 We'll begin reading here in Job chapter 9 at verse 1, and I'll read verses 1 through 13, and we'll get into our study. Job chapter 9 beginning at verse 1, and you know what I just did? I was looking at Ecclesiastes. Job chapter 9, verse 1, then Job answered and said, truly, I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God? If one wished to contend with him, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they do not know. When he overturns them in his anger, he shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He commands the sun, and it does not rise. He seals off the stars. He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. He made the bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chamber of the south. He does great things past fighting out, yes, wonders without number. If he goes by me, I do not see him. If he moves past, I do not perceive him. If he takes away, who can hinder him? Who can say to him, what are you doing? God will not withdraw his anger. The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath him. Now, remember, let me give you the setting here. One of Job's friends, a man named Bildad, had been presented an argument, and the argument of Bildad is very simple. He's arguing that Job has sinned. You see, in his view, since God is righteous and since God judges evil, Job, because of the suffering he's going through, must have sinned. We saw in Job chapter 8 verse 3 the question, does God subvert judgment, or does the Almighty pervert justice? In other words, Job, Bildad, was saying, you have sinned, and you're reaping the consequences for doing so. Now, as we're going through this, remember there was somebody else speaking, a man by the name of Alaphaz. And so in this, Bildad seems to be agreeing with what Alaphaz had said, because in Job chapter 4 verse 8, Alaphaz has said, even as I've seen, those who plow iniquity and so trouble reap the same. So to bolster his case against Job, Bildad told Job to simply inquire. Inquire of the ancients. Ask those who have wisdom, and those who have written their wisdom down, those who have been inspired by God. In our day we might say something like, why don't you search the scriptures? Why don't you read your Bible? In this case he's simply saying, inquire of the ancients. Surely they have experienced life, and they know God more than you do, Job. Remember he had said that in chapter 8 verse 8, when he said inquire, please of the former age, and consider the things discovered by their fathers. So surely they know more. So if you just inquire of their teachings, that's going to cause you to admit that you're wrong. And so Bildad closed his words by telling Job it would be wise if he were just to truly repent, because if he did, God would once again bless him. We saw that when we closed chapter 8 last time, but remember, I'll read verses 19 through 22, how he had closed. He had said, behold, this is a joy of his way, and out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, nor will he uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be closely shamed, and the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing. All you need to do is admit that you're in sin. All you need to do is truly repent, and God will restore you. Now, I want to kind of lay this as a foundation as we're looking at this passage. I want to begin by saying that as all of this has been taking place, Job has been listening. Job has listened. Yes, he responds, but he has patiently listened to his friends as they're giving him advice. Job knows in his heart that his friend Alaphaz cares for him, and is concerned. He also knows that Bildad cares for him, even though they've both judged him wrongly. And so as I look at Job, one of the things I'm doing as I'm going through my study with you, I'm noticing something about him, and I'm noticing that he listened, and so I believe very strongly we can learn how to listen and how to respond to criticism by noticing how Job deals with it. Both Alaphaz and Bildad are wrong in their assessment of why this is happening. He didn't know this yet, but God had allowed Satan to come against him. All Job knew at that time was, as far as he could see, he hasn't sinned against God. Job, in other words, was aware of his own innocence, but his friends are insisting from the very beginning when they begin to share with him that he has done wrong. So what is instructive about this is that there are times when our own motives will be revealed by the criticism that is leveled against us. There are times when God may sift our lives to reveal what they truly consist of. There are going to be times when we wrestle with difficulties. We seek God for wisdom. We may believe that we're right. But then again, I believe I'm right. But Lord, is there something deep within me that I'm not aware of? Is there something inside of me, some hidden motive of some sort that needs to be revealed and and how I'm responding to the criticism and correction and advice very often is going to reveal where I really stand with the Lord. And so I'm watching Job and Job is responding. He's not taking it lightly. He's not saying you're all right, but he does listen. He does allow them to speak and he does allow it to be sifted. Any introspects. And I believe that introspection and caution isn't a bad thing, especially when we're making decisions, when someone may accuse us of something. It's always good to consider whether or not they may be right. Just because they're saying something I don't want to hear, doesn't mean that they're not right when they say it. Sometimes those who love you the most will tell you the truth and it hurts the deepest. That's a fact. They'll tell