The book of Job. And I want to
start in the 11th chapter, and then we're going to move quickly
to a thought in the 14th chapter. Job chapter 11. Now notice at
the beginning, well, just to give you, for those of you that
are not familiar, and I think most of you are somewhat at the
beginning of this book, the Lord gives Satan permission to try
Job. And the Lord said, you can do
whatever you want to him, just don't take his life. And you know the
story. All of his wealth was gone, his
children was gone, his health was gone. He just really stripped. And his three friends came. They
don't seem much like friends through a lot of this, but they
are because, and that comes out, but they didn't know the situation
either, but there's, let's see, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And this third one begins to
speak here in chapter 11, verse one, then answered Zophar, the
Naamathite. And said, he's charging Job, rebuking Job. And he said, should not the multitude
of words be answered? And should a man full of talk
be justified? Should thy lies make men hold
their peace? And when thou mockest, shall
no man Make thee ashamed. He charges Job with being full
of talk, just talking a good story. And he said, should such
a man be justified? In verse three, he calls Job
a liar and a mocker. Shall no man make thee ashamed? Do you not expect that somebody
is going to call your hand on this? Should we just listen to you
and not rebuke you in your lies and mockery? And think Job's
lying and mocking. Verse four, for thou has said
my doctrine is pure and I am clean in thine eyes. Zophar says
you continue to contend that you're innocent, that you've
done nothing awful to deserve all this suffering. Zophar does not believe Job,
and he says in verse 5, I wish God would just give you what
you deserve. But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips against thee, and that he would show thee the
secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is.
Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity
deserve it. I wish God would just give you
what you deserve. And he tells Job, you're not
having more trouble than you deserve. You deserve more trouble
than you're having. So this man is really getting
down the nitty gritty. And he's right in a lot of what
he says. But it's all about Job. Pick on Job. kick him while he's
down. Zophar makes no mention of himself,
no confession of his own unworthiness before God. It's all about Job. And he tells Job here in chapter
11, verse 13, if thou prepare thine
heart and stretch out thine hands toward him, if iniquity be in
thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell
in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy
face without spot, yea, thou shalt be steadfast and shalt
not fear, because thou shalt forget thy misery and remember
it as waters that pass away." He's saying to Job, you could
fix all this if you just would, if you'd just be honest with
God. So he's still charging. Job with lying and with deceitfulness. And as the others had done, Zophar,
he just really beats up on Job, but he don't know the truth about
Job. And beginning in chapter 12,
Job answers his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. He says here in chapter 12, verse
1, Job answered and said, no doubt, But ye are the people,
and wisdom shall die with you. You guys are without a doubt
the smartest fellows that ever lived. And when you're gone,
that'll be the end of wisdom. It'll die with you. Job was being sarcastic. They're
so sure they have analyzed Job's case correctly. And then Job
says in verse three of chapter 12, but I have understanding
as well as you. I am not inferior to you. Yea, who knoweth not such things
as these. I am as one mocked of his neighbor
who calleth on God and he answereth him. The just upright man is
left to scorn. And Job continues through chapter
12. And chapter 13, chapter 13, verse
three, surely I would speak to the almighty and desire to reason
with God. I'm talking to you fellers is,
is, is a hopeless case. I'm not getting anywhere like
this. I've talked to the Lord and then going on into chapter
14, he says, man, that is born of a woman. is a few days. Now, here we understand that the few
days is not literal. If a man's lived
over 50 years, he's lived over 18,000 days, and that's more
than a few. See? So the term here, few days,
is reference to the brevity of life. When you get old and look back
on it, it seems but such a moment. A few days and full of trouble. Man that is born of a woman,
this would include all men, including the Lord Jesus, born of woman. It would not include Adam. It would include all but Adam
who was created rather than born. But a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. In other words, the Lord said,
we have no promise of tomorrow in this world. And now Job says
in verse three, and thus thou opened that eyes upon such in
one. and bringest me into judgment
with thee? Lord, you're on such a high level,
such a higher level than man in his sin, with so brief a life
here, and then it's gone. Would you even deal with such
as we are? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Is there any hope for the likes
of us? Who can do that? Not one. He says in verse 7,
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof
will not cease, though the root thereof wax old in the earth,
and the stalk thereof die in the ground. Through the scent
of water, it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant. But
man dieth and wasteth away. Yea, man giveth up the ghost. And where is he? Now in verse
14, and this is the verse I want to get to. If a man die, shall he live again? You can cut down a tree, he said
in verse 7, and it might sprout from the roots and come back. But what about man? If a man
die, shall he live again? And of course, the reference
here is not to living again in this life. This is aside from
the few times in Scripture we find where a person was brought
back to life to continue on in this world, but he's talking
about something else. And we can read this. What about
our loved ones who are gone? What about ourselves who will
soon be gone? If a man dies, shall he live
again? Well, Job believes the answer
is yes. And he says, all the days of
my appointed time will I wait. He believes we have an appointed
time in this world. This is sometimes rendered, the
time of my warfare. And that's what a true believer's
life is in this world, is a constant warfare with sin, with Satan,
with the world, the flesh. The time of our warfare. Here
Job calls it, my appointed time. Allotted time my decreed time
to live in this world And we read in verse We read
back in or we can read back in verse 5 Seeing his days are determined
man's days are determined the number of his months are with
thee Lord thou hast appointed his bounds That he cannot pass Job says here in verse 14, all
the days of my appointed time will I wait. And these last four words in
this verse is what I want to get to. All the days of my appointed
time will I wait till my change come. Wait how long? Till my change
come. Job says, I'm not awaiting my
end, I'm awaiting my change. And I want to tell you for the
atheistic, heathenistic, infidel outfit that says this life is
all there is and you die like a dog and that's the end of your
existence forever, that is not according to God's Word. God
created Adam, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and man became a living soul. That is, an ever-living soul. And what happens to us at what
we call death is simply the soul and the spirit moving out of
this sin-cursed body. That's to go back to the dust.
