 Let's open our Bibles together to the book of Job. We're in chapter 27 tonight, Job chapter 27 We are taking an interest sign up for those who are watching online right now This may be of interest to you and to those who are here Even now we are taking an interest sign up into a trip to Israel We're looking to do it in Next year in March God willing at the end of March into perhaps early May right at that season we're working on costs and all of that and There are quite a number of people who just last week Signed up with interest. Perhaps you have never been to Israel my wife Marie and I went to Israel for the first time in in 1983 and we've been we don't know exactly how many times we've been about 27 about 27 times and You got to go if you've never been it's well worth Taking times save some money if you can't go this year perhaps next year, but I can't recommend anything more than I Outside of salvation in Christ then for you to take a trip to Israel And if you're able to do it perhaps those of you who are watching online would like to go have never gone Perhaps you've gone before but it's time for another another time to go to Israel And we we're going to be joining with Brennan Bieler's church and with the Holland Davis and A brother of mine a friend of mine David my assist from Los Lunes in New Mexico, and it's going to be great So I just wanted to let you know about that Hopefully you'll be able to join us and we if you're interested we need to have you a sign up You can do so online. It's an interest sign up and that lets us know that there are people who want to go But we have over 80 people already who have one who are wanting to go and hopefully some of them will So if you'd like to go, please let us know and we're working on this right now and hopefully we'll be able to have you Have you go with us? You know, I have to say this, you know, this last this last Sunday was such a joy too for us to gather together again for our Easter services and all and Let's see what the Lord does from there. Let's see what God does, but anyway here. We are Job chapter 27 we're going to begin at verse 1 I'll read to verse 6 and And You know, I wanted to take into consideration that you who come have who have made this Something that you do all the time you're used to long Bible studies and and I realize that at least with me and I realize that not everybody is used to that much time and so I'm going to try and and keep this down You know not as long as I normally do So I usually go, you know, 55 minutes. So I'm going to try and and keep it to 54. There's no promise, but I'm going to do what I can and and I am going to watch that that clock up there So beginning at verse 1 chapter 27 moreover Job continued his discourse and said As God lives who has taken away my justice and the Almighty Who has made my soul bitter As long as my breath is in me and the breath of God in my nostrils My lips will not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit Far be it for me that I should say you are right Till I die. I will not put away my integrity for me my righteousness I hold fast and Will not let it go My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live Now it's been a while since we've been here together in the book of Job So let me remind you of what has been taking place up to this point. Remember Job has friends He called them miserable comforters, but he has friends who have come they had heard of him having been Having gone through such affliction for some time and they had come to Minister to him. We know the story up to that point and one of those friends while his name is Bill dad and Bill dad has already spoken these his friends are taking their turn sharing with him and telling him why he's going through these things and every one of them has a certain aspect of Job's sinfulness that they have to to outline for him And so Bill dad has made it clear that he thinks that that Job has sinned He had reminded Job of the fact that that God is the sovereign God over the universe He's the God that is almighty He pointed out that that God commands an infinite military his presence. He said is found throughout the earth So since God is perfect What is man in comparison to him? And so he asked the question how how can a man claim to be righteous? Seeing that a man is filled with sinfulness is his nature is Sinful from from conception and so he went on to say well the fact is man is a maggot Simply a worm So as he is saying these encouraging things to Job Job responded by saying that what he has just told him is worthless He said how how has what you have been saying to me? How has that been of help to me? So he says you haven't been of any help Have you strengthened by weakened life? Have you given the benefit of your wisdom to me to help me to increase? Well, you're convinced that I have no wisdom, but what wisdom have you offered me? He went on to ask just who do you think you're speaking to? Surely you're not speaking to me Who prompted you to speak to me in this way? And so we saw how Job made these statements and and once again Job after making those statements went on to speak of the Greatness of God he said that the dead the dead trembled before him He said God suspends the earth with nothing supporting it that God creates clouds They hold water but don't burst by the weight of the water That he covers the face of his throne and man cannot approach