Job Ch. 24 | Bible Study by Rick Burgess

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome into the Wednesday Bible Study. Thank you for being
with us. I am your teacher today, as is the norm.
Rick Burgess also a host of the Rick Burgess Show.
That's my day job. If you'd like to find out
more about that, go to Rick burgesshow dot com. All
the details are there. This is the Wednesday Bible Study.
We've been at this about a decade. We are currently

(00:22):
in the book of job. I'm gonna run down a
couple of things I've gotten better over the last few
years of trying not to date too much these these
Bible studies because of the archives. I mean, we have
people that are listening to things that we did, you know,
nine years ago, seven years ago. But it's just it's

(00:43):
too much of an opportunity because a lot of you
you'll contact me and you'll contact our team and you're like,
I really want to plug in to the manchurch dot com.
Are there churches around me that are that are doing
the strategy? How how do I become part of this?
I will tell you Because if you're some of you
are not that familiar with the church culture, that's fine.

(01:06):
Sometimes that can be a blessing. But in the church culture,
a lot of churches treat the new year as September.
That's that's when the year starts. Fall is kind of
when the church starts its new year, and so that
means a lot of churches are implementing the strategy in
the month of August. So the month of August is
packed with man churches of people you know, starting it,

(01:30):
starting a new curriculum, maybe their second year, third year,
first year. So there's probably seven opportunities just in the
month of August in different states if you would like
to plug in. So I won't give you all those details.
I will get better about that. Just go to themanchurch
dot com and look under events. So I just want
you to know if you are catching this Bible study

(01:52):
and the month of August twenty twenty five is still
in play. Really, any August of any year great opportunity
to to plug in because there's a lot of churches
that are starting something new, a new curriculum. Now we
do have a new curriculum coming out in August called
the Standard, So our churches that are going into their
sixth year of our strategy will be now implementing that

(02:15):
brand new curriculum because they've been waiting on it. So
the standard is a brand new curriculum. We have a
six different forty week curriculum for men. If we can
help you in any way. This Bible study is part
of a bigger strategy and you can find all the details.
You can go to the website and just kind of
walk through it and figure it out at themanchurch dot com.

(02:35):
If we can help you in form of curriculum, in
form of individual resources, in form of speakers to come
to your gatherings, even conferences, all that you can find
at the manchurch dot com. A couple of things you
need to be aware of. I will be on vacation
starting on Saturday of this week that I'm doing the

(02:58):
Bible study, so there will not be a new Bible
study coming up next week. Okay, so that will be
August the what six? So there will not be a
Wednesday Bible study on August six? So what should you
do with that? Oh? What an opportunity it is, because
I'm going to I'm just gonna guess that some of

(03:20):
you have missed and some of you don't have every
single Bible studying the Book of Job. You have not
seen it, you have not heard it. You've missed a few,
so this is a great opportunity for you to go
back and catch up on any of the sessions you
missed this Bible study or any Bible study passed. You
find all those by going to Themanchurch dot com. You'll

(03:43):
see a little drop down menu. You can watch those
or listen to them and go back through them, and
it's pretty easy to maneuver. Okay, so catch up. Another opportunity.
We have a brand new podcast called Strange Encounters. It's
about spiritual warfare. If you have heard about it and
you want to to kind of check that out, great
opportunity to go catch up on that. And you can

(04:04):
find Strange Encounters wherever you get podcasts, so that'd be
great to do that. Maybe you're thinking, I haven't read
the new book Men Don't Run in the Rain, Well,
it's a great opportunity to do that. That's a brand
new individual resource that we launched in May. And thank
you for all your great feedback on that. Somebody sent
me one today and said, hey, this book is I

(04:26):
really really loved it, and I said, no need to
pat me on the back. This was simple. The topic
is pretty much the key I had two great things
to write about, Jesus Christ and Bill Burgess. So so
those those that's two pretty good topics. So all I
did is just report to you about them. So so
get that. Men don't run in the rain wherever you
get booked. So there's a lot of things you can

(04:48):
do while we're taking a little vacation. I am not
gonna lie to you. I'm exhausted and I need a break.
So so y'all pray for me as I spend some
time with my wife and in parts unknown. Just know
that if the Lord wills, I'll be back somewhere around
August tenth. If he doesn't, I'll see you guys in heaven.

(05:09):
All right, So let's open up in a word of prayer.
Today will be in Job Chapter twenty four, Job Chapter
twenty four. Lord, thank you for these men. Thank you
for these men and women that are watching and listening
all over. Thank you for Chris Adler, who I know
is tired to and all the hard work that he
does to make these Bible studies available. Just thank you

(05:31):
for the entire team everybody with the Manchurch dot Com
and the Rick Burgess Show. I'm so blessed to work
with so many selfless men that work so hard to
make what I do look easy, and so I'm so
thankful that you gave them to me. Thank you for
the wife you've given me and the children you've given me,
and I pray that your blessings be upon them and

(05:52):
all the wives and children represented in this room here today, Lord,
I pray you will give Sherry and I a great
time together, investing in our marriage and following your example,
because when you took on human flesh, you rested when
you needed to rest, you rested, and you showed us
that example that part of all of our spiritual disciplines

(06:13):
has also been disciplined enough to know when you need
to rest so you can be fresh and ready to go.
So thank you for the opportunity to We're fresh, and
may you unpack this word for us today, and your
holy name, we pray. Amen. Okay, so let's look here.
Job is continuing to speak. Now we will run up
on something super interesting this week. A little bit debate

(06:35):
that somewhere in this chapter, Job stop talking, start stop stalking,
and somebody else talks. I'm not sure I believe that,
but we'll talk about that. That is something that has
been debated about. Chapter twenty four, Job is going to
come very close to blaspheming God again. He will not
do it, but he'll come close. It'll remind you of

