Amen. Amen. Well can we just say good morning to everyone here today and for those who are watching online as well and we pray that as we hear God's word that God would bless us and help us to understand it and to see something of what he has done. I'm going to start our morning by singing about the love of God. 689 loved with everlasting love. ♪ Let my grace have come to know ♪ ♪ Spirit breathing from above ♪ ♪ Heaven's door, it is so ♪ ♪ All is calm and perfect peace ♪ ♪ In a love which cannot cease ♪ ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ ♪ In a love which cannot cease ♪ ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ ♪ Let the heart be soft and blue ♪ ♪ Love is sweeter green ♪ ♪ Deeper beauty shine ♪ ♪ Since I know as now I know ♪ ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ ♪ Since I know as now I know ♪ ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ and he shall part. Come with water and some bliss. Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may great and clean. There's more light in good divine. God's one God and I shall be. ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ ♪ But one Lord and I shall be ♪ ♪ I am his and he is mine ♪ Well, let's come before God and let's, you know, speak to him in prayer, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you, Lord God, for who you are. We thank you, Lord God, that you have loved us. We thank you, Lord God, that you have sent your Son into this world, Lord, that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. We pray, Lord God, this morning that you would help us to see something of your love for your people as we open up your word and as we think about it. We pray, Lord God, that you would open our eyes, that we may, oh Lord God, know something more about you, Lord. Lord, we do pray, Lord God, that you would help us, Lord God, to remember that you have made a home in heaven for your people. And Lord, we pray that while we may, that you would help us to call upon your name, that we may be saved. We ask you, O Lord God, to help us to look forward to that day, and help us to prepare for that day, Lord God, to be the people that we ought to be. We pray, Lord God, that you'd bless our time now, and help us, Lord God, as we hear something from your word, to understand it better, and to see something of your great love, that while we were still sinners, while we still broke your laws, you sent your Son. And Lord, we thank you for your Holy Spirit who is coming and working in our hearts now. And we pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will work in each of our hearts, convicting us of our need of a Saviour, and Lord God, bringing us to live more as we ought to live, Lord. Amen. Well, we've been looking at the life of Elisha now for a few weeks, and we're gonna carry on. Now, if you remember last week, in the city of Samaria, Elisha had taken in the raiding parties and given them food, and they'd gone away in peace. God was good to them. But do you know, the king, of Syria, Ben-Hadad. He didn't think much of God at all and he sent his armies down and they camped around the city of Samaria. Nobody could go in, no one could go in, that meant no food could get into the city. And so as the days went by, people would start eating the food that they had in their cupboards, in their ladders, And very soon, the food ran out. And when the food ran out, it was awful. I would doubt it. But a donkey's head was going for loads of money. Only the rich could afford it. and other worse things were going on. The people were eating. Do you know, it was awful. The king of Israel, Jehoram, do you know, he blamed God. He saw what was going on and he said, it's all God's fault. He never looked at himself and said, do you know, I've broken God's law and the people here are breaking God's law. We deserve the punishment which God sends. He blamed God. He couldn't get at God. So he decided, I'm gonna kill the person who loves God. And he decided to kill Elisha because he was the one who loved God and who would tell the people all about God and who he was, what he was like. He wanted to kill him. And he called some of his servants together and he said to them, look, go down to his house and get him and we will kill him. But you know, God knows everything and God sent someone to warn him. And of course, when he was heard, he locked the doors, locked the windows so that no one could come in. So when the soldiers turned up, they couldn't get in because God has been good and warning him. And of course, when the king turned up not long after, the king All the king did was to blame God. It's all his fault. People do that today, don't they? When things happen which they don't like, it's always God's fault. Not our fault, but God's fault. And you know, Elisha, he had been told by God something. And so he told the king and he told the king that by this time tomorrow there would be that much food in the city that it would be going not for lots of money but for just pennies and everyone could afford it. Do you know when one of the servants who was stood outside one of the king's servants heard he laughed and he said If God was to open the windows in heaven, he couldn't supply that much food. But he forgot how great a God we have. And you know, as he spoke those words, you know, he said God couldn't make it happen. That was something against the God who, you know, Elijah was talking about. And Elijah said to him, listen, you're gonna see this food tomorrow. but you're not going to be able to eat any of it. You know