Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Job chapter 34. Job chapter 34. In studying for
this message and looking on different books and the internet and different
places for research into words and sermons and stuff, I see
a lot of lot of what is labeled Thanksgiving messages. And somebody
asked me, he said, well, have I got my Thanksgiving message
ready? And I thought to myself, and
I understand that, and that's OK. I said, yes, I do. But I got to thinking about,
every time we preach the gospel of God's grace, it's a time of
Thanksgiving, isn't it, for sinners who know Christ. And especially
the subject for tonight, we're going begin in verse 10 of chapter
34 on the subject of the absolute justice of God. The absolute
justice of God. And what that means is that God
is always at all times eternally just in all that he does in every
way. As you know, we're talking about
this passage here where this young man named Elihu is broken
in to speak, broken in by God's providence and by command of
God to speak to Job and Job's three friends. Job, under his
severe trial and his severe chastisement, his suffering out of his ignorance,
Job knows a lot. We've covered 33 chapters of
the book of Job, and I tell you, I've learned from Job. Actually,
we learn from the Holy Spirit through Job, don't we? But Job
knows a lot, but there's a lot he doesn't know. He knows a lot
as he's been taught of the Lord concerning the salvation of sinners
through the coming Redeemer, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom Job knew as his future kinsman Redeemer. He knew a lot about
how God justifies the ungodly, how God saves sinners. But in
these matters of providence, he's just like us, day-to-day
living. We know that we're saved and
secured for salvation even unto glory through God's grace in
Christ. And the more that we can be sealed
in our minds and our hearts concerning the assurance of that, the more
glory we give to God. That little passage in Romans
chapter 4 where it says, Abraham believed God. That means he gave
glory to God. That's what it says there. He
gave glory to God. The more we believe... You see,
it's dishonoring to God for us not to believe Him. If you tell
someone something that you know to be true and they don't believe
you, that really dishonors you. You know that. They're actually,
in essence, calling you a liar or either ignorant. You're either
a liar or you're ignorant. And see, it's the same way with
God. Somebody says, well, I'm just so sinful. I don't know
if God will save me. Well, the Bible says, God says,
this is a faithful saying that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. And Paul said, of whom I am chief.
And that's not just poetry. That was God the Holy Spirit
inspiring Paul to say these words, of whom I am chief. You know
what Paul was? He was the chief of sinners.
Now, what all the implications of that and what that means,
I can't tell you. But I know this. I know this. The Bible
says that Christ came to save sinners, not people who deserve
to be saved or who have earned salvation. Do you doubt God's
power and ability and willingness to save His people from their
sins? We shouldn't doubt it because He says it. But in these matters
of providence that Job is struggling with, why am I suffering, Job
asked. I don't know the reason. Where
is this coming from? What is the cause of this? What is the purpose of it? How
is it going to end up in this life? I know I'm going to see
my Redeemer, he said. I know how it's going to end
up in eternity. I know that it's all gonna work for my good in
Christ. He knew that, but how's it gonna
work out in this life? One, you know, Job had lost everything. And so he speaks out of ignorance. He speaks out of his despair
in the things of this life. And in so doing, he'd made some
mistakes. He had sinned greatly. Not just
made mistakes, but he'd sinned greatly. He said here in verse
9, this is Elihu talking to Job and he says, For he hath said,
look at verse 9, For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing
that he should delight himself with God. Now Job didn't make
that statement. But by Job's complaining and
Job's despair and Job accusing God of being unjust, he in essence
had said that. And remember I mentioned that
the last time I preached from these first nine verses, sometimes
we need to stop and think, we as believers now, we need to
stop and think about the implications of things that we think and say
and do. And that's what Elihu is pointing
out to Job. He's saying, Job, even though
you haven't made this statement, quote unquote, In essence, by
your complaining and by your accusing God of being unfair
to you or unjust to you, you've made this statement in essence
this way. It doesn't profit a man anything
to serve God. Well, we know that's not true.
