# The Good Ol' Days

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Job
Date: November 8, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/the-good-ol-days

## Summary

Are we romanticizing the past while missing the beauty of the present? What if the "good ol' days" weren't as simple as we remember? Join us as we explore Job's journey through nostalgia and discover how to embrace our current struggles with faith. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

the vacations and the sports memories 
 [music] 
 is your memory isn't a documentary, it's 
 a highlight reel. And as [music] time 
 passes, when we say the good old days 
 that it was simpler, it was easier 
 [music] because you didn't know how it 
 ended yet. And 
 [music] 
 hey, well, if you have a Bible, go ahead 
 and grab and open to Job chapter 29. Job 
 chapter 29. If you don't have a Bible, 
 you can grab the one in the chair right 
 in front of you. And we're going to be 
 on page 459. 
 But as you're flipping there, I want to 
 read you a verse. And you don't have to 
 look there yet. You can just listen to 
 this in Job 30:1. As it starts out here 
 in this part of the section we're going 
 to be reading today. Job says this, "But 
 now they mock me, men younger than I am, 
 whose fathers I would have refused to 
 put with my sheep dogs." 
 4,000 years ago, Job dropped the first 
 Kids These Days. 
 He writes, he's like, "Man, kids these 
 days are idiots. Kids these days are 
 jerks." He's like, "These He's like, "I 
 can't believe I'm being mocked by these 
 kids. Like, I didn't even trust their 
 dads to like take after a dog." And he's 
 like, "A dog at that time, a sheep dog, 
 just took care of itself." And he 2,000 
 year or 4,000 years ago, Job drops this 
 line. He's like, "Man, what is wrong 
 with our world?" He's like, "They just 
 they don't make them like they used to." 
 Uh last week my daughter Arya, she's 10 
 years old, my oldest daughter, and she 
 came home and she had a field trip and 
 they played and like went to some 
 pioneer village. I don't know if they 
 turned butter or something. Uh but she 
 got home and and we were like hanging 
 out and I'm like, "Hey, can you go grab 
 that for Alice for little daughter?" 
 She's like, "My legs hurt. They're too 
 tired." 
 I like, "You're 10." 
 I was like, "My legs didn't get tired 
 when I was 10." All right. I was like, 
 every recess I'd be running a 10K and 
 then we would go to PE after that, 
 right? I was like, I can't run a half 
 marathon now, but I ran that every day 
 at school. I walked to and from school 
 just a couple times and it even snowed 
 in Phoenix back in that day. All right, 
 there was a hill and everything. All 
 right, three of you are awake. That's 
 cool. 
 But we have this idea like, man, kids 
 these days, they just don't understand. 
 They don't understand what how hard 
 things were, but they also don't 
 understand how good things were. And Job 
 in the middle of this as he's going 
 through this hard season, he starts 
 reminiscing on how bad this generation 
 is and how he wishes he could go back to 
 what was previous. And all of us have 
 these times where nostalgia kind of 
 pulls us back. You see this on social 
 media like only 90 kids know this, 
 right? And now they're making things 
 that look like it was made in the '9s. 
 And uh I appreciate that cuz I was made 
 in the '9s. Okay. Okay. Three of you. 
 That's right. [laughter] 
 It's going to be a long sermon. I don't 
 know where we're starting with, but in 
 here it's like all of us have something 
 nostalgic. We're like, man, when I grew 
 up this time, like it was so much 
 better. There's so much here. And we get 
 lost in this phrase and thinking about 
 the good old days. 
 And today, as Job starts to reminisce in 
 Job chapter 29 is he latches on to the 
 good old days. And here's a suffering 
 reality we see that kind of takes Job to 
 this place is the book of Job has taken 
 us from why to who is Job asked over and 
 over why why why is this happening and 
 throughout the book of Job he just gives 
 who God is supreme God is this God is 
 here but then what we see today is Job 
 gets lost in this thing where he starts 
 to ask when when did things get so hard 
 when did things get so bad when did all 
 of the sudden I become come so trapped 
 in this hardship. 
 I'm a Arizona Cardinals fan and a 
 depressed Arizona Cardinals fan. Maybe 
 it's just a normal Arizona Cardinals 
 fan. I think we're all equally 
 depressed. But there's time, you know, 
 every now and then I think about like, 
 you know, when we were good. And that's 
 like a season and a half. All right. 
