I'll be here Wednesday night,
but next Sunday, Aaron Greenleaf will be here preaching. I'm going
up in Kentucky to preach up there. And so Aaron will be here, both
services. And he's always a blessing. He
is such a blessing. I'm gonna read these first 10
verses of Job and say some things about him. Moreover, Job continued
his parable and said, As God liveth who hath taken away my
judgment, the Almighty who hath vexed my soul All the while my
breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. My
lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue shall utter deceit.
God forbid that I should justify you. Till I die, I will not remove
mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast,
I will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me
for so long as I live. Let mine enemy be as the wicked,
and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous. For what
is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God
hath taken away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble
cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the
Almighty? Will he always call upon God? I titled this message tonight
right there in verse two, As God Liveth. As God Liveth. God liveth. You know, Job, he
continues here for the next five chapters, but the first thing
he realizes and wants us to know, and we all know this, I hope
we do, the reality of God Almighty. He said, as God liveth, as God
liveth. He's not a God that's dead. He's
not a God that's so far off. this is the foundation this is
a fundamental that God liveth as God liveth you know when you
understand this that God liveth it gives meaning to the world
we live in it gives a harmony to the world that we live in
we see chaos around But because we know that God lives, we see
some harmony. We see some peace and some unity
in this world because of God. He keeps us at peace Himself.
And I tell you, I know this, that a lot of folks deny the
fact that God even exists, much less that God liveth. But I do
know this, Most of the people, they ignore God. They ignore
Him as He lives. But I also know this, that when
you ignore Him, you live as without God and without Christ and without
hope in this world. And that's why Job said, this
is a reality I live with, God liveth. God liveth, and I'm thankful
that God liveth. I'll tell you, this idea that,
you know, that's why the Lord Jesus Christ, they asked him
one time, They come to him and says, now, if a woman's married
to a man, and this said under the law, said if a woman is married,
her husband dies, her brother's supposed to marry her to raise
up seed to his brother. And they went on that and they
said, yeah, she was married seven times to seven brothers. Who's
gonna be her husband when she gets into glory? Our Lord said,
there ain't no marriage in heaven except for one up there. And
I tell you, they always talked about God being dead, but he
said he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He's the God
of the living. And here's the second thing about
it, this thing of God living. You think about the awfulness
of this truth, that God living. That's an awful thing to think
about. I mean, you know, when you start thinking about God
living, that God living, his existence, Of all the solemn
things in this universe, and God, the universe is in God,
but of all the things that we have to face in this world is
that God lives. Now you think about that, of
all the multitudes that's in this world, they're gonna have
to face the fact one of these days that God lives. That's an
awful thing to think about. God liveth. You know this God
that liveth, he sees all hearts. He sees all thoughts. He sees
the reason behind what we do. He sees the motives. He sees
the desires. He sees everything as God liveth. That's an awful thing to think
about. And then especially for the Pope, people don't know into
it. He looks into all hearts. He hates all sin. And there's
no existence for anything apart from him. Nothing, no existence,
anything apart from him. And it says, as God liveth, he
said, he will in nobods clear the guilty. Now how in the world,
what does that mean? He will in nobods clear the guilty.
We was all guilty. Did he clear us? No. No, he didn't. He didn't do that. What did he do? He punished us. He punished us. He poured His
wrath out on us. He judged us. He bore our guilt, bore our shame.
He never cleared us. He justified us. He put away
our sin. He punished us severely in His
blessed Son. Put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He's never cleared one guilty
person. This is the only people He will
justify. It's people that's guilty. If
a man's not guilty, he don't need to be cleared. But our Lord
Jesus Christ, I tell you, bless His name, He came, and I tell
you, God took Him in our place, and He said He will not clear
the guilty. He did not clear us! He punished us! We suffered death! We suffered
wrath! We suffered hell! We suffered
shame! We done it all! Where? In the
blessed Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what it means, so
that's an awful thing to think about. What is people gonna deal
with him? And I'll tell you, beloved, how
dreadful, do you know Job, excuse me, Jacob, he was leaving his
father's house, and he was going down to Laban's, and he laid
down the first night, he was way out in the middle of nowhere,
and he laid down, his head was on a rock, and he saw this ladder
set up from heaven to earth, a ladder. And he saw God coming
out. He saw us represent the Lord
Jesus Christ reaching into heaven and reaching down to earth. And
God came and gave him this horrible, he saw that ladder, people coming
up and down on it. And he woke up the next morning.
