Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Responding to Bad Counsel │ Msg 622

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Responding to Bad Counsel │ Msg 622 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We're in the midst of our study of Job and
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Speaker 1: we have come to chapter 8 today I'm calling today's
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Speaker 1: sermon continuing the verbal fist fight just want you to
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Speaker 1: understand that has to do with Job not some board
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Speaker 1: meeting or something else that's gone on we don't have
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Speaker 1: those kind of meetings here thank goodness but Job certainly
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Speaker 1: had them with his alleged friends I want to read
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Speaker 1: sections of Chapters 8, 9, and 10. Please follow along.
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Speaker 1: Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, how long will you say
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Speaker 1: these things and the words of your mouth be a
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Speaker 1: mighty wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty
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Speaker 1: pervert what is right? If your sons sinned against him,
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Speaker 1: then he delivered them into the power of their transgression.
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Speaker 1: If you would seek God and implore The compassion of
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Speaker 1: the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, surely now
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Speaker 1: he would rouse himself for you and restore your righteous estate.
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Speaker 1: Chapter 9. Then Job answered, In truth, I know that
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Speaker 1: this is so. But how can a man be in
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Speaker 1: the right before God? If one wished to dispute with him,
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Speaker 1: he could not answer him. Once in a thousand times.
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Speaker 1: Wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has defied
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Speaker 1: him without harm? Verse 32. For he is not a
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Speaker 1: man as I am, that I may answer him. That
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Speaker 1: we may go to court together. There is no umpire.
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Speaker 1: There is no arbitrator between us. No defense attorneys. Between us.
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Speaker 1: Who may lay his hand upon us both. Let him
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Speaker 1: remove his rod from me. And let not dread of him.
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Speaker 1: Terrify me. Then across the page. Just one section more
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Speaker 1: in chapter 10. Verse 17. You renew your witness against me.
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Speaker 1: And increase your anger. Toward me. Hardship after hardship. is
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Speaker 1: with me. Why then have you brought me out of
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Speaker 1: the womb? Would that I had died and know I
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Speaker 1: had seen me. I should have been as though I
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Speaker 1: had not been carried from womb to tomb. The words
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Speaker 1: of a broken man. If you have ever been there,
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Speaker 1: you can identify If not, perhaps today's message will prepare
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Speaker 1: you for a time when that may come to you.
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Speaker 1: Would you bow with me for prayer, please? It is easy,
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Speaker 1: our Father, to feel distant from the one we worship
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Speaker 1: due to your silence. We are so accustomed to face-to-face encounters.
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Speaker 1: to dialogue, everything from shallow talk shows all the way
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Speaker 1: to dinner table discussion and deep, insightful talk with close
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Speaker 1: friends and family. But with you, we've never heard your voice.
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Speaker 1: We've never seen your face. We therefore, at times, struggle,
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Speaker 1: we confess to you. And in this faith kind of relationship,
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Speaker 1: we are left to trust. And that is as it
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Speaker 1: should be. That is as it should be. And so,
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Speaker 1: our Father, we say with the songwriter that we need
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Speaker 1: a rock that is higher than we. One in whom
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Speaker 1: we can hide. We need the conflicts and the sorrows
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Speaker 1: that attack us to lead us rather than to panic
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Speaker 1: to a place of solace and quiet. We would hide
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Speaker 1: in you, our Father. We would find our hiding place
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Speaker 1: in yourself, your person, your protection, your presence. Always looking
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Speaker 1: for crutches to lean on, We come to days like
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Speaker 1: this and we are reminded that in Christ we have
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Speaker 1: all that is necessary. Forgive us for the substitutes we
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Speaker 1: put in his place. Forgive us, our Father, for those
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Speaker 1: wasted hours when we trusted in the arm of the flesh,
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Speaker 1: which has nothing to offer but disappointment and discontentment. Our Father,
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Speaker 1: we come today confident that you are able to meet
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Speaker 1: our every need. Yes, our every need. We have no
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Speaker 1: other like you. Peter was right. To whom else shall
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Speaker 1: we turn? You have the words of eternal life. But
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Speaker 1: it gets difficult. It gets complicated. In life's demands, we
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Speaker 1: find ourselves not in the same circumstances, thanks be to God,
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Speaker 1: as Job, but in similar straits. We wrestle and struggle
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Speaker 1: and we long to know what it is to be
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Speaker 1: still and learn again that he is God. That you
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Speaker 1: are God. There is no other In the quietness of
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Speaker 1: this time of offering, remind us once again that you
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Speaker 1: are sufficient in all things. And as we come to
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Speaker 1: the rock that is higher than we, it is there
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Speaker 1: we have solitude and security and hope and reassurance. In
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Speaker 1: a special way, place your hand of blessing Upon these
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Speaker 1: gifts that are given. Out of hearts that are consecrated.
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Speaker 1: And committed to the work of ministry. We pray that
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Speaker 1: we will hold them loosely. And dispense them wisely. Remembering
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Speaker 1: that they are not ours. They are yours. And we
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Speaker 1: commit them to you again now. As we do ourselves.
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Speaker 1: In the name of Christ. I rock. We pray. Everyone
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Speaker 1: said amen. Job and his friends remind me of a
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Speaker 1: forest tale that comes from the northern part of Canada.
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Speaker 1: It seemed as though there was a group of porcupines
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Speaker 1: who on cold nights would huddle together. And to stay warm,
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Speaker 1: they pushed up close together, but Even though the weather
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Speaker 1: was cold, their quills were sharp. And so they then,
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Speaker 1: because they pricked one another, began to move further apart.
