Alright, let's look back at Job
chapter 5. We are in the last words of the
counsel of a man, a friend of Job, a man named Eliphaz the
Temanite. As I said when we started this
back in chapter 4, he was the first one to give counsel to
Job. Job in his lowest state. this man of God, Job, this sinner
saved by the grace of God, who is under the chastisement of
the Lord. And here his three friends come
upon him, and this first one they lie fast, probably the oldest
one, probably known to be the wisest one. In these last verses,
he continues to exhort and try to comfort and encourage this
man who is suffering, this man Job, who is suffering. And Eliphaz,
his counsel to Job was to repent. And that's not a bad counsel
for any of us at any time. For we who have been brought
to repentance by the grace of God in Christ, we must see and
recognize and promote and cultivate that spirit of humility and repentance
and submission every day by getting ourselves in the Word of God
and knowing our frame and knowing that at any moment, whether we're
suffering or whether we're prospering, sick or healthy, that if God
were to mark iniquities, none of us would stand. And that's
a continual repentance. We've got to cultivate through
the Word of God, and we know this is all of God. None of this
is by the power or goodness of man. You know that. If God has
brought you to a saving knowledge of Himself and of yourself and
of Christ, you know that this is not in your power to do it,
but it's by the power of God. But we've got to cultivate through
the Word of God A godly sorrow over sin. Not looking as Eliphaz
is counseling Job here for some particular sin. There may be
particular sins that we have to deal with. I'm not saying
that that doesn't happen. It does. There may be particular
problems in our individual lives that we have to deal with and
pray about and seek God's grace and mercy. But we have to be
in a continual state of a broken and contrite heart, not to bring
us to despair, as O'Bunyan said, not to wallow in the slew of
despond, but to continually show us the value of and our need
of Christ. And how much, where would we
be without the grace of God in Christ? We might appear to be
fine to the world and even to ourselves, but we wouldn't be.
So Eliphaz counsels the suffering Job. Repent and submit to God. That's not bad counsel, but Eliphaz
is delivering these truths in a way that is really self-righteous
and ungodly. You see, Eliphaz is saying to
Job, Job, once you confess your sin, and once God punishes you
enough for it, then God's going to restore you. And I want to
tell you something. I've thought about this a lot.
You know, whatever punishment we go through, or whatever chastisement
we go through, and you understand now, chastisement is not punishment
in the way of payment for sin. But whatever we go through in
this life in the way of suffering and trial and punishment and
chastisement, it would never be enough to pay for our sins. Our collective suffering, some
of you have suffered much more than I have. Our collective suffering would
not be enough to pay the penalty the redemption price of one sin. And the proof of that is that
in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. If you and I could pay for our sins through our suffering
and our punishment and our chastisement, Christ would not have had to
have come into this world. So, and that's how Eliphaz, this
is how he frames the whole argument. His whole counsel, it's a paradigm
of self-righteousness in which he speaks a lot of truth. But
it's like a dagger to the heart, to the suffering sinner, to the
suffering Job. And Eliphaz, he believes this,
he believes that we always sow what we reap. Now ultimately, we're going to
sow what we reap. That's why we as sinners saved
by grace must sow grace. Sow grace and reap grace. But
I'll tell you something, you know, especially some of you
all who've been around a while, you know we don't always reap
what we sow, do we? It doesn't always happen. But
now Christ in our place, in our stead, reaped the full brunt
of what we sowed in Adam and in ourselves. He died for our
sin. Now Eliphaz is, and like I said
now, it's ultimately always true, we're going to reap what we sow,
but not always in this life. But the reason, Eliphaz is saying,
Job, the reason you suffer is because of sin, and the reason
I'm not suffering now is because of my righteousness. That's self-righteousness. His advice, Eliphaz, his advice
would cause a sinner to look within himself to find a reason
for blessing. and not look to Christ alone
for the only reason for blessing. And when we look within, I'll
tell you something, what do we see? Sin and condemnation. But when we look to Christ, what
do we see? Peace and comfort and salvation. That's why Paul wrote in Hebrews
12, the way to run the race of grace is looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. But let's look at
