Job Chapter 9

was Bildad was one of the friends that supposedly came to comfort Job, and as we have been finding out, they're not much as far as comforters.

In reality, they're causing more grief and more suffering and more harm to Job than anything else.

But anyway, Eliphaz has spoken, and now Bildad has spoken, and basically Bildad told Job it's his fault for the situation he's in, and he needs to repent, and if he doesn't repent, then he couldn't ask for anything but what he's getting, because in many ways, again, his friends think it's basically he is sown, and now he's reaping.

And now in chapter nine, Job gives his defense to the words of Bildad, and as I've been saying, and I want to make sure we stress this, that the three friends speak much truth, but speaking truth and applying truth are two different things, and we've had some conversations about that, that it's not always just a matter of knowing what the truth is, but knowing what to do with the truth, and we brought this up last time, last week, and we started to get into the idea of wisdom, and that wisdom is what? Wisdom is taking knowledge and making an application and making it graceful or worth the effort of speaking to whoever we speak.

Anyway, let's just read the chapter, because Job, in this chapter, gives such a great understanding of God, and although he's an Old Testament saint, yet he has a great hold on doctrinal truth.

So, let's read it.

So, Job answered and said, truly, I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? If one wishes to contend with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand.

God is wise in heart and mighty in strength, and who has hardened himself against him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know when he overturns them in his anger.

He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.

He commands the sun, and it does not rise.

He seals off the stars.

He alone spreads out the heavens and threads on the waves of the sea.

He made the bear and Orion and Pallades and the chambers of the south.

He does great things past finding out.

Yes, wonders without number.

If he goes by me, I don't see him.

If he moves past, I don't perceive him.

If he takes away, who can hinder him? Who can say to him, what are you doing? God will not withdraw his anger.

The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath him.

How then can I answer him and choose my words to reason with him? For though I were righteous, I could not answer him.

I would beg mercy of my judge.

If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice, for he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.

He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.

If it is a matter of strength, indeed he is strong.

And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? And though I were righteous, my own mount would condemn me.

Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.

I am blameless, yet I do not know myself.

I despise my life.

It is all one thing.

Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

If the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the plight of the innocent.

The earth is given to the hands of the wicked and covers the face of its judges.

If it is not he, who else could it be? Now, my days are swifter than a runner.

They flee away, they see no good.

They pass like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey.

And if I say I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile.

I am afraid of all my sufferings.

I know that you will not hold me innocent.

If I am condemned, why do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with soap, yet you will plunge me into the pit and my own clothes will abhor me.

But he is not a man as I am, that I may answer him, that we should go to court together.

Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hand upon us both.

Let him take his rod away from me and do not tread on, and do not let dread of him terrify me.

And then I would speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me." So if you remember, we began to look at this chapter and I kind of want to go forward, but you remember that as we looked at the opening chapter, Job is kind of continuing along what Bildad says, Bildad was talking about how great God was and that's why Job says, he says, I know this is so.

He said, I know exactly what you're saying and yet he's still dealing with this situation of the present situation he's in, which is again, terrible.

And as you and I think about that, and we'll begin at verse 21, but as you and I think and we think about it, knowing the truth and being able to live in different situations with the truth is not always that easy, is it? Like in other words, again, when things are going good, when things are great, when we feel, if you want to say it that way, we feel victorious or we feel like we're moving ahead, it's a little bit different than when we are in the pit of suffering and to be able to maintain that reality of the presence of God and that all things work together for good, right? Because the reality is all things are working together for good, but at the same time, in our experiences, and that's the problem with us many times, right? Is we are not so much guided by truth as we are guided by experience.

And that experience is something that needs to be brought into, if you will, into captivity.

That's why it says we should bring every thought, what? Every thought into captivity to be obedient to Christ.

And so you can't say Job doesn't understand, but at the same time, he doesn't understand, and that's why he goes through this, and again, he gives God the glory, right? He talks about God.

As we looked at last week, if you were to underline every time it says he or him in this chapter, it's amazing how he is giving God the credit for everything.

