Let me invite you to take your Bible and look with me in the book of Job. We're going to continue our studies now through Job, having finished up a few in the epistles of Paul to the churches, the last one being Galatia. But I wanted to come back here now to the old Testament. And as you know, Job is quite a lengthy book. So we'll see how long it takes to get through our study. We're not in a hurry. We want to look at this and see how the Lord is pleased to teach us through this book. And I've entitled this first message, a God fearing man. And my text is going to be from Job one verse one down to verse five. So this will be the introduction. but the title, A God Fearing Man. It says here, 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. So you can see why the title, A God Fearing Man. And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7,000 sheep, this is how back in the day you measured a person's wealth by his livestock, and 3,000 camels, and 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. And it was so, when the days of their fasting 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, For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually." Now, one thing we're going to do as we go through this study in Job is to see how Job is actually a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know too many people that have studied the book of Job from that perspective, but another title that we might Him is the suffering servant. Isn't that who the Lord Jesus Christ was when He came to this earth? He was known as the suffering servant or the man of sorrows. And so as we continue through this study I want us to see exactly how Job is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll come back to this in these first verses. But This first chapter can be divided up into two parts. The first has to do with what is taking place on earth. Remember how the Lord taught his disciples to pray, thy will be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. Well, here's an example of it. How the Lord had raised up Job and placed him on earth. to serve as a testimony to his glory and grace and would be a witness in his generation. So that's the first part we're looking at today in verses one to five. And then the next part from verse six onward really is something that Job couldn't see with his physical eyes, but there was a conflict going on in heaven between God and Satan. And we know that Satan is our Lord Jesus Christ arch enemy seeking to destroy him and any that are his. And yet, as we study through the book of Job, we're going to be brought to see that none can touch any of the Lords that he has chosen and for whom he has paid their sin debt. So I want us to go down through these five verses and then give you a little summary at the end as to how all of this typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. We know from the new Testament that every prophet, priest, and King was a representation of Christ in some form or fashion. And we don't want to miss that as we studied the book of Job, but let's begin here in verse one. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. So the book begins by introducing to us the central character as a man. Now some wonder, well, did Job write this book according to his experiences? We don't know. The scriptures don't tell us, but typically, If the first verse begins with mentioning him, that's how authors did. Even if they were writing about themselves, they would write often in the third person. And that's how this begins. The book of Job, therefore, is rightly understood to be, even if you look at this in the Hebrew language, It is a masterpiece of Hebrew poetry and even of Western literature. There are some that don't study the book of Job for its spiritual value, but for its literary value. And that's one thing you'll find about the scriptures and particularly knowing that these scriptures are inspired by the spirit of God. Who is it that has given knowledge to men to write and to organize and to set forth different forms and genres of literature? Well, it's the spirit of God, even in natural minded men, people we call famous writers or famous poets, even if they're not the Lords or never knew the Lords, they're the Lords in that he uses all things for his glory. So this would be considered perhaps in our English Bible, the first poetic book, just because of how it's written. And so Job introduces us to what would be Hebrew poetry that involves repetition and a combination of ideas as it is written. One thing I learned when I was studying Hebrew back years ago as far as Hebrew literature is that often in poetic literature you would have the first part stated and then the second part was an explanation of the first but in maybe a different form. So a writing that is very interesting for us to study even from the standpoint of poetic literature, and we'll see this as we go down through it. But the author and the date, the place of the book of Job, all are uncertain. I remember back when I was going through studies, higher learning, In theology that this was always something that we, when we took up a book, we had to find out what was the date? Who was the author? We did all kinds of research. Well, we know who the author is, even though we may not know who the writer is, the author is none other than God himself. That may be that, as I said, Job recorded his experiences in this book or There may well may have been another anonymous author unknown to us, but judging by the style of the Hebrew that it uses, it was somebody who had a good grip on the Hebrew language and on literature. And some even deem that Job, based on what we read here in the book, was likely the oldest of the old Testament books. Even