Job chapter 8. Job chapter 8. There are three things for sure
in this chapter, and there's two things that God absolutely
will not do. But before I get to that, I want
to just say a few things about the conversation I really don't
think it was a conversation. Yeah, Job was sitting there listening,
and Bildad is doing all the talking. Not much of a conversation when
only one of you is talking. But Bildad takes a shot at Job. That's just what it is. It's
like It's like, you ever seen those, I know you have, you see
those WWF, when they used to tag team, they'd tag out and
get somebody down, another one jump in, take a turn, and then
he'd tag out. That's the thing I thought of
when I was reading this. Eliphaz just, he'd spoken to
Job, and Job said some things. And now Bill Dadd has taken a
shot at him. And he's even more merciless
than Eliphaz was. You know, one of the things we
should learn as we read the word of God and as we go through this
life, we should learn not to judge by outward circumstance
or appearance. We can't see into the secret
counsel of God. You know, what God has designed
for me and what God has designed for you is just that. He designed
it for you. And what He puts me through,
He puts me through. And we need to be careful about
judging by someone's circumstance as to their standing before God
or standing with God. Because our standing with God
is in Christ. It's always in Christ. If we stand at all, if
we stand at all, it's in Christ. And we also need to learn to
rightly divide the word of truth. I think Bill Dadd has completely
missed it. He says, look back, he tells Job to look back to
antiquity, to look back to tradition, to look back to our forefathers.
Well, evidently, when he looked back, he wasn't getting the same
message. There's a real importance here
of rightly dividing the truth and rightly interpreting history. Because history is God's story.
It's God's story. And there's something else I
know here, and you all know this, but I know this. All of God's
children shall be tried, some more severely than others. That
does not mean he loves some more than others. It's just the wisdom
of God in dealing with his children. Some he deals with in a way that's... I don't believe any of us will
ever go through what Job went through. I don't believe so. He dealt severely with Job here.
But what Job was learning is a spiritual lesson. Bildad is
missing it. He's talking to the perfect man.
God said, if you consider my servant Job, who is perfect and
upright, and Bildad, as we'll see here,
he's saying to Job, Job, if you were perfect, God wouldn't cast
you away. God doesn't cast away perfect people, perfect men and
women. He doesn't do that. This is a display of knowledge
without grace. It's a display of knowledge without
grace. And knowledge without grace only
puffs up, and knowledge without grace will make you hard. It'll
make you hard. The Pharisees were the meanest
people in religion. They were the meanest. If you
look at the history of Catholicism, that was some of the meanest
people that's ever been on this earth. Religion without grace It'll
bring out that self or knowledge, knowledge without grace. It'll
bring out that self-righteousness. And of course, without grace,
you'll misinterpret it and you'll use it wrongly. You'd be like
Peter who pulled that sword out and wanted to cut that guy's
head off. This, our sword is the word of God. It's the word
of God. And it's to rightly divide the
word of truth is so important. It's so important. Now verse
1 and 2, Bildad speaks and he tells Job that his words are
like a strong wind. Boisterous, strong, but without
substance. You see, he's really calling
Job just a big windbag. You know how insulting that is? He says here, listen to this,
How long wilt thou speak these things? And how long shall the
words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? You can do a lot of damage,
but there's no substance. Does God pervert judgment? Job. You know, Job never accused God
of perverting judgment. You read what Job had to say.
We've looked at that here in the past few weeks. He did not
accuse God of perverting judgment or justice. But Bildad is saying,
Job, God does not pervert judgment or justice, which you are basically
accusing God of, of things you have said. And I want you to notice how
mean this guy gets. Here's what self-righteousness
does. What happened to your children,
Job, and what's happened to you is an act of justice. If thy
children have sinned against him, and he hath cast them away
for their transgression. You know what he's saying to
Job? God killed your children as an act of justice. Your children
have transgressed. Your children have sinned or
sinned. And God has acted in justice
toward them. God has cut them off. He's taken
them away. Their transgressions has gotten a hold of them, and
they've been taken away." Look over in the margin. You see in
my Bible here, number 8, it says, "...for their transgressions,
cast them away for their transgressions. In the hand of their transgressions
they've been taken away." Isn't that mean? Isn't that mean? There's not an ounce of grace
in that man's voice. Where's grace in all of this?
