In the 40th verse of this chapter,
look at the 40th verse. In the last part of that verse,
it says the words of Job are ended. He said, I've said all
I'm going to say. He said, I've got nothing else
to say. The words of Job are ended. Job ends his arguments
with his miserable comforters. The next time that you hear Job,
God will speak to him, and he'll have to answer to God. He'll
be speaking to God himself. But let me read the first 15
verses, and then from then on, we'll just go to a couple of
verses along at a time. I made a covenant with mine eyes,
why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God
is there from above, and what inheritance of the Almighty from
on high? Is not destruction to the wicked,
and strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Doeth not
he see my ways, and count all my steps? If I have walked with
vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit, let me be weighed
in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. If my
step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine
eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to my hands, then let me sow,
and let another eat. Yea, let my offspring be rooted
out. If mine heart have been deceived by a woman,
or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door, then let my
wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
For this is an heinous crime, yea, it is iniquity to be punished
by the judges. For it is a fire that consumeth
to a destruction and would root out all mine increase. If I did
despise the cause of my manservant and my maidservant when they
contended with me, what then shall I do when God rises up?
And when he visiteth, why shall I answer him? Did not he that
made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us? in
the wounds. So Job ends his arguments with
these miserable, miserable comforters. These men accused him of having
to be a horrible, horrible sinner or God wouldn't deal with him
the way that he does. Here the words of Job have come
to an end. He labors earnestly, hard, to
vindicate his character against all the allegations that these
men had brought against him. But what Job went through is
nothing compared to what our Lord Jesus Christ went through.
Job was a perfect and an upright man. Christ was perfect all the
days of his life without sin. And Job was talking about those
accusations brought against him. Our Lord said, they hated me
without a cause. He says, they that hate me are
more than the hares to be numbered on a head. So Job, compared to
what he goes through, is nothing compared to what Christ goes
through. Job seeks to vindicate himself, but God, our Lord Jesus
Christ, never defended himself in any way. Never once, never
once defended himself. Never once stood up for himself.
He stood up for others, but he never stood up for himself. He
was punished for others, but he was never punished for anything
that he did. He faced God and he faced God with sinless, perfect
hands, sinless soul, sinless in every possible way. The only
way you and I can be vindicated, the only way we can be justified
is for Christ to bear our sins, to face God on our behalf. And
the scripture said, he said, they hated me without a cause.
But here's one thing, Job's words had come to an end. Christ's
words will never come to an end. He said, heaven and earth will
pass away. But he said, my word shall never, never pass away.
So what that means is when we get to glory, there's still gonna
be God's word. God can create 10,000 worlds,
but he will never create another world. And so that's what we're
gonna have to deal with all the days of our life. And so Job,
he vindicates himself and we get some insight into his life
and his theology. Theology, all it means is the
study of God. Theo means God, ology means the
science. So we're gonna, and Job had a
theology. I've got I don't know how many
theology books in there. I've got probably half a dozen,
systematic, historical, every theology book you can get your
hands on. And I use them, I use them, I
use them. But here's what, you know, his
theology, well you know what our Lord's theology was? He said,
I'm my Father, I won. He said, as the Father sent me
the words that I speak, He gave me the words to speak. His theology
was I came to do my will, His will, not my will. I come to
honor Him, not myself. I come to glorify Him, not myself.
He gave me a work to do and I came and I finished the work that
He gave me to do. So Job, he had his theology. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, he not only had theology, but he was God himself. God himself. But here's the first thing that
I want to see about Job. And I think this will speak to
all of us. Look what he says here in verse
4. God sees me and God knows me. Look what he says. Doeth
not he see my ways, and count all my steps? If I have walked
with vanity or if my feet have hasted deceit, what he's saying
is God's looking at me and he's got a balance, an even balance.
He's the judge of all the earth and he'll do right and God knows
whether I have any integrity or not. God knows that. And so
what he's saying is that his knowledge of God and God's knowledge
of him governed him all the days of his life. You know, in every
relationship and everything that ever happened in his life, it
was always because he knew God. And he knew that God seen him
and said, God knows the way that I take. He counts my steps for
me. Do you know that God Almighty,
our steps have already been counted. From the day we start walking,
till the day we take our last, God has already determined how
many steps we're going to take. And I'm waiting for the rest. That's going to be the best step
we'll ever take when we step from here and step to there.
But he said, God knows me. And he says, God knows me. I
watch where I walk. I watch how I act. Everything
I do is governed by God's knowledge of me. Job believed that all
Everything that he did, whether it's good or bad, was going to
be determined by the will of God. Look what he said up there
in verse 2. For what portion of God is there
from above? What portion of God do I have?
