I'd like for you to open your
Bibles with me today to the book of Job. I'm going to be bringing
a message that I believe will be of special interest to everyone
listening to this telecast. The title of the message is Age
Old Questions. Age Old Questions. And I'll be
reading from the book of Job. I'll be reading from chapter
14 and chapter 15, chapter 9. But first, turn in your Bibles
to the 14th chapter of Job. And let's read several verses
from chapter 14. First of all, beginning with
verse 1. Job writes, man that is born of woman is a few days
and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower
and is cut down. He fleeth as a shadow and continueth
not. And then in verse 10, Job writes
this, man dieth and wasteth away. Yea, man giveth up the ghost.
And where is he? Where is he? And then in verse
14, he asks this question, if a man die, shall he live again? Now it's said by many that the
book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Even older than
the book of Genesis or the writings of Moses. I do not know. I cannot
prove that. But many believe that Job lived
somewhere between Abraham and Moses. We're not certain of that.
That's what we think, that he lived between Abraham and Moses.
But we do know this. We know that Job believed God. We know that Job was called by
God Himself an upright man, a man who feared God and who shunned
evil. That's what God said about Job.
He said he fears God and he shuns evil. But the point I wish to
make in this message is this. Job in his book deals with questions,
I call them age-old questions, questions that have always been
asked, questions that are being asked now, and questions that
will always be asked. But they're questions which all
of us need to consider carefully, very carefully. Because they're
questions about life, about death, about the resurrection, about
judgment, and about eternity. And these five things vitally
affect every one of you. There's not a person listening
to my voice today that is not vitally affected by these five
things. Job asked questions about life,
about death, about resurrection, about judgment, and about eternity. Let me show you that, and then
I'm going to go back and deal with each one of these separately.
First of all, he has questions about life. He says, man that
is born of woman, and that's all of us, is a few days And
full of trouble, he cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. What is your life? Job deals
with this. What is your life? And he gives us some vital answers
to that question. What is your life? Your life
here on earth we're talking about. And then Job deals with death.
He said, if you cut a tree down, Then there's hope that that tree
will sprout again if enough water falls on it and sunshine. It
looks like it's dead, just the root of the trees and the ground
and old, dry, ugly stuff is sticking out. But it may be, if it rains
on that tree and the sun shines on it, that it may sprout again. But he says this, he said, but
what about man? Man dies and wasteth away. Man goes back to the dust. He
gives up the ghost. Where is he? Where is he? That's a good question. And then
thirdly, he deals with the resurrection. He said, if a man die, shall
he live again? And then he talks about the judgment.
And this is a very interesting topic. He says, how can man that's
born of a woman be clean in the sight of God? How can he be accepted
by God? How can he be just with God? Why, he said, the moon shineth
not, the stars are not pure in God's sight. How can man, who
drinks iniquity like the water, how can he be just with God? And the only one who can stand
in God's presence is the person with clean hands and a pure heart,
who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity. Job asked that question. In that day of judgment, how
can a man be just with God? And then eternity. He says, can
you, by searching, find God? Where is eternity? Where is heaven?
Where is hell? Where are these places? Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Who can understand
God? It's higher than the heavens?
What can you know? It's deeper than hell. What can
you find out? So now, if you're interested,
if these subjects and questions interest you, then listen to
this message and listen to it carefully because the answers
to these questions are found in the Word of God. That's where
we find the answers to these questions. The answers are not
found in the wisdom of man. The answers are not found in
the imagination of man. The answers to these questions
concerning life and death and resurrection and judgment and
eternity are only found in the Word of God. So let's carefully
go back one at a time and deal with these subjects and these
questions, these age-old questions which Job asked. Now, this message
is on tape. If you miss part of it, but do
not hear it all, you want to hear it, you can order the tape.
At the end of the broadcast, we'll give you an address, and
you may secure this message by writing for it. It'll be on a
cassette tape. Now, first of all, what is your
life? I'm talking about life right now. I'm living, I'm alive
right now, standing before this camera in the studios of Channel
13, and I'm alive. But what is my life? What is
my life here on this earth? Well, Job describes it. You know
how he describes it? He says, your life is a flower. It's a flower. It's like a flower
that blooms for a little while. It appeareth for a time. And
it'll be cut down, just as sure as I'm alive right now, in a
short time, my life will be gone. That's as certain as God is on
His throne, as certain as the sun came up this morning, as
certain as the moon came up tonight, it's certain. My life, like a
flower, every time you see a flower, you don't expect that flower
to be there for For eternity, you know that flower will soon
be withered and dead and gone. So looking at me and my looking
at you, I know this, you'll soon be gone and I'll be gone because
life is like a flower. And then Job said it's like a
shadow. There's nothing as frail and fleeting as a shadow. And
our lives, he said, are like shadows that are here for a moment,
but they continue not. They're so fleeting, so frail.
And then he said our lives are like a weaver's shuttle. Now
I know most of you have never seen a weaver's shuttle. But
it's an instrument on which they weave cloth or rugs or other
things. And the person operated with
his foot and that weaver's shuttle would just go so fast like this
as it placed the threads in the proper place to make the cloth.
Just, and life is like that, every year is like that, it just
goes and goes and goes and goes faster and faster, the years
speed by, the weeks, the months, and so forth. And he says this
is the way our lives are, they're like a weaver's shuttle. The
months and years pass so quickly. And then James says this about
life. He tells us, he asks the question,
what is your life? And then he said, it's but a
vapor. And do you know what most of the writers agree that James
is describing there? Like a cloud of breath on a cold
morning. You step out the door and you
say something and the breath makes a vapor, just a mist in
the air. And in a moment it's gone. And
that's life. It's so fleeting. David said
this, a man's days shall be three score and ten, seventy years. 70 years and urges every one
of us to number our days That we may apply our hearts to wisdom
Life is so fleeting and so frail and wise is the person. Oh Wise
is the person who lives his life in? serious consideration of
death I don't mean we're to be morbid and always go around talking
about death, but listen If you were going to take a journey
in a week or a month or even a year, a journey, a long journey
from which you would never return, you would be making your home
at the end of this journey. Well, you'd start preparing for
it right now. You'd start talking about it
and thinking about it. You'd say, I'm not going to live
here in Huntington or Ashland or Arlington very much longer.
I'm moving. I'm going away. I'm just here
for a little while. And you wouldn't plant your roots
so deeply, would you, if you knew we were going to leave in
a short time? And a life lived without God means death without
God. It means judgment without God.
It means eternity without God. In Matthew 6, 25, our Lord said
this, Therefore I say unto you, I say unto you, take no thought,
no anxious thought, for your life, what you shall eat, what
you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall wear,
is not," now watch this, he says, "...is not the life," he doesn't
say is not life, he said the life, "...is not the life more
than meat, and the body more than raiment, more than clothing? Seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness, and these other things, food and
clothing and shelter will be added to you." But what shall
it profit a man if he gained the whole world, if he has the
biggest house in town, and if he has the most popularity and
fame, or he has the strongest body, or he has the most children,
or he has the best job, or the biggest car? What shall it profit
a man, or the most influence in the community, if he gained
the whole world, this whole world, the fashion of which fadeth away? What shall it profit him Him
if he gains this whole world and loses his soul. That's what
I'm talking about. Loses his soul. What is your
life? There are many people listening
to me right now who will never hear me preach again. In fact,
you may never hear anybody preach again. Now there are thousands
of people listening to this television program. I'm confident of that.
It reaches 120, 140 miles in every direction. I get mail from
Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and I know there are
thousands of people listening, and out of that vast number of
people, somebody is going to leave here this week or next
week. I just know that. Perhaps the preacher. I'm not
just preaching to you, I'm preaching to myself. What is your life
but a flower so frail, but a vapor? But a shadow, but a weaver's
shuttle. Now secondly, second question
Job deals with is this. Man dies. Man gives up the ghost. Where is he? Scripture says it's
appointed unto men once to die. Now that's an appointment we're
going to keep. The young die and the old die.
The rich die and the poor die. The learned die and the ignorant
die. The believer dies and the unbeliever
dies. Everybody dies. Everybody dies. When will you die? When will
you die? I don't know. You don't know.
But God knows. You'll die when it pleases the
Lord. I'm not being harsh at all. I'm just saying what the
Bible says. The Lord killeth. and the Lord maketh alive." That's
what the Word of God declares. In Job 14, he says, man's days
are determined. Determined by whom? By God. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds,
he cannot pass. So Job said, man dies. He wasteth
away. Where is he? I'll divide that
into two questions. Where is his body? Well, you
know where his body is. You put it in the ground out
at the cemetery. Dust thou art, to dust thou shalt
return. We had a son killed in Vietnam
13, 14 years ago. I know where his body is. It's
at Rose Hill Cemetery where we buried it and put dirt on it.
