Job Chapter 42:1-10

Welcome to Cross the Bridge 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 is 42 and if you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand and one of the ushers will come and bring you a Bible so you can read along with us. Boy, there's some awesome mysteries here at the end of Job. It's interesting what God uses to reveal mysteries. God uses interesting things to reveal His Word because He wants us to know His Word. How much does He want us to know His Word?

We're going to get into that tonight. At the time of Jesus, a six-year-old boy was chosen and almost all went for the first year to the Yeshiva, which was the Jewish school. And after a year, most of them learned the letters by them showing them a letter on a piece of paper and they would drizzle honey over it. And so the little kids would actually lick the letters and taste and see that the Lord is sweet and good. Because letters weren't just letters. Letters were the Bible. It's what letters were for. At the end of the year, the six-year-olds had the book of Genesis memorized.

That wasn't a slip-up. Six years old, book of Genesis memorized. At ten years old, four years later. At the end of that year, they would look at some of the kids and say, you're a real good kid, but you're never going to be a rabbi.

So go learn the family business and help dad out. If you didn't memorize Genesis, you were definitely going to be part of that group. But even if you memorized Genesis, it didn't mean you automatically got on to go to the next year. And by the time you were ten years old, what do you think?

You would have what? The Ten Commandments memorized? Or a couple scriptures? No, no, no, no. Ten years old, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the whole Torah.

Ten years old. Pastor, you're not going to ask us to memorize another scripture tonight, are you? Is that where this is going? No, I'm not going to make anybody memorize a scripture. But certainly if you want to, it would be a good thing. We need to fill our minds with the word of God. I mean, fill it to overflowing. We are going to think about something.

Why not make it something good? Amen? So let's dig into Job and I can promise you we've got some surprises in here for us tonight. Job chapter 42 verse 1 says, Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do everything. Do you know that God can do anything and everything? I mean, do you know it?

Because sometimes we walk around saying it, but we don't act like it. It's interesting, isn't it? It used to be the book of Revelation was the book in the Bible that freaked us out. And now while times are going crazy, the book of Revelation is now the book that brings call. It brings peace. It reminds us we win. Part of the reason in every prayer, you start out addressing God in a similar fashion.

Job here says, I know that you can do everything. In the Lord's prayer, it's our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. It's reminding God, you're all powerful.

You're all knowing. The majority of Jewish prayers start out. Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe. So you start the prayer reminding yourself who you're talking to. See, because then it gives perspective to everything. It's like, okay, dear God, can you help out God with a church power bill? It's a huge thing. It comes every month. That's one prayer. But listen to how different this is. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the heavens and the earth, maker of all that we see.

Can you maybe help me out with my power bill? You hear how it's just kind of. You can plug in salvation. Can you maybe save my cousin? Bring him to salvation, Lord.

There's a different feeling, if you will. So I love the way that he starts out and says, I know that you can do everything and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you. You asked, who is this?

Who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak. You said I will question you and you shall answer me. There's an awesome scripture that we quote often around here.

The chapter actually has a couple of them. Isaiah 55 and verse eight says, just listen to this. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than there are, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. His ways there is Derek in the Hebrew. It's how ways or by ways, which is very interesting because part of what he's saying is that you're at A and you have eternal life, which means you're going to wind up in heaven at point B.

But the way that you go from point A to point B is not the same way that I'm going to take you. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Incidentally, this is thousands of years ago that the Bible is given the scientific explanation of the cycle of rain. I don't know if you noticed that. For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth.

It's amazing. In verse 11, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. God sends his word forth to bloom and blossom in your heart, in your life.

Verse 12, for you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth in the singing before you and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree. And instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle or the crepe myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Your attention please. It's interesting when you go to pull out of the church, you take a left because you kind of have to, but the lawn in front of the church is all mowed and cleaned. We actually owned the property across the street.

We donated it for the circle and whatnot, but between the road and the railroad track. And so we mow that, but you may have noticed something a little strange. We don't mow all of it.

We leave. Well, it depends on your botanic knowledge, I guess. You could drive by and think, well, they left some weeds and forgot to mow them. But if you know something about plants, you may have noticed that those are crepe myrtles that didn't used to be there. Where thorns and briars used to be, crepe myrtles came up.

