We turn to, please, to our main scripture text, which will be Job chapter 36, and we'll begin in verse 22. And we will go all the way through chapter 37. Beginning in verse 22 of chapter 36. God is exalted by his power. Who teaches like him? Who has assigned him his way or who has said you have done wrong? Remember to magnify his work of which men have sung. Everyone has seen it. Man looks on it from afar. Behold, God is great and we do not know him, nor can the number of his years be discovered. For he draws up drops of water which distill as rain from the midst, which the clouds drop down and pour abundantly on man. Indeed, can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, the thunder from his canopy? Look, he scatters his light upon it and covers the depths of the sea, for by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with lightning and commands it to strike. His thunder declares it, the cattle also, concerning the rising storm. At this also, my heart trembles and leaps from its place. Hear attentively the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He sends it forth under the whole heaven, his lightning to the ends of the earth. After it, a voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice and he does not restrain them when his voice is heard. God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For he says to the snow, fall on the earth likewise, the gentle rain and the heavy rain of his strength. He seals the hand of every man that all men may know his work. The beasts go into dens and remain in their lairs. From the chamber of the South comes the world wind, and cold from the scattering winds of the North. By the breath of God, ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen. Also, with moisture, he saturates the thick clouds. He scatters his bright clouds, and they swirl around, being turned by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them. On the face of the whole Earth, He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. Listen to this, O Job. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know when God dispatches them and causes the light of his cloud to shine? Do you know how the clouds are balanced? Those wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge, why are your garments hot when he quiets the earth by the south wind? With him, have you spread out the skies strong as a cast metal mirror? Teach us what we should say to him, for we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. Should he be told that I wish to speak? If a man were to speak, surely, he would be swallowed up. Even now, men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. He comes from the north as gold and splendor with God, his awesome majesty. As for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He is excellent in power, in judgment, and abundant justice. He does not oppress. Therefore, men fear him. He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray, Lord, that your word would speak to us tonight, that we would come here with hearts of worship to see your glory. And Lord, that you would speak, that your word would speak forth your majesty and your glory. We ask your blessing and we pray in Jesus' name, amen. In chapter 36, when we began last time, we spoke of the things that God does for his people. We saw that he never takes his eyes off his children. We as parents, maybe we lose sight of our children and hope that they don't fall into some terrible hurt somehow, but the Lord always has his children in sight in order to bring them home to himself where they, his righteous ones, sit with kings on thrones and will be with him forevermore, exalted with a crown of righteousness forever. Secondly, and if they wander from the truth and fall into sin as a lifestyle, he will blind them. He will bind them, excuse me, and put their feet in stock so that they can't move and they won't go in a place they ought not to go. He is their advocate and forever lives to intercede for them and he will cause them to endure infliction so that their ears will open to his instruction. and He will show them their sin and command them to return and repent from evil. If they hear Him and return to Him, He will have compassion and bless them and give them prosperity, spiritual prosperity, and their end, their end is pleasure forevermore. If they do not hear Him, those that are truly His do not hear Him, he may cut them off before they go too far but the godless the unrepentant sinner the one who is afflicted becomes angry and is too proud to call upon God and perishes in their sin and remains forever outside of the kingdom of God and those are the four things that we saw in chapter 36. And at the end, Elihu warns Job to be careful to maintain his focus upon God, be careful not to turn that way where either those who know him turn in a way and are destroyed and those who do not know him are forever destroyed. And so he tells him, he warns him to pay attention and watch And here, we come in chapter 36 to verse 22, and he says to Job, Elihu says to Job, behold. And by the way, tonight, the title of the message is, How Great Is Our God? And who is possible here to share with you how great God is? I don't intend to be able to do that. I only intend to have the word of God come into our minds, into our hearts, that we hear how majestic