Job here, he's answering Eliaphaz, the Temanite, and he
answered Eliaphaz, and he said, Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my
groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might
find him, that I might even come to his seat. I would order my
cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would
know the words which he would answer me, and understand what
he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with
his great power? No, but he would put strength
in me. There the righteous might dispute
with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. But here's
the real situation. Behold, I go forward, but he's
not there, and backward I cannot perceive him. On the left hand
where he doeth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself
on the right hand, but I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way
that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps,
his way as I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from
the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of
his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind,
and who can turn him? In what his soul desires, even
he doeth. For he performeth the thing that
is appointed for me, and many such things are with him. Therefore
am I troubled at his presence, when I consider I am afraid of
him. For God maketh my heart soft,
and the Almighty troubleth me, because I was not cut off before
the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my
face." Job is a man, a real man who
went through a real trial, who went through a real affliction,
and this Job The book of Job is Romans 8.28, illustrated for
us all the way through it. All things work together for
good to them that know God, to them that love God, and are called
according to His purpose. That's what happened here. And
Job teaches us as we read here that he trusted God and God's
will for him and God's purpose for him, even though he couldn't
see Him, couldn't find Him. His eyes were shut, he was in
darkness, and spent that way day after day after day after
day after day. Yet he trusted Him. He said,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. I know He does. I know He does. And yes, Sir James said it this
way, said, Behold, we count them happy which endure, yet heard
of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, that
he is pitiful, very pitiful, and of tender mercy. So God had
a purpose for Job, and there was an end to Job's suffering.
And beloved Job, at the very beginning, we asked this question.
It's a question that's been asked and asked, and I was reading
a survey yesterday, and it showed different religions in different
periods of time where they asked this question. Why do the righteous
suffer? Why do good people suffer? Why do righteous suffer? And
that's the question that's asked here, all the way through this,
and people's asked that. And I've looked at some of those
things that they ask, and those things that they have in their
religious books, and it all comes down to, you know, that the gods
were against them, or else they had sin in their life, and if
they would get the sin out of their life, then the gods would
save them. And there was female gods, and
there was male gods, and those all are theirs. But here's a
god. that can't be seen, but yet must
be trusted. Here's a God who can't be felt,
and yet we must embrace Him as He embraces us. And no matter
what Job did, when it comes down to the end of the matter, he
understood that God was doing this, and that God would bring
an end to it, and God, as He does all things, brings an end
to it. And Job, he learned, he opens up with all of his trials,
and he teaches us to trust God. And though this is a poem, you
know, you read the book of Job, and it runs like a poem after
you get past the first three chapters. And beloved, there's
an actual living person named Job. These places actually took
place. And Job suffered the assault
of the devil against himself, He suffered the words of his
wife. He suffered the accusations of his friends. And his whole
family and friends all turned against him. And if you ask why
in the world he suffered such things, you look past all the
secondary causes. You look past the devil. You
look past his wife. You look past his three comforters. Look past everything that happened,
you look past the second causes, and there's only one first cause
of everything, and that's God. And let's look here about one
thing about God's book. The book of Job is probably the
very first book of the Bible ever to be written. It's called
the oldest book in the Bible. This book was written before
any others were written. And he was probably a contemporary
of Abraham, and he lived in the Far East. And you know, when
you look at this, there's not no science in this book, but
yet this book tells us more about the position of this earth and
the things that's in the earth, the things that are in the heavens,
the constellations, how the earth was formed, how it's upheld and
how it's kept, and that it's a round earth. It's round. It's not flat. They thought for
centuries and centuries and centuries, if you sailed a ship, you'd sail
far enough, you'd go off edge and you'd be lost. But Job tells
us, they read the Scriptures, they know very well that the
earth is round. God rides upon the circle of
the earth, and the earth is described. This is the book that tells us
the clouds are the dust of God's feet. This is the book that tells
us the lightning is His arrows. This is the book that tells us
that when you get up one in the fall or in the spring, and this
great big huge froth is on, they say, that's the breath of His
mouth. That He brings the snow out of His treasures. And then
there's a tag, a rollout showing it's time to have a cat. Who
sees that it's going to have its cat and feed it and take
care of it? It says God's the one that does that. And so you
go through here and you're confronted with things about God that most
folks never think about. But here, the book of Israel,
it's written before any of the other books, and yet, and Job
here, he believed God, he worshiped God as the creator of all things.
