OCT 30 2022 AM Sermon

And sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ is what we do, it's who we are. And I know you'll rally to get as many boxes as we can. We've got two weeks left to basically mid-November, and we're already through October, if you can believe it. Well, today we come to the end, the conclusion of our study, our series on Job. And I hope that you've enjoyed it as much as I have, because I love the book of Job. It is the oldest book in the Bible. It has been mentioned by a number of people, both believers and non-believers, as one of the greatest literary pieces of all time. But it has a significant message for all of us. Today I want to talk about God's grace. God's grace cannot be plumbed. You cannot explain it, you cannot expand it, it's already out there. It's beyond anything that you and I can comprehend. The simplest definition on God's grace is simply given to us what we don't deserve. And that's as easy as it can be, but yet you just can't explain it away. So if you would stand with me, we will read the final verses of chapter 42, beginning at verse 10 of Job. After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters. The first daughter he named Jemima, the second, Keziah, and the third, Karen Kapuk. Nowhere in all the land there were found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years. He saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died an old man and full of years. Let's pray. Our most gracious Father, we just ask that You'll take this text, impart it to us, Lord Jesus. Take these words, Lord, use them for Your glory. Allow me to step back and for You to step forward and to proclaim whatever it is that You have for us today, Lord. That we might have open hearts and open hearts to receive Your truth, Lord. And then that we would have the courage to act on whatever it is that You've called us to do. Father, be with us today. Thank You for meeting us here. For it's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Wow! The end of Job, this epilogue as it has been called, comes to the place where we see Job in the final years of his life. And you see, after Job's repentance and his intercessory prayer for his friends, God blessed Job and restored three things to him. And that's what I want us to look at today. That restoration that God worked in Job's heart. But we go back up to verse 4. You said, Listen, as Job says to God, Listen now, and I will speak, I will question you, and you shall answer me. My ears heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. Job was saying to God, as we said last week, that I have just thought about you. I thought about you through other people, through my own experience. But now I actually have a personal experience with you. How many of you have had that same experience? You have felt Christianity is simply a religious quest. We go through religion. Christianity is not religion. Christianity is not man reaching for God in his own efforts, which is what religion is all about. Christianity is God taking the initiative and reaching down the sinful man through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, because God, more than anything else, wants a relationship with us who have been created in His image. This is why God sent His only Son into the form of man, so that we would understand God's love for us, that we would have an opportunity to receive His only Son, and by faith in receiving His only Son, we would have that grace that grants to us salvation, life abundant, life eternal. So here we have Job. Job says, you know, I just thought I knew about you, Lord, and maybe I had a head knowledge, but now I have a personal heart knowledge. And through humility, through transparency, Job repents. He changes his mind about his life, and he asks God to forgive him of his sin, of his disobedience to God. And he comes before God literally in sackcloth and ashes. He comes falling on his face before the Lord. And now God didn't say to Job, what I want you to do, Job, I want you to do penance. That's not in the Scripture here, is it? He doesn't ask Job to grovel in front of him, to do certain things. He doesn't humiliate Job. The Bible says God simply restores him, gives him back in that relationship that he once knew and now has an opportunity to enjoy. So as God allows Job's repentance, notice God's restoration. The first restoration is in relationships. The first and the foremost and the most important relationship that was restored with Job was a relationship with God. There is no better, greater, more substantial relationship that you will ever have in your life until you find that relationship with God by faith through Jesus. You can't do it. It can't happen. And that relationship will necessarily affect your relationship with every other person on the face of this earth and every other situation that you may encounter, every other circumstance that you may experience. That relationship with God, the first restoration to Job, the Bible says in verse 9 that the Lord accepted Job's prayer. The Lord accepted Job's prayer. So Job was restored in his relationship to the Lord. And then secondly, notice that Job was restored in his relationship to his friends. These friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and even Elihu. As Job prayed for these three friends, the Lord forgave them as well. So he was not only restored to the Lord, but he was restored to his friends. You have