GOD OF THE MONSTERS
Job 40,41
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?
1. For the umpteenth time Vickii Youngston went to her pastor to tell him, "I'm so scared! Joe says he's going to kill me if I keep coming to your church!"
2. "Vickii, this is a common trial" replied the pastor, more than a little tired of hearing this over and over. "Many times husbands say things they don’t really mean. Vickii, I’m sort of surprised you don’t have more faith in the Lord! Don’t you believe He will watch over you?"
3. "Yes, Pastor. He’s kept me safe thus far, only....." "Only what?" "Well, now he says if I keep coming to your church, he's going to kill YOU!"
4. "Well," said the Man of faith & power, "That’s a different thing. It’s probably about time you checked out that little church on the other side of town!"
B. MANKIND’S INFATUATION WITH MONSTERS
1. Ancient mariners – feared the giant squids & sea monsters (which explained why ships disappeared).
2. The Greeks and Romans – dreamed up Cyclops and the various offspring of the gods, many of which were monsters.
3. Monster flicks of our time:
a. Frankensteins, Werewolves,
b. Giant Spiders, Ants, etc.
c. King Kong, Godzilla, Sci-Fi Monsters,
d. “Attack of the Giant Woman!”
4. Many other things have been referred to as monsters – hurricanes, larger animals when mad, “monster trucks” and even roller coasters.
5. But did you know that (in the Bible) God even talks about REAL MONSTERS, and relates them to something we have to deal with on a regular basis…
C. TEXT
40:9 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? 15 “Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you…17 Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit. 18 Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron. 19 It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.
41:1“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope? 9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering. 10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me? 11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. 15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together; 16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between. 17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted. 18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn. 19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. 20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. 21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth. 22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it. 24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. 25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing. 26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. 27 Iron it treats like straw 29….it laughs at the rattling of the lance. 30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it…33 Nothing on earth is its equal—a creature without fear. 34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.” Job 41:1, 9-11, 15-34.
D. THESIS
1. Why did God bring up these terrible Monsters? What is God trying to say to Job? We’re going to see that God was actually making an analogy between trials and monsters.
2. So our subject this morning is, “God of the Monsters” and we’re going to see why God allowed such animals to exist on the Earth.
I. JOB’S TERRIBLE TRIALS
A. JOB’S LOSSES
1. Job 1:13-19; “13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
2. All Job’s possessions (workers, flocks, herds) were stolen and destroyed and his 10 children were all killed!
Yet the Bible tells us that Job endured all this Stoically.
3. Job 1:20-22; “20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
4. NEXT, JOB LOST HIS HEALTH. “7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. 9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. Job 2:7-10.
B. EMOTIONAL IMPACT
1. But it wasn’t long until Job began to feel the emotional impact of these events:
a. His world turned dark;
b. He lost his hope;
c. He sank into depression;
d. Everything became confusing, disordered, and his understanding of things was shaken.
2. He began to question:
a. If God was really in control or not;
b. Questioned God’s Justice – ‘Does God really reward the righteous and punish the wicked?’
c. He experienced a Loss of Faith in God.
C. WE CAN LIKEWISE BE AFFECTED
1. OUR TRIALS:
-Loss of Job -Health problems
-Marital problems -Trouble at Work
-Prob. w/ Kids -Drowning in Sea of Debt
-Death of Spouse/Child
2. We may feel:
a. There is no hope left of recovery;
b. God has failed or forgotten them;
c. Many feel emotional paralysis
3. HUMOR. When we’re kids, one of our greatest fears was a possible sound under the bed. When you become an adult, your greatest fear becomes a possible sound under the hood of your car!
4. ILLUSTRATION
a. A business man was with on an airport shuttle heading to his connecting flight when the bus driver was radioed to “hold in place.” It looked like he might miss his flight, and his business trip be jeopardized.
b. He exploded at the driver, insisting he ignore his orders or “risk the wrath of a lawsuit.” Just then an airline employee came running up carrying a briefcase.
c. Looking at the angry businessman, the airline employee triumphantly held up the briefcase. “You left your briefcase. I knew how important it was to your meeting, and so I held up everyone else to get it to you!”
d. ARE YOU DELAYED FROM SOMETHING? GOD’S FAVOR/MERCY MAY BE THE REASON! [DB 7-3-16 Randy Kilgore]
5. Job and his friends spent the majority of this book disagreeing about these issues/ feelings.
6. THEN A DECISIVE THING HAPPENED!
II. GOD APPEARED TO JOB and FRIENDS
A. TEXT
1. Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm [KJV – whirlwind]. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. 4 “Where were
you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” Job 38:1-7.
2. When everyone else has had their say, God suddenly appears in a tornado to put an end to the argument.
3. This is a picture of the Final Judgment, “Where every mouth will be stopped and the whole world be held accountable to God” Rom. 3:19.
