Sermons
I Shall Come Forth As Gold
Series: Endurance In Days Of Extremity - The Journey And Journal Of JobI SHALL COME FORTH AS GOLD
Sermon Outline By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / March 26, 2017
Open your Bible to Job 42
Today we bring to a close our study of the text of Old Testament book of Job.
It is an ancient story that still speaks to us today. I would like to think that we know a
good bit more about this cherished document that when we started this sermon series in early January.
While we will wrap up the text today, I am planning to have two postscript sermons that relate to this study.
I will offer these two final Job-related messages on the next two Sundays - - April the 2nd and April the 9th.
I have expressed on several occasions that it has been argued by many that this highly poetical book
was a play - - a theatrical production that may have been dramatized over and over in times past.
Having said that, I feel the need to augment this point by noting that I contend that Job was a real person.
In my opinion the story of Job is not just an allegory or parable that spotlights a fictitious character to teach truth.
I would offer the following citations as evidence that Job was a real-life character.
Job lived in the land of Uz (Job 1:1).
Uz was the brother of Buz.
Gen.22:20-21 indicates that these two brothers were sons born to Milcah & Nahor (Abraham’s brother).
This text confirms that, unlike Oz, Uz was not a make-believe land.
While we have no proof that Job himself was one of Abraham’s relatives, we do know
that Job lived in the land of Uz, a region bearing the name of one of Abraham’s nephews.
In Ezk.14:14 & 20, Ezekiel the prophet mentions Job alongside of Noah and Daniel.
Job’s friends are rooted in history:
Eliphaz is a Temanite (4:1) … Bildad is a Shuhite (8:1) … Zophar is a Naamanthite (11:1) ...
Elihu also appears to be a real-life character (32:2 / the son of Barchel the Buzite, of the family of Ram)
In Job 22:15-16, Eliphaz makes a “historical observation”
in his reference to evil men of the past who were swept away by the flood.
Finally, the 5th chapter of the New Testament epistle of James (the brother of the Lord) refers to the endurance of Job.
In the same context and in a similar way, James refers to the prophets (5:10) … to Job (5:11)… and to Elijah (5:17).
I have entitled this morning’s sermon, I shall come forth as gold.
This declaration comes from the text of Job 23:10 - -
But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
This statement is evidence of Job’s deeply-rooted FAITH.
Even though Job’s journal details his downcast spirit and state of despondency, deep-down
Job believes firmly in the sovereignty of God - - As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives… (Job 19:25a).
While Job may have been blinded by his own high view of himself, He has an abiding TRUST in God’s omniscience.
JOB’S CONFESSION
(Job 42:1-6)
Job had responded to the voice of the Lord earlier.
In chapters 38-39 God speaks to Job, asking him over two-dozen questions.
In 40:1f, God asked Job pointedly: Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
Job answers humbly: Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to Thee? I lay my hand on my mouth…
After a few more questions from God (chapters 40-41), Job answers the Lord with a contrite confession.
I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be ruined.
You asked, ‘Who is this that made My purpose unclear by saying things that are not true?’
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand; I talked of things too wonderful for me to know.
You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak. I will ask you questions, and you must answer Me.’
My ears have heard of You before, but now my eyes have seen You (Job 42:2-5/NCV).
i.e., the eyes of his heart - - cf. Eph.1:18 / I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened…
Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes (Job 42:6/NASV).
GOD’S JUDGMENTS
(Job 42:7-9)
Now that God has penetrated Job’s mind and heart, He turns He attention to Job’s three friends.
The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, ‘My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends,
because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has’ (Job 42:7).
What a shock it must have been for Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar to hear this indictment from the Lord.
While dialoguing extensively with Job, they had prided themselves on their zeal for the Lord and a denunciation of sin.
Now, to their dismay, they hear God Himself accusing them of defaming Him.
We know that Job spoke words that were not accurate (42:3), which leads us to ask, “What did Job’s friends say
that was wrong that Job himself didn’t say?” What did these three men say that God found so offensive?
They had made God out to be a cosmic judge who punished wrongdoers and rewarded the righteous.
The image of God they presented was a distortion, in that it failed to speak of God’s compassion, love and mercy.
In His sermon on the mount (Mt.5:45), Jesus stated,
(God) causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
This same distorted view was advocated by the Jews of the first century.
Paul wrote to them in Rom.2:4, saying - - Do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness,
tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.
In Job 42:8-9, God directs Job’s three friends to: take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams
and go to Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you.
For I will accept him so I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken
of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite
and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job.
We know from the text of the book that Job’s three friends made many false accusations against Job.
God’s judgment here seems to be a vindication of Job’s good and honest heart.
As Samuel the prophet declared, The Lord looks at the heart (1Sam.16:7b).
JOB’S RESTORATION
(Job 42:10-17)
In vs.10 we read that God gave Job twice as much as he had before (in terms of his livestock/property).
When the book of Job open’s (1:3) the text notes that Job possessed:
7,000 sheep + 3,000 camels + 500 yoke of oxen + 500 female donkeys.
Following Job’s confession and restoration (42:12), Job’s possessions double in size, swelling to:
14,000 sheep + 6,000 camels + 1,000 yoke of oxen + 1,000 female donkeys.
Vs.11 notes - - Then all of his brothers, and all of his sisters, and all who had known him before, came to him,
and they ate bread with him in his house … and each one gave him money (a qesitah) and a ring of gold.
We might ask, where were all of these family and friends who Job was down and out?
Someone has joked that there are two sure ways to enlarge your number of friends: win the lottery or own a pickup.
If you noticed I skipped over a portion of vs11 - -
They consoled him and comforted him for all the EVIL the Lord had brought on him.
Using what C.S. Lewis called “baptized imagination” - - that is, speculation based on Scripture,
we can only ponder the “gentle but firm rebuke” that Job might have given them about all of this evil from the Lord.
Don’t you think Job would have used this occasion to share the enlightenment of his heart that he received from God?
cf. Let God Be God by Ray Steadman, pgs.233-234.
Vs.12a states, And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning…
Vss.13-15 reveal that Job and his wife had seven (more) sons and three (more) daughters (cf. Job 1:2).
This might be one reason why some think the book must be just a parable. Can you imagine, raising ten kids twice?
Surprisingly, there seems to be an emphasis on the daughters.
We are given their names (Jemimah, Keziah, Keren-Happuch) and it is stated,
in all the land no women were as fair as Job’s daughters.
We are also told that Job gave them an inheritance along with their brothers, which was unheard of at that time.
Vs.16-17 closes the book by recording - -
After this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his grandsons, four generations.
And Job died, an old man and full of days.
This expression, “full of days”, conveys the idea of contentment and shalom (peace with God).
It is quite possible that Job lived to be about 175-200. Even if Job and his wife married early,
to have had ten children, even in rapid-fire succession, would have surely have placed them in their 40s, if not older, when the events of Job chapter one begin to unfold. If they married at 20 and then had 10 children over 20 years.
After Job’s restoration, God gave Job 140 more years.
This age would be similar to the lifespan of others of this time period:
Abraham lived to be 175 (Gen.25:7 … Isaac lived to be 180 (Gen.35:28) … and Jacob lived to be 147 (Gen.47:28).
I have a few more lessons related to this grand book, but we will save them for the next two Sundays.
