It's good to be here and thankful for Hall, that have
made it and appreciate the attendance.
And hopefully this morning I'd say something that is a benefit
to the congregation here and and in line with what God teaches us
as well, the primarily so we're going to be talking about and
teaching out of the Book of Job today.
And a jumping between a few chapters and drawing out some
points in this book. So most of us know, the story of
job and how God allowed Satan to afflict job in many ways.
And we'll go over some of those today and when we read the book
of job, I've always wondered and had a question of why, why would
God allow this? Why would God allow Ready to go
through these things to go through this or through that,
and the things that Joe went through.
And the question that I want us to answer.
Here's when we think about our life right now or in the past or
whatever, we may come upon maybe a long time ago is why when we
think about those questions, you know, God, why why are you
allowing this in my life? Why am I suffering so much pain
or going through this or that or whatever it may be?
We're going to be starting in Job chapter 3, so we're not
going to be going through job one and two.
And here's the kind of the setup up to Job chapter 3, in the
beginning of job. One, Joe had everything that he
could ever want to desire. He had a wife, a house.
Full of children, wealth, possessions, good health.
And he was blameless before God, he feared God He did good.
And he turned away from evil evil and then in an instant, all
of his possessions were Stripped Away From Him.
You had everything taken away from him and job, one tells us
the kind of waves after waves of things, start happening to them
one after the other and then all 10 of jobs, children died,
instantly, we could read. In job to he loses his good
health. Physically, he's miserable and
in pain. And his wife is telling him to
curse God and die. Yet, after all of that, at the
end of Job 1 and 2, he is still worshiping God job.
One says that when all this happened to him, to his
possessions, and all his children, it says there in Job
1, verse 20, through 22. It says, then job arose and tore
his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped
and he said naked, I came from my mother's womb and naked shall
I return? The lord gave and the Lord has
taken away blessed. Be the name of the Lord and all
this job did not sin. Or short charge god with any
wrong. so, these are really kind of the And then also to, at the
end of Job chapter 2, it says in verse 10 through 11, it says,
but he said to her, you speak as one of the foolish women would
speak. This is his is him talking to
his wife? Shall we receive good from God?
And shall we not receive evil? And all of this job, did not sin
with his lips and those are two of the most remarkable
statements that I can read you know about faith in the Bible.
Those statements are of trust in and worship of God in the middle
of unimaginable tragedy and loss and pain.
But this was just the beginning of what job was going to be.
Experiencing its one thing, you know to get a sudden tragedy
happened in your life, something that happens that you don't
expect, but job experienced a prolonged drawn-out experience
of all this stuff happening to him.
You know, it's one thing to I have sudden paying this one
thing to have prolonged pain, and suffering, two, totally
different things. And that's what begins to happen
to in Job 3. And as we see a job, as a
blameless, upright, man, who is completely committed to God, is
now struggling with questions of why God is letting this happen
to him. Joe was wrestling with the
question of God. Why?
Why is this happening? And he's wrestling.
He's even in a trash Heap while dealing with these.
These things in his life, then before long, some of his friends
showed up, which is eliphaz bildad bildad and zophar and
job, initially speaks in Job 3 and kind of a cycle begins with
he and his friends conversing back and forth.
First eliphaz speaks, then job responds, then build dad's
speech than job responds. So far speaks, then job responds
and they do this in a rotation of three times.
And then The third time, one of the friends drops out in a new
guy, new friend comes in and his name is Ella whom.
So the Council of these friends is not very helpful.
At all. And as we read through the book
that Book of Job, we need to remember that sometimes because
some things are happening in the Bible, does it mean that we take
those specific things as examples to lean on?
This is a clear example of not good counsel to take From job
from job's friends. What a lot of what these guys
are saying or is true at different points, but the way
they apply that truth is often unhelpful or their time your
tone in sharing these truths as unhelpful.
And some of these things that they say just really aren't
true. And at the core of their,
unhelpful council is an instance, that job has done
something. Basically job is done something
to deserve all this. Job, you've done something
wrong. You deserve this, this pain.
