Job chapter 1. Let's begin reading
in verse 1. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job. That man was perfect. He was
blameless and upright and one that feared God and eschewed
evil. There were born unto him seven
sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven
thousand sheep, three thousand camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500
she asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest
of all the men of the east. And his sons went and feasted
in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for
their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was
so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent
and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning and offered
burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job
said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in
their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord
said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then 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 is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth
God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made an
hedge about him and about his house, about all that he hath
on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth now thine hand, and touch all that he hath, and he
will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. only upon himself
put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his
sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest
brother's house. And there came a messenger unto
Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside
them. And the Sabaeans 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. While he was yet speaking,
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 alone to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said,
The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camel,
and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the
edge of the sword. And I only am escaped to tell
thee. 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 smoked the
four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and
they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to
tell thee. Then Job arose, and rent his
mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground,
and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return thither. The Lord giveth, and the Lord
taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all of this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Again
there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord, And Satan came also among them to present himself
before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan,
From whence 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 is none like
him in all the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
fears God, and escheweth evil? 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 now thy hand, and
touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy
face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine
hand, but save his life. So went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord, and smoked Job with sore balls from the
sole of his foot, even unto his crown. And he took him a posture
to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes.
Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? Curse God, and die! But he said
unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.
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. I just want to make a few comments
on this, this afternoon. I doubt if you find a person
in the Bible, apart from the Lord Jesus, that suffered like
this man did here. And one of the reasons, I guess,
that he suffered also is because of how great a man he was. Man,
he was a great man, wasn't he? And all that he had acquired
and all the things that God had blessed him with. He's a great
man. And when a great man falls, it seems like it's a more serious
fall. He lost his family. He was a
family man. Had these seven sons and five
daughters. Lost all of them. Lost all of
his animals. He lost his servants. And before
it was finished, he lost his health. A great man, a great
wealth, a family man, a healthy man. And before it was over with,
he had lost everything. And then it doesn't say here,
but if you read on in this chapter, he was a man of great influence. People respected this man. They
looked up to this man. This was the richest man and
most respected man and all the east. But the Lord removed his
hand from the hearts of those who respected him and loved him,
and before it was over with, he couldn't even get respect
from his wife. And listen to even how the children
turned on him. Listen to Job 19 and verse 13. He hath put my brethren far from
me, and mine acquaintances are very estranged from me. My kinfolks
have failed, My familiar friends have forgotten me. They that
dwell in my house and my maids count me as a stranger. I am
an alien in their sight. I called my servant and he gave
me no answer. Ain't that amazing? Can you imagine
how he felt? I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife,
though I entreated her for the children's sake of my own body.
Yea, young children despise me. I rose and they spake against
me. All my inward friends abhor me,
and they whom I loved have turned against me." Isn't that amazing?
Boy, how he suffered. You can suffer more patiently
if you've got friends. But boy, when your servants won't
even listen to you. and obey. And when your wife
turns against you and your bosom friends won't come and visit
you, they won't pray for you. He was a man of great strength
and good health. And in the 19th chapter of this
book, here's what he said. My bones cleave to my skin and
to my flesh. I am escaped with the skin of
my teeth. He was smitten with sore balls.
all over his body, and he broke an old posture, sat down in an
ash heap, and began to scratch himself. They're among the ashes.
God's people sometimes are a tried people, aren't they? They're
a tried people. In their trials, they're not
stoic. Boy, they're not stoic. They
don't say, whatever will be, will be. I tell you, their hearts
are tender. And they feel better and more
deeply than anybody else in all the world, God's children does,
because He's given them a heart of flesh, a tender heart, and
they feel these things. Job felt this. You may not have
lost your children. You may not have even lost your
health. But I tell you, God's got ways of bringing us into
trials. He knows what touches our souls,
doesn't He? This is what touched Job. Job's
affliction brought him to the dust, but notice what he did
in the dust. He worshipped. He worshipped. He set out in the dust and he
worshipped. In verse 20 and verse 21, Job
charged God not with foolishness nor spake in an unworthy manner
against God. Afflictions, afflictions and
sorrows, no matter how great and no matter how low they bring
us, Brothers and sisters, here's what we should do. Worship. Worship. I've noticed this in myself.
