's going to be tried. Perfect man. Well, this
is what James said. And James mentioned Job. Ezekiel
mentioned Job. But here's what James said. And
let me quote it for you, okay? If you're a believer, if you're
a child of God, like Job, your faith's going to be tried. The
faith you have is the faith of God's elect. He gave it to you.
It's a precious gift, and it's going to be tried like gold is
tried in the fire. And it's going to come out, like
Job, to the praise and the honor and the glory of the One who
gave it. Isn't that what you want? James said this, My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations or trials. Count it joy. Knowing this, that
the trying of your faith, if you don't have faith, if you're
an unbeliever, God's not going to try you. If you're not a believer, God's
not going to try you. Psalm 73 says that the people
in the world, they have everything. David was envious of the workers
of Nicodemus. He said, I saw them spreading themselves like
a green bay tree. They just don't have trouble.
But all of God's people, the waters of a full cup of trouble
are just wrung out on them. Wrung out on them. Who did it?
God did it. Try their faith. Know this, that the trying of
your faith worketh patient. But let patience be patient now. Wait. Job had to wait. He didn't know why God did all
this. He just knew God did it. He believed God did it. If you
wait and James ends his book by saying this, you heard of
the patience of Job? The end of that man? God is very
pitiful and merciful. The end of that man far exceeds
the eternal weight of glory. The end of that man far exceeded
the light afflictions that God sent him in the beginning. And
so it is with all God's people. All this. James said, Let patience
have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect, complete, wanting nothing. You
lack wisdom? Ask God, he said. He said, We
count them blessed, blessed is every man that endureth unto
the end. Alright, let's look at this story,
okay? I'll try not to be too long. This is a blessed story. A blessed story of our Lord's
dealings with one of His dear children. And it's how He deals
with all His children. Though in a lesser degree. Everything
Job went through, you and I are going to go through it. Every
believer. is going to experience everything
Job went through, except maybe to a lesser degree. Do you understand
that? The Lord, everything we have,
the Lord gave. And everything we have, the Lord
is going to take it away. All but one thing. Oh, but one thing. Who's our
everlasting portion? I had to holler that. Our everlasting
portion. Who's that? Jesus Christ. The
Kingdom of God. The people of God. Family. Take
away family. You're talking about family.
You just wait until our family has a reunion. You'll forget everything. The
former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. For the joy
unspeakable. full of glory. Whose? His. I'm already getting excited. That's good. It's the oldest
book written to tell us that whatever man goes through, God
does it. And whatever God's people go
through, it's good. It's right. It's just. It's true.
And you just wait, wait, wait, wait. Be patient. It's going to end good. You mark
the perfect man like Job. The end of that man is peace. Perfect peace. Whose mind has
stayed on who? Jehovah. Hallelujah. Oh, this
is how he deals with all his people. And all this is of the
Lord. All this. All this. Job 1, verse
1, there was a man whose name was Job. Perfect and upright. Perfect means complete. All of
God's people are complete, aren't they? Where? How? In Christ. In Christ. Perfect. Complete. Holy. Unblameable.
Unreprovable in God's sight. Job. Our Lord condemned him not,
did He, Job? Job. He didn't condemn him, did
He? He justified him. God justified
him. How? By faith. He gave him his
faith. He gave him his holiness. He
gave him his righteousness. He made him complete. He had
a lamb slain before Job was born, before the foundation of the
world. Job knew his Redeemer. Read chapter 19. See, I know
my Redeemer liveth. Chapter 14, he said, I'm waiting
on my change. He's going to call me. He called
me the first time. He's going to call me again.
And I'm going to answer. He said, my sins are sealed up. Oh, he knew Christ. This was
Christ that was speaking to him. Dealing with him. It was Christ
that he saw in chapter 42, wasn't it, brother? He said, I've heard
of you, now I see you. Perfect. It also means mature.
It does. It means he's a grown-up. Measure
the stature of the fullness of Christ. Let this mind be in you.
