Alright, let's open our Bibles
to the book of Job, chapter 8. Job, chapter 8. Now, I've entitled tonight's
message, God's Justice and the Perfect Man. God's Justice and
the Perfect Man. Now, of course, And chapter 8
begins the second miserable comforter of Job. His name is Bildad. Verse 1,
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite from a place called Shuah. And
this man Bildad, he was one of the three men who came to Job,
Job in his suffering. Job in his pain and misery, his
sorrow, sitting outside the city of us, in the ash heap, in the
dung heap of the city, having lost everything, going through
a severe, probably the severest trial that any mere human being,
even a saved human being, even a sinner saved by grace can go
through. I know we often, as we go through
trials, we like to compare our sales to Joe but really we're
not even on the map when we compare with Joe seriously and these
three friends one named a life as he'd already said his first
little sermon to Joe and then the next one is named build a
and then another another one named so far but here's build
add the shoe right now build adds advice to Joe His message
to Job is much the same as Eliphaz. In fact, it's kind of like a
legalistic relay race. Eliphaz just hands the baton
out to Bildad, and he just takes over where Eliphaz left off. And he delivers to this man Job,
this man of God, And that's important for us to understand. Job was
a sinner saved by the grace of God. He was a man of God. God
said so in chapter 1, verse 1. And Job was a man who was righteous,
justified. He's righteous not in himself,
but in Christ, whom Job looked to the future by promise. Believing like all the Old Testament
saints that God's Messiah would come in time Put away his sins
and establish righteousness for him Job was a man of integrity
He was a man of honesty. He was upright. He was straight
the scripture says but now he's going through this trial and
These men are trying to figure it out for him and to be honest
with you Job himself is trying to figure it out That's that
there's nothing Nothing unusual about that. Don't ever look at
Job and say, well, I wouldn't say things like that. Oh, you
don't know what you'd say going through trials like this. I don't
know what I would say. I suppose, and I figure knowing
myself, that certainly much of what I would say if I had to
go through a trial like this would not be honoring to God.
That's why I need salvation by grace. That's why I need mercy
every day. But he picks up here and he delivers
this self-righteous, legalistic message. He tries to prove that
Job could not possibly be justified. He could not possibly be an upright
man, being that Job was suffering like he's suffering. and not
prospering. In fact, Bildad's gospel is the
same false gospel as Eliphaz. It's the health and wealth gospel
that if you're doing what's right, then God, you're going to be
healthy, wealthy, wise. God's going to be prospering
you. And if you're going through any
trials of suffering, any times of sorrow and misery, it's because
there's some sin in your life. And I've heard this so much from
false preachers today. Some unconfessed sin that you've
got to get out there And you've got to repent of publicly and
make it a real one. And then everything will turn
around. Now we're all sinners. We're all in need of mercy and
grace. And sometimes we do suffer for
our own bad behavior, don't we? I've done that. And you have
too. And then sometimes God's Fatherly,
loving chastisement comes down upon his children and we can't
link it to any specific act or any specific non-act. It's there
because God's wisdom provides what we need. He's teaching us. But this man, Bill, he saw it
differently. Now he states, he's like Eliphaz,
you know, remember Eliphaz in his first message to Job, he
said a lot of right things. And Bildad does the same thing.
He states a great and good theme. You know the theme of Bildad's
message is this, it is God's absolute and inflexible justice
in all things. And that's right. That's his
theme in chapter 8. God is inflexibly, absolutely
just and righteous in everything that he does. He never makes
a mistake. He's got some truth there. In fact, Bildad's argument
here begs the question that brings us to the very heart of the gospel,
the heart of the message of redemption, and Job states it In chapter
9, in his answer to Bildad, in verse 2, when he says, I know
it is so of a truth, but how should man be just with God?
That's a good question. When you consider God's absolute
and inflexible justice in all things. But, like Eliphaz, Bildad
applies those truths in a wrong way. He applies them wrongly
to men on this earth, and he applies them in a way that's
self-righteous and legalistic. And that's the way it is with
false religion, isn't it? They may have a lot of truth.
But my friend, when they introduce the works and will of man as
earning or meriting God's favor and blessings, they destroy it
all. I think it was Brother Scott Richardson who talked about that.
He said, rat poison is 99% good food. Bill Dad's attitude is this.