you the truth. Faithful are the faithful are friends who will tell you the truth. Faithful is a friend who will speak truth to you because the kisses of an enemy are always deceitful. And when a friend tells you the truth, sometimes it hurts. And so on the one hand, Job is teaching me how to listen and how to respond. But in this case, they're wrong. Now, sometimes when we've listened and we've prayed. And we've made a decision, we've sifted our own motives and thought it through. Well, that's the way for us to have a real pure conscience. You see, Bill Dan has told Job that he sinned. If he hadn't sinned, he wouldn't be in pain. So Job is responding to what he's being told. And as we begin, he basically seems to agree in general with what Bill Dan has said. Notice how he says in verse two. Truly, I know it is so. But how can a man be righteous before God? I freely agree. God will not reject a truly righteous man. This I know is absolutely true. The Bible makes it clear later on in the Psalms. The psalmist in Psalm 3724 said, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. The Lord will uphold him with his hand. But the problem I'm having is how can a man be righteous before God? Now, that is the greatest question. How can a person be righteous before God? You see, as we've been going through Job, we saw that Job is the most righteous man of his day. But in spite of this, his friends are insisting he's suffering because he has sinned. Now, he knew he's innocent. He knew he's innocent of the sins he's being accused of. But he also knows that though I'm being accused of sins that I haven't done, I know that I am a sinner. He had already asked God if he had sinned and was receiving what he had deserved. He had asked Alephes to cause him to understand wherein he had erred. So that leads him to ask the question, how can a man be righteous before God? So the obvious answer is there's no way a man or woman can make themselves righteous. And that, let me share with you for a moment, is because we have inherited a sin nature. The Bible says it very clearly, guys, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. In the book of Romans in chapter three, verse 10, it reads as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. So Job's Old Testament question, how can a man be made righteous? How can a man be righteous before God? His Old Testament question actually has a New Testament answer. You see, we know that sin makes a separation between God and man. We know that Isaiah 59 too says, your iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. Sin makes separation. The Old Testament makes that very clear. And somebody says, I just don't feel close to God. It may be because there's sin involved. And so we know that a man is not righteous, a woman is not righteous when they live in sin. We know that and the sin has made separation between God and man. But that separation was repaired when Jesus died and paid the penalty for our sins. And he did it for us. You see, he did for us what good works could never do. He paid the penalty on our behalf. We cannot make ourselves righteous. We know this. So when the question, how can a man be righteous before God, we know we cannot make ourselves righteous. We needed somebody who would impute or give to us something we didn't possess and that's Jesus Christ. He died for us and he paid the penalty on our behalf. Romans 5.8 says it like this, God demonstrated his love for us in that way while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And he demonstrated his love through his son Jesus Christ in Ephesians 1.7, Paul tells us that in Jesus we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. And so as we see in this book, God is just and as a just God, we all stand guilty before him. What we couldn't do for ourselves, he did for us. He did it on our behalf by sending Jesus Christ and Jesus took upon himself our sins as the lamb and now we stand faultless before God in Christ. In Romans 3.24 through 26, Paul said, yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. How can a man be righteous before God? Job is pre Christ, he is pre New Testament. He's saying man is sinful and God is not. You'll see this in just a moment. He's going to develop this. And so he's saying, man cannot make himself righteous before God. It's not within his abilities to do that. And now he's going to give us reasons why we can't make ourselves righteous. Notice verse three. He says, if one wished to contend with him he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. God is wise in heart, mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? And so now he's beginning to build a case. If you want to contend with him you can't answer him. If you want to argue with God you can't argue with him and out argue him. Why is that? Well, because God is all knowing and God has limited knowledge. Has God called you up recently and asked for advice? No, why? Because he is not limited in his knowledge. He is all knowing. It's called omniscient. He has all knowledge. Man has limited knowledge, but God has infinite knowledge. In Psalm 147 verses four and five it says, he counts the number of the stars. He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength is understanding is infinite. Well, I was looking at that verse. I said, I wonder how many stars we have. Because what it says here, he counts the number of stars and he gives names to all of them. His understanding is infinite. And so I went to Almighty Google and I asked, how many stars are there? And this is the answer that I got. I don't know. No, this is the answer. I hope I pronounced this name right. I've never seen it before. Kornreich used a very