Job: Everyone's Example

Father, we thank you, Lord, for today What a great and wonderful opportunity you give us to study the Word of the Lord We are such a blessed people Forgive us, Lord, for not recognizing the blessing that you give to us through the written Word of God We realize, Lord, that as we open the Word, we are able to understand you, and that's why we're here We don't necessarily want to know about Job as much as we want to know about you and what you did in the life of Job and how you worked through all the events surrounding this man's life

And so, Lord, our prayer tonight is that as we just take a few moments to open the Word, to study, to listen, may we learn those things that will enable us to better glorify your name We anticipate, Lord, the things you're going to teach us because we know that your Spirit works in and through the teaching and preaching of your Word And so we ask that, Lord, you'd open our eyes to be able to behold wonderful things out of your law We pray in Jesus' name, amen Got your Bible? Turn with me to Job chapter 1, Job chapter 1 The Bible sets forth many men and many women who are examples

In fact, the Scriptures are filled with individuals who provide for us encouragement and hope because of the example that they set In fact, the Bible says that we are to be imitators of Christ And Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse number 6, he says, those in Thessalonica became imitators of me and of the Lord So the Bible makes it very clear that we are to have these examples that we are to follow, that we are to look to Hebrews 11, we've been studying Hebrews 11 for many, many weeks

All examples, all people who illustrate what it means to walk by faith, to worship by faith, to witness by faith, to work by faith, to honor the Lord by faith And so they become examples for us that we might learn to live a life of faith Job, on the other hand, provides a different kind of example, the kind of example that shows us how to live with adversity, how to live with pain and suffering, how to live with loss and rejection, things that all of us face at different periods of our lives So Job sets a different kind of example, the kind of example that we all need to have

Because, I don't know what you know about people in our church or not, but there are many in our church who are going through very adverse circumstances, very trying circumstances It might be a physical ailment, it might be a relational situation, it might be a variety of different things, but they feel the pressure that's coming down upon them and they're having a hard time dealing with those things So Job becomes the quintessential example for every single one of us

It's not by accident that whatever it is you're going through at this time, we are now in the process of studying the life of Job Because God wants to teach you so many different things concerning how it is this man lived a life that paved the way for you and me to understand what to do He was a prime example He was such a great example that Satan even heard about Job Now listen, Satan is not omniscient. I know sometimes we think that Satan knows everything He doesn't He only knows what he can read and what he can see He only knows what God tells him

But Job's example was so powerful that Satan even heard and knew about Job's example Now listen, Satan, I'm sure, probably doesn't even care who you are. I'm sorry if that hurts you, but he probably doesn't He doesn't even know your name He doesn't even know that you exist He's got bigger battles to fight than just you and your family, right? Yeah, Satan goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour We'll talk about that more next week when we look at Satan's attack and abuse of Job But Job's example was such a powerful example that even Satan knew about the life of Job

And so the Bible tells us in Job 1, verse number 1, there was a man Now if I had oodles of time, I would stop right there and just talk about there was a man But I have a time constraint. I have 30 weeks in which I'm going to finish the life of Job. I'm not like John Calvin who preached 159 sermons on the life of Job Or Spurgeon who preached, I think it was 88 or 89 sermons on Job. I have 30 that I'm going to preach on Job, okay? So I'm not going to stop with the first phrase, there was a man

Although I'm very tempted to do that and talk to you about real true manhood and why Job is the epitome of biblical manhood, unlike any other individual in the Scriptures But there was a man And this man stands above other men He stands apart from other men because he stands alone unlike most men And he stands against everything that's evil He is a unique man, a man of great courage, great confidence, great character He is a unique man And I told you last week, when we're all done, he's going to become your greatest hero in the Scriptures

Because when you see what happens to this man, And I know you've read about Job, James 5, verse 11 You've heard about Job But do we really understand what happens in this man's life? The Bible tells us that the Word of God is inspired And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness That the man of God will be thoroughly equipped, furnished to undo all good works In other words, whatever the Word of God teaches us, it's going to mend us together It's going to tie all the loose ends together Nothing can do that like God's Word can Nothing