Something bad happens, something bad happens to you, you deserve
it. If something good happens to
you, then you deserve it. And that is terrible, theology.
That's a terrible way to look at the book of the Bible.
However, in the middle of all these conversations between job
and his friends, we do find some really some anchors to ground
that job was relying on anchors that job had in order to move
through these things that were happening to him.
Joe 3 is exactly the place that we want to start and because of
how many times job. Ask the question of why and I
want to read the whole chapter of Job 3 and I was you read
through it. Notice how many times job asked
the question of why we'll start there in verse 1.
After this job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
And this is him actually talking about him being born.
And job spoke and said May the day perish on which I was born
and the night in which it was said a male child is conceived.
Met that day. Be Darkness, may God above, not
seek it, nor the light shine upon it, may darkness and the
shadow of death claim, it made Cloud settle on.
It may the blackest of the day terrified as for that night.
May Darkness sees it may it not rejoice among the days of the
Year, may it not come into the Of the months.
Oh may it, that night be Barren, may know joyful, shout come on
into it may those curse it who curse the day, those who are
ready to arouse, the Vaya 'then May the stars of its morning.
Be dark. Made it look for life but have
none and not see the dawning of the day because it did not shut
up. The doors of my mother's womb
nor hide sorrow from my eyes. Why did I did not die at Birth?
Why did I not pray? Irish when I came from the womb.
Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast that I should
nurse for? Now I would have Lain still and
been quiet. I would have been asleep then I
would have been at rest with Kings and counselors of earth
the earth who built runes for themselves or with Prince's who
had gold, who filled their houses with silver or why has or
why was I not hidden like a stillborn child?
Like infants, who never saw light, There, the wicked cease
from troubling and they're the weary are at rest.
They're the prisoners rest together.
They do not hear the voice of the oppressor, the small and the
great are there and the servant is free from his master, why is
light given to him who is in misery and life to the bitter of
Soul who longed for death? But it does not come and search
for it. More than Hidden Treasures who
Rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave.
Why is light given to a man who is whose way is hidden and whom
God has hedged in For my sign comes before.
I eat in my groanings pour out like water for the thing.
I greatly feared has come upon me and what I dreaded has
happened to me. I am not at ease, nor I am
quiet. I have no rest for Trouble Comes
That's some heavy stuff. That's um, that's a guy who just
really is saying why in the world was I even born.
To experience this six times in this chapter job asked, why?
Why is the question that we is the most fundamental of all?
Like we said, why was I even born is kind of his why God?
Why did you even make me? And he's coming before God.
A faithful man hurting and not understanding and asking, why is
he even here? And that's a clear and
implication of job thinking. I don't want to be here.
I don't want to live and he's actually longing for his own
death. Sad state.
So how in the world with Joe with all these problems and
questions and trials? How in the world did he hold
onto his faith in God? And in the chapters that follow,
I'm going to show, you know, this is kind of an honest faith.
That job really had, you know, he had nothing left but to hold
on to God, that's all he had. And these anchors that we're
going to go over. That job was relying on, you
know, it's good for, it was good for him and it is also good for
us today. So anchor number one that we
want to remember that. Remember that God is all-wise.
That's what Joe was holding onto.
I want to jump ahead to Job 28 because this is kind of where It
kind of contains a scene of a job's Journey, the kind of the
climax. And when we get to chapter 8,
God is God speaks to job and in the middle of the book here, the
chapter there, this this chapter is kind of referred to as wisdom
literature. The kind of you kind of see some
stuff that you can see in Proverbs going through this
chapter, kind of the same wording.
And so was job is wrestling with the question.
NY listen to what he said. Start saying here in Job 28,
verse 12 and will read through verse 28.
But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of
understanding? Man?
Does not know its value, nor it is found in the land of the
living. The Deep says it is not in me,
and the Sea says, it is not with me.
It cannot be purchased for gold, nor can silver be weighed for
its price. It cannot be valued in the gold
of ophir in the precious Onyx or Sapphire, neither gold, nor
Crystal can equal, it nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine
gold? No mention shall be.
