# Have You Heard of the Steadfastness of Job? // Job 22-27

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Phoenix.
Series: Job
Date: October 25, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/phoenix/episodes/have-you-heard-of-the-steadfastness-of-job-job-22-27

## Transcript

Well, good morning, Cross Church 
 Phoenix. How are you? 
 >> Good morning. I am Pastor DJ, the pastor 
 here at Cross Church Phoenix. And if I 
 haven't gotten a chance to meet you yet, 
 come find me afterwards. And we got the 
 second half of We Care Weekend um coming 
 up after this service. We got the 
 barbecue fellowship celebration in the 
 back. So, come join us. I don't think 
 yesterday could have gone any better. Um 
 yesterday was phenomenal. That was 
 awesome. And uh I do want to thank any 
 and all of you uh who helped who 
 volunteered and helped put that on. 
 Thank you. I am grateful uh very much so 
 for uh your contribution. Uh what you 
 heard at the beginning of the service is 
 the click track and uh it it sets the 
 tempo and uh I don't we'll figure it 
 out, but I didn't realize the pressure 
 as the drummer uh the pressure that I'm 
 under to set the right tempo without it. 
 Right? So, I'm like, "Think of the 
 chorus. Do that so that it doesn't mess 
 up Matt or Jordan." Uh, so, all right. I 
 think we did. All right. Just let you 
 know, the spirits took over and it was a 
 beautiful time. Uh, if you would now 
 open your Bibles to Job 26. 
 And if you don't have a Bible, the one 
 in the seat back in front of or around 
 you is our gift to you, then you can 
 take it, you can have it, and uh you can 
 mark it, underline it, highlight it, use 
 it for your own personal study, and then 
 bring it back next week. But make that 
 your Bible. That is our gift to you. 
 We will be covering this morning 
 chapters 22 through 27, but 26 will be 
 what we read together um when we stand 
 in a moment. 
 In the New Testament book of James 
 in chapter 5, James writes, "Behold, 
 we consider those blessed who remain 
 steadfast." 
 Then he says, "You have heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job and you have seen 
 the purpose of the Lord." How the Lord 
 is compassionate and merciful. That is 
 James 5:1. 
 The way that James writes, "You have 
 heard of the steadfastness of Job 
 assumes that you've ha you have." James 
 the writer, New Testament writer, is is 
 presuming he's he's assuming that his 
 audience has read Job, learned of his 
 endurance through suffering, and knew 
 his story. 
 And I'm glad that we're going through 
 this together because 
 Job usually isn't at the top of the list 
 of books that Christians read. In fact, 
 I thought about asking like how many of 
 you, you don't have to raise your hand 
 if you don't want to, but how many of 
 you before this series had ever read the 
 book of Job? So, a good mix. Like 9:00 
 was a good mix as well. Some have, some 
 haven't. Um, but I've talked with a a 
 handful of people throughout this series 
 who said, you know, this is the first 
 time I've ever read this book. Um, 
 so in the spirit of James statement, 
 right, you have heard, I wanted to take 
 what he said and make it turn it into a 
 question and use it as our heading this 
 morning. Have you heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job? And if you don't 
 have a handout, there's some on the 
 tables in the back there. You can grab 
 one and or follow along on the screen 
 here. Have you heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job? And this morning, 
 we're going to cover what is round 
 three. Uh if you know anything of the 
 book of Job, he's suffering immensely. 
 And he's visited by three friends. And 
 these friends names are Elephaz, Bildad, 
 and Zofar. And they kind of are friends, 
 but they're also kind of just annoying. 
 Um and they're not very helpful. And 
 you'll see that this morning. But the 
 book of Job has these rounds. I've been, 
 if you think of it as a boxing match, 
 these are kind of like these spiritual 
 emotional boxing matches. And so, round 
 two was last week. This is round three. 
 And as you'll see, Elephaz and Buildad 
 are the only ones who will speak. Our 
 third friend, Zofar, uh, just keeps his 
 mouth shut this time, which is probably 
 the smartest thing any of the friends 
 have done all the whole book. Um, so 
 hey, we commend Zofar for that. Um, but 
 let's pray together before we get in. 
