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And man, Job chapter number nine is not necessarily one of the most famous chapters in the book of Job. But what's interesting about this chapter is that as you read this chapter, it kind of sums up the entire essence of the whole book of Job. It's almost like a microcosm of the whole book of Job. Most of the major themes of Job can be found in this chapter. And Job is such a fascinating book. It's so deep. There's so much there. And not only that, but like every part of the Old Testament, the book of Job points us to Jesus Christ. The Bible says to him, give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. And so this morning I want to give you seven points from Job chapter nine that point us toward the Lord Jesus Christ and that kind of just sum up a lot of the message of the book of Job. Says in Job chapter nine verse one, then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God? Now let me start out by just saying here that we got to get the context. When he says Job answered, he's answering someone, right? And he says, I know it is so of a truth. So when he answers that person, he's basically saying, yeah, I know that what you're saying is so, but how should man be just with God? So what's he referring to? Well, what he's referring to is in Job chapter eight it says basically, and this is the message of all of Job's three friends over and over again, is basically that if you're good, God's going to bless you. And if you're bad, God's going to curse you. If you're good, good things are going to happen to you. If you're bad, bad things are going to happen to you. And obviously there's some truth in that. Obviously in general, God blesses us when we do the right thing and God punishes people for doing the wrong thing. But it's not that simple, is it? Life isn't that simple. And of course the book of Job gives us the true story that the picture is a little more complex. So Job is basically just acknowledging the fact, okay, I get it, that if you do well, you're going to be blessed. And if you do evil, bad things are going to happen. But verse two, but how should man be just with God? He's saying, okay, great, yeah, so if I'm good, things will go well. And if I do bad, things will go poorly. But is anybody really just with God? I mean, is anyone truly righteous in this world? Can anyone say that they're pure from sin? And so the first point that I want to draw here is that everyone is a sinner. There's nobody who's righteous. You know, and Job acknowledges that right away. He said, oh, okay, so God's going to bless the righteous? Well, but how can man be just in the sight of a holy God? You know, the Bible says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The Bible says there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. There's none righteous, no, not one. So he says, you know, how should man be just with God? Then in verse number three, he says, if he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He's wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered. So first of all, in verse two, we see that man cannot be just with God because everybody's a sinner. And then in verse number three, we see that if man were to get in an argument with God, he cannot answer him one in a thousand, meaning that if God challenges man on a thousand points, man won't even be able to win one of those thousand arguments. God's going to win the argument every single time. And again, this is what we see at the end of the book of Job. When the Lord appears to Job in the whirlwind, he starts just asking Job questions, and Job can't answer any of them. Job just lays his hand upon his mouth and just says, Lord, I'm nothing. You know, basically, he just acknowledges that God has all knowledge and understanding and that he, comparatively speaking, knows nothing. So point number one, there's none righteous. Point number two is you cannot fight against God. You cannot fight against God. And that goes for either verbally or literally, you can't fight against God. Because the Bible says at the end of verse four, who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered. I mean, if you harden yourself against God and get stubborn and say, I don't care what God says, I don't care what the Bible says, you know, I'm going to do my own thing, that's a bad idea. You can't win. You can't fight against God. Who has hardened themselves against God and has prospered? Hey, if you get in an argument with God, he will talk you under the table a thousand to one. Not even a thousand to one, it will be a thousand to zero, is what the Bible says. Okay. Why? Because God is all powerful. God is omnipotent. Not only is God all knowing, he's also almighty, omnipotent. Look at verse five, which removeth the mountains and they know not, which overturneth them in his anger, which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble, which commandeth the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up the stars, which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. And so number one, there's no one righteous. Number two, you can't fight against God. You can't argue with God. And number three, God is all powerful and omnipotent. Now go to Matthew chapter 14. Stay in Job 9 with one finger because that's where we're going to be all morning. God is almighty. God is omnipotent. And it talks about the things that God does. He moves mountains. He shakes the earth. He commands the sun. He seals up the stars. But I love what he says in verse eight of Job 9. He said, which alone spreadeth out the heavens. That means he's the only one who does that, right? Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treads upon the waves of the sea. So the Lord alone treads upon the waves of the sea. And like I said, every chapter in the Old Testament is pointing us to Jesus. And Job chapter 9 actually has a lot of foreshadowing of Jesus. And this is one of the foreshadowings of Jesus because one of the miracles that Jesus is going to do is he is going to tread upon the waves of the sea, which only God can do. See treading means what? Don't tread on me. Amen? What does tread mean? Tread means to step on, okay? Tread is to step. And so when it says he treads upon the waves of the sea, it's saying that he's basically walking upon or stepping upon the waves of the sea. Look at Matthew 14 verse 24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves. So we see the waves of the sea, right? For the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is the Spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. Jump down to verse 32. And when they were coming to the ship, the wind ceased. And they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. So this miracle really showed them that Jesus is not just a prophet. He's not just an Elijah or an Elisha that works miracles. I mean, even the wind and the seas obey him. When they saw him treading upon the waves of the sea, they said, This is the Son of God. Truly, this is the Son of God. What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the seas obey him? So if you would go back to Job 9. So the Bible says that the Lord alone, God alone, spreads out the heavens, and he alone treads upon the waves of the sea. Look at verse number 9. It says, Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, which doeth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number. Now I love how the Bible brings up some star constellations that we actually know even today in 2020. The Bible doesn't really bring up a lot of this, but it brings up a few. And these ones that he brings up here, Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, these are some of the most famous things that you can see in the sky. They're some of the easiest things to see in the sky. So that makes it fun to relate these to the Bible. Even in Phoenix, where obviously there's a lot of light pollution because we're in this really big city, you look up in the sky, you don't really see a lot of stars, do you? If you look up at night in the city, you kind of have to go camping or go out in the middle of nowhere somewhere. But even in Phoenix, you can actually see Arcturus. I saw all of these last night from my driveway. I saw Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades. Now everybody should probably know what Orion is, right? If you've got those three stars that make up the belt, make it super easy to find, who could look up in the sky and find Orion right now if we were outside at night? Who could look up and find Pleiades? Basically less than 10 people. But actually, believe it or not though, if you would put forth just a very little effort and learn what Pleiades looks like, it's super easy to see. I can't even count how many times I've looked up from the Faith Forward Baptist Church parking lot and seen Pleiades in the sky. It's just a little cluster of seven stars. The Bible also refers to this in Amos as the seven stars in Orion instead of saying Pleiades in Orion. But it's this little cluster of seven stars. You could almost think of it as like a little lollipop because it's like four stars in a circle with a little stick coming off of it. But it's a very distinctive looking thing. It's very easy to see. Then Arcturus could be one of two different things. There's a star in the sky called Arcturus and that could be what it's referring to. Again, I could see this yesterday from my house. It arose in the east at about 8.30 p.m. It came up over the horizon. It's a very bright star that you can see. But then also what this could be referring to is the Bear Constellation, the Great Bear because Arcturus comes from the root word for bear. Think about the Arctic Circle, right? You know why it's called the Arctic Circle? Because that's where polar bears live because the Greek word for bear is Arctos and then Antarctic means opposite of arctic. So you have Arcturus. It could be the Great Bear which is also known as, no Polaris is the little bear, Ursa Major but what, the Big Dipper, yeah that's what I was looking for. So who's looked up in the sky and seen the Big Dipper before? Well the Big Dipper is also the Great Bear. The Little Dipper is much more faint. I could not see the Little Dipper last night at all and then I even drove like a half hour into the wilderness and I couldn't see the Little Dipper. But you could see the Big Dipper no problem even from my house. You could see the Big Dipper and it's part of the Bear Constellation. The bear has an incredibly long tail which is not anatomically correct for bears. But anyway, so whether Arcturus is referring to the Star Arcturus or whether it's referring to the Bear Constellation, these are all really easy things to see in the sky, big things that you can see from Phoenix even right now. Even tonight you could find these three items. And then he says in the chambers, he says, which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south. What does that mean, the chambers of the south? Well oftentimes when you're talking about astronomy, the sky could be broken down into chambers. For example, Chinese astronomers, instead of having the 12 constellations of the zodiac, they have what's called the 28 mansions and they also call them the 28 lunar lodges. So they call them lodges or mansions, dwelling places. And so that's what he's referring to, the chambers of the south, talking about basically constellations of the south. So it's talking about the fact that God is the creator, okay, that he can move mountains, he can walk on the sea, he can shake the earth, and he's the creator of all things, even creating Orion, Pleiades, Arcturus creating the stars and all these amazing things. He does great things that are past finding out. You can't find, and here's the thing, what's the context? He's talking about the stars. And then he says he does great things past finding out. Well think about how much technology we have now to look out into space and yet they can't find any limit to space. You know God says, hey if man can number the stars, then your seed will be numbered, Abraham. Well guess what, here we are in 2020, the stars have not been numbered. And God's ways are still past finding out. I mean no matter how far you look, it just keeps going and going and going, because God's ways are past finding out. And he has wonders without number, right, it cannot be counted. Lo he goeth by me, and I see him not, he passeth on also, and I perceive him not. So I want to take these two points of he does things that are past finding out, and when he goes by me I don't see him, when he passes by me I don't perceive him. And that gives me my fourth point, God cannot be fully understood by mortal man. God cannot be fully understood. So so far from this chapter, here's what we've learned. We learned that no one is righteous, we've learned that you can't fight against God, we've learned that God is all powerful and almighty, and we've learned that God cannot be fully