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[0:00] You may be seated. You can be turning to Job 29.

[0:12] Job 29. I'll have you follow along as I read some in just a moment. Have you ever watched a courtroom drama where nothing seems to be going right?

[0:35] The jury sits emotionless, seemingly totally unaffected by any evidence the defendant brings and anything that the defendant has gone through.

[0:50] The judge seems against them. He seems to always agree with the prosecutor and overrides any objection the defender brings. All the evidence appears to be discounted.

[1:02] And the prosecutor's evidence is simply to say, the defendant is an evil person. You sit in disbelief as the judge and the jury seemingly blindly accept the defendant's guilt.

[1:17] It seems that their stone cold faces are screaming with every condemning glance that the defendant is guilty. What's the defendant to do?

[1:31] He's argued his case for months. It's cost him everything. Now it's the end of the trial.

[1:43] He's presenting his last argument. When he finishes this speech, he'll rest his case. That's where we are with Job.

[1:58] Now there's no literal judge sitting in front of them. But the three men, and we'll find out in the next chapter, there's actually been four men listening all this time.

[2:11] But anyway, there he sits. No one believes him. He's wanting God to answer. And it's as if the judge is not sat cold-faced.

[2:23] Job can't see his face at all. In fact, he just wishes he could appear before him. He's been arguing his case for months, and it's gone from lament and self-loathing to, well, all kinds of things that we'll mention again.

[2:37] And here he sits. We're going to end our passage that we look at today by reading Job's words. Because the words of Job are ended.

[2:49] That's all he's got to say. Let's pray before we get into this. Father, again, I praise you that you've put this book in your word.

[3:05] And that it's such a beautiful book. It's a sad book. And it's hard to read at times. But, Lord, it is something that shows us yourself.

[3:17] Although so many people would argue that it doesn't. It's something that shows us ourselves. It's something that shows us a bit of your divine plan.

[3:32] And it's something that shows us the beauty of Christ. I pray that you give us wisdom to see those things today. And, Lord, not to walk away saying, hmm, that's interesting.

[3:46] But, Lord, I pray that you would work in hearts that those who have never known you would recognize their need of someone to take their place. Because they deserve worse than what Job gets.

[4:02] I pray that they would see that. I pray that you would be with us. May our hearts be warmed to see the wonder of God. The wonder of what he's doing. The wonder of what he's provided.

[4:13] And I pray that you would bless. May your name be exalted. In Jesus' name. Amen. Now, as with all the messages in the book of Job, we're covering quite a section.

[4:25] I say almost all the messages in the book of Job. We're going to cover chapters 29, 30, and 31. Because they run. He's making a point by.

[4:36] He goes here. And he goes there. And he goes here. And that's his last argument. So it all runs together on purpose. So we're going to, again, deal with a large section. I would like you to take your Bible and follow me as we read chapter 29 and verse 17.

[4:56] John 29. I'm sorry. Job 29. Starting in 1, verse 1. And Job again took up his discourse and said, Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil.

[5:37] When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged men rose and stood.

[5:49] The princes refrained from talking, laid their hand on their mouth. The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

[6:01] When the ear heard it, it called me blessed. And when the eye saw, it approved, because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

[6:15] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me.

[6:28] My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

[6:42] I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. We'll stop there. We're going to see that these three chapters are divided in three different directions.

[6:58] The first is, oh, I wish it was the way it used to be. The second, chapter 30, is this is what it's like now. And the third is not, oh, that's what it's going to be.

[7:12] He doesn't have that hope. The third is his last argument before God. This is my plea. This is my argument. We'll get to that and talk about each of those things in turn.

[7:26] So, chapter 29, oh, for it to be the way it used to be. Now, right off, I want you to be careful. This is not Job saying, I just want to live in luxury and wealth again.

[7:40] In fact, he's very careful in the first, in verses 2 through 6, to talk about what he wanted. What we'll look at in a minute reflects the fact that God blessed him so that he could be there.

[7:54] But this is what he wanted. He says, I wanted it to be the way it used to be. Notice he mentions that he wants it to be so that God is watching over him again.

[8:05] He doesn't feel God's presence right now. Now, he feels, actually, there's a section of scripture towards the end of 31, I believe it is, where it's like he actually talks to God.

