All right, let's open our Bibles
to Job chapter 1. Job chapter 1. Now I've entitled this introduction
to the book of Job from a phrase that's found in verse 21 of chapter
1. Look at Job 1 and verse 21. This is Job speaking. after he
had lost his family. And he said, naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. The title of this message is
Blessed Be the Name of the Lord. I believe you could summarize
the theme of the book of Job by that phrase right there. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. What does that mean? It means
God is, as the psalmist wrote, greatly to be praised. God is to be worshipped. God
is to be served. And I'll go into this in a little
more detail later, but I'll add these words to that. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Now listen to me very carefully.
Blessed be the name of the Lord, no matter what. That's what Job had to learn.
He knew it, but he had to experience some things, no matter what.
You know, many people by nature, what we do is we say, blessed
be the name of the Lord in the good times, but not in the bad
times. But no, this is what this book
is talking about. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
God is to be praised and worshiped, honored, served, no matter what. That's it. Now before I go into
the verse-by-verse study of Job, I want to just say some things
by way of introduction. I want you to see some things.
You've, many of you have heard that the book of Job is possibly
the oldest book of the Bible. I believe that's so. We, you
really can't prove it, but it really doesn't matter because
all the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the word of God
and there's nothing older than the word of God. The word of
God is as eternal as God. His word spoken. But as to the
revelation of it, In time, in the process of time, in God's
government of time, providence, Job is probably, possibly, the
oldest book of the Bible. I know this Job was a real person.
You know, a lot of people, they think of the book of Job as being
like a myth or a fable or some kind of a morality tale or something,
that he wasn't really a man who lived on earth. He was. I believe
other Scripture bears that out. Ezekiel mentioned Job three times. He mentioned him in line with
Noah and Daniel. Listen to this. This is Ezekiel
14 and verse 14. Just listen to me read it. And
what Ezekiel's talking about, basically, is the deliverance
of the people of Israel in their Babylonian captivity. Ezekiel
was a prophet during that time. What he's talking about is the
deliverance and the preservation of Israel during their captivity
because of the intercession of prayer God's people for his people
and he brings these three men as examples he says though these
three men Noah he brings Noah you see Noah's family was preserved
and Noah preached the gospel he built the ark and he prayed
for them we know that was all the providence of God then he
mentions Daniel Daniel, you remember Daniel's three friends were preserved
because he prayed for them. God used Daniel that way. And
of course, these men were types of Christ in that way, who is
the intercessor. And then he says, Job. He said,
Job were in it. They should deliver but their
own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord their God. Now,
who is their righteous? Who did Daniel say was his righteousness? You know, when he saw, when Daniel
saw that great vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what
he said? He said, my comeliness, my beauty
melted into corruption. So whatever Daniel's righteousness
was, it wasn't himself, it was Christ. Same thing with Noah. Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Not his own, he preached Christ. How do you know that? Well, the
first thing it said about Noah in Genesis chapter six and verse
eight is Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. You see,
if you're righteous in yourself, you don't need grace. Think about
that a while. A person who is righteous in
themselves does not need grace. You don't need mercy, you're
fine. That's why Christ said the physician didn't come to
heal the well. They don't need healing. You
see, he didn't come to call the righteous to repentance. The
righteous do not need repentance. He came to call sinners to save
sinners. Well, who was Job's righteousness?
