Job chapter two, this morning we will use as our main text verses 11 through 13. Job chapter two, this is the end of the chapter, beginning in verse 11. Here's what God's word says. Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, They came each from his own place. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept. And they tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. If you're familiar with the book of Job, then you know that the majority of the book consists of cycles of speeches from these three friends and Job. Then there's a fourth friend at the end, and then God speaks. And the friends that we see here today, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, they've been the object of much criticism. Job argues with them. God himself rebukes them. And thousands of commentators throughout the ages have regularly preached negatively against them in almost every sermon. And those negative remarks are deserved. Because once we get to chapters four and five and so on, we're going to see that they fall short of the truth. But in this passage, they do something right. In this passage, we find three friends showing abundant care for their suffering friend. They draw into the one who is hurting. You find here intentional and sincere care. I wonder this morning if you have asked yourself this question when you go through suffering. Does anybody care? Anyone? It may not matter how social you are. You can plaster a smile on your face. You can be around people and still feel all alone in the suffering and in the pain. And I pray that today this passage of inspired text will point us to eternal realities and speak to that question, does anyone care? So let's ask the author of this text for his help. Our Father in heaven, how we need you. Very few, if any of us, could ever resonate with the level of suffering that Job endured, but we certainly can resonate with wondering if anyone cares. And so I pray that you, O Lord, would use your word to teach us. In Jesus' name, amen. Does anyone care? I think that's a fair question to ask in light of our society today. Frankly speaking, I think we live in one of the most selfish, cold societies in history. It's unheard of to host people in your house these days. Saying hi to people sometimes is met with the, who are you? Well, that's not true in every area of the country. When I visit my wife's, where she grew up in the country, everyone, if you see someone, you just beep at them. I used to joke around, you know that person? She's like, probably, maybe not, but we all say hi to each other. But that's not the case for many of us who live around here. A few years ago, Time Magazine referred to millennials as the me, me, me generation. Narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for this generation of people, according to the National Institutes of Health. And while these young people seem obsessed with self-promotion, meanwhile, there are people in the world, in our own society, who are suffering from loneliness. So much so that a congresswoman, and this has actually happened in many states, introduced legislation to help improve the health of senior citizens. One such act is called the Addressing Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults Act of 2021. Because statistically, loneliness can lead to poor health. So you have a whole generation of people that are concerned with themselves, and then whole generations of people who have no one. to care. That's our society. You may have also seen online that there's a rising trend of promoting a child-free lifestyle. I'm not talking about people who cannot have children or choose not to have children for various reasons, but people who are boasting in this sort of carefree, we can do whatever we want lifestyle that is now becoming part of one's identity. One article interviewed a mother who said this, she said, now 32 and currently single, she started embracing a child-free identity a couple of years ago after concluding she couldn't see herself as a mom. She said, quote, I am a person who enjoys silence and alone time and I wouldn't be able to have that with kids. She's right. but she's also idolizing her silence and alone time, her me self, the me generation. And so you see where we are as a society and add all of that to the increasing polarization between political and social and ideological groups. We don't have discussions in good faith anymore, generally speaking. We hate our enemies. Whatever side of the aisle you're on politically, ideologically, there are people on both sides who relish in the worst in the other, who mock those on the other side who are even physically harmed, who rejoice at their deaths. We say the worst, we assume the worst, we promote ourselves and our agenda, and now this is the norm. And all of this is just to say, You and I possibly live in one of the most uncaring, unsympathetic, me-centered cultures of all time. But people are still hurting. People are still suffering. The suffering didn't end when this culture arose. Does anyone care? Have you ever asked that question? about yourself when you're going through a tough time, when you're suffering, wondering, does anyone know? Does anyone care? Will anyone show me sympathy? Never mind the smile that you hide behind. Never mind the fact you might be around people physically. Sometimes suffering is one of the loneliest places we could be. When there is hurt, when there is pain, we just feel so alone, empty. All alone in this vast, dark universe, wondering if anyone, just anyone, cares about me. Christopher Ashe tells about an evening funeral service where the congregation read Psalm 137 together. I don't have it on the screen, you may want to turn there or just listen. But Psalm 137 records a time where God's people who are in captivity are being asked by their captors to sing the songs of Zion and they just can't do it. Imagine coming to church so sorrowful that you just can't sing the songs. Maybe that happens to you sometimes. You just can't sing. Israel was in captivity. They were in a foreign land. They were in Babylon. And in Psalm 137, verse 1-4, it says, By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. They were homesick. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors mirthed, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Do you kind of see that in Job? Who if you remember in our last message, we left him in the ash heap, scraping himself with pottery. He can't sing. He can't rejoice. Now imagine if the person who attacked him, Satan, demanded that he sang and showed joy whether Job would be able to respond to that. Everything that gave Job his joy, his children, his prosperity, his reputation, was taken away. It's gone. And now he's all alone. Even the God whom he served so faithfully, And Job acknowledged that God is the one in control. You give and take away, blessed be your name. But why God? Job knows about God. Job trusts in God. Job obeys God. But Job lacks any sort of intimate relationship with God. Satan had struck him physically. And here he is, the end of chapter 2. sitting outside the town in the trash heap, among the ashes, finding broken pottery to scrape his itchy sores. And the only one left in his life, the only one who would be able to console him at this point, his wife, says to him, curse God and die. She speaks out of her hurt, but certainly was no comfort for Job. And again, I ask the question, does anyone care? That's what brings us to verses 11 to 13. The story of Job, part three. Three friends come to sit in the ashes with Job. Verse 11 says, now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, They came each from his own place. Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namethite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. Now, scholars are not necessarily sure where these men are from. They're named after their countries. And there's debate about who's east and who's west. But the point is, they're coming from three different nations. They don't just take a bus. You understand this is the ancient Israel world, right? They have to intentionally plan to go to where Job is in the land of Uz and visit him in his affliction. This verse calls them friends. Verse 11 says, now when Job's three friends. What's a friend? Well, in Hebrew, the word friend can have several meanings. It could mean a business partner, But it could also mean a close personal companion. And what we're going to see in this text is they were the latter. These were close personal companions of Job. We don't know exactly how he knew them. But they enter into his sorrow. In the ancient world, close friends would often solemnize their relationship with a covenant. And in that covenant, they would promise to care for one another in all kinds of circumstances. Almost like a marriage covenant where you come to an altar before a pastor and you say before God and His people, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. So these were likely three men who were, as we say today, friends till the end. And why did they come? Well, it says again in our text in verse 11, they made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. Two things, sympathy and comfort. I'm reading from the ESV. Perhaps if you're reading a different version, it says console. But to show sympathy literally means to shake the head or rock the body back and forth. It means to feel what others are feeling. to enter into their sufferings. They came out of whatever conveniences they had to be inconvenienced for their friend. And then the second word, to comfort him. Comfort means to ease the deepest pain caused by tragedy. So we're going to enter in to Job's suffering, and in doing so, we hope that we could alleviate a little bit of the pain. This was their goal in coming all the way from these three nations to see their friend, Job. Verse number 12. Goes on to say, now here they arrive. We don't know how long, this probably took days, perhaps weeks. But they start getting closer to the estate where Job lived, the town where he lived. And they saw him from a distance. And they did not recognize him. I mean, at this point, this man is covered in sores. His hair is pulled out. He's emaciated. He's skin and bones. The man who was once the wisest and richest and most powerful man in the land of us is now reduced to this. And so, what does it say? It says they raised their voices and wept and tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. Just imagine, just imagine this scene. First of all, how long it took them, right? It says they made an appointment. They didn't have cell phones to say, hey, let's all meet up over here, and then we're going to go to, you know. It took a lot of work, a lot of planning, a lot of back and forth. They finally arrive. Arduous