Nobody to Speak For Me

0:00 · But I'm going to take it.

0:02 · I'm going to take it on the cross.

0:06 · Job said, God, please take the rod from me.

0:08 · Jesus said, give me the rod.

0:12 · Give me the pain.

0:14 · Give me the heartache.

0:16 · Let me take it all to the cross

0:19 · because he can pay it through his perfection,

0:24 · through his riches, through his glory.

0:30 · If you have a Bible, go and grab it

0:32 · and open it to Job chapter eight.

0:35 · Job chapter eight, if you open kind of the middle

0:37 · of your Bible, you get to the Psalms,

0:38 · just go left a little bit and you'll hit Job in there.

0:42 · But in Job chapter eight, as you're flipping there,

0:45 · we're going to see how Job kind of unpacked some stuff

0:48 · and wants someone to be speaking on his behalf.

0:51 · But before we get there,

0:53 · here's what I have a question for you

0:55 · is when you think about when someone gets in trouble,

0:58 · like I'm talking about real trouble,

0:59 · in our city and in our country, where do they go?

1:04 · When you do something, you're like, man,

1:05 · I screwed up bad, not with your wife,

1:07 · but with the law, you call a lawyer.

1:11 · I've never had to do that personally.

1:13 · I'm glad to say that.

1:15 · But as I was driving yesterday,

1:17 · I'm going down Grand to a birthday party,

1:19 · literally in the Great Skate parking lot,

1:21 · but not Great Skate.

1:22 · That brings back some childhood memories for me.

1:24 · But as I'm there, I'm discussing billboard

1:27 · after billboard for injury attorneys.

1:29 · And I want to give you guys a little bit of a test

1:31 · and see how much you actually pay attention

1:33 · to the world around you, all right?

1:35 · So first, does anyone know

1:38 · the accident injury attorney for the sons?

1:43 · Sweet James, I heard that.

1:44 · All right, my bro, all right.

1:46 · There's one of us, okay.

1:47 · This is not a good sign.

1:49 · Let me give you, you might know this test.

1:51 · Lerner and Rowe is the way to go called 977.

1:55 · All right, these are my people.

1:57 · I'm here, all right.

1:58 · I feel a little better.

1:58 · You know that one.

1:59 · It's like ingrained in your head

2:01 · if you ever watch a son's game

2:02 · or just radio or whatever else,

2:04 · that stuff gets through it.

2:05 · But as I'm driving there,

2:06 · I'm seeing billboard after billboard.

2:07 · One of the most annoying one is like,

2:08 · Raffy, like I don't feel like I trust him, okay?

2:11 · Like there's just, it just feels aggressive.

2:14 · At the bus stop, there was one,

2:15 · this was my favorite, need money, question mark.

2:19 · And then there's like advertisement.

2:21 · Like do I jump in front of a bus and get hit

2:24 · and then call you?

2:25 · I don't know, it's just crazy.

2:27 · But you might wonder,

2:28 · what does that have to do with the book of Job?

2:29 · Well, today, as we get into the book of Job,

2:32 · Job is going to get to this point in his life

2:35 · in chapter nine.

2:36 · And in chapter nine, verse 33,

2:37 · it kind of is the hinge in the center of our text today

2:40 · that we're gonna take some time to get to

2:42 · and then work from.

2:43 · But he says this statement.

2:46 · Is there anyone who can speak on my behalf?

2:49 · Is there any mediator for me?

2:52 · And if we're honest, sometimes in our life,

2:55 · we feel like nobody's speaking for us.

2:59 · When we think of like, God,

3:00 · why is all this stuff happening?

3:01 · God, like why did my car break down?

3:03 · Or why is my marriage a wreck?

3:05 · Why is my job not getting better?

3:08 · Why don't I feel like I'm getting closer

3:10 · in my devotional life,

3:11 · but I just feel like I'm always trying to go.

3:13 · It's like, God, can someone help speak on my behalf?

3:16 · Advocate for me so my life can get better.

3:20 · Today, as we dive into Job,

3:22 · we see Job as a man who had the perfect life,

3:26 · who 4,000 years ago before America existed,

3:29 · he had the American dream.

3:31 · He had the money and the family.

3:33 · He was in church.

3:34 · He was entrenched.

3:36 · But for circumstances outside of his control,

3:39 · for once he didn't even know why.

3:41 · His life just started to fall apart.

3:44 · And behind the whole scene in chapter one,

3:46 · it was this discussion between God and Satan.

3:48 · Satan saying, if I were to take all his blessings away,

3:51 · he would curse you and not follow you.

3:55 · And as we've gotten into this text,

3:56 · we've seen this over and over again

3:58 · is would we still choose to follow God

4:00 · even especially when our life starts to fall apart?

4:07 · Well today, as we continue to build on this,

4:10 · it comes to the suffering reality

4:12 · that we've been going through

4:13 · is the book of Job takes us from why to who.

4:17 · Not why all these things happen,

4:19 · but who is behind it all.

4:20 · But today we unpack a little bit more of this,

4:23 · but who will speak for me?