bitterness toward anybody. God is not going to restore you in a good relationship with Himself because you are inhibiting that restoration process. You're not coming before the Lord with a heart that is open and meek and humble before the Lord. You come with the bitterness and the anger, and if you don't leave it at the throne, you walk away the same way you came. If you don't leave it at the altar of confession, you're going to take it on with you. But Job obviously did not bring that bitterness toward his friends to the Lord. His heart was soft. It was there. And then you notice that his relationships have been restored with his family. The Bible says in verse 11, "...all his brothers and sisters." Wow! This is the first time that that's been mentioned in all 42 chapters. We don't have any reference whatsoever to brothers and sisters up until the end. Now where were they during all of this? We don't know. We can only surmise that they were somewhere around. Maybe they were commiserating with Job. Maybe they were watching him and his anger. And maybe they were praying for him. We don't know exactly what they were, but they were obviously still somewhat connected with Job during all of this. And God restored their relationship with family. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Only God can do that. He's the only One that can change the heart of a person. He's the only One that can change the temperament of an individual. He's the only One that can do it. When God changes you, He doesn't just give you a new suit of clothes. He changes you from the inside out. Family. Notice he obviously had a restoration of a relationship with his wife. They later on had ten children. Well, there had to be a relationship there. Just be saying. So here we have the relationship restored, not only with God primarily, more importantly, and with his friends and his family. And then the Bible says, and all acquaintances, you see that? Everyone who had known him before. Everyone who had known Job. His business relationships. His neighbors. The people that he saw in town. Everybody who knew Job came and they celebrated with Job. And Job had no problems. And I can see Job coming to his house arm in arm with these three friends who had once just denigrated him because God accepted his prayer for them. And as they're there, they all have dinner. And then the Bible says that God granted that he would have additional children. Seven sons and three daughters. Now God doubled all of his assets. Why did he not have twenty children? Well, he had ten already in heaven. And they believed that that was theirs, did not need to be replaced. They weren't erased, if you will. They were still there. And seven sons and three daughters. Interestingly enough, the sons are not named. Oh well. The daughters, look at their names. When you read the first one, Jemima, you're thinking she's somebody's aunt. Tells you a lot where I came from, doesn't it? Jemima means dove in Hebrew. Then there's Keziah. That word means in Hebrew either cinnamon or the bark of a cinnamon tree, which is what perfume is made from. And it could be cinnamon or perfume. So she was a sweet fragrance. And then there's Karen Hapuk. That literally means in Hebrew, born of eye paint. But you notice that these daughters were found as beautiful, no one in all the land were found as beautiful as Job's daughters. Here's the thing about Job. He's been through a horrible, horrendous trial. His test, he's lost his ten children. They were killed when the roof of their house collapsed in on them. He lost all of his animals. He lost his livestock. He lost all of his food, his plants, his crops. Everything was gone. His wife told him to curse God and die. Basically, he did not do that, of course. He lost everything. He was sitting on an ash heap, covered in boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. And there he was in misery, being absolutely scourged by these three friends, because they just assumed that his sin was great because his suffering was great. And there he was, outside the city walls, in a garbage dump, in misery. But now, now he's back at home. He's recovering somewhat. He probably has the scars from the boils and things of this nature. He's sitting at table with all this number of people. And then, I can just hear the picture. Some days later, his wife comes in and says, guess what? Now, he must be about 70 years old at this time, because the Bible says everything was doubled. They said he lived 140 years beyond this time. So now, he's got his wife coming in and saying, guess what, Job? I'm expecting. And she says that ten times. Now, I don't know about you, but Job, in his frame of mind at this particular point, had to be a much better father than he was the first time. We all, grandparents, feel like we should have had our grandchildren first, you know, because they're so much more fun. And the reason they're so much more fun is that we are different as parents. When we're younger, we're so intent on rising through the corporate ladder or making our way into the world or providing for our family. And there's activities and extracurricular things that we're doing, meetings to go to, and it just seems like it was a blur. It seemed like they were three years old today, and then tomorrow they turn 20. And so, we know as grandparents that we spend more time with our grandchildren. We have more of a listening ear, perhaps. We're more