the third part of the Hebrew scriptures. And because we're dealing with the writings, you should expect in these last classes to have a lot more application because that's what the writings, that's one of the important purposes of the writings are to to teach us how to live wisely in this fallen world until the King comes. Until the King comes. How to live wisely in this fallen world until the King comes. And so, let's begin by opening with Job. We'll read a couple of verses from Job chapter 1, Job chapter 42, and then Proverbs 3. We'll pray, have a few minutes to go over a handout together, or just a few highlights from the handout, and then we'll We'll go through our outline today that's on the board for Job and Proverbs. This is Job 1, and I'll read verses 1 through 9. Job 1, verses 1 through 9. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this was the greatest of all the people of the East. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day. And they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan, or the accuser, also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it. And the Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil? And then Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for no reason? Thus ends the reading of God's word, but one thing, a couple things to note there for our study today is number one, The Lord God, the covenant Lord, considers Job a blameless and upright man who fears God. We're told that at least twice in these nine verses. The first verse actually comes out to tell us there was a man blameless and upright who feared God and turned away from evil. God's account of him, God's witness, testimony of Job is that he fears God. Now, also, you want to note that he is of the people of the east, particularly, at the end of verse 3. He lives east of Eden. He lives in the wilderness. All right. He's not in paradise yet. So then, if you would, let's look at the end of Job, chapter 42. At the end of Job 42, this is Job answering the Lord after He goes through his struggle with suffering, trying to understand these things in light of God's Word. And then he sees the Lord by faith. And it says in Job 42, verse 1, then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. hear and I will speak. I will question you and you make it known to me. I had heard of you by the hearing of the year, but now my eyes see you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. So at the end of Job, thus ends the reading of God's word. At the end of Job, he ends by seeing the Lord more clearly and understanding And taking more of a humble and prayerful disposition, he'll ask the Lord and then he'll wait on answers if the Lord is pleased to answer him. And then, of course, he ends with repentance from the heart. So let's then turn to Proverbs chapter 3. We'll read a couple of verses there and pray and then do some of the outline together. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 1 through 6. Consider what we're about to read, not only in light of your own life, but consider it in light of the life of Job. So we just read Job. And so how would this chapter in Proverbs, how would chapter 3, verses 1 through 6 help you help us to better understand Job? That's one of the purposes of reading Job and Proverbs together. Verse 1, my son, do not forget my teaching. but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart so you will find favor and good success or good reputation in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your path. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healed." Thus ends the reading of God's Word. So, when you read this in light of Job, I think it makes more sense for us because that's one of the purposes of the Holy Spirit putting it in the canon in this way is that we might read it seeing Job's sufferings and then reading about the importance of trusting in the Lord and acknowledging him in all our ways and know that in some strange way that we cannot fathom in our fallenness, that it's actually healing to our flesh and refreshment to our bones. And if you remember that language of flesh and bones are the things that Job is feeling or being torn from him. His flesh is heavy with suffering. His bones feel like they're ripping apart. It's a very emotional description of flesh and bone of the things that Job is struggling with. And so, being not wise in one's own eyes, but fearing the Lord and turning away from evil, even in the midst of suffering, is a very helpful purpose of Proverbs. And reading Job and Proverbs together, I think, gives us a better understanding of God and his word. All right, let's pray, and then we'll begin. Our Father and our God, we are grateful that you are the all-wise God. We thank you that you're the king immortal, invisible, the only wise God. Be glory to you forever and ever. We thank you that you're the infinitely knowledgeable being who is pleased to share that knowledge with us in Christ through the Holy Spirit. You're the infinitely holy being that you're pleased to give that holiness to in Christ and continue that work in us through your Spirit to make us more and more holy like you. We thank you that you're the infinitely happy God that shares your joy, shares your happiness as we learn to live for you and love your commandments and to serve you. We thank you that you are kind to give us knowledge of yourself, holiness, happiness. We pray that we would humble ourselves before you today. and live our lives denying ourselves, picking up our cross and following you. We pray that you would give us wisdom through the study of Job and Proverbs and that we would understand these things more deeply that we could glorify you in Christ. We thank you for Lord Jesus who has shed his precious blood to redeem us. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would come to be our inner teacher and to teach us and to direct our paths and give us light on the path through the Holy Scriptures. We pray in Jesus' name and all the church said, amen. So looking at our outline for a few minutes, let's look together at this. And there's some things on the board that are rather small. So if you'd move up a little closer, I'd appreciate it. And that way, you can see better what's on the board. I think that'd be good for you. And of course, it's always nice to have more fellowship if you move up closer. There's plenty of seats here. Feel free to do that. But grab your handout and let's look at this together. A couple of questions I just want to ask before we actually look at the specifics of Job and Proverbs. How is one made wise? How is one made wise? How do you obtain wisdom? Yes, sir. The fear of the Lord. And what does the fear of the Lord look like? Give me an example of the fear of the Lord or define it a little bit more fully. That's right. Good. OK. Like the fear of a son to a father. Excellent. Good. All right. So a reverence and a couple with love. Right. Good, good, good, good. And how do you obtain wisdom? Through the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. How do you obtain that wisdom through the fear of the Lord? Okay, obey the written scriptures, the Torah, obey the scriptures as they're given in Moses and the prophets. It's very important for remembering that the writings are part of the whole of the Old Testament. And we already have then the study of Torah, the study of Moses, and the study of the prophets. And now the Proverbs and Job are teaching us how to live in light of that. Okay, good. Describe a true disciple of Christ. There are three characteristics you might describe in this true disciple of Christ. And, you know, there's answers. Obviously, these answers can be – there can be a variety of answers to answer this. I have three particularly in mind with regard to wisdom, and I'll reserve those for a moment. But name three things that make up a true disciple of Jesus Christ. What are three characteristics? Yes, ma'am. Okay? Obedience out of love. Absolutely. If it's not from the heart, it can fall into legalism. It's easy for, you know, the Lord says, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. And that certainly doesn't mean that he doesn't love sacrifice. It just means he wants sacrifice that comes not merely externally, but from the heart. Right? So he says that I want mercy from the heart to drive your sacrifice. You know, I want love. for myself and your neighbor to drive your sacrifices. Good. All right, so obedience, is that what you were saying? Or, yep, obedience, that is from the heart. What's another characteristic of a true disciple? Yes, sir, TJ. Yes, absolutely. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Listen. Good, good, good, good. Anyone else? Any other thoughts? OK, repentance. We've seen that in Job. We see that in the importance of Proverbs over and over. The repentance, the listening, the obedience, all of those things are true. The three things that I think of first are listening, learning, and following. And they correspond to denying oneself, picking up a cross, and following me. If you think about it, you've got the listening, learning, and following. You've got the denying yourself in that you're going to listen, you're submitting, you're teachable, we might say. You're learning, and oftentimes you're learning not just through the word, but as we see in job, you're learning through experience. You're learning through hard circumstances. and following, just continuing to trust in the Lord with all your heart, following, listening, learning, and following. Those are three essentials of the discipleship, or picking up, denying oneself, picking up your cross and following you. What do we learn about God in the book of Job, anyone? You know, just from what we read today, or perhaps you had time to prepare by looking at some of these questions. What do we learn about God from the book of Job? Yes, sir, TJ. Good. Amen. Good. God is king, sovereign over all. Okay. That controls all things. That delights in fulfilling his purpose and plan. As we read in Job 42 verses 1 through 6, none of his plans or purposes can be thwarted. All right. Good. Excellent. That's the sovereignty of God. Excellent. Anything else? That that would be a wonderful thing for us to remember. And what do you learn about suffering in the book of Job? Yes, sir, Tom. Yep, it's for God's glory. Now, anything else? When we say God's glory. Yes, ma'am. Yep. Amen. Amen. Yeah, that's a very important part that that suffering is for the glory of God. And it's actually for the good of God's people. You know, God wants to share his knowledge of himself. He wants to share his holiness. He wants to share his happiness. And a primary means he does that is through our suffering, through our suffering. And it doesn't mean that we are necessarily suffering because of some, as a consequence of sin. All right, very important. Job can keep us from moralism and cynicism. How is that so? You know, moralism, is just when you're keeping outwardly the commands of God and then expecting from God a good life. You can always tell you're moralistic or you have that taint of moralism still in your heart when something bad happens to you and you say, why'd you do that to me, God? Don't you know I do all these things for you? That kind of attitude, that's moralism, that's legalism. So if you just read the Proverbs by themselves, we'd all be apt to be moralists, and that can be dangerous. That's why God graciously gave us Job to balance it. But moralism and then cynicism is just, it doesn't matter. Everything bad happens. I can't trust anybody. This is a bad life. I can't trust God. How does Job keep us from both the sins of both moralism and cynicism? We've really already answered it, right? But it's just a particular application of it. What would that answer be? Good. Good. Yes. Very good. Not punitive discipline, paternal discipline. That's excellent. There's no penal aspect to it. There is only a paternal aspect. That's very helpful. We're actually going to look at that. That's so important that we understand that it's, again, it's God doing what is best for his glory, but also what's best for our good. Because we come out of it seeing him better and understanding our lives better. And that keeps us from both moralism and cynicism and and we'll look at that in a moment now let's look at the book of Proverbs real quick just some a few things we can't do any all of these of course I encourage you to do this at home and maybe as a family but what is up the Proverbs if you had to do it real quick I mean we we're short on time but I want to think about it if you had to say it real quick just just just blurt it out all right what does the Proverbs teach you about discernment what's What does the Proverbs teach you about discernment? Either something you already know or something you've read or something you've prepared. Go ahead, tell me. Okay, absolutely. Seek it, cry out for it, ask for it. It means it's a request as well as a pursuit. Talking, words. What does the Proverbs teach us about talking and words? Okay, listening again. Reflection, meditation. Growth, good, good. A proverb, its whole purpose is to be reflected upon. A law is sort of just straightforward. Don't kill. All right, got that one. But don't kill even when you have these circumstances and these situations. I need reflection. So it's reflection on the proverbs as a guide to growth. Excellent. Folly. What's the proverb say about folly? Does it contaminate us all? So we're all fools by nature? So you could say we're not only sinful by nature, but are we all fools by nature? Uh-oh. So what do we need? Folly. Folly. Fools need wisdom. Absolutely. OK, good. Keeping the heart. What does the Proverbs say about keeping the heart? OK. Good, good, good, good. OK. Yeah. It's very important to embrace wisdom. Embrace wisdom and not sin as it comes in many forms and temptations. Anger, passion. What does it say about anger and passion? Don't go to sleep angry. Be angry but sin not. So seek to have a righteous indignation because you can't really be loving without a righteous indignation. You know, someone cannot really love without having some kind of anger, righteous anger, if that which they love is threatened. Indifference is worse than hatred. So, very important to cultivate your anger and your passion according to Scripture. Sloth. Sloth. Can't eat? You're lazy, you're not going to eat. All right. It's destructive, yes, and it affects everyone. because your vocation is for God and for others. You're the hand that feeds everyone. You're called to do that. All right, so lots of things we could talk about. I do want to point your attention to idolatry, particularly the inordinate desires that Proverbs addresses for the inordinate desire for controlling our families, our situations, controlling our lives, seeking approval from others more than God, seeking comfort in hating any kind of discipline or suffering and seeking power What Job does when we read the Proverbs is Job reminds us that even though you have discernment, it doesn't mean you'll be free from suffering. And it means that in your suffering, you're talking in words, you must be careful in the way that you're using them, in the way that you react