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Speaker 1: And then the cold blast of icy wind would blow
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Speaker 1: on them and they would shuffle back together. And they'd
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Speaker 1: stay long enough until they could no longer stand the
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Speaker 1: pricks from one another. And they would push apart and
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Speaker 1: they continued this strange dance through the night. As one
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Speaker 1: wag described it, they needed each other, but they kept
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Speaker 1: needling each other. It reminds me of Job. Who doesn't
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Speaker 1: need the presence of a friend when all hell has
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Speaker 1: broken loose in one's life? And who, as a friend,
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Speaker 1: wants to stay away from someone who is going through
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Speaker 1: the depths like Job was going through? knowing that there
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Speaker 1: might be something that they could say that would bring
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Speaker 1: sympathy and comfort and encouragement. And so they came together.
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Speaker 1: But the closer they got together, as we're learning, the more,
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Speaker 1: though they needed each other, they kept needling one another.
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Speaker 1: And rather than carrying out their purpose, which is so
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Speaker 1: clearly stated in chapter 2 and verse 11, of the
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Speaker 1: book of Job, they came for the purpose of sympathizing
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Speaker 1: with him and comforting him, they did neither. As a
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Speaker 1: matter of fact, this verbal fist fight only got more severe.
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Speaker 1: One man describes it this way, Job was wounded by
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Speaker 1: their harshness, stung by their censures, exasperated by their reproaches,
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Speaker 1: and driven into antagonism by their arguments, the insoluble conflict
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Speaker 1: which they assume tends to place before his mind a
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Speaker 1: distorted image of the character of God. God appears to
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Speaker 1: be torturing him for crimes which he has not committed.
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Speaker 1: To be relentlessly pursuing him as an implacable foe and
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Speaker 1: without justice or reason to be employing his resistless power
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Speaker 1: to crush him to the earth. This is the phantom
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Speaker 1: which his friends are constantly setting before him. This phantom,
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Speaker 1: apparently so real, Job is incessantly obliged to fight or
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Speaker 1: it would drive him to absolute despair. And so he does.
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Speaker 1: And so they talk. And he responds. And they keep talking.
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Speaker 1: And he responds. And they keep offering these shallow answers
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Speaker 1: or philosophical meanderings. And he fights to survive. H.L. Mencken
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Speaker 1: was the one who first said, there is always an
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Speaker 1: easy solution to every human problem, neat, plausible, and wrong.
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Speaker 1: They came with their neat answers that sounded so plausible
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Speaker 1: to them, but they missed sympathy and comfort by a mile.
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Speaker 1: Eliphaz was the first to speak, you may recall, and
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Speaker 1: he came bringing experience as the basis of his message.
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Speaker 1: I have learned, I have observed, I have seen, and
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Speaker 1: he brings all of that to Job as if Job
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Speaker 1: needed to hear that. Job answers him with greater wisdom,
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Speaker 1: and just about the time that Eliphaz steps back, the
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Speaker 1: tag team match continues as a man named Bildad, verse
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Speaker 1: 1 of chapter 8, steps on the scene. And if
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Speaker 1: you think Eliphaz was offensive, you need to meet Bildad.
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Speaker 1: I mean, uh, This man is even less tactful. He'd
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Speaker 1: talk about a human porcupine. Look at his opening line.
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Speaker 1: Verse one, Bildad the Shuhite answered, how long would you
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Speaker 1: say these things and the words of your mouth be
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Speaker 1: a mighty wind? You windbag. Now can you imagine sitting
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Speaker 1: there fevered from the sores that cover your body, the
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Speaker 1: memory of 10 children now buried on the hillside perhaps
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Speaker 1: by your own hand, your wife whispering in your ear,
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Speaker 1: you need to just curse God and let him take
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Speaker 1: you off the earth. Eliphaz coming with his no-account counsel,
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Speaker 1: and on top of that, along comes a second friend
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Speaker 1: who is probably a little younger than Eliphaz, though old
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Speaker 1: in age. Bildad begins by saying, you're a bag of wind, Job.
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Speaker 1: As he listened to these lines of Job that are
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Speaker 1: recorded in chapter 6 and 7. That we have already
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Speaker 1: looked at. We get to chapter 8. Bildad launches into
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Speaker 1: three realms of argument. Let me give you those realms
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Speaker 1: and then we'll touch on them before we read Job's answer.
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Speaker 1: The character of God is in verses 3 through 7.
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Speaker 1: Bildad speaks of that. the wisdom of the past, which
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Speaker 1: is his basis for speaking, verses 8 and 9, and then,
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Speaker 1: or really 8 through 10, and then the evidence of nature,
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Speaker 1: which he goes into in verses 11 to 19, followed
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Speaker 1: by a few words of conclusion, none of which bring sympathy,
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Speaker 1: none of which offer comfort. First, Bildad, after calling him
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Speaker 1: an empty windbag, turns to the Lord God and gives
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Speaker 1: Job a lesson in theology. That's always nice. When you're
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Speaker 1: trying to survive, your mouth is covered with sores as well.
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Speaker 1: You can't eat your food. You can't sleep at night.
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Speaker 1: You can't find peace during the daytime. And on top
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Speaker 1: of that, here comes a preacher with his comments about God,
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Speaker 1: all of which you already know. And so it was
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Speaker 1: with Job, as we'll see. Look at what he says.
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Speaker 1: He says, does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert
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Speaker 1: what is right? And if that's not bad enough, get
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Speaker 1: this line. If your sons sinned against him, he delivered
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Speaker 1: them into the power of their transgressions. Yep, means exactly
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Speaker 1: what you think it means. I had to read it
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Speaker 1: two or three times to believe a man would say
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Speaker 1: such a thing. It's plain that your children sinned against him. Otherwise,
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Speaker 1: why would God have punished them as he did? Not
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Speaker 1: only are you grieved over the loss of your children,
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Speaker 1: now this man has the audacity to say that they
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Speaker 1: have died because God is punishing them due to their transgressions.
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Speaker 1: It's amazing Job just didn't, at that point, punch him
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Speaker 1: right in the kisser. But Job is a man of
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Speaker 1: enormous patience. And it's good this book is not named Chuck.