engaged in their activities and their games. We take the time. Job was a better father at that point. And the Bible says, you see, where he saw his children and their children in their fourth generation, he had children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. He got to see them all. He lived 140 more years. And you know it was a blessing to him. But one other thing before I leave this point. He gave his daughters an inheritance. Now, this is before the law of Moses because this was before Moses came on the scene. And the law of Moses, inheritance could not be given to daughters unless there were no sons available. So, he treated all of his children equally. And it's interesting, Job is this transparent, this heart that is seeking after God, is soaking it all in. And then, not only did God restore his relationships, He restored his resources. Look up in verse 11. All of these brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted him and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him. And then, you see what they said? Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring, seed money. Now, all of this wealth didn't come to him overnight. I mean, he had 140 years to accumulate it. But it didn't come overnight. But this was money that was given to him in love and appreciation and because of their relationship to Job to get him started again in business. And he did it and doubled what he had before because the Lord blessed him. He had 14,000 sheep where he had 7,000 before. He used to have, before all of this happened, he had 3,000 camels. Now he's got 6,000 camels. Vito, these were the caravans of that day. These were your semi-trucks. They delivered goods and products from the towns to the country and from the countryside into the towns, from the marketplace to the villages to the homes. The camels were the caravans of that time. 6,000 of that, you can imagine. 1,000 yoke of oxen to plow his fields and 1,000 donkeys. He had his resources restored. But now also God restored his remaining days. You see, the Bible says that God blessed the latter part of his life more than the former. Do you see that in verse 12? Don't gloss over that either. The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part. And some of you sitting here as businessmen and women are thinking, yeah, because he doubled his assets. No, no, that's not it at all. Job now is not focused on his assets. Job is now focused on the lordship of God. Everything becomes incidental and secondary in his life to his relationship with God. That's God's first and foremost blessing to Job. And so God blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first part. He was a better man. He was a better businessman. He was a better farmer, a better rancher. He was a better husband. He was a better father. He was a better grandfather. Everything was better, and he relaxed in the joy and the blessings of God. Don't ever think that God's blessing is restricted to some kind of financial windfall. You know, there's a saying going around that says, you'll know who your friends are when you win the lottery or buy a pickup truck, you know. Don't ever think that your windfall is your blessings from God. Your blessings from God comes in your relationship with Him by faith through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Job 23.10, Job had said earlier on, but he knows, talking about God, the way that I take, when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. So here's the thing, God knows your situation. He knows the way I take. God knows my situation. He knows my circumstance. He knows what's in my heart. He knows when I'm envious. He knows when I'm greedy. He knows when I'm jealous. He knows all of those things about me. He knows everything. He knows where I am in relationship to Him. He knows where I am in relationship to everyone else. He knows it all. Secondly, He says, when He has tried me, He tries me. He tests me. He puts me under certain tests to make sure that I understand who He is and who I am in relationship to Him. He doesn't ever want us to get that relationship twisted around to where we think God should be related to us, instead of us related to God. And so, He tries us. He gives us these little trials in life to not only deepen our faith, but to let us know who He is in that relationship to us and what He can provide. And then thirdly, Job says, when I come through, I shall come forth as gold. He blesses me when I'm found faithful. I'll come forth as gold one day. He said this while he was still sitting on the garbage dump. I shall come forth as gold. He says, the final years, the latter part of Job's life, is more blessed than the former part. Now here's the question I want to leave with you today. Can you make that statement, that your latter years are more blessed by God than your former years? Or are you so wound up with cynicism, skepticism, bitterness? Maybe that's colored your whole life. It certainly affects your countenance. And where you are excusing your behavior by simply saying, well, things just aren't like they used to be. Well, no they're not, nor will they ever be. And so, I know that my days now are much more blessed than the former days. And I can't wait to see what the days yet to come. I have a hope of the glory of God being shown in the days yet to come to this congregation and to me personally. And I just am excited about it. He died full of years. Thoreau