to God, and that you use your talking in words for prayer. Your reflection in meditation must be to trust in the Lord and do good even when there's hard times. I'm just going through the list. Job teaches us that suffering actually shows us the folly that still remains in our heart and the unwillingness to listen. It oftentimes makes us angry. To put it another way, we think that if we're diligent and deliberate in everything we do, we seek to have friendships, we avoid lust, and we try to humble ourselves every day that we're going to live the good life. And Job says, not necessarily, though it will be a joyful life. It'll be the life God gives you in order to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. And control, well, what does suffering do for control? How does it break that idol? If you've got to have your calendar the way it is, you've got to control your family. Think about how a control freak could use Proverbs to actually think that they're in more control. That if I just have my kids remember Scripture and I get them to do this and that, then they're going to live godly lives. Can you imagine that? I could be tempted to that easily. Suffering comes in and says, boom. How'd that happen? You're out of control. It humbles you. God is sovereign, not you. Keep trusting Him and doing what's right. Approval. Approval. Well, you're stripped of everything. Even your friends are talking crazy to you when you get sick or suffering. They try to be their little two bits, and often they have good intentions, but they misapply it. One of the wonderful things about the book of Job is what the friends of Job do initially, is they sit with him. That's a revealing of how we're to respond when our friends are sick, is go sit with them. Keep your mouth shut whenever they're troubled, but be very careful you don't tell them, well, we'll get to that in a moment, why they're going through what they're going through. There's something better to tell them. All of these things, comfort. Comfort is blown up, right? If we only seek comfort and pleasure and then have to deal with suffering and then power, of course, nobody likes suffering because it humiliates us. Oh, it's humiliating. Think of Job, how humiliated he was. And by the way, suffering gets us all if we live a long life because it's called getting old. And while the Proverbs tell us that it's the glory of a man or a woman to have gray hair, there's also a lot of things bodily and mentally that go along with that, and death itself, and the loss of friends that you've had for years. So we suffer. That's the reality. And we're to be wise. And so let me encourage you with a few things then. As we got started a little bit, let me remind you of a few things. So we want to trust in the Lord and do good. You know, trust in the Lord. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Don't be wise in your own eyes. That would have really hurt Job if he had been. And, you know, at times he was seeking to be wise in his own eyes. He struggled. Right. But Job, as we looked at last week, tells us that the world is well managed. that it's managed by a sovereign God who has a purpose, a perfect purpose and plan. Amen? And Proverbs tells us that we can live a life that's well-managed, but again, according to God's purpose and plan. The wisdom says, I'm going to do all that the Proverbs teach me. This is wisdom. I'm going to do all that the Proverbs teach me to do. I'm going to teach my family the same and show them how to attain a life that is well managed while walking with a sovereign, mysterious God. Who always will do me good, but won't always answer my questions immediately. So I'm going to do what he tells me to do because my life will be well managed, but And there is a purpose and plan, but I need wisdom to know that suffering is built into that in this fallen world. So, what's important, beloved, is this canonical circular interpretation, where with three books in the writings, three books of wisdom literature particularly, you need to have this frame or perspective. When you're reading Proverbs, also read Job. And when you're reading Job and Proverbs, also read Ecclesiastes. And so, it's a kind of canonical circular interpretation that the Holy Spirit gives to us so that we have wisdom when all we can see under the sun is meaninglessness or we're tempted to it. And when we see Proverbs and see a life that is well-managed to some degree, But we're tempted to think that if we just do all these things, everything will be bright and happy in our lives. Job reminds us, Job reminds us, along with Cleisestes, that we live under the sun and the place we live is full of toil and trouble and thorns. And there's suffering that God will bring into our lives. And then we read Ecclesiastes again and think, well, sometimes I think it's meaningless, but I'm to fear God and keep his commandments. That's the end of man. That's the end of the story. And then Proverbs, I'm going to continue to trust him. I'm going to be reflecting, listening, learning, following person. I'm going to trust him. I'm going to trust him. And when it comes to this, I'm going to struggle with Job, but I'm going to struggle to remember that he is good, that God is good and that he's given his word. And God is not less than his word, but he's so much more than his word. He his word is a revelation of himself. But there's many things about himself and his purpose and plan that he doesn't tell us. And that's where you have to fit suffering into your life. OK, so they understand to some degree about that. When we talk about Job, beloved, we want to talk about this trend of a righteous, blameless man. We looked at this very early in the class, maybe in the introduction, but a righteous, blameless man, all right, who goes down into death, goes down into death or suffering, okay, and then by God's grace comes out of it and can see better. the purpose and plan of God for one's life. So in the scriptures, Job would be kind of a tragedy that ends in a comedy. And it's really the place for every believer is that they are truly righteous and blameless in God's sight, and they're learning the fear of the Lord. But the reality is that their lives can sometimes be tragic or seem like tragedies, but it's all to end in resurrection. It's all to end in everlasting glory. It's all to end in more glory for God and more good for the person, to be more of a listener, to be more of a learner, to be more of a follower. And so in all of our situations, though our lives contain tragedy because we live in a fallen world, our lives will ultimately always end in comedy, always end in the resurrection. And so J.R.R. Tolkien, in his wonderful essay on fairy stories, uses a term that's very helpful here. It's called eucatastrophe. And that's worth remembering. A eucatastrophe is where somewhere in one's life, it just seems like it just can't get any worse. It's the lowest point of a story or tragedy. you rise up, either through healing and more wisdom in this life or through death in the Lord Jesus to see Him face to face. But you've got to understand that when it says, by His stripes we're healed, that doesn't mean that the sovereign God will necessarily heal us here. It means that He will heal us, but it may be through the door of death, that He's transformed into a door of life. and wisdom and light. So no matter where we are as believers, we can always say with Job that I know that my Redeemer lives and I will see Him in my flesh because I am going to experience a eucatastrophe, which is a good catastrophe. You is the first part of Greek that just means good, like