It asks you to think of an example
of patience. I have no doubt the first name
that would come to your mind is Job. James thought that way. In the book of James, James speaks
to us about enduring temptation, trial, and tribulation. And he says, Behold, we count
them happy. We count them blessed of God
who endure, who endure, who last. It's not the man who begins well
that wins the prize, but he who ends well, who finishes the line,
who stays the course. His knees may weaken, his hands
may hang down, but he's not turned out of the race. He endures. You've heard of the patience
of Job and have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is
very pitiful and full of mercy to those blessed ones who endure. The apostle Paul tells us, tribulation
worketh patience. and nothing else does. Nothing else does. You can learn
it as a matter of philosophy, you can learn it as a matter
of that which is psychologically and emotionally beneficial to
you, but you're not going to learn patience any way on this
earth except by trial. You won't learn it any other
way. We're too stubborn, we're too
selfish, too self-centered. to ambitious. You learn patience
by tribulation, only by tribulation. It is a gift and a grace of God,
but it is no more natural to us than it was to Job. It's something
he had to learn by tribulation, by great tribulation, a hard
lesson, a painful It hurt him to learn it. I had folks when I was raising
faith, and of course you don't dare do this in public now unless
you get arrested. If I had to, if she forced my
hand and I had to discipline her in front of somebody, particularly
in church, I'd get done preaching. She hadn't done what she was
supposed to. Rather than meeting folks at the back, I met her
at the back out here. Some of the old folks say, you
hurt that child. I said, it wouldn't do any good
if it didn't hurt. Spanking the child with a padded flyswat doesn't
help. It doesn't do any good. The only
thing that helps is that which causes pain. But the pain is
really not hurt. God didn't hurt Job by what God
did to him. He helped him. There shall no
evil happen to the just. The pain that he felt was that
for which he rejoices now. The scars he bore on his body
are scars for which he gives praise to God now. The trials
he endured, the persecutions he felt, are things for which
he now adores the Redeemer. but he couldn't possibly see
them that way at the time. Turn with me if you will, let's
begin in Job 23. As you read Job's comments through
this book, you see a constant vacillation. You see him at one
time in utter despair and at another time full of confidence. Say, how can those two things
be in anybody? Now come on, did you really think that? Oh, how vacillating I am. In
a period of a few minutes, I mean just a few minutes, my heart
is sometimes lifted rapturously with worship to God, burning
with love for my Redeemer. And just that quick, as cold
as ice, as hard as stone. We ought not be too quick then
to wonder how Job could vacillate so much. But through it all,
this man Job continually displayed confident faith in the Lord God. He felt things intensely. He
expressed things with conviction. He spoke honestly, exactly what
he felt. As you read through these chapters,
carefully read, carefully read, and see how that as Job speaks
to Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, he speaks to them and he just
stops and starts to speak to God, and speaks to God with utter
honesty, with utter honesty. But here's his expressed faith,
verse 10, chapter 23. He knoweth the way that I take,
my God knows my path. He knoweth the way that I take,
when he hath tried me, He knows my path is in the furnace. He's the one who put me in it,
and He's the one who lit the furnace. When He's finished,
when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. When God gets done with me, there
won't be any gloss left. When God gets done with me, I'll
come forth as gold. Now, this book of Job is a gripping,
fascinating drama. And yet it's much more. It is
an inspired narrative of the life and trials and triumphs
of a righteous man just exactly like Bob Dove in this world. It's a narrative of that which
a man after God's own heart, a man who believed God, a man
who trusted the Son of God, experienced in this world as he walked before
God. Here we begin a new section of
scripture. If you are interested in these
things, Genesis through Deuteronomy, the five books of Moses, are
commonly referred to as the Law. And then the books of Joshua
through Esther are referred to as historic books. In those historic
books, as well as in the giving of the law, we have various narratives,
living examples, living parables as it were, by which we see ourselves
and see our own experiences. And now we come to a section
that's commonly called the poetic books. This goes from the book
of Job through the book of the soul of Solomon, Ecclesiastes,
and even takes in that little book right after Jeremiah called
Lamentations. In these books of the poetry,
these psalms and books of just tender expression and yet passionate
expression, you find that commonly these are the most read, most
familiar, perhaps not so often clearly understood, at least
not in verbal expression, but read constantly. These are the
passages, folks, most quickly commit to memory, especially
older believers. And here's the reason, I'm certain.
