Job 28: Wisdom Speech - 3rd May 2026

Good morning. Please take your Bibles

and open them up to Job chapter 28.

Job 28 · chapter mention

Please take your Bibles and open them up

to Job

Job 28 · chapter mention

chapter 28.

going to pray and ask that the Lord will

bless his word to us this morning. Let's

pray together.

Lord, we

begin the sermon in the same way we do

every single Sunday.

Please open your Bibles.

And Lord, the reason we say that is

because I know and understand that I

don't have much to say on my own.

But we trust Lord that you will speak.

We trust, Lord, that you have something

to say in your word to us, each and

every single one of us this morning. And

I pray that we prepare our hearts to

hear your word speak to us this morning.

Isaiah 40:8, the grass withers, the

Isaiah 40:8

flower fades, but the word of our God

stands forever.

And Lord, I pray that as we hear your

word, we would hear it as the truth that

needs to penetrate our hearts and lives

now.

And Lord, as I read it,

may we know what a privilege it is to

have this word, your word, in our hands.

It's in your name, Jesus, that we pray

all these things.

Amen.

As we think of Job chap 28, what I want

to do this morning is read to you the

first 11 verses. And as I read to you

the first 11 verses of this chapter, I

want you to ask, what is he saying?

What is he saying? Let me read to you

God's word. Job chapter 28 verse 1.

Job 28:1

Surely

there is a mine for silver and a place

for gold that they refine.

Iron is taken out of the earth and

copper is smelted from the ore.

Man puts an end to darkness and searches

out to the farthest limit. The ore in

gloom and deep darkness.

He opens shafts in a valley away from

where anyone lives.

They are forgotten by travelers. They

hang in the air far away from mankind.

They swing to and fro.

As for the earth, out of it comes bread,

but underneath it t is turned up as by

fire. Its stones are the place of

sapphires,

and it has dust of gold. That path no

bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye

has not seen it. The proud beasts have

not trodden it. The lion has not passed

over it.

Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and

overturns mountains by the roots.

He cuts out channels in the rocks and

his eyes

and his eyes see his eye sees every

precious thing. He dams up the streams

so that they do not trickle and the

thing that is hidden he brings out to

light.

This is God's word and we're going to

look at the whole of chapter 28. But I

wanted us to look at the first 11 verses

and ask the question, what is he saying?

So what is he saying?

That's my job every Sunday to look at

this and say, what is he saying?

And I looked at it and I said, "What is

he saying?" a number of times. What is

he saying?

And as you look at the book of Job, we

think we know and understand the book of

Job. But when you when you look at some

of the chapters in the book of Job,

there's there's complicated images and

pictures and and and it's poetry and and

you're wondering what on earth is going

on. And so what's happened in the book

of Job so far is that we've finished

those three conversations between Job

and his friends where they're trying to

understand Job's suffering and what's

going on there. And then we have this

strange chapter 28 that kind of pops out

in the middle of the book. And you

wonder, people debate, is this even Job

speaking or is it the narrator, the

storyteller who is speaking in this

chapter? There's loads of pages about

that debate. But what I'll say is this.

It doesn't matter so much as to who is

saying these words, but but what is he

saying? What does he mean when he's

saying all these words? these poetic

words.

Here's what I think.

I think what he is saying is this.

People are amazing.

Stay with me. I think he's saying that

people are amazing.

In the same way that I said this past

week, people are amazing.

Me and Simeon, we visited Manchester

this last week. I won't bore you with

all the stories. It was fantastic.

But you walk up to Old Trafford.

It's a stadium built for 74,000

people.

And I look at that stadium and I say,

"People are amazing

to be able to draw this up, plan this

up, and build this whole thing.

And then the following day we went to a

place called the Trafford Center,

one of the biggest shopping centers in

Europe. Over 200 shops, 60 restaurants,

10,000 car park spaces.

And I look at this building, I'm like,

people are amazing at what they can do.

And then we walked into a shop in the

Trafford Center. And as I was walking

into the shop, it was this uh watch

shop. And as me and Simeon were walking

in, the guy asked suspiciously, "Can can

can I help you?" I took a bit of offense

to that. I was wondering what what's

wrong with me or whatever. And then I

looked down and I saw one of the most

beautiful watches there. £8,000.