 When we were good. I literally found 
 this jacket on clearance. Um or this 
 sweater. I I don't know why it was on 
 clearance. I think it should have sold 
 out. Uh, but I got it for cheaper, so it 
 was great. But 2008, I remember it so 
 vividly when the Cardinals were good, 
 when we should have won a Super Bowl if 
 they didn't steal it from us. More on 
 that later. I'll tell you the place. Uh, 
 but in that we think back like when this 
 was here, when things were better, when 
 times were good. And here's the thing is 
 we have a way when we look back to start 
 remembering things differently. And 
 today in the book of Job, as it starts 
 going down this journey, Job is going to 
 start telling himself that things were 
 different when in the good old days. And 
 the first thing we see is things were 
 different. Things used to be good when 
 times were simpler. Check out Job chap 
 29. And Job is going to show us how he 
 thought times were so much simpler. In 
 verse one it says he continued his 
 discourse saying but he picks up in 
 verse two and says if only I could be as 
 in months gone by in the days when God 
 watched over me. You see this nostalgic 
 reminiscing that Job gets into when his 
 lamp shone above my head and I walk 
 through the darkness by his light. I 
 would be as I was in the days of my 
 youth when God's friendship rested on my 
 tent. When the Almighty was still with 
 me and my children were around me. When 
 my feet were bathed in cursed and the 
 rock poured out streams of oil for me. 
 As Job opens in chapter 29, listen to 
 how Job remembers his past. He says the 
 lamp of God was shining over his head. 
 It was like God was just saying, "Go 
 down that door. Go down that door. Go 
 down that door." Verse four, he says, 
 "God's friendship rested on my tent." In 
 verse 5, he says his children were all 
 around him, which through this tragedy, 
 he has lost them. Verse six, he gets 
 into his feet were washing in cream. I 
 don't even know what that means, but 
 4,000 years ago, that was luxury if you 
 had cream on your feet. All right, but 
 he describes this this life. And in the 
 Old Testament, this is like the version 
 of the picture perfect Thanksgiving. The 
 table is full. The turkey isn't too dry. 
 All the people around the table that you 
 want to be and crazy Eddie couldn't make 
 it, so you left him off and you're not 
 complaining about it. And all of a 
 sudden, like you have the perfect life. 
 And then Job gets into he thinks about 
 how great things were. But then he 
 starts talking about his retirement 
 plan. Check out verse 18 of chapter 29. 
 He says this. So I thought, I will die 
 in my own nest and I will multiply my 
 days as the sand. My roots will have 
 access to water. And the dew will rest 
 on branches all night. My whole being 
 will be refreshed within me. And my bow 
 will be renewed in my hand. Job had it 
 all mapped out. Grow old, have grandkids 
 running around on the front porch, and 
 then die in his own bed. And here's what 
 I love. This is actually not a bad thing 
 that we shouldn't long for. We should 
 long for parts of this, of having a a 
 legacy of pouring into the ones we love, 
 of being surrounded by family and 
 friends and our legacy enduring through 
 those ones that we have loved and 
 invested in. In verse two, even tells us 
 he misses the right thing. He doesn't 
 talk about all the cattle that he 
 misses. He doesn't start talking about 
 the crane on his feet, but he does get 
 there, which is weird. But in verse two, 
 it says he misses the most of the days 
 when God watched over him. What Joe 
 misses most in this dark season of his 
 soul is God himself. 
 But here comes the question. Were the 
 times really simpler? Were they as 
 really as rosy and as great as the good 
 old days that he is describing here? 
 Check this out in verse 12 in the middle 
 of this before he describes his 
 retirement. He says in this good old 
 days he describes he says I rescued the 
 poor who cried out for help and the 
 fatherless child who had no one to 
 support him. The dying blessed me and I 
 made the widow's heart rejoice. He said, 
 "I clothed myself in righteousness and 
 it enveloped me. My just decisions were 
 like a robe in a turban. I was eyes to 
 the blind and feet to the lame. I was a 
 father to the needy and I examine the 
 case of the stranger. I shattered the 
 fangs of the unjust and I snatched the 
 prey from his teeth." Did you catch what 
 Job is describing here? [snorts] 
 In Job's good old days, there were still 
 orphans. There were still widows. There 
 were still blind and lame people. There 
 were still predators, those who were 
 unjust, that had teeth and hurt people 
 around them. The world wasn't simpler. 
 Job was just strong enough in that 
 season to stand between the unjust world 
 and the people he loved. You go back to 
 chapter 1 and Job's good old days. He 
 got up early every single morning to 
 offer sacrifices for his kids. And I 
 love it says in case they had sins. If 
 you have children, it's not in case they 
 had sin. They are sinners. They're all 
 little sinners, right? Um I say they're 
 little sinners cuz I have little kids, 
 but then they grow up and they just 
 become big sinners. All right, some of 
 you with grown kids. Then you got 
 grandkids. They're not sinners though, 
 right? They're just perfect little 
 angels. 
 But Job here, he says every single 
 morning he's getting up to offer 
 sacrifices. The crazy thing about this 
 is that's not a simple life. That's a 
 worried dad who is afraid for his 
 children. And then you go to chapter 3. 
 Job said, "The thing I feared most has 
 overtaken me. He was afraid back then, 
 too. He just had more comforts and more 
 stuff to cover it up." Psychologists 
 actually have a name for this. They call 
 it rosy retrospection. 