God's above. And what inheritance of the Almighty
from on high, what inheritance do I get? Oh my, how can I say
I have a portion of Him? Job really believed and acted
as God was the sole judge of his character and God was the
sole judge of how he acted in this world. And if we would really
get a hold of that, what people think about us and what they
say about us and how they treat us would not amount to nothing. What God, Paul said this, said,
it's no big thing for me to be judged of you. Said, I don't
care that you judge me, told the Corinthians, be judged of
you is a very, very small matter. You know why he said? Because
God's my judge. God knows what I say, God knows
what I do, God knows what I believe, God knows where I'm going, and
God knows how I'm acting. He said, it don't mean no difference
to you to judge me. And that's what he said. He said,
no matter what anybody thinks about me, and ever how I act
in this world, and what the words that I say, and where I go, everything
about it, he said, God knows me. And I know that I know Him,
so I adjust my life, and my life is controlled by what God knows
about me. Ain't your life controlled by
what God knows about you? Huh? You watch what you say,
you watch where you go, you watch how you treat people, you watch
your thoughts even. Only believers are concerned
with their thoughts. A believer is concerned with
what he thinks because he knows that God knows his thoughts.
God knows his thoughts. And all Job believed what goes
on in the mind. As well as his actions and what
he does were sin or would lead to sin. Look what he said there
in verse 1. He said, I made a covenant with
my eyes. I made a covenant with my eyes.
Why then should I look, think upon a maid? He said, I've got
a covenant with my eyes, I'm not going to let somebody, you
know, it's like love not the world, things in the world, for
all that's in the world is less than the eyes of pride of life.
And he says this, he said, I've made a covenant with my eyes. These maids, he said, I'm not
going to let them entice me. I'm not going to get my mind
on them. He said, I'm not even going to think about them. That's
what he said, not going to think about them. Oh my. And he said
in verse five, if my feet have hasted to deceit, if I've hasted
to go someplace to deceive somebody, to play the hypocrite, God knows
that. So I'll tell you what, God knows
everything that we're doing, and that's what Job is saying
here. Yeah, if our eyes, you know, our Lord said, this is
why the law is spiritual. This is why the law is spiritual,
so spiritual. And here's the thing about it,
that we understand that God Almighty, by Him actions are weighed, and
that He judges us as much for what we look at, and why we look
at it, and what our eyes perceive, and what our eyes... Our Lord
said, if a man looks upon a woman to lust after her, he's committed
adultery. And he said in another place,
he said, if a man is angry with another man for no reason, he's
in danger of the judgment. And that's what Job is saying.
He didn't do any of those things. That's what he means as he said,
God knows my mind and he knows what I'm looking at. He knows
what I'm looking at. And if you look, If you look with the wrong reason,
with the wrong motive, and you're conscious that God Almighty Himself
said, Oh, the Lord's seen that! The Lord's seen that! The Lord
knows that! And that's what Job is saying
here. Then look what he says, and he goes on to say several
things about himself. He says several things about
himself. Down in verse 7. He said, If my step had turned
out of the way, and my heart walked after my own eyes, He
said, instead of walking by faith, if my eyes was looking for something,
and I walked after what my eyes wanted. If my eyes desired something,
instead of going after it, I didn't do that. What he's saying was,
and then he brought the cleave to my hands. What he's saying
is that God, every step that I've taken, if I followed my
eyes, if I followed my eyes, and what he's saying is, that
I'm walking by faith. That's what we have to do. We
don't go by our eyes. We walk by faith. If you went
by how life really is to you sometimes, and what goes on on
your job, what goes on with people that you're around and all this
stuff, if you didn't walk by faith, if you saw this world
and everything that's in it, you'd be the most discouraged
and disgusted and aggravated person in the world. Are you
walking after Isaiah or are you walking after Christ? Are you
walking after Isaiah or are you walking by faith? And that's
what Job said. And then look what he says in
verse 13, I think it's verse 13, yeah. Down in verse 13. He
says, if I despise the cause of my manservant or my maidservant
when they contended with me, oh my. If he said, if I despise
the cause of my, because they contended with me, they argued
with me. He said, if I despise them, he said, God knows it.
He knows what I do. And just because they argue with
me and contend with me, why would I do that? So God sees that.