though we find it over here next to Psalms and Proverbs and you say, well, why is it there? Well, that's because the Jews considered this to be poetry. So when you get into Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, that's all literature that was poetic. And so it's put here in this order in our Bibles. But if you were to do it chronologically, you would have to put this up next to Genesis. People agree that even though we don't know the date, beyond dispute, it probably belongs to that period of time that is covered by the book of Genesis and possibly all the way to the time of Abraham. And therefore, its literature or its importance as far as It's ancient ness is vital. Not that the other books aren't important, but we hold in our hands some of the oldest literature that God has purposed that should be read even to this day. And if it's true that it was written during the time of Abraham, then we're looking at a book that's over 6,000 years old, a writing 6,500 plus years. But either way, what we're reading is what God purpose that Job should write. But it's just fascinating to think that as we open this text, we are faced with one of the earliest of all written accounts of the human race in relationship to Jehovah God, the only true God. And I don't know about you, but that perks my interest because as the Lord has taught me for years, I read the old Testament just as literature, but now seeing that not only does it go back in time to the beginning, but to see how even then we have the beginnings of the history of redemption concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore. What we're reading here is not just some fantasy that someone sat down and came up with and thought they'd write a good story. No, we know that what we have here is true and real history, and it's not fiction, even as Peter said, that we're not those that follow after fables, but what took place really in history. These are real people, real places. that we're reading about here, but God purposed that it be a history of redemption. How it is that he would many years later bring his son into the world and place him in a place not far from where Job himself would have lived and would establish his son to be the one true, perfect and upright man who did fear God and eschewed evil as we read through Job, we're going to see that he was a man just like any man. And even though this testimony is given in the beginning, this was how he appeared unto other men. And yet he himself knew his need for a redeemer. He expresses that throughout in his suffering, but our Lord Jesus Christ, because the type can never fully satisfy the reality. We know that Christ being The perfect and upright man. And that God brought into this world who feared God and eschewed evil. He did it perfectly, but here, the testimony that is given of Job. And I believe this is why we have him as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just like all of the old Testament prophets and priests and Kings, it says that he was perfect and upright. That word perfect is the word blameless. As far as men were concerned, if you had to do business with Job, he would be the one that you'd want to have handle your affairs because you knew he was gonna be honest and he was gonna deal with you according to his word. Like they used to say back in the day, his word was his bond. And that's how he's described here. This first look at Job, shows us how in his generation, he would have been considered by others as being a righteous man. Now that doesn't mean that he was already justified before God because later on, he speaks of his Redeemer and knowing that he lived and would stand on the earth in that day. He's speaking of the first coming of Christ. So he himself saw the need for a Redeemer. But you'll find in the Old Testament that often those that were the Lord's were called righteous. In other words, in the word righteous, you have the word right. That they lived according to how God was pleased to reveal himself in them and show them their sinfulness. They saw no righteousness in themselves and We're given a view to look forward to the one who is the true righteous man who would come and pay their sin debt. God dealt with these in the old Testament in his forbearance, not imputing their sin to them. It doesn't mean here that Job, because he was blameless, had some kind of perfection in himself. No, he was a sinner, just like any that are sons of Adam. But here the writer gives this impressive description, though not perfect as a man, only Christ was the perfect one who would come and yet showing what sort of grace had been given to him, what sort of devotion had been given him to look to God and to be submitted to God in all things. This becomes even more apparent in his suffering as we're going to see the next time where in all that took place, you can see the last verse of Job one verse 22. It says in this Job sinned, not nor charged God foolishly. That's an amazing thing because we've all been through trial. And maybe some as difficult as Job, likely not because he's used as an example of in scripture of one who suffered like no other had suffered. But even in that he was a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered unlike, or like no other had suffered. How did Christ suffer? Not for any sin of his own, but for the sin of that people that he came to save. But here we see set forth Job's connection with God as being the very first thing spoken of concerning him. He was a wealthy man. You can see that he had many sons and then verse three talks about his substance. But it's interesting that the first testimony concerning himself was that he was God's man. He was a man of God. Oh, that That might be what is said