We know it's not true because God says it's not true. God says
it does profit a man to delight himself in God. Now we know that
profit is not profit like in the stock market or in your job. It's not profit of merit. You
don't earn God's blessing, but it's the profit of grace in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ because delighting in the Lord gives
evidence that we're united to Him, that He died for our sins,
that He gave us His righteousness. Now in order to support what
Elihu is saying here, he brings forth three things here. And
the first thing, look at verse 10, he brings forth first this
fact, God judges and acts righteously and according to truth in all
things. There's never a time, no matter
what's going on in your life or my life, there's never a time
that God judges or acts unrighteously or in a false way or unfairly. God is perfection without any
taint of sin. That's what Elihu is going to
say here. His dealings with men and his judgment of men is always
right. It's always just. It's always
fair. And it's always according to
truth. Now, we may not understand it all. We may not know the ins
and outs of all the details that God allows in our lives. But
God is never wicked. He's never the author of sin.
He's never the promoter of sin. He's never sinful himself. He never encourages sin. He never
infuses sin into anybody. There's no case or work wherein
God would do wickedly in any way. Look at verse 10. He says,
Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding. If God
has given us any understanding by His Spirit, And of course
we know that's the way he does in the new birth. He gives us
an understanding. 1 John 5 says that. God's given
us an understanding that we may know him that is true. He says
in verse 10, far be it from God that he should do wickedness.
Job's suffering, but now listen, Job, listen, God's not doing
wickedly here. Some preachers will tell you,
well, God had nothing to do with this. You better go back and
read chapter 1. You better go back and read the book, as somebody
said. God's in control of even this. And he says, and from the
almighty that he should commit iniquity? Impossible. That's
the way the construction of the language is. Impossible. God
forbid Paul would say it that way. God forbid that God should
do iniquity. Anything imbalanced God forbid
he says in verse 11 for the work of a man shall he render unto
him and cause every man to find according to his ways verse 12
yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert
judgment God's absolute justice He won't pervert judgment There's
no case and no work no act in creation, in salvation, or in
providence where God acts unjustly and unfairly. This language here
that Elihu is using kind of reminds us of the Apostle Paul over in
Romans chapter 9. Remember when he's talking about
election? God chose his people before the
foundation of the world. And then he brings in the twins,
Jacob and Esau. He says in verse 13, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. And you see, we can't think of
God's love and God's hatred the way we think of ours. It's not
emotional. It's not reactionary. It's not
arbitrary. It's all based on God's justice. God's love is based on his justice
performed and accomplished and fulfilled in Christ. There's
no love from God outside of Christ. I don't care what anybody says.
You read this book and it'll tell you. And God's hatred is
his justice against those without Christ. It's not just God's emotion. It's not, listen, we'll look
at it in a moment. It's not because God prefers
this over that. It's who God is. And he mentions
this in Romans 9 and verse 14. Remember, he says, what shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? God forbid. God forbid. He says, for he said
to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. The fact
that the thing that we ought to focus on there is the fact
that God has mercy at all on any of us. Now seek his mercy. Now he's going to have mercy
on whom he will. He's in charge. He said, you're
not in charge. I'm not in charge. God is. But
the fact that he has mercy on anybody, you know what that ought
to do for us? It ought to put us on our knees, on our faces,
begging for mercy. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He says, I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. But here's the thing now that
we've got to see. Here's what brings a sinner down
if the Holy Spirit's pleased to reveal it to our hearts. Verse
16, so then it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy. Now is God unfair? God forbid. Is God unrighteous? God forbid.
Listen, listen to this. God did not pervert judgment
when he chose his people before the foundation of the world,
gave them to Christ and conditioned all of their salvation upon Christ.
God did not pervert judgment there. God did not pervert judgment
when he condemned Adam and cast him out of the garden. He told
Adam, he said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. And Adam brought the whole human race under condemnation,
ruination. God didn't pervert judgment there.
Listen to this, God did not pervert judgment when he rejected Cain
and accepted Abel. You see, Cain brought his works,
seeking God's favor, seeking God's blessings. God had revealed
already, that's impossible, by deeds of law shall no flesh be
justified in God's sight. God would be unjust if he accepted
Cain based on Cain's works. You know why? Because Cain's
works were not righteous, and no man's is. The only one whose
works were and are righteous is the obedience unto death of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The only one who did a work that
met up to the standard of God's justice and holiness and righteousness
and truth was Christ himself. For God to accept anything less
than that as the ground of salvation or the cause would be injustice.