him because of his holiness Well, even in saying these things of him He says well I'm just touching on just the rudiments just the basics just the outline of how great he is How can I speak of such an awesome God is what what Job was saying? You see build that had spoken of God's might he had asked how can a man be made righteous before him and In that question he had revealed that he knew God's righteousness in a sense But he didn't know anything of the mercy and grace of God somebody once said If sin will be the ruin of men and surely it will Yet our Lord Jesus Christ knows how to take the ruined sinners and Build them up to be temples for his indwelling Christ will take the very castaways of the devil and use them for himself He delights to stoop over the dung hill and pick up a broken vessel that is thrown away and Make it into a vessel fit for the master's use so build that didn't know the work of God through his graciousness and So build that had touched a nerve in Job and now Job is responding he's continuing to maintain his claim of integrity before God and Man and so we see as he speaks here how he makes it very clear That he wants God to be his witness He wants God to to to be present in a sense. He says What I'm going through is is it's clearly from the hand of God And that had confused him deeply because he didn't know of anything that he had done God has taken away my justice. He said God has made my soul bitter So in verse 2 he says as God lives who has taken away my my justice and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter As long as my breath is in me and the breath of God in my nostrils My lips will not speak with wickedness nor my tongue uttered deceit God has has taken away notice has taken away my justice and also has made my soul bitter when he says God has taken away Taken away my justice the words taken away speaks of God denying or withholding justice In other words, he's saying God is treating me as if I am guilty. I'm suffering But God hasn't helped me to understand why why is this happening? He won't explain his actions to me He's left me wondering What am I done wrong? God has not entered into discussion with me. He hasn't spoken to me concerning these things He hasn't revealed to me what justice is and the ways that he's treating me He's saying he's treating me as if I'm guilty, but he hasn't told me. What am I guilty of? He's shown me that that that he's upset, but he hasn't shown me what I've done wrong But he knows that I trust him. I've begged him to reveal why this is happening But he's silent He hasn't revealed to me what I've done to offend him And so the result in verse 2 is he's made my soul bitter Bitterness is often defined as anger and disappointment at being treated unfairly He's made my soul bitter. I'm I'm I'm angry. I'm disappointed I've been treated unfairly You see Joe made already made it clear that he was in misery and even spoke openly about it in Job chapter 7 verse 11 We saw this when he said Therefore, I will not keep silent. I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my soul So bitterness Bitterness is being settled on the injustice of something and not letting it go How do you deal with bitterness? A lot of people are bitter people become bitter Well, how do you deal with this bitterness? Even though he's saying he's bitter Well, it can be overcome when we relinquish to God. What is out of our own control when you let it go In Hebrews 12 14 and 15 The writer said make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy Without holiness no one will see the Lord See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many So in order to keep from becoming bitter, which is so easy to do We need to cast our cares on the Lord and we need to not judge him as being unjust to us We need to relinquish to God the thing that bothers us because after all we're not in control And so we have to yield those things. We have no control over to the one who is in control You see at this point Job is bitter because he hasn't heard from God. He hasn't had an answer in any way But in the midst of all of that we need to remember one thing. He still trusts the Lord Earlier in chapter 13 verse 15 he made it clear. He said though he slay me yet Well, I trust him even so I will defend my own ways before him I can die, but I still trust him no matter what I'm gonna hold fast to him And so as God lives who has taken away my justice the Almighty who has made my soul bitter verse 3 as long as my breath Is in me and the breath of God in my nostrils my lips will not speak wickedness nor my tongue uttered deceit When he speaks about the breath as long as my breath is in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils When he speaks of the breath of God that's alluding to how how God Brought life or gave life all the way back in the Garden of Eden to our first father Adam in the book of Genesis in chapter 2 verse 7 the Bible says the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and Man became a living being and breathed into his nostrils And so Job is referring to that that he's unaware that Adam was created that God breathed life into him Adam you can imagine The first man the first man created by God God being a master at all things Can you imagine? Can you imagine? What an amazing specimen of humanity? Adam was I mean for just a moment think of how perfect he is and if you can't envision that just