Well, today we come to our ninth teaching from the Book of Job, and we have entitled this sermon, These Are the Fringes of His Ways. Augustine, the great intellect and theologians whose life spanned the fourth and fifth centuries, was perplexed by the incomprehensible truth of the Trinity. Trying as he might, he could not grasp the vast truths of the triune nature of one God who exists eternally in three persons. Because he could not fully understand the Trinity, he thought to reject it. While taking a stroll along a beach one day, he did come along a little boy who was playing, and as he watched, he saw the child run to the ocean with a seashell, fill it with water, and then return to pour that water into a small hole that he had dug in the sand. Augustine stopped and asked the boy, what are you doing, my little man? Oh, replied the boy, I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole. Augustine smiled. Such a task was impossible even for the greatest of men. Then it suddenly struck Augustine. He was guilty of the exact same futile thing. Augustine thought to himself, standing on the shores of time, I'm trying to get the infinite things of God into this little finite mind. It just won't fit. As we open again to the book of Job, we find his three friends in a last ditch attempt to fit God and his dealings with Job into the little bottle of their understanding. Here we will read as they make their last arguments by which they accuse Job of sin and they really attack him and come after him. His friends really aren't so Have you ever had friends that aren't so friendly? Well, that's with Job's case. As this morning, I intend then to work through seven chapters, believe it or not. We will close and study the 26th, where Job powerfully rebukes his friend Bildad and the others, and does so by exalting God as he who is above and beyond full human comprehension. While the friends think they comprehend God and can speak for him, Job proves that God is beyond them. Not understanding God, they misinterpret his purpose and his way. In fact, as we will soon study in the weeks to come, God will rebuke the three friends saying, you have not spoken on me what is right. That's in chapter 42 verse eight. So by exalting God, Job puts his friends and their errant theology to rest. By extolling the incomprehensible greatness of God, in so many words declaring that His ways are not our ways, but that His ways are higher than our ways, the three friends are finally silenced. After this week, as we study through the book, we will not hear another argument from them, and the church said, thanks be to God. Would you please stand for the reading of the word? though we're going to consider seven chapters, we will here read the two shortest chapters, chapters 25 and 26. Job chapters 25 and 26, this is the word of the Lord. Then Bildad the Shuite answered, though many 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 a woman? If even the moon has no brightness and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man that maggot and the son of man that worm. Wow. Chapter 26, verse one. Then Job responded, what a help you are to the weak. how you have saved the arm without strength, what counsel you have given to one without wisdom, what helpful insight you have abundantly provided, to whom have you uttered words, and whose spirit was expressed through you? The departed spirits tremble under the waters in their inhabitants, naked as Sheol before him, and Abaddon has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing. 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 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. By his breath, the heavens are cleared. His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. Behold, these are the fringes of his ways, and I'll faint a word we hear of him. but his mighty thunder who can understand." That ends the reading of the word. Please, let's bow our heads in prayer. Help us, oh Lord, to understand what you desire to communicate to us through this, your holy word. Help us, Lord, to comprehend how incomprehensible you are. And may we come then, Lord, to bow before you as the great almighty, trusting that you do all things right, even when we don't understand you and your ways. Let us come to understand that your ways are not our ways, but your ways are higher than ours, and then, Lord, to trust and glorify you in all your dealings with us. Teach us, Lord of yourself, that we might magnify your name. And we ask these things in Christ Jesus' name. And the church said, amen. God bless you, you may be seated. If you have the handout there, we have our outline there. It's number one, Zophar speaks and Job responds. Secondly, Eliphaz speaks and Job responds. And then thirdly, Bildad speaks and Job responds. Job extols the incomprehensible greatness of God. By this, his three errant friends are silenced. God is beyond their narrow theology and poor application. The Almighty works in ways neither they nor Job understood. So Zophar speaks, chapter 20, that opens with Zophar's last speech, and he has been insulted and he's angry at Job. So he says in verses two and three, chapters 20, verses two and three, therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond. He's heard what Job had to say and he's upset with Job. Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond, even because of my inward agitation. I listen to the reproof which insults me and the spirit of my understanding makes me answer. Zophar, being emotionally driven, arrogantly thinks he must speak his mind once again. I think we've already heard from him once too often. Now he's going to speak again. In so doing, he reiterates his concept of vengeance theology. He and his friends mistakenly conclude that Job, for some sin of his, suffers retribution by the hand of God. So aiming his statements at Job, like someone throwing a spear to thrust him through, Zophar gathers from history that the triumph of the wicked is short-lived. He says that the wicked, verse seven, perishes forever like his refuse. That's pretty graphic, isn't it? He goes on to say that the wicked are forgotten like a dream, and are seen no more. He contends that though the wicked carried out their sin with youthful vigor, that their strength will die with them, returning to the dust. In verses 12 through 19, Zophar tells how the wicked cherish their ill-gotten gain, yet try to hold on to it as they will, the wicked holding on to what they've gained, God, Zophar says we'll extract it from them. They will not be allowed to keep it, neither will they be allowed to enjoy it. Why is that? Well, he says in verse 19, 19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor, he has seized a house which he has not built. Zophar here insinuates that Job undergoes God's punishment because he oppressed the poor. That's what vengeance theology demands. You suffer because you sin, and the righteous always prosper. Therefore, Zophar maintains that God will destroy him. He says that God will rain his anger on the wicked, verse 23. While the wicked may avoid retribution, they will be caught, for though he flees the iron weapon, the bronze bow will pierce him through and through, verses 24 and 25. We're going through this rather quickly. I hope you're keeping up with me. Then in poetic and yet horrific terms, Zophar goes on to say, verses 26 through 29, complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures. And unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume the survivor of his tent. The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. The increase of his house will depart. His possessions will flow away in the day of his anger. This is the wicked man's portion from God, even the heritage decreed to him by God. He's shooting arrows at Job. He's applying this to Job. David Allen writes, In this last verse, we clearly see Zophar's theological viewpoint, the law of retribution. God, he thinks, is judging Job for his sin. As far as Zophar is concerned, the suffering and evil that have befallen Job are directly from the hand of God, and the reason for which such suffering is because Job has sinned. When Zophar says in verse 27, the heavens will reveal his iniquity, he's saying to Job, your sins have found you out, Job. That's why you've lost your children. That's why you've lost your home. That's why you've lost your wealth. Your sins have found you out. Your sin Because of your sin, you are being devoured. Everything is against you. Your household has departed. And this is the heritage decreed by God for you, the sinner. Job, you're getting what is yours. What Zophar says about the wicked is ultimately true, but Job is not the wicked. We've read the book. Job is not the wicked. In regard to the righteous who suffer, Zophar's theology is narrow and applied in error, wounding rather than healing. Have you met those who use their theology to beat you up rather than to exalt God and lift you up? There is truth in this, but not as applied to Job. There is truth in this, but Zophar does not speak in love. Speak the truth in love. So we can ask, where is grace? Zophar, where is healing? Where is hope? Where is the good news? Does the Redeemer live? Like Job has already said, I know that my Redeemer lives. As Zophar presents his accusation, it is all condemnation with no message of hope. So Job responds. Job is worn out with his friend's false accusations and misapplications. So at the beginning of chapter one, he asks to be heard. Verse two, listen carefully to my speech, he says to his friends, and let this be your way of consolation. Job appeals to his friends wishing they would just listen to him, that would be a way in which they could comfort him. They came to comfort him, right? This would be a way to comfort him. Please just listen to me. Sometimes people just need to be heard. They don't want our advice sometimes. They just want us to come alongside of them, to walk with them, to share with them, to shed a tear with them, to rejoice with them. If you'll just come and listen to me, that would be a way you could comfort me, Job says. But Job knows that's not gonna happen. They're really only