And of coral, or quartz for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia can unequal it nor, can it be valued
valued in pure goal from where, then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from
the birds of the air, destruction and death.
Say we have heard a report about it with our ears God,
understands its way, and he knows its place for He took the
head ends of the Earth for, he looks to the ends of the Earth
and seas under the whole Heavens to establish.
A wait for the wind and a portion the Water 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 That's so much
like what we see in, you know, in the Book of Proverbs, kind of
the wisdom literature that we see there and job is searching
for wisdom and understanding and he's frustrated because God has
it. And he doesn't Got a job does
not understand why he's going through these things.
But he know God does he knows God does.
And so when we get to verse 23, this chapter, we see something
that's key for us to understand when we have these.
Why questions? You know I want to show us
basically three ingredients that are necessary for wisdom.
So follow me on this as we go through these number one, wisdom
involves knowledge. God understands the way to it
and he knows its place. So to be wise is to have
knowledge. The second ingredient wisdom
involves perspective verse 24 for for he, which is God looks
to the ends of the Earth and seas under the whole Heavens
wisdom is the ability to perceive its to know.
And to perceive then third wisdom involves experience job
starts talking about how God has created everything.
And he says there, he create he gave To the wind its weight and
a portion of the waters by measure, he made a decree for
rain and a way for the lightning of the Thunder.
God made everything himself and he's the one who saw wisdom.
He declare wisdom, he established wisdom.
And you searched it out and God formed wisdom from the
beginning. So with these three ingredients
pulled from these verses knowledge perspective and
experience, I want you to think on God's Limitless, wisdom. so,
I'm sorry, will think we're thinking about our limited
wisdom first and then we'll get to God's Limitless.
Wisdom? So we lack all these things as
humans. Okay, we lack knowledge.
We lack perspective, we lack experience, we lack knowledge.
And you know, how often do we make or act?
Because or make an unwise decision because of we just
don't know everything. You know how many times we found
our saved saying? You know, if I would have known
that, I would have done this. If what I want to Kno know this,
I would have made. If I don't know there's
construction in Bakersfield, I would have taken another route.
So the knowledge produces wisdom, Likewise, we lack
perspective. We don't see everything.
We don't, we don't see everything.
Clearly, our perspective is always at best limited, okay?
At worst. It's may be jaded or distorted
because of previous experiences in our life, our perspective on
things, sometimes, it's even wrong.
We never perceive all the factors that work in every
situation are all the effects of a decision we might make.
Or maybe we're just not able to see things from somebody else's
point of view, Maybe, Something else has a point of view that we
don't necessarily see all the way in that in that type of
instance. Third, we lack experience, we
learned some things for in the first time we, you know, go
through a situation knowing that the next time how to do it
better than that. You know, the more we grow and
experience the more we grow in wisdom.
But we're obviously limited in our experience.
So we lack knowledge perspective and experience which is why we
find ourselves sometimes searching for understanding and
wisdom. So God's Limitless wisdom.
Let's think about how he has perfect.
Knowledge number one, God knows everything past present and
future. He knows he has all the facts,
she's got all the info. He knows everything.
God never finds himself saying I wish I would have known that.
I would have done it differently.
We don't see that ever happened, God has perfect knowledge of
everything. Secondly God has Eternal
perspective on everything at all times.
In verse 24, it says for he looks to the ends of the Earth
and seas under the whole Heavens.
So true wisdom that God has he is sees everything in a proper
spec perspective and God has Eternal proper, perfect
perspective. God sees and understands how any
one thing will affect every other thing.
Including every person at every time, Through eternity.
That's a huge concept to grasp, but that's what God does.
And he knows and has that perspective and then finally,
God has Infinite Experience. He's always acted wisely and all
that he has done and he's the actually the wisdom of authors
wisdom, wisdoms, author, excuse me.
God is Infinite Experience as the infinitely wise God.
So during our questions, the Situation's we go through the
the pain we might suffer the hurt, we may be feeling or
anything like that, why? Me God, why am I going through
this? Why, why is somebody that is
close to me? Why is this happening to them?
