How God Prepared Job for Service in the Kingdom of God

Well, happy Sabbath, brethren! Beautiful, beautiful music. Certainly want to thank the choir and Mr. Keener and all of those who, the musicians as well as the singers. Very, very wonderful to have you here. And I know we're working out some bugs that we need to continue to perhaps consider, but it actually was very, very wonderful, very uplifting. So I want to thank you all very much for that very, very fine special music. I do want... I know I had Mr. Pierwitz. Mr. Pierwitz is serving as our assistant coordinator this year, and I thought I'd given him something that he could read.

And sure enough, he could. And I know he's really good at reading material since he often does that on the radio, and so I appreciate very much his help with that. And I know that it's a task to try to keep up with what announcements are what, and yet I thank him for doing that and appreciate his help with that. And I appreciate our song leaders. I know we've had a couple of different song leaders here, and we're thankful to have them, and we're thankful to have all of you here. We're thankful, I'm thankful, that every one of you are able to be here in Branson this year, and you're able to be together and to be united, because that's clearly what we are called to do.

There's a lot more about unity than perhaps we might ever imagine that God is wanting to cause to grow in us, and so I thank you for being a willing participant in that, a willing individual who's willing to grow in that area.

To begin with, I might just mention that I certainly want to greet all of you from the people from the Kansas City and Topeka and St. Joe and the Fulton, Missouri churches. I know we have a number of the congregation here, but I send greetings to you from all of us here in the mid-Missouri and up into the Kansas City area. We appreciate coming down here and being able to meet with everyone here. I know, as with every church area, we have a number who are not able to attend this year, not able to travel down here and to be a part of the services.

I hope that you will keep those people in your prayers while we are here. We want to pray for those who are not able to be here. I know we've made available addresses so that some of the local folks would get cards or at least be reminded to pray about those people whenever we are here at the feast.

I might just ask you, I know we have some cards over here on the information table that are from the Little Rock area, actually people who are unable to attend. I thank you for that, because that is, if you will sign those cards, I know there are a number of signatures on them already, but I ask that you would remember people. If we are going to be united, if we are going to be the United Church of God, then we are certainly going to have to think of others beyond just ourselves. That is really an important lesson of what we are learning, what we are growing in here as we attend the Feast of Tabernacles. I also wanted to just read to you, and in thinking about the prayers that we should be praying for one another, we had a greeting here from one of our, actually a coordinator there in Kenya, and he mentions very warm greetings from 98 brethren keeping the feast at Rhino Camp, Nakura, Kenya.

He says, we have brethren from Uganda, from Rwanda, and from Burundi. And he says visitors from the U.S. and Australia are going to be visiting later. He says, we are enjoying the warm weather and sometimes the heavy rain every evening. And then, much more important, he says, we enjoy the spiritual food that has kept us focused on the wonderful world tomorrow. And we pray for all of you as we look forward to the soon-coming Kingdom of God. I think that's certainly a wonderful message to receive, and I know that some of these folks are literally keeping the Feast of Booths in booths, intense, as perhaps even a few of you might be. I think most of you are probably in a little more sturdy, temporary dwelling. But some of the folks here in other parts of the world, and I mentioned this, and my wife reminded me just before we came over here that I might want to read this. Apparently, there was a shooting at a shopping mall in Kenya, in Nairobi. Now, I don't believe it's close to where any of these sites are, but Nairobi, I'm sure, is where you fly in if you're going to go anywhere into Kenya. So we want to keep people such as this, our brethren in other parts of the world, we want to keep them in mind and be praying about them, be praying for them. I know I was planning to read this, and I was sitting down in my seat a second ago, and I was looking through all of my papers and looking through my sermon notes, and I couldn't find it. And all of a sudden, I found that I placed it in my wife's Bible. We have Bibles that look just like each other, and I placed it in there, and she all of a sudden found a note and said, What's this? What is it? And of course, I'm glad to be able to find that. Well, brethren, we, here in the couple of days that we have begun the feast and are enjoying what it is that the feast pictures, we've really been treated, even as the coordinator there from Kenya mentions, to a great deal of spiritual food. We've been treated with a wonderful banquet. We've been given vision into the kingdom of God and into the righteous rule that's going to come to this world. And I know that all of us are familiar with that. We can repeat that. We could probably very easily say what the Feast of Tabernacles is about. And yet, in a sense, I think we could summarize that by saying the Prince of Peace is going to replace the Prince of the Power of the Air. Right now, this world is influenced by the Prince of the Power of the Air. Right now, we're under the sway of what Satan's influence is. And so I'd like for us to look in Revelation 20, if you will, because this chapter, perhaps more than any other, this chapter of Revelation 20 highlights what's going to happen.

