 Amen. So keep your place in Job chapter one. We're going to be looking at especially this chapter this morning, but we see in Job chapter one, we see a story of a man, and we see a story of a man who's having a hard day. And probably we could say, I'm sure all of us could say that Job here is having the hardest day that we've ever heard of, even if you've heard of, you know, somebody that's, you know, been to war or, you know, something like that. This is what happened to Job here was probably the hardest thing that anyone could ever have happened to them in their lives. I mean, the Bible starts out talking about who Job is. You know, the Bible uses this word, and I want to clarify something before we get into the story of Job here. The Bible uses the word perfect twice to describe Job in Job chapter one. And in the King James Bible, the word perfect doesn't mean you're without sin. It means you're complete. It means he's a complete man. So it is a good word that you would want to have said about you, but it does not mean that Job was without sin. Because of course we know that there's none righteous. No, not one. Only Jesus Christ was righteous. But Job was a complete man. He was an upright man, the Bible is saying here. And of course we see this conversation between Satan and the Lord, where Satan says, you know, the Lord is kind of bragging about his servant Job. He's saying, look, my servant Job, he's a complete man. He is upright. He serves me. Look at verse number five. I mean, Job even goes so far as to say, he continually every single day and ask yourself if you do this, he continually every single day prays for his children. He's like, maybe my children have done something wrong and he's constantly just making sacrifice and praying for his children again and again. Do you pray for your children? You pray for your children every day? Like Job is without seizing. He's just every day. Just in case they may have done something wrong. Just in case they may have cursed God or foolishly charged God. I mean, Job is an upright man. And Satan and the Lord are having a conversation here and Satan says, yeah, he's good. But he's only good because he's rich and you've given him everything. And he's got a family and he's got a wife and everything's great for Job. Why would he possibly have any problem with you? He's like, you take away his stuff, you take away his things and he'll curse you is what Satan says to the Lord. So the Lord, the Lord allows Job to go through some things here. And I'm going to show you kind of the purpose of why God allowed this. Because look, this is a story in the Bible. This happened. Job was a man. Job went through this and this is in the Bible for us. So this morning I'm going to give you some tips from the book of Job on how to survive hard times in your life. Say, I'm not really going through hard times. I guarantee you you're going to go through hard times in your life. You will have it happen. Look down at Job chapter 1 and look at verse 14. Let's look at Job's day. Let's look at Job's day when this trial begins. Look at Job chapter 1 and verse number 14. The first thing is he loses his servants here. And there came messengers unto Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them and the sabians fell upon them and took them away. They have slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Look at verse number 16. So he loses all his servants to this attack from these enemies. And then in verse number 16 he loses his property as well. And the Bible says, while he was yet speaking. Notice how it says while he was yet speaking. Meaning this didn't happen a week later. This happened at the same time that this man is telling them. These people just keep coming and telling him news after news after news. And it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse for Job. Look at verse 16. While he was yet speaking there came also another and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven and had burnt up the sheep and the servants and consumed them and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Now like fire from heaven literally comes down and burns up your livestock. That's a bad day right there. The rancher in the room is telling me that that's a bad day. Look and then while he was yet speaking. Verse 17. There came another and said the Chaldeans. So now there's more enemies made out with made out three bands and fell upon the camels and carried them away. Yay and slain the servants with the edge of the sword and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. So here he's had two attacks from foreign enemies. He's had literal fire from heaven come down and burn up his property. His servants are killed and taken away and then look at verse 18. You say what worse could possibly happen? Well now it gets really bad in verse 18. While he was yet speaking the same day the same hour. While he was yet speaking there came also another and said thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house and behold there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead. And I alone, I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. So I mean we start to see how Job is going to react at the end of verse number 20 right away. He says he just worshiped God after that happened. So we start to already see Job's character in action at the beginning of Job chapter 1, the very first chapter. But the point is all in one day this happened to Job. I mean the story of Job goes like this. We see this massive loss in chapter 1 of the Bible turned to Job chapter 2. Job is a story of a man who loses everything. We see why God allowed this to happen to him at the very beginning of the chapter. We see the character of Job. We see that God allows Satan to do these things to him. He allows this to happen to Job to prove that Job will not curse him and prove the character of Job. But then we see that Job's friends come to comfort him in the second part of Job. Look at Job chapter 2 in verse number 11. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, evil meaning hurts in the Bible. Many times the Bible will say that the Lord did evil. The Lord was going to do evil to Nineveh but he repented and he did it not. It means he was going to hurt them. It doesn't mean that the Lord was going to sin. So this evil, this hurt that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place. The life as, the Temmonite, Bildad, the Shuhite and Zophar, the Namethite. For they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. So that sounds pretty good right there. These friends, they were going to come and they were going to mourn with Job and they were going to comfort their friends. That's what friends should do in situations like this. But the point is that it kind of turns into something different. A little bit later in Job these friends come to comfort him and really what they end up doing throughout the book of Job and many, many chapters in Job are these friends basically accusing Job of sinning. They're saying this is happening to you because you have done some sin. You've turned against the Lord and it's this big back and forth between Job and his friends. So what happens is his friends come and they say these things have happened to you because you've sinned and Job says, I have not sinned. And Job actually ends up overstating his righteousness in the book of Job. And then finally throughout that towards the end of the book of Job God rebukes them all. Basically they're arguing and they're saying you're not righteous. This is why this is happening to you. This is why these terrible things have happened. Job says I am righteous and I've done nothing wrong. And then God steps in and this is where we get all these great creation references in the book of Job talking about dinosaurs and Leviathan and all this. God's saying can you do this? Can you build this? Can you create the world? Basically God is saying and he basically rebukes them all and then Job actually ends up repenting at the end of Job saying I'm sorry that I've overstated my righteousness which again shows Job's character. It's a great example in the Bible for us on how to deal with hard times. So I want to give you three steps this morning and we'll look at a few verses through Job. I want to give you three steps on surviving hard times this morning. You say I'm not in hard times right now. Well you're going to be. You say I'm not suffering loss right now. You will suffer loss at some point in your life. The first thing is this. Job lost everything in one day. So the first kind of the pre point that I want to make before I get into the main points is you always need to put things in perspective in your life. You always need to put things in perspective in your life. You need to realize that everything in your life is a bonus. You need to realize that everything in your life is a bonus. Look it's difficult for us to understand this. It's difficult for us to understand this but we need to realize that every single thing that we have, everyone that we know, our children, our families, our spouses, everything is a gift from God. Look at verse number 21 of Job chapter 1. Job knew this and Job not only knew this but he stated it immediately after all of this happened to him. And that's why. Look Job you know that Job wasn't just saying this. He believed it because the first thing that he did after he lost everything was he worshiped. He never turned on God, not even in his heart and certainly didn't come out of his mouth. Look at verse 21 of Job chapter 1. Look nothing that we have is a guarantee for our whole lives on this planet. Nothing. Look at verse 21 and said, Naked came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return dither. The Lord gave and the Lord have taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Imagine that. Everything you have the Lord gave you. Turn to James chapter 1. This is one of those things. This is one of those things I hate to, to, to, I'm not trying to insult you this morning but this is one of those things that a lot of people in the church will amen to. Did you know that everything that you have God gave you? You know, people will amen. Yes, I understand that. Look at verse 17 of James chapter 1. The Bible says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comeeth down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Everything comes from God. If it's good, it came from God. But let me ask you this. Do you actually believe that? Do you actually feel that in your heart? Could you lose everything tomorrow? And would you feel like a joke? I mean everything. I mean everything. Let's do a thought experiment. Could you lose your job tomorrow and feel like that job was a gift from God and I'm glad I had it for as long as I did? Praise be to God. Could you lose your house tomorrow? Could you lose your cars tomorrow? Could you lose everything that you own tomorrow? Your retirement accounts, every asset you've worked for years and decades to have, could you lose it all tomorrow and have the attitude, praise be to God that I had it for that time that I had it? It was just a gift from God. Could you do that? That's what Joe did here. How about this? Could you lose your family? Could you lose your wife tomorrow? Could you lose your husband tomorrow? And be like, you know what? Praise God that I had this husband for 24 years or eight years or whatever it is. Praise God that God gave me this wife for as long as I had her. Would that be your first reaction after losing your wife? How about this? Could you lose every single one of your children? I hate to even have you think about this. Could you lose every single one of your children tomorrow and have the thought, praise God that I had those children for as long as I had them? I'm telling you, this would be difficult for me. You, you're the pastor of the church. This is something that is, this is why the Book of Job is in the Bible. Because it is a bar for us to look at on how complete this man was, on how strong his faith was. Because I don't know that any of us are to the point where Job was here in Job chapter one. But this is why this story is here for us in the Bible. Here's the thing. You're going to suffer loss in your life. You will suffer loss in your life at some point. And you need to be able to be thinking about these things and to realize that everything that you have is only because God has given it to you as a gift. And the only gift that you have that is eternal is your salvation. Everything that you have on this earth, as a fleshly human being as you walk this earth, was given to you by God and it may be yours today and not yours tomorrow. And blessed be God. Needs to be our attitude. But that's easier said than done. My friends. But you know, here's the thing. The real problem is in America, this is a real problem because in America it's like this common idea that I'm owed something in this country. You know what? That's a