Okay, we're going to, if you'd like to open with me to the book of Job, we will pick up this morning in chapter 27. My intention originally for this week was to make it through chapter 31, but as I looked at chapters 27 and 28, I felt as though it was important to pause and to take a bit more time to look at these two chapters themselves. In particular, we'll spend most of our time looking at chapter 28. I think 28 is a very important chapter in the book of Job and kind of how it orients ourselves back to the main themes, the main idea of the book of Job, which is ultimately, we talked about at the very beginning of all this, which is wisdom. This is a book of wisdom literature. This points us to wisdom. It is a book about suffering, but it's not primarily a book about suffering. It's primarily a book about wisdom. about how we can gain wisdom of what wisdom is. In chapter 28, kind of in the middle of the book, kind of ending the speeches, ending that part of the book and beginning the next section of the book of Job in which Job will give his final remarks. Elihu will speak and God will speak. It's kind of a helpful section, a helpful chapter in the middle that can help point us to where we've been and where we're going. I think that gave me pause to perhaps slow down a little bit and to really enjoy chapter 28 as it's been presented to us in God's word. We finished last time looking through the final speeches in the cycle of three speeches, in which we saw Job respond, and then Job responded to Eliphaz, Bildad spoke briefly, and Job responded to him. So that's kind of where we finished off last time. And ultimately, we looked to see Job's more proper understanding of sinfulness, that the friends argue that if all of these things have happened to you, clearly you are sinful, that wicked men get what they deserve in this life, And Job basically says, wake up. That's a foolish thing to think. That's untrue. The wicked ultimately, typically, are prosperous. They are powerful. They get good things in this life. And it's typically the righteous that suffer and struggle in this life. And that's Job's main argument. So then, if God is just, if God must punish evil, if there is real evil in this world, evil beyond our own comprehensions of what evil even looks like, Then how does God deal with these things? God must deal with these things in a way beyond the simple framework of these three friends and simply just, oh, God punishes bad things by taking away good things from bad people or taking away their power and authority. Because often that doesn't happen. But yet God must deal with evil and sin. And this is where Job seems to kind of have left off. And then we finished briefly in chapter 26. If we look to verse 12, by his power he stilled the sea. By his understanding he shattered Rahab. By his wind the heavens were made fair. His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. These wonderful images of God fully and finally destroying evil. Though we may not understand God's plans in all things, that we must have confidence that he will. And in the right timing, in his right time, destroy evil. Wickedness must be put away, because he is a just God, and he must see justice be done. So then Job, we'll read, we'll go briefly through 27, and then as I said, focus most of our time on chapter 28. Chapter 27 is, if we see Eliphaz and the friends making their case more clear, that you are a man of iniquity, you have done all of these evil, horrible things. I think chapter 27 is Job making his case abundantly clear, that he has said many times that he has not done these things he's been accused of, that he is not the evil, horrible man that they accuse him of. But chapter 27 makes that plain in verse 2 of Job chapter 27. As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty who has made my soul better, as long as my breath is in me and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right. Till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach me for any of my days. So Job clearly says here, I am not the wicked man that you say that I am. And as God lives, it's almost swearing it by an oath, that I swear by the life of God himself, that God lives and breathes and does these things, is our creator. I swear by these things that I am not the wicked man that you claim me to be. but yet still pointing to this idea that it is God who has done these things to him, that it is God who has caused him to suffer these things, but yet understanding that he still holds fast to his integrity. He swears that his friends are wrong and that he ultimately is in the right before God. And we understand that he is right in this, that he is right before God, that he is God's beloved servant, as we have read in the first two chapters of the book of Job. He says, my friends, you could say, paraphrasing Job, my friends, you are wrong about me, and you're wrong about God, and that I will not say otherwise. I will not give way to these things that you say to me, because the things that you say are foolish, and they are wrong. Especially as we look to chapter 28, and where wisdom is found, we can look, it's going to make primarily point us back to these earlier chapters and to see where foolishness is found. These men and the things that they have said have been very exceedingly foolish and untrue. And commentators perhaps differ on this. Is Job being prideful? Is he being self-righteous? Is he saying these things? I don't take it that way. I don't understand it that way. In the commentaries and the things that I read, it seems as though he just has an abiding assurance that God is still faithful to him, that he is right before God by the ways in which he was right before God in the beginning. And we'll read, we'll look at this again in 28. I'm not trying to get us into 28 before we get there, but that he is a man who At the very beginning, he feared God and turned away from evil. This is what makes Job right before God, is he has faith in God. He turns to God, he fears God, he worships God, and he turns away from evil. Job is not being pridefully self-righteous here, but that he has an abiding assurance that God is faithful, that God is still merciful to him. Job then begins to warn his friends of their own mistaken words, their own foolishness. And we talked about this briefly last week of how many commentators, I wouldn't say many, but some commentators in the book of Job, some scholars like to begin to cut and paste and move things around to fit their own scheme of what they think the book of Job should look like. In verse 7, beginning this small section in verse 7 is a clear example of that. Because many of the things that Job says in this section sound very similar to what some of the friends have said. He describes the fate of the wicked. Let my enemy be as the wicked. Verse 7, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. For what is the hope of the godless when man cuts him off, when God takes away his life? So it's this vivid description of the fate of the wicked. This sounds very, very similar to what has been said by the friends previously, in the previous few chapters. We've read this many times before. But yet, I think in the context of it, Job, this is clearly Job speaking. We have no reason to think it's not Job speaking, other than our pride of thinking we can rearrange God's word in our own ways to make sense to our human brains. But it makes sense in the context, even, of Job saying, you're wrong about me. I am not the wicked man you proclaim me to be. And therefore, you are the wicked ones. You are the foolish ones. You are the ones that need to beware, because you are speaking untruthfully about me. And what I see is that they speak wrongly about God, that they are speaking wrongly about not only Job but about God himself and the ways in which God works in the universe and the ways that he deals with sin. All of these things ultimately are a reproach not only to Job but to God and his character as well. Job then offers to teach them truly about God and perhaps we could read some sarcasm or something into this that may not be Inappropriate to do, in verse 11, I will teach you concerning the hand of God. If you don't understand these things, if you are this foolish, then I must teach you these things, then I must explain these things to you. Like children, I must teach you these things. And I think verse, as he begins to teach these things to his friends, we go back to some of those themes of sin and evil that we looked at in the previous chapter. In verse 13, this is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty, that God must deal with wickedness. God must deal with evil. And how does he do so? Well, Job describes these. terrifying images of how God will treat the wicked. And again, the insinuation or the assumption here is that he's saying, I am a man of integrity. I am right before God. I fear God and turn away from evil. And yet you are the wicked ones. And gives these descriptions. Again, they don't sound entirely different from the descriptions that the friends have given. That their families will be destroyed in verses 14 through 16. That their wealth will be gone and given over to someone else, given over to the righteous. In verses 16 through 17, that their security will be destroyed. In 18 through 19, that their life will be taken. In verses 20 and 21, that they will be mocked and tormented by evil ones. In verses 22 through 23. So Job says ultimately here, I think, to sum it up before we move on to 28, I'm not evil and for you to accuse me of such shows your own iniquity. For you to accuse me of these things makes it so that you are the ones who have great iniquity, who are sinners in this. We think all the way back to the very beginning of the book of Job. The enemy of the first couple chapters of the book of Job is Satan. It is the accuser. It is the one who accuses Job of worshiping God only for the good that he gets from God. And we talked about, as we were back in that, at the very beginning, that this is not simply an accusation against Job. It's an accusation against God. God is not worthy of worship. He is not worthy of his people worshiping him. on his own merits, that he is God, that he is good, that he is all of the wonderful things that he is, but that his people worship him simply for good things, simply for prosperity and comfort and security. So as these friends say these things, we can hear many of the same things in the arguments of Satan in chapters one and two, in the arguments of the friends in the following chapters. They sound very similar. They're both similarly accusatory of Job and his actions in the way that God works in the universe. And therefore, Job seems to be warning them of these things. which leads us well, excuse me, into chapter 28. That as Job begins, as Job has laid out this paradigm that he is right before God, that his friends are wrong about him and that they speak wronglyfully about God and about him, Job will now enter into this discussion of where wisdom is found. And just before we enter into chapter 28, I think a few notes to discuss. Again, if you're ever reading commentaries or studying the Book of Job further, so you're at least aware of some of this before you get there, is in some ways this seems out of context. It seems kind of like... It doesn't follow, perhaps, perfectly the line of thought or the development of thoughts that we've been going forth so far. So some disagree on whether this was Job speaking or a poet, someone who ultimately this book was The events of this book took place very early on in the time of Abraham, but yet probably not recorded until hundreds of years later. So were these the words of Job? Or perhaps others say these were the words of the one who put this book together, the words of one who compiled this story for us and gave it to us. And I think either way, we'd say that that man who wrote these words for us was inspired by the Holy Spirit and that these words are likewise inspired. inspired by the Holy Spirit, by God, given to us in God's word. So I don't get too hung up on it. I don't think it matters a whole lot whether this is Job speaking or the one who compiled this book for us, giving a helpful kind of interlude, pointing us back to the focus of the book of Job. I don't think that matters a ton. I think either way, we say this is God's inspired word for us, and it's helpful for us in that way, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Either way, just to say where I stand, I still think this is Job. It makes sense to me. As we look at the context, as we look at the flow of the argument, I think you can still make the case that it makes sense and it's probably Job. But whether it is or not, ultimately is not that significant. But just to be aware that that is a thing that is out there that people disagree on. And the reason I think that is because Job has already begun teaching them. I think we can see this as an extension of Job's teaching to them, of showing them their own foolishness and the unsearchableness of wisdom that we look forward to through Elihu and the speeches of God. So we begin this chapter, looking at this chapter in chapter 28, excuse me, with these Firstly, excuse me, let me back up. So this chapter is mainly focused on wisdom. So as we begin to look at this, the main question, I think my copy of the ESV, the chapter title is Where is Wisdom? I think it's an apt description. Where is wisdom? Where can wisdom be found? that ultimately Job's search through most of the book of Job has been, where is wisdom? How can we understand God rightly? That the understanding of the friends is clearly wrong in how they understand God, and that Job himself is struggling to understand God. How can he understand these things of God? How can he understand how God operates in the universe? Therefore he is in this search for wisdom. So we begin chapter 28 with this motif of a mine. Give me one second here. This is a relatively short chapter. I'm going to read it for us this morning. Chapter 28 of the Book of Job. Surely there is a mine for silver and a place for gold that they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth and copper is smelted from the ore. Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit, the ore in gloom and deep darkness. He opens shafts in a valley away from where everyone lives. They are forgotten by travelers. They hang in the air far away from mankind. They swing to and fro. As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. Its stones are the places of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eyes have not seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it. The lion has not passed over it. Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes see every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the light that is hidden he brings out to light. And this is the verse I think we can begin to focus on even more intently. But where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? That main verse, kind of the focus of this chapter. Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, it is not in me, and the sea says, it is not with me. It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of ophir in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. The price of wisdom is above pearls. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and death say, we have heard a rumor of it with our ears. God understands the way to it and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it. He established it and searched it out. And he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding. So I hope, as we've read through that, you can clearly see at the beginning there these mine motifs, this motif of human ingenuity, human technology, human searching after these precious stones, these gemstones, gold and silver and topaz and all of these wonderful things that are very precious in our eyes as humans, very worthwhile, very makes us very wealthy, worth very much money. That man puts an end to darkness. He makes light where darkness once was. He opens shafts in the valley to mine. Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. It's just this idea of man's ceaseless pursuit of these precious stones, these precious things that are hidden deep in the earth, that man is ceaseless in these things, that he does all that he can and uses all of his pursuits of technology and ingenuity to be able to get this prosperity, to get these gemstones that are buried deep in the earth. But yet, what is Job looking for? And we've talked about this many times, that Job makes it clear that though he, I'm sure he very much misses his children and very much misses his prosperity and the comfort he once had, that this is not what he is looking for. He is not looking for gemstones. He is not looking for these things. What is he looking for? What is he seeking for? Verse 12. Where shall wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Job seeks to understand God. He seeks to understand why God has done these things. If he is still right before God, if he is right to have assurance of his salvation, of his right standing before God, that is what Job is searching for. We could look even back to chapter 23. Job says as much. Job 23, verse 3. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. Job is searching. Where might God be found? Where can I come before God? How can I have confidence that God is working in this world in a just and in a right way? How can I understand these things? Where is wisdom to be found? So in verses 12 through 14 is where we begin to ask that question. But yet, It is not able to be found by worldly means. The deep says, it's not in me. The sea says, it's not within me. We could mine, we could plumb the depths of the earth, plumb the depths of the sea, and yet still not find it. There is no place we could go to where we could dig up wisdom and have it. These precious things of the earth, they're buried in the earth. We could find them, they're there. But yet wisdom, to Job, seems like this thing that is unable to be grasped, that he cannot find it. Where can he go to get it? It's not able to be found, but yet he must find it. It is immeasurably valuable. Verses 15 through 19. It can't be bought for gold. It's more valuable than all of these things that man is ceaseless in his pursuits of. Of gold, of silver, of onyx and sapphire, gold and glass, coral, crystal, pearls, topaz, pure gold. These different images that wisdom, though he can't find it, he must find it because it is precious and it is wonderful to him. It is more valuable than anything that he could possibly have in this world, but then he comes back. to this question in verse 20 through 22. Yet again, where does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding? It's hidden from all the eyes of the living, concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and Death say, we have heard rumor of it with our ears. Even in death, there is no place to find wisdom, that even the place of the dead does not inherently just have wisdom located in it, that you couldn't even plumb the depths there. They've only heard rumor of it. They've heard of one who has wisdom, but yet know it not. So we could say rightly that Job, for 26 chapters now, seeks to understand why God has ordered the world in the way in which he does. He's seeking for wisdom. He's seeking for understanding of God, who God is, why he operates in the ways that he does. His pursuit, I think we could say, is good. And it is right that he does these things. But yet we must ultimately say that if, excuse me, that if we are pursuing wisdom as these miners, these men search for gold and search for jewels, that we've done so wrongly. That the pursuit of wisdom on the face of it, the pursuit of wisdom on its own, the seeking wisdom for the simple sake of gaining wisdom is fruitless. There's no way. It can't be mined from the earth. There's no possible way for us as humans to go about finding wisdom and to find it on its own. that there is no way for us to do this. And why is this the case? Why is it a fruitless endeavor to do these things? Job points us to this, or the poet, whoever it may be, points us to this. In verse 23, God understands the way to it. And he knows its place. Wisdom is inseparable from God. God is wisdom. All that God does is wisdom. That if God has done something and ordained something, that is wise. That is wisdom itself. And therefore, to pursue wisdom, to dig in the earth and find wisdom on its own is fruitless. It is unable to be done because wisdom is inseparable from God. God is wisdom. He knows the place of it. And yet, and then points us to, I think this is interesting, especially as we think of chapter 28, pointing us forward in the book of Job, that he ties God's wisdom, he ties the ways of God in with these nature metaphors, these metaphors of the weather. These images of the weather, verse 25, when he gave to the wind its weight and a portion of the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain, a way for the lightning of the thunder. It's this image of God holding all things together, all nature, even the weather, that we as humans, even today, are not very good at predicting, are not very good at understanding. Even those things God holds together and understands deeply and works all of those things together, that every molecule, every atom, every cell in the universe is controlled by God. And the reason I think this can give us special attention or we should think about is that this is much of what God is going to say in the book of Job. That as God answers Job, as God begins to say to Job, to answer Job's questions and to give an account for these things, we could say, that he points to his work in creation, his sovereignty in all creation, that Job, you don't even know the first thing about all that I uphold and all that I am doing and all that that I control with my mighty hand. It would overwhelm you to simply think about these things, to think about even just a small portion of these things you will never be able to comprehend. And yet this seems to be what we're being pointed to and will be made more clear through those speeches of God at the end of the book of Job. And then finally, What is wisdom? How can man find wisdom then? If wisdom is inherently extremely valuable, more valuable than anything that this world could offer, and that we cannot find it on our own, in our own human understanding, our own human wisdom, we can never find true wisdom, and that God knows the place of it, and that God ultimately holds all wisdom and is all wisdom, then how can we as humans gain wisdom? And this is where we look to verse 28. And he said to man, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to turn away from evil is understanding. So what is wisdom? Not to seek wisdom for its own sake or for our own gain. What is truly wise is to fear God. It's to turn to, it's to have faith in God. And again, just to say this point one more time, it ties us so well into how it discredits the shallow, cold arguments of the friends, and it helps us point us to this understanding that is to come. These wonderful speeches of God at the end, declaring his wisdom and power and majesty. And as I briefly talked about it, in chapter 27 that the very first verse of the book of Job makes it clear to us that Job is a man of wisdom. How do we know this? How do we know that Job is a man of wisdom? Because Job chapter 1 verse 1, there was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. This is what made Job wise, that he feared God, that he had faith in God, that he trusted and had faith in his God. Not that he was prosperous, not that he was powerful, Not none of these things. Not that he was naturally wise in this world. He was. We'll read in the coming chapters of the wisdom that he had and the ways that he was respected and dignified and the ways that he was looked up to for his wisdom and his understanding. But yet ultimately, where is Job's wisdom found? Why is Job described as this man of wisdom? Because he feared God and he turned away from evil. which is echoed many times in the book of Proverbs. I have chapter 1, verse 7 of the book of Proverbs, chapter 9, verse 10 of this idea of the fear of God is our wisdom. So as we end this morning, just thinking briefly about wisdom, that wisdom is found and present in creation, that God has created all things in his wisdom, that he determines good and evil in wisdom. That wisdom is a fountain of life, as Proverbs says. It is opposed to the wisdom of man. It is different. It is diametrically opposed to the wisdom that we have as sinful man. This is wisdom, and I've alluded to this a handful of times kind of in my working definition of wisdom. I found this very helpful. John Calvin, in the very, very beginning of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, his systematic theology, in the very first sentence says, wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves. that John Calvin points us to this fact that wisdom consists of these two parts, knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves. So how does this verse connect to that? The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, to turn away from evil is understanding. And I think for us as New Testament believers, we would say ultimately, if wisdom is found in our knowledge of God and our knowledge of ourselves, where are these things found more clearly than in Christ? Where are these things found more obviously than they are found in Christ? Christ, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, is wisdom. That He is wisdom from God. Christ is our wisdom. That there is nothing in the universe that could show us more clearly, as God has revealed, who He is towards us and who we are as sinners towards Him. And who we become as adopted children in Christ. And tying this in with fear, I found this helpful quote from Michael Reeves with Joyce and Tremble. We studied this as a church a number of years ago. I found this quote very, very helpful, and I think a helpful summary of what we have been looking at this morning. He says, and again, thinking of this through that lens of knowledge of God, knowledge of ourselves, When the awesome magnitude of Christ's forgiveness, the extent to which he has gone to atone for us, and therefore the terrible gravity of our sin become clear to us as they do best at the cross, the right loving reaction is so intense it is fearful. That it is right. If we fear God, that means we have wisdom, because it means we understand these things rightly. That as we look to the cross, we understand our knowledge of God is greatly expanded to see the extent to which he has gone to atone for us, and therefore the terrible gravity of our sin. Sorry, excuse me, the awesome magnitude of Christ's forgiveness, sorry. Yeah, so the magnitude of Christ's forgiveness, the extent of which he has gone to atone for us, that knowledge of God and the fullness of time that he has revealed these things to us, the plan of redemption from eternity past that he's made clear to us through Christ, that he's revealed this knowledge of himself fully to us through Christ in the ways that he has decided and in the ways that he finds good, and therefore, We learn about ourselves. The terrible gravity of our sin becomes clear to us at the cross, that if we desire wisdom, if we seek understanding, which Job says to us is immeasurably valuable, more valuable than anything in the universe could possibly be, that this wisdom consists in Christ. It consists in the cross. There is no place that we can hope to gain wisdom apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I've often also heard some things up that I think I forgot to say. A lot of people describe wisdom as. knowledge used rightly or right living, I think those are apt, too. Because I think when we, even in this verse, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding. So it's still lived out, that through this wisdom, through this understanding of ourselves, this understanding of God, it leads us to the gospel, it leads us to faith in Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet it also leads us to right living, that we have, having this wisdom, we can truly live rightly, that we can live in that fear of God, we can live in that understanding of of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the attitude of God towards us as sinners, and the depths of our own sin, which we have been forgiven from. So just a quick note I wanted to add there, because I think that's part of it. I think the wisdom literature, one thing I saw talked about, how to live the good life. That wisdom is how to live the good life, how to live rightly. And I think that's true. And how do we live rightly? We must live in light of the cross. We must live in light of that knowledge of God and that understanding of ourselves, which has been revealed in the cross. Any questions or thoughts on that before we finish this morning? Yes, it is. revelation in a way that just pictures all of these things. First you have all these natural examples, but you can't find wisdom in it, right? But then recognizing wisdom comes from God, then all of nature seems to attest to the way in which God is wise. And so I just was helped by that as we were going through. The wisdom that we find in nature is not against God. It's just that you cannot find it without God. Amen. Thank you, brother. Let us pray together. Oh Lord, would we be those who would have said of us that we fear our God, that we worship you rightly and all in reverence, and that we turn from evil. Lord would we look to to wisdom incarnate that Jesus you are wisdom from God to us that you have revealed to us these wonderful truths of the love of God towards sinful man and the sinfulness of our sin have been revealed to us at the cross. Lord, help us to have wisdom. Help us to live in light of these things, to turn from evil, to desire those good things which you have given to us in your word. Lord, help us to be those who live rightly, who live rightly in this life. Though our lives may be filled with suffering and difficulty and trial, as Job's life was, that in all things we can understand that, Lord, you are good. and that through the cross we can see that even through innocent suffering, even through suffering that is undeserved or wrong, that you even work through these things in your wisdom and in your understanding for our good and for your glory, Lord God. I pray for our time together in which we worship together that we're moving into, Lord. I pray for the preaching of your word that it would go forth powerfully and that you would please Help our hearts and our minds to be focused and to be in great anticipation of the delight that is your word to be preached to us in the songs that we sing to one another. May these things be precious to us, Lord. And I pray that your people would please understand the book of Job, even despite my own failings, to teach it well in many ways, Lord. I thank you for your word. I thank you for our time to study it. In Jesus' name, amen.