Job 40 is where we turn this morning, how exciting it is to have kind of a crux session, section between God's first speech to Job and his second speech. And this text here at the beginning of chapter 40 is really the tail end of the first speech and then introducing a second speech. And it has really the briefest speech of all the speeches of Job, and that is Job's response, his first response to God here in these verses. God has moved from his statements, so many statements, so many questions in chapters 38 and 39 about creation, about the physical world, the earth itself, the stars, the sun, the weather phenomenon, the different situations that God has created for our benefit, and he also had a wonderful I was going to say extolation. I don't think that's the proper word. But celebration, there you go, of his animal life, a variety of different animals that he looked at this past time with lions and ravens and all the different things, even down to eagles and vultures or hawks or whichever kind of raptor birds they were. But showing that he has purposes in all these things. And he actually has goodness, his judgment, his justice, his purpose in all these things. And so many things that Job had no clue about what that's for, why it does it this way, any kind of idea how to maneuver things to accomplish the snow or the hail. Hey, Joe, why don't you call down some lightning and strike that guy right over here? Why don't you do that? Can you do this? By the might of your power, can you do these things? It was meant to humble Job. God intends to show that Job is very small, God is big, and that Job can trust God. Because God, whereas Job didn't know these things, God does. God knows these things. And Job can take very great comfort in that fact. Do you remember as we looked at earlier the different speeches that the friends gave to Job, that they would find fault with Job. They said, obviously, Job, because you are suffering, it's because you're sinning. You have sinned. You've done something bad. And Job, you're wrong. There's something wrong about your life. But tell you what, God is right. God is absolutely right. And he is judging this. And if you just repent and confess your sin before him, he will prove you right. that he will prove himself right and proving you're right. Well, Job says, no, God is wrong, and I'm right. And we think, whoa, that kind of takes your breath away. How can that be that somehow Job is more righteous than God? And remember, that's the issue that Elihu had. How is this man making himself more righteous than God? Is that even possible? No, it's not possible. And that's what God is proving to him and reaffirms here in this section in Job chapter 40. The solution to this little dilemma is not that Job is wrong or God is wrong. It's that God is right and Job is right in the sense that he is blameless, upright, freeing God and turning away from evil. The sin, or excuse me, the suffering that has befallen Job is not because Job is a sinner. It's not because God is somehow evil or shorthanded or unaware of what's happening to Job. It's something that we didn't know. Don't you remember, it made it very clear back in chapters one and two, Satan demanded just like he demanded to sift Peter like wheat, he demanded, you know, put a test upon Job, take away these different things, take away his health, and he's gonna curse you. And yet, God says, okay, you can do that, but you can only go this far. You can only, you know, don't touch his body. Take everything else, whatever, but don't touch his body. The first series, second series, don't kill him. You can touch his body, but don't kill him. And always, God is limiting the circumstances, the horrible situation that Job is enduring, always for his purposes, to prove himself to be a worth, while, worth, full, full of worth, there we go, God, who is worthy of worship and praise, that God didn't have to buy or pay for Job to follow him. Hey, I'll give you this stuff if you'll come and worship me. No, Job worshiped God because of who he is, not because of what he gives or what he takes away, it's because of who God is. Satan challenged that, the friends challenged that, Job challenged that even in the course of the suffering, and yet God is faithful, he's good, we can trust him and find refuge in him. We saw that these four chapters, 38, 39, 40, 41, are broken in two major big sections. The first speech, where God is focused on his omniscience, his all knowledge. He knows everything. And not just knowing everything, he put the knowledge in it. He figured it out. And he didn't figure it out. He spoke, and it was so. This is the way that things are going to be. He didn't have to discover. He didn't have to learn, research, do observation. No. He did everything. He made everything. So he knows it, not just from like we know things observationally or because we learn from other people. God designed it. He created the whole thing. And these next chapters, we will see God on display with his omnipotence, his omnipotence, his all power. He just can do anything and everything to the great contrast of what Job can or cannot do. And God is going to challenge him, challenge Job in these verses. Well, we begin in chapter 40 and verse 1, and let me just read the first two verses here. So Yahweh is answering Job and he says, now this is again the concluding statements of of the first speech, Yahweh's answering Job, he talks to him, and he says that you need to listen to me, you need to realize what are you doing, what kind of wickedness are you doing against me, you answer me. Now, you have to kind of put this not in so much moral terms, I suppose, as opposed to legal terms. In other words, Job has spoken and demanded that God answer him in a court of law and to show