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Did you know that Job telegraphs the way you should be reading your Old Testament? What is the literary device called, “Foreshadowing?” Who is Columbo?
Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth, No Compromise Radio. I've been noticing on Twitter that the parody account that I don't run of No Compromise Radio was called Some Compromise Radio for a long time with the Richard Baxter eyes as an icon with like laser beams coming out of his eyes.
Now it's called Suplex Gratia Radio. I think it's JB, but I'm not exactly sure. So he can probably tell me if he's doing that or not. I was just back from Beloit, Ohio with Pastor John Tucker at Community Bible Church and the folks there, super good people, love to do the annual conference there.
I think that was my fifth one with Pat Ebendroth and the topic was Christ in the Old Testament. So I gave two messages and so did Pat, and then we had two Q &As as well. And what we're going to do on No Compromise Radio today is I'd like to give you the intro to my first message, and that was entitled Job, a Roadmap to the Bible.
If you can figure out the book of Job and the questions it asks, you can understand a lot of the Bible and what to look for. So today is part one, Job, a Roadmap to the Bible, preached at Community Bible Church in April of 2024.
Enjoy.
Well, dear congregation, it is great to be back today. I think this is my fifth conference, right? Fifth pillars. What's going to happen when you don't invite me back?
Will that ever be the case?
The rapture will have happened. The Bible is a big book, 66 books in the Bible. I found one website and it figured out how many chapters were in the Bible. Any guesses? 1 ,189 chapters. How many verses do you think are in the Bible?
31 ,000 verses. How many words do you think are in the Bible? 807 ,000 words in the Bible. How do you get your mind around that? How do you say, you know, I need to understand this book because it's important that I do.
God is speaking. God has revealed himself. There's a lot on the line. Heaven, hell, judgment, forgiveness, the person work of Christ. It's important for us to get our arms around the Bible, but it seems so big.
Is it possible? In addition, God wants you to know the Bible. So out of 800 ,000 words, how do I get my mind wrapped around the Bible and how do I understand.
It?
Well, the Lord has helped us and he's helped us by giving us an answer or a guidebook or a pathway to understanding it in the very first book of the Bible. And when I say the first book of the Bible, I don't mean Genesis.
I mean the book of Job. So take your Bibles and turn to Job, please. This morning, I said to myself, I don't know why in the world we're singing this song to start off the service, ancient words, but it works out perfectly because Job is the oldest book maybe ever written in all the world.
And when I read the lyrics again to the song, holy words long preserved for our walk in this world, they resound with God's own heart. Oh, let the ancient words impart words of life, words of hope, give us strength.
And so my joy this morning is to talk about the book of Job and how it gives us a roadmap for all the Bible. When I was younger, I was about five foot tall and I played in a five foot and under basketball league.
I grew to be about 6 '1 and a quarter and now I'm about 5 '11 and a half. So as my kids were growing, I was shrinking. And I went to a bad part of Omaha and my mom and dad took me down there and I played center because I was exactly five foot tall.
And I remember walking over to the other center of the team and tried to shake his hand. He didn't shake my hand. He looked at me and he said, if you don't let me win the jump ball, I'm gonna kill you.
After the game.
I didn't have all my adult teeth yet. I thought, oh, what in the world? I tried my hardest, but I still lost and my dad was there to protect me and I'm obviously still alive. What does that have to do with anything?
Nothing but it's interesting. It reminds me of basketball. In basketball, in that five foot and under league, I was taught by the coach, you don't look at someone and throw the pass because the defender would recognize that and intercept.
The pass.
And when you look at someone and pass the ball to them, that's called telegraphing the.
Pass.
And so you're not to telegraph the pass, you're to look one way and like Magic Johnson, throw the ball the other way. But when it comes to Bible interpretation, did you know that the book of Job telegraphs the pass of Bible interpretation so that you're assisted in how to understand the Bible?
It's very direct. It tells you right from the get go in this most early book of the Bible, what you should be looking for in other books of the Bible to help you interpret it. And it's almost counterintuitive because most people don't know much about Job.
How can Job help me interpret the Bible when I can't even interpret Job? I mean, when's the last time you read Job? It's difficult. Technically speaking, what Job is doing is not telegraphing the pass.
That's just kind of Nebraska ease. It's a literary device called foreshadowing, where the author puts some clues in early to help you look for things later. And maybe you think of something like Agatha Christie novel, where you see there's an ice pick in chapter one and she is letting you know, be prepared for something that's coming up later in chapter four, where that ice pick is used for something dastardly.