But God's just. And God accepted Abel not upon
the ground of Abel's righteousness or Abel's works, righteousness,
but on the ground of the blood which represented the Lord Jesus
Christ and his righteousness. God did not pervert judgment
when he destroyed the world with a flood. You know why he destroyed
the world with a flood? Because of sin. The wages of
sin is death. God did not pervert judgment
when he punished Israel many times under that old covenant
for 1,500 years they were under that covenant, Sinai covenant.
And God punished them, God put them in the captives, God brought
them out. Listen, when he punished them he was never unjust and
when he brought them out it was always because of his mercy. And listen to this, here's the
main one. God did not pervert judgment when he punished his
holy, harmless, undefiled son on the cross for the sins of
his people. Because what was he doing? He was punishing Christ
for the sins of his elect people. Several times in the prophets,
I can think of Isaiah chapter 9. where it talks about for unto
us a son is born unto us or a child is born unto us a son is given.
I can think about Jeremiah 23 verse 5 where he talks about
his name shall be called Jehovah Sid Canoe the Lord our righteousness.
It says in those passages and in other passages too numerous
for us to go into all of them tonight. that he shall execute
judgment and justice judgment and truth judgment and righteousness
when christ died on that cross god was just in punishing his
holy son for the sins of his people accounted charged imputed
laid upon him that's what second corinthians five twenty ones
all about he was god had made him sing Christ who knew no sin
for us, He says, that we might be made the righteousness of
God. Christ was made a curse for us. God was not unjust when
He punished Christ. He didn't have to make Christ
a sinner to be just in punishing Him unto death. All He had to
do was charge Him with our sins. That's what the Scripture teaches
and that's what He did. And Christ died under that penalty. And God was just. when he punished
his son. And it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Isaiah 53. What does it mean
it pleased him? Does it mean God took some kind
of a sadistic pleasure out of punishing him? Is that what he's
doing? No. It means it satisfied God's character,
nature, His justice, His holiness, His love. All of it. And then God does not pervert
judgment. when he receives his people,
sinners, based on the righteousness of Christ imputed, charged, accounted
to us. God is just in every way. Think
about that. We're made the righteousness
of God in him. We can stand before a holy God and claim righteousness
according to his justice and his mercy and his love in Christ. And God is just to do so. God
does not pervert judgment when he punishes the wicked for their
sins. And here's what Job is concerned
with. Here's what Elihu is saying to Job. God does not pervert
justice when he chastises or tries his children. His chastisements
are always for a good, honorable purpose. and it's for his glory
and they're good and notice back there in verse 11 of chapter
34 he says for the work of a man shall he render unto him and
cause every man to find according to his ways to judge men according
to his works and ways is God's just judgment you know many times
it speaks of of the works of believers involved in judgment
but always remember it's not it's not judgment based on our
works But it is the judgment of our works as they evidence
our union with Christ. Do I believe in Him? Do I trust
in Him? Do I rest in Him for my whole
salvation? You see, the works of God's people
are the works that He does through us by His power and His grace. He judges the wicked by their
works. He judges the righteous and their works in Christ. And
it's all in Christ. That's why Paul wrote that I
may know Him and be found in Him. And though evil works deserve
damnation, good works cannot merit salvation, but they're
not neglected by the Lord. He said, he's not unrighteous,
unjust to forget your works and labor of love. They're the reward
of righteousness, of righteous men, though it's not of debt,
but of grace. And not for, but in keeping the
commands of God is the reward. Not keeping them perfectly because
we're still sinners and all of our efforts to obey the law fall
short. That's why they have to be sprinkled
by the blood of Christ. But you see that this is the
work of God's grace and grace is a powerful thing. You know,
it's not just a doctrine. It is a doctrine. Don't, don't
get me wrong. And I don't want to downplay
that or diminish it like some, but it's a power too. It's Paul. John called it an unction from
the Holy one. And it works in our minds, our
hearts, our affections, our wills, and keeps our eyes glued to Him.
The obedience of Christ by which we're made righteous, imputed
to us without works, is nothing else but a series of good works
that He accomplished for us. and God judges us by them, and
no iniquity is charged to us. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. Well, now here's the second thing
that Elihu brings forth. Look at verse 13 now. Now he
says, the Almighty will never pervert judgment. God always
acts and works in a righteous way. Shall not the judge of all
the earth do right? Abraham asked. Well, you bet
he will. Well, here's the next thing.