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Speaker 1: Let me just put it that way. Let me just
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Speaker 1: put it that way, okay? If that were Chuck 8-4,
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Speaker 1: you wouldn't read what you just read of Job's silence.
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Speaker 1: And he hits Job below the belt over and over again,
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Speaker 1: and he does it in the name of God to
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Speaker 1: make matters even worse. Listen to the pious, verse 5.
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Speaker 1: If you would seek God as if he hadn't, if
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Speaker 1: you would implore the compassion of the Almighty... If you
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Speaker 1: really are pure and upright, surely now he would rouse
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Speaker 1: himself for you and restore your righteous estate. The implication
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Speaker 1: is what? It's obvious. Since you too are sinful, Job,
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Speaker 1: God is not able to bring you or God is
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Speaker 1: not willing to bring you to a state of health
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Speaker 1: and relief. You're being punished, man. You're going through this
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Speaker 1: because of punishment. though your beginning was insignificant, your end
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Speaker 1: will increase greatly. Please inquire of the past generation. So
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Speaker 1: he shoots back to the past. Earlier he said, Job,
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Speaker 1: look up and consider the character of God. Your sons
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Speaker 1: had this happen to them because of the sinfulness of
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Speaker 1: their lives. You've had this happen to you because of
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Speaker 1: sinfulness in your life. And God, who is holy and
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Speaker 1: just and pure, can do none other than what he
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Speaker 1: has done. And as Job reels under that barrage, he
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Speaker 1: now says to Job, look back, look back, Job. Verse 8,
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Speaker 1: inquire of past generations. Consider the things searched out by
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Speaker 1: their fathers. We are only of yesterday and know nothing.
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Speaker 1: Our days on earth are as a shadow. Will they
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Speaker 1: not teach you and tell you and bring forth words
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Speaker 1: from their minds? Bildad, being a traditionalist, says because we
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Speaker 1: know nothing by comparison, We need to learn from those
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Speaker 1: of our forefathers, those in days past. Go back to
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Speaker 1: the patriarchs and listen to what they would teach us.
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Speaker 1: Because our lives are so brief and their words linger
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Speaker 1: on through the timelessness of the duration of life on
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Speaker 1: this earth, we can draw from that. The tactlessness of
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Speaker 1: Bildad really grates on me. I know he has some
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Speaker 1: strong things he wants to say, but you would think
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Speaker 1: he would say them carefully. He reminds me of a
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Speaker 1: physician I know who, after giving a particular individual a
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Speaker 1: treadmill test, and the individual is rather portly and has
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Speaker 1: finished the treadmill test and he's sweating and he's panting
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Speaker 1: and he steps off the treadmill and the doc says,
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Speaker 1: As he looks at the results, not bad for a
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Speaker 1: guy as fat as you are. I mean, the guy's
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Speaker 1: done his best to stay on the treadmill. And now
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Speaker 1: on top of that, he's told he's fat. I mean,
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Speaker 1: some people have a great grasp of the obvious, don't they?
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Speaker 1: Bildad is one of them. Now then, with the whole
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Speaker 1: idea of cause and effect in mind, Bildad addresses the
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Speaker 1: subject of nature. And he says, you can learn from
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Speaker 1: nature about what has happened. Notice in verse 11 the
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Speaker 1: mention of the papyrus, which is a plant of ancient days.
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Speaker 1: The mention of green in verse 12. We're in the
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Speaker 1: garden now. You can see that. The spider at the
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Speaker 1: end of verse 14. The garden is mentioned at the
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Speaker 1: end of verse 16. Roots that wrap around a rock
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Speaker 1: pile in verse 17. He's out in nature, okay? He
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Speaker 1: started with the character of God. He then went to
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Speaker 1: the past and he looked at the evidence of the
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Speaker 1: teaching of those in the past and now he looks around,
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Speaker 1: he's looking around in this wisdom poem and just as
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Speaker 1: the cause and effect is true in life, it's true
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Speaker 1: in the world of nature, then it's true where you
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Speaker 1: find yourself. Let me draw that together for you. Can
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Speaker 1: the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Implication is obviously no.
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Speaker 1: Then in good poetic fashion, he repeats similar words. Can
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Speaker 1: the rushes grow without water? The point is, if these
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Speaker 1: plants do not have water, they will wither and die.
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Speaker 1: And the implication is, Job, you are withering and dying
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Speaker 1: because you're a hypocrite. It only follows that your hope
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Speaker 1: is perishing because you haven't a pure heart and a
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Speaker 1: right relationship before a holy God. Verse 13, here as
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Speaker 1: he just drives it home, With a hammer and nail,
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Speaker 1: so are the paths of all who forget God. What's
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Speaker 1: the implication? Job has forgotten God. And the hope of
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Speaker 1: the godless will perish. He's now calling him even godless.
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Speaker 1: And then he mentions a spider's web whose confidence is fragile,
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Speaker 1: whose trust a spider's web. Can you lean on a
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Speaker 1: spider's web and be sustained? No, of course not. No
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Speaker 1: matter how confident, the web is fragile and will break. Job,
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Speaker 1: your confidence is like that. You will soon break and
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Speaker 1: you will fall. And then having said that, he turns
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Speaker 1: to the garden. No matter how luxuriant the plant, no
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Speaker 1: matter how strong the root system, when it is pulled up,
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Speaker 1: verse 18, if he is removed from his place, then
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Speaker 1: it will deny him saying, I never saw you. The
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Speaker 1: implication is that that is what has happened. God has
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Speaker 1: uprooted you, Job, or something has happened to your root
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Speaker 1: system that has led to this death-like condition in which
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Speaker 1: you find yourself. Now, you say, well, that's pretty complicated. Well,
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Speaker 1: it's philosophy. Remember? They're the people who talk about things.
