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Becoming 1 in 1000
By 1in1000 | August 11, 2008
Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
I was raised a heathen and for the first 27 years of my life I lived as one. God saved me at that point through the personal witness of a couple of people that He had brought into my life at the right time for the circumstances that He had allowed to come to pass which prepared me for that moment.
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I have been told that there is no zeal like that of a convert. Someone who is not raised with these truths gets more excited about them than one who has grown up with them.
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After 16 years I want to tell you that I am still excited about the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Early in my Christian life I began to share my faith, as I had been taught, give them the Gospel and have them pray to receive Christ.
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My first year as a Christian I “lead 13 people to Christ” or so I thought.
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As far as I know there is only one who remains faithful today.
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I was disillusioned by this and in the course of time as I began to teach I made a serious study of the Gospel and I learned that the Law must precede Grace so that people see their need for the forgiveness of God that is offered in the Gospel.
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God gave me the opportunity teach a class at my first church on evangelism.
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Then to train three sets of people to share their faith on short term missions to Mexico.
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From this was born my Internet ministry which is called 1in1000.org.
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You may say as my unsaved brother has said, a little cocky, aren’t you?
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The name comes from Job 33:23 and this is the text that I want to preach this morning.
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This will help you to see where I am coming from as a preacher and pastor.
I am reasonably sure that you are familiar with the story of Job.
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Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
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We see at the beginning that Job was a good man.
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Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
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You probably remember that from here he loses all of his children and his wealth in one day.
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That did not do the trick though, Job 1:22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
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So in chapter 2, God allows Satan to afflict Job’s body and again, Job 2:10b In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
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Then Job’s three friends show up and everything changes.
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Job 19 :6 God has wronged me
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Job 23:3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat! 4 I would present my case before Him, And fill my mouth with arguments.
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From Chapter 3-31 we have a great debate going on as to whether Job is a wicked sinner who has hidden his sin and is now being judged by God as his friends suppose or whether he is perfectly righteous as he maintains.
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Job certainly is a righteous man! We see this in Ezekiel 14:14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.
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Job was a good man! As judgment came upon Judah in its final days and was very certain, God makes the declaration that only these three men are righteous enough to deliver themselves from His fury.
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That is saying something!
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I don’t think any of us can claim to be in God’s top three like he is here.
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His friends were wrong to accuse him of sin because he was going through a trial.
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I think this is really representative of humanity’s view of God.
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Job’s view, I’m good and God has no excuse to mess up my life.
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His friends view, If you were good God would not be messing with you.
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People tend to judge God by themselves rather than the other way around.
God afflicts him for a reason. Why?
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I am going to say it is because it is not by trusting in our own goodness that we are saved, Job had to know God better than he did.
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He had some inkling of the truth as we see in Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
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God sends a fourth man to speak to Job and his friends. In chapter 32 we are introduced to a man named Elihu.
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This is where the story of Job really gets exciting for me.
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Job 32:1 So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. 3 Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
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And here is the principal issue of man’s understanding of God. Man wants to be right even if it makes God wrong.
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Even we who have no hope of being as righteous as Job want to accuse God of injustice when things don’t go our way.
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We need a major attitude adjustment and this is what God sent Elihu to do.
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First I want you to notice that God puts Job in a predicament in order to get his attention. (his trouble)
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The God brings him to the end of himself in order to get him to listen. (his friends)
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The God sends an evangelist to give him the information he needs. (Elihu)
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Just a technical note here, this was all in God’s plan and the devil was His pawn to accomplish His will in Job’s life.
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Someone once said, “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose! (Romans 8:28)
As Elihu describes his ministry in Job 33:23 I see here the ministry of the evangelist. “If there is a messenger for him, A mediator, one among a thousand, To show man His uprightness, 24 Then He is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom’;
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As I studied this book several years ago I came to the conclusion that there was a major evangelistic thrust to it.
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God prepares people to receive His message of forgiveness.
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We cannot always be sure who He has prepared, but we can always be ready, as Elihu was, to step in and give the accurate representation of what God is doing in that situation.
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When the situation comes, as it did that day for Job, Elihu was not only able, but excited to share with Job what he knew about God.
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Job 32:4 Now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused. 6 So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are very old; Therefore I was afraid, And dared not declare my opinion to you. 7 I said, ‘Age should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ 8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. 9 Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice. 10 “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion.’ 11 Indeed I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say. 12 I paid close attention to you; And surely not one of you convinced Job, Or answered his words—
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Job 32:17 I also will answer my part, I too will declare my opinion. 18 For I am full of words; The spirit within me compels me. 19 Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent; It is ready to burst like new wineskins. 20 I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.
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Paul said similarly, in 2 Corinthians 5 that it was the love of Christ that compelled him to preach the Gospel to people (2 Cor 5:13-21)
And so Elihu was cautious and looked for the opportunity. He let the others have their say and then came to tell them the Truth about the Lord.
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This is how he saw himself in this ministry…
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Job 33:23 “If there is a messenger for him, A mediator, one among a thousand, To show man His uprightness,
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Men need a messenger.
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This is the Hebrew word for angel
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It does not always mean a heavenly being,
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The pastors of the seven churched in Revelation are called angels as John sends his message to them in chapters 2-3.
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We are to be that angel or messenger of God to the World around us.
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Paul told the Corinthians in the passage that I mentioned a moment ago, 2 Corinthians 5:20 Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God
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If we fail to come to the aid of those who are afflicted or in need we are hardly an angel.
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They need a mediator:
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This word is better translated in the King James version as an interpreter.
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Sometimes we need not to just give the message, but explain things.
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This is what Job and his friends needed. They had a lot of information, but they left out some of it and tried to make a judgment about Job’s character based on a flawed understanding of God’s character.
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This person is rare, 1 in 1000.
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He also has a particular message for his hearers,
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To show man his uprightness.
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Whose uprightness?
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My New King James helps with this interpretation by capitalizing the word His.
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God’s uprightness!
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Some say the way to man’s uprightness, but Job wasn’t looking for that, he already had it as far as he was concerned and God seems to agree to his outward righteousness.
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Job was struggling with God’s Righteousness in his suffering.
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We all need to learn to bow our knee to the righteous God!
As I read this book several years ago it inspired me enough to begin the ministry that I have now not only on the Internet at 1in1000.org, but also my teaching and preaching ministry.
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Men, even “good” men are still fundamentally flawed!
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We need to understand even as Job did and as I did at the point in my life where I trusted Christ and even still need at times today that God is God and I am not!
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That He is just by nature and I am corrupt by nature.
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That I need to grasp His righteousness in my judgment before I can ever understand His mercy and be ransomed as Elihu tells Job in Job 33:24, Then He is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom’
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One of the chief objections of atheists is that God cannot be just and loving if there is suffering in the world.
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God is just by nature and man suffers because of sin, even the “good people” because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!
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And Elihu accomplishes his purpose as he demonstrates his office of evangelist through chapter 37 and then Job meets God.
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God rebukes Job through chapter 41
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In Job 42:5 Job finally says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
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There is one New Testament reference to Job, James 5:11 Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
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Even in his suffering, God brought him to a better place, a greater understanding of Himself a more intimate relationship with Him.
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It was God’s mercy that brought me to Him even though it was a crisis, a mess of my own making that brought me to Him.
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It was the faithfulness of the witness of a few Christians that were the 1 in 1000 that I needed, the messengers, the interpreters.
And so it is my goal, wherever the Lord allows me to serve to do my utmost to be His 1 in 1000 for others.
Let me point out one last thing here that I just find fascinating and something that I believe demonstrates the Divine authorship of the Bible.
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This is part of my office of interpreter.
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Job is one of if not thee oldest story in the world.
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It takes place during the time of Abraham, before Moses even wrote Genesis and in that story, the man that we looked at today is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ.
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I am not saying that this story is merely allegory. It is an historical narrative, real events that took place in a real time and place.
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Elihu is actually a descendant of Abraham’s Brother Nahor.
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Elihu is the mediator for Job with God.
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Elihu’s name means His God.
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He is the Son of Barachel Which means Blessed of God
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He is a Buzite which means contempt
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He is of the kindred of ram which means exalted.
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REITERATE ABOVE
Bill Bright said in one of his later books that only 2% of Christians share their faith on a regular basis.
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It’s my goal to increase that statistic.
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We have first of all a wonderful God and a wonderful Bible to support us and a command to make disciples of all nations.
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Do you trust God?
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We are called to be ambassadors, God’s representatives
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Charles Spurgeon said, “If you do not desire to see others saved, I doubt whether you are saved yourself.”
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We all know people who are in need of the Gospel, who misunderstand God and reject him based upon their ignorant presuppositions.
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Even some Christians struggle in this area.
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We need to equip ourselves to reach a lost world, to be that 1 in 1000 and bring the message and the proper interpretation to them.
Topics: Job, Practical Advice |