that he is acting wrongly against Job. That somehow Job has an accusation against God and God has to answer in a court of law that he would give the charge. You know, what's going on here? Why are you accusing me? Or, you know, either show me what I've done, the accusation against me, or declare me innocent because everybody around me thinks that I'm a great, notorious sinner. And so in a court kind of a situation, a legal situation, Job is the accuser. He's the fault finder. He is contending or arguing with God in a court of law. And he needs to answer. Remember the whole thing about in a court of law, different sides present their case, especially in the ancient world here. And whoever was silenced, whoever had nothing else to say and would not present new evidence or would not bring new charges or whatever, then that person lost. Which is why Elihu had such a hard time with the friends, because they couldn't answer Job. They didn't have any other words to say. And Job ended his statements, and he declared his innocence, and he said, this is it. May God answer me. This kind of thing. Well, OK. God says, OK, where is this fault finder? Where is this one? who is contending with the Almighty. Yahweh's answering Job, and he speaks to him in this way. He says, look, you've presented a legal dispute, and so I've heard it. Yahweh says, so you answer me. I've presented all my evidence that I am right and righteous and powerful. I know everything. You're criticizing my knowledge. You're criticizing my awareness of what's going on. Let me just tell you and ask you, are you aware of these things? Do you care when the wild mountain goats give birth in the wilderness? Do you care for the ravens and give food when they ask you? Do they come to you, Job? When's the last time you fed a hawk or went up to their nest, which is way up high in the sky or in the trees or in the cliffs or the rock? When's the last time you did that? And so Job is really brought low. Notice that we did not see that Job was accused of sin. God did not accuse Job of sin brought upon his suffering. It was because of his statements. In other words, Job did not sin causing his suffering, but in his suffering he was in a wrong path. Those first statements he had, trusting God, God's going to do what he's going to do. He gives and he takes. Blessed be the name of God. Yahweh, especially, particularly, where is that trust? Where is that dependence? Where is that humility gone? He has challenged God to a force of legality. And God answers in a tremendous way. Somehow Job has left that earlier ground of, Sound theology and has gone off and says somehow God is easy. He's either not loving he is Unaware or he's can't do anything about it. He doesn't work. He's withdrawn from me I don't think he knows what's going on in this world because I look around I see all kind of wicked people getting away with it and Well, maybe he doesn't know maybe he doesn't have any power to act in that regard and God has proven that to be quite false will the fault finder he says will the one who is disputing with me, striving with me, will he be the one who is contending with me, contending in a legal sense, finding fault with the way that God runs the world. One person said that, OK, this is what the friends were contending against Job in a legal kind of situation. The friends were contending for God. And Job says, are you showing partiality for God? No. God is the one who's contending with Job, at least from Job's perspective. Verse 2, I will say to God, do not account me as wicked. Let me know why you contend with me. This is Job speaking to God. And of course, Job is contending with God. If one desired to contend or legally dispute with him, he, the accuser, could not answer him once in 1,000 times. Well, this idea of fault finding, we talked about contending, but this is a fault finder, one who is instructing so as to correct God. And you think, OK, would we ever be in a situation where we could say, God, I think you missed a spot? Or I know you meant well, but this just went sideways. And we don't know how this happened, but God, let me just take you aside and instruct you. It's kind of like, I don't know, when Peter was told that Jesus' first time, Matthew 16, when Jesus was going to the cross and die and be buried and three days later rise again. And Peter said, Never, Lord. Right? That's not going to happen. Excuse me. And our Lord Jesus said to him, Oh, I thank you. I appreciate you. No, he said, Get behind me, Satan. You're setting your mind on man's interest and not on the interest of God. which is kind of interesting. It shows that Christ's suffering on the cross is God's intention, God's purpose, God's perspective. We think just temporally, oh, we're going to lose Jesus. No, he's going to accomplish salvation for a bunch of lost and ruined sinners. But sometimes we think we have better information than God, better knowledge, we've thought about it better, more deeply than God. And so we will come along to instruct so as to correct God. Other times this word here, fault finder, is translated, has to do with discipline. Even as we looked at that God disciplines those whom he loves, he disciplines his children. He is the one who chastises them, not for punishment, but for training and for correction, that kind of a thing. And so again, Job is regarded by God as one who is a fault finder. One who says, okay, God, you're wrong. Let me just help you figure out how we can make this better. And he says, OK, will the fault finder? Can the fault finder? Is this going to happen? And again, lest you think, well, boy, I hate it when people do that against God. Finding fault with God and saying, God, why'd you do that? And we think, well, how many times have we questioned God's wisdom, questioned