And let me tell you a few things
about this man that are important to what we're going to study. First, he was a believer. How
do I know he was a believer? The Lord God himself said so. The Heavenly Father said to Satan,
have you considered my servant Job? God said that. That's the testimony of God.
My servant. He's an upright man who worships
God. He worshiped God. Look at verse
5. And it was so when the days of
their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified
his children. He rose up early in the morning
and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. Job
said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in
their hearts. And if they won't pray, I'll
pray for them. If they won't worship God, I'll
worship God on their behalf. You see, back in those days,
just like when Cain and Abel came before the Lord with the
sacrifice, they were representing their household. Everybody in
the house didn't bring a sacrifice, the father did. This was back
before the tabernacle of the temple. And Job worshipped God
and offered sacrifices on behalf of himself and his children.
A believer, a man who feared God, a man who worshipped God.
And Job was a man who spoke for God. How do I know that? He spoke
for God, and he spoke the truth. Job was a preacher of truth in
his day. Turn to Job 42, written just
a moment. And this is the Lord God Himself
speaking again concerning Job and what Job believed and preached,
what he taught. Verse 7, Job 42, look at it. And it was so that after the
Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphas,
the Temanite, my wrath is kindled against you and against your
two friends, for you have not spoken of me, the thing that
is right. You didn't tell the truth. If
you imagine so-called preachers and prophets, hearing one day
the Lord say that to them, my wrath and my anger is kindled
against thee, against your friends, because you haven't told people
the truth. You haven't spoken about me,
what's right. But Job has. Do you see that?
That's my servant Job has. Listen to Job. He tells the truth. And then even in the early church,
I'll turn to this and you won't. In the book of James, in the
early church, the apostle James spoke about Job. And he's an example to us. In
James chapter 5, verse 11, James wrote this about Job. He said,
Behold, we count people, believers, happy which endure. Talking about
people who have trials and afflictions and persecution and they endure. They see it through by God's
grace with patience. And we count them happy, verse
11, which do endure. You've heard of the patience
of Job. You've seen the end of the Lord, how God blessed him. God sent the trials in the life
of Job. But you see the end of it. how
God blessed him. That the Lord is very pitiful
and of tender mercy. So, James talked about Job. He was a believer, a man who
feared God, who worshipped God, a man who spoke for God. But
he was a man of great trials. He was a man of great patience,
but a man of great trials. For example, let's look at chapter
1, verse 3. You remember me reading this.
He was a man of great, great wealth. He had seven sons and
three daughters. His substance was 7,000 sheep,
verse 3, Job 1. 3,000 camels. I tried to imagine this farm.
500 she-axes, 500 yoke of oxen, and
a very great household. Servants. He had to have a lot
of people to take care of that many animals. 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, that's
10,000. 500 yoke of oxen. Yokes, two
oxen and a yoke, aren't they? That would be a thousand oxen. And a great household. And then
suddenly, He was broke. Suddenly he didn't have a camel,
a sheep, an ox, or a donkey. And only three servants left,
because each one of them who came with the message, he said,
everybody else is dead. He was a family man. He had seven
sons and three daughters, ten children. But look at verse 19. Behold, there came a great wind
from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young men, and they're dead, all ten of
them are dead." He was a man of great influence. Turn to Job 19. A man, you can
imagine, a man who worships God, who's a believer, who's a preacher
of truth, who has such a large influential family, that he would
be a man of great standing in the community, and he was. But
suddenly, listen, Job 19, verse 13, suddenly, he's speaking here, this Job's
speaking, he says, chapter 19 of Job, verse 13, He, God, hath
put my brethren far from me. Mine acquaintance are barely
a strain from me. They thought he had done some
terrible crime, some great, awful sin, and God was judging him. And they all left him. They quit
him. My kinfolks, verse 14, have failed. My familiar friends have forgotten
me. They that dwell in my house, my maids, count me for a stranger.
I am an alien in their sight. I called my servant. He gave
me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth.
My breath is strange to my wife. She told him, said, won't you
curse God and die? Though I entreated for the children's
sake of mine own body, yet young children despise me. I rose and
they speak against me. And all of my, all of my inward
friends abhorred me. And they whom I love have turned
against me. He was a man of health and strength.