 Rosy retrospection. You get a nice big 
 fun word today. All right. And here's 
 how they found this out is some this 
 these studies they did a study where 
 they sent psychologists on vacation with 
 people. Now my question is who agreed to 
 have a psychologist on vacation with 
 them? All right. Like you better have 
 paid for the vacation. It's like my 
 parents went to a time share one time 
 when I was a kid and I just remember 
 being in like some dark dingy room 
 playing Nintendo 64 for like eight 
 hours. I'm like are parents going to get 
 us like here's some more juice boxes and 
 Jesus quiet. Um play some Super Smash 
 Bros. You'll be fine. But it's like I 
 don't know how they convince these 
 people but they did it and they they 
 watched him on vacation. And here's what 
 they observed through the vacations. It 
 rained. There was crowds. There was 
 traffic. The couples fought and there 
 was a lot of tension, but then they went 
 home and they let time pass and a few 
 months later they asked him about the 
 vacation and all the thoughts were just 
 glowing and nice. Oh, it was so fun. We 
 had bonding time with our family, left 
 out that they punched him in the face. 
 They're like, "It was just so great. We 
 loved every single moment of it." 
 You know, most Cardinal fans, uh, they 
 don't remember the one good year we had 
 when we should have won the Super Bowl 
 and we were winning and Centennial 
 Holmes only had one tow in, but we won't 
 talk about that anymore cuz I'll get mad 
 and go through it. We were robbed. But 
 what a lot of them don't remember is we 
 were 9 and seven that year. And actually 
 Chris Collinssworth, who's a jerk, he 
 called the Cardinals the worst playoff 
 team in NFL history when they started 
 that playoff series. And we proved him 
 wrong cuz he's a loser, right? They made 
 a Super Bowl and they got robbed. But 
 here's what all that shows. The 
 vacations and the sports memories is 
 your memory isn't a documentary. It's a 
 highlight reel. And as time passes, when 
 we say the good old days, that it was 
 simpler. It was easier 
 because you didn't know how it ended 
 yet. And Job didn't know when he was 
 washing his feet in cream the hardship 
 of his life that was coming. And here's 
 the thing that Job couldn't see from his 
 suffering from the ash sheep is God was 
 watching over him the whole time. In 
 chapter one, God is the one bragging on 
 Job saying to Satan, "Have you 
 considered my servant Job?" And as Satan 
 says, he's only he only likes you cuz 
 you're giving him all this stuff. And 
 God's like, "Bet. Take it all away and 
 see if he worships me." And Job does. 
 But here's the truth of it is is Job's 
 like, "Remember the days when God was my 
 friend?" And God's like, "My lamp has 
 still been over you the whole time. Job 
 just couldn't see it anymore through his 
 struggles." And maybe today you're in 
 that place. Maybe this morning you're 
 scrolling through old pictures. And you 
 give everything to just go back to that 
 moment. Go back before the diagnosis 
 came. Go back before the divorce divided 
 your family. Go back before that loved 
 one passed. Go back 
 before something happened and it stopped 
 the good old days in your life. And you 
 see the ache is real. And I just want to 
 tell you, you're allowed to feel it. But 
 here's the problem is you can't live 
 there. We see an example of someone in 
 the Bible who looked back and they 
 couldn't couldn't look forward anymore. 
 And it we don't even know her name. It 
 was just Lot's wife. And she looked 
 back. She couldn't look forward anymore. 
 You know what happened to her? 
 There was more biblical scholars in 
 first service or they just more afraid. 
 What happened to her? 
 >> She turned into a pillar of salt. Oh, 
 you are biblical scholars. You're just 
 all nervous. All right, I get it. You 
 don't know how to talk in church. This 
 is can be a little feedback here. BUT 
 SHE TURNED ASSAULT IN here the Bible. 
 There's there's a lesson in there of we 
 can't just be dwelling on what is behind 
 us. We're going to continue to see that 
 because times weren't simpler, things 
 weren't easy. But here comes the next 
 thing. When we start to look at the good 
 old times and tell ourselves things were 
 different, we also tell ourselves that 
 people were godlier. That people were 
 godlier. Check out verse 7 of chapter 29 
 as he gets into this. He says here, he 
 says, "When I went out to the city gate, 
 yet I took my seat in the town square. 
 The young men, they saw me and they 
 withdrew while older men stood to their 
 feet. City officials stopped talking and 
 covered their mouths with their hands. 
 The noble men's voice were hushed and 
 their tongues stuck to the roof of their 
 mouths. When they heard me, they blessed 
 me. And when they saw me, they spoke 
 well of me. 
 You know what Job is reminiscing about 
 and what it says about Job, we've said 
 throughout this is Job was a baller. 
