Job Chapter 17-18:ALL

Welcome to Cross the Bridge But right now, open your Bible to the Old Testament Book of Job and follow along for today's teaching. In this series of special weekend edition programs, Pastor David has been teaching lessons from the life of Job.

Job is one of the oldest books in the Bible. We are finding out that what needed to be learned back then still needs to be learned by us today as we continue studying chapters 17 and 18. Now here's Pastor David. If you don't have a Bible, just raise your hand and one of the gushers will bring you a Bible.

We're going to read through these chapters and then I'm going to comment on some things. Let's pray. God, thank you for your Word. God, I ask that you would help us to focus on you and your Word. And Lord, if there's anything that we think about your Word that's faulty or false, any doctrine that we've come up with that's impure, that we've stirred in our efforts or whatever, Lord, make it. Make it plain.

Clean it up. Lord, and if we need to make choices tonight to think about you or the Bible differently, Lord, we lay our will down at your feet. In Jesus' name. And everybody said, Amen. Amen. It would be entirely appropriate if you have an electronic device to invite people to listen in to what I'll be saying over the next few minutes. We're going to wash your windshield tonight.

And I'll explain what that means in just a second. Let's read Job 17 verse 1. My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished. The grave is ready for me. Are not mockers with me and does not my eye dwell on the provocation? Now put down a pledge for me with yourself.

Who is he who will shake hands with me? For you have hidden their heart from understanding. Therefore, you will not exalt them. He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail.

This is Job speaking here. But he has made me a byword of the people. Now, if you're in the New King James, pay attention to the pronouns because as there is a capital H, he's speaking about God.

When there's a little h, he's speaking about a person or himself. Verse 6. But he has made me a byword of the people and I have become one in whose face men spit.

My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow and all my members are like shadows. Upright men are astonished at this and the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. Yet the righteous will hold to his way and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. What's that phrase?

We'll come back to it. Verse 10. But please come back again all of you for I shall not find one wise man among you.

It's kind of a slam, isn't it? Verse 10. But please come back again all of you for I shall not find one wise man among you.

He's talking to these two guys that are really giving him bad counsel. Verse 11. My days are past. My purposes are broken off. Even the thoughts of my heart, they change the night and the day. The light is near, they say, in the face of darkness. If I wait for the grave is my house. If I make my bed in the darkness, if I say to corruption, you are my father.

And to the worm, you are my mother and my sister. Where then is my hope? And for my hope who can see it? Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we rest together in the dust? Chapter 18. In chapter 1, we're privy to a conversation between God and Satan that Job wasn't aware of.

And so Job is trying to grasp and understand what's happened to him. And, you know, we can't always control what goes on around us. But what we can control through the power of the Holy Spirit is how we react to what happens.

Amen? I've said before, as believers, we're not supposed to react to what's going on around us. That's a thermometer. A thermometer registers the temperature of whatever's going on around them.

That's not what Christians are supposed to do. We're supposed to be thermostats. We set the temperature around us. Amen? We make a place of joy around us. Praise God.

We have an attitude of gratitude around us. Amen? Because we've been forgiven. Praise God. Absolutely. Give him some praise, man, if you've been forgiven.

Amen. So then Bill Dadd, he starts in chapter 18, verse 1. Then Bill Dadd, the shoe height, answered and said, how long till you're putting in the words? Gain understanding and afterwards we will speak. He's saying, you're being stupid. You need to get smarter, Joe.

Dog. Verse 3, why are we counted as beast and regarded as stupid in your sight? Who will tear yourself in anger? You who tear yourself in anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rot be removed from this place? The light of the wicked indeed goes out. He's calling Joe wicked in case you're missing that. The light of the wicked indeed goes out and the flame of his fire does not shine.

The light is dark in his tent and his lamp beside him is put out. I'm discerning that Bill Dadd had the gift of encouragement. If you're feeling discouraged and you start sharing with somebody and they start piling rocks on top of you, you're talking to the wrong person.

Talk to somebody else. Verse 7, the steps of the strength are shortened and his own counsel cast him down. For he's cast into a net by his own feet and he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel when a snare lays hold of him. A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side.

Unbelievers are terrified right now. Verse 8, for he's cast into a net by his own feet and he walks into a snare. The net takes him by the heel when a snare lays hold of him.

A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side and drive him to his feet. An unbeliever can walk in terror and fear. You, if you're a believer, you do not walk in fear. You do not walk in terror.

As Jesus is with you all the time, you're not alone. You are loved. You don't have to be afraid.

You are immune from terrorism. Amen. Praise God. Man, praise God.

See, because the way terrorism works is they say there's reports and this happened and you get all freaked out and fearful. But this word says you have not been given a spirit of fear but of love and power and a sound mind. Verse 12, his strength is starved and destruction is ready at his side. He devours patches of his skin and the first point of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent and they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his. Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below and his branch withers above. The memory of him perishes from the earth and he has no name among the renowned. He is driven from light into darkness and chased out of the world.

Oh, man, this guy's so cold. Verse 19, he has neither son. Job's children have been killed. He has neither son nor spirit or posterity among his people nor any remaining in his dwellings.

