You'll notice that there's three
questions that Job asked in this particular chapter. Three questions. Absolutely vital questions. And the first one's in verse
4. Look there in verse 4. Here's
the first question. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean one? The second question is down in
verse 10. Man dieth and wasteth away, yea
men giveth up the ghost. And where is he? When a man dies,
where is he? When he gives up the ghost, where
is he? And then verse 14 is the third question. If a man die,
shall he live again? Three very, very vital and important
questions. And I tell you what, when we
deal with these three questions, we'll find out that the answer
to all three of these questions is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The answer to every one of them
is in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And I just deal with this first
question. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing?
Who can do that? Who can do that? Look here at
verse 1 with me. Who can bring a clean thing out
of something that's unclean? Now you imagine something filthy
and dirty and nasty and unclean. How are you going to get something
clean out of it? If there's nothing clean in it. If it's unclean
itself. And that's why he said here,
man that's born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. You see that's where it all started
at. That's where it started. It started
with our mothers. We're mothers and fathers. We're
the product, we're the offspring of our natural sinful parents.
And that's what I, you know, a sinful parent can't produce
nothing but a sinful child. And that's the way it is. And
I tell you what, we're the product, we're the offspring of our sinful
parents. The first man, Adam, is the only
man not born of a woman. The only man not born of a woman. And God made him out of the dust
and made him into his own image. Well, Adam defaced that image
of God when he disobeyed Him and ate of the fruit and he fell.
He fell. He fell from his standing with
God. He fell from his righteousness. He fell from sinlessness and
fell all the way down to the bottom and became a sinner. An
awful sinful creature. Sin entered this world by one
man. That's one of the greatest, you
know, people, where does sin come from? It comes through one
man. And since that day, since sin entered this world, sin has
come upon every soul that's ever been born into this world. Ever
been born into this world. And all men are born of woman.
That's what he said, he that's born of a woman. You know, they're
all, all sin for weak. We're born in sin. We're born
frail. We're born like dust. We have
an evil nature. David said in sin did my mother
conceive me. Oh my! Now that don't mean that
he was born out of wedlock. He says my mother was a sinner
and she couldn't produce nothing but a sinner like me. That's
what he's talking about. The wicked go astray from the
womb speaking lies. And sinful parents produce sinful
offspring. And I'm thankful that my children
ain't no worse than they are. Because I know me, they would
be... How bad could they possibly be, being my children? You say,
well, my kids wouldn't do this. Well, listen. Not only won't
they do it, but I've done it. Huh? Then look what he says. He said, there's a few days in
full of trouble. You know, before the flood, men
lived hundreds and hundreds of years. Adam lived 600 years.
Noah lived 600 years. Methuselah lived 979 years. How did those folks live so long?
Well, God was replenishing the earth and of course the curse
hadn't fully brought effect upon the earth yet. But before the
flood came, men lived hundreds and hundreds of years. But after
Moses came, Since the days of Moses, men's years are, the scripture
said in Psalm 90, he has three score and ten unless God gives
him strength. Seventy years is what the scripture
says. But I tell you what, those who
live the longest, I've known some folks live a long time.
Those who live the longest live only just a few days. He said,
man, this boredom woman is of a few days, just a few days. I thought of that today sitting
there thinking, I can remember being a teenager. I can remember
so many things I've done when I was a teenager. I can remember
what I was like when I was 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. I can remember so many things.
And how did I get from there to here? Because you know that's just
been a few days. Man that's born of a woman is
a few days. And I don't care how long a man
compared to eternity, it's just a very few days. And I know this
man that's born, man is born to trouble. Scott used to say
there's three places a believer is at all times. He's either
in trouble, coming out of trouble, or going into trouble. And I'll
tell you that's what he's talking about. You know why you know
what man is born in trouble? Man has trouble because of sin. Sin, that's why it is. He's born
in sin. Sin and trouble go together.
If you didn't have no sin, you wouldn't have no trouble. That's
why we look forward to getting out of this world because when
we leave here, we leave trouble and we leave sin behind. And
that's what we have trouble for, because of sin. And I tell you,
sin and trouble go together. Sin, uncleanness, death, trouble
live in and with this man that's born of a woman and will until
they throw dirt on him one of these days. Then look what he
says there in verse 2. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unthinked? Well, I tell you, man that's
born of a woman can't. Then Luke said, he cometh forth
like a flower. and is cut down. He flith also
as a shadow, and continueth not." You know, the flower comes up
out of the earth. Beautiful. Beautiful. And I love
flowers. Man, we've had a lot of flowers
in our lifetime. We'll raise so many flowers.
