Job 13

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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I want to clarify something that I said last week from time to time

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I go back and I listen to what I say it's a little painful but anyway

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I do want to clarify something that I said last week at one point and I was seeking to stress the fact that we knew that Job was a righteous man because certainly it book opens up and states that but as I tried to stress that I said there is nowhere in the book where we can determine the state of the three friends and although it's not a specific statement there is certainly an inference at the end of the book and we'll get to it at some point of the status of his friends but I wanted to clarify that so it is my misunderstanding that there is certainly if you will scripture that would help to give us an understanding of the state of his three friends but it wasn't as clear as it is in in in the case of Job okay having said that let's read the chapter chapter 13 and Job continues his response remember what

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I said now chapter 12 through chapter 14 is really pretty much one of the main defenses of Job against his friends who have made these continual allegations and ongoing if you will assaults against his character and and again they continually say you've sowed now you reap you're getting what you deserve at one point they say you're actually getting less than what you deserve and and this is really tearing

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Job down and so in these three chapters before they come back with another set of speeches he responds to the three friends and in these chapters it's you'll see it in chapter 13 as well as it was in chapter 12 and 14

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Job is a really good understanding of things well let's just read the chapter chapter 13 behold my eye has seen all this this is

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Job my ear has heard and understood it what you know I know I'm not inferior than you but I would speak to the

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Almighty and I desire to reason with God but you forges of lies you are worthless physicians oh that you were silent and it would be your wisdom now here my reasoning and heed the pleadings of my lips and will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him will you show partiality for him will you contend for God will it be well when he searches you out can you mock him as one mocks a man he will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality will not his excellence make you afraid and the dread of him fall upon you and you your platitudes or proverbs of ashes and your defenses are defenses of clay hold your peace with me and let me speak then let come on me what may why do

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I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands and though he slay me yet will

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I trust him even so I will defend my own ways before him he also shall be my salvation but the hypocrite could not come before him listen for hypocrite could not come before him listen diligently to my speech and to my declaration with your ears see now

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I have prepared my case I know that I shall be vindicated who is he who will contend with me if now

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I hold my tongue I perish only two things do not do to me then

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I will not hide myself from you withdraw your hand far from me and let not the dread of you make me afraid then call and I will answer well let me speak and then you respond to me how many are my iniquities and sins make me to know my transgression and my sin why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy will you frighten the leaf driven to and fro and will you pursue dry stubble for you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth and you put my feet in the stocks and watch closely all my paths and you set a limit for the souls of my feet man decays like a rotten thing like a garment that is worthy come on there so as you see as I hope you notice in the beginning of the chapter he's directing his words directly to the three friends and then beginning in chapter

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I've been in verse 20 I think that's where we begin to see now he comes before God and speaks directly to the

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Lord but we'll get to that in due time so just to recap in chapter 13 starts out the same way chapter 12 started out if you remember he said the same thing in the beginning of chapter 12 where he said no doubt you are the people and wisdom will die with you but I have understanding as well

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I'm not inferior to you and that's exactly what he he says again and I think he's continually says these things because well let me pose it to you as something to think about Job is

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I believe he's truly frustrated that he cannot in a sense not that he needs to but he's seeking to he cannot convince his friends to believe his words and then and I think you and I could relate to that somewhat don't you at times feel frustrated when you try to convey a thought and I don't care if it's a big thought or a little thought but you try to convey to someone else what you're thinking and what's really in your mind and no matter how much you try to to convey that they kind of say no that's not that's not true and I don't know about you but if if that happens it's easy to get a little bit frustrated it's almost like aren't you not listening to me but I think that's in a sense why

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Job continually keeps repeating that he's not inferior to these three friends and and remember now let me pose it as a question do you not think that his friends think that do you think his friends think themselves superior than Job why what why would why are they thinking that way what what is it that about the situation that lends to that thought that they think and I and he says that at the beginning of chapter 12 right he says no doubt you're the people and wisdom will die with you why is that so they're trouble -free

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Caleb absolutely that their situation is in in their mind they are on the right side and Job is on the what the wrong side and again lends credence to this thought about they are really making judgments based on what they see in other words they're allowing experience to guide them and they're speaking for God based on the experience that they see in Job's eyes so yeah they do think that there

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I think that they're in a sense of almost a little bit like a

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Pharisee that they remember the Pharisee I thank you God that I'm not like the rest of the

