Turn to Job chapter 1. I am in no hurry to get through
the book of Job. I want to and I want you to learn
some things as we go through this. I want the Lord to teach
us Teach me and teach you out of his word, by his spirit and
by experience. That's how God teaches. That's how he teaches us. In
order for us to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ, we
must be taught of God out of his word. By His Spirit and by experience. I don't know
if we ever really, really learn anything until we experience
it. It's like you cannot really sympathize with someone until
you have been in their shoes. You really can't identify with
them until you can weep over the same things they're weeping
over. Unless you've been able to do that, or had to do that
anyway. And I titled this message tonight, What Have We Learned From Job,
Chapter 1. What have we learned? I brought
a message last Wednesday from this chapter, and I started looking
at Chapter 2, But my mind kept going back to chapter one. What,
did I learn anything? What have we learned? Did I instruct
the people? Did I give you good instructions? That's what the
preacher's supposed to do, give you good instructions. So what have we learned? Well,
first of all, let me see how many points I've got here. I've
got about five points and just three pages of notes so it won't
take long. I've learned to keep it short for myself, for myself
especially. But we've learned this, we've
learned this, that being righteous, being made perfect without sin in the Lord Jesus
Christ, being upright, Fearing God and shunning evil does not exempt
us from trouble, does not exempt us from heartache or severe trials. Job was a perfect man, upright
man, one that feared God, and that did not exempt him of this
heartache that he did heartache. We're not exempt from it. Turn
over to Hebrews chapter 11. And the sooner we learn this,
the better it will be when we go through these things. Hebrews chapter 11. Let me see where I want to start
reading. Look at verse 32. What and what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, Barak, of Samson, and of Japheth, of David also,
of Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in
fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." That's good,
isn't it? I mean, that's a record there.
But now listen to the rest of it. Women received their dead,
raised to life again, and others were tortured. Tortured. Why were they tortured? because they were righteous,
because they were God's children. They were tortured, not accepting
deliverance. If you recant, we'll let you
go. If you just deny Christ, you
can go back home. Not accepting deliverance, that
they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of cruel mockings. I'm reading you the history of
our brothers and our sisters. Yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawed
asunder, cut in half, were tempted, were slain with a sword. They
wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins. being destitute,
afflicted, and tormented. These are God's children of whom the world's not worthy.
The world's not worthy of their presence. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens
and caves of the earth. I just read you a history of
our brothers and sisters. They were not exempt from suffering. That's why our Lord said this, count the cost. Count the cost. Following him
is costly. If you really follow him, it's
costly. Not even God's well-beloved Son
was exempt from suffering. He was wounded, tormented for
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. Not even He was exempt from suffering. The Righteous One, the One in
whom we have righteousness, suffered more than any suffering will
ever endure. He suffered at the hands of justice.
In fact, being righteous, being made perfect in Christ, being
a child of God, it assures us of trouble. It assures us of
certain trouble. Christ said, they hate me. Guess what? They're going to
hate you also. If they cannot stand the vine,
do you think they're going to like the branches? No. Scripture says all who will live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Why did Job suffer
so much? Why did he suffer such a loss? Why did he suffer such pain?
I'm going to give it to you right here. Job suffered so much for
this reason. He's a child of the king. He's a child of God. Now, all
men and women in this life suffer. I mean, nobody's exempt from
suffering. All men, we have a common suffering
among all men, men and women. But there are special sufferings
and trials that come upon a child of God because he's a child of
God. Think it not strange when fiery
trials come upon you to try you. Job is suffering this because
he's a child of God. Have you considered my servant,
Job? You think Satan would have considered
him if he was just an old heathen out there somewhere? You think
he would have considered Abraham when Abraham was down there in
the land of the Chaldeans in idolatry? No. No. When it becomes evident that
you are a child of God, you become a mark for Satan. You become
a mark for him. In this world, our Lord said,
you shall have tribulation. And then secondly, We've learned by the Word of God here in Job
chapter 1. We've learned by His Spirit,
and we've learned by experience how temporal all these things
are. Our possessions, our relationships. I had started to write down here
today and gone tomorrow. It's here today and gone today.
