What if Job Happened to Us?

I was talking about the book of Job, and locally we've been looking at the book of Job and talking about it. And you have some study sheets, more coming out that I hope are helping you to look more in-depth into the book of Job. We look at the story of Job, as I said before, and we all know the story. Our young children know the story of Job. It's a beautiful story when you really look at it. But there's so much more because really when you get into it, the book of Job is about me and it's about you. It's our lives that are there.

And if I titled this sermon anything, it would probably be, what if Job, what if what happened to Job happened to us? What would we do? The book of Job is written there as an example of someone who was just right with God. He was blameless. He was upright. You could find no fault in Him.

God said absolutely nothing about Job that would be negative. And yet He had horrendous things happen to Him that were unexplainable. And the story of Job teaches us so, so, so many lessons. Some of the questions that were on there, I'm going to answer. You can end the sermon today. Not all of them, but some of them. The book of Job is about a man, and no one really knows exactly what the origin of the book of Job is.

No one knows exactly when the book of Job was written. No one knows who wrote it. We can surmise some things from the book and looking at the history of it. But we know that Job was in the land of Uz.

And we have some clues as to where the land of Uz was. And that kind of rhymes, doesn't it? Kind of like the land of Uz was. We know that it was east, and it turns out it was east of Egypt. You remember when Job was going through his trials? The Chaldeans came in. The Savians came in. And we know where the Chaldeans and Savians were, so it helps us to kind of time where the story of Job took place.

It was sometime after the flood, maybe during the time of Moses. If you remember when Moses was in Egypt and he fled from Pharaoh because he understood the truth and he understood who he was. And he wasn't going to run from who he was. He was going to run toward it. He went to the east of Egypt, and he went to the land of Midian. And you remember who he met in Midian, right? It was Jethro that was out there in Midian. And Jethro was a man of God. Moses learned the way of life from Jethro. And he was perhaps a Gentile.

We believe that Job was probably a Gentile. But Job was in that area as well. When you look at the map and you see where the Savians are and the Chaldeans were. And I have a map here that I didn't bother putting up for PowerPoint. If you want to look at it, it will be at my desk, no, my seat after services. But where the land of ours was, it's east of Egypt. And the Savians and the Chaldeans were in that land, very close to where Moses was.

So it could be, as we try to fill in the blanks, that Moses, when he was with Jethro, heard the story of Job. It's a real story. It's not a fabrication. It's not something that someone invented. Sometimes the facts of all of it, the people in the world will say, it's just a good fabrication story. It could never have happened to someone. It really did happen. But it could be that Moses was alive at that time. And in that land there was the man of Job, who, like Jethro, was living a life that he devoted to God.

God opened his mind. He was following God. He was implicit, and he was explicit in his obedience to God. Moses heard it, and Moses could have been the one to write Job. I believe at ABC we say Job is the one who wrote Job, but no one knows for absolutely sure. But if we look at all the facts that are there, it could well be that he was alive at the time of Moses, or Moses heard of the story of Job, because it would be a fascinating story, wouldn't it?

If it was one of us who that went through, and then we saw the end result of what happened to Job in his life, there would be a story to be told about it. How Job handled things, what eventually happened to Job, and how it all turned out right, and what God revealed in Job through a severe trial. So it would have been a notable story, and one that was recorded, and one that's recorded for us as well. Job, it says in Job 1, verse 3, it says, he is well known throughout the East.

He was a man whose name you recognize. He was a very successful man. He was the wealthiest man in the East.

He was, I don't know if he was a celebrity, but he was certainly noteworthy. You know, today we might compare him to someone like Bill Gates. Everyone's heard of Bill Gates, right? A very successful man, wealthy people stand up and listen when Bill Gates talks. He might have been like Warren Buffett, who is a master of the stock market and has made billions in that area. He could be even someone like Donald Trump, who has made his name in business, and people pay attention to what he's doing. He was a man of renown, and he was well known out there. So what happened to him was very visible, very visible, and very, very much in public view of what was going on. Let's go back to Job later on in the book, back in Job 29, and get a picture of what his life was like, who he was, and the station that he had in life, because it's notable what Job, who Job was.

In Job 29, and in verse 7, Job is talking about himself, and we might get the sense that Job is bragging about himself, or maybe a little full of what he's doing, but he's just simply giving facts. We have to realize that when we read through Job, he's doing some self-examination of himself. He's trying to figure out what went on. What did I do wrong? Look at the life I had, and look where I am now. In Job 29, verse 7, he talks about things that are factual, you know, in his life. He says, When I went out to the gate by the city, when I took my seat in the open square, the young men saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood. He was someone to take note of. When he was around, people took notice. He says they had that about Merrill Lynch, right? When Merrill Lynch talks, someone listens. The young men saw me and hid, and the aged arose and stood. The princes refrained from talking, and put their hands on their mouths.