God is the first cause of all things and the standard of all
good and evil. Look at verse 13. He says, Who
hath given him charge over the earth? Now, this country just
elected a president. You may agree with it or you
may not agree with it. Whatever reasoning you use. But
let me tell you something. You didn't elect God. We didn't
vote on God. Who put God in charge of the
earth? Did you or me? Huh? No, sir. He's the creator of all things,
you see. He's the first cause of all things.
Nobody elected Him. He's not there by majority vote
at all. He says in verse 13, or who hath
disposed the whole world? Who's given Him control over
the whole world? Nobody. He has it by nature. He's God. God's in charge, God's
on the throne, God works according to His own will, His sovereign
will, His powerful will, His perfect will. In other words,
God is the supreme court and there's no court above Him. Everything
is measured by Him and He answers to no one. There's no one higher
than Him. He taught Nebuchadnezzar that
didn't in Daniel chapter 4. Who can say unto Him, what doest
thou? He says in verse four, if he
set his heart upon man, and if he gather unto himself his spirit
and his breath, then all flesh shall perish together, and man
shall turn again unto dust. Now what he's saying there is
this, here's how much God's in charge. If God decided today
to withhold the next breath that you're about to breathe, we'd
all perish, wouldn't we? We'd all drop dead. The next
heartbeat, that's all God has to do. The next sight we see,
all flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again to dust.
In other words, what he's saying here is this, our lives are wrapped
up in God, not His in us. You see, man today, they present
a God who needs you, who must have you, who can't get along
without you. who's not successful unless you
put your stamp of approval. No, no, no. That's not the God
of this book, you see. God doesn't need me. He doesn't
need you. I hear preachers say, well, you're the only arms God
has. Man, I hope He's got stronger arms than the ones up here. The
Bible speaks of the arm of the Lord. You know what that is?
That's His sovereign Invincible power that's not these arms God
uses men and women don't get me wrong He it's pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe but
it's listen There's nothing in his nature that requires it Our
God doesn't depend on it our life Depends on the very breath
of God He holds our breath in his hand. That's what he's telling
Job here if God wanted to he could let go and we'd all die
and turn to dust Paul said it this way, in Him we live and
move and have our being. So God doesn't need us, we need
Him. And then here's the third thing that he brings out and
the rest of the chapter or most of it except for the very last
verses is taking up making this point and I want you to listen
to this. First one, God is absolutely just in all things, perfect.
He will not pervert judgment. Secondly, God is the first cause
of all things and the standard of all things, the standard of
all... Good and evil is measured by God, not by you, not by me,
not as we compare to each other, but by God. That's why judgment
is in Christ. God hath appointed the day in
which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained. The standard is Christ. his obedience
unto death, his righteousness alone, I must be found in him
and God has given assurance unto all men in that sense in that
he has raised Christ from the dead and set him on high, he's
seated on high and then here's the next thing God is no respecter
of persons now think about that God is qualified to judge because
he judges in righteousness And he's no respecter of persons. Look at verse 16. He says, if
thou thou hast understanding, hear this hearken to the voice
of my words, shall even he that hateth right govern and wilt
thou condemn him that is most just. Now he's talking about
God. Now we know that there are men who have positions of power
who hate right and who love evil. I mean, we can think of many
in the Bible like that. We can think of men in the generation
before us, Adolf Hitler, we can think about him. But he's talking
about God, shall even he that hateth right govern? God doesn't
hate right. God loves right. God is right. And wilt thou condemn him that
is most just? Will you say God is unjust when
he is the most just? He is just in himself. Verse
18, is it fit to say to a king, thou art wicked? talking about
the king of kings. Is it fit for us to say God acts
wickedly or acts even unfairly? Is that fit for a creature to
do that? Now, sometimes human kings have to be told that. Remember,
Nathan looked at David and said, you're the man. You acted wickedly,
David. So, but now to God, should we
look up at God and say that like Job did in essence? And he said,
and to princes you are ungodly? Think about that. Could you say
to God you're ungodly? He's God. Verse 19. How much less to him that accepteth
not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than
the poor, for they all are the work of his hands. Did you read
that? We may play favorites with people,
but God doesn't. And you might have this idea
that some people are more important to God than others, but it isn't
true. I think about how much the Lord
used the Apostle Paul to spread the gospel through the Gentile
world. He used that man. And really, in the eyes of men,
Paul would have been the least qualified. What was he before