listening and taking a breath so as to prepare a combative response. So Job sarcastically says, verse three, bear with me that I may speak, then after I've spoken, you may mock. Job explains that his complaint is against God. and telling them to look at him, verse five, he's saying, see what God has done to me and be appalled. Even I'm horrified at my own condition. Look what God has done to me. He's telling his friends, look, the issue isn't personal between you and me. We don't have to joust here. The issue is between me and God. So why are you taking aim at me? But then Job has to say something corrective. He can't let Zophar go off in his error. So then in the challenge, Job asked why, if God deals with the wicked as they have been saying, why then do the wicked still live and become so very powerful? That's verse seven. Why are their descendants established? Verse eight. Why are their houses safe and God's wrath not on them? Verse nine. Why do their flocks flourish? Verse 10. Why do their children live on playfully? Verses 11 and 12. Why do they spend their days in prosperity and die suddenly with no suffering? All of this flies in the face of your stance concerning immediate retribution. He's telling his friends, you guys are in error as you claim that God is getting me for my wickedness. Job states down there in verses 14 and 15 that it is the arrogant disdain, that it is an arrogant disdain that the wicked ask who is the Almighty that they should humble themselves before him and serve him. Even when difficult times arose, the defiant wicked asked themselves, what would we gain by praying to him, praying to God? The wicked reject and defy God wholesale, yet we look around and we see them prospering. While Zophar claims that the wicked have their sins unveiled, Job wonders why the wicked prosper. In Job's situation, things just don't seem right. And we've all been there, haven't we? When things just don't seem right. Why is it taking place as it is? Why is God allowing this? Why this? Why not that? Sometimes we think we know what ought to be, and it doesn't happen that way. Job wonders why the wicked prosper, but then suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, Job exclaims in verse 16, behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. He's speaking of the wicked. He says, I look around and I see the wicked prospering while I'm a righteous man and I'm under this terrible trial. But then he comes to this realization, behold, their prosperity, the prosperity, the prosperity of the wicked is not in their hand. What does Job mean by this? He means that even the prosperity of the wicked is in the hands of God. That's what he means. And he says this to express the incomprehensibility of God. It is a wonder and yet it is true. Contrary to the friend's assertion that the wicked always immediately suffer, oftentimes they prosper, and it is God, for His own high purposes, that allows it. Don't we look at the world and wonder why the wicked prosper? And when we say if God is sovereign over all things, that He's sovereign over that too? Yes, we have to. We have to say that. because God is the sovereign. Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. Nevertheless, Job says, the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Job determined that no matter the situation, no matter God's dealings with him, no matter he understand God and his ways or not, no matter he comprehend God's purposes or not, no matter God slay him and prosper the wicked, Job would not go the way of the wicked, amen. He's a true believer. He's a true follower of the Lord God. And if he were here today, he'd say of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Job was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. His circumstance had nothing to do with who God is. He was going to love the Lord. In verses 17-21, Job goes on to contradict Zophar's claims. He questions, and of course I'm paraphrasing, Really, Zophar? Really, Zophar? The wicked suffer immediately? How often is the lamp of the wicked suddenly snuffed out? Are the wicked really a straw before the wind and chaff carried away by the storm? Does God really store up a man's sin so he can take it out on his children? If that's true, then let it take place so we will all know it. Let the wicked see his demise. Let him experience the wrath of God. But as it is, the wicked die and they don't care anymore. Zophar, you say that history reveals these things about the wicked, that the wicked immediately pay for their wrongs. Well, Zophar, you're wrong. Your harsh, narrow-minded idea of absolute retribution theology is flawed. God simply doesn't work as you claim. So far, you misrepresent God. So Job says, verse 22, can anyone teach God knowledge in that he judges those on high? Job is making the point that God is the supreme judge who does as he wishes, blessed be the name of the Lord. O'Donnell writes, Job pauses to ponder the incomprehensible way in which God governs the world and how God's exercise of justice transcends what humans can comprehend. God is beyond us. Also, I think