Michael and Courtney's got a big thing going on this weekend, so just want to remind everybody of that. Five o'clock, correct? At the barn. Y'all turning the horses out first? And the chickens? Already working on that, so keep that in mind and hope to see you there. Hopefully whoever they got performing the ceremony won't go on real long. I tell good people, we can do it short, we can do it quick, we can do it long, whatever you want. I've had most people say they want it real quick. And I've had a few people say, well, since we spent all this money, we want to get our bang for a buck. Well, I can carry on as long as anybody, okay? I got aggravated one time, I'm pretty sure about my cousin, Doyle. And up in Wayne County, they were an hour behind us, as it was, start at 7, it was 8 o'clock our time. We had a couple of our, Jill's one of our cousin's babies with us, he's little, and colicky at the time and crying. What was that group? I think the Dalton's sang. They sang for about 45 minutes. And they had another bluegrass group get up and they sang for about 45 minutes. Church sung for about 45 minutes. I mean, you know, it's getting 10 o'clock, my time before I get to preach. So I'm so mad at this point in time, I said I'm going to preach as long as they sing. And I did. I preached for about an hour and a half. We shortened the services after that, amen? I won't do that to you all, okay? You don't want to be up there for an hour, do you Michael? Shorter? Alright, so we'll try to take care of that. So do remember this. If you have your bottles, why don't you turn to the book of Job. The book of Job, it is a chore to try to come up with a method in which we can present it in a way without spending a lot of time. And I think we want to get to the message, and tonight looking at chapters 8 and 9, I think that one of the big central messages that jumps out at me starts at verse 31. If you are wanting to keep notes, I encourage you to have your pens ready and have your paper ready. I'll give you a breakdown of chapter number 8. I've written down somewhat of chapter number 9, but I don't want to get so caught up with all that we missed the message tonight. In verse number 32 of Job chapter number 9, I want you to begin reading with me and follow along. It says, For he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him. This is Job speaking. And we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us that he might lay his hand upon both. Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrify me. Then would I speak and not fear him. But it is not so with me. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the word of God that it is still true. And Lord, we surely can learn many things from the events of Job's life. Many practical aspects, and certainly we need to be more cautious before we speak, before we're in judgment of others, because we really don't know the whole story and what's happened. But God, you do. You have a clear, crystal understanding for all the sufferings of this life. God, you have a reason that goes beyond our comprehension. Lord, you're past finding out. We don't understand you. So help us, God, to just be faithful. Help us to be cautious in what we say and what we think we understand. But God, help us to speak the oracles of God. Help us to be faithful to the truth of God's word and the right spirit. But God, I'm thankful tonight, in spite of what happens in our life, there is someone that stands betwixt me and you, that can touch you and touch me, stands as a daysman, stands as one who is a mediator, an arbitrator of everything, God, that I face in this life. There's one that is there. Lord, I praise you in the name of Jesus. Amen. I want to preach on this subject, a daismon betwixt us. A daismon betwixt us. Job chapter 7, Job is responding to some of the things in chapter 6 and chapter 7. that his friend Eliphaz had said to him. And Job chapter 8, we see Bildad's investigation of Job, one of Job's friends. He really starts laying some things out, his thoughts and ideas of what's going on with Job. Now Job listens to this guy. This guy, Bildad, is a very straightforward In fact, he probably prides himself on being a straight shooter. He is very cold in what he has to say. He's an intellectual thinker, you might say. He takes an old nonsense approach when he deals with life and what he has to say with Job in particular. But before he ever really listens, he already has his mind made up. I thought this was good, I got it from one of David Jeremiah's books and he had an illustration, he said in the classic Peanuts cartoon, Charlie Brown is in one of his favorite roles, that of a pitcher for his Sandlot baseball team. In the first cartoon frame we see the pitchers mound and Charlie Brown's in deep trouble. He looks toward the team at bat and exclaims, nine runs in a row, good grief. Charlie Brown then opens his mouth and begins to wail, what can I do? Schroeder then walks out to the mound, dressed in his catcher's mitt and chest protector, and very philosophically answers, man is born to suffer as the sparks fly upward. Charlie Brown looks puzzled and says, what did you say, Schroeder? Then Linus comes up from behind and says, he's quoting from the Book of Job. He's quoting from the 7th verse and the 5th chapter. Linus continued, actually the problem of suffering is a very profound one, and before he can get another word out of his mouth, he's interrupted by Lucy as she chimes in, if a person has bad luck it's because he's done something wrong, that's what I always say. Schroeder moves back into the little cluster of people surrounding Charlie Brown and says, that's what