understood by mortal man. His ways are past finding out, we don't perceive necessarily what he does. Then look at verse number 12, here's another foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, what doest thou? Now flip over to Mark chapter number 11, Mark chapter number 11, this is also a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm going to read it again while you're turning there, behold he taketh away, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, what doest thou? So I'm going to show you a cool Bible story where Jesus takes something away and nobody can hinder him, and nobody can say unto him, what doest thou? Look what the Bible says in Mark chapter 11 verse 2, and say unto them, go your way into the village over against you, and as soon as you be entered into it, you shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat, loose him and bring him. Of course, Jesus Christ is always on foot in the Bible, Jesus and his disciples, they walk from town to town, but this is the one place where we see Jesus mounting a steed, right? So Jesus Christ rides upon a colt, the foal of an ass, and he basically just tells them to go to the town, this is not a colt that they own, this is not something that they've bought or rented, this is just a colt that's just tied, okay? And so he tells his disciples, go into the city and you're just going to find a colt tied there, you're going to find this animal just tied up, and he says, loose it and bring it. Verse 3, and if any man say unto you, why do you do this? Say that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him thither. So you can imagine this, it'd be like if you just went into a parking lot and just took somebody's motorcycle and just got on and just kicks, you know, and people are like, what are you doing? That's not your motorcycle, you know? Or picture a bunch of horses tied outside a stable or something, you know, the old western times and they've got the place where all the horses are tied up, and you just walk up and just start loosening somebody's horse, and it's like, what are you doing? That's not your horse, that's not your colt, and it's just like, hey, the Lord has need of him, and then they're just like, okay. That's what happened, right? And Jesus predicted this will happen, you're going to go in there and you're just going to lose this random colt, and they're just going to let you go, okay. And so it says in verse number four, they went their way, so it's going to be fulfilled, they went their way and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met and they loosed him. And certain of them that stood there, guys who were just kind of hanging out, certain of them that stood there said unto them, what do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto them, even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. They just said, oh, well, in that case, go ahead. So basically we see a fulfillment here. Now think about that story now and think about what Job said. He taketh away, who can hinder him? If he wants to take your colt, he's going to take your colt, and no one can stop him from taking your colt. And who will say unto him, what doest thou? And isn't that exactly what they asked? What do ye, taking away the colt? What are you doing? They said, hey, you can't ask me that. The Lord has need of him, right? So again, this is just Jesus Christ fulfilling more scripture, you know. And obviously he's fulfilling the scripture in Zechariah about the king coming on a colt the full of an ass and so forth. But even the book of Job, even just an obscure chapter in Job, Job 9 is foreshadowing these stories about Jesus Christ, just showing his deity, showing that he is the son of God. Go back to Job chapter 9 with that in mind. Job chapter 9. Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, what doest thou? Hey, he treads upon the waves of the sea alone. Look at verse 13. If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him. How much less shall I answer him and choose out my words to reason with him? Whom though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge. So that's a review of point two that, hey, you can't argue with God. You can't fight with God. Job understands that. Verse 16. If I had called and he had answered me, yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. For he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without cause. He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong. And if of judgment, and here's the phrase that I really want to hone in on, who shall set me a time to plead? Who shall set me a time to plead? And this is a theme that comes up over and over again in the book of Job, where Job wants a chance to basically be at peace with God. You know, he wants to talk to God, but he knows, you know, if I talk to him, I'm not going to be able to answer him one of his. How can I talk to him? But he wishes that he could talk to him so that he could figure out what's going on so that he can make peace and figure out why these things are happening to him. And so point number five that I want to make from this chapter is that man must find peace with God. Job desires peace with God. We can't argue with God. We can't fight with God. We need to find a way to make peace with God. Job wants peace with God. Verse number 20, if I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul. I would despise my life. And so here, this again reiterates point one. No one's righteous. If I say, if I justify myself, I'm condemning myself. Anybody who tries to be justified, what does it mean to be justified? To be declared righteous. If anyone is justified by the deeds of the law, if anyone's justified by their own works if anybody's justified by their own goodness, if they're seeking to justify themselves, you know what they're actually doing is condemning themselves, the Bible says. He said if I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. And what did Jesus say? By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. If the words out of your mouth are to justify yourself, you're condemning yourself. If the words out of your mouth are God be merciful to me, a sinner, you know, that's what's going to justify you. That guy went home justified. If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's how you go home justified. God be merciful to me, a sinner is how you get saved. Not to justify yourself like, well, I go to church, you know, I've been baptized, I have repented of all