Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Job 9 - How Can a Person Be Right with God?

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Job 9 - How Can a Person Be Right with God? · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. You are listening to The Bible Explained with
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  Speaker 1: Jen Kokel, a P40 Ministries podcast. Well, howdy there, faithful listeners.
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  Speaker 1: I hope you all have been having a very swell
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  Speaker 1: start to your week so far. I have been having
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  Speaker 1: just a great day today because guess what? I am
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  Speaker 1: back to my old diet, which is wonderful. So for
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  Speaker 1: a while, because of all the health things that I
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  Speaker 1: was going through, I had to eat gluten. And I discovered,
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  Speaker 1: interestingly enough, when I went back onto gluten, that I
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  Speaker 1: didn't like it. And I was buying myself stuff that
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  Speaker 1: I remember liking back when I was eating gluten like crazy.
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  Speaker 1: So I got myself some Entenmann donuts and ice cream
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  Speaker 1: and Ritz crackers and pepperoni bread and like all this
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  Speaker 1: stuff I remember really liking. And then I was tasting it.
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, this tastes bad. Yeah. And my husband's like,
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  Speaker 1: what is wrong with you? I'm like, I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: but I miss my gluten-free diet. I'm not going to lie.
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  Speaker 1: So I had to take the blood test today because
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  Speaker 1: they're testing me for celiacs finally. And we'll see how
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  Speaker 1: that ends up going. But now that the blood test
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  Speaker 1: is over, I can go back to my gluten-free diet,
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  Speaker 1: which I'm very, very excited about. So that's what's been
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  Speaker 1: going on in my life recently. And I'd love to
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  Speaker 1: hear about all of you guys as well. And if
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  Speaker 1: you ever have a prayer request, don't hesitate to reach out.
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  Speaker 1: You can find my contact information listed in the description
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  Speaker 1: of this episode. And when you send me a prayer request,
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  Speaker 1: I will definitely write you down on one of my
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  Speaker 1: little sticky notes and I will stick you onto my
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  Speaker 1: monitor so that I can pray for you for the week.
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  Speaker 1: And speaking of prayer requests, we're going to get into
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  Speaker 1: some pretty heavy stuff today because this speech of Job's
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  Speaker 1: that we're about to read is just him saying, in brokenness.
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  Speaker 1: He is a broken individual, and he has so many
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  Speaker 1: questions about God. But interestingly enough, he starts to kind
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  Speaker 1: of prophesy about Jesus, though I would guess he might
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  Speaker 1: not understand what he is saying. So we're going to
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  Speaker 1: get into Job chapter 9 right after a quick word
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  Speaker 1: from a sponsor. And again, I apologize if you could
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  Speaker 1: hear my little dog snoozing in the background. I He's old,
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  Speaker 1: and so he snores a lot more than he used to.
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  Speaker 1: And he can get really loud sometimes. So he's underneath
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  Speaker 1: my desk at this moment, and he's got a little
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  Speaker 1: bed under there. And he gets really cozy and starts
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  Speaker 1: to snore. So I'll kind of like nudge him with
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  Speaker 1: my foot to get him to stop snoring, but it
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  Speaker 1: doesn't always work when I'm recording. So I apologize for that.
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  Speaker 1: Let's read Job 9, the entire chapter. I will be
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  Speaker 1: reading from the World English Bible today, like I always do.
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  Speaker 1: but you guys can read out of the versions that
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  Speaker 1: you prefer, whatever those might be. Let's give reverence to
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  Speaker 1: God's word by reading Job 9 together. Then Job answered,
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  Speaker 1: Truly I know that it is so, but how can
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  Speaker 1: man be just with God? If he is pleased to
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  Speaker 1: contend with him, he can't answer him one time in
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  Speaker 1: a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
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  Speaker 1: Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? He removes
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  Speaker 1: the mountains and they don't know it when he overturns
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  Speaker 1: them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of
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  Speaker 1: its place. Its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't rise and seals up the stars. He alone
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  Speaker 1: stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of
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  Speaker 1: the sea. He makes the bear, Orion and Palladius and
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  Speaker 1: rooms of the south. And he does great things past
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  Speaker 1: finding out. Yes, marvelous things without number. Behold, he goes
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  Speaker 1: by me and I don't see him. He passes on
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  Speaker 1: also and I don't perceive him. Behold, he snatches away.