Joe's friends told him, but I doubt it. By this time, the whole team has gathered around Charlie Brown, including Snoopy, And disgustedly, Charlie Brown looks at his ball team and says, I don't have a baseball team, I have a theological seminary out here. And when you study the book of Job, one of the things that will jump out at you is that there is a lot of theology in the book of Job. And it really became apparent to me studying these two chapters, especially by the time I get to chapter number 9. that there is a lot to be said about a mediator and a daysman between you and me. And so I want to say to you as we look into this and build Adam, what he has to say, he contemplates many things about Job in Job chapter number 8 verses 1-2. He basically, in verses 1-7, he attacks Job, and what he first does, he insults Job's character. Basically, he says, how long will thou speak these things? In verse 2, how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? He calls him a blowbag. He's just a bunch of hot air. So, right off the bat, that's the way to win over friends, insult them, okay? That's the way to comfort somebody, assault them from the very beginning. That's how Bildad started. Not only do that, he basically accuses Job's children in verses 3 and 4 of getting what they deserve. They got this judgment. You can go back and you can see that as well. But also what he does, he encourages Job to confess his sins. If he confessed his sins, he'd be alright. He insists upon this. And so you see, he attacks Job. And then he appeals to some logic, you might say. He goes into history and what the fathers and the ancient ones said before and tries to use logic. He appeals and argues about cause and effect. in verses 11 through 18. And basically what he does, he uses some things of nature and plants and reeds and rushes. And so you remove the water, they dry up. That's pretty simple. There's a cause and there's an effect while these things die. If you try to lean upon a spider web, it can't hold you. So he keeps going to all these things, and he says, if you pull up a plant, he says that it will wither and die. You can read verses 16 through 18, and he talks about these things. So what he does, he basically accuses Job the reason that your hope is perishing is because of your hypocrisy. You see it in verse number 13. Here was a guy who was supposed to be his friend. As I've said before, man, you'd hate to see his enemies in if this was his friend. And Bildad just lays it all out here and he's telling him how foolish you are. And then he gets through, he does start kind of being a little bit nice as you look at verses 19 through 20. Then he goes in and says, and I kind of wonder when you read this, after he says all these harsh things to Job, he realizes how mean he's been and maybe he thinks, man, I need to smooth this over a little bit. You ever had somebody that's kind of been a jerk to you, say a lot of things, they've just been a punk, and then they try to smooth it over in the end like they're nice? And I kind of get the idea maybe this is what Bildad was doing. I mean, I really don't know, but basically he promises him, as you look there, that God is going to deliver you through all this. He said, Behold, this is the joy of his way, and now the earth shall others grow. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He help evildoers." It's almost like, listen, this is the way God works. God's going to bring you through this, don't worry. And then he goes on and says, listen, God's going to bless you and you're going to delight in Him. He says, "'Tilly, fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoicing.'" Here's a man that's crushed with bulls from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Sick, pain, suffering. He just dug ten graves. He's lost his business. He's lost everything he has. And here's a guy I said, God's going to fill you with laughing and joy. I got these for, it really didn't help a whole lot that time. See, he's trying to smooth some things over. And he goes on, and he says, listen, God's going to take care of you. Verse 22, it says, they that hate thee shall be clothed with the shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to naught. You know, maybe if he'd started his conversation with this, maybe he would have took a different tone. But I want to say to you, you talk about somebody that addressed Job. He addressed him, and I don't know if it's good biblical terminology, but he was a jerk. I mean, he was a punk, the way he dealt with Job. And what's amazing is that when you get to Job's response in chapter number 9, Job doesn't spend a lot of time trying to answer Bildad. And you know what, I've found this. Some people's arguments are so ridiculous, the worst thing you can do, according to Proverbs, is try to argue with them. So he wasn't going to do that, he just refused to do it. Job doesn't respond much to his accusations. What Job feels that he must do is somehow appeal to the court of heaven. He feels that he must appeal to God himself, God upon his throne, to prove his innocence before God. When Job in this chapter talks about his righteousness, he's not talking about his salvation, but his vindication. That he has not done anything wrong. He realizes that as a man that has tried and stands before God is always going to be found guilty. He realized it's impossible to take God to court and say, God, you're wrong. You can't sue God. He realizes that. He realized even if he could get into a courtroom with God, God would ask questions that he had no possibility of having the IQ or the intellect to answer. He understands that. One thing