And the Lord allowed Satan to take that away. Go back to Job
2. I'll show you something here.
Job 2, verse 7. These trials are awesome, aren't
they? Staggering. Just absolutely incomprehensible. In Job 2, verse 7, so went Satan
forth from the presence of the Lord, This is after God gave
him permission to touch Job. You remember the first time the
Lord said, everything he has and owns is in your hand, but
don't you touch him. So Job, Satan came back. After Job, God took everything
he had away, and still Job believed. He rent his clothes, and he put
ashes on his head, and he fell down to worship, but he blessed
God. And Satan came back, and the father said to him, God said
to him, what about Job? Well, he said, the skin for skin. You take away a man's possessions,
even his children, but you put your hand on him. You take away
his health, and you afflict him, and he'll curse you. And the
Lord said, all right. Again, he's in your hands, but
don't kill him. You can't kill him. Do whatever
you will, don't kill him. And so verse 7, so let's see
verse 6 there of Job 2, And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he
is in your hand, but save his life only. And that's all that
Job had left. So he went Satan forth from the
presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the
sole of his feet to the top of his head. boils from the soles of his feet to
the top of his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape
himself, the scales and the scabs, to scrape himself. And he sat
down among the ashes. And his wife said to him, do
you still retain your integrity? Do you still believe God? Is
God still your God? Is God still your Father? Does
God still love you? You still claim that. She's hurting bad as he was over
those children and everything. Why don't you just curse God
and die? And he said to her, listen, you speak, you speak
as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good at
the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil
too? Who are we? God is good. And yet, His judgment is upon
the earth. Shall it not be upon us too? And here's a key here. In all
of this, in all of this, Job did not sin with his lips. He
did not justify himself or blame God. Now I'm asking this, how can
this be? How can this be? How can a man
have hope when everything is hopeless? Here's a man sitting on an ash
heap. with not one single possession
to his name, who's been a wealthy man, powerful, influential man,
family gone, even his loved ones have turned against him. He doesn't
have a friend. And sitting in front of him are
three of his so-called friends who have come to comfort him,
and they sat seven days and never opened their mouth, looking at
him. What did you do? What on earth
did you do? How can a man have hope when
everything looks so hopeless? How can a man have peace when
everybody else is at war with him? How can he have peace of
soul and heart and mind when even his wife is trying to get
him to curse God and die? How can a man rejoice when his
heart is completely broken? Just broken, just sorrow upon
sorrow upon sorrow. How can he rejoice? How can he
still bless God and praise God? How can a man pray when his prayers
aren't answered? How can a man pray when God doesn't
hear? He prays for help and he doesn't
get any. He prays for his children to be spared and they die. How
does he keep praying? How does a man believe God when
there's so little outward evidence that God even cares about him? Tell me. I know the answer. It's found right here in chapter
19. Chapter 19, beginning with verse
21. I'm going to read just these
next few verses. He says, Have pity upon me. Have pity upon
me, O ye my friends, the hand of God has touched me. I weary
of hearing preachers blame Satan for these things. Satan can't
touch a child of God. We're His. We belong to Him. He cannot do anything to any
of God's children until God permits it for a purpose. The hand of
God, why do you persecute me? As if you're God trying to play
God? And you're not satisfied with
my physical sufferings, you have to add to them and give me emotional,
mental heartache. You're not satisfied with my
flesh being ripped to pieces. Now you're trying to hurt me
inwardly. Oh, let me tell you, he said,
that my words were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. Listen to me. How can a man pray when his prayers
aren't answered? God doesn't seem to hear. How
can he rejoice when everybody's at war with him? How can he have
peace? How can he still believe when there's no outward evidence?
