You remember, Eliaphaz, he said
a lot of truth, but he's always hard on Job. Been very, very
hard on Job. And Job was a righteous man. God said he was. Perfect man. Just man and upright. And Job
is answering him now. He's answering Eliaphaz and what
Eliaphaz had to say. And that's what we're gonna deal
with tonight. I'll read about five or six verses
and then we'll go back and look at them. Five or six more and
go back and look at them. And then Job answered and said,
I've heard many such things. Miserable comforters are you
all. Shall vain words have an end?
Or what emboldeth thee that thou answer'st? I also could speak
as you do if your souls were in my soul's stead. I could heap
up words against you and shake my head at you, but I would strengthen
you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should assuage your
grief. Though I speak, my grief is not
assuaged, and though I forbear, what am I eased? Job is answering
Eliphaz, and Job is, he's been taught
of God. He has really been taught of
God. And these men seem to think that Job's troubles is because
he sinned. They said some wonderful things
about God, but all religion says some good things about God. It's
like having, if this water had just one drop of poison in it,
it ceased to be a glass of water, it'd be a whole glass of poison.
And that's the way the word of God is, the gospel is, somebody
add anything to Christ, it becomes poison. And so just because they
say, well, they, you know, people say, well, he says some good
things. Well, it's not saying some good things, it's knowing
God, and knowing God in Christ. And so Job knew God, and God
knew Job. But he said here, he said, you
know, he said, your words are very uncomforting. And he addresses
him, he said, I've heard many such things. Ain't that what
he said in verse two? I've heard many such things.
He said, you're not the only one that said these things. I've
heard these things, many such things from people. I've heard
lots of these things. I've not went through life not
seeing what's going on and not yet without using my brain. And
he said, you speak, he said, you're talking as you know everything
and I don't know anything. He said, that's what you're talking
to me like. And I tell you other things, you talk in platitudes. But oh my, he said, you're miserable. And then look what he said here.
He said, you're miserable comforters. You're miserable comforters,
all of y'all. Now I know this. When a person is in trouble and
they need comfort, these men did everything but comfort him.
They came to comfort him. They saw him afar off and they
wept. But then after they started talking, They made Job's life
more miserable than it already was. That's what he said. You're
miserable comforters. All of you are. You come here
to console me. You come here to be my comforters. You come here to be my help.
And here you are, you're just a miserable comforter to me.
You've not said anything to encourage me. You've not said anything
to assuage my grief. And I tell you, I know this,
that if a person's in real trouble, Real trouble. You know, the most,
the best thing we, I think we can do, instead of using words,
and not a lot of times, when you have genuine, heartfelt sympathy
for somebody, and it's so strong that you ain't got the words
to express that deep sympathy that you have for them. And all
you can do sometimes is just weep tears and say, I'm so sorry. Or just not say anything, just
hug them and weep with them. And that's what these men should
have done with Job. And when you see somebody in
trouble, and there's not anybody in this building tonight that
has not been in some kind of trouble, and there's nowhere
in the world you could have been comforted by anyone else other
than God Himself. All we can do is say, I'm sorry.
Hug you and weep with you. That's all you can do. I think
that's the greatest thing we can do. Not to be in miserable
comfort and come up and tell you how to, you ought to deal
with this. You don't ought to deal with this this way. You
ought to deal with it that way. You shouldn't act this way. You
shouldn't act that way. But when you're in trouble, the
best thing you can do is just put your arms around them and
say I love you and hug them and kiss them and show genuine sympathy. That's the best you can do. And
I think that's what we ought to do. Because sometimes there's
no words that you can express what a person's going through.
You just can't do it. Just don't have the ability to do it. And
then look what he says next. He said, their words were empty
words. They were ill-tempered, empty
words. He said in verse three, shall vain words have an end? And this word vanity, this word
vain here, are words that just, they're just truths without any
relations to what's going on at all. They're inappropriate
to be said at the time in which he was in trouble. And oh my,
and these men, they used the wrong application towards Job.
