Amen. The renowned 19th century London minister Charles Haddon Spurgeon, known as the Prince of Preachers, in 1866 introduced his sermon on Isaiah 41 to the 5,000 member Metropolitan Tabernacle saying this, I have to speak today to myself. And while I shall be endeavoring to encourage those who are distressed and downhearted, I shall be preaching I trust to myself, for I need something which shall cheer my heart. Why, I cannot tell. Wherefore, I do not know. But I have a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. My soul is cast down within me. I feel as if I had rather die than live. All that God has done by me has seemed to be forgotten, and my spirit flags, and my courage breaks down, and I need your prayers. Today, among those who teach preachers how to preach, Spurgeon's opening words would not be an example of how to introduce a happy sermon. But Spurgeon is still greatly admired, his honesty greatly appreciated, and his humble devotion treasured. He was honest with his people. And it is known that Spurgeon suffered from depression most all of his life. And yet here he is, the prince of preachers still to this day. Have you, dear Christian, ever dealt with discouragement, despair, anxiety, or to use the more modern term, depression? Some have faced such difficulties for a moment of time, others face it often, and still others deal with those miserable feelings for long and unrelenting periods of time. As I said, it was known that Spurgeon was a lifelong sufferer of some kind of depression. In another sermon entitled, The Christian's Heaviness and Rejoicing, he said, my spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child. Martin Luther, the 16th century reformer, was known to suffer deep feelings of discouragement. He suffered despair for days and weeks at a time. His gloom was so severe that when he entered into a dark melancholy mood, his family would hide whatever they thought he might use to injure himself. That such men of God would suffer like this should be no surprise to us, really. while we in the church shun this kind of a thing and say, well, we ought to be happy in Jesus. Well, it is true, our joy is in Jesus, but it's also true that we live in this world. And there are issues, there are problems. But this should not surprise us that men like this have suffered such discouragement. One only need to read the biblical accounts of such as Moses and David and Nehemiah and Isaiah and Peter and Paul and countless others to discover that such heavy heartedness is common. Jesus himself was a man of sorrows. We would never say Jesus was depressed, no, we would never say that, but indeed, he was a man of sorrows, a man of suffering. This is what living in a sin-fallen world includes. Not exclusively, but it includes this, sorrow, struggles, discouragement, disappointment, anxiety, depression, and despair. But as we're going to learn through our study of Job, these fear and discouraging, inducing trappings will be used of God to teach us to trust in Him and to teach us how trustworthy He is. That we might learn to lean on Him and we might learn to look to Him and total dependence. Here in the word of God, we learn of his faithfulness, of the totality and finality of his trustworthiness. The reality of this is that we do not learn personally of our need of total dependence upon the Lord and of his complete and decisive faithfulness, except we face hardship and are forced to put his word to practice. our faith then being exercised and built up. I've noticed throughout the years that a young person will have a problem and they're frantic about it, they're about to fall apart. And then they talk to an older person, the older person said, you know, it's gonna be okay. And the older person is not dismissing their concern, the older person has the years of experience and has learned that, guess what, in the Lord, it's all going to be okay. Okay, so now not to minimalize or oversimplify the issue, but all such trials of discouragement and depression and the like are an exercise of our faith. It's meant church to improve us, to sanctify us, to strengthen us, to more and more press us into the image of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And as time goes by, we will comprehend this in the story of Job. At the end of it all, Job and his wife and his friends all come out the better. Job will come through rejoicing in God all the more as he experiences the faithfulness of God on an utterly fantastic level, a level that could not and would not be realized except he suffered and endured the severe trial brought upon him. But as it is, Before Job got to that ultimate point of blessing, there was the intense testing, the lingering of the suffering, and the severe discouragement, or if you prefer, depression. As we approach the text today, we are going to first quickly read the end of chapter two as Job's friends come on the scene. And believe it or not, we are going to learn some very positive things from them from chapter two, when it comes to ministering one to another. Then we will look at the entirety of the third chapter to read and feel the intensity of Job's protracted