I'd like to invite you to take your Bible and look with me in Job chapter seven, as we continue our study through this important book of scripture in the Old Testament. And from the beginning, we've been looking at Job as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the more we study the affliction that he endured, the suffering at the hand of God, Even though one of God's children, there are many parallels that we can draw between Job and the Lord Jesus Christ. And this particular title is from the depths of affliction. Our Lord, as we saw last time was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I don't know why we think that we deserve less being sinners, that everything that the Lord brings our way by way of trouble and affliction, we certainly don't deserve better. And it's in times like that, when it's good to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, what he endured, what he suffered in order to be the substitute of that people that the father had given him. During times of trial and affliction, may the spirit of God take our eyes off ourselves and onto the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what my prayer is that we might do as we go through these studies in Job. Psalm 130 is a Psalm that over the years I have read and applied to myself and I Think about the different times that I have been in the depths and the Lord has delivered me. And certainly that is true, but all of the Psalms, like we're studying with Job pertain to the Lord Jesus Christ. And since the title of this particular message is from the depths of affliction, it brings me to Psalm 130. Where if you read this Psalm as being the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ and his suffering, truly it causes us to marvel that he being God would take on flesh to identify with such centers as we are and endure the affliction and suffering that he did. Think about these words being Christ's words. They were written by the Psalmist. We don't know whether David, but out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. Christ, in enduring the affliction and suffering he did, continually looked to his father to sustain him, though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered. And he says, if thou Lord should mark iniquities, who shall stand? Well, the Lord did mark iniquities, those of his people on his son, but had it been put upon the sinner rather than the savior, none could have stood. None could have answered to God's holiness, but Christ did. And that's why he says there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Everything he did in his affliction was for the forgiveness of the sins of those that the father gave him. And so he says, I wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait. And in his word, do I hope. This gives us an inkling of what Christ would have been thinking as he endured the suffering of the sin of his people in the cross. He was waiting on the Lord with hope, knowing that when he had finished the work, the father would be satisfied and would raise him from the grave as well as in him, that people that he came to save. So he says, my soul waited for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch for the morning. If you think you've spent a sleepless night and probably over the years, we all have spent countless sleepless nights. awake, just waiting for the morning to arrive. That's how the Lord described here, how he waited on his father and the morning to which he watched would have been his resurrection. That when this was all said and done, after he had endured everything that the father put on him. that that morning would come when he would be raised from the grave, ascend on high and be seated in glory. That's why he says, let Israel hope in the Lord. Who's Israel? His true Israel, the elect of God. For with the Lord, there is mercy and with him, I love this, is plenteous redemption. That redemption that he worked out on behalf of his people actually redeems. It doesn't just cover sin. He, by his death, redeemed his people. And it's plenteous redemption because it's for the worst of sinners. And yet those that the father has purposed to save and given to his son, they can rest in that redemption. He says, and he shall redeem Israel. That means those that have been chosen to be princes with Christ, he's the true Israel, that he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Little background reading there as we come back to Job chapter seven now and consider the depths of the affliction, the sufferings of Job foreshadow the affliction of the Lord Jesus Christ who bore The very wrath of God on behalf of his people. When we talk about wrath, we're talking about his justice. God never hated his son. It wasn't that sense that he poured his wrath out on his son. He loved his son because his son willingly submitted to that work of substitution to which the father called him and did it with joy. But Job's sorrowful lament that we're going to read about here in Job seven, I believe prophetically points to Christ's agony as the surety for his people. That's how I want us to read it. You can never go wrong in reading the scriptures, always seeing how they apply to the Lord Jesus Christ. You can go wrong trying to apply them to yourself. Many people do take it out of context and they make promises to themselves, which the scriptures have never promised. God has it, but you can never go wrong looking for Christ. You can never find Christ too much in the scriptures. And therefore I would encourage us all to seek the Lord and ask that by his spirit, he opened our eyes to Christ. Here we have just a glimpse of what it would have been for him to endure God's justice in order to redeem that people that God the father had given him in his sovereign grace. So this book of Job is not merely a record of a man's anguish. Sadly, that's how many read it. They go in the beginning, they think, wow, what did Job suffer? And for what? He really didn't do anything wrong. All of that to teach us patience. So everything is me, my, and I. Now we're to see here how Job is a picture