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Colin Smith: Let me ask you this question: How much do you know God? See, if you know God a little, you will change a little. As you come to know God more, you will change more. And if you come to know God much, you will be changed much.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. Colin, that is an important truth for us to grasp—that the more we know of God, the more our life will change.

Colin Smith: Yeah, and we find that in the story of Job. It is absolutely fascinating. At the beginning, we are told that Job was a righteous man, nobody like him on the face of the earth, and God honors his integrity.

At the end of the book, Job says, "I repent in dust and ashes." What did he repent of if he is such a righteous man? That is really the question at the heart of the book of Job. The answer is that this man came to see the glory of God in an entirely new way. In seeing more of the glory of God, he is beginning to change more deeply from the inside.

That is in 2 Corinthians 3. We are changed into the likeness of Christ as we behold his glory. So, the more I see of the glory of God, the more I am really going to change. This is a huge principle of Christian growth.

Steve Hiller: It certainly is, and one that, as Pastor Colin has just said, we are going to look at from the story of Job. We are in chapter 42 of that book, looking at verses five and six. Let's get into the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: We are continuing our series this morning, "Repentance: The Hidden Path to a Transformed Life." We begin this morning with this great theme: Repentance flows from your knowledge of God. It is turning from as much as you know of sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. As you come to know God more, then change will advance in your life.

We are going to look at this in a very practical example from the book of Job. I want to invite you to open your Bibles at the book of Job, which we will be moving through and focusing particularly on the last chapter together. Let’s begin right at the beginning, Job chapter one.

The first thing to say about Job is that he was one of the finest men who has ever lived. Look at chapter one and verse eight. Here is what God says about him: "There is no one on earth like him. He is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Can you imagine God saying that about you? What an extraordinary description for God to say about this man.

The story of Job is about how this man became the target for a focused attack from Satan, and God allowed it to be so. Chapter one of the book tells us how the bottom fell out of Job’s life all in one day. It was a day of complete catastrophe.

In verses 14 and 15, his servants and animals were attacked and killed by a gang called the Sabeans. Then in verse 16, there was, on the same day, some kind of lightning strike. It says the fire of God fell from heaven and burned up sheep and another group of servants.

In verse 17, another messenger comes with a report that a group called the Chaldeans had swept down in raiding parties and had taken all the camels and put another group of servants to the sword. Then at the end of the chapter, most devastating of all, verses 18 and 19, Job’s sons and daughters have all got together for a party, and the house in which his entire family is gathered is struck by a hurricane, a strong wind, the walls collapse, and all of Job’s sons and daughters are killed.

It is hard to imagine a greater disaster that could befall any man in one day or perhaps even in a lifetime. It seemed as if all hell were let loose, and in a sense, that is probably a fair description of what happened.

This book is about a man who experienced unspeakable suffering, and it tells us about his struggle with himself, then his struggle with his friends, and then most of all, his struggle with God. It is such a marvelous thing that God has given us this book in the Bible.

All of us have suffered, even if we have not suffered as Job did. All of us have pain in our lives in some ways, and when that becomes intense, you too will struggle with God. You will have your questions, and you will have your complaints just as he did. You may find yourself at points even wishing that you were no longer alive. Job was there. God has given us this book in the Bible that directly addresses these experiences.

Job had some friends who came to comfort him. They should be commended for that. It is a good thing when friends care enough to come. They were concerned about his spiritual condition, and they should be commended for that. It is a good thing when friends care about where you are before God.

These friends felt quite sure that Job’s suffering must be a consequence of some things that he had done wrong in his life, and they wanted him to come clean and tell them the secret. "What is it, Job? You must have been up to something."

But Job, throughout the book in which he speaks ten times, maintains his innocence. This is never clearer than in chapter 31. Job goes through a catalog of sins. He has examined himself, as we will be encouraging one another next Sunday, God willing, to examine ourselves. He has done that.

The point that he makes is, "I have looked into my own life and, as far as I can reasonably tell, there is not something there that is the cause of this suffering in my life. It remains a mystery to me." Look at chapter 31 in which he calls down judgments on himself if he had been guilty of any of these sins. The point he makes throughout the chapter is that he was not guilty of them.

Look, for example, at verse five: "If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has hurried after deceit, let God weigh me in honest scales. He will know that I am blameless." Verse seven: "If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has been led by my eyes, if my hands have been defiled, then let others eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted."

It goes on. Verse nine: "If my heart has been enticed by a woman..." Verse 13: "If I have denied justice to my menservants or my maidservants..." Verse 16: "If I have denied the desires of the poor..." Verse 17: "If I have kept my bread to myself. I’ve got all this food and there are hungry people out there. If it were the case that I hadn’t shared what I had, then let judgment come upon me, but I have shared what he have." That is his point.

