Job 10-14

0:01 Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. turn to chapter 10 of this book it's a yeoman's job to go verse by verse through the book of job but uh before we pray uh let me tell you what you signed up for when you walked through the doors tonight you signed up for a verse by verse chapter by chapter study of the word of god and we go through the entire Bible eventually, eventually. And we've been on this journey for years, over 40 years. We've gone through the Bible a few different times. And when we're done, then we go back through it again. And so we are now in the book of Job. It's not easy to go through.

1:01 um however did you know that people who are literary geniuses and um uh experts consider the book of job a literary masterpiece uh victor hugo who gave us um characters like quasimodo and jean valjean and this great french playwright and essay has said it is the masterpiece, the literary masterpiece of all mankind. So it is written in Hebrew poetry, though it is about a real event, real man who suffered real things and his real friends who showed up to rebuke him, not knowing the whole situation. But we we're sort of in the middle of a dialogue and there's three courses of these dialogues. So you have kind of the prologue, which sets the scene, the conversation between God and Satan in heaven and what is going to happen to Job. Job does not know anything about what's happening behind the scenes. Chaos is enacted in his life. He is suffering immensely. He does not know why. He will not know why, and God will show up later on at the end of this book. In the meantime, these three friends try to tell him why he is suffering, and they are wrong, and Job is also personally confused, and he's not getting any help with these guys.

2:45 Sort of reminds me of a story of the man who went to the doctor for his annual checkup, they did all the different tests the man was called back to the doctor three days later the doctor said i've got bad news and i've got worse news the bad news is you have 24 hours to live the man said that's the bad news you mean there's something worse than that what possibly could be worse than I have 24 I couldn't possibly get my affairs in order in 24 hours he said well the worst news is I should have told you yesterday but I forgot so another guy thinks any moment now I'm just going to croak in the doctor's office Job said earlier that which I have feared has come upon me and you can just imagine losing all of your children at once, losing your health. And yes, God is going to bless him in the end. But in the meantime, he is suffering physically and suffering emotionally. Then to add insult to injury, these three nincompoops, so-called friends, he will say of them, miserable comforters are you all. These three, we call them Job's friends, but you know the saying with friends like that, who needs enemies? And they just really lower the boom on him and are very accusatory toward him. And the three are Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and we're about to get to a third named Zophar coming up.

4:46 Now, where we left off in chapter 9, Job, if you remember in answering Bildad, he said, look, I know that what you're saying is true, partly what you're saying is true, and that God is awesome and righteous and we are sinful, but how can a man be righteous before God? That is always the heart cry of humanity. If there is a God, how could I ever possibly be on good terms with him? Right standing with him? That is a problem. There is a bridge. There is a chasm. There is a gap between sinful man and holy God, and we are unable to bridge that gap. and so he's asking how can a man be right before God and we know the answer to that from a New Testament perspective we have the answer it is the bridge is Christ he did does what no one can do what we cannot do on our own but as he works his way through his response in chapter 9 he not only asked the question how can a man be right before God but he said I wish I had a mediator that's where we left off. If there was somebody to mediate between man and God who could lay his hands on us both, and we ended last time talking about Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He continues in chapter 10, verse 1, saying, my soul loathes my life. I hate my life. This miserable, painful, emotionally constricted, suffering life. I hate it. My soul loathes my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me. And we've told you many times before that when a person is going through the depth of human suffering,

6:58 that you can expect to hear anything, and don't be shocked. When a person loses a loved one, when a person is told they have a terminal disease, when a doctor says you have 24 hours to live, actually, you'll croak any moment. You can expect all sorts of emotions. and the important thing is for you and I around such people not to offer them our words of wisdom but to listen to love to be there to support point them to God pray for them pray with them but be unshockable if you know the classic Elizabeth Kubler-Ross there are stage of her writings there are stages of grief that a person goes through first denial then anger then bargaining then finally acceptance and finally that person works his or her way to hope and we won't get to hope till we get to the end of this book and things get better but he's venting job is spouting and he will do so throughout this book mary and martha did this with jesus Lazarus their brother had died Jesus shows up on purpose he comes late to the funeral just to make sure Lazarus was good and dead and as soon as they saw him you can hear this the bitterness in their voice if you would have been here my brother wouldn't have died what I notice is Jesus doesn't well the reason I'm late is because he just listens and he weeps. And then he promises and then he resurrects.