(06:56):
chapter nine when he got pretty close. In chapter nine,
he is tired. Speaking of being tired, he is frustrated,
he is miserable, and he is ready to hear from God. Now,
now let's just be clear. Okay, let's just be clear
that Job is frustrated and understand when we're frustrated. You know,

(07:17):
we really got to watch ourselves. Okay, so let's look
at Let's look at verse one, and Job says this,
why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty?
And why do those who know him never see his days?
Now take him in it a little bit different because

(07:38):
Jesus is talking about something different, because Job's talking about
right now. He wants to know something right now about
what's going on with him. But we can cross reference
just a little bit, and we go to the Book
of Acts. Now, speaking of our new curriculum coming out
in August, it is called the Standard and it is
from the Book of Acts. So it is not a
walk through the entire Book of Acts, but it's a

(08:00):
walk through where we see the difference of the Holy
Spirit and Pentecost and how the standard on everything went up.
But this is Jesus talking to the disciples, and this
is an Acts chapter one, Jesus talking in verse seven.
Here's what Jesus says to them. He said to them,
it is not for you to know. Times are seasons

(08:24):
that the Father has fixed by his own authority. And
then he gets into eight and he says, but you're
gonna get some power because I'm about to give you
the Holy Spirit. So Jesus is saying, he's telling us,
even in the New Covenant, it's not for you to know.
You know, the Father has set his own seasons. He
set his own times for events. You don't know what

(08:45):
they are. You're not going to know what they are.
You got to have faith he knows what he's doing,
so you can think about that. But Job is frustrated
that God doesn't seem too willing to just explain himself
to him. God does not seem willing to tell Job
what he's doing, why he's doing it, and how long

(09:05):
Job's got to go through this, uh, And he's frustrated.
He wants to know. Uh. So So not only does
does he want to you know, God, to reveal you
know this this the final court meaning, tell me what
you're doing, why you're doing it. I want to know
the finality of all this. He doesn't just want that,

(09:26):
he says, I also would like for you to tell
me why you won't give me a court case right now.
Not only do I want to know the future, I
want to know what you're doing right now. Have you
ever been there? Okay, you know it's one thing to
say I'd love to know the future. That's interesting. I'm
going to tell you what bothers me more. I want
to know what you're doing right now, because because that's

(09:46):
what I'm dealing with at the moment. And so Job
wants both of those. So that's the point he's making
in verse one. I don't know why he won't just
let us in on what he's doing. Okay, you ever
felt that way? But then all of a sudden, he
just it's almost like now I remember. And this is
commentators that really helped me this week, studying the guys

(10:08):
that man, they really have gone in here and studied.
You cannot forget because even this week there's gonna be
times where Job comes off a little bit like he's
all over the road. And the commentators have reminded me
this week and study and I'll remind you through them
understand the state he's in. Okay, certainly the Holy Spirit

(10:30):
is helping us to know what's going on. But just
in the real world, Job is miserable. He's physically beat.
His mind is probably all over the road. You know,
he's throwing out things. Sometimes you're like, where's he going
with this? Well, just imagine you've ever been so tired
and some miserable you almost kind of just kind of lot.
It's hard for you to stay focused. It's hard for
you to get your narrative walking out perfectly. I've noticed this.

(10:54):
If I get tired sometimes you know, your mind will
just start going I can't think clear. Imagine how miserable
he is at this point. So don't lose sight of that.
So because right here he all of a sudden he
just gets into wanting God to reveal everything to him.
And then all of a sudden he just turns around
and he goes back to the unpunished wicked. This is
not a new narrative, okay, And he's gonna he's gonna

(11:16):
hit on two things through through verses two through twelve,
and he's going to focus on the latter. But he
wants to know two things. Why does a righteous man
have to suffer? We've heard this one right of course again.
The only way we're made righteous is through is through Christ.
None of us are righteous on our own. And you've

(11:38):
heard me say good things. I mean, bad things don't
happen to good people because none of us are good people,
not not compared to God. We might be compared to
somebody like a serial killer. You might feel better about yourself,
but that's it's a pretty low standard there. So So anyway,
so two things, he wants to know why righteous man
has to suffer? And I want to know why so
many wicked folks go through life. And it looks like

(12:01):
to me unpunished. That latter question about the wicked is
going to fill up a lot of this chapter. Uh,
it's it's gonna it's gonna vary, and and it's gonna
give you a variety of things that Job's observes. It's
gonna give you some intensity of different kinds of sins
and sinners. Uh. And and you know the suffering of
their victims of the people they're mistreating. All this will

(12:24):
be spelled out in some detail. So he's gonna start
out and he's gonna say, I want to talk about
how the wicked oppressed the poor. That's where I want
to get started. I'd like to get real specific about
this point I keep making. Now he doesn't really seem
to care whether his friends are listening anymore. Uh, he's
saying this to to God. Uh. And he says, uh,

(12:45):
some move landmarks, They seize flocks and they and they
pasture them. Now what is he talking about here, Well,
he's revealing really the the culture in which he lives.
It's an agricultural setup. So we kind of know that's
what he must see, that that's the normal he ever knows.
When Jesus was teaching, he would always use analogies based

(13:05):
on the things these people see in their communities, the
kind of work they do, like like we do. Now,
you know, if you're teaching, use analogies of things we
can all see. Well, these are the things that he
could see. Now, Now what exactly is he talking about. Well,
what he's talking about is you would mark your boundaries
with stones, saying this is my land we all agree
on that. And this is where I put my flocks.