What Bildad is doing through this whole thing, he's standing
up for the justice of God. He's trying to hold forth the
justice of God and no grace at all. No grace at all. Should we not consider that it
could be us in this same situation? Could we not think the best of
our brother? When he's going through a heavy,
he or she is going through a heavy trial, can we not think the best
of them? Bildad is thinking the worst of Job. He's known Job
for years. I have no doubt about that. He
has known him for years. He has known that man's conduct
in life. And here he's under a severe
trial of which Bildad knows nothing about either. He don't know why
this is happening. He's just summarizing that you
must be wicked because this is how God deals with wicked people.
No, this is how God deals with his children. This is how he
also deals with his children. Listen to Galatians 6, 1 and
2, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, kindness, gentleness,
considering thyself." Bildad didn't even consider himself.
I have no doubt that Bildad believed, like a Pharisee, that he was
without reproach. He's like that young man, all
these I've kept from my youth up. Never considering himself
that God could put him in the same situation. He never even
considered that. He tells us there in Galatians,
"...to consider thyself, lest thou also be tempted." Bear you
one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Bear
one another's burdens. Don't beat up on one another.
Bear one another's burdens. And then he says here, and this is where his self-righteousness
just comes out. He said, your children have sinned
against God. God has acted in justice toward
them. But now listen, Job. He said,
Job, listen to me. God has spared you. God has spared
you. He didn't kill you. So if you
would seek God early and make that supplication to the Almighty,
and if you're pure and upright, if you're perfect and upright,
well, He would awake for you, Job. He would awake for you. And what Bildad is saying is
evidently, Job, you must not be pure and upright because God's
not awaking for you. He's not coming to your help. That's why I say we don't judge
a man's or a woman's situation or their standing with God by
circumstance. We don't know how long a trial
will go on. A trial may go on for years.
It can go on for years. With Job, it went on for a good
while. You know, the first thing, he lost his children, and he
lost everything he had. And then a little time went by,
then Satan came to God again, and then he lost his health,
and his wife turned on him, his friends have turned on him. We
don't know how long a trial will go. It may go for years. It may
go, actually, all the way to the grave. It won't go past the
grave. Thank God for that. It won't
go past the grave, but it may go to the grave. But that's all
right, it will end. It will end. But he's saying
here, if you'd seek unto God early and make thy supplication
to the Almighty, if thou were pure and upright, surely now
He would awake for thee. Surely, Job, if you're an upright,
righteous man, God would awake for thee. And here is just today's
religion. Listen, and make the habitation
of thy righteousness prosperous. He'll make you rich again. That's
what's on Bill Dad's mind. He said, if you seek God, God
will make you rich again, you'll have prosperity, it'll be health
and wealth. That's all he's thinking about.
The prosperity that God has purposed for Job and for every one of
his children, when he puts them through whatever he puts them
through, is spiritual prosperity. It's not a bigger house, it's
not a better job, You know, I've been asked over
the years to pray for, there was some particular person in
my mind some years ago, sick. And someone said to pray for
him. And we were talking, I said, I really don't know how. I said,
he may need to get sicker. I said, all I can do is pray
the Lord's will be done. I can do that. And as a brother
to a brother. Now, as a brother to a brother,
I can pray that the Lord would heal him. But I told this person,
I said, but I said, I have to realize that he may need to be
sicker. And you know what? The Lord healed
him. He took him home. He took him
home. He did heal him completely. Because if I have a sickness
and the Lord heals me now, I've got to go through it again. You
know, Lazarus was raised from the dead. But you know, he had to die again.
They had to go through that again. Our prosperity is spiritual prosperity. That's what we want. That's what
I want the Lord to give me. That's what I want Him to give
you. Spiritual prosperity. Spiritual growth in grace and
in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not more money. Not a bigger house. Not anything
of this life. Our Father knows what our need
is, doesn't He? He knows our need. And He'll
supply our need as we go along through this life. But my greatest
need is to grow in grace and in knowledge of Jesus Christ.
