Thank you. Go with me to the
book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. I've changed, the lesson was
to be from John 12, but I began thinking about something in light
of what's going on today, thinking about this chapter. The Lord has seen fit to give
this present disease or virus, whatever you call it, to quite
a few believers in different churches. The first I heard was
the church in Houston where the David Pledger is the pastor and
his daughter. The Lord gave it to her and one
of her three children, not the other. And Newcastle, Indiana,
Crossville, Kingsport. And I began thinking about what
all the Lord had done to his people all over throughout time. And I began thinking about Hebrews
11. what all, and I read it for myself, what all the Lord put
all of his people through. Paul, like Job, went through
more in his lifetime than all of us together will go through.
And he said, our light afflictions. That's what he called our light
affliction. We looked at Job last week, and
I know you got great peace from that idea that the Lord chose
Job. The Lord chose Job to suffer. All of God's people are chosen
to suffer. He said it's not only given unto
you to believe, but to suffer for his namesake. The Lord chose
Job's sufferings. And it's a good thing, because
Job sure would not have chosen anything the Lord did to him.
Would he? So, and I spoke with a brother
who the Lord gave this, and the Lord gave it, and the Lord took
it away. He's fine. I said, you now have an opportunity. The Lord blessed you. We don't
think of trials and troubles as blessings, do we? They are. Riches, health, wealth, prosperity
can be a great curse. Most of the time it is. I said,
the Lord has blessed you. Now you are able to witness a
good testimony. You can say, from the heart and
witness a good profession before everyone. The Lord did this,
like Job. The Lord did this, like Job. Though he slay me, I'll trust
him. And you can witness a good profession
for the world and be a comfort to God's people. Telling them
that God's grace is sufficient. No matter what he said, his grace
is sufficient, he's true to his word. And it is. And I said,
plus, you don't ever have to worry about it again. Right? Oh, that sounds like faith. Hebrews 11, Peter wrote to the
stranger scattered, those who have obtained like precious faith. Faith. Believe God. Believe Christ. Trust Him. Not man, but God. It's a precious gift. It's a
gift. Peter wrote in his first epistle, it's more precious than
gold, though it be tried with fire. And it's going to be tried. If you have faith, if you have
God-given faith, it will be tried. Everybody. Fire, fiery traps, deep waters,
trebles. You don't need faith on a calm
farm pond, right? You don't need faith.
You don't need a good boat, a ship to trust in. You need faith when
the storms are raging, when the waves are crashing over and the
boat is filled with water. That's when you need faith. So,
this is another message I hope will allay our fears, ease our
fears, strengthen our faith in our Lord, our God, and He's called
our Savior. That's His name. That's what
He's undertaken to do for His people, both spiritually and
physically. Alright, now Hebrews 11, we've
been through this more than any other. We've looked at Hebrews
11 35 or 40 times in the space of 30 some years. These are people just like us,
living in a world just like ours. And God gave them faith, and
they exhibited that faith. They lived by faith. They walked
by faith. They showed that faith. James said, you say you believe,
well, show me, he said. And they did. And they proved
that this faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. It's the evidence of true life
in a child of God. God gave them this faith and
the grace to do things that humanly we can't do. Flesh won't do it,
but spirit given by God will. It begins with verse 4, the first
person is Abel. And that's my design. Faith believes Christ, his blood,
the Lamb of God. The very first example of faith
is Abel. He came to God to worship God
by blood, the blood of a substitute. There's a reason why the Lord
did that. Because of this faith he had
in Christ, in the Lamb, Believe God's Word. What he's saying
is, I'm a sinner, I deserve to die, but I believe I trust in
the Christ, my substitute, the Lamb of God. Not knowing his
name, Jesus, but he knew that he had a substitute, a covenant
head. Yes, he did. God reveals that
to all these people. And what he's saying is, I deserve
to die, but I believe my substitute, the Lamb slain before the foundation.