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  Speaker 1: Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, what are
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  Speaker 1: you doing? God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers
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  Speaker 1: of Rahab stoop under him. How much less will I
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  Speaker 1: answer him and choose my words to argue with him?
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  Speaker 1: Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I
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  Speaker 1: would make supplication to my judge. If I had called
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  Speaker 1: and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that
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  Speaker 1: he listened to my voice. For he breaks me with
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  Speaker 1: a storm and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will
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  Speaker 1: not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me
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  Speaker 1: with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, behold,
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  Speaker 1: he is mighty. If of justice, who says he will
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  Speaker 1: summon me? Though I am righteous, my own mouth will
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  Speaker 1: condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
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  Speaker 1: I am blameless. I don't respect myself. I despise my life.
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  Speaker 1: It is all the same. Therefore, I say, he destroys
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  Speaker 1: the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge kills suddenly,
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  Speaker 1: he will mock at the trial of the innocent. The
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  Speaker 1: earth is given into the hand of the wicked, and
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  Speaker 1: he covers the faces of its judges. If not he,
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  Speaker 1: then who is it? Now my days are swifter than
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  Speaker 1: a runner. They flee away, they see no good. They
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  Speaker 1: have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle
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  Speaker 1: that swoops on the prey. If I say, I will
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  Speaker 1: forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face
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  Speaker 1: and I will cheer up, I am afraid of all
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  Speaker 1: my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent.
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  Speaker 1: I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
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  Speaker 1: If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands
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  Speaker 1: with lye, yet you will plunge me into the ditch.
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  Speaker 1: My own clothes will abhor me. For he is not
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  Speaker 1: a man as I am, that I should answer him,
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  Speaker 1: that we should come together in judgment. There is no
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  Speaker 1: umpire between us that might lay his hand on us both.
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  Speaker 1: Let him take his rod away from me. Let his
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  Speaker 1: terror not make me afraid. then I would speak and
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  Speaker 1: not fear him, for I am not so in myself.
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  Speaker 1: As you can see from what we just read, this
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  Speaker 1: is a desperate speech from a desperate man. He starts
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  Speaker 1: in verse two by saying, truly, I know that it
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  Speaker 1: is so, but how can a man be just with God?
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  Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, Job admits right here that he actually did
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  Speaker 1: believe what Eliphaz and Bildad were saying. He believed that
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  Speaker 1: if he worshiped God wholeheartedly, that God would bless him
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  Speaker 1: with good things. And so he says, I know that
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  Speaker 1: what you guys are saying is so, but how can
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  Speaker 1: a man be just with God? So that's the question
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  Speaker 1: Job brings into all of this. Okay, maybe I believe
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  Speaker 1: you guys that somebody who is actually just will be blessed.
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  Speaker 1: But how can any man be just before God? And
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  Speaker 1: this is a really important question that Job is getting
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  Speaker 1: at because he's starting to talk now about original sin,
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  Speaker 1: the sin that every single person has, Job included. How
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  Speaker 1: can any man stand righteous before God? Because that's another
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  Speaker 1: misconception that Eliphaz and Bildad believed. They believed that people
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  Speaker 1: were righteous through their good works, that if you did
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  Speaker 1: good things, that God would bless you. And maybe Job
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  Speaker 1: had also believed that at one point in time. But
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  Speaker 1: now Job is asking the fundamental question, which is, how
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  Speaker 1: can anybody be righteous before God? And this gets to
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  Speaker 1: the core of Christianity. There is none righteous. No, not one.
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  Speaker 1: That is what scripture specifically says. Nobody is righteous before God.
