Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused, Part 1

Transcript

Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused, Part 1 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Has anyone ever said something about you that simply wasn't true?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Something unfair, unjust, maybe even cruel. And no matter how
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: hard you tried to set the record straight, the words
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: kept spreading like a slow poison you couldn't stop. If
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: you've ever been falsely accused, you know there's a particular
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: kind of pain that cuts deeper than almost anything else
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: life throws at you. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Swindoll takes us deep into the book of Job where
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: a suffering man faced vicious accusations but responded with grace.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: There's no more treacherous enemy in the church than the tongue.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: The tongue.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: What we say often cuts far deeper than any sword,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: any knife. Scripture sometime presents the tongue as a sword
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: that thrusts its way into others' lives and brings hurt.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: We're not surprised to read that in the list of
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the Ten Commandments, one of them includes, you shall not
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: bear false witness against your neighbor. When God led Solomon
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: to write the Proverbs, he included the seven things that
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: he hates among them a false witness that speaks lies.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: I can't speak for you. I can speak for a
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: few whom I know, but for most of you, I
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: have no idea what you are living with as it
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: relates to someone else's tongue. But if you have been
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: spoken against unfairly, unjustly, If you have been falsely accused,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: you understand real pain.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Often you find.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Yourself at a loss to know how to defend yourself.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: You try, but frequently false witnesses aren't there to listen.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: They're just busy talking and spreading the venom, which has
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: a way of poisoning not only a few people, but
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: can even poison a church. I heard a terrific story
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: that I'll never forget. There was this young pastor who
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: went to a church that had been split apart in
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: so many ways, but especially by a loose.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Tongue that had been allowed.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And the church had pretty well reduced to just a
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: bare survival. And this young man arrived and decided to
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: open his Bible and just preach truth.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: And he did that.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Slowly but surely the church began to grow and before
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: long it was in a growth spurt and finally it
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: was bulging at the seams and they went to multiple
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: services and it was obvious that they needed to build. Well,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the new worship center was going to cost a million dollars.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: And they didn't have a lot of money, though they
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: certainly needed the building. It so happened that in this
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: church were two brothers. And they were real rascals. They
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: were just sort of sorry individuals. The problem is they
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: were rich. One of them died. The surviving brother came
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: to the pastor in his study one day and he said, here,
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: I have something for you. It's a million dollar check
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: to pay for the new building. But when you preach
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: my brother's funeral, all I ask you to do is
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: to tell people that he was a saint. That's all
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I'm asking you to do. Pastor thought for a moment
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and said, okay. Took the check, deposited it. Don't forget
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: that's part of the story. Funeral came in about four
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: or five days and pastor stood up and coffin was
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: here and pastor begins to address the subject of the
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: man who has died and he says, this man was
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: a reprobate. He was unfaithful to his family. He was
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: dishonest in his business. He was not a man that
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: you could trust. He was part of the reason that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: this church could not get off the ground for a
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: number of years. But compared to his brother, he was
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: a saint. There are several ways to tell the truth,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: and He chose that way. I was surprised to find
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: how often false accusations.
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: Appear through the scriptures.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: When you study the Bible, as many of us do,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: you often don't track certain subjects through it.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: It's always enlightening when you do.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I found, for example, that a man as pure as Joseph,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: who had learned a new language and earned his way
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in Potiphar's house, to a place of real responsibility as
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the man over all of Potiphar's belongings.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Joseph, at the height of his.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Career, was falsely accused of rape by Potiphar's wife and
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: wound up in jail.