4:26 · When it feels like there's no advocate out there for us.

4:29 · When it feels like you don't have Raffi

4:32 · or Lerner and Rowe on speed dial

4:34 · and you need someone instead to speak for you

4:37 · on your marriage and in your job

4:38 · and in your daily life

4:40 · is how do we begin to seek God through that?

4:44 · How do we begin to trust him?

4:46 · And here's the three things

4:47 · we're gonna see from Job today

4:49 · is when nobody will speak for me,

4:52 · I am left with three statements today

4:55 · and here's the first we see out of chapter eight

4:57 · is an answer that I can't use.

5:00 · An answer that I can't use.

5:01 · Starting in verse one,

5:03 · chapter eight says,

5:04 · then Bildad the Shulite replied.

5:06 · This is Job's second friend that comes to,

5:09 · we looked at his first friend Eliphaz last week.

5:12 · He was not a friendly or nice guy.

5:15 · Bildad is much worse

5:16 · and next week will meet his third friend.

5:18 · Job needed new friends.

5:19 · That's what we see throughout all this, right?

5:22 · But he says this,

5:23 · how long will you go on saying these things?

5:26 · Your words are a blast of wind.

5:29 · Does God pervert justice?

5:31 · Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

5:33 · Since your children sinned against him,

5:36 · he gave them over to the rebellion.

5:39 · As Bildad starts his speech,

5:42 · he starts it in a harsh way.

5:45 · He's like, dude, your words are a blast of wind.

5:48 · He's like, Job, you're a blowhard.

5:51 · You just keep saying things

5:52 · and you don't stop talking.

5:53 · You keep complaining.

5:54 · But he's like, hey, they mean nothing.

5:58 · Now, shockingly, nobody's called me a blowhard

6:00 · or saying all my words are like a blast of wind,

6:03 · which shocks me because I talk a lot.

6:05 · I've been accused of talking fast.

6:07 · I think you just need to listen faster.

6:08 · If I'm talking too fast,

6:10 · there's two ways that go.

6:12 · But he's like, his friend doesn't open

6:13 · in a nice, soft way.

6:15 · He just tells Job, stop talking.

6:17 · You're talking too much

6:19 · and you're saying a bunch of nothing.

6:21 · But then in verse two, or verse three,

6:23 · he says a very true statement.

6:26 · Does God pervert justice?

6:27 · Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

6:29 · And the answer to that is absolutely not.

6:31 · Like, God is just, God is holy, God is righteous.

6:35 · But then it's sounding good.

6:37 · It's sounding like, okay,

6:38 · maybe this is gonna go all right.

6:40 · But then he says this statement in verse four.

6:43 · Since your children sinned against him,

6:47 · he gave them over to their rebellion.

6:51 · Job, a man who dug 10 graves for his 10 kids,

6:58 · is told by one of his friends,

7:01 · your kids got what they deserved.

7:06 · Imagine someone in your life,

7:09 · someone who you trusted,

7:11 · someone who you let speak into you,

7:13 · is all of a sudden laying this at your feet,

7:17 · just speaking this harshness right to you.

7:21 · And as Job is taking in

7:23 · what may be one of the cruelest statements

7:25 · his friends say, and his friends say this

7:28 · in different aspect of your kids got what they deserve,

7:30 · and this might be the harshest of them all.

7:34 · Bill Dad isn't being hateful.

7:36 · Bill Dad is just following the system

7:39 · that he believes in and his life happens.

7:41 · He's following the formula

7:43 · that he's been given.

7:44 · And where did he get this formula?

7:45 · Check out verse eight.

7:46 · He says, in verse eight of chapter eight,

7:48 · he says, for ask the previous generation

7:51 · and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered

7:53 · since we were only born yesterday and know nothing.

7:56 · This is an extremely just wise statement here,

7:59 · and I love this.

8:00 · As today I think we are coming into an age

8:02 · of more and more arrogance

8:03 · that technology is increasing.

8:06 · Like it's like if you were born before the internet,

8:07 · you had to look in an encyclopedia.

8:09 · Like you didn't know anything, right?

8:10 · Like now post internet,

8:12 · we have all this knowledge at our fingertips.

8:14 · Now AI, we don't even have to think.

8:15 · We just have robots for that, okay?

8:17 · They do it for us.

8:18 · And there's this easy way of we almost thinking

8:20 · like previous generations are ignorant.

8:24 · Job wrote these words in the book of Job

8:25 · 4,000 years ago, and honestly,

8:28 · he sounds more literate than all of us

8:30 · in this room and watching online.

8:32 · And in here, Bill Dad says something smart.

8:35 · He says, man, look at past,

8:37 · the past generations, they were smart.

8:39 · They knew this.

8:41 · It sounds good, but then he says,

8:42 · our days on this earth are but a shadow so true.

8:45 · And he says this, will they not teach you

8:48 · and tell you and speak from their understanding?

8:53 · Now, I'm sorry, Bill Dad here is kind of building

8:56 · on Eliphaz a little bit differently from last week.

