Well, I can't tell you how good
it has been for me and my wife to be with you again. We always
look forward to this. And today, while I was sitting
with the blessed privilege of hearing the gospel preached,
my heart was moved with gratitude to give thanks to God for speaking
to me by his word. What a great, great privilege.
What a benefit of grace. I seldom have the privilege.
of sitting and listening to others preach the gospel. When I'm at
home, I don't get to listen to many things on the internet or
video, simply by constraints of time, doing the work God's
given me to do. And Brother Lindsey Campbell
teaches our Bible class every Sunday morning at home, and I
normally get to sit in on that, but if I'm at home, I feel like
it's my responsibility to take care of the preaching, and so
I don't hear the other preachers in our congregation. good to
hear God's grace proclaimed today. So thankful that God spoke to
me by his word, and I pray he will now speak his word to you
by me. Mother Peter expresses so much
gratitude for me being here, and sometimes I have friends
who, they know how to take me down a notch or two. A few years
ago, I was preaching in Newcastle, Indiana, for Brother Bruce Crabtree,
a very dear friend of mine. I'd driven up on Sunday afternoon,
preached for them that night, drove home after the service
that night. They're just, oh, 200 miles from
us. And so I drove up that afternoon
and drove back that night, but Bruce started to introduce me.
And he said, it's so good to have one of God's choice, choice
servants with us tonight. Only eternity is going to tell
how we have benefited and how God's church has benefited by
the labors of this faithful, faithful servant. And it's so
good she brought Brother Don with her too. And he spoke more truth than
he knew. Not much that I do would be accomplished
without her constant assistance. Open your Bibles with me tonight
to Job. Job chapter 1. Yesterday at lunch, your pastor,
Brother Peter, said to us that which the Apostle Paul wrote
in scripture, that we must, through much tribulation, enter into
the kingdom of God. Not we may. We must, through
much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. And we have
great difficulty understanding that God's path of blessedness
for his people is a path always winding through darkness and
pain and adversity and trial. Not only physical sicknesses,
physical bodily ailments, domestic troubles, conflicts with foes
and conflicts with friends, but tribulations in our own souls
with unbelief and sin and corruption and our falls and our weaknesses. And the Lord Jesus speaks very
plainly to us. You remember what he said to
Peter. He said, before the rooster crows twice, Before the sun rises
tomorrow, Peter, you're going to deny me three times. Do you
remember his very next word? Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. Here in the book of Job,
we open with Job being considered by Satan. but being considered
by Satan at God's behest. Job chapter 1, verse 8. Here the Lord God challenges
Satan. 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 diskeweth evil." Now, as we read these 42 chapters
of Job, we should always read the book of Job with this in
mind. Everything we read about this
man named Job, as it's recorded in the inspired piece of history
that we have before us, everything written here, began with God
challenging Satan. Not with Satan challenging God,
not with Satan challenging Job, but with God challenging Satan. The challenge the Lord God put
before him, I put to you. Hast thou considered my servant
Job? The title of my message tonight
is Lessons from the Life of Job. lessons from the life of Job. We would be wise, as we read
the histories of God's saints as they're recorded for us in
Holy Scripture, to take out a piece of paper, keep it in our Bibles,
and write down obvious lessons God would have us to learn from
the lives of those men as they're recorded in Scripture. They are
written for our learning, and our admonition that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. This book of
Job is a gripping story, a fascinating drama, but it is much more than
that. The book of Job is the narrative
of the life and trials of a righteous man in this world. Not just any
kind of narrative, but an inspired narrative. A narrative written
specifically by the order of God and given to us in the inspired
word of God. The book of Job begins for us
a separate distinct section of scripture. We have the scriptures
given to us as you know and they are orderly arranged, not in
the order in which they were written. but they are arranged
as they are by God's providence in sections for us. I don't suggest
that the arrangement is necessarily inspired. I do insist that it
is arranged according to divine providence. Genesis through Deuteronomy,
the first five books of the Bible, the five books of Moses, are
commonly referred to in Scripture as the Law. Joshua through Esther
are historic books. In those passages, we're given
instruction concerning events in history. And those events
in history are living parables. They were brought to pass by
the arrangement of God's hand to teach us certain things, both
about our lives in this world and to teach us about the work
of our God and Savior for us in redemption and salvation and
grace and in providence. They illustrate for us everything
that's going on in our own lives. When you read through Joshua,
through Esther, read those historic books and read your own life
into the books, and you will have read them right. In the
poetic books, beginning with Job, going through the Song of
Solomon, and then the little book of Lamentations between
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we see God's saints in worship. Those
pages of scripture, if you visit with saints of God and those
who have been around a long time carrying the same Bible, you
will always find the poetic books the thickest pages. They're always
the ones that are most soiled because those are the ones we
read most often in trouble. Those are the ones we read most
often when our hearts are heavy. Those are the ones we read most
often when we're perplexed and troubled about the things going
on in our lives. Because in those poetic books,
we go with God's saints into their closets where they shut
the door behind them. And they enter into worship.
