Great Texts of The Bible: The Suffering of Job | Pastor William Hixson

Uh

I'm the one-man band now as camp is in

business.

And so Mike is gone.

And we are doing great text in the

Bible.

And I'm going around the barn a lot

today.

I think I have to.

But I want you to turn to the book of

Job.

Look at at Job.

Now, if you are with us or you're new to

Bible study,

you might think this book is the book of

Job.

In English we say job,

but his name is Job.

And it's a marvelous book. It's really

different.

It's really really different.

And I love teaching this book.

And the text I'm interested in is at the

end of the book.

But for newcomers here, I'm not going to

ask you to raise your hand, but I know

there's some people

you don't know this book at all. You're

totally ignorant of it.

Totally ignorant of it.

And so Job was a man that lived

approximately 4,000 years ago.

It goes way back.

He lived in the land of Uz.

Not the land of Oz, the land of Uz.

And he was contemporary with some of the

patriarchs as far as we can tell.

So this book goes back.

He was an extremely wealthy man.

Nobody had as much money as him in that

part of the world.

He had plenty

of stuff.

He was a plenty He was extremely fertile

man.

He had seven sons and three daughters.

10.

So, Job was someone

that

was uh

very fertile and had the blessing of

many children.

He was very successful in business.

And I want you to uh look at

uh the first verses of this just so that

you have some sense of this man and who

he is.

In the land of Uz, 1:1,

there lived a man whose name was Job.

This man,

the first thing God says of him,

"This man was blameless and upright. He

feared God and shunned evil." Before he

says anything else about him, about his

family, about his wealth, about

anything, he feared God and shunned

evil. Men, he was reverent towards God.

Not that he was scared of God. He was

reverent towards God. And he shunned

evil. He He wanted to do the right

thing. There was nobody that strict on

themselves or that serious about life

like him.

God'll point him out

to the devil.

The devil said, God says that Satan,

"Where you been?" "I've been walking up

and down the earth and and

like like I own everybody down there."

And God said, "Have you considered my

servant Job,

a man who fears God and eschews evil?

There's none like him.

And uh

he's a man that was blameless and

upright. He feared God and shunned evil.

And in verse two, he had seven sons and

three daughters. And these were

apparently grown sons and grown

daughters.

And he owned He was extremely wealthy

man.

He owned 7,000 sheep.

How many people do you know that own

7,000 sheep?

Think about that.

3,000 camels.

What do you mean so many camels? Those

were the semi-trucks of the day.

To haul your stuff to other countries

and other places.

He had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500

yoke of oxen.

That's to plow the fields and do that

kind of work, heavy work, and 500

donkeys.

500 donkeys, how do you feed that many

animals?

You better have deep pockets, right?

Now, you don't have those kind of

animals unless you need them.

Who Who's going to support

500 yoke of oxen or 500 donkeys or 3,000

3,000 camels? Those Those are Those are

meant for work.

So, Job had a working business. He was

transporting stuff everywhere.

He was a big businessman

of 4,000 years ago.

He had a

a large number of servants.

Take a lot of people to take care of all

those animals.

Most of us would have trouble take I've

talked to somebody the other day

taking care of one horse.

I mean, they're expensive.

Horses are expensive. They eat.

So, you got to have time and money to

have a one horse, let alone all this.

And he was the greatest man among all

the people of the East. So, this guy was

uh

their equivalent of a multi-millionaire,

a

of that day.

His sons used to take turns holding

feasts in their homes.

So, the family was tight.

There were no prodigal sons in this

in this home. He's a godly man, raised

godly kids.

And they would take turn in their homes,

and they would invite their three

sisters and eat and drink with them.

When a period of feasting had run its

course, Job would send and have them

purify.

Early in the morning, he would offer a

burnt sacrifice, a sacrifice, a burnt

offering for each of them. Each of them.

10 kids.

Thinking, perhaps my children have

sinned

and cursed God in their hearts. Not with

their lips,

just inside.

This

was Job's regular custom. I'm reading

from the NIV. I pulled the wrong Bible

up for our morning message, but I'm it's

the same thing.

Now, the very thing he feared for his

children,

Satan was trying to get him to do.

Curse God

and die.

Think about that.

And it's quite fascinating cuz there's a

conference in the heavens.

And the angels apparently have to report

to God, and Satan's a fallen angel, but

even has to report.

And uh God says in verse 8, "Have you

considered my servant Job? There's no

one on earth like him."

He's blameless and upright, a man who

fears God and shuns evil.

Now, who brought up Job to Satan?

God did.

And Satan said, "Does Job

fear God for nothing?"

He replied, "Have you not put a hedge

around him and his household and

everything he has? You blessed the work

of his hands so that his flocks and

herds are spread throughout the land.