Highlights what's going to happen in the next thousand years after Jesus returns, and actually even beyond that thousand years, into a period of time beyond that.

But here in Revelation 20, we know that this is describing Christ's return and then Satan's banishment or his binding.

And then in verse 4 it says, I saw thrones and those seated on them were given authority to judge. And I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. And they had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark or their foreheads or their hands. And it says they came to life.

Those who had died prior to that time, and we certainly have brethren that we know have died and that we anticipate seeing again, and those of us who might still be alive when Christ returns, we're going to be a part of this grouping as it says they came to life. They were resurrected or they were changed if we were alive, and they reigned with Christ a thousand years.

You know, that's what we are looking forward to. And in verse 6, if we drop down, it says, Blessed and holy are those who share in this first resurrection over the second death. It has no power, and they will be priests of God, priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign for that thousand years. Now, we know that this prediction is what God is going to bring about, and yet we want to think about our training. We've had even some information. Actually, we've had some very good study of the Bible going on here in the last two days, where we've been in services, and we've been going through many scriptures in Isaiah and in other places, even in the writings of Jesus Christ. We have been given a very sound foundation of what's going to happen, but I would like to talk to us today about just how clear our vision is of God preparing us to serve. It's very obvious what we're going to do. We're going to be given responsibility in the kingdom to come.

And I want to enhance, I hope you're understanding today, I want to ask you to think about how clear is that vision about how God is preparing you. How God is preparing me, and how God is preparing you for that thousand year job. We've had that described as a thousand years of work, and that's certainly right. It is a blessing to even look forward to it that way. I want to point out to you, it's very clear, if we look at Matthew 19, that God has been preparing for this coming thousand years, this reign. He's been preparing for this for a long time. I'm sure he's had it in mind a lot longer than any of us would ever imagine. Because in Matthew 19, we'll read just very briefly a couple of verses that will kind of lead into what I want to talk about today. Matthew chapter 19, Jesus is speaking, and he's actually talking to his disciples, and he's saying that he is working with them. Let me see, let's start in verse 27. After Jesus told them about how they were giving up their lives, how they were committed to serving him, it says in verse 27, Peter said, Well, look, what's in this for us? That's a very human response. It says, we've left everything, we've followed you. What then? Where are we going to have? What are we going to have? And Jesus said, Well, truly, I tell you at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And he goes ahead to say, everyone who has left homes and brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers, for my name's sake, will receive a hundred fold and will inherit eternal life. And so here, what I want to point out in this verse, primarily in verse 28, is that the disciples, the twelve disciples that he was talking to and he had actually selected and he was working with and teaching and training, you know, they were being prepared for roles in the kingdom of God. And we also, I want to look at another verse that Jesus made another statement in Luke 13.

Luke 13 says, in verse 27, again, breaking into the thought of what it is Jesus was teaching his disciples, he had in mind that they would be a part of the kingdom of God. And he says in Luke 13, verse 27, that he will say, I don't know where you come from, go away from me, all you evil doers. He was saying, well, who's going to be a part of that kingdom? He says, well, the evil doers will not. He says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, and when you see Isaac, and when you see Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. See, these are scriptures that I know are very familiar to you, and yet when you look at them, what we see is that the disciples, the apostles, the one who would make up the very first part of the New Testament church, you know, they were being cultivated right at that time. They were being cultivated then over the remainder of their lives for the work, for the job that they would have then, but also for the job that they would have in the future. And here it mentions not only the apostles, but Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets. And what we have in mind, or we also, I guess, are familiar with the fact that David, of course, will be the shepherd over all of Israel in the kingdom of God. And I want to focus on the fact that it's my thought that God has prepared these individuals. These are individuals you see in the Old Testament, individuals that we're familiar with and that we read about and that we want to understand. I want to focus on one of these patriarchs today, and I hope help us to be able to see how it is that God prepared the patriarch Job for his job in the kingdom of God. I want to go back and take a look at the book of Job. We can see, and I hope you can identify with the fact that these Old Testament patriarchs and fathers have been prepared and the apostles have been prepared, but how is he preparing you? How is he preparing me? Well, there's some very strong keys that we can learn whenever we look at the life of Job. I want to be able to examine how God allowed Job to suffer over an extended period of time. See, he allowed that, and I think most of us are familiar with what the book of Job is about, and I will rehearse it only briefly. But what we find was that Job, he needed to learn some lessons. That's actually what we find when you read through the book of Job. The book of Job is an interesting book. It's actually a long book. It's a long book when you read it from start to finish, 42 chapters. It can be considered to be somewhat of a confusing book because you've got several different people talking and Job responding. And yet, ultimately, in the end, you can see what the answer is. It's pretty easy to see what the answer is. But I want to point out that God worked with Job through that test, through that trial, through that experience. In some ways, he could have looked at it as just a circumstance that happened in his life. And clearly, he didn't understand what was going on. But I would contend that God very well knew what was going on.