8:59 · If you joined us last week,

9:00 · Eliphaz preached this theology of almost karma.

9:04 · And he did it from his own experience.

9:06 · He's like, you do good things, good things happen.

9:08 · You do bad things, bad things happen.

9:11 · But here, Bill Dad kind of shifts

9:13 · and his authority is tradition.

9:16 · He's like, hey, Job, ask the old timers,

9:18 · ask the wise guys around it.

9:20 · They will tell you that the righteous prosper

9:23 · in the wicked fall, the church people will be okay,

9:27 · and the sinners are not so much.

9:30 · And we give him this much credit as verse nine,

9:33 · as he said, is this humble verse

9:34 · where he says less of him.

9:36 · And he's like, hey, I'm leaning on the wisdom of old

9:40 · and I'm trusting those who have came before me.

9:43 · One of the things I love about Cross Church,

9:45 · especially here in Surprise,

9:47 · is we're in this weird place of Bell Road.

9:49 · And Bell Road is like kind of this great unifier

9:51 · of terrible traffic, but also this unifier

9:55 · of you have Sun City communities, you know, more.

9:58 · And then you also have Young Surprise

10:00 · and you have this blend of these young families

10:02 · and those in the retirement age of theirs.

10:04 · And it's all this great, amazing conglomeration

10:08 · of all these people who have left California

10:11 · and Washington and Oregon and we all love you

10:13 · and you escaped and you're here now, praise the Lord.

10:17 · And we come together and our church reflects that.

10:21 · We're a multi-generational church.

10:24 · And I love it because I have so many wise men

10:26 · and women that I look to in our church.

10:28 · And I'm like, I wanna grow up and be like them.

10:30 · I like say it, I tell my wife, I'm like,

10:31 · I wanna be like Carol Key and Ron and Larry

10:34 · and so many and there's so many wise people in our church.

10:38 · And you know, the older you get,

10:39 · you do get a little more wise and you know why?

10:43 · Because you've made more mistakes in your life.

10:46 · Sometimes wisdom isn't, you actually got smarter,

10:49 · but you're like, hey, I did that thing.

10:51 · I had to call Lerner and Rose

10:53 · so I learned not to do that thing again, right?

10:56 · It's like, I called Rafi, bad idea.

10:59 · Then I went with Sweet James and it was better that time.

11:03 · And here's the thing is like, we have this wisdom

11:05 · that gets passed down from age to age and that's great.

11:08 · And hopefully there's people in your life

11:10 · that are speaking into you.

11:11 · But here this is tradition can only hand down

11:14 · what it was handed.

11:16 · Meaning if the formula was wrong

11:18 · in your grandfather's generation,

11:19 · it's still gonna be wrong in yours.

11:22 · And age does not ripen in error and truth.

11:25 · And Bill Dadd had inherited a formula

11:27 · that it sounded good on the surface.

11:30 · But Bill Dadd couldn't explain why a guy

11:32 · who seemed to be blameless was suffering in a way

11:35 · that made no sense in this situation.

11:38 · So he closes his speech with this formula in verse 20.

11:42 · Listen to this, he says,

11:42 · if I had sinned, what have I done?

11:45 · Oh, I'm sorry, I'm going back to chapter seven.

11:47 · That was a good one too.

11:48 · Verse 20 of chapter eight, he says,

11:51 · look, God does not reject a person of integrity

11:54 · and he will not support evil doers.

11:57 · This sounds right.

11:58 · Instead, he will yet fill your mouth with laughter

12:01 · in your lips with a shout of joy.

12:03 · Your enemies will be clothed with shame.

12:06 · The tent of the wicked will no longer exist.

12:11 · You see, he has aspects of truth here

12:14 · is that God will welcome a person of integrity.

12:17 · God will bring us in when we are faithful

12:19 · in following him.

12:21 · He will not support evil.

12:23 · And he even gets tender for a second here.

12:24 · He's like, Job, I think your mouth

12:26 · will be filled with laughter.

12:27 · He's like, Job, I think you're a good guy.

12:29 · Job, I think this is great.

12:32 · But here is why Job could not use this answer.

12:36 · Because Bill Dad's whole argument was,

12:38 · Job, you have done something wrong,

12:40 · just like Eliphaz said,

12:41 · you need to repent and God will restore you.

12:45 · The problem is Job's looking around,

12:46 · he's like, I don't know what to repent of

12:47 · in this situation.

12:49 · Job is like, I've made mistakes,

12:51 · but this wasn't one of them.

12:52 · He's like, I didn't make a mistake

12:53 · that led to my health failing

12:55 · and my money being gone

12:57 · and my kids dying.

12:59 · And all of a sudden, he's looking at this.

13:01 · He's like, I don't have,

13:02 · he's like, I can't confess something here

13:05 · because I don't have something to confess

13:06 · in this specific situation.

13:10 · So when Job gets this answer that he cannot use,

13:13 · it leads to the second thing that we see in here.

13:15 · And for us today is there is an argument

13:18 · that I cannot win.

13:19 · Keep going in verse nine.

