Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / When Rebuke and Resistance Collide │ Msg 822

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When Rebuke and Resistance Collide │ Msg 822 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: We're engaged in an examination of the life and experience
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Speaker 1: of Job. If you're not familiar with the book in
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Speaker 1: the Bible, it's just before the very large book of
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Speaker 1: the Psalms, right in the center section. And just to
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Speaker 1: the left, we'll find Job. If you'll locate chapter 11,
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Speaker 1: I'd like to read a few verses from that as
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Speaker 1: well as some from a couple of other chapters later on.
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Speaker 1: We're sort of trying to take it in chunks so
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Speaker 1: we don't become tedious about this and break everyone's back
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Speaker 1: over it. You know you've been in Job a long
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Speaker 1: time when you greet people at church and rather than
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Speaker 1: they're saying, how are you doing? They ask, what happened
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Speaker 1: to you this week? And I think that's starting to
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Speaker 1: happen in our lives. And I want to be sensitive
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Speaker 1: to the fact that you can take just so much
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Speaker 1: of stuff like this. But what a man. What an experience.
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Speaker 1: You will recall he's lost everything. including now his health,
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Speaker 1: as well as all in his family except his wife.
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Speaker 1: Friends have come, so-called friends, to bring him comfort and sympathy.
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Speaker 1: They bring neither, and their words have turned to rebuke
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Speaker 1: and insults and sarcasm. And that sort of is a
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Speaker 1: running commentary through the poem of this section, beginning at
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Speaker 1: chapter 4, really, and going on through to chapter 38. Now,
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Speaker 1: look at Job 11, verse 1. This is the third
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Speaker 1: of the friends. Zophar the Naamathite answered, Shall a multitude
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Speaker 1: of words go unanswered, and a talkative man be acquitted?
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Speaker 1: Shall your boasts silence men, and shall you scoff and
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Speaker 1: none rebuke? For you have said, My teaching is pure,
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Speaker 1: and I am innocent in your eyes. But would that
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Speaker 1: God might speak and open his lips against you. Job
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Speaker 1: answers in chapter 12, verse 1, where we read, Then
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Speaker 1: Job responded, Truly then, you are the people, and with
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Speaker 1: you wisdom will die. But I have intelligence as well
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Speaker 1: as you. I am not inferior to you. And who
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Speaker 1: does not know such things as these? I am a
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Speaker 1: joke to my friends. The one who called on God
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Speaker 1: and he answered him. The just and blameless man.
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Speaker 2: Is a joke.
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Speaker 1: 13 verse 15, sort of Job's declaration of faith. Though
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Speaker 1: he slay me, I will hope in him. Nevertheless, I
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Speaker 1: will argue my ways before him. This also will be
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Speaker 1: my salvation, for a godless man may not come before
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Speaker 1: his presence. Listen carefully to my speech. Let my declaration
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Speaker 1: fill your ears. Behold, now I have prepared my case.
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Speaker 1: I know that I will be vindicated. 14 verse 1.
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Speaker 1: Man who is born a woman. Is short lived. And
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Speaker 1: full of turmoil. Like a flower. He comes forth and withers.
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Speaker 1: Also flees like a shadow. And does not remain. Verse 10.
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Speaker 1: But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires.
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Speaker 2: And where is he?
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Speaker 1: As water evaporates from the sea and a river becomes
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Speaker 1: parched and dried up, so man lies down and does
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Speaker 1: not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will
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Speaker 1: not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep. Oh,
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Speaker 1: that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would
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Speaker 1: conceal me until your wrath returns to you, that you
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Speaker 1: would set a limit for me and remember me, If
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Speaker 1: a man.
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Speaker 2: Dies, will he live again?
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Speaker 1: All the days of my struggle I will wait until
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Speaker 1: my change.
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Speaker 2: Comes.
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Speaker 1: Our dear Father, we bow before your word that has
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Speaker 1: been preserved through centuries of time. Against all odds, Standing
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Speaker 1: against the hammer of the critics, it like an anvil
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Speaker 1: has never worn away, though the hammers have come and gone.
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Speaker 1: It is eternal. Heaven and earth will pass away, but
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Speaker 1: your word will never do either. Men and women come
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Speaker 1: and go, but your word remains forever. Our times change.
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Speaker 1: The obsolete and old is replaced by the new and modern.
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Speaker 1: Your word remains the same. Our needs vary according to
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Speaker 1: each individual. Our cares weigh heavily upon us. Your word
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Speaker 1: remains the same.
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Speaker 2: Full of hope.
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Speaker 1: Permeated by promises that keep us going. I thank you
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Speaker 1: today for those who have been trained to handle your word,
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Speaker 1: who graduated from Dallas Seminary yesterday, and I pray for
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Speaker 1: each one. I pray for their families. I pray for
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Speaker 1: their partners in life. I pray that you will go
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Speaker 1: before them as you go with them. Guide them in
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Speaker 1: the way that you would have them go. May they
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Speaker 1: walk sensitively and in obedience with you. Whatever you have
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Speaker 1: for them or for us, our Father, Today we place
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Speaker 1: ourselves before you as obedient servants. We have sung of
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Speaker 1: this and now we state it in this prayer. Find
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Speaker 1: within our hearts an honesty and an integrity where words
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Speaker 1: are true and thoughts are authentic. Use us in our
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Speaker 1: own sphere of influence wherever that may be. For some,
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Speaker 1: it is as a mother of small children still at home,
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Speaker 1: caring for them and their many needs. For others, it
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Speaker 1: is the business of work and the career that keeps
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Speaker 1: us occupied, where again, you use us in capacities we're
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Speaker 1: not even aware of. For many, it is after the
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Speaker 1: days of hard work and they find themselves with more time, again,
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Speaker 1: not to be passed away in nothingness, but used in
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Speaker 1: new ways as they invest themselves for your purpose. For
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Speaker 1: a few, there is a search going on as they
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Speaker 1: seek to know where you would have them be employed.
