Address—Bruce Anstey
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Let's sing #23 #23. How good is the God we adore? Let's turn to the book of Job.
The things that I want to look at in this book.
Are the practical lessons that we can gain from it.
And it's.
As much for me as it is for you, but I bring them before us so that we all can get the benefit if the Lords help.
The book is filled with many practical lessons, as we had a few days ago that scripture in Romans 15, that the things were written aforetime, were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures may have hope. And this is one of the passages, one of the books in the Old Testament, that we can read for our learning, that we can get comfort and help for our Christian pathway.
Many lessons are found in this book. As I say, perhaps we could say the first one before we even read any verses In it is the fact that the book is 42 Chapters and the whole book is devoted to one man's troubles. What can we learn from that? Well, I believe we can learn this, that God takes a great interest in His people.
And the troubles that they pass through, they mean something to him and he is interested in everything that they touch and pass through. To me, that's a tremendous comfort to think.
That we are not lost in the crowd with God. Many millions of people in this world, and most if not all of them, are passing through difficulties and trials in some way. And there's a God up there in heaven that's looking down and takes interest in every single person, and especially those who love him and are in a relationship with him by faith, like what we have. It reminds me of that verse in Zechariah chapter 2. The he that touches thee touches the apple of his eye.
And so I think we can learn that lesson as sort of a.
Overall lesson from the book.
That God is interested in all of the difficulties that we pass through, and he has a lesson for us in it, as we're going to see. Let's read the first chapter and a few verses.
There was a man in the land of us, whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and astute evil. And they were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was 7000 sheep, 3000 camels.
500 Yoke of oxen, 500 She ***** and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the men in the east. And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And so it was that when the days of their feasting were about gone about that job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.
And Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed in their hearts. Thus did Job continually or day by day.
So here we're introduced to a man.
That we're told right out in the very first verse that he was perfect and upright in all of his ways and actions on earth. And I suppose the first question would be, well then, why would this man have all these troubles in his life?
If he was indeed, as Scripture says, he is perfect, upright, one who feared God and astute evil, you think you have an easy time in life. But I think it's it. We're we're told this at the outset of the book, so that we don't get an idea that the kind of disciplines that were laid upon this man were of a punitive character.
No, they weren't. What I mean by punitive is punishment for the consequences of his ways in the course and his sins in his life and so on. No, this man wasn't going on in a sinful way as far as his actions were concerned. Why then was he subjected to such disciplines as we find in this book? Well, I believe the answer is simply this and that is that God is interested in more than our lives being outwardly right.
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He's interested in us being right on the inside, too. The Bible tells us in Psalm 100, no Psalm 51 That thou requires truth on the inward parts. And the difficulty with this man was not his actions, it was his attitude.
He needed an attitude adjustment. I suppose we could say it was the disposition of his heart, not the actions of his life. And so while God is very pleased when we do things right outwardly, I'm not belittling that. But he wants something more in US and he's going to work until he gets that, because he wants us to be inwardly what we are outwardly. And so God set in motion a number of things in this man's life.
To correct that disposition of heart that he had to make him a better man. An old brother one time spoke on this book, and he said the subject of the book of Job is how God makes Good Men better.
And you know, God is still today making good men better and women better. He's interested in perfecting in us the graces of God and the moral perfections that needed to be need to be in our lives.
So I think that this is important that we see that the things that happen to Job were not because of a course of sin, but because God was working in another area of his life to purge those things that were character faults, that were hindering the expression of of the Lord himself coming out in his life. Now we know that in when it comes to the disciplinary actions of God with his people for we're all in this school that.
God has various kinds of discipline. You've heard people speak about this before. I'll just run over them very quickly. I'll begin with the letter P.
We've already had one of them that is punitive discipline, that is to correct us from a course of sin and evil that self will may be taking us on. Then secondly, we have a a preventative type of discipline and we have a a preparative type of discipline to prepare us, you know, for a service that he may have us to do. And then lastly, I'm thinking of a purgative type of discipline, which is really the kind of discipline that Job faced. There were certain things in his heart that needed to be purged out.
That he might be not just a Goodman outwardly, but inwardly as well. And so God makes a Goodman better. And we all need this kind of discipline because we are all, in a sense a project with the Lord. We are all working process, progress with the Lord. And even to the oldest person that's here in this room, if you're still in this world, in the body, it's because God is still putting the last finishing touches.
