You're going to notice that the speeches of Job's accusers as we move forward are not just repetitive, but they're getting a lot more vicious and a lot shorter. I think one of the reasons they're getting shorter is they don't have anything else to what they said. They keep saying it. Job, you're a terrible sinner. God is rightfully judging you, so repent. What they are doing is they're saying it louder. I can just hear them, the voice going up, and meaner. Yet incredibly, Job's responses in the midst of all of this are longer, more eloquent, and even it seems in some cases more confident. I don't think his pain is any less. I just think he's more and more directed himself toward God. It's amazing to see the subject moves to the greatness and the glory of God in the midst of suffering. That's amazing. I mean, we get to this chapter, chapter 25, chapter 26, 27, 28, let's see, 26, 7, and 8, we get to this place. Instead of, God, you're not listening, this, that, and the other, it's, God, you're great. God, you're amazing. God, you're awesome. God, you're powerful. It's amazing. But that's where we come to. So this is Bildad's third and last speech. It's his shortest. Look at chapter number 25. It says in verse 1, Bildad the Shuhite answered, dominion and all belong to him. Who establishes peace in his heights? Is there any number to his troops? And upon whom does his light not rise? How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean, who is born of woman? Even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less a man that is a maggot." Whoa. I said he was getting more vicious as he goes. So he just basically called Job a maggot. And the son of man, that worm, you maggot, you worm. Whoa, that's pretty awful. So, um, it's a short, short little chapter. He gets eloquent about his knowledge of God, but instead of using it to encourage Job, he uses it as a club to beat him down some more. Did you never know anybody like that that knew a whole lot about the Bible, but it just seemed like they use it like a billy club and they just, you know, they beat on people with it. Just instead of trying to encourage people to try to tell them the truth or even correct them in love, they rather. It's bludgeoning people. This is what's going on. It's a bludgeon to beat you with, not a bridge to reach you with. That's kind of interesting. That's the way Bill Dazs is looking at it now. God's great. He's wonderful. He's powerful. Man, I know a lot about His Word. I know what He's like and let me tell you about it. Gum worm. Oh, my goodness. And that's the way he's talking to him. Bildad says this. He says, God's sovereignty, and you can write it down, is unrestricted. That's verses one to three. He has total dominion in the affairs of men. Does he or does he not? Yes. Amen. He can make peace or war. His armies are unlimited. That's verses two and three. He can. His light shines everywhere and nobody can hide. That's verse three. Is that true? Yes. Bildad is not incorrect. Bildad is uncaring. Bildad is insensitive. You know, you can be right and not be helpful. Did you know that? I mean, did you know that? I mean, sometimes just saying the right thing is not always the right thing to do. I mean, when somebody is really, really, really, really hurting and in terrible shape and, you know, they know they've made a terrible mistake. They know they did the wrong thing. They know that it's cost them everything. Well, you don't get right in their face and say, well, just let me tell you why you're in... You may be right, But it's not right at that moment to speak to somebody in that way. All of it's correct. He's uncaring. He's insensitive. Here's what else he said. He's still right. Bildad says God's righteousness is unequal. Well, that's true. Verse 4 and 5, 4 to 6. Here's what he says to Job. Think about it. He says, Job, stop declaring that you are righteous, that you haven't sinned. It is obvious that you have sinned, and you have done so to the extreme. In fact, all people born of women are sinful to the core. Well, does the Bible say that? Yes or no? Was he right? Yes or no? Yes. But did it apply? No, because was Job suffering because of some great sin? No. No, he wasn't. Bildad is correct, but the truth is misapplied. He is saying the very same thing that David did in Psalm 51 5. It says this, David was talking and he said, at the point of his sin with Bathsheba, in sin did my mother conceive me. In other words, what Bildad is saying is correct. It's just misapplied and it's ill-timed. B, Job, here's what else he says. First he says, stop declaring you're righteous. And then he says, God's own creation is not even pure in his sight, not the moon or the stars and certainly not you. So he's beating him on the head with this. He says, you know, nobody is righteous. God, you know, even the moon and the stars and the planets and all of those things are filthy, you know, to God. I mean, so don't even start talking about how righteous you are. And then we come down to that statement at the end. Job, you are nothing but a maggot, a worm. And that's why God has covered you with worms. Now, wait a minute. Why did he say that? Look back over to Job chapter seven. Job chapter seven, verse number five. So when this first started, Bildad didn't say anything about the worms, but God did. Job says it himself, verse 5, my flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt, my skin hardens and runs. I mean, you couldn't see where the earth he was laying on and the skin that he was covered in was separated. He laid down, he had worms on the dirt and worms on his skin. And that's just the way it was. He was covered. He was covered with maggots. I think one of the most amazing things that I've ever seen in my life was a guy that came to the Iowa prayer breakfast right after the 9-11 events who had been downtown or at the pentagon when the plane flew into the pentagon. Was anybody there at that prayer breakfast where the guy got up and pulled his shirt back and he had maggots that the He literally had maggots that were on the burns that the doctors, did you see that Chris? The doctors had put maggots on him to eat away this flesh because it was the only way they could guarantee that he wouldn't go to this terrible, I've never seen anything like that in my life. Well imagine Job sitting on the ground, what's he covered with? What's his physical problem? He's covered with what? And what do boils usually do? They ooze. And so was it a mercy that God covered him with all these maggots to start eating up all that stuff? But the way that Bildad looked at it was, you're just a maggot. Look at you, you're covered with, you're a walking maggot. By the way, this is not a way for a Christian to behave toward another Christian under any circumstance. That's what Bildad did. Well, you'd think that Job would just get all up on his high horse and he would just come raining down and say terrible things about Bill. He didn't do that. This is amazing. So Job is going to respond now, and he keeps up talking about these things. He says, now we're going to talk about this. He says, God's authority is unchallenged. That's verses 1 through 14. This is a truly amazing, amazing section here. Job is no less insistent that he has not sinned greatly and done the things that these accusers keep saying he has. He is no less hungry to talk to God to seek an explanation for his suffering. His suffering is not diminishing, but his desire to see God is growing. He's wanting to see God. He's wanting to talk to God. I cannot imagine being able to think, let alone speak like Job does here. You know, I actually thought I was going to have this operation on Tuesday and I thought I was going to do my Bible class or my preacher's preaching class on Saturday morning. I thought, yeah, I'll be, you know, it'll be a few days. I'll be ready to go. And it came around Friday at about noon, and Denise kept saying, okay, do I cancel it or are you gonna do it tomorrow? Are you canceling or are you doing it tomorrow? And I said, you better cancel it. I don't even think I can get up off this chair. So I felt like, and then I was studying this about Job, and man, he gives this speech. He's been like this for months, Jerry. He's been hurting in pain. He can't eat anything. He can't sleep. And then what does he do? He gives this incredible speech. I feel like a wimp. I mean, this is amazing. Look at this Job. He says he's pretty much done dealing with his attackers. Their words don't carry any weight. This maggot comment that Bildad gave in chapter 25, verse 6, that maggot comment goes without any response, so he doesn't even respond to it. That's amazing. If somebody called me a maggot, I might have something to say about it. You know what I'm saying? How about you? Somebody start calling you names like that, you maggot, you dirty dog, you pig. Boy, well, anyway, he didn't even say anything. All he says to Bill, Dad, is this, your words have not helped at all, so don't bother. You know, I have been there myself, I have to say. I want to say the right thing, don't know what to say, so I end up blurting out. How many of you felt like you just needed to say something in somebody's situation, and so you blurted something out and it just didn't come out to be very helpful? How many of you ever done that? I've done that so many times. I have learned. I go to the hospital and instead of start asking about operations and pain and all that kind of stuff, I've learned. I just sit down and say, what did they do to you and what does it feel like? I don't say anything, I just listen. Because there's no reason for me to try to get philosophic about it. Well, Job does become a little bit philosophic, and I want you to see this in chapter 26, verse 5. He says, now the departed spirits tremble under the waters and their inhabitants, naked is Sheol before him, and Abaddon has no covering. And so he starts getting philosophic with him and he says to him, look, he says to those that are listening, God has authority over the realm of the dead. He's talking about how great God is and where his authority lies. He's got the authority over the dead. We know he has the authority over the dead. In fact, he can bring the dead to life, can't he? And he's done it in the Bible. He's going to do it again at the end times. He's going to call us to life. Jesus was raised from the dead and he was the first fruits and we're going to be raised to life as well And then Job becomes very scientific. I want us to look at 26 7 it says he stretches out the north over the empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing He wraps up the waters in his clouds and the clouds do not burst under them. This is amazing. So God has authority over the reach of of the heavens. Now I want to pause and say something here. Job has no Bible, and Job only has oral tradition, but he still, even at this early age, is no evolutionist. because he believes that God stretched out, he stretched out the universe over the empty space and he hung the earth on, this is what he believes. He believes God made heaven and earth. How about you, what do you believe? You believe God made heaven and earth? Now listen to this. I want you to see a couple of pics up here on this screen. Let's see if I've got them. Look at that right there. Let's see, I forgot to bring my sheet in. I actually have a description of what you're looking at right there and I left it on my desk. The Hubble telescope took that picture. Go to the next picture. Well, that's actually a conglomerate of galaxies. And then this one right here is a picture of, I don't know, one of the planets, and then there is another galaxy. Jerry was saying just a few moments ago, not only did God make that, God's got a name for all those. He's got a name for them. He knows the dimension of them, the size of them. He knows how hot they are, how long they've been burning, when they're gonna burn out. He knows all that. Is there anything God doesn't know? I was talking to Carla Butters today, and we got to talking and waxing eloquent about how great God is, because I took this in there to her, and I was reading her a few of these things, and she was going on, and she's a smart woman, and she was talking about some things, and I got to talking about the greater my understanding of God is, and the more that I'm understanding how great He is, how much He has made His creation, the stars, the planets, the interplanetary systems, have you guys ever seen that, That video that goes microscopic and you can see inside the most basic cell and then it goes all the way out until you're, it just keeps backing up until you're looking at the earth until it disappears. Have you ever seen that? And everything, it's just, I meant to bring that in here too, but I ran out of time. But listen to this for a moment. When you stop and think about God managing all of these things, not only did he create them, but he is managing them. And then I think about myself and my situation and my problems and what I think is a problem. And if you wonder, has God everything? Has he got everything in hand? Is he able to handle all this? Well, he's handling all of that. I mean, it's where it's supposed to be. And I'm going to say something else here in just a minute. We get to talking about the circle of the earth. He's managing all of that. Makes me wanna go up to the ledges, and you know, if you guys ever been to the, you know what I'm talking about, the ledges? You know those little creeks that run through there? One of the most delightful things in the world for me is take my shoes off and run up and down through those, kick up the water just like I was a little kid, climb on the rocks, throw rocks. I do that with my two grandsons. I do that all the time, go up there and everything. And just kick up my heels and say, you know, God has got everything in control. It's good for us to remember. Job is just talking about God's authority over the reach of the heavens. God has authority over the rotation of the earth. Look at chapter 26 verse 7. He stretches out the north over the empty space and he hangs the earth on nothing. He hangs the earth on nothing. I need somebody to explain that to me. Try hanging something in this room on nothing. You know, I mean, try hanging, I mean, just try that. But God hangs the earth on nothing. So there was this explosion, they say. There was this original explosion, a big bang, and it just made everything happen. And so, okay, I have a question. Why did the earth just move to this point? Why did it just move to this spot? Why didn't the explosion and the, you know, there's no resistance in space. There's nothing to stop things from moving. Things that are in motion stay in motion until something, a third party comes and stops them. Well, why did the earth come to this spot and stop? Why did it go further? And why did it stop spinning at exactly the same rate of speed without calculable variation? And why did it stop at the right distance from the sun, another fragment of the explosion that just happens to illumine the earth, feed it with vitamin C? I have a question. You know, this didn't just happen. This is what God did. The earth is hanging on nothing. It is spinning. It's a great gyroscope. It's just gyrating around and around and spinning at the same rate of speed constantly. I'm just talking about it with these two down here. We used to have seasons three months at a time. Now we get a season every other day. I mean, we have super hot, super cold. It seems like that's what's happening. But the truth is that we were talking about this today. The whole concept of time, do you know that the whole universe and everything in it is just the biggest time piece on earth? It's the biggest time piece that there is? The reason we even know what days, weeks, years, hours, minutes, the reason we even know that exists is because of the constant spin of the earth, the constant revolutions around the sun, the constant tilt and the sway of the axis of, all of that creates everything, seasons, times, hours, minutes, seconds, it's all made by God. We wouldn't even have time. We wouldn't have time to have time if it wasn't for God. I'm always against the clock. I'm always running out of time. Do you know who's never going to run out of time? God never runs out of time because he made time. I love talking about how great God is and so does Job evidently. He's just awesome. The earth, it just means, there's so many things in this. God did it, the earth is not flat, you won't fall off, nope, it's not static, it is spinning like a top, it's moving through the universe, making its rounds, causing the seasons, providing life, and it is glorifying God. The heavens declare what? The glory of God and the firmament declares his handiwork. It's just the way it is. So folks, this is what we need to remember is a statement that I didn't come up with, but I love it. Just wait long enough and science will eventually catch up with the Bible. It's just so awesome. God has authority over the routine of the waters. We're talking about how great God is. He has authority. He has total authority. Look at chapter 6, verse 8, 26, verse 8. He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them. He obscures the face of the full moon and spreads out His cloud over it. He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters. At the boundary of light and darkness, the pillars of heaven tremble and are amazed at his rebuke. He quieted the sea with his power, and by his understanding he shattered Rahab. It just goes on and on and on. This is absolutely amazing. By his breath the heavens are cleared. His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. So we have God with authority over all of these things, the rotation of the earth, now the routine of the waters, the waves, the rivers, the currents, the clouds, God is their master. Have you ever thought about this? He's talking about this in verse number 80, he wraps up the waters in his clouds and the clouds does not burst under them. How does God hold the immense weight of water up suspended by clouds? He said, well, how much does water weigh? Well, each drop doesn't weigh much, but you let them all fall to the earth like they did in Iowa in 1993, 2008, 2011. Do you think there was any weight to the water that landed on Iowa? How does that stay up? Could we make it stay up? Who's the only one that can make it stay up there? Aren't you glad God doesn't dump it all? I mean, what if it was time for a... Aren't you glad it comes down in drops and doesn't come down in buckets? I know we talk about it's raining bucketfuls, but it really never does. It always comes down in drops. What if it all came down at once? Oh, man. God knows what he's doing. All of these things, this immense weight of the water, it's like a feather to God. Look at verse 10. I love verse 10. He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters and at the boundary of light and darkness. A circle, a circle on the surface of the waters. It was this verse that inspired the age of discovery. Did you know that? This is the verse that inspired the Portuguese and Spaniards to go sailing off of the known map, because they, up until that point, believed that you could sail off the edge of the earth. But this is the verse. And even later, Vasco da Gama and others, and then the British that came along and sailed and went on Magellan and went around the world, people like that, they believed that because of this verse that the earth was indeed a circle. It was this verse that inspired it. God has authority. Amen. Now just keep with me now. God has authority and it's all been given to his son. What? How about Matthew chapter 28 verse 18? All authority is given to me. Where? In heaven and on earth. And then he turns around and says, go therefore. and make disciples everywhere because I have authority. And I love this. And it's with this authority that he compels us to go forth with the gospel. We have authority, his authority, the authority of the creator, the authority of the son. We have the authority, the enablement to share the gospel with other people. We shouldn't be timid about it. Number four, I want you to see this. Job continues. This is chapter 27, and he says this. He says, God's justice is unavoidable. God's justice is unavoidable. Job believes that God is just. He thinks for some reason God is holding back justice for himself. At least he's not being vindicated. That is shown and proved that he is innocent. But mark this, Job never stopped believing that God is just. So look at his defense, chapter 27, verse one. Job continued his discourse. As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul, as long as there's life in me and the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will certainly not speak unjustly, nor will my tongue mutter deceit. Far be it from me that I should declare you right. Now he's talking to Bill Dadd and these other two. I will never say that you are right. Till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. I will hold fast my righteousness, and I will not let it go. My heart does not reproach any of my days. So he gives a defense. God has not let me speak to him. He's embittered my soul, verse 2. I will never admit to what you three are demanding. And I will not mutter deceitfully, three and four. I will never give in to your accusations, nor even give myself relief to give in to your accusations. He says in verse 6, I have a clear conscience. And he takes an oath to never give in. Then Job has a demand here. Look at verse 7. This is kind of interesting. You might call this Job's imprecatory prayer. Do you know what imprecatory prayer is? You ever read that? The imprecatory prayers of the book of Psalms? Wishing that God would rain down condemnation on these evil people and so on? This is kind of his imprecatory prayer. May my enemy be as the wicked and my opponent as the unjust for what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off? When God requires his life, will God hear his cry? Will distress come upon him? Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call on God at all times? I will instruct you in the power of God. What is with the Almighty I will not conceal. Behold, all of you have seen it. Why then do you act so foolishly? So all done with Mr. Nice Guy here. There's no more Mr. Nice Guy Job. There's no more diplomacy. He's gonna just say what he thinks. Let's just be clear. He says to them. You are not my friends your enemies your opponents. You are really just hypocrites And what they've been accusing joe of is what they are revealing in themselves What they are accusing Job of is what they are revealing about themselves. God is not judging me, Job says, for sin, but he is gonna judge you, you hypocrites. First he has an oath, now he announces a curse. Basically says, you know, you got it coming. It's coming to you. Job makes a declaration here. We really need to read this. I know I wasn't going to read it all, but you've got to read this section. This is 13 to 23. This is awesome. He has a declaration. Job doesn't disregard the idea that wickedness will be punished. He just denies that he has lived like this. Now, verse 13. Here's his... They've been saying all these things. Now, he's going to put it in the right perspective. This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty Though his sons are many they are destined for the sword and his descendants will not be satisfied with bread His survivors will be buried because of the plague and their widows will not be able to weep in Though he piles up silver like dust and prepares garments as plentiful as the clay He may prepare it but the just will wear it and the innocent will divide the silver He has built his house like the spider's web or as a hut which the watchman is made He lies down rich, but he never again. He opens his eyes and it is no more. How far was I gonna go? verse number 23 Terrors overtake him like a flood. Tempest steals him away in the night. The east wind carries him away and he is gone. It whirls him away from his place, for it will hurl at him without sparing. He will surely try to flee from its power. Men will clap their hands at him and will hiss at him from his place. That's amazing. Job doesn't disregard the idea that wickedness will be punished. He just denies that he was not guilty of the wickedness. He says in verse 14 and 15 that there is a portion for the wickedness. Their sons are destined for the sword. Their descendants are destined for starvation. Survivors will die of plagues. Widows will be too weak to weep. Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever read Jeremiah's Lamentations, the book of Lamentations? You ever read that? About what he saw and what he witnessed after the destruction and the complete burning of Jerusalem, after the deportation as he walked around. Do you know what he saw? These very things. That's exactly what he saw. If you read Revelation chapter 6, read what goes on there, we preached on it not too long ago, these very things, the sword, descendants, starvation, plagues, All of that, those are the very things of Revelation chapter six. So he says, look, this is true. The wicked are gonna do these things. Then he talks about the fact that the wicked have made vain provisions for themselves. Psalm 37 is a blessed Psalm. Do not fret at the prosperity of the wicked. Don't fret about it. Don't worry about the prosperity of the wicked because they're here today gone tomorrow. They're like the flower of the grass that fades. Don't worry about it. Don't let it upset you. This is what he's saying here all over again in 16 to 23 He says this he says well now the wicked may pile up riches and provisions, but other people are going to use them That's verse 16 and 17. He may build mansions, but it will not protect him That's verse 18 to 22 his glory and his reputation mean nothing and people are going to mock him in the end. I Sometimes we, it hasn't been on TV in a long time, but there used to be the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Do you remember that on TV, that kind of stuff? And people would ooh and ah at all their things. I mean, they're still doing it today. In fact, there's a big, long thing on one of the news things about the wealth of Vladimir Putin. They had a picture of his bathroom on his yacht that was solid marble with gold toilet paper hangers, literally gold. Enjoy it now. So important, the provisions of the wicked. All these things are what the three friends accused Job of doing and predicted were going to happen to him. Job turns it around and says, you know, you guys are the wicked ones. The truth is, is you have been slamming me all this time. I am innocent. I told you I'm innocent. I did not. I did not tear down. I did not rob widows to build my house. In other words, all those accusations they made about him says they're not true. He said, but I think they're true about you. Whoa. These three friends accused Job of doing and predicted what would happen to him. Do you know what? It's amazing how God has the ability to turn things around. Did you know Pharaoh tried to drown the boys in Egypt? What happened to Pharaoh's army? They were drowned in the Red Sea. Remember that? I'm going to drown all these boy babies. They probably did drown some of them. Not all of them. Didn't get Moses. All right. They were going to drown. He was going to drown them all. What happened to all of his army? There he is standing on the shore. Get in there after him. Go chase him. We can't let those people go. And his armies, the whole army goes down in there. He's standing there watching. What happens? Interesting. Do you remember Haman? Haman who hated Mordecai? He hated Mordecai with a passion, so he built the gallows. I tell you what, the king, he's called me into his presence, he's going to honor me and ask me what I want, and I tell you what I'm going to tell him. I want Haman dead, and I want all of his people dead. They had already made an edict that they were going to kill all the Jewish people in every realm, all 127 provinces would have reached all the way to Jerusalem. What happened to Haman? He was hanged on the gallows that he built for Mordecai. Amazing, along with all his sons. Remember Daniel? Daniel had some enemies, and his enemies tried to eliminate him in the lion's den, but the schemers and their families were the ones that were thrown into the lion's den, and God shut the mouth of the lions for Daniel. Pretty awesome. So basically, all of what these people have been hammering poor Job about is the things that's going to happen to them if they don't repent. Then number five, look at this, Job is going to say, he's got one more section here, he's going to expound, God's wisdom is unexplainable. God's wisdom is unexplainable. Chapter 28, verse 1 to 26, amazing here. I could even think this clearly. First thing he says in the first 11 verses is this, God's wisdom can't be sought. You can't find it out. Now we're not going to read that section, but it basically says that mankind has been seeking for everything. For example, he digs in the earth to find things. He finds gold, silver, rubies, diamonds, sapphires. He digs into the earth, he tunnels, he hangs on a cord, he chips on the wall. That's what he says in verse 11. He finds, he looks, he hunts, but you know what? You can't find wisdom by searching for it like that. No matter how much ability that we are given, God has granted all sorts of abilities to mankind. The emphasis here is about digging up things out of the earth. He digs, he tunnels, he mines, he works like a worm. Speaking of worms, he works like a worm in the earth to discover gold, silver, jewels, diamonds, and such, but wisdom cannot be found like that. Some treasures are found in the earth, but wisdom is not found by seeking it. And then there's something else. He says, verses 12 to 19, God's wisdom cannot be bought. First of all, it couldn't be sought. Can't find it by looking. Second, God's wisdom can't be bought. He poses the question in verse number 12. 28 verse 12, but where can wisdom be found? We didn't find it in the tunnels of the earth. So where can it be found? He poses that question. Well, let's read it It says but where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding man does not know its value Nor is it found in the land of the living? The deep says, it's not in me. The sea says, it's not with me. Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor silver can be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold or glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for the articles of gold. Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned and the acquisition of wisdom is above that of pearls the topaz of Ethiopia Cannot equal it nor can it be valued in pure gold. So here's what he says to him Gold is mentioned five times silver one time seven precious stones are mentioned yet. None of them can buy one ounce of wisdom Wisdom cannot be bought at any price, because wisdom is a priceless treasure. So why is he saying this? You see, these guys have come to talk to Job, and they just think they're so smart and they're so wise. They've got everything. They've got God figured out, got Him put in a box. God always has to act the same way under every situation, because if somebody's suffering, it's because God decided they're wicked, and that's just the way it is. They have no wisdom. We need wisdom. How many of you need a little wisdom from time to time to make the right decision? How many of you need it daily? How many of you made decisions without wisdom at some point in your life? How many of you bought a car when it wasn't a good idea? Raise your hand. How many of you co-signed a note? You don't have to tell me. Don't raise your hand, all right? I am co-signing the note. What does the Bible say about that? You know the Bible has something to say about that? Yeah, you know, how many of us, you know, I mean mortgages and cars and cosigning of notes and saying yes to the kids when we know we should be saying no? How many of you ever done that? Oh, everybody's doing it, okay. This isn't the 1940s, you better believe it isn't the 1940s. A good dose of the 40s, 50s, and 60s might not hurt us, to be honest, but I'm gonna go on. But let's just see this next one. God's wisdom cannot be taught. I separated myself from our book on this one. The book says God's wisdom can be taught. Well, not by man. God's wisdom cannot be taught by man. It must be taught by God. Only God can give us wisdom. Now, the Bible says it's available. Where does it say that in the Bible? What's the Bible say, if any man lacks what? Let him what? In this whole idea of asking, what is the concept and the precept behind that? We ask God for wisdom, so what are we admitting? We don't have it. So if we never ask, what do we think? If I never ask, Then I'm making an assumption that I have everything what? Figured out. How's that working out for us? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask. There's humility in asking. What does God think about humility on the part of man? He loves it. And if we don't ask, then what's the opposite of humility? What does God think about pride in man? You know, these are all interconnected teachings in the Scripture. And so, wisdom is available, it's just you can't, you're not gonna learn it. I'm up here teaching the Bible and I'm preaching everything like this, but I'm not the source of wisdom. I make as many mistakes as you do. But we need to ask God, don't we? This is interesting. I wrote this down. It's stunning. God's wisdom cannot be taught. I doubt that you could convince Harvard and Yale alumni that their education gave them no wisdom. I mean, what did they pay for it? Gave them no wisdom. Verses 20 to 22, wisdom is concealed. Verse 23, God knows the way of wisdom and its place of hiding, so to speak, verse 23. The next, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Jerry, I was glad you mentioned that. Now what did you say that Brother Tony Evans said? He said the fear of the Lord is what? Is taking God seriously. Taking God seriously. I love that. That's awesome. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Fear God and the doors open to wisdom. Ignore God and the doors stay shut up to you for wisdom. Isn't that amazing? Fear God and it opens the door to wisdom. Ignore God and the doors stay shut to wisdom. It's a very oft-repeated statement in the Bible. I've given you several references there. We're not going to read them all. I'll just read one. Psalm 111, 10. Psalm 111, 10. It says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There it is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. That's Psalm 111, verse 10. It's all through the Bible. So this is where Job set himself apart. He did fear the Lord. He acknowledged, reverenced, submitted to, and obeyed Him. Chapter 1 verse 1, chapter 1 verse 8 and 9, chapter 2 verse 3 state that Job was a man who did what toward God? He what? feared God. He took God seriously, as Tony Evans defines it. I have put a little more here. The fear of the Lord is a subject deep and wide. I said that there's absolutely no way that we could completely cover the concept, but we do need a working definition. Here's what we do know that is certain about wisdom. What is certain is that we learn and follow his word, we yield to his will, we obey his commands, and we serve his purposes. That's a wise thing to do. The wise thing to do is to learn and follow His Word, yield to His will, obey His commands, and serve His purposes. And if you're going to do all that, you have to take Him seriously. Boy, I need to pull over. It's only 8.05. I've got to say this. This is one of the most difficult things for Christians to get in their mind, even Christians, much less lost people. When God reveals to us His Word and when we read His Word and He tells us, He reveals to us through His Word what we should do and what we should not do, or what is truth and what is not truth, or what is the right way and what is the wrong way. It is not for our contemplation. You know what we like to do? We like to hear what God says. Do not commit adultery. Well, let me think about that. Under what circumstances and in what situation might I? Do not live in fornication. Well, you know, the world's a different place today. You know, I mean, we ought to just be able to get away with some of these things. You see what I'm saying, Jerry? Even, listen, I've had people argue right to my face that they have an exception clause with God. Christians say, well, you just do not serve the same God of grace that I do. You know, God is so gracious to us that He tells us what's good for us, and if we go against what He has told us is good for us, then His grace is out of operation. Do you understand that? When God reveals his will to us through his word, do this and don't do that, it's not because he hates us, he just knows what's good for us. I don't think I ever knew a mother that told her child, you cannot have ice cream only breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that she was being mean to him. Now, if she didn't get it for dessert, then she would be mean, but I'm just simply saying. But I'm just pointing out, God is not mean, He is dangerous. But He's not mean, He's not unkind, He's loving, kind, full of mercy, long-suffering to a thousand generations to those who love Him, you understand? And so when God says something to us, the worst thing we can do is to say, okay, I guess I gotta get some thought to that, let me weigh that out in my mind whether I wanna obey that command or not. You're already done. Because the attitude that we're supposed to have, this is John 17, he that would know the truth or know the will of God is the one who is predetermined to obey it. The predetermined, Lord, show me thy will and I will obey. That person's gonna know what God means and he's gonna know what his will is. Because his predetermination is, I will obey. Interesting, huh? Well, that wasn't in the lesson, but it's very much related to the lesson. I've got to finish this thing. Here are some gems, some towering pillars of eloquent truth that are given in this section that we just cannot overlook. I love this. Look at chapter 26 and verse number 14. Didn't read it earlier, but you gotta look at it right now. It says, behold. Job's been going on, Bildad went on and on about how great God is, and then Job goes on about how great God is, and then verse number 14 says this. 26, 14, behold, these are the fringes of his ways. How faint a word we hear of him, but his mighty thunder, who can understand? Let me put that in understandable language. We go to Niagara Falls and we hear the thunder and we see the water. Oh, how great God is! I've been through the Andes trekking on many occasions and around every corner is another... Oh, the most incredible sights I've ever seen in my life. Waterfalls, and snow-covered mountains, and these trees that grow out of solid rock. How could there be place for a root? And I look at all this stuff, and I've seen it, and I've been to Africa, and I've seen these giraffes, and I've seen these lions and tigers, and I was waiting on the elephants for two hours, thinking there wasn't an elephant in the whole place of Africa, and then in two seconds, they all showed up at once, and I thought I was dead. I mean, it's just incredible, I'm telling you. Oh, the creation, we looked at it a moment ago, the universe and all of those things. And then we take the Bible, the incredible treasure of the word of God and all of those. Let me tell you something. All we know about God are the fringes. All we have been revealed to us are just the most minute. It's like looking under the fingernail of God. We have no idea how great God is. All we have heard of God has been nothing but a whisper. What would it be like to hear him thunder? That's what, this is Job. He said, that's how great God is. All of these things are just the edges. All we're doing is just, it's like Moses. All you're gonna be able to do is see where I was. You're not gonna be able to look right at me. Amazing. These are mountain peaks. Here's another one. Our knowledge of God fills us with awe. With wonder But he knows so much more. Listen to romans 11 23. Oh Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of god how unsearchable are his judgments his ways. Listen, please listen to this his ways Past finding out for who has known the mind of the lord or who has become his counselor. He is past Finding out my desire to explore the andes was Incredible, but around every turn was a new wow moment. The vistas are an ending, but unlike God, they have a limit. Our knowledge of God drives us to humility. Boy, if we get proud in the face of God's greatness, then God's greatness ought to make us understand our minuscule nature. And it makes me go to Psalm 8. What is man? that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, yet hast crowned him with glory. Just think about this. Why does God bother? I was going in to get cut on the other day and everything. I cried and boohooed. Lord, please help me cut through this, because I want to keep preaching and everything. And I'm thinking about all this stuff. I mean, I am like a tick on a bird dog. Why do I even matter? But to God, every one of us matters. Why? Because he's so great. He can give attention to the smallest detail of your life. He knows how many hairs I do not have on my head. You see, he's God and he's great and he's glorious and he cares about us. And Job's in the midst of all this trouble and he's being so eloquent, he's talking about these things. God is, I mean, he's awesome, Job says. I don't understand what he's doing to me right now, but he's awesome. Boy, that's trust, you know that? Jerry, that's trust. My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than yours, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. A.W. Tozer said this. Left to ourselves, we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get him where we can use him, or at least to know where he is when we need him. We want a God that we can control. That is the essence of the trouble with Christianity today. Because we're trying to make God our servant instead of offering ourselves as God's servants. Get a handle on God. God do this, God do that, God fix this, God fix that. Well of course we bring our anxious prayers to him and he cares and he loves us. But how about here my Lord send me? Here's what Phil Winfield says. You say, does he say anything? Well, I got all inspired reading, studying this thing and I wrote this. I have witnessed and perhaps indulged myself in the idea that I need to get a handle on God so that I can benefit from his power. Anybody ever done that? Getting to understand him is a priority, but truly the worshiper will cease to worship if he can gain knowledge equal to his God. Thankfully, we worship he who condescended to allow for humble worship to a God who is past finding out. So Pastor Phil, that's a lot of words. What are you trying to say? I'm just saying if we could understand God, then He would not be so great. And if He was not so great, our desire to worship would diminish. But He is great. And that's what the lesson was about this week. Job's given us lessons on what to do when it doesn't all make sense. Somebody said it back here, what are we learning from Job? The last two words, trust God. Trust God. Amen Lord, thank you so much father for your word. Thank you for this man, Job Thank you that he had something to say Even in the midst of his pain Sometimes Lord the pains of our life give clarity of thought that nothing else can Sometimes the troubles the pains the losses Give a value I get a clarification of values Lord Help us to value you, you yourself, you, our God, and your son, Jesus, and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Help us to value that we know you, because this is life eternal, to know the one true God and his son, whom he has sent. In Jesus' name, amen.