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kind of look at the whole book
this morning. I promise we won't do an exposition of all 42 chapters. We'll look at it, and then if
you want to continue to talk about it, we can talk about it
this afternoon. But as you're flipping to Job, you can go to
Job chapter 1. The book of Job really deals with some of life's
toughest questions. Why do the righteous go unpunished? Why do the just and the unjust
often share the same end? Why does the Lord not hear the
calls of his people? Why does God remain silent? in
the midst of unjust suffering. And we see even in the psalmist.
The psalmist asks often these same questions. And really, as
a Christian can even sometimes ask these questions, the questions
rightly assume two things about God. absolutely sovereign and
nothing takes place apart from his will. And on the other hand,
that God is immutable in his holiness, that God always loves
what is good and hates what is evil, approves what is good and
just and hates what is evil. And so knowing those two things
about who our God is, we can often find ourselves in the midst
of a sinful world asking these very questions, genuinely asking
the Lord, why are the things the way that they are. And I
think there are real moments in our Christian lives that we
can ask the question to God, why is he allowing bad things
to happen to his people? But it's in our times of suffering
and it's in our times of asking those questions that the Lord
often reminds our souls of who He is and reminds us of His goodness. But I think Job gives us a real
category along with the psalmist where we can really ask hard
questions of God. We can go to the Lord and Say,
Lord, I know that you are good, but right now I do not taste
your goodness in my life. I am struggling to believe that
right now with the things that are going on in my life. And
so I think Job helps us to realize we can go to the Lord and be
real. He already knows. Right? We'll
often go to everybody else and share our doubts and share our
fears and maybe even share our frustrations about the Lord.
But then when we go to the Lord in prayer, we're, oh, holy and
pious. We believe everything that He
says. But no, we can go to the Lord and pour out our souls to
Him. Job really deals with the gap between our perception of
God and our circumstances, and the reality of who he is in the
midst of our circumstances. Or to put it another way, he
helps us to answer the question, how should the righteous conduct
themselves when they suffer? Especially when that suffering
is not a result of direct sin. So what I want to do this morning
in our short time is I just want to kind of go through the book
really with the three kind of headings, which are God's people
often suffer, God's ways are often hidden, And third, God's
people can always trust Him. And I really want to spend the
majority of our time on that third point. We'll see in Job
that God's people often suffer. We'll see in Job that often God's
ways are hidden from us. But I think that the heart of
Job is After Job and his three friends are saying all sorts
of things, there's this man named Elihu who shows up, and he begins
to speak for God, and he begins to show both Job and his friends
how they were saying a lot of true things, but they weren't
necessarily true about God in this situation. And then we see
Job's response. So let's look, let's go now,
let's see what kind of man Job was. Job 1, I'll read for us
verses 1-5. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright,
one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born
to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000
camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants. so that this man was the greatest
of all the people of the East. His sons used to go and hold
a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would
send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And
when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send
and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and
offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For
Job said, It may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in
their hearts. Thus Job did continually. The book opens up with giving
us a very high report of who Job is, that he's an upright
man, he's a righteous man, and a very wealthy man, but a man
who feared the Lord and walked with the Lord, and a man who
cared for his children. He was a spiritual leader in
his home. He offered sacrifices for his
children lest they curse God in their hearts. So we wouldn't
expect then, if that's how Job opens up, we wouldn't expect
then, and the next few verses into chapter two as well, what's
about to happen to Job. We see in chapter one, verse
13, the first round of suffering comes to Job and there he loses
his wealth and his family. Let's read those verses. Chapter
one, verse 13, now there was a day when his sons and daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house. And there came a messenger to
Job and said, the oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside
them. And the Sabians fell upon them
and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of
the sword. And I alone have escaped to tell
you. While he was yet speaking, there
came another and said, the fighter of God fell from heaven and burned
up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone
have escaped to tell you. While he was yet speaking, there
came another and said, the Chaldeans formed three groups and made
a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants
with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell
you. This is three messengers back
to back to back. There is all of Job's wealth
that was just listed, taken from him. And then in verse 18, While
he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Your sons and
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's
house. And behold, a great wind came
across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house,
and it fell upon the young people, and they were dead. And I alone
have escaped to tell you. Now look at Job's response in
verse 20. Then Job arose and tore his robe, shaved his head,
fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, naked I came from
my mother's womb, naked shall I return, the Lord gave, the
Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, and
all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Let me just point
out two things really quick, because we've got to cover the
whole book, about Job's response. He wasn't stoic. He wasn't unmoved
by the suffering that had happened in his life. He didn't just stand
there with a blank face without his heart being grieved and broken
over the suffering that just happened, but he tore his clothes,
he shaved his head, he was broken over what had just happened,
not only to his wealth, but to his children. But even in the
midst of that grieving, he turns and he worships the Lord. And
he says, the Lord gave and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the
name of the Lord. And I think there's legitimate
times where we think in our suffering, we are supposed to be stoics
and unmoved. And if we are grieving, then
we are somehow sinning or in unbelief. But actually, I think
Job gives us a picture of how we deal with suffering. We're
creatures, and we feel that suffering, and it breaks us, and it reminds
us of how feeble and frail we are. But then we turn, as Job
did, and we say, Lord, I will worship you. You give, and you
take away. And blessed be the name of the
Lord. There's a second round of suffering
that comes. In chapter 2, verses 7-8, where
not only his wealth and his family, but now his own health. He has sores all from his head
to his toe on his body. And his wife confronts Job in
verse 9 and says, why don't you just curse God and die? And Job
again there confronts his wife's poor response to the suffering.
And he says this in verse 10, he says of chapter 2, And all
this Job did not sin with his lips. Now you've probably noticed I've
skipped kind of a key element of this story, that there's something
happening behind the scenes here of why this suffering has come
to Job. But I wanted to go in this direction because from what
we know about the book, Job never is told about why his suffering
actually came to him. We get to read chapter 1 and
2. I don't think God at the end of the story says, hey Job, read
this. Maybe this will make sense. But we know in chapter one and
two, Satan with the sons of God approached the Lord and the Lord
says on both occasions, have you considered my servant Job?
And Satan basically says, well, does he not praise you and fear
you for not? You've blessed him, you've gave him wealth, you've
gave him health, you've gave him a family. Does Job not bless
you for those reasons? Job only follows you, God, because
you've blessed him with these things. He doesn't follow you
or worship you because of who you are. And so in the first
series of suffering, God says, you can take whatever you want,
just don't touch his head. And then Satan comes back again,
and God says the same thing to Job, or says the same thing to
Satan, and Satan says, well, you didn't let me touch his head.
You didn't let me touch his health. If I strike his health, Job will
surely curse you. And so God allows a second round
of suffering to enter into Job's life. But I think it's so important.
We read chapters one and two like Job gets to find that out,
but he doesn't get to find that out. And there's sometimes in
our suffering, we don't get to find out the why. God doesn't
give us a glimpse of the why. Sometimes in His kindness, we
get a glimpse of the why, but sometimes we don't always understand
why is it that I am going through these things? So let's keep moving
forward. So at the end of chapter two,
Job's three friends come and they sit with him in silence,
which was very wise of them to do. They're going to show their
lack of wisdom as they open their mouths, but they come and they
sit with silence with them. And then in chapter 3, Job breaks
his silence. Let's look at chapter 3. I'll
just read a few verses to give you a sense of what Job is saying
here. Chapter 3, verses 1 through 3, Job says, After this, Job
opened his mouth. He cursed the day of his birth,
and Job said, Let the day perish on which I was born, and the
night that said, A man is conceived. Then look at the end of chapter
three in verses 20 to 26, Job goes on to say, why is light
given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter in soul? Who long for death, but it comes
not. Who dig for it more than for
hidden treasures. That sounds like something out
of an Edgar Allan Poe poem right there, right? Who longs for death
and cannot find it, like digging for hidden treasures, verse 22,
who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave. Why is light given to a man whose
way is hidden, whom God has hedged in, for my sign comes instead
of my bread? and my groanings are poured out
like water. For the thing that I fear comes
upon me, and what I dread befalls me. I am not at ease, nor am
I quiet. I have no rest, but trouble comes."
