I Know How This Ends

Job chapter 23 verse 8 behold I go forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him on the left hand where he does work but I cannot Behold Him he hideth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him but he knoweth the way that I take when he have tried me I shall come forth as gold from this text I want to speak on the theme I know how this ends God bless you the story of job is one we might wish we could forget it's certainly the story that we hope we would never have to experience The Book of Job is painful to read but it would be I'd rather read it than live it we want the Lord to trust our faithfulness but not try our faith in the fire when someone preaches or teaches on job he might be inclined to hope against hope that his story is never yours that's how I feel when I preach about job in Job 3 25 he said the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me and that was I was afraid of has come to me it was like job had in the back of his mind that one day he might live his greatest fear maybe uh while somebody's teaching or preaching on job and let your mind drift and try to think of something else that maybe we won't become job and I've learned to say you never or you all know the story so I want to tell you a little bit about the story of Job kind of a highlight reel The Book of Job opens with the Lord giving an assessment of job's worth and job one and three it tells us that he was a very wealthy man the richest man on all the East he's a more imminent person in Emir of all the other people he had wisdom piety and lots of money incredible flocks and herds and he would have had to have thousands of Acres of grazing land that would be worth millions and millions of dollars in today's market the Bible said he had seven thousand hurt or sheep and if you figure that and I've done numbers you can find some different ones but at about two hundred dollars each seven thousand sheep he had about 1.4 million dollars in sheep alone I know brother Pugh said that sheep were dumb but a million point four I'll take the Sheep right he had three thousand camels the camel was in job's day what a rail car or a tractor trailer is in our day they're still called ships in the desert and camels are in high demand the more gas prices go up the more camel prices go up that's what they say a sturdy male camel can live 60 to 80 years and it might set you back 5 000 to 25 000 dollars three thousand camels I was shocked because I had run these numbers before over a decade ago and a different message but studying job about 15 million dollars in camels so I cross-referenced with several countries you can scan different countries in the Middle East and that's pretty much the prize the price the 3 000 Campbells uh put job in one of the most wealthy people and even the more modern Sheiks of today he had a thousand oxen 500 yoke of oxen is hard to find the price of an ox but if you look for cows 150 to 200 dollars for a calf 2500 for mature beef cow dairy cows five nine hundred to three thousand so I'm just gonna go for 600 bucks a cheap cow he had six hundred thousand dollars in cattle alone 500 she donkeys female donkeys they were worth more than male donkeys and they were very valuable in those days and looked at the prices of those he had about a hundred thousand dollars worth of she donkeys and that does not count the males so if you add up all the prices of the sheep the camels The Oxen the donkeys his total livestock would be valued at over 17 million dollars 17.1 million dollars in livestock and that isn't take into account all the other supporting assets and grazing land and barns and whatever else he would have had he had a fabulous household of Staff servants that he hired to take care of the 11 500 animals that he owned he was a very great wealthy man he also had a wonderful family seven sons three daughters ten children and all and one wife who was more than enough you might think that with all these kids they would have sent job to the poor house but instead they increased his wealth but those seven sons would come Seven Daughters with dowries to help pay for that marriage that's the way it was done back then but when God started calculating job's value he didn't start with those impressive statistics that start in verse three job one and one opens a book with who job really was there was a man in the land of us his name was job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and astute or avoided evil for attributes God gives us about Joe he is perfect or complete in heart and mind they're known moral flaws in him the Hebrew word is Tam and it means to be complete to make full to be entire or to be finished in other words job had it together when it came to living for God he was pure in heart it doesn't mean that he was sinless but that he had a singleness of purpose and sincerity in his walk with God no part was lack King he was complete and whole which is a goal for all of us and that's a goal of my life to be whole blameless and upright these two words he had a pure motivation in serving God personal Integrity walked with God and delighted in the law of the Lord so he was perfect he was also upright that's the second of first pair two pairs of words faithful and adherence to God's statutes compassionate toward other people dealt with other people fairly and justly showed mercy and so he was pure on the inside and he was righteous and upright on the outside Joe was an incredible person