(13:26):
This is where they graze. These are my flocks, and
they're grazing on my land. Okay. And these stones are
you know, cause a lot of time they didn't have,
you know, the back of a goodfence. They would just
mark them with these stones. And so what he's saying
is and this was totally forbidden by the way and
Deuteronomy nineteen fourteen, Proverbs forbids It twenty two, twenty eight,

(13:49):
twenty three, and ten. And this is stealing people's land
and seizing their flocks by doing what I just kind
of move these rocks, and I move these boundaries, and
I'll walk in and say, whoa, it looks like your
ear flocks are grazing on my land. I guess they
belong to me now. And so they were manipulating where

(14:09):
the boundaries were and using this to steal flocks. And
he said, I've seen these wicked people do that, and
this was clearly forbidden, which kind of you know, we
make the case who wrote job pretty good case for
Moses right there, because this is in the law of Moses.
Apparently this was known. Okay, So so there you go.

(14:30):
We don't know, so I'm not saying that, but that
would be it. So that's what they would do. And
Job is saying, the wicked do this to these poor people,
and they take their flocks and they take their land.
I've seen that. Then he goes into three. He said,
they drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they
take the widow's ox for a pledge. He's now presenting

(14:50):
this picture that the wicked look at the victims. These
are the most powerless people in our society. These are
those that they take advantage of, those the most vulnerable.
And you know, one thing we need to with the
Men's ministry part of what we're trying to do at
the Manchurch dot com. And you remember we talked about

(15:11):
this when we had Jared Hudson who goes out and
is one of the many ministries with Covenant Rescue that
goes out and rescues people from the sex trade. And
he says, these wicked people target first and foremost people
who don't have husbands or people who don't have fathers.

(15:31):
They're gonna look because they're coward cowardice predators and just
like a predator. And we've talked about this a lot,
but it's analogy you can never forget because remember that
Satan is portrayed as a roaring lion looking for someone
to devour by Peter. And if you know anything about
animal education, the predators, I know they're scary, and they

(15:53):
are scary, but let me tell you something. They don't
want to get hurt. Because if you're a predator and
you get injured out there in the wild, good luck
to you, because now you can't hunt, you can't wrestle
anything down. So what do they do. They try to
find an easy kill. Well, the human beings that are
predators in our society, they also look for an easy kill.

(16:14):
They look for an easy take. And the one thing
they look for, and notice this list that Job just shared.
These are people that don't have fathers or they don't
have husbands. And he goes and they pray on these people.
They pray on women, and they pray on orphans. And
so these are what you considered to be the ones
that we are as a society, and through scripture, what

(16:36):
are supposed to look after. And so Job says, I
see the wicked going after them. Then he says this,
He says, in four they thrust the pour off the road.
The poor of the earth all hide themselves, so he says. Next,
he says, the destitute, my goodness, they huddle together. They

(16:57):
don't even have shelter. And then these un godly people
they thrust or they force the poor, the needy, they
force them off the path into hiding themselves. They can't
even be on the roads. They can't even be on
the paths. They have to go somewhere and try to
seek shelter, because you know, everything they have, these wicked

(17:19):
people people have taken and that's not enough. They've taken
everything they had that might provide them food, water, and shelter.
And then when they get out on the roads to
try to see if somebody help them, they'll run them
off the road. And they where they have to go,
huddle together somewhere. They don't have anything. And this is
the way these wicked people behave. And then he goes

(17:39):
into to verse five and verse five he says, they
gather their fodder in the field. I'm sorry five, I'm
down at six. Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their toil seeking game. The
wastelands yield food for their children. Now this is a

(18:01):
real sad analogy, he says, you know, and after the
wicked have mistreated these people so bad, they wander around
like animals out in the wilderness, and they're just they're
looking for to gather enough food to sustain life. And
notice where he says they have to go, because the

(18:22):
wicked won't allow them to go somewhere where they might
be food. He's making them gather, But the wicked makes
them gather in a desert. I mean, they even when
they have to find something, they're so pushed off the path.
They're so thrust out of society. They're going to exile.
These wicked people won't even let them near them. And

(18:43):
even when they're out there like a bunch of animals
scrounging for some kind of substance for themselves and their children,
the very place they have to try to do it
is desolate. He's really painting a rough picture. And then
in verse six, they gather their fodder in the field
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man gleaning.

(19:08):
We know what that is. That means when wealthy people
would say we taken everything we want. Now come in
here and see if you can gather something up, and
they were supposed to allow people to glean now fodder,
what does fodder mean? That that is a word in
English that really means this is food for animals. This
was supposed to be feeding your animals. And so what
he's said, he said, these people have it so bad.

(19:31):
They're they're they're trying to glean from the very vineyard
of the wicked man that that has mistreated them. And
then all they can really come up with is food
that would be good enough for their animals. They can't
even feed any animals if they haven't all been taken
from them already. The food that would be intended for
an animal. They're eating themselves because that's all the food

(19:52):
they got. And he's petitioning, he's looking out. Jobiz, God,
are you hearing this? Do you see what these wicked
people do? Have you ever thought about that? God? Are
you watching? Have you ever watched the news and thought
to yourself? Why is God not wiping out this entire planet?
Why is he tolerating this? Have you seen? And I

(20:14):
know we have kids in here, so I won't get
into details. Have you seen? Have things sometimes that the
depravity of mankind been so horrible you just kind of
wish you didn't hear it. Have you ever heard something
and said, man, I wish I hadn't heard that. Have you?
Have you seen some of the things that Tim Tebow
and them are presenting speaking of the sex trade and

(20:36):
the abuse of children's that we have. Let me just
let you know. I'm not get into it. We have
some of the most wicked, depraved human beings among us
and in our neighborhoods. The depravity is unspeakable. I've watched

(20:56):
him be interviewed a few times and he's like, when
we go in there and we and we get into
these chat rooms and we break into these places where
these sexual predators are communicating back and forth and getting
their game plan for the things they want. I couldn't
believe what I was hearing. I mean, I honestly, I
will tell you this. If somebody said, Rick, did you

