In this sermon, the speaker discusses the fourth test that Job faced, which was the counsel of his three friends. These friends, who were oriental philosophers, constantly implied that Job had done something wrong to deserve his suffering. Despite the loss of his wealth, children, and health, the words of his friends proved to be a greater trial for Job. The sermon also mentions the dialogue between Job and his friends, as well as the introduction of another voice, Elihu, and ultimately God himself.

I want you, if you will, to turn to the book of Job. The book of Job. Job comes just before the Psalms. And this is indeed a Bible reading and we're going to read the Bible. I don't think I can assume great familiarity on the part of everybody with the book of Job. It's a long book, forty-two chapters, it's written in poetic, rather imprecise style, and maybe not everybody has plowed their way through this part of scripture. But there's no part of scripture which can be ignored, save at our own cost. God doesn't waste his time putting things in his book which we don't need, and we certainly need the ministry and message of this book of Job. I'm going to read then the first two chapters. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance was 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she-asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east, a big-time farmer, if ever there was, even by today's standards. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God, that's the angelic beings, came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Then answered Satan the Lord and said, doth Job fear God? For nought hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger unto Job and said, the oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them away. Yea, they have slain thy servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away. Yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped to tell thee. And while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great whirlwind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. Strange thing to do in an hour of calamity, but he did it. And said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. And Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said unto Satan, from whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and destueth evil? And still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand, but save his life. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potch herd, but a broken crockery, to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die! But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite. For they had made an appointment together, to come to mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice and wept, and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground, seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him. For they saw that his grief was very great. And in the next chapter, Job curses the day that he was ever born, in words of tremendous pathos and beautiful poetry. So we're going to try and study and learn and benefit by the message of this great book in the Old Testament. It is thought to be the oldest writing in the Bible. Although the first book is Genesis, it doesn't mean that Genesis was necessarily the first to be written. And there are scholars who think there's reason to believe that possibly the book of Job was the first to be written. Indeed, we might regard this book as the oldest in the world. It could be that it was first penned, it was penned 40 centuries ago. But in spite of its antiquity, its message is utterly up-to-date and completely applicable to us today. For it deals with timeless matters. The incidents in the book of Job probably happened in the days of the patriarchs. But the things happening is one thing, but who wrote it? Which of course, it was of course written after the event narrated. Nobody knows who the writer of the book of Job was. It could of course have been Job himself. When he'd passed through his trial and was sailing in calm waters, perhaps he wrote it all down. Or it could have been someone else. But whoever it was, the book of Job is part of the sacred canon of scripture. Accepted as such from the very beginning of the formation of the canon. And as such, it claims to be verbally inspired by God. I think we need to understand afresh, and not take it for granted that we all know these things, what the Bible says about itself. This is what it says in 2 Timothy 3.16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And in 2 Peter 2.21 it says, Holy men of God spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Human men expressing themselves in the way that was native to them, but nonetheless being moved by the Holy Spirit to write and speak what they did. And of course that inspiration of God goes right down to the words which they used. Paul says that we teach the wisdom of God, not in words that man's wisdom teaches, but in words which the Holy Spirit teaches. Now this is a simple claim of scripture for itself. It's a marvel, it's a miracle. And as I've been reading it for what, between 50 and 60 years, ever since I was saved at 18, I found nothing in it to shake my confidence