think of me no think about and So he was created formed from the dust and you can see this lifeless human body Formed from the very very dust from dust he came God formed him. God created him and the Bible says that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life And when I was doing a study in Genesis many years ago now I was really impressed by one of the authors or commentators Who pointed out that the fact that that God breathed into Adam the the breath of life He said it's more than just a picture of breath He said it's a picture of a of an intimacy of God with his creation that God actually Breathed into him and one of the commentators that I've used in the past said it's a picture of God kissing life Into Adam it was an intimacy and Job is referring to the reality of the fact that I have breathed within me That that breath that comes from God himself my life is is is from God and and because of this I as long as I'm alive. He says in verse 4. I won't speak wickedness Nor my my tongue uttered a seat So as he's saying that I'm aware of who I am. I'm aware of the relationship I have with God I'm aware of how God breathed life into Adam and God has given me the breath of life also and because of that I'm not going to speak wickedness. I'm not going to utter deceit and and that would be to inform his friends that He isn't what they think he is I'm not speaking in favor of wickedness. He's saying nor am I lying to cover up my sin I'm not pretending that I'm righteous. I'm not a hypocrite. I'm not I'm not claiming that at all He says in verse 4. He says nor my tongue uttered a seat I I can't confess to a guilt that I don't truly possess. I didn't do it. I Didn't do these things. Why are you trying to make me confess to something that I'm not guilty of? So my my lips will not speak wickedness. My tongue will not utter deceit I'm not going to lie and say that I did something that I didn't do Verse 5 far be it for me That I should say you're right Till I die. I will not put away my integrity from me I'm not going to say that you've been right all along I'm not going to confess to a sin that I haven't committed Just to please you I'm going to continue maintaining my innocence. I Know that I'm a sinner But I have not done what you continue to accuse me of in verse 6 my righteousness I hold fast and Will not let it go my heart Shall not reproach me as long as I live I'm going to hold on to my knowledge that I have lived to the best of my ability Uprightly before my God I've lost everything I've lost everything that I've ever valued Everything that meant something is now gone. I lost my children I Lost the love and respect of my wife I lost my possessions I Lost my health I Lost my dignity I Lost my standing in the community. I lost everything But I'm not going to let go of my sense that I have lived in integrity In spite of all these losses. I have one thing I will hold on to I'm right before God. I will hold fast to my integrity It's like what the Psalmist in Psalm 7 verse 8 said when he said the Lord judges the people Judge me, oh Lord according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me I'm going to hold fast to my integrity. I've lost everything, but I'm not going to lose that now This kind of speech this speech Related to these kinds of things is not uncommon in the Bible the Psalms have many examples of this kind of sentiment because The bottom line is is is there's a loss that only God himself Can can make up for and so he speaks and says I'm gonna hold fast to this and then as he does so He goes on in verse 7 and he says may my enemy be like the wicked and he who rises up against me like the unrighteous Well interestingly enough he begins to speak with intensity here Is his tone is changing and he's calling down if he will curses upon his enemies Instead of being like the wicked Joe makes it clear that they have nothing in common with him And so this kind of speech that we're seeing right now when he says may my enemy be like the wicked and he who Rises up against me like the unrighteous and he begins to speak in this way This is kind of a this kind of speeches is not uncommon in Psalm 3 verse 7 for example the psalmist said Arise oh Lord save me. Oh my God for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone You have broken the teeth of the ungodly. Have you ever wanted to pray like that break their teeth? Oh God in Jesus name In Psalm 10 verse 15 Gets worse break the arm of the wicked and the evil man Seek out his wickedness until you find none Then finally once again. He goes back to the jaw Psalm 58 verse 6 break their teeth. Oh God in their mouth So that's not an uncommon sentiment that you see sometimes in scripture And what he's basically doing is he's responding to how his friends have painted him as evil and sinful So he's distancing himself from those kinds of thoughts. He's saying I don't love wickedness. I even hate the thought of it And he goes on in verse 8. What is the hope of the hypocrite? Though he may gain much if God takes away his life So he continues and he says what is the hope of the hypocrite a hypocrite in the Greek language? The word hypocrite speaks of an actor It's an actor who would put on a mask to appear other than what he actually is and So he's speaking of hypocrisy. What's the hope of the one who's an actor? Who pretends to be one thing when in fact he's entirely different than that and Especially