 Job was a wealthy man. He was known as 
 the greatest man of the east. We've done 
 the math. He was worth of tens of 
 millions of dollars in today's terms. He 
 was a big deal. And what Job describes 
 here is when he walked into the city 
 gate. in the city gate at this time 
 4,000 plus years ago. It was like the 
 town square, the city hall, and the 
 courthouse all wrapped into one. And 
 when Job walked in, everybody noticed 
 and everybody stopped what they were 
 doing. The young men stepped aside. The 
 old men stood up. The princes stopped 
 talking mid-sentence. In verse 11, it 
 says, "Everybody who heard him blessed 
 him." And then he keeps going on about 
 this. Check out verse 21 of chapter 29. 
 He continues to flesh this out. He said, 
 "Men listened to me with expectation, 
 waiting silently for my advice. After a 
 word from me, they did not speak again. 
 My speech settled on them like dew. They 
 waited for me as for the rain and opened 
 their mouths as for spring showers. If I 
 smiled at them, they couldn't believe 
 it. They were thrilled at the light of 
 my countenance. I directed their course 
 and presided as chief. I lived as a king 
 among his troops, like one who comforts 
 those who mourn." 
 Job also might be a little arrogant all 
 right in this. 
 But Job talks about the history that is 
 true that he was a big deal in his world 
 that he had respect, he had honor, there 
 were manners towards him. That's the 
 world that Job remembers. But now you 
 fast forward to chapter 30 and he starts 
 to talk to the present day and he says, 
 "Men that are younger than I am, they 
 mock me." He says they spit in his face. 
 They make songs about him mocking him. 
 And they made songs before AI was making 
 songs. So it was even harder to do at 
 that time. 
 And as he's doing this, and here's 
 what's questioned is this question that 
 pops up. If if he had this amazing life 
 in 29, all these people respected him. 
 In chapter 30, who are these people? 
 Well, here's the irony. It's the same 
 town with the same gate, with the same 
 families. Those young men who stepped 
 aside in chapter 29 are the same young 
 men who's singing songs about him in 
 chapter 30. Chapter 30 says, "The 
 mockers were the outcasts of societies, 
 hungry, living in the bush, the kind of 
 people Job used to help at the gate. And 
 now that he's down, they start kicking 
 him." And here's the thing, the people 
 didn't change. Job's circumstances 
 changed. 
 And they weren't honoring God in 29. 
 They were honoring him as a man in 29. 
 And all of a sudden, the moment Job hit 
 rock bottom, the respect left with the 
 money. In church, if we're honest, we do 
 this with whole generations. We look 
 back and be like, "Man, things were so 
 much better back then, man. In the 20s 
 things were better. Then it's like in 
 the ' 50s things were better. It was the 
 ' 70s and '7s you're like, that was all 
 the hippies and they were terrible. And 
 now you're in 2020 and they're like, 
 let's go back to the hippies in the '60s 
 and '7s. And we have this rosy 
 retrospection. They're like, "Man, 
 people used to be godlier back then. 
 They were sinners just like you and me. 
 They just hid their sin for generations. 
 We didn't pass on the sin. We just 
 passed on the highlights down the road. 
 And we hid the bodies and the baggage 
 behind enclosed doors." 
 Solomon actually addresses this in 
 Ecclesiastes and he says this and I and 
 I love this verse. He says, "Don't say 
 why were the former days better than 
 these since it is not wise to ask this. 
 Solomon says, "This question isn't wise. 
 Not because the past had nothing good in 
 it, because the past pretends the human 
 heart used to be different. Sinners 
 lived in the past, sinners lived in the 
 present, and sinners will live in the 
 future." 
 And you know who also knew this? 
 Jesus himself. 
 On a Sunday that we recognize as Palm 
 Sunday today, the crowd threw palm 
 branches on the ground as Jesus rode in 
 on a donkey and they screamed, "Hosana! 
 Hosana!" They said the king is here. 
 These people worshiped him. They were 
 declaring him king in God. The Messiah 
 has come. 
 All of a sudden on Friday, there was 
 crowd chanting, "Crucify him!" The 
 heretic, 
 same crowd in the same city, five days 
 apart. 
 You see, Jesus never trusted the good 
 old days of public opinion. And John 
 tells us he didn't entrust himself to 
 the crowd. And in the Gospel of John, it 
 says Jesus knew what was in the people. 
 And here's what's crazy. Despite that, 
 he went to the cross for the people at 
 the gate both days. Those who sang to 
 him as Lord and those who spit on him as 
 a heretic. 
 So here's the question for us. Who are 
 you on the other side of somebody's 
 chapter 30? When the guy who used to run 
 your meetings and be the big shot in 
 your office, when he loses his job, do 
 you treat him the same? Or do you be 
 like, "Man, I was waiting for that boss 
 to get fired cuz I couldn't stand him 
 and now I don't have to pretend to be 
 nice to him." How do you treat the 
 family who always used to host, who you 
 always used to strive to be like that 
 family and the divorce happens and rips 
 their family apart? Do you still seek 
 them or love them or do you be like, 
 "Ah, let's distance ourselves there." 