that this is indeed the inspired word of God to men. Of course there are references to things that Satan has said. We're not suggesting that what is recorded that Satan said is true, because he's a liar and the father of lies, but it's an inspired record of what he said. The friends of Job made many mistakes in their reasonings as we shall see. And that's recognized. But nonetheless it's an inspired record of what they said. And you and I have to seek the same Holy Spirit who first inspired it in order to interpret it and understand it. Now the book of Job is the first of the poetic books of the Bible. The Hebrews divided their Old Testament into three. The law, the books written by Moses, the first five books, and the prophets, and the poetic books, or what was called wisdom literature. And Job is one of the latter class. The wisdom books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. They're in a class by themselves. And they contain some of the most glorious poetry in the world. Hebrew poetry is different from ours. It's not dependent on rhythm, nor on rhyme. You will notice in these books something very beautiful. That is dualism, or parallelism as it is called. Every thought, almost every thought is repeated twice. The second statement of it developing the first. Sometimes it's more complex and it's stated three times. And this is very wonderful. We don't write that way. You're not expected to do. Poetry is one way of writing. Prose is another. But these books and the book of Job is largely written as poetry. For that reason, it is imprecise as poetry is. But its truth is there. The fact that it's imprecise does make it sometimes difficult to understand what Job and the others were actually saying. But that is an opportunity for us to sweat at it and go deeply to understand its true meaning. And the poetic parts in the authorised version are not set out as poetry, more's the pity. But the revised standard version and the new international version very helpfully put poetry as poetry. And you can see the beauty and structure of this marvellous literature that's been handed down to us. Now, the raw material of the book of Job is the mystery of sufferings, especially the sufferings of the godly. The world has always looked upon suffering as a mystery, as something that shouldn't be, especially when those who suffer are innocent. We've seen many gruesome pictures on television Indeed, on one occasion, the presenter, a lady, was deeply moved and she had to hold herself in a little bit, I thought, as she commented on those terrible scenes of famine in Uganda. And we saw the sufferers were little children. And what was said, and we all felt that, saying, isn't it terrible that the innocent, the people who haven't done any harm, should suffer? Yes, the world has always looked upon suffering as a mystery, especially when the sufferers are innocent. But here we haven't got merely the innocent suffering, but the positively godly. A man as holy, as consecrated, as devoted to God as Job was, he is seen suffering in a way that few of his contemporaries had ever suffered. And that, of course, indeed, poses a mystery. It was a baffling thing for Job. It was a baffling thing for his friends. It defied explanation. Had he mean another sort of man? But such a man. And they tried to wrestle with an explanation that could account for this man of all men suffering as the way he did. Actually, the book of Job doesn't really give an answer to that problem. Why do the innocent suffer more than that? Why do the godless suffer? There's not really an adequate answer attempted to that question. Certainly not one that fits neatly every case. Actually, to give an answer is not its real thing, is not its real theme. Its real theme is something quite other, as we shall see later. Now, before we go further, I want you to see the outline of this book so that you know more or less how it's built up and where we should be going. There you have the broad divisions of it. First of all, there's the prologue, which we have read this morning. That shows where Job's sufferings originated. We're told how it all happened, what was the source of it. And then, for 39 chapters or so, you have a section which I put dialogue. It's a dialogue. Sometimes it seems endless, between Job and his three friends. Then into that dialogue comes another voice, Elihu, and then God himself. And then there's the last part, the epilogue, the last chapter. And so there's a sort of symmetry about it, the prologue and the epilogue. One where it all originated, and the other where it eventuated in a very wonderful, happy ending. And in between there's this big section of dialogue, as Job and his friends try to reason it out and philosophize things. Looking again at that dialogue, first of all, you have a long section, 29 chapters, Job and his friends, back and forth. Each of those friends has three innings, and Job answers everyone. He won't let them off. He's got an answer for everything. That's why it's a long section. Then, right in the middle, and very important, is the ministry of another speaker, who's been silent all this time while these gasbags have been talking. And he comes with much more of a word from God than