Job 27

OK, so I'm still going to get used to this desk being lower. This is a mic desk. This is not really an Andy desk. I think I'll put it up on cinder blocks or something. But as I said, as the teenagers move out of here, we'll see what we'll do.

But for right now, we're good. So let's go back to Job. And this morning, I'm going to look at chapter 27 and just think about some things that, well, a couple of things. One of the things that we're going to see as we go through the next few chapters, it really, as I said to you last week, the friends are pretty much, they're done.

They come back into play later again at the end of the book when God brings them into a point of where they need to repent and ask Job for forgiveness for what they have said to him. But for the next few chapters, actually, starting from chapter 26 through 31, we're going to see things about Job that we've yet to see.

And what I mean by that is these next few chapters, in a great way, reveal the character of Job. And I think it's important for us to see that. And if you've noticed, well, at least I have noticed, and maybe you have too, things are getting more and more intense for Job.

In other words, he has worked through this whole thing with his friends. And they have, of course, we know they haven't been anything but a hindrance in that sense. And Job is really searching. And I thought about that.

And I thought about how many times in our lives and situations that we find ourselves in for a prolonged period, not something that just comes and goes. But those things, and I think we all have them in our life, whether they're just a sense of this or a sense of that, or it's a trial, it's a tribulation, or it could be a sickness, or it could be a relationship, where things don't go away, where they seem to continue.

And I would think that we would all agree that as those things continue on, many times it becomes more and more intense. Look, in other words, you want relief. You want out. You want to get away from the situation you're in.

And I think that's what we begin to see in these chapters of Job. Job begins to explain things that really reveal his heart. Then another thing, as we read through these next couple of chapters, at times Job is, I mean, he's spot on.

And we talked about this last week. And I just remind you what we talked about last week in chapter 26, where Job actually, remember I said to you that Job didn't have a PhD and he never went to Bible seminary, never went to college?

But it's amazing how much Job really understood, even as we talked about he understood that God honed the world on nothing. And I even read to you where light comes from. And I was thinking about that this week.

Remember when I went and asked the expert at Google on when did light, how did light come into the universe? And they came up with about 13 .8 billion years ago. Our universe ballooned out. And I wondered why wasn't it 13 .7 billion or 13 .82?

This is 13 .8. And it took 380 ,000 years for the particles to heat up and to produce light. And yet Job talked about it as if, he said, he drew a circle horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness.

The pillars of heaven trembled. And if you read through even what he says in chapter 26, I mean, this man was so far ahead, so many. And you think about that, the foolishness of this world. I mean, yeah, and it almost seems the more bizarre, the more people are attracted to it.

Again, I don't know the dude that sat in what office to calculate 13 .8 billion. And I asked you to think about it because there really is different principles in place. Evolution says we're climbing.

And then there's other laws that scientists use and say that if you leave things alone, it begins to decay. And so this whole thing of the philosophy of man, and yet Job, in the midst of all his problems, in the midst of all his confusion, in some ways, he's crystal clear.

And I think that's because his worldview is predicated on God or predicated on the Lord. And you're going to see in these next chapters, to me, this is getting more and more exciting because we're basically going to see Job empty his heart and then Elihu comes in and he makes some statements and then ultimately God comes in.

And I don't know about you, but the greatest one to listen to, of course, would be God. So we'll see that in the next few chapters and you'll see how Job speaks of many things. Some of them pertain to himself.

And in those areas, Job is still really perplexed. But in other ways, he's just so crystal clear in his thinking. And just to remind you, in the last verse in chapter 26, where Job made this great confession, if you will, where he said, after he talks about God being creator and sustainer and ruler and those things that he had spoken about, he says, indeed, these are the mere edges of his way and how small a whisper we hear of him, but the thunder of his power.

Who can understand that Job's last words in chapter 26 really, I think, are words of humility and understanding that really, you know, friends, we are very important. We are uniquely created, but we're just dust.

If you think about it, we're just little. I don't want to undermine it, so I want to be careful. I mean, in comparison to God, everything that we understand is not even the beginning of the immensity of God.

And when you think about that, I don't know about you, it kind of just blows a fuse in my mind that I can't even begin to comprehend those traits of his being, the characteristics of his being, that God is eternal.

And again, Job has some understanding, and in other places, he's still confused. So what I want to do is I want to read chapter 27, and then I'm tempted to read chapter 28, too, but I don't think we'll get to it.

Maybe we'll do that because I want you to see what I'm trying to get across to us in that Job has, in many ways, such great understanding, and in many ways, he's still really troubled. So let's do that.