rough estimate of 10 trillion galaxies in the universe. Multiplying that by the Milky Way's estimated 100 billion stars results in a large number indeed. It's the number one with 24 zeros, which is called a septillion. A septillion. All right, I don't know what that means. That number is beyond me. I get lost once you start talking multi-millions. I get lost to that. There's a huge numbers to me. But this person is saying that they are really uncountable. And yet the scripture to give us an insight into the infinite knowledge of God says he counts the number of the stars and gives names to all of them. And so if you think that God isn't big enough to understand your problem, well, the psalmist would disagree with you. You see, God is all-knowing. And the point that he's making is very simple one. He's saying if you wish to argue with him, if you want to contend with him, well, he could not answer him one time out of a thousand. You can't deviate him in an argument is what he's saying. God is all-knowing. So who can beat him in an argument? In Romans 1134, who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has become his counselor? So he has infinite knowledge. So how can I defeat him in an argument? Verse four tells us that God is omnipotent, all-powerful. He says God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? Who can defeat him in any contest? In the book of Daniel in chapter four, verse 35, it says all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. But he does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. And no one can word off his hand or say to him, what have you done? In Jeremiah 32 27, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too difficult for me? Anything too difficult for me? God is wise in heart, mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? God is almighty is what he's saying. He's all-knowing and he's almighty and he's beginning to share why it's not wise to contend with God. And as he said that now he wants to give to us an insight into his might and majesty. So he begins to tell us verse five, he removes the mountains and they do not know when he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and it doesn't rise. He seals off the stars. He alone spreads out the heavens, treads on the waves of the sea. He made the bear Orion and the Pleiades and the chambers of the south. He does great things past finding out, wonders without number. If he goes by me, I don't see him. If he moves past, I don't perceive him. If he takes away, who can hinder him? Who can say to him, what are you doing? God will not withdraw his anger, the allies of the proud, he lie prostrate beneath him. So he begins to speak concerning his might, his majesty, his power, and it's demonstrated in various ways. In verses five and six, he removes the mountains and they don't know. This is intended to show how changes take place suddenly by his hand. He has supreme control over the earth according to verse six. He speaks of earthquakes and that speaking of his supreme control. You see in Psalm 104 verse 32, it says he looks on the earth, it trembles, he touches the hills, they smoke. In verse seven, he commands the sun, doesn't rise, he seals off the stars. In other words, he is the authority, he commands the celestial universe. He controls the stars, controls the sun. Now when it says that it doesn't rise, the sun doesn't rise and he seals off the stars, that can be as simple as the fact that he can cause a thick cloud to hide these things. Now it could speak of miracles such as the Egyptian darkness or in Joshua 10 when the sun stopped. When he says he seals the stars, he covers them so that they don't shine. Verse eight, he alone spreads out the heavens. He sets the heavens as a curtain in the sky. Psalm 104 verses one through three, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Oh Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a tent, lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds, his chariot rides on the wings of the wind. So it speaks concerning the majesty of God. He treads verse eight upon the waves. When he says he treads upon the waves, he treads upon the high waves. You know, Jesus had fed 5,000. And after he had fed the 5,000, he had sent his men away. They had climbed into a boat. They were trying to cross the sea of Galilee. And after finishing dismissing the crowd and praying and all, Jesus took a walk. He walked on the water. Matthew tells us in chapter 14 verses 24 and 25, the boat was in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. So we see a literal fulfillment of this description when it says he treads on the waves of the sea. Jesus himself physically did that. In verse nine, he made the bear, Orion and the Pleiades and the chambers of the south. So when you're looking at the stars and all, the bear is in the northern hemisphere. Orion is in the south. Pleiades is in the east. He speaks of the chambers of the south. And that would be speaking of things that they really couldn't see that were towards the south pole, mostly hidden from his view. So he's simply saying he's made the constellations both visible and those that we cannot even see. He says in verse 10, he does great things, past finding out wonders without number. Alephazid says something similar in chapter five verse nine. He's saying that God is beyond human comprehension. And that's another thing to talk about for just a moment. God is beyond human comprehension, which is why God reveals himself to us. In Job chapter 11, we'll see this in verse seven. One of Job's friends, a guy named Zafar, asked the question, can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? Listen, if God decided to