So he's working through it, comes down, and now we'll come to verse 21, and well, let me just make a comment about verse 20.

Look what he says.

Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me, and though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.

So what I wanted to ask you to think about is how Job realizes that he is both blameless, and yet he is one who realizes that he deserves nothing, and you and I need to think about that.

In other words, he says I'm blameless in verse 21, and he said, yet I don't know myself, I despise my life, but you and I have to ask ourselves, do we really realize that we stand apart from the grace of God as what? We're not the grace of God.

We're not the work of Christ on our behalf.

Where would we stand? Ma'am? Condemn, right, and rightfully condemn, right? Not I've been treated wrong.

We have to declare that we've been treated exactly as we deserve, and yet even when we come to Christ, that realization should constantly be with us, that we have nothing, we are nothing apart from him, and that grace carries us all the way.

It doesn't just, as I tried to say last week in a message, it's what he did, it's what he's doing, and what he yet will do, and that you and I have to be able to understand that, and so when he says in verse 21, I am blameless, and by the way, he doesn't say I'm sinless.

Many people have used scriptures like this to talk about sinless perfectionism, right, that does anybody here not know what sinless perfectionism is? Everybody has some idea of it? Okay, it really, the short understanding of it is you get to the point where you believe that you no longer sin against God, that you literally, in reality, become sinless, and it's something you need to arrive at, and so people will talk about this idea of what's been called sinless perfectionism, and that's a horrible thought, isn't it? How could that ever be true? Because if we were ever sinless, would we need a savior? No, and yet he ever lives to do what? Make intercession for us, so why would we need someone to make intercession for us if we've attained sinlessness? So he doesn't say I am sinless, he just says I am blameless, and then he says, yet I don't know myself, and I despise my life.

Why do you think he says that? Why does he despise his life? Okay, all his suffering, and although that's the situation that's before him, and yet, do you think we could go a little bit further with that thought, is that the situation has certainly brought us to the forefront, right? He's in sackcloth and ashes, he's got no house, got no home, he's got no kids, all his wealth is gone, and yet, I think if we were to, and that's why I didn't wanna break this up between last week and this week, but it's also the fact that no matter what, as compared to God, he is what? Nothing.

He's absolutely helpless, and there's nothing that he could do, I always think of that scripture where it says that we are as, what, grasshoppers before him, and then it even takes it further down to worms, and even talks about maggots, and things like that.

So when he says I'm blameless, and yet I don't know myself, I despise my life, I agree, it's his present situation, and again, that's where I say many a times, when we are in a bad situation, our response is to, if you will, despise our life, right? That's why it says godliness with contentment is what? Godliness with contentment is great gain, right? The opposite is also true in the reality of I'm blameless, but he despises my life, and then he says in verse 22, it's all one thing, therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked, and that he is God.

So, let's think about that for a minute.

Is that true, that he destroys the blameless and the wicked? I'm not gonna say anything until somebody answers.

Ma'am? Okay.

Anybody else? Is that true, that he destroys, when Job says that, he destroys the blameless and the wicked, is that a reality, or is that just his perception of things? Come on now.

Yeah, we have all kinds of things that go on in our life, right, and so, what he has said is that God's basically, there's no way to be compared to God, right, God is here, and basically Job is here, and everyone else is here, so when he says that, he certainly does destroy both the innocent and the wicked, but let me ask you a question, is that thought of being destroyed to be taken in the same way, for both, blameless and wicked? No, what's the difference? What is he really getting at? I think what he's really getting at, he's talking about the grave, and that God destroys both, and you'll see it even more as we go, that everyone meets the grave, right? Everyone, in that sense, everyone is, from thus we came, from thus we return, but what's the distinction between destroying the innocent and destroying the wicked? Well, there's really nobody who's innocent, so, but with that understanding, somebody that's, let me put this way, what's the distinction between destroying those that are right with God and those that are not right with God? Life after death, so God is the judge of all the earth, right, we all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, but the distinction is the whole idea of the sheep and the goats, right, that the sheep are on, at the right hand, and where are the goats? They're at the left hand, and so when God destroys, he destroys, in that sense, we all return to the grave, but that destruction is very, to be distinguished in a very great way, because to one, it's the entrance to where? Life, and to one, it's the entrance of what? Not just the grave, because we're all gonna meet the grave, but it's the entrance to eternal death, and so that distinction is as vast as anything, right, that that's why we say that when you take your last breath, when everyone takes their last breath, they will meet God, and there will be either that judgment to life or that judgment to death, and so when he says this, and he says, he destroys both the blameless and the wicked, it's all one thing, that you and I understand that he's talking about it, I believe he's talking about it in relation to him being right with God, and that he understands that, but yet, he could see his life, pretty much, because we've read through that before, right, and we're gonna read it again.

