Job 23 (con't)

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And if you remember, last week we looked at the final speech of Eliphaz.
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Remember, Eliphaz was one of the three friends that came to comfort
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Job and wound up not being much comfort at all. So what
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I wanted to do this morning, I wanted to kind of just make a point and ask us to think about it, about the book of Job as a, in relationship to the rest of the
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Bible. Look, in other words, if you had to divide the
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Bible into sections, how would you do it? I mean, if you had a, if someone came up to you and said, hey, could you give me a brief outline of the
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Bible, how would you answer that? As far as how it's broken down, well, you would, you could, you could do something like this.
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You could say, well, the Bible opens up with creation, doesn't it? And the story of creation, and then it moves from creation into the life of the, of the patriarchs, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and, and, and those that lived before the flood, and then those that lived after the flood.
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And then, then you could probably go to the fact of the law, right? As Moses gives the law, and then there would be the journeys of the children of Israel, right?
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You just, again, just walking through it, you, you would be able to see that. And then you would have the, what would come after the, the, the law and, and the history of the beginning of Israel, we would then run into the kings and the, and, and, and all the history that was involved in the
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Old Testament. And then you could move from there, and then you would go where? After the kings and, and, and the history of Israel and the establishment of the kingdom, then you would go into the, into the prophets, right?
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And the prophets would be those who were sent by God to speak about things to come.
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And a lot of it is in a sense laid out for us as something future that would take place.
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And, and ultimately what they're really talking about is the first coming of Christ, right? And then if you were to continue on and look at the
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New Testament, the New Testament basically speaks about the coming of Christ, right? And, and his work and what he accomplished on our behalf.
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And then even in, in, in the New Testament, you have the, if you will, another set of prophetic thought, especially as you get closer to the end and revelation of things that are yet to come, right?
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So, so you could break it out in, let me just fix that. You can break it out in many different ways, right?
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So, wait a minute, one second.
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So within all of that, I guess what I'm trying to do is get us to think about, because the book of Job is, is pretty detailed, right?
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Wouldn't you agree that the book of Job is detailed about very few people?
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In other words, if you were to name the characters in the book of Job, they're, they're not that many, are there?
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There's the three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophaz, then of course there's
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Job. And then there's Elihu, who we'll meet later on as we get through the book.
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And then there's God. So basically it's a book about five different people.
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And if you think about it, I think that's a little bit different than what we see in the rest of the
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Bible. And if you were to consider it, the, there's the
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Lord, there's the prophets, there's the history, there's different things. And then there's what's called, and all
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I'm trying to do is get us to think, the poetic books, or some would call them the books of wisdom.
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What would they be? I think it's Job, it's the
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Psalms, Proverbs. Yeah, Job, Psalms, Proverbs.
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Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes, right? And Psalm, right?
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So it's one section of the Bible, and in many ways, that section of the
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Bible is different than other sections, when you agree.
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Okay, I guess what I'm trying to get us to think about as we go through the book of Job, we'll continue to go,
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I mean, we're at chapter 23, and we're really only a little bit past halfway through it, that we would keep that in mind.
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In other words, think about it, God's word is how many books?
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66. And yet God's word is one book. Agree? And that's the point.
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In other words, we could break the Bible down in many different pieces, and yet we can't that it's really one cohesive revelation.
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It's one cohesive book, of which there are different sections in it that emphasize different things.
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And Job certainly is one of the books, which I think is much different than a lot of the other books in that, and I think you can even include it in this thought of the poetic books and wisdom books, that in many ways, and I'm not saying that the others don't, but in many ways, these books really relate to us, life experience.
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I spelt it right? I didn't? I didn't. That when you look at Job in its totality, it really talks about a man who is really suffering.
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And as you look at the other books, like Psalms is really many of the
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Psalms are written by who? David. And it's about his life experience, isn't it?
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As he's running from Saul, as he's becomes the king and even of his sin and his confession and whatnot.
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And even in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, and Proverbs being written mostly by who?
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Solomon. And it's the wisdom that came out of his experience. And then you go to Ecclesiastes, again, written by Solomon.
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And I guess what I just wanted to make a point for us to think about, as we go through the book of Job, we should understand that we're learning something that God truly wants us to understand.
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And I think in part, that's why the book sometimes repeats itself.
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Because again, it really is two things.
