Well, this morning as we pick up our study of Job at the 40th chapter. We recall that months earlier, God brought Job to Satan's attention saying, have you considered my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. That's in chapter one, verses eight and nine. Satan then challenged the Lord by accusing Job of fearing God only because God had so abundantly blessed and protected him. The accuser, Satan, contended that if God removed his blessings, and if God removed his protection from Job, that Job would turn against God, and he said, Job will curse you to your face. Well, God gave Satan permission to try Job by taking away the blessings. And one day in successive events, Job lost many of his servants. He lost his 500 yoke of oxen. 500 female donkeys, his 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, and then as a final and most devastating blow, his 10 children, seven sons and three daughters died in a storm. Job said, chapter one, verses 20 through 22, The scripture says then in chapter 1 verses 20 through 22, then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And the 22nd verse says, through all this, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God. Then in a second similar scene, God again brought Job to the devil's attention, saying, have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil, and he still holds fast his integrity, although you, devil, incited me against him to ruin him without cause. Satan again accused Job of false reverence for God by saying that he only worshiped God because he had his health. Satan said that if God would take away Job's health and threaten his life, that he then would curse God to his face. God gave Satan permission to sift Job by ruining his health, and that's what Satan did. Job's response to this second trial was much like his first response. When chapter two, verses nine and 10, his wife said to him, do you still hold fast your integrity, curse God and die? He said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women speaks, shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? And all this Job did not sin with his lips. From that point on, for 36 chapters, there has been a strained and growing exchange between Job and his friends. The friends have accused Job of suffering the retribution of God due to some sin of his. Now God just said to Satan, I've turned against him or brought this upon him. even though there was no fault on his own without cause. You have sided me against him to ruin him without cause. But his friends are saying, oh, Job, there's a cause, you're a sinner, and God's getting you for your terrible sins. So the friends have accused Job of suffering the retribution of God on account of some sin of his. But Job has steadily maintained his innocence, that he has not sinned in such a way that this is retribution from God. Yet at the same time, as time has gone by, and the trial has lingered on and on, and his friends have continued to heap upon him one false accusation after another, Job has not only become aggravated with them, but with God. He feels that God has him suffering unjustly, and that God is indifferent about it. On more than one occasion, Job has expressed his desire to meet God in court so he can establish his own innocence and protest the way God has dealt with him. Well, suddenly at the 38th chapter, God comes on the scene, manifesting himself in a world when he began to question Job. Well, Job thought to question God and require an answer from him. It is God who ends up questioning Job and requires an answer from him. Job wanted to hold God as a defendant, but when God comes on the scene, he is the prosecutor, jury, and judge. God questioned Job concerning his creation and his supreme care for the cosmos and the earth. the weather and the animals, which are all God's creation. After establishing his glorious might, God challenged Job saying in chapter 40, verse two, will the fault finder, calling Job the fault finder, will the fault finder contend with the Almighty, let him who reproves God answer it. Speak up, Job. You find fault with me, you want to reprove me? Speak up, answer everything I've said about my care for the universe, my creation of all things. Well, upon hearing from God and realizing a display of his glory, Job did answer God. Job said, verses four and five, behold, I am insignificant. Now I tell you, who can't look out into the universe, into the dark night, the stars, the Milky Way, the moon, and not realize we're insignificant? Job has this vision of God and all God has done, and he says, behold, I get it, I understand, I am insignificant. The most important thing going on in the world is not my suffering and my trial. The most important thing going on is God and his glory. Behold, I am insignificant. What can I reply to thee? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer even twice, and I will add No more, I've said way too much. Upon hearing from God, Job was repentant for what he had said and challenged to God. But God is not done confronting Job. God has more to ask of Job. God will restore Job, we know the end of the story, but not until he has fully confronted him, putting Job to the fullest test. God showing up on the scene and questioning Job is a very important part of the test. It is a part of the trial. Job's test and trial is not complete until God himself presses him and proves him to be a true repentant God-fearer. People who fear God, they aren't sinless, but they do repent of their sin. Will Job continue to fear God or will he become exasperated with God? Okay, God, I got it. I got it in the first discourse. You created all things, you're great. I got it, I don't need to hear the second one. But he's gonna hear the second one. Will he resent God for not answering his questions concerning his great loss, his suffering and his innocence? Will he resent God for showing up and say, look at me, I'm God. and I'm the great one, you're insignificant. How will Job respond? What kind of man is Job? Will he lose it with God or will he, in the face of God, remain upright, blameless, fearing God and turning away from evil? While God confronts him, will Job continue to say, you, God, though you slay me, yet will I trust you? Or will something bitter spew out of Job? By this test, Job is given the chance to speak to God. And it is out of the abundance of the heart that Job will speak. Will he curse God or glorify God? The way I see this is that God is giving Job every opportunity to curse him to his face. What God is saying to Job is definitely heavy and corrective. The question is, will Job be corrective or resentful? Will Job bless the name of the Lord or will he curse the Lord to his face? God is continuing to test Job and that's why this continues to go on. Another thing I will say as a point of observation, at the first of the book, God confronted Satan two times. Here at the close of the book, God confronts Job two times. We see in the responses the obvious contrast between one who does not reverence God and one who truly does. This should move us, church, to examine our own hearts, to consider our own personal response to God. Will we reverence him or defy him? If he brings us low, will we bow before him and say, blessed be the name of the Lord? Or if he brings us low, will we shake our fist at him? Will we reverence him for who he is or despise him for what he does? Will we, no matter what he brings in this life, fear him because he is God? Choose today whom you will serve. Will you come to the point with Job to say, even if God himself comes and slays me, I will trust him? Proverbs chapter three, verses five through eight. 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 your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones. As we are about to read the scripture, please stand as we recognize the word of God as His word. Please open your Bibles to Job chapter 40, where we read verses six through nine, and then chapter 42, where we will read verses one through six. Hear now the word of the Lord, as found in Job chapter 40, verses six through nine. Job 40, verse six. Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said, now gird up your loins like a man. I will ask you and you instruct me. Will you really unknow my judgment? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His? Chapter 42, verse one. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Hear now, and I will speak, I will ask thee, and do thou instruct me? I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee. Therefore, I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes. Let's bow our heads before the Lord. Our Heavenly Father, we are a needy, fallen people. We were born in sin. And as your word says, we have all sinned and fallen short of your glory. Help us, Lord, to recognize our fallenness, our sinfulness. Lord, because we are here in church today and some of us have served you for many years, may we not become smug and arrogant. But Lord, having served you many years and known you many years, may we be a people of humility, who of contrition of heart recognize our daily need of you, We will not arrive until we arrive on your shore. Let us, Lord, not be arrogant, snobbish Christians, but people who are kind and humble and tenderhearted and sensitive to our own failings, who at the hearing of your word come quickly to bow down and say, God, have mercy on me, the sinner. And then, Lord, when we get up, may we follow after you. May we turn from our sin, which repentance is about turning from the sin. May we turn from our sin and be faithful sons and daughters of the living God. Lord, now open our ears that we might hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. May we receive from you and may we leave this place glorifying you. You are the great God, you are to be praised. In the name of Christ I pray, amen. God bless you, you may be seated. The outline I've prepared for you is on the handout if you've got one. It is number one, God speaks out of the storm. Second, God speaks of the behemoth. Three, God speaks of the Leviathan. And four, Job answers the Lord. When God answers Job, Job is moved to respond to God in humble repentance. God speaks out of the storm. A second time, the Lord answered Job out of the storm, or more literally, the whirlwind. When God again manifests himself in a way that demonstrates the might of his power, he gathers Job's undivided attention while preserving Job's life. God can't just show up, it'll kill Job. So he manifests himself in a way that preserves Job's life, but gathers his attention. God speaks out of the whirlwind. And God again tells Job to ready himself as one prepares for a battle. God calls Job to attention as he will be required to answer