WHERE IS THE HOPE?

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
17 November 2007

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Job 17

10. "But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.
11. My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
12. These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, `Light is near.'
13. If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14. if I say to corruption, `You are my father,' and to the worm, `My mother' or `My sister,'
15. where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
16. Will it go down to the gates of death ? Will we descend together into the dust?"

-- this morning, we are going to continue a study that we started a couple of weeks ago on the major themes of Job -- last time, we talked about the issue of theodicy, which is nothing more than a $10 word to explain our struggle with the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
-- if you remember, we began by looking at the story of Job -- the Bible tells us that Job was an upright and blameless man in God's eyes -- a man who had been blessed with a large, loving family -- good friends -- and wealth beyond belief
-- and then, seemingly without reason, everything was taken from Job -- all of his possessions -- all of his livelihood -- even his children and his health -- everything -- gone in the blink of an eye -- and we found Job sitting in an ash heap, surrounded by his "wise-in-their-own-eyes" friends, asking the question, "Why has this trouble come on me?"
-- as we explored that question in the Book of Job, we came up with three general answers -- first, trouble comes about because of sin -- either the consequences of your own sin or the consequences of another person's sin affecting you and introducing trouble into your life -- secondly, in the life of a Christian, trouble can come about as a form of discipline, when God allows the consequences of our sins to steer us back into fellowship with Him -- and, finally, God sometimes allows trouble to come into our lives to help develop our faith -- to prune us and mold us and shape us into the people He has called us to be -- as we look back on our lives, we soon realize that it was in these storms of life that we grew to resemble Christ the most
-- so last time, our study looked at the theme of troubles in the life of God's people

II. The Troubles of Job
-- now Job was a man experiencing trouble in his life -- troubles that most of us can only imagine -- very few of us here have had the total, extreme loss that Job experienced in his life
-- it would not surprise me to find out that Job was the inspiration for the Soggy Bottom Boys song "Man of Constant Sorrows" in the movie, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" -- the song opens up with this line "I am just a man of constant sorrows -- and I've seen trouble all my days" -- that describes Job to a "T"
-- Job was a man of constant sorrows and was in the midst of the worst trouble that anyone had ever seen -- and while God may use these times of sorrows and troubles to develop us as His people -- when we are in the midst of these troubles it sometimes feels like the sun is never going to shine again -- like our lives are over -- and nothing is ever going to get better again
-- when we find ourselves in the midst of times like these, we can find ourselves treading perilously close to the pit of despondency and the depths of despair -- it is at times like this that a lot of us feel like we're standing at the entrance to Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy, facing a sign that says, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here"
-- that's where Job was -- in verse 1 of Chapter 17, Job cried out "My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me." -- in other words, "I have nothing left to live for and the only thing ahead of me is death"

-- when we reach that point in our lives, we find ourselves looking for a lifeboat -- searching for a Savior -- desperately trying to find something on which we can cling to that will restore hope to our situations
-- Job is in a very bad place in this passage -- as we already mentioned, Job has been facing an extremely difficult time in his life -- and as he sat in the ash heap and scratched himself with a piece of broken pottery, he was joined by three of his closest friends -- as he looked around at his friends surrounding him, Job had hoped they would be his lifeboat -- he had hoped that they would be able to encourage him and offer him help in this crisis of life -- but, instead, they offered nothing more than catchy cliches, pithy platitudes, and indictments of his character and life
-- now in Chapter 17, we see a man broken and beginning to despair that help will ever come -- look back at verse 10 again

10. "But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.
11. My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
12. These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, `Light is near.'

-- Job's friends knew what had happened to Job -- the whole community knew -- and they had come together to offer their advice to him -- but what they said didn't help Job at all
-- "There's no use crying over spilled milk -- what's done is done -- and it's all your fault -- if you hadn't been such a horrible sinner, none of this would have happened -- not that God will change anything, but your only hope now is to repent of your sins and pray that God doesn't just destroy you where you sit."
-- after listening to this for a couple of days, they put Job on the defensive -- and he strikes back -- "Come on, surely you can do better than that -- you call yourself wise, but that's all you have to offer? -- look at my situation -- my life is over -- my plans are shattered -- and everything that I longed for and desired with my heart has turned to ashes
-- isn't there something else you can do? -- something else you can say? -- is all you can promise the peace of the grave? -- I thought you came to help -- if you can't help me, who can?"
-- look at verse 13

13. If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14. if I say to corruption, `You are my father,' and to the worm, `My mother' or `My sister,'
15. where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
16. Will it go down to the gates of death ? Will we descend together into the dust?"

