Greetings to you in the most high and
holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, from
the very center of the Buddhist stronghold nation,
Japan.
I am missionary Richard Yerbe, and today, along
with me, I want you to please consider
the man named Job.
An entire 42 chapters long Old Testament book,
bearing his name, makes him most worthy of
our earnest consideration.
His name is spelled the same as our
present-day word Job, J-O-B, but
it's pronounced Job.
Listen now to Almighty God introduce Job to
us in the very first verse of the
first chapter of the book of Job in
the Old Testament.
There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job, and that man
was perfect and upright, and one that feared
God and eschewed evil.
Almighty Lord Jehovah God Himself calls Job a
man who is perfect and upright, one who
fears God and eschews evil.
Fearing God and detesting and shunning evil are
likely the two main characteristics that make a
person perfect and upright in the sight of
our holy, righteous Creator God.
You please pray with me now, if you
will.
My Lord and my God in Heaven, please
make the remainder of my life on earth
a life that is perfect and upright in
Thy sight.
Please help me to always fear Thee and
to eschew evil.
I also pray this for all other Christian
believers presently on earth.
Amen.
Nothing exactly like this is said about any
other believer in the Bible.
Throughout the Bible we can find record of
God calling only a scant few men perfect,
and Job is one of those men.
Job is one of the greatest spiritual giants
that has ever walked the face of this
earth.
Therefore we would do well to learn all
we can from him and to strive to
be like him.
Join me in prayer again.
Lord God in Heaven, please send Thy Holy
Spirit ever so powerfully upon me now for
the purpose of teaching me all the glorious
things that Thou wouldest have me to know
about this man Job.
Amen.
Now listen to verses 6-8 of Job
chapter 1.
Now there was a day when the sons
of God 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
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
askeweth evil?
End of that reading.
God in Heaven is so proud of His
servant Job that He just grabs the old
devil by his chain and calls Job to
the devil's attention, praising Job ever so highly.
I wish my Savior could take such pride
in me that He would want to brag
on me like that before the devil and
his crowd.
I would like to be one who would
cause my precious Lord God to take the
devil by the collar and say to him,
Satan, have you considered my servant Richard?
He's perfect and upright.
He fears God and askews evil.
Therefore I am so proud to call him
my son.
I hunger and thirst to be like that,
and if I could find out what made
Job like that, I would try to apply
it to my life to make me like
Job.
And I do not believe that Job had
any inside secret with God that you and
I cannot get in on.
Any present-day Christian believer can be just
as great as Job was, and in this
present-day wicked and perverse, immoral, beast-like
generation of self-worshippers, how we need some
believers who will be like Job, stand against
evil and fight it with fiery, godless zeal,
standing against the devil and his crowd in
such a way that God would be just
as proud of them as he was of
Job.
Would you aspire to be like that?
Let's pray again.
Lord God, please send thy Holy Spirit to
convict me of just how far I am
from being perfect and upright before thee.
Convict me strongly of how willingly I have
settled for a lukewarm, Laodicean, Carolist Christian life,
so desirous to live for self and for
the pleasures of this world, having lost much
of my desire to glorify thee with my
life.
Convict me of how greatly displeasing it is
to you that I do not have a
burning desire to be perfect and upright in
thy sight, but rather have been satisfied to
be an indifferent and worthless servant to thee,
my Creator.
Convict me, my Lord, grant me genuine remorse
over this, my sin.
Grant me a repentant heart.
By thy Spirit change my cold, indifferent heart
into one that wholly aspires to be perfect
and upright, so that thou canst delight in
bragging on me before the enemy, just as
thou delighted in bragging on thy servant Job.
Grant this, Lord, I pray.
Also, please instill in all Christian believers on
earth a desire to be like Job.
Amen.
God said to Satan, As thou considered my
servant Job.
It wasn't the devil that started the ball
rolling that got Job into all that misery
and loss that he suffered.
It didn't start by the devil complaining to
God about Job.
It started by God picking on the devil
about Job.
As thou considered my servant Job.
Likely that was the last thing the devil
wanted to do, consider Job.
Job's holy, righteous life was such a thorn
in the devil's flesh that the devil didn't
want to think about Job at all.
He wished he could forget about this saint's
existence, but God would not let him.
God was so proud of Job that he
just could not keep quiet about him to
his adversary, the devil.
God had to glory over Job before the
devil.
Oh, to be like Job, Lord, I want
to be like Job.
And if I could find out what made
Job such a great giant of a saint,
I would try to apply that to my
life.
If I could find out what his priorities
were, I would make them my priorities.
What was important to Job, by God's grace,
I would make that important in my life.
What was not important to Job, I would
not make important to me.
And I think there is a verse here
in this book of Job that tells what
his priorities were and reveals his secret of
spiritual success, showing us just what he actually
did that made God in heaven so proud
of him.
