you you you you you you you you you you you you On ladders swell, on earth we dwell, On mountains tall, or in the dell, In cottage o'er, in mansion fair, Where Jesus is, tis heaven e'er. Yeah, yes, tis Heav'n, tis Heav'n to know my sins forgive. On land or sea, one matters where, where Jesus is, tis Heav'n there. Let's bow our heads together in a word of prayer and let us come. Let us seek the face of God that he will come and bless us tonight as we meet in this house. Let's just pray. Our gracious God and our eternal Father in heaven, we come before thee tonight in the attitude of prayer. And the Lord tonight, we thank thee for the privilege that is ours to come unto thee and to cry and to find that grace to help in this, our time of need. We thank thee, Lord, tonight, that as we come to prayer, that we come to the one true and the living God, the one who has made all things, the one who is almighty, the one who is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And tonight we can say that thou art God and that beside thee, there is none other. And O Lord, tonight we thank Thee that as we come before Thy throne of grace, we can come with boldness, knowing that we have acceptance in Thy sight. Lord, we are not accepted because of who we are or what we have done, but we thank Thee, Lord, for the ground of redemption on which we stand. We thank Thee that we approach Thee tonight on the merits of Christ. and His finished work at the cross. We thank Thee tonight for all of Thy blessings and Thy goodness towards us, Thy people. Lord, we thank Thee for physical blessings that have come from down from above. We thank Thee for health and strength. We thank Thee for Thy hand that has been with us even throughout this day. We thank Thee for travelling mercies to bring us out into the house of God tonight. And we thank Thee for the privilege that it is to gather together with believers of like precious faith. But O Lord, most of all, what a privilege it is for us, the creature, to meet with the Creator, that we can sit at the feet of God, that we can commune with Thee. And O Lord, it is our desire tonight that we would, like Mary, sit at the feet of Jesus. O Lord, that we would choose that good part. And O Lord, that it would be a blessing, an encouragement for our souls tonight. And Lord, we pray even now that we would feel thy presence coming upon us. We pray for thy spirit to fill this house and to fill this meeting. Lord, we pray for thy leading and thy guiding throughout this service tonight. We thank thee that we come. with a message that centers on redemption, that centers on salvation, that centers on grace. And we thank thee for the grace of God, for that unmerited favor that God has shown to us, and that even in our sins that Christ died for us. He redeemed us, he purchased us by the shedding of his blood. And oh Lord, we thank thee for the shedding of the blood of Christ. We thank thee for that fountain that is now open for sin, And for uncleanness, we thank thee tonight for all who can say that we've been to Jesus for the cleansing power. Oh, we're washed in the blood of the Lamb. We thank thee for sins forgiven, sins cast behind thy back, never to be remembered no more. We thank thee for thy saving hand, but also, Lord, for thy keeping hand, thy securing hand. To know, Lord, that no man can pluck us out of the hand of God. To know that we are kept not only for time, but for eternity. Lord, encourage our hearts tonight as we come to this place of prayer. Speak to our hearts, help us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ as we come to thy word especially, we pray for thy spirit to be upon the word, and even for the time of prayer later, may we be like the early church in the book of Acts, that they continued together with one accord in the place of prayer. May there be harmony and unity tonight in our prayers. May we seek for the power and the presence of God to fall afresh upon us. And O Lord that is what we pray for this congregation. We pray that for the Reverend Macmillan as he ministers here. We pray that he would have much fruit for his labours. That God would come amongst the people here and that he would do a new thing, he would do a work in Armagh. that the people even around in this city would look back and see that God has came and God has visited his people. O Lord, wilt thou not visit us? Wilt thou not revive us again in the midst of the years? Wouldst thou not come again in revival power and with blessing and even start that work in our own hearts? Lord, start it in my heart tonight. Cleanse me afresh from sin. From thought, word, and deed, I ascend against thee today. Lord, cleanse us afresh. Give us those clean hands and that pure heart that we may approach thee tonight, and that our praise and our worship might be acceptable with thee. And so Lord help us now, as we come to worship thee, continue with us, we ask, and in all things glorify Christ. Lift up thy son, and may his name be seen and exalted in our midst tonight. For the glory and honor of God, we pray all of these things. Amen. Amen. We're going to sing again the hymn 465. 465, what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Hymn 465, we'll stand again after we get the introduction to this hymn, please. It's time to sing. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, safe and secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning and leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? ♪ Leaning on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪ I have blessed pains when my lords were near ♪ ♪ Leaning on the everlasting arms ♪ ♪ They made me, they made me ♪ ♪ Safe and secure from all alarms ♪ We'll turn tonight in the Word of God, please, to the book of Job. The book of Job in the Old Testament, chapter 23. The book of Job, chapter 23. Job chapter 23, we want to spend some time and read this whole chapter in its entirety tonight. Job chapter 23, and we're going to commence our reading at the verse number one of the chapter. Then Job answered and said, even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put his strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him. So should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. I'm backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot have held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, and many such things are with him. Therefore am I troubled at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him, for God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me, because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. We end our reading at the end of this chapter. We look to the Lord that he will come and bless the public reading of his word to our hearts tonight. It can undoubtedly be said that, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the life of Job, as it's recorded for us in the Word of God, is perhaps the life in Scripture that is marked out by the greatest adversities and hardships of all those who are named in the pages of the Word of God. The familiar words of the opening chapter of the Book of Job, I'm sure, are well known to us tonight as they introduce us to the man, the servant called Job, a man who is described as being perfect, one who is upright, one who feareth God, and a sheweth evil. We can learn very quickly that Job was a believer. He was one who walked with the Lord. He had a testimony and a name that spreaded across the land for the man of God that he was. But of course we know that despite being a man of God, despite being a believer and faithful to the Lord, that trials and troubles still came into his life. Of course a lesson to us all that even the Christian in a sinful, in a wicked, in a fallen world is not immune to trials and to difficulties. And of course it was even the words of God himself in the opening chapter of this book that God himself said that there is none like him in the earth. There is none like my servant Job in the earth. What a standing Job had before men, but most importantly before God. A man that stood right before the Lord, that the Lord commended him for the testimony that he had. Job prospered spiritually, We find very quickly that Job also prospered physically and materially with the possessions that he had. He was well off, he owned a farm, he had many family around him, he had much of that the world had to offer. And yet what we see in this book, that many of those things which he had temporally were going to be stripped away from him. For the devil, Satan himself, came unto the Lord and he said unto God defiantly, you take away all that Job has, all of his comforts, all of his possessions, then he'll forsake thee. He'll leave thee, he'll curse thee to thy face. And of course, we know that God then allows Satan to tempt Job to bring trials into his life, save taking him out of this world. The devil was not to take away the life of Job completely. But what we do find in this book is that Job suffers the loss of many things. The loss of his farm, the loss of his finances, the loss of his family and his children, even the loss of his own personal and physical health. And in the book of Job, after chapter one, It charters Job's journey to try and understand why has God caused these troubles to come into my life. And we will know that there are three friends in this book, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Suphar, three so-called friends that come to Job and try to explore the reason as to why they're suffering now in his life. And now we come tonight and break in at Job chapter 23. And here we find Job in the midst of these trials, the midst of these adversities, and really here in chapter 23, we see the prayer and the longing of Job that he would find God, that he would seek God, and that he would speak to God, and most importantly, that God would speak to him. That God would reveal something of his sovereignty, and why he was suffering in such a way that he was. And therefore tonight we want to take the words of verse number eight down to verse 12 of Job 23 as our study tonight. And our subject is very simply facing the trials of life. Job was a believer, he faced trials. Tonight we're believers, we're saved, and we face trials in the life that we live today. Well, those trials are different from person to person. The needs in all of our lives are different. But one thing that unites us all is that we will face times of trouble and hardship. And so what can we learn from the Word of God tonight when we face the trials of life? Well, the first thing that I believe we see in this passage is that facing the trials of life can be a lonely experience. It can be a lonely experience. You know, one of the things that really strikes me from Job 23, and it's very apparent in this chapter, that there's a great sense of loneliness and isolation that came upon Job at this time in his life. We've already noted that he had three friends, so-called friends, that came along, tried to bring him comfort, but we find very quickly that they even added on to his sorrow and caused him more grief in his life. They gave no consolation, and there was no comfort for a man at this point in time in his life. Often when we turn to the world and turn to man, they don't have the answers, they don't have the comfort that we need. Only God can give us that grace and comfort that we need at