In these books of poetry, poetry given by divine inspiration,
you and I, are allowed to go with believing men, men who loved
God and were loved of God, into their closets as they carry their
heavy hearts to the throne of grace. And there we hear men
of like passions as we are, of like trials and temptations and
tribulations and heartaches, who carry the same loads we carry.
We hear them say to God things that we feel, but we don't have
the strength, we can't find the words, and we don't have the
honesty to say to God. How many times have you read
the Psalms and said, Lord, that's exactly how I feel, but how can
I say that? How many times have you read
statements by Solomon and you thought, that's exactly how I
feel, How dare I say that? How dare I say that? And it is
best that we don't express exactly how we feel to men in public,
lest we lead others in despair and lead others in unbelief.
But rather, in our hearts, let us never attempt to conceal from
God the deep passions of our hearts, but speak to him plainly
and honestly. In this book of Job, is one great
poem. Tennyson called it the greatest
poem, whether ancient or in modern literature. Martin Luther considered
the book of Job more magnificent and more sublime than any other
book of scripture. It reads like a drama, an epic
drama, but incomparable even by Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
But the book is historical. Job was an actual Ezekiel describes
him, describes him twice in one chapter along with Daniel and
Noah, and says this man's a righteous man. He's spoken of plainly by
James. And at the very beginning of
the book we're confronted with a problem. And it's the problem
that just continually, though never expressed, is continually
running through the book. A question that haunts men all
the time when difficulties come. Why do the righteous suffer? Why do the righteous suffer? The unbelieving see men that
they look upon as being righteous or innocent, for whatever their
thoughts are worth in that regard, and they will say, well if God
really existed, this could not be. If things were really ruled
by a just and righteous God, these things could not take place.
And for the believing, those who suffer and those who see
others suffer, this is a question with which Satan constantly tempts
us. But at the very beginning of
the book we see clearly that the righteous suffer by the hand,
the will, and the purpose of God Almighty. Everywhere we turn
in these 42 chapters, as Job speaks of his sufferings, everywhere
he speaks of it, everywhere he speaks of it, he says God did
it, God did it. God did it. The Lord has. The Lord, my God, the hand of
God has touched me. And thereby he declares exactly
the source of his sufferings. Now learn this, children of God. The Lord may send trial and heartache
and affliction your way or mine, and he may use many varied messengers
to bring it to us. But it's God's doing. It's God's
doing. Doesn't matter if you start out
that road this evening and some wild drunk runs you down. The
wild drunk's not in control of himself, much less of his car,
much less of God's universe, and much less of you. God does
it. God does it. in this soo-happy
society where nobody wants to assume responsibility for anything,
and everybody wants to blame everybody for everything. Find
somebody to blame, find some tragic advocate, gotta blame
somebody! Why not worship God? He rules. He rules. God does it. God does it. Now, I don't know
about you, but when I read the book, I really enjoy the way the Lord gives us undeniable,
undeniable evidences of the validity, the veracity, the inspiration,
the authority of Holy Scripture. And gives them to us in language
that any man who is honest, if he investigated, if he just looked
and looked at it honestly, he'd say, there's no way that could
be written there except by divine inspiration. Now the Bible is
not a book of history, as I've said many times, but wherever
it speaks of history, it's absolutely accurate, even when it speaks
of history that was yet to come by hundreds of years. Never a
detail, never a detail that has not been demonstrated to be exactly
accurate. And the Word of God is not a
book about science. And yet, wherever the word of
God speaks about science, it speaks with greater accuracy
than the scientific world had ever imagined until hundreds
of years after the book was written. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Job was a man who lived about the time of Abraham. He
lived probably the contemporary of Abraham. certainly in the
days of the patriarchs, certainly before the giving of the law,
and yet he lived after the time of the flood. The book of Job
is considered by most to be the first book written, as far as
historic time is concerned, that we have in Holy Scripture. It
is a book that was written at least 3,000 years or more ago. And yet no other book in the
Bible, now stop and think about this, no other book in the Bible
speaks as much about scientific fact as the Book of Job. You
ever see that? Look in chapter 26. Chapter 26. I won't burden you with this,
but I think you'll find it delightful. Verse 7. He stretcheth out the
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. What could better describe the
position and fixed position of our earth in God's universe? He hangeth the earth upon nothing.