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Speaker 1: I pray that you will lead them in the way
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Speaker 1: they should go and that they will do that with
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Speaker 1: passion and confidence that you have placed before them this
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Speaker 1: opportunity for work. There are some obligated by the military
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Speaker 1: to serve in places that they would not have chosen,
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Speaker 1: to be in danger, where they would rather be like
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Speaker 1: us in protected peace. Watch over them. Keep them carefully
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Speaker 1: and sensitively under your eye. Guard our country during these
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Speaker 1: tenuous days where we learned the that we too can
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Speaker 1: be invaded, that the terrorists are not those who strike
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Speaker 1: other lands, but in fact are loose in our own land.
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Speaker 1: We pray that you will watch over us, protect our homes,
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Speaker 1: protect this nation, guide our president and his cabinet. May
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Speaker 1: truth be that which guides and guards his life, not
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Speaker 1: partisan politics. May he live a life that honors you.
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Speaker 1: May he listen well to those spiritual counselors and wise advisors.
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Speaker 1: Protect him from harm and those who would tell him
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Speaker 1: lies and persuade him to go in the wrong way.
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Speaker 1: Our Father, we acknowledge from this study of Job that life,
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Speaker 1: as we have just read, is full of turmoil. How
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Speaker 1: frail we are. How few are days. How full of trouble.
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Speaker 1: May we learn vicariously from this good man what it
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Speaker 1: is like to hold up under pressure. To continue to
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Speaker 1: honor you no matter what others say or think. We
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Speaker 1: acknowledge finally, our Father, that everything we have and everything
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Speaker 1: we are is yours.
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Speaker 2: You own us all and you own it all.
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Speaker 1: So we today do not give from what we own
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Speaker 1: but we return back to you what you have temporarily
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Speaker 1: placed on loan to us. Thank you for our occupation
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Speaker 1: for the privilege of earning a wage and even for some,
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Speaker 1: of investing what they have made. From our savings and
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Speaker 1: investments and from our hard work, from our labor, from
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Speaker 1: our daily wage, we give for the work of ministry,
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Speaker 1: that it might continue unhindered and it might be used
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Speaker 1: wisely for your glory. Our worship continues as we focus
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Speaker 1: on you, our Father. to us that we might further
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Speaker 1: deepen our walk with you as we worship with our
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Speaker 1: offerings in the name of Christ.
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Speaker 2: And everyone said, Amen.
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Speaker 1: Have you noticed that problems don't just go away? They
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Speaker 1: don't evaporate, they proliferate, says one of Murphy's Laws. I
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Speaker 1: thought recently they're sort of like roaches. You can't just
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Speaker 1: ignore them. You kill everyone you see. When I moved
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Speaker 1: back to Texas, I had a friend tell me when
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Speaker 1: he saw me in cowboy boots one day, he said,
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Speaker 1: you know why we wear cowboy boots? And I said, well,
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Speaker 1: I thought I did, but I think I'm going to
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Speaker 1: learn a new reason right now. And he said, yeah,
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Speaker 1: you can kill roaches in a corner when you wear
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Speaker 1: those cowboy boots. When we were at the seminary, we
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Speaker 1: lived in the campus apartments, which, praise God, have been
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Speaker 1: destroyed now. And there's a new library there, but we
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Speaker 1: lived in the old campus apartment number nine. Sounds like
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Speaker 1: a jail sentence, doesn't it? Apartment number nine.
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Speaker 2: But, boy, roaches.
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Speaker 1: I said to Cynthia one day, we don't have a
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Speaker 1: single roach in our place. She looked at me like
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Speaker 1: I was crazy. I said, they're all married, have large families.
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Speaker 1: Problems are like that. They just get worse. Especially conflicts.
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Speaker 1: And even when you try to solve them, they just
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Speaker 1: get more complicated. And I have a feeling there is
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Speaker 1: not a person listening to me right now who has not,
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Speaker 1: on occasion, attempted to make things right with another individual
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Speaker 1: and have it blow up in your face. Or other individuals, plural,
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Speaker 1: only to have the scene changed. get increasingly more difficult.
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Speaker 1: It's easy to forget the original agenda. When one person
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Speaker 1: is sick and three people come to bring encouragement, there
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Speaker 1: is a simple agenda, and these men had it right,
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Speaker 1: who came to visit Job. There's nothing wrong with their
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Speaker 1: original intent. Chapter 2, verse 11 tells us, these three men, Eliphaz, Bildad,
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Speaker 1: and Zophar, came from their homes all the way to
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Speaker 1: Job's ash heap, where he found himself without his children,
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Speaker 1: without a means of making a living, where he found
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Speaker 1: himself with no home, no buildings on his place of
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Speaker 1: his own property, and where he found himself covered with
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Speaker 1: sores and that were now cracking open and oozing with pus.
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Speaker 1: Miserable in the daytime and restless through the night, the
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Speaker 1: three men came to sympathize with him and.
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Speaker 2: To comfort him.
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Speaker 1: Great agenda. If you learn nothing else so far from
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Speaker 1: Job of a positive nature, learn. When someone is laid
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Speaker 1: aside and for whatever reason you are by their side,
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Speaker 1: you've come to sympathize and to comfort.
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Speaker 2: End of agenda.
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Speaker 1: But somewhere between their leaving with the right agenda and seven, eight,
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Speaker 1: nine days later as they're into the dialogue, the agenda
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Speaker 1: got lost, I would venture to say you cannot find
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Speaker 1: a sentence of sympathy.
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Speaker 2: And comfort that fell from their lips.
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Speaker 1: In all of these chapters from 4 through 31, there
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Speaker 1: is accusation, there is blame, there is shame, there is insult,
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Speaker 1: there is sarcasm. there is finger pointing, there is judging,
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Speaker 1: there is condemning, there is preaching, but there is no
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Speaker 1: sympathy and there is no comfort. So that Job winds up,
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Speaker 1: as we're going to see in the time we spend
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Speaker 1: in these chapters today, he winds up saying, it had
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Speaker 1: been better if you had just stayed silent. Awfully good advice.
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Speaker 1: What is it our mothers taught us? If you can't
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Speaker 1: say something nice, that's it. Don't say anything at all.
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Speaker 1: If you cannot bring sympathy and comfort, bring nothing at all.
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Speaker 2: Just your presence.