Stretch your hand and strike everything

he's got and he'll curse you to your

face. You pay him well. He's just in it

for the money."

You pay him well.

And God said, "This is the behind the

scenes invisible things that we don't

see."

Part

The Lord said, "Very well.

Then, everything he has is in your

hands, but on the man himself, do not

lay a finger."

So, what did the Satan do?

He stirred up some other people from

other places to steal his stuff, burn

down the houses, to kill everybody,

lightning coming down, everything that's

gone. Job lost everything.

He lost 10 kids.

He lost all his camels, all his donkeys.

He lost everything. He had nothing.

Satan took everything.

Why did he do that?

To make him curse God.

Satan said, "If I hit him hard enough,

he'll curse God."

Maybe

you've lost something in your life

that's been taken away.

It could be someone you love.

It might be

something you like.

It might be financial. It might be

whatever.

This is a unveiling of the spiritual

war.

And the very thing Job feared his

children would do, Satan was trying to

get him to do.

Now, by the way, Satan will get the

parents through their children.

So, discourage with my kids

in their prodigal ways.

He will do that.

But in this case, he just killed him.

To get to Job. That's the beginning of

this book.

And

Job Job sat on the ash heap and later

Satan says to God, well,

Job said,

You see, you hit him as hard as you

could, devil, and you he didn't do

anything. He said, you didn't let me

touch him. Let me touch him and then

he'll curse you to your face. All right,

you got permission now.

Satan can't do anything without

permission.

Doesn't mean God approves of it. It

means he gives permission

for things to run their course.

And so,

God took away Job's health.

He's sitting on an ash heap, boils all

over him.

After all that happened.

God said, you can touch him, but you

can't take his life. You can't kill him.

Satan would have killed him if he could,

but God wouldn't let him.

And that's when his friends show up,

right?

The three friends to comfort him. They

come from all directions.

And then the discussion started.

And that's the book of Job.

Part of it.

Now,

>> [laughter]

>> there are so many precious truths in

this book, as hard as it is.

And I want you to think about Job and

what we can learn from him. He excelled

in piety.

There was none like him in the earth.

He feared God and eschewed evil.

And God knew the kind of man he was. He

knew he could take it.

Samson excelled excelled in fighting,

killing Philistines. The Benjaminites

excelled in slings, the left-handed

Benjamites. Jonathan excelled in

loyalty. Solomon excelled in wisdom.

Jacob excelled in fertility.

Jud- Judas excelled in treachery. Satan

excels in duplicity.

Nabal excelled in stupidity. Methuselah

excelled in longevity. But Job excelled

in piety.

There was none like him

in the earth.

And Job's friends came to comfort him.

Why did all this happen to this guy

that's so good?

And when it was all over, Job said,

"Miserable comforters are you all. You

just hurt me more

than you've helped me."

They were unwilling agents of Satan

trying to comfort him.

These men were intelligent, eloquent,

passionate,

and wrong.

What was wrong?

Their theology.

Deficient theology is dangerous.

There's people all over America

going to hospitals and hurting people,

going into sick rooms and hurting

people, going to the funeral room and

hurting people cuz their theology is

deficient. And they mean well and they

destroy wonderfully.

You need to know the Bible.

We need to know God's word. We need to

know it well.

We expect our doctors to know what

they're talking about. If we go to a

heart doctor or cancer doctor, we expect

them to be well-informed.

We expect our accountants to be

well-informed cuz we don't know all the

new laws on all that stuff.

We expect other people to know their

business and help us.

Our business is getting the gospel out.

Our business is ministering to people.

It's the greatest thing that anybody

could do in life, and we need to get

better at it. We need to be good at it

cuz we can hurt people. We can hurt

people while we when we're trying to

help them.

And so these three

were eloquent, intelligent,

passionate,

and wrong.

Job felt their reasoning was worthless.

And hurtful. Miserable comforters of you

are you all.

And so there's these old men talking

about life. They're talking about the

troubles.

Four old men, and there's a fifth guy

who's a little younger. They're sitting

around talking. That's the book of Job.

No battles,

no no travels, just

bunch of people talking.

But what they're talking about is

extremely important.

But at the but at the end of it,

these comforters say say say little of

value.

The book of Jude talks about false

teachers. They're clouds without rain.

That's the expression.

False teachers are clouds without rain.

When you see a cloud, you expect rain.

Possibility of rain. And the book of

Jude calls these false teachers clouds

without rain.

And one Indian, American Indian, uh was

asked about the uh

the message he just heard from this

false teacher.

And this guy was very passionately uh

giving out of a sermon. And the Indian

said, uh lot of lightning, a lot of

thunder, no rain.

