In the book of Job chapter 1 verse 5 is the verse we're going to be looking at in particular. Wonderful verse where Job rose up. He sent and sanctified his children. Sent and sanctified his children. But look at verse 8 for a moment. A little expression. Verse 8. And the Lord said unto Satan. I want to just take the words and put them this way. The Lord has said unto us, unto parents, Hast thou considered my servant Job? Let us pray. Father in heaven, this morning we think of this question the Lord would ask, have you considered Job? Lord, this morning help us by thy spirit to consider Job. and the lessons that we can learn from this model example of a godly father. Lord, we pray that thou would impress these truths upon us. Remember those of our church family who are sick at this time and can't be out with us. We know of Mrs. White not able to be here. We think of Winston not well either. Lord, just bless others that are sick. In Jesus' name, amen. Hast thou considered my servant Job? Well, maybe you say, well, I don't have any children, so this sermon isn't for me. Well, it is. It's for all of us. We can pray for other children in your family circle. We can pray for children in our church family. We also remember we pointed out that Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 2, he said to the Christians at the church in a place called Thessalonica, and he said, remember, when I came to preach the gospel unto you, I came like a nursing mother and a father. He was like a nursing mother and a father to those people. And Paul had a burden for those new Christians like a father and mother would have for their literal children. We ought to have a burden for converts. And we think of the burden that he had in the book of Romans for his own kinsmen. He called them brethren, chapter 10 and verse one of Romans. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. He was praying. that his fellow Israelites, who were actually antagonistic to him, would be converted. In chapter 9 of Romans, he actually speaks about he could wish himself a curse from Christ if that would mean the salvation of his kinsmen after the flesh. Of course, it couldn't. But what Paul said was, I'd be willing to be lost myself if only my fellow countrymen My brothers, he didn't mean literally the same father and mother, but he said, see those fellow Jews of mine are my brothers. And there's a sense in which we can say even about this land that I love and I'm sure you do. There's a brotherhood, there's a love for our people of this land. I love this land and I love the people of this land. And Paul could say that. They're my brothers. I love them. They're my fellow countrymen. So we may not have literal children as such, but this message is for all of us. And we're told today our presbytery wants us to pray for our families and also for our land. and we ought to have a love for our land. So while we're speaking particularly to parents, and we think of Job to fathers, it is indeed for all of us. Now we did point out, by way of introduction, parents are to be Christ-like. Now, our Savior, according to our catechism, and of course, based on scripture, is as our Redeemer, our prophet, our priest, and our king. In other words, parents to the children God has given to them are to be prophets. It's the duty of parents to teach their children, to instruct them, and we spoke about that. The Lord our God is one Lord, and I shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and so on. You shall teach these statutes and laws diligently unto your children. You're to be a prophet. Parents are to be kings. especially the father. What does that mean? To provide and protect, to set down the rules. But parents, especially the father, are to be priests. Now, of course, we don't believe in human priests today in the sense of sacrificing for sin, although we'll see Job sacrificed here, but we'll explain it. But priests, what did priests do in the Old Testament? They would go before God for the people, pray for the people, intercede for the people. They would also, and you'll read about it over and over again, consecrate the people. Another word is in our text, actually, in verse 5, where it says, Job sent, see the middle of verse 5, and sanctified his children. Well, that's the same word, consecrate, same word. The idea of the priest in the Old Testament, I'm thinking now of the Israelite priest. Job lived before there was a temple. He lived before there was Aaron or Moses. He was older than that. So there was no established human priesthood. So the father of the family, the patriarch it's called, he was the priest to the whole family. But a priest, when Israel was established, would consecrate the people by, when they had ceremonial defilement, he would ceremonially wash them and cleanse them. Of course, it never took away sin, actually, but it's symbolic. The priest's duty was to teach the people to be holy. to be separate from sin and separate unto the Lord. And he would go through various rituals for this. Job lived before Israel was established as a nation, but just as Noah did, just as Abraham did, just as Jacob did, Job was like a father to the whole family. and would be a priest for them to come before God on their behalf. Hast thou considered my servant Job? Consider his character. Consider his character. We're just introduced to him in verse one. There was a man in the land of us whose name was Job. And if