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Speaker 1: Well, Eliphaz has spoken and he's talked about experience of
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Speaker 1: the past and his lecture, Job, on learning from experience.
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Speaker 1: As Eliphaz stands there in good health with plenty in
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Speaker 1: his wallet and a happy family at home Bildad stands
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Speaker 1: then in Eliphaz's place, the next in age, and Bildad says,
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Speaker 1: what we must learn, Job, is lessons taught us from
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Speaker 1: the brilliant minds of the past. And he represents those
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Speaker 1: philosophers and teachers and sages of yesteryear, and he offers
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Speaker 1: those words of advice to his friend as Bildad stands
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Speaker 1: healthy and wealthy again.
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Speaker 2: And in his own eyes wise.
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Speaker 1: Then Zophar. Zophar, verse 1 of chapter 11, now answers,
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Speaker 1: using not experience or the wisdom of the past as
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Speaker 1: his basis, but just rank legalism.
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Speaker 2: Just legalism.
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Speaker 1: Verses 1 to 4, you are guilty, Job. Verses 5
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Speaker 1: to 12, you are ignorant, Job. Verses 13 to 20,
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Speaker 1: you are sinful. Repent. End of Zophar's sympathetic, comforting message.
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Speaker 1: Verse 2, shall a multitude of words go unanswered and
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Speaker 1: a talkative man be acquitted? How's that for an opening line?
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Speaker 1: He heard the word windbag earlier and decides to use
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Speaker 1: it again. We have listened to you about as long
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Speaker 1: as we plan to listen, Job. How many more things
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Speaker 1: do you think you have to say to convince us
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Speaker 1: you're full of words, but your life is empty of righteousness?
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Speaker 1: Shall your boast silence men like us? No way. Shall
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Speaker 1: you scoff and no one rebuke you? There is no way.
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Speaker 1: You have said my teaching is pure and I am
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Speaker 1: innocent in your eyes.
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Speaker 2: Stop.
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Speaker 1: Stop at verse 4. Job never said that. You know,
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Speaker 1: it's hard enough to be dealt with rudely, tactlessly, but
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Speaker 1: to be misquoted is a very, very painful thing to
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Speaker 1: take sitting down. Back in chapter 6, Job had been
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Speaker 1: Vulnerable enough to say in verse 24, teach me. Show
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Speaker 1: me how I have erred.
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Speaker 2: Just show me.
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Speaker 1: Verse 28, please now look at me and see if
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Speaker 1: I lie to your face. Point it out. Identify the wrong.
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Speaker 1: Of course, they don't deal in specifics. These men are
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Speaker 1: given to generalized universal criticisms. And so they take Job
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Speaker 1: on with both fists. They now misquote him in chapter 11,
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Speaker 1: verse 4. And if telling him that he's guilty isn't enough,
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Speaker 1: Zophar now says, you are one ignorant man. Remember Job
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Speaker 1: when he was earlier identified as one of the greatest
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Speaker 1: men of the East? In fact, as I recall, the greatest.
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Speaker 1: He feared God and turned away from evil. Sounds to
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Speaker 1: me like a man who wasn't guilty and wasn't ignorant
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Speaker 1: of God. But you understand when legalists make their statement,
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Speaker 1: they don't need facts. All they need is volume. And
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Speaker 1: the ability to put you down so that you're intimidated
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Speaker 1: by their presence.
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Speaker 2: Or their awfully good at that.
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Speaker 1: Would that God might speak and open his lips against you.
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Speaker 1: This is calling down a judgment from heaven. Would that
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Speaker 1: God might show you the secrets of wisdom, for sound
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Speaker 1: wisdom has two sides, Job. Probably meaning the side we
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Speaker 1: can understand and the side we can't. the side we
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Speaker 1: can see and the side we can't see, the invisible
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Speaker 1: wisdom of God. Know then that God forgets a part
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Speaker 1: of your iniquity. Can you discover the depths of God, Job?
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Speaker 1: Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are
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Speaker 1: high as the heavens. What can you do? Deeper than
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Speaker 1: the grave, called here in the Hebrew Sheol, the place
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Speaker 1: of the departed dead in the days of the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: Deeper than the grave, what can you know? Why, Job,
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Speaker 1: the measure of God's mind is longer than the earth.
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Speaker 1: It's broader than the sea. If he passes by or
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Speaker 1: shuts up or calls an assembly, who can restrain the Almighty, Job?
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Speaker 1: He's delivering Job a lecture in what we might call
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Speaker 1: Theology 101. As if Job needs.
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Speaker 2: A theological lecture.
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Speaker 1: Let me pause here and say that Zophars are still
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Speaker 1: on the loose. If you haven't met one, just hold
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Speaker 1: your breath. He'll come along. They have zero capacity to
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Speaker 1: connect the dots. They have a complete inability to even
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Speaker 1: color by numbers. They don't get it, but they have
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Speaker 1: a message for you. And the message usually is a
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Speaker 1: put down because you are not doing what they believe
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Speaker 1: you ought to be doing or you are doing what
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Speaker 1: they believe you should not be doing. And in this case,
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Speaker 1: since he sees Job as ignorant of God, he decides
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Speaker 1: he needs to teach him about God and he tells
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Speaker 1: him of God's length and breadth and depth and width
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Speaker 1: and height and reminds Job that this God cannot be restrained.
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Speaker 1: And then, if that isn't enough, verse 11, with the implication,
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Speaker 1: you're the man. He knows false men. He sees iniquity
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Speaker 1: without investigating. And then the ultimate. An idiot will become
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Speaker 1: intelligent when the foal of a wild donkey is born
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Speaker 1: a man. Just look there for a few moments. The
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Speaker 1: word idiot comes from a Hebrew word that means to
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Speaker 1: be hollow, empty. When used of a person, it's referring
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Speaker 1: to empty-headed. We have the colloquialism airhead in our day.
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Speaker 1: He's calling Job, by implication, an empty-headed man. And there
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Speaker 1: is no more possibility that a person like that could
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Speaker 1: ever become wise than a donkey could give birth to
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Speaker 1: a human. Now, for just a moment, since you're not there,
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Speaker 1: try to imagine yourself there. You've lost it all, including
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Speaker 1: your health. You haven't been able to sleep. You can't eat.