of us in our generation, that regardless of our prosperity or poverty, however the Lord has purposed that what be uppermost in people's minds that observe us and see us and know us is that we are God's children and that If we live out our days, it's to the glory of God that he might receive all the honor and glory. And when it says they're fearing God, it's not crouching down and being afraid of God. No, he looked forward to that mediator who would come and pay his sin debt. And he knew that God was being forbearing with him. But when he says he eschewed evil, he remove himself or ran from anything that would have been dishonoring to the glory of God. And so we see here how scripture gives this testimony. We have to question men's testimonies when they speak well of themselves, but when God gives a testimony like this, like he does of all those that are his elect, in Christ and for whom Christ came and paid their sin debt. They stand righteous before him. We know as far as the timing or the writing or the placing of Job, we can see different reasons why some would date Job later and put him all the way back in the generations after Jacob and Esau. And I'm not going to go down through all of these reasons, but for example, he mentions here was a man in the land of Uz. It's always good to stop and get your dictionary out and kind of look these things up. Uz was actually Abraham's nephew and the son of his brother. If you look back in Genesis 22, for example, won't spend a long time on this, but I want you to see the connection again. This is not just a made up story, but it's founded in history. God's the creator and he's the one that has caused history to be from the beginning. And when names are mentioned, it's to show us that these are real situations. Genesis chapter 22, you notice in verse 21, us, it puts an H in front of it. Sometimes that's the way it was written. His firstborn and buzz, his brother. Can you imagine having brothers called us and buzz and Chemuel, the father of Aram. Well, who's that talking about? If you go out in verse 20, came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham saying, behold, Milcah. She hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor. So if he was from the land of Uz, then it may be that this was during the time in which he lived and that land would have been named after Abraham's nephew. That's just one example. One more I'll give you here in, uh, Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job that came to see him. This is in Job chapter two and verse 11. And what does it say about Eliphaz? Now, when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came, everyone from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. And so we see Eliphaz mentioned there, but when you come over to Genesis chapter 34, again, as I said, Job may have well lived during this period, during the time of the Genesis, but in Genesis chapter 34 and verses 10 and 11, this is just comparing scripture with scripture, it says here, and ye shall dwell us and the land shall be before you dwell and trade ye therein and get you possessions therein." So this is instruction that was being given to Abraham and to his descendants. And it says here and Shechem said unto her father and under her brethren. Let me find grace in your eyes and what you shall say unto me. I will give ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as you shall say unto me and but give me the damsel to wife. So here we have the history of how there was this exchange going on in this part of the land, again with Hamor and in Shechem. And this would have been an area where the son of Esau had a son named Teman. That's the connection here. And that the descendants of Teman were known for their wisdom, mentioned again in Jeremiah. There's other ones that we could look at. as we go down through. But the strongest statement coming back here to my text pertaining to Job himself being a God-fearing man is important to understand for the rest of the story because recognizing that he was A righteous man before God. That's how God considered him. Even in his forbearance, Christ had not yet come and paid his sin debt. And yet he was one that was seen as blameless in this sense. This is how God dealt with those in the old Testament. He did not impute their sin unto them, but rather withheld it. because he had already purposed that when the Lord Jesus Christ should come, the sin of all of these of the Old Testament should be imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ and that the Lord then would pay their sin debt. When they died, they didn't go to heaven, they went to Sheol, the place of the dead and there were all the souls that ever died. There were two parts to shield. There was the part which was reserved for God's elect who waited for the hope of Christ's coming. And then there was the other side. There was a great divide fix is the way it's written there in the gospels between the rich man and Lazarus. And those are still there. They remain and await the final judgment when they'll be resurrected in the final day and cast forever into the lake of fire forever separated from God, but on the side, which is called Abraham's bosom. The reason it's called Abraham's bosom was because he was the father. He was considered to be the father of all those of the faith. And he waited along with the rest. Christ said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. So when Christ rose from the grave and ascended on high, He took all of those that were awaiting His coming with Him. Now, the debt having been paid, they couldn't enter into the presence of God for eternity unless that debt had been paid. So they waited in that place called the grave or Sheol. And once that