it's especially repugnant when that person is pretending to be righteous C. S. Lewis once said of all bad men Religious bad men are the worst and so he's speaking of hypocrisy and Job is saying I'm not I'm not a hypocrite There's no reason that I should envy them or desire what they have and even if they were to gain much They never really enjoy it. They eventually leave it or they're gonna lose it And so that's the point that he's making though He may gain much. Well, what's he gonna gain really if God takes away his life? What do you really gain? You see eventually God takes away his life He dies in other words and as he dies God judges him and After his judgment because he had a relationship with God he enters into eternity as one who has lost everything One of my favorite portions of scripture that illustrates this comes out of the lips of Jesus In the gospel of Luke chapter 12 verses 15 through 20 when Jesus is speaking and he says take care Be on your guard against all covetousness For one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions And he told them a parable saying The land of a rich man produced plentifully and he thought to himself, which shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. He said I'll do this I'll tear down my barns build larger ones and there I will store all my grain in my goods And I'll say to my soul soul you have ample goods laid up for many years Relax eat drink be married But God said to him fool This night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared Who's will they be? All that work that you did all those years of scrimping and saving and putting things away Looking for that day that you're gonna finally be able to start spending those things on the pleasures that you have You've denied yourself and now finally can can enjoy Well, the fact is Jesus said is you work so hard to put all these things away And and yet the one thing you didn't prepare for was eternity You were preparing for your retirement You were preparing for for all the travels and the things you wanted to to be able to do you finally are no longer Working that that those long hours you finally have the ability to to buy an airplane ticket and jump on it with your wife and and take off and and Go where you want and yet I'm gonna require your soul tonight My dad when he was a young man my dad had had four children In an early age for him And so there he is a young man working hard as a truck driver with four for brats actually three brats in me and My mom told me one day how my dad Had had told her and I was a young young guy at the time. She said you knew your dad has a guy that he works with and My dad had been in the Navy and my dad had served in World War two and he traveled in the Navy and seen foreign lands and my dad was somebody who on a Sunday nights they used to have on television those earlier days They used to have travel shows and my dad would be the guy who was sitting there watching You know this tour of Rome or this this this visit to Spain or whatever My dad would watch those things and as a kid I would sit next to him and I would watch these shows and my dad wanted to travel My dad was one of those man. He had traveled at the age of 17. He wanted to continue doing that He was unable to do that. My mom wasn't of the health Healthy enough for him to be able to do that so in the back of his mind He thought you know, I got short changed a bit I'd like to be able to do these things But I've got four kids that got to work in a job My dad actually worked two jobs. Not only did he drive a truck, but he also was an upholsterer and so he would bring couches and and and and things like that into the garage I can still remember him working late at night, you know Re-upholstering so he'd have some extra money so we could pay doctors bills and that was my dad's life in his 20s in early 30s That's what he did He's got four kids who have needs and all of that and and the wife was ill and my dad never was able to Do the things that he wanted to do and my mom was telling me that and she said, you know Your dad went through a sorrowful period how he wasn't able to do the things he wanted And he told me that he wished he could have done these things He said but but I've got my family. I got my children have to take care of them and all She said and he worked with a guy who traveled then this guy actually came to our house one time and Showed his travel films They used to actually take these films and they had projectors and he came and showed his travels to Rome And I still remember that I was probably about nine years old when he did that And my dad's watching, you know, and he's seen these scenes and all of that my dad was wishing he could go So my mom was talking to me and she said, you know, David She said Your dad said to me, you know, I have these kids and I can't go and this man is going with his wife various places But what happened is this is the man that my dad was envious of Never had children. He never had children and his wife died And he walked up to my father on the job And he said, you know, Frank, I'm really envious of you And my dad had secretly envied this guy who had such freedom to travel My mom told me the man said to your dad He was envious Because the man said to my dad, I never had children You have four My wife is now dead And I'm alone He said you will never be alone, right? You've got your children