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Speaker 1: Now we're in a third round of this first cycle
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Speaker 1: of dialogues, and it's just getting worse. And of all things,
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Speaker 1: you're now called an idiot, a hollow-brained individual who himself
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Speaker 1: can't connect the dots. Warren Wiersbe wrote, How sad it
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Speaker 1: is when people who should share ministry end up creating misery.
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Speaker 1: How tragic that these three friends focused on Job's words
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Speaker 1: instead of the feelings behind those words. Then he quotes
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Speaker 1: a Chinese proverb, Though conversing face to face, their hearts
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Speaker 1: have a thousand miles between them.
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Speaker 2: Ever been around a person like that?
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Speaker 1: I'm going to venture something, but don't move a muscle, okay?
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Speaker 1: Or you'll let us all know that it's true. You
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Speaker 1: may be married to one like that. That's a terrible existence.
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Speaker 1: It's a dreadful existence. You converse face to face, but
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Speaker 1: your hearts have a thousand miles between you. How true
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Speaker 1: that was at the ash heap. After all, information is
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Speaker 1: not the same as communication. Sidney J. Harris reminds us,
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Speaker 1: information is giving out, communication is getting through. It's a
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Speaker 1: great line. Today, my desire is not simply to give
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Speaker 1: out information to help you know Job 11 through 14.
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Speaker 1: You can get that on your own by reading it
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Speaker 1: or by finding commentaries and reading them. My desire today
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Speaker 1: is to communicate, to get through, to take the side
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Speaker 1: of the person who has no good reason to have
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Speaker 1: to endure something like this, who.
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Speaker 2: Lives with it regularly.
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Speaker 1: He has the audacity in verse 13 to Begin with
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Speaker 1: the condition. If you would direct your heart right and
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Speaker 1: if you would spread out your hand to him, meaning God,
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Speaker 1: if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.
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Speaker 1: If you do not let wickedness dwell in your tents, then,
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Speaker 1: now he offers the promise, you could lift your face up.
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Speaker 1: Your face could be lifted up without moral defect, implying what?
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Speaker 2: Moral defect.
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Speaker 1: And you would be steadfast and not fear, implying what?
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Speaker 2: He is neither.
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Speaker 1: He is not steadfast and he's fearing. You would forget
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Speaker 1: your trouble as waters have passed by. You would remember it.
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Speaker 1: Your life would be brighter than the noonday. Then you
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Speaker 1: would trust. Verse 18 concludes. But verse 20 gives the consequence.
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Speaker 1: The eyes of the wicked will fail. There will be
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Speaker 1: no escape for them. And Zophar is through. Well, not really,
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Speaker 1: he's coming back, but thankfully it will be a while.
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Speaker 1: The sheer arrogance of Zophar is shocking. I think I
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Speaker 1: need to point out something that needs to be said.
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Speaker 1: Zophar makes an error in judgment that commonly occurs among legalists.
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Speaker 1: He does acknowledge the infinitude and greatness of God.
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Speaker 2: That's correct.
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Speaker 1: He urges Job to understand such truths and to realize
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Speaker 1: their implications, and that's necessary. Not in this case, but
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Speaker 1: normally it would be necessary. It could be helpful. But then,
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Speaker 1: with veiled arrogance, he exhorts Job to fall in line,
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Speaker 1: implying that he knows. what Job won't admit. Men and women,
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Speaker 1: be awfully careful about telling other people they're going through
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Speaker 1: what they're going through because they're sinful.
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Speaker 2: Be very careful about that.
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Speaker 1: If you don't have the evidence and if you don't
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Speaker 1: have the proof, you're terribly close to serving as a judge.
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Speaker 1: And people are sometime implicated in a wrong where they
28:07
Speaker 1: themselves are innocent. Following the first morning service today, I
28:13
Speaker 1: had a gentleman who was a partner with Arthur Anderson
28:16
Speaker 1: come by to say a few words to me about
28:18
Speaker 1: what he's learning from our study in Job. He said
28:20
Speaker 1: it's been very helpful. He said, so happens that my
28:24
Speaker 1: part of Arthur Anderson is just as clean as a whistle.
28:28
Speaker 1: But we've been smeared over from the media. announcement that
28:33
Speaker 1: all of Arthur Anderson is questionable.
28:39
Speaker 2: That's a bad call.
28:44
Speaker 1: When the Jim and Tammy Baker nonsense hit the news
28:49
Speaker 1: back in the 80s, Insight for Living suffered. Suffered in
28:55
Speaker 1: a difficult manner for a period of time, though I've
28:58
Speaker 1: never met either one of them and do not in
29:01
Speaker 1: any way Agree with that style of ministry. But because
29:06
Speaker 1: we're also a media ministry. We had to somehow. Answer
29:13
Speaker 1: to a number of people who became our critics because.
29:17
Speaker 1: We like them are on the air and therefore we
29:20
Speaker 1: like them must be.
29:22
Speaker 2: You finish the sentence.
29:23
Speaker 1: How insulting. Be really careful about generalizations. Guard yourself from
29:35
Speaker 1: taking a role of a person prophet and priest, as
29:44
Speaker 1: Zophar does with Job. I know, and I do not
29:49
Speaker 1: mean this sarcastically. Some of you are very intelligent. You
29:52
Speaker 1: have a great grasp of God's word, and I commend
29:56
Speaker 1: you for that.
29:59
Speaker 2: Prove it by your restraint.
30:05
Speaker 1: Let your wisdom show through by demonstrating a lot of
30:09
Speaker 1: understanding and grace, especially when another hurts in a way
30:15
Speaker 1: you have never hurt. Well, Job responds, and I'm so
30:23
Speaker 1: delighted he doesn't say, well, you're right so far.
30:29
Speaker 2: I'm not going to fight this.
30:32
Speaker 1: The rebuke of Zophar is met by the resistance of Job.
30:36
Speaker 1: And that is the only way to deal with a legalist.
30:42
Speaker 1: Legalists are like roaches. You leave them alone, they proliferate.
