Job Chapter 25-26: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. 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 today. I think you'll find that to be true today and tomorrow as we take a closer look at chapters 25 and 26. Now, here's Pastor David. If you don't have a Bible, put your hand up.

One of the ushers will come and bring you a Bible. And we're in Job chapter 25. We are going through two chapters an evening with Job. Job was a really, really blessed man. And he had an awesome family, bunch of kids, business doing well, all sorts of stuff. And Job had things, but things didn't have Job.

You know what I mean? He was blessed, he was prosperous, but God was number one. When you put God number one, you free up God to bless you. If God is not number one, he can't release all the blessings he has for you because your priorities are out of whack. And God cannot bless disobedience.

God does and will bless obedience every time. There was a strategic meeting that Job was not aware of, where the enemy comes into the presence of God and says, they begin this discussion and Satan is after Job. And he's been watching Job, noticing Job's hedge and protection, what it looked like, that it was complete.

He knew all those things. So he'd been checking Job out and God laid forth the ground rules. And he said to the enemy, look, you can do this, but no more. So a lot happens, thieves come and steal Job's crops and stuff, there's a fire, his kids were killed. There's another strategic meeting he doesn't know about. The first time God said, keep your hands off of him.

Second time, he says, don't take his life. Now Job is kind of one of these books that makes us all uncomfortable. It's kind of like when Jesus is talking to Peter and Peter has been fairly prideful. When Jesus said, look, everybody's gonna run off. And Peter said, nah, everybody but me, you know. And so Peter kind of had faith in Peter. And Jesus said to Peter, Satan, he wants you, he wants to sift you like wheat. You know, if you're Peter and Jesus says, you know what he's saying, well, you told him no, didn't you?

I mean, you're not gonna. And yet, let's think about that statement. Sift you like wheat.

Do you understand that getting sifted gets the garbage out and keeps what is good and usable of the crop? And that's exactly what happens. A lot of Peter's pride and the different things that he had to deal with were just leveled and what emerged was a powerful man of God. What if, and you can take so many Bible characters, what if you took just a slice of their life at the wrong time? In other words, you took a slice of Peter's life at his denial and you thought, oh, that's it. That's how he ends up.

That's what happens to him because he's in the middle of it at this moment. What about Joseph? Joseph had all those awesome promises. He had shared the dreams with his brothers even. Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do at the certain times, but man, they beat him up. They throw him in a pit and then they sold him.

Then he worked really hard at Potiphar's house. He's unjustly accused of rape. Maybe you've been unjustly accused as well and you're thinking, oh, great, this is how I end up. See, somebody, you're looking at your lives and the things that are happening and you're thinking, oh, this is where it ends up.

No, no. What if Job would have done that? We're given insight into that window of time where his life is, I mean, to say it was an upheaval, that just doesn't even begin to describe it because after God said, okay, enemy, you can touch him, but don't take his life, he began to get these boils, which are like huge zits and filled with pain and pressure so much that he was taking pieces of broken pottery and scraping his skin. And his friends who could have had a real moment of compassion with him were like, well, you know what you did wrong, don't you? I want to go through some things that I look at before I go into the Word that I believe will help you. There's some powerful scriptures and also you need to understand something that even though we're 500 years past the Reformation, there's still lots of remnants of the Catholic church in the Protestant church and our mindset that we were brought up with. The whole idea of mortal sins and little sins, cardinal sins and the thing about the Bible's too complicated, I can't understand it, I need somebody that's completely educated with lots of initials after his name to explain it to me.

That suicide automatically sent somebody to hell. There's a lot of things that came in through there, but here's a Jewish blessing that they would say before they began to read and study the Torah or the Word, the Bible. And they've been saying this prayer for some of these prayers, 2,500 years, 3,000 years. This one particularly, another time, I'll give it to you in English and in Hebrew. I'm just going to give it to you in English tonight. So it says, blessed are you, O Lord our God and King of the universe.

Let me stop there for a second. If you follow Jewish blessings, then you know that that's, you know, the Hebrew, the Baruch Ata, Eloheno, excuse me, Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheno Ma'alach Ha'alam, and that is blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe. Many of the Jewish blessings start out like that. So if you memorize that one, you got a good grip on a lot of the blessings. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of the Torah or the words of God. Blessed are you, O Lord our God and King of the universe. Same blessing again, Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheno Ma'alach Ha'alam, who chose us from all the people and gave to us his word. Blessed are you, Lord God, giver of the Torah. So that's a Jewish blessing. And now some of the scriptures that are really good to read before you do your studies, you're reading a few that honestly, some of these I read for years and years, every time before I studied. John chapter 14, verse 15 says, If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

There's a difference there. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. It's interesting that word comfortless in the Greek is orphanos, I won't leave you as orphans.