travel, perhaps. They arrive at this place. All the buildings that used to be there are torn down. It's dark. There's no children running, laughing, playing. It's a dark and gloomy place. No servants to await them, to welcome them. The servants are gone. No cattle roaming in the field. Just a wasteland. Something that may look like the aftermath of a tornado or a hurricane. And there's Job. Suffering. Crying. And what do they do? They cry with him. You know it's okay to cry, right? I think sometimes as Christians we feel like it's not. I know I struggle with that, holding back tears, where you're in the presence of someone and you say, sorry, sorry. It's okay to cry. Job cried. His friends cried with him. Romans 12, 15, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Verse 13, and they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Now I mentioned that this is the good thing that the friends did, right? They're silent. As soon as they open their mouth, a lot of this will turn Take a wrong turn. We'll get to that in subsequent sermons, but for now, just the act of them finding their friend and sitting with him in absolute silence for seven days and seven nights was a balm that Job needed to recognize, even if just a little bit, that yes, someone does care. Now, scholars tell us that this seven-day, seven-night mourning is actually a traditional time for mourning the dead. They were sort of bringing a funeral to their friend who had not been dead. That signifies the darkness of what's going on here. One of the hardest things about suffering, as you may know, is the loneliness and the confusion that often comes with the suffering. And as one commentator says, their presence alone was a grace to Job. There's a lesson in that for us. Because often times when we want to help those who are suffering, we get intimidated because we don't know what to say. We think we're going to say the wrong thing. Sometimes it's helpful to say nothing. and just be there and listen. As Richard Belcher said in his commentary on Job, he says, there is a great temptation at times to offer shallow platitudes of hope or even speak principles of truth before a person is ready to hear them. But people need time to process the heartaches of life. And so we should not be too quick to try to defend God A silent, sympathetic presence is many times the best initial response to suffering. We may not all trust in our ability to be the one who can encourage and exhort and comfort, but we as believers in Christ, we can be that silent, sympathetic presence that those who are suffering need just to know that they are indeed cared for. And that's what these three friends did. This is the one thing that they did right. Everything else will go down the drain in a few chapters, but I want to focus on why this was such a good thing. Why was it so helpful for these three guys to come to Job and sit with him for seven days and cry? I mean, after all, in Job chapter 16, verse 2, you don't have to turn there, but after back and forth many chapters, Job says this. He says, I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you all. So you know the end from the beginning now, right? But if we can get the miserable comforters part out of our minds just for now, as Proverbs says, it's better to be thought of a fool than to open your mouth and make it obvious and focus on this thing that they did correctly. Because we can learn from this action that's recorded in chapter two, verses 11 to 13. And there are four things that I think show why this is so important. Number one is the intentionality of it. We have people in our midst who obviously need help in times of suffering. These are the principles we could apply as we try to help them navigate through the next phase of their lives. And these are things that we can all do. So one is be intentional. These friends, they had to be intentional, right? I mean, especially in the day and age in which they lived. They had to find ways to communicate to each other. They had to find ways to make an agreement, to travel from afar, to get to where they were, and they had specific goals in mind. And those goals, again, were to show sympathy and to give comfort. They were intentional. Secondly, sacrifice. Being a comforter will take sacrifice. Giving just your spare time and your spare change doesn't amount to much. People in our lives, if we really want to show them love, they should not feel like to us they're just an afterthought. Like, if I had the time. But are we willing to sacrifice, sacrifice the noise that you don't want to hear? Sacrifice the comfort zone that you don't want to enter into. Sacrifice your schedule to prioritize the comfort that is needed. You think these three men had things to do? Could they afford the travel, the distance? What would seven days of sitting in ashes do for them, and their appetites, and their jobs, and their comfort? But, They were willing to sacrifice. That makes it so much more meaningful. Empathy. This is the perfect example of empathy. Empathy is a word that means to understand and share the feelings of others. Not just pity. It's one thing to have pity on people. Say, I feel sorry for you down there. But empathy is to go to the person and as much as you possibly can, share the burden with them. They don't pity Job from a distance. They don't write a card delivered by camels that take three weeks to