Job 42 - 21st June 2026

Amen. Well, good morning. Please take

your Bibles and open them up to the book

of Job. That is the last time I'm going

to say that. Job chapter 42. Please open

Job 42 · chapter mention

up your Bibles to Job chapter 42.

Job 42 · chapter mention

This moment as you get to the end of the

book is always a bittersweet moment. Um,

it's bitter because I realize and

understand I will probably never teach

through the book of Job again in my

lifetime in the way that I have.

Probably not.

It is sweet because the Lord has been

faithful

through verses and chapters. week after

week we have met with God and he has

spoken to us. And what a privilege it

has been for me uh to be in the study

and prayer and study through this word

and I hope it's been a privilege for you

uh to be here and hear God's word as

well. So let's pray as we look at this

book for the final time.

Lord, we thank you for this great book

that we have.

The book of Job, Lord, that teaches us

who you are, Lord, that shows us your

majesty.

Lo, Lord, that shows us our frailty.

Lord, I pray that you'd use it to

encourage our hearts and all of our

hearts. Lord, I thank you for all of the

adults in the room. And Lord, thank you

for bringing them here and sustaining

them here and know it is not an accident

each one that we have here. Lord, I pray

that you'd speak deeply to their hearts

even now. Lord, I pray for the children

in this room. Thank you for them. Thank

you that we are family and we're all

here in the same room listening. Thank

you for the ups and the downs uh that

the kids might have in and through uh

the sermon. We know that that speaks

life. We thank you for giving them life.

And Lord, I just pray that even one word

from your word might impress into their

small souls that they need Jesus.

Move in their hearts this morning. We

pray. You are a big God. You are a

glorious savior. And you can do far

beyond what we can ever think or

imagine. So I pray that you'd do that

this morning in and through even uh my

weakness and our weakness as listeners.

Help us, Lord. We pray this in your

precious name, Jesus. Amen.

As we think about Job chapter 42,

Job 42 · chapter mention

there's a word that I want us to think

about, and it's a word I think that

every Christian should know. In fact,

without this word, you cannot be a

Christian.

You cannot f fully follow Christ without

this word. And it is repentance.

If you have not repented of your sin,

you are not a Christian.

Coming to church does not make you a

Christian.

Singing songs does not make you a

Christian.

coming to church because your parents

tell you coming to church does not make

you a Christian. If your parents are

Christians, that does not make you a

Christian. What makes you a Christian is

if you yourself have repented of your

sin and have trusted in the Lord Jesus

Christ. Have you done that? I'm not

talking about the people beside you. I'm

talking about you. Have you truly

repented of your sin? Have you truly

trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Because without repentance, you're not a

Christian.

You need repentance.

Your sin has separated you far away from

God. And in order to trust in him and to

live your life for him, you need to turn

from your sin and turn to the Savior.

And I would call on you this morning,

even right now, to do that. Repent of

your sin and trust in him.

This last chapter, it shows us two types

of repentance.

Job's repentance and Job's friends

repentance.

And Job's repentance, I would say, is a

different type of repentance than the

repentance of the friends.

Listen to Job's repentance.

Job 42:1.

Job 42:1

Then Job answered the Lord and said, "I

know that you can do all things and that

no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who

is this that hides counsel without

knowledge?

Therefore, I have uttered what I did not

understand, things too wonderful for me

which I did not know.

Hear and I will speak. I will question

you and you make it known to me.

I had heard of you by the hearing of the

ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore,

I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.

This is Job's type of repentance.

In this repentance, Job finally

understands who God is and who he is.

Job finally truly knows who God is and

who he is. Because when Job has come

through great suffering, Job has

realized and that he's misunderstood

God. Because sometimes in our suffering,

what happens is uh our minds kind of get

foggy towards what God is doing in our

lives. And Job's mind, it's got foggy as

to what God is doing in his life. And

he's been asking many questions and

wondering why God, why God? Why God?