And they call on God. And there we're allowed to go
with a man like David after God's own heart. With a man like Job
whom God declares perfect. We're allowed to go with them
into their closets and hear them say things to God. They would never say in public.
Hear them say things to God that we really feel and want to say,
but we lack either the courage or the faith or the honesty to
speak plainly with God. Is that not the case with you?
How often have you wanted to cry, though you wouldn't dare
say it with your lips? My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Why will you continually cast
me off? We lack the honesty to speak
plainly with God what we feel in our souls. And we ought to
learn not to do so. We ought to learn to speak honestly
with God, be honest with God, open your heart to God. And that's
one of the reasons these poetic books are so precious to God's
saints. That makes them comforting as
well as instructive and inspiring. The Book of Job is a great poem. Tennyson called it the greatest
poem in literature, ancient or modern. Martin Luther considered
the Book of Job more magnificent and sublime than any other book
of scripture. It reads like a drama, but an
epic drama, much like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. But the book
of Job is also historical. It's not a fiction. Job was a
real character. He was a living person. And the
events actually took place exactly as they're recorded in these
42 chapters. But God recounts these events
for us in this beautiful poetic style that we might have an answer
to the age-old question, why do the righteous suffer? And
so the first lesson from Job is this. God's people in this
world suffer only and always by the hand of God. God's people
in this world suffer only and always by the hand of God. Why do the righteous suffer?
Job suffered from the assaults of Satan. He suffered from the
accusations of his friends. He suffered from his own wise
mouth. And yet, if you ask Job why he
suffered, Job, why did you endure these things? Why were these
things brought upon you? Why such loss? Why such pain? Why such darkness? Why such difficulty? Job always said, God did it. God did it. He looked past the
secondary things to the original source of things. Everywhere
you turn in this book, in these 42 chapters, when Job speaks
of that which he suffered, he declares that he suffered as
he did because God ordered it. Look at chapter 19. Job chapter
19, verse 21. Just look at two texts. Hear what he says. Have pity upon me. Have pity
upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched
me. Why do the righteous suffer?
Look at chapter 23, verse 10. Job gives an unmistakable, clear
answer. He knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall
come forth as gold. God touched me. God is refining
me. God is trying me. This is God's
work. It is not what God has done to
me. It is what God is doing for me. The hand of God hath touched
me. Learn this too, the book we have in our hands. I'm talking
about this book, this book. This is God's Word. This is God's Word. God's holy, inspired, infallible,
inerrant Word. Now, I stress this for you not
so that we can be equipped to defend the inspiration of Scripture
against infidels and liberals. When fellows laugh, I just stick
my tongue out and laugh back at them. I don't try to defend
those things. No point in trying to convince
lost men of the things of God. You're not going to do that.
I say these things for your consolation so that your own faith and comfort
may be buttressed in the Scriptures. There are certain internal evidences
that this book is God's book that just can't be denied by
reasonable men. When you read the Word of God,
No other book in the Bible contains so much scientific data as the
book of Job. Now the Bible is not a book about
science, it's not a book about history, it's not a book about
morality, it's not a book about politics, but whatever the Bible
speaks about, whether it's about science or history or anything
else, whatever God says in his word is always precisely accurate. Always precisely accurate, it
will never be gainsaved. Look in Job chapter 26, verse
7. Listen to what Job says here.
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth
the earth upon nothing. What a declaration by which we
are told the position and the stability of this planet called
Earth in God's creation. Job's contemporaries, everybody
who lived in Job's days, Now remember, this is probably, probably,
I wouldn't say with absolute certainty, but probably the book
of Job was the first of the inspired books to be written. This was
written before Genesis. Job probably lived somewhere
about the time that Abraham lived upon the earth. So this is a
book that's at least 3,000 years old. And Job speaks to us here
and tells us, God hung the earth on nothing. God hung the earth
on nothing. All of his contemporaries, everybody
who lived for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years after Job
thought that the earth was flat. and that it rested on the shoulders
of one of the gods, or on the back of an elephant, or some
imaginary giant sea turtle. Imagine this. Startingly accurate
scientific statements are here written more than 3,000 years
before Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found a little piece
of land called North America. Over 3,000 years before that. Look at chapter 38, verse 7. Listen to what Job says about
stars. When the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy, no one until modern
times among all the wise acres of science ever dreamed that
rays of light give off sounds that the human ear cannot hear.
But Job wrote it more than 3,000 years ago. That which science
has now discovered and everyone understands. But Job wrote it
more than 3,000 years ago. God spoke this word by inspiration
and tells us the morning stars saying his praise. Look at verse
24, chapter 38. By what way is light parted which
scattereth the east wind upon the earth? Well, you would think
that Job had knowledge of spectrum analysis, but this was written
3,000 years ago. Look at verse 31. Canst thou
bind the sweet influences of Pleiades? Are loose the bands
of Orion? Now, most of you probably know
this, but Pleiades is a group of seven stars in the constellation
of Taurus. But I wonder how Job knew that.
He didn't have a telescope. Yet he speaks of these, this
constellation. And he tells us, you're not going
to change it. You're not going to bind it.