the three friends, Elihu. And he rarely contributes something for us as he did for them. And then, most important, God himself is heard, the voice from the whirlwind, talking directly to Job, brushing aside the words of the three friends, and asking Job questions. Up to that point, Job has been asking God the questions. Now God starts to ask him the questions. The voice from the whirlwind, chapter 38 to 42.6. And as a result of hearing that audible voice of Jehovah himself speaking from the whirlwind, Job is broken in repentance, and then he enters into the last part, the epilogue, the happy ending with which it ends. So that is something of the book in its outline. I think it helps a little bit because you can see that it is not endless chapters without shape or form. Now the book begins, as we heard this morning, as we read this morning, with Satan being given permission to test Job. Whereas Satan inflicted those terrible casualties upon Job, it was God who permitted it. And who limited Satan's power. Thus far, no further. And it was all to prove Satan a liar in what he said of Job. Doth Job fear God for naught? Now, this is not something that Job knew, nor did his friends. It would have made a lot of difference to them had they known it. But they didn't. It's really given us for our purpose, us readers. Because in the light of that prologue, of what happened between God and Satan, we are able to weigh up the validity of what Job said. And the validity of what his friends said. As I said, it would have made a lot of difference to them had they known it. But they were not permitted to know it. In fact, Job not knowing the reason for his sufferings was part of the trial. He was made to suffer affliction. But not only affliction, but baffling affliction. He couldn't understand it. Why should God do this to me? And he couldn't find an answer. And neither could they, though they tried to work one up. I found a quotation in a book here along this line. A quotation from one Alfred Edersheim. He says, we cannot understand the meaning of many trials. God does not explain them. To explain a trial would be to destroy its effect. Which is that of calling forth simple faith and implicit obedience. If we knew why the Lord sent us this or that trial, it would thereby cease to be a trial either of faith or of patience. And so, you know, the reader knows, but poor Job and the others didn't know. What lay back of these terrible experiences that came upon him. Now, I say no more about that very extraordinary passage. This interview that Satan had with God and this permission that was given to him. Because it is not the theme of the book. If it was, you'd have a last final vision of Satan coming and said, God's saying and I told you so. No, you don't get that. And as I say, that is not the real theme. What that theme is, we shall see once again a little later on. I would, however, like to say one thing. There's a very interesting parallel case to this in the New Testament. When Jesus said to Peter, Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat. And in the Greek, it is more literally, Satan hath obtained you by asking. That he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not utterly. And when thou art turned again, strengthen the brethren. I believe the Lord was directly referring to the book of Job. Just as Satan obtained Job by asking, so Satan obtained Peter by asking. And it will be most interesting to look at Peter again in the light of how it all worked out. What a time, what a dark tunnel he went through. But how glorious was the sunlight at the other end, even as it was with Job. I want, however, to look at the beginning as Job saw the beginning. He doesn't know what we know. We start now with Job himself. We see him there, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Nothing wrong with him physically, in full possession of all his faculties. A man in the prime of life. And he's wealthy. By any standard, even today, Job was a wealthiest, wealthy man. One of the wealthiest in the East. And more than that, he was wise, in that for him, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil, that is understanding. And thus he lived, surrounded with his family. Apparently there was so much money that each of his ten children could have their own homes. They didn't have to live under father's roof. With all his flocks and servants, all that his heart could wish. And then one day, out of a clear blue sky, a series of terrible calamities fell upon him in rapid succession. The first to be smitten was his wealth. Those flocks, those herds of cattle, sheep, camels, and all else. And that was, of course, a man's capital in the East. And still is, I think, in Africa and elsewhere. And in a day, calamity fell upon his wealth. The Sibeans, the Chaldeans, and then lightning caused the destruction and the captivity of his flocks and also his servants. And in one day, the wealthiest man in the East was turned to be a pauper. That was a big blow. It is a big blow when a man loses his job, when the family fortunes are at stake, when there's poverty where before there'd been comfortable riches. But that wasn't all. There also fell upon him a yet more grievous calamity. He lost