disease that people have in this country. That's a disease that will ruin your entire life if it gets too far inside you. And you know what? I'm owed. I'm owed this. It's not fair. It's not fair for me. Look, especially as a saved individual, you better not even want to know or you should know but you should never ask God what's fair. You deserve nothing. The fact that you're going to heaven is a free gift that you didn't earn. You deserve nothing on this earth. Yet everybody's walking around like they're owed something in this life. It's this common attitude in America that's literally destroying people. People have this chip on their shoulder. This guy has more than me and I'm owed what this guy has. It'll ruin people. It'll ruin people. As a saved person, it's best that you not even utter the thought of wishing things were fair as a saved person. So here's the first thing you need to do. According to... Let's learn from Job here. The first thing that you need to do, chapters 4 through 25 of the book of Job are Job's friends basically ripping on him saying you deserve this and it's because you've sinned and all this and they're judging him for things that they don't know that he's done or not done. But it's this big argument basically a bunch of jerks come in and start telling him that he's lost all his things and that he's turned on God and he's sinned against God and they're telling him that God is judging him but the first thing is but even though that was not the right thing for them to be doing the first thing you need to do when you're going through hard times is you need to self-assess. You need to look at yourself. You shouldn't have friends that are coming and judging you but you should be looking at yourself because look pushing this doctrine is false. Go to John chapter 9 go to John chapter 9 look I mean that's possible that's possible if something is bad it is certainly possible that it is the judgment of God on that person's life that's a possibility but it's up to that individual to self-assess and look at that situation and determine if that's the case look at John chapter 9 in verse number 1 look even the disciples made this mistake. You say all these friends of Job's they were just these crazy people that were way out there look the disciples made the same mistake look at verse number 1 of John chapter 9 and Jesus passed by and he saw a man which was blind from his birth and his disciples these are the people following Jesus saying master who did sin this man or his parents that he was born blind the disciples they look at this blind man is he paying for who made a mistake that God would put this terrible curse on him of being blind and look what Jesus says Jesus answered neither has this man sinned nor his parents but that the works of God should be made manifest in him look Jesus is like this guy was made blind so I could heal him this guy was made blind so I could be a so I could use him as a witness that I am the son of God so be careful so be careful that you're not Job's friends but flip it around on yourself now you're going through hard times the first thing you need to do is look at yourself am I in sin am I right with God because look the only person that knows is you the only person that knows if you're under God's judgment or if it's something else is you the only person that can make that determination I just don't know if brother Matt's going through hard times I don't know if he's under the judgment of God or if it's just God working some other purpose in his life or maybe it's just tribulation that people are putting someone through because guess what we will go through tribulation if you follow the Lord and you follow his commandments you will suffer persecution not maybe you will you will look at Job chapter 32 so look but it is your job to do a self-assessment Job overdid his righteousness look at Job chapter 32 Job was an upright man but he overdid his righteousness when he was going back and forth with these men look at Job 32 look at verse number one Job 32 look at verse number one the Bible says so these three men they're getting to the end of the back and forth here they cease to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes this is when God starts to step in and speak to Job God steps in and he says whoa whoa whoa nobody's righteous you're not that great can you create the world basically is what God tells Job and his three friends Job here's the Lord and you know what he does does he argue with God look at Job chapter 42 and look at verse number one so God gives this great dissertation we're not going to spend the time to get through this morning but God gives this great dissertation I'm like there's only one God I am the Lord I'm the creator of the universe it's like you four arguing about who's righteous and who's not is ridiculous God says and Job answered the Lord look at verse number one of Job 42 Job answered the Lord and said I know that thou can't do everything and that no thought can be withholding from me who is he that height of counsel without knowledge therefore I have uttered that I understood not things were too wonderful for me which I knew not here I beseech thee and I will speak I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now my eyes my eye seeeth thee and then look at verse number six because of what you've told me God you set me straight he said I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes Job just gets it right he's just like I'm sorry he's like I'm sorry after all these things happened to him and these three jerks show up and start telling him he's a bad guy and that's why he's going through this which is not why he was going through this and then God says no you overstated yourself and I repent he's like I abhor myself he's like I am nothing I am nothing and it was so that after the word had spoken these words unto Job the Lord said that life has the teminite my wrath has kindled against thee and against thy two friends for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath the point is you're going through hard times do a self-assessment here's the first thing you need to do do a self-assessment and get everything right if something is wrong get it right apologize confess confess turn to first John chapter 1 turn to first John chapter 1 first John chapter 1 look at verse number 9 first John chapter 1 is not talking about how to go to heaven first John chapter 1 is talking about how to get right with God how to have a good