30:47
Speaker 1: They attract others. And before you know it, the legalists
30:51
Speaker 1: run the show because bullying tactics is their favorite approach.
30:56
Speaker 1: And if they can't bully, they take their ball and
30:59
Speaker 1: bat and they go elsewhere. Thank God they leave. There
31:03
Speaker 1: was a time in my life when I allowed legalists
31:06
Speaker 1: to take a little more control of me than they
31:09
Speaker 1: should have been allowed. I'm making up for lost time now.
31:15
Speaker 1: We're not going to have that at this church. We're
31:18
Speaker 1: not going to have you playing king of the mountain
31:20
Speaker 1: over somebody else's life. Nobody died and left you king.
31:26
Speaker 1: Nobody puts you in charge of answering for somebody else.
31:30
Speaker 1: Stay real quiet. The Lord is well able to handle
31:34
Speaker 1: his children. And by the way, if one of your
31:38
Speaker 1: youngsters is wayward and you're just eating your heart out
31:41
Speaker 1: because you raised them right and they're going wrong, remember
31:45
Speaker 1: the one who has done the most perfect job of
31:48
Speaker 1: being a parent has the most wayward kids, and that's God.
31:55
Speaker 1: Isn't that a relief? Remember how far, remember the tether
32:00
Speaker 1: he let you have when you were going wrong and
32:03
Speaker 1: when I was going wrong and times in our lives?
32:05
Speaker 1: And isn't it amazing how the Lord in long suffering
32:09
Speaker 1: and finally one day said, that's enough, boom. And you know,
32:13
Speaker 1: like a dog on a clothesline, and it runs out
32:18
Speaker 1: of chain and you kind of jerks a snot out
32:22
Speaker 1: of him when he goes, huh. I guess I shouldn't
32:24
Speaker 1: run that far next time. And it's amazing how God
32:27
Speaker 1: can do that. Well, Job says, okay, that's enough. Job responds,
32:32
Speaker 1: and we've got to admire him. By the way, it's
32:35
Speaker 1: a good time for me to tell you a story.
32:37
Speaker 1: When our older son, Kurt, was in high school, he
32:41
Speaker 1: played flute. And the flute section sat in that particular
32:45
Speaker 1: band in front of the trombone section. Kurt was a
32:49
Speaker 1: lower classman, and there was an upper classman who was
32:51
Speaker 1: not only further along in grade, but he was a
32:54
Speaker 1: bigger boy and played trombone. And if you know trombone,
32:59
Speaker 1: you know it has a spit valve right on the
33:01
Speaker 1: end of the slide. And you've got to be careful
33:04
Speaker 1: where you blow your spit, okay? And professionals don't just
33:08
Speaker 1: go all over unless they're in high school and they're upperclassmen.
33:14
Speaker 1: And so this fellow puts his finger on the spit
33:18
Speaker 1: valve and goes and blows a spit all over Kurt's arm.
33:24
Speaker 1: So Kurt tells me about it later. He said, so Dad,
33:28
Speaker 1: I told him, don't do that anymore. Don't blow the
33:31
Speaker 1: spit on me. Well, that kid couldn't wait to work
33:36
Speaker 1: up more spit. I mean, he was just, so he
33:40
Speaker 1: fills up his slide with it. Kurt says, you know,
33:44
Speaker 1: you're going to wish you hadn't done that if you
33:48
Speaker 1: do that one more time.
33:51
Speaker 2: Boy, it gets good now.
33:52
Speaker 1: Come back next Sunday, I'll tell you what he did.
33:56
Speaker 2: No.
34:00
Speaker 1: The third time, the guy goes, and Kurt goes, and
34:04
Speaker 1: hits the bell of the trombone and drives the mouthpiece
34:08
Speaker 1: through the teeth of the kid. And now he looks
34:12
Speaker 1: like the opposite of Bugs Bunny, you know. He goes,
34:18
Speaker 1: blood and everything. Kurt continues to play the flute. It's amazing.
34:26
Speaker 1: It's the last time the kid blew a spit on him.
34:29
Speaker 2: Remarkable.
34:36
Speaker 1: I would love to go further with that story, but
34:39
Speaker 1: I'm going to stop there. Chapter 12, Job goes, you're
34:47
Speaker 1: not going to keep talking to me like that. Fellow Christians,
34:55
Speaker 1: Listen to me. You're not a doormat placed before the
35:00
Speaker 1: heels of every legalist that comes down the pike. You
35:05
Speaker 1: are neither ignorant nor unimportant. You are a child of God.
35:14
Speaker 1: No one has the right to shame you or.
35:19
Speaker 2: Take advantage of you. No one.
35:25
Speaker 1: Job responds, having learned a little sarcasm from his friends,
35:31
Speaker 1: truly then, you are the people. By the way, it's plural,
35:35
Speaker 1: so y'all. Truly then, y'all are the people, and with
35:40
Speaker 1: all y'all's wisdom, it's going to die when you die. Oh,
35:44
Speaker 1: what a shame. You three guys are going to die,
35:47
Speaker 1: and there won't be any more wisdom left. Isn't that
35:49
Speaker 1: a great line? Truly, you are unbelievable. as he's scratching
35:55
Speaker 1: his sores and trying to survive. Look at verse three.
35:58
Speaker 1: But I have intelligence as well as you, and I
36:03
Speaker 1: am not inferior to any one of you.
36:06
Speaker 3: I love that.
36:08
Speaker 1: You're not going to keep blowing the spit on me.
36:16
Speaker 1: Who does not know the things you've told me about
36:19
Speaker 1: the living God? Gentlemen, I am your age. I've been
36:24
Speaker 1: there and back. And in your eyes, I'm a joke.
36:31
Speaker 1: Verse four. He called it what it was. They didn't
36:34
Speaker 1: have the gall to call him what they thought of him.
36:37
Speaker 1: I am a joke to my friends. I am the
36:40
Speaker 1: one who called on God and he answered him. I
36:43
Speaker 1: am the just and blameless one. I am the one
36:46
Speaker 1: you think of as a joke. Are there worst insults
36:51
Speaker 1: in life than being seen in the eyes of another
36:54
Speaker 1: as a joke?
36:54
Speaker 2: Maybe not.