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  Speaker 1: We have to be made righteous by the sacrifice of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: But by ourselves, no, none of us can possibly be righteous.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how many good things we do. It
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  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. how much we give of ourselves for another
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  Speaker 1: person or for a charity or any other cause, those
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  Speaker 1: things don't make us righteous. The only thing that can
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  Speaker 1: make us righteous is found in 1 John 1, 7,
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  Speaker 1: which says, but if we walk in the light as
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  Speaker 1: he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
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  Speaker 1: another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanses
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  Speaker 1: us from all sin. So essentially we have to be
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  Speaker 1: cleansed from our sin and through the sacrifice of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: His blood has done that work for us. That is
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  Speaker 1: the core of Christianity. It is the foundation of Christianity
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  Speaker 1: that none of us can get into heaven on our own.
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  Speaker 1: And that is what Job is saying here to his friends.
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  Speaker 1: He's like, but hold on a second, you guys. How
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  Speaker 1: can anybody be just before God? You all are saying
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  Speaker 1: that if I just do good things, that God is
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  Speaker 1: going to bless me. But I did those things and
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  Speaker 1: look at where I'm at right now. So how can
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  Speaker 1: any person stand just before God? Verse three, if he
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  Speaker 1: is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him
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  Speaker 1: one time in a thousand. So in other words, if
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  Speaker 1: God is pleased to fight against a human being, no
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  Speaker 1: matter how good they might be, that person cannot answer God.
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  Speaker 1: They cannot say, well, God, look at all the good
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  Speaker 1: things that I've done. No, God is not going to
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  Speaker 1: listen to that. In fact, Jesus kind of says this
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  Speaker 1: same thing in Matthew chapter 7. He says, not everybody
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  Speaker 1: that says to me, Lord, Lord, is going to enter
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  Speaker 1: into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do
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  Speaker 1: the will of the Father that is in heaven. So
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  Speaker 1: there are going to be a lot of people that
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  Speaker 1: come to Jesus being like, Lord, Lord, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: cast out demons in your name and I did all
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  Speaker 1: these great things in your name and in your honor.
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  Speaker 1: But Jesus will say to them, I never knew you.
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  Speaker 1: The reason being was because They were expecting their good
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  Speaker 1: works to save them, but they didn't have true obedience
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  Speaker 1: to Jesus or God the Father. They didn't really do
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  Speaker 1: the will of God the Father. They did their own wills,
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  Speaker 1: and that is not enough to get you into heaven.
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  Speaker 1: That's what Job is saying here. I can do as
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  Speaker 1: many good things as I want, but these things cannot
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  Speaker 1: stand up to God. He says, God is wise in
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  Speaker 1: heart and mighty in strength, who has hardened himself against
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  Speaker 1: him and prospered. So on the flip side, if you
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  Speaker 1: just do whatever you want to do, if you harden
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  Speaker 1: your heart against him, that also won't allow you to stand.
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  Speaker 1: So Job is essentially comparing the evil person and the
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  Speaker 1: good person to each other. He's saying there is no difference.
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  Speaker 1: When you stand before God, all he sees is corruption.
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  Speaker 1: All he sees is sin, and you are not going
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  Speaker 1: to be justified in front of him. Now, a caveat
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  Speaker 1: with all of this, though Job was technically speaking truth,
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  Speaker 1: he was speaking it in an incorrect way. Because as
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  Speaker 1: we're going to see when we move further down into
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  Speaker 1: this poem, Job really does consider himself a righteous person.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't really think that he is corrupt. More so
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  Speaker 1: what he's saying here is that God is mean. Kind
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  Speaker 1: of like what Eliphaz was saying in the first speech
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  Speaker 1: that we went over, where God can't find any good
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  Speaker 1: with anybody. But the Christian mindset reframes it. Because yes,
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  Speaker 1: even though nobody is born righteous, and we cannot... get
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  Speaker 1: righteousness on our own, God offers everybody the way to him,
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  Speaker 1: the one and only way to him, which is through Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: And when you accept Jesus as your savior, you become
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  Speaker 1: righteous through him. But there's no other way to achieve righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: Only Jesus can make you righteous. But Job, who likely
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  Speaker 1: lived thousands of years before Jesus was born, didn't understand
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  Speaker 1: that principle, though he is kind of speaking truth, interestingly enough.
