Job Chapter 40:1-8

Welcome to Cross the Bridge 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 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 Chapter 40. Now, here's Pastor David. Job, Chapter 40.

And we have most of the setup here. Job has been through some challenges, some trials. His friends show up and say this and say that. It's interesting, when we read the Bible, we put ourselves into a cast of characters, and that's a great thing to do to learn about the Bible. You know, in this case, when we do that, we always cast ourselves as Job and say, oh, I got friends just like that. Oh, this is so for me.

This is telling me my friends are so wrong. Yeah, could be. Or maybe since it's been so much time on how Job's friends failed, maybe it's a picture of how we are to be the church. Because these three friends of his, they showed up and, oh, Job, you should do this, and you should do that, and you shouldn't have done this, and you shouldn't have done that.

In a moment when he really needed compassion, love, mercy, he got the rule book. There's a time for you should. You all should. We should. But there's also a time for me to understand what you're going through.

Job, I can relate somewhat to the pain you're feeling. And sometimes when we're supposed to be doing the me to, we do the you should. And sometimes when we do the you should, we should do the me to. Let's look at this. Of course, the chapters and verses first appeared in 1560 in the Geneva Bible. They are real pages from the Geneva Bible from 1650 upstairs. We teach the Bible, and it's important for people to understand they can trust the Bible. If they can't trust the Bible, then take them upstairs and show them that they can trust the Bible. And bring them back down here, and I'll teach them the Bible. Praise God.

There's a neat partnership there. Praise God. I'm reading verse one. Moreover, the Lord answered Job and said, Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

He who rebukes God, let him answer it. So along the line, Job fell into, at first he was just defending himself. Then he slipped into talking about his goodness. And he couldn't talk about his goodness without addressing the issue of God's goodness. And what he began to represent there was that his goodness was above God's goodness.

Not good. And, you know, the Bible talks about eternal life. Theological question is held eternal, and biblically it's obvious, yes. Sometimes when we enter into questioning that, it's almost like we're saying, Well, you know, certainly I know better than God in that there shouldn't be eternal punishment. Be careful.

Look at that. He who rebukes God in verse two reminds me of Peter. Remember when Jesus said, Hey, who do people say that I am? Peter, you're the Christ, son of the living God. Jesus was like, Man, Pete, home, run.

Dude, you didn't just come up with that. That was from God. And I just got to see Peter, you know, looking around at the God. You hear what he's saying?

You stand a little closer so you don't miss anything here. Instead of filled with faith that he had revelation, he got filled with pride. And then when Jesus started talking about the crucifixion and the resurrection, he was so swollen by then, he was like, Oh, Jesus, no, you got it all wrong. Come here. Come here. Let me explain it to you. I got to rebuke you on that whole crucifixion thing. Okay, that's not part of the plan. And it says he rebukes Jesus. He rebukes the Lord. Another place that says he said no, Lord.

Those are two words that don't go together. You can say no, or you can say Lord. But you can't say no, Lord, because when you say no, he's not Lord.

He's either Lord of all, or he's not Lord at all. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. Job, who's been deflecting, defending, he's been trying to hold on to his goodness and project it, starts this off with, I am vile. I'm the problem. I'm the issue, is what Job is saying here. How many times are we the issue? Think about 1 John 1, 8, 9, and 10 every time.

Every time we could have done something different in the relationship. Because remember, this is not heaven. I am vile.

He's no longer holding on to his self-righteousness. Just let it go. I recently heard the story that this couple moved into this neighborhood, and the lady of the house looked out the window, and they had clothes hanging on the line next door. And she said, My goodness, look how nasty their laundry is. The husband's like, What? She said, Their laundry is so nasty.

My goodness. Next day, they're in the kitchen having coffee, and she's looking out the window. Their laundry is so nasty. And then she adds, I didn't think I could hang out with somebody like that.

They must not take any pride or pleasure in their home. My goodness. On and on this goes every day, several weeks. And one day, the husband comes into the kitchen, and she says, It's amazing. He said, What? She said, Their laundry. It's all bright and flat and clean. I mean, not some of it, but all of it. They finally started to learn how to do laundry and do it right.

