I invite your attention back
to Job 14. On behalf of Debbie and I, I want
to thank all of you for your love and kindness and compassion
and generosity during these last several months. We've experienced
loss and brokenheartedness and sorrow and joy. And through it
all, our touchstone has been Christ and the people to whom
we have been blessed to minister. And we have found that it is
you who have been ministers to us in these last days. Death still remains just as much
as a mystery as it always has. The fact of it and the reason
for it we understand. Death comes because of sin, because
of Adam's sin. Because Adam sinned, death entered
into this world and we died in him. And all natural death is
a product of how humanity went utterly wrong in the Garden of
Eden. The physiology of death, we understand
it when the system shuts down and things don't work anymore.
We understand that process. The victory over death, the believer
understands by faith. And it's only by faith because
he hadn't experienced it yet. He hadn't experienced it yet.
But the process, for lack of a better word, the process of
it leaves us standing in utter awe. There are no words. And I decided
to look up as many as I could find. There simply are no words
in the language of men that can define what death really is. Try to think of one. We use metaphorical terms because
there is no word in the human language to describe really what
death is. To the living, death makes no
sense. We cannot put it somewhere where
we can wrap our intellect around it and come up with some kind
of conclusion concerning it. It seems to me that it is defined
by its inability to be defined. So it remains a mystery. I think that what it is cannot be known
by the living. I don't believe we can know. And on a purely human level,
it stands as a looming giant in our path, doesn't it? And
a conquering slayer, immovable and dark and unknown, cannot
be bypassed. I've found that the suffering
that usually precedes it and the finality of it brings men
and women to at least for a moment consider things worth thinking
about. I wrote an article many years
ago, Only the Dying Know How to Live. Scott Richardson used
to say, rehearse your death every day. Then maybe you'll start
to learn how to live here on this earth. I found also that
suffering and death brings God and purpose into the equation
of conversation. We buried two dear family members
in the last 30 or 40 days, 34 days apart. We spent a lot of
time at funeral homes and listening to people speak and listening
to the conversations. People talk about God when people
die, even if they don't know God and have no interest in God.
God comes up in the conversation. Things like purpose and plan
and predestinated, they come up in people's conversation whether
they say the word or not. It's still there. And things
such as loving and forgiving and compassion and sympathy are
somehow easier at the time of death. Sometimes we poor creatures ask,
questions that seem foolish at this time. Sometimes our questions
seem to reek of unbelief at the time of death. But through it
all, it seems to me that human beings are somehow more of what
they ought to be when death comes to visit. I know there was only one true
human being who ever lived. Now it's Jesus Christ, the God-man,
who is fully human. Our humanity is warped, born
in sin and conceived in iniquity and lying as soon as we draw
our first breath. We're mutated and nothing to
be pleased about. And there is no human being on
the top of the earth, no good man that doeth good and sinneth
not. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There is none that understandeth
or seeketh after God by nature. They've all gone out of the way.
They've all together become filthy. No peace of God in their hearts,
no thoughts of God in their minds, except when death comes around. Seems to be a genuineness that
comes into the life that is probably born of the fact that for a time
we lose our sense of independence and realize we really do need
each other in this world in which we live. Job suffered the death of his
entire family. All his children died in one
day. He suffered the loss of every
bit of property that he owned in one day, utterly demolished. He suffered the loss of his health
and the loss of vigor, and because of the self-righteous conclusion
of his friends, was even brought to erringly but very humanly
defend his own righteousness. which you get enough of hard-headed
religionist talk to you, it probably won't be long before you start
defending your own righteousness, even though it's wrong to do
so. That's what Job did. Now to top all that off, his
wife, his life's companion, had neither sympathy nor empathy
for his sad estate, but showed that she was not up with all
his sorrow and his woe, And she just said flippantly, won't you
just curse God and die? Get it over with. I'm tired of
hearing you talk about this. That's basically what she was
saying. But Job was a servant of God, by God's estimation. By God's estimation. You'll know
by his friend's language toward him if you read this book. They
thought he might have been a servant of God, but there had to be something
wrong in his life for all this bad stuff to be happening to
him. And so they told him over and over and over again. But
God said, this is My servant Job. And He said that to Satan
when Satan came before Him. Have you observed My servant
Job? He's a man who hates evil and
loves good, and he always worships Me. Satan said, well, he does
it for nothing. You've made him rich. You've
made him healthy. You've got tons of kids and tons
of property, and he's the wealthiest man in the whole world. God says, take everything you've
got. And sent Satan down and Satan took everything he got.