He said, it's the vain words. Words of wind, it's just words
of wind. Did they ever have an end? Will your vain, useless, trifling
words ever come to a conclusion? Will you ever get through talking
about it? That's what he's saying. And
then look what else he said here. What emboldeth thee that thou
hast answers? that thou hast interest. And
what he means here, what has provoked you to think, what emboldened
you that makes you think and provoked you to try to teach
me and straighten me out, is what he's saying, that you answer
everything I say, everything that I think, you answer it.
You remember Job was the one who said, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? It was Job who asked the question.
How can a man be just with God? How can he be pure in the eyes
of God? And now you know one of them
said, God would not cast away a perfect man. And Job said,
yes, you're exactly right. If God can find a perfect man,
he said he won't cast him away. And he said, but I'm on the road
of this. Where in the world is a man going to get perfection? And that's why these fellows,
they said, what provoked you to try to answer me? And every
time I just answer everything that's going on, you got an answer
for everything. And there's people that do. You know, they got an answer
for everything. I don't even hardly know hardly what questions
to ask, unless I know the answer to them. Oh my goodness. Oh my. These men spoke from being
malignant. They was malicious in what they
said. Oh my. And that's what he said. What
provoked you that you speak with all this meanness towards me,
this ill temper that you have? The ill temper that you have. And then look what he says here
in verse four. Oh, this is something here. Oh,
this just touches me right here. He said, you know, I could speak
just like you do. I could just be as mean. I could
be as harsh. I could use words. I could mistreat
you with words. I could speak like you do. I
could speak like you do. I could turn on you and ask you,
what makes you think that you're perfect? What makes you think
you're without sin? What makes you think that God
is not for you? And oh, he said, listen, if I
could also speak just like you, I could be ill-tempered, I could
be a miserable comforter. Oh my, but he said, listen to
this, if your soul was in my soul's place, If we switch places,
if we switch places, I can heap up words against you,
too. And I can shake my head at you. If your soul was in the
same place mine is, he said, if I could treat you the same
way you treat me, I'd heap up words against you, and I'd shake
my head and say, oh, you poor old pitiful. I tell you, Job,
just give it up. That's what his wife said, just
give it up. I could speak like you. I could get things together
and I could belittle you and speak harshly to you. But oh,
look what Job says now. He said, but you know what I'd
do? You know what I'd do if our souls were reversed, if our situations
were reserved? I'd speak with my strength in
you with my mouth. That's the first thing I'd do.
I would strengthen you with my mouth. I'd use my mouth to be
an encouragement to you. I'd use my mouth to strengthen
you. And when I moved my lips, when my lips moved, I would comfort
you and I would assuage your grief. I would try my best to
do something about the grief that you're having. He said,
that's how I'd treat you. That's how I'd treat you. Oh,
my. Ah. Oh, listen, I'll tell you
what. He said, I could treat you and
shake my head at you and say you're a miserable, poor, miserable
man and lecture you in all your distress. But he said, I'd strengthen
you with my mouth and the moving of my lips. I'd speak to you
in tenderness. I'd speak to you in graciousness.
I'd speak to you in kindness. I'd speak to you in loving sympathy. And I'd try my best to assuage
your grief. Oh, and then look what he says,
the moving of my lips. Let's just take a minute to talk
about the moving of our lips. These lips, these lips can be
used for the most blessed thing. They can be used to comfort.
They can be used to encourage. They can be used to edify. They
can be used to honor God and honor Christ. And they also,
when they move our lips, we can use them in a very malicious,
cruel, unkind way. And use them meanly. And oh,
I would never want my lips to do that with you. Oh my, I wouldn't
want to do it at all. I know this, let me say this.