in a good word, a eulogy, a eulogos, eucatastrophe is the turning around of an impossible situation in death to bring healing and hope and life. And every Christian experiences that. And we have this given to us. Remember, you might remember this now in Job, Joseph, Jonah and Jesus. You remember talking about that? So it's a pattern that we see throughout Scripture. And every good story, I would argue, has the eucatastrophe. You read the Lord of the Rings, what's great about it is it seems like an impossible situation. It's a no-win situation. No way they're going to win. No way they're going to get to the end. No way there's going to be good that comes from this. And it's boom. It's up from the dead. It is, if you push me down, If I fall, I will rise again. It is the whole of the Old Testament that it says that Jesus had to suffer and die and on the third day rise again. So Jesus actually is the one who turns all of our tragedies into comedies. All right. So he's the one. But all of these other Old Testament figures help us to think about the Lord Jesus. You know, every story you can think of that you really like are the stories, not like the Wizard of Oz, that at the end of things, there's not really an Oz. There's no God. It's an atheist story, by the way. It's a parable of atheism. Don't trust it. At the end, it's not even fun. Come on. So at the end, so MGM put a lot of money into it. Made it a pretty good movie. But anyway, the point is, you get to the end, it's all atheism. The wizard's not real. Everything you did, you did it because you already had a heart. You already had courage. You didn't need anybody else to do it for you. It's all about man-centered stuff, right? That's not a good story. A good story is one where the hero has fallen. And you know that the hero is doing good when he falls, the best stories. And the hero falls and gets into trouble, and it's not his fault necessarily. It's just that things in his circumstances are very hard, even unto death, and maybe even death itself. But that there is this turning point, this eucatastrophe, where the hero finds life or clarity or understanding. Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings would have never said to Frodo, after all of these things, I wonder if they'll write stories about us. I wonder if they'll write songs about us. As always, he didn't know he was a hero. He's the hero. And he's the hero because he was the humble man who helped as a servant to accomplish the task. And he realized in the middle of the story or somewhere toward the end of the middle over the second part of the book, the story that they're going to remember them in songs and stories, perhaps. That this is special. That's what the comedy. And you know, when I hear Sam say that, I hear James saying, remember the patience of Job. And I remember how generation after generation of believers have taken comfort in that book of Job. The song of Job, the story of Job, the story of his tragedy, the story of his suffering, the story of his eucatastrophe, and his victory. All of those things have brought comfort to every generation. It's one of the earliest books of the Old Testament. It's one of the earliest books of the Old Testament. It either came a little bit before Abraham, Or it came during Abraham's time, perhaps, but it's the oldest of the Old Testament stories. And every generation can take comfort from this story. So, you want songs and stories to be told about you? They will be told about you, but it's not to seek those things in themselves. It's to do the service even with the suffering and know that through it there is resurrection life, and there's hope, and there's wisdom, and the stories will be told about your wisdom. If you seek the thing itself, the wisdom, the honor, the glory, you won't ever find it. It's to seek God and what He wants for your life. And then you find all the beautiful things that go along with it. Not necessarily in your lifetime, but you find those things and it may be eternity before you see them. Amen? All right, so Job and Proverbs together calls us to, let's talk about it. First of all, let's just summarize a few things. You ready? It calls us to listening. We need to be listening. Listening more than talking. And listening means, beloved, when you are especially being addressed with an admonishment, or maybe a correction, or a criticism, or a butte, listening especially in those times. Even if someone is not friendly in their fire, that nevertheless, you can listen and learn something from what they're saying to you. Honestly, there's usually a nugget of truth in even your most harsh, in the harshest critics. There's some kind of something you can gather And that's important to listen. Listen means not only hearing audibly, it means to get it in you and to let it make a difference in you, right? Listening is why Jesus, the wise man, he's the wise man incarnate, isn't he? So why does he speak in parables? I'll do something else. Reflection. So you'll think about it. So you not only listen, you go think about it. Don't ever respond to a letter or a criticism at that moment. Just general wisdom here. Don't ever respond to a criticism or a comment or something somebody wants you to think about with a quick email, quick text, or a quick letter, or even a quick response. Reflect on it a little bit and just say, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to reflect on that. I'm going to get everything I can out of that, and I'll get back with you. And you could get back to defend yourself, say, you know, I think you're wrong on this. But I found that you're going to find something right every time, even with the harshest critic. And you're going to say, I got that one. I own it. And that's going to be helpful for my life. Thank you. Listen, reflection. That's the parable. So Jesus gives us parables, which is the same word in Hebrew that's translated from the Hebrew proverb is a mashal. It's translated as parable. So a parable is a wisdom story to get you to listen and reflect. The other thing we want is fear of the Lord. We find that over and over, don't we, in Proverbs and Job. At the beginning of Job, he fears the Lord, yet he suffers. Proverbs says, fear the Lord. At the end of Ecclesiastes, we're told to fear the Lord, for that's the most important thing. Fear the Lord. Four is devotion. As we pointed out today, that it's so important to have more than just outward obedience. It's that you want your heart to be devoted and undivided. Devoted and undivided. A wholehearted devotion to the Lord gives you a wholehearted devotion to your neighbor. All right. And then application. application. The point of the Proverbs and the reason why you have this listening, reflection, fear of the Lord, devotion application is that you're seeking to better understand how to live in different seasons and circumstances according to God's Word. So the Proverbs are never less than what the law says, but they're more in the sense of application of the law. So if you were to hang out with the Lord Jesus, in the flesh. And then you said, now Lord Jesus, you told me to love my neighbor. Who's my neighbor? And he says, well, I'm gonna tell you a story. Tells a story about who the neighbor is. And you go, Lord Jesus, does that mean that my neighbor is everyone who has a need? That's what I mean. That's right. And so we come in that situation, that circumstances. Now, Lord Jesus, I found that with some of my taxes, they had not charged me tax on some of my internet purchases. And I want to be honest. The Bible tells me to be honest. The Bible tells me to be truthful with my