Took a whirlwind and just wiped out everything. Had people steal
all his cattle, kill all his children. And Job said, well, the Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Shall I receive good at God's hand, and not hard times, and
not evil times also?" And God said, you know, when you took
everything Job had, he did not sin against man. And Satan said, well, let me
make him sick. Because really, when you're sick,
that's when you're really sick. Sick to dying. Sick toward death. That's when the rubber hits the
road. That's when every part of your
being suffers, your mental capacity, your emotions, your relationships,
your spiritual life. Everything suffers when you're
really, really sick. And Satan said, will you let
me touch his body? And the Lord said, okay, you
can touch his body, but you can't have his life. And so he smote him
with these balls and this horrible sickness. And in that, Job did
not curse God. Job worshipped God. He was a
servant of God, a faithful servant. He was a man whose faith was
greatly tried. And at times he showed signs
of humanity, of weakness, frustration, and even unbelief. But even in
his lowest times, he worshipped God. He worshipped God. He maintained his integrity and
he believed God, even in the worst of times. And in the midst
of his grave trials, this man Job acknowledged that God is
totally sovereign and absolutely has dominion over all things. It's at God's hands how we operate
in this world. And it's according to His manipulations
that the world is moved and all its creatures for the benefit
of His elect. He does it all. You say, well,
I don't believe God does that. You don't believe God. God wills and that's it. If God
purposed it, it shall stand. The very thoughts of his mind,
it says in Isaiah 24, shall come to pass. Just what he thinks.
Shall come to pass. In the end of Job's life, God
honored Job and made even his enemies to know that the Lord
accepted him. He condemned the harsh judgment
of Job's three friends. Told them what they were. and
gave Job twice as much in his latter end than he had when he
started out with. Job was a servant of God who
suffered greatly. Now in this 14th chapter of Job
is the chronicle of his sufferings, part of them. And during this
time, Job did what all men do when faced with the mystery of
the human condition. He asked some questions. He asked
some questions when faced with the mystery of what he was and
what was going on. Now, God inspired him to say
these things and inspired them to be written for our learning,
and they address things that are truly worth thinking about.
And what I found is that these questions that he asked are,
to some degree, at least in kind, the questions that many ask during
the time of suffering and death. I've heard these questions in
these last month or so. Heard them in a lot of different
ways, but I've heard these questions. And they're questions that are
worth asking. When everything is stripped from
you, when you have nothing except you and God, then you're going to ask some
questions that are worthwhile. You're not going to ask about
the horse's tail and the beast with many horns and spend your
time trying to figure out what the future is. Now, you may do
that in times of ease, but let me tell you, when the troubles
come your way, the questions you ask are important questions. And Job, suffering as he did,
having lost all that he had, had some questions worth asking. Job asked five questions in this
chapter. Five questions. Questions that
come up at times of suffering and death. Questions that ought to be pondered
and meditated upon all the days of our lives. But I can promise
you this without flinching, sooner or later, These questions will
come to your mind. So just figure on it. Maybe you haven't suffered yet.
Maybe you've not had many great trials and tribulations. But
when that comes, when you have nowhere else to turn but to God,
you'll start asking some worthwhile questions, worthwhile questions. You're not going to ask, should
I be a Baptist? Or should I be a Catholic? Or
should I be a Presbyterian? Or what should I be? That's not
going to be a question. You think that matters? Not when you die.