And this is another thing that God taught Job was that it was
not in Job's power to make any change in the providence of God. Not in his power. He could say,
well, if I'll do this, then God will do this. If I do that, then
God will change His dealings with me this way. He was part of God and it wasn't
in his power to change adversity into prosperity. Like preachers
tell us today, that if you had the faith, then all your troubles
would go away, and if you trust God, then you could just name
it and claim it. You can have some prosperity
if you get right. But we're privileged to see here
in chapter 1, we're privileged to see here and go behind the
scenes of what actually happens. But to start off with what kind
of a man Job was. Look at what kind of man he was.
This is why we ask the question, why do the righteous suffer?
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that
man was perfect and upright. Job 1-1. And that man was perfect
and upright and one that feared God and eschewed all evil. I
mean, eschewed all evil means that he shunned it. Stayed away
from it. Didn't want nothing to do with
it. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
Big family. And his substance, oh, how much
did he have while he was in this world? His substance was 7,000
sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen. You know how much ground
you can plow with 500 yoke of oxen? How many logs you can skid
with 500 yoke of oxen? How much hay can be cut, how
much corn can be picked with 500 yoke of oxen? And 500 she asked in a very great
household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men in
the east. There was nobody greater, more
powerful, wealthy, and well-known than Job. And his sons went and
feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called
for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And so it
was so, when the days of their feasting were going about, that
Job sent and sanctified them. and rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. Because
Job said, and he's a religious man, he's a man who knew God,
and he came to God with burnt offerings. Offered God everything. And he said, my children may
have sinned and cursed God in the heart. And so Job went and
offered sacrifices for them. Sacrificed them to them offerings. And said, God have mercy on them,
they may have sinned. Now look what happens, and Job
knows nothing about this, and how many conversations have happened
over God's people like this. Now that was a day. Here's this
wealthy, powerful, dedicated, worshipful man who loved his
sons and his daughters to even offer sacrifices for them and
pray for them. Now that was a day when the sons
of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan come
among them. He showed up. And the Lord said
unto Satan, Which comest thou? Where did you come from? What
are you doing here? Then Satan answered the Lord from going
to and fro in the earth and walking up and down. And listen to what
God said here now. He said, And the Lord said unto
Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none
like him in the earth, perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and escheweth evil? Now this is what the devil said
back. This is going on in heaven. Job down there worshiping God.
They're in there in the presence of God. They're praying. They're
worshiping. And while this is going on, St. Nancy said to the Lord, does
Job fear God for naught? There's a reason he fears you,
and the reason is you put a hedge about him, about his house, about
everything to have on every side, and you bless the work of his
hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Put forth your hand
and touch him, and he'll curse you to your face. And the Lord
said, He's in your power. He's in your power. And so you
see, beloved, we are allowed to get into the behind the scenes. We're allowed to go in there
and see the counsels of God. Job didn't see this. Job didn't
understand this. Job didn't know this was going
on. But this is written for our learning. This may be going on,
and this may happen someday when maybe God... I know I was talking
to a dear friend of mine the other day, a dear preacher friend,
and oh, he has been... Oh, God's had him in the fire
and the water so long. And I mentioned it to him, and
I said, I said, oh, God... He said, God's grace is sufficient. He said, when I'm in the water,
He always lets me fill the bottom. He said, always allow me to fill
the bottom. And that's what he said. Some through the water,
some through the fire. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. But he said, he lets me fill
the bottom. And you know there's not a bottomless water that God
takes us through. And that's why he said, you're
this joyous, righteous man. This saved man. And his friends
accused him of being a lost man and that he was not righteous
by nature. And he was by nature not a righteous
man. He is not perfect in his personal
conduct. He was a man like us. A sinner saved by grace. And
the only righteousness he had was the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ charged to his account. And boy, when he
defended his righteousness before his friends, he wasn't boasting
of his own personal righteousness before God, but declaring that
he wasn't guilty and had no condemnation before God. And all of his friends
accused him of his hypocrisy. But beloved, God Himself verified
Job's innocence against his false men. And God blessed Job greatly. Oh, how He blessed him. He is
a wealthy man. He worshiped God. And then, look
what we see here. You see, you know, this is a
different, this is a book, you know, that's so strange. You
hear that in these two conversations. In chapter 2, we still have another
conversation between Satan and God. And this, everything that's
going on in this world, God's ruling and controlling everything
that's in heaven, in hell, even Satan himself. Even Satan himself. And I don't know how to explain
it, but I know that God's dominion and sovereignty is over everything.