and glorious and great God is. Because unless we know that, unless we know it in our hearts and in our souls, we will be like Job, continually confounded about what's going on in our lives, continually asking questions about why, continuing to wonder why God isn't doing what he expects him to do. And so hopefully, as we look into the scriptures, as we go here, and he says, behold, in verse 22, that we take that behold and begin to worship God tonight through his word. And we look at it, and we come in a heart of worship to where we can really desire for God to open our eyes to see him in a way, perhaps, that we have not before. So behold, Job. God is exalted by his power. can possibly teach like he does. You see, Job, you must take hold of the exalted one, this great teacher who is teaching you a lesson and one that you will learn. This teacher cannot be thwarted by mere man, and he cannot be thwarted by any desire that we have. No one can tell him what to do. And no one will accuse him of being wrong. Notice in verse 23, it says, who has assigned him his way? And who has told him you have done wrong? But he is a caring teacher who desires Job's best. And he desires that Job learn the best lesson that God is trying to teach him. And he wants Job to know him in a more intimate way than he's ever known him before. And he also wants Job to know who he is. and he Joe will come to that conclusion and so God is the great teacher and so Ellie you exhorts him to remember that he is not to question God but to extol the work of God in his life and he ought to praise him for his goodness and his great work in his life rather than challenging him and assuming God's lack of interest or justice on his behalf. He needs to sing the praises of him who does all things well. Remember, in verse 24, to magnify his work of which men have sung. But men can only see from afar, in verse 25, and we only see with dark glasses now, brethren, but we will one day see him face to face. He needs to see that God is unsearchable, so glorious and so majestic that words cannot convey his greatness. As a matter of fact, Elihu must use the example of God's creation to convey this message of how great God is. And Elihu breaks into praise. Look with me at verse 26. He says, behold, God is great, and we do not know him, nor can the number of his years be discovered. And verse 27, for he draws up drops of water. which distill as rain from the mist, and which the clouds drop and pour abundantly on man. See, Job lived in an area where there's many times drought continued, and to have water poured upon the earth was a great blessing. Today we take it for granted, right? As a matter of fact, we have too much rain, and we don't want all the rain. But God brings the rain for a purpose. But the people shout for joy in Job's land when it rains. And we don't even know, he says, we don't even know how the water is absorbed up into the clouds and how the clouds remain there and yet drop the water back where some of it converts to vapor which goes up and some continues to come down. We have no idea that God sovereignly controls every drop of water that comes on the face of the earth. and the lightning and the rain, look at how he describes it, about he scatters his light upon the world and covers the depths of the sea in verse 30, and by these he judges the people, and yet he gives abundance of food. His thunder reveals his power, and the lightning, the exact mark that he sets to hit, it will hit. He is the archer who points the lightning exactly where he wants it to go. And this thunder reveals his presence and the animals instinctively know the power of God. The animals immediately upon hearing the thunder, they immediately go into their lives and they lay there knowing that this is the power of God. Instinctively they know it. and this thunder that reveals his presence. And look at what Elihu says in verse one of chapter 37. After the thunder declares it in 33 of chapter 36 and the cattle know about it, he says, at this also my heart trembles and leaps from its place. He describes this trembling in a storm as if this is the voice of God speaking through the thunder. Now perhaps there is a storm going on here. And the reason I say perhaps there is a real storm going on here, because in chapter 38, the very next chapter, God speaks out of the whirlwind. There is a whirlwind going on right now, right here, now. And Elihu is perhaps speaking during this. And Job will find out what God is going to say out of the whirlwind. But you can imagine, you know when you're laying in bed and the storm comes and the thunder and the lightning and it bangs against your home and the little ones come running because, and some of the big ones too, because the house shakes. And we hear, and of course many times we don't think that this is the voice of God coming down. But yet Elihu says his heart literally leaps out of its place. And he says to Job in verse 2, hear attentively the thunder of his voice. Job needs to listen here, and he needs to listen to the thundering voice of God. And he says in verse 3, he sends it forth unto the whole heavens as lightning to the ends of the earth. Have you ever been in a lightning storm in the country where there's no lights? And it looks like the entire world is lit up. There's no end to the lightning. It looks as if the entire sky is filled with the lightning of God. God uses the snow and the rain to seal up the activity of his people. He thunders marvelously, it says in verse 5, with his voice, and he does great things which we cannot understand. And look in verse 7, after it snows, he seals the hand of every man. God even uses the rain and the snow to seal men up from working, to cause them to think perhaps more about him. But he seals them. He has a purpose in what he's doing. Rain and the lightning and the thunder and the storm and the sound of God's voice is not by accident. And here Elihu is explaining to Job that he needs to pay attention. Remember in Romans it says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them for since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen. being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. And they do not glorify God as God because they do not consider the wondrous works of God. And so Elihu says to him, behold Job, listen to what God is saying. And then in verses six, look at me all the way through, in verse eight, the beasts go into their den and they remain in their lairs. And in verse nine, the chamber of the south comes, the whirlwind, the south wind comes, and the cold from the winds of the north come, and by the breath of God, ice is given and the waters are frozen. And with moisture, he saturates all those thick clouds up there, and he scatters his bright clouds wherever he puts them, and they swirl, being turned by his guidance. Could you imagine every cloud in the sky is guided by our God? And so what is Elihu trying to say here? He says in verse 12, after verse 12, that they may do whatever he commands them on the face of the old earth. He causes it to come, sometimes in verse 13, for correction. and for his land and for mercy. God has a purpose in every rain, in every storm, in every thunder. We, of course, don't pay attention because it's very common and we, like everyone else, but he says in verse 14, listen to this, O Job, And this is the context of my message tonight. Listen to this, O Job. Stand still and consider the wondrous works of God. The storm serves God's purpose for both blessing and for admonishment. And Elihu begins now here to admonish Job, beginning in verse 14. Look at what he says to him in verse 15. Do you know when God dispatches them? and causes the light of his cloud to shine? He humbles Job and asks him these questions because he's preparing Job for when God comes. Could you imagine if Job wasn't thinking about the majesty of God and the awesomeness of God and God all of a sudden came out of the whirlwind, Job would not exist. But he's preparing Job for what he's going to endure with God questioning him and God coming out of the whirlwind. And he is preparing Job's heart and his mind to see God, and to be prepared for more than he's ever been prepared before. And so could you imagine if Elihu did not prepare Job for this event? And thank God he does the same for us, because he is compassionate, as Psalm 86 said to us, that our God is compassionate, full of mercy, and those who are his, as we saw before, he will always have his eye upon them. And thank God he knows that we are but dust, and he will do, brethren, whatever he has to do to get us to see that we are but dust. And Job will get to that point. Imagine God desiring for Job to get to the point where he recognizes that as a piece of dust, God is still concerned about him. Could you imagine that God would never take his eyes off of dust? Amazing love and grace. What attention do you, do you pay attention to any of the dust that's on your floor? The specks, the little critters that go around your house, although sometimes you jump and leave because you get afraid, but perhaps you don't pay much attention to the little critters that are walking around. Our God pays attention to every detail. Yet God is also great and he's always aware and determines every activity of even the smallest speck of his creation, even perhaps those one cell creatures if there are any. And then in verse 16 he says, do you know how the clouds are balanced? These wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge. Do you know how the balancing act in nature happens? Do you know how the clouds and all the water going up and being held and then coming down, do you know how all that is balanced? The one, there is one who knows, he's perfect in knowledge. Why are your garments hot when the quiet, when he quiets the earth by the south wind? You know, when the south wind comes and it's really hot, nobody moves. They're just, they're done. They're still. And this is to what, in verse 14, what Eli was trying to get Job to do, to stand still. consider the wondrous works of God and so in verse 18 he says with him you have spread out the skies have you spread out the skies with God strong as a cast metal mirror you know in those days mirrors were not made out of glass they were made out of metal bronze usually And the image of a smiling sky, mirrors were then formed of that bronze. And men cannot, in verse 19, teach us what we should say to him, Job, for we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. See, men cannot explain God's wonders. We ought therefore to be dumb and not contend with God. We cannot understand his wondrous works. How shall we with darkened minds prepare a case before God. Could you imagine Job desires to prepare a case in court with God? And it is shared here in verse 19, it says, for we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. Compared to God, we're ignorant, we are dark. And so Job is going to slowly learn this lesson. He's slowly getting there as he's being told by Elihu. And he said, in verse 20, should he be told that I wish to speak? Job had said, I wish to speak to God. Should God be told? First of all, do you think God needs to be told? Does God not know the word before it's even on your tongue? Our great God knows it all. And if a man were to speak, he says in verse 20, surely he would be swallowed up. It's beyond foolishness to think that one could present a case before such a God. A God who could overpower any argument that any human could bring. It's silly when we hear the ungodly in the world try to bring a case before God. To say, this is how God should be, or how God should act, or I think this is how God is, or I think God should do such and such. How foolish, not knowing the wondrous works of God. And then he says here in verse 21, he says, now even men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them. You see, the clearing of the clouds brings the light. When the wind comes and clears all the clouds out of the way, the bright light comes. The sun not previously seen shines suddenly and is dazzling to our eyes. And so God's majesty now hidden, if it were suddenly revealed with all its righteousness, we would be in deep trouble. And men cannot see because this bright sunlight is right now covered, thank the Lord, it's covered with the clouds. And his words of Elihu may be not intended, but perhaps his words included in the scripture. And for Job and other sufferers who cannot see God's countenance right now, perhaps you're in that situation where you cannot see God because of the situation that you're in. And the clouds of trial there, but the wind will soon come. For Job, the wind will come and clear the clouds, and he will see as clearly as the day. And God's light will shine right on Job, and he will see everything that God intends for him to see. And you too, you will have a song in the night. God will bring a song in the night when he determines that it's correct for you to have a song in the night. And so we go, he comes from the north as with golden splendor, with God is awesome majesty in verse 22. As for the Almighty, we can't find him. He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice. He does not oppress. God does not use. Unlike man, when you have power, justice in one sentence, they don't go in our world. Those who have power do not deliver perfect justice. But our God, who is awesome and powerful, delivers perfect justice, continually delivering the perfect justice that we need. He is excellent in power, and his judgment and his justice He never oppresses. He never takes things lightly. Everything he does is for our good. He is compassionate, loving, kind. And so we need to know this God. And therefore, in verse 24, therefore, he says, men fear him. He shows no partiality to any who are wise in heart. You see, God doesn't determine what's going on in your life because of anything that you do or don't do, in a sense. He makes the determination of what you and I need, what's best for us. And he has no partiality on who's better and who's more wise. As a matter of fact, those who are sometimes arrogant in their wisdom, he sometimes is compassionate and merciful to them for a purpose that we don't understand. Job didn't understand it, why God was compassionate upon the wicked as he suffers. And so here in Elihu's final speech, he wants Job to focus, to take the focus off himself and put it on God. but rather focus on God as the awesome and great teacher that he is. The emphasis on the greatness and power of God is to make Job stop and consider how foolish his course is, and in doing so, focus not on himself, but on God. And so is God bringing these trials into our lives to get us to behold stand still and consider, consider with your mind and your heart the wondrous works of God in your life and in mine. You see, Elihu's not focusing on God's methods here. He's focusing on, rather, on God himself. God's wisdom is seen in his nature, and his power is shown when he brings all of the wind, the rain, and the thunder, and the lightning, and all these are at his command. Remember when Jesus was in the boat, when the stiples were in the boat, and all of a sudden the wind came, and the flurry came. And they were all afraid they were going to die. In an instant, it went from quiet calm to raging storm in an instant. And the billows of waves tossing and turning the boat, and they said, we're going to die. He says, now it happened on a certain day that he got into the boat with his disciples, and he said to them, let us cross to the other side. They launched out. But as they sailed, he fell asleep, and a windstorm came, that windstorm that comes right away, down on the lake. And they were filling with water, and they were in jeopardy. And they came to him and said, Master, we're perishing. And he rose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was calm. Could you imagine? raging storm and in one millisecond all is calm and he said where is your faith and they were afraid and marveled they were astonished and said who can this be this is what Elihu is telling Job this is who it is who commands the winds even the winds and the waves obey him Brethren, let's bring a few applications here from what we've read, and hopefully the Word of God will continue to speak. The first is, I'd like to say that in our finite minds, it's impossible to comprehend the greatness of God, and that's why LEU is telling us and Job what to do. You see, because in verse 14 he says, stand still, and that word stand still means stand still and be strong. Stand still, not stand still and do nothing. Stand still, persevere, put your mind on the wondrous works of God and off of yourself and everything else. So that we can get a glimpse of this God. These are the same words Jesus spoke. He said, peace be still, and the wind ceased. Elihu, the forerunner of God, speaks the same words to us. Listen, stand still, and be strong, and consider the wonders of God. For us, these wonders of God are in Christ. He speaks and the wind cease. He speaks and the blind see. He speaks and the deaf hear. He speaks and the dead are raised. And so we like Job, brethren, in the storm, in the heat of the battle, in our present situation, whatever it is, we need to get the focus off of us and listen to what God has to say about himself and to stand and to meditate and to focus upon him. Job, he says, seethes trying to win your argument that you have created all by yourself. You see, Job has created his own little argument. How about you, in your minds? Have you ever created those little arguments in your own head? Where you're going back and forth, well, maybe, or maybe, or maybe, you know, and having these little conversations with yourself, these little arguments that are going on. Well, he's telling Job to stop. God is not at enmity with you. You are one of His, Job, and He loves you. Matter of fact, He's on your side, Job. Matter of fact, Job, He is your advocate. You know the one you're looking for to defend you? You know the vindication you desire? Well, you already have that. You have it in Christ. The Lord Jesus, He is your permanent lawyer. You know the 1-800 lawyer? You got a call? God is our permanent lawyer, our permanent advocate. For he ever lives, ever, to advocate for us. And Job, you don't need anything else. He's already secured your case. You know, when you got a lawyer and you think, oh man, is he going to win my case? I got to pay him. I wonder if he's going to win. Do I go to trial? Do I settle? What am I going to do? God's already settled it. He's already won the case. He's your permanent lawyer. You never lose. Brethren, God is speaking to us. Look at the wonders of his power which he exercises on your behalf and mine. The one who covers everything and he does so with perfect justice. He is so far above us. Look at verse 23. As for the Almighty, we cannot find him. He is excellent in power. He's so far above us with all things in subjection to himself, exalted in power. The word exalted here is only used twice in the scriptures, this particular word. And it's used both times in Job, in chapter 36 and chapter 37. And it means that it speaks of the greatness of God's power. and especially on our behalf. When the people of Israel, remember Israel when he came to the Red Sea? Remember when they were being chased by the Egyptians and they came to the Red Sea in Exodus 14 and they lifted up their eyes and what did they see? They didn't lift their eyes high enough. They lifted their eyes only to the hills and saw the Egyptians coming. And so what did they do? And behold, it says, they lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid. And they cried unto the Lord. Well, if we stopped there, that would have been great. Wouldn't the story be great? If we would have stopped right there, they cried out to God, and oh, man, we're on the right track. Well, it didn't happen that way. But no. Instead of good job, Israelites, they did not stand strong. They did not consider the wondrous mighty works of God, but they began to complain to Moses, didn't they? They began to complain and say, you know, it wasn't so bad when we were in slavery in Egypt. It's better that we would have been slaves in Egypt than dead here, Moses, and it's all because of you, Moses, and your God. But Moses, Like Elihu, the spokesman for God, Moses comes and says to them, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. And the Egyptians, you know those Egyptians you now see? Well, you're never going to see them again. Because God has overcome the principalities and powers that you're dealing, you're fighting against. And the Lord, he says, and the Lord will fight for you and you will hold your peace. And they saw the wonders of God as he parted the Red Sea for their salvation and redemption. And so brethren, we are to listen to our God and do what he commands for he fights for us. And when we listen and stand in awe of his greatness, we will break out in song, just like the Egyptians did. Turn with me for a minute to Exodus 15. I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but I want you to see what happens when one beholds the wonders of God. You see, before this, the Israelites were not beholding the wonders of God. They were complaining about their trial that they were in. But afterwards, look at, this is the song of Moses. And this is the same song that Elihu is pouring forth out of his mouth as he trembles at the sound of the thunder of the voice of God. And it says here, I'm just going to go for a few. It says, then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song. Shouldn't we sing this song to the Lord tonight, no matter what situation we're in? Because God is on our side. He says, I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song and he has become my salvation. He is my God and I will praise him. My father's God and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. And the Pharaoh's chariots and his army is cast into the sea. And the depths in verse five have covered them. Verse six, your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemies. And the greatness of your excellence, you have overthrown those who rose against you. Christ has overthrown those who were against him. And in verse seven, he says, in the greatness, it's your greatness, and they have been consumed. And in verse eight, with the blast of your nostrils, the waters were gathered together. Here it is, God's power working. And the waters were gathered, and the flood stood upright, and the depth concealed. What wonderful words. And then it says in verse 11, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods, who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. You stretched out your hand and the earth swallowed them. You in your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed. And in the end, it says in verse 18, the Lord shall reign forever and ever. See, brethren, like those, and we need to, as Elihu has spoken to Job, he speaks to us, we need to listen, we need to stand strong, and we need to see the glory and the wondrous works that our God has done for us and will do for us as he completes his work in us until the day of Christ Jesus. And so the second thing we need to think about is like those in Moses' day, like those in Job's day, and like those in Jesus' day, we are to be astonished. If you are not astonished, and I am not astonished at the greatness of God in the person of Jesus Christ, we are missing something in our Christianity, in our walk. They were astonished. The Israelites were astonished at God's power. The disciples were astonished at the power of Christ, and the people were astonished at the miracles of Christ. We too should be astonished at Christ, but we should also be astonished at his condensation for us. In Jesus, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. If we want to know God and we must look at Christ, this morning we heard to the unbeliever, you must look to Christ for your salvation. And that is sure. Without Christ, you are hopeless. But we as believers, brethren, too, tonight, we need to look to Christ. And we need to look in Him. Everything exists. Our faith comes from Him. It is preserved in Christ. He is the author. the author and the finisher of our faith. And we must look to him. In 1 John it says, and we know the Son of God has come and given us understanding that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. And then he ends with this little phrase in 1 John 5, little children, keep yourselves from idols. In other words, stand firm, persevere in looking at what the wonders of what Christ has done for you and me. Because if we do that, we won't focus on our idols. If we stand firm and look to Christ, we will have abundant life because our life and our heart are focused upon our wondrous God. Ephesians 1 it says he's put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him head to be over all things Jesus's head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who dwells who fills all in all you see Christ is forever victorious and if we want further proof of that Colossians chapter 2. Why don't you turn with me for a minute? Let's turn with me to Colossians chapter 2 because I want to say a few things about what Christ has done for us and perhaps we can look at the wondrous works of God in Christ as we look at Colossians chapter 2. I want to just read a few verses in Colossians chapter 2 and I want to read from verses 13 through 15, and each one I want to point out exactly what God is doing. He says, and you, that's us, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him. You see, we just heard from first John that he is true life and we are in him, we have true life. And not only that, but he has made us alive together with him, having forgiven all of our trespasses. We need to look to Christ and be astonished and amazed at his power This power that comes with perfect justice and perfect righteousness. You see, he can be just and the justifier of those who are in Christ because of what Christ has done on our behalf. You see, he has made us alive, true life, because he freed us from our sin. And he has forgiven us all our trespasses, all of them, and he is perfectly just in doing so because he bore, Christ bore our sins on Calvary and he took wrath of God in your place and mine and he took it in our place secondly look what else he did in verse 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way and nailed it to the cross all those requirements of the law would kill us that would are contrary to us he nailed to the cross having abolished in Ephesians 2 it says having abolished in his flesh the enmity