Job is a very, very mysterious
book in so many ways. Got such figurative language
and yet there's so much reality that goes on in it. And I'll
do tonight like I did, have been doing, read about five or six
verses and then comment on as I go. He said in verse one, My
breath is corrupt, my days are extinct. The graves are ready
for me. Are there not mockers with me?
And doeth mine eye continue in their provocation? Lay down now,
put me in assurity with thee. Who is he that will strike hands
with me? For thou hast hid their heart
from understanding, therefore thou shalt not exalt them. He
that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his
children shall fail. He hath also made me a byword
of the people in the foretime as I was a tabret. Mine eye also
is dimmed by reason of sorrow, and all my members are now as
a shadow. You know, Job is addressing God. He's talking to God. talking
to his father, talking to the God that bore witness to what
a wonderful God-fearing man he was. And I tell you, you know,
he started back in verse 21 of chapter 16. He said, oh, that
one might plead for a man with God as a man pleaded for his
neighbor. And you know, I tell you, We
have one that pleads for God with us, and pleads for us before
God, and that's our Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture said he
ever liveth, ever liveth, to make intercession for us. Sometimes
we forget to plead for one another. Sometimes we forget to pray for
one another. Sometimes I forget to even pray,
period, other than just utter a few things from my mind, But
I'll tell you what, Job said, oh, God, break somebody to plead
for me. Ask somebody's your neighbor.
And our Lord said, love your neighbor. One of the things about
the scriptures, it says, love your neighbor as yourself. Well,
I'll tell you somebody that did, that was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, he pleads for us, he loves us, and we know the only time
he'll cease pleading for us, praying for us, and interceding
for us, is when we leave this world. He won't need that anymore,
will we, James? Won't need it anymore, won't
need it anymore. Now here he addresses God Almighty,
and there's three things that he says right off the bat. The
first one is, he says how pitiful he is. He says, my breath is
corrupt, my days are stink, the graves are ready for me. He says,
my breath is corrupt. You know, Peter, I mean, John,
Paul says, you know, that the mouth is full of vipers, you
know, but Job was talking about my breath, my breath, even my
breath. I'm so corrupt that even my breath
is corrupt. And my days are extinct and the
graves are ready for me. And you're talking about language
now. He's talking about, here I am,
I'm just almost extinct. I'm so far gone. I'm such an
old man now that my breath is corrupt. And my spirit is just
so heavy. And my days are almost extinct. They almost cease to exist. And
the graves, when he talks about the graves, he's talking about,
you know, he has two children. And they all were in graves.
He had a father and a mother that's already in the graves.
And he says, the graves are waiting for me. He said, they all got
their place. And I'm gonna go be buried with
my children. I'm gonna go be buried where
my children are buried. The graves where my people are
buried. He said, I'm gonna go and that's where I'm gonna be
buried. The graves are ready for me. They're just waiting
for me. And I tell you what, the graves
is ready for all of us. I mean, you know, we hate to
talk about things like that, but it's ready for all of us.
It's ready for all of us. There's lots of people that didn't
think that they was gonna go to the grave yesterday, and they're
there. A lot of people think they're
not gonna go to the graves tomorrow, but they will. And that's what
Job has said, and the graves are ready for me. All my loved
ones are ready for me. Their graves are ready. My Father's
grave is ready for me. You know, Abraham, long, long
before he died, long before Sarah died, He bought a burial plot. He bought a place to be buried.
And it was in Seacombe. And the man was going to give
him that piece of property. And he said, oh no, no, no, you're
not going to pay for it. And he weighed out the silver.
And when his wife Sarah died, he carried it over there and
buried her. And when he died, his sons carried him over, Isaac
carried him over and buried him. And when Isaac died, they carried
him over there and he had a whole graveyard for nothing but his
family. And that's what Job is saying
here. He says, the graves are ready for me. Oh, we come out
of dust and we're gonna go back to dust. And oh, here's the second
thing he said, talking about how cruel his friends were to
him. He says there in verse two, are
there not mockers with me? He said, you know, last week,
he says, there are miserable comforters, all of them. Miserable
comforters, all of them. And here he says, are they not
mockers with me? As my friends, I said, they mock
me. They make fun of me. They ridicule
me. Oh my, they, you know, it's bad
enough to have aggravating talk. and to mistreat somebody with
words, but to do it continually and constantly the way they did
Job. And that's why he said, oh my,
and he said, I see with my own eyes how they provoke me. How
provocative they are towards me. They're heartless in the
way they treat me. And oh, he said, oh my, there's
mockers, mockers, and there's no place No place. Remember when our Lord was on
the cross? They mocked Him. They mocked Him and said, He
saved others, He can't save Himself. I hear when He said, Eloi, Eloi,
I've been forsaken, I remember God has forsaken me. They said,
He's calling for Elijah. Let's see if Elijah comes save
you. They mocked Him. Mocked Him. It's an awful thing
to be mocked. An awful thing for somebody to
make fun of you and to mock you. And that's what they were doing.