said, there are none so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. I'll let that one sink in. Are you still enthusiastic about life? Do you really believe that God is in control? Do you believe that God can bless you? Or do you still have that cynicism about you, that skepticism? You look at your physical life and you say, well, I'm not the man I was thirty years ago. I'm not the person I was twenty years ago. I'm none of those things. So what? God can take you and use you for His glory in all the little things in life. The Jewish proverb says, for the ignorant, old age is as winter. For the learned, it is a harvest. For the ignorant, old age is as winter. For the learned, it is a harvest. Who are the learned? Those are the ones that learn about the relationship with the Lord. Those who learn, that come to realize, well, I may not be able to do some things physically that I was once able to do, but there are the little things that I can do that will add up to great things. There are the comments, the encouragement that I could pass on to somebody who may need some encouragement. There's that card that I can write, that text that I can send, that email that I can send. There's that phone call that I can make. There's that visit. There's that ride that I can provide to somebody needing a ride somewhere, to a doctor, to a grocery store, or whatever the case might be. There's that help that I can give someone in the neighborhood or among my family or friends. Don't you think this is what Job was doing for the latter part of his life? You better believe it, because he knew every day that he woke up was a blessing from God. Each day we wake up is God's gift to us, and what we do with that day is our gift back to God. We need to be a blessing as God is a blessing to us. He died full of years. I love that expression. It was said that terminology was used of three men in the Old Testament. Abraham, Genesis 25, says Abraham died of a good old age, an old man full of years. Isaac, Genesis 35, says it was old and full of years. King David, 1 Chronicles 29, said he died at a good old age, having enjoyed a long life. The latter part of their life was greater than the former part. Why? Because they didn't just cater in to their physical ailments or something else that was going on in their life, but they woke up every morning knowing that their life can be a blessing to God, God a blessing to them. The latter part of your life should be greater than the former part. I had a friend of mine that I used to have lunch with a lot. He's passed on now, but when he was in his eighties, he was involved in a church bond program. And he said, you know, you're familiar with church bonds, right? And I said, yeah, I am. They come mature and you clip them off and you get reimbursed for whatever the yield is on that particular bond. He said, my life now is like clipping bonds. He says, I'm just constantly seeing what I have invested in the Lord's work and in people paying dividends to me now. And he didn't say it, but I look back on him, the latter part of his life was greater than the former part because he understood that his life needed to be lived in obedience for the glory of God. And he says, you know, I'm just clipping coupons as we speak. And that's what he was doing. That's what he was doing. So here we have this particular guy, Job, whose latter days were greater than his former days. Job died an old man and full of years. So my question to you today, is the latter part of your life greater than the former part? And if not, why? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? Have you trusted Him? Has He become part of your life? Is the latter part of your life looking bright? Or is it something that's not too good? The question is yours to answer. My other question is, do you know Christ as your Lord and Savior? If you don't know Him, this is where the blessing starts, by knowing Jesus every day. But Jesus is sweeter than the day before. If you never trusted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, today is the day to do it. We will have an invitation here. I will be here at the front to pray with you about whatever decision you make. Maybe you've never trusted Christ. Maybe you've never followed Him publicly to profess your faith in Christ. Maybe you've never followed Him in baptism by immersion. And you want to indicate that this is what you feel the Lord is calling you to do, to be obedient. And maybe for the rest of you, you're looking for a church home. I don't know any place, but I'd rather serve than right here in this church family. So we've got a great place for you. We can help you grow in Christ, and you can certainly help us do the same. So, what's your decision? How is your latter part of your life? Would you stand with me for prayer? Our most gracious Father, we just ask Your guidance upon us. Be with us today, Lord God. May we honor and glorify You above everything else. May we see You as the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and be obedient to whatever You ask us to do. We want to be careful to give You the praise for these decisions being made today. Thank You, Lord, for what You're doing. Thank You for giving us a joy in our latter life that would be more joyful, greater, more productive than our former life. And we thank You for that. For we give these decisions to You, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Won't You come as we sing?