Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused │ Msg 1122 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Responding Wisely When Falsely Accused │ Msg 1122 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I'll just let you look over the twentieth and twenty
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Speaker 1: first chapters of Job and see if you can make
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Speaker 1: anything out of it, and I'll do my best. In
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Speaker 1: a little bit. It does have to do with that
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Speaker 1: final encounter that Job had with a man named so
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Speaker 1: far as he gets the lecture once again from someone
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Speaker 1: who's convinced that Job is wicked and getting what he deserves,
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Speaker 1: and Job answers him in chapter twenty one in no
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Speaker 1: uncertain terms, having been falsely accused. But for these moments,
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Speaker 1: I'd like us to simply bow for a time of prayer.
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Speaker 2: Let's let's go to the Lord.
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Speaker 1: This is a place where you are accepted, and where
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Speaker 1: you have an opportunity to be quiet and to learn
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Speaker 1: and listen and participate and grow and get your mind
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Speaker 1: clear from all the clutter of the past week and
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Speaker 1: even of all things. Participate in God's eternal program by
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Speaker 1: believing with your whole heart, and even as we shall
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Speaker 1: in the moment giving from your treasure. Lord, if it's
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Speaker 1: not a place like that, then we don't want to
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Speaker 1: be here. We've had enough of cliques and gimmicks and
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Speaker 1: legalism and selfishness and show voting. We just like to
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Speaker 1: come around you, Lord, and to hear from you how
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Speaker 1: grateful we are for a family, all of us from
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Speaker 1: different backgrounds, with different names, different stories, different areas of guilt,
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Speaker 1: and even some shame. And how greatly we rejoice in
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Speaker 1: your grace. For it's in this place that shame and
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Speaker 1: grace can meet, and grace wins. This is a place, Lord,
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Speaker 1: where we don't have to put on airs, or try
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Speaker 1: to be someone we're not, or fit into a system
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Speaker 1: that requires fifteen things before we're accepted. We come just
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Speaker 1: as we are, and we talk to you, and we
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Speaker 1: lean hard on you. Some of us in this body
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Speaker 1: are hurting, and they're up against it physically summer, even
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Speaker 1: in hospitals and places. Remove from this comfortable spot, and
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Speaker 1: we remember them today.
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Speaker 2: Some are broken.
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Speaker 1: Hearted, too depressed to show up, downcast and discouraged. Some
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Speaker 1: have had some awful things said about them, and they're
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Speaker 1: reeling from those lies. We all come with our scars,
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Speaker 1: and we all come with a memory of things that
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Speaker 1: have been done wrong against us, and even some things
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Speaker 1: that we've done wrong and said wrong against others. And
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Speaker 1: here again is this place where we're able to confess
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Speaker 1: our sins, where we're able to find reason to go on.
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Speaker 1: Since ancient days, your people have suffered. You've always worked
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Speaker 1: through a remnant, and you've always blessed those who bless you.
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Speaker 1: But it doesn't always happen in this lifetime. Sometime the
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Speaker 1: rewards are saved till later. So this is no fantasy
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Speaker 1: world we're entering. This is a real world where life
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Speaker 1: gets tough, people are harsh, and we come to this
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Speaker 1: place with our hands open and our hearts clean.
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Speaker 2: We ask you to.
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Speaker 1: Say some things to us today that need to be heard.
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Speaker 1: And now, Lord, we want to also remember those in
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Speaker 1: endangerous and difficult places who serve our country and believe
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Speaker 1: in its cause. Those who would take away our joy
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Speaker 1: and liberty and freedom or it seems just around the corner,
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Speaker 1: and we need those men and women in those tough spots,
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Speaker 1: So bless them for their sacrifice. Today. It's a joy, Lord,
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Speaker 1: to be able to work, work, to earn a living,
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Speaker 1: and even to be able today.
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Speaker 2: To write out a check and to give it to
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Speaker 2: your work. We pray that all of these gifts.
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Speaker 1: Will come from the right motive, not to earn something
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Speaker 1: from you, but to express something to you. The Worship
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Speaker 1: of our hearts, and so Lord, as life makes up
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Speaker 1: its mind in some ways today in these moments that follow,
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Speaker 1: I pray that you will minister. Even now, as we
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Speaker 1: sit in quietness and reflect.
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Speaker 2: And give.
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Speaker 1: To your work. We do it gratefully, and we do
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Speaker 1: it generously and joyfully. In the name of Jesus, we pray.
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Speaker 1: And everyone said, Amen. There's no more treacherous enemy in
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Speaker 1: the Church than the tongue. The tongue, what we say,
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Speaker 1: often cuts far deeper than any sword, any knife. Scripture
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Speaker 1: sometimes presents the tongue as a sword that thrusts its
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Speaker 1: way into others' lives and brings hurt. We're not surprised
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Speaker 1: to read that in the list of the ten Commandments,
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Speaker 1: one of them includes you shall not bear false witness
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Speaker 1: against your neighbor. When God led Solomon to write the Proverbs,
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Speaker 1: he included the seven things that he hates, among them
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Speaker 1: a false.
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Speaker 2: Witness that speaks lies.
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Speaker 1: I can't speak for you. I can speak for a
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Speaker 1: few whom I know, but for most of you, I
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Speaker 1: have no idea what you are living with as it
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Speaker 1: relates to someone else's tongue. But if you have been
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Speaker 1: spoken against unfairly, unjustly if you have been falsely accused,
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Speaker 1: you understand real pain. Often you find yourself at a
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Speaker 1: loss to know how to defend yourself. You try, but
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Speaker 1: frequently false witnesses aren't there to listen. They're just busy
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Speaker 1: talking and spreading the venom, which has a way of
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Speaker 1: poisoning not only a few people, but can even poison
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Speaker 1: a church. While ministering with Robbi Zacharias several years ago,
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Speaker 1: he told a terrific story that I'll never forget. There
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Speaker 1: was this young pastor who went to a church that
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Speaker 1: had been split apart in so many ways, but especially
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Speaker 1: by a loose tongue that had been allowed, and the
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Speaker 1: church had pretty well reduced to just a bear survival.
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Speaker 2: And this young man arrived and.
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Speaker 1: Decided to open his Bible and just preached truth. And
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Speaker 1: he did that slowly, but surely the church began to grow,
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Speaker 1: and before long it was in a growth spurt, and
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Speaker 1: finally it was bulging at the seams, and they went
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Speaker 1: to multiple services, and it was obvious that they needed
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Speaker 1: to build well. The new worship center was going to
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Speaker 1: cost a million dollars and they didn't have a lot
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Speaker 1: of money, though they certainly needed the building. It so
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Speaker 1: happened that in this church were two brothers, and they
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Speaker 1: were real rascals. They were just sort of sorry individuals.