Everything that Satan did to Job, he had to have permission
from God. You see, Satan is not in rival
against God. They're not even equal, not by
no stretch of the imagination. He's just something that God
uses in this world. He even allowed him to take our
Lord Jesus Christ and tempt him like no man's ever been tempted.
No man's ever tempted like he tempted Christ. Because he knew
that if he overthrew Christ, that he would destroy God's purpose
of redemption and the salvation of his elect. And that's why
our Lord Jesus Christ answered him four times with the Scriptures
when he was trying. But Satan's not God's rival,
he's God's servant. He's God's servant. You remember
in old Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he got out of John C. Sparrow's
castle, and he was sneaking out of there. He was going down this
path here, and he got up close to this great big house. He wanted
to get up there, and there were these two great big lions. And
them things were roaring at him, and killing him, running at him,
and he just went as far as he could go. But even he found out
that those lions, the same as the roaring lions, those lions
were on chains. They can only go so far. And
he understood that if he just stayed out of each of those chains,
he could get to that house up there. And that's what it is.
God's got his devil, the devil on a chain. He cannot go anywhere
and do it. The average preacher thinks the
devil has as much power as God. The devil does this to you. The
devil does that to you. And if you resist the devil,
he'll do that to you. Listen, Christ done whipped him
and got him on a chain. And he does exactly what God
wills for him to do. And when he's finished with that
old serpent, you know what's going to happen to him? He's
going to throw him into the lake of fire and brimstone, and he's
going to stay there throughout all eternity. But God loved Job
and permitted and tried Job to teach us and teach him and all
of us to look to Job alone. Now look at Job's trials. Job's
trials. You know, as you start chapter
2, verse 2 chapters of Job, you find out that all these things
happened to Job. All these things. One day, all
of Job's children were having dinner at his eldest son's house.
They were having a great feast, and suddenly a messenger came
and told Job that the Sabaeans had slain all of his servants,
took all of his oxen and asses, and he was alone spared to run
and tell Job the good news. And then before he was finished
telling that, here comes another messenger. to tell Job that lightning
fell from heaven and killed both his flocks and his herd, and
killed all of his sheep. And while he was still talking,
a third messenger come along to report to Job that the Chaldeans
had taken all of his camels and slaughtered all of his servants
who were tending them. One right after another. And
then while he was still talking, A fourth messenger comes in to
tell Job that God sent a tornado, a whirlwind, and killed all of
his children and all of his servants that were with him. Now, what
in the world would you do if you, we just get the bad, we
just get bad news about one thing and we get devastated, but Job,
while one was talking, another comes. While one was finishing,
another comes. Four after, one right after another. Four tragic things. And what
did Job do? Look down at verse 20 of chapter
1. Then Job arose, ran his mantle,
ripped his robe, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground, and
worshipped, and saying, Naked came I out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly. That's the grace of God. Oh,
what grace. And all this happened in one
day. And then in chapter 2, we have another thing happening
again. Then there they go in chapter 2 and verse 6. Again,
that was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord. Satan also came to present himself
before the Lord. The Lord asked, Where do you
come from? Satan asked the Lord, going to
and fro and walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none
like him in the earth? A perfect and an upright man,
one that feareth God, and is sure of evil." And listen to
this, and this is what God said about him. This is what God's
telling the devil about him. And still he holdeth fast his
integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him
without cause. And the devil answered, said
to the Lord, said to the Lord, skin for skin, yea, all that
a man hath will he give for his life. Put forth your hand now
and touch his bone and his flesh, and he'll curse you to your face."
And he says, behold, he is in your hand to save his life. He
said, you get him down to where you attack his body and his flesh,
and you make him miserable sick, and he'll curse you to your face
because you just made life too hard on him. Huh? It could all
be like that. Oh my, remember the devil can't
do anything without our Father's heavenly position. And then,
beloved, we get down there, and then we see that Job, his wife
come to him, sit there, and he spoke Job with balls, and then
there in verse 9, look what he said here, chapter 2 in verse
9, look what his wife said to him. Then said his wife unto
him, Dost thou still retain thy integrity? Curse God and die. Go ahead and lift your fist toward
God and die. Why do you keep holding on to
Him? Why do you keep praying? Why do you keep looking? Why
do you keep trusting? What kind of a God is this that
will treat you like this? Go ahead and curse Him and die.