I love

There's no help but this guy's not

helping anybody.

What a waste of time listening to him.

Thunder, lightning, no rain.

And

Satan was coming at Job hard.

The only limitation Satan uh did was

what God put on him.

You can take all he's got but not his

life. You can take

uh you can touch his health but not his

life.

And so Satan went as far as God

let him go.

Except he spared Job's wife.

He could have killed her.

You know, there was armies of people

coming in killing people, all this stuff

happened.

Um

he could have killed her.

He could have killed the one servant

that escaped from each of these attacks

and told Job in succession. He left one.

So that and just pile it so chain as so

Job would get one bad news after

another, one bad news after another.

Boom, boom, boom, boom. And he left the

wife for the same reason. When she got

so discouraged, she said, "Job, why

don't you just curse God and die?"

This And Job's answer was,

"You're talking like one of the foolish

women."

"Shall we receive good at the hand of

God and not evil?

Life's full of Evil means calamity as

well as good. Mrs. Job, I've never heard

you talk like that, ever.

It was Satan using her.

Now, don't remember she went through all

this, too. She just lost all this. And

she was in despair, and Satan used her.

To get at Job.

But it didn't work.

All of his efforts were to drive Job to

apostasy.

And uh

to give up.

Taking away this, taking away that,

taking away something else.

Now, some of the most important books of

the Bible

are seriously neglected,

overlooked,

or avoided

because they're particularly difficult

to understand,

teach, and apply,

and hard to apply because you have to

attain a certain level of understanding

to accurately apply it.

I would say a majority of churches

neglect this book.

Majority of pastors don't preach on it.

They might preach on one person.

They don't go verse by verse through the

book.

I think I'm probably right on that.

There's There's exceptions to that rule.

I In my years at Athens Bible Church, I

have preached through the book of Job

twice at least, maybe three times. My

memory is I mean, verse by verse. Some

of you've been there for at least two of

them, and I think there was an earlier

one, but

memory gets

foggy.

And another time we preached through it,

and we just focused on Job, and we

skipped the friends arguments and just

res- with Job and what was going on Job.

And other times we did it another way

and a different way.

So we've tried to spend some time in

Job.

The hardest part of the book is the

erroneous arguments of Job's friends and

the amount of of

the book is that.

There's

the erroneous argument of Eliphaz the

Temanite that's two chapters that's 48

verses.

So if you're teaching through the book

you got to go through two chapters of

erroneous argument.

That's really enjoyable on a Sunday

morning. I'm going to tell you

everything I'm going to tell you this

morning is wrong.

See how hard that is to teach?

They're all this has to be corrected.

So Eliphaz's argument was theologically

deficient and pronounced so by God at

the end of the book. You haven't spoken

the things that are right like Job has.

Now

when you teach something like that you

got to say stay with me you got it.

Well here the erroneous one this this

morning and then we hear Job's answer

the next day and then we're going to go

back to the next guy and we get another

erroneous argument and then we'll be

back to Job and then we'll jump to the

third one.

So by the time we get through Bildad and

Zophar Bildad takes up 22 verses

Zophar 20 verses all of it's incorrect

theology.

Some of it's good but it's wrongly

applied.

So things that are wrongly applied are

not really helpful.

And it goes over again and over again

and over again and

the arguments go back and forth and it's

like

I don't know how much of this I can

take.

How many have read the book of Job at

one sitting?

That's an assignment.

I would challenge you to do that.

It's going to take you a while.

But remember, Job's saying what's right,

but he's doing it in a wrong way.

He He He He's got the right argument,

but he's not arguing it very well. He's

got the right position, but he's not

arguing it well. They've got a wrong

They're three friends have wrong

positions, but they're arguing it very

well.

They're very eloquent. They're very

astute.

It makes it very difficult.

And at the end And we get to the end,

there's a young man there, his name is

Elihu, and he says, "I've heard enough.

All you old guys are wrong. You don't

know what you're talking about.

You're all wrong.

I might be young and you're old, but

you're full of wind."

And then you get chapters 32, 33, 34,

35, and 36 about at 37 about Elihu

telling them they're all wrong.

So, it's hard. This is not easy.

It's hard to be positive when you're

teaching this book.

And then at the end of the book, God

corrects them all.

And he says to his friends, "You better

I'm going to have Job pray for you

because you're in trouble with me

because you haven't spoken the things

right about me as Job has.

He's arguing it poorly. He's been upset,

but at least he's got the right

position. You guys have the wrong

position, and you think you're right and

you're very self-righteous.

And he's right, you're miserable

comforters. You don't know what you're

doing.

All four of you are out of it.