 Father, I thank you for this morning. We 
 thank you for your word. And God, we uh 
 pray that this time together is honoring 
 and glorifying to you above all. God, no 
 matter what happens, uh, technical 
 things happen for reasons unknown. We 
 don't even change anything and then all 
 of a sudden it's changed. Uh, God, you 
 are in control and sovereign over our 
 service. And we thank you for that, God. 
 and we just praise you and thank you 
 that uh no matter what happens, we get 
 to glorify and honor you. I pray that 
 you would give each of us ears to hear 
 what the spirit has to say to the church 
 here at Cross Church Phoenix this 
 morning in Jesus name. Amen. Well, if 
 you would stand as me with stand with me 
 as we read God's word together. And if 
 you are unable to, that's okay. Just 
 stand with us in spirit as we honor 
 God's word. And like last week, I just 
 want to read one a portion from a 
 chapter, but we'll be covering from a 
 broader view uh all chapters 22 to 27. 
 But I want to read 26:es 6-14. 
 And Job is speaking and he says this, 
 "Shal is naked before God and Abdon has 
 no covering." Abdon is another name for 
 the dead, the departed. He, he's 
 speaking of God, stretches the northern 
 skies over empty space. He hangs the 
 earth on nothing. He wraps up the water 
 in his clouds, yet the clouds do not 
 burst beneath its weight. He obscures 
 the view of his throne, spreading his 
 cloud over it. He laid out the horizon 
 on the surface of the waters, and the 
 boundary between light and darkness. The 
 pillars that hold up the sky tremble, 
 astounded at his rebuke. By his power, 
 he stirred the sea, and by his 
 understanding, he crushed Rahab. 
 We'll talk about that later. By his 
 breath, the heavens gained their beauty. 
 His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 
 These are but the fringes of his ways. 
 How faint is the word we hear from him? 
 Who can understand his mighty thunder? 
 Amen. Thanks. You can be seated. 
 If you were with us last week or watched 
 it online, you'll know we had some back 
 and forth. I'm going to take a more 
 chronological approach this morning. So, 
 if you go back to 22 and then we'll stay 
 in line. 
 First, have you heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job? Number one, how he 
 endured false accusations 
 against him. 
 If you go back to 22, Elephaz kicks off 
 round three. 
 He starts off with the fact that God 
 doesn't need man. 
 Uh God can run the universe just fine 
 without man's help, which of course is 
 true. 
 But then he gets right back into the 
 same old song and dance. And if you 
 haven't been with us, uh Job has been 
 suffering basically from the beginning 
 and be this all began in chapter 3. Now 
 his three friends have this theological 
 principle in their mind. It's called the 
 retribution principle of suffering. All 
 that means is from the three friends 
 point of view. The only reason anyone 
 suffers is because God is punishing for 
 them them for their sin. That's it. 
 God would never allow anyone innocent to 
 suffer. That is not true. But it is the 
 friend's viewpoint. And you can just 
 think of the gospel already refutes 
 that, right? Christ is innocent and yet 
 suffered. But that is the perspective of 
 these guys. 
 So Elephas picks it right back up. This 
 is round three. Same old thing from 
 before. And in verse four, Elephaz is 
 assuming that God trying to speak for 
 God is correcting Job for his sin. And 
 so he sarcastically says, "What? Do you 
 think God would correct you for your 
 piety?" Meaning like your good standing 
 before God. Elephas is saying, "Job, 
 you're suffering because God is 
 punishing you for your sin and he's 
 trying to correct you, but you're so 
 stubborn, you won't take it. 
 That is Elephaz's assessment and he is 
 of course wrong. But in verse 5 of 
 chapter 22, the accusations, false 
 accusations start to fly from Elephas. 
 He says Job's wickedness is abundant. 
 And then he goes on this rampage against 
 Job's character. 
 He says 
 n we could summarize verses 5 through9 
 is bringing to Job. He's basically 
 saying Job was a rich man who abused the 
 needy and the poor. If you remember in 
 the first few chapters um of Job, we 
 learn that he's got all kinds of animals 
 and flocks and herds and he's got these 
 servants who work the land and he's got 
 this great thing going on. That's to say 
 that he was wealthy in his day. Uh to 
 have that big of a herd of of sheep and 
 flocks and all this stuff was to say 
 that you were wealthy. So Elephas is 
 picking up on this and saying, "Job, you 
 were a rich guy who abused and oppressed 
 the poor." 