hide himself from us, we could not search and find him out. That's why God has to reveal himself to us. Sometimes I've had people who seem to think that the Lord is playing some kind of cosmic hide and seek with us, that he's hiding in some place and we're supposed to search him out. Well, the fact is if God chose to hide himself from us, there's no way we would ever find him. There's no way we could. I always think of the hide and seek games I played with my kids when they were small and how they always hid in the same place. They always did. And they would always play, like my son David, when he was three or four years old, he always had this one corner of the house he'd hide behind the couch. And I would always do the same thing. I'd always pretend I couldn't see him and I'd stand next to him and I'd say, where is he in all of that? Joseph, my son Joseph, he was younger. Joseph would actually hide in the middle of the front room and he would get a blanket and put it over him and he'd be laying there so I could just see this ball and him and I would stand right over him and I'd have my arms folded and my feet right next to him so he could feel my presence. And I'd say, no, where can he be? I know he's got to be somewhere and then he'd start giggling and I'd say, I hear somebody laughing and then I'd pull the blanket and it turns out it was Marie. She never could really hide. I found her every time. You know, but sometimes we act as if God was playing cosmic hide and seek. No, no, if the Lord ever chose to hide from us, no man would ever find it. And when you take into consideration that our sins have made a separation between God and ourselves, then the gulf is impossible for us to cross. God had to do something to make it possible for man who is finite to have a relationship with the infinite and what God chose to do and this is the heart of Christianity is he chose to take upon himself human flesh. And when Jesus incarnated, when God took upon human flesh and dwelt amongst us, we had an opportunity to see the love of God made visible to man. Up to that point, we knew that God was a father but only in the sense that he was the creator. That's why Isaiah would speak of God as a father but only in a creative sense, not in a personal sense. Thou, O God, are our father. We are the clay, you are the potter is how he puts it. When he said that, he was saying to God, not in a personal sense, but in a creative sense. He was saying God is the one who created all things like the potter creates the pots but he didn't talk about relationship. When you look at the names that God defines himself or describes himself, the titles he uses, you see him as being the almighty. You see him as being the Lord who heals or the Lord who provides. You see the different names of God and all the compound names that we have. And we see that he's describing himself so that you have an idea of what God is like. But through all the years God had said from the very beginning, you shall make no graven image of me. You are not to have idols. There's no way that you are to do that. Why? Because you cannot confine the infinite God in a small image. And so he said, you shall have no gods before me and you shall create no idols. Which made Israel unique in the nations amongst him because every nation that they went in and ultimately conquered were worshipers of idols. The whole Middle East was filled with idolatry except for the Jews. The Jews were the ones who worship the invisible God. And so God had said to them, you are to make no graven image, you are not to bow down to idols. And yet by faith the Jews would hold fast by faith to the law and all of those things made their sacrifices, but ultimately God said this. He said, I'm going to reveal to you who I am. You see because Moses on one occasion had said, show me your glory and it'll suffice me. Reveal yourself to me that I might see you. God said, no man can look upon my face and live. But I'll reveal to you as I pass by by leaving a residue of my glory. And my glory is really found in my name. And so he went by Moses according to Exodus 33 and 34. He went by and he gave the name of the Lord, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, describing himself by his name. He was letting him know, you can't see me in my full glory and survive. And so what does God do? God takes upon himself human flesh and he dwells amongst us. And that's why John could say, and we beheld him, the son of God, the one who was filled with glory and grace and that's how it worked. And so when Job is speaking here concerning these things, he's speaking about a God that is beyond human comprehension. There's no way that we could know him by seeking him and trying to find him out. God has to reveal himself to us. And that again is why Zophar said, can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? And the answer is no, we can't. That's why God loved us enough to send his son. That's what makes the Christian message so wonderful is that God who loves us took upon himself a humanity and dwelt with us. He says in verse 11, if he goes by me, I don't see him. If he moves past, I don't perceive him. I cannot perceive him with human senses, which is why God reveals himself. If he takes away verse 12, who can hinder him? Who can say to him, what are you doing? He's saying, I know this is true because he's taken all that I've ever had and I could do nothing about it. Far be it for me to quarrel about what has happened because you see the Lord gives and the Lord takes away and he has a right to do so. In verse 13, God will not withdraw his anger. The allies of the proud life prostrate beneath him. God doesn't withdraw the anger that he