On the vessel. And so we all have something to learn by the experiences that we go through. And I thought we'd just take this up by giving you sort of an outline of the whole book, at the same time trying to touch on some of the moral and practical lessons that would be good for us.
Now it is interesting. Here we have a little hint in what was going on in the House of his sons when they were having this time of feast and they were feasting together. It says they're very distinctly that job was concerned about them. He saw them feasting and drinking and having a good time and he was concerned about them. And so he offered an offering in the morning and in the evening. I think it was just in case.
That if anyone of them had sinned in their hearts. Now I think this is incredible. He was concerned that maybe one of them may have sinned in their hearts and he wanted to be sure that God would not deal with them in any unrighteous way. But he never considered the fact that maybe he could send in his heart that didn't cross his mind at all, because after all he was perfect and upright, feared God and astute evil. And it just gives us a little hint.
As to the direction of things in this book, God was going to do a work in this man's heart. He had already done a work in this man's life, in the sense that he had a very tender conscience to do what was upright and right as far as life is concerned on earth. So we find then in verse 6 through 12, and I'll just read those now, now there was in a day.
A day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came among them, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou when Satan? And then Satan answered the Lord, and said, from going up, going to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it.
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And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? And there was none like unto him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and his truth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job Fear God? For not? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, or in thy hand.
Only upon him, put not thy hand. Put forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. Interesting here, now we find a dialogue between Satan and the Lord. And you got to remember, this is a poetic book. It's one of the books of poetry in our Bible. They're all in the center of our Bibles. You know, you got Job and you got Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Psalms. And they depict things from a political standpoint. And I I would think that the imagery here isn't that God has conversations all the time with Satan exactly, but that.
What we find here is that God allows.
Satan to work on this man, to bring out some certain things that needed to be exposed in the man's life so that he could be a good man made better.
It's very interesting to me that Jobs case does not come up in the mind of Satan, but God himself is the one who is the springing source of it all. Notice in those verses that I read that he is the God is the one who actually draws Satan's attention to Job and sets the whole thing in action.
With regard to the dealings that Satan would have with him.
Satan is but an instrument we see here, and he can only go so far when the life of Satan in the life of Job.
Because God is ultimately in control of everything.
But Job has. I mean, but Satan has an accusation.
God, that is very serious. Here we find that not only does the Lord.
Point Job out to him. But then Satan says to him very distinctly. Here doth Job fear God for not what he was saying was.
That job is only serving you and going on in his life in a righteous way because of what he can get out of it. That's the only reason why he's doing this.
He has no real love for you.
And this was a challenge.
To God himself, to the Lord himself as to whether he could keep his people.
Loyal to himself.
When trial and suffering passes over them.
And So what we find here in these first two chapters is an incredible test given to this man job, whereby glory is brought to God himself because.
He could keep his people and does keep his people loyal to himself in times of trial. And he proves God proves here that his people are not just dependent upon him because of what they can get from him, but because there is a relationship of real genuine love and devotion. So I think it's beautiful to see that God chose Job and laid this trial on him because Job was one that could.
Be used of God to bring glory to him. And I think we need to realize that when trial does come our way.
That there is this dimension to it that it is a privilege to.
To us, to bear trial in the name of the Lord so that we can bring glory to him. Because there are many that we are going to watch us go through these things. Our neighbors, our friends, the people we work with, maybe our brethren and the assembly where we are. And if we can pass through these things in communion with the Lord, we can actually bring glory to God. Well, you'll find that Satan is defeated in the first two chapters, and he disappears from the scene and he's gone.
For the rest of the book.
He's challenged God and said to Job was going to curse him if he took away some of those outward things that he had given to Joe. That things we're going to read about.
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But Job did not. God could keep his people and did keep this man faithful and loyal to him, even though trial swept over him from every different direction. So let's read now from verse.
13 We'll find here now that the trial comes upon job from 7 different directions you think you've passed through trial. Listen to this.
Verse 13 There was a day when the sons and daughters, his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And there came a messenger on to drove and said the oxen were plowing and the ***** were feeding beside them, and the Sabians fell on them and took them away. Yeah, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee the oxen and the ***** would represent the man's business. This is where they did their work and daily occupation.