Said, and my eye sees it. I can see it. I can see how they
provoke, how provoking they are. Oh, they just heartless, heartless,
heartless. Then he'll answer the arguments
and then have another one. Have another one. And then look
how prostrate, how low he was. He just prostrated himself before
God. Look down in verse seven. He said, My eye also is dim by
reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. Oh my. He's prostrate before God Almighty. And here he says, my eye is also
dim. I don't see clearly. I can't
see too far in the future. My eye's dim. And the reason
is I'm so sad. I've got so much sorrow of heart.
I have so much grief. I have so much sadness in my
heart that my eye is dim. I can't see past that. I can't
see past my suffering right now. And then he said, oh, listen.
And he said, and all my members, Or as a shadow. What he said
is that I can't even recognize myself and most people wouldn't
recognize me because I have swiveled up to I'm almost nothing. My
body, I'm almost like a skeleton. And when people look at me, they
say, boy, he don't even hardly cast a shadow. He said, I'm a
shadow of my former self. That's what he's talking about.
Just a shadow of what I used to be. And all mine, he said,
I'm just almost sightless with sorrow. And I'll tell you, and
everybody's been through this one time or another. Everybody's
been depressed. Everybody's been discouraged.
Everybody has times where their eyes and all they can see is
what they're going through right then and there. They're dim to
see anything else but your own suffering and your own sorrow.
You can't see past what your sorrow that the heart, you know,
I heard a fellow say the other day, life is hard. He said, very
hard. But here's the thing about it.
He says, when we have such sorrow and such depression and such
despair, and we're so cast down in our hearts and in our minds
that we can't see past where we're at right now. And we're
just like a shadow. And that's what he's talking
about. That's what he's talking about. But Job was not really
like that. He was a man that God said, he
said he's an upright man who fears God and eschews evil. And
for a man like Job that God so commended to be brought so low,
he said, my eyes dim. I'm so sorrowful. I'm so sad. I can't see past it. And then
look what he says here. That was three things. Now look
what he says down here in verse three. He said, lay down now. He said, I'm gonna lay down before
you, Lord. I'm just gonna lay down. I'm gonna lay down here. And put me in assurity with thee.
Who is he that will strike hands with me? Now you know, he knows
that That he can't put God, you know, that he said, Lord, I need
a surety. What he said, I need a surety.
I'm down and I need a surety. Put me with a surety. Come up
with a surety for me. Now, you know what a surety is?
A surety is someone who stands good for somebody else. A surety
is someone who takes responsibility for someone else. Hebrews chapter
7 in verse 19 says this, Christ Jesus has made a mediator of
a better covenant and he is our surety. Now surety means that
he has taken responsibility for something, that's what surety
does. I'll take responsibility for him. I'll take up His cause. I'll become responsible for Him.
And Christ is our surety. He became responsible for us. No, He's never ever left the
sheep to Himself. Never. He's always, and He said,
there's only one surety that God Himself has set up to be
our surety. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I do know this. that if he is our surety, and
he stays good for us. You all remember when they had
the famine in the land, down in Egypt, and Jacob and all his
sons ran out of food. They ran out of food. And they
all had to go down to Egypt to get food. Joseph was the only
one who had food. And they went down there, and
Joseph recognized them, but they didn't know Joseph. And so Joseph
got down there, and he sent him off with a bunch of food, and
he asked about the family. He said, oh, we got one brother
that's not. Talking about Joseph. And we've
got one brother that's younger, and he's the Benjamin, the son
of my father's right hand. He loves it. And he said, now
listen, I'm gonna send you home. And you bring Benjamin, your
little brother, bring him back down here with you. If you don't
bring him back down with you, don't come. I will give you nothing. Well, they went and told his
daddy when he got up there, said when they got hungry again, they
ran out of food again, and they had to go say, go back down there
and get us some meat. Go back down and get us some
bread. Go back and get us some corn. And he said, we can't go
back unless we take Benjamin. He told us he wouldn't receive
us. He wouldn't give us nothing to eat unless we take Benjamin.