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One, there's nothing new under the sun, agree? What's happened in the past will ultimately happen again, not in this exact same way.
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But there is nothing new. And it's kind of,
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I don't want to say circular, but it is kind of circular. The flows of life kind of follow certain patterns.
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Now, that doesn't mean it's mechanical, right? I'm not talking about mechanics, because we're all individuals, we all have experiences.
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But as you think about it, when you look at Job, and again, the rest of the books that have been kind of labeled as poetic or books of wisdom, we ought to realize that it's placed in there by God for a very specific purpose.
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And I believe that purpose is to reveal to us how to deal with life.
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Because, you know, think about this. The Bible says that in one sense, wisdom comes to who?
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The gray hair, right? It says wisdom is those that, or supposedly those who have the gray hair, or the hoary head is its term, are supposed to be who?
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The wisest, right? And yet, the
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Bible also says that sometimes the hoary head is still a fool, right?
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So no guarantee, but this whole idea of wisdom, wisdom really comes through life experience, agreed.
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And that as we read about the experiences of Job and the situations that he goes through, and his friends, we should be able to use those to relate to us in our lives.
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So I just wanted to remind us of that as we go through it. And so as we come to chapter 23 now, remember in the last chapter we looked at last week,
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Eliphaz, who's one of the friends, he has come and made his final speech to Job and basically told
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Job, Job, you're a mess. And the reason why you're a mess is because you are a sinner.
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And you basically have created this whole situation by your secret sins.
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And now God is coming to you and judging you for it. And ultimately,
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Eliphaz, what's his remedy for Job? Matter of fact, what's the remedy that all three of the friends basically are putting out to Job?
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That Job is a hypocrite, that he's thought that he could hide his sin.
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And now that he's suffering, it's because he is sown and he's reaped.
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Okay. And that's basically it. And then as you think about it, last week, when we looked at what
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Eliphaz had to say, he basically hasn't changed his speech. He continues to tell
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Job the reason he's a mess is because of sin. And there's no way out,
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Job, unless you basically confess. And what's interesting to me about it is
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Job never does that. He never says to them, you're right.
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Because if he did that, what would he be admitting? That he's really of an evil heart.
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And I don't think that that's where we need to think about Job. And as you'll see in chapter 23 and chapter 24,
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Job basically is going to refute what they have been accusing him of again.
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And so let's read the chapter. And remember now he's responding to Eliphaz and Eliphaz has thrown some heavy stuff at him.
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He's called him everything from a loan shark to being stingy, to being cruel, to being a thief and all these different things.
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And so chapter 23, Job says this. Then Job answered and said, even today, my complaint is bitter.
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My hand is listless because of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat.
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I would present my case before him, fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the works which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
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Would he contend with me in his great power? No, but he would take note of me.
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And the upright could reason with him and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
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Look, I go forward, but he's not there. And backward, but I can't perceive him.
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When he works on the left, left hand, I can't behold him. When he turns to the right hand,
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I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take. And when he has tested me,
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I shall come forth as gold. And my feet, my foot has held fast to his steps.
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I have kept his way, not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips.
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I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. But he is unique and who can make him change?
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Whatever his soul desires, that he does. For he performs which appointed for me and many such things are with him.
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Therefore, I am terrified at his presence. When I consider this, I'm afraid of him.
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For God made my heart weak and the Almighty terrifies me. Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness.
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And he did not hide deep darkness from my face. So this is
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Job's response. And as we just walk through it a little bit, what I think we're going to see is two things.
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One, Job's going to talk about his own situation, particularly in chapter 23.
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And then in chapter 24, he's going to go and he's going to talk about more general principles about how the ungodly are, what's interesting, how the ungodly are punished.
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Which is the very thing that his friends have accused him of, that he's suffering the punishment of God because he's evil.
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And in chapter 24, that's exactly what he's going to do. He's going to respond and he's going to answer that.
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So, excuse me, I'm just a little bit congested.
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Let's just walk through it and see it. And I'll break it down in a couple of different sections for us.
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Let's look at verses one through 10, because I think this is a thought that he has.
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And the thought really is that Job can't understand his present condition.
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Did you and I ever get to a place where we can't figure things out?
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Situations of life seem to be, just doesn't seem to be right in our mind.
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We're in a state of confusion and that could work its way out in many different ways, whether it be health or relationships or finances or just the flow of life.
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But sometimes we get into these places in our lives and we just can't put our thumb on what's really happening.