And we find here that the Sabians fall on the whole situation and wipe out his business. You might say his business collapsed. That's a trial. Then we find on top of that verse 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and the fire of God, He says in the fire of God has fallen from heaven and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them. And I only am escaped of thee. The next thing is he struck by lightning. That is his possessions and the rest of the things that he had.
Now look at verse 17 for a third thing.
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said the Chaldeans made out three bands and fell on the camels.
And carried them away.
Yeah, and slain the servants of the edge of the sword. And I am, I only am escaped alone to tell thee so. Here we have a third wave that comes over job, and that is that the Chaldeans wipe out his camels. Apparently the camels were their mode of transportation in those days, and it would speak to us of the mode of transportation for us today would be your maybe your car. Maybe we could say he had car troubles.
Trouble in the business, possessions are diminished, and now he's got car trouble, so to speak.
It reminds me of Mr. Hammer used to say Robert was telling me one time that when difficulties and trouble comes.
He used to say it's a good thing it's only money.
It's a good thing. It's only me. If it's your business, your car, it's a good thing. It's only money.
You wouldn't want it elsewhere. Your family, your health, it's a good thing. That's only money.
But look what happens now in verse 18. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, And said, thy sons and thy daughters were eating, drinking wine, and their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a wind, a great wind, from the wilderness, and smoked the four corners of the house, and fell upon the young man. And they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Now we find a hurricane.
Wipes out his family in one sweep now. He couldn't say it's a good thing it's only money now. It had touched his family.
His whole family was lost in this hurricane.
Talk about trial, and then we find Job rises to the occasion, it says. And Job rose rent his mantle, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped and said naked, Came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And all this Job sin not, nor charged God foolish name. And so we find here that the Lord was able to keep Job loyal to himself, even though these things flew in like a flood from four different directions.
And we can be thankful for the grace of God that will carry us in times of trial.
But we find in the second chapter that Satan comes back again. The Lord allows him to have his way again with Job and three more directions trial comes upon him.
You say, Is this not enough?
Well, let me just tell you what Mr. Jason Baxter once told us. He put out a little booklet one time and I was very helpful to me. And that was four things that we need to remember when trial.
Enters and tests our lives. And I thought this was nice because the Lord did say to Peter, I have prayed for the Thy faith. Fail not. And we don't want our faith to fail in the time of trial. Job certainly didn't. The Lord had given him grace to handle it. So what do we find here? 4 things to remember. This is the way he put it to me. It is by divine point appointment. Remember that it is by divine appointment. And Job said that in chapter 30. I think it's 23, he said.
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He appointed that thing which is for me, and so we got to remember that when these things do happen in our lives.
That really test our our hearts, our faith that it is by divine appointment. That is the Lord has sent it and remember it came from Him and his way is perfect, we're told in Psalm 18. Second thing we need to remember is that I'm in God's school and He has something to teach me in it.
This is what Elihu said later in the book. He said who teacheth like him.
So that's the second thing we need to remember, A third thing we need to remember when trial enters and sweeps over our lives. And that is that God will give me the grace to handle it, that I will behave so that I can behave as his child should behave. A verse for that is in First Corinthians chapter 10 when it talks about how that with the temptation he makes in a way that we may be able to escape and to handle the trial. And also another verse that comes to mind, My grace is sufficient for thee and so remember.
That the trial is not more than what we can handle, because the Lord will give us the grace and He will give us.
To be able to handle it so we may behave in the way we ought to as a child of God, fourthly.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it. It was a brother one time was asked what's his favorite verse and he said it came to pass. They asked him why and he said it's because when I think of difficulties in coming and entering my life, I always think of that verse. It came to pass because there's a time when God will allow these things to draw to a close. We don't know when it will be. Some of us may take our trials to our to our deathbed, but it will come to pass and so.
In his good time, he's going to bring me out of it and I'm going to profit from it. Let's remember those things when we think of trial that may touch our lives. Well, as I said, we have in the second chapter three more directions from which trial happens and to not read everything here to keep. So we have enough time to look at the rest of the book. We find that verse four, Satan answers the Lord and says skin for skin. Yeah, all that a man hath will he give for his life? Satan noticed that, yeah, the Lord had allowed him to touch his possessions, even his family, but not his health.
So the Lord says, OK, I'll let you touch his health, but only go so far. You can't take his life.