And so,

he says, "Job's answers are better than

his critical friends' arguments, but Job

himself says things that are not stellar

or profound, and they're difficult. God

corrects them all at the end of the

book, and Job says,

"I was talking about how I had I

shouldn't have been talking about. I was

way over my head. I shouldn't have been

saying it." Job repents of what he said.

But God approved of it in comparison

with the other guys.

And Job does say some really, really

good things and precious things.

You know what? It takes a very, very

mature local church, a very, very

serious Christian,

to sit through a sermon series on the

book of Job.

Some of you have.

And

remember, Paul said we're to teach the

whole counsel of God. That's what he

did.

And one way to do that is to do book

study.

He said, "Pastor, I don't think I could

take 42 chapters."

Well, if I live long enough, you're

going to have to try.

So, I'll be at it again.

You

you folks remember in the 1950s the way

your mothers acted?

They made you eat things like broccoli,

cauliflower, and asparagus.

Maybe they just put a little bit on the

plate.

You got it you got to try.

Anybody else's mom acted that way? That

was my mom.

Now, the 50s moms weren't perfect.

Some of us ate Spam in the 50s. I can't

believe we ate that and survived.

And uh

I had goose liver or sandwiches to go to

school with many times.

And that's not the best thing.

There's a

there's a more popular name for them,

that better name for them.

So, we didn't always have the best diet

sometimes.

But, moms were smart.

You'll never like it if you don't try

it. And even if you don't like it now,

you'll grow to like it. You got to You

got to sit there and eat

little bit of broccoli and that little

bit of cauliflower and that little bit

of asparagus.

Clean your plate before you leave the

table. That's what people who lived in

the through the Great Depression did.

Now, of course, we listened too well.

So, all of us have become fat of my

generation. We got used to eating

everything that we could eat.

But, there were good sides of it.

In 2 Timothy 3:15 and 16, all scripture

2 Timothy 3:15

is given by inspiration of God and is

what?

Profitable.

I don't like that part.

Eat it anyway.

Go through Lamentations.

You got to go through Lamentations. I've

only preached through that once. That's

hard preaching.

Acrostic.

But, it's excellent.

You know, eat the hard parts.

Ecclesiastes not not easy. You better

chew a lot when you're feeding on

[clears throat] that book.

And Paul told the Corinthians, "You're a

bunch of babies. You're going to feed

you with milk or not solid food. What's

wrong with you people over there?"

Christians are expected to eat

an adult diet.

Grow up.

And there is a desiring the pure milk of

the word that you might grow. 1 Peter 2

talks about that. But, there is also a

when there's a time for you to be

teachers, you've got need to I teach you

again.

You're living on baby food. That's what

Hebrews 4:7 to 14 says. Grow up.

Hebrews 4:7–14

So,

we need to learn to feed ourselves as

well as to be fed, but we need to know

to tackle some books of the Bible a

little harder.

And Ecclesiastes and Job and Ezekiel and

even Jeremiah to a point that we're

looking at.

I love Isaiah. It's one of the best

books in the Old Testament. Just

but it's so long, 66 chapters.

And uh

So, may the Lord help us as we think

through this.

And there are some such precious

precious things in this book.

There's a little book that I bought

years ago.

And it was written by G. Campbell

Morgan. Some of you will name it cuz

you've heard me quote it.

The answers

of Jesus

to Job.

And it deals with how many of the issues

that Job had

and problems that he had are answered by

the coming of Jesus and the work of

Jesus on the cross.

It's a great book. It's just a little

book. I don't know if you can even find

it now. I've given so many of them away.

I'm not even sure it's still in my

library, but it's a tremendous book.

And he hits some of the highlights of

the book of Job.

That's a good place to start.

Job is an acquired taste.

I used to hate sauerkraut. Now I eat it.

I used to hate yogurt, now I eat it.

There's some kind of ethnic foods you

may not like and maybe still don't like,

but the book of Jew chewed is something

we all need.

Now, open your Bible and let's look at

some things

real quick.

We're going to get to that passage in a

moment.

Open the book of Job

and let's just run through it

and think about some things.

Some things about Job.

Let's start there.

Job was a man of unusual piety.

That's Job 1:1, 1:8

Job 1:1

and 1:5. There was none like him in the

earth.

A man of unusual piety.

Number one, Job was a man of unusual

pain.

He went one-on-one with Satan.

And he won,

but he came out pretty battered.

Job 1:20 to 22.

Job 1:20–22

Three, Job was a man of unusual

prosperity.

That's chapter 1 verse 3.

Job was a man

who

had unusual power in prayer.

Job prayed for his friends.

God told his friends, "You haven't

spoken the things right about me. You

We're going to have Job pray for you,

or I'm going to deal with you."