And what God ultimately did was that he prepared Job to serve in the kingdom of God. He prepared Job to have a true heart of service. That's what he prepared him for. That's what he ultimately had. And I hope to be able to show you that this afternoon. Let's go back to the book of Job. I'm not going to read except just excerpts from it, but you're familiar with. I think most of us are familiar with the book of Job and how that, you know, it starts off with, in a sense, Satan talking with God. And yet, what we find in this book is that Job was, in a sense, offered by God. He was offered by God as a blameless and an upright individual. You can read that in the first. I'm not going to take time to read each one of these. I think you all are familiar with what it was that Job, you know, God said, you know, my servant Job is upright. My servant Job is blameless. And yet, did that mean that Job was sinless? Did that mean that Job didn't have sin at all? Well, of course, it didn't mean that. It didn't mean that Job didn't have sin at all. But actually, what it does point out is that God knew that Job was not a finished product. He knew, even though he was an upright individual, he was obedient, he was blameless, from the standpoint of other people looking at him. And actually, he was blameless from the standpoint of Satan looking at him. Satan didn't see anything wrong with Job, because Job identified with some of Satan's attributes more than the attributes that God wanted to cause Job to learn. So what I see in the very beginning of the book of Job is that God knew everything about Job. And what I would like for us, not only to just think about, as far as Job himself, but I would like for us to apply it to ourselves. See, we can analyze what Job said, and we can read that book, and we can feel that we know everything about. Why was it that Job went through some of this suffering? Well, we may not be able to fully answer that if you look at it from just a human standpoint. But you can answer that and say, well, you know, we can understand it if we look at it from God's standpoint. God was preparing Job. He was not a finished product, but he was ultimately.

He didn't initially reflect a true servant's heart, and yet he later certainly came to reflect that heart. Now, we commonly know, if you read the book and certainly read commentaries about the book of Job, that ultimately what the problem was that Job had was self-righteousness. And that he, when you look at the end, you see he ultimately repented, and he came to see God differently than he had before. But what more can we learn regarding God's transforming Job's outlook and attitude? See, ultimately, that's what we find. As upright, as blameless, as obedient as Job was, he didn't have the right attitude. He didn't have the right outlook, and God was going to allow him to have an attitude adjustment. That's really what we find. We find that God was working with Job. He was preparing him for the future. He was preparing him, perhaps even as the example, that we would read and we would reflect on and allow the Word of God then to come into our heart and mind and be able to affect us as individuals.

But what we do learn about Job is ultimately he was righteous in his own eyes. He was righteous all by himself. Now, that's a problem. That's a problem if any of us think that we are just righteous by ourselves. I certainly cannot be or do not wish to think that. I hope you don't want to think that. We want to try to obey, yes, but we're not the one who's going to create our own righteousness.

Certainly, we don't want to be righteous in our own eyes. What we find when you look at Job is that he justified himself in every turn, in every imaginable turn. He justified himself. He made excuse after excuse. He made accusation after accusation. He arrogantly chose to contend with God. That's what he was doing. Job wanted to debate God. Brethren, do we ever find ourselves making excuses or making accusations toward God, or even choosing to argue with the way that God is causing us to grow toward a true servant's heart that he wants for the future?

I know that there are many of us who are struggling or who are suffering in many ways. I'm certainly not going to say that any one of us is going to go through the same thing that Job went through. But there are people here, people I have talked to, and people that I'm concerned about, who are suffering, who are needing our prayers, who need encouragement. And yet, sometimes we have to recognize that we go through that suffering, and we actually grow through that suffering from the standpoint of what God is saying.