And look what he says down in verse 24. This is really something
right here. He said, God knows if I've made gold my hope or
said to find gold, you're my confidence. He said, if gold, if gold is
my God, if gold is my reason for living, if gold is my whole
purpose of making money in this world and keep my eyes on gold
and love fine gold, he said, if I'd done that, he said, I
wouldn't even know God, is what he said. If gold was my hope,
if gold was my hope, I'm gonna tell you something that's much,
much, much more precious than any gold. He said, your faith,
being much more precious than of gold, Lord, be tried with
fire, but be found under praise, honor, and glory at the appearing
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what he's saying is, is that
if these are the things that's my life, or if these are the
things that's my life, then I don't have any hope. I really don't. I really don't. If I've made
gold my hope. And then he says in verse 25,
he said, if I rejoiced because of my wealth, and because my
hand had gotten much, He said, listen, he said, God
knows. He said, what he's saying is that God knows what I think.
God knows what my motives are. God knows what my actions is.
And he said, if gold is my hope, God knows that. He said, if man
is my life, God knows that. If I'm trusting in my wealth,
I've got this much wealth, I've got everything, I've got everything
I need till I get ready to leave this world. He said, anybody
that trusts in these things and makes this to be their hope and
this to be their wealth, to be their confidence, he says, oh
my, God knows that. And I mean, we can fool people.
We can fool people. Oh, it's easy to fool people.
But there ain't no fooling God. Listen, and then look what he
says in verse 27. If my heart has been secretly
enticed, oh, somebody got in my heart and it was secretly
enticed after something, secretly after something, something that
I desired. And I said, boy, I can get by with that. And then he
says there in verse 27, my mouth has kissed my hand. What he's
saying is that my hand and my works is so good that my mouth
kissed it because I do such good things with my hand. Oh my. And then look what he says, and
oh he says, you know God knows everything. And he says, oh listen,
God's watching me. Look what he says down there
in verse 29. He said, if I rejoiced at the
destruction of him that hated me or lifted up myself when evil
found him, when I wanted my enemy to be destroyed, and I rejoiced
at everything that come upon him. Now that's the way they
treated Job. Everything that I've mentioned right now, we
had to do with the mind. But whatever goes on in the mind,
often leads to action. Not only what we do with the
body, but what is in the body. But I tell you, this is a true
story. Recently, These holiness people,
you know, they live right, and they're better than the rest
of us. They live these good, holy lives, and dedicated lives,
and they're preaching against sin, and they're always trying
to quit sin, and always trying to overcome sin. Well, this particular
preacher in this holiness church, he was having an affair with
two women in his congregation. And this is what happened one
time. They, and they didn't know it, and they went out, they said,
let's go out and eat Sunday. And the woman that the preacher,
one of the women that the preacher had an affair with said, oh,
no, no, you know we can't eat out on Sunday. We can't go out
on Sunday. We can't be seen out in the world on Sunday. We can't
do that. I can have an affair with my
pastor, but I can't go out and eat on Sunday. Now that's what
we're talking about. That's what Job's talking about.
You can pretend and make everybody look good, but that starts right
up here. Sin, when it's conceived, bringeth
forth death. And it's conceived right here.
Every sin starts right up here. Every sin starts right in the
mind. And when it gets in that mind, I tell you, sometimes if
it gets to working, and it happens all the time, it happens all
the time, because sooner or later, and this is what I'm telling
you, you all know it as well as I do, that we understand that
God sees us as we are. We cannot put all before Him.
And listen, if an evil mind goes through our part, the first thing
we say, oh God, forgive me. I can't believe that went through
my mind. This whole idea that an angel's over here, and the
devil's over here, and the devil's trying to tell you to go this
way, and the angel's trying to tell you to go that way, that's
not the way it is. We got enough up here. And I thank God, I thank
God that God Almighty, we know and understand that God knows
what's going on up here. And I say this, I'll go on to
say this, that when he said he know Job's character, his friends
didn't know his character, his friends didn't know what kind
of man he was, but God knew what kind of man he was. And because
of his relationship with God Almighty, he says, I'm going
to be careful with what I look at, I'm going to be careful what
my God is, I'm going to be careful where I go, I'm going to be careful
how I act, I'm going to be careful how I treat my maids, my men,
sir, I'm going to be careful how I treat my people in this
world, how I'm going to do that. He said, because God is watching
me. He's watching me. Alright, look what he asked.
And Job knew that sin, I tell you something, Job also knew
this, that sin had a consequence. He says there in verse 3, this
is sin, some of sin's consequences. Is not destruction to the wicked? Will God not destroy the wicked?
And a strange punishment, is it strange to punish the workers
of iniquity? Is it strange for Him to do that?