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Republican and you know and I I do this and I fast and I pray and all these great things and I think this is really agitating

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Job I mean his situation is terrible right again not like he's sitting in the

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AC watching watching football with his legs up on the on the table he's struggling and so he makes these statements over and over again and so as we we think about this

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I think it helps us as we think about our own lives be careful how we make judgments be careful how we determine things in other words it's not always we need to make perceptions right we need to make judgments we consciously and even unconsciously take things in and every one of us do the same thing we process and then we make a perception and then we make a judgment based on that perception we ought to be very cautious in that that we're not allowing ourselves to be guided solely by experience but experience lends into it right

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I mean we basically do see and perceive and and we need to make judgments based upon that but we need to be careful and so just something to understand because I think that if you consider what he says in this chapter

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Job really understands not only much of what they have said but I think he has a better grip on it than them again he's making an honest declaration of what's in his heart so then he says in verse 2 what you know

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I know I'm not inferior to you and look at verse 3 I would speak to the Almighty and I desired a reason with God yeah

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I thought this was interesting so if you've noticed as we've been going through the book of Job many times

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God is addressed as the Almighty and that word is El Shaddai and what's interesting is and I went back and I looked and I found that there are 57 times in the

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Bible where God is addressed El Shaddai the all -powerful one what

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I thought was interesting is out of those 57 times 31 of them were in the book of Job and it's not only

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Job who calls God the all -powerful one but his friends do it too so when he when he says this

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I would speak to the Almighty and I desired a reason with God that word for God there is

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Jehovah but it's interesting to me that he acknowledges God as the all -powerful one as the as the one who has no enemies no rivals no equals nothing to stop him and again so his friends have that thought also but can you not see what

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Job is beginning to say in his defense is is basically I can't listen to you anymore

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I'm gonna deal directly with God and why would he say that what what what does

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Job know perhaps that even as his friends are unaware of he knows his true state of heart before God right he's confused as could be in the affairs of life and certainly we would say we can understand that but but Job he says

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I'm gonna come before the all -powerful one I'm gonna plead my case before him and the reason why

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I'm gonna do that is look what he says in verse 4 you his friends you are forges of lies and you are worthless physicians and I thought about that I thought about how you know what at the end of all the different things that we could consider are we not all do we not all have to deal with God one -on -one ultimately that's where it is right the the reality is

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God has did God create us to be isolated

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God created us to be to inhabit the earth right God created us to to have dealings with the creation have dominion over the creation and God also created us to do what to have relationships one with another but ultimately where does our where does it all come down to it at that time it comes down to I am before God you are before God and I wonder at times if we get so caught up with what perhaps what what other people think what other people perceive because ultimately other people are not the ones that we're going to bow down to while they we are all gonna bow the knee to Christ so when you think about that when you think about what he's saying here he realizes that his ultimate judge is far beyond Eliphaz Bildad and Zophas and that he looks at them and maybe it would be you have to careful how

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I say this perhaps it would not be that much of a thought to joke if his friends had come and really brought comfort but guess what they don't they he says to them that you are worthless physicians

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I don't know about you I don't want to go to a worthless doctor right

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I don't want a worthless carpenter building my house I don't I don't want people that are worthless being involved with things that are important to me and that's what he's basically saying he's saying that you are you're of no use to me matter of fact not only do you know used to me but but you're actually you have no real value here and I wanted to ask us to think about that if you were to evaluate yourself concerning others how would you do that and how would you gauge yourself do you would you think that by the grace of God you are useful or are we useless and certainly

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I think we would all agree God would have us to be what useful not useless and so again our words right certainly their words their whole demeanor about job is really not positive how about us how do people perceive how am

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I perceived as useful or useless a value of no value do

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I do I give what do I take do I lift up who do

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I cause to others to feel less those are those are big thoughts for us right and and sometimes

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I would think even in our relationships sometimes in the most intimate of relationships we need to remember we are always to be useful right is that not what the

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Bible teaches as far as our relationships one another we are always to have a speech of what grace seasoned with salt how many of us would say that time many times the things that we say are rather useless rather than useful something to think about as we go through so he says that to them your forges of lies your worthless positions

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I like verse 5 because I almost want to say what I think he's saying all of you we sign

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I think he's told to shut up I think he's so fed up with them that he's basically saying shut up because they're not listening to him and again if if you think about what his friends have been doing to him