 Do we still stand up at the gate or do 
 we honor people only when they're at the 
 top? 
 You see, Job is taking us on this 
 journey of the good old days that things 
 look different when times were simpler 
 even when they weren't. When people were 
 godlier, even they when they weren't. 
 But it leads us to the last thing we 
 tell ourselves and we get introspective 
 in this one is when temptations were 
 easier. 
 In chapter 31, this is Job's final 
 defense. Over and over, he says, "If I 
 have done this, then let this happen to 
 me." He's making this legal oath to God. 
 He's like, "God, I'm innocent. Hear it 
 here." He's putting his whole life under 
 an oath. And look at the very first line 
 he gives in verse one of chapter 31. He 
 says, "I have made a covenant with my 
 eyes. How then could I look at a young 
 woman?" Now, this feels super far out of 
 left field. You're like, "What is Job 
 talking about here?" Like, right? I 
 thought we were talking about Job. Now 
 the pastor is going to talk about sex. I 
 did not come to church for that. Gotcha. 
 Actually, Job got you. It's just in the 
 Bible. But here's what's crazy about 
 this. Let's step aside for a second. Is 
 we like to think it was easier to be 
 holy back then. Like 4,000 years ago, 
 Job just had goats and camels and sheep. 
 He didn't have TV. He didn't have a 
 smartphone. He had so many last 
 distractions. I would seek God all the 
 time because I don't want to hang out 
 with a goat all day long. All right? 
 Like it was so much easier to be holy 
 back then. There was there was no 
 smartphone. There was no internet. There 
 was no algorithm built to rewire your 
 brain and exploit all your weaknesses 
 and make you a drone of the AI overlord. 
 It's coming. Um, 
 and listen, I agree with part of that. 
 Not the AI overlord part. Well, maybe. 
 But it is hard today. The phone in your 
 pocket is a battlefield. 
 But Job 4,000 years ago had to make a 
 covenant with his eyes before Wi-Fi and 
 the internet were even a thing. [sighs] 
 And here he describes this word 
 covenant. We hear that. We don't think 
 much of it. Here's what a covenant meant 
 back then is it wasn't just like a New 
 Year's resolution. It's like I hope I 
 get better at this. Instead, you would 
 cut an animal. You would spread the 
 animals on the sides. If there's any 
 hunters in the room, you should try this 
 sometime. And they would line up animal 
 carcasses and then they would walk 
 through it to make an oath. And what the 
 oath was saying as they walked through 
 it is, "If I break this oath, may I be 
 like the animals that I ripped apart." 
 Job 
 was laying down some heavy stuff here. 
 Job was saying that the problem I see of 
 the temptations and the sin around me is 
 it doesn't start with my hands. It 
 starts with my eyes and before that it 
 starts with my heart. Jesus would tell 
 us the same thing on the sermon on the 
 mount long before the sin shows up 
 physically in our lives. It has started 
 spiritually and emotionally in our 
 beings. 
 And then Job goes down the list of the 
 sins that he has avoided. Check out 
 verse 9 of chapter 31. He says this, "If 
 my heart has gone astray over a woman or 
 I've lurked at my neighbor's door," he's 
 saying, "I didn't do this." What's crazy 
 is he's talking about adultery, the 
 neighbor's wife. He's saying, "That's 
 not a new temptation that all of a 
 sudden our world has dealt with, but it 
 is one that's been going for thousands 
 of years." Check out verse 13. He says, 
 "If I've dismissed the case of my male 
 or female servants when they made a 
 complaint against me," he's talking 
 about here how he treated his employees, 
 when they had a complaint, when they had 
 issues. Today, as we are business owners 
 and managers and fellow co-workers, as 
 Job had all the power here, nobody had 
 to hold him accountable if he ignored an 
 employee. But he did it right anyway 
 because he knew God was watching. And 
 for us today, how we treat the people 
 that we work with, that is a spiritual 
 issue. But listen as he keeps going in 
 verse 24. 
 Then he gets to the heart of it. He 
 talks about his lust. He talks about 
 adultery. He he talks about how we 
 should treat other people. But in verse 
 24, he talks about his relationship with 
 God. He says, "If I placed my confidence 
 in gold or called fine gold, my trust, 
 if I trust in my wealth, if I rejoice 
 because my wealth is great and because 
 my own hands has acquired so much, he's 
 trusting his pride. If I have gazed at 
 the sun when it was shining, or at the 
 moon moving in splendor, so that my 
 heart was secretly enticed, and I threw 
 them a kiss, 
 this would also be an iniquity, a sin, 
 deserving punishment, 
 for I would have denied God above. 