Let's take a look here at how it is that Job represented himself. Let's look at Job 7. You go through this book and you see Job's friends coming and comforting him. After he has lost so much, he ultimately would lose his prominence, he would lose his wealth, he would lose his family, and even his health. That's the progression of what happened to Job. And yet, whenever Job saw what had happened to him, he maintained his integrity, he maintained his righteousness. He continued to want to look to God for help, but his attitude needed some adjustment.

Here in Job 7, this is one of the responses that Job gave to his friends, because his friends came and talked to him. Let's just look at, you could say that Job has been called history's most significant sufferer. That's clearly the history that we have. When we read that, we can see that that's pretty much the case. But Job complained about his suffering, and of course you would think he certainly had reason to. He had lost so much.

He had lost virtually everything, ultimately even his health, as he was struggling with his health and trying to get relief. Here in chapter 7, verse 1, it says, Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer?

If you drop down to verse 3, he says, I'm allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise? But the night is long, and I'm full of tossing until dawn. Any of us ever experienced any of that? Anyone have that type of difficulty trying to sleep? I know I have, and I know others of you have told me there have been times when you've labored and struggled with sleep.

This is what, actually in verse 3, Job mentions that this went on. The struggling and suffering that he had endured, or was enduring, went on for months and months. And I think it's good for us to think about that. If we drop on down in chapter 7 to verse 17, Job even asked the question, well, what is God doing? What is God doing with human beings? It says in verse 17, what are human beings that you make so much of them that you set your mind on them, and you visit them every morning, and you test them every moment?

Will you not look away from me for a while? In verse 19, let me alone until I can swallow my spit? He was exasperated. He says in verse 20, if I sin, what do I do to you, O watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target?

Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not simply pardon my sin and take away my iniquity? See, this was Job's pleading with God. He says, I'm suffering. I'm in misery. And again, I know some of us are suffering. And I know that many of us suffer in lesser ways.

I think I could say I suffer in lesser ways with my knees. I can still get around for pretty well, not near as well as I used to be able to. And yet, whenever that acts up, or whenever I am caused to suffer that way, or it is hurting me that way, I'm wondering, is this suffering really a part of God's working with me? Is this important, or is this significant? Actually, what we find is that God had a much greater purpose for Job, and he was wanting Job to be perfected.

Another thing I'd like to point out about Job is that he just had so many defenses. He was a good man. He was an obedient man. He knew the Word and the law of God. He honored that. God said he was upright, but he struggled with that. See, he struggled to hide his human nature. He struggled to hide his deceitful heart. See, you don't see Job really talking about that at all. What you see Job talking about is a defense. He wanted to defend his rightness. He wanted to make excuses all the time.

Actually, I guess you could say he had more excuses than a D.C. politician. That would be quite a few. You watch television and you can see that it's difficult for people to talk out of Washington without making accusations toward one another. Let's go over to chapter 9. Chapter 9 in Job. Again, you read Job's responses here through several different areas as we go through the remainder of the book. What we find is that he couldn't understand what was going on.

He couldn't understand, God has been so good to me. God has been, He has blessed me. I've tried to obey and He has blessed me. Certainly, that would be similar to what many of us could say, that we have tried to obey God and God has blessed us. He has helped us.

But see, Job began to think about that and he says, everything is now wrong and I am suffering and I have had everything taken away from me. But he still wanted to defend his rightness. Let's look in chapter 9, verse 14. Chapter 9, verse 14. How then could I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accusers. See, this was Job's defense. If we drop on down to verse 20, he says, Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. He says, I'm blameless. I don't know myself. I loathe my life. See, Job had a lot of excuses. He had a lot of defense for his life. And I hope that we can think about. Let's go on over to verse 33 of this same chapter. Verse 33 says, There is no umpire between us. He said, between God and Job. He says, There is no umpire between us who might lay his hand on us both and be able to reason with each other. See, this is what Job was pleading for. This is what he wanted. If we go over to chapter 10, in verse 1, he says, I loathe my life and I will give free utterance to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. And down in verse 7, he says, Although you know that I am not guilty, there is no one to deliver me out of your hand. See, Job again made excuse after excuse and made a defense. In chapter 12, verse 3, chapter 12, he actually starts talking about how he was perceived by other people. He's talking about how he sees others looking at him. He says, I have, in verse 3 of chapter 12, I have understood as well as you. I'm not inferior to you. He was talking to his friends. Who does not know such things as these? I am a laughingstock to my friends. I, who called upon God and who was answered by God, I just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock. Again, what was going on in Job's mind? What was he thinking about? Well, he was thinking about himself. He was thinking about what he had lost. He was thinking about he was hurting. He was thinking about he didn't have his prominence. Others were laughing at him. If we go into chapter 13, here in verse 3, he says, I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to argue my case with God.