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I don't have blame Joe for saying just just shut your face and he says and it would be your wisdom basically you're not doing me any good matter of fact you're just throwing wood on the fire here in my situation so why don't you just be quiet and it would be wiser remember what it says in Proverbs it says what it says about a fool remember that verse it says even if a fool even a fool if he holds his lips is what counted as wise how many of us would have to say there's been so many times in our life that after we say something useless that verse comes to our mind we would have been better off having said nothing than to say what we did say so he says that to me it would be basically it'd be better for you guys to be quiet and hear my reasoning that's what he says in verse 6 hear my reasoning and heed the pleadings of my lips again

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I think he's trying to say listen to me don't be so sure about yourselves and then in verse 7 he starts to move it down a little bit and he says this in the next couple of verses will you speak wickedly for God will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for him will you partiality for him will you contend for God I think what he's trying to say you're trying to come and act as if you understand as God understands and you're gonna take what you've seen and you're gonna make a determination for God because that's basically what they have said right they have said you've sinned against God Job now you're getting what you deserve on what authority can they say that they really can't say that and and so Job is coming after them and he's saying that in the way that they are acting and speaking towards him that they're seeking to take the place of God that they're seeking to be the judge of all the earth and that's no bueno is it and again we ought to make judgments what did

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Jesus say he says judge not according to appearance but why it's a judge righteous judgment so again

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I am NOT saying and you know many people in the world will say well you can't judge we shouldn't judge each other is that true not certainly not true is there is there some truth in that statement yeah sure

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I don't know how many times I've come out of my closet with the wrong clothes on and my wife said go back in the closet and I've learned to just say yes ma 'am and then

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I think about what I've done and I say you know you're right actually I did it this morning nevertheless but again we're not saying that we shouldn't make judgments and we're not even saying we shouldn't admonish one another and we're not saying that we shouldn't speak rightly with one another what we are saying and what

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I think Job is saying is you've taken this Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar you're taking this to a level that you have no right you're actually gonna try to speak for God concerning my state before him that doesn't that doesn't fly and so when he says these things and I wonder how his friends are taking this because remember now they were all there well in whatever way this is working out they're all there and something

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I've been thinking about because we as we move on to book who's the fourth friend that comes in later in the book

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Elihu and as that fourth friend comes in Elihu he speaks things in a much better way and made me think that Elihu is listening to these things because he's part of this matter of fact well no

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I won't say I'm not so sure there aren't others around in this scenario others that are listening but again the scriptures are relatively quiet about that so I should be also so he says will you speak equally for God talk to see fully for him will you show partiality will you contend for God and then he says in verse 9 will it be well when he searches you out almost to me as if he's saying guess what fellas you're before God too just as I'm before the

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Almighty so are you and if you want to say that God is judging me well what about you where will you be when

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God searches you out matter of fact later on and we'll see it I forgot which chapter it's in he says

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Job says if I were in your shoes Eliphaz, Bilbad, Zophaz I would comfort you but you are miserable comforters to me so he's kind of taking this in turn this around in in this verse in verse 9 will it be well when he searches you out or can you mock him as one mocks a man and so as he's turning these things around and basically reproving them and that's what he says in verse 10 he will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality and the partiality would be that they've made a judgment they've assigned to Job a determination and they're being partial because of that determination and so when he says that he says when he will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality and will not his excellence make you afraid and the dread of him fall upon you and then he says this in verse 12 your platitudes are proverbs of ashes your defenses are defenses of clay again his evaluation of them is really not that great is it just to me he's basically just saying what he's been saying you guys are worthless to me you know no help you're more harm and I'm just gonna appeal to God because he's the one ultimately that I am going to have to answer to so in verse 13 he says this hold your peace with me and let me speak and again this is

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Job is trying to get them to listen and they're not listening how many of us as we were bringing up kids we'd have said that listen to me and basically when kids perceive that you're at the point where you no longer understand life you know what

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I'm talking about right and all of a sudden they understand everything and you're trying to get them to listen and they've already determined that you're just an old goat and you don't know you don't know what they know and some ways

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I'm thankful I don't know what yeah absolutely yeah when things go bad then of course but but it's just interesting how he says this when he says hold your peace and let me speak and then he says this then let come on me what may and I think that's a place for us to to really consider and maybe and I was reading a couple of the commentators on this just to get some other thoughts maybe some of have suggested that in verse 13 where he says hold your peace and let me speak is is where his friends tried to perhaps stop him and Job saying no no just listen that then maybe they had they had they now they got to be getting mad they got to be getting a little bit hot under the collar but Job is doing to them what they've done to Job and Job's returning the favor right and he called