4. We all have our opinions, but one day we’ll have them before God and He will set the record straight.
B. GOD INTRODUCES TWO MONSTERS
1. IDENTITY OF THE TWO MONSTERS:
a. BEHEMOTH(40:15) – poss. hippopotamus/ elephant?
Both unlikely because verse 17 says it has a “tail like a (Lebanon) cedar tree.” Sounds like a sauropod dinosaur. [That dinosaurs and humans lived simultaneously is proved by the many joint footprints, worldwide, & by ancient human pictographs of dinosaurs. Sorry, Darwin!
[Dino Pictograph- In 1879, E.L. Doheny, a prospector, discovered a dinosaur carving in the Hava Supai Canyon in northern Arizona. Human/Dino footprints- Paluxy River in Glen Rose Texas runs through the middle of Dinosaur Valley State Park, famous for its dinosaur tracks. Human tracks have also been found in the same formation, in some cases overlapping. Excavations in 1969 found 14 human footprints with at least 134 dinosaur tracks.]
b. LEVIATHAN (41:1) – poss. crocodile? Unlikely for many reasons. Many cultures tell of a giant fire-breathing reptile. It’s chemically possible — see the bombardier beetle. Some dinosaur’s skulls have been found with unusual chambers connected to their sinuses. So history, anatomy & chemistry say it’s possible. (vss. 9,15,19,25,33- not a crocodile!)
[Bombardier beetles mix 2 deadly chemicals in a chamber which causes an explosion, ejecting boiling hot gases onto predators. Up to 20 explosions are possible in each.]
2. MAIN POINT: THESE 2 MONSTERS ANALOGOUS OF LIFE’S TRIBULATIONS
a. Overwhelming, seem gigantic;
b. Rampage through your life;
c. Unable to control them.
(God teaches us a lesson…)
III. THE LESSON OF THE MONSTERS
God uses these monsters to show Job how to rise above his troubles. He teaches 3 main truths:
A. YOU CAN’T CONTROL THE MONSTERS
1. God intentionally made them superior to what you can handle by yourself. Likewise, God has fashioned some trials for you that are too big for you to ‘go alone.’
2. First step will be: Go to God and acknowledge your inability to handle the trial.
3. Your job situation, marriage, health, kids – you can’t handle it, you need help!
4. But you won’t get help unless you acknowledge your need. All your efforts, attempts to persuade, efforts to manipulate – will not work!
B. ACKNOWLEDGE GOD’S ULTIMATE CONTROL
1. Just as it’s easy for God to handle these monsters, so it’s easy for Him to handle our trials.
2. No matter how dark the situation, there’s a Living God who can and will turn it around!
3. Step 2 is to Seek Him & acknowledge His ability.
C. MY LIFE IS NOT OUT OF ORDER. GOD DOES HAVE A PLAN
1. God allows difficulties to draw us closer to Him.
2. Like the 3 Hebrews in furnace, God doesn’t always keep us from the afflictions, but He delivers us out of them! “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all” Ps. 34:19.
3. Trials are opportunities for God to work more directly in our lives. Job said this was the first time he’d directly encountered God!
4. Trust God to ultimately resolve your problems. We need to arrive at the confidence of the Psalmist, “They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” (112:7). That’s God’s goal – that we know Him & trust Him.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A recent article was titled, “178 Seconds to Live.” It chronicled the results of 20 pilots in a simulator. Each of the pilots were skilled aviators, but had never trained in a simulator.
2. As long as the weather was good, they were all experts in flight. But the simulator was programmed to introduce dangerous weather patterns to enhance their training. The pilots were told to keep their planes under control.
3. All 20 pilots lost control of their planes and crashed in an average of 178 seconds. All 20 pilots were very capable in GOOD weather, but couldn’t survive 3 minutes in BAD weather!
4. When storms hit our lives, we need much more than conventional wisdom and gut-level intuition; we need an all-wise God to help give us stability to survive the ordeals.
5. God’s Word is the treasured flight manual you need and hearing from God in prayer will give you the confidence you need to stay the course [McHenry’s Stories, no. 89].
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you are facing some of LIFE’S MONSTERS? GOD IS THE GOD OF THE MONSTERS!
2. In the end, God restored Job’s fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (42:10). He will do the same for you!
3. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” Rom. 8:28.
4. How many are facing a trial? How many need a miracle from God, or for God to intervene? Raise your hand. Stand up & come forward.
5. How many need a spiritual connection between you and God? Raise your hands. Come forward. Prayer for salvation and prayer of surrender to God and ask Him to take charge of our lives & give us grace.
[The inspiration for this message came from David Wilkerson’s message of the same title.]