Christ, and I'll show you that. And what that really refers to
when Ezekiel refers to Job about his intercession and all that,
he's referring to the fact that Job offered sacrifices, burnt
offerings for his family. you'll see that in chapter one
in verse five job's children he's he mentions that we don't
know a whole lot about job's children other than what was
said here but we know this that job offered sacrifices of burnt
offering for himself and for his children he did it continually
it says in other words that all the days he didn't stop and that
sacrifice and that burnt offering is the act of a sinner seeking
God's mercy and grace through the promised Messiah, the Lamb. That was a blood sacrifice. That
was a sinner coming before God admitting, I'm not righteous
in myself. God, if you were to judge me
based upon my best, I would receive nothing but condemnation. That's
why he needed to bring a burnt offering. That's why Abel did
it. That's why Job did it. James
also, the writer, the human writer of the book of James, he referred
to Job as a prime example of perseverance. And mostly when
we think of Job, we think of the patience of Job. Everybody
talks about, well he's got, they'll say it to somebody, well he's
got the patience of Job. Job lived probably during the
time of the patriarchs. Most scholars say sometime between
Noah and Moses. I believe he was probably close
to Abraham. And the reason we know that in the book of Job,
there's no mention of the Exodus, the Hebrew children being brought
out of Egypt. That's very strange if this was
written after this happened afterward. There's no mention of the nation
Israel. There was no nation Israel at
this time. That didn't start till Sinai.
There's no mention of the law of Moses. And also the length
of life that Job goes corresponds with the patriarchs like Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and so on. And the fact that Job was the
high priest in his family places him in the time of the patriarchs,
the fathers. You know, during the time of
the patriarchs, the male head of the household was the priest,
he was the high priest of the family. He was to lead the family
in worship. He was to lead the family in
teaching them the truth and the ways of God. And he was to sacrifice
for the family, just like Job is doing here. And that's why,
for example, when you see Esau, remember Esau rejected his birthright. You see, Esau wasn't rejecting
money and goods, he was rejecting that position of high priest
of his family. He was showing he didn't think
anything of the gospel, of the grace of God. But Job shows that
he was a man who was in tune by the power of the Holy Spirit
with God who justifies the ungodly through the promise of a coming
Messiah, a Savior. So all of that shows us that
Job probably lived during that time. It says in verse one here,
there was a man in the land of Uz. The land of Uz. We don't really know for sure
where that land of Uz is. We don't know. It's somewhere
in the Middle East, we know that. Back in Genesis chapter 10, that's
the chapter that lists the nations. There's a man named Uz listed
as a son of Aram who was a son of Shem, one of Noah's three
sons. So this man named Uz back then, he was probably a grandson
or a great-grandson of Noah. And then in Genesis 22, there's
a man named Huz, H-U-Z, which is probably the same name as
Uz, because a lot of times that H can be taken away or added
in the Hebrew language. And he was the firstborn of Nahor,
and one Jewish historian says that Uz was the founder of the
city of Damascus. And if you don't know anything
about Damascus in Syria, Damascus is the oldest continuously inhabited
city in the world. So it could be in that area,
somewhere in the Syrian desert, somewhere in Northern Arabia,
somewhere like that. But think about this, now whenever
you think about the book of Job, or you think about Job himself,
what do you think about? Well mostly you think about suffering,
don't you? That's what I think about too
a lot. You know his name means persecuted, that's what Job means. Some scholars say it even means
hated, but I believe it's closer to persecuted. But this book sets forth the
issue of why do the righteous suffer? You know, that's kind
of been, in our modern times, kind of been a running back and
forth the ideas of men. You know, one old Jewish rabbi
several years ago, he wrote a book called, Why Do Bad Things Happen
to Good People? You remember that? One of those
best sellers. And of course, it's not based
upon what the scripture says. Because the scripture says that
in the realm that this rabbi was writing that there are no
good people, basically. But the Bible does make a distinction
between the righteous and the wicked. Look at verse one of
Job. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright and
one that feared God and eschewed or departed from or even hated
evil. Now I'm gonna go into that Sunday
night in more detail. But basically let me tell you
what that's saying about Job. It says that Job was a sinner
saved by the grace of God in Christ. That's what that tells
us. Perfect meaning complete. Doesn't
mean Job was sinlessly perfect in himself. No sir. But it means he was perfect in
Christ. The Bible teaches us that in Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are what? Complete in
him. Christ is our completeness. Christ
is our righteousness. Christ is our holiness. Christ
is our sanctification. And that by the grace of God.