Be men in understanding, like Job. But children in malice,
Scripture said. Perfect. Mature. A wise believer. He knew God and he acted like
it. He talked like it. Oh, may the Lord perfect that
which concerns me. How about you? I don't want to
sin with my lips, do you? Upright. Straight up. You say that about a man. He's
straight up. When he deals with you, he's straight up. Not crooked. Who straightened him up? Did
Job straighten his life out? Oh, no, no, no, no. It's a paradox,
Margaret, that when the Lord, your man may be moral and upright
and all that, when the Lord gets a hold of him and wrestles him
and puts him down on the ground, He puts a limp in him. Now he's
walking different. He's not walking proudly and
upright. But he is upright. Explain that. That was your husband. Upright, straight up, not crooked. Philippians 2 said we're God's
people in a crooked and perverse world among whom we shine as
lights. What do we shine? The light of
the gospel. Not our light. His light. Hopefully reflect that. That
image. Perfect. Upright. One that feared
God. Nobody's a child of God if they
don't fear God. Job feared God in the beginning.
And Job feared God in the end. And when God did all this, and
when God finally spoke to him, he feared Him more than ever.
Didn't he? He said, I hate myself. He feared God. He eschewed evil.
That means he avoided it. He resisted it. Oh, I was going
to have the young people turn to this. We read it. Proverbs
4 last week. Wasn't that a blessing? Proverbs
4. He says, don't enter into the path of the wicked. Don't
go in the way of the evil. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn away from it. Let your eyes
look right on. Look in on Jesus. Author and
finisher of our faith. Ponder the path of your faith.
Let all your ways be established. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
He'll establish you. Young and old alike. The yoke. Take my yoke upon you and learn
to me, Christ said. I'm meek and lowly in heart.
You'll find rest for your soul. It's good that a young person
bear the yoke in their youth. Bow your head and cry out in
pride. Lord, put your yoke on me. The way of the transgressors
is hard. So, he feared God. Eschewed evil. Well, verse 2, it says they were
born unto him seven sons and three daughters, ten children.
That's a big family. My grandfather, John Carey Mayhem,
my dad's dad, had eleven. They lost two or three women.
It's very common for them to lose several over the year. But it's a huge family. Job had ten children. And his
substance, you read it with me, he had thousands of cattle and
sheep and camels and donkeys. Who needs 500 donkeys? You've
got a lot of corn to take to the market. They're pack animals,
aren't they, but 500? Like a trucking company. Joey's
like, these were the trucks back then. He had 500 trucks. cheap
cattle, vast plantation. There is no evil in things. Where do we get things? Where
do we get all this? Where do we get all this? A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. By grace, everything has been
received by grace, the gift of God. He had a very great household. Hannah didn't have any children. Hannah in the Bible. And she
prayed the greatest, one of the greatest prayers in the Old Testament. She prayed to the Lord. She didn't
have children and that's a trial. And the Lord finally gave her
one in the beginning. Oh, what a child the Lord gave
her. a son of God, a prophet like no other, Samuel. And she prayed, I thank You,
Lord, for this child. But in that prayer, she never
mentioned that son. She did not mention that son. She rejoiced in God her Savior
from her sin. She said, talk no more exceedingly
proudly, all of you. No, no. God killeth, God maketh
alive. God maketh rich. God maketh poor. God does all these things. You
have, you have not. It's the Lord. Bless His name.
She did. Job did. We should. In all this, oh boy, in all this,
may we give our Lord all glory for all things. In all we have,
all that we are, may we say with Paul, by the grace of God, I
am what I am. I have what I have. I am where
I am. I know what I know. I don't do
it by the grace of God. By grace are you saved. Look at verse 4 and 5. His sons
and daughters were immediately in a house. The sons called for
his sisters and they were feasting in a house. Feasting. I want you to turn to Ecclesiastes. All, everyone, young and old
alike. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Right after Proverbs, the book
of Ecclesiastes. You need to see this. We went
through this book one time briefly. Ecclesiastes chapter 9. And while
you're turning there, let me read this to you. It says in
1 Timothy, Paul told a young man named Timothy, So I'm in
here, young men. He said this, if I can find it.
Where is Timothy? There it is. All right. Listen to this. He said, the
Lord said through him, charge them that are rich in this world,
that they be not high-minded. That's everyone in here relatively
to people in Africa, And Mexico, you're rich. You would be embarrassed to have
some of those people in your house. All the riches that you
have. That's a fact. Charge them that
are rich in this world, in this world, that they be not high-minded,
nor trust in uncertain riches. Uncertain, why? Because the Lord's
going to take them away. But in the living God, who giveth
us richly all things to enjoy, charge them that they do good,
be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Everything's been loaned to us.