Job 42:7-9.

Job 42:7–9

And Job in Ezekiel 14:14 is put up there

Ezekiel 14:14

with other great people of prayer. Do

you know that verse? Turn to Ezekiel

Ezekiel 14:14

14:14.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel

and we find the prophet Ezekiel

is mentioned. And God says in Ezekiel

Ezekiel 14:14

14:14, "Though these three men, Noah,

Daniel, and Job were in it, they should

deliver their own souls by their

righteousness," says the Lord. He puts

Job right up there with Daniel and Noah.

As great prayer warriors and godly

people.

God himself does that

to the prophet Ezekiel.

Job was a man

who had power in prayer like Daniel.

He was a He was He was a prayer warrior.

Job was a man who excelled in

perseverance.

Now, we're going to go

to the New Testament and the book of

James and this is getting close

to what I want to deal with today. James

James 5:9

chapter 5

verse 9.

I I personally speculate that James read

the book of Job before he wrote the book

of James.

How else would he say

"Rejoice when you're falling into

manifold trials"?

How else would he say

what he said about the tongue in chapter

3?

But when he gets to chapter 5

he says this. He writes this.

Verse 11.

This is getting close to where I want to

be.

"Behold, we count them happy who endure.

You've heard of the patience of Job."

The patience of Job deals with his

endurance.

The endurance of Job

and have seen the end of the Lord that

the Lord is very pitiful and of tender

mercies.

James is writing Jewish congregations of

Christians

that are scattered from him

and he knows that they're familiar with

the book of Job and very familiar with

it.

So, he brings it up.

And so, he says in verse

10, "Take, my brethren, the prophets who

spoken in the name of the Lord for an

example of suffering, affliction, and

patience."

So, the Old Testament writers not only

had things to say, they had a lifestyle

to

follow.

"Behold, we count them happy who endure,

who remain under.

You've heard of the endurance of Job and

have seen the end of the Lord that the

Lord's very pitiful and of tender

mercies."

Your life may be in a really hard place.

I'll guarantee it won't stay there.

It might get worse before it gets

better.

But when we see Jesus, the hymn writer

said, "It'll be worth it all

when we see Jesus.

It'll be worth it all

when we see Christ."

And so, it's very important to get a

perspective

on our problems.

Number six, Job was a man who

experienced un- usual

unusual provision by God.

You got to know the latter end of Job.

Now, if you go to chapter 1 of Job and

then you go to the last chapter,

I think most of you know this,

when it was all over,

turn with me to Job 42.

Job 42.

Verse one. Job answered the Lord and

said, "I know that you can do everything

and no thought can be withheld you. Who

is he that

hides counsel without knowledge?

Therefore, I've uttered that which I

understood not. Even I haven't said the

right thing about you, Lord. Things too

wonderful for me, that which I knew not.

Here I beseech thee. I'll speak. I'll

demand of thee, and declare to me I've

heard of thee by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eyes sees thee. Wherefore, I

abhor myself and repent in dust and

ashes." Job repents.

Comparatively, he was better than the

others, but Job repents. I I didn't see

you the way I should.

And we're all going to think that way

when we see Jesus.

And it was that after the Lord had

spoken these words to Job, the Lord said

to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is

kindled against thee and against your

two friends, for you've not spoken to me

the thing that is right as my servant

Job has." Job didn't say everything

right, but he said, in comparatively

speaking, he did.

Therefore, take to you now seven

bullocks and seven rams. Go to my

servant Job and offer up for yourselves

a burn offering, and my servant Job will

pray for you, for him will I accept,

lest I deal with you after your folly,

in that you've not spoken to me the

thing which is right

like my servant Job.

Does God care what our theology is? Yes.

Does God care that we interpret him, his

word, and his providence correctly? Yes.

So, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the

Shuhite

Someone said he's the shortest guy in

the Bible, the Shuhite.

Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the

Naamathite went and did according as Job

the Lord commanded them, and the Lord

accepted Job.

So, Job prayed for these guys that hurt

him.

Are we praying willing to pray for

people that have really hurt us? Kicked

us when we're down?

Or maybe hurt us

and didn't mean to?

They meant well,

but they did more harm than good.

Verse 10, "The Lord turned the captivity

of Job when he prayed for his friends."

Those guys needed prayer.

They needed Job's prayer.

And their need was exposed when they

were trying to comfort him.

And the Lord gave Job twice as much as

he had before.

Now, just think about that and watch the

numbers here.

He got twice as much.

Why did God let Job go through that? Why

did God bring Job up? Why did God have

to point the devil to the devil Job?

Got Job in trouble? Pointing him out to

the devil? Caused Job God wanted to

mature Job so he could give Job more.