He said, I'm going to tell you. Listen to me. Oh, that my words
were now written. Oh, that they were printed in
a book. Well, Job, they were. Here they are right here. I'm
reading them 4,000 years later. Oh, that they were graven with
an iron pen and laid on my tombstone forever. Write them on my tombstone. I know. My Redeemer liveth. And He'll stand at the latter
day on this earth. I know the Lord Jesus Christ,
my Redeemer, up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn, walked Christ,
my Redeemer, weary and worn. I'm singing about Him, old Joe's
singing about Him. My Redeemer, and He'll stand
on this earth in the latter day, and though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh Shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself? Mine eyes shall behold not another,
though my reins be consumed within me." Instead of persecuting me,
instead of charging me with hypocrisy, you should say, this is what
you should say, why persecute we Him? See the root of the matter. found in me, the root of the
matter. That's how, as I asked those
questions a moment ago, how can a man have hope when everything
looks hopeless? How can a man have peace when
there's nothing but war, outwardly? How can a man rejoice when his
heart is crushed and broken? Still pray when No answer comes. I'll tell you how. If the root
is in him. The root. The root of the matter. Why does an apple tree bear apples? Because of the apple root. There
may be seasons when it doesn't have a leaf on it. There may be seasons when it's
been cut back by the farmer to where it doesn't even look like
a tree. pruned beyond recognition. There may be seasons when it
has no blossoms and no fruit, but it still, bless your heart,
an apple tree. Why? The fruit depends on the root. The root does not depend on the
fruit. I'm glad of that. It's an apple tree. It always
has been. It is now, it always will be,
and you can cut it down. And God's sunshine and God's
rain will make it live again. Because of the Word. And that's the reason Job is
saying to these fellows back here in verse 21, have pity on
me. Ye, my friends, the hand of God has touched me. All of
you can say that. The hand of God has touched me.
If He hadn't, He will. If He is. Why do you persecute
me? Why are you not satisfied with
my flesh, with my physical suffering? Why do you attack me spiritually?
You should say down here, why persecute we him? The root is
in him. Why would we doubt him? The root
is in him. Why question we him or accuse him? It is evident
the root is in him, the true grace of God. He's rooted and grounded in the
love of God, in the grace of God, in the person of the Redeemer. He has the truth of God in him. This is not something Job read
about. This is not something Job said,
well, my father had this knowledge. The root is in me. in my heart, in my soul, in my
range, in my innermost being. This is not something I read,
this is something I know. The root is in me. You can't
tell it by looking at me now. In the agony and distress and
affliction, but the root is there. The true grace of God. And that
root, that root, begins and ends with a person. Look here, if
you will, at verse 25. It begins and ends with a person. He says, I want my words in a
book, and I want them on the tombstone. And this is the root
I'm talking about. I know that my Redeemer liveth. This root is not just a theology. This route is not just a catechism. This route is not just a confession
of faith. This route is not just a church
doctrine. This is my Lord and my God. This is my Savior. This is my
surety. This is my representative. This is my Messiah. This is my sacrifice and my sin
offering, my shepherd, my mediator. This is my Redeemer. this root,
this confidence, this life. Christ in you, that's the hope. He, didn't listen to him describe
his Redeemer. I know, I know. My Redeemer, my Redeemer. I know
He lives. He is life. He ever living. He's the giver of life. In Him was life, and the life
was the light of men, that lighteth every man that comes into the
world. My Redeemer liveth. And listen,
and He shall stand at the latter day on this earth. How much did
this man know? I do not know. How much did Abraham
know? On television this morning, I
tried to picture Abraham and Isaac walking up
that mountain when God called upon Abraham to sacrifice his
son as a burnt offering. And the wood was on Isaac's back,
and the fire in Abraham's right hand, the knife in his left,
and the two of them going up to worship. And Isaac turned to his father
and said, Here's the wood, and there's the knife, and there's
the fire. Where's the lamb? We can't worship God without
a lamb, without a sacrifice, without a blood atonement. Cain
tried that, and God destroyed him. Where's the lamb? And old Abraham, of whom Christ
said, he saw my day. He rejoiced. He was glad to see
my day. And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself. He is the lamb. And he'll provide
for himself a lamb. A lamb for his judgment and justice
and righteousness and law. This man is preaching the gospel.
God will provide. Moses wrote of him, but what
did Job know? He knew, he said, my Redeemer
is going to stand on this earth, and listen, He's going to do
something no other man ever did. He's going to stand. Every other man has fallen. Humpty Dumpty fell, and all the
Humpty Dumpty's since him have fallen. And all the king's horses
and all the king's men can't put them back together. But he didn't fall. He's going
to stand. Redemption's work is not accomplished
in heaven. It's accomplished on this earth. The blood is applied there. The
law and justice and righteousness of God which comes from there
is satisfied, but he accomplished redemption in the flesh. on this
earth. He said, I have glorified you
on this earth. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, walked in human flesh. And as a man, he stood. He stood before the law and fulfilled
it in every jot and tittle. He stood. He stood before Satan. This Satan It's powerful, but not all powerful.