that jumps out clear in chapter number nine, he realizes how awesome God is. And I want to say that he didn't do the average Baptist well, even with some of the misunderstandings Job may have had, to have an awareness that Job had of how awesome God is. You see, I saw a show the other day and the guy said, tell me about your God. And he said, well, you know, he's got white hair, big long beard, and sits on a heavenly throne. See, that's a lot of people's idea of God. That wasn't Job's idea of God by no means. Job had a different perspective of who God was. He sees Him and he realizes that he cannot contend with Him. He can't argue with Him. There's no way he can fight with Him. And so Job has adoration of God in verse 1 through 13. And what he does, he extols theology all throughout this about the attributes of God. And we'll try to look at these real quick. The first thing he understands real quickly is that God is incomprehensible. You look in verses 3 through 4, he says, Now notice, he says, Man, Isaac found that game Trivia Crack. You know what I'm talking about? That's kind of fun. I like trying to answer questions. I always finish 8th or 9th with everybody I do it with. I mean, you know, I have fun. And occasionally, I win and I walk around and I'm like, looky here boy, looky here. And he wanted to play me all the time in Trivia Crack. We played until I just kept whooping him and then he didn't want to play no more. It's like a little puppy, you beat them enough, they don't want to wrestle no more. So, anyway, I was having fun with that. Listen, I've got news for you. God could ask enough questions, you ain't going to get none of them right. I mean, you can't contend with God. You don't understand God. Let me just tell you something, you can't wrap your head around God. These people that come around today and understand theology completely, I stand back scratching my head, they've never been a lot smarter than me or they're a big-time liar. You know what I'm convinced? Salvation's so complicated, nobody can put their head around it, but God yet makes it so simple that a little child can receive Christ. That's amazing to me. But you can spend a lifetime studying salvation. And may I say to you, friends, I'm thankful that God is that big. He is incomprehensible. He also tells us that God, listen to this, He's invincible. There's nobody that can compare with Him. Look in verse number 4 again. He says, "...mighty in strength." Think you're going to out-arm wrestle God? You think you're going to whoop God? Listen, why does Job say all this stuff? What Job is, he realized how great God is. And it ain't like he can bring accusation to God, and complaint to God, and have any ground. There's no way he can try to get vindication by making God do anything. He realized how big God was, how awesome God was. Let me tell you this, he also understood this, that God was not vulnerable in any way. I mean, you look at verse 4 again, he's mighty in strength, who hardeneth himself against him and hath prospered. He's wise in heart, he's mighty in strength, and not only, listen, God is, I want you to understand this, is incredible. I mean, you see, he's invulnerable. There's no way that you can win an argument with God. You can't be philosophical with God. You can't outreason God. You don't have more power than God. And he's invulnerable in every single way, but he's also incredible. You look in verse number 10, here's what it says. It says, which doeth great things past finding out yea, and wonders without number. He says, God is incredible. You just think about this. Then you back up verse number five. What kind of things? He will remove the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger. He shaketh the earth out of her place and pillars thereof tremble, which commandeth the sun and it rises not, and sealeth up the stars, which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waters of the sea. And I mean, he just goes, and what he's basically saying is if we look through here, God, if he wants to, he can turn this world upside down. God wants to, he can turn off the lights in the sky. God wants to, he can speak and the sun will not rise. I mean, that's who God is. And so he says all this about God. He is absolutely incredible. He's saying God's in control of everything. Another thing, he says that God is invincible. I mean, you look at verse number 11. Lo, he goeth by, or it's not invincible, but invisible. He says, lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not. He passes on also, and I perceive him not. I can't see God. I don't know where he is. I can't find him. And he goes on and talks about, listen, God can't be stopped. He is irresistible. You look at verse number 12. He says this, You say, what do you mean? What he's saying is you cannot stop God. You can't stop God. You just can't do it. Job realizes that. He cannot question God. He can't restrain God. He realizes that God is all the omnis. He's omniscient, omnipresent, and he realizes that. He knows who God is. And Job had an appreciation for the God of heaven. Do you understand that? He understood everything that Job says. And so, that was his contemplation, but notice his hesitation. You see in verses 14 through 31, and I'm giving you all this to just lay the found work to the message tonight, so don't get lost in all the little details. Just hang in with me and go back and study it, and you'll see I'm not anything deep or laid out there, it's just what Job's saying. And you know what it is? Job feels hopeless and helpless out of a deep awe and respect for who God is. How can someone deal with such a God as this? How could