my sins and I've given up my rock and roll lifestyle and now I am living a godly life. And that's how a lot of people's quote unquote salvation testimony is, they're just condemning themselves. Okay? Because no one is sinless. He says in verse 22, this is one thing, therefore I said it, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. Because remember, this is in response to chapter 8 where Job's friend is saying, well, if you're good, good things will happen, if you're bad, bad things will happen. He says, no, he destroys the perfect and the wicked. What's he saying? Bad things happen to good people is what he's saying. Bad things happen to good people. And this is something that we need to understand. There are a lot of prosperity preachers out there. People out there preaching that if you, if bad things happen to you, it's because you're living in sin or you don't have enough faith and that if you put your hand on the screen and send in your check and do the right things, then you won't have bad things happen to you, right? I mean, look, I've already been seeing it just over the last few days, just bozos out there saying, oh, all you have to do is just read Psalm 91 or read Psalm 90 and just claim it and then you won't get coronavirus. They're just basically claiming that, was it Psalm 90 or 91? It shows how impressed I was with that theory. But you know, oh yeah, just Psalm 91 and you're not going to get sick. Okay, well, maybe Job should have just quoted Psalm 91 when his whole body was covered in boils from head to toe. I guess he forgot to quote Psalm 91. Obviously Psalm 91 hadn't come out yet. Sorry, Job, because Psalm 91 is written later because Job's living before David and the Psalms. But that's not the point. I don't care if Job would have had a copy of Psalm 91 in his hand. He still would have been covered in boils head to toe because God destroys the perfect and the wicked. God does not only limit bad things to bad people. If someone gets sick, it does not mean that they're bad. If someone gets injured, it doesn't mean that they're bad. Someone gets in a horrible car accident, someone gets sick, someone loses a loved one, that doesn't mean that they've done wrong because Job is proving that over and over again. Because the Bible tells at the beginning of the book of Job that Job was the greatest man in the whole world. God said there's none like him in all the earth that fears God and eschews evil. There's nobody like Job. Have you considered my servant Job, that there's none like him in all the earth? He fears God. He eschews evil. Look, he's a perfect and upright man and yet did God allow bad things to happen to him? Oh, yeah. God is even instigating bad things against him because God says to Satan, you moved me against him without cause. So God is even involved in this. God is the one that's even allowing Satan and even giving him the instruction, okay, go ahead and do it. Don't get this attitude that the answer to everything is just, oh, well, if we just live right, everything will be great. As long as we obey the commandments and pray and have faith, everything's going to be great. Folks, bad things happen to good people. Now the difference is that when bad things happen to bad people, there's no silver lining. There's no glory in it. You know, if you're punished for your faults, there's no glory in that, the Bible tells us. If we suffer as a Christian, you know what, that's acceptable on the side of God. That is actually a great reward. And if we suffer in the name of Christ, if we suffer as a Christian, if we do right and suffer for it, there are great rewards. And of course we know at the end of the book of Job, Job ends up with twice as much as he had before. God blesses Job greatly. But forget having twice as much, even if Job never got the material wealth back, Job gets a whole book in the Bible with his name on it. He gets to bring forth God's word. He got to prophesy God's word through the Holy Spirit for chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter. Okay, what's that worth to be Job? He's considered one of the greatest men of God in the Bible. I mean, the New Testament, he's brought out as an example. Hey, you've heard of the patience of Job. And so Job was fully rewarded. The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous, but out of them all the Lord delivers him. But he did not say you won't have any afflictions if you're righteous. So look, being godly is not a guarantee that you're not going to get sick. Being godly is not a guarantee that you're not going to lose your job. Being godly is not a guarantee that you're not going to be injured. But you know what? Being godly is a guarantee that all things are going to work together for good for you in the end. That's what's guaranteed. What's guaranteed is that God will bless your latter end. What's guaranteed is that your suffering will be rewarded. What's guaranteed is that God will be with you, he'll be at your right hand, he will never leave you or forsake you. These things are guaranteed, but a problem-free life is not guaranteed. So we don't want to be like Job's three friends where we buy into the TV preacher, televangelist type gospel of name it, claim it, and prosperity preaching. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. God's looking at you when you're going through your hardest trial, and you're, where are you God? And you're suffering, and you're in pain, and it's horrible. You're like, what are you laughing about? Because he knows it's all going to end up okay. And he sees the bigger picture, and he sees how sometimes the things that we get the most upset about are a joke in retrospect. Man, I remember when I got audited by the IRS back in 2009. They're auditing me personally, they're auditing my business, and they came after me with a vengeance. It's like they were out for blood. It was definitely a vindictive thing of them trying to punish me. And that's what was so funny is, you know, when I went down to the IRS office for the first appointment when I was getting audited, you know, this guy's looking at me real weird in the parking lot. I'm like, why is that guy looking at me while I'm waiting for the door to open? Then once I get inside, I realize that guy was who I had an appointment with. But then he pretends like he doesn't know who I am. And then he says to me, like, you know, I just want you to make sure that you know that, you know, you don't think that we're targeting you personally or