God's discretion, questioned God's power, and say, oh, I wish that hadn't happened. Or God, if you'd only known. Or John 11, when Mary and Martha sent a messenger to Jesus. Jesus, have you been here? My brother would not have died. Jesus, why weren't you here? This is your friend that you love. We gave you a warning. We told you about it. If you were here, And yet God has purposes in these things. And that's what he proved in Job 38 and 39, that God is active in all kind of situations that we have no clue about. He is doing things in places there are no people even. And he's doing it for his own glory. He is managing and ordering the physical world exactly as he intends. And so we can trust him for the moral world, for the personal world, for the situations of judgment, of wickedness, approval or the endorsement of what is good. We can trust him. He says here, let him who reproves God. Whoa, to him who reproves God, him who is finding fault, rebuking even God, that Job would ever be in a position to say, God, you have done me wrong. Well, we realize that reproving God is not a position we want to be in, saying, God, you've messed up, or God, you've withheld your justice against me. We want to make sure that we answer God rightly, that we give him the proper place, that we put ourselves in a proper place. And so that when God would speak to us, he would say, well done, good and faithful servant, or later, in Job 42, You've not spoken rightly about me as my servant Job has." And we think, really, Job? God, you found fault with Job's statements. Yes, but he confessed his faults. We'll see that not in this speech, Job's response, but the next one, the second response that Job has in chapter 42. In fact, verse three through five, here's the shortest speech, verses four and five in the whole book, and it's from Job, which is kind of unusual, because he is kind of a loquacious person. He has a lot of words. And he says here, Job answered Yahweh and said, behold, I am insignificant. What can I respond to you? I place my hand over my mouth once I've spoken, and I'll not answer even twice, and I will add nothing more. And you think, oh, that's good. Good for Job. He's finally recognizing his limits. Well, not exactly. Job did answer Yahweh. He says, behold, I've learned this. Behold has a lot of, I mean, it's kind of a surprise. Whoa, I didn't realize this. But now he does. And he says, I am insignificant. But wait a minute. If you were to look at pronouns in these two verses, I am insignificant. I can respond to you. I place my hand over my mouth. I've spoken once. I've spoken twice. I'll not add anything. I mean, he's talking about himself. His perspective is so much on him. And the import of God's speech, the first speech, was to magnify himself. But in the magnifying of God himself, then we realize we are very small. Very, very small. So when Job says, I am insignificant, it's not that he's saying, I am a worm, I am vile or contemptible, which he is, and which all of us are. But he has the idea of, wow, in the greatness of what God has just revealed himself to be, I am such a small being, just a small, insignificant kind of person. He has the opposite idea of, honor or glory. The Hebrew word that talks about glory is also used to describe weight. And he says, I'm not that. Compare a gold bar to a feather. I'm the feather. And God is not even the gold bar. He is such, just full of honor and glory and blessing. And I, in contrast, in that way. God did not intend to humiliate Job, I don't think. I think it was to humble him, to show him how small he is, definitely, what Job was beginning to learn. We're going to see in chapters 40 and 41 that God is speaking. powerfully to show Job, you have nothing. There's nothing in your life that can possibly accomplish what I accomplish in all things. Job inferred, boy, God is great. I'm small. And so that was a right right path, but then he kind of evades the whole thing. I place my hand over my mouth. Well, he does, in a legal situation, oh, you don't have any response or an answer or you disavow your statements. No, he's not saying that so much. I place my hand over my mouth. Now, sometimes that can mean he takes a little bite of something, he eats something. We just read that back in 1 Samuel chapter 14 when the different folks, Saul said, don't eat any honey, don't put honey in your mouth, and Jonathan did, and nobody else did. But that's one way to talk about placing my hand over my mouth, or putting my hand to my mouth. It's also used as an indication of silence, put your hand over your mouth, don't say anything else, which kind of has the idea here, that Job is not going to say anything else. He is a sign of silence, but it can also be used as a sign of respect or deference, astonishment even. Whoa. I mean, sometimes we do this. We put our hand to our mouth for whatever reason we do it, but we are just surprised. We're startled at something. And it could be that, that Job says, whoa, I didn't realize this. He was concerned about this earlier on. Remember when he says, If I contend with God, I won't be able to answer him. He's going to overpower me with all of his special tricks and everything. which God did not do, and he answered him out of the whirlwind, yes, but God spoke powerful words about what he can do, what God can do, and what Job just cannot do. But Job did not come, or excuse me, Yahweh did not come and just droy Job, which he could have done that, right? He is, Job is astonished and says, wow, God is powerful, and yet I don't have anything else to say for good or for bad. In other words, in a legal context, he's not withdrawing his accusations against God. And he's not adding to it anymore. But he's just letting it stand. He's not withdrawing, saying, I've