Like the children of Israel would loan everything leaving Egypt.
Why did they get all that gold and the cloth and all that? They
didn't need it, did they? For the tabernacle. for the support
of the Word, for the Kingdom of God. That's right. Not just
lavish on ourselves. But look at Ecclesiastes chapter
9. Do you have it with me? He's
given us all things richly to enjoy. Why is that? Why did God
give us all things to enjoy? Because God is good. That's why. Especially to His children. If
you being evil know how to give good things to your children,
he said, how much more shall your heavenly Father give? One gospel says good things.
Another gospel says the Holy Spirit. That's good. So it gives us all things to
enjoy, all things to use, not abuse on ourselves, but for His
glory and the good of others. Ecclesiastes 9, look at verse
7 through 12. Go thy way, eat thy bread with
joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart. God now accepteth thy
works. Let thy garments be always white. Who's he talking to? God's
people. Sons of God. That's who this is written to.
Not talking to the world. Let thy garments be always white.
Oh, what a gospel picture this is. Let thy head lack no ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom
thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity. Live with
thy wife. Marriage. God ordained it. God commands it. He said marriage
is honorable in all, and to bed undefiled. Anything other than
that is defiled. Right? That's what God said.
Live with your wife. Joyfully. Enjoy one another. Verse 9, all the days of divinity,
that's your portion here. And this, thy labor, which you
take unto the sun. And Psalm 9, it says, your days
and your years are three score and ten, maybe, maybe, maybe
eighty. That there's strength, youth,
labor, and then what? Sorrow. Sorrow. Joy. Sorrow. Whatever your hand
finds to do. Verse 10. Young people, listen
to this now. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your
might. Do it with all you've got. That's not just advice. That's
command. Chapter 11. Look at this. Ecclesiastes
11. Look at verse 8. If a man lived
many years and rejoicing in them all, let him remember the days
of darkness. There are going to be many. There
are going to be many. All that cometh, everything that
happens in all this, vanity. Vanity, vanity. Enjoy it. It's not going to last. Verse 1 of chapter 12, Remember
thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come
not. They're coming. That's what he
said. When the Lord takes it all away. Job knew this, and
I'll go back to our text in Job. Job knew this, and some in here
know this. That all this is of the Lord.
The Lord gave, and Ecclesiastes said, let's hear the conclusion
of the matter. He's going to bring in judgment
for all this. All that you have, you're going to give an account
for. Unless... Unless what, preacher? Unless
you have a covenant head. Unless you have a daisman betwixt
you and God. Because we've all come short
of the glory of God. We've all sinned with our lips.
We've all not given Him the glory. We've all murmured and complained
like the children of Israel. We've all taken credit. We've
all been lifted up with pride. Every single one of us. Haven't
we? And we ought to hang our heads. But God has given His
people A daismon, an umpire, a mediator, a substitute, an
intercessor, a burnt offering. Christ Jesus our Lord, paid for
our sins, honored God. What a blessing. What a blessing
to know Him. All right? It says in verse 5
that they were all feasting. And I thought about our Lord,
what He said in Luke chapter, well, Matthew 24, Luke 17, I
believe it is. He said, as in the days of Noah and the days
of Lot, they're going to be eating and drinking until it all comes to an end. Eating and drinking. They were
feasting, his sons and daughters, which is a good thing. It's a
good thing. Ten of them. Ten of them. When my mother, we had my mother's
100th birthday celebration up in, call it Simpson Valley. Adam and Carrie Simpson, well,
their parents, oh, my, their parents, my sister and Bob Coffey
and Dale and Jackie Simpson and Adams, my, my, my. Armour Simpson, his wife, were
founding members of 13th Street Bank. You talk about a family,
and Lord bless them greatly. Well, at that gathering for my
mother's birthday, there were 37 children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
and one great-great-grandchild. Thirty-seven. Along with their spouses and
all that. And, you know, it was all in her honor. And about half of those are believers. Just half. Just half. Job had seven sons and three
daughters. It seems to be that none of them
knew the Lord. But he gave him ten back. Isn't
it? It was all over. He gave him
ten more. And it sounds like all of them were believers. Isn't
that something? It's the Lord. Isn't it? There
may not be your children. There might be your grandchildren.