the doors were shut, they couldn't do anything so off they went home. That night they all went to bed and the king had a late morning I think, but early in the morning people outside the gate, lepers, they couldn't go inside the city to be safe, they had to stay outside because they had leprosy. They began to think to themselves, and they were thinking, you know, if we stay here, we're going to die. But down the road, the Syrians, they've got food, and maybe if we were to go down there and speak to them, maybe they will spare us. And if they don't, What's going to happen to us? We're going to die. We'll die if we stay here. We might die, but we might get freed if we go that way. So they decided to go, and they set off towards the camp. Do you know, as we got to the camp, they didn't see any of the soldiers coming out to them. No spears, no arrows came their way. And as they came into the camp, there was no one there. And they were thinking, where is everyone? They went into the tents, there was food, there was gold and silver, nice clothes, but nobody. Do you know, God is great. That night, God had made the people here, the Syrians here, what sounded to them like a great army. And they sat there thinking to themselves, what's that? Maybe it's the Egyptians and the Hittites, that both armies have come together, and they've come to help the King of Israel. And because of that, they ran. Do you know, God's able to do great things, and sometimes we forget how great our God is. And they'd run, and they'd run, and there's no one in the camp. Do you know the people, they sat down, And they started to eat. Lovely feast. And you could imagine them picking up the food and eating it. All of a sudden, one of them sat there and said, you know, this isn't right, is it? He said, let's go and tell the people in the city because they need to hear that there is food. And they thought, yeah, let's go. And that's what they did. They went all the way from there down to the city walls. And they spoke to those who were on guard. And they said to them that there was food. The Syrians have gone. Well, they couldn't do much, but they did tell the king. And when the king got up and he went out to the walls and looked out, he looked and he couldn't see anyone from a distance in the camp. But it could be a trap. It could be that they wanted all of the people to come out of the city and then the Syrians would attack. So he said, I know what we'll do. We've still got two chariots left and some horses. We'll get them to go out and to go down the road and see if we can see any of them. And that's what they did. They went looking, and they went miles, all the way to the River Jordan. And there was nobody. Oh, there was swords which had been dropped on the floor. There was shields. There was food. There was water jugs on the floor. There was loads of things, almost like as they'd been running. They'd said, oh, I'm not carrying this. And they had thrown it to the floor because God had made them so afraid. And they just ran. So they came back and they told the king and the king was pleased, right, we need to let the people go out. And the man who had been laughing at God saying he couldn't do it was the man the king chose to go on the gate. And so his job was to make sure the gate was opened and if anything happened he could close it and things like that. Now, of course, when everyone heard there was food, everyone rushed out the city and they ran up and they got as much food as they could carry. Some people couldn't, so they would take the food back to them. Do you know when they took them back, the food that was there and they sold it to them was that cheap? And that's just what God had said, wasn't it? It would be sold for pennies. And that's what was happening now. You see, God's word is true. The servant, though, who had left the guard, as the gates had been opened, the people had gone past, he'd fallen on the floor, and he'd been stood on and trampled on, and he died. You see, God does punish sin. Here was a man who laughed at God, didn't think God could do it, didn't have the power or anything like that. And this is a story which does remind us, you know, how he didn't. you know, eat, just as God had said. He saw it, but he didn't eat. You see, God's word is always true. Whenever we read about what God says, it always comes true. Whenever we read about sin, we need to remember God does punish sin. And there's just a few things, as we look at this, you know, this story of Elisha, that we need to remember each day. Well, we're going to sing our chorus now. It's the countdown. And of course, when we think about the countdown, we need to remember that, yeah, there is a home in heaven for all who will call upon him. But those who don't, they will be punished for their sin. And we need to remember that. And we need to, while we can, call upon him. Somewhere outside of space God has prepared a place For those who trust behind a face Jesus will come again I know we don't know when He'll come But can't you know we're every day? Ten and nine, eight and seven, six and five and four Oh ♪ With life's suffering and bled and blood ♪ ♪ Our God, the cross He did not save ♪ ♪ He gave His love and His truth ♪ ♪ I will forever love Him ♪ ♪ And I'll stay till the very day ♪ ♪ Ten and nine, eight and seven, six and five and four ♪ ♪ For the Holy Savior I am near ♪ Well it's time for the children now to go off to Sunday school and it's also time of course for the youth who are going to come out and they're going to sing to us Right, we've not sung this song before, so be encouraged to sing along. I'll not let you stand, so just follow on the screen. From the shining shadows of the end, we will lift our eyes to Him. of mercy reach to gather children in. Rejoice! Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice, all Church of Christ, rejoice! ♪ Joy is morning's sun ♪ ♪ Battlers weeping through the night ♪ ♪ Come those who tell of battles won ♪ ♪ And those struggling in the fight ♪ ♪ For His perfect love will never change ♪ ♪ And His mercies never fail ♪ a a a a From every land, men and women of the faith. Come those with full, all empty hands, find the richest man. All the world his people sing Joy to show we hear them call The truth that rises through every age Our God is all in all Rejoice! Rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice! One heart, one voice, a church of Christ rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Well, do turn in your Bibles to the Book of Job, looking at the last chapter today. It's been a journey through the book, one of the oldest books, if not the oldest book in the Bible, and dealing with a very, very important problem that everybody in life faces at some time or other. And we are mindful this week, aren't we, of this terrible disaster that's happened in Turkey and Syria. I think it would be good if we just joined together and prayed for that as we come to God's word. Shall we pray together? Our Heavenly Father, we sit in comfort today, in warmth, in a safe place, in a secure building, no threat of earthquake or harm or danger, Lord, that we will have. We're not worried about those things today. and yet we have seen Lord terrible things in our screens this week Lord as we've looked at this terrible earthquake that's happened so many people have died and Heavenly Father what can we do but we cry to you we pray for those suffering still We pray, Lord, that those who've been injured, Lord, they will be able to get care and make a recovery. We pray for those who are working, Lord, hard from all over the world to rescue people who are still in difficulties and to bring aid. And we pray, Lord, too, for those who are grieving and lost thousands and thousands of people. Lord, it is terribly sad. And we simply want to pray for it, Lord, and ask for you to help and comfort and strengthen those who are in such difficulties. We pray, Lord, for those of us, Lord, who, Lord, some of us are blessed financially and can help in that way, so guide us and pray that we might use what you've given us to bring relief to those who suffer. And we pray Lord particularly for your people caught up in all of this seeking to help with the love of Christ and bring the gospel into that situation. We don't know how Lord you can use something like this for good but we do know that you can, that you do and that you will. and so we ask you lord in all of this to work your purposes out that many may come to know you love you and be saved lord for eternally for eternity even through this tragic event hear our prayers lord Do bless, Lord, those who rule over us. We pray again for those in charge of our country, the King, and those in Parliament, Lord, that you give them much wisdom, that we might be ruled well and wisely in these days in which we live. And as we turn to your word, Lord, we pray that you may speak to us, each one. Help us to understand it, to grasp it, and to live in the light of it, as we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we're on the book of Job. Look, Job's latter days. This is the final chapter. For those who've joined the journey today or have been perhaps not keeping up with everything, I'd just like to go through a recap, if I can, of the book. There are seven scenes, lots of sevens in the Bible. You look for them, you find them. It's God's number. And we find there are seven scenes in the book of Job. Chapter one gives us a picture, a snapshot of Job's righteous, godly life. We then go to heaven in chapter one, and you can see the Lord with the angels gathered around him. And into their midst comes a fallen angel, Satan. The devil was once an angel, but now he's an evil, wicked, intelligent, powerful, hostile spirit to you and to me and to Job and to all mankind. He hates mankind. Why? Well mankind's made in the image of God and in attacking mankind whether that's in the womb or whether that's older people or whether it's those in the middle, the devil hates man. And that's what we find in chapter one. Also, we find Job's terrible losses. Like the people we've seen this week, Job lost everything. And he lamented the fact. Job's lament goes on for many chapters in the book. and his friends came to comfort him, but no one had any answers. Until this man spoke, Elihu started to speak about God in the midst of suffering. He started to get the answers that Job was seeking. But ultimately, Job did not find answers in men. He found answers when God himself came, and Job had a vision. a wonderful vision of God in his power and in his glory. And that's where we got to last week. Just to sum up the big lessons, the whole book is the question of suffering, the problem of pain. Why do we suffer as individuals, as communities, as the world in which we live? The sovereignty of God in it all, God is not wringing his hands wondering what's going to happen next. God is not presented like that in the book of Job, but God is presented as a sovereign and loving and powerful creator. The other thing we learned is that man has no answers. The guys who show up and try and explain, well, it's all