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I think in part, Job is saying that in the first 10 verses. And not only that, but he answers them.
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And he says in verse two there, even today my complaint is bitter and my hand is listless because of my groaning.
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In other words, he hasn't been able to find any comfort in his friends.
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Agree? I mean, they are useless. And as I said to you before,
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I'm surprised that Job hadn't told them, take a walk.
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Go away from me. I got enough issues without you guys pouring more wood on the fire.
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But when he says in verse two, even today my complaint is bitter, my hand is listless because of my groaning.
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That Job is really in a, not only is he in a physical state of upheaval, but he's in a spiritual state of upheaval.
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He's all messed up in his own thinking and he's messed up in his thinking.
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And it's because he can't, if you will, he can't see what's really taking place.
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And yet, as I will show you in these verses in this chapter, in a great way, he does understand.
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But what he's saying is, there's confusion in my mind.
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And then in verse three, when he says, oh, that I knew where I might find him. Who's he looking to find?
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Yeah. And not only is he looking to find God, he's looking to find God for a very specific reason. What's the reason?
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He wants to understand what's going on. Right? Because his friends haven't been of any help to him.
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His situation has not helped him out. So he's seeking to find counsel and understanding.
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And he knows, and this is where I would certainly say what he is doing is the right thing.
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He says, oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come to his seat. I would present my case before him.
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Fill my mouth with arguments. In other words, he wants to deal directly with God.
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Now, wouldn't you agree that that's where we ultimately will find all understanding?
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Right? In other words, counsel is great. Agree? If it's good counsel.
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Bad counsel stinks. It's worthless. But Job is in such a situation.
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And as I said, his friends have not been able to remedy his situation. So basically,
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Job's looking to come directly to God and to find understanding in his situation.
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And that's why he says it the way I would present my case before him. And I don't think he's doing that out of a sense of arrogance, but rather out of a sense of truly desiring to understand what's taking place in his life.
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And I would fill my mouth with arguments, and I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
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Now, let's think about this a little bit. When you and I are in a situation where we're confused, how often do we think that God's wisdom is the thing we need the most?
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In other words, sometimes we just react. Right? Agree? We just, whatever it is, what comes to our mind, we just act out.
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And yet, that is really not the best. The best situation is to what? What does it say?
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God gives wisdom, right? And God gives understanding. And what does
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James say? If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Who gives to all men liberally, but he has to ask in faith, because a double -minded man is unstable in all his ways.
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So Job's looking for understanding, and he knows that God is the one who ultimately could give it to him.
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Because look in verse 6, what he says. Would he contend with me in his great power?
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No, but he would take note of me, and the upright could reason with him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
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So when you think about this, and you think about what he's saying, and I think this is amazing that a man in his situation, whose life basically is unraveling, is one who knows that if he could get to God, that his remedy would be had.
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That he could find comfort, he could find understanding, and he could find a way to deal with his situation, which
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I don't think he understands right now. And that's why he says what he says.
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That he could reason with him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
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And his judge is not only, in many ways, the judge of his friends, right?
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Because they're the ones that are throwing the rocks at him. They're the ones that are making all these accusations, and remember,
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I'm sure others are too. Because Job's not living in a bubble, and everybody's aware of it, or at least it's well known.
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And so when he says this, I think he's acknowledging the fact that the only remedy, and this is a point that you and I should really take, friends.
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Our only true remedy is the Lord. I mean, we could come up with all kinds of things, schemes, understandings, solutions.
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We can come up with a million different variety of things, but ultimately, guess what? The only real remedy in our life is to be right with God.
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And even for Christians, I think sometimes we don't always understand that to be the first place we should go is to God.
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And that sometimes we take back roads, if you will, and wind up in a ditch somewhere, and then
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God ultimately comes, and he rescues us. And so as you think about this, and think what he's saying, and then it's interesting how he lays this out.
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So he says, I would be delivered from my judge. And look at verse eight, nine.
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Look what he says. Look, I go forward, but he's not there.
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And backwards, but I can't perceive him. When he works on the left hand, I can't behold him.
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When he works on the right hand, I can't see him. Let's just think about that. Have you and I ever thought about that in the sense of, well, let me pose it this, let me ask it this way.
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Have you and I ever thought that perhaps God is not as involved with our lives as we think he should be?
