Job Chapter 13-14:ALL

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee, Weekend Edition. Pastor David McGee is internationally recognized for his unique conversational verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter teaching through the Word of God. We have hundreds of his teachings through the many books of the Bible and encourage you to visit CrossTheBridge.com to study the Scriptures along with Pastor David. But right now, open your Bible to the Old Testament book of Job and follow along for today's teaching. In this series, Pastor David has been teaching practical lessons from the life of Job.

We are finding out that what needed to be learned back then still needs to be learned by us today. I think you'll find that to be true today and tomorrow as we take a closer look at chapters 13 and 14. Now, here's Pastor David.

Job 13 and 14. Job chapter 13 verse 1 says, And hear the pleading of my lips. Will you speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He searches you out or can you mock Him as one mocks a man?

He will surely rebuke you if you secretly show partiality. Will not His excellence make you afraid and the dread of Him fall upon you? Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes.

Your defenses are defenses of clay. Hold your peace with me and let me speak. Then let come on me what may.

Why do I take my flesh and my teeth and put my life in my hands? In verse 15, Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. In verse 16, He also shall be my salvation.

For a hypocrite could not come before Him. Listen carefully to my speech and to my declaration with your ears. See now, I have prepared my case. I know that I shall be vindicated. Who is He who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish.

Only two things do not do to me. Then I will not hide myself from you. Withdraw your hand not far from me and let not the dread of you make me afraid. Then call and I will answer. Or let me speak.

Then you respond to me. How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.

Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy? Will you frighten a leaf driven to and fro and will you pursue dry stubble? For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. Verse 27, You put my feet in the stocks and watch closely all my paths.

You set a limit for the soles of my feet. Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten. And chapter 14 verse 1, Man who was born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away.

He flees like a shadow and does not continue. And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me to judgment with yourself? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Now Job in verse 4 here says no one because he doesn't know of one that can do that yet. But is that the right answer? No. But it's in the Bible.

Yeah, but it's Job answering the question from a lack of wisdom. I know somebody. Jesus can do that. God can do that. The Holy Spirit does that. Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you.

You have appointed his limits so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest. To like a hired man he finishes his day. For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down that it will sprout again and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth and its stump may die in the ground. Verse 9, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant. But man dies and is laid away and deep breezes last and where is he? As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dries up so man lies down and does not rise till the heavens are no more.

They will not awake nor be roused from their sleep. Oh, that you would hide me in the grave. Oh, that you would conceal me until your wrath has passed. That you would appoint me a set time and remember me. If a man dies, shall he live again? Now, the obvious answer to that in the time of Job, thousands of years before Christ, the obvious answer at that time is no.

It's a cute breed. All the days of my hard service I will wait until my change comes. You shall call and I will answer you. You shall desire the work of your hands.

For now you number my steps. But do not watch over my sin. My transgression is sealed up in a bag and you cover my iniquity. But as a mountain falls and crumbles away and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and as torrents wash away the soil of the earth, so you destroy the hope of man. Job is upset.

He's hurt. The very people that God sent into the situation to bless Job, to comfort Job, did not do so well. Verse 20, you prevail forever against him and he passes on. You change his countenance and send them away. His sons come to honor and he does not know it. They are brought low and he does not perceive it.

But his flesh will be in pain over it and his soul will mourn over it. I don't know how many times I have read that Job's wife, after the children were killed, that Job's wife came to him and said, Curse God and die. And you know what, in all fairness, we beat up on that poor lady a lot, but you know what? She lost her children and that was probably potentially harder on her than on Job. She may have been saying to Job, Why don't you kill yourself?

It never occurred to Job to kill himself. He trusted God. Let's say it together. He trusted God. He did what?

He trusted God. When you're in a situation, when you're in a crowd or you're in a test, the enemy will say, Oh, whoa, whoa. The pressure, it's just going to keep on you and it's just going to build and build and build and build and it's just always going to be there. The pressure is always going to be there.

That's a lie. The word of the Lord is this too shall pass. Job was submitted to God. He trusted God.

It's just tough. If you see a couple or somebody who loses a child or they go to heaven way too early, pray for them. And let me tell you, if you've never lost a child, one of the worst things you can do is pretend you understand because you don't. But what's amazing is I've watched couples and people have their child die and them be drawn closer to the Lord, because they understood from the beginning that it was God who gave them that child, whether it was for 18 years or 18 months.

The child is just on loan. We raise them up as best we can. We're stewards, really. And I love the saying, the same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay, the same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay. And what that means is one couple can lose a child and be drawn closer to the Lord. Their hearts soften towards the Lord. And another couple can have a child pass away and their heart gets hard towards God.

It's the willpower. Job was submitted to God. He trusted God. For all the fuss and the different stuff that's going on, who are they going to in the book of Job? They're going to God.

They're going to the right place. Amen. That in itself is a good lesson of who to turn to. And one of the themes of this book, and here's a life lesson, is from the book of Job, we see that from very bad things, very good things can come.

Amen. From the book of Job, we see that from very bad things, very good things can come. I love the Carmen video where Satan and Jesus are duking it out and Jesus is on the cross. And as Jesus gives up his spirit, the enemy thinks he's won. He's thinking, oh, man, I've beaten him.

