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About the different parts of man and I thought it was I enjoyed it. I hope you did too because again just to think about some different things and even this morning I'm gonna try to pull out a couple of thoughts that might be a little different from just looking directly at the text but we'll see how that goes.
So Job chapter 10 as Job continues his response to Bildad for Bildad's accusations against him which seemed to be the way things are going right. Eliphaz kind of accused Job and now Bildad is has made his accusations about Job's life and his secret sins and and that you know he's basically getting what he deserves and and Job is responding.
So Job 10 one says my soul loads my life and I will give free cost to my complaint. And I will speak in a bitterness of my soul and I will say to God do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Does it seem good to you that you should oppress. That you should despise the works of your hands and shine on the counsel of the wicked. Do you have eyes of flesh or do you see as man sees. Or your days like the days of a mortal man and your years like days of a mighty man.
That you should seek for my iniquity. Search out my sin. And although you know I am NOT wicked and there is no one that can deliver out of your hand. Your hands have made me and fastened me an intricate unity.
Yet you would destroy me. Remember I pray that you have made me like clay. You have turned me into dust and will you turn me into dust again. Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese and clothed me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews.
And you have granted me life and favor and your care has preserved my spirit and these things you have hidden in your heart. And I know that this was with you. If I sin then you mock me and will not equip me of my iniquity.
If I am wicked woe to me even if I'm righteous I cannot lift my head. I'm full of disgrace see my misery. If my head is exalted you hunt me like a fierce lion. And again you show yourself awesome against me.
And you renew your witness against me and increase your indignation towards me. And changes and war are ever with me. Why have you brought me out of the womb. Oh that I had perished when no I had seen me.
I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days. Few cease. Leave me alone. That I may take a little comfort before I go to the place from which I shall not return to the land of darkness and the shadow of death.
The land of dark a land is darkness is darkness itself as the shadow of death without any order where light or even the light is like darkness. So again we started to look at it last week particularly looked at verses 1 2 and got into that discussion about the soul.
And so I want to kind of pick it up in verse 3 but I want to I guess I'll start it this way because I wanted to make a point about what he says particularly in in verse 8 where it says your hands have made me and fashioned me and intricate unity.
Yet you would destroy me. And so it caught my mind to think about that and think about this idea of the intricate unity. And so I did some some research again. I think you'll find it interesting. I was just like I get captivated by this thought of the unity of our body.
How many muscles there are in a human body. I know it because Google told me and I don't know what the difference but some say between 600 and 640 muscles. Okay so we got 206 bones. 600 and 640 muscles.
I guess it depends on. I know brother Tim has probably got a couple of extra. This one I thought was interesting. So there's nerve fibers in your eyes and I knew this because when I had problems my first got my eyes looked at they tell me that there's more nerves in your eyes than any other organ of your body.
But nerve fibers how many do you think would be in a human body. Take a guess 12 2 million nerve fibers just in your eyes alone. Okay this one will really blow your mind. How many miles. And it's in miles.
Two and a half miles two and a half miles and bells this is what they say 60 ,000 miles of veins capillaries arteries. They said you can go around the world twice go around the world twice. And that's the amount of veins arteries capillaries etc etc in the human body and I was gonna do more.
But I started to think about this and I started to think about this whole idea of what job says that he's an intricate unity and and and God had poured him out like milk and curdled him like cheese and clothed him with skin and flesh and knit him together with bones and sinews.
I mean that's that to me that blows my mind. I don't know how you can how you can look at a human body and and and God just spoke it into existence. And I wonder sometimes when we when we think about things and and the relationship of that and that how great is that.
And that's just a couple of categories to have all of that as part of your human body to have 60 ,000 miles of vein and capillaries and arteries and and all these things. So when he says this and and and when you think about it as we work through it just keep that in mind.
Because job is no fool and I'm not sure that he knew that there was 60 ,000 miles of I mean I'll be honest with you I have a hard time believing that. And it wasn't that Google said that I wouldn't believe it.
But even if it's even if it's somewhere near it and even if it was I'm sure the bones are correct because they could definitely do that. But as we work through this I want you to think about that and and and that job is he's complaining but as he complains he's also recognizing how great God is.