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Maybe make him a little clearer. Have you and I ever been in a situation where we feel almost as if God has forgotten us?
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And if you've never had that thought, well, praise the Lord.
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But I know we're not much different folks. All of us are pretty much the same.
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And there are times in our lives when we feel like almost as if we're alone for whatever situation.
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And again, the situations come, they go, they come, they go. And usually when things are good, we feel like God's walking right next to us.
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When things are bad, sometimes we feel like God has, he's occupied somewhere else.
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And so when Job says this, he says, Job can't get this, get to this place where he can find the comfort that he so earnestly desires.
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Because again, his life is all jacked up.
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And his mental state has to be somewhat confused, at least in my mind, that he can't think very clearly right now.
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And then again, just think of it from a physical standpoint, how many of us would agree that when we don't feel good, or we have physical issues, that it affects our mind.
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I think we would all have to say, in order for us to be our sharpest, there is a relationship between physical and spiritual, right?
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Remember, we've read that verse a number of times that the spirit of a man will sustain him in his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can stand.
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But there is a relationship. And so remember, as we listened to Job, this is a man who is, his flesh is basically fallen off his body.
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He's lost everything that he had. His friends are comfort less.
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His mental state is, and when I say mental state, I don't mean just his intellectual capacity.
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I mean his whole emotional state of being. And that's another thing to think about.
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How many of us say when we're emotionally charged that we think the straightest?
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I don't. I'll tell you what, when I get excited, it's really hard to control yourself.
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Would you agree? I know this is on internet, but I'll say this.
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My wife, when Candy gets emotionally charged up, she sounds like she's still living in New York because her accent comes out, if you know what
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I mean. Well, I do that too, but I think we all do that.
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Well, what I'm saying is when you're emotionally charged, things take place that you're not in control of.
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And I think that plays in part of what's happening to Job.
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And yet for all that, this man, his integrity is amazing.
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At least to me it is. Because again, if I was in that situation, how many of us say when you stub your toe, it's easy to lose your control, right?
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Nevermind a man who's lost everything, kids and goods and servants and livestock and everything.
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And he can't make any sense of it. And that's why he says that he's looking to find
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God because God's the only one that can resolve this situation. And so certainly that's something to think about.
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But he says, oh, he can't find God. And yet, to me, what stands out is what he says in verse 10 a little bit when he says this, but he knows the way that I take.
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Now, I don't think Job ever went to seminary. I'm pretty confident he didn't graduate from Bible college.
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But to me, Job has a great understanding on many things that pertain to theology.
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And they're not termed theology, but just think about this. He knows the way that I take. What is he really saying?
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I think what he's saying is God knows everything. What do we term that when we say that God knows everything?
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Omniscient. Omniscient, right. And that is not an easy thought to have.
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Just think about that for a second. Here's a man who's all twisted up. And yet he realizes that God knows everything that's taking place.
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And again, that's one of the reasons why he wants to get to God, right? Because he knows that God knows.
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And apparently the friends don't know. And to a certain extent, Job don't know. So he says, I know the way that he takes.
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Then he says this in verse 10. I mean, it's an amazing statement. When he has tested me,
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I shall come forth as gold. Where's his hope?
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I'll tell you where his hope is. His hope is in God. And for Job to say that, my friends, is an amazing thought.
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When you think about it, that even in the midst of all his suffering,
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Job knows that God is the one who's behind it. And that ultimately, then when it's all said and done, when it's all over.
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And again, certainly there's a reality for us, right? One day it's all over for all of us.
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Some this way, some that way. Like it says, some through the fire, some through the flood, some through great trial, but all through the blood.
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But nevertheless, he knows that there has to be an end to it.
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And he says, he knows the way that I take. And when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
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So I think Job understands not only that God knows everything, that God is present everywhere.
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And that certainly will come up as we look a little bit further. But that he realizes, even though he doesn't fully understand the situation, and even though other people don't understand the situation, he knows
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God is purposeful in his life.
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And you'll see that as we get a little bit further down. But he does say, when he's tested me,
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I shall come forth. And here's the reason. Look in verse 11, what he says.
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So verse 10, when he's tested me, I shall come forth as gold. In verse 11 and verse 12, look what he says about himself.
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My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way and not turned aside.
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I have not departed from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
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What's the accusation of his friends? Job, you've not honored
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God the way you should have. What is Job saying to them? Yes, I have. It's exactly what he's saying.