"If I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing or the needy without a garment, and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep..." Verse 21: "If I have raised my hand against the fatherless..." Verse 24: "If I have put my trust in gold..." Verse 25: "If I have rejoiced over my great wealth..." Verse 29: "If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune..."

It goes on. Verse 33: "If I have concealed my sin as men do..." Or verse 38: "If my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears, if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, then let briars come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are ended."

That is the ending point of everything he has to say. "I have looked honestly at my life and I cannot see what I have done that has been somehow the cause of what has befallen me. Therefore, my suffering remains a mystery to me."

What Job really wants is an audience with God. What he would like is the chance to ask God some questions. It would make sense to Job if he had been living some double life that judgment would come upon him. Nobody would be surprised at that. But he is not. So, why? That is where he is.

At the end of the book, Job gets what he asks for. He experiences a remarkable encounter with God, and it is recorded for us in chapter 38 through to chapter 41. God speaks to this man clearly, audibly, directly. In fact, we should probably describe what happened to Job here as a theophany—that is, a visible appearance of God.

After this encounter, Job speaks for a final time. In chapter 42, he speaks after this encounter with God, and in verses five and six, he says this: "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

Of what then did Job repent? We have just gone through a whole catalog of sins of which Job says, "I am innocent." Then he encounters the living God in this theophany. From that, suddenly now he says, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you, therefore I repent in dust and ashes." So, of what did Job repent?

When God speaks to him in chapters 38 to 41, God does not accuse him of any sin. At the very end of the book, if you look at chapter 42 verses seven and eight, you will see there that God vindicates Job. God says that Job must pray for his friends because Job got it right and his friends got it wrong. "Job spoke rightly about me," God says. It was his friends who had it wrong.

When the man is vindicated, what does he mean when he says, "I repent"? Let’s come back to our definition of repentance because I think we have light from the scriptures on it right here. What is repentance? It is turning from as much as you know of sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of God.

What changed at the end of the story of Job was that Job saw God’s glory as he had never seen it before, and that changed him. It was not that Job discovered some sins that he hadn’t seen before. If that had been the case, then Job’s friends would have been right, and God says Job’s friends were wrong. It was that Job saw the glory of God as he had never quite seen it before, and that changes a man or a woman.

Repentance—the path of a transformed life—is simply a reflection of our knowledge of God. Therefore, the first direction for finding the path of repentance is knowing God. That is what we are learning from the book of Job. As you grow in the knowledge of God, that is how you will change.

So often, we get the idea that the way to change is to decide to change. Actually, change comes as a byproduct of knowing God. As you come to know God more, you will find yourself changing. That is what happened to Job.

Let me ask you this question: How much do you know God? If you know God a little, you will change a little. As you come to know God more, you will change more. And if you come to know God much, you will be changed much. Repentance, the path of a transformed life, is simply a reflection of our knowledge of God. That is his first dimension.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, and we're going to pause here, but we'll get back to this message in just a moment. Our message, "Worshiping As Much As You Know of Your God," is part of our series called "Repentance: The Hidden Path to a Transformed Life."

If you ever miss a broadcast in the series, you can listen online. Come to openthebible.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Open the Bible app. You'll find that for free at your app store. It's a great way to listen to Pastor Colin's teaching on demand whenever it fits your schedule. Again, come and listen online at openthebible.org. If you joined us late, we're in Job chapter 42. Let's get back to the message. Here is Pastor Colin.

Colin Smith: I want to make just two observations from Job’s repentance this morning and then to try and apply it briefly to our own lives. The first very obvious statement is simply that knowing God will change your life. I want us to try and take this in: Knowing God will change your life. There are a lot of people who really want to know how their lives can be changed and really have no clue that knowing God is the first way in which that will happen.

Remember that Job was a man of faith. He was a strong believer, but this faith had been stretched to the limit. He had believed God, but he had struggled with God, and throughout the book, he has been pouring out his questions and his complaints.

Look back at chapter 10 and verse one, for example. He says, "I loathe my very life; I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out of bitterness of my soul." Or chapter 21 verse four: "Is my complaint directed to man?" No, obviously not; it’s directed to God. "Why should I not be impatient?" he says. He’s frustrated. He doesn’t understand. He’s running out of patience.

Job is not the only believer to go through an experience like this. Some of the Psalms express a very similar outpouring of complaint by a believer to God. You might like to check these out later: Psalms 10, 13, 55, 64, 69, 77, 102, 142 are all Psalms of complaint, and they are all spoken by a man of faith.

Psalm 64 is fascinating. It begins, "Hear, O Lord, as I voice my complaint," and it ends by saying, "Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord." This is a believing man, and yet he’s got a problem with God. We’ve all been there—the times when, though you believe, you have more questions than answers. You have a complaint that you would like to make to God, and though you love the Lord, your faith is stretched to the limit.