here that Job is taking a hard poke at his friends who speak for God. They think they do. They've been declaring God's judgments on Job when, as will be revealed, they themselves are under God's judgment. If all works as simply as they claim, with the wicked always suffering and the righteous always prospering, then they've got something to teach God, don't they? Because that's not the way God works. God, Job claims, quite obviously does not work according to their poor theology. God simply does not fit in to the confines of their small-minded, graceless, ill-applied religion. Will they now teach God? The answer is no. They have nothing to teach God, but God will judge them. Job then explains that God does as he wills, verses 23 through 26. One man dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and satisfied. His sides are filled out with fat, and the marrow of his bones is moist, while another man dies with a bitter soul, never even tasting anything good. Together they lie down in the dust and worms cover them. There it is, Job says, as it is determined by God, God does as he wills in accordance to his own good pleasure. Job then confronts his friends. In verses 27 through 34, he says that he knows that they are devising a plan to counter him. You're devising a plan to come against me. That is, as he said earlier, they plan to accuse and mock him. But he states that they can ask any person in the world, any traveler who has seen the world, and they will confirm what he says. Though it is true that the wicked will die in their sins, still contrary to what the friends claim, oftentimes in this life, the wicked prosper. The ways of God aren't as simple, cut and dry as the friends claim. So Job concludes, verse 34, how then will you vainly comfort me, for your answers remain full of falsehood? Well, The friends aren't done, now Eliphaz speaks. This is the third and final time for Eliphaz. In verses two through four of chapter 22, Eliphaz contends that God has no self advantage in the prosperity of some and the sufferings of others. God is transcendent, He is self-sufficient. So Eliphaz contends God has no self-need that would cause Him to bless some and others. Therefore, the conclusion is the cause of suffering as well as the cause of prosperity lies in the individual, in the person. Eliphaz upholds the retribution principle. One's wickedness determines their suffering, and one's righteousness determines their prosperity, period. That's the rule, no exceptions. Therefore, Job, since you're suffering, it's because you're so sinful. Eliphaz then mockingly asked, verse four, is it because of your reverence that he, that's God, reproves you? Is it because of your reverence that God reproves you that he enters into judgment against you? Well, this is amazing. First, we know that Eliphaz assumes that God is reproving Job, but we know God is not reproving Job. And he asserts that God has entered a judgment against Job, but what do we know? God has not entered a judgment against Job. Secondly, Eliphaz contends that God would not reprove Job if Job were reverent. Job, if you were a reverent person, God would not have you in this place. But what do we actually know? What do we know? We've read to this part. In fact, it is because Job is reverent, blameless, upright, and fearing God that God has involved Job in this test. Those who seek to follow after God will be persecuted. It's a scripture. How many times have people in the church, something bad happens, some tragedy happens in their family and they'll say, all I ever did was try to serve God and now he does this to me. Well, God owes us nothing. He owes us nothing. And beloved, it rains on the just and the unjust. True, amen. If you seek to live for God, let me tell you something. You will have very unique trials that the world will not know. Well, Eliphaz asked that question. Does God have you in this situation because you're so reverent, Job? Is that why? Is that why he's passed judgments against you? Well, Eliphaz's question is rhetorical and it expects a negative response. It is a flawed question. In his questioning, falsely accuses Job, and worse, he misrepresents God, claiming that God reproves and entered a judgment against Job, and this is wrong, it is not true. But of course, Eliphaz is far from done. He goes on to say, verse five, is not your wickedness great and your iniquities without end? He accuses Job of cheating his brothers of their clothing, of withholding water from the thirsty and bread from the hungry. He goes on and accuses Job of sending widows away destitute and crushing the strength of orphans. He tells Job that it is for these sins that God is repaying him. That's Job, why you've lost your flocks. That's why fire has consumed the animals. That's why the house is blown down. That's why your children are dead. There you go. That's why, Job, because of your sins. You cheated your brother of his clothes. You sent the widow away. You suppressed the orphan. That's why. But we have to ask the question then, did Job do any of these things? Where did Eliphaz come up with