And so one writer says a foreshadowing, quote, foreshadowing is often used in the early stages of a novel or at the start of a chapter as it can subtly create tension and set readers' expectations regarding how the story will unfold.
For instance, in a mystery novel, it might use foreshadowing in an early chapter by mentioning something that seems inconsequential, but is actually a clue. And so we're going to look at the book of Job today because it does this literary thing called foreshadowing, telegraphing the past so that you can understand Job better and also the Bible.
Maybe I could say it this way when I'm thinking about murders and mysteries and all that stuff. When I grew up in Nebraska, it was, and the older folks here will know the detective shows. We grew up with Mannix and Beretta.
Was that his name?
Beretta?
Yeah. Yeah, Beretta. McLeod. All the old people, the geriatrics are all shaking their head. And the one that I probably liked the most was Columbo, right? Peter Falk, kind of this disheveled detective and a brown beige jacket, and he's just all frumpled and everything, but he kept saying, you know, as he walked out of there, now just one more thing, just one more thing.
And this is kind of like what we're going to do today in the book of Job. It's just one more thing. There's something that really bothers me and he kind of comes to the conclusion, oh yes, this person did it.
And then they kind of confess. So we're going to look at this morning, here's our outline. Three detective like questions, Columbo like questions found in Job designed to help you read your Bible. Three questions in Job that help you read all of your Bible.
Three clues in Job so you'll try to find those clues in the 65 books of the Bible, specifically in the Old Testament. And that's our theme in the conference. How do you see Christ in the Old Testament, and it will be directly related.
We're going to have three questions we'll see in Job that help you understand the Bible and see the Lord Jesus Christ. I first thought about it this way when my son and I were driving in California and we were just in the car, relaxing, listening to Bob Marley on the radio.
And my son said, dad, can I turn off the radio?
Can I turn off the radio? Yeah, yeah. Turn off the radio.
You're not going to believe what I've been learning in Abner Chow's Job class. It's unbelievable. He's helping me see the Bible. He's helping me see what to look for. And I'm just so excited about it.
And I thought, praise the Lord that my son would be excited about that. So I thought, well, I better go listen to lectures. And I did. And I want to make sure I give credit to Abner because he's the one that helped me initially think about this.
And then I'll put my own Abendrothian spin on it. How's that? Now, before we get into Job and the outline, let's talk a little bit about Job in general. John said I had about 95 minutes this morning, so that'll work out perfectly.
Longest sermon I ever preached at a church was 92 minutes. Why 92 minutes? Because cassettes in the old days said 90 minutes, Maxell 90, but they were really 46 minutes on each side. And so the pastor in Los Angeles said, at 46 minutes, look at the sound booth and go like this.
Tell them to flip over the tape, hit record again. So I did 92 minutes. I don't think this will be quite as long. So intro to Job, then the outline.
Okay.
So far so good. Listen to what a few people said about Job. The book of Job is perhaps the greatest masterpiece of the human mind.
Victor Hugo, Daniel Webster.
The book of Job taken as a mere work of literary genius is one of the most wonderful productions of any age or of any language. Thomas Carlyle called this book one of the grandest things ever written.
There's nothing written I think of equal literary merit. Another man said tomorrow, if all literature was to be destroyed and it was left to me to retain one work only, I would save Job. Luther, it is magnificent and sublime as no other book in scripture.
And then lastly, David Klein's. It's the most intense book theologically and intellectually of the old Testament. I mean, for people to say that, both unbelievers and believers, it makes me think I probably should get to know the book of Job better.
Job is in the poetical section, as you know, right? You've got the Pentateuch or the Torah in the first five books of the Bible. Then you have historical books. You've got books like Esther and Judges.
And then we come to the poetical section. Some call it a wisdom section. And so that's the part of the Bible that this is in the wisdom section. You say, well, when was it written? What's the timing of Job?
Job has not said anything in this book about Mosaic law. So it's probably before Moses. He said he's a priest in his own family. That's what happened in patriarchal period. He is deemed to be wealthy because he had cattle and animals.
That's also patriarchal. And he lives 140 years after his trials had ended. So that puts him about the same time period as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Who wrote the book of Job? Well, we know the Holy Spirit wrote the book of Job, but many people think Job might have written it.
Solomon might have written it. Isaiah might have written it. It doesn't really matter who wrote it because we'll see Paul quotes it in 1 Corinthians 3 and Romans chapter 11. And last thing I want to say about the book of Job is this, and I'll form it as a question.
What's the purpose of Job? If you had a little test in Bible school or you were trying to study at home and you said, I want to get my mind wrapped around the purpose of Bible books, I know what the purpose of Genesis is, or Romans, or Revelation.