[8:18] He says, it's like, God, it's like you've put me in a hurricane. You're throwing me in the air with the wind, and you keep me up in the air, and you let the objects beat against me, and my life is horrible.

[8:28] And it's like, God, you're holding me there. But he wants it to be like it used to be. I want God watching over me. He says, I want the friendship of God over my tent.

[8:41] I want God's blessing. I want God to be with me. That's what he longed for. He's not arguing to have it easy. He's not arguing to have just everything rich.

[8:52] He wants the blessed life back. And notice, he doesn't argue for tents or for his gold or for anything like that.

[9:05] Now, he does talk about some of his position, but he's talking about how that was a result of God's presence. He's not arguing for, I want to be famous again. He says, I want it to be evident that God's with me again.

[9:20] I want to be in fellowship with God again. He longed for the days when he enjoyed God's friendship and God's blessing.

[9:33] I think that's such an important point when we think of the book of Job. Job served God. Why? Because God's good. Because God is who he said he was.

[9:45] And do you remember, and we're going to read this towards the end because I think it's very good to remember. But do you remember the first part of the book? Do you remember what happened there? God was in heaven.

[9:57] And Satan came along. And he says, God says, have you considered my servant Job? And Satan says, he just serves you for what he gets. God says, go ahead and take it away.

[10:11] And Satan did. And Satan comes back. And God says, have you considered my servant Job? He still serves me. He still retains his integrity.

[10:25] And Satan says, yeah, anybody will serve you as long as you keep him healthy. God says, okay. Take his health. Just don't kill him. And we never find Job saying, I want my money back.

[10:42] He says, I want God back. One of his biggest complaints through the whole book. If you've read through the verses with me, as I've mentioned sections, you'll find, God, I can't see you.

[10:54] I reach for you. And I can't touch you. I want to be with you. I want you to be with me. I want you to defend me. I want you to be the one who is with me. And that's what he longs for.

[11:07] His longing was for the way it was. And that shows that he no longer feels he has the friendship and the presence of God in his life.

[11:19] And he wants that back with every fiber of his being. He never mentions, I want the boils to go away. We're going to describe some of his physical look later in the message.

[11:33] He never talks about that going away. He wants God's friendship, fellowship, presence in his life. And so he's pleading for that. In verses 27 to 25, there he's, again, not arguing for position.

[11:49] He's arguing that when God blessed me with his presence, it was evidence because of some of the things that God did. But not just that. He doesn't just mention the idea that when he came to the gate, and remember the gate was like being in court.

[12:06] Both the court of justice and the court of reigning. The gate was the important place. That's where the important people went to make the decisions. And when he went to the gate, he was honored.

[12:19] Even the princess stood up and said, sorry, Mr. Job, I was in your seat. It's yours. I'll get out of the way. They honored him. It was because the blessing of God was on him. And the blessing of God was on him not because of what he did, but it was illustrated.

[12:36] God moved him in such a way. God was close to him that Job had this tremendous burden to want to serve people. And he mentioned several things as he goes through this.

[12:51] And it's a great thing. I loved it. We read it. But make sure to read Skim as I go through these things. He delivered the poor and the fatherless.

[13:01] He's not boasting. He's saying God was close to me and he moved me. And I was the kind of person who would deliver the poor and the fatherless. I would rescue the perishing.

[13:13] I'd provide for the widow. I was eyes to the blind. I was feet to the lame. I was father to the fatherless and needy. I helped the oppressed. People respected Job because Job acted righteously.

[13:31] Job did those things out of love for God that pleased God. And again, he wanted to be back in the situation where he knew God's presence and God's blessing was on him.

[13:48] Job's life indeed reflected how God described him. Now, there have been people, if they read into the first part of the book of Job and skipped to the end, there have been people who would say, you know, I don't think Job was all he said he was.

[14:11] Yeah, God kind of glossed over. So part of this chapter is a way that God is showing us that Job is the kind of person that God said he was.

[14:26] Let me read two verses. This is Job 1 and verse 8. And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?

[14:40] You can read the second half or second two-thirds of chapter 29 and find that indeed he was that kind of man. He was indeed a man who helped the fatherless.

[14:53] He was a man who loved God and served him. And then in Job chapter 2 and verse 3, it says, And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man who fears God and turns away from evil?

[15:15] He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Job is indeed what God said he was.

