Sermon Tone Analysis

29:1-30:31

Don’t forget to remember!

In his time of darkness, Job remembers: ‘when His lamp shone upon my head, and by His light I walked through darkness’.

When God seems so far away, Job remembers: ‘when the friendship of God was upon my tent; when the Almighty was yet with me’(29:4-5).

What are we to do when ‘the days of affliction come to meet’ us, when our days are full of ‘mourning’ and ‘weeping’(30:27,31)?

We must remember the good times, the happy days.

When you find yourself wondering, ‘Why are these bad things happening to me?’, think of something else - ‘Why has God blessed me with so many good things?’.

This will help you when everything seems so dark, when God seems so far away.

Remember to thank God for His good days.

It will help you to trust Him in your bad days.

31:1-40

For a summary of all that Job says here, we may go back to the very beginning of his story: ‘Job...was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil’(1:1).

He is a fine example of the kind of godly living which Paul made his ideal: ‘I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man’(Acts 24:16).

How many times we fall short of this ideal!

Again and again, we must come to God with our confession of sin .

We ‘have sinned’.

We ‘fall short of the glory of God’(Romans 3:23).

How can our sins be forgiven?

How can our guilt be removed?

There is only one way.

It is through ‘the blood of Jesus’.

Through His blood, ‘our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience’.

Confess your sins to God.

Let ‘the blood of Jesus cleanse you from all sin’(Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 John 1:9,7).

32:1-33:18

‘The Bible is the Word of God’- What do we mean when we say this?

Two statements from Elihu may help us to think about this question.

(a) ‘Understanding’ comes from ‘the breath of the Almighty’(32:8).

(b) ‘God does speak - now one way, now another - though man may not perceive it’(33:14).

‘The breath of the Almighty’- This is where the Scriptures come from: ‘All Scripture is God-breathed’(2 Timothy 3:16).

God has spoken.

He has breathed out His Word.

‘God does speak - now one way, now another’- There is great variety in the Bible.

We have our favourite passages.

Let’s not forget the more obscure and difficult passages - He speaks through ‘all Scripture’: ‘now one way, now another’.

When the doubters fire their questions - remember: ‘God does speak...though man may not perceive it’!

33:19-34:20

Things are going well.

We say, ‘Thank You, God’.

We rejoice in the Lord.

We give praise to His Name.

Everything seems to be going so well - but we need to take care!

In the good times, our praise and thanksgiving can go stale.

We take God’s blessing for granted.

Our rejoicing in the Lord becomes a superficial thing.

Things start going badly.

We blame God.

We say, ‘Where are You, Lord?

What are You going to do about this?’.

What we must remember is this: The Lord is with us - even when we’re going through hard times.

He hasn’t stopped loving us.

He hasn’t gone away and left us.

He is there beside us, every step of the way.

He wants to bring us closer to Himself, to give us this powerful testimony: ‘He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, and I shall live to enjoy the light’(33:28-30).

34:21-35:16

‘If you have sinned’(35:6).

Let’s think about Job, Jesus and ourselves.

(a) ‘Job feared God and shunned evil’(1:1).

He was not being singled out for special punishment - because he was much more sinful than anyone else.

This does not mean he had never sinned (7:21; 13:26).

(b) There is only One Man ‘without sin’- our Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Did this mean that Jesus did not suffer?

No! - ‘He suffered for us...He bore our sins...He died for us...He died for our sins’(1 Peter 2:21-24; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3).

(c) There’s no ‘if’ about it!

When we sin - What are we to do?

Like Job, we must trust in our ‘Redeemer’- the Lord Jesus Christ (19:25).

He gives ‘quietness’ and ‘songs in the night’(34:29; 35:10).

‘Be still and know that He is God.

Shout for joy to Him’(Psalms 46:10; 98:4).

36:1-33

‘God is mighty, and does not despise any’(5).

God is great - great in power, great in love.

How sad it would be if the God of great love had no power to save us!

How terrifying it would be if the God of great power had no love in His heart for us!

What a joy it is to to know that He is both the God of great power and the God of great love!

He is ‘abundant in power’- and He loves us: ‘He heals the brokenhearted and...lifts up the downtrodden’.

What can we say about this God of great power and great love? - ‘Praise the Lord!’.

Let us ‘sing to the Lord with thanksgiving’.

Let us ‘make melody to our God’.

“It is good to sing praises to our God’(Psalm 147:1-7).

‘How good is the God we adore!

Our faithful, unchangeable Friend.

His love is as great as His power and knows neither measure nor end’(Mission Praise, 244).

37:1-24

‘The Almighty is great in power and...He does not oppress’(23).

God’s power is loving power.

His love is powerful love.

In Jesus Christ, we see God’s power - ‘He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him’- and God’s love - ‘I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me’(Hebrews 7:25; John 6:37).

In our world, the love of power has become a very destructive thing.

In Jesus Christ, we see something quite different - the power of love.

He uses His power to show us His love.

He shows us His love when - through His mighty power - He saves us.

As you think of the Lord Jesus Christ - His loving power, His powerful love - , let ‘His love and power control all you do and say’: ‘More love, more power, more of You in my life’(Church Hymnary, 432; Songs of Fellowship, 392).

38:1-38

The Lord has listened long enough!

He’s listened to a lot of ‘empty-headed words’.

He has listened to a long, heated debate.

There’s been a lot of heat and not much light.

Everything seems to be as clear as mud (2).

Now, it’s His time for speaking!

What does God have to say?

He invites Job to look at the bigger picture.

Being preoccupied with our own problems doesn’t really solve anything.

‘Why has this happened to me?

Why did it not turn out that way?

Why this?

Why that?’-

We go round in circles, thinking about these kind of questions.