Job 23-24: Standing through Chaos

Andrew

Job • Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago

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Job will Answer Eliphaz one last time. In this Job will reason that God is far greater than he can fathom, and so he will plead his case to God alone and cling to his integrity in spite of his friends words and the apparent prosperity of the wicked.

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Intro & Review

Last week we begun the wind down of Job and His three friends as Eliphaz Spoke Calling Job to Repent, Turn from the path of the wicked and receive spiritual prosperity. He charged Job with a list of very general sins. He called Job to Repent for not doing the things a wealthy man was suppose to do. He has no basis for His claim and as we have seen God is the one who called Job blameless.

Job 2:3 ESV

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”

Job 2:11 ESV

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.

No one says he was born without, sin but here in life God gives him some pretty lofty words:

Blameless

Upright

Fears God

Turns from evile

None like him in the world

This is the man we examine once again today as we see how he responds to another charge against him and another call to Repent.

And Today what we will see is that In the midst of all the Chaos swirling around him and the continued Harassment of His friends

Job’s Goal is to Stand fast While:

I. Seeking God Alone

II. Knowing God Alone

III. Trusting In God Alone

TR: First let us examine hoe he endeavors in His search for God.....

I. Seeking God Alone (23:1-9)

Job 23:1–9 ESV

Then Job answered and said: “Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me. There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge. “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

Job has listened again to their ramblings and is more dreary for it. He is about to disappoint them in his next words for his thoughts have not changed. They have lead him to a no new understanding.

-He Longs no longer to speak to these friends they have ceased to offer answers or even lead him back to God in a meaningful way.

-Only God can be hope for Job

Job has an understanding of His character and a thought about Gods

-He knows God is sovereign

-He also here knows that God is loving towards his own (the fact that he now believes God would hear his case)

-There is a longing to be before God, To see God, Job is not like Adam and Eve who in their sin ride and hide from the face of God. Job in his innocence longs to see the face of His God

-In the season of blessing he was a man of God and in the turmoils of suffering he still clings to His God and longs for Him. (some may find his words unsettling but his intention is not to get even with God but to gain understanding from the only one who can offer it)

-While Job might think more highly of his ability to understand (as God will show him when he does speak) He does lay before us that he does not view God as vindictive, but as caring.

-For Him God will not destroy but will hear his Childs painful words (Here he is looking for peace in calamity and God is the only hope for that peace not his circumstances or lofty arguments. God is his Hope and peace)

-So Job Seeks everywhere to Find God, knowing that God is far beyond our reach and it is not for man to come to God. Here again he is stating the fact that God is far beyond me, but that he is not devoid of care or ambivalent to his distress (for this is what Eliphaz claimed to be Jobs view)

Spurgeon: There are cases in which one who is a true child of God cannot for a while find his Father. Do not condemn yourself because you are in the dark; on the contrary, recollect then that there are many who fear the Lord, yet who walk in darkness, and have no light. Let all such trust in the name of the Lord, and stay themselves upon their God, and in due season the light will come to them. If this is the case with you, be thankful that you want to see your God. Let your very desires after him, your anxiety because you miss him, and the sorrow of your spirit when you are, apparently, deserted by him, encourage you to believe that you are one of his children. Another woman’s child will not cry after you, dear mother; it is your own child that cries after you, and if you were not a child of God, you would not long and cry for the joy of his presence. If you were not his child, that presence would be no delight to you, it would be your dread.

TR: Job longs for His God because He belongs to God and so He knows that to stand means he must seek and to seek he must Know God Alone

II. Knowing God Alone

Job 23:10–17 ESV

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind. Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

-In the midst of chaos and searching Job states quite clearly the reality that this is all the work of God and that while his friends can never perceive the reality of His heart and soul. God knows.

-This throughout scriptures is the saves to the wounded soul: God truly and personally knows us. He is not far removed from his children he is with them and lovingly knows them

-Job’s only comfort can come form the reality that there must be more at play that what he can imagine. (this must be a test and if that be so by God’s mercy he will be purified an come out as Gold)

-Job Knows God and loves God he would choose no other course but the Lords He rebukes Eliphaz’s assumption that he has turned away from God or stopped listening to His words. Rather Job claims he clings to them all the more because he doesn’t understand.

-Job recognizes the reality of God before him. The one he seeks will accomplish His goals, not Jobs

Isaiah 55:9 ESV

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isai 55:9

Romans 11:33 ESV

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

-God’s power and majesty are overwhelming when we truly think about them, but what Job seems to be getting at as he concludes is that the darkness of fear will not deter him from seeking after God.

-We long for the presence of the Lord at at the same time know what it will mean.

-We know that for Isaiah he was overcome by the glory, Peter saws the fullness of his sins in the boat, John in revelation upon seeing him fell as dead. God is overwhelming in his awesomeness and yet Christ calls us to come to him as little children. We come to our father and at the same time King.

-The awesome power of God for Job is a great and tremendous thing, a thing not to hide from but to pursue, and in time he will experience all that these words have longed for (the text of Job concludes with God finding him, granting him an audience, Job being overwhelmed by God’s awesomeness, and the mercy of God being upon Job making him an intercessor for his wayward friends. Job didn’t know what he was getting into, but his character does come out as Gold in the end by God’s hand)

TR: and So in the midst of Seeking God and Knowing him alone he turns now to His friends understanding of Justice and will challenge them with the harsh reality of the World.