I was thinking this morning, you know what?
Have you ever thought about how God works?
Not only in our lives that may be in somebody else's.
You know, what have God is working in our lives?
In order to have an effect on somebody else's life.
Maybe somebody's looking to us on how we react.
To something for them to learn on how to address that issue may
be that they're dealing with in their lives.
God's Providence, which is the way that we work in our land, he
works in our lives. May not be just about us.
It's not just about us all the time, maybe it's about somebody
else. Maybe we're going through this
trial, whatever, may be in order to show somebody else how to
deal with it. I remember, you know, Frank up
here. Sometimes he would always talk
about this subject and somebody would be asking me, why me and
Frank would say? Well why not you Why not?
Are you above everybody else? To not go through this
experience? You know, maybe God is doing
that in our lives, you know, to refine the goal to make us
better to get us through that situation, whatever it may be.
And he's never going to give us something that we can't handle.
So we need to remember that. We are not all wise but God is
we lack. So much knowledge and
perspective and experience but God lacks none of these things.
And this is why in the middle of jobs questions of why, right?
In the middle of the Book of Job, we have Central declaration
that God is all-wise and as a result, God is trustworthy
because God is always And you and I honestly ask how can we
trust God when this or that happened to us or is happening
to somebody else we can trust God and we when we remember that
his knowledge is perfect that he knows all things that he knows
what is best in all those things and we can trust in God.
And remember that his perspective is eternal.
When we remember that, he sees so many things all at the same
time. Throughout eternity.
We can trust God when we remember that, he has Infinite
Experience and that he has, and is always and will and always
will be in that in wisdom, his wisdom.
He knows how to take an evil and suffering in a certain social
situation and turn to good, The primary example that is Jesus on
the cross. Right?
It's the story of Jesus, the perfect innocent, and blameless,
Son of God, beaten and tortured nailed to a cross to die.
Why? Why would God allow his son to
go through that Jesus was on the cross and said and about the
ninth hour? Jesus cried out with a loud
voice saying, Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani.
And that is to say my God, my God.
Why have you forsaken me? Jesus in his humanity and his
suffering was asking, why why the cross, why the suffering,
why the pain, why the death, why God are you letting this happen?
And the answer is because God, the Father, In his Limitless,
wisdom, his perfect knowledge of every single, he has perfect
knowledge of every single one of our sins.
And in his internal perspective, he has designed a way for every
one of us who obeys, the Gospel of Jesus and lives for him.
2,000 liters from that event. 2,000 years later from that
event. That's what we count.
Our time by. Is that event right around that
time to be here today and to be saved from our sins God's
Eternal perspective. And is Limitless, wisdom.
So we praise God. That Jesus trusted God, the
father in that situation. To endure the cross.
The most evil act in history. The crucifixion of a blameless
Son of God, ushered in the most wonderful reality in all of
history and Salve. That is salvation for every
person from every nation who follows the gospel, God is
infinitely wise and we are not. So we have all of our questions
about why we must remember that. God is all-wise it honors and
glorifies God when we trust in him, even when we admittedly.
And honestly don't understand what he's doing.
Let me know. Stan, what's going on?
May not want to know the reality of it but we trust that God is
doing what is best for us. So that leads us into our second
anchor that we can rely on and that is to hold fast to God as
you are hope back in Job 3. The term of death and despair, I
think is an appropriate description of jobs.
State of Mine. He's despairing of life itself.
A number of times, you talked about darkness, and this is a
picture of Despair and the continues throughout the various
responses that he has to his friends.
For example, he had a response in job, 6 verses, 8 and 9.
It says, oh, that I might have my request that God would grant
me. The thing that I long for that
at would plead that it would. Please God to crush me, that he
would lose. His hand and cut me off and job
7 verse 16. It says I love my life.
I would not live forever. Let me alone for my days are but
a breath joke. 10 20 through 22 are my days.
Not 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 at land is dark as
Darkness itself as the shadow of death without any order.