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  Speaker 1: Then he gives a poem here in verses 5 through 13. He,
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  Speaker 1: or God, removes the mountains and they don't know it
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  Speaker 1: when he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the
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  Speaker 1: earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He
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  Speaker 1: commands the sun and it doesn't rise and seals up
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  Speaker 1: the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads
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  Speaker 1: on the waves of the sea. He's going into how
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  Speaker 1: God is the creator and how God can literally snap
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  Speaker 1: things in and out of existence if he wants to.
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  Speaker 1: The mountain that stands firm and tall one minute, if
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  Speaker 1: God becomes angry at that mountain, all he has to
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  Speaker 1: do is think a thought about it and that mountain
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  Speaker 1: is disintegrated before it even knows what happened. Same goes
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  Speaker 1: with the sun and the moon and the stars and
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  Speaker 1: the heavens and the waves of the sea, as well
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  Speaker 1: as these constellations that he mentions, the bear, the Orion
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  Speaker 1: and the Pleiades. God can snap anything in and out
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  Speaker 1: of existence. God is that powerful. He is that mighty.
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  Speaker 1: He says in verse 10, he does great things past
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  Speaker 1: finding out. Yes, marvelous things without number. Behold, he goes
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  Speaker 1: by me and I don't see him. He passes on also,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't perceive him. Behold, he snatches away. Who
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  Speaker 1: can hinder him? Who will ask him, what are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: So God is so powerful. There is nobody or nothing
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  Speaker 1: in all of creation that can stand up to him.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody can say, God, why are you doing that thing?
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  Speaker 1: He's not going to listen to that person. Nobody can
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  Speaker 1: correct God is what Job is getting at. But he's
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  Speaker 1: also saying that God's anger is so sudden. then nobody
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  Speaker 1: can stand up to it either. For example, right here
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  Speaker 1: in verse 11, Behold, he goes by me and I
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  Speaker 1: don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't
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  Speaker 1: perceive him. Because God is invisible and doesn't tell people
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  Speaker 1: what he's doing, there is no way that Job can
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  Speaker 1: stand up to what God is doing because God just
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  Speaker 1: does it. He passes by Job. Job can't see him
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  Speaker 1: or hear him. And in his invisible and angry way,
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  Speaker 1: God does something to Job and Job can't defend himself
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  Speaker 1: because he doesn't even perceive it happening until after it
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  Speaker 1: has happened. And he continues in verse 13 over his anger.
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  Speaker 1: God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab
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  Speaker 1: stoop under him. How much less will I answer him
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  Speaker 1: and choose my words to argue with him? God is
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  Speaker 1: so angry that he does not withdraw his anger is
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  Speaker 1: what Job is saying. And even the sea monster and
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  Speaker 1: all of the sea monsters worshipers cannot stand up to God,
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  Speaker 1: though the sea monster was considered by pagan sources in
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  Speaker 1: the days of Job to be the most powerful, dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: and chaotic entity, which Job is kind of obsessed with
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  Speaker 1: sea monsters. He really is because every single speech he's
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  Speaker 1: given so far, he's mentioned a sea monster. And I
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  Speaker 1: forgot to mention that the word Rahab is just another
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  Speaker 1: name for Leviathan, by the way. So hopefully I didn't
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  Speaker 1: confuse you guys too much with that. But that's what
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  Speaker 1: Job is saying. He says, the helpers of Rahab or
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  Speaker 1: the Leviathan, the sea monster, stoop under God. So how
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  Speaker 1: much less will I answer him and choose my words
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  Speaker 1: to argue with him? So because God is angry at
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  Speaker 1: Job for some reason, Job can't say anything against God.
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  Speaker 1: He can't defend himself. He can't help himself against God's
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  Speaker 1: great anger. But Job is not speaking truthfully about God
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  Speaker 1: right here. Or rather, he's not speaking in the right
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  Speaker 1: way about God. Joel chapter 2, 13 and 14 says,
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  Speaker 1: Tear your heart and not your garments and turn to
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow
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  Speaker 1: to anger and abundant in loving kindness and relents from
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  Speaker 1: sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and
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  Speaker 1: leave a blessing behind him. even a meal offering and
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  Speaker 1: a drink offering to Yahweh your God. So God truly
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  Speaker 1: is loving and kind, and he does relent from his anger.
