Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Job chapter 5. Job chapter 5. I've entitled the message this
evening, Committing Our Calls to God. Committing Our Calls
to God. Now I read in Proverbs chapter
3, And verse 5, a very familiar verse, it says there, trust in
the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Now tonight we're going to hear
as the Holy Spirit has inspired these words to be written down,
but we're going to hear from a man, a man named Eliphaz, one
of Job's friends, he's continuing his his advice, what he thinks
is his encouragement to the suffering Job. We're going to hear from
this man who is actually leaning unto his own understanding rather
than trusting in the Lord. That's the problem with Job's
three miserable comforter friends. They lean to their own understanding. And Eliphaz, he's continuing
here, beginning in verse 1 of chapter 5, and he's seeking to
prove his premise, his basic statement that underlies everything
that he's saying to Job. And here's the way it goes, that
only wicked people are afflicted of God, especially to the degree
that Job has been afflicted, lost everything, even his health.
Only the wicked are afflicted. That's what Eliphaz is saying.
That's his whole premise now. The righteous are blessed of
God. And the thing about it is, if
you think about that, ultimately and eternally that's always true. Ultimately and eternally. Else
we couldn't believe Romans 8.28. All things work together for
good to them that love God, who are the called according to His
purpose. All things. Now, even the righteous,
and who are the righteous? Well, that's sinners saved by
the grace of God in Christ. That's a sinner washed in His
blood and clothed in His righteousness, made so by the grace of God,
declared so by God. That's who the righteous are.
There's no man righteous by nature except Christ, the God-man. But
all born of woman are born of Adam, are sinners. So the righteous,
who are the righteous? Even when the righteous are afflicted,
and they are, and Eliphaz, he's missed out on that now, he's
missed that understanding to a point. Even when the righteous
are afflicted, Or even when evil comes upon the righteous, ultimately
and eternally, it's going to work for our good. Now that's
what God says, and I know we don't understand all that and
all the workings of it. But that's what Romans 8, 28
means, and there are other scriptures we could go to to prove that. It's going to work for His glory
and our good. That doesn't mean it doesn't
hurt. That doesn't mean that we always act right. when we're
going through it, because we don't, I don't, you don't, doesn't
mean that we're not children of God. It simply means that
God's in control. So it's ultimately true. But
as things are worked out by God here on this earth, and it's
very clear in the scriptures and in our experience, the righteous,
God's children, God's elect, the redeemed of the Lord, sometimes
suffer greatly in this life. And on the other hand, as things
are worked out here on this earth, as God works them out here on
this earth, working all things after the counsel of his own
will, the wicked sometimes prosper greatly in this world, don't
they? You know it's so. Else why would
we ask that question that was posed by the psalmist, why do
the heathen prosper? Why would we even confront the
issues that were confronted with in Psalm 73? You know, and that's
what he was talking about. I don't understand this, he says.
I don't understand what's going on, Lord. But God overrules and
he oversees all things ultimately for the good of his people. The
good of the righteous. And in the end, Eliphaz's premise
is true. His premise is true. His statement
is true. Let's put it that way. His statement
is true that the righteous are blessed and the wicked suffer.
In the end, that's going to come out. But his application of it
is all wrong. In stating all this, as we read
through here, you're going to say he speaks a lot of truth.
But he applies it in a wrong way. And you know, I thought
about that because it's amazing. how a person can know a lot of
truth, but not know the truth. A person can know a lot of scripture,
a lot of truth, but not understand the truth. It reminds me of the
Pharisees. They studied the scriptures.
They read and they memorized the scriptures. They wore it
on their clothes. And Christ said to them in John
5 and verse 39, you are they which Which you search the scriptures
for in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which
testify of me You see until you understand and see and know by
the power of the Spirit Christ Jesus the Lord and and who he
is and what he accomplished on Calvary in the glory of God in
him You can't really understand the scriptures. You may be able
to quote a lot of it There's a fellow on TV, they call him
The Walking Bible, and I used to listen to him because he came
on before our program, and I'd listen to a little bit of it.