8:51 But he doesn't offer a theological explanation. And so Job is in that position of like Martha and Mary of venting the depth of their soul. And in verse two, he says, just show me why you contend with it if I only knew why I'm suffering like this. They're giving me reasons that are wrong if you would just show me why. Does it seem good to you? And he's talking to God in this. He's praying publicly before his friends. Does it seem good to you that you should oppress?

9:27 That you should despise the work of your hands and shine on the counsel of the wicked? These people here. Do you have eyes of flesh or do you see as a man sees? Now we know that God does not see as man sees. You remember when the prophet Samuel went to the house of Jesse to anoint another king after Saul had sinned and he went through Jesse's children all the way from Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah and all the boys one by one. God said, nope, I haven't chosen him. I've rejected him. For you're looking at the outward appearance. God looks at the heart. I don't see as man sees. Job asks, do you see as man sees? Are your days like a mortal man? Are your years like the days of a mighty man that you should seek for my iniquity? Now, Job is being sarcastic here.

10:37 He's being snippy with God. And he's basically saying, are you limited in your capacity to discern like these three frenemies of mine who are misunderstanding and miscalculating? Are you like them? Are you limited in the capacity to understand like they are? that you should seek for my iniquity and search out my sin, although you know that I am not wicked.

11:13 And there is no one who can deliver from your hand. Can you understand his dilemma? He's saying, look, I am innocent. And yet I'm suffering this and I'm talking to you and I realize you are the Supreme Court. I can't appeal to any higher authority than you. I'm sort of hedged in here. I'm innocent. There's nothing I know of that has caused this in my personal life. And yet there's no higher court I can go to. You're the top. Your hands have made me and fashioned me. I love this next phrase. An intricate unity. that's your human body 73 trillion cells all working together 11 separate systems working in unity together and intricate unity he realizes that he is fearfully and wonderfully made your hands have made me and fashioned me in intricate unity yet you would destroy me remember I pray that you have made me like clay will you turn me into dust again of course that is the fate of us all is it not unless the Lord comes back unless the rapture happens in our lifetime remember man that you are dust and unto dust you will return the scripture says It's not for this.

12:48 will you turn me to dust again did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese now he's using the metaphor of turning milk into cheese and the process of that likening that is a metaphor to his own body, starting out as a zygote and then an embryo and then a fetus in fluid, amniotic fluid to protect and regulate the temperature, etc. clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and favor. Your care has preserved my spirit. Now as you hold that thought, let me read to you what David wrote in Psalm 139 that sounds very similar.

13:51 David said, And in your book, they were all written the day's fashion for me, when as yet there were none of them. You know, I've noticed that people generally are unhappy with their bodies.

14:38 They look in the mirror and they notice a feature that they would like to change or features they would like to change. and those features you will want to change uh the the more you keep looking in that mirror as you age they will change for you and not according to how you would like them to change but i remember my uh barber

15:12 used to say skip i have yet to find somebody who's happy with their hair I said well I'm happy with my hair he said yeah but you know if you're dark hair you want it light if you're light you want it dark if it's straight you want it curly if it's curly you'd rather make it straight and then I just thought well I think that's how a lot of people are just generally about themselves but you are fearfully and wonderfully made and you are awesome as God made you and God gave you life and the gift is the gift of life made in the lowest parts of the earth started out as a speck you became a person but you are as God wanted and God told Jeremiah before I formed you in the womb I knew you and I called you so the key is no matter what features you have or like or don't like, God has a plan for you. Zero in on those spiritual features and life will be much better. So he is, Job is kind of going along those lines. He's realizing, look, God has made me intricately for me and preserved me. I don't know why he would go to the extent, the bother of letting me be created in this intricate fashion and preserve my life and give me personhood only to destroy me like this. That's what he can't figure out. Verse 13 of chapter 10, and these things you have hidden in your heart. I know that this was with you. If I sin, then you mark me and will not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am wicked, woe unto me.

