I'll be preaching here in a little
bit from the book of Job. But for our scripture reading,
I'd like for you to turn with me to Psalm 62. Psalm 62. David in this psalm is professing his confidence in
God. And he's encouraging all that
are godly in Christ to do the same. He said, truly my soul waiteth
upon God. Why would we wait upon God? Because all things come from
him. We run around, scramble around
down here, like a bunch of ants, but everything comes from Him.
And David said, I've learned to wait upon God. From Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense, and I shall
not be greatly moved. How long will you imagine mischief
against the man? You shall be slain, all of you, as a bowing wall shall be and
as a tottering fence. They only consult to cast him
down from his excellency. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth,
but they curse inwardly. My soul wait thou only upon God,
for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation,
he my defense. I shall not be moved. In God
is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength and my
refuge. is in God. Trust in Him at all
times, you people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. See them. Surely men of low degree
are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. To be laid into balance
they are together lighter than vanity. Trust not in oppression,
and become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your
heart upon them. God has spoken once, twice have
I heard this, that power belongeth unto God. Also unto thee, O Lord,
belongeth mercy, for thou renderest to every man according to his
worth. If you will turn with me now
to Job chapter 1. By the grace of God and what
I believe to be the leading of the Spirit of God, I want to
bring a message titled, Considering God's Servant, Job. On a day of worship, just like
today, the sons of God came together to present themselves before
the Lord. And the scripture tells us Satan
came also among them. It tells us that in this first
chapter of Job. Satan came with them. It's not something we often think
about, but there's never a time of worship when Satan does not
come and visit. So long as there are unregenerate
men and women, and some believing they know God and don't, Satan
is present. Isn't that what the scripture
says? You, happy quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. Now listen, this is Ephesians
chapter 2. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Who's working in there? Who's working in them to give
all these false concepts of God? Who's working in them to cunningly
strip them from a knowledge of God? Satan. That's what the scriptures
say. He's the spirit. He controls
things. He does things. And so long as
they're unregenerate men and women, there's some believing
they know God and don't, Satan's going to be present during the
time of worship. And as Job's friends were unaware
of Satan's presence in them and influence in them, they came
to comfort Job. They came with him to worship
God. But God sees him. That's what
I want you to say. I don't see him. I know how he
works. I know his way. We're not ignorant
of his devices, the scripture says. We've been taught that.
I know that he's here, but I don't know where. I don't see him.
I don't see him. But God does. God does. And on a day just like today,
the sons of God came together to present themselves before
the Lord. How do you present yourselves
before the Lord? As you are, sinners, bankrupt,
Believers, hoping in God. A day just like today. And God says to Satan, have you
considered myself a joke? Now I've heard message after
message after message. I've read Calvin. I've read Gill.
I've read, I don't know how many people I've read on the book
of Job. And they all have something a little different to say about
Job. But what I see here in the book of Job tells me, just as
it told Satan, it tells me to consider his servant Job. There's
something in this man, there's something about this man to take
note of. Have you considered my servant
Job? Have you thought about him? Why
is his name in the Bible? Why would God say anything about
him? Why didn't he say something about Eliphaz or one or the other? Why didn't he talk about them?
No, he picked Job out. Hast thou considered my servant
Job? He said there's none like him
in the earth. Boy, that's saying something,
ain't it? There ain't nobody like him.
You've never met anybody like him. He's a one of a kind. Listen
to this. He's a perfect man. Huh? He's a perfect man. He's an upright
man. What's that mean? He's righteous. He's righteous. He's one that
feareth God. Reverential fear. He fears God. And he ensueth,
that is, he avoids evil. And without question, this description
can only be applied to one man, and that is Christ. But all men
who are in Christ. To be in Christ is to be like
Him. Isn't it? Isn't that what God
predestinated? That we be conformed to the image
of Christ. We're just like Him. Just like
Him. What Job had and what God tells
Satan about him was his in Christ. And by faith, this can be said
of everybody here that believes on him. In Christ, I am a perfect man. Huh? Let me show you that. Turn
with me over to Ephesians. Book of Ephesians. I'm going
to leave my text for just a minute and I'm going to show you something
over here in Ephesians chapter 4. God gave to the church, when
He ascended up to glory, He gave to the church these gifts. Apostles, verse 11, He gave some apostles,
some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.
