Remain standing and open your Bibles to Job 36. My goal this semester was to finish the speeches of Elihu, and even though there were a couple of interruptions, by God's grace, we will do that next Wednesday. This morning, we'll look at chapter 36, 17 through chapter 37, 5. But you are full of judgment on the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you. Beware, lest wrath entice you to scoffing. Do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside. Will your riches keep you from distress? Are all the forces of your strength? Do not long for the night when people vanish in their place. Be careful. Do not turn to evil, for you have preferred this to affliction. Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him who has appointed him his way and who has said thou hast done wrong? Remember that you should exalt his work of which men have sung. All men have seen it. Men behold from afar. Behold, God is exalted and we do not know him. The number of his years is unsearchable. He draws up the drops of water. They distill rain from the mist. which the clouds pour down, they drip upon man abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of his pavilion? Behold, he spreads his lightning about him, and he covers the depths of the sea. For by these he judges peoples, he gives food in abundance, he covers his hands with lightning, and he commands it to strike the mark. Its noise declares his presence. The cattle also, concerning what is coming up. At this, also, my heart trembles and leaps from its place. Listen closely to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that goes out of his mouth. Under the whole heaven, he lets it loose, and it's lightning to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thunders with his voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend. Thus far, God's holy word may be seated. We began last week pointing out that our failure to know someone causes us to make improper judgments about them. We might be surprised by how they act or respond. We might be betrayed or we might be unusually happy as we see them in certain situations. And we didn't expect it. We didn't expect it because we didn't know them well enough. And by the analogy, we're saying that if we're going to understand anything of God's ways, we must know him, know his purposes as they are revealed to us in scripture. And we began last week by looking at the ways of God in his trials and afflictions. And we saw from Revelation, Elihu speaking as a prophet of the Lord, that God's judgments or chastenings are much more diverse than what Job or his friends had concluded. They both had made wrong assessments of God. A friend wrongly judged that because Job was suffering so terribly under the hands of the Lord, that he must be a wicked hypocrite. Job, judging that God had dealt with him in a way that was really unjust, left him in these trials exposed to the calumnies and infamies of his counselors. And Eli opens up a greater diversity of the ways of God with men. As he deals with the absolute justice of God, both with respect to the righteous and the wicked, as he shows God's ways with the righteous and blessing, but also in afflicting them to humble us or to correct us. And then God's ways with the hypocrite to bring them to God's judgment, even as he protects and vindicates the righteous. And we stopped there. as Elihu continues now to pick up the matter of how we are to respond then to the diverse ways of God, not just broadly in life, but in our own lives. But he kind of throws in a wrinkle here, because part of knowing God is knowing that we don't know God. He wants us to understand that knowing God means that we cannot put him in a box. That his ways are beyond our ways. He is God. He is infinite, eternal. He is exalted. And we must then respond to him accordingly, even if we can't figure out what he's doing, because after all, he is God. That's the theme that really runs through the remainder of Elihu's speech up to the end of chapter 37. What I want to do this morning, picking up where we left off last week, is to show you that the natural revelation of God's inscrutable and majestic wisdom teaches us how to respond to God in humility. God's natural revelation of His inscrutable and majestic wisdom teaches us how to respond to God in humility. We'll look at two things. In verse 17 through 23, God reveals to us how we're to respond to Him in humility. And then 36, 24 through 37, 5, God reinforces for us why we respond to Him in humility. First then, God reveals how we are to respond to Him. begins negatively with a warning against the murmuring and complaining that Job has been doing and that we so often do. But you are full of judgment on the wicked, are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you. Beware, lest wrath entice you to scoffing. Elihu is pointing out here that although Job There's no grounds to think that he was a wicked man or the hypocrite as his friend said, but that his speech had put him in a category of the wicked. His speech had brought him into this classification. His murmuring against God's justice, his saying that there was no probability in righteousness and that God was doing him harm was bringing him into the category of those of whom God's judgment and justice take hold of. And so he gives him this warning in verse 18, beware lest wrath entice you to scoffing. Don't let your anger bring you into a category of a scoffer. Don't let your complaining, murmuring and grumbling cause you to sin against the holy and righteous God. You know, I, I think that you and I do not consider nearly enough the sins of the tongue. James is warning, if he who doesn't sin with the tongue is a perfect man. But the evil of grumbling and complaining, even when we don't go as far as Job goes, when we think it, this isn't fair, or I don't need this, it's the same as I don't deserve this. It's not profitable for me. It's, it's for my harm. Paul points out the seriousness of murmuring and complaining in Philippians chapter 2. After he exhorts us to pursue sanctification, in verses 12 and 13, he says in verse 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. among whom we appear as lights in the world. Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul points out one of the awful sins of the church and the wilderness was their grumbling and complaining against God. And that's what Elihu is teaching us here, or the Holy Spirit is teaching us through these words of Elihu, that we might, by God's grace we are, blameless in our conduct, We're seeking to walk in righteous paths, but we must beware of the pride that entices us to respond to God with high handedness in attitude and in words. In order to show the seriousness of this sin, Elihu shows us three wrong courses of action to escape its guilt. Don't let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside where your riches keep you from distress. Now that last phrase of verse 8 is difficult to translate, but it seems it's best saying don't let the greatness of the ransom, which is riches, cause you to think that you can turn aside from the wrath or the judgment of God. He says, regardless of what one may think, One's riches can never redeem one from the punishment of God. Psalm 49, the psalmist spells this out so clearly when he reminds us in verses eight and nine, the redemption of his soul is costly. He should cease trying forever that he should live on eternally, that he should not undergo decay. Actually, verse seven. No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him. There's nothing that we have to offer to God that can atone even for the sin of bad speech. And of course, that points us to the glorious redemption that God has provided for us in Christ Jesus. As Peter makes the contrast, we are redeemed not with precious things, with silver and gold. We've been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only ransom. that is acceptable. And if you only had sinned with your tongue, you still would need that ransom if you're to be reconciled to God and pardoned for your sins. Second warning is don't think that by your strength you can escape the chastenings or punishments of God or all the forces of your strength. God's not impressed. with armies, swords, horses, the valor and strength of men. And all that we do in our own mind is not a thing that we have to offer, whether it's righteousness, good behavior, power and prestige, high reputation, whatever it is, not a thing that you and I have to offer to God that can turn aside His anger if we have indeed sinned against Him. And then he pointedly addresses Job about the matter of wishing for death. Do not long for the night. when people vanish in their place. Night here referring to the veil, the night of death. Job had longed for death. And Elihu is simply reminding us that death doesn't deliver us from wrath. Death does not deliver us from the proper punishment of God. For the believer, death delivers us from God's chastening. It brings us into perfection. But if one is under, if one has incurred the judgment and wrath of God, death is no escape. It's only the door to the unfettered judgment and eternal wrath of God. And so, he gives his final warning, be careful, do not turn to evil, for you prefer this to affliction. In his words, Job was taking a course of evil over against the suffering. against submitting to God in the ways that God has appointed, and that's turning to evil. And so it is with you and me when we complain and murmur against the purposes of God. So we must not be high handed in our response. Well, the only way to avoid that is to be humble, and he directs us to the proper response in verses 22 and 23. Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Who has appointed him his way and who has said thou hast done wrong? The Spirit shows us here that whether or not we can figure out what's going on in our lives, we recognize the sovereignty of God. Behold, pay attention to this. He is exalted. He's high and lifted up. He's magnified in his power and he is the teacher par excellence. He's the one who works in a way to instruct and lead, and if we don't submit to Him, we will not be teachable. We can't learn the ways of God in our lives if we don't humble ourselves under His hand. And thus, the lesson here is that we are to submit, not stiff-necked, not with a stoic submission, but with a holy submission to God, confessing that He is God. He is the teacher par excellence. He will do with us in order to instruct us what he would have us to be and what way he would have us to go and never forget. The spirit says that he is sovereign who's appointed his way or who has said thou has done wrong. If he's sovereign in his way, if he's exalted in body, if he's the great teacher, then don't fall into the error of trying to correct him, or demand from him an answer, or say, there's a better way for my life. No, our responsibility is to submit to him in humility, for he is God. He directs our ways as he directs his own ways. He's above the judgment of men, and thus It is a sin to say to him, you have done wrong. So very briefly here, Elihu shows that God reveals the proper response, not a high handed, proud response of murmuring and complaining or demanding answers and satisfaction, but rather the quiet resignation to God who is exalted in power and whose ways are inscrutable. Well, this leads to what he does in the remainder of his speech, and that is he shows us that God enforces or reinforces why we must respond to him in this manner. And Elihu sets God before us in the beauty and splendor of his inscrutable and majestic wisdom. Now, he begins with a general summary of the greatness of God, kind of spelling out what he's just said. In verses 24 to 26, remember that you should exalt God in His work, of which men have sung. All men have seen it. Men, behold from afar. Behold, God is exalted, and we do not know Him. The number of His years is unsearchable. Now, in these three verses, majestically sets God before us in splendor and beauty, in his incomparable being as God, reminding us that our responsibility is to exalt him in his work. If he is exalted in power, we are to exalt him in his work. And that means his work in our lives. We are to say he is God, let him do what is right in his sight. Because the exalted ways of God are celebrated by the church. That