spoken once, and I will not answer. Well, wait a minute. Didn't God just say, answer me? And Job says, no. I've done my accusations. I've done my evidence. I've done all my stuff. I'm going to just let that stand. He's not retracting it. But he's not advancing it further. He doesn't have any other. Besides all those things, God, you have done this. But he just lets it stand. It's kind of an ambiguous statement. Yes, Job recognizes, beginning to recognize his humility, his emptiness, his insignificance, his lightweightness, and yet he does not give proper honored God, which is what we're gonna see in his next better confession. So he's on the path, he's, you know, Elihu, I think, was helping to get Job in a better frame of mind, that God is powerful, he disciplines according to his perspective, he is faithful, he is just, he's always just, he's always just, and that's what God is going to speak about next, his justice, here in the following verses, verses six and seven. Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, now gird up your loins like a man, I will ask you and you make me know. It's very similar to what he said earlier in chapter 38, answering Job rather, out of the whirlwind, this big thing going on, big storm. And he says, okay, prepare yourself. We're gonna have a man-to-man conversation. Or not even that, a God-to-man conversation. So you gird up the loins of your mind, you be prepared to answer. You be in a situation where this isn't just, I've given you time to prepare yourself, so you be ready to answer. I'll ask you and you make me know. inform me, you tell me about how things are going. Yahweh here is introducing his second speech. We finished the first one and Job's response, now God's, Yahweh's second speech. Okay. Fasten your seatbelts kind of thing in our frame of mind. Here's what's going to happen. This is really the crux of the whole argument of God, verses 8 and 9. Will you really annul 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? The question comes, assuming a negative response, will you really annul my judgment? Will you successfully, do you think you're gonna win in an argument against my judgment, my justice, my righteousness? There's nothing that you can do to accomplish the proper condemning of me. You can't condemn me. You're gonna condemn me? No, you can't do that. Just so you can be justified? No, Job, that is foolish. You are attempting to do these things which cannot happen. You're attempting to annul. Annul has the idea, especially in this contractual thing, or on a counsel basis, to annul a contract means to cancel it, to make it ineffective, useless, it's not effective anymore. Or in terms of counsel, to thwart counsel, to upset or to oppose counsel. Do you remember when David was fleeing from his son Absalom and one of his loyal advisors stayed behind in Jerusalem to thwart the counsel of another counselor that was going to give some advice to Absalom. And Job, excuse me, got Job on the mind for some reason when David said, you stay in Jerusalem and thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me. And so he did. And Yahweh had ordained to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel so that Yahweh might bring calamity on Absalom. Second Samuel 15 and also chapter 17. And so there's this idea of thwarting counsel, rendering it ineffective, making it foolish. And that's what Job, that's how God receives Job's statements, that somehow you're annulling my omniscience, my wisdom, my counsel, my purpose. Do you think you can do that? No, he shouldn't think that way. Somehow Job is seeking to frustrate God's counsel, to overturn him and say, God, you got it wrong. You ought to listen to me. This is how it ought to be. I'm a righteous guy. I've been framed. People are putting these things out of context. And he says, no, you think you're really going to annul my Judgment, my justice, my counsel. Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Because in Job's mind again, if I'm right, then God must be wrong. Wait a minute, we should never reach that conclusion. God is doing wrong. God is somehow mistaken. He didn't have enough information that time. He didn't know about these situations over here. He didn't realize that. God's purposes are good. They are righteous. They undermine our sense of control, our sense of we've got it all figured out. Because why do the righteous suffer? Why do the wicked suffer? Why do the wicked prosper? Why do the righteous prosper? It kind of is all mixed up in there. But God's grace is sufficient in these things. There isn't a a direct cause and effect situation in this life. In other words, the wicked sometimes get away with it, and they prosper, and they die rich and powerful, and all their friends come to celebrate their life and have a great party. And meanwhile, the righteous over here got nothing, they die with nothing, and yet, who's the winner? The righteous one, because they have inherited life, whereas the wicked people, well, they got what they wanted in this life. And they were satisfied. But they didn't have the eternal perspective, which we ought to have. Why spend all your time playing with Monopoly money when you can go out and make the real money? Because the Monopoly money is only good during the game. In other respects, why should we lay up treasures on Earth and have all the friends and all the fame and all the reputation when that doesn't matter? Game over. And now we have the real substance of life, and that is eternal life. needs to recognize that, that God has purposes that we know not of. It doesn't have to mean that justice has been thwarted or that God is somehow unaware of these things. No, God is working his way in ways that we cannot understand. He does things for his own glory, and so