Let's begin. Our help is in the name of the Lord who has made heaven and earth, who is the faithful. He will live. He will not forsake the works of his hands. Grace be unto you, and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before his throne. Amen. Congregation, let us sing from Psalter 250, stanza 1 and 2. 251 and 2, how good it is to thank the Lord and praise to Thee, most high accord to show Thy love with morning light, and tell Thy faithfulness each night. And also the second one, O Lord, with joy my heart expands before the wonders of Thy hands. Great work, Jehovah, Thou hast wrought, exceeding deep Thy every thought. 251 and 2, uh... ♪ And have my praise for ev'ry time ♪ ♪ Behold it is my praise to give ♪ ♪ And all my praise to give ♪ you Scripture reading this afternoon is taken from Job 1 verse 1 to 11 and chapter 42 verse 7 to 9. Job 1, 1 to 11, 11 and 42, 7 to 9. that we will first read the twelve articles of our Catholic undoubted Christian faith. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried, he descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost. I believe one holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. Job 1, starting at verse 1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household. so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." And now Job 42, starting at verse 7. And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends, for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore, take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly, and that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also accepted Job. And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Let us seek the countenance of the Lord. O Lord, from heaven and earth, thou hast made us to serve thee, to love thee, And thou knowest who we are in having all where thou hast made us and losing it because we have chosen to listen to the voice of the evil one. And thou wert, thou was the first, seeking after Adam, and still that work is going on to this day. Seeking of what is lost. May we pray for thy wisdom, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to understand thy word, would Thou apply it to our souls, that we learn to know ourselves and who Thou art in the Lord Jesus Christ as a God of forgiveness, as the one who is able to renew our lives. O Lord, We thank Thee that Thou has gathered us together again this day. And we are called to serve Thee in a spiritual way, but we are carnal, not able to serve Thee without the Holy Spirit. Therefore we ask Thee, be with us this service, help us in speaking and listening under this roof and maybe at home. Be with all of us. Thou knowest who we are and whether we prepared for Thy service or not, that we have prayed for Thy blessings or not. O bless us all. May we pray also for the Church in the Netherlands for a reformation to be brought back to Thy Word again and again. that thy honour may be seen and thy name may be glorified and also in Canada and America and all over the world. So we pray that we may receive an awakening amongst us, that we don't think we know what it means to be reformed, but that we may really become by repentance, regeneration, by faith in the Lord Jesus, because without that we are not reformed. Oh Lord, remember us, be with us, and we pray all this For Jesus' sake, Amen. Convocation. The blessings of Job are mentioned in the first verses of his book and we see the clear order in which way it was mentioned. The most important blessing is mentioned first. There was a man in the land of Us, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. That's the greatest blessing from Job. And then the next is mentioned, and there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. To have seven sons is a number of fullness, and then with three it's ten, it's also a number, altogether a number of completeness. And then his substance also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels and 500 yoke of oxen and 500 sea asses and a very great household. So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. He was a great blessing. Some of us have heard that already Thursday evening. Like Abraham, he was blessed to be a blessing and he was also a blessing to his family And that's the greatest blessing. He was a priest. We can read that in verse 4 and 5. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about, The Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. These verses we will deal with in this sermon. We place these words above the text. Job, the priest of the family and a mediator for his friends as we have seen in the last chapter of his book. Job the priest of the family and a mediator for his friends. First we will sing from 340 340, stanza 1, 2, 3, and 4, regard my grief and rescue me, for I do not forget thy loss. Far is salvation from the man who do not seek thy statue's Lord. And I bear the spite of many foes, yet from thy Lord revive thou me. Behold how I thy precepts love in kindness, Lord revive thou me. And. Amen. It's a beautiful thing to do. ♪ Ring around me ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth to hear me ♪ ♪ Hark! The herald angels sing ♪ you ♪ Raise the faces of the dead ♪ ♪ For the Lord has come to thee ♪ ♪ Christ has just borne ♪ ♪ Raised by thy hand ♪ ♪ My angels, my holy angels ♪ ♪ I hear the sound of heav'nly host ♪ But my love, I never lost faith. I sought the grave, but there was me. ♪ Praise God Almighty ♪ So, Job, the priest of the family and a mediator for his friends. Decongregation. Probably we know Jehovah's Witnesses are against celebrations of birthdays. We aren't. Perhaps some of us do not celebrate their birthday, but then for another reason. The Bible does not forbid celebrations of birthdays. In our text, we read from the seven sons of Job who continually celebrate their birthdays year by year. And nothing is said about celebrating birthdays by his daughters. But seven times a year, three daughters are invited by their brothers to enjoy a banquet. And there is nothing wrong with that, we should say. Indeed, nothing is wrong with a celebration of your birthday. But it is clear that birthday parties can be wrong. One of the pharaohs of Egypt killed a baker on his birthday. And you do remember, of course, King Herod celebrating his birthday. A lot of alcohol was drunk and John the Baptist was beheaded on that day. And possibly when his children, Job's children, organized their celebrations, Job was not invited to not present at these banquets. We can conclude that from our text verses. So these celebrations are accompanied with sin. Job was afraid that his children may have cursed God in their heart. Therefore we understand the birthday celebration of his children as celebration without reckoning with the Holy God. Now we can think about these sins and ask ourselves which kind of sin is going along with these banquets. Was it drunkenness? A sinful use of God's gracious gifts and they were really blessed with wealth? Was it excessive behavior? We don't know exactly, but the sons of Job are pictured here as partying children, enjoying the earthly blessings of the Lord. Maybe their sin is pictured as enjoying the earthly blessings without acknowledging the Lord who gave them. We are not moralists. forbidding birthday parties, but be aware of the way you do that. Did you ever humble yourself before God for your birthday? Well, the parties from the sons of Job must have been full of entertainment and their birthdays were a welcome motivation to seek amusement. And it's possible that their own life It's pictures here. In Dutch we say sometimes these guys are party animals. Maybe that's also your life. People are seeking pleasure in a world without God. Always laughter and fun. We see that in church too. They start their weekend on Friday in the pub and on Monday they are almost not able to work. Convocation, probably we are not found in a pub or a saloon to drink. Probably we are not found in a cinema or a music festival. You may be thankful for that. But by nature, we still live a life far from the righteous job, far from grace and a godly life. We organize our own days, apart from the God-fearing people and apart from God himself. We can do that at home and we can even be busy with that in church. And sons in our midst, look at the sons of Job, they are responsible for their sisters. All the brothers and sisters, you are an example. If you are listening worldly music and looking at the movies of this world, you are leading your younger brothers and sisters into the dark world without God. You are guilty of the soul of your younger family members. Do you realize that? What are you doing? And let us look to the oldest son in the parable of the prodigal son. He was a pious man, and maybe they were among the sons of Job too. But what was the desire of the prodigal son? Thou never gavest me a kid that I might make merry with my friends, he said. He was religious, but his way of living was a religious kind of entertainment without God. when he was discontented with his father. Complication in our life is like a banquet. We compose our own life banquet by nature. Although it differs in the way how we do that, we ourselves put together on the banquet table of our life what we desire by our own flesh, the one maybe on a worldly manner and the other religious. Maybe you remember that in the Old Testament books, the books of Moses, there was a distinction made in clean and unclean food. The unclean food was forbidden food And we know that the prophet Daniel would not defile himself with the food and drink of King Nebuchadnezzar according to the law of Moses. Now what kind of spiritual food can be found at the table of your life? The Bible is clear, we defiled ourselves, our souls. with a devilish banquet full of wickedness and poisoned stuff. We ate from the forbidden food and since then we compose our own defining banquets. Do you believe that? Or the world cannot fill your heart. You will never be satisfied in a life without God. And all your religious attempts and efforts without God is useless. Now what did Job thought about his children and about his world? He knew them. He was aware about their way of living. How they seek entertainment and celebrated their birthdays. How they sought it. And what do we have to see and learn from this godly man and father? Well, he saw his children before the countenance of the Lord. He reckoned with his will and not his own. He reckoned with their sins before God. Why did he? because he knew his own sin. And fathers in our midst, are you doing the same? Mothers? Job knew his children because he knew himself. He wasn't naïve. Oh, Job knew the weight of their souls, and he knew their nature. He was concerned with their souls, and every time he saw his children celebrating their birthday, he felt the necessity of forgiveness of their sin, showed in the offering of sacrifices. After the birthday banquets, he sanctified them again and again, as we can read in Job 1 verse 5. We read, Thus did Job continually, can be translated with, every day. His children had to learn the way of salvation. Job must have taught and preached to his children. They did learn from their father what Solomon should say in Ecclesiastes 11.9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. So Job taught his children about the righteousness of God, about judgment. That's the priestly father. He knew what his children needed, because he knew what he himself needed. They needed the atoning blood. He offered burnt offerings. And if we read in the first chapter of Leviticus, about the burnt offerings. We find the commandment to take a male from the cattle or the flock without blemish. So the burnt offerings pointed to Christ also here. Oh His children, they can only be sanctified by the blood of Christ. And Job offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. ten, not seven, I think. They all needed the same atoning blood to sanctify them. They all stood in need for God. You and I, our children, do need the same Christ to be sanctified. And that's also what we can read from the Apostle Peter That's the congregation in his eyes. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Virginia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. The children of Job are called to obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. These things belong together. There will never be any obedience to God without the application of the blood of Christ through the Spirit. There is a call to sanctification by the Spirit. The preaching of the gospel is a call to sanctification. And a burned offering has to be brought. It's not enough if we are separated from this wicked world by baptism or by a physical distance. And we are not sanctified or separated by our own efforts. We can live in a self-made religious cave, or as a pillar saint in separation, but still belonging to the empire of Satan. Do we understand what we need, what you need to be sanctified? that our sins have to be forgiven and that your life has to be renewed. And what then is sanctification? Obedience to the blood of Christ. There is no sanctification without that. Without justification or without the forgiveness of sin. Jobs, children have to see Christ. in whom all these things are given, to become sanctified sons and daughters, we have to see the atoning blood of Jesus Christ by faith to become regenerated. Did that happen to you? If anyone of us understands the love of God in Christ, he may say, Because he first loved us, 1 John 4, verse 19. And if we love Christ, our life isn't the same as it was before. And then we come back to the image of the banquet, the banquet of our life. It will be changed then. The unclean food of this world lost its flavor. A taste is bitter. We can read from James 1.15, Sin, when it is finished, bring it forth to the dead. Then you know it. A new tongue and a new taste are given to those who are born from the Spirit. And then we read from Psalm 104, My meditation of him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord." Here we have the new banquet for Job's children, what Job desires for his children. He also desired this, father, mother for your children. The Spirit of God renews all believers in such a way that they have other sense organs, a new nose. Sin starts to stink in the nostrils. A spiritual mouth is given to them to eat spiritual food. A new tongue, not only to speak for the honor of God, but also to taste the sweetness of the word of God. Meditation of God is like eating with the mouth of faith and tasting with a new tongue. Or may I present to you a spiritual banquet which can only satisfy your soul and must be received from the Lord Jesus Christ. Tasting forgiveness of sin. tasting the communion with God, that there is no distance between God and your soul anymore. The fullness of the Spirit, seeking the glory of God, peace in your soul, guidance on the path of life, desiring the day of the Lord, comfort in misery, Surrender in ways you didn't expect and are against your own nature. That's the newness of life to be found by the Lord Jesus Christ. Where Christ finds us. Oh seek these things which are above. Before it is too late, personally and together, the Lord is willing and mighty to give all that was earned by His Son. He paid for it with the price of His blood. Then we see Job offering the burnt offerings again and again. The constant sacrifice was slaughtered. And we can think that Job did this because of the celebration days of his sons, but I believe we have to understand this in relation to the life of every believer. The real spiritual life starts with the knowledge of Christ and his redeeming blood. But God's children have to live from the merits of Christ, from the blood of Christ daily. From whence is the power of living a holy life? From the power of Christ's resurrection, applied by the Holy Ghost. Or when God's children see the all-sufficient price of Christ's blood, they start to learn to hate sin, and they may boldly beg for the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray for forgiveness daily in the Lord's Prayer. They have to see the price of Jesus' blood to hate sin and to love righteousness. They have to see the cross of Christ to understand that every spiritual gift is paid with the costly price of His blood. And that cross is the cause of the mortification of sin. While there are so many Christians in this world thinking they are justified and born again without knowing this secret. They once stood beneath the cross thinking they obeyed God by faith in his Son, but after that they lifted themselves far above the cross. That's not Christianity. the reformed world in the Netherlands and I can see that also in America and Canada starts to look like this soft Christianity. I know it fits better to our carnal nature. But remember what Peter says, the church of Christ is elected unto the obedience and the sprinkling of his blood. Heavy fight A God-fearing Father bringing His children to the cross of Christ without ceasing. What do you think, Father? Have you ever done this with your sons and daughters? What do you seek for them? What do you seek with them? Oh, let us be honest to ourselves and towards our children. They have to learn the gospel. The gospel of the blood of Christ. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, there are so many gospels, so many other gospels which are no gospels at all. But you know, Christ is preached as a willing Savior who is fully able to cleanse you in his blood. And then we go to the end of this book, chapter 42, verse 7 and 9. seven to nine. It was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz and Determinite, My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends, for ye have not spoken of me the things that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bollocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept lest I deal with you after your folly in that you have not spoken of me the things which is right like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite then built up the Suhite and so far the Nehematite went and did according as the Lord commanded them. The Lord also accepted Job. Do you see? The book of Job starts with a priest and it ends with a priest, a mediator. So Job is a picture from Jesus Christ himself. And now we see the Lord seeking to reconcile with himself the friends of Job. They have not spoken the right things about God to Job. as Job did. Oh God declared that Job has spoken the right things about the Lord. And he really did, but also sinful thoughts and words in the heart and mouth of Job were found too. Now his friends were appointed in their guilt against God. That must be done today. that we are all under the wrath of God in the way we were born. They need the friends of Job to offer up burnt offerings, and Job has to pray for them as a mediator. The Lord said to the friends of Job, for him will I accept The Lord says in verse 8 and 9, and then in 9 we read, For the Lord accepted the face of Job, in the Hebrew. Well, more than Job is here. If God accepted the face of Job, who prayed for their forgiveness, much more, He is willing to accept the countenance of the Lord Jesus Christ as the mediator of the New Testament. And so he does today. by the preaching of the Word of God, seeking to reconcile sinners to himself, are your ears opened and your heart opened for them. Did you ever thank the Lord for having such a privilege? And then we end with some text from the Bible itself. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a higher priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Our job could be touched with the filling of the infirmities of a children, but Christ the mediator is a perfect mediator. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh, receive, and he that seeketh, find. And to whom that knocketh, it shall be opened. For the Lord is full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Oh that the Lord will bless the preaching of the word amongst you with Pastor Feldman and also with others that all of us may be sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ. The children of Job have seen Christ, the Lamb of God, before they died. We don't know what it did with their souls, but we must see Him by faith before we die. Seek Him now in the days of grace. Amen. Congregation, let us sing from 2 and 3, the Lord is great above all gods. Let glad Hosannas rise. The heathen gods are idols vain. Jehovah made the skies. Great honor is before his face and majesty defined within his holy dwelling place. Both strength and beauty shine. And also the third, let all the peoples of the earth give glory to the Lord. Give him the glory due his name and strength to him accord. With offerings come ye to his courts in holy beauty bow, that all the earth with reverence come and serve Jehovah now. 2 57 stanza 2 and 3 You. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave you. ♪ The fish of the sea ♪ ♪ In glory would abide ♪ ♪ There is no glory to His name ♪ ♪ As His praise would be heard ♪ Let us thank the Lord and pray. O Lord, Thy congregation is sanctified by the obedience of the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. And now we come to Thee to ask Thee to bless Thy Word, to forgive our shortcomings, our sins, also in this service. O be with all the families among us, We heard from thy word that Job was a priest for his family. O, we sinned against thee, ignoring so many times our calling to be a priest for our families. At the same time, we heard as children, from the sons and daughters from Job, O Lord, that our hearts may be filled with reverence towards Thee, to acknowledge Thee as the Creator, the Sustainer of our life, O may we pray for a new heart by the Holy Spirit given, a heart which is born from above. O be with the children that I may fear thee when they are still young. Be with the fathers and with the mothers and with all others, also in the evening of our life. Thou knowest perfectly what we need. Those who are alone, who lost a loved one, O be with them and bless them with Thy presence. We pray for family Oman when they are called to go to Malawi. Would Thou prepare them and give them all they need as a father and a mother and the children. O Lord be with Pastor Feldman with his wife Would Thou bring them at home again and bless them to be a blessing, be with the consistory. Would Thou be with us when we Leave Canada and bring us to Achterberg again, that we may serve Thee in Thy congregation. O Lord, we ask Thee so much. because thy head saith in thy word, open thy mouth and I will give thee. O hear us, remember us, not because we deserve anything, we deserve nothing but hell. O hear us, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Let us sing.