That's the way it was with Job. It all happened in one day. It
all happened in one day. I thought about this this evening
or before coming over here. How many people have we already
buried from this congregation? Four. I believe four. We will have been together seven
years in October and we've already buried four charter members of
this church. Four. Not temporal. And if I
live to be a normal age, let's say in the 70s, I'll probably
bury half this congregation. If you do too. If you live to
be normal, I live to be normal, I'll probably bury half this
congregation. So temporal. Do I see you sitting right now? One day, you won't be sitting
there. Now, somehow you won't say this. Believers understand this, but
people say that's morbid. That's not morbid, that's truth.
First of all, it's the truth. The truth is not morbid. It's
the truth. And we ought to live in light
of the truth. A believer can live in light
of the truth and rejoice. Is that so? You can rejoice. That's why I said over Colossians
3, our Lord said it, but He said it through Paul. Set your affection
on things above. It's hard to get our affection,
and it says affection, not affections. It's singular. We're to have
one affection, Christ. Everything else has to get in
line. But he says, set your affection
on things above, where Christ sits at God's right
hand. And the reason we are told to
do that is because these things are not lasting. Do you know what makes it hard
to die? Do you know what makes it hard to
die? Look to your left, Wayne. That's what makes it hard to
die. I was looking at Shawn, that
little girl's sleep, and I thought, that's what makes it hard to die. These
things, these things, our attachment to these things
makes it hard to leave. Makes it very hard to leave.
You lose everything. You lose everything. You have
nothing. You're not attached to anything here anymore. It's
not so hard to leave either. It's not so hard to leave. I understand how a person can leave
this life when they've lost everything. I understand that. It's our attachment to these
things that keeps us not wanting to leave. The Lord detached Job. By the end of this, he detached
Job from everything he had. Everything. It doesn't mean he
didn't love his wife anymore. It doesn't mean that at all.
It doesn't mean you don't love your family. It doesn't mean that at all.
You know, you want to raise your children. I understand that. But the Lord has to detach us,
and he knows how to do it. He knows how to do it. Even Job's wife said, won't you
just curse God and die? after he lost everything. But
I want you to understand this. She lost everything he did too. That woman lost everything too.
She lost those ten kids too. She lost everything that Job
lost. I'm not going to shoot her. That
was a bad day. That was a tough, oh man. But Job kept his integrity. God enabled him to keep his integrity. What makes it hard to die? These
things. These things. I'm not saying that we should
ditch everything and live like a monk or a hermit, but we should learn to use these
things and not be used by them, not be trapped in them like a
spider web. A man's life, the scripture says, consists not
in the things which he possesses. His life consists in that one
who possesses him. And then thirdly, we learn that
Satan is very real and very evil. He's called the Prince of Darkness. Look over in Ephesians chapter
2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air." That's Satan. He's the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children
of disobedience. That's who he is. He's the prince
of darkness. He's very real. He appeared before God. God had
a real conversation. That was a real conversation
with Satan. And he said he was going to and
fro in the earth, up and down in it, to and fro. And he's doing
that seeking whom he may devour. Thank God he cannot devour you. He cannot. He absolutely cannot
devour one of the Lord's sheep. He may be allowed to torture.
Torment. Tempt. Take away. But he cannot touch your life.
He touched everything Job had. Even in chapter 2, he touches
his skin. Skin for skin. If you'll let
me touch his skin, if you'll let me touch his body, I know
I can get him. I know I can bring him down.
Just let me get a hold of him. It didn't work the first time. He got a hold of his possessions.
So he tried another angle. Just let me get a hold of him.
And he'll curse you to your face. He'll turn on you. Pure evil. Pure evil. If you're a child of God, you're
on His list. Now, you may not be on the top
of His list, but I can tell you right now, you're marked. There's nothing that would thrill
Him more than to bring a good man down, a perfect man, a man
made good, righteous, perfect in Jesus Christ. Nothing would
thrill Him more than to bring you down. But thank God, I'm
serious with this, thank God that that dog is on a leash.
That dog is on a leash. You've seen these leashes that
you can push a button and they can go out so far and then fall
back and then you shorten the leash and you can lengthen the
leash and that's what he's on. The Lord may lengthen it a little
bit sometimes and then shorten it. But let me say this about him,
and I will go on, because I don't want to spend much time on him.