The voice of nobles was hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

Quite a guy. There was something about this, Job. Down in verse 21, men listened to me and waited and kept silence from my counsel. After my words, they didn't speak again, and my speech settled on them as do.

They waited for them. They waited for me, as for the rain. And they opened their mouths wide, as for the spring rain. Job just tell us what's going on. Job will have the answer. Job had wisdom. Job lived life. Job was successful in what he did. He learned the lessons of life, and he was able to pass that on to others. And when he spoke, people took notice. They could count on his counsel. If I mocked at them, verse 24, they didn't believe it. And the life of my countenance, they did not cast down.

I chose the way for them, and sat as chief. So I dwelt as a king in the army, as one who comforts mourners.

Job wasn't your average citizen. Job was seen as the leader of that area. Job was well-respected. He, and he could point at his success.

He could point at everything that he had done, and he could point to his life as well.

He wasn't just a man who was wealthy, like Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates, or Donald Trump. He had something to back it up as well. He could point to his success and what he had accomplished in life, and say, I've done this. But he also had the spiritual side as well.

We go back to chapter 1 of Job, verse 3. I don't want to go over. See verse 1. Job 1, verse 1.

There was a man in the land of Uz, in that area east of Egypt, whose name was Job. And that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.

Three times God says that about Job. Three times he's blameless, he's upright, he shuns evil, he fears God.

That should be something that our goal should be, that God would say about us one day.

I don't believe for a second that I'm where Job was in Job 1-1, but I hope that one day, as I yield to God and as God's Spirit is in me, that maybe God would say that about me.

I hope that you hope that that would define you one day. Blameless, upright, shuns evil, fears God.

That's something that God would want in all of us. And something that is very noble, even back in Psalm, Psalm 37, David talks about those qualities.

Psalm 37.

And verse 27.

Wrong book. Psalm 37.

Verse 27.

Depart from evil.

That is, shuns evil. Paul tells us, flee sin, flee fornication, go away from it, don't run toward it, don't tolerate it. Just depart from it. Leave it behind.

Depart from evil and do good and dwell forevermore.

37.

27. Now let's look down to verse 37.

Mark. Mark the blameless man.

You know what blameless means? It is someone who fears God or someone who lives God's way of life.

Doesn't mean he's perfect. Doesn't mean he never sins. None of us ever sinned.

But he was living his life in a way that God would say is blameless. Look at the direction, look at his pattern, look at where his heart is, look at what he wants to do.

And when he doesn't, he's blameless. And that's what God wants of us. He knows that we're not perfect, but he does want to see where our heart is and that we want to do well.

Mark the blameless man, it says in verse 37.

And observe the upright, those who choose to do what's right, those who choose to do what is good. Constantly, pattern in their life. For the future of that man is peace. The future of that man is peace.

All of us want peace, right? We want peace of mind, we want peace in our lives.

Be blameless. Be upright. Shown evil. Fear God. That's the way to the things that you want, that I want, that people should want, that people of God should be seeking those things just like Job did.

Now we'll go back to Job. Let's see what Job was like. We again look at his words.

We can kind of see what kind of man he was. When God says he's blameless and upright, he shuns evil, he fears God.

We have a picture of Job back in chapter 19.

Chapter 19 and verse 25 of Job.

I want to begin in verse 23. But before I read verse 23, I've gotten ahead of myself a little bit, I see.

When we are blameless, when we are upright, when we are following God's way, you know what God tells us, what he promises us, and what you and I know?

He reveals his plan to us, doesn't he? We know what life is about. We know what the plan of God is. We know what our future is.

We see what's going on in the world. We identify with it. We can read the words of prophecy. We can see the trends that are developing.

God opens our minds more and more to what is going on. Job walked with God. Look at these words in Job 19 to see how God opened his mind.

Even here in the book of Job, he knew what his future was. He knew what the plan of God was.

Even back here in the Old Testament, Job 19 verse 23, he says, Oh, that my words were written. Oh, that they were inscribed in a book. And indeed, they are here for us.

That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead forever. For I know that my Redeemer lives.

I know that I have a Savior. I know that there is a Redeemer who will come. I know he lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth.

And after my skin is destroyed, after my skin is off of my body, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself.

And my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart yearns within me.

Job knew that there was a Redeemer coming back to earth. He knew that there was a Messiah coming.

He knew that he would die. He knew that he would live again. He was looking forward to that day, the same thing you and I would be looking forward to.

Or should be looking forward to. The return of Jesus Christ, and that our lives and this life aren't just what the mortal holds, but beyond that.

And that's when our hope lies. And that's what we look to, to the time that Jesus Christ returns.