these verses. First of all, verse 17 through
20 here. What he's showing here, he expresses
the blessing of chastisement. And I want to tell you something,
there is blessing in chastisement. Listen to this. Verse 17, behold,
he says, happy is the man. That's the title of this message,
happy is the man. I started to put it, happy is
the man, dot, dot, dot. That ellipsis. Because, you know,
whenever somebody stood up in the general population of this
world and said, now my sermon or my message or my speech is
like this, happy is the man. What are they going to think
is coming? Happy is the man who's healthy. Happy is the man who's
famous. Happy is the man who's rich. All kinds of things. That's not what It's said here,
that's not what Eliphaz says. He knows, happy is the man whom
God correcteth. What? Correction? Well we don't,
now listen, by nature we don't take correction very well. Do
we? Don't take it well at all. But
he says, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Happy is the
man. He says, therefore despise not thou the chastening That
is the correction of the Almighty. Now that's a very often quoted
scripture. The psalmist quotes it. In Psalm
94 and verse 12, listen to this. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest. Talking about God chastening
his children. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law. You see,
chastening is correction for instruction. Chastening is correction
that's meant to build up, not to tear down and destroy. The
wise man, Solomon, in Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 11, listen
to this, he said, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord,
neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth. Think
about this now. Happy is the man whom the Lord
corrected. How can you see that and be happy?
He says, whom the Lord correcteth, whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth,
even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. And if you want
to learn about chastisement, the best place to go in the scripture
that gives the fullest explanation of it is Hebrews chapter 12.
Turn over there just a moment. Hebrews chapter 12. You can find
other places where you can learn the reality of chastisement.
But Hebrews chapter 12, I believe, is one of the most comprehensive
and fullest explanations that God gives us in His Word. And He's just been talking about
people of the past, men and women of the past who had suffered
greatly for the glory of God in Christ, for their witness
in this world. And He calls them a great cloud
of witnesses. And he says, now the only way
to run this race is by the grace of God looking unto Christ, Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, Christ who suffered such
contradiction from men, from sinners, against himself. But he did not quit because of
the joy that was set before him. But he tells these believers
here, He says in verse 4, you've not yet resisted unto blood striving
against sin. When you strive in your struggles
in this world and against the enemies of Christ, you've not
been murdered yet. They've not killed you. You've
not resisted unto blood. That's what that means. He just
talked about people who died for the faith. You know, we get
out of kilter just because somebody that we think highly of frowns
on us. Don't we? And if we don't want to stand
against them, at least we'll say, well, just shut up about
that. Don't say anything about that. That's the way we do it.
I do it. We all do it. That's our natural reaction.
But he says here in verse 5, and you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children, children of God now.
This is an exhortation for the children of God. My son, despise
not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art
rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chastens." Chastisement is an evidence that God loves us. You know the worst thing that
God can do for any sinner is to leave him alone? Leave him
to himself? You ever met a family who has
children that have been left alone, left to themselves without
correction? You can't hardly stand to be
around them, can you? Because that human nature comes up. And
then he says, "...and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."
Chastisement is an evidence that we're sons, children of God,
and that he receives us in Christ. And then he says in verse 7,
"...if you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons." That's how God treats his children. For what son is
he whom the Father chasteneth not? Verse 8. But if you be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers. This is part of our
fellowship. We all are chastised in one way
or another at different times. He says, but if you be without
it, then are you bastards and not sons, illegitimate children?