You know what he said? He said, I'm so happy to be here.
I'm so glad to be here. No, no, you know what he said?
This is a dreadful place. This is a dreadful place. God
was here. God was here, and I tell you,
people that make flippant things about God and all the joke, make
jokes about God, I wouldn't be in their shoes for nothing. I
tell you, how dreadful is this place. And I tell you, every
place He is, it's a dreadful place for people without God
and without Christ. And I tell you, the scripture
says, the Lord's in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep
silence before Him. Just keep silent. But they won't.
They won't do it. And there's a third thing about
God, as God liveth. Look what it says. In verse two
again, as God liveth, who's taken away my judgment. I just dealt
with that. How'd he take away my judgment? Because he bore
my judgment. He bore my judgment. Yeah, you
know, God, Christ, boy, he took away the judgment. You know,
It's appointed unto me and wants to die, and after this, the judgment. But I'll tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ took away our judgment. God's not going to judge us.
You know who we're going to face as the judge? He said, we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The one who died
for us, the one who represented us, the one who intercedes for
us, the one who sits at God's right hand, that's the one we're
going to face. You reckon he's going to mistreat
us when we get there? You reckon he's going to make
us give an account of what we said, what we done, how we acted?
No, he ain't gonna do that because he done put it all away. When
we face him, we're gonna face the one who died for us. And
that's what he said, he had taken my judgment away. Oh, I'll tell you, this judgment
is an awful, and then not only has he taken my judge away, but
he said, judgment away, the Almighty hath vexed my soul. Now what
does that mean? That means he's troubled my soul.
Not only has he took our judgment away, but he's also as to God
who liveth, he comes and he troubles our souls. And you know that
word vex means to trouble. And you know that's one of the
most blessed things God can do for a person in this world is
trouble their soul. I mean, even as believers, even
as believers, one of the blessed things God can do for us, trouble
our soul. If he let us get like Sodom,
fullness of bread, fatness and fullness of bread, we would be
idle. But God will not let us be idle. He'll trouble our souls. You
know why He troubles our souls? To make us keep looking, to make
us keep looking, to make us keep trusting Him. I tell you what,
for God to put His finger in your soul and trouble your soul,
I don't care if you're a believer or an unbeliever. If God comes,
and this is one of the most blessed things in the world, for Him
to trouble your soul where you say, I can't do nothing but seek
Him and I'm not going to rest until I find Him. And that's
what Job said. He's not only taking away my
judgment, but He troubles my soul. He's troubled my soul. Huh? And that's what he's talking
about is, is that God deals with us personally. He said, He took
away my judgment. He has vexed my soul. God has
to do with each and every one of us. And I tell you, He deals
with us, and sometimes He deals with us pretty severe. And I
do know this. That I think it's one of the
most blessed things. You know what? Now I've said this so many
times before, that all God's got to do to chasten us, all
he's got to do to chasten us is just take away his presence. Just take his presence out of
our soul. And leave us to ourselves for
about a week or two, 10 or 12 days, and the next thing you
know, you're not sleeping well. You're not, you're just so troubled,
you're reading, you're praying, you're, oh God, where are you,
where are you, where are you? And you know that's one of the
most, all he got to do to chastise us, just leave us alone. Just
leave us to our own devices. And that's what he says, you
know, said, he had fixed my soul, my soul. And then look what else
he said. You look how near God is to us.
In verse three. All the while, my breath is in
me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils. The Spirit of God is in my nostrils.
What he's saying is this. His breath is my life. His breath
is my life. When God breathed into Adam,
you know when God made Adam, he was just standing there. He's
an inanimate object. He was just a, he was just a
hunk of clay standing there. Hair on his head, eyes in his
head, ears on the side of his head, hands on, he was just standing
there, he was an inanimate object. He couldn't move, he couldn't
live, he couldn't do anything. He had no being until the Lord
Jesus Christ walked up and breathed in his nostrils. Then, then he
started to live. And that's exactly what Job said.