we don't need to condemn him in order to explain things or rationalize things in our own mind. We can trust God that he is good and righteous and powerful. And he knows every possible thing. And not in a looking down the path kind of way, but ordering everything according to the kind intention, kind purpose of his will. Will you condemn me? Will you actually find fault with me? Will you pronounce me guilty? God, in a legal court of law, you are guilty. God, Yahweh has done wrong. Really. Would that ever happen? No, it cannot ever happen that Job would be successful in condemning Yahweh. Well, it wouldn't also be effective that Job could ever justify himself or declare himself righteous, as he says at the end of this verse, end of verse 14, that you can, by your own right hand, you can save yourself. No, salvation is of the Lord. Nobody can save themselves. Can you justify yourself by making me condemn, by making me look bad? No, that's not gonna happen. Do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?" God says, look, if you could, you know, I would praise you. He goes on in the next couple of verses. He says, if you could do this, if you could have all this power, this arm, this mighty arm, and thunder with a voice like his, then yeah, I'd say, good job, Job. You're all right. Come on into our little divine council. I'll give you a right-hand seat so you can sit next to me, because you've got some good ideas, Job. I think I want to use some of your stuff. How foolish is that? And yet we think that somehow we're going to argue with God and say, we're right here, God. You better just come around to our side. No, always we want to be on God's side. Always we want to be dependent upon him. Because there's nobody, he says here in verse 9, There's nobody that has an arm like God, nobody that can thunder with a voice like his. He says, look, there is no power, no authority that Job could ever have that could equal or even come close to approaching God's power, saving power. This idea of having an arm like God. He talks about not just, because God is a spirit, right? He doesn't have an arm. And yet he does, often in scripture, talk about his arm, usually in three different senses. First, in creation. His mighty arm has done great things in creation. For example, you know this verse from Jeremiah 32 and verse 17. Ah, Lord Yahweh, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. And so we see his power on display in creation. But we see it more specifically in relation to salvation, which is redemption of his people and judgment. Salvation of his people, but also the judgment on those who are evildoers. And so we see that God is fighting on our behalf. 2 Chronicles 32 and verse 8 says, with him, with the earthly king, is only an arm of flesh. But with us is Yahweh our God to help us and to fight our battles. How great when God fights the battles. That's the kind of salvation we need because he's going to deliver us and bring judgment on our adversaries. God uses his ruling arm to accomplish his salvation. He uses other nations even to accomplish his righteousness, his judgment on people. But he has accomplished salvation. Isaiah 52 in verse 10. Yahweh has, you know, he rolled up his sleeves. He bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God. And so God is on display in his salvation. But even more specifically, just salvation in general, more specifically is God's arm on display in the Exodus, bringing his people out of Egypt when he did it with an outstretched arm, right, with great judgments, delivering his people and judging Egypt at the same time. Just a tremendous demonstration of his power, of his might, of his authority to act and to save his people while also simultaneously bringing judgment on the wicked, the evildoers. Hey, Job. Can you, do you have an arm like God? Can you do these things? Can you bring that kind of judgment upon all situations that need to be rectified? And secondly, can you thunder with a voice like his? Do you have any kind of power, any kind of stage presence that when you speak, everybody listens? I mean, Job kind of hinted at that back in chapter 30, or let's see, 29, I guess it was. Yeah, chapter 29, when the, He would walk into the gate and everybody would rise up and say, oh, Job's here. He's going to tell us what's about, you know, what's wisdom or what counsel and all. He's going to settle this case. This is a hard case, but Job's going to settle it for us. And God says, do you really, do you really have a voice like God's that you can thunder? And we learned about thunder earlier. that we should, even Elihu mentioned it, chapter 37, verse two, says, listen closely to the thunder of his voice, the rumbling that goes out from his mouth. He has this, and he mentions thunder and voice often in those first five verses of Job 37, that God has that kind of power and substance, really, going back to Job's statement. I'm insignificant, but God is powerful. He is present in these things. Hey, Job, can you thunder with a voice like God's? And then God goes on and says, okay, verse 10, adorn yourself with exaltation and loftiness and clothe yourself with splendor and majesty, pour out the overflowings of your anger and look on everyone who's proud and make him low. There is in these verses, verses 10, well, verses nine, I think, 14, kind of an inverted structure of parallel thoughts and so forth, and I can describe it later, but he is, really saying, hey, Job, if you've got all this power, then why don't you just try judging people? And do it not by armies and courts of law, just by the way that you are presenting yourself and the speech, and even the looks that you give on people, that you would make the proud low, bring them low. He says, adorn yourself with exaltation and