17:01 even if I am righteous I cannot lift up my head I am full of disgrace in other words I'm just confused I don't get it and it seems to not matter whether you're a good person or a bad person a righteous person or an unrighteous person this is the common lot these things happen to them all now Job's friends have said no no no they only happen to the wicked which is probably why you're suffering, because you are wicked. verse 16 if my head is exalted you hunt me like a fierce lion and again you show yourself awesome against me you renew your witnesses against me who is he talking about these three frenemies of his who have decided to pontificate on job's malady and why he is suffering You renew your way. You keep sending me these accusers and increase your indignation toward me.

18:10 Changes and war are ever with me. These guys just keep stirring it up and the conflict just rises to the surface. Why then have you brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had perished and no eye had seen me. Now this is, he's singing the same old song and he's going to keep, he kind of likes this tune. He'll keep singing this tune for several verses to come.

18:39 I would have been as though I had not, oh, that I had perished and no, I had seen me. I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. If I would have just been stillborn, I would have immediately gone from womb to tomb, and it would just save me a lot of grief.

19:03 Ever look at a tombstone? I love going to graveyards. I know it sounds kind of goofy, but I love especially old European graveyards. I love to read the tombstones, because some people will write all about, you know, different things about the person, but I always notice it will have a person's name, the date of their birth, and then what? A dash and the date of their death. Their entire life reduced down to a dash. The question is, what do you do with that dash? How do you spend that dash? That is a choice you and I have to make. It is just a dash. It goes by lickety-split. What will you and I do with that dash? Are not my days few, verse 20? Cease. Stop. Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort before I go to the place from which I shall not return to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death, without any order, where even light is like darkness. Now, you have to understand something about scripture.

20:29 At this point in biblical history, because we're dealing with somebody who lived in the patriarchal age. The youngest he was, was a contemporary, I'm guessing, of Abraham. Some actually place him before Abraham. In fact, if I were teaching the Bible chronologically, I would do Genesis 1 through 11, then the book of Job, then Genesis 12 into the book of Exodus, because that's where I think it is placed chronologically. So we have something called progressive revelation. When we get to the New Testament, we know an awful lot more. We have more information in the New Testament about God, about us, about God's plan, about the future than we ever did in the Old Testament, and certainly than they ever did at the beginning of the Old Testament.

21:23 so there is a progression of revelation job and his contemporaries had very little information about what happens after people die and that is part of the questioning the 330 questions that are asked in the book of job many of them are about death and the afterlife and they're wondering about it. And so they know certain things about God and some of them are accurate. Even some of these three friends have accurate information about God, as does Job. But when it comes to a full orbed understanding of what happens when a person dies, awaiting resurrection, the future plan, millennial kingdom, et cetera, of course, they're in the dark about that. um that's why we are thankful that we have all 66 books and we know what happens after death jesus said the hour is coming when everyone in the grave will hear his voice and be raised some to the resurrection of who are unrighteous the resurrection of uh of um life and some to the resurrection of death. So we know a lot more than Job did about death. Let me put it to you very simply. If you are an unsaved man or woman tonight, your best days are behind you.

23:00 If you're saved, your best days are ahead. if you don't know Christ, then just look back and enjoy and savor the momentary joy of this life because it's the last best time you'll ever have. If you know Jesus Christ, no matter what suffering you go through here, you have glory and a future and a hope to look forward to. and and we we get that progression of revelation as we go through so we finish chapter 10 now we have the third friend there's going to be a fourth but the third and his name is Zophar and so it says then as Zophar the Naamathite answered and said now he was just remember watching from the sidelines and Zophar so good Thank you.

24:05 I had to do that. It's part of my DNA. I can't help it. It's how I was born. Zophar the Naamathite answered and by the way the word Zophar means sparrow the name means sparrow and the root word it comes from the word twitter which I think is very fascinating given how people will on twitter now called x from the sidelines spout off the stupidest remarks known to humanity, it's kind of a perfect predictive prophecy. Then Twitter tweeted out and he said, should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace?

25:09 you know there he was saying just be quiet but why should we should your empty talk make men hold their peace when you mock should no one rebuke you for you said my doctrine is pure and i am clean in your eyes now actually job never said his doctrine was pure or that he was perfect or sinless god did say he was blameless and upright more than anybody else but you know Job never claimed to be sinless. The only thing Job claimed is I haven't done anything that merits this kind of suffering. There's nothing I have done that is a direct cause and effect relationship. I haven't done anything gross to invite this kind of ill treatment from God. But he never claimed to be sinless. He did claim to speak words of justice. But Twitter here is kind of twisting his words a little bit as he's tweeting out. So he says in verse five, he tweets out further, but oh, that God would speak and open his lips against you, that he would show you the secrets of his wisdom for they would double your prudence. Know therefore, now listen to this, know therefore that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves. Oh man, you think you're suffering Job? Yes, he does think he is suffering. He was suffering, but he says you're only getting half of what you really deserve. You deserve far worse than this. Imagine walking up to somebody who just lost their children say, well, you deserve it. In fact, you deserve worse.

26:55 You're only getting half of what you really deserve, man. Striking quite a blow here. Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? Of course, Paul said in Romans 11, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. So there are elements of truth in what these people are tweeting out.

27:28 They are higher than heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol. What can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. If he, God, passes, or if he passes, if he passes by, imprisons, and gathers to judgment, then who can hinder him? For he knows deceitful men He sees wickedness also Pointing the finger Will he not then consider it?

28:00 For an empty-headed man will be wise When a wild donkey's colt is born apparently that was an old saying and what he is saying is the chances of you being wise are the same odds that a donkey could give birth to a human Yeah, exactly, right? if you would prepare your heart and stretch out your hands toward him, if iniquity were in your hand and you would put it far away and would not let wickedness dwell in your tents, then surely you could lift up your face without spot. Yes, you could be steadfast and not fear because you would forget your misery. Remember it as waters that have passed away and your life would be brighter than noonday, though you were dark, you would be like the morning. Job, if you only even at this point turned, repented, got right with God, confessed your sin, things could be better.

29:09 He's singing the same refrain as Bildad the Shuhite and Eliphaz the Temanite before him. Did you notice in verse 17, your life would be brighter than noonday, though it were dark, you would be like the morning. Job has just said back in chapter 10 that he's going to go to the land of darkness and there's going to be darkness and gloom beyond the grave. And he said, well, you know, you can have a bright morning and you would be secure because there is hope. Yet you would dig about you and take your rest in safety. You would also lie down and no one would make you afraid. Yes, you would court your favor, but the eyes of the wicked will fail and they shall not escape. And their hope, loss of life. Now notice the whole construction of this guy's argument to Job. In verse 13, if you would do this. In verse 14, if iniquity were in your hand and you confessed it and you did all the right things. But then he concludes by saying, but the eyes of the wicked will fail and they will not escape. So it's this, you know, he was teaching false doctrine, but it was, he's going along okay till this last statement.

30:40 Then he puts the sword in and he's saying, you're a wretched sinner and it's going to take your life. This is going to be the end of you, Job. Your sin and your refusal to admit it and turn to him, it's going to kill you. It's going to take your life. Okay, now Job replies to Zophar. Zophar so good. Job answered and said to Mr. Twitter,

31:08 no doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you. you know-it-alls. You are so amazingly wise. I'm sure that when you die, there will be no more wise people left on earth. All wisdom is in you, and when you go, it goes.

31:33 Now, I've met some people like this who think they just know everything about everything. they're mr know-it-alls and job knows that he's dealing with no it know-it-alls but i have understanding as well as you i am not inferior to you indeed who does not know such things as these these are basic things we know god is sovereign no one can can withstand his sovereign will his nature you can't go against him he can do what he wants he's omnipotent he's omniscient these are truths undergirding all of their arguments Job says I know this and I think Job also believed generally because revelation is at a very rudimentary phase here in progressive revelation Job bought into the fact the idea that good people get blessed and evil people get cursed he does not know what is going on behind the scenes. None of them are privy, including Job, to the conversation that God and Satan have had. So he says, look, I get it. And I know these things are true. I'm not inferior to you. Everybody knows that this is universal knowledge. But verse four, I am one mocked by his friends who called on God and he answered him. Now let me try to unravel that for you.

33:02 Okay, guys, you're right. God is wise. But how do you explain this man suffering so much, this man who called on God in the past and God actually answered him? I had such a relationship with God that when I talked to him and prayed to him, God answered my prayers. You explain that to me. If you have this theology that unrighteous people suffer and godly people don't, therefore I must be unrighteous. How do you explain the fact that I once called on God and God answered me? It's a good argument. The just and blameless who is left to scorn, a lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease. You know, it's so easy to be the Monday morning quarterback of the team that lost or the man who was suffering. I'll tell you why he's going through that. I heard this and that about he and his wife. Easy to be the person who's not suffering that and to be the Monday morning quarterback and suppose why it is. That's what he's getting at.

34:22 it is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure in what God provides by his hand. Now, that's a very important verse. Job is correcting their theology that says that only the unrighteous suffer and only the righteous are blessed. He's correcting that. He's saying, actually, the Sabians and the Chaldeans who came and robbed my tents and took my money and took my sheep and took my camels, etc. They are wicked people and they have an enormous amount of wealth now.

35:15 so if you're going by the fact that well if you're blessed you must be righteous then what do you do with these criminals who have been thieves who are wicked the tents of the robbers prosper and those who provoke god are secure in what god provides by his hand that is true isn't it as you look around the world. This is what bothered Asaph in Psalm 73. He said, my foot almost stumbled because I saw how the unrighteous seem to dwell securely while the righteous go through so many trials and struggles. He said, I almost lost it. but now verse 7 but now ask the beasts and they will teach you and the birds of the air they will tell you or speak to the earth they will teach you if you look to the animal kingdom job is saying have you noticed that often the animals that are the most vicious are the ones that survive are the ones that dwell at they see everything as their prey they will okay you have a wonderful pet at home there are coyotes in the neighborhood if a coyote gets your cat or your dog you're gonna say well it's because my cat my dog you know deserved it it would lived a sinful life and the coyote must be so righteous and godly are you kidding that rascal stole my dog and ate my cat's head. I saw the coyote running off with the body of my cat. Sorry, TMI.

37:03 and the fish of the sea well they they'll explain it to you who among all these does not know that the hand of the lord has done this in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind does not the ear test words in the mouth taste its food wisdom is with aged men and with length of days is understanding. Now, I think that in the original, that is a question rather than a statement. Shouldn't it be so that wise people speak wise things and give wise advice? Your advice is so bad, is the implication. back to verse 10, the breath of all mankind in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. You will remember in the book of Daniel in chapter five,

38:13 Nebuchadnezzar has died. Belshazzar, his grandson is the king of Babylon. He gets drunk one night, has a thousand of his court attendants get drunk with him. And he decides, go into the treasure house and get the articles from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, the articles of silver and gold, and bring them in here and we'll drink our wine out of those goblets. as he's partying away in a drunken stupor, he looks across the room and he sees on the wall, a man's hand appear and write a message on the wall. And it says his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against the other. Knees were shaking. I have had the privilege of standing in that very room in Babylon and I was standing on the wall where Belshazzar would have sat and looked across that area of ruins in ancient Babylon in Iraq and looked at the wall where the man's hand appeared I just was imagining that scene well he didn't know what it meant in his court advisors didn't know what it meant. And so his mother, the queen mother came to him and said, you know, there was this guy and he's still around named Daniel in Babylon, who was very helpful to your grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, call him in. He'll tell you what it means. They bring Daniel in. He's old by this time, but Daniel says, you know, young whippersnapper, your grandpa found out that God rules in the kingdom of men and places men in charge as he sees fit. And he learned that and he learned to humble himself before God because he was lifted up. He lived out for a season with the wild animals. God humbled him, brought him back, but he learned that lesson. You, on the other hand, are worshiping the gods of silver and gold and wood and stone. And the God in whose

40:29 hand holds your very breath, you have not glorified. The God who holds in his hand your very breath you have not glorified. He said, I'll tell you what that message means. It means you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and your kingdom tonight is going to be turned over to the Medes and the Persians.

40:59 And the government of Iran shifted in one day, one night. So God holds our breath in his hand. Love that story. With him, verse 13, with him are wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding. If he breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt. If he imprisons a man, there can be no release. If he withholds the waters, they dry up. If he sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away plundered. He makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings. He binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes and disarms the mighty. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great and destroys them.

42:13 He enlarges nations and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in pathless wilderness. They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man. With all of these verses that I just read, Job is affirming his belief in the sovereign nature of God. God is sovereign. God is omnipotent. God is omniscient. He knows all things. He controls all things. He's absolutely sovereign. Nobody does what he wants to do apart from the ultimate will of God. It's a very strong statement on the sovereign nature of God. And this, in the realm of progressive revelation, is quite impressive that we're dealing going all the way back. And he has this understanding of the God of the universe. He continues, Behold, my eye has seen all this.

43:09 My ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I also know. I'm not inferior to you, but I would speak to the Almighty. And I desire to reason with God. Job is saying, I know all this stuff. I know my theology, but none of that is helping me right now. I still hurt. I'm still in pain. Knowing what you know is not helping my present condition. And so he says, look, I don't even really want to talk to you anymore. I just want to talk to God. I want to present my legal case, so to speak. I'd like a fair trial before God to find out what I've done. Verse four, but you forgers of lies, you are all worthless physicians. You're quacks. You write prescriptions to me. You haven't even finished medical school.

44:16 worthless physicians oh that you would just shut up now that's the nsv the new skip version uh the new king james says oh that you would be silent and it would be your wisdom you know if you just shut your mouth it'd be the wisest thing you've done all day now hear my reasoning and heed the pleadings of my lips will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him? Will you show partiality for him? Will you contend for God? I find a lot of people will speak wickedly and deceitfully for God, giving off, I've got a new revelation. and teaching false doctrine. They're speaking wickedly for God.

45:13 Will it be well when he searches you out? or can you mock him as one mocks a man he will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality will not his excellence make you afraid and the dread of him fall upon you your platitudes are proverbs of ashes your defenses are defenses of clay hold your peace with me let me speak and then let come on me what may why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands now that's a proverb and it's a picture of an animal on the hunt who has in its mouth its prey and carries his prey around in his mouth and preserves it until he can push it aside and eat it later on. So it's a picture of holding on to one's life. That's the idea.

46:16 So why do I hold on to my life? Why do I take my flesh and my teeth and put my life in my hands? Why am I still alive and around? But verse 15, oh, how I love this verse. Though he slay me, yet I will trust him. There's the heart of Job. When God took everything away, he said, naked I came into the world, naked I'll leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this, Job did not charge God foolishly, nor sin with his lips, but he worshiped. And here he says, look, I don't get it. I want a court date with God, but even if it kills me, I'm going to trust him. That's a statement of faith. It's a strong statement of faith. God help us to get to that place where no matter what is going on around us, what is going on inside us is though he slay me, I will trust. And this verse means a lot to me because in the early days of the Jesus movement, in one of the communes, when a lot of us were living in community with each other. I had a good friend who wrote this song, and these were the lyrics of his song. Though he slay me, I will trust. Praise him even from the dust. Though I'm down, I will look up to you, my Lord. And I remember Jimmy Roser singing that song in the communes.

47:46 Anyway, I'm being nostalgic. So though he slay me, I will trust him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation. I love that. He also shall be my salvation. Somebody once said, you'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you've got.

48:11 When you are, and I hope you never have to come to this place where you're brought down to that kind of nothingness where Jesus is all you have, you realize, really, that's all I need. though he slay me i will trust he also shall be my salvation for a hypocrite could not come before him listen diligently to my speech and to my declaration with your ears see now i have prepared my case i know that i shall be vindicated who is he who will contend with me all this is courtroom language. He's presenting his, he's getting his briefs together and he's setting a date, a court with God. If now I hold my tongue, I perish. Only two things do not do to me. Then I will not hide myself from you. Withdraw your hand far from me and let not the dread of you make me afraid. Then call and I will answer or let me speak. And then you respond to me. Let's, let's have a conversation about this. Answer me like you used to. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgressions and my sin. Why do you hide your face if I only got an answer as to what I have done to tick you off?

49:33 why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy? Will you frighten a leaf driven to and fro? Will you pursue dry stubble? For you write bitter things against me. That's a legal phrase of a judge writing out a sentence for a criminal. You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. You see, Job is looking for reasons why he's suffering and he's now thinking, well, maybe it's something I did when I was young and dumb,

50:13 foolish, the sins of my youth. Do you remember in Psalm 25, David said unto thee, O Lord, while I lift up my voice. And he said, remember not the sins of my youth, but remember me in your mercy. Don't hold the dumb things I did when I was younger against me. So Job says, yeah, maybe it's something I did in my past. You put my feet in stocks and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. God, you have me on such a tight leash in this suffering. verse 1 chapter 14 we want to finish the chapter quickly because it is the natural break man who is born of a woman is full or is a few days and full of trouble a good verse a key verse in this book man born of woman is a few days and full of trouble Billy Graham when he was alive was speaking at a university and it was a Q&A session and one of the students said Dr. Graham I have a question what is the one thing that has surprised you most about life Billy Graham said it's brevity went by like that so quick it's brevity few days full of trouble you know when you're two years old and your parents tell you if you can understand them at two years old wait another year Here we go.

51:56 it's impossible to think that long. That's half your life. when you're 70 years old, it's a year, 12 months. It's a 70th of my life, right? It's a matter of perspective. So man born of woman, few days full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away, flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one. Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you. You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass. I'd love to just preach a sermon on that for the rest of the evening, but I'm going to keep going. Maybe dip back into that, but that's such a great verse. It is appointed and every man wants to die. Look away from him that he may rest. Just leave me alone till he be like a hired man. A hired man finishes his days. For there's hope for a tree if it is cut down.

53:14 There was a Siberian elm in my backyard that fell down a few years ago. We got rid of it. It sprouted in my neighbor's yard and grew up. She just cut it down. I'm so thankful because I hate those things. They sprout thousands of seeds all over my yard. You know, you cut the thing down, it just sprouts more. There's, you cut down a tree, it'll sprout again. That its tender shoots will not cease. Though its roots may grow old in the earth and its snump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud, bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is laid away. Indeed, he breathes his last. And where is he? As water disappears from the sea, as a river becomes parched and dries up, so a man lies down and does not rise till the heavens are no more. They will not awake nor be roused from their sleep.

54:12 so it is in the natural world cut down a tree can grow again chase a lizard it loses its tail three months it grows back cut a worm in half other half will grow back cut your arm off won't grow back it's kind of unfair oh that you would hide me in the grave that you would conceal me until your wrath is past that you would appoint me a set time and remember me if a man dies shall he live again one of the great verses in this book you answer that if a man dies shall he live again? You bet. All the days of my hard service I will wait till my change comes. You shall call and I will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands. For now you number my steps, but do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed in a bag and you cover my iniquity. But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, as a rock has moved from its place, as water wears away stones and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth so you destroy the hope of man you prevail forever against him nobody can withstand god he's sovereign and he passes on you change his countenance and send him away his sons come to honor he doesn't know it if a guy dies he won't be around to congratulate his son on his successes they are brought low he does not perceive it. If he has a setback, he's dead. Dad won't know it. But his flesh will be in pain over it, and his soul will mourn over it.