But he came to our Lord, and the Lord stood. He tested and
tried him at his weakest human experience. Fasting 40 days. And he stood. And he stood before
the justice of God and took every bit of it. Drained every bitter
drag of the cup of God's wrath. shrank it all and stood. He's going to stand on this earth. He'll do what no other man has
ever done, and he'll do it for his people. And then one day
he stood before the throne with his own blood, not with the blood
of bulls and goats which cannot take away sin, but he entered
into the holiest with his own blood and stood. And the father
said, sit down. At my right hand, I'll make all
your enemies your footstool. Bring all your people home. That's the root. That's the root of the matter.
I preached. I wasn't but 25, 26 years old
holding a meeting out in the country around here somewhere
and I preached. This message here, if I remember correctly,
and one dear old lady after the service came to me and she said,
Sonny, she's the only one that called me Sonny, too. She said,
that'll stand. And that's the only thing that'll
stand when the world's on fire. That's the root. That's the root. I know my Redeemer living. He'll stand on this earth and
do what no one else could do. Satisfy the law and the justice
of God and honor every attribute of His holy character. And I'll tell you this, Job knew he's going to die. He knew the brevity of life,
didn't he? Back on in chapter 1, he said, I came into the world
and I shall return. He knew the frailty of earthly
things. He said, I came naked. I leave here naked." Job knew that God ordained all
things. He said, the Lord gave, the Lord
took it away. I came, I'll return. I came naked,
I leave naked. While I was here, everything
I had, partook of, enjoyed, or whatever, God gave it. Now God's
taken it away. And he's to be praised. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. In sickness or health, he's to
be praised. In loss or gain, he's to be praised. In life or death, he's to be
praised. In success or failure, he's to
be praised. In summer or winter, he's to
be praised. The worms will destroy my body. I'm going to die and worms, verse
26, will destroy my body. But I'm going to tell you gentlemen
something else. I'll arise in my flesh, not this emaciated,
boil-covered, skinny, wrinkled, old human flesh, but in redeemed,
glorified flesh like my Redeemer. I'm going to see God. But all of this has to do with
that Redeemer. It has to do with that Redeemer
standing on this earth, that Redeemer being His Redeemer.
It has to do with that Redeemer's return. He said, this old body, after
the skin, the worms are going to destroy it. Yet, I'm going
to see Him. When? Well, John said, Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we
should be called sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be. But when He shall appear, we shall see Him and be just
like Him. We shall see Him as He is. And
this is what Job said. The root of the matter is my
Redeemer, living, ever living, stood on this earth, did what
no man's ever been able to do. He satisfied and pleased God,
saved me, stood in my place and stayed in the room. He's coming
back. And though worms destroy this
body and you put me in a grave and it goes back to the dust
from which it came, yet in my flesh, I'm going to see my Lord. Whom I shall see, my friends,
for myself, and my eyes shall behold, these eyes, these very
same eyes of mine, shall behold my glorious Redeemer, exalted
in throne. I've seen Him spiritually. I've
seen Him in His Word. I've seen Him in the Gospel.
I've seen Him in all that He created. I've seen Him in His
gifts. I've seen Him in His judgments.
I've seen Him in His kindness. I've seen Him in His wrath. I've
seen Him with the spiritual eyes. He does indeed give, and He does
indeed take away. And these bodily eyes some day
are going to go back to the dust, but with these eyes, I myself
shall see Him. And when I see Him, I shall enjoy
uninterrupted communion with Him. And I shall not blush, and
I shall not be ashamed when I see Him. And I shall not be depressed
for all of my failures and sins when I see Him. Because when
I see Him, I shall have none, and no memory of them. I shall
see him as he is, and be like him, holy, unblameable, without
reproof." Now you should say, verse 28, why should we doubt him, seeing the root of the matter
is found in him? And I might add, not only why should we doubt
anyone else, why should we doubt ourselves? Why should we fear the future,
fear death, fear eternity, fear judgment, when the root of the
matter is in us? This is the root. Don't look for life in the blossoms
and the leaves, or even the shape of the tree. Check the root. That's Christ, our Redeemer.