you jump down to verse three, my what a farmer. I'll not go through the list of the thousands of animals he had, but he was rich. He was very prosperous, wasn't he? 7,000 sheep. Now some of you sheep farmers, it's busy enough with the number you have, but 7,000? Of course, he had a lot of workers helping him. A very, very rich man. But he not only was prosperous financially, he was prosperous spiritually. For look what we're told about him. The very first prominent thing about him in verse one, that man was perfect. Now what that word means is blameless. It doesn't mean he didn't sin, we're all sinners, but he was blameless before men. No one could point the finger at him. He was upright. That means sincere. He feared God. He lived his life in obedience to God and honored God and two sides of the one coin because he feared God, he eschewed evil. If you love the Lord, you'll hate evil. So the two sides of the one coin. So what a godly man this man was. And here's the interesting thing. That's what's written about him. But see when you go down to verse eight, do you know what God says about him? Exactly the same thing. See that? God says he's perfect, upright, fears God, excuse him. Isn't that amazing? He had a reputation with people as being an upright, godly man. And Almighty God looked at him and he said, yes. He's the most blameless man upon earth. Not amazing to have this testimony from almighty God. Not just the testimony of men's lips, but God himself praised Job. Hast thou considered my servant Job, his character. But you need to understand the context of verse five before we get to it. The context, and the context is in verse four. His sons, and he had seven sons, they went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. Now, they had feasts. We may even call them parties. But there is no suggestion at all that there was anything wrong with their outward behaviour. Do not read into that verse that they were eating and drinking, that they were having some type of wild celebration with alcohol. That is not the meaning of the term at all. In fact, the great reformer John Calvin said this, he commended them. The feasts that they had were a testimony to their brotherhood and harmony among the children. So John Calvin said, this is commendable. The seven brothers getting together with their three sisters to have a celebration. So there's no suggestion here whatsoever that there was anything wrong. There's nothing wrong with feasting. There's nothing wrong in time to time to have a good feast and to gather. Abraham feasted when his son Isaac was weaned. There's feasts at other, in fact God commanded his people in the feasts of Israel to set aside certain days to have a special meal. The Lord Jesus Christ attended special meals. The Lord Jesus Christ said that heaven is symbolized by a great marriage supper, a great marriage feast. The Bible's not against feasting. That's a false piety. Of course, gluttony is a different thing. We can go on to overdo it, but there's nothing wrong, and this is very commendable, that Job had 10 children who would often get together on their own. Job wasn't there. These were adult children. They had their own houses, they'd left home. and yet they kept in touch. It's not very commendable. No wonder Calvin commended them. Now, what does it mean on their day? On their day? Well, I think it obviously means their birthday. Why do I think that? Because in chapter three and one, Job talked about the day, that day, and he meant the day of his birth. Even so far down in the tragedy, he said, oh, that day when I was born. I think it means their birthday. And again, there's nothing wrong with celebrating birthdays. Do you know Jehovah Witnesses actually say it's sinful to keep birthdays? Because they say, well, Herod and his birthday, John the Baptist killed, so therefore you shouldn't have. What other? It shows you their sloppy and pathetic interpretation of scripture. Of course, there's nothing wrong. Of course, when you get to my age, you don't want to remember them. You don't want a cake with candles on it, or you couldn't blow them out. You need a fire extinguisher. But anyway, some of you are older. But it was their birthday, and that's the context. Now, when Job thought about his sons and daughters getting together for their birthdays, that led to his concern. That's the third thing, his concern. Look at our text in verse 5, especially those verses. Go down the verse, for Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." In their hearts. Notice again the underlying what I said. There's no indication they were doing anything wrong outwardly. But Job is concerned. He said, look, it may be. It may be. Maybe their hearts not right with God as it ought to be. You know, that would lead you to believe that Job was thinking, I know my sons and daughters and they're good. They're good men, good, good women. But maybe their heart isn't right with God. You see, the matter is heart religion, heart faith. Is their heart right with the Lord? By the way, that word curse there does not mean or imply that they were blaspheming or cursing God with their lips. The word, I'm not going into all the Hebrew about it, but scholars, look up a good commentary. It has the idea of not honoring God as they should, not putting God first. It's actually translated someplace as blessed, but just accept what I'm telling you. Look up a commentary. It's just meaning that