Only God's Word is able to tie all the loose ends together and mend that which is fractured, put together that which is broken, so that the man of God will be equipped and furnished to do good work The work that God has called him to do So when I study the book of Job, if you go through these 42 chapters, God's going to use the Word of God to mend your life together So that you as a man of God or a woman of God will be thoroughly equipped to accomplish all that God has for you That's where we're going That's what the Scriptures teach us

And so we're going to look at this and we're going to go down and we're going to begin to understand the land of Job And then we're going to look at the leadership of Job And then we're going to look at the lifestyle of Job The loyalty of Job And then we're going to learn some lessons from Job Five points tonight That's it Five points Five verses Ha ha Look at that Five verses in one night We're flying through the book of Job already Job chapter one, verse number one There was a man in the land of us whose name was Job There was a man And he's from the land of us This is the land of Job

Question is, where is us? In ancient times They used to name land or civilizations after individuals So because they did that, it kind of gives us some ideas as to the life and upbringing of Job Now remember, there are so many unanswered questions about Job Where exactly was he? Who were his contemporaries? What year was it actually on record that all this took place? Who is it that was influential in the life of Job? Questions that we don't have the answers to And we'll never have them And that's okay

Because those aren't nearly as important as to what God is doing in and through this man's life But we can begin to piece some things together And as we piece them together, we can begin to understand what it is Job knew, when he knew it, and how he knew it For instance, the Bible tells us in Genesis 10, 23, that Amram was the grandson of Shem He had a son named Uz Very important Many commentators would tell you that Job was a descendant of Shem Remember, Shem is one of the sons of Noah And his name means the name He's the line of the name Abraham is the descendant of Shem

He's the descendant from the line that means the line of the name The name meaning what? Well, there is no other name unto heaven given among men whereby you must be saved And so through Abraham, the father of a great nation, we begin to understand the arrival of the Messiah So there are some who believe that Job was a descendant of Shem, making him a contemporary of Abraham Abraham, possibly Isaac, maybe even Jacob We don't know that for certain But what do we do know? We know there's no mention of Israel in the book of Job No mention of the tabernacle in the book of Job

No mention of the law in the book of Job No mention of the temple in the book of Job So those things weren't around And yet we know that he acted as a patriarch, a lot like Abraham did, for he was a patriarch So he lived during the patriarchal times because he would offer up sacrifices for his children If he lived during the priestly time, that would be wrong to do But because he lived during the patriarchal time, it's a possibility that that's where he lived That's why he could offer up sacrifices on behalf of his children

So there's a good understanding that this man, Job, who was from the land of Uz, which, by the way, is adjacent to Midian And because it's adjacent to Midian, we know that Moses spent 40 years in Midian Right? And maybe Moses is the author of Job Again, we have no idea who the author of Job is Some would think it would be Moses because he would hear about Job while he was those 40 years in Midian That's a possibility But there's another possibility And that is that Solomon wrote Job Why is that? Because Solomon was the main contributor to the poetical books

And Job was one of the poetical books Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, poetical book Wrote Proverbs, poetical book Right? Song of Solomon, poetical book Maybe Solomon was the author of Job as well Again, no one really knows for certain We have all these speculations out there, all these ideas, but no one really knows for sure But what do we know? We can only know what the Bible tells us Right? And there was a man who was from the land of Uz And the Bible tells us that he was not an Israelite because he was the greatest man in the east Well, east is east of the Jordan River

So Edom is east of the Jordan And so Uz is in the land of Edom And so that's where we know Job was from And that's about all we know But that's okay We don't need to know any more than that because Job provides for us this great example That's the land of Job Let me tell you about the leadership of Job Okay? Listen to what the Bible says There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job And that man was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil Those four qualities made him the greatest man in the east But the commentary that God makes on him is greater than that