And I I wanted to travel My mom said that changed the way that my dad thought I guess the point that's trying to be made right now is People can have so many things and have nothing And Job is saying that he's saying he may gain much But what happens when God takes his life? You don't take you don't take anything with you Your soul is going to be required of you. So you ought to be pursuing the things That last he says in verse nine will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him Will God listen to the one who never listened to him? The bible in psalm 66 verse 18 says it like this If I regard iniquity in my heart The Lord will not hear Why would God he's saying listen to the one who refuses to listen to God when he speaks In verse 10 will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God? The answer is no No, he won't why because his delight is in what the world has to offer him And because of this he doesn't call on God Because his confidence Is in the things that he owns What what he's done is he's learned to trust in his material advantages And that's why paul would write in first timothy chapter six verse 17 That's why paul would write and he would say to timothy Teach those who are rich in this world Not to be proud and not to trust in their money Which is so unreliable Their trust should be in God who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment Don't trust in the uncertainty of riches trust in the God you can trust in He says in verse 11 will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God delighting in the Lord occurs when we learn to long for the things That God desires Listen a genuine believer finds their fulfillment and their delight In the Lord Like it says in psalm 37 verse 4 Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. What is the desire of your heart? The desire of your heart is to delight in the Lord And so as you draw closer to the Lord and he draws closer to you that's what causes your heart to have joy You see the believer knows that it is in God's word That we find joy. It's in relationship with him. Jesus said this is eternal life that they may know the only true God And jesus christ whom thou has sent in john 17 3 it's fellowship with God It's knowing God by the spirit of God by the word of God And he delights a believer delights in the Lord because he desires what the Lord desires That's why psalm 1 verses 1 and 2 is so beautiful when it says Blessed is a man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the path of sinners Nor sits in the seat of the scornful But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law He meditates day and night Will he always verse 11 will he always call on God? Well, the fact is the hypocrite doesn't call on God If his prayer is answered he would still not have a genuine relationship with God. He doesn't desire him And so as he's speaking here He says again in verse 11 and 12 I will teach you about the hand of God What is What is with the almighty I will not conceal Surely All of you have seen it. Why then do you believe do you behave with Interestingly enough with complete nonsense I'm going to teach you regarding how God deals with the wicked And so He's going to refine and he's going to restate what he believes God to be like and and what God does and and in verse 12 He says clearly notice. Surely all of you have seen it. Why do you behave with complete nonsense? In other words, what I'm about to say is something you've known You know by your own experience I'm not saying anything that you haven't learned yourself And because this is true, I don't understand how you continue with your wrong opinions Why do you continue saying that my suffering is proof of a secret sin? Why do you insist on saying that only wicked people suffer but not the righteous? Why do you say that? You know because again, that doesn't make sense They had been insisting that he must have sinned in some way even if he's not aware of it or perhaps He's hiding it because unrighteous people Um are always going to be plagued by God and the righteous are not and he says that's not true at all And you know that's not true. Righteous people suffer too. Righteous people have afflictions Righteous people people who want to serve the Lord people who've been saved They can go through seasons of pain. What makes you think they don't? I I saw that in my own life with my mom and My mama loved jesus my mom loved jesus So many times when we would speak and she would just be sharing with me She'd begin to cry And and I can still remember if she cried it wasn't because of her pain was Is her love for the lord she just would open up and she had a real open love for christ And and she'd tell me how good god had been to her and and her eyes would fill with tears I believe I got a lot of who I am from that with my mom That's how my mom would communicate She'd share her heart with me and yet my mama was sick all the time My mom was sick for years My mom was sick from the time she was four years 20 20 years old until she 24 years old until she was she died at 83 my mom was not well at all from all those years Various diseases various things she dealt with Crippling rheumatoid arthritis lupus epilepsy one thing after another My mama loved jesus That's why that's why it's always bothered me when people say well must have had a lack of faith No, that's that's not bible for one thing and it's certainly