See, he was so filled with his own self-image, with his own human nature, he was so filled with an obsession with defending himself and accusing others that he couldn't see himself at all.

In chapter 13, verse 15, he says, See, he would kill me. I have no hope, but I will defend my ways to his face. See, he was willing to talk to God in what you would say is a very disrespectful manner, and he was arguing with God.

He says in verse 18, I have indeed prepared my case. I know that I would be vindicated. Job said, if I can just argue with God, if I can just get in a discussion with God, I will win! I will be right. He continued to want to maintain that rightness.

Let's go on to chapter 23. Again, you see, interspersed throughout this book, the friends making an attempt to comfort Job or to tell him why he's wrong or how he's wrong, and Job continues to maintain his whole, whole righteousness, and he continues to say God is not fair. He continues to claim that God is not treating him right. And sometimes, brethren, we can think that as well whenever we suffer, whenever we go through what might even be lesser things, but some things might seem to be very similar to Job. And yet we don't want to be that way toward God. Here in Job chapter 23, Job answered and said, Starting in verse 1, Now, it's not, Mr. Haddish-Haudish-Shall mentioned the humble attitude, the humble spirit that we need to seek. Now, whenever you read what Job had to say and what he had to say directly to God, it's very shameful. It's very disrespectful. It says there in verse 7, See, Job's problem was pretty extreme. He was filled with himself. Even though God did say he's upright and blameless, he was perhaps saying that from the standpoint of other people looking at him. They respected him. They, and God knew that he was obedient, but Job still had a lot to learn. Job was not a finished product. Now, he was ultimately going to improve. And if we look in chapter 27, now let's continue to see a little more of Job's attitude. In chapter 27, this is actually somewhat of a final discourse that we find Job making. Chapter 27, 28, 29, all the way up to chapter 31, you see a discussion where Job is finally getting to a conclusion of his defense. And yet here in chapter 27, it says in verse 2, chapter 27, verse 2, See, can we identify with that at all, brethren? See, I know we're reading this about Job. We're reading about what he had to say. But it's far more important for us to identify with that type of defense, because too often we defend our own rightness. We defend our own way instead of simply acknowledging, as Job is ultimately going to do, that, well, I need to simply yield to God.

In chapter 29, you see Job again mentioning that he's not being respected by others. And let me go on to chapter 31, because actually you see in a shift here, chapter 31 to me, and this chapter when you read through it, it has a number of different references to Job actually starting to soften up a little bit. Up to this point, he had been defending himself. He had been promoting himself. He had been arguing with God. He had been claiming that he was right and that he was righteous and that God didn't have the prerogative to do anything else with him.

And yet here in chapter 31, it's almost like, you know, he's almost starting to think something is not right. Something is not right. Something's wrong here. And I would say you could describe that as he was stewing in his own pew. That was what he was doing. He was sitting there and he was upset and he was disturbed and he was suffering, and yet he was resisting what God was wanting to do in his life. Like I said, God knew what Job needed. God knew what he would prepare him for in the future.

And here in chapter 31, you see the entire chapter where it looks like Job is starting to doubt himself. He's starting to think, well, because you see a number of different places, where he starts using the word, if, in verse 15. If I have walked with falsehood and my foot is hurried to deceit, then let me be weighed in a balance.

He says in verse 7, if my step has turned aside from the way, in verse 9, if my heart has been enticed by a woman and I have laid in wait at my neighbor's door, and down in verse 13, if I have rejected the cause of my servants, my male and female servants, down in verse 16, if I have withheld anything from the poor that they desire, in verse 19, if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, if I have raised my hand, in verse 21, against the orphan, verse 24, if I have made gold my trust, or cold, find gold my confidence, in verse 25, if I have rejoiced because my wealth was greater, because my hand has gotten much.

See, all through this entire chapter, you find Job beginning to think something is wrong. I probably ought to see myself better than I do. And actually, again, you see him in his closing statements here, starting in about verse 35. He still is arguing. He's still contending and debating with God. He says in verse 35, Oh, that I had won to hear me. Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me. Oh, that I had an indictment written by my adversary.