his family. There was a tremendous tornado. And this was one of the occasions when his seven sons and three daughters were feasting together in the home of the eldest. And this tremendous tornado smote that building and all ten of them were killed in the rubble. And that which Job greatly feared had come upon him. He'd always feared for the safety of that dear family. He'd often been praying for them while they had their times of fun. And now calamity has fallen on him and he loses ten sons. And then after a pause, while he perhaps regains his breath, and while incidentally there's an interview going on in heaven about him, a last calamity falls. He loses his health and he's smitten with boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head. He's in such torture that the best he can do is to get a bit of broken crockery and he sits on the ash heap and he stretches himself to give himself some relief. Such a terrible wreck did he appear that when his three friends first saw him they could hardly recognise him. And they lifted up their voices and wept for the place of weakness and disfigurement to which their old friend had been brought. Now those are heavy losses indeed. It is a big loss when a man's finances are touched, when a man's security goes. And it could happen. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction. Investments can go. Price of this, that and the other can go. Doesn't look as if property is going to go down but you never know. It's not going up quite as much as it was. And anything can happen. And you can be deprived of your security, your pay, your money. That's a big crisis. But when that is immediately followed by another one, that really is something. I like to think of Job and his wife standing around the ten graves. Those three wonderful young men for whom they cherished such high hopes. And there they are buried under the cypress trees. And those three darling girls, they're buried there too. And Job and his wife wept over their graves. And in the later chapters he tells us more in detail what all this meant. I tell you it was heavy. Though he took it well at first, it didn't mean it wasn't the grief. It was a blow. It was a terrible loss. And then his health. The pain of it. In fact he wished that God would finish him off altogether. He only wished he could end his days. All the other things, and then this that never left him, prevented him from sleeping. These were heavy blows indeed. And they came in such quick succession. And it made it clear to him that this was God. Very often when things come in quick succession it's to underline the fact this is God allowing it. And they've got to deal with God about it. And Job did recognise God and he did seek to deal with God about it. There was another element in his suffering and it was that as a result of suffering as he did, being deprived as he was, he became the object of the contempt of his friends. He says in chapter 19, God has put my brethren far from me and my acquaintance are wholly estranged from me. My kinsfolk and my close friends have failed me. The guests in my house have forgotten me. My maidservants count me as a stranger. I've become an alien in their eyes. I call to my servant but he gives me no answer. I must beseech him with my mouth. I am repulsive to my wife, loathsome to the sons of my own mother. Even young children despise me. When I rise they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me and those whom I loved have turned against me. You know there's one thing the world will never forgive us and that's for being persistently unfortunate. They can't forgive it. They don't like it. It's a challenge to them. It must be something you've done. And perhaps that's one of the hardest things when you've had so much to bear, when you've been through such a time and because you're down on the luck, your luck, it seems other people don't want to know. They cut you dead for no other reason than you've been persistently unfortunate. And this is how it was with Job. Indeed later on he has a whole chapter going into the indignities which he suffered and doing so with wonderful melodrama and beautiful poetry. I tell you this is a terrible, terrible thing that Job went through. The question is how did Job take it? Well, he took it wonderfully. It seemed to give the lie to all Satan had insinuated. Chapter 1 verse 21 he says, when he hears about his money going and his family going, he says, Naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Isn't that wonderful? To be able to say that, no rebellion, no cursing God to his face, no questioning his will, simply accepting it, giving up his own wishes and preferences to embrace what God had allowed. That's tremendous. And then in chapter 2 verse 10 he says, when he himself has lost his health and his suffering as he does, rebuking his wife because she was mad at God, he says, What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. You would say, would you not, that there's a broken man indeed. A man who's willing for the cross. Someone has said that an experience of the cross is when God's will crosses yours and you choose God's, even though it's to your own discomfort, Job. And it would seem that Job was outstanding