And that's the way man is. As a flower comes out of the
earth, man comes up out of the earth. God brought him out of
the earth. And He brought him out of dust,
and He's going to take him back to dust. and as that flower flourishes
and looks so pretty and looks so bright and looks so glorious
you know people all the time you say I want some of those
flowers and I want some of those flowers and they'll come and
they'll dig up those flowers and say I want all of them so
pretty and I don't care how long they last they don't last no
time and that's the way a man is that flower flourishes and
is so beautiful and so pretty and man's like that flower He
soon withers and he soon dies. And I tell you, look what else
it says about him. He flith also as a shatter and
continueth not. You know how much substance we
got? How much substance does a shatter have? Shatter, can you reach and touch
a shatter? That's what he said here. That's
what I said. He fleeth off. You know how long a shadow lasts?
He fleeth out of the shadow and continues not. A shadow is just
an empty thing. It's dark. Don't have any substance
to it. It's uncertain and it passes
away so quickly. And that resembles the life of
a man. James said it like this in James
chapter 4 verse 14. What is your life? What is your
life? It appears as a vapor. It appears as a vapor for a short
time and then vanishes away. Vanishes away. I never will forget,
I've told this before. Years ago I was preaching and
Herman was still here and I got to preaching one time and I said,
who in the world would want to live until they're 85? Herman
lifted his hand and said, I do. We got folks here that's approaching
that age and some past that age. And he lived quite a while after
85. Quite a while after 85. But yet
that 92 years that he lived, he said it's just a snap of a
finger. Snap of a finger. Oh my. Then Job comes down here
to verse 3. He's been describing man that's
been born of a woman. And he's been talking about what
other people are like. Then he begins to address himself. And he talks about himself before
God. And he's talking about himself
and he asks this question. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such a one, and bringest me into judgment? Lord, do you
open your eyes and look upon, look upon such a person as me? Huh? Unclean, worthless, Just
a piece of clay, temporary piece of clay. Do you care about me? Think about me? Consider about
me? Do you observe my ways? When
I'm so far beneath you and I tell you nobody can contend with you.
Can't contend with you. Oh my! And look what David says. Look over here in the Psalm.
Look in Psalm 8. Look in Psalm 8. Look what David
says. David says the same thing. That's
why Job said, Lord, oh my, do you consider me, you look on
me such a worm as myself? Clean, unclean, worthless? Do you put your eyes on me? Look
what David said in verse 3. When I consider the heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou
hast ordained, I look up and see everything that you've done. And then I look at myself and
I say, what is man that you even think about him? Why would you
be mindful of him? And then not only that, that
you would visit that man. that you would visit him. And
that's what Job's talking about. And that's why back over here
in chapter 14, he said, Lord, do you bring me into judgment
with you? Oh my! I can't contend with you. When you bring me into judgment,
what have I got to say? What can I say about myself?
What can I do about myself? Huh? And I tell you what, when
a man wants to stand before God, and stand before God on the basis
of justice and judgment, he can't stand there, he can't contend
with God. The only way a man can contend with God is through
the Lord Jesus Christ, and let Him do all you contend. Yeah. Man, I tell you what, man does
not even deserve to be considered by God. I tell you, he don't
even deserve to be considered by God, and yet he does. And I tell you, that's, we'll
go back to that first question there in verse 4. Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. We're born unclean,
we'll live unclean, and we'll die unclean in God's sight. So
how in the world can a man be clean that's born of a woman?
Huh? Look in Job 15 there. Let me
just show you two things before I get to my point about Christ.
But look there in verse 14. Job chapter 15 verse 14. What
is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman
that he should be righteous. Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthiest man which drinketh iniquity like water. Now look
in Job chapter 25. Man wants to talk about all their
accomplishments and what they are. Oh my. Well, compared to
one another, we come out good, but compared with God, that's
another story. Look what he says here in verse
four. How then can man be justified with God? How can he be clean
that's born of a woman? He said, look at the moon and
it don't even shine. The stars are not pure in his
sight. How much less is man, that is
a worm, and the Son of Man, which is a worm. People don't like to be called
worms. When I read that today, I was looking at that today,
it brought tears to my eyes. I'm glad to be a worm, as long
as I'm God's worm. It don't bother me a bit to be
called a worm. It really doesn't. Oh, thou worm,
Jacob. You know what else God said about
Jacob? Jacob hath not loved. I'm like that dog. As long as
I'm the Lord's dog, I don't care. I'll be a worm. as long as I'm
the Lord's worm. Oh, I'll take my place there.
I'll take my place in the dust where worms are supposed to stay.
But oh, I'll tell you what, how can He be clean born of a woman?
Well, you know how a man can be clean? The answer is found
only in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and our Savior.