Just as God asked Satan if he had
considered Job, I want you and I to
now consider Job in a serious spiritual Bible
study, like we have possibly never considered him
before, all the while calling upon God to
help us also to be like this giant
of a believer.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I thank Thee for giving me
Thy eternal word, the Holy Bible, to guide
my life.
I want to live in complete obedience to
Thy holy word.
Thank Thee for giving us this perfect and
upright example of Job in Thy Bible.
Now as I listen to this study about
Job, please grant me Thy wisdom to enable
me to learn everything I should from it.
Teach me, Lord, I pray, how to be
perfect and upright like Thy servant Job.
Amen.
Luckily, you well know the story of Job.
Read in chapter 1 how that God allowed
this rich man to lose all of his
many possessions, his oxen, sheep, camels, and even
his ten children.
What is Job's reaction to this sudden disaster?
Reading now verses 20 through 22 of chapter
1.
Then Job arose and rent, that means tore,
and rent his mantle, and shaved his head,
and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
hallelujah.
And said, 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.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged
God foolishly.
Amen.
Oh, what glorious joy that Job gives to
his Creator by such a confession.
Oh, how I burn with desire to be
like him.
How about you?
Let's pray.
Lord God in heaven, please create within me
the spiritual fortitude to always bless Thy high
and holy name, no matter what terrible adversities
come my way.
Amen.
Job's wonderfully victorious confession makes God even more
proud of this perfect servant.
Thus God simply rattles Satan's chain again.
In chapter 2, reading verse 3, the Lord
speaking, Has 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 askeweth evil, and still he
holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me
against him, to destroy him without cause.
Look at him, Satan, God is saying.
Even though you moved me against this man
to destroy him without a cause, still all
he can do is to fall down on
the ground and worship me, saying, Blessed be
the name of the Lord.
Get a good look at that, Satan.
He is not that a rare sight to
behold.
I am making you consider him.
I am forcing you to consider Job, you
old devil.
I refuse to let you not consider him.
I am so proud of him that there
is no way I will allow you to
ignore him as you so desire to do.
And I pray, Lord, help me to be
like Job.
Oh, how delighted God is when he has
such a treasure as Job to boast of
to anyone and everyone, especially to the enemy
and those in the enemy's camp.
Would you pray this?
Lord God, please help Brother Richard to be
like Job.
Please stir up my heart also with burning
desire to be perfect and upright before thee.
Show me how greatly that glorifies thee and
how soundly it defeats thy enemy and the
devil.
Please help me to be perfect and upright
and thereby of great use to thee in
this severe spiritual battle that is raging.
Make me into a mature, perfect, and upright
soldier in thy great army.
Grant this, Lord, I beg of thee.
I pray this for all other Christian believers
also.
Amen.
You might be thinking by now, that's an
awful lot of praying and I'm getting tired
of it.
Well, I like that New Testament verse that
says, pray without ceasing.
By God's grace, I try to do so.
I'll go on with the sermon now.
Oh, what painful agony that must bring upon
the devil.
God forces Satan to again consider Job still
perfect and upright, even though he has lost
his many possessions and all ten children.
How Satan detests looking on such a sight
that glorifies God so much.
So he calls for an even more severe
attack on this saint.
Well, he wouldn't serve you if you would
afflict him in his body.
I'll read that in chapter two, verses four
and five.
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.
Now I read verse six.
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, he
is in thine hand, but save his life.
God didn't even bat an eye about turning
this prized possession of his over to the
devil for Job to be afflicted in the
worst ways possible.
Job's creator and savior quickly put Job in
the devil's hand for him to do anything
with Job that he desired to do except
for to kill him.
Now listen to verses seven and eight.
So, so went Satan 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 pot sherd to
scrape himself withal, and he sat down among
the ashes.
Look at Job there, sitting on that ash
heap, scraping himself with a pot sherd, trying
to relieve the misery of those boils covering
his entire body.
All his possessions gone overnight, all ten children
taken instantly, health gone, afflicted with physical misery.
So this great man of wealth has been
reduced to a stinking, festering mass of rotten
flesh, sitting in ashes, all because he loved
God more than any other person did.
Now what a reward that is for being
the best believer on earth, for zealously being
obedient to God.
Something similar to this could possibly happen to
you, simply because you are loving God with
all your heart and zealously striving to be
completely obedient to him and completely sold out
to him in every area of your life.
So if and when disaster strikes you, it
is a good thing for you to do
a spiritual checkup, looking for any sin or
anything wrong in your relationship with God, while
calling upon the Holy Ghost to reveal any
and all sin of yours unto you.
And after carefully searching your life, then do
seriously consider what Job encountered and consider that
the adversary coming your way may possibly be
for similar reasons that this harsh adversity came
upon Job.
Let's pray.
Lord God, each time adversity comes my way,
please give me thy wisdom to be able
to discern the reason for it.
Help me to know if it is because
of my sins and failures, or if it
is because thou art glorying over my life
before thine adversary the devil.
Please fortify me to always stand firm for
my creator God throughout all adversity.
Amen.
I'm going to read the ninth verse of
Job chapter two.
Then said his wife unto him, does thou
still retain thine integrity?
Curse God and die.
That's the end of that reading.
I'll put it in my words.
Honey, why don't you just curse God and
die?
Just look at what misery God has heaped
upon you in return for all your upright
living, your worship, love, adoration, service, labor, and
praise that you have lavished upon him all
these years.
Just look at how God has treated you
for being perfect and upright.
God must hate you to treat you like
this.
Go ahead, Job, while there is still breath
in you and you still have a chance
in this life to get back at God.
Just curse God this face.
Tell him in no uncertain terms what you
think of him treating you this way.
Go ahead and do it now while you
have a chance.
Curse God and die, Job.
All ten of his children taken away from
him and the only remaining loved one, apparently,
is his God-given helpmate who should be
comforting and encouraging her husband.
But rather, she rebukes him and urges him
to turn his back on God and to
curse his maker.
What a severe test Job is put to
here.
And what an inspiration to us all to
see how well he stands the test.
Reading the tenth verse of chapter two.
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as
one of the foolish women speaketh.
What, shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive evil?
In all this did not Job sin with
his lips.
That's the end of that reading.
Not one word will Job utter against his
creator God.
Oh, how he ever so greatly glorified God.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust
in him.
Thus, Job says later on.
He declares this in chapter 13, verse 15.
Thus, God is most proud of Job.
Though God may kill him, still Job will
do nothing but praise and worship him.
Always clinging to God in absolute, unwavering faith
and trust.
Being perfect and upright before God means never,
ever finding fault in him or with him
for any reason at all.
So, if you want to be perfect and
upright in God's sight, then you must get
this matter settled at the start that you
would never find fault with God.
Of course, God is perfect and upright.
He never does any wrong.
By all means, believe that now and always
believe that about God.
And please dare not to ever find fault
with him.
May each and everything proceeding from your body,
soul, and spirit always greatly glorify God, who
is perfect in all his ways.
Glory to God.
Back about the year 2000 or so, a
stranger to me, Miss Hiroko, about 40 years
old, I guess, stopped as she walked past
me doing street evangelism.
She struck up a conversation and sounded as
if she might be a Christian believer.
So, I soon asked her if she was.
Her answer was a shocker.
I trusted in Christ, but my life didn't
become blessed, so I no longer trust in
him.
My, my, how great she be!
The only true blessedness for the human soul
is found in Christ, mainly because it is
eternal blessedness, salvation unto a home in heaven.
I gave Miss Hiroko my phone number.
I know not if she had previously confessed
to anyone else that she ceased trusting in
Christ because her life didn't become blessed upon
doing so.
But now, upon confessing that to me, her
life soon became filled with time and again.
She called me, sobbing on the phone about
her unbearable problem.
After some time, I received a handwritten letter
from her saying that suicide is the only
solution that she can see.
I prayed hard for her soul.
She lived far from me.
I wasn't able to be around her in
person.
And later on, all word and communication from
Miss Hiroko to me ceased coming to me.
I know not what happened, but I know
that I want the purpose in my heart
that though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him.
I won't to ever confess that.
I want to confess with my dying breath
that the Lord Jesus Christ is my all
in all.
And though he slay me, yet will I
trust in him.
You please pray along with me right now.
Almighty God, by thy great power, please help
me to now settle it in my heart
that I will never find any fault in
thee.
Help me to never consider doing so.
Convince me that thou art totally holy and
perfect, and that none of the many creatures
that thou hast created will ever have any
reason for fault in thee, or murmuring and
complaining against thee.
Give me courage to say along with Job,
though thou slayest me, yet will I still
trust in thee.
Also, please help Brother Richard to be perfect
and upright in this matter.
May he never be tempted to find fault
with thee, no matter what trials and troubles
come his way on the foreign mission field.
Help us all, Lord, I only pray.
Amen.
I am preaching this from Japan.
Today, daily, I held forth the word of
life to a good number of people out
in public.
May God, the Holy Spirit, come upon them,
work strongly and powerfully in their souls.
May the true light shine into their darkened
hearts and give them some light.
I would appreciate you interceding in prayer for
them.
Oh, God has given me a love and
a burden for them.
I desire to see many of them saved.
My time is up for today, and Lord
willing, next time I hope to continue talking
to you about Job.
God bless you richly in every way, and
keep you, make his face to shine upon
you gloriously.