(21:17):
understand the depravity of people? I said what I thought
I did. And it never fails. Just when I think
I got it, I'll hear something and go, oh, wow,
it's darker than I thought. So and so, and you
think to yourself, God, why are you letting this go? On. Now,
if these people never change and then never repent, it's

(21:38):
not they're not going to get away with it. Okay,
understand that, But he's wondering why God won't. He doesn't
understand why he's being punished and these horrible people he's
describing are not being punished. Now you see this in
the Psalms. David got to this point sometimes other psawmists,
so this is not a new concept. But but Job

(21:59):
is trying to use this to get an answer from God.
He's ready for God to answer him. And of course
God's gonna answer him. What when God decides to answer him,
not because he's gonna be talked into it by Job,
but anyway, So so verse seven, he says, they lie
all night l i e. Naked without clothing uh and

(22:23):
and have no covering in the cold. This one's pretty simple.
He just saying, the poor people have no shelter. I
mean even when they decide to lay down for the evening.
I mean they they're they're naked, they don't the very
clothing that they once had, they don't even have anymore
because of the treatment of these wicked people. He goes
on in a they're wet with the rain of the mountains.

(22:44):
They cling to the rock for lack of shelter. Uh.
It's not only are they abandoned, not only do they
not have any clothing, not only do they lack shelter,
they're starved. They're naked. But that's not even the end
of it. And just when you think of ken any worse,
they get drenched by the mountain rain. I mean, you

(23:07):
can't have nothing, You can't you can't even keep rain
off of you in the situation that they're in. And
then verse nine, there are those who snatch the fatherless
child from the breast, and they take a pledge against
the poor. The wicked will snatch the orphan, and they're

(23:30):
so wicked they'll go take a child if there's any
benefit to them, which kind of gets into what I
was just talking about. They'll take a child and snatch
it right off its mother's breast and just take it
for themselves. Uh. And so you see that. It almost
feels like to me when when Job was in this

(23:50):
particular monologue, it's like he keeps thinking, what have I
got to say to get you to understand my point?
Have you ever been telling somebody something about something happened
and you realize they're not really and then you go, well,
let me see if I can't give you more gruesome
details and see if I can get your attention. Because
he's tried this before, but he kind of kept it

(24:11):
a little more general. Now he wants to get real
specific about these sins and the victims of these sins.
And he says, the wicked, you know, has made a pledge.
What does you mean by that? He said, It's almost
like it's not just that they are you know. It's
one thing for me to say, I'm aloof I see

(24:34):
the poor around, I just didn't pay attention, and that's
not good. We need to be aware of people. But
Joe says, no, no, no, these people are worse. They've made
a pledge. They are directly and intentionally hating the poor.
They hate them. It seems like they've made a pledge
against them, like this is something that they want to do.

(24:54):
They're doing on purpose. It's not just they're being aloof
and they miss something. They've made a pledge. They're intentionally
doing this, and they hate the poor. They have no
regard for what happens to these people. So then he
goes into verse ten. They go about naked, without clothing, hungry,

(25:14):
and they carry the sheaves. Now, see you say, he's
repeating himself. Here, we'll hear this. He says, in the
midst of plenty, all around them is plenty, they do without.
And now he's getting into the oppressed worker. They do
the work. They gather sheaves, which is a bundle of
grain stalks. And here's what he's saying. The wicked people

(25:37):
are benefiting from the hard work of these people, and
they have no regard for it. They make sure that
these people bring all their food and all their wine
in and all the things they need, and then they
make sure they have nothing. They oppress the people that work. Now,
remember this was an accusation that was made about him,
and he's coming back saying, no, no, the wicked do that.

(25:59):
But I don't do that. I've never done that. There
was never any evidence that I did that. So there's
some defense of himself here too. He's like, I think
he may be saying for his friends that this is
speculation that he may be saying to his friends too.
I'm going to include some accusations. Y'all meet against me,
and I will tell you something I've seen the wicked
do this. Don't compare me to them. There's never been

(26:20):
an accusation that I did these kind of things. So
he wants there to be a distinction between him and
wicked people because he's sick and tired of being told
that he's suffering because he's wicked, and he's making the
case do I look like these people? So remember this
is at God, but it's also for everybody to hear
that he's making this point about himself as well. He says,

(26:45):
among the olive rows of the wicked, they make oil,
they tread the wine press, but suffer thirst. They do
the work, they do the grind the grain, they do
the wine. It's all around, all around them. There's plenty
of food, and there's plenty to drink, and they get
none of it. There are pressed workers. Even the animals

(27:09):
in the Law of Moses were allowed to eat what
they were working. And he said, these wicked people don't
even let these people eat. The animals get to eat
while they're out there doing their work, but they don't
even let the people eat anything that falls to the ground.
They take it all. And he says that the people

(27:34):
are being treated worse than animals and beasts of burden
Verse twelve. From out of the city, the dying, grown
and the soul of the wounded Christ for help. Here
we go. Be careful right here, job, Yet God charges
no one was wrong. Job's got to be careful right here.

