Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Continuing the Verbal Fistfight │ Msg 722

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Continuing the Verbal Fistfight │ Msg 722 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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