Even though he's powerful, and we don't need to deal with him,
I don't want to deal with him. I recognize his presence. I recognize
that he's the prince of darkness. And I recognize he works in the
children of disobedience, which is everyone who does not believe
the gospel of Christ. Everyone. I recognize that. But I don't
fear Him. We are told in the Scriptures
to fear God. And if we fear God, we don't
need to fear anything else or anyone else. We just need to
be wise. It was Michael who said, the
Lord rebuked you. He wasn't afraid of Him. He's
just wise. He said, the Lord will deal with
you. I'm not going to deal with you. No, you don't want that
battle. The Lord deal with you. And then fourthly, we learn,
we have learned that ultimately it is the Lord who gives and
the Lord who takes away. The Lord give us and the Lord
take us. Look over in 1 Corinthians. He gives. He gives us all that we have.
Everything we have, God's given to us. Look in verse 7. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? Why? If I was born with a healthy body and a healthy mind, but there
are others who are born whose bodies are not healthy and whose
minds are not healthy. Why? Who makes the difference? I know
science will say, well, genetics. Genetics makes the difference.
You know, God's a God of means, isn't he? He'll use genetics. But who made one intelligent
and another one not so intelligent? Who maketh one rich and who maketh
one poor? You see, I believe this is where
true worship comes in, where we recognize God's hand in absolutely
everything. This is where you recognize the
sovereignty of God to do as He will, with whom He will, when
He will. For whom maketh he to differ
from another, and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?
What do you have that God didn't give to you? What do you have? Is it intelligence? Is it looks? Is it strength? Great job? What do you have that
it wasn't given to you? Gifts to sing or to preach or
to teach? God gave them. Now, does He not
have the right to take them away at His discretion, at His wise
discretion? at His wise discretion. Even Satan recognized that, didn't
he? He said, you blessed the work of His hands. You put a
hedge about Job. You blessed the work of His hands.
You've given Him everything. Just take all that away and see if He's still the same man.
See if He still worships you. See if He still offers a sacrifice.
See if He still teaches His children the same truths that he taught
when his steps were buttered. What hast thou that thou didst not receive?
And if thou didst receive it, then why do you glory, why do
you brag about it as though you had something to do with it? Why would you brag about it?
Does not the potter have power over the clay? Can he not give this lump a gift
or whatever it is or take it away? Can he not make someone able to sing like Mike? But I can't. You don't want me
to sing. Who was it I heard say one time
in a conference? He said, if I was a sewing machine,
I wouldn't be a singer. I can't remember what it was. He said, if I was a sewing machine,
I wouldn't be a singer. I wouldn't either. But now, if
God is pleased to take that away for whatever purpose, well, it'd
be a good purpose, eternal purpose. Is that all right? May not feel all right when it's
happening, but can't be all right. Let's go over to Psalm 107. Psalm
107. I'll just read a portion of this.
I'll just have to figure out how much of it I'm going to read. Let's start in verse 23. I'll
read a lot of this chapter here. Let me just read it. In verse
23, they that go down to the sea and ships that do business
in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders
in the deep. He commands and he raises the
stormy wind which lifts up the waves thereof. They mount up
to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul
is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger
like a drunken man, and they're at their wits end. You ever been
there? You ever been at your wits end? I think a few of you
have. Not many, but few. Then they
cry to the Lord in their trouble, and he brings them out of their
distresses, and he makes the storm a calm so that the waves
thereof are still. Then are they glad. Then are
they glad because they be quiet. So he brings them into their
desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness
and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them
exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him
in the assembly of the elders. And then it goes on. You know,
this chapter, if you've read it, this is the way it goes up
and down. You know, we're in trouble. The Lord hears the Lord
blesses, brings out of trouble. We go back into trouble. The
Lord hears we cry. He hears he brings out of trouble.
Look at verse 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."
Those who are wise, you go on You've been on top and then He's
taken you down in the valley. You've seen these waves in the
sea that take a ship up on top and then they bring it way down.
When that storm is really going on. You've been on top and then
you're way down here. For those who are wise in Christ
and those who observe these things, they pay attention. It's not
like you're going down the road and you don't see anything passing
by. You are observing these things.
Even they shall understand this is God's loving kindness to me.
This is God dealing with me in loving kindness. God is dealing
with Job in loving kindness. That's totally opposite of what
human nature thinks of loving kindness, isn't it? Totally opposite. But the Lord gives and the Lord
takes away. It says in Psalm 24, the earth
is the Lord's, the fullest thereof, and they who dwell therein, it
all belongs to Him. And He wisely now, God wisely
gives as you and I can receive as we need it, as we need it.