those times when we need him most. And of course, his friends, they tried to convince him, Job, you must have sinned. Job, you must have done something wrong to cause all of this trouble in your life. There must be some logical reason. You must have done something wrong. But we know that was not the case at all. We'll go on to see how Job's testimony before God remained perfect. He was upright. He didn't leave off God when trials came in. And we see here in verses eight and nine, this loneliness that he had. It says in those words, behold, I go forward, but he is not there. I'm backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him, he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. As we think about this experience, first of all, see Job's activity, Job's activity. Because it's clear in verses 8 and 9 that Job is completely active in his life. He's not passive, he's not sitting back doing nothing, but he is active and looking and searching for God. He says he's going forward, he's going backward, he's looking on the left hand, He's looking on the right hand. He looked everywhere possible to try and discern the presence of God in his life. And some commentators, when they comment on these verses, will tell us that when Job was facing forward, he was looking towards the rising sun. He was looking towards the east. Then when he looked back, he was looking towards the west. The left hand makes reference to the north, and then the right hand to the south. So he was literally looking north, south, east, and west in order to find God. Now, of course, we don't literally mean that he would find God in some particular geographical place on earth, but instead it's more a search that he would feel the nearness and the presence of God in his life. You see, that had left him off. It felt at this time that the Lord was far off. He was not as near as once he was in his life. He didn't have the same communion and fellowship that once he had with the Lord. And there's a great lesson there, that Job was not content. Job was not content for God to be far off. Job wanted to find the Lord. He was looking everywhere to discern where God was. And when trials come in, we are not to leave off God, we are not to leave off the Word, coming to church. But it is at those times of trial that we are to seek God more than ever before. Not to be inactive, but to be actively looking and learning from the Lord. You know, I believe, as Job searched in these verses while we see, that his search at that time was in vain. I believed he knew, and he believed in his heart that he would find the presence of God again. And sadly tonight we know so many Christians from our own lives and personal experiences, those who walked well with God for a time, but trials and troubles came in and sadly they turned against God. Sadly they pointed the finger and blamed God for those troubles and now they're in the world, they're far off from the Lord. Point the finger at God for their suffering and curse God. And sadly they neglect off the Lord at the time when they need him most. And so we see Job's activity. He sought the Lord, forward, backward, to the left, to the right, looking for God so that he would find him. We see Job's activity, but we see Job's abandonment in this experience. Job's abandonment. Verse 8 tells us, but he is not there. Verse 8 also says, but I cannot perceive him. In verse 9 we read, but I cannot behold him. And then he says at the end of verse 9, I cannot see him. I cannot perceive him, I cannot behold him, and I cannot see him. There's the abandonment. There's the loneliness of Job. No matter where he looked, it was all in vain. No matter where he turned to, he couldn't find the presence of God. What we do notice here is Job did not deny the reality of God. Job knew that God was real. He says, he is not there in verse eight. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. He didn't say he is not. He didn't doubt the reality. He knew God was real. He knew God was real. But he said he is not there. Couldn't feel the presence of the Lord. And this is something that we read about in many of the lives of the people of God. The best of believers in scripture came to points in their life where they felt isolated and felt separated from the Lord. One example is David himself. And David in Psalm 13, verse one, penned the words, how long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever. How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? David believed that the Lord was hiding his face from him. And verse nine of our chapter tonight, we read, he hideth himself on the right hand. It seemed on a human level that God was hiding from his servant. And we must admit at times that we feel the same. We ought to be honest with ourselves and say, we've been at that point where we feel the Lord is hiding himself. We feel the Lord is far off. We feel isolated. We feel lonely. The help of man doesn't bring us comfort. We need the Lord but we can't find him. There's times where God seems far off and we need him more than ever. We can't feel his presence as once we did in our lives. That's the effect that the trials of life can have upon us as the people of God. Oh yes, we can be active and looking, we can be faithful, we can be crying on to the Lord, but we can still feel abandoned. We can't perceive God, we can't behold him. It seems like he's hiding himself. And so we see here, it's a lonely experience for Job. Facing the trials of life can be a lonely experience for us as well. But secondly, we go on to see in verse 10, that facing the trials of life should also give us a longing expectation. A longing expectation. Because as we continue on