Pleiades and Orion, no man can control. I'd like to tell Mr. Gore that. Contrary to modern
environmentalist notions of things, contrary to the proud thoughts
of haughty men, the seasons of time are not to be altered by
men. Job was taught by God that it
was not within the power of man to make any change in the dispensations
of God's providence. It does not lie within the power
of man to make any changes in the dispensations of God's providence.
In other words, you are not going to turn the summertime of prosperity
into the wintertime of adversity. And you're not going to turn
the wintertime of adversity into the summertime of prosperity.
You're not going to affect the climate. You're not going to
cause global warming. We had a rather severe winter
in Kentucky this year. I've been there for 35 years.
We had more snow and more cold weather than we've had in 35
years. And if we continue in global
warming, we're going to freeze to death. What laughable nonsense. What laughable nonsense to think
that man imagines in his haughtiness that he's going to control God's
creation. God told Job that's not going
to happen. These things are written here
and just give us little hints, little blunt declarations. Laugh all you want to, this is
God's Word. These things come by divine revelation. They're
written here by infinite wisdom, by He alone who knows all and
rules all. What you have in your hand then
is the Word of God, the holy, inspired Word of God. I was speaking to my friend,
Brother Sid Buggins, earlier this week. He was telling me
about a friend of his, a man who was unlearned, uneducated. He said, if you ask him about
Gil, and Calvin, and Hawker, and those fellows, he'd ask you,
where do they live? He doesn't know anything all
about them. He doesn't read any books. But Sid said, he reads
this book. And he has it memorized in huge
chunks. And he sits down and reads the
Book of Romans at one setting and does so often. He'd been
converted for 20 years, and he knows God's book. Read good literature. But forget Fortner if you must,
read this. Forget Gill if you must, and
read this. Forget the writings of men about
the book if you must, be sure you read this book. This is God's
Word. This is God's Book. And God has
given it to us for our learning, our instruction, our admonition,
our comfort, and the saving of our souls. If you would know
God, know His Word. God has given us his word and
given us clear evidence that it is indeed his word. But this
is not my purpose, merely to demonstrate the veracity of Holy
Scripture. I want to show you our Redeemer
in the book of Job and learn the lessons he has for us in
it. In the first two chapters of Job, go back to chapter one,
if you will. In the first two chapters of this remarkable book,
We're allowed to look behind the scenes and see what was happening
and why. Wouldn't it be wonderful in your
life if you could look behind the scenes and see what's happening
and why? If you could just pull back the
curtain. Oh, now I see why that happened. Now I understand why that took
place. Lord, thank you. Thank you for
showing me that. Well, Job didn't have that privilege. We're looking behind the scenes.
Job's just experiencing the trial. Look what we have here. We're
told and told by God himself that Job was a righteous man.
Righteous man look at verse one. There was a man in the land of
Oz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright What
a testimony What a statement it's the same testimony Enoch
had when he walked with God Before he was translated. He had a testimony
that he pleased God and And it wasn't a testimony that men had
about Enoch. That wasn't it. That wasn't it.
It wasn't that folks looked at Enoch and said, man, look at
him. Boy, he's a good fellow. Man, he dresses right and talks
right. He doesn't go to a picture show.
He doesn't smoke, drink, or chew. And he doesn't even date the
girls who do. No, that wasn't what he was talking about. He
had a testimony from God that he was righteous. God spoke and
said, Enoch, I accept you in my son, righteous, just as he
speaks to you and I, giving us faith in Christ, declaring we're
righteous before him. God says concerning Job, this
man was perfect. God made him so. This man was
upright, perfect before God, and upright in his conversation
with men. One that feared God and disputed
evil. Verse 8. The Lord said to Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth? Not another one like him. He's
the only one of his kind. A perfect and an upright man. A perfect and an upright man.
It appears that as it was in Noah's day, so it was in Job's
day, there was just one man on earth who walked with God. One
man in the whole of creation who walked with God in his day.
Job, none like him in the earth, perfect and upright, one that
feareth God and escheweth evil. The Lord God in the book of Ezekiel
chapter 14 twice ranks Job with Noah and Daniel, a righteous
man. But Job wasn't righteous by nature.
He wasn't perfect by nature. And we see clearly that he was
not perfect in his personal conduct. You read through the book of
Job and it's obvious that he was not. These chapters tell
us that Job was a man just like you and me. A sinner saved by
grace. redeemed by blood, born again
by God the Holy Spirit, made righteous by Christ, made righteous
having the righteousness of Christ imputed to him in free justification,
and made righteous by having been made partaker of the divine
nature, having the very righteous nature of Christ imparted to
him in free regeneration. Job was a man who had been greatly
blessed of God, blessed with grace, and one to whom God had
given greater wealth and honor than any other man in the East.