as a broken man. It's quite astonishing. But wait a minute, wait a minute, there's a fourth test coming. And whereas he went through the first three so wonderfully, he fell on his face utterly under the fourth. What was the fourth test? It was those three old windbags. Those three men, friends of his, oriental philosophers, homemade philosophers, trying to find an answer to the enigma that was before him. And you know, the words of those supposed friends proved to be a far greater trial to Job than the loss of his money, than the loss of his sons and daughters, even the loss of his health. You see, as they began to philosophize as to how this should happen, without going into any details at this stage, just let me say it's their counsel to him always implied that he'd done something wrong. Remember, I pray thee, said one, whoever perished being innocent, or where were the upright cut off? Said another, God will not turn away from a perfect man, neither will he uphold evildoers. Said another, the triumph in the wicked is short. And it was implied that if somehow his experience was what it was, then somewhere he didn't qualify for the great blessings of the righteous, that somewhere he'd been compromising, somewhere there'd been secret sin, that really he was a great big hypocrite. Of course, it wasn't said so bluntly as that. It was an implication. But a man in that condition is very, very sensitive. And the first hint of it, Job is up in arms. You see what was happening? God was allowing them to strip him of a fourth thing, not his money, not his family, not his health, but stripping him of his righteousness. They were implying that there was something wrong with him, that he wasn't such a good man as would appear. And they were taking from him what was his most precious possession, his righteousness. And you know, I believe that is the most acute pain of all. I saw that in a comment that Campbell Morgan says, it emphasizes this, can there be any experience of the soul more trying that of having sin imputed when there is an inner consciousness of innocence? No pain, no loss, so hurtful as that implication. There's nothing we want less than be stripped of our righteousness. Our righteousness is our dearest possession. We're not going to have that imputation. We must clear ourselves. And thus it is one of the most characteristic reactions on our part to any hint of criticism, is disturbance of heart and immediate self-justification. And it was so with Job. He was not willing to be stripped of his righteousness and stand there accepting the imputation of him being a secret sinner. It wasn't true, and we happen to know it wasn't true either. But what was wrong with Job is that he wouldn't accept that imputation. Well, you say it was wrong, yes, but it was wrong for him to lose the other things. He accepted that. Why couldn't he accept the loss of his righteousness and be stripped? And be accepted and let them regard him as a sinner, not in their life. And I believe Job loved his righteousness more than he loved his flocks. He loved his righteousness more than he loved his boys and his girls, even more than he loved his health. He was prepared, if God so decreed, to let those go, but not in your life was he going to let his righteousness go. And thus it is, in answer to these quite gentle imputations, at least they were gentle to begin with, Job gives us no less than 18 chapters of complaint and self-justification. And he ends up saying, I will hold fast my righteousness, I will not let it go. And of course, his language is so strong that it only makes them stronger against him and more sure they're on the track in showing him that somewhere he's wrong. And I believe this is the same with us. I believe you and I find it easier to put up with much severer losses than the loss of our righteousness. I believe we love it more than anything else, shown by the fact that we hate being wrong. We hate admitting it. Or we hate even being imputed to be wrong when we feel we're not. Of course, every man is right in his own eyes. When you're criticized, you're always innocent of criticism. We all know that. You're always the innocent party. D.L. Moody went to an American penitentiary prison to try and counsel the prisoners. He had personal conversations with most of them, and he came out and said, I never met such an innocent lot of men in all my life. This is why I'm so slow to repent. I don't want to be seen and admit that I'm wrong. This is why I can't bear to be accused wrongly. I must be right. I like being right, shown by the fact I hate having to take the sinner's place and be wrong. And if Job did not need to repent of anything else, he needed to repent there. He couldn't repent of the things his friends suggested he might have done, because he hadn't done them. But he did repent. Ultimately, God brought him to it. And what did he repent of? I've heard of thee by the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. In the authorized version, the word myself is in italics, which always means that that word doesn't appear in the Hebrew. It's got to be provided to make English sense. In the Hebrews, I abhor. It doesn't say what he abhors. The translators, they properly put