In his commentary on the Book of Job, Steve Lawson tells this story. John Wesley, founder of Methodism in the 18th century, was once preaching when he noticed a lady in the audience known for her critical attitude. Through the entire service, she sat and stared at Wesley's new tie. When the meeting ended, she came up to him and said, Mr. Wesley, the strings on your bow tie are much too long. They are an offense to me. Wesley asked if any of the ladies present might have a pair of scissors in their purse. One woman did. When the scissors were handed to him, Wesley gave them to his critic and asked her to trim the strings to her liking. After she clipped them off near the collar, he asked, are you sure they're all right now? Yes, that's much better, she exclaimed. Now, said Wesley, let me have those shears for a moment, if I may. I'm sure you would not mind if I also gave you a bit of correction. I do not want to be cruel, but I must tell you, madame, that tongue of yours is an offense to me. It's quite too long. Please stick it out. I'd like to take some off." The woman got the point. Jesus said, do not judge, lest you be judged, for in the same way you judge, you will be judged, and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the law out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Of course, that's from Matthew chapter seven. This is a problem Job faced as his friends came accusing him of sin. Having counseled together and wrongly determined that Job's problem was a direct result of some sin of his for which God was pouring out divine retribution, they sought to set him straight. The problem is that it was that they who had the plank in their eye. As Wesley might have said it, their tongues were too long. Thus, with all Job had suffered, his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have joined forces together and become a protected and particularly irritating part of his trial. Those who came intending to sympathize with Job do the exact opposite. They cause pain. This morning as we come to read as Zophar rips into Job and as Job responds, and here we find that the conversations grow more in intensity, they even become more aggressive and caustic, more of a debate than a conversation, we read and we see how difficult it is for Job. For Job's trial is intensifying and there seems to be no end to its length or depth. The longer his trial endures, the deeper and more numerous are the pains that are inflicted upon him, and as one would expect, his despair grows ever deeper. Oh, please, church, with your Bibles open for the reading of God's word, though we will study four chapters, 11 through 14, I will here only read from Job 11 and Job 13. I ask you to please stand for the reading. This is the word of the Lord. Job 11 1 Then Zophar the Nehemiathite answered, Shall a multitude of words go unanswered, and a talkative man be acquitted? Shall your boasts silence men, and shall you scoff and none rebuke? This is in Job's response to Zophar. He said, behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know. I am not inferior to you, but I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to argue with God. And then verse 15, though he slay me, I will hope in him. That is the reading of the word. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we are grateful, Lord, for your word, which you bring to us through the writing of the prophets and the apostles, Lord, by your Holy Spirit. And we thank you that we have your written word. We do not have to wonder what you might say, but we can read what you have said. We do not need to wonder what you are like, but we have your record of yourself. And we do not have to wonder if there will be a savior. We have the record of your savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent, and we give you praise. So Lord, we're here gathered together. for the exposition of your word to bring you glory, to honor you, and that we might grow in the truth of who you are. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you came and became the unique God-man, that you came and died on the cross after living a sinless life, that you died on the cross, and that in the place of all who would believe. So, Lord, may we all believe in you, Jesus, knowing our sins are forgiven and that we have the gift of everlasting life. Now, Lord, as we read through Job and we try to feel some of the pain and the frustration that he faced, help us, Lord, to then also see in him a foreshadow of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord. to understand that this book, which was written early, some think it was written actually before Moses recorded the book of Genesis. Lord, as it was written very, very early, as Job was a contemporary of the patriarchs, Lord, let us consider then the importance of this book that we might learn of you, how you work, and Lord, that our doctrine might be right. Help us, Lord, to receive your word now. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. And everyone said, amen. God bless you. You may be seated. In an effort to cover the four chapters this morning, I present this as our outline. Part one, Zophar preaches. The reason I've been saying Eliphaz preaches and Bildad preaches and here Zophar preaches is because of the way they come to Job. They do not really come as the friends they pretend to be or are, but they're harsh. and they preach difficult, harsh sermons that are full of slap and condemnation. So it's not that they're really having a conversation, so I like to say Zophar preaches, that's chapter 11. Then A, he preaches Job, you've sinned, verses one through six. B, Job, God is wise, verses seven through 12. And then C, Job, repent, verses 13 through 20. And then part two, Job responds, verses 12, 13, and 14. A, with friends like you. B, God is the wise sovereign. C, I plead my case. And D, I'm desperate. Though Job's friends inflict more pain on him by erroneously accusing him of sin and being under God's retribution, he remains faithful to God. As Job says, though God slay me, yet while I trust him, we see in him a foreshadow of Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Opening to the 11th chapter, Zophar, the last of Job's three friends, takes his turn to address, or more accurately, dress down Job. Because he is the last of the three to speak, we think he is probably the youngest. We find him to be less patient and full of vinegar. Though much of what he says is theologically correct, he applies it in the context of a false accusation. His theology, then, becomes more a sword than a healing balm. Part one, Zophar preaches, Job, you've sinned. Being quite perturbed at Job's previous responses, Zophar now voices what's on his mind. And in doing so, he further jabs the hot poker into Job. Years ago, when I taught the children's church, I had a case of the gout. Very painful. My left big toe was terribly inflamed. Just the pressure of my sock and shoe were near unbearable. But it was Sunday morning, and I was determined to teach the children. That day, one precious little girl came up to me and smiling, looking me in the eye, not saying a word, but just looking me in the eye, having my full attention suddenly without warning, with the force of an elephant stomped on my left big toe. It will take all eternity for me to adequately express the searing pain I felt. How could such a sweet, petite, tiny little girl inflict such physical pain? It was beyond what I can describe this morning. So it is with Zophar. He is a friend who inflicts pain on top of that which Job already suffered. Chapter 11, verse one. Then Zophar the Nehemiathite answered, shall a multitude of words go unanswered, and a talkative man be acquitted. Shall your boasts silence men, and shall you scoff and none rebuke? For you have said, my teaching is pure, and I am innocent in your eyes. But would that God might speak, and open his lips against you, and show you the secrets of his wisdom, For sound wisdom has two sides. Know then that God forgets a part of your iniquity." Siding with his companions, Zophar doesn't say a word about their lengthy discourses, but attacks Job for being too talkative, for having a multitude of words. Self-appointed, Zophar decides to intervene so as not to allow Job the appearance of being in the right. He says Job has said that his teachings are pure and that he is innocent. Job did say that he was right, blameless, and not guilty. That's in chapter 9 and chapter 10. But what Zophar accuses Job of appears to be a bit of an exaggeration. And that's the way it often is in arguments. The accuser exaggerates the words of the accused. So far as Job being innocent, he admitted that he was not sinless. He's already done that. So far as this trial is concerned, though, he was blameless. So he's not sinless, but as far as this trial goes, he's blameless. This had not come upon him because of his sin. God declared him blameless and undeserving of this terrible calamity. God said to the devil, what did he say to Satan, the accuser? You caused me, you incited me against him for no cause. He's blameless. Zophar, so sure that he and his friends are right in the matter, desires that God would speak aloud, pronouncing Job's guilt. Then he makes a cruel statement saying, and I paraphrase, God in a secret wisdom has accomplished two things. Obviously, in his secret wisdom, he is punishing you for your sin, making your sinfulness known. And he accomplishes a second thing. In his secret wisdom, he is also showing you mercy, having spared you all you deserve. Can you imagine visiting the sick and the hurting and telling them they should be glad that God didn't give them all they deserved? Who would? Well, actually, I know some who would, but who would go with the intention to sympathize and comfort the hurting and say, this evil has come upon you because of your sin, and you ought to be glad that God didn't give you the full dose of what you deserve? It is true that, thanks to God, he spares us all we deserve. He is kind and merciful. He is patient and long-suffering. Psalm 103 verses 10 and 11. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. Even the smallest infraction of the law is sin, and the wages of sin is death. So applied in the proper context, Zophar would be right. But in this context, applying to Job, he is not only wrong, but he is cruel. And that's because Job had not sinned in such a manner that God would pour out such retribution upon him. Zophar speaks cruelly to Job and wrongly of God. Zophar, being sure he has the mind of God, wished God would speak to Job. but God is silent. And with God's silence, Zophar then steps up to the plate to bet for God. Since God's not doing it, I'll do it. This is the way we tend to be. When we think we know why God deals with someone as he does, we tend to become pompous. Wishing God would act or speak the way we want him to, we then presumptuously ask, act or, take ourselves and sit in the place of God. This is what Zophar did, yet it was not his to speak for God, nor to act for God. Thinking he knew God's way in the matter, Zophar was wrong and he misrepresented God. God says, vengeance is mine, I will repay. Sometimes God doesn't repay as we think he ought. And we are tempted to take manners into our own hands like Zophar, but God will act rightly, church. He will act rightly according to his full knowledge and not according to our partial knowledge. It is not ours to speak for God when he is silent. Beloved, if God is being silent, it would be good for us to be silent and to simply wait on him. Well, having accused Job of such sin that he hasn't even gotten all he deserves from God, Zophar then backs up his position by telling Job that God is wise. So be it, God is wise. quick-firing four rhetorical questions. Zophar specifically asked Job, verses seven and eight, can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Each one of these questions demands the same emphatic negative response. No, no, nothing, nothing. God is greater than all. I cannot discern all his ways. His wisdom is indeed too great for me. And then Zophar rightly says, verse 11, for he knows false men and he sees iniquity without investigating. Being omniscient, God knows all the sins of men without as much as an initial investigation. Amen. But while these things are true, Zophar says them to put Job in his place. But church, Job isn't out of his place. It's Zophar's theological talking down to Job that is out of place. As Eliphaz supported his position based on the authority of his vision, and as Bildad supported his position based on the authority of tradition and nature, Zophar now supports his position based on his knowledge of God. Zophar claims God's inexpressible greatness as supportive of his position. Oh my. He's right about God's greatness, amen, but he's wrong to try to shame Job with such truth. If Zophar's arrogance has not become evident enough as he claims to know the unknowable mind of God, he goes on to insult Job then saying in verse 12, and an idiot will become intelligent when the foal of a wild donkey is born a man. He calls Job an idiot with no chance of becoming intelligent. Job, you are so stupid that you will never become wise. You will be intelligent when a wild donkey gives birth to a human. Or as we might say, Job, you'll be intelligent when pigs fly. I guess the Jews would use that. colloquialism when pigs fly, but they use the one when a donkey gives birth to a human. With that harsh and insulting rebuke after wrongly accusing Job of sin, Zophar, as the others, then calls him to repent of sin. Let us see Job repent, verse 13. If you would direct your heart right and spread out your hand to him, sure that Job was in sin and his calamity, the God-ordained result of it, Zophar encourages him to repent by directing his heart right, reaching his hand out to God as a beggar. If you would direct your heart right, if you would spread out your hand to him. Then he goes on, verse 14. If iniquity is in your hand, which he was sure it was, put it far away and do not let wickedness dwell in your tents. This clearly indicates that Zophar believed Job was in sin and had allowed wickedness in his home. And of course the deduction is that's why his children died, because Job had allowed wickedness in his home. Then, verses 15 and 16, then if you direct your heart right, if you spread out your hand, if you put iniquity far away, if you do not allow wickedness to dwell in your tents, then indeed you could lift up your face without moral defect and you would be steadfast and not fear. For you would forget your trouble as waters that have passed by, you would remember it. Last year, as my Cindy and I traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, and visited some of the sites, there were occasional beggars. But these positioned themselves in a way I had not seen before. Rather than standing at a street corner holding a cardboard sign, running out to gather money, or sitting with a handout next to a wall or a fence or something, they there in the Czech Republic got on their knees and stretching forward as far as they could with face to the ground, and folded hands stretched before them. There they lay, not looking around them. Just in front of their folded hands was a basket in which they hoped to receive charity. Assuming the position of one pleading mercy, they did not look up or move at all, even if someone gave to them. Zophar implores Job to approach God like