Alright, let's open our Bibles
to Job chapter 11 Job chapter 11 Now tonight in this passage of
God's Word we're going to hear from a man named Zophar He's
called Zophar the Nehemiathite in verse 1 of Job 11. He's the
third friend who came to aid and help and comfort Job, a man
of good intentions, just like the other two, Eliphaz and Bildad. And of course, as we've seen
as we've studied this book, in trying to help this poor, wretched
man named Job, who's going through such hard, hard trials, this
man of God, Job, that's who he is, This justified man, a justified
sinner. That sounds like a contradiction,
but it's not in God's way and in God's word. This man of God
who hated evil, the scripture says, who feared the Lord. And
these three men came to help him, came to counsel him and
comfort him. And as we've seen in the first
two, they did a miserable, miserable job. They were failures. They
didn't comfort this man. What they said, he really did
not need to hear. What they said could be summed
up basically in what is generally exposed and
revealed as a false gospel. They think it's good news, but
it's not good news to a sinner. That's what a false gospel is.
It's good news to a self-righteous person because he's deceived
and he's in darkness. But it's not good news to a sinner,
a sinner who needs mercy. This message of salvation by
works and by the will of man is not good news to God's people.
And so here comes this man named Zophar, and he's going to preach
his message. He's going to give Job his counsel.
I've entitled this message, Zophar's Refuge of Lies. Zophar's Refuge
of Lies. We read in Psalm 14, and Brother
Stan read there in 2 Samuel chapter 22, where David and then the
psalmist who wrote Psalm 14 may have been David. We don't know
for sure on that one, but it doesn't matter. the psalmist,
how both of them proclaimed that the Lord is our refuge. And that's the point. That's
the point of this message, that the only refuge for sinners,
a refuge from the wrath of God, is the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, is the grace of God. And so let's just, let's
go into Zophar's message here. It begins then, verse 1, "...then
answered Zophar the Nehemiathite, and he said..." Now what he does
here, he's going to attack Job. He feels like this is the way
to deal with it. After Job had said what he said
in chapters 9 and 10, he takes a different approach than Eliphaz
and Bildad. His approach is an attack, and
his attack is severe. His attack is very harsh. And
listen to what he says. He says in verse 2, he says,
"...should not the multitude of words be answered, and should
a man full of talk be justified?" You talk too much, Job. That's
what he's saying. You're full of talk. He says
in verse 3, he says, "...should thy lies..." You're a liar, Job.
He says, should thy lies make men hold their peace? Just because
you're sitting there lying, does that mean I should shut up? And
when thou mockest, now he's mocking them. Now Zophar is implying
here that he's mocking God, but Job's not mocking God. He's mocking
these three men. And he says, when thou mockest,
shall no man make thee ashamed? You ought to be ashamed of yourself,
Job. You see the approach this man has taken. He accuses Job
with prattling on about things he knew nothing. You're full
of talk, but you have no wisdom, you have no knowledge, you have
no humility. This is what the New Testament
calls, Paul called in the New Testament, vain babbling. That's
what Zophar is saying about Job. You're a vain babbler. And then
again, he accuses him of lying, of scoffing at God, and good
men. You're scoffing at good men,
Job, of which Zophar and Eliphaz and Bildad believed they were
of that number. We're good men. And then look
at verse 4. He says, For thou hast said,
My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. Now, so
far misrepresents Job here and what Job had said. Now when he
says my doctrine is pure, what doctrine are we talking about?
Well, we know the doctrine of God is pure. It's truth. Let God be true in every man
alive. The doctrine of Christ is pure
doctrine. We may not understand everything
in the intricacies of doctrine, but we know the truth. We know
what God's revealed. The scripture says in 2 John
and verse 9, if anybody comes to you seeking religious fellowship
and religious support, and they bring not this doctrine, this
doctrine of God, then you don't support them. You don't bid them
God's speed. But what did Job said? Well, Job had not, listen,
the doctrine of Christ is pure and think about this, he said,
you said I am clean in God's eyes. That's what he's saying
here. Well, all who are in Christ are
truly and rightfully and honestly clean in God's sight, in Christ. That's so. That's not a lie. That's not dishonesty. In fact,
Psalm 24, the psalm of the king. You know, you have that trilogy
of psalms. Psalm 22 is the psalm of the
cross, presents Christ as our high priest and our substitute.