Not when you die. These five questions, the five
things worth thinking about are these. I'll read them to you
and then we'll look at them in Scripture. Job asked this question,
considering himself. He asked this of God. Dost thou
open thine eyes upon one such as I? Good question. Then he asked this, Dost thou
bring me into judgment with thee? Then he asked, Who can bring
a clean thing out of an unclean? Then he asked, He says, man giveth
up the ghost. Where is he? Where is he? And finally he asks, if a man
die, shall he live again? Those are important things. Those are the questions you're
going to ask. Because when you have nothing else but you and
God, you need to understand these things. You'll want to understand
these things. You'll want some information.
The first question is found in verses 1 through 3. Man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh
forth as a flower, and is cut down. And he fleeth also as a
shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes,
or put such a one? This question is born of Job's
consideration of his own frailty, of his own brevity of his life,
of the insignificance of man, the utter insignificance of humanity. Altogether, he looks at human
beings. He looks at himself, covered
in balls, having nothing to offer. Having nothing. He looks at the
ones who have come before him, the self-righteous ones who have
accused him day and night. He looks at his wife. He looks
at all his circumstance. He says, can it be that God Almighty,
the thrice holy God, looks upon something like me, such a one
as I? And we all like to think we are
somebody. And if we have a lot of friends
and we have some accomplishments, people will tell us that we are
somebody. And all that might count while
things are good and you're tripping the light fantastic in this world.
But I'm telling you, there's coming a day when that question,
whether or not you're somebody, won't matter. What will matter
is, does God regard me? Does God regard me? We think
we're somebody. We think that our lives count,
that some part of the world depends on us. I suppose in a natural
sense, of course, certain things are dependent upon us because
God has ordered it. Even in spiritual matters it
can be said that certain things depend upon us because God has
ordered it. But when man's view gets past
his own nose, Once he sees that God is the
first cause of all things, once he sees that all things are of
God, he realizes that God is utterly magnificent and he is
utterly insignificant. One of the great answers that
is set forth in this book to all the questions of humanity
is simply this, God is greater than me. What kind of answer
is that? That's the one you get. Why has this happened to me?
Because God is greater than man. That's just simply saying this.
You don't have any right to question what comes your way. Oh, you
will. But you don't have any right
to. Because God is greater than man. He's greater than man. All things, Scripture says, are
of God. All things are of God. He doeth
His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What
doest thou? All things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to His purpose. All things. All
things are by Him, through Him, and to Him. To His name be glory. Look over at verses 12 through
14 of this very chapter in Job. So man lieth down and riseth,
or excuse me, verses 14 through 16. If a man die, shall he live again?
All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change
come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer
thee. Thou wilt have a desire to the
work of thy hands, for now thou number'st my steps. Dost not
thou watch over my sins? God's the first cause of all
things. He rules and reigns in this universe. Man, he says,
that is born of woman is of few days. Few days. The longer I live, the more thankful
I am that life in this world is but for a brief time. I'm not saying I don't enjoy
life. I do. You know me. I like it a lot. I enjoy it. But I'm glad it don't
last a long time. Can you imagine living in this
world to the age that Methuselah lived? Can you imagine putting up with this
mess for 969 years? We ought to learn to recognize
the brevity of this life and to learn to apply our hearts
to wisdom, David said. Our life is short. None of us is guaranteed 70 years
in the world, though I heard people talking about that a lot
this time. Well, we're guaranteed three or four, it's good. God
is just saying that's the average life of humanity, generally speaking.
Not a promise. You're not promised tomorrow.