Have I gone through all this suffering?

And finally, Job comes to the place

where he knows something about God and

he knows something about himself. What

does he know about God? Verse two, he

says this, "I know that you can do all

things and that no purpose of yours

can be thwarted."

Job has come to the place where he can

finally say to God, God, I know that you

can do all things. Now, how did God get

him to that place? Where Job finally

said, now I get it. I've been asking the

question why in this world, but what I

need to focus in in is who is you. Not

my why questions, but what you are

doing, God. I need to keep my focus and

my mind set upon you. And how has he

come to this place? How has Job come to

this place? Well, the Lord asked of Job

over 70 rhetorical questions in the last

number of chapters. I didn't read to you

all 70 of them, but there were 70 of

them. Now, what God could have done is

God could have just blasted Job. Job, do

you not know of I am? I did all this and

I did all this and I made all this. But

Jo the Lord doesn't blast him. And what

the Lord does is he asks him loads and

loads of questions.

Some of the questions were this. Where

were you?

Job 38:4.

Job 38:4

Where were you when I laid the

foundation of the world? The Lord asked

him. The Lord asked him the have you

questions. Have you entered the

storehouses of snow? Or have you seen

the storehouses of hail? The Lord asked

him the can you question. Can you lift

up your voice to the clouds that the

flood of waters may cover you? And he

asks him the do you questions. Do you

know when the mountain goat gives birth?

It is amazing to think that the Lord

knows the timing of every single birth

on this planet. Every single birth.

Millions and millions and millions born

day after day.

millions of human beings, millions of

animals. He knows every single one and

the moment of their birth. And he asked

Job, Job, do you know that? And Job

says, I don't know.

And finally, Job comes to the place

after all of these questions

and he says this. Oh Lord,

I know that you can do all things. I

know that you understand all things.

And now Lord, even in my suffering,

though the Lord hasn't answered his

question of why my suffering,

Lord, I know you have a purpose and that

Lord is good enough for me.

Sometimes we have to acknowledge, do we

trust God in our suffering?

Do we trust God even when we don't have

the answers?

He knows something about God and then he

knows something about himself. The end

of verse three, he says, "Therefore, I

have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me which I did

not know."

The Lord asks him all these questions

for which Job has no answer. I don't

know. I don't know. I don't know. I

don't know.

And finally, Job comes to the humble

place where he says, "Okay, Lord. I

don't understand everything. I don't

understand all your purposes. I don't

understand all your plans. But I, Lord,

I'm going to trust you."

Christian, you will be in that place

sometimes

where you say, "Lord, I don't have a

clue of what you're doing. I want to ask

why. I don't understand, but Lord, I

know you do. I know you have a purpose.

So Lord, I'm going to trust in you.

I'm going to simply live my life turning

my eyes upon you, trusting and obeying

you because you are the king of my life.

And Job has come to this place. I know

that I was speaking as one who had no

understanding. And so Job comes to this

place of a certain type of repentance.

In verse six, he says this, "Therefore I

despise myself and repent in dust and

ashes."

I despise myself and repent in dust and

ashes. And now the question has come on

this verse and I want you to stay with

me because I want us to look at the

words in this verse because sometimes

there is a debate on the words in this

verse and the specific debate is of

repentance.

Is it true to say that Job has truly

repented?

Because repentance means that you're

turning from your sin and you're turning

to God.

And yet people question whether Job

had this type of sin in his life that he

needed to repent. Did Job need to repent

in that way?

The reason people ask this question as

to whether Job needed to repent in this

way is because of this. Three times in

the book of Job, the point is made that

Job is blameless.

In chapter 1 verse one, in chapter 1

verse 8, and in chapter 2 verse three,

it says this of Job that he was a

blameless and upright man who fears God

and turns away from evil. No, he was not

perfect, but he was blameless. So,

continually in the book, he's counted as

blameless, not like the friends.