because you did something wrong, Job. They're wrong. They're wrong. We know they're wrong. And to blame it on Job, to pin it on Job for his sin is, of course, foolish. But that's what they do again and again and again. And actually, human reasoning has no answers to the problem of suffering. Zero. The atheist, what has he got to offer? What answers does he have? Doesn't even believe that there's a creator of the universe. So what wisdom does he have? And of course, the answer Job received answers to the question why. Well, no simple answer, and Job didn't get a simple answer to why, but he did get the answer to what, what to do in the face of suffering. And then we come to the last chapter, Job's latter days, the postscript to the book. Postscript, wrong word, it's the final section. It's not just an add-on, it's essential. And in fact, in this chapter, we see the climax to the whole book of Job. See if you can find that verse as we read it together in these chapters. Alex will advance it as I read it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You asked, who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Listen, please, let me speak. You said, I will question you and you shall answer me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Timonite, My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of me of what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Namathite went and did as the Lord commanded them, for the Lord had accepted Job, and the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers All his sisters and all those who had been his acquaintances before came to him and ate food with him in his house. And they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters, and he called the name of the first Jemima, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren, Kerenhapuk. In all the land, they were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and his grandchildren for four generations. So Job died being old and full of days. We're gonna sing about God's word before we consider some thoughts from that passage, the message of that passage that God would speak to us. So let's sing, shall we? How firm a foundation, you saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you, he hath said, you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled? Number 612, we'll stand up and worship together. ♪ He's excellent when he's singing ♪ ♪ About living well at home or abroad ♪ ♪ On the land or the sea ♪ ♪ As days may dim and shroud your strength ever be ♪ ♪ In arms I am with you, Lord be love to me ♪ ♪ I'll strengthen you, help you, and cause you to stand ♪ ♪ The help of my righteous, all-important hand ♪ ♪ And through the deep waters I cause you to go ♪ ♪ The rivers of gold shall not you overthrow ♪ ♪ For I will be with you, your troubles to less ♪ ♪ But sanctify to you your deepest distress ♪ ♪ Where through fiery trials your pathway shall glide ♪ ♪ My grace, O sufficient, shall be your supply ♪ a a a a a At 4.17am local time in Gezaniatep an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale was recorded. followed by an earthquake of similar size at 1324, not 12 hours later, in Karamanigaras. Scenes of unmitigated sorrow and desolation appear on our screens. Thousands have been killed. I think it's almost 30,000, and of course many, many, many more have got life-changing injuries and will ever live in the aftermath of Monday, the 6th of February. And Job addresses, the book of Job is about the suffering in the life of one man. And Job, the book, addresses the question of suffering head on. The Bible doesn't dodge it. It doesn't shuffle it off. It doesn't say it's not important. It devotes 42 chapters of God's word to dealing with this massive subject of suffering. And there is no simple answer given. There's no one line answer to why do we suffer or why me? Which is what Job asked. But there is an answer to the question, what do I do in the face of suffering? There is an answer to that question. And we do well to take heed to what God is saying to us in this most ancient of books. Prophets quoted from the book of Job, Ezekiel did. Apostles quoted from the book of Job, James did. and Jesus quoted from the book of Job this is holy scripture friends and we do well to listen to it it's God speaking to us in a suffering world and maybe someone today listening online or here is having that difficult time that hard time that can come does come will come because we live in a fallen, broken world with a hostile, malevolent spirit seeking to wreck things and damage things and spoil things in his war against God. So we see three things in this chapter. Verses one to six, I'd like you to see Job as a model believer. a model believer, an example to us. In verses seven to 11, I'd like you to see Job there as a loving intercessor, praying for others. And then finally, 12 to 17, we see Job as a blessed old man with gray hair, with his kids and his grandkids and his great grandkids running around. That's our three pictures of Job today. Job is a model believer. He's faithful. He's upright. We find that in chapter one. He's godly. He thinks about God daily. God is in his mind. God is in his thoughts. God is in what he does. God is in what he doesn't do. Because he's a godly man, he says no to sin. He's a model believer. Let me give you an example of Joe's purity. We didn't have, there's a message in chapter 31 which we didn't have time to preach, but he says these words. Listen to this, men. Listen to this. I have made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman? In