Even Great Faith Struggles with Hard Truths!
Job 14
Scripture Introduction:
Please turn with me to Job 14. Have you ever experienced a run in with reality? The reality that life is tough and no matter what you do it remains tough… Have you noticed that your body is decaying and you can’t stop it? Job is desperate! He is experiencing one tough life experience and it is not getting any better. We pick up the dialogue in this chapter as Job continues pouring out his complaint directly to God. He is mourning over the nature of life…its inevitable hardships and the fate of man. “What is reality?” Job illustrates the answer in this chapter. We are in Job 14.
Introduction:
Luis Palau, "Experiencing God’s Forgiveness", Multnomah Press, 1984 )
A mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.
"But I don’t ask for justice," the mother explained. "I plead for mercy."
"But your son does not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied.
"Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for."
"Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman’s son.
The reality of our life is that we all have committed offenses against the Living Word of God. Reality faced squarely leaves us in a most miserable position before a holy God. Apart from the intervention of Christ justice requires our death…we as Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans are all found wanting.
PROPOSITION: Because Christ is merciful, you must look to Him for mercy especially during periods of hardship.
Through the lens of hardships Job is able to see the human condition with clarity. The hard facts of human life bring spiritual reality.
Job speaks of man’s life. (14:1-6) …Of man’s death. (14:7-15)
By sin man is subject to corruption. (14:16-22)
Job’s hardships give clarity to the true human condition. This is a “Spiritual wake-up call”.
LAST WEEK we learned because Christ is your Savior, look to Him for hope. What is A FOUNDATIONAL ingredient for this hope? MERCY! We don’t get what we deserve!
Jud 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
“What is reality?”
I. Consider your condition without God’s mercy. 14:1-12, 18-22
The plight of the human race.
A. Your life is frail (1-6).
1. Life on earth is brief (1a, 2).
a. born of a woman – captures our mortality
b. few of days – life is measured in small increments (days).
Isaiah 40:6-8; Ps 103:14-16
Life is a dot on the timeline of eternity.
We know life is short but it seems very long. We live and think as if life will never end. We need to be reminded of this obvious truth which we seem to ignore.
2. Life on earth is full of trouble (1b, 3-6)
General truth is that many days have at least a small amount of turmoil.
a. Man is born at a disadvantage (3).
God greatness – man’s weakness.
No way Job should go to court with Him!
Sin and trouble go together (1b, 3b). Ge. 3:17-19; Acts 14:22
In light of man’s weakness, Job questions the need for God’s continual scrutiny.
God keeps His eye open over this poor child of man, who is a perishable flower, and a fleeting shadow”, to watch for and punish his sins, and brings Job to judgment before himself, His tribunal which puts down every justification.
Psa 143:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. David
b. Man is born sinful (4).
He belonged to a race that was sinful and depraved. Connected with such a race, how could it be otherwise than that he should be prone to evil? Why then did God follow him so unrelenting? Why did he treat him as if he ought to be expected to be perfectly pure, or as if it were reasonable to suppose he would be otherwise than unholy?
Man is a sinner; and that it could not be expected that anyone of the race should be pure and holy.
Psa 14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
c. Man is born with a fixed amount of time (5-6).
It is firmly fixed (5).
It should at least be allowed to be completed (6).
Job believes God is bringing all this suffering and wants a break before his life is over.
his life was like that of an hireling,
B. Your death is final (7-12).
Compares human life to plant life.
1. Some plant life has hope of regeneration (7-9).
Because of its root system.
2. Man has no hope of regeneration (10-12).
Job knew nothing about the “shoot” that would arise from the “stump of Jesse” Isa 11:1.
a. the destiny of man (10)
“When you’re dead, you’re dead”
Death is implacable (relentless, can not be appeased) and
decisive in this world).
Yahwist teaching of the day on afterlife:
“Sheol” the abode of the dead – was a murky limbo of a place, cold and forbidding Ps 88:10-12 – David described “darkness” and “oblivion”.
ILLUSTRATION:
Improbability of returning to life as that of a large body of water (sea) would dry up or a major river would run dry.
b. no second chances for man (11-12)
Job sees no possibility for an individual to be brought back from the dead and given a second life on earth in compensation for having some unjust suffering.
C. Your future is hopeless (18-22).
1. Hope perishes in light of God’s action (18-20).
With unsparing severity, and beyond the measure of my guilt, you caused me to suffer punishment for my sins.
You should rather be gentle and forbearing towards me:
-- the firmest, strongest, and most durable on earth cannot withstand ultimate destruction;
-- the weak, frail man meets an early certain end, without hope of a continued existence.
a. Nature is overpowered by destruction (18-19).
The point of the four illustrations is that in spite of their stability they are overwhelmed by destruction, and that irrecoverably. Even the most durable things cannot defy decay, and now even as to mortal man - Thou hast brought his hope utterly to nought. All at once, suddenly - death, the germ of which he carries in him even from his birth, is to him an end without one ray of hope, - it is also the death of his hope.
Like the landscape his hope has been affected by the forces of destruction.
b. Man is overpowered by God (20).
God gives him the death-stroke which puts an end to his life for ever, he passes away (comp. Job_10:21); disfiguring his countenance, (in the struggle of death and in death by the gradual working of decay, distorting and making him unlike himself), He thrusts him out of this life (20).