And then later in the verses that we

will read later, you can see something

of Job when it talks about Job's speech

in verse 7, look at verse 7, the Lord

says this. After the Lord had spoken

these words to Job, the Lord said to

Elephaz, the Timite, one of Job's

friends, "My anger burns against you and

against your two friends, for you have

not spoken of me what is right, as my

servant Job has.

And then later at the second half of

verse 8, he says, "For you have not

spoken of me what is right as my servant

Job has."

So here's what we know about Job. Job is

blameless and Job is upright. And and

the Lord's conclusion about what Job has

said is this is that he has spoken what

is right.

So, is Job repenting here? Well, you'll

notice, stick with me as we look at this

ver word, you'll notice in your Bibles,

if it has the word repent, you'll have a

little number beside that. And that

number is a footnote to another word

that it could be translated.

It says, "Or and am." So, it would read

like this. Therefore, I despise myself

and I am comforted in dust and ashes.

It's hard to read it that way with that

translation,

but I think it's this.

I think Job is not so much in this

moment repenting of his grievous sin. I

think in this moment, what Job is doing

is he's saying sorry for his grievous

ignorance.

He's saying sorry for what he did not

know. He's saying sorry that he actually

forgot what he should have known.

Here's why I say that. There's another

translation called the the CSB and I

think it puts this verse quite well. Job

Job 42:6

42:6. It says this. Therefore, I reject

my words and I am sorry for them.

I am dust and ashes.

Job is coming to this place where the

Lord asks him all these questions. The

Lord isn't berating him. The Lord is

wooing him into these answers

and Job has come to the place where he's

saying, "Lord,

I'm sorry.

I really didn't understand.

Lord, I'm sorry. I forgot about who you

were."

That's what I think is happening here. I

don't think it's the same type of

repentance that the friends are called

to. I think it's a a sorrow.

Lord, I forgot.

I do love you.

I do fear you.

Just in my suffering, I forgot about

you. And Lord, I'm sorry for that.

I know that compared to you, I am but

dust and ashes. And so is all creation.

Has that ever happened to you in your

suffering

when you've been hit with the things of

life? Has that ever happened to you

where you forgot about who God is?

Have you forgotten this morning

that he is the heavenly father?

No matter what you're going through,

he cares about you.

Have you forgotten his loving care?

He cares deeply about what's going on in

your life. He cares about all of your

concerns.

You can talk to him and he will listen

to you.

He is a loving father. Have you

forgotten like Job forgot that God the

Father, he hears you.

He hears every single groan.

He hears every single word. He hears

every single prayer.

Better than any best friend you've ever

had.

He hears you. And Job has forgotten

about that. Why?

Because he didn't hear from God for 38

chapters.

God was silent in his life. And he was

wondering, "God, where are you? I need

you.

speak to me

this morning

if you're listening.

God is speaking to you

and he's saying to you, "I'm your loving

father and I care deeply about you and I

have a plan and purpose for your life.

Come to me,

say sorry, and let's get on with it. let

me lead you in life to live for me.

That's Job's repentance and that's the

type of repentance we might need to have

this morning. But that type of

repentance, I think, is different from

the rep friends repentance that they're

called to. Listen to the friend's

repentance. Verse 7. After the Lord had

spoken these words to Job, the Lord said

to Elephaz, the Temite, "My anger

burns against you and against your two

friends, for you have not spoken of me

what is right as my servant Job has."

Now therefore, take seven bulls and

seven rams, and go to my servant Job,

and offer up a burnt offering for

yourselves, and my servant Job shall

pray for you. And I will accept his

prayer, not to deal with you according

to your folly, for you have not spoken

of me what is right, as my servant Job

has." So Elefaz the Timnite and Bildad

the Shouite and Zofar the Neamothite

went and did what the Lord had told

them. And the Lord accepted

Job's prayer.

Why is their repentance different than

Job's?