But this doesn't seem too strange to us, because we've seen pictures
that have been taken from outer space, and you see the earth
hanging there on nothing. You don't know how it works,
but it hangs there on nothing. But in Job's day, his contemporaries,
all of them, all of believe that the earth was flat, and that
it rested on the shoulders of one of their gods, or on the
back of an elephant, or some giant sea turtle. But here's
Job, more than 3,000 years before this country was ever discovered,
and he says he hangs the earth on nothing. That's pretty good. Look in chapter 28, or chapter
38 rather, verse 7. when the morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy. And I have no doubt
at all there is great spiritual application of that. But he speaks
of the morning stars singing? No one among all the world's
all-wise scientists ever that rays of light make noise until
modern times. Noise that can't be heard by
any human ear. But he who hears the praise of
the shining morning stars recorded it more than 3,000 years ago.
Look at verse 24. By what way is light parted which
scattereth the east wind upon the earth? By reading those words,
you'd think that Job had distinct knowledge of spectrum analysis.
But this was written more than 3,000 years ago. Look at verse
31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
the bands of Orion? Now, as you probably know, Pleiades
is a group of seven stars in the constellation of Taurus.
You probably know more about that than I do. If you know anything
at all about it, you do. But I wonder if Job knew that.
Remember, this was written more than 3,000 years ago. Pleiades
and Orion, no man can control. Contrary to modern environmentalist
proud thoughts of how great man is, the seasons of the earth
are not altered or determined by man. Job was here taught by
God that it is not in his power or in any man's power to make
any change in the dispensations of providence, to turn the winter
of adversity into the spring of prosperity, or the spring
of prosperity into the winter of adversity. This God's will
is irresistible and under no man's control. What I'm saying
is what you have here, is the book of God. There's no explanation
for these things being written more than 3,000 years ago, except
God did it. But that's not my purpose this
evening. My purpose this evening is to show you our great Savior
and to learn the lessons he has for us in this book. The book opens by giving us a
look behind the scenes in chapters 1 and 2. Now, it's delightful
for us that we can look here and see the working of God behind
the scenes in Providence. It's given to us so that we can
learn to trust him. And we have this revelation,
not only what's given here in chapters 1 and 2 of Job, but
the revelation of the whole book of God detailing the behind-the-scenes
work of God. But when you read Job's life,
remember, he didn't have it. None of this had been written
before. We have no idea who wrote the book of Job, but none of
this had been written before. And here we're told and told
plainly, told by God himself, that Job was a righteous man,
a believer, a saved sinner. Now, many, many miss this and
misjudge Job. Asserting that Job was a lost,
self-righteous hypocrite, just like his three miserable friends
accused him of being. But God asserts otherwise. He
says three times, look in verse 1. You can see it again in verse
8 and again in chapter 2, verse 3. God says three times, there
was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was
perfect and upright and feared God. and stayed away from evil,
eschewed evil. The Lord says that three times.
This is written here in verse 1. The Lord said to Satan, have
you considered my servant Job? Perfect, upright, fears God,
and eschews evil. And Satan went out and did his
business and came back and reported to God again. He said, I ask
you, have you considered my servant Job? He said, he's perfect, he's
upright, he fears God, and he eschews evil. Now Job was not
righteous by nature. He was not perfect by nature.
He was not righteous or perfect in his conduct personally. We
recognize that. Yes, in the tenor of his life
he worshipped God. He worshipped God continually.