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Speaker 1: The problem is they were rich. One of them died.
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Speaker 1: The surviving brother came to the pastor in his study
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Speaker 1: one day and he said, here, I have something for you.
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Speaker 1: It's a million dollar check to pay for the new building.
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Speaker 1: But when you preach my brother's funeral, all I ask
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Speaker 1: you to do is to tell people that he was
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Speaker 1: a saint. That's all I'm asking you to do. Pastor
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Speaker 1: thought for a moment and said, Okay, took the check,
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Speaker 1: deposited it. Don't forget that's part of the story. Funeral
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Speaker 1: came in about four or five days and Pastor stood up,
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Speaker 1: and coffin was here, and Pastor begins to address the
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Speaker 1: subject of the man who has died, and he says,
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Speaker 1: this man was a reprobate. He was unfaithful to his family,
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Speaker 1: he was dishonest in his business.
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Speaker 2: He was not a man that you could trust.
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Speaker 1: He was part of the reason that this church could
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Speaker 1: not get off the ground for a number of years.
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Speaker 1: But compared to his brother, he was a saint. There
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Speaker 1: are several ways to tell the truth and he chose
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Speaker 1: that way. I was surprised to find how often false
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Speaker 1: accusations appear through the scriptures.
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Speaker 2: When you study the Bible, as many of.
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Speaker 1: Us do, you often don't track certain subjects through it.
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Speaker 2: It's always enlightening when you do.
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Speaker 1: I found, for example, that a man as pure as Joseph,
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Speaker 1: who had learned a new language and earned his way
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Speaker 1: in Potiphar's house to a place of real responsibility as
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Speaker 1: the man over all of Potiphar's wil longings, Joseph, at
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Speaker 1: the height of his career, was falsely accused of rape
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Speaker 1: by Potiphar's wife and wound up in jail. How unfair Moses,
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Speaker 1: who was faithful even at the age of eighty to
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Speaker 1: obey God's call and to take the call from the
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Speaker 1: burning Bush back to Egypt and deliver the people from bondage.
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Speaker 2: And in the middle of the wilderness the people he.
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Speaker 1: Had delivered turned on him and falsely accused him of
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Speaker 1: bringing them into the wilderness to die. How unfair David,
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Speaker 1: after killing the Giant and truly showing himself a man
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Speaker 1: of courage and integrity, is falsely accused of trying to
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Speaker 1: dethrone Saul by Saul himself, and David is on the
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Speaker 1: run for a dozen or more years, falsely accused of
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Speaker 1: something that was not at all true. Neemiah who builds
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Speaker 1: the wall around broken Jerusalem, and God uses him to
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Speaker 1: incite the people to work, and after the wall is
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Speaker 1: almost finished, the word is spread around by his enemies
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Speaker 1: that really Neemiah has an ulterior motive. He's building the
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Speaker 1: wall so that he can get behind the wall and
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Speaker 1: become the new king of the Jews, something that was
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Speaker 1: not true at all. How unfair for that to be
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Speaker 1: said of Neemiah. Peter and John were accused of preaching
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Speaker 1: of a false Christ, and it was a false accusation,
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Speaker 1: and they were beaten for it. Paul accused of being
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Speaker 1: a phony convert. The Apostles wouldn't even let him in
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Speaker 1: their circle because they were convinced that he was not
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Speaker 1: genuinely born again, and then accused of causing a dissension
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Speaker 1: among all the Jews around the whole world. How exaggerated
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Speaker 1: can you get accused by Festus the governor of being
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Speaker 1: insane because of his much learning? How false that accusation was.
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Speaker 1: Few men, ever, who believed in the Lord Jesus more
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Speaker 1: brilliant than Paul, And then who could ever overlook Jesus,
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Speaker 1: a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and many
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Speaker 1: false accusations. I don't know if you've stopped to think
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Speaker 1: about it, but from his earliest years he was accused
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Speaker 1: of being of illegitimate birth. They had words for it then, too,
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Speaker 1: and accused of being an evil doer. Accused of being
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Speaker 1: a drunkard because he spent time with sinners, Accused of
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Speaker 1: being demon possessed and satanic in origin as he healed people,
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Speaker 1: Accused of breaking the Sabbath in fact, he went to
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Speaker 1: the cross, falsely, accused of being guilty of tyranny, of
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Speaker 1: leading the people against the Roman ruler Caesar, not guilty
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Speaker 1: of any of it. We're not surprised when he preaches
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Speaker 1: his great Sermon on the Mount that he includes words
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Speaker 1: like this, blessed are you when people insult you and
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Speaker 1: falsely say all kinds of evil against you?
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Speaker 2: For your reward in Heaven is great.
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Speaker 1: I don't know where you are, as I said earlier,
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Speaker 1: but if you are being falsely accused, there's your promise.
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Speaker 1: Your reward will be great. Your reward someday will be great.
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Speaker 1: But let me add your misery for now will be enormous.
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Speaker 1: You will find that frequently you are unable to sufficiently
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Speaker 1: defend yourself. A mind made up is a hard thing
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Speaker 1: to persuade, and people who are false accusers are awfully persuasive.
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Speaker 1: Before I go any further, let me just add here,
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Speaker 1: be awfully careful about what you say of other people.
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Speaker 2: Be awfully careful, especially if it's negative.
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Speaker 1: I was reading one of my favorite authors this week
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Speaker 1: and he said that he has a friend who prays
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Speaker 1: every day, Lord, help me not add to anyone else's burdens.
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Speaker 1: Not a good prayer, Help me not make life harder
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Speaker 1: for anyone else. Well, we shouldn't be surprised in the
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Speaker 1: middle of our study on job. And isn't this getting
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Speaker 1: to be fun? Where we are in the middle of
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Speaker 1: job and we've come to false accusations. I mean, what
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Speaker 1: else is there? The guys lost everything, home, ranch, cattle,
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Speaker 1: the ability to earn a living, all ten children. He's
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Speaker 1: he's sitting in the garbage jump of the land of us,
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Speaker 1: and he is he is with shaved head and losing
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Speaker 1: his appetite, raging with a fever covered with sores. And
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Speaker 1: along come these three clowns that left for the purpose
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Speaker 1: of comforting him. But a week after staring at him
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Speaker 1: and not believing their eyes, they decided nobody who suffers
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Speaker 1: like this can be anything but wicked. So every one
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Speaker 1: of them has.
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Speaker 2: The same thesis.