Let's just read 27 and 28, and then we'll take it in chunks, and we'll see where it goes. So chapter 27, Moreover, Job continued his discourse and said, As God lives, who has taken away my justice, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the breath of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit, albeit for me that I should say, You are right, till I die, will not put away my integrity from me.

My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go. My heart shall also reproach me, shall not reproach me as long as I live. May my enemy be like the wicked, and he who rises up against me like the unrighteous.

Well, what is the hope of the hypocrite? Though he may gain much, if God takes his life, will God hear the cry when trouble comes upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Will he always call on God?

I will teach you about the hand of God. What is with the Almighty, I will not conceal. Surely all of you have seen it. Why then do you behave with complete nonsense? This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors received from the Almighty.

If his children are multiplied, it's for the sword, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. Those who survive him shall be buried in death, and their widows shall not weep. Though he heaps up silver like dust, and piles up clothing like clay, he may pile it up, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

And he builds his house like a moth, like a booth which a watchman makes. The rich man will lie down, but not be gathered up. He opens his eyes, and he is no more. Terror overtakes him like a flood. A tempest steals him away in the night.

The east wind carries him away, and he's gone. It sweeps him out of his place. It hurls against him and does not spare. He flees desperately from its power, and men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of the place.

Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined, and iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore, and man puts an end to darkness, and searches out every recess for ore in the darkness, and the shadow of death.

He breaks open a shaft away from people. Its place is forgotten by feet. They hang far away from men. They swing to and fro, and ask from the earth from when it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

Its stones are the sauce of sapphires, and it contains gold dust, and that path no bird knows, nor has a falcon's eye seen it. The proud lions have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it.

He puts his hand on the flint, and he overturns the mountain at the roots, and he cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eyes see every precious thing, and he dams up the streams from trickling.

Who is hidden?

What is hidden? He brings forth to light, but where can wisdom be found? Where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says it's not with me, and the sea says it's not with me, and it can't be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for its price.

It can't be valued in the gold of offer. It's precious onyx or sapphire. Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry or fine gold. No mention of it shall be made in the quarrel of quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies, and the topaz of Ethiopia can't equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

From where then does wisdom come? Where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all the living, and concealed from all the birds of the air, and destruction and death say, we've heard a report about it with our ears.

God understands its way. He knows its place. He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heavens to establish a weight for the wind, and meet out the waters by measure. When he made a law for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt, then he saw wisdom and declared it.

He prepared it. Indeed, he searched it out. And to man, he said, behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. Now, I don't know about you, but those are some really high thoughts.

And you think about it, and again, that's why I said it at the beginning. When you think about where Job's at physically, mentally, emotionally, in his pilgrimage through life, to be able to say such thing.

I mean, I've always been excited about chapter 28. I can't wait to just say a few things about it, but I know I gotta get through 27 first. But it's so interesting to me that Job understands archeology, geology, creation, the workings of evil men, the immensity of God.

Again,.

It's amazing that I think sometimes that false teaching that man basically has evolved, you know, we get into the caveman mentality, and that, you know, the first man all he ever said was ug, and you know, and then, we somewhere billions of years or millions of years later, he was able to invent the wheel.

And if you think about it from a biblical perspective, is that the way the Bible presents it? No, absolutely not. Matter of fact, the Bible presents it almost completely opposite, doesn't it? Because man was made in the image of God, and if anybody had understanding, it certainly was Adam.

Wouldn't you think? I mean, so much that God entrusted Adam to name the animals and to have dominion. And it's, when you read something like this of a man named Job, that he has such wisdom, as people compare it to, again, the caveman mentality, and now we are the tip of the spear because, you know, we can fly around the world, but we don't know where the world came from, but we can still fly around the world.

Again, it's

I doubt very seriously that. Adam walked around saying, "'Ugh.'".

No, matter of fact, yeah, I mean

Where did that knowledge, where did that, where did that, I'm just talking out loud. Where did that knowledge come from? I mean, we have Genesis, we have the words that they spoke and the things that they did and how they spoke,.

And where'd it come from?

I mean

Man made in the image of God, right? And you think about it, although sin destroyed much of man's abilities, yet he retained and remained intellectual to the point where he could have dominion over. Again, this philosophy of man's ascension is in many ways opposed.

Again, as Job speaks about this, I mean, Job is a well-rounded guy, isn't he? I mean, he's not no fool, and yet there are other times, and we'll look at it as we begin to look at some of the verses, that Job is still struggling.

And I think that's Would you agree that a Christian knows so much more than an unbeliever? If nothing else,.

Let's think about this.

What is the difference between the worldview of a believer and an unbeliever? I've got three things in mind.

What do you think?

It's in the right order, but creation.

Yeah, he knows who made him, right? No doubt, there's no doubt. We're not worried about millions of years and toads and space and aliens, and you know, what else? I'll say this. He knows who made him, and he knows why he's here.

And I'm not just talking about men when I say he. Isn't that one of the distinctions that a Christian has that the unbeliever doesn't have?

He knows why he's here.

He's here to glorify God, right?

And that's what it says in that, what is the chief end of men? That's what it says in the Westminster Confessions, chief end of man is to what? Glorify God and enjoy him forever. There's another thing that so much of the world misses.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Why he's here, and we could add that in, God's control, that things don't happen by chance, right? Job didn't think that this developed out of chaos. If you think about that, that is such a foolish thought that just, I remember I had a conversation with my son-in-law, my daughter was still married to him.

This is another daughter that I have. And I remember talking to him. He was, he taught computer science at Georgia Tech. This dude was nothing but a genius in so many ways. He was, I remember asking him one time, what have you been working on at Georgia Tech?

And he was writing a program for blind and deaf people so that they could learn how to read. He was writing a software program. So this guy was super smart. And I remember one day, and I asked him,.

I said, where did we all come from?

And he said, you know what? It's all a matter of serendipity.

And I said, it's what?

I just built that.

Again, he went to Georgia Tech, you know what I mean?

And he said, serendipity, and what he was really saying.

Was it happens there.

It just happens.

And I asked him, I said, are you satisfied with that?

And he says, I don't need anything more.

It's just a bunch of chaos that came into order.

You know, I really like number three because can you imagine, can Andy imagine, can I imagine going through the things that we go through and having to rely on yourself to get through it?

Absolutely, or not being able to put any sort of understanding to it, right?

Let me just add, because you added that one, doesn't it?

Sure.

Especially when things are not going good, right? That's when we really, that becomes more of an anchor, right, because a lot of times we think we're just cruising along. But when you think about it, the world doesn't think this.

Now, they might have different variations of it, but if you really think about it, the unbeliever really doesn't know who made him. Now, they might come up with a scientific explanation and certainly there's a biological explanation, but they really don't know that God is the creator.

And that's such a loss, isn't it?

And then they don't know why they're here.

And then many people get stuck here. They don't know the purpose of life. And you look at someone like Job, and again, as you said, Job has to continually remind himself that God's in control because his life is basically out of control, right?

And yet, he knows why he's here and he has said that and he's gonna continue to say that. He knows he's here to serve the Almighty. And we're gonna focus in on that a little bit.

You know, I think even with everything that we go through,.

You can almost add another one.

I think Christians are a lot more content. I mean, overall, I know we go through issues and we have issues and I think contentment should be one of those.

All right, let me ask you to think about this. Isn't all that, the fruit of it, the result of it is peace? To your point, right? Because that's what it yields. Again, my son-in-law said he didn't need anything more than the fact that it was serendipity.

But you know what?

Serendipity doesn't bring peace because you don't know when it's your turn in the chaos. It's almost like you never know what number's gonna come out for the lottery, right?

Which way the wind's blowing.

Yeah, which way the wind's gonna blow? Is my house gonna blow down? But this is the result of this. And this world, in many ways, that's the worldview that we hold, right? And very few, in reality, truly hold that.

And as you look at Job and as you look at where he's at and what he is saying in just these two chapters, he has a really good grasp on life. And again, a good grasp on life will bring peace.

What else?

Along with peace, it brings, what you said, Dan, right?

Rest.

And then if you do that, then it brings contentment. You would think, right? Remember what it says about the unbeliever in Isaiah? It says the unbeliever is like the troubled sea, which cannot find rest, and all it does is kick up dirt and mire.

And then Isaiah says, by God's decree, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Now again, if we understand who the wicked are, the wicked is not necessarily the Saddam Hussein, or we make that to be, that's the wicked man.

But the wicked is the one who doesn't acknowledge this. And therefore, because they know the judgment passed upon them is they can't have these things. Now they might find them in some other things, but in reality, and I.

And that's part of the contentment thing.

I was talking about, because outside of God,.

For the most part, people are, their main objective is to acquire.

Yeah, to gain, to try to find.

And there's nothing wrong with not liking that stuff.

Sure.

But it's not, and it shouldn't be the Christian's main goal. It's what we can attain, you know, worldly speaking.

And the reason for that is because we know that ultimately those things will not get us here, right? They bring, they might substitute for a while, and certainly, yeah, I mean, I've always said if I had a choice to die between either being a poor Christian or a rich Christian, I'll die being a rich Christian.

Honestly.

Honestly. As long as I'm a Christian, I'm cool with it, right? I'd rather have more than less. And I'm not saying that it drives me, but there's nothing wrong with things, right? The only thing that's.

Purpose is in perspective.

Right.

The things that we have ought not to cause us to forget this. So as you look at Job, and we're gonna see as we get a little further in these chapters, Job's gonna draw a contrast. And his contrast is gonna be where he was, what he has, and what he has now, where he is now.

And it's deeply troubling. I actually wanted to read this to you. This was a quote from a commentator. One of the commentators that I look at in the study of Job. And he said this about these chapters.

Basically chapter 26 through 31. He said, the remainder of Job's speech, now for the first time, called his parable. Because in some translations, and I don't know if any of you have that. It says, moreover, Job continued his parable in first one.

But nevertheless, consists of his determination not to renounce his righteousness. We'll see that in the opening verses. And then it goes on in the rest of chapter 27. And it talks about his estimate of the fate of the wicked.

And then his magnificent estimate of the nature of the wisdom of God in chapter 28, which is what we read. And then his comparison of his former life in chapter 29 with that of his present experience in chapter 30.

And his final declaration of his innocent and irreproachable conduct in chapter 31. And then Elihu comes in. So again, this is where I said to you, I do think we're gonna see more of the heart of Job now that maybe we've seen before.

And yet he's still confused. Other points, he's crystal clear. I understand that because in certain points, I mean, I don't have any doubt about this, do you? I mean, this is fixed. I'm not worried about aliens coming down and taking me away.

I mean, by the way, if there are aliens, that's God's business, it sure ain't mine. But I know that I'm made in the image of God and God's given me dominion. So I have these things in my mind, but I will tell you this, and I hope you would agree,.

I don't always have that.

Remember what it says? It says, Isaiah 26, it says, thou will, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you, whose mind has stayed on you. One of the reasons why we get anxious, restless, uptight, out of sight, whatever way you wanna term it, is because we lose sight of this.

Because this really leads to worship and obedience. And when we fall off that wagon, you can't possibly have those things because God's attached these together. And we can make that list bigger if we wanted.

So with that, let's look at the first few verses in chapter 27, like verses one through six. Because this, to me, is a complete thought that he has, and it's concerning. Although Job don't fully understand the situations he's in, look at these words that he says, verses one through six.

Said, moreover, Job continued his discourse and said, as God lives, who has taken away my justice, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils.

Now, in verses one and two, what is he really saying? He knows that it's God who afflicted him. He knows that although he might not know the reason, and he might not know the outcome, he knows who's done it.

And again, if we fixed our minds on this, these things would help us to understand no matter what happens to us. And as you talked about control, no matter what befalls me, it's God. Ultimately, that don't mean there's not evil agents, and it doesn't mean sin doesn't bring its consequences, but over it all is what?

His God, because God is sovereign over all. And so no matter how you look at it, and Job understands this, and I wanted to point this out. In verse two, as God live, who has taken away my justice, and the Almighty.

And it's interesting that word Almighty. I went and looked up the original word, and the original word in the original language, in the Hebrew language, is El Shaddai. And El Shaddai means the all-powerful one.

So I want you to think about that. As a matter of fact, I went and looked how many times it's used in the Bible. In the Bible, that name of God, because that's one of the names of God is El Shaddai. That name is given to us 57 times in the Bible, in the whole Bible.

Well, guess what?

31 of those 57 times are in the book of Job. And Job acknowledges God continually as the Almighty. And it's important at times to know the different names, because the different names give us not a totally different book, but they help us to understand.

And so to your point that you said before about the control, that's exactly what Job is saying. As God lives and has taken away my justice, and the Almighty has made my soul bitter, he acknowledges God as in control.

And again, no hesitation on that. Remember in the beginning of the book, when we read and we had that discussion about Satan, did Satan cause all these maladies to come upon Job? Oh, because remember, Satan said touches his life, touches skin, and he'll curse you, and God gave him permission.

And we can get into a whole discussion, and I don't know if this is the right time, about the distinction between what men have called, or some have called the decretive will of God and the permissive will of God.

Does anybody, you wanna take a shot at what the distinction is between the decretive will of God and what men have called the permissive will of God?

What men consider?

Yeah, well, some men have come up with that term, because listen, as you look at life, life isn't crystal clear, right? And so in order to try to understand the outworkings of the providence of God, men have come up with these different terms, and one of them is the decretive will of God, the other one is the permissive will of God.

And simply, what it's trying to do, is say that there are certain things that God has decreed to come to pass. Set in stone. Set in stone. And then when men say the permissive will of God, they'll say things like, the permissive will of God is the things that God permitted.

And that's how they get around, some get around the fact that when, when evil takes place, almost some wanna say, well, that's by the permissive will of God, that God allowed it, God permitted it to come to pass.

And it's used as a defense when people say that God is not the author of sin, which we would agree, right? God is not the author of sin. And you can get into this whole discussion, okay, well, if God's not the author of sin, how did sin enter into the world?

Was it by decree or was it by permission? And so men, and I'm not totally opposed to that, but I think we have to be very careful that we don't lose sight that God is absolutely in control. And I could show you places in Isaiah where it says, and other places where it says, where God says, can there be evil in the city and I not be there?

I mean, God is God. I mean, we could splice it and dice it. I think we splice and dice because we're confused. And certainly God's not confused, whether we wanna call it the decree of will, the permissive will, whatever it is.

But to that point, Job understands God has afflicted him. He doesn't know why, but he knows who did it. And so, and what was the complaint of his friends against him? Their complaint in many way was, Job, you brought this on yourself, right?

And that's the confusion that his friends had in comparison to Job. And you'll see as we just look at the rest of these verses, Job is going to maintain his integrity and say things like he says this in verse three, as long as my breath is in me, by the way, when you were praying this morning, I was thinking about this.

Because just that thought alone, that every single breath we take is under the control of the Almighty, right? And you know, here's something that, and it poked me in my mind. Remember when Jesus said, without me, you can do nothing.

I wonder sometimes if we think of that as far as events. Like, yeah, Lord, I won't be able to succeed in life unless you help me. And that certainly is true. But when Jesus said, I really believe we should expand.

When he said, without me, you could do nothing, he meant every breath. He meant every millisecond of every thing conceivable without me, you can do nothing.

How about our health?

Yeah, I mean, and we think about that and thank God for medicine, thank God for surgeons, thank God for many external things. But again, who's the source of all that anyway? It's God. So when he says this now in verse three, as long as my breath is in me and the breath of God, again, he knows that it comes from God, is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness, nor my heart, nor my tongue utter deceit, far be it for me.

And this is where I think he's, if you will, jabbing his friends, far be it for me that I should say you are right because their accusation was the other way around. Their accusation was, God is punishing you because you brought this on, because you've lived the secret life, you've been a hypocrite, you've done all these evil things and Job is saying, I'm not gonna give into that because remember, that's one thing.

As I said to you in the past, Job could have easily, I think, said to those guys, you know what, get lost. I don't need you. I got enough issues, just go home, leave me alone. But Job never, he never turned back from maintaining his integrity.

He says, far be it for me that I should say you are right. Then he says this, and this is a great statement on his part, till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me. My righteousness, I will hold fast and will not let it go.

My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live. In other words, Job is saying he's been truthful, he has not lived a life of secret sin and that he's not gonna let that go. And if you think about that, what he's really saying, I think what he's really saying in many ways, he has a clear conscience.

And I don't know about you, but a clear conscience, a good conscience is a great companion. Because the other thing is also true. A unclear conscience is not very friendly, if you think about it. I mean, you know,.

It's usually in the believer.

Yeah, right, because the unbeliever does what? He subdues, he ignores, he suppresses his conscience in many ways, right? The believer, I mean, the believer is truly sorry when he steals the cookie from the cookie jar, right?

The unbeliever just, the only time he's really sorry is when he gets caught. And that's what it says, and Paul brings that up because he says that the sorrow of this world works death and the sorrow of sinning against God works repentance.

So to that end, yeah, and again, I can go back to these things. The reason why our conscience remains clear is because not only do we truly believe this, we live accordingly. And I would actually think there isn't one of us here that can say we've always maintained a good conscience.

And I don't think any of us would want other people to know the things that have caused us to have a guilty conscience. I've often thought about that. Can you imagine if that little bubble was above our head and everything that we were thinking was out in the open for other people to see?

I would never go anywhere.

No, sir, no, sir.

I'd stay at home.

You'd stay in a dark cellar somewhere. Sure, right, because we all have that.

Listen, you don't even know the thoughts. They pop into my head.

No, sir, I don't need any of your junk. I got enough junk. I know, I know.

It'll make you ashamed.

It does, and that conscience is really being prompted by the spirit of God that's in us, right? So again, when you think about that, the conscience of the unbeliever, there might be some semblance of sorrow for doing a particular thing, but the sorrow really doesn't find its basis in God, finds its basis in self or others, right?