loftiness. This is the idea, put your best uniform on or make yourself just, you know, decorate yourself, put all these special things on to prove your power, to prove your authority, to prove that you are right, you're the man that you ought to speak, ought to listen to, that you are the one who is just all this majestic kind of person. The splendor of your attire is just so impressive. Like a king, like, you know, when you go to a court of law, not so much in our country, but in the old country, you know, they'd be in all the robes and have the wigs and powdered wigs and they'd be up high and all this. And you can even just look down over their little spectacles and you're just shaking in your boots because, oh, the judge is here. Hey, Job, can you do that? Can you dress up like me and bring judgment like I bring judgment? You know, put all your clothes on, decorate yourself. Usually in scripture, this idea of adorning yourself has to do with the decorations of a bridegroom or a bride. Adorning yourself with jewels, Isaiah 61 and verse 10, and all the beauty, all the ornaments that are attached. Hey, Job. Get all the trinkets you can. Make yourself more impressive. I mean, almost like a peacock, you know, with the feathers up, or kind of a bird that kind of fluffs himself up, or a cobra. You know, make yourself bigger than you actually are, because your presence is going to bring the proud low, right? That's when it's going to happen. What about your anger? Pour out the overflowings of your anger. Pour out the, just the expression, the excess of your anger. for justice, not anger like just being angry, but the anger of your desire for justice. You have such a hard, such a strong desire for justice, Joe. Let's just see that work itself out in bringing the proud low, just by the way that you look at them. My father-in-law used to say, don't look at me in that tone of voice. And you think, wait a minute, looking at you? But he could, he would recognize, hey, if you are so filled up in your countenance, in the attire of your costume, that you can bring people low just by your presence. Hey, Joe, let's see you do that. Because God can. God brings people low. God is the one who is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. He is very much pouring forth the anger of his wrath, of his judgment. Throughout scripture, we see this idea of pouring out the wrath that he has. Oftentimes, in the context of Israel and Judah and the divided kingdom, 2 Chronicles 34 and verse 25, they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore, my wrath will be poured out against this place, and it shall not be quenched. When God wants to judge, he judges. And he will pour out. That means there's nothing left. God's justice will come. And what that is going to result in is death and destruction. People are going to die because God's wrath is poured out. Psalm 69 verse 24 says, pour out your indignation, your anger on them, your wrath, and may your burning anger overtake them. Throughout scripture, we see the overflowing of God's anger. Hey, Job, pour out your little anger, that little bit you have there. Pour that out. See how far that gets you. See how far you get with justice. because I can do these things. I am clothed with majesty. I am exalted. I am lofty. Isaiah 6, the train of his robe fills the temple. How much more his own person is just filled. The universe fills beyond that. The heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain you, Solomon said at the dedication of the temple. How much less this little house that we made for you. And yet God condescended to come down. God says, challenges Job, hey, look, if you're so fired up over justice, let me see. Let me see some of your justice. Let me see some of your anger on display. essentially, effectively, to make those who are proud low, to bring them low. This idea of being proud and exalted and arrogant and just lifted up in your own estimation is a problem. And it goes back not just to Adam and Eve in the garden. It goes back to Lucifer. It goes back to Satan, the one who became the opponent, the accuser, the brethren, and so forth. He had pride, and he was exalted. He exalted himself before God. No, there's nobody that can come and exalt himself or become through his life or her life, become a god by their own power, by their own work, by their own pursuits, what they do or didn't do. It's not going to happen. Nobody can come and approach God in his exalted state. But we try, often try. There's so much pride. Hey, isn't there like a month to celebrate pride? We see so much antagonistic action against God, saying, no, I think I've got a pretty good idea how I should run my life. I've got a good idea of how other people should run that. I think I have a pretty good idea of what's right and what's wrong. And even right and wrong doesn't even matter. It's whatever feels good to you. No, this is what God does. He brings down those who are proud. He makes them low. He humbles them. This idea of humbling or making them low has the idea of humbling, also has the idea of subduing, like in victory, of battle, that Various armies went forth and humbled or subdued the enemy to have a military victory over those people. David struck the Philistines and subdued them. So he brought them low. And they rose up again different times. But this idea, hey, Job, just by the overflowing of your anger, can you just look on other people and bring them, the proud, the arrogant, can you make them right down into the grave? In fact, that's what he goes on. He repeats this idea. This is where that inverted, parallelistic structure kind of moves back out, I can show you a picture if you want. But verse 12 says, look on everyone who's proud, same thought as what he just said, and humble