And surely Satan had learned something about the ways.
Of men he says. All that a man hath will he give for his life.
He knows that men treat their life from holding dear, and I'm thinking now of a man.
In Second Kings Five, I'm thinking of Naman.
You know, he was a man, was struck with leprosy. What did he do? He got all the money he had put it together and went to the prophet in Israel. He thought he was going to buy his healing. I worked that out one time. What? He took all the pieces of silver and everything and checked it with today's value of what those things were. It was $2,000,000.
Name and packed his bags with $2,000,000 worth of things to try to buy. They said why? Because all that a man hath will he give for his life. Well we find here that the Lord allows Satan to go and he struck with boils verse 7 and he is his health is taken from him. So there we have the fifth thing that takes place in his life. Then in verse 9 his wife says to him doth dust.
Thou still retain thy integrity, curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What shall we receive good at the hand of God, And shall we not receive evil in all this? Did not Job sin with his lips?
So now we find that the Lord allowed it that when the family was taken away in the hurricane, and it must have been devastating to him, he allowed his wife to escape that in some way because he was going to allow Satan to get at her. And certainly that's what happened. She turned and encouraged him in a wrong way. She becomes an abettor to Satan's designs to bring Job down. She tells him, why don't you just curse God and die. What she was really saying was.
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Why, You just lift up your fist to God and curse him. He'll smite you with a Thunderbolt and you'll be dead and you'll get out of your trial.
But she says, you are speaking like as one of the foolish women speaketh. But isn't that what happens sometimes when we get into trial? We just think, wish I could die. And there are many a person that has faced trial and has wished that they had even contemplated suicide. But that's not God's answer. And Job had enough integrity in his heart to realize that Satan had got a hold of his wife and was manipulating her. And you know, you dear sisters that are in this audience.
Number of You are married now and have a husband. And many of you here are going to get married if the Lord leaves us here. And you can be either a help to your husband or you can be a hindrance. And I'm thinking of two women that come to mind in scripture who both urged their husbands on. The first one is in First Kings. I think it's chapter 20 or 21. Her name is Jezebel. It says none did so wickedly as Ahab.
In the things of.
That he did in Israel, whom his wife urged on.
And the new translation, it says that she urged him on in all of his wickedness. Then I'm thinking of another woman. Her name is AXA and we find there, and I think it's Judges chapter one, that she urged on her husband, which was off Neil.
To ask for a larger portion of the inheritance.
And that's beautiful. There we have urging on in a right way. And of course what was given to him was the Upper Nether Springs, as you know the story. And so you can either urge your husband on in the right way or in the wrong way. And it's sad to see that Job's wife, we don't know her name. As far as I know, she becomes in a better to Satan's designs.
And he resists that. And I think that's beautiful. Then it says that be the sixth trial, he's got it from his wife. And you know, trial from within a remarriage relationship can be very, very testing. So he's had it from his business collapse. His possessions are taken, His transportation means of transportation has been wiped out. His family's been wiped out, his health has been taken away 6th now he has trouble within the relationship of his own marriage.
And it says in all this, did not Job Sin with his lips had been pointed out to me before that you have there in James chapter 5, you have read of the patience of Job. And you think, what's James talking about? Because when you read the book of Job, you don't see any patience. You see a man who's lost his patience complaining to God for chapter after chapter after chapter. But what James was really referring to was the first two chapters of Job where the trial came at him and he had the patience.
That God had given to him and supplied to him, and remained faithful in everything, and did not charge God foolishly.
That is where the patience of Job is found. From the third chapter on, we'll see that he's a man who didn't have. He lost his patience. But at any rate, here it says he did not.
Sin with his lips. Now that's different from what it says at the end of the first chapter. It says you did not charge God fully.
And so we find at this moment that Satan flees the scene. He has been defeated. God has used Job in a way, to gather glory for himself.
And how he has kept his servant loyal to him at such an incredible time of trial. Satan is defeated, he leaves the scene. He is no more found in the book.
And but now God has another thing with regard to this trial that's laid on Job. First of all is to get glory to himself, which he has accomplished. Now he is going to seek to work in the life of Job, because there is that which was in him that needed perfecting. And it was, as I say, his disposition rather than his actions. It was his attitude rather than his actions and his ways.