The same truth that God chose us back here in Job, that he understood, and that God opened his mind to understand.

Back in chapter 14 of Job, a couple verses that we usually read at funerals, to show that the plan of God from before the foundation of the earth has stood in place.

It's not something that we've just devised, and not something that has just come up, but something that God put in place well before, and He revealed it to Job as well. Job 14 and verse 13. Here Job is, as Mr. Stevens was saying, he'd still be wailing the fact of what he's going through, and he just as wishes he could die.

He knows there's peace in the grave. He's not worried about going to heaven or hell. He knows that when he goes to the grave, it's just peace.

Verse 13, he says, Oh, that you would hide me in the grave, that you would conceal me until your wrath is passed.

He's tired of what he's going through. He just wants to be at rest. That you would appoint me a set time and remember me.

That I'll die, but don't forget me, God. Don't forget that I am here.

Verse 14, we read in the funerals, If a man dies, shall he live again?

The answer is yes. All the days of my hard service, I will wait, Job says, till my change comes.

I'll wait until the resurrection. I'll wait until I'm no longer flesh, until I can be resurrected in the body that you will give me, an immortal body.

Till my change comes, you will call, and I will answer you. You will desire, or you shall desire, the work of your hands.

You'll call, just as Jesus Christ says, there is coming a day when He will say, Come forth from the graves, and those who are dead will rise again.

And Job said, I will come and die, and I will hear your call, and I will answer you. There is coming a day when you will want to see me again, and the work that you have done in my life, the perfection, and the progress, and the development that you have made in me will live again.

And I'll serve you. We would add to that in the way that God wants us served.

Job knew those things. Job was a successful man on earth. Job was righteous in God's eyes. Job knew the future.

God revealed those to him, just like He revealed those to us.

But Job went through a lot. Job went through a lot for someone who God never, or at least in the early chapters, never says anything negative about.

As Mr. Stevens said, he had to find himself wondering, what did I do to deserve this?

How could one day I literally be the king of the earth, and by the end of that day have every single thing wiped out?

Now, if that happened to us, wouldn't it make us stop and wonder?

How would we respond if that happened to us?

If just one of the things that happened to Job happened to us, much less all the four in chapter 1, and then the sickness and the health problems that he had in chapter 2, if just one of those things happened to us.

If we found ourselves, our business, totally destroyed, not because of anything we did.

But, you know, as it were, when you look in Job, Job won there by terrorism.

It could happen to any of us, right? We could have a business, and anyone could come in. We could have thieves come in. We could have any source of things happen to us, and our business would be destroyed.

We lived a world of terrorism. That's kind of what Job experienced there. Bands came in. They raided them. They killed his servants. Everything was gone.

It could happen to you and me, just like it happened to Job.

One day his children were all assembled in their homes. Happy, feasting, enjoying themselves, and a great wind came by and leveled the house, and they died.

Happy family that Job was always involved with and always cared for, and that he trained and taught the way of God to, and then one day they were just wiped out.

It could happen to you and me. May that hurricane come through not too long ago in Florida. Could have another one come through. A great wind come by, and our home wiped out, and everyone in it dead.

What would we do? How would we react? How did Job react? Would we react like him, or would we say, obviously God?

Well, would we say, is God no longer with me? Is there even a God? Or would we do some of the things that Job did? Because Job went back and he began to look into himself. What did I do? I followed God. I've obeyed him. Everything he asked me to do, I did.

He even sacrificed for his children when they were having feasts, that he was so afraid that maybe they would do something, that they would depart from God, that he sacrificed and looked at them to do those things, and to make maybe amends for them in a way that parents can't really do when they get older. What would we do?

It's kind of amazing when you look at the end of chapter 1, and after all four of those things happened, when God gave Satan the power and said, Go ahead, Satan. Go ahead and do it. Wipe out his business, wipe out his flocks, wipe out his family, wipe out everything. Take it all away from him. Let's see what Job does.

Because Satan challenged him, and God allowed that challenge to happen. And Job, at the end of chapter 1, does an amazing thing.

He doesn't curse God. He doesn't say, I give up. He doesn't say, I'm no longer going to follow God. He gets on his knees, and he worships God. Worships him.

I have to ask myself, is that what I would do at the end of that day? I hope it would be.

Well, as the book goes on, as the story goes on, Job does what any of us would do. And he begins to look at himself, just like we might look at our lives.

And as we get closer to Passover, we'll be talking more about examining ourselves, looking at our lives, looking at it through the eyes of the Bible, if you will.

Examining what we do, how we do, where our hearts are, and using the pages of the Bible to do that. And Job does the same thing.

Back in chapter 31, he begins to look, piece by piece, at his life. And he gives us, in the process, a very good model of self-examination.

