Turn to Job chapter 3. I'm not going to pretend that I can really handle this chapter. This is a dark day in a believer's life. I titled the message, Job the Man. Job the Man. Job is described by God in chapter 1, verse 8, as a perfect, upright man, one that fears God and shuns evil. This is what God says of Job. And when he lost everything, He blessed God who gives and takes away. And when he became sick, his wife said to him, why don't you just curse God and die? He said, shall we not receive evil? Shall we not receive good at the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil also? I'm glad it didn't end there. I would feel so depressed. You would feel so depressed because I can't come up to that measure. Can you come up to that measure? God allows the trial to linger on and we are allowed to see that Job, though a perfect man, perfect in Christ, an upright man, a man that fears God, and a man that shuns evil, is still just a man. He's still just a man. There was and is only one perfect man. the man Christ Jesus. He knew no sin. Even in his darkest hour, he never complained, did he? Never complained. In the garden, he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but Thine be done. Submitted himself to his Father's will willingly. willingly and without complaint. He bore our griefs and He carried our sorrows without complaining. We never read of our Lord cursing the day He came into this world, His incarnation. You never read of Him. Never read of Him. In many ways, Job is a type of Christ in His sufferings. But in all His ways, He's just like us. He's just like us. Now, I'm just going to give some observations on this chapter, some that I could see and that was a blessing to me. I'm going to give you what I got. Verses 1 through 3, Job curses his birthday. That's usually a happy time for everybody, isn't it? You know, these kids, you bake birthday cakes for them and for one another. You know, I'll put your birthdays in the bulletin. Joe would say, don't put my birthday in that bulletin. That's what he's saying. Don't you dare put my birthday in that bulletin. Don't you even breathe, don't even breathe that I was born that day. How great must the pain and the grief be for a person to curse that day, that day. And Job curses his birthday. But know this, Job curses that day that he was born, but he does not curse God to his face like Satan said he would. He didn't do that. He didn't do that. But here's what he does. Job curses his natural birthday. His natural birthday. Why? Why does he do that? Well, because that's when his troubles began. Man that is born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Full of trouble. Our natural birth comes filled with trouble because of sin. I mean, it's like a train. It's like a train lined up of trouble. And it's all because of sin. Sin, sin is the very root of all my troubles. Sin against God, sin against others, sin against myself brings trouble. In this life, you're going to have trouble, you're going to have tribulation, you're going to have heartaches. It's going to, in this life, this natural life that we have on this earth, it's just full of troubles now. You live long enough, you know that, don't you? You have trouble in the home, the best marriages, the best marriages have trouble. Paul said, you're going to have trouble in the flesh. He said, let me tell you now before you say I do, you're going to have trouble in the flesh. You have trouble with your kids, kids have trouble with you. You have trouble at work, trouble with community. I mean, there's always something going on. Always. Trouble, trouble, trouble. Henry told us in the past preacher's class one time, he said, don't trouble trouble till trouble troubles you. Leave it alone. Because enough of it is coming. Enough of it is coming. Without Christ, now listen, without the Lord Jesus Christ, without Him, my birthday is a cursed day. October the 11th of 1955, if I die without Christ, That is a cursed day. Cursed be that day. Let it be blotted out. Those in hell rue. They curse right now the day they were born. Those who miss Christ. However, no child of God, no child of God ever cursed their new birthday. Job doesn't curse that day. No. Not that new birthday. There is no curse in that birth. There is no curse in that day. It is of God and it leads to glory and there's no sin in it. There's no sin in it in any way, shape or form. It brings joy, real joy, joy in the Lord. It brings peace. It brings real peace. It brings rest. It brings real rest. That new man, that new birth, Christ said you must be born again. That new man has real joy in the Lord. Real joy, real peace, real comfort. You have it, don't you? You have it. Now the day, my natural birth, it's just a lot of problems. It's a lot of problems. And then we learn something else here. Let me make another observation here. We really don't know what's still in us until certain trials come upon us, do we? All the sinfulness you and I were born with, we still have. We still have every ounce of it, every bit of it. We still have all the sinfulness we were born with. Peter, I'll give you an illustration from Peter. Peter never thought he would deny the Lord three times. If you'd have said, Peter, you're going to deny the Lord, he'd have took the sword and cut your tongue out. But the Lord allowed Peter to see what he still is, and He allowed him to deny Him three times. I'll show you something else here. Over in verse 11, I thought about, this struck me when I read this. Job said, why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly, when my mother gave birth to me? And the first thought that hit me was Job. That's awful selfish. It's awful selfish. Think about the pain your mom would have had. Think of the heartache your mother would have had. But I want to show you something of the perfection of Christ. Look over in John 19. Selfishness is still in us. It's still in us. When we hurt, the only thing we think about is us. I'm hurting. It doesn't take me long. If you tell me something's hurting on you, I'll be telling you what's hurting on me. That's the way it is. We've got to show our scars. But I want you to see something here. Let me find the verse. In John 19. Now, listen, our Lord. Is suffering. I mean, that can't be described. You know, Job was suffering here. But that can't be compared to the suffering of our Lord. You know, in Job, back over in Job 10. And Job chapter 2, verse 10, his wife said, why don't you just curse God and die? That's heart-rending, isn't it? That's hard. To listen to that, to have your wife, the one you love, to say, why don't you curse God and die? You know what's even harder? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I said, I'm compassed there in Psalm 22. I'm compassed about what? The dogs have compassed me about. With every whip of the last, they're taking a bite out of me. And he's crying out. He said, I'm roaring out for you. Where are you? That's harder than what that wife said. My God, my God, why dost thou forsake? Oh, the pain that our Lord was suffering under the wrath of God Almighty. But look in verse 26 of John 19. He's hanging on the cross now. He's hanging on the cross. And he's been mutilated, he's undergone the wrath of God, and when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then said he to the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. Right in the very heat of his pain and suffering, he takes care of her. Job shows us what we are by nature. He said, why didn't I die from birth? I thought, Joe, look at the sorrow your mother would have put up with. But that's us. I mean, that's us. That's us. Our Lord, the perfect man, He takes care of her in His greatest hour of suffering. He takes care of her. No amount of suffering. Now listen, this is so. I didn't say I can do this. I'm just telling you what's so. I'm telling you what's true. No amount of suffering justifies complaining against God's providence. Is that right or is that wrong? Is that right? I'll tell you why. Look over in Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103, look in verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. I'm telling you this, if God were to do that, we wouldn't be here. We'd be in torment. You're not in torment. I mean torment. It's life can be hard, and there can be some torturous things about it, but not like that. And he says here, he has not dealt with us after our sin, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. No amount of suffering justifies complaining against God's providence. And then let me say this, and I'll go on. Job says things, he says some things that we'd like to say, that we do say in our minds We just don't let it out. Job, David, Abraham. I mean, you go back and you read those men. You read Psalms. You think, I see what he's talking about. You say, I know what he's talking about. I'd be afraid to write that down. But he did. And God allows Job to say things that you and I think. This is God's child. This is God's child. Now back over in Job chapter 3, and he says here in verse 4, let that day be darkness, let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. He's talking about let it be taken out of the calendar. Let it be taken out of the calendar here. Don't even let it come into the day of the year. He said let darkness dwell on it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify you. And as for the night, let it seize it. Let nothing, let it not be joined unto the days of the year. Well, I'll tell you this. I can say this. If we have not Christ, darkness will dwell upon us. If we have not Christ, darkness will develop on that day. You and I will be blotted out. And he says here in verse, it's going down to verse 10. It takes too long just to go verse by verse here. And he gives the reason in verse 10 why he's complaining, why he's saying these things. Let there be darkness. He says, let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark, let it look Look for light, but have none. Never let a, don't even let a glimmer of light shine on that day. Because it shut up not my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? Why did the knee prevent me? Or why the breast that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet. If I'd have died, I'd have been at rest. If I'd have died as an infant. He said, I would have been at rest. I wouldn't have been in torment. I wouldn't have been in this pain and this suffering. Why did I not die from the wound? If we all died from the wounds so we wouldn't have to suffer so much, we wouldn't have a population, would we? First of all, we wouldn't have a population because man born to trouble has the sparks of life upward, the Scripture says. And at what point At what point of suffering and pain should we be allowed to die? You ever go to the hospital and they give you a pain chart, one to ten. Where's your pain at on this chart? You say, well, my pain is eight. Shoot me. Who are we to decide that thing? Who are we to make that decision? That's of God. That's of God. It was not God's will and purpose for Job or us to die as infants. The giver of life, the sustainer of life, and the taker of life is God. And who are we to question God's will, purpose, and wisdom? Look over in Romans chapter 9. You know this. In verse 19, Romans 9, it says, Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? And Paul says this. He doesn't give an explanation, he just says this, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall not the thing form? Say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power or right over the clay? of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. Does God not have that right over us? Yes, he does. Yes, he does. He made us, not we ourselves. Psalm 100. Thou hast made us and not we ourselves. God made us. And he says here, why did the knees prevent me? He seems to have forgotten his prosperity. You read that psalm, Oh bless the Lord. It's a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. It is. But it's hard for us to do it when pain is so great. We are to do it, we ought to do it. But when the pain is so great, it's hard to do it. Hard to do it. And Job seemed to have forgotten his prosperity here. It's just like a thing that was a dream. It's like it was just a dream. And it's hard to think of the Lord's mercies. It's hard to count your blessings when you hurt Him so bad. It's hard to do. But the greatest blessings, now listen, the greatest blessings that we are to count are unseen. It's not the house you live in. And it's a great blessing to have family, but the greatest blessings are the blessings we have in Christ. We can't lose them. We cannot lose them. But it's hard to think of the Lord's mercies when we're under such trial. What a blessing, I thought of this, what a blessing to have such loving parents. He said, why did the knees prevent me, instead of giving thanks for the knees that prevent, instead of giving thanks for the breast that gave him suck, instead of giving thanks for the home he was brought up in and the parents he had. Why didn't I die? All he could think of was death. All he could think of. He thought of it so