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Speaker 1: Sin leads to suffering. Suffering proves sinfulness. You are suffering
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Speaker 1: a lot. It means you one wicked man. You are
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Speaker 1: one bad dude. If you weren't, you wouldn't be suffering
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Speaker 1: like this. By the way, there are some people who
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Speaker 1: still have that same idea, maybe not that severe or brash,
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Speaker 1: but they think that they think everybody ought to be well,
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Speaker 1: that it's God's will that everybody be well, that every
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Speaker 1: sickness be healed. That's why they line up in healing lines.
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Speaker 1: That's part of the reason that they follow people who
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Speaker 1: claim to be healers, because your sickness need not be
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Speaker 1: And I'm here to say that there are times sickness
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Speaker 1: is so clearly sent from God and permitted by Him
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Speaker 1: it almost takes my breath away.
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Speaker 2: We are not all promised healing.
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Speaker 1: Please do not live a disillusioned life thinking if you
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Speaker 1: pray hard enough, or if you give enough money, or
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Speaker 1: if you are sincere enough, then your loved one is
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Speaker 1: going to get well. Your loved one will get well
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Speaker 1: by the sovereign grace of God, or your loved one
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Speaker 1: may die by the sovereign plan of God. Suffering does
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Speaker 1: not mean sinfulness. Well, I wish so far we're here
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Speaker 1: to hear this message. He's the man we're having to
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Speaker 1: endure for the twentieth chapter here in the Book of Job.
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Speaker 1: He is not a happy camper. Okay, this is in
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Speaker 1: the dialogue section of the book, Act two, Scene three,
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Speaker 1: Elephas is spoken, Bill Dad is spoken, Then Zofar spoke.
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Speaker 1: That's Act one, seen one of act two. The Elephas speaks,
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Speaker 1: and Bill Dad speaks. And now we're a zo far
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Speaker 1: against kind of like a tag team match, three against one,
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Speaker 1: and one is very sick. And the longer he with
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Speaker 1: these three men, the sicker he gets. So far, says
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Speaker 1: verse two, he is disquieted. Verse two last word, he
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Speaker 1: is agitated. Verse three he is insulting. Now, I don't
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Speaker 1: find anything that's disquieting, agitating, or insulting by what Job
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Speaker 1: has said, except he disagrees with them by the way
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Speaker 1: that that is. I've got a lot of by the
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Speaker 1: ways this morning, don't I I'm gonna put it another way.
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Speaker 1: On the other hand, people who have a message to
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Speaker 1: deliver but they don't want to learn are often disquieted, agitated,
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Speaker 1: and insulted when you stand against them. They don't want
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Speaker 1: to hear, they want to tell, they want They don't
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Speaker 1: want to learn, they want to instruct and usually lecture.
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Speaker 1: So Far has three things he wants to say to job,
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Speaker 1: and he says them in an exaggerated manner. Number one,
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Speaker 1: the wicked do not live long verses four to eleven,
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Speaker 1: The wicked don't live long. Second, the pleasures of the
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Speaker 1: wicked are temporal. The pleasures of wickedness are temporal. Twelve
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Speaker 1: to nineteen, and then the last twenty to twenty nine.
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Speaker 1: God's judgment always falls hard on the wicked. There's only
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Speaker 1: one problem at those three points. They're all wrong when
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Speaker 1: you take them as so Far says them. You see,
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Speaker 1: understand the way so Far is delivering his talk. He's
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Speaker 1: coloring by the numbers, his numbers, and everything is a
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Speaker 1: very clear distinction. Everything is very simplistically stated, so that
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Speaker 1: so Far would add always to his comments, the wicked
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Speaker 1: don't live long, and he says this in four through eleven.
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Speaker 1: The pleasures of wickedness are temporary twelve to nineteen. God's
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Speaker 1: judgment always falls on the wicked twenty to twenty nine.
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Speaker 1: That's not necessarily true, as Job is going to point out.
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Speaker 1: But just a few minutes, let's kind of work our
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Speaker 1: way through this vomit. Look at verse four. Do you
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Speaker 1: know this from of old, from the establishment of man
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Speaker 1: on earth? That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
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Speaker 1: the joy of the godless is momentary. I want you
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Speaker 1: to think, by the way many women, I don't want
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Speaker 1: you to just say, because it's in there, I'm gonna
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Speaker 1: believe it. Job doesn't do that. This is so far's opinion,
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Speaker 1: and he's been waiting his turn to set Job straight.
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Speaker 1: He sees Job as wicked, and he is here to
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Speaker 1: tell him that he's not going to live very long.
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Speaker 1: In fact, he says verse seven, he perishes forever. Like
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Speaker 1: his refuse. Those who have seen him will realize quickly
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Speaker 1: gone Where is he?
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Speaker 2: They will ask?
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Speaker 1: He flies away like a dream. They can't find him,
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Speaker 1: like a vision in the night. He is chased away.
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Speaker 1: It's gone, That's the way it is. Sometime at night
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Speaker 1: I said to Sathia. This morning, I dreamed all night
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Speaker 1: and I cannot tell you what I dreamed.
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Speaker 2: She said, isn't that good? And I said, it is.
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Speaker 1: It is a problem is you often remember your dreams,
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Speaker 1: and they are they're really wild. I mean, they can
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Speaker 1: make Picasso look like first grade. I mean, you've got
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Speaker 1: ears on a nose, and you've got people flying, and
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Speaker 1: you've got some teacher you had in the third grade
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Speaker 1: who's coming back like a bat and she's biting you.
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Speaker 1: And you know, you have weird dreams like that. And
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Speaker 1: so I dreamed all night and they're all gone. Push
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Speaker 1: And she's right, I'm glad I don't even remember them.
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Speaker 1: They're they're wild. He's saying, your life is like that.
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Speaker 1: It's twisted up, it's strange, it's weird, and you're gone.
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Speaker 1: People can't find you because you're wicked. You're going to
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Speaker 1: die soon. Verse eleven closes it lies down with him
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Speaker 1: in the dust. That youthful vigor is gone. He's not
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Speaker 1: talking about natural causes.
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Speaker 3: He's talking about God's judgment because you've lived like you've lived,
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Speaker 3: because you've kept the secrets from us, and because we
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Speaker 3: all thought you were righteous, but you're so you're so
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Speaker 3: sick it's obvious that you're suffering.
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Speaker 1: It's obvious that you're sinful and you're.
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Speaker 2: Going to die.
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Speaker 1: Well, that's a nice hospital visit, isn't it. You're standing
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Speaker 1: there by a guy that's just miserable, and you're there
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Speaker 1: to say you're going to die sooner than you think.