If you think you are, you're wrong. It may very well be the last
thing you'll hear from a preacher. Could be, couldn't it? Could
be the last time I'll ever preach. I might walk out of here and
fall dead as a hammer. None of us know. None of us know. If we're given 70 years, you
know how long it'll last? Just like that. I can call Social Security in
November. I was thinking, I can't imagine, you know, I never even
imagined that I'd ever draw such security. But it's here. It's here. We're dying. Our life is brief. If we should live to be 70, it
will seem like it's quicker than a post, faster than a weaver's
shuttle. These days that we spend upon
this earth because we are sinners in a world of sin and sorrow
and full of trouble, our days are full of trouble. Man that
is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. And here's
one of those words that say a whole lot, this word trouble. Can be
translated trouble because sin and trouble always go hand in
hand. They always go hand in hand.
Where there is sea and trouble shall surely follow. It might
be translated commotion because the lives of men in this world
are like the troubled sea, restless, unsettled. Fallen men are in
a constant state of uneasiness. The word might also be translated
trembling. The reason for man's restlessness
is, to a great extent, the trembling of his soul. As born of the knowledge
of our impending demise, we soon pass off this planet. Poor troubled creature whose
life is but a blip on radar, the radar of eternity. Job says,
is as insignificant as withered flowers. After a mountain frost,
nothing to them. They look good. About this time
of the year, the crocuses start trying to peek their heads out
of where the sun has hit them. They'll start getting out and
they'll look good. All it takes for them to look
just kind of gooey and more liquid than flour is for a good cold
frost to hit. David said that, I mean Joe said,
that's us. We're like a flower. We're like
a flower. We're cut down. We're like a
shadow that flees away and continues not. Considering this, Job was brought
to a moment of true lucidity in the midst of his trial with
the knowledge that the holy, infinite, eternal, omnipotent
God should take notice of him. Dost thou open thine eyes? David
said, when I consider the works of thy hand, the handiwork of
the stars and the universe and all that thou hast made, what
is man? What is man that thou thinkest upon him? What is man
that thou art mindful of him? Roll that around in your noggin
for a moment till it maybe finds a place to sit. This is a wondrous
thing. that God Almighty should look
our way. Think about that. That God should
look at us. That He should cast His holy
glance upon us. Job was simply overwhelmed by
the thought of it. We sing, and can it be that I
should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me
that caused His pain? For me? who Him to death pursued? Does God Almighty open His eye
upon such useless, sinful, wretches as we are? Indeed, He does. His eyes has always been upon
His people. His eyes are ever upon the righteous.
Now, when I'm talking about righteous, I'm not talking about us. I'm
talking about the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He's had His eyes on us in electing
love. choosing us unto salvation before
the foundation of the world. He's had His eyes on us in redeeming
grace and redeeming blood. For when His soul was made an
offering for sin, He shall see His seed. His eye is always upon
us in providential goodness. No weapon formed against us shall
ever prosper. His eyes have always been upon
His people in saving mercy. always upon His people in the
exercise of His preserving power, our Savior was slain before the
foundation of the world. What does that mean? What it
says. He died before man ever died. He was the first man to die,
the eternal Son of God. And He died for no sin of His
own. He died for the sin of an elect people which did not yet
exist except in the purpose of God. Job said, Can He look at me?
Dost Thou open Thine eyes upon me? The second question is this. He says, Dost Thou bring me into
judgment with Thee? Now this will bring sinful man
to a screeching halt if he considers this. I know all of us have heard
all our life about God is love. People say that's his essential
characteristic. It's not. It's an attribute of
the holy God. Holiness is his central attribute. It's who he is. Holy and reverend
is his name. Oh, he is a loving God. But he's
also a hating God. Scripture says that. So I don't
believe that. Then you don't believe the Bible.
What else about the Bible don't you believe? Jacob have I loved,
and Esau have I hated. His soul hateth the workers of
iniquity. That's the language of Scripture.
So that doesn't fit my scheme. And your scheme is way off. Your
scheme needs to be fixed. Your scheme needs to be stretched
to include what God says. Sooner or later, you and I must
face the fact of divine justice and judgment. The Word of God
teaches it. History illustrates it. Your
conscience bears witness to it. When Job thought of God exercising
the rigor of His strict justice, it was no laughing matter to
him. Dost Thou bring me into judgment with Thee? He knew that
the standard of judgment in that great day would not be the opinions
of men, nor the works of men's flesh.