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: How unfair. Moses, who was.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Faithful even at the age of 80 to obey God's
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: call and to take the call from the burning bush
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: back to Egypt and deliver the people from bondage. And
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: in the middle of the wilderness, the people he had
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: delivered turned on him and falsely accused him of bringing
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: them into the wilderness to die.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: How unfair.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: David, after killing the giant and truly showing himself a
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: man of courage and integrity, is falsely accused of trying
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: to dethrone Saul by Saul himself. And David is on
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: the run for a dozen or more years, falsely accused
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: of something that was not at all true. Nehemiah, who
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: builds the wall around broken Jerusalem and God uses him
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: to incite the people to work. And after the wall
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: is almost finished, the word is spread around by his
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: enemies that really Nehemiah.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Has an ulterior motive.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: He's building the wall so that he can get behind
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: the wall and become the new king of the Jews.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Something that was not true at all. How unfair for
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: that to be said of Nehemiah. Peter and John were
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: accused of preaching the of a false Christ and it
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: was a false accusation.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: And they were beaten for it.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Paul, accused of being a phony convert, the apostles wouldn't
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: even let him in their circle because they were convinced
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: that he was not genuinely born again. And then accused
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of causing a dissension among all the Jews around the
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: whole world. How exaggerated can you get? Accused by Festus,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: the governor, of being insane. because of his much learning
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: how false that accusation was. Few men ever who believed
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: in the Lord Jesus more brilliant than Paul. And then
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: who could ever overlook Jesus, a man of sorrows and
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: acquainted with grief and many false accusations.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've stopped to think.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: About it, but from his earliest years, he was accused
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: of being of illegitimate birth. They had words for it then, too.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: And accused of being an evildoer, accused of being a
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: drunkard because he spent time with sinners, accused of being
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: demon-possessed and satanic in origin as he healed people, accused
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: of breaking the Sabbath.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: In fact, he went to the.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Cross falsely accused of being guilty of tyranny, of leading
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the people against the Roman ruler Caesar. Not guilty of
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: any of it. We're not surprised when he preaches his
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: great sermon on the mount that he includes words like this.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Blessed are you when people insult you and falsely say
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: all kinds of evil against you for your reward in
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: heaven is great. I don't know where you are as
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I said earlier but if you are being falsely accused
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: There's your promise. Your reward will be great. Your reward
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: someday will be great. But let me add, your misery
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: for now will be enormous. You will find that frequently
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: you are unable to sufficiently defend yourself. A mind made
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: up is a hard thing to persuade. And people who
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: are false accusers are awfully persuasive. Before I go any further,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: let me just add here, be awfully careful about what
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: you say of.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Other people. Be awfully careful, especially if it's negative.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: I was reading one of my favorite authors this week,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: and he said that he has a friend who prays
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: every day, Lord, help me not add to anyone else's burdens.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: Not a good prayer.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Help me not make life harder for anyone else. Well,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: we shouldn't be surprised in the middle of our study
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: on Job, and isn't this getting to be fun? There
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: we are, in the middle of Job, and we've come
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: to false accusations. I mean, what else is there? The
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: guy's lost everything. Home, ranch, cattle, the ability to earn
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: a living, all ten children. He's sitting in the garbage
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: dump of the land of Uz, and he is with
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: shaved head and losing his appetite, raging with a fever,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: covered with sores, and along come these three Clowns that
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: left for the purpose of comforting him, but a week
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: after staring at him and not believing their eyes, they
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: decided nobody who suffers like this can.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Be anything but wicked.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: So every one of them has the same thesis. Sin
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: leads to suffering. Suffering proves sinfulness. You are suffering a lot.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: It means you are one wicked man. You are one
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: bad dude. If you weren't, you wouldn't be suffering like this.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: By the way, there are some people who still have
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: that same idea. Maybe not that severe or brash, but
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: they think that. They think everybody ought to be well,
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: that it's God's will that everybody be well, that every
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: sickness be healed.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: That's why they line up in healing lines.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: That's part of the reason that they follow people who
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: claim to be healers. Because your sickness need not be.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: And I'm here to say that there are times sickness
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: is so clearly sent from God and permitted by Him,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: it almost takes my breath away.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: We are not all promised healing.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Please do not live a disillusioned life thinking if you
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: pray hard enough, or if you give enough money, or
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: if you are sincere enough, then your loved one is
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: going to get well. Your loved one will get well
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: by the sovereign grace of God, or your loved one
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: may die by the sovereign plan of God. Suffering does
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: not mean sinfulness. Well, I wish Zophar were here to
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: Hear this message. He's the man we're having to endure
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: for the 20th chapter here in the book of Job.
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: He is not a happy camper. Okay?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: This is in the dialogue section of the book, Act 2,
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Scene 3. Eliphaz has spoken, Bildad has spoken, then Zophar spoke.
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: That's Act 1. Scene 1 of.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Act 2, Eliphaz speaks and Bildad speaks, and now we're
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: to Zophar again. It's kind of like a tag team match,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: three against one. And one is very sick. And the
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: longer he's with these three men, the sicker he gets.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Zophar says, verse 2, he is disquieted. Verse 2, last word,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: he is agitated. Verse 3, he is insulting. Now, I
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: don't find anything that's disquieting, agitating, or insulting by what
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Job has said. except he disagrees with them. By the way,
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I've got a lot of by.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: The ways this morning, don't I? I'm going to put
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: it another way.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: On the other hand, people who have a message to
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: deliver but they don't want to learn are often disquieted, agitated,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: and insulted when you stand against them.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: They don't want to hear, they want to tell.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: They don't want to learn, they want to instruct and
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: usually lecture Zophar has three things he wants to say
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: to Job, and he says them in an exaggerated manner.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Number one, the wicked do not live long, verses 4
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: to 11. The wicked don't live long. Second, the pleasures
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: of the wicked are temporal. The pleasures of wickedness are temporal,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: 12 to 19, and then the last, 20 to 29,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: God's judgment always falls hard on the wicked.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: There's only one problem with those three points. They're all wrong.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: When you take them as Zophar says them. You see,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: understand the way Zophar is delivering his talk. He's coloring
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: by the numbers.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: His numbers.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: And everything is a very clear distinction. Everything is very
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: simplistically stated. So that Zophar would add always to his comments.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: The wicked don't live long.
