We are coming to the end of Job’s friends second round of speeches they make against Job. Seeking to defend Job and to prove him wrong they continue to insist that the wicked are always punished and the righteous always prosper in this life. Job’s friends are completely unaware that God is behind all of this and has allowed these trials in Job’s life to vindicate both Job and the Lord as to why Job worships God. Great lessons on life and how to handle adversity, how to be a good friend when people in your life are suffering. We are learning how not to treat people by listening to Job’s so called friends. We are in chapter 17 tonight and Job’s response to Eliphaz’s second speech to Job as to why Job is suffering.

Matthew 8-9 we have Jesus performing 10 miracles in no particular order. Not chronologically but thematically. Jesus is performing Signs and wonders that reveal that Jesus is the promised Messiah that the scriptures teach about.

A Wonder makes us stop and wonder, “only God could do that”

A Sign is an event or activity that “points us to another location”, to another conclusion.

Multitudes followed Jesus…

In Matthew chapters 5-7 the greatest preacher ever gave us the greatest sermon ever, “the Sermon on the Mount”, The sermon on the Mount took all of 35 minutes to deliver. In Jesus sermon in chapters 5-7 we have the king giving the instructions of His kingdom, the kingdoms values, the kingdoms ethics. It’s a picture of what your life will look like when Jesus reins as king in those who follow him.

If you would, turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew chapter 7. We’re going to start in verse 13. If you’ve been here for the past several weeks, we’ve been in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 looking at one of the most well-known, if not the most well-known sermon Jesus preached known as the Sermon on the Mount.

What I want us to see today is that Jesus ends this well-known sermon with some of the best known stories in all of the Bible, which include some of the best illustrations in all of the Bible. These illustrations are also known as Parables. Parables are, “common word pictures. Words used to create a picture painted by the words to show a deeper meaning or truth.” What Jesus is doing is he’s using those illustrations or parables of future events for the purpose of drawing us in closer to all He has just said in chapters 5-6-7 here and now.

How many of you are familiar with the game of baseball and why their are starters and set up men and closers as pitchers…

Explain how this impacts hitters… Jobs friends are like batters who are facing the same pitchers after extra innings. They have seen all their pitches and the pitchers tired so the batters just start teeing off on him. There is nothing he can do. He feels hopeless. This is how Job feels as he is under a barrage of attacks from his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.

Job’s three friends are relentless in their accusing Job of hypocrisy of having secret sin declaring to him by what they see in his life as the reason he is now being judged

As we have studied Matthew chapters 5,6,7 which is known as the Sermon on the Mount its as if lightening has struck. Jesus is at the beginning of His earthly ministry laying out for His disciples what the kingdom of God is to look like. And in rapid fire succession Jesus lays out 9 Happy statements, then what it means to be salt and light, on fulfilling the law, on anger, lust, divorce, vows, retaliation, loving your enemies, giving to the poor, how to pray, how to fast, investing in the kingdom of heaven, dealing with anxiety, then as we read last week on judging others.

This morning in Matthew 7 Jesus moves from judgmentalism to prayer. But right before Jesus He makes an interesting statement.

Difficulty teaches us something about ourselves. An opportunity to learn about ourselves.

Suffering helps us answer the question as to why we serve God.

Question: Do we serve God for who He is or for what He does for us?

Satan's charge against God. Job's integrity. Does Job worship for nothing? He calls into question Job's integrity and God's worth to Job.

Job doesn't serve you for nothing. You are not worth much to Job God. The book of Job is a story of vindication of both God and Job.

Job is a story of God vindicating Job and God from the accusations the devil brings against both God and Job in chapters 1 and 2.

The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher who ever lived. At this time in Jesus ministry there are groups following Him around the Sea of Galilee in upwards of 30 to 50,000 people. From morning to night Jesus is healing people of all kinds of diseases. They are coming from over a 100 miles away.

One day Jesus stops the healing momentarily and walks up on a hill known as the Mount of Beatitudes and when He sits down the Bible tells us His disciples gathered around Him and Jesus began to teach them.

What Jesus was about to say meant more to Him than all the temporary healings He had performed. Jesus words are eternal. His Words are both life giving and life changing.

God is not silent during suffering. God has given us His Word to comfort us.

Go to God’s Word to get and maintain perspective in our trials.

God’s perceived silence in our trials is not without purpose. God appears silent so we do not miss the purpose of the trial to begin with. God is teaching Job how to walk by faith and not by sight.

Last week we looked at the Lords Prayer… where Jesus taught His disciples to pray to God as their Father… to pray with a focus on God not on themselves, His will and not our will. This week as we continue on is the Sermon on the Mount Jesus continues to strengthen His grip on our heart as He knows the heart of the matter is the matter of our hearts…

The backstory here is… Matthew is writing to Jews

When Jesus showed up on the scene, he was surrounded by people whose felt needs were so pronounced that they couldn’t get past them.