has died, shall die for me and put away my sin. Okay, look,
that's what every child of God knows and believes and that's
how they come together. What happened? It separated him from his brother,
this faith. It brought anger, wrath from
his brother. and he died a brutal, bloody
death. The very first believer died
a brutal death. Then what? It's over. Our lesson was supposed to be
Luke 12, where the Lord said, fear not them which kill the
body, and after that, there's no more they can do. After that. What's after that? No more sin. No more suffering. No more fear. No more sorrow. No more pain. I think I asked you this last
week. If the Lord gave you whatever, this virus or cancer or Parkinson's
or diabetes or heart disease or whatever, what's the worst
thing that could happen to you? If you thought death, you're
all wrong. That's the best thing that could
happen to you. The worst thing that could happen
is you just suffer bodily for a while. Oh, it seems it's one
of the worst things that can happen to our loved ones who
are left behind, but it's like that. We're going to join them
shortly, and the Lord, in fact, the Lord is going to bring them
to get us. We're going to see them. Here's
the Lord, and there's my former husband, there's my brother. It's not the worst thing that
could happen. Alright, Abel. Then Enoch, verse
5. Enoch walked with God, the Scripture
said. He walked with God. He lived
right before the flood. It was one of the most wicked
times. Well, it's just like now. And if you walk with God in a
wicked world, you're going to walk alone. And Amos 3.3 says,
can two walk together except they be agreed? And those that
walk with God, that walk by faith, that come by the blood, the true
people of God, they pretty much walk alone in this world. There
aren't many people like them. The Lord said of Job, there's
nothing like him in the earth. He fears God. They're hard to
find. Well, God knows him. He gave him this fear. But Enoch
walked alone. And all of God's people feel
that way. He pleased God, the Scripture
says. Without faith, verse 6, it's
impossible to please God. We can't please God in anything
we do. I'll tell you what pleases God.
Christ pleases God. He's well pleased for His righteousness.
That's what Isaiah 42 said of Christ. God looked down, there's
nobody He's pleased with. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, came and God from heaven, hadn't spoken in years, said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear Him. Come
to Him. Plead Him. Have faith in Him. And I'll be pleased with you
because of Him. I'll accept you into beloved.
Well, I see that. I see that. I can't please God.
I know that. In myself, I'm absolutely repulsive
to God. I'm repulsive to me. Right? All of God's people believe that.
And they pretty much walk alone. Most people feel pretty good
about themselves. Noah, verse 6 or 7. Noah being
warned of God. What was he warned? Wrath. Anger. Holy and righteous and just God
looked down. It all corrupted my way, the
whole world. I'm going to destroy man. The first thing he heard was
not the love of God. It's the wrath of God. He was
warned of God. How many people are warned today? I am. I see it all through the
scriptures. Scriptures is half warning and
half promises to God's people. Warnings to everybody. But Noah
was warned and it says he moved with fear. Here's another God-fearing
man. Prepared an ark. What is that
ark? That ark is Christ's. That ark is Christ's. Oh, to
be found in Christ. As Paul said, Noah was found
in Christ, in the ark, and that's why he was saved. Noah wasn't
saved by a boat, he was saved by blood, like Abel, by Christ. That ark, as you know, is a picture
of Christ, everything about it. And to the saving of his house,
he insisted, he desired more than anything that his family
be in that ark. Nothing else mattered to Noah.
Why? Because he knew God. He knew. He knew their only hope. Noah lived hundreds of years,
but he died. Right before the flood, people
lived 800, 900 years, but they all... If you read it, it says, and
he died. Methuselah lived 969 years. You say, I'd like to live
that long. It seemed like a day. Methuselah was at 950 years old
and he said, I feel like I'll be 18. He's gone by that quick. Like a sleep, like a watch in
the night. It's over and he died. Then what? What's important? Not anything but that you know
the Lord and He knows you. So Noah insisted on his children
and his wife and his son's wife being at Ark. He condemned the
world. He condemned the world. Air of
righteousness by faith. You see, righteousness, acceptance
with God is one way. By faith in Christ. And that's
not of yourself, that's a gift of God. Abraham, verse 8. Abraham
was called to go out. God called him out. Out of what?
Out of idolatry. Out of his father's house. Out
of this world. Then what did he do? He sojourned.
Verse 9, he sojourned. What's that mean? He doesn't
live here. I don't live here. You reckon
he voted in the election? Now, I don't want to get on that.
I know it's a privilege. I know that. I know, I know,
I know, I know. But I've lived through a bunch of presidents. Let me go on. By faith, he sojourned
in a land of promise in a strange country. He's a stranger. With his sons, heirs of promise. Verse 10, he looked for a city,
that foundation builder and maker is God. What Abraham was saying
is, I don't belong here. You can
have this old place. I'm passing through it. Look
at verse, they all said that. Well, verse 11, verse Sarah received
strength, received seed when she was old. She was almost 100
years old, 90 years old and barren and she received seed. life in
her. What's that? That's the new birth. It's not of yourself. Christ
in you, the hope of glory, born again by the Word of God. See,
with man it's impossible. You can't convict a 90-year-old
woman of sin. You can't convict a 20-year-old
girl of sin. God does, every one of His people.