of Christ crucified. And the Holy Spirit moved Job to write these words. We have every reason to believe that it was Job himself that was penning these words. I'm just now finishing a biography of a man who went through great suffering and was directed to sit down and write it as it was happening as if it were happening. It's a very interesting book, but he was directed to pen what he went through, but none of that compares to how the Lord directed Job to write these words. And we know, even as Christ said that when the spirit would come, he'd not speak of himself, but he'd take those things pertaining to Christ and reveal them unto It's people. And so I believe even here with Job, this word that he penned, so we can say he's the writer, but the spirit is the author. And it's not only a testimony then of his own grief. If Job were alive today and I was preaching through this book, he would say to me, I'm confident. Don't talk about me. Talk about Christ. because what he writes of his own affliction here is a foreshadowing of Christ, as we saw last time, the man of sorrows. That's what he was called, acquainted with grief. So when we read Job 7, which I'm going to begin to do now, may the spirit lift our eyes above the ash heap where Job is seated here and his friends attempting to console him and look above, behold the one who was despised and rejected of men and bearing the sins of his people. So the first thing with regard to this subject of the depths of affliction, I would say number one, it was an affliction to which Job was appointed. That's clear when we read here in verses one through five. And again, this is Elias who is reminding him of these things, but certainly the truth is there not chapter seven, verse one of Job and appointed time to man upon earth. Are not his days also like the days of an hireling? As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work, so am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed in me. When I lie down, I say, when shall I rise? And the night be gone, and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin is broken and become loathsome." Actually here in this chapter, We find it a continuation of chapter six, where Job is answering Eliehaz. So these are not Eliehaz's words, but Job's answer to what Eliehaz had to say to him back in chapter five. But verse six, you can see it begins here, Job answered and said, And that's where we saw last time him as the man of sorrows. And this is a continuation here in chapter seven. When we get to chapter eight, another one of his friends will begin to speak, Bildad. So these are the words of Job and he asked the question, is there not an appointed time to man upon earth are not his days also like the days of an hireling." So here he speaks to this being an appointed time for him. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin is broken and become loathsome. Very picturesque language. Job begins here with the language of appointment. I want you to underscore that. A time fixed. There are a lot of people that think things just happen. They don't. Everything that takes place is by God's appointment. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? In other words, a path that he has ordained. We don't know ahead of time what God has purpose for us, but as we look back to the path by which he has led us, we can say with confidence that he has led us all the way. There's not a curve, there's not a turn, there's not an up or a down, that whatever that broken road may be, it is the Lord who has appointed it. And just as man's days are numbered is where we see the parallel with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. The days of Christ on earth were appointed and numbered by the father and that from even before the beginning of the world. If you go over to Acts chapter two and verse 23. with regard to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. That wasn't left up to men to determine when, where and how he would die. Just like Job here speaks of an appointed time and his days like the days of an hireling. When you hire somebody, you hire them to work for a time and then it's finished, the contract is over. And that's what Job is saying with regard to his life. We don't own our lives that our very breath is determined by God. And when that contract with God is finished, whereby he has determined the end it's done. You're not going to continue one day further. And with regard to the Lord, Jesus Christ. It says in verse 22 of Acts two, this is Peter's message. He met of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God. There we see a parallel with Job. It wasn't for any thing in Job that God brought the affliction on him, but it was for his purpose, his glory. So with Christ. He said, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you and ye as ye yourselves also know. But here it is verse 23, him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Why does God know ahead of time what will take place as far as foreknowledge? Well, he's determined everything. You can't talk about the foreknowledge of God. People say, well, yeah, God looks down and sees what's going to happen. And then he attempts to control or direct thing. No, he knows beforehand because he has determined the beforehand. He being delivered by the determinant counsel, even the foreknowledge of God, ye have taken it by wicked hands of crucified and slain. Job speaks of his life as a hireling in the sense of the drudgery of labor, like a hireling who longs for his wages. You see that in verse two, as a servant earnestly desires the shadow that speaks of the coming of the evening, when the evening shadows begin to appear. out of the heat of the day. And as in hireling looketh for the reward of his work, they were paid at the end of each day for their labor. But what is the reward of Christ's labor? Did he labor in vain? Some, the way they preach him, you would think so. That he came and he really desired to have every single sinner in the world. And so he went about attempting to save every sinner and finally laid down his life, but alas, he