When I've been in struggles and trials, you know one of the things
I started to try to do and pray for God to give me grace to do?
Just to start thanking Him. Just to bless His name and worship
Him, even in the midst of my afflictions. Here's what David
said when trials came to him. He said, At all times, ye His
people, at all times, at all times, trust in Him. Simply trust
in Him every day. Pour out your heart before Him. He is a refuge for us in the
time of our afflictions. Praise and worship the Lord. In the midst of Job's loss, in
the midst of his grief, here's what he said, though he slay
me. Yet will I trust Him. Though
He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Trials are not only a time
of worship and praise, but they're a time to teach us. How many
of you could earnestly say, I've learned more in my afflictions,
I've learned more in my sicknesses, I've learned more in my trials
than I ever learned when I was healthy. God teaches us, doesn't
He? David said, Before I was afflicted,
I went astray. But now have I kept thy word.
He said, Afflictions were good for me. God taught me something
in my affliction. I will say of God, He is my rock. Why hast thou forgotten me? Why
go I mourning all the day long? Because of the oppression of
the enemy. Where is thy God? And you know
what, David answered, he's the same place that he was before
I got sick. Where's your God now, David?
He's the same place he was before I fell into this awful temptation.
He's in the heavens, and he's done whatsoever he has pleased. I want to say three or four things
here quickly that Job learned in his trials, some things Job's
trials brought to his mind. First of all was the shortness
of his life. Look here in verse 21. And he
said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall
return thither. Here's the first thing he thought.
Boy, the shortness of my life. He would die and leave it all. I came and I shall return. Ain't that what he said? I came
out of my mother's womb, and just as quickly he said, I'm
going to return. I came, and I returned. It's
a good thing, but a difficult thing to live in the constant
reminder of this. I am going to leave this world.
I am going to die. We say sometimes we can get this
in our mind, but we can't keep it there. But afflictions will
bring it effectually to our hearts. That's what it teaches. Life
in this world is so short. Here is what Job said, ìMan that
is born of a woman is of few days, few days and full of troubles.î
Listen to it, ìHe comes forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth as a shadow and continueth
not.î But he did not stop there. Listen to chapter 7, ìMy days
are swifter than a weaverís shuttle.î Oh, remember my life, that it
is as the wind, as a passing breeze. Listen to chapter 9,
what he says. My days are swifter than a post. The post was the runners. When
they wanted to run a message between camps, they got the fastest
guy. He could run. And he said, my
days are just like that. He's like a swift runner. They
flee away, they are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle
hastes to its prey. That's what our life is like.
James said it's a vapor, didn't he? That appears just for a little
while and then vanishes away. I don't know if Job fully realized
this before he got sick or not. But boy, in the middle of his
sicknesses, this is what he began to see. How quickly my life has
passed. I came forth and I'm gone. And the time between me coming
forth and going is just like an eagle hastening to its prey. It's so swift. Listen to what else he learned.