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  Speaker 1: He does withdraw his anger. So you can see the
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  Speaker 1: level of brokenness that Job has when he says in
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  Speaker 1: verse 13 that God will not withdraw his anger. It's
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  Speaker 1: just not a fully correct statement about God. But another
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  Speaker 1: reason it was incorrect was because God was not angry
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  Speaker 1: with Job. Now, Job, of course, didn't understand this. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what was going on in heaven. He didn't
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  Speaker 1: understand the satanic attack he was under. He didn't know
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  Speaker 1: that through this testing of himself, God was going to
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  Speaker 1: prove how incorrect Satan actually was and destroy the prosperity gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Job did not understand the amazing plan that God had
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  Speaker 1: with his life. And that's the thing that I think
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  Speaker 1: all of us should keep in mind is that there
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  Speaker 1: are things happening that we just do not know about.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes our suffering serves a better purpose. That is
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  Speaker 1: hard to say, and it's hard to admit, especially if
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  Speaker 1: any of you faithful listeners are really going through it
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  Speaker 1: right now. If you're going through something difficult, you don't
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  Speaker 1: want to think that your suffering might be for somebody
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  Speaker 1: else's benefit or even for your benefit in the future.
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  Speaker 1: You just don't want to suffer. And I completely understand
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  Speaker 1: that thinking. But this is also a reminder to us
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  Speaker 1: that just because we're suffering, it does not necessarily mean
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  Speaker 1: that God is is angry with us. But in his
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  Speaker 1: grief and lack of knowledge in this area, Job just
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  Speaker 1: honestly doesn't understand any of this at this moment in time.
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  Speaker 1: So he continues in verse 15. He says, though I
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  Speaker 1: were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make
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  Speaker 1: supplication to my judge. He's like, even if I was
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  Speaker 1: the most righteous person on the planet, even then I
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  Speaker 1: could not stand in front of him and give him
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  Speaker 1: my case because he is still so much more powerful
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  Speaker 1: than I am. The only thing he could logically do
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  Speaker 1: is make supplication to God as a judge, not tell
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  Speaker 1: him that, hey, I'm righteous. I am a noble person
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  Speaker 1: and you shouldn't be treating me like this. Job wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: be able to say that. He can only treat God
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  Speaker 1: as a very, very powerful judge, even if he were
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  Speaker 1: the most righteous person on the planet. And he says
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  Speaker 1: in verse 16, if I had called and he had
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  Speaker 1: answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to
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  Speaker 1: my voice. Even if God specifically answered Job at this
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  Speaker 1: moment in time, Job is suffering so much that even
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  Speaker 1: if God answered him from the sky, Job would not
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  Speaker 1: believe that God was actually listening to his voice. So
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  Speaker 1: some of you faithful listeners, I'm sure have gone through
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  Speaker 1: the book of Job on your own or with a
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  Speaker 1: group and maybe know the ending of the story already.
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  Speaker 1: And you can kind of see how some of these
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  Speaker 1: verses really tie into what God tells Job at the
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  Speaker 1: very end of this book. Now he says in verse 17,
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  Speaker 1: he breaks me with a storm and multiplies my wounds
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: but fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: of strength, behold, he is mighty. If it is of justice,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: who says he will summon me? Though I am righteous,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: it will prove me perverse. So now Job rightly talks
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: about how wise and wonderful God is, that literally nobody
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: can stand in front of him. Again, even if Job
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: were the most righteous person on the planet, God is
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: more righteous. Even if Job were the most mighty person
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: on the planet, God is more mighty. So even if
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Job stood in front of God as perfect of a
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: human being as you can possibly get, he still would
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: pale in comparison to God. And when he opened up
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: his mouth, he would start to condemn himself. And even
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: though he was completely blameless, his mouth would prove him
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: a perverse man because anybody that stands in front of
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: an almighty creator is just nothing compared to the almighty
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: creator is what Job is getting at here. But he
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: says in verse 21, but I am blameless. I am blameless.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: but I don't respect myself and I despise my life. Why?