tax return. But they didn't charge me tax, and yet my state wants that tax. What should I do, Lord Jesus? Mm-hmm. OK. And then you look in the Word and seek counselors. What should I do? You're trying to find wisdom. You're trying to find an application of the law for that moment. You know how it is. Somebody says, I need some counseling. And you think, you've got all the answers, right? It's all very humbling. So he comes up, and it's like a situation of, no, I don't understand this at all, you're saying in your head. This is outrageous. I don't know how to apply the scriptures here. And he wasn't. So you pray for it. You depend on it. You think about it. You reflect on it. You say, let me think with you on this. Let's pray about it. I'll get back with you. This is hard. Because if you direct them just to law, well, they know that. Usually, they know it built in. We know it, usually. But it's not the law so much as how to apply it in this particular situation that's a hard circumstance. It's a hard situation. Let me give you an example. This is from the Proverbs. And I think this is one of my favorite to use. You may have heard me use it before, but Proverbs 26. Let's all turn there. Proverbs 26, to get across this idea of pondering, or reflection, or devotion, application. Look at Proverbs 26, beloved. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Whoops, let's do verse four. It was on the other page, didn't see it. All right, 26 verse four. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. And then verse 5, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in your own eyes. And some people would look at that and go, now, which one is it? This is the example. This is the best example I know of that explains what I just said about the need for listening, reflection, fear of the Lord, devotion, and application. And this is one of those proverbs that I think gets at why Jesus tells stories or parables to help people to reflect and think about. Answer, not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself, means that you have to reflect on the situation to see that this is a time that you should not have all the answers. Because, for instance, this is a fool, this is a scoffer, this is a mocker, this is someone who will take the truth like a pig and just trample on it. And you have to know that. How do you know that? So those who are always ready for a fight, you've got to be thinking about this one. You have to particularly think about your own temperament. If your temperament tends to rush in to fight and defend, you have to be careful, because you may be answering a call according to spolly, and you're going to end up looking like him. That's especially important online, beloved. Somebody makes a comment. You've got to decide in an online community whether this is A fool who needs to be answered or a fool who doesn't need to be answered? That takes wisdom. Verse 5, answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes. There's a time where you say, no, it's not true. And you need to speak. Maybe your temperament is not so argumentative. You don't tend toward a debate, but maybe you're less inclined to actually speak. You're non-confrontational. Wisdom would tell you that you sometimes have to speak. You see? So wisdom addresses us as different people in different circumstances and different places and different seasons. And that's wisdom. Now, how do you do that? I remember a situation when I was at Bell South Cellular back in the early 90s, and I'd worked there for several years. And everybody knew I was a Christian, and they always saw me reading my theology books before I went to seminary. And I always enjoyed reading my theology books. And there was a woman, there was a case in the news at that time that that she wanted my opinion about. And so she stood up in front of the whole, pretty much the whole group of my group in IT department and said, hey, Charles, you're a Christian. What do you think about this? And I remembered this passage by God's grace. And I said, I've got some thoughts about that, but why don't you consider getting a group together, and we'll go to lunch and talk further about it. That's good? Oh, you don't want to answer it now? Not really. I'd rather just have you invite some folks who might be interested, and I'd be happy to talk to you. Never heard back from them. Never heard back from them. What would have happened if I had spoken? Sometimes it's a setup. You have to be careful of that. That's an example of that. Sometimes it's to get a soundbite. So be very careful for words. Be very careful of your words. So be very careful that you decide that what you're going to do is listen, reflect, fear of the Lord, devote your heart in application. And sometimes it's on the moment like that you have to decide In that moment, I would say, if you're not sure, it's better to be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. So you've still got other proverbs that you can work with to say, you know what? Proverbs teaches us that when we are very, very upset at the height of our passion, it's better not to correct someone. I'm serious. I mean, if you have to. You want it to be that you're always gentle and loving. But if you're in grumpy mode, just let everybody know. Declare it. I'm grumpy. Help me out. I'm grumpy right now. No, I'm just kidding. So all of these things, listening, reflection, fear of the Lord, devotion, application, are ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. And so I want you to see that all of it really continues to have a listening, dependence, reflection, fear of the Lord, devotion, application. But there are going to be times when you're just not sure and you need to pray about it and think about it. So study the law. Study the commandments, study the Word, and when it comes to Proverbs, Proverbs are to give you these sayings for reflection so that you can listen, you can reflect, you can fear the Lord, you get to vote, you can apply, you can think about these things in order to to see them through. Let's turn to Proverbs chapter 9. This is a favorite here. It's one of contrast. And one of the ways that Proverbs is used, sometimes Proverbs will have two different situations, like we just looked at, Proverbs 26, 4 through 5, is where you have these Two different situations, one where you're not going to speak to the fool, and another you're going to speak to the fool. All right, some of the proverbs are contrast proverbs. And chapter 9 is very helpful for contrasting wisdom and folly, because ultimately we want wisdom, right? So listen to a couple, let me just read a few of the verses. In chapter 9 verse 1, it says, Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars, she has slaughtered her beast, she has mixed her wine, She has set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. To him who lacks sense, she says, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live and walk in the way of insight." So wisdom here as a woman. is calling out and inviting for hospitality, to sit with her and to listen and learn, all right? And then we have in verse 9 and 10, verses 9 and 10, give instruction to a wise person and he, she will be wiser still. Teach a righteous person and he, she will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And then verse 13, notice this one, the woman folly is loud. She's seductive and she knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house. She takes a seat on the highest place of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way. Whoever's simple, let him turn in here. And to him who lacks sense, she says, stolen water is sweet. Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol or in hell. So there's what's often contrasted and referred to as lady wisdom and dame folly. Lady wisdom and dame folly. They both have a house. They both are calling out with invitation. They're both making promises to all who hear. One, however, verse 6, is to walk in the way of truth and to find insight. The other, verse 18, is that the dead are there. The guests are in the depths of Sheol. So, there you have, again, the two paths, don't you, of the life and the death. And they're characterized, they're personified, wisdom is personified by a woman, and often called lady wisdom here. Because she, like the Lord Jesus, cries out and says, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. She invites. She invites to feast. And come to the table so you'll learn, and you'll reflect, and you'll learn the fear of the Lord, and you'll devote. You'll see your life has a bigger plan and purpose than what you have for it. And then Folly, Dame Folly, calls out too. And she makes an invitation to everyone who wants to come, but the way there leads to death. I think that's a very helpful personification and picture of the difference between wisdom and folly. As one leads to life and one leads to death. And so we want to hear, be able to hear by God's grace, the good voice of Lady Wisdom. And we want to respond to her. And we want to know from that voice that's given through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the word, that that's where we find our answers. And that's where we find life in Christ. Now let me just say a few things about Job and then a few things about Proverbs and then we will summarize and that will be all for today. But let me say a few things about Job. So a couple of the things you want to see about Job is it's a play in five acts. And it's answering the question, why is there suffering? And it's asking the question, why is there suffering? And who is the wise sufferer? All right? So not only why is there suffering, but who is the wise sufferer? Who is the wise sufferer? In the prologue, Act I, of the play, the Bible takes us behind the scenes to see that God's purpose and plan cannot be thwarted. It is Satan who must ask permission of God if he would touch God's servant. And it's God who affirms his servant by saying he is righteous and blameless. In other words, let's put it in a different way, Job not only seeks to keep the commandments and live a godly life, he's a man who has memorized and reflected on the Proverbs. to put it in that way. But so he fears the Lord. He's a listener. He reflects. He fears the Lord. And so there's this second section, second act, where there's a dialogue what Job has with his friends. It's chapters 3 through 31. If the prologue is chapters 1 through 2, the second part is chapters 3 through 31, Job's dialogue with his friends. And all of them are speaking truths They're speaking truths, ah, that's an S, ah, not a Z, speaking truths yet with improper application. They're speaking proper truth without proper application. They don't understand the mind of God or the purpose of God. In fact, they're driven by what's called retribution theology. Does anybody know what retribution theology is? You see it in John chapter 9. Retribution theology means that that you're getting what's coming to you. Retribution theology is set in John 9 where it says, where the disciples come to Jesus and say, this man born blind, was it his sin or his parents' sin that caused him to be born blind? In other words, retribution theology is somebody must not be living according to the Proverbs because they got trouble in their house. You see, somebody must be sinning. And how many times are we tempted to that? Come on, let's be straight. Come on. Somebody's life falls apart and you go, we start getting a little smug. So what their comment, their comments are about is Job. Job, if you're suffering, there must be some sin and there must be some unconfessed sin. And because this is just not the way that God would treat someone who's doing right. And Job struggles with this. It's this compounding of wondering where God is and wondering how to trust Him in the suffering with that compounding, the laying on of more guilt from his friends. And while he struggles, he comes to a place where he has a moment of clarity during those chapters 3 through 31. The third act is Elihu's monologue. Elihu speaks from chapters 32 to 37. Chapters 32 to 37. He's the youngest, and he waits his turn to speak. He comes to the same conclusion. Ultimately, Job is suffering because he sinned. He does make a good point about suffering being a form of chastisement, but Elihu is wrong in his application. All right? And then God's speech is Act 4, chapter 38 through chapter 42, verse 6. Chapter 38 to 42, verse 6. God's speech and explanation to Job, God reveals himself and he asks Job all of these questions. And his emphasis is this, beloved, who rather than why should be our question? Who rather than why should be our question in times of suffering? Who? And chapters 38 to 42 really give us an overview of God's sovereign power in his creation and his providence, right? In his love, in his mercy. And so God answers Job by teaching Job from where true wisdom comes. True wisdom comes in relationship with me. True wisdom comes, Job, in walking with me, trusting me when you don't feel like trusting me. Trusting me when it hurts. Real bad. Don't ask why. It only gets yourself into further problems. Ask who. Remind yourself of who I am and that I am your creator and love you. And then the epilogue, Act 5, it's the last part before the curtain falls. Chapter 42, at the end of 42, verses 7 to 17, it's Job's response of submission and repentance and the wisdom, now he lives with sight to see God. Remember, he says that my ears had heard of you. Perhaps he refers to the Proverbs. My ears had heard of you through your word, through the sayings, the wise sayings I had learned, but now I see you experientially. through what you were doing to bring me nearer in relationship to you. So suffering is for the glory of God and the good. And when we say it's for the good of his people, the good I mean there is a closer walk and relationship with the covenant Lord, who is our heavenly father. There's other lessons that I could send you. I will be happy to send you as part of my larger notes that we won't have time in class, but let me just emphasize again, two things that I've said already. Number three, suffering is not necessarily the result of sin. That's the first thing. And be careful when we're being smug. The best reaction to someone else's suffering is to go and listen and be there for them. Number two, when suffering, ask not why, but remind yourself of who God is. And number three, remember there's a purpose and plan in suffering that can bring us closer to the Lord. All right, let's plug this in on the board now. Job's a fantastic book. And I want you to note that you would think that in the storytelling of Job, if the point was just to ask who rather than why, you would think that the point of the book could be done in maybe a chapter. Job suffered, and then he found out God had a plan and purpose. The point of the book, beloved, is to feel experientially, through the inspiration of the Spirit, the struggle that is real in our suffering, and to be invited into that struggle with the Holy Spirit, with God our Father, in Christ Jesus, just as Jesus struggled in his suffering in the Spirit with the Father, saying, if this cup can pass, for instance, but not my will, but yours