I know that my Redeemer liveth. and that he shall stand up the
latter day upon the earth. And though the skin worms devour
this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God." What happens when we
are afflicted? It only causes us to put things
in its proper perspective. I am here just for a little short
time and I am leaving. I am leaving here. And what do
we do then? We set our affections on things
above, don't we? We set our affections on Christ,
who is our hope in our life. Here's something else that he
learned, the frailty, the frailty of earthly possessions. I came forth naked, and naked
I shall return. What does a baby have? A little
baby. a baby just born a few days ago. All of us remember when it was
born. You know how that little baby came out of his mother's
womb? Naked. What did that baby possess? Nothing. It didn't have clothes on it,
did it? Naked. How's that little girl when she
grows up and grows old and dies, how's she going to go just like
she can? Naked. Naked came out of my mother's
womb and naked I shall return. When a man dies, What does he
leave behind of this world's goods? Everything. Everything. Here was the richest man in the
East, and he said, I've got all this stuff, and I ain't going
to take any of it with me. Nothing. Well, Brother Don Fortner
used to say, hold this world loosely. Hold it loosely. You're not going to take it with
you. This night shall your soul be required of you, and then
whose shall these things be? They ain't going to be yours,
are they? Because you can't take them with
you. The two beggars that saw the rich man come by in the hearst,
and one of them said, How much did he leave? And the other said,
He left it all. He left it all. I can't take
anything with me. There's nothing wrong with being
rich if God makes you rich. Abraham was rich. Job was rich.
Joseph of Arimathea was rich. But a man is a fool if he gives
his heart and gives his time and gives his energy over to
being rich. Paul said, The rich fall into
many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction. The love of money is the root
of all evil, isn't it? I exhort therefore, he said,
to tell them to be rich in good works that they lay up in store. Take what we have here, realize
how temporal they are, how frail they are, and use them for this
end, for God's glory, for the fatherhood of the Lord Jesus
Christ in this world. But we can leave this world spiritually
different from the way we came into it, can't we? We came into
this world spiritually naked, spiritually in poverty, and spiritually
dead, with nothing to expect in the end but the wages of sin. But listen, by the grace of God,
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be clothed with
heaven's everlasting righteousness. Isn't that what you were talking
about this morning, Wayne? Clothed with heaven's everlasting righteousness.
Born naked, and we're going to die naked, but spiritually we
can be clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We may die without
any possession, but if we die in Christ, we die with heaven's
riches. We'll die physically, but we'll
die with the life of Jesus Christ in our bosom. Never to die. Job said, naked, I'm leaving
this world when I do. But he had an inheritance reserved
for him in heaven that would never pass away. One man said,
we may lose all of life's possession, but if we're possessed with heaven's
Savior, then we are rich. If we leave this world with nothing
but Christ, with nothing but Christ, then we've got heaven's
riches. Heaven's riches. You and I don't
know what it means to be poor. I don't know what it means to
be poor. Do you? When Joe got married, we didn't have anything,
but we had what we needed. But you know, there's been some
of God's saints that have gone through this life, I mean, in
poverty. If you've never read a good biography,
read John Warburton's Mercies of a Covenant God. If you want
to read it, you'll cry with him for a while, then you'll laugh
with him for a while. And he was a poor man, and he couldn't
get along. I mean, he just couldn't have
anything. God put him in poverty, he lived in poverty, and he died
in poverty. One year he planted a garden
and planted a bunch of potatoes and they all rotted. And his
wife said, his wife said, John, all you can do is preach. Just
quite quit trying to do anything else but preach. One night he
came in and his family, all of them went to bed hungry. He said
there was nothing in the house to eat. He lived in an old cellar
house. And everybody else was in bed.
And John said, I was so hungry that I couldn't even sleep. And
he spotted, he said, I spied behind the stove a piece of dried
bread. He found a piece of dried bread
somebody had dropped behind the stove. And he said, I sat down
and he said, I gave the Lord thanks for it. And he said, oh,
I feasted on that. An old piece of dried bread.