Oh, Jacob, oh my goodness, bless his heart. He said, oh, Joseph's
already gone, and are you gonna take the son, my baby away from
him? That's what he was, he was his
baby. He was the son of his right hand, you gonna take Benjamin
away? And you know what Judah said to him? And Judah is the
tribe our Lord Jesus Christ come from. The kingly tribe. You know
what Judah said? He said, Father, I'll be surety
for him. If I don't bring him back, I'll
be responsible for him. If I don't bring him back, charge
it to me. I'll be responsible for him.
And guess what? He brought him back. And that's what Christ does.
That's what Job said, I need a surety. I need somebody to
stand good for me. He said, I need somebody to plead
with God for me. And oh my. And I tell you what, that's why
with Christ as our surety, the scripture said, if Christ be
false, who is he that condemneth? Huh? If God be for us, who's
he that condemneth? If Christ's for me, I tell you
there's nothing that can condemn us. And that's what he's talking
about here. And then look what else he says
about it. Oh my. Look what he says there in verse
four. He said, oh, I need somebody
to strike hands with me. That's said in verse three. Somebody
enter into a covenant with me. Somebody to join with me. Somebody
that'll let me, you know, that'll take my call, strike hands with
me and enter into a covenant with me. You know who struck
hands? God the Father and God the Son. They struck hands. Bless his name. I'm thankful
that they struck hands in the eternal covenant of grace and
saved us by that grace. Then look what he says in verse
four. For thou hast hid their heart
from understanding, therefore thou shalt not exalt them. Did
you notice what he said? He said, God, Father, you've
hid their heart from understanding. I read that to you this morning.
Where Isaiah, when he saw his glory, said, they could not believe. Why couldn't they believe? For
God blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts, that they couldn't
see, and they couldn't perceive, and they couldn't understand.
He said, that's what you've done to these fellows right here.
That's what you've done to these men that's so against me and
despises me and mocks me. You've hid their heart from understanding.
They don't understand you. And I know one person they don't
understand. They don't understand me. They
don't have a clue where I'm at. And this is something that we
all need to understand. Nobody knows exactly what's going
on in somebody else at any given time. And that's the way it was
with Job. He said, listen, he says, Their
heart, they've hid their heart from understanding. And you're
not going to exalt somebody, and here's the thing. A man may come to a service,
and be around people, and he may be as empty, or may be as
depressed, he may be as hard-hearted, he may be having troubles in
his home, he may be concerned about some death that's coming
up. We don't know what anybody's going through at any given time.
And I thank God that he's here. I've told you this before. Somebody
wrote one time, said, I wish that, you know, that God would
open our hearts so we could see one another. Oh, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no. Oh, no, as none of us, I don't
know what's going on in your heart and soul right this minute.
I don't know what you dealt with this afternoon. I don't know
what you'll deal with tomorrow. I don't know what goes on in
your heart and your mind and your soul. I don't know how low
you get, I don't know how high you get. I don't know how sick
you get, I don't know how depressed you get, I don't know how joyful
you get. And I thank God that God's hid
that from our understanding. And that's what he's saying here.
He said, you've hid those hearts. These men, they don't know God,
they don't know me, they don't understand the things of God
himself. And since that's true, you're
not gonna exalt him. And then look what he says here
next in verse, Verse five, and Steve read this in the study
tonight about flattering. He that flattereth his neighbors
spreadeth a net for his feet. And he that speaketh flattery
to his friends. And that's where they started
out. They started out flattering, Job. They started out flattering. And then just in a little while,
the flattery stopped. He said, and the children's eyes
fell because if they speak flattery and they spread a net for his
friends, and he said, the children's eyes will do the same thing.
They'll fail to understand what somebody's going through. They'll
fail just like everybody else. They'll go around flattering
people and not have no heart to it, not have no honesty in
it, not have no integrity in it. And oh, this is a sad thing
right here. Look what he says now. In verse
six, he hath also made me a byword of the people. Oh, made me a byword of the people.
You remember that fellow Job? Yeah, I remember him, yeah. Boy,
I tell you, ain't much to him, are they? Ain't much to him.
