Job Refutes Zophar's Rebukes

Job chapter 21 Job chapter 21 is the halfway point of the book of Job Good thing is that we are more than halfway through our series This is the 19th sermon in the book of Job There are 11 more after tonight, okay? And then we will be done with the book of Job at the end of May That's the plan And so as we study the scriptures we realize that God has so much for us but the halfway point speaks volumes to us about our responsibility, not just to one another, but to the Lord And we'll show you that here in just a moment But Job is a relentless individual He has lots of resiliency

He doesn't back down He's not a weak man, he's a very strong man Yes, he's very frail physically, but mentally he is strong Spiritually he is strong He's able to withstand criticism He's able to withstand accusations, false accusations He's able to withstand the innuendos they place his way He's unlike any other man in the scriptures And hopefully after 19 sermons you have learned to see him as a great hero If not, I have 11 more to convince you that he is the greatest hero in the scriptures

Because he does things that no other man does and handles things that no other man handles in such a way that it brings glory and honor to God His friends do not let up They become more harsh They become more direct They become more blunt as time goes on And yet he's able to withstand all those blows because of his trust in the living God It's a good lesson for us because so many times we can succumb to the blows and we can be destroyed emotionally, but Job wasn't And as we read tonight and understand more of Job, hopefully you'll be able to see that even all the more

But they were becoming more harsh in their comments simply because they would not agree or he would not agree with their assessment of the situation That he is wicked He has secretly committed wicked sins And because he has, God has judged him Well, Job is going to refute all that tonight He's going to refute everything that Zophar said last week And as he does, he's going to give a plea to the men From that plea, he's going to give them three points And from those points, he's going to give them a perception as to what is happening all around them

And Job's going to explain to them something they might not want to hear, but he's going to explain it to them anyway So first of all, his plea, he says in verse number one, Then Job answered, Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your way of consolation Bear with me, that I may speak, that after I have spoken, you may mock Bear with me Listen carefully Listen diligently Listen patiently Why does he say that? Because they haven't listened And they would be the first to tell you that they sat there and listened to him speak But they didn't hear what he had to say

Because they never offered any solutions or answered any questions that Job had So they really, truly weren't listening because they had a preconceived idea They had their own agenda that they wanted to push on Job And so you've been around those kind of people who have their own agenda that when they ask you a question, they're not really asking you a question for information They're just going to tell you what they think anyway Because in the back of their mind, they've already conjured up what it is they believe And you're not going to convince them otherwise

And these were Job's three friends They were convinced in their mind that Job was wrong, that Job was a sinner, that Job was wicked And this is why he has lost everything, including his health But he's too stubborn to admit it He's unrepentant in his heart And therefore God has judged him But that's not true He's a God-fearing man He's an upright man He's a blameless man And the Scripture testifies to that And so Job says, if you guys would just listen for a moment, just listen very carefully and very patiently Those are good words for us because, you know, we don't listen very patiently

And we don't listen very diligently or carefully And that's because we have an agenda You know it You get an argument with your wife, right? She's speaking to you And you're not listening to what she says because you already know what you're going to say before she even says it Because it doesn't make any difference what she says You have a preconceived idea as to what has taken place And you can't wait to spew forth your intelligence so she can understand your situation But she doesn't Because you didn't listen to her That's what the Bible says in 1 Peter 3, 7

Husbands, live with your wife in an understanding way That is the most impossible verse in all the Scripture Live with your wife in an understanding way It never says, wives, live with your husbands in an understanding way It never says that Because, you see, they understand They're really good listeners But as men, we don't really listen very well And these men didn't listen at all But listen, even halfway through the book, it's a good reminder, I told you this on Sunday, that we need to be good listeners Not just to the people talking to us

Because, you know, you've talked to people and you know whether or not they're really listening to what you're saying or not, right? And just because these three men were around Job, doesn't mean they heard what he said Obviously, they never answered the question that he had They couldn't answer it intelligently or with wisdom because they had their own agenda That's why they go off on these tangents every time they have a conversation But yet, it's so important for us to realize that listening is so important God gave you one mouth and two ears

So you can listen twice as much to what you speak But it's so important in listening to the Word of the Lord because Job's argument here is Scripture It's God inspired And so in listening to the words of Job, you're listening to the words of God And we need to listen very patiently and carefully Have you heard the story about the preacher who came and gathered his church together on Sunday morning and said, look, okay, listen He read to him Ecclesiastes chapter 5, verse number 1 that when you come to the house of God, you come and you draw near to listen