Job says maybe in their hearts they've not really put the Lord first in their life. They've been so busy with the things of life. Yes, there's nothing wrong with the feasting and enjoying each other's company, but, oh, I'm afraid, I'm concerned, concerned that all of my children, that they're not really putting the Lord in the proper place in their heart as king of their life. That's the concern he had for his children. There's no evidence that they were far away from God. He's concerned. He's just saying, Lord, I'm concerned that it's not simply outward conformity. Is he someone with outward conformity to the rules? Maybe, oh, look, they live more morally than some other people, but it's the heart that matters, the heart. You see, imagine a person who's looked upon as upright and no one can point the finger at his moral character, but listen, what about the heart? What about the heart? Are they really honoring the Lord? That's what concerned Job. That's what concerned Job. Now, I want you to notice this call. This struck me, his call in verse five. It says, when the days of feasting were gone about, that Job sent for them. He called them. Now, these men had houses of their own, lives of their own, things to do. Job was a very busy man. Can you imagine all those thousands of flocks? You wonder how he had any time to sleep. But he calls his sons and says, such and such a time, I want you to come to my house. Let's gather at the family homestead, if you like. Come back. And isn't it amazing, they came. Isn't that wonderful? Just read those words Job sent for them. There's his call, and they came. You know what that shows us? His grown adult sons, now we're not told whether the daughters had their houses or not. They may have been at home, they may not. Might have been younger, we don't know. But certainly the seven grown sons had houses of their own and they respected their father. And they came and gathered together as one large family. Now it's not a blessing. They respected their father. And they knew that their father's faith was real. They knew that their father was genuine and that he loved the Lord. And listen, do you not think they knew why he was calling them? I don't think for one moment that those seven sons thought, oh, he just wants us over for a wee chat. No, no, no, no. In those days, remember I told you, it's different than today. We know that in some respects, but this is the day when Job was the priest of the family. Just as Abraham to his children and grandchildren. Yes, even Jacob dwelt in tents with Abraham, his grandfather. He was still alive. His grandfather was still alive when Jacob was a lad. And he knew what it was to hear Abraham, his grandfather, pray. Of course he did. I believe, now I can't turn to the verse to prove it, but reading between the lines here and understanding when Job calls for them and what happens next, I have no doubt when those lads were young, Job would have gathered them to himself and he would have taught them. He would have told them about a coming Redeemer. He would have sacrificed. He would have prayed with them. He would have had what we call a family altar with them. And now when they're growing up in their own houses and they've had these different feasts, he says, I want you all home. I want you all to come. And they come because they respect him. Now that wasn't the case with Lot. If you only had the Old Testament to go on, Genesis chapter 13 right through to 19, you read about him there as well, those chapters, he went with his uncle Abraham. If you only read the Old Testament, you would wonder whether Lot was a believer or not. In fact, you'd say he's not. But you read in the New Testament, he was a believer and he vexed his righteous soul, living in Sodom and being a leader in the gate of Sodom. But when the angels came in Genesis 19 and said to Lot, have ye any family? His daughters, his sons-in-law. Go and warn them of the coming judgment. Warn them, tell them to flee. And he goes to his sons-in-law and said, there's judgment coming, but God has warned us. And if you flee from the wrath to come, you'll be saved. Fire is going to fall upon this town. Flee. Do you know what you read in the book of Genesis? He seemed unto them as one that mocked. They didn't believe him because Lot had no testimony in his family. Yet he was a believer. Isn't that tragic? Isn't that tragic? So it's amazing this call of Job. Amazing the call of Job. And he calls them, I believe we'll see now what his conduct when he called them, what he did. And here's what you're to do. We're told in this verse, chapter five, he sent for them, sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning. So in other words, this is important. He got up early to do this. Do you not think of all those flocks and herds and responsibilities you could have slept in? He got up early. He got up early. It's amazing, studying scripture, people who got up early. Now, if you need a good lie in, take it. I'm not saying that or we get tired, of course we do, but men, they rose up. Remember Abraham with Isaac, his son, they went up to worship. The first time you read the word worship in the Bible, Genesis 22, they rose up early. They that seek me early shall thank me. The fact that Job gets up early, he's determined. This is important. This is vital. This is vital. This is an important matter. He's going to meet with God. And then look what he did. Verse five, he offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. He offered burnt offerings according to the number of the oath for each of the seven sons. He offered burnt offerings. Now, we need to explain, maybe you're not aware of what burnt offerings are. Now remember, of course, the blood of bulls and animals can't take away sin. But in the Old Testament, they were looking forward to the coming of Christ, so God was teaching them. So that's why they burned offerings. They could never take away sin, of course they couldn't. But Job is doing what the priests in Israel later did, was offering an animal. Now a burnt offering was this. The blood of the animal was shed. The whole animal, every part of it, was laid on a fire and it was totally consumed. Totally consumed. And Job offered an animal for everyone. Did you notice when I read it? For each of his children. Now, what's the burnt offering? Well, you study scripture. The best example, I suppose, well, you could read of Abraham in chapter 12 of Genesis, chapter 13, chapter 18, chapter 22 especially. You read of the burnt offering again. By the way, Noah offered a burnt offering with his family. You read about that in Genesis earlier. Noah got his family around him and offered a burnt offering. But you think of Genesis 22, that's the best illustration. Abraham is bringing Isaac up the mount. And Abraham's about to slay his own son, and God says, wait! There's a ram caught in the thicket by his thorns, and he offered the animal as a burnt offering in the stead, in the place of his son. Burnt offering. The animal died in the place of his son, Isaac. We call that substitution. Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day. Christ wasn't born for centuries, but God was teaching Abraham, someone is going to come, your descendant, because he's going to be God and man, and he will offer himself to really take away sin in the stead and the place of we sinners. And Abraham believed that. How can you have your sins forgiven? If you still say, well, if I meet God, I know I'm a sinner, how will I ever stand before him? Well, listen, you look back to Calvary and realize that Christ was not suffering for his own sins, but he was dying as a substitute for sinners in the place of sinners. In my place, condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a savior. That's the gospel. If this morning you'll come and confess that you've sinned and there's no other way for your sins to be taken away but what Christ suffered in Calvary, you can know forgiveness. So what was Job doing? He gathers each one of his sons. If you were watching, there's the sons and the daughters all gathered. They say, son, you see this animal, it's for you. He takes the knife, he catches the blood, he puts the animal in the fire. What's he doing? He's preaching the gospel to his son. He's instilling into his son a fear of God. That God is holy. He's instilling into them the seriousness of sin. Son, this is what you deserve. It's what I deserve too. Of course, Job wasn't a pious, self-righteous person. Job knew that's what he deserved. But he's doing it for his sons as a father. He says, son, this is what you deserve. And he's pointing forward one day, God loves us and grace is going to provide a redeemer who will take our place. Son, trust in the coming redeemer and confess your sins and no forgiveness. That's what he's doing. Now, then he turned to the next one. Now, son, it's your turn. This one's for you. And thank God the Lord Jesus Christ is for the whosoever. Can you see what Job is doing? He's preaching the gospel to his children. But not only is he preaching the gospel, the altar in the Old Testament is a symbol of prayer. Prayer, this is where we're back to supplication. He's praying for each child, because we pray on the basis of the sacrifice. Job oftentimes built an altar and prayed. He's praying, Lord, remember my children. Lord, remember this son of mine, and remember this son of mine, and this son, and this son. And he's going through the list. He prays for every one of them. Of course, he reaches out to the poor and the needy later on in the book, but he's praying especially for his children. He's a wealthy man, he's a busy man, but he prays for his children, each one of them. He takes time to pray for them. And so we have to say to those who are fathers of very young children, take time. No matter how busy you are in life, take time. It's possible for even a Christian father to be so busy that he doesn't take time. You know, one of the most terrible, terrible, shocking illustrations is Billy Sunday. Some of you may have read books on him. Billy Sunday was one of the greatest evangelists in America who led countless numbers to the Savior, preached against drink, the fiery evangelist. Do you know, I remember visiting his house, it's now a museum. Ma Sunday, as she was called, his wife, said later in life when Billy had died, Billy and I were so busy saving the world, we forgot about our own children. Mrs. Sunday traveled with him. Now, I don't know right or wrong, we'll leave that with the Lord, but his wife said, I traveled with him and we had very little time for our children. We had others look after them when they were growing up. Not one of his children went on with the Lord. In fact, maybe this is so terrible, but I have to say it just to warn. When Billy Sunday had some of his most successful missions where crowds were coming, do you know