Turn to Job chapter 3. I'm not going to pretend that
I can really handle this chapter. This is a dark day in a believer's
life. I titled the message, Job the
Man. Job the Man. Job is described by God in chapter
1, verse 8, as a perfect, upright man, one that fears God and shuns
evil. This is what God says of Job. And when he lost everything,
He blessed God who gives and takes away. And when he became
sick, his wife said to him, why don't you just curse God and
die? He said, shall we not receive
evil? Shall we not receive good at
the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil
also? I'm glad it didn't end there. I would feel so depressed. You would feel so depressed because
I can't come up to that measure. Can you come up to that measure? God allows the trial to linger
on and we are allowed to see that Job, though a perfect man,
perfect in Christ, an upright man, a man that fears God, and
a man that shuns evil, is still just a man. He's still just a
man. There was and is only one perfect
man. the man Christ Jesus. He knew
no sin. Even in his darkest hour, he
never complained, did he? Never complained. In the garden,
he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but
not my will, but Thine be done. Submitted himself to his Father's
will willingly. willingly and without complaint. He bore our griefs and He carried
our sorrows without complaining. We never read of our Lord cursing
the day He came into this world, His incarnation. You never read
of Him. Never read of Him. In many ways, Job is a type of
Christ in His sufferings. But in all His ways, He's just
like us. He's just like us. Now, I'm just
going to give some observations on this chapter, some that I
could see and that was a blessing to me. I'm going to give you
what I got. Verses 1 through 3, Job curses
his birthday. That's usually a happy time for
everybody, isn't it? You know, these kids, you bake
birthday cakes for them and for one another. You know, I'll put
your birthdays in the bulletin. Joe would say, don't put my birthday
in that bulletin. That's what he's saying. Don't
you dare put my birthday in that bulletin. Don't you even breathe,
don't even breathe that I was born that day. How great must
the pain and the grief be for a person to curse that day, that
day. And Job curses his birthday.
But know this, Job curses that day that he was born, but he
does not curse God to his face like Satan said he would. He
didn't do that. He didn't do that. But here's
what he does. Job curses his natural birthday. His natural birthday. Why? Why
does he do that? Well, because that's when his
troubles began. Man that is born of a woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Full of trouble. Our natural birth comes filled
with trouble because of sin. I mean, it's like a train. It's
like a train lined up of trouble. And it's all because of sin.
Sin, sin is the very root of all my troubles. Sin against
God, sin against others, sin against myself brings trouble. In this life, you're going to
have trouble, you're going to have tribulation, you're going
to have heartaches. It's going to, in this life, this natural
life that we have on this earth, it's just full of troubles now.
You live long enough, you know that, don't you? You have trouble
in the home, the best marriages, the best marriages have trouble. Paul said, you're going to have
trouble in the flesh. He said, let me tell you now before you
say I do, you're going to have trouble in the flesh. You have
trouble with your kids, kids have trouble with you. You have
trouble at work, trouble with community. I mean, there's always
something going on. Always. Trouble, trouble, trouble. Henry
told us in the past preacher's class one time, he said, don't
trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. Leave it alone. Because enough of it is coming.
Enough of it is coming. Without Christ, now listen, without
the Lord Jesus Christ, without Him, my birthday is a cursed
day. October the 11th of 1955, if
I die without Christ, That is a cursed day. Cursed
be that day. Let it be blotted out. Those
in hell rue. They curse right now the day
they were born. Those who miss Christ. However,
no child of God, no child of God ever cursed their new birthday. Job doesn't curse that day. No. Not that new birthday. There
is no curse in that birth. There is no curse in that day.
It is of God and it leads to glory and there's no sin in it.