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Speaker 1: Look at verses twelve to nineteen. The pleasures of wickedness
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Speaker 1: are very temporal. Evil is sweet in his mouth. He
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Speaker 1: hides it under his tongue, though he desires it and
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Speaker 1: will not let it go. Holds it in his mouth,
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Speaker 1: and then he uses the analogy of food, and of
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Speaker 1: eating food in his stomach is changed to the venom
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Speaker 1: of cobras within him.
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Speaker 2: He swallows riches, but will vomit them up.
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Speaker 1: God will expel them from his belly. He sucks the
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Speaker 1: poison of cobras. The viper's tongue slays him. Cannot swallow
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Speaker 1: this food verse eighteen. And look at look at the
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Speaker 1: accusation of verse nineteen. He is really meaning job. He
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Speaker 1: has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has seized a
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Speaker 1: house which he has not built. He decides to throw
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Speaker 1: that in for extra measure. He's looking at down his
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Speaker 1: nose at Job because of his wealth, and that must
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Speaker 1: be one of the secrets you've kept. You've oppressed the poor,
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Speaker 1: and you've pushed people out of their houses, and you
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Speaker 1: take an advantage of them. Your pleasures are over. Your
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Speaker 1: wickedness is caught up with you. I mean, how severe
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Speaker 1: a tongue is this? And God's judge falls hard twenty
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Speaker 1: through twenty nine twenty six as complete darkness is held
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Speaker 1: in reserve, and unfanned fire will devour him, It will
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Speaker 1: consume the survivor in his tent.
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Speaker 2: Heavens will reveal his iniquity, the earth will rise up
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Speaker 2: against him.
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Speaker 1: Verse twenty nine. This is the wicked man's portion. You
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Speaker 1: could put Job's name there. That's who so Far has
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Speaker 1: in mind. This is your portion from God, even the
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Speaker 1: heritage decreed to you by God. Well, these are the
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Speaker 1: final words of so Far. One of my commentators that
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Speaker 1: I checked said, this is the last time we hear
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Speaker 1: from so Far, and we will not miss him. Well,
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Speaker 1: that's a pretty good way to put it. Some people,
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Speaker 1: the best thing they do is leave when they've made
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Speaker 1: your life so miserable and they're gone and you go
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Speaker 1: good riddance. That's the way we feel about so far.
26:05
Speaker 1: All of this is not ancient history. This kind of
26:08
Speaker 1: stuff goes on. I don't have any one of you
26:13
Speaker 1: in mind. If I did, I talk to you personally
26:16
Speaker 1: rather than say it publicly. But some of you have
26:19
Speaker 1: awfully sharp tongues. You say things and you counch them
26:25
Speaker 1: in words that's sound as nice as so far. I mean,
26:27
Speaker 1: this is poetry. This is tough Hebrew. This Hebrew poetry
26:32
Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty. It sounds even religious at times. We
26:37
Speaker 1: should pray for so and so. Then you dump this
26:41
Speaker 1: garbage that's not really founded. You don't know it to
26:46
Speaker 1: be true. But evil report is always more interesting than
26:50
Speaker 1: a good report. That's why the news is full of it.
26:55
Speaker 1: That's why the skies are always partly cloudy, not for
26:59
Speaker 1: the most part clear. They never say that it's always well,
27:03
Speaker 1: there is a cloud coming. It should be here by
27:06
Speaker 1: month and a half from now. It's coming from the west.
27:09
Speaker 1: Bad hurricane out there. Oh really, And we're on the
27:14
Speaker 1: edge of our seat, were on tiptoes listening to bad
27:17
Speaker 1: news about somebody. You need to learn to say, By
27:20
Speaker 1: the way, how do you know that? Who told you?
27:22
Speaker 1: What's your source? Prove that to me? Challenge the people
27:29
Speaker 1: who come at you with their forked and sharp tongues
27:33
Speaker 1: that start spreading stuff that doesn't sound right. You've got
27:38
Speaker 1: a good brain, You've got sense. Job doesn't just take
27:44
Speaker 1: this on the chin. He says, Wait a minute, hold
27:47
Speaker 1: on here, I pockets, I'm not going with you on this.
27:51
Speaker 2: This is not where we're going.
27:54
Speaker 1: I was reading this past week of a minister whose
27:57
Speaker 1: congregation refused to accept his messa true story. He wanted
28:02
Speaker 1: to lead the flock into the truth of the scripture.
28:04
Speaker 1: He wanted to preach the word. He wanted to stand
28:07
Speaker 1: for what was right. They didn't want to be led
28:09
Speaker 1: that way. So happened that his choir, with so many
28:15
Speaker 1: of their habitual, ungodly practices, brought things to a head
28:21
Speaker 1: and position became so unbearable for him he invited the
28:27
Speaker 1: choir to resign. The choir not only resigned, I'm reading this,
28:34
Speaker 1: but persuaded the congregation to desist from taking part in
28:39
Speaker 1: the singing on the following Sunday. Okay, everybody, we're not
28:44
Speaker 1: gonna sing. So the result was that whatever singing was
28:48
Speaker 1: done had to be done alone by this minister, while
28:54
Speaker 1: the other people stood around and.
28:56
Speaker 2: Enjoyed his embarrassment.
28:59
Speaker 1: The state of things continued for some time, and the
29:01
Speaker 1: minister was greatly depressed and perplexed that the turn of
29:06
Speaker 1: the events had taken. He was at wits end when
29:11
Speaker 1: God spoke in an unusual way to him. One day
29:14
Speaker 1: he was sitting alone on a bench in a park,
29:17
Speaker 1: and he saw a newspaper blow by, and he picked
29:23
Speaker 1: up a torn piece from the paper, and it bore
29:25
Speaker 1: a message which was exactly what he needed to read.
29:28
Speaker 1: It read, no man is ever fully accepted until he has,
29:33
Speaker 1: first of all, been utterly rejected. He took that to heart.
29:39
Speaker 1: He needed nothing more. He had been utterly rejected for
29:44
Speaker 1: Christ's sake, and his recognition of the fact was the
29:47
Speaker 1: beginning of a most fruitful ministry. Though utterly rejected by man,
29:53
Speaker 1: he had been fully accepted by God. Let me tell you,
29:59
Speaker 1: Job is list to what my mother used to call
30:01
Speaker 1: a lot of pilafter just a lot of lip banging.
30:06
Speaker 2: From so far he's talking. But it's nonsense.
30:14
Speaker 1: It isn't true, even though he says it poetically and
30:17
Speaker 1: beautifully and even convincingly. Job doesn't take it on the chin. Now,
30:25
Speaker 1: some of those that I checked said, no matter what,
30:30
Speaker 1: when false accusations are made, you just.