[15:28] God said it. Of course, that should be it. We should believe it. And Job is not arguing that, Oh, I am the man God said he was. Job has no idea of what God said at the beginning of this book.

[15:43] Job is saying, I want to be back where I was. I want to be in fellowship with God. I want to know his closeness, and I want to serve him the way I used to.

[15:56] And he gives those examples. Those are the things he wants to do again, because he wants to be close to God. So Job is what God said he was.

[16:10] Job is righteous, and he's not suffering because he has sinned. Why is Job enduring this? Why is God so far from him?

[16:26] Job doesn't know. Thankfully, we know. But Job's friends are wrong. It's not because he's sinning that he's going through what he's going through.

[16:38] Now, in the next chapter, we're not going to solve anything. We're not going to, Job's not going to say, I know, and now I know why I'm suffering.

[16:50] Job, in chapter 29, says, Oh, that I wished it was the way it used to be. Now, as we get into chapter 30, he's going to tell us the way it is.

[17:02] Now, we've been seeing the way it is for a long time. But we haven't seen all of it, and he paints the last picture that he's going to paint.

[17:13] We've seen his friends mock him. We've seen at the beginning of the book, all his family, and his children, of course, died. But all his family, all his distant relatives, they all took off.

[17:24] His wife said, Curse God and die. And she loved him and wanted to be out of his misery. But that didn't help him any. It wasn't any kind of encouragement. And then, of course, we just saw how, you know, he went through dreams that terrified him.

[17:43] He couldn't sleep. He was, he was, it's just all kinds of physical, again, I have a list of it we'll talk about later. But the way it is now, he's going to describe, he's helped all these people.

[17:58] And this is what he gets in return. And he's going to talk about the kind of, well, let's just get into it. The way it is.

[18:09] In verses one through eight, he talks about how powerless and ignoble people mock him. Powerless and ignoble people mock him.

[18:20] And you can read through this. It talks about those who eat the saltwort and the broom tree and all this. And it's a beautiful picture. I won't take but just a second with this.

[18:32] You know, before I've said I don't like poetry. I've come to love the pictures that poetry paints in the book of Job. This is amazing. Because he talks about what it's like to feel the way he feels.

[18:47] But here, he's talking about how powerless and ignoble people mock him. And these are not the misfortunate people. Job has not suffered so much that he now says, yeah, you know, I used to be wanting to help the poor, but now curse them.

[19:04] They deserve it. He's not turned that. He's not saying this is the less fortunate and they mock me. He's talking about people that are powerless and ignoble by choice.

[19:17] These are such worthless people. They wouldn't work if you paid them to sit in a chair. They did nothing. And they were so bad off in their laziness.

[19:30] They were so evil in their rottenness that the whole of society didn't want them around. They ended up living in the gullies. And no one wanted to give them food because they were so evil and so lazy and so against God that they had to eat saltwort and some of the other things that are mentioned here.

[19:53] Those are the kind of people who mock Job. The people that are total outcasts who would refuse help if you tried to give them a hand up.

[20:06] These people are now coming and saying, look at you. You thought you were so high and mighty and they're going on and they're mocking. It even mentions that they spit at Job.

[20:20] 9 through 15, the unrighteous, these powerless and ignoble people who mock me now work against me because God has loosed my cord and humbled me. I can picture them running in in the middle of the night and poking, I don't know if they did, but poking him.

[20:36] You thought you were going to sleep. These are the kind of people who mock him. And here, and again, it's referencing the lack of God's presence and God's protection.

[20:52] It says, he says, God has loosed my cord and humbled me and there are two ways that this could be translated. I think because of another place in this passage that it's referring to a bow.

[21:09] It could either be a cord of a tent that when you unloose it, the tent falls down or it could be talking about a bow that you would string. And I think that's what he's talking about.

[21:22] He says in chapter 29, verse 20, he says, I was strong. Well, he says, when I knew God's blessing, my bow was ever new in my hand.

[21:34] Okay? He's talking about he had the strength. He could take that bow and if you've ever strung an old-fashioned bow, you loop the bottom part around your leg and you grab your leg other, pull it over and you can slide the string in.

[21:47] Good bow takes a lot of strength to do that. He's saying, when I was young, I could do that. I could take care of myself. I could defend myself. He says, God's unloosed my bow.