I won't leave you without comfort. And Jesus here is, he's sharing his heart, John 14, 15, 16. And if you wanna read the real Lord's Prayer, John 17, that's when Jesus is praying for those around him. It was so important to Jesus that the disciples receive the Holy Spirit in fullness, that he said, it is worth my life.

It's worth me not being here with you so I can send the Holy Spirit. Understand, in the Hebrew scriptures, in the Old Testament, in the part of Job that we're reading, it was the old covenant. The old covenant was the blood of animals. And the word that is used often is kophir, atonement. Kophir in the Hebrew, it's where we get our English word cover and that's what it did, it covered our sins. And praise God, it covered sins, but it didn't wash them away.

That's why they had to keep doing it. And that's why Jesus only had to die once because his sacrifice was so complete and it didn't cover your sins, it washed them away. That brings us into the new covenant. And because we have been made holy by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus, the Holy Spirit doesn't have to walk beside us. He can be in us because we've been made holy.

Isn't that amazing? Praise God, absolutely, thank you, Lord. Amen. Now, you see this in John 14 in the New Living Translation, that same reference. If you love me, obey my commandments. This is John 14, verses 15 through 17, New Living Translation. If you love me, obey my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth and the world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you. That's what he said to the disciples.

He was beside them, but later he would be in them. No, I will not abandon you as orphans, I will come to you. And in John 14, 26 through 27, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance. All things, say all things, all things. Let's say it again, all things.

And that's awesome. He will bring to remembrance all things. Do you understand God wants to help you in not just your church life, he wants to help you 24 seven. He wants to talk to you so much that he'll talk to you through your dreams. Don't look at me with that tone of voice, it's in the Bible, it talks about dreaming, okay?

There's five places in the first two chapters of the New Testament talking about dreams. All things, so God wants to help you. If you've got an issue at work, talk to him about it. Say, God, I don't know what to do with this thing at work. I got this guy, I got this girl, whatever.

Tell him, talk to him. And he'll bring a scripture that has to do with that situation. Or maybe he'll speak in that still, small voice. Well, how do you learn to hear that? Well, when you hear it, obey it.

And the next time you'll hear it a little bit better. But if you hear it and don't obey it, next time you won't hear it as well. That's why I say when the Lord tugs on your heart at the end of the service, go with that. Obey the Lord. You never know what he wants to do, you know?

I mean, he might be bringing you up here to pray for somebody else. But if you're not obedient, you'll never see that. I try to always listen when I hear that voice of the Lord. You know, I don't always do it. I had a lesson that helped me.

I really wouldn't encourage anybody to have this lesson. But I knew that as a young man, I was having a conversation with a guy about music. And it was important that I win that discussion. And I looked across the room and my eyes met this other guy and smiled. And I thought, man, I gotta go tell him about Jesus after I win this argument, discussion. And so I got finished here, looked for him, didn't see him. I thought, well, I'll try to catch him later.

And although he was the kind of friend that I saw a lot in different places, two weeks later, he was killed in a car crash. And I wondered if God sent somebody else, but I knew, I knew I was supposed to tell him, and I didn't. 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. I knew I was supposed to tell him, and I didn't. And I said, Lord, I don't ever want again now that to happen.

I don't want to be disobedient to you, and I don't want to put somebody else in peril because of my selfishness. It's interesting, that happened, I was probably 18, 19, had just gotten out of Teen Challenge. And I told that story occasionally.

I mean, once every couple of years or something. We were at the old building on a Sunday morning, I told it. And after the service, I was out and somebody came by that I went to school with and said, hey, good to see you. And I knew that she had become a Christian.

He's gonna be a wild person, but had become a believer. And I had told that story that day. And she said, do you remember that Mark was my half brother? I wasn't sure what was gonna come next.

She said, Mark went forward at church the weekend before he was killed and gave his life to Jesus. He didn't have to tell me that. Now, he waited 25 years to tell me.

Praise God, he told me, and I'm glad he waited. Amen. So right here. So right here. So right here. So right here. So right here. So right here. So I could learn that lesson.

That was a tough one, but wow, that's interesting. Holy Spirit, yeah, he's leading the teaching tonight. John 14, 26, but the help of the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, bring your remembrance, all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Go give and take away. He gives you the peace. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now, in John 16, and these are all, you know, scriptures to think about, ponder before you go into the Word. John 16, seven says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth.

It is to your advantage that I go away. Now, this had to sound crazy to the disciples because they've been walking with Jesus for three years. And Jesus has said, I'm leaving. The savior, your spiritual leader who you see, I'm leaving.