That's why he didn't want me in there.

He knew I wasn't buying. £8,000.

I look at it and I'm saying, "This is

beautiful. People are amazing." We

walked out of the Trafford Center and

you look to the left and I saw this

building kind of this slanted building

stretching out into the sky. I'm like,

"What is that?"

It's this indoor ski slope,

the biggest in the UK.

Like, wow. People are amazing

in terms of what they can build. They

are amazing. And there's nothing wrong

with us noticing that because you would

expect people to be amazing, wouldn't

you? Because people are made in the

image of God. Last week, we heard of a

guy who said, "No, people are just

maggots. They're just worms." No,

they're not maggots. No, they're not

worms. Were made in the image of God.

And you'd expect people to be made in

the image of God to be able to do

amazing things.

And so what I was able to see is that

people are amazing in terms of what they

can build their ingenuity.

What the writer is saying here is that

our people are amazing not specifically

in what they can build but people are

amazing in terms of what they can find

their ingenuity

the technology of the day to to mine

these precious things that are in the

earth. Here's what he says. Verse one of

28. Surely there is a mine for silver

and a place for gold that they refine.

People are amazing. They they they mine

down into the ground and they find

silver and they find gold. They find

these amazing precious things. And then

in verse two, they find iron and copper

and they're able to smelt the copper

into ore.

People are amazing. They're able to dig

down deep and find these things. And

then verse three, he says, "Man puts an

end to darkness and searches out to the

farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep

darkness." Man is amazing. He's able to

put an end to the darkness and dig down

deep with the technology of the day and

get the ore from the ground.

They're able to not only find silver and

gold and iron and copper and ore and all

these precious things, but in verse six

it says about people, it's stones are

the place of sapphires and it has dust

of gold. So silver, gold, iron, copper,

stones, sapphires.

This is what people are able to find.

They are amazing. They're able to find

all these precious and wonderful things.

And you know what? People are more

amazing than the animals

because in verse 7 it says, "You have

this bird, this falcon." And have any of

you seen a falcon, a bird wearing a gold

necklace? No. Because they can't find

the precious gold that human beings can

find.

And then he says in verse 8 about the

proud beasts and the lion on the ground.

So you have the falcon in the air and

you never see him wearing a gold

necklace and you have the lion on the

ground and and yet he can't find these

precious things because you've never

seen a lion wearing a diamond ring cuz

they can't find these things. But

people, they can dig down deep and they

can find these precious things.

People are

amazing.

And that is a a good thing for us to

notice that people are made in the image

of God. And that people are amazing not

only in what they can build, but they're

amazing in terms of what they can find.

If if humanity, if people put their mind

to it, they can dig down deep and find

something that is very precious. gold,

silver, iron, copper, stones, sapphires,

more than what any of the animals can

find.

People are amazing.

But we do need to be careful with that

truth, don't we?

We need to understand that we will

recognize that people are amazing made

in the image of God. That God

beautifully and wonderfully created you

and me. And we recognize common grace

that people can do these wonderful

things.

But you know what I also learned in

Manchester?

People are fools too.

We were um standing at the back where

the players would come out of the

stadium

and there were grown men

standing at the railings

pushing children away

to get a signature from another grown

man who kicks a leather ball around a

pitch.

Yes, we should recognize the skill of

these people and it's wonderful and it's

amazing.

But isn't it foolishness

to worship those people

to worship the created thing rather than

the creator?

And so in one sense, yes, we should

recognize that that people are

wonderful, made in the image of God, but

we always need to be careful

that we don't worship people.

The the beauty that we see in people,

the beauty that we see in creation

should always point us forward to the

creator.

So that when we see an amazing goal or

whatever it might be that really tickles

your fancy that you think that is

unreal. I can't believe I've just seen

that. It should lead you and point you

to the one who's created that person and

made that person in that way.

And you know when we see someone, you

know, admiring a player like that and

kicking children away, we kind of Gina,

can you imagine him like worshiping

people like that?

But we're all the same, aren't we?