And he said, you speak as one of the foolish women speaketh.
What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God? And shall we
not receive evil? And all this did not Job sin
with his lips. Sin with his lips. My, my. Well, now, we've got Job's friends.
His friends show up here. These three friends, you hear
about them there in the last part of Job, chapter 2. Eliphaz,
Bildad, Zophar. Here they come. They heard about
Job's troubles, Job's heartaches, and when they got there, and
listen, in an experience like these, who needs enemies? When
they heard about all of his troubles, they got together to discuss
them. As always in these situations, they just multiply your troubles.
Then they got there, they were astonished at his pain, they
were astonished at his grief, they were astonished at all that
he lost, and they sat before him for seven days and never
opened their mouth. Never opened her mouth. Just
sat there and groaned and wept wicked. Then when one of them
begins to speak, I'll tell you what the devil done to Job is
nothing compared to what these fellas dealt, what kind of blow
they dealt him. Job's name and what it means,
it means persecuted. And his friends made sure that
he lived up to that name. Their doctrine was not wrong.
They said some wonderful things about God. But it was just hard. They were severe and judgmental,
heartless religious Pharisees. And Eliphaz, whose name, his
name means, whose name means, God is my fine gold. He was the
very first one to speak. He was the first one to speak,
and you find him down there in chapter four. He's the first
one to speak. And then Eliphaz answered and said, if we say
to communion with thee, will you be grieved? For we can't
withhold ourselves from speaking. And because he had a vision,
he thought that because he had this vision from God, that that
made him immediately spiritual enough to be able to talk to
Job and straighten Job out. And then Bildad's name, it means
confusing love. He thought himself a great scholarly
intellectual person and talked about all the forefathers and
all he had learned from them. And then Zophar, his name means
little sparrow. And this here says he's as worthless
as a little sparrow. He is one of those fellas that
knows something about everything. You ever met any of them? But
you know what Job calls them all? He said, you're all miserable
comforters, every one of you. He says, when you die, wisdom's
going to die with you. He said, you're physicians of
no value. He said, you fellas are nothing.
They spent their whole, whatever time, and they had three conversations
apiece. Job and Elias passed, Job and
Bildad, Job and Zophar, they had a conversation, then they'd
move and have another. Three different conversations
they had together with these. And everything that they ever
said was, Job, it's because you sinned. If you'd give up your
righteousness, if you'd just show and tell it and own up before
God that you've done something really evil, God will not cast
away a perfect man, Joe. God wouldn't be doing this to
you if God, if God is just, He wouldn't give you this way without
you having sin in your life. And there's nothing that makes
me more angry. That is so contrary to the grace of God. I was talking
to Wayne Boyd last night. He was telling me about a man
who just lost his job. Gonna lose his vehicle. His daughter just got out of
jail as a drug addict and thought she was going to go to prison.
And they put her in some kind of program and she's at home.
And he was talking about to a fellow, and this fellow, they knew one
another, and he found out all of his troubles. You know the
first thing that person asked him? He said, you've got to be
checking up to see where that sin is in your life. That makes
me mad. That makes me angry. who ain't
got sin in their life. If God's going to trial all of
us because of sin in our thoughts, or in our imaginations, or in
our feelings, or in our flesh, we would be trying, I mean, we'd
never get out of the fire. We'd never get out of the water.
And he says, you know, you better make sure you ain't got sin,
so find out where your sin's at. Find out what you've done
wrong. I told him, I said, if he doesn't
have any sense, he says, well, same place your sin's at. It's
in your flesh. It's in you. It's in you. But
there's nothing about grace about that. God tries His people. God leads His people. But He
never, ever, and I know this as well as... I'm telling you
what the Bible says. If Christ was punished for our
sins, then God cannot never punish us for our sins. And if God tries
us, He tries our faith, He tries our patience, He tries our love,
He tries our commitment. But He never ever puts His hand
on us because of some kind of a particular sin we've got, because
He tells us in the Scriptures, and God will put our flesh down
and will not never deal with us over something we've done
as a sin, because Christ puts Him away. I believe that. And if you get to thinking, you
know that this is happening in my life, that's happening in
my life, well, I need to examine myself and see where I'm at.