But he wasn't going to treat trust this to Satan as an instrument. He uses another instrument, and this brings before us now the seventh direction from which trial enters the life of Job. And here we find in verse 11 of chapter 2 That Job's three friends hear of it, and they come to him, and they become an instrument in the hand of the Lord to bring out what was deeply in his heart, though they didn't.
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Realize what they were doing. They were trying to help him, but they exposed in him.
A spirit that was not at all right.
We'll see later that what that spirit was.
It is interesting, though, that they take this position of accusation after accusation at poor job that you'd think that strange that Scripture would call them Job's three friends. If I was writing this, or if you were writing this, you would probably say now when Job's three enemies heard of this, but it doesn't say that. It says there's three friends and they were indeed his friends. They meant well. They had a motive, so were right.
And they were called as friends, though it doesn't look like they were really having the friends playing the friends part.
I believe that the reason why Scripture calls them their friends is because there's a couple of things that should characterize those who are friends when we see one who is passing through difficulty, trial, and trouble in any way in their life. And there are plenty of persons in this room alone that are passing through difficulties and trials that we can be a real friend to. Now, the first thing that I'd like to point out with regard to these men who were indeed Job's friends.
Is that they came to him as you'll read in verse 11, and they mourned with him for seven days.
They came and sought to empathize with the trouble and the trial that he had That is a mark of a true friend.
If a trial passes into your life and your friends want to get away from you because you look like a cancer, that is not good, you know it reminds me of. I don't know if I have to have time to look at it. I'll just turn you over to.
Because you're talking about grace in the household, I was just thinking of Chronicles. Let's turn there for a minute. I'm going to read this first Chronicles, see if I can even find it.
First Chronicles.
First Chronicles 7.
I'll read from verse 20. And the sons of Ephraim, Shula be read his son, and Tahath his son, and Elada his son, and tehath his son, and Zebat his son, and Shotha his son, And Ezer and Elliot, whom the men of Gath that were born in that land slew, because they went down, came down, went down to take away their cattle. And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him.
And he went into his wife and conceived and bare a son called his name Birah, because Calamity should read, was with or in his house. Then he bore her daughter after that, who built not one but two cities. So there's nothing wrong with the sister building a city. And now I know that it's talking about how she engineered it. Probably not that she picked up the hammer, necessarily. The point I'm getting at now, isn't it beautiful? The man lost his son. They were a wicked boys. They were going out and stealing cattle.
And they got caught in the act and they found out that the world plays hardball and they killed him and he lost those boys.
But what happened? Did his brother run away from or point the finger at him? And something wrong with you, Ephraim? No. Isn't it beautiful?
His brethren came to comfort him.
So that's one thing that I see here that really characterizes these men as being jobs. Friends, indeed.
Now another thing that you see here that characterizes in the book these men as being true friends, and that is when they finally did open their mouths. Because the seven days they stayed quiet, but after seven days they began to speak that when they did speak to him.
When they did speak to him, they spoke everything directly to him, not about him behind his back.
That's a mark of a true friend.
Now, some of the things they said, if not all of the things they said were, were not right, but at least they were right upright enough that they said it directly to him. Have you ever had somebody talk about you behind your back? Well, we all know about that, and because our hearts are wicked by nature, we assume all kinds of things and and put constructions on it of evil that perhaps they didn't even in themselves mean. But nevertheless, there's two things here that I just point out that really characterizes what should characterize.
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Which should mark a friend, and that is that they they truly mourn with him and tried to empathize, sympathize with the situation. And then secondly, everything that they did have to say through him, they said it directly to him and not to somebody else. Now it's true that there those two things were commendable, but here's a thing that is not commendable, and the Lord holds them to this, and that is that.
They're evil. Their mistake was that they were evil. Surmising, and the New Testament speaks of evil surmising. That's what they were doing.
They said.
All right, now, because we know.
That God would deal with sinners and people who are wrong in a governmental way in judgment.
And now all these things have happened to this man, therefore.
We deduct that there must be something wrong, but we've looked over your life outwardly and we cannot find anything, so there must be something that you're hiding. And so they began to drive at him from every different direction to try to find something that he was doing wrong, that nobody knew about.
But they were barking up a wrong tree, so to speak. This was not at all what was the problem?