these days of pornography from every side, internet, TV, papers, media, Job, in his day, I've made a covenant with my eyes. Why then should I look upon a young woman? How easy it is to do just that. But further on in that chapter, if I've walked with falsehood, if I've told a lie, basically, Verse nine, if my heart has been enticed by a woman and I've lurked at my neighbor's door, the adulterer. If I've despised the cause of my male or female servant or employee, treating the poor badly. If I've kept the poor from their desire, if I've forgotten that there are people less well off than I am. If I've made gold my hope, covetousness. If I've rejoiced at the destruction of my enemy, didn't rejoice when his enemies were pulled down. Some people do that, you know. If my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together, he goes through all of this and he says, I haven't done it. If I've done this, well then, let thistle grow instead of wheat and wheat instead of barley. If I've done this, Lord, punish me. But he hadn't done any of those things. And he was able to look God in the face and say those things. Job is a model believer. He's an example to us all in his godly lifestyle. He's a family man and he prays regularly for his children just in case things have gone wrong in their lives. He's generous to the poor and the needy. He's esteemed in his community. He suffers terribly as we have seen. The robbers take everything and a natural disaster wipes out all his family. He loses his health. He loses his status so that he's despised in the community. But still, he never curses God. And he proves that the devil is a liar. Because the devil said, do that and he'll curse you. He never does it. But during his responses to his friends who came along, the friends come along and they blame him. They said, it's cause you're a sinner. He's falsely accused by his friends. They treat him badly, that they're angry with him. They rebuke him, they lash him with their words. And he does sin. He does sin, he does speak unadvisedly with his lips. He accuses God of not treating him fairly. And finally God speaks to him. through a younger man and then through coming personally to him and he corrects him. How does God do that? We saw last week, God takes Job on a tour of his creation, the universe, the stars that he's made, the earth that he's standing upon, the seas that he can see, the birds that he can see flying, the great creatures that are before him, Behemoth, Leviathan. and all of the wonders of creation. And God says to Job, look, do you understand how this works? Do you understand how the birds fly? Do you understand how the stars move? Do you understand how I made these things? And in each case, the answer's no, no, no, I don't understand. So who are you to judge me? That's what God says. You can't even work the universe which I made. Who are you to say that I'm wrong? Job's got no answers. And he does now, in chapter 42, repent from foolish words. And actually, I said he was a model believer. He gives a model of repentance for the Christian. You see, Job is not without sin. And so therefore, when he does sin, he repents. You are not without sin, whoever you are. You will not live this life without sin, however hard you try. That does not mean you should not try. You should try. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation. What's that? The one who bore the wrath of God against sin, Jesus. He's the appreciation for our sins, and not just for our sins, but for the sins of those who believe in the whole world. And so we get here, Job's model of repentance. Chapter 42, he says these words. I know you can do everything. Acknowledges the greatness of God. Nothing, no purpose that you want to do can be withheld from you. I uttered words which I didn't understand. He names his sin. I said things I shouldn't have said. Things too wonderful in which I didn't know. I've seen you now, Lord. I've heard you, but now I've seen you. Therefore, I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes. That is the climax of this book. That is it. That is where Job gets to. It's a model of confession. He names his sins. Our sins are committed one by one. We should confess them one by one. Do you do that? He realizes he's got a fallen nature. See, the reason you do sins and I do sins one by one is because the nature itself is corrupt. And he says, I abhor myself. I reject myself. I realize that I'm a sinner from within. The Bible calls it original sin. It comes from Adam. Adam sinned. All of those related to Adam, that's you and me. We all sin. Different aspects, some tempted in this way, some sin in the other way, but it's all because of that fallen nature. When Adam sinned, he lost the game for all of his team. You and I are born like that, we're born on his team. When Jesus comes with a nature not received from Adam, he was born of a virgin, he is a different team captain. And to become a Christian is to be transferred, at great cost by the way, from one losing team into a winning team. To come from under Adam, to come to Christ. That's what it means to be a Christian. You're born lost. You don't have to do anything. That's how you're born. You start lost. But you can be saved, and when you're saved, you're transferred. And Jesus then becomes your head, not Adam. And Job names his sin, confesses his sin, realizes he's got a fallen nature, and then he says, I repent. He's sorry, that word has got the idea of sorrow, and he humbles himself, I'm in the dust and the ashes before the Lord. And