Job 29-31 - 24th May 2026

Amen. Well, good morning. It is uh

wonderful to be back with you. Um thank

you for praying for me as I was out in

the pastoral training week. Um, I missed

you uh as a church. One of the one of

the biggest things I did miss actually

was was was the children. Uh, no one

came to me after the service uh looking

for sweets and I miss that. Um, but I

look forward to seeing the the children

again. I love talking to them after the

service. I love seeing their drawings

and I love hearing the little words that

they remember from what I preached. they

are listening and I'm thankful for that.

And to the children, I would say um

after the service, I'm going to meet you

over here underneath the underneath the

tree. So, you can come to me um for the

sweets there. Also, it was wonderful uh

to hear uh Steve's sermons um on

evangelism and disciplehip. If you

didn't hear those sermons, I would

really encourage you to listen to them

on Spotify or iTunes or whatever the

cool kids listen to it on these days.

Um, I'd really encourage you. They were

excellent sermons. You were served well.

So, please do do listen to those. Um,

let me pray and ask the Lord's blessing.

Please, uh, feel free to open up your

Bibles to Job chapter 29. Job chapter

Job 29 · chapter mention Job 29 · chapter mention

29. And I'm going to pray and ask that

the Lord would bless his word to us. Job

Job 29 · chapter mention

chapter 29. Let's pray.

Lord Psalm 19 says, "The heavens declare

the glory of God and the sky above

proclaims his handiwork."

Lord, as we woke up this morning and we

saw the sun,

that burning ball in the sky that you

hang there,

Lord, we say the heavens declare your

glory.

Forgive us, Lord, when we praise the day

for being amazing.

When we praise the sun for being

amazing, forgive us. Help us to always

praise you.

always look to you

for you are the great father in heaven

who has given a good gift to us today of

the sunshine. You've given us breath.

And Lord, this morning we acknowledge

that you have given us your word. And so

we pray that you'd shine your word into

our hearts, into the dark places in our

hearts where we need to hear from you.

And Lord, we pray that you would speak

to us this morning. And we pray that we

would hear your voice and not only hear

it, but respond to it in Jesus name. I

pray all these things.

Amen.

As we think of Job chapter 29,

Job 29 · chapter mention

I want you to think of the good old

days.

The good old days. We all have good old

days. No matter what age you are, you

have good old days. the old days that

you look back into the past and you say,

"Wasn't that just good?"

And I started to think about the good

old days myself this week. And one of

the things I thought about in the good

old days was this. Do you remember the

days aging myself when there were no

phones?

Do you remember the good old days when

people stood in a bus stop and spoke to

each other? Do you remember the good old

days? Not everybody was looking down.

They actually looked up and spoke to one

another. Do you remember the good old

days when you'd stand in a shop, you'd

stand in the line and you'd look up and

speak to each other rather than looking

down?

Yesterday I was going for a walk

and I bumped into a fellow. Do you know

why I bumped into him? I wasn't looking

around. I was looking down.

the good old days when we weren't

distracted by the stuff that we hold in

our hands.

Maybe the young people here this morning

are saying, "Well, that's that's just

for you old people or whatever. Days

when there wasn't phones. Imagine that."

But even for the young people, the

teenagers doing exams right now, you had

good old days, too. Remember the good

old days of primary school

when you didn't have exams? the worst

thing you had was like a test on Friday

and that was it. And even the primary

school children, you might well you

mightn't remember the good old days, but

there was good old days when you didn't

have to think about putting on clothes

or think about feeding yourself. It was

just done for you as a baby. There were

the good old days.

As Job reflects in this chapter on his

past, that's exactly what he reflects on

the good old days. And what I want us to

think about this morning is a number of

days in Job's life that Job reflects on.

In chapter 29, he reflects on the good

old days, the days of the past that he

remembers. Well, in chapter 30, he

reflects on the affliction days, the

suffering days, the painful days. And in

chapter 31, he reflects on the innocent

days.

So chapter 29, the good old days,

chapter 30, the affliction days, the

suffering days, and chapter 31, the

innocent days.