Look what it says in verse number 8 Okay, so the Bible tells us he's the greatest man in the east The Lord says there's nobody like him on the earth So whoever's living at this time, there's no one like Job on the face of the earth What a statement that God makes about this man He makes an incredible statement He says this. A blameless, upright man, fearing God, turning away from evil Same statement That's the leadership of Job He was a blameless man Now the remarkable thing about this, as I told you on Sunday, is that he learns about God He knows God But he doesn't have a Bible

Right? Some, and some people have already asked me this question, Do you believe that God spoke to Job? The answer to that is, I don't believe so Until the book of Job, when he speaks to Job individually Because I think if he had already spoken to Job, Job would have referenced his conversation with the Lord in his conversation with the men who came to somehow counsel him, but didn't do a very good job Didn't do that So I don't believe that God specifically spoke to Job How does Job know what to do? How does Job know about God? Job knew very little about God But what he knew, he fully obeyed

Unlike you and me We know a lot about God, but sometimes we don't fully obey But Job was a man who knew the Lord, and wanted to obey the Lord, and follow the Lord So the Bible tells us that Job was a blameless man What does that mean? Maybe your Bible says a perfect man Now, we know he's not perfect We know he's not sinless Because he confesses that he's a sinner So we know he's not a perfect man But the Bible doesn't say he's a blameless man What does it mean that he's a blameless man? It speaks to his personal integrity It speaks that whatever is within is without

In other words, whatever is on the inside is on the outside That's the way Job was Job was a blameless man He was an upright man versus a crooked man The wicked were crooked, but Job was upright He was righteous He was straight He was God-fearing He feared the Lord Now, he doesn't know what you and I know about the Lord He doesn't have all the information that you and I have And yet he lived in fear He lived in holy fear of the living God So much so that he would offer sacrifices on behalf of his children for fear of what might happen to their lives But he lived in the fear of the Lord

Psalm would say in Ephesians 12, 13, that the end of every man is to fear God and keep his commandments Proverbs 23 and 24 says, Chapter 23 says we're to live in the fear of the Lord all day long And chapter 24 says that we are to be blessed when we fear the Lord Job was a blessed man But he feared the Lord That's how he lived his life Trusting God Honoring God Knowing this God was consuming fire But it also says he was turning away from evil He turned away from evil Because he feared the Lord, he would turn away from that which is wrong

How do you know you fear the Lord? You turn away from evil Those who don't fear the Lord run toward evil, right? They live in the realm of evil But those who fear the Lord run away from evil And that's the way Job lived his life This was the leadership of a man's life It was based on his character It was benefited in the life of his children But this is who he was Now, what did he know about the Lord? If you go through the book, you're going to understand this He knew about the sovereignty of God Read about that last week He knew about the justice of God He knew about the power of God

He also knew about the redemption of God Because he calls God his Redeemer Job 19 We also know he understands about the return of his Redeemer Because his plan was to stand upon the earth He also knew about the resurrection of the believer Because he believed his body would be resurrected So there are things that he knew The question is, how did he know them? Who told him? The Bible doesn't give us that answer If he's a descendant of Shem, then the lineage of truth would have been passed down from Noah to Shem, to his sons and to his son's sons, until it came to Job

And that truth would be passed down from generation to generation But we don't know that for certain We know that he offered sacrifices How did he know that? Well, Genesis 8 Noah offered burnt sacrifices Genesis 22 Abraham offered burnt sacrifices So if he's a descendant of Shem through Noah, he would know about burnt sacrifices If he's a contemporary of Abraham, he would know about burnt sacrifices But again, we don't know And that's what makes the man so remarkable, is because he lives in an era where he doesn't have all the benefits that you and I have

Men's Bible studies, accountability groups, church, small groups, right? Retreats, conferences, you know, any of that stuff And yet he was blameless He was upright He was God-fearing He turned away from evil Why is it we have all this information, all these resources, and yet we are weaker in manhood than at any other time in the history of the world? Think about that That's just unbelievable to me You know, we have coddled men for so long that they can't make it without somebody coddling them But Job was never coddled