30:33
Speaker 2: You just sit quietly and say nothing, and God will
30:39
Speaker 2: defend you. Well, sometime, I'm sure that's appropriate, not always.
30:49
Speaker 2: I kind of believe in the American revolution motto Trust
30:53
Speaker 2: in God, but keep your powder dry. I think if
31:00
Speaker 2: your reputation is being ruined, if your company is going
31:03
Speaker 2: down a tube, if your church is being assaulted, and
31:07
Speaker 2: it's because of false stuff being said, some things need
31:10
Speaker 2: to be said in answer to the falsehood.
31:14
Speaker 1: Truth has a way of vindicating wrong, and I think
31:20
Speaker 1: Job turns to it when he answers so far. I
31:25
Speaker 1: don't think it's always appropriate that you just sit silently
31:28
Speaker 1: and get beat up by the tongue of liars. Job doesn't.
31:36
Speaker 1: I mean you don't read then, Job answered, whatever, it's
31:40
Speaker 1: not not there. You don't see that, okay, shot, No,
31:53
Speaker 1: Job answers him. Listen to what Job says. You gotta admire.
31:57
Speaker 1: The God's covered with boils. I mean, he's sick, he's fevered,
32:02
Speaker 1: he's swollen, he's hurting, he's grieved, he says to so far,
32:07
Speaker 1: look look at these verse two. Listen carefully to my speech.
32:11
Speaker 1: So you listen for a change. I added that for
32:15
Speaker 1: a change, Okay, that's just just.
32:17
Speaker 2: A little addition there.
32:19
Speaker 1: You listen. In fact, I like the way you put it.
32:22
Speaker 1: Let this be your way of consolation. Since words aren't,
32:26
Speaker 1: maybe silence will be. You listen, so listen up. Secondly,
32:33
Speaker 1: bear with me. That suggests patience, by the way. There
32:38
Speaker 1: it is again, by the way, people who spread lies
32:43
Speaker 1: against you aren't good listeners, and they aren't patient. And
32:47
Speaker 1: Job knows that, and he says, I want you to
32:50
Speaker 1: do something different. I want you to listen, and I
32:53
Speaker 1: want you to be patient as you reason your way
32:55
Speaker 1: through what I want to tell you. That I may speak.
32:59
Speaker 1: Then after I have spoken, you may mock. Isn't that good?
33:02
Speaker 1: One of my sources said. He called this a sarcastic
33:05
Speaker 1: imperative in the Hebrew. That's a good way to put it.
33:09
Speaker 1: Go ahead and mock after, But at least give me
33:12
Speaker 1: my day, give.
33:13
Speaker 2: Me my moment in court.
33:15
Speaker 1: You listen, and you patiently work this through and reason
33:20
Speaker 1: your way through this, and then you can mock on
33:25
Speaker 1: As for me, is my complaint to man? Or? Why
33:28
Speaker 1: should I not be impatient? And why should I not
33:30
Speaker 1: be impatient? Look at me and be astonished. There's the
33:34
Speaker 1: third command. Look at me, listen patiently, bear with me,
33:40
Speaker 1: and look in my eyes, look at my face. In fact,
33:44
Speaker 1: look at how he says it. Put your hand over
33:47
Speaker 1: your mouth. I think by now.
33:51
Speaker 2: They're sort of lecturing into space.
33:55
Speaker 1: They're not wanting to look at him. Job says, you
33:59
Speaker 1: look at me, you say what you have to say
34:02
Speaker 1: to my face, which false accusers don't do. They go
34:11
Speaker 1: around us, They go behind our back. They go to
34:14
Speaker 1: people who are weak and gullible and willing to listen
34:18
Speaker 1: to lies, and then they infect them with their verbal germs.
34:23
Speaker 1: And Job says, you've talked. Now listen, you reason with me,
34:29
Speaker 1: You look at me, You look at me. Now, what's
34:37
Speaker 1: Job gonna say to him? He's gonna answer all three points.
34:43
Speaker 1: Listen carefully. First, he's gonna say often.
34:51
Speaker 2: The wicked do live long lives.
34:53
Speaker 1: Just because a person doesn't know God doesn't mean they
34:56
Speaker 1: die in their twenties or doesn't mean they're They go
35:00
Speaker 1: through some horrible suffering because they're wicked, and he gives
35:03
Speaker 1: examples of that.
35:04
Speaker 2: We'll get there.
35:06
Speaker 1: Second, he says their pleasures are not always temporary. Listen,
35:11
Speaker 1: Some who are lost get great jobs, earn a gobba doot,
35:18
Speaker 1: have multiple homes, and many women are many men have
35:23
Speaker 1: luxurious cars and sleep around and live wild and don't
35:30
Speaker 1: dietle or ninety. I mean, their pleasures are not always temporary.
35:39
Speaker 1: So where you get off saying that joke?
35:42
Speaker 2: So far? It's not true.
35:45
Speaker 1: And death comes to everybody, and it doesn't always fall
35:48
Speaker 1: hard on the wicked. Some die in a pretty good
35:53
Speaker 1: state of mind. Now what follows is awful, but in life.
36:00
Speaker 1: The point is in life, the things you're saying so
36:03
Speaker 1: far don't square with fact. So let me spit this
36:11
Speaker 1: out and hurry here. Look at verse seven. Why do
36:16
Speaker 1: the wicked still live and continue on also become very powerful?
36:22
Speaker 1: See he's building his case so far. You say that
36:26
Speaker 1: the wicked don't live long. Well, how do you explain
36:29
Speaker 1: those that continue and become in fact powerful and talk
36:34
Speaker 1: about their lifestyle? Look at that he describes it. Their
36:37
Speaker 1: descendants are established with them and their sight. They're offspring
36:43
Speaker 1: before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear. Neither
36:47
Speaker 1: is the rod of God on them. Look outside. Even
36:50
Speaker 1: the ox mates without fail, and cows calve, and they
36:54
Speaker 1: don't abort. They send forth their little ones like the flock.
36:58
Speaker 1: Their children skip up. They sing to the timbrel and
37:02
Speaker 1: the harp. They rejoice at the sound of the flute.
37:05
Speaker 1: They spend their days in prosperity. It doesn't look.
37:11
Speaker 2: Grim to me.
37:14
Speaker 1: In fact, you may wonder if they really don't know God.
37:17
Speaker 1: Don't doubt it. Verse fourteen. They say to God, depart
37:20
Speaker 1: from us. We do not even desire the knowledge of
37:24
Speaker 1: your ways. And I want you to know so far.
37:30
Speaker 1: Look at the end of verse sixteen. The counsel of
37:32
Speaker 1: the wicked is far from me. I'm not in that category.