And then when it says he feared God and departed from evil, eschewed
evil, that means he was born again by the Spirit. That means
he was a believer. That's what that means. He was
a worshipper of God. He worshipped in spirit and in
truth. But like I said, we'll go into that later. But here
is a righteous man, Job. Righteous, not in himself by
his works, but righteous by the grace of God in Christ. And he
is about to suffer like no human being, mere human being, has
ever suffered on earth. Job is. I believe the only one
in the Bible that you can point to who suffered more than Job
was the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hear people all
the time, and maybe I've even done it too, I don't remember,
but I hear people all the time, they say, well, I feel like Job,
and I wanna just look at them and say, oh, no, you don't. Read
it again. No, you don't. And I know there
have been some people who have suffered greatly in this world. But here's a righteous man suffer. Why do the righteous suffer?
Now, man naturally thinks he knows why the evil suffer. I
mean, we can figure that one out. That's for sin. They get
what they deserve. But then the evil do not always
suffer. We read about that in Psalm 73
back a few weeks ago. Read that whole psalm sometimes,
Psalm 73. Remember that's where the psalmist
is languishing within himself over the prosperity of the wicked
and how he himself is suffering. And he's wondering why. And you
remember when he says this in Psalm 73 verse 16. And what that
Psalm teaches us and what Job teaches us is many times the
righteous suffer much, much, much more than the wicked here
on earth. Not just a little more, but a
lot more here on this earth. And so the psalmist, you remember
in Psalm 73 verse 16, he says, when I thought to know this,
When I thought to figure this out, when I thought to tie up
all the loose ends, it was just too painful for me. It's like
he said, it gave me a headache to try to figure it out. And
then in verse 17, it says this, until I went into the sanctuary
of God. In other words, what he's saying,
until I submitted to God's wisdom and God's will and God's way,
God got the answer. He said, then I understood their
end. Then I understood how it's all
going to end up with the righteous and the wicked. The righteous,
those who are saved by grace in Christ, how are they going
to end up? In glory. That's right. in glory, no tears,
no sorrow, no suffering, no more. This body is dead because of
sin, Paul wrote in Romans 8, but the spirit is alive because
of righteousness. Where are we going to end up?
In Christ. Eternal union with Christ uninterrupted,
with perfect eyes, perfect ears, a glorified spiritual body that'll
never get sick, never die, That's how it's going to end up for
us. Now how's it going to end up for the wicked? Whether they're
rich and healthy here on earth, prosperous here, they're going
to be eternally damned. That's what the scripture teaches.
So Job shows that suffering is not always the result of some
personal or specific sin. You know, that's what, again,
that's another thing man by nature believes. That's what Job's three
friends. When we get into these chapters,
you're going to see Job's three Three religious friends who are,
you know, Job can't figure it out, but Job will help you figure
it out. You know, we've got a hotline
to heaven and we'll tell you what's wrong. We gotta figure
out what you did wrong to deserve that. And that's the way man
thinks by nature. But why do the righteous suffer?
Well, simply put, and again, we'll go into much more detail
as we go through the verses, But simply put, I'll tell you
why the righteous suffer, why God's children suffer. And here
it is. It's God's way of working what
He calls patience. What is patience? That's endurance.
That's perseverance. That's growth in grace and in
knowledge and in strength. Strengthening us in godliness. Over in the book of Romans chapter
3, the Apostle Paul says this, He talks about how we have access
to God by faith, that is by Christ, by looking to Christ. And he
says wherein we stand, we stand in Christ and we rejoice in hope
of that expectation that we have in Christ of the glory of God.
And he says in verse 3 of Romans 5, he says, and not only so,
but we glory in tribulations also. Now to glory in tribulation,
you know what tribulation is? That's trouble. Now to glory
in trouble does not mean we enjoy trouble. We're not crazy. It doesn't mean we enjoy it.
But how do we glory in tribulations? Because we know that tribulation,
trouble, worketh patience, endurance, and patience, experience, that
experience is knowledge, and experience, hope. The more we
know of Christ, the greater our hope is, the more solid our hope
is. And I suspect that many of you
older believers have come to see some of that in your experience.