13:20 · It says, then Job answered.

13:22 · And as Job answers, he says this,

13:24 · yes, I know what you've said is true,

13:27 · but how can a person be justified before God?

13:33 · And he continues on in verse three.

13:35 · He says, if one wanted to take him to court,

13:38 · this sets up the whole kind of,

13:41 · this whole idea of this courtship

13:43 · that we're gonna see this court,

13:45 · this illustration in this chapter.

13:47 · He says, if he were to take God to court,

13:51 · he could not answer him once in a thousand times.

13:57 · As Job answers, he's like,

13:59 · hey, Bill, dad, I'll give you this.

14:01 · God is just.

14:02 · We'll agree on that.

14:05 · But he's like, but forget my specific case for a second.

14:08 · He's like, let's just talk about people in general.

14:10 · He says, how could any human being in history

14:14 · win a court case against God?

14:18 · And notice the language he starts to use in this chapter.

14:22 · He's like, how can you take him to court?

14:23 · How can you answer him?

14:24 · He's my judge.

14:25 · He summons, condemns.

14:27 · Chapter nine is soaked in this courtroom language.

14:30 · This was the birth of sweet James, right,

14:33 · that came here.

14:36 · In here, Job is starting to draft a lawsuit

14:39 · clause by clause,

14:41 · but he's realizing it can never be filed.

14:43 · Look at verse 14 of chapter nine.

14:46 · Skip down for just a second.

14:47 · He says this, how then can I answer him

14:50 · or choose my arguments against him?

14:51 · He's talking about God.

14:53 · He says, even if I were in the right.

14:57 · Man, what a powerful statement.

14:58 · I could not answer.

14:59 · I could only beg my judge for mercy.

15:02 · If I summoned him and he answered me,

15:04 · I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.

15:07 · He batters me with a whirlwind

15:08 · and multiplies my wounds without cause.

15:11 · He doesn't let me catch my breath,

15:13 · but fills me with bitter experiences.

15:15 · If it is a matter of strength,

15:16 · look, he is the powerful one.

15:20 · If it is a matter of justice,

15:23 · who can summon him?

15:25 · Even if I were in the right,

15:26 · he says this again,

15:28 · my own mouth would condemn me.

15:32 · If I were blameless,

15:33 · my mouth would declare me guilty.

15:37 · See the problem that Job unpacks here.

15:40 · He's saying, hey, if we were going to a courtroom

15:43 · with God in it,

15:45 · do you know who God would be in that courtroom?

15:49 · The judge.

15:50 · He's like, I'm not even arguing

15:51 · with a defense attorney or a prosecutor.

15:54 · I'm arguing with the judge himself.

15:58 · And as he continues to build this out,

16:00 · he's saying, hey, not only is he the judge,

16:02 · but verse 19, he says,

16:03 · if it's a matter of justice,

16:05 · is who can summon him?

16:06 · He's like, if I have a subpoena,

16:08 · I watch a lot of lawyer shows

16:09 · and you see like the bike messenger

16:11 · who like runs into a car

16:12 · and then he's like, I'm sorry, what was your name?

16:14 · He's like, I'm Bob.

16:14 · He's like, you've been summoned to court, right?

16:17 · Like you can't hire that bike messenger

16:19 · to go summon God to court.

16:21 · Like that subpoena doesn't have the pull.

16:23 · And then if God doesn't show up to your court, right?

16:25 · You can't be like,

16:26 · I'm gonna send out an arrest warrant for God,

16:29 · see if he shows up, right?

16:31 · It is, there's no one big enough to handle that,

16:34 · says subpoena God.

16:35 · There's also, as Job's gonna build in a second,

16:38 · there's no court above God's court

16:40 · where you can file an appeal to the charge you get.

16:44 · In verse 20, this might be the most self-aware sentence

16:46 · in the whole debate.

16:48 · He says, even if I were right, my mouth would condemn me.

16:54 · Job knows that in this moment,

16:59 · he didn't do anything wrong to deserve

17:01 · what was happening in his life at this time.

17:04 · But Job also knew that wasn't a perfect man.

17:07 · Job sinned before in his life.

17:09 · Job was sinned after this.

17:10 · Job had sin, he had issues,

17:14 · he had things and ways that he has wronged God.

17:18 · He said, and as soon,

17:20 · he's like, even if I'm blameless in this court,

17:22 · he's like, as soon as I open my mouth,

17:24 · I will say something that will condemn me.

17:26 · I know it's crazy to think about,

17:28 · but I think there's about one or two times a year

17:30 · where the husband is actually right

17:32 · in an argument with his wife, all right?

17:35 · I know, that's a pretty big wager right there.

17:38 · I think it is, all right?

17:39 · I've been married for 10, 12 years or whatever,

17:42 · and there's been like twice every year that I'm right.

17:46 · But here's the thing, even if I am right,

17:49 · even if I'm through my slideshow,

17:51 · proving my points how I'm right,

17:54 · the more my mouth opens, the more I condemn myself.