not charitable on the other But he's saying why do you continue insisting that I've sinned Why Why do you say It's only the wicked who who suffer but not the righteous He says in verse 12. Surely you have seen that the wicked can be afflicted I just don't understand why you insist on condemning me as being wicked In verse 13 This is the portion of a wicked man with god and the heritage of oppressors received from the almighty in this word He actually is repeating something that was said by one of his his friends so far In chapter 20 at verse 29. He's actually quoting him And he's saying this is what the wicked have in store for them Verse 14 if his children are multiplied it's for the sword And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread So he says if the children are multiplied remember in the ancient world Children a fruitful womb Was regarded as gifts from god Many children were regarded if you had many children It was regarded as Quite a blessing Lots of kids my grandmother on my father's side my dad's mama My grandmother had 13 children 13 children 12 of them survived childhood An uncle of mine died when he was a little boy out of those 12 When I did my when I went to my grandmother's funeral at the age of 92 And they showed they have those papers that tell you about how many sons and daughters and you know and and grandchildren My grandmother When she died at 92 out of the 12 living children she had had 118 Great and great great grandchildren That's a lot of brats and I have I have so many cousins. I don't know Hundreds of cousins. I did a funeral for my uncle His name was ray and I did a funeral for my family In my family, these were blood relatives who had come to to uh celebrate my uncle's life And there were 150 to 200 people who were there who were my direct relatives Have a lot of we're taking over california ourselves And that was years ago And so in the older days Many children were looked at as being a heritage of the lord the fruit of the womb was his reward And so when he speaks concerning this and he's speaking concerning the amount of children and all of that He's making it clear That though they are a heritage And though the greater amount of children the greater the blessing the fact is Even when the wicked have many children often there's still this tragedy He he's making it clear. They may die at the hand of enemy forces. They may die in a variety of tragic ways Verse 14 the second portion his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. They may die But they also may go hungry if they somehow escape The experience of dying They still can fall into poverty his point he's making Being poor Well, there'll be no one to relieve them of their misery and they can suffer And verse 15 he continues those who survive him shall be buried in death and their widows shall not weep interesting way to put it Those who survive the sword will say the famine Well, they can die they can die Of disease when it says buried in death in death is often a word that is being used to speak of a plague They can die in disease And they're not going to have any friends who will bury them Their bodies will remain unburied He says in verse 15 their widows shall not weep in other words No one will lament or sorrow for them when they die. There's not going to be a funeral procession There will be none to weep over their death When he says widows is a hint that the man he's speaking of has many wives And that often was the case with the rich many wives again was a symbol of status But none of them will weep at his death A very great omission in the eyes of middle eastners would be that nobody wept for them when they died Verse 16 though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay He may pile it up But the just will wear it and the innocent will divide the silver And so he says He uses these phrases as a picture of abundance Remember the Solomon king Solomon Solomon was described in a similar way in second chronicles 115 It says that the kings begin of Solomon Made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones Cedar a very expensive wood as plentiful as a sycamore fig tree in the foothills So the wealth that he has is abundant Even today wealth is demonstrated by quantities of furniture and quantities of clothing There was a desire to display wealth openly During that day. So clothing became very important And because they had so much The value of the things the personal value that they placed in those things actually were Diminished because they had so much So he says in verse 17 he may pile it up But the just will wear it the innocent will divide the silver And so he speaks concerning the fact that he's going to leave it all behind Ecclesiastes in chapter 2 verse 26 Solomon said God gives wisdom knowledge and joy to those who please him But if a sinner becomes wealthy God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him This too is meaningless. It's like chasing the wind In Proverbs 23 verse 5 cast but a glance at riches. They're gone For they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky Like an eagle so he may pile it up that somebody else is going to get it In verse 18 interesting he builds his house like a moth Like a booth which a watchman makes An evil man attempts to build a lasting home a lasting family But it's like a moth trying to build a lasting monument to itself That home is as temporary as his