You've come to see some of that, haven't you? I know I have, too.
And I hope more. I hope I'll see more. I mentioned
that James, in his book, mentioned Job. In James 5.11, listen to
this. And you know James, he starts out his book in chapter
1 talking about counting all joy when we go through trials.
And again, that joy there doesn't mean enjoyment of the trial.
It means our joy that we have in Christ. Coming out on the
other end of that trial looking more to Christ. Resting more
in Christ. That's what Paul called in Hebrews
chapter 12 the peaceable fruit of righteousness. What is that?
When we go through chastisements. That's what Job's going through.
Chastisement is not punishment by way of payment for sin. Chastisement
is punishment and correction of a loving father for his child.
That's what that is. And when you come out on the
other side of that, as God brings you through, Not as you bring
yourself through, because you wouldn't make it, I wouldn't
make it. You think Job would have survived all this if it was up
to Job? Absolutely not. God preserved
him. But when you come out on the
other side of it, how do you come out? I've told you probably
a hundred times now, if not a thousand, I never feel good about myself
coming out on the other end of a trough, but I feel good about
my Savior, my Lord and my Redeemer. That's what happens to Job, but
James 511, he says, behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience,
the endurance of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, the
purpose of the Lord in putting Job through what he put him through.
That's what that means. That the Lord is very pitiful,
that means he pities us, and of tender mercy. You think here
that God, what he allowed Satan to do to Job is very hard. But in the end, he's very pitiable
and of tender mercy. And the thing about it is somebody
says, well, why do we have to learn endurance that way? I'll
tell you why. Let's be honest now tonight. How about that? We ought to be
honest every night. I certainly should be honest
up here, shouldn't I? I'll tell you why we have to learn it that
way, because we're such, listen, even as sinners saved by grace, even as children of God, we're
still so sinful and hard-hearted creatures that we cannot and
will not learn patience by any other way. That's what we are. You know, patience is a gift
of God's grace which he gives and he works by tribulation. So that's the answer. Now that's
the answer God gives. Now somebody says, well that's
not good enough for me. Well, that's the only answer you get.
Have you ever had a child that keeps saying why, why? And you
have to come to a point and say, because I said so. That's what
God's saying to his children tonight. Because I said so. And
you have to trust me, God says, that I know what's best for you,
and that I'm wiser than you, and that I'm better than you.
That's what he says. Job said this, Job 23 in verse
10, he said, but he knoweth the way that I take, and when he
hath tried me, tested me, I shall come forth as gold. You know,
John 15, look at John 15. I haven't listened to the messages
yet, but I understand that Brother Ron's and Brother Allen's messages
were just tremendous messages. But I understand Brother Allen
preached from this one, John 15, I think. But look here, you
know Christ in John 15 and verse 1, he says, I'm the true vine,
my father is the husbandman. And you know who the garden is,
don't you? That's us, that's his church,
that's his people. We're the garden, we're trees
of righteousness planted by the Lord that cannot be moved. And
he says, every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away,
and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth. He purgeth.