I'm gonna be honest with you if I can. Oftentimes my lips,
I get a little ill-tempered and things come out of my mouth that
ought not come out. And when I get ill-tempered and
my lips are moving with an ill-temper, it always ends up a grief to
me and the grief that I'm ill-tempered with. It never has failed yet. If I'm ill-tempered with Shirley,
with sweet Shirley, if I'm ill-tempered with my dear wife, I'm sorry for it. And I've been
ill-tempered with people in this congregation at times over the
years. And oh my, I'm so ashamed of it. And I've always asked
for forgiveness. But oh, if I move my lips, may
it be grace, may be it sympathy, may be it kindness, may be it
tenderness, may it be words of love and tenderness and kindness.
Oh my. You know, our Lord Jesus, when
he opened his lips, you know what come out of his lips? Oh
my, such wonderful things come out of his lips when he opened
his mouth. And then look what he did, and
Job begins to complain. And nobody can blame him. Nobody
can blame him. He begins to complain just how
he suffers. The severity of his sufferings.
Look down here in verse 9, what he says. He's talking about God
now. He says, He tareth me in his
wrath. He uses metaphorical language.
He uses language that that's descriptive, but it's not the
way it really is, but he uses metaphorical language, and language
that's so descriptive. He says, God, he tareth me in
verse nine, he tareth me in his wrath. He tareth me in his wrath,
who hateth me. Oh my, he's complaining now,
he says, those men, and he's not talking about God here, but
he said, those, he tares me in his wrath, he hateth me. And
he has men who dash upon me with their teeth. My eyes sharpen
as his eyes upon him. Oh my. I tell you, he said he's
talking about the enemies and how they treat me. He said, they
tear me with his wrath, with her wrath. And I tell you, let
me just give you an illustration. How many times have you said,
boy, that just tore my heart out. You just would not believe
how that tore my heart out. That just tore my, that just
ripped my heart right out of me. That's the language he's
using. That's the language he's using. And then look what else
he said in verse 11. He said, God hath delivered me. Now he said, God hath done. He's
gonna talk about God. God hath delivered me to the
ungodly. These men are ungodly. He turned
me over to them. He turned me over into the hands
of the wicked. And of course that could be our
Lord Jesus Christ too. Did God not deliver Christ to
the ungodly? Did God not deliver Christ over
into the hands of wicked men? And that's what Job said, and
I tell you, if there's anybody that's ever been delivered over
into the hands of the wicked and ungodly, it was our Lord
Jesus Christ. Judas, when betrayed him, said,
how much would it cost me? If you want it, how much will
you give me? Well, 30 pieces of silver. A man worked. You
remember those fellows went out and worked for a penny a day?
You know how much 30 pieces of silver would be worth when a
man was working for a penny a day? Work five days and make five
pennies? Make five cents? And so for 30
pieces of silver, that's a pile of money. And he saw the Lord
Jesus Christ, and they delivered him from the ungodly, turned
over into the hands of wicked men. And that's why our Lord
said this morning, they hated me without a cause. Hated me
without a cause. And then look what he says down
here in verse 12, I think it is. Verse 11. I done done that one. Look in
verse 12. I was at ease. I was at ease. But he hath broken me asunder,
he hath also taken me by my neck, shaken me to pieces, made me
up for his mark, set me up as a mark. His archers, they got
around me, they gathered around me, pulled out their bows, and
he cleaved me asunder, and he did not spare. And he poured
out my gall upon the ground, things that would help me. He
crushed me, He said there in verse 14, he crushed me. He breaks
me with breach upon breach. And listen to this, he said,
he runs up on me like a giant. Oh my, runs up on me like a giant. Oh, and he is brought with such,
brought down so low, so low. And he said, he runs on me like
a giant. He said, all these things that
God lets happen to me. And then look what he said down
here in verse four. Excuse me, verse 16. He said,
my face is foul with weeping. I've wept and I've wept and I've
wept and I've wept. My face is just foul, dirty,
weeping, weeping. And on my eyelids is the shadow
of death. He said, weeping, weeping, weeping. I've wept, and I've wept, and
I've wept, and I've wept. You know, when I cry, when I
weep, I cry all over. My whole body cries. And I don't,
it's a sad, sad thing. That's what Job said. And you
know, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus wept twice. And
I'll tell you why he wept both times. He wept at Lazarus too,
because he said, I gotta bring this man back from the dead.