He was a blameless, upright, God-fearing man who knew, I got to turn away from evil Listen to what he says. I love this about Job In Job chapter 28, verse number 28, he says this And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom And to depart from evil is understanding In Job 31, verse number 1, I have made a covenant with my eyes that I shall not gaze upon a virgin. I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully upon another woman What a man of God that is How did he know to do that? Because he feared the Lord

And because he feared the Lord, he wanted to turn away from everything that would dishonor the Lord He wanted to make sure that his life would bring glory to the name of God This is the leadership of Job And that leadership then manifested itself in the lives of his children The Bible tells us these words He had seven sons and three daughters, 10 children He loved his children In the end, God gives Job twice as much as what he's ever had before, except he only gives him 10 children He doesn't give him 20

The answer to that is very simple because he does have 20 because the other 10 are in glory There's still a lot Although he died in this life, they pass to the next life So when the Lord gave him 10 more, in reality he has 20 So he did give him twice as much as what he had before But he had his children He loved these children Which made me stop and think about this If someone was to ask you what you do, what would you say? Who are you? What do you do? Well, I'm a plumber. I'm a coach. I'm a teacher

Whatever the case may be, right? But what if you said, the next time someone asks you, what do you do? Well, I'm a husband. I'm a father No, no, no, no What do you do? No, that's what I do. I am a husband and I'm a father No, no But how do you make your money? Oh, that's just a side thing. I'm a pastor on the side But in all reality, I am a husband and a father See, that was Joe Joe was a family man Yeah, he worked Yeah, he did all kinds of things But Joe was about being the man he needed to be for the glory and honor of God And we have demeaned fatherhood and being a husband to a low level

But it should be at a high level. I'm a father. I'm a husband And that's where I put my emphasis That's my life My life's not about the money I make It just helps me get through life every single day But it's really about being a husband and a father And that was Joe And he understood Proverbs 20, verse number seven, a righteous man who walks in his integrity, how blessed are his sons after him To lead your children demands a certain kind of character that Job exemplified So you have the land with Job You have the leadership with Job You have the lifestyle with Job That's what tells us

Possession is also worth 7,000 sheep Well, it would never be cold in the wintertime with all that wool, right? So he had 3,000 camels. 3,000 camels What do you do with 3,000 camels? Well, Job probably became the first Uber system or Lyft system. I'm sure he uses camels to transport people here and there Or maybe he became the first U-Haul system He helped people move because he had all these camels. I don't know But 3,000 camels is a lot of camels It says he had 500 yoke of oxen In other words, he had 1,000 oxen. 500 female donkeys, right? For milk purposes This was his lifestyle

This man was a wealthy man He had very many servants And he was the greatest man in the age He was a legend. A legend Popular His reputation preceded him. A very unique man And yet he had wealth in perspective He wasn't trying to become wealthy He just was God blessed him Abraham was a wealthy man, right? There's nothing wrong with money It's the love of money that's wrong, right? But listen to what Job says in Job 31, verse number 24

If I had put my confidence in gold and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great and because my hand had secured so much, that too would have been an iniquity calling for judgment for I would have denied God above He wasn't a man that pursued wealth, although he was very wealthy He had a good balance because he was a man of integrity He was a man of blamelessness He feared the Lord He was upright In other words, he dealt with people in an upright fashion

He was a righteous man, that the Bible says in the book of Ezekiel, the 14th chapter, that along with Noah and Daniel, Job was a righteous man Wow, what company? Noah, Daniel, Job How did they become a righteous man? Hebrews 11, seven tells us Righteousness comes by faith What is faith? You know, believe in what God has already said So Job believed what God said Job understood what God was doing And so therefore he believed in the resurrection of the Lord God of Israel He believed in the return of the Lord God of Israel He believed in the redemption of the Lord God of Israel

He believed in what it meant to honor the Lord He lived in the fear of the Lord all day long That was his man But look, number four with me at his loyalty And I love this about Job His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them That would tell us that his three sisters probably were not married But his sons would hold a feast on his day So there's some discrepancy as to what it means on his day And the conclusion for some was that this was their particular day, maybe their birthday