Verse 9. Furthermore, we've had fathers
of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence,
respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father
of spirits and live? If we respect our earthly fathers
who corrected us because they loved us, how much more should
we respect and regard and follow our Heavenly Father who's never
wrong and who never chastises his children in anger, but always
in perfect love in Christ. Verse 10, for they, that is these
earthly fathers, verily for a few days chastened, chastened us
after their own pleasure, that is, and that doesn't mean they
took pleasure in the whippings or anything like that, it means
that when they were satisfied that the lesson was taught, he
says, but he for our prophet that we might be partakers of
his holiness, that we might be in fellowship with him who is
holy, And so he says, now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous. Now what that teaches you, that
when he says back here in verse 17, happy is the man, that doesn't
mean that we're fools. It doesn't mean that we're fake.
Now go back and read Job chapter 3. You don't have to do that
now. I'm just referring to it. But
Job chapter 3. Remember that was Job's first
lament. Would you characterize Job as
a happy man? Reading Job chapter... I wished
I'd never been born. I wished I'd been killed at birth.
I wish God just take me out of this world now. That was his
three requests. Does that sound like a happy man to you? No. But he is a happy man. Happy
in Christ. But this is what he's saying,
verse 11 of Hebrews 12. Now, no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous. When you're going through it,
it's not a happy time for you. And if you think it is, there's
something wrong. Now, he says, but grievous. It's
a weight. It's grievous. Nevertheless,
now here's the happiness. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness, the fruit of God's grace in Christ. through whose righteousness we
stand justified and have life unto them which are exercised
thereby." Isn't that something? Go back to Job 5 now. So these
are good words. Listen to what he says here in
verse 18. Here's the happiness. Now what
Eliphaz is saying is true. It's good counsel as far as the
truth of the words, but the way he applies them is wrong. What
Eliphaz is implying here is that everything he's going to describe
here in this chastening is true here on earth, either based upon
your sinfulness or your goodness. And that's a lie. That's self-righteousness. That's a false gospel because
it just doesn't happen like that. But here's what he says. Now,
listen to it. Let's apply it to a believer's life in Christ.
And listen where the happiness is. He says in verse 18, for
he, that is God, maketh sore. He makes us hurt, but he binds
us up. He bindeth up. He never, he never
makes sore just to leave you sore. That's what he's saying. He woundeth, but and his hands
make whole. He's the great physician. I think
about conviction here. When the Holy Spirit brings us
to conviction of sin and shows us our depravity and our wretchedness,
He doesn't leave us there, does He? He binds up the brokenhearted. He sets the captive free. He
heals the sick. Christ is the great physician.
He heals the sick. He gives the blind eyes to see. He gives the deaf ears to hear.
He makes the lame walk. He gives those who have no righteousness
a righteousness of everlasting infinite value whereby they can
stand before a holy God permanently and unchangeably throughout eternity
in Christ. Verse 19, he shall deliver thee
in six troubles, yea, and seven there shall no evil touch thee.
That's a Hebrew way of stating an emphasis. You know, some people
think, well, he says, he shall deliver thee in six troubles.
Well, I forgot that seventh one now. No, that's not the way.