It's like he's saying this to Job. Job, you and your children
must have gotten only what you and they deserve. And it's too
late for them. They're gone. But you need to
repent, get right with God so he'll bless you. Now Bill Dad
did not understand the reality of God's absolute inflexible
justice. That there is none righteous,
no not one. There's none that doeth good
in the sight of God. He didn't understand what David
of old understood. That if the Lord would mark iniquities,
none of us, Job, Bildad, Eliphaz, Bill Parker, any of us would
stand if God were to charge sin to our camp. What I'd like to
do, let's read through chapter 8 and make sure we understand
what this man is saying, then I want to come back and just
hit a few highlights. But let's look at it. Verse 1,
he says, Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and he said in verse
2, How long wilt thou speak these things, talking to Job? How long
are you going to talk like this, Job? How long shall the words
of thy mouth be like a strong wind? It's like he's saying,
Job, you're just a big windbag. Your answers, your complaints
is like beating the wind. And then he asked this question,
Does God pervert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert
justice? Does God ever pervert judgment
and justice? What's he doing? He's appealing
to God's justice in punishing Job. What he's saying is, Job,
you're only getting what you deserve. Now, in the sense of it, what
he's saying is, now, here's Bildad. Now, he's not suffering like
Job. He's prospering. This was a prosperous man. All
three of them were. Job was a prosperous man before.
But here's what he's saying. He's saying, Job, God doesn't
pervert judgment and justice. You're getting what you deserve.
And look at me. I'm getting what I deserve. Now,
that's the way he's talking. See? And he doesn't understand that
if God gave any of us what we deserve, what would it be? Eternal
damnation. And if God prospers any of us,
what is it? It's a gift from God. Look at verse 4. He says, "...if
thy children..." Now, he really hits below the belt here. He
says, "...if thy children have sinned against him, and he hath
cast them away for their transgression..." In other words, he's saying,
Job, your children got what they deserved. God wouldn't do that.
God wouldn't cast them away unless they deserved it. God never perverts
judgment or justice. Well, that's true. God never
perverts judgment or justice. He says in verse 5, "...if thou
wouldest seek unto God betimes..." That's a way of just saying,
Job, if you'd get with it, if you'd really get up right now,
don't delay, betimes, do it now. Get up off your hind legs and
seek unto God. Make thy supplication beg God
for mercy. That's what he's saying to the
Almighty He says if thou were pure and upright Surely now he
would awake for thee you see it's like like he's saying well
God's gone to sleep in your case He's not even he's not even helping
you at all, but now if you were really pure and upright Then
God would wake up. He'd notice you and And he'd
make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. In other words, he'd
treat you justly what you deserve. You'd be prosperous. Now, you
know what he's doing here? He's questioning Job's righteousness.
He's questioning Job's standing with God. If you were really
pure and upright, you'd be okay. God would wake up. He'd notice.
So he's calling on Job to repent. Look at verse 7. He says, "...though
thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly
increase." Right now, and really, what an understatement. Your
beginning is small? Look at Job. He's got nothing.
But he's saying now, it may be this way today, But if you'll
do what I'm telling you to do, if you'll take my advice, Job,
then later on you're going to have much, much more. Greatly
increase. Well, now, there's some truth
there, isn't there? But not the way Bill Dadds applied
it. Look at verse 8. He says, "...for inquire, I pray
thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to search for
their fathers." Now he's appealing to tradition. He's saying, Job,
go back and think about what man has learned in the past.
what our forefathers have learned. And prepare thyself to the search
of their fathers, what men of the past have searched for. What
have they come to the conclusion of? He says in verse 9, For we
are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon
earth are a shadow. In our little short time here,
we haven't really found out anything or learned anything, but we can
rely on men of the past who've searched for centuries, the old
sages, the wise men of the past. What men have learned in their
own search. And he says in verse 10, shall
not they teach thee and tell thee and other words out of their
heart? Can't you learn from the past? In verse 11 he says, can
the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag, that's a plant,
grow without water? Verse 12, whilst it is yet in
his greenness and not cut down, it withereth before any other
herb. Now think about what he's saying
here. He's appealing to the wisdom of men of the past, what they've
searched out. But what he's talking about is what man in his own
sin and ignorance and darkness has learned. This is man's wisdom. That's what he's appealing to.