Then from chapter 4 to chapter 41, there's a series of conversations
between Job and his friends. In the first, there's really
three cycles total of conversations. In the first cycle, Job's friend
Eliphaz speaks. Then Job responds, then Bildad
speaks, and then Job responds, and then Zophar speaks, and Job
responds. But really, you could summarize
all of this conversation between Job and his friends to this.
Job's friends say, Job, the suffering has come upon you because you've
sinned. You've sinned, and your sin is the result of this suffering. And over and over again, Job
is saying, I have not. I have not sinned. I have done
none of these things. And this cycle continues in their
conversations. And then in the third and final
cycle, Job, almost out of frustration, and almost out of just being
worn out from talking to them, he begins to make his final protest. Let's skip to chapter 31. Over and over in these chapters,
Job's friends have accused him of sin, and that being the result
and the cause for his suffering. And Job then makes his final
appeal to them in chapter 31. I'll read for us verses 1 through
8, and then we'll skip to the end of the chapter. I have made
a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin?
What would be my portion from God above? and my heritage from
the Almighty on high. Is not calamity for the unrighteous
and disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does not He see
my ways and number all my steps? He's speaking of God there. If
I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit,
let me be weighed in a just balance and let God know my integrity. If my step has turned aside from
the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot
has stuck to my hands, then let me sow and another eat, and let
what grows from me be rooted out. And over and over again,
he gives these if-then statements. If I have done these things,
then let God judge me for these things, but I have not done these
things. And then he concludes in verse, we'll look at verse
35. I know it goes to verse 40, but we'll just read verse 35
of chapter 31. Oh, that I had one to hear me. Here is my signature. Let the
almighty answer me. Oh, that I had the indictment
written by my adversary. So Job by the end of this is
almost demanding God. Why don't you show up God? Why
don't you show me my indictment? Why don't you show me the cause
for my suffering? And then we're introduced in
chapter 32 to this character Elihu. It seems that he's been
there amongst these conversations the whole time. He has heard
what Job's friends have said. He has heard what Job has said. Job is just demanded for God
to show up, but instead of God showing up, this young man, Elihu,
begins to speak, and he speaks from chapter 32 to chapter 37,
and Elihu begins to speak for God. He says in these early verses,
I wanted to withhold my counsel, my wisdom, because I was a young
man, and I wanted to defer to you other men, but the Spirit
of God constrained me to speak. The Creator has constrained me
to speak, and I must speak, and I will not give partiality. So we see this, and we'll read
32 verses 1 through 8. So these three men ceased to
answer Job, because he was righteous, in his own eyes. Then Elihu,
the son of Barakel, the Bazaid of the family of Ram, burned
with anger." Now notice this, we typically read the dialogue
between Job and his friends and we think Job's friends are being
so sinful and the counsel they are giving to Job, but here Elihu
is not only burning with anger against Job's friends, But he's
burning with anger against Job. Look what it says in verse 2.