III. Trusting God Alone

-History of the Interpretive Problems

-Now while it is a difficult to interpret due to its complex Hebrew & structure. Based on the text that has Gone before I think we can be safe to say to say that here Job continues his argument against the friends. Here we do not find an indictment per say to God but rather a continued challenge against the friend notion of Retributive Justice which began in chapter 20.

-It is By God’s hands that men rise and fall (Eccl.)

-The wicked do prosper on the earth

-The wicked will also perish on the earth

-Both realities are true

Here we seem to see a biblical change from a theme of suffering to the pondering we find throughout the book of Ecclesiastes.

-He points out that Only God is Sovereign & man cannot understand His ways (Eccl. 8:14)

-It is By God’s hands that men rise and fall (Eccl. 9)

-The wicked do prosper on the earth

-The wicked will also perish on the earth

-Both realities are true

Job 24 ESV

“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong. “There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness. “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’ “They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

A. The Wicked May Prosper in This Life (24:1-12)

Job 24:1–12 ESV

-In the opening sections once again as we see he turns on their assumption that wickedness leads to immediate destruction (the reason they believe he has lost everything)

-Since Eliphaz challenges Job not to pursue the way of the wicked Job now again reminds them, he never went this way to begin with, by pointing out that the achieve their prosperity through their wickedness and it does not always come to ruin.

-This seems to be setting the point (since he just said he will continue to cling to his integrity) that earthly prosperity and earthly condemnation is something we cannot understand how God works.

-In a Fallen world should judgment come upon wickedness as it transpires their would be no world, their would be no humanity, So while Job knows his innocence he points to the fact that if we set a time for judgment who is God to keep our times.

-The opening lines asks who sets the time and to what day do they look for (this is a charge against Eliphaz’s closing remarks to Job top flee the wicked (21:16-20))

Job 21:16–20 ESV

Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger? That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job’s thoughts on their propserity ends with a rather striking term :”God charges no one with wrongdoing”

-This phrase again captures Job’s argument that judgment and justice does not come on our own time tables and to claim otherwise would be foolish. The idea of Karma is ridiculous in the eyes of Job. If God is judge as Job has already claimed and will cling too then he operates in ways that we cannot fathom or comprehend.

APP: -Of Course with the fullness of scripture before us we understand the Long suffering nature of God who brings mercy and grace. Who is patient and offers salvation.

Ezekiel 18:21–23 ESV

“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

But Job dives deeper into the thought of the wicked by pointing out that though they appear to prosper they are truly in darkness

-Of Course with the fullness of scripture before us we understand the Long suffering nature of God who brings mercy and grace. Who is patient and offers salvation.

Isaiah 55:9 ESV

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Ephesians 2:1–4 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

But Job dives deeper into the thought of the wicked by pointing out that though they appear to prosper they are truly in darkness

Ephesians 2:1–5 ESV

-Job may not be so quick to presume upon the work of God’s justice and mercy, but as we see he is arguing with those who do not necessarily view God as merciful or patient.

-They view God only by the actions and situations they see around them. their knowledge is purely circumstantial so Job challenges their circumstance view.

TR: He does this further by digging into the thought of the wicked by pointing out that though they appear to prosper they are truly in darkness

He does this further by digging into the thought of the wicked by pointing out that though they appear to prosper they are truly in darkness

B. The Wicked Flee from the Light (13-17)

Job 24:13–17 ESV

“There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

Here we see him lay out that the darkness that Eliphaz said was so terrifying that Job should flee is the very thing the wicked Cherish.

-They do not love the light but rather embrace the darkness as a friend

The new Testimant will use this and look to Jesus as the one who will judge and expose their ways:

John 3:19–21 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

C. The Wicked May also Be destroyed in this Life (18-25)

It is this turning point that I believe Job concludes they way he does:

C. The Wicked May also Be destroyed in this Life (18-25)

Job 24:18–25 ESV

“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’ “They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

-The Word You say is not found in the Hebrew text and was added to many translations as an interpretive device because some feel theses words can not belong to Job, because they have appearance of agreeing with his friends. However as the whole of the text comes together It would appear that he is making the point that there are times that the wicked do receive justice now and their are times they do not.

-The wicked do not always prosper nor do they always get earthly justice, but as we see in the totality of time they receive God’s justice as the Light of Christ exposes them and exposes us.

John 3:19–21 ESV

John 3:

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.......

1 Thessalonians 5:1–5 ESV

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

1 Thess. 5:1-

D. Our only Hope is not in circumstance but in Christ & His call to Holiness

Job has clung to the Light of God. He is suffering and does not know why. The world goes on as if nothing has changed and He doesn;t know why, His friends have made accusations and charged him with sin, but cannot answer his basic questions against them.

D. Our only Hope is not in circumstance but in Christ & His call to Holiness

Here we seem to see Job falling into the argument of the writer of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 ESV

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Job will not repent for their is nothing to repent of, but rather he will cling to God and continue in his ways and pray it will make sense. That God will bring an answer in time.

For us we see in Christ the answer and through suffering our Hope and joy.

1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:13–21 ESV

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Our Own Hymn Book: A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for Public, Social and Private Worship Hymn #606

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1 GRACIOUS Lord, incline Thine ear,

My requests vouchsafe to hear;

Hear my never-ceasing cry;