cocoon He can't make anything that lasts In verse 19 the rich man will lie down But not be gathered up. He opens his eyes. He's no more Like all men Rich men Will die And I remember hearing about this rich man who died And they had this big funeral procession and someone was overheard to say wow He really knew how to live and that never made much sense to me. The guy was dead He's being hauled off to be put in a in a in the in the dirt because the fact is How does the rich man die even as a poor? Everybody dies is the point he's making But the thing is if he's not going to be Gathered up for burial his carcass he says it's going to lie openly upon the earth notice in verse 19 He opens his eyes and he's no more and it says he opens his eyes and he's no more. It's a picture of dying suddenly He never made full use of his wealth In just a moment. He's gone and his life is concluded, you know There's uh, there's a fellow bezos his name is bezos. We all know his name I think if you don't know his name, he's the richest man in the world. I forget how much money he supposedly has Multiple billions of dollars hundred billion plus. I forget how much it's an amazing amount of money beyond It's more than the wealth of many countries many nations All right, this man has more money. That's he has and He'll never he'll never spend his money. He'll never have the ability to spend all of it And um, I'll help him, but he doesn't call me, but he'll never He he'll never spend all his money. He can't if he spent A million dollars a day He he couldn't live long enough To spend the hundred and some billions that he has he can never he can never spend his money In the investments that he has when he gathers interest in the things that he has in investment He he can't even he can't even spend the interest he makes on as well If he dropped a hundred billion dollars on the ground, which you can't do it's too heavy But it wouldn't be very long until that money was made up It it's just it's it's beyond me He's a guy who can walk into Any car lot you name it. What's your favorite car? What would you love to have a Ferrari? He can go in by the factory the Ferrari factory And have all of those Ferraris and still have lots of money left over. It's just beyond me And so the point is is that a rich man A rich man can have so many so much money accumulated But he can't buy the things that mattered He can't buy peace He cannot buy hope you can't go to the store And ask for a hundred dollars worth of love you can't do that Those are the intangibles those are the things that money really has no ability to buy You can't buy peace you can't buy any of those things that actually matter you can't And so this man accumulated all of this wealth But he leaves all of that behind And so be aware of that Seek those things that you know like Jesus said Lay your treasures up in heaven a moth cannot Destroy rust will not corrupt Lay your treasures in heaven Have eternal treasures because what we have right now Well, it's like it says chasing the wind He's gonna die Suddenly he says in verse 20 terrors overtake him like a flood a tempest steals him away In the night He doesn't die in peace His death is quick. It's even unexpected In verse 21 the east wind carries him away. He's gone It sweeps him out of his place it hurls against him and does not spare He flees desperately from its power Men shall clap their hands at him and shall hiss him out of his place and so It says the east wind the east wind is a picture of swift violent judgment The east wind takes him away violently It sweeps him away from the earth as the picture and the result verse 23 men clap their hands at him They hiss him out of his place in other words people rejoice when he is no longer alive Instead of weeping They did ride his death. They're happy that he's dead Now As I was reading this and I'll close with a couple of thoughts There was a guy Some of you were aware of him If you went to school or perhaps you're a reader you remember him. He was called Voltaire Voltaire is a This is a quote a very french very famous french infidel. He was a denier of god And He was very brilliant And he wrote a lot of of pamphlets and and books and things Attacking Christianity. That's what he did Voltaire did that And he used all of his intellectual and writing skills to attack Christianity This is a quote from Voltaire. He said my single hand Shall destroy the edifice it took 12 apostles to rear My single hand will destroy Christianity. That was his goal and What happened and I have a book that Gives the last sayings. It's called the last sayings of saints and sinners And when Voltaire died there was someone present who was writing down what he was saying as he died And he had a physician who was there who was writing these things down And this is what Voltaire's last words were Voltaire said I am abandoned by god and man And he spoke to the physician. He said I will give you half of what I am worth If you will give me six months life Then I shall go to hell And you will go with me And his last words that the physician wrote Oh christ Oh jesus christ And shortly after he died The house he used to print his literature in Became the depot of the Geneva bible society So he said with my my pen i'll destroy christianity and in the end the house that he used to occupy While he was printing out all of his all of his anti christ things became a place where they