He says, look, if you're here today and you're not willing to listen to what God has to say, I want you to leave right now You got to go because God's going to speak to you through His Word And if you're unwilling to listen to what God has to say, you need to leave right now. A third of the audience got up and walked out He said, okay, now, if you're here and you are here to listen because evidently those people left because they weren't willing to listen

You're here to listen but if you're not willing to do what God says after you've heard it, without question, without hesitation, and without reservation, you have to go Leave now You don't need to be here You're wasting your time and my time Another third got up and walked away So there was a third of the audience left He says, listen, you're here simply because you want to listen and you want to hear what God says That means you are here because you really want to be blessed The other people, they weren't in for a blessing

How do we know that? He took them to the book of Luke, the 11th chapter, when it says in verse 27, while Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast at which you nursed But he said, oh, on the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it Those are the blessed people And so the preacher said to the people in the audience, he said, you're the blessed ones because you're here to listen and you're here to obey without reservation, question, or hesitation

And therefore, God says, you'll be blessed And it's so true that we need to be able to understand what God has said in his word and listen very carefully And you know, we need to listen very quickly You remember the verse in James chapter 1, verse number 19, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slower at becoming angry We like to use that verse, James 1, 19, in the course of conversation It has nothing to do with conversation Nothing at all It has everything to do with the word of God because the verses before it talk about being born again through the word of God

And then it says in verses 20 and following, lay aside all filthiness and everything that will keep you from hearing what God has to say James is saying, let every man be quick to the hearing of the word, slow at becoming angry at the word, and even slower at not wanting to do what the word of God says Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slower at becoming angry at the word And we need to be quick listeners Why? Because God's speaking So not only do we listen diligently and carefully and patiently, we listen quickly And you should always, always listen to God's word quietly

The Bible says in Psalm 62, these words, verse number 5, it says, my soul waits in silence for God alone We're to listen to God speak, but we can't do it if we're too busy or too preoccupied We must listen quietly You must listen expectantly Psalm 62, verse number 5, the latter part says, for my hope is from him, from God alone He lives in anticipation of what God's going to say In Acts chapter 10, it was Cornelius who said to Peter, whatever you have to say, say it, because we're here to hear We live in an expectation as to what it is you're going to do And he became the first Gentile convert

And so you begin to understand that God wants us to listen quickly, listen quietly, listen expectantly He wants us to listen openly Psalm 19, verse number, Psalm 119, verse number 18, open my eyes that I might behold wonderful things out of your law You need to be open to what God says, to everything he says There's so many times where we're not open We're closed We're closed-minded You can't afford to be that way when it comes to the word of God We're to listen reverently, 1 Samuel chapter 3, verse number 10 Remember Samuel? He was the great prophet in Israel's time

His very first assignment was what? To listen So he says, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening What made Samuel a great prophet? He listened to what God said So too must we And then Psalm 119, 62 says, at midnight I will rise and give thanks to you for your righteous ordinances We should always listen to God's word gratefully Thankfully We should always be willing to say, Lord, thank you for what you've said Even though it goes against everything you thought you knew, it goes against all that because you want to say, Lord, thank you. I'm grateful for the things you've said

As Job interacts with these men and tells them to listen quietly, put your hand over your mouth, do not speak, just listen Maybe you'll learn something We need to be the kind of people who learn to listen better than we do Because God is speaking to us through his word And so when we listen carefully or diligently, and we listen patiently, waiting for God to speak, when we listen quietly and we're quick to the hearing of the word because we want to listen quickly, you know, all those things begin to add up over time And God speaks to us and God shows us what he wants us to do through his word

So we listen to it and we hear it We do it openly, reverently, gratefully, thankfully, obediently, because Jesus said, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it How about you? Is that the way you are? So Job says to his men very simply, guys, you need to listen He says in verse number three, bear with me that I may speak Verse number four, as for me, is my complaint to man? Nope And why should I not be impatient? My complaint's not about man

My complaint's not even about you guys. I just have a question about what God's doing. A legitimate question. I don't know what's happening. I don't know why I'm in this situation. I wish I knew You can't tell me So you don't have an answer You didn't listen to give me an answer because you don't know the questions I'm asking, but you've yet to give me an answer as to why Verse five, look at me and be astonished and put your hand over your mouth Refrain from saying anything Even when I remember I am disturbed and horror takes hold of my flesh Listen When things are bad, just listen