And when Paul said, examine yourself, you don't want to even get to
examine yourself. See, examine yourself whether you be in the
faith. Not whether you had faith. Examine
yourself if you believe the gospel. Examine yourself whether you're
in Christ or not. Not examine yourself to see how
holy you are. Not examine yourself to see how
perfect you are. We ain't but one righteousness
that gives us the standing before God. We may not always say the
right things about God, may not always think the right things
about God, and may even have questions in our hearts and complain
sometimes. But God Himself is not going
to turn against us for those things. If He did, what kind
of shape would we be in? And I mean, that's what the Scripture
said. I'm not telling you my opinion,
my feeling. That's what He said, you know, when they came out
to take the Lord Jesus Christ that night against Him, and He
said, if you seek Me and you've got Me, let these go. You can't
have Me in them. You can't punish Me in them. You're not going to touch a hand
on them if you're going to get Me. And if God got him, he's
not going to get me, because he already got me in Christ.
And that's what's going on here. You know, and these fellows accuse
Job, and accuse him, and accuse him, and accuse him. And then
there's a fellow that shows up. Look with me over in Job 32.
There's a fellow that shows up after they go through all of
these accusations against him. And then there's a man who comes
along, and his name's Elihu. Now, I don't know when he got
there, I don't know when he arrived, but he's a young man. He's a
young man. It says here in chapter 32 and
verse 1, so these three men ceased to answer Job, and because he
was righteous in his own eyes. They accused him of mistreating
poor people, widows, mistreating his servants, robbing people. You name it, they accused him
of it. Then was kindled the wrath of
Elihu, the son of Barathel, the Busite, the kindred of Ram. Against
Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than
God. And also, against his three friends,
his wrath was kindled, because they found no answer, and yet
had condemned Job. And when Elihu had waited until
Job had spoken, because they were elder than him, and then
when he saw there was no answer in these three men, then his
wrath began to speak. And Elihu means this. His name
means, He is my God. He was a young man, but he was
a man who came with a message from God. He rebuked Job's friends
for their accusations against him, and in Bill he rebuked Job
for spending more time justifying himself than justifying God before
these three miserable comforters of him. And I allow you over
here in chapter 33, it gives us a picture of God's method
of grace and how He delivers His elect people from going down
to the pit and causing them ineffectual calling. Look down here in chapter
33 and verse 13. Job 33, 13, this is Eli you're
speaking now. Why dost thou strive against
him, talking about God? God is greater than man, for
he giveth not account of his matters. For God speaketh once,
yea, twice, man doesn't perceive it. In a dream, in a vision,
in the night, when deep sleep falls upon man and he slumbers
on the bed, then he opens the ears of man and steals their
instructions. that he may withdraw from man
his purpose, and hide pride from man. That's how God comes. He
gets a man in awe when he's least expecting it. And he hath withdrawn
his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
He is also chastened also with pain upon his head, and the multitude
his bones with strong pain. I mean, it causes his body to
have past pain in it. So then his life reports bread,
his soul, man, and meat. He fixes this such a way he even
loses his appetite. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen. His bones that were not seen
stick out. And yet his soul draws near unto the grave and his life
too destroys. And then look what happens. If
there be a messenger with him, An interpreter, one among a thousand,
to show unto man his uprightness. Whose uprightness? There ain't
but one person in this world with an uprightness. It's not
man's uprightness, it's God's uprightness. A messenger to come
and talks about God's uprightness. Because he says in verse 24,
Ben is gracious unto him, and said, Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I found a ransom. And this is
what happens to him when he keeps him from going down. His flesh
will be fresher than a child. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He's born again. He's a new creature. He's like a new baby. And he
shall pray unto God, and he'll be fabled unto him. And he'll
see his face with joy. And he'll render unto man his
righteousness, the righteousness upon Christ. As he had a message from God,
and he delivered it to Job. And oh, he tells Job, don't you
strive against God. And beloved, He shows us over
and over and over again how God shows mercy in that. And I tell
you, God saves His people. And then look over here in chapter
42. And from chapter 38 to chapter 42, God Himself is speaking.
God is speaking to Job. After all the accusations, after
all the talking, after all the wrangling, after all the things
that are said and done, all the arguing, all the debating, and
Elihu comes and tells the truth on God, rebukes all of them,
then God appears unto Job out of a whirlwind, in Job chapter
eight. He comes to him out of a whirlwind, out of a tornado.