But it's with me, God saith, wilt thou bring us, me, into
judgment with thee? With thee. Not before thee. With thee. What does that mean?
Here are two facts that I hope will get your heart's attention
and cause your soul trouble from which you can find no escape
until you flee into the arms of Christ. There is a day appointed
by God when men shall appear before His great throne and be judged. And in that great terrible day,
the standard of judgment will be God Himself. Dost thou bring me into judgment
with thee? God will bring men into judgment
with Himself. Someone once said, how good does
a person have to be to get to heaven? The answer is this, you'll
have to be as good as God or you won't get there. Scripture says it shall be perfect
to be accepted, and God will accept nothing less than perfection.
As we read in the final revelation of Jesus Christ, God says, Let
him that is filthy be filthy still, and let him that is righteous
be righteous still. And you are in one of those two
camps, this hour. Everyone is. Dost thou bring
me into judgment with thee? We are going to face God. The elect are going to face Him
with a smile. And those who perish in their sins are going to face
Him with awful terror upon their hearts and face. Grasping both the brevity of
life and the certainty of divine judgment, Job asked the next
question, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Do you think you can really straighten
up your life? Do you think you can? Deep down
somewhere you believe you can straighten it out. No one can bring a clean thing
out of an unclean thing. No one. Look at verses 4 through
6. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Seeing
his days are determined, the number of his months are with
thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds, and he cannot pass. Turn
from him that he may rest, till he accomplishes as a hireling
his day. Our translation reads in response
to the question, not one. A better translation might continue
the question to the end of the fourth verse. Who can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean? Is there one? Is there one? Realizing that man who is altogether
unclean by amputation, by nature, by birth, and by practice must
stand in judgment with the Holy God. This question is one of
which every sensible soul must seek an answer. I am unclean
by nature and by birth. Can anything clean be brought
out of me? Can anything? The number of our days in this
world is determined by God's decree before we are ever born. As I stood beside the caskets
of junior and sis, two people I love, one comfort I had is
that not a minute that was ordained for them was taken from them.
They lived out the full course of their life. I buried children,
babies. whose entire ordination of existence
was a matter of hours upon this earth. And though they knew it not,
they had tremendous impact on people's lives. I buried folks
who was 99 years old. Ninety-nine is a lot of breaths.
But did he get one more than was ordained? And not one of
them was taken away. Their days are appointed. Their
months are with God they cannot pass. John Gill said this, as
the time of a man's So the time of his death is according to
the purpose of God. And all the intervening moments
and articles of time and all things that befall a man throughout
the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment
of God and are according to the determinate will. And when God
requires a man, his soul, no one has power over his spirit
to retain it one moment. to finally admit, finally we're
going to be forced to admit that our will really is nothing at
all. Because we all have a will to
live. And one way we'll find out, one day we'll find out,
our will is nothing. Because God said, you've breathed
your last breath, now you're done. And we're done. We're done. Man has no power over his own
life and death or even over his own health. It's certain that
no man has power to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. I can't
make myself better. And every effort I've tried makes
myself worse. And religion is the big dog in
that hunt. Religion will make you worse
and worse and worse all the days of your life because you're trying
to be better. And you'll live a life of misery and you'll end
up worse than you were before. No mortal can give himself spiritual
life. No man can give himself faith.
No man can regenerate himself or justify himself. No man can
save himself or even put himself in a savable condition. In Job 9, Job said, How can a
man be just with God? How can a man that is born of
a woman that's a worm of the dust and a maggot on a dunghill
stand justified before Almighty God. If it requires God bringing
a clean thing out of an unclean, no man will ever be justified.