get there and says, Job, we heard about what happened. We're sorry. If you need anything, give us a call. No, they sit with him on the ground in the ashes for seven days, and they say no words other than cry. They entered into his space the best way they knew how. Brothers and sisters, in a cold world filled with selfishness, empathy is a quality, a biblical quality, that is like fresh water in a desert. And please don't get caught up in silly online debates about empathy versus sympathy and all this nonsense that's out there from provocative people who have nothing better to do with their time. Follow the example of Jesus and these three friends and enter into the sufferings of others. What they did was intentional. What they did was costly. What they did was demonstrate empathy. But the main reason why, and what I want you to get today, why what they did was so good and refreshing and encouraging and helpful and an example for all of us was because their actions point to God. The reason why this matters is because this was the godly thing to do. You see, yes, they get rebuked later on. They get rebuked for coming short of the truth of God. But in this instance, they are demonstrating something that is inherent in the nature of our God. And I pray that you get this today. The best thing about Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar's action is that it exemplifies an aspect of God's character that the book of Job reveals to us. And so as I've been doing throughout this series in Job, I take from the text some probing questions we could all relate to. And even though a lot of these questions aren't answered in a sort of cute way that we could put on a magnet on our refrigerator, they are resolved in the character of God. And so in the first sermon, we asked the question, why worship God? And as we mine the pages of the book of Job, we find that he is the God who made the stars. The God who made the stars, the earth, everything in it. He transcends us. He is perfect in all his ways. And he is our great reward. He is the God who made the stars. And the second sermon, as we looked at what Satan did to Job even further, we asked the question, well, who's in control? Because it only raises that question. Why does God allow evil? What is the relationship between God and Satan? And who gets the upper hand? And we're not going to sort all that out. But what the book of Job reveals to us is that he is the God who rules the seas. And the seas represent all the chaos and wickedness and uncontrollable aspects of this fallen world. And in the sea is this creature, Leviathan, who ultimately represents Satan, that old serpent that God will ultimately crush. That which you and I cannot tame, God does tame. He is the God who made the stars. He is the God who rules the seas. And this morning, I want you and me to reflect upon this aspect of God, that he is the God who draws near. the God who draws near. And we're not talking about three separate gods. The same God who made the stars, the same God who rules the sea and crushes Leviathan, is the God who delights in drawing near to you and me in the midst of our suffering. He is the God who draws near. Brothers and sisters, this may not answer every question you have about why you suffer, but it will demonstrate to you that someone does care. And the one who cares knows you better than you know yourself. There's a fourth friend that we'll get to eventually, but I want to fast forward to something he says in chapter 37. His name is Elihu. And Elihu, there's debate about Elihu, whether he's a good guy or a bad guy. And I still haven't figured it out, because if I have eight commentaries, four of them say he's good, four of them say he's bad, so I'm not really sure. But Elihu gives a little bit of a different perspective than the three friends. And many commentators agree that Elihu is a sort of forerunner, like an announcer for God, because Elihu's speech ends in chapter 37, and then God starts to speak in chapter 38. So the very last thing that a human being says in Job is at the end of chapter 37. And here's what he says. This is the end of Elihu's last speech. He says in verse 21 of chapter 37, And now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. 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. Now, there's truth in what Elihu is saying. Elihu is talking about the distance between God and man. I mean, if he's the God who made the stars and the God who rules the seas, if he's a God who made everything and is perfect and transcendent, and we, on the other hand, are lowly men and women who are imperfect and limited in knowledge and limited in wisdom, well, then there's a gap. that's very wide, that nobody can fill. This is what Elihu is saying, that the Almighty, we cannot find Him. His ways are past finding out, as Paul says. There's no ladder you can build to get to God. Isaiah tells us that our sins have separated us from God, and God is transcendent, and we are sinful. And so Elihu is crying out that, listen, Job, You're never gonna get to God. You're never gonna, just fear him, just repent. You probably did something wrong, that's what most of his friends are saying. You're never gonna get to him because he's so far above us. He is so far above us, but we may not be able to get to him. Right after Elihu says this, one of the most sweet passages in the book of Job, chapter 38. And it begins with this, then the Lord answered Job. 