anything, do you? It's like, why are you bringing that up? That'd be like, it's like when you get home and the kids are like, we didn't eat any cookies while you were gone. I didn't ask. He's like, you know, they were targeting you. Hey, and then a couple of appointments later, he's like, yeah, he's like, yeah, man. He's like, I remember back when I saw you on the news X, Y, and Z, I'm like, yeah, like, you don't even know who I am yet. You're staring at me in the parking lot and now you're talking about how back when it, when the border patrol thing happened, you were watching me on the news. It was like, what in the world? Okay. So I mean, they were, and they were just, I mean, this guy was working on my case full time. He was going over every receipt, every mile of the mileage log. I mean, he was just out for blood. And thankfully, you know, I had my ducks in a row, you know, because look, I follow the law when it comes to taxes, but I follow the law with the church personally because I know that I got a big target on me and you know, I'm, I want to go to prison for preaching the gospel. I don't want to go to prison for tax fraud or something. You know what I mean? Like I'm willing to suffer for Christ. I'm not willing to suffer for something dumb. So that's why I'd rather just cross the T dot the I. So I do the best I can to really be above approach in that area. And so thankfully I made it through that audit without them finding anything bad or fraudulent or anything like that. But you know what? I look back at the time, it was very stressful. I was very upset. I mean, it was like, it was, it was a horrible time in my life. I mean, being audited by the IRS is really stressful and I'm having to just spend weeks where just all day, every day I'm getting boxes of folders and documents and I mean, they're just giving me lists and lists of documents. I'm just turning over all these documents and it's stressful. What about this? What about this? Being interrogated. You're afraid you're going to say the wrong thing. You don't know what, what, what, what to say, what to do. And I'm telling you, it was, it was very upsetting at the time. It was very trying, but I guarantee you God was up in heaven just laughing at me. And I'll tell you why, because they ended up giving me money. I didn't give them any money and they gave me a bunch of money. And then you wonder why the government's so much debt. It's like they waste all these man hours paying their guy to just audit me so that they can give me a bunch of money. It's like you could have just left me alone and then you guys have a lot more money. No wonder you guys are $24 trillion in debt. But the point is, that's how a lot of trials are though, aren't they? At the time you're like, oh man, this is horrible. This is bad. What's going on? And then it ends up. And then you're like, well, that turned out okay. That worked out for the best. That worked out for good. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. And look, even things that you look at and say, hey, that can't be good. That's for sure bad. Okay. How, like, like for example, if you have 10 children and they all die, because that's what happened to Job. Job had 10 children and they all died. But you know what? Guess what? They're in heaven. And so it's not like they're just gone. So now Job, he's up in heaven. He's got his children. He's got his 42 chapters. And you know what? I think he can laugh about some of this stuff now. He probably can make jokes. You could probably, I think if you go up to heaven and you made a joke about the book of Job or you kind of joke with him about the pot shirt or the boils or what, you know, he probably could laugh about it. Now. So anyway, I just don't want you to misunderstand. I don't want you to think God is callous. He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He doesn't laugh in a malicious way. He just laughs of joy knowing that this is all going to be for good in the end. So he basically sees the end. Look at verse 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. And what do we see today? We see wicked people prospering, don't we? We see good people that suffer and we see wicked people prospering. We see the earth being given into the hand of the wicked. We see wicked people being rich and having goods and having power. He covereth the faces of the judges thereof, which is basically a poetic way of saying that he kills them because basically covering the face, it's like when somebody dies and they like kind of cover up their face or you can think of actually murdering someone by covering their face, like in the Bible where they put a wet blanket on that guy's face and murder him that way, assassinate him. It says in verse number 25, now my days are swifter than a post. They flee away. They see no good. They're passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. He's saying, look, man, my days are gone. I'm toast. I'm done. Game over, he's saying. If I say, oh, forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself. I'm afraid of all my sorrows. And then he says, I know that thou will not hold me innocent. You know, he's looking at his friend. He's not talking to God. Usually, he refers to God in the third person. He's talking to his friend. He's saying, you're not going to hold me innocent because they keep accusing him of being sinful. If I be wicked, why then labor I in vain? Now verse 29 kind of threw me off for a minute. I was trying to understand it, but then it clicked with me. Here's what he's saying in verse 29. And he says, if I be wicked, why then labor I in vain? I know that thou will not hold me innocent. Here's basically what he's saying. He's saying, if I be wicked in your sight, why do I labor in vain to convince you that I'm not? Is basically what he's saying. Why am I even wasting my time laboring to prove to you that I'm godly? You're not going to hold me innocent. I'm wicked unto you. And then he says in verse 30, if I wash myself with snow water and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhor me. He's saying, no matter how much I clean myself up, you're going to throw me under the bus. You're going to plunge me into the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhor me. Verse 32, for he is not a man. Now here's a key point. We're getting to the end of the chapter. Here's a key point. He is not a man. The he here is God. God's not a man, he's saying. And there's other scripture like that too. God is not a