him and tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in the hidden place. Just by your looking upon them. Yahweh can do it. Yahweh will do it. And the countenance, His angry countenance upon all those people, He will destroy everyone with the look of His face. Can Job do it? Can you look on those who are proud? Can you bring them low? Can you tread down the wicked right where they stand? It's kind of like this idea of devastating those who are proud, those who are wicked, because pride and wickedness often go together. We think, I've got it figured out. I know what to do. And I don't care what God says. Rebelling as God, I am acting as my own person. God says, okay, you look on everyone who's proud, you bring him to humility, you bring him to his senses, because that's what humility is, when we recognize God as God and we're not. You humble him and tread him down right where he stands. Destroy his authority, bring him to humility. Low, right on the spot. We don't need to delegate. We don't need to say, well, you come back in two months and we'll see what's going to fit. No, you settle this case right now. Right on his own turf, as it were. Job, can you do that? Can you hide them in the dust together, all these wicked people? Can you gather them together and say, you're dead. You're gone. God did it. Think of Dathan and Abiram. You remember the whole contest between, you know, everybody is holy and righteous. We can all offer incense. We can all act as priests. And Moses said, God, you're gonna have to answer this because I can't answer this. I can't defend my own position, my own authority. God, you're gonna have to do it. And God did. by opening the earth and swallowing down everybody all at once. God can bring judgment, not just on one person at a time, but on a whole nation, on a whole, I mean, just the whole world, he can do it in his power. Can you do that? Can you hide them in the dust together? Can you bind their faces in the hidden place? He's talking about dust, he's talking about the physical dust, because that's where Job has been situated for some weeks now, and yet he's also talking about the place of mourning, that Job was mourning, he was putting dust on his head and so forth. Also talks about just the elemental stuff of life and of death. We're made from dust, we're gonna return to dust. Being in the place of dust, hide them in the dust together, put them right down in there, has to do with an emphasis on death and the devastation that God does bring. The wages of sin is death. And so, hey Joe, kill them. Just by the power of your look. Bring them to their own justice. Bind their faces in the hidden place. You think that's kind of an obscure illustration. What does God mean? Bind their faces in the hidden place, put them into obscurity, usher them to the netherworld, the underworld, just by the power of your justice, because you're just a wonderful fellow. Two examples of that in scripture. You remember when Haman had contested and even had the king pass a law against the Jewish people that they should all be put to death and the whole situation as it leads to that dinner scene with Haman and with Esther and the king are there and Esther says, Haman was trying to kill him. All my people, kill me as well. And the king is so angry, he rushes out of the room, comes back in, finds Haman pleading for his life, clinging to the edge of, or to Esther's, how does it say? The king returned from the garden, a place where they were drinking and wine. Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Oh, you don't do that when the king is there. So the king said, will he even assault the queen with me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. They bound his face, and he's a dead man. He's just not been executed yet. He is on his way to death, Esther 7 and verse 8. Another example, and this is years later, millennia later, I think from Job, but when Lazarus was buried and Jesus raised him, he says, unbind him and let him go. He was wrapped all head to foot in cloth, and so he had that binding of death. We see this idea here, I think, binding their faces in a hidden place. Job, you just shut them right down, because obviously your justice is so powerful and so impressive and so discerning, and you can never do wrong, right? Whatever you judge as right is right. Whatever you judge as wrong is wrong. There's no misappropriation of justice. There's no appeals needed, because Job does. At least that's what he thinks. God accuses Job. You've got it all figured out, and so your justice will establish, and you will be proven right. You'll be proven that you are, and I'm wrong, is what he would say. And verse 14 says, then I, Yahweh, will also praise you that your own right hand can save you. Remember he asked at the beginning of this, verse nine, do you have an arm like Yahweh, like the Almighty? Can you do this? He says, look, if you did, if you could prove yourself in this profound exercise of justice, of judgment, then I will stand up and applaud you and praise you and extol you because you're just so wonderful. And boy, I can learn a thing or two from you. And by your own right hand, your own power, Now, it's not to say that right-handed people are more righteous or whatever than others, but it is to say that usually people's right hand is a strong one. The idea is that your dominant hand, if your strength, if the might of all your power can deliver you, save you, show that you got it all figured out, then hey, God himself will stand up and say, good job, that's great, I'm impressed with you, and I'm gonna learn a thing or two from you. No. There is no possibility. It's not like, again, God is not intending to humiliate Job, but definitely to humble him and show you've got nothing. You have