Those in the west are astonished at his day as those in the east are frightened. Surely, such are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him who does not know God. Bildad and his buddy slammed Job for almost 40 chapters and as we're going through this verse by verse, chapter by chapter, it's almost distasteful having to read Bildad, having to listen to his words. Here's a Bible study tip. We are invited in Job chapter one to a strategic meeting between God and Satan that Job was not aware of. Bible study tip is we are invited in Job chapter one to a strategic meeting before God and Satan that Job was not aware of and we learn certain things from the enemy about him in Job chapter one, chapter two. What do we learn?

Here's a life lesson. Our enemy is not omnipresent. He is not present everywhere at the same time like God is. Our enemy is not omnipresent. He's not present everywhere at the same time like God is, next life lesson. Our enemy is not omniscient. He is not all-knowing like God is. Don't give the enemy too much credit.

You do have an enemy. If you believe in God, you gotta believe in the enemy, Satan. But he's not omnipresent. He's not omniscient. And here's another life lesson. We see in the book of Job that it is Satan who is responsible for the message of Job, not God.

Let me say that again. We see in the book of Job that it is Satan who is responsible for the message of Job, not God. Another Bible study tip.

Again, we'll have these online later. But here's the Bible study tip. The meaning of Satan in the Hebrew is accuser. That's what Satan means, accuser. One of his titles is the accuser of the brethren. So the meaning of Satan in the Hebrew is accuser. One of his titles is the accuser of the brethren.

Now some people love to ask a question. If God is a God of love, and I'm sure you've heard this, then why does he cause sin and suffering? That's not even the right question. Why does God cause sin and suffering? God does not cause sin and suffering. What you could ask is if God is such a loving God, why does he allow sin and suffering?

Now that's a legitimate question. Why does he allow sin and suffering? Well, here's a revelation. God allows sin and suffering on this planet because he allows us to be on this planet, and we, humanity, mankind, cause sin and suffering. So when God put Adam and Eve on this planet with the ability to make a choice and the ability to choose wrong, they chose wrong.

Humanity brought sin and suffering in. In Ezekiel chapter 38, it says, the word Lord came to me saying, Son of man, set your face against Gog or the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach and Tubal, and prophesy against them. Here's the interesting thing. Rosh is a derivative where we believe we get the word for Russia. Meshach is more easily traced as Moscow. In Tubal, there is a Tubal area, and there's a Tubaski river in Russia, and Russia joins with a group of countries in the Middle East, and it says, this is, Lord, behold, I'm against you, O God, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and lead you out with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all splendid clothes, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords.

Here's what's wild. Persia, which is modern-day Iran, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and helmet. Russia has built a coalition now with Syria, Iran, and now Iraq. There's messianic congregations sparking in Israel like never before. And the season of the Gentiles for the last 2,000 years, it's been mainly a Gentile movement with God, and then now there's a huge messianic movement with Jewish people. And Luke 21, verse 24 tells us, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. In 1967, when Israel took back Jerusalem, then the times of the Gentiles were coming to a close.

It was marked by that. Romans chapter 11, verse 1 says, I say then, as God cast away his people, certainly not. God's not finished with Israel. The Bible plainly says that in Romans chapter 11, verse 1. For I also am in Israel, the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

And in verse 7 of Romans, this is what then, Israel's not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 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, that's 94253, to receive a short encouraging text from us each day. And now, back to the teaching. Last area that goes. We give that to the Lord.

That's usually the last thing. It's interesting in Job chapter 18, he paints this picture that Job is wicked. We know, and if you weren't with us, you can go back. Chapter 1, God himself says Job's a good man, a just man. And incidentally, when Job says, remember, he wasn't privy to that meeting that we know in Job chapter 1. When Job said the Lord gives and the Lord takes away your attention, he was wrong. He was wrong. It wasn't God who'd taken stuff away.

Read the first two chapters. It's the enemy. And yet, we repeat that.

Lord gives, Lord takes away. We repeat the mistake. It is a mistake. I've said it before, honestly.

I won't say it again. The Word says the enemy came to steal and to kill, to lie, to cheat, to rip you off. It doesn't say God came to steal, came to take.

The appropriate theological statement would have been the Lord gives and Satan takes away. Amen? And if that's rocking your boat a little bit, praise God.

We need our boats rocked a little bit every now and again. In Job 18, Bill Dowd talks about Job being wicked, but we're reminded Proverbs 24 16 says, for a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Or in the New Living Translation, the godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. There was a curse that was over Israel in some ways under Job. And there was also this thing with Job, the enemy getting in there.

And when God allowed, he removed his hand of protection off of Israel in Job chapter one, verse four. And it was this bam, bam, bam, bam event, Job chapter four. That which the palmer worm hath left, the locust ate, that which the locust has left, that's the canker worm eaten, and that which the canker worm hath left, the caterpillar eaten.

Bam, bam, bam. For a nation is coming upon you, my land strong, and without number whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the teeth of a great lion. But then the next chapter, Joel speaks to the people of God and says this. Are you ready for a blessing?