man that he should lie. God is not the son of man that he should repent, right? It says, he's not a man as I am that I should answer him. And we should come together in judgment man to man, he's saying. Here is there any days man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. Now what is a days man? Well, obviously a days man is an archaic word that we would never use. No one in 2020 would know what this means, but let me ask you this, do you really need anyone to tell you what it means in the context? So even when you have archaic or difficult words in the King James, first of all, if you look up days man in the dictionary, you know what it's going to say, mediator. You know what? I never looked up days man in the dictionary until I'd probably already read the book of Job like 50 times. Because when I read this in the book of Job, I didn't reach for a dictionary. When I saw there's no days man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both, here's how I defined it. It's a guy who gets between you and lays hands on both of you. Days man. It's got man in the end, it's obviously a person and he's obviously laying his hands on two people. He's getting between them. And what's the purpose of getting between two people and putting a hand on both of them? It says he's going to do that for judgment, so that they can enter into judgment. So obviously anybody from the context would see, okay, this is a mediator is what we would call this in our modern vernacular, a mediator. Now imagine the picture of laying hands on both. You know, typically when you put your hand on someone, that's a sign of affection, right? If you lay your hand on them, you're being affectionate. If you lay your hand on both, you know what you're kind of saying? I love you both. And basically the idea here is you're impartial. You know, it's not like, hey, I'm on your side and we're going to work together to railroad this guy. No, it's like you're between both, you lay your hand on both, you're a mediator between both. So he's saying, here's the problem. God's not a man so that we could come together in judgment and there's no days man betwixt us that would lay their hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me because remember, right now God in his mind is really beating him with the rod because he's got the boils, he's experiencing all these horrible things, he's lost his family, he's lost his wealth and so forth. Let not his fear terrify me, then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me. So point number seven, the final point is this. In order for God and man to come together, God must become man because the problem where Job cannot have communion with God, Job can't have communion with God, why not? Verse 32, because he's not a man as I am so that they could enter into judgment, right? And then also there's no days man betwixt us. So in order for God and man to come together, to bring God and man together, God must become man and there must be a mediator and isn't that exactly what Jesus Christ fulfills? So now that we've gone through the whole chapter verse by verse, Job chapter 9, now let's talk about how Jesus Christ satisfies or answers all of this, okay? So point number one, there's none righteous and the question is asked in Job 9, how should man be just with God? Okay, here's the answer, Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So point one is satisfied, right? There's nobody wrong, how can man be just before God? How can I be just? How can I be justified? The answer is justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Not justified by works, not justified by church attendance, not justified by cleaning yourself with snow water and making yourself never so clean. It's not about cleaning up your life, it's about the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And by the way, it's free, being justified freely by his grace. Oh yeah, you're preaching cheap grace. No, I'm preaching free grace because cheap grace is too expensive. Cheap is too expensive because it's free. Free means zero, it doesn't mean cheap. It means free. So point number one, there's none righteous, Jesus takes care of that. Point number two, you can't fight against God, right? It's not possible, but whether that's arguing or a physical fight, you're going to get smoked. What does the Bible say in Acts 10.36? The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. So point number two is satisfied. We don't have to, there's no fight. We're not going to be at enmity with God if we have peace through Jesus Christ. Point number three, God is almighty. God is omnipotent. And what do we see with Jesus Christ in Matthew 28? He says, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. So we see that Jesus is almighty. Jesus is omnipotent. Jesus is also called almighty God. Also Revelation chapter 19.6, and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunders saying, hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Who's actually reigning? Jesus. That's the millennial reign of Jesus. And it says the Lord God omnipotent reigning. Jesus Christ has all power. He is almighty, omnipotent. Those are three ways of saying the same thing. Almighty, all powerful, omnipotent are all the identical meaning. Point number four, God cannot be fully understood by mortal man. God cannot be grasped by mortal man, right? We saw that. How does Jesus satisfy that? Well the Bible tells in 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But then he says right after that in verse 16, for who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So oh man, I can't understand God, I can't perceive him. You know, it's like he's with me and I don't know, he passes by me, I perceive it not. He does all these things that are past finding out. Hey, but in the New Testament, what do we have? The mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. We can understand the deep things of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. And through the mind of Christ that we have, right? Point number five, we said man must find peace with God. Job desires peace with God. Well Romans 5.1 says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Point number six, bad things happen to good people, right? That's one of the things that we learned from Job 9. Bad things happen to good people. Well here's what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 12.9. He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. So we don't sit around in the