straight or correct and all of his dealings there was nothing crooked about job and then this second pair of words it is he was he had devout Faith he feared God and he shunned or he hated evil now the fear of the Lord is an expression found throughout the Bible and it's important attribute in serving God it speaks of a person who has a solid trust in God who fears God or loves God devoutly a person who fears the Lord approaches him with reverence knowing who God really is and in a daily life on a daily basis striving to please God by obedience and reverence to everything the Lord is the wisdom literature the Bible speaks often about the fear of the Lord I'll not take time to give you the references but the fear of the Lord is clean the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge to fear the lord or the fear of the Lord is to hate evil the fear of the Lord prolongs your days the fear of the Lord brings riches honor in life and the fear of the Lord tends toward life Solomon described those in Proverbs 1 29 who hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord job was a perfect and upright man he feared God and he astewed or avoided evil he ran like the Bible said to to kind of avoid the very appearance of evil to run away from sinful Temptation and and that's what job did he's a model man the complete package of godliness and when God describes job he doesn't just give his net worth he doesn't just talk about his financial value he speaks of the inventory of his life of his character and godliness the wealthiest man in that part of the world and was also spiritual he had this and that he has success with spirituality now I think it's notable that job is not a preacher or a prophet he's an astute businessman fabulously blessed by God he's prayerful Godly generous you would say that he's a layman in the church and I say that is because no one of us would believe that you have to be a preacher to be perfect and upright to fear God and avoid evil that's what every good Saint should possess in their lives amen if you think about this story the entire Book of Job we only have this book about job because of verse 1. if it was about his wealth or his family we would not have the Book of Job can you imagine reading job or preaching about job if he was a successful businessman but unfaithful to God if job would have been crooked and carnal you would not know his story he would have lived and died and disappeared from the stage of life but we have a story because of his Integrity the character that Joe possessed the Bible said this man is perfect and upright he fears God he is choose evil and his story is significant because of his integrity the Bible goes on to tell us in verse 4 and later that job was a good family man he worried about his kids and he prayed for them and have offered sacrifices for them daily he worried because his kids grew up in a wealthy environment so he would purify his children offering a burnt offering for them every day he thought they might have gotten caught up and they're feasting and cursed God in the frivolity of that feasting here's a wealthy man but a very concerned father and wanting to make sure that his children did not forsake God so early in the morning he would pray and offer sacrifices for the Lord the Bible says that that he did this continually this was a daily thing with job to pray for his family so after you learn this about job you know that he doesn't deserve to go through the fire of trial deserve is a word that's not often in my vocabulary because I don't think deserve is a good way to live to think that you deserve something or you don't deserve something else in this story it is Job's success that sets the stage for his suffering the sons of God present themselves before the Lord and Satan is among the saints and the Lord says to Satan where have you come from well I've come from going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it and the Lord says to Satan have you considered my servant job there's none like him in the Earth perfect upright man fears God is choose evil he tells Satan what he knows about job that we read in verse 1 of job and Satan says of course he serves you but there's something in it for job it doesn't serve you for nothing first of all you put a hedge about him so that I can't get to him and you've blessed him on every side and everything he's got is increased why would he not serve you with everything that's good in his life but the devil tells God just touch all that he has and he'll curse you to his face if you ever notice that Satan doesn't have a lot of confidence in you he's an accuser of the brethren but he just looks at job and says of course he would not live right when everything's going right that's the way Satan is God allows the first test he says everything he has is in your power don't touch his life shows out her world came crashing down in a matter of days but first we learn this is all in the first chapter of job the sabians come and kill your servants and steal your oxen and donkeys and right away just like that seven hundred thousand dollars in assets and 1500 head of livestock are wiped out just like that and there's one servant left to tell Joe isn't that interesting kill everybody but one is going to bring you the bad news there's always that person verse 16 tells us while he's talking to job about this another servant comes running to the house and he says the fire of God is falling from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed him and I and I only am left to tell you and he lost seven thousand sheep in an instant 1.4 million dollars of assets lost in an apparent Act of God verse 17 the chaldeas have come they divided into three bands they've stolen all three thousand fifteen million dollars worth of camels and they killed all the servants is that for me there I come to tell you about it well he still sharing that great news another serving comes and he says your your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking at your oldest brother's house and there was a great win that came out of the Wilderness and it smoked the four corners of the house thought about that before what kind of a wind smites all four corners of the house at one time tornado I don't know a house caved in on them and they're all dead seven sons three daughters they're gone and I only am escaped alone to tell you at the end of the Affliction of this first round he lost his future through his children he lost most of his employees he lost more than 17 million dollars worth of livestock Joe mourned the death of his children and buried them and he buried most of his hired servants and then how's job going to respond how would you respond you could think that a man like job would spend his lifetime making wise business decisions treating people right fearing the Lord and hating evil that he might have just collapsed that's a lot maybe job would have even taken his own life you know but not job job's integrity his greatest asset was still intact so job Rosen tore his mantle and shaved his head fell down on the ground and he worshiped God and he said naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the lord giveth and the lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord that was job's response to all the trouble that came in his life there was another day we don't know how soon when all the sons of God appear before the Lord again and Satan was among the saints again and the Lord said where have you been he tells them I've been going to and fro walking up and down in the Earth and God says oh by the way it's hard to say right have you considered my servant job he's still the same there is none like him in the Earth the perfect man upright man one that feareth God and but she was evil it's the same man he was in verse one same man he was before the first trial same man he was he is after that trial and he holds fast his integrity and I'll move us be against him to destroy him without cause without cause without cause amen you hold it fast as fast as integrity although you move him against me so Satan now has to get permission from God and he says to the Lord skin for skin yeah all that a man has will he give for his own life he's lost all of that but he's still alive and he's still healthy of course he'll serve you but touch his flesh and Bone flesh will curse you to your face and God said he's in your hand but don't kill him save his life Satan left and smoked job with boils from the soul of his foot the crown of his head and she took a piece of pottery and he scraped himself sat down among the ashes is hurting from head to toe oozing boils from head to toe job's wife I don't think she was an evil woman she knew her husband she sees what's happened to him but you would have to say that she thinks that God has turned on him but God is not his friend so she asked him this question do you still retain your integrity now my message is not about integrity tonight but that's a good question to ask with what you're going through what you've been through well you will go through before the Lord returns for his church or you breathe your last breath will you still retain your integrity through it all she says Curse God and die but he said to her and I know you like to beat up on ladies but you speak as a foolish woman you're looking from an Earthly perspective shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil this is hard to Fathom right that he he has this perspective you know it's it's not what happens to you but what happens in you that really matters and what's happened to job is not changed what's happened in him with his integrity he said the Bible said and all this did not job sin with his lips the last thing you need is a spouse or a friend that tells you to curse God and die well then in job 2 his friends come elephant's Bill Dad and zofar and they've come to mourn with him they made an appointment they come and they sat down for seven days perhaps they sat there because in the East maybe you don't speak before the host speaks and they're really there to comfort him and they saw him they wouldn't say anything the Bible said in job 2 13 they saw that his grief was very great but when they open their mouths they started rationalizing and trying to figure out what job had done because nothing this bad happens to a good person they reasoned so surely job you're a sinner they're not perfect and upright you don't love fear God and hate evil there's some hidden sin in you so all the way through the box this book 42 chapters they're beating job up it's in chapter 23 that we come to our text that gives us insight into job's perspective job 23 8. this is how he feels I go forward he's not there I go backward but I can't perceive him on the left hand where he does work I think that's when God surprises you on the left hand and like he had the fifth judge of Israel the left-handed God on his right hand but I cannot see in the power side of God but I've