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: And he says this in 4 through 11. The pleasures
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: of wickedness are temporary. 12 to 19. God's judgment always
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: falls hard on the wicked. 20 to 29.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: That's not necessarily true, as Job is going to point out.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: But just a few minutes. Let's kind of work our
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: way through this vomit. Look at verse 4. Do you
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: know this from of old, from the establishment of man
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: on earth, that the triumphing.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: Of the wicked is short? The joy of the godless
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: is momentary.
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I want you to think, by the way, men and women,
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I don't want you to just say, because it's in there,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: I'm going to believe it. Job doesn't do that. This
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: is Zophar's opinion. And he's been waiting his turn to
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: set Job straight. He sees Job as wicked, and he
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: is here to tell him that he's not going to
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: live very long. In fact, he says, verse 7, he
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: perishes forever like his refuse. Those who have seen him
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: will realize quickly he's gone.
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: Where is he? They will ask. He flies away like
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: a dream.
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: They can't find him. Like a vision in the night,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: he is chased away.
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: It's gone. That's the way it is sometime at night.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: I said to Cynthia this morning, I dreamed all night,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: and I cannot tell you what I dreamed.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: She said, isn't that good? And I said, it is.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: It is. The problem is you often remember your dreams,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: and they are They're really wild.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, they'd make Picasso look like first grade.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've got ears on a nose and you've
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: got people flying. And so I dreamed all night and
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: they're all gone.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: And she's right. I'm glad. I don't even remember them.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: They're wild. He's saying your life is like that. It's
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: twisted up. It's strange. It's weird.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: And poof, you're gone. People can't find you because you're wicked.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: You're going to die soon. Verse 11 closes, it lies
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: down with him in the dust. That youthful vigor is gone.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: He's not talking about natural causes. He's talking about God's judgment.
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Because you've lived like you've lived, because you've kept the
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: secrets from us, and because we all thought you were righteous,
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: but you're so sick, it's obvious that you're suffering. It's
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: obvious that you're sinful, and you're going to die. Well,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: that's a nice hospital visit, isn't it? You're standing there
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: by a guy that's just miserable, and you're there to
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: say you're going to die sooner than you think. Look
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: at verses 12 to 19. The pleasures of wickedness are
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: very temporal. Evil is sweet in his mouth. He hides
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: it under his tongue. Though he desires it and will
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: not let it go, holds it in his mouth. And
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: then he uses the analogy of food and of eating.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: Food in his stomach is changed to the venom of
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: cobras within him. He swallows riches but will vomit them up.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: God will expel them from his belly. He sucks the
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: poison of cobras. The viper's tongue slays him. He cannot
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: swallow this food, verse 18. And look at the accusation
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: in verse 19. He is really meaning Job. He has
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has seized a house
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: which he has not built. He decides to throw that
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: in for extra measure. He's looking down his nose at
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Job because of his wealth. That must be one of
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the secrets you've kept. You've oppressed the poor and you've
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: pushed people out of their houses. And you've taken advantage
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: of them. Your pleasures are over. Your wickedness has caught
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: up with you. I mean, how severe a tongue is this?
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: And God's judgment falls hard.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: 20 through 29.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: 26 says, complete darkness is held in reserve. And unfanned
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: fire will devour him. It will consume the survivor in
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: his tent. Heavens will reveal his iniquity. The earth will
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: rise up against him. Verse 29, this is the wicked
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: man's portion. You could put Job's name there. That's who
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Zophar has in mind. This is your portion from God,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: even the heritage decreed to you by God.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: Well, these are the final words of Zophar.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: One of my commentators that I checked said, this is
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: the last time we hear from Zophar and we will
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: not miss him.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a pretty good way to put it.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Some people, the best thing they do is leave when
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: they've made your life so miserable. They're gone and you go,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: good riddance. That's the way we feel about Zophar. All
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: of this is not ancient history. This kind of stuff
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: goes on. I don't have any one of you in mind.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: If I did, I'd talk to you personally. rather than
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: say it publicly, but some of you have awfully sharp tongues.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: You say things and you couch them in words that
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: sound as nice as Zophar. I mean, this is poetry.