Something that we can use. And if we were going to list-bound the list, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. And we could probably add some to it as well.

But Job has a pretty complete list here of what he's doing. Let's read through some of what he said. Again, what he's doing.

You know, some people would say, Job's kind of like saying, hey, I'm a good guy. I've done all these things and whatever. But I don't think so. I think Job is really, really looking at himself honestly. What did I do to deserve this? Is there something in my life that I can look at and say, I didn't handle that right and that's why God exacted this punishment on me? Chapter 31 of Job, verse 1. Just look at what he says here. And we can apply these to ourselves because we are humans just like Job was.

We serve the same God Job did. We obey the same law God did. We have the same flesh that Job did.

Verse 1, he says, I've made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman?

I've made a covenant with my eyes that I'm not going to commit adultery in that way. I'm not going to look on a young woman, as Christ said, the lust after her because he understood that even when you lust in your heart, it's still breaking the commandment. And he said, I've made a covenant with my eyes. I'm not going to do that. I've made a covenant with my eyes. Why would I look upon a young woman? And you can see the process. Have I done that? Did I do that? Is that maybe the thing that I've done and slipped up? And he's looking through his life, saying, are those occasions there? For what is the allotment of God from above and the importance of the Almighty from on high? Isn't it the destruction for the wicked? Isn't it the wicked he destroys? Not the upright, not the blameless, not those who shun evil, not those who fear God. Isn't destruction for the wicked and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Isn't that only happened to them?

Does he not see my ways and count my steps? Really? How did this happen to me? If I have walked with falsehood or if my foot has hastened to deceit, if I have lied to people, if I've been deceitful, if I've tried to mislead someone in some way, look at my words. Have I done that? If I've done that, he could suddenly be weighed on honest scales that God may know my integrity. I've tried to live my life along those lines.

If I step was turned from the way or my heart walked after my eyes or if any spot adheres to my hands, then let me sow in another eat. Yet, my heart, yes, let my harvest be rooted out. If I've turned from God in some way, if I've gotten lax, if I've gotten complacent, if I've gotten apathetic in the way that I live my life, if I've kind of turned away from Him and I've kind of blinded myself and fooled myself, that I think I'm really obeying God but really have departed from the way, if that's happened, He's saying, I get it. If my heart has walked after my eyes, if I've succumbed to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, if I've done that, I got it. If there is any spot on me, God wants us to be without spot, without wrinkle. If there's any spot on me, I get it. Then let me sow in another eat. Yes, let my harvest be rooted out. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, we can harken back to Proverbs 5 and 6 where Solomon tells his son, don't be enticed by that. Don't walk down that path. When you see what's happening, turn the other way. Don't go for it. Go away from it. Turn. Shun from it. Job is saying, if I've done that or if I've worked at my neighbor's door, then I can understand it. Then, fine, let my wife grind for another and let others bow down over her. For that would be wickedness. Yes, it would be iniquity deserving of judgment. For that would be a fire that consumes the destruction and would rot out all my increase. If I've done those things, he's saying, and you can almost hear him say, if I've done those things and he's surveying his life, looking for him, what did I do? There's got to be a reason. The same thing I would do if it happened to me. The same thing you would do if it happened to you. What's going on? How did this happen? It doesn't seem that way. It shouldn't be this way in our eyes. Let's drop down to verse 24. If I have made gold, my hope. If I'm trusting in my wealth, my pocketbook, the stock market, the economy, or some other thing, if that's what I've made for God, if I find a life, if I can get away from me and God sees that I'm trusting in that more, then, if I take gold, my hope, if I said that I'm gold, you're my confidence. If I rejoice in my wealth with grace, and because my sense has gained much, and I'm putting my fucking back in an epic desert and thinking, I did all this by myself, this is what we have done, rather than realizing God's goodness, being able to hear what he has done. The good that God has done, what he's done, what he's done, moving his darkness, a heart that's been split in types, you might not have seen it in. If I just don't think I'm a father, I want to worship. If I just have those thoughts, a father that's made me feel like I'm a suppressor, that's the way that God is supposed to be. So, that's it.

Thank you.

I thought I was speaking wrong words. Okay, where was I? Verse 29, right? If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, if my heart has had an enemy, and I saw him get his business face, if I've seen him rent her into some hard times, and secretly I thought, he deserves it. This is good. I'm happy at what's happened to him. Because Job's realized that's not even part of being a Christian.

That's not what we do. We don't rejoice at another's calamity. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him, like, ah, look what happened to him. I must be so much better than him because that would never happen to me. He must be an evil man. He must have done something wrong. You can see Job going through the checklist here.

A checklist that you and I can go through just as well as Job did. Not just because calamity hit us, not just because these traumatic events hit us that hit Job, but because we examine ourselves to become ever more like God in the standard that he sets for us. If I've done these things, and it says in verse 30, indeed I haven't allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse on his soul.