looked everywhere I can't find God at all sometimes we have a bad church service when we don't feel God and we think God's abandoned us and some people think about abandoning God because of something they go through everywhere job looks he cannot find God it doesn't feel God and when you're in a trial you're in a test like job was he may not be able to feel much I've been in a few things and through through a few things in my life when I was numb job's feelings were real but he was not operating by feelings is operating by faith and so job says this I don't know where God is but verse 10 evidently he believes that God knows where he is but he knows the way that I take and I want to pause that verse right there for now Joe did not know the path ahead he did not know the plan of God but he knew God had a plan and God knew the path like the Apostle Paul wrote we walk by faith and not by sight and Paul wrote that about an uncertain future that he faced job did not know the way that God was taking him or what the next day would bring maybe there was going to be a round three what would that be so did not know how long the trial would last but he did Express a supreme confidence in God this is the heart of my message job said I can't find God I don't know where I'm going but I know how this ends but he knoweth the way that I take and when he hath tried me when God's finished I shall come forth as gold as much as we know this story and we believe the Bible I am amazed at people cannot figure out what happened when things go wrong in their lives the New Living Translation continues what job said I I've using this translation intentionally because remember he says he knows the way that I take and here's what job says he's going to do for I have stayed on God's paths I have followed his ways and not turned aside I can't find God I don't have a clue what's going on but here's what I've done I've maintained my integrity and and I am staying on God's path I didn't give up I'm not quitting verse 12 I have not departed from his commands but I have treasured his words more than my daily food but once he has made his decision who can change his mind whatever he wants to do he does so he will do to me whatever he has planned he controls my destiny he knows the way that I taken and when he has cried me now Joe does know this that the trial will not last forever because he he points to an end to it job knew that God had a purpose in his pain and job did not say if I come forth he said I shall come forth I know how this ends I shall come forth as pure gold job Saul this trial that he's going through as the purifying process designed to make him better I'm not going to die in my dilemma I'm coming out of this and I'm going to be better how can you get better perfect and upright fear God is true evil I don't know but job knows that he's coming out and he's coming out better now the Bible speaks a lot about trials about fiery furnaces and I'm not talking about you know the three Hebrew boys Proverbs 17 3 says the finding pot is for silver and the furnace for gold but the Lord trieth the hearts you want to get silver purified put it in the finding pot you want gold to be pure you put it in the furnace and when God wants to purify us he allows us to go through a trial the Symmetry is common language in the Bible Malachi 3 and 3 and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord in offering of righteousness speaks of this process the Apostle Peter wrote in First Peter 1 and 6. when you greatly Rejoice though now for a season if need be if need be if you need it you are in heaviness through manifold Temptations trials God does not tempt any man to evil neither is he tempted with evil at all God will never tempt you to sin but obviously in the Bible he will test you that the trial of your faith have being more precious than gold at perisheth though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ if God sees that you need it he loves you enough to let you go through it but you have to know how it ends job does not even have a Bible but he understands a purifying process you can read about it it's pretty simple refining with flame as one of the oldest methods of refining metals ancient times this form of refining involved Craftsmen sitting next to a hot fire with molten gold in a crucible Crucible stirred and skimmed to remove the impurities or the draws as it rises to the surface of the molten metal I don't know about you but it is painful when stuff comes to the surface that is ugly or ungodly when that draws that um impurity comes to the surface God does not allow that to kill you he allows that so you can skim it off of your life a purifying process can continue refiner Stokes the fire so the heat exceeds 1947.52 degrees which is the melting point of gold the desired temperature for refining gold is 2150 degrees Fahrenheit real gold does not burn or turn dark under the Heat and still gold simply melts that's why it could be molded and shaped into various Fashions without losing its luster in yellow and gold color but the other metals that are in the fire copper and iron brass tin they change color they get darker when exposed to the flame this tradition is largely untouched there's other ways chemical ways to refine gold job knew this refining process what he described is that he was going through a refining process a fire a purification he knew how it would end that he would come out I know this sounds tried it would come out better but he