37:38
Speaker 1: I'm sick. Nobody knows why I'm sick. But I'm sick,
37:43
Speaker 1: and it's a mystery, but I'm not wicked. Furthermore, the
37:49
Speaker 1: wicked don't necessarily die young. Just because there's God God,
37:56
Speaker 1: they don't have God in their lives, doesn't mean that
37:58
Speaker 1: they go to an early grave.
38:00
Speaker 2: And now that we're on.
38:01
Speaker 1: The second, where's proof that they suffer calamity? That they
38:06
Speaker 1: always suffer calamity? Verse seventeen. How often is the lamp
38:12
Speaker 1: of the wicked put out? How often does their calamity
38:16
Speaker 1: fall on them? See how he's reasoning. Does God apportion
38:20
Speaker 1: destruction in his anger? Are they a straw before the
38:23
Speaker 1: wind or chaff which the storm carries away. This is poetry.
38:26
Speaker 1: You remember, you say, God stores away a man's iniquity
38:29
Speaker 1: for his sons. Let God repay him so that he
38:32
Speaker 1: may know it and verse twenty two. Can anyone teach
38:37
Speaker 1: God knowledge? And that he judged those on high? One
38:40
Speaker 1: dies in his full strength, being holy, at ease and satisfied,
38:46
Speaker 1: and he's not eaten up with disease. His sides are
38:49
Speaker 1: filled out with fat, and that interesting way to put it,
38:53
Speaker 1: the marrow of his bones is moist. And then on
38:57
Speaker 1: the other hand, there are people who die who are
38:59
Speaker 1: bitter of soul and never taste anything good. Together they
39:03
Speaker 1: lie down in the dust. Job is saying to so
39:13
Speaker 1: far your argument doesn't hold water. There are examples on
39:18
Speaker 1: the other side. Let me show you a verse you
39:23
Speaker 1: may have never seen before. Look at Ecclesiastes eight eleven.
39:31
Speaker 1: I learned this verse years ago, and it often comes
39:35
Speaker 1: to mind when I get.
39:36
Speaker 2: The subjects like this.
39:38
Speaker 1: Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. It's a hard book to find.
39:45
Speaker 1: Just before Song of Solomon, just after Proverbs. Okay, Ecclesiastes
39:53
Speaker 1: eight eleven. Look at this verse. It's in the Old
40:01
Speaker 1: testament in case some of you are not right there
40:05
Speaker 1: taken because the sentence against an evil deed is not
40:10
Speaker 1: executed quickly.
40:14
Speaker 2: Look at that.
40:15
Speaker 1: Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly. Therefore,
40:21
Speaker 1: the hearts of the sons of men among them are given.
40:25
Speaker 2: Fully to do evil.
40:27
Speaker 1: Well, what does that mean? It means because every time
40:31
Speaker 1: a person does wrong, he's not judged or a victim
40:35
Speaker 1: of calamity. He decides, I didn't do that again, I
40:40
Speaker 1: didn't do more of that. And the heart of the
40:43
Speaker 1: sons of men, meaning those without the Lord, are fully
40:46
Speaker 1: given to do evil, and you just do more of it.
40:49
Speaker 1: You steal ten bucks and get away. You're tempted then
40:51
Speaker 1: to steal twenty, and you steal twenty. You're tempted then
40:55
Speaker 1: to go into full on fraud, and you get away
40:58
Speaker 1: with fraud.
40:58
Speaker 2: You're you don't see much wrong with being a member
41:02
Speaker 2: of the mafia.
41:04
Speaker 1: And by the way, the bafia don't always die poor.
41:08
Speaker 1: They may die in jail, but there's a crowd around
41:11
Speaker 1: him and people applauding them. And although a sinner verse
41:16
Speaker 1: twelve does evil one hundred times and may lengthen his life,
41:21
Speaker 1: still I know that it will be well for those
41:23
Speaker 1: who fear God, who fear him openly. I mean, here's
41:26
Speaker 1: a guy that does it one hundred times, lengthens his life.
41:31
Speaker 1: We need to get out of our mind the stereotype
41:35
Speaker 1: picture of the lost person. So too many Christians have
41:40
Speaker 1: the idea that because the person is lost, he's dumb.
41:43
Speaker 1: So you have to, you know, spell out, real simple
41:49
Speaker 1: the gospel so that they can get it. Some of
41:57
Speaker 1: the lost are brilliant, some of the law more brilliant
42:00
Speaker 1: than many of us will ever dream of being. Some
42:05
Speaker 1: of the lost live better than many of us could imagine,
42:08
Speaker 1: and they die better than any of us could imagine.
42:11
Speaker 1: Because they're loss doesn't mean they're therefore in this life finished,
42:18
Speaker 1: or in a calamitous journey that comes after life, that
42:23
Speaker 1: comes in the ultimate. I read this past week of
42:26
Speaker 1: a pastor and a deacon at the church who made
42:29
Speaker 1: plans to do some visiting of the lost and their congregation.
42:33
Speaker 1: One particularly notorious unbeliever had visited their church the previous Sunday,
42:39
Speaker 1: well known in the community, and.
42:42
Speaker 2: They decided to drop by and talk about the gospel.
42:45
Speaker 1: So the two of them drove up together in the car,
42:47
Speaker 1: and they said and wound their way in the driveway.
42:51
Speaker 1: They came to this lovely, lovely home. The lawn was
42:55
Speaker 1: thick and manicured. Kids are playing hopscotch out in the driveway.
43:00
Speaker 1: Back in the back was a beautiful pool with a fountain.
43:02
Speaker 1: There were three cars, all of them new and luxurious.
43:05
Speaker 1: And tucked away in the fourth garage was a new ferrari.
43:09
Speaker 1: And they looked over in the study, and they saw
43:11
Speaker 1: the man of the house, and he was sitting there,
43:14
Speaker 1: laughing with his friends and having the greatest time, and
43:17
Speaker 1: and munching on a meal. And the deacon leaned over
43:21
Speaker 1: and and and said to the pastor, now tell me again,
43:24
Speaker 1: what kind of good news do we have for this
43:26
Speaker 1: for this guy. Our good news is about life beyond.
43:34
Speaker 1: It does not mean you believe in Christ and suddenly
43:38
Speaker 1: you're affluent or ipso facto suddenly you've lost everything. We
43:45
Speaker 1: have it mixed up. We got our theology, uh, sort
43:49
Speaker 1: of screwed up around our lifestyle or our preference or
43:57
Speaker 1: our prejudices. As if the wealth he can never be godly,
44:01
Speaker 1: or the poor can never be wicked. That's so far's problem.
44:07
Speaker 1: I mean, look at you, Joe, look at the condition
44:09
Speaker 1: you're in you Obviously you've got sin in your life.