 Elephas's claims obviously are 
 completely baseless. 
 And he's saying Job not only abused the 
 poor and needy but included widows and 
 orphans in this. And that's a serious 
 accusation because all throughout 
 scripture God commands the protection of 
 the poor widows and orphans. And so 
 after saying a bunch of stuff and I'm 
 encouraging you to read it because we 
 can't um read every every word though I 
 I want to. I encourage you to on your 
 own and in Bible groups. 
 But Elephaz will say some other things. 
 And then in verse 23 of chapter 22, 
 basically Elephaz says, "You know what, 
 Job? I recommend um you repent and 
 return to the Almighty." He's basically 
 saying, "Job, here's a solution to all 
 of your problems and all your suffering. 
 Repent. Do good." And then if you read 
 through, it says, "God will listen to 
 you. He will restore you." And Elephaz 
 even says God that that God will carry 
 out the decisions you make. Oh, that's 
 nice, right? He will carry out the 
 decisions that you make and God will 
 basically just be, you know, pro Job 
 again. 
 But what we know is that Job is not 
 suffering for his sin and something 
 bigger is going on. Remember, and we've 
 talked about this throughout the series, 
 that our approach to Job will be a high 
 theology, a high view of God. And if you 
 remember from the first few chapters, 
 God is allowing his own character to be 
 put on trial by Satan. Remember, Satan 
 came to God and said, "Job only loves 
 you because you manipulate him into 
 loving you, because you blessed him with 
 all this stuff." So, basically, Job just 
 likes your stuff. He doesn't like you. 
 if you took away his stuff, he wouldn't 
 like you anymore. And so God says, "All 
 right, try me. Well, try Job, right? And 
 see if that's true. See if Job doesn't 
 love me for who I am." And as we're 
 seeing throughout this series, Job is 
 remaining steadfast. And that is this is 
 James assessment in chapter 5, right? 
 The steadfastness, endurance of Job. 
 But have you ever had a false accusation 
 brought against you? I have. 
 ones that hurt maybe multiple and you 
 know it's not true. You know that your 
 conscience before God is clear. Yet the 
 accusations continue to gain traction 
 and and you're genuinely innocent. You 
 think, "Have I done anything? There's no 
 sin that I'm harboring in my heart. 
 There's nothing for me to repent of that 
 I can recall throughout." Job has been 
 thinking in his mind. I can't think of 
 anything that I've done. And if he did, 
 he was like, I would I would repent. 
 You're genuinely innocent, and yet you 
 feel like there's nothing you can do. 
 Sometimes all you can do is just endure. 
 All you can do is remain faithful and 
 trust that God knows your heart more 
 than any human being could ever claim 
 to. 
 False accusations though we must 
 remember are not an excuse to repay evil 
 for evil or slander someone else. They 
 slandered me so I'm going to slander 
 them. Right? There's we can't use false 
 accusations against us as an excuse to 
 sin. That is very important. 
 We trust the Lord. Truth will prevail. 
 God knows the hearts of all people. 
 So I just want to encourage you. Job 
 endured false accusations and may we do 
 the same. 
 Well, have you heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job? Number two, how he 
 endured though God felt distant from 
 him. 
 If you look at Job's response in chapter 
 23, it's kind of nice because he kind of 
 just ignores Elephas. Um, and he 
 expresses how distant he feels from God. 
 As you read through the chapter this 
 week, you'll see Job can't find God 
 anywhere. No matter which direction he 
 goes, he says, "If I go east, west, 
 north, south, every way Job looks, he 
 can't seem to sense or to feel God's 
 presence." 
 But verse 10 uh of chapter 23 is key. 
 Verse 10, yet he Job's talking about 
 God. Yet God knows the way I have taken. 
 Job is saying, "I have no idea where God 
 is right now. He feels distant in my 
 suffering. But I do know this. While I 
 don't know where God is, God knows where 
 I am." 
 We saw last week too like how Job will 
 use that word know. It's intentional 
 especially in Hebrew. It's kind of cool 
 to see. But you know, the friends have 
 been like, "You don't know God. You 
 don't know this." And he's like, "You 
 know what? Yes, I do know." And if you 
 remember last week, he's like, "I know 
 my redeemer lives." And here he's like, 
 "I know. Yet I know. I know. I know. And 
 he what? Knows the way that I have 
 taken." 