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 will make it known to me. Now as far as what God says to Job, we will analyze some of that as we move on in this series, but I want to focus on that first part of 38. Because it's easy to skip that. It's easy for us to look at Job as, it's a poem, it has structure. Here's the narrative, here's Eliphaz, and then Bildad, and then Job says his piece, and then they do it again, then Elihu, and then there's God, and God says this. But don't miss the first part of verse 38. It says, the Lord answered Job. Elihu was right. God is not under obligation to do this, but he does, because he's the God who draws near. It's true, we cannot build a ladder. We cannot send a rocket ship. We will never attain unto God in our own power. When we could not come to him, he comes to us. God does not need to answer Job. But he does. And I love how it says in verse 38, it doesn't just say, then the Lord said. You know, Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah, often they just say, and the word of the Lord said. So it's whoever has ears to hear, just hear it. And that's good, we need that, right? But this is not just a cry to the world. This is a personal message for one person. Remember, there's knowledge that you and I have about Job that even Job didn't know. God was pleased with him. God was watching him. God knew his actions. Job felt a distance, but God was there all along. And now, God is going to enter in and speak personally to Job. How sweet it is when you receive something personal for you, a personal gift, a personal message. I'm sorry to say that when you get a card in the mail from your dentist that says happy birthday, it's because you signed it a year ago and they just automate it. You get an email that has like, hi Damien, but the Damien is actually part of an HTML tag that just kind of fills. It's not personal. But when you get a handwritten note, when you get a gift that someone gives you because they know that you like coffee, or you like beef jerky, and you get a bag and it's for you, it's, ah, this is for me. Someone cares about me, someone thought about me. God responds to Job in a personal way. Praise God. He finds us. We cannot find Him. But He finds us. We cannot come to Him, but He comes to us. And He speaks to us. And the book of Job finds its whole climax as a story in the fact that God speaks to Job. This is why It gets me every time when I, I mentioned there's a song by a Christian band called Ghost Ship, called Where Were You? And it's based upon, after this, God will then, in chapters 40 and 41, where were you when I made the heavens? Where were you when I stretched out? Where were you when I made? And Ghost Ship takes that and they put that in a lyrical form and at the very end, they summarize what Job says in chapter 42 with these words. I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, and this is what gets me every time. Although I had no right to ask, my God knelt and answered me. You serve a God who is transcendent. and yet in love draws close to you. That's his character, right? Psalm 34, verse 18. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. This morning, as Pastor Johnny read Zephaniah 3, I couldn't help but think, look at how that comes together. The Lord, the Holy One is in your midst. When you think of in your midst, like, wait a second, I need to clean myself up to get to God's presence and I can't do that. No, the Holy One is sitting in the ash heap with you. Wow. And He will quiet you with His presence and rejoice over you with loud singing. He's the God who draws near. And so when you suffer and you think, does anyone care? I just want to encourage you this morning that, well, I don't know. I don't know the hearts of the people around you. And I know you and I live in a very selfish world. But God does care, because that's his nature. He's the God who draws near. But it gets even better. It gets better. Because as we've been looking through the book of Job, There's what it says about God and his nature, but even more fully, it tells us about the God who became man, the gospel. There are gospel truths that bring light to the darkness of our world that Job gives us a shadow of, and then the New Testament completes the picture for us. And so as we look at this last part, I really hope that you get Job chapter 9 in your head and in your heart because, oh, we need this. And so you could turn there or it's going to be on the screen. I've been waiting for years to preach through this, by the way. Job chapter 9. And I'm going to read the whole thing because it's all one unit. It's very long. listen to God's words, and just listen to how Job is crying out to this distant God that he doesn't know intimately, and he's crying out for something that can only be resolved one way. Then Job answered and said, truly I know that it is so, but how can a man be in the right before God? If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and succeeded? He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when he overturns them in his anger. Who shakes the earth out of its place. and its pillars tremble, who commands the sun and it does not rise, who seals up the stars, who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea, who made the bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the chambers of the south, who does great things beyond searching out and marvelous things beyond number. Behold, he passes by me and I see him not. He moves on, but I do not perceive him. Behold, he snatches away. Who can turn him back? Who will say to him, what are you doing? God will not turn back his anger. Beneath him bowed the helpers of Rahab. How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him? Though I am in the right, I cannot answer him. I must appeal for mercy to my accuser. If I summoned him and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not let me get my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty. If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in my right, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse. I am blameless. I regard not myself. I loathe my life. It is all one. Therefore I say, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked. When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? My days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. If I say I will forget my complaints, I will put off my sad face and be of good cheer, I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. For he is not a man as I am. that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us who might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak without fear of him, for I am not so in myself. Job recognizes there is no fighting with God, for God is so mighty and wise, he can never win. But if he can just bring God down for just a moment to plead his case, he would have some hope of getting out of this situation. But there's a problem, and the problem is God is so high and mighty, and I am so sinful and weak, that there's no one on earth to bring us together. And that's why in verse 33, Job cries out for an arbiter. Some Bible versions say mediator, or umpire, or daismon, a go-between. Is there someone on earth that can speak on behalf of God and speak on behalf of myself? And Job is crying out that there is no such person. If only there was. If only there was someone who can bridge the gap between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, the unlimited power of God and the limited power of man. If such a person were to exist, he would have to be able to relate to God and therefore can be nothing less than God because only God can understand God. But if such a person were to exist, he would also have to be a man. and fully relate to man and be nothing less than man. You see what Job is crying out for here? He's crying out for a mediator that can empathize with himself and also be able to speak for God. He is longing for someone that in order to fulfill this requirement must be fully God and fully man. Brothers and sisters, do you know anyone like that? You see, what Job cried out for has been answered in the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2.5, for there is one God and one mediator, one arbiter, one daisman, one go-between between God and man, and it is the man Christ Jesus. Jesus fulfills everything Job was longing for. Jesus is the answer to his question. Job, I want to say to you, if you were here, yes, there is an arbiter. There is a mediator. There is someone who is fully God and fully man and therefore able to bring you together with God. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brethren, this is why we celebrate Christmas. The incarnation, God has come to be with us. We couldn't go to him, so he came to us. He became man, he became flesh. He dwelt among us, he made his tabernacle in living among us. That means just as the three friends went into the ash heap with Job, God Almighty went into the ash heap with us. God does not throw down a fishing line from heaven. Anyone who can get the hook can come up to heaven. He comes into this dirty, rotten, sinful, fallen world and he suffers all the experiences that you and I suffer. He knows what it's like to be rejected. He knows what it's like to be physically hungry and thirsty. He knows what it's like for his own family to doubt him and think he's crazy. He knows what it's like to be homeless. He knows what it's like to be betrayed. He kicked up the same dirt that you and I kick up. He suffered the same heartache when he went to his friend Lazarus's grave and wept for him. He is fully God. He is fully man. He is the answer to Job's cry. He is our Lord and Savior. He is Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ. And the Bible says in Hebrews 4, 15, that because this is who he is, We don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. You see, Job himself acted as a priest for his family. And he acted on behalf of thinking, perhaps if they sinned, I'll make a sacrifice for them. But Job couldn't really relate to that. And in the high priest of Israel, such a person can't relate to all the sins of all the people. We need a high priest who can make atonement for us, but also be able to sympathize with us. And Jesus Christ is both the one who makes the sacrifice and the one who is the sacrifice. It says he was tempted in every respect like you and me, yet without sin. You have a high priest and his name is Jesus. And he is perfect. And he is gentle and lowly. And if you have any doubt that God is the one who draws near, then look to the cross. Look to the incarnation. Look to the life and suffering and death of Christ as your perfect example that God does care. He cares so much that while we were still sinners, he sent his son to die for us. In the book Gentle and Lonely, Dane Ortlund points out that when we have an injury to a part of our body, we don't cut it off. You get a scrape on your finger, you break your arm, you break your leg. You don't just cut it off. And you don't ignore it. You ignore it, it gets worse. What do you do? You treat it with more care, right? You draw closer to the part of your body that is injured. And likewise, while we were injured, while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, while we were far off, while we were lost and traveling in blindness and darkness and could not by our own efforts come to God, he drew near to us. He became a man. He walked this earth. He felt our sorrow and he bore our sin. He was mocked. He was cursed. and he was killed in this fallen world. Praise God, three days later, he rose again. He conquered death, showing that he's not only fully man, but he is fully God. He is exactly what Job needs, and he's exactly what you and I need. And if you've never trusted in Christ, and you're trusting in yourself, listen, you're in Elihu's position. You're never gonna find God. You're never going to find him giving money to the church, performing all these rituals, trying to be a good person, 12 steps, five pillars, whatever it is. Lay down your weapons and your guards and your good works. God doesn't need them or want them. He sent his son to mediate between holy God and sinful man. And if you trust in his son, the connection is made for you. Because he is the God who draws near. As we think about Christmastime, I found this quote by R.G. Lee so amazing, so I want to share it with you. He said, Christ, who in eternity rested motherless upon the father's bosom, and in time rested fatherless upon a woman's bosom, clasping the ancient of days have become the infant of days. What deep descent from the heights of glory to the depths of shame. from the wonders of heaven to the wickedness of earth, from exaltation to humiliation, from the throne to the tree, from dignity to debasement, from worship to wrath, from the halls of heaven to the nails of the earth, from the coronation to the curse, from the glory place to the gory place. In Bethlehem, humility and glory in their extremes were joined. born in a stable, cradled in a cattle trowel, wrapped in swaddling clothes of poverty, no room for Him who made all rooms, not a place for Him who made all places. Oh, deep humiliation of the Creator, born of the creature woman, born in His descent was the dawn of mercy. Because we cannot ascend to Him, He descends to us. He is the God who draws near. And let me just end then with encouraging you, whether you are suffering now or whether you want to comfort someone who is suffering, two very basic things. Draw near to God, draw near to others. Simple, but not really simple, is it? It's not simple because, like we said earlier with Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, it takes intentionality. It takes sacrifice. It takes inconvenience and empathy. And frankly speaking, the first people that we typically worship is ourselves. When I gave you the stats about narcissism and the me generation, that wasn't just for us to point fingers at the whole world, but to say there's a little bit of that residing in us as well. We are by nature prideful people. We don't want to step out of our comfort zone. We don't want to draw near to people who are suffering. It's not part of our nature. Something has to change us. And that's the gospel. In the gospel, you have exactly what you need to be the comforter that your friends so desperately need. And so when the Bible says, draw near to God and he will draw near to you, It's talking to you and me about a God who loves to draw near. He delights to draw near. Jesus said, he who comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. He is the God who is there. Oh yes, by nature, he should be and has the right to be distant, but in love he comes near to us. And so by the blood of the high priest who has opened a way, you have access to God, draw near to him by faith. in prayer, in worship, in fellowship, in meditating on the life of Christ through the gospel. Draw near to God, and the Bible promises he will draw near to you. And in doing so, you then have what you need to rejoice with those who rejoice, and to weep with those who weep, and to live in harmony with one another, and not to be haughty, but like these three guys did, associate with the lowly. Are you willing? To do that, brothers and sisters, I know this is a cold, cold world. And suffering is inevitable. Satan is on the prowl. And few people, if any, seem to care. But rejoice. Joy has dawned upon the world. Our deepest longings have been answered. And God himself has come to dwell among man. in the ash heaps of your life. He didn't have to, but he did, because God is love. And in answer to the question, does anyone care? The answer is yes, God cares. And since he cares, you and I who believe in the gospel, who have access to him at any time, who know that there's no dark corner of this world where God cannot and will not draw near to you, we can be marked as a people who draw near to others. As a testimony against the dark backdrop of a world that is cold and selfish, we can be the people that draw near to the lowly because our God has drawn near to us. Let's pray.