That is a pastor-teacher. Why? For the perfecting of the
saints. For the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into
unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
Now listen, unto a perfect man. What on earth is he talking about?
He talking about progressive sanctification here? You gonna
get better and better and better until you dislike Christ? No. That perfect man is Christ. And
that's what we're preaching to people. And they see bits and
pieces. They see a little here and a
little there. But that's why we're preaching. We want you
to come unto the unity of the Spirit is to show you the things
of Christ. The unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. That's what
we're after. That's what's going on here in
the book of Job. That's what the Lord's telling
Satan. He's a perfect man. He's upright. He's righteous. And he avoids evil. And he fears
God. In Christ, I'm a perfect, upright
man, one that feareth God and avoids evil. And as I thought
on these things, I thought about Job in a way I'd never thought
about him before. He's a figure of Christ. Is he
not? Now, I don't want to take anything
away from the book of Job. Without doubt, the book of Job
primarily is designed to show us the suffering sin. A sinner's
faith. He believes God and yet he suffers
like no other man suffers. But he don't curse God. He don't
curse God. He loves God. And he's satisfied
to lose all things but still maintain his relationship with
God. He doesn't curse God because
he lost all things. That's what his wife told him
to do, wasn't it? Won't you just curse God and die? He said, you
talk like one of the foolish women. Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Do you know what Job's name,
how in the world did he come up with the name Job? It looks
like Job when you read it, but it's Job. What's it mean? It comes from a Hebrew root word
and it means love. Love. God loved him. God loved him. He made him a perfect man. And surely the suffering Savior
speaks volumes of the love of God for chosen sinners. And another
interesting fact about Job is where he's from. He's from the
land of Uz. Uz is defined as a place of consolation. And Uz and Ur are not very far. You remember where Ur is, that's
where Abraham came from. He called him from the land of
Ur, Chaldea. And right across from Chaldea
is Uz, a little bit south. There was an area from which
Abraham was called or closely located. You remember it says
here in the chapter about the Chaldeans came down and stole
all of his camels. They didn't have trains and planes
back then, they rode horses. Chaldea wasn't very far. And
he's showing us in this that even from ancient times, God
is gathering his people from among heathen nations of the
world. Every kindred, tribe, nation,
and tongue under heaven, he's gathering out of people. And
he's doing this, he's revealing to us, even then, the mystery
of the Gentiles. Way back here, but they say Job
is the oldest book in the Bible. Job doesn't refer to any other
prophet in the Bible. But they figured Job is the oldest
book in the Bible. And this ought to be of an interest
to you and I because we're Gentiles. We're Gentiles. And strictly
speaking, there are no divisions in the church. I get so tired
of hearing people talking about in the last days the Jews are
going to do this and the Jews are going to... There are no
Jews. God has one people. Listen to this, Galatians chapter
3 verse 26. He said, For ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There, in that place,
in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither one. But he saved some of the Jews,
and he saved some of the Greeks. Ain't going to be no Jews and
Greeks there. Just God's people. There's neither
Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free.
There's neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And
everything truly is given to His people Israel, but they're
not spiritual Israel. They're not all Israel which
are of Israel. That is, they're not all Israel
who are born of Jacob, whom God called Israel. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. Abraham reached that age, Sarah
reached that age and childbearing went out the window. And they
said, well, what are we going to do? Sarah reasoned and said,
Abraham, why don't you just sleep with my handmaid? Maybe that's
what God wanted us to do. We're going to reason this thing
out and have children. Isn't that what men do? We're
going to reason this thing out. I'll tell you what, all this
stuff well and good and we can learn from it. But what we need
to do in our day and time, in modern day, under these circumstances,
we need to let them come on down the aisle. We need to put a mourner's bench
up here. We're going to do it. God said
you're going to have a child through Sarah. But that time was coming to a
close. And so they reasoned among themselves
and said, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do this.