-- in other words, Job is saying, "I am about on the point of giving up -- I'm about ready to toss in the towel -- but I know that if I do that -- if I give in totally to the despair and the despondency and the blackness surrounding me -- then I have no hope left
-- "is this all we have to look forward to in our lives? -- if this is all you have to offer, then there is no hope for any of us, and we will all descend to dust and the gates of death together"

III. Searching for Hope
-- What does it take to restore hope? -- where do you turn when life gets too much -- when the darkness begins to close in on you and it looks like nothing is ever going to get better?
-- a lot of people are like Job -- they turn to others for their hope -- they reach out to their friends and their family with the hope that these people can pull them back from their pit of despair
-- but, as the Book of Job shows us and as our own experiences bear out, others can't really help us find hope in our lives -- truth be told, they're just as messed up as we are -- maybe they aren't suffering in the same way we are -- maybe they haven't lost everything like we have -- but they have their own problems -- their own sins -- and they're busy trying to find their own way out of their personal pit
-- when Job's friends approached and sat down beside him, he thought they would be the answer to all of his woes -- but he learned quickly, they didn't have the answers he needed -- they, too, were on a journey looking for hope -- and while our friends and family can pick us up and help carry us along on the road as we search for help, they can never be the source of hope that we so desperately need
-- a lot of people turn to the Government for help when their lives spiral out of control -- but the government can't offer true hope and help for someone -- like friends and family, the government can help prop us up and keep us moving on our journey, but it is not a source of hope -- it is not something to put our faith and trust in
-- regardless of how good a government might be, it is made up of people and people are eventually going to fail you -- Job was one of the leaders in his day -- in essence, he was a government official, highly respected and looked up to by those in his community -- but it didn't help him one bit when his life came crashing down
-- as the people who have suffered through Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters can attest, the Government can help -- but they can't offer the hope that they truly need
-- so if we can't depend on our friends and family and the government for help, where do we turn -- well, the obvious answer is, "God."
-- Job was a spiritual man -- but Job had a problem -- he didn't really know God
-- He believed in Him -- He knew God to be the King of the Universe -- the Mighty Creator -- high and lifted up on His throne -- the Book of Job is filled with marvelous testimony and songs of praise to God as the powerful and supreme deity -- but Job didn't know how to reach Him -- Job didn't know how to connect to God
-- In all reality, Job knew religion -- in Job Chapter 1, we read that Job offered burnt offerings to God on behalf of his family to atone for their sins -- he worshiped God by offering sacrifices and prayers -- he served as the priest for his family in this time of the patriarchs, in this time before Judaism was firmly established in the land -- but he only knew the practices of religion -- he didn't really know God -- he knew religion
-- when troubles come into our lives, a lot of people turn to religion for help -- they come to church -- they get involved -- they volunteer and get busy doing church-stuff -- but it doesn't help -- it can't help -- because it's not about church -- it's not about religion
-- I have people tell me all the time that they don't come to church because church has failed them -- they may not say it in those words, but that's what they mean -- they complain about too many hypocrites in the pews -- they say that when they were sick, no one in the church called -- when they were in need, no one in the church came by to help -- the church had failed them -- religion had failed them
-- and that's understandable -- the church is made up of people -- and people are going to fail you -- people are not going to be able to provide you with the sustenance of life -- people are not going to be able to provide you with the help and the hope that you need
-- Job was really beginning to realize this -- when things in his life began to spiral out of control, religion didn't help, because he was putting his faith and trust in the man-made trappings of religion rather than in a personal Savior
-- Job's religion had put God out of reach -- and Job was desperate to find Him

IV. Jesus is the Author of Hope
-- if you would, flip back to Chapter 9 in this book -- look at verse 32

32. "He is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

-- you see? -- to Job, God was someone he couldn't reach -- someone he couldn't talk to as a friend -- someone who was more concerned about the affairs of the universe than about the trials in one man's life, even as severe as those trials were
-- "He's not a man -- He's not someone I can talk to -- He's not someone I can ask why this is happening -- He's not someone I can ask to help me"
-- but in the midst of his despair -- in the midst of his longing for help and hope -- Job stumbles onto the key of life
-- verse 33

33. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both,
34. someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.
35. Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