That's my plea. I want you to hear what I have to say, because what he's going to say is contrary to what Zophar has said and what the other two guys have said That gives us three points he gives That's point number two His points are this Who says the wicked always die young? That's verses seven and sixteen Where's the proof that the godless always suffer calamity? That's verses seventeen and twenty-two In number three, how can you say death always falls hard on the wicked? That's verses twenty-three and twenty-six These are Zophar's points. I want you to listen to what I'm going to say

He begins with who says the wicked always die young? They don't die young He says this in verse number seven Why do the wicked still live? Continue on also and become very powerful In other words, the wicked are not dying young The wicked are living a long time. A lot of righteous men have died young. I think of Robert Murray McShane, who died at the age of twenty-nine Who turned Scotland upside down with the gospel Or William Borden, who died at twenty-five, as a missionary to Egypt Or David Brainerd, who died at twenty-nine, a missionary to the American Indies

And Jim Elliott, who died at twenty-eight, a missionary to Ecuador They were all righteous men, but they all died young So he's saying who's to say that the good live a long time, and the wicked die young? No one said that The wicked live a long time In fact, they even become more powerful, he says He says, they continue also and become very powerful Their descendants are established with them in their sight And their offspring before their eyes Their houses are safe from fear And the rod of God is not on them Think about that The wicked have safe houses They live in a safe refuge

And you know what? God's not punishing them God's not judging them He's letting them live in those houses under the guise of safety You're telling me that I'm suffering because of my wickedness But I'm telling you that no one says that the wicked die young In fact, the wicked live a long time They become very powerful They also become very productive It says in verse number ten, his ox mates without fail His cow calves and does not abort They send forth the little ones like the flock and their children skip about They sing to the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the flute

The wicked people have children who love life, who live life, who are excited about life They're not suffering consequences because of the wickedness of their parents Verse thirteen, they spend their days in prosperity He says the wicked, they're becoming powerful The wicked are becoming more and more productive The wicked are becoming more and more prosperous the longer they live He says they spend their days in prosperity and suddenly they go down to Sheol

In other words, they're not suffering intense anguish because of some sin that's causing them to suffer to the end of time and their death No, they just quietly pass off into eternity They say to God, depart from me We do not even desire the knowledge of your ways Who is the almighty that we should serve him? And what would we gain if we entreated him? They profane the name of God and they profane it outwardly We don't care about God We don't care what God says Who is God? They don't care But they still live They're not dying young The wicked live a long time The wicked become very prosperous

The wicked become very productive The wicked become very powerful, even though they profane the name of God So here you're telling me that the wicked die young because of their sin. I'm telling you no, that's not true They live a long time So he says in verse number 16, Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand The counsel of the wicked is far from me In other words, their prosperity doesn't happen because it's in their hand We talked about this on Sunday, right? Why is a man rich? God makes him rich Why is a man poor? God makes him poor. 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse number 7

So he says their prosperity is not in their hand Do you think that their hand made them to be prosperous? Nope It's under the sovereign control of the living God And so in verse number 17, he gives another point Where is the proof that the godless always suffer calamity? How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Answer, seldom Or does their calamity fall on them? Answer, seldom Does God apportion destruction in his anger? Sometimes Are they as straw before the wind and like chaff which a storm carries away? Sometimes But not always

You say God stores away a man's iniquity for his son, so he's already going to anticipate what they're going to say You're telling me that God will store his iniquity away for his sons His children will suffer because of his wickedness Let God repay him so that he may know it Let his own eyes see his decay Let him drink of the wrath of the almighty For what does he care for his household after him when the number of his months is cut off? He says, you're telling me that if they're not suffering, their children will suffer And they will suffer all kinds of calamity

But you know what? He doesn't care Once he's dead, he doesn't care Wicked people are wicked because they don't care about anybody else They don't care So he begins to answer Zophar's questions and say, listen, people live a long time who are wicked And they live better lives than we live And they're wicked And their children are prosperous and succeed in all kinds of realms And ours don't But theirs do Happens all the time So evidently, Zophar, you're wrong So you get down to verse number 22

In verse number 22, he answers this question, how can you say death always falls hard on the wicked? How can you say that? Can anyone teach God knowledge? And that he judges those on high? One dies in his full strength Being wholly at ease and satisfied, his sides are filled out with fat, and the marrow of his bones is moist While another dies with a bitter soul, not even tasting anything that is good In other words, he says God controls everything There are some guys who are wicked, and they live the fullest of all lives, and they die rich, they die fat, they die well