God saved him? He was a great persecutor of
the church. And so, but God in his wisdom,
God who is no respecter of persons chose that, that wretched, infamous,
hated sinner, saved him by his grace through the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And let me tell you something,
the only righteousness that Paul the apostle claimed was the righteousness
of Christ accounted to him. and made him one of the most
able and prolific apostles. He wrote, used Paul to write
over half the New Testament. And here's what I'm saying. Even
in that, the apostle Paul was no more important to God than
the thief on the cross. who was converted in his last
moments on this earth as a dying thief on a cruel ignominious
cross. But you know what? He says here
in verse 19, they're both the work of God's hands. What Paul
was, he said, what I am, I am by the grace of God. Didn't he
say that? He said this, he's talking about the ministry and
the persecutions that come from it and the depth and the importance
of it, the vitalness of it. And he said, who's sufficient
for these things? Not me. He said, our sufficiency is of
God. Paul, the apostle, in his salvation
and in his ministry was the work of God. The thief on the cross
who looked up and said, Lord, remember me when you come in
your camp. He's the work of God. They're all the works of God.
The rich, the poor, And being a respecter of persons is a huge
problem of sin among men. It caused division in Corinth.
They wanted to divide over preachers. Peter had to learn that lesson
even after he was converted, didn't he? This prejudice of
the Jews against the Gentiles. Remember in Acts chapter 10 how
God showed him in a dream that he's no respecter of persons,
and Peter was commanded to go down and preach to a Gentile
named Cornelius. And he said in Acts 10 and verse
34, then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive
that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth
him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him. Now, who
fears him and who works righteousness? Those who know and follow and
trust Christ. They're the work of his hands.
They're not their own self. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Look on verse 20. He says, in
a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight
and pass away and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
God's no respecter of persons. Now they all die. Live today,
gone tomorrow. Verse 21, rich today, poor tomorrow. Poor today, rich tomorrow. whatever
God pleased to do. Verse 21, For his eyes are upon
the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. The sense of
that is he determines it. The sense of this verse in the
original is not portraying God as just some kind of observer
trying to find out what's going on. Or some kind of, as I say,
cosmic chess player making his move and you make your... No,
he's controlling all things. Verse 22, there is no darkness
nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide
themselves. God's no respecter of persons.
The wages of sin is death. Verse 23, for he will not lay
upon man more than right. In other words, whatever God
puts upon a man, it's not because it's unjust and unfair. He says
that he should enter into judgment with God. In other words, he
doesn't lay upon a person more than what's right in his eyes
so that that person could enter into judgment with God and bring
charges against him. That's what he's talking about.
He says in verse 24, He says, He shall break in pieces mighty
men without number and set others in their stead. He takes them
down, He puts people... Nobody's irreplaceable. Nobody's
indispensable. Verse 25, Therefore He knoweth
their works and He overturneth them in the night so that they
are destroyed. He striketh them as wicked men
in the open sight of others. But look at verse 27. because
they turned back from Him and would not consider any of His
ways." You see? Think about that. Consider God's
ways. It's the way of His grace, the
way of Christ. And among the wicked, He's no
respecter of persons. Among the redeemed, He's no respecter
of persons. There's only two things in which
a person can stand before God and be judged. Two ways. You're
either in Christ or you're on your own. Am I right? You're
either washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness
or you're standing there in your sins in full view of God. To
be in Christ is to be eternally blessed of God. To be without
Christ is to be eternally damned. And that's it. No respecter.
It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you were
the president or you were the pauper. In Christ, eternal glory. Without Christ, eternal damnation. And that's it. Look at verse
28. So that they caused the cry of the poor to come unto him,
and he hearth the cry of the afflicted. The character of the
unbelieving here is set as oppressors of the poor. And we can certainly
see much of that in physical matters, but mostly in spiritual
matters. You know, the natural man claims that salvation is
for those who are rich in what they judge as good works, not
for poor, needy sinners. The Pharisees, for example, they
saw themselves as rich in righteousness, in works righteousness. And they
wouldn't even eat with publicans and sinners, those wretched people. Christ said, well, that's the
kind I came to save. Those wretches that you won't
have any association with. He said the sick, that's who
needs the physician. The well don't need a physician.