doesn't have everyone. Can you imagine God putting his son to labor and not giving him the reward of what he came to do? No, his reward would be that people That the father purpose that he should save and that his death would be so satisfactory to God, the father, when this was all said and done, that there would not be one in hell for whom Christ died. That's a good question. If you want to stimulate a conversation with people that say they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, just turn it around on them and ask. So are there any in hell for whom Christ died? And you'll know by their answer, whether or not you believe the same Lord Jesus, because if they say there are those in hell for whom Christ died, we're not talking about the same Christ. You might as well close the conversation right there. But to get that in order for Christ to save that people, he had to suffer and die. And so in answer to the question, what is the reward of Christ's labor here? The way Job describes himself in verse five, his flesh is clothed with worms and clouds of dust. wounds, worms, and loathsomeness was the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the reward for his labor and it was a necessary reward. The chastisement of our peace was put upon him in order that he might save that people for whom he came. So this causes us to wonder greatly how it is that for sinners, such as we are, we claim that Christ came and paid our sin debt, what it took for him to do his work. So that's where we see the type of Christ here. Christ's sufferings were not accidental. These weren't just things happening to him like Sometimes you'll have two or three things that take place and you think, wow, I'm having a bad day. Well, everything that comes our way, the Lord ordained. So why would we think one day is different than another? Even Christ submitted himself to the contradiction of centers against himself, believing and knowing that these were appointed by God himself. And certainly just as Job describes his state here, that he was clothed with worms and clods of dust. Figuratively, we could say the same thing with the Lord Jesus Christ in that his body was made a sin offering. He was clothed, not with any sin of his own, but the sin of his people. It was that sin that was put on him, just like a clothing. And he bore it and wore it to the grave because that was the only way that that sin could ever be put away. It was him wearing it, him bearing it. And in the end, him putting it away. So Job's physical corruption, Christ didn't have any physical corruption in that sense. His body was not diseased because he had no sin, but figuratively, just as Job describes here, when he says, I lie down, I say, when shall I arise? And the night be gone, I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. Our Lord never rested. while he was on this earth. Yes, as he went from place to place, we read where he slept, but many times he was awake at night while his disciples slept. And those occasions were for him to fellowship with his father and cry unto his father. I don't know as we can truly enter into that. We spend a night or two without sleep and pretty soon it has a very negative effect on our health. But I dare say our Lord Jesus Christ, when he was on this earth and think about this, the next time you have a sleepless night, whereby most of his nights were sleepless in that he knew that he came to labor and do the work and fulfill exactly what the father gave him. And so any sleeping that he would have done would have been just simply for the restoration physically of his body. But he continued to look to his father, even while others slept. So that was all part of his humiliation and his suffering. And what Job describes here, not only of his sleepless nights, but of his flesh being clothed with worms and clods and his skin broken and become loathsome. We saw already the last time in Isaiah chapter 53, how he was considered the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief And it says there was no beauty with which to behold him. And it says no comeliness. In fact, we read there, we hid as it were our faces from him. As Job's friends looked upon him in this loathsome state, they didn't recognize it. But certainly with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ, if you go back a chapter in Isaiah 52, and read verse 14. It says, as many were astonished at thee, his visage was so marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men. You stop and think about crucifixion. It is one of the most excruciating ways you could ever put somebody to death. And you consider how they took our Lord and beat him and then pulled out his beard and then took a crown of thorns and smashed it down on his head, mocking him, saying he was a King and then crucifying him, nailing them to the cross. That would be a bloodied body. And yet that was the picture of what we see here of Job, his flesh clothed with worms and clods of dust. Those worms represent the sin of his people, not his own, the clods of dust. There's no way that he should have been in that state were it not that it was appointed. by the father. And so that's the first point here with regard to the depths of the afflictions of the Lord Jesus Christ. We already saw two part of this, but going on to verses six through 10, we see the days of vanity and nights of sorrow. It says, my days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle. and are spent without hope. Oh, remember that my life is wind. Mine eyes shall no more see good. The eye of him that has seen me shall see me no more. Thine eyes are upon me and I am not. As the cloud is consumed and vanished away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more." Of course, these are the words of Job as he sees his life slipping away without hope or comfort, that when even he lies on his bed, he finds no rest, only tossings to and fro until dawn. Well, you say, how does that depict the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, Christ endured the long dark night of Gethsemane and Golgotha, even when he was on the cross, the noon day, it was dark. And it wasn't for any sins of his own, but the sins of his people. So he knew what it was to endure darkness. Here, figuratively again, we're thinking of the dark night of the condemnation of the sin of his people who were fallen creatures in Adam. And yet our Lord entered into that dark night, not to get a nice rest, But to battle, just like when you think of tossing to and fro, someone asks, well, how was your night? And you say, man, I was battling all night with my thoughts and just could not find rest. Well, again, our Lord did not come into this world to live a life of comfort, but to enter into the darkness and to do battle with the powers of darkness and evil. and that of the sin of his people, that he might in the end see the light of day, which was the glory of God, the father with which the father would reward him. But he knew what it was to be forsaken. In other words, to be left alone. Many times when you can't rest at night, and you think of others that seem to be sleeping comfortably, it's as if you've been left alone. Over in Psalm 22, this is a passage which our Lord would have cried from the cross, again, an indication that these Psalms pertain to Him. But here even there's a lot of misunderstanding When our Lord Jesus cried, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? So when we talk about the depths of affliction, it was not only a matter of him entering into the long dark night, not for sins of his own, but that of his people, but being forsaken of the father. When he says, my God, my God, he's speaking as a man. Answering to God as his father, even though Christ never ceased being God, there was never ever any separation between the father and the son as far as his divinity was concerned. But when he says, why has thou forsaken me? It's not that God turned his back on his son. That never did happen. In fact, it was necessary that God have his eyes on his son the entire time that he was offering up his body as a sacrifice that God might approve it. If his back was turned, how would he know then that every aspect of his holiness had been satisfied? God, the father's eye was ever on his son. But when it says, why has thou forsaken me? The question is more so in the sense of why have you left me to die here on the cross and not delivered me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. It's not that God didn't hear the prayer of his son, or that somehow the son was asking the father for something other than the father would give him, but it's speaking here from the perspective of man looking upon Christ's suffering, it was as if God did not hear him. And in the ninth season, am not silent. See how it mentions again the ninth season, but why was it that God forsook or left his son in this state. Verse three gives the answer. Thou art holy, O thou that inhabit us, the praises of Israel. So you wonder why Christ endured what he did, why he went through the night season, why he entered into the darkness, why, as Job described it here as tossing to and fro, why our Lord himself did not rest While he was here, it was because the father is Holy and it was necessary that he satisfy God, the father. So like Job, he saw no earthly good. Even as Job reflected on his life, he saw that it was nothing but wind. And certainly our Lord Jesus Christ, he did not though he was the creator of the universe, though he came unto his own, he did not seek comfort in the things of the flesh. So in that sense, he is compared to Job here, whereby everything physical was simply as the wind, it was passing. But he came on a mission. He came to accomplish that which the father gave him to do and not to live a life of sumptuous eating or of enjoyment. No, he was a man of sorrows. I know this is where preachers today, they want to preach a message of health, wealth, and prosperity. Well, from that standpoint, our Lord Jesus Christ didn't live a life of health, wealth, and prosperity as far as the flesh is concerned, because that's not why he came. He came to lay down his life and not to somehow hold on to it or, or enjoy what it was to be in the flesh. So the vanity of days and nights, they were nothing but sorrow. But thirdly. When you talk about in the depths of affliction, there's the cry to God in anguish. I can't insist enough on the sufferings that Christ endured. They weren't just physical, but his very soul was made an offering for sin. Here in verses 11 through 16, we have an expression of Job's unfiltered cry, if you will, in his anguish. It says here, therefore, I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea or a whale that thou set us to watch over me? When I say my bed shall comfort me, my couch shall cease my complaint, then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifies me through visions so that my soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life. I loathe it, I would not live always, let me alone for my days are vanity. Here we have the very real expressions of Job as the Lord brought him through this affliction. It's raw, it's unfiltered, and is the cry of a man who is under the heavy hand of God that he pours out what he calls here his complaint. We know that it wasn't a complaint in the sense of rebellion, But it's in the sense of coming before a higher court where a plaintiff brings his complaint before the judge, the matter is laid before the judge. That's not rebellion, but it is a matter of seeking justice. And that's certainly what our Lord Jesus Christ would have sought. That after he had gone through what he did in his sufferings, under the heavy hand of his father, that he would indeed have satisfaction and that it not be in vain. And I'm thankful to say it wasn't. Christ didn't suffer in vain, but his, just like Job, his cry unto his father, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Was an expression of the deep sorrow. whereby the weight, the heavy hand of God being upon him found no relief from man, not even relief in sleep. And I would say certainly that typifies our Lord Jesus Christ. There was to be no relief of his suffering until he had completely satisfied God, the father, and it was to be unto death. So this, I believe mirrors our Lord's agony as he faced the cross. It wasn't with giddiness that he went and said, oh, well, I know how it's going to end anyway. No, he had to go through it as a man. In fact, when you go over to Matthew 26 in verse 38, this is an amazing scripture that many times we read over quickly. but it gives us an idea of what Christ would have been enduring as he faced the cross. In Matthew chapter 26 and verse 38, he says, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And then he says to his disciples, tarry ye here and watch with me. They couldn't enter into what he was about to endure. And of course we know they couldn't watch with him even for an hour, but our Lord did not rest. That's why he's the substitute. Even to the point here where Job, we saw desired death. He said that death would be better than to continue on in the suffering. He called it here that in verse 15 of Job 7, my soul chooseth strangling, better to be strangled to death and death rather than my life. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth for one reason, and that was to lay down his life. So just as Job desired death, so too did the Lord Jesus Christ in order to accomplish that work for which he came because the wages of sin is death. He knew that apart from going through that death, there could be no relief. And so, yes, he set his face like a Flint toward Jerusalem. He was not on a mission of suicide, but of sacrifice that in the end, God the Father would be pleased with his suffering and would raise him up again from the dead. So he, just like Job, he willingly sought death. It would be better than to continue in what he was enduring. And even our Lord willingly laid down his life for his sheep. But it's not just a physical anguish when we talk about The cry of an anguished heart or soul. The anguish of Christ was indeed his soul. It wasn't merely physical, but it was spiritual and it was judicial. And that's how we know what the Lord came to do, being made sin for us. Really what Job was enduring, as we've seen, it wasn't for any one particular sin of his own, but it was that God might be glorified in bringing this suffering on Job and sustaining him through it. And in the end, glorifying him. Well, that's what he did with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then one final point coming back here to Job chapter seven, We find in his affliction of the depth of his affliction, a plea for God's consideration. It says in verse 17, what is man that thou should magnify him and what, and that thou should set thine heart upon him and that thou should visit him every morning and try him every moment. How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee? O thou preserver of men, why hast thou set me as a mark against thee? So that I am a burden to myself and why does thou not pardon my transgressions and take away my iniquity for now, shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be here. Job's cry really is forward looking to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he says, what is man? Well, that's the same question is asked over in Psalm eight, but when it says, what is man with regard to Christ? What is this man? Who is this man? That's the way it's put in Psalm eight. A lot of people apply it to themselves, but it's really the answer, the question, the mystery of Christ of God in the flesh. Who is this man? And the answer. In verse five is for thou has made him a little lower than the angels and has crowned him with glory and honor. Thou made us him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou has put all things under his feet. So through this suffering, it was that God might indeed raise him up and honor him. And that's what he did with Joe. but it's forward looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. We can hear even in Job's voice here, the voice of Christ as the surety, standing in the place of sinners, bearing their sins as though he were the sinner. When he says here, why dost thou not pardon my transgression? Christ had no transgression, but he did go to the cross for the transgression of his people. And until he had laid down his life, that transgression could not be put away, was not put away. It would take him suffering unto death. When Job said, I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee? Christ has not sinned. He did not sin, but he bore the sin of his people. Scripture says, he who knew no sin was made to be sin. The sin offering doesn't mean he was made sinful that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So here, Job's plea for consideration is for forgiveness and pardon. And Christ's plea for consideration from the cross was that the father might be satisfied with his work and forgive. put away those sins that he was bearing. And you know what? Today, Christ is no longer the sin bearer. He died, rose again, ascended on high and he ever lives, he's seated in the heavenlies. That's sin of his people having been put away. So the father did hear his cry, but it would only be through his sufferings. So, as I said, Job 7 here, it's not merely a picture of Job's sufferings, but it's a reflection of Christ, the man of sorrows, who bore the griefs and carried those sorrows of his people unto death, completely put them away. Even as from the ash heap here, Job is looking to the cross of Calvary And then we see the justice of God. We see Christ as a substitute suffering for the sin of his people, but we see also the depths to which our Lord Jesus Christ descended in order to redeem his people and satisfy his father. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. I pray we can see this as we continue through Job. Just to hear in Job 7, a shadow, but Christ is the substance. And may our eyes be turned to Christ. May we be caused to flee to him in all things, knowing that for those for whom he died, there's not an ounce of wrath when God deals with us in affliction. It's in love because Christ is already born the wrath. I pray that's helpful. Amen.