Or even the light is like Darkness job, 19 verses 13
through 22. He has removed my brother's far
from me and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
My relatives have failed and my close friends have forgotten me.
Those who dwell in my house and my maid servants, count me as a
stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
I call my servant but he gives no answer.
I begged him with my mouth. so, Job is in death and despair and
and he's longing for he's longing for Hope in all this
stuff that he's going through. And that's the kind of the
challenge, right? It's what despair is.
Its Darkness was no sign of light and Joseph are Joe hits.
Rock. Bottom in a sense, in chapter
19, we just read that. I got ahead of myself and
beginning in verse 13. He says there, as we read in
verse 13. Will keep, you know, above all
other things. We should be going through, you
know, these things. You know, we're not above all
these things will continue reading in verse 17 of chapter
19. I apologize.
I got a little bit out of order. There says my breath is
offensive to my wife and I am repulsive to the children of my
own blood. Even young children despise me.
I arise and they speak against me.
All of my close friends of bore me, and Those whom I love have
turned against me, my bone clings, to my skin, into my
flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Have pity on me. Have pity on me.
Oh my you my friends for the hand of God has struck me.
Why do you persecute me as God does and are not satisfied with
my flesh. Seemingly basically no hope that
that he had. And it's at this point in jobs
life where we, we, you know, one of the most remarkable
remarkable and thrilling triumphant parts.
In this book. In the very next sentence in the
very next verse in verse 23, o, that my words were written.
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book.
And I want us to feel the intensity there that they were
engraved on a rock with an iron pan and led forever.
And then in verse 25 and 3, 27 says, for, I know that my
redeemer lives and he shall stand at last upon the Earth and
after my skin is destroyed, this.
I know that in my flesh, I shall see God whom I shall see for
myself and my eyes Shall Behold and not another how my heart
yearns. Earns Within Me.
Could you imagine going through this stuff that he did?
And then being able to speak these words still have that
faith and trust in God. Really a remarkable man.
And he says, I know. Somebody else doesn't know.
I know that my redeemer lives My Redeemer mine.
Now that just because he had those questions, you know, that
that he had that faith. It doesn't mean that he still
didn't have those questions of why things were happening.
It's like not like all of a sudden they've all been answered
and quite the opposite. You know, job doesn't seem to
have any of his questions after he doesn't know why.
But he knows who. Jobe understands, who is the
creator, who gives all life, who we can rely on?
No matter what position he is. A redeemer of indicator.
And this word is used in Ruth to describe the champion of the
oppressed. It's used in Exodus to describe
the delivery of the captives. It's used in Proverbs to
describe the defender of the week, and, you know, there's
something after your skin is destroyed, he saying here,
there's something after the pain after the heartache, after the
sickness after the grief, after my skin is destroyed that in my
flesh, I shall see God whom I shall see for myself, my eyes,
Shall Behold yet and not another how my heart yearns Within Me
So, let's hold fast. To God In Hope, do not turn away
from God during our trials. Where else would we go?
To whom shall we go? Because in John chapter 6, The
disciples had nowhere else to go, but to Jesus, nobody else
could give the life that Jesus was promising to them.
And to us, there was no other place.
So when we hold fast to Hope in him, you would Behold Him as Our
Redeemer, our Vindicator Defender deliver provider and
our healer, he is the one who alone can make All Things New in
our life. We will see God.
He is our hope. We'll see our hope one of these
days. We'll see his face as we're told
in Revelation. I think about Darren, and he's
okay with me using this, but there has been blind most of his
life and he's going to see God's face.
That's amazing to me. Beautiful.
And so we long for that hope to see God one of these days.
He will satisfy our souls forever.
So, jobs anchors, remember that God is all-wise, and hold fast
to God. As our hope.
We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
Church of Christ at 22:15 plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
would like any additional information or you would like to
receive a free Bible correspondence, course by mail.
Please email us at info at True Church of Christ.
Bakersfield.com. All our service times are on
Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
please, make plans to join us. We would love for you to be our
honored guest