He sees that in chapter 1, verse 3. He was the richest man in
the world, the richest man in the world, and he worshipped
God. He worshipped God and interceded for his sons and daughters at
the throne of grace continually, we're told in verse 5. And then
the Lord God We see here shows himself to be the absolute monarch
of the universe. Understand this. Brother Allen
dealt with this this afternoon earlier. Our God rules. Oh, God teach me this. Our God
rules in heaven, earth, and hell. Our God rules. He has his way
everywhere, all the time, with everybody. Our God rules. God has his way in the whirlwind,
the clouds or the dust of his sleep. He raises up nations and
treads down nations. He raises up kings and treads
down kings. He raises up economies and tramples
economies down, exactly as He will. And He does it all the
time. He gives life and He takes it
away. He gives health and He breaks
it, exactly as He will. He sends light and He sends darkness. He creates good and He creates
evil, exactly as He will. That's the very language of Scripture,
is it not? That's what he says about himself.
He said, to whom will you liken me? Who else is there who rules
everywhere and has his will everywhere with all people at all times?
The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. I don't know how to make or what
to make or explain of everything. that we see written here. I don't
know what to make or how to make or explain things that take place
in my own life or in yours. I don't know that this passage
is going to be clearly, or the passages in this book are going
to be clearly understood by us while we walk on this earth.
But I do understand that this book declares, as the scriptures
everywhere declare, the universal dominion and sovereignty of our
God. The angels came to give report
to God. The angels came to give a report
to God. The angels who were created by
God to be ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those
who shall be heirs of salvation. But when the angels came to give
report to God, Satan came. He didn't come sneaking in, Peter.
He was brought in. He came to give report to God. God says, where have you been?
What have you been doing? He comes to give report to God.
You see, Satan is not a rival to God. Satan is not a secondary
God. Satan is not the God of darkness
and our God, Jehovah, the God of light. Satan is God's devil. He created him. He uses him. And when he's done with him,
he'll cast him into hell. He's God's devil. He comes to
give a report to God. It was God who took the initiative. In verses 7 and 8, he challenges
Satan regarding his servant, Job. And it was God who gave
Satan permission to do what he did to Job. Not only that, the
Lord God told Satan exactly what he could do and exactly what
he couldn't do. Now, I don't know about you,
but that helps me a lot. God told the devil exactly what
he could do and exactly what he could not do. He still does. God's still in control. The devil
was allowed to roar against Job. The devil was allowed to inflict
great pain upon Job. Satan was allowed to afflict
Job tremendously, but he wasn't allowed to hurt him. at all. If you can't hurt my life, you
haven't hurt me. If all you do is tear my arm
off, you haven't hurt me. If all you do is break my heart,
you haven't hurt me. If all you do is cause my mind
to be lost in wandering darkness, you haven't hurt me. If you can't
touch my life, you can't touch me. And God said to Satan, he's
in your hands. Do what you want to, but don't
you touch his life. And so it is to this day. So
it is to this day. Satan accused Job, as believers
are always accused, of serving God for gain. And the Lord turned
the fiend of hell loose on his servant Job, both to prove otherwise
and to improve his beloved servant, Job, in verses 9 through 12. Now, as we read the first two
chapters, it's impossible for us to put ourselves in Job's
place. I've read these chapters again today, and I just, I can't put myself there. I can't put myself there. You
can't really feel what you've never experienced. You can't
really You can't really enter into the
pain of what you've never yourself experienced. I was thinking particularly
about Brother Minnie, his wife, Peter's mother, and the difficulties
the last few years. And I hurt for you. I really
do. And I pray for you. But I don't have any idea what
you feel every day as you hold that lady's hand. I can't enter
into it. I can't enter into it. I want
to feel for you, but I can't enter into it because I've not
been there. Understand that now as we read what Job experienced.
Look at verse 13, chapter 1. There was a day when Job's sons
and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house. And there came a messenger to Job and said,
The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them. And
the Sabians fell upon them. and took them away. Yea, they
have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I
only am escaped alone to tell thee." And while he was yet speaking,
this fellow hadn't got done giving his report yet. There came also
another and said, the fire of God is fallen from heaven, and
hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them,
and I only am escaped to tell thee. And while he's still talking,
while he was yet speaking, there came also another, three fellows
now. They're the only ones left. God
spared me just so I could come tell you this miserable news.
There came also another and said, the Calvians made out three bands
and fell upon the camels and have carried them away, yea,
and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. And I only
am escaped to tell thee, verse 18, while he was yet speaking.
There came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were
eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold,
there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the
four corners of the house and fell upon the young men and their
dead. And I alone, I only am escaped
to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle
and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped."
Oh God, make me such a man. Job fell on the ground and worshipped. He just got news. He just got
news that everything dear to him except his own life and his
wife is gone. Everything dear to him except
his own life and his wife, his sons, his daughters, his sheep,
his oxen, his asses, his camels, everything destroyed like that
by the hand of God, everything. And Job fell on the ground and
worshiped. And this is what he said. Naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name
of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not,
nor charged God foolishly." Chapter 2. Again, there was a day when
the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And
Satan came also among them to do the very same thing, to present
himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, from
which comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and
said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up
and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
hast thou considered my servant Job, that there's none like him
in the earth, a perfect man, one that feareth God and deskeweth
evil. I told you what kind of man Job
was. Have you considered Job again? And still he holdeth fast
his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy
him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. But put forth thine hand now
and touch his bone and his flesh. You took his children, and you
took his riches. You took his camels, and you
took his horses, and you took his asses, and you took his cattle.