like a man. And God, addressing Job as one who has questioned him, says, I will ask you, and you instruct me. God then asks three consecutive rhetorical questions meant to correct Job. God wants to know if Job is really one who will annul his judgment, or to so to say, will you prove me wrong, Job? And he wants to know if Job is so arrogant that he will condemn God just so he, Job, will appear to be right. Will you condemn me so you'll look like you're right? And God wants to know if Job is strong like he is, whose voice is like thunder. Job, are you strong like me? Are you going to contend with me? Come on, Job, let's have an arm wrestling match. With those questions demanding a negative response, God then challenged Job with 10 imperatives. If Job is going to stand in judgment of God, then God challenges him to measure up by being godlike. Come on, if you're gonna contend with God, then be like God. By this, God reminds Job of his proper place. God says, verses 10 through 13, adorn yourself with eminence and dignity. and clothe yourself with honor and majesty. Pour out the outflowings of your anger and look on everyone who is proud and make him low. Look on everyone who is proud and humble him and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them in the dust together. Bind them in the hidden places. Come on, Job, you wanna contend with me? Then do those things, that's what I do. And that is what God does. God says, Job, as soon as you do all of that, then I will concede and confess that you have the power to save yourself. You know better than me, huh, Job? The idea being, otherwise Job, son, you'd better humble yourself under my mighty hand. For I alone have the power to save and condemn. Life and death is in my hands. Salvation and condemnation belong to me alone. Job, unless you can do as I do, you best be humbling yourself. So as to humble Job, God speaks of the behemoth. God desiring to teach Job of his own divine supremacy while reminding him of his own severe limitations, he speaks of the greatest land animal identified as the behemoth. God in emphatic and awe-inducing terms calls Job's attention to this great behemoth. It is widely accepted that the behemoth is the hippopotamus. And others might say, oh no, it's the elephant. But by the description, it comes closest to the hippopotamus. Now, while that is interesting, it really doesn't matter what animal God is referring to, does it? What matters is that God is describing a massive and fascinating creature of his creation. Job understands what this animal is, and that's the point. The behemoth being God's creation is far beyond anything Job could have ever imagined on his own, let alone create and sustain. So God tells Job to behold the wonder of the behemoth. And God informs Job that He created the behemoth just as He created Job. So the behemoth is not a mythical animal. It's a creature that God created just as He created Job. God alone is the giver and sustainer of life. Job, as I created you, I also created the behemoth. Behold, verses 15b-18, he eats grass like an ox. Behold now, now notice how that is. He eats grass like an ox and then he says, behold, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly. He bends his tail like a cedar and sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron. Well, this is rather astounding. Behold, this massive, strong creature eats grass. It draws what it needs for all of its strength from grass. It doesn't take supplements for its size and strength. It doesn't need a complex diet to sustain its strength size or to build its strength. It doesn't have a daily exercise routine to build the strength of its loins or the muscles of its bellies. The great behemoth is as it is, and it is sustained as it is because God made it that way. I mean, how well would you do on a diet of grass? Frankly, I don't even want grass-fed beef. I'm an Iowa boy, corn fed beef. You can look at me and tell that that's what I like. The great behemoth is as it is and is sustained because God made it that way. Look at the behemoth and behold a reflection of the wisdom and might of God. That this great animal lives on grass. When we go to the zoo, When we go to the zoo, we do not go primarily to look at the animals, but to wonder at the glory of the God who created the animals. The zoo is not about the animals, but about God who created the animals. God tells Job that the behemoth is the first of his ways, that is, the greatest of God's land animals, greatly feared by man, but not feared by God. The creature is greater in strength than any other, but not greater than God the creator. This creature is God's creature, God's creation that only God, not man, but only God could approach with a sword. Yet God does not approach it with a sword. What does God do? He provides for this great creature. God by way of the mountains provides an abundance of the grass that the behemoth requires. And the behemoth grazes as it wishes. It goes out among the grass and there's all kinds of wild beasts laying out there, but the behemoth, he doesn't worry. This big brute of an animal does not fear, but it is feared. This behemoth finds rest under the lotus plants in the cover of the reeds in the marsh. While it rests so peacefully, it does not worry if the rivers floods or rushes. The behemoth, massive as it is, swims easily. It is a far stronger swimmer