That's my greatest need. Bill Dadd is thinking of He's
saying the material thing, Job, you'll get all this stuff back
and more. Because He says, even though
your beginning there in verse 7, listen, "...though thy beginning
was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." Let
me tell you this. To every believer, our latter
end will increase. It's called heaven. It's called
a new heaven, new earth. It's a new body. My ladder in
is going to increase. I'm going to and you're going
to enjoy the inheritance that you and I have in Jesus Christ. It's an inheritance that can't
be counted up monetarily. You can't put a money value on
it. Can't do it. You can't do it. But he's thinking here, you see,
and this is the way self-righteousness is, and this is the way false
religion thinks. False religion thinks of the
present time, present riches, present health, present happiness. I want eternal happiness. What
do you want? I want eternal happiness, no
matter what this is, for a little while. Because this is just for
a little while. This life is just for a little
while. It's a short while, too. Even
Bildad admits that, because he says down there in verse 9, For
we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days
upon earth are just a shadow. Just a shadow, but in order to
try to give some weight to his argument, he tells Job there
in verse eight, inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, our
forefathers, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers. History, listen, history is correct
if you interpret it right. Now, if you interpret it wrong,
you're wrong all the way. Now, I don't know when this was
written. I'm going to assume, just for the sake of this, that
this was after Abraham. Did he not look at Noah and see
how God saved him? Did he not look at Abraham and
see how God saved him? But now, they were not without
trouble. None of God's children are without
trouble. None of God's children on this
earth are without tribulation. None of them are. You know, it says in Proverbs
16, 31, the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the
way of righteousness. So if you're going to look back,
and you're going to take some instructions, and that's fine. But just make sure that that
hoary head you're looking back on was found in the way of righteousness,
Christ's righteousness, the gospel, the truth. And if it's not found
in that way, it's a tradition that needs to be tossed. It needs
to be tossed. Now listen, we can learn much
from those who have gone on before us, but only if we have the Spirit
of God as our master teacher. Be careful even when you look
back in the Word of God. When you look back in the Word
of God, you read about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David. If God,
the Holy Spirit is not your teacher, you'll misinterpret them. You'll
misinterpret God's dealing with them. You'll miss it. The Holy Spirit is the one who
opens the Scriptures to us. He's the one who teaches us these
things as we read them in His Word. We read about these men,
these old patriarchs. We learn from them as we are
taught of God. You know what happens if you
look back and you learn from somebody and the Holy Spirit's
not your teacher? You'll do what the Pharisees
did. You and I will do what the Pharisees did. We'll set the
tradition up over the commandments of God. We'll put it up over
the word of God. That's what they did. It's evident to me that Bildad
misinterpreted God's dealings with the forefathers. He looked
at their blessings and he didn't look at their trials and the
things that they went through. Now he's gonna say something
here about the hypocrite, but here, let me for the next few
minutes or so, I wanna look at, what did I title that? Three things that are sure and
two things that God can't do. God will not do, put it that
way, God will not do. First of all, you go back to
verse three. Does God pervert judgment or
does the Almighty pervert justice? Absolutely not. And Job never
insinuated that at all. It's interesting, and when somebody's
upset with you, they're not listening to you. They're not paying attention. You can be talking to them. He
was so mad with that conversation with Eliphaz and Job, the things
that were being said, he wasn't paying a bit of attention to
what Job said. He didn't hear at all. God will not pervert judgment
for any reason. If that were even possible, if
it were possible for God to pervert judgment, Calvary would not have
happened. Calvary would not have happened.
God would have spared His only begotten Son. He would have spared,
this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. If God perverted
judgment and justice, He would have spared him. When he was
in the Garden of Gethsemane, God would have spared him. When
he said, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, that cup
would have passed. And that would have been a perversion
of justice. In Romans 8.32, He that spared not his own son. That's a powerful statement.