Oh, come on now. I know we're getting close to closing, but are you ready for a blessing? Praise God. Joel says this, or really, this is the word of the Lord.

For I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, my great army, which I sent among you. And you shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that is dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be ashamed, and you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am your Lord your God, and none else, and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days while I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke, and the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the great terrible day of the Lord, and listen to this, and it shall come to pass that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Praise God. In the midst of whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Prodigals need to come back home. As they're seeing these things, they're starting to think.

That's an opening for us. Sunday I talked about this thing, this five to ten, five to ten, five minutes, two questions, ten commandments. If you weren't here, it's how to witness, how to share your faith. Now I'm going to spoil the ending because we've been, man, these guys have been bumming us out for a while as we've been going through Job. So I'm going to skip ahead just to get us a little taste of what's coming in Job 42 verse 7. And so it was after the Lord had spoken these words to Job that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. And a few verses later, and the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. In verse 12, it says, now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

He also had seven sons and three daughters, and he called the name of the first Jemima, the name of the second Coziah, and the name of the third Karinopoch. And all the land were found no woman so beautiful as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. And after this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and his grandchildren for four generations.

So Job died old and full of days. And praise God. Amen. God is good. God's a blessing God. Now, does that mean anybody that says God, Buddha, or Allah, or something, that they're good?

No. This Bible offers mercy to anybody one way. I'm glad there's one way. Bible says in Acts chapter 4 verse 12, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. In John 14, chapter 14 verse 6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

1 John 1 7, but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, Jesus Christ his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and this truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sin, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. One last verse.

Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Here's the thing, different seasons of the year you're driving down the road, stuff hits your windshield. As stuff hits the windshield, you can't see as well, and it can get so bad that it can actually be dangerous. It can be where the fog comes in, and you can't see anything. You don't even know there's a city there. You can't see any buildings. You can't see a hundred feet down the street. It's just all fog.

You can think you're in the middle of a field, but then the sun shines, and you realize you're in the middle of a bunch of people. The enemies of Job couldn't change what happened. They couldn't change the events.

They wanted to change how Job viewed the events, and Job wouldn't let them. Your worldview, God loves me. I love God. God loves people. I love people. You're created to walk in that worldview.

Any other worldview doesn't work, because when you recall events, you take them through this filter again. If you're convinced your husband loves you, then you're going to see the things he does as elements of loving you. When he brings you flowers, it's not because he's guilty. It's because he loves you.

If he buys you candy, it's not because he's guilty. It's because he loves you. How do you view God? Do you know he loves you? Do you know he's a blessing God? He's a keeping God.

He's a healing God. Do you know you can trust him? You can trust him with your future. You can trust him with your soul. You can trust him with your finances. You can trust him with your kids. You can trust him with your parents.

You can trust him. Are you? See, as these events happen, and maybe you get hurt, and maybe you remember a wounding, you start to view the world differently. You're not seeing clearly, because you've been offended or wounded or hurt or betrayed.

You've got to wash the windshield. How do you do that? You can do it a lot different ways.

I'll tell you the best way to do it. Communion. Whatever happened to you because you're listening right now, because you're still breathing, I know that it's not as bad as what happened to Jesus. I've got a big Roman spike in my office. When I feel like the world's coming down on me, I look at that spike and sometimes even press it into my hand, and I think, you know what? It's not a bad day. Nobody has crucified me, but somebody died on your behalf so that you could be cleansed, so that you could be as white as snow.

It's interesting. There's a call-answer thing in the book of Job, and what I mean by that is in Job 16 19, Job says, Surely even now my witness is in heaven, and my evidence is on high. And in the book of Hebrews, it says, For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Job 19 25 says, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth. You've been listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge, weekend edition.

Tune in again next Saturday afternoon at 4 30 Eastern and 1 30 Pacific time as Pastor David continues teaching lessons from the life of Job on most radio stations. Friends, God loves you and wants you to experience his peace, forgiveness and life. The Bible says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How do you receive this gift of everlasting life from God? First, acknowledge you're a sinner in need of forgiveness. Believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for you on the cross, taking your sin upon himself to provide forgiveness for you.

Then ask for him to enter your heart in life, turning away from your sins, that is your own selfish desires, and then open your heart to follow God's plan for your life. You can start your new life by praying something like this from your heart. Dear Jesus, I believe that you died for me, that I could be forgiven.

I believe you are resurrected, that I could have a new life. Lord, I have done wrong things and I'm sorry. Please forgive me for all of those things and please give me the power to live for you the rest of my life. In Jesus name, amen. My friend, if you prayed that prayer today for the first time or are coming back to God after wandering away, please let us know. Email pastordavid at crossthebridge.com and share your good news. That's a great first step to growing in your new faith. We'd love to email you back some more ways to continue in this wonderful adventure of faith. Remember that you are not alone and you are loved. Also, don't forget to visit crossthebridge.com to discover more resources provided at no charge to help you learn more about the Bible. If you'd like to help us share God's word with others, please click on the donate button and support this program with your regular gifts and tune into Cross the Bridge weekend editions each Saturday and Sunday on this station or on the crossthebridge.com website. God bless you and have a great day.