But you touch him. You let me get hold of Job. Touch
his body, and let's see what happens. Put forth thine hand
and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your
face. He'll curse you, God, just like
I do. He'll blaspheme you, just like
I do. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold,
he is in thine hand, but save his life. So Satan went forth
from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils
from the sole of his foot unto his crown. Have you ever had a boil? A couple? Maybe three or four? Painful. Imagine a body covered
with boils. Suddenly, like that. That's what
Job experienced. And it took him a potsherd to
scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then
his wife looked at him. Fine mess you are. Look at you,
Job. Look at you. God didn't say his
wife feared God and eschewed evil. God didn't say that his
wife worshiped God. God didn't say his wife was perfect.
God didn't say his wife was upright. Job was, and his wife looked
at him and said, what did it get you? What did it get you? You brag on God, and you boast
on God, and you talk about God, and you worship God, and you
praise God. Why don't you just cuss God and die? I'm tired of
looking at you. I'm tired of looking at you. Then beginning at verse 11 of
chapter 2 and going through chapter 31, Job meets up with his friends. Wonderful friends they were.
I've had enough like them. I don't want any more. We've
all had friends like these three men. Look at verse 11, chapter
2. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was
come upon him, They came every one from his
own place, Eliphaz the Tiamite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the
Naamathite, for they had made an appointment together to come
to mourn with Job and to comfort him. And when they lifted up
their eyes afar off and knew him not, They lifted up their
eyes or their voice and went and they rent everyone his mantle
and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they
sat down with Job. They sat down with him upon the
ground. Now watch this. For seven days
and seven nights and didn't speak a word. Job must have been a
horrible sight. Job must have been a horrible
sight. These fellows came from some distance and they saw Job
and didn't recognize who he was, but they kept walking toward
this fellow that they knew that's where Job ought to be. And when
they got there, they said, that's Job. And they just sat down and
looked at each other and didn't speak a word for seven days and
seven nights unto him. For they saw that his grief was
very great. And Satan's work was nothing
compared to the work of these three self-righteous reformed
legalists. I chose my words deliberately.
Legalists are always mean, just mean. Folks who pretend to live
by the law and pretend to be righteous and pretend to be good
are mean, just mean. Job's name means persecuted,
and they tried to make sure he lived up to his name. It wasn't
their doctrine that was so bad as their attitude. Eliphaz, his
name means my God is fine gold. He's the first to speak. He had
a vision, as described in chapter 4. He had a vision, and he assumed
that his vision gave him the authority to set in judgment
over God's servant Job. Bildad, his name means confusing
love. He thought himself a scholarly
intellectual fellow. He backed up his words with the
authority of a long list of forefathers who couldn't possibly be mistaken
in Chapter 8. And then Zophar, whose name means
sparrow, was described by someone as one of those irksome people
we all hope never to meet again, fresh out of seminary, who knew
everything about everything. So far was a young man who didn't
have questions about anything. He had settled all the issues.
He had all the answers Job described them Considerably more graciously
than I would have he called the miserable comforters They were
all fully convinced that Job was really a hypocrite They were
fully convinced Job really was all that Satan had accused him
of being. He suffered divine judgment because, after all,
God saw some secret evil, some secret sin, some secret wickedness
in Job that nobody knew about except God, and they were determined
to expose it. There are multitudes like them.
Multitudes like them. We run into them all the time.
These three men should stand as lasting reminders to you and
me of the need always in dealing with suffering friends to deal
with them with great tenderness and care. Refrain from forming
a judgment. Refrain from forming opinion
as to why these things have come upon our friends. Refrain from
speaking and just listen with tender care. Refrain from giving
answers when you don't even know what the questions are. Deal
with suffering friends, suffering friends with tenderness and compassion. Elihu, his name means he is my
God. He comes on the scene in chapter
32 through chapter 37. Elihu was a young man. But unlike Zophar, Elihu was
a young man with a message from God. And when you read the chapters
32 through 37, you see that Elihu clearly spoke and spoke with
authority. He spoke plainly to rebuke Job's
miserable comforters, his tormenting friends, for their accusations. And he rebuked Job. Because Job
needed to be rebuked. Job, in the heat and passion
of dealing with these miserable comforters spoke more about his
righteousness than he did God's righteousness. He spoke more
to justify himself before his friends than he did to justify
God in his dealings. And Elijah said, Job, you're
wrong in that. Elihu spoke of God's incomparable greatness
in chapter 33. And he gives us a marvelous,
turn there, chapter 33, chapter 33. He gives us here a marvelous
picture of God's incomparable greatness. picture of God's method
of grace by which he delivers chosen sinners from going down
to the pit. It doesn't matter whether you
read this passage and you say, is this talking about the way
God saves his elect? Or is this how God delivers his
people from trouble? Yes, that's what it's talking
about. That's what it's talking about. Either way, whether you're
talking about the believer's experience of salvation and grace,
or you're talking about the believer's experience of deliverance from
trouble. Look at verse 13. Why dost thou strive against
him? Why do you strive against God?