That is a powerful statement. When Christ was made to be sin,
God the Father didn't spare Him at all. He spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all. He delivered Him up to
the sword of justice, to the hatred of men. He delivered Him
up. And he says, How shall he not
with Him also freely give us all things? But God spared not
His own Son. And the reason He spared not
His own Son, His beloved Son, His only begotten Son, is because
He is a just God. He's just. God cannot pervert
justice. That's why when Christ was made
to be sin for us, He had to die. He had to die. There was no other
option. Once he was made to be sin, he
had to die. When he agreed to be our substitute,
he had to die. When he agreed to be our surety,
he had to die. God cannot look upon sin with
indifference, even when it's found on his Son. When Adam fell,
the chief of God's creation, it wasn't the animal world, it
was not the stars. It was not the galaxies. It was
not the forest. It was not anything on this earth
with all its variety. It was that man that was created
in His image. And when that man that was created
in His image fell, God kicked him out of the garden. And the
whole world came under condemnation by one act of disobedience. That shows how just God is. God
is not some weak, puny God who just lets sin go. I'm thinking of parents. I'll whip you if you do it again,
if you do it again, if you do it again. We tell them 15 times,
if you do it again. Some do. God said, you do it one time
and you're out. Adam sinned one time. How many
times have you sinned? How many times have I sinned? This stands as a monument to
us. When Adam fell by one act of disobedience, God kicked him
out of the garden and would not allow him back in. He was not
allowed back in. God put those flaming swords
there to keep him out of that garden. He was not going to work
his way back. That belongs to the second Adam. That belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ who was created in God's image and who is God. You know, what we see as purposed in the first
Adam was accomplished in the second Adam. The first Adam is
a picture. The first Adam is a picture of
the second Adam. Except he failed. He failed. He failed. When Adam sinned, he was kicked
out. God flooded this whole earth
and killed every living, breathing thing on it. You believe that? Do you honestly believe that?
Do you believe that in that day when it flooded, it flooded,
I think it's 20 feet over the highest mountain. I think it's
what it was, 20 feet over the highest mountain on this earth.
Everything that had breath died. God acted in justice. He acted in justice and judgment. He will not pervert it. And then
one day, he burned completely to the ground a place called
Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of his hatred of sin and immorality. That's a monument. You know, when God gives us an
example, he doesn't have to give us 50 of them. Here's one. One's
enough when God gives it. One example's enough when God
gives it. And He burnt that to the ground and everybody in it. Psalm 45, 6 and 7, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore God, Thy God, hath
anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. Isaiah 45, 21. Tell ye and bring
them near, yea, let them take counsel together, who hath declared
this from ancient time, who hath told it from that time. Have
not I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me, a just
God and a Savior. That's the part Bill Dad missed.
That's the part he missed. He got God as being a just God,
but he didn't get God as being a Savior. He's a just God. Now, it's in this order, a just
God and a Savior. It is in that order, because
he's going to be just. And the way he saves is a just
way. It's not going to be a way of perverting justice. He's going
to be a just God, and he's going to be a Savior, a Savior of sinners. A Savior of sinners. Bildad said
to Job there in verse 8, "'If thou were pure and upright, surely
now He'd wake for thee.'" You know what they said of Christ?
This man receives sinners and He eats with them. Aren't you glad of that? If I
had to be pure and upright in order for God to defend me and
rise from me, I'd be a goner. In myself, I'm talking about
in myself. I'll get to the perfect man here in a minute. But in
myself, I'd be in trouble. I'd be in trouble. He says in
Psalm 119, 75, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right.
I don't know why God does what he does, or who he takes, when
he takes somebody out of this world, when he takes them out,
That's his business, that's not my business. But I know this,
it's right. Whatever he does is right. Abraham said, the judge
of the earth will do right. I know that. I know that. And then the second thing here
for sure is this. The hypocrite, his hope shall
perish. Look here what he says in verse,
starting in verse 11. Can the rush grow up without
mire? Can the flag grow without water? While it is yet in its
greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
That is, when it dries up and it doesn't have the water, it
dries up quickly, like a hypocrite, like a hypocrite, dries up quickly. So are the paths of all that
forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. That's true.
That's true. He did say some true things.
Bill did say some true things. The hope of the hypocrite, it
shall perish. I'm gonna read you what Spurgeon
said about the hypocrite here. The reeds are like the hypocrite,
or one who makes a mere show of faith without true trust in
God, which I think he's charging Job with. He's directing this
at Joe. Spurgeon used Bildad's illustration
of papyrus reed here in these verses as a description of the
hypocrite. Like the reed, hypocrites grow
up quickly. They grow up quickly. And like
the reed, hypocrites are hollow and without substance. They have
no substance. And like the reed, hypocrites
are easily bent. You can sway, a hypocrite will
sway one way or the other. There's nothing solid about a
hypocrite. And like the reed, hypocrites can lower their heads
in false humility. And like the reed, hypocrites
bear no fruit. They bear no fruit. He says here, it withers before
any other plant, long before the Lord comes to cut the hypocrite
down. It often happens that he dries
up for want of the mire on which he lives. The excitement, the
encouragement, the example, the profit, the respectability, the
prosperity upon which he lived failed him and he failed too.