It's just a Hebrew way of stating things for emphasis. And what
he's saying here is that every trouble that we get ourselves
into, God is going to get us out of in Christ. And he says,
and no evil shall touch thee. Now think about Job. In this
life, Job's earthly life, who was it that God allowed to touch
him? Satan. But now Eliphaz says,
well, no evil will touch thee, Job, in this life, if you get
rid of that sin, if you remove that blockage. See, that's a
lie. That's not true. God, listen,
God uses Satan as an instrument of chastisement many times. You
remember, he spoke, I think it's the fellow in Corinth who was
committing incest, and they said to exclude him from the church
that Satan may buffet him, buffet his body, that he may learn,
you see. So Job was being touched by evil,
but here's the thing, eternally, spiritually, in Christ, no evil
will ever touch a child of God. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Look at verse 20. In famine he
shall redeem thee from death. Anytime I see that word redeem,
I think of our redemption in Christ. He says, "...in war from
the power of the hands of the sword." Now, in this life, many of God's
children were killed by the sword, martyred for the faith. Paul
had his head cut off. But when it comes to our standing
in our state eternally in Christ, The power of the sword cannot
touch us. Even the sword of God's justice cannot touch us because
it came down upon our Savior, upon our Redeemer. Isn't that
the way it is? He says in verse 21, look here,
here's the second thing. Now there's the blessing of chastisement. That blessing ultimately is what
brings a sinner to the security. and the safety of Christ. Here's
the second thing. Here's the security of chastisement. Look
at verse 21. He says, and again now, look
at these things. They're not always true in this
life, but they're always true for a justified sinner, a safe
sinner in Christ. And he says, Thou shalt be hid
from the scourge of the tongue, And of course we know when the
tongues wag, that's the accusations, that's the rumor mill, that's
the destruction of our character. But again, you know, what does
the Lord say in Christ? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Actually, Eliphaz, this is kind
of ironic here, because Eliphaz is really scourging Job with
his tongue. But he's doing it in such a way,
saying, Job, you deserve it. You're a sinner. We've got to
find out what that sin is and get rid of it. Now, me, I'm not.
Not at the moment, anyway. So, you see, that's the self-righteousness
that comes through here. But he says in verse 20, Thou
shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue. Neither shalt
thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. Job was afraid
at this point in time. He didn't know what was going
to happen next. He lost his family, lost his home, and he's losing
himself, his health. But my friend, his hope eternally,
spiritually, is in Christ. There is therefore now no destruction,
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Verse 22,
at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh. Job wasn't laughing
now. But see, life has this saying,
well, if you're a good little boy, Job, you won't have to worry
about things like that and you'll see it and you'll just laugh.
No. But you know what? Our happiness
in Christ can never fade because of Him. We may lose sight of
it, David did for one point of his life. He's had to pray unto
God in his repentance, restoring to me the joy of thy salvation.
We may lose sight of it, but he never does. He says, neither
shalt thou be afraid of the beast of the earth. You won't have
to be worried about the lions and the bears and the tigers.
That's what he's saying. Verse 23, look here. He says,
for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the fields, and
the beasts of the fields shall be at peace with thee. That's
nature. You won't have to be the stones of the fields. It's
like he's saying, you won't have to be worried about natural disasters
like earthquakes and floods and wild beasts. You won't have to
worry about that. You know what Eliphaz is preaching here in
his own self-righteous way is a health and wealth gospel, isn't
it? You do what you're supposed to
do and everything will be right. You'll prosper. That is a false
gospel. And it's not true. Job is proof
of it, but we know it already from God's Word. But when it comes to the standing
and the state of God's people in Christ, everything that is
described here is perfection. Isn't that right? In Christ.
in him because of what he accomplished on Calvary. And then verse 24, he says, and
thou shalt know that thy tabernacle, that's where you dwell, that's
his house, his household. He's saying, Job, you'll know
then that your household shall be at peace. And he says, and
thou shalt visit thy habitation, your house, and shalt not sin. And that literally means, that
literally means you won't find anything missing. I don't even think of life as
saying you'll never be a sinner. I don't know. I can't climb into
his mind. I'm not going to try to. But
literally, what that means is your household will be fine,
be at peace, your family and your home, you'll visit your
home and you'll inspect your goods and you won't find anything
missing. Well, it's just not true in this line. That's a lie. But in Christ it's true. You'll be at peace in your home. Talking about your eternal home. Always peace with Him. He's the
Prince of Peace. And when you inspect your blessings
and your goods in Christ, you'll find there's not one thing missing. If we have Him, we have it all.
We haven't even seen it all yet, have we? But I know this, in
Christ we have it all and we can lose nothing. In Christ. In Christ I have all wisdom,
all righteousness, all holiness and all redemption. Now look
at verse 25. Now here is the end or the goal
of chastisement. We've seen the blessing of chastisement,
the security of chastisement. Here's the goal of chastisement
right here. Look at verse 25. He says, thou
shalt know also that thy seed shall be great. That's his children.