(27:59):
So this is this is that point I was telling
you about in the beginning. This is this is a
real close I mean if blasphemy, you know, was was
what I mean, it's close, and he kind of he
drives by it. He doesn't touch it, but he drives
by it. And this is real similar if you remember,

(28:19):
and you want to jot this down to go back
and look, we had a similar situation in chapter nine,
verses twenty two through twenty four, Because what Job is saying.
God is oblivious to all this evil, and you know what,
he seems to let him get away with it. Well, again,

(28:39):
that's that's Job trying to be God a little bit,
which God is no fan of. And he doesn't understand
the bigger picture here. He wants to understand it. He
wants to be told, but he right here. This is
almost like when you're trying to get somebody to fight
with you and you push him, you know you're thinking,

(29:01):
I got to if I can say something, or maybe
I put my hands on you, I'll finally get some
sort of reaction from you, because I'm ready to I'm
ready to work this out. Now, he's he is asking
for a fight that he does not want and and
it is coming for him on God's time. If you
think that we're going to demand God get in the

(29:21):
ring with us, God does not respond to our demands,
and for us to think that he can or should
is all sorts of arrogance. But again, he's in a
bad place right now. He's in a really really bad place,
and God knows that. And so he's he's he's talking

(29:44):
about we're about to get more into more specific. He said,
I'm gonna talk about murderers. I'm gonna talk about adulterers,
I'm gonna talk about burglars. I'm gonna I'm gonna really
get specific right now because I want you to understand God,
the people I'm talking about. And so now he's going
to get more specific. So again close to blaspheming God,

(30:07):
I mean I could. Can't you just see Lucifer right
here going, Oh this is gonna be good, And and
and and and you know, we're hey, we're we're here,
He's finally gonna do it, and then he just kind
of stopped short. Now you're saying, well, why why do
you why do you think he's stopping short here? Because
he's not saying that God does this. He's saying it
seems that's the way it feels to me. You know,

(30:31):
as long as we, you know, don't go around saying
blasphemous things about God, we can cry out that we
don't understand. Help me to understand. I have faith in
that You're always doing what's right. I'm confused right here.
Here's how this this, this is what it seems to me.
Right now, clarify yourself. We're okay right there. It's still

(30:53):
dangerous ground, but we're okay right there. So now he's
going to go into getting real specific about who he's
talking about, starting in verse thirteen. There are those who
rebel against the lights, who are not acquainted with its
ways and do not stay in its path. So now
he says, let me tell you the kind of people
I'm about to I'm about to list here. Light always

(31:16):
represents right. I'm the light of the world. Okay, that's
what's right. Darkness always represents what's wrong. Okay, So what
he's saying is, here's who I want to talk about now.
I want to get real specific about some categories, but
all of them go into one category. They're all here's
the heading, and then I'll get to the subheadings. But

(31:37):
the heading is, these are people that don't seem to
know right from wrong. They don't seem to care what's
right and what's wrong. And we have people living today
as our society grows more and more depraved. There's no
question about it. One thing that I see in the
in the sixty years I've been on this earth, the

(31:59):
sixty years i've been on this earth, the earth has
got more wicked. People have gotten not smarter, they've gotten dumber.
Mental illness is on the rise. Never seen mental illness
at the level it is right now. I mean, it's
completely through the roof. A lot of that has to
do with all sorts of addictions, of drug addictions and

(32:22):
abuse and alcohol and all these things. But the society
I'm living in right now, people can't walk out a narrative.
People can't communicate people, people can't you can't reason with people.
Jesus told us to look for that. People becoming more
and more unreasonable. No matter how many times you answer

(32:43):
the question, they just say the same thing back. And
rare is the moment that you have a conversation that
seems to go anywhere. Rare. Most people are just staring
at their phones. Nobody's reading a book. We just we're
not all that impressive as a society. And excellence is

(33:09):
it's hard to find, it really is. I I've told
all my kids that are adults now, I'm like, you
are to be able to do anything you want to
do right now, because you're in a weak division. If
you can, if you can't, if you can't win this conference,
I said, I said, if if you if you're just
willing to be somewhat responsible and show up on time,
you you're gonna you're gonna beat just about everyboy of

(33:30):
a job. Okay, I mean it's the standard is pretty
low right now. Uh So, so he he's saying, I
want to run this down for you, and he starts
with murderers. He says, the murderer rises before it is light,
that he may kill the poor and needy, and in
the nights like and he's he's like a thief. He says, Look,

(33:52):
let me tell you the murder it does. They're wicked people.
And what they want to do is they want to
get it. They want to start doing their business before
the life. They want to do it in the darkness,
which is true. And they and here's who they want
to kill. Innocent people, weak people who are easy to kill.
Back to my predator analogy. Okay, he says, here's the thing,
the little bit of light that they allow. They kill

(34:13):
by day and they rob by night. That he said,
he said, these are the kind of people that I
see out there and I don't know why. It seems
like they kill people and get away with it. It
seems like they rob people and they get away with it.
Have you ever felt that way going? Is somebody gonna
be brought to justice? And look, it's not a given anymore.
It's not a given anymore. I mean, I mean, how

(34:34):
many times do you think I'll tell you one thing,
this person's gonna pay price, and the next thing you know,
you're like, wow, they got away with it. Now they're
not gonna get away with it in eternity if if
they don't, if they're not redeemed. But it just seems
that they get away with it. Now, killing people in
cold blood, killing innocent people is pretty much something that
most every society frowns on. Okay, he's not coming up

(34:58):
with obscure things. I wouldn't know. In some cultures, if
you kill somebody for no reason, they're good with it. Now,
there are a lot of cultures where a lot of
murder takes place, but rarely is it applauded. And so
then he gets into another one fifteen and he says
the eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying no eye will see me, and he veils his face. Adultery.