Well, they have to offer a sacrifice,

don't they? Job was never called to

offer a sacrifice, but they were because

they were in grievous sin.

And because of their grievous sin, it

says this in the verse, verse 7, "My

anger burns against you."

What does it mean that the Lord has

anger?

If you don't believe that the Lord

Yahweh, the King of the universe, has

anger, then you don't truly understand

who this Lord is. Isn't he a God of

love? Yes, of course, he is a God of

love, but he is also a God of justice.

The great verse of love that we say is

this. For God so loved the world that he

gave his only son. And that is so true.

God is a God of love. For God so loved

the world. And you need to remember

that. But how did he love the world? For

God so loved the world that he gave

his one and only son that whoever

believes in him shall not perish but

have eternal life. You have in that

verse love and you have in that verse

justice

that God will not let sin go unpunished.

that either your sin is crucified with

Jesus on the cross

or your sin will be punished with you in

hell for eternity.

And the question is, how do you want

your sin to be dealt with?

Because those who believe and trust in

Jesus

shall not perish, Jesus says, but they

shall have eternal life.

God when he is angry, when it says in

the scripture that God has anger, it is

always righteous, holy, perfect and just

anger. And this is what we want from a

just judge. You want the murderer, You

want Oh, sorry. You want the murderer

punished, don't you? In judgment.

You want the murderer to be convicted of

their murder. You want them to be

punished in prison. You want them to be

punished in trial. You want justice. And

it is right for God to be a God of

justice. It is right for him to bring

about justice. You do not want a God who

does not bring about justice. Just like

you do not want a judge who does not

bring about justice.

And so it is with God in this moment. He

is angry here in this moment at the two

friends.

And you see who his anger is against.

His anger does not burn against Job.

So that tells us something about the

Lord's questioning of Job. The the

Lord's questioning of Job, he isn't

berating Job. He's wooing Job back to

himself in the questions. So his anger

doesn't burn against Job. His anger is

not burning against Eliu. That's why

some people think all Eliu's words were

perfect because the Lord doesn't anger

doesn't burn against him.

But the Lord also doesn't praise him. So

we just judge Eli who on the basis of

his words.

Who does his anger come against? His

anger comes against Job's friends. Those

three friends who are speaking against

Job. And what was his anger towards

them? It was because of their speech. He

burned with anger at the friends because

of the words that they spoke.

The words that they spoke were

important. God cares about the words

that people speak. And if people speak

wrong words, God can burn with anger at

those words in righteous and holy

judgment and justice.

So that's his anger. That's who he's

angry at. That's what he's angry at.

Their speech. And what is the solution

that he provides?

He's angry at their speech. But what is

the solution that he provides? The

solution that he provides for them is

this. The perfect sacrifice in verse 8.

Now therefore, take seven bulls and

seven rams, and go to my servant Job,

and offer up a burnt offering for

yourselves.

Take seven bulls and seven rams, the

perfect offering, the costly offering,

and go to Job, who's now acting like a

perfect priest,

and have Job, the perfect priest, offer

this perfect offering for the

forgiveness of your heenous sins.

This is what you are called to do.

And so as we look at the sins of these

friends,

we should be reminded

of how God responds to our sin.

Firstly, you need to know this. The Lord

hates your sin.

You might be happy with your sin. You

might be comfortable with your sin. You

might be hiding your sin. You might be

laughing in what you think is freedom,

but the Lord, he hates your sin, and he

burns with anger against your sin.

What type of sin does he hate? Is it the

sin that I think are the grievous sins?

Well, what sin does he burn with in

anger here?

He burns in anger with the sin of their

speech.

He hates

our sinful speech.

He hates it. And what we need to do is

we need to be careful in our speech.

This is a book of conversations.

And all it was, you would think, is just

conversations between Job and his

friends. And sometimes we think in our

conversation with our friends that we

just get a free pass.