I never heard the fellow preach one word of gospel. They called
him The Walking Bible, because he could just reel off scripture
just like that. What good is it going to do you
to memorize scripture if you don't know what those scriptures
teach? So Eliphaz, he's a smart man. And he knows a lot of truth,
and you're going to see it, but he applies it wrong, and that's
a problem. How many people have Bibles,
read their Bibles, study their Bibles, go to Sunday school classes,
but they don't know the truth? They apply it wrong. They believe
salvation by works instead of by grace. So let's look at this. We're just going to cover part
of this chapter tonight, but let's look at the first thing
he says. He's giving Job advice. And I want you to listen to this
very carefully. Number one, in verse one, here's what he tells
Job. Job, confess your sin. Now, is that not true? It sure
is. Shouldn't we, aren't we commanded
of God to confess our sin? To confess before God and men
what we are? Sinners? Listen to it. He says,
call now. Now, he's referring back to Job
chapter 3 and Job calling out, out of the depths, I cry. Now,
he says, call now, Job. Now, if there be any that will
answer thee, is there anybody who's going to answer you? And
to which of the saints wilt thou turn? Who are you going to turn
to, Job? You're calling out. And here's
what he's saying in this thing of confession of sin. He's saying
until Job recognizes his own mortality and his own sin, it's
useless for Job or anybody else to call out to God because he's
not repentant. He's not going to be heard. You're
not going to be heard until you repent. That's what Eliphaz is
saying. God's not going to hear you. He's saying, Job, the reason
your prayers are not answered is you have some unconfessed
sin in your life. You ever heard anything like
that? And some people, this word saints here, some translators
translated angels. I believe it's translated correctly
here. Not even the saints, but if it
were angels, not even the angels or the saints could help you.
in this matter. This is what a life as a saint.
You cannot look to them. They can't help you. They can't
save you. They can't confess your sins
for you, Job. You've got to confess them. Now, let me say this about saints
and or angels. We as the people of God, I'll
tell you what, don't you cherish the help and the encouragements
of your brethren? I do. Somebody speaks a word
of encouragement, a word in season. Listen, I cherish the help of
the saints. Who are the saints? They're the
sanctified ones. That's where that word comes
from. Set apart by God in electing grace before the foundation of
the world. Set apart by Christ on the cross in redemptive grace. He died for me. He was buried
for me. He arose again because of my
justification. He justified me. He put away
my sins. When he died, I died. When he
was buried, I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again in him as my representative and my surety and my substitute.
And then set apart in regenerating grace when the Holy Spirit brings
us under the preaching of the gospel and gives us life, raises
us from the dead spiritually, gives us ears to hear and eyes
to see, all of that. As a saint, That's a sinner saved
by grace. That's a sinner in Christ. And
I cherish the help and the encouragement of the saints. And then, to those
who would translate this word as angels, I'll tell you this
much. I thank God for the ministering angels, don't you? The Bible
says we have ministering angels who attend us and help us. God
has sent them. We don't see them. The only way
we know that's so is because God says it's so. But we cherish
that. But here's the point. Eliphaz
is right on this issue. There's not one angel, the best
angel, or all the angels put together, and there's not one
saint, the best saint, or all saints put together that can
help you or me in defeating this matter of sin. You know why? Because they too
Even those angels who are elect, they're kept in check and held
by the power of God, not by their own power, or they would have
fallen too. But those saints are sinners
saved by the grace of God. In this matter of defeating and
conquering and doing away with our sin, there's only one who
can help us, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. It does you no
good to pray to the saints as the Catholic Church would have
you do. It does you no good to have a Saint Christopher medal
when you travel. Saint Christopher cannot help
you. Only Christ can help you. Don't pray to any man, any saint,
any pope, or any woman. Not even to Mary. She cannot
help you. Only Mary's son can help us. The Lord Jesus Christ. And he's it. But you see, Eliphaz
doesn't say that, does he? You see, here's the problem.