There might be your great-grandchildren. It's the Lord in all this. What did Job do? They're feasting and it's a good
time. It's a good thing. We just read
that in Ecclesiastes. They're feasting. They're having
a good time together. They all had houses. They all
had maybe wives and children. They were having a big time.
They had their health. They had their happiness. Life
is good, isn't it? Life is good. No, the Lord is
good. Change your language, brethren. May we glorify our God in the
midst of this adulterous and sinful generation saying, oh,
life is not good. God's the giver of life and He's
good. And He's made all His goodness
pass before Him. He's good unto all. He's tender
mercy over all His work. No, it's the Lord is who it is.
He's good in all that He does, even evil. It's the Lord and He's good.
He's too good to do evil, but whatever evil happens, the Lord's
in it. And it's just and it's right.
Isn't that right? That's the faith of God's elect.
That's what Job completed. Oh, Job was certainly thankful
that his children were happy. His children were physically
well. Not doing without. They had homes. They had family.
They had children. He was happy about it. But one thing grieved
his heart. They may be cussing God. And he sent for them. He called
them. Come. Come to worship. I'm going to offer sacrifices.
Burnt offerings. Come, my children. Come! He wanted
them sanctified. What sanctifies us? The Word!
The truth! What's going to keep us from
cursing God? The truth! The power of God, the Gospel.
What's going to save us from perishing at the hand of God?
The Gospel! I can't say it strong enough. Job
said, sons, daughters, come with me now. I'm going to offer a
sacrifice. I'm going to preach Christ and Him crucified. Come! Now, today, you know what? All this, all this happened in
one day. One day it was all gone. One
day. One day. He says, teach us to
number our days, not years. Young people. Well, I've got
all my life ahead of me. You don't know what a day brings
forth. I don't either. So what am I
concerned about? Parents, what are you concerned
about? What are you concerned about today? Because if God... reveals Himself to them today,
it doesn't matter what happens tomorrow. Seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness. He said all this will be added
to you, but it will be taken away. Won't it? And when He gives it, then you'll
give Him all the glory, the One that gave it. You'll give Him
all the glory for it. And God accepts thy Sacrifice of thy
lips, thanksgiving prayer, in Christ. And then when he takes
it all away, you'll give him all the glory then. Accepted
in a beloved. Then he'll receive you into everlasting
riches. And you'll say, I'm not missing
a thing. I gave up dung. In all this. One day, In one day, Job lost
all of his earthly possessions. One day. Did you notice that?
One day. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes, the day of the Lord is coming. When is it? In a time when you think not.
Eating and drinking. I've got tomorrow. Hold on now.
In one day, all his earthly possessions, his earthly family, everything.
Gone. Gone. Oh my. But Job blessed the Lord. Let's
go to the end here and I'll close. It says, remember it says Satan
was among them? Satan was there. Don't question
why there's evil. There's evil because God allowed
it. Right? The fact is, he's here. Satan
was in the garden. Why did God allow him to be in
that garden? He just did. That's a good enough
answer. Satan was in the garden of Gethsemane. Satan was among the sons of...
Is there somebody? Satan. He's here. He is. He's in the world. An adversary in the world. Woe, Revelation says, to the
inhabitants of the world. But God's people, he said, it's
a day of salvation. And we'll be delivered from an
adversary. Trial of our faith. Yes, we will. What is it that
overcomes the world? What is it that overcomes the
God of this world? What is it? What is it? What is it? It's
a who. It's faith in a who. Faith in a person, that's what
overcomes this world. It's not you're trying to do
anything. Not you're fighting the devil. Did we in our own
strength confide, our tribe would be losing. We're not the right
man on our side. The man of God's own choosing.
Do you ask who that may be? You need to. Christ Jesus, it
is He. Lord of Sabbath is His name.