And He wisely takes away what we need taken away. And He does
that throughout our whole lifetime. And sometimes it's severe. Sometimes
it's not. And then fifthly, we learn that
in times of trials, trouble, the best way to handle it, the
best way to handle it, and I'm not saying, believe me, I'm not,
I'm preaching to myself, the best way to handle it is through, as I heard one preacher
say, sanctified worship. Trials sanctified by worship. Job, look here. And Job said, verse 21, naked
came I out of my mother's womb. That's how I came into this world.
Didn't bring anything. And naked shall I return. The
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. Verse 20. Then Job arose and ran his mantle
and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground. And what did he do? Complain? Not at that time. Not at that
time. Says he worshipped. Did Job understand at that time
why God took all that away? No. I mean, it was just blow
after blow after blow. And I don't know how much time
went between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, but Chapter 2 is another event
that happened after this first round happened. And I don't know,
maybe a year went by, maybe two years went by, then all of a
sudden here came the second wave. But he worshipped God in all
this, and this is the best way to handle it. It's to worship God. It's to
submit. It's to submit to the rod of
God. Turn over to Job 36. I meant
to write this down, but let me see if I can find this. I was
reading this somewhere. Job 36. Let me see if I can find it. Well, let me see. It's in Job 36. I may not be
able to find it here. Here, verse 21. Verse 21. This is Elihu speaking. He says to him, Take heed, Job,
regard not iniquity, for this thou hast chosen rather than
affliction." A translation that I have read on this is this.
Take heed, regard not iniquity, for this hast thou chosen. Thou
hast chosen complaining instead of submitting to the rod of affliction. He said, Job, be careful. You've
chosen complaining over submission. to the rod of God's chastening
hand. Submit, Job. That's what he said. Anyway, we learn. We learn. We learn to worship God in these
troubles. Scripture says, whom the Lord
loves, he chastens. We used to call it whipping.
I was growing up as a whipping. Scripture says, now no chastening
seems good at present. I never did thank my parents
for whipping me. Not when they were doing it. I wouldn't say
thank you, that felt good. I needed that. Nobody's ever
done that. I needed that. Years later, years
later he did. Now no chastening seems good
at the present time, but later it yields a peaceable fruit of
righteousness. That's the whole purpose of it.
And then last of all, we've learned We learn in Job chapter one,
we learn by word, by spirit, and by experience that his grace
is sufficient. His grace is sufficient. Whatever
the trial is, his grace is sufficient. He said to Paul, Paul had a thorn
in the flesh and he prayed about it three times and God said,
my grace is sufficient. It's enough. You and I would not suffer five
minutes if we could get rid of it, would we? Or Elihu said, I pray, Job, that
your affliction, I'm going to paraphrase this, that it lasts
all the way to the end until you learn a lesson. No, you wouldn't say, whip me
until I learn something. We wouldn't do that. We wouldn't
take it for five minutes, we can get rid of it. But the Lord knows how to chasten
us, how long to chasten us, how severe to chasten us. Like him. Now, if God takes you in hand to instruct and teach you, I
promise you, I promise you, you're going to learn a lesson. You
are going to learn a lesson. Because he's not just dealing
with this brain up here, he's dealing with the heart. He reaches
in and gets the heart. He instructs the heart. He instructs
the reins, my very being, my soul. And you learn. You learn. The best way to handle
these things is to submit, worship, wait on the Lord, and recognize
His hand in all things. Did we learn anything from Chapter
1? I guess time will tell, won't it? Well, I can tell you this. Whatever we've learned from Chapter
1, we'll have to learn it again. I told my parents I wouldn't
do it again. I guarantee I did it again. I
said, I won't do it again. I swear I won't do it no more.
Yeah, you did. Yeah, you will. And we'll have to suffer. That's
why trials have to keep coming. That's why chasing has to keep
coming. We keep doing it again. Job, and it was, I read this.
I don't know where they got their information, but I read this
in a, I think Robert Hawker. Job was about 60, he lived to
be about 200 years old. He lived, they said, approximately
140 years after this, after these trials, which put him around
60s, around your age, Bill, around his 60s. You think that was the
last trial? No. That's just one that was
written for our sakes. But I'm sure that he suffered
more trials than 140 years after that.