There's no sin in it in any way, shape or form. It brings joy,
real joy, joy in the Lord. It brings peace. It brings real
peace. It brings rest. It brings real
rest. That new man, that new birth, Christ said you must be
born again. That new man has real joy in
the Lord. Real joy, real peace, real comfort. You have it, don't you? You have
it. Now the day, my natural birth,
it's just a lot of problems. It's a lot of problems. And then
we learn something else here. Let me make another observation
here. We really don't know what's still in us until certain trials
come upon us, do we? All the sinfulness you and I
were born with, we still have. We still have every ounce of
it, every bit of it. We still have all the sinfulness
we were born with. Peter, I'll give you an illustration
from Peter. Peter never thought he would
deny the Lord three times. If you'd have said, Peter, you're
going to deny the Lord, he'd have took the sword and cut your
tongue out. But the Lord allowed Peter to
see what he still is, and He allowed him to deny Him three
times. I'll show you something else
here. Over in verse 11, I thought about,
this struck me when I read this. Job said, why died I not from
the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost
when I came out of the belly, when my mother gave birth to
me? And the first thought that hit me was Job. That's awful
selfish. It's awful selfish. Think about
the pain your mom would have had. Think of the heartache your
mother would have had. But I want to show you something
of the perfection of Christ. Look over in John 19. Selfishness is still
in us. It's still in us. When we hurt,
the only thing we think about is us. I'm hurting. It doesn't take me long. If you tell me something's hurting
on you, I'll be telling you what's hurting on me. That's the way
it is. We've got to show our scars.
But I want you to see something here. Let me find the verse. In John 19. Now, listen, our
Lord. Is suffering. I mean, that can't
be described. You know, Job was suffering here.
But that can't be compared to the suffering of our Lord. You know, in Job, back over in
Job 10. And Job chapter 2, verse 10,
his wife said, why don't you just curse God and die? That's
heart-rending, isn't it? That's hard. To listen to that,
to have your wife, the one you love, to say, why don't you curse
God and die? You know what's even harder?
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I said, I'm compassed
there in Psalm 22. I'm compassed about what? The
dogs have compassed me about. With every whip of the last,
they're taking a bite out of me. And he's crying out. He said,
I'm roaring out for you. Where are you? That's harder
than what that wife said. My God, my God, why dost thou
forsake? Oh, the pain that our Lord was
suffering under the wrath of God Almighty. But look in verse
26 of John 19. He's hanging on the cross now.
He's hanging on the cross. And he's been mutilated, he's
undergone the wrath of God, and when Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. Right in the very heat of his
pain and suffering, he takes care of her. Job shows us what we are by nature.
He said, why didn't I die from birth? I thought, Joe, look at
the sorrow your mother would have put up with. But that's
us. I mean, that's us. That's us. Our Lord, the perfect man, He
takes care of her in His greatest hour of suffering. He takes care
of her. No amount of suffering. Now listen,
this is so. I didn't say I can do this. I'm
just telling you what's so. I'm telling you what's true.
No amount of suffering justifies complaining against God's providence.
Is that right or is that wrong? Is that right? I'll tell you
why. Look over in Psalm 103. Psalm
103. Psalm 103, look in verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. I'm telling
you this, if God were to do that, we wouldn't be here. We'd be
in torment. You're not in torment. I mean
torment. It's life can be hard, and there
can be some torturous things about it, but not like that. And he says here, he has not
dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities. No amount of suffering justifies
complaining against God's providence. And then let me say this, and
I'll go on. Job says things, he says some
things that we'd like to say, that we do say in our minds We
just don't let it out. Job, David, Abraham. I mean, you go back and you read
those men. You read Psalms. You think, I see what he's talking
about. You say, I know what he's talking
about. I'd be afraid to write that down. But he did. And God allows Job to say things
that you and I think. This is God's child. This is
God's child. Now back over in Job chapter
3, and he says here in verse 4, let that day be darkness,
let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon
it. He's talking about let it be taken out of the calendar.
Let it be taken out of the calendar here. Don't even let it come
into the day of the year. He said let darkness dwell on
it. Let darkness and the shadow of
death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let
the blackness of the day terrify you. And as for the night, let
it seize it. Let nothing, let it not be joined
unto the days of the year. Well, I'll tell you this. I can
say this. If we have not Christ, darkness
will dwell upon us. If we have not Christ, darkness
will develop on that day. You and I will be blotted out. And he says here in verse, it's
going down to verse 10. It takes too long just to go
verse by verse here. And he gives the reason in verse
10 why he's complaining, why he's saying these things. Let
there be darkness. He says, let the stars of the
twilight thereof be dark, let it look Look for light, but have
none. Never let a, don't even let a
glimmer of light shine on that day. Because it shut up not my
mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb?