much, he envied those who had already died. He envied those who were in the grave. For the believer, to die is eternal rest. Now that's so. It is rest. It's rest from this life, from the troubles and trials and heartaches and sin, Satan. But we'll wait. We'll wait on him to bring us to that day, that hour. Faithfully wait on him. to bring us to that place and that time. And I don't need to envy those who have died. I just need to take care of my lot. Be faithful where the Lord has put you. And soon enough, I promise you, soon enough, it'll be over. It will be over. And he says in verses 22-23 here, he says, Wherefore, why is light given to him that is in misery? Why is light, the light of life, or understanding, why is it given to a person who is in misery? And life to the bitter in soul which longed for death, but it comes not, and they dig for it like treasure, they want to die so bad. which rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave. Why is it like giving to a man whose way is hidden? He doesn't know why this is going on. Job was like, I don't know. He couldn't look back and say, this is the reason why God's doing this. David could look back to Bathsheba and the sword never left his house. David could look back. But Job could look back He just said, my way is hidden. I don't know what's going on. Why is this happening? Why am I hedged about? He said, he's hedged me in. Why has he hedged me in with thorns? That's what he's talking about. Briars. Why am I in such pain? Well, first of all, he's in this pain for you and me. It's good instruction for us. That's one of the reasons. We don't have all the answers. That's something I can't answer. I can't give you a definitive answer to all these things. The secret things of the Lord belong to the Lord. But let me give you a few things. Let me give you a few reasons. First of all, these things come upon us to try our faith. Untried faith is no faith at all. You can mark that down. No faith at all. And then to try our love. He that loves mother, father, sister, brother more than me is not worthy of me. You say, boy, that's tough, isn't it? Now, when you hear that, you naturally think that's tough. No, that's so. He that loves mother, father, sister, brother, anything, anyone more than me is not worthy of me. Try thy love to him. And then these saints come upon us to conform us to the image of Christ. God has no sons without suffering. It's given, it says in Philippians, it's not only given to you on behalf of Christ to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, suffer for his sake. And then these saints come upon us to demonstrate God's grace, the power of God's grace to keep us. We cannot keep ourselves. No way. He keeps us. And then these things come upon us and let us see what is really, really important. What's really important? There's a lot of things we hold as important until these things come. Then we see that our relationship with God in Christ, that's what's important. These things are going to come and they're going to go. That relationship we have in Christ, cultivate it. Cultivate it. That's what's important. And then these things come upon us to make us brothers and sisters born for adversity. That we can truly weep with those who weep. Mourn with those who mourn. And then they come upon us so that we might see that our perfection, Job was a perfect man. Where's his perfection? Where is it at now? You read that chapter, where is it now? I'll tell you where it is, same place ours is, in Christ. You are absolutely perfect in Christ. These things come upon us that we might realize that our perfection is in Christ and not in this flesh. And he says here, and I'll close. He says in verse 24, my sign comes before I eat. He has no relief. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, he's in pain. He's saying here, I have no, I don't have a second of relief. I can't sit down. I can't stand up, lay down. There's no relief. There's no relief from this pain. And my roarings are poured out like water. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me." Whether that's losing what he had, his children die, you know, whatever it was, Job said, it's come upon me. It has come upon me. He's saying, hearing these verses, For the thing which I greatly feared has come upon me, and that which I was afraid of has come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came. I have no relief, I am afraid, and I am in trouble." Trouble, trouble, trouble. Now lest anyone think that Job has completely fallen, turn over to James chapter 5. See what James says about him. He says in verse 10, James 5, Take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering, affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord. As we go through this, Job here, he's complaining about the day he was born, basically complaining against the providence of God. That has to be in there. If you complain against the day you were born and the things that has happened, remember his end. Remember Job's end. He said here, we have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. We know how that, we know how this book ends. Remember his end, not his complaining, his end, blessed, accepted, and think of where he is now. Where he is now, There's no comparison. There's no comparison. As Paul said, Paul called this light afflictions. Would you call Job's affliction a light affliction? Would you call that a light affliction? Paul did. Paul said these are just light afflictions compared to the glory that's to follow. Job understands now Why the things happened and why they had to happen. And I tell you this, if Joe could come back right now, he wouldn't change one day. He would not change one day. And as many things as happened to different ones of us here, we would, you ever say, well if I could go back, I'd change this, I'd change that. If you could see from what God sees, it wouldn't change a thing. It wouldn't change a heartache. It wouldn't do it. Job is with the Lord. He's rejoicing. And the time he spent suffering, the time he spent suffering can't even register It can't even register on the scale of time compared to eternity. How would that register? How could you register that? Eternal bliss where there's no time, no suffering, no sorrow, no heartache, no losses, no crosses. Eternal bliss. But God allowed us, has allowed us, to see Job the man, like he did David and his other patriarchs. He didn't hide their faults and failures. He let them out there. So we can see, and we can see and understand that all our hope is in Jesus Christ. That one perfect man.