suffering and the utter discouragement he suffered. So for the moment, we will read from Job chapter two, verse 11, through chapter three, verse one. Then as we progress through the teaching, I will read the rest of the third chapter. But for now, let's stand for the reading of Job chapter two, beginning to read at verse 11. Job 2, verse 11, hear now the word of the Lord. God's word is pure and true, amen? a light to our path, a lamp to our feet. Amen. Job chapter two, verse 11. Now, when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came, each one from his own place, Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuwite, and Zophar, the Neamathite. And they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great. Afterward, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we come to examine your word and to consider the story of your servant, Job, and to see how glorious you are throughout this story, we come to this passage that, Lord, is gloomy. We see Job struggling. We find him cursing the day of his birth. Help us, Lord, as we read these things to learn how we ought to respond to our troubles in this world. And Lord, help us to take this in, not to be discouraged, but to be encouraged that this is your word. You're being honest with us that your people have struggles and trials and depression and difficulties, and yet you see us through it. This is just one and a half chapters of the book of Job. And let us not take this in as this is the whole of the story, but a part of the story. And it is an important, relevant part of the story. Then also Lord, as we read of Job's friends, help us to think about how, how we might be able to minister well one to another with a great loving care to sympathize and comfort each other in our trials and tribulations. Now, Lord, I thank you for Redeemer Bible Church, for these people, as we've gathered here, Lord, may we be a church that glorifies you, exalts you, and that we do that through ministry one to another. Let us care for each other as you have cared for us. In the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, I pray, and the people said, amen. God bless you. You may be seated. For our learning, I've outlined the teaching as follows. One, when friends are friendly, and this is about the only time his friends are friendly, Number two job curses his birth number three job laments that he lived number four job dreads that he lives and Then we'll talk about our Lord God in our Lord Jesus though job suffered Satan's severest test He passed him by immediately responding in true and faithful worship of God we read that in chapters 1 & 2 now there is the lingering question of As he faces the test of time, will he come to curse God? Now, thanks to God we've read the story, amen? Thanks to God, though Job here curses the day of his birth, he does not curse God. So first, let us deal with the end of chapter two. when friends are friendly. After the accuser severely afflicted Joe near to death with sore boils completely covering his head from the sole of his foot to the top of his head, and after his wife questioned his faithful integrity, demanding, literally demanding that he curse God and die, And then after Job interceded and ministered to his dear wife, the scripture says, chapter two, verse 10, in all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Now we do not know how much time transpired between the 10th and 11th verses, but it was enough time for the report of Job's devastation to come to the knowledge of his three far away distant friends. Now we know that they didn't have email, We know they didn't have the Pony Express. So it took time for the news to travel to his distant friends who lived quite a way away. But Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuite, and Zophar, the Amethyte, communicated with each other and agreed on a time that they would come together, come to sympathize with Job. Their intent was to comfort him. Coming together at the appointed time, they could have that could have taken a week, if not even a month or more, when they saw Job from a distance, they didn't even recognize him. Job was so afflicted, so disfigured, so cast out of his normal setting that he was unrecognizable to his friends. It's a funny thing over the years being a minister. Now, I used to always wear a suit and a tie. And please don't tell me that you would like me to do that again. I used to always wear a suit and a tie. And then you'd be in the grocery store, or back in the day, Montgomery Wards. How many of you remember Montgomery Wards? I'm dating myself, right? Back at the grocery store or Montgomery Wards or somewhere, Sears. And people would look at me and they'd be shocked. And they wouldn't know what to think. They almost couldn't recognize me because I didn't have my suit and my tie on. Oh, you have a regular shirt and you walk about and go shopping without a suit and a tie on? They saw Joe from a distance and it was out of character. It was out of his normal setting. He was, if you will, bruised and beat. He was covered with sore boils and festering sores. They didn't even recognize him or had a difficult time recognizing. So