That sounds so familiar for some reason. Oh wait, the verse said that where briars were, the myrtle will come up. And so it is when God sends his word forth.

Every time I drive past that, it's a sign, it's a reminder. Let me read it to you again. I was just thinking some of the guys that have been mowing, they've been obedient, having no idea why they weren't able to mow those weeds. And so now they understand there's something deeper here.

Let me read to you again. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting son that shall not be cut off. That's pretty cool, isn't it? Praise God. It's interesting how he works with plants and does different things and uses things to encourage us. Back to Job 42, verse four. He says, listen please and let me speak.

You said I will question you and you shall answer me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. So Job says, I abhor myself. He says, I missed it. I missed God, and now I'm starting to see it.

But he says, I abhor myself. And dust and ashes, they would take dust and throw it up in the air so it landed on them. And they would leave it, and they would walk around with dust and ashes in their head and face and mark it on their face.

Sometimes they would tear their collar. Wow. So you knew when you were in a crowd of people who was walking around in repentance. There was no doubt. It wasn't like, oh, that guy's got a Christian t-shirt on. He might be a believer. It was, that guy's covered in ashes. Something's going on. But it also kind of asks the question, are you in repentance?

You know, as you walked around seeing somebody with ashes and stuff, I mean, it was a call to repentance. I don't know if you're aware of it, but there's a first in the United States, and actually first in the world. America, who has brought the first man to the moon and cures for diseases, now brings the world another first. We have cleared transgender folks for combat. How proud Papa must be. So just in case before now you were walking around thinking, oh, this is life as normal. This is church as normal. It's not.

It's not. These are the times the Bible told us about. You don't have to look any farther than to see that there's animosity towards Christians in this country.

People are being thrown in jail or being fined. It's not church as usual. This is that moment in time when we get to choose. Yeah, Jesus, I see there's stuff coming, but I'm all in.

Not, well, let me rethink this thing. 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 notice Job's, therefore I abhor myself. See, Job, he didn't really need the Lord. He just needed a little self-esteem.

He needed God. Let's read on verse seven. 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. Now, therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant Job and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering.

And my servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. Man, things are starting to get interesting now. I saw some things that I'd never seen before that I'd never heard anybody point out. So I didn't have time to completely make sure nobody else would ever come up with this.

So I like to say that because, you know, it's awesome. And so many times after I think I'm the only one to see it, I find out that hundreds of other people have seen it. It's important, as you study the Word of God, look back to commentaries and some of these other men and women who've studied the Word of God.

And there's a saying that even a midget can see a long ways when he stands on the shoulder of giants. It's important to read the Word of God by itself, for itself, several times the passage that you want to share with somebody, read it several times before you look at a commentary. Don't ever just pull out a commentary first, because while you're digging out of the Word of God and what people say will be somewhat similar, remember that whoever's writing that commentary was given a word from God, from that passage of Scripture, perhaps for the people he was pastoring.

So while you go to commentaries, be careful. Now, what do we know about Job? First of all, Job was from the tribe of Issachar, and they were known to be Torah experts. Number two, God instructed men to take the sacrifices to Job for Job to offer on their behalf.

And how many animals did it speak of? If you look at verse eight, Therefore take for yourselves seven bulls, seven rams, going to my servant Job. So God, he was a Torah expert from the tribe of Issachar, and God had instructed men to take sacrifices to Job for Job to offer on their behalf.

And incidentally, the Issachar thing is from Genesis. We covered that before, Job. In Job 42.9, in the New Living Translation, it says, So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shewathite, and Zophar the Nemethite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer. So now what do we know about Job?

Well, let's add these three. First, known to be Torah expert. Number two, God instructed Job to offer sacrifices on their behalf. The third thing, God instructed Job to pray on their behalf.

So what do we got now? Job's a Torah expert. God, right here, instructed him to offer sacrifices on their behalf. He instructed Job to pray on their behalf.

I'm going out on a limb here. It sounds like Job is the local high priest. Who else knows the Torah? Is instructed to offer sacrifices.