56:13 Job asked the question, if a man dies, will he live again? Job only had the question. We get the answer in John chapter 11. That is when Jesus comes to the funeral of Lazarus, and Mary and Martha said, if you'd have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. Your brother will live again. Your brother will rise again. Oh, I know, in the last day, he'll rise. Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will never die. if a man dies will he live again yes when socrates was dying he drank the poison hemlock you remember the story and he was lying and his associate says to him will we live again and socrates said i hope so but no man can know well he's wrong we can certainly know i am the resurrection and the life if you believe in me you will never die if you die you'll rise again you can live again you can live forever when paul wrote to the thessalonians he said i'm writing to you brethren because I don't want you to be ignorant concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as those who have no hope.

57:49 I love doing the funeral of a believer because when there are other believers in the crowd and you're speaking about the rewards and the enjoyment that person who has passed from this earth and is now in God's presence is enjoying, you see the crowd going like this, nodding. Yes. Amen. Yes. Yes. Yes. There's hope. But then you see other people, there's this blank stare. No hope. Hopeless. They don't get it. They don't believe in it. And I can just almost tell believer, heathen, heathen, believer, hope, no hope. You can just see it in the eyes. Job had the question. Jesus gave the answer. You have the answer. Christian, your best days are ahead of you. If you're not a Christian, goodness, get with it. Become one. Give your life to Christ.

58:53 Don't hold back. Well, I don't know. Okay. You'll never know till you do it. Try. commit, say yes to him. You've got everything to gain. You really have nothing to lose. Let's say this is a pipe dream and I'm just, somebody wrote this, it's all made up and we all die and go into oblivion. Okay. But you'll get peace and purpose along the way. Let's just say that's true, even though that's wrong. but if it is true, then it's super awesome. And if it is true and you say no and reject it, you have lost everything.

59:48 you've lost nothing if you give your life to christ and it it is not true or it is true you've lost nothing father thank you for the promises of scripture thank you for the deep questions that job asked even though it was at the expense of his intense suffering how thankful we are that we can learn these lessons and thankful that one day we will be able to meet job as our brother And that's it. It's not that it's for.

1:00:35 and we pray just now for those who may be amongst us tonight invited curious they've come from the outside but they have never they've never committed they've never made a conscious intentional decision to submit to an alien will a higher will your will I pray that they would be convinced That it's the smartest decision to make To allow you to be their lord Their savior but their lord as well their master so now as our heads are bowed if you're here tonight and you have yet to receive Christ but you are willing to do so now and you have to be willing you're willing to receive forgiveness of your sins a future and a hope at the end.

1:01:38 become a child of God and enjoy the promises that will take you through this life into the next if you want that and you're willing to turn to Christ with our heads bowed and eyes closed I'd like you to just raise your hand up in the air just hold your hand up high hold it up for just a moment and keep it up and you're saying skip here's my hand pray for me just pray for me I'm going to give my life to Christ tonight God bless you on my right toward the back anyone else raise it up maybe even move it around a little bit if I'm not seeing it I saw one Are you sure it's an invitation? Have you taken him up on that?

1:02:30 Are you in his hand? Are you in his grip? Have you committed your life to him? Raise your hand up. Just say yes, Lord. okay then right where you are seated with your hand up just give your life to him I'm going to lead you in a prayer say this Lord I give you my life I know I'm a sinner please forgive me I believe in Jesus Christ that he came from heaven that he died on a cross for me and that he rose again from the grave conquering death. I believe that. I turn from my sin. I repent. And I turn to Jesus Christ as my Savior and as my Lord. Help me to live for you.