He loved Lazarus, and he loved Mary, and he loved Martha. He
said, I gotta bring this man that I love. I gotta bring him
back from the dead. And then he's gonna have to go
through every bit of this again. He's going to have to do it again,
but I've got to do this so that they'll know that I've got the
power over life and death, that I've got the right to give life
to a dead sinner, a corrupt man. And so he wept, and that's the
reason he was crying, to bring this person back. Would you ever
bring anybody that you know back? No, no, no, 10,000 times no. And then the second time our
Lord Jesus wept, and I mean when he talks about weeping, he talks
about wept, he's talking about standing there and tears pouring
out of his eyes. His heart hurting him. He's sorrowful
in his spirit. And he stood over Jerusalem and
he wept. Wept over Jerusalem. And he said,
oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often. when I would have gathered
you, I would have brought you together, I would have brought
you under my arms, I would have brought you under my wings, I
would have brought you to me, and I would have saved you, and
I would have protected you, and you just would not. Two times
our Lord wept, and I tell you what, oh and El Job said, He runs upon
me like a giant, and I've wept till I can't weep no more. And
on my eyelids is a shadow of death. Death is on my eyelids,
the shadow of death. And let me tell you something
about suffering. And then look what he said. Look what he said
down in verse 17. Now listen to this. He said, not for any injustice
in my hands, And also, my prayer is pure. Huh? He said, everything's happened
to me. He said, these people doing this
and what God's allowed them to do and turn Satan loose on me,
it's not for any injustice I've done. And when I pray, my prayer's
pure. When I pray, my prayer's pure.
And oh my, he was struggling with language trying to express
himself. And oh my, let me tell you something,
Job not only suffered physically, but he suffered mentally. You
know, our bodies and mind is so connected, when you get real
sick physically, then you can't, your mind cannot cooperate in
any realm other than feeling your pain, feeling your sickness.
And then if you got depression, or a darkness that comes over
your mind, then your body don't want to do anything. So your
body and mind are so connected, that if one of them's out of
whack, the whole person's out of whack. Now ain't that right? You get real sick, and you can't
think of a spiritual, all you can think about is, I want to
get well. I want to get over this. And
that's what Job. Job, he not only had physical
sufferings. Do you remember that he was smitten
with balls, smoldering with balls? And he went out there where they
cooked with fire and they always carried the ashes out, just like
people used to, and they put the ashes in a pile. Well Job,
he had all these things on him, and he went out and sat down
in that ash pile, pile of ashes, and had him a piece of a pot,
and he scraped himself, scraped himself, and all corruption running
out of him all over the place. Physical suffering was awful,
awful, awful. Torture in his body, and he speaks
of grief. My desk company's desolate, but
oh my, then his mind. Can you imagine how he suffered
in his mind? He lost 10 kids at one time. 10 children. He lost all of his wealth in
one day. He lost his health. And he said
this, he said, the hand of God has touched me, God did this! And God's hand, when He wants
to touch you, to teach you something, believe me, you're gonna learn
that lesson. And every one of us in this building
has went down roads that when we was younger and everything
happened, there's no way in the world we'd have said that this
is the way I'm gonna go. You did not, people do not know
what's gonna come on them on any particular day or in their
life before they leave this world. Nobody knows what, Joyce and
Dale, when they lost, they did not dream that they'd ever have
that situation. Nobody dreams, nobody thinks
that you're gonna get in that situation. But here's Job. His
body, and can you imagine the mental things that went on in
his mind? And in here, these miserable
comforts, he's sitting there scraping himself, and they say,
Job, you're here because you sinned. Job, you've had to sin
somewhere. You're a wicked man, Job. You
failed God. You're not perfect. You've done
something wrong. And how would you like somebody
to tell you that? Somebody takes somebody out of your home, takes