that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances and in Romans 10 he says for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes brethren listen Stand firm, hold your ground, remain, endure, persist, be steadfast. This is what Elihu is speaking of to tell Job what he needs to consider about the wonders of God. And we have the wonders of God in Christ, having wiped out all of the requirements for us, and they're all fulfilled in Christ. So he's forgiven us all our trespasses. He's taken away the requirements of the law that would kill us. which was contrary to us. And lastly, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. You see, Christ is the strong man that has taken over. He's taken the armor of Satan. He's gone into his house with his devils, and he's took his spoils, and he's divided them, and he triumphed over them. And by the way, that word triumph doesn't mean that he just won. He made a public spectacle of the principalities and powers over which Christ reigns. You know what a public spectacle in those days was? Where they dragged, you know, after you won the victory over your enemy, and you took the king, and he was behind you being dragged, and all the people behind him were being dragged, and there was a public spectacle, and everybody was cheering. The triumph was great. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It's a great victory. Christ has won the victory. Christ has already taken the strong man, and he is ruling and reigning. We should notice that from the first chapter of Job, where God is in the heavens, and everyone is coming to God. All of the angels are before him, and God is in charge of the court. And Satan comes and God says, what would you have me do? And he just says, well, you know, that guy, I'd like to take a shot at him. And God says, yeah, you can take a shot at him. But I'm in charge. There's not a thing that Satan can do apart from what God desires. And so Christ is ruling and reigning. In 1 John 5, he says, we know that the Son of God is common and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true. We need to focus on the wondrous works of our God. God's greatness is His goodness. His compassion and His loving kindness for those whom He loves is nowhere expressed more abundantly than in His Son. the one who was the sinless substitute for you and me. He paid the ransom which was required for our sin. And in eternity past, they decided that for you and for me, that our sins would be forgiven, the righteousness of the law would be taken away. and that Christ would reign over all principalities and powers and all things would be subjected to him until that final day when all rule, everything is ruled, and Christ reigns forever. And so as Elihu points out in verse 23 of our chapter tonight, his goodness and his abundant righteousness he will never oppress. You see, he doesn't cause these things for anything but our abundant good. for our abundant life and so when we consider the works of God in our life we consider the wonderful works of God in Christ that he has done for me and for you and we must break out in praise as the Israelites did in Exodus chapter 15 when they saw their redemption they were heading to the pit and God came and swooped them up and you and I were headed to the pit and God does nothing but give us loving kindness. That which he did to save us from our sin. And he continues to have mercy and loving kindness on you and me. God will never oppress Job. Job is missing the point. But Job, as Elihu points him to God, Job will find out that he needs to see God in all his wonder. And he will see God in all his wonder. Wait till Job hears from God in the next chapter, and we will see. And the last verse of our text tonight says, fear God, for he will always do what is right. There is no partiality with God. Because you're suffering more than someone else doesn't mean he's partial to that other person. He has every good for you and for me in mind. Every detail that you're going through is perfectly suited for you and for me. And if we look at the wonders of God, and we see the wonders of God in Christ for us, and we focus not on ourselves, but on what Christ has done and where we will be with Christ, We will really see, we will really comprehend to whatever extent we can as frail human beings. We will see the wonders of God as he shows them to us in Christ. Let us focus our hearts and our lives on Christ. And for those of us who are not in Christ, my prayer is that if you refuse him, my prayer is that you would not refuse him. Because if you do, he is not partial and perfect justice will be meted out. And without Christ, you have to pay for your sin. With Christ, your sins are paid for. May God open your eyes, your ears to stand still and behold your God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask your blessing upon us as we worship you, and may your words come to our minds and hearts that we would glorify you, that we would see your glory, Lord God, in Christ. Help us, O God, for we are but dust. And we praise you, Lord, that you never cease to work on our behalf, even though we are but dust. This is an amazing truth, which we cannot comprehend. But, oh God, help us, for we are weak. And may your mercy and grace show us yourself and your glory, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.