such accusations? Well, we can only surmise, perhaps others accused Job of such things, and because Job suffered, Eliphaz believed them. Maybe, I don't know. But as far as we know, and this is all we know, the scripture says Job was blameless, upright, fearing God, and turning away from evil. Moving from the list of Job's supposed sins, Eliphaz also accuses Job of insolence against God, verses 12 through 14. Is not God in the height of heaven? Look also at the distant stars, how high they are, and you say, what does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? Clouds are a hiding place for him, so that he cannot see. Really, did Job say that? After that accusation, he then asked Job if he's going to continue to travel the ancient paths of the wickedness, of the wicked, that's verse 15. Saying that the wicked will die before the time, that's verse 16. Mocking Job, he repeats what Job said in regard to the wicked, verses 17 and 18, accusing Job of being the wicked of whom he spoke. Verses 19 and 20, Steve Lawson explains, that the righteous see the ruin of the wicked, the judgment that is coming to these audacious sinners, and they rejoice knowing how deserved it is. They say, surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth. The idea is that this is what the righteous people were now saying about Job and his losses. Oh, the holy people were rejoicing that Job was finally getting his. Jealousy is a terrible consuming sin. Out of jealousy, we face things about people that just aren't true. Can you imagine Job, not a man like him in all the land, God says? God himself says what I've said over and over. He said, Job is blameless, upright. He fears me and he turns away from evil and yet others see his demise and they're rejoicing. Such is this world. We must have our eyes set on the Lord, right? Amen. But then, unlike Zophar previously and unlike Bildad to follow, Eliphaz actually calls Job to repentance. And he pleads with Job to yield to God and be at peace. He promises that if he will return to the Almighty, that God will restore him, that being restored, he will then delight in the Almighty and that he will pray to God and God will hear him. God will answer your prayer. Oh, Job, if you will just repent of your sin. Lord willing, next week we'll read as Job says, I didn't have sin to repent of, so I didn't repent of it. We must remember this, Job is a type, a foreshadow of Christ. Why do the righteous suffer? And as Jesus died for our sins, we will see at the end of this book that Job prays for his friends' sins, the ones who persecuted him, and God forgives them. Coming to the last verse, verse 30, Eliphaz promises that if Job will repent, God will use the cleanness of his hands to deliver others from their sin. Again, he's a picture of Jesus, amen? Job, if you'll just repent, God will use the cleanness of your hands to deliver others from sin. How ironic it is, then, that God will, in fact, use the cleanness of Job's hands to deliver his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar from their sin. Well, Job responds. In chapter 23, verses one through seven, Job expresses, as he did earlier, his desire to meet God in court. He believes that if he could just come before God, that God would hear him and he would be confirmed to be the blameless and upright man he was. Then he thinks he would finally be delivered from this trial brought on by his judge, brought on by God. But as it is for the time, this is wishful thinking, For at verses eight and nine, Job expresses his frustration in not being able to find God. Indeed, since chapter two, verse six, God has been silent. He's been silent. But Job knows that God knows his situation and that he's innocent. He's not guilty, as his friends are saying. And Job is certain that when God has tried him, he will come forth as gold. Verse 10, now let's talk about that just for a moment. He is certain that when God has tried him, he will come forth as gold. The idea isn't that he will be purified and made pure as gold, although he will be, but the idea is when I'm tried, I'll be shown to be pure as I have been. When I get through this test, Everybody's gonna see that God wasn't punishing me for sin. God had some other plan. Job held fast to God's path. He kept God's way. He did not turn aside from it. Job has departed, has not departed from the command of God, but treasured the word of God more than his necessary food. Job maintains, as is true when we have read, that he is not being judged for sin. Nevertheless, God is otherly. God does as he desires and Job recognizes that. Job knows that whatever God chooses for him, it will come to pass. This fact of God's absolute sovereignty brings Job great fear and trepidation. While Job would like to take God to court to prove his innocence, he fears what other unknown plans God might have for him. Thus he's terrified. On the other hand, Job says, but that won't silence me, verse 17. He knows that this has not come upon him due to some sin of his, but due to God's sovereign will. Understanding that this trial has come upon him by