the first question is this, have you done that in your life at some time? Definitely taken stock, looked at your sin, confessed and admitted it to God, Rejected it and turned to him. That's called being converted. It's called repentance and faith. Turning from what we are to God who saves. That's becoming a Christian. You need to do that. No one else can do it for you. It's not the vicar, the priest, the pastor, anyone who can do it. It's you and God and it's important to do it. And if you've not done that, the Bible says now, today is the accepted time. Because if you put it off, you might never do it. You do not control the future. And you do not control what you can do in this matter. God calls, we should come. But am I talking to someone today, and there's sin in your life as a believer? You are saved, but you're not where you should be. Job gives you the way back. The model prayer, name the sin, come to God and trust in him. And by his help and by his grace, seek that you will not repeat that fault. It's called keeping short accounts. You know, anyone who does a business, you don't keep all your accounts until January the 30th and then try and do your tax return before the next day. You will get into trouble like that. What you should do is keep accounts every day or once a month. You check them out, well, with an accountant once a month, with a Christian once a day. Review the accounts of the day, the sins of the day, and repent before you go to sleep that night. It's a good practice. Job gives us a model then of how to repent before God. And that's important in our Christian lives. Friends, will you listen to this? Will you take it on board as an example there in God's word for you and I to follow? Okay, so we come then to Job's intercession. Job, the loving intercessor. Job has repented. And it says, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, God turns his attention to Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Now they were sinners who, as far as we know, had not yet repented, and God's angry with the words that they said. God hears our words. When they're wrong, he's angry. And he says, my wrath is kindled against you and your two friends because you have spoken wrong things. But there is hope. forgiveness for sin from God. Go and get yourself seven bulls, seven rams. That's expensive. And go to my servant Job. He uses the word three times. Did you notice that? My servant Job. And he'll pray for you. And he'll offer for you. He'll do the work of a priest for you. He'll offer blood for you, he'll pray and intercede for you, and I will accept him." And Job is the mediator. He becomes the mediator for them that he'd longed for himself. Someone who stands between sinful man and holy God is a mediator or a priest, a go-between. And he offers a sacrifice that turns away God's wrath. And wonderfully, Job does it. These people had abused Job. These people had lashed him with their words. These people have blamed Job for his sin, falsely accused him, and Job prays for them. Kindness, he's a loving, intercessor and he offers sacrifice for them. And you know there's a greater person than Job in view here. Who is it who was falsely accused of sin, did no sin? Who was despised and rejected by men? Who is a man of great sorrow and acquainted with grief? Who offered not a bull or a goat but his own divine blood? Who turned away the wrath of God by taking the wrath upon himself. Who prayed when they put him on the cross? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Who am I speaking of? In the book of Job, we see the footprint and the fingerprint and the shadow of Jesus himself. In the sufferings of Job, we see the sufferings of Christ And Job interceding for his friends shows us Christ's work as our great high priest. There are no other priests today who can do this. It's Christ that we go to, and through Him, we have access to God. He's perfect. He knows all about us. We make our confession to Him. He offered Himself for our sins, a perfect sacrifice. He's the one who, like Job, interceded for his friends. Christ's our great intercessor. Have you been wronged unjustly? Have you been falsely accused and maligned? Do you have enemies? You can do two things. Harbor a grudge, keep it with you for years. It's called the root of bitterness. Makes you bitter, it doesn't make you better. Or you can forgive. Job could have done that. I'm not praying for those guys. Did you hear what they'd said to me? He forgives, he forgets, and he prays for those who set himself as their enemies. What an example he is. Do you have any enemies? Work? Any difficulties, I've heard of families sometimes being split for years because someone won't say sorry and someone won't forgive. Job, what an example he is. Praise for those who'd wronged him. And you know, it's easy in churches and amongst Christians to have fallouts because someone won't say sorry or someone won't forgive. Won't repent, you know. What's the answer? Pray. Jesus said, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hate you and despitefully use you. We should love our enemies. We should love our brothers and sisters. Job is an example of a loving intercessor for those who treated him really badly. A model believer. Job, the loving intercessor. Let's have a look at Job's latter days. By the way, it's when Job prayed for his friends that the Lord blessed him. Did you notice that? It said there in verse 10, the Lord restored Job's losses when? when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. That word, the Lord gave