Now let's open our Bibles to
Job chapter one. Job chapter one. It's really,
if you've taken the time to read ahead, it's really an exciting
study to look at the book of Job. The next section, we've
seen what we call the prologue, the introduction there in the
first five verses where Job himself, the person, was identified. The
next section of this book actually goes from verse six of chapter
one all the way over to verse 10 of chapter two. And then we
start another section. And so I'm just gonna start with
verse six and go as far as time will allow tonight. But the title
of this message tonight is The Righteousness of God Vindicated. Now, you know what vindicated
means. That means God's righteousness justified. In other words, the
reason, the just and right reason for God's righteousness here
is given out. But I want to start this way.
When I say the righteousness of God, vindicated, I'm not speaking
of God's justice in all His dealings with men. Now, God is just in
all His dealings with men. Everything God does is right
and just and true. And a multitude of scriptures
teach that truth. And that is one of the main truths
in the book of Job. And we'll see that as we go along. Whatever God does is right. That's
just the way it is. You know, we question it. We
do because we're sinful human beings. We we try to figure out
other ways because we think by nature that we know better than
God and Sometimes because of our pain and our sorrow we just
think we have a better way But you rest assured and I know you
know this thing about about under this thing about a man's or woman's
relationship with God It's it's real and now we do understand
some things because God reveals them to us We understand something
of his nature, something of our sin. And thank God we understand
something of the great salvation that he provides in Christ. John
said that in first John chapter five, the son of God hath come
and given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true, that we may know Christ. And Christ himself in his high
priestly prayer in John 17, he said, this is life eternal that
they might know thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou sent. But you have to admit there's
no way that the human mind can delve into the depths of the
nature and wisdom of God in all his doings, all his acts. And
when it comes to those things, it's really, our relationship
with God is really not a matter of what we understand. Or, you
know, I've used this phrase several times because Brother Shepherd
or Brother Bird used it, wrapping our minds around it. Can't do
it. It's not a matter of understanding, it's a matter of submission.
Simply submitting to God. Let God be true in every man
a liar. God is God, and we are who we
are. And so you say, well, I can't
understand that, or that doesn't seem right to me, or that doesn't
seem fair to me. You're to submit to God, period. Isn't that right? Submission. And that's why, you know, Adam,
that's how he fell. He rose up and he refused to
submit to God. And that's what brought the whole
human, that's unbelief, that's what brought the whole human
race into condemnation. That is the ruination of man
right there. So God's righteous acts are always
vindicated, they're always right. But now when I say the righteousness
of God vindicated, I'm speaking of the righteousness of God as
defined in the gospel. Paul wrote in Romans 1 16 and
verse 17 for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it to
the Jew first and to the Greek also verse 17 for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written the just shall live by faith looking to Christ. That's
the righteousness of God that God freely gives to all of His
people. That's the righteousness of God
that is worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ in His obedience
unto death. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Romans 10 and
verse 4. Now that's what I mean by the
righteousness of God Vindicated that righteousness which God
freely imputes to every one of his people and Which we receive
by faith is going to be vindicated in the in the life of Job That's
what that's about and I want to show you what I mean now.
Let's look at verse 6 and He says, now there was a day, now
that's, the sense here is a day appointed of God. This is God's
day. This is not just any day, it's
not just a day by chance. This is a day appointed of God.
And he says, when the sons of God, now most commentators agree,
and I agree with this too, that he's speaking of the angels here,
who are sons of God by creation. That's what he's talking about.
Not talking about men here. Not talking about sons of God
by redemption here. But he's talking about a company
of angels who are ministering spirits who do God's bidding
in the earth. And God called them to assembly.
That's what the sense is. And so we have here, what we
have here is a heavenly court. Courts in session. There's going
to be a report given by the sons of God. They're assembled in
this heavenly court and it says the sons of God came to present
themselves. That is to give an account of
their ministry concerning God. In other words, what this is,
is a heavenly court, but it's also a worship session in this
sense, because God's works are going to be declared here. And
he's, look here, he says, now underscore this, he says, they
came to present themselves before the Lord. Now you notice it says
God, the sons of God. That's the name of God that represents
the God who created all things, the God who is sovereign, the
God who is invincible, God in himself. But when he comes to
the Lord to present themselves before the Lord, that word Lord
there, you notice if you have a King James version, and usually
most of those translations, it'll capitalize L-O-R-D, You remember
what that is? That's Jehovah. So we see God
not only in his creative character as the all-wise God, but we see
him in his covenant character here. This is the covenant, this
is Jehovah. This is the God who saves sinners
by his grace in Christ. And it says they came to present
themselves before Jehovah. This is the great I Am. This
is the self-existent God. This, this is the God who reveals
Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the great I Am. And we know all the multiple
names for Christ, or we, you know, we usually, when we talk
about the Jehovah names for Christ, the I Am, you know, Jehovah Shalom,
the Lord our peace, Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness,
all those names, Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our bearer, we usually
list about maybe six of them, but there's a bunch more than
six. There's a whole lot more than six. And they all identify
Jehovah. And this is what it's talking
about. His name shall be called Jesus. Jehovah saves. That's
what that means. He's got our Savior. So this
is God standing here in this heavenly court in His covenant
character. This has something to do with
how God saves sinners in Christ. That's what you've got to keep
in mind. This is so important to understand the book of Job.
Now it says here, and Satan, now if you've got a concordance
that the name Satan, you know, means adversary. He's the enemy
of God. He's the enemy of God's people. Satan is the enemy of the church.
He's the enemy of those whom God saves by his grace. And as
Satan, the adversary, he's often called the accuser of the brethren. And we've seen that so many times.
In fact, this scene here that opens up in verse 6 is very similar
to the same scene that we read about back in Zechariah chapter
3 when Joshua the high priest was standing in that courtroom
before the Lord and it says Satan, the adversary, was standing there
to accuse him. And that's why Satan comes here
to accuse the brethren. That's what Satan is here for.
And this is so important because It helps us to understand what's
going on in this heavenly court and how it works out in the life
of Job. Satan literally, I believe, this
indicates that he was summoned there by God. He didn't just
show up by chance. Now let me tell you something. If you believe the Bible, you're
going to have to understand that Satan never takes God by surprise. This is not just a perchance
happening. Satan is literally summoned by
God, and he is the designated adversary. And he is the accuser
of the brethren. And look what happens here. Look
at verse 7. And the Lord, Jehovah, said unto Satan, Whence comest
thou? Now that's a question not for
information. It's like he's saying, you remember
when the Lord, when Adam fell, and Adam and Eve hid themselves,
and the Lord appeared in the garden, and he said, Adam, where
art thou? He wasn't trying to find Adam. He knew exactly where Adam was. But he asked that question to
make a point. It's almost like you could translate
it this way. Adam, look where you are now. Look at the mess you're in now.
And that's what it was about. And the same thing here. This
is a question. From whence comest thou? Where do you come from?
You see, he's not in the same company with the sons of God
here, the angels, by creation. Those are the elect angels, the
scripture calls them. Elect of God. But Satan was a
fallen angel. You know the story of Lucifer.
as indicated in Isaiah 14, and then what he did back in the
garden. He's the fallen angel. He's the one who sought to usurp
God's authority. So this is not asked for information,
but it's stated to expose Satan as the arrogant, evil usurper
of the world, because that's where he come from. He came from
the earth. And he's the arrogant, evil usurper. Listen, this answers and reveals,
this question exposes and reveals Satan's desire and goal to rule
the earth as God. Look at it, he says, he says,
whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking
up and down in it. You see, he's trying to conquer
the world. That's what that means. So this
exposes his goal. His goal is to take the place
of God. God the creator. Remember in
Isaiah 14, it talks about how he lifted himself up in pride. And when he sought to tempt Eve,
or to deceive Eve and to tempt Adam, what did he do? He told
him, you shall be as God. You can take the place of God.
You don't have to be a subservient creature. You can take that place. But you know what else this describes?
This exposes about Satan. It also exposes his limitations. Satan, listen to me, Satan is
never described or even intimated to be in the Bible the co-equal
or the equal counterpart of God, the evil counterpart. He's not.
He is not equal with God in any way. He's powerful now. Don't
get me wrong, Satan is a powerful evil enemy, but he is not a God
in that sense. He's not omniscient, he doesn't
know everything. He's not omnipresent. Look, what
is he doing here? He's going to and fro in the
earth and from walking up and down on it. He's limited just
like we are in some senses to geography and space and time.
So Satan's domain is the fallen earth here. And let me tell you
something. Who do you think is giving Satan
the freedom to roam up and down the earth? Who owns this world? God does. You see, Satan is allowed
by God the freedom to roam up and down this earth. Christ called
him the prince of the power there, the god of this world through
the Apostle Paul and his writings and so he's the usurper he's
the evil usurper and he's allowed this freedom by God now and this
is another way of affirming what the Apostle Peter wrote when
he wrote, be sober, he told the church to be sober, that is to
be clear-headed to be clear-thinking and to be vigilant to be active,
proactive because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh
about seeking whom he may devour." Now that's what he's doing and
that's what he admits to here. He knows he can't fool God. He
does know that much. I've come from walking to and
fro. You know, I thought about this
because, you know, when you hear false religion and false preachers
talk about it they don't they don't believe the bible they
don't believe what the bible says about this this issue but
i want you to think about this you know when we look at this
world today it seems to us as though satan is running things
I mean you think about it it's like he's running things but
he's not god says that god's in control And he, God, overrules
all things for his glory and for the good of his people, but
he has given Satan what we might look at in God's span of time
as a moment of freedom, a little liberty. We're told in the book
of 1st John chapter 5 and verse 19 that this world is under Satan's
power and deception. Remember, John said this, he
said, we know, this is verse 19 of 1st John 5, he says, we
know that we're of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness,
that is under the wicked one. Well, that's the way it is. Man
by nature is deceived by Satan. He is a deceptive devil. Look
at verse 8. And it says, And the Lord said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God, and escheweth evil? Now you remember when we dealt
with that in verse 1, I made this point very strongly, that
this is God's assessment of Job, not man's. And as I told you,
I don't doubt for a second that Job was an upright, upstanding,
honest, hardworking man in his community. I believe he was a
pillar of the community. And I believe he was looked up
to by the members of his community. I believe everybody that was
there admired Job. His three friends did. And others
did. I believe he was an admirable
man. But when God says that a man is perfect and upright, And it's
Jehovah who says this, the Lord said unto him, this is a product
of salvation by grace in Christ. Here's the Lord, the covenant
God. Again, the God who saves sinners
by grace. There's no man in himself, no
matter how upstanding he is in the community, that God could
say, you're upright, you're justified, you're straight, you're perfect
and complete. Man by nature's incomplete. All
sin and come sure the glory of God. But what happens here? Now think about this. God, the
Lord, is directing Satan's attention to his righteous servant, Job.
Have you considered my servant, Job? You know what's happening
here? This is a challenge from the
Lord to Satan, the accuser. I challenge you to accuse Job. That's what he's doing. And notice
how the Lord describes him. He says, my servant, Job is my
servant. He's not just any servant. He's
not man's servant. He's God's servant. That's a,
you know who God calls his servants? Only those who are made so by
redemption. Willing, loving bond slaves. You remember what, Exodus 25,
you remember the difference between a bond slave and just a regular
slave? A regular slave serves the master
because he owes a debt. That's not paid. A bond slave
serves the master because he loves him. The debt's been paid.
That's the difference. So when God says, my servant,
he's talking about Job as a bond slave. Here's a man who's perfect,
upright, who feared God, he worshiped God, he believed God, he served
God, and he ran away from evil. He hated evil. Here's a man who
is justified by God's grace in Christ. Here's a man who, by
the grace of God, manifests the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Born
again by the grace of God. And I'll tell you another thing
too here. We see Job here as a type of Christ. You know he
made this statement about Job? Now think about if God would
make this statement about anybody. But he says there's none like
him in the earth. Now we know as it applies to Job, he's talking
about a sinner saved by grace. I don't think he was saying that
Job was the only man on earth who was saved here. Because I
believe there were others. I believe Job, if he was a contemporary
with Abraham, we know Abraham was justified too. But I believe
that by his grace, God had made this man like no other man on
earth. And I see Job as a type of Christ
here because Job, it can be said of Job by God's grace. But this
could be said of our savior by nature. There's none like him
in the earth. He's the God man. He's the redeemer,
he's the son of God incarnate. He's the one who kept perfectly
the will of the Lord and it was his delight to do so. Can you
believe that? I do. He knew no sin and did
no sin. Well, look at verse nine. It
says, then Satan answered the Lord and said, doth Job fear
God for naught? Is this for nothing? He says
in verse 10, hast not thou made an hedge about Job? and about
his house and about all that he hath on every side thou hast
blessed the work of his hands and that's the way Job got his
substance look at it he said his substance is increased in
the land we read about that last time his substance seven thousand
sheep three thousand camels so on so on all of his land those
things were blessings from God even Satan knew that He said,
you've blessed him with this. You know what that's showing?
As hardworking as Job was, as diligent as Job was, he still
couldn't say, I've earned all this from God. It was a blessing. God gives his blessings. He says
his substance is increased in the land. Look at verse 11, but
put forth thine hand. Now here's what Satan says, but
put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath and he will
curse thee to thy face. Put forth your hand and take
away all of his possessions. Satan said, you've hedged him
about. You know something, I believe that there's a hedge of God's
grace and power around every one of his elect people. When
is that? All the time. I really do. Even before we come to faith
in Christ. I believe God hedged us about. Do you know what this
teaches? This teaches that Satan cannot
touch any of God's children without God's permission. I don't care
what any preacher tells you otherwise. Now think about that. Satan cannot
touch any of God's children without God's permission. And if God
permits him to do so, you know why? It's gonna be for God's
purpose, it's gonna be for his glory, and it's gonna be for
our good. And you know what? If God permits
it, he'll preserve us through it. Satan knows that he cannot
attack Job's standing before God. God said this is a perfect
and upright man. So you know what he does? And
what's that talking about? That's talking about Job being
Christ. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God? That's
why Satan cannot accuse the brethren. He tries to, but his accusations
do not stick. You remember we read about that
in Revelation chapter 12 a few weeks back, where it talks about
the devil, the adversary, and Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
accusing the brethren day and night, Revelation 12, nine through
11. And how did the brethren turn
him back? By pleading the blood of the
Lamb. Satan's arrows of accusation
cannot penetrate the blood of the Son of God incarnate. Satan's
arrows of accusation cannot penetrate the armor of the righteousness
of God in Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God? Doesn't that comfort you? Because
I tell you, you're a sinner and I am too. Somebody says, well,
I know you, you're a sinner. That sticks. But in God's court
of justice, in his law books, where my name is written in Christ,
it's wiped clean by the blood of Christ. God sees no sin in
his people. And Satan, as powerful as he
is, he cannot, he cannot accuse us justly before God. Now that's
one of the reasons why I say the righteousness of God is vindicated
here. It's justified. because Satan's
accusations will not stick at all. And the only way to overcome
him is by the blood and righteousness of Christ. So he knows he cannot
attack Job's standing before God. God said he's an upright
and he's a perfect man. So what does Satan go after?
He goes after Job's character. Now isn't that the way men do?
I remember Brother Mahan saying,
if they can't go at your message, They'll go after you, they'll
go after your character, and that's what they do. So Satan does the
same thing. I wonder sometimes if people
would just stop and think that the way that they go about doing
some things like that is in reality a satanic way. Do you realize
this? Now think about this. I said
this one time and it just made a couple people mad, but I don't
care. I mean, here it is. I'm gonna tell you something
right now, and this is true, and it's true for me, it's true
for you. But when you accuse one of God's people in a way
that's unscriptural. Now there are times when God's
people can be accused for certain things in certain ways. We know
that, the Bible tells us that. You think about in the church
at Corinth, the man who was committing incest with his stepmother. Paul admonished them for not
calling his hand on it. But you gotta do it in a biblical
way, in a Christ-like way. And if you do it without going
to the scripture in a Christ-like way, you know what you're doing?
You're fulfilling a lust inspired by Satan. That's exactly what
it is. Satan knew he couldn't go after
Job standing in Christ. So he attacks his character,
and here's what he does. Satan, now listen to this, this
is important. Satan seeks this opportunity
to attack the foundation and the power of God's grace in Job's
life. That's what he's doing. I mean,
it's not just Job here now. This is Job under the grace and
power of Almighty God in Christ. This is Job hedged about. by
the grace of power of God in Christ. So Satan is not simply
just going after a man. I mean, he can have any man he
wants if God allows him, but he's going after the grace of
God. He's bringing in, Satan seeks that opportunity, and you
know what he does? He calls Job a hypocrite. He claims this. He said, Job, the only reason
Job fears you and shuns evil is because you bribed him. by
giving him all these things. You've given him all these houses,
lands, children, cattle, and all that. You've given him great
wealth. You've given him personal comfort. And that's the only
reason he serves you. And in accusing Job of being
a hypocrite, he's accusing God of being some kind of a cosmic
blackmailer. Well, I'll get this fellow to
serve me. I'll just give him what he wants. He accuses God
of being a cosmic blackmailer, and he accuses Job of being a
mercenary. And you know what he wants to
prove here? He wants to prove, Satan wants to prove that the
salvation that God has freely provided by his grace in Christ
is not powerful enough to save a man like Job. It's not permanent. He wants to prove that saving
faith can be broken, that God's true children can become his
children. That's what he wants. He's seeking
to prove God's way of salvation by grace is a failure. And by
afflicting Job, Satan attacks the very foundation of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the justice and mercy of God. And
you notice Satan's method here. It's the opposite of what his
methods were in the garden. You know, in the garden, he attacked
God's righteous ways and honors. Remember he said, hath God said?
God said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. And he said, you shall not surely die. Call God a liar.
Here he attacks one of God's children, bringing into question
the power of God's grace to save a man like Job, to keep a man
like Job. Now a lot of people today who
claim to be Christian, but who believe in this health and wealth
gospel, they're the same thing. It's the same thing. You know,
God, to them, God is a cosmic blackmailer and man's a mercenary,
you know? You do your part and God will
bless you. You earn it from God. That's the same thing Satan is
saying here. And they believe all bad things are of the devil
and all good things are of God. And God says all things, good
and bad, work together for good to them that love God, who are
the called according to His purpose. One old writer said this, he
said, Job is a product of God's grace and power, and God's honor
is at stake here. Did you know that God's honor
is at stake? And the reason for this is the vindication of God's
wisdom and righteousness in his dealings with his people, especially
as it relates to his redemptive work for his people in Christ. God's wisdom is ultimately revealed
in a perfectly just and infinitely merciful Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose ways may be mysterious. And you think about it. I mean,
his ways are mysterious, aren't they? I mean, there's a multitude
of things we can't figure out about what's going on with us
today, tomorrow, and in this world. but they're always proved
to be righteous and wise and just and even good for us in
some way. It may take us years to realize
it, but it's still so. So what I want you to see in
this is this. What you're going to read about
in Job, it is not a test to prove man's failure. Because you see,
man's failure has already been well proven and well documented
long before this. Think about Adam in the garden
before sin entered in. He failed. The best man failed. Man at his best state is altogether
vain. Man's already been proven a failure. And we'll even see
Job in and of himself fail in many ways. You're gonna see that
in his going back and forth with his three friends. He's a failure
in himself now. But this test of Job proves that
God is no failure. Christ is no failure, my friend.