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder. I would bind it on me like a crown. I would give him an account of my steps, and like an apprentice, I would approach him. See, his attitude toward God was still one of defiance, still one of defense. He says, I'm righteous. I'm right. And I want to continue to argue with God. But as I mentioned to you, what we find in this book is that God was bringing about an attitude adjustment in Job. That was remarkable.

Now, I know that most of you know that starting in chapter 38, you see, after Eli who had been sent to talk to Job, and he actually made some very, very strong statements to Job, that Job started to pay attention to. But in chapter 38, you start seeing God. God, who well knew what Job was like, he not only knew what Job looked like, he knew what Job's heart was like. He knew that Job did not have a servant's heart. He was obedient, yes, but he needed to have a reliance on God.

He needed to have a dependence upon God. He needed to have a yieldedness to God that you start seeing, you start seeing when you read chapter 38, verse 1, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. And he said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

See, here God, for several chapters, is going to impress upon Job that he really doesn't know what he's talking about. He really is not seeing his nature. He's not identifying what it is that he needs to get rid of. And of course, I know, I believe that it's God who is working with him and shaping him and molding him so that he's going to be a true servant in the kingdom. And yet again, it's not just about Job. It's about all of us, because we know we've been called to learn some of those same lessons. Perhaps we've been called to learn the same lessons.

Actually, what we find here, and I love to read chapter 37, because it's almost like Elihu is talking to Job, and then this big storm, this big storm, it's like a tornado is whirling behind him, and he's watching that tornado come closer and closer. Of course, some of you are from the Oklahoma area. I know you've had a tornado over in Moore here in the past year. You've had tornadoes over in Joplin, not very far from here.

We've had tornadoes right here in Branson. And they are unbelievably impressive, powerful storms. And yet this is what was approaching Job, and amazingly Job is going to start seeing himself. He starts seeing himself much better. And actually, what I want us to see is that God helped him. God helped him see himself and to see what he really needed. And so I want to point out what it is.

There are four things here, four things that I'll mention that Job came to see. We see these scattered in a couple of different places. But here in chapter 42, which is the end of the chapter, what is it that we see that God showed Job that he needed? Chapter 42, you see Job answering in verse 1.

He says, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And he says, Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Here I will speak and I will question you, and you declare to me. He brought up the questions that God had brought to him. And in verse 5, verse 5 is perhaps a most revealing, verse 5 and 6, a most revealing statement.

Job says, I have heard of you. I have heard of God by the hearing of the ear. But now my eye sees you. See, what was Job really saying? See, Job was a servant of God. God said he was. He was blameless and upright. He was obedient.

But he really didn't know God. He knew about God. And see, brethren, that's something that we want to think about. We want to truly have an appreciation. We want to see how badly we need God. That's really what Job came to see. He saw, even though he was righteous and even though he had been blessed, it was because of God's blessing that he could even be that way. And so what we find is that Job had come to truly see that he needed God.

And see, we have to think about that ourselves. We have to think about how much we need God. It's too easy to be distracted. The prince of the power of the air that we know influences this entire world and does affect and influence us. We can get so sidetracked, and we can, as we've already had described in sermons here at the feast, there's so much noise out there. It just distracts us from being able to see how much we truly need God. And of course, what we find here in Job's revealing that, well, I've heard about God, but now I really see God, or I really know God.

And that's certainly what all of us have to think about as far as our own selves are concerned. So the first thing, in spite of his goodness, Job came to see that he needed God. The second thing is revealed more so in just how it is that he looked at himself.

He came to see that his own human limitations when he ultimately compared himself to God instead of to other people. See, Job felt righteous because he compared himself with others. He had been blessed, he had been honored, he had been respected, he had a great deal of wealth, he had a huge family, and yet that family had been taken away.

And he was suffering in his own health, and yet he came to see his own human limitations compared to God, not compared to others. Let's back up to chapter 38. In verse 4, Job is asked by God, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Chapter 38, verse 4, Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding, who determines its measurement? Surely you know. See, this is what God was showing Job, that well, when you compare yourself to others, well, then you don't really see yourself.

You don't really see yourself. You need to compare yourself to the one who created you. You need to have an understanding that, well, you are to be in a yieldedness to the one who created you. And so ultimately, you see here in chapter 40, in the middle of this discourse, the Job finally realizes, I just need to be quiet.

I've already said too much. In verse 3, Job answered, chapter 40, verse 3, Job answered the Lord and said, See, I am of small account. What should I answer? I'm going to lay my hand on my mouth.