If you have not been there yet as a Christian believer, you will be there one day. Most Christians have been there; no Christian wants to stay there. It is like a marriage in which there is an unresolved tension. It is not that the marriage is breaking up; the couple love each other and they are committed to each other. Healthy couples have been there; no healthy couple wants to stay there.

The breakthrough in Job’s life as a believing man who has issues with God comes in this great encounter that is described in chapter 38 through 41. If you turn to these chapters for a moment now, Job chapter 38, you will see there that God asks of Job nearly 40 questions, and Job cannot answer a single one of them.

Imagine an exam where you are faced with a paper on a subject you know absolutely nothing about. You go down all the questions and think, "I can’t answer that one, I can’t answer that one." That is how it was for Job.

Verse one of chapter 38: "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?" Verse four: "Who marked off its dimensions? Who stretched a measuring line across it? Don’t you know? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone while all the angels sang for joy?"

Verse 12: "Have you ever given orders to the morning? Have you ever said, 'Morning, time to come up now. Do it an hour early, make it an hour late'?" Verse 16: "Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?" Verse 22: "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail?" Verse 35: "Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you?"

Job cannot answer a single question. It goes on and on through chapter 39, through chapter 40. God raises the mysteries of the hippopotamus, the crocodile. Job, in the presence of this God of wonders who is beyond our galaxies and is holy, finds himself absolutely lost for words.

He had been a worshiper of God all his life, but now he is seeing that God is far greater and far more glorious than he had ever imagined. He realizes that all of his big questions about what he doesn’t understand in his own life—all these questions are only a tiny fraction of what he does not know.

There are more mysteries in God’s vast universe than he could begin to comprehend. Job had been trying to make sense of the mystery of his suffering. He had been at odds with God, though he were a faithful man, the finest man who ever lived. But when he saw the glory of God, he found that he could live with his pain and he could live with his unanswered questions because he knew this God.

Steve Hiller: I love the fact that Pastor Colin just brought out the truth that many of us at some time in our lives will come to a point where we have more questions than answers, where we're going through a situation we don't understand what God is doing. We love him, but we feel like that love is being stretched to the limit.

What a great reminder that even though we've been there, we don't want to stay there. What is that breakthrough? That's what we're discovering in the life of Job and in this message, "Worshiping As Much As You Know of Your God."

This is just one of seven messages in a series called "Repentance: The Hidden Path to a Transformed Life," looking at how real and lasting change is possible in our lives by the grace of God. If you want a copy of this message or this series, ask about "Repentance" when you call 1-877-OPEN-365. That's 1-877-673-6365, or you'll find ordering information online at openthebible.org.

Open the Bible depends on your generosity to bring you Pastor Colin's teaching, and we're grateful for your support. As you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin's new 30-day devotional book called "Grow in Faith." Colin, what is one thing that you want people to take away from this book?

Colin Smith: This is a book for ordinary Christians. You talk about grow in faith, someone might think, "I'm no giant of the faith, so that's probably not for me." Well, Jesus spoke on five occasions about people with little faith—"O you of little faith." That's where we start in this book, "Grow in Faith."

If you feel that your faith is small, this is exactly for you. It's a place from which you can begin to grow. You know, there are two wonderful things about little faith. One is that little faith is saving faith if it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The other is that little faith, because faith is a living thing, is faith that really can grow. I think that this book will help people to grow in faith. That's our hope and our prayer as we've been working on it and preparing it, and I hope that it's going to be a real blessing to you.

Steve Hiller: We'd love to send you a copy of this new book from Pastor Colin. Again, it's called "Grow in Faith," and it's our thank you for your financial support this month. You can give when you call 1-877-OPEN-365 or online at openthebible.org. Again, our phone number is 1-877-673-6365, and the website is openthebible.org. For Pastor Colin Smith, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time. This program is a listener-supported production of Open the Bible.

Colin Smith: A single conversation can change your life, and that happened to me at a conference many years ago. Over lunch, I sat next to a pioneer missionary. He told me the story of how he'd made contact with an unreached tribal group in Northern Thailand. How the tribal chief had invited him to make his home there, how he built his own home and then learned the tribal language and began to serve these people. It was jaw-dropping stuff.

At one point in the conversation, I asked him, "Where do you begin in explaining the gospel to people who don't even know who God is?" And he said, "We tell them the Bible story."

I'm convinced that we need to learn from the approach of pioneer missionaries in reaching lost people today. That's why I wrote "Fly Through the Bible." "Fly Through the Bible" is short, simple, and shareable. It's a place where someone in your life can begin. So, who is there in your life who needs to know the God of the Bible and might be willing to open the Bible with you if you ask them? For more information, visit openthebible.org/fly. That's openthebible.org/fly.