17:58 · And Job's like, man, I know I'm right in this situation,

18:02 · but as soon as I start to unpack it,

18:05 · I'm gonna find out really quickly

18:06 · this is a case that I cannot win.

18:10 · You know, one of the terrible things

18:11 · about being an adult is cars.

18:15 · I hate cars.

18:16 · Can we just have flying cars on the Jetsons already

18:19 · that like never get in accidents or do anything?

18:21 · Cars just, they break down.

18:23 · Cars just have issues all the time.

18:24 · Josh's, one of Josh's cars died

18:26 · in the church parking lot for two weeks,

18:28 · and then he finally got it out.

18:29 · Now I think it's dead in Safeway or something like that.

18:31 · But cars are just a drain.

18:34 · And like, I'm in constant fear

18:36 · that one of my cars is always gonna break down,

18:37 · and then I'm like, I know, I could,

18:39 · I don't wanna have to spend more money for a new car.

18:41 · We got a Honda Odyssey.

18:42 · It's worked great for us.

18:43 · We got four kids, so we gotta pack those kids

18:45 · into that van.

18:46 · And it's coming up on, I bought an extended warranty

18:49 · for like seven years, 100,000 mile warranty.

18:52 · And there's these signs that my transmission,

18:55 · something's wrong.

18:56 · Like, it's not dead, it's still going, all right?

18:58 · But I'm like, I think it's wrong.

18:59 · So I'm like, I'm at like 99,000 miles.

19:01 · So I go to the dealer, I'm like,

19:02 · hey, we gotta fix this thing.

19:04 · Like, I'm telling you now, like, fix it

19:06 · so when it dies, like, we're not gonna have this.

19:09 · And as I'm going through the paperwork,

19:10 · I got HondaCare and this extended warranty.

19:13 · They're like, oh, your seven years

19:15 · started from when the car was manufactured,

19:17 · and you bought it two years after it was manufactured.

19:20 · So it actually expired last year.

19:23 · It's like, can I stab you with this pen?

19:25 · No, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.

19:26 · And as I'm looking over, I'm like,

19:28 · literally, I had the handshake,

19:29 · like, talk to the, you know, the guys

19:31 · who, if you work in a car dealer,

19:33 · Jesus loves you, but I might not.

19:36 · But we said, he's like, this is seven years,

19:39 · 100,000 from when we signed this.

19:40 · That was great in his words,

19:42 · but that's not what the paper said,

19:43 · and that's all that matters.

19:44 · And I called Honda, like, and they're like,

19:46 · would you like to file a complaint?

19:47 · I was like, I would.

19:49 · I was like, now, would this help me?

19:50 · Somebody warned me, they're like,

19:51 · no, we don't own the actual franchise,

19:53 · so you just have to go with that.

19:54 · I was like, the people I signed with,

19:56 · they're like, yeah, you could go ask them about it.

19:58 · I was like, I could set up a blow up mattress

20:01 · outside their place and annoy them for a week straight,

20:04 · and they would just be like,

20:05 · bro, the contract says this.

20:08 · And Job is at a point where he's like,

20:10 · man, I know I didn't do anything wrong in this.

20:13 · I know this was not my fault,

20:14 · but when I look at my life

20:16 · and I were to present it to God,

20:19 · it's a no-win case,

20:21 · because there is sin in my life

20:23 · against a holy, righteous God of the universe.

20:25 · He's like, there is no way that I would win this.

20:28 · And check out verse 30 of chapter nine

20:29 · as he continues and starts to close,

20:32 · he starts to work to this.

20:33 · He's like, well, what do I do?

20:35 · If I can't win this, there has to be some option.

20:37 · He says this, well, if I wash myself with snow

20:40 · and cleanse my hands with lair,

20:42 · he's like, maybe I can just clean up my life a little bit.

20:44 · I can just be a super Christian for a little while,

20:46 · and all of a sudden my life will get better.

20:48 · I'll clean up my act.

20:51 · But verse 21,

20:52 · but then you dip me in a pit of mud

20:55 · and my own clothes despise me.

20:58 · There's a segment of people who are like,

20:59 · hey, I don't have my life together now.

21:02 · My life's a wreck.

21:03 · But I'll come to church

21:04 · once I fix myself up a little bit.

21:07 · I'm gonna stop this addiction.

21:08 · I'm gonna all of a sudden like get my life in order.

21:11 · I'm gonna start reading my Bible.

21:12 · I'm gonna start praying.

21:13 · I'm gonna fix my life now.

21:16 · And then I'll go before God

21:17 · and God's gonna be like, you're a good person.

21:19 · Give me the stamp of approval

21:20 · and I'm gonna walk off

21:21 · and be things are gonna be great.

21:23 · But Job's like, even if I clean myself up with mud,

21:26 · once I stand in front of the holy God of the universe,

21:29 · it's gonna be like I fell in mud again

21:31 · and you're gonna see the dirt of my life.

21:36 · And as he comes to this realization

21:37 · that no matter what, he can't fix himself.

21:39 · He can't clean up himself.

21:41 · He cannot win this argument before God.

