What Job Teaches Us about Our God │ Msg 22/22

0:00 Saying goodbye to Job is like saying farewell to a long-standing friend. He has become a part of our family and a part of our conversation and really a part of our lives. Just a few excerpts from the 42nd chapter. If you have your Bible open, if you're new with us and not familiar with your Bible, the largest book in the Bible is the book of Psalms. and Job is just before Psalms. We're going to look at a few verses from the last chapter of this great old book of Job. Chapter 42 of Job, verse 1. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

0:57 Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me. which I did not know. Hear now, and I will speak. I will ask you, and you instruct me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes. Verse 10. The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. Verse 12, the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.

1:55 Verse 16, after this, Job lived 140 years. and saw his sons and his grandsons four generations. And Job died an old man and full of days. My Father, we have often turned to you in times of need. We turn to you today in a few extra moments of praise.

2:36 We have given you our songs of praise today. We have acknowledged your character. You are immortal, invisible. the only wise God. You are, because of your transcendent yet invisible presence, you are over all our lives and in all our ways and you, like none other, watch over your own and care for us with an infinite care that is beyond our imagination. You never slumber. You never take a nap. You never sleep. You're never preoccupied. Your mind is never on something other than each one of your children. And yet through you and your precious son, all things in this universe hang together.

3:37 The affairs and the events of our lives do not concern you in the sense of troubling you. You watch over every one of them better than we could. You never have a day off. You are never absent. You are never without compassion, goodness, and grace.

4:00 How can we help but praise your name, our Father? We've had great dads, but never a father like you. We have seen the work of good fathers, but never one who works like you. We have known powerful and strong fathers, but never one who is all-powerful. We have known brilliant dads, but we have never known one who is omniscient, knowing all. And so it is only appropriate, our Father, that we bow before you, thanking you for your word not a mark of which will be taken away or removed throughout time and eternity. As the heavens are high above the earth so is your way higher than our ways and your thoughts above our thoughts.

4:58 As the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and doesn't return but waters the earth and makes it bring forth and bud. Even so shall your word be that goes forth from your mouth. It shall accomplish the purpose for which you sent it, and it will never return empty and void of purpose. And so, our Father, we bow before you. We bow before your word. We give you thanks for the safe return of our friends. a part of our family. We thank you for what you taught them in India and in the travels there and back. We thank you for using them, for watching over them, for helping them in the midst of a world that's totally unfamiliar to them. Thank you that they were your ambassadors, used for your purpose and by your power.

5:59 We thank you for those many men and women who wear the uniform of our country and of our allies' country. Thank you for their presence in places we will never be and in situations we will never find ourselves. Thank you for each one. Some teach, some fight. All are in training. Some are on the ships of the sea. Some are in the vessels of the air. Some are in caves and dens of the earth. Some are in lonely and desolate places, some in the midst of bustling cities, but they're in your hand. For there is no way to remove ourselves from your presence. So we praise your name. We give to you today because you're deserving of all that we have. You own it all.

6:56 And out of your provisions, we have the privilege, we have the joy of giving as you have taught us to give faithfully and joyfully and generously. Our Father, we praise your spirit for his work as you enlighten and guide us through his presence. Thank you for his convicting ministry that has brought all of us to a saving understanding. we who have come to Christ and his work of convicting among those even in our midst who've not yet met the Savior. But most of all, as you have instructed us, we hail your son's name. We hail his presence. We hail his perfection. We hail his work finished on the cross.

7:53 And now we hail your power. May the Son's power be preeminent in our minds, our Father, as we give to you and as we focus on him. In his powerful name, we pray. And all God's people said. Amen. It's amazing how miscommunication can lead to misunderstanding. This is especially true when what is being communicated winds up in the hearing of the wrong person. I thought of that just this past week when I came across the story of a Minneapolis couple who were there in February and it was raw and it was frigid and they decided they would enjoy a long weekend together in Florida under the sun and relaxing at the beach the problem was both of them worked, and so getting a schedule that coordinated was a tough thing to do. So the husband agreed to go just a day earlier, and he would meet his wife, who would come that day following. When he got to the hotel, he pulled out his laptop and decided to send his wife an email back in Minneapolis.