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: This is tough Hebrew, this Hebrew poetry of chapter 20.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: It sounds even religious at times. We should pray for so-and-so.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: And then you dump this garbage that's not really founded.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: You don't know it to be true. But evil report
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: is always more interesting than a good report. That's why
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the news is full of it. That's why the skies
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: are always partly cloudy, not, for the most part, clear.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: They never say that. It's always, well, there's a cloud coming.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: It should be here by a month and a half
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: from now. It's coming from the west. Bad hurricane out there.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Oh, really?
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: And we're on the edge of our seat. We're on
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: tiptoes listening to bad news about somebody. You need to
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: learn to say, by the way, how do you know that?
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Who told you? What's your source? Prove that to me.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Challenge the people who come at you with their forked
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: and sharp tongues that start spreading stuff that doesn't sound right.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You've got a good brain. You got sense? Job doesn't
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: just take this on the chin. He says, wait a minute.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Hold on here, eye pockets. I'm not going with you
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: on this. This is not where we're going. I was
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: reading this past week of a minister whose congregation refused
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: to accept his message. True story. He wanted to lead
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: the flock into the truth of the scripture. He wanted
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: to preach the word. He wanted to stand for what
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: was right. They didn't want to be led that way.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: So happened that his choir, with so many of their
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: habitual ungodly practices, brought things to a head. And position
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: became so unbearable for him, he invited the choir to resign.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: The choir not only resigned, I'm reading this, but persuaded
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: the congregation to desist from taking part in the singing
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: on the following Sunday. Okay everybody, we're not gonna sing.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: So the result was that whatever singing was done had
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: to be done alone by this minister. While the other
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: people stood around and enjoyed his embarrassment. The state of
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: things continued for some time and the minister was greatly
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: depressed and perplexed at the turn the events had taken.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: He was at wit's end when God spoke in an
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: unusual way to him. One day he was sitting alone
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: on a bench in a park and he saw a
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: newspaper blow by and he picked up a torn piece
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: from the paper and it bore a message which was
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: exactly what he needed to read. It read, no man
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: is ever fully accepted until he has, first of all,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: been utterly rejected. He took that to heart. He needed
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: nothing more. He had been utterly rejected for Christ's sake.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: And his recognition of the fact was the beginning of
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: a most fruitful ministry. Though utterly rejected by man, he
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: had been fully accepted by God. Let me tell you,
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Job is listening to what my mother used to call
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: a lot of palaver, just a lot of lip banging
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: from Zophar.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: He's talking, but it's nonsense. It isn't true, even.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Though he says it poetically and beautifully and even convincingly.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Job doesn't take it on the chin. Now, some of
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: those that I checked said, no matter what, when false
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: accusations are made, you just sit quietly and say nothing.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: And God will defend you. Well, sometime I'm sure that's appropriate.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Not always. I kind of believe in the American Revolution motto,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: trust in God, but keep your powder dry. I think
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: if your reputation is being ruined, if your company is
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: going down a tube, if your church is being assaulted,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: and it's because of false stuff being said, some things
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: need to be said in answer to the falsehood.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: There's a reason the story of Job has endured for
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: thousands of years. His story is our story, and Chuck
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Swindoll helps us see ourselves in its pages. He titled
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: his message, Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused. When false accusations come,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and they will, the temptation is to either lash out
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: in anger or go completely silent and hope it all
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: just goes away. Job shows us there's a wiser path.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Here at Insight for Living, we understand that you may
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: come to this daily program carrying burdens that weigh you down.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: In fact, maybe you're the recipient of false accusations yourself.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: You're hurt, you're angry, and you can't seem to rise
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: above it all. Well, all of us at Insight for
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Living care deeply about you. It's our prayer that today's
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: message and this complete series on Job will provide a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: daily reassurance that God knows your story. We've produced a
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: variety of creative resources to help you. First, Chuck wrote
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: a full-length biography of Job. It's written like a page-turning novel. Second,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the brand-new Searching the Scriptures Bible Study for Job is ready.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: This spiral-bound Bible study is designed to help you dig
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: deeply and reflectively into the biblical account of Job. And third,
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: all 22 of Chuck's full-length sermons are available on CD
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: and MP3, or to stream or download for your convenience.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: You'll find all the details about this bundle of resources
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: at insight.org slash offer or call us at 800-772-8888. Finally,
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: I'm excited to give you a heads up on something
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: special that's coming this fall. Behind the scenes, Chuck has
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: been working on a personal memoir and we'd like.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: To send you a copy as soon as it comes out.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: The title is Awakened by Grace so that you're the
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: first to learn about its release we invite you to
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: sign up to receive a notification. Just go to insight.org
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: slash memoir. That's insight.org slash memoir.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: Have you ever been falsely accused? I'm Bill Meyer.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: Chuck Swindoll explains how to respond wisely when someone turns
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: against you. Friday on Insight for Living. The preceding message,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused, was copyrighted in 2002, 2004,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: and 2025, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: by Charles R.
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.