He says, I'm just totally going to shut up, because I don't, all of the speaking, all of the talking that I have done, has simply been to defend myself. Simply been to hide my nature. See, that's what he wanted to do. He didn't want to be viewed in a negative light in any way.

And yet God showed him that, well, no, I want you to acknowledge me as the Creator. See, this was a very important lesson for Job to learn. One that is extremely important for all of us. What Job ultimately came to see was that he didn't just know about God. He really saw God as his Creator.

And he realized that he was simply created out of dust. I'm created out of dust. I've been given the breath of life from the Creator God, and I need to see my need for Him. I need to see my human limitations. And I need, as he says over here in chapter 42, verse 6, he says, I have come to where I repent. I fully repent because I see myself so much better. I repent because I see that I am simply dust and ashes. That's what he was coming to see. He was coming to see that. And brethren, again, it's not enough just to think that about Job. It has to be that we apply that to ourselves. And ultimately, I guess you could say, whenever Job is saying, I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I despise myself and I repent in dust and ashes.

See, what is that? That's actually Job waving the white flag of surrender. See, he had come to a point where he was at his wit's end. He didn't know where else to turn, except he had to turn to the one who had created him. He says, I really want to just simply worship my Creator. And actually, I want you to, the final section here, this fourth point. The first one was that he saw his need for God. The second one, he saw his human limitation. The third one, he chose to repent. See, he chose to yield. He chose to wave the white flag. He chose to be yielded to the Father. And actually, the fourth thing that I want to point out is revealed in chapter 33. And I'm not going to spend a lot of time even reading this, because I know we don't have a lot of time to go over it, but I want to briefly read it, because chapter 33 is when Elihu came to Job, and he told Job, what you really need to see, Job, is that you need to be ransomed, and that you need a Redeemer. And brethren, every one of us falls into that same category. We want to yield to the King, and we look forward to the King who is coming, the Prince of Peace.

We want to yield to Jesus Christ, but we want to truly understand our need for a Redeemer without that. See, Job was living in his own little world. He was satisfied with what he was doing, and yet God allowed him to suffer a great deal and to endure a lot so that he would remember some very simple things. Throughout chapter 33, actually starting in verse 14, let's read part of this. Chapter 33, verse 14, Elihu tells him that God speaks in one way or another, though people might not even perceive it, and he mentions a dream or a vision.

And he says, he opens their ears and maybe terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn them aside from their deeds and that he may keep them from pride. See, this was not what Job was used to. Job was used to things going very well, going very, very well in his life. And yet what Elihu told him was that God can work with people.

He says in verse 19, he said, they may be chasing with pain upon their bed and with continual strife in their bones so that their lives loathe bread in their appetites, dainty food. Their flesh is so wasted away it cannot be seen. Their bones, once visible, now stick out. They feel like they're almost about to die. See, now I know, as all of us age, we know we're getting closer and closer to death or the return of Jesus Christ, one or the other.

But Elihu was telling Job that God works with people in a lot of ways, and he does allow and often just let suffering occur. But he answers this in verse 23, where he says, I think, brethren, this is a reference to being ransomed by Jesus Christ, by the grace that He extends to us.

He's the only one who can make us righteous, the only one that can make us have a true servant's heart. And he goes on in verse 26 to say, he prays to God, and he is accepted by God, and he comes into his presence with joy, and God repays him for his righteousness, and that person sings to others.

And what does he say? See, this is a totally different tune than what Job had been lamenting throughout his suffering. He says, in verse 27, God can bring people to see they need a Redeemer, and that person will come to say, I have sinned, and I perverted what was right, and yet it was not paid back to me.

I didn't get what I deserved, even as none of us are getting what we deserve. We are offered eternal life. We are offered inheritance. He says, he has redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and my life now sees the light. See, this is a reference to fully coming to know God, fully coming to know the Father, fully coming to know the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. And whenever this occurred in Job's life, whenever God worked with him to prepare his heart, well, then he was a different man. He had surrendered his life to God. He began to be appreciative of his Redeemer.

He was no longer righteous in his own eyes. He was no longer trying to justify himself. He simply wanted to be subject to his Creator, and he no longer wanted to contend with God, and he certainly was no longer demanding answers from God. He just wanted to be restored. He wanted to be yielded. And I hope, brethren, that we can see that that yieldedness to God, that surrender, the waving of the white flag before God, is what's going to enable us to look to God, to provide the righteousness that we all need that comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

We read that in the New Testament. We read that in the references that Paul gives, that the righteousness that he wants us to seek is beyond ourselves. It's beyond what I can do. It has to come from a communion with God, an appreciation for Jesus Christ that is unprecedented. And I think that we are going to continue to grow in that as we continue to live our lives and continue to look forward to the Kingdom, continue to look forward to serving in the Kingdom of God. I'd like for us to look as we wrap this up here in chapter 42.