God said, no, I ain't going to have him. Ishmael's not going
to be an heir with Isaac. You're going to have a son, just
like I told you. The Savior laughed. They thought
of it. They thought of it. She's 100
years old. They thought of having a child. But she had it. And she had it in God's time.
And it was God's elect. He goes on in Romans 9, that
is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. And God has a people he chose in Christ out of every
nation, tribe, kindred, and tongue under heaven. Gentiles, but Jews
by election. Listen to what the scripture
says. Paul said, what then? Israel hath not obtained that
which it seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded." That's pretty clear, ain't it? Job was
an heir the same as David or Isaiah or Paul the Apostle. He was an heir by election and
an heir by the faith of God's election. And Job was preserved
in Scripture to show us God's distinguishing grace in our calling, but especially
to show us his faith as a suffering sinner. And in this world, he
said, you're going to have tribulations. You're going to have troubles.
Job went from having everything to having nothing in a day. He had everything. And then he had nothing. My sister Janice was as healthy
as a person could be. She was always health-minded,
always doing this, reading books, taking vitamins. She's dead. She's dead. And I mean in a short
time. Salvation is not a bubble to
preserve us from troubles. Actually, it guarantees it. He that will live godly in this
present world shall suffer persecution. You're going to be mocked. You're
going to be laughed at. You're going to be segregated. You're going to be put aside.
But such things as we have do not constitute our hope and joy
before God. Does God have any rich believers? Well, sure he does. Sure he does. Job's one of them. He was the
wealthiest man in the East, the greatest man in the East. But such things don't constitute
our hope and joy. And when he was stripped of all
that he had, Job bowed himself to the ground and worshiped God.
Oh, I pray I could do that. Everything's gone. Can I still worship God? I tell you, he takes things from
us, don't he? You just so sure you're going
to have this, boom, it's gone. It's gone. In all this, he says, Job sinned
not, nor charged God foolishly. But what I want us to do this
morning is to look at this man, Job, as a type of Christ. All
right? So how is Job a type of Christ? Well, let me give you just briefly.
Just briefly, I'm going to give you six things. I told Yvonne
this is so unlike me. I don't usually give a bunch
of points in a message. I like to work on one or two
or three and let it go at that. But let me give you six things
just briefly. We're talking about a type, a
figure. You look at this man and you see in this man the Lord.
We see him. And first of all, Job is a type
of Christ in that he made provision based upon substitution for sins
for his children. When he starts off talking about
Job, what does he say? He said his kids are getting
up in age, and they put on a big feast, and they're partying.
That's what kids do. They go to a party, and they
were partying. Job's over here making intercession for them.
And he's offering a burnt offering in his prayers for his children.
Actually, do you know what it says about his intercession for
his children? He said he went and he sanctified
them. My soul, if that ain't talking
about Christ, I don't know what it is. He sanctified them through the
substitutionary work of Christ. That's how he did it. The Lord saved my children. Don't let them go. Save my children. How often did he do it? Continually. Ain't that what it says there?
Continually. Lest they curse God in their
heart. They won't pray for themselves.
They don't know God. They never pray for themselves.
They're going to be just like every other kid. They got the
same wants and the same lusts and the same ignorance and the
same sin as everybody else. They can't pray for themselves
so Job prays for them. Who prayed for you? It says in verse 5, Job sent
and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered
burnt offerings according to the number of them all, all his
sons. He had prayed for the world.
He didn't offer sacrifices for the world. He prayed for his sons and his
daughters. And he did it continually. And
his intercession is called by the Holy Ghost's sanctification.
My friend Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the Lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. And God's preservation of the
world rests upon the future suffering of Christ, our sin-bearing substitute. That's the basis of it. He offered
himself burnt offerings for them all. all his sons. And Job is a type of Christ in
that he made preparation for them concerning God before they
ever sinned. God made preparation for us in
Christ before the first man ever fell. That's what Job was doing. Secondly, Job is a type of Christ
in that God arranged for him to lose everything that he had
at no fault of his own. Job didn't sin. Amen. That's
what it says. He didn't sin. Job didn't do
anything. God did this. God did this. And brother, Jesus Christ is
the sinless Son of God. He had no sin. He did no sin. He thought no sin. He told his
disciples in John 14 30 that the prince of this world cometh
and hath nothing in me, nothing to exploit. He couldn't find
any fault in him, nothing. Had nothing in him. Nothing to take advantage of. Yet God hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Scripture said he was tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He did no sin. They picked up stones to stone
him and he said, for which of the good works that I've done
are you going to stone me? And they said, we ain't going
to stone you for good work, we're going to stone you because of
what you said. Which of you convinces me of
sin? He did no sin. And then thirdly, and closely
related to what I just said, Job is a type of Christ in that
his sufferings were brought upon him to manifest the glory of
God. Why must Job suffer? To manifest
the glory of God. God brought this suffering on
him. And no matter what it is, suffering
is a hard thing to deal with. But suffering without a cause
is an aggravation of even that. And it brings suffering to a
whole new level, don't it? The cause of Job's suffering
was to manifest the glory of God's grace in Job's faith. God gave him faith, and he said,
I'm going to prove this to the world. I'm going to prove this
before men and before devils. I'm going to prove his faith. And the cause of Christ's suffering
was the same. It was to manifest the glory
of God, the glory of God's justice in his death on the cross, and
the glory of God's love in his substitutionary work for his
people. In 1 John 3, 9 it said, In this
was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through
him. Herein is love, not that you
love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. The glory of God's mercy is manifested
in His sufferings, is it not? 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. And then what about the glory
of God's sovereignty? God proved His sovereignty all
the way around. His mercy to Job. is sovereign
mercy. His grace to Job is sovereign
grace. His power over the devil is sovereign
power. It's the sovereignty of God.
He's displaying, manifesting in this work. He said, I'll have
mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
weareth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
That's sovereign mercy. And then fourthly, Job is a type
of Christ in that those pretending to be his friends trying to find
fault in him. These so-called friends of God,
these Pharisees and scribes, men who dedicated their life
to God, so to speak, by their own professions, They were godly
representatives. They were there to represent
God before men. And they looked at Christ and
his sufferings and they made fun of him. They mocked him.
If God is your father, come down from the cross. Because God was
his father, he couldn't come down from the cross. If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, thy will be
done. His father put him on that cross. And he went there to please his
father and he pleased his father on that cross. He satisfied him. And yet everything he did they
used to try to... How often did they confront him
with their little traps and snares trying to show him to be a phony? Their accusations were governed
governed by the prince of the power of the air. They were cunning
and deceitful, and in the final chapter of Job, God tells them
that all that they said, all his friends, his so-called friends,
everything they said was wrong. That's what God said. If you
read through the book of Job, everything Eliphaz says is wrong.
Everything. Just mark it down. That's what
God says in the final chapter of Job. Everything they said
about me is wrong. Everything Job said is right.
You want to know what's right? Go back and read what Job said. And he's talking about the things
they said concerning God and the suffering sinner. Antichrist
religion is a subtle evil. In the book of Timothy, he says
they creep in unawares. What creeps? Bugs. That's what creeped. I was sitting
in my study the other morning. I looked down and there was a
big old rope about that long. He was sitting right there on
my desk. I hate them things. I wasn't worried there. He'd
probably been there for a half hour. I didn't know. These bugs
creep in unawares. They creep into churches. They
creep into widows' houses. In Psalm 104, verse 20, David
said, thou makest darkness. And when you do, he said, it's
night. wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. They are creatures of the night.
They change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image
like unto creeping things. Now I know you young ladies are
not going to know what this is, or at least I don't think you
will, but the young ladies of my day used to call questionable
men making unwanted advances creeps. Get away from me, you creep.
Creeps. That's the best description I've
ever seen of false prophets. They're creeps. They're making
unwanted advances. And that's a fair description
of all those who don't know God but try to be friends. and pretense. And then fifthly, go to the top
of Christ in his full restoration. Let your mind and heart take
in as much as possible of this glorious thought. Heaven emptied itself for you. I ain't talking about here. I
ain't talking about Job and a few camels. I'm talking about heaven
emptied itself for years. What did he give? All. All. Heaven emptied itself on the
cross and he who was all in all hung on the cross naked, homeless,
and helpless before God. Scripture said he spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Isaiah said, we looked upon our
suffering substitute, bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows,
and we said to ourselves, he's stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted. That's what they all said sitting
around looking at Christ on the cross. God smiting him. He's an enemy of God. But, Isaiah
said, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our... God was punishing him for me. That's my sin he's bearing on
that. My sin. Your sin. If you believe on him. He said, he was bruised for our
iniquities, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
with his stripes were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Like those around the cross,
we misapplied his sufferings. That's what his friends did.
Fess up, Joe. We don't know what you did, but
you did something. God wouldn't punish you for nothing.
Something's going on. Fess up now. Joe said, everything
you're saying, true enough, God will punish them. Who's man that
our mindful stars ain't even pure in his sight? How much more
man that drinks iniquity like water? We misapplied his sufferings.
We saw not that the Lord made his soul an offering for sin,
and that seeing the travail of his soul, he was satisfied. And by the knowledge of my righteous
servant, he said, I'm going to justify many. I'm going to justify
many. Because of his sufferings and
why he suffered, God said, therefore, will I divide him a portion with
the great? And he shall divide the small
with the strong, because he poured out his soul unto death and was
numbered with the transgressors, and bore the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors. Now Job didn't die for his friends,
though I dare say he would have, He was a man of God, he would
have. But he suffered to manifest the faith of God's elect, which
faith rests in the substitutionary death of Christ. Though he slay me, Job said,
yet will I trust him. And his sufferings were not a
punishment, but a purification of fire to manifest the grace
of God, that pure gold of faith in him. And when it was fully
proven, Fully manifested, God restored unto him double. Double. Everything he had, God gave him
back twice as much. And he who died alone reigns
now in glory with a numberless multitude. Can I see him there? Exalted? Exalted. The victorious potentate of Zion. Can I see Him? Do I see Him seated at the right
hand of God, controlling everything that is? Nothing going on in
this world without His hand on it? Just like down in Egypt when
Joseph was under Pharaoh's Protection, he put his own seal on his finger
and they said, we're starving to death. He said, go see Joseph.
Go see Joseph. I'm a sinner. Look to Christ. He's got the seal. He's got the
seal. He who died alone reigns now
in glory with a numberless multitude. Oh, that I could see him there.
And then lastly, he's a type of Christ in that all his friends
were commanded to go to him and have him intercede for them.
I want you to listen to this, Job chapter 42, the last chapter
in the book of Job. He tells his three friends, Therefore
take unto you now seven bullets and seven rams, and go to thy
servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering.
Now watch this. And my servant Job shall pray
for you, for him will I accept." Is that not a type of Christ? He's not in the grave, Paul said. He's not in the grave. Who is he that condemneth? Paul
said, it's Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, who's
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. You reckon he gets what he asked
for? I guarantee it. I guarantee it. Oh, there's much to learn from
Job, the suffering sinner, but there's infinitely more to learn
from Christ of which Job is but a type. I hope I've inspired
you to look at some things and consider some things, and that's
what the Lord tells us to do. Have you considered my servant
Job? And unlike him in the earth, unlike him, he's my servant. All right, thank you.