has towards those who resist him. Those who unite to oppose him will be completely defeated in Psalm two verses two through five, the kings of the earth have set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, against his anointed, saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath, distress them in his deep displeasure. You see the Bible tells us in Psalm seven verse 11 that God judges the righteous. God is angry with the wicked every day. And John chapter three verse 36, remember how John the Baptist said, he who believes in the sun has everlasting life and he who does not believe the sun shall not see life that the wrath of God abides on him. The wrath of God, the displeasure of God his righteous anger abides on a person who has rejected him. And that's why we need Christ who took upon himself my penalty, our penalty. That's why we need him. Because without Christ and without proper relationship with God, God will not withdraw his anger. So in verse 14 continuing, how then can I answer him and choose my words to reason with him? For though I were righteous, I couldn't answer him. I would beg mercy of my judge if I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. How can I answer him and choose my words to reason with him? You see, human righteousness is not enough. So how can a mere mortal contend with God? In light of all the things that he's been saying in light of God's mighty power and knowledge, how can I present my case? I'm weak. I have limited understanding. I'm unable to argue with him. In verse 14, he speaks of choosing his words to reason with him. How can I debate with one who's all knowing what words and what argument can I muster to present my case before him? Now I'm innocent, but I don't have the ability to present my case and prove that I am. I'm not articulate enough. I can't lay out why I'm being treated this way and why it's not right. He says in verse 15, he says, though I were righteous, I could not answer him. I beg mercy of my judge. If I consider myself righteous, I still can't stand in my own goodness. And if I stand before him as my judge, I need to agree with him. The only thing I can do is plead for forgiveness. Now, I want you to note this. At this point, we begin to see that Job's pain is beginning to give rise to a bit of self-righteousness. You're gonna see the fruition of it at the end, but it's beginning to give rise to a little self-righteousness. You see, he's right about not bringing this pain on himself, that's true, but he's growing angry with God. I don't deserve this pain. Have you ever said that? I don't deserve this pain. I think God's unfair. I haven't. What did I do? I've tried to follow you. I've walked to the best of my ability according to what I believe your word says and your spirit leads me to do. I've done the best I can. What have I done? Have you ever done that? Every believer I know well would admit that they have. Everyone, I guess it's just part of the human condition. Job is a very human person and the most righteous person on the face of the earth. And yet what we're seeing in him is an argument that's really based on the fact that he believes he doesn't deserve what he's getting and therefore he wants to argue with God because he thinks God is wrong for allowing it. So at that point, little self-righteousness is beginning to rear its head. I don't deserve this pain and it's God's fault. So he says in verse 16, if I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he was listening to my voice. If I prayed for him to remove my pain and it left, I still would not think he answered me. I just don't think that he hears me when I cry to him. Have you ever been there? I have. God, why are you so distant? Why does it seem that the heavens are brass that my words rise and then just fall to the ground useless? Why? You see his pain and his suffering has caused him to think that God isn't listening. The only thing he could see was what was in front of him. The only thing that he knew is what he's enduring and the pain has affected him. Pain and discouragement can sometimes produce this effect in a believer. We think that God closes his ears to us, but the fact is he hasn't. We just think he has. We just think that somehow God, you're not listening. Now sometimes sin makes a separation. Sometimes in my life, I need to deal with the sin that's unconfessant and hasn't been repented of. But there are other times when I'm just not hearing clearly and I begin to wonder, Lord, are you listening? Are you angry at me for some reason? What have I done? I don't understand. That's a human thing in Psalm 120 verse one. It's a beautiful scripture in my distress. I cried to the Lord and he goes on to say, and he heard me. So Job is at this point where he's wondering if the Lord is actually listening. He says in verse 17, he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. So Job is beginning to blame God for his pain. It's God who has brought this upon me. God has broken me. He's like breaking upon me like a violent windstorm. But he's done it for no reason. He's done it without cause. I haven't done something specific that warrants this. It's evident that Job believes that God doesn't have the patience to hear him out. This reveals something. It reveals the fear of the Lord, but also reveals a misunderstanding of God's mercy. One of the things we need to remember is, yes, God is holy, but he is also merciful. Psalm 86 verse five says for you Lord are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you. You're good and ready to forgive because you're abundant in mercy. And that's something that we need to remember when we're going through our hard times. He says in verse 