9:17 However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address, and so the email went to another person without his realizing it. In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband's funeral. He was a minister of many years and had been called home to glory following a sudden heart attack. The widow checked her email expecting condolence messages from relatives and friends. Upon reading the first message, however, she fainted and fell to the floor. The widow's son heard the noise and rushed into the room and then turned and saw the message on the computer screen, which read, To my loving wife from your departed husband, Subject, I've arrived It went on to say I have just arrived and have been checked in.

10:27 Everything went very smoothly after my departure. I also verified that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then. Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P.S. It sure is hot down here. Miscommunication can lead to serious misunderstanding. That can happen, and it often does, believe it or not, even in the truths of the Bible. This is especially so when right truth is deposited in a wrong context or in the ears of someone not able to understand them.

11:31 Children are a classic example of this. They can become confused and even, if the truth were known, embarrassed if they don't understand the context in which the scriptures are written. And Cynthia and I have a very good friend, a couple, who several years ago with their young son, Gary, were enjoying the holidays and decided shortly after the holidays that they would read the Bible through. And they would have their son, about 10 or 11 years old at the time, be there with them so that he would be able to make the journey. And so they got underway in the book of Genesis. And it wasn't long before Adam and his wife are naked and are not ashamed. The boy listened in silence. And a little later, Adam has relations with his wife, it says, and she bears the son.

12:29 And a little later than that, the older son murders the younger brother. And then in the fifth chapter, he again has relations with his wife. and she bears another son named Seth. And that leads to the story of Noah and the great flood that brought such vast destruction. But the story of Noah ends in a shameful way where he uncovers himself in his tent and dies in a sense of shame.

13:06 At about the time they got underway in chapter 19 of Genesis on Sodom and Gomorrah, Gary said, stop. Daddy, should I be listening to all of this stuff? Was his question. You know, not a thing wrong with what was being read, but in the ears of a child, he wonders, what is this book all about? New believers can have the same reaction, and truth from the scriptures can become for them confusing. Even about God. Can't you imagine a young believer not knowing much about his or her heavenly father asking, why would a good God allow his chosen people, the Jews, to live 400 years and more in Egyptian bondage? Why would a good God do that?

14:02 Why would a loving God encourage the destruction of all the Canaanites when Joshua and the Jews invaded the land and moved through Jericho? I mean, every one of them was to be killed. and how could a holy God called David a man after my own heart, when before he dies he is guilty of adultery and murder and is in fact a polygamist, numerous wives, a man after God's heart? And while we're at it, how could a compassionate, faithful God stand back and allow an upright, good man like Job to suffer like he did. man if I keep this up you might wonder why we even take the time to open the scriptures but all of those questions have answers they're not simple answers and they won't satisfy everyone but take this last one maybe we should let Job tell us what he thinks of his God since he's the one who went through it all and lost everything including his ten adult children and even his ability to make a living once he was struck down by that dreadful plague that covered his body with boils. And then had to endure three and four friends, allegedly friends who came with their sermons and condemnation and judgment. And where was God?

15:52 even Job asked that question well I think this would make us want to listen carefully when Job begins to teach us some things about our God. I could have chosen those words of instruction from Job from several chapters, but I've decided to really limit our thinking to the last chapter. And like we did last time, I have seven particular lessons that I think Job would teach us if he were alive today. And thankfully, his words are preserved for us to read. If you were with us last time, we had you make a column of seven. And to title that column, what Job teaches us about ourselves. Today, please go back to that same page. Or if you're new with us, just find a blank page in your Bible anywhere.

16:48 and put at the top, just the top of the page, what Job teaches us about our God. In number 1 through 7, Job is set through God's lecture, which began in chapter 38 and 39, went into chapter 40, chapter 41, and he never answers the question. He escorts Job around the universe and introduces him to several of the animals of the field and the birds of the air, but he doesn't answer Job's questions. And remarkably, at the end of the book, Job is submitting to this God, this heavenly Father who permitted, even allowed, all of these things to occur and still doesn't give specific answers to the specific questions. And yet he submits.

17:44 Surely he knows some things of God that we need to know as well, without having all of our questions answered. Verse 1, chapter 42. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things. number one in a list of seven there is nothing god cannot do having heard and having realized the limitless power of his infinite God, Job puts his observation and realization into the simplest of terms. You can do all things. There is nothing God cannot do.

18:40 Theologians call this interesting word, omni, which means all, potent, powerful, omnipotent. that tells us that there is no limitation, no condition, no reservation, no obstacle that hinders in any way the activities, the acts, the works of our Heavenly Father.