Job, is a word in Hebrew, Joseph. Remember what happened to Joseph? He was low, and God made him high. Took him from the prison to the palace. And it says, God Josephed Job. He took him from the slag heap, and he made him wealthy and great once again. And Job's latter days are days of superabundant and unexpected blessing. God gave Job twice as much. And then it gives a list of what he had. 14,000 sheep. Now to understand that, you have to go back to chapter 1. How many did he have then? He had 7,000. He had 6,000 comels. How many did he have in chapter one? You work it out. 3,000. He had 1,000 yoke of oxen. How many did he have in chapter one? 500. He had 1,000 female donkeys. How many did he have in chapter one? 500. God's doubled it. He had seven children in chapter one. How many did he get in chapter 42? Seven. Where are the first seven? Well, they're in heaven. And he's got another seven. He's got 14 kids. Seven up there, seven down here. God has blessed the latter end of Job wonderfully. It's a picture of superabundant blessing. And what's the big lesson for you and me today? What's the take home today? It's this. God's superabundant blessing begins with repentance from sin and obedience to God's commands. I'll say it again. God's super abundant blessing in your life and mine begins with repentance from sin and obedience to God. Job repented. God said, go and pray and offer, and he did. And then God blesses him wonderfully. It was unexpected. Job's still poor at this stage, he's still on the slag heap. But he's right with God, and that's a big thing. And one by one, his family show up. Brothers, sisters, they've heard of the problem. And each of them brings some gold and drops it at his feet, and more and more. And then he is able to buy some cattle, some land. His relationship with his wife is restored, and there's children on the way once again. and his riches begin to build up and it gets more and more and more and more super abundant God-given blessing good measure pressed down running over will be put into your lap. That's what Jesus said would happen as we live for him. That's what we see in the book and in the life of Job. Repentance, sorrow for sin, and obedience. Are you ready for that? If you take God seriously, he will bless you in your life. So final lesson, what do we learn from this great book as we look back? over the chapters. God is a great God and a good God. He's our creator. The breath that you breathe comes from Him. The food that you eat comes from Him. The water that's on the planet comes from Him. There's only one planet, as far as we know, in the universe that can support life. It's here, just in the right place, just created for you and me to live upon. God's done that. He's our great creator and he's worthy of our worship. Well done for being in church today to worship God. He doesn't justify himself to man. He doesn't come and explain himself to you or to me. He's not accountable to you or to me. He has no obligations. He doesn't owe you or me anything. And if he were to send all of us into eternity this afternoon, if Mr. Putin was to press the button, or if an asteroid was to come from space, or if the ground was to open up in an earthquake, he could not be blamed. He is God. Yet, he is a God of grace who left heaven and came to be born in a poor family, laid in a manger because there was no room for him in the inn, suffered like no man has suffered, died upon the cross, put in the dark that we might be put in the light for eternity for the sins that we have done against Him. Our sins are against Him, and He takes the punishment for them. Here is love, and it is vast as the ocean. Here's loving kindness, and it is as the flood. Let's take our hymn books again or sing a final song, reason for this hymn, Jesus Shall Reign, because it speaks about Adam. Adam started with much, he lost it all, but he ends up with more blessings than he lost. And we in Christ, lost we start, but we end up with great blessing in heaven. We'll sing the hymn and we'll finish our studies of the book of Job there. Let's worship God, shall we? ♪ His successive journey's won ♪ ♪ His kingdom stretched from shore to shore ♪ ♪ Till new shall rise and reign no more ♪ ♪ For His child was born ♪ ah dwell on his love with sweetest song and in good will. ♪ And brings the late to lose his chance ♪ ♪ The weary mind eternal rest ♪ ♪ And all the sons of God for rest ♪ ♪ Where he displaces me ♪ Death and goodness all know, no more need in the trial. Ranger, rise and reign! Their highest honor's due of thee. Please be seated. Let's pray, shall we, as we leave this book. Our Heavenly Father, we've looked at the life of Job, a righteous man who suffered more than any of us here will suffer. And you brought him through, and you revealed things about yourself that he could never learn any other way. and he repented and he acknowledged that you are God and that you don't have to give the explanation for why you work in the way that you work to man. We thank you for your blessing upon him. We thank you that he learned what to do in the face of difficult situations and suffering. We pray that we also may learn this same lesson. We ask, Lord, too, that you would help us to realise the great blessing that there is. In repentance from sin, faith in Christ, obedience to your voice, unexpected and superabundant blessings will arrive in our lives. We thank you for these promises. We pray, Lord, you'd help us to live in the light of them and to walk by faith and not by sight. We ask these things for Jesus' sake. Amen.