Why did the knee prevent me? Or why the breast that I should
suck? For now should I have lain still
and been quiet. If I'd have died, I'd have been
at rest. If I'd have died as an infant. He said, I would have been at
rest. I wouldn't have been in torment. I wouldn't have been
in this pain and this suffering. Why did I not die from the wound? If we all died from the wounds
so we wouldn't have to suffer so much, we wouldn't have a population,
would we? First of all, we wouldn't have
a population because man born to trouble has the sparks of
life upward, the Scripture says. And at what point At what point of suffering and
pain should we be allowed to die? You ever go to the hospital
and they give you a pain chart, one to ten. Where's your pain
at on this chart? You say, well, my pain is eight.
Shoot me. Who are we to decide that thing?
Who are we to make that decision? That's of God. That's of God. It was not God's will and purpose
for Job or us to die as infants. The giver of life, the sustainer
of life, and the taker of life is God. And who are we to question
God's will, purpose, and wisdom? Look over in Romans chapter 9.
You know this. In verse 19, Romans 9, it says, Thou wilt
say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath
resisted his will? And Paul says this. He doesn't
give an explanation, he just says this, Nay, but, O man, who
art thou that replyest against God? Shall not the thing form?
Say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath
not the potter power or right over the clay? of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. Does
God not have that right over us? Yes, he does. Yes, he does. He made us, not we ourselves.
Psalm 100. Thou hast made us and not we
ourselves. God made us. And he says here,
why did the knees prevent me? He seems to have forgotten his
prosperity. You read that psalm, Oh bless
the Lord. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. It is. But it's hard for us to do it
when pain is so great. We are to do it, we ought to
do it. But when the pain is so great, it's hard to do it. Hard
to do it. And Job seemed to have forgotten
his prosperity here. It's just like a thing that was
a dream. It's like it was just a dream.
And it's hard to think of the Lord's mercies. It's hard to count your blessings when you hurt Him so bad. It's
hard to do. But the greatest blessings, now
listen, the greatest blessings that we are to count are unseen.
It's not the house you live in. And it's a great blessing to
have family, but the greatest blessings are the blessings we
have in Christ. We can't lose them. We cannot
lose them. But it's hard to think of the
Lord's mercies when we're under such trial. What a blessing,
I thought of this, what a blessing to have such loving parents.
He said, why did the knees prevent me, instead of giving thanks
for the knees that prevent, instead of giving thanks for the breast
that gave him suck, instead of giving thanks for the home he
was brought up in and the parents he had. Why didn't I die? All he could think of was death.
All he could think of. He thought of it so much, he
envied those who had already died. He envied those who were
in the grave. For the believer, to die is eternal
rest. Now that's so. It is rest. It's
rest from this life, from the troubles and trials and heartaches
and sin, Satan. But we'll wait. We'll wait on him to bring us
to that day, that hour. Faithfully wait on him. to bring
us to that place and that time. And I don't need to envy those
who have died. I just need to take care of my
lot. Be faithful where the Lord has
put you. And soon enough, I promise you,
soon enough, it'll be over. It will be over. And he says
in verses 22-23 here, he says, Wherefore, why is light given
to him that is in misery? Why is light, the light of life,
or understanding, why is it given to a person who is in misery? And life to the bitter in soul
which longed for death, but it comes not, and they dig for it
like treasure, they want to die so bad. which rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they can find the grave. Why is it like giving
to a man whose way is hidden? He doesn't know why this is going
on. Job was like, I don't know. He couldn't look back and say,
this is the reason why God's doing this. David could look
back to Bathsheba and the sword never left his house. David could
look back. But Job could look back He just said, my way is
hidden. I don't know what's going on.
Why is this happening? Why am I hedged about? He said,
he's hedged me in. Why has he hedged me in with
thorns? That's what he's talking about. Briars. Why am I in such pain? Well,
first of all, he's in this pain for you and me. It's good instruction
for us. That's one of the reasons. We don't have all the answers.
That's something I can't answer. I can't give you a definitive
answer to all these things. The secret things of the Lord
belong to the Lord. But let me give you a few things. Let me
give you a few reasons. First of all, these things come
upon us to try our faith. Untried faith is no faith at
all. You can mark that down. No faith at all. And then to
try our love. He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. You say, boy, that's tough, isn't
it? Now, when you hear that, you naturally think that's tough.
No, that's so. He that loves mother, father,
sister, brother, anything, anyone more than me is not worthy of
me. Try thy love to him. And then
these saints come upon us to conform us to the image of Christ. God has no sons without suffering. It's given, it says in Philippians,
it's not only given to you on behalf of Christ to believe on
him, but also to suffer for him, suffer for his sake. And then these saints come upon
us to demonstrate God's grace, the power of God's grace to keep
us. We cannot keep ourselves. No
way. He keeps us. And then these things
come upon us and let us see what is really, really important. What's really important? There's a lot of things we hold
as important until these things come. Then we see that our relationship
with God in Christ, that's what's important. These things are going
to come and they're going to go. That relationship we have in
Christ, cultivate it. Cultivate it. That's what's important. And then these things come upon
us to make us brothers and sisters born for adversity. That we can
truly weep with those who weep. Mourn with those who mourn. And then they come upon us so
that we might see that our perfection, Job was a perfect man. Where's
his perfection? Where is it at now? You read
that chapter, where is it now? I'll tell you where it is, same
place ours is, in Christ. You are absolutely perfect in
Christ. These things come upon us that
we might realize that our perfection is in Christ and not in this
flesh. And he says here, and I'll close.
He says in verse 24, my sign comes before I eat. He has no
relief. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
he's in pain. He's saying here, I have no,
I don't have a second of relief. I can't sit down. I can't stand
up, lay down. There's no relief. There's no
relief from this pain. And my roarings are poured out
like water. For the thing which I greatly
feared is come upon me." Whether that's losing what he had, his
children die, you know, whatever it was, Job said, it's come upon
me. It has come upon me. He's saying, hearing these verses,
For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and
that which I was afraid of has come unto me. I was not in safety,
neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. I
have no relief, I am afraid, and I am in trouble." Trouble,
trouble, trouble. Now lest anyone think that Job
has completely fallen, turn over to James chapter 5. See what James says about him. He says in verse 10, James 5,
Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of
the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience.
Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the
patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord. As we go through this, Job here,
he's complaining about the day he was born, basically complaining
against the providence of God. That has to be in there. If you
complain against the day you were born and the things that
has happened, remember his end. Remember Job's end. He said here,
we have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful
and of tender mercy. We know how that, we know how
this book ends. Remember his end, not his complaining,
his end, blessed, accepted, and think of where he is now.
Where he is now, There's no comparison. There's no comparison. As Paul
said, Paul called this light afflictions. Would you call Job's
affliction a light affliction? Would you call that a light affliction?
Paul did. Paul said these are just light
afflictions compared to the glory that's to follow. Job understands now Why the things happened and why
they had to happen. And I tell you this, if Joe could
come back right now, he wouldn't change one day. He would not
change one day. And as many things as happened
to different ones of us here, we would, you ever say, well
if I could go back, I'd change this, I'd change that. If you could see from what God
sees, it wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't change a heartache.
It wouldn't do it. Job is with the Lord. He's rejoicing. And the time he spent suffering,
the time he spent suffering can't even register It can't even register on the
scale of time compared to eternity. How would that register? How
could you register that? Eternal bliss where there's no
time, no suffering, no sorrow, no heartache, no losses, no crosses. Eternal bliss. But God allowed
us, has allowed us, to see Job the man, like he did David and
his other patriarchs. He didn't hide their faults and
failures. He let them out there. So we can see, and we can see
and understand that all our hope is in Jesus Christ. That one
perfect man.