36:58
Speaker 1: Probably worse than being seen as a pawn is to
37:01
Speaker 1: be seen as a joke. Me, the one who has
37:05
Speaker 1: talked with the living God, me, the one who understands
37:09
Speaker 1: who he is and what he is about, I.
37:12
Speaker 2: Am a joke in your eyes.
37:17
Speaker 1: He who is at ease holds calamity and contempt as
37:20
Speaker 1: prepared for those whose feet slip. And then he goes
37:25
Speaker 1: into the whole subject of the control of God and
37:27
Speaker 1: he asks them to visit the beast of the field
37:29
Speaker 1: and the birds of the air, verse 7, and the
37:32
Speaker 1: fish of the sea, verse 8. Who among these does
37:37
Speaker 1: not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
37:42
Speaker 1: It is of God, Zophar and Bildad and Eliphaz. Listen
37:48
Speaker 1: to me. It is of God. You can't explain it.
37:54
Speaker 1: I can't explain it. But the beasts of the field
37:58
Speaker 1: acknowledge built within them are all of these God controls.
38:06
Speaker 1: They would be able, if they could speak our language,
38:09
Speaker 1: to tell you their story. He gets into a, he
38:15
Speaker 1: sort of gets a roll on, if you will, beginning
38:17
Speaker 1: at verse 16 down through 24. Look carefully at the
38:22
Speaker 1: list of things. With him are strength and sound wisdom.
38:25
Speaker 1: The misled and the misleader belong to him. He makes
38:29
Speaker 1: counselors walk barefoot, makes fools of judges. Who's in charge here?
38:34
Speaker 1: It's the living God. He loosens the bond of kings
38:37
Speaker 1: and binds their loins. He makes priests walk barefoot. He
38:40
Speaker 1: likes that word picture. And overthrows the secure ones. He
38:44
Speaker 1: deprives the trusted ones of speech. And takes away the
38:48
Speaker 1: discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on nobles and
38:51
Speaker 1: loosens the belt of the strong. He reveals mysteries from
38:55
Speaker 1: the darkness and brings the deep darkness into light. It
38:59
Speaker 1: is God. It is the inscrutable almighty God who is
39:03
Speaker 1: in charge of such things. Don't you think I know that?
39:07
Speaker 1: What a creative way to say it. The God I
39:10
Speaker 1: serve takes delight in undoing human doings and in dismantling
39:15
Speaker 1: human enterprises, in executing his miraculous undertakings. He alone is
39:22
Speaker 1: in full control. Daniel wrote, all the inhabitants of the
39:25
Speaker 1: earth are as nothing. He does according to his will
39:28
Speaker 1: in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants. of
39:30
Speaker 1: the earth. No one can say unto him, what are
39:33
Speaker 1: you doing? Daniel 4.35. Job says, that's the one before
39:40
Speaker 1: whom I bow. And Job implies, I'm not sure you've
39:44
Speaker 1: ever met him.
39:46
Speaker 2: Don't bully me.
39:49
Speaker 1: While I cannot answer why I'm suffering like this, I
39:52
Speaker 1: can tell you, somehow and in some way, the God
39:56
Speaker 1: of heaven, the silent God, the one who seems to
39:59
Speaker 1: be the absent God from my setting right now, is
40:03
Speaker 1: still in control. You think I'm a hollow-headed dummy? Verse 1,
40:09
Speaker 1: chapter 13, my eye has seen all of this, my
40:12
Speaker 1: ear has heard and understood it. What you know, I
40:15
Speaker 1: also know. I am not inferior to you, I repeat.
40:26
Speaker 1: Matter of fact, you are of no help to me.
40:30
Speaker 1: But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire
40:32
Speaker 1: to argue with God. But you smear with lies. Look
40:35
Speaker 1: at his diagnosis. You are all worthless, or his prognosis.
40:40
Speaker 1: You are all worthless physicians. I'd say that pretty well
40:45
Speaker 1: puts it on the line right there. Look, oh, that
40:48
Speaker 1: you would be completely silent, that it would become your wisdom.
40:57
Speaker 1: Turn to Proverbs 17. 1727. Just hold your place here
41:03
Speaker 1: and look at Proverbs. Job, Psalms, Proverbs. There it is.
41:08
Speaker 2: 1727.
41:10
Speaker 1: I want you to see the wisdom of keeping your
41:14
Speaker 1: mouths closed. This is a great verse. 1727. He who
41:21
Speaker 1: restrains his words has knowledge. He who has a cool spirit.
41:25
Speaker 2: Isn't that great?
41:27
Speaker 1: He who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
41:30
Speaker 1: Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise. See,
41:34
Speaker 1: why take away the question? If you open your mouth,
41:37
Speaker 1: they'll know. If you don't ever open your mouth, they'll
41:41
Speaker 1: think you're wise. When he closes his lips, he's considered prudent.
41:44
Speaker 1: There you have it. That's what Job is getting at.
41:48
Speaker 1: Would to God that you would just stay silent. If
41:52
Speaker 1: you would just come to sympathize and if you would
41:54
Speaker 1: just come to comfort, then your silence would have conveyed
41:58
Speaker 1: all of that and more. But you open your mouths
42:02
Speaker 1: and you are such fools, though you speak as though
42:05
Speaker 1: you were wise. You're worthless physicians. Look at the indictment
42:11
Speaker 1: of verse 9. Will it be well when he examines you?
42:15
Speaker 1: Great question. Verse 13, be silent before me so that
42:20
Speaker 1: I may speak. Then let come on me what may.
42:25
Speaker 1: Though he slay me, verse 15, I will hope in him. 17,
42:31
Speaker 1: listen carefully to my speech. Let my declaration fill your ears. Behold,
42:35
Speaker 1: now I have prepared my case. I know that I
42:37
Speaker 1: will be vindicated. Who will contend with me? For then
42:43
Speaker 1: I would be silent and die. With that, he closes
42:47
Speaker 1: his comments to the men. And he opens his words
42:50
Speaker 1: to the God he loves at this point, the one
42:55
Speaker 1: he wishes he would get an audience with. Don't remove
42:59
Speaker 1: your hand from me and don't let the dread of
43:01
Speaker 1: you terrify me. Verse 23, how many are my iniquities
43:05
Speaker 1: and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin.