For he giveth not account of any of his matters. God doesn't
explain himself to men. For God speaketh once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the
night, when deep sleep falleth upon men and slumberings upon
his bed, then he openeth the ears of men. Before the days
when scripture was completed, God often spoke to men by visions
in the night, in their dreams. And he sealeth their instructions.
Verse 17, that he, the man to whom God speaks, may withdraw
man from his purpose and hide pride from man. God keepeth back
his soul from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude
of his bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread,
and his soul dainty meat." That's heaviness. That's pain. You've got such a weight, such a burden,
that you just forget to eat because you're not hungry. You just forget
things that are normal to life. Verse 21, his flesh is consumed
away that it cannot be seen. His bones were not seen, that
were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto
man his uprightness, to show man God's uprightness. Oh, if God sends a messenger
to show you his uprightness, how blessed you are. how blessed
you are, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God,
how blessed you are to whom God sends his messenger. But there
is a messenger long before any of these preachers of the gospel
ever arose, the messenger of the covenant, Christ Jesus, our
Redeemer, an interpreter to show man God's rightness, God's uprightness,
his righteousness. When God sends such a messenger,
then he is gracious unto the man. And he saith, deliver him
from going down to the pit. The Lord God before the world
was looked on his son and looked on his people and his son and
says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. Christ Jesus being that ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth, this man born anew. He shall pray unto God, and God
will be favorable unto him. And he shall see his face with
joy, for he will render unto man his righteousness." God giving
a man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if they
say, I sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited
me not, if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive
us our sin. He will deliver his soul from going down to the pit,
and his life shall see light. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with men. We won't take the time tonight
to do so. I hope you will take the time when you go home before
you close your eyes tonight and read again the 107th Psalm. Read
again how God works in providence. He causes men to wander in the
wilderness until they're empty and needy. And then when they're
utterly helpless, they cry unto God and God hears them. He causes
them to reel to and fro like a drunken man, and they stagger
and are at their wits end. And then when they're at their
wits end, they cry unto God, and God hears them and delivers
them out of their distresses. They go down to the sea, and
they see in the depths of the sea the mighty works of God,
and they reel to and fro, and they're at their wits end, and
they cry to God, God, help me! And when they're at their wits
end, only when you're at your wits end will you cry to God. Only then. We were talking about
prayer. Someone I was talking with yesterday
or the day before, and I don't know much about prayer. I don't
pretend to. But I know this, most of what I do that's called
prayer is just saying words. Most of it. Most of it is just
asking God to give me what I personally desire, most of it. But when
God gets you in trouble, and you're at your wit's end, when
you can't do anything else, then you pray. You see your husband withering away,
Can't do anything. Doctors have done everything
they can do. You can't do anything. Doctors can't do anything. That
is dying. You've read everything you can
read, and you've searched the internet for everything you can
search for, and you've done everything you can do. Finally, God, I'm
helpless. Help me. Help me. Well, you've
ruined your life with your debauchery and ungodliness and sin. And
you brought yourself down to nothing but misery and degradation
and pain. And all by your own hands, by
your own proclivacy. And God speaks by his word to
your heart. And you find yourself at the
end of the row. And there's nothing you can do.
And in utter helplessness, almost despair, you cry to God, have
mercy on me. Only then will you seek his face. When you find you can do nothing,
you'll seek his face. When I find I can do nothing
in the midst of trouble, I seek his face. Until then, you know,
we paste the floor and we wring our hands and we bite our nails
and we make plans and we connive and work, how are we going to
work this out? How are we going to work this out? And as sure as you
keep trying, you'll make a bigger mess of things. And when you
can't do anything, you call on God. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with men, to bring back his soul from the pit, to
be enlightened with the light of the living. Then in chapter
38, God confronts Job. Here, the Lord God effectually
applies to Job what his messenger Elihu had declared to him. The
Lord graciously showed Job His greatness, His glory, His solitary
majesty as God. He showed Job who God is. And when Job saw who God is,
he repented of his sin. Look at chapter 40, verse 3.
Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. What a confession. Matt, he didn't say, I have done
that which is vile. He didn't say, I think what's
vile. He didn't say, vileness comes out of me. He said, I am
vile. I saw God in His purity. I saw the glory of God in the
face of Christ crucified. Now I understand, I'm vile. What shall I answer thee? Best
thing for me to do is shut up. I'll lay my hand upon my mouth.