New Testament wondering why bad things happen to good people. We know that when we go through bad things, we're like Job. We're going through trials, we're going through tribulations, and then in order to have the power of Christ resting upon us, we must be weak. We must be infirm. Because the Bible says, my strength is made perfect in weakness. And Paul said, well in that case, I'll glory in my infirmities. If my infirmities are bringing me closer to God, if my weakness is allowing Christ's power to be more greatly demonstrated in me, then amen. So when we see bad things happening to good people in the New Testament, when we are doing right and bad things happen, you know what? We know this is making us a better person. David said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might keep thy word. So going through bad things makes us a better person. It draws us closer to God. And also, God has to give us infirmities to keep us humble. He has to give us weakness because if we're too strong, if we're too mighty, if everything we touch turned to gold, and we're just making money like it's nothing, and we're good looking, and healthy, and athletic, you know how prideful and arrogant we would be? And not only that, God would be less likely to use us because God rarely uses a talented person. Look at your calling, brethren. Does he use the mighty? Does he use many wise? Does he use many mighty men after the flesh? No. He's chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things to defeat the strong. Why? Because he reacts with glory in his presence so that he gets all the glory. He actually looks at our infirmity. He looks at our weakness. And he doesn't look at us and say, oh, I can't use you. You're too weak. I can't use you. You're not smart enough. I can't use you. You're not talented enough. That's actually a plus for him. If he sees you as having physical weakness or infirmity, or maybe you're not the smartest or the most talented, he sees that as a bonus where he'll be more likely to use you. Now I'm not saying, hey, let's strive to be weak and stupid. That's not what the Bible is saying. That's the way people could abuse scripture or abuse the truth. Like bodily exercise profit a little, you know? That's an abuse of scripture. Here's what the Bible is saying. Obviously, the Bible commands us to be as strong and healthy and wise as we can. If we study scripture, he's telling us to be wise, to be strong, to be healthy, to work hard. Our body is the temple. But here's the thing about it, though. What I'm saying is if we do our best to work hard and to study, to show ourselves approved, let's face it, folks. Some people are just more gifted than others, am I right? I could study my hardest, and somebody else could study their hardest, and they could just go way beyond me intellectually, right? Two people could take a singing lesson, and one person is going to excel just because maybe they're just born with the right equipment, the right vocal cords. Two people could get on the exact same training plan, and one of them is going to be able to outrun the other. Certain things are genetic. So I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive to be as strong and as wise as we can. I mean, anybody should know that that's obvious. But what I'm saying is, look, many times we might strive to learn and say, man, I'm just not as smart as the next guy, but here's the thing, God doesn't need you to be as smart as the next guy. Because you know what? He's not the smartest preacher that wins. It's not the smartest preacher that's going to be the most greatly used by God. You know, it's just the one that's the most surrendered to God. It's just the one who's obeying God, the one who loves God the most, the one who loves God the most. You know, God, and in fact, God would delight in using a preacher who's not super intellectual. He would delight in using a preacher that is not super good looking or super charismatic or super athletic. Because here's the thing, let's say you just have some good looking, charismatic, athletic, super intelligent guy getting up and he's the pastor, you know, sort of like your pastor, you know what I'm saying? You know, I'm saying if you had a guy like that that's, you know, he's really, he's just got a great personality, he's good looking, you know what people would look at that and say? They'd say, well, you know why he's succeeding is because look at all his gifts. And they wouldn't give God the glory, would they? They would not give God the glory. They'd say, well, of course he's succeeding. Look at those teeth. Look at that smile. Look at that personality. Look at that charisma. Look at his athletic achievements. Look at his intelligence. Oh, well, of course he's succeeding. And then God doesn't get the glory. So God prefers to use a guy like moi because you know what? The world can't explain my success. If someone were writing a book on how to succeed at being a pastor, it would basically be like the opposite of everything that I've done for the last 14 years. The success of Faithful Word Baptist Church can't be explained humanly speaking. It's not that I'm talented because I'm not. I am a very average person by almost every metric. I'm kind of a jack of all trades, master of none kind of guy. I am an average guy and I believe that I'm of average intelligence, average athletic ability. Am I at least of average looks, right? Give me a C plus maybe? The point is, look, I'm a pretty average guy. Nobody would look at me and say, oh, what a handsome man. Oh, man, look at that guy. Oh, man, what a tough guy. What a strong man. Oh, man, what a genius. People don't say that, okay? But here's the thing. I'm glad they don't say that. You know what I want them to say? Hey, praise God. It's the power of God. That's God's power. And you know what? That's why other people have been able to duplicate my success. That's why Pastor Jimenez has been able to be every bit as successful as I have. That's why lots of other pastors are doing the same thing, right? And they're pastoring churches that are similar to ours. Obviously, ours has been around a little longer, but they're pastoring similar churches to ours that are also having great revival. They're also getting a ton of souls saved. They're also shading in their soul-winning map. They're also doing great missions trips. They're also doing soul-winning marathons and things like that. Why? Because it's not unique to me. If it were based on my talent, only I could do it. But if it's based upon the power of God, if it's based on the Word of God, if it's based on loving God, anybody can love God. And so it allows other people to have a chance, too. There are some preachers. I remember when I was growing up, I'd look at certain preachers, and I would think to myself, I can never be like him. This guy's such a great speaker. I'm never going to be able to speak like him. Or this guy's just so cool. You know how some people, they're just that cool. You know those kind of guys, they're just cool on accident. I think about my grandfather was a guy like that. He was just kind of that alpha male, he just walks in a room and just kind of commands everyone's attention. And you just did what he tells you to do. He never disciplined us or anything, but whenever we were saying it, we never would have thought of disobeying him. I mean, he's the boss. And he just had that kind of charisma or that kind of personality. And I remember when I was growing up, I'd look at preachers that had that. There are preachers that were like that. And you look at preachers that had that, that were just a born leader. And you know, it's almost a little discouraging because you're thinking to yourself, that's not me. I can never be that guy. But you know what, when you saw the average guy, when you saw the everyday guy, when you saw the humble guy, when you saw just the mediocre guy, when you saw him being greatly used by God, that was really encouraging because then you thought, you know what, God can use me too. If God can use him, God can use me too. I can do that. I can. You know what? And that's why God delights in using people who don't have it all together, who aren't perfect, who have problems, who have physical infirmities. I mean, a lot of preachers have physical infirmities. You say, well, why is that? You know, God's keeping him humble, or God's just showing that his strength is made perfect in weakness, okay? So when we look at this of bad things happening to good people, we don't lament. We don't lament bad things happening to good people. We say, hey, God's going to use this for his glory. God's going to use the bad things. And they're all going to work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. And then lastly, number seven, in order for God and man to come together, God must become man, and there must be a mediator. And what is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. And what does the Bible say? There's one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So he did both. He provides the mediator, and he also is God in the form of man, because the Bible says no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he had declared him. God the Father is inaccessible unto us. God, the Son, Jesus Christ, walked on this earth, and you could talk to him man to man. And not only that, he continues, even after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, he continues to mediate for us between us and God the Father, to where now we can pray to the Father in the name of the Son. And he said, whatsoever you ask in my name, I'll do it. And he says, I'm not saying that you'll ask me, and I'll ask the Father. Oh no. He's saying, no, no, no, you'll ask the Father directly. So we don't pray to Jesus and say, Jesus, would you please ask the Father to do X, Y, and Z? We actually just pray to the Father in the name of the Son. But we're actually talking directly to God the Father in the name of Jesus. And through Jesus, we have that privilege of just waltzing into the throne room of God and talking straight to God the Father himself through Jesus. Jesus Christ is the bridge between God and man. The one who lays his hand on us both. Why? Because Jesus Christ loves God the Father. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, all before the world began, they loved one another. The Bible tells us in John 17, Jesus prays to the Father and says, thou lovest me before the world began. So that love was already there. There's no question about the love between Jesus and God the Father. And we know that Jesus Christ loves us as well. And so Jesus can lay his hands on us both. Right? Jesus has seen God the Father face to face, which no man has done. Jesus has seen God the Father face to face, but he can also be touched with our infirmities and he can actually lay his hand on us. So he mediates between us. So even in this obscure chapter, we see a powerful message about Christ, foreshadowings of even some of Christ's miracles and some of Christ's exploits and Job basically longing for Jesus Christ. And of course, Jesus Christ came and did all these things and of course, Job is with Jesus right now. And so I hope that this will encourage you to read the Bible and read the book of Job, understand, love the book of Job. And I hope it will just encourage you right now if you're going through a bad time right now, because I know people are always going through bad things. I mean, in a church our size, somebody is always going to be going through something really bad. And right now, there could even be bad things happening on a bigger scale. We don't really know how it's going to affect us, but you know, this could affect people's job or it could affect their health or maybe a loved one or what have you. But you know what? The book of Job is a great book in times like these to put things in perspective. And to realize that God loves us and that when bad things happen, it doesn't mean God has forsaken us. It doesn't mean God doesn't love us, but rather he's just testing us. He's trying us. And someday we're going to be laughing with joy at the end of it all. Because look, the end, our end, folks, I don't know what's going to happen in my life, but I know the end. I know the final chapter. It's a happy ending. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you so much for this powerful chapter in Job chapter 9, Lord. Thank you for all the wisdom that's found in your word, Lord, the 1189 chapters. And we can just grab a chapter that's not even famous, just grab a chapter in the book of Job and pull so much relevant truth out of it, Lord. And also see such a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus. We thank you for those who came to church this morning, Lord. And Lord also bless those that were not able to make it. And we just pray that you would just bless our church and help us to honor and glorify you throughout the day. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.