through this passage tonight, we go on to learn that in verse number 10, there's a great change in mood, in the life and in the character of Job. Suddenly his spirits are changed and they're raised up in verse number 10. And I'm sure the verse number 10 is probably the greatest verse in the entire book of Job. Yet what of an expectation Job had in the midst of trial to see that God is still working. God is still active. God is working according to his plan and his purpose. I do not understand it now, but I am sure and I am confident God is working. He says, but he knoweth the way that I take. When ye have tried me, I shall come forth as gold. We notice Job's recognition in this verse. His recognition, because here we see that Job was a man that was spiritually mature, a man that had walked long in the faith, and had drawn close to the Lord, that he had such an understanding of who God is, of his person and his character. Because here Job realizes the omniscience of God. He says, but he knoweth. He knoweth. That little word, but, it's interesting to note, remember every single word in scripture's inspired, it's the word breathed out from God. And that little word, but, shows us the contrast that he's painting from verse number nine into verse 10. Of course he was lonely, he couldn't find the Lord, couldn't perceive him, but, but he knoweth. And that little verb, knoweth, in the Hebrew, it means to have a knowledge of something. But more than that, it means to look into your life and to perceive that there is a need. And it is as if Job is saying that God looks into my life, God perceives the need, and he knows exactly what my need is. Greater than I know my need. God knoweth. He knoweth. He knows all that I'm facing. He has a full awareness of it. God knoweth the way that I take. Of course, the way relates to the pathway of our lives. God knoweth about it all tonight. Dear Christian, we don't know what we're going to face in the next moment, in the next minute. We don't know what's ahead this week. We don't know what's ahead tonight or tomorrow. Something can come into your life that we are not expecting, but God knoweth the way that we're taking. He knows the path. He's planned it out. He's ordained our steps. We're told in Psalm 37 that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. And nothing happens by chance or haphazardly, but all according to the sovereignty of God. We ought to believe that. God knoweth the way that I take. It's the same with you tonight. God knows. God knows about the pathway of your life. Oh, he knows every twist and turn. He knows every valley you'll have to go through. He knows every mountain that you'll have to climb and you're going to face. God knows about it all. That should bring comfort, should bring comfort and should increase our faith. Increase our faith to give our lives, place our hand in the hand of God and allow the one who knows the way to lead us on. Go through with him, go where he would lead according to his plan for his ways are higher than our ways, his ways are greater and are always for our good. Job comforted himself. and told himself, God's in control of my life and my circumstances. My way, my life is being led and guided by God. He knows the way that I'm taking from beginning to end. And whatever I face, I know it's according to God's plan. What a recognition that was. Not only his recognition, but also Job's refining. Job's refining. He goes on to say in verse 10, when he hath tried me. When he hath tried me. And here we're introduced to the analogy or the illustration of a metal, a piece of metal going through the refining process. Of course, the reference in verse 10 is to gold, a precious metal of gold. And it is that it's going through the refining phase. And when a metal is going through that phase, of course, it has to face the heat. has to face the fire so that any impurities are removed away from that metal to make it pure gold. And so Job could see that at this time spiritually in his life, he's in the furnace, he's in the heat, he's facing the trials and the flames of affliction are kindling hard against him in his life. He says, when he have tried me, that little word tried, it means to be tested or to be examined. It was as if the Lord was testing and examining the life of Job. Now, the book of James tells us that God does not tempt any man. And what that verse means by tempting is that God does not lead any man into sin. But in another sense, God does tempt man. Because another way that we can understand to be tempted is to be tried. to be tested or to be examined. Of course, it happened to Christ himself. The spirit led Christ into the wilderness to be tempted 40 days off the devil. If Christ was tempted, the Christians going to be tempted and God allows trials. to come in. And of course the reason why he does that is so that our faith would increase and would strengthen. It was as if God was testing or examining Job at this time. How genuine, how strong is your faith in me? You know at this time Job's mind was not on the trial. But Job's mind here is very clearly into the future. When this trial is over, because notice the tense of these words. He says, when he hath tried me. It's in the past tense, and Job's writing these words as if the trial is already over. He's tried me, and I'm out of the process. I'm no longer in the flame. Now, of course, Job was still in affliction, but he's writing this as if the trial had ended already. And you see, there is the expectation. Job knew that one day his problems were going to cease. Oh yes, he was in the furnace. Yes, he was in the fire. But there would be a time where God would give and grant that way of escape. God