So Job says, I'm waiting for my change. And he says it with
confidence. And he says it with certainty.
I'm not waiting to see if it'll come. I'm waiting till it comes. Now, what kind of change are
you talking about? Well, Job had experienced change
in his life. Chapter 1 tells us that he was
an upright man. That he feared God. and that
he eschewed evil, that is, he avoided evil. He was a godly
man. And that did not come natural
to any one of Adam's race. Oh, no. The Lord had long ago
changed his heart and put the fear of the Lord in his heart. So he had experienced change
in the past. And then Job, as he writes this,
as he experiences all this here, he is presently experiencing
change through all his sufferings and rejection and heartache and
shame. Present change. But being a child
of God, it was all working together for his good. It was working
change in his heart and life. And that's what our lives are. Some have said the change he
was referring to here is for his suffering to be over so he
can get back to normal in this life. But no, in this verse,
he's talking about death. If a man die, shall he live again? And he believed the answer is
yes. He does not believe death of this body is the end. All
the days of my appointed time, the appointed time in this life,
will I wait till my change come. He calls it not the end, but
change. And for God's children, it's
blessed change. So I want to just mention about
three things here, if you all stay awake and stay with me a
few minutes concerning this change Job's talking about. That is when we leave this world
and number one is something in which there is no change. And
then number two and three, I want to mention our areas of change.
Number one, there will be no change in our relationship to
God. when we leave this life. Now
some religions teach that if you've been a pretty good person,
though there might be a measure of punishment, purgatory, then
after a while you move on into full acceptance with God. Especially if you left a rich
relative here to pay the priest for him to pray on out of that
halfway house on into full acceptance with God. No, that's garbage. Now, others who claim to believe
somewhat more what the Bible teaches, and yet they're still
in error, believe that though they have no heart for the Lord
now, when they leave this world, they will have. In other words, all at once,
they're going to have a change of heart. No, no, that must happen
in this life. And then still others believe,
many of the primitive Baptists fall into this category, that you can be one of God's
elect and live all your life with no profession, no interest
in the gospel, no heart for the Lord, and go to heaven simply
because you were elected in eternity past. But see, the Bible, and
we preach election as strong as anybody I know, but this Bible
teaches that those whom God did predestinate, He also called,
affectionately called. That is, He gives His elect a
heart for Him in this life. So at the time of death, Relationship
does not change. If you belong to him, he will
at some point change your heart in this life. But as a tree falls,
so shall it lie. There's no changing. After death,
the Bible teaches today is the day of salvation. Now is the
appointed time. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Acts 17.26, Paul said, God hath
made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the
face of the earth, and hath determined the time before appointed, and
the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord,
if happily they might feel after him, and find him, though he
be not far from every one of us. So in this life is the time
to seek the Lord. How very, very blessed when any
sinner is brought by the Spirit of God to inquire, what must
I do? As we studied about Saul of Tarsus,
Lord, what do you have me to do? What must I do? As they did
ask on the day of Pentecost, what shall we do? And Peter said,
repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Same with that
Philippian jailer we talked about a week or two ago. In great fear
of meeting God, he asked Paul and Silas, sirs, what must I
do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. He didn't
say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt get saved.
But he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. You see, God given faith to believe
is in this life. And being born again, we're born
spiritually. And Jesus said even though we
die physically because of a sin nature, spiritually We'll never
die like him. We're alive forevermore. He said in John, he that believeth
on me shall never die. So death for a Christian is not
death at all. It is simply change. And that's
what Job's calling it here. Change. And there's no change
for the other side either. Those who die in their sins.
remains so forever, alienated forever from God. Oh, but for believers, what a
blessing, what a peaceful crossing, what a pleasant change it will
be. So relationship does not change. But then a second thing, something
that does change, and certainly Job was ready for this. a new
body. And the longer we live, the more
ready we all become for a new body, free from sickness, free
from disease, free from pain. This man Job, he suffered so
greatly physically, but he knew and he testified here when his
change comes, all that will be no more. And so it is with every
saint of God that has suffered so greatly in this world. Oh my, through the centuries,
throughout this world, the people of God suffering. We can't imagine. Paul said in first Corinthians
15 and 15, now this I say brethren, He's writing to believers only.