Now that's what's happening. That's the tribulation. That's
the suffering. That's the chastisement. That
it may bring forth more fruit. That's the purpose of it. The
fruit of righteousness. The fruit of grace. And then
he says, now you're clean through the word which I've spoken unto
you. Abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except
you abide in me. In other words, if there's no
purging, what does that tell you? If there's no chastisement,
Hebrews 12. Remember what Hebrews 12 said? That all the children of God,
the sons of his love, are recipients of his fatherly chastisements,
and those who are not recipients of that are bastards and not
sons. Christ says here, if you're not
being purged, you don't bear that fruit, then what happens
there? Then you're cast away as a branch
later on, he says. Now, let me give you these three
things just as an overview of Job. And it's an answer to this
question. What do we learn and how are
we strengthened in these chastisements, in these sufferings, in these
purgings, these tribulations? What exactly do we learn and
how are we strengthened? Here's number one. In these things,
according to God's design and his wisdom and his providence,
and according to his love for his children in Christ, we are
made ever aware that God at all times is worthy of our worship,
and our love, and our obedience, and our service, no matter what. Everywhere blessed be the name
of the Lord Whether I'm running a marathon or flat on my back
blessed be the name of the Lord. That's that's number one That's
what Job said here naked came out of my mother's womb naked
and I will return naked, I'll turn thither to the earth. The
Lord gave, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Whatever you're going through,
whatever I'm going through, whether I'm on the mountain or in the
valley, blessed be the name of the Lord. Think about it, you
know Christ, the Lord our God, our Savior, At his highest moment,
he praised his father without interruption. And at his lowest,
on the cross of Calvary, when he said, why hast thou forsaken
me? What did he say before that twice?
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he wasn't asking that question
for information either. He was making a point, my God,
my God. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Look at Job chapter one, look at verse 20. You know what happened
to Job, we'll read this later on, but he lost his whole family. All his family, his sons, his
daughters. He had seven sons and three daughters,
lost them all. Every one of them. lost all that
he had, and it says in verse 20, look at this, then Job arose,
he tore, he rent his mantle, that is his robe, he tore it,
that was a sign of deep sorrow and contrition, he shaved his
head, that's the same thing, fell down upon the ground and
kicked and screamed like a little baby. Now what did he do? He worshipped. Now I want to
tell you something. This is not a testimony of how
much better Job is than the rest of us. This is a testimony of
the grace of God in Job's life. And he said, naked came out of
my mother's womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God with foolishness. Now I want you to see something
else too. I do not believe that this means
that Job didn't grieve and sorrow over the loss of his family.
I believe he did. But I believe by the sovereign, powerful grace
of God and the power of the Holy Spirit through Christ, he could
do this. This is grace. And then look
over at chapter two. Now what you're going to see
is Job got absolutely no encouragement from anybody. He didn't get it
from his wife, he didn't get it from his three friends. It
says, verse 9, and this is after Job himself got sick when he
got the plague of the boils. And it says, Then said his wife
unto him, verse 9 of Job 2, Then said his wife unto him, Dost
thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die! Now that's
the natural man, isn't it? But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? You mean at
the hand of God, oh yeah. Is God the author of evil? No,
he's not. God has no sin. But what's he
talking about? He's talking about these circumstances,
these disasters, and he says, in all this did not Job sin with
his lips. That's the grace of God. Job
was learning a lesson that we all need to learn, and not just
one time. We need to learn this lesson
every day of our life, that at all times, blessed be the name
of the Lord. That's right. Here's the second
thing. In these tribulations and troubles
that we go through, and you know, after I read through the book
of Job again, I can really enter into what Paul said to the Corinthians
when he spoke of our light afflictions. You know, I feel like I've been
through some troubles and been through some persecutions and
all of that. I really do. I mean, and they
hurt. Now don't let, listen, just because yours or mine doesn't
compare with Job's doesn't mean they don't hurt. And they don't
really bother, they do. I mean, I feel like it would
almost destroy me to lose one son or daughter-in-law or grandchild,
let alone my whole family wiped out. I know that if I'd survived
that, it would have to be the grace of God. But I can understand what Paul
meant by light afflictions, and the fact when he said the sufferings
of this life are not to be compared with the glory that's coming.
But in these troubles, in these sufferings, we are made ever
aware of our own limitations, our own smallness. The fact that
we cannot view life from God's perspective. You can't do it.
God's too big for me. He's too big for you. We can't
figure it out. That's what we learn through
these. We just can't figure it out. You can think about it,
calculate it, philosophize it, and even try to theologize it,
but you just cannot figure it out, can you? I can't. Listen to the words of the law
of God. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 4 says,
He is the rock, God is the rock, Christ is the rock. His work
is perfect, whatever it is. For all His ways are judgment,
justice. All of His ways are justice.