I don't recall doing that. As I look back through my life, I don't think that I've done that. I don't know that I've done that. I can't remember a time that I've done anything like that. If the men of my tent, verse 31, have not said, Who is there that hasn't been satisfied with his meat?

Because Job was a generous man. But no servant journer had to lodge in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler. Have I been selfish, God? Have I refused to give to anyone? Have I tried to keep everything for myself and not pay laborers their due? Have I cheated them out in some way? Have I withheld something from them that I should have given? Because I don't think the people that work for me would say that. And I don't even think a sojourner would say that, because Job was aware of the plight of the stranger as well.

If I've covered, verse 33, my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity and my bosom, if I've kind of like, okay, know that I sin, but I just kind of hide it. When I go into the square and talk to the people here, I'm kind of, you know, I know what I've done, but I'm presenting myself as another person.

And Job is saying, if I've done that, if I've been a hypocrite, if I've kind of just been doing something behind the scenes, and I've become really crafty at hiding it, and not being, you know, what you see is what you get, type person that Job was, if I've done that, as Adam did, simply because I feared the multitude and dreaded the contempt of families, verse 34, so that I kept silence and didn't go out the door, if I've done these things and he goes through these things and other places in the book of Job, you can kind of see him doing the self-accounting, the self-analysis.

What have I done? And as we go toward Passover and as we look toward Passover, we can ask those same questions of ourselves, not because tragedy has beset us, just because we want to be closer to God, just because we need to do that, just because we've been called to become more and more blameless, if I can use that term, more and more upright, more and more fearful of God in the right sense of the word fear, more and more shunning evil at every corner that it works, not just the woman walking down the street, but all the things that are evil that can pour into our minds and into our homes.

Not all we do sometimes is just open the door and let them in. And God says, shun evil. Test the spirits. Know the spirits. Don't let that into your home. Shun it. So Job is doing this accounting of himself, the same as you and I would do. What have I done? If destruction comes to those that are wicked, then certainly, Job must think, I've done something wicked. His friends kind of lead Job down that path, too, don't they? They come to the conclusion, Job, you must be a terrible man.

You must be hiding something from us. And we learned something about ourselves and the friends, too, but we'll get that in a little bit. But Job was also looking at the other part. Job is looking and seeing what part of religion that have I not done.

James 1, 27 says, pure and undefiled religion is this. That one keeps himself unspotted from the world. Job is looking, where are those spots? Where are those spots? Are there spots that I'm not aware of that I need to be paying attention to? And he visits the fatherless and widows in their need. And so Job, when he's done looking for the spots and says, are there spots that I'm not aware of? In chapter 31, he goes through some of that process, but let's go to chapter 29 and see how he looks at how he's treated other people.

How has he handled the needy? How has he handled the fatherless? How has he handled the poor? Because when you're in a station and a position like Job, you could find yourself looking down. You could always have a condescending view, couldn't you, of someone who is less fortunate than you? You could fact yourself on the back and say, well, if they had just lived their life the way I did, they wouldn't be in that plight.

So Job kind of examines himself. How have I handled that? How have I responded to the people that have come to my need? Have I been more hardy than they should have? Am I not handling that the correct way?

Job 29, verse 11. We read the verses preceding that, where Job was seen as a noble man. Someone that people looked up to, someone that they listened to in verse 11. He says, When the ear heard, then it blessed me. When they heard what I had to say, they blessed me.

And when the eye saw, it approved me. Job, what we hear from your mouth is wisdom. Job, what we see you doing is upright and the right thing. Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless and the one who had no helper.

The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I did these things. I'd never looked down on people. I was aware of the needs around me. I was that man who was aware. And when I saw a need, I filled it, and I didn't allow it to pass by. I put on righteousness. I wore it like a white garment. It became me. It closed me.

My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind. I led them. When I saw a need, I helped. I was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor. And I searched out the case that I did not know. If I didn't understand, I looked at both sides of the story so that my judgment was right, so that my judgment was based on all the facts and not just some of the facts. I wasn't one of those people who heard one side of the story and just decided I was going to make the judgment on that. I broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth. Job did all those things. And as he examines himself, again he's searching, what have I done? What have I done to deserve this? And he's recounting for us and recounting for his friends the same type of thing you and I might do, the same checklist that we would go through. Is this me? Did I bring this upon myself? And if so, then I deserve it. And wouldn't all of us say that? If we look at ourselves and something terrible befalls us, and we look and think, you know, yes, I have been a hypocrite. Yes, I have lied. Yes, I have cheated. Yes, I have ignored people. If I've done those things, then God, my judgment is deserved. But Job is looking at that, and he's saying, I don't see where I've done that. And yet these terrible, terrible things have confronted me, have befounded me, or have confounded me. And my life is a mess. It's completely been torn apart. And he didn't know why. He didn't know why. We know such is the way it is with some trials. Some trials, when we go through them, we can look back and we can say, you know, I caused that. Perhaps. I did that, and it's only just that I'm experiencing this. We can look at even some of the diseases that we have, and we can say, you know what, I didn't pay attention to my health the way that I should. So when I have a problem here, a problem there, I probably should have paid more attention to what I was eating, how I was exercising, those type of things.