He comes and he starts appearing to Job. And God talks for four
chapters. You ought to read those four
chapters. See what God says about himself. This is God speaking
in this whirlwind. He speaks for four chapters.
And then when he speaks to his servant, and he gives him power
and convinces him by his power and his grace, and he affectionately
brings to fruition what Elihu had described to him, and he
shows Job his greatness and his glory and his majesty and his
power, and Job's humbled down before God. Look what he says.
Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know That thou can do
everything, and that thou, that no thought can be withholden
from thee. I thought I was, I thought my
thoughts was mine. Nobody knows them but me. No,
I know them. Who is he that hath counsel with
knowledge? Therefore I have uttered things
that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I
knew not. Here I beseech thee, O, and I'll
speak. I will demand of thee and declare
that unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the near,
but now my eyes see you. You come and make yourself known
to me like I have never seen you before. Wherefore, I pour
myself and repent in dust and ashes for all the things that
I said that I should have said, and all mine." And didn't you
know what happens? God tells joke. He says to joke
in verse 7. After the Lord has spoken these
words unto Job, the Lord said, God spoke to Eliphaz the Temanite,
My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends.
For ye have not spoken of me the things that is right. Now
listen to it, as my servant Job hath. Now look what God says
for him to do. He says, Now you all go get you
some bullocks, seven bullocks, seven rams, go to my servant
Job. Offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and listen
now, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I
accept, lest I deal with you after your falling, in that you
have not spoken to me that thing which is right." And Job had
to pray for them to be accepted of God and to forgive them. And
he had to make intercession for his friends. And then Job, look
what God did to Job. The Lord blessed Job in a miraculous
way. Look in verse 10. And the Lord
turned again to captivity. This great trial of Job when
he prayed for his friends. Now listen to it. Also the Lord
gave Job twice as much as he had before. You go back to chapter
1 and find out what he had. If he had 1,000, 500 yoke of
oxen, he's got 1,000 now. If he had 7,000 sheep, he's got 14,000 of them now. And then came down to him all
of his brethren, all of his sisters, and all they that had been of
him acquaintance before him to eat bread with him in his house,
and they bemoaned him and comforted him. And all beloved, and every
man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring
of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than
his beginning. Fourteen thousand sheep, just
like I told you, six thousand camels, a thousand yokel bosses,
a thousand sheep. Now listen to this. Now he had lost three
sons. He had lost seven sons and three
daughters. God said he was going to double them. He gave him seven
sons and three daughters. He doubled them. He had ten in
glory. Gave him ten more on this earth.
They had already gone to glory, so he even doubled his children. And then it says, Joe, big, old,
and full of days. 140 years. Oh, when the goal is refined,
when God gets that goal refined, God took him out of the furnace
and blessed him. And I'll tell you what, you know
the gospel is in here, and let's read this in Job 19 and then
I'm through. But you need to see this. The
gospel is in here. If I can't deliver him from going
down to the pit, I'll be gracious unto him. And Job's doctrine
was just pure gospel doctrine, grace doctrine. He admonished
the Lord his God as the sovereign of heaven and earth. He confessed
his need of Christ as his Redeemer, his Mediator. He said in Job
19.21, Have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God
hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God,
and are not satisfied with my flesh? Oh, that my words were
now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. That they were graven with an iron pen and laid in
the rock forever. Now listen, this is why he wants
written down in this thing. This is why he wants written
down. This is why he said he wishes it was in a book and on
a rock. For I know that my Redeemer liveth. He didn't say, I know
that my Redeemer's going to live. My Redeemer has lived, but He's
living right now. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." He
said, I know He's coming to this world too. And then after I go
to the grave and skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh, in
this body, I'll be able to see my Redeemer. Huh? I'll see God. And listen to this, and I'll
see Him for myself. Everybody's got to see Him for
the self. And mine eyes shall behold Him, not another. Oh, he knew his Savior. He knew who his Master was. He
knew who his Redeemer was. Well, I tell you, that's a wonderful,
wonderful book, the book of Job is. I pray that's a blessing
to you. And if you ever suffer, remember,
whatever you go through, it's God's hand in something. God's
hand. And He doesn't mean you any harm.
Doesn't mean you any harm.