Job 38:25–27
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Good evening, church. Today, our study will be focused on Job 38, 25 through 27. I ask that you please turn your Bibles to that text so that we can read it in a few moments. But I first want to take you back to the year 1969, a time long before many of you were born. I was eight years old, and that, my friends, was the last time that I was on stage behind a pulpit in a Baptist church. 1969 was a much different time today than it was I mean 1969 was a much different time from today but fashion such as flat tops burr haircuts beehive hairdos Bermuda shorts that men wore with black socks and wingtip shoes as well as elephant leg bell bottoms and hip huggers these were the thing and i know a lot of you don't know what that is so ask anyone over the
age of 60 and they can fill you in after the sermon socially things were changing as well the country had hippies the love the peace and protest movement was in full swing the united states was at war in vietnam neil armstrong landed on the moon richard nixon was president and in this very month of december our church mid lane park baptist church on 6 Mile Lane was forming the Kids Kingdom Choir for the annual Christmas program. I had successfully dodged that choir for a few years, but this year my parents forcefully drafted me in.
I was horrified at the fact that I had to get on stage and sing with other kids in front of the church. I was not a happy camper, but as duty required, I went to the Wednesday night evening choir practices. Our church also had an adult choir that sat on the stage right behind the pulpit every Sunday, and they usually sang a hymn with or without a soloist. And the congregation for this particular song would not join in, we would just sit and we would listen. As Providence would have it, the following Sunday, the adult church choir was singing and Mrs. Coates was the main soloist. As I watched them sing with the golden robes on and listened to Miss Coates with that jet black hair belt out the solo, the imagination of an eight-year-old boy went wild.
When they finished, there was hand clapping and amens throughout the church. I then realized that I would be up on stage in a couple of weeks with that golden robe on as well. I would be singing at the top of my lungs and my parents would be on the front row taking photos with that Kodak Instamatic flash camera. This would be glorious. Well, everything happened as I envisioned. When we finished singing, the hand clapping was loud, the flash bulbs were blinding, and parents were on the front row of the church with big smiles.
I was magnificently standing on the stage in all of my glory. Well, when the show was over, we had to exit the stage, and the stage had steps down both sides just like this. And as we were exiting down, my golden robe was about three inches longer than me. So when I hit the first step, I stepped on the hem, And down I went, and I face-planted right about there in front of my parents.
Well, I was horrified, to say the least. And my glory had vanished in just a moment. And I was actually very scared my mother was going to come up and give me a hug in front of everybody. But anyway, my glorious moment was over. My feet were knocked out from underneath me. My glory that was as high as ever, just a moment ago, was done. But let me tell you, brothers and sisters, the glory of the God we serve never fades, never goes dark, and never takes a break.
God's glory surrounds us on all fronts and can be seen in our every waking moment. His creation reveals His glory, which is the main theme of our lesson tonight. In the book of Job, Job is seen as a blameless man before God. He is listed as the greatest of the people of the East, and yet Satan has asked to test this man of faith. In this test, Job loses his children, his riches, most of his friends, and his health.
His wife even told him to curse God, but he refused and remained faithful. His friends told him his sin is what put him in this state, and all that he had to do was repent and turn from his sin, and he would be restored. Job was confused. He knew he had not sinned as his friends told him, and if he could only have his day in court with God, he would prove to God that he was a just man, and therefore he would be vindicated. He could not understand why the righteous suffer and the wicked people prosper. Job cannot understand the ways of God. Finally, in chapter 38, God answers Job out of a whirlwind. And I love verse 3, when God says to Job, dress for action like a man. I will question you and make it known to me, and you make it known to me. Then God goes on to share his glory with Job by asking him questions. Don't we all wish we could
have a front row seat with God himself in his school of wisdom when the schoolroom presented here is the heavens and the earth. God speaks of creating the foundations of the earth, the stars, the sea, the clouds, day and night. He then asked Job if he has ever been to the deep sea recesses or has he seen the gates of death? Job, have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or do you know the way to the place that light and wind comes from? Job is astounded while God explains his glory and his creation, which now brings us to our verses. 25 through 27.
Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass. My two points to our lesson are, God's glory is revealed in his creation. God brings forth life from nothing. Psalms 19, 1 and 2 states, the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals his knowledge jeremiah 32 17 says ah lord god it is you who have made heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm nothing is too hard for you as god states in job he asked
who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is? Everything seen and unseen moves by the sustained will of our creator. Just take a moment and think of the endless expanse of the heavens, sun, moon, and stars. In 1930, only 92 years ago, man discovered Pluto.