19:17 Tozer put it this way, all his acts are done without effort, he expends no energy that must be replenished his self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for him to look outside himself for a renewal of strength all the power required to do all that he wills to do lies in his in undiminished fullness in his own infinite being beautiful way to put it he creates from nothing without any decrease of energy he sustains all life without ever needing an assistance any assistance from any other source he even raises from the dead those he wishes to raise without facing any resistance and he withholds the most powerful creature ever created satan himself with no struggle without the slightest effort expended on his part nothing stands in god's way nothing hinders god's work. Nothing successfully restrains his will. That's why only he deserves the word awesome.

20:32 Now we've cheapened the word. We've given awesome to everything. Stereos are now awesome in their sound. Back when they built them Datsun, the early Z car was called awesome. I remember going to the showroom and looking at the Datsun. It didn't seem awesome the longer I looked at it. It had four wheels like every other car. It was smaller than all other cars I'd try to squeeze into. It didn't look awesome, but the kids were saying and the advertisements were saying, it is awesome. Let me warn you about words. Don't use that one that much. Reserve it for God. reserve it for one who knows no limitation, faces no impossibility, hurdles no obstacle, and can accomplish whatever he sets out to do 100% of the time.

21:34 Four times in the scriptures, we read in different words that nothing is impossible with God. Here are the verses. Jeremiah 32, 17. Jeremiah 32 27 Luke 1 37 Luke 18 27 Twice in Jeremiah Twice in the gospel by Luke All four agreeing Four specific Times in the word of God Zero impossibilities You sang of it when you sang the hymn Immortal, invisible God only wise in light inaccessible hid from our eyes most blessed, most glorious the ancient of days almighty ah, there it is victorious, thy great name we praise almighty almighty when you use the word almighty it fits only one isn't it interesting how ill-acquainted we are with our heavenly father?

22:49 And this is just one of his numerous attributes. There's a second, and I find it at the end of verse 2, no purpose of yours can be thwarted. It is impossible to restrain or nullify God's purposes. It is impossible to restrain or nullify God's purposes. You see the word thwarted if you carry a new American standard Bible as I do, you have found the word thwarted. The Hebrew term is the word that means to cut off. No purpose of yours can be cut off. Stopped.

23:42 God's intentions can neither be altered nor disrupted. What he purposes will transpire without delay, without hindrance, and without failure. Everything that happens on this earth falls within the framework of exactly what God has purposed. Exactly. None of it surprises him. None of it has to be anticipated on his part. It is all unfolding precisely as his perfect omniscience has planned it. Now, I'm going to interject something here that maybe will get your attention. Because some of you struggle with absolute sovereignty. It's probably because you have not faced a cataclysmic experience.

24:38 Christians who go through what I would call a cataclysmic test have little trouble ultimately with grasping and embracing God's absolute sovereignty. I'll show you an example. Turn ahead to the book of Daniel. Get beyond the longer prophets. you'll get to Ezekiel and then the next book is Daniel. Ezekiel is one of the longer of the major prophets and Daniel follows Ezekiel. Chapter 4 is a story of a man who is full of himself. He's the king of Babylon, which would be much like the land of Iraq today. You can make your own analogies, but Nebuchadnezzar is his name.

25:39 He believed he was responsible for the kingdom as it was, for the buildings as they had been built, for the gardens as they stood, for the beauty of the waterfalls, for the wonderful pools that had been dug, for the water that flowed, for the people that lived, for all of life as it appeared in the land of Babylon. And he said so. Nebuchadnezzar saw himself as all sovereign. And he said so. Toward the end of the chapter, verse 29, after an encounter with Daniel who prophesied this would happen, Nebuchadnezzar, 12 months later, was walking on the roof, chapter 4, sorry, chapter 4, verse 29. He was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon. so you can see him on the roof he's looking over the spread as we'd say in Texas he's observing all of this kingdom that his eye can see and the king reflected and said now feel the arrogance as it drips out of verse 30 is this not Babylon the great which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty.

27:03 While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you. It doesn't stop there. The voice continues. You will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. you will be given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize, let me say it again, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it, that is sovereignty, on whomever he wishes. Immediately, Remember God's purposes are never cut off, never thwarted. Immediately after the voice came from heaven, judgment fell.

28:02 The word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind, began eating grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like birds. claws. Pause and imagine that. The man who walked on the roof of the palace is now grazing in the field outside the walls of the palace for seven years, I take it. His hair grows long, of course, and his nails curl and twist like birds' claws. He is insane. He once had his faculties.