 Job is trusting in God. 
 He doesn't know where God is, but he 
 knows that God knows where he is. And 
 God knows, Job is saying, "God knows my 
 heart." And he goes on, he says, "Uh, he 
 knows. God knows that I've not departed 
 from his commands." Verse 12, um, I've 
 treasured God's words. This is Job 
 pouring his heart out, saying, "My heart 
 hasn't changed toward the Lord, toward 
 God. I love him." 
 But Job is entrusting himself to God. He 
 will accomplish what he has decreed for 
 me. 
 Job doesn't know what God's 
 accomplishing. Uh, but he trusts God 
 anyways. 
 And Job is steadfast in his faith in 
 God, though God feels distant. But have 
 you been there before when God felt 
 distant from you? 
 And this is why our trust, right, our 
 faith is in Christ and not our feelings. 
 I love that we saying what I won't be 
 formed, 
 molded, shaped, led by, guided by 
 feelings, [snorts] 
 but what I'll hold fast to what is true. 
 Hold fast to what is true. We are 
 emotional beings. Of course, we are. We 
 feel the pains and sorrows of this life. 
 So did Jesus Christ. 
 He wept at Lazarus tomb. Uh he he he 
 poured his heart out before the father 
 in the garden of Gethsemane before he 
 went to the cross. He he weeps over 
 Jerusalem. Oh how I would have taken you 
 in but you would not right God gathered 
 you like a mother hand gazard tree. He's 
 Jesus Christ experienced these two fully 
 God. Yes. And fully human. Let's not 
 forget that. And at times, 
 God may feel distant to us and our 
 emotions may lead us to feel things that 
 are not true. We're not guided by 
 feelings. Nowhere in scripture, search 
 it yourself, but nowhere in scripture 
 will you find a command or an 
 exhortation to follow your feelings. 
 I share with first service, not in my 
 notes, right? But like it's not like 
 there's a third Peter chapter 1 where 
 Peter says Peter an apostle of Jesus 
 Christ follow your feelings. Uh let that 
 guide the way um and be the light that 
 guides your path. That is nowhere in 
 scripture. What you do have is emotions 
 described in scripture. It's all over 
 the Bible. Yes and amens. Read the 
 Psalms. Emotion is but it's never given 
 the authority to guide us. God in his 
 word is always pointed to as the 
 authority in your guide, my guide. When 
 we are experiencing these things, we are 
 guided by the Holy Spirit of truth. We 
 are guided by God's word, his promises 
 that are unchangeable regardless of how 
 changeable we are. Job in verse 13 says 
 what? God is unchangeable. 
 Our feelings may change based on our 
 circumstances, but God doesn't. 
 The scripture says Jesus Christ is the 
 same what yesterday, today, and forever. 
 >> Amen. 
 So may we like Job endure when God feels 
 distant. 
 Well, have you heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job? How he endured? 
 Number three, the wicked seem to 
 prosper, though the wicked, excuse me, 
 seem to prosper around him. 
 In chapter 24, Job uh begins his own 
 diet tribe, his own lecture on how about 
 how wicked people seem to get away with 
 everything. He he gives kind of a 
 basically a twochapter response to 
 Elephaz. And the other friends have 
 given lectures on the wicked and made a 
 bunch of stuff. Now, Job's going to take 
 his turn and say, "This is uh the 
 wicked. This is the plight of the wicked 
 and what they do." 
 But Job's approach is, you know, the 
 wicked seem to get away with everything. 
 Uh verse two, they move boundary 
 markers. And that was actually a big no 
 no. Um Deuteronomy 27:17 actually God 
 says, "Cursed is he who moves his 
 neighbors boundary mark and all the 
 people shall say amen." So to that we 
 say, "Amen." Uh Deuteronomy is like all 
 of Moses like reiterating things and he 
 writes this stuff and he says, "And all 
 the people will say amen." Don't move 
 your neighbor's boundary line. Okay? 
 Don't try to steal his property. All 
 right? But he goes on uh more seriously 
 to say, "The wicked steal flocks and 
 they what? Abuse the fatherless and 
 widows." Job verse three, Job is saying 
 they the wicked people do that, but 
 that's not him. And he accuses wicked 
 people of a whole new low. In verse 9, 
 it says the fatherless infant is 
 snatched from the breast and used as 
 collateral. 
