Let's open our Bibles to Job
chapter 15. Job chapter 15. The title of the message this
evening is God's Wisdom vs. Man's Wisdom. God's Wisdom vs. Man's Wisdom. And God's Wisdom
is always at odds with man's wisdom and vice versa. And as Brother Terry read there
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he makes this statement, verse 25
of 1 Corinthians 1, he says, the foolishness of God is wiser
than men. Now you know there's no foolishness
with God at all. God is all wise. But what he's
saying there is what men perceive as foolishness in God. is wiser than men. And then he
says, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. Now you
know there's no weakness in God. He's omnipotent, all-powerful. He can do anything that is consistent
with His nature and His glory. But he's saying what men perceive,
what foolish men, weak men, unregenerate men perceive as the weakness
of God is stronger than men. So that's what we're going to
talk about here. Now, if you have a study Bible,
I know there are a lot of them going around. Some of them are
fairly good. Some of them are, you've got
to really be careful, especially if they have any commentary.
But mainly when I say a study Bible, I'm talking about something
that just kind of divides it up and outlines and gives you
some word studies, not necessarily the commentaries, the popular
commentaries that you see today. They're not grounded in the truth.
But if you read Bible surveys, for example, or study Bibles,
and you look at the book of Job, usually when it comes to dividing
up the book of Job, most scholars will divide this section, beginning
at chapter 1 all the way over, to uh... i can't remember which
chapter exactly but where where joe stops uh... going back and
forth with with his three friends and then a man named uh... uh... you like you comes in a young
man named a lot here jobs exchange with his friend they'll divided
into three cycles of argument now we've just concluded the
first cycle with chapter fourteen and chapter fifteen begins the
second cycle And what happens there, as you can see it, first
of all, Job's friend, Eliphaz, he begins talking, Job answers. Then Bildad comes in, he talks,
Job answers. And then Zophar comes in, he
talks, Job answers. Well, that's already happened
once. Those three men have stated their case, they've sought to
be comforters, and they failed miserably. And Job's going to
bring that out in chapter 16. So here begins the second cycle
and Eliphaz picks up again. Some say he's the oldest and
in the world the wisest of the three, but that's not saying
much as far as wisdom. But what happens here is what
has started off as uh... uh... you might say uh... an
exchange of various ideas has now developed in a full-blown
argument and the life as gets pretty rough here and as you
see the progression of this this these cycles of debate what you
see in joe for example it is it is kind of a paradox you see
joe becoming clearer and clearer on the fact and the reality that
he has absolutely no hope of salvation but in the grace of
god in christ whom joe knows by the power of the spirit of
god to be the promised redeemer i know my redeemer lives and
you see that clear and clear as joe goes along But the paradox
is this with Job. You kind of see him get worse
and worse in his trying to figure out God's providence. Why, Lord,
am I suffering like I'm suffering? He kind of gets off kilter there
a little bit because he just cannot figure it out. Now he
knows it's in God's hands. He knows that he's a sinner. And in reality, whatever we get
is less than what we deserve this side of hell. But he just
cannot figure out why the Lord has singled him out. But you
see wisdom in what Job says, especially in his moments where
he shows his absolute dependence upon God. Salvations of the Lord. I have no hope but Christ. That's
the wisdom of God. Now in his three friends, as
they, I won't say progress, they digress, it gets worse and worse. And the reality of their state
and their ignorance even becomes clearer. And I think you see
that here in Eliphaz in his second statement to Job, his second
piece of advice. Now you understand now From the
perspective of Job's friends, you understand now, here's their
whole premise now. Here's their whole way of thinking.
This is their, as they say today, this is their world view. And
it's nothing new because it's the world view of every natural
man. But here from their perspective, the reason why Job is suffering,
the reason Job lost all of his possessions, lost his children,
lost his health is very simple to them. You see, they're simple-minded
men in that sense. We love the simplicity of Christ,
but that's not the same thing as being simple-minded. To be
simple-minded is to be a fool. The simplicity of Christ is actually
the singleness of Christ. One way. One truth. The way,
the truth, the life. That's what that's talking about.
But it's very simple to them. God's holy. That's true. God must punish all sin. That's
true. Job is being punished because
he's committed some horrible sin that's brought on God's wrath. That's not true. Now, we know
that, don't we? Because we know from God's testimony.
Even Job doesn't know that. But he knows in his mind, he's
wondering, well, why is there any reason for God to single
men out amongst all of us sinners? This way. But that's the way
his friends think. But Job, he knew, well he knew
it wasn't the case in this sense. He knows he's a sinner, but so
are all men. He says that. And you'll see
statements from his friends that indicate that, even though by
what they say around it, they're not really including themselves.
If God were to give any of us what we've earned or deserved,
it would be eternal damnation and death. Mark it down. Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who among us would
stand? None. So Job is not claiming
that he's sinless in any shape, form, or fashion in himself.
But he knows he's justified by the grace of God in Christ. As
I said, whom Job looked upon, just like Abraham looked upon
him. Abraham rejoiced to see my day, the Lord said. He saw
and was glad. Just like Abel looked upon him,
the promised Redeemer, the God-man who would die in his place and
put away his sins. The substitute who would die
and satisfy justice. But as I said, Job cannot understand
why God has singled him out amongst all men to suffer like this.
Job's hurting. He's hurting. His heart's broken. He's in sorrow. He's been embarrassed. He's held in derision. His friends
aren't helping him. And I'm sure the town folk are
looking at him the same way and saying, what did Job do? Must
have been something real bad. You can see that, can't you?
Isn't that the way we all think naturally? No idea why God is
subjecting him to this ordeal. And Job's friends have no clue.
but they think they have a clue. They think they know. They think
they have the answer. They think they have the wisdom and the
knowledge. And they think they're helping
him, but Job won't listen to them. Now keep in mind that what
we know, what Job and his friends don't know, that God is allowing
Job to suffer because, not because of some greater secret sin, but
because of Satan's challenge to God's grace in Job's life.
You remember that. You know what Satan did? You
know when he issued forth that challenge back in chapter one?
You know what he was trying to do? He was trying to undercut
the foundation of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. That's
where he aims his guns at. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel, the glory of God in Christ, should shine unto them. See,
when he challenged God to remove Job's prosperity and destroy
his family, you see, Satan's convinced that Job, he's not
a righteous man, even though God says he is a righteous man. Satan's convinced that Job is
a self-centered mercenary, a hireling, who fears God and shuns evil
only because of what God has given him, prosperity. in material
blessings. Take them away, Satan contends,
and Job will curse God to his face. Well, that hadn't happened.
That's not a testimony to the greatness and the goodness and
the strength of Job. That's a testimony to the greatness
and the goodness and the strength of Christ. And I believe that's
where a lot of people go wrong when they read the book of Job.
You see, Satan was challenging Christ, just like he did on the
mountain of temptation. Just as much here. And then a
second thing we need to keep in mind is that Job confesses
he's a sinner. He knows that. But he also believes
God's promised to provide a Redeemer who will save him from his sins.
That's why he worshipped God and called upon God through the
burnt offering for himself and for his family. He knows his
sins are covered. He knows his sins are charged
to his Redeemer. His salvation and justification
and spiritual life are the fruit of God's grace in the promised
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why he's so confused.
That's why when these horrible things in his life have come
to pass, he's so confused. He doesn't disagree with many
of the things his friends stated. God is just. God is holy. God
must punish sin. And as Job's anguish increases,
he comes to grips more and more with his need of a mediator. A mediator between a holy God
and a sinful people like we are. What does that do? Well, that
directs us to the grace of God in Christ, that Redeemer, the
one Redeemer, the one Mediator who will stand upon the earth.
He stood upon the earth. He died, was buried, and rose
again the third day. And so much of what Job says,
even in his lowest moments, is grounded in the gospel truth
of how God is just to justify the ungodly, how God saves sinners. And here's the point. Eliphaz,
what he shows you here, that makes no sense to him. Here's
the wisdom of God as opposed to the wisdom of man. Eliphaz
argues that his own wisdom is superior to Job's wisdom. But
you see, worldly wisdom, human wisdom, cannot comprehend God's
wisdom and spiritual wisdom. Over here in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, the apostle Paul wrote this in verse 14. He said, The natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him. What Job is talking, what he
is saying, when he talks about his standing before God as being
a righteous man, that's foolishness to Eliphaz and to Bildad and
to Zophar. He says, Neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. We have a glaring
example of that in Job 15. Over in verse 18 that Brother
Terry read of chapter 1, it says, The preaching of the cross, that's
the preaching of Christ, the preaching of salvation by His
death, His blood and His righteousness, the grace of God, is to them
that are perishing foolishness. It's foolishness to Eliphaz.
But unto us which are saved, it's the power of God and the
wisdom of God. So you know what, the first thing,
look back at Job 15 now, you know what the first thing that
Eliphaz accuses Job of? I want you to listen to this.
The first thing he accuses Job of is presumption. He says, Job,
you're presuming upon God. I don't know if he would put
it this way, but it's like people today, I've heard people say
this, you're presuming upon the grace of God. Now is that possible?
Is it possible to presume upon God, to presume even upon the
grace of God? Yes, it is. But to the natural
man, any assurance or confidence of salvation is a presumption. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Look at verse 1. He says, Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite,
and he said, Should a wise man utter vain knowledge? Literally,
you might have this in your concords. Knowledge of wind. In other words,
you're just a windbag, Job. Talking loftily, highly. He says, And fill his belly with
the east wind. That's the same thing we'd say
you're full of hot air today. He says in verse 3, now listen
to this, here's the arguments, he sets forth two arguments here
trying to expose Job's foolishness and Job's impiety, Job's presumption. Now listen to what he says here,
he says, should he reason with unprofitable talk? What's Job
been saying? He's been talking, now Job again,
now he doesn't understand why he's suffering, but he's been
speaking of the fact that he's a man, a sinner saved by the
grace of God. A man blessed of God in Christ,
not based upon his goodness, but based upon the grace and
mercy of God. And what Eliphaz says, he says
that's unprofitable talk. He says, or with speeches wherewith
he can do no good, Eliaphat's saying what you're
talking, Job, is foolishness. That's why I say this is the
same thing that Paul's dealing with in 1 Corinthians. The preaching
of the cross. God saving a sinner. Look back
there at 1 Corinthians 2. Let me show you. You know, a
lot of times we quote verse 14 out of this. But I want you to
see something in context. You may have seen this before.
Now he says there in verse 14, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Now that you know and I know,
that doesn't mean the natural man cannot be religious. He can
be religious. He can go to church. He can be
baptized. He can go through the motions.
You know that. He can be serious about that. He can be sincere
about it. He can be sincere in a false gospel. But what is he
talking about here when he says the natural man? Well, that's
the unregenerate man, isn't it? That's how we're all born. That's
man fallen, ruined in Adam, born dead in trespasses and sin. And
when he says the things of the Spirit of God, what is he talking
about? Well, look back up at verse 11. Well, let's look at
verse 10. 1 Corinthians 2. Now listen to
this. He says, But God hath revealed
them unto us by His Spirit. Now what's the them there? He
says it up there in verse 9. The things of which God hath
prepared for them that love Him. The things of God. And he says
in verse 10, But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. That's
by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word. For the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
Now, a lot of people say, well, that's just talking about deep
doctrine. No, that's not what it's talking about. It's talking
about the things that are hidden in the heart of God that come
to us only by revelation. The simple gospel is one of those
deep things of God right there. The simple gospel because that's
something man cannot know except that it's hidden in the deep
heart of God and can only be revealed to us. If God doesn't
reveal it to you, you're not going to know it. Isn't that
right? It must be revealed. But now look at verse 12. Now
we have received not the spirit of the world." Now what Eliphaz
and Bildad and Zophar are preaching is the spirit of the world, salvation
by works. And he said, we didn't receive
that, we were born with that. You see, it's not a case where
we're born and we come to an age of accountability and receiving.
No, we're born that way. That's our nature. That's fallen
human nature. but the spirit which is of god
that's what we've received that is by the grace of god now look
here underscore this if you haven't already that we might know the
things that are what freely given to us of god now here is a life
as and build that and so forth you mean to tell me joe that
god is going to justify you declare you righteous and forgive you
Freely? Without you doing anything? You're
a sinner. You're being punished. Something's
wrong here. You better get busy and work
hard. He doesn't just give it away. That's their whole premise. The premise of false religion.
They don't know the things that are freely given of God. What is freely given to a sinner
of God in salvation? Everything. Everything, every
blessing that we have, that we partake of, that we enjoy, that
we know, is given freely, unconditionally, through Christ. Everything. You can't mention one blessing
that's not freely given. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He that spared
not His own Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us what? All things. That's my justification,
my sanctification, my preservation, even my glory in heaven. It's
all conditioned on Christ, the natural man. He just doesn't
get that. That's foolish, Job. God's not
like that. God's just. You do for Him, He
does for you. That's the natural man. You don't
have to receive that. That's the way we think naturally.
You remember what Job said earlier? He said, what you're preaching,
everybody knows. That's what everybody knows naturally.
Everybody over the whole world knows that. That's the way man
thinks naturally. But salvation by grace through
the righteousness of another. Man has no idea, inkling of that. That's the deep things of God
right there. And he says in verse 13 of 1
Corinthians 2, which things also we speak not in the words which
man's wisdom teacheth. See, not man's wisdom, this is
God's wisdom. See, that's why he says over
in verse 23 of chapter 1, we preach Christ crucified. That's
all things freely given based upon what Christ accomplished
in His obedience unto death. under the Jews' stumbling block.
Why? Because they're working hard like Eliphaz and Bildad
and Zophar. Job, you're telling me that what
I've done, working hard all my life, is no good. In fact, you're
saying it's wicked and evil. That's foolish, Job. No, that's
the wisdom of God, friend. the wisdom of God in Christ he
said under the Greeks foolishness but under them which are called
by the grace of God both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of
God in the wisdom of God so this is not what man's wisdom teacheth
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth if you know this from your heart
God used a man to communicate it to you but it was God the
Holy Spirit who taught it you've been taught of God and he says
comparing spiritual things with spirit but the natural man that's
foolishness to him never heard of such a thing in the history
of mankind you know what we think and we think what Cain thinks
you see think about it that's why the life has a saying go
back to job fifteen he says you're just you're just You're preaching
foolishness. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing. Let me ask you a question.
Examine yourself. Let me examine myself. Is the
preaching of the cross foolishness to you? Or is it the power and
wisdom of God? I'll tell you what, I can't get
enough of it. How about you? There's my hope right there.
There's my life. That's what I feed on. And so
that's what he says. Now that's the main argument
that the natural man will bring against the preaching of the
gospel of God's grace in Christ. In some form or another, that's
the main argument that natural man brings. But here's the second
thing. Here's the second main argument that they'll bring.
Look at Job 15 and verse 4. Now listen. Job, yea, thou castest
off fear. and restrain us prayer before
god you know what he's saying in that state sentence right
there he's saying joe if i believe like you believe i wouldn't i
wouldn't worship i wouldn't serve i wouldn't even pray you don't
even motivate obedience joe shall we sin that grace may have been
that's exactly what Your life has a saying. What you're teaching,
Job, doesn't inspire worship. You cast off fear. That fear
there is reverence. It's not phobia. It's reverence. You cast off worship. You don't
inspire people to worship. You give them an excuse to sin.
If God's the way you're saying He is, then it doesn't matter
what we do. We can go sin the more. You don't
even inspire prayer. You see, the natural man, He
can't get it. It's just not there for him.
What you're teaching doesn't promote obedience and good works.
And if I believed like you did, I wouldn't worship, I wouldn't
serve, I wouldn't even pray. You cast that off. Look at verse
5. He says, For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest
the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee,
and not I. Yea, thine own lips testify against
thee. You're being presumptuous, Joe.
You're presuming upon God. You're going through all this
trouble, and you know that you've got some sin, or you've committed
some sin, and you're a hypocrite, and you know you better get right
with God, and yet you're claiming that you're justified before
God? You're righteous before God? Up to this point, Eliphaz
and the others, they didn't think they had any specific thing to
pin on Job, as saying, well, here it is, there's that sin
now. But now, because of Job's defiant speech, They say, well,
that proves your innocence. Your own mouth condemns you.
It points to the fact that you're not the righteous man you claim
to be, Job, your own mouth. He says this is the way that
things are in the kingdom of God. And so this is the way the
natural man thinks of those who truly believe salvation by grace.
You know, it's ironic because Eliphaz himself is guilty of
what he accuses Job. He's the one who's presuming
upon God. He's the one whose own mouth condemns him. The idolatry
and the iniquity of salvation by works. Well, let me tell you
something, folks. Grace, true grace, real grace,
does not make any sinner presumptuous. And I'll tell you what it will
do. It'll make that sinner confident in Christ. It'll make him say
with the Apostle Paul, God forbid that I should glory except in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It'll make him say, we are the
circumcision which worship God in spirit and rejoice, glory,
have confidence in Christ Jesus, but no confidence in the flesh.
It'll make him say, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that he is able, I'm not able, he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day. Now the next thing
Eliphaz does, he accuses Job of self-righteousness. Look at
verse 7. He begins, he seeks to belittle
Job. And he starts issuing out personal
attacks. And he starts attacking Job's
character. He asks several humiliating questions
that stem from the fact that he thinks that he has a superior
knowledge and a superior wisdom. And here's what he says. Look
at it. He says, Job, are you the first man that was born?
You act like you know it all. We're all just nothing. Or was
thou made before the hills? You're talking like you're old
as the hills. Now, you remember he told them, he said, you all
think wisdom, and Job told them, he said, you think wisdom's gonna
die with you. You can hear this exchange going back and forth
with these men. Verse 8, he said, hast thou heard the secret of
God? God's told you things that he hadn't told us? Now, you want
me to tell you something? Yes, God had done that. He told
Job things he hadn't told these fellas. That's not a boast. All you can do is preach the
gospel. That's it. He said, Dost thou restrain wisdom
to thyself? You think you got a patent on
wisdom? Verse 9, What knowest thou that
we know not? You think you know something
we don't know. What understandeth thou which is not with us, in
us? With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men much elder
than thy father. Now, Eliphaz did this before,
you know, he appealed to tradition. He likes to go back to You know,
it's like some of these preachers, they get off on a tangent today
and they'll go back and I'll guarantee you they'll find some
old gray-headed dead commentator who will back them up. That's
what Eliphaz is doing. He said, what I'm telling you,
that old gray-headed men, years past, very aged men, much elder
than thy father, they said the same thing I did. Well, yeah,
exactly. Started with that gray-headed
man named Cain. He said, same thing. And he looked upon Abel, and
he said, Abel, what you're doing is foolish. It's presumptuous. What I'm doing, God smiles upon. And then when he found out different,
he got so angry, he killed his brother. Look at verse 11. He continues to speak of himself
as under the guise of offering consolation here. He says, are
the consolations of God small with thee? Here's what he's saying.
He said, here I am trying to comfort you and guide you right
and you're casting them off as nothing. He said, is there any
secret thing with thee? Is there any way that I can get
this out of you? He says in verse 12, why doth
thine heart carry thee away? And what do thy eye wink at?
You're just winking at us? You're not giving consideration
to us? He says in verse 13, that thou
turnest thy spirit against God. When you go against me, Eliphaz
is saying, you're going against God. Now that's a boast, isn't
it? He says, and let us such words go out of thy mouth. How
can you talk like that? He goes on, verse 14. Now listen
to this. I quote this verse quite a bit.
he says, what is man that he should be clean? and he which
is born of a woman that he should be righteous behold God putteth
no trust in his saints God puts no trust in his holy ones yea
the heavens are not clean in God's sight how much more abominable
and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water let me tell
you something folks You underscore or mark verses 14 through 16
because they are absolutely true. Aren't they? What's he describing
there? He's describing us by nature. Man born of woman. How can he
be clean? Born in sin. Born guilty and
defiled. How can he be clean? Now what's
he doing though? What's he doing? And he says,
he that's bored of womb, that he should be justified. That's
what it is to be righteous. You mean to tell me you think
God can declare you not guilty? Look at you! On the dung heap
there, on the ash heap, hurting. And God doesn't even put trust
in His holy ones. And you claim to be a holy one?
He says, the heavens are not clean in His sight. How much
more abominable and filthy is man? who by nature is a sinner,
drinks iniquity like water. That's what we feed upon. That's
what the flesh feeds upon, sin. So think about that. There's
truth here. And it's amazing, isn't it? Because
Eliphaz, speaking the truth, but he doesn't understand the
truth. Do you know, he's not describing himself here, he's
talking down to Job. I'm talking about you, Job. That's
what he's doing. Well, I'll tell you what, he's
just described every last one of Adam's sons and daughters
by nature. By nature, children of wrath. That's a good portrait of me
and you without Christ right there, isn't it? Clean? Oh, no. There's no cleanliness
in us or about us or for us except in the blood of the Lamb of God. We're going to commemorate that
tonight in the Lord's Supper. Wash clean in the blood of Christ. There's the only cleansing. You
know, without His blood, there's no cleansing. But Eliphaz doesn't
bring that up. He doesn't even mention it. That's
not even an issue with him. How can a man be clean in his
view? You straighten up and get religious.
Get real. Reform, Job. The Reformation
won't clean you, won't clean me. We have to have clean water
sprinkled upon us. That's the blood of Christ. Justified? Job, you've got to
be guilty. Look at you. You see, he attempts
to describe Job here, but what he says is true of all men. But
Eliphaz, he doesn't see himself that way. How can such a one
like Job claim to be righteous before God? Well, the natural
man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. And what
is that? What's his problem? Well, it's
ignorance. We don't know until God teaches
us. It's the darkness of ignorance.
It's self-righteousness. We all, by nature, think more
highly of ourselves than we ought. We think we're righteous when
we're not. were like those in the parable of the Pharisee and
the publican. Remember who Christ was speaking
to, Luke 18 and verse 9. He spoke this parable to those
who claimed that they were righteous and despised others. Eliphaz
is claiming that he himself is righteous and what he's doing
is despising Job. Righteous based on what? Based
on his words. You see, Only God, in His wisdom,
could devise a way that man, sinful man, could be clean. That
man born of woman could be justified. Only God, the wisdom of man,
cannot even come close to touching that issue. In fact, I'll put
it to you this way. When you think about it in these
terms, how God can be just and justify the ungodly, the wisdom
of man can't even come up with the question. let alone provide
the answer. And here's the doctrine of substitution
and imputation and satisfaction. That's what the gospel is all
about. Proclaimed in light of the judgment
of God against all sin. and the provision of his mercy
and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord our righteousness. That's what Job is claiming.
He's not claiming sinless perfection in himself, but he's claiming
it for himself in the person and work of Christ. Just like
Jeremiah said, his name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. My righteousness, David said
it, the Lord reward me according to my righteousness. Well, where
is your righteousness, David? Well, the Lord said a seed shall
serve him and they'll proclaim that their righteousness is of
me, him. That's what it's about. Just
as Christ, when He went to the cross of Calvary, He could say,
honestly, my sins have overwhelmed me. He's the sinless substitute,
but He could say, my sins have overwhelmed me. What's He talking
about? He's talking about the sins of His sheep, imputed, charged
to Him. He was made sin. We can honestly
stand before God and without blushing say, my righteousness,
Lord, is of Thee. We're in Christ. Eliphaz couldn't
understand it. Now let me just read through
the rest of this chapter because what he's going to do, he's just
going to simply say how he appeals to the justice of God based on
his own tradition and his view of things. He says in verse 17,
I will show thee, hear me and that which I've seen I will declare
which wise men have told from their fathers and have not hid
it. unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed
among them." They all knew it, that's what he's saying. The
wicked man travaileth with pains all his days, and the numbers
of his years is hidden to the oppressor. That's not true. The
wicked sometimes prosper here in this life. A dreadful sound
is in his ears, in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon
him. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
and he's waiting for the sword." You see, he's missing, he's drawing
a picture of the wicked man that's just not always true. He says
in verse 23, he says, he wandered abroad for bread, saying, where
is it? Do the wicked always starve?
Begging for bread? No. He knoweth that the day of
darkness is ready at his hand. He just knows that death is coming
at any time. I know wicked people who think
they're going to live forever. Trouble and anguish shall make
him afraid. They shall prevail against him as a king ready to
battle. For he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengthens
himself against the Almighty. He runneth upon him even on his
neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers. In other words,
he's always on the defensive. That's what he's saying. He's
always building his defenses because he's afraid. That's not
true of all wicked men on this earth. Verse 27, Because he covereth
his face with his fatness, and maketh collapses of fat on his
flanks. What he's saying there, he's
comfortable, he's fat and dumb and happy, but he doesn't know
that death's right around the corner. Verse 28, He dwelleth
in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which
are ready to become heaps. He shall not be rich. Is that
true? Are there no wicked people who
are rich in this life? The Lord said there were plenty
of them. Neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong
the perfection or the completion thereof upon the earth. In other
words, he's always going to die early. No wicked man ever lives
to an old age in any life as his view. That's not true, is
it? He shall not depart out of darkness, the flame shall dry
up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. Let not him that is deceived
trust in his vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense." Now
that's true. That's what a false gospel does. It's a deception,
trusting in vanity. But that's exactly what Eliphaz
is doing. He's got a misshapen view of
things on this earth, you see. He's like saying, well, the righteous
always prosper, the wicked, they always are punished. He says
in verse 32, it shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch
shall not be green. He won't grow to a ripe old age.
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall
cast off his flower as the olive. For the congregation of hypocrites
shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. They conceive mischief and bring
forth vanity, and their belly prepareth the seed. Now let me
just sum it right here. Here's what he's saying. Here's
his basic argument. You reap what you sow. And that's
what's happened. The righteous always reap what
they sow. The wicked always reap what they sow. But while Eliphaz,
what he cannot handle is the obvious fact that there are wicked
people on this earth who prosper greatly and live long lives. And righteous people who suffer
and are cut down in the prime of life. We know that's so. He
doesn't understand that the reaping part may not be fully realized
in this life. It will be realized in the end,
but not fully in this life. Listen, when the day of judgment
comes, it will all work out. The righteous will prosper in
Christ and the wicked will suffer unto eternal damnation. But it's
not all true immediately here on this earth. God will punish
the wicked. He'll reward the righteous. But
there's none righteous except those who are in Christ. And
that's what Eliphaz can't handle. He just can't grasp that truth. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. And you can see there how men
will even deceive themselves against the obvious to hold on
to their false religious refuges. My friend, don't do that. Run
to Christ. That's what we preach in the
gospel. Run to Him, and that's a true,
honest, sincere heart. You don't have to be deceived
in that way. Well, we're going to administer
the Lord's Table. It's for believers, and we ask
everybody to examine yourself to see whether you're in the
faith. Are you trusting Christ? What we're going to do, while
the men come and prepare the table, we're going to sing a
few verses of There is a Fountain, hymn number 222.