[21:58] It's the idea is God's taken away his strength to such a point that he couldn't even string his own bow. He's getting at the fact he can't protect himself.

[22:09] These worthless, awful people are poking fun at him, laughing at him, spitting at him and he has no defense. He's so weak.

[22:21] He's so emaciated in one sense, physically, he can do nothing to protect himself. And the point is that God did it.

[22:33] God did it. He sees his situation as God's doing. Now, God did have to allow it. And God did allow it.

[22:46] But now he's suffering to the point that those who are worthless people are mocking me and he can't do even a thing about it. They mock me.

[22:56] They spit at me. All those around me are rushing to work against me. That's the idea to they run in and poke him and run. Just tormenting him.

[23:08] In verses 16 to 23, Job laments the effect of his suffering on him and recognizes God's sovereignty in his situation. But God does nothing and seems cruel.

[23:20] He's saying, God, I know you're in control. I don't understand it because you being in control, everything still looks awful and it doesn't seem like I have any hope.

[23:36] And he's looking at the situation and if I could use a term or a phrase that Spurgeon used once as he suffered a bout of gout and suffering, God, I wouldn't do this to my child.

[23:53] Why are you making me go through this? Spurgeon suffered a lot of depression. And here is Job looking around saying, God, I don't understand.

[24:09] I can't defend myself. The worst of the worst are making fun of me. And you seem to be in control and your control seems to be putting me in an awful situation.

[24:24] What do I do? He says when he cries out, this is verses 24 to 31, when he cries out, he doesn't get any help.

[24:38] He was the kind of person when anyone cried out, he's already talked about this. He's the kind of person that when anyone cried out, he was there. The fatherless needed something, he took care of those young people.

[24:49] The widow needed something, he took care of those young people. In the gate, something needed to be righted, he took care of that. When someone afflicted someone else, he would go and break the fangs of those who were persecuting or making someone else suffer so that the suffering fell off.

[25:05] He was the kind of person that would answer someone's cry for help. And here is Job saying, God, I don't understand you're in control and I cry out. And why don't the people that I've helped help me even more, God, why don't you help me?

[25:21] He doesn't understand. He feels even God is against him. He has expressed no confidence in God, but his continuing to state his case before God shows that he has hope.

[25:43] The fact that he recognizes God is in control, he has not given up and said, God can't do anything. He's asking God, why haven't you doing anything?

[25:54] He has hope that someday God will hear and will act on his behalf. The situation is just utterly discouraging.

[26:10] In chapter 31, Job challenges God to judge. God remember, I wished it was the way it was.

[26:23] This is what it's like now. Now, in his last statement, he's challenging God to judge the situation. And he says, if I have, he makes a lot of, if I have, and we'll get to those in a second, but that's him challenging God in a respectful way.

[26:46] In verses one through four, it's a very interesting setting. Chapter 31, he says, I've made a covenant with my eyes, and a lot of people take this verse and say, oh, yes, that's me, I've made a covenant with my eyes, will I ever look at a maid?

[27:04] And I'm not saying it's not right to seek to do what's right. But that's not what Job is getting at here, I don't believe.

[27:16] I think he's saying what good is it to be righteous? I've made a covenant with my eyes not to lust at a virgin. And it didn't do any good.

[27:31] Now, it did. He's in the midst of the throes of suffering. But he's saying, I wanted to do what's right. And I'm in the midst of this.

[27:44] What good is it to be righteous? How would God reward someone who desires to be righteous? And the implied answer is that God would bless him. The implied answer is also that God would protect him.

[27:59] And God, I wanted to be what you wanted me to be, and I'm not seeing protection. I'm not seeing your blessing. Now, I don't know about you, but right about now, I'm kind of like, ooh, I don't want to be standing next to him.

[28:17] But he doesn't disrespect God. He doesn't turn against God. He doesn't understand. He's pouring his heart out for what he's going through.

[28:28] I don't understand. I want to be right. Why aren't you here? God has not rewarded my desire to be righteous. Instead, my desire to be righteous is made it said all that I've seen is calamity.

[28:45] he doesn't see what we've seen. He didn't hear the conversation where the God of the universe standing and holding court before all this creation when the angels came before him and he says, have you seen my servant Job?