He do, and down in verse 14, look what He says. What shall I do when God rises
up? When God rises up to deal with
us, and deal with everybody, and when He visits, when He comes
to visit, what am I going to say? What am I going to say? What am I going to say? Huh? You know, we don't have to say
anything because Christ has already said everything for us. I'm so
thankful for that. But where did Job learn these
things? Where did Job learn that sin had something to do with
the mind? Where did Job learn that, how
he was not supposed to hate his enemies? Where did Job learn
that how he didn't want gold to be his God, his wealth to
be his hope? Where did he learn these things
at? Where do you learn it? Unless the Sermon on the Mount
hadn't been preached yet. Our Lord hadn't preached the
Sermon on the Mount. Where He says, love them that hate you,
pray for them that despise you. You've heard it said, but I say
unto you, oh, the Sermon on the Mount hadn't been preached. Christ
hadn't come yet. The law hadn't been given. Israel as a nation didn't exist. Even so, all these things are
now so. How in the world did he learn
that, well, sin and its consequences, what sin is and the consequences
of it? Who taught him that? Who taught
him that sin was something that, as much as in your mind, that
would lead to what you do. And so he understood that God
was watching him, and that he was going to be very, very careful
about how he lived in this world. Not to impress anybody else,
but because God knew. Because God knew. God knew. And all his actions,
his behavior, It was because he had a knowledge of God. Ain't
that what he said again in verse 4? Let me look at that. He said,
doeth not he see my ways? God sees my ways. And he counts
all my steps. Counts them. Oh my. He said because of his knowledge
of God and his behavior, he had a, because of God's knowledge,
look how he reacted to, had a relationship to women over. He said in verse
one, I made a cover with mine eyes, why then should I think
upon a maid? He said down in verse nine and
10, He said, if my heart hath been
deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door,
he said, if a woman has got a hold of me and deceived me, and I
took out after, he said, if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door
for his wife, he said, then I tell you what you do, you let my wife
grind for somebody else, you let others take my wife, That's
what he's saying. He said, God knows so much about
me that if I think something in my heart, he's gonna see it
and know it. And you know what he said? He said in verse 11,
this is a heinous crime. This is a heinous crime. You
know, Matt, how many homes, how many children, how many people
have been affected by this thing called adultery? by this thing
called affairs. People, it's something, it's
something that I, you know, and that's what Job was saying, he
said, I don't care, listen, God sees me, I don't
need anything that God don't want me to have. And that's what
he said, if a woman got a hold of me and deceived my heart,
he said, then let somebody else take my wife too. He said, because
God knows me. And he said, it's a heinous crime. It's an iniquity to be punished. He said, yes. He said, what it
is, it's a fire. It's a fire. Men take up with women, women
take up with men, and leave their husbands, leave their wives.
That's one of the most despicable, you know that's the most disloyal
thing. You know, when you make those marriage vows, I believe
this with all my heart, when you make those marriage vows,
if you don't want to get married in the sight of God, go to a
justice of the peace or go to a judge. But if you're going
to get married in the sight of God, and God's watching you,
and you're making vows in the sight of God, you better keep
them vows. You better keep them vows because God Almighty, listen,
He, that's most, how disloyal is it, how awful
is it for some man to go take another man's wife or a wife
take another man's husband and then try to cover it up and try
to hide it, sneak around and do it. What a betrayal, what
a betrayal that anybody would do that. And all the hurt it causes, the
pain it causes, the sleepless night it causes,
and the effects it has upon children. Oh, my. I could tell you some
things about growing up that curl your hair, the things that
I saw people do. But then he had this, because
of his knowledge of God, look how he dealt with his servants.
Look how he dealt with his servants. He was so conscious of God that
he was so conscious of how to deal with his servants. He says
in verse 13, he said, if I despise the cause of my maidservant or
my manservant when they contended with me. What then shall I do? Because they argued with me and
contended with me, what am I going to do if God rises up when He
visits? What shall I answer? And listen to what He said. This
is what He understood in verse 15. Did not He that made me in
the womb make Him? Make my servant? Make my handmaid? Oh, did not He fashion us in
the womb? He made us both. We both come
from the same place. So why would I be like that?
And he understood how his character and conduct would affect how
he not only treated his servants, but also how he treated the poor.