It's by him we live, move, and have our being. His breath is
in my nostrils. By his breath I live. He's not
far from every one of us, is what the apostle said. And I
know this, beloved. God is so near to us, so near
to us. He's called our Father. And He owns us. I love this,
I love this. He owns us. You know, we like,
you like to say, this is my property, and this is my property, and
that's my property, and this belongs to me, and that belongs
to that. But listen, I'll tell you who's, Every one of us is
God's property. He's the proprietor. You say,
who's the proprietor of this place? God. You know, you're going to some
place, proprietor, so and so and me. Well, who's proprietor
of this whole universe? God. Who owns everything in this
world? God. Who owns every soul? God. Who wants to be owned by
God? I do. Oh my, I tell you what, He owns
us body and mind and soul. And I tell you what, we can't
move, we can't live, we can't do anything without Him. We live,
live, move. God is the great, glorious, blessed
reality of our lives. I tell you, He's a reality. He's
a reality. And I tell you, bless His name.
That's why the scripture said, he that cometh to God first must
believe that He is. He is! Moses, you know, and God said,
you go down and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. He started
to worry, he turned around and said, now wait a minute. Who
in the world am I going to say sent me? He said, you tell them
I am that I am has sent you. And that's exactly what God's
a reality. And when God down there and Moses
went down there and told Pharaoh, God said, let my people go. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord?
You know what? He found out. Two or three years later, he
found out. You know what he found out? That he had power to drown
him in the Red Sea. He had power to make him get
on his face before God. He had power to destroy his whole
army. And I tell you, that just goes
to show you God owns it all. You know, people say, I got all
this. He owns the cattle on the thousand hills, the gold in the
mountains. Bless his name, I'm telling you what. And if you
don't believe that he is, You know what he does? He rewards
you. He rewards you. Them that did only seek him,
he rewards you. What does he reward you with? He keeps you,
his self, and everything that goes with him. He told Abraham,
he said, Abraham, he said, listen, you left over there and said,
you know what? He said, you know what I am? He said, I'm your
exceeding great reward. You believe that he is? You know
what reward you get? You get healed. You get healed. That's enough, ain't it? That's enough, that's enough.
All right, then look what we'll talk about some perseverance
here in a minute. Look what he said down here now in verse four. God forbid that I should justify
you. Till I die, I will not remove
my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast
and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me
so long as I live. Now this is what I call perseverance. And what Job is saying, you know
he mentioned one time he says that, he said the Lord knows
the way that I take and when he hath tried me I shall come
forth as gold. And what he's saying is this,
until I die, until I die, I'm going to believe God. I'm going
to trust God. That's what he said. He said,
I'm not going to back up one iota from what God's given me.
I'm not going to back up from what God's taught me. I'm not
going to back up from the righteous God give me. I'm not going to
back up on any way. I'm not going to back up. He
said, whatever happens to me, I'm not going to play a false
person. I'm not going to do it. Whatever happens to me, I'm not
going to be insincere. And I tell you what, here's what
he said. He said, I'm going to hold fast.
That's what we say. You know, Paul said in Hebrews
9, he said, hold fast the beginning of your confidence, from the
beginning of your confidence. Hold fast to that. And what does
that mean? That means cleave to it. Don't
bench from it. Whatever you started out believing
and you believed in Christ and He's all you had and all you
wanted and you started out as a sinner, you're going to continue
as a sinner and you're going to die as someone trusted in
Christ. Christ saves sinners. And that's
what he said, my righteousness. And what he's telling us is,
I don't have a righteousness, the righteousness God gave me,
I'm gonna hold to that. I'm not never gonna look to another
righteousness, I'm not gonna do that. He said, I'm gonna hold
fast. I couldn't hold to my property,
I lost every bit of that. It's gone. I couldn't hold to
my children, I lost all of them. I couldn't come home to my health.