The day in which there was a celebration And therefore they would gather together as brothers with their families and invite their sisters It says they would send and invite the three sisters to eat and drink with them And when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all For Job said, perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Thus Job did continually Notice, he gets up early He rises early

He knows that on this particular day, he's going to offer burnt sacrifices Sacrifices dealing with the dedication and consecration of his children to God He knows that as he offers these sacrifices, he does it during a time of celebration rather than any other time Because he knows that during the time of celebration is a time you're least of all thinking about the things of the Lord And so he wants to redirect their thinking toward the ways of God, toward the person of God to help them to understand that what he's doing is for their sake and their sake alone

He did this for the fact that he wanted his children to know that burnt sacrifices dealt with the dedication of the whole person And he wanted them to be like him He wanted them to dedicate their lives to the Lord. I like how one author said it He said, later in history of Israel, a burnt offering would be the most expensive form of sacrifice in which the whole sacrificial animal is consumed It pictures the hot anger of God burning up the animal in the place of the worshiper whose sins would have made them liable to be burned up in the presence of God

So we can imagine Job doing this for them one at a time This one is for you He lights the fire and the animal is consumed And the son or daughter watches the Holocaust and thinks, that is what would have happened to me if there had not been a sacrifice And the next one, this one is for you And so on until all the children were covered by the sacrifice What was so serious that it necessitated such an expensive and urgent sacrifice? Why did Job insist on doing this party by party? Because he said to himself, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts

Although the children presumably showed outward piety, they did not curse God with their mouths Their parties were not wild drunken orgies or anything like that Job was anxious lest in their hearts they did not honor God Lest deep inside lurk the godless wish that there were no God Job has integrity He is blameless He is not so sure about his children Job knows that what matters is not the appearance of godliness, but a godly heart He knows that to curse God in the heart, to wish God dead as it were, is a terribly serious offense

An offense that carries the eternal death penalty if it's not atoned for But Job believes in the atoning power of sacrifice So he offers burnt offerings As Proverbs says, in the fear of the Lord, one has strong confidence and his children will have refuge Proverbs 14, 26 And the narrative concludes that this Job did continually Year after year after year he would offer up sacrifices that would dedicate and consecrate his children to the things of God This is Job Why do we do this? Because you need to know the man before the tragedy strikes The tragedy did not make Job

The adversity did not develop Job You need to know the man before the tragedy strikes Why? Because you need to be this kind of man You need to be this kind of woman before the adversity comes If you're going to handle adversity the way Job handled it, you have to follow his example Not just when the adversity comes, but before it ever arrives You see, Job had no idea it was coming No idea He's just doing what he always does

He's a God-fearing, blameless man walking in an upright manner, turning away from evil, gathering together with his children on the day of celebration and using that time and that time alone to offer those sacrifices up for his children lest they sin in their hearts and they don't realize the necessity of a substitutionary sacrifice on their behalf How did he know about substitutionary sacrifice? Genesis 22 Abraham Genesis chapter 8 Noah was passed down He learned well He listened well because he feared God and wanted to honor Him

So long before you hear the news that what you have is going to kill you or before you hear the news that the car accident happened on this night and your child died, before you hear the news of whatever tragedy is going to come your way, you need to make sure you're this kind of man first because a tragedy is not going to make you this kind of man or this kind of woman

That's why Job is everyone's example because everyone goes through difficulties and hardship, but you need to be the kind of person God has called you to be, blameless, upright, fearing God, turning away from evil, making him the greatest man in the East and by God's assessment, the greatest man on the earth What would God's assessment be of you? What would He say about you? What would He say about me? I would hope He'd say these things about me Why? Because the lesson that we learn from this is very important God told Abraham, walk before me and be blameless Walk before me and be blameless

The Bible says that the law of the Lord is blameless Do you know that blamelessness is the position of every true child of God? Did you know that? That is our position in Christ The Bible says in Ephesians chapter one, verse number four, these words, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love Blamelessness is the position of every believer This is who we are in Christ We stand before Him unflawed, although we're filled with flaws