You see, our Lord Jesus Christ, He entered into a covenant of
God for us. For those that were born unclean,
those that were born of a woman. And He's the surety of a better
covenant. Established upon much better
promises. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
was born of a woman. Without a man, He was born of
a woman. And you know what? He was born of a woman so He
could come into this world and represent us before God. Job said, Oh Lord, are you going
to bring me into judgment with these? Set your eyes on me. Christ
said, Set your eyes on me. Bring me into judgment. Bring
me into judgment for their places. Oh my, our Lord had no human
fathers born of a woman. So that makes him without the
sin of Adam our Lord Jesus Christ was sinless spotless holy harmless
undefiled separate from sinners Huh? Oh My bless his holy name
and he born of a woman so that when he come here he could represent
us You know we have represented. I know who my representative
is in this this district. I I have a representative that
goes to Washington D.C. and I've got two senators that
are supposed to go up there and represent us. I couldn't get him on the
phone for love nor money. But I've got a representative
before God Almighty that came here and represented me and represented
all of his elect before God, before law, before justice. before death, before hell, and
before everything that was against Him. He represented us before
God. And you know what? I get a hold
of Him anytime I want to. He never tells me no. Huh? And He wasn't elected to
office and He can't be put out either. You know who the elect are? We
are. We are, huh? And our Lord Jesus,
by His blessed, glorious obedience while He was in this flesh, He
came and imputed to us holiness, sanctification, righteousness,
huh? And you know talking about bringing
a clean thing out of an unclean? You know how persons make clean?
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses what from? All sin. And then He presents us holy
and without blame and flawless before Him in love. He hath perfected,
Hebrews 10, 14, this is one of my favorite verses, listen, He
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. That's a long
time. Oh my, now let's go down here
in verse 7, let's go on down through here now, Job chapter
14. Let's go with it a little bit. And oh my, so in verse 5,
excuse me, verse 7 says this, When a man's cut down, there's hope of a tree if it
be cut down, that it'll sprout again, and that the tender branch
thereof shall not cease. And I've cut down lots and lots
of trees in my lifetime. I've cut lots of them down. And
though the roots thereof get old in the earth, and the stalk
there have died on the ground. You send a little water on it,
send a little rain on it and there will be a bud coming up
off of that old stump and the next thing you know you've got
several sprouts and the next thing you know you've got a tree
growing up again. And that's what he said, it will
bring forth bulbs like a tree. You know if a tree is cut down There is more hope of a tree
than a man without God. Oh, the sun will shine, it will
bud and grow again. Grow again. But look what he
said in verse 10. But man dieth, man dieth, and
wasteth away, cut off. Yea, men giveth up the ghost,
and where is he? There's the second question.
Where is he? If a man dies and wastes away, where is he? Now, we die. We're all going
to die. There's no getting around that.
They take us and they go burying us in the ground. About everybody
here in this building tonight, I don't know if some of you have
it or not, but almost all of us have already picked out our
burial sites. Already picked them out. And
it don't bother me to go look at where I'm going to be buried.
It does not bother me a bit. I said, that's right there is
where they're going to put me. That don't upset me, don't make me
bite my fingernails at all that day. No, no. No, no. We die and we're buried in the
ground. And we go back to the dust from where we come. There
ain't going to be no revival of life. They ain't going to
get you back up. No, no. The scripture said in Ecclesiastes,
man giveth up the spirit. Life is utterly and absolutely
gone. Where is he? Where is he? The only answer you can find
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Where is he? Where is he? Our Lord said to that believing
thief, you know what he said? Lord remember me when you come
into your kingdom. He said, Today. Today. Where is he going to go? He is
going to die. They are going to bury him. And there ain't
going to be nothing. Nobody is going to go there and
raise him up like Lazarus was. But the Lord says today you shall
be with me in paradise. The believer who dies and goes
to be with the Lord Jesus Christ his body goes to the dust but
his soul goes to God who gave it to be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord is what the Apostle says and
I tell you what you know when the scriptures tells us that
after this earthly tabernacle, tent is what it's called, after
this tent be dissolved, we have a building, listen to it now,
a building of God, not made with hands, where's it at? Eternal in the heavens. Where is He? If you're in Christ,
you're with Him. That's what we say about everybody
that goes. They've gone to be with the Lord.
They've gone to be with Christ. They've gone to be with Him.
Oh my. Oh Elijah and Moses came back
and they had a form. They had a body. They had a form.