He already had more than anybody else,

and God wanted to give him more, but he

couldn't couldn't take the more unless

he was mature.

And so, in verse 11, "There came to him

all his brethren and his sisters. Where

were they at?

They were conspicuous for their absence

before, then came to him all his

brethren and his all his sisters, and

all that they had been of his

acquaintances. Now everybody's pouring

in before and did eat bread with him in

his house, and they bemoaned him and

comforted him over all the evil, that

means calamity, that the Lord had

brought on him. Every man also gave him

a piece of money and everyone an earring

of gold. So they pooled their money.

Job, good businessman that he was,

invested it and pretty soon things took

off and he had twice as much.

Now I don't know how much you got

financially,

but I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting

twice as much.

God gave him twice as much.

Why?

Cuz now he could have handled it.

So the Lord blessed the latter end of

Job more than the beginning, for he had

14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels,

1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 she-asses.

He also had seven sons and three

daughters. These are new ones.

You say, "Well, why didn't he get 14

sons and six daughters?" He didn't need

that because

these sons and these daughters were in

heaven. He didn't need to get them the

new ones. They had the ones in heaven

and the ones on earth.

G. Campbell Morgan's family, if you read

his biography and I forgot the numbers

exactly, they would say, "How much How

many children in your family?" He was

talking about G. Campbell Morgan's

parents' family. And they would answer,

"Seven. One in heaven, six on earth."

Cuz one of them had died.

There were some some figure like that.

And so Job had seven sons in heaven, sat

daughters in heaven, and then he gets

seven more on earth and three three more

daughters and he called the name of the

first Jemimah and the name of the second

Keziah and the name of the third

Keren-happuch.

And in all the land there were no women

as fair as the daughters of Job and

their father gave them inheritance with

their brethren.

And after this

lived Job 140 years and saw his sons and

his sons' sons and the four generations

Job died being old

and full of days.

So God made it up to him, didn't he?

So Job was a man

who experienced unusual provisions from

God.

And God didn't give him to him till he

put him through the ringer

uh of providence to prepare him for

that.

And of course we all think we need more

than we got

but we're maybe we're maybe it would

hurt us if we got it too soon or too

fast or too much.

Seven, Job was a man

who experienced unusual spiritual

progress.

These debates, as wrong as his friends

were

clarified the truth

for Job.

He learned the hard way.

I know you're wrong.

I know you're wrong. I know you're

wrong.

And I know that what you're saying about

me is not true and where you're looking

at things are not true.

And in that debate things came out and

things came up and things became

clarified.

Let me illustrate what I'm saying.

Job 14, can you go there, please.

Job 14.

This [clears throat] is Job.

He's uh debating with his friends.

But in that debate the debate he says

this in verse seven for time's sake.

For there is hope for a tree if it be

cut down

that it will sprout again and that its

tender branch will not cease.

Though its root grow old in the earth

and its stock die in the ground,

yet at the scent of water it will bud

and bring forth bows like a plant.

But man dies

and wastes away.

Yea, man expires and where is he?

As the waters fail from the sea and as

the flood decays and dries up, so man

lies down and rises not till the heavens

be no more, they shall not awake nor be

raised out of their sleep.

What's going on there? Job did not

understand the resurrection from the

dead.

At this point it was something he didn't

know much about or anything about in

fact it's it's like it's a denial.

But when you get to chapter 19,

it's all changed.

Chapter 19.

Now you remember

Revelation is progressive.

You can believe in an afterlife for the

soul but not for the body and it was a

little dark in the Old Testament people

about the future.

But Job came to understand

the resurrection the hard way.

Just like Abraham did, the hard way in

Genesis 22. God taught him the

resurrection from the dead when he told

him to offer up Isaac his son. And now

Job's going to learn it. Remember these

are 4,000 years ago. People are starting

to

understand things they didn't were

didn't have clarity on. I'm not saying

there wasn't some clarity. Enoch walked

with God and was not cuz God took him.

There was some clarity, but it was very

foggy to them.

And you learn things in the Bible

sometimes the hard way.

Now I know what this verse means.

Now I understand this.

It's not all book work.

In Job 19, I call your attention.

And Job answered and said, "How long

will you vex my soul and break me in

pieces with words?

These 10 times you've approached me and

you're not ashamed that you make

yourself strange to me.

And be it indeed that I have erred, mine

error remains with myself.

Job's pretty upset with them.

And he's going on and on and on

with them.

And he says in verse 19 or verse 18,

"Yea, young children despise me. I

arose, they spoke against me. All my

inward friends abhorred me and they all

and they whom I loved turned against me.

My bone cleaves to my skin and to my

flesh. I am escaped

with the skin of my teeth."