He burned with anger at Job. Why? Because he justified himself
rather than God. He burned with anger also at
Job's three friends. Why? Because they had found no
answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak
to Job because they were older than he and when Elihu had saw
that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men he burned
with anger and Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzzi answered
and said, I am young in years and you are aged. Therefore,
I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, let
days speak and many years teach wisdom. But it is the spirit
and man, the breath of the Almighty that makes him understand. And
so Elihu is going to begin to condemn Job and condemn Job for
seeking to justify himself rather than God. He's going to condemn
Job's friends for casting judgment and sin upon Job that he has
not done. And the way that Elihu does this
is he reminds both Job and his friends in a series of speeches
of who God is. He speaks for God. He reminds
them of God's greatness, God's might, God's justice, and the
fear that is due to God from His creatures. And there's really
kind of three themes that kind of really come to the top in
these speeches that Elihu makes. The first thing you would see
if you read chapters 32 to 37 is you would see over and over
Elihu is reminding them of the greatness of God. Let's go to
one verse that shows this. Let's go to chapter 36. Job's friends are saying that
God has judged Job for his sin, and Job is here seeking to justify
himself rather than God, and Elihu is here in chapter 36 extolling
God's greatness, and he says this, starting in verse 26. Behold,
God is great, and we know Him not. The number of His years
It's unsearchable. For he draws up the drops of
water, they distill his mist and rain, which the skies pour
down and drop on mankind abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading
of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? Behold, he scatters
his lightning about him. He covers the roots of the sea,
for by these he judges people and he gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with lightning
and commands it to strike the mark. That's a good verse, parents,
when your kids are afraid of thunder and lightning. That's
a favorite in our house. Verse 33, it's crashing declares
his presence. the cattle also declare that
he rises. and giving them a little lesson
from the weather, and about rain, and about who it is that controls
the rain, and who spreads the clouds, and who gathers up that
rain, and pours it upon the earth to declare God's greatness to
these men. Then you'll see that Elihu emphasizes
God's justice, that God rewards those that do what is good, and
He punishes those that do evil. And we see this throughout Elihu's
speech, but we could see it in one place in chapter 34 verse
10. Therefore, hear me, you men of
understanding. Far be it from God that he should
do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. For
according to the work of a man, he will repay him. And according
to his ways, he will make it befall him. Of a truth God will
not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who gave him charge over the
earth, and who laid on him the whole world? If he should set
his heart to it, and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
all men would perish together. and man would return to the dust.
So here Elihu reminds him of God's justice. Job is saying,
I have not sinned. Job's friends are saying, you
have sinned. And Elihu says, you guys are being foolish. And
let me here remind you of God's justice and God's greatness. The last thing that Elihu really
emphasizes in these speeches is that creatures are to fear
God. And let's go to chapter 37. This
is actually how he concludes his speeches before God finally
shows up and speaks for himself. Chapter 37, verses 22 to 24. Out of the north comes golden
splendor. God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty, we cannot find
him. He is great in power, justice,
and abundant righteousness. He will not violate. Therefore,
men fear him. He does not regard any who are
wise in their own conceit. So I would encourage you this
Lord's Day, this afternoon, you could read chapters 32 to 37
and be reminded of God's greatness and God's justice and that we
are to fear Him and be humble and contrite before Him. But
then in chapter 38, God finally does appear. Job says, Lord,
show up, speak, right? State your case. How have I been
wrong? And this really is a one-way conversation from here forward.
God shows up in chapter 38 all the way to the end of the book.
He says this to Job as he begins in verse 1, Then the Lord answered
Job out of the whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkens
counsel by words without knowledge, dressed for action like a man?
I will question you, and you make it known to me. So the Lord
doesn't show up to answer Job's questions. The Lord shows up
to ask Job some questions. And here again, in these chapters,
we are destruct by our Creator, the one true and living God in
His greatness, as He goes through all of these details in creation,
from thunder and lightning to the weather and the wind and
the ocean and the land and ostriches and weird creatures that we're
not even sure what they are. And He's asking Job, have you
ever controlled these things, Job? Were you there when the
storehouse of snow was gathered and it's poured on the earth?
And he begins to ask Job all of these questions over and over. I'll just read a few for us,
just for us to get a sense of some of the things that God says
to Job. Verse 28 of chapter 38, he says,
Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops
of dew from the womb? Did the ice come forth? And who
has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become
hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. Can you
bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth the Maseroth and their season? Or can you
guide the bear with its children? Do you know the ordinances of
the heavens? Can you establish the rule on
earth? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds that a flood of
water may cover you? Can you send forth lightnings
that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who has put wisdom
in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? Who can number the clouds by
wisdom or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens? when the dust runs into a mass
and the cloths stick fast together. And he goes on and on and on
and then the Lord pauses with his questions and he says to
Job in chapter 40, shall the fault finder contend with the
Almighty? He who argues with God, let him
answer. And then Job makes a vow of silence. He says, I will not speak anymore.
I will not speak anymore. And then the Lord continues in
chapter 40 and chapter 41, asking more questions and showing Job
his greatness, that he is the creator and Job is the creature. And the book concludes in chapter
42. Job repents, confesses his sins. The Lord then rebukes Job's friends.
And then the Lord restores to Job many of his fortunes. and restores to him a family
at the close of the book. But it's interesting in all of
that, God never tells Job about Satan coming before the throne.
God never even answers Job's questions directly. Now we might
read that and think, that's pretty insensitive of the Lord to show
up. Job has these burning questions
in the midst of his suffering, and he doesn't even answer them.
But I think the Lord did precisely what he's supposed to do, is
remind Job, Job, who am I? Who am I? I'm holy. I am the greatest of all. I am the greatest being. I am
the creator of all things. And you are speaking without
knowledge. I think Job teaches us to beware of the poor theology
of Job's friends. Job's friends believe that all
suffering in this life is always a result of sin. Jesus' disciples
had that poor theology as well. What did they say when they saw
the man born blind? Rabbi, who sinned? This man or
his parents said he was born blind. And Jesus basically says
he was born blind for the glory of God. But this view of suffering
is not the case with Job. Job did not suffer because of
personal sin. He did not suffer because he
had sinned against God. In fact, the irony of the whole
book is Job actually suffered because of his virtue, right? Is that not why God says to Satan,
let me commend to you my servant, Job? And that's one of the very
reasons why God then turns around and says, oh, you think he'll
curse me? Well, I'll allow him to suffer. We also see the poor
response of Job. Job was unaware of the spiritual
warfare that surrounded his suffering. And Job sought to justify himself
rather than God. And so while Job in one sense
never curses God in the whole book, He does seek to justify
himself as if he could fully understand what the Lord was
doing in his suffering. So more than anything else, Job
teaches us that we often don't have all the facts of our suffering.
Job is left in the dark. We're often left in the dark.
And God's ways are not always revealed to us, but we can always
trust in God. That is kind of the theme of
the book, right? Job is suffering, Job doesn't
know why, and God shows up to remind Job of who he is. And
the theme is, we don't know why we suffer, we often suffer, but
we can trust in our God. And that is the heart of the
Christian life, isn't it? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, I think. There's
so many little verses like that in the Bible that kind of just
put their arms around the whole of the Christian life, right?
Wasn't that a verse that Job needed to know and believe? I
don't understand. And it's easy to trust the Lord
when we understand. It's easy when we can make the
connection. Well, I did this and this happened or this cause
and effect. That makes sense. I can trust
the Lord. It's when we don't understand that our faith is
really tested. Can we trust the Lord? When it
makes sense, we feel in control. When it makes sense, we feel
like we've got security and safety. It's when it doesn't make sense
that we're reminded just how dependent we are on the Lord.
And by the way, when we're not suffering, we're dependent on
the Lord as well. We just fool ourselves into thinking that
we're not. So we trust in God because of who he is. We worship
God for who he is. We trust in God for who he is
and not because of our circumstances. And as you see God reveal himself
to Job, we are left with questions like, why wouldn't we trust God?
Who else can we trust like that? Have we considered His greatness?
Have we considered His beauty? Have we considered His goodness
and His might and His holy ways? Who else is worthy to be worshipped? And then we think of Job's suffering
unjustly, not as a result of his sin, but as a result of his
virtue. And we think then of, as this
book points us beautifully, to the suffering of the Son of God,
who suffered for us. Not for sins that he did, right?
But the righteous became the unrighteous, as Paul says in
2 Corinthians 5, that we might be made the righteousness of
God. So it is the good, of the gospel
for sinners through Christ's suffering that gives us hope
in the midst of our suffering because we know that God is loving
us and sanctifying us even in the midst of our suffering. And so one passage in the New
Testament that summarizes this well is 1 Peter 4.19. Therefore, let those who suffer
according to God's will entrust their souls. to a faithful creator
while doing good. We often suffer. We only sometimes
understand, but we can always trust the Lord. So I know if
we finished a little early, that was my goal. I wanted to just
maybe give us a chance for you to ask questions. You can ask
questions about Joe, but also just questions for me. What do
you believe, Pastor John? You know, what is your view on
things like that? Review on preaching? We've had a great, this is our
third weekend up here, and have had a great time of fellowship,
and I've been expecting y'all to give me some good questions
and things, so if you don't have any, that's fine. I would rather
not be spur of the moment, but I wanna give you an opportunity
in the 10 minutes that we have left if you have any questions
for me. Yes? Before the interrogation, could
you repeat the last reference? 1 Peter 4.19. We did not call
it an interrogation, Benjamin. That is not what's happening. Because if I can't answer it
on the fly, I'm just going to say, I don't know. You can't hold me here
against my will. But who has any questions? So
at the start of the book, it talks about him being righteous
and upright, not Job. And then later, it seems to be
like pride seems to be a sin, like wanting to justify yourself.
Is the point, like, is it talking more about, like, hey, yes, you
are righteous in your actions, but your heart still was not
perfectly righteous, and that's what God has called you out here,
that even if you're doing the will and you're doing the things,
is it more about, he's proving the point, there's still sin
in there, there's still something I have to bring out for the world
to see that this isn't in the hearts of man, is that still
there, or was that, right, really not there, was he really going
to have righteousness before this evening? Well, I think that's
a good question. So when the Bible says in Job
1 that Job was a righteous man or upright, we still need to
have the category that Job sinned, certainly. Job sinned. And if
Job is righteous, then he is righteous by looking forward
to the Redeemer to come. And he even speaks about, I know
that my Redeemer lives. So Job is justified by faith,
forward-looking to Christ. But I think there is a sense
Job really was a man who feared God, that pursued holiness. And
God even commends Job to Satan. So then in the questioning between
Job and his friends, I think what is revealed in Job's heart
isn't even the struggle that Job is having, but he is seeking
to justify himself to other creatures, rather than going and pleading
to the Lord and saying, Lord help me in this. We get in trouble
when we are speaking about, complaining about God to others, but the
psalmist, the book of Psalms is so helpful, especially for,
I don't know, I call it the dark night of the soul. We have those,
right? There's suffering in our life and it's a dark night of
the soul where we say to the psalmist, my bed is flooded with
tears and I have not ceased to weep over this. But the psalmists
help us because they're going to God, right? And often the
psalmists you'll even see God never shows up in the psalm and
gives them an answer for their suffering, but they're crying
out to God, God help me, God where are you? And then the psalmist
shifts in the middle and says, oh, why are you cast down on
my soul? Look to God who's your helper,
who's your maker. So that's what I think. I think
that's certainly Job is still a sinful man. But in those dialogues,
I think there is an element of pride, certainly, because he's
seeking to justify himself before his friends, rather than maybe
even first going to the Lord and saying, Lord, is what they're
saying, is this true? Is this true? Have I sinned?
Is that a result? So that's how I would, I think
we'd look at it. Paul sets us up with a dilemma
like that where we're called righteous but we're sinners.
Is that, do you think, directly related to where Paul would say
that even my righteousness is filthy rags? Is that, is there
any connection between those two concepts? Is that an Isaiah that says our
best deeds are as filthy rags? I think Isaiah's point there
is speaking of Israel, right? They have rebelled against him,
they are in judgment, and they are doing the deeds of what is
required of them in the law, but there is a filthiness to
it because they are stained by sin. Even the things that they
do what God requires is tainted by that. Probably a better example,
Dean, is Paul. Throughout the series of his
letters, as he gets closer and closer to death, he says something
like, I'm the least of all the apostles, I'm the least of all
the saints, and I'm the chiefest of sinners. Well, was Paul really
pessimistic? No, I think as he grew in knowing
the Lord and communing with the Lord, and as he grew closer to
the Lord, he realized just how sinful he was. So that's what
I would say, or like Luther says, we're righteous wretches, right?
We're justified, declared righteous already, but there's a still,
there's a reality, as our confession talks about, and the chapter
on sanctification, that there's still this thing called indwelling
sin. And even a believer can fall into grievous sins, but
we've been justified in Christ, and in union with Christ, we've
been made new and given new hearts, and so that righteousness, God
is sanctifying us in our lives. So, I don't know if that answers
directly, brother, but. Yes, or, yes. I was just gonna say, the one
thing in this book is, Everything is restored. Job's friends certainly
did sin. The Lord had mercy on them through
a mediator, Job. We have an adversary, and thankfully
he doesn't have the final say or rule. Man can't rule. Man doesn't have the knowledge. God has demonstrated that he
has the knowledge, and we ought to be able to rest in that. can't
understand everything, because of just our finite being. And
even when we question the Lord, he's still merciful to us. That's
a tremendous point of application of how God is merciful to Job's
friends, and God is merciful even when we do, in a sinful
way, question him or doubt him. Absolutely. Absolutely. Samuel? I think Mike actually
took care of my questions. I was going to ask you, do you
think that Job talks about mercy and grace to God? And I think
indirectly, he's very gracious and merciful to Job and his friends,
that in spite of their bad advice, even their sinful thoughts, he
didn't obliterate them. Even when they're speaking on
Job, I wonder if it's showing us how much God is willing to
forbear for us when we think wrongly about him, when we accuse
him of stuff that aren't right. He's willing to take it because
he loves us. He's not gonna blow up the first
time that we assault him. Yeah, I think that's a great
point. And Job, especially, I mean,
God shows up in a whirlwind, right? And He says, dress like
a man for action, Job. I have some questions for you.
And yet we see God's grace in not dealing with Job as he ought.
And this is why, I mean, I don't laugh at them, but the people
who say that the Old Testament, the God of the Old Testament
is all angry and wrathful, and the God of the New Testament
is all love and grace, they've never read the Old Testament.
Maybe they have, but I mean Genesis 3 happens, God shows up on the
day of the Lord and instead of judging and bringing eternal
judgment on Adam and Eve, He is He gives them the promise
of the gospel. And in Job, the same way, we
see God's grace. And it's in Paul in Romans 2 says, talks
about God's forbearance and God's kindness that is meant to lead
men and women to repentance. Now, sinful men and women presume
upon that, that God will never judge them and things like that.
But I think that's a great point, Samuel. Maybe one more question,
and then I'll close this in prayer. Okay, all right, let's pray. Our great God, Lord, we thank
you that you are our God and we are your people. You have
made us yours in Christ, the one who has suffered for us,
the one truly who was good, who kept your law perfectly, and yet suffered in the place
for us as sinners so that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Lord, as we think upon Job in
the remainder of our day, and we think upon your grace and
your mercy and your patience that you showed Job and his friends,
may that stir our affections in our hearts as we remember
the grace and the mercy that you have shown us in the gospel,
and even how you are gracious and merciful to us as your children,
that you are patient with us. Or as the psalmist says, you
know our frame, you know that we are but dust and you deal
with us as a compassionate father cares for his children. Lord, even as we struggle with
sin, Lord, by your spirit, assure us of the pardon that we have
in Christ and assure us of the love that you have shown us,
Father, in the gospel. Lord, help us this Lord's Day.
May Your Spirit work through the ordinary means of grace.
May Your Spirit work through the preaching of the Word. May
we see Christ in all of His beauty and glory this morning. And Lord,
we pray that You would convert those who would come who do not
know Christ. We pray that You would encourage
those who feel discouraged by their sin or their suffering.
We pray that You would exhort and and wake up those who are
lazy or unruly God but we pray and all these things that this
Lord's Day you would minister to us and that your name would
be glorified.
Overview of Job
| Sermon ID | 1022317055751 |
| Duration | 42:58 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday School |
| Bible Text | Job |
| Language | English |
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