than the greatest Olympic athlete. It is not built like a swimmer. It does not have webbed feet. It is shaped more like a massive boulder than a streamlined torpedo. With its great weight, it would sink and drown, but God made this massive behemoth a wonderful swimmer, unlikely as it is. It doesn't worry about floods. It survives. It's the way God made it. Contrary to the way we would make something. And God asked, verse 24, can anyone capture him when he is on the watch with barbs? Can anyone pierce his nose? Look, the animal is not willingly captured, and neither can it be trained and led around by the nose. Yet this wild beast is God's pet, created for his glory, for his enjoyment, as a display of his glorious might, as a display of his wonderful wisdom, and as a display of his creative ability. Job, consider the behemoth. This great creature is the creation of God under His divine control and care. How has God made such a fascinating creature? How did God design it and how does He maintain it? Job, can you do that? Until you can create and control and provide for the behemoth, you will be in no position to question the God who created it. As earlier, Job held his hand over his mouth. I kind of think here that Job's going... Well, next God speaks of the Leviathan. As far as my studies are concerned, the majority of scholars think the Leviathan is probably the giant crocodile. Others have suggested a great white shark, a sea monster of some sort, or even a marine dinosaur. As with the behemoth, what it is really isn't our concern, that it was among the greatest of God's terrifying creation, and yet under God's supreme control, that is our concern. God is over this leviathan. He created it. He cares for it. It submits to God. So the issue isn't the animal, but the creator. As with the behemoth, the Leviathan is God's creation, and as God's creation, it is there to cause us to wonder at God himself and to realize how small, incapable, and finite we are. God, the creator of the Leviathan, asks a series of questions. Can you, Job, draw the Leviathan out with a fish hook? Can you suppress its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose? Can you pierce his jaw with a hook? Further, if you could do any of these things, would the Leviathan then submit to you? Pleading for mercy, please, Job, let me go. Speaking softly so as to win your favor? No, the Leviathan is not that way. Will he become your forever pet? Will you play with the Leviathan like you would a pet bird? Will you give it to your maids as a gift? Will you bargain and profit from him as one who owns and controls him? The Leviathan belongs to God, not you, Job. Job, this animal will not be subdued no matter how many harpoons and fishing spears you employ. Go ahead, try to battle the Leviathan and you will learn an unforgettable lesson. You think you will bravely approach the Leviathan? Ha, when you see him, you'll be laid low with fear. So as not to get swept away by the enthralling thoughts of the Leviathan and miss the point God intends, God then says in verses 10 and 11, no one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him. You know? If it is this giant crocodile, nobody goes up and pokes him with a stick. Who then is he who can stand before me? Do you see what the Lord is saying? No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse the Leviathan, and if not, then who then is he who thinks he can stand before me? You can't stand before the Leviathan. Do you think he can stand before God, the creator? Who has given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. There is no one who is so fiercely brave that they would dare go up to the Leviathan to arouse him. Hey, wake up. That would be a great mistake and an act of sheer stupidity. And if that is the case with the Leviathan, then who can stand before God, asked the Holy One. Who can stand before the God who created the Leviathan? Like the great behemoth, the terrifying Leviathan is but a reflection of the all-glorious God who is in control over all creatures, great and small. To whom then does God Almighty owe anything? Who can go to God in prayer and say, God, you owe me this? Sometimes people bargain with God. God, if you do this, I'll do that. I'll do this, I expect you to do that. How about just coming and saying, Heavenly Father, I sure love you. I would like this, but not my will, but your will be done. To whom then does the Almighty owe anything? Who has given anything to God that was not His to begin with? What do you have that wasn't God's and He didn't place in your care? What does God need from man? Man belongs to God. Man is God's creation and the Creator has the right over the creature, not the creature over the Creator. Consider the terrifying Leviathan and learn to fear God. Consider the might of the Leviathan and bow low before God. With the dose of reality that God's greatness far exceeds the greatness of the Leviathan, God returns to describing the awesome characteristics of this amazing creature. The Lord says of the Leviathan, verses 12 through 17, I will not keep silent concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his orderly frame. Who can strip off his outer armor? Who can come within his double mail? Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth there is terror. His strong scales are his pride, shut up with a tight seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined to one another. They clasp each other and cannot be separated. Adding to the mystique of the Leviathan, God says, verses 18 through 22, his sneezes flash forth light. And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils smoke comes forth, and from a boiling pot and burning rushes, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes, his breath kindles coals and a flame goes forth from his mouth. So employing poetic language and perhaps hyperbole, When the creature sneezes, the spray that comes out of its nostrils glistens in the sunlight. His eyes are like eyelids of the morning because we believe that when it comes to the surface of the water, that's what you see first, the eyes. When it gapes its mouth open or breathes out its nostrils, a steam rises. And apparently, it has really, really bad breath. Breath that kindles like coals and a flame goes from its mouth. It uses its neck to thrash about its prey. When it is near, all leap away in fear. His hide is tough and impenetrable. It is cold-hearted and cares not about the terror it causes. And God says, verses 25 through 33, when he raises himself up, the mighty fear. Because of the crashing, they are bewildered. The sword that reaches him cannot avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He regards iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make him flee. Slingstones are turned into stubble for him. Clubs are regarded as stubble. He laughs at the rattling of the javelin. His underparts are like sharp potsherds. "'He spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire. "'He makes the depths boil like a pot. "'He makes the sea like a jar of ointment. "'Behind him he makes a wake to shine. "'One would think that the deep had gray hair. "'Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear.'" This creature just can't be subdued by man. The creature cannot be hurt by man's feeble attempts. This creature is not afraid. But this Leviathan, this creation of God instills deep and terrifying fear in men. And who, who would fear the Leviathan and then be so foolish as not to fear the Lord who created it? This creature, verse 34, looks on everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride. Though this creature lies low, it looks up to everything. Still he rules over the proudest and bravest men. All are humbled by this creature. And the Leviathan is but a creature. Oh man, if God's creation is so strong, so mighty, so awe-inspiring, so fear-inducing that you would not approach it, that you would shake in fear at the sight of it, then how would you so foolishly, irreverently, boldly, accusingly approach the holy God who created it? The Leviathan is not about the Leviathan. The Leviathan is about God. Do you fear the creature more than the creator? While you would not hurl spears at the Leviathan, would you hurl accusations against God? If you would turn and run when the Leviathan comes out of the water, do you not have enough sense to bow in humble contrition before God Almighty? Commentator Roy Zuck wrote, anyone who cannot undertake God's works has no right to undermine God's ways. And anyone who trembles at the sight of fierce beasts is unwise and boldly contending with the beast's maker. The fearless Leviathan is created by God so that we will learn to fear God the creator. There was but one proper response. to what God has presented. Job answers the Lord. One can be like the accuser at the beginning of the book. Rather than being humbled by God, they can choose to be resentful, hateful, and then forever lost. Or one can be like Job, who, upon hearing from God, humbled himself as an unholy finite being before the holy infinite one. Choose today who you will serve. Do you have more respect for God's creation than God the creator? Would you have more fear of an earthquake than God who is the one who shakes the earth? Would you have more fear of a spewing volcano than God, the one who presses that volcano out like a pimple, causes it to burst forth? God is the giver of life. And as Job said early on, he gives and he takes. Blessed be the name of the Lord in every circumstance. verses one and two of chapter 41. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do all things and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. When Job says, I know that I can do all things, he may mean that in a way that we are not quick to comprehend. Usually, Most often, I think, when we speak of God being able to do things, we think in terms of his might to work what we desire, to work a miracle for us. Lord, we know you can do all things. Please work this miracle for us, please. Please. But we do not think that in working whatever he wants, he may work things in a way we don't like, which he did for Jonah. If we were to say, I know God that you can do all things, we would probably say that as a statement of faith, trusting him to work things out for us, which of course, he will work things out for us, but church, as it pleases him, we don't dictate to God. Our father knows best, amen. But when Job says, I know, Lord, you can do all things, I believe he is conceding. I've seen it, Lord. I've seen your creation. I've seen the stars. I've witnessed the earth. I've seen the moon, seen the galaxies. I see the animals. I see the behemoth. I see the Leviathan. Oh, Lord, I can see. You can do all