It was the disposition of his heart that needed to be corrected. And so it it is trying it. As I say, this is the seventh direction. And what's this trial comes over him. And it was perhaps the bitterest of all, because these other things did not bring out, but these three friends brought out of him.
And you know, we all know what it's like to have someone come along and pour on a whole bunch of free advice that they don't have a clue what the real situation is about. And it just like torn vinegar on the wound.
Another thing that I see here that's not commendable with these men, and that is that we don't mention of them ever seeking God's face and praying about it before they open their mouth and talk and tell them all the things that they thought were right and wrong or whatever. And I think that it's important and when we do try to comfort and help somebody that we go in the spirit of prayer and we've been in the presence of the Lord before, we just open our mouth and and offend or whatever else.
Now Chapter 3.
This is a chapter that is what have been has been called a that is he just speaking. He's not speaking to anybody, just speaking out loud. And we get to hear what's in his heart. And what we find in this third chapter is that Job begins to question.
The ways of God with him.
So it says after this job opened his mouth and cursed the day, his day and job spake and said, let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which is it was said, there is a man child conceived.
Job lost his patience here.
Job now.
Takes a detour. He was holding faithful to this point. But from this point onward in the book, we find that Job is agitated, frustrated, and his three friends only make it worse. He failed in the very thing that he excelled in, and the Lord allowed it to happen to humble this man, that he might learn something. Job was known for his patience. You have heard of the patience of Job. That's what James said.
And now he fails in the very thing that he excelled, and God allowed it to happen to humble him. And God has done that for many men in the Bible. I remember years ago Mr. Hale had an address on this, on all the men in the Bible who excelled in certain things, and they failed in the very thing that they excelled in. And he talked about Moses and how he was the meekest man in all the earth, But he failed in his meekness. Remember when the brethren?
In Israel they in the in the wilderness, rather that he lost his patience with him, and smoked the rock, and so on.
Samson.
He was the strongest man in all the Bible, but in all his strength he failed the very thing that he was the strongest death, even though and a woman took him and brought him down.
And his strength went from him. Solomon, he's the wisest man in all the world, but in all of his wisdom he failed. And Job he was the most patient of all men and all that he felt. The Lord has a way of bringing this down, you know, it says God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. And what we have here now is Job, is that he needed to be.
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Taught some certain lessons, and that's what happens now, in the next series of chapters, we find that his friends have these speeches, these dialogues with Job, and he answers them, and we'll find that there are three cycles, that is, elephants will speak first and then Job will answer, and then we'll have.
So far, we'll speak next in that Job Lancer and then Bill Dad will speak and Joe Blanchard. That's one cycle. It goes around three times until the third one build that gives up and doesn't even speak and take his turn. And in the midst of these chapters we find all kinds of accusations being laid at job as they try to get at the root of the problem and be a help to him. And so the first cycle goes from Chapter 4.
Through 14, The second cycle goes from chapter 15 to 21.
And the third cycle goes from chapter 22 to 31.
13,000 words are uttered.
Umpteen speeches and all kinds of digressions are offered, but the problem isn't solved with words.
And we find too, that that's the Apostle Paul. He's quoting Isaiah, and he says there that man has three ways in which wisdom is derived, when when we speak of human wisdom, he says, I have not seen nor eireth heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for him.
And really those three things that he mentions there are the three ways in which men in their in nature drive their wisdom. The eye, the ear and the heart. And these three friends really depict that kind of source of wisdom. Ali Faz, he talks all about what he'd seen. I have seen, I have seen, I have seen. He's maybe we could say he's an experimentalist. He speaks from experience. Then we have in the next man, Zofar.
Well, he says, I have heard, I have heard number of times he speak. He's a traditionalist. He he goes by what he has been heard from the generations that have gone before and what he had gathered from tradition. And then the third man build out. He speaks from his heart. I have fought with my heart, he will say, and so on. And he reasons. But all these things do not come up with the answer that with regard to Job, simply because they did not understand the fullness of God's ways.
And as I said, they thought that God only had one way with regard to discipline, and that was in a punitive character, not understanding that God has other ways and reasons for.
His dealings with his men.
Well, we don't have time to go over all of these, so I'm going to pass on now to what we call jobs, Long answer Jobs. Long answer is from 26 to 31. He speaks last and we find at this point that the Friends of Job have unintentionally brought him to a point.
And they bring out in him something that no one but the Lord could see, and that is that there was a spirit of pride in him. They.