44:13
Speaker 2: You just haven't told us.
44:16
Speaker 1: Because the wicked live suffering, and Job says, oh, wait
44:19
Speaker 1: a minute, it's not true. There are times that the
44:23
Speaker 1: wicked live very prosperously. He describes it when he talks
44:33
Speaker 1: about death verse thirty. For the wicked is reserved for
44:39
Speaker 1: the day of calamity. They will be led forth in
44:41
Speaker 1: the day of fury. That's the ultimate who will confront
44:44
Speaker 1: him with his actions? Who will repay him for what
44:47
Speaker 1: he has done? Now? What's the funeral service.
44:50
Speaker 2: Of the wicked?
44:51
Speaker 1: While he's carried to the grave, men will keep watch
44:54
Speaker 1: over its tomb. The clods of the valley will gently
44:57
Speaker 1: cover him. Moreover, all men will follow after him, while
45:02
Speaker 1: countless ones go before him.
45:05
Speaker 2: Ah, listen the way.
45:07
Speaker 1: Eugene Peterson paraphrases that have you ever asked world travelers
45:12
Speaker 1: how they see this? Have you not listened to their
45:14
Speaker 1: stories of evil men and women who got off scot free,
45:18
Speaker 1: who never had to pay for their wickedness? Did anyone
45:21
Speaker 1: ever confront them with their crimes? Did they ever have
45:23
Speaker 1: to face the music? Not likely, They're given fancy funerals
45:28
Speaker 1: with all the trimmings gently lowered into expensive graves, with
45:31
Speaker 1: everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were. You've seen
45:36
Speaker 1: it so far, You've missed it with me. I'm not
45:41
Speaker 1: in that category.
45:44
Speaker 2: You've got it.
45:45
Speaker 1: You've got it simplified to the point of being simplistic,
45:52
Speaker 1: wicked or righteous. Some die well healed, some die bitter, bitterly,
45:57
Speaker 1: and in anguish. And look at his final summation of
46:01
Speaker 1: so far as counsel verse thirty four, How then will
46:03
Speaker 1: you vainly comfort me? Your answers remain full of falsehood.
46:09
Speaker 1: See that's called that's said, that's saying it straight. And
46:14
Speaker 1: I'm suggesting that kind of truth need to be needs
46:17
Speaker 1: to be said to people who are poor in falsehood
46:21
Speaker 1: in our heads. The word falsehood, by the way, and
46:25
Speaker 1: the Hebrew means treachery or fraud. Your answers remain full
46:30
Speaker 1: of treachery. They can't be counted on. It's not as
46:36
Speaker 1: you have falsely accused me of being. You need truth
46:41
Speaker 1: and you're not hearing it, and you're not saying it.
46:46
Speaker 1: Now you've so patiently set through that well, most of you,
46:50
Speaker 1: you have set patiently through this, and you have listened
46:54
Speaker 1: to so far and you've listened to Job's answer, and
46:56
Speaker 1: I want to talk with you. I want to offer
46:59
Speaker 1: you four lingering principles you can live by when you're
47:04
Speaker 1: falsely accused. Okay, now you're talking, some of you saying
47:08
Speaker 1: where is that pen and paper?
47:11
Speaker 2: I want to and.
47:12
Speaker 1: That's good because you will need this when, not if,
47:17
Speaker 1: but when people accuse you falsely of things. Here's some
47:22
Speaker 1: guidelines that I learned from Job. There arefore and following.
47:28
Speaker 1: Each principle is a little two word suggestion. Okay, here's
47:32
Speaker 1: the first principle. Listen to what is being said, considering
47:40
Speaker 1: the character of the critic. Listen to what is being
47:45
Speaker 1: said considering the character of the critic, and the two
47:54
Speaker 1: word council on this right after parenthesis, Stay calm. You'll
48:00
Speaker 1: be tempted to jump in and rashly say things that
48:09
Speaker 1: you'll later regret. Stay calm, Listen, listen to what is
48:14
Speaker 1: being said, considering the character of the critic.
48:20
Speaker 2: Stay calm.
48:21
Speaker 1: Second, respond with true facts, knowing the nature of your accuser.
48:32
Speaker 1: Respond with true facts, knowing the nature of your accuser. Frankly,
48:40
Speaker 1: it may be a former husband, former wife. It may
48:44
Speaker 1: be a former boss, It may be a former employee,
48:49
Speaker 1: maybe a neighbor, maybe a pastor. It doesn't matter who
48:54
Speaker 1: it is. The point is, if you are being accused,
48:58
Speaker 1: you need to have true acts. So my two word
49:02
Speaker 1: council here is speak truth. Don't just react, or you'll
49:07
Speaker 1: come off just like the accuser. Speak truth. David prayed
49:12
Speaker 1: in Psalm twenty six, vindicate me, O Lord, according.
49:14
Speaker 2: To my integrity.
49:17
Speaker 1: Abram Lincoln was told that he needed to fire the
49:21
Speaker 1: Postmaster General back in July eight The letter he wrote
49:28
Speaker 1: was dated July eighteen, eighteen sixty four, and so he
49:31
Speaker 1: writes Secretary Stanton this letter saying.
49:35
Speaker 2: He's not going to do it because it's based on hearsay.
49:37
Speaker 1: And then he makes this statement, truth is generally the
49:40
Speaker 1: best vindication against slander, Isn't that good? Truth is generally
49:45
Speaker 1: the best vindication against slander. Stay with truth, don't exaggerate it,
49:51
Speaker 1: don't pad it, don't hesitate. Respond with truth, acts accurate information,
50:02
Speaker 1: Use examples that represent reality and balance. Use examples that
50:08
Speaker 1: represent reality and balance.
50:12
Speaker 2: That's what job did. Trusting your defense to the Lord.
50:18
Speaker 1: Use examples that represent reality and balance. Trusting your defense
50:24
Speaker 1: to the Lord parenthesis, lean hard, I understand I have
50:33
Speaker 1: been accused of things. It has kept me awake, It
50:36
Speaker 1: has made my stomach churn, it has taken away my appetite.
50:39
Speaker 1: I have found myself at times thinking, I'm not gonna
50:42
Speaker 1: pay any attention to it, and that's all I can
50:44
Speaker 1: talk about.
50:45
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna pay attention to what's being written.
50:47
Speaker 1: And I memorize it. I'm not gonna worry about it,
50:51
Speaker 1: and I pass it on to somebody else what's being said,
50:53
Speaker 1: and I am not leaning hard. I need examples that
51:00
Speaker 1: present reality and balance, and then I need to lean
51:05
Speaker 1: on God to see me through it. If truth is truth,
51:09
Speaker 1: and it is, then He will honor it, and ultimately
51:12
Speaker 1: he will Truth will win out.