 Wicked people steal a nursing child uh 
 uh and this was going on those days 
 right from their mother and hold on to 
 them as collateral until the mother has 
 to pay off some kind of debt. That's 
 truly wicked. 
 And Job will go on to say the poor 
 suffer and have no clothes, no food. 
 They work for the rich but go thirsty. 
 And look at what Job says. We won't shy 
 away from it here. Right here's where he 
 starts, I think, to let his frustration 
 and motion kind of get to him. But look 
 at the end of verse 12. Job says, "Yet 
 God pays no attention to this crime. 
 The wicked continue in their murder and 
 adultery." As he as he continues, I'll 
 be saying, "God is not paying attention 
 to it." This is how he feels. He feels 
 like God is letting this go unchecked. 
 That's not true. 
 But that's how he feels. He says, "The 
 murderer and the adulterer sin under 
 cover of darkness." Verse 16, if you 
 remember what Christ had to say uh in 
 the New Testament, right? And this is 
 the judgment. The light has come into 
 the world and people love the darkness 
 rather than the light. Why? Why did 
 people love darkness rather than light? 
 Because their works were evil. There's a 
 reason why there's no windows at strip 
 clubs, right? 
 So you can cover dead serious though. 
 Why? So you can sin in secret in 
 darkness. That's why. So it is, you 
 know, a little lighthearted but also 
 very serious. Why? Why isn't there a 
 nice big old wide open thing? Oh, 
 because people want to hide their sin. I 
 believe that that is an illustration of 
 the shame that comes with it. Um, but 
 there you have it. 
 Uh, sinning under cover of darkness. 
 Ultimately though, Job knows that God 
 will take care of it. So this is why we 
 read the whole chapter, right? We don't 
 want to take one statement out um and 
 build this whole thing on it. We read 
 the whole chapter. And at the end of 
 chapter 24, Job does come to grips with 
 the fact that God will bring judgment 
 against evil. 
 It says he says uh he'll dra God will 
 drag away the mighty. And he's talking 
 about the evil by his God's power. 
 His God's eyes will watch over their 
 ways, the wicked people's ways, and 
 they, the wicked, will be brought low. 
 Job endures though the wicked seem to 
 prosper. And you can look around our 
 world today and think kind of the same, 
 right? Wicked people seem to be doing 
 just fine, disobeying God, and even be 
 elevated into positions of authority. 
 Why do children go hungry while evil 
 people feast? Whereas the justice for 
 the unborn or the child or sex 
 trafficking victims or the exploited 
 people in our world who suffer violent 
 abuse, what we see in the scriptures is 
 that God welcomes 
 our pain and hurt. 
 He welcomes us pouring our hearts out to 
 him. This is Job just pouring his heart 
 out to God. 
 Why is this? 
 This doesn't give us license to accuse 
 God of sin. And I don't believe Job is 
 doing that either. But Job is letting it 
 all out. And that is okay. Because in 
 the end, we trust God to bring justice. 
 The Bible is very clear about this. He 
 says, "Vengeance is mine, saith the 
 Lord, not yours." Doesn't say vengeance 
 is yours. Do whatever you want. Uh 
 vengeance is the Lord's. It is God's not 
 yours. 
 So may we like Job endure though 
 wickedness seem to prosper. Well, have 
 you heard of the steadfastness of Job? 
 How he endured number four, pessimism 
 and discouragement. 
 In chapter 25, Bill Dad gives his final 
 uh words here and thankfully for us 
 they're they're brief. 
 He'll say some true things though. God 
 is in the heavens and his light shines 
 on everyone. Yes. And as we talked about 
 in a previous sermon, we addressed that 
 foundational question that Billad brings 
 in uh verse 4. How can a human be 
 justified before God? We addressed that. 
 Job wrestled with it. So does Bill Dad. 
 We addressed that in a previous sermon. 
 I'm not going to hit that again. 
 But then we find 
 a second question in verse four. Quite 
 interesting, right? Can one born of a 
 woman be pure? And his implied answer of 
 course is no. Of course not. But I just 
 think it's so glorious like little 
 nuggets of Christ as we look in the New 
 Testament what Christ is born of a 
 woman, the Virgin Mary, and he is as 
 pure as can be. 