Unintentionally, shall we say pumped his balloon or whatever, and outcomes gushing all the pride of his heart. And in chapter 29 and 30 he makes reference to himself over 200 times, speaking in a very proudful way of all the things that he had done and what he was and so on.
I underlined in my Bible all the I means and my eyes with a little blue pen. And if you could see it, it's just that one page is absolutely littered over 200 times with these little markings indicating just how much Job was proud of what he was and what he had done and so on.
And the result we find in the end of chapter 31 is that the words were ended of of job. And chapter 32 begins by saying Now these three men cease to answer Job.
They gave up. He had succeeded in silencing his three friends.
He blew them off, shall we say.
But he hadn't got rid of the trial.
And so in chapter 3332, onward to 37, we have a young man introduced. We didn't know before this that there were audience. There was an audience, but there was at least another young man named Elihu, and he had been listening and taking notes.
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And his he now comes to the forefront and speaks and he says, well, since I'm younger I'm going to wait and I have not waited because you've now stopped. I will come forward. And he has two griefs. It's a two fold anger that he has. One is toward jobs, friends, because all they did was make him just justify himself.
And.
They had not reached anything. It was a lot of condemnation without any conviction.
And then he was angry with Job, too.
Because Job was defending himself and not laying his hand upon his heart and saying, well, there must be something wrong.
And so he introduces himself, shall we say in chapter 32. But from chapter 33 to chapter 37 we have what are called Eli Hughes speeches. Let me read 31 verse one. Wherefore Job I pray thee, hear my speeches and hearken to all my words. And now we're going to have 4 speeches of Elijah. And this is really what was on my heart.
It's only taken me 35 minutes to get here.
He's not the only one that's verbose. Sorry. OK, well, anyway, what I wanted to talk about was what was going on in all these speeches, these 13,000 words that were uttered by Job and his friends. It's very interesting. What Elihu does is that he he takes and summarizes Job's complaints and boils them down into three main things.
And then lines them up and answers them, and in it we find a three fold defense of God in his ways. Now notice what it says in verse 8. Surely thou hast said in nine.
And so on.
Look at chapter 34 and verse 5 again he says for Job hath said and he summarizes again. And then chapter 35 verse 335, verse 3 for thou hast said.
And then he.
Answers it so we can see here now and Elijah speeches that he has summarizing jobs, complaints, and he boils them down to three main things. He's lining them up and he's going to answer them one after another.
He does not exactly quote Joe. What he does is he. As I said, he summarizes them. So you're not going to find what he says in these chapters as an exact quote from, but you can see that the threat of what he's saying is exactly that.
Now, what is the summary of the first point that he?
Has with regard to Job, well, the first complaint that Job has is this. God is a lie. All kinds of trouble in my life and he won't explain why God is silent. And Eli who comes in and answers that and says God is not silent. Verse 14. God speaketh once, Jay twice, but man perceiveth it not. He's the same to Job. No God is speaking, you just can't hear it.
And then he goes and gives him three ways in which God does speak in a dream. Verse 15 through pain, verse 19 and verse 23 through a messenger, three ways in which God does speak. And we need to hear His voice. And you know, we can be like this when trouble hits us. We've begun to wonder why we think God is persecuting us. Why is he allowing all these things to happen to me? And he won't explain why we can have the attitude that Job had. We think that God should explain his ways with us and give a count of why He's doing what He's doing in our lives.
When we should be looking up to him and saying, What art thou saying to me, Lord, speak, Lord, for thy servant hearth.
In a dream, in pain, God may use something in our lives.
To get our ears, but very often we don't perceive it, and even in a messenger it could be an Angel, but very often it could be another man, a brother or a sister may come to us and speak to us like a prophet and we just blow them off, which is what?
He Elijah was acting as as a messenger for God and then he goes on to say in it. But if you could gain from it, then God will be gracious to you and deliver you and there could be restoration. He will see your face again and there will be restoration and profit and blessings will come out of it. And so I think it's beautiful to see.
That he defends God in his ways here by telling Job that he's not silent and he has a purpose for everything he allows.
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Old Mr. Hale used to say that if trial comes our way as a needs be on our part and a purpose of love on his part, and there's some reason for it, and it's all for our good and our blessing.