And there are some who are bitter, angry, resentful But God's in charge of all those things He's bringing them back to the sovereignty of God, overruling all of man's affairs Because Job believes in God's sovereignty That's why the book's entitled The Suffering of Man in the Sovereignty of the Living God So he says, verse 26, Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them Both the favored and the unfavored Both the wicked and the poor The rich and the poor They're all going to die, and the worms cover them So you go to verse number 27, and this is his perception

Look what he says, Behold, I know your thoughts, and the plans by which you would wrong me. I know your philosophies, I know your ideologies, but they're all flawed They're wrong For you say, where is the house of the nobleman? They're referring to Job Job is a nobleman and Job is a wicked person For you say, where is the house of the nobleman and where is the tent of the dwelling place of the wicked? Referring to Job Where's your house? Job Where's your tent? Job Where's your job? Job Where's your health? Job It's all gone

Have you not asked wayfaring men who do not recognize their witness? In other words, have you asked a traveler? Have you asked anybody who's passing by in our conversation about what they have seen about wicked men and righteous men and the success of the wicked men? Have you asked them? Are you guys the only ones here that know what's going on? Don't you think the traveler knows? He has been out in places you haven't been He knows things that you don't even know Ask him! But you haven't asked him Because you think you know it all For the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity

They will be led forth at the day of fury Who will confront him with his actions? And who will repay him for what he has done? While he is carried to the grave, men will keep watch over his tomb The clods of the valley will gently cover him Moreover, all men will follow after him while countless ones go before him In other words, men are going to die Some die before this guy Some die after this guy But listen, even in his death he is carried to the grave And when he's carried to the grave, there's a eulogy presented And people will speak good things about this guy, even though he was wicked

Because that's what the people do Verse 34 How then will you vainly comfort me? For your answers remain full of lies It was last week they lied Everything they said was false Everything they said about Job was false The things they said about eternity was true But they misapplied it to Job and they slandered Job because they did not want him to think that righteous people suffer Only wicked people do So, that leads us to this question Why is that wicked people have such great success in this life? Because they do Why is it cheaters prosper? Liars prosper

Why is it people who are who are so nasty and live sinful lives feel no effects of their sin, no consequences for their sin? And they get away with so much Why is that? How can that possibly be? You know why that is? It's because our God is a good God That's why It's the goodness of God, it's the kindness of God that leads man to repentance Go back with me if you would to Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 Listen to what Paul says

Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience? Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? Do you think lightly of God's kindness? Do you look down upon God's goodness? See, God is a good God The Bible says in Psalm 119.68 that God is good and does good Listen, everything that's good comes from God Because God is good And He only does that which is good And we miss that The Bible says in Psalm 33 verse number 5 the earth is full of the loving kindness of God The earth is full of the loving kindness of God Psalm 52 verse number 1

The loving kindness of God endures all day long Psalm 145 verse number 9 The Lord is good to all His mercies over all His works The Lord is good to all The Lord is good to every man We forget this You see, God inherently is good When the rich ruler came to Him and called Him a good teacher, Christ asked him, no one's good except God alone So you must be recognizing Me as God because you called Me good No one else is good but only God is In fact, the book of Nehemiah, the ninth chapter says that God is slow to anger and of great kindness Great goodness

Psalm 52 says that the goodness of God endures continually How good is God? Do you think lightly of the kindness, of the patience, the forbearance of God? The forbearance of God deals with the fact that He withholds judgment And not only does He withhold judgment, He is good to those He's withholding judgment from Think about it God was going to destroy the earth and so He gave Noah to them as a preacher of righteousness for 120 years He told Noah that He was going to destroy the earth with a flood but it wouldn't be until 120 years later as He kept building the ark

He kept bringing in wood and putting that thing together It was a testimony to the patience of God, the long-suffering of God Why? Because God is a good God You can't treat lightly the forbearance of God You can't treat lightly the goodness of God, the kindness of God Why? Because it's that goodness that leads man to repentance When God, when man recognizes that God is a good guy, good God because He deserves to die once He's sinned because the wages of sin is death but yet He lives, God doesn't kill them because God's a good God And God allows wicked people to prosper

Why? Because of His goodness They're without excuse He's a kind God He withholds judgment He withheld judgment from Israel for 700 years before the Assyrian captivity. 800 years for Judah in the Babylonian captivity That's a patient God That's a long-suffering God who's willing to wait for people to repent Remember in Acts 17 that God overlooked the times of ignorance but has declared that all men everywhere should repent What did Paul say to the people at Lystra in Acts 14? He said that God did good and gave you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons and satisfied your life

Why? Because He's good Paul said that to the unbelieving city Why do you have rain in your seasons? Why does He satisfy you with good things? Because God is good He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, right? The sun to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous God does all those things because God is a good and loving God because He knows it's His goodness that leads man to repentance So you can't treat lightly the patience and the goodness of God The question never is why do certain people suffer and others die? No

The question always is why does God let anybody ever live? That's the question That's because He's good He's kind Remember 1 Corinthians 13, verse number 4? The love of God is patient The love of God is kind In that whole chapter about love, the definite article appears twice before the word patient and the word kind because it describes a specific kind of love It's the love of God The love of God is patient It's forbearing It bears up under all your resistance, right? And while God does that, His love is kind He keeps bestowing acts of kindness, goodness toward those who rebel against Him

The love of God is patient, forbearing The love of God is kind and good So when you begin to wonder why the wicked prosper so immensely and things go so well for them and their children begin to succeed in life and they have all the good things it's because God is a good God and He's bestowed goodness upon them because He wants them to come to the point of repentance and give their life to Him And yet there are times of warnings Many times of warnings that God puts in Scripture to help you understand that you need to repent because time will run out

In fact, over in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 1 Corinthians chapter 10 Paul says this in verse number 1 For I do not want you to be unaware brethren I don't want you to be ignorant brethren Remember there are seven different times in the Scripture where Paul says I don't want you to be ignorant I don't want you to be unaware I don't want you to be unable to discern what happened here and one of them deals with the sins of Israel You can't afford to be ignorant about Israel's sins so he says that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and that rock was Christ nevertheless with most of them God was not well pleased for they were laid low in the wilderness they died in the wilderness in other words God did all this thing all these things for Israel and yet for the most part he wasn't pleased he laid them low they died verse 6 now these things happened as examples these are illustrations they inform us, they are pictures so we would not crave evil things as they also do not be idolaters as some of them were as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and stood up to play nor let us act immorally as some of them did and 23,000 fell in one day nor let us try the Lord as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer He says listen when it comes to idolatry, when it comes to immorality when it comes to grumbling when it comes to those kind of things don't do that, why? because some people died because of that now think about that we don't put grumbling in the same category as idolatry and immorality, do we? we don't do that, because grumbling is just mumbling, mumbling is just murmuring no big deal, right? immorality, idolatry, that's a big deal, right? God's going to judge that but grumbling, we can do that no you can't because 14,700 people died when they grumbled what God did God killed Dathan, Abiram and Korah killed them and those followers of them and the people began to complain to Moses about what God did they complained to Moses about what God did so you know what God did? God killed 14,700 of them don't complain, don't mumble don't grumble, could you imagine if God killed you every time you grumbled? but why Dathan? he's good he's long-suffering he's patient he's kind but Paul says to those in Korah listen, beware you know about the biggies idolatry and immorality we know about the biggies, you don't do those things, right? but we look at grumbling as something that's very, very small not a big deal but to God it's a big deal because you see they questioned God's sovereign control over man they questioned God's judgment and punishment upon man once he sinned they began to grumble to Moses about that and God said you can't do that don't ever question me don't ever grumble against my sovereignty because you'll pay now he didn't kill everybody just 14,700 of them why? because God is good I told you on Sunday in an essence of fire why did they die? why did they die in the church? they gave to the church, they were givers they gave to the church but they lied about how much they sold their property for that can't be a big deal they're still givers they're still helping the ministry go on but they lied about the proceeds and God killed them both in church and the only reason God doesn't kill you in church is because God is good he's kind he's patient don't treat lightly don't think disparagingly upon the goodness and the kindness of God God bestows goodness on people because he's a good God he's a kind loving God in fact he says take my yoke upon you, learn from me for I am meek and kindly at heart same word used in 1 Corinthians 13 to talk about how God's love is patient and God's love is kind he is kind in his heart he's a good God and the reason we don't die when we sin is because God is such a wonderful patient God we have a hard time understanding those things but it is true listen to Psalm 145 the Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down the Lord his eyes or the eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due time our God sustains the lowly that's what God does because he's so good verse 16 you open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing every living thing you open your hand and you satisfy the longing of every living thing you sustain the lowly of every person guess what you do God you keep them alive you watch over them, you feed them, you take care of them that's what God does because he's a good God that's why it says earlier that they shall utter the memory of your abundance goodness in verse 8 the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, great in loving kindness the Lord is good to all not just his children but to all