He's speaking the truth. Confess your sin. Don't look to the saints. But
he doesn't tell Job who to look to. He doesn't preach Christ
to Job. He leaves that little matter
out. Now let me ask you, turn over to 1 John chapter 1 with
me. And I want to say this before I leave this point. Are we to
confess our sins? Well, absolutely we are. When
God the Holy Spirit comes and gives us life, brings us under
the preaching of the gospel, he convicts us of sin to the
point of confession. We confess, we're like Isaiah,
he confessed his sin. Now, let me tell you something.
I want to tell you something. Years and years and years ago,
I was down in Hazzard, Kentucky at a Baptist church, and the
pastor down there, I went in with my cousin. He was a song
leader there. And the message that night was
on confession of sin. And this pastor taught. Here's
what he said. He said, every night, he said,
I go to bed and I confess every sin of that day. And he said,
if you don't confess every sin of that day, you're going to
bed with unconfessed sin. Now at the time, that just went
in this ear and out the other, but I looked back on it and I
thought, my soul. Think about that. Every sin? What if we're like David? And
we are. Who said, forgive me of my secret
sins. And he's not talking about sins
that are secreted from God. He means sins he committed that
he didn't even know about. There are sins of commission.
There are sins of omission. It's a sin not to love God perfectly. Did you know that? I can't ever
say in my lifetime that I have honestly loved God perfectly. That's why I need a Savior. That's
why I need grace. Unconfessed sin. Now think about
that. But listen to this. Are we, and must we, confess
all sin? And the answer is yes. Now let
me tell you something about Isaiah. Isaiah, when the Holy Spirit
showed him his sin, he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and
his train filled the temple, holy, holy, holy. Here's what
Isaiah said. He said, woe is me, for I'm undone. He said, I'm cut off. You know
what he's saying there? He said, I'm alienated from God.
I have no access to God. I have no favor from God. I have
no blessing from God in my state. I have no way to God. He said,
I'm a man of unclean lips. And I dwell amidst a people of
unclean lips. Now let me tell you what Isaiah
just did there. He just confessed all of his
sin. That's what he did. Because you
see, when you come to that point as you're brought by the Holy
Spirit to see that if God gave you what you've deserved and
what you've earned, which would be eternal damnation and hell,
based on your best efforts to please Him, that's exactly what
you're doing. You're confessing every sin. Even though you don't know every
individual sin you've ever committed. Can't remember them. But look
at 1 John chapter 1. Yes, we're to confess our sins,
but listen to me. Confession does not merit or
earn God's forgiveness or God's blessing. Look at verse 5 of
1 John 1. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another. And what? Listen to it. The blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Now what cleanses
us from all sin? Our confession? No. Our tears
of remorse and repentance? No. Our promises to do better? No. Our baptism? No. Our church membership? No. What
cleanses us? The blood of Jesus Christ. Period. And how many sins does
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from? All sin. Adam's sin charged to us. All
sin. All the sins that I've ever committed
in the past, the sins I commit in the present, the sins I commit
in the future. All sin was charged to Christ. And he put all sins of all his
people fully and completely away when he was made sin, when the
guilt and the sin of his people was laid upon him, charged to
him. But go on, it says in verse 8, if we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. We're
still sinners in ourselves. But if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now you see there, if we confess
our sins, that's so. But this is not a conditional
if. It's an evidence. How do you
know that? Well, he says if we confess our
sins, God is faithful and just. We've already talked about that.
Shall mortal man be just with God? Yes. In Christ, mercy and
truth are met together. He's got to be just in forgiving
my sins. But he says, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Now what cleanses us? Not the
confession. The blood cleanses us. The confession
just gives evidence that we've been cleansed by the blood. That's
the difference. I heard a preacher one time on
television make this statement, talking about forgiveness. And
oh, we need forgiveness, don't we? Forgiveness in Christ, by
the mercy of God. And he made this statement. He
said, the condition for forgiveness is repentance. Oh, no. Must we repent? Yes. Should we
repent? Yes. Will we repent? If the Spirit
of God brings us to conviction and drives us to Christ, we'll
repent. But the condition of forgiveness is not repentance.