That's the one that begins, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And then, of course, that's talking
about the finished work of Christ as the redeemer and the high
priest and the substitute of his people. And then you have
Psalm 23. We all know that one. The Lord
is my shepherd. That's Christ, our prophet. He
guides us as a shepherd. The good shepherd has already
died for his sheep, as related in Psalm 22. Now, he guides his
sheep. He protects his sheep. He brings
us into the fold. And he's our prophet. He does
that through his word, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And
then Psalm 24 is the psalm of the king. That's the full fruit
of what Christ accomplished in everything that he did. And you
remember what that psalm says. It says this basically. Psalm
24. You read it on your own. It says that without purity,
without clean hands, without cleanliness, no man will enter
heaven. No man will enter heaven without
cleanliness. But now, Zophar misrepresents
Job here. Job had not claimed any purity
or cleanliness in himself, as if he was saying, I'm perfectly
sinless in myself. Or that my works are perfectly
sinless. Now, Job did defend his character.
He did defend his conduct. He did defend his integrity.
And you're going to see, later on, as Job defends himself, he
may go too far in that defense. We can do that. But Job had not
done what Zophar had accused here. When we say our doctrine
is pure, what are we talking about? We're not talking about
our understanding of doctrine. We're talking about the truth
of God in Christ. Isn't that right? My friend,
that's pure. Pure doctrine. The Old Testament
says that pure doctrine is like rain from heaven. We know what
it is to want rain, don't we? You go through a drought, you
need rain, because without rain, the crops won't grow. The grass
dies and turns brown. Well, that's why we need doctrine.
We need truth. We need the truth of God applied
to our hearts in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to know
the doctrine of God. Who is God? That He's holy. and
He's just and He's righteous, as well as merciful and gracious
and loving. We need to know the doctrine
of man from the Scripture, not from the philosophy of men. But
what does the Bible say about man? Well, we read it in Psalm
14. There's none good, no, not one. That's the doctrine of man
in the Scripture. Fallen man, ruined in Adam. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none who have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice by birth or by works. We cannot get it. We need
to know the doctrine of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? He is God
in human flesh. That's pure doctrine. You believe
that? You believe Christ is God in
human flesh? You believe that? Your doctrine's
pure. That doesn't mean you're pure in all your understanding
or you're pure within yours. It means your doctrine is pure.
Do you believe that he's the one sent of God to be the Redeemer
of God's elect people? And that he accomplished salvation
on Calvary by the putting away of our sins? That's pure doctrine.
And then when Job says, I'm clean in God's eyes, you remember he
left that with God. He said, you know God. Thou knowest.
Back over here in chapter 10 and verse 7. Listen to what he
says. Thou knowest that I am not wicked. God, you know. Listen, God knows
your state and your standing before Him right now. You can't
hide that from Him. You might hide it from men. I
might hide it from men, but you can't hide it from God. Remember
we looked at what Peter said when Christ said, do you love
me? He said, you know. Thou knowest. I can't fool you.
Peter said, I'm no hypocrite in this matter. Well, let me
tell you something. Think about this. You know every
believer, every sinner saved by grace as to the new man, which
is our standing in Christ. That's what the new man is. The
new man is my standing in Christ. The old man is my former standing
in Adam. But now I'm in Christ. Now, in
God's sight, eternally, I've always been that way. He chose
me in Christ, the scripture says. That salvation was given to me
in Christ before the foundation of the world. But my standing
in Christ, that's the new man. And every believer in the new
man, which is created in righteousness, how's that? On the cross of Calvary,
Christ kept the righteousness of the law and true holiness,
the scripture says. Every believer in Christ is without
sin. Every believer in Christ is clean
in God's eyes. There's no sin laid to our charge. There's no sin recorded in God's
law books. There's no matter against us. We are washed in the blood of
the Lamb and cannot commit sin in the sense that we cannot be
condemned. washed from all our sins in the
blood of the Lamb, wearing a righteous robe," that's symbolic of the
imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, "...and which we stand
before God faultless." Think about that. This sinner, you
see, standing behind this pulpit, in God's sight, in Christ, I'm
faultless. And that's real. That's not God
pretending now. Understand that. That's real.