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Speaker 1: They don't know what it's all about. They make it
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Speaker 1: sound like it's your fault. And that's the way it
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Speaker 1: is with Bildad. He is meandering around all these philosophical thoughts,
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Speaker 1: and Job is sitting there trying to Put them together
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Speaker 1: and think, what is there that I can gain from this?
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Speaker 1: And then he closes it off with verse 20 through 22.
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Speaker 1: God will not reject a man of integrity. What's the implication?
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Speaker 1: You're not. Nor will he support the evildoers. By now
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Speaker 1: you're getting it. You've already seen where I'm going. He
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Speaker 1: will yet fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
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Speaker 1: Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The
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Speaker 1: tent of the wicked will be no more. You'll know
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Speaker 1: a day when you'll pass off this earth and all
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Speaker 1: of life will be wonderfully restored for you. You'll know joy.
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Speaker 1: He missed it by a mile. He certainly didn't get
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Speaker 1: the point of what Job needed. A friend of mine
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Speaker 1: sent me an example of this this week that I
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Speaker 1: think illustrates it. A man asked his wife, if you
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Speaker 1: could have anything in the world for one day, what
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Speaker 1: would you want? And she said, well, I'd love to
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Speaker 1: be six again, she said with a smile. Early the
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Speaker 1: next morning, the morning of her birthday, he got her
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Speaker 1: up and off they went to a local theme park.
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Speaker 1: What a day. He put her on every ride in
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Speaker 1: the park, the death slide, the screaming loop, the wall
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Speaker 1: of fear, everything that was. Five hours later, she staggers
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Speaker 1: out of the theme park, her head's reeling, her stomach
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Speaker 1: is upside down. Off to McDonald's next. He ordered her
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Speaker 1: two Big Macs along with extra fries and a thick
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Speaker 1: chocolate shake. And then it was to an animated movie,
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Speaker 1: the latest Hollywood blockbuster. There were hot dogs and popcorn
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Speaker 1: and Pepsis and M & Ms, a fabulous six-year-old adventure. Finally,
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Speaker 1: she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed.
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Speaker 1: And he leaned over and lovingly asked, well, dear, How'd
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Speaker 1: you like being six again? One eye opened, she said, well, actually,
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Speaker 1: I meant my dress size. Bildad misses it by a mile.
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Speaker 1: He comes at Job as if Job needs sermons and
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Speaker 1: condemnation and illustrations from the past and philosophical thought and
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Speaker 1: examples from nature and spiders, webs, and roots around rocks
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Speaker 1: and all of this. And Job just says, look, can
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Speaker 1: you help solve the sores I've got all over my body?
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Speaker 1: Or can't you just say... You're here to be with
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Speaker 1: me and to sit alongside as I try to survive.
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Speaker 1: But I don't need to put words in Job's mouth.
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Speaker 1: He can speak for himself. And he answered. Now remember
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Speaker 1: last time we were together? Remember I told you about
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Speaker 1: the cycles in Job? Get that clear in your mind
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Speaker 1: or you'll be at odds with the book. It'll be
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Speaker 1: a jumble of words and Dialogue that doesn't tie together.
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Speaker 1: There's no reason to view it like that. There are
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Speaker 1: three cycles. Three cycles. And in these cycles, there are dialogues.
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Speaker 1: The first cycle, there is first Eliphaz, Job answers him. Bildad,
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Speaker 1: Job answers him. Zophar, Job answers him. That finishes the
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Speaker 1: first cycle. Then there's a second cycle, which is exactly
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Speaker 1: the same rhythm as the first. Same ones speak, Job
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Speaker 1: answers each one. The third cycle, everyone but Zophar speaks.
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Speaker 1: Maybe he's walked away with his hands up saying, I
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Speaker 1: can't get through to him, Job isn't very teachable. I'm
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Speaker 1: not going to waste my wisdom on a man like that.
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Speaker 1: And then there appears finally a younger man named Elihu, E-L-I-H-U,
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Speaker 1: chapter 32 and he continues until finally God comes on
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Speaker 1: the scene and they all get the evaluation sorry counselors
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Speaker 1: are every one of you which is a great way
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Speaker 1: to put it and then the men are put in
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Speaker 1: their place and they in fact are Job is to
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Speaker 1: pray for them and they make things right but we're
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Speaker 1: not there yet it's interesting You know, there are people
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Speaker 1: like this. There are people like this. Yeah, here it is.
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Speaker 1: One man puts it this way. It seems almost incredible
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Speaker 1: that Bildad would reply so callously. There's not only indifference
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Speaker 1: to Job's plight, but an arrogant certainty that Job's children
27:07
Speaker 1: got just what they deserved. And that Job was well
27:10
Speaker 1: on his way to the same fate. The lesson we
27:14
Speaker 1: must learn, I get this, is that there are such
27:19
Speaker 1: people in the world and that they do their heartless
27:24
Speaker 1: disservice to mankind under the guise of being the special
27:29
Speaker 1: friend of God. Have you noticed that? The harshest letters
27:36
Speaker 1: I've ever received have come from fellow Christians who sign
27:43
Speaker 1: it in Christian love or they begin it with God
27:48
Speaker 1: told me to write you this and I thought when
27:51
Speaker 1: I read it I wonder if he's baritone or bass
27:56
Speaker 1: and then they unload a piece of their mind they
27:59
Speaker 1: couldn't afford to lose in this letter Eliphaz ventured a word,
28:11
Speaker 1: but I'm telling you, Bildad was downright blunt. He opens
28:15
Speaker 1: with a blast. I just want to add here, no
28:19
Speaker 1: extra charge. Think before you write a letter of criticism. Think.