 Now, you hear that some you relate with, 
 you're like, "Yeah, I can be too reliant 
 on money." But then Job's like, "And 
 then if I look at the sun and moon and I 
 give him a blow him a kiss," you're 
 like, "I've never done that. That sounds 
 weird, right? Uh maybe you blew the 
 clouds a kiss last week as the rain was 
 pouring down. But people in this day 
 were worshiping creation. And Job to 
 He's like, "Hey, I'm not going to do 
 that. I'm not going to worship created 
 things or creation." You're like, "I 
 don't have I don't do that. I I come to 
 church. I just worship Jesus." But 
 instead, we may not say we worship the 
 sun or the moon. We may not worship our 
 money, but instead, we put more trust in 
 our 401k. Our world puts more trust in 
 their astrology and their horoscopes and 
 what sign they are with how the stars 
 are aligned than blame their bad moods 
 on it 
 and our world and even us. We put more 
 trust in these things rather than 
 trusting God. 
 And here's what Job is getting at is the 
 temptations of life were never easier in 
 prior generations in the good old days. 
 The screen changed but the heart did 
 not. 
 So how for us do we begin to live this 
 out? What what is a practical thing of 
 what this looks like? And before we get 
 into I think how this passage overall 
 applies to us, I think first we need to 
 start here is what does saying no to the 
 temptations of the world mean to us? 
 What is starting a personal covenant as 
 Job describes? What does that look like 
 to have a covenant with our eyes not to 
 give in to the temptations of our world? 
 Kyle and I uh because Kyle does student 
 ministry and and he works with students 
 who are going through and being honest 
 about the stuff they have. Uh we've had 
 parents ask us about, hey, what do I do 
 when my child finds pornography? What do 
 I do when they're exposed to this? What 
 do I do when that happens? And and if 
 you're just putting your head in the 
 sand and say it's never going to happen. 
 I'm fine. I bring them to church. 
 They'll be okay. you are ignorant and is 
 going to happen and the world will talk 
 to them whether you do or not. 
 >> So, one of the things Kyle and I did is 
 we got together and we made a resource 
 for parents that said when your child 
 finds pornography and it's a whole stuff 
 of blockers you can have on your phone 
 of conversations you can have with your 
 kids of books you can read of how to 
 navigate this temptations that are all 
 so relevant in our world today and how 
 do we address them and how do we make a 
 covenant? How do we guide our kids to 
 them, but how do we guide ourselves to 
 them? How do we put the phone in another 
 room? How do we have stuff on our 
 blockers on our things that make sure 
 we're not seeing stuff? How do we have 
 accountability partners in all areas of 
 our lives that speak into us and say, 
 "Hey, stop looking at that. Hey, stop 
 being a jerk. Hey, you're not acting 
 like Jesus. We need to course correct." 
 And what Job is painting here is a world 
 that was not a simpler time. 
 And here's the thing is a simpler time 
 isn't coming. There is not a time coming 
 that all of a sudden things will get 
 better. We need to make the covenant, 
 the promise, 
 the steps to follow Jesus. Now, 
 and here's what I love about the book of 
 Hebrews in the New Testament. It tells 
 us Jesus was tempted in every way as we 
 are. Yet, he was without sin. Jesus 
 didn't live in an easier century. Jesus 
 could have lived with a smartphone and 
 he still would have been blameless. 
 Jesus would have probably just stayed 
 off of Tik Tok. I didn't say that in 
 first service, but it just came to me. 
 I'm like, Tik Tok? Of course, Jesus 
 wouldn't be on there. He would start his 
 own platform. That's I I'm done. I can't 
 say this. Anyway, [laughter] 
 but as we go down this road, not that 
 road, the real road, the route of the 
 Bible. But how do we start to put this 
 together and start living this out for 
 ourselves? Well, here's where we start. 
 These three chapters show us that times 
 weren't simpler. 
 The good old days have been messed up 
 just like the current days and like the 
 future days. People weren't godlier. 
 They didn't make people godlier then. 
 They were sinners then. They're sinners 
 now. And they will be sinners in the 
 future. 
 But temptations weren't also easier. 
 They were alive then. They're alive now. 
 And we have to fight them going forward. 
 You see, Job knew it because right in 
 the middle of his oath, he says 
 something huge. Check out verse 15 of 
 chapter 31. It says this. Did not the 
 one who made me in the womb also make 
 them? Did not the same God form us both 
 in the in the womb? Job is talking about 
 his servants. He's talking about the 
 wicked men in the gates around. He's 
 saying rich man, poor servant, same 
 maker, same womb, same dust, different 
 situation, same need, same problems, 
 same hurt that they have to go through. 
 And at the end, at the very end of all 
 this through Job, as he gives his oath 
 and he says, "I am innocent. I haven't 
 done this. Look at my life. Look at what 
 I have done." He finally signs his name 
 in verse 35 and he says this, "If only 
 I had someone to hear my case. 