Job almost gets to the point, and he's already said it, just take my life, let me just get it over with, and that's not, that wasn't a fatalistic request, but that was what, that was a request of someone who was in the midst of suffering and the midst of sorrow and the midst of all kinds of trials and tribulations, and he basically just says to God, let's just end this thing here, yeah, get it, let's get it over with, not that he didn't trust him, because we certainly know he trusts God, but that, and you and I might not ever get to that point where we would verbalize that thought, but have we not at times said, you ever get into a situation where you said, I don't care how this ends, I just want it to end? Like, I don't care what needs to be done, but let's just get this thing over with, and thank God that he doesn't always listen to what we, because, again, God, we might not understand it, but God always means it for good, and so Job continues to say this, and then he says in verse 23, if the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the plight of the innocent, and the earth is given to the hand of the wicked.

Those are interesting words, because if you think about what he's saying, he's saying both the innocent and the right, the innocent and the wicked meet the same ending as far as the grave, but the earth is given to the hand of the wicked.

Is that true? Yes, you can see it manifesting every day.

Yeah, because if you look at it, this whole world lies under the power of who? Satan.

Satan, and in many ways, the earth is given to the hands of the wicked, and that you and I see it, and doesn't that frustrate us? Doesn't it frustrate you to see people who are outwardly, consciously against the things of Christ, and yet they seem like everything they touch turns to gold, and we see people prosper, and yet they have no desire, no care in the world about anything that matters to either God or to God's people, or even in relationships.

How many people there are that just so, they're just so cruel and so heartless, and yet it seems like they just kind of move on, go on, get more, have more, enjoy more, although is it really enjoyment? So the earth is really given into the hands of the wicked, but again, I think what Job is trying to drive us to is the fact that no matter what, God's gonna take everyone and bring them to that point of the grave, and Job is, I'm not so sure that Job would verbalize all this, had his friends not come, had Job not been in the situation that he's in, but nevertheless, that's what he says, and he says he covers the faces of its judges, and if it is not he, who else could it be? Do you not think that Job is of an understanding that he knows where all these things are proceeding from? There's that verse in Isaiah, it says, can there be evil in the city, and I, the Lord, not be there? It says that both good and bad proceed from God, and so again, that should be something that should help us, don't you think? Give us perspective, because if you and I just look at life by the things which are seen, what do you think the outcome would be? If you and I just try to rationalize, think through, come to some sort of worldview based on only the things that we see.

Yeah, because really, if you and I only really look at this world from that standpoint, it's chaotic, isn't it? Yes, sir.

It is absolutely insane, and the reason why it's absolutely insane, because, and I'll say it, because the Bible says it, because the world is insane.

The world, apart from Christ, is insane, and I can show that verse to you if you want.

It says that the minds of men are warped, and in some places, it translates it as insane, so when you think about it, when you and I consider these things, and Job says, if it's not he, who else could it be? He's acknowledging that God rules over all, and that God is the one who is higher than it all, and yet, and yet, it's still tearing Job apart, because look what he says in verse 25.

Now, my days are swifter than a runner, and they flee away, and they see no good, and they pass like swift ships, like an evil, yeah, an evil, how about an eagle? Like an eagle swooping on its prey, and if I say, I will forget my complaint.

If I, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile, I'm afraid of all my sufferings, and I know that you won't hold me innocent.

You and I, I think many times, try to do that, or at least think that.

I will forget my complaint, I will put off a smile, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile, and yet, I'm afraid of all my sufferings.

That, you ever do that, you ever say that? Go ahead, bro.

So, as we were going in there.

Mm-hmm, yeah, yes, sir.

When I was thinking about that whole, I know you're talking about death, but it seems as if he's talking about, at least from my take away, he's talking about not concerning death, but the sufferings in life, and the reason that I say that is because when we look at all this, he's saying, and from my understanding, is that God brings, God is sovereign.

Yes, sir.

And that, you know, the scripture says he reigns on the just and the unjust, and then he goes on to talk about, but the same suffering, and you ask what's the difference, and it talks about the suffering that we go through as those who are God's people, and the righteous is for purification, as the others is for destruction.

So, instead of death, what I see here is he's talking about God brings the suffering, even for the righteous, because he's sovereign, and the end thereof, obviously, for the righteous person is for purification, and not for, so I was just wondering, like, is that there, he destroys both.

He's talking about, he's talking about the suffering that has come to him, and particularly, and that God is doing it, and he's trying to figure out why he's doing it, as opposed to, maybe, the whole death, and then, in the scripture there, with the text, the verse that we're in now, where he's talking about, and during this suffering, do I put on a sad face, or should I be of good cheer? So, it's sort of kind of talking about being content with knowing that God is sovereign, and whether we're suffering or not, should we be sad when God is bringing his children through anything? And I think they had a lack of understanding of the fire, but we should come forth as pure gold, as opposed to those who are wicked, who seem like, even when things around them are going wrong, hopeful.

And so, that was my.

So, I think there's an application to that.

However, I'm gonna say that I don't think Job has been able, at this point, to work through all those thoughts that you just spoke about.

That's just, that's my understanding of it.

And I do think that there's a reality of that, but I'm not so sure that Job, at this point, is able to, that he's just saying, this is just God purifying me.

I think he has been so attacked by the evil one, and by his friends, that he's still, if you will, I think he's still spiraling down, at this point.

Not with the right understanding, and that understanding will come, but I think it comes later on, as we move through it.

However, that's just the way I look at it, and certainly, we all have to be convinced in our own thoughts.

I do think he's, at this point, talking about the fact that the righteous die, the unrighteous die.

He's in this situation, and basically, he can't do anything to get out of it.

He's just stuck in this, and that's why he says, I will forget my complaint.

I'll put off my sad face, and wear a smile.

Then he says, but I'm afraid of all my sufferings, and I know you won't hold me innocent.

So again, I do think he's, at this point, unable to bring that thought into captivity.

And the same way for us, though.

Think about it, and that's what I said before.

Many times, knowing the truth, and being able to enjoy the truth, and live in the truth are two different things, aren't they? Right, because many times, when you are in a situation, especially when it's a grievous situation, it's not as easy to lay hold of the promises.

Now, you might say, well, that's the point in which the promises become greater, and even more real in your life.

I agree to that, but that's still, in the midst of suffering, that's not always the thing that we first come to.

I wasn't talking that Job came to the conclusion that his suffering was, I'm saying that the complaint that he has is not of his death, it's his suffering.

Oh, okay.

He's complaining about his suffering.

And then you ask the question, what is the difference when we suffer and the wicked suffer? So I, I, I, Oh, okay, I gotcha.

Yeah, Job is complaining about his suffering.

Right, and his suffering is, if you will, if you think about it, as we've been working through it, he basically has asked God to do what? Stop the suffering.

Take me out.

Let's get it over with.

I can't handle it no more, right? And that's what he says.

And you remember what it said before? He says, you don't give me a chance to catch my breath.

I just, it just keeps coming one wave after another wave after another wave.

And brothers and sisters, let me tell you, we all struggle with that, right? I mean, one issue is that, one issue.

And then when you add another one, and another one, and another one, and it keeps coming, then you start to get what? Discouraged.

Yeah, you get discouraged.

You get depressed.

You get, you almost get to the point like, I just don't care no more.

Let's just get this over with.

And yet, the reality is, and to your point, brother Tim, as if we were to view it rightly, as far as being right with God, it's purification.

It's chastisement.

It's sanctification.

Versus in the wicked, it's what? It's treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, isn't it? If you think of it this way, it's better for, I better be careful how I say this.

God, I could say some bad things.

I almost want to say, it's better for the wicked person to die young than die old.

Amen.

Now you think about that.

It's almost better for a wicked person to die young than to die old, because what happens if they die old? That many more years of heaping up wrath against wrath.

So, somebody's gonna say something about that to me, but it is the truth, isn't it though? The reason why we struggle with that thought is because we really don't have the most accurate concept of depravity, at least in my mind.

Job's friends don't understand this.

Again, they're thinking, they've been blasting Job.

Not one of them has made an application to themselves yet.

Not one of them said, Job, you know what? We're as sinful as you are.

Then none of them say that.

They just keep doing what? Keep firing arrows at Job.

Firing arrows at Job.

I think Job understands depravity much better than his friends understand depravity.

But again, the book of Job, it's got many different ways to look at life in many different ways, but yet, I do think that this is something that we're gonna have to continue to go through, because as you get to the end of the chapter, and I wanna try to draw that out, so let's just move on a minute.

So he says in verse 28, I'm afraid of all my sufferings.

I know you won't hold me innocent.

If I'm condemned, why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with soap, you will plunge me into the pit.

Basically, he's saying there's no help in this.

There's no solution to this.

And my own clothes will abhor me.

And then we have to deal with, and this is what I wanna spend a few minutes on, what he says.

For he is not a man as I am, that I may answer him, and that we should go to court together.

Nor is there any mediator between us who may lay his hands on us both.

Let him take away his rod from me.

Let not the dread of him terrify me.

Then I would speak and not fear him, but it's not so with me.

Okay.

Thoughts, comments about what he's getting at, what he's talking about in verse 32 to verse 35? How many people would say that he's really, has a poor understanding of Christ? It doesn't look like he has any understanding of Christ himself.

But he's trying to understand his situation juxtaposed to what he knows about God.

And that's the one area where as human beings we're vulnerable because our feelings can get in that.

How we feel about a situation can take us over if we yield to that.

But then we're talking about walking by sight, which is through our feelings, or by faith, which is what we know of God's promises.

That's where our struggle is as believers.

So we can hear all of the stuff coming at us through the circumstances, through the voices of accusation, through even our own accusation of ourselves.

But when we juxtapose that to what the truth of God is, what he has said to us, what he's promised to us, what he has done, that's where our relief is.

Now, we don't go there to get it.

We don't get it.

Yeah, if we continue to walk through our feelings, then we're gonna be tormented.

Yeah, because there is, and this is why I just put it on the board this way.

There's a gap here, right? And there's no way, I think what Job is partly saying, there's no way to bridge this on our own, right? God does whatever he pleases to do.

Man is subject to God, and he uses the word mediator, right? And that word really is, what's an umpire do? Think about what an umpire does before you say anything.

What does an umpire do, besides call balls and strikes? He's the one who governs the game.

Ah, so he's the governor.

And let me ask you to think about this.

We use this term, do we use this term in the sense of an umpire? No.

Is there similarities between an umpire and a mediator? Are they exactly the same? No.

No, and so when he says that, the way he words it, there's no, nor is there any mediator between us.

I think what he's saying is he can't escape this.

And not only can't he escape it, no one can.

Right.

Everyone is subject to that, and therefore, again, I'm bringing the idea of the pit, or the grave, or death, or whatever it is.

No matter what, everybody's, because there's this gap, there's no way to solve this.

And so when he talks about the umpire, the umpire is the one who makes decisions.

And I want you to just, just as a thought.

If there was an umpire involved, the umpire, in my mind, would have to be greater than God.

Because he would make a decision that God would have to abide with.

However, there's a distinction in a mediator, because the mediator does what? The mediator, in that sense, does this, doesn't he? Yes.

He brings the parties together.

The umpire doesn't necessarily bring parties together.

The umpire makes a decision.

And so when you think about that, and many people have looked at this section and said he's talking specifically about Christ, I agree he's talking about someone that could do that.

But in his understanding, there's no one, and he sees it in the sense of umpire, because there's no way of getting that, there's no way of getting to that point of Job and God coming together.

Sir? The umpire's allegiance is to the game.

The mediator's allegiance is to the one he's advocating for.

Yeah, and that's, I think I understand.

So see, the umpire then becomes the ruler.

That's why I said, if we really look at it just from the standpoint of an umpire, he would have to be greater than both parties.

Disagree, the reason being, the umpire can only function under the auspice of what he is given to umpire.

He can't super, he can't change a rule in the middle of the game.

That's not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is the umpire has to have the ability to make a decision that both this one and that one has to abide with.

Yes, he talks about laying a hand on both parties.

Yeah, yeah, and so that's why I say, the umpire and the mediator are not exactly the same thing.

No, not at all.

The mediator is one who brings two parties together, and of course, in this sense, Job has not, Old Testament saints, did they understand the mediator? Yeah, I think like you were saying, brother Andy, we can look back at it from this side and go, oh, there's, you know.

What's wrong with you, Job? Don't you understand lacrosse? Right, and the difference between the umpire and the mediator, I just had a view.

The mediator has to be fully manned, and he has to be fully God.

He has to be, right, at least equal to both parties, right? Because if he's not, then what it's saying is that he has more authority to him because he can make him make a decision, and I understand the rules of the game, and we make that application.

Well, I guess what I'm trying to drive at is that when he says there's no mediator between us, what he's really saying is there's no, at that point, there's no way for him to get on, if you will, talking terms with God, okay? But we see it as the mediator.

Sir? Yeah.

He's an umpire instead of a judge.

It kind of seems like that's the kind of way he's getting at it.

Because, well, the word that's basically used and been translated by many, have looked at it, is more in the sense of an umpire than, it's not easy to kind of, I don't want to try to splice this and dice this to a point where we get into splitting hairs.

But the thought is that at this point, and when Job says there's no one that could, nor is there any mediator between us who could lay his hand on us both, that he understands it as there's no one that can bring God into subjection.

That God slays the wicked, God slays the innocent, while everyone goes to the grave.

Now, again, we understand this, and again, many of them do understand this, that this is in a way you can relate it to Christ, and you can.

Christ is not an umpire, he's a mediator.

Amen.

Right? We don't need an umpire.

We need a mediator, right? And then what you said about the hypostatic union is, again, it has to be, could we have a savior without having both God and man joined together? No.

Amen.

Right? It's not possible.

So when Job says this, he's confessing, in a sense, his own frustration.

There's no way for me to turn.

And yet, Job is a man of faith, isn't he? Yes.

Job trusts God.

He says, though he slay me, yet I will praise him.

He says that when I die, I will see God in my flesh.

But the understanding is really kinda different, isn't it? Right.

Again, otherwise, we would have to say, I'll end it with this.

If everyone is not saved by faith, then we have a different salvation in the Old Testament than we do in the New Testament.

And you and I better be careful about thinking like that.

We are all saved by faith.

Either by faith in the coming of the mediator or faith looking back at the work of the mediator.

But it all is summarized in the mediator, right? Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman will crush the seed of the serpent, the head of the serpent, right? So, all right.

There's more we could say about this, but I'm gonna leave it at that.

We'll pick up in chapter 10 next week.

And we're gonna come back to these thoughts over and again, because again, the book of Job constantly goes over basically the same things over and over again, for good reason, too.

All right, let's just end with a word of prayer and we'll get on to corporate worship.

Father, again, thank you for this day.

Thank you for who you are.

Thank you for who we are.

Thank you for the mediator.

Thank you that there is one who is both God and man and who has accomplished what no one else could do.

And that we are now children of the living God.

Bless us this morning.

May we sing from joyful hearts.

May we fellowship with love for one another.

And may your word do its work in our lives.

In Christ's name, amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.