He interceded for his sons and daughters, and the scripture
tells us he did so continually. But the righteousness Job had
which made him perfect before God was the imputed righteousness
that God's given Bobby Estes. the righteousness of Christ,
God's righteousness in Christ. And it is the imparted righteousness
of a new nature that God puts in all of his people in the new
birth. So that the believer is a man or a woman with this nature of Adam called sin, the
old man, flesh, our carnal nature. And it includes all that we are
by nature, but dwelling within. He's a new man, created in righteousness
and holiness. And that new man is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. And that new man is constantly
at war with the old, and the old is constantly at war with
the new, so that you cannot do the things you would. But before
God, nothing changes. God has imputed righteousness
to us. He has given righteousness to
us, and when it gets done, He's going to cause us to come forth
and shine as pure gold in perfect righteousness. Job was a man
greatly blessed of God, blessed of God with this grace of salvation
and one to whom God had given greater wealth, greater honor,
greater position than any man in the East. He worshiped God,
interceded, led his family in worship. And then we're told
here that the Lord God is the absolute monarch of the universe.
Our Heavenly Father rules everything. Oh God, teach me this. I've had it up here for 35 years. I keep praying God would get
it right here. God rules everything. Everything. Almost everything I read on the
book of Job missed this, and I don't want you to miss it. I don't know how or what to make
of much of what's written here, but in this passage, God demonstrates
his dominion. The angels, the sons of God,
came to give a report to God. They came to give an account
to God. And among them was a fallen angel
by the name of Satan. And he came to give a report
to God. He came to give a report. Now, he wasn't happy about it.
And his report was horrible. Been going up and down through
the earth doing the thing I'd done. And the Lord then challenged
Satan. It was God who took the initiative
here, not Satan. Look at the passage. It was God
who spoke to Satan, verses 7 and 8. He took the initiative and
challenged Satan regarding his servant Job. Satan did not take
the initiative, but God did. It was the Lord God who stirred
the issue. It was God who gave Satan permission
to do what he did to Job. Not only that, but he told him
exactly what he could and couldn't do. He said, no, this is what
you can do. Yeah, you can do that. You can
do that. You can do that. No, you can't
do that. No. And Satan went out and did exactly
that which he wanted to do. He had accused Job, as believers
are always accused of serving God for gain. And the Lord turned
the fiend of hell loose on his servant to prove otherwise, but
not just to prove something to Satan, to prove it to his servant
Job. And then we read about Job's
trials in these first two chapters. Oh, the next time you get feeling
a little sorry for yourself, just read chapters one and two.
Just Job one and two. Next time you get feeling a little
bad in the mouth, oh, nobody's ever suffered like I have. Nobody's
ever been through what I, nobody's ever felt the pain I felt. None
of us have any imagination what it is this man suffered. In one
day, in one day, his sons and daughters were eating
and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house, and there came
a messenger. Always one sweet messenger got
good news. He came to Job and said the oxen
and asses were out in the field, and the Sabaeans fell upon them
and took them away. And before he got done telling
his story, verse 16, there was another one that came. And he
said, The fire of God fell down from heaven and burned up all
the sheep and your servants and consumed them. I'm the only one
left. The Lord just spared me, so I've
come to give you the good news. And while he was still talking,
in verse 17, there came another, and said, The Chaldeans made
out three bands, and fell upon the Campbells, and carried them
away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and
the Lord spared me, so I can come bring this good news to
you. And while he was still talking, verse 18, there came another,
and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine
in their houses, in their eldest brother's house, and behold,
God sent a wind. and killed them all. Now look
at verse 20. Then Job arose, and rent his
mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground with
a crushed heart, with a soul wrung out, with no
life and no spirit left in him, and worshipped. He worshipped God. And he said, Naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked I returned. Thither the Lord
gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord, and in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. And then in chapter 2, Satan
came again to give an account with the sons of God. And the
Lord said, if you consider my servant Job, who fears God, perfect,
fears God, eschews evil, upright man, have you considered him?
And Satan said, well, yeah. He said he holds his integrity,
doesn't he? I told you he was a perfect man.
He's my servant. I told you he fears God. He's
still holding his integrity, isn't he? He said, yeah, but
you've got a hedge around him. And the Lord didn't say a word
except to acknowledge it. Yes, sir, I've got a hedgerow at him.