anyone get anything done? How could you twist God's arm? You can't. And so what he does, he gives us several reasons in which God is unapproachable. Think about that. God was unapproachable in Job's mind. Was he right? He certainly was right. God was untouchable. You say, that's not fair. That's what Job felt. He was unapproachable. He was untouchable. And because of that, his problems were irresolvable. You think about it. That's where he was, in Job's mind. And you can see a man who's been crushed, and his deep understanding of theology and all this stuff placed together, how Job got to the place in his life that he is just... He said, there's no way. The only person I can petition is God, and He's not going to give me a day in court. God's not going to give me an opportunity. He couldn't argue with God. You'll find it in verses 14 through 15. How in the world could I argue with God? How much less shall I answer Him and choose out of my words to reason with Him, whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge. You'll find that there's many terms within this chapter, almost legal terms. And there's a reason for this. I encourage you to look at those. And I want you to understand that he realizes that God, he can't argue with God. He can't arbitrate with God. He can't make a deal with God, verses 16 and 17. He said, if I had called and he'd answered me yet, would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice? For he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without cause. Listen, I can't deal with God. Why would God stoop to even deal with me, is what Job's saying here. He couldn't make an appointment with God. Have you ever tried to make an appointment with somebody that's just in a position that you have no clout with? Let me just tell you something. If I try to make an appointment with the governor of the state of Kentucky, I'll not get far. If I try to make an appointment with the President of the United States, I'll not get far. The only way that would be possible is if I had someone that I was close to that was also close to the President. Do you see that? There's a point that God's trying to make and Job's trying to make. There's a theological theme that runs. If this is the oldest book in the Bible, it's a theological theme that was started in Job and is found everywhere else in the Word of God. And so I want you to understand that. He couldn't make an appointment with God. He went, God's not going to put me on his calendar. God's not going to set an appointment with me. I can't get an appointment in his court, and I can't force him to do anything. Listen, you can't force God to do anything. And Job got to the place that you'll find here that basically, as you read, that Job got to the place, in about verses 20-24, that he felt like as though he couldn't even depend on God anymore. You see, that's what happened. He was emotionally unraveled at this point. He realized this. You read in verses 25 and 26, Now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as swift ships, as an eagle, the hastest to pray. Because my days are short. And even if there's some possibility that one day God will sit down with me, it's going to take so long, Because of the delay factor, I'll never have my day in court with God. He realizes that. You see, he'll never have that time. He doesn't have enough time on earth. And he realizes that even if it did happen, he couldn't deceive God and act like everything's fine because if I say, I'll forget my complaint and leave off my heaviness and comfort myself, he said, I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that that will not hold me innocent. God will see through my facade. He sees every little bit about that. He realizes he cannot appease God. He can't make himself presentable enough. He can't clean himself up enough. He can't wash himself enough. He says, if I wash myself, With snow water, I make my hands never so clean, yet shall thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. He says, for he is not a man as I am, that I should answer him. Listen to me. He wasn't just like any other man. He was the God of the universe. So we see some things. We see Job's hesitation. We see Job's adoration of God. But I want you to notice his resolution here. And this is where I want to get to to preach. I said all this to preach just a couple minutes, so bear with me. I believe it's important that we see this. He says, For he's not as man as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. He said, there's no way possible, Job says, for me and God to sit down together and reason this out and you vindicate me. There's no way we can get together, because by who you are by nature, and by who I am by my nature, that we could ever... You're unapproachable. I can't do it. You're incomprehensible. I can't do it. I can't argue with you. I can't force you to do anything. He realizes that. And so, in verse number 32, or excuse me, in verse 33, he says, "...neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that lay his hand upon both of us." Lay his hand upon you, God, lay his hand upon me. And say, come together. There's not a daisman. You know what a daisman was? A daisman is a mediator. And basically saying is there was someone who was a mediator between me and you. If only I had a mediator. Someone with authority that could bring both of us together. Someone that could be a go-between between God and Job. Only if I had someone like that. And he cried and said, there's no one like this that's going to hear my calls. There's no one out there who says he's going to take his hands upon both of us and then God will take away his