And they're born again by the Word of God. incorruptible seed,
and Christ is born in them. As many as received Him, John
1, 12 says, to them gave He the right, the privilege to become
the sons of God, who were born, which were born, not of blood,
not of the will of man, a man, a will of the flesh, born of
God. With man it's impossible, not
with God. He took this old woman, made
her an heir of His. Verse 13. These all died in faith. Look
at their profession. They all died in faith, not having
received the promises. We have the promises, don't we? Yes, we do. Sure promises. Yea
and Amen. In Christ. And I'm sure, aren't
you, that he is the Christ. I'm just sure that he liveth
and is right now at the right hand of the majesty on high,
but I can't see. I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. Paul said, I have the right.
But he said, this one thing I do. Can you say that? This is what
they're saying. This one thing I do, I lay hold
of. I want to hold fast this profession
of faith to the end. Because God is true who promised.
Read on, verse 13. They saw them afar off and were
persuaded that I am persuaded. Are you persuaded? I know whom
I have believed. Salvation is not knowing what
you believe. It's knowing whom you believe. If you know who
you believe, you need what will follow. If He's sovereign in
everything, Father, out of whom I have believed, I am persuaded
he is able and embraced. Verse 13, do you embrace the
truth? Have you received the love of
the truth? Many people say they believe the truth in their head,
but they don't necessarily love it. God's people love the truth. Confessed, here's our confession,
not of this world, strangers, pilgrims. Verse 14, they that
say such things declare plainly they seek a country. Truly, they
seek another place, another world, if they'd been mindful of that
place. Are you reading it? Look at verse
15. If they'd been mindful of where they came from, where they
came out, They would have had opportunity in return, but no,
they would desire a better country. That is a heavenly. Wherefore,
God's not ashamed to be called their God, and He hath prepared
for them a city. So they all say, we don't belong
here. We don't want to stay here. You
can have this place. We're looking for a better. A
land wherein dwelleth righteousness, where our God is, His people
are. That's where sin is no more.
That's where we want to be. Is that what you say? Verse 17,
by faith Abraham offered up Isaac when he was tried. And he was
120 some years old. You know what all he went through?
He had to kick out his first son. He loved that boy. And then God told him, take your
only son, one whom you love, and take him up and kill him. After these things, it said,
surely our trials will be over when we get old. They will never end until the
end. After that, then after that,
it's over. All trials don't need faith anymore. It's reality in His presence. How difficult
was that trial? He lasted three days. It's the
longest three days of his life. The disciples, when the Lord
was crucified, those were the longest three days of their lives,
of whom Isaac was a picture. And what Abraham is, God is proving
him, and Abraham, by the grace of God, is going to prove God,
that his grace is sufficient. God's proving him. I've given
this man real faith. And he's going to kill his own
son out of love to me. Because our Lord said, if any
man loved father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter more than
me, he cannot be my son. He preferred God over his beloved
son. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us. He killed his son. That's supernatural. That's God's love. And that's
what God puts in his people. Was it difficult? Was it hard?
Did he ask why? In his own mind? Sure he did. He's human. But
he didn't... Did Job ask why? Not out loud. He didn't say it with his lips.
And being human, you know, he thought, I don't understand.
He told me my son was the heir of promise. So here's what he
thought. Look down at verse 18. He had counted that God was able
to raise him from the dead, from which he did receive him as a
figure. He thought, well, if God kills him, God can raise
him. Right? And he goes on to talk
about Isaac. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and
Esau. Esau was his favorite. Esau was his favorite. And God
told him. He's a bad son. And I hate him. Can you accept that? Anybody? There's some people in here that
have gone through that. Right? That's faith. Though he slay
my son. Though he doesn't save my son.
He doesn't have to. My son's not worth saving. Can
you say that? My son's not worth saving. I'm
not worth saving. But God. That's faith, you see. Isaac. Jacob. What about Jacob?
Oh, what all Jacob went through. Jacob. He only had a couple of
good sons out of 12. And his other sons took his well-beloved
son, Joseph. And Jacob was an old man when
that happened. Right? Joseph. What about Joseph? For
the first 30 years of his life, he didn't have much good happen
to him at all. He was treated wrong by everybody. He was hated
by his brother, wrongfully accused by his employer's wife, thrown
in prison. He stayed there for two or three
years. You think he's asking why? Huh? Sure he is. He's human. God,
when it was in the end, in the end, he said, and he may have
been thinking, this is awful, this is evil. But in the end,
he found out, you know, man meant it for evil. He said, but God
meant it for good. It was all good. He finally found out in the end,
this was all good. Would you change anything, Joseph?
No. It was all good. It was all necessary.
It was all on purpose. It was the Lord. He did it all. All the evil. It wasn't evil
after all. It was good. You see that? Joseph. Moses, look at this, verse 23,
by faith, well his parents, verse 23, Moses' parents hid him and
then they, his mother who loved that baby boy, oh she loved that
baby boy, she put that baby boy in a basket and put it in the
river, shoved it off. What's she doing? She's casting
her care on the Lord. She's casting that child, that
boy, she's committing that child to the hands of the Lord. That's
whose hands he is anyway. That's who gave him to her. But
she's saying, Lord, if you gave him to me, take him away. He's yours to do with as you
please. I hope you'll save him. Boy, did he. Did he? He saved her through him. Mary had a child. She thought
it was her child. Humanly speaking, it was her
child. It was God's child. Imagine, and Simeon said, a sword's
going to pierce through. You're going to be pierced through
with sorrow. You're going to see your son
hanging on that cross. But that son hanging on the cross is God's
son, and that's your Savior. And you're going to be temporarily
sorrowful. You're going to be full of grief and sorrow, but
all your sorrow is going to be turned to joy. Everlasting joy. This is the way of God. You see,
it's not the way of man. Look at this. By faith, Moses,
verse 24, when he'd come to years, refused to be called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to suffer affliction rather than
pleasure. He chose to suffer. Would you? He chose to... Now here's faith. Here's God-given
faith. Here's supernatural faith. This
man who had it all. Rich. Famous. Riches beyond our
imagination. I don't want any of it. I want
to go out there and wander with a bunch of nobodies. I don't
want to be a somebody. I want to be a nobody from now
on. I don't need all this stuff. I need Christ. I need God. I need Savior. I need the blood. That's what he said. This is
what I choose. You can have all that. That's God. That's God, isn't
it? Greater riches, unsearchable riches of Christ. You see that? You esteem the reproach of Christ.
Christ wouldn't come to you. Right there it says, doesn't
it? Oh, he had respect under the
recompense of the reward. What reward? This world's not
my world. I'm not the son of Pharaoh. I'm
not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Bless God, by his grace, I'm
a son of God. And if it means wandering for
a few years, that's just fine. He forsook Egypt, not fearing
the wrath of the king. No fear, no fear. Look, read on. Through faith
he kept the Passover. That's the blood in it. What's
the Passover? It ain't a watch. It ain't a ceremony. It ain't
an observance. It ain't a church service. It's
a person. Christ our Passover. Like Christ
our Sabbath. He knew Christ. Moses wrote of
me, Christ said. Abraham saw my day. He knew me,
I knew Him. Through faith, verse 29, they
all passed through the Red Sea. This bloody world, bloody men,
this world of sin, judgment, the Egyptians decided to do,
they were drowned. Everybody in the world, of the world, is
going to drown in it, with it, die with it. Not God's people.
They're walking through on dry ground, on solid rock, which
is what? It's who? Christ, the solid rock.
We're not going to drown this world, the riches of it. We're
going to overcome, aren't we? How? By the blood of the Lamb.
Faith. Faith in Christ. It's not our
faith that saves us, it's Christ, the one we're looking to. It's
not faith in faith, it's faith in the object, Christ. Alright,
read on. It says, by faith the walls of
Jericho fell down. Verse 31, by faith Rahab the
harlot. She's the only one in this chapter,
her sins are mentioned. Nobody else's sins are mentioned.
Abraham denied his wife, and on and on it goes. Samson, Delilah,
all that. None of them are mentioned, but
Rahab the harlot. That's a bad not a badge of honor.