I mean, think about children for a

second.

Children,

they are amazing.

And I don't want all the children to get

too big heads here now, but you are.

Children are absolutely amazing.

We should acknowledge that. We should

thank God for that.

But they should never be worshiped.

They're amazing as creation,

but they are terrible gods.

They should never be worshiped. They

should be loved and cherished. We should

thank God for them, but we're not called

to worship them. And so, we need to be

careful in our lives. And you know, this

is for parents.

This is for grandparents. This is for

those of you who have nieces and

nephews.

Man, they are amazing, aren't they? The

children that we have in our lives.

But we do our children a disservice

if we worship them

and don't tell them, "Hey, listen,

buddy. Look at me. There's someone far

better than you. It's Jesus.

and you need to follow him and you need

to trust in him and that example for our

children will serve them far better than

us worshiping our children.

So yes, we acknowledge with the writer

that that people are amazing and we

acknowledge that people are amazing in

what they build and people are amazing

in what they find and and the people

around us, even the children and all the

people we have, they are amazing.

But while people are amazing at finding

precious things like gold and silver and

jewels and stones,

there's one thing, the most precious

thing in the world

that people find it hard to find and

they cannot find on their own. And that

is wisdom.

And this is the point of what he's

saying in this chapter. He says, listen

to verse 12.

But where shall wisdom be found? And

where is the place of understanding? Man

does not know its worth, and is it is it

is not found in the land of the living?

The deep says it is not in me. And the

sea says it is not with me. It cannot be

bought for gold, and silver cannot be

weighed as its price. It cannot be

valued in the gold of oper. It's its

precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and

glass cannot equal it. Nor can it be

exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No

mention shall be made of of coral or

crystal. The price of wisdom is above

pearls.

The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it.

Nor can it be valued in pure gold. For

where then does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

It is hidden from the eyes of all the

living and concealed from the birds of

the air. Abaden and death say we have

heard a rumor of it with our ears.

You see in the first 11 verses, what is

he saying? People are amazing because

they can find these amazing jewels.

But in verses 12 to 22, what is he

saying?

People are amazing at finding things,

but they're not amazing at finding

wisdom.

Wisdom is hard for people to find. And

there's three there's four reasons for

that. Reason number one is people don't

know where to find it.

The reason wisdom is hard to find is

because people don't know where to find

it. Verse 12.

But where shall wisdom be found? And

where is the place of understanding? You

see, people are are amazing. They're so

smart. They can build things. They're

wonderful. They're great. But there is

one thing that they cannot find on their

own. And that is true wisdom. Not

talking about worldly wisdom, but true

wisdom. And the reason they find it hard

to find true wisdom is because what the

word wisdom means.

The word wisdom is the word hma. And

that word hma is this word that brings

order back into the chaos of our lives.

Wisdom in this sense is to have the

knowledge but not only have the

knowledge, you have the wisdom to apply

that knowledge into your life. That's

hma. And when you apply that knowledge

into your life, your life should go from

chaos to order.

So here's what will help us describe the

word wisdom.

Our house right now, it's absolute

chaos. My house, absolute chaos. Why?

because we're getting construction done

in our house.

Now, the builders actually did create

the chaos, but we'll put that aside for

the second. What are the builders doing

right now?

They're using their knowledge and

applying that knowledge, which is

wisdom, and they're going to take that

chaos that is our house, and they'll

hopefully with their knowledge and with

their wisdom bring order to the chaos.

Hopefully.

paid enough money for it to be hope. So

hopefully

and that's what wisdom does.

True wisdom helps bring order back into

the chaos of our lives. What's the chaos

of Job's life right now? The chaos of

Job's life is suffering. And he cannot

understand it. And it's just all over

the place. And what they're trying to

do, Job and his friends with their words

is they're trying with their words to

bring order back into the chaos of his

life. But the problem is though people

are great at finding precious jewels and

all silver and gold. People are great

are making themselves rich. People are

great at building buildings. What people

are not great at is finding true wisdom.

And the reason number one is they don't

know where to find it. And number two is

they do not value it. They do not value

true wisdom. Verse 13, man does not know

its worth. It is not found in the land

of the living. The the deep says it is

not in me and the sea says it is not

with me.