I was reading another story about one of the preachers, a widow,
an old widow lady. needed to talk to him, and she
invited him to dinner. Now here's poverty. And he sat
down, and all he had on his plate was a piece of bread and a glass
of water. And he said, we bowed our heads
and prayed, and when I opened my eyes, I said, all of this
and Christ too? All of this and Christ too? It shouldn't take much to satisfy
us in this life if we have Christ. If we have Christ, that's heaven's
riches. And besides, we're going to leave
everything else, aren't we? Joe saw that. Naked came I out
and all of this stuff that I have, I'm going to leave it and return
just like I came. But sometimes it really takes
affliction for us to prove that. Something else? Job saw in his
sufferings that taught him. He saw the hand of God in everything,
even in his trouble and in his loss. There in the last portion
of verse 21, the Lord hath given, the Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Why didn't he say
the devil has taken away? He didn't say that, did he? The devil wasn't the first cause,
was he? Who gave Satan permission to
do what he did? Why couldn't Satan do this before
he got permission? He couldn't touch him, could
he? You build a hedge about him, and I know that I'm not allowed
to go through that hedge. He's got some smarts about him,
don't he? You build a hedge about him. What was happening to Job
was devastating, but here's the comfort he found in it. It was
by the hand of God that he was afflicted. God was behind it,
sometimes we say permitting it, but He was the first cause. And
if somebody finds any problem with that, listen, let me ask
this question. What's the alternative? What if Job thought this was
out of God's control? That God had nothing to do with
it? That he was not the first call? I'm not saying we blame
God for our sins, God forbid. But brothers and sisters, is
he not the first call? And is not that the comfort that
we have? God gave us these things and
God has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Man, if that's not so, then we'll
have to conclude that men and devils are turned loose in this
world to do as they will. What would happen to God's children
then? Nature is not outside of God's
control. Man is not outside of God's control. Demons are not outside God's
control. He's the sovereign Lord of all. That something happens that God
is not aware of or does not permit, That's a frightful thought, isn't
it? The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. What comfort
he found in this. The Lord giveth. Now, he learned
this. The Lord giveth. The Lord giveth. What a lesson he learned. Job
didn't say, I earned all of this. I worked hard to get this. I
deserve this. My hands produced this. He said,
the Lord gave it. Now brothers and sisters, if
we can go there and learn this, that everything we have, He's
given to us, then when He gets ready, He can take it back. And
we won't be resentful about it. Because we didn't deserve it
to start with. It was a gift of God. The Lord
gave up. Everything we possess is a gift
of God. Everything. Our spiritual well-being, our
physical well-being, our mental well-being, our financial well-being,
everything is a gift of God. A man can receive nothing except
it be given to him from heaven. Every good gift and every perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of eternity. We have nothing, do we, but what
He has given us. Well, I guess our sin. That's
just about it, our sin. The Lord giveth, and the Lord
taketh away. Why didn't Job say the Sabaeans
have taken it away? Why didn't he say those wicked
Chaldeans have taken it away? Why didn't he curse them? They're
the ones that got it. He looked to God. He said, this
is of God. God has taken away. My sons, God took them. My three lovely daughters. Job,
what happened to those three lovely daughters? Last time I
came through here for a visit, traveling, I passed by, you had
these three beautiful daughters. What happened to them? God took
them. God took them. Job, you had 500
yokes of oxen, and I came over to buy one off of them. God took
them. Joe, I remember when you were
so strong and healthy. What's happened to you? God took
my health. God took it. Boy, sometimes that's
hard to come to grips with. Do you know it? We can say it,
but it's hard to come to grips with. Let it come to our family. Let it come to our children.
And I've told you about my family, my children before. I mean, my
family is dysfunctional. My family is a mess. A mess. My son's been on drugs. My daughter's
living with a man now after three or four husbands. None of my children are married.
You talk about a mess. And if somebody come to me and
say, what happened to that sweet daughter of yours that used to
sit in the house and play Depths of Mercy, Can There Be? That
was such a blessing to your house when she was growing up as a
teenager. What happened to her? God's let her go. God's let her
go. God's removed the restraint from
my children. And there's nothing you can do
about it. But I tell you what, come into terms with that, buddy.