nothing. You are nothing apart from me. And my grace is sufficient for you. And you just rest in the knowledge of me. Don't ever think that you can ever possibly be righteous enough to save yourself, to earn a place in the kingdom of God because, oh, you're a good fellow after all. that you have demonstrated by your tremendous works of valor and judgment and your discretion and your wisdom and all these things of what you've done or haven't done. Oh yeah, you're a good person. No, there's no possible way that a right hand can save anybody. There is no possible way that we could say, you know, God, I deserve this. I've got it figured out. And you've done some things wrong to me, God. Bygones be bygones. But here I am. And just let me into the kingdom. And let me go forth. No. Our right hand cannot save us. Our whole body, put us all together. All of our strength, all of our ingenuity, all of our observational powers, all of our adornment powers, nothing cannot accomplish salvation. But who is the one who is sitting at the right hand of God? Who is God's own right hand who has accomplished these things? Our Lord Christ is the one who can save us and has saved us. And he brings that justice that we desire, we so much desire. We desire that acknowledgement that that those who are pious, those who are righteous before God, those are endorsed. Those have God's approval, God's stamp. But in this world that we live in, it's the wicked that seem to be affirmed, celebrated, advanced in jobs, advanced in society. They're the ones that are rich. They have all the stuff. And everybody celebrates them. And nobody finds fault with them. And here we are, trying to hold forth God's righteousness and everything, representing God and the way of salvation. And people say, what? and we can get frustrated, disappointed, and yet... should we? Ultimately, because God is doing what is right. God is actively accomplishing his will in this life. In fact, he even goes so far as to say to our Lord, Psalm 110 verse 1, Yahweh says to my Lord, this is David talking about Messiah, Jesus, I think, Yahweh says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet. So who's going to accomplish this righteousness? Who's going to accomplish this justice for once and for all? It's Yahweh. And he's going to do it for the benefit of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Sit at my right hand. So he's right there in the place of honor. Until I bring all your enemies, all those who hate you, all those who despise you, those who celebrate evil, celebrate all kind of wickedness and are against me, I'm going to put them as a place for you to rest your feet. which is a place of desire. We don't like to put our feet up on tables and such like that. And he says, I'm going to put them right down below you. And even we can see, for example, in Romans 8 and verse 33 and 34, I will end with this. Romans 8, 33 says, who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is saving his people. God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. We put our faith not in ourselves. We're going to do this for ourselves. We're going to exalt ourselves. No, we exalt Christ. And even if people were to accuse us to bring a charge against God's elect, God is the one who justifies. God is the one who knows our hearts. God is the one who not only says, hey, you're a good person. No, he says, you are wicked. And you need to recognize your wickedness. You need to recognize your inability to save yourself. But he is the one who makes just. He is the one who causes or declares us to be righteous. He is the one who brings us into a righteous condition or standing before him, legally just before him, and also practically. And he is the one who died. Christ Jesus is he who died. And so we have that confidence. We don't ever want to think we can save ourselves. Job and all of his righteousness, all of his righteous works, or his sense of righteousness and right and wrong and justice, It's not where it's at. Putting your hope in God, recognizing He is right. He is good. He is powerful to save. His right hand accomplishes salvation for us. It's going to put that on display in the next two examples, Behemoth and Leviathan, and say, Job. You can't even manage those beasts. How do you think you're gonna manage evil and pride and all that? Leave that to me. You cast all your cares upon me because I care for you. Our Father in heaven, we're grateful for this message from your own lips and as recorded in this wonderful account, we're grateful for the confidence that we can have in you. It's just confusing in this world. There's so much wickedness, so much rebellion. People seem like they're getting away with it. And then the righteous are suffering and they're just maligned or put on the side and ignored, and yet you are the one who is just. You are accomplishing salvation. You're so merciful, too. Those who blaspheme your name, you are the one who saves. You are the one who puts the Spirit into people's hearts and their lives to be born again, to have faith in you. And you are the one who saves. We're grateful that we can have a great confidence. Help us to rest in that. Help us not to take things too much to ourselves or say, well, boy, we better figure this out. We've got to do something. And when we do, we have a responsibility. And yet, ultimately, it's you that accomplishes your counsel. Nobody, nobody, nothing, can thwart your counsel. Nothing can annul your judgment. And so we pray that your will would be done on earth. Please help us to rejoice in it. Help us to rest as weaned children rest against their mother. Help us to trust in you. Have a very great confidence in our doing what is right. Please save. Please sanctify. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.