Now in chapter 34, he tells his second speech and again he summarizes what Job was really saying in those previous chapters. Verse five, Job has said I am righteous and God has taken away my judgment.
And shall I lie against my right? My wound is incurable without transgression and so on. The point he's making here is simply this. God is unjust and unfair, and all his dealings among men. You can't make head or tails of it.
It doesn't add up.
Have you felt that way?
You look at certain people, you think for sure they should get a little trial in their life attitude they got. And you know, we're very quick to be able to see the things that we think are wrong on other people, never have a clue that maybe God has something to say to us.
And and Job was as much as saying, And this, what he lays his pound on here is that he was more righteous than God.
He was more just than the Lord because at least he wouldn't order the things in this world that way. And so Elijah rises to the defense of God and defends and vindicates God's character. And he takes up a number of things. How that God is merciful, He's impartial, how that he is just, and how he moves providentially, It's always with a reason, though we may not be able to understand it at the time. God makes no mistakes. Again, He defends God beautifully.
Nice to see how there he speaks about his mercy, he said. Don't cry too loud for mercy and justice because he may give it to you.
And you'd be smitten down right away.
You know, you hear people in this world. You know things are not just things are not right. Don't cry too loud for justice.
And he talks out there that how that God could pull the plug on this whole world if he wanted to be righteous.
And justice and where all men would perish together. I'm talking about verses 14 and 15 now.
But he's merciful and he's patient. Now in the 35th chapter he takes again he has another speech, and here he summarizes again jobs, third complaint. And he says in verse 3, Thou hast said, what advantage will it be to thee? And what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin?
Now he's summarizing Job's third complaint. Here is simply this.
There is no profit to being godly.
I've cleaned my life up. I live an upright life. I Stew evil. I'm perfect in writing all my dealings with men and what does it got me? I've tried to please God and look at all that's happened to me.
Have you ever felt that way, been tested in certain ways with regard to things that you could have done in your life when you've gone to college or school? You could have gone off with those people when they did this or that, and you knew it wasn't right and you tried to please the Lord. You put the Lord first in your life. You said no, you you kept yourself separate from this problem or that sin that's out there in the world.
And now you see, gained me anything. Look at all the trouble that I have in my life.
And he's about saying, is it really worth it?
What prophet have I if I have cleansed?
Be cleansed from my sin.
Now you lie, you again answers on God's behalf, and he says.
But have you cleanse yourself from your sin? And he now begins to speak about sin that may be in the heart as you'll get in verse 12. They cry, but none giveth answer because of the pride of the evil men.
He begins to speak about how that that's true. You could cleanse your life outwardly, and that's all very well and good, but God requires truth on the inward parts. He's looking for a right attitude. And so in this chapter he goes on to speak about wickedness and righteousness, sin and transgression, but predominantly from the perspective of what's in the heart. He's getting closer to what the problem that Job had. I think it's very interesting now in the 36th and 37th chapters, we have what we might call.
His forced speech and in it he explains God's design and suffering and it's twofold. He shows there that God allows suffering to the righteous to instruct him and to cause him to return from his iniquity because of the evil intents that may be in his heart. That's verses 7. The righteous he speaks about and how he uses all these things to correct and to return him from his iniquity. Verse 10.
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Then he speaks in verse 13 about the godless of the unrighteous. He says, but the hypocrites, Now that should be translated the godless but the godless in heart heap up wrath and cry and so on. And he says he's using that to deliver them from a lost eternity. So God has a design and all of the sufferings he allows in this world.
Is to speak to men, to cause those who are his own people to repent, and to correct them from iniquity that's maybe in their life. And iniquity is usually to do with the intents of the heart genome.
And then, with the loss to correct them, save them, deliver them from the lost eternity.
This watch that my wife gave to me doesn't work.
Why she gave me their light bulb? It doesn't work anyway and I can't see that clock up there.
It's over. All right. I'm going to have to close.
Maybe I could just say one last thing. The Lord breaks in and he humbles Job by Speaking of the greatness of the the universe and how he is controlling everything right down to his care of the animals. And he's basically saying to Job this, you know?
I can control the whole universe. I care for even the little animals and everything. Don't you think I'm caring for your life and job is brought to you?
To repentance and he is delivered when he prays. The captivity of Job is delivered is turned when he prays for his friends because he corrects his attitude, not a spray.