The condition of repentance is the blood of the Son of God incarnate. That's the one condition for
forgiveness. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Alright, go back to Job 5 now.
So he says, confess your sins. Well, that's so. All right, in
the next few verses, secondly, he says, now Job, take sides
with God against yourself. That's what he's saying in these
next verses. Listen to it. He says, for wrath killeth the
foolish man. In other words, the wrath of
God's only going to come down on the fool, like the fool who
says in his heart, no God for me. Not on the righteous now,
this is what Eliphaz is saying. Well, it's true, the wrath of
God comes down on the foolish man. That's so. But he's applying it in a wrong
way. He says, "...and envy slayeth the silly one." That envy there
is indignation, you may have that in your concordance there,
that's righteous indignation from God. And the reason that
they translated it envy is because it's in the same vein as God
is jealous of his glory. He's not really envious. I don't
think that's a good word, but I think maybe back in those days
when they were translating the King James Version, it had another
connotation. You know how word meanings change
and all that. But what he's talking about is
God's indignation, his justice, his jealousy of his own glory.
That's what slays the silly one. And it is a silly one who is
in unbelief. And he says in verse 3, look
at this. He says, I've seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly
I cursed his habitation. Now you've seen unbelievers,
the evil, the wicked, take root, established in this earth. That's
what that means. In other words, it's kind of
like that statement that Brother Mahan used to say, he's got the
world by the tail on the downhill slide. He's settled. He's looking, everything's going
good for him. But suddenly, I cursed his habitation. Suddenly, destruction
came upon him. Well, not always in this life
now. But now, this is what Eliphaz is saying, even in this life.
Well, he's wrong now. But what he says is true, ultimately. You see? Verse 4, he says, his
children are far from safety. Now, do you reckon that that
holds true in this life of every unbeliever's children? No. But what about Job's children?
You see, it's almost like he's speaking truth, but he's applying
it with a dagger to the heart. You see? And he's shooting right
at Job. Job, you're the silly one. You
must be the silly one. You must be the foolish one.
And then he says, and they are crushed in the gate. Well, Job's
children, metaphorically speaking, were crushed in the gate. Neither
is there any to deliver them." Look at verse 5, "...whose harvest
the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and
the robbers swalloweth up their substance." Job was robbed, he
was plundered. And then he says in verse 6,
"...although affliction cometh not forth of the dust." Neither
doth trouble spring out of the ground. You know what he's saying
there? He said these troubles that are coming upon you, Job,
they didn't just spring out of chance or fate, out of the earth. They're coming from God, who
is just, and he's punishing you for some sin that you've done.
That's what life has to say. And here's the point. Look at
verse 7. He says, Yet man is born unto trouble, That word
trouble is literally labor, but he's talking about the troubles
of this world. As the sparks, as the suns of
the burning coal fly upward. In other words, what he's saying
here is what you're experiencing, Job, is because of sin. Man is
born under trouble. Why? Why is man born into trouble? Because of sin. That's true,
isn't it? Every trouble we have can be traced ultimately to sin. Now, yes, God is working. He's working in Job's life. We
know that so. He's working in our lives to
vindicate his justice and his mercy and his grace. And ultimately,
it's going to work to Job's good and his glory, Job's salvation
and Job's preservation. But all the troubles of this
world can be traced to sin. We know that's so. But all the
troubles of this world cannot be traced to some specific sin. Always. That you committed or
I've committed. That's certainly true in Job's
life. Job was a sinner. Sinner saved by the grace of
God. A man in Christ. That's who Job is. That's his
identity. And he's suffering. And we know
it's so. through no fault of his own,
because God said so. He said, Satan, have you considered
my servant Job, an upright, perfect man, one who fears God and is
cheweth evil? But now, Eliphaz is saying, now
Job, you need to take sides with God against yourself, but he's
applying it in such a way that he's trying to turn Job's eyes
inward to himself to get this matter taken care of, to clear
it up, instead of pointing Job to Christ, where he needs to
be. Well, here's the third thing.