Now, that's another slap in the face of Job. He'd lost his children,
all of them. And he says, thy seed shall be
great. They shall be numerous or there'll
be many. And thine offspring is the grass
of the earth. Now, obviously, that's not true
in this life in every case. Some of you have lost children.
Job lost all his children. But I'll tell you what, it's
true for believers ultimately. First of all, consider Job as
a type of Christ through whose sufferings unto death brought
forth his seed and his offering. He shall see of his seed and
be satisfied. That's what is said of Christ.
But look at verse 26. Here's the goal of chastisement.
He said, "...thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like
as a shock of corn..." An uprising of corn is what that means. It
means corn growing. The full years of corn. And he
said, "...like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." Now
again, the way Eliphaz is applying this, it's just not true always
in this life. But I want you to look at this
as it is fulfilled in Christ. Actually, what he's talking about
is death here. Eliphaz is saying, Job, if you
were good enough, if you were obedient enough, you'll die a
good death. And because you've got this unconfessed
sin in your life, this problem that you won't take care of or
haven't taken care of yet by your works, then you won't die
a good death. Well, in this life, sometimes
God's children die peaceful deaths. Isn't that right? Sometimes they
do. I can think of one man in Scripture, a man named Simeon.
held the Christ child in his arms, lifted him up, and he said,
he said, now let us there thy servant depart, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. He died a peaceful death. I can think of one who died a
violent death. His name was Stephen, stood and
preached the gospel of God's grace in Christ to a crowd of
self-righteous, uncircumcised Pharisees. And they picked up
rocks and stoned him. You know, you ever thought of
what it's like to be stoned? And it wasn't gravel. They picked
up big rocks and beat your body. That was how Stephen died. That
wasn't a good death in the sense of how he died. It was a good
death because you remember he looked up, saw the Lord. He said,
lay it not to their charge. Boy, talk about grace. But, so it's not always true
for belief, but in Christ, this is always true. This is the ultimate
goal of all chastisement, to bring us to leave this earth,
dying in the Lord, and coming to our eternal home in Christ.
Listen to what he says, he says, Thou shalt come to thy grave.
Death is certain. To everything there is a season
and a time, to every purpose under heaven, a time to be born
and a time to die. Hebrews 9, 27, as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. We all have
a life to live, a death to die, a judgment to face, and eternity
to spend. How are we going to live it?
How are we going to die? How are we going to come to judgment?
How are we going to spend eternity? There's only one way that this
could be ultimately true of me and you. And that is to live
in Christ, die in Christ, be judged in Christ, and spend eternity
with Christ. No other way. It's certain. Death is the result of sin. And
the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Secondly, death to a believer,
the sinner saved by God's grace in Christ, the one washed in
the blood of Christ and clothed in his righteousness imputed,
it's an acceptable death. Look what he says, thou shalt
come to thy grave. The word here indicates an arrival
at an expected and anticipated destination. It's acceptable to God because
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
It's acceptable to God because of the death of his Son, for
as in Adam all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. You
see, a saved sinner's acceptance before God is not based on his
works, like Eliphaz is saying here, but on the fact that he's
accepted in the Beloved, redeemed by the blood of Christ, washed
in his blood. clothed in His righteousness,
entitled to the whole inheritance of grace and glory for one reason,
Christ and Him crucified. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And it's an acceptable death
because the one who dies, dies in the Lord. That's what the
scripture says. It's an acceptable death to the
believer because it's a passage. It's not an end in and of itself.