Look at verse 29. When he giveth quietness, that's
peace, who then can make trouble? If God's pleased to give peace,
nobody can upset that unless God's pleased to remove it. He says, and when he hideth his
face, When God gives peace and security, who can condemn it?
And when God hides his face or withdraws peace and security,
he says in verse 29, he says, when he hides his face, who then
can behold him? Who can see him? Whether it be
done against a nation or against a man only, whether it's a whole
nation or an individual, who can find him out? Verse 30, that
the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared. Now I
want you to think about something on that verse. That the hypocrite
reign not, lest the people be ensnared. Now God is a sovereign
ruler over all men, even over all rulers, even evil rulers. The scripture tells us that.
They may reign for a time, evil rulers, and they may even prosper
for a while. But in the end, it'll all be
according to God's sovereign rule and will. Think about Pharaoh.
Pharaoh was an evil ruler. God turned the heart of Pharaoh
to smile upon Joseph, didn't he? And even before that, and
then after that, then there was another Pharaoh that come along.
And God turned his heart, even hardened his heart, and turned
his heart to accomplish his will to set his people free. O Nebuchadnezzar,
God turned His heart to smile upon Daniel. And even O King
Herod, God worked His will there. All of it. And it's just as true
of modern tyrants. What's the ultimate purpose of
it all? Well, He says, lest the people be ensnared. In other
words, it's to set His people free. That's why He does it. Now, we know sometimes God sets
nations free. Sometimes they die in slavery. But I know eternally speaking
and spiritually speaking, God's people, His spiritual people,
spiritual Israel, are always set free in Christ. And nothing
is going to stop it. Evil rulers won't stop it. Evil
kings won't stop it. Bad presidents won't stop it.
God's people are going to come to a saving knowledge of Christ.
They're going to be set free by the Son of God. And that's
the whole purpose of it. And really, that's the whole
purpose of Job's suffering. We're going to see that in a
few chapters. Even his suffering here is to bring him to more
liberty and more knowledge and more growth and more liberty
in Christ. Now in these last verses, he
just speaks a rebuke to Job. Let's read it. He says in verse
31, he says, Surely it is me to be said unto God, I have borne
chastisement, I will not offend any more. Job, this is where
we should come to. Whatever God is putting me through,
it's fitting. I have borne chastisement as
a son. And he says, I will not offend
anymore. I'm not going to blame God. I may not like it. I may
not, but I'm not going to blame God. Verse 32, that which I see
not teach thou me. If I have done iniquity, I'll
do no more. In other words, teach me Lord,
teach me through this. This is a, this is a lesson.
This is a classroom. You say, In verse 32, verse 33,
he says, should it be according to thy mind, that is God's mind,
he will recompense it whether thou refuse or whether thou choose,
and not I, therefore speak what thou knowest. What he's saying
there is that man wants all things on his own terms, even salvation,
but God is the one who establishes the terms. The terms of salvation
are what? Righteousness. Where are you
going to find that? In his son. The terms of this
life are God's sovereign will. Thy will be done. That's the
terms of this life. Our daily living. Here's the
terms. God's will be done. God make
my will submit to thee. Verse 34. Let men of understanding
tell me and let a wise man hearken unto me. Elihu is speaking God's
word. and wise men will listen. Verse
35, Job hath spoken without knowledge and his words were without wisdom.
That's talking about things of providence. Job was just groping
in the dark. Verse 36, my desire is that Job
may be tried or tested unto the end because of his answers for
wicked men. And what he's saying here is
that he's wanting the best for Job. He, you see, he who is without
chastisement is not the child of God. The book of Hebrews tells
us that. If you be without chastisement,
as all his children are, then you're bastards and not sons,
you remember? So he says in verse 37, for he
addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us,
and multiplieth his words against us. He speaks here of Job's anger
in speaking against God, that clapping the hands, it's a term
of anger. So he's saying, Job, you need
to learn from this. God has a lesson here, and that
lesson will ultimately bring you to peace, and safety, and
security in Christ. That's the way of God, who is
just in all things.