I lost my health. I had a bunch of friends and
now they've all forsooken me. I used to have a reputation and
now I'm slandered everywhere I go. But he said, I'll tell
you what. That righteousness that God gave
me, that God delivers, that right he gave to me, I'm not backing
up from that. I'm going to believe that, I'm
going to hold to that, and I'm going to hold fast to that. I
ain't looking for another righteousness nowhere, no way. And I'm telling
you, he said nobody's going to rob me from it either. You know,
it's like when the apostle said, I fought a good fight. I fought
a good fight. And I kept the faith. I kept
the faith and I finished my course. I finished it. And that's what
Job said. Paul said, I fought. I fought
from the time Christ saved me on the Damascus road. I fought
till the day I finished my course. I fought a good fight. What was
it? A fight of faith. And that's
what Job said. I've got a fight, a fight of faith, and I'm gonna
hold fast to what God's taught me and what God's given me. I'm
gonna do it. And that's why he's also meaning
this. Us, me and Shirley was talking about before I come to
meet him. Do you know why we persevere? You know why we keep
on keeping on? We come to services when we don't
feel like it. When we're weak and weary and
tired. When we've got troubles in our
hearts, troubles in our mind, troubles in our soul, troubles
in the church, people that we love in trouble. You know why
we keep on coming? because Christ perseveres and
will not let us go. And we will not, because of all
that he has done for us, we say by God's grace I'm going to hold
fast to this gospel. I heard old Scott preach one
time out of Judgeon. He said, I've lifted my hand
to God and I cannot go back. And I tell you what, can you
go back? That's why Job said, I'm not
going back. I've lost everything. I lost
my home. I lost my property. I lost my
children. I lost my friends. I lost my
health. But the Lord liveth, and it is
by him that I have it, and his nostrils is the breath in me.
And he gave me a righteousness, and I'm going to hold fast to
there. How long do I hold fast, Job? Till I die. Then you won't
need it anymore. I'll tell you something else
nobody can rob this from us They can't be stolen from us. That's
why the Apostle said I'm persuaded I'm persuaded. I've got this
persuaded. I'm persuaded beyond a shadow
of a doubt that neither life, nor death,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things
to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate me
from the love of God, which is in Christ. Jesus Christ is the
same today, yesterday, and forever, and that's the reason we persevere,
because he perseveres. Bruce Crabtree used to use a
statement all the time. He said, perseverance. He always
talked about perseverance. Somebody told him one time, said,
it's perseverance. He says, no, it's perseverance.
He said, but I have the verus in it, he's got the pre in it.
He's persevered us. It's perseverance, ain't it? We persevere because he perseveres. That's good doctrine. That's
good doctrine, ain't it? That really is. And then, oh,
look what else he says secondly about his perseverance. He said
in verse seven, he said, let my enemy be as the wicked, and
he that rises up against me as the unrighteous. Now Job, you
know, they kept talking about he had to be a very, very wicked
man because he had lost everything. He must have sinned greatly.
And Job told them time and time again, we've seen wicked men
prosper as long as we've been able to live. As long as we've
been able to live, some of the wickedest men in the world and
some of the wealthiest men in the world. The two, three most
wealthiest men in this world as wicked as they can be. You
never hear them talk about God. But then anyway, he said, oh
listen, he said, I'm not gonna never vindicate, let mine enemy
be as the wicked. You know what David said about
it? He said, I hate, I hate them
that hate you. Do you hate people that hate
Christ? He said, I hate them that hate you with a perfect
hatred. Now how in the world can that
be? When you have the righteousness of Christ, and you know the gospel,
and you know the truth, I'm telling you, I know this, that beloved,
you just can't stand the thoughts, just can't stand the thoughts
of dishonoring Christ in any way. And also, let your enemy
be as the wicked. That's what he meant. He said,
I hate them with a perfect hatred. You know, we don't want, when
people lie on God and misrepresent God. Now, I don't know what it
means to have a perfect hatred, but I think it's a hatred that
comes out of a righteous indignation. Our Lord Jesus, you know what? He was harder on lost people
than anybody. Hypocrites, I should say, hypocrites.