Job was looking for those things. He couldn't find them. And sometimes we can look at ourselves and say, I deserve that. Other times you might say, I don't get it. But we endure the trial anyway, right? Just like Job did. He just had a I don't know why trial. I don't know why this has happened to me. He didn't realize that God had asked Satan, what do you think of my servant Job? And then Job cast out on him and said the only reason he really ever worships you, God, is because you've given him all these things. If you just take those things away from him, he's not going to pay attention to you anymore. Job passed that test. He didn't know what went on behind the scenes. We do. When Job was experiencing those painful boils, you know, the only thing I can compare it to is something like shingles. I've heard people who have had shingles say it's the worst thing they've ever had. It's painful, and shingles are only over part of the body. And yet Job had it from head to toe. So bad that he had to rip his clothes, sit on ashes, because he couldn't find any kind of comfort anywhere else. Terrible. Something you and I can't imagine. We haven't had that. And Job was going through it, and he's wondering why. And he didn't know why. And the answer was, there was nothing Job did for him to deserve that. There just simply was nothing there. Except that Satan had accused. Satan had asked for God to tie, or for him to tempt Job. And God said, okay. Everything that goes on in our lives, God knows. He knows when we go through a trial. He knows the reason. It could be because of this. It could be something else. There could be. And I don't know why trial. Through it all, we maintain faith in God. Job sets us a tremendous example. You know, even his wife wants him to curse God. And when you look at the word curse, it doesn't mean curse God. Like, you know, blaspheme God. You know, tell him this or that or whatever. It means, just say goodbye to God. Forget him. Turn the other way. Just forget it. It hasn't been worth it, was what his wife said. But Job wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to, as he says. I'm not going to take the good times from God. And then when he puts me through a trial, say, I don't want you anymore. We're not fair-weather Christians. Not fair-weather fans, like some people are of the sports teams they follow. You follow them regardless, and you follow God regardless. And you realize that everything that goes on in our life is the reason that he's doing it, and it's to our ultimate good. Because he's working with us. He's developing us. He's maturing us. He's building our faith. He's building our character so that we can serve him in the way that he wants to be served.

He wants to give us a crown. And there are some things that he never promised us of better roses. He never promised us that our life was going to be easy. And it was never going to be without fault. Or, not fault, without care, without trial. He said there will be trials. There will be things you go through. And by those trials, you are going to be stronger. You will become a stronger person for God. You will become a more resolute Christian. You will develop your strength to stand in the gap when the time comes.

Because you have put your lot with God. And you will follow Him no matter what man, no matter what government, no matter what comes our way.

We're going to follow Him. But we have to have developed that in these times that are good. Because when the time is a trial and the time is a severe suffering come.

That's when our faith is going to be and our mettle is going to be tested.

All these things happen to Job.

And as we look at Job, you know, we see a man who's just destroyed. He's just decimated. It says in chapter 3, when his friends are at the end of chapter 2, when his friends come to see him, they don't even recognize him.

This is the man that stood in the square that everyone stopped when they saw him.

When the princes shut their mouths, the people stopped. And when he spoke, people didn't answer back because it was Job who said it.

This is the man. Look what's become of him.

And initially, we learned something about when people go through trials and are suffering.

Because Job's friends handled that part pretty correctly. Let's go back to Job. Or we are in Job. Job chapter 2 verse 11.

Sometimes, you know, we find, well, we have people who have severe diseases. They have financial problems. They have trials come into their lives.

And Job's friends, when they see him, you know, they empathize with him. They want to help him. They want to comfort him. And that's what we should want to do. In chapter 2 verse 11, it says, When Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him and to comfort him. Let's all go. We're Job's friends. We need to comfort him. He needs some support during that time. And when we are sick and when we are troubled and we are going through trials, we need people to support us. Yes, we get our comfort from God. Yes, we look to Him. But we're all here for each other as well. To help and comfort and to support and to exhort each other, as it tells us in the Bible and in Hebrews 10 verse 24 and 25. So they come with the right spirit. We're going to comfort Job. When we go to visit the sick, when we talk with someone who's had a trial, something terrible will go on in their life. Don't go there to judge them, as the friends usually do. Go there to comfort them. They come with the right... with the right idea and with the right heart and attitude here. And when they raised their eyes, verse 12, from afar and didn't recognize them, they lifted their voices and wept. And each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. How could this have happened to Job? We feel so bad for him. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great. Sometimes it's okay to say nothing.