He's not appealing to God's wisdom. He's not seeking after eternal
wisdom from God. That's wrapped up and centered
around, founded upon the glorious person and finished work of Christ
for salvation for a sinner in need, like Job, like any of us. But he's going back to the wisdom
of man, not God's. He's man-searched, but he's searching
in the dark without revelation. You see, we can search and search
and search through the smartest and wisest and most religious
and most moral of men and we will not know anything about
God and the great salvation that he's provided unless God speaks,
unless God reveals it. What has man learned? Well, he's
learned that what you sow, so shall you reap. He's learned
that the rush can't grow up without mire. That rush in the marsh,
it can't grow up unless it's got the proper ground, water
and the mud, The flag, that plant, it can't grow up without water
while it's yet greenest and not cut down, and it withereth before
any other herb. In other words, it's going to
die. And here's what his point is. Here's what men of the past
have learned. If you do good, you'll receive good. In other
words, if you sow in the ground of good, the mud and the water
of good, you'll get good. If you sow evil, you'll get evil.
That's what they've learned. What is that? That's man's self-righteousness. That's what man has searched
out and found. That's what's in the books of the wisdom of
men. Works religion. That's what that is. Work hard. And you'll be alright. You'll
perceive nothing but good. And that's the way man sees salvation.
That's the way he tries to stand before God and establish a relationship
with God. Well, preacher, shouldn't a man
work hard? Oh yes, he should. But not for salvation. That's why Christ said, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you
rest. We rest in his word. You know, the only way we can
learn about eternal things is from God's wisdom in his word
in Christ. And so here's Bildad. He says,
well, let's appeal to the men of the past. No, Paul says this.
He said, let's press forward toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Now there's real wisdom. Look at verse 11. He says, he
says, Can the rust grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without
water? While as yet in his greatness and not cut down, it withereth
before any other herb. And then he says in verse 13,
now he says, listen, he says, So are the paths of all that
forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Now I want
you to think about what's going on. Here's a hypocrite. saying
that the hypocrite's hope shall perish. What a picture of false
religion. Here's a man who doesn't know
his own self, doesn't know his sin, talking about how he's prospering
because he's earned it from God and he deserves it, and that's
hypocrisy, but he says the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Well, you
know what? He's right. The hypocrite's hope shall perish. Well, what is that? Well, hold
on. Verse 14. He says, whose hope shall be
cut off and whose trust shall be a spider's web. You ever seen
a spider's web? Of course you have. Now, a spider,
he can crawl all over it. But you try to crawl on it. See
how far you get. Comes right down, doesn't it?
He says in verse 15, listen to this. He says, he shall lean
upon his house, the house that he's built, worked hard for,
But it shall not stand. It's like the house that's built
upon the sand. When the rains come, rains descend. And he says, he shall hold it
fast, but it shall not endure. He'll try to keep it together,
but it will not endure. Verse 16. He says, he is green
before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden,
and his roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the places
of stones. It's like a weed that grows up real quick. It'll grow
anywhere, even in the rocks, even in the place of the stones.
Most of you, I guarantee you, if you've got a driveway that's
got sections, you've got little reeds of grass springing up right
there, don't you? And you have to put that round up on it. And that's what he's saying.
He's saying in verse 18, he says, What he's talking about is when
the farmer comes along and he pulls up that weed or he destroys
that weed, he'll act like he's never seen it. In other words,
he won't miss it at all. I don't miss those weeds at all.
They're gone. And verse 19, Behold, this is
the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
He only makes, when you pull up those weeds, what do you do?
You make room for good plants to grow. Well, what's Bildad
saying? He's saying, Job, you're getting
what you deserve. You can't expect to get good out of sin. You're
a sinner. Like, you can't expect to get
good like me. I'm a good guy, so I'm getting
good. You're a sinner. You can't expect to get good
out of that. And if God moves you out of the way like He does
the real sinners of this world, you know what He does? He just
makes more room for us good people to grow. That's Bill Dadd's message. Just making room for us good
folks to grow. Let's get rid of all the bad
folks. That'll make room for all us
good folks to grow and prosper. And we'll just have a good old
time. We'll pat each other on the back and watch our heads
get bigger. That's what happens, isn't it?
