I Sought For a Man

We are going to the first chapter of Job. I’ll try to keep this as short as possible, but I have a lot of things on my heart.

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (turned away) evil.

This man was perfect, upright, feared God and turned away from evil. That is quite a man, isn’t it?

Job 1:2-3 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

This man was great because he was perfect, upright, feared God and turned away from evil. He was also great in the natural with all of his substance.

Job 1:4-5 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

What stands out to me concerning Job’s greatness is that with all of his substance he was very much aware of his responsibility toward God. That is why it says he was perfect, upright, and feared God. He was responsible for his children. He prayed for them. He did not wait for something to happen: It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. This was a way of life for him. He prayed for his children and sanctified them. This is what I want to zero in on – the awareness of the responsibility that Job had for those in his charge. In this case it is speaking of family, his sons and his daughters.

Now, that is one example. Let’s go to I Samuel chapter 12.

I Samuel 12:19 And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.

Rather than being satisfied with the Lord God being their king, the Israelites wanted a king like the other nations. Then they realized they had sinned so they were asking Samuel to pray for them.

I Samuel 12:20-24 And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: you have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart;
21 And turn not aside: for then should you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
22 For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name’s sake: because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people.
23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way:
24 Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things He has done for you.

Samuel said: God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Here we have Samuel being aware that he had a responsibility toward all of Israel to pray for them, for the whole country, all twelve tribes of Israel. He was to pray for them. He realized that was his responsibility and if he did not do it, he would be sinning against the Lord.

There was another man who felt such a sense of responsibility in his praying for the people. It is said that Martin Luther once said that if he failed to pray one day, he could feel it. If he failed to pray two days, his entire family felt it. If he failed to pray three days, all of Germany would feel it. These are men who were aware of their responsibility and their need to pray. It is important that we pray one for another. Men with families, it is important that we pray for our family, for our kin. As a pastor, it is important that we pray for the people that are upon our hearts. God forbid that we be numbered among the ones who are taking the people for a ride and using them for our own self-glory. God talks about that in Ezekiel 34. But to have that sense of responsibility to pray is very important.

Now let’s go to Ezekiel chapter 22. We have another example here that I want to read. We have a responsibility to pray for those under our charge, but as men of God our responsibility goes beyond, just as it did with Samuel. We are in a place now in this country where there is a lot of corruption within our government. This is not a time just to be critical. It is a time to start praying. Not only is there a lot of corruption in our government, there is a lot of corruption throughout Christianity, in the churches, and there is a need for prayer. We don’t want to just be critical, but we want to be a part of the solution. In Ezekiel 22, let’s begin with verse 23.

Ezekiel 22:23-24 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.

That is our land; that is our country.

Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets …

It bothers me quite a bit when I look on television, for example, and I see the men with their thousands of congregation and all they are doing is building their own kingdom for their own glory. There is a conspiracy of her prophets.

Ezekiel 22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

You could apply that to our federal government. You can apply it to much of Christianity.

Ezekiel 22:26-27 Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

The vast majority of Christians today are very impotent, very weak, immature, and they are not being taught how to walk with God.

Ezekiel 22:28-29 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord has not spoken.
29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.

This is what it looks like in our country today. If you want to know what God thinks about it, this is it. But look at verse 30. This is the Lord speaking.

Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.

God is looking for a man. Now that man doesn’t have to be one single individual. That man can be the Man that God creates in Ephesians 4:11-13. But God is looking for a man who will stand in the gap and will intercede and pray. In this particular incidence, He said He found none. As bad as things are, God would like for someone to take the responsibility to stand in the gap and to pray and it is up to us to do that.

Ezekiel 22:31 Therefore have I poured out Mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.

Judgments will come upon this country. Judgments will come upon Christianity, if the hearts of the people are not turned. I’m thinking back to 9-11 at the tragedy that took place when thousands of people were killed, and when that happened people began to get very patriotic. They began going to church again, crying out to the Lord, but it did not take long before they were back into the same old thing again. Religion is not the answer. God is the answer. The answer is not getting people to go to church because the churches are a problem. The answer is getting people to turn to God. The answer is not the Ten Commandments. There is one commandment that is the answer: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:29-30). That does not say to love your particular denomination with all your heart. It doesn’t say love your particular doctrines with all your heart. It says to love the Lord.

Come on, be honest. Most Christians don’t even know the Lord! They have relegated being born again down to some little ol’ dinky thing of “I have repented of my sins and now I’m saved, sanctified, and going to heaven. I’m born again.” Born again means having a new nature, a nature like God’s. Religion has destroyed the people of God with their false doctrines. The answer is: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand the problem is man. You can go to the polls, you can vote out one party and vote in the other, but you will still have the same problems. You can vote out both parties and vote in the conservatives, the followers of the Constitution and you wind up having the same problems because it is still man. It may look good for a while but it is still going to be the same problem because man is corrupt. Man is the thing that has to be changed.

In the book of Revelation when it speaks of the beast and the antichrist it says: Here is wisdom, Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Revelation 13:18. Take out that little indefinite article “a” and throw it away. It is not in there. It is not “a man.” The vast majority of Christianity is looking for an antichrist man to come on the scene sometime in the future and as long as time goes they will keep putting it in the future. It is not “a man.” It is man. Man himself is the beast. Man himself is the antichrist. You can read the paper and see that in a skinny second. When it talks about the bottomless pit and all the things that are flowing up out of it of wickedness, that bottomless pit is the nature of man. Man is the problem.

Now, get back to this prayer. What is going to happen if you start praying for this country? Praying for Christians? Well, if the prayer is heard I tell you what is going to happen – tribulation, because no one will ever empty themselves out of their human nature without tribulation. We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22. Do you remember when Moses first visited Pharaoh? The word of the Lord is, “Pharaoh, let My people go.”

"Oh, I’ll tell you what we’ll do. From this point on you will make more bricks with less straw.”

Things got worse and when you start praying for your family, praying for your church, praying for your country, things will probably get worse because they have to get worse before they can get better. But the answer is not just being critical. There is a lot going on right now to uncover the corruption, but the answer is not just uncovering. We see it. It is time to do something about it. So what are we going to do? Well, God says, I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it.

I wonder if we realize how close we are to just being destroyed. I tell you, we can start having a lot of insight of some things going on behind closed doors and we can begin to see these things and we can feel real big because we’re seeing it and we can tell you about all the corruption that is taking place up there. Aren’t we something? We’re not something until we take the responsibility. We should not feel proud because we can see it. We should be saddened by it. It should rip our hearts out to the place that we get like Samuel and say, “God forbid that I would sin against the Lord in not praying for these people.” Job did not wait for his sons to sin. He offered up sacrifices to God and he prayed for them before they had an opportunity to sin.

Samuel was aware that if he didn’t pray he was sinning against God. Martin Luther was aware that not just he and his family but all of Germany would be affected if he did not pray. Can we be a part of this "man" in this day that God is looking for to stand in the gap? I tell you what I have started doing. I not only repent for myself, but I repent for my family and I repent for the church and I repent for my country. Now, we can put down the church because of the corruption in it, but lo and behold, I am a part of the church. We can put down the things in this country that are corrupt, but lo and behold, I am a part of this country. We need to pray.

Now I find that the men of God in the Bible, whatever their country was going through, whatever their church was going through, they took it upon themselves to repent for them because they were a part of that. I can talk about how corrupt man is and that man is the problem but I cannot forget that is me, too. I am a man. As much as I have repented and as much I have tried and as much as I change, there is still some man in me so I still need to repent.

There is still too much man in the church. Do you realize that in the New Testament there was only one church? Just one. It is man that brings division not God. We need to repent for ourselves, we need to repent for our churches, we need to repent for our country, and we need to cry out to the Lord and say, “God, we have sinned. Forgive us. Bring forth the tribulations, whatever it takes to get us to turn back.” One last scripture in Hosea.

Hosea 6:1 Come, and let us return unto the Lord …

You cannot do that until you are aware that you have walked away from God, that you have left Him, and that you are not where you should be. Something has already happened for Hosea to say, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord.” I wonder what happened. Oh, I see...

Hosea 6:1 …for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up.

If God had not torn them, if He hadn’t smitten them, they would not know they needed to return to the Lord. I tell you, you backslide, you slip away from the Lord and you don’t know it. I guarantee you that the majority of Christianity does not know where it is today and needs to be torn and smitten by God until they say, “Come, and let us return unto the Lord … for He will heal us and He will bind us up.”

Hosea 6:2 After two days will He revive us…

Don’t take that as two 24-hour days. Your tribulation will last longer than that.

Hosea 6:2-3 After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.
3 Then shall we know …See? Until then you didn’t know but then shall you know …if … There is that big word “IF.” …if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

It is the rain, the former and the latter rain that brings forth the spiritual growth. But do you see all these things that have to take place before the spiritual growth can start? It takes a little tearing, a little smiting, and then you wake up and realize, “Oops, we need to return unto the Lord.” And if we do, He will heal us and bind us up, and after two days will He revive us. The third day we will rise up and we shall live in His sight. There has to be the rising up and it only happens on the third day. You know what that means. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. You see, so much of Christianity says, “Well, I have repented of my sins and I know that God has forgiven me. I am a new person. Now I am fine.” No, then you have to follow on to know the Lord.

I have a lot on my heart and may not be saying any of it right, but we have a responsibility. If you love this country, pray for it. If you love the church, pray for it. If you love Christians, pray for them. And don’t wait for your sons to sin. Make offerings, pray for them, sanctify them. Amen. We bless the Word to our hearts.