That's where his body is. God made man of the earth, and
man will return to the earth, to the dust and to the ashes,
no matter how you deal with the body. You can cremate it. You
can scatter the ashes. You can bury it. You can mummify
it. You can do what you want to with
it. Keep it in your living room, waiting on it to rise again.
Do what you want to, but it's going back to the dust. It's
going to rot. Where is the body? It goes back
to the dust. But now here's the question.
This is what Job's asking. He's not asking where man's body
is when he dies. He knows. He's asking, where
is the man? Where is he? You see, I hear
people say, well, man has a soul. I beg your pardon. Man has a
body. He is a soul. He is a soul. Because someday, if I were to
die right now standing before this camera, the eyes would still
be there, but they wouldn't see. The ears would be there, but
they wouldn't hear. The lungs would be there, but they wouldn't
breathe. The heart would be there, but it wouldn't be. Everything's
just like it was. What happened? I'm gone. The
soul's gone. So you see, I have a body. I
am a soul. The soul lives in the body. So
where is the man? Where is the man? Man dies. You
bury his body. But where is he? Where is he?
That's what Job's asking. And the Lord gave some information
on that subject. He said to the thief on the cross,
Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. When that thief died,
they took his body down off the tree and buried it. But Christ
said, He didn't say, today your body will be with me in paradise.
He said, you will be with me in paradise. And then He also
said this, that Lazarus died. You remember the rich man and
Lazarus? The story Christ gave? Well, Lazarus awoke in Abraham's
bosom. He was born by the angels into
Abraham's bosom. That's the place of comfort,
the place of blessing. And then Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
5, 1, listen, if our earthly tent, and that's what this body
is called, a tent, a tabernacle, because it's so frail, it's so
easily blown down, it's so easily destroyed, it's so frail, sometimes
we wonder how a harp with so many strings can stay in tune
so long. But it's a frail tent, and if
it be destroyed, we have a building as opposed to a tent. Paul said,
if this tabernacle, this tent, be destroyed or die, we have
not another tent, not another frail dwelling place, but a building,
a building, a house, not made with hands, human hands, but
eternal, made by God, eternal in the heavens. A tent is temporary,
a building is permanent. And Paul said this, Where is
he? To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. Now, the body sleeps, awaiting
the resurrection, but the soul does not sleep. The soul goes
to the presence of God, that is, the believer. The ungodly,
I do not know a great deal about that. No one else does. But I
do know that the believer goes to be with the Lord. To be absent
from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now, here's the
third question. Job said, well, if a man die,
and he does, and he will, shall he live again? Will the dead
rise? Will there be a resurrection?
Where would you go for an answer to that question? Some learned
philosopher or some religionist? No, sir. There's just one place
to go, and that's to the Word of God, to God's Word. Now listen,
Job answered his own question in Job 19.26. He said, though
worms destroy this body, Yet in my flesh I'll see the Lord."
Job believed in a literal resurrection. A literal resurrection. He said,
Whom I shall see for myself and not another. And then David believed
in a literal resurrection. David said, Thou wilt not leave
my body in the grave. Daniel, all of the writers wrote
of the resurrection. Daniel said, Those that sleep
in the dust. shall rise again. Isaiah said,
Thy dead men shall live together, with my dead body shall they
rise. Hosea wrote, He will raise us
up, and we shall live in his sight. And our master said, This
is the will of God, that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
at the last day. And three times in that one section
of Scripture in John 6, our Lord says, I will raise him up at
the last day. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, and this is that great chapter on the resurrection, if the dead
rise not, he said, how say some among you there be no resurrection?
If the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised? And if Christ
be not raised, your faith is vain. You're yet in your sins.
We're false witnesses of God, our preaching is vain, and the
dead in Christ are perished, and we're of all men most miserable.
A whole lot rests on the resurrection, doesn't it? God's word emphatically
teaches the resurrection of the dead. To disbelieve the resurrection
is to put a question mark on the word of God himself. Of course,
there's a resurrection to life eternal, and there's a resurrection
to eternal condemnation. There's a first and second resurrection
the Bible talks about. And those who know God and who
love God are concerned to have a part in that first resurrection,
blessed and holy as He, that have part in the first resurrection. Now, here's the fourth question.
In Job 9, verse 2, now here I'm coming to something of vital
importance. We talked about this. Life. What
is your life? Very frail, fleeting. But here
for the moment, we talked about death. A man's going to die.