That I love it when I talk with my

friends because I can just talk with my

friends about anything. Oh, I love it

when I can talk with them. They don't

just judge me. I can just say whatever I

like and there's no filter and I can

just let it all out there because

they're my close friend and I can just

be open and honest. But when you are

speaking those words with your friend,

you are speaking them in front of God

Almighty.

And he cares about your words.

So we're called as God's people to be

careful and wise in how we speak.

But

we must understand this.

There is hope

for those of us who speak in this way.

Because as I was reading this verse this

week, I was putting up my hand. I don't

know about you, but I was putting up my

hand. I could think about the words and

the conversations I had this week where

I didn't honor him.

And the Lord is saying, I'm angry at

that.

And then the Lord says,

"Come to me. Repent."

Jesus says, "Because I am not only the

perfect priest,

but I am also the perfect sacrifice

who has come for the forgiveness of your

sins, including every single word you

have ever spoken that is wrong." Imagine

that.

Every single word that you have ever

spoken that is wrong, if you come to

Jesus today and repent of those words,

guess what happens to every single one

of those words? Every single one of

those words is what? Nailed to the

cross.

And it does not come upon you as

punishment. It comes upon Christ.

Christ became the guilty one so that you

might walk free.

And yet the scripture tells us that not

a word of sin was uttered from his

mouth. He was perfect in speech and he

set us who are terrible in speech free.

That is our Jesus. And that is the type

of repentance we should have this

morning. And after Job's repentance and

after the friend's repentance, do you

know what happens? Restoration.

Not only restoration for the friends and

the restoration of their relationship

together and the restoration of the

friends relationship with God. Because

the Lord accepted verse 9, the Lord

accepted Job's prayer.

There's restoration now between Job and

his friends. And there's restoration

between Job's friends and God. There's

glorious restoration.

And then God brings about restoration in

Job's life.

Look at verse 10.

And the Lord restored the fortunes of

Job. when he had prayed for his friends.

And the Lord gave Job twice as much as

he had before. Then came to him all his

brothers and sisters and all who had

known him before and ate bread with him

in his house. And they showed him

sympathy and comforted him for all the

evil that the Lord had brought upon him.

And each of them gave him a piece of

money and a ring of gold. And the Lord

blessed the latter days of Job more than

the beginning. And he had 4,000 sheep

and 6,000 camel and 1,000 yolk of oxmen

and 1,000 female donkeys. And he had

seven sons and three daughters. And he

called the name of his first daughter,

Gemma,

and the name of his second, Kaziah, and

the name of his third, Karen Hapuk.

And in all the land there were no women

so beautiful as Job's daughters.

And their father gave them an

inheritance among their brothers.

And after this Job lived 140 years and

saw his sons and his sons sons four

generations. And Job died an old man and

full of years.

What has the Lord restored in Job's

life?

It tells us in verse 10, "And the Lord

restored the fortunes of Job." So what

has the Lord restored for him? Well, the

Lord has restored to him his extended

family in verse 11. Then came to him all

his brothers and sisters. He's restored

to his family. The family who despised

him, the family who wanted to zone him,

the family who wanted to stay away from

him, Job is now restored to his family.

What else is restored to Job? Well, what

is restored to Job is his wealth.

Verse 12, and the Lord blessed him in

the latter days, and then he is 4,000

sheep instead of 7,000 that he had in

chapter 1. He is 6,000 camel instead of

3,000 that he had in chapter 1. He is

1,000 yolk oxen instead of 500 that he

had in chapter 1. And he is 1,000 female

donkeys instead of 500 that he had in

chapter 1.

He is double the blessing that he had

before. He's restored all his wealth and

then he has restored all his family. He

has seven sons, the perfect amount of

sons, and three daughters, which is the

perfect family. There's a reason why the

ten commandments are 10 because it is so

very perfect. And here he has seven

sons, the perfect amount of sons and

three daughters. Again, the perfect 10

family.