He made him a byword of the people. Oh my, made him a byword. and all Baha'is have said is
you makes him a byword and it made him a proverb. People, he
didn't have to You know, that's the way our Lord Jesus Christ
made him somebody to be despised and rejected. And he said, they
made me also a byword of the people, somebody that they don't
even take concern about anymore, don't care anything about anymore.
And look what he said. Before time, I was a tablet. Before time, I was like music
to them. Before time, I was like a person who made music. And they would sit and listen
to me make music. And they enjoyed that music.
And now I'm just a byword. I'm just a byword. I'm just a
byword. And look at this one right here.
I'm gonna bring a whole message on this one here. Here real,
real soon. Verse nine. Excuse me, verse
eight. Let's go back to verse eight. Upright men shall be astonished
at thee. And the innocent shall stir up
himself against the hypocrite." Men that are upright, when they
see Job in the situation he's in, lost everything that he had. Lost everything that he had.
Had a bunch of miserable comforts. Men that he said, wisdom's gonna
die with them. He says this, he says, you know,
he said, people when they look at you, they're gonna be astonished.
And those who know that I'm innocent, they're gonna stir themselves
up against the hypocrite. That hypocrite, and there's nothing
worse than a hypocrite, a play actor, pretending to be something
they're not. And that's what he said. They'll
even stir up their self against these hypocrites. Now listen
to this one right here. The righteous shall hold on his
way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Oh my. What does it mean the
righteous shall hold on his way? What does it mean the righteous
shall hold on his way? Well, that means just that. A
righteous man, he's going to hold his way. He's not going
to go this way, he's not going to go that way, he's going to
go that way. Our Lord made straight paths for our feet. He made the
gate narrow, he made the way narrow, and we're gonna go the
way he pointed out for us to go. And that's why Paul said,
don't you be cause to and fro. But here we are, he said, the
righteous shall hold on his way. I mean, you know why so many
people don't hold on their way? You know why so many people,
and I've got a little thing that I read by C.H. McIntosh the other
day. This person asked him, said,
how do we persevere? How do you define perseverance?
He said, well, if you look at yourself, you're gonna look at
the wrong place. So if you wanna look where perseverance
is, you gotta look to Christ because he's the one that perseveres. He perseveres with us. He perseveres
with their minds. He perseveres with their nature.
He perseveres with their thoughts. He perseveres in our weakness
and our inability. He perseveres with us. And he said we're the righteous
shall hold on his way. I want you to look in Psalm 24.
Look at Psalm 24. Look over here with me. He said, he that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, Now, I'll tell you something. The righteous
is gonna hold on his way. The righteous is gonna hold on
his way. But look what he said here in
verse three of Psalm 24. Why would we hold on our way?
Where do we get clean hands? Where would we get a pure heart?
Who shall ascend, in verse three, who shall ascend in the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? That's a good question, ain't
it? And we're gonna go up there one of these days. We're gonna
ascend up there where the Lord is. And one of these days we'll
stand in his holy place. But here's what the requirements
is. Here's what the requirements is. He that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, which hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully. Well, that leaves me out. That
leaves me out. That disqualifies me that quick.
I ain't got clean hands. I certainly, in and of myself,
don't have a pure heart. And it says, that man that's
this way, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness
from the God of his salvation. This is the generation that seek
him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads. This tells
you who it is. This has to be Christ, it can't
be nobody else. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory
shall come in, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in
battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
even lift them up, Christ is coming. Christ is coming, the
King is coming. Well, who is this King? The Lord
of hosts. And I tell you, do you know why
we'll get to go? Because he had the clean hands,
he had the pure heart, he never lifted his soul up to vanity,
and there was no guile in his mouth. Oh my, then I want you to see
over here in Job 23 and 10. Look at this with me. Job 23 and 10. Talking about
the righteous shall hold on his way. He that hath clean hands, And look what he said here in
verse 10. But he, God, knows the way that I take. He knows
the way, and that's the righteous holdin' on his way. When he hath
tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Said, oh, he knows the
way that I take. God knows the way that I take
it. And when he's done with me, I'm gonna be gold when he gets
through with me. And ain't that what Peter says,
the faith, the trying of your faith is much more precious than
of gold, though it be tried with fire. And then Job goes on to
say, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger
and stronger. You know, in Christ, we become
stronger and stronger and stronger. How we become stronger? Well,
I hope we become stronger in faith. Hope we become stronger
in faith. I certainly hope we become stronger
in charity, in love. And then he talks about his friends
and he talks to his friends here in verse 10. But as for you all, as for you
all, as for you all, that's what he
got contempt for him here. He feels such contempt for him.
