Job chapter 11. The title of this message, Zophar
had no gospel. He had no gospel. He had a lot
to say, but he had no gospel. There's no good news. in this. You'll see that what's absent
is the blood, the mercy seat, sacrifice. We'll see this as
we get down toward the end of the chapter. Now, this is the
third friend, if you want to call him that, but the third
friend to speak to Job. And it's probably because he
was the youngest They probably spoke in that order. And I think
it's evident that he's the youngest by his blatant attack on Job,
his lack of respect. He attacked Job's character by
calling him a liar. In verse three, he calls Job
a liar. He said, you're lies. You're just lies. A multitude
of words are just lies. Self-righteousness and arrogance
always go together. And when you put that in youth,
you get a Zophar. That's what you get. You get
a Zophar. Now, although Zophar says some
things about God that's true, yet his spirit is void of the
spirit of grace. He says nothing about the blood
of atonement, nothing about the mercy of God, nothing about the
grace of God to sinners. He basically says, Joe, you're
guilty. You're guilty of sin. You're
guilty of being a hypocrite. You're guilty. But if you do
what I say, if you do what I'm advising you to do, God will
bless you. Everything will be all right. If you'll just repent
and acknowledge your guilt, everything will be just fine. Now we see
in verses 1 through 5, Zophar sits in judgment on Job. This young man sits in judgment
on this old saint of God who's been around a long time. He has
seen some things, he's learned some things. Job knew the gospel. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth.
He didn't just learn that a few weeks after this. He knew this
going into this trial. He knew his Redeemer liveth. And he said in one place that
though he's tried me, he knows I'll come forth as gold. He knoweth the way that I take,
and I'll come forth as gold. Job knew the Lord. He knew the
gospel. Then answers Zophar the Nehemiathite,
and he said, Should not the multitude of words be answered? What, with
another multitude of words? Is that what you're suggesting
so far? And what he's telling Job is, Job, you talk too much. Should a man full of talk, and
that word means full of lips, just blabbering, that's what
he's talking about, Job, you're just blabbering. Can you imagine
the insult here? Should a man full of lips be
justified? In verse 3, should thy lies,
he calls Job a liar here and a mocker. He's vicious. He's vicious. He's full of his,
he's just full of himself right now. Should thy lies make men
hold their peace? You're lying here on God, lying
about yourself. Should we just shut up and listen
to it? And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
Shall we not make you ashamed of your mockery of God? And he charges Job of saying that
his doctrine was without sin and that he was without sin.
Job said in chapter 7 that he had sinned. Now what he's saying
to them is that I am not guilty of what you are charging me of.
But he was not saying that he was without sin before God. And as far as his doctrine being
from God, it was, and it was pure. The gospel that he preached,
the gospel that he believed. He got that from God. He didn't
make that up. He got that from God. He said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. He didn't get that from someone else or making it up. He knew that. God revealed that
to him. He knew the gospel. He knew about
redemption. That's why he called him his
redeemer. He's redeemer. His gospel was
pure for he received it from his redeemer. Now, as far as
that goes. But what Zophar is saying is, you've said that my
teaching is pure. It's without sin. It's sound. And I'm cleaning thine eyes.
What Zophar does here, he misrepresents Job, because Job didn't say what
he's saying. He's twisting it. He's twisting
it. But oh, that God would speak.
Well, this is arrogance. Arrogance is absolutely dripping
off this man. But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips against thee, that he would show you that I'm
right. God would take my side. God would take my, I wish God
would open his mouth, he's saying here, open his mouth against
Job and reprove him for his sins. Zophar is so confident that he's
right. And Job is wrong, that he's calling
God in on it. And that God speak, he said,
I wish God would speak with the fact that he's not Zophar, I
ought to tell you, shut up. God did speak later on, and He
spoke against those three friends. He said, they have not said of
me the things that are right like Job did. He said, Job has
spoken those things that are right. But in a sense, Zophar
is saying that God is remiss for not speaking. He's sitting
in judgment on God. Oh, that God would speak and
reprove you of your sins. Job, you see that we are right
and you're wrong. That's dangerous. I tell you
what, if you're not going to call God in on something, we
better be right. Because God's not going to take
sides with wrong. If God comes in on it, and I'm
telling you, it's going to be right. We best be careful we call God
in on something. Now some things that Zophar says
are true. And here's where we must be careful
because you know Satan uses the Bible. He uses the Word of God. Don't think if somebody uses
the Word of God that they're of God. That's not so. I know a man some years ago,
he was sick. He was sick. And this Catholic,
I think he's either, I think he was Catholic, and he was telling
me, and this man believed the gospel, as Eddie did, but he was telling
me, he said, he prayed for me, and I tell you, it was such,
he said, I just have to believe God heard that. That's not so. Just because somebody
can pray and use God's name and use Bible words and gospel words
doesn't mean God hears them. That's another gospel and another
God he's praying to, even though he's using this Bible. I know one lady, one lady was
in the hospital and one of those nuns came in, one of those sisters
came in and said, can I pray for you? She said, no, thank
you. I admired her for that. She said, no, thank you. I don't
need you to pray for me. Satan uses the Word of God. False
preachers use the Word of God. They use the gospel. They use
the name of Jesus Christ. It's another Jesus. But they
use his name. They use the word grace. They
talk about salvation being all of grace, don't they? But their
message is completely opposite of that. They speak of the cross. They speak of Jesus Christ dying
on the cross for sinners. But it's another gospel. It's
another gospel. But notice here, he says, and
you notice all this is directed against Job. It's directed against
him. He said, and that he will show thee the secrets of wisdom.