And her husband said, No, actually, I just washed our windows. Life lesson here. Prayer is not so we can tell God what to do. Prayer is not so we can tell God what to do. The second life lesson going with this one is prayer is often not to change the situation, or you could have not to change the person, but to change our heart in the situation. Prayer is often not to change the situation, but to change our heart in the situation. Another way you could say that. Prayer is not to change the relationship, but to change our heart in the relationship.

Prayer is not to change the other person, but to change our heart towards the other person. So Job says, Behold, I'm found. What shall I answer you? I laid my hand over my mouth. Good idea. I mean, really, we should do that more often. You know, I haven't had to do this in a while, actually. But I have done it before where I'm talking to somebody, and they start trash-talking somebody. Sometimes it's a spouse, and their spouse is not there, and they're relating how their spouse is really the whole problem. And I'll say, Look, you know, they're not here to defend their selves, so, you know, let's not go there.

You know, if somebody's built up a big head of steam, they're just going to keep going. And I'd be like, No, seriously, we're not going to talk about that. So in the past, I've just walked off. Hey, what are you doing? I'm walking off now. No, I don't have to explain walking off, because I told you to quit saying that. Walk off. I guarantee that every one of us has been in situations we probably should have walked off from in the last month.

Or you should have clicked off and got offline. Verse 5, Once I have spoken, but I will not answer. Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further. God is doing a deep work here in Job. Now, I want to bring something out that's intriguing about this book. And to do so, we'll bring out some earlier verses. In Job chapter 1, verse 5, bring something out. It says, So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them. I'm talking about his kids.

And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus Job did regularly. Now, we remember that nothing's in there for filler.

Everything's in there for our benefit. So you begin to examine that and you go, okay. So after the feast, Job was concerned on a regular basis that his sons had cursed God in their hearts. You know, why was that a fear?

Why was that a concern? So then we begin to think, okay, is it noted somewhere else in this book? Always let the Bible comment on the Bible.

It's the best commentary for the Bible is the Bible. So when you start looking around, we notice that the enemy, first of all, he had to go to God. He didn't just do whatever.

You notice that? He had to go to God and ask permission. But the enemy wiped out Job's businesses and the crops and all these things. Took his children, left his wife. Why did the enemy leave his wife? Because he knew he could use her. Now look, I'm not saying that the enemy always will speak through wives.

But if a wife will take the bait, he will. The enemy's a deceiver. So he wants to catch you. He wants to deceive you about something. So he'll put a bunch of lines in the water and see which one you hit.

See which one you tug at. And then he'll start to reinforce that. The enemy's not just chilling, sitting, waiting for Armageddon right now.

He's busier than he's ever been. Last year, more Christians were killed for being Christians than any year ever in history. And you want to guess what group is responsible for their deaths? That's right, the Methodists. No, it's not the Methodists. It's Islam. And then we read in our newspapers, we can't figure out what the connection is with all these acts of violence.

I know, I know. Book of Romans says that professing to be wise, they became as fools. The enemy left his wife and his wife came to him, Job, in Job chapter 2 verse 9. Then his wife said to him, do you still hold fast to your integrity? It's an interesting way to put that.

Curse God and die. We don't have a lot more than this, but I think we can assume certain things from her saying that to Job. I don't think that's the first time she said that to him. I'm just going out on a limb here. Why? Because he was concerned the kids were going to pick it up.

Remember? He was continually, regularly fearful that his kids were going to what? Curse God. Why? Because Mom was. I think one of the more painful things we have to deal with is sometimes we'll see families and the kids wind up in an unbelieving situation with unbelieving parents.

Tough. Again, let me remind you of something. Job chapter 1 verse 7. And it said, the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, I've just been chilling out, relaxing.

I've been, I've binged on Netflix and, no, no. The enemy's not doing this. The enemy's taking the battle seriously because of what weighs in the balance.

What does weigh in the balance? The souls of men and women. Their eternal destiny. Jesus said, by your love for each other, these guys are going to be drawn to the gospel.