myself. But there's a marginal reference. Or, my words. I said, that's it, that's it. That was what he repented of. My words, my words. What have I said? Oh God, if I'd been a sinner in nothing else, I'd been a sinner in this, that I wasn't willing to bow to your will and lose my righteousness and be accused and take a sinner's place. I questioned you. We shall look at that again later. Ultimately, he said, he almost went back on that splendid initial brokenness of his, in his desire to be proved right. And that was the place where God ultimately brought him, when he repented of that. That was the turning point, when everything for him changed. That brought him into that epilogue, that glorious, happy ending. That's the crucial point, the turning point, when he said, wherefore I abhor my words and repent in dust and ashes. Everything immediately changed. Now, this is the real theme of the book. This is what it is. It isn't just a study of the meaning of suffering. I tell you what it is. This book is an epic on brokenness. It's an epic on the broken and the contrite heart, which in the sight of God is of great price. Brokenness is the opposite to hardness. Hardness says, it's your fault. Brokenness says, it's me, Lord, that's wrong. And this is what this book is all about. The man who in the first verse is presented to us as perfect and upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil, at the end of the book is heard saying, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And because of that great thing that happened in him, he ended into something better than he ever had before. The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than at his beginning. And we're going to get on to that. I tell you, it'll be an exciting, thrilling thing, a great time when we see the blessed grace into which he came, the benefits. It was the turning point for him as it is for us. My dear friends, this is what he's done. Very often he puts us in the crucible. Very often he puts us on the stove, like in the old days a woman did when she was making soup stocked from bones. And she'd put the bones in the pot and the scum would come to the surface. She'd take it off and some more scum would come. And this is what happened to Job. The scum came to the surface. The scum now unwilling to lose his righteousness to be a sinner. The scum desiring to be right and refusing anybody who criticized or implied otherwise. And he had to see the sin of it. I haven't time now. That's what we're going to see. How God came in and showed him the wrong of his attitudes. It wasn't that he was suffering because he was sinning, but he was sinning because he was suffering. It was sin. The things he said and at last he saw it. Only when at last God himself interposed and spoke to him, out of the whirlwind. What a speech it is. One of the some of the grandest portions of the whole Bible. And it broke Job up. With what such gain? The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than at his beginning. Gave him back twice as much as he'd lost. Gave him back happiness that he'd never had before. And it is ever the way. This is the way into the sweetest experiences of grace there are. As I'm prepared for God to bring me down. And bring me to the same place to which Job brought me. It isn't it isn't a deed that's the wrong. It's probably your attitude. Under suffering. Under misrepresentation. And you'll go on my dear friend. Until at last God's end has been achieved. And we're found at last in the sinner's place. Receiving and enjoying the sinner's peace with God. And the sinner's righteousness before God. And we come into all the benefits that Job came in. I'm looking forward to that last chapter. It'll be a great time. May God may God interpret us. May we all get into it as we follow the course of God's dealings. With this great man of the Old Testament. Amen. Let us pray. Lord Jesus we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Holy Ghost who's come to interpret this sacred page to us. And we thank you Lord that we feel ourselves included within its scope. Every one of us are Job's. Every one of us loves our own righteousness. Every one of us naturally is right in our own eyes. And can't tolerate anything that would say otherwise. We don't bow to conviction. We don't humble ourselves before challenge. All because we love our own righteousness. And Lord Jesus that not really relevant to us when we're there. We don't need thy blood. We don't need that imputed righteousness. If we are right in our own eyes. We ask thee Lord that thou would help us to see wherein we've been justifying ourselves. Writing lessons. Arguing. Replying back again. Can't leave it. Can't leave it like that. Oh Lord may there be a new repentance at this deep level. With us. With me. For thy dear namesake. Amen. Now we're just sing another a closing hymn. Number 475. Eternal light, eternal light. How pure the soul must be. Let us stand and sing. Eternal light. How pure the soul must be. When faith is within thy searching sight. It shrinks from that which hath delight. Whose mind is dimmed. Before him never more. Shall we say the grace? The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Be with us all evermore. Amen.