2. Hope perishes in light of post-death life (21-22).
a. mental suffering -- sadness of his own soul
he is overwhelmed with his own condition
“Nothing but pain and sadness is the existence of the dead; he has therefore no room for rejoicing, nor does the joyous or sorrowful estate of others, though his nearest ones affect him”.
he is unaware/unconcerned about relatives
b. physical suffering
the pain of his own flesh
Only on his own account does his flesh suffer; he has no knowledge and interest that extends beyond himself; only he himself is the object of that which takes place with his flesh in the grave.
ILLUSTRATION
Thomas Hobbs “The life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
William Shakespeare in MacBeth, “Life is a tail told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”
Solomon, the wisest man that has ever lived summed up life in a similar way…all is vanity… what profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh:…the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing…therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
Application:
These facts have their place: 1) life is frail, short and full of trouble (in decay), 2) the finality of death is sure; there is no regeneration/reincarnation, 3) let to himself man is pitiful and insignificant.
These hard truths are not hard for the honest observer to see. Job shows that they can be put to good use, for the good of our own souls. Job’s hard reality brought on a rush of spiritual awareness. It seems he realizes that all his hope comes down to the mercy of God.
Face the truth – We have an inherent tendency to be absorbed in and focus on the things of this world. Based on these facts is foolish to put or invest your hope and happiness in this world.
Respond to these truths which we may easily forget and rearrange your priorities.
1) Gratification in life is only found in Christ – all other gratification is temporary!
New car, new home, marriage, friendships, etc.
2) Truly what is most important in life is then to be more spiritual which leads to hope and joy.
3) Therefore, forsake the world’s goods for the good of the world – seek Christ and spread this message.
Job longs for the presence of God and His saving mercy. Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Job responded to these truths when he looked to God for mercy…by the way he foundit…and declared, “For I know my Redeemer liveth..”. He knew this experientially.
“What is reality?” Man needs God’s mercy daily…
Transition Statement: Reality forces one to consider the end of man without God’s mercy and also because Christ is merciful, you must consider the end of man with God’s mercy.
II. Consider your condition with God’s mercy. 14:13-17
The possibility of relief for the human race.
The steel nerve imbedded in the life of a believer doesn’t allow him to compromise his integrity despite his circumstances. Job perseveres on the path of seeking God while he holds on to his integrity. Mercy opens up the avenue for true hope and comfort in the promises of God.
A. The suggestion of a resurrection (13-15).
So Job wishes that Hades, into which the wrath of God now precipitates him for ever, may only be a temporary place of safety for him, until the wrath of God turn away.
A resurrection…a desirable possibility, - which, if it were but a reality, would comfort him under all present suffering:
1. Job’s desire to avoid God’s wrath (13).
a. An appeal for mercy surfaces.
b. Hide me from your wrath which I am experiencing.
2. Job’s desire to be resurrected (14).
a. Will man live again?
No biblical teaching of a bodily resurrection in his day.
b. Job’s anticipation for change (14).
the following after, relief, change, here of change of condition, v.14
the natural loving relation between the Creator and His creature would again prevail
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
The idea is that there was great mercy shown them in the fact that they were renewed. They had no claim to the favor, and the favor was great.
It was not cold, inoperative, dead; it was that which was vital to their welfare, and which was active and powerful.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the foundation of our hope; it was a pledge that all that is united to him will be raised up.
Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Joh 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
Job had this hope of change to glory (resurrection) because He believed by faith.
3. Job’s desire for fellowship with his Maker (15).
Job 14:15 You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
Job gropes and is tentative with his answer.
I know that my Redeemer lives…(19:25-26).
B. The suggestion of forgiveness (16-17).
Job 14:16 For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;
Job 14:17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
1. The reality of man’s sin (16). Romans 5:12
a. Death is both the consequence and evidence of sin.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
b. Sin and death are eternally bound together.
Job possibly looking to the future state of glory.
2. The hope of forgiveness (16-17).
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
a. current sin hinders our fellowship with God.
b. future fellowship in glory will be unhindered.
Job’s desire for a life after death is maintained; but he is at once overwhelmed by the imagined inevitable and eternal darkness of Sheôl,
Salvation raises us to a higher perspective of hope and joy.
True life is not a matter of outward appearances but of the condition of the soul.
The rush of spiritual awareness…to know the true God and to place our hope in Him by faith is all that matters. Everything else in life only holds disappointment. Christ must be our all in all.
Rejoice in the Lord always…again I say rejoice.
Conclusion:
“What is reality?”
It is the consideration of the end of man… both with or without God’s mercy!
Remember the mother who approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. Jesus paid for your pardon and mine.
"Don’t ask for justice," the mother plead for mercy.
"Her son did not deserve mercy," Napoleon replied. Neither do you!!!!!
"Sir," the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for."
"Well, then," the emperor said, "I will have mercy." And he spared the woman’s son.
IF ALL GOD EVER GAVE YOU WAS MERCY…YOU OUGHT BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL…IT KEEPS YOU OUT OF HELL.
If God must strip us naked (AS He did Job) for us to learn this truth, we are better off.
The GOSPEL IS GOOD NEWS!!!! Jesus paid it all….all to Him I owe…Why? I am a daily benefactor of His mercy…every moment of every day throughout all of eternity… If at any time God’s mercy is removed, I am bound to pay my sin debt.
Life is short and only getting shorter. Consider how important each day is…The palmist said, “teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
God is sovereign! Live by faith one day at a time. Redeem the time! Don’t be overly troubled…fix your eyes upon Jesus…look full into His wonderful face… Ps 90:12
Because Christ is merciful, you must look to Him for mercy especially during periods of hardship.