And they talked with the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter, James,
and John knew who they were. And Shirley and I was talking
about this the other day, when we get to glory, now if I go
before you do or you go before I do, listen, we won't know nothing
about this world here, nothing whatsoever. But I do know this,
that when we get there, we're going to recognize We're going
to recognize Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Paul, Peter, John. We're going to recognize all
them people. How do you think Peter, John, James recognized
the dead Moses and Elijah? Never had seen them before. God
gave them eyes to see who they was. And the scripture says that
we shall sit down to eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We're
going to sit down at the table and eat with those men. Huh? And you know what? They take
the same faith that God gave Abraham that he believed God
and he imputed it to him for righteousness. We have exactly
the same faith Abraham has. Exactly the same faith. Oh boy,
I tell you, I get on this business, it's going to be, oh my. But you know, I don't care about
sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though that's going
to be a wonderful experience. But the most greatest experience
this is going to have is to be and see and enjoy the Lord Jesus
Christ forever. The sun was shining bright today. But I tell you what, when we
get the glory of this sun out here, it just ceases to be. You
know what will be the light of heaven? It won't need no sun
there. You know why? Because Christ
is the light of it. That's how gloriously bright
He shines. That He's like the sun shining in His bright. Oh,
that's a wonderful thing to think about, ain't it? Oh boy, I tell
you the only thing that's going to make heaven, heaven is Christ. The only thing that's going to
make heaven, heaven is Christ. That's the only thing. And every
believer, that's all they're interested in. Is to go be with
the Lord. Yeah, go be with the Lord. And
alright, now look what else he says here. Now here's the first,
look in verse 12. So man lies down and rises not
until the heavens dim in him more. They shall not awake nor
be raised out of the sleep. So he lies down in the grave
and he dies and he rises not. He don't come from the grave
back into the world. And the place where he was and
as he was, man will die and never live again as to this natural
life is what he's talking about. He won't live again like in this
natural life. And look right there in verse
13. I tell you what, he said, you won't come back to this natural
life. And I listen to this now. Oh,
that there was hide, Joe said, hide me in the grave. Hide me
in the grave. And keep me there Keep me secret
until your wrath be passed. And listen to this now. And that thou was to appoint
me a set time. What set time? A time for him
to come out of there. A time for him to go be with
Christ. And look what else he says. Appoint
me a set time and remember me. remember me. Set me in time. Keep me down here in secret.
Put me in the grave. Hide me there. Hide me there.
And you set me in time. When it's time. And then remember
me. Oh, God remembers. Knows right where you're at.
Oh my. And oh, if a man dies, shall
he live again? Then in verse 14, look what he
says now. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Oh yes, he shall. Oh yes, he
shall. Oh yes, those that are in the
Lord Jesus Christ have the promise of a blessed, glorious resurrection
unto eternal life. Our Lord said, because I live,
because I live, you shall live also, said the Lord. Our Lord
Jesus died and He rose again. He rose again and He tells us
that Beloved as He died and as He rose again we died with Him
and rose again with Him because we are in such union with Him.
And you know what else He said? He said, it doeth not yet appear
what we shall be. But we do know this that when
He appears we shall seem as He is And you know what the next
line says? We shall be just like Him. Whatever body He had when He
appeared to those disciples, that's the body we're going to
have. They said, Oh Lord, did you know they asked Him about
His resurrection? And they said, Oh, I'm not a spirit. Touch me,
touch me. Spirit don't have flesh and bones.
He never said nothing about blood. Flesh and bones. He said, you got anything here
to eat? Yeah, he had a body and he ate
in that body. Oh my. Well, we're going to be
just like him. Going to be just like him. As
in Adam we die, in Christ shall we all be made alive. Oh my. Listen. How are the dead raised? Paul said there's lots of bodies.
Lots of bodies. There's heavenly bodies. There's
terrestrial bodies. There's bodies that come out
of plants. There's bodies that come out of the sea. All kinds
of bodies. But he said, I do not have you
to be ignorant. Concerning them which are asleep. He said, we'll
go. Right now we got a corruptible
body and it'll be buried. It'll come up incorruptible.
Right now we have a mortal body, but we're going to be raised
immortal. Then we're going to look back at the grave and say,
oh grave where is our victory? We're going to look at death
and say, if we're in the world, you're a stingo. Ain't got one, Christ took it
out. I know you, Christ himself is
the resurrection of life. You can't be in Christ and not
have life. If we believe him, we ain't never
going to die. This body is, but we ain't. When our Lord Jesus died, we
died with Him. Crucified with Him. When He arose,
the Scriptures tell us we raised up with Him. And when He ascended
to glory and sat down at the right hand, the Scriptures tell
us that we seated together with Him in the heavenly places. Now
this old body is going to sleep. This old body is going to rest.
But that spirit, that whatever spirit that God gives us to go
be with Him that can be seen, that can be touched and can see
Christ, that's what we're going to have until the resurrection
comes and He gives us that new body. Huh? Oh my. That's three questions. Where's
the answers at? Can a clean thing come out of
an unclean? Yes, it can. The blood of Christ cleansed
from all sin. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Our Father, oh blessed Savior,
thank you for allowing us to meet here tonight. Thank you
for your precious word. I pray you made it a blessing.
It's a blessing to me. It spoke to me. Oh, your word
always speaks to me and I'm thankful for it. God bless it to the hearts,
minds, faith of those who are gathered here tonight. We ask
in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. every day. and in every way. I'm singing his praises. wherever I go.