Well, look at verse 20. See, the unrighteous, they're
like weeds. You know, you gotta get rid of them. Once you get
rid of them, you won't miss them. They'll be gone. You'll be glad
they're gone. Verse 20, he says, Behold, God will not cast away
a perfect man. Now this is why I entitled the
message, God's Justice and the Perfect Man. And I want to talk
about that in just a moment. But he said, God will not cast
away a perfect man, neither will he help the evildoers. Now, there's
truth there, isn't there? But not the way Bill Dadd is
looking at it. You see how a man can take truth
And he can use it wrongly, use it in a way. Now, you remember
Eliphaz, he took the truth and he used it like a knife going
into the heart of Job. But Bildad, he's reasoning here
based on tradition and based upon the justice of God. And
he says in verse 21, he says, till he fill thy mouth with laughing
and thy lips rejoicing. What he's talking here, he says,
they that hate thee shall be clothed with shame and the dwelling
place of the wicked shall come to nothing. In other words, Job,
when you get right with God, when you do what you're supposed
to do, when you confess this sin and make amendments for it,
whatever it is, we're trying to figure that out. He says,
God will fill your mouth with laughing and joy. Your enemies,
they'll be ashamed, they'll be clothed with shame, and they'll
come to nothing. But until then, you're getting
what you deserve. Now, you think about all that.
Well, let me just give you some highlights here. Let's go back
to verse 3. Here's the question. Now, doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert
justice? Turn to Proverbs chapter 17.
Turn to the book of Proverbs. Now, the answer to that question
is a resounding no. God never perverts judgment. Never. He can't. God cannot pervert
judgment. You know why? Because he's God.
And he's holy. And he's just and he's righteous
in all his ways. We may not be able to see it
at the time. We may not understand it at the
time. But my friend, it is so. God will never pervert judgment. The Almighty will never pervert
justice. He'll never, listen, He'll never
confuse it. He'll never deny it. He'll never
work against it. He's always just and righteous
in everything He does. Period. Alright? Look at Proverbs
17, look at verse 15. It says, he that justifieth the
wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are
abomination to the Lord. Now if God were to pervert judgment
and justice, he would be an abomination to himself, according to that
verse. And he can't be an abomination to himself. Holy is his name. Righteous is His name. He's the
God of judgment. Brother Bill read it in Romans
chapter 2. God always judges according to
truth. And He always judges in righteousness.
Now, you may be anticipating the question of questions. But
hold on to that thought now. What is it? Does God pervert
judgment? No. He cannot because He's God. And let me give you this. Now
think about this. Here's these things. Number one, when Adam
sinned in the garden and God pronounced the judgment of death
upon Adam, the sentence of death, God did not pervert judgment.
He wasn't being unfair. He wasn't being unjust. He was
just doing what God alone can only do. He told Adam in Genesis
chapter 2 about the... He commanded the man, verse 16,
saying, "...of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." What happened when
Adam disobeyed? He died. He didn't die physically
right then, but the process began. He died spiritually. He came
under the legal sentence of condemnation according to the covenant of
works. God didn't pervert judgment. God did just exactly what only
God can do. And listen to me. We fell in
Adam. Adam was our federal head and
representative in that garden. Romans 5 and verse 12. Listen
to it. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, All whom Adam represented,
for that all have sinned, or literally all sinned when Adam
sinned. He was our representative, our
substitute in that sense under the law. Somebody says, well
that doesn't sound fair to me. You're wrong. It's as fair as
fair can be. It's as just as just can be.
God was just. in looking at the whole human
family, the whole human race, in Adam, the representative.
God set it up in his wisdom, in his sovereignty, and when
he did it, he did that which is right. Just. But now listen to this. And we're
talking about God perverting judgment. He doesn't do that.
Later on, we'll see. God will not cast away a perfect
man. Neither will he help evildoers.
We studied this morning out of Matthew chapter 27, I believe
it's verse 46 there, where the Lord Jesus Christ, the only perfect
man that ever lived. That's right. Jesus Christ. Hanging on the cross, dying for
the sins of his people, and he cried, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Did God pervert justice when
he Put Christ on that cross, and the Bible says it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. That is, Christ came under the
judgment of Almighty God, the only perfect man that ever lived,
and he was, you could say, cast away. My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? That means cut off, alienated
from God. God did cast away a perfect man
there. Well, did God pervert judgment
there? Did He pervert justice? And the answer is no. Well, how
do you figure that, preacher? I don't. I'll tell you what to
do, though. Go to God's Word and listen to
what He says. How about that? That's the way
to do it, isn't it? Let's listen to what He says.