so we know he sustains the lowly we know he satisfies the longings it says in verse number 18 the Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth he will fulfill the desire of those who fear him he will also hear their cry and will save them our God is so good he sustains the lowly he satisfies our longings and he saves the lost that's how good he is, he doesn't have to but he does it says and the Lord keeps all who love him wow he secures his loved ones that's what God does you see Israel Israel had a problem the Bible tells us in the book of Hosea about our God and how he deals with people's lives Hosea chapter chapter 11 when Israel was a youth, I left him and out of Egypt I called my son the more they called them, that is the more prophets called out to them the more they went from them I love them so much I gave them prophets but the more the prophets called out to them the more they turned around and ran the other way they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols God says I sent them prophets I wanted them to know the truth I wanted them to know the error of their way so I sent them prophets that would tell them about my coming judgment and remember God waited a long time before he sent Israel and Judah into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity we sent the prophets but they were unwilling to listen to what they had to say they kept burning sacrifices or incense and offering sacrifices to Baal yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk I took them in my arms but they did not know that it was I who healed them I led them with cords of a man with bonds of love and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws and I bent down and I fed them, they turned their back on me they rebelled against me they would not listen to their prophets you know what I did? I healed them I went after them I fed them I took care of them because that's what I do then down to verse number 7 so my people are bent on turning from me they are though they call them to the one on high that is the prophets none at all exalts me none none exalts me nobody cares but God was so good to Israel so kind to Israel so patient with Israel when I read what Job says about how the wicked prosper so much the only answer to that is because God is good even to the most vile wicked person there is sometimes they suffer the consequences of their sin right? one day they will suffer the inevitable judgment of God because he will he will condemn them to eternal hell if they don't repent of their sin but they can never say or stand before God on the day of judgment and say well you didn't let me do this or let me do that or you were unkind to me or not good, no no no one no one will have that excuse they are all without excuse because the moment they sin they still continue to live and breathe and God was giving them opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to repent it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance next time you think of somebody who is a friend of yours or somebody that you know at work and they seem to be in all their promotions and all the bonuses and all the money and everything that you're not getting just remember that God is good and does good and don't think lightly upon the kindness and forbearance of God because God is looking to lead them toward repentance yeah there are times that God passes judgment in this life on people, even his own people they suffer grave consequences because of their sin but for the most part that doesn't happen to you and me how do we know that? how many times did you sin today? don't answer that out loud, right? but how many times did you grumble today about something? do you grumble about it's too cold? do you grumble that your bills are too high? do you grumble about your pasture being too long winded? do you grumble about not having enough warm clothes to wear? what do you grumble about? God lets you live you're still here right? that's why you can't ever afford to think lightly of the goodness and the kindness of God go back to Romans chapter 2 again and the apostle Paul says this but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath in revelation of the righteous judgment of God it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance but because of the stubbornness of your heart all this is building up for the day of judgment he says verse 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds to those who by perseverance are doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality what do they get? eternal life but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness what's their end? wrath and indignation God is a holy, just God he does things his way, it's his world okay we're his creation he can do whatever he wants to do he's in charge and if he wants to be good to the wicked man, he'll be good to the wicked man Job has a very good perspective on the prosperity, the productivity and the blessings upon the wicked man even though that wicked man will profane the name of God, speak against God, defy his nature God still is good to him because in the stubbornness of storing up wrath in the day of indignation in the day of righteous judgment and they will pay one day but until that time, God is still letting the sun shine on the unjust letting the rain fall on the unrighteous because as the Psalmist said in Psalm 145 he's good to all not just certain people but he truly is good to all the purpose of God's kindness is not to give man sin or to excuse man's sin, I'm sorry but to convict them of their sin the purpose of the kindness of God is not for God to excuse man because of his sin but simply to convict them of their sin that he might lead them to repentance let's pray Father we thank you for today the opportunity you give us to look into the word of God as Job understands that the wickedness of man flourishes and he begins to prosper become very productive and enjoy life he doesn't die young, oh some do but for the most part they live on you bless their children you protect their homes and they don't even recognize your name they could care less about you but yet you continue to provide goodness to them because that's who you are our prayer Father is that we would see you as a good God no matter what our circumstances or our situation we would see your goodness shine we thank you for those things