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I don't know about you but if someone told me I was a worthless physician and your platitudes of proverbs of ashes and you it would be hard for me to learn or control my tongue so basically it could be that that as he says to hold your peace and let me speak and then he says and then let come on me what may again his integrity is that he knows and you'll see it as we get to verse 15 he knows that he is let me ask you can we be right with God and wrong in our evaluation of things at the same time okay

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I see a lot of that so let's expand that thought a little bit can we be right with God and wrong in our evaluation or in our judgments or in our speech because because we're still where we're still in the flesh yeah we're still in this in this contaminated body your flesh mine again we we can be right with God and in a sense not always right with God and I want to be careful because I don't want to be misunderstood very yeah because there's what there's only one truth right there's a lot of applications of truth but there is only one truth so we would need to be careful on that but Burt were you gonna say something

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I thought I saw you that's right yeah and and again that should be something that causes us to pause rather than run forward and I don't know about you

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I have a tendency sometimes to run forward right to do the

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Peter thing just just barge in and it's it's it's not easy to truly stop and consider in every situations and again especially in relationships where you feel comfortable look at those when you meet a stranger

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I don't know about you when I meet a stranger I'm usually pretty cautious at first I don't know what what's in front of me right versus when

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I'm talking to someone I have a relationship with sometimes I feel so comfortable

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I just and again that's not good right because again if we think of ourselves as being those who ought to be useful versus useless then every situation ought to be one in which we are careful right that's the missing piece we know what

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God says to look for but even in that we don't know again

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I'll go back to the thought about the the the things that we talked about the things in creation so what was it 11 ,000 people were taken out in that flood in Libya the other day 11 ,000 people were lost in the flood now remember what we looked at we looked at in Psalm 148 and it's also in Job by the way where God says that he sends things whether that be water or disasters in that sense he says he sends it for one of three things for the land for judgment or for mercy and so you and I have to ask ourselves and not not not in every situation but it would be hard for us to say would it be right for us to say to all those people in Libya they're probably

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Muslims they deserve what they got how do we know how do we make that determination we shouldn't make that the term we don't know what

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God is doing to your point the things that that God has revealed should help us to make judgments but even the things revealed there's always that thought of the secret will that God is completing certainly in the outworking of life and again something to just think about so he says the you know hold your peace be quiet guys let me let it come on me what may then he says in verse 14 and this one is not that easy to understand at least

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I struggled with a little bit when he says why do I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands

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I may have any thoughts on what he's saying there I mean I have some thoughts on it but so I think that's that's probably the what's really he's saying in other words he's saying listen

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I'm suffering I am struggling in my life let me just let me just go at it and then he said that in verse 13 which

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I think is the thought that helps us to understand it which is hold you peace let me speak then let come on me what may and remember

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Job is is he's at wit's end folks he's not in he's not on solid spiritual standing right now and again he's right with God but he's shaky at best and so he does say that he says uh let me just let me let me just keep on going guys here let me just keep on speaking in my misery in my my suffering in my in the situation of my life and and I put my life in my own hands and then we come to verse 15 and we'll probably need to stay here for a little bit because he says this this which is one of the great statements to me in the book of Job where he says that though he slay me yet while I praise him that is a well let me ask you give me some thoughts some feedback on what you think that that really is setting out though he slay me yet will

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I trust him okay he's um he's in the middle of if he was in the middle of suffering and he still says even in the middle of my suffering even in the middle of what

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I can't figure out I still will trust him that's to me reveals the integrity of Job's heart and it's the thing that and let me help by suggesting this because I went and I look

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I wanted to see how these words worked out so when he says though he slay me

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I went and looked up that word and how that word is used and what I found out was that that word most of the time almost exclusively is used of a physical death not spiritual death physical death and so I think that's what he's saying he's saying you know what

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I'm at such a point in my life and in though he slay me though because I don't believe well me phase that for as a question do you think that job at this point thinks he's gonna come out of this situation

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I'm not so sure he he believes that he's gonna recover from this I think he thinks that he's about to expire and that even in that he's gonna trust