43:08
Speaker 1: Just reveal it, Lord. Just show me, whatever it may be.
43:14
Speaker 1: Then he describes life in verse 1 of chapter 14.
43:19
Speaker 1: Man who's born of a woman is short-lived and full
43:21
Speaker 1: of turmoil. The Living Bible says how frail is man,
43:24
Speaker 1: how few his years, how full of trouble.
43:28
Speaker 2: Isn't that a.
43:30
Speaker 1: Good commentary on life? How frail, how few, and.
43:38
Speaker 2: How full of trouble.
43:42
Speaker 1: He describes himself with three-word pictures. Like a flower, verse 2,
43:47
Speaker 1: like a shadow, Verse 2, like a hired man. Verse 6,
43:56
Speaker 1: man is frail like a flower. Man is fleeting like
44:00
Speaker 1: a shadow. We humans are full of trouble like a
44:06
Speaker 1: hired man. This is a vulnerable man. This is a
44:10
Speaker 1: hurting man. Now he really searches for An issue that
44:20
Speaker 1: plagues every person with a terminal illness. Job doesn't see
44:26
Speaker 1: himself getting better. And so he now deals with life beyond.
44:34
Speaker 1: He says in verse 7, don't let your mind wander here.
44:38
Speaker 1: Track this. There is hope for a tree when it's
44:41
Speaker 1: cut down that it will sprout again. Its roots will
44:45
Speaker 1: not fail. Though its roots grow old in the ground,
44:48
Speaker 1: its stump dies in the dry soil. At the scent
44:50
Speaker 1: of water, it will flourish and put forth springs like
44:54
Speaker 1: a plant. That's why when you clear a field, the
44:57
Speaker 1: old seasoned woodsman will say, pull them out with a stump.
45:02
Speaker 1: Don't leave the stump. You leave a stump, as soon
45:05
Speaker 1: as rain comes, the green sprouts. The tree will come back.
45:09
Speaker 1: The shrub will come back. That's the way it is
45:11
Speaker 1: with a plant, with a tree. Verse 10, but man,
45:19
Speaker 1: man dies and lies prostrate.
45:21
Speaker 2: Man expires.
45:23
Speaker 1: And where is he?
45:25
Speaker 2: Job's questioning life beyond.
45:28
Speaker 1: As water evaporates from the sea and a river becomes
45:30
Speaker 1: parched and dried up, so man lies down and does
45:35
Speaker 1: not rise. He mentions he rises later on, but understand something.
45:42
Speaker 1: This is an ancient book. Now, stay with this. This
45:46
Speaker 1: is an ancient book written in probably the patriarchal era
45:50
Speaker 1: when very little progress of Revelation had run its course.
45:53
Speaker 1: Job knows very little about the doctrine of resurrection, and
45:57
Speaker 1: it's recorded here exactly as he thought. That doesn't mean
46:01
Speaker 1: that's all there is to the subject, for we have
46:03
Speaker 1: a whole Bible full of further truth. The progress of
46:06
Speaker 1: Revelation has revealed more and more so that today we
46:09
Speaker 1: can pretty well describe what happens at death, immediately after
46:15
Speaker 1: death and beyond, even the destinies of heaven and hell.
46:22
Speaker 1: Job has a question mark and he says, a man dies,
46:27
Speaker 1: he lies down and he doesn't rise. Verse 14, unlike
46:32
Speaker 1: a tree, if a man dies, will he live again?
46:37
Speaker 1: All the days of my struggle, I will wait until
46:38
Speaker 1: my change comes. Then the chapter ends in sort of
46:45
Speaker 1: a depressed whimper. The message renders it. Meanwhile, mountains wear
46:50
Speaker 1: down and boulders break up. Stones wear smooth and soil erodes.
46:55
Speaker 1: As you relentlessly grind down our hope, you're too much
46:58
Speaker 1: for us, oh God. As always, you get the last word.
47:02
Speaker 1: We don't like it. Our faces show it, but you
47:04
Speaker 1: send us off anyway. If our children do well for themselves,
47:07
Speaker 1: we never know it. If they do badly... We're spared
47:10
Speaker 1: the hurt, body and soul. That's it for us.
47:12
Speaker 2: A lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow. End of
47:15
Speaker 2: Job's response.
47:18
Speaker 1: We know now that when one dies, we live on.
47:22
Speaker 1: Jesus himself taught, I'm the resurrection and the life. He
47:26
Speaker 1: that believes in me, even though he may die on
47:28
Speaker 1: this earth, yet shall he continue to live. He that
47:31
Speaker 1: lives and believes in me shall never die. In fact,
47:33
Speaker 1: we all have eternal life. We all have eternal life.
47:40
Speaker 1: But the destinies are different. Some will spend eternity with
47:44
Speaker 1: God in heaven. Some will spend eternity without God in hell.
47:49
Speaker 1: Those are the only two alternatives. And he says more
47:55
Speaker 1: about hell than about heaven.
47:58
Speaker 2: In the scriptures. Sobering.
48:02
Speaker 1: Yes, Job, when we die, we live again.
48:05
Speaker 2: In fact, we live on.
48:08
Speaker 1: It's always a challenge to know how to wrap up
48:09
Speaker 1: a message that is this broad. You've been very patient
48:13
Speaker 1: to sit through this and to listen to these comments.
48:20
Speaker 1: Let me close with three questions, all three from the text.
48:25
Speaker 1: Three questions. One has to do with depth. One has
48:30
Speaker 1: to do with discovery. One has to do with destiny. Depth.
48:37
Speaker 1: Job 11, 7. Are you seeking to know the depths
48:41
Speaker 1: of God or are you just skimming the surface? You've
48:47
Speaker 1: got to answer. I am so busy answering for Chuck Swindoll,
48:52
Speaker 1: I can't answer for another person here. I do not
48:55
Speaker 1: know you well enough to know. And we're all good
48:58
Speaker 1: at faking it so we can look like we're going
49:00
Speaker 1: to the deep things when in fact we're just skating.