But as for you all, do you return? Are you going
to turn around? Are you going to change the way
you talk to me? Are you going to turn around and apologize? Are you going to turn around
and just return with the same words, the same sentences, the
same mockery, the same accusations? And you're going to come now
He said, I'll tell you one thing, and there you are, I can't find
one wise man among you. You fellas think you're smart?
He said, I can't find a wise man among you. There's not a
wise one among you. Oh my, I can't find a wise man.
And oh, he says, you gonna return and say you're sorry, or you
gonna return just the same old way? And I tell you what, They
concluded, that's why he says, and they said, you gonna return
now? You gonna come with the same old arguments? They concluded
that the reason Job suffered so greatly, because he was such
a great, great sinner. And Bildad's gonna say the same
thing next time we look at it. And I tell you, in his inmost
soul, he knew before God himself that that wasn't so. That wasn't
so. That wasn't so. All right, then
look what he says to himself. He's gonna turn around and start
talking to himself. It does us good to talk to ourself every
once in a while. Now it really does. You know, preach to yourselves. Preach to yourselves. You know,
when you get in a situation, just start preaching to yourself.
You know, you say something, and I say that all the time,
I say, Donny, why in the world would you do such a dumb thing?
Why'd you do something so stupid? And then I'll preach to myself. Straighten up and fly right.
That's not what I tell myself to do. I'll preach to myself, oh, God,
please. Please. I preached to myself and said,
what the world's wrong with you that you're so cold? Preached
to myself, oh, why is my soul so cast down within me? Preached
to myself, oh Lord, why am I so low? And I, when the scripture
says that God, you're my present help in a time of trouble. Why are you so empty? Why, why,
why, why? And so Job begins to speak to
himself. He begins to address himself.
And I tell you, you know what he's talking about more than
anything else? Is how short a time he's got left on the earth. He
says in verse 11, my days are past. What he says, my best days,
my strengthening days, my glory days, the best days I've ever
known are past me now. Past me, the days of my strength
are gone now. And he says, my purposes are
broken off. Everybody has purposes. When
you're young, your purpose to get, first thing you want to
do is get a good job when you get old enough. Get a good job.
Your purpose is to have a good job. And then your purpose ought
to have a good wife. And then purpose to have a family.
And your purpose to be good to people, your purpose to be kind
to people, your purpose to take care of your things that you
have. You have all these purposes that you have. And everybody's
got purposes. But he says, all my purposes
are over. They're over. They're over. I got no more purpose. He said,
even the thoughts in my heart. Oh my. Frustration, all my purposes
are broken. Oh, we all have purposes, oh
my goodness. Oh my, but I'll tell you one
person that's got, that had a purpose, and his purposes is always carried
out, and that's the purposes of God Almighty. Ain't you glad
what he does? He does on purpose. He overrides
our purposes sometimes. Our purposes don't amount to
much, but his amounts to everything, everything. And then look what
he says, and even the thoughts of my mind, he said, they're
gone. And look what he says now. It
said, they clouded his soul. Look what he said in verse 12.
He says, you know, when I look at these things, they changed
the night into day. I said these dark things he said
listen one of these days my night's gonna be like a daylight I'm
gonna go be with Christ. I'm gonna get out of this man.
My life is short Because of darkness with me But the nightness is
gonna be just like the daylight. Oh My and that's the way it is. He said the change. Oh listen
Where the darkness is, the glory to be took into the light to
be with Christ. Look what he said in verse 13. Verse 13. Look what he says. You know, we live in the valley
of the shadow of death. We've lived our whole lives in
the valley of the shadow of death. We've lived our whole lives in
the valley of the shadow of death. And we're in the valley of the
shadow of death right now. And you know what David said
when he lived in the valley of the shadow of death? He said,
I fear no evil. Why? Thou art with me. Thou art
with me. I don't fear this thing because
they're with me. That's what Job said. I don't
fear this thing because you're with me. And that shadow can't
hurt you. That's why it says my night turned
into daylight. When I think about it, and then
look what he said, in verse 13, if I wait, if I wait long enough,
and all I tell you, if I wait, it's just a matter of waiting,
the grave is my house. Oh my, the grave is my house. That's gonna be my long, long
home. I made my bed in darkness. Oh
my. I'm going to go to my long home.
