PERFECTING THE SAINTS

SERIES ONE
FELLOWSHIP FOR THE CHINESE-SPEAKING SERVING ONES IN NORTH AMERICA – 02.15.2026

Message Six

The Precious Value of Job’s Suffering

Scripture reading: Job 1:21; 2:10; 42:5-6; Heb. 11:24-26; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; 2 Cor. 4:7; 12:9-10

I.Moses considered suffering affliction with the people of God to be most precious, for he considered the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt—Heb. 11:24-26:

A.Moses saw that all the enjoyments in Egypt were the pleasure of sin; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter—Heb. 11:24.

B.Regarding the change in values, he saw most clearly; he was willing to suffer any affliction and reproach because he saw the greatness of the reward which is unseen—Heb. 11:26.

II.Suffering causes the believers’ faith to be tested and proved precious, more precious than the testing of gold which is tested by fire and yet perishes—1 Pet. 1:6-7:

A.The genuine faith that God has given us must all be tested by hardship; faith is like gold, which must be put in the fire of hardship to be tested before it can be proved precious—1 Pet. 1:7.

B.The tested faith is strong, bright, and precious, and can be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—1 Pet. 1:7.

III.Job no longer treasured what he was and what he could do; after we are broken, we can receive God’s double portion of blessing, which is the Holy Spirit—Job 42:5-6:

A.Job said to God, I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You—Job 42:5.

B.In the New Testament sense, to see God is to gain God; to gain God is to receive God in His element, life, and nature, so that we may be constituted with God—Job 42:5-6.

C.God’s giving man a double portion of blessing prefigures God’s giving of Himself as the Holy Spirit to man; if it were not so, God would have treated man harshly—Job 42:10.

IV.We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us—2 Cor. 4:7:

A.God has shone in our hearts, bringing us a treasure, which is the glorious Christ who is the embodiment of God and has become our life and everything—2 Cor. 4:6-7.

B.But we who contain this treasure are worthless and fragile earthen vessels; a priceless treasure is contained in a worthless vessel—2 Cor. 4:7.

C.This causes worthless vessels to become ministers of the New Testament, having a ministry of supreme preciousness, and this is through the divine power in resurrection—2 Cor. 4:7.

V.We must change our values and see clearly the seriousness of stumbling, being willing to cast away parts of our body to remove sin—Matt. 18:8-9:

A.A believer in the Lord must change his values and see clearly the seriousness of stumbling; before a person believes in the Lord, he can do many sinful things and look at many defiling things—Matt. 18:8-9.

B.Christians must deal with sin so severely that they would rather cast away their members in order to keep themselves clean and sinless—Matt. 18:8-9.

VI.A man casts his precious treasures, gold, and precious silver in the dust in order to deal with iniquity and to have Jehovah as his delight—Job 22:23-25:

A.This is again a change in values; for this reason, he can lift up his face to God, and he will receive three kinds of blessings from God—Job 22:26-28.

B.Sooner or later, we must uproot the new believers from their original values; you must help them choose God’s righteousness and cast away precious treasures, gold, and precious silver—Job 22:23-25.

C.The value of righteousness is far above the value of all precious treasures—Isa. 42:1-4.

VII.If we separate the precious from the vile, we can be God’s mouth—Jer. 15:19:

A.The first qualification for a prophet is to separate the precious from the vile or worthless—Jer. 15:19.

B.In order to speak the word of God, we must separate all vile or worthless things from the precious things—Jer. 15:19.

C.If you and I today do not know how to distinguish value, God will cast us aside and not use us; God requires that we be able to distinguish between the honorable and the base, the precious and the vile, so that we may be His mouth—Jer. 15:19.

VIII.The Lord must open our eyes that we may see His value; the whole issue is how precious He is to us now—John 12:3:

A.When we truly treasure Him, nothing will be too good or too costly for Him; even if we pour out all our most beloved and valuable treasures upon Him, we will not consider it a shame—John 12:3.

B.In her estimation, the Lord was more valuable and more lovely than anything else; in her eyes, the Lord was the most precious and most costly—John 12:3.