28:54 He once was able to speak the words. I read no words that he spoke. He's eating like a beast in the field. He's grazing. He's living in the elements of the land. He is nothing, nothing. because the sovereign God of heaven said, that's enough.

29:16 Curtains. And he's there all that period of time. I call that a cataclysmic experience. Yours will not be that dramatic, though you may go through deep, deep battles. Emotionally you may go off the end Physically you may have what we call in our language a breakdown Both may occur You may lose so much of what you had and count it on You will go through whatever it takes for you to understand What Nebuchadnezzar realized Now watch what happened Verse 34 at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, what does that tell you? He picked up the pen, or he asked Daniel, maybe, may I write this part since it's my part of the journal?

30:18 Can I write what happened to me? I know better than you or anyone. I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me. Pause right there. He's in the field, he looks up from the grass. And by the grace of God, he sees what he had never seen before in his life. I looked up. My reason returned to me. I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever. Now in my Bible, it turns to a meter. It's as if he's writing a poem or a song as he lifts his praise, singing praises to his name, lifting his voice in glory of the one who has full control over his life and all things around him and he describes the god of heaven his dominion is an everlasting dominion his kingdom endures from generation to generation verse 35 is one of my all-time favorite verses in the bible i have several of them but this is one of them all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. He does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can ward off his hand. That's another way of saying thwart.

31:46 No one can stop him. No one can restrain him. No one can ward off his hand or say to him, what have you done? At that time, my reason returned to me. Back to Job 42. As I say, I repeat, that's what I would call cataclysmic. job has not been insane but he has come through a maddening period of loss and humiliation grief and disease he has been leveled to the place of a of a homeless man having been the greatest of the man in the east of the men in the east having gone through it job is now beginning to realize. Even, get this, without his questions answered, he is at the mercy of his great God who does all things well. And even though he may not explain himself in his actions, he knows he can trust his God. Which brings us to a third. God's plans are beyond our understanding and too deep to explain. God's plans are beyond our understanding and too deep to explain. See how Job puts it in verse 3? I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. That took some humility to say that. Here now, and I will speak.

33:34 I will ask you if you ask me to give you the core message of the book of Job I'd give you chapter 42 and verse 3 coming to an understanding that God's plan are beyond our understanding and too deep to explain Now, let me pause and shock some of you with a statement that'll wake you up. There are times we are just downright disappointed with God.

34:08 We are just disappointed. I mean, after all, we have done this or we have done that, and God has revealed himself as good and fair and compassionate and loving, and look at what has happened in light of this? No one addresses this better than, in my opinion, than Philip Yancey in his book, Disappointment with God. Listen to his insightful words. I can think of several helpful things God could have said. Job, I'm truly sorry about what's happened. You've endured many unfair trials on my behalf and I'm proud of you. You don't know what this means to me and even to the universe. A few brief compliments, a dose of compassion, or at the least a brief explanation of what transpired behind the curtain in the unseen world. Any of these would have given Job some solace. God says nothing of the kind. His reply in fact consists of more questions than answers. Sidestepping 35 chapters worth of debates on the problem of pain, he plunges instead into a magnificent verbal tour of the natural world.

35:26 He seems to guide Job through a private gallery of his favorite works, lingering with pride over dioramas of mountain goats, wild donkeys, ostriches, and eagles, speaking as if astonished by his own creations. The beauty of the poetry at the end of Job reveals or rivals anything in world literature. Even as I marvel at God's dazzling portrayal of the natural world, however, a sense of bewilderment steals in. Of all moments, why did God choose this one to give Job a course in wilderness appreciation? Are these words relevant? Stay with him. In his book, Wishful thinking, Frederick Buechner sums up God's speech. God doesn't explain. He explodes. He asks Job who he thinks he is anyway. He says that to try to explain the kind of things Job once explained would be like trying to explain Einstein to a little necked clam.

36:28 God doesn't reveal his grand design. He reveals himself. the message behind the splendid poetry boils down to this until you know a little more about running the physical universe Job don't tell me how to run the moral universe why are you treating me so unfairly God Job has whined throughout the book put yourself in my place no no God thunders in reply. You put yourself in my place until you can offer lessons on how to make the sun come up each day or where to scatter lightning bolts or how to design a hippopotamus. Don't judge how I run the world. Just shut up and listen. The impact of God's speech concludes Yancey is almost as amazing as the speech itself. Although God never answers question one about Job's predicament, the blast from the storm flattens Job. He repents in dust and ashes, and every trace of disappointment with God is swept away.