be done. So it's to give us most, the majority of Job is about the struggle. It's about the hard times. And I think even, not only in its content, but in its form, it's to realize that a lot of our lives down here are full of suffering. It just, it goes on and on, it seems. And that's how the book of Job seems. If you read it out loud, it's like, wow, can't we just get to the ending? And isn't that how we think in suffering? Can't we just get to the end? And I think that's the reason for the form of the book, is so that when you're suffering, you're reading it out loud, and you're getting wisdom, and it's experiential, and it's actually very helpful. So what I'd like to do is let's do the theology of Job in Proverbs. Again, it's not why. But who? So important to go to the end of Job. If you want to rush to the end of the story, go to the end of Job and think about all the wonderful things that God as creator and sovereign Lord, how he's done all of these things. Where are we? Do we know where the storehouse of the snow is? No. Do we know why? The mountain goat does certain things. Do we know why the ostrich does? No, no, we don't know all those answers. No. And the point is, I do. And I created all these animals with purpose. And I especially created you, my beloved, to have purpose in the world and to free you from sin and suffering and doubt. Second thing, theology of Job. Proverbs, again, fear of the Lord, which is a fear that a son has of a father. a reverence and awe. And it's important to embrace Lady Wisdom. It's important to embrace Lady Wisdom and avoid dame folly. She's calling to I would say just about the majority of things on perhaps television today, as we call it, or YouTube, or the internet itself, is pretty much the call of dame folly. Lots of our news organizations are just the calling of dame folly. It's a very sad time to live in with regard to truth. So Dame Folly's calling out just as much as Lady Wisdom, but the wise hear Lady Wisdom and go sit with her. The wise go to sit with her. You know how you tell? Let's just plug it in. You ready? How do you know you're listening to Dame Folly? You're not listening. You're talking too much. You're watching too many opinionated news shows and opinionated shows of people who have no specialty in anything, really, who just run their mouths all the time complaining. That's bad. That's Dame Folly. There's no reflection in your life. You're constantly distracted, going from the next thing, going, responding immediately, not even giving a moment's thought, keeping your earbuds in, constant sound all around you, people all around you, things you're doing, do, do, do, but no sitting, thinking thoughtfully. No fear of the Lord. You're a reverend. You're a reverend. You don't fear him, as you should. You think of him as father, perhaps even daddy, and that's a good thing, but you don't fear him. You don't remember he's a consuming fire. and devotion. You don't devote yourself because you're distracted. And so you don't have time to apply these truths. You want everybody else to apply them for you. You want teaching to be easy. You want pastors and teachers to just give it to you. You want just a download. Got it. Whoops. That wasn't the wrong end. But you just want that kind of just connect and download it into me. That's dame folly. You're just not going to get it that way. You've got to apply it. You've got to think about it yourself. You've got to do more. Yes, the pastor, the teachers, your friends, your pastors, your parents will help you to get started on the application, but it's your work to do the rest. Otherwise, you're dependent on man and not God. And education, wise education, begins at home. Job taught his family what his suffering was about when he was restored, and they understood. And Proverbs is using constantly the language of father to a son, parents to their children. In fact, if you notice something in the Hebrew Bible, Proverbs ends with chapter 31 with the Lady Wisdom incarnate in so many ways. Lady Wisdom is a woman who is the ideal wife and mom. You ever notice that? So she has a sort of incarnation. Guess who she is? In the Hebrew Bible, what book follows? Ruth. And how is Ruth described? The grand great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother of the Lord of this woman through the power of the Holy Spirit would come wisdom incarnate himself, Lord Jesus. Is that beautiful? They knew what they were doing when they put Ruth after chapter 31, didn't they? To know that when you get to Ruth, you're reading it in light of that woman who is virtuous. All right, so let's do this. You ready? We're going to do this and then we're going to close. Here we go, king, covenant, dwelling, right? Wish I could have blown this up. So, what Job is about, to put it in our categories that I think have become hopefully very useful to us, is Job is a suffering king. And I have that in quotation marks. And so, Job is to how to suffer. He's a kind of king. He's a tribal lord at his time anyway. He's a suffering king. Proverbs tells us about a wise king and how to live wisely. So Proverbs is about a wise king, Solomon, the greatest of the wise men. And to read more about Solomon, you might read 1 Kings 3-4 and 9-11. But he's particularly the wisdom of the time. And then the Lord Jesus Christ is the true king. He's the king who's greater than Solomon. And he is both righteous and a sufferer. So the true king is a suffering king. And when you talk about Solomon, you also have to remember that he became a fool so that we would not put our ultimate trust in him, but look for another king who would come who would be righteous and suffering. Not for his sins, but for ours. Not for his folly. He didn't suffer for his folly. He suffered for ours. And then covenant that Job teaches us that God is a faithful God and we can be faithful sons. and suffer. So Job teaches us that it's not that God's being unfaithful to us, that the faithful God, we can be faithful sons and we can suffer. And the importance of Proverbs is that we'd have law and application of it. to live righteously, changing seasons and circumstances. All right, so Proverbs teaches us the law and its application of it righteously in changing seasons and circumstances. And then the covenant Lord Jesus Christ comes to fulfill all the covenant, but there's an already not yet to it. And I'll just write that down. I'll show it to you in this last part. The covenant Lord comes and he brings in the kingdom, but there's a not yet aspect to it. And that's important to remember for our lives today, right? Is that the covenant Lord comes bringing in the kingdom, but there's an already not yet aspect to it. And so what does that mean? Let's do it. The dwelling of God. Remember, it has to do with God dwelling with us or the tabernacle. That's what we started with. Job tells us that this is a portrait of life on earth until heaven. So, it's the not yet. Job's story tells us that we can have the life on earth, which is a taste, I'm saying this carefully, a taste of judgment that we call discipline. Hear that very carefully. Job tells us that life on earth until heaven will be a taste of judgment. that is discipline. Where do I get that? 1 Peter 4, 17, judgment must begin at the house of God. His point is not actual full judgment or condemnation, but his point is the judgment that is discipline, the judgment that is transformative, the judgment that is unto life, okay? Not judgment unto condemnation. Gotta use that carefully. Everybody understand? But there is a taste of it, and you'll see why I say it like that. This, Proverbs, is a