Once have I spoken, but I will not answer thee. Yea, twice,
but I'll proceed no further. Look at chapter 42, verse 1. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought
can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew
not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak. I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and
I repent in dust and ashes." In verses 7, 8, and 9, Job then
forgave his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and prayed
for them. Verses 10 through 17, we're told that the Lord God
blessed Job. When the gold was refined, God
took him out of the furnace. His riches and honor were doubled. His children were added in the
same number. He had seven sons and three daughters as before.
the perfection of a family, a household with the three daughters, speaking
of God's grace and mercy to him. Chapter 42, verse 10. And the
Lord turned the captivity of Job. When he prayed for his friends
also, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then
came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all
they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with
him in his house, and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all
the evil the Lord had brought upon him. 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. For he had 14,000 sheep, and
6,000 camels, and 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 she-asses. He had also seven sons and three
daughters. And he called the name of the
first Jemima, and the name of the second, Keziah, and the name
of the third, Kerenhepok. And in all the land, there were
no women found so fair as the daughters of Job. And their father
gave them inheritance among their brethren. And after this lived
Job 140 years. twice the normal age of a man.
And he saw his sons and his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died being old and full
of days." Now, throughout these chapters, there are many things
that we may be mistaken about. And Job was mistaken about many
things, as we are. But his doctrine was pure gospel
doctrine. Job taught the absolute sovereignty
of God in all things. Job taught us our need of a kinsman,
a redeemer, a daysman, one to stand between us and God, one
who could speak to God for us and speak to us for God and bring
the two together. Job taught with certainty redemption
and the resurrection of the dead. Look in chapter 19. You listen
to chapter 3 and turn to chapter 19. In the grave, Job said, the wicked
cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. In chapter 14, he said to God,
oh, that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest
keep me secret until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint
me a set time and remember me. Now look at chapter 19, verse
21. Have pity upon me, have pity
upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched
me. Why do you 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 watch this. Remember now,
this is Job speaking. This is back before Moses wrote
in the beginning God. This is Job speaking. Three thousand
years ago, he said, I know. I know that my Redeemer liveth. And that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself. And mine eyes shall behold in
not another, though my reins be consumed within me. But ye
should say, why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter
is in me. God's given me life. through
Christ my mediator, and though this body shall rot in the grave
as all flesh should, there's a day coming when my Redeemer
will come again. He will stand on this earth,
and when he does, he will raise this body from the dead, and
I'm going to see Christ my Redeemer with my own eyes for myself. I'll behold him with these eyes
in resurrection glory. Now having shown Job his sovereignty
and his power over creation, The Lord convinced Job both of
his nothingness and of God's greatness. Then Job answered
the Lord and said, I know thou canst do everything, and that
no thought can be withholden from thee. I have heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore,
I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Being taught
of God, Job abhorred himself. What a difference there is between
the teaching of men and the teaching of God. What a difference there is between
the teaching of men and the teaching of God. Alangella, if I teach
you something, somebody can un-teach you. If what you learn, you learn
from a man, mom, or dad, or brother, or sister, or pastor, or friend,
or husband, or wife, if a man teaches it, you can be untaught
by somebody else. Paul said, we came not with the
wisdom of man's words, but in the power of God's Spirit, in
the demonstration and power of the Spirit of God. And our word
came to you by God, so that your faith should not stand in the
power of men, but in the power of God, when God teaches. If God teaches you something,
nobody's going to unteach you. If God teaches you something,
you will never unlearn that which God teaches. When God speaks
the word, he brings conviction to the heart. And when God brings
conviction to the heart, he brings the sinner low and Christ is
exalted. Now, there's much, much more
that can be said about Job. But let me show you this as I
conclude. Job stands in this book as a
marvelous, imminent, instructive picture and type of Christ our
Redeemer. Let me show you five or six things.
I'll just make the statements and be very brief. Job was the
greatest man of the East. Christ, the wisdom man, whose
goings forth have been from everlasting, is the greatest of all, so that
it pleased the Father that he should have the preeminence in
all things. Second, Job was a perfect and
upright man, fearing God and descuing evil. our Savior, the
Lord Jesus. He who came here to obey God
for us, under the full satisfaction of justice by his obedience unto
death, to bring in everlasting righteousness and put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself, is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. Number three, Job was suddenly
brought from great riches to great poverty by the hand of
God. Here he was one day, the richest,
most powerful, most influential man in the earth. And here he
is the next day, the children will walk around him, keep being
close to him. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ? how that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. He who was rich with all the
glory of his eternal divinity, rich as the Son of God, possessing
all things, came into this world and emptied himself and was made
poor, poor. dirt poor, dirty poor, made sin
for us, that we through his poverty might be made rich through his
righteousness. Job was assaulted by Satan. Look at one more text, Lamentations
chapter 1. But what were the sufferings
of Job compared to our Lord's sufferings for the salvation
of our souls? Satan was the instrument that brought sorrow to Job. But
all his adversities came by the will and decree and hand of God,
and Job knew it. So it was with our Savior. Go yonder to Calvary, and behold again the Lamb of
God. suffering all the fury of God's
wrath at once as our substitute. And hear what he says, Is it
nothing to you, O ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. in the light of what our Savior
experienced, his sorrow, his pain, his suffering. Don Fortner,
bite your tongue at every thought of pain and sorrow and suffering
you experience. Hold your tongue, speak nothing
for our light of fiction. which is but for a moment, worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Number
five, Job made effectual sacrifice and effectual intercession for
his friends by the will of God. Oh, when I read that, how my
heart rejoices to know that our Lord Jesus Christ made a defectual
sacrifice for us and defectually intercedes for us. But that's
not all. Because the Lord God accepted
Job, He accepted Job's three friends. He said to those fellows,
you go see my servant Job. And my servant Job, you make
sacrifice to my servant Job. And he will intercede for you.