And and you and I pretty much probably fall into that same category. Unless you want to say that you never call God into question never complain always just flying high and skipping across the tops of the mountains full of joy and then come back down as you come down to us and we talked about verse 1 really last week and he said I will say to God do not contend me show me why you condemn with contend with me that job is really his friends have condemned him and they have made that accusation towards him that he is under the judgment of God.
And so as Joe responds to them is it is it right for us to question God. Let's just throw that out first. Is it right for us to question God. Yes. Is it right for us to complain to God. Yes. Okay. Would you qualify that by anything brother Lee.
Yeah. So when we if we're going to contend with God it's gonna have to be in a sense of humility right sense of inquiry. I mean God says that he he wants us to come to him. Right to be to inquire of him.
But we should not as you say we should not question his character his being. I mean what is it that we always well most of the times the thing that we are questioning is God's providence. If you think about it right.
I mean we're.
Not questioning God's character. Are we. Yeah. I would never say that. I've never complained or questioned or anything like that but almost always when I do when I have those thoughts or or things like that comes my mind.
Almost always when I do that the next thing my mind thinks of is who are you old man. Yeah.
Absolutely. And that's that's the Spirit of God. And I believe that's the Spirit of God in us that's correcting our minds and kind of bringing us to where we should be. But yeah I agree with you. And let's put it this way it's not a pleasant thing to complain against God.
And so when you do that usually or if it's not that who are you it's again you just start thinking about stuff like this. I mean just you start complaining about God and he's the one that's put 60 ,000 miles worth of veins and capillaries and arteries inside of you.
And and it's really what what did I say. The human body is made up of 96 water. Something like that some crazy number of percentage of water and a couple of percentages of chemicals. Right. And the Spirit of God.
And so again it kind of ties in what we talked about last week and it's God is the Creator.
Well the thing that moves us to complain or to question is being in a state of unknown discomfort.
Being without understanding. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And certainly so when we contend with God or when we bring that before God we really just ask it for understanding. Right. We know God is good we know God is right we know God does do anything evil.
But we perceive it in that way. And then we start questioning. And then before you and the problem with that is it's it could be like a spiral staircase going downward and once you start down that staircase sometimes it's kind of hard to stop and you just keep looking down.
And the more you look down the darker it gets. So you just keep going and going and going and going. And so I would say that I'd rather not be one who complains. But I also realized what Paul says. That is the reason why he says do all things without murmuring and disputing.
Right. Because we have a tendency to murmur and dispute. So then he goes on he says does it seem good to you that you should oppress and this is interesting that you should despise the work of your hands and shine on the counsel of the wicked.
And he's he's complaining but he's not really calling God unrighteous. Remember that was the whole thing about Job. Remember what the Satan said if you take the hedge off of him what is he gonna do. He's gonna curse you to your face.
And and God's opening statement of Job was that he was an up my upright man. And even moving in chapter 2 when Satan goes back a second time and and God kind of taunts it says you know you told me if I did this he would turn and look at him now.
And he still hasn't turned. And that's when Satan went you know skin for skin and flesh flesh. So as you look at this and and and this is the way men look at it because he says it in verse 4 he says do you have eyes of flesh.
Do you see as a man sees. Or are your days like the days of a mortal man. And your years like the days of a mighty man. That you should search out my iniquity and I and just ask you to think about that as Job looks at his life and as his friends have been looking at his life they have made this if you will.
Their argument is that God only punishes who the wicked. Right. And that the reason why Job is in the condition he's in is because of that very fact that he's wicked and by insinuation if you will what are they saying about themselves.
Absolutely right. The these three friends by the way they are pretty arrogant at least in my mind they're pretty. They're pretty puffed up about themselves. I mean they're easy. It's easy for them to throw shoot arrows at Job.
Right. Because again that's what they see it to me they're they're kind of like the Pharisees there they were cut above and there and so so what about their lives. Again they are seeing as as men see.
And so when you look at this and Job says does it seem good for you that you should oppress. That you should despise the work here and shine on the counsel of the wicked. Do you have eyes of flesh. Do you see as a man.
Are your days like the days of a mortal man. Are your years like the days of a mighty man. That you should seek for my iniquity. And again Job retains. And this is the thing that more and more is impressed on me as I go through this study to would you is that Job remains and keeps his integrity.
And if we understand what that means and again why he's told us in James that he personally he's given to us as an example of someone who what perseveres who continues on who is in essence full of issues.