I think the name of it is the champion. And so, you know, just for that moment, the enemy thinks, oh, man, I have, you know, the Messiah, the God man I have, I've killed him. Thinking, wow, the enemy thought just for a moment, he thought, man, I've done something big, you know.

Then instead of doing the regular, instead of counting them out, it was literally a countdown. You know, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and Jesus, the Lord of life. Now, we're told in the book of Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called, according to His purpose. So that's a threefold thing. You can't just say all good things.

No. It says all things work together for the good of those who love God, those who are the called, and according to His purpose. So those who love God, you guys love God.

Man, you're the hardcore, you're here on Thursday night, check. All right, love God. So then the called, yes, we're called to be a part. And so it's according to His purpose, which, amen, you don't want your purpose worked in your life, amen? You want His purpose.

He sees everything. And there's a verse that keeps weeping out at me. And I've mentioned it in Matthew, chapter 24, that the body of Christ in Matthew 24, 10, it says, And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. It's amazing to me, it seems to be that more and more Christians, and then some that I thought, we thought were maybe more mature, get offended. And I don't mean just, oh, I'm a little bit offended.

No, I mean like, I'm offended and I want everybody to know I'm offended. And then you betray the relationship and then begin to hate one another. And it's interesting that this is listed under Matthew 24. This is what's going to be happening in the last days.

That's really interesting. You know why? Because that's what's happening now. That's what's happening right now. That's not just you. That's not just us. That's what's going on.

Now, what should we do about it? Freak out. That's what the Bible says. When you see these things starting to happen, freak out.

Isn't that what your Bible says? In the Hebrew, it's freak out. No, it doesn't say to freak out. It says, Occupy till he comes.

It says, look up. Your redemption's getting close. Praise God. We're in the countdown, period. Job wasn't on the fence.

Boy, you can say a lot of things about him, but he wasn't on the fence. Now, Hebrews, I love these couple verses. Hebrews 10.24 says, Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Stir up love and good works. Now, this goes right with Hebrews 10.25, which, what are we supposed to do? Look at the verses that tell us what we're supposed to do in the last days and they tell us.

It says, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as is the manner of Psalm. Pastor David will be back in less than one minute as he continues teaching in the Book of Job. A great way to start out each day is with a practical email devotional every morning from Pastor David. Visit crossthebridge.com to start receiving yours for free. If you have a cell phone, you can also text the word ENCOURAGE to 94253 to receive a short encouraging text from us each day.

That's 94253. And now, back to the teaching. So some people won't be getting together as an assembly and that's going to be bad because Paul here, the writer of Hebrews, which we're not sure who it is, I tend to think it's Paul, but that's another discussion for another day. But don't forsake the assembly. Keep getting together. And as you do that, there's going to be some that don't do that.

And that's not going to be good. Paul here is saying be careful. Be sure you keep getting together and exhorting one another, encouraging one another. And then as we get closer to the day of the Lord, the writer of Hebrews puts in here that even more so as you see the day approaching.

So be sure that this is a part of your life, a committed part of your life. Now, I know I'm kind of preaching to the choir. Let me explain that one because that's an interesting... Denominational churches, they say that all the time.

What that means is in denominational churches, there's usually a loft up here, benches up here. And it's kind of strange because there's like 50 people up here in robes that are staring at you as you're listening. So anyway, they're up here and that's the choir. And so as the preacher preaches, you know, people out here are listening and hopefully some are receiving. But the choir has heard, you know, the word before and potentially heard the same teaching before.

So that's a saying preaching to the choir or repeating yourself needlessly. Hebrews 10 25, not forsaking the assembly, even more so as you see the day approaching. And then here's what Timothy says, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 6 says, Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through what? Through the laying on of hands.

Well, that's interesting. So in other words, the transference of gifts happens with the laying on of hands. And the laying on of hands, that's what it means when it talks about in Hebrews 6, that is one of these foundational things. That when you pray for somebody that you can lay your hand upon them and supernaturally something happens.

Or at least supernaturally it has the potential to happen. And so 2 Timothy 1 6, Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Well, how do you know if you get filled with God's Holy Spirit? Same way you know when you get saved, by faith.

Amen? But you're filled with the Spirit through the laying on of hands. And sometimes there is a physical manifestation.

Sometimes there is not. But we know that we're filled with God's Holy Spirit when we ask by faith. Amen? Just a couple more things about the Book of Job, kind of big picture. And it's a form of a life lesson here. Is we can learn how to be a better friend from the Book of Job.

Amen? You can see from the Book of Job how not to be a friend. How not to present theology when somebody's hurting. As you look through this book, these guys, some of what they say is right and theologically correct.

But it's the wrong time. See, they're called Job's Comforters or the Friends of Job. And we can learn how not to be Job's Comforters or the Friends of Job by not assuming things we don't know, jumping to conclusions, which we dangerously do all the time. We jump to conclusions by not giving condemning statements, by not feeling proud because we aren't suffering. It's a long statement.