men have sung of these ways. And we sing of them, particularly in the Psalms. The great exalted ways of God. But he says, now these ways of God are seen by all men. Making his transition here now to natural revelation. He says, all have seen the exalted work of God. Even from afar. This is not microscopic and minute that takes detailed investigation. No, the works of God are placarded all over the creation. And the result of that is that God is exalted. When we consider His works, we realize that we do not know Him. So I said we know Him, but to know Him is to know that we do not know Him. We have some apprehension of the ways of God, sufficient for us in all of life, but no comprehension do we have, no exhausted knowledge of God. He is unsearchable. He is infinite in His being. He's infinite in His time. His days are beyond, or years are beyond measure. While setting God before us in this manner, which ought to quicken our hearts and affections, Just to hear about God described in this way, this reminder that we are to exalt his work and that we have seen it and that all see it from even afar. And that in his work, God shows us that he is inscrutable and majestic. Verses 27 through 30. Elihu takes one aspect of God's work to show that He indeed is inscrutable. He marvels at rain and at the whole cycle of evaporation and rain. When was the last time that you marveled at this great work of God? He begins with evaporation in verse 27. He draws up drops of water and distills rain from the mist. Sometimes we can see the mist rising from the earth, but often evaporation indeed is invisible. But perhaps you can remember when you first learned about it in school, maybe you did a little experiment. And then in his remarkable way, God distills, he draws up water from the earth and collects it in clouds. Even today, when the science of meteorology is greatly advanced, it still remains a mystery here. A wonderful mystery of the ways of God in that he's chosen to water the earth. But although evaporation is in itself phenomenal, He says, the clouds holding the rain and then distributed are even more phenomenal, which the clouds pour down. They drip upon man abundantly. They are these receptacles, these clouds, they are fat with rain, but it doesn't all the bottom just doesn't drop out. Although sometimes we speak of it that way. And I can tell you when we were trying to get through Houston this week, they had two storms. Monday night they had six to seven inches in a very brief period of time and all the arteries and highways were underwater. But that still wasn't all the water that was in those clouds. But what Elihu was saying is that God, although it's all this great reservoir, the bottom doesn't drop out and suddenly there's just this deluge as at the flood. But he causes the rain to fall gently. And he disperses it where he would have it to be. As he goes on to say, can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of his to thee? And behold, he spreads his lightning about him and he covers the depth of the sea. He sends the clouds with the rain where he would have them to be. Can start with a little bitty cloud like the hand of a man. that appeared as Elijah was praying for rain. You can watch that little cloud in the distance and suddenly the whole earth is covered by a cloud. The sea is covered by a cloud and the lightning breaks forth out of that cloud and God disperses and dispenses rain according to His own good pleasure. He covers the depths of the sea with the clouds, the rain, the thunderstorm. Having laid out the inscrutability of God simply in this one little process, he could have chosen, and God will choose others as well, but he takes this simple matter that we live with and shows us how God works every day of our lives. And he goes on to talk about the wisdom of God in this, verses 31 to 33. By these, he judges peoples, he gives food in abundance, He covers his hands with the lightning, commands it to strike the mark, its noise declares his presence, cattle also concerning what is coming up. Here, he simply reminds us very briefly of some of the lessons that God is teaching us in the rain. He gives rain to judge some people, or withholds it, as we read in the law. And so he can judge people by withholding rain, he can judge people by flooding, but he sends it by his own good pleasure. He sends it exactly where he would have it to be to do exactly what he wants it to do to accomplish his holy purposes. Indeed, we should exalt his work. He uses the rain to give food in abundance, both to man and to beast. He waters the earth so it brings forth as he shows in Psalm 104. food for all of us. And thus he blesses us through the rains, granting fruitfulness on the earth. And he manifests his own presence in the midst of all things. We sometimes forget of the presence of God, but the figure here is of God having lightning in his hand and casting it where he would, striking it, striking whom he would, what he would. And that the very noise of the thunderstorm declares God's presence. But also there's another way that God's presence is declared in the storm. And that is how the animals can react to the coming of the storm before we hear anything. How they can huddle and lie down when the rain is coming beforehand. So they will be rested. And so the cattle also know what's coming. God has made them this way. And so he teaches us, teaches us through the inscrutability of his ways in nature with the rain, evaporation and the raining and rainstorms of some of his diverse ways. Diverse ways that come out of inscrutable acts and yet ways that are wise and judging and blessing and declaring his presence when we have been blind and oblivious to his presence. Now chapter 37, he turns to the majesty of God and the majesty of God in the thunderstorm. He reflects, he says, as I think about the thunderstorm, my heart trembles and leaps from its place. He's, he's filled as we ought to be with wonder and awe, fear. at the raw power of God that is seen in the thunderstorm. Perhaps there's a thunderstorm coming. The language surely implies that. Listen closely. And this is in the plural now. He speaks to the crowd. Listen closely