28:28
Speaker 1: I believe it was Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, I believe it
28:31
Speaker 1: was Franklin, who said, write your complaints in dust, your
28:36
Speaker 1: affirmations in marble. Don't record for posterity your complaints please
28:46
Speaker 1: if you need to do that then say them say
28:48
Speaker 1: them face to face and say them kindly before you
28:51
Speaker 1: do that put yourself in the shoes of the other
28:53
Speaker 1: person for a considerable period of time chances are good
28:57
Speaker 1: you'll never say a word or if you do you'll
29:00
Speaker 1: say them with greater tact and I'm telling you things
29:03
Speaker 1: that I've had to learn the hard way I've rarely
29:06
Speaker 1: felt sorry for things I did not say I've often
29:11
Speaker 1: felt sorry for things I said and almost without exception
29:17
Speaker 1: felt badly that I wrote them. And I have no
29:24
Speaker 1: one in mind. If I did, I'd call your name.
29:27
Speaker 1: But I don't because the wonderful thing about Stonebriar Community
29:32
Speaker 1: Church is that we don't have a lot of people
29:34
Speaker 1: that grouse about petty things. Thank the Lord. Many a
29:39
Speaker 1: pastor I know right now lives under the gun of
29:41
Speaker 1: some blast from some Bildad in his life who just
29:46
Speaker 1: has taken him on as he's in the crosshairs of
29:50
Speaker 1: his sight. I just read one yesterday, a letter from
29:55
Speaker 1: a brother of A particular officer in the church is
30:01
Speaker 1: just making his life miserable. Now why do we do that?
30:10
Speaker 1: Job answers, and his words are shaped, hopefully, to fit
30:19
Speaker 1: Bildad's brain, assuming there is one sizable enough to get it.
30:26
Speaker 1: Job answered, You idiot. No, no, no. He says, no,
30:32
Speaker 1: he says, he says, actually, Bildad, I know all of
30:37
Speaker 1: this that you have told me. And that's not pride.
30:40
Speaker 1: It's a fact. Bildad, Bildad, listen. I know those things. Bildad,
30:49
Speaker 1: I've walked with God my adult life. In truth, I
30:55
Speaker 1: know so much of what you're telling me. But my
31:01
Speaker 1: question is, how can a man be in the right
31:06
Speaker 1: before God? Tell me that. Scratch the itch. Build it.
31:16
Speaker 1: You're missing the need a mile. How? How can I
31:23
Speaker 1: be declared right before God? Oh, you know, I so
31:28
Speaker 1: want Job to scoot ahead by the centuries and meet
31:31
Speaker 1: the Savior. The only way you and I can know
31:36
Speaker 1: what it is to be right before God is to
31:39
Speaker 1: be in the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the person
31:45
Speaker 1: of his son, we are as righteous as he. Job
31:50
Speaker 1: longs to know that kind of peace. You see how
31:56
Speaker 1: he views God? Look at his response. He says, in effect,
32:02
Speaker 1: none of what you've told me helps my case. God
32:10
Speaker 1: is huge. If one wished to dispute with him, he
32:13
Speaker 1: could not answer him once in a thousand times. Still
32:17
Speaker 1: speaking of the Lord God, wise in heart and mighty
32:20
Speaker 1: in strength, who has defied him without harm? See, the
32:23
Speaker 1: fear that there is in him It is God who
32:26
Speaker 1: removes the mountains they know not how. When he overturns
32:29
Speaker 1: them in his anger, who shakes the earth out of
32:31
Speaker 1: its place and its pillars tremble, referring to clearly an
32:36
Speaker 1: earthquake or a volcano. Who commands the sun not to
32:41
Speaker 1: shine and sets a seal on the stars. Who alone
32:44
Speaker 1: stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of
32:48
Speaker 1: the sea. Who makes the bear or iron and Pleiades
32:55
Speaker 1: the chambers of the south he goes to the stellar
32:58
Speaker 1: spaces and he alone does that who does great things
33:02
Speaker 1: unfathomable wondrous works without number yes I know a great
33:09
Speaker 1: God is what I need is an audience with him
33:13
Speaker 1: look at him he is the one who does all
33:15
Speaker 1: of this about us and he is enormous and I
33:20
Speaker 1: fear him I stand before him in awe and wonder
33:24
Speaker 1: All I want is to be able to approach him
33:29
Speaker 1: and talk this out. You haven't helped me do that, Bildad.
33:37
Speaker 1: Now with that, there are four lines of questions that follow.
33:43
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, Job has in the back of
33:46
Speaker 1: his mind, we're going to see, a courtroom. He would
33:49
Speaker 1: love to be able, if you will, to step into
33:52
Speaker 1: a divine courtroom and And to speak to the judge.
33:56
Speaker 1: The Lord God. He would love to walk just as
33:59
Speaker 1: he is. Covered with these sores. And the sadness of
34:03
Speaker 1: his life. And the bankruptcy of his condition. And just
34:07
Speaker 1: stand before the judge. And argue his case. Not to
34:14
Speaker 1: be impudent. But to be on a level where they
34:17
Speaker 1: could talk this through. He knows that his God would
34:21
Speaker 1: have answers for him. So. These four lines of questions are,
34:26
Speaker 1: number one, if I could stand before God, what would
34:32
Speaker 1: I say? Verses 14 to 19. See verse 14? How
34:37
Speaker 1: then can I answer him and choose my words before him?
34:43
Speaker 1: If I could stand before God, what would I say?
34:47
Speaker 1: Though I were right, I could not answer. I would
34:50
Speaker 1: have to implore the mercy of my judge. If I
34:53
Speaker 1: called and he answered me, I could not believe that
34:55
Speaker 1: he was listening to my voice. For he bruises me
34:59
Speaker 1: with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He
35:03
Speaker 1: will not allow me to get my breath, but saturates
35:07
Speaker 1: me with bitterness. It is a matter of power. Behold,
35:10
Speaker 1: he is the strong one. If it is a matter
35:12
Speaker 1: of power, he wins. So if I could stand before him,
35:16
Speaker 1: what would I say? Here's the second question. If I
35:20
Speaker 1: could declare my own innocence... what good would it do?