18, he will not allow me to catch my breath. Now when he says that, well, one, it may be that the disease that he has has affected his breathing and he's having difficulty in breathing. It could be as simple as that. Saying, I have a problem breathing, but it can also speak of him drowning, if you will, drowning in pain and sorrow and getting no relief, this continuous misery that I'm going through. I can't even take time to catch my breath. And all of us in this room at one time or another probably experienced the loss of breath where you're choking on something or drowning and your head's going underwater and it feels you can't even catch your breath. And that's what he's going through. And so he says, he won't even allow me to catch my breath. He says in verse 19, if it's a matter of strength indeed, he's strong. And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court? I'm not strong enough to resist him, nor am I good enough to be completely innocent. And as for going to court to prove myself, well, who has the authority to call us before him? Verse 20, though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me. Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse. If I presented myself as without fault, my own words would prove me to be a sinner. Here's an interesting scripture. It's found in the book of Matthew chapter 12 verses 35 through 37. A good person produces good words from a good heart. An evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. The words you say now reflect your faith then. Either you will be justified by them, or you will be condemned. My word of faith, my trust in the Lord, that is gonna be counted to me, and I will be, and I'm imputed the righteousness of Christ. But my words that I speak are words that you do give an account for, especially as it pertains to your relationship with God. And so he's saying, he knows me. He knows me inside and out. He knows everything about me. He knows my secret sins. Even the sins I can't really hide even from myself. I like to say this because it's true. Every believer in this room, and every believer who's watching online in your bunny slippers and PJs, every one of us has the testimony that we give openly. We have that testimony. Some people are so well-known by their testimony that the testimony becomes a book sometimes, sometimes a movie. And we know that person by their testimony. This person used to be this and used to do that. We know their testimony. Every one of us has a testimony. If you're saved, every one of us has a testimony. And if somebody like me or one of you ladies was asked by Marie, could you give your testimony? You would come up and you'd say, well, what do you want me to say? And we would say, well, you've got a half hour or so. I know that you've lived a long life. Can you condense it to a half hour or so? 40 minutes most. I'll do my best. How do I condense that entire life into 30 or 40 minutes? And then you go out and you give your testimony. Or perhaps you got saved and people say, when did you become a Christian? Oh, I became a Christian such and so. Well, what led do you come into faith in Christ? And you give your testimony. Well, I used to drink, I used to smoke, I used to fight, I used to do drugs, whatever it may have been. Might have been a real good religious person, whatever your testimony is. Everybody has a testimony that other people know. But every one of us has a testimony, a real testimony that only God knows. Because there are things in the average person's life that they would never want anybody else to know about. So we have found a way to be able to share the gist of it, but we never give the fullness of it. And I don't think we should, by the way. I don't think we should. I think there are things that are personal, belong to me and they belong to God. That's my life and God knows it. And the thing that I first time I heard this spoke to my heart, so I'll repeat it right now. It's been many years, but somebody once said, God knows everything about me and he still loves me anyway. He knows everything about me and he still loves me anyway. Now that's the love of God. Because he knows you, he knows you, he knows you. He knows the words before they're even formed on your tongue, before they even come into your mind. That's his omniscient Psalm 139. He already knows them all together before they even formed and spoken. He knows your thoughts, desires and he even knows the plans that he has for you. Can you imagine that? And Job is speaking about the greatness of God and he's saying he knows me inside and out. Psalm 90 verse eight says, you have said our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. The things that are hidden from others, even myself, you're well aware of them. You know them. In verse 21, I am blameless, yet I do not know myself. I despise my life. It is all one thing. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the plight of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If it is not he, who else could it be? Even though I regard myself as innocent, I don't really know myself that well. There may be something about me that I don't even know. That's why Paul in 1 Corinthians four verse four could say, I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? He who judges me is the Lord. So the best I can do is to beg God to show mercy to me. He's the righteous judge. In verse 22, it is all one thing. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. As I see it, God sends afflictions on both the good as well as the evil. You think that I'm guilty of sin? But I know that I haven't knowingly sinned. Now this would mean that God is behind my pain, whether deserved or undeserved. Verse 23, if the scourge slays suddenly, he laughs at the plight of the innocent. Joe is saying that God seems to be indifferent to any pain that comes upon him or people in general. He's saying that God seems to ignore what's happening when people suffer. Again, this is a common response of people who go through pain and they think that God becomes indifferent. It's like what it says in Psalm 22, verse one. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? God, why aren't you breaking in and helping me? What have I done? Why are you not moving on my behalf? He says in verse 24, the earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. Job says that all you have to do is look at how things are run on earth. The earth is dominated by wicked people and unrighteous judges. I think he wrote this yesterday. Isn't it true? It's true. The way the system works is corrupt. Evil is rewarded. Righteousness is penalized. Have you seen that? Have you seen that? I see it. It's the way the world works. Evil is rewarded. Righteousness is mocked. What he's writing during this day is true of every age because as long as evil is given places, positions of authority, then evil continues to make its presence known. The righteous are not rewarded. Very often, those who are evil are. And he says if God is not the cause of this, then tell me who is. If God allows evil men to flourish, why can he not cause righteous to also suffer, to suffer affliction? You've said that I have brought this on myself, but what if I haven't? In verse 25, now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They pass by like swift ships, like an eagle swooping on its prey. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile. I'm afraid of all my sufferings. I know that you will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water and cleanse my hands with soap, yet you'll plunge me into the pit and my own clothes will abhor me. My life is passing quickly. It'll soon be over. That's what he means. My days are swifter than a runner and they're flying away. In verses 27 and 28, he's saying, if I put on a happy face and pretend that I'm not in pain, well, my suffering still awakens me. And in verse 28, he says to God, he's speaking to him, I know that you're not going to deliver me from this pain. In verse 29, if I'm condemned, why do I labor in vain? Why do, if I wash myself with snow water, in other words, all of my efforts have left me confused. You see, in reality, he's saying, my goodness is filthy before God and all that is awaiting me is judgment. In Isaiah 64, verse six, it says, we are all as an unclean thing. All our righteousness are as filthy rags and we all do fate as a leaf. Our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And then he says in verse 32, for he's not a man as I am that I may answer him and that we should go to court together, nor is there an mediator between us who may lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me. Do not let dread of him terrify me. Then I would speak and not fear him, but it is not so with me. God is not a man that I can argue with him and win. And I don't have a mediator. I don't have anybody who can take my side and explain it to try and bring peace. I don't have a mediator. I don't have anybody who can take my case before the throne of God, before the great judge and argue on my behalf. I don't have a defense attorney. I don't have an advocate. I don't have anybody who can plead with God on my behalf. But the New Testament once again tells us that that's exactly what Jesus is. He's speaking in the Old Testament sense. I don't have anybody who can plead my cause. But in the New Testament, according to 1 John chapter 2, verse one, John said, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with a father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Listen, an advocate is a defense attorney. That's what he has. Some of us have had defense attorneys. I have, my dad hired one. His name was Stanley Brown. And he practiced out of Beverly Hills. And my dad mortgaged our house to get the best lawyer he could afford. Because when I was 18, I burglarized a jewelry store. I stole some rings. I got caught 30 minutes later. And that was a felony. And I could have done time. And I was 18. And my dad did everything he could to get a defense attorney, Stanley H. Brown. I got Christmas cards for years from Stanley H. Brown. I was hoping that I would break the log and we could hire him once more. I needed an advocate. I needed someone who could stand on my behalf and plead my cause to explain the situation and to find mercy from the judge. Job is saying, I don't have anybody like that. I don't have a mediator. I don't have someone who can stand, plead my case, that I can explain, this is what happened. I don't have that, but we do. You see, we'll see this in the book of Revelation. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren. He's called the accuser of the brethren. The term accuser of the brethren speaks of one who is a prosecuting attorney. And Satan has a list of all of the sins that are observable that you have done. And here's something for you that may sound a little crazy. But you have to remember what spiritual warfare is. And you have to remember that there are billions of angels. We don't know how many there are. We know that there are multitudes upon multitudes and that a third of the hosts of heaven were drawn away in the fall of Satan, that he has authority that he has. He wields an authority in a spiritual kingdom and he has demonic forces, fallen angels that are underneath him. And I have no doubt in my mind but that there are some that have followed our lives, us personally, at least one. And now I'm not going to, I'm not trying to scare you. So when you go to bed tonight, you sleep with the lights on. But I do believe this and I believe, and we'll look at this sometime a little more closely, but he's well aware of what you do. Let me give you one example. He's well aware of what you do. Many years ago, I was at a pastor's conference, true story. Pastor Chuck came up and said, I want, and he began to name guys, Don McClurry, Raul Rees, Mike McIntosh, he named several of the guys. He says, you need to come with me right now. And so these guys got up Raul and the guys got up and walked out. And the rest of us were there. And then Chuck came back and he began to share some things with us. And later on, this is what had happened. We used to go to Twin Peaks up in the mountains and a woman had shown up and somehow the police had gotten involved with her. And the police actually came knowing that there was a pastor's conference and there were a lot of pastors in attendance. And they actually came to Twin Peaks and they said, we need your help because what's going on right now is something we cannot deal with. And that's why Chuck called some of the guys to go with him. And it turns out that there was a woman that was creating a disturbance who was demon-possessed. And the police had the good sense of no, they couldn't handle this. So they came and got pastors. And so as they were walking, Mike McIntosh, they said, this is the woman. Mike put his hand on the woman. Now, just before he did that, the woman saw the men come. And the woman, and these are my friends that I can tell you firsthand, and the woman was looking at the men and began to name their sins. Began naming their sins. You've done this and you do that in front of everybody. Just started naming, naming, naming. Now, I can repeat this because this is open. Karen Johnson at that time, this is many years ago. Karen Johnson and her husband, Jeff, they had married, and he had never confessed to each other that they had children with other people before they got married. They had never confessed that. Karen starts hearing this demonized woman naming sins and Karen told it, she says, so I hid behind people, so they wouldn't name because I didn't wanna be busted in front of Jeff. That's what led her to have to tell Jeff and then Jeff ended up confessing to her and that was all worked out for the glory of the Lord. But at that moment, she said, so the enemy does know about you. You think and I think that we're hiding and we're not. He knows about you and there's some kind of chain of communication. Well, anyway, I ought to tell you what happened, right? Would you like to know what happened? Yeah, what happened? Don't leave us here. Tune in next week. No, Mike put his hand on her shoulder. It was a young woman. He said, she couldn't have weighed 100 pounds. He put his hand on her shoulder as they were walking and Mike said, he said under his breath in the name of Jesus and the minute the name of Jesus, the name Jesus came out, the woman went crazy and she grabbed hold of Mike. Rawl being rawl jumped her. He said, he got on and he put a hold on her and he said, she shook him around like he was a rag doll. He said, she had, she was so overpowering. So he was able to get her knee and put her on the ground and held her down and they were able to calm and then they prayed. And as they prayed, the woman was severely demonized and they cast the demon out of her and she was there in her right mind, a very, very modern version of the men of the Gadarenes. She was in her right mind and after they prayed and she was delivered and she came to faith in Christ, she opened her heart to Christ. She said, she had sacrificed her child to Satan because she was a satanic worshiper. When you hear these stories of Satan worship, some of them are true. Not everyone, sometimes they just write books to try and get gullible people to buy their books but some of them are true and it was true with her and they cast the demon out of that woman and that woman was set free. But the whole point of telling you that story is that the enemy knows things about you and things that can come out later on. God knows the secret things about you and he's washed those things with the blood of Jesus Christ and that is redemption and I bless the Lord for having a mediator who has done that. And so the enemy can come and before the throne of God he can say, how can you say this one belongs to you? This one's a liar, this one's a thief, this one's a drug and this person's violent. This is a person who's immoral. How can you say that? They have done this, they have done this. That's what a good prosecuting attorney can do. They plead the case and you're guilty and you're standing there fully guilty. I've done that, yes I've done that, yes I've done that. And you're just there guilty and then Jesus steps up and says, dad I have something to say, that one belongs to me. Their sins have been washed and they are as clean as a newborn baby without a single sin because they gave their heart to Jesus Christ. We have a mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous and we are not guilty. And that is something that we need to remember. The Bible says there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And that's why Job didn't have that knowledge yet, but we do. And when the enemy comes and whispers to you what a sinner you are, all you need to do is ask your defense attorney to take the case. And guess what Jesus will do? Not guilty. Wash with my blood, belongs to me, new creation, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new because of Jesus Christ. Never forget that. Never forget that.