to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that goes out from his mouth. Now, the beauty of this is that, again, God is the one who is speaking in a thunderstorm. In fact, I've thought about this. What are the uses of a thunderstorm? It seems there's two. The primary use is for God to declare His greatness and His majesty. That's what we sang about in Psalm 29. And the other is to bring judgment. There doesn't seem to be any benign blessing, so to speak, in a thunderstorm outside the enjoyment of God that it brings to us when we witness it. And here Elihu rivals the psalmist in Psalm 29 when he describes, under the whole heaven, he lets it loose, his lightning to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice, we recognize him by observation, the speed of light and the speed of sound of the lightning flash, and then the thunder. He thunders with his majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thunders with his voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend. You see, we're still here. This incomprehensibility of God. Oh yeah, we can explain scientifically, to a degree, the lightning and thunderstorm. But the fact that God created this, and directs it and organizes it and sends it where he will to accomplish his purposes. And he is veiled in this majesty, veiled and clothed with this incomprehensibility. And it is his voice, even as we sing in Psalm 29, as the psalmist so poetically describes for us, the voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thunders, the Lord is over many waters, the voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks and pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf and Syria like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord hues out flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness. The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calves and strips the forest bare. And in his temple, everything says glory. Glory. Perhaps you heard the story of a missionary family that were back in the States. Their children were young and had never witnessed a thunderstorm before. And so the parents were going downstairs in the hotel to some meeting and the children were going to be in the room and they said, now there might be a thunderstorm tonight. I want you to understand that this is God's great act. It's the revelation of God's glory and majesty. You don't have to be afraid. Well, a terrible thunderstorm came in. Parents went upstairs to check on their children, and they were there at the glass windows of their hotel room, looking out, and with every lightning flash and clap of thunder, they said, Do it again, God! Do it again! That's the response when you witness a thunderstorm. It is the immediacy of God! It is His declaration, what a God He is! that can create this electricity and thunder like this in his majesty, do it again. Everything in his temple cries out glory. Now, you see what Elihu's doing here. He's showing us that in the things that we observe about God, in his natural revelation, That there is inscrutable and majestic wisdom is being revealed. Wisdom in how he teaches and works with people through the rain. Wisdom that he's chosen thunder and lightning to be one of the primary physical manifestations of his presence and of his voice. And that he will direct it for judgment or to quicken one in fear of him as he did Luther. as the lightning struck the tree and set Luther on a path that God had designed for him, eventually to bring him to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the way of God. What the Holy Spirit wants us to understand is that if, in fact, God's ways are this inscrutable and majestic in nature, and we can understand some of them and some of the purpose, though we cannot begin to exhaust them because they're incomprehensible, when we make the movement into his dealings with us in our lives individually, then let us be reminded of the nature of our God. And we will be humbled. And we'll have confidence. Psalm 29 concludes with a confidence that belongs to the people of God and the manifestation of His glory. The Lord set His King at the flood. Yes, the Lord sits as King forever. The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. And so God's ways will be inscrutable with us. But in those ways, he will manifest his majesty in our lives. And by his wisdom, he will teach us. And thus we don't murmur and complain, but by God's grace, we shall indeed submit and declare glory. And whether or not he teaches us, we'll say, let God be honored and glorified in what he's doing in my life. There's only one place. where the inscrutable, majestic wisdom of God is more wonderfully displayed than is providence in our lives and in the forces of nature. And that, of course, is in the Incarnation, itself the greatest mystery of God. We can affirm it, we believe it, but none can begin to get their minds around it to comprehend it. Jayaprakash says it's the greatest mystery of all. Once you accept this mystery, everything else in the two testament is perfectly normal. God in the flesh. The inscrutability of that nature, that the babe in the manger is still God eternal, part of the trinity upholding all things by his power. The majesty of our savior, the God man in his earthly ministry now exalted on high. The divine wisdom of God in providing for us. The only way of redemption. To bring that back around to where we are, because you and I have and will murmur against the ways of God. And we're reminded then there's but one ransom. And God is kind and long suffering when we respond wrongly to him and we humble ourselves before his ways and we confess our sins. of murmuring and complaining, he accepts us, he restores us, he continues to teach us, because our God is exalted and he's exalted in his work. Amen. We thank you, Father in heaven, for your inscrutable and majestic ways, for your wisdom and how you work with us, demonstrated in the wisdom of your inscrutable ways in the creation, and that Your ways with us are indeed remarkable and altogether wise. And we thank you for them. We pray that you'll give us grace to bow under them, to submit and to learn. In Christ's name, Amen.