 Here is my signature. 
 Let the Almighty answer me. Let God 
 answer me." Mark on your calendar in two 
 weeks, God's going to answer him and 
 it's going to be awesome cuz he's going 
 to rip Job a new one. 
 He says, "Let my opponent compose his 
 indictments." 
 Job says, 
 "If only someone could hear my case. 
 If only someone could understand what 
 I'm going through." And church, we have 
 been hearing this cry throughout all 
 this series if you've been with us. And 
 throughout this book, the fingerprints 
 are all here. In chapter nine, Job says, 
 "There is no mediator between us and 
 God. If only someone could speak on our 
 half." In chapter 16, he said, "My 
 witness is in heaven." He's like, "He's 
 not here. He's in heaven, but please 
 speak to God on my behalf." In chapter 
 19, he says, "I know that my redeemer 
 lives. I don't see him. I don't know 
 where he is, but he is out there 
 somewhere in here with his very last 
 breath of argument. He's still asking 
 for someone 
 to plead his case." 
 Those are some of the last words that 
 Job speaks in the entire book. And it's 
 the last thing Job speaks before God 
 responds to him. Verse 40 says, "The 
 words of Job's are concluded." 
 And that cry, 
 "If only I had someone," has been the 
 cry of every generation. 
 That has been the cry of your 
 generation, your parents' generation, 
 your grandparents' generation. It will 
 be the cry of your children and your 
 grandchildren's generation. We are even 
 crying it right now. 
 Throughout history in America, it's 
 like, man, if only we had a different 
 president. And then a different 
 president comes every four years. And 
 then you're like, if only we had a 
 different president again. If only they 
 could fix this. If only they could elect 
 that person. If only this. And then we 
 do those things, but there's still 
 something broken behind all the scenes. 
 Why? Because sin is still rampant. 
 And we put band-aids on the problem. and 
 it might increase our comfort like it 
 did Job. But the root of sin is still 
 there. 
 And every time we say, "If only this, if 
 only I had that person speaking into my 
 life, walking alongside me, telling 
 everything I did wrong." And that's what 
 mentors are, right? But is the best 
 mentor you can have. They are still 
 flawed. As a Cardinals fan, not a 
 depressed one, just a normal Cardinals 
 fan cuz we're all depressed. Every year 
 we say, "If only we had a quarterback." 
 We had one for like two and a half years 
 and they were both old and retired. They 
 should have came earlier. And then we 
 had another one. We thought he was it, 
 but he was like 5 foot eight and it just 
 didn't work out. 
 But we're like, if only I had someone to 
 hear my case, someone to guide my life, 
 someone to bring back the good old days, 
 then things would be fixed. 
 But church, someone has. 
 In Hebrews chapter 4:15, 
 we hear about that someone 
 is described as for we do not have a 
 high priest who is unable to sympathize 
 with our weakness. You see, the someone 
 we have is different than the someone's 
 in our world. Is the president cannot 
 understand what you're going through. Is 
 the politicians cannot understand 
 everything you're going through. Is your 
 family, your grandparents, your kids, 
 whoever it is, they can't understand 
 everything you're going through. They 
 can't sympathize with our weakness. But 
 the one who has been tempted in every 
 way as we are is without sin. 
 That Jesus the high priest, he came down 
 to understand our failures, to 
 understand our hurts. 
 But he did not fail himself. So he is 
 greater than all the other someone's who 
 have come before and who will come 
 after. 
 But it says, "Therefore, let us approach 
 the throne of grace with boldness so 
 that we may receive mercy and find grace 
 to help us in time of need." You see, 
 Job wanted a hearing. 
 But Jesus gives us something so much 
 more. Jesus gives us a seat. 
 Jesus gives us a seat boldly at the 
 throne of grace in God. Not because your 
 life is perfect. Not because your oath 
 is perfect. Not because you were good in 
 the good old days, but you're a mess 
 now. But because he is perfect and he 
 has covered you. 
 You see, Job signed his oath with his 
 own name. And it wasn't enough. And hear 
 this. Ours isn't either. Only one man 
 could list the things of chapter 31 and 
 said, "I never did this." And actually 
 sign it and be real. And the one who did 
 is Jesus Christ. And he signed it with 
 his own blood. 
 But here's how this shapes us to push us 
 out and do something about it. When we 
 reflect on the good old days, when we 
 think back to how we just wish we could 
 pull stuff from the past and bring it to 
 today, here from Job is the enduring 
 truth that we need to hear to counteract 
 that 
 is that every generation has been hard. 
 Can I get an amen on that? Let me say it 
 again. Every generation has been hard. 
 >> I didn't walk in snow uphill and 
 downhill in Phoenix. That wasn't true. 
 All right. 
 But it was still hard. Every generation 
 has been hard. Every generation has had 
 its issues. But hear this, church. 