Just being there. Just being there and knowing someone cares, knowing someone that supports. You know, sometimes, and I always... what am I going to say? What do I say to comfort them? Sometimes just being there is all it takes. That's all we need to do. I mentioned somewhere to someone or someplace that I remember when my dad was dying of cancer. And I would make... he was living in Nevada, we were in Indiana, and I would make a trip out there every month or five weeks to do that, to visit him. And one time he just wasn't feeling well at all. He had good times when I was there, and not then some, and one time just wasn't good at all. And I didn't even know what to do. And he was in so much pain, even with the morphine, that he just didn't want to talk, and I would just sit there. And I remember saying, I don't even know what to say. You know, I wish there's something I could say, and he goes, it doesn't make any difference. Just having you here is all that matters. And it told me, sometimes we just need to be there. We just need to be with someone. They just need to know. We care. So when you see your brother suffering, be there. Send an email. Send a card. Drop a line. Leave a voicemail. Let people know that you care, just like Job's friends. They didn't say a word. They just were there, in that comforted Job. But then they started talking. And as Mr. Stevens said in chapter 3, Job begins, I would just as soon die. And we could understand Job, right? I mean, he's lost everything. He's lost his health. He's in tremendous pain. Oh, I want to die. I just want to die. I don't even want to live anymore. This is awful what I'm going through. We can understand that. Then his friends begin answering. And Eliphaz has his comments. And sometimes when we start talking, that's when the problem begins, right? And as the friends talk, all of a sudden you see these problems begin. Eliphaz has some correct words. And there's some truth in what he says. Let's look at Job 5, because they weren't just all empty words that they were just spouting off. They were saying some truth in here, even though they misapplied that truth. Let's look at Job 5 here. Job 5, verse 17. Words that we would say today, words that we can find in the New Testament. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Now, can you imagine saying this to someone who's gone through what Job has? Hey, Job, you should be happy. What are you sitting there for with ashes on your head and looking so morose? Happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore, don't despise the chastening of the Almighty. True words, but not exactly the words you would say to Job at that time, right? It's like, okay, I kind of know this, but I don't want to necessarily hear it. Therefore, do not despise the chastening of the Almighty, for he bruises, but he binds up. And he does, right? God hurts us sometimes, or he doesn't hurt us, he tries us, and it hurts sometimes when we're pruned and we go through those things. But he binds up. At the end of the book of Job, Job is restored double to what he has. For he bruises, but he binds up. He wounds, but his hands make whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven. No evil shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you will not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

You shall laugh at destruction and famine, and you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

So those are encouraging words, right? We would say any of those words. In fact, we can go back to Hosea 218. You probably see it in your margin there. Let's go back to Hosea and see that he says those very words. Speaking of the end time, speaking of the time when God will heal everything, and when he will solve the problems that we have.

Hosea 2. Let's begin in verse 16. You see the setting of what Hosea says. The very same words that Eliphaz says to Job. True words. Maybe not the right timing for those words. Maybe Eliphaz should have just held those for another time, maybe after the fact, and not kind of comforted those, tried to comfort Job with those words.

Hosea 2.16. It will be in that day. Whenever we see in that day, speaking of the time, ahead of us, when Christ returns, it will be in that day, says the eternal, that you will call me my husband. We know it's not today. If you have time, when Christ takes the bride, that you will call me my husband, and no longer call me my master. For I will take from her mouth the names of the bales.

They will be remembered by their name no more. In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle, I will shatter from the earth to make them die down safely. Then he says, I'll betrothe you forever. True words, Eliphaz said. We can say true words. Sometimes we can misapply. Maybe the timing of those words isn't right, if we're really trying to comfort someone.

Well, it's not Eliphaz. He starts off pretty mildly, but then Bildad and Zophar kind of in, and they just kind of like really, really rub it in his job. And maybe as we're visiting people, and as we find ourselves talking with each other, talking to the person who's going through a trial, or maybe talking about the person going through a trial, we can see something of ourselves in those three friends. You know, do we kind of use Scripture and make a judgment on people?

Do we look at it and say, well, you know what? They must have really done something terrible, because that's what the friends come down to. Pretty soon, there's just direct conflict with Job. Job, you must have done this. Job, you're a terrible man. Job, God doesn't punish people for what you've gone through unless you've done something terrible. And Job is doing the self-accounting of himself, saying, I haven't done it. I can't find out where it is.