Is it she has to wear that like a scarlet a no No, no, but what
it is is a badge of honor to the Lord her Savior He does save
the chief of sinners and even the chief of sinners Sits at
his right hand Rahab the harlot The thief on the cross was the
first one went into glory wrapped across death The praise of the glory of His
grace, she said. She's an object of His grace. What was her hope? A scarlet
line from the promises of the spies, the men of God sent by
Joshua with the promise that our life were yours. Scarlet
line in the window. Tie that scarlet line in the
window. When we see it, we'll come get you. That's the blood. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And every day, how long did she stay in Jericho
before Joshua came? Don't know. Weeks? Months? Years? We don't know. But I know what
she was doing all the time. Oh Lord, send Joshua. And every now and then she'd
go out there and look, that lion's still there. His promise is sure. And lo and behold, one day the
trumpet starts sounding. And doesn't the scripture say,
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise.
That trumpet shall sound. Are you listening, Paul? If you
listen carefully, if you see the clouds dust his feet, he's
stirred, he's at the door. And that trumpet's going to sound.
I know what note will be sounded. I know what key. C. Because Christ is all. Is it any coincidence or just
an accident that they tuned the piano to one note? Now, men did that, a lot was
cast, the whole disposings of the Lord. Read on. It says, what
shall we say more of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David? Verse 33, through faith's subdued
kingdoms wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouth of lions. Daniel, we'll throw you in the
den of lions. We'll throw you to the lions.
Just quit praying. All the world has quit praying. All the world has quit praying.
Don't pray anymore. Cover your mouth. Don't pray anymore, Daniel. Daniel
said, I can't do that. He opened his window up and prayed
like always. Okay, Daniel, I'm going to throw
you in the lion's den. Vow with me. What happened? The Lord shut the lion's mouth. Or a better old Shadrach and
Meshach in a bed together. If you don't worship like us, if
you don't quit what you're doing, we're going to throw you in a
fiery furnace. We're going to heat it seven times. It's going
to be hotter than... Fine. It's fine. Don't you love
what they said? They said, our God's able, and
if he doesn't deliver us from the furnace, he'll deliver us
from you. We don't have to deal with you anymore, old wicked
king. We don't have to deal with this
world. We don't have to deal with anything anymore. It's over! How did he deliver them in that
fire? Somebody was in there with them. The deliverer. Salvation is by
a person. God with us. Immanuel, Jesus
Christ is his name. No matter what we go through.
He's the one that sent it. You see the world think, God
doesn't want bad things to happen. They believe in a God who's a
bystander in the affairs of man. They believe in a God who doesn't
want bad things to happen. Brethren, we believe a God who
sends them. All of them. What's the point
in believing a God that doesn't want them to come? They come
anyway. What good is He? You can have that God. I want to be in the hands of
a God who my breath is in all my ways. That way if He takes
it, it's the Lord. And after that, never die. It's got to go from
here to here. Trust Him. Though He slay me,
I trust Him. Women, look at this, women quench
the violence of fire. You know, Abel suffered because
of the blood. His brother hated that bloody
religion. He said, it's just the blood,
Cain. It's not our work, it's the blood.
There's only two religions in the world. It started with Cain
and Abel. Salvation by another, by a substitute. Accepted in
the beloved, not our works, not our righteousness. Christ, that's
it. It's all. Nothing we do counts
for anything. And even the faith we have given
to us, not because we believe the blood, but because the blood
was shed. That's the result of the bloodshed. All that Christ
died for, the Spirit gives His faith. In my hands, no price
I bring, not even faith. The blood and righteousness of
Christ. Esau said, no, it works. He could have said his faith
didn't work. No, it's not. Do you know how many people were
killed contending for the blood sacrifice of Christ one time? The Mass is crucifying Him all
over again, the Mass. They say that that wine turns
actually into the blood of Christ, and so the priest administers
that wine. He's got salvation in his hand
to do with, like the Pope, he can remit sin and all that. You know how many people were
killed at the stake contending, that's wrong, that's blasphemy,
that's another religion. You know how many people were
killed? Thousands. Thousands contending for the faith that
Christ by his own precious blood one offering forever Perfected
forever them that are sanctified you how many people killed believe
in that is it important? You don't have faith if you don't
know that you don't have saving faith if you don't know that Quenched the violence of fire,
burned at the stake, escaped the edge of the sword out of
weakness made strong. Verse 34, waxed valiant in flight,
turned to flight the armies of Alam. Women received their dead
raised to life again. Others were tortured not accepting
deliverance. We'll let you go. We'll let you go free if you
quit preaching this. John Bunyan, we'll let you go
home to your wife and children if you'll stop preaching this.