That's how God sees me in Christ. That's why Paul said, Oh, that
I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law. If I stood before God in my own righteousness,
which is of the law, there'd be fault. There'd be dirt. I wouldn't be clean in God's
sight. But in Christ, I'm clean. What does the Scripture say?
In Christ, I'm holy, unblameable, and unreprovable, Where? In God's sight. I love that. That's grace, my friend. You
know, that really, that's the reality. That's the pure doctrine
that separates Christianity from all other religions. True Christianity,
right there. Faultless before the throne.
Washed in the blood of Christ. Clothed in His righteousness.
And that's what Job had said. Now, Job didn't understand why
he was being chastised, why he was being tested. And he made
some statements, but Zophar misrepresented him. And you see the harshness
of this man. Look back at verse 5 of Job 11. He says, Zophar calls upon God,
he says, But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips against
thee, and that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that
they are double to that which is. Know therefore that God exacteth
of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth." Zophar prays that
God would take Job in hand and come and speak against him. I wish God... You know, here's
what Zophar's saying. I want God to take sides with
me against you and convince you of my wisdom. of the wisdom of
eliphaz, of the wisdom of Bildad, and the wisdom of Zophar. That
wisdom that I'm speaking. In other words, Zophar wants
to be vindicated in what he's advising Job, what he's saying
to Job here. And like his friends, he misrepresents
God here. Before, in verse 4, he misrepresented
Job. Now he's misrepresenting God.
Even though he does speak some truth. Now remember, that's the
method of satanic false gospels. They speak a little truth. Well,
what truth did he speak? Well, he's made this statement.
Look at what he said here. He says in verse 6, he says,
the secrets of wisdom. Where do they lie? They lie with
God. Now, Zophar's correct. He is
right. God is wisdom. And the secrets
of wisdom lie with God. If you want to know wisdom, look
unto God. God's wisdom in this matter of
sin. What is sin? What's the standard
of sin? How do we measure sin? God's
wisdom when it comes to righteousness. How do we measure righteousness?
Think about this. God's wisdom when it comes to
salvation. What does the Bible teach about
God's wisdom in the matter of salvation? You can invoke it
by this phrase, Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that right?
Remember 1 Corinthians chapter 1? The Greeks seek after wisdom. The Jews seek after a sign. But the people of God, who are
the called of God, where is the wisdom and the power of God?
It's in Christ and Him crucified. There's the wisdom of God. So
the secrets of wisdom do lie with God. But here's the thing
about it. Zophar himself, he was totally ignorant of this
wisdom. And then he speaks another truth
here. Notice this. You might want to
underscore this in your Bible, verse 6. He says, "...know therefore that
God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserves." You
know that's true? If God punishes any of us for
our sin here on earth, here on earth now, I guarantee it's less
than what we deserve. Whatever you're going through,
whatever I'm going through as far as punishment goes, if it
is punishment, and I understand now there's no believer, no child
of God who is punished by way of payment for sin, we can't
pay for sin. That's why Christ had to come
and pay for that sin. But whatever we go through, you
know, we may think it's just awful. Look at what Job is going
through. I guarantee it's less than what
we deserve. Oh, God, don't give me what I
deserve. That ought to be our prayer every
day. Don't give me what I deserve. I need mercy. I need grace. I don't want what I deserve.