relationship with the Lord the Bible says in first John chapter 1 verse 9 if we confess our sins we are sinful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness turn to James chapter 5 look confess your faults to God get right with God confess what you've been doing confess that you haven't been following his commandments confess that you haven't been loving him confess that you have problems that you maybe you did made some mistakes look at James chapter 5 look at verse 16 confess to your brothers and sisters confess your faults one to another and pray for one another you may be healed if I've done something wrong to somebody why in the world would I say I apologize why would I apologize doesn't that put me in a position of vulnerability if I say I did something wrong why would I do that so we could be healed that's why if I've done something wrong to a brother in the church I want that to be healed I want to confess that you say but you're the that's easy for you to say you're the pastor well let me give you a revelation here pastors are people too pastors are people too now let me tell you something as a pastor pastors are put in some crazy situations and I got news for you there might be crazy situations where I don't navigate it exactly how I should have there might be missteps but I'll tell you this if there's missteps on my part I will own those missteps and I'll say hey you know I shouldn't have done that the way I did I'm sorry about that that's what you need to do why so you can be healed so relationships can be healed look confession confession is such a beautiful thing it is such a beautiful thing as far as relationships in the church as far as relationships with your brothers and sisters just get everything off yourself get everything off yourself I mean the worst thing you could do the worst thing you could do is be going through hard times in your life I mean you're suffering loss things aren't going your way it's just like hard time after hard time after hard time and guess what then maybe and it is judgment it is God chastising you and you just keep it on you you're like I'm not going to admit fault you just keep it on you know what's going to happen it's just going to get worse and worse and worse but this self-assessment it can't be done by your three friends it needs to be done by you personally somebody look somebody who has a hard time somebody who has a hard time self-assessing in their life well first of all it's probably not in their bible because what does the bible say what does the bible say that will happen if you're in the word of god you know what will happen with sin sin will be completely obvious to you if you're in the word of god if you know your bible and you're reading your bible if you're in your tv yeah you're probably going to miss some things if you're not in your bible but you're in your tv you're in the world you're in the bar you're in the whatever you're probably going to miss a lot when it comes to your self-assessment but if you're in the bible sin is going to be exceedingly sinful to you even when you do it hopefully so exceedingly sinful you never get close to it but it will just pop at you and when you fall into it you go whoa big mistake and you get it right that's why you need to be in your bible that's why you need to be in church that's why it's for your own good help me help you someone who has a hard time self-assessing somebody who is getting into the world is blinded by that and just can't confess anything because what comes with that doesn't know what the bible says and they're just in the world and their spirituality is dead and has a hard time confessing things or recognizing their fault they're in for a lifetime of beatings a lifetime and some things you can't undo in your life so that's the first thing do a self-assessment hard times look at yourself you don't need three friends to do it for you look at yourself and here's the second thing here's the second thing when you go through hard times here's what you do you keep moving forward you keep moving forward you say it seems too simple but look basically once you believe once you understand and you realize you don't have anything anyway and once you've taken out the trash in your life you just keep putting one foot in front of the other as Luke chapter 9 says as Jesus says in Luke chapter 9 you just keep your hand on the plow and you just keep plowing you're like but I don't want to plow you just plow anyway you think that every single person and every spiritual person and every pastor wakes up every morning and they're just like oh I just oh the spirit is dead everybody gets down but you keep pushing forward keep coming to church look I'll be here if I'm preaching to the wall I'll be here I promise you that I'll still be here but you just keep doing what you're supposed to do that's it, that's what you do you keep moving forward and guess what that's why in Genesis chapter 49 when Jacob was talking to Reuben and he called him unstable he said Reuben you're unstable he said you're unstable and what was the result of what he said go to Genesis chapter 49 let's just look at it go to Genesis chapter 49 this is why this is why you need to be when the times are good when times are good you need to be stable you need to develop consistency during the good times in your life you need to build that muscle memory no matter what we go to church no matter what we're going out soul winning no matter what we're going to serve the Lord in our lives that way when it gets hard it's muscle memory this is just what we do I can tell you right now obviously it's not a debate for me every morning whether I'm coming to church or not but if it is in the good times you're going to completely fall apart in the bad times because that muscle memory is not there what does he say what does he say in Genesis chapter 4 I'm not there but he says unstable is water and because of it what will happen you'll be a boring person no one will want to talk to you no he says you won't excel he says you won't excel you're unstable you want to excel in your Christian life in your spiritual life you better get stable you get stable during the good times and when times get bad you suffer loss we're just going to go to church we're just going to go and guess what that will strengthen you and that will make those hard times and that will make that loss it will make it shorter it will make you survive through it but if you can't be stable in the good