There's where that expression comes

from.

"Have pity on me, have pity on me, my

friends, for the hand of the Lord has

touched me. Why do you persecute me as

God and are not satisfied with my flesh.

And then he comes up with this, it was a

moment of illumination.

He knew

the end couldn't be like this.

And he said, "Oh,

that my words were now written. Oh, that

they were printed in a book, that they

were engraved with an iron pen and led

in the rock forever. This is something

everybody needs to know. This is

something I understand now. This life is

not the only life. There's another life

where God's going to make it right."

And I know my redeemer lives.

And that he'll stand at the latter day

on the earth. I know something about

God. I know something about a redeemer.

Now I get it.

And I think all of a sudden he had seen

sight

into animal sacrifices, insight into

redemption by

blood, insight about the next life and

what we call individual eschatology.

I know that my redeemer lives.

He'll stand at the latter day on the

earth.

And though after my skin worms destroy

this body,

yet in my flesh I'll see God.

What's that?

That's resurrection.

That's resurrection after the body has

decayed.

That's resurrection after worms eat you.

Somebody There was a missionary who was

going to the mission field where there

were cannibals, and somebody said,

"Don't go, they'll eat you." And he

said, "Well, if I stay here, the worms

will eat me."

So what makes the difference?

So [clears throat] James Job Job says,

"Though after my skin worms destroy this

body, yet in my flesh I'll see God, whom

I shall see for myself, and my eyes

shall behold, and not another, though my

heart be consumed within me." It's

awfully tough, but I know something now

I never knew before.

You know, that's what affliction's for,

right?

God doesn't afflict willingly.

And so, a powerful passage.

There's life after life.

There's resurrection from the dead.

You wonder why God let Job go through

this?

He needed to see it. There's no way a

righteous God can let my life end like

this, and that's it.

I die,

but to see my redeemer.

Things opened up for him.

Now, if we're ever going to be

successful

in spiritual combat, we have to have

clear crystal clarity on the

resurrection from the dead.

That's what Paul said in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:12–19

15:12-19 and 30-31.

You If If Christ isn't raised, you're

yet in your sins.

And if this If in this life only we have

hope in Christ,

we are of all men most miserable.

So,

fascinating stuff.

Pardon me, but

I thought my allergies were over, but

they're kicking in a little bit.

>> So, all this is precious stuff.

Um [clears throat]

in Jesus we find the innocent can

suffer.

But Job found that out

ahead of time. In Jesus we find the dead

are raised. In Jesus we find sins can be

forgiven. There's so many things we get

when we know something about Jesus, who

he was and what he did for us.

And remember Job earlier complained in

chapter 9

about God, he's not a man that I should

answer him and should come together in

judgment. Neither is there any daysman

between us

that might lay his hand on us both.

Well, there is now. His name is Jesus.

There's a mediator now. His name is

Jesus.

Isn't it interesting Job and his friends

talked

so much about everything and no one

mentioned the devil?

Not one of them mentioned the devil.

Job didn't know it.

Job didn't know it was the devil butt

beating on him. His friends didn't know

it. They didn't know about the devil's

part in all this.

They were ignorant of the greater battle

going on

in the invisible war

or the conflict of the ages, however you

want to put it.

Now, we know

because in the first two chapters of the

book it's revealed to us ahead of time,

so we can read the whole debate in light

of that.

But they didn't know at the time.

That was only revealed later.

So, we're let in on the secret by

chapters 1 and 2, but Job and his

friends are ignorant of that. Not one of

them brought up the devil.

There's a lot of stuff we don't know.

In our own life,

we just know it from down here.

We don't know what's going on between

God and Satan.

So, apparently, God revealed to Job

the inside story

after it was all over. That's why it's

in the book

of Job.

Job was a man commended by God, attacked

by Satan, criticized by his best

friends, tempted by his beloved wife.

Blow after blow, blow after blow,

but he

he improved

through it. He was a better man

and produced a wonderful book, the book

of Job.

One writer called the book of Job the

Matterhorn of the Old Testament.

That's a pretty good compliment.

There's no battles in it.

There's no miracles in the book.

Uh but there's a testing of Satan and

just a lot of long discussion.

But it has a multifaceted purpose, not

just one.

And there's applications galore.

And

we need to know the latter end of Job.

We need to know Job the way

the book of James teaches Job.

The latter end.

You need to know your latter end.

I know my redeemer lives, and after

worms have destroyed this body, yet in

my flesh I'll see God.

You need to know that God has in charge

of us, but what the The gives and the

Lord takes away. Blessed

be the name of the Lord. But the Lord

that takes away gives twice as much

later.

If God takes something from you, he's

you're going to get more than that back.

It's important to know that.

Um

So, may God help us.

Um

Not all young people become old people.

Here's an application.

Job's 10 kids were killed before they

got old.

Not all young people become old people

even if

old people parents pray for them.

Job prayed for his 10 children, they

were slain, but they were

they survived. They're they were in

glory. He was he was he's with them now.

Not old not all old people have the

right answers even though they think

they do.

Well, there's an application.

In this life, we go through life, but

there are right answers and wrong

answers, but not everyone knows

everything even though they think they

do.

So, not all people are right even when

they think they are.

And even the people that are right

compared to others are not totally right

as Job was.

Not totally right.

He spoke better than them, but that

didn't make him completely right.

Job

was a ministry of one.

He was alone,

totally alone.

He had no help,

had no real comfort, had no human

fellowship,

but alone, he made a very big

contribution.

He's not alone anymore.

Number six,

God hears every conversation.

This is where it gets a little scary.

All these guys, those old guys talking

to each other, blasting Job for this,

blasting him for that, but

misrepresenting him, giving him a hard

time, a little bit overconfident,

and Job answering, but sometimes getting

out of line even in his answers, not

necessarily sinning, but not being right

in everything he said.

He was righter than they were, but that

didn't make him right.

But God hears every conversation.

Every word that a man speaks you will

give account the day of judgment, Jesus

said, and that's an awesome thought.

That doesn't mean we won't be forgiven,

it just means God's going to correct it

all.

Just like he corrected Job's friends.

We're going to realize everything.

I shouldn't have said that.

Shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't

have said that.

Think it'll be a fast process, but a

painful one.

Last application, Satan is not passive.

Satan is not idle.

He's He is on a leash.

It's God's leash.

There's nothing passive about Satan.

Somebody asked a trick question to a

person. They said, "All right, you're a

Christian. Tell me one good thing about

Satan."

Christian thought a little bit. He said,

"He's a hard worker."

>> [laughter]

>> Well, that's true.

Satan goes about as a roaring lion

seeking who he may devour. He's a hard

worker.

So, Satan is not passive.

He is on a leash. He will go as far as

God He can He can't go farther than God

lets him.

He will go just as far. He'll go right

up to that. Squirm like a spoiled kid.

You tell them one thing, they're going

to go right to the line.

They can't go over, but they'll go right

up to it.

Uh he's on a leash, but that's God's

leash.

And Satan is our fence fencing master,

someone said.

He helps us learn how to use our

weapons.

And God

the tour Job through all of this pain. I

don't know how many months it lasted,

but when it was over, it was over.

And it was into the months, but when it

was over, it was over.

And then

Job was able

to handle

the double blessing

that God gave him.

Someday, we may not get the double

blessing in this life. We probably

won't, but we'll get more than that in

the next life.

This life is just training

for us to be able to handle

the avalanche

and bountiful

blessing

of being in a resurrected body

with the Lord living forever in new

heavens and new earth.

A reunion that is beyond comprehension.

A a

that is beyond our ability to even

imagine.

God is preparing us for that.

So, remember the latter end

of Job.

And the book of Job ends on that note.

The latter end.

Well, what if we don't remember the

latter end of Job?

Well, then

we are not battling

with all the weapons that God has given

us. The book of Job is a weapon to use

against Satan.

When Satan gets against you, if you know

the book of Job, you've got an advantage

against him.

Therefore, take my brethren the prophets

who spoken in the name of the Lord for

an example of suffering affliction and

patience.

Behold, we count them happy or blessed

who endure.

You've heard of the endurance of Job.

James 5:11.

James 5:11

And have seen the end of the Lord

that the Lord is very pitiful

and of tender mercy.

Father, thank you for what we looked at

today.

I don't know the challenges or

trials or troubles of everyone here. I

know some of them.

You know all of them.

There are things that we're just too

embarrassed to share with people

sometimes. It's so hard, so bad.

It doesn't mean that we're alone

in our afflictions.

And there's

a maliciousness about Satan

against all of God's people. He hates

it.

He wants everyone to be on his side

against God.

Can't stand it when somebody stands up

to him.

So, he attacks and he does it with all

the viciousness

and vitriol

that he can.

And Father, we thank you for the battle,

and we look forward when the battle is

over.

And we wrestle not with flesh and blood,

but principalities and powers and

spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.

Like Job, we're in the battle,

but someday like Job, the battle will be

over.

And we remember the latter end of Job,

and we remember our latter end you

promised.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

>> Lord, [singing] as we go from this

place,

loving [singing] you [music] more,

trusting you more,

may the power of your

love

and the light of your [singing] word

shine

>> [music]

>> through a sin-darkened

world as we go [singing and music] from

this place.