[29:05] He didn't hear that. He didn't hear God say, he's a just and upright man who pushes away evil. He didn't say, I'll let you hear him say, I'll let you test him because I know he will retain his integrity.

[29:22] I'll let you take his family and all his possessions. He didn't hear God say, I'll let you take his health because I know he's a man of integrity. He didn't hear any of that.

[29:34] Job is like us now. Few of us, few of us have ever been to the depth that Job is in. But so many of us in our suffering can't see what's going on.

[29:47] God is still good. But Job doesn't understand. And so Job uses a court tactic of the day.

[30:04] Probably still happens today, but I don't know. But it was a common court tactic of the day. He tells God, if I have sinned, let me suffer the appropriate judgment.

[30:19] So Job here is challenging God to judge him in these ways. It was a way of forcing the court to make a determination.

[30:33] They'd say, if I have done this, then let this happen to me. Believing strongly in the sense that God is right, God is judge, and things will be, they will receive retribution.

[30:51] And so Job challenges God to judge him. He lists many different areas in which men are often guilty of sinning. In chapter 31, he talks about if I have walked with falsehood.

[31:09] You know, if I've just pretended to be good, if I just pretended to feed people, let me sow and another eat. In other words, all my work come to nothing.

[31:21] Let what grows for me be rooted out. It's the idea of crops being ruined. Wind blows it away, water washes it away, pigs get in the field and root out all the seed corn.

[31:34] If I've walked falsely, let this judgment come on me. We're only going to deal with two of these. They're all the same kind of thing.

[31:44] You can read through them. It's good to read through them. This one sometimes people are shocked at. He says, if I've committed adultery, if I've sat at the door of my neighbor, and I she's pretty good, I'm going to wait here, try to convince her to be my lover, and all that stuff.

[32:04] He says, if I've committed adultery, he says, let another man conquer my wife. Let my wife be violated by another.

[32:15] Those are strong things. He's not dishonoring his wife. He's not saying, oh, yeah, I don't care about her. He's not saying that at all. But he's saying, this would be right for me to suffer.

[32:29] In the eyes of the world, it would be right for my wife to be overtaken and abused if I have done it to other people. And he goes down through mistreating servants, not sharing with those who are without, if I've loved riches, if I've rejoiced through the ruin of another, if I've feared men, there are many, I've just put a few here.

[32:54] But in each of these instances, it's the idea, if I'm guilty of this, let this happen. If he's guilty, he asks God to judge him in the appropriate ways for that sin.

[33:08] And if Job is guilty, God should carry out those curses. If God does not act, Job sees God as agreeing with Job's innocence.

[33:20] That's the tack of what he's getting at. God, if you don't do these things, then I am innocent. Now, he knew he was innocent of those things. He knew he was trying to prove his innocence.

[33:35] And that's where we come to the end of the book, or end of this speech. Now, we're still a ways into the book. He leaves it as an argument with God.

[33:48] Lord, if I'm done, he's a desperate man at the end of his arguments. And at the second half of verse 40, he says, the words of Job are ended.

[34:02] Job has spoken his peace. He's made his defense. He's saying, in a sense, arrest my case. He's at the end of his rope. Thankfully, he still does this, but all he can do now is wait for God to respond.

[34:21] Job has not suffered the retribution of any of these common areas. Again, which suggests that Job is not guilty of any of these sins. Notice that at this point in his suffering, he has cried out to God, and this is thinking of the whole book to this point.

[34:42] In his suffering, he's cried out to God, he's mourned, he's wished he were dead, he is alone, confused, misunderstood, mocked, weak, sleepless, and tormented with dreams.

[35:02] His breath is foul to his wife, his body is covered with boils so badly that he is misshapen. The boils have caused his skin to blacken and his skin to fall off.

[35:17] His friends accuse him of sinning and bringing all this on himself. he's lost his possessions, his station, his children, the support of his wife, and the felt nearness of God.

[35:37] I'm going to read Job chapter 2 verses 1 through 8. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came among them to present himself before the Lord, and the Lord said to Satan, from where have you come?

[35:57] Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, from walking up and down on it. The Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil.

[36:19] He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, skin for skin, all that a man has he will give for his life, but stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to his face.

[36:39] And the Lord said to Satan, behold, he's in your hand, only spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head.