In chapter 29, Job reflects on the good

old days. And I say that because of what

he says in verse two. Chapter 29, verse

two.

Well, I'll start in verse one. And Job

again took up his discourse and said

verse two, "Oh that I were as in the

months of old,

as in the days when God watched over

me." Do you see what he's saying? Oh,

that I was in the days of old. The days

when God used to watch over me. Oh, I

wish I was in the good old days, the

days of the past. As he looks back on

his life, Job says, "I want to be back

there."

Have you ever thought about that in the

suffering and pain of your life? If

you've ever gone through anything hard

or difficult, when you're going through

suffering and pain, when you're going

through something hard and difficult,

you know what you do? You long for the

good old days,

the days that weren't so painful and

hard. And that's what Job is longing

for. He longs for the good old days in

two ways. He longs for the days when his

friendship with God was sweet.

Look what he says. And you know he's

reflecting when he uses the word when.

Look at verse three.

When his lamp shone upon my head and by

his light I walked through darkness as I

was in my prime. When the friendship of

God was upon my tent, when the Almighty

was was yet with me, when my children

were all around me, when my steps were

were washed with butter and the rock

poured out for me streams of oil. Oh,

the good old days

when the Lord's lamp shone for me.

the good old days when my friendship

with God was close. Verse four, see

that? When the friendship of God was

upon my tent.

And verse five, when the Almighty was

with me,

those were the days

when friendship with God was so close.

When I knew for certain in those days

that God was with me. And he calls these

days the good days primarily. First he

says God was with me. God was my friend

in those days. That's the first thing he

says. God was with me in verse 5. And

then he says in those days who else was

with him? His children were with him.

But it is amazing the priority that Job

gives here. The good old days were so

good because God was with me.

But they were also good because my

children were with me.

These are the days that Job is longing

for, the days of friendship with God.

And he's also longing for the days of

the recognition of others. Look at verse

seven. And notice the word when. He's

reflecting back. Verse seven. When I

went out to the gate of the city, when I

prepared my seat in the square, the

young men saw me and withdrew. The the

aged rose and stood. The princes

refrained from talking and laid their

hand on their mouth. The voice of the

nobles was hushed and their tongue

struck stuck to the roof of their mouth.

When the ear heard, it called me

blessed. And when the eye saw, it

approved.

See, Job is saying, "The good old days

were good because I had friendship with

God." And that friendship with God led

to the recognition among men, among

others in such a way that when nobles

were trying to listen to Job, they would

shush people just to hear his voice.

When he walked into the room, people

would stand up. The princes

would stop talking and hold their mouths

just because Job was there. And why did

Job get this recognition from man? Job

got this recognition from man? Because

of how he treated others. Verse 12,

because I delivered the poor who cried

for help and the fatherless who had who

had none to help him. The blessing of

him who was about to perish came upon

me. And I caused the widow's heart to

sing for joy. I put on righteousness and

it clothed me. My justice was like a

robe and a turban. I was eyes to the

blind and feet to the lame. I was a

father to the needy. And I searched out

the cause of him who did not know.

These were the good days because of his

friendship with God and his recognition

with others. And the reason he was

recognized by others was because he was

a father to the fatherless.

He had eyes for the blind. He was like

the feet for the lame. This was Job.

This was his life in the good old days.

Life with God and life with others. And

verse 25 summarizes his position. Verse

25 in chapter 9, he says this,"I chose

the way. I chose their way and sat as

chief and lived like a king among his

troops like one who comforts mourers."

And Job used his position as a chief, as

almost a king, used his position of

influence to care for the needy. But why

did he care for the needy? Because he

knew that God, his friend, cared for

him. The motivation behind his kindness

was friendship with God.

And Job, he looks back at these good old

days because of his friendship with God.

So I want us to think about two things

in relation to this friendship with God.

Number one is this

friendship with God is truly possible.

Job is reflecting back on the time when

he and God were close.