 And then Billad goes on to basically 
 say, "Humanity is worthless." This is 
 his pessimism and discouraging words 
 here. Humans are maggots and worms. 
 Well, isn't that just encouraging? 
 He's saying, "Job, you're just a lowly 
 maggot whom God isn't all that 
 interested in." And by now, he's like, 
 "I need new friends." Um, right? Like, 
 come on, guys. But what Bill is doing is 
 he's picturing the if we take everything 
 that's been said before, Job, what 
 Billite is doing is he's basically 
 saying, Job, um, this is the picture of 
 you. You are like a maggot standing 
 before the glory of God trying to be 
 pure in his sight. And this is what it 
 looks like, Job. And 
 you know, is is God going to listen to 
 such a small thing arguing his case 
 before God? Uh probably not. That is 
 Bill Dad's stance. One commentator, his 
 name is Douglas O'Donnell, he made a 
 good observation that I appreciated. He 
 said, "You know, Bill Dad does have a 
 right message, but he's got the wrong 
 audience." To the proud or arrogant 
 person who believes that they could 
 stand before God with their own 
 righteousness and be pure in God's 
 sight, they are wrong. They are wrong. 
 And it would be like a maggot trying to 
 present itself holy and righteous to 
 God. Attempting to stand before God, 
 pure in your own righteousness, is 
 impossible. But that's not what Job's 
 saying. nor has that been what Job has 
 even claimed all along. That is not the 
 message that Job needs. Job needs 
 encouragement, not further 
 discouragement. 
 We know Job understands the holiness of 
 God. He understands and knows God's view 
 of sin. That's why in the first few 
 chapters, we know what he got up early 
 every morning and made sacrifices to God 
 on behalf of his kids just in case they 
 sinned. It didn't even say only when 
 they sinned. Job would rise early, 
 sacrifice to God on behalf of his kids 
 just in case they sin. That's how 
 serious Job took sin. 
 In his walk with God and his children's 
 walk with God. Job takes sin seriously. 
 Knows he needs God's forgiveness and 
 grace. 
 Bill that again is misapplying 
 things to Job. And you can see Job's 
 reply in chapter 6 basically like right 
 wow how helpful you are and he mocks 
 Bill dad a little bit and then refocuses 
 his attention on God. The rest of the 
 chapter 
 he says God hangs the earth on nothing. 
 God lays out the horizon and the 
 boundary between light and darkness. I 
 sent out a video if you're interested on 
 the church weekly email and if you 
 didn't get it I can send it to you on 
 that. an astronaut named Jeff Williams 
 who spent time in the International 
 Space Station refers to Job 26 in some 
 of his photographs saying you can only 
 see this if you're off of Earth showing 
 the inspiration of God. 
 He God uh Job is saying God he stirs the 
 sea and crushed Rahab. This word Rahab 
 is not the woman Rahab. It's a word that 
 technically means the enemy. It's rah is 
 evil um in in the scripture in Hebrew 
 and then it's rahab like the presence of 
 the enemy. God destroys that, crushes. 
 And Job ends in verse 14 saying, "These 
 are just the fringes of God's ways. This 
 is just scratching the surface of how 
 great and majestic God is." 
 But have you ever had to endure 
 pessimism and discouragement? 
 We see the answer here when you're 
 struggling with those things is to focus 
 on God's majesty and glory. And he is 
 greater than anything you're going 
 through. 
 It also might be encouraging to remember 
 you are made in the image of God, not a 
 worthless maggot. God gives mankind 
 dignity and said it was very good when 
 he made us. So you turn your eyes upon 
 God in times of discouragement. Lastly, 
 I know I got to wrap up here. Number 
 five, have you heard the steadfastness 
 of Job? Number five, how he endured by 
 trusting God's ultimate sovereignty over 
 him. 
 Chapter 27, I'll kind of summarize. Job 
 is maintaining his integrity. He's 
 rejecting his friends last speeches and 
 trusting God's sovereignty. Now, I do 
 want to hit verse two real quick. It 
 says something that might catch your 
 eye. Job says, "God deprived me of 
 justice." Now, he's not accusing God of 
 sin. He is acknowledging the fact that 
 God hasn't vindicated him yet. God isn't 
 vindicating him at the moment. God isn't 
 revealing the truth at the moment um 
 with his friends, but he will soon. 
 And it may sound repetitive in this 
 series, but it is a running theme we 
 must hit. We can endure suffering by 
 trusting God's sovereignty and control. 
 He is God. We are not. 
 In chapter 7, I'm sorry, chapter 27:E 
 19, I want you to take a peek at that. 
 Job says, "The wicked lie down wealthy, 
 but when they die 
 is gone." 
 In Luke chapter 16, I'm going to close 
 with this. Jesus shares a story of a 
 rich man who lied down wealthy 
 until he lied down permanently and died. 
 He eventually had his last night of 
 wealth. This rich man had nice clothes, 
 feasted sumptuously every day, and 
 prospered. 
 There was a poor man who would come to 
 the rich man's gate begging for food. 
 His name was Lazarus. Lazarus sat at the 
 rich man's gate covered in soores that 
 the dogs licked. A little, you know, a 
 little imagery before we go to lunch. 
 Um, sorry, but it's the truth. 
 Lazarus is covered in these soores, kind 
 of like Job is. um the dogs come and 
 lick Lazarus sores as he's suffering 
 greatly and all Lazarus wanted was food 
 from the rich man's table and he is 
 ignored. Eventually Lazarus dies and the 
 scripture says that the angels take him 
 to Abraham's side or Abraham's bosom and 
 then later the rich man dies too. The 
 rich man finds finds himself in torment 
 uh in Hades. Jesus is telling this story 
 in Luke 16. You can read it later. So 
 this is Jesus speaking. 
 The rich man 
 sees Abraham and Lazarus a far off. 
 There's a great chasm between them. He 
 says,"Abraham, 
 send Lazarus to help me." Like he has 
 any authority in in Hades, right? Like 
 he still thinks he's hot stuff. He's 
 kind of hot stuff, but in a different 
 way, right? And sorry. And he says, 
 "Send Lazar." No. And Abraham says this, 
 "Remember 
 that you in your lifetime 
 received your good things and Lazarus 
 bad things. 
 But now, 
 and that 
 is a scary final, terrifyingly 
 eternal. But now, 
 now you rich man, you are in anguish and 
 Lazarus is comforted 
 and you can read the rest on your own. 
 But I wonder, this isn't in the Bible. 
 This is just DJ who puts him. I like to 
 put myself in character shoes. I wonder 
 if Lazarus ever asked from time to time 
 where God was in his suffering as he was 
 starving, as he was poor, as he begged 
 for food and the dogs licked his sores 
 and the rich man didn't care. 
 Where was God in his suffering? But God 
 knew the hearts of both men. He knew the 
 state of the rich man's soul and he knew 
 the state of Lazarus's soul. And one got 
 temporary pleasures on earth and wound 
 up in hell. The other had temporary 
 suffering on earth and wound up with the 
 I say that to say this. There's no no 
 need to be envy of the wicked. 
 God will sort it out in the end. 
 And now you've heard of the 
 steadfastness of Job. Amen. 
 >> Our challenge is to model his endurance 
 in the trials of our own lives like 
 James 5 tells us. And what we learn is 
 this not only reveals the book of Job 
 not only reveals the steadfastness of 
 Job, but also the Lord's what? 
 Compassion and mercy. And we'll see that 
 as we progress through. I want to invite 
 the worship team up as we prepare to 
 sing our last song. Let's close in 
 prayer. Father, I thank you for this 
 morning. 
 We thank you for your word. 
 We pray your blessings upon our 
 fellowship to to happen in just a few 
 minutes. I I am so grateful and thankful 
 for the work that you're doing in the 
 lives of your people 
 and in this community and through this 
 wonderful church. God, I am so humbled 
 and honored and grateful to be a part of 
 what you're doing here at Cross Church. 
 It's all about It's all about you, Lord. 
 It really is. Just to sit back and and 
 do what you've called us to do, but then 
 watch you just do what you're going to 
 do. And I thank you for that. Pray for 
 any who are suffering. Pray for any who 
 who feel maybe a few or all of these 
 things either distant from you or 
 discouraged by wickedness, prospering, 
 or um dealing with false accusations. Uh 
 whatever it is, Lord, that they would 
 like Job look to Job as their example to 
 endure, stay faithful, remain steadfast 
 in their walk with the Lord, knowing 
 that God will sort it all out in the 
 end. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's 
 stand as we sing our last song. And I'll 
 have to [music]