I've told you many times, don't go giving this New Testament
to the world. These epistles are written to
believers, all of them. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God. That is sinful flesh, sinful
blood. Neither doth corruption inherit
incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep." In other words, some saints will be living
when Christ returns. The world is getting in such
an awful shape and you hear all kinds of ideas from preachers,
oh, you know, will there be anybody? Yes, yes, there will be. Some
saints will be living when Christ returns. Then Paul said, but
we shall all be chained. There's that change, see? In
a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. Then he went on to say, for this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. It's not a losing thing. It's
a winning thing. Death shall be swallowed up in
victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory? The sting of death is sin, but
our sins are gone. And the strength of sin is the
law, but our sins are gone. Thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Philippians
3 21, that God shall change. Christ shall change our vile
body. that it may be fashioned like
unto His glorious body. That is such good news. That
is such good news. Rather than dread the inevitable,
why not believe God concerning it? And the blessed promises
we have when that time comes, the change, the change. Oh, when
you consider, think about the huge hospitals in most every
city in this world. And you consider the thousands
of nursing homes full of crippled and elderly people, sick and
dying, and the multiplied thousands more lying at home suffering.
But thank God beyond this life, you see, all this is depressing.
It's not depressing if you'll believe God concerning these
promises, what he says concerning this change. For God's child,
suffering will be no more. Pain will be no more. We'll have
a glorified body like unto Christ our Redeemer. What a change!
What a change! Job believed it, and he said,
I'll wait. I'll wait till God's time, till
my change come, till my appointed days are accomplished. And then
third, one other thought, and I'll be through, concerning this
change. And this is something greater
than physical, greater than the absence of suffering,
disease, and death. And that is the absence of sin. What a change. Paul said in this
life, Oh, wretched man that I am. In other words, I don't have
any reason to play religion and cuss other folks. Oh, wretched
man that I am. We like to pick out a few little
legalistic technicalities and pick out a verse or two out of
the whole Bible. and say, well, so-and-so's guilty
of this, so-and-so's guilty of that, so-and-so's guilty of that.
All that's nothing more than an undermined way of making yourself
look good. Paul said, it's not my business to cuss others. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Not the death of this body, but
the body of this death. We're walking around in bodies
of death, plagued by sin, 24-7. Oh, to understand that will help
you. I hear these preachers hounding
people to get the sin out of your life. Well, I know what
they mean, but they don't have a clue. David said, I was conceived
in sin. I was shapen in iniquity. This is what I am. Awful as it
is, shameful as it is. And it is sin in this flesh that'll
put us all in the graveyard. David said in the Psalms, my
bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and
night, thy hand was heavy. upon me, how tormenting is the
plague of sin in a believer's heart. Not just sinful actions,
but sinful thoughts, a sin consciousness. And those who have not that sin
consciousness and are not plagued by it, obviously have no new
creation to be plagued by it. But I promise you God's children
are. God's children are. A fellow said to me one time,
a preacher, said, if I believe what you believe, I'd just send
all I wanted to. I said, sir, I send a lot more
than I want to. You just indicated to me that
you would like to send somewhat more than you do, but I'd have
you know, I send a great deal more than I'd like to. Plagued by sin. A great preacher,
of the 1600s, named Samuel Bolton, on his deathbed
he said to a friend, Oh, this vile body of mine, when will
it give way that my soul may get out and go to God? That's the desire of every believer. Oh, the blessed assurance this
morning that we have from God's Word. Christ, our Redeemer, will
not leave us in that hour. A great Bible scholar who lived
named William Gouge, who lived 1575 to 1653. He died almost
400 years ago. This huge volume I hold in my
hand is his work on the book of Hebrews alone. Tremendous,
tremendous. And his departing testimony was
this. He said, now I have not long
to live. The time of my departure is at
hand. I am going to my desired haven. I am most willing to die. I have, blessed be God, nothing
else to do but to die. Death is my best friend next
to Jesus Christ and I am sure I shall be with Christ when I
leave. Job is saying everything will
be alright when my change comes. And for God's children, that's
all it is. Change. It is not death to die. We've
already died. Crucified with Christ. And yet
I live. Live. I'll read you this poem,
not poem, but it's something that I found in closing. I'll read this to you. Imagine you're standing on the
seashore. A ship spreads her white sails
to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and
strength and you stand and watch until at length She hangs like
a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky meet and mingle
with each other. There she is gone. Gone where? Gone from your sight,
that is all. She is just as large in hull
and mast as when she left your side. and just as able to bear
her load of living freight to the place of her destination.
Her diminished size is in you, not in her. And just at that moment when
someone at your side says she's gone, there are other eyes watching
for her coming. and other voices ready to take
up the glad shout, here she comes. And this is what we call dying. This is life. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed
time Will I wait till my change come? Thou shalt call, and I
will answer thee. Thou wilt have a desire to the
work of thy hands. Lord, you'll come for what you've
been working on all these years. And it's not this flesh. It's
a dying and going back to dust. But he's coming for the new creation. what he's doing in here to change
hearts. Bless his holy name. Thank you
for your attention. Let's stand together.