the will of God and though darkness covers him, he says, and he cannot understand it, still he will lift up his voice. He's going to voice his complaint. And this is exactly what Job does as the 24th chapter records. In verses one through 12, Job expresses dismay that God allows the wicked to continue on in their sin. He wonders at the slowness with which God deals with the wicked. This is especially perplexing to Job as he considers how God has dealt with him as one who is upright. It just doesn't seem Right. Why do the righteous suffer? The wicked, they move boundary lines and steal flocks. They deprive orphans and widows of their work animals until they are left destitute. They act violently toward the poor and needy. Because of them, the poor fear for their lives. They cause the poor to go out foraging for food like wild donkeys in the desert. The wicked take babies as collateral for debt. They take the clothes off the backs of the poor, leaving them cold and vulnerable. The poor work for the wicked, who do not allow them to partake of their labors. This just causes Job to wonder, what is going on here? Verse 12, Job says, from the city men groaned, and the souls of the wounded cried out. Yet God does not pay attention to folly. Why is God allowing them to get away with it and treating me as He is? It puzzles Job. Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper? Why does God work in this way? It's a legitimate question. Why? What is God's purpose? Well, Job has said all this to refute his friend's theory of retribution. One can look around and see the wicked get away with a lot of wickedness while the righteous suffer. What could be God's purpose? Still in wonder, Job in verses 13 through 17 describes the character of the wicked. The wicked operate under the cloak of darkness. Murderers commit their crimes before the sun shines and steel at night. Adulterers commit their immoral acts in secrecy. And in the immediate, they get away with it. Here Job is innocent, God-fearing man who has done none of these things and has lived openly in the day. Why does God deal with him as if he's wicked and let the wicked go on as if they're innocent? Retribution? Retribution theology? It's flawed. Everything just doesn't work as clean cut as we think it might. But Job knows that in the end, the wicked will be met by God. In the end, God will work perfect justice. Job knows, as he said, that his Redeemer lives. A new day is coming. While he has complained that the wicked oftentimes prosper, here he's going to go on to say, but they do meet a just end. And some say Job contradicts himself, but I think we have to understand it in this context. David Allen writes, previously the wicked seemed to get away with their sin, but here they do not get away, but end up being punished, a punishment they cannot escape. So at this point we see, first, Job disagrees with his friends. Their friends take on instant retribution, that people prosper now because they are righteous and suffer now because they are evil. Though Job cannot understand the ways of God, he refutes his friends by showing that, for now, the wicked get away with an awful lot of wickedness. And in the midst of their wickedness, they make a lot of money. Secondly, Job maintains that he's in a right standing for God. He declares that he is not being reproved by God for some sin of his, and God has not leveled a judgment against him. He suffers by the will of God, but it is not because God is punishing him. Thirdly then, at this point, Job must clarify his position concerning the wicked. If he leaves it as stated, it will appear that he believes the wicked will never face God nor his divine judgment. Job denied his friend's retribution theology by pointing out that for now the wicked get away with an awful lot of wickedness, but here he clarifies that he means that only in the here and now. He does not believe that to be the case in the ultimate sense. While Job does not understand all the ways of God, still he trusts God. What did he say earlier? Perhaps the most quoted verse of this text, of this book. Though God slay me, yet will I trust him. Job does not understand the ways of God. He does not understand his situation, but still he trusts God. He trusts that God is just. So to be careful, While Job is confounded by the slowness of God to carry out justice, he maintains that God is just and that ultimately justice will prevail. So in verses 18 through 24, Job insists that the wicked will come to face God's justice. "'As surely as the heat melts the snow, "'so will the wicked be consumed by death. "'At death they will be forgotten "'and worthless like a broken tree. "'Well, for now the wicked wrong barren women "'and do no good for the widow, God will overpower them. "'No matter how established they think they are, "'they have no assurance of life before God. "'Life is in God's hands. "'Though in their wickedness they have a sense of security, "'it is a false security, for God sees all they do. Job says of the wicked, verse 24, they are exalted a little while, then they are gone. Moreover, they