But you cannot apply this to Job. You cannot apply this to
one of God's children. Just wait till the end. Doug
read this over in Psalm 37 and it jumped out at me. In Psalm
37, 37, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the
end of that man is peace. Just wait till the end. Don't
judge the end when you're just middle ways. Or if you're just
beginning, don't judge the end from the beginning. Only God
can do that. I'm like, Bill, Dad, won't you shut up and just
wait to the end? And you'll see that the end of
this man, Job, is peace. And the end of every child of
God, no matter what they're going through, the end is peace. It's
peace. Peace with God, peace of heart.
It's peace. And then last of all, God will not cast away a perfect
man. See, three things for sure. God
will not pervert judgment, and that's something God will not
do, is pervert judgment. The hope of the hypocrite, for
sure, will be cut off, those who forget God. And then last
of all, God will not cast away a perfect man, that's for sure.
And that's something God absolutely will not do. He will not cast
away a perfect man. A perfect man is a man who has
no sin. Bildad's not talking to Job about
a substitute. He's talking about a man who's
perfect in his conduct, in his way. There's not a just man upon
earth who sins not, who doeth good and sins not. There is only one man who literally,
truly knew no sin. I can't comprehend that. That's
all I've ever known. That's all I've ever known is sin. But the man, Jesus Christ, knew
no sin. By birth, by thought, never even
had a thought of sin. Not even a thought. Not an action. He never begrudged anybody. When
he was reviled, he reviled not. He loved his neighbor as himself.
He loved God with all his heart. He knew no sin. Well, how does that help me?
How does that help me? It helps me in this, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is a representative man. He's my representative. Listen to Romans 5, 18, 19, Therefore,
as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. I am made righteous. That means
perfect. That means perfect. In God's
book, righteousness is perfection in God's sight. If I have been
made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ, I am before God and you
are before God perfect. Perfect without sin. It says in 1 John 3 verse 5,
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in
Him is no sin. As He is, it says in 1 John,
as He is, so are we in this world. So are we. I don't feel perfect. I won't
know what that really feels like in this life, and you won't either. I know what sin feels like. I
know what guilt feels like. I don't know what perfection
feels like. But I know that in Christ, I am perfect. I know
it by the Word of God and by the witness of His Spirit. And
someday, I'll know what it is by experience. I'll know what
it is by experience. His righteousness is our righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness. It says in Jeremiah 33, 16, in
those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.
And this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. That's what we're called. The
Lord our righteousness. It says the same thing in Jeremiah
23 verse 6. In his days, Judah shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby he shall
be called. You notice one of them says he
shall be called, the other says she shall be called. Christ and
his people are one. They're one. And he shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. In Christ, we stand absolutely
perfect. We need to get a hold of that.
We need to get a hold of that. Colossians 2.10, and you are
complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and
power. God will not, God will not prefer
judgment. I want God to be just, don't
you? You know, I wish every judge
that sits on the bench in this country, throughout the world,
but especially in this country, I wish they were just. I would
to God they were just. I want God to deal with me in
mercy. But I want him to be a just God, and I want it to be done
in a just way, because I don't have to be concerned about something
happening down the road. You can't trust a crook. You
can't trust an unjust judge. You can't trust him not to change
his mind and pervert judgment. God will not pervert judgment. The hope of the hypocrite shall
perish. That's true. But don't apply
it to the wrong person. Don't apply it to God's people.
And God will not. He absolutely will not cast away
a perfect man. And the evidence of that is the
Lord Jesus Christ when he rose from the grave. He was a perfect
man and the grave could not hold him. And every one of his children
for whom he died are in him. And when he died, he died for
every one of them. He died for every one of them. Every one
of them whose name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. God
is not writing down names as time goes by. He's not writing down names.
Those names were written before the foundation of the world.
I'm going to save them. I'm going to save them in a just
way. And I'm going to save them in a way that they're perfect. Because God said it must be perfect
to be accepted. And thank God in Christ we have
that. All right.