35:24
Speaker 1: That's 23, 24. If I could declare my innocence, what
35:29
Speaker 1: good would it do? Though I am righteous, verse 20,
35:34
Speaker 1: my mouth will condemn me. Though I am guiltless, he
35:36
Speaker 1: will declare me guilty. I am guiltless. I do not
35:39
Speaker 1: take notice of myself. I despise my life. It is
35:44
Speaker 1: all one. Therefore, I say he destroys the guiltless and
35:48
Speaker 1: the wicked. If the scourge kills, suddenly he mocks me.
35:51
Speaker 1: The despair of the innocent. The earth is given into
35:53
Speaker 1: the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of
35:56
Speaker 1: its judges. Remember, this is Hebrew poetry. Leave some of it.
36:03
Speaker 1: Let it settle. It would be valuable to turn it
36:06
Speaker 1: over in our minds for another hour to plumb the
36:10
Speaker 1: depths of such writings as this. But the point is,
36:13
Speaker 1: if I could declare my own innocence, what good would
36:17
Speaker 1: it do? And then 25 through 31, if I tried
36:21
Speaker 1: to be positive and cheerful, how would that help? 25
36:25
Speaker 1: to 31. If I tried to be positive and cheerful,
36:30
Speaker 1: how would that help? Look down at verse 27. Though
36:33
Speaker 1: I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave
36:35
Speaker 1: off my sad countenance and be cheerful. I'm afraid of
36:39
Speaker 1: all my pains. I know that you will not acquit me.
36:43
Speaker 1: I am accounted wicked. Why then should I toil in vain?
36:49
Speaker 1: It won't work. And now the real question. The underlying question.
36:56
Speaker 1: If I only had a mediator, I could have my
37:00
Speaker 1: needs represented. I could have the truth told. 32 to 35.
37:08
Speaker 1: Now look closely. You'll love this. For he, referring to God,
37:13
Speaker 1: he is not a man as I am, that I
37:16
Speaker 1: may answer him. That we may go to court together.
37:27
Speaker 1: There is no umpire between us who may lay his
37:33
Speaker 1: hand upon us both. The point is, if I had
37:38
Speaker 1: a mediator, I could find a go-between so that I
37:44
Speaker 1: could communicate with this mighty and wise and holy God.
37:50
Speaker 1: But there is not. See the word umpire? He's calling
37:56
Speaker 1: for a mediator, one who could argue his case. Job
38:01
Speaker 1: wished to present his case in God's court, but he
38:05
Speaker 1: can't find a mediator. Hold your place and look at 13.3.
38:11
Speaker 1: Job 13.3. I would speak to the Almighty and I
38:18
Speaker 1: desire to argue with God. That means to bring his
38:20
Speaker 1: case before him and plead it. Look at verse 15
38:24
Speaker 1: of that same chapter. 13, 15. Though he slay me,
38:30
Speaker 1: I will hope in him. Nevertheless, I will argue my
38:32
Speaker 1: ways before him. Verse 18. Behold, now I have prepared
38:37
Speaker 1: my case. I know that I will be vindicated. I
38:40
Speaker 1: thought through what my case would be. And I would
38:43
Speaker 1: love to come and stand before this holy judge, this
38:47
Speaker 1: God of mine. But I can't do it because he's
38:50
Speaker 1: not a man to come to me. And I am not,
38:53
Speaker 1: I missed this earlier, the end of verse 35, chapter 9,
38:56
Speaker 1: I am not like that in myself. I don't have
39:00
Speaker 1: what it takes to come before him. I need a go-between.
39:04
Speaker 1: I need an arbitrator. I need a mediator. Years ago,
39:11
Speaker 1: when I worked as a machinist, working my way through school,
39:15
Speaker 1: there was the threat of a strike. And the union
39:23
Speaker 1: stood on one side with the laborers, and management stood
39:27
Speaker 1: on the other side, and there was a great gap.
39:30
Speaker 1: in between. Interestingly, an arbitrator was hired to come in.
39:37
Speaker 1: He had nothing to gain in the eyes of the union.
39:40
Speaker 1: He had nothing to gain in the eyes of the management.
39:43
Speaker 1: He was supposedly completely neutral. And he came and worked
39:49
Speaker 1: long and hard to hear both sides as both presented
39:54
Speaker 1: their causes. And then he passed a decision and the
40:00
Speaker 1: paper had been signed that if the arbitrator could bring
40:04
Speaker 1: the two together, the issue would be solved and there
40:07
Speaker 1: would be no strike. In fact, he did and there
40:09
Speaker 1: was no strike. But it was interesting to watch the
40:14
Speaker 1: process occur because this man became the representative of both sides,
40:22
Speaker 1: and yet not gaining from the argument or losing because
40:27
Speaker 1: of the argument, he was able to judge in the
40:30
Speaker 1: midst of the argument the best decision. And it was
40:32
Speaker 1: fair and it was right and it's solved. He put
40:35
Speaker 1: his hand on one, he put his hand on the
40:37
Speaker 1: other as it were, and he stood between the two
40:41
Speaker 1: and he solved the issue. That's what Job wants. But
40:45
Speaker 1: he doesn't have one. He doesn't qualify to stand before God.
40:51
Speaker 1: He isn't God or he isn't deity. And God is
40:55
Speaker 1: not a man that he can come stand before him.
40:56
Speaker 1: So he's stuck. You see why I said, would that
41:01
Speaker 1: Job had lived a few centuries later? Let me show
41:06
Speaker 1: you why. Look at 1 Timothy 2. There is a
41:11
Speaker 1: New Testament. 1 Timothy 2. 1 Timothy 2 verse 3.
41:21
Speaker 1: Paul writes to his younger Timothy explaining here the go-between,
41:32
Speaker 1: the mediator. 1 Timothy 2.3, not 2 Timothy, it's 1
41:36
Speaker 1: Timothy 2.3. This is good and acceptable in the sight
41:39
Speaker 1: of God, our Savior, who desires all men to be
41:44
Speaker 1: saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
41:46
Speaker 1: For there is one God and one Mediator. One go-between.
41:57
Speaker 1: One arbitrator. One umpire. There is one God. Don't forget
42:05
Speaker 1: that in this era of many gods. Don't you tell
42:11
Speaker 1: one another that all the gods are the same. Don't
42:14
Speaker 1: you believe that lie. There is one God. The creator God.
42:19
Speaker 1: It is not Allah. Allah. It is the living God
42:23
Speaker 1: of the scriptures. There is one God. And there is
42:29
Speaker 1: one mediator between this God of the heavens who has
42:33
Speaker 1: made us and all things pertaining to us and humanity
42:37
Speaker 1: on this earth. And he is identified. There is one mediator,
42:42
Speaker 1: the man Christ Jesus. There are not many. The way
42:45
Speaker 1: is narrow. Don't believe the lie. Don't be afraid to
42:51
Speaker 1: be that specific. I hear people struggle with specificity. When
42:57
Speaker 1: I hear people struggle with that, I think, do you
42:59
Speaker 1: want people to be specific about the flights you take?
43:02
Speaker 1: You ever call up and they'll say, well, it's flight 413,
43:04
Speaker 1: or it actually might be 1096. Or really, it could
43:09
Speaker 1: be 309. You say, no, no, I want to know
43:12
Speaker 1: which flight is it. Well, and also it takes off
43:15
Speaker 1: from DFW. Actually, it could be Love Field. And and
43:19
Speaker 1: a flight departs at 12.14, thereabouts, maybe 1.10 or 2.30,
43:28
Speaker 1: you go, wait a minute. Isn't that amazing? Something as
43:34
Speaker 1: simple as a flight? We want exact numbers and times
43:39
Speaker 1: and gates. You don't want to walk all over the
43:42
Speaker 1: airport going, oh, let's see. I'm open-minded. I'll take whatever flies.
43:54
Speaker 1: Just so the pilot is sincere. And it looks good.
44:00
Speaker 1: It seems right. It's just like, I need to feel
44:04
Speaker 1: it deeply when I get on the plane. What a crock.
44:11
Speaker 1: There is one God. There is one mediator between God
44:15
Speaker 1: and men. And it is the man Christ Jesus. That
44:20
Speaker 1: is truth, men and women. In a pluralistic world, you
44:27
Speaker 1: will not hear that. And by saying that, you will
44:30
Speaker 1: be called intolerant, which is one of the great compliments
44:34
Speaker 1: you will ever hear from the liberal, to be called narrow.
44:40
Speaker 1: Jesus said it, I am the way, the truth, the life.
44:46
Speaker 1: No man comes to the Father but through me. Not us.
44:52
Speaker 1: Not several. One God, one mediator, the man Christ Jesus,
44:59
Speaker 1: who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony
45:02
Speaker 1: given at the proper time. Oh, Joe, there is a mediator.
45:07
Speaker 1: You just haven't met him. But someday, someday, Joe, you'll
45:14
Speaker 1: hear of this. Job, therefore, back to Job 9. Don't
45:22
Speaker 1: you hate to go back? I just want to stay
45:24
Speaker 1: in Timothy because it's so helpful there. Campbell Morgan writes,
45:28
Speaker 1: the cry of Job was born of a double consciousness,
45:32
Speaker 1: which at the moment was mastering him. First, that of
45:35
Speaker 1: the appalling greatness and majesty of God, and secondly, that
45:38
Speaker 1: of his own comparative littleness. It was the cry of
45:41
Speaker 1: a man who knew God and was overwhelmed by the
45:43
Speaker 1: sense of his greatness. Over against this was the sense
45:46
Speaker 1: of his own comparative smallness. Track this. This is great writing.
45:51
Speaker 1: He felt he could not get to God. He was
45:53
Speaker 1: altogether too small. It is as though Job had said,
45:56
Speaker 1: there is no umpire, there is no arbiter, there is
45:59
Speaker 1: no one who can stand between us, interpreting each to
46:02
Speaker 1: the other, me to God, God to me. There is
46:05
Speaker 1: no one to lay his hand upon us. Job was
46:07
Speaker 1: crying out for someone who could stand authoritatively between God
46:11
Speaker 1: and himself and so create a way of meeting God.
46:14
Speaker 1: a possibility of contact. We now turn from the elemental
46:18
Speaker 1: cry of Job from the Old Testament to consider the
46:20
Speaker 1: apostolic word concerning Jesus. There is one mediator between God
46:25
Speaker 1: and man. That is the gospel in brief. That is
46:28
Speaker 1: Christianity fundamentally. By faith alone, in Christ alone, and there
46:34
Speaker 1: is no other. There is no other way. Job says,
46:40
Speaker 1: because he doesn't have that umpire, verse 1 of chapter 10,
46:44
Speaker 1: I loathe my own life. It's like he would, he
46:50
Speaker 1: just gasps. I loathe the fact that I haven't a
46:54
Speaker 1: way to stand before the judge on that great divine throne.
47:02
Speaker 1: So I plead, verse 2, do not condemn me. Let
47:05
Speaker 1: me know why you contend with me. Is it right
47:08
Speaker 1: for you indeed to oppress me? He has every right
47:11
Speaker 1: to ask that. He's confused. He doesn't get it. He
47:16
Speaker 1: doesn't have a mediator to say, Job, let me explain
47:19
Speaker 1: what's happening to you and to the living God to
47:22
Speaker 1: represent your case. That's why I'm here. I love toward
47:29
Speaker 1: the end of this chapter. I need to race through
47:31
Speaker 1: this verse 18. Why then have you brought me out
47:34
Speaker 1: of the womb? He's back to that same old song
47:36
Speaker 1: he was in in chapter three. Why did you let
47:39
Speaker 1: me be born alive? Would that I had died and
47:42
Speaker 1: know I had seen me. Would that I had died
47:44
Speaker 1: in the womb and never having been seen. I should
47:47
Speaker 1: have been as though I had not been carried from
47:50
Speaker 1: womb to tomb. Isn't that a great way to put it?
47:53
Speaker 1: You know that was in the Bible? When I first
47:56
Speaker 1: read that several years ago, I thought, what a perfect
47:58
Speaker 1: slogan for a church and its ministry. From womb to tomb.
48:03
Speaker 1: We minister from womb to tomb. Boom! Boy, then I
48:10
Speaker 1: looked at the context and I thought, yikes, I don't
48:13
Speaker 1: want to do that. That's not a, it's like you'll
48:17
Speaker 1: sometimes see in a graveyard etched on tombstones, a little sleep,
48:21
Speaker 1: a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.
48:26
Speaker 1: And it'll say Proverbs or it'll say sleep well, darling,
48:29
Speaker 1: or whatever on the stone. And I appreciate that. But
48:34
Speaker 1: when you check out Proverbs 6, 10, you realize that
48:38
Speaker 1: is addressing the sluggard, the lazy slobs. Sleeping late, refusing
48:44
Speaker 1: to wake up, to get involved, and it says at
48:46
Speaker 1: the end of that same section, your poverty will come
48:49
Speaker 1: like a vagabond. Yikes! Take that off the stone, you know.
48:53
Speaker 1: You don't want to, don't put that on your stone,
48:55
Speaker 1: a little sleep, a little slumber. When you look at
48:58
Speaker 1: a whole context, it makes better sense, doesn't it? Why
49:03
Speaker 1: didn't he just take me from the womb right to
49:05
Speaker 1: the tomb? Oh, Job. And have your testimony missed by
49:11
Speaker 1: so many of us who need to read it and
49:14
Speaker 1: learn from you? Job, though God stays... silent remember there's
49:21
Speaker 1: no word from God in here bless his heart I
49:24
Speaker 1: sound like Mark Young bless his heart let me give
49:31
Speaker 1: you a couple lessons that linger and then I'm through
49:35
Speaker 1: when misery breaks our spirit Philosophical words don't help us cope.
49:44
Speaker 1: When misery breaks our spirit, philosophical words don't help us cope.
49:54
Speaker 1: And that's all those men had to offer. As hard
49:56
Speaker 1: as Bildad may have tried, he said nothing that brought
49:58
Speaker 1: relief or solace or strength to Job and his misery.
50:03
Speaker 1: When misery breaks our spirit, philosophical words won't help us cope.
50:09
Speaker 1: Here's the second, more powerful of the two. When a
50:13
Speaker 1: mediator can't be found, futile searches won't give us hope.
50:21
Speaker 1: When a mediator can't be found, futile searches won't give
50:28
Speaker 1: us hope. Job was right. Death is better than this.
50:35
Speaker 1: If I haven't a mediator. The good news is every
50:39
Speaker 1: person here, whether you even have thought of it before,
50:43
Speaker 1: every one of you has a mediator. It's the same mediator.
50:48
Speaker 1: The same one who represented me as a little boy
50:50
Speaker 1: who came to Jesus just as I was and told
50:56
Speaker 1: the Lord, God, I believe in you and I trust
50:59
Speaker 1: you and I believe Jesus died for me and I
51:02
Speaker 1: believe he's living. I believe he was raised from the
51:04
Speaker 1: dead for me and You know, at that moment, my
51:07
Speaker 1: mediator represented me before the living God. How wonderful. He
51:12
Speaker 1: will do the same for you. Do the very same.
51:16
Speaker 1: You have an umpire. Great thought. Let's bow together. If
51:23
Speaker 1: you've never turned in faith to this one who has
51:27
Speaker 1: opened the way for you, this is the perfect time
51:29
Speaker 1: to do it. This is the moment. This is why
51:32
Speaker 1: you came today. This is the message for you. One God,
51:38
Speaker 1: one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus.
51:45
Speaker 1: Turn to him today. Wouldn't you do that? This is
51:49
Speaker 1: the call for you to turn to Christ alone. Thank you, Father,
52:00
Speaker 1: for the hope that there is in the Lord Jesus
52:03
Speaker 1: and in him alone. Thank you for the reminder that
52:08
Speaker 1: we have what Job didn't have. We have an umpire.
52:13
Speaker 1: We have an arbitrator. We have the precious treasure of
52:19
Speaker 1: the Savior. And it's in him we find our reason
52:23
Speaker 1: for continuing, though our current world temporarily falls apart. Thank
52:31
Speaker 1: you for the rock, the stability that he is for us.
52:37
Speaker 1: And we find our hope only in Him. May those
52:40
Speaker 1: who've never met Him come to know Him this very day.
52:44
Speaker 1: I ask believingly in Jesus' dear name. Everyone said, Amen.
52:52
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Continuing the Verbal Fistfight, was copyrighted in
52:57
Speaker 2: 2002 and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2004 by
53:01
Speaker 2: Charles R.
53:01
Speaker 1: Swindoll, Inc.
53:03
Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
53:08
Speaker 2: is grateful to the following sources for permission to quote
53:11
Speaker 2: from their materials. The Banner of Truth Trust for excerpts
53:14
Speaker 2: from the book Conflict and Triumph, copyrighted in 1999 by
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Speaker 2: William Henry Green.
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Speaker 1: The Rev. G.
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Speaker 2: Campbell Morgan Estate for excerpts from the book The Answers
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Speaker 2: of Jesus to Job, copyrighted in 1964 by G. Campbell Morgan.
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Speaker 2: And the Zondervan Corporation for excerpts from the book The
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Speaker 2: Expositor's Bible Commentary, Volume 4, Job. Copyrighted in 1988 by
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Speaker 2: Elmer B.
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Speaker 1: Smick.