51:16
Speaker 2: Four.
51:18
Speaker 1: Refuse to let the accusations discourage and derail you. Refuse
51:25
Speaker 1: to let the accusations discourage and derail you, remembering they
51:31
Speaker 1: are nonsense and lies. They are nonsense and lies, parentheses.
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Speaker 1: Get tough, Remember that old lane from the Revolutionary War.
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Speaker 1: Trust in God to keep your powder dry. I mean,
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Speaker 1: you'll lock your door at night. You trust God, but
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Speaker 1: you turn on your alarm, you get in your car,
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Speaker 1: you'll lock your doors. Don't you roll up your windows?
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Speaker 1: Don't you If you don't, you dumb, you're playing with fire.
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna trust God, but I'm gonna ride around his
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Speaker 1: back alley in the convertible. Yeah, a lot of folks
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Speaker 1: are like that. There's got to be balanced here. Don't
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Speaker 1: be afraid of harsh examples. Joe use his son. Don't
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Speaker 1: be afraid of very specific, strongly stated examples. I read
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Speaker 1: this past week of a physician father who is in Paraguay.
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Speaker 1: Several years ago, he stood against the military regime there
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Speaker 1: that was corrupt, which was which was also interwoven with
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Speaker 1: the law enforcement. And he spoke on human rights abuse,
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Speaker 1: and he spoke openly and he exposed it. Listen to
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Speaker 1: what happened. The local police took their revenge on him
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Speaker 1: by arresting his teenage on torturing him to death. Enraged,
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Speaker 1: the townsfolk wanted to turn the boy's funeral into a
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Speaker 1: huge protest march. The doctor father said, no, We'll do
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Speaker 1: something else to protest. At the funeral. True story, the
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Speaker 1: father displayed the son's body as he had found it
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Speaker 1: in the jail for all to see, naked, scarred from
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Speaker 1: the electric shocks, cigarette burns, beatings, and stabbings. All the
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Speaker 1: villagers filed past the corpse, which lay not in a coffin,
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Speaker 1: but on a blood soaked mattress from the prison, exactly
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Speaker 1: where he found the boy.
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Speaker 2: It was the strongest protest imaginable. It put injustice on
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Speaker 2: grotesque display. That's exactly what God did with Christ at
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Speaker 2: the cross.
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Speaker 1: That's exactly what he did. He didn't put a white
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Speaker 1: bed sheet around him and said no, no, it's too hard
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Speaker 1: for you to look at that. He didn't have him
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Speaker 1: crucified in a basement somewhere so people wouldn't see. He
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Speaker 1: was on a hill, hanging there, dying, finally, limp gray dead.
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Speaker 1: And it was impacting. And that cross is still impacting
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Speaker 1: all who will look and live, because he used a
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Speaker 1: very harsh, realistic example to convey his message. Look at
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Speaker 1: it in your mind, picture it. Any other kind of
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Speaker 1: information is empty and nonsense. Let me say to you
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Speaker 1: who are going through a time of false accusation. May
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Speaker 1: God strengthen you in it. May God hold you close
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Speaker 1: through it. May God give you wisdom and responding to it.
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Speaker 1: May He become real and personal to you, even giving
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Speaker 1: you songs in the night and quiet rest as He
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Speaker 1: defends you. And let me say to you, who are
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Speaker 1: spreading rumors and lies and slander on someone else. There
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Speaker 1: is nothing more treacherous you could be doing in the
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Speaker 1: family of God than that. Nothing You hurt, the body,
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Speaker 1: you disease, the church you ruin, you ruin the testimony
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Speaker 1: of Christ. There's nothing the lost world loves to hear
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Speaker 1: and see more than infighting in the family. And before
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Speaker 1: we cluck our tongues at so far and bill Dad Nelafaz,
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Speaker 1: we better do some soul searching. Search me, o, God,
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Speaker 1: says David, Try me know my thoughts. See if there
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Speaker 1: be any The Hebrew says, any way of pain within
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Speaker 1: me that good. Any way of pain my bringing pain
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Speaker 1: to someone, and then leave me in the way everlasting.
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Speaker 1: Let's bow together. So searching searching time in this old book.
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Speaker 1: Job may be old, but he's certainly relevant for you
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Speaker 1: who have been crippled by false information and hurt and
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Speaker 1: sometime even humiliated. May God give you a strength from
56:58
Speaker 1: this message. For you who don't know, Christ made the
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Speaker 1: message of the Cross minister to you personally, right where
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Speaker 1: you're sitting. You can turn your life over to the
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Speaker 1: Savior by faith, putting your hand in him, taking his
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Speaker 1: life in place of your shame. And sin and failure.
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Speaker 1: You can know what it is to be forgiven, fully,
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Speaker 1: fully redeemed. Thank you, Father, that this is a place
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Speaker 1: where shame and grace can meet. Thank you for the cross.
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Speaker 1: It's still little message that sets the captive free. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for a man who would record from his journal
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Speaker 1: even things as personal as this, such insulting comments, such
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Speaker 1: humiliating words. Thank you for his storied endurance, his courage.
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Speaker 2: His strength of character.
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Speaker 1: Thank you that he didn't just sit back and let
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Speaker 1: the lies run on, but he became your spokesman, which
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Speaker 1: guides us even as late as the twenty first century
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Speaker 1: and time. Now, Lord, may we be dismissed with the
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Speaker 1: reminder that you are for us, and therefore who can
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Speaker 1: be against us? He who spared not his own son,
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Speaker 1: but delivered him up for us all, how shall he
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Speaker 1: not with him freely give us all things. We exult
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Speaker 1: in this your grace. In the name of Jesus, our
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Speaker 1: Lord and powerful Master and Savior. We pray everyone said amen.
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Speaker 4: The preceding message, responding wisely when falsely Accused was be
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Speaker 4: writed in two thousand and two, and the sound recording
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Speaker 4: was copyrighted in two thousand and four. By Charles R. Swindell, Inc.
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Speaker 4: All rites are reserved worldwide. In the preceding message, Charles R.
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Speaker 4: Swindell Inc. Is grateful to the following sources for permission
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Speaker 4: to quote from their materials. Moody Publishers for excerpts from
59:18
Speaker 4: the book Spiritual Leadership copyrighted in nineteen eighty by j
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Speaker 4: Oswald Sanders, and the Zondrivan Corporation for excerpts from the
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Speaker 4: book Disappointment with God copyrighted in nineteen eighty eight by
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Speaker 4: Philip Yancey