an undeserving beggar seeking mercy. And he says, in so many words, if you will repent before God, you will receive his mercy, then you will be able to lift up your face as one forgiven, cleansed and free of moral defect. Job, repent and God will restore you. Again, we have to admit, joyfully admit that what Zophar said is true when applied to one in sin. The blessings of humbling ourselves before God and repentant contrition are immeasurable. But Job was not in sin. In this sense, Zophar was preaching to the choir, telling the choir something they didn't need to hear. This is not what Job needs to hear, for it is based on false accusation. an erroneous assumption." Well, Zophar ends his discourse with a strong warning, verse 20. But the eyes of the wicked will fell, and there will be no escape for them, and their breath, their hope, is to breathe their last. Zophar is referring to Job as one who is wicked. He says that the hope of the wicked is to breathe their last. And Job has, in fact, been wishing to breathe his last. He's been wishing to die. I wish I was never born. God, take my life now. So by this, Zophar is saying, Job, you're wicked. That's why you hope for your death. That's what the wicked do. Turn to God and live, Job. So Zophar calls Job to repent of a sin, sin he hasn't committed. to turn back to God, the God whom he hasn't turned from, and as a result, promises that he will be renewed and restored. But how can he say this? Job's not there because he's not repentant. He's not in that situation because he has sinned some terrible sin and God is pouring out wrath on him, but he's there simply because of heavenly events, because God has chosen it for him. In fact, he's not there because of his sin. He's there because he was righteous, blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. Well, in the case of Job, he will be renewed and restored, but not because of what Job does, but because of who God is. The matter is in God's hands, not Job's. Job suffers not because of his sin, but because he feared God and turned away from evil by falsely indicting Job. Zophar speaks wrongly of God. And Job's going to tell him that here in a little bit. Part two, Job responds, A, with friends like you. Well, Job has had it with his friends. He is beyond tired and put out with their accusations. In his affliction, then he jabs back at them. verses one and two. Then Job responded, truly then you are the people and with you wisdom will die. In a fiery blast of irony, Job shoots back at his friends. He states that they are know-it-alls who think they are the only ones who possess wisdom. But he says, I have intelligence as well as you. I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? This is to say, quit talking down to me. I'm not the idiot you make me out to be. I already know these things. Jogwell knew the principles they spoke of and that those principles were good and true in the right proper context. If one sins, they will reap what they sow, amen. That is a principle ordained by God. If one repents, God will restore them, amen. Thanks to God, this is true. These principles are without argument, but their application of them to Job is completely arguable. He is not reaping what he sowed. By applying the principles to Job's situation, he says that they make him out to be a joke. You're making me out to be a laughable simpleton who does not comprehend the first things of God. They mock him saying that he was the one who called on God and God always answered him. He is the one who claims to be just and blameless. Ha ha, look at him now, look at him now. He's nothing but a laughing stock. Can you imagine the expressions on their face as they talk down to Job? Well, Job scolds them, verse five. He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt as prepared for those whose feet slip. In their well being, them being well, they scorn and mock Job. They're not suffering, they haven't lost their family, they haven't lost their wealth. Their wife hasn't come to them and said, curse God and die. And they don't have three friends pouncing on them. In their well-being, in their ease, in their fatness, their wealth, they scorn and mock Job. They were as those who wait for someone to stumble so as to pounce on them, seizing upon the wounded as an easy target. Job denounces their retribution theology, saying, verse six, the tents of the destroyers prosper, and those who revoke God are secure, whom God brings into their power. Men, you say that all funnels through the principles of retribution theology. You guys, you say that everything, all the principles of theology funnel through retribution theology. That the righteous and only the righteous prosper because they are righteous. And that the wicked and only the wicked suffer because they are wicked. But as you know, many of the wicked prosper, and many of those who snub God seem to go on secure and unscathed. These things are in the hands of God, gentlemen. God raises whom he will and debases whom he will. Lawson writes, prosperity does not mean a person is righteous, just as affliction does not mean a person is unrighteous. Thus Job concluded that his friends are wrong. Over the years, I remember talking to different people. They would say, wow, God's really blessing them. Look, they must be of the Lord. Look at how they are blessed. And they would refer to ministries that were corrupt. But they would say, no, they have to be of God. Look how God has blessed them. Beloved, because somebody is bringing in a lot of money, that doesn't mean they're righteous. It doesn't. Using that kind of a thought process, we would have to say, well, look how God is blessing the marijuana industry. Look how God is blessing the liquor industry. Look how God is blessing the divorce industry. We wouldn't say that. So we have to be careful and not assume that because something is bringing in a lot of money, or something is growing exponentially, that we say, well, God's blessing them because they're righteous. We have to be careful. Prosperity does not mean a person is righteous, just as affliction does not mean a person is unrighteous. Well, Job goes on. to support his position by providing his own object lesson. In verses 7-12, he tells them to inquire of the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea. All happens as God ordains. Look! God ordained it all. It's happening as He ordained. Whether the righteous suffer or the wicked prosper, it is all in the hands of God. Job is saying, this has come on me by the hand of God as he willed and not according to what I have done. All nature attests to the sovereignty of God over all his creation. Why does one bird fly and the other one falls to the ground? Why? It's by the hand of God. Why is one mountain lifted up and the other laid low? It's by the will of God. Jumping to chapter 13 in the second round of rebuking his friends, Job there says that they smear him with lies and that they are worthless physicians. Chapter 13, verse four. Then in the following verse, the fifth verse, he states his longing for them to be completely silent. I suppose, as they were in the first seven days, that they would just be silent. Just don't say anything, guys. And then he says really that their silence then would be a show of their wisdom. And the question is found in chapter 13, verse seven, Job tells them that they have spoken for God what is untrue, what is wicked and deceitful. Now church is bad enough to speak what is wicked and deceitful, but to speak such things, wicked and deceitful things as from God for God is to be a false prophet. They are not speaking for God. They're speaking for self, but they're attributing their words to God. As I mentioned briefly last Lord's Day, these friends thought they were coming in defense of God, that they are protecting God's integrity. And so Job says, verse eight, will you show partiality for him? Will you contend for God? The friends thought they were being partisans for God, but actually they were being partial to their own opinions. They thought they were contending for God, but in truth, they were contending for the misconceptions of their own minds. And so Job warns them, verses nine through 11. This is still chapter 13. Will it be well with you when he, that is the God you falsely represent, examines you? Or will you deceive him as one deceives a man? Will you be able to deceive God like you can deceive others? Verse 10, he, God, will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality. Will not his majesty terrify you and the dread of him fall on you? Well, as Job said, and one day we will read, God does come to judge them for their error and he does severely reprove them. Lastly, in rebuke of them, Job says, chapter 13, verse 12, your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay. As Job said, their proud, memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, he still no doubt was sitting in the ashes. And as he said, their defenses are defenses of clay, he still no doubt had shards of clay with which he was scraping his sores. Their words and utterances are absolutely worthless, of no meaningful substance, no better than the ashes he sat in, and the charge with which he scraped his festering sores." Well, quickly, be God is the wise sovereign. Back to chapter 12, middle of chapter 12. Let's read chapter 12, verses 13 through 25. Job says, With him, with God, are wisdom and might. To him belong counsel and understanding. Behold, he tears down and it cannot be rebuilt. He imprisons a man and there can be no release. Behold, he restrains the waters and they dry up. And he sends the waters out and they inundate the earth. With him are strength and sound wisdom. The misled and the misleader belong to him. He makes counselors walk barefoot and makes fools of judges. He loosens the bond of kings, and binds their loins with a girdle. He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the secure ones. He deprives the trusted ones of speech, and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on nobles, and loosens the belt of the strong. He reveals mysteries from the darkness, and brings the deep darkness into light. He makes the nations great, then destroys them. He enlarges the nations, then leads them away. He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people, and makes them wander in a pathless ways. They grope in darkness with no light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man." Wow. Amen, Job. We agree with you. God is the all-wise sovereign who is not confined to the framework of retribution theology. God is independent of man, and he wisely does as he wills. No one instructs him. His ways are higher than ours. He forms some for noble use and others for ignoble use. And as he wills, he changes their fortunes. He raises some to debase them, and others he makes humble so he can raise them up. It is as the apostle said in Romans 9, 20 and 21. Who are you, oh man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have the right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? As Job spoke, it is true. God is the all wise sovereign who does with men as it pleases him. The only right and holy response is this, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Amen. Let us see, I plead my case. Telling his friends and 1313, now we're back to the middle of chapter 13, telling his friends in 1313 to put a cork in it, that is to be quiet so he may speak without interruption. He plans, Job plans to speak his mind to God and is prepared for whatever repercussion may come. He does not say this in a fatalistic manner, que sera sera, whatever will be will be, but he says this as one who believes he is in the hand of God. He believes that God will do what he will do, and though it seems so wrong, it will be right. This is why Job says, verse 14, why should I take my flesh into my teeth and put my life in my hands? O'Donnell writes, put simply, Job sees no risk here. He is in no mortal danger for his case is irrefutable. He knows that he is innocent. Behold, now I have prepared my case. I know that I will be vindicated, he says in verse 18. He knows that God will not grant him a hearing if this is not the case, for a godless man may not come before his presence, verse 16. Thus, if God indeed hears his case, Job is optimistic that the judge's verdict will be just. Though he slay me, I will hope in him, verse 15. God might destroy him, but he trusts that in the end, the Lord will vindicate the righteous. This also will be my salvation." Verse 16, end quote. Joe knows that no matter what happens, he's so trust in God, that no matter what happens, he knows that God is eternally just. At some point, his justice prevails. So Job reasons, if God kills me, still he will vindicate me whether in this life or the next. So Job reasons, verse 15, I will argue my ways before him. Though Job pled with God, he ends his discourse in despair. I'm desperate, letter D, I'm desperate. This is a common pattern in human trials. Desperation followed by a crying out to God, followed by hope in God, followed by desperation. We cycle, don't we? We worry during the day, we lay down at night worried, but we pray. And in the night, the Lord calms us. We get up calm, but then The things start coming before us, we start dealing with the issues, and we become desperate again. We cycle. Well, this is what's going on with Job, and we can understand that. Well, Job hopes in God. He can't help but express despair at the plight of humanity. Life is short-lived and full of turmoil, verse 1, chapter 14. People are like flowers that bloom and wither away, verse two. Then there is the judgment, verse three. And how can a man cleanse himself of unrighteousness? He can't, verse four. Since God has determined the number of a man's days and it is impossible for a man to change that, verse five, Job pleads with God. As he has before, he desires that God would leave him alone. so he may rest until he has fulfilled the number of his days. God, just let me die in peace. Job then states in verses seven through 19, that while trees die, they sprout up again, but it's not so with a man. When man dies, he's gone, verses 10 through 12. And yet, having said this in his desperation, he comes back with a glimmer of hope. Desiring that God would spare him any furtherance of his present trial, he longs for God to take him to the grave until God is finished pouring out his wrath. He puts it like this, until you take your wrath back, until you receive it back to yourself. Take me to the grave and let me lay there until you're done pouring out your wrath. And then with wrath exhausted, Job hopes that God will remember him again to retrieve him from the grave. Verse 13. Now verse 14, he says, if a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle, I will wait until my change comes. I believe Job is expounding upon his declaration of faith where he said, though God slay me, yet will I trust him. Trusting in God, Job takes the stance that if God will send him to the grave, he will also raise him up again. Though I die, yet will I live. If he slays me, I will trust him. With God's wrath exhausted, or if you prefer, satisfied, Job says, verses 15 through 17, thou will call me and I will answer thee. Thou will long for the works of thy hand, For now thou dost number my steps, thou dost not observe my sin. My iniquity is sealed up in a bag, and thou dost wrap up my iniquity. Job envisions God raising him again, calling him without the remembrance of sin to a new life free of suffering. Lord, bring that day, come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly, amen. Bring that day, raise us up to that day. While Job hopes in the future for the time when this change come and God raises him from the dead, free from the effects of sin, still his present situation is quite depressing. Job expresses that the years pass, our bodies decay, Job is alone, death awaits and there is no hope for an earthly recovery. As Job sees that even the mountains erode and are left in rubble, so has God, little by little, taken away any of Job's hope for this life. Job states that the will of God overpowers the will of man to live. God makes a man to grow old and then sends him away. In death, there is no knowledge of the successes or failures of one family. David Allen writes, Job's final thought, he feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself. Job feels hopeless in the face of his sufferings. And so Job's response to Zophar ends with that sad note. But having the entire story in our hand, we need not despair as did Job. God will vindicate his righteous servant, Job, and he will restore his hope in this life and also in the life to come. Not only will he restore his hope for this life, here give him earthly hope, but he will give him the hope then for everlasting life. In closing, just for a moment, let's talk about Job's friends. Theological truths and principles Church, church, theological truths and principles should be used to teach and enlighten, not bruise and darken. The word of God must be employed as a lamp to our feet, not thrown in front of someone to trip them up. The word of God is to bring us to God, not to throw rocks from God. Much of what Zophar said about God is true and right. We've already said that, but how he applied it to Job is dishonest and wrong. O'Donnell writes, Job was his punching bag, his theological punching bag, and solid theology, his lead gloves. Let me take this truth of God and beat you up, Job. Let me apply it to you in error. We, church, we, must speak the truth. Yes, yes, but we must speak the truth in love. And we must be very careful to identify our thoughts as our thoughts and not then ascribe them to God. When we identify our thoughts as our thoughts, we then perhaps should never even voice them. We must never speak what is ours as that which is from God, or we will find ourselves in the place of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, needing forgiveness. Now concerning Job. As Job said, though God slay me, yet will I trust him. We find in him a foreshadow of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus was crucified and about to give up his spirit, he cried aloud saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Shortly after Luke records him saying his very last words, last words on the cross, father into your hands, I commend my spirit. This is Christ saying, though God slay me, yet will I trust him. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Indeed, Jesus, sensing a forsakenness of God, coming to the cross, being slain from the foundation of the world by the will of the Father, then entrusted his spirit to his Father. Though you slay me, yet will I trust in you. The righteous man, Job, prophetically foreshadowed the perfect righteous son of God, who for no sin of his own, but on account of the will of the father, suffered the cross and died. And still, in all that, still trusting his father, God raised him from the dead. Family, God, in Christ Jesus His Son provided for us a Savior, the one and only Savior in whom there is the forgiveness of sin and the unfailing promise of life everlasting. We cannot consider the suffering servant, Job, without considering that he points us to the greater suffering servant, Savior, Jesus the Lord. As Job hoped that God would raise him again without the remembrance of sin, we know that we have the promise of God that as we entrust ourselves to Christ, that the Father will raise us up again without the remembrance of our sin, but he will raise us up to life everlasting in the joy of heaven and the perfect presence and the eternal peace of God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen. He is a soon coming Lord and King. Will you now, while you still have breath, believe on Jesus? He is both Savior and Lord. Please bow with me in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for your good word. And thank you, Lord, that you have this account of Job recorded for us that we might learn of you in your ways. And we thank you, Lord, that Job has pointed us to Jesus who has come. We thank you, Jesus. You're precious to us. We love you. We give you praise. Lord Jesus, as we have seen a foreshadow of you and Job and we know that you have come, I pray, Lord, that all who hear this message will believe upon you. trusting you as Savior and Lord, knowing that we will be raised again without the remembrance of sin, and we will live forever with you, worshiping you throughout all the eternities. Lord Jesus, grant these things we pray, in the name of Christ our Lord, amen.