somebody away from you, takes some child, takes some husband,
takes some wife, and somebody comes up to you and says, God,
he's doing that because you've got sin in your life. You know
what you'd do to a person like that? You'd just have to walk
away and say, have mercy on that poor fool. And that's the way
they're doing you. Oh my, and look what he goes
on to say here now. He said, not for any injustice
of mine. Oh no, my prayer is also pure. And he said, my friends, look
what he said in verse 20. My friends scorn me, but my eyes,
they pour out tears unto God. He said, oh, they scorn me, but
you know what I do? I just start crying, and I pour out my tears
before God Almighty. And there's not a better place
to cry, not a better place to put your tears. You know, God
said that He, over in Revelation, He said He put our tears in a
bottle. So every tear you shed over the
gospel, every tear you shed over Christ, every tear you shed over
grief, God said, I got a bottle. Got to have water, your tears
there. Got them all. And then, oh, look what he says
here now. My friends scorned me. Now, I tell you what. Now,
he's talking about friends all his life. My friends scorned
me. Oh, my, they just scorned at
me. Oh, my. And, oh, listen. And then, look what he said here.
He said, My ears pour out tears unto God. And on Job is saying this. Here
he has this bodily pain, he has this mental pain, this anguish
and contempt that people have for him. But everything that
he attributes to happen to him in his life, you know what he
said? He said, God did it. He said, God hath delivered me
to the ungodly. God turned me over into the hands
of the wicked. God, he said, God, he said, thou
hast made desolate all my company. He said, you filled me with wrinkles. And he said, in all the things
that you've allowed these men to do for me, he said, you willed
it to happen or it wouldn't happen. Oh my. And then I tell you what,
he did not deserve the way that these men treated him. Again,
back down there in verse 17. Not for any injustice in mine
hands, my prayer is also pure. Oh my, can you imagine that?
Huh? You remember, that's what God
started out with him at the first. He said, if you consider my servant
Job a perfect and an upright man. Not only is he perfect and
upright, but he absolutely hates evil. He hates sin. And you know
what he was doing when God and Satan was up there talking? Job
was over-offering sacrifices for his sons, for his children. That's how much he loved them.
He said, I'm gonna pray for them, I'm gonna go offer sacrifices
for them. But now watch what he says now. In verse 19, oh
I love this. Also now, also right now, Behold,
my witness is in heaven, and my record's on high. I got a witness. Whatever these fellas say, that
don't make any difference. I got a witness. Who is your
witness? The Lord Jesus Christ. God is
our witness. He said, I've got a witness in
heaven. There's three that bear record
in heaven. He said, I'll take, I'll bring
your name before my father. And oh, he said, I got a witness
in heaven. What a witness he has in heaven.
If God be for us, who can be against us? And God himself witnessed
that this was a just man, a perfect man, an upright man. God bore
witness to him. And when Job prayed, he said,
my prayer was pure. When Job prayed, he prayed and
he never ever charged God with sin or foolishness. When God
done everything for him, the Lord gave, the Lord took away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. When Bruce Crabtree preached
his wife's funeral, Bruce, he used a text out of John 17, 24. He said, Father, I will. And he said, this is the will
of God. He said, what happened here is the will of God. My wife's
right here right now because of the will of God. This is no accident. This is on purpose. This is God's
will. And I'll tell you what, and that's
the way we have to deal with life, whatever God puts in our
way, and that's what Job's a perfect illustration of that. He's like
man, passion like us. And he said, and when he prayed
before God, he said, oh Lord, I came naked into this world,
and you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna leave the same way
again. And oh, he said, my record's
up there too. I've got a record up there. I
got a witness and I got a record. Who's keeping the record? God
is. God is. God's keeping the record. Oh my. I tell you, ain't that
something that, you know, I've got a witness. I've got a witness. We all got a witness. If you're
a believer, you got somebody to witness for you in glory.
And I tell you what, I'd rather Christ, I'd rather be known in
heaven because of what Christ did than any place else in this
world. And that's why Job said, you fellas, you know, you witness
against me, but I got somebody up there witness for me. And I don't care what your record
says about me, I've got a record in heaven. God's got, God sees
everything. He's on mission. He knows everything
about you and everything about me. Oh my. Oh, my. Oh, he said, let my, back up
in verse 18, he said, oh, let my cry have no place. Let me
come to the time that my cry will have no place. I won't need
another, I won't need to cry ever again. We'll never have
another place to have to cry. Oh, my goodness. God knows. That's what he's talking about.
God knows. My testimony's in heaven. God knows. God knows. And then, oh my. Then look what
he says in verse 21. Oh, that one might plead for a man
with God as a man pleads for his neighbor or his friend. Oh, I wish that somebody plead
for God for me. I plead for God for you, that's
what he's saying. But I tell you, there's one that
does plead for us in heaven. We have one who pleads our name,
pleads his name, pleads his cause, pleads his blood, his righteousness.
But oh my, no matter what we say or do down here, we got somebody
that takes up our cause. And that's what Job said, oh,
somebody would just take up my cause and plead with God. Plead
with God. Oh my, how many times have you
pled with God for somebody? Huh? How many times have you
woke up in the night and you start thinking about people and
you start thinking about someone, you start thinking about what
they're going through and you cannot help, help but just start
pleading with them. I'd say, well I, You wake up
and your mind goes to them, and your mind goes to their sickness,
your mind goes to their troubles, your mind goes to their heartaches.
Your mind goes to either giving thanks for them or praying for
them. And there's so many times that I wake up and pray for the
church. You know, if God doesn't keep
us alive and keep us well, there'll be a time that we'll cease to
exist as a church. If God don't create an interest
in people, this church in a few years will dwindle away. And
I don't want that. I want to be here till I'm...
Joe, you're just turning 90, ain't you? If I'm in as good
a shape as you are, I'm going to be preaching at 90. I hope so. If I'm in as good a
shape as you, I'm going to still be preaching. But you won't be
able to hear me. You'll already be in glory. Oh,
my. He said, oh, please plead with
God. Somebody plead with God. And then look what he says. He
said, my prayers need to be urgent. They need to be urgent. Why?
Because he said in verse 22, when a few years are come, when
a few years are come, then I shall go the way that I won't come
back from. Just in a few years. He said,
I'm gonna go someplace and I'm not coming back. I'm going somewhere
and I ain't coming back. Oh, I'll leave this place and
never come back. And you know what? When that
happens, he calls it his long haul. When that happens, Job will not
know one thing that ever happened to him on this earth. It'd be
as if it never happened. Oh, that's what God promised
us. He said, there'll be no tears. There'll be no hungering, there'll
be no thirsting, there'll be no heartache, there'll be no
sorrow. Oh my. We'll leave this place where
the shadow of death is hovering around us and go. Oh, what a
blessed hope we have. And ain't you grateful that we
got somebody that pleads for us before God. Let's plead for
one another, but let's plead before God. Our Father, oh, our God, our
great and glorious and blessed God and Father by Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you, Lord, for letting
us meet here today. Lord, I'm so thankful that I'm
not left up here by myself. I'm so thankful, Lord, for your
word. I'm so thankful for your people who delight in your word,
rejoice in your word, are touched by your word. I'm so thankful,
Lord. It's you that does it. It's your
work. But oh Lord, I thank you and
I praise you and I bless you for the wondrous truth you've
given us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless his holy name. Amen. Amen. Oh, how I love Jesus. Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus,
because He first loved me. I'll see you Wednesday night,
God willing.