And when he intercedes for you, I will accept him. What a word. Not I'll accept you, I'll accept
him. You see, God accepts us. Not because of anything we do. not because of anything we feel,
not because of anything we experience. God accepts us because He accepts
Him who makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. These things write I unto you,
John said, little children, that you sin not. And if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father. Everything's all right. His name is Jesus. He is the
Christ, the righteous one. And he is the propitiation, the
justice-satisfying sacrifice for our sins. Number seven, Job
was laid low that he might be exalted very high. So it was
with our Lord Jesus. I told the folks at Gorno sometime
last week, I don't remember when. Spurgeon, when he was preaching
at the Surrey Gardens Music Hall in
London, once somebody cried, fire, fire! And it was just a
stampede of terrified people. Two were killed, many were injured.
Spurgeon was devastated. He was devastated. He couldn't
preach for two weeks. And then he read Philippians
chapter 2 about our Lord Jesus, who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God also hath
highly exalted him. Because of his obedience, God
exalted him and has given him a name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. And when Spurgeon had God set
this seal in his heart, to seal this to his heart, Christ my
Redeemer is exalted. That sustained Mr. Spurgeon and
it went back to the pulpit and the next Sunday preached from
that text in Philippians chapter 2. Job was brought very low in
order that God should exalt him very high. So the Lord Jesus
was brought very low and he said, the Lord God said to him, ask
of me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. And now
he's exalted very high and God's given him sons and daughters,
seven sons and three daughters. And we're told here that Job's
daughters had an inheritance with their brethren. Job received
double. all that he had before, a double
portion. That's the portion of the firstborn.
And that's the portion that Job left to his sons and his daughters. You see, he left everything to
them that God had given him. Our Lord Jesus said, Father,
restore to me the glory that I had with thee before the world
was. And before he finished the prayer,
he said, the glory Thou hast given me, I have given them. So that everything he earned
by his obedience to God as a man, he gives to all his people, trusting
him as their Savior and Lord. I read some time ago about a
man whose son He is a very wealthy man in Chicago. His son and he,
the wife, know nothing about it. She must have died some years
earlier. But this wealthy man and his son collected art, as
wealthy folks like to do with their money. And they often spoke
of their art, and they'd go down in their art room and just admire
things they had. And when the Vietnam War broke
out, his son, feeling an obligation to serve his country, volunteered
for service. And he was sent to Vietnam. And
one day, the father got word that his son had been killed.
His son had been killed, rescuing others from enemy fire. And time
went on. Father learned to live with his
grief. But one day, several years later,
he heard a knock at the door, and there was a man standing
there with a package under his arm. And he knocked on the door,
and the man opened the door, and he introduced himself. Told
him his name. He said, several years ago, your
son and I were in Vietnam together. And your son was killed carrying
another to freedom to save his life. He said, I was the man
your son carried to life. Your son often spoke to me about
you and your love of art. And I have this package here
for you. And he handed it to him. And
the man opened it open. And the fellow had done the best
he could to give a portrait of his son. And the man was just
overwhelmed. He was just overwhelmed. Offered
to pay him for it. He said, oh, no, no, no. This
is my gift to you. And the man took that portrait
done by a fellow who knew little about art and hung it right over
his fireplace mantel in the central room of the house above everything.
Everybody who came in, he showed them his son's portrait and told
them the story. When the man died, They had an
estate auction. Everything would be given away,
the proceeds of it to various things as he had purposed. And
they opened the auction and people came from everywhere. They came
from everywhere. The place was just packed up,
wanting to find a rare chance to buy some of this rare art.
And the auctioneer swung his gavel and opened up the auction
and pulled a veil off of this picture of that man's son. and
asked, we will start with this picture of the son in the family. Who will bid for it? And folks
got a little upset. And they snarled, who wants that? Get to the artwork. This is to
be sold first. And it continued and continued.
And finally, somebody in the back said, I'll give $10 for
it. And the fellow said, 10? Who
will make it 15? Ten, who will make you 15? Ten,
who will make you 15? Nobody would take it. The man
in the back was a gardener. He'd been working for this man
and his son all his life. And he took the picture. And
when he took the bid, the auctioneer swung the gavel and said, the
auction is over. And folks were upset. What about
the paintings? What about all the other stuff
we came here for? He said, there was one stipulation I wasn't
allowed to reveal until now. And he gave the man's name and
he said, his stipulation was the first thing to be sold was
this portrait of his son. And whoever takes the son gets
everything. Would you have everything God
has to give to a man? Would you have everything God
will give to a sinner? Would you have all the double
portion God gives to the firstborn? Then believe on the Son of God. And anybody who gets the Son
gets everything. Oh, God give you faith in His
Son. Amen.