Think about that for a minute. Man is altogether filthy. God
is not in all his thoughts. His tongue is like a poisonous
snake. His feet are swift to shed blood. He's not righteous. He can't
do anything good. And he don't want to. If he applies
to the law, all the law says is you're guilty. Shut up. Shut
up. But this answer, I suppose, could
be answered yes and no. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? If anyone can, God can. In one sense, He can bring a
clean thing out of an unclean by three marvelous works of grace.
Redemption, whereby all sin dead is paid. Regeneration, where
He's given you life in Jesus Christ and resurrection in that
regeneration. Where a man would say salvation
is of the Lord. By grace you're saved through
faith in that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works
lest any man should boast. God who has saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ
before the world began. But there's also the fact that
God does not bring a clean thing out of an unclean. He creates something new that
never existed before. A human being. A human being. that is not guilty. That's the new creation. The
new creation, a new creature in Jesus Christ. The power and
weight of this question is the recognition that we are an unclean
thing. That's what Job is saying. I'm
unclean. Anything good come out of me?
I'm unclean. And that nothing about us, that
is to say our flesh, is usable. by God. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. The fourth thing that must be
considered concerns death. Verses 7 through 13. Look at
verse 7. There's hope of a tree. We cut
down poplars over here beside the house and poplars can grow.
You cut down a poplar and a stump, as soon as it rains, they start
bringing forth new little poplar trees sticking out its side.
There is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout
again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease, though
the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stalk thereof
die in the ground. Yet through the scent of the
water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant, but man
dieth. and rots, corrupts. Yea, man giveth up the ghost.
Where is he? Where is he? Where is he? As
the waters fall from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth
up, so man lieth down and rises not up till the heavens be no
more. They shall not be awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
Man dieth and wasteth away. Why don't you put your personal
pronoun there? I die and I waste away. Better for a poplar tree than
for me. I give up the ghost. Where am
I going to be? Where is he? Where is man when
he dies? When the wicked die and their
sins, according to Scripture, their bodies are in the grave,
But they are in hell. I don't fully understand all
that that means, but I know this, no rational human being would
ever want to go there. God describes it in terms that
are strange and dark and mysterious. Hell is fire, but no light. Hell is a place of darkness.
Where fire is never quenched. Where the worm dies not. You're
the worm. I'm the worm. What is that? Hell is separation
from God. We've never known that. You never
breathed a breath that you weren't in the hands of the mediator
all your days of your life. How he used you was his business,
but you've always been there. In Luke 16, hell is described
as a place of torment. And if you die without Christ,
as soon as you close your eyes in death, you will lift your
eyes up in hell, tormented in the flames of the
dam, forever imprisoned in darkness with Satan, the fallen angels,
and the company of all your brethren, all the wicked who have lived
and died in rebellion against God. I don't say that to scare
you, because I can't scare you, and I wouldn't want to scare
you. I really wouldn't. I know preachers like to get
up and talk about hell kind of like it's their own idea, and
they pound their chest and they act real righteous and all that
stuff. I don't want any one of you to perish without Christ. But I'm telling you, if you do,
it ain't going to be no picnic. A man die, where is he? He's where
God puts him. where God puts him. You have
a life to live and a death to die, a judgment to face and an
eternity to spend somewhere. And that place is eternal misery.
We don't like misery. In fact, when we get miserable,
we want somebody to join us. We try to make everybody else
around us miserable, too, so we'll all feel this way. This
place is eternal misery. That word comes from miser. hoarding stuff, you'll never
get enough in hell. Forever banished from God, never
see anything good, never see anything righteous. You'll suffer the wrath of God
forever and ever. And I can't conceive it, and
neither can you. But I don't want that, and I don't want it
for you. But when the righteous die in
faith, though their bodies are in the grave awaiting the resurrection,
they are with Christ in heaven. To be absent with the body is
to be present with the Lord. And as soon as the righteous
closes their eyes in death in this world, they open their eyes
in glory, seeing the face of Christ in the paradise of God,
in Abraham's bosom. That's how it's described. What's
heaven like? I don't know. The Bible doesn't
say a whole lot about it. Well, it's just great big trout
streams where every trout you catch looks like Moby Dick. No,
it's not. But it's just a wonderland where
watermelons are as big as Volkswagens. No. You know what heaven is? Seeing Christ. You say, well, that don't seem
like much. Because you don't know Him. If
you knew Him, that's all you'd want. I just want to see Him.