And yet he is noted for the very thing that he was one who continued on and and I think he understands the situation is in and you'll see it as we go through the rest of the chapter that look at verse 7 he says this although you know I am NOT wicked and there is no one that can deliver out of your hand.
One of the things that we'll see as we go through this further is that they make this accusation against Job that Job thinks he's sinless that he doesn't deserve any of this. Job never ever says he's sinless.
But he does say I'm not wicked. He does say that he if you will he can't understand it. It's like again when bad things happen to good people it's a little harder to understand than when bad things happen to evil people agree that you and I can make sense in our own minds of the providence of God.
When we see evil people punished for being evil it's very disturbing when you see evil people prosper. And when you see in that sense good people what suffer then there's the other the grand picture if you will that who deserves anything anyway.
Right. So so goodness judgment is is distributed by God according to what according to his his will and his purpose and his mercy. Right. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll compassion on my own compassion.
But even in that sense even the the outworking of God's justice it takes some real wild turns if you will. Right. And again we've talked about this and and you and it's something that continually the prosperity of the wicked.
Because it does seem many times that those very people who do very evil things seem to to just go by and kind of not be brought into the into the judgment for it. And so he says although you know I'm not wicked and there is no one that can deliver from your hands that you and I I think this is one of the themes of the book by the way of course that that neither his friends nor he can understand what's happening.
Right. Let's just put it in a current thought I'm having a hard time understanding the wildfires in Hawaii in and understanding of how people could be so utterly going about their lives one day and then the next day.
I mean that's a tough choice. Do I want to be caught up in the fire. I want to jump in the ocean and people have made decisions. Right. And I mean there's thousands of people missing and you look at such a beautiful place and you see such utter destruction.
And I don't know about you. But it's it's sometimes it's puzzling to put all that stuff together now unless you're gonna say well everyone in Hawaii is is evil and God's just pouring out his judgment.
Would we not think that there are Christians that have been caught up in this. Will we not think that there's been good people people who have tried to help other people caught up in this in this mess.
How do we. It's again hard to make sense of it isn't it. It's hard to make sense of some things in this life. And really you and I have to understand again we deserve nothing matter of fact what we deserve is not what we got.
Right. Because if we got what we deserved we would be cast into the lake of fire. That's what we deserve. So it's not a matter of what we deserve it's. And yet we still struggle back and forth in our lives.
And whether it be wildfires or whether it be a car accident or whether it be sickness or whether it be financial it's I don't care what it is. We find ourselves at times asking God why are you condemning with me.
You know I'm you know I'm not wicked because you're the one that's giving me the grace to to serve you. And yet I'm I'm still stuck in this mess and in in God. Why why is this all taking place. And again is how is it with us.
How do we deal with good. Would you agree with me. That's easy to deal with joy than it is with sorrow. I mean I disagree with that. No who would rather be in the soup every day versus be just floating on the clouds.
Right. It's just it's an amazing thing to think about. And and yet as we go through Job and his friends have one view in many ways their view is the correct view. They have a right view of things. They just make it wrong applications of it.
It's concerning Job's life. So when when you and I think about our lives and think about Job's lives. And and then he goes into verse 8. And this is where again I kind of I know I started here but it just kind of sticking in my mind to do it first where he says your hands.
And notice how he he always gives God the credit. Right. Look what he says. Your hands made me and fashioned me an intricate human. You would destroy me. But I remember I pray you have made me like clay.
And will you turn me into dust again. You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese clothe me with skin and flesh knit me together with bones and sinews. And you have granted me life and favor.
And your care has preserved my spirit. I thought about do you know that God is preserving two million nerves in my eyes. Right now. Well I might have a million and a half from this. I don't know but it's like a little cockeyed.
But think about that. I mean we always think about. He knows every hair numbered every hair on our head. Well guess what. God has numbered 60 ,000 miles. Even if that's out of whack. It's probably some tremendous number that God is maintaining 60 ,000.
Because you know what happens when you get a blood clot a brain aneurysm an aneurysm even an air bubble. Right. Because that's isn't that what an aneurysm is with an air bubble. And it.
Kind of goes up there. You know it's amazing how fragile our bodies are. They really are. I mean they're tough whatever. But they're really fragile when you think about stuff like that right there. And then to know that God is just containing all that.