(35:26):
Adultery is so bad looking at some of the commentary.
There is no ancient society that has a law that
allows for adultery, none that have ever existed. Jesus understood
in the Sermon on the Mount when he's talking about divorce,

(35:46):
this is how horrible adultery is. When talking about divorce,
Jesus said that, you know, divorce is a sin, and
then he says, except when there's infid Now, infidelity is
not a get out of marriage free card. I know
many marriages who have overcome it, and they have thrived

(36:08):
because one salt forgiveness and repented of the sin, and
the other was willing to give that forgiveness. And that
is always option one. But there are some marriages where
adultery and reason why Jesus said this is adultery is
such an insult to the intimacy of marriage. Some marriages

(36:29):
can't survive it. It's just too much, it's too overwhelming.
And let me tell you something. If you're out there,
if you're listening, we always talk about which that's fine.
The offender inside the marriage, certainly that should be talked about.
But I'm going to tell you who God is just
as furious with as whoever it was that tampered with

(36:51):
that marriage. You people that go out there and you
start tampering with somebody's marriage, you start flirting with somebody's spouse,
start coming into the sanctity of the intimacy of marriage.
Let me tell you something. You are on the wrong
side of God. God loves marriage, he has deemed it holy.
And if you go around messing with somebody's marriage, you're

(37:16):
a wicked person that's wicked, manipulating somebody's spouse, getting into
somebody's marriage. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, and
so God will hold that person accountable, and he'll hold
the offender accountable if they do not repent. And this
is such I mean, I can't tell you how many

(37:38):
times that I set down counseling. And you know the
thing we always know. Just so all y'all know out there,
those of us that get put in positions of counseling,
would you save us the step of pretending that you're
not physically intimate with somebody else. None of us believe
you when you start talking to us you say, well,

(37:59):
there's nothing intimate really going on. I'm just having an
emotional fair. We all know your life. We all know
you're sleeping with them. Okay, we know it, So save
us that. Okay, uh, let's get down to what's really
going on. Okay, and listen, and let's stop it and listen. Listen.
I have sat down before, and I know that all

(38:20):
of you have been in this position too, and you're
saying the things that we should say. Let's try to
reconcile this, Let's try to save this marriage. Let's work
on you guys. Reconcile and let's get you in with
some counseling. Let's pray together, let's try to repair this
and the one who's had the insult done to them.
I can't tell you how many times when I've said

(38:42):
all the things the Bible says and the person's in
total agreement with me. They're part of the church, they
agree with me. This is not foreign concepts to them.
And they're like, yes, my spouse wants forgiveness. Yes, I
know I need to forgive. But let me ask you
one thing. How do I get these visions out of
my mind of what this person did with my spouse?

(39:09):
Can you help me with that? And I always say
the same thing. That's going to require supernatural intervention by God.
But I know he can take it away. But I
know today it's still there. See, even when the act's
over and everybody says, whoop, sorry, I shouldn't have done that.
I guess that got away from me. You weren't give
me enough attention. You know. I just felt like that.

(39:33):
You know, my best days were behind me and I
had some kind of midlife crisis. You know. The thing
about adultery, Adultery is not I had a bad moment
and I'm sorry I said something mean to you. Today.
Adultery is such an insult. You have wounded somebody deep,

(39:53):
so deep that Jesus says, sometimes you can't get past it.
And I understand that's how bad it is. And this
society treats it so it's horrible, it's wicked, it's evil,
and it hurts. I mean, it hurts the most godly

(40:14):
people you've ever known, that are always willing to try
to do the right thing. And so this is something
that Joe points at, and he says, these adulters look
at them, and they're so wicked that they want to
do it by the cover of darkness. They think nobody
sees what I'm doing. Is they come in and they

(40:35):
manipulate someone. They try to destroy somebody's marriage, or they're
in the marriage and they try to slip around and
go go find somebody else on the side. They're wicked people,
And how can I be lumped in with them? If
my friends are right, I've been lumped in with them.
So and he knows that's not yet, but he's like

(40:58):
going back and checking again. He's talking about dark is preferred.
Look at Proverbs seven, eight and nine talks about this.
I will speak to that. I'll be transparent to you
when I was a wicked man, and of course, compared
to God, I'm still wicked. But I'm talking when I
was intentionally and perpetually in sin. These verses I understand completely.

(41:21):
This is completely true. I'm ashamed to say it. I'm
ashamed to say it, and I've watched my redemption completely
change this completely by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you, Lord for your grace and mercy. Thank you
for changing me. Thank you for transforming me. But when
I was outside and I rejected God and I was wicked,
I loved nighttime. The darkness was much preferred. I usually

(41:46):
try to sleep through the day, stay stay out everything.
I didn't like to go out in the day, and
I can honestly say that when I was transformed, I'm
completely the opposite. Now I hate the night and I
love the day. There's nothing I remember thinking, who in
the world wants to be up in the morning? Who

(42:07):
I want to sleep till noon if I can, and
then eat something and then nap and then wait for
it get dark where I can get back on the
prow and go to where the party is, go to
where the bar is, go to where the action is,
stay out all night but now there's I mean, just
this past weekend, Cherry and I just went to the
farm and that sun coming up and going out ter

(42:29):
on that porch and getting that cup of coffee and
getting the word of God out and just sitting there
talking about Jesus and just spending time in the light.
I much prefer day overnight now, But I wasn't always
that way. If you think this is just an analogy,
it's literal too. The wicked prefer the night, and so

(42:54):
there you go. So then we get into sixteen. In
the dark they digged through houses. Here comes the thieves
by day. They shut themselves up. They do not know
the light. That's exactly what I just told you about
thieves by night, hidden away during the day, that want
any part of the day. Why because what the scriptures say,

(43:15):
you can see their deeds in the light. Why do
you think See we think that all these wicked people
do things at night because it's scarier and you're easy
to sneak up on. There's some truth to that, but
it's also because they themselves don't want to be seen.
That there's something innate in the sin nature that says
I want to be in the dark, I don't want
to be in the light. Don't pull me into the light.

(43:37):
What does Jesus call himself? The light? So he says,
and the light this always represents the truth, right, that's
the reason why wicked people don't want to come into
the light. Why because we see the truth about ourselves.
They didn't feel that way in the dark. Why do
you think that places where wicked people go are always

(43:58):
it's always poorly lighted. You ever went into a bar
that was really lit up? They're not. They're dimly lit,
aren't they. There's a reason for that. When they take
into these casinos, you ever notice no windows? That's by design.
They don't want you to know what time it is.
They don't want you to know what's going on outside.

(44:18):
They want you trapped inside that world. This is all
by design. And then in verse seventeen, for deep darkness
is morning to all of them. See, that's their morning.
They want deep darkness. When I talk about highlight, to
go out there and the sun be coming up and
it'd be morning. They say, well, let me tell what

(44:40):
The same feeling they have is about deep darkness. They say,
the darker the better. True, they are friends with terrors,
of deep darkness. They prefer darkness over the light. Pretty
clear picture. Now here's where we get into something. I
told you we're going to have something a little bit

(45:02):
interesting today. Now you can go and talk to people
and try to be sharp. So well, have you ever
noticed that verse eighteen through twenty five. In twenty four
there's a little bit of debate about this. Again. It
could just be that Job is miserable, he's struggling, But
right now these verses don't seem to sound like Job.

(45:24):
Job ends his description of the wicked, whom God seems
to allow to go unpunished, and now that there's going
to be a discussion about how it cursed the wicked
are But people have debated. There's been huge debate. Is
this still Job? Is he still talking? Does someone else
take over here? There's even thought so far doesn't get

(45:45):
to speak three times? Is this that's not crediting him?
Was it? With his third speech? Is the writer of
Job Moses, whoever it is, is the writer of Job
weighing in and reminding Job, Hey, you know, they don't
they don't get away with it. I don't think so
far as likely are one of his friends, because I

(46:06):
don't think they would join in. Maybe they would because
he's saying they'll get away with it. So there's that's
one thought. Probably the likely truth is it's still Job.
He just sounds like he's all over the road a
little bit. Okay, nobody knows. There is a debate about it.
But look, here's here's the cannon. It was put in here.
Did you know? There wasn't attempt to put it somewhere

(46:27):
else these verses, but but but the final the final
decision was we think this is the continuation of twenty four. Okay,
and it's still Job. So he says, you say swift,
see you see that's why they confu there's you say,
what are they saying? Job said that you say swift?
Are they on the face of the waters? Their portion

(46:49):
is cursed in the land, No treader turns toward their vineyards.
So he wants them punished, and he wants them punished
by God because he hates these people and he doesn't
want them to be getting away with this. So we
go from crimes of the wicked to their punishment here
in eighteen the wicked will not endure. And this word

(47:12):
here that you see where he's talking about swift. Are
they on the face of the water. Some of your
translations will call it the foam of the water. You
can I tell you. What he's really talking about is
there's scum. You ever heard that term before, there's scum. Well,
that was the stuff on top of the water, the dirt,
the foam, And so he's saying, their scum is what

(47:36):
they are. There's no need to go to the vineyard
because they can keep this vineyard all they want to.
The way they got the vineyard, that vineyard's gonna be cursed. Okay,
you ever heard that ill gotten gains? Yeah, that's what
he's talking about. It won't be blessed. He goes to
nineteen drought and heat snatch away the snow waters. And then,

(47:58):
of course, he says, and so does she owl those
who have sinned. Now that's the place of the dead.
We talked about both the redeemed and the unredeemed, and
then the redeemed, of course, are are brought out of that.
So he says that she owl that snatches away sinners,
and he says, snow waters gets snatched away by heat.

(48:20):
He's really telling these wicked people, you ain't got a
snowballs chance in hell that that this is gonna work
out for you. So so he's telling them that. So
then he says in twenty the womb forgets them, the
worm finds them, sweet, thank you Job for this or whoever,
and they are no longer remembered. So wickedness is broken

(48:40):
like a tree. Do you see where the dilemma is?
That Job seems to be a little quick to say
they're not going to get away with it when he's
been saying they're getting away with it. So that's that's
where that there's the tension. But I don't have the
answer to that. So I just want you to know
that's the that's the discussion. Let's just concentrate on what
is true. So, so what what he's saying there is,

(49:01):
you know, when we're all born, we start out in
our mother's womb. Well that's our home. Okay, that's the
home for all of us. But the wicked they're going
to start out with the womb being their home. But
in the end of their life, evil people aren't going
to be remembered. They'll go from that womb being their
home and then the worm is going to be their companion.

(49:23):
That's how it's going to end, and so they won't
be remembered, their names will not be something that will
be celebrated, even though he has said in other places
he seen the wicked be celebrated when they die. So
just remind you of the tension that's going on here.
So in twenty one, they wrong the baron childless woman,

(49:44):
and they do no good to the widow. The weakest
members of our society are preyed upon by these wicked people.
He's covered that before and this seems to be getting
covered again. So in twenty two, yet now back to
sounding more like Joe. Okay, Yet God prolongs the life
of the mighty by his power, they rise up when

(50:07):
they despair of life. The wicked will eventually pay for
what they're doing. Even though it looks like that God
is prolonging their life, this life, no matter how long
he maybe he's beginning to entertain maybe he's being patient
with them by giving them a longer life. But at
the end of it all, whatever life they've been given,

(50:29):
it ain't gonna matter because what's coming is gonna be
worse than any extension of the life they got. Everybody
with me, So twenty three. He gives them security and
they are supported and his eyes are upon their ways.
They get a brief momentary reprieve from God. But God
sees what they are doing, not a blessing, you know,

(50:50):
like God sees what I'm doing. What a blessing? He goes, No, no, no,
you need to see this like surveillance. How many of
you I've said this before. I'm gonna set again. My
hand is up. Sing songs about how God knows everything
we're doing. Then live your life like he has no
idea what you're doing. Okay, right, so yeah, I've been there.
But he's reminding them that nothing is hidden from God.

(51:11):
Remember Solomon talking about this Ecclesiastes twelve fourteen. He knows
everything we're doing. There's nothing we're doing that he doesn't
know what we're doing. Nothing is hidden from God. By
the way, let's remember that today verse twenty four. They're
exalted a little while, and then they're gone. They are
brought low and gathered up like all the others. Yes,

(51:33):
it may look like they're secure, and they may very
well be secure for a little while, but they will
face their judgment. Can you just be at peace? Two
things your herd. Okay, two things are hard. It is hard,
as we talked about a little bit last week, to

(51:54):
rest in the fact that God will handle all this.
Let me tell you what's harder. This is harder to
truly pray that these wicked people will repent and not
face the wrath of God. They're going to face the

(52:17):
wrath of God. Now that sounds good. Would you be
willing to pray that they don't receive the wrath of God? Though,
that they be redeemed just like you were? Yes, as
long as they didn't do it to me? No, I
mean that's harder, isn't it. The room I mean, the
whole countenance of the room changes in. We were all

(52:37):
loving that they're not gonna get away with it, and
I was right with you, And then you start thinking,
but I really should be praying that they're redeemed just
like I was. We really shouldn't be wishing God's wrath
to fall on anyone, no matter how bad they've treated us.
I know I'm saying the right thing. I'm not quite

(52:59):
feeling it yet, but I'm saying it. And if I
say it enough and keep praying, I think I can
get there. You know, I think I can get there.
It's you know, it's how about this, Rick, Do you
pray that everybody who's ever wronged you will be forgiven
most everybody? And I'm won't get to everybody. Yeah, no,
I can say that. So so yes, I wouldn't wish

(53:20):
that on my worst enemy. I really wouldn't. But when
I think about people that do these things like to
babies and stuff, that's a tough one. Now. I got
a hard time with that. I think we all do.
But anyway, so let's go to twenty four. They are
exalted a little while and then they're gone. They're brought
low and gathered up like all the others. They are

(53:42):
cut off like the heads of grain. And so that's
the end part. You know, they will face judgment now
twenty five. If it is not so, who would prove
me a liar and show that there is nothing in
what I say? And I see that sounds like joke, right,

(54:03):
I mean, because but but what is he saying that about.
Is he saying that about that they seemed to be
getting away with it, or is he saying that about
they're going to get it in the end, or is
he just saying it about both likely both, I would think.
Now some people think this last line was directly back
at Elafas where he's you know, because Elafas has made

(54:24):
this accusation again and he said, I've just made my
case about wicked people. You say I'm wicked. I've made
my case I'm not like them. And based on the
facts that I just presented to you, can you honestly
sit there and call me a liar? Can you honestly
say what I just said isn't true? You ever been there?
You finally get your chance to make your case, and

(54:46):
you stick with things that are not up for debate,
You talk about things that seem quite obvious, and and
then you just almost want to say, now I'm done.
Now call me a liar. Tell me that it's different
than what I just said, and that's really what he's saying,
and he saying, prove me wrong. Now, We'll never know

(55:11):
how many people wish that every now and then in
this whoever wrote this, inspired by God, would it have
hurt you just to let us hear some response from
his friends on this kind of stuff. But they don't
document that for us. We don't really know how they respond.
But I'm will tell you Job's not done yet, and
we'll come back after vacation and we'll pick that up.

(55:32):
Bill Dad's gonna jump back in there for just a
quick run. So when we come back, I'm gonna do
twenty five and twenty six together, because you're gonna get
a little Bill Dad, a little short Bill Dad response,
then a Job response again about God. But we're if
we were on the train right now, we are rolling
down the track, and we are rolling to this incredible

(55:55):
part of this book where it starts out with the
words and God answered, that is coming. And I think
if we were honest, maybe we might want to learn
and we will learn it before we're done. To have
faith in God, to believe that he knows what he's doing.

(56:17):
And when we start demanding for God to answer us,
I'd be real careful with that because he just might
and you may not want to hear what he has
to say. It might be better off just to say
I'm imperfect and I'm flawed and you are not. And
I know it's difficult. I do, man, I've been there.

(56:38):
I know it's difficult. I think that's saving faith. One
of the most difficult parts of a saving faith, the
mercy part I think is pretty easy for us. We
all want mercy, we all want grace. It's it's that
tension of obedience and trust that we struggle with. But

(57:00):
true obedience. I mean, if you look at the at
the response to redemption, it really is two words trust
and obey, and those two can be difficult. But this
is trust. Whatever you're doing, Lord, and the moment of
it all comfort me. But ultimately, as I was taught

(57:24):
by my Lord the Savior, I pray that your will
be done. I want to be in the middle of
your will. And if whatever you're doing, I can't tie
it into something stupid that I've done. Sometimes we just
pay a price for making a dumb decision. But you're
like Job. You're living your life. You're under the authority
of God. You're doing what you think He's called you

(57:45):
to do. None of us perfect, but but you can't
like like like a like job, not sinless but blameless.
But yet things are going horrible and you're suffered to
be able to say, I trust God so much that

(58:07):
whatever he's doing right now is right. And it's for
two things, my own good and or the benefit for others.
For the advancement of his kingdom for his glory, Because

(58:29):
I'm telling you, when he allows us getting this difficult
stuff and we are steadfast and we stand with him
and he empowers us to do it, people notice. And
he is glorified in difficulty in a way that is
unlike anything else if we're willing to trust him. Let's pray, Lord,

(58:53):
thank you for today, thank you for this opportunity to
unpack this incredible with what happened with job. Be with us. Lords,
now we step out. I just once again want to say,
as I've been trying to say to these men, how
thankful I am for them, and what an encouragement they
are to me and to those that are everywhere watching

(59:14):
and listening to this and the testimonies. We continue to
see of the power of you working through your word
to go with us, Lord and guide us, sanctify us,
grow us, and your holy name. We pray Amen.