Every child got to see Him face to face. That's heaven. You'll be forever in the presence
of Christ with the holy angels. God the Father, God the Holy
Spirit, the spirits of just men made perfect, free of sin and
perfectly righteous, serving Christ in that house not made
with hands until the resurrection of our body. Natural death is
for the believer a matter of hope, an expectation of life.
It's not to be dreaded or feared. Job prayed for the Lord to graciously
take him out of this veil of tears and keep him. Keep him. Hiding his body in the grave
and his soul in heaven till the days of God's wrath and judgment
against man is over. It's the desire of every believer.
The fifth question, and I'll hurry, that must needs be considered
is this. Look at verse 14. For man die, shall he live again. All the days of my appointed
time I will wait till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I
will answer thee. Thou wilt have a desire to the
work of thine hands. Verses 14 and 15, if you read
them, you understand that Job had absolutely no question about
the blessed hope of the resurrection of his body. In chapter 19, he
said, I know that my Redeemer lives, and with mine eyes, and
not another, I will see Him. I will see Him. The Bible says three things along
these lines. Verse 17 says, My transgression
is sealed up in a bag, Now sewest up mine iniquity." The Word of God describes a bag,
a book and a bottle to console our hearts in this
earthly pilgrimage. God has given us a bag for our
sins. He sewed them up in a bag. How
many of you have ever seen on TV or actually someone buried
at sea What do they do? They put them in a bag, and they
sew it up, and they drop it down to the bottom of the sea. That's
the illusion that's being made here. God has caused our sins,
if we are His children, to walk the plank. God has caused our
sins, if we are children, to be sewn up in a bag and cast
down to the bottom of the sea where they cannot be remembered
anymore. What good news is that for old, unclean things like
us? Also, the Lord has written a book for
our names. It's called the Lamb's Book of
Life. And if your names are there, they've always been there. And
when God opens up the books of judgment to judge men lost and
undone in this world, He'll open up another book. And there ain't
no judgment in that book. That judgment has already been
taken care of on Calvary. Just a bunch of names in that
book. And every name in that book is going to proceed into
eternal bliss and glory with God Almighty. The Lord said, I know my sheep. I call them by name. They hear
my voice and they follow me. Our names are written in a book,
the book of God. And in Psalm 56, verses 8 and
9, it says, well, let's read it. Look over there, Psalm 56,
verses 8 and 9. The Lord says, Thou tellest my
wondering, put thou my tears in a bottle. Are they not in thy book? When
I cried to thee, then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know,
for God is for me. In the East, it was customary.
In ancient times, especially in Egypt, when they prepared
the sepulchers for the kings and for those who died, others
who died, the mourners took a sponge and caught their tears. They
caught their tears in a cloth or a sponge. Then they squeezed
and wrung out the sponge into a tear bottle. was placed in the tomb with the
dead, symbolizing the care of the mourners, that the mourners
had for one who died. And our Lord says, I keep your
tears in a bottle. Now we know that's not an actual
bottle. Our Lord is teaching us something about His care and
comfort for His people. Can anything be more comforting?
In this world of sin and sorrow and death, the Lord our God has
put our sins in a bag and buried them. Our names in a book to
remember them and our tears in a bottle to show that He cares
for us. He cares for us. These are five
questions that you and I are going to ask. I pray God you
know the answers now. Father, bless us to understand. something of the glory of what
Jesus Christ has done for us in His death. Father, speak to hearts only
You can, in Christ's name, Amen. Today, God bless you.