-- do you see what Job is saying here? -- he is crying out for a Savior -- he is crying out for Jesus
-- "I can't reach God on my own -- as it stands now, the chasm is too great and there is no bridge -- there is no way for me to get to God -- there is no way for my cries of help to get to God -- if only there was someone who could come between us -- someone who could grab my hand and grab God's hand and draw us together, then -- then -- I would have hope -- then I would have salvation and restoration -- then I would know God"
-- despite getting bogged down in the trappings of the religion of his day -- despite his frustration at trying to find answers and help from his friends and family and the government -- Job tripped over the truth and found the answer to all his problems
-- this is why Jesus came to earth -- this is why God sent Jesus to be born in a manger on Christmas Day -- God became a man like us so that we would have a way to get to Him -- He became a man like us to die on the cross -- to atone for our sins -- and to offer us a never-ending hope through Jesus
-- where do we turn for hope when we're walking in the valley -- when we're facing the storms of life like Job? -- we turn to Jesus -- we turn to the only One who can give us eternal hope and who promises us eternal life with Him
-- nothing and no one on earth can save us -- nothing and no one on earth can give us hope -- at their best, our friends and family and churches can do nothing more than point us to the one source of hope that we have -- the mediator that Job cried out for -- Christ Jesus Himself

V. Closing
-- I want to close by sharing with you a true story of hope in the midst of pain -- this is the story about Jenny
-- Jenny had just turned 13, and she was totally out of control -- and she got worse with each passing day -- she was taller and more physically mature than most of her friends -- and she found it was easy to attract the older guys simply by tossing back her long, strawberry blonde hair and smiling at them
-- As a result, Jenny grew up fast -- and before she was 14 years old, she had experienced all the vices the world could dangle before her -- and before she could stop herself, she got caught up in an endless cycle of sex, drugs, and alcohol abuse -- Jenny was headed down a long, dark road with no way out -- she lived life in a pit of pain and despair
-- If you asked Jenny, she would tell you she was having a good time, but she was lying -- she knew her lifestyle wasn't right -- she knew she needed help -- she needed hope
-- her friends tried to help her, but she usually turned them away -- but one of them finally got her to go with them to an event put on by a youth group at a local church -- and even though Jenny didn't go back to church in the weeks after the event, something in the youth pastor's short message found its way into her heart -- he had told a story about a prostitute -- a woman who was caught in a pit of despair just like Jenny -- and who was so sorry about the way she was living that she turned to Jesus and cried at his feet and then wiped His feet dry with her hair
-- Several years passed, and Jenny grew more out of control -- she continued on her path to destruction -- caught up in a cycle with no way out -- but one night, as a very stoned Jenny and a group of her friends roamed around town after yet another party, God began to break through to her
-- for years she had tried to cover up her guilt and self-loathing and despair with sex and drugs and alcohol and partying -- but on this night, it all just bubbled right up to the surface and suddenly, Jenny realized that she was sick of her life, sick of her behavior, and sick of who she was. For the first time in her life, Jenny desperately longed for help -- she wanted to be clean and to be loved and to have hope in her life
-- she thought back to that youth pastor's message from so long ago -- and she thought to herself, "Maybe God can help -- no else has" -- she left her friends partying in the streets and, even though it was in the middle of the night, she made her way to the nearest church -- she walked up the steps to the sanctuary door and grabbed the handle and pulled -- but the door didn't open -- the church was locked
-- she broke out into tears -- could nothing help? -- she went around back and saw a gate that led to the back of the church -- she tried the gate, and it opened -- she walked through and found herself in the middle of a small courtyard -- and as she followed the trail towards the church building, all of sudden, she saw Him
-- It was Jesus. He was standing on top of a concrete pad in the middle of the garden. His arms were out-stretched like He was waiting for her -- Jenny ran to Him -- she dropped on her knees in front of this life-sized statue of Jesus and began to weep
-- and, just like the prostitute in the story that she had heard of so many years ago, Jenny's tears fell on the feet of Jesus and she wiped His feet dry with her own hair -- and while she wept, the grace of God poured out of her -- caressing her with love and life -- wiping away all the years of sex and drugs and alcohol -- and pulling her up from the pit of her despair and giving her a hope for the future
-- in his song, "Heaven in the Real World," Steven Curtis Chapman wrote, -- "Where is the hope, where is the peace? -- That will make this life complete -- what will it take to stand in the pouring rain and believe the sun will shine again -- how can we know that the grave is not the end"
-- and he concludes, "There is a hope -- there is a peace -- that will make this life complete -- For every man, woman, boy, and girl -- Looking for heaven in the real world"
-- Jenny and Job were both looking for heaven in the real world -- they were crying out for peace and hope -- just like you -- and just like me
-- and they found it -- not in the answers of their friends -- not in the caresses of their family -- not in the programs of the government or the trappings of religion -- but in the only mediator between God and man -- the source of life Himself -- Christ Jesus
-- you know, I don't where you are today -- I don't know where life has put you -- but I do know one thing -- no matter what you are going through -- no matter how bad your troubles are -- the answer lays in Jesus -- and He is here this morning, waiting for you to come
-- as the last song is played, I want to invite you to respond to God's word -- to come to Jesus today -- whether it's for first time or the fiftieth time -- if you've got a problem, He's waiting to help -- will you let Him?
-- let's pray