[36:55] Then he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself and sat in the ashes. What has Job not done?

[37:08] He never cursed God. God is worth serving even if everything is taken from you.

[37:23] God is worth serving when you can't see his face, when you can't feel his presence, when even when you plead with him, when you challenge him with oaths to say, God vindicate me, and you don't hear anything.

[37:42] God is still worth serving. And though we're not always quite sure exactly if the way Job said some of the things was right, he never cursed God.

[37:58] God wins. God wins. I want to point out a few other things from this text. In chapters 29 to 31, we have this, the way it was, the way it is, and let me argue my case, I'm innocent.

[38:21] And that situation with Job is such a beautiful picture of Christ. Christ was more blessed than Job.

[38:33] Christ knew the perfect presence of the Father and Spirit. And yet Christ took on flesh and came here to earth, and he suffered greater than Job.

[38:50] All that Pilate and the soldiers did, but all that he put up with men, but feeling God's wrath and punishment, and on the cross, the Son of God saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[39:15] And yet, Christ is more innocent than Job. Job was still a sinner. He was just a man who wanted to serve God and chose to do what he could to serve God.

[39:30] Christ never sinned. In a more perfect picture. And so, how does this help us? We feel so badly for Job.

[39:42] but in seeing that Job is just a picture of Christ and that Christ's life was so much better, suffered so much more, and was so much more innocent.

[40:03] Job just gives us a sense. The beautiful poetry in Job that gives us a sense of what his suffering was really life like, gives us a window into Christ and the extent of his love and the extent of what he felt and should cause us to have this greater sense of Christ's suffering, but this huge sense of the wonder of the love of Christ.

[40:32] to this point in Job's life, in Job's suffering, God did not comfort him. In the ordeal of Christ's suffering, ultimately, I mean, he was comforted at times, God did not comfort him, but allowed him to die to pay for our sins.

[40:55] Through it all, Job complained. through it all, Christ never complained. What one of us does not deserve what Job endured, and so much more, but in reference to Hebrews chapter 12, let me read two verses, let us look to Christ and his suffering with the wonder of how the only truly innocent one suffered immeasurably not for himself, but for us, and I don't know what version I copied that from, it's not what I'm used to, but the gist is there, look to Christ for the wonder of how this truly innocent one suffered immeasurably, but not for himself, but for us.

[41:45] The righteous can suffer, is another thing we can learn, Christ could suffer for us even though he was righteous, and that's important, because many would say that God couldn't suffer for us, but as Christ took on flesh, an innocent person could suffer for us, and if it wasn't for that, God couldn't pay for our sins.

[42:09] Job pointed to that. Sometimes one of the blessings of knowing the whole story is knowing how it will turn out. Job longs for the way it was.

[42:21] at this point, Job's life is nothing like it was. Job didn't know it at the time, but what Job longed for wasn't half as good as it would be, even on earth.

[42:39] He went through the suffering, God gave him another ten children, so he had twenty children. You lose a child, you never lose those children, they're still your children, now he has twenty children, twice the animals, twice the land, twice the gifts.

[42:59] Now, that's not something that happens for every person, but it's here for a lesson. Job had no idea that it was going to be like it is, but what Job longed for wasn't half as good as what it would be, and we'll wait to the end of the book for that, but I want us to see that while we wait now, and we have some of the same kind of longing for a life free of suffering, we want a life full of blessing, we can be encouraged that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him.

[43:43] You're going through suffering, you're trusting Christ, God will bless, hold on to him in the midst of that darkness. Therefore, this is where I actually put the verse, I don't know what I did before, therefore, and this is Hebrews 12, therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and singe which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

[44:14] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

[44:31] Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your sustaining this man to give us a picture of who you are and what you do, to give us a picture of our Messiah who would come and suffer in our place.

[44:55] We praise you for this book. One of the things, Father, we rejoice in is that you won, and you always will win, and we can rest in your care.

[45:09] pray that you would help us by your grace, have a longing to be in your presence, and may we be people who serve you out of love for you.

[45:22] I pray that you would be with those here today who don't know you. I pray that you would open their eyes to the truth of Christ having suffered in their place, shedding his blood to pay for sins, taking the wrath.

[45:36] I pray that you would bring those who don't know you to trusting in the work of Christ. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you take your hymnal and turn to tune.