If that's true, the inverse is true. That, if they see us hating one another, they're going to be repelled. Now that's a tall order until you remember we're in Ephesians 3 that reminds us what? He is able and he's living in us and he wants to strengthen our inner man. How do you strengthen your inner man?

You're doing it. You hear the word of God. Praise God. Amen.

Praise God. 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.

And you know, and you guys, you're to be commended. Because we're living in a day and age where people don't value God. They don't value the word of God. And you were probably pretty sure this was not going to be a ten minute teaching. But you came. Wow, because you were hungry for the word of God. That's awesome.

Thank you. Praise God. When you walk like that, what you do is you make it easier for a pastor or teacher to feed you. Because I tell you, when you're up here, you can almost sense it. When people are angry, it's like you're pulling it out of me.

Sometimes in the past, not here, other places, you start talking about the word of God. It's like, oh, what's that? Oh, you're not receiving.

Makes it harder. Let's go through this. And the Lord said to Satan, from where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it. Now when we take that verse with the New Testament verse, it says he goes about to and fro, seeking whom he may devour. Seeking whom he may devour. How does he choose who to devour? I've got one big hint, because we're told in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24-25, do not forsake the assembly of the believers, even more so as the day approaches. So fellowship, be in fellowship, even more so as you get into the last days. The enemy wants to distract, divide, disrupt, and accuse. So seeking whom he may devour.

I've shared this before, but it was just such a powerful moment. And if you've heard it before, praise God, it's a great truth to be reminded of. And that's how I was thinking about that verse while I was watching an animal program on television. And our adversary goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

So there's a bigger hint. The lion roars. The male lion with the impressive mane, he roars, makes a big noise. He looks impressive. He sounds impressive. I don't know if you've ever heard a lion's roar in real life.

My goodness, it's awesome. And what happens is they roar, and the animals hear this roar and totally freak out and take off running away from him to where all the lionesses are waiting. They run straight into him. So the ones that get fearful and start running were the first ones hit. Another thing I noticed the lion did was wait, and they never run into a group and pick one off. They just wait until one gets a little away from the group. They're very patient.

They just wait. And so these zebras that I was watching, maybe one zebra got offended at another. Maybe a zebra looked at it wrong, or maybe another zebra said something about it or something, and the zebra said, fine, I'm going over here. And as soon as it strayed from the group, bam. I'm not saying as soon as you step out these doors, bad things happen.

I'm telling you, when you're not completely part of the body, you're in a dangerous place, especially these days. That's why God's Word says what it says. So a roaring lion seeking whom he named but violent, that gives us a lot of hints about the enemy. So then the Lord said to Satan in verse 8, he says, Have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? So Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him and around his household, and around all that he has on every side?

Oh, that's good. Do you realize God has a hedge around you? And when you sow financially, according to Malachi, then that hedge is perfection around you. It would seem to indicate that if we don't give, the devourer is able to mess with our hedge, and you don't want that, and you want to be obedient to God. So you sow. It continues, it said, and notice what he says, Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side?

And look what he notes. You have blessed the work of his hands. That's one of the things that God does. And when God blesses somebody, don't be envious about their blessings. You serve God, and you'll start receiving blessings. And you'll be telling other people about your blessings, amen?

He says, You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand, touch all that he has, oh, listen to this, he will surely curse you to your face. That's what the enemy is after. The enemy wanted Job to curse God to his face.

Let me put it another way. The enemy wanted Job to quit, to give up, throw in the towel, cut his relationship with God off, to curse God to his face. So isn't it interesting that that little thread weaves its way through scripture, because Job says, Hey, I'm worried my kids are going to what? Curse God.

And why? Because the wife said, Curse God. Why don't you curse God, Job? No.

No. No, don't curse God. He messed up in this book, obviously. But he never cursed God, and he never quit. And what we're going to see, spoiler alert, spoiler alert, is that he's going to receive twice the blessings, but instead of being fearful about cursing, the fear will be gone, replaced by faith as a trophy from his battles.

Now, let's remember, here's a life lesson. The enemy is not idle. He throws lots of lies at you and tries to get you to nibble at one and believe, if even for a moment, that some issue is more important than loving God and loving people.