You're not as wise as you think you are, Job. There's a whole
lot more than you know. Well, Job knew that. Job knew
that. He wasn't telling Job something
he didn't know. He says here, And that he will show thee the
secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is,
or there's two sides of it, there's two sides of it, or it's manifold. Job knew that. Know therefore
that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquities deserveth.
Wouldn't it have been better if Zophar had said, God exacts
less than we deserve? Job is sitting there with those
ulcerating sores, scraping those sores with broken pottery. He
says skin worms are on his body. Maggots are on his body. He stinks. And Zophar, this young man, looks
at him and says, and he's lost everything, and he's lost his
health, and he's lost his children. He's lost everything. And Zophar
says, Job, God's exacting of you a whole lot less than you
deserve. You know, you could say that when you're healthy
to somebody. No, he should have said, God
exacts of us, of us, Job, less than we deserve. Not just picking
on Job. I do know this. See, this is
true. However severe God deals with
us, it's still not what we deserve. We, we, That's what Ezra said in Ezra
9 13. He said the same thing. It's not until a man is cast
into the lake of fire shall a man know what God's justice demands. And the only other place that
you and I can look and see exactly what God exacts of us is Calvary. Look what God did to his son.
That's what I deserve. mutilated body and and he he
endured the wrath of God the he endured my hill that's what
I deserve yes it's true if he does not he has not dealt with
us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities
but be sure and say our Just be sure and say our. It's
like marriage. It's no more I, it's us. It's
us, it's ours. It's not my home, it's our home. This is a situation where we
don't just say you, you wretch. No, us wretches. God's not dealt
with us after our sins. And he's not rewarded us according
to our iniquity because he dealt with Jesus Christ. And if he
hasn't dealt with Jesus Christ before, he's going to deal with
you before. And he's going to deal with me. If his Zophar becomes a theologian,
here is the seminary coming out of him. One writer said that
he was a seminary student. But here it is coming out of
him. Canst thou by searching find out God? Well, my first
thought when I read that again today was you won't find him
out if you don't search. Because the Lord said he that
searches for me with all his heart shall find me. The Lord
encourages us and commands us to search for him. Seek after
the Lord. Seek the Lord and you'll find
him. Get in the book and seek the Lord. Ask the Lord to open
Himself up to you, to reveal Himself to you out of His book,
and He'll do it, because that's a promise. That's a promise of
God. He said He'd do it. But canst
thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? No, nobody can, so
far. Job was not claiming to know
God perfectly. He didn't have perfect knowledge
of God. But I tell you what he did have, a whole lot more knowledge
than they had. And I believe his knowledge was
saving knowledge. He says here, It's as high as
heaven, who can do it? What canst thou do? Deeper than
hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth, and broader than the sea. God is infinite. God's
infinite. He is. But he's charging Job
here of knowing all there is to know about God. And Job never
insinuated that. We know that no man in this flesh
can fully know and comprehend God. It just can't be. It can't
be. For any to know God, he's got
to reveal himself. But I tell you this, when God
reveals himself to someone, they're seeking Him. He moves them to
seek Him. you'll seek him and then you'll
find him and he'll make himself known to you and then so far
the so far sets forth the sovereignty of god if he cut off or he make
a change and shut up or chat or gather together when who then
who can hand and hinder him or stop it well no one joke do that
you'll do that look over here in chapter 12 Job says this in verse 1 and
Job answered and said he answers this young man no doubt but you
are the people and wisdom will die with you but I have understanding
as well as you I know what you're you're not telling me anything
so far I know God is sovereign I know that I'm not inferior
to you you know it because so far was speaking down to Job
He's speaking down to him, and this young man is speaking down
to Job, and Job was looking at Zophar and said, I'm not inferior
to you, I know what you know. I know what you know. Yea, who knoweth not such things
as these about God? Who knoweth not these things? And he says here in verse 11,
Zophar says, He knoweth vain men, Job. It's like he's calling
Job vain. He seeth wickedness also. You can't hide that from him,
Job. Will he not then consider it
and deal with it? We know that God knows all men.