21:44 · This whole thing cracks open in verse 32 and 33

21:48 · of chapter nine, and I just love this.

21:50 · He says here, for he is not a man like me

21:55 · that I can answer him,

21:57 · that we can take each other to court,

22:00 · for there is no mediator between us

22:04 · to lay his hand on both of us.

22:09 · Job's like, I'm out of options.

22:12 · My life is a mess.

22:14 · I've lost my money.

22:16 · I've lost my kids.

22:18 · I've lost my health.

22:21 · Book of Job says he was covered in boils

22:22 · and was seeping ooze day and night.

22:27 · He's like, I can't win this case.

22:33 · But here's the crazy thing is Job

22:34 · actually doesn't stop talking there.

22:37 · He feels like he's on his own alone.

22:39 · He feels like no one can advocate for him.

22:41 · He feels like there's no way

22:43 · that he can win this case with God.

22:45 · But then this is the thing

22:46 · that usually I think follows this.

22:48 · When we come to this point where we feel like

22:50 · nobody can speak on our behalf,

22:51 · we have these answers we can't use.

22:54 · We have this argument that we can't win.

22:57 · But here's where it ends for Job in chapter 10.

23:01 · It sees this appeal that he cannot stop.

23:04 · Keep going in chapter 10, in verse one,

23:06 · he says this, I am disgusted with my life.

23:09 · I will give vent to my complaint

23:12 · and speak in the bitterness of my soul.

23:14 · I will say to God, do not declare me guilty.

23:17 · Instead, let me know why you prosecute me.

23:20 · Job's like, I can't win the argument.

23:22 · I don't understand why this is happening.

23:23 · But I'm going to keep appealing to God

23:26 · that something has to change.

23:29 · And here's what's so great about this

23:31 · and I love is that Job is directing his thoughts to God.

23:35 · He's not talking to his friends here.

23:37 · He's not talking to Eliphaz or Bildad.

23:40 · He's talking directly to God.

23:41 · He's like, hey, I know I can't win this argument,

23:44 · but God, I'm just gonna ask for your mercy

23:45 · over and over and over again.

23:47 · And listen to how he starts to appeal to him

23:49 · in chapter 10, verse eight.

23:51 · He says, your hands, God, shaped me and formed me.

23:55 · Will you now turn and destroy me?

23:58 · Please, God, remember that you formed me like clay.

24:02 · Will now you return me to dust?

24:04 · Do not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese.

24:09 · You clothe me with skin and flesh

24:11 · and you wove me together with bones and tendons.

24:14 · You gave me life and you gave me faithful love

24:20 · and your care has guarded my life.

24:24 · Job starts when he realizes that he has no amount

24:29 · of truth and justification on his side

24:33 · for the fact that he is just a broken person.

24:35 · He starts to appeal to God as his father

24:38 · and as his creator.

24:41 · He appeals to the artist in God.

24:42 · He's like, God, you made me.

24:44 · Does the potter destroy his own work, his own clay?

24:47 · And here's what's crazy,

24:49 · is Job is arguing against God using God.

24:52 · Think about that for a second.

24:54 · And that's a scary thing in your prayers.

24:56 · Like, if you can't win an argument with God,

24:58 · just start arguing with God with God's own words

25:01 · and his own ability, right?

25:02 · Like, Job starts and moves to him,

25:03 · but he's appealing to the love inside God's heart,

25:07 · the pain that he describes.

25:10 · He's like, God, you know it.

25:11 · God, you know what is here.

25:14 · But this is what I love

25:15 · and this is what's so important here,

25:17 · is church, he is not arguing and praying to God,

25:20 · saying, God, I deserve better than this.

25:22 · He's not saying that,

25:23 · because he knows at the bottom line,

25:25 · even if he's innocent in this area,

25:27 · he's not innocent in other areas of his life.

25:29 · He's not saying, I deserve better,

25:32 · but he's praying, God, you are better.

25:35 · That even though my life is a wreck now,

25:38 · you still love me through it

25:40 · and I know you love enough

25:41 · to see me through this situation.

25:42 · And God, would you bring me through this?

25:45 · And I love here that even though Job

25:48 · didn't know why this was happening,

25:50 · it wasn't God that was doing this,

25:51 · but it was Satan wreaking havoc behind the scenes,

25:55 · he's still seeing the glimmer of hope

25:57 · that he's trying to rely on God.

26:00 · But here's the deal,

26:01 · is this chapter actually does not end on a happy note

26:03 · and we won't dress it up here.

26:04 · And I think we gotta feel the weight

26:07 · of Job's depression here,

26:09 · because after he says all this,

26:11 · after he hears his dumb friend talk,

26:13 · after he gives his case,

26:15 · after then he gives his appeal,

26:16 · he ends in verse 18 through 22 in our passage.

26:19 · He says this, God, why did you bring me out of the womb?

26:23 · I should have died and never been seen.

26:26 · I wish I had never existed

26:27 · but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

26:30 · Are my days not few?

26:32 · Stop it.

26:33 · Leave me alone so that I can smile a little

26:36 · before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,

26:40 · never to return.

26:42 · It is a land of blackness,

26:44 · like the deepest darkness, gloomy and chaotic,

26:48 · where even the light is like the darkness.

26:54 · Great way to start your week on a Sunday, right?

26:58 · Like this dude, Job, is depressing.

27:02 · And even as he ends this,

27:03 · we see these glimmers of hope.

27:04 · We're like, all right, Job,

27:05 · you're finally getting on the right track.

27:07 · Like chapter three, if you were with us,

27:09 · super depressing.

27:10 · If you didn't read it, go read it this week.

27:11 · Just to pick you up a little bit.

27:12 · And he like bears his soul.

27:14 · He asked these questions.

27:15 · Why was I born?

27:16 · Why am I alive?

27:17 · Why is all this even happening?

27:19 · God, why, why, why?

27:20 · And then as we see him building his case,

27:22 · as we see him appealing to God,

27:23 · we're like, Job, you're figuring it out.

27:24 · And then the depression just sinks back in.

27:28 · And here's an important thing, I think,

27:29 · for all of us to hear.

27:31 · Is sometimes we think that depression may be a season

27:33 · and we can just get past it

27:34 · and it's gone and we're good.

27:36 · Anxiety is a season.

27:37 · We can get past it and we're good.

27:38 · And there will be seasons

27:39 · where you get past your depression.

27:41 · You get past your anxiety.

27:42 · You get past the darkness that looms in our life.

27:46 · But grief is a loop in our life.

27:50 · It'll go away for a season.

27:52 · But in the darkness of our soul, it comes back.

27:55 · And Satan loves when it comes back.

27:57 · He loves when our addictions rear their head.

27:59 · He loves when the darkness comes back

28:01 · and he tries to pry in that.

28:03 · And when it starts to come back in here,

28:05 · Job is feeling and it's gonna lead into next week

28:07 · as his next friend talks

28:09 · and he's just as dumb as the other two.

28:11 · But then Job's gonna respond again.

28:13 · And it seems like he can't get out of this cycle.

28:18 · But the question for us today is how do we get out of it?

28:22 · When we are in the situation that Job is in,

28:25 · when we feel like in the spiritual court of life,

28:30 · like there is no one to speak for us,

28:32 · no one to plead on our behalf.

28:34 · When we feel like we need a spiritual sweet James

28:37 · to come alongside us and talk,

28:41 · how do we get through?

28:43 · Because we see in Job eight through 10,

28:47 · we see an answer that can't be used from a friend

28:49 · that is of no use.

28:51 · In chapter nine, we see an argument

28:53 · that if we were to argue we are a good person

28:55 · before God, we would fall short every time.

28:57 · We see an appeal of just love me anyway, God.

29:00 · Just be generous anyway.

29:02 · Even though I'm a sinner, even though I'm a wreck,

29:04 · you'll figure it out, God.

29:05 · Just keep loving me because you created me

29:07 · and it still falls short.

29:09 · How in the world do we hang in here

29:14 · and how in the world do we push past

29:16 · in the spiritual court of life?

29:20 · Well, it all comes back to verse 33 of chapter nine,

29:24 · where Job says that there is no mediator between us

29:28 · to lay his hand on both of us.

29:32 · Job's like, here's the problem.

29:34 · The reason I can't get by,

29:36 · the reason I can't break through,

29:38 · the reason that this doesn't matter

29:39 · is I can't talk to God.

29:41 · I can't just zip up to heaven

29:42 · and all of a sudden have a face-to-face conversation

29:44 · with God.

29:45 · I can't just bring God down to me.

29:47 · None of it matters.

29:48 · I can't do this.

29:52 · But 2,000 years later, Job's question changes

29:57 · because there is one word in that statement

29:59 · where he says there is no mediator

30:01 · that technically was not correct

30:04 · because there already was a mediator.

30:07 · We hadn't seen the fulfillment of the mediator yet.

30:10 · We hadn't seen the fruition of the mediator yet,

30:12 · but 2,000 years after Job writes his agony down

30:16 · and shows his grief on full display,

30:19 · a man named Paul who started churches

30:21 · all across our known world,

30:23 · he writes in 1 Timothy chapter two

30:26 · the answer directly to his question.

30:29 · When he says there is no mediator,

30:31 · Paul writes instead, for there is one God,

30:34 · this God we are in spiritual court with,

30:36 · and listen to this,

30:37 · in one mediator between God and mankind.

30:41 · Now I know you already see the answer up there,

30:43 · but here's what's amazing.

30:44 · He doesn't say Sweet James.

30:46 · He doesn't say Lerner and Rowe.

30:48 · He doesn't say Ralphie, right?

30:50 · Instead, there is one mediator

30:53 · between God and mankind

30:56 · and he says the man Christ Jesus

31:01 · who gave himself as a ransom for all.

31:06 · And here's where the book of Job points to

31:08 · and here's the beauty of this passage

31:11 · is Job feels dejected.

31:13 · Job feels thrown down.