A man dies. Where is he? And then we talked
about a resurrection. Going to be a resurrection. Now,
Scripture says, it's appointed unto men once to die, and after
that, judgment. Judgment. Now, let me read you
several verses. We must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ. And then in Revelation, John
talked about the dead being brought out of the grave. The death and
hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and the sea gave
up the dead which were in them, and all the dead, small and great,
I saw stand before God. And the books were opened. And
men were judged out of those things written in the book according
to their works. Now that's a fearful, fearful
time. That's a fearful thing to even
think about. Standing before a holy, perfect,
absolute, immaculate, righteous God with the sins which you and
I, with which we're born, which we have by nature and practice
and everything else. And that led Job to ask this
question, well, at the judgment or anywhere else, how can a man
be just with God? How can anybody come out of that
judgment with any hope at all? Now one thing, listen to me,
the scripture clearly sets forth, and learn this and you'll learn
the gospel. One thing the scripture clearly sets forth plainly, that
is the holiness of God. You can't compromise the holiness
of God, the righteousness of God. Any preaching, or any salvation,
or any religion, or any hope which compromises the character
of God, the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, is
not of God. You can be sure of that. I am
the Lord, I change not. God is eternally the same, perfectly
holy, perfectly just. Another thing clear from the
scriptures is, and from the conscience, is the sinfulness of all men
and women. That's just so. There's none
good, there's none righteous, there's none that seeketh after
God. And this is what caused Job and his friends anxiety and
caused them to ask this question. Then, when we stand before the
judgment, how can man be just and holy before God? And God
can't accept us any other way. Two can't walk together except
they be agreed. He can't open heaven to an unholy
person. Heaven is a holy place prepared
by a holy God for holy people. And Job says, what is man that
he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. Behold, God puts no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man who drinks iniquity like the water? I'm not holding
out any hope for me or you or anybody else at the judgment
in ourselves. There is no hope. Listen, how
can man be just with God? How can man be justified with
God? Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Now that question is answered
through the gospel by Jesus Christ. And that's my message. In Galatians
4, verse 4 and 5, that's why Christ came into the world, to
be a Redeemer, to be a Savior, to be a Justifier, to do for
us what we can't do, to do before God what must be done. Listen
to this verse, Galatians 4, 4 and 5, But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law. By the disobedience
of one we were made sinners, by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous." You see, he who knew no sin was made
sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So God can be just and holy. He can sit on an immaculate throne. and not compromise His holiness
and justice and righteousness, and He can set us free. Why?
Because in Christ we have a holiness. In Christ we have a righteousness.
In Christ the law is honored. In Christ justice is satisfied. You see what I'm saying? Substitution. That's what Christ accomplished.
Substitution. Satisfaction. He took our place. You see, you learn something.
You need to learn something. about the active and passive
obedience of Christ. Christ was a representative person.
He came to the earth not to do anything for himself, but to
do something for those whom he represented. His active obedience
is when he met the law actively and obeyed it. He was tempted
in all points as we are. You see, he was born of a woman,
just like we are, under the law of the home. under the law of
the nation in which he lived, under God's Levitical law of
tides and shadows, under God's moral law. And in all of those
laws, he never offended, never offended God. God said, this
is my son in whom I'm well pleased. Even Pilate said, I find no fault
in him. Perfect. The centurion said, surely this
was a righteous man. And he was a representative person,
and his active obedience fulfilled all that God's law required.
And then his passive obedience, he gave himself to those that
smite the cheek. He gave himself to those who
pierced his hand. He gave himself to those who
nailed him to a tree. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
not speaking, opening not his mouth. Passive obedience. He
surrendered to the wrath and condemnation and judgment of
God, which was rightfully ours. And when he said, it's finished,
it was all over. And people who believe on Him
and who receive Him, when they come before God at judgment,
they have no law to answer for. It's been satisfied. They have
no judgment against them. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is He that condemneth? Paul said, Christ died, was buried,
rose again, and intercedes for us. So there's the answer to
the question, how can God be just and justify the ungodly?
Through Christ. How can he be cleanest born of
a woman? In Christ. How can a man be just in the
sight of God? In Christ. Now, I have another
question here. Can you, by searching, find God?
No, but He can be revealed to you by the Spirit through His
Word. Now, if you want this message on a cassette tape, it's called
Age Old Questions. And it also has another message
on the other side, the one message. Christ crucified, the one message.
I'll bring that next Sunday. But you write for it. Here's
the address now, and you get the address, send $2, that's
what it's called, $2 donation, we'll mail it to you by return
mail. Until next week, God bless you, everyone.