Turn to Romans chapter 3. Look at Romans chapter 3, and
there's so many passages of scripture we could go to, Old Testament
and New Testament, that settles this for us. To where we don't have to speculate,
we don't have to debate, and we don't have to try to climb
into the mind of the God-man, which we cannot do, and it's
foolish to try to do, just listen to the Lord. And here's what
he said. This is where we confront that
question. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? And in Romans chapter 3, look
here, he talks about in verse 23, listen to this. He says,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now
there's where you've got to start when you talk about what we deserve.
That's what Bildad needs to learn. It's what we all needed to learn
and hopefully the Holy Spirit has taught us that when he convinced
us of sin. And then he says, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth, that word set forth means literally
foreordained, set up from everlasting, from eternity, to be a what? a propitiation. You see the word
there? A satisfaction. Now what does
that mean? That means a substitute. A God-appointed, foreordained,
qualified God-man, a willing substitute who would go under
the wrath of God for the sins of his people charged to him. And so when God cast him away,
he cast him away, that perfect man, based on the guilt of sin
that was charged to him. Therefore, God did not pervert
justice when he cast Christ away. Christ was guilty! Not because
he himself was imperfect. He was never imperfect. He was
always the perfect, spotless Lamb of God. But he was cast
away under the charge of the guilt of his people. An imputation. That's what that is. That's imputed
sin. Sin imputed. That answers the
question. Now, somebody says, well, that
doesn't answer it well enough for me. Well, I'm sorry for you.
I really am. Because that's what it is. When
God punished His holy, harmless, undefiled Son on that cross,
He did not pervert justice or judgment. He was just and right
in punishing Christ, the perfect man. How? How could He do that
and still be just? How could He do that and not
pervert justice? Because of the charge, because
of the imputation, the guilt imputed to Christ. He was made
sin. That's what that means. Christ
came under the just punishment of sin that was charged to Him.
And Christ willingly took that on Himself. He was the willing
servant and substituting. He said, put it to my account.
Lay it to my charge. He said, Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they do. And that's the issue now. You
say, well, I want to study more about that. Good. Do it. Read what the Scripture says.
Now, in the same way, God takes sinners like us into his fellowship
and communion and accepts us and blesses us. Now, how can
he do that without perverting justice? The same way, just as
he charged our sin to Christ, he charges Christ's righteousness
to us. And that's how he can be both
a just God and a Savior. That's how he can be both a righteous
judge, and judge according to truth, and a loving, merciful
Father. And I want to tell you something.
Now you say, well, you know, we couldn't do that to each other.
Well, there's some sense that we can as far as debt goes, but
let me tell you something. It doesn't matter if we could
do it to each other. God did it, and that's right. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. God did it. That means it's real. That means it's reality. That
means it's worth everything. Well, even more than we can put
on it. More value. God did not pervert judgment
when he punished his perfect son for our sins. He was bruised for our iniquities.
That's what the scripture said. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. God was just. in punishing Christ
for our sins, and he's just in bringing us to salvation and
justifying us in Christ. And let me tell you something
else. When God judges the world in righteousness, he doesn't
pervert judgment or justice. The Bible says that he's going
to judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
and that he hath given assurance unto all men and that he hath
raised him from the dead. That's Christ. And here's another
thing. God, even in Providence, even
in the daily lives of people on this earth, whatever God does,
it is never perverting judgment and justice. When God punished
Job, this sinner saved by grace, God was not perverting justice.
When God allowed a man like Bildad, an unbeliever, to prosper, he
was not perverting justice. It all goes back to God's wisdom
in dealing with people. Sometimes he visits the wicked
immediately with wrath. Sometimes he's longsuffering
even toward the vessels of destruction that were the vessels of wrath
fitted for destruction. Sometimes he puts his people
through the fire. You know that song, some through
the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Sometimes he'll put you under
hard trials and you'll think you can't come through it. And
the reality is you can't come through it by your power. It
takes the wisdom and power and grace of God in Christ. But he
never perverts justice. Now look at verse 6. He says,
Job, if you were pure and upright, Job 8 verse 6, if you were pure
and upright, surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation
of thy righteousness prosper, though thy beginning was small,
yet thy latter end should greatly increase. Now, Bildad is using
that in a wrong way. He's applying it to men on earth
in every situation. It's just not true. But I'm going
to tell you a situation where it's always true, and that's
as we stand in Christ. We may not get the benefits of
it in this life, but just like the old psalmist said in Psalm
73 and verse 17, he said, I didn't understand how the wicked could
prosper, but he said, when I went into the sanctuary of God, then
I understood their end. How's it all going to end up?