The enemy is not idle. He throws lots of lies at you and tries to get you to nibble at one and believe, if even for a moment, that some issue is more important than loving God and loving people. It's interesting, when all this started happening, that Job remarked in chapter 3, verse 25. He says, For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. So even though he was blessed, he was walking around with fear. Even though he was blessed, he was dreading that this thing could possibly occur, and then it occurred.

And you know what he found out? It wasn't that big of a deal, that he could lose everything, and as long as he still had God, he would be okay. If the enemy can mess with you about a fear over material goods and things, he will exploit that to the nth degree. If you leave just a little crack, a fear of not having material goods, that will lead you to disobedience and not tithing, not giving. It will lead you to selfishness, because you won't share.

You won't be walking in love. So Job, I mean, not only is he blessed materially, doubly, but the fear is gone. That's a big thing. And in the midst of it, while I was going through this, remember what he said in Job 19, oh, it's in verse 24. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and he shall stand at last on the earth. He knew his Redeemer lived. Remember your Redeemer lives.

Also remember he's coming back. Again, Jesus said in the book about the end times, what did he describe them? He said people would be deceived massively in the church.

What do we see? People getting deceived massively in the church. Churches that are huge and don't even share the Gospel. Recently there's this thing where 300 big-name pastors signed this Yale document that the God of the Bible is the God of Islam.

They're the same. 300 pastors here in America. If anybody ever tells you that from this platform, go find me.

I'm tied up somewhere, because that ain't happening. That's not true. That's not true.

That doesn't work. You've got one that says whoever says God had a son is cursed. That's what Islam says. And then the Bible says our blessings come through his son.

It can't be both ways, gang. Along the trail in Job, he started just talking about his goodness in the beginning. But see, that was the enemy drawing him to focus on his goodness. Now he thought it was the right thing to do. He thought it was even the spiritual thing to do, but it wasn't. He began to focus on his goodness and also what was wrong with other people.

My God. So verse 6, Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you, and you shall answer me. It's kind of like brace yourself, Job, in verse 8. Would you indeed annul my judgment? Would you condemn me that you may be justified? In the New Living Translation, verse 8 reads, Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right? People do this all the time.

You know the classic I love? Well, if there's a God, why is there sickness and disease and poverty in the world? Like, that's God's fault. They did a study on how much it would take to feed, medicate, and educate every child under 12 on the face of the planet. And it was a large number. It was almost as big as what the United States spends on ice cream every year.

Almost as big. But it's God's fault that there's hungry people in the world. I don't think it's God's fault.

So we're clear on this. I don't think us feeding everybody is the answer anyway. It's a spiritual thing. Poverty is a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual curse in some cases. If you don't understand that, why are people in India hungry?

There's a curse. And they lose 20% a year to rats who eat the crops, who they don't kill because they're sacred. As soon as they get saved and realize they can shoot the rat, that's 20% more food.

Praise God. I mean, really, they do think the rats are holy. They think cows are holy and sacred. So it's a spiritual thing. People say that like it's God's fault people are hungry. It's not God's fault people are hungry. It's happening on our watch.

See what you start to look at? The people that are born again that attend church and of all of those folks tithed, the incredible funding that would be behind the church at large. I'm not saying just this church because the numbers are 5 to 10% of Christians at large tithed.

Our percentage is much higher than that. Not everybody tithes. And we could do more if everybody did, and that's part of the frustration. But again, we can't blame God for what we don't do.

And here's the life lesson. We find fault with others to make ourselves feel better about our faults. We should take our faults to Jesus. Amen?

Let me say it again. We find faults with others to make ourselves feel better about our faults. Everybody does this, but you should. And when you become a believer, you need to stop. And so if you're still doing this, may the Holy Spirit catch you doing it and remind you, oops, you're doing that thing Pastor David talked about.

You're finding fault with others. And when you become a believer, you need to stop. Amen? 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, 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 and 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 were resurrected, that I could have a new life. Lord, I have done wrong things and I am 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 in to 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.