Paul said it this way, for me to live is Christ, to die is
gain. What do we gain? Eternal bliss
of heaven. Perfection in him. He said to
be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's
a passage. It's acceptable to the believer
because it's a time of satisfaction. David said it this way in Psalm
17 and verse 15. He said, As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
in thy likeness. And then thirdly, this death
is a timely death. Look here, he says in verse 26,
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age. Now some believers
are called home to the Lord in their youth. You can think of
Abel, for example. Some are called in old age. But
it doesn't say here, thou shalt come to thy grave in an old age,
does it? It says thou shalt come to thy
grave in a full age. Now what is a full age? It's whatever time God is pleased
to call you home. That's the full age. In the fullness
of the time, that's the fullness of the time. You see, the Lord
knew this very, very well. He knew His appointed time, when
He must die, when He would have to die and be buried and raised
again for the salvation of His people. He knew that He had to
die for our sins. He knew that He had to establish
righteousness in order for God to be just to justify the ungodly. He knew that that justice must
be satisfied in order for that righteousness to be established.
And He told His disciples, the hour has come and the Son of
Man must be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
accept a corn of wheat A seed of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it will bring
forth much fruit. And he died in a full age. That much fruit is all for whom
he died. He's the first fruits of the
harvest. And then this tells us that the believer's death
is death with honor. Look here, verse 26. Thou shalt
come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh
in his season. In other words, it's like a harvest.
That's a good thing. That's what he's saying. Like
corn that is fully grown and ready to be picked. It's a testimony
to the grace and power of God. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? There is no sting of death. Why? Because sin's been removed. Christ
was made sin. He who knew no sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So though we die
in this flesh, we'll live forever in him. Now it's a sad departure for
us. Job was sad that he lost his children. But for those who
die in the Lord, it's a glorious rejoicing in heaven. And then look at the last verse.
Now here's what Eliphaz concludes with. He says, He says, lo, or
look, or notice this. We have searched it. And that's
the way it is. So it is. Now Eliphaz is saying,
this is what I searched out and I know to be true. And that's
the way it is, Job. It's almost like he's saying,
now Job, don't you argue with me. I know what I'm talking about. Well, Job does argue with him.
We're going to see that in chapter 6 and 7. He argues with all of
them. Rightly so. Now, he doesn't always use the
right arguments. Neither do we. Sometimes in my
attempts to even witness, I might not use the right arguments.
But you see, Eliphaz is wrong. His searching was not a searching
led by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. And even though
he come up with a lot of truth, and the natural man can do that
now, he didn't know the truth. He says, lo this, we've searched
it, so it is, hear it, and know thou it is for thy good. Well, what Eliphaz is saying,
and the way he's saying it, was not for Job's good. If Job had
bought, if he had bought into Eliphaz's system of truth, He
would have been just as... He would have been like the Pharisees.
You know, Christ said, you reach out to overseeing land, trying
to gain one convert, and what you do is you make them two-fold
more the child of hell than you are. You just make other little
Pharisees. That's what Eliphaz would have
done. But listen. Proverbs 25 and verse 2 says,
It's the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings
is to search out a matter. And so when we consider the happiness
of man, happy is the man, happy is the man who has the blessing
of chastisement, happy is the man who has the security of chastisement,
happy is the man who reaches the goal of chastisement, all
by the grace of God. We can say this too, happy is
the man that searches these things out as he's led by the Spirit. and finds truth in God's Word
as it is in Christ. That's so. Because if you find
that you're searching these things out to the point that you find
the truth, you're going to know that it's God who sought you
out first and brought you to look in the right place Not in
yourself, but in His Word. You look in yourself, what are
you going to find? A heart's deceitful, desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Search these things out, but
search them out in God's Word. Don't search them out even in
the head of a preacher. He may guide you in the right
way, but ultimately the right way is going to be God's way
in the Word. And any preacher who tells you,
whether his name is Eli Faz or whoever, Bill Parker or whoever,
who tells you, well, I've searched it out, don't argue with me,
that's the way it is, don't listen to him. I don't care how much
you love him or respect him, don't listen to him. You search
him out in the Word of God. In the Word of God. Alright. Let's sing as our closing