Job’s Final Defense, Part 1
Job Sermon Series, Part 14
Introduction (Job Slide)
- We are continuing to examine Job’s response to his friends
-- What is important is that there are several phases to his response
-- Mike covered the first last Sunday which was identifying Job’s focus
- Job 27:11, “I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal.”
-- Critical: Even though all this is happening, I will give thanks to God
-- Definition: I will still praise God; because my heart belongs to Him
- Then, we saw Job’s teaching his friends what wisdom is …
-- APP: The source for wisdom is found in God alone; only He understands it
-- God alone understands the path to gain it; we should follow Him
- Therefore, God says to man, “The fear of the Lord – that is wisdom” (c28: v28)
-- The fear (respect) of God for what He is able to do is wisdom
-- APP: Our role is not to defeat or contradict or look for loopholes in God
- Recap: How do we fear God?
1) We have a reverence for Him
2) We submit ourselves to Him (we won’t do this if we refuse the first one)
- Today we see Job continuing in his defense to these three friends
- Read Job Ch. 29
- Pray
Point 1 – Ah, the “good old days” … (Ch. 29)
- Job spends his time remembering where he used to be
-- Literally, he is longing for the time when life was good and easier
-- There was a time when he was young and so much going for him (v3)
-- Before this trouble, it was a time when God blessed his house (v4)
-- He is even longing for when he knew that God was with Him (v5)
-- APP: Job now feels that God has deserted him; God has left him in ruin
- He recounts how his reputation brought him great respect (v7-12)
-- He was a “big man in town”; people knew him and respected him
- Interesting note: Ref v12, Eliphaz accused him of not helping the poor
-- But Job remembers the things he did, the life that he once lived
- Job was a man who lived a life that honored God
-- He was a blessing to those around him; a source of help to all
-- His life … in a word … was perfect – everything was going well
- He continues by reminding himself of what he thought his future would be
-- CHALLENGE: Do we spend time reminiscing about “what could’ve been?”
• He believed he will die in his own home; at a very old age (v18)
• He pictured himself as a healthy tree; one that sustains life (v19)
• He believed he would be strong to the end (image of a bow) (v20)
- To Job … he was set for life and knew how everything would pan out
- Goes on: previously, people wanted to be around him, they listened to him (v21)
-- Job even declares that when he gave advice, people didn’t argue
-- APP: E.F. Hutton commercial … when he spoke, people listened
- People who came around Job delighted in even his smile (v24)
-- Those in the town sought his counsel; his reputation was without blemish
-- He was respected and sought after in all facets of life (advice, decision, etc.)
- Bottom line: My life was good before, and everyone in town liked me
- DON’T MISS: Job has a problem here that many of us may fight against
-- His view of God was that: “If life is good, God is happy with me…”
-- So, if all these things are gone, then somehow God is mad at me/punishing me
- FACT: God does not deal with His creation this way
-- Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
-- APP: Neither good times or bad times represents God’s love for us
- HUGE: Job would not have Jesus’s words, but we do … and we know this truth:
-- Good days vs. bad days are not how God treats us (re: sent Son to die for us)
- TRANS: But now, Job’s life is so much different …
- Read Job Ch.30
Point 2 – Job’s current state (Ch. 30)
- Men who are in a much less position than he is … now mock him (v1)
-- This puts Job, in society’s terms, squarely at the bottom of the barrel
- So much so, that even men who Job would not employ are ridiculing him
-- They aren’t even able to work, yet their status in society is better (v2)
- These men roam the land seeking food from any source they can find
-- Namely, the root of a broom brush, and their lives are better than Job’s (v3-4)
-- They live in the bush like donkeys, around dry creek beds (lifeless) (v7)
-- They have no future – but to Job … their lives are more successful
- And now, the children of these men mock Job (v9)
-- Job has become a joke, a fool, a byword (“don’t be like Job”) to society
-- They keep their distance from him, and even spit in his face (v10)
-- Job’s bow (a sign of strength) has been unraveled; he is now worthless (v11)
- Job is attacked by people who once used to revere him as a man
-- His defenses are weak, and they are able to easily siege him (v14)
-- He is plagued by terrors in his mind; he has no dignity, no safety (v15)
- His life is just wasting away; all he has is suffering (v16)
-- Not even the rest of the night brings him relief due to the pain he is in (v17)
-- God’s power comes at him like clothing (unescapable, form fitting) (v18)
-- He tossed Job out like used garbage … reducing him to ashes (v19)
- APP: Are you seeing the turn in Job’s mental state here?
-- He has gone from reminiscing about the “good old days” … to self-pity
- And now, here is Job’s chief complaint of all that has happened:
-- I cry out to God, and He does not answer me; God barely notices me (v20)
-- Re-read v21–23 … note the implication that God wants to destroy him
- Surely, Job goes on, no one wants to help someone this broken (v24)
-- APP: When Job cried for help, even his friends sought to destroy him further
-- Job has wept for those in trouble, shouldn’t they return the favor? (v25)
- He had hoped that when his friends arrived, he would find relief and peace (v26)
-- But all these did was bring him more darkness and depression (exact opposite)
- He is exhausted, unable to even keep his head up, and still torture continues (v27)
-- His skin is diseased (“blackened”); and no one he knows will help him (v28)
- His companions are now jackals and owls; he lives as an outcast of society (v29)
-- His skin peels from the ravages of the diseases; a fever has overtaken him (v30)
- As a result, his lyre (musical instrument picturing joy – like a flute/harp) has now turned to weeping and wailing (picture a funeral dirge instead of joy) (v31)
- APP: His present state is 180 degrees of where he used to be …
-- Understandably, we see a man in severe depression, ravage by his situation
- TRANS: So, what can we learn from this stark picture of life?
Big Idea: Even in tough times, hope is NOT lost!
- Thomas Jefferson (inventor) once had his workshop burned to the ground
-- Inventions: pedometer, polygraph, swivel chair, hideaway bed, “great clock”
-- All his work, all his papers, all his efforts had been destroyed by fire
-- The next morning, amidst the destruction, he said: “There is value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Now we can start anew.”
- Sometimes, life brings us challenges that seem unsurmountable
-- Imagine how the cross appeared to the human side of Jesus Christ as He faced it
-- Yes, He willingly laid down His life ... even considering the pain ahead
-- But, for the glory of God – He persevered for our salvation & to obey God
- When we face trials and difficulties, can’t we keep our heads up as well?
- Can’t we willingly serve a Holy God, no matter what life brings?
- We will continue this discourse on Wednesday night …
- Pray
References: Holman OT Commentary, Job