times you have no chance in the bad times everything comes apart in your life I'm not saying hey how about this for a message I'll be Joel Osteen for a second come to church and everything will be great for you come to church and you'll be rich woo give me money and God will give you more money I mean the Bible doesn't say that that's the problem the Bible actually says hey come to church serve the Lord and people are going to beat you for that people might kill you for that people are going to force you to do things you're going to go through tribulation you're going to go through persecution you're like this is depressing this is what the Bible says but you have to get solid you have to get stable in the good times and then it'll just be muscle memory when it comes to getting through those hard times so look folks just to wrap things up this morning hopefully hopefully none of you ever have a day like Job chapter 1 hopefully I mean none of us I pray to God that none of us are ever going to go through what Job went through losing everything that he owned losing his entire business all his assets, losing his family having these horrible friends show up and tell him how terrible he is and he deserved it all getting in this big argument hopefully you never have a day like that but I can tell you especially if you are serving the Lord and you are in your Bible you're going to live a godly life in this world that we're walking around in that you are going to have hard times you're going to have hard times in your life it's a guarantee and Jesus told us this and he says look I don't bring peace he's like I bring division you start reading the Bible and guess what I mean it's one thing if you read the Bible and you just keep it to yourself but here's the problem that happens when you start reading the Bible and you really start living your life according to what the Bible says people are going to have a problem with that people in your own families are going to have a problem with that and we're like what in the world you're going to be like wow why do people think they have so much say over what happens in my family look it's going to happen to you Jesus said people in the same house would be divided he's like I came here to divide I came here to bring division this idea that Jesus is this big and he carries a sheep around and he's got long hair down to here and he's got a staff and he loves everybody and he's going to bring peace and everyone together in the world that's wrong that's wrong Jesus came to bring division and if you start following the Bible people will be divided against you and he says I tell you this so you're just not offended it's going to happen it's just the truth it's going to happen life is peaks and valleys the valleys are coming so just remember you aren't owed anything in this Christian life you aren't owed anything if somebody takes something from you if you're persecuted if you lose everything you didn't deserve any of it anyway thank God you're going to heaven no one can take that from you but you aren't owed anything that's what Job says about his own children that he made you aren't owed anything take out the trash in your life confess your faults you should be doing that every day you should be doing that every day getting right with God you should be praying for your children every day you should be he's praying for his children if they did something wrong you know what I mean do you know this here's another one not to preach another sermon on this but you know what God could have mercy on your children for your sake go google or look up in the bible how many times that the bible says for David's sake for David's sake we're studying David on Sunday nights and there was generations and generations and hundreds of years later God looks at a king whose David's great great great grandson and says you know what normally I just kill you but for David's sake I'm gonna have mercy on you he had mercy on Solomon for David's sake that was David's son pray for your kids every single day live a righteous life you say my righteousness doesn't get me to heaven everybody we go out soul winning and we'll tell people that you know what you're not saved by your works your works have nothing to do with your salvation nothing not even a little bit like you telling me I can go out then I can be a drunk trust it in Jesus yes you think it's a free ride though because your righteousness matters for your children your righteousness matters for how profitable you are to your friends you think your kids are gonna get saved if you're some wicked individual that just is gonna take your salvation and run that doesn't sound like a free anything if your kids end up going to hell because of who you are now you live you think you can live a wicked life with your kids and start to show them they're gonna laugh in your face your righteousness matters for those around you for the kind of your righteousness matters how perfect you are matters according to how much mercy God will grant you and grant your family and grant your children look I want my children to have as much mercy as possible for my sake if God would grant something like that take out the trash in your life get things right and then you know what another one that's easier said than done just keep on moving keep on plowing keep on in your Christian life you can't have this Christian life be something that I'm gonna do this as long as things are great for me that's not gonna work out this is why the average Christian life is just a few years long people do studies on how long do people come into church people are in church for two or three years and they're gonna die because you get these bottle rocket Christians who are just like oh I'm super fired up right now things are great for me right now things go bad I'm out and they take their salvation and they run but it means they'll be profitable to no one in their life it's sad you just keep on moving forward you get stable in the good times and then you'll remember you'll remember during the bad times you'll just keep doing it life you told me oh you just not going to church Wednesdays like that would wreck my life that right there would ruin things for me no one's stopping me from coming to church so just get things stable in the good times and you'll keep them stable in the bad times you'll just go through the motions and those bad times will leave they'll go away let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer