Alright, let's go back to Job
chapter 15. As I said, I dealt with this
passage the last time and pretty much read through the last half
of it. These are the musings of a self-righteous
man named Eliphaz trying in his own natural way to counsel his
friend Job. Job, who's going through trials
and tribulations like nobody that we've ever seen, probably
other than our Lord and Savior Himself as the God-man who suffered
for the sins of His people. But Job is getting counsel from
three friends, and this man here, probably the oldest and considered
to be the wisest, He's no different than the other two. His message
basically has been simply to Job is, Job, we reap what we
sow. We know there's truth in that.
The Apostle Paul dealt with that subject in Galatians chapter
6. But Eliphaz's message has basically been one of salvation
by works. You know, a person can believe
and preach a lot of truth and still be wrong. That's an amazing
thing, isn't it? But it's true. A person can know
a lot of truth, say a lot of truth, write a lot of truth,
and still preach a false gospel. And that's what Eliphaz is doing.
We do reap what we sow, but Eliphaz's point is that, well, everybody
in this life now, this is what he's telling Job. This is what
his other two friends told Job too, basically. He tells him,
now Job, you're suffering. God is just. God is holy. God
must punish sin. Well, that's true. And so he
looks at Job and he says, Job, you're suffering. You're going
through a trial here. You're being punished. Therefore,
you must be evil. There's some great sin in your
life that's blocking the channel, that's hindering you, that's
bringing this on. And of course, we know that's not true. We know
it because of what God himself said in the first chapter of
Job. Why is Job suffering? Well, this
is a test. But this is due to the challenge
that Satan issued forth concerning the grace of God in the life
of Job. Satan is challenging the very
gospel of God's grace that we believe and rest in. And he tells,
remember he said, he said, why does Job serve you? It's only
because of what you've given him. And so what he makes Job
out to be is nothing but a mercenary, a hireling. Someone who's serving
God just because of what he can get out of him and not because
of any intrinsic value in the glory and nature of God who created
us and gave us everything we have, including the next breath
we take. And that's the issue. So Eliphaz
comes back saying, now Job, what you've got to do is repent and
get right with God, reform your life, figure out what's wrong,
what sin you're committing, and get rid of it. Wash it away.
And of course, Job came back in his answers with basically,
and listen, I understand as you read through this, you're going
to see where Job, you know, he gets off kilter too now. Job
is not perfect in himself. He doesn't understand why he's
suffering. And he's frustrated, and he's
hurting. He's in sorrow. He was the greatest man of the
East, and now he's sitting out on the ash heap, the dung heap
of the city of Uz. He's a joke now to everybody
around him. He's an embarrassment. And he's
wondering, why? Why, God, have you singled me
out? Job doesn't deny that he's a
sinner. See, when Eliphaz and Bildad
and Zophar, these three friends, when they say, Job, now, God
is just. He must punish sin. You're a
sinner. Job doesn't deny he's a sinner, but he says, we're
all sinners. The Bible says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And he says, well, why has
God singled me out? Well, Eliphaz says, well, because
you're a greater sinner than the rest of us. Well, that wasn't
true in this sense. In this sense. And so you know
how Eliphaz start off here. I dealt with this last time.
Eliphaz accused Job of being a hypocrite. You're a hypocrite. You claim to love God. You claim
to serve God. You claim to believe and rest
in God. But you're a hypocrite. That wasn't true. Job was a sinner
saved by the grace of God. He was an imperfect man in himself. He was ignorant in a lot of ways. But God said he was an upright
and perfect man. He was a justified man. How is
a sinner justified before God? There's not but one way. Eliphaz
didn't understand that. Bill dad and so far didn't understand
it job did and job spoke in those terms a sinner is justified before
God by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ period
by the death of Christ that's why Paul wrote God forbid that
I should glory that I should boast or express any confidence
of salvation and blessing and liberty except in one upon one
grant and it has nothing to do with my goodness or supposed
goodness or claim of goodness has nothing to do with my decision
has nothing to do with anything but the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ the death of Christ which is his finished work to put away
the sins of his people and the establishment of righteousness
which we stand before God whole Eliphaz didn't understand that
so he accuses Job of being a hypocrite He accuses Job of being a great
sinner. Look at verse 14 of chapter 15.
He says, what is man that he should be clean? And he which
is born of woman that he should be righteous. He's describing
all of us by nature there. That's how we're born into this
world. Verse 15, he says, God put us no trust in his saints.
God doesn't trust in us. We trust in him. And he says,
yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable
and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water? That's what
we feed upon sin. Man, born in sin, born dead in
trespasses of sin, ruined in Adam, fallen in Adam. And I know
people don't like to hear that. And you know what that's a testimony
of? Just what we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. Why would God paint a
picture of man by nature like this? Why would he do that? Because it's truth. And why would
he show it to me or show it to you? Well, I trust and hope and
pray. That He shows it to me and to
you to show us something greater, to show us something better,
to show us the only way out of this mess of sin that we're in
by nature and by practice. That we cannot get out of by
our best efforts to keep the law. Look at verse 31. This is my text. I've entitled
this message, The Vanity of Trusting in Vanity. the vanity of trusting
in vanity this is what now this is spoken by Eliphaz who doesn't
know the gospel who doesn't believe the gospel and he says here he
says let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall
be his recompense vanity you know that word don't you I think
about the book of Ecclesiastes when I see the word vanity. Vanity
of vanities. All is vanity. I think about
the psalmist who made this statement. I can't remember which psalmist.
I should have wrote it down. But it says, man at his best
state is altogether what? Vanity. What does vanity mean? Well, vanity means worthless.
It means nothingness. In the context here, vanity means
destruction. That's the context. Listen to
it. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity. Now what he's
literally saying here is this. That really kind of sounds strange
the way it's translated there, doesn't it? Because he says,
let not him that is deceived trust in vanity. Well, if you
trust in vanity, the only reason you would is because you're deceived. Am I right? What is it to be
deceived and to trust in vanity? Listen to the words of the prophet
Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17. He says in verse
5 of Jeremiah 17. He says, Thus saith the Lord.
And listen to what he says now. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man. Remember the psalmist said man
at his best state is altogether vanity. So if you trust in man,
what are you trusting in? Trusting in vanity. And that
man would include yourself. In other words, if you're trusting
in man for salvation, you're trusting in vanity. You're deceived. If you're trusting in yourself
for salvation, you're trusting in man, trusting in vanity. You're
deceived. And he says, and maketh flesh
his arm, that is his power. That's a way of stating his power.
And whose heart departeth from the Lord, for he shall be like
the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh.
In other words, the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God. See, this is Eliphaz. He didn't
see when good was coming. He thought what he was telling
Job was the right way. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man. But the ways thereof are destruction.
It's the way of salvation by works. That's what it is. It's
the way of a sinner trying to establish a righteousness of
his own. I'll show you that in just a moment. He says in 17.6
here of Jeremiah, he says, but shall inhabit the parched places
in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited. Vanity. That's what it is. Everything
that he gets is worthlessness. See? And then Jeremiah makes
this statement. In Jeremiah 17.7, he says, blessed
is the man who trusteth in the Lord. And the word Lord there
is Jehovah. That's the covenant God of grace. That's the God who saves sinners
by His grace through Jesus Christ. Whom Jeremiah knew as the promised
Redeemer. Whom Job knew as the promised
Redeemer. And whose hope, whose certain
expectation, you might even say it this way, whose glory is the
Lord is. God forbid that I should glory.
Jeremiah says, He shall be as a tree planted by the waters,
and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see
when heat cometh. But her leaf shall be green,
and shall not be careful, in other words, anxious in the year
of drought, and neither shall cease from yielding fruit. And
then right after that, he makes this statement. He says, The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
Who can know? Your own heart will deceive you.
My own heart will deceive me. Now, how can we be delivered
from that? Well, he says in Jeremiah 17 and verse 10, I, the Lord,
search the heart. See, the only way my heart cannot
deceive me is if the Lord searches my heart, my mind, my affections,
my will, my motives, my inner man, everything. You see, the
Word of God doesn't just address the outside like religion does. The Word of God reaches where?
You read it, Ronnie, in the study. Reaches to the heart. It discerns
the heart, the inner thoughts, the motives, what drives me. You see, the Word of God reaches
not just to what you see up here behind this pulpit with an open
Bible. There's a lot of people who stand
behind pulpits with open Bibles and read them. But the word of
God reaches right inside to my inner person, who I really am,
what I really believe, what really motivates and drives me, and
even my thoughts. That's the key. So he says, I,
the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. I test the motives,
what drives you, the direction, even to give every man according
to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. You
see, this is the issue. Everything else is vanity. Go
back to Job 15. He says, let not him that is
deceived trust in vanity, verse 31, for vanity shall be his recompense. That's the vanity of trusting
in vanity. And what he's actually saying
is this. Those who put their trust in vanity are deceived. And vanity will be their just
reward. And how ironic it is that the
very man who's preaching this message, who's making this statement
here, is one who is deceived. And we know he's deceived by
the way he counsels Job, but later on it comes out. The Lord
just tells him. Remember, at the end of the book,
he tells Eliphaz, he tells Bildad, he tells Zophar, he says, you
have not spoken that which is right concerning the Lord. You're
deceived. And you know what he tells them?
He says, your only hope is a mediator. Your only hope is a sacrifice.
And said, I'm going to tell Job to offer sacrifice for you. Job's
a type of Christ there. You see, our only hope is to
be found in Christ. My hope of salvation is not to
be found in my goodness, or in my efforts, or in my obedience. Should I try to be good, as good
as I can be? Should I seek to obey? Oh yes,
but that's not my hope. You see, my hope is built on
nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Now
look here at Eliphaz. You know, he gives us a glaring
portrait of the natural, unregenerate man. This is what the natural
man will not do. He will not trust in the Lord.
Trust in Christ for all of salvation. First of all, we see the ignorance
of the natural man. Look back at verse 2 again. Eliphaz
says, should a wise man utter vain knowledge? He's talking
about what Job had said. What had Job said? Look over
in chapter 14 and verse 14. We could go to a lot of passages
here. But I'll give you an example. Listen to what Job said. Job
14, 14. He says, if a man dies, shall
he live again? Now, Job's not doubting the resurrection
there. Listen to what he says. Read
the whole verse and the verse following. If a man dies, shall
he live again? He said, all the days of my appointed
time will I wait. That word wait there is hope. It's trust. Till my change come. What change? Same change that
the Apostle Paul would speak of later on in 1 Corinthians
15, we shall all be changed. Talking about glory. The glorification
of God's people in Christ. And then he says in verse 15,
here's the way it's going to happen, look. Thou shalt call
and I will answer. God's going to call, I'll answer.
When God calls in this type of calling, His people answer. They don't fail. You see, they
don't turn Him down. The natural man won't receive
Him. But when God calls His people with the calling of the Holy
Spirit in the new birth, the invincible, irresistible grace
of God in the calling of His people, They'll answer, and their
answer will be, oh yes, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Thou
would have a desire to the work of thine hands. God's gonna have
the works of his hands. You know what the works of his
hands are? Paul wrote it in Ephesians chapter two, verse 10. We are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto, not because of, unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in. Now this is the kind of thing that Eliphaz is ignorant of.
He says, should a wise man, verse 2 of chapter 15, utter vain knowledge
and fill his belly with the east wind? That's a way of saying
back then you're full of hot air. Verse 3, should he reason
with unprofitable talk? You mean to tell me that my hope
in the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ is unprofitable talk? only to the natural man who won't
receive the thing. You see, the natural man, he
doesn't know anything of grace. He says, or with speeches, wherewith
he can do no good. He's ignorant. Turn to Romans
chapter 10. Give you an example here in the
New Testament. Listen to this. Now, Eliphaz
was a religious man. He was a dedicated man. You know,
he's one of the fellas that when he heard about his friend Job's
suffering, he came from a long distance, a place called Timon.
He was Eliphaz the Timonite. Came from a long distance. And
you remember what he did when he and his other two friends
first came upon Job? You know what they did? They
sat there with Job for seven days and didn't say a word. Man,
I can't keep my mouth shut for five minutes. I don't sit there
quiet for seven days. These men were serious, you see.
They came to help their friend. And now it's developed into a
full-blown argument where they're just trying to beat him down.
But listen, they're ignorant. They're ignorant of God's grace.
Look at verse 1 of Romans chapter 10. This is the ignorance of
the natural man. He says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. They're missing knowledge. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, Eliphaz said
God is holy. He must punish sin. He knew that. But he says, but here it says
they're ignorant of God's righteousness. You see, Eliphaz was ignorant
of just how holy God is. You know Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter
6, he saw a vision. He said in the temple, he saw
a vision of the thrice holy God. The seraphim and the cherubim
cried, holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty. Now, I guarantee
you, if you would ask Isaiah before he saw that vision, Isaiah,
do you believe God's holy? He'd have said, yes, I know he's
holy. I know God's holy. I've read the Old Testament.
What he could get a hold of in that time. But he really didn't
know the holiness of God until God showed him. And you know
what he said when he saw that vision? He said, I'm a man of
unclean lips. And I dwell amidst a people of
unclean lips. I'm cut off, he said. He used
that term, cut off. I'm undone. That means cut off.
I'm alienated. Isaiah, just like most religious
people, he thought he was close to God. He found out he was alienated
from God. Now why is it? Because he had
no savior. He had no mediator. He had no
righteousness. Look at it in Romans 10. He says,
verse 3, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own righteousness. You know a person
who is doing their dead level best to make themselves righteous
before God by their works, they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
Because if you really knew God's righteousness, you'd know this,
you cannot make yourself righteous by your works. Can't do it. It won't work. It'll always fall
short. And so he says, they have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now what
is the righteousness of God? Look at verse 4. For Christ is
the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the completion of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's
what the natural man doesn't know. That's what Eliphaz didn't
know. And when Job spoke, I'm sure
it was just like stabbing a life vest with a knife to the heart.
You're telling me, Job, that it doesn't matter how we live.
Look at the second thing here. Look back at Job 15, verse 4.
Here's what the natural man, here's what motivates him. Look
at verse 4. He says, Yea, thou castest off
fear. That fear there means worship.
and restrain us prayer before God. In other words, he's coming
back with the same argument that the natural man comes against
when grace is praised. You're saying that we don't have
to do anything. You're saying we don't have to
obey. You're saying it doesn't matter how we live. You're restraining
prayer. You're casting off worship and
obedience. Oh, no. But you know what is
happening here? Turn to Romans chapter 6 with
me. now let me show you what what
this is all about whenever you know whenever centers whenever
unbelievers were all standards are not another point fingers
now but whenever unbelievers argue against the grace of god
that way to say well you're saying we it doesn't matter how we live
you know what you've done you haven't said it doesn't matter
how you it does matter how you live Why? Because how you live
is the fruit of God's grace. It's not the cause. It's not
the ground. It's the fruit of God's grace.
It's the power of God's grace, you see. It's not the ground. It's not the cause. You see,
if God ever at any time gave any of us what we've earned or
what we deserve, it would be eternal damnation. If you don't
believe that, you don't see your sin. That's exactly right. You don't see your need of Christ.
But let me tell you what you've done. When you preach grace,
when you witness grace to an unbeliever, you haven't removed
obedience and good works, but you've removed their motive. Look at verse 1 of Romans 6. Now Paul had just said, that
grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by jesus christ
our lord is not our works it's the grace of god it's not our
righteousness is the righteousness of christ charged imputed to
us and here's what he said what shall we then say shall we continue
in saying that grace may about god forbid how shall we that
are dead to sin how we did the same in christ by his death on
the cross we're no longer we're not condemned by sin. He says,
live any longer therein. What people are saying, what
Elias has is saying to Job. He's saying, Job, you've removed
my motive. You know, I've been trying to
be good all my life because I believe God has blessed me and given
me all these things because of my obedience. And you're saying
that it doesn't matter. You're saying... Remember when
Job made the statement, he said, even the marauders, the destructors,
the spoilers, even they flourish in this life? Oh, wait a minute. Well, what
good is my obedience then, if that's the case? If the righteous
suffer in this life and the wicked prosper, then what's the motive?
Well, look across the page. Look at Romans 7 and verse 4.
Now, listen to this very carefully. He says, Wherefore, my brethren,
you also are become dead to the law. Now, what does that mean?
That means to be justified. That means to be dead to the
law's power to condemn you. In other words, the law has no
charge against you. You're dead to the law. Now,
how did you get that way? Look at it. By the body of Christ. By the death of Christ on the
cross. In other words, it wasn't by your works. It wasn't by your
decision. You didn't become dead. You see,
the law's power to condemn a sinner is not removed because of that
sinner's efforts to keep the law. by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight but it's by the body of Christ
by the death of Christ Christ died for my sins he was made
sin that I might be made the righteousness of God in him now
he says now is that the end of it no look on that you should
be married to another. There's a change of relationship. You see right there, there's
a change of standing before God. I'm in Christ, but there's a
change of relationship too. Now you're married to Christ.
He's the husband, the church is his bride. Even him who's
raised from the dead, now look at it, that or in order that
we should what? Bring forth what? Fruit unto
God. the fruit you see that's that's
the issue christ is the ground and the power in the calls of
it now look at verse five for when we were in the flesh that's
when we were unregenerate when we were unbelievers the motions
or the passions of sins which were by the law did work in our
members to bring forth what fruit unto death now every anytime
i read that verse always point out there's one of that goes
one of two ways now Here's a person who's unregenerate, and he or
she is consumed with the passions of sin. Now, what do you think
of when you think about the passions of sin? Well, we've been talking
about immorality, haven't we? You think about this world and
the immorality that's run amuck in this world. I told somebody,
and I know this may not be a phrase that people like to hear, but
it's true. This world is going to hell in a handbasket. And
it is. And it's getting worse. and we
know it so we preach against it we preach against the immorality
and that's what most people think of when they think about the
motions of sins which were by the law you think about the the
openly rebellious the lawbreakers the open even rebels against
not only against god but against man against those uh... like
like the fellow who walks into a movie theater and shoots it
up things like that and that's included And what is being shown
there is man's natural aversion and rebelliousness against the
law of God. And so that's included. That's
the passions of sins, which were by the law in the sense that
man is just an abject rebel. But don't keep it there. Now
here's what I want you to do. Read that and think of Saul of
Tarsus. Read that verse five. Think of
Saul of Tarsus. You know who Saul of Tarsus is?
The same man, not the same man actually, but he is the same
man physically who God the Holy Spirit is using to write the
book of Romans. Saul of Tarsus, when we were
in the flesh, he says, not when you were in the flesh, but he
says, when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were
by the law. Now, what were the passions of
sins that were stirred up in a man like Saul of Tarsus? Well,
you can read about it in several passages. Philippians 3 is one
of the best. You don't have to turn there.
But he was a religious man. He was a dedicated man. He was
one who everybody looked up to and wanted to follow as an example.
He was one who was zealous in trying to establish a righteousness
of his own. And the point he's making is
even at that time, without Christ, that too is fruit unto death.
That's trusting in vanity. That's the vanity of trusting
in vanity. Here's a religious man trying
to work his way into God's favor, trying to earn his way into salvation. Well, my friend, that's the passions
of sins that are motivated by the law to bring forth fruit
unto death, because that's all it's going to equal out to. That's
what Eliphaz is telling Job. So look at verse 6. Romans 7
he says but now we're delivered from the law that being dead
wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit
that's a new motive and not in oldness of the letter in other
words not legalism not mercenaries but as Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 5 I believe it's verse 14 he said the love of Christ
constraineth us In other words, we have a new motive. What is
that motive? Grace. What is that motive? Gratitude. Thank You, Lord, for
saving my soul. Thank You, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank You, Lord, for giving to me freely Thy great salvation. What is that motive? Love. Hearing
is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction. for our sins. Look back at Job
15. Here's the self-righteousness
of natural man. When Eliphaz spoke these words
in verse 14, what is man? That he should be clean. He which
is born of woman, that he should be righteous. We know by the
context and by other things that Eliphaz said that he was aiming
this against Job. But he didn't see himself as
such. He was one of those who counted himself righteous and
despised others. Well, now didn't Job say of himself,
I am righteous? Yes, he did. But not based on
his works. It was based on his Redeemer
who was to come. That's what he said. But Eliphaz
is saying, Job, you're suffering, you're evil. You've got to get
rid of that evil. How are you going to do that?
Well, crimes, reform, rededicate, whatever. But in saying all that,
Eliphaz is saying, Job, I'm not evil. Look at me, I'm not hurting
like you. You see what he's saying? That's the self-righteousness
of natural man. Now, in these last verses, I
read through them last week, and I'm not going to read through
them again tonight, but I want you to notice what's happening
here. What did I name this man? The vanity of trusting in vanity. What we read in Jeremiah 17,
the natural man, the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked. Here's what I want to leave you
with tonight. I want you to see the denial of the natural man. And what I mean by that is this.
Now here, from verse 17 all the way to the end of the chapter,
before Job responds to the life, you know what he's doing here?
If you go back through and read that, here's what he's saying,
basically. He's saying this, and he's talking
about this life, because you see, when we talk about reaping
what you sow, or sowing what you reap, you see, ultimately
that's true. The righteous are going to reap
the reward of the righteous. But who are the righteous? They
are sinners saved by the grace of God. They're not going to
reap the reward of what they've earned or what they deserve. They're going to reap the reward
of what Christ has earned, what Christ deserves by His blood
and His righteousness imputed. The wicked, they're going to
reap what they deserve by their works. The scripture teaches
that. But that doesn't take place in this life that way necessarily.
Life has us miss that. But here's what he's saying to
Job. He's saying, now Job, the wicked in this life, this is
his whole premise from verse 17 to verse 35. He's saying the
wicked in this life are always suffering, always poor, always
scared, always insecure, and they always die before their
time. Now you know what? None of that's
true. David, remember he asked the
question, Psalm 73, why do the heathen prosper? Why do the wicked
prosper? Remember he said he didn't know
the answer until he went into the tabernacle of the Lord and
he understood their end, how it's all going to end up. And you say, well Eliphaz, he's
got to be a smarter man than that. He's got to know better
than that. Let me tell you something. What
I believe is happening here is a man, the natural man, who is
so deceived and so self-deluded that he denies what is so obvious
before his eyes for this purpose, to protect his refuge of lies. And I've seen it happen. I've
seen people deny scriptures that glare right out at you in order
to protect their refuge of lies, their false confessions, their
false conversions. And I've even seen people deny
what's right there glaringly in the scripture in order to
save face, because they don't want to come down off their position. That's what the lie fans is doing. Job told him, he said, the spoilers,
the destroyers, they'll prosper in this land. Eliphaz says, no,
not really. And he just denies the obvious.
He's so deceived. He will deny what light he has. That's what he'll do. Remember
Christ brought that out in the Sermon on the Mountain, Matthew
chapter 6, when he said, the eye is the light of the body. But you see the eye stands, what
does the eye stand for there? It stands for the person's mind,
his heart. It's like a window that lets
light in. If the eye is evil, he said, the whole body is in
darkness. It's kind of like this, if the
window's dirty and filthy and no light comes in, what makes
the eye evil? Ignorance, unbelief. Self-righteousness, self-will,
greed, pride, selfishness. Consider people who read and
study the Bible, but miss Christ. Miss the grace of God. Christ
told the Pharisees in John chapter 5 verse 39, He says, You do search
the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
They are they which testify of Me. You remember he talked about
the Israelites when Moses came down out of Mount Sinai in 2
Corinthians 3 as he was relating that. And he said they had to
put a veil over Moses' face because they couldn't look upon the effulgent
glory light that was beaming off of his face after having
been with Christ. And then he said, there's a veil
over their heart. He said even when the Old Testament
is read, now there's a veil over their heart. What is that veil?
Self-righteousness, ignorance, self-love, self-will, pride,
all those things. He said that veil is only removed
when? When a sinner turns to Christ. It's the only thing. You see in a life as here, we
have an example of a sinner who will not turn to the Lord. He
turns to vanity. And it's so ironic, he says,
let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall
be his recompense. Eliphaz is trusting in vanity.
In Job, we have an example of a sinner who by God's grace turns
to the Lord. Turns to Him for forgiveness.
Turns to the Lord for righteousness. Turns to the Lord for eternal
life and glory. For He is our hope. No vanity
in him, is there? But he's everything. He's our
all in all. All right.