He was harder on them than anybody. He looked at the Pharisees. You
know what he called them? Generation Vipers. You're a bunch of vipers. Would you walk in a den a bunch
of vipers? No. Christ did. He looked at
them and said, you're a bunch of hypocrites. You're a bunch of hypocrites.
You know what you look like? You're like this beautiful grave,
got all this green grass all over it, got this big monument
overhead of it. He said, you dig it up and get
all the dirt away from it and open up the casket. You know
what you got? Dead men's bones. Called them liars. He told them
one time, he said, how in the world are you going to escape
the damnation of hell? And they went around talking
about, you know, all the things they'd done. He said, all that,
this well-pleasingness side of men is an abomination in the
sight of God. And that's what it means, you
know, that we hate them with a perfect hatred that hates you.
People that hate God and hate Christ and speak against Him,
oh my. And I tell you, He said, let
the wicked, let the unrighteous, let them be unrighteous that
rise up against Me. And that's what happens, boy,
I tell you. And then look here what he thinks about in verse
8. This is really something right
here. What's the hope of the hypocrite,
though he hath gained, when God taketh away so? What's the hope
of a hypocrite? Proverbs says the hope of the
hypocrite shall perish. You know what a hypocrite is?
You look it up, you look it up, look it up in your concordance,
look it up In your Greek lexicon, look it up. You know what the
word hypocrite means? A play actor. It means you're on stage
playing a role. Playing a role. And that's why
he says that man is playing a role. Playing to being a believer.
Judas played a role for three years. Judas played a role. Demas played a role. He's a hypocrite. And I'll tell you what he says,
what's the hope of the hypocrite? That fellow that's play acting,
that fellow that's putting on, that fellow that's putting on
a show. And though he hath gained, if
he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, what's it
going to profit him? It's like the man, he says, you
know, he said, I've got everything, I've got everything I need, I'm
just gonna sit down and take it easy. And oh, the Lord said,
you fool, your soul's required of you tonight. And then he said,
what's the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained? He hath
gained, he's just got stuff, oh, he's got everything he could
possibly ever want. But watch what happens now, when
God taketh away souls. When God takes away his soul,
that means his life. You know what death is? I don't
care what means it takes. It don't make a bit of difference
what means it takes. Men may say he died in an accident. They may say he died of old age.
He may have died of some disease. But you know what actually happened?
God took his life. God's the only one that can give
it, and he's the only one that can take it. And I don't care
what the secondary means is, and I believe this with all my
heart, and I don't care who it is, it was in my life, it's in
your life, and we have to acknowledge this, and that's what Job said,
the Lord gave, the Lord gave me my children. The Lord gave
me this property. The Lord gave me everything I've
got. The Lord gave me. And he said, well, then not only
does he give, but he turned around and he took it all away. And
it don't make no difference how the secondary cause is. And it
may be a slow, painful death, but I'll tell you what, God is
the only, when a man dies, the Lord took him away. And he said, when that hypocrite,
when he comes to die, and he's got everything, what in the world
is gonna happen to him? I'll tell you, play anywhere,
play anywhere, play church. My two kids, they used to play
preacher, you know, Doogie do the preaching and Lenny do the
shouting. And Daniel Park said he used
to do it with two. And had a little old dog, and
they'd have that little old dog for me, and Doogie be trying
to preach, and Lenny would preach that little old dog to make it
go, weep, weep, weep, weep. Then let's play at them. Let's
play at them. It sounded cute right then and
then. But it ain't so cute now that they're grown. And they
don't have nothing to do with God. And it was real cute then.
But now when you grow up, you can't play at it anymore. Go out in the world and play
all you want to. But boy, when you come to dealing with God
and the things of God and the gospel, and the things of the
scriptures, whatever you do, do not play act. Don't play act, don't do that.
Oh my, God takes the life away. I tell you, a man's life may
flicker just a little bit, but I tell you, there comes a time
when darkness starts coming over his mind. And I do know this,
and he says, secondly, about not only this, the death of the
hypocrite, he'll have no hope. But then in trouble, he says
down there, will God hear his, verse nine, will God hear his
cry when trouble comes upon him? Now you mark it down, trouble's
coming on everybody. Trouble comes on everybody. In
the world and out of the world, believers and unbelievers, trouble
comes to everybody. That's just the way it is. Trouble's
gonna come sooner or later. And he said, well, God hears
his cry. Well, he'd pay attention to this hypocrite. And man, it's
his instinct when he gets in trouble, he starts wanting to
go to God. You know, you've heard of foxhole religion, ain't you?