Yeah. I mean making it work you know. Yeah. And God's not.
Passive in this. Yeah. And then what really blows my mind is not God is active in this and 10 ,000 other things in me. And he is in you and you and you everybody on the planet. And that's why it says every living thing derives its existence from Oh God.
I mean if that's not big enough to make your head explode then you're missing some veins up there. It's amazing. And when he says this and he says you're the one that curled me like cheese and I can't resist it.
And I'm sure you maybe have thought about it. Go to Psalm 139. Let's just look at that a minute again just to reflect on it. Look what he says in Psalm 139. That's why I say. Job has a pretty good grasp on some very basic and strong biblical truths.
Doesn't he. Psalm 139. And this was my mother's favorite song. But just let me read it and just think about it in that light. Job's body is falling apart and yet Job acknowledges that it's God's body anyway.
Psalm 139. Oh Lord you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down. Am I rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path in my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
There's not a word on my tongue but behold Oh Lord you know it all together. You have hedged me behind and before and laid your hands on me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit. Where can I flee from your presence. If I ascend to heaven you're there. I make my bed in hell. Behold you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea.
Even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall fall on me. Even the night shall be light about me indeed and the darkness the darkness shall not hide from you both.
But the night shines as a day. This the next statement is is always been something that makes me think. The darkness and the light are both alike to you. For you form my inward parts. You've covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
And your eyes saw my substance yet being unformed. And in your book they were all written a day's fashion for me when as yet there were none of them. How precious are your thoughts to me. Oh God how great is the sum of them.
If I should count them they would be more in number than the sand. When I awake still with you. Oh that you would slay the wicked. Oh God depart from me. Therefore you blood thirsty men. For they speak against you wickedly.
Your enemies take your name in vain. Do not. I hate them. Oh Lord who hate you. Do I not load those who rise up against you. I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them. My enemy search me. Oh God know my heart.
Try me know my anxieties and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way everlasting again as you and I think about these things. And you think about Job's situation. Here's a man who's basically his flesh is just rotting off his body.
His friends have come from afar. They came. Job assumes to bring comfort and they really have not brought much comfort at all. And Job still is in this predicament. And in that sense he's got no other place to express his self in a situation except to God.
And even in that he acknowledges that God is the one who's made him. God is the one who curdled him like cheese and clothed him with skin and flesh and and knit him together with bones and sinews. And again I just kind of to me it helps correct my thinking.
Especially when I start to whine and complain and moan and groan and do all those things. And like I said here's a thought to the thing that will always cheer us is biblical truth. Whether it be just from the standpoint of creation or from the standpoint of redemption or from the standpoint of of glorification.
I don't care where you find all truth is meant to do what. Remember what Jesus said and never forget the truth shall set you what free. And it's not just free from the bondage to Satan. It's free from the bondage of a warped if you will decimated mind.
So when you and I and when you look at Job and he's and he's talking about these things and he brings this up it's not just and by the way his friends have said the same thing they have said you know who were you.
What you said before his friends say who are you Joe. Because God made you and and you ain't nothing. And they never announced that they're not nothing by the way but they do acknowledge that concern of Job.
And so again Job might not know all the fancy theological terms but Job knows the truth of God. Amen. And that's important. I mean just because someone can talk about biblical terms. And I'm not against them.
I'm for them because I it does help but but never forget that the thing that sets us free is is our relationship to God right. Not just being able to quote theological principles of thought. And so as he says this in these verses I find it a very comforting thought.
And let's just finish walking through this. And in verse 13 he says this these things you have hidden in your heart talking about God's creative work and God's providential keeping of. And he says I know this was with you in verse 14 and we've talked about this.
But just let's go over it again. If I sin you mock me and you will not equip me of my iniquity if I am wicked woe to me. And then he says even if I am righteous I cannot lift my head. I am full of disgrace see my misery.
And I think it's because Job understands the dilemma. And the dilemma is that there's none like God. And that no matter whether we think we are this so we think we are that God is way beyond what we think right.
God is. And I love the term. And I will continue these God is the great other right. The one who binds is boundless. The one who set time in motion is timeless. Again the attributes of God friends are such a freeing truth.
The more we learn how great our God is the more we will see our smallness. But we will also see his greatness. Right. And so when he says this things and again he's already he's maintained his integrity.