How many sons and daughters did he have

before? Seven sons, three daughters

fully restored.

So his extended family is restored, his

wealth is restored, his immediate family

is restored. It seems by implication

probably his marriage is restored.

Doesn't say another woman. Doesn't speak

of her at all. But I guess the one who

said curse God and die might be back on

the scene.

So it's a restored marriage.

Finally, it's a restored health. Nobody

who saw Job on the ash heap thought,

"Yeah, I think this guy is going to last

140 years." You know those people you

just think any day now. I mean, it's

kind of looking like any day it might

happen.

That's what they were looking at Job.

Any day now.

140 years.

The average might have been accepted 70.

He gets double that.

Job is restored.

So, what's the message of Job?

Suffer for a while.

Suffer. Grin and bear it and in the end

you're going to get blessing on this

earth. Get twofold blessing

soon. Just grin and bear the suffering

and you will have 14,000 donkeys,

6,000 camel mansions and the Ferrari and

all that. Just grin and bear your

suffering and God will bless you. Some

people take this passage and say exactly

that.

I don't think it's quite like that. We

laugh because we know the world just

doesn't work like that.

So, what do we need to remember in Job's

restoration here?

First, I think we need to remember that

this restoration of Job

is not your restoration.

Just because Job has been restored in

this way, it's not promising that you

will be restored in this way. This is an

historical account of what happened to

Job. It's not a promise of what will

happen to everybody.

Yes, the Lord decided in his providence

and goodness, the Lord decided to

restore to things some of these things

to Job and his life, but that's not

promised for all of us.

Sometimes life will just be suffering

right until the end. Just like our

savior

suffering right until the end.

We're never promised this kind of

suffering. So Job's suffering we need to

remember is not promised to be your

suffering. And Job's restoration is not

promised to be your restoration. But

also the next thing I want us to

remember about this restoration here is

that this restoration, it's not perfect

restoration.

You look at these verses and you think

that kind of looks like perfect. He he

had half those animals and now he has

double. It kind of looks all perfect.

But you forget in this restoration it's

not perfect. Yes, he was given seven new

sons and three new daughters,

but he wasn't given back his seven old

sons or his three old daughters.

Their gravestones would have still been

in the ground.

If they had graves like that, he would

have probably still visited them every

year. He would have still mourned for

their loss. It doesn't mean that that

everything was restored back to him. No,

the reality of death was still there for

Job.

The restoration wasn't perfect. And we

know the reality of death was still

there for Job. Why? Because how does the

book end?

And he died.

Very end, last verse.

He still suffered like all of us will

one day. and he died.

His sons would have mourned for him. His

daughters would have mourned for him

and he died.

And as you think about that kind of

ending to the book of Job,

it makes you want to think,

surely there's a better ending than

this.

and he died.

There is

the better ending is this. And he died

and on the third day he rose again.

Which gives us the promise that there is

something better that is to come.

There is a place for those who truly

repent today. There is a place where

nobody ever dies again.

What a glorious place that will be. No

one dies.

No funeral homes in heaven. No

gravestones in heaven.

The new heaven and the new earth is the

better day.

That's the day of our hope. That is the

day of true restoration.

That is the day that you should long

for.

So no, you're not promised restoration

in this world, but you are promised

restoration in the world that is to

come.

We want a better story than and he died.

And the better story will be this.

And they lived happily ever after with

their savior.

That's going to be your story if you

trust in Jesus. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the wonderful

news of the gospel that Lord Jesus, if

we repent of our sin and put our faith

and trust in you,

we might be restored in our relationship

with you, forgiven, washed as white as

snow. Thank you, Father, for your deep

love for us.

Thank you Lord

that our story does not end at death

but Lord we reign with you in eternity

and that is our hope through all the

suffering through all the trial we will

say with Job the Lord gives and the Lord

takes away blessed be the name of the

Lord. Amen. Let's stand and sing to the

Lord our father in response.