Instructed to offer prayers. I'm basing all this on the Bible. I don't have a commentary to stand on. I'd rather be standing on the word of God in the commentary, though. So that's an interesting thing, is about how it could be. Nothing to build your salvation on, but man, it sure is interesting. And doesn't it add an interesting little angle to everybody speaking evil about Job?

Kind of fits, doesn't it? You know, as we look at the book of Job, we all know what part we play in the book, right? We're all Job.

That's what I'm talking about. You can't be Job. I'm Job. You're Job's friends. You know, I doubt many, if any of us, will ever go through what Job went through. And I think far more often, we play the role of Job's friends.

I know I have. I've been in situations where I could have drawn on mercy and compassion and forgiveness, and I didn't. And that's why, you know, it's so important to lean on the word of God and be led by the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit may have you respond different ways sometimes. It will always be biblically.

Maybe one time there's grace, maybe the next time there's correction. Incidentally, when you're looking in Job, and especially in chapter 42 verses 8 and 9, you see some words in italics if you're in the New King James or some of the other versions that do this. And what that is is the italicized words are in there at the translator's request to help the sentence flow. So it wasn't necessarily in the original manuscripts, but it helps the sentence structure. A lot of times, it's just they're out in the hand. It never changes the meaning, ever.

Never, never changes the meaning. In some cases, it helps illuminate the meaning. In some cases, not so much. I'll tell you two quick places that are interesting. Most of the places, it just fits, it just works.

Two places I'll mention real quick. Philippians 3, 13, it reads, Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Now that's actually all the italic words in there. But the italic words in this one is kind of interesting.

You just pull out the second, I do. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. But this is the way it actually reads.

You could strike, and actually should, but one thing. It doesn't read in the original manuscripts, one thing I do. It reads, one thing.

And they were trying to help. But listen to how it reads when you remove that, and you read it according to the original manuscripts. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward.

Reads a little different. Not one thing I do, but one thing, forgetting those things which are behind. That's probably a word from God for some of you, forget those things which are behind you. Another place that is interesting, and the way I stumbled on this is because the Pharisees wanted to kill him.

Whenever they pick up rocks, look, there's something in there. John 8 24, Jesus says, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Well, he is an italics.

This one gets very interesting. So, what it reads in your Bible, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. What it actually reads in your little original language, Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. I am is the name of God, Yahweh, I am. When Moses asked God, God said, I am that I am, Yahweh.

I don't need anyone, anything, I am self-sufficient. And Jesus said, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. That's why they said in John 8 25, the next verse, they said, who are you? Because he just said, I am. That meant something to them. He associated that phrase, that title with God. So, in other words, for if you do not believe that I am he, for if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Now, both are true. It's not a doctrinal change, but it is interesting for us who dig in the Jewish roots to see that he actually said, if you do not believe I am.

Pretty interesting, isn't it? So, back to Job 42 9. So, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Nemethite, went and did as the Lord commanded them. For the Lord had accepted Job, 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. It would be hard not to see what that verse is saying.

It wasn't when Job said, God, I need you to hook me up. God, I need you to restore me. God, I'm going to keep confessing I got this thing. No, and there's something so huge, so monumental.

Let me put it like this. If you get this, the sky's no longer the limit. You get this, and God will bless you and open up the windows of heaven. You miss it. You'll still be saved, but you'll miss a lot.

What is it? When the Lord begins a work, and he forgives us, we go to him, and we're aware of our sin, and we ask God to forgive us. We begin a relationship. We begin reading the Word, and all our prayers are about us or somebody we know or somebody we love getting saved.

Now, some people stay in that phase for anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of years. Some people never move out of it, but what's supposed to happen is you become more and more concerned with other people, so much so that in the beginning, the three are you. Number two, maybe others, and number three is God, or maybe you're number one, and God's number two, and others are number three, but you were definitely number one, but then God gets ahold of you. Now, some people, again, they try to walk out Christianity with them retaining their number one status.

That don't work. As a matter of fact, it doesn't work with you being number two either. The way God set it up and designed it, you're third. Remember, love God, love your neighbor as yourself. What number are you in that?

You're number three. God, others, yourself. That's something you and I cannot do naturally because man can't roll the tongue, but God sure can. The spirit of God sure can, and so this is something that he does. 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.