What's the purpose of Job? And most people say, so we can suffer well, perseverance in suffering. Some people will say how to deal with evil, theodicy, how to explain evil. I think those things are interesting.
How should the righteous suffer? How is God defending himself against Satan's attacks? That might be right. But here's what I think is really happening. When you suffer, you ask the right questions. When you're suffering, you're on your deathbed, you're sick, your family's sick, you're going through a trial, surgery's impending, financial woes, marital woes, you begin to ask the right.
Questions.
And I think that the lens of suffering, the lens of theodicy, the lens of what about evil is just that, a lens so that you ask the right questions. And did you know one of the major themes in the book of Job is comfort?
To quote Pat Ebenroth, what in the world? Do you say that sometimes? I think dad used to say that. Do I sound like Pat? Or does Pat sound like me? Who's older? I mean, Pat's nine years older.
That's amazing out here.
Sometime search through the word comfort in the book of Job. You'll find verses like this, that Job's three friends in chapter two made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and to comfort him.
Chapter six, this would be my comfort. I could even exalt in pain unsparing. Chapter seven, my bed will comfort me. Chapter 15, the comforts of God. Chapter 16, comforters you all. Chapter 21, this be your comfort.
Chapter 21, will you comfort me with empty nothings? Chapter 29, chapter 42, the word comfort is over and over and over. And if you read the book of Job and you understand it properly, you can ask questions like this and find answers.
Does God love me? I'm hurting. Does God care? I'm suffering. Does God even notice? I'm in a lot of pain. I don't know if anybody can identify with any of those things, but for all of us in this fallen world, we need to know the answers to those questions.
Does God care?
Does he notice?
Is there any comfort? If you look at Job chapter one and two, you'll see why there's comfort needed. And we haven't even gotten to the outline yet, but I know me, myself, I don't really know much about Job, and so I need to learn about it.
And so that's why I'm trying to set the table before we get in the passage. You know how the book of Job starts. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That's Job 1 .1. And that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.
Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Notice he had lots of possessions. His sons used to go and hold a feast at verse four. They would consecrate them in verse five. And there was a day, verse six, when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? And Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about on the earth and walking in.
It.
The Lord said to Satan, have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth. Now repeated, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And of course, you know the story.
Satan answered the Lord, does Job fear God for nothing? Right? You've put a hedge around him, you've blessed him, you've put your hand on him. But now, verse 11, put forth your hand from him, touch all that he has, he'll surely curse you to his face.
And you know what happened. One tragedy after another, after another, major tragedies, no minor things. Verse 20, and then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell to the ground.
And worshiped.
Naked I've come from my mother's womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Comfort needed?
Absolutely.
Let's go to the outline. Three questions that will help you read your Bible and understand it, telegraphing the past, putting clues in, what should I be looking for when I read the Bible?
First of all, number one, does God forgive sin?
Question number one, does God forgive sin? By the way, if He does forgive sin, I know He cares. I know He loves me. I know He's concerned. I know He's not just transcendent and holy and other, but He's close and intimate.
He's not just far off, He's near. Does God forgive sin? That's the first question. Turn to Job chapter seven. That's true comfort. What we're going to do is we're going to look at three passages from Job to answer these three questions.
I would know if God cares if He forgave my sin.
Does He?
Job 7, 7. Remember that my life is a breath. My eye will never again see good. The eye of Him who sees me, Job says, will behold me no more. While your eyes are on me, I shall be gone. As the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come up.
He returns no more to his house, nor does his place know him anymore. Hope needed?
Does He care?
Is there comfort? I mean, in verse 19, this is kind of interesting. How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit? It's like you're hovering over me, God. I'm so nervous and I'm so concerned, I can't even swallow my spit.
Sometimes I want to be a youth group leader just so I could talk about spitting. I'll do that later. Now we come to this question about forgiveness, verse 20. If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? Here's the question. Question number one, it will help you look for these answers in the rest of your Bible. Does God forgive sin? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth, you will seek me, but I shall not be. That word for pardon right there in verse 21 is the same word we get for Passover. God, you know me, you scrutinize me, you sift me, you winnow me, but is there forgiveness?
I'm suffering, I'm hurting, and it's one thing to suffer, but it's another thing to suffer knowing that you're forgiven. The relationship is severed, I know I've sinned against you, and if I could just have that closeness of forgiveness, I could put it this way maybe.
When I do something stupid and sinful toward my wife and there's a breach in our relationship, I pretty much can't get anything else done. I just have that desire and that yearning for peace and for reconciliation.