work was finished, then they were risen with Christ. Ephesians 2, is a great chapter on that, but if you look with me over in Hebrews chapter nine, you'll see the writer to the Hebrews spoke of this, how that Christ's death was for the redemption of the transgressions of those that were under the first Testament. There was no redemption in the blood of bulls and goats. They had to offer them because that was a covering. look forward to Christ's coming. But here in Ephesians, or Hebrews chapter 9, it spoke there of the blood of bulls and goats in verse 13, the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh. We find even here Job offering these animal sacrifices for the purifying of his children. They couldn't put away their sin, but it was a covering that God would look with mercy upon even His children until Christ should come and pay their sin debt. And then you read this in verse 15 of Hebrews 9, and for this cause, He is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death, notice, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament, that's what we're reading here in the old Testament, they which are called, they are the elect, they are the called ones, might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. When did they receive the promise of eternal inheritance? When Christ died. That's why his death was for them. The redemption, just like it is for any that God has ever saved, regardless of the time in which they lived. Now, coming back here in Job, we have the testimony also that he had seven sons and three daughters that were born to him. Now this is in a culture where stature and status and wealth were measured by the size, not only of one's cattle, but one's family. And so this was to say that he was a man of impressive wealth and status. And here again, we're going to see this in the end, different types and pictures of Christ, but that's who Christ is. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every land. And therefore, We see him here as one, a man of success. And that's who the Lord Jesus Christ is, successful in every way. His possessions being 7,000 sheep by any measure, Job was a prominent and affluent man. And yet with all of this, he was one who feared God. He wasn't a criminal businessman, a shady, A thief, he did his business, right? Just like our Lord Jesus Christ did. There wasn't anything that they could accuse, even his enemies accuse him of worthy of condemnation. And then it says there actually in verse three, this man was the greatest of all the men of the East. That's quite a statement. We're talking about the Mideast and that of all those that were named. At this point, he was considered to be among the greatest. Well, we know even that is a type of Lord Jesus Christ. There's none greater than him. Even with Solomon and all of his wisdom and wealth, the Lord said that there was none, there was one greater than Solomon who was there speaking to those Pharisees of his day. And of course that's the Lord Jesus Christ. But here we see that his sons would go and feast in their houses. Each on his appointed day, the idea here seems to be that Job's family had a happy and a close relationship. They weren't looking to avoid each other, but rather to spend time together. And therefore they were blessed with Job as the head of their family. I see a type and picture of Christ here as well, who is the head of a household. He has those that the father gave him and they enjoy a close relationship. Those that are the Lords that God has given to Christ and he's redeemed and they enjoy that time together. Here's described as being given over to festivity and pleasure. And they happily celebrated special days. It says each on his appointed day. Some think, well, maybe it was their birthday or whatever, but I think it just had to do with all of these. Okay. We're going to be at your house today. And the next one, next time we're going to be at yours. It was an appointed day, but it shows here that we don't find in the scripture, any sort of disapproval. of God for this type of pleasant life being expressed. It's good to have a good time. You have some that have such a view of, of the world being so evil that they think that somehow they have to live a monastic lifestyle. And so they shut themselves in out of the world. That's not what we see. Christ himself said. go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. And that word go ye means as you're going. So enjoy this life, go from place to place, enjoy relationships, whether it's people at work, whether it's your family and express thankfulness for those that the Lord has given each of us, whereby we can enjoy our time while we're on this earth. I'll tell you what, if there had been a problem, then you wouldn't read, you would read somewhere in here where this was condemned and it's not. But at the same time, we realize even in how Job reacted, because it says there in verse four, he sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to what drink with them. This wasn't drinking Kool-Aid. It wasn't drinking grape juice. This was wine. A lot of people say, oh, if you're a Christian, you should never touch wine. The problem is not in the bottle. The problem is in the heart and doing things out of excess. And I would say that if you have a problem with that, that you can't refrain from drunkenness, then don't touch it. Absolutely. Don't even think about it. But there are others that According to scripture, the Lord says, everything's to be received with Thanksgiving. If someone places a wine, a bottle of wine on the table and they want you to celebrate with them, enjoy a good meal. Well, drink moderately. You don't drink to get drunk, but even here we see where Job, when it was all