He's a God of truth and without iniquity. Nothing is imbalanced
in God's mind or in God's way. Just and right is God. The psalmist wrote of this when
he was talking about the creation. And man in creation. And our
smallness in creation. Psalm 139 verse 6, listen to
what he says. He says, such knowledge is too
wonderful for me. That means it's too high for
me. It is high, I cannot attain to it. I can't get there. You can't get there from here.
That's a reality when it comes to the sovereign, holy, omnipotent,
infinite mind of God. You can't get there from here.
The only thing we can do is rest in and submit to what God shows
us of himself in Christ. Job said it himself, he said,
when he was talking about Job 26 and verse 14, he says, lo,
these are parts of his way. These things that are happening,
they're God's ways. But how little a portion is heard
of him, but the thunder of his power, who can understand? And
then that classic passage in Romans chapter 11, which Paul
partially quotes from the book of Job by inspiration of the
Spirit, Romans 11 and verse 33, he says, Oh, the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath
known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counselor,
his advisor, 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 all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. That's the summation of it right
there. You know in all of this though,
now here's the thing, and this is the amazing thing about Job
to me and I hope to you too. Out of all the uncertainties
that we see Job going through, and all the figurings, and listen,
Job sins against God in trying to figure it out himself, trying
to answer his accusers. He does, as we all do. But in
all this, you know what we can be sure of? We quote it all the
time, Romans 8, 28. All things work together for
good to them that love the Lord, who are the called according
to his purpose. Whatever happens to me, whatever happens to you,
God's working all things together for our eternal good to those
who know Christ and rest in him and plead his blood and righteousness.
We know this for sure. Who can condemn us? It's God
that justifies. And whatever happens to you or
me here on this earth, we cannot be condemned if we have Christ.
There is therefore now no condemnation in Christ. I'm sure of that.
You know why? Not because I figured it out. Not because I could get
there from here. No, because God revealed it in
His Son. Christ and Him crucified. You
know what we know for sure? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again and seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us. That cannot be changed.
That's a certainty. God's told us. He's revealed
that to our puny little minds and our hearts. You know what
we know for sure? Nothing can separate us from
the love of God in Christ. And you remember the list that
he has there in Romans 8, 35 through 39. Nothing high, low, in, out. Nothing
north, south, east, west can separate. Not even principalities
and high places, not even Satan. You know, one of the main lessons
of the book of Job, I believe, is how we are to meet our accusers,
even Satan himself. How? By pleading the blood and
righteousness of Christ. And then thirdly, In these troubles
and these tribulations, and I'd say this is, out of all these,
they're all important. But listen to this. Out of all
these troubles and tribulations, we're made ever aware of our
own sinfulness and of God's grace in Christ. We're made ever aware
of our own sinfulness, our own need for repentance. You know,
there's an initial repentance that comes in conversion when
we're born again. The Bible calls that repentance
of dead works and idolatry. But there's a continual repentance,
a daily repentance, a godly sorrow over sin wherein we fight the
warfare of the flesh and the spirit. Repentance is not just
a one-time thing, it's a continual way of life. That's what David
meant in that Psalm you read when he says, blessed is the
man whose iniquities, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit
or heart or mind there is no guile. That is dishonesty when
it comes to the issue of sin. Lord, I'm a sinner. Thank God
I'm a sinner saved by grace, but I'm still a sinner and I
need to repent daily. You see that in Job. But in that,
we see our continual need of Christ. You see, these trials
and tribulations wean us more and more away from this world,
away from ourselves, and drive us more and more to Christ, who
is to have preeminence in all things. The more we see our need
of him and depend on him, the stronger we are spiritually,
even in our own weakness. And you know, the question of
all questions that lies at the heart of the gospel is posed
several times in the book of Job. As Job is possibly the oldest
book of the Bible, maybe this is the oldest question since
the fall of man. Adam and Eve confronted it, and
they didn't know the answer until God revealed it. And here's the
question. You can read about it in Job chapter 9 and verse
2, when he says, I know it is of a truth, but how should man
be just with God? Job 25 and verse 4, one of Job's
friends posed the question. He said, how then can man be
justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of woman? Well, here's Job. Look at it.