He knows vain thoughts. He knows the thoughts of every
man. He knows every man perfectly. We only know what we see, but
God sees all things. As it says in Mark 4.22, For
there is nothing hid which shall not be manifested, neither was
anything kept secret, but that it should come abroad. As for man, he says here, As
for man, Zophar says, for vain, and that word means empty, for
vain, empty man would be wise, though man would be born like
a wild ass's coat. You know what he said? He said,
a man will be wise when a wild ass's coat is born as a man. Job, if that's all you are, you
have no wisdom. You have no wisdom. He's directing
these assaults toward Job. Now that Zophar has sufficiently
judged Job, now he's going to advise him on what to do, and
we'll get this thing turned around, and you'll be blessed again,
and people will seek your favor, like they did before, if you'll
just listen to me. If you'll just listen to me.
And he says here, and I want you to know, I want you to recognize
how he starts off in verse 13. If thou. If thou Job, this is
all on you. It's all on you. Reform your
life. You need to reform your life,
repent, reform your life. If thou prepare thine heart and
stretch out thine hands toward him, you know there is a preparation
of heart there is such a thing as repentance we know that we
repent always not just once always you know but here's what here's
what's missing he said if you prepare your heart david asked
god to create in him what a clean heart and right spirit lord you
do the work you do the work give me a clean heart Give me a new
heart. Give me a right spirit. Lord,
you do the work. I can't do this. This is heart
work. This is heart work. I need God
to give me a new heart, as He said there in Ezekiel 36, 25.
And if iniquity be found in thine hand. Iniquity in the hand. Listen. He don't even see it. Iniquity
in the hand is not the problem. Iniquity in the heart's the problem.
You see, if iniquity's in my heart, that's the problem. All
he's dealing with is outward. All he's dealing with is outward
reformation. That's what he's dealing with. You'll just put
away the iniquity in your hand, whatever it is, Joe. Whatever
you're doing, if you'll just put it away. If you will put
it away. No. It it's an equity in the
heart and it's an it's on the conscience and who could put
that away Nothing, but the blood of Jesus Christ Nothing but his
blood put it put it he says you put it far away just drop it
and everything will be well And let not wickedness wickedness
or injustice dwell in that tabernacles if you've gotten ill-gotten goods
You know job was very rich He said, you know, if you've gotten
some of those riches, you know, by ill means, you know, just
get, don't do that no more. Get rid of that. You know, clean
your house, clean your hands, clean your house, you know, straighten
up, straighten up. You know, if you've taken something
you shouldn't have had, give it back. You know, restitution
doesn't put away sin. It doesn't put away sin. Quit,
listen, quit doing a sin doesn't put it away. You can quit, you
can quit something that you're doing, you shouldn't be doing,
that's not gonna put it away. And that's not gonna cleanse
you from the guilt of it. It's not gonna do it. Only the
blood can wash away my sins. Only the blood of Christ can
do it. David said this in Psalm 51 too, wash me throughly from
mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. You see Zophar would
be saying to David, David don't do that no more, just repent
of it, just repent of it and don't do it anymore and you're
gonna have God's favor again. But that's not what David said,
David said wash me throughly inside and out, wash me. wash me throughly from mine iniquity
and cleanse me from my sins put them away lord i can't do it
put away this sin put away this guilt david even asked god in
psalm 51 to blot out all his iniquities lord blot them out
there are many there are many And Zophar is saying, if you
do these things, if you do these things, for then shalt thou lift
up thy face. You know, Job said over in chapter
10 that he couldn't lift his face up. He said, well, if you
do what I'm telling you, you can. Oh, he said, well, then shalt
thou lift up thy face without spot, without moral defect. Yea, thou shalt be steadfast
and shalt not fear. When you have cleansed yourself
from your sins, then you can lift up your head again. When
you can put away your guilt, Job, Job, put your guilt away,
and you can lift your head up again. You know, confess and
admit, and you can lift your face up again without
spot, without moral defect. I'll tell you when we can lift
our face up again, when Christ has washed us from our sins,
when he's put away my guilt, my shame when christ washes has
washed us from our sins and we are made the righteousness of
god in christ then can we lift up our heads when he does it
when he does it when he delivers us from the power of sin then
we can lift up our heads when he cleanses us then we can lift
up our head but me doing it i'm just not gonna do that no more
Well, you'll do something else if you don't do that. It'll just
be something else. I need the blood of Jesus Christ
to wash me from my sins. I need God to give me a clean
heart and a right spirit. I need God to do something. He's
telling Job to do something here. Everything he's saying is, Job,
you do this and God will do that. And he said, if you do this,
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, yea, thou
shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear, because thou shalt
forget thy misery, and remember it as water that is passed away.