Yes, sir, I've got a hedgerow at him. And Satan said, skin
for skin, all the man has will he give for his own soul. You
let me get his cattle and his wealth, and you let me get all
those things, but you haven't let me put my hand on him. He
said, all right, go after him. Only don't touch his life. And
Satan went after him and covered him with boils from the top of
his head to the soles of his feet. So he sat down with a broken
piece of pottery and scratched himself. And then, verse 9, chapter
2, his wife said to him, she looked at him disgusted, we've
lost our seven sons, we've lost our three daughters, we've lost
all our wealth, we've lost all our position in the community,
we've lost our house, we've lost our cattle, we've lost our asses,
we've lost our sheep. What are you doing, Joe? Now
God's taken your health. Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and get out of my face. Curse God and die. But he said
to her, thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
He said, honey, you're talking like an infidel. You're talking
like an idolater. You're talking like one of those
folks who believe the earth's on the back of some big sea turtle.
You're talking like the heathen talk. What? Shall we receive good at the
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? And all this did
not Job sin with his lips. But then you pick up in chapter
2, verse 11, and read through chapter 31. And you find three
sweet boys, three fine friends, the kind of friends everybody
wants to have, the kind of friends they want the worst enemies to
have, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. And Satan really didn't cause
much trouble. As a matter of fact, what Satan
had done to Job, destroying everything, even turning his wife against
him, was child's play compared to these three friends. They
got to him. They got to him. We are told
in verse 11 that they made an appointment together to come
and mourn with him and to comfort him. Now Rex, you can just bank on
it. When you've got trouble and three good religious Pharisees,
Reformed fellows make an appointment together and say, now Brother
Rex, oh, have you heard what's happened to Brother Rex? Let's go next Saturday and we'll
sit down and we'll try to comfort Brother Rex. If you see him,
come and shoot him. Just shoot him. They're worthless.
They're worthless. These fellows came not to comfort
Job, but to judge Job. They were convinced that Job
had done something wrong, and nobody knew about it. But now,
God making Job to be exposed in his secret sin, his hypocrisy
is coming out in his judgment. Otherwise, God wouldn't do it. Eliphaz was the first one to
speak. He had a vision. And boy, you
can't argue with a fellow who's got a vision. His vision made
him think he had authority and he could speak as God's servant
and Job ought to listen to him. Bildad, he was the scholarly
intellectual fellow among them. He backed his words with the
authority of a long list of forefathers, and they just could not be mistaken.
And Zophar, someone described him this way. He was one of those
irksome people we all hope never to meet again. Fresh out of college
or seminary, and he knew everything about everything. And he was
just confident. Job described them well, far
more pleasantly than I would have. Miserable comforters you
are. Miserable comforters. Now what
they said If you read carefully, what they said was doctrinally
accurate. The problem was not with their
doctrine. The problem was with their hearts.
They had come to sit down and search out and find out how they
could make Job confess to them their sin and humble him before
them, because they thought themselves holier than Job, and now they
were determined to show it and squeeze it out of Job. These
men stand as a lasting reminder. You and I need to deal with suffering
friends with great care. Oh, God give me grace. When folks
are hurting, all they need is somebody to hurt with them. That's
all they need. They don't need your smart answers.
They don't need glib answers. They don't need fast solutions. They just need somebody to hurt
with them. And you'll be a whole lot more
help. You'll be a whole lot more help to spend a heapsite more
time listening than giving counsel and advice. Just don't be so
quick to assume you understand what people are going through
when you haven't been there. Don't be so quick to assume that you
You understand the situation, you've got the answer. When you've
never been where they are, just listen. Listen. Hug them. Weep with them. And
pray with them. And God'll take care of His own. God'll take care of His own.
And then Elihu comes on the scene in chapter 32. Elihu was a young
man, younger than all the others, and he had held his peace. Because
he said, I was waiting on you old men who ought to know something
to speak. And he said, I can't hold my peace any longer. I've
got a word from God burning in my soul. And you'll notice that
Elihu was never rebuked, neither by God nor by Job. Elihu spoke
the word of God with earnestness. He reproved Job's friends because
they were tormenting comforters, self-righteous in their accusations.
And then he reproved Job. He rebuked Job because Job fell
into the horrible, horrible thing of spending most of his time
talking to Eliphaz and Bildad and Zothar about justifying himself. He said, you ought to have been
justifying God. And what Job did in justifying himself is
simply overstate the case. as we all want to do when we
attempt to justify ourselves before men. And then Elihu spoke
of God's incomparable greatness. In chapter 33, he gives us a
great, great picture of God's method of grace. This is how
God deals with his people. This is how he deals with them. If God saves your soul, I promise
you, you're going to be able to Read here your own spiritual
biography. And when you are straying from Him, and if He
would let you alone, at those times, Lindsay, when you would
destroy your own soul, this is how God deals with you. Read
it with me beginning at verse 13. Why dost thou strive against
God? he giveth not account of any
of his matters. For God speaketh once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not. How does he speak? In a dream,
in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men,
in the slumberings upon the bed. Your soul is terrified, but you
don't pay any attention. Verse 16, Then he openeth the
ears of men, and sealeth their instruction. Oh, thank When I stuck my fingers in my
ears, he pulled them out and opened them. Then, he does this that he may
withdraw man from his purpose and from the pride of man. He
does it to keep you from doing what you're determined to do.
He 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 inside his bones wax old through his
roaring day and night, so that his life abhorreth bread, and
his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away that
it cannot be seen, and his bones that are 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, that's what that
messenger from God is, one man among a thousand, to show man
his uprightness. Not man's uprightness, to show
him God's uprightness. Verse 21, Then, O if God send
such a messenger to you, if God speaks by his word to you, be
it his gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to
the pit, I have found a ransom. He speaks peace to your soul,
redemption accomplished. His flesh shall be fresher than
a child's, and he shall return to the days of his youth. He
shall pray to God And he will be favorable to him,
and he shall see his face with joy, for he will render unto
man his righteousness. That's the way God deals with
men. 107th Psalm says the same thing.
Verse 30, he does this to bring back his soul from the pit, to
be enlightened with the light of the living. And then God confronts
his servant Job in the latter chapters. In chapter 38, the Lord confronts Job out of
the whirlwind. But preacher, I thought God speaks
to men by the Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God. We just read about God's messenger,
an interpreter. who came to tell Job what God
was doing. And now the Lord speaks to Job
by the power of his irresistible Holy Spirit. He is speaking out
of the whirlwind. The picture is that of the Holy
Spirit coming in irresistible power, convincing Job of the
very things that Elihu had just told him. And chapter 40 begins
with Job repenting. He says in verse 3, Now verse 4, rather, behold,
I am vile. Oh, God. What shall I answer? I won't make any more excuses.
I've spoken too much. I won't say any more. Chapter
42, the Lord confronts Job with questions. I tried to count them
today. I've forgotten how many there
were. About 50 questions the Lord asked Job. None of them
could he answer. And then Job said, he answered the Lord and
said, I know that thou canst do everything, that no thought
can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
which I understood not. Things too wonderful for me.
I've been talking about things I should never talk about. things
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, and now mine eyes
seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself. I repent in dust and
ashes." And then in verses 7, 8, and 9, Job forgave Eliphaz,
and Bildad, and Zophar, and made intercession for them. And then
in the latter verses, 10 through 17, God set Job free. He not only doubled all the wealth
he had and all the influence he had, those ten children, that's
the one thing God didn't double, just those ten children. He had
exactly the same number of children now as he had in the beginning
of the book, seven sons, three daughters. Perhaps the Lord was
thereby assuring Job your intercession for your daughters and your sons
was not in vain. I promised you you'd lose nothing
from me. You'd lose nothing from me." And then Job throughout the book
displays wondrous gospel doctrine. He speaks of God's sovereignty.
In chapter 9 he spoke of Himself as a sinner, he said, if I should
justify myself, my own mouth would condemn me. If I said I'm
perfect, it would prove me perverse. He said, oh, that I had a dayspan,
a kinsman, redeemer, a mediator. And then in chapter 14, he speaks
of the redemption of his soul, of resurrection from the dead.
He says in chapter 3, verse 7, concerning the grave, Now there's
much, I said to the men back there in the office, there's
much that could be said here. Job cussed the day of his birth.
He said, oh, I wish I could die. Did you never say that? Did you never talk like that?
Oh, every day or two. But he had something mixed in
there besides despair and self-centeredness. He says in verse 17 concerning
the death of the righteous, lying in the grave, there the wicked
cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. And besides that, I'm going to
rise again and I'll see my Redeemer. And this is the purpose of all
God's done. I'm going to come forth as cold, as cold, pure and undefiled by
the hand of God. Amen.