I know what I deserve. I know what I've earned. If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? Ezra, you remember
when the people were brought back from the captivity in Babylon
and they were reconstructing the temple and the city and the
city walls and they got lax in their obedience to God and God
began to punish the nation and they began to complain. One of
the things that Ezra, the scribe, told them In one of his messages,
in Ezra chapter 9, he stood up and he said, I guarantee you,
we're getting a whole lot less than what we deserve. That's
Ezra 9, 13. So Zophar is right. But Zophar
points this out in a self-righteous way. That indicates that in blessing
him and him not going through these things, that he's getting
what he deserves. That he'd earned. Well, my friend,
this is not the wisdom of God. But God is wisdom. And I want
to bring this to our attention on a point like this. When he
says, know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thy
iniquity deserveth, there's two times, there's two times when
God visits iniquity with exactly what it deserves. And one of
those times is in the eternal punishment of sinners without
Christ, getting exactly what they deserve. And the other time
is in Christ on the cross, taking the full punishment of what our
sins deserved as they were charged to Him. Christ got exactly on
that cross in His punishment He got exactly what we deserve,
as it was charged to him. But you see, that's the whole
point of this, isn't it? You see Job, and you'll see this
as the book progresses. As Job learns, and there'll be
times that you'll hear Job speak, and it'll look like he's just
as ignorant as the rest of them. And you'll wonder, where did
that come from? But he's learning. You know,
that's what chastisements are for. It's for our learning. We're
learning. You say, well, what lesson am
I learning? You may not know right away. But you'll learn. But Job's learning. And in order
to learn this lesson, we see, as the book progresses and as
it comes to its completion, that what he needed to learn is that
God is in control and his only hope of salvation and blessing
is in Christ. Job needed to be pointed to Christ.
That's the only comfort that he could have. He needed somebody
to point him to Christ and that great salvation that God has
freely and unconditionally provided his people in and by the promised
Messiah. Zophar's not doing that. Neither
did Bildad. Neither did Eliphaz. What did
they do? They pointed Job to himself. Job, look in. Figure this out. Find out what's
wrong. Get right with God. Straighten
up. Reform your life. And then it'll be a bed of roses. That's basically what their message
was. That's a lie. And then Zophar, as well as Eliphaz
and Bildad, pointed Job to themselves. Where are the examples? Be like
us, Job. We're not going through what
you're going through. We're the examples of righteousness
and holiness. But you see, this is the issue. God is wisdom, and God's wisdom
points us one place for blessing, for comfort, for solace, and
that's Christ. Job, and they hadn't even scratched
the surface of the infinite wisdom of God. Look at verse 7. Here
in this next section, Zophar sets forth the infinite unsearchableness
of God. And he's correct on this. Listen
to what he says here. Verse 7, Canst thou by searching
find out God? Think about that. God's sovereign.
God's so high above us. Compare the majesty, the glory,
the sovereignty, the infinite character of God with the foolishness
and vanity of men. It's not so far apart. Oh, the
depth of the riches of the wisdom, the power of God, Paul wrote.
Can you by searching find out God? You know, it's kind of interesting
here. You know, the Bible commands
us to seek the Lord. And the Bible tells us also that
men by nature will not seek the Lord. Isn't that something? You
think about that. We're commanded to seek the Lord.
That's a command from God. That's not an option. And yet
in Romans chapter 3, 10 it says, there's none that seeketh after
God. That's man by nature. Men by nature seek, but they
don't seek God. They seek religion. They seek
fulfillment. They seek pleasure. They seek
heaven and eternal life, but not the true and living God.
The scripture teaches us that. But how are we to seek the Lord?
Well, what he says here, Canst thou by searching find out God?
What's he talking about? He's talking about man's futile
and feeble search in darkness. It's like searching for something
in a dark room. That's man by nature, and you
won't find it. He said, canst thou find out
the Almighty unto perfection? Well, no. There'll always be
things about Almighty God we can't understand and grasp with
our finite minds. He says in verse 8, look. He
says, it's as high as heaven. What canst thou do? You can't
build a ladder or a tower. They tried that, didn't they? To get to God and babble. And
it failed. It's deeper than hell. You can't
dig down deep enough. To find out God to perfection,
what can you know? That's what he says. What canst
thou know? He says in verse 9, the measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the sea. Now, as you think about
the earth and the sea, it's much longer and broader than that.
That's just a way of speaking here. It's infinite. It says
in verse 10, look, he says, if he cut off and shut up, or gather
together, then who can hinder him? Who can stop him? The ways
of God. The works of God. No man hinders
him. You see, even old Zophar, he
knew better than most professed, self-professed theologians today.
You've often heard me say, you know how men kind of, what they
do today is they represent God as some kind of a cosmic chess
player. And he makes his move, and then
you make yours, and then he makes his counter move. That's the
way preachers represent God. Zophar, an ungodly man, knew
better than that. Verse 11, he says, for he knoweth
vain men, the futility of men is what he's talking about. He
seeth wickedness also. You can't get away from it. Everything's
open and above board with him with whom we have to do. Will
he not then consider it? In other words, Job, now God
sees all this. He sees your sin. You think he's
just going to look over it? You think he's just going to
let it go? And then he says in verse 12, For vain man, you might
have that word in your concordance there, empty, empty man, futile,
worthless, would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's
coat. In other words, he's talking
about the nature of man born in sin there. Empty. Like a rebel. A wild ass's coat. That's man by nature. And he
says God's not going to look over it. But the thing about
it is, can you find out God by searching? How are you going
to reach God? That's what he's talking about.
How are you going to reach him? Well, here's Zophar's message.
You reach him by finding out that sin and cleansing yourself
and reforming your life and getting right with God and working hard
to keep it that way. That's his message. Now is that
going to lead you to the true and living God of this book?
Absolutely not. All that will lead to is idolatry. That's exactly what it is. Idolatry. And so look at verse 13, here
he begins to show after having accused Job of being guilty of
some great sin or sins, after having accused Job of hypocrisy,
now what does he do? He counsels Job to repent and
reform his ways, and he makes some promises here. And he promises
Job That if you'll confess this sin, if you'll get right with
God, if you'll reform your life, then all will be well between
you and God. You'll have comfort. You'll have
peace. You'll have safety. If you do
this, Joe. And this is Zophar's refuge of
lives. Listen to it. He says, If thou
prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him. What's he talking about? Well,
what is the preparation of the heart? You know, in Proverbs
chapter 16, the wise man made this statement, verse 1. It says,
the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the
tongue is from the Lord. It's not of man. Prepare your
heart. What is the heart of man by nature?
It's the unregenerate heart. Isn't that right? What does God
promise in salvation by his grace through Christ? Look over at
Ezekiel chapter 36 with me. What is one of the main provisions
of the grace of God that comes forth to his people as a result
of the death of Christ? Well, listen to it. In Ezekiel
chapter 36 and verse 25. He's talking about bringing his
people out of every land, tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
This right here is a promise of the future for the church. And he says in verse 25, he says,
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. That's the blood of Christ, the ground of salvation. That's
what that clean water is. That's the blood of Christ cleansing
us from all sin. That's the ground. But now, as
the fruit of that ground, as the fruit of salvation, look
at verse 26. And I'll give you a new heart. A new heart also
will I give you. Where's the new heart going to
come from? It's going to come from God. It doesn't come from
you. Prepare your heart. You see, in this matter of salvation,
In this matter of seeking the Lord, in this matter of getting
right from God, the new heart is the product of the grace of
God and not the goodness or free will of man. A new heart also
will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give
you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and
cause you to walk in my stead. You see, this is all the work
of God, isn't it? calls you to walk in my statutes,
and you shall keep my judgments and do them." That's what God
does. That's the new birth. Now here's
what Zophar, go back to Job 11, here's what he's saying. He's
saying, Job, get right with God. Look at a sinner and say, get
right with God. Sinners don't know how to get
right with God. That's right. Now when you say that, What do
men think of? Well, what's Zophar telling Job?
Reform your life, join the church, get baptized, start giving, be
kind, all of these things. Shouldn't we do all of those
things? Yes. But my friend, that's not the preparation of our heart.
That's the product of a new heart that has been prepared and given
by the Lord God through Christ. prepare your heart look at look
back here he says he says verse 13 if thou prepare thine heart
and stretch out thine hands toward him what's that indicative of
what's that symbolic of the works of men you make your way to God
by your efforts you see this is all your efforts and here's
what he says look at it he says if you do that if iniquity be
in thy hand put it far away All right, now think about this,
folks. Now think about this. If there's
iniquity in your mind, put it out of your mind. Do it right
now. Just put it out. Do your best. Now you who truly
know yourself, yourselves, you know that you can't do that.
Put it out. Put it away from your hand. Put
it out of your mind. Determine that you'll sin no
more. Determine that you'll have no,
from this point on, from this second on, you'll have no evil
thoughts, evil motives, no bad thoughts, bad motives. But all
your thoughts will be pure. All your thoughts will be righteous
and holy. Now just determine that you're
going to do that. How far do you think you'll get? Not very
far, Willie. Not very far at all. The first
step you'll trip over. But that's what Zophar is telling
Job. Stretch out your hands. If iniquity is in your hand,
put it far away from you. You see, and let not wickedness
dwell in thy tabernacles. Don't let wickedness dwell in
your house. Don't let wickedness dwell in your heart or in your
mind. Just get rid of it. Just determine. Just use it as
an act of will and determination and think positively. And then you'll be right with
God. Look at it, verse 15. For then shalt thou lift up thy
face without spot. Then you'll be clean. Then you'll
be right. Then you'll be sinless. Yea,
thou shalt be steadfast. You'll be firm on the foundation. Well, what foundation is it here?
Man's works, man's efforts, man's will. And you shall not fear.
Because thou shalt forget thy misery and remember it as the
waters that pass away." Then you'll forget all this trouble
you've been going through. It'll look like a flood that's
come through and then gone. Passed away. Now, what's wrong
with all this? Well, you know what's wrong with
it. It's a refuge of lies. What can wash away my sins? Nothing. but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Is that what Zophar is saying
here? No. No. He says, verse 17, and thine
age shall be clearer than the noon day. In other words, what
he's saying there is you'll have a new start. It'll be like a
new beginning for you. You'll start notice. And he says,
Thou shalt shine forth, Thou shalt be as the morning, the
dawn of a new day. You know what the dawn of our
new day is in reality? It's when we're born again by
the Spirit. The circumcision of the heart. Remember the circumcision of
the flesh? You know what day it took place on? Remember the
day? The eighth day. What is the eighth day in Jewish
symbolism? In the Hebrew. It's the day of
new beginnings. It's the day after the seventh.
It's the day after the work's finished. And then the results,
the fruit. The work was finished by Christ
on the cross. That's the seventh day. That's
our Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. And as
a result of His finished work, we begin a new day. The circumcision
of the heart. That's the eighth day. There's
our morning. When God gives us life by the
Spirit, brings us to Christ where we rest in Him. He is our new
beginning, in other words. Look over at Isaiah chapter 28.
You know, that's Zophar's refuge of lies, you see. Job, you do
this. Cleanse yourself. Put away your
sins. Stretch out your hand. And then,
you'll be alright. You'll be right with God. Then,
your refuge will be strong. and you'll be safe, you'll be
at peace. In the book of Isaiah, chapter
28, Isaiah brings an indictment against the leaders of Israel,
the leaders of Judah. He's in Jerusalem here. These
leaders would include the civil leaders and the religious leaders,
the priest included. And they're like Zophar. They'd
made a covenant. See, Zophar, what he's doing
there, he's making a covenant. And here the covenant goes. If
you'll do your part, Job, God will do his part. That's the
covenant. And they had made the same kind
of covenant here in Jerusalem during Isaiah's day, later on.