I encourage you to jot it now. We can learn how to be a better friend from the Book of Job. We can learn how not to be Job's Comforters or the Friends of Job by not assuming things we don't know, jumping to conclusions, by not giving condemning statements, and by not feeling proud because we aren't suffering. It's a twisted thing that when somebody starts to suffer, we think, oh, what'd they do? And in a really twisted thing, we think, oh, what did they do? Praise God, I'm not sick. Be careful, gang. There's a lot of Christians right now that are suffering in the Middle East.

Are they suffering because they're less of a Christian than us? Oh, absolutely not. I want to give you some interesting things to ponder here. I want to share something in just a moment, but I'm going to kind of give you some things to think about as you look through the studies in Job. Now, I said this is one of the oldest books, probably the oldest, in the Bible. And as such, there's a lot of interesting, unique things to this book. I'm going to give you some watch and off pads, if you will, for you to do some studies on your own. There's a few interesting things that have to do with the book of Job in that it's the only book that has so many references to ice and snow.

What am I saying? There is a belief that there was a period called the Ice Age that perhaps could have happened, and again, I don't want to get into the time sake, but it's possible that this cold spell, if you will, is talked about in the book of Job, and then later on you don't see it. And if that's not exciting enough, do a word study on the words behemoth and leviathan, which we might use the word dinosaur for. And if that's not exciting enough, look at what Dr. Carl Baugh is doing with his studies with dinosaurs and man. There's a print been discovered that has a dinosaur print with a man's footprint right in the middle of it.

Incidentally, if you haven't been watching the scientific arena in the evolutionist arena, they've got people that are just bailing, that have supported the theory of evolution for years and years and years, and now these people, who are not Christians, are abandoning the theory, saying it doesn't work. And there's two reasons they're saying that. First of all, Darwin talked about a simple single cell. There's no such thing as a simple single cell. A simple single cell has a DNA formula in there that is so far beyond what we could accomplish even. And so there's two things.

There's the Cambria explosion, if you want to research this or help your kids understand this, because somehow some of this is not filtering down through the educational system. And the other thing that's really kicking the evolutionists down the road is the DNA strand. There's a front door, back door, these doors are shut, they just can't be added to the DNA strand, as it could not evolve as such.

It had to be one solid strand, boom, there it is. Now, if you're an evolutionist, you've got a big problem now, don't you? If you hadn't seen it, you ought to go and look at Richard Dawkins, the atheist, talk to Ben Stein.

And Ben Stein just, man, wraps him up and sends him over to mama. Richard Dawkins is a hardcore atheist, and he starts out in a discussion saying, absolutely not, I don't believe in creation, I don't believe... And then within five minutes, he's saying, well, we may have been seeded here by an alien race. See, he's OK with creation, he just doesn't want to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, because then there's truth, then there's a core. Though he slay me, I will trust him. You know, in chapter one of Job, Job is described as a good man, but you know what's impressive? Is God describes him that way, as a good man. And the enemy is after him. What's interesting, in chapter one, and you've got to get this, because if you miss this, you walk away with the wrong notion of this book. Incidentally, just because Job says something in this book doesn't mean Job's right, because Job in this book says the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, which is true. But was the Lord the one who took away things in this book?

I'm digging that. But here's the thing, in Job chapter one, verse six, it says, Why is the enemy walking around? We're told in another passage in the New Testament that he's seeing whom he may devour. That's why he's walking around. So he's walking around, he sees Job, but he can't devour Job. He's already been considering Job. He's already been scoping Job out. He's already been salivating over Job. So it's not like God says, Oh, did you think about Job? Oh, Job, I never thought about Job.

No, that wasn't the situation. So Satan had already been looking at Job. But it's interesting. So the enemy is looking around at who he may devour. Why does God look around? To see who he might bless and who he might give strength to and who he might encourage and who he might heal. Now, who are we supposed to be more like? God, looking for people we can bless, looking for people that we can pray for, looking for people that we can encourage and give strength to. It's also interesting in verse 10 in chapter one that the enemy says, Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side? Let me say it again because I think you missed it. The enemy in verse 10, chapter one, he says, Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side?

Do you know what that means, friend? That God protects you, that he gives you angels to have his charge over you and that he has not only a hedge around you but around your household and around all that you have on every side. Can I hear something, praise God?

Yeah, man. There is a hedge around you. There is a hedge around your household. There's a hedge on every side, praise God. Now you may be thinking, Why? The enemy, what happened?

Because he hit me, bam, like lightning the other day. Did you tear your hedge down? God didn't tear it down.

We tear our own hedges down. We tear down the protection God offers. Now the enemy is walking around, Why, seeing whom he may devour? First Peter, chapter five, verse eight, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion devouring everybody. Is that what it says?

No. Seeking whom he may devour. How does he decide on whom he may devour?

So he roars and the prey gets upset, gets excited, and runs right into the jaws of the waiting tigresses. Friend, we all got blind spots. I got blind spots, you got blind spots. When we're part of the body of Christ, your blind spot and my blind spot are different.

And so when we're together, we're not blind anymore. Amen? You've been listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge, Weekend Edition. Tune in again tomorrow afternoon as Pastor David continues teaching on most stations. If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There you will experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com.

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