Job 1 and verse 1. He's a perfect and upright man.
He's one that feared God. He has chewed evil. He was complete
and just before God. You know, understand now. And
I know a lot of commentators and preachers, when they go to
verse one, they talk about how great of a guy Job was in the
community. Now, let me tell you something.
I believe Job was a model citizen in his community. I do believe
that. I believe he was a man who was respected, moral, sincere,
dedicated, hardworking, looked up to, but that is not what this
is talking about. Now, later on, it talks about
things like that. This is God's view of Job right
here in Job 1 and verse 1. This is how God sees Job. And
he says he's perfect and upright. He's complete and straight. He's
a straight man. That means he's justified. And
he fears God. He worships God. He believes
God. He rests in Christ and he departs
from evil. He fights the warfare of the
flesh and the spirit. He's a sinner saved by grace
in Christ, the promised redeemer. Not by Job's own works. Man's
need of Christ. That's what Job learned every
day here. Man's need of forgiveness by the blood of Christ. Man's
need of righteousness by the obedience unto death of Christ.
Man's need of grace. And then as he sacrifices there
in verse five, it tells us that Job offered sacrifices of burnt
offerings. That's God's answer to the question.
How can a man be just with God? The sacrifice, you remember Adam
and Eve, they put fig leaf aprons trying to hide their nakedness,
hide their shame. That didn't work. It may have looked good. They
may have been the best fig leaf aprons ever made. I don't know.
May have looked good. But that didn't work. That didn't
justify a sinner before God. Why? Because God said, without
the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no
justification without the death. So God slew an animal, made coats
of skin, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the death of Christ,
which issued forth in righteousness imputed, which we, by the power
of the Spirit, received by God-given faith. That's what Job did, by
the grace of God. Job knew his need of a mediator.
And he knew that mediator was the promised Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then one more verse and I'll
close. Turn to Job 19. Job 19. Now I hope this gives you a perspective
to sit down and read and study the book of Job. Confessed his faith in a Redeemer
who would one day come And look at him verse 21. He said have
pity upon me have pity upon me. Oh you my friends Where the hand
of God hath touched me? What's he talking to me? He's
talking about his sufferings. That was the hand of God Job
said Why do you persecute me as God? You're not God. Why do
you persecute me? I? and are not satisfied with
my flesh. My pound of flesh, you ever heard
that? I gotta have my pound of flesh. Well, that won't do it.
Oh, that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. I believe that proves that Job himself didn't write
this book. But I don't know. But we don't know who the human
author of this book was. Some say Moses, some say others.
But thank God they were printed and written in a book so that
we can see it. Doesn't matter who the human
author is, God's the author. He says, verse 24, that they
were graven with an iron pen and led in the rock forever,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the... You see, Job knew that in order
for him to be redeemed, somebody had to die. That's what that
sacrifice meant. But he also knew that that one
who was coming to die and Beberib was gonna be raised again the
third day. And he says, he shall stand at
the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me. Blessed be the name of the
Lord. That's what he said. Ever aware,
ever aware that there's only one way. You know, Job said there,
he said, naked came I into the world and naked I'll leave it.
You know, as far as the physical world and our physical bodies,
that's true of all of us. But as far as our eternal life,
we're not naked and never will be again. We stand in Christ,
righteous, robed in his righteousness. and we'll never be naked again.
He said the Lord gave and the Lord take away. As far as this
physical world is concerned, that's true. Everything you have,
you'll lose it. But you know, in the eternal purpose of God,
He's given us a salvation and an inheritance which He'll never
take away. And once we set our eyes upon
that by the power of the Spirit, We can say, blessed be the name
of the Lord. All right. Let's sing, come thou
fount of every blessing. Hymn number 17 is our closing
hymn.