There's a breach between us because I've sinned against her and there's something wrong. And so finally when I can humble myself and I go to my wife and I say, honey, I've sinned against the Lord, I've asked him to forgive me, and I've sinned against you, would you please forgive me?
And then she says, what?
No way.
Try harder, grovel more. She says, of course I do. What's that feeling that you get when there's reconciliation with you and your spouse, our children, our co-workers? I mean, that's what you're looking for.
That's what you want. You're thinking, oh, we're together. I feel that. I sense that, that subjective feeling, but also it's true and objective. That's where real comfort is. When you're suffering, you're asking the right questions.
When you're on your deathbed thinking you're going to die of COVID in the hospital, you're thinking eternity's long, God's holy, I'm sinful, I don't really care what Joe Biden's policies are, I don't really care if the Cleveland Browns are winning, I need to know exactly what's going on.
Does God forgive sin? And that's early on in the book of Job, because the rest of the book of Job and the rest of the Old Testament, yes, even the rest of the New Testament, you need to be looking for does God forgive sin?
Wasn't that David's cry in Psalm 51, after he'd sinned with Bathsheba, and he said, created me a clean heart, oh God? Probably when you hear about sin, you have been well taught at this church, and you know that God doesn't just say, let men be forgiven, like He says, let there be light.
Why doesn't God do that?
I mean, He can create the world, why doesn't He just say, forgiven? Because God is holy, and the wages of sin is death, something has to die, because sin is so bad, and you begin to look at the Bible thinking one of the number one questions in all the world is, does God forgive sin?
And you begin to notice things like, yes, He does, through a substitute. I should probably be looking for substitution in the Bible. When my kids were little, I'd always say to them, what's the most important concept theologically in the Bible?
Jesus?
Yes, that's true, but more than that, what did Jesus do? Because I don't want to separate who Jesus is and what He's done, and I'd say, the most important concept is substitution, substitution. You begin to look at the Bible saying, I need to start looking at how does God forgive sin?
He's so holy, He just doesn't pronounce sin forgiven. It's not like the indulgent father, Lloyd-Jones says, who says, all right, my child, all is well, come back. Bygones be bygones, I know you've sinned.
Our grandmother, Nona, she babysitted me on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, when mom worked at Mutual of Omaha, and other grandparents on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and so I remember grandma would always say, because grandpa was sick and dying of cancer, she'd say, Mike, now, if you keep disobeying that yardstick over there, that we got at the hardware store, that yellow one, that's going to be on your backside.
She kept saying that, and she never did it. So one day I went over, grabbed the ruler, broke it over my knee, and handed it to grandma, and she still didn't spank me. I'm a grandpa now, and I think, whenever I spank my kids, oh, grandkids, is that how.
God acts?
It's no big deal. You break His law, transgression, and it's just done? Of course not.
God is holy.
And so there has to be a substitute to have reconciliation, to have forgiveness. You can see that even back in Genesis. You begin to read the Bible, and you think, after Adam and Eve sinned, what did God do?
By His own initiation. He kills the animals, and He covers Adam and Eve. Pretty soon you read Exodus 12, and you say to yourself, I see what's going on. I'm looking for forgiveness. How does God forgive sin?
Well, when one man sins, God kills one animal to cover that sin. Now in Exodus 12, I'm starting to see a bigger picture of forgiveness, because when the family sins, one animal's killed for the family in Exodus 12.
And then you keep watching, and you keep reading your Bible with anticipation. How does God forgive sins? In Leviticus 16, it's not just a man that sins, or a woman who sins, or a family who sins. It's a nation that sins.
And now there's one animal slain for a nation. And you see it's telescoping out. And pretty soon you get to John chapter 1, verse 29, and you see John the Baptist, who looks at Jesus, and he said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of one man, one woman, a family, a nation, or the world.
Behold, we begin to read our Bible, and you should say to yourself, I should be looking for how does God forgive sin, because it's all leading me to the Lord Jesus.
Even offerings in Leviticus.
I'm doing the Robert Murray McShane Bible read-through, and I'm now in Leviticus. Anybody else following that program? Okay, so you're in Leviticus too. And some of Leviticus is like, okay, what, what am I gonna do?
What am I gonna do?
If you start asking the question, how does God forgive sin? Does God forgive sin? Will He forgive sin? And you start reading the offerings that way, you're gonna go, this is perfect. There are five main kinds of offerings in the Bible in Leviticus.
Well that wraps up part one of Job, A Roadmap to the Bible, preached at Community Bible.
Church.
John Tucker will do part two coming up very, very soon. This is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry. You can get Cancer Is Not Your Shepherd, a 31-day guide to suffering on Amazon. Or if you want bulk, you can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.