So this morning we turn again to Job in chapter 18. The second of Job's friends, Bildad the Shuite, he replies again to Job. Then answered Bildad the Shuite and said, how long will it be ere you make an end of words? Mark, and afterwards we will speak. Wherefore are we counted as beasts and reputed vile in your sight? He teareth himself and his anger. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? And shall the rock be removed out of his place? Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. The steps of his strength shall be straightened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. Verse 17. His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the world. He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked. And this is the place of him that knoweth not God. Such are the dwellings of the wicked. This is the place of him that knoweth not God. Christ sends his gospel to his people to comfort them, to be their hope, He makes known his salvation. He makes himself known under his people as their saviour, as their redeemer, as their all in all, as all their hope, all their righteousness, as their deliverance from judgment, their deliverance from death and condemnation, their deliverance from the penalty of the law. He makes known His salvation, that it is His doing, His work to save His people from their sins, that salvation is of the Lord. that it is by grace from start to finish, it depends on nothing of man. None of man's works, none of man's strength, none of man's wisdom, none of man's will. Salvation is of God by grace through Jesus Christ. And in this message of God's electing grace, God's free and sovereign grace in salvation, Christ makes this message to His people to be of comfort, because they look outside of themselves, outside of their sinful flesh, outside of their weakness, outside of all their faults and their failings. They see in themselves every reason why God should cast them off and condemn them. But they see in Christ, made known to them as their Saviour, every reason to hope. And they see in him all comfort and all consolation, no matter what their circumstance, what their trial, no matter that they may be as Job was here, in the worst of circumstances, in great calamity. stripped of everything, stripped of all earthly comfort, stripped of his health even, on death's door, in the midst of the fire, in a furnace as it were, in deep trial, in deep waters, the child of God looks unto Christ and sees his Redeemer and can say with Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth. He sees all his hope in Christ, and in Christ and in his gospel, he finds great comfort, great strength in the mercy and the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But here in the words of Bildad, to Job in the midst of his suffering, Where is the comfort? And where is the hope? We see none of that in Bildad's words to Job in his suffering. When Job needed comfort, reassurance. When Job needed his friends to point him to God, to Christ, to his grace, to point him outside of his circumstances to that hope which is found in Christ and his gospel, that's what Job needed to hear and that's what we need to hear in similar circumstances. When Bildad the Shuite answers Job, all he can do time and time again is condemn. Then answered Bildad the Shuite, how harsh he is. In the previous answer of Job, He pleaded with his friends to show pity, to show mercy to him, to give him some comfort. He pleaded with them. And here Bildad replies him again and can only condemn. These words of Bildad Raelian chapter 18 are quite astonishing in the context. He's already given his assessment of Job. He's already said, this trouble has come upon you, Job, because of your sin or your family's sin. He's already condemned him. He's looked on at Job in his suffering. He's looked at how broken Job is. He's heard Job cry out for some pity from his friends. And all Bildad does is double down on his condemnation. He just gets harsher and harsher. All he can speak of in this chapter is what shall come upon the wicked, is the dwellings of the wicked. the place of him that knoweth not God, the darkness into which the wicked is brought, how he's driven out, how he's condemned, with the clear implication that Job is amongst them, and that the reason this has come upon Job is because he's wicked. Well, of course, what Bildad says concerning the wicked has some truth to it. If we die in our sins, if we die in rebellion unto God, if we turn our backs upon Christ and his gospel and go our own way, then surely our end will be solemn. There's a great warning in this message. But where in it is the gospel and the hope for wicked sinners of salvation in Christ? There's no gospel here. There's no grace and mercy here. There's no hope. There's a legality. There's the fundings of the law. There's judgment. There's an alarm. A warning. But no grace. And sadly, for Bildad, what he writes concerning the wicked which he addresses unto Job, what he says concerning them to his friend Job, very likely will come down upon him. For though he takes the high ground, and though he speaks with self-righteousness, as though Job is the sinner, And Bildad is not. What he describes of the wicked may very well come true for him. False religion, a half gospel, legal preaching, the funderings of the law alone. False religion comes along purporting to bring comfort. But all it does is condemn. All it does is cast down. It promises much, but just produces in its hearers guilt, fear, and condemnation. So much of what purports to be Christianity, despite all the claims, ends up bringing nothing but guilt and condemnation upon its hearers. You must have more faith. You must strive harder. You must live better. This has come upon you because your faith isn't strong enough. Because you've not mortified sin well enough. Because you're not righteous enough. And though it purports to bring life, if you do this, then you will live. If you live a right, then God will bless you. It ends up just casting down. This was Bildad's religion and attitude towards Job. And yet God's attitude towards Job was very different. Consider my servant Job. Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one at fear of God and is sure of evil? Behold, I had looked on the outward circumstance. He looked on Job in his suffering and saw a man like unto him. And Bealdad said, you must have sinned. God looked on Job in his son, Jesus Christ. God loved Job. From before Job was born, God chose him. And God said, he's a perfect and an upright man. He's mine, and I love him. And when Bildad condemned this chosen son of God, this chosen child of God, when he condemned him, through his condemnation he was condemning Christ himself. As Christ says in the Gospels, when you do it to one of these my little ones, one of these my children, When you persecute them, when you condemn them, when you cast them out, when you abandon them, when you turn your back on them, when you fight with them, when you mock them, when you scorn them, when you deride them, when you laugh at them, you do it unto me. You don't hate them. You hate their saviour and the one of whom they speak. Bildad's condemnation of Job was a rejection of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. He despised Job's gospel. He despised Christ. And yet God loved his little one. God loved Job, and those he loved, he loved unto the end. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, in Job's place. He came unto his own in this world as a man, and his own received him not. The world cast out Christ. It cast out Jesus, the Son of God. It had no room for him. When he was born, there was no room in Bethlehem, no room in the inn that he should be born. The world had no space for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He was born in a stable, in the filth and the muck of the animals. The world had no time for him, no room for him, no care for him. King Herod, on hearing from the wise men that one was born the king of the Jews, sought to slay him. And he slew the firstborn children in the kingdom. in order to try to slay Christ. When Christ went about preaching the gospel of the kingdom, how he was hounded and hated, how the religious cast him out, how the Pharisees questioned him. with questions designed to trap him in his words, with questions designed to draw out words that they could use as condemnation against him. Did you hear what he said? He's a blasphemer. He's a publican. He's a winebibber. They found reason, they found excuse to justify their rejection of him. We do the same. We do the same with the Gospel. We find reasons with it to justify our unbelief in it. We say, I will not believe. Why not? Well, because of this and because of that. We find fault with it. We find fault with Christ. And in the end, having tried to trap him in his words, having tried several times to stone him to death, in the end, when Christ said, this is my hour, he allowed wicked men to take him and to crucify him, to nail him to a cross, to slay him. He bore the sins of his people. He bore the judgment and the wrath of God against those sins in their place. He died in the place of sinners. He came to die for sinners. He came to die for his little ones. For Job, did he die for you? Inasmuch as you do it to one of these little ones, you do it unto me. And those he loved, he loved unto the end. He lived his life cast out and rejected by all because he loved Job. He loved him when men tried to stone him. He loved him when men tried to trap him in his words. He loved him when he was cast out. He loved him when he was despised. He loved Job when men took him and nailed him to the tree. He loved him when he hung in the darkness. He loved him when the cup of God's wrath was given to him to drink. When God's wrath poured down on him in the billows of judgment, Christ loved Job to the end. And when he'd taken Job's sins away and cried out, it is finished, he loved him. He loved him when he was laid in the grave. He loved him when he rose again on the third day. He loved him when he ascended into glory and sat down victorious. He loved him when Job passed from this world into the next and was taken into the arms of his He loves him today. And he loved and loves everyone like Job, for whom he died, for whom he came, whom he loved from before the foundation of the world, whom he loved at the cross, whom he loved at the grave, whom he loves from glory. He loves them to the end and he will bring them unto him as his own, washed in his blood, loved from the beginning, loved to the end, his little ones. Consider, Job, that there is none like him. There's none like God's people because there's none like Christ who saved them. Bildad can only condemn He can only find fault. He can only speak to Job of the dwellings of the wicked and the place of him that knoweth not God. Christ was condemned. He came unto his own and his own received him not. The Pharisees, the Jews, they cast him out. He was alone. He was cast out as one in their eyes who was wicked, who came preaching heresy they felt, who came seeking to undermine the law and the prophets, to undermine all their religion. They saw him as an imposter, as a blasphemer. They cast him out and he was alone. And at the cross, when he was nailed to the tree, even his friends, even the disciples stood afar off. They abandoned him in fear. He was alone. And when God the Father laid upon him the sin of his people, God in judgment judged his own son. Christ felt even his father's hand against him. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Condemned. Set in the dwelling place of the wicked. This is the place of him that knoweth not God. Bildad knew where the wicked would go, into darkness, under the judgment of the wrath of God, cast into hell, feeling the furies of God's fire. He knew that this was the place of him that know if not God the dwellings of the wicked. And Christ, who knew no sin, the innocent, the righteous son of God, willingly went to such a place. He willingly went to the dwelling of the wicked. He willingly suffered the place of him that knoweth not God. The one man that truly knew God The one man that ever lived that was perfect, righteous and innocent of all charges was condemned as the sinner. He was made sin that we his people might be made the righteousness of God in him, even though he knew no sin. What he suffered in the darkness in those hours we cannot comprehend. An eternity of hell and God's wrath contracted to a span of three hours. The dwelling place of the wicked. The place of him that knoweth not God. Cast out and alone. Bildad knew of this place. Christ knew and experienced. Yes, Bildad's words here concerning the wicked are words of warning to us, a solemn reminder. Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him. The steps of his strength shall be straightened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. he's cast into a net by his own feet and he walketh upon a snare the djinn shall take him by the heel and the robber shall prevail against him the snare is laid for him in the ground and a trap for him in the way terrors shall make him afraid on every side and shall drive him to his feet what a terrible place the wicked will come to because of their own doing their own doing, his own counsel shall cast him down. If that's where we end up, if our unbelief, if our rejection of Christ, if our rejection of the gospel takes us to our grave in unbelief, then our own words, our own deeds, our own unbelief and rebellion will take us into darkness, into condemnation. Our remembrance shall perish from the earth, will be driven from light into darkness and chased out of the world. Such are the dwellings of the wicked. It's a solemn reminder. But Bildad was wrong to look upon Job in his suffering and say, this is because of your wickedness. For we are all wicked. Bildad was as wicked by nature as any. And this would come upon us all if it were not for God's grace in Jesus Christ. Where do the wicked dwell? In this world, where do they dwell? What are the dwellings of the wicked? Yes, unbelieving men dwell in sin in this world, in unbelief. in their rebellion against God. They dwell in the darkness of their own imagination. They know not God, they don't care for him. They seek after their own pleasures, their own riches, their own glory. They follow their own wisdom. They dwell in wicked places, in their own blindness. And if that's where we remain, then our end will be solemn. We will be cast into darkness for eternity, from which there's no escape. But where else do the wicked dwell? The dwellings of the wicked are not just in the profanity of sinful ways. Those things, those places that we would say are wicked, There's a huge amount of wickedness that dwells in religion, in pride, in self-righteousness. All three of Job's friends speak of God and his dealings with men. You are not reading in this book of three modern-day so-called atheists. who in their stupidity and foolishness pretend that the real question is whether we believe there is a God or no God. And think that they are wise in their understanding, wise in their belief in science. and the theories of science regarding evolution and the world around us that they think they are wise to reject the very idea and existence of God. That's where how foolish man's sin has brought him to. That's the foolishness of his sin today, that men are so foolish to think there is no God, when all around them tells them there is. We are created beings living in a world that displays his handiwork. Our own conscience within says there's a God. Well, these three friends of Job were not so foolish. They knew there's a God. but they didn't know that God. They only saw God in a legal way, as one that judges the wicked. They knew nothing of his grace, nothing of his mercy, nothing of the love and the comfort of Christ in the gospel. They dwelt in religion, They perhaps dwelt in the Word of God, the Scriptures, as they may have had them, or received them by word, one from another. They dwelt in religion. But in their pride and self-righteousness and condemnation of Job, they display where their religion got them nowhere. They displayed their wickedness. They displayed that they knew not God. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. Don't think that because you go to church or because you read the Bible and pray or because you've made a profession in Jesus, you accepted him, you made a decision for him. Don't think that because you think you're serving God that you know him. And don't think that the dwellings of the wicked are that far from you. We must know Christ and his grace and his mercy. We must be brought to trust in nothing but Christ, his blood, his righteousness. If we look to anything in ourselves, our own understanding, our own knowledge, our own strength, our own wisdom, our decision, our will, if we look to anything in self then we are wicked, dwelling in religion, in the darkness and blindness of religion, just like those scribes and Pharisees who professed to know God and yet slew God in the person of Jesus Christ. They thought they did God's service in putting God's Son to death, in rejecting the Gospel, in condemning it as heretical and false. Oh, what a solemn place to be, to think we are serving God, to think we know God, to think we're a Christian, living in God's service, and taking the gospel, taking Christ, taking his sovereign grace, taking his little ones like Job, and casting them out. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. O may God have mercy upon us to deliver us from such a place where we walk in the tents of religion, in the tabernacles, where we come and go in the churches and take Jesus' name upon our lips and yet put Christ to death, trampling his blood underfoot because we hate his sovereign grace. We hate the true gospel. We hate his people. Who is the wicked here? In Bildad's eyes it's Job. as evidenced by the trial he's been brought into. Clearly Job is being condemned of God, so he stands on in judgment. But who is the wicked here? Job or Bildad? Who judges? As in Romans, we see Bildad come judging another who know in the judgment of god that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them therefore thou art inexcusable oh man whosoever thou art that judgest for that for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thyself for thou that judgest doest the same things But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God. Bildad, you're no better than Job. Then why do you judge? Believer, Hearer, whoever you are, do you judge one another when you know within your heart that you're the worst of sinners? That everything you find fault with in another, you fought and done yourself? Is that your heart? Do you despise thou the riches of God's goodness? and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. If God sends you the gospel, and he sent Bildad the gospel, in Job, if God sends you the gospel, And all you do is turn your back and find fault with those that preach it, those that believe it, find fault with Christ himself. You're despising the judgment of God, despising the mercy, the grace, the love of God. Casting it out as nothing, trampling the blood of Christ underfoot. Bildad had the gospel in front of him. Here's Job, a picture of Christ himself, suffering, as it were, upon the cross. There he is, presented to him, and all Bildad does is condemn and say he deserved it. That's like you and I hearing the gospel, hearing of Christ's death and saying he deserved to die. And with our sin and rejection and unbelief we take the hammer and nail the nails into his hands and his feet and put him to death. Every time we heal and turn aside and go back into our daily life with no thought for Christ, no care for him, no desire for him, we crucify him afresh. We judge one another. Stand not by me for I am holier than thou, Bildad said in his heart. Bildad himself shows this attitude and he shows by it where he himself dwelt. He pointed the finger at Job and condemned Job as wicked when his own attitude, his own heart, his own very condemnation of Job was wicked in itself. He dwelt in religion whilst condemning others. What a place to be. This is the worst place to dwell in religion. condemning others. Bildad ends by saying, surely these are the dwellings of the wicked and this is the place of him that knoweth not God. He had said earlier that the wicked is cast into a net by his own feet and he walketh upon a snare. His own counsel shall cast him down. And surely Bildad's own counsel against Job cast him down. He says this is the place of him that knoweth not God. Not knowing that he stood in that place, knowing not God, finding fault with one of God's little children, Job, and casting him out as nothing, and through him casting out Christ, Job's saviour. Job's Redeemer. Job was God's, chosen from the foundation of the earth. Consider my servant Job, a recipient of God's grace, his love, his mercy. Who is the wicked? We all are by nature. We all are And we will all dwell in the place of the wicked, and we will all go to dwell in eternal darkness if we remain there. But we thank God that in Jesus Christ there are some wicked, many wicked, a multitude chosen by grace from the foundation of the earth, who in Christ have their wickedness washed away by his blood. who had their sins taken by the Saviour, who bore them in His own body on the tree, who had those sins taken away. And the judgment of the law, the judgment of God's righteousness against them, rained down upon Him and destroyed those sins and blotted them out and took them away. His blood washed His children whiter than snow. He was made sin that they should be made the righteousness of God in him. He took a wicked people, a sinful unrighteous people like you and I, and he died that they might live. He suffered that they should be spared. He was made sin that they should be made the righteousness of God. Yes, he died that they should live. We're all wicked. There were two thieves at the cross, both the same, both malefactors, both wicked sinners. One perished in the darkness and one heard the voice of Jesus Christ in love, grace and mercy in the gospel. was given faith to believe in him because he was one of the little ones that Christ loved to the end. Luke 23 tells us one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him saying if thou be Christ save thyself and us but the other answering rebuked him saying does not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation And we indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds, but this man have done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Today thou shalt be with me and paradise. Yes, we all dwell in wickedness by nature. Many dwell in the wickedness of religion. And left to ourselves, there we will perish. But if God looks upon us like he looked on that thief at the cross, in love and mercy, then when we cry out to him, remember me. when thou comest into thy kingdom, he will say unto us in love, with a certainty, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Oh, has he looked unto you today, in Christ, in the gospel, by grace, and said unto you, wicked sinner, You're mine. I've washed you in my blood. I've loved you from before the foundation of the earth. You're one of my little ones. Does he come unto you with comfort in his gospel and say with a certainty, today shalt thou be with me in paradise?