49:04
Speaker 1: So you answer. Are you seeking to know the depths
49:10
Speaker 1: of God or are you just skimming the surface? Just
49:14
Speaker 1: going to religious meetings just reading religious books learning religious
49:21
Speaker 1: language I'm finishing Larry Crabb's fine latest book titled The
49:30
Speaker 1: Pressure's Off.
49:32
Speaker 2: Where he writes.
49:35
Speaker 1: As a culture present day Christianity has redefined spiritual maturity
49:41
Speaker 1: The reformers knew we were saved to glorify God. We
49:45
Speaker 1: moderns live to be blessed. The mature among us are
49:53
Speaker 1: now thought to be the successful, the happy, the effective
49:57
Speaker 1: people on top of things and doing well. We're more
50:01
Speaker 1: attracted to sermons and books and conferences that reveal the
50:07
Speaker 1: secrets to fulfillment than to spiritual direction that leads us
50:11
Speaker 1: through affliction into the presence of the Father. We seem
50:18
Speaker 1: more interested in managing life into a comfortable existence than
50:22
Speaker 1: in letting God spiritually transform us through life's hardships.
50:29
Speaker 2: Wow. That cuts to the quick, doesn't it?
50:37
Speaker 1: Don't run from the hardships. Don't seek a friend who
50:41
Speaker 1: will help you get out from under it quickly.
50:44
Speaker 2: Stay there. Stay in it.
50:48
Speaker 1: He'll get you through it. But he'll take you through it.
50:52
Speaker 1: Friends will try to get you out of it. Because
50:56
Speaker 1: after all, we want to be blessed.
51:02
Speaker 2: He'll bless us.
51:04
Speaker 1: For going through it. Are you seeking to know the
51:08
Speaker 1: depths of God, or are you just skimming the surface?
51:14
Speaker 2: 13.9.
51:16
Speaker 1: Will it be well when God examines your life, or
51:20
Speaker 1: will it be a disappointing discovery? I can't speak for
51:27
Speaker 1: you because I don't know. But I do know that
51:31
Speaker 1: we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,
51:33
Speaker 1: that each one of us may give account of the
51:35
Speaker 1: things done in his body, whether they were good or evil,
51:39
Speaker 1: even whether the motive was right.
51:42
Speaker 2: Or wicked.
51:43
Speaker 1: We'll give an account. Is that going to be a
51:48
Speaker 1: disappointing discovery or will it be well with you? Probing,
51:58
Speaker 1: isn't it?
51:59
Speaker 2: Haunting.
52:03
Speaker 1: You anticipate already the last one, 14.14, when you die,
52:12
Speaker 1: where will you live again? With him or away from
52:17
Speaker 1: his presence forever? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ
52:23
Speaker 1: at the time you die, you will spend forever in
52:26
Speaker 1: the presence of the Father in what is called heaven.
52:33
Speaker 1: The bliss and the rewards of glory with him they
52:38
Speaker 1: are beyond our imagination. Or if you in this life
52:42
Speaker 1: choose not to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your
52:46
Speaker 1: substitute for sin and placing your full confidence and trust
52:50
Speaker 1: in him for forgiveness and eternal life, at your death
52:54
Speaker 1: you are in hell forever. There is no purgatory. There's
52:59
Speaker 1: no praying out of that place where you are temporarily
53:03
Speaker 1: for a while. until enough people pay enough money or
53:06
Speaker 1: say enough prayers to get you out. You're a goner.
53:11
Speaker 2: Sobering, isn't it?
53:15
Speaker 1: C.S. Lewis wrote, There's no doctrine which I would more
53:18
Speaker 1: willingly remove from Christianity than the doctrine of hell, if
53:24
Speaker 1: it lay in my power. But it has the full
53:28
Speaker 1: support of Scripture and especially of our Lord's own words.
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Speaker 1: It has always been held by the Christian church and
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Speaker 1: it has the support of reason.
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Speaker 2: C.S. Lewis was no intellectual pushover.
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Speaker 1: Believe the Bible. Your destiny is determined when you're alive,
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Speaker 1: not after you die.
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Speaker 2: Let's bow together.
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Speaker 1: I invite any one of you who has not, up
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Speaker 1: until this time, given your heart to Christ to do
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Speaker 1: so now.
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Speaker 2: The key word is now.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 1: You're surrounded by those who have been so persuaded and
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Speaker 1: they would tell you without hesitation that they have never
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Speaker 1: regretted the decision. You will never know peace will never
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Speaker 1: know real strength when hardship becomes unbearable like you can
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Speaker 1: know it in Christ.
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Speaker 2: Come today. Believe now.
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Speaker 1: Our Father, we thank you for the searching truths of
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Speaker 1: your word, for what seems to the passerby as philosophical meanderings,
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Speaker 1: what we have here are dialogues of destiny. Truths to
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Speaker 1: live by. Insights that prepare us for now and for eternity.
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Speaker 1: We are frail. Our years are few and full of trouble.
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Speaker 1: They proliferate, it seems. Thank you for not leaving us
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Speaker 1: when those problems surround us and we feel as though
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Speaker 1: they are Drowning us. Thank you for staying near. I
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Speaker 1: pray for those who have never trusted the Lord Jesus.
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Speaker 1: That you will bring them this very day.
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Speaker 2: To the cross.
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Speaker 3: That they might know him. And have the assurance of heaven.
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Speaker 3: And we all might be able to say. It is
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Speaker 3: well with my soul. In Jesus' name, everyone said, Amen.
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Speaker 4: In the preceding message, Charles R.
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Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 4: Is grateful to the following sources for permission to quote
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Speaker 4: from their materials. Cook Communications Ministries for excerpts from the
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Speaker 4: book Be Patient, Waiting on God in Difficult Times, copyrighted
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Speaker 4: in 1991 by Warren Wiersbe.
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Speaker 2: The C.S.
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Speaker 4: Lewis Company, for excerpts from the book The Problem of Pain,
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Speaker 4: copyrighted by C.S. Lewis in 1940. And Waterbrook Press, for
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Speaker 4: excerpts from the book The Pressure's Off, copyrighted in 2002
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Speaker 4: by Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr.