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Speaker 1: I'm John Stangey, and today we're in Job chapter nine,
Speaker 1: and we'll be reading from the New English translation. Then
Speaker 1: Job answered, truly, I know that this is so. But
Speaker 1: how can a human be just before God? If someone
Speaker 1: wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one
Speaker 1: time in a thousand. He is wise in heart and
Speaker 1: mighty in strength, who has resisted him and remained safe.
Speaker 1: He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger.
Speaker 1: He who shakes the earth out of its place, so
Speaker 1: that its pillars tremble. He who commands the sun and
Speaker 1: it does not shine, and see up the stars. He
Speaker 1: alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves
Speaker 1: of the sea. He makes the bear Orion, and the Pleiades,
Speaker 1: and the constellations of the southern sky. He does great
Speaker 1: and unsearchable things, and wonderful things without number. If he
Speaker 1: passes by me, I cannot see him. If he goes
Speaker 1: by I cannot perceive him. If he snatches away, who
Speaker 1: can turn him back. Who dares to say to him,
Speaker 1: what are you doing? God does not restrain his anger
Speaker 1: under him. The helpers of Raehab lie crushed. How much
Speaker 1: less then can I answer him and choose my words
Speaker 1: to argue with him? Although I am innocent, I could
Speaker 1: not answer him. I could only plead with my judge
Speaker 1: for mercy. If I summoned him and he answered me,
Speaker 1: I would not believe that he would be listening to
Speaker 1: my voice. He who crushes me with a tempest and
Speaker 1: multiple applies my wounds for no reason. He does not
Speaker 1: allow me to recover my breath, for he fills me
Speaker 1: with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, most
Speaker 1: certainly he is the strong one. And if it is
Speaker 1: a matter of justice, he will say, who will summon me?
Speaker 1: Although I am innocent, My mouth would condemn me. Although
Speaker 1: I am blameless, it would declare me perverse. I am blameless.
Speaker 1: I do not know myself. I despise my life. It
Speaker 1: is all one. That is why I say. He destroys
Speaker 1: the blameless and the guilty. If a scourge brings sudden death,
Speaker 1: he mocks at the despair of the innocent. If a
Speaker 1: land has been given into the hand of a wicked man.
Speaker 1: He covers the faces of its judges. If it is
Speaker 1: not he, then who is it. My days are swifter
Speaker 1: than a runner. They speed by without seeing happiness. They lie.
Speaker 1: I buy like reed boats, like an eagle that swoops
Speaker 1: down on its prey. If I say I will forget
Speaker 1: my complaint, I will change my expression and be cheerful.
Speaker 1: I dread all my sufferings, for I know that you
Speaker 1: do not hold me blameless. If I am guilty, why
Speaker 1: then weary myself in vain? If I wash myself with
Speaker 1: snow water and make my hands clean with lye, then
Speaker 1: you plunge me into a slimy pit, and my own
Speaker 1: clothes abhor me. For he is not a human being
Speaker 1: like I am. That I might answer him, that we
Speaker 1: might come together in judgment. Nor is there an arbiter
Speaker 1: between us who might lay his hand on us both,
Speaker 1: who would take his rod away from me so that
Speaker 1: his terror would not make me afraid? Then would I
Speaker 1: speak and not fear him? But it is not so
Speaker 1: with me. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word,
Speaker 1: and we thank you for the privilege of looking at
Speaker 1: this portion of Scripture. As Job pours out his heart
Speaker 1: in anguish before you. Lord, It's not pleasant to imagine
Speaker 1: the things that job was experiencing, but it is interesting
Speaker 1: to think about or to see some of the things
Speaker 1: that he was thinking about as he conveys them in
Speaker 1: this passage. Lord, it seems like one of the things
Speaker 1: he was truly longing for was an arbiter or a
Speaker 1: mediator between him and you. He sensed his need for
Speaker 1: this arbiter, and Lord, that's fascinating when we tie that
Speaker 1: to the grand narrative of all of scripture that you
Speaker 1: have supplied. That arbiter, your son, Jesus Christ, is the
Speaker 1: mediator between God and man. And because of the work
Speaker 1: that Jesus accomplished on our behalf by living the perfect life,
Speaker 1: dying on the cross to pay for our sin, rising
Speaker 1: from the grave, defeating sin, satan and death on our behalf,
Speaker 1: we can come before you, We can enter into your
Speaker 1: presence because we have a mediator, we have an advocate,
Speaker 1: We have a defender, your son, Jesus Christ, who has
Speaker 1: bridged the gap between our sinfulness and your holiness. Lord.
Speaker 1: We know that ultimately only Jesus is blameless, but he
Speaker 1: took our blame upon himself and We're so grateful to
Speaker 1: be the beneficiaries of all that your son has accomplished
Speaker 1: on our behalf. Lord, we love you, and we thank
Speaker 1: you for your presence with us today, and we thank
Speaker 1: you for fulfilling the longing of Job's heart as he
Speaker 1: expresses it in this passage. Lord, he didn't get to
Speaker 1: see that in his generation, but he desired it, and
Speaker 1: we have the opportunity to be on the other side
Speaker 1: of it now, as Jesus Christ has accomplished this all
Speaker 1: and through him we are welcomed into your presence forever.
Speaker 1: We thank you for all these things, Lord, and we
Speaker 1: pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.