rod from me and his judgment upon me. And then, if that can happen, I can testify and I can say just what I really think to God. But there's nobody out there like that. You see Job's heart pouring out to here and that's what he's saying. You see, you know what a daisman is? A daisman is somebody you can look it up, someone that's almost an umpire. I've umpired a few conversations between some people before. Sometimes they've been married when I've done it. Amen? That's an arbiter. That's a judge. A daysman is a mediator. A daysman is somebody with authority to fix a day or schedule a day that's empowered by mutual consent to argue on one individual's behalf. Do you hear this? I may not have authority to go to the judge, but if I had a daisman that I trusted and he trusted me, he could go to the judge and he had authority on my behalf to argue for me. Job said if only there was a mediator, only if there was one that was there. Let me just say this to argue on my behalf. Here's the message, I don't want you to miss it. When God sent his son into the world, It was so that he would become one of us. He did so that he might become the mediator between God and man. Look with me in the book of 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 5. The Bible says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. When the timing was right, Jesus came and he died for fallen humanity. Why? To be the mediator between man and God. Oh yes, God, listen to me. He is incomprehensible. He's invincible. He's invulnerable. He's incredible. Listen to me, you can't argue with Him. You can't reason with Him. Listen, you can't deal with God. You can't do it yourself. You don't have that power. You can't set an appointment and say, God, we've got to talk about this and line this thing out. You can't listen. And the truth of the matter is that if there was no go-between, listen, you couldn't even depend upon God because you're going through your calamity. hear you or know anything about it because there's nobody that's worthy to be a go-between. There's no days man between you and God. But let me say this to you, when Jesus Christ died on an old rugged cross and ascended into heaven and took his blood up there to offer for the sins of the world, listen to me, he become the days man. He's become our great high priest. He's the one that intercedes on your behalf and my behalf. He's the one that has been touched by the feelings of our infirmities. He understands our griefs. He's been acquainted with sorrow. He understands our pain. He understands our struggles. He understands our frustrations. And may I say to you, He's the very one that enters into the throne of God on Grant Hardwick's behalf as a daisman to go betwixt us, thank God. And I'm thankful for that truth today. May I say to you that Job didn't have him, but thank God we do. Thank God we have the Son of God who can enter into the throne of God between us and him. And may I say to you, through this, God has made a way for us to come together. Notice, I love his wording. Neither is there a daysman, there's not a mediator, that might lay his hand upon both of us. Let me tell you what God did through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is able to reach up and touch God, and He'll reach down and grab a hold of us. Man, I'm thankful for that, aren't you? He is able to touch both of us, and because of Him, listen to me, I don't need a priest. I don't need a preacher. I don't need a church. I've got to go between. And His name is Jesus Christ. He's the one. And let me just tell you today, the only way you can be saved is through the daysman. He's the only one that can plead your cause to the throne of God. You say, Brother Grant, will you believe that? I absolutely believe that. Look in Romans chapter number 8. Romans chapter 8, one of the loftiest theological chapters you'll ever read, study, contemplate in the Word of God. Romans chapter number 8, you'll find that he says, in verse 34, "...who is he that condemneth this Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God?" Why, he's there as our daysman. He's there as our umpire. He's there as our mediator. He says he's there. And why is he there? Who also maketh intercession for us. I'll tell you one thing that we have tonight, regardless of the sufferings of this life or whatever we face, we've got a daysman. We've got one there to touch God and us. And tonight, man, we ought to rejoice. We ought to celebrate tonight. Say, Brother Grant, it took forever to get there, but you wouldn't get the message if we didn't get there. Man, I want you to understand Job had to find himself utterly useless to get in touch with God. And without the Son of God, you cannot get in touch with God either. But by Him, you can. Father, I thank you for the Word of God. Thank you for this lesson. Lord, it spoke to me. I'm thankful for your Son, Jesus, who did what I couldn't do, who did what Job couldn't do. God, I'm thankful that you love us enough that you allowed your Son to come and be that mediator. God, we needed him because without him we couldn't approach you. It's through his righteousness that we stand before you. Job said he couldn't clean himself enough even if he used water from snow. He couldn't make himself pure enough to stand in your presence. Without the blood of Christ, we would never stand in righteousness and be able to approach you. God, I'm thankful as they even sing out in the book of Revelation. that there's one that has prevailed to open the book. There is one who's worthy, and it's the Son of God. Lord, we praise you in the name that's above every name. Amen. Let's all stand to our feet.