always gives a way of escape out of temptation and out of trial. Job didn't despise his suffering. Job embraced his suffering to be a time to draw him closer to the Lord and to strengthen him. Of course, if we had the choice, we would never choose problems. We would choose peace, a life of peace, a life of ease, that's what we all want. And if we had the choice, we would never choose a life of difficulty, but we don't have the choice. Very often, our lives, as we know, have difficulties, have trials. Don't despise, don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Why? Well, very simply because what if the Word of God tells us, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Trio is a sign that the Lord loves us. The Lord wants our faith to be more and more growing and relying on him. Job's recognition, Job's refining, but Job's reward in verse 10. His reward. He says at the end, when you have tried me, I shall come forth as gold. What a glorious picture of splendor, of perfection. I shall come forth as gold. We see the definite nature of these words. He says, I shall come forth. Not that I might come forth, I may come forth, but I shall come forth. No doubt in his mind, the definite nature of these words are seen. I will come forth as gold. And of course this analogy of the metal in the fire now comes to its conclusion. Here's the gold, it's out of the furnace, it comes forth as gold, pure gold. Without any impurities, without any marks or taints, it's perfect, it's pure, spotless. And of course, that was the expectation. Job knew that he was saved. He knew that his impurities, his sin was forgiven, was removed. He knew he was justified. He knew as God looked upon him, he saw him having on the righteousness of Christ. And so therefore the mention of gold tells us that his guilt and stain of sin was removed. He was a believer. He was saved. But there's also a picture there of acceptance in the gold. The mention of gold shows us how Job's faith was going to be strengthened, yes, but it also pointed forward to a day where all impurity would be removed. Of course we cannot reach the stage in life where we're sinlessly perfect. That will never come in this life. But even here, there's the expectation that we can have tonight as the people of God to look forward to a better day. A better day when we leave time and we enter eternity. We know tonight that for the unsaved, that's a fearful thing. For that day, they step into eternity will bring judgment. will bring eternal punishment and damnation to the soul. But for the believer, that will be the greatest crowning day. The day they go to glory. The day they go to be with Christ. And the day where their bodies are changed into his glorious body, removed entirely from sin. The curse, the stain, the sin of this world removed. and were made like unto our Saviour, and we come forth as gold. What an expectation! Job lived in the light of eternity. He knew there was more to life than life on this earth. He knew when his body was in the ground, his soul would go on, it would never die. And he looked forward to that day where he would come forth As God, do we do such a thing? We should always encourage ourselves. We should always keep our minds on eternity. We can really write over the life of Job the same words that Joseph said in Genesis 50, verse 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. The world will mean evil against us. The world will try to hinder the church, our witness, our work. The world will try to hinder the believer, try to bring you and ensnare you in the things of sin to take you away from your walk with God. But no matter the evil we face, God means all things for good. We come to our last point tonight. We've seen the lonely experience and the longing expectation, but our final point is that in the trials of life, we can leave a lasting example. we can leave a lasting example. We see that in verse 11 and 12. Here's the example that Job leaves to us tonight. Because what we find in these verses is that Job kept his testimony before the Lord. And even tonight, in the very fact that we're speaking about this man, and we're speaking about his example, shows us the testimony that remains of this man in the word of God. Here, Job is speaking about his own life. He's speaking about how he walked with God. And we must remember, of course, that all of these words are written by the Spirit of God. And so Job's not boasting in himself or what he has done, but he's writing under inspiration here. And we're shown in these words just how godly a man Job really was. He says in verse 11, My foot hath held his steps. His way have I kept and not declined. Verse 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Three little things we find very quickly in these words. We see Job's strength in verse 11. His strength. His strength, he says, my foot hath held his steps. Job did not falter in his walk with God. There wasn't a moment that he took his feet off the path that God had for him to walk. Instead, he held to what was true. He held to the ways of God. He held to truth. He didn't depart from the wisdom of the Lord. Whilst there were those friends around him who sought to try and bring some earthly intellectual understanding to what he was trying to face in his life, trying to tell him he had sinned, his own wife telling him to curse God, and yet he held his steps in the ways of God. He walked in those paths of righteousness, and it says at the end of verse 11, he didn't decline. I've not declined. I've not retreated. I've not went back. I've not regressed in my life. I've held my steps. I've remained firm to the Lord. I've been walking with him, I'm not leaving him off. I've not left him off and I will not leave him off. Well, difficulties and trials can often come in and break up our walk with God. Our steps can falter, we can fall, we can easily go into by-path meadows and leave off the path. But what we see here is Job did not Go any other way but the ways of God. He's held his steps, showing his strength. But we also see his steadfastness in verse 12. His steadfastness because he says, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. And again, mention is made here of the fact that Job didn't retreat or regress. He didn't go back. He didn't go back in his living for the Lord and his faith, but he persevered. He was steadfast in the Lord and he says he held the commandment of his lips. I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips. In those words, the commandment of his lips is a picture to us of the Word of God. Of course, we come tonight to hear the Word of God, to read it, to preach it, to understand it. It is the word of God that contains the commandments, the law of the Lord, as to how we are to live in this world, reminding us of our sin, our need of Christ, instruction for the sinner, but also instruction for the saint, how we are to live, flee from sin, grow, be sanctified, die more to sin, live more to Christ. Instruction, commandments from God. Very simply, God's word, the Bible. I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have held to God's truth and to God's word. He placed an importance on the word of God. Can we say that no matter what we're facing tonight, that we have the greatest respect, the greatest importance, our focus is on the word of God? Have we forsaken the Lord? Have we left off our communion with God? Or are we seeking to be steadfast, to holding to what we know to be true? Because this word is all true, because it is of God, God who cannot lie, but is all truth. And so there was strength, there was steadfastness, but finally, sincerity. Job's sincerity. The end of verse 12, I have esteemed the words of his mouth. more than my necessary food. Can you not see the priority this man had in living for God and worshipping him? He esteemed the words of God more than his necessary food. He placed the spiritual above the physical and the temporal. He had the highest regard and the highest view of God. And if there's one piece of advice I can give tonight to you, It is always take the highest view of God. We can never have too high a view of God, but we ought to see Him higher and higher. How can we view Him as being high and lofty? We ought to understand Him more. How do we understand God? Through His word, through prayer, through communion with Him. Oh, that we would learn more of Him, learn more of His beauty, see more of His grace, see more of His goodness, more of His glory. more of his mercy, all of his attributes, all that God is, all of his perfection, oh, that we would see him, see him who are so loveth. Job esteemed the words of God more than his necessary food. He had the right perspective on life, that's what we ought to say. Many Christians feel in this aspect, they look to themselves first of all, they look to the world, they look at how they can help themselves, relegate God to second place, put themselves in the first place. Believing they're the masters of their own fate and destiny, I've got strength, I can do it all on my own and it leads them into more sin, leads them further from God. God's a jealous God. God is a jealous God and his greatness demands that we put him first. He is God, beside him there is none other. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. And therefore we see Job remained faithful, didn't tempt God, didn't enter into sin, but sought to live by his word, his commandments, and to order his life. according to the Word of God. Let us do the same in our lives day by day. Let us retain, let us keep to the faith, let us be steadfast, let us be strong not in our own strength but in the strength of God and be sincere. Let us hold on to truth, to forsake sin and follow in the ways that we know to be true. You know really the life of Job can be summed up in the opening chapter again of this whole book. Because in Job 1, verse 22, we read something we could write over the whole life of Job. In Job 1, 22, it says, in all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. He sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. What a lasting example he had. One that all of us would do well to follow tonight. that we would be strong in the Lord, steadfast in the cause of Christ, seeking to labour on to see his kingdom, his church built up, sincere and genuine in our walk with God and our love for others, our desire to see souls saved. It all starts within us, in our hearts. Before God can visit our land and our nation, of course, we desire that he ought to visit us first, our own hearts personally. Oh, that we would always cling to the Lord. And so when you face the trials of life, remember that it can be a lonely experience. Yes, it can seem that God is far off, but always have that longing expectation. Always look and live in the light of God's eternity, and leave that lasting example even before others, that you have that testimony, that you walked with the Lord, you didn't forsake him. But you held and you clung on to him even when you didn't understand what you were going through. And yet you walked by faith and not by sight. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he have tried me, I shall come forth as gold. May the Lord bless these words to our hearts tonight. We'll just bow in a word of prayer before we come to our time of prayer. We'll just have a brief word of prayer now.