From age to age the same. He must win the battle. The battle is not yours, it's
the Lord's. And he won. It's over. It's all over with
the shouting, sister. Trumpets going to sound, or are
we going to shout? Victory. Satan was among them,
a roaring lion. That's what Peter, he found out,
didn't he? Satan desires to sift you just
like Job. Satan's against God's people.
He's not against people of the world. He's not against religion.
That's his seat. He's mentioned four times in
the letters to the churches in Revelation. Four times Satan
has mentioned that they live right in the middle of where
he is. Religion. Babylon. That's his seat. That's
where he does his work. That's his chief work. It must
be. There must be heresies among
you. Why? That they which are approved
might be made manifest. In this world you shall have
tribulation, Christ said. In this world you're going to
have tribulation. You're going to have an adversary. You're
going to have enemies all around you. But they that be with us
are more than they that be against us. If God be for us. I know people quote that all
the time. And I hate it. But we quote it and we love it.
Why? Well, that's Romans 8, 31. Because
it begins up there by saying, For whom he did foreknow. He
did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate. That
is, every hair on their head, every one that's in their head,
and every one that falls out of it. All this, good, evil,
the Lord did it. Predestined. Whom He did predestinate,
He called. Whom He called, He justified.
Whom He justified, He glorified. In this world you shall have
tribulation, Christ said. Be of good cheer. In the midst
of feasting, there's going to be fasting. In the midst of joy,
there's going to be sorrow. Happiness, there's going to be
sadness. Laughter, there's going to be
tears. Good, there's going to be evil.
Life, there's going to be death. We're walking in the valley of
the shadow. of death that hangs over all
of us. Old and young. Doesn't it? It happens. What's
our hope? Thou art with me. I'll fear no
evil. Why? He's in control of it all. Not evil. In Psalm 91, he said,
No evil shall befall you. None. Joe, bless God. Tears running
down his face. He didn't know why. And he tried
to reason. He and his friends tried to reason. You start reasoning, your unbelief
will creep in. We don't reason, we believe! We don't believe by reason, we
believe by faith in God's Word. We trust Him. We trust Him. We
don't know what He's doing, what He's going to do, why He's going
to do it. We know the outcome done. We know the end. We know
the sure and blessed promise is done. So trust Him in spite
of what happened, because of what happened. Whatever it is,
no matter how bad, God sent it and it's good. And it's going
to work. to his praise. Job said this
in closing, verse 21, naked I came. Well, verse 20, first he arose.
Oh, he's quickened us, hasn't he? Rent his mantle, ripped his
robe, threw away his robe. He needs another one. He needs
an everlasting one, doesn't he? All my clothes, either too tight
or too loose, or by the time they fit they start Moths start
corrupting. Buy new ones. Oh, there's a robe.
I'm wearing a robe. An everlasting robe. Shaved. Shaved his head. Everybody's
so proud of their hair. You know that? Women get together. And I hate it. I really hate
it. They're not together five minutes,
they start talking about their hair. Glory! And now listen to me now. In
Isaiah 5, it talks about those strutting around, women strutting
around, glory, and he said, it's going to end in baldness. That's what he said. And we'll
take away all that covering, all that makeup, and all that
beauty that you trust in and pride. I'm going to bring it
down. He said, it's going to be baldness
and good smell and stench. That's what he said, Isaiah 5.
Read it for yourself. Why did I say all that? Because
naked, you came out of your mother's womb. And you need a covering. You know that? You know the one
thing that covers a sinner? The robe of Christ. Take away that robe that you're
covering. Throw it away. Filthy rags. Don't glory in yourself
and your beauty and your wisdom. Fall down upon the ground. Fear
the Lord and worship the Lord Jesus Christ, who was rich, yet
for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might
be made rich. Might have a cut. He was stripped.
Strip yourself. Shamefacedness. Sobriety. Christ took your shame. Hung
on the cross. My, my, oh, my God. And he said, the Lord gave, oh,
what's the greatest gift God gave? His Son, the unspeakable
gift. The Lord took him away. The Lord
killed Christ for our sake. Why? So that we won't be cast
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, in all this, everything
happens. Job sinned not. He didn't charge God foolishly.
Oh, no. He's too wise. He's too good.
He's too great. Everything he does is right.
How about you? Okay. That's the thing. I'll
close in here.