37:38 maybe God doesn't explain himself because knowing and understanding his way may not help us that much. Does knowing why really help us all that much? Is the pain decreased by knowing the cause?

38:02 In a world filled with catastrophes, random shootings of cowardly snipers, crashing big planes into tall buildings, deliberately poisoning elderly people at rest homes, serial rapists and murderers, mothers who kill their kids, African famines, priests who molest innocent little boys, preachers who are fraudulent and phony CEOs who take unfair advantage of their employees how could God even permit that? Would it help to know why? Would it change the wrong?

38:44 I'll go a step further maybe because we're incapable of comprehending his answers since he lives in a world that is higher than ours and in a realm beyond our realm ours being tactile and limited by space and time and the elements about us, physical elements like gravity, limitations of our ability mentally. Remember, remember, we cannot apply our simplistic rules of life on planet Earth to the God of the heavens, nor should we. what bothers us is that he doesn't act like we think he ought to act he doesn't do what our father would have done who loved us and would have given himself for where was he when this happened he was at the same place he was when the savior was lifted up on the cross to die he was there all the time as the process was running its course and the most disillusioned people on the planet at that time where the followers of Jesus called the disciples wondering how in the world they could have believed in a hoax.

40:00 Because from their little, well, little neck clam perspective, life didn't make sense. You know what Job sees? Job sees God. He doesn't see answers. He doesn't need answers. He has now gotten a glimpse of the Almighty. And that's sufficient. Still troubled? Number four.

40:28 Only through God's instruction are we able to humble ourselves and rest. Only through God's instruction are we able to humble ourselves and rest. Where do I get that? Into verse four. down through verse 6. I will ask you and you instruct me.

40:58 Oh God, I will ask you, you reveal to me whatever it is I need to know about yourself and about these circumstances. I have heard of you with the hearing of the ear. Now my eye sees you. Therefore, I've got an argument. No, therefore I retract and repent and there's no force. There's no threat that says, Job, you don't get out on your knees and beg for mercy from me. Then I'm going to zap you forever. There's none of that. Job's talking. He says, you instruct me. And as a result of your instruction, I will willingly submit and accept it. You know what I love about that? Listen to this very carefully. There is no attitude of my rights. There is no sense of entitlement.

41:52 There is no expectation or demand. There's not even a plea. And there's no longer any argument, any moody, depressed kind of spirit. You say, well, God had blessed me like he blessed Job. I'd say that too. Wait, he's still covered with boils. He doesn't have any kids. he's still homeless. He still lost everything. And he says this to his God who hasn't yet said, I'm going to bless you in a double manner than you were blessed at the beginning of the story. Job simply says, I'm yours. Peter writes, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you at the proper time. Get the timing.

42:48 Not after he exalts you humble. He says humble now. Don't wait. Repent and rest in him. And it is remarkable how he will transport you to a realm of trust you've never had before. Even with the answers missing. the philosopher of the humanist world demands an answer the believer who has now learned through this kind of cataclysmic experience to trust demands nothing any further remember my comment about repentance contrite heart makes no demands and has no expectations makes no demands and has no expectations Job has no demands and has no expectations Now then, number five.

43:44 When the day of reckoning arrives, God is always fair. When the day of reckoning arrives, God is always fair. Remember my comment earlier when we looked at this thought, all God's accounts are not settled at the end of the month? it applies here. Patiently and with great long-suffering, God has been listening and taking note of who is saying what. Not one idle word slips by his attention. He knows who spoke what. He knows where error started and stopped. He knows who spoke truth and why. He deals with wrongdoers at the time of his final accounting, and it's in his timetable.

44:37 He blesses the one who has walked with him in his timetable. He forgives those who bring their offerings and offer them fully and sincerely. And he restores Job who prayed for his friends and prayed for them greatly with an open heart. Put in the margin of your Bible, Hebrews 6.10, God is not unjust to forget. Eugene Peterson in the message renders that God doesn't miss anything. Hebrews 6.10. Now, some of you have been terribly abused. You have been victims of the worst kind of mistreatment. You have been taken advantage of. You have, whether young or middle age, whatever the age, you have been treated unfairly. Every person in this room has that in common. So have I. Every one of us could give stories of abuse and neglect and misrepresentation and unfair treatment.