I'm going to go to that place where the light can't get anymore.
And this is astonishing to me. Look what he says next. I've said to corruption, you're my father. Corruption, you're my father.
No wonder Paul said, in my flesh dwells no good thing. No wonder,
he says, when I would do good, evil's present with me. God said to Abraham, look to
the hill from which you, the rock from which you hewn, the
hill from which you brought forth. And oh, he said, I said to corruption,
you're my father. And I tell you, he says, you
know, my body's going to be corrupt. And he said, I'm going to say
to the worm, to the worm, you're my mother
and you're my sister. Oh, my. You know what he said over in
24, 25, over there somewhere? He says
this, he said, after skin worms devour this body, then in my
flesh I shall see my Redeemer who shall stand on the earth
in the latter days. And that's what he's saying here.
Let me tell you something about what Christ said one time. And
he called Jacob a worm. People don't like to be called
worms. But I had no problem with it. You know what Christ said
about himself? And we wouldn't say this unless
it was written down about him. Christ spoke of himself like
this, I am a worm and no man. He identified with us in such
a way. I'm just like them. I'm a worm
and no man. Would you say that about Christ?
No. But he said that about himself.
Oh thou worm, Jacob. And I tell you what, and I heard
Brother Henry say this years and years ago. He says, when
these people start bragging about themselves and bragging about
what they've done and what they've accomplished, he said, it's just
one worm bragging on another worm. He said, we're all worms. What can one worm brag about
being a worm? I'm a better worm than that worm.
And that's what Job said. He said, I'm going to be a worm.
Worm, the worm is my mama. Worm is my sister. And then he said down here, now,
oh my. You know, the grave's my long
home, my final resting place. And that's one thing, bless the
Lord, that when we go there, when we go there, nobody can
go with us. Nobody can speak to us. Nobody
can answer us. Nobody can deal with us. The
last place you can go with a person is when you leave them in their
casket in a grave. And when you walk away and leave
that, that's the last place you can leave them. And that's what
Job said, that's my final place. And then he said, where now is
my hope? Where is now my hope? And as
for my hope, who shall see it? Oh, that's why it says, dust
you are, God said, and dust you're going to return. Job's at the
end of his earthly hopes. You know, he had ten children
he had wonderful hope in. He had a beautiful home that
he enjoyed immensely. He had more money than he could
ever spend. He had property everywhere. And he said, all my worldly hopes
are gone. Gone. They're all gone. Where is mine now, my hope? Oh
my. He said, who shall see it? He
said, I tell you what, who shall see it? I tell you, I see my hope. I
see my hope the only place it's at, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's my hope, and that's who I, and he's the one that sees
it as my hope. And then look what he says, it's
all the end of his earthly hopes. And he said, they shall go down,
all my hopes, everything that I've had in this world, everything
that I hoped in this world, they're all gone now. They shall go down
to the bars of the pit when our rest is together in the dust.
Oh my. When you leave there, everything you ever had a hope
in is over and done with. You say, that's awful morbid.
No, no, no it ain't. No, no, no. I've been to too many, I've seen
too many goals and had too many to do it. And I'll tell you what,
when that comes, everything that they ever had thought of, Since
no more. And that's why, that's why we
have to have a hope outside ourselves. If you die, if you die in this
world without Christ, without any hope in Him, you know, Timothy
said Christ, let me show you that. Let me look over a second
Timothy 1. Excuse me, I think it's 1 Timothy. I'll find it
for you, and I'll read it to you. Let me find this for you
right quick. Talking about hope. Talking about
hope. Let's see. Let me see if I can
find it. Yeah, here it is. Let me read
this to you. In Titus, I'll read it to you.
Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, listen to this,
according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledged truth
which is after Godliness, listen, in the hope of eternal life,
which God, that cannot lie, promised. You know when he promised it?
Before the world began. Huh? You can face this old dark
world. You can face this grave. You can face the troubles. You
can face the sorrows. You can face when your eyes grow
dim. You can face it all if you know Christ. And not bite your
fingernails off to the quick. Being nervous. Scared to death. Scared to death. Oh my. You know, When people
get ready to go, they want to say, well, do you want something
to ease your anxiety? Ease your anxiety? I've seen
people do that, especially in the hospital. Do you want something
to ease your anxiety? I ain't got no anxiety. What do I need
something to ease my anxiety? What do I got to be anxious about
to have anxiety? Oh, bye.