What happened after God had worked with Job to help him see that he needed to be ransom? He wasn't good enough on his own. He needed the Redeemer.

What we find as you read in chapter 42, verse 7, the Lord spoke these words to Job, and he said to Eliphaz, one of his friends, My wrath is kindled against Eliphaz, and against his two friends, For you have not spoken to me like my servant Job has. Now therefore, he talks about an offering, and he says, I want you to give that offering, and he told the friends, Eliphaz, and I want you to give that offering, and he says, My servant Job that I have now caused to see his need for me.

Now he's come to see how much his nature is so defective, and so much in need of revision. He says, I want you to go to my servant Job, and he will pray for you. God goes ahead to say, I will accept his prayer, not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken to me what is right as my servant Job has done.

And so Eliphaz did. He and Bill, Dad, and Zophar, they did what God told them, and it says, The Lord accepted Job's prayer. See, Job had done a lot of right things, but he ultimately needed, he needed to be accepted by God. He needed to be able to relate to the Father through the Redeemer. He needed to be able to enjoy a close and intimate relationship, and he didn't need to defend himself anymore. And that, of course, was a huge transition that took place in the life of Job. So as we think about that, I hope that you can consider, how is God preparing your heart?

How is God preparing your heart and mind to serve others selflessly in the kingdom of God? He did that for Job. And sometimes you can think about, well, it doesn't look like that was very fair. Well, surely it was fair in that God knew exactly what Job needed, and God gave him what he needed. And suffering, as we think about our own hearts and minds, suffering can have a lot more meaning than we may have ever imagined. So trials and suffering, even tests or trials, we might say, sometimes it's just circumstances in our lives. You know, may be allowed in order to help us to see the need to draw closer and closer to God, to see the need to truly know God and to know Jesus Christ of us.

I hope each and every one of us can identify with what Job was taught. He was prepared for the kingdom. God did that. It wasn't just something he did. God did that. And I hope that we can see that God is also working with us. And certainly we can be very thankful that God has a purpose and plan in developing his family, and that he is working with us to be a part of that. I'll conclude with one other verse here if we look back in the book of Revelation.

As I've talked about how it is that Job ultimately came to see himself and to see God in a much different light. He came to see that he needed to be ransomed and that he needed a redeemer. He needed a redeemer to restore him and to cause him to be gracious.

That's what chapter 33 is about. As we think about how God taught Job that, I think it's interesting to see what we find in Revelation 5. Because here in Revelation 5 you see a description of the scroll that's going to be opened by the Lamb. And of course it's written, you can read through this, starting in verse 6, I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a lamb, standing as it has been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes that are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And it says in verse 8, when they had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of saints, and they sing this marvelous song. So here in this majestic setting before the throne of God, the angelic beings are envisioned by John of singing about something that's really important, something that is really significant about how it is that God prepares people's hearts to be true servants. Ultimately, that's what Job was caused to do.

He was allowed to serve his friends. He was allowed to serve his family. He was allowed to serve others for, it says, he was allowed to serve another 140 years. And I would say that, I don't know for sure, but Job may have been 40, he may have been 60, he had 10 kids, so it would have taken a while to have that. But the individuals who he was kind of living in the same time frame usually lived from about 175 to 200 years.

And so it says he lived another 140 years. God got his attention. God humbled his heart. And then God caused him to appreciate the Redeemer. This song, of course, is a song that we want to think is about us. We want to think it's about God working in our lives and transforming our hearts and our minds so that we're able to truly honor God. So it says they sing a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered, and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation, and then you have made them to be a kingdom of priests serving our God, and they're going to reign on earth.

Brethren, that's you and me. Learning from what it was that Job was taught, but also what it is that we are taught about how much we appreciate the ransom and how much we want to thank the Redeemer for the preparation that he and his father are doing in our lives as we look forward to the kingdom we hope that is coming just as soon as it possibly can. And so if we fully understand what God did with Job, I think we will pray even more fervently, and with more zeal, with more enthusiasm, we will pray and we can easily say, as we say in our telecast, every time when we close it, we can truly pray, thy kingdom come.