are brought low, and like everything gathered up, even like the heads of grain, they are cut off. Now beloved, let's go back to the day. What happened to cut heads of grain? What happened to them? They were gathered, and they were taken to the threshing floor, where the wheat is separated from the chaff. Job is saying, they're exalted for a little while, then they're gone. Moreover, they will face the judgment of God. Having said these things, Job challenged his friends to prove him wrong, verse 25. If it is not so, who can prove me a liar and make my speech worthless? Well, the friends are almost done, but Bildad has to speak. To refute Job and accuse him of sinfulness, Bildad exalts the Lord. This is very interesting. Bildad exalts the Lord, says things that are true about the Lord, but he does that to slam Job. people oftentimes with their theology are just mean. Verses two and three, Bildad says, though many and in all belong to him who establishes peace in his heights, is there any number to his truth and upon whom does his light not rise? Amen. God is divine sovereign who rules and reigns over all. There's no end to his rule or limit to his power. As he is holy, his light exposes all things. Yes, the things hidden in darkness will be brought to the light. How then, Job, Bildad is asking, can you claim to be just before God? All who are born of women are born in sin. If the sinless celestial objects created by God, such as the moon and the stars, are bright as they are, but still not pure in God's sight, how impure then is fallen man, that maggot, the son of man, that worm? Bildad. An exalting God does so with an ill heart toward Job. In an attack on Job. He claims that the almighty God has exposed Job's sins by dealing with him as he is. That's what he's saying here. Nothing's hidden from the light of God, Job. You've been exposed here. Your sins have found you out. And then really in the most cruel terms, By Vildad, referring to man as a maggot and a worm, he took a real hard aim at Job. Because as we know from chapter seven, verse five, Job sat there covered with worms. Just cruel. Just cruel. Job responds. In a fiery response, Joe sarcastically rebukes Bill Dad. We read it earlier, but we'll read it again, verses two and three. What a help you are to the weak. Thanks a lot, buddy. How you have saved the arm without strength. Oh my goodness, you're such a strong guy and you help me. Poor pitiful me. What counsel you have given to one without wisdom. What helpful insight you have abundantly provided. Not. Job asks, verse four, to whom have you uttered words, Bildad? Who are you talking to? Job tells Bildad that what he said wasn't for him. Bildad, to whom have you uttered words? Well, not me, not to me. Job asks, whose spirit was expressed through you? Obviously not the spirit of God. In chapter four, remember Eliphaz spoke of a secret spirit that instructed him, remember that? Here Job questions what spirit or kind of a spirit has spoken through Bildad. Surely it is a spirit of error, if not an evil spirit. While Bildad spoke of the majesty of God so as to condemn Job as a wicked man under God's wrath, Job speaks of God's majesty to demonstrate that God is beyond them. Well, the friends forced God into their finite little bottle of retribution theology. The truth is that God is so far outside of them, so far above and beyond them that they simply cannot comprehend his ways. And here particularly in the case of Job. Guys, you've missed it. You don't comprehend it and neither do I, Job is saying, what God is doing. We don't get it. You wanna stuff God into the box of your mind, but God's doing something vast, far greater than we can know. So Job says, verses five and six, that even the dead who have gone before them tremble at their understanding of God. It is to say, if the dead tremble at God, tremble at God, shouldn't you tremble, my friends who speak for God? And since Sheol, the place of the dead, is laid bare before God and abaddoned, the bottomless pit is not hidden from God, shouldn't you, my living friends, realize that God sees and knows all you say and do? While you speak so boldly as those who represent God, shouldn't you tremble in fear? Indeed, God took note of what they said about Him, and He will require a sacrifice from them. Chapter 42. In describing the unsearchable greatness of God, Job says that God is the almighty who hangs the earth on nothing. And he wraps up the waters in the clouds, and though the clouds weigh tons and tons, they hang in the sky without bursting. Our God is great, he does that. God is the one who causes the shadow of the earth to eclipse and obscure the full moon. I have to say that since there's an eclipse tomorrow. God is the one who causes the shadow of the earth to eclipse and obscure the full moon. Tomorrow for some, it'll be the moon obscuring the sun. But in verse nine, he says, God is the one who causes his clouds to obscure the moon. Church, who is like God? Who is like him? Concerning the 10th verse, Lawson writes, God marks out the horizon on the face of the waters. The