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Because it is all the same. He says in verse 22, therefore,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. If
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: of the innocent. Job went so far as to say
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: that God mocks the innocent people when they are downcast
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: and beat down. God mocks just mocks them. He mocks
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: their trial. That's what Job is saying right here. So
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: he's like, what's the point of being wicked or being blameless?
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: What's the point? Because God treats his entire creation exactly
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: the same. I might as well be like the wicked
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: person because we're all one in the same. According to God,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: we are all wicked in his eyes. These are more
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: untruths about God, unfortunately, which God himself actually comes to
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: his own defense in front of Job at the end
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: of this book. He does answer Job and he certainly
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: does not mock Job's pain. And interestingly enough, God listened
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: to the request of Job so much that he allowed
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Job to put him on trial. Because throughout everything that
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: we are seeing here so far, Job has question after
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: question for God. He wants God to explain himself. He
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: wants to put God on trial. And Yahweh ends up
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: allowing Job to do this and puts himself on trial
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: in front of Job, which is what the last few
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: chapters of the book are really about. not to give
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: too many spoilers away, but God proves that he is
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: not like what Job is saying here. He doesn't mock
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: the innocent person who is killed by the scourge. He
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: doesn't destroy the wicked and the blameless in the exact
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: same way. We know that he doesn't because that's the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: entire purpose for Jesus coming down to earth so that
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: we who believe in Jesus don't have to die the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: second death, which is only reserved for people who don't
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: believe in Jesus. So of course he does not destroy
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: us in the same way. And honestly, that's another reason
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: why I believe Job had to suffer. I've been writing
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: all of the reasons down in my little notebook right
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: here as we go through the book of Job, trying
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: to keep in order all of my thoughts about Job's
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: suffering and why he went through it. But that's another
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: thing I'm going to add to the list right now,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: is that Job had to suffer Because God was showing
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Job and his friends and all of us who are
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: going to read the book of Job, that there is
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: something more than this earth. And what we go through
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: right here is very momentary compared to the glory that
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: we are going to receive in heaven when we believe
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: in Yahweh. But now Job really gets to the heart
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: of this entire problem that he is experiencing here in
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: verses 25 through 35. He understands that there is a
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: need for a mediator between him and God. I just
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: absolutely love this portion. It says,' Now my days are
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: swifter than a runner.' They flee away. They see no good.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: They have passed away as the swift ships, as the
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: eagle that swoops down on the prey. If I say,
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: I will forget my complaint. I will put off my
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: sad face and cheer up. I am afraid of all
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: of my sorrows, and I know that you will not
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: hold me innocent. I will be condemned. Why then do
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: me in the ditch. He's saying here that there's nothing
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: he can do to get rid of God's punishment on
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: him because no matter how much he cleans himself, he
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: is still filthy in the eyes of God. Even if
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: he decided, you know what? I'm going to get up
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: from these ashes right now. I'm going to go clean
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: myself real good. And I'm going to put a happy
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: face on for the rest of my life and just
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: forget my troubles. He says, I can't do that because
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I know deep down inside that that God's anger at
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: me is so great that I am going to be
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: punished severely for just being a human being. So I
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: can't even have happy days for the rest of the
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: short life that I have because there's nothing I can
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: do to make myself worthy in the eyes of God.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: And now in verses 32 through 35, this is where
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: he gets to the sole problem of everything he is
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: talking about. For he is not a man as I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: am that I should answer him, that we should come
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: together in judgment. There is no umpire between us that
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: might lay his hand on us both. Job is desiring
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: an umpire. In other words, a mediator. Somebody who can
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: come and lay a hand on God and Job and
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: make Job right in the eyes of God. Now, what's
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: so interesting about Job's speech, in a lot of ways,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: he is speaking very accurately about God. and the corrupt
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: sin nature. But like I said earlier, he is speaking
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: it in the wrong way. Because in Job's mind, he
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: should be justified in the eyes of God. Because Job
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: had done nothing wrong. And that is the truth. Job
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: truly did nothing wrong. Though he still had the sin