 Every generation has needed the same 
 exact savior. 
 It wasn't a tech mogul. It wasn't a 
 politician. It wasn't the leaders that 
 we promote in our world. It is not AI. 
 Okay? It is the same savior throughout 
 history who died on a cross and rose 
 again 2,000 years ago so that we could 
 have the advocate on our behalf. We 
 could have the perfect one sign our oath 
 that we could not live out so that 
 we could have a new life. 
 And here's what I love that we see 
 throughout scripture and we see through 
 this is this Jesus Christ, this God man 
 who took our place, who didn't look back 
 and say, "Hey, the good old days, you 
 were okay then, but then you messed up 
 later and I'm going to give you a pass." 
 Instead, this God man who died in our 
 place for our sins, to save us, and to 
 resurrect us. We are told about him in 
 the New Testament. Hebrews chapter 13:8, 
 I love this. We prayed through this 
 verse together. We proclaimed this. We 
 sang this together. is that Jesus Christ 
 is the same yesterday, today, and 
 forever. 
 Yesterday, 
 your good old days that were so messed 
 up, Jesus was still God. 
 Today, in your hurt and your heartache 
 and your depression, Jesus is still God 
 forever. that when we look in the future 
 with uncertainty and fear just like Job 
 did as he offered sacrifices. He said 
 the fear that is coming it has finally 
 got here. The fear we don't know that is 
 out there. Jesus Christ is still the 
 same. He's still God. He's still sitting 
 on his throne. 
 And as we take in God's word to see all 
 that he has done, 
 church, this is how we begin to practice 
 this that we stop being a people that 
 look backwards and say, "Man, life was 
 so much better than, 
 man, if I could just reclaim some of my 
 old stuff, things would be great." 
 And instead, we start shifting to 
 people. But what can I do now that's 
 going to change mine and others eternity 
 for the rest of their lives? 
 [music] You see, this afternoon I'm 
 going to go home 
 and because of time change, I might eat 
 and take a small nap because the 
 Cardinals don't kick [music] off till 
 after 2:00. I'm going to have to kill 
 some time. And as I'm going to sit on my 
 couch, watch him play the Seahawks, 
 which is half [music] the reason I wore 
 this, to make all the Seahawks fans mad. 
 You all know who you are. 
 It's like 80% [music] of our church. 
 God, give me your biggest trials. Can 
 you send me Seahawks fans? 
 But as I sit down and watch [music] that 
 game, 
 usually when they start being terrible, 
 my team, I start [music] thinking back 
 to, man, I wish Kurt Warner could still 
 play football. Larry never officially 
 retired. We inducted in the Hall of 
 Fame, but maybe [music] he could come 
 back. I still think he'd be better than 
 some of our guys. Man, I just wish this 
 would I just wish. But [music] when I do 
 that, I don't even get to enjoy the game 
 I'm watching right then. 
 because I'm [music] just reminiscing 
 about the past. 
 The same goes for our life. 
 When we're [music] stuck reminiscing 
 about the past, 
 we're not enjoying the present that God 
 has put us in. [music] 
 And church, we aren't people that dwell 
 on the past. Our past is full of sin. 
 That does not mark us anymore. If you 
 are a believer in Christ, the hope you 
 have is that Jesus Christ has [music] 
 saved you and your future is secure. 
 But what we get to do is not just sit in 
 a chair and be like, "Man, I used to be 
 a deacon. [music] I used to be an elder. 
 I used to serve in kids ministry. I used 
 to do this." Well, what are we doing 
 now? 
 How are being part of the kingdom 
 [music] now? God is working in the 
 present. And maybe you're not what you 
 once were in your youth, but you're 
 alive cuz God ain't done with you yet. 
 [music] And as we look at where God has 
 placed us now, what if you ask the 
 question, 
 God, how are you using [music] me to 
 make Jesus known? 
 How am I serving in your church? How am 
 I loving on my neighbors? How am I 
 [music] sharing with my co-workers? How 
 are you dominating someone in Sun City 
 Grand Pickle Ball and then [music] 
 sharing the gospel with them after? 
 God is not done with you yet. 
 [music] Will you be part of the kingdom 
 work that he is doing right now? 
 And maybe [music] 
 you're not that person yet. 
 Maybe you haven't entrusted yourself 
 [music] in Christ. And my invitation, my 
 plea, my cry [music] is that you stop 
 trusting in the stuff of this world. 
 The money, the [music] lust, the 
 conquest, whatever the world says will 
 fill you up. And [music] that gets you 
 emptier than it was before. 
 Say yes to the God man who died on a 
 cross [music] for you, who raised from 
 the dead for you, and is the same 
 yesterday, today, and forever. 
 [music] 
 Church, how are we going to make Jesus 
 known now, 
 and until [music] we are joined with him 
 forever? 
 [music]