chose to not be bitter while he was going through it what might melt in the fire possessions impurities these did not did not belong in heaven what would be purified I when you think about job and God does rebuke job in this book I mean it's hard to conceive of job needing a trial to make him better I hope all of us in the room are honest enough to say that we probably don't measure up to job so we should not think it's strange concerning our fiery trial which is to try us as if some strange thing happened to us perfect upright fear of God shunned evil the golden character of Joe would be purified the dross would be taken away in Isaiah 1 and 25 the Lord said and I will turn my hand upon thee and I will purely Purge away the dross and take away all thy tin God speaks of this process of how he's going to to scoop some things out of your life that are not like him I told you the Book of Job is 42 chapters long and it is only the last seven verses that Salvage the story job 42 10 and the Lord turn the Captivity of job when he prayed for his friends I don't think that was the only trigger also the lord gave job twice as much as he had before the Bible speaks of restored relationships remember he said nobody wants to be around me my breath is strange even to my wife but his brothers and sisters came back and everybody had been his acquaintance before and when they came back around he did not hate them he received them someone told me they tried to call me the other day and I did not answer their call not a member of our church a minister I didn't get that call I don't remember that call said I tried to call several other people couldn't get him get them in so I just started praying maybe you should try that and the Lord spoke to him about what he was going to he said I guess God just didn't want me to talk to anybody and he just wanted me to pray you need to think about this how people thought job was a terrible person but when God turned his captivity they came back around he was gracious toward them God doubled his livestock gave him another family seven sons three daughters they were really pretty the Bible said that he lived 140 years and saw his great great great grandchildren to the fourth generation and he died being old and full of days but in the middle of that trial Joe predicted how his story would end but he did not say in job 23 that when he has tried me people are going to come back around he didn't say when God tries me he's going to give me twice as much livestock as I had before he didn't say when God tries me he's going to give me another set of kids and he's going to let me live a long life I don't want to say that those were incidental but that was not the main thing his statement of faith in job 23 10. the second half when he hath tried me I shall come forth as Joe as gold James in the New Testament reflected on this story James 5 and 10 it's significant because it lets us know that the New Testament writers believe that job was a real person this was not a fictitious character or a story he's a real man take by Brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering Affliction and patience behold we count them happy which endure I like the way James says this inspired by the Holy Ghost you have heard of The Patience or the perseverance of job and have seen the end of the Lord when I left the King James there you've seen God's end game you've seen what God had planned to bring about a better end that the Lord is pitiful he's full of pity and of tender Mercy amen James said that we should count in all joy when we fall into different kinds of Trials at the trying of our faith Works patience to let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect in entire wanting nothing he said in James 1 and 12 that blessed is a man that endures Temptation for when he has tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promised to them that love him Peter spoke about this living hope that God has given us that he has promised as an inheritance Incorruptible undefiled that fateth not a way that is reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God ready to be revealed at the last time now if need be as I mentioned earlier you go through manifold Temptations with the trial of your faith a much more precious than gold at parishes though it be tried with fire I'm repeating this verse on purpose might be founded to praise and honor and Glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ then having seen your love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of Glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls when he hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold I know How This Ends fiery trials rejoice that at the end you may be partakers through the sufferings of Christ that you can be glad with exceeding Joy the Apostle Peter again that after you have suffered a while that God will make you perfect he will establish you strengthen you and settle you Paul said that the Lord that has begun a good work in you will perform it or complete it to the day of Jesus Christ and you told us now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding Joy to the only wise God our savior be glory and Majesty dominion and power forever and ever God will finish what he started and I don't know where you are or why a couple days ago the Lord prompted me to teach this tonight but if you will stay faithful to God if you will not compromise your integrity if you will not give up I know How This Ends