things. He is saying then, I know, Lord, that you have the right over me to do with me as it pleases you. You can slay me if you want. You can deliver me if you want. You have the right and the prerogative. I'm the clay, you're the potter. You can do all things and you do all things right. Whatever you do will be just. I know that you can do all things. Further, as God through the last three chapters has made it clear to Job that in all he does, he fulfills his own divine purpose, Job submits, or if you prefer, Job surrenders. He says, no purpose of thine can be thwarted. As much as I've wanted to turn you around God and get you to do things my way, no, you have a purpose and it can't be thwarted. You're gonna have your way, Lord. I recognize that. I see that in the behemoth. I see that in the Leviathan. I see that in the stars. You have your way. So while these are statements of faith, true and accurate, in so much that he's saying what is true about God, they are not statements to try to get God to do what he wants him to do, but they're statements that say, I can see, Lord. you will have your way. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In church, God will have his way. And the way of God is eternally right and holy. It is pure and just. His judgments are pure and just. His mercy is pure and just. Beloved, if God can do all things as he pleases, and all he does is right and holy, and if no purpose of God can be thwarted, then is it not best? Is it not advisable? Is it not reasonable? Is it not reverent and worshipful to fear Him and submit to Him? I tell you, it's not wise to kick against the goads. This is who God is. He can do all things. And by the way, He will do all things as He wills. His purposes will prevail. Well, Job has been carefully listening to what God said. Rather than being ready to dispute God as the accuser did, Job is ready to reverently respond to God. So Job repeats what the Lord asks. God, you ask, verse three, who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? How does Job respond to this searching question? He admits that it's him. Yeah, I'm the one who's been giving counsel without knowledge, God. I'm the one who's tried to advise you when I don't know anything. He says, therefore, I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Do you know when things are rough, when things aren't going our way, that God, in fact, is working things that are too wonderful for us? that we can't conceive, that we will not know until we get to the other side? Well, Job has been frustrated by God's silence. God now wishes he himself, Job now wishes he himself were to remain silent. He spoke without knowledge. He said things that should not have been voiced. He opened his mouth when he should have kept his lips sealed. In the darkness of his suffering, he failed to comprehend the majesty and the just right of God. Again, Job repeats what God said, verse 4, Here now, and I will speak, I will ask thee, and do thou instruct me. Here is true repentance, the contrition of heart before God. At the first of the book, the accuser despised God, but here the man, Job, despises himself. He despises his sin, and he repents. A true, clear vision of God does not cause us to despise God, but to despise ourselves as unworthy of His holy presence. Sean O'Donnell writes, God speaks of seeing what God wants him to see. Job speaks of seeing what God wants him to see, or really seeing God for more of who God is. God is bigger than Job imagined. He is greater than the traditions he has heard. Yahweh makes the Leviathan look little and the behemoth brittle. This perception of reality and oral vision of the reality causes Job to tremble, tremble, tremble, and to change his mind and turn away from previous thoughts and postures. Tremper Longman comments, up to this point, Job has been operating on hearsay about God, but now he has had a personal encounter with God and his understanding is vastly expanded. So Job retracts what he had said and he repents. In the first book, the accuser saw God and resented. In the last of the book, Job saw God and repented. To repent is to have a true change of mind, to see things differently, otherly, that then causes the person to turn about and head in the opposite direction. Instead of being an enemy of God, we turn and say, I'm the child of God, I will obey him. Instead of demanding our way, we say, not my will, but your will be done, Lord. Job had an encounter with God, and that God-revealing encounter with God changed the mind of Job. Even here, even if God chooses not to restore Job. Let's say God does no more. Now, we know He restores him. But even if God chooses not to restore Job, still, is not Job the better? Rather than complaining about his suffering, he is glorifying his Lord. David Allen writes, all Job's pity, frustration, and anger evaporates in the presence of God. Job stops thinking much of his sufferings, and rightly, he thinks much of God. Job stops thinking God is unconcerned, realizing that God is Lord over all, and very concerned about every detail. Job no longer wants to confront God in court, but having seen the evidence, he embraces God as his sovereign and just judge. By the mercies of God, Job has endured the trial. Job has passed the test, and it is to the praise of God's glorious grace, Job does not curse God at all, let alone to his face, but Job