And what I want to say to you this

morning, maybe you are not a Christian

here this morning. Maybe you've not

trusted in Christ as savior.

Do you know what? Friendship with God is

possible.

It's really possible.

That's what attracted me so much to

Christianity. Do you know that when I

saw Christians worshiping God, I noticed

in and of myself, they have something

that I don't have and they have

something that I want. And what they

have is friendship with God. What I want

to say to you this morning is friendship

with God is possible.

Jesus Christ came into this world to die

for sinners that those who trust in him

might no longer be his enemies but they

could be his friends.

And Job knew what friendship with God

was like.

Sometimes the Christianity that this

world presents to us is a God who is far

away. That's not the God who Job knew.

God didn't know a God who was far away.

Job didn't know a God who was far away.

Job knew a God who was close to him.

Friendship with God is possible.

God wants to be your friend. God wants

to hear your prayer. God wants

relationship with you and he wants

relationship with all of you. Friendship

with God is possible.

And to have friendship with God means

this. God is with us always.

Do you notice what he says in verse

four? He says, "As I was in my prime,

when the friendship of God was upon my

tent, when the Almighty was yet with me,

friendship with God means this, God is

with us always." You see, Job is making

a mistake here. Job is looking to the

past and he's saying, "Oh, back in the

good old days when God was with me." You

see, Job's bad theology at the time was

this. God is only with me when things

are going good.

So, they are the good old days. They're

the days of the past. But what Job is

missing is this, that God is actually

with him in the present. That God is

actually with him in his affliction.

That God is actually with him in his

suffering.

So, we don't look to the past as the

good old days. Oh, yeah. I remember

those days at camp or I remember that

service in church when I felt like God

was really close to me or I remember the

day of my baptism. Don't look back on

when you felt that God was with you. If

you are a Christian, if you've trusted

in Christ, guess what? He's with you

now.

He's with you always.

He never leaves you. He will never

forsake you. He is always, always there.

And listen, whether you feel like he's

there or not, he is with you because he

is a good friend. It is bad friends that

only stay with you in the good times and

leave you in the bad times. No, he is a

good friend who stays with you in the

good times and in the bad times. He is

saying to you as your friend this

morning, I am with you to the end.

That's why Christ came to suffer and die

for his friends.

The good shepherd

lays down his life for his friends.

This is what Jesus did and showed us.

And this is who Jesus was.

What do we call him?

Emmanuel,

which means

God with us.

When he gave us the great commission

that she Steve shared with us the last

couple of weeks, what did he say? The

command was go and make disciples. And

what was the promise just at the end?

And I will be with you in the good days,

in only the bad days. No, I will be with

you always.

Friendship with God forever for those

who have trusted in him. And I would

call upon you this morning if you do not

have friendship with God. Why wouldn't

you trust in him? Why wouldn't you have

this friend forever?

That's what Jesus is offering you this

morning. if you'd repent of your sin and

trust in him. And I can tell you what a

friend I have in Jesus.

Follow him. Live for him. Trust him.

He's a friend that will never let you

down.

And so Job in chapter 29, he reflects

upon the good old days.

But then because he doesn't understand

that God is still with him

in the affliction days, he changes to

the present and says that those days are

different days. And he focuses on his

affliction days, his suffering days, his

painful days in chapter 30. And I want

you just to look at a few verses in

chapter 30 to to realize and understand

the suffering that that Job is going

through. We're not going to spend a lot

of time in this chapter because we've

heard a lot of Job's pain and suffering

and heartache from his friends,

but look at verse one. Chapter 30 verse

one. In these affliction days, but now

he says, I mean, the good old days were

good because God was with me. But then

he turns in in in chapter 30 and he

says, "But now

these days are different. These

affliction days, these present days,

they're different. But now they laugh at

me.

Men who are younger than I, whose

fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

But now

people who used to say shh when I'd walk

in,

now they're laughing at me.

Now I am a laughingtock.

Now I am nothing.

And then in verse n, look at the words

he uses. Again, similar words. And now

I have become their song and I'm a

byword to them. They abhore me and and

they keep aloof from me. They do not

hesitate to spit at the side of me.