You won't see me anymore. And the Holy Spirit that I'm sending, you won't be able to see him, unseen. Jesus says, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. Why couldn't the Holy Spirit come? Because the blood had to be spelt on our behalf so that we could be made holy so then we could connect to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Everybody with me? But if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, sin because they do not believe in me. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is rejecting the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The ministry of the Holy Spirit, we see in John right there where it says, verse nine, of sin because they do not believe in me. So the Holy Spirit convinces them of their need for Jesus. They reject the Holy Spirit and Jesus and that is a sin that cannot be forgiven. No one can be forgiven of the sin of rejecting Jesus as their savior.

It all comes down to that. Who do you say that he is? Verse 10, of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. He's condemned. With the death of Jesus, he judged the enemy who had control or power over the world. Now, he still has some power and influence but he's already been judged.

He's already been defeated, if you will. Verse 12, I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.

And think about that. He's saying that to John. He says to John, the Holy Spirit's gonna come and he's gonna tell you things that are yet to be. John wrote the book of Revelation through the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

If Jesus wouldn't have left, we would not have gotten the book of Revelation. He will glorify me and he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the father has are mine. Therefore, I said that he will take mine and declare it to you. Life lesson, the enemy, your enemy has already been defeated. Praise God.

Yeah, let's come on now. Praise God. Thank you. Now you're thinking, well, he doesn't feel too defeated to me. Well, it's coming.

It's coming. That's why he's frantic. Let's read Job 25 to 26. Now, if you've read ahead, you know these chapters are a little bit shorter. If you didn't read ahead, you were thinking, man, when is he?

We're gonna be here till midnight. Ain't he starting the first verse? Chapter 25 only has six verses, so. Job chapter 25, verse one. Then Bildad the shoe-height answered and said, dominion and fear belong to him. He makes peace in his high places.

Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God? That's a great little question.

Just slid in there. Or how can he be pure who was born of a woman? Even if the moon does not shine and the stars are not pure in his sight, how much less man who is a maggot, well, tell us what you think, Bildad, and the son of man who is a worm.

How is he calling a maggot and a worm, man? This guy. And let me remind you, these are Job's comforters. One of the things we're supposed to see from this is how not to comfort somebody. Amen.

These guys, man. Chapter 26. But Job answered and said, how have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength? How have you counseled one who has no wisdom?

And how have you declared sound advice to many? To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you? The dead trample and those under the waters and those inhabiting them. Sheol is naked before him and destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing.

He binds up the water in his thick clouds and yet the clouds are not broken under it. This particular book, Job, is the oldest book in the Bible, by far. It was written long before Genesis and the other five books, we believe. Job is actually mentioned early on in Genesis.

There's a lot of different reasons and things we could discuss from that. But here's what's very interesting. So this book is 3,000, 3,500, 4,000 years. Listen to the science that is in the next few verses. In verse eight, he binds up the water in his thick clouds. It would be years, not hundreds of years, not centuries, thousands of years before man discovered that there was moisture in the clouds. But God knew like 3,000 years ago, yet the clouds are not broken under it.

He covers the face of his throne and spreads his cloud over it. He drew a circular horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. The world thought the world was flat for hundreds and hundreds of years. There's other verses that talk about earth being a globe and circularly even stronger. But this is the Bible being right and science being wrong and then science adjusting to the Bible, which incidentally has happened over and over and over and over and over again. When people said, absolutely, the world is flat. The Bible's nonsense. Well, guess what?

The world's not flat. Surprise. Verse 11, the pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. He stirs up the sea with his power and by his understanding, he breaks up the storm. By his spirit, he adorned the heavens.

His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Indeed, these are the mere edges of his ways and how small a whisper we hear of him. But the thunder of his power, who can understand? Job later in this book, and I would encourage you go ahead and read the whole book. Go ahead and read ahead.

And in the end, it's one of the most beautiful literary writings as Job realizes, God says to Job, who are you? They're questioning me. Were you here when I created the earth? Did I ask you how to do it?

Were you, I mean, do you understand how an eagle flies or anything like that? Once you ask Jesus to forgive you and you begin to follow him, the more you follow him, the easier it gets to follow him. Now, it takes a commitment. If you're like, well, we'll see if I follow him.

And you're gonna have an up and down life. You commit to follow him and then understand that you hear his voice. Now, the more you listen, the better you hear it.

The less you listen, the less you hear it. John chapter 10, verse two. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. One day, I'm gonna get into the door thing and the Hebrew word picture and that's gonna blow your mind on this door.

I know I'm not gonna do it tonight, but another time I promise. He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice.

Where is he? He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When you got saved, he called you by name and led you out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. And here's what's interesting, listen to verse six. Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which he spoke to.

Why? He wasn't their shepherd. They were not his sheep, but we are his sheep and he is our shepherd and we hear his voice. 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.

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, 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. We'll see you next time on Cross the Bridge.