It's tough. It's tough. And don't tell me that God could
not have restrained my children. Don't tell me that He's that
weak that He could not have did it, but He didn't choose to do
it. Could He have saved these seven children, sons and three
daughters alive of Job? Sure He could have. Did He? No. He took them. And that's easy
said. That's easy said. But sometimes
it takes setting in ashes with balls all over your body, having
lost it all, to come to grip with this is of God. This is
of God. What are you going to do in a
month from now when you land in the hospital flat on your
back like poor Gil is? Probably never get out. Hooked
up to all these machines. If you're a child of God and
you're laying there, what are you going to say? The only comfort
you can find is this. It may be mysterious to me, but
it's this, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. This is
of God. He's given and now He's taken
away. And I can bow and worship because
I know He's behind it. He's behind it. What's the alternative? Hard to keep this in your mind,
ain't it? The air don't lose a bird. The
head don't lose a hair apart from God's will. We don't lose
our health. We don't lose our job. We don't
lose our finances apart from His will. And you can ask me
questions about that. And all I can say is that God
is the first cause of all things and He can never be accused of
sin. That's all I know about it. Job learned that. He found
some comfort in that. Job learned this, that God is
to be blessed. He is to be praised for everything
that comes. He is to be worshipped for everything.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless
His holy name. I will bless the Lord when? At
all times. Prosperity? I'll bless Him. Poverty? I'll bless Him. In health? I'll bless Him. In sickness? I'll bless Him. At all times
will I bless His name. Look at two or three Scriptures
with me. We'll read them in close. Look in 1 Thessalonians chapter
3. And look in verse 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. And look in verse 1. Wherefore, when we could no longer
forbear, We thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and
we sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow
laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort
you concerning your faith. That no man should be moved by
these afflictions. Don't let these afflictions move
you, whatever they be, whatever the nature of them be. Why? Look
at this. For yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto." Who appoints things? Who appoints things? God does, doesn't He? God has
appointed us, His children, to affliction. Now look what He
says in the light of that in chapter 5. And look in verse 18. In everything give thanks. What? You are appointed to afflictions
and in everything give thanks? For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Job sat there in his ashes full
of boils and he says, The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Why did he do that? That's what the Lord told him
to do. This is of God. Give thanks unto Him. One more
lesson Job learned. Look over in James. James chapter 5. While you are turning over there,
I want to read the last few verses in Job. James chapter 5. Hold that there just a minute
and let me read these verses to you. In the last chapter of
Job, "...there came therefore unto him all his brethren, and
his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance
before. And he did eat bread with Job in his house, and they
bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord
had brought upon him." Ain't that amazing? Every man also
gave him a piece of money, and every man gave him an earring
of gold. Now listen to this. So the Lord blessed the latter
end of Job more than his beginning. And then tells of all of his
substance that the Lord had doubled. And here's something else that
Job learned. He learned the end of the Lord. The end of the Lord. We sometimes
look at things right in the middle, don't we? We're here in the midst
of our trials and struggles and afflictions, but that's not the
end of the Lord. He may have appointed you to
afflictions and trials, but listen, that's not the end. He may chasten
you sore, but that's not the end of the Lord. What's the end? Look here in chapter 5 of James,
and look in verse 11. Behold, we count them happy which
endure. You have heard of the patience
of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord." And what's
the end of the Lord? That the Lord is very pitiful,
compassionate, and of tender mercy. That's the end. Don't that encourage you therefore?
To be patient? To bless Him? To praise Him?
You ain't seen the end of the Lord yet. The end of the Lord
to His children is to show them tender mercies, to increase them,
to bless them. And if not in this life, then
He'll make it up to them in the life to come of tender mercies. Well, I'm not praying for afflictions.
I'm going to avoid them at all costs. But I tell you, when He
brings them, And I tell you one thing I've noticed about it,
and you have too, when He brings them, you can't avoid it. He's
sovereign in that, ain't He? So when He brings them, next
time you find yourself in the midst of it, and I mean it's
getting you down, remember this. Remember this. He's brought you
there to teach you. And the end of that, either in
this life or the life to come, He's going to reveal to you His
tender mercies, His compassion. Shanna, would you dismiss us,
please?