Before when he would come into the room,

everybody would stand up.

Now when they see him, they spit at him

and him.

They don't sing songs to him.

They sing demeaning songs about him.

These are the affliction days. And do

you know why I call them the affliction

days? Is because that's exactly what Job

calls them. Verse 16, he says again,

uses the same phrase, "And now my soul

is poured out within me. Days of

affliction have taken hold of me."

And because of these days of affliction,

because of these days of pain, Job feels

that God, he is not with him. But Job

feels that God is against him. And

that's what he says in verse 19. God has

has cast me into the mire. And I have

become like dust and ashes before him.

And one more final reflection on his

affliction days. In verse 27, he says

this,

"My inward parts are in turmoil

and never still

days of affliction

come to meet me."

These are his affliction days because

Job has lost everything.

His animals,

his family,

everything, his friends.

He's lost everything and he is in

turmoil. So what is he left to do? In

verse 31, he laments.

He says this,

"My liar is turned to mourning and my

pipe to the voice of those who weep."

The days of suffering for Job.

The days of affliction for Job.

And all I want us to reflect on as we

look at these days of affliction and

suffering for Job is this.

These days of affliction and suffering

will always come to God's people.

Days of affliction and suffering will

always come to every person who walks on

this planet. That is true because this

world is messed up and suffering comes

as soon as we are born into this world.

But particularly

for those who follow Christ, for those

who are God's people,

suffering and affliction

is the way to paradise.

Broad is the way that leads to

destruction,

but narrow is the way that leads to

life. Few find it.

We are not promised

as Christians

who want to follow Christ our best life.

Now

Job was never promised these things. We

should expect affliction. We should

expect suffering. Why? Because the

suffering and affliction

that Job experienced

mirrors and points to the suffering and

affliction that Christ himself

experienced.

Christ he came to this world

and people who once were revering him

and honoring him as he came into the

town

soon after

were spitting at him.

flogging him,

beating him,

and nailing him to a cross.

Affliction.

He is familiar with suffering.

This is our savior. And our savior says,

"This will be the path for those who

follow him." It's not only Christ's

affliction. It's not only Job's

affliction, but it can be our

affliction. Jesus said to his disciples

in John 15 these words, "If the world

hates you,

understand that it hated me before it

hated you.

If you were of the world, the world

would love you as its own.

However, because you are not of the

world, but I have chosen you out of the

world,

the world hates you.

So, as Steve was preaching

um in the last couple of weeks on

evangelism,

here is what's going to happen when you

evangelize.

Here is what's going to happen as you

share the gospel with people.

Good news first.

Some people will hear the good news and

they will trust in Christ.

There's power in the gospel. And God

uses weak and feeble people like you and

me in our workplace and wherever he lays

us in our schools. He uses us with our

feeble words and our feeble gospel

presentations. He will use you to save

people, to draw people to himself.

But also know this,

as you share Christ,

most people won't be saying, "Oh, you

know what? Thank you so much. I've been

longing to hear this. Oh, you know what?

You're so good for thinking about me.

Thank you." No,

you might be hated for it.

And the affliction of God's people looks

different in different parts of the

world.

Some people are stoned and killed even

even today in different parts of the

world for following Christ. That's their

affliction and we we suffer with them as

God's people, Peter says to us.

But then there is also our affliction as

we speak of Christ. We will suffer the

affliction like Job does here where

where people will laugh at us. They will

mock us,

maybe disown us,

but we still follow him in and through

affliction.

Those were the good old days and the

affliction days.

But then Job, he persists with his

innocent days.

In chapter 31, what Job does is he

stands and proclaims his innocence. You

see, Job has a bad theology and he

thinks, and this is the theology of his

friends, he thinks that that bad things

always happen to bad people. And he

knows he's innocent, and he knows he's

blameless. And what he's trying to

figure out is why are these bad things,

why is this affliction happening to me?

And so what he does he he he can't

understand

a suffering of an innocent person which

means at this point in his life he can't

understand the gospel because the at the

center of the gospel is this an innocent

person suffered and died and he can't

understand that message and so what Job

does is is he is he stands up and he

proclaims his his innocent days in

amongst his affliction days he stands

stands and proclaims his innocent days.

And what Job is doing in the book of

Job, it it's like this. You're it's like

you're entering into a courtroom.

And in the courtroom, you have the judge

and you have the prosecution who is

saying that the person is guilty. And

you have the defense who's saying that

the person is innocent.

And in the book of Job, you've got God

as the judge. You've got the prosecution

who's who's Satan, the accuser, and

Job's friends.

And then you've got the defense.

Job is standing and he's representing

himself. And he's standing up at the

final day of court. This is his final

speech in in the book of Job. This is

the last thing he's going to say. And

he's standing up and he's making his

defense statement. And what is he going

to say?

I am

innocent.

Please would someone hear me?

And as he stands and he makes his claim

that he is innocent,

he makes 11 denials. We won't go through

all 11, but I'll just tell you what

those denials are.

In verses 1 to4, he stands up and he

denies lust.

In verses 5 to8, he stands up and he

denies his dishonesty. He said, "I

haven't been lustful and I haven't been

dishonest in life. Hear my words." As he

stands up in court. In verses 9 to 12,

he stands up and denies adultery. He

says, "I've never committed adultery."

In verses 13 to 15, he stands up and he

denies oppression. I've never oppressed

people. In verse 16 to 23, he stands up

and he says, "I've never neglected the

needy."

In verses 24 to 25, he stands up

and he says,

"I never trusted in gold." He denies

materialism.

In verses 26- 28, he stands up and he

denies paganism.

In verse 29-30, he stands up and he

denies vindictiveness.

In verse 31-32, he stands up and he

denies inhospity.

In verse 33-34, he stands up and he

denies duplicity.

In verse 38 to 40, he stands up and he

denies exploitation

and his speech ends with this.

The words of Job are ended.

Job stands up and he makes this defense

that he is blameless.

And I don't want to look at all of these

denials, but I do want to look at two of

them and think about them practically

for our lives.

The first set of denials I want to look

at is the denials that relate to sexual

immorality.

Here in sexual immorality, what Job does

is he denies lust

and he denies adultery.

In chapter 31:1 he says this,"I made a

covenant with my eyes. How then could I

gaze at a virgin?" He is denying lust in

his life. And what he is saying is he's

not just looking at a beautiful young

unmarried woman.

He is saying that he is gazing at a

beautiful young unmarried woman. which

means this. He He is looking at her with

lustful intent. He is looking at her in

a way that he shouldn't. And so what he

says is this. I've made a covenant with

my eyes that I'm not going to look in

that way. I've made a covenant with my

eyes. I've made a promise that I am not

going to look at women in this way. A

covenant with my eyes. And the reason he

makes this promise is because he

realizes that God, he sees everything.

Verse four, look at what it says. Does

not he see my ways and number all my

steps?

Which means this. God does see all your

ways. And God does number all your

steps. The thing with lustful gazing

is we can think that lustful gazing it's

secret.

Nobody knows.

Nobody sees

I'm not harming anybody.

Verse four,

God knows.

God sees.

God knows the intent of your heart.

Job is saying, "I'm innocent of lust."

And Job is saying, "I'm innocent of

adultery." Verse 9.

If my heart has been enticed toward a

woman and I have lain in weight at my

neighbor's door, then let my wife grind

for another and let others bow down on

her. For that would be a heinous crime.

That would be an iniquity to be punished

by the judges. For that would be a fire

that consumes as far as a baden. and it

would burn to the root all my increase.

Job is saying he is not lying and wait

for another. He his heart has not been

enticed for another.

Just like that gaze

that's more than just looking.

The heart being enticed

for more than just friendship.

Job is saying, "I'm innocent of that."

Question we have to ask, I think, of

ourselves

is, are you innocent

of that?

Am I innocent of that?

As Job looks at his life, he can say

he's blameless.

But can we say the same thing? And

especially in light of what Jesus says

in Matthew 5, you have heard it said

that you shall not commit adultery.

Jesus says, "But I say to you that

everyone who looks on a woman with

lustful intent has committed adultery

with her in his heart."

Job is able to say he is innocent.

Are we able to say the same?

Here's my guess. No.

Somehow Job was innocent.

But we're not.

And then Job comes to the place of

neglecting the needy. So he says,

"Sexual immorality, I'm innocent." And

then he also says, "Neglecting the

needy, I'm innocent." And you can see

that he's innocent. He makes he makes

the point so powerfully by the way he

structures his speech. He structures his

speech by if then language.

Look at the if then language in what he

says about not neglecting the needy.

Verses 16 to 23. Look at verse 16. If

then language. If I have withheld

anything that the poor desired or have

caused the eyes of the widow to fail or

have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless have not eaten of it.

For from my youth the fatherless grew up

with me as with a father, and from my

mother's womb I guided the widow. If I

have seen anyone perish for lack of

clothing, or the needy without covering,

if his body has not been has not blessed

me, and if he has not warmed with my

with the fleece of my sheep, if I have

raised my hand against the fatherless

because I saw my help in the gate, then

let my shoulder blade fall from my

shoulder and let my arm arm be broken

from its socket.

Imagine him making this powerful

statement in court.

If I have ever seen someone in need need

of clothes and I haven't given it to

them, if I have ever seen someone in

need of food and I haven't given it to

them,

then let my arm fall out of its socket

and let it be broken.

I am innocent.

And Job is innocent.

But again, the question we have to ask

of ourselves

is, are we?

Are you innocent of this? Am I innocent

of this? Not neglecting the needy.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:3,

Matthew 6:3

"But when you give to the needy,

do not let your left hand know what your

right hand is doing." so that your

giving may be in secret and your father

who sees in secret will reward you.

Notice what Jesus says. He says, "But

when you give to the needy," what does

Jesus expect

that we as God's people will give to the

needy?

And as when we look at our lives,

what is often true of us

is we buy it for ourselves

and we neglect the needy.

So as we look at this, we say on the one

hand job is innocent

and on the other hand we are guilty.

So what do we do about it?

What do we do about our guilt of sexual

immorality?

What do we do about our guilt of

neglecting the needy?

I think we should do the same thing that

Job does.

He cries out

even though he's innocent.

He cries out to God for help.

He says this in verse 35

in between all his statements of

innocence. He says in verse 35,

"Oh that I had one to hear me.

Here is my signature. Let the Almighty

answer me. Oh that I had the indictment

written by my adversary." He's standing

up proclaiming his innocence and he's

saying, "Oh, that someone would hear

me." And then he makes this statement

and he's saying, "Here's my signature.

I'll sign it. I'm innocent of all these

things."

But he's crying out in his innocence,

"Oh, that someone would hear me."

And you know what's going to happen at

the end of the book of Job?

God's going to come and speak. And God's

going to say, "I've heard you.

I've heard every single word.

I'm God. Now listen." And he's going to

vindicate Job, the innocent one.

He's he he's going to speak on behalf of

Job.

So what should we do? The guilty ones.

We should do the same thing Job does

here. In fact, I think we should do two

things. Number one, we should cry out to

God. And number two, we should fight our

sin.

We should cry out to God in this way.

Oh, that he would hear me. If this

morning you know and feel that sense of

guilt from your sexual immorality, your

lust and your adultery. If this morning

you know and you feel that sense of

guilt for your neglect of the needy,

what should you do?

You cry out to God.

God not only hears innocent people like

Job,

but he also hears guilty people like

Paul.

Paul cried out and he said when he

reflected on the sin of his life, he

said, "Wretched man that I am, who will

rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ

our Lord."

If you want rescue from your sexual

immorality,

cry out to Jesus.

Ask him for forgiveness of your sin.

That's why he died on the cross.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious

thought. My sin, not in part, but the

whole, is nailed to the cross, and I

bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise

the Lord, oh my soul. This is why the

good news is so good that my sin, not in

part, but all of it. All of my sexual

immorality, all of my neglect of the

needy, all of that sin nailed to the

cross. That's why I follow Jesus. I

don't follow Jesus because I'm perfect.

I follow Jesus because I desperately

need him every day. I follow him because

I know how wicked my heart is. I follow

him because I need to be cleansed. And

so I'm calling on you to follow him and

trust in him with your whole life. Cry

out to him for forgiveness. And when you

receive that forgiveness, here's the

second thing I'd call on you to do. Then

fight your sin with vengeance.

Jesus said in the sermon on the mount,

"If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it

out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut

it off." That is violence against our

sin. We are called as God's people who

are rescued from the punishment of our

sin to seek to fight our sin every day

by the power of the Holy Spirit. So how

are you fighting

it? It's not enough to feel bad about

our sexual immorality.

We have to by the Holy Spirit fight

against it. So how are you fighting?

What are you going to cut off?

Do you need to cut off your phone or

your computer?

Do you need to put things on it that

will block you? Do you need to confess

your sin to someone that will help keep

you accountable?

And could I say this

to the teenagers and the children, don't

get annoyed when your parents say

you can't use everything on your phone.

Don't get annoyed when they pretty much

block your whole phone and give you just

messages. What are they doing? They're

loving you and protecting you.

They're loving you and protecting you

from sexual immorality.

Listen to them. That's the way of

wisdom. And even as I was preparing this

message, I was thinking about like all

the devices we now have in our house.

Some of them are protected as we should.

And there's even some that have that

have slipped through the cracks. I mean

what happens is the kids they you know

they get the laptop for school then a

phone then whatever and the then you

pile up all these things and even after

preaching this I have a responsibility

in my home to protect it from these

things. So how are we fighting

individually and how are we fighting as

a family against these things? It is

foolishness.

It is I'm It is foolishness

to give your child a phone and say,

"Yeah, have at it."

Freedom to go wherever you want.

Foolishness. You can give out to me

later if you want. You can leave the

church if you want. I don't really care.

It is foolishness.

We need to protect them

and then they'll have to make some

choices their own.

How are we fighting these temptations?

How are you fighting the neglect of the

needy in your life?

So easy to buy things for ourselves.

But how are we giving to others?

You can make that decision personally,

but I also think we need to make that

decision better corporately.

As a church, we have a membership and

and thankfully, it's not the leaders of

the church that make all the decisions

about how the money is spent. That would

be awful. It's actually those who have

committed to the church and those who

are members in the church saying, you

know, this is my church under God, well,

it's Christ Church. He's the head and

he's called us to lead it. What we have

is a budget and we have a fund called a

mercy fund, a care fund. And what we

should be doing as a church, and I think

we need to do better at this, is to make

sure that that fund

gets increased, that money gets put into

the fund, and that we spend it. And we

spend it wisely and well for those who

are in need.

The greatest need of people is the

gospel. We know that because Jesus

walked past people he could have healed.

The greatest need is the gospel. But the

sweet spot is this. If you can find a

place where you can put your money

towards people who will not only care

for someone's physical needs, but

they'll also care for their spiritual

and eternal needs.

May the Lord help us

to cry out to him today

and to fight our sin by the power of the

spirit. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the witness of

Job who can truly say that he was

innocent of all these things and

blameless.

Yet, Lord, we understand and know he was

not without sin.

Lord Jesus, Job's life appoints to you

the truly blameless, sinless, spotless

lamb who suffered on the cross for our

sins.

And I pray Lord Jesus

that would come to you in repentance

for forgiveness

of where we have neglected the needy,

for forgiveness of our sexual

immorality.

And Lord, when we receive that G

forgiveness washed as white as snow,

help us to fight

by the power of the spirit

in your name. Amen.

Let's stand and sing as we respond and

prepare our hearts for the Lord's

supper. Let's stand and sing.