glorifies God, amen and amen. So finally then, When times of trouble assail us, we want to do away with the troubles. We say, I don't need this. We don't want to walk through the trouble, but we want God to remove us from it. And when God does not act as we think He ought, as we have trusted Him for, we are tempted to contend with Him, even resent Him. Why God, why? But the reason we think this way is only because our view of ourselves is so very, very big and our view of Him is so very, very small. When you get the relationship right, you'll see that you are small and He is great. So, in Troubles, we want to bind God to our thoughts, and we want Him to submit to our will. We want to tell God how to handle the situation. We want to capture God in the bottle of our customized, self-serving theology. But God is who He is, and He will not change to conform to us. We must see him as he is and humbly, repentantly, align ourselves to him. Yes, we must, in all our pains and sorrows, voluntarily submit ourselves to him. He is God, we are his subject. Again, O'Donnell writes, if we consider the beauty and order of creation, we would conclude that God is no cosmic bully. He is not making sport of us with his providential power. God's rule of human history is inexplicable, incomprehensible, and beyond human reason. And yet nature points beyond itself and promises that the same God who brought the beauty and order of creation into being is wise and powerful enough to bring order out of what appears to be present confusion. The world is the theater of God's glory. Before the vast panorama of the heaven and earth, the majestic face of God shines. So Job takes God for who he is. Job has come to the point in his struggles that he finally gets it. The light has come on. He sees God point. He agrees with God and finds true comfort in the character of God. Oh, that we would do the same no matter our sad or happy situation." End quote. Some will entertain themselves with fancy thoughts that God should show up for them as he did for Job. You know, if God would just reveal himself to me in a whirlwind, then hey, I would get it. We might excuse ourselves saying, if God would talk to us out of that whirlwind, then we would turn about like Job. Then I'd quit complaining. Well, dear and precious soul, I want to tell you, God has shown up for us. As we have the written word of God right here, God has shown up for us in the very same whirlwind that he showed up for Job. This word, God's word is to us. It is for our learning of him. It is for us to more than hear of God, but to see him as he has revealed himself to us. Further, God has made himself known to us in a way far superior than he did to Job. God made himself known to us through his son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came to explain the Father to us. By this we know the love of God. He sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the Savior of the world, your Savior, to be my Savior. And if God would not spare His Son for us, but deliver Him up to the cross to save us from sin and death to life in Himself, then what good thing will He withhold from you? Will you submit to Him? by believing upon Jesus, his son. May we, like Job, confess to the Lord, I know that you, Lord God, can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And from the depth of our heart, may we say, I repent of my sins. I trust in you, my Lord and God. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Lord, we're so grateful for the story of Job. We're looking forward to next week's sermon to wrap this up to see how you restore Job. And Lord, our faith is stirred. Our faith is stirred not in what we want and hope you will give us, but in who you are and what you have promised us. And we realize Heavenly Father that you have not promised us an easy going life. In fact, you've said that those who want to live godly will be persecuted. And as the Apostle Peter said, we shouldn't be surprised at the fiery ordeals that come among us. Because we're living for you. We're not of this world, we're of your world. We're not children of the world, we're the children of God. And Lord, as he who has given his only begotten son for us to save us from our sin, and as you by your Holy Spirit testify to us saying the amen, this is true, may we bow low before you. May we ever say not what I want, but what you want, Lord. And Lord, when trials come, and they will, When there are difficulties, when there are problems, may we look to you, knowing that you have brought them by for our good and for your glory, and may we trust in you, knowing you'll bring us through it. Lord, when we think much of ourselves, may we remember you. And looking to you, may we think much of you and little of ourselves. Humble us, Lord, under your mighty hand, that you might exalt us at the proper time. And Lord, I here confess my sin to you. I struggle daily with sin, Lord. Sin lives in me. I ask, Lord, that you will purify me and cleanse me. And Lord, that you will empower me to live beyond and not to submit to the temptations. As we are tempted, Lord, deliver us. May we walk in your paths. I pray that we at Redeemer Bible Church will truly follow after you. Guide us, teach us, save us, and be glorified in us. In the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord, I pray. And all the church said, amen. God bless you.