We stand before Him righteous because His Son became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him So the position of every one of us who knows the Lord is that we are already blameless And the promise of every one of us who knows the Lord is the promise of blamelessness Listen to what the Bible says in the book of Colossians Colossians chapter one, verse number 22 says this

And although, this is 21, and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach So not only is blamelessness your position, blamelessness is your promise, holy and blameless before Him without reproach But it gets better than that because blamelessness is not just the position of the believer, not just the promise of the believer, but blamelessness is the prayer of every believer Philippians one, verse number nine

And this I pray that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve the things that are excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ So not only are we positionally blameless, not only are we promised blamelessness, Paul's prayer for the church at Colossae is that they would be blameless people What do you pray for for your children? We pray that they get married, that they have kids, don't flunk out of college, they get a job

Maybe you should pray that they'd be blameless, that they would be people of integrity, people of trueness and pureness and holiness because that's what the prayer for the believer was And Paul would make it very clear So not only is blamelessness the position of the believer, the promise of the believer, the prayer of the believer Listen, blamelessness is the practice of the believer Philippians chapter two, verse number 15 or verse 14

Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation The practice of the believer is blamelessness But when you grumble and you mumble and you complain and you bellyache, guess what? You cannot appear as messengers of light in a crooked and perverse generation because you're acting like the world acts But the blameless person is not a grumbler He's not a complainer He's not griping about what's going on in his life No

He's a blameless person because positionally he's blameless Prayerfully he's blameless He's promised blamelessness So he wants to practice blamelessness And that's what Job did But blamelessness is also the pursuit of the believer Second Peter chapter three, verse 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless, and blameless Blamelessness is the pursuit of the believer It's a passionate pursuit It's a zealous pursuit It's an eager pursuit

He says, Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, what things? The return of Christ? The new heaven and the new earth? Because you're already looking for those things You need to be found diligent, pursuing spotlessness and blamelessness If you're not pursuing blamelessness, it's because you don't look for the things that are coming, that is, the return of the Messiah Because when you do, you are consumed with being like Him And lastly, the Bible tells us that blamelessness is the pleasure of the believer Psalm 119 says, How blessed are those whose way is blameless

The blessed man is the blameless man Job was a blessed man because he was a blameless man Now, that didn't mean that he would be protected from all kinds of adversity No, not at all On the contrary, right? But the way Job was in terms of his leadership, in terms of his character, prepared him to handle all the adversity that came his way, all the loss that he suffered He was so committed to turning away from evil that when the individual closest to him, his wife, encouraged him to do evil, he still wouldn't Think about that

He was so committed to a pure and holy life that when his wife encouraged him, curse God and die, be done with it Can we accept good from God and not adversity? Oh, no Not Job He was so committed to turning away from sin when his beloved wife encouraged him to sin, he still wouldn't, even though he could bypass all the pain What a man What an incredible man He becomes the example for everybody in the room He's the quintessential example of manhood, of biblical manhood

What it means to follow the Lord and love the Lord and honor the Lord because next week you're going to see an attack and an abuse upon this man's life that for all practical purposes, he did not deserve at all But it came And he never knew the reason why He just needed to trust the true and living God for all that he would do And he did But he had to be the man that he was in order to handle those things Same is true for you and me We need to be the kind of man that Job was, blameless, God-fearing, upright, turning away from evil

So when the difficulties come, and they do, because Job tells us man is born into trouble, let sparks fly upwards We're able to handle those things because we're already walking with the Lord Let's pray Father, we thank you for tonight Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity we have to study your Word We are a blessed people Pray, Lord, that the things that we learn would stick with us Lord, help us to be men and women of character, characters king, characters all that counts, and pray that we'd be that kind of person Lord, we love you That's why we're here That's why we want to learn

We want to know what Job knew We want to be like Job was because, Father, he handled things a lot differently than we handled them So, Lord, teach us that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord In your name we pray Amen.