And he says, look at verse 14, he says, Wherefore hear the word
of the Lord, you scornful men. Now you know what it is to scorn
something, don't you? That means you don't give it
the value that it deserves. What were they scorning? They
were scorning the word of God. So he says, Hear the word of
the Lord, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in
Jerusalem. Because you said we've made a covenant with death, and
with hell are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come to us. What was their
covenant with death and with hell? Well, when God's wrath
comes through, it won't hit us. We're safe. We're fine in God's
sight. And then he says, for we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Now they weren't saying that, but the prophet is exposing them. He's saying, you fellas, you've
made this covenant, but what you've really done, like Zophar,
you've made lies your refuge. And hid yourself under falsehoods. So he says in verse 16, he says,
Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. Now you know who that's talking about. That's
talking about the only real refuge from the wrath of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the work that he would accomplish
for his people, the church. And all who believe in him shall
not make haste. That really means they shall
not be ashamed. In Christ we have nothing to
be ashamed of. So he says in verse 17, Judgment
also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet.
There's the standard. And the hail, the hail of God's
wrath shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall
overflow the hiding place, and your covenant with death shall
be disannulled. No good. and your agreement with
hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it."
Go back to Job 11 there. Refuge of lies. This is just
Zophar's version of the same refuge of lies that Isaiah spoke
against. You see, there is no refuge but
Christ. There is no way to put away sin,
but Christ and Him crucified. He had to be made sin in order
to put away our sin, so that we might be made the righteousness
of God. And the only way that we can look up, lift up our face
to God without spot, is in Christ. The only way that we can be steadfast
and firm is as we stand upon the rock, Christ Jesus. And the
only way that this misery of sin and death and hell can pass
away like a flood is as we are in our refuge, Christ Jesus the
Lord. Outside of Him, it's all for
naught. The only way that we can have
a new beginning, our old beginning in Adam is shame, sin, death,
hell. The only way we can have a new
beginning is in and by Christ. We'll look at verse 18. He says,
now Zophar, he's making these promises. He says, now you shall
be secure because there is hope. Well, where is the hope that
Zophar's giving? Well, it's not in Christ, it's
in Job. But where's our hope? Our hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Where's our security? Our security
is in our surety. Who is our surety? Not our professions,
not our trying to clean it up, not our trying to put away sin,
but in Christ on the cross, shedding his blood as the full payment
for all our sins, in his righteousness imputed and charged to us. He
says, Yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy
rest in safety. In other words, it's like preparing
the ground for a foundation. But see, it's a false hope. It's
a false foundation. Look at verse 19. He said also,
Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid. You're
going to be safe and secure in this? But notice this line. He says, Yea, many shall make
suit unto thee. You know what that means? That means when other people
see this, and they see your glory and your righteousness, they'll
come to you for advice and for counsel and for help. They'll
look to Job. What's the problem with that? You want people looking to you
for refuge, for peace and safety? No, we want them to look to Christ. Make suit to Him. You know what
that means? That means come and beg Christ
for mercy. God be merciful to me, the sinner. Don't come to the preacher. He's
not your Savior. He can't even save himself. Don't
come to me. I must decrease. Christ must
increase. What Zophar is talking about
in this false refuge is Job's going to increase. And they'll
make suit to you, Job. Because they'll see you're the
living, shining example, my friend. All, listen, if we're true children
of God, our example, we're examples in one way, we're examples of
sinners saved by grace in Christ. And then he says in verse 20,
and here's what he said, here's his final, here's the conclusion
to his message, he says, But the eyes of the wicked shall
fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the
giving up of the ghost, as the last breath they take." In other
words, they'll have no greater hope in their last breath than
they had in their whole lives. What's Zophar saying? He's saying,
Job, if you refuse what I'm telling you, you'll perish as the wicked. You'll perish. But now here's
the irony of it. Here's the deception of it. If
Job sought to take Zophar's advice and do what Zophar said to do,
he would perish as the wicked. For by deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified in God's sight. That's a refuge of lies, Zophar. We don't need that. That's in
us by nature. That's what we believe and think
by nature. What do we need? We need mercy. We need God's
grace in Christ. That's what we need.