And he says the uniform wicked woe to me. And even if I'm righteous I can't lift up my head. I'm full of disgrace see my misery. And isn't that our dilemma sometimes right. You ever think that you you guys probably way too spiritual for me.
But did you ever get up in the morning and or at the end of this what I did good today. Weren't you proud of me today Lord. And then usually that's what the Proverbs say before the four or four. Pride comes before a fall.
And before a fall the heart is hearty. And and we begin to think that what God must be really satisfied with me today. And so I want to bring up something and and just think about this. What does that mean.
Anybody. Impassability. They people say yes. Thank you teacher. What does that mean. We know how to spell it. Now what people say that we'll speak about the impassability of God. Any idea what that means means.
And we've talked about this. We've said that God is simple. Which means what God doesn't have parts. God is not made up of a compound of parts. God is pure spirit. We are made up of parts. Whether you want to divide it into body soul or you want to do body soul spirit.
I don't care how you make the division. God is simple in that God is pure. Therefore God can never be changed because there's nothing that could be changed. God is pure. He's simple. Impassability is basically this.
God is not affected and suffers from things outside of himself. That God is beyond suffering from external things whatever they may be. I mean that's what it means when at least in part when we talk about God's impassability that God cannot suffer.
He cannot suffer from emotional external things. Because he's simple. Because he's pure. Now if you begin to think about that you might start to think about. Well wait a minute. It says that God was grieved in his heart.
It says God was sorry. It says God was at times angry. I mean aren't those emotions impassability of God means that that doesn't change God. That God's character stays pure. See think about it. You and I get angry.
And what does it do when you're angry everything changes. Right. God never suffers in a way that affects his character or his being. That doesn't mean that God doesn't. We know God's got a heart. Listen.
If we got a heart God's got a heart. Right. I mean that's you can't put that one together. You're in big trouble. So the impassability of God means that God cannot suffer from external things. That God is not.
He's not moved in such a way that it alters who he is again. Would you not say. Sometimes when you get excited you say things. And then you go an hour later and you say man I can't even believe. I said that.
See God doesn't. He's not. He's not affected. That way God remains same thing of Christ. That's why we talked about the impeccability of Christ that and we could talk about that and maybe we will bring that up again.
But the idea of Christ was unable to sin because of his character. And in these things when you when you begin to look at it and you that's why he says what he says. He says if I'm wicked woe to me if I'm righteous I can't lift my head.
I'm full of disgrace. See my misery. And and and again when you and I think about these things it should really affect us. Let me just read the rest of the chapter just so we can close it out. Verse 18.
This is why have you brought me out of the womb. Sounds like Jeremiah. By the way in some ways I don't. Brother. Micah brothers up. Oh that I had perished you know I had seen me. I would have been as though I had not been.
I would have been carried from the womb to the grave or not. My days you cease leave me alone. I may take a little comfort before I go to the place from which I shall not return. Just comment. Job is not saying he's lost job just wants to die.
He just wants to get this. Let's get it over with Lord. Just take me out to the land of darkness and the shadow of death without any order where even the light is darkness. And so as you and I look at this chapter and think about how and now next week so far it's gonna come and he's gonna take his shot at Joe and jobs continually gonna be battling back and forth.
Just like us friends. I don't know which one of us would not want to admit that life is a battle. Some days the battles go well and some days the battles go bad. And the days that the battles go well we praise the Lord.
And the days that the battles go bad. Sometimes we complain. But we need to get to the point and remember it'll just live a life. Really in many ways is like this. And really I believe with the Spirit of God is working in our lives.
To do is to keep us just that I can have everything I can have nothing. I could be rich I could be poor. I can just I just walk with God. And that's what the Bible is full. The Bible is full of this and the Bible is full of that.
So all right. We got to go. It's running late. Let's pray father again. Thank you for our time Lord. Thank you for truths that are buried in your word Lord. Even the even the truths of our own body that we have been fearfully and wonderfully made.
And you you made us from nothing. You just spoke it into existence and and you maintain us and you keep us and you watch over us. Oh God. Help us help us to love you with all our hearts. Help us to to order our lives in a way in which we walk with with looking to you now bless us love.
Maybe maybe sing with joyful hearts and worship you in spirit and truth. And and Lord may you be pleased in all that we say and do this day in Christ's name. Amen.