seeing Job then in that life-altering, miserable state, they were grieved beyond words. In loving compassion and perhaps in some measure of shock and disbelief, these renowned men raised their voices and wept aloud. Identifying with Job, sharing in his pain and sorrow, they joined him. doing what he had done. In shock and inexpressible grief, each one tore their robe, their outer cloak, and they threw dust up over their heads. As Job then was sitting in the dust, what did they do? They sat down in the dust with him. And as the ancient Hebrews appointed seven days and nights as a time, For the grieving of a great loss, they sat with Job for seven days and seven nights, not a one of them saying a word to Job." It really was enough that his friends were there. As they were so startled at his appearance, seeing that his pain was so very great, what was there to say? What could they say? What words could express Job's pain, much less ease his suffering? Here at this point, wisdom prevails, and his friends remained silent. Oftentimes, church, we look for the right words to speak. And of course, if we're looking for words to speak, it ought to be the right ones that we're looking for, right? But we look for the right words to speak. But I will tell you that it is much wiser And a better ministry sometimes to say nothing. Just to be there. To stand there. To be with people. To sit with them if they're sitting. To hold their hand, if you will. To sit quietly together is oftentimes in order. It can be wise to first wait to hear what the other one has to say rather than opening up one's mouth and uttering presumptuous or ill-timed words. I remember several years ago, and some of you have heard this story before, going to visit Frida Marley. Frida Marley is a dear old saint who's gone to be with the Lord. She had arthritis terribly, terribly bad. She was in a nursing home, and I went to visit her. And Frida was a godly woman, but that day she was down in the dumps. And so I sat next to Frida and I took her hand and said, Frida, what's wrong? She started to cry. She told me of her son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Indiana, that they had gotten in their custom van to head down to a trip in Indiana, and they were hit by a drunk. And her son and daughter-in-law made it through with some injuries, but her teenage granddaughter was killed, and the teenage son was paralyzed from the waist down. I sat with Frida, and I'll tell you the truth. I was thinking, what can I say? What can I say? What can I say? And I held her hand, and I started to cry. A little bit later, I prayed. Then I went my way, and I think I told my wife, or I thought about telling my wife, I felt like a dope. I didn't have the words to say. I should have had some nifty thing to say that would just cure everything, but sometimes words don't cure things, church. In fact, sometimes words minimize things. Well, I went back the next week to visit Frida, and I said, I'm so sorry that all I did was sit and cry with you. And she said, oh, I've told everybody that nobody could have done anything better than what you did to hold my hand and cry with me. Beloved, we as Christians sometimes think we have to have all the answers. Well, we have the answer. He is Jesus Christ, amen. But sometimes we just need to allow him all times. We need to just allow him to minister through us. and not try to find the simple words to say, but just sit with people, to suffer with them, to share in their grief. Sometimes, Church, quietness is an order. The holding of the hand is an order. The sitting quietly together is an order. And sometimes it is very wise and very loving just to sit quietly. Sadly now, as we will read, but is vital to the story, these friends will end up adding to Job's suffering. by speaking very wrong and extremely hurtful things to him, and they will even speak wrongly about God. But for the moment, loving wisdom prevails with them, and we can learn good things from their example. I have a long quote to read, but it is insightful and instructive. Douglas O'Donnell writes, there is much we will see and hear from Job's friends that we are not to emulate. They will prove to have more folly than wisdom. However, here in 211 through 13, they model loyal friendship and supportive sympathy. When we review their actions, we find much to learn. When they hear of Job's troubles, they act upon that information. How few of us act at all? When we hear of the death of someone's family, do we make a call or write a note? When we learn that someone from church was admitted to the hospital, do we visit and sit with them? Do we pray with them or perhaps read a comforting psalm to them? Moreover, like Job's friends, are we willing to put our lives on hold in order to travel to a friend who is in despair or facing death? Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar sacrificed weeks to show their sympathy and to try to bring comfort. Imagine life on an ash heap. months without companionship, and then in the distance, three friends emerge. What a sight for sore eyes. In 2 Corinthians 7.6, O'Donnell writes, Paul writes that God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus. So you remember, Paul is discouraged, and he's comforted, God comforted Paul by sending Titus to him. The coming of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar surely comforts Job. But what also surely comforts Job is their empathy expressed in their incarnational ministry. By weeping with Job, tearing their garments like Job, accepting the ash heap alongside Job, and not speaking to Job, they model true loving gospel grieving. They do not check into the presidential suite at the Marriott down the road. but they sit on the ash heap. They do not read Romans 8.28, all things work together for good, but they embody Revelation 8.1, there was silence in heaven. Sometimes when we enter the home of a member of our church who is dying or walk through the door of a hospital and witness the inexplicable suffering of someone, there is no need to say anything. Our presence is felt. It is enough for us to be there to hold their hand, to join them in weeping." Beloved, we must be sure to minister one to another, and especially to care for the hurting. And we must ask, what sacrifice can I make to minister Christ's love and to care for them? What is ministry? What does ministry look like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? That's where we must go. We must ask ourselves, how can I identify with them in their pain so as to walk with them? What is the deepest need? And what needs follow? Then as best we know, we busy ourselves meeting those needs, always praying, always caring, always walking with them. Now add to that, it is a mistake. and sometimes a wounding offensive mistake to speak up. We have a terrible tendency, as I've been talking about, to look for the right thing to say so as to remove their grief when grief is appropriate. Not only should we allow for grief, but moreover, we should share in the grief, and that's where people don't want to go. We don't want to share in the grief, so we want to remove it. No. Grief is appropriate at times. And we should be so loving and so caring, so moved that we join with them in grieving. So it is not ministry to remove the grief, but to minister is to walk beside the other in their grief. The goal isn't to throw the burden away, pretending as if the burden is gone, but it's to shoulder the burden with them, to walk with them, to carry it with them, to share with the hurting. To grieve with the grieving and to shoulder the burden with the burdened takes love and effort. It is costly, and that's why it's so effective, because it's real. Quickly, spouting words is a cheap exercise when we often seem or perhaps seem dismissive. Oh, it'll be okay. Some time ago, a lady that was in our church was complaining to me She said, what's the matter with all these people in the church? And I thought, well, you're one of all the people in the church. And her brother had died. She said, one after another, they come and say to me, oh, he's in a better place. Well, if he's a Christian, he's in a better place. That's true. But by doing so, sometimes we're dismissive. instead of taking their hand and saying, I want to walk with you. I want to pray with you. I'm so thankful that he knew the Lord, that is a comfort, but we're left here behind to grieve. We need to care and not dismiss the other's pains. Now, to add to this, I want to comment on something O'Donnell referred to as incarnational ministry. Did you hear that word, incarnational ministry? He wrote, the coming of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar surely comforts Job. What so surely comforts Job is their empathy expressed in their incarnational ministry. In part, and to the point that I will explain it, incarnational ministry is that ministry where the person embraces up close and personal ministry. They're not satisfied just to send money to it or know that somebody else went and took care of it. But they say, I have to be involved in this ministry. It can be defined, incarnational ministry can be defined as in-person ministry. It is involved ministry where we minister as representatives of Christ. Along with voicing the good news, we live it, making the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ our ministry and word and And so much that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar didn't send representatives, but personally themselves came from afar, gave much of their time, identified with Job, sat with him, wept and cried with him, sharing in his sufferings, they involved themselves in what we're referring to as incarnational ministry, personal ministry, they were there. And as it was, they came to Job where he was, we should meet and minister to people where they are. Come to them. Where are they? What's going on in their life? How can I come to them to minister to them? It is ours to minister in this way one to another and to those who are hurting. And church, I will just say if we're too busy for this, then we're too busy. There is a price to pay, and as Jesus paid the price for us, we must, if we are in Christ, we must humbly pay the price in ministering to others and counted our glad sacrifice. As Christ lived to lay down his