He's victorious. God's way is the victorious way. It's the right way. It's the
only way. It's the just way. It's the way
of grace. There's no other way of salvation. And Job learns this even more
than he knows it right now. He knows it now. He said, he
said, blessed be the name of the Lord. But he's going to learn
it even, even better, you might say, than he knows it now. And
how's he going to do it? Through his own suffering. He's
going to learn that God is always righteous in all his dealings
with his creatures and always does what's right, even if it's
beyond our understanding. And to know this forces a sinner
saved by grace to bow to the sovereign God who created us,
who chose us, who redeemed us by his grace. and calls us, and
put us here for His glory, who ordained all the circumstances
of our lives and the number of our days, and who's provided
the only way of salvation from sin, the only way for eternal
life, through the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I really believe
this. All mysteries of existence are
fully and finally answered in the person and redemptive work
of Christ. I really believe that. I can't
say I know all the details. There's a lot of details I can't
figure out, can't explain. But I know it's all that he might
have the preeminence. And Job says that. You know, Job plays an important
role in redemptive history here. Here's Adam, he failed in his
testing in Eden and plunging the entire human race into sin. Job is tested here so to vindicate
God and his righteous ways, his wisdom, his power, his justice,
his grace and mercy to save a sinner through Christ. Job is a testimony to the human
race, not of his own righteous works. I know he justifies himself
in many ways. He gets carried away with it
too. Don't we? You ever got carried away with
trying to justify yourself? I have. But that, just like Joe,
we're a testimony of the human race, not of our own righteous
works, but of the perfect righteousness of Christ by which Satan is defeated
and sinners are justified before God. So in this trial we see
what's required for sinners to be justified, not works of righteousness
which we have done, are trying to do, or will do, but the perfect
obedience of Jesus Christ in whom Job stands. Look at verse
12, he says, he says, and the Lord said unto Satan, behold,
all that he hath is in thy power. It's in your hand. Only upon
himself put not forth thine hand, so Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. God's calling the shots here,
folks. God's in control, isn't he? Satan cannot touch Job until
he's given permission to do so, period. Isn't that right? This
is God's sovereignty over all things. It's absolute, including
the activities and operations of the devil. Satan cannot do
anything which God doesn't permit him to do, and yet God is not
the author of evil, not the author of sin. Satan is a creature. He's bound to submit to God and
he's not in any sense equal to God. Now how can God be in control
of all this and not be the author of sin? I don't know, but he
is not. He is not the author of sin,
that is. You know what? This is a
question that was settled long ago as revealed in scripture.
Think about it. I mean, think about Joseph. Isn't
that amazing? I mean, think about what his
brothers did to him. I mean, they hated him. They
hated Joseph, and they sought to get rid of him. They wanted
to murder him, but Reuben, the oldest brother, stopped him,
and then he sold him into slavery. And here Joseph stands before
them, and it's recorded in Genesis chapter 50 and verse 20, and
he's talking about his brother. He said, as for you, this is
Joseph talking to his brothers. He said, as for you, you thought
evil against me. You meant it for evil. You're
accountable for that. You're responsible for that.
I mean, you didn't do this saying, well, let's accomplish the will
of God or the glory of God. Man doesn't have that kind of
framework in him. But he says, but God meant it,
which means intended it under good to bring to pass at this
day to save much people alive. You know, In other words, he's
saying this was no after, you know, God didn't look down there
and he said, oh my goodness, what are they doing to Joseph?
I'm gonna have to rework my plan. No, no. He said God meant it
for good. Now some fool will come along
and say, well, let's do evil, that good may come from it. Don't
try to play God because that's exactly what you're doing when
you do that. See, you don't have that kind of wisdom, power, and
knowledge. And I don't either. Only God
can do that. But my friend, think about it.
The ultimate act of evil of mankind against God. Acts chapter two
and verse 23 speaks of Christ. It says, being delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge, which is foreordination of God.
And Peter said, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified
and slain. All things work together for
good. That's the case. And so look
at verse 13. It says, there was a day when
his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their
eldest brother's house, his Job's children. There came a messenger
into Job and said the oxen were plowing and the asses feeding
beside them and the Sabians they were marauders Thieves murderers
they fell among them took them away. Yeah They slain the servants
with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell
you Your children are gone And he said while he was yet speaking
there came also another and said the fire of God is fallen from
heaven knows how he puts that the fire of God this is the wrath
of God from heaven and hath burned up the sheep and the servants,
and consumed them, and I only am escaped to tell thee. And
while he was yet speaking, there came also another, and the Chaldeans,
said the Chaldeans, these were more sophisticated warriors.
They made out three bands and fell upon the camels and have
carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of
the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. And while
he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons
and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house. And behold, there came a great
wind from the wilderness, smote the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only
am escaped, alone to tell thee." Took away everything he had,
every possession. In verse 20, then Job arose and rent, or tore
his mantle, his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon
the ground and worshipped. And he said, naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return hither. The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. And in all this Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. There's the grace of God preserving
Job. God's righteousness vindicated.
Now we'll pick up there next time.