Look at verse 8. Here's where I got the title of the message.
commit your calls to God alone. He says in verse 8, I would seek
unto God. Now, let me tell you something,
this is good advice, isn't it? He says, I would seek unto God,
and unto God would I commit my calls. Committing our calls to
God. That's a very good thing to say
to anybody going through a tough time, a believer going through
a tough time. Commit your case. That's what
that is, your case, your calls. unto the Lord. Trust in the Lord
with all thy heart. Lean not to your own understanding.
Isn't that amazing? Here's a man who's leaning to
his own understanding and he speaks a verse there that's probably
one of those pearls that come out of the scripture that you
kind of remember. Commit your calls unto the Lord. Look, seek
unto God, Joe. The problem with Eliphaz is,
again, he's saying this, it's speaking truth like a dagger
to the heart. It comes with the suggestion
that, Job, you're the wicked fool who deserves this trial
because of some specific sin that you've committed, and we've
got to find out what that is. You've got to confess it, take
sides with God against yourself, and commit your case to the Lord.
You know, Eliphaz is, you know, his religion, his theology is
kind of like, it's typical of many of these Pentecostal faith
healers that you see today. And basically what they say is,
well, you do the right thing and say the right words and everything
will be fine. And if you're not healed and
everything's not fine, whose fault is it? It's your fault.
You must have some unconfessed sin in your life. Right? Or you didn't have enough faith. But now listen, to commit our
calls unto God, that's the best advice that we could get or give,
isn't it? That's true. You know, back over
in Psalm 73, we won't turn back over there. You remember how
the psalmist was wrestling with these issues that Job was wrestling
with? And he said, I can't understand
it. He said, basically in that one
verse, I really like this. He said, when I spin my wheels
over this, it gives me a headache. It's just too much for me. And
then he said, remember in verse 17, he said, until I went into
the sanctuary of God, and then I understood therein. Well, that's
really the same thing that verse 8 says. Seek unto God, and unto
God commit your cause. That's going into the sanctuary
of the Lord. In other words, whatever I'm
going through, whether it's trouble or whether it's prosperity, what
does God say about it? That's the only thing that really
matters. How does this, how does this, what does this say about
me as far as my standing in Christ is concerned? That's what, that's
the only thing that really matters here. And think about this, what
is my case? We know Job's case, we know his
cause because God said it. But think about yourself, I think
about myself, what is my case? What is my cause? Well, I'll
tell you my case. My cause, I'm a helpless sinner.
who deserves nothing but death and hell. People might look at me or look
at you and you might say, well, he's been a good little boy all
of his life. I mean, he's got into some trouble. But basically,
he's a good kid, you know. I'm a helpless sinner who deserves
nothing but death and hell. I cannot save myself. I cannot
cleanse myself. I cannot make myself righteous
before God. I cannot justify myself. And
my cause, that's my case. Now what is my cause? Well, my
cause is to be saved. I need salvation. And knowing
who God is according to this word, He's holy and just and
must judge according to the truth, and He must be glorified if I'm
going to be saved. My cause must be to glorify Him
And the only way I'm going to do that is to find mercy, to
find grace. What am I to do? Well, seek the
glory of God in Christ. That's what Paul's talking about
in 2 Timothy chapter 1. When he said, I know whom I have
believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which
I've committed. Commit your calls unto the Lord.
He's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day. What day? The day of trouble,
the day of wrath, the day of chastisement. He's able to keep
that which I've committed. What have I committed to him?
My whole salvation is committed to Christ. That's right. All the forgiveness of my sins,
I commit to Him. Not to me and not to you. You
don't need to go into a priest and have him throw dirty water
on you or genuflect. You don't need to kiss any man's
ring. You don't need the preacher's vindication. All you need for
the forgiveness of your sins is Christ and the blood that
He shed on Calvary's cross. Commit it to Him. All the righteousness
that God requires of me, I commit to Christ. He is the Lord my
righteousness. He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And these preachers, they can
argue over the word made till they're blue in the face, but
I'll tell you what's important there is in Him, in Christ. I commit all of it to Him. My
whole justification before God is in Him. Committed to Him. Think about it this way. How
do I know that I'm forgiven? How do I know that I'm righteous
before God? You say, well, I just feel it.
Well, feelings come, feelings go, feelings are deceiving. Feeling it is nothing. Feeling
that is a sham religious experience. You say, well, I know I'm forgiven
and I know I'm righteous before God because my friends tell me
so. Well, their trust is not in man. Cursed be the man who
trusts in man. Their testimony, as far as that
is concerned, really means nothing. Some say, well, I know I'm forgiven,
I know I'm righteous because I love the Lord. Now, we sing
that hymn. My Jesus, I love Thee. And every true child of God can
sing that song from the heart honestly without embarrassment.
Yet every true child of God here knows that you don't love Him
to the point of righteousness. You can't say it's my love for
Him that makes me righteous, can you? If you do, you know
what? That proves you're not a true
child of God. You've never been convinced of sin. How do I know
I'm forgiven? How do I know I'm righteous?
I'll tell you how. Because God says so. He says, For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Do
you believe in Him? Do you rest in Him? Have you
committed your cause and your case to Christ and Him alone? All the preservation of my life,
here and forever, I commit to Him. No one else. All glory in
eternity, I commit to Him. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4 and
verse 19, Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well-doing
as unto a faithful Creator. Committed to Him. Committing
our cause to God. Now, fourthly, and this is something
here, look down at verse 9 and we'll close with this. Eliphaz is as messed up as he
is. From verse 9 to verse 16 you
have what I think in the Bible is one of the most beautiful
expressions of God's providence and ultimately applied to the
salvation of his people you'll find in the Bible. Let me just
read through it, and I'll come back in the next time when we
finish out this chapter and make more comments on it. Now, when you read these things,
understand this. There are times when God, in
his infinite wisdom and power, causes these things to come about
in his people here on this earth. Sometimes. Sometimes he doesn't. Either way, ultimately, all things
work together for good to them that are the called according
to His purpose, to them that love God who are the called according
to His purpose. But here's the thing as you read them. Understand
that the perfection of all these things that he describes can
only be found and seen in Christ. Look at it, verse 9, he says,
which doeth God, which doeth great things and unsearchable
marvelous things without number. God works in mysterious ways
his wonders to perform. It's a marvelous thing, amazing
grace. Verse 10, who giveth rain upon
the earth and sendeth waters upon the fields. God does that.
Now, Eliphaz forgot that it rains on the just and the unjust. He
forgot that part, if he ever knew it. But think about God
sending the rain, the former and the latter rain in Christ
to save his people. We'll talk more about that. Sendeth
waters upon the field. He waters it with his spirit
and his word to bring about salvation. Verse 11, to set up on high those
that be low and those which mourn may be exalted to safety. Now
sometimes that happens in this life to God's people. He brings
the low High, think about Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was brought into
the king's palace and he dwelt there the rest of his days. But
sometimes he doesn't. Think about old Lazarus sitting
outside the gate of the rich man's house. The dog's licking
his sore and the Lord took him on to glory. Didn't lift him
up in this life, that is in a physical way, but he did in a spiritual
way. Well, in a spiritual way, He blesses all of us. And then
to exalt them to safety? Think about the martyrs. They
weren't safe here on this earth, but I'm going to tell you, they
are safe eternally in Christ. Verse 12, He disappointeth the
devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their
enterprise. Now sometimes that happens on
this life, that God will thwart the plans of evil men. Sometimes he won't. He allowed
Joseph's brethren to fulfill their scheme in getting rid of
him. And in the process, he overruled all that evil to bring much people
alive. He says, "...so that their hands
cannot perform their goal." Verse 13, "...he taketh the wise in
their own craftiness, And the counsel of the froward is carried
headlong. They trip over their own words.
They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday
as in the night. But he saveth the poor from the
sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty,
so the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth." What he's
talking about there is the accusations and the charges that are brought
against God's people. Their mouth is stopped because
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again.