some newspapers put in how his son was down the street drunk, been arrested for drunkenness? It's tragic. Tragic. I'm not going to the whole story, but there's been articles written about his children. and the grandchildren, not one of them, not one of his family. And then they all died and there was no offspring. How tragic. But I'm saying that Billy Sunday's wife himself said, we weren't what we ought to be. So we ought to give time as Job did. This he did continually. Notice that in the verse, he did it continually. Last part of the verse, thus he did continually. And it's urgently, I'll tell you why. Because you know verse 19, you know what happened in 19? Job's 10 children were together in one of the houses and suddenly, well, there's a typhoon, a hurricane, of course, we believe there's more behind it than a natural storm, but a wind came and all 10 were killed at one stroke. And Job knew the sorrow of having all of his 10 children killed at one time in an accident, as we say humanly. There's but a step from the feasting table to a funeral. None of us know how urgent it is for our children, our grandchildren, or our friends. Isn't it wonderful you read before that time that Job prayed for them? Job prayed for them. We can pray for our children, no matter how far away they are from the Lord. Whether it's what we call prodigal children, we can pray for them. It breaks parents' heart to have prodigal children, prodigal relatives. Well, just let me say, it's not our subject, but the Lord knows how you feel because the Lord has prodigal children. You know that, the Lord? Who's the father in the story of the prodigal son that represents God? He knows what it's like to have his children turn away from him. Pray on. You can pray for them. You can supplicate for them. Now, just for a few moments, turn to 1 Samuel. Because mothers, what about you mothers? Well, I say I'm gonna be very brief because our subject was really Job, but how do you pray? How do you pray? Well, there's a godly mother tells you how to pray. And First Samuel, while you're turning to it, let me tell you this. This godly mother prayed before her child, which had more children after Samuel, but she prayed before their birth. And she prayed after Samuel was born. She prayed for a child. Now, there's a spiritual aspect there. Of course, she was thinking, I can't go into all doctrine about the Jewish women thinking of the coming Redeemer. It was more than a desire to have a child. If that's all you read in the story of Samuel, you've missed it. She was thinking of the nation and a deliverer coming. Every Jewish mother would pray, may I be the mother of the Redeemer, the Messiah. But she prayed for births. Do you know there's a lovely verse over in Isaiah 66? And it tells us over there in verse 8, listen, as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children. Now that's not speaking about literal biological children. The historical is that the children of Israel were captive of Judah and they were coming back. So Judah, Jerusalem that was empty, a vacuum are going to have children. We're going to come back, people. But it's taken down through church history to believers as praying for spiritual births. And that's what we're doing today. Lord, may we see spiritual births in this land of ours. But here's Hannah. And I just want you to notice a few things about her. She lived in a terrible day, by the way, the Day of the Judges. But look at verse 10, how she prayed. In verse 10, she prayed in bitterness of soul. She's really burdened. She's burdened. And in verse 10, she prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. She's weeping. I know. She's weeping. Somebody once said, maybe if our prayers were wetter and less dry. Maybe if our prayers were wetter and less dry. She's weeping. Heartless prayers are worthless prayers. In verse 11, she vowed a vow. She's saying, Lord, I promise I'll do this. This was a godly lady. In verse 12, she continued praying. Do you notice that little phrase? It came to pass that she continued praying before the Lord. She's continuing. Verse 13, she's speaking her heart. Her prayers were from her heart. Oh, she couldn't even frame the words, but she's praying from her heart. In verse 15, she said, I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit. And look at the end of the verse, I've poured out my soul unto the Lord. She's praying from the very depths of her being, very depths of her being. And here's a wonderful thing. God answered her prayer and Samuel was born. And Samuel became a mighty savior. Yes, I used the word right because he became a judge. Do you know the word judge in the Bible is the same word translated saviour or deliverer? Same word. Of course, there's the saviour, our Lord. But Samuel became a great deliverer in the nation. Oh, how that nation was changed because of Samuel's life. There's something we could pray today that God will raise up Samuel's. that will deliver this land and change it by the power of their testimony and their ministry. And we can pray today confidently. Why? Because Christ has died in Calvary to bring many sons to glory. And we can pray, Lord, save in this land Save many sons and daughters into the kingdom of God and our own children and grandchildren and families. Lord, break into our families and save our own families. Make them sons of thine, daughters of thine. Move today. May God help us today as we seek to pray.