Today, in modern science, we have expanded our view that there are approximately 170 billion galaxies that we know of. What do you think man will discover next? Will we discover that space is infinite, just as our creator? I wonder. Now, if you take these 170 billion galaxies and consider this to be the size of the earth and you then consider our galaxy to be the size of our church and planet earth as a fly flying in the sanctuary with eight billion souls living on it flying through space at 67 000 miles per hour perfectly spaced 93 million miles from the sun then you can start to understand a little bit more of God's glory we love to see his glory in his creation and we do see a lot of it but in reality we only see a speck his glory is infinite
and one day we will see his full glory and we will also be astonished God's glory is also proclaimed on earth. I love to get out in nature. The outdoors is a special place for me. When you are there, you can see all of his glory in it. Do you know you can see Denali standing tall in all of its glory 150 miles away? That's the same distance from here to Nashville.
When you see a stand of virgin timber and the trees are 20 foot in diameter, you can imagine God's wonderful creation as it was meant to be. When you gaze at the Rocky Mountains from the window of an airplane, you get a glimpse of the power God used to create that range. And when you watch a nature program, something as simple as that, and learn about all the creatures that he has created with all their special adaptive features, You can only marvel at the imagination of our wonderful creator.
This creation did not happen by chance. It was created by our great designer. My father is 86 years old, and he can tear up most any time over something a lot of people would seem to think would be very trivial. Even his email address is J. River Jordan, Because he can cry with tears like the River Jordan flows with water. I asked him, what was the reason he got so teary-eyed so often?
He simply stated that as he has grown in God's grace, as he has aged, he sees his glory all around him. And that chokes him up. Well, God's glory is also proclaimed in us. We are his image bearers on earth, and he communicates his glory through us as well. At our church and in our daily lives, we see that. When we see how our congregation prays and cares for each other, we not only see his glory, we proclaim it.
When we sing, we proclaim his glory, and we do that well. When we confess our sins, we glorify him. When we forgive others and give thanks to him, we proclaim his glory. When we read and study his word, we glorify him. I ask you, do you make these acts a part of your daily life? Or is it just a hit or miss application? I would encourage you to step into daily prayer and study.
As we grow older, we accumulate what I call battle scars of life, and you can see these manifested in older people. You have a choice to grow better as you age, or you can say to the Lord, I am one day closer to you, Lord, and I know with the utmost confidence, I will one day be in your full presence, surrounded by all of your glory. So where do you stand? Are you bitter in life because of your battle scars?
Or do you live a life of joy knowing that your Lord, your Savior, loves you, cares for you, and will never lose you? Our trials bring us closer to home, but as we age, we get to a point where we long to go home. My Christian grandmother was 94 when she passed away. She had a great outlook on life and loved the Lord to the end. She told me, right before she died, that she was ready to go home.
She told me that she had more people on the other side, and she was ready to see her Lord. Again, where do you stand? Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Are you ready to go home? God's creation attests not only to a creator, but to his unending glory. His son, Jesus Christ, is his ultimate glory. And this, as Christians, is what we cling to.
Through Christ, he brings forth life from death. And this brings me to my second point. God brings forth life from nothing. Again, God asks Job, and I'll paraphrase, who brings rain on land where there is no man? to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass. Our God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, brings forth life to all men, who before knowing him were nothing but desolation and waste.
His glory is manifested in his saved people. Ephesians 2, 1 through 5 states, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air and the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind we as God stated in Job were a waste and a desolate land with no life but let me continue God said being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ
it's by grace that you have been saved god in his mercy gave us his son jesus christ who came to this earth to live with us teach us die for us and be the perfect sacrifice for us all you have to do is believe this and then put your faith and trust in him as your lord and savior he alone can raise you from death to life if you have not done this in your life today or if you have questions about your salvation i would encourage you to talk to a pastor or church member tonight before you leave god told moses in exodus 33 20 through 23 you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live and the Lord said behold there is a place by me where you can stand on the rock and while my glory passes I will put you in a cleft of the rock I will cover you with my hand
until I have passed by then I will take my hand away and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen we can only see a small part of god's glory today but we when we are finally in his presence we will see him in all of his glory and our response will be in praise to his glory the hymn amazing grace written in 1772 verse 4 sums it up well when we've been there 10 000 years bright shining as the sun we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun Amen. Glory to God Let us pray Our Father in heaven your majesty and glory is displayed all around us thank you for sharing your glory with us in your son Jesus Christ who brings us from death to life and we thank you for sharing
your glory with us in your Holy Spirit, who is always with us until the end of the age. Amen.