Job 29, let me read the first
17 verses, and then go back and deal with them, Lord willing.
Moreover, Job continued his parable and said, oh, that I were as
in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his
candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through
darkness, as I was in the days of my youth when the secret of
God was upon my tabernacle. When the Almighty was yet with
me, when my children were about me, when I washed my steps with
butter and the rock poured me out rivers of oil, when I went
out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the
street, the young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged
arose and stood up. The princes refrained talking
and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their
peace, and their tongue cleaveth to the roof of their mouth. When
the ear heard me, then it blessed me. And when the eye saw me,
it gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor
that cried, and the fatherless of him that had none to help
him, the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon
me. And I caused the widow's heart
to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it
clothed me. My judgment was as a robe and
a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and
feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and
the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I break the jaws of
the wicked, and pluck the spoil out of his teeth. Job is remembering some things. I typed this message yesterday.
Job's looking back. He's looking back. Here's a biographical
sketch of Job's life before God tried him so severely. He's an
old man and he remembers such better days, such more glorious
days. And that's what he's doing here.
He's remembering what used to be, what used to be in his life
and how things were. And that's what he says there
in verse 2. Oh, that I were as I was in months
past. The days when God preserved me,
when God put a hedge around me. Do you remember when Satan came
and God and him had a conversation? He said, if you considered my
servant Job a perfect and an upright man that he hates evil,
He said, yeah, but he said, you've put a hedge around him. That's
what he's saying here, God preserved me. He put a hedge around him.
And he said, God preserved me. Oh, that it was in those days
when God preserved me. Because he did evidently, Satan
got through that hedge, God let him do it. And these were days
of blessings and prosperity. He said, oh, listen, when God
had his hedge around me and preserved me, And then he said in verse
three, and when his candle, when God's light shined upon my head,
and I tell you what, you know, and when his light, I walked
through darkness. And what he's talking about here
is just like you and I. See, when we get in darkness,
God calls his face to shine upon us and gives us his light. You
know, we trust God in the dark as well as in the light. And
there's sometimes when times are so dark that, you know, if
a man can't trust God when the times are bad, when things are
rough, and darkness is all around us, then you certainly couldn't
trust Him in the daylight. And that's why Israel was so
upset when they got down to the Red Sea. And he seen Pharaoh's
army, 600,000 people coming out behind them, stirring up the
dust to come to get them. And they looked around and said,
Oh, we're gone, we're gone. And Moses just said, stay still,
and he didn't mean for him to not move around, that's not what
he's talking about. But be still in your heart and
in your mind. And he held up that rod and he
said, salvations of the Lord. And I'm telling you, watch, you
talk about a dark day and a new way of saving people, that was
a dark day for Israel and they thought, we're a bunch of goners.
And then he says, stay still, be quiet, be still in your heart
and mind. God's gonna save us, and that's what God does. Is
there not been a time that He has not saved us from our troubles,
from our darkness, and if it hadn't been for His light, and
what light we're talking about? The light of His Word. The light
of his word. David said, thy word was a lamp
unto my feet. It was a light unto my path. And that's what Job said. God
looked at me, he gave me my light, even in my darkness, he gave
me my light. And oh my, then he goes on to say this. As I
was in the days of my youth, back when I was a young man,
when the secret of God was in my tabernacle. When he's talking about secret,
he's talking about the mysteries of God. God made himself known
to me. God revealed His will to me. God made His purpose known to
me. And in my days of youth, and
God, and His mercies, and His secret, and all the wondrous
things that He teaches people, and He reveals the secrets to
us, and opens His heart to us. And He said, oh my, that God
made His mysteries and His secret known unto us. Do y'all remember
the story of Jacob? when God got a hold of him and
wrestled with him. I think it's in Genesis 32. And Jacob asked him, he said,
what's your name? And he said, it's secret. And you know what secret meant
then? Wonderful. That's what Job said. It is wonderful. His wonder was upon my tabernacle. And all my, these were days of
blessing and prosperity. And then he said, oh, listen
to this now. You're talking about man looking back. When the Almighty
was yet with me. Don't seem like he's with me
now. You remember when he said over, and I believe it's in chapter
20. 19 when he says, you know, my service won't answer me. My
wife won't have nothing to do me. Everybody, my friends, I
ain't got a friend nowhere. Nobody has anything to have any
dealings with me whatsoever. But he said, boy, there was a
day when the Almighty was with me. And I tell you this, if the
Almighty's ever with you, he's gonna always be with you. Ain't
that right? You read that tonight, John 10.
He said, I came that they might have life, and they might have
it more abundantly. And he said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And I'll tell you what, he said,
I've got the power to lay it down, I've got the power to raise
it up again, and nobody, no man, under no circumstances will be
able to pluck them out of my hand. And that's what, he said,
the Almighty, The Almighty. That's what God is. He's Almighty.
We call Him Sovereign. And I know some preachers that
that's the way they address Him. Always address Him. They don't
say Sovereign. They say Almighty. And that's
what He is. He's Almighty. And I tell you
what, He is Almighty. And listen to this now. And when
my children was around me, my children gathered around me,
all these children were gone. All of them perished at one time.
Ten of them. And he said, oh, and when the
Almighty was with me and my children was gathered around me, you know,
I had nothing that I enjoy more than having my grandchildren,
my children, when we used to all get together. And those days
are gone. But those were sweet days, glorious
days, blessed days. And that's what he said. When
my children were about me, my children were about me. And I'll
tell you one thing, if you're God's child, here's one thing
about it. He's got us gathered around Him,
and there ain't no danger of us being perishing or anything
happening to us. No way in the world. And oh,
Job, then look down here in verse Look what he said in verse 6,
you're talking about a blessing. When I wash my steps with butter,
that means my steps were so smooth. That means my steps were so smooth. I didn't have no rocks in my
way. My steps were slick and as smooth and precious as butter. My steps just had no stones in
them, no obstacles in the way. And he's talking about this metaphorical
language, the rock poured out me rivers of oil. I had oil and
Oil for all my lamps, oil for my face, oil for all my people,
I had oil. And that oil represents the Holy
Spirit. So he was revered. And I tell
you, look what it says about him over here. You keep Job 30
and look in Job chapter 1 verse 3. This is what Job was like. Look what it says about him over here. And Job chapter 1 verse 3, this
is what he was like. This is what he was in his youth,
had his children around him. And his substance also was 7,000
sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she-asses, and a
very great household. So that this man was the greatest
of all the men of the East. He said, oh, I remember that.
I remember those days. I remember those days. And then
look what he goes on to say. Not only was he remembering his
days, but he was a very, very generous man. He was a very generous
man. He was a man who used his wealth
for something else. And look what he said, he was
a very prosperous man, a very revered man. He said in verse
7, when I went out to the gate through the city, and when I
prepared my seat in the street. You know the people that had
a seat at the gates going into the city, those were the most
respected and revered men in the city. They were men that
were used to make judgments, people would come to them for
judgments. If they were poor, they'd come and ask for something
to be given to them. If they had a problem, they'd
come to these men. And Job was one of those men
that sat there. He was one of those men that
had a seat at the gate. And look what he said. And I'll
tell you, the young men saw me, and they turned away. They said,
that man is so great. They said, listen, look at Job.
Look what a wonderful man. And I tell you what, in the age
it arose and stood up, the old man got up and stood up when
I come through to take my seat. Well, I tell you what, he may
have been a very prosperous man and been well respected, and
people treated him that way. But our Lord Jesus Christ, he
was treated just the opposite. He was hated without a cause.
He was despised and rejected. He was a man that when he walked
in the gates, when he walked through town, you said read it
tonight, they said he had the devil, said he's mad. And that's
the things they said about Christ. They didn't, when he comes somewhere,
they found fault with him. When he had a crowd around, men
would press through to try to get to him and try to entice
him and try to tempt him at his words. But here's Job, he's just
opposite of that. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He
wasn't a man viewed well. He wasn't a man treated well.
He wasn't a man respected. He wasn't a man that people stood
up when He walked by. He wasn't a man that people hid
their faces. Do you know this? People hid
their faces from Him. But no, no, Job, he was like
that. In those days, he received God's
hand, and what he received from God's hand, and he gave it away.
Listen to what he says now. And verse 9, oh, this is a well-respected
man. The princes refrained talking
and laid their hands on their mouth. The princes are the people
that has real power. Well, well, well-known people.
But even when Job come through, they said, oh, we ain't got nothing
to say at his presence. And the nobles held their peace
and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. And oh,
my. But our Lord was just the opposite
of that. And when the ear heard me, when
people listened to what I had to say, when people heard what
I had to say, then it blessed me. The ear that heard what I
had to say, blessed be Job. Blessed to be what he said. Thank
God he said that. Oh, I appreciate what he had
to say. Oh, he blessed my ear. And you know, we got this meeting
coming up. And this is one thing, let me
stop and say this. May God bless our ears. with
what these men have to say this week. These men are gonna come
here and they're gonna preach the gospel. Every single one
of them. I love these men, they're gonna
come here and preach the gospel. And may their words bless our
ears. May their words bless our minds. May their words bless our hearts. May their words put some light
in our path. May their words make us rejoice
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, that's why they
wanted to hear Job, but I'll tell you who my ear wants to
hear. The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the voice I want to hear. And I don't care who I hear it
from. I really don't. As long as they're preaching
the gospel, listen, I'm going to rejoice in it. I look so forward
to it, but look what else he goes on to say now. The ear heard
it and then it blessed me. And that's what we're going to
do. We're going to hear and we're going to bless the Lord for it. And
then when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. Oh, my. When the eye saw me, it witnessed
to me. That's Job. Well, may our eyes witness and
see the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Moses endured as seeing
him who is invisible. How do you see somebody invisible?
By faith. exactly the ways we see the Lord
Jesus Christ right now, by faith. And that's why, but you know,
they said, when I saw me, they said, boy, that's no joke. That
man is somebody. That man is a fine fella. That
man, look, and how did they know? Because here's what they, that's
why they done this to him, because when I saw a poor person, and
they was crying out of their poverty, I rest in my pocket,
and I took care of them. Our Lord said, it's more blessed
to give than to receive. And I'll tell you what, our Lord
Jesus gave everything he had, so he knows what it is to be
more blessed to give than it is to receive. I saw a thing
today. It was a very strange thing. There was this woman carrying
a baby. And it was, outside and she was carrying
a baby and a bunch of peoples around and the fellow said, listen,
it was at a gas station, it was a gas station, he said, I'm stranded
here and I need some money to get home, I need some money to
get some gas and go home. And that woman had a baby, she
wrapped it in her pocketbook and got out some money and handed
it to him. She walked away a few steps and he said, since you
was willing to help me, he said, here's $500, I just wanted to
see if you'd do it. And you know what? She didn't
take it. She didn't take that money. She didn't take it. You know, that tells you. There's
some folks in this world that... That's why I said... Paul said
we entertain angels unaware. I wonder how many times an angel
has come across our path. And I mean somebody that God's
put in our path. For us to do something for and
to help them. And he said, we've entertained
angels unawares. And I tell you what, if you ever
get an opportunity to help somebody that's really in need, do it. Because our Lord said it's more
blessed to give than it is to receive. And then he goes on
to say this. He said, I delivered the poor
when they cried. Oh, my. And when there was a
fellow that was fatherless, children that were fatherless, didn't
have a father, they left him and forsook him. And they had
nobody to help them. They was orphans. He said, I
went there and I helped them. I became a father to them. And
I'll tell you this much. David said, when my mother and
my father forsake me, when my mother and my father forsake
me, the Lord will take me up. He takes up the poor, and he
takes up the fatherless? You know, when God saves a sinner,
and he blesses the poor and the fatherless, and look what it
said in verse 13, the blessing of him that was ready to perish,
ready to perish, came upon me, And I caused the widow's heart
to sing. A fellow ready to just perish, Job said, I'll rush to
his rescue. And when I saw a widow, her heart
rejoiced in what I did. Now, beloved, I'm telling you,
you're talking about God, our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what
the first message he preached in Galilee, in the synagogue,
the first message he ever preached? And he said, this day is the
scripture fulfilled in your heart. He said, the Lord hath anointed
me. You know what the first thing
he says? To preach the gospel to the poor. Now what poor is
he talking about? Blessed are the poor in spirit.
And I'll tell you what, we have, what did we have that we could
give to him? We're still poor without him. We have no, we're just poor poverty
stricken without Christ. And I'll tell you this, and there
ain't nothing we got that he wants. And I'm blessed today. I'm blessed
today that He saved me out of all my abominations. Oh, what
abominations. I was an abomination in sin. Sin was an abomination. Christ
saved me from sin. I was steeped in religion. Christ
saved me from the abomination of false religion. Saved me from
the abomination of Pentecostalism. Saved me from the abomination
of legalism. Saved me from the abomination
of fundamentalism. Saved me from the abomination
of self-righteousness and pride. Oh, bless His name. And I tell
you what, no wonder we have a hearing here for the Lord Jesus Christ.
No wonder we was poor and He blessed His name. He come and
delivered us. And I was fatherless and motherless. From the time I was a little
boy. I don't even remember seeing my
dad until I was 7 or 8 years old. But the Lord took me up. Huh? Oh my. And then listen, then we was
ready to perish. Ready to perish. What'd the Lord
do? wretched plucked us out of the
fire. Your brand plucked out of the fire. And oh my, and oh
my, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. People
that didn't have nothing. Oh, and then look what he says
now. He said, I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My judgment
was as a robe and a diadem. Now he was so just, He distributed
to the needy. He took from God's hand and gave
it out to the needy. He was so just, so righteous
in his dealings that they were regarded as his clothing. And they said, that's a diadem,
something that Brian shined. Now you and I, we can't put on
righteousness. God's gotta put righteousness
on us. He gotta put it on us. And then he says, when a man,
and when I walked across somebody that was blind, I was eyes to
him. I was his eyes. I helped him. And when somebody was lame and
couldn't walk, I was his feet. I took care of him. And oh, what
did our Lord Jesus Christ do? He gave us, you know what he
told his disciples one day, blessed are your eyes, For they see,
and blessed are your ears, for they hear. For many kings and
prophets have desired to look into the things that you see
now, but you see things that they never saw. And I tell you
what, we're as blind as bats. Somebody was
talking today, he said, a natural man, without God giving a man
eyes to see, he'll never see anything spiritual. Huh? And I certainly, certainly we
couldn't leap for joy. And certainly, certainly we was
lame and Christ made us leap for joy. Like he did that fella
in Acts chapter three last week. And then look what he was. Let
me go down here in verse 21 through 25 and deal with these. He said in verse 21, Unto me men gave ear, and waited,
and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not
again, and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for
me as for the rain. They opened their mouth wide
as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed
it not. If I rejoiced over them, is what
he said. And the light of my countenance they cast not down.
I chose out their way and set chief, and dwelt as a king in
the army, as one that comforts the mourners. And those he was
regarded as the wisest of the wise, he said, when I spoke,
men waited for what I had to say. And when I gave counsel
for something, he said, they listened at me, they kept silence.
And my words, they didn't turn around and speak against me.
They didn't debate with me. They didn't argue with me. And
my speech dropped down on them, just like rain. Just like rain. But oh my, His words, His words
are nothing compared to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. His
words are nothing compared to what our Lord has said and what
our Lord has said to us. And I tell you, we're not gonna
dispute with the Lord. We're not gonna speak again to
Him. And oh, His speech, and listen,
they waited for me as the rain. Oh, in a hot summer day, and
it's real, real dry, we say, oh Lord, we sure would love some
rain. He said, they waited for me, and what I had to say, like
waiting for a rain. And they opened their mouth as
the latter rain, the rain that would finish off the crop. that
would make the corn to be finished and the wheat to be finished.
Don't need no more rain after that. And off I rejoiced over
them and laughed over them. They said, oh my, Job laughing?
Job rejoicing? Well, our Lord did. He rejoiced. He rejoiced. And the light of
my countenance they cast not down. Oh, when they saw my light,
They didn't turn against me. And our Lord, instead of chose
out their way, our Lord chose our way to become one with us
and identify with us. And Job said, I set chief and
dwelt as a king in the army and one that comforts the mourners.
And our Lord said, blessed are they that mourn, they shall be
comforted. But let me close with making just a few observations.