life for us, we should live to lay down our lives in love for one another. So let us take this early example from Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and learn how to minister, to well minister sympathy and comfort as representatives of Christ, to come in person. As far as the latter examples of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, we will learn from them later how not to minister. But here in chapter two, the three friends have set an exemplary example before us. Now let's go on to chapter 3. Job curses his birth. With Job and his three friends having sat down in dust, torn their robes in indescribable grief, without one of them saying anything to Job, after seven days and seven nights of silence, can you imagine? Job finally speaks. And though his words are poetic, they are just the same expressive. And they express terrible discouragement and the devastation he feels. Perhaps after reading Job's responses to the first two chapters, his speech of chapter three comes as an unexpected and shocking bolt of lightning. But the Bible is true to life. God does not hide who his people are. The Bible is true life, and here Job curses the day of his birth. Someone said there's not very many sermons on Job chapter three. Well, we're gonna read and find out why. Job three, verse one. Afterward, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said, let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said a boy is conceived. May that day be darkness, let God above not care for it. nor let light shine on it. Let darkness and black gloom claim it. Let a cloud settle on it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the years. Let it not come into the number of the months. Behold, let that night be barren. Let no joyful shout enter it. Let those curse it who curse the day, who are prepared to rouse the Leviathan. Let the stars of its twilight be darkened. Let it wait for light, but have none. Neither let us see the breaking dawn, because it did not shut the opening of my mother's womb or hide trouble from my eyes." Wow. It's pretty expressive and dark and beloved. This is Job. This is our brother Job who is pronounced by God to be blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. Sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, good God-fearing people have really bad days and nights and weeks and months. And there is nothing inherently sinful in honestly expressing what one feels. While it is said that tears are the wordless expression of the soul, it is also true that words vocalize what tears cannot. What is meant by the fact that Job cursed the day of his birth? In this context, Job cursing the day of his birth carries the idea of disdaining, rejecting, holding that day in contempt as one who utterly despises it, which is exactly what he expresses in this chapter. Job is so miserable, and this is one of the things we need to catch here. He's expressing how miserable he is, and this helps us to understand how miserable his state is. He is so miserable, he is so broken, he is so overwhelmed with his affliction and his pain that it erases all the good he had had in his life. He can't see outside of what he suffers at the moment. On the balanced scale of his life, the bad cleanly outweighs the good. Job wishes he had never been born. As I said, this is rather dark. Job wishes that the day of his birth was not, that it was removed from the calendar. He wishes that day would perish, that it would be darkness, that God would not care for it nor shine light upon it. He wishes that the darkness of bloom and that nothingness would claim it like a black hole, that clouds would settle on it and blackness seize and terrify it. It isn't just that Job wants it gone, but he wants it utterly destroyed. He wants it violently ripped from the annals of time. In verse eight, Job speaks of the Leviathan. We really don't know what creature was referred to as the Leviathan. There are many thoughts about it, but we don't know. So far as we know, it was a mythological sea creature that stoked fear and dread in the hearts of people. It was feared for the sheer destructive chaos it caused. When you read of the Leviathan, you're talking about some kind of creature that causes utter chaos. Chaos is associated with the Leviathan. Job wishes the Leviathan be aroused to utterly destroy, to throw into chaos the day of his birth. Job wishes that the stars had not shown and that the sun had not risen on that day. Why does he curse that day? Because it was the dreaded day of his birth. It was the day when his eyes were opened And he was unable to perceive the troubles that had come upon him. So Job curses the day of his birth. Now Job laments that he lived, that he was born and lived. Verse 11, why did I not die at birth? Come forth from the womb and expire. Why did the knees receive me? Why the breast that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet. I would have slept then. I would have been at rest with kings and with counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold, who were filling their houses with silver. Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be as infants that never saw light. There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary are at rest. The prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. Having been born, and since the day of his birth cannot be erased, Job laments the fact that he was born and lived and cared for. When he talks about the knees receiving him, mother feeding him he's saying I wish that they just would have abandoned me I would have died and that would have been it he claims had been better to be left to die as an unwanted child then he reasons he would not have suffered all his pains and sorrows to him at this point no life would be better than this life to him death equals rest He reasoned that all who go to the grave, whether they be great rulers and kings, or miscarried and abandoned babies, or the wicked, or prisoners, or slaves, all, when they die, the troubles are over, they are at rest. While, of course, we receive his words for what they are, Job does, in fact, miss the point that it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. Well, death is indeed a common denominator, so is the judgment. All kings and rulers, great and small, babies and the elderly alike, the wicked and the righteous, prisoners and prison wardens, slaves and slave masters, without exception, will all give an account to God. So while Job states that death is an equalizing means of quiet and rest, that depends on where one stands before God. Job stood before the Lord in a good place as a God-fearer, but for others, those who do not fear the Lord, death will not be a place of rest, but it will be a new and awful beginning of their troubles and unrest eternally, so. So I would implore you today, if you have not believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that today you would, you would trust in Him. Because we don't know when we will draw our last breath, do we? We don't know when there will be change in an instant. So as Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse, you must be ready. You must be ready because we don't know the day or the hour. We don't know the day or the hour of his return. We don't know the day or the hour when I will breathe my last. We must be ready. For us who trust in Christ, death will be rest and not only rest, it will enter us into the glory of God, amen. But not all can say that. You must believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Job laments the fact that he was born and then wishes that at birth he had been left to die. He reasoned that he would then have been spared all his troubles. He would be at rest. But now we read that Job dreads that he lives. So we have him wishing the day of his birth had not happened, wishing that though he was born, he would have died then. Now he dreads the fact that he lives. Verse 20, why is light given to him who suffers, and life to the bitter soul? Who long for death, but there is none, and dig for it more than hidden treasures, who rejoice greatly, then exult when they find the grave? Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in? For my groanings come as at the sight of my food, and my cries pour out like water, For what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet. I am not at rest, but turmoil comes. In verses 20 through 23, Job turns a little bit philosophical. He wonders why life is given to souls whose life will be marked by intense suffering. He wonders why life is given to people who will long for their death. Why is this? It's quandary. With those questions unanswered, he turns to his own life then and describes the misery he faces. Where eating was once a pleasure, now he groans at the sight of food. Oh. He cries aloud so often and so continuously that he says, his cries are like water. They simply pour out. Wow. It is a picture of Job's suffering. It is not a picture to depress us, but to understand how deep his pain was. Then he states in verse 25 that we need to spend a little bit of time with. For what I fear comes on me and what I dread befalls me. For what I fear comes on me and what I dread befalls me. This verse is often abused, misused. There are the so-called faith teachers, who claim that if we have faith, we will only have good in this life and never have adversity. You've heard of them. Well, I'm supposing you have. Perhaps you've heard them on the radio or TV, and I hope that you turn them off. When they come to this verse, see, they really struggle with the book of Job, because we understand that Job faced this adversity due to no fault of his. And so they have to deal with the book of Job and twist it and pervert it to fit their theology. So when they come to this verse, for what I fear comes upon me and what I dread befalls me, they then have to explain in a way. They wrongly say, aha, there it is. This is why Job suffered. His faith was poor. He feared and he dreaded. If only he had faith that overcame fear and dread, then these things would have never come upon him. I've heard that teaching since I was a teenager. They teach that if we will but have faith, it will not fear or dread anything, that only good will come our way and never adversity. Liars. They teach that the reason one has adversity is because they have poor faith. If you'll only have faith, you lack faith, you just need to have faith, then none of these terrible, awful things will ever happen to you. You'll never be sick, you'll never have a headache, your bills will always be paid, you'll have a brand new Cadillac in the parking garage, you know, on and on it goes. Now get this, interestingly, they speak of faith as its own object. They speak of faith as its own object, as that which itself produces and defines your reality. Christian faith is founded in Christ, in the Lord our God. Christian faith is only as good as his object. Well, if our object is God, that's a good faith. Amen? Right? But they claim faith as its own object, that you simply believe your reality into existence. Just believe with enough faith until you get what you want. Name it and claim it. Say it and take it. Blab it and grab it. Squeal it and steal it. Just say it and believe it, and you'll have it. I remember years ago, the church where I met my wife at had a 1976 black Chevy van and I had some children's church equipment in there and some sound equipment and somebody broke into the parking lot that night broke into my car and took the sound equipment and So I called some of the pastor of the church. I said I'm gonna need to do something to replace this well brother Martin came over and Brother Martin said let's just pray. I said, okay So he began to pray and gathered some of the people around us and prayed And he began to pray, and he said, okay, it was three men who took these things, and they used a screwdriver to get into it. Well, that's prophetic. You can see the markings on the door. And he goes through this whole list, and I was on staff at that church, not for long. And then he said, they will return it to you by 5.30 today if you believe. And I said, brother Martin, I don't believe it. So I guess I'm not getting it back. We better do something about this. And that's what they do have all these prophecies about everything and how it happened. And this came about. If you believe they unload all their falsities and lay them on you. And now it's up to you. That's what they do. Well, brother, you wouldn't be sick if you had faith. Your bills would be paid if you had faith. Faith, Christian faith is not its own object. Christian faith has Christ as its object. So what happens then is these do not allow for the sovereignty of God in their life. They're always taking control. They're always demanding. If God brings them something unpleasant, no, they're going to reject it. They're going to denounce it. They're gonna believe for something better. As they hold by faith, you are your own sovereign. You should hear some of their teachings, how they talk about God losing power in the garden, that God lost some of his authority in the garden. That's what they teach. That's why we have to pick up the faith and run with it. True. So they teach you that if you have a problem, it's because of your lack of faith. These uphold the doctrines of demons. They take this verse and accused Job of faithlessness. Oh, there it is. That's why he was attacked. That's why these things came upon him, because he had fear and because he dreaded. That's why he didn't have faith. So they accused Job of faithlessness. And I just want to ask this question. Isn't that what the accuser does? Tell me, church, did the trials and tests come upon Job because he lacked faith? What does the scripture say? No, they did not come upon Job because he lacked faith. As a matter of fact, the scripture clearly says, God says it himself, Job was blameless. Read the book and get God's doctrine from the book rather than reading your heretical doctrine into the book. Job suffered because he was blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil, and God held him before the devil saying, have you considered my servant? Of all Job might have meant when he says, for what I fear comes upon me, in the context, he fears that he will live to see another day and he doesn't want it. He dreads, what he dreads will befall him, is another day and night of pain and suffering, of anguish, discouragement, anxiety, and grief. I mean to tell you, who wants that? I don't. Who doesn't fear and dread that? It's all awful, for as Job said, verse 26, I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, and I'm not at rest, but turmoil comes. So Job utterly laments his birth, the fact that he survived his birth and his present life. As one preacher explained in chapter three, Job asked, why did I arrive? Why did I survive? And why am I alive? At this point, Job wished for death. But now, let's observe a few points concerning Job. We're not even looking all the way to the end and seeing the blessings of God upon him. But just right now, let's observe a few things about Job. First, while Job wished for death, we have no indication that he thought of suicide. There is nothing in the text to indicate that he thought to end his own life. Beloved as honest and straightforward as revealing as the text is if Joe thought to end his own life I think that would have been a matter included in the text. I Mean what's hidden here? In all Job suffered, all his pain and discouragement, in all his anxiety, even in his thoughts to wish for death, he knew that it was the Lord who gives and the Lord who takes away. And what's Job's commentary or response to that truth? Blessed be the name of the Lord, amen. Job knows that his life isn't in his hand, his life is in God's hand. If it is God who gives life, and it is, then it is God who also ordained the numbers of our days, and it is not ours to try to alter what he has ordained. Further, I will add, that it seems right to think that as Job was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil, that the thought of taking his own life would have been something, if he thought of it, he would have quickly turned away from it, because that's the kind of man he was. Secondly, We carefully note that while Job did indeed curse the day he was born, he did not curse God. Job did not sin with his lips. Through all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. Hallelujah, glory to God. Blessed be the name of the Lord, amen? Beloved, we have something to learn here from Job. When the world has dealt its worst blow to us, that we would trust in the Lord and not curse him. That the foundations of hell would shake and the heavens would rejoice, that God would be glorified. Number five, let's talk about our Lord God quickly. Where is the Lord God in all this? I'm gonna ask this over and over and over and you probably can rehearse the answer and you know it. He is over it all, ruling and reigning. He is the only sovereign, all wise, omnipotent, transcendent, true to himself and ever faithful to his people. God is on the throne of heaven. The earth is his footstool. He's ruling and reigning. Yeah, but what about all these things? I can tell you where God's at. He's on his throne in heaven. He's ruling and reigning over all things. God's temporary silence. Now for Job, the silence lasted for months, if not a year or more. But God's temporary silence is not to be mistaken as uninvolved disinterest. God didn't give the world a spin and walk away from it. The silence of God does not equate indifference. The silent God is the waiting God who's prepared at the right time to exalt his humble servants. And we will see that with Job. We do not know what all God has spared us, church. We don't know what all he's spared us. But we know that his way is always to bring us through the trials of life. And that's what he does, as he did Job. He brings his people through the trials and tribulations. He brings them through, refined as through fire, refined as gold, pure gold. The testing of your faith, James says. Does what? Works good in us. Let me just paraphrase it. It works good in us. It perfects us. It refines us. God is on the throne. And in all the evil things in this world, he will work good. Now our Lord Jesus. In this morning's text, we read as six times Job asked why. Why, why, why, why, why, why? And this Job foreshadowed Jesus, who later on the cross, after darkness fell on all the land, having suffered in his body, cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Matthew 27, 46. As a read of Job asking why, We know that God will prove himself faithful. We know when we get to the end of the book, that Job's questioning heart will be satisfied. Why did the father forsake Jesus? Why has thou forsaken me? Of Jesus, the scripture says, Isaiah 53, 10 and 11. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of a soul, he will see it and be satisfied. By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant will justify the many and he will bear their iniquities. Job is the type, Jesus the reality. As Job suffered for no cause or sin of his own, Jesus suffered for us for no cause of sin of his own. As Job asked why, Jesus asked why. As Job was satisfied by interceding for his friends, being given a greater posterity and a long life, so the greater Jesus. As a result of the suffering of his soul, Jesus intercedes for his as his friends, we are to him his great posterity. And as Jesus was raised to life never to die again, so through faith in him do we share in his life eternal life. As Job the lesser was satisfied, he pointed to Jesus the greater, who as a result of the anguish of his soul, he is satisfied. Finally then, though Job suffered Satan's severest test, he passed them by immediately responding in true and faithful worship. The lingering question, as he faces the test of time, Time can wear on us, can't it? But as he faces the test of time, will he come to curse God? Thanks be to God, he curses the day of his birth, but he does not curse God. And thanks to God that though at the will of God, Jesus suffered the cross, he did not deny the Father, but served him unto death that we might live. Dear church, though there is pain and sorrow, discouragement and despair, anxiety and depression in this world, let me tell you that if you will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. And on that day, your soul will be satisfied. For one look at his dear face, all sorrow will erase. Amen. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Let's bow our heads in prayer.