And the friends don't realize sometimes there's an, I don't know why, trial. Some of you have had, I don't know why, trials. I know people in other churches have had, I don't know why, trials. We can't judge. We can't put ourselves in that position of being God. Only He knows why people go through trials. And as the friends go through these processes, Job gets more and more upset, as you can understand, and tries to defend himself, and that's where the problem comes in and the self-righteousness comes in, and pretty soon he's patting himself on the back and even challenging God.

I would like God to come down here and tell me what went on. Ah, we don't want to put ourselves in that position, right? Job learns, and when Job, to his credit, as soon as he's confronted with God, he bows before God and he gives God his obeisance and his repentance. So we can learn from these friends as we learn through this book, too.

Do the right thing. Be there to comfort people. But don't let it become an accusatory, judgmental-type thing when you're doing things, if you're talking to them or talking to each other. Job didn't know. The friends didn't know. They soon learned it wasn't their words, necessarily, in some cases, that were wrong, and when God rebukes them, it's because of the attitude that they had. Well, Job went through a lot. Job went through a lot, and one more point I want to make here, and that will be back in Job 1.

Job 1. We pick it up in verse 18, right where the sentence begins. We want verse 19, where they like to read the whole sentence when possible. This is speaking of the things that came upon Job. While he was still speaking, another also came and said, Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking, wine in their oldest brother's house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house.

They fell on the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you. What happened to Job happened suddenly, literally in one day. Didn't see it coming. Had no idea it was coming. Life looked good. His business was intact. His family was intact. His position in the city and in the land was intact. Everything was going okay until this day came, and then it all fell apart. Suddenly. Suddenly is a major, major verse, or major word in the Bible. And when it talks about suddenly in the Bible, I've said this a few times in the last few weeks.

When it talks about suddenly in the Bible, we should not discount it. We should pay attention to it. Jesus Christ said, as it was in the days of Noah, whenever they were eating and drinking and giving in marriage, sudden destruction came upon them. As it was in the days of Lot, in Sodom and Gomorrah, where life was just going on the way it was. It was full of evil. It was a perverted city. And one day God said, it's going to be destroyed. They didn't see it coming. It just happened.

Trials can come upon us suddenly. One day we can think we're fine. The next day we get a diagnosis of something that can be dire. It can come upon us suddenly, individually, as a group, as a nation. We can never take for granted what is going on. Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians.

Here's Thessalonians 5.

Verse 1, Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write to you. Paul says, For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. It will be God who decides when that countdown begins, when those events occur. For when they say peace and safety, when they say peace and safety, and maybe a day comes, maybe it comes soon, when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. Sudden. What may be in the future of this country is sudden destruction. When everything looks bright, when everything looks fine, when everyone is screaming or proclaiming, Wealth, health, peace, safety. Don't be fooled. Enjoy it. But don't think that destruction is far, far, far off. Always know that destruction can come suddenly, just like it did to Job, literally overnight. Back in Isaiah 30. I feel like I just read this verse here in the last few weeks, so forgive me if I did, but let's go back to Isaiah 30. Verse 12. Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, you who look at the Bible and say, I don't want any part of that. I don't want to believe it. I don't want to live by it. I want no part of it. Because you despise this word, and instead you trust in oppression and perversity. Kind of a picture of the world we live in, right? Oppression and perversity. And you rely on them. Therefore, this iniquity shall be to you, like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. As we look at the world around us, and as we see those leaves budding, as we see those bulges on the wall, we might get accustomed to them, but we shouldn't get too accustomed to them because they can burst at any time. When we see those leaves budding, when we see those bulges in the wall, it's time to examine yourself more. Time to get closer to God. Time to look more at the kingdom of God and not trust in the ways of this world and the things of this world. That can be taken away suddenly, just like they were taken away from Job. What wasn't taken away from Job was his salvation. What Satan couldn't do, he could take away his health, he could take away his wealth, but he couldn't take away his faith in God and his trust in God. And no matter what comes between us and the time of this end of the world, all our possessions, all our bank accounts, all our 401ks, all our things can disappear, it can't take away our faith in God. That's where to invest your time now. That's where to invest your efforts now. Do the work that we do all through the day. Do those things while the sun shines and while the daylight is out there. Don't neglect building the things that will last for eternity. Job did, and it saw him through the times of adversity, and he was able to stand through those times. And he was able to look at God. And when God called, and when he was able to do exactly what God asked him to do, you and I need to do the same thing. You and I need to do the same thing that through it all, and whatever happens and befalls us, we still can look at God. When he tells us, you have misspoken, you have sinned, you have done this, we readily repent. And we trust in God and never doubt Him. Never doubt Him and never curse Him. We've got a lesson in Job, so as we continue to work through that book, let's learn. Because what happened to Job could happen to us. Let's pray that for all of us, the end of the story is the same as it was for Job.