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: nature that all of us had, he had no glaring sins.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: He was a blameless man who did his best to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: worship Yahweh and follow God his entire life. And now
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: he's wondering, what was the point of all of this?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Because I don't have a mediator that can come between
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: God and I to show God how blameless I really am.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: At least that's what he's implying here with this entire
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: speech is that he does truly believe that he is
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: blameless and he wants to prove to God how blameless
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: he actually is. So Job now is kind of starting
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: to speak a little bit in circles like his friend
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Eliphaz did because Job just said, there is nobody blameless
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: in the eyes of God just because of how corrupt
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: everybody is. But I want to prove to God how
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: blameless I truly am. And I wish there was an umpire,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: a mediator to come between us, to lay a hand
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: on me and to lay a hand on God and
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: to just get God to see that the suffering I'm
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: dealing with right now is unfair and God should never
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: do this thing to me. That's where Job goes a
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: little bit wrong with all of this, because again, there
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: is none righteous, no, not one. And I think Job
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: kind of understands this, but again, as a broken man,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: He's having a difficult time seeing the true picture. But
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Job is definitely more intelligent than his friends are because
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: his friends think of God in this really black and
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: white kind of way where they put God in this
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: little box and just said, Job, if you do good things,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: God will do good things to you. But Job understands
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: that it's way more complex than that. that us human
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: beings are sinful, fallen individuals. And he understands more than
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: his friends that because all people are sinners, that there
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: is none righteous, no, not one, that God doesn't just
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: bless good people and curse unrighteous people because we're all
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: unrighteous in the eyes of God. But again, with this speech,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Job gets to the heart of the matter. I need
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a mediator. And maybe he doesn't quite understand what that
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: means yet, I mean, Job definitely lived before Jesus was born,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: so he didn't understand who or what the Messiah was
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: going to be. But in his limited knowledge, he definitely
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: knew that there was a need for a Messiah, for
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: a mediator, for a high priest that could go to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: God and intercess on our behalf. Without really understanding it,
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: I think Job is both prophesying and looking forward to Jesus.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: And this is what's so amazing about the book of Job.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: It could be the oldest book that we have in
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the Bible. And yet already, we see how much it
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: points straight to Jesus. Because even Job's story points to
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus as well. In fact, everything in scripture, Old and
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: New Testament, points toward the Messiah. Well, faithful listeners, I
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: really appreciate you getting this far in the episode. But
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about verses 34 and 35 that
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Job says right here. right after a quick word from
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: this sponsor. So I left off by saying that the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: Old and New Testaments both point to Jesus. And that
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: is the reason why Scripture is always connected, because it
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: all points to Jesus. It's all unified. Its entire goal
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: is to teach us the good news, the truth of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: who God is. So of course, Scripture is going to
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: be unified. That's why there's 64,000 cross-references in Scripture, which
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: is impossible, impossible to achieve that in any book that
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: was written by human beings. Though the Old Testament books
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: were written centuries before Jesus even was born. And the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: New Testament books, the last one, Revelation, was probably written
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: in 95 AD. And yet we can see cross references
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: in the first five books of the Bible to the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: book of Revelation. It's just amazing how scripture is so
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: unified because it's talking about all about Jesus. And Jesus
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: is the true Messiah. He is the true God who
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: comes to us and intercedes for us and takes our
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: sin away and makes us righteous human beings so that
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: we can stand before God the Father someday. In fact,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that is what Job says right here in verses 34
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: and 35. Let him take his rod away from me.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: Let his terror not make me afraid. Then I would
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: speak and not fear him, for I am not so
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: in myself. Job said that only if God's rod was
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: not on him anymore, like beating his back, that he'd
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: be able to stand before God the Father. Again, I
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: don't know that Job really knows what he's saying right here,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: but he's essentially pointing everything to Jesus, that Jesus is
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: going to be the mediator that takes Job's sin away fully,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: like his sin nature. And someday Job will be able
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to stand boldly before the throne of grace because of Jesus.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I hope you all have a fantastic and wonderful,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: wonderful rest of your day. I will see all of
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: you guys on the next episode. Until then, happy listening
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and God bless. I just wanna take a second to
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: and more.