You know the only way to forget my misery over my sins is not
by what I do, but through the blood of the
crucified one. In Christ all my sins are put
away. I'm steadfast in Christ. My steadfastness
is in Jesus Christ. That's where my steadfastness
is. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
In thine age, he says, shall be clearer than the noon day.
Thou shalt shine forth. Thou shalt be as the morning.
Zophar seemed to think only of this life. He speaks as if right living, if you just live right, so called,
is the fountain of youth. And thine age shall be clearer
than the noonday. The fountain of youth is Job
is just living right. Only in the righteousness of
Jesus Christ can we shine forth. Don't shine forth in what I'm
doing or not doing. I shine forth in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That's how we really shine forth,
is in the sun of righteousness. We cannot make ourselves righteous
by quitting certain sins. We don't make ourselves righteous
by repentance. Repentance is a gift of God,
but it doesn't make us righteous. Christ made us righteous by His
doing. We are made the righteousness of God in Christ. That's how we were made righteous.
Christ makes us shine forth in His righteousness. And listen
here in verse 18, and thou shalt be secure, safe. Job, if you
do these things, If thou, if thou, if thou, if you do these
things, if you listen to me, you'll be safe. These calamities
will be gone because there's hope. Hope where, Job? In your righteousness. There's
hope in the righteousness of Christ. There's hope in the mercy
of God. There's hope in that. Yea, thou
shalt dig about thee and lay a foundation for acceptance is
what he's saying. You'll dig about thee and lay
a foundation. What's the foundation of our
acceptance? Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's the foundation. Of the foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, Jesus Christ. He's the foundation. And thou shalt take thy rest
in safety. If you do these things, put away
your sin and put away your guilt, you'll find rest and safety.
I find rest and safety in Christ putting them away. Not just the sins before I believed,
but since I believed, and the sins I ain't even committed yet.
He put them away. But what he's telling him, such
living brings a safe life. You know, these calamities will
be gone. You know, these calamities are on you because of your sinfulness,
of your hypocrisy. And if you put this stuff away,
you'll be safe. He don't have a clue what he's
talking about. If you remove your guilt, rest, peace, and
safety will be yours. Well, here's the problem. I can't
remove guilt. I can't remove guilt. I tell
you what, if you go out of here and you do something you should
not do, you should not do, something that's just wrong as can be,
and you say, I'm not gonna go do that anymore, and you don't
do that anymore, does that put away guilt? You know, you feel
the guilt of it. David, you know, when David committed
adultery with Bathsheba in Psalm 32, he tried to ignore it. He tried not to admit it. Go
over here to Psalm 32. I believe that's the Psalm. Let's see here. He says in Psalm 32, Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sins covered.
That's the blessed man, not the one who, I didn't cover my sins.
If I cover my sins, I'm in trouble. Scripture said, He that covereth
his sin shall not prosper. But if Christ does it, that's
a different story. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there's no
guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring
all the day long. He tried to keep silent about
that situation. That was between him, Bathsheba,
and having her husband killed. For day and night thy hand was
heavy upon me, my moisture turned into the drought of summer. I
acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not
hid. I said, I'll confess my transgressions
unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. You see, just when you, for a
child of God now, for a child of God, you can just, you can have said
something which you hadn't said and you'll feel bad about it
for, you'll just feel bad about it. You just feel the guilt of
it. You do something you shouldn't have done. You feel the guilt
of it. Only Christ could put that away through his blood.