said and done concerned that somehow there may have been some excess among his children. In their feasting, it says he would send and look at the word that's used there and sanctify them. See that in verse five. It was so when the days of their feasting were gone about the Job sent and sanctified them. How did he sanctify them? Well, read on. He rose up early in the morning and offered bird offerings. And 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 continuously." Do you see how Job here is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ? He sanctified himself for his people, knowing that they were sinners by nature. And whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, sin accompanies us in everything. So where's our hope? Well, just like with these children of Job, where he's as their representative, that he sanctified them by the offering of those sacrifices, the shedding of the blood as an atonement, as a covering. It didn't actually put away this sin, but it was what, even at this point, God had revealed unto him as the way that he would continue to be approached by sinners. You say, well where did Job learn to offer these sacrifices? Because the law had not yet been given and Moses had not yet been given the law as to how this should take place. The only answer is that it went all the way back to Adam and Eve. That when Adam and Eve fell, God removed the fig leaves from them and clothed them with the skins of those innocent animals. And that was a picture of what Christ would do on behalf of his people, many thousands of years later, that the fig leaves of our works would be removed of our flesh and our sin. And we would be clothed in the garment of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what do we see here with regard to Job? Well, as far as points of comparison, as I said, he's a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, described as a perfect and upright man, one who feared God and eschewed evil. That was the type, but in reality, Christ was without sin. He was tempted in all things, yet without sin. And that uprightness that we read about here, emulates our Lord Jesus Christ in his uprightness. It foreshadows Christ's sinlessness. Job could not claim that, but it foreshadowed the one that he represented who would come and would be blameless, would be without sin, would be that perfect sacrifice whereby the sin of his people would be forever put away. And so Job offered sacrifices. He sacrificed them for everybody? No. It says here, for His children. Christ, when He came and laid down His life, it wasn't for everybody. But even He said in John 17, it was for those that the Father had given Him, His children. He said, when it was all said and done, behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me. That's who Christ represented in His life and death. It wasn't for every single person in the world, just like here, Job. He wasn't offering up sacrifices for everybody else in the region or even in the world then known, but his eye was on these children, his love for them, his concern for them. And that's our comfort is that if we're the Lord's God's eye has been on us from eternity. And he purposed that when the Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh and the fullness of the time, it would be to represent each one of us knowing our sinfulness. And here, Job offering these sacrifices was actually anticipating our Lord's infinite sacrifice. See, that's the comparison. This is in type and picture, but it was forward looking to Christ. and his sacrifice and the sanctifying, the setting apart unto righteousness, that's what sanctifying means, to be set apart unto Christ, unto God's righteousness in him. And thereby, what can we say about Job in comparison to Christ? In one word, mediator. Job served as that mediator between God and his children, And also his friends, because at the end, even though these friends didn't have too much advice, good advice to offer, but if you go back to Job chapter 42 and verse eight, in the end, the Lord instructed Job that these who had come to him may be well-intending and yet could not speak truth according to what God was, how God was dealing with Job. Yet in Job chapter 42 and verse 8 it says, Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime and in the night his song shall be with me. I'm sorry I'm in, I'm all the way over in Psalms so I need to get back here into Job chapter 42 and verse 8. And you can see here, therefore, he says to Job, take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, seven is a type of perfection, and go to my servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you. For him will I accept, lest I deal with you after your folly, and that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So in all of this we see Job as that mediator and even in his sufferings that we're going to read about throughout the book of Job that he would suffer the different tragedies as we consider them that caused him even to rent his mantle and shave his head and fall to the ground. But yet it says he worshiped the Lord and all of this he sinned not nor charged God with folly. Job's sufferings in the flesh typify the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Come in the flesh. Isaiah 53 calls him the suffering servant and the man of sorrows acquainted with grief. So that's how Job is a type and picture of our Lord. There are many other points that we're going to see as we go through the book, but what a beautiful introduction to see Job here back in his day God testifying of him being a man of God, one that was perfect and upright and feared God and eschewed evil, but as a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom is true salvation. Amen.