stored bibles so You can contrast the way he died With the way believers died in scripture When when the day of pentecost came god brought into life the church found in the book of acts chapter two And from chapter two three four five six seven you see the progress of the work of the lord By the time you get into chapter eight The the church has been making a lot of inroads Many people are coming to faith in christ and disciples the apostles are now being arrested At one point in chapter six of the book of acts there was a a problem that takes place and that is that the the jewish jewish Culturally jewish Widows were being taken care of in what was called a fund for the widows But the greek-speaking jews who Were disdained by the hebrew-speaking jews the greek-speaking widows were being neglected and it created a tremendous problem And so they brought the problem to the apostles and they said that there's there's a Injustice taking place, you know, the hebrews are getting cared for the greek speakers cultural Greeks are are not though. They're jewish and believers. They're still being neglected and what happened Is they had to put together The first deacons and so Several men were appointed to take care of the affairs of the church You see that all in acts chapter six one of the men Who was given the responsibility to oversee the church in that way was a man named steven now steven and the rest of Many of the believers were arrested and were taken to be given a trial in front of the religious leaders of israel and the steven stood up to give a defense for the faith And as he did so steven began to outline the history of israel And as he began to share the history of israel He shared with them that god had given prophets He spoke of moses he gave all of that and then ultimately he says to them You guys have been stiff-necked and rejected the things of god all along And because you have done so he says You've even rejected the messiah whom he sent And when he said that the bible says that they gnashed with their teeth and they they sat upon him And when they did so they took him and they stoned him to death as a blasphemer And when they put him to death for the things that he had said His last words were lord do not charge them with this sin and then That portion closes with the words When he had said this he fell asleep when you contrast the death of the wicked With the death of the saint with the death of the believer Job is saying That those who don't know the lord They may be rich on earth and they may obtain great christian honor and finances and They may have all of those things but what they don't have Is peace with god And he's saying I have that I've held on to my integrity. I haven't denied him Even though I don't understand him. I'm not like them. Why do you keep judging me in this way? he said because The way that the the the unrighteous dying Is always going to be different than the way the righteous died I've attended the the death of More than one person in my ministry life and I can tell you There's truth to that When a believer Closes their eyes And that person had a solid walk with the lord when that person Knew their god There's a peace. There's a peace Even the sense of a presence of something That's deeper than Than human life there's There's a presence and you can you can sometimes sense that I've heard of the saints who have raised their hands and said he's there. Can you see him? Close their eyes and They depart here just to be with him You know, what is the best thing I can do gather a lot of money and become real famous and eat at great restaurants or Or is it better to just love the lord? and serve him And enjoy what he gives you and never take it for granted And bless him for all the good he's done That's the life I want to live And that's the life job is speaking that he has and so again, why are you Why are you saying these things of me when in fact you should know these things? You've seen my life. I'm not what you're saying. I am It's so sad that he has to defend himself against those that should have defended him We'll stop here and we'll pick up next time our father. We We do thank you for your goodness to us lord. We thank you for The peace that we have with you and in you And I would just ask lord for those of us in this room right now that we would Make sure that our eyes are turned upon you that we would That we would serve you even as our eyes are closed our heads about there may be some right now We need prayer perhaps you're dealing with something in your own life And you want to be right with the lord as our eyes are closed our heads are bowed if you need prayer before I close Would you raise your hand? Let me pray for you right where you're at Father you see these hands in this room lord, you know the reason these hands are raised to you I ask in jesus name That you would reach down and touch every person whose hand is raised And you would have your way in them and father Whatever it may be I know that you're the god who is able so On their behalf lord We would cast those things at your feet And father bless them and be with them and If need be forgive them of the things that they're telling you they need to be cleansed from And empower them And glorify yourself in them And we thank you for this And bless you you can put your hands down And jesus I ask that you keep moving in all of us to your glory in your name Amen