Look what he says about the poor. If I have withheld from the poor
or their desire, if caused the eyes of the widow to fail, did
I ever see anybody poor that I didn't help them? Or have I
eaten my meal alone and the fatherless has not eaten? He said, did I
not set at my table? He said, from my youth he was
brought up with me. And I brought up the fatherless
just as I was a father to him. And I've guided her, guided that
widow from my mother's womb. Have I seen any parishioners
for want of clothing? No, I put clothes on them. I put clothes on him, I put clothes
on him. He said, if his loins have not
blessed me, and if he were not worn with the fleece of my sheep,
he said, oh, listen, I put coats on him, took care of him, fed
him. And if I lifted up my hand against the fatherless when I
saw him in the gate, then let my arm fall from my blade, shoulder
blade, and mine arm be broken. Let destruction come from God
and the terror to me. And by reason of his eyes, I
could not endure. He says, God, I'm so conscious
of him that I watched how I treat the poor, the fatherless, the
widows, and people that don't have any clothes. He said, oh
my. And I tell you then, it also
had an effect on what he worshipped. Had a great effect upon what
he worshipped, his relationship to God. Had a, oh my, had a real
relationship to the object of worship. You know, Paul in Acts
17, he said, I see all these gods you got around here. Oh,
I see all of them. But he says, God don't dwell,
does not worship with the works of man's hands. God don't dwell
in temples made by man. And he said, listen, he said,
God's the object of my worship. I'll tell you what I don't worship.
He said he don't worship his property. He said in verse 24,
he said, I don't worship gold. I've not made it my hope. I've
not said to the fine gold, ah, listen, I've got confidence in
my wealth. No, no, I rejoiced in my wealth. He didn't say that. Oh, my. You know, if you've got the Lord,
if you've got Christ, and you've got God, he's the God of heaven
and earth. Cattle on a thousand hills belong
to him. And I'm more wealthy in Christ. I got six dollars laying on my
dresser. Six dollars. And that's a lot
of money for me to carry. You know what? And I'm not saying
that to blow my horn or anything like that because I live very
well. But what I'm telling you is that we do not make what we
possess in our money to be the object of our worship. You don't
go to the bank and sit around and say, get my money out. I
want to count it. I told you about somebody that
buried their gold. I know somebody personally that
buried some gold they had. They started buying gold and
silver, and they buried their gold. And they started having
Alzheimer's, and they don't know where they buried it at. They
can't find it. She's in bad shape. She's in
bad shape, if that's the case. And then look what he said. He
didn't worship nature either, or its objects like a lot of
people do. Oh, they're worshiping this nature
now. Oh, gotta change the climate. Gotta change everything. We gotta
change how the sun is. Gotta change how the moon, you
gotta change. But he said, if I beheld the sun is shining or
the moon walking in brightness, he said, I didn't worship nature.
Oh, my heart had not been sequitized or, oh no, I didn't do that. I didn't do that. He never kissed
his hand as if he himself were something to worship. And all
this, and in relation to his enemies, look what he said. And
this is really something that we need to, and our Lord did
this, our Lord did this. In verse 29, he said, if I rejoiced
at the destruction of him that hated me or lifted up myself
when evil found him, Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin
by wishing a curse to his soul. I don't want to wish. You know,
our Lord said, if an enemy hunger, feed him. If he's naked, clothe
him. He said, if you see somebody
that needs a coat, you not only give him your coat, but give
him your cloak also. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was
cursed, he blessed. When he is despised and rejected,
he blessed his people. And that's what he said, he didn't
return evil for good, evil for evil, never cared for those who
didn't like him. He said, oh my, what if they
don't like me? How's it gonna affect my life?
How's it gonna affect my relationship with God? This was that new commandment
that our Lord gave us. By this shall all men know you
my disciples, cause you'll have love one toward another. And
Job was a man And what he suffered was nothing. And his character
was nothing compared to our Lord Jesus Christ. And everything
that Job did, our Lord Jesus, was sinless, sinless, holy, harmless,
undefiled. But I do know this, even though
I have no sin, as far as God's concerned, but I am concerned. I am concerned this, because
he's my master. He's my Father. He's my Savior. He's my Redeemer. He's my Master.
I am concerned over this, that how people view me in this world,
by what comes out of my mouth, by how I treat people, and my
conduct in this world. I'm very concerned about that.
People say, well, it don't make no difference how you act and
how you conduct in this world. Yes, it does. I really believe
it does. You wouldn't go on your job and
lie, would you? You wouldn't go on your job and steal. You
wouldn't go on your job and cuss somebody, would you? Why wouldn't you? You know why? Because you don't
have that nature. You care what people think about
you. Well, that's enough. Oh, our Lord and our God, in
the blessed name of Christ our Lord. Father, we do so want to
live to your glory, want to walk as much as we're
able by your grace, by your grace, we understand it's by your grace,
by your blessed grace, we want to walk through this world. And Lord, keep us uncontaminated
from it. Don't let out its fluorescence
too much. Don't let us be enticed. Don't
let us be led astray. Don't let us go away that would
not honor you and glorify you. Forgive us of everything that's
unlike you. Please, please, oh Lord, keep
us. Keep us, keep us, keep us. And we ask it for Christ's sake.
Amen. Amen. Well, good night. God bless you, and I'll see you
Wednesday, Lord.