You ever heard of foxhole religion? Everybody gets it. Then there's
jailhouse religion. Everybody gets that. They get
in jail, they want a preacher to come. They want somebody to
tell for them, want somebody to pray for them. They get religion,
and you know, they accept Jesus, and they got all fixed up until
they get out. And then they forget him. Well,
then will God hear their cry when they get in trouble? Will
they call on God when he gets in trouble? Yes, he will. But
will God hear him? No. No. He said, when their calamity
comes upon them, I won't hear them, I won't hear them. Oh my,
and then, will he have his delight in God? He said in verse 11.
Will he have his delight in God? Will God hear him when troubles,
will God hear his cry? No, no he won't. Will God hear
him when trouble comes upon him? No. And here's the thing, oh
my. God won't hear their prayers,
they won't hear them when they cry, won't hear them when troubled.
And I tell you, he'll cry to God, but God won't listen to
him. God won't answer him. Oh my, God won't hear him. He'll
laugh at his calamity, mock at his fear when his fear come at
him. And he said, will he delight himself in the Almighty? No,
he didn't delight himself in God here. He won't delight himself
upon God when he leaves this world. And I tell you, in order to enjoy God, to enjoy
God. And the greatest reality, let
me wind this thing up. The greatest reality, you know
God's people, they delight in God himself. They delight in
God. They love God for being God.
They delight in God being God. And the greatest reality, the
greatest reality that we have to face in this world is that
God lives. Everything else is just shatter.
It's just a shatter. You know, it's just a shatter.
We're all just, he's the substance, he's the reality. He's the substance. Everybody else, we're just like
a fragile flower. Bring these beautiful flowers
in here, Marlene in the spring, she brings all these flowers
in here in a little while, you take them home, next thing you
know, they start falling apart. Beautiful while they're doing
that. They're like a cloud that just slips past us in the sky. And I tell you, but God is unalterable. He's eternal. He is the reality. And I tell you, the greatest
worth, the greatest worth that there is, is to know God. To know God. To delight yourself
in God. to rest in God, to find the Lord
Jesus Christ to be your everything. Oh, righteousness, that's the
most blessed thing. I tell you, what are kingdoms? What are kingdoms compared to
the God Almighty, to the Lord Jesus Christ? What are kingdoms
compared to it? What is gold compared to what
we have in Christ? What's silver? Somebody told
me you need to buy some silver. What's silver compared to Christ
and His righteousness? What's silver compared to it?
Huh? Oh, you can't value it. It's
just too precious. It's too glorious. It's too blessed. And I tell you this, we go right
back to this. As God liveth. As God liveth. And as long as he lives, everybody
he died for, as long as he lives, we live. When God goes out of
business, we're going out of business. He done right. You reckon he
gonna go out of business? No, he lives. I sang that old
song all day yesterday and today. He lives, he walks with me and
talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, he lives, Christ
Jesus lives today. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Ain't that right? Amen. Oh Lord, you've blessed us again. Oh Lord, in spite of ourselves,
in spite of me, oh Lord, thank you. You're so
kind, you're so gracious, you're so patient, you're so understanding,
you're so long-suffering. And Lord, we come into a living
God, a God who hears us, sees us, knows us, inside and out. And oh God, for those who don't
know Him, our families and our friends and husbands and wives
and children, grandchildren. What a dreadful thing it is that
God lives and they don't know it. So Lord, send your Holy Spirit,
convince them of their great need of Christ. And Lord, bless
these dear, dear saints of God as they go on their way. Please
meet their needs for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. I'm learning to lean, learning
to lean, I'm learning to lean on Jesus. Finding more power than I ever
dreamed. I'm learning to lean on Jesus. Good night. God bless you. Lord
willing, I'll see you Wednesday.