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He's saying, I've not turned away from God. That's what they have accused him of. And there's a reality of it, right?
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Wouldn't you agree with me that those that turn away from God have no expectation of good? Just think about it.
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If, remember what Jesus said, if you're not with me, you're what? Against me. Against me.
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So there's no place of neutrality. There's no, if you will, spiritual
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Switzerland where it's neutral.
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There's no such thing. And the reason why I hesitate is I'm not even sure if Switzerland's still neutral anymore.
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But it was a time when that was the place where you can go and it had a neutral kind of thought about everything else and everyone else.
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But there isn't really no. And Job knows that. And so he says, I have not done basically what
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Eliphaz, Zophaz, Bildad, and anyone else has accused me of. I've not departed from the commandment.
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I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my food. And that, friends, is something that you and I can find hope with.
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Now, I wanted to read something. I wanted to bring in a New Testament scripture to kind of support this a little bit.
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Because he says, he knows in verse 10, he knows the way that I take. And when he's tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
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And I thought about this in 1 Peter, and I'll just read it to you, where it says, Blessed be the God and Father of our
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Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy, he has given us new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead into an inheritance undefiled, unfading, reserved in heaven, who through faith are shielded by the power of God.
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That Job understands that even in his trials, and here's what we should be the ones, we should think this way.
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When we go through these trials and tribulations, we should have always present in our mind that ultimately, those things are sent by God to increase us and not decrease us.
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In other words, that God, even as we read about all things work together for us, all things work together for good, and even as Brother Keith has rightfully said, all things are not good, but all things work together for good.
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But there's that understanding that God is the one who is good, only good, always good, and that if we are in right relationship with him, then we can say that.
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And one of the things that helps us through that is to treasure his word and to look at it and think about it that way.
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And so it's interesting to me that the very accusations that they have made throughout the whole book so far about Job being this and Job being that and Job being a rotten egg and a wicked sinner,
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Job still will maintain his integrity. Because Job knows that his, and we've read it already and I think it was chapter 19, he says,
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I know my Redeemer lives, right? And that's something for you and I to think about.
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Do you know that your Redeemer lives this morning? Do you know that there is no other help, hope, there's no other remedy for our lives except a right relationship with God?
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And it was interesting if you continue on what he says, and this has been one of my favorite verses ever since I started reading the
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Bible, verse 13. And just think about what he's saying here. He says, but he is unique and who can make him change?
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He's talking about God. He is unique. Who can make him change? Whatever his soul desires, that he does for he performs what is appointed for me and many such things are with him.
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Now, no doubt that he there is God. What does that word unique mean?
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When you read that, what is that, what is that, what thought comes to your mind about God being unique?
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Sir? Holy. Okay. Yeah. And what is that thought of holy really?
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When you think of holy, we think of it in a sense of purity, right? But we also should think of it in the sense of separate.
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In other words, what I think he's saying and what I like to use is a helpful way of thinking about it.
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When he says God is unique, what I think he's saying is God is the great other, right? Because God is, remember it says in one place,
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God says, you really thought I was like you. And God is different and God is the great other and God, and that's really a part of what holiness means.
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So let me just ask him, just take a second. Well, I don't think we have time to do that, but I wanted to ask you to think about all the different ways in which
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God is not like us. And we could probably work on a list a mile long.
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We'll probably have to come, we'll come back. I don't want to just run through this because I think there are some things in these final verses that are worth our attention.
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But just think about that. I think about how Job is, he's working through the issues of life and he's got a long way to go yet before he gets his final understanding.
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Matter of fact, and I don't want to term it that way. He's got about 15 chapters to go and that's not the way his life goes, right?
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But ultimately, God is going to do what? Vindicate him. Just like us, we can go through all kinds of trials, my friends, and tribulations and situations and perplexities and confusions and on and on and on.
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But guess what? If we are in Christ one day, someday, everything is going to be made clear.
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And I don't know about you, but there's a whole lot of joy in that. There's a whole lot of comfort in that.
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That knowing that even as Job says, though he slay me, yet I will praise him.
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So we'll come back to the end of it next week and then we'll get into chapter 24, where he kind of speaks about some general principles.
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All right, we got to go. Let's pray. Father, again, thank you for your time. Thank you for our time,
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Lord. Thank you that you are the great other. Help us now as we worship you as one body to be pleased with what we do, what we say.