See what it says in verse 13. Man does

not know its worth. Man does know the

worth of worldly wisdom, but man does

not know the worth. People do not know

the worth of true wisdom, true godly

wisdom.

I often laugh at people when um you know

it gets into the conversation that that

me and Lana lived in Chicago for three

and a half years and it's all great, the

conversation's going really well and I

say all the sites in Chicago and

whatever and then they ask me the

question, "Well, what did you do there?"

And I know what's coming because I'm

going to have to tell them what I did

there.

I say to them, sometimes confidently,

other times I'll admit sheepishly

because you just don't want I just don't

want to get into it again. What did you

do there? I don't I just don't want to

look like a weirdo and a freak again.

What did you do there? I studied

theology.

And I know I'm going to have to help

them through the conversation and get

out of the awkwardness. Oh, that's

great.

I studied theology.

But there's some people who will look at

me and say, they won't say it because

they're Irish,

but they will think it.

What did you do that for?

Three and a half years

studying one book largely.

Three and a half years you spent.

Could that possibly be worth all the

time and the money?

And I would say absolutely yes. His

wisdom is valuable.

But people don't get how valuable the

wisdom of God is. People would rather

have gold and sapphires and stones and

pearls and diamonds.

The scripture would tell us God's wisdom

is far greater than all of that.

People cannot find God's wisdom because

they don't know where to find it. They

also don't know its value. And number

three, people cannot buy the wisdom.

Verse 15, it cannot be bought for gold

and silver cannot be weighed as its

price.

You see, this is the problem with godly

wisdom.

You cannot buy it with your gold. All

the gold that you find, it's actually

worthless when it comes to having godly

wisdom. People think that if I just come

on, there must be a little bit of you

that thinks

if I was Elon Musk and had all that

money, there's a little bit of you that

thinks problem solved, right? Just a

little bit. I could just buy out

everything and my problems are solved.

But the answer is you cannot buy wisdom,

godly wisdom, true wisdom with money.

People

find it hard to find wisdom because they

don't value it. They can't buy it. And

finally, number four, they look in the

wrong place for it. Verse 20, again, he

asks that key question. From where then

does wisdom come? And where is the place

of understanding? It is hidden from the

eyes of all living and concealed from

the birds of the air. Abaden and death

say we have heard a rumor of it with our

ears. He asks that key question again.

Oh, human beings are amazing at finding

gold and silver and all that stuff, but

where does wisdom come from? Can you

find that?

And the problem is people are are

looking in the wrong places. It's hard

to find wisdom in in the land of the

living. It's it's hidden there from from

the eyes of all the living. And it's

hard to find wisdom in the land of the

dead. Verse 22. Even even death says or

abadin, that's the the word for kind of

destruction. It's linked with sh which

is the place of the dead. Even if you go

to the place of the dead, so you go to

the land of the living, you cannot find

it. You go to the place of the dead, you

cannot find it there because there's

only a rumor there in that place. Maybe

there is this thing called wisdom, is

there?

And this is the reason people in this

world, oh, they can get rich,

but they cannot truly get rich with

wisdom.

And I do believe that people in this

world are looking for true wisdom and

they seek to find it in other places.

I call it um podcast wisdom.

Searching for wisdom with podcast

wisdom.

The most popular podcasts in this world

right now

are wisdom podcasts.

They're really self-help podcasts,

but they know it that won't sell. But

that's what they are. They're trying to

engage with the chaos of people's world

and they're trying to organize that

chaos with wisdom.

Okay? So, you've chaos somewhere in your

life, your money or your marriage or

some kind of relationship, friendship or

whatever, and they'll talk about that

topic, the chaos of your life, and

they'll try and put wisdom to that and

give you order. And those podcasts are

really popular. And it's not that

there's not some truth in what you hear.

Why? Because we know and recognize that

all truth, all real truth is God's

truth. So it's not that you cannot hear

some wisdom from those things.

But that wisdom in those places, what is

it missing?

It doesn't have the foundation of God's

word.

So how powerful is the wisdom?

Not powerful at all.

And unfortunately, I think that we can

get tempted in this way that we spend

most of our time

listening to the podcast wisdom of this

world and very little of our time

listening to God's wisdom for our lives.

And it's God's wisdom that will lead you

home. It's God's wisdom that will

properly fix and help put order back

into the chaos of your life.

That's the wisdom we're to seek.

Are you never to live a listen to a

podcast again? That's not what I'm

saying.

But what I am saying is if that is

replacing the wisdom of God and his

word, you have got a problem.

And if you're not filtering the things

that you hear in this world, the wisdom

of this world through the wisdom of God,

then you are in trouble.

So as God's people,

where do we find wisdom?

We don't find it in the treasures of the

world.

We don't find it in the place of death.

We cannot buy it. Where do we find

wisdom?

True wisdom

is found

in God.

And that's the whole point of this

chapter. That's where he has been

leading us to in this chapter. Verse 23.

God understands the way to it and he

knows its place. God understands the way

to wisdom and he knows the place for

wisdom.

For he looks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

When he gave to the wind its weight and

a portion the waters by measure.

When he made a decree for the rain and a

way for the lightning of the of the

thunder. Then he saw it and declared it.

He established it and searched it out.

If you want to know the way of wisdom,

where do you go? Verse 23, you go to

God. If you want to put order back into

the chaos that is your life, where do

you go for this wisdom? You go to God.

And someone might say, "Well, why should

I go to God?" And in these verses, what

you've got is is almost a shortened

version of God's CV. This is why you

should go to God. Verse 24. One reason

you should go to God, he sees everything

in every possible way. This is why we we

love these these wisdom podcasts because

these people can can see the world in in

a different way that we don't see it.

But all that they see is a small little

portion of the world. Wouldn't you love

to go to the God who sees everything for

your wisdom and direction in this world?

That's part of his CV. Verse 25, he gave

weight to the wind. Verse 26, he decreed

the rain and the lightning.

And verse 27, he saw it. Wisdom. He

declared it. He established it. He

searched it out. If you want wisdom for

your life, you go to God.

So, let me ask you this.

What's your chaos

right now?

What's your chaos?

I think all of us, if we're honest, have

a little bit of chaos going on in our

lives.

I'd love us to be a church. That's okay.

We're telling people, "Guys, I I have a

bit of chaos going on in my life in this

area right now. Will you pray?"

And I'd love us just to be able to say

that.

So, what is your chaos?

Is your chaos

marriage chaos

right now? Is Is that your chaos?

You can't quite figure things out

together.

You're not in a good place and you know

it.

Is that your chaos that you need fixed?

Maybe it's your finance.

Things aren't going the way you want it

to go with your finance. It's all over

the place. Is is that your chaos?

Maybe it's your parenting.

You just feel useless right now.

Every Here's the secret. Every parent

has felt that way. Every parent feels

that way. Inadequate,

useless,

not able to know what we're doing.

Making it up as we go along.

I mean, if there's one time to say amen,

that's the place. But anyway, it's it's

it's chaos.

All of us have some chaos. What's yours?

And when you realize your chaos

and then you look at verse 23,

it's like fresh water to your soul.

God understands the way to it

and he knows its place.

Lord, my life is all over the place,

chaotic.

And that verse comes into you and says,

God says to you, I know the way.

Come with me.

I know the way.

I'll give rest to your weary soul.

I'll make your crooked path straight.

I'll lead you and guide you by my word.

I will sustain you until I take you

home.

Come to me for wisdom, God says.

And then finally, we have this place

where God speaks in this book in verse

28

and he speaks and he tells us what

wisdom truly is. He gives us a

definition of what true wisdom is.

And in giving us the definition of what

true wisdom is, it is God who speaks in

this verse.

Now, if Job were a mountain,

if Job were a mountain, do you know what

the top of the mountain would be?

Chapter 28.

And do you know what the tippy top?

That's what I used to say when I was

younger. Do you know what the tippy top

of that mountain would be? The very,

very, very, very, very, very, very top

of that mountain. Do you know what it

would be? Be Job 28:28.

Job 28:28

It's where God speaks. And when God

speaks, we must listen. God speaks at at

the start of the book of Job. God speaks

at the end of the book of Job. And and

in order to understand the book of Job,

we need to listen to when God speaks. He

speaks at the beginning. He's going to

speak at the end. But he also speaks in

this verse in the middle and tells us

exactly what the wisdom is that we need

for the chaos in our lives.

speaks and tells Job, "Here's the wisdom

you need for the chaos of your suffering

in your life."

And what's the wisdom? Verse 28. And he

said to man, "Behold, the fear of the

Lord that is wisdom,

and to turn away from evil is

understanding."

The fear of the Lord. You want to put

order back into the chaos of your life.

The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.

Turning away from evil is understanding.

Now, put yourselves in Job's shoes

hearing these words.

If I was Job hearing these words, do you

know what I wouldn't be? I would not be

happy hearing these words.

So God, the answer

I've gone back and forth with my I've

lost first I've lost everything.

Then there's seven days of silence. Then

for days we've been going back and forth

with my friends trying to find out this

wisdom. Zofar has ran off away from me.

He doesn't want anything to do with me

anymore. And I'm searching for this

wisdom. And you are going to tell me

that the tippy tippy top of the

mountain, the thing I need to have

is this.

What I'm doing already,

what I've been doing for my whole life.

How did the book of Job describe Job?

Three times.

He is one who fears God and turns away

from evil. He is one who fears God and

turns away from evil. He is one who

fears God and turns away from evil. And

now he is in the place of his suffering.

And he finally comes to God. And he's

looking for the answer in his suffering.

And what's the answer?

Job.

Fear God.

Turn away from evil.

And that is going to put order back into

your chaos.

You see, we want practical answers

in the chaos of our lives.

We want actual tangible practical

answers to the chaos of suffering.

Practical tangible answers to the chaos

of our marriage. Practical tangible

answers to the chaos of our finances,

you put in the blank. We want those

answers.

And whatever chaos you've named in your

life, here is what God would say to you

this morning. Whatever is frustrating

you, whatever is angering you, whatever

is turning you away from God and his

people right now, here is what God would

say to you this morning. Here's what

you're to do. This is the wisdom of God.

Fear him.

Turn away from evil. His answer to your

chaos

is, "Bow your head, my child

and repent of your sin,

and keep going for me."

That's the wisdom of God.

Sometimes

God doesn't give us the answers that we

want, but he gives us the answer that we

need in our lives.

And all of this wisdom is pursued and

found in God

because God came down in the flesh

and his name is Jesus

and we are told that he is the wisdom of

God.

If you want to find wisdom,

bow before him, fear him, and turn away

from your sin.

I want to read to you some verses as we

close.

Feel free to just listen to them or

close your eyes if you'd like. But I

believe that this these verses in the

New Testament tell us where wisdom may

be found.

1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. This is God's

1 Corinthians 1:26

word.

For consider your calling, brothers.

Not many of you were wise according to

worldly standards.

Not many of you were powerful. Not many

of you were of noble birth. But God

chose what is foolish in the world to

shame the wise. God chose what is weak

in the world to shame the strong. God

chose what is low and despised in the

world, even the things that are not, to

bring to nothing the things that are,

so that no human being might boast in

the presence of God.

And because of him,

you are in Christ Jesus

who became to us

wisdom from God,

righteousness, and sanctification, and

redemption,

so that as it is written, let the one

who boasts boast in the Lord. Let's

pray.

Lord, we thank you for the wisdom that

you give us in our lives. And I pray,

Lord, that we will not seek to embrace

wholeheartedly just the wisdom of this

world, but we'll seek to embrace your

wisdom, how you lead and guide us, and

how you call us home. And your wisdom is

simply this.

Fear you. Live our lives in reverence

and in awe of you.

and turn away from evil. Help us by your

spirit live that life. Help us by your

spirit pursue Christ who is the

personification of the wisdom of God. In

Jesus precious name I pray these things.

Amen.

We're going to stand and sing as we

prepare our hearts for the Lord's

supper. When I survey the wondrous

cross. Let's stand. prepare our hearts

for the Lord's supper.