Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.12UNLIKELY
Fear
0.12UNLIKELY
Joy
0.53LIKELY
Sadness
0.57LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.84LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.04UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.83LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.33UNLIKELY
Extraversion
0.09UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.58LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.37UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Prayer
The Incomprehensible God
Understanding the Unfathomable
It’s important to remember where we have been in the book of Job.
We saw everything that Job had taken from him when God allowed Satan to take everything from him.
Everything physical was taken.
Even his health was removed from him.
Now we find him sitting on a garbage heap being verbally assaulted from his friends.
Last time we heard from “Eliphaz the Elder” who brought his worldly wisdom.
Today, we get to the second cycle of friends.
Have you ever thought you were so right about something and it turned out you were wrong?
I mean, not like a little wrong, but like really really wrong?
[Story of the Wrong Turn in Canada]
In this second cycle of argumentation, we are introduced to a man named Bildad.
I am calling him “Bildad the Brut”
Which is fitting because Bildad’s name means “Son of Contention.”
But “Bildad the Brut” is exactly that, he is a brut.
He’s gruff and mean to Job.
He holds the similar line of reasoning as Eliphaz but is more blunt.
Bildad’s Response
“Is God Unjust?”
He says, Job 8:2
Bildad is tired of Job’s comments.
Job’s words have been to Bildad a “great wind”
Do you know the feeling when someone is talking, and you know they’re wrong, and what they’re saying is annoying to you?
That’s what Bildad is experiencing here.
He describes Job’s speech as a great “wind”
They seem to Bildad to be such an offense because all of Job’s words seem to bring into question God’s justice.
Bildad is offended because Job seems to be questioning if God is just.
Which is why he says, Job 8:3
Is God Unjust?
“Of Course Not!”
Bildad is simply asking Job,
“Is God unjust?”
“Do you really think God is unjust?”
And what Bildad is about to do is present his case why he thinks God isn’t unjust.
Basically, your children have sinned, thats why they’re gone.
Your children have transgressed the Lord that’s why he removed them from the earth.
He’s also implying that Job himself has sinned by reminding Job that the “pure and upright” will only find restoration.
For Bildad good things happen to good people, and bad things for bad people.
What’s funny is Bildad is about to make a prediction that is true...
The irony of it, is that he is completely wrong and yet right at the same time.
It’s like the saying, “A broken clock is right twice a day.”
This brut of a broken clock is indeed right that God will restore Job but it’s not because he needed to repent.
Just ask Tradition!
“Remembering the ‘Wise’”
He pleads with Job much like Eliphaz to remember this wisdom of the past.
Bildad like Eliphaz refers to this old wisdom.
The old “grain of the earth” will direct you.
Negative
“The Wicked Plant”
He’s simply asking, “Can a flower grow without water?
Of course not!”
Again, he is trying to show Job that he is obviously unrighteous.
That’s why he is having so many problems.
He is unrighteous.
Then he gives the positive example...
Positive
“The Righteous Plant”
Like David in Psalm 1:1
It’s like Bildad is taking this Psalm and saying…
“Look!
Your life is a mess, that means you’re unrighteous!”
“If you were righteous, then you would be like a tree that doesn’t wither!”
Bildad “the Brut’s” summary statement is important because it begs us to answer the question.
Bildad is telling Job if he simply follows his advice, there will be green pastures ahead.
If he simply recognizes his sin and repents, then God will restore him.
The screaming question we need to consider is...
Is what Bildad is telling Job true?
If it is true, this means there are no undeserving sufferers in the universe.
If it is true, every bit of suffering you have ever experienced is a result of a “sin” in your life.
I want to pause at this point and make an observation.
The vast majority of people that you and I know, hold a similar line of reasoning as Bildad.
There reasoning is...
“I am living a good life, so that means that everything is going okay for me.”
“I am living a good life, so I must be walking the right path.”
And brothers and sisters, we need to be clear this is fundamentally NOT true.
The Bible is abundantly clear, all people have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Everyone, apart from the grace of God in Christ alone is utterly LOST.
It is actually God’s grace to a person for them to realize their own sinfulness and rebellion before Him.
Before we look at Job’s response, I want us to consider something.
God’s Incomprehensibility
“The Godness of God”
I label this as the GODNESS of GOD because it is the very essence of the Creator-creature distinction.
God is the CREATOR.
We are the creature.
Deism – God exists but does not have a relationship with his creatures.
There is no revelation, incarnation, or basically anything.
Idolatry – God is completely knowable.
We can somehow know God fully.
This is always an attempt to bring God down to us.
Bildad is essentially saying that “God is COMPLETELY KNOWABLE”
There is a limitation to our knowledge of God.
God is knowable truly but not exhaustively knowable.
We are NOT saying that God is unknowable.
We are saying that we cannot know God fully.
Since God is Incomprehensible, we cannot know Him exhaustively, but we can trust that God is truly knowable in His Son.
Now I place this before you because it’s important to understand Job’s response.
Job has just had his theological categories destroyed!
Job concedes that he has held this view of the world.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9