Can't do it. And his little blind daughter
would come visit him in the jail, said, Daddy, please, please come
home. She was his favorite. He doted
on her blind from birth. He loved that child. Oh, he loved
it. But he loved Christ more. And they said, you can go home.
You just quit preaching. He said, I can't do it. Can't do it. That's of God, isn't it? And
brothers, that same spirit and attitude is in every believer. Or it's not faith. They didn't
accept deliverance. Others had trial, verse 36, of
cruel mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonment. Beaten. What would you choose? A little sickness? or to be beaten
49 times with a whip, huh? A bunch of them take rocks and
we're going to bash your head in. What would you choose? They didn't accept it, go ahead.
You see, this is to the praise of the glory of His grace. His
grace is sufficient. God said, this is what's going
to happen. He told the disciples, Christ said, they're going to
hate you, they're going to kill you. He told Simon Peter, Simon, they're
going to crucify you. And Simon being flesh, it bothered
him, didn't it? And he turned around, he saw
John, and he thought the Lord meant that John was going to
stay and not die that way. But Lord, But when the time came, you know
what Peter did? God's grace was sufficient. When
the time came, worrying about it, thinking about it. You see,
that's our problem. Our Lord said, take no thought
for tomorrow. It's sufficient for that day's evil hour. He
said, be careful for nothing. Don't be full of anxious care
about anything. You don't know what the next
moment holds. Don't worry about it. Trust Him
who holds it. Our times are in His hands. Why
can't we do that? We just make ourselves miserable,
and it brings dishonor to God. It dishonors our God, worrying
about, oh, what's going to happen? Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. The Lord said, why do you have
no faith? Indeed, look at our brethren.
Chapter 12 says a whole cloud of witnesses. So brethren, look at chapter 12 verse 1. Brothers
and sisters, a great cloud of witnesses, people just like us
in a world just like ours, who went through probably more than
we will ever go through. Let's lay aside the weights,
the things that weigh us down, hinder us. What's that? Everything in this world is a
hindrance. Isn't it? Unbelief. The sin which
does so easily beset us. What's that? Unbelief. Fear and
unbelief. Let us run with patience. You've
heard of the patience of Job, haven't you? The Lord is very
pitiful. The end of that man. Read the
end. We've got the end. The Lord is
very pitiful. So let us run, how? Looking unto
Jesus. He's called Jesus, that's His
name. Because we have not a high priest who is not touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but in all points was tempted
like we are, yet without sin. Touched with the feet of my firmament. He went through the fire. He
went through the waters. He was with them. He was with
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He was with Daniel in the furnace.
He was with his disciples in the sea. What was he doing? Well, the sea was sleeping. Trust in God. Oh, He's the author, He's the
finisher. He hath begun a good work in us, He'll finish it until
the day of Christ Jesus. Look at what He went. Do you
know what He went through? Endured the cross. The cross. And I'll close with
this. You know, the world and even
some brethren will accuse us like Job's brothers. See? I told
you. That's what they said to David
in Psalm 41. They said, an evil disease cleaveth
fast to him. Now the Lord's going to kill
it. You know that? He said, it wasn't my enemy,
it was my brother that said that. That's what they said. See? No,
you don't say it. But the Lord did this. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. When you look at Job and his
friends, who's the blessed one? Who's the blessed one? Whom did
God accept? Whom did God use for the salvation
of the other? Job! Things are not as they appear. The one greatly blessed and used
of God and blessed of God was the man with all the troubles.
And those that didn't have any, God was angry with them. And
God told them, Job's going to pray for you. And you can go
to him, apologize, and tell him that you're all wrong, that God
didn't do it because of some fault in Job's fault. God did it because God did it
for God's glory and Job's good and to the praise of the glory
of God's grace. That's why we have a God whose
ways are past finding out. And he cannot be known with the
sight of the eye or the ear of the ear. We don't do that judgment
like that. God... And that's the next message. Oh, we lie to you. He doesn't
give an account of His matter. But we have a great crowd of
witnesses to tell us that things are not as they seem. That those
who are blessed, the world thinks that God is dealing badly with
them. When in fact, It's all good. It's good. It's good. That more does it
in good. Okay.