45:35 God does not forget. He just doesn't march to our timetable. I mean, I wanted God to zap Eliphaz. At the moment he said that stupid thing to Job, he's waited through all of these speeches and now finally says, Eliphaz, Bildad, so far you're out to lunch. Or, you know, that's kind of a swindoll paraphrase. He tells them they're wrong. You didn't speak correctly of me as my servant Job. Job hadn't heard until now that he's spoken correctly. See how it appears in verse 7? After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends because you've not spoken of me what is right as my servant. God heard. He heard. He didn't say anything at the time, but he heard it. He is not unjust to forget one idle word.

46:30 he did not overlook one wrong act committed against you he knows his plan his plan is unfolding it's not a mistaken plan it's not a frustrated plan where God sits on the edge of heaven biting his nails wondering what he's going to do with that wrong individual he knows exactly what he's going to do but he's going to do it at his time Job sees that now so Job rather than looking at his friends saying yeah see there I told you it was wrong he doesn't do that there's none of that in Job's heart that's why when God says I'm going to have Job pray for you Job says heavenly father and he begins his prayer for his friends friends who wronged him who added to his suffering how could he do that he realizes that the day of reckoning has come he submitted to that now therefore he says take seven bulls and rams and my servant Job will offer up a burnt offering And that's exactly what Job does. Job prays for his friends.

47:27 God doesn't miss anything. Number six, it's getting better. No one can be compared to God when it comes to blessings. verses 11 to 15. Well, let's put 10 in there with it, 10 through 15. No one can be compared to God when it comes to blessing.

47:58 The Lord restored the fortunes, verse 10 of Job, when he prayed for his friend. The Lord increased all that Job had twofold. Had his brothers and sisters and his family come back, had a family reunion, we looked at this, they all gave him money. Verse 12, the Lord blessed the latter days of Job, more than his beginning. 13, he had seven sons and three daughters. He names them and the blessing falls even on the daughters as well, I'm sure, as the sons. No one can be compared to God when it comes to blessings. Did you miss the words? The end of verse 9, mark it. The Lord accepted. Beginning of verse 10, the Lord restored. End of verse 10, the Lord increased. Beginning of verse 12 the lord blessed those are words of grace accepted restored increased blessed Now let me warn you of something Because you're conditioned as I have been for so many years of my life You're conditioned in this in this cynical world because of the fallout of our cynical society you and I are programmed to think it's cool to rush by words like this and to hurry on to the words that are negative heavy trials mold in your house fractured families high rate of divorce economic woes the homeless the broken hearts the brutal crimes the drug abuse the disasters the premature deaths the loss of jobs on and on that's what makes the evening news they never say not tomorrow night we'll have just good news. They say, tomorrow night, you think this was bad.

49:40 Tomorrow we have an expose. And you go, what channel? What time is that coming on? And the expose ends with, you think this expose was bad. When we show you that expose, you will not, that's tomorrow night. Now you watch in tomorrow night. I mean, even the weatherman says partly cloudy, never says mainly sunny. It's partly cloudy. It may rain. Never says it probably won't. And furthermore, he's wrong. And by the way, who does God bless? Job.

50:18 Job. Chapter 3, he cursed the day he was born. Chapter 3, he resented the fact he didn't die when he was placed on his mother's breast. Chapter 3, at the end, he says, I am not at peace. I am not restful. In other words, I resent what has happened. That's job who is wonderfully blessed at the end of the book. Why grace grace grace grace grace grace grace grace We don't get it We don't get it You work hard you get a promotion you work harder. You get a bigger promotion You work super hard. You run the company Then you can take advantage of people who work and work hard and work super hard. That's the way the society thinks Grace comes along and says you're sick today. I'm going to bless you mightily You're not doing too well. I'm going to bless you greatly You blew it. I'm still going to bless you because grace doesn't wait for works to catch up I preached that sermon last week and poured myself into that one like I poured myself into this one and uh, you might think boy, he must have man. He must live a fabulous life Well, let me just tell you before you go that way. Uh, I went to grocery stores today and one of our things on the list was eggs. I wanted to get them in the cart and get them home before Ken Cooper caught me buying eggs. And so I quickly put them in the bag and I got home and I got bags of groceries. You know, why do you carry all of it? But you get the door, you go, you know, to get the door, you shove the door open and you walk in and guess what bag drops? Right. So I go, oh my.

52:00 and I reach down and I get Cynthia's in the other room working and doesn't know anything about this and I'm at the counter and I'm feeling sorry for myself. I'm doing all of this and I'm getting the eggs and I lift the little tray that holds the eggs in the refrigerator out. I think there's no eggs and so there's one in there and I so there's now egg on the floor and so I I get down and clean that up and I'm thinking well it's good. I look in the box and I think well it didn't break And so I lift the neck out and not only had it broken, it comes down all over me. And I totally lost it. At that moment, I lost it. Totally.

52:42 You could have heard me three doors away. And my wife walks in and says, is there something wrong? Or can I help? No. I've got it So I'm down cleaning it up You know what? I didn't deserve to live through the night But you know what? I woke up this morning Wonderfully blessed Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace The book of Job teaches us about grace When he blesses Job, he doesn't bless a perfect man he blesses an imperfect man. If he were perfect, he wouldn't be repenting.

53:30 If he said the right thing, he wouldn't be retracting. When are we going to get it? You don't have to earn it. You don't have to work real hard and hold your breath for five minutes and go straight home. You don't have to, you know, give a dollar to every homeless person. And you don't have to just have your heart broken over every sad story. Sometimes you just be downright selfish. And he still blesses. We wouldn't. We say, you do that again. You sleep outside. You think Nebuchadnezzar had it bad. Wait till I deal with you. Why? Because we don't get grace. We don't get it. Job is beside himself.

54:25 The boys are gone. Next thing you know, there's a knock on his door. There's a couple of guys who need work. and they know three other guys and before you know he's got his family there and he's got the money and he hires them and he looks up and the camels are coming back and the donkeys and the and they're all building his buildings and the house is getting rebuilt and wife says to him one morning hey buddy you and i are going to be parents she does it 10 times stop lord stop it's enough number seven after all this Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his grandsons four generations and then finally he died an old man and full of days isn't that great here we go Only God can fill our final years.

55:39 with divine music that frees us to live above our circumstances. only God can fill our final years with divine music that frees us to live above our circumstances it frees us it frees us when I have ceased to break my wings against the faultiness of things, wrote Sarah Teasdale, and learned that compromises wait behind each hardly open gate. When I can look life in the eyes, grown calm and very coldly wise, life will have given me the truth and taken an exchange, my youth.

56:26 Job has truth. Job is freed. freed from the prison of fears freed from the tiny cell of limited thinking and negative attitudes he's freed from grudges he's freed from a works theology he's freed, he's free, free at last praise God almighty he's free and he lives to over 200 years of age. Kids, grandkids, great grandkids. All around him. And he could hardly remember when he got the boils back so many years ago.

57:17 That's music. It's music that only God can bring. Some struggling with dementia, old age is not kind to the body. Some battling a loss of memory, some physically unable to keep up, feeling shelved when they were once engaged in life in the fast lane. and they live full of days. Only God can do that. Remember the film, The Shawshank Redemption? It's a great film that makes you think, lifts you beyond the prison cells of those men.

58:13 Tim Robbins plays the part of Andy and he's with the other prisoners struggling along with him he carves chess men from stone you may remember and petitions the state for books for the prison library and helps inmates get their high school diploma these are just a few of the ways that he held on to his humanity One other way cost him two weeks in solitary confinement, you may remember.

58:48 He gains access to the prison's public address system and plays a record of great music for all the prison to hear for the first time. As the music streams through the washrooms and the prison yard, the inmates stop and stand transfixed. The actor Morgan Freeman playing the part of Red has been the narrator of the story and he says this about that moment. I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. some things are best left unsaid I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can't be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it I tell you those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in the great place dared to dream it's like some beautiful bird flapped into Alexander's cage and made those walls dissolve away.

1:00:08 And for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free. that's what the music of God does for you when you end your life well you're free at last Let's bow together. Our journey with Job has come to an end, but our friendship will go on for a lifetime. Job dies an old man and full of years. He finally, truly came to know the living God.

1:01:08 And it wasn't because of his pain, it wasn't in spite of his pain, it was because of it. The pain drove him surrendered and silent before his God. and he trusted him.

1:01:35 As I invite you to trust him, whatever may be the prison of your circumstances. Let God be God. Remind yourself faithfully and regularly you are one dependent soul.