word for horizon means a circle or a circular globe-shaped sphere. Here is an amazingly accurate statement about the Earth's round shape recorded long before such a discovery was made by modern man. God causes the mountains, here we feel referred to the pillars of the sky. God causes the mountains to tremble and quake. God causes the vast raging sea to lie down as still waters. And by his understanding, he rules over Rahab, that is God rules over the great powers that were thought to rule over the sea. God is Lord over Lords. With his breath, God clears the sky of clouds. And with his hands he shoes the clouds, and they flee like circuits. Behold, says Job, verse 14, these are but the fringes of his ways, and I'll faint a word we hear of him, but his mighty thunder, who can understand? Church, as Job explained to his friends, The staggering, seeable greatness of God's creation is but the tip of the iceberg. Just the tip of it. How far can you see out into space? What you see is just the smallest part of the infinite universe. Who knows and can comprehend the greatness of God, the majesty, the power, the wisdom, and the way that is yet to be revealed. I tell you, God is so great, it will take all eternity for him to reveal himself to us. We will not be bored in eternity. By this exaltation of God, Job tells his friends that they don't know enough about God to represent Him, let alone to speak for Him. Friends, though you think you know what God is working in and through me, you simply don't. What you see is only the fringes of His majesty. The deep things belong to God. His mighty thunder is incomprehensible. Well, Job is going to continue to respond to his friends for the next five chapters, and I hope to go through those five chapters next Lord's Day. Please pray for me while I study. But from this point forward, we do not hear from the friends again. The seen and unseen majesty of God has silenced them. There's times in our life, church, we need to consider God and just put our hand over our mouth. God is great. God is glorious. And that's just a little bit we know of Him. In closing, oftentimes in life, it is very difficult to understand how God is working. but we must learn to rest in the fact that much of God is far beyond our comprehension, completely, really, outside of us. We can no more fit all of God into our finite minds than we could fit the ocean in a little hand-dug hole. What we know of God are only the fringes of his glorious being. Whether he makes sense to you or not, whether you understand the ways of God or not, Whether God prosper the wicked and you who love him suffer, yet will you as Job trust him. Will you bow before the infinite one and say, even if you slay me, I will trust you. His ways are not our ways, his ways are higher than ours, and that's because he is holy and transcendent, the superior, unequaled, supreme being. His ways are higher than ours. Will you trust in him? Please bow your heads with me in prayer, and as you bow your heads, I just wanted to say a few things to you. With heads bowed, please, quiet before the Lord. The scripture says that it was from the foundation of the world that Christ was slain. In Job, we learn of the suffering servant who was to come, the ultimate suffering servant. We would say the better Job, that is Jesus, that he came, the God-man, sinless, perfect, and that he died on the cross for our sins. Who would have known that God would do this for us. In the Old Testament, they had prophecies, they had foreshadows. We read of them. But who would have known that God would do something so great for us? But he has. He has given his son for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. I encourage you today. To consider the greatness of God, and that's so much that He loved you, as we read first, we love Him because He first loved us. Consider the greatness of God, so great, so loving, that He would give His only begotten Son to the cross, that He would raise Him from the dead, that we who believe in Him would have everlasting life. He is a great God. He is the only true God. And he is more wonderful than we can even imagine. Would you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, if you will, you will be saved. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great love for us. Help us, Lord, to marvel at who you are. Help us to consider your creation and realize we're only seeing the very fringes of your glory. And then, Lord, as we consider you, in your ways, and we consider our life that we don't understand many things, let us rest in you. Let us trust in you. For we know you will see us through, and not only that, you will see us through to glory. And then we will see you face to face. Teach us from Job to trust in you. And though the righteous suffer, and though the wicked prosper, we know that you will have your day. It'll be a day of justice, and it will be a day of redemption. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, we pray, in the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen. Please stand to your feet and let us sing together.