Well, it's all going to work together for good to them that
love God, who are the called according to His purpose. Bill
Dadd, he said in verse 13, he talked about the paths of those
who forget God. Well, he says, the hypocrite's
hope shall perish. What is the hypocrite's hope?
Let me just cut to the chase on that one. You know, they say
you can't kill the whole cubby with one shot. I'm going to kill
the whole cubby with one shot right here. You can do it on
this. What is the hypocrite's hope?
I'll tell you what the hypocrite's hope is. It's any hope or assurance
or security of salvation that any sinner has or claims apart
from Christ and Him crucified and risen again. You got any
hope of salvation? If you've got any assurance of
salvation, If you've got any security in your mind of salvation
that's not wrapped up totally in the glorious person and finished
work of Christ, His blood and righteousness imputed, it's a
hypocrite's hope. That's right. At any time, any
stage, to any degree. And you know what's going to
happen? You'll be cut off, just like a spider's web. It won't
hold you up. And you'll lean upon your house.
You'll be building your house. You'll be trying to work your
way into God's favor, earn your blessings from God. But when
you lean upon that house, it won't stand. It's built upon
sand and not upon the rock. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's the house built upon the
rock. And then look down at verse 20. He says, God will not cast
away a perfect man, neither will he help the evildoers. Now again, as Bildad applies
this, it's misleading and it's self-righteous. But listen, even
though Job was a perfect man, he was. You ought to know that
God said it. Read Job 1 and verse 1. What does that mean, perfect?
It doesn't mean that Job was not a sinner. It doesn't mean
that Job was morally perfect. It means that Job was a complete
man, and where is his completeness? It's where every sinner saved
by grace's completeness is. For in him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in
him." He's our complete. Christ is my complete wisdom.
He's my complete righteousness. He's my complete holiness. He's
my complete redemption. I don't have any completeness
but in him. And so even though Job was a
perfect man, a complete man by the grace of God in Christ, and
even though God visited Job with trials, you know what? God had
not cast Job away. He'd not cast him away. Christ would be cast away in
Job's place for Job's sins, and therefore His people will never
be cast away. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. God was dealing with Job. Think about this. Now,
you know, I told Sunday school class this morning, I said, you
know, Christianity really causes you to have to think. That doesn't
mean you have to be an Einstein to be a Christian. It just means
you have to think. I've even seen little children
say, let me think about that. Well, let's think. But you know
that everything that Job was going through, you know God was
still dealing with Job as a child of the king. Still dealing with him as a son
of his love. You say, well, that kind of love
I don't need. Oh, you don't know what you need. I don't know what
I need. Our children don't know what
they need, Mom and Daddy. You've got to teach them. Am
I right? And that's the way we are with
God. He was dealing with Job as a
son of his love. Not trying to make Job pay for
his sins. Job couldn't do that. Nobody
can. That's why we need a Savior. That's why we need a Mediator.
Job says it later on. He says, I need an umpire. I
need someone to stand between me and you and make the right
call. Because self-righteous sinners
will not make the right call. God does. Christ does. But listen. Job was not cast
away. And God will not help evildoers.
Now let me tell you something, when an evildoer, I was talking
about an unbeliever here, when an evildoer prospers, you take
like the wicked, you know, the psalmist said, why do the heathen
prosper? Alright, when the heathen prosper,
do you know that's not God helping them? That's right. They think it is,
but it's really not. Because, ultimately, all of their
prosperity will work to their eternal damnation if they never
come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Think about that rich
man in hell that Christ spoke of as compared to Lazarus in
Abraham's bosom. Ultimately, all that they see
as God's help will work to their destruction, because having no
hope of salvation by His grace in Christ, there's no hope at
all. You see, God never perverts justice.
Here's God's justice in the perfect man, in Job. God is just in Job's
salvation. through Christ, and God is just
in his dealings with Job throughout everything that Job has experienced.
And even in bringing these three self-righteous miserable comforters,
Job, he gets there, you're going to see, he'll get to defending
himself and he'll mess up just like we all do. I've done it,
you've done it. But in the end, he's going to
learn what this thing is all about. And it's all about God's
grace and mercy in Christ. That's what it's about. That's
what we need to learn. That's why we have these life
lessons, as they say. That's why we must go through
the fire sometimes and struggle, not in our own power, but in
the power of God's grace in Christ. All right.