Only Christ can quiet an accusing conscience. Only the blood of
Christ can quiet an accusing conscience. David said, My bones waxed old
through the roaring no if christ puts puts it away
then i can find peace and rest and safety also he said here
also thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee afraid yea
many shall make suit under that's all he's thinking about do you
really want people to make suit to you i tell you what i tell
everybody here and everybody else go to christ you don't come
to me you don't make suit to me You see how Zophar said, everybody,
you'll have favor again, and people will seek your advice,
and they'll come to you like they used to. That's not what
Job wants. That's not what a believer wants.
I want you to go to Christ. He's the counselor. He's the
counselor. You see, here it is. He must
increase, I must decrease. You'll have people's favor. That's
not what I'm after. I've got to decrease. He must
increase. I don't want your, I'm not trying
to get your favor. I mean, I want you to like me. I'm not trying to, I'm not trying
to court your favor. No, I want you to, I want you
to know Christ. I want you to go to him, but
the eyes of the wicked. Now, Job, if you don't listen,
he said, Job, listen to me. You know, if you don't do what
I tell you, this is what's going to happen to you. The eyes of
the wicked will fail. And they shall not escape, and
their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost. This is your
lot, Job. If you continue, this is your
lot. If you don't take my advice,
you're going to perish. Here's my closing question. Where's
the blood? And all that advice he gave to
Job, where's the blood? It's the blood that makes atonement
for our sins, for our soul. Where's the blood? You know,
if you've got a brother or sister that's fallen, talk to them about
the blood. Talk to them about the blood
that put away our sins. Where's the mercy seat? Where's the mercy
of God? Where's the mercy of God? Where's the throne of grace? Where's the throne of grace?
Job, if you put these things away, if you clean your house,
if you do all these things, then you'll have God's favor again,
you'll have the people's favor again, and all this will be like
waters that just passed away. There's no gospel in that. No
gospel there. Boy, I tell you what, if you're
going to talk to a guilty soul, talk to them about the blood
that put away sin. Talk to them about the mercy
seat. Talk to them about the throne of grace, where you have
found grace. Don't talk down to them. Put
your arm around them and tell them, say, why? Tell them about
where you found grace. Tell them where you found peace. Where is the attitude of grace? You know, this is, Oftentimes the Lord will bring
one of His children into hardship, deep trouble, and it brings the
grace out of us, or lack thereof. It reveals it, whether we have
it or we don't have it. Where is the attitude of great
where where is Galatians 6 1 brethren if a man be overtaken in a fall
ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness,
did you hear any meekness in this? in this Multitude of words
and so far gave Did you hear any meekness? Did you hear any
kindness job your lives? I? Your lives have got to be
answered. Your mockery has got to be answered. Listen here. To restore such
a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself. Zophar never
considered his own sinfulness, his own weakness, his own...
I may fall tomorrow. You may fall tomorrow. Somebody
will fall tomorrow. He says considering thyself lest
I'll also be tempted. That's all that's all that's
needed That's all that's needed. You know that all that that the
Lord needs do just let you be tempted right now You and I cannot
Apart from the grace of God. We cannot cannot cannot resist
any Temptation period I don't care how little the temptation
is we fall over like a crippled man. I We just can't resist it
unless the Lord help us. Bear you one another's burdens. He wasn't, he wasn't bearing
a burden here. He was putting a greater burden
on Job. You just, when we get to chapter
12 and Job straightens him out. I mean, Job, I have to say one
thing about Job, buddy, in all this sickness and all this weakness
and all this losses, buddy, there's a lot of fight still in that
man. He was right he knew he was right
they just didn't know where he was coming from here is an old
warrior that has experienced a lot of things. And he is talking,
I realize this now going through this, he's talking in such deep
language. You see, he's been in deep waters,
and he has done business in deep waters. And he's speaking in
such language that only those who've been in that water can
understand what he's saying. And those three friends, life
is, you know what T-shirt says, life is good. They probably came
up with that slogan. Life is good. Job, Job knew the
truth about life. He says, God, God, you know,
man doesn't have to be sinful for God to send affliction on
him. Job said, I know, I know that I didn't do what you are
saying that I did to deserve this. Bear you one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Zophar had no gospel. And you can see the next chapter,
Job takes him apart. Job, he had a lot of fight left
in him. He might have been weak in the
flesh, but he wasn't weak in the spirit. He stood his ground. He stood
his ground through this thing. I tell you what, Whenever we
go through something, let's consider ourselves, lest we also be tempted.
Let's restore one another in the spirit of meekness. Let's
come to one another with the gospel. Not if you straighten
up, you know, it'll get better. Come to me in the spirit of the
gospel, the spirit of grace. All right.