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God but that's the way that word is used it usually carries the thought of being cut off physically and I could so yeah yeah because when we looked at that we thought about that we were kind of throwing some things back and forth about what was she really saying what was was she so depressed by the situation that she just basically says job just get it over with or what she's saying job you're a fool once you just curse

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God and die was it one of was her statement to job one of disbelief or one of belief with frustration and we'll deal with that later in the book because lo and behold guess what

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I think I believe his wife comes back into the situation and we'll see that at a later point but yeah he says though he slayed me yet I will praise him his ultimate trust is in God really yeah

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I mean that's the that's the thing his friends can't get over right they keep calling they've called him a hypocrite a bunch of times and Job maintains his integrity and he really is saying that I'm not what you think

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I am they have already made this judgment let me read to you a comment that was made one of the commentators

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I looked at for this was with Benson maybe you've heard of Benson but anyway let me just read what he says concerning though you slay me he says this but though God should yet more and more increase my torments this is what he's saying

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Job is thinking but God but though God should yet more and more increase increase my torments so that I can bear them no longer but perceive myself to be at the point of death without any hope of recovery yet I will trust him or more exactly to the

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Hebrew text shall I not trust him shall I despair no I will not

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I know he is a just a faithful a merciful God and he knows that my heart is upright before him and that I am no hypocrite but I will maintain my own ways though I trust them yet I will humbly apostolate the matter with him and it says in the

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Hebrew it's I will argue prove demonstrate my ways that is I will make a free and full confession of the whole cost of my life and I will boldly though submissively assert my own integrity which he also

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I doubt not will acknowledge and what I have done amiss I will freely confess and make my supplication to my judge for the pardon of it before him and I think that's a pretty good statement to think about that is that not the case with us is it one of the most marvelous truths that though we are at times sinful and though many times we offend and though many times we don't do what we ought to do and though many times our iniquities cause us pain sorrow hurt that you and I can still say

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I will still trust him because he is the one who ultimately you remember not too long ago we had a message on the fact that God has delivered us is delivering us and will yet deliver us and in that there is such hope isn't it again my hope is not in me my goodness if my hope is in me

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I'm done but my hope is in the fact that even if I am judged of him in this life

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I cannot be judged of him in that day and the reason is simply

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Christ right yeah

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I think the point is as we grow in the faith and we'll end up pretty much with this as we grow in the faith we should be learning to run to God rather than from God Alice our the work of the

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Holy Spirit in us is to cause us to draw closer to him and not farther from him and even in our sin we ought to become more accustomed

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I'm gonna do this is I'm gonna do a Wednesday night here in just a couple of weeks and one of the things

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I'm gonna try to show is the example of Peter and I'll just say this in one in one way

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Peter sought to run away and in another sense

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Peter runs to Christ you know I'm gonna reserve to the scripture till then but but yeah

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I think that's even so don't slay me alive trust him because at the end of the day friends what

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I think would you think what anyone thinks about anything is is is good but might not be right so that's his integrity that he's not a hypocrite and that doesn't mean he doesn't do hypocritical things right

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I mean I could say I could say that I'm not a hypocrite but that doesn't mean even if that were true that doesn't mean

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I don't do things because what is a hypocrite anyway what's the essence of the definition of a hypocrite an actor right hey so it it's like I think about it a lot because when we come and see each other first thing on Sunday morning how you doing

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I'm good and and then you go to an expert how you doing good and how

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I'm fine listen no we're not and even in that sense even if we are truly good in that way there's just this reality that we don't always we're pretty good at acting you might not ever get an

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Oscar but but as we go through this as we continue and look at this chapter and we'll finish it hopefully next week

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I want you to begin to think how he takes this defense of himself against his friends and he more and more presents it before God and then he asked

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God in verse 20 through the end of the chapter which is interesting he prays to God for two things and we'll we'll talk about that and whether or not it was the best thing to pray for we have some discussion around that because which one of us would say we always know what to pray for and is that not why the

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Spirit himself was the same Romans the Spirit himself helps us right why because we don't even know what to ask for and it says in Hebrews that he ever lives to do what to make intercession for us so alrighty that's about all we have for now let's pray our father in God thank you for your word thank you for the ability to open it up and to consider things

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Lord and where we are wrong correct us where we are right strengthen us

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Lord and now be with us in our worship Lord may we truly sing from a heart that is overflowing with thanks for you thanks for what you've done thanks for what you will yet do in our lives until that day when the

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King himself shall come every eye shall see him and and we'll see him as he is