Let me close with this. And remember this, every one
of us, every one of us, have got some wonderful, wonderful
memories. Life has its happy, happy, happy
days. Life has its glorious, bountiful
days. We all can remember wonderful
times, wonderful times. God's blessing upon us. God's
blessing come on our home. God's blessings upon our table,
God's blessing upon our minds, God's blessing upon our health.
And then, you know, I've said this oftentimes, how God has
blessed me and give to me, when I carried my clothes around in
a grocery bag. Go from one place to another
and carry my clothes in a grocery bag. And to go to that, and then
I could not dream as big as what God's done for me. My mind cannot
get that big. And I never ask Him for nothing
except salvation. And that's all I ask Him for
now. But all the, oh, we couldn't dream in all the dreams. And
then the strength that He gives us. the love that He's put in
our hearts, the joy that He's given, and then the fellowship,
all these things, oh what blessed memories. There's a few people
that you've got, I've got memories of people that every memory of
them, it's got a dark spot on it, not a dark spot on it. Every
memory I have is, the blessed are the memory of the just. And
then there's also days These happy days, these glorious days,
these bountiful days, they all, all these days, one of these
days all got to come to a close. One of these days, these days
gonna come to a close. For some, they'll close sooner
than others. And there's gonna come days of
weakness, weakness. I used to be able to run 10 miles,
and now I'm lucky to go two. I feel fortunate to go. Lucky
is not a good word. I feel fortunate and blessed
to go two. Forget I ever said that. Don't
need to. I'm going to tell those folks,
listen, I'm sorry I didn't mean that, but all my You know that
some of these days are going to come sooner than others. And
there's days of weakness, all such days of weakness. Did you
ever think you'd be as weak as you are? Huh? Did you at all, the days that
you've had depression, that you didn't want to talk to anybody,
didn't want to see anybody, Had that old saying, you know, I
want to find me a hole and I'm going to crawl in and I'm going
to pull it in after me. Oh, those kind of days. Days
of weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping. And days of dying. Days of dying. But thank God. Thank God. We've got memories. We've got
memories. That's what Job said, all that
I was in months past. Oh, and I'll tell you this, if
we could bring back the best days of our life, and I think
I'm living in the best that I've ever lived, but I'll tell you,
if you could bring everything back to the way it was 30, 40,
50 years ago, you know what? It would still be temporal. you'd still have to go through
it again. Still be temporal. But oh my,
so what are we looking at? We're looking at the eternal.
We're looking into eternity. Every day we get up, we're looking
into eternity. Listen, I'm gonna get up tomorrow
and I'm gonna be closer and closer and you're gonna get up and you're
gonna be closer. And I'll tell you something,
We got all these wonderful memories, but the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come. The
Lord Himself, the Lord Himself is going to come and get us and
take us to be with Him where He is and we will forever be
with the Lord. Well, that's my little contribution
to this service tonight. I thank the Lord for His Word
and His blessings. I thank Him for His trials. I
wouldn't love Him and appreciate Him. You know, if we were just
fat and things all the time, we'd... You know what the sin
of Sodom was? Pride and fullness of bread. And oh, pride and fullness of
bread just killed many. But oh Lord, keep me, keep me
needing you. Keep me needing you. And let
my last day on this earth need you as much as I did the first
day. Our Father, oh, our great glorious
God, how blessed is your name. Oh, you're so full of grace,
so full of pity, so full of kindness. Oh, Job was a blessed man, but
oh God, we're blessed 10,000 times more than Job was. While we live in this world,
oh, we have so much. We're so blessed. We're blessed
with the gospel. We're blessed with health. We're
blessed with clothes. We're blessed with wonderful,
comfortable beds to get in, warm homes to go home to. Someone
to share a home with, someone to share our lives with. Oh, Lord. Oh, God. Bless your name. Oh, bless your
name. I thank you. I praise you. Oh,
Lord, there's nothing like it. Lord, I couldn't dream as big
as what you've done for me. Lord, Bless us, Lord, to love one another,
pray for one another, and bless our meeting that's coming up
this weekend. Bless these dear preachers. Bless the ones that's
traveling to come. Preserve them and keep them.
And thank you for everyone that's going to work and everything
that's going to be done to make this meeting bring glory and
honor to you. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. There is a name I love to hear. I love to sing its word. It sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Because He first loved me. See you Friday, God willing,
seven o'clock.