31:15 · Job feels like there is no hope.

31:17 · He is pleading, can I just get a neutral party?

31:20 · He says, can I have someone

31:21 · who can put his hand on God

31:23 · and put his hand on me and say,

31:25 · hey, let's just figure this out together.

31:27 · He wanted an umpire to call balls and strikes

31:29 · and in this situation, he's like,

31:31 · call it a ball because I did not do anything wrong.

31:33 · There was no strike against me

31:35 · but here's the thing is heaven did not send

31:38 · a neutral mediator

31:40 · and this is the enduring truth

31:42 · that comes out of this passage

31:43 · and comes to the New Testament

31:44 · is nobody can argue your case before God.

31:49 · Not the deadbeat lawyers around here

31:51 · that are just looking for money

31:52 · and want you to get hit by a bus, all right?

31:54 · That nobody can argue your case before God

31:57 · but here's the thing, Jesus already has.

32:02 · He is not a neutral party.

32:04 · He is not just someone that says,

32:06 · hey, you're innocent because you're not.

32:10 · When Jesus came down here to mediate

32:13 · with one hand on the throne

32:15 · and one hand in our brokenness

32:16 · and he can understand both.

32:19 · He is fully God,

32:21 · having the power of the creator of the universe

32:24 · to cast out demons, to heal the blind,

32:27 · to heal the sick.

32:28 · He did all of that

32:29 · but also had one hand in our humanity.

32:32 · He knew what brokenness looked like.

32:35 · He knew what pain looked like.

32:37 · He knew what friends abandoning him looked like.

32:39 · He knew all the stuff that we have gone through

32:43 · looked like and when he mediates on our behalf

32:46 · he doesn't say, hey, they're innocent.

32:48 · They're good.

32:49 · They're fine.

32:49 · They didn't do anything wrong.

32:52 · Instead, when the sentence is handed out,

32:55 · Jesus says, that's my sentence to bear.

33:00 · The reason he went to the cross

33:03 · is not because he is guilty,

33:04 · but because we are.

33:07 · And in the spiritual court of eternity,

33:12 · when we are put on the stand before God,

33:14 · we come up guilty, guilty, guilty.

33:18 · Romans says we all have sinned

33:20 · and fall short of the glory of God.

33:21 · We deserve a separation, a life, a death

33:25 · and eternity away from the God of the universe.

33:30 · But Jesus said, no, no, no, no, I see that sin.

33:34 · I see that eternity that you should pay

33:36 · because you are broken, because you are sinful,

33:39 · but I'm gonna take it.

33:41 · I'm gonna take it on the cross.

33:44 · Job said, God, please take the rod from me.

33:47 · Jesus said, give me the rod.

33:51 · Give me the pain.

33:53 · Give me the heartache.

33:55 · Let me take it all to the cross

33:58 · because he can pay it through his perfection,

34:03 · through his riches, through his glory.

34:07 · And church, this is the beauty of it all.

34:10 · He paid our ransom, as Paul said,

34:15 · so that no longer do we have to feel

34:17 · the hopelessness of Job to say, nobody speaks for me.

34:23 · But instead, we can see the hope of the Savior

34:29 · that he has paid our price

34:32 · and we can know him for all of eternity.

34:37 · So church, how do we live this out this week?

34:41 · If you are a believer in the room,

34:42 · here's my encouragement for you.

34:46 · See, we'll go through seasons where you ask why.

34:49 · God, why is this happening?

34:51 · Why is my car breaking down?

34:53 · Why is my boss a jerk?

34:54 · Why is my marriage strained?

34:55 · Why aren't my kids doing this?

34:58 · And you might question,

34:59 · you might be pleading your case before God.

35:02 · God, I've been going to church.

35:03 · God, I've been in Bible group.

35:04 · God, I've even been serving in nursery.

35:05 · Why is this happening to me?

35:10 · Stop pleading your case before God

35:12 · and start trusting in the Savior of the universe.

35:14 · And here's, if you want to see,

35:16 · not only do you believe in the perfect advocate,

35:19 · but you also get to be an advocate for others.

35:23 · You know what Job's friends never did?

35:26 · They never prayed for him.

35:28 · They preached at him.

35:30 · They screamed at him.

35:32 · They condemned him.

35:34 · But they never prayed to God

35:35 · on his behalf in front of him.

35:37 · We have no record of it.

35:41 · Maybe you need to pray for someone

35:43 · to be their advocate that they can find Christ,

35:46 · that they can find a new life in him.

35:49 · And if that is not you today,

35:52 · if you are in this room,

35:53 · if you are watching online,

35:56 · we want to extend the invitation this morning

35:59 · to say yes to Christ,

36:03 · to say yes to the mediator

36:06 · between us and God,

36:09 · between holiness and sin,

36:13 · our lawyer, our God, our judge,

36:15 · our king, our redeemer,

36:17 · and the spiritual court of eternity

36:20 · that changes everything for us now

36:24 · and forevermore.

36:27 · That is the God that we follow.

36:30 · That is the advocate who mediates on our behalf.