portrait of life on earth as a taste of heaven. when it's done right, right? It's an already. You can actually enjoy the good life to some degree. But don't forget the not yet portrait. You see, the already not yet that comes together, that even in Jesus's life, right, the one he gives of us, there's an already not yet aspect to it. We already in him have the wise life. We have righteousness. Can everybody see? Sorry, it's so small. Yeah. I wish I'd have drawn it a lot bigger. And so that leads to Jesus Christ, God with us, who is the true temple, who is the true temple, the true one who dwells with us by his spirit, by his spirit. This is emphasizing the Holy Spirit. And what he's done for us in dwelling with us is that he's come in our own flesh to make us wise, to teach us by his Holy Spirit how to listen, how to reflect, how to fear the Lord, how to devote ourselves and how to apply all these truths in him for the glory of God and the good of his people. Amen. I wish we could see that a little bit better, but maybe I'll try to get a I'll get a close up on it picture wise. OK, and we'll blow that thing up and send it on an email. And that'll be fun. Let me close with what Jesus says in Matthew 12. Actually, let's read two verses, Matthew 11 and Matthew 12, and then we'll close. Yeah, that is really small, isn't it? And you've got to deal with my writing, too. It's not the most legible writing, is it? Oh, well, already not yet. But everybody get the already not yet part? Everybody get it? You get the fact that Job teaches us there's a little taste of judgment, which is discipline. through sufferings. Everybody get that? Whereas Proverbs teaches us there's a little taste of heaven on earth. One's a not yet. It's not yet fully revealed and one's an already. You're all like, I'm just ready to go. Get me out of here. All right. Alright, so it when one of the things Jesus said in Matthew 11 in Matthew 11 Verses 18, let's read verses 18 and 19 and then Matthew chapter 12. You ready at the I'll tell you in a second Jesus says John came neither eat nor drinking eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." Very important, yet wisdom is justified by her deeds. In other words, you'll see wisdom in people's lives. You'll see the deeds. The deeds will give credence to one's confession. Like someone says they're wise, let's see it in your deeds. So, what he's saying is you will see the wisdom by the deeds, all right? And then chapter 12, verses, let's do 41 to 42, and then we'll close. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. So not only one greater prophet than Jonah, who has that same storyline, that trend, that Jesus says that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. He ties the story together. So he also ties the story, very importantly, to King Solomon and his wisdom. And he says, one greater than Solomon is here. In other words, What is Jesus doing there? He's inviting all who recognize Him as one greater than Solomon to come to Him, to come to Him and find all the answers that you need. In other words, He's revealing Himself as Lady Wisdom, who's calling out for all to come and to feast with Him and to find all the wisdom that you need in Him. That's what He's doing. So he's the wise king, the one that Solomon pointed forward to. Any questions or comments today? Yes, ma'am. Amen. Wonderful. Even if it feels out of control, God's always in control. Excellent. I'll see if I can find that and I'll clip. Yeah, yeah. Proverbs is better to think of as with promises better. They're the main reason they'll not depart. I'd rather see that as a proverb that we are called to be and that the proverbs that I don't want to put too much weight on and say that's a promise that that always occurs. So it's to say that, if I could put it this way, God has his purposes, but it's to say which is what we do in prayer when they're born and what we do in baptism formally. But I would not put too much weight on that and make that a promise because it's against the type, the genre, and against the scriptures revelation. You could even say, train up a disciple in the way you go. You'd go too far and then you realize, wow, Jesus says that Judas went according to the scriptures. He denied him according to the scriptures. Judas had the best, most closest intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. Can't get better than that. And he was discipled by Jesus. So parents and pastors need to be comforted that just because they do their best doesn't mean necessarily their disciples will do their best or their children. We hope they will. And I think I was just talking to my brother yesterday when he attends funerals to apologize. The better way of looking at it, my brother, as we discussed it yesterday, was that you see that by his stripes were healed, that Jesus through loud cries and tears was heard because of his reverence. How was he heard? He went to the cross. He was heard because his father raised him on the third day and through death brought life. So we can be heard when we ask for healing, even through cross and through death. Amen. And that needs to be clear. Otherwise, we're going to have to make these, not only are we going to be teaching unbiblical truths, that are contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. You know, both of these examples that you brought up are wonderful because both of them would make Jesus a failure, according to the Proverbs, if you think about it. A failure as a pastor to his disciples, if it were all about just making those truths known because he had Judas. And it would be a failure to Jesus because he prayed really hard and said, thy will be done. And he went to death anyway. Both of those things are unwise and unbiblical. So that's very good. Very good. Boy, we could keep on talking, couldn't we? But we better go. Better go. All right. Let's pray, and then we will We'll try to meet next time. No, no, no, no, no. Next Friday is Good Friday. Hey, if you haven't given me your need to – I want to have some feedback. I want to try to listen and reflect. And also, if you think you ought to be honored for the class, that means you've done your journals, you've tried to come, you've tried to participate in the best way you can, let me know you want to be honored. Let me know. If a parent thinks their child, a young person should be honored, let me know, okay? I want to choose one. young man and one young woman to receive honor and recognition, a handsome certificate, and two really, really, really, really good books. So let me know. All right, let's pray. Our Father, our God, we thank you for the wisdom. We thank you, you're the wise God. And we pray that you'd help us to be watchful, wisely watchful each day, that we'd be wisely waiting on you, and that we would be wisely walking in you by your spirit. We pray that you would forgive us for our folly. Help us, Lord, as we draw closer to you to understand you better and to know your truth for us. And we pray that you would give us the wisdom we need in walking in relationship with you, not only to go through suffering trusting you, to be faithful